#don't know where this “plot” came from tbh xD

[storiesofaot]

Short Ramble: I came across @creativepromptsforwriting 's prompt list for February earlier today, and I ended up impulsively writing something for today's prompt. I might try and do a few of them (of varying length) since the list does look very intriguing, but we'll see how it goes. Writing has been a bit slow lately, maybe this will help? Okay, ramble is over.

Letters With Levi

Day 1: Love Letters

Rating: G

Word Count: 982

High-School AU. It doesn't really matter, but I imagined this being set in like 2007-ish.

It had all started three weeks ago, when he and Hange were paired up for a book review project. She had been very enthusiastic about the novel they’d received, while he hadn’t been able to muster much motivation for the task. But, as expected, she had been the driving force behind their project, and to his surprise, they were done well ahead of time, leaving them with an entire period free and with nothing to do.

These weren’t love letters. That’s what Levi told himself over and over. He unfolded the piece of paper Mike had just pushed toward him and started reading whatever she had scribbled on the note. They were just letters.

It was during those forty-five minutes that they started talking more intensely. She was the new student, having moved to the small town he lived in just a couple of months ago. He had mostly observed her from afar, her outgoing and jittery nature making it difficult for him to connect with her. But apart from the bits and pieces he had noticed, he hadn’t really known much about her. That all changed on that Monday morning.

During their work-free lesson, she shared all her thoughts, likes, and quirks with him, and somehow managed to worm a lot of personal information out of him in return. He didn’t understand how she did it, but he ended up sharing things he’d never told anyone before.

They were in the middle of discussing a movie they had both recently watched when their English teacher announced it was time for everyone’s presentations, which meant Levi had to move back to his seat, two rows behind her.

“I’ll write you a note. We can’t just leave this hanging,” Hange said as he stood up, waving a piece of paper in the air. When he nodded silently, she gave him a smile that made his fifteen-year-old heart stumble in a way it never had before.

As soon as the first pair stood in front of the class, Mike leant backwards and dropped a folded piece of paper into his lap. Luckily, their teacher was focused on the talking students, so Levi had all the time he needed to read through the note and reply.

That was how Mike became their message-bearer. But most importantly, it was the start of a series of passed-along notes, a routine that would continue throughout the coming weeks.

“I really liked our conversation!” Hange said at the end of the lesson, catching him at the door. “We should do that more often, don’t you think?”

He didn’t know how to reply to that, so once again, he simply nodded and wordlessly handed her their sheet of paper. As if to say, Just reach out whenever you’d like. He didn’t expect it, but she seemed to understand what he meant and laughed. And to his delight, she not only safely stored away their note but also asked him if he wanted to have lunch with her.

The following day, she sent him another note, this time during their biology lesson. She wrote about wanting to collect their little papers and mentioned she had thought of calling the series Notes with Levi. “But with the amount of text I’m writing, these aren’t just notes anymore. So I’d say Letters with Levi is a better name, don’t you think?”

It took him every ounce of willpower not to smile at that. Was he becoming a little too invested in their interactions already? He wasn’t sure he'd ever felt this way about something so... simple before.

By the end of the week, those notes had become a daily routine, and he caught himself looking forward to each class he had with her.

“Seems like you’ve got yourself a girlfriend,” Mike teased him as they walked home after school had ended on Friday afternoon. Levi shot him an annoyed glance and ignored the comment, but of course, his friend didn’t let up on him.

“I hadn’t pegged you as the romantic type, writing love letters and all that,” Mike continued, nudging his arm playfully. “But hey, it suits you. Quiet teenager who writes cheesy but deep letters to his lover. Should be a trope.”

“Shut up,” Levi grumbled, shoving his shoulder against his friend with enough force to make Mike stumble and nearly walk into a streetlamp.

That was the first time he connected his written conversations with Hange to love letters, and his ears immediately turned bright red.

Those weren’t love letters, he told himself after saying goodbye to Mike. It wasn’t even love. They were just… friends.

That was the thought he kept repeating to himself over the next two weeks, both during their written conversations and their chats at lunch. She always seemed to be around whenever she could, and without realising it, he found himself looking out for her as soon as recess started.

No, they weren’t love letters, he reminded himself once again three weeks later as he read her response to his question, already thinking about what to write back. But when he reached the last paragraph of her letter—a phone number with a few words written underneath—he couldn't help but wonder if, at some point, it might actually turn into that.

“I thought we could continue our conversations over the weekend, if you’d like. You can text me, or, you know, we could talk on the phone. I’d really like that, it’s so quiet without you. So, if you’re free and want to, just give me a call."

It took him a lot of effort to push past his nervousness, but on Saturday afternoon, he called her for the first time. He’d never forget the excitement in her voice when she recognised him, and how it made his heart trip over itself again.

And that was how Letters with Levi turned into Phone Calls with Levi.

[thatfoxnamedfinley]

The Motherfucking Consequence aka Dark Age thoughts

holy SHIT

holy FUCK

I was just up until 4AM finishing this book

It was so...........GOOD

Nearly flawless!

The CAST!

The PLOT!

THE STAKES!

DARRRRROOOWWWWW

ok spoilers under the cut bitches

I have been left in the crumpled ruins of this book

where do I begin, like where do I even START

Ok ok ok holy fuck I'm already cackling

The first part was PERFECTION. Back and forth with Darrow and Lysander.

HERE I AM YOU DEVIANT BITCH. THE MOTHERFUCKING CONSEQUENCE

DARROW YES THIS IS WHAT I LOVE TO SEE

The Storm Gods and Orion (r.i.p baby girl) and Lysander describing Darrow as he comes to battle

GOOSIES BITCH

"If you hear wolves, find me. Only a legion accompanying the Slave King is permitted the howl. If you hear it, he is coming."

How the howls announce Darrow and Lysander describing how Darrow fights is CRAZZZYYYY Like he knows where a strike is coming without having to see it

Lysander watching Darrow carve his way through the troops like a DARK SOULS BOSS

Then Darrow is gone as quick as he came after destroying everything in his path

Lysander being Mr. "The Genius of His Violence" talking about Darrow XD

*Beginning of next chapter*

D A R R O W

"We brush away light resistance."

LMMMFFAAAOOOOO ok go off king

Seeing Darrow at the peak of his fighting is SO COOL to see.

I made an audiobook bookmark cackling at someone calling Apple a muscled walking penis LMAO

Ephraim was SO enjoyable. His chapters were so much more lighthearted and funny even though the content of his chapters was not (VOLSUNG FAAAA holy fuck).

"Someone starts to say Freihild is deft in all things. Yeah yeah shutup." lmmaaooooo

R.I.P Eph

Especially right after he was able to reunite with Volga....

And PAX PILOTING THAT AIRSHIP and the people of Mars being ride or dies for Reaper is so so fucking good

SO GOOD

I had goosies

Lyria's story was much better this time around (lmfao when she was playing stupid to get close to Duncan by grinding on his dick LMAO and then she literally dunked him in acid) as she was one of my complaints from Iron Gold. But she, Victra and Volga were great. And that...parasite? In her brain wtf it can detects like heat signatures but I have no clue it's purpose.

Victra is such an interesting character because I go back and forth on her a lot. I still don't understand how she and Sevro work. Sometimes I'm like FUCK YES GO VICTRA

Like when she was unleashed after her baby was killed (omfg) and she was just POUNCING on people and killing and tearing and I was like YEEEEESS VICTRA BITCH GO GO GO GOGOG OGG OGOG O!!!!!

But then when she was acting nuts after Electra and Pax were first taken I was like

Harmony finally dying A+

I can't believe how far gone and radical she was (the child wives WTFFFF)

Volsung Fa being Ragnar's father I did not see coming. I want him vs Darrow so bad

I want Darrow vs anybody so bad tbh

I love when Darrow wins *cries in Dark Age*

r.i.p Sefi she got fucked up bad and it's nuts that all it took was someone like Volsung Fa to completely take over the Obsidians and make them hungry for war again. I'm very curious his part in the story and what his plans are. He wants war on everyone so....what? So Obsidian can rule? I think they will be a huge factor turning the tides of the war.

LYSANDER. He's a great character but I hate him. I understand what he's trying to say the Pierce Brown has done a very good job with finding nuance in the ways that others look at Darrow and how he can be perceived as a villain.

BUT IM STILL TEAM REAPER BEETCHES IF YOU'RE ON ANY OTHER TEAM BLOCK ME

TEAM REAP 5EVA

He wants Gold to rule again, to "sheppard" the other colors because they're incapable of being on their own in his view. He wants the society back but with more checks on power but as we've seen, most Golds are not capable of that.

So like...what do we do? We either have them in power or kill all of them? What's the medium? Where does this war END? HOW? Then at the end when all hope is lost, when he MORTALLY WOUNDS Darrow (I was SCREAMINGgGGGGG) and CASSIUS?

CASSIUS?

BRO where WERE you

wtf!!! he's pops up like "lol brooding again huh" while Darrow has a slingblade sticking out of his body with no hope left

The legend of Darrow grows, the weight of his name as Reaper and the gravity of battles when he's on the field is AMAZING. I love it i love him so much please let him survive through this series he deserves HAPPINESS

"I would die for the truth that all men are created equal."

my king

Pax slowly understanding the burden on his father is a nice touch and Electra is just like her parents lmao a little helion

YO THE COUP

When Virginia was like *squints around* something is wrong

and whenever Pierce Brown has one of his characters say something is wrong then something is REALLY FUCKING WRONG

They killed DAXXOOOOO nooooooooo and Dancer too *sits silently*

Here's the thing, Dancer wasn't on Virginia's side until he had to be and I don't like that. I feel like...he wasn't meant to be written to be unlikeable but I haven't liked him in Iron Gold or here in Dark Age

Good riddance Red Hand

I have no idea what's going to happen in Light bringer but I'm going to start it tonight, godspeed my goodman

ps GOOSIES when Mars formed that slingblade and Virginia was like "Mars endures." yo Mars is the GOAT

pss Diomedes im super interested in, he seems honorable and Cassius is alive so...ALLLLYYY??????? pls pls pls pls pls

YO ATLANTIA IS FUCKING NUTS

so is Lysander

so is Apple

so is Ajax

r these people ok

because they're all barely held together by a single string

not sure how I feel about the Jackal clone tbh but Lilath is also nuts

*sits up suddenly*

WAIT WHERE IS SEVRO

I wish we had more of Ephraim in the future tbh...

[charmixpower]

Issue Twenty-One: The Shaab Stone

They can't even color Riven's uniform right on the cover, dear lord, call that foreshadowing

On that note I'm just gonna pretend that this Riven is show Riven for all of our sanities, because if I point out how Riven is usually much more chill and cool headed in the comics we're all gonna get annoyed

I have so many questions. Implying that Magix is like a university city, but the entire PLANET

I love how Griffin gives a negative amount of fucks

If you smoke in her office she'll blow up your cigarette or cigar XD

....I thought these were highschools??? He is like a balding adult and he can enroll????? What???

This confirms that in the comics witch philosophy is a very using fire to fight fire

You know after so many evil witches you'd think people would accept this is a terrible idea but nope

Comics Tecna is so lame, me and show Tecna are entranced by a model crane

OH MY GOD AN ACTUAL REASON WHY SO MANY RANDOM PLACES ON MAGIX ARE A NO MAGIC ZONE!!! AMAZING!!!

Tbh the comics never let a plot line hang

Spy Helia, doing spy Helia things

Hey isn't having a bunch of private military in a protected/enclosed area like super illegal???? Can't we tell the authorities that the Winx comics and show decided on a dice if they exist this ep

WAIT THEY ACTUALLY THOUGHT OF TELLING THE FUCKING AUTHORITIES AND DECIDED TO SEND TEENAGERS???? THIS IS ALL YOUR DUMBASSES FAULT

I swear nothing in the Winx show is more annoying than all the authorities shoving their responsibilities on teenagers, I know the Winx need to be doing things, but still

Stella. No magic.

What are you going to be able to do???

Comic artists said purple eyed Riven supremacy

Also "at the fortress of light"???? Like principal is a political role in the Winx world????

"and see how good he is" So this was a lie

That's actually a really smart idea from Helia

We love to see it

"Let's head back!" HELIA HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND??? AND LOSE SIGHT OF IT????? YOU WERE DOING SO WELL!!

You do not need to LEAVE to call backup!!!

God I hope this just a mistranslation, bc that is so fuckin dumb gjsbfjsjs don't let the evil people with the important rock leave where you can't find them

Riven, please stop being annoying and contraction

....Sky, what the fuck. How did you get to murder??

You people have sent on a mission to get the rock.... Like am I interpreting this wrong?? But aren't they technically a branch of the law???

Also bless you Helia for realizing that leaving is a incredibly stupid ass decision

He is planning on surrounding the private army with RF people, and he's also saying to wait for authorities in Magix

I need the writers to explain what the fuck they are trying to communicate

A business man taking over magix would have a much larger affect than how you act, so it really depends on who the has the most power but I understand where ur coming from girlie

"our powers" tho??

Helia once again is doing amazing sweetie, please don't let them out of your sight

Riven no

RIVEN NO!! YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW IF TIMMY IS GONNA HELP YOU!!!!

Ugh fucking dumbass, I definitely understand where he's coming from. It's right there, we should do something. But the squad is like right there too, at least try to get more than Timmy to come with

Tbh I would of liked it more if Riven got into an argument and him being loud got them found

It would of been really funny as well

See if Riven didn't ask Timmy to join him he would have just jumped out of the plane

No hesitation, no fear

And that would have been hilarious

Omg look at Helia's face 🥺 poor boy

This is part of Helia's and Saladin's 100 IQ plan together, did he know about it this far out???

I have so many questions about when they came up with that plan????

Is Tecna saying that about Riven or Timmy I cannot tell

If it's about Timmy, girl why

[janacariad]

How many fics have you worked on since January? 5 I think...

What’s something new that you tried in a fic this year? I don't know if this counts, but I wrote about different worlds, like some was in a "human" real world, some was mixed, some was in only fantasy settings

What piece of media inspired you the most? (This can be the fandom you wrote the most for, the one that spawned the most ideas, the one you thought about the most, etc.) Hm, difficult... I think probably the Les Misérables musical. That also was a big part of my 2024 in general

How many fandom(s) did you write for this year? 3

What ship(s) captured your heart? I don't write them, but I love reading cute Valvert (Les Mis)

What character(s) captured your heart? Javert (Les Mis) and Adar (Rings of Power)

Did you write for any new fandoms or ships this year? Yes, Les Mis and Rings of Power

What fic meant the most to you to write? No idea. I love them all, tbh

What fic made you feel the happiest to work on? Maybe my Les Mis fic? Difficult to say...

What fic was the most satisfying to finish writing? Haven't finished anything in years xD

What fic was the most difficult to write? My Les Mis fic

What fic was the easiest to write? My Tanz der Vampire fic

What were your shortest and longest fics posted this year? Haven't posted anything in a couple of years

What were your go-to writing songs? It's very strange for me, but I sorta haven't listened to much music while writing recently...

What was the hardest fic to title? My fics have no titles yet ^^

What's your favorite title of the year? "WIP" xD

Share your favorite opening line It was so dark that you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face and the mist rising up from the river didn’t help.

Share your favorite ending line .... I don't have endings

Share your favorite piece of dialogue

"I would always kiss you again. I don't care what they think."

"I'd be a liar if I said your affection doesn't warm what's left of my heart."

"Then stay, please. Let's move to the edge of the camp where we'll be left in peace. Just the three of us."

"It's probably for the best. You are so good to me, Faerveren. So good..."

Share your funniest line But Bluey just got up and continued to stumble around the ballroom like he had just risen from his grave and his back was still aching. (I've found that things I write are only funny in context)

What's something that surprised you while you were working on a fic? Did it change the story? My characters always mess up my storylines because they have their own ideas, particularly bad with OCs, but this year there has been a new OC who messed up the plot but I didn't mind it :o

What writing programs did you use? Did you write by hand? MS Word, sometimes by hand

If you had to choose one, what was THE most satisfying writing moment of your year? When suddenly scenes that I had difficulty combining before came together to make a plot

Did you do anything special to celebrate finishing a fic? I didn't finish anything

How did you recharge between fics? Reading other people's stuff, sleep, other hobbies

Did you create fanworks other than fic? Some drawings

How many events did you take part in? (bangs, exchanges, ship weeks, zines, prompt memes, they all count!) None

If this were an awards show, who would you thank? @forestthechonkykitty for listening to my babbles, ideas, and other mess ♥

What's left on your to-do list for 2024? Just writing and having fun

What would you like to write next year? Complete one of my WIPs maybe. But I don't believe in it :D

A slightly revised version of last year's questions! Two ways to play: Reblog and have your followers send you numbers, or answer the whole list!

How many fics have you worked on since January?

What’s something new that you tried in a fic this year?

What piece of media inspired you the most? (This can be the fandom you wrote the most for, the one that spawned the most ideas, the one you thought about the most, etc.)

How many fandom(s) did you write for this year?

What ship(s) captured your heart?

What character(s) captured your heart?

Did you write for any new fandoms or ships this year?

What fic meant the most to you to write?

What fic made you feel the happiest to work on?

What fic was the most satisfying to finish writing?

What fic was the most difficult to write?

What fic was the easiest to write?

What were your shortest and longest fics posted this year?

What were your go-to writing songs?

What was the hardest fic to title?

What's your favorite title of the year?

Share your favorite opening line

Share your favorite ending line

Share your favorite piece of dialogue

Share your funniest line

What's something that surprised you while you were working on a fic? Did it change the story?

What writing programs did you use? Did you write by hand?

If you had to choose one, what was THE most satisfying writing moment of your year?

Did you do anything special to celebrate finishing a fic?

How did you recharge between fics?

Did you create fanworks other than fic?

How many events did you take part in? (bangs, exchanges, ship weeks, zines, prompt memes, they all count!)

If this were an awards show, who would you thank?

What's left on your to-do list for 2024?

What would you like to write next year?

[lil-melody-moon]

Wow, so you have quite a history with Final Fantasy!

I don't have as much experience with video games, tbh--my mom didn't allow us to have any consoles or any computer games unless they were educational--so any video games I played as a kid were at friends' houses. (I did play a lot of online Flash games though!) Back when I had a stepfamily, I used to play video games with them a lot, though! I'd play anything from Super Smash Bros to Just Dance, as long as it was always a little silly. Nowadays, I'm much more into casual games like Animal Crossing or The Sims, but I still don't play those right now since I only have a laptop with a certain amount of space on it. Any games I play are on my phone, lol.

Are there any upcoming games that you're excited for? If you could design your own perfect game, what would it be?

I do, yeah!

There's always a way to get through mom's "No" and I'm proud of the way you did it *clap clap* Oh, so I can bet you'd have a blast with "Stardew Valley". It's on phone as well, but in general this game doesn't take a lot of space on computer. So maybe you'd check it out? 🙄

Hmmm... Besides waiting forever when Deltarune will be finished? I think not, the Ace Attorney Investigations pack came out recently - I will wait forever now to buy them for normal amount of money XD - so there's nothing to wait for. I don't keep up with what's coming out, I am stuck in old gaming and I'm not coming out of that I'm afraid. All the newer games that I added to my wish list on steam are recommendations from one yt channel, it's called "Nitro Rad". I find the indie games much more interesting now than the triple A titles.

Perfect game... I think it would be a jrpg for starters. Probably with graphics similar to Earthbound. Now if it comes to plot I would love to make a really good romance story, probably set in the fantasy universe I have in my head - and which I want to write at some point in my life, but this project is too big for me to handle as of now - focusing on the main plot of that world, so in short:

Story about a woman (let's call her Cici for now) who goes on an adventure because her father went missing after he was send with the news to the Kingdom of North. She comes from the Kingdom of South and not being a person with magical abilities, just like her father, is the main obstacle in her goal - additionally her King (Mateus) doesn't want her to go, so her running away is another problem that will have to be solved somehow. She goes through the forest of fairies and somehow gets out of it alive (the story of this forest so far is that the fairies there do not like people - I think they hate the ones that can use magic, so most population - and they are making them wander through the vast forest until they die) with a small fairy (Fina) on her shoulder. That tiny one is the first companion.

From there, they get to the Kingdom of West where they meet one of the King, the lunatic so to speak (on a side note, she knows them all because her father is the Mateus' right hand and she helps her father in his duties). She doesn't want to stay, but she ends up staying a few days in the Kingdom of West, much to this King's delight - this guy is a tricky one, no one knows his name and everyone just calls him Luna, nickname gave by the King of East (Zani) (they hate each other for more than one reason, Cici is one of them). The thing is though, Cici and Luna are getting along very well and despite his duties, Luna is like "You'll manage without me, you only have the dragons to deal with!" like it would not be a big deal - cut out the fact that Luna is the only one who can speak with dragons because of his fire magic and because of a stupid thing that he did when there was a war with the dragons. He's the second companion and the most important one, because Luna doesn't believe Cici cannot do magic.

Magic in this world works like this: kids at young age are shown magical books. If they can read it, they can learn the magic of this book only. Each user of magic has a magical pet who is their companion and the source of said magic. Let's take Luna for example: he is the user of fire magic and his companion is a fire peacock, a very graceful one on top of that. Only he can see the fire bird and talk with it. If they get along well - and believe me, they do - Luna can evolve with his magic to the highest level and be one of the most powerful magicians just because the fire peacock gets along with him well and grants him its magic.

Back to the plot: As you can imagine, Luna is right in the end and Cici can do magic, but it's one that caused the most destruction during wars and so the books about it are forbidden, yet, he has one of the three copies that were stolen and just before Cici continues her journey, Luna convinces Cici to look through the castle's library. She finds the forbidden book and to her surprise she can read it. Luna suggests her to take it and even if she knows this book is forbidden, she takes it, while Luna tags along with her for the rest of the journey.

Cici, Luna and Fina are going through the next forest, meadows that are mostly belonging to the Kingdom of East and this is where the Zani learns where Cici is (at the beginning it's almost established that this guy is the one who will ask for her hand, having her dad's approval, but Cici is in doubts and her father cannot help her with it). Zani informs Mateus about her whereabouts and he gets the order to capture her, so the trio has to hide for most of the time. Fina knows the fields and forests in this part of the world so she's their guide and she knows good hiding spots. While hiding, Luna helps Cici with the magic book and while he cannot see her companion, she can see a small, black dog that loves to bite her fingers most of the time.

While going through the troubles in the Kingdom of East they eventually get to the Kingdom of North, find Cici's father, who as it'll turn out got kidnapped on purpose - he saw who Cici gets along better with and as you can tell he's a very responsible father and instead of telling her to maybe get close with Luna, he plans on getting kidnapped with the help of both Mateus and Artalion (the King of North) because he knows that Cici will seek help in the Kingdom of West and perhaps she'll get a hint that she should be with Luna.

The game would end at this point, when the father is found and the conclusion - so coming back home, parting ways with Luna and Fina, and finally making a decision who Cici wants to be with - would be a cutscene.

I think this idea could work both as a game and as a book, but all of this is still a prototype. It needs a lot of work and as a piece of original fiction, I think I should give smaller ideas a go first. I do have one small, original idea, but this one would only work as a book 😉

[wheredostarsgowhenyoudie]

So I was looking for tags on the cdrama "The Mermaid's Pearl" but could not find one. I wonder why is that?

Admittedly, this one is not on par with most dramas I watch. The rating on the internet is also low. I think I know why.

But if you're looking for cuteness and fluff with scenes that make you smile like hot chocolate and if you don't care much about actresses crying without tears (aka not so great acting) and bad directing skills and cuts, this could be just it.

On to how I found this. So I was looking for a quick cdrama to binge. When too tired afterwork, I have this guilty pleasure of reading through plots, watching the first few eps. Then when I get the gist, I'll leisurely fast forward or move eps looking for cute or fun scenes. You know, like living leisurely through the characters (for the sake of feeling things and pretending you got a life outside work and home).

Plot wise, tbh, I skipped a lot on this one. The plot itself is pretty simple. Mermaid girl (FL) left water to look for her kidnapped father. The ML is a rich young man who is known as a detective. He is also sick and they believe finding a mermaid will help cure him. She agreed because he has a lot of food (being rich and all) and he also might be able to help her find her dad.

Suspecting she's a mermaid (kinda hard not to) when she literally threw her pearls at him when they first met, he decided to keep her by his side.

So murder mysteries happen along the way and the guy has a fangirl/fiancee who wants to marry him. The emperor is also looking for a way to live abnormally long and orders people to go on expeditions to look for mermaids to aid that quest.

That is basically the whole gist of it.

Cuteness wise, can I just say I love and adore how the ML cares for the FL? Like, she's like a fluffy bunny and he's the master who takes care of her. They are so cute together and he also is sensitive to his own feelings so there's not much waiting. Their scenes make me laugh and just smile, thinking I want to be loved the way he loves her. : ) 🩷 Plus, it's comedy XD

At first he was telling her to stay away from him because she has no boundaries. But all too soon, he just came to accept how trusting and comfortable she is with him. He also gets jealous easily lol.

In this scene for instance, she literally just fell asleep using his hand as a pillow (like a cat) and he lets her. #Fluff

Acting wise, the ML actor, Shi An, is actually pretty good. It's just that the cuts and the scenes they were acting in are really like you're watching students' made film where quality is not the focus. So tbh, I blame the director and writer and producers more than the actors. Or maybe, that is indeed their goal? Idk. If it is then they succeeded.

Watch it if you dare, but as I said, a lot of things about it are pretty crappy. So don't expect too much.

But bottomline, I still very much enjoyed the very short cute fluff scenes between the ML and FL. :) I even replay them (just the cute scenes) when I need a pick-me-up. So it isn't so bad. At least not for me.

[gingerteaonthetardis]

Regarding your last post on Straczynski (which, i love him as an author, god, i didn't know he was in charge of kalagang, which explains a lot), I wondered what was your opinion on the ending of sense8 for them, as you seemed to have opinions xD. Just me being curious, don't mind if you'd rather not discuss haha. ALSO! hi! i hope your morning is going well ♥.

hey, thanks, babe! ❤️ my morning is going okay. it's snowing today, so my current plans are to huddle up and drink a lot of tea. how about you?

anyway, i put my rant on this below the cut, because i do have opinions, and i have a hard time shutting the fuck up about them.

first, let me just level with you—the ending got spoiled for me back when the finale first aired, and it frustrated me so badly that i never actually watched it. like, that's how much i hated their ending. enough to not watch the finale i signed the petition to have made akshfdksk.

but that hasn't stopped me from having Opinions™ about it. is that stupid of me? maybe. i am definitely intending to finally finish the show on this rewatch, though, come hell or high water.

but the way i see it, kala's whole arc was about the battle between familial expectations and following her heart. her relationship with rajan is the clear manifestation of her desire to live the 'right' life, the respectable life—to marry the wealthy man her family approves of, who is nice, but who she does not love. (and who—sorry, hot take—doesn't love her either. i don't personally think that 'i wanted you so badly i didn't realize you didn't want me back' is love. it's infatuation. he's infatuated with her, which cannot sustain a relationship. whether he comes to really love her is a different thing, but one that's less important to me than his choice to marry her before he came to love her/when he suspected she didn't love him. but i digress...)

her relationship with wolfgang, on the other hand, is this elemental thing that she finds herself drawn to, again and again, even though it makes her life more difficult. loving him is a rebellion against her entire worldview, and sometimes even against her ingrained principles. it is also, despite that, unstoppable.

that plot line means a lot to me, as someone who has experienced first-hand the family pressure to be with the Right Kind Of Person, to stay with the guy my family approved of, even though i knew—like, really in-the-pit-of-my-stomach knew—i didn't love him the right way. (in that way, kalagang feels like an inherently queer story to me. their love is something inside them that they cannot change. it just is. they recognize when it is absent in their other relationships, and they cannot stop themselves from needing it.)

seeing kala break free of her family and rajan's expectations was something i desperately craved to see, not just because the alternative is a straight up bi boy hottie with a leather jacket and a big ass gun (my type, lmao). mostly i just wanted to see her respect herself, her family, and even rajan enough to confront the hard truth—that love transcends time and space and culture and worldview; that love cannot be bought with expensive things or even just doing the right thing; and that love cannot be rooted out just because it's inconvenient.

above almost everything else i wanted out of the show, i wanted to watch her to speak her truth, get the fuck out of her marriage, and find her power. (tbh, i also kinda wanted her and rajan to maybe take a path to becoming actual friends?? you know, where they could care about each other without the pressure of feeling a certain way?? but that would've taken even more time, so i get why that couldn't happen.)

instead, since the show had to rush and fit a bunch of stuff into a single finale instead of an entire season, things got sacrificed. and regardless of how they tried to work it in, one 152-minute episode isn't enough to resolve the complex stuff kala was dealing with.

which means that basically no matter what you do, kala's 'love' ends up being treated like rajan's narrative reward for helping the cluster (or just being a nice guy or whatever), and polyamory is treated like a nebulous band-aid that's slapped on so we can handwave away kala's desire to be free. it's made into this last minute way to resolve something that was never actually a love triangle!

as they say—most love triangles are just women backed into a corner. even wolfie can't fix that.

don't get me wrong, i love a triad. i really do. i just don't love the idea of this one, because it seems like kala's entire narrative was leading somewhere else. and i get that other people feel differently, and that's fine! i can obviously see the appeal of having your cake and eating it, too. also, purab kohli is adorable, so. i definitely see the appeal.

i just don't like how the ending—to me—undercuts what i perceive to be kala's real narrative: breaking away from relationships that do not sustain her and pursuing true love that allows her to be authentically herself.

[fujunfuren]

[re: cheer up]

It was hard for me to interpret something, I was busy with stressing. I get nervous with the thought of her still being in dilemma. I'm so bored because of this dragging in romance side of this drama.

I also had a hard time figuring the meaning of her expression while Sunho was confessing his feelings in the festival. [If you want, I'd like hear your thoughts about that scene in general, too!!] I guess it pulled at her heartstrings and that's why she became unsure about whom to choose when she received one kiss and one confession in Busan.

My guess about the main reason of that sad expression while hugging was that she felt uneasy rejecting him since she listened to his past and saw him crying. HOPE THERE IS NOTHING MORE. Let's end this triangle in one way or another.

As I told you before, I was fine with no romance at all since her relationship with Jung Woo was already very interesting as it is. Then, this love triangle came and never left till ep11. Due to that, there was a significant decrease in their moments and conversations. (For a while, In Hyuk was just a cameo...)

It exhausted me. I want it to end real quick.😅😅 And I can't wait to see them talk again without being interrupted by Sunho.

frienddd, you know I feel you and I get you. Generally, I don't really lean towards love triangles, I just want to peacefully ship my otp y'know xD

That part where haeyi was torn, i just thought that she wavered because she was dejected by the rejections she keeps getting from jungwoo and she probably thought it's time for her to move on since she thought jungwoo really had no feelings for her. And at that moment, after a great performance and her adrenaline high, sunho confessed again, more seriously this time, and I guess she was contemplating if she should accept the person who is in love her and putting herself in sunho's shoes as someone with unrequited love. Tbh, i dont blame her for wavering at that point, because she's probably exhausted trying too hard with the emotional rollercoaster of liking someone.

I have to agree tho, inhyuk's part was significantly decreased, and you're wondering why we get less scenes of the main lead lol but I'm sure with ep 12 onwards we'll see it more focused. I enjoy them being cuties and chaotic, but i've been fastforwarding the past few eps to see more important plot cuts haha.

[mamisolohd]

trailer thoughts 💭

Let’s keep in mind it's just a trailer so I'm not gonna be too judgy. The s1 trailer included mostly clips from episode 1-3 and then some from 5 and 6. This one probably also mostly includes scenes from the first two to four eps. The first season also had a pretty fast pace and a lot happened in the episodes, which might be the case this season too. Something I noticed was that the necklaces are nowhere to be seen in the trailer. They will appear later but tbh I'm starting to believe that maybe they only were a coincidence, but we'll see! Ana's health isn't mentioned either. Ana’s mom is there which is exciting, I really enjoyed the grandmas! Tere makes an appearance only in the teaser, and she's talking to JC and not Mariana, maybe they're on bad terms still. Ferrán is also introduced. Ana's and Mariana's relationship seems rocky, but then again it's only the trailer and they probably want to throw us off by showing them being interested in Ferrán.

Let's just start with Ferrán and get it over with lol. Seems like there's gonna be some sort of a love triangle between the three of them because he's flirting with both of them? I'm not sure how all that's gonna go down since they're all working together. There's one part in the script, at the dinner where he also is invited together with Mariana, and then another part where Pablo asks Mariana how her weekend with Ferrán went, and so does all this happen unbeknownst to Ana, while she also has a thing with him? Or are they going for polyamory? Like that one time Paulina commented that a polyamorous relationship could be a good idea under a pic of Ana and Mariana, and also mentioned it in on of the clips that recently came out. I mean can you imagine? "Madre Sólo Hay Dos....... + Ferrán". I just don’t see it. Idk what part of the audience that plot would please. I might be biased since I am very for Ana and Mariana only, but putting that aside, Idk how that would fit in this story in particular. I'm thinking there's a plot twist at the end regarding Ferrán. And a side note, Paulina barely posted anything about the s2 so I don’t think she’d randomly give a potential spoiler like that. I hope she’s trolling xd.

Regarding Juan Carlos, apparently him and Ana and are still going to therapy which ughhh I'm so over JC, I don't care about the man at all. I’m pretty sure they officially are separating and I get that it takes time but I'm over hiiiim. It's such a waste of time since they did it in s1 when they were on better terms and couldn't figure things out. It's a short season and I'd just like to see something other than JC :<.

A lot of the scenes in the trailer also feel like they're in the first episode. The scene where Ana, Romelia and the kids are eating and they ask about Mariana and JC could be the opening scene, which also could lead the kids inviting Mariana over and then Mariana does come over (before the trailer came out I was thinking Mariana was sleeping over at Ana's because I thought she was wearing pajamas, turns out she's not lolll). That could be Ana's and Mariana's first encounter. Ana sees Mariana in her house, gets angry and maybe they'll even have some intense conversations ;)... They're really milkning Mariana being confused so idk how far they'll take that. Ana will probably be in full denial-self defense mode for a while, which isn't surprising.

She'll possibly go back to her 1x01 characteristics and personality for a while, especially with Mariana. Ana's probably really going to get on Mariana's nerves, especially knowing Mariana is patient, causing things to build up until it eventually bursts for Mariana which probably happens when she walks out on Ana after they argue. That argument seems to be a little more serious than their normal bickering since even Ana seems affected by Mariana’s response. I think all of this will happen in maybe the first 2-4 eps, which makes my wonder what'll happen in the other half of the season…

I was thinking Ceci's grad might be at the end of the season but it probably isn't. And speaking of Ceci, I hope they develop her and Ana's relationship way more this season, I really do. They didn't get too much time last time so I hope they'll have some sweet moments together, regarding everything... I really like Ceci! Ceci probably wants Mariana at her graduation and so Ana maybe cools down a bit and realizes some things, hence the bathroom scene (which btw I'm totally assuming the bathrooms scene happens at the graduation, it could very well be another occasion). After that maybe they'll at least be friendly again, have a "let's forget what happened" bs moment etc., although they probably still will keep annoying each other, like in the office when Mariana calls Ana a control freak and Ana calls Mariana a confused hippie lol. But it maybe is on and off since there's also a scene where they're with the babies and seem civil and where Ana is talking about how Ferrán was flirting with her, so they probably leave whatever happened in the past... until they realize that they're more than partners... whenever that happens. That one sentence is my lifeline at this point like no joke whenever an obstacle appears, remember that last sentence in ep. 8. I'm gonna be let down so badly if that part ends up being nothing lmaooo but I've decided to trust the show at this point.

While I'm putting my trust in their hands I’m also trying to keep my hopes low just in case. I'm also very bad at predicting plots so idk. I usually expect the telenovela plots since I'm pretty scarred by them lol but I was expecting a telenovela-ish plot when I first watched the show but then got really surprised afterwards. I feel like this show has a telenovela vibe but without all the parts and plots I usually hate, which is great! The love triangle drama seems like a very telenovela-y plot so I hope they'll eventually remove Ferrán from the both of them. Again, I'm really trusting them here, might be a terrible choice but here we areeee. Our protagonists have also mentioned an alleged third season, so it's okay if MarYAna won't be endgame just yet, maybe they're saving that for the third one! :)

[bigskydreaming]

Hey, any comic recs to ensure that I get Dick Grayson character right? Other batfam included, if you're willing. I'm trying to make sure I don't write a character completely ooc, because that drives me up the WALL when I read that. However, since I dubbed you the #1 Dick Grayson person, I thought I'd ask you to make sure I do him justice rather than a smear campaign or something lol! Thanks! ALSO TELL ME YOUR THOUGHTS ABOUT THE TITANS SHOW! That's all xD

LOL thanks I appreciate it, but while I’m good for the rants, for actual comics recs I would go to the likes of @northoftheroad, @hood-ex, and @nightwingmyboi because they’re a lot better than I am at knowing where to find specific stuff and comprehensive reading lists! I tend to jump all over the place in terms of my go-to comics for Dick.....I’m always on about Robin: Year One but I’m like eh Nightwing: Year One is pretty trash tbh. I prefer pre-Flashpoint continuity overall but I did enjoy some of the early Nightwing Rebirth stuff and before that the pre-Forever Evil New 52 stuff had some good beats. But for the most part, my favorite Dick Grayson tends to be him as a member of teams like the Titans....he shines most in ensembles, I think, because his strengths ultimately are that like...he gets people, he knows how people work, and he knows how to get the most out of the people he’s with, how to make people gel and get in sync and become more than just the sum of their parts.

(Speaking of nightwingmyboi, haven’t seen them posting in awhile, anyone know what they’re up to? Hope everything’s okay!)

Which brings me to the problems with the Titans show. There’s a lot I like about it - Anna Diop and Ryan Potter in particular - and a lot I was never gonna like about it - I’m heavy on the Ugh why must Dick Grayson be a cop ever why is that a thing make it stop. And so while I don’t think Brenton Thwaites does like, a bad job with the role or anything, there was always kinda a ceiling on how attached to or invested in his take on the character I was ever gonna reach.

But Season 2. Oof. Let’s talk about Season 2, and how so many of the problems with it are identical to the problems that surround Dick in the comics, but also aren’t limited to just his character or DC and just as equally show up in all kinds of media. Like, I could have (and probably did) offer an identical rant about the role of Scott McCall in TW’s S5.

The problem is one I’ve kinda taken to calling in my head “The Ensemble Lone Wolf Effect.”

This is when writers have a character they nominally want to be part of an ensemble....but that they repeatedly go back to the well of “this character should however spend most of their time on their own, or are more natural on their own, or just wants to be on their own, or also sometimes they just deserve to be on their own cuz they suck for Reasons we decline to specify.”

But its that thing of wanting it both ways....believing a character honestly NEEDS to be a loner or off on their own for the sake of their story, but also still wanting to utilize them as part of an ensemble, not willing to actually MAKE them a solo character, and so it kinda creates this never-ending feedback loop wherein they pay lip service to the character being part of an ensemble, but that’s never really on display, which creates a lot of unnecessary conflict among characters that’s to NONE of their benefits.

(And honestly in the comics, you could apply this to pretty much all the Batfam at times...not just Dick. They do it with Bruce ALL the time, they’re doing it with Damian right now, did it with Tim with Red Robin, Jason most of the time he’s not with the Outlaws and Cass most of the time she’s not with Babs or Steph or the Outsiders. As well as Babs herself at times).

Basically what I’m talking about here is like....so much of the drama in S2....and specifically the parts that most every fan I saw had issues with....came about not organically, because it made sense for the characters to behave that way, but solely in order to launch a specific plot, that the writers clearly wanted for S2:

And that was Dick Grayson off on his own, at his lowest, facing his demons on a solo journey of self-discovery the writers clearly deemed necessary before he could find himself as Nightwing and rise to his most heroic self.

Now the thing is....this isn’t inherently a bad plot or a problem. The problem lies in how they went about it.

Because rather than looking at the overall story and saying okay, that’s what we want to do with Dick Grayson, that’s what we want for HIS story, now how do we get that and where do we take it from there, rather than looking at that as just a STARTING point, and engineering a plot that grows OUT of that.....

The writers just started out by viewing that as an ENDPOINT, and reverse engineered a way to get Dick TO that point first and foremost....at the expense of so many characters who then basically turned on him and held him solely responsible for the things many of them also had a hand in....purely to get him off on his own and isolated.

But that was never necessary!

Because Dick’s character contains multitudes when it comes to guilt and self-blame, everyone knows that. He never needed anyone else to blame him for what happened to Joey because he blamed himself. So the second they conceived of the plot “Slade wants revenge for something Dick at least blames himself for”.....they had all the ingredients needed for Dick to decide proactively that the best way to protect everyone was to put distance between him and them, that he should try and hunt down Slade on his own, solve this between just the two of them.

And that should have been the STARTING point, for that narrative journey of self-exploration, not that journey resulting as an ENDPOINT in and of itself from Dick being FORCED into a kind of isolation by the others all blaming him.

Because now see what ripple effects result:

Now, the other characters are just as able to focus on their own individual storylines as they were in the show, with the additional concern of wanting to ACTUALLY find Dick and figure out what’s going on with him or tell him they still want to help....without this in any way needing to distract them from their own storylines, practically speaking, or cut into Dick’s narrative alone-time, because as part of the equation you ALSO have Slade, who has his own wants and agendas, not to mention tactics. And Slade’s perfectly capable of and willing to work with others, or utilize the long game, or engage in a game of cat and mouse as a distraction...there are numerous ways that you could engineer a plot FROM these motivations that allows him to keep the rest of the Titans distracted and even targeted individually, without allowing them to group back up with Dick or Dick to even know that they’re in danger and that his attempts to avoid that backfired.

You want the characters isolated and divided? The PLOT can do that for you. You don’t need the characters to do that to themselves.

IMO, most if not all stories are meant to advance characters, first and foremost. Take Characters A-Z and leave them different from how you found them. Move them to a different position in their lives as much as anything else, from where they began. The goal is character DEVELOPMENT.

What this means, in my book, is that the plot should serve the characters, NOT the other way around. The plot should grow FROM the characters and what they would or would not do....the characters should never have to be forced to FIT INTO a plot.

That’s backwards.

There shouldn’t be any need to reverse engineer a certain starting point, characterwise.

Just like....start the plot, plotwise....and from the moment you first introduce a single plot element, prioritize how would the characters react and BUILD from there.

The only engineering you should need to do is how to get to an eventual END point....which is still all about the forward momentum, not backing your way into anything.

Its one thing to have an endgoal for your plot, a point in character or narrative development that you want characters to reach. But its all about perspective. About keeping that what you’re working towards rather than something that you like, have to reach before you can even really BEGIN.

Which is what Titans S2 did. The real GOAL of the season in terms of Dick’s storyline, was his solo journey of self-discovery. But there’s a million different ways they could have LAUNCHED that journey, without it having to be the forced and contrived outcome of events and character decisions that literally only existed to initiate a journey that never required a forced initiation.

And so all this narrative energy gets utterly wasted and expended on stuff that it just flat out doesn’t need to be spent on in the first place....instead of just putting that same energy to use building forward-facing storylines for ALL the characters, that don’t require contrived spats of disharmony when the goal of such moments isn’t even the disharmony but rather just that they’re kept apart, the end RESULT of the disharmony.

Imagine what S2 could have built if instead of wasting time, characterization and energy on getting to a point they could have simply started from if they’d simply looked at it that way and chosen to just....start. If they’d applied all that to building across the board, everyone’s story in service to their own character first and foremost, no tangled feedback loops making characters regress or cycle through the same behavior or narrative positionings over and over again in order to not get in each other’s way or cross paths at a time when the show didn’t want them to cross paths....because rather than make all these characters work at cross purposes, they’re all on the same page, they still want the same things....you’re simply engineering from their own natural characterizations and organic decisions and reactions, ways the PLOT can be utilized as a TOOL, to keep them moving forward in their own respective chapters, WITHOUT their characters having to be bent out of their natural shapes or forced into niches that don’t really suit them, just to keep them, PREVENT them, from more naturally or organically making a choice or action that would ‘get in the way’ of the plot.

Bottom line......the plot is supposed to be there to advance the characters, because the characters are what we come to stories for. The characters are who we invest in, relate to, ROOT for.

The characters aren’t there to advance the plot. We’re not here to yell yeah, I really hope the writers do whatever it takes with characters, no matter how backwards or unnatural it seems, just to get that sweet sweet and oh so specific ending we want that is in no way dependent on how invested or not we ACTUALLY are in the characters by the time it arrives, in order for it to actually be effective or not!

Lol. Y’know?

So yeah, that’s my biggest gripe with Titans so far. I’m still eager to see what happens between Kory and her sister, and although I’m not thrilled it seems to be becoming Batfam Straight Outta Gotham rather than like, Titans: The Show, I admit I am curious about what take they’ll go with for Babs. As I still pretty vividly recall that weird as hell Birds of Prey show the CW or UPN or WB or whatever it was at the time did for one season, where Babs was honestly not terribly adapted despite the show otherwise bearing like, zero in common with any existing DC property or character (do not even get me STARTED on their takes on Dinah and Helena, no, blehrrible, those were bad, those were like super bad)....anyway, I’m kinda curious even if it wouldn’t have been my choice for what direction the show should take. Not that I have a specific one in mind, just, yeah. And I also kinda would not hate if we got a new Roy Harper now, to replace the not!Roy of Arrow, because I don’t know him, no seriously, who is that, its not Roy Harper.

[icharchivist]

You remind me that DGM is depressing story that I kinda still am in touch but lost track what is happening long ago. I wish I could tell you "please stop breaking my heart", but I don't want to, because you keep reminding me of the plot I forgot about and I think I need it to know what the hell is happening there now xD

Aww omg :’DD i aim to please (with depressing stories)

tbh before the story came back of hiatus a few years ago i was about the same. But then hey, back from a hiatus? sign me up, and i reread the whole thing with a new, adult mind i didn’t have back then.

And while on one hand I understand far more the current plot now and can tie stuff much more easily.. man how much I feel like i’ve missed details before that. The devil is in the details with that story I swear. 

As for how sad it is... weeeeep it is so so so so so sad. 

But man. there’s something about reading it that actually fills me with hope and strength. 

It’s the typical sort of story where if you take everything as face value/as it’s being told to you, it’s just depressing. A war, both sides are terrible, the characters are always suffering in some ways, it’s just. Hard. all the time.

But when you read it... idk, the characters are so aware of this? That this world they’re in is depressing. And that their situation is hopeless. So the most rebellious thing they can do is hold on hope nevertheless. Is to have stupid laughs about nothing in between two battlefields. Not because they don’t take it seriously, but because they suffer so much from it they don’t... want to let it hurt them without a fight. And that if they can still laugh, hope, if they keep on walking, if they show compassion, if they cling to their relationships, to how they care for each other, for the world: they can make it.

I.. love dgm (and right now i’m in a very depressing arc so that’s not helping at all) but I just love how filled with hope a story that allign hopeless situations after another can be. 

I just. really love this story orz

Hope you get to enjoy the ride ;O

Take care!

[allicraveislove]

OT2018 CONCERT IN MADRID (aka the best thing I've ever experienced in my life)

I waited on the line for around four hours all by myself cause my friend came at 7. I had a general floor ticket so we waited there for another hour and a half in which Famous, Alba and Natalia's family came and everyone starting shouting out at them. That was really cool, especially when Rafi and Marina (Alba's mother and sister) and Elena (Natalia's sister) came and everyone went crazy with them.

(Btw everytime I say "people" or "crowd", I'm also including myself xd)

The show started with "This is me" which was so cool and we get to see one of their outfits for the first time and let me tell you THEY ALL LOOKED AMAZING. María was the first one to talk after that performance and she was as iconic as she always is and she was crying like well most of them were.

I don't remember exactly the order of the songs but basically:

-They all sang "This is me", "Spice up your life" (THEN POLKAAAA), "Don't stop me now", "Somos" (that was presented by Julia and Natalia cause they wrote the song together) and "Viva la vida".

-Alfonso sang "Pégate" and "Échame la culpa" with Sabela which made us dance a lot.

-África sang "God's a woman" and "Perfect" with Damion AND THEY KISSED.

-Joan sang "Bed I made" and "Another day of sun" with Marilia and they were both so adorable.

-Dave sang "Rock and Roll Bumerang" which was so fun and "Vivir" with Julia.

-Damion sang "Give me love" which was beautiful and "Perfect"

-Marilia sang "Hasta la raíz" and "Another day of sun".

-Carlos sang "Everything" and "Mi historia entre tus dedos" with Julia that made all the straight people and Julright shippers go mad and "El ataque de las chicas cocodrilo" with Miki.

-Noelia sang "Stone Cold" and her voice sounded so powerful and "Respect" with Alba.

-María sang "Voy en un coche" and it was LA HOSTIA and "1, 2, 3" with Famous.

-Marta sang "One more try" which was so beautiful, gosh I'm so obsessed with it and "September" with Famous which was really cool and they both look so good in their outfits.

- Miki sang "Una lluna a l'aigua", "El ataque de las chicas cocodrilo" and "La venda" and I gotta say he has a gift for getting people into a party mood even though during 90% of the show, we were in that mood

- Sabela sang "Benditas feridas" (This is my favorite song from hers so I was so happy she decided to sing it), "El cuarto de Tula" and "Échame la culpa" .

- Julia sang "90 Minutos" and she was crying during the performance so it was even more emotional than it would had been if she didn't cry, "MI historia entre tus dedos", "Vivir" and "Este amor ya no se toca".

- Famous sang "And I'm telling you I'm not going" and his vocals snatched my wig, "Uptown funk", "September", "1,2,3" and "Feel it still" with Natalia.

- Alba sang "She used to be mine", "La llorona", "Respect", "Toxic" and "Este amor ya no se toca"

- Natalia sang "Feel it still", "The Scientist", "Seven Nation Army", "Toxic" and "Este amor ya no se toca".

Now I gotta speak in detail about Alba and Natalia's performances because they were so awesome they deserve it (sorry not sorry I know I'm biased but I can't help it)

"She used to be mine" made me thought of that moment in Los Javis's classroom and it made me really emotional. "La llorona" was her best performance and I really think watching it live at least once gotta be on everyone's bucket list. I could write a 5000 thousand word essay about Nat singing "The scientist" while playing the piano and it wouldn't be fair because it can't be described. If you thought that watching it through a screen left you speechless, you have to experience it live. It was so raw and emotional and her fingers were shaking and gosh I can't find the words to describe it. On the other hand "Seven Nation Army" was the definition of the most epic performance ever. Listening to everyone singing "LOLOLOLOLOLOLO" was incredible. "Este amor ya no se toca" was soooo fun and when Julia and Alba shouted "MAMARRACHAS" (or mamarracheo) was the peak of humor. Finally let's talk about "Toxic". Some people were disappointed with it because the choreography changed and they weren't dancing as close or as sensual as the original performance but I don't totally agree with that. The energy that I felt was exactly the same or even more powerful cause yeah they didn't touch as much as the first one but their glanzes and their attitude (especially Natalia's which was a little bit of a plot twist cause Alba used to be more top than her) were way more intense.

My other favorite performances were "Voy en un coche", "La venda", "And I'm telling you I'm not going", "One more try" and "90 minutos".

So my friend recorded some performances but her phone camera is really bad so they aren't exactly worth sharing. I recorded some audios too that are basically me singing (shouting) along 😅😅😅. So I recommend you watching the performances from OT YouTube channel where they will post all of them in high quality or from some Twitter profiles like @bollodrameria or @NataliaLweb (or other profiles dedicated to every contestant). Another YT channel where you can watch the performances is "Cristina Fernández", I recommend you watching "Don't stop me now". Thank me later 😉

I paid 60€ for the ticket and they were SOOOO worthy. I would pay a lot more for the whole experience or well tbh I would pay a lot more just to see Natalia wearing those pants showing her abs and hips 😅🔥

[ayyyez]

Hello! I have a request. So my OC for Neji is from the Hidden Cloud and given everything that's happened the Hyuga's and Hidden Cloud don't really get along... So I was wondering if you could please write headcanons on how the relationship between the two would work? (Bonus points if you include the Hyuga clans reaction)

sorry this took so long! But yes of course, I love OCs ahhhh! I like to think of this gif as Neji dodging the Hyūga clans shit XD

Alright I’m going to just kind of put this in two sections: pre-chunin exams battle Neji and post, etc because I think his development is important to determine different reactions and would be interesting, also you could always just pretend the cloud participated in the chunin exams (maybe they were sent to suss everyone out? ohhh that would be a cool plot point but anyway)

 pre chunin exams battle Neji:

-First things first, Neji isn’t going to be trusting of anyone from another village because tensions are still high and it’s doubly so if they’re a cloud ninja because damn they were the reason his father had to die. There’s going to be instant resentment on his part and likely on the OC part too because he is a Hyuga. That being said, say the OC isn’t, in fact they don’t give a shit about the byakugan, instead they are just focused on getting what information they can on the leaf. The excellent thing about this is they both have each others attention in almost a rival aspect meaning they’ll be keeping close eyes on each other. 

-Now I don’t have details about your OC but let’s just say they’re bad ass, like I mean the kind that turns heads when they take someone down, this is going to hold his attention on them because they are a worthy opponent and he wonders what it would be like to take them on in a fight. 

-If they met as foes, on opposite sides during battle and go against each other and Neji realises, damn this OC is actually very skilled, maybe even learning a thing or two from them. They may even exchange words (maybe a little bit of smack talk) and because from what we have seen, Cloud Ninja are pretty proud and strong people it will be a conversation that sticks with Neji. 

-Nothing really romanticised will happen during this time period because they’re young, Neji is still a bitter boy and they are on opposite sides, however I added this section because them remembering each other will become important later when they meet as grown individuals. 

Post-Chunin/Before the war:

-Now years later they meet again, whether it’s in battle or on a mission, they are going to remember each other. Say it’s in battle, they will remember each other’s techniques and words causing them to kind of stop and reflect. Whether or not they are enemies at this time, the admiration and respect is going to be something that forms here. 

-At this point Neji has a different outlook on the world, a little less upfront resentment for the Hidden Cloud (not that it has completely gone) and a better understanding of people and choices. He now understands the actions of one should not determine his opinion of another. 

-The OC would have to have a personality that both compliments and challenges Neji to peak his interest. They would have to have a sense of strength, not necessarily physically but hey if they could hold their own in a fight against him then points for them, but also mentally. Someone who isn’t scared to call him out when necessary or even just provide a different POV with some level of intelligence. Even a quick wit would peak his interest.

-What would gather his attention is if they jumped willingly into battle to assist them, without any other reason than it is simply the right thing to do. If the OC (whether they admit it out loud) has a soft spot for helping those in need, stepping into situations to which others would normally turn a blind eye then that is going to set something of in Neji. 

-They would have to spend a lot of time together before a bond sets in and a friendship will come first. They would have to have similar frames of mind, by which I mean they would have to want the same things. Whether it’s an end to conflict, to protect their village, whatever common ground they have will help cement their connection. They would have to grow together too, maybe they once despised the others clan/village but they’ve moved beyond that instead realising they are one in the same as are all shinobi. A lot of intellectual discussions would be a thing too. 

-They would probably be someone who would push him to let his guard down, unconsciously done or not. Even pushing him to see things from a different perspective, teach him new things or just generally push him out of his comfort zone. It’s good for Neji, honestly. Even if they tease him into becoming flustered, deep down it sets off something within him. 

-It will take time for Neji to accept/come to terms with having a friendship with the OC because of where they are from. There will be a moment though where he will think “Naruto what would you do” and remember that the goofball always made friends with everyone everywhere he went. Neji can’t help but smile at that and think perhaps this is his chance to chose his own destiny with the OC. 

Alliance/War Time/After:

-They alliance is whats going to set in motion the beginnings of furthering their relationship. It’s not going to be during the war or anything but it’s going to serve as the point to make them realise how scary it would be to lose this bond they share, causing them both to sort of think about their own feelings. During the war, if they are in the same group then they will have each others backs the whole time. Working their moves together, eventually acting on instinct because they just know what the other is thinking on instinct.

-If they are separated after this or just in general then certain times (like night waiting periods) their minds would drift to each other, wondering how the other is doing. Neji would start to wonder what it is about them that makes him think of them so much. Slowly he will start to realise his feelings but will set them aside, promising himself that if they made it out of the war then he would definitely do something about it.

-When the moment happens (you know the thing where Neji throws himself in front of Naruto and Hinata) maybe the OC can be the one who saves him. I mean it’ll earn points with the Hyūga clan that’s for sure and it will serve as the awakening that yeah they both really care about each other. Enough to a) die for each other and b) save each other.

-Once everything is over and they return home they will make a point of spending A LOT of time together because you don’t go through something like that and come out unchanged. I think they will talk around the subject a lot, beat around the bush until Neji becomes this flustered mess and outright asks “Why did you save me” “Why did you risk yourself for me” then bam confession, kiss, sign sealed and delivered.

-The OC would probably be the one to stay in Neji’s village while he recovers, not that he wouldn’t go to the ends of the Earth for them, it’s just easier. Then after some time they will see how their relationship goes and decide what they want for the future. I can see the OC moving to the Hidden Leaf for him tbh.

The Hyūga reaction before the war:

-They would be all kinds of “HELL NO” up in this situation, especially at first. Hinata is going to be the only one who is like “Yeah go Neji” but I doubt she would really voice her opinion on the matter to the elders, maybe only Neji himself because confrontation isn’t in her nature no matter how unfair she thinks it is.

-I can imagine Hiashi being really uptight about it like “remember they’re the ones who kidnapped Hinata” or “They are just using you for our secrets” pulling out the big guns if Neji refuses to listen with the whole “What about what happened to your father” which Neji is just not going to take. He’s going to be mad, seething, because he has never once made a choice for himself, thinking everything is his destiny and now he thought things were changing.

-I feel like if Neji really loved the OC though (which he would because he would not bother going through all that nonsense for nobody) then he wouldn’t let them stop him. He would be really secretive about it at first, letting them ease into the idea of it happening, bringing up valid points of how it could benefit the clan for moving forward in the future, etc. He will also (not straight away) if pushed will tell Hiashi exactly how he felt about the OC because damn he can literally feel his heart breaking. 

The Hyūga reaction after the war (bc Neji lives ok):

-With everything that happened, the unity they felt, I don’t think the Hyūga clan would be as uptight about it, also Hinata is marrying Naruto so tradition is out the window with that one. Bonus points if Hiashi saw how bravely and gallantly they both fought in the war because damn do they work well together, it’s no wonder how they came to be together. Also if they saved him then there can be no questioning their loyalty, also it’s about time Neji got something for himself okay let him be happy.

I’m not sure if this is what you wanted but I hope you enjoy, I didn’t want to assume too much about your OC but yeah! 

[icharchivist]

Kind of a weird curiosity. But I remembers years ago when there was talk over what it'd be like if Allen had been a girl instead (I even read a girl!Allen fic about her time with Cross. It was surprisngly good. Probably because it had no shipping =p). For some reason I just start thinking about that topic again and I wonder how Allen and Lavi's dynamic would be? For the most part I don't see most of Allen's dynamics changing at all (except more (more) fanboys. Lol). But then I remembered Lavi -

2 and I think it's been pointed out Lavi treats females a bit differently. He doesn't seem to prank or tease them as much as the males (not that he's the perfect gentleman either. Komui Talks makes me wonder how innocent he actually is XD). Nor give them nicknames. With this is mind I wonder if Lavi would still act the exact same (chaotic prankster. Touchy feely physically. Retaliating over rough housing) or if he'd tone some things down but do other things more (maybe try to be more like a -

3 big brother initially if he kinda of bases off from Lenalee and Komui, w/o the complex, to get closer to a female Allen?). Lol, Idk. This is kind of more of a Lavi meta question since it's been stated Allen's relationship is utterly crucial to Lavi's character. Again, I'd be curious if a dynamic w/girl Allen would be slightly different or the exact same (in a you're an exception. And people bop him more because 'stop picking on a sweet girl' while Allen cackles menacingly from behind).

Oh my this is... interesting to think about.

I think it’s fair to start with... the fact that Allen was originally a girl. Or more- when Hoshino pinched the idea to Shounen Jump she made a one shot with a main character called Robin. Here you can find it. And Robin... was an akuma. A girl in a boy’s body. Long story short, you can read the one shot if you hadn’t yet - but ye that was originally the character we were going with.It’s to argue that it would make a point for Robin planned as a transwoman in those instances.

According to the Gray Arc however, when the series became serialized, her editors were against the idea, because “No one would care if a girl would be crying”. That’s litterally word for word the reasoning. So Hoshino had to scrap it.

and she mentions quickly that it was one of the reasons she had no idea what to do with Allen to start with. He kinda started with him being a revamp of her character. (What I admire a lot with Hoshino is how much Her Vision can be affected by little things? Like how Lenalee became an entiere different person in her head the moment her editors forced her to have her with long hair.)

There’s also the elephant in the room that considering the timeperiod it was originally written. DGM was originally published with some big name shounen, Shounen Jump had some control over some choices, would react to fan backlashes (Lenalee being forced to have her hair long again is among those btw) ect... I mean like I think people may take for granted that for instance, the Alma arc was a complete anomaly when it came out in 2009/2010. That it had like. Major effects on fanbases. I’ve seen so much dudebros yell at this arc while i was thriving my friend. And tbh before the Alma arc DGM was often lurped in the “basic Shounen” category. A lot of people argued about the tropes it had to follow or not, and if this sort of things had any impact on the writting of the manga earlier? I can see how things wouldn’t go smoothly.(The Alma arc rooted out all the bad dudebros i’ve known of though. I don’t even care what people’s reaction nowadays are to it, to me back then, from the experience i got from fandom, it was revolutionary when it came out.)

I’ve stired away sorry, but Lenalee also works better, bc I know Hoshino fought for the Alma’s arc and that her editors didn’t agree with the direction she was taking. But if you read some of the interviews of the Grey Arc specifically, you see that Hoshino was constantly told how to rewrite Lenalee to fit a male audience sort of. Her editor pushed her to have long hair bc “that’s the kind of idol he found cute”, there was a complete backlash when Hoshino managed to cut her hair, the fans supported the editors, Hoshino talks all about it with such a bummer because “her Lenalee” had short hair. (also during that specific interview her editor calls her a moron. Later on she got called very annoying for sassing her editors after they called her dumb when she had a writter block writting the 14th song, and she sassed them asking for help going “since you’re far more intelligent than me-”. And the editor failled hard, Hoshino didn’t even use his writting, and the editor insulted her for being bossy. Needless to say I’ve since then been filled with anger with how the early days of DGM must have been hard on Hoshino).

I’m forced to make this preface because I truly think it would have affected Allen’s writting had he been a woman. 

If i’m optimistic i would like to think that nothing much would change because Allen’s writting kinda transend genders. But If i’m realistic i know it wouldn’t have happened.

As for Lavi specifically (wouh 7 paragraphs in and i’m finally touching the point of this post) the thing is that he also has a soft spot for women. (I mean i personally would argue he describes Dug as “cute” far too much in his novel to be 100% straight but he at least show his attraction to women more easily in the manga). 

And ye he does tend to treat the women differently but he also doesn’t... have a lot of women to be around to. I mean Lenalee whom he respects (and can be worried Komui will kill him if he tries anything), Miranda that he kinda met at the wrong time? He was always so overly serious around her because he was griefing and we didn’t see him with her at all since he got better. Aside then from his occasional crushes, that he does let himself feel, he didn’t really have an opportunity to spend more time with those women.

My point is just that the women he had met don’t help us set up a patern about how he treats them more casually: in term of pranks for exemple. Like in the day-by-day, we only have Lenalee and Miranda, and pranking Lenalee would be really putting a target on him to be murdered by Komui, while I would argue that Miranda’s anxiety (and the circumstances in which Lavi met her) would make him go softer on her. It doesn’t mean we know for sure he wouldn’t tease a woman in his peer surrounding in others circumstances.

I would love to think he would make an exception for Allen if only because of the timing: He was still handling Dug’s recent death and I think even if Allen was a woman the parallelisms would be there for him to be bitter. 

I want to think that because of that Lavi would still have teased Allen normally like he teases guys. But it’s not impossible that he would have treated Allen differently.

I think eventually like... If Lavi recognizes his soft spot for women (that it is with his strikes and whatever) he might actually be more ready to keep a guard up around them? Like I personally think he has a major soft spot for Lenalee but it took eventually Allen shaking everything up for him to acknowledge this soft spot. That he would have otherwise just protected himself against.

That, the reason our Allen was so effective was that Lavi really, really didn’t expect anything like that. and I think expectations would have been his doom, and I am inclined to think if allen had been a woman, he would have had some expecations.

Regardless: The major plot points that changed Lavi’s mind on Allen were emotionally driven and would still have had the same impact had Allen be a girl, i’m convinced of that. 

So it’s only on how he would treat that Allen more casually. And tbh... considering how vicious Allen can be, I feel like if Lavi treated her “more softly”, Allen’s reactions would probably have ended up with Lavi going “nevermind she’s a prick” and tease her just like he teases our Allen. I mean just taking the Vampire’s arc, with a whole joke about when Allen got bitten and that Lavi was lowkey scared because of that that Allen would turn into a vampire- in the term of, Allen being a danger to him. And Allen therefore sassing him because Lavi was being a moron. I don’t see how the gender would have changed anything, and if Lavi did treat Allen softly “as a girl”, I think this sort of things would have stopped him dead in his track as in “ye no she’s a PRINK where is my sharpy i’m gonna draw on her face.”

But that’s wishful thinking. I honestly don’t know and I think a lot of this post is more how i’m tryng to reason it. 

I’m sure more people would be more able to pinpoint exactly the characters and how it would work. I think i can’t ignore what went down backstage in term of the women’s writtings  so i cannot help but let it affect how I would see the manga as written by Hoshino be affected by it. But also perhaps if Hoshino had managed to keep her female main character, she could have gone more “fuck you” to her editors and manage to flesh her out to a point where half of what i’m worrying about wouldn’t even matter. 

If we divorce the story from the backstage stuff, perhaps there would be a complete different take to have - and it’s cool if people get to explore it. I am just... not the one placed for that.

I used to be good at transformative media, like headcanons and fics, and let those a little take over, but I got kinda insecure of my interpretations so i started to rely on canon a lot more. I already get insecure when I push my interpretations of canon too far. So something that really get me out of my comfort zone is not where you’d find the best answers about that, i’m sorry. 

But hey i hope this ask made sense? If not for the second half, at least for the half where I mention the backstages issues.

Take care!