#esp one not named gilbert

[aquagirl1978]

Aren't they cute?

[fireemblems24]

Azure Gleam Ch 7

Man . . . my "only use one unit" thing is really going to make this . . . interesting. . . .

STORY

Man, I use Dimitri, Rodrigue, and Dedue. And now all 3 are gone. Nooo. Whyyyyy. That's ok. I'll just grind Ingrid, Sylvain, and Felix up a few levels if I can't catch them up bc Dimitri's MIA. If I can just give them a few levels, we'll be good lol.

So Sreng caused trouble, but not as much as it sounded like. Relief that Sylvain's dad is ok.

Yeah, they're luring Dimitri into something, aren't they? Cornelia? Is this why Dimitri's MIA? Story stuff.

Shez is like let's go Felix. I agree.

Unless this soldier is a liar.

Love seeing Felix get to call shots for real though.

Sylvain's like we have to get to Dimitri. Felix says Dimitri manages to give him a headache when he's not even around, lamo. Accurate. The Dimilix is strong in this one and I'm not angry about it.

MAP/SIDE BATTLE

Yep, like I thought, Rodrigue, Dedue, and Dimitri are gone. But I CAN level anyone up to 30 where Dimitri is, so I'm fine. I'll just give Shez and co a little boost. Plus, it's a good excuse to use Felix, Ingrid, and Sylvain a bit. Mercedes too.

"King Awakens" is the chapter name. Looking forward to this. Something is obviously about to go down. I'm worried though. This is obviously a parallel to the AM chapter where Dimitri retakes Fhirdiad in AM, so what happens this time then?

Kinda torn about this. Some of me wants it to be another "Dimitri the good king" kinda moment, like a big positive growth thing going on for him. But another part of me wants Dimitri's proper villain arc. But I just don't see that happening unless they killed off Dedue and Rodrigue, but if that happened, I would've gotten more comments. Either way, I'm stoked about this.

Petra's thoughts on Sreng is interesting, esp since she called it peace between Brigid and the Empire despite her not willingly being there.

Man, I feel there is just so much more going on in this route than the other two, with Miklain, the mystery of what's happened to Dimitri, drama with Sreng and the Empire that's a consistent threat (and not like what just happened in GW).

Duke Ifan sounds like a badass, people are like "no way she'd let someone invade." I wish we'd get to see her, but since she's a woman she won't get a unique face, that's reserved for Dads only.

Felix's dialogue was interesting. It starts like he's repeating one of Dimitri's lines about the dead and ends with him understanding and sympathizing with Dimitri more now that he knows what it's like to lead.

I'm really interested to see where this leads for those two. I'm so happy Felix is getting all this attention. Man, my Dimilix heart is loving AG so far.

Of course it's Cornelia and the Western lords. They're the reason we haven't heard from Dimitri :(

So that bitch threatened the people and Dimitri surrendered to protect them 😭😭😭😭😭 Of course he did.

But if they haven't heard from Rodrigue or Dedue, that means they got away. Gilbert is probably ok too.

Will Dimitri still have two eyes after this? Or is he going to get one taken out again 😭😭😭

Shez is so worried 😭😭😭

Felix called him "our fearless leader" that's not the first time I don't think. You know, I'll take that over boar.

So we'll be doing the prison break this time. Cornelia better not have hurt him unlike last time. Or that this doesn't cause him to "snap," because this is like the only route that's different so far. I love that story line, but I want something new.

Oh, Dimitri. I wish he would just behead Cornelia. He could crush her head with his hands probably. You know the only reason he's not is to protect his people 😭😭😭😭😭

Rodrigue and Dedue are trying 😭😭 Don't worry, Felix, Shez, and everyone are coming.

She's boasting that she'll hang Dimitri in front of all of them. God, I can't wait to kill her. And get Dedue, Rodrigue, and Dimitri back.

I reallllly am dying to see this reunion. Felix is going to let Dimitri hear it lamo.

Lamo, Dimitri's like "I almost appreciate such bald faced sadism." Cornelia's like "such flirting."

She's also like "you deserve this for reforming things." What a bitch.

You know Dimitri is probably blaming himself for this. For pissing off the Western lords, who are unquestionably awful. Someone get in there before he gets too far into his own head 😭😭 Well, someone other than Cornelia, who sure loves to gloat. She's so evil. I love it.

Dimitri gets all the best villains Cornelia (hammy fun villain) and Edelgard (interesting, personal, complex villain) are wayyyy more cool than "exists" Nemesis and CF!Rhea (Rhea is awesome, but my God they made her one-dimensional in CF). Not gonna lie, though, it would be nice for Dimitri to get to punch TWSITD as a whole out on purpose and hoping this game will let him.

Catherine just mentioned Shamir. Is her girlfriend showing up soon? Please tell me they have supports in this game.

Poor Ashe's like "our King is suicidal." Poor dude can't catch a break this game.

Sylvain's ready to lecture Dimitri about his recklessness. Good.

SYLVAIN & MERCEDES B SUPPORT

This is their only one. I'm bummed.

The boys and girls are flirting!!

Mercedes is engaged? To someone from Gautier? It's just her father again.

Mercedes has no interest in this guy. It would've been pretty funny if she got engaged to some random guy lol.

Mercedes is a confirmed heart breaker, getting tons of proposals.

Sylvain just proposed to Mercedes lamo. He's offering to marry her just to block anyone else so Mercedes can live how she wants. 😭

HOW THE FUCK IS THAT THEIR ONLY SUPPORT 😭😭😭😭😭

They had, 1, 1 support, and it was a better romance story than most novels. 😭😭😭

The background music was so romantic too.

Guys, I propose all the Blue Lions just enter a poly marriage together, then I won't have to ever sort out all my ships.

SHEZ & INGRID B SUPPORT

So far just talking about some mercenary crew. Shez's old captain used to be in there.

This merc was super loyal to a noble and would help out with even farming and building stuff. Wonder where this is going.

Shez's whole point to this was telling Ingrid no one is tied to their role and can do what they want. The whole Ingrid struggling with being a noble and knight.

Oh, cool! Ingrid's grandmother knew Tobias. Nice tie in.

SYLVAIN & INGRID B SUPPORT

Oh, this is their first one!!!

Sylvain brought up someone acting up and Ingrid suspects Sylvain is talking about himself lamo. He's not.

Ingrid is just satisfied as fuck, because Sylvain now has to deal with someone like she used to have to deal with him, lamo.

Sylvain feels pressure to feel like the mature one of the group. Ah, that's cannon!!! Everyone always suspected he felt like he had to be the older brother to everyone.

Ingrid is just soaking this in. Queen deserves it.

Awww, Ingrid said she would've just abandoned him if she was really miserable and actually seemed to enjoy covering for Sylvain, on some level.

Basically the whole "we aren't kida nymore. We've grown up, hunh." Stuff. I love it. This is why you end up loving all of the Faerghus Four. Because they all build off each other soooo much.

HAPI & BERNADETTA C SUPPORT

Bernie's bug hunting. And when Hapi talks to her assumes Hapi's trying to kill her for no reason. So typical. Bernie is this close to being a good character is the game took her seriously.

They both enjoy carnivorous plants. I think Hapi just likes eating them though lamo.

Yep these two are not having the same conversation.

SHEZ & MERCEDES B SUPPORT

They worked together, and now are having a tea party together. Shez wanted to go out to eat. But Mercie is a lady of class and wants tea.

Mercie likes her sweets.

Ohhhh, Shez's mom incoming. The treats reminds Shez of something her mom used to make.

Sounds like Shez's mom lived the #cottagecore life, picking food from trees to make and living in a forest.

I think Mercie wants to live in the past days. She asks if Shez wants to and seems like she misses living with her mom 😭😭😭

Mercie. No. Why do all your supports get the sad face?

SHEZ & SYLVAIN B SUPPORT

Sylvain's studying magic hardcore. Probably to try and fix the Crest only gets access to super weapon thing.

Also gets to be the Sylvain is actually smart support.

Oh, classic fantasy trope, learning how to weaponize fireworks. Mat Cauthon says hi, Sylvain.

Sylvain's out here about to invent guns to Crests are useless. Empire, you guys are up shit creek if Sylvain invents guns, lamo.

I want guns, AG only route where everyone gets guns and this game ends realllllll fast.

Miklain and Sylvain have different moms?

Sylvain admires Sreng. Good. That's promising for the future.

Oh, Shez is actually smart! Recognizing that when the king shows power (lends Sylvain's family soldiers), then everyone else loses power.

Sylvain loves the Kingdom 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 he's like "he's a half-frozen stretch of dirt, but it's MY half-frozen stretch of dirt. And only home I've got."

Eat shit every "Sylvain makes so much sense in CF" person.

SHEZ & ASHE B SUPPORT

More Shez's mom talk. She thinks her mom was weird and mysterious.

Mystery mom was really smart, knew a lot, and knew magic.

I'm glad some of these are actually about Shez. Helps flesh her out so much. I actually really like Shez.

Awww, Ashe is going to help Shez investigate. Because he knows how it feels. Poor baby looked for info on his parents and couldn't find much. 😭😭😭

Blue Lions need a "sadness incoming" warning on all their supports, ISTG. Or maybe I'm just way too attached lamo.

Ashe is willing to visit the village with Shez in the future to help her find her mom.

This was so fucking wholesome, guys. 😭😭😭😭😭😭

SETETH & FLAYN B SUPPORT

I cannot believe they don't have an A support. Whyyyyy?

Seteth is like "Flayn, you're making yourself useful! How dare you!"

Man, it's weird hearing her call him brother.

Ok, I'll cut Seteth some slack. He's terrified Flayn will fall into an endless sleep again. Poor dude. Right when he lost his wife too.

This support would be so confusing to someone who didn't play Houses.

😭😭😭😭😭😭 Flayn is afraid of sleeping because of this. Poor, baby.

Oh, finally! She called him father 😭😭😭😭😭😭

Poor baby Flayn just wants peace.

They're also so scared of what will happen if they lose the war. Oh, God, I can't keep playing Edelgard's route.

"If I lost you, I'd love the very meaning of my life." - Seteth to Flayn.

Flayn's like I'll eventually grow up, dad. lol. But she won't leave him all alone.

Don't worry, Seteth. I will literally never leave you supportless.

MAIN BATTLE/STORY

Hyped for this one, guys.

I don't want to deal with Cornelia's weapons, ugh.

RODRIGUE AND GUSTAVE ARE OK 😭😭😭😭😭😭 Ifan is alright too. She sounds badass.

But what about Dedue? And Dimitri?

Man, Rodrigue is such a badass.

Western Lords aren't alone. Let me guess, TWSITD? And those two are creating a diversion?

Annette told Felix off, lamo. Saying they need to go help them out. But Felix just wants to rescue Dimitri.

But they know Dimitri won't leave the prison until the people are safe.

Ashe mentioning Dedue. All the points. 😭😭😭😭😭😭

See Felix take command like that does things to me.

Dedue and Rodrigue!!! They're back 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

Cut scene in the middle of a battle.

Dimitri's like why did you show up. Idiot. He won't leave though 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 He's too worried about the people. Plus, he's Dimitri, so.

He's like Idk if I die. Dedue is like shut the fuck up, Dimitri. 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 "I will not allow it." (is what he actually said and holy hell in a deep, badass voice) Dedue just told Dimitri off. Good. So now we know that Dedue can and will push Dimitri around if need be.

And then hand holding a spear. Because that's not suggestive.

Oh, badass Dimitri in the cut scene. And Dedue got a moment.

OMG. Guys, is that fanservice? I think I just got fanserviced.

They somehow made it Dimilix and Dimidue in the same scene.

Ok, but this game has been serving Dimilix, but can we note Dimitri didn't take Felix's hand? Dedue had to like storm in and put his hand over Dimitri's and force him to pick up the weapon? And it was DEDUE who made Dimitri change his mind? Felix got to lead the mission. Both getting the spotlight.

Guys, like, I need to rewatch that like a thousand times. Because we also can't skip the Dimitri and Dedue being complete badasses afterwards shots.

DIMITRI'S BACK. I CAN USE HIM AGAIN. Ohmygod I forgot how strong he is. 37 strength. WTF Dimitri.

Margrave Gautier just showed up. Holy hell this is epic.

Wait, Cornelia just talked about tearing Dimitri's eyes out. Does this confirm that bitch took his eye in Houses?

Dimitri finished her off with Atrocity. Seems fitting.

Cornelia's like don't kill me! Or the truth will never be known. Dimitri's like ofc, bitch.

So Cornelia arranged most of the pieces of the Duscur. So glad Dimitri's finally getting to ask all these questions 😭😭😭😭😭😭

Edelgard knows what happened to Patricia? Or is Cornelia blowing smoke?

This bitch is about to warp, ugh. Though, that means I get to kill her again, so not too upset.

Man, is AG really going to focus on Dimitri discovering the truth about Duscur and fighting TWSITD because if that's the whole plot . . . I'm so happy 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

But like, why does Dimitri get the whole new plot? Edelgard and Claude are getting crumbs. Oh well.

Dimitri, Rodrigue, and Dedue have rejoined you. Helllll yesss.

Dimitri ready to go after Cornelia. But Felix saying to chill.

Ohhhh Felix got words for Dimitri this time. He's yelling at Dimitri for taking on too much by himself. Calling Dimitri out for not listening.

Ingrid's like, Felix stop. Felix isn't listening.

Dimitri just called killing Rufus "murder." Like stawp. Dimitri, it's self-defense at that point. I swear to God Dimitri would find a way to blame himself for cancer 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

He didn't choose any of this 😭😭😭😭😭😭

He wants to take all the guilt for Edelgard's and Rufus's and TWSITD's actions. Baby, no. 😭😭😭😭😭😭

Felix is telling everyone else to tell Dimitri to knock it off lol.

OMG, I'm so glad for this scene. They're all telling Dimitri not to shoulder everything alone. 😭😭😭😭😭😭 Guys, this is the missing scene from AM that I was desperate for.

Guys, this route is like 10000000x better than the other two.

I need to write some kind of hybrid AG/AM route.

Cornelia's in pain. Good. She's getting the Western lords whipped into a frenzy lamo.

And you know what, no Byleth or Jeralt! I'm so fucking tired of them showing up every. single. battle. Good on AG to knock that off for at least 1 chapter. It gets fucking old.

God, this chapter. I'm going to be thinking about this for a long time.

Man, I really am tempted to just drop the other two routes and only play AG. 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

xxx

[kudzucraft]

I've got thoughts about this.

First of all. I am NOT AUTHORIZED OR QUALIFIED TO GIVE LEGAL ADVICE. I am not acting with or under any legally certified authority. This is a necessary disclaimer. Do not take anything I say as unassailable fact. Always consult the advice of a legal expert, not some bitch on Tumblr.

that SAID. The Lanham Act is bigger than just "don't use trademark or get sued." bitches. it happens to have protections.

Perhaps the trademark holders might squint hard at (15 U.S.C. § 1052(a)) and wonder if their TM "Consists of . . . matter which may disparage or falsely suggest a connection with persons, living or dead, institutions, beliefs, or national symbols, or bring them into contempt, or disrepute." There's also (15 U.S.C. § 1052(f)), which establishes that a mark can only be registered if the registrant can prove its mark is distinct, non-generic, and non-deceptive, and that they have a right to use it/have begun using it in commerce. They certainly claimed they had that right in their USPTO application (this is publicly searchable, btw).

In addition, marks that may cause dilution by blurring or tarnishment can be refused or found illegitimate. If the Foundation intends to litigate against all uses of the name in any association with any rainbow merchandise even when it uses unique designs, does not use the trademark in the design, AND links to the Gilbert Baker foundation, I'm not certain if they can avoid dilution by blurring. They are outright blurring themselves.

Furthermore. If one could prove that they had used the name "Gilbert Baker" in association with flags, or any other textile merchandise, before the Gilbert Baker Foundation started selling flags labeled Gilbert Baker, any (theoretical) case would probably have issues. It would be ideal if these sales took place between Mr. Baker's death and 6/9/2019, for copyright reasons.

But all copyright stuff aside. This is such a legal asspull. I hate it so much, and I studied under a lady who talked about how much she Just Loved serving take-down notices to free YouTube tutorials on her company's software.

The first communication here is clearly the form of a Cease-And-Desist letter. Well, the "infringer" ceased and desisted, complying with the request. The copyright holder then requests...damages? That's fucking unheard of. Girl!! What damages!! You'd have to prove the damages to your Brand Name--and you're saying this to someone who sold so little?? And you're asking for an out-of-court settlement without even a mediator?!? There's no word for that other than a fucking shakedown.

I'm not going to suggest something like "hire a lawyer" because lawyers cost fucking money. However: many larger courthouses, especially in major cities, will offer free legal counseling/self-advocacy services if you arrive earlier in the day, esp. before noon. If nothing else, they'll have resources on legal terminology, form letters, and how to tell someone to shove their head up their own ass but, like, in legalese.

Malding rn. Applicable damages under the Lanham Act. The Lanham Act barely let you copyright that shoddy, badly-constructed excuse for a trademark application. The only reason you're alive right now is because the Names Clause doesn't come into play if the person who held the name died before you copyrighted it. Vultures.

Edit: they canNOT legally claim ANY right to damages from sales that took place before 2019. THE FACT THAT THERE ARE ANY SALES FROM PRIOR TO 2019, AND THAT YOU HAVE RECORDS OF THEM, IS A POTENTIAL THREAT TO THAT VERY TRADEMARK.

welp.

Guess we'll be removing the Gilbert Baker 1977 Pride Flag from our site, along with the links to the Gilbert Baker Foundation.

Heads up to other queer artists: if you use the original 1977 flag in anything, definitely don't make any reference to who created it in your listings or you might get threatened by the Gilbert Baker Foundation! :)

[icharchivist]

her being the True King’s daughter explain why she’s so protective of him and therefore i give her a pass for how shitty she has been about it. Most likely she’s not in a situation to know any better and just need a wakeup call that her father sucks.

that being said, IT MEANS IT’S PHOLIA’S LITTLE SISTER?????? HOLY SHIT.

Pholia has talked before about how much she used to love her sister and that, when she was locked in a cell at her father’s order, her sister would come and read stories to her and that’s how Pholia learnt about the outside world. In a sense, they seemed close.

But man idk i’d think that knowing her older sister had been locked in a cell for decades (if i believe my math) would be enough for her to not specifically trust her father. but at the same time she seems to believe that the True Knight trusts Pholia more than her which, if we believe Pholia, is either 1) him genuinely trusting Pholia once he made her his personal weapon after emotionally abusing her by keeping her locked for decades, probably thinking that his manipulation would be enough power on her to trust her, 2) him pitying the two girls against one another and emotionally manipulating his younger daughter by twisting how the relationship with the eldest was.

Oh BOY THAT’S SHITTY.

Ok want to fight the True King More now.

[violettduchess]

I saw that you listed gilbert, chevalier, clavis and leon as your favorites - what are some of your favorite things about them (moments from their routes, favorite events, etc)

Ohhh good question anon!

Gilbert: I will be totally honest and say I am not really following the Japanese events and things with him in them. I get bits and pieces of them through osmosis from mutuals who do, but the most I've learned about him has come from reading other prince's routes, esp Clavis. I was drawn to him first of all because of how he looks: the eyepatch, the black and gold, the fact that his name and country are clearly references to Germany (I married a German). And I had the freedom to sort of make things up when writing him since we didn't know much about him. Now, I really interested in seeing him as a suitor, will things match up to what I have imagined him to be like or will he be very different, etc. He's as intelligent as Chevalier, he's ruthless, he's always hungry, he's a manipulator but he's in this game which means he does find love with Emma so how does that happen? Its intriguing and he's endlessly fascinating.

Chevalier: he is a gorgeous man but more than that, I am really drawn to the idea of someone being so intelligent but incredibly awkward and uncertain when it comes to emotions and matters of the heart. Its a really interesting juxtaposition. There is one moment in his route where you find out that not only does he care, he cares so very deeply about things. (I dont want to spoiler it but if you have read his route, its sort of the turning point for Emma and her feelings towards him).

Leon: Leon, on the surface, is the good guy, the all-around perfect prince. He's handsome and brave and noble and just and will lay down his life for someone he loves. But what really got my attention was his backstory (which damn I wish had been handled more in depth) The minute we found out his origins and what challenges he faced in his life, my respect and love for him grew.

Clavis: I did not expect to fall for Clavis. He can be a bit exhausting. But then as I read his route, as you learned more about his background, his mother, his relationship with Chevalier. As you got past the act and got to the heart of who he is....he is one of the noblest, bravest, kindest, sweetest, more beautiful princes who really just needs someone to love him tremendously and fiercely and show him how he is worthy of that love.

I know I didn't get really into specifics like you asked (I have a terrible memory so I can read a route like, 4 times and still forget what happened. Ask @aquagirl1978 lol I read Chevalier's dramatic ending and did not remember how he got hurt) but these are the reasons I love these 4 the mostest 💜

[sexysilverstrider]

i just. wow....where do i start?

first off: this game was 1 of my most awaited games this year. when i finished piofiore 2 years ago i love the game to bits. its so dramatic and angsty and surprisingly has some funny moments that cools down the tragedic content that kept spiralling one after another. so when i found out it got localized i was THRILLED! years went by and i played other otome games to pass the time and when i finally got the chance to get and play the sequel lemme just say. it exceeded every expectation i have and remindes me just how much i love the series.

this is literally the game so far that i didnt speedrun a route. i love ALL the love interests. even my least fav LI has an amazing route tht left me reading for more until the end. all the characters are fleshed out and their developments were leagues leagues LEAGUES better than i hoped (esp yang coz i never expected him to mellow down yet still be in character). i love liliana so much. she may be the soft timid MC but she has a strong fire in her and the strength that neither the LIs have. shes so lovable and kind and i will protect her with my life.

all the villains truly live up to their names: villains. i love yuan the most from voice to character but he still scares me but i love him. i can fix him. sebastian. scares THE HELL out of me. criminal minds level that psycho. raul and teo really did well on making me hate them lmao same for stinky eugene

as for the routes of my preference?

1. yangs route. i do feel sad coz everyone else died but i love the lao shu fam and seeing yang change for the better for lili feels SO satisfying. he wants to be better for lili. he doesnt even realize hes being better for lili. he shows his love for lili with his actions. his confession is stl so damn romantic. liliaba also is so strongwilled which makes yang love her more and more. his tragic end is the only tragic end in this game that made me CRY. no matter good or bad end yang truly loves liliana. will redo yangs route like how i did his route in the 1st game

2. alternativa finale route. like how i love the finale route in the first game i love the finale route in this sequel. i just love found family tropes in situations that seem clearly impossible (a nun 4 mafia bosses and an assassin) i love how everyone loves lili and since lili loves them all they arent mauling each other lmao. the scene where all saved lili is my fav. the scene where lili bravely confront sebastian is my fav. yang is so fcking hilarious in that route n to see him fight together w the others so VERY satisfying

3. henris route. im so happy he got a full route and wow. the criminal minds style storyline really caught me off guard. but i love it! its still founs family but henris alive and happy and im happy :') also henris tragic end hurts me but damn those cgs 👀

4. yangs alt route. its like the tip of an iceberg to theie dynamic hehe also i just want the other mafia bosses and orlok lose their shit once they found out lili likes yang

5. dantes alt route = gilberts alt route = nicolas alt route = orloks alt route. theyre all happy n alive n thats important to me.

6. dantess route = orloks route = gilberts route = nicolas route. all routes are so interesting and fun to read!!

all in all. this is by far my most favourite otome game ever. 11/10. infinity/10 even. i love this game sososososososososo much!!! this fits all the criterias of a perfect otome game for me. it has all i want and more ♡

[noyasboxdye]

Aone Takanobu x black! gn! reader hcs

Notes: I've been waiting to write for him but I just couldn't think of ideas but alas I finally came up with something! Sorry if these are shitty I've been exhausted in every single form all week.

Pairing: Aone Takanobu x gn! reader

WARNINGS: black reader, gender neutral reader, NSFW, pre & post timeskip

General hcs

I think that when he was younger he was told by a friend who he looked up to a lot that he talk to much and his voice is annoying so because of that he doesn't talk much but I feel like he would talk a lot more around you. Especially if y'all were friends first

He has a sister who used to paint his nails when she was younger and bc of that he kid of just

He enjoys making flower crowns

He has this lake near his house and it's a really secluded area so people usually aren't over there and that's his safe space

He would like the movies "my girl" and "what's eating gilbert grape"

The reader has non cut/longer hair

He loves watching you do it

He also gets really excited when you ask him to help you

He knows all the products you use from going on trips or target or the hair store with you

He likes watching you comb/blow dry your hair because he like watching your hair unshrink

He likes taking your hair out of a twist out or braids especially if your hair is big in an afro

His head massages are top tier bruh

He'll oil your scalp

He'll buy you bonnets/durags with you asking

He carried around scrunchies/hair ties just in case yours brakes or something

The reader has cut/short hair

Y'all go to the barber together

He loves going to the barber with you because of several reasons the main one being he likes how big you smile when you talk to ur friends there and the other being he loves the music

He likes tying your durag for you

When quarantine started and you couldn't go he learned how to cut hair so you don't look homeless

He was actually pretty good at it

Y'all still go to the barber though because he doesn't know how to do designs and shit

Pre time skip

Y'all met because you would both take the same train home

You sat next to him on the train and you noticed him from your class so you said hi

He would start going to your games/performances/debates at school and you would go to his

No one ever knew that y'all were dating until you dropped off his lunch and kissed him

They lowk lost their shit

Your parents love him so he would always be over even if you weren't at the house he would just be talking to your parent(s) about school and their shows etc.

He would get really excited when you wore his hoodies or jersey

Post time skip

He loves when you rub his arms and back after he gets finished with work

He makes you a little snack to go with your lunch every day

He bought a turtle off impulse

He named it dory

He usually rubs your thighs

He lets you sit in between his thighs if you ask him to

If you have siblings they absolutely love him omg it's so cute

He has stretch marks and when you kiss them he gets all flustered and shit and it's really cute

NSFW

His thighs are really sensitive in certain areas so if you apply a certain amount of pressure while rubbing it he'll moan and turn into a blushing mess

He does really moan its more so breathy whimpers and groans

He loves being choked

He's very submissive and such a good boy as well

He barely ever acts like a brat because he never needs too

He rarely gets horny but when he does it's for hours

He loves being treated like a rag doll esp with how big he is he loves how small you make him feel

He also loves short doms it's so pleasingly humiliating for him

He likes bondage but only ropes no cuffs or anything. He wants to see those bright red marks that occurred from him squirming around too much

On the rare occasion that he does act like a brat, it's really bad

He'll flirt with his co-workers, grind his ass against your crotch, give you hand jobs under the table, rub your thigh his hand getting dangerously close to your area

He always pushes you to the point where you have to leave early from whatever you're doing

[jostenneil]

hi! Thank you so much for taking the time to recommend all those small town books and adding your thoughts and descriptions of them! It helps so much. I’m adding them to my list, I’m so excited! Also, if it’s no trouble, can you also recommend me dramas or tv shows with this narrative? I’ve been wanting a new show to watch :D

SOOO as i am sure you've seen over the course of the past few days,

hometown cha cha cha - a new gem that is absolutely fantastic to me. it's about a dentist who loses her job and takes a trip to a seaside city for some perspective, only to end up moving there and set up a dental clinic in semblance of a fresh start. the problem is that she's a city girl, and this isn't the city. there's a lot of preconceived notions that she has about the people in town, as do they about her, and so far the show has been a slow and steady practice in the kindness and patience we learn to emulate when meeting new people and understanding that they are as troubled and hopeful in their own lives as we are. also, the romance thus far is positively swoonworthy. i went into an emotional crisis last night over it

into the ring - another kdrama fave that i was positively obsessed with last year. it centers on the politics of a small town, and how a girl who is notorious for making (rightful) complaints to city hall ends up running as a district representative. initially this is only something she does bc she's in desperate need of money, but the mc has so much inherent love for her town that she ends up being a pretty proactive representative anyway. her relationship with one of the people who fields complaint calls at city hall is also a focus, and it's one of the most tenderly developed romances i've seen in a long time. there's just a lot of care and attention to detail in the show that makes your wholehearted investment worth it. every character brings something unique to the table

anne with an e - obviously if i was going to rec the book series then i was going to rec the show as well lol! if we are going to be completely technical then admittedly i do think the sullivan movies have the best portrayals of anne and gilbert as well as the best depiction of their romance (esp in the sense of accuracy, the third movie aside), but the more recent show i think does a better job of staying true to the books' nature of investing in a full cast. it really captures that homey, small town feel that i so love, and i think it expands on the cast in ways that other adaptations haven't really cared to

gilmore girls - admittedly i don't know that i need to include this bc i think everyone knows this is the go-to small town show. but nonetheless. there is a lot about the show that has aged poorly over the years (namely how enjoyable rory is as a character, which is. . . very little unfortunately as seasons go by) but i still think it possesses a lot of small town charm, esp in its comedy. the way everyone's lives just seamlessly interweave in stars hollow is both incredibly real but also ridiculously funny bc sometimes overlaps in episode plot points are so obscure as to be bizarre. i genuinely think it's a really enjoyable show up through the fourth season (the affair plot point aside)

sweet magnolias - this is a new show that started airing last year but oh my god! the level of invested i was as i watched it was so crazy. the plot touches on a lot of different characters but it centers itself in the friendship between three women who are each dealing with their own struggles and decide to open a spa together as a sort of healing project. the character arcs aren't particularly unique but everyone is nonetheless so endearing and i really appreciate how almost every character is human. like i think a lot of shows with teens can tend to make them out as unforgivable esp bc it's so common for adults to portray them these days, but the teens in this show are actually teens, and i like that they're given opportunities to grow and change in spite of mistakes they may make. i rly value those kind of narratives and overall the atmosphere of the show was just very healing. also heather headley is so damn pretty i was completely enamored with her the whole season

everwood - little to no one has heard of this show likely bc it started airing at around the same time as the oc and one tree hill and i mean. obv it was going to be overlooked in comparison. but personally i love it a lot! the initial plot's about this kid ephram who's just lost his mom and moves to colorado with his dad and sister. his dad worked a lot before his mom's death and as such ephram doesn't really have much of a relationship with him, so rebuilding that is a huge focus. there's also amy, aka the girl ephram likes, who's dealing with some trauma of her own bc her brother landed her boyfriend in a coma. there's a lot of baggage in this show re: death and i think there's a sadness that really permeates the atmosphere, but not in a way that's disconcerting per se. it's just real. it gets down to the ugliness and loneliness of trauma, esp wrt the teen characters, and i really appreciate that. the only major flaw is there's a plot point where ephram dates his college babysitter who is in college and gets her pregnant although his dad scares her off so he never finds out. but we ignore that

friday night lights - as someone who was in marching band and could still not for the life of me tell you what is what in football, this show is so damn good. it's about a rural texas town exclusively driven by its football team, except this year, the first game starts off with the star player being paralyzed from the waste down, putting a number of different people on the spot: the star player's girlfriend, his best friend, the new head coach, the runner-up qb who has never actually played a real game. i think anyone who watches the show ends up watching it for a specific character or dynamic but at the core it's just about the like. inherent goodness of people. like some of these people make mistakes due to pressure or grief but most of them are irrevocably human and that's what drives the show forward, as do the unlikely but endearing relationships formed between various people in the town. my personal favorite dynamic is between tim and lyla, who are in a bit of a unique place as the best friend and boyfriend of the injured star player

i hope you enjoy! let me know if you try any of them hehe

[nxtritething]

TASK001 : MUN QUESTIONNAIRE 

name  /  alias : caro / care / carebear gender  /  pronouns : female / she&her where  ya  from  ? : u s of a .  orig n y c. the  current  time :  9 pm ( when i started? ) , 1 pm ( when i finished ) job  or  major :  i majored in mechanical engineering and math. no, i canno favorite  thing  (  s  )  about  yourself :  i have some good one-liners.

why  you  joined  hqclouds :  ... i helped make it. also its felt like a long while since i got to play some of my favorite babes, and i just missed them, so i obviously had to jump at an opportunity to bring them back !!!

meaning  behind  url :  it’s uh...... next right thing ,  as in anna’s big song in frozen 2. and i just felt it like, FIT. 

last  thing  you  googled :  zac efron high school musical gif icons, bc i wanted to use for this, but then that account was flagged as adult content and i guess those beloved gifs are lost to the void now...

zodiac :  pisces in  your  opinion  ,  does  your  sign  suit  you  ? : yes. i am a crying fish. also i’m a pisces venus. it makes a LOT of sense. myers  -  briggs :  istj ??? i think?? moral  alignment :  i can be chaotic good, but mostly neutral neutral i think hogwarts  house : i used to be a slytherin, now i’m a hufflepuff. idk what happened to me.

three  fictional  character  (  s  )  you  see  yourself  in  +  why :  uhhhh... 1) bubbles from powerpuff girls. because i am baby. 2) juliet o’hara from psych. i’ve just been rewatching a lot of psych and i love how she’s such a serious yet funny / soft and idk why i just relate to that. 3) john mulaney in mulaney. because this is a cop-out to say i relate to anything / everything john edmund mulaney every does.

i  started  roleplaying : i first started on some fourms ??? on an app on my itouch ??? but my first tumblr rp group was percy jackson and everyone though i was this all knowing pjo fan... when really i was just fast to look shit up on the wikia. i had never read a single page of the series. types  of  rps  i  enjoy :  fandoms, typically ! i used to be exclusively love animated roleplays? like cartoons? but then i transitioned to musicals? like, exclusively playing musical characters??? at this point, tara is like the one exception nowadays... favorite  fcs  to  use :  um... olivia holt is a recent fave? joshua basset, also. my old faves are mary kate wiles and hunter parrish tho. real old. otherwise, i don’t know if i’d say i get attached to fc’s? fandom  (  s  )  you’d  like  to  write  in : i kinda wanna go back to some of my cartoon roots, maybe? i really haven’t deviated from the same 8 - 9 mostly musical characters in literally years...  fandom  (  s  )  you  aren’t  in  but  are  curious  about :  um... the raven cycle ,  miraculous ladybug  , uh..... everything else. i’m so randomly interested in everything.

share  a  funny  roleplay  horror  story :  my favorite is when i was in a youtuber rpf / oc rp, and this girl... made an oc... and made the fc... herself. she made a literal self-insert oc. with herself as the face. like low-res gifs of herself. why, you ask? i think she was trying to ship herself with dan howell. that didn’t age well, did it?

favorite  canon  muse  (  s  )  to  play : do i just list all the characters i’ve been playing for literal years? my recent faves are katherine plumber from newsies and princess anna. favorite  original  muse  (  s  )  to  play : i had a hunter parrish oc. he was in both the pjo and youtube rp. he was obsessed with hanging out with trees and pranks. don’t ask me why. canon  ships  you  can’t  help  but  love :  kristoff / anna , jack kelly / katherine plumber , jake peralta / amy santiago , orpheus / eurydice , && donny novitski / julia trojan. yes, most of these are musicals. who doesn’t love a good love ballad? trope  (  s  )  you  tend  to  be  guilty  of : uhh... adorkable, one of the boys, badass adorable

i  prefer  .  .  . angst  ,  smut  ,  or  fluff :  i am a massive sucker for fluff, but i’m so guilty of angst... i love pain. i don’t really do smut tho. sorry. long  or  short  replies :  i generally prefer short replies, unless we’ve somehow developed a thread into something long. or i’m feeling particularly inspired. pre  plotting  or  chemistry : i love chemistry with all my heart, but sometimes it’s fun to plot past connections that can reignite? idk. mostly chemistry sentence  starters  or  headcanon  memes : headcanon memes, because im never creative to turn a sentence starter into something that makes sense, esp between two characters who don’t know each other. single  muse  or  multimuse  blogs :  multimuse, because i spent too many years reblogging replies to the wrong sideblog and those days are over !!! gif  icons  ,  medium  gifs  ,  or  static  icons : i prefer gif icons for shorter replies and medium gifs for longer ones... or whatever my partner is using. i like some sort of consistency.

grab  the  book  nearest  to  you  and  pull  a  quote  from  it : ‘ what’s the rush? ’ repeat this phase when you’re feeling overwhelmed or stressed out. ask yourself whether somethings really needs doing immediately. are you ignoring your needs in order to do it?  - the little book of sloth philosophy. 

what’s  a  quote  or  song  lyric  that  speaks  to  your  soul  ? : “ did you fall? or did you let go? ”  -  connor murphy to evan hansen, dear evan hansen. ( idk why this immediately jump to mind but... )

top  current  celebrity  crushes :  jeremy jordan, corey cott, jordan fisher, claire saffitz, brian david gilbert. last  movie  you  watched :  bridal boot camp did  you  like  it  ? :  yes. i loved it. it’s absolute garbage and i loved it. favorite  movie  (  s  )    of  all  time : idk but i can always rewatch prince of egypt. godspell favorite  tv  show  (  s  )  of  all  time : uhh.... i keep rewatching psych.   favorite  tv  show  (  s  ) that  hasn’t  ended : brooklyn nine-nine, zoey’s extraordinary playlist. sports  team  (  s  )  you  rep : uh... grew up in a yankee / mets household. favorite  video  game  (  s  ) : pokemon, animal crossing  favorite  youtube  channels : drew gooden, danny gonzalez, jenna marbles.

put  your  music  on  shuffle.  what  six  songs  pop  up  ? :

greased lightin’ from grease live ; oh mother by hunter parrish ; nerds by bo burnham ; a miracle would happen / when you come home to me from the last five years ; just another day from next to normal ; who tells your story from hamilton mixtape. 

i haven’t listened to any of these in forever, but i am still, indeed, musical theater trash.

personal  aesthetic : demin overalls, scrunchies, the color teal, big stuffed animals. dream  vacation  ? : somewhere beautiful with people i love. dream  job  ? : perhaps like designing custom 3D prosthetics dream  car  ? :  i hate driving, but a big ol’ truck. like suv. big one. favorite  musical : gospell, dear evan hansen, bandstand, newsies, shrek the musical, mamma mia, i could go on... unwatched  stuff  in  your  netflix  /  hulu  /  etc :  sailor moon crystal, crash landing on you, locke & key, all the bright places, the half of it, younger, meteor, hello my twenties ...

what’s  a  subject  you  know  too  much  about  +  never  get  tired  of  talking  about  ? : musicals. so many musicals. i know both know too much and not enough.

[bonkaisecretsanta]

Happy holidays @nys30 from @kitdaumlers!  Love from Kit xxx

If we fall, we fall together (all human AU)

Bonnie Bennett and Malachai Parker have been best friends since they were kids. They were inseparable – every high, every low, every milestone and every failure, they did together. A year ago, they both moved to New York despite their parents’ disapproval; Kai a starving musician who’s fallen head over heels in love with his A&R girlfriend Katherine, and Bonnie, an aspiring art historian who dreams of owning her own gallery one day.

But things quickly start to fall apart. Katherine calls off their 90 day engagement and kicks Kai out and Bonnie fails her thesis presentation and loses her partial scholarship. They’re broke, jobless, single and waiting for a yearlong ‘I-told-you-so’ lecture back in Portland.

A drunken phone call puts them in an even stickier situation…Not wanting to be set up by her parents with an old fling from the past, Bonnie tells their families that her and Kai are dating. All they have to do is pretend to be a couple for 10 days – what’s the worst that could happen?

“Bon, why is your mom offering to go engagement ring shopping with me?” Kai says suspiciously, a hint of accusation in his voice.

Bonnie covers the magazine over her face, slouching down on the sofa. “Uhh…because…um.” She dry chuckles. “It’s a funny story actually.”

“Bonnie.” He pushes the magazine down. “I’m not laughing.”

“I may have…sort of…answered the phone when we were drunk last night…”

“And…?”

“…Told my parents we were dating?”

“What?!”

“Okay! Hear me out here. They were ripping into me about school and the stupid statistics of how many people actually make it out of art school and I was drunk and I was angry and – I don’t know, okay? I was just feeling really shitty and arguing with them wasn’t helping.”

“So telling them we’re engaged did?”

“Well technically, I said we were dating.” 

Kai rolls his eyes, groaning heavily.

“They were talking about how I need to buckle down and be serious.” She sighs. “So obviously dating came up and since I’ve been noticeably and chronically vacant in that department – they arranged a date…” She pauses dramatically, trying to settle the disdain and disgust. “…with Jeremy Gilbert.”

“Wait – Miranda Gilbert’s son?”

“Yes.” She shudders.

He looks at her incredulously. “Your ex who used to eat glue?”

“Exactly! That is the level of desperation and concern they have for me. So I panicked – I couldn’t say no because there is no one else and you were the first name that popped into my head.”

He lets out a low groan, rubbing his hands down his face.

“Come on, Kai. We just have to pretend for like, ten days. You took an improv class…that one time.”

He flops on the sofa and covers his face with the throw pillow.

“No one’s gonna buy it – Liv and Luke will figure it out. They have that creepy twin ESPN thing.”

“It’s ESP, dummy.” She takes his hand and rests it on her cheek. “Malachai Joel Par –"

“Oh, so we’re doing government names?”

She swats his face with his own hand. “Don’t interrupt. Malachai Joel Parker. Will you pretend to be my fake boyfriend so my parents don’t marry me off to a crack dealer?”

They both burst into a bout of laughter.

Kai looks at the bright, tired and soft little face of his best friend. He sighs, shaking his head with a grin. What the hell?

“Bonnie Sheila Bennett. It would be my honour.”

 “Great!” She gets up and stretches. “Now everyone thinks we’re dating, they’ll forget to ask us if we’ve completely nose-dived our lives into the crapper. So, you know – you’re welcome.”

She ducks before the pillow Kai has thrown can hit her. 

[kendrixtermina]

So I’ve seen a handful of fairly good “Ferdinand finds out the truth” fics but not a single “Edelgard learns about Patricia” one. 

It’s harder I suppose, since Ferdie could easily, say, stumble across old files in his father’s old office (esp on the CF route where Edelgard and Hubert are right there, and otherwise he could get it out of Lysithea) whereas Rodrigue Gilbert and Dimitri all die in the CF route. 

I guess you might have Thales taunt her with it when she comes to finish him off, or one of the kingdom recruitees recognizing Patricias name. Or an AU where Dimitri brings it up at their parlay and maybe this leads to their actually understanding each other for once. 

That said it wouldn’t be the same level of earth shattering revelation since Edelgard doesn’t have half her identity built on the family pride, never even knew Patricia so there wouldn’t be that dissilusionment with someone she once trusted and looked up to. Still, she seemed rather fond of that story of how her parents met, shes already kinda aware that she’s choosing to believe it and that it’s kinda silly, you’d be taking away one of the last little illusions and sentimentalities that she allowed herself. 

Still, it’s nothing compared to what it was like for, poor, poor  Dimitri - he may not have her blood but she raised him. In a sense she’s more his (horrible, horrible) mother than she ever was Edelgard’s. Same thing but more extreme: He can’t even trust the good memories anymore. 

At least she’d have plenty of ppl to commiserate with, I can picture Ferdie breaking out the booze and Hubert just unphazedly stating something about how being related sometimes means little more than to have some body fluids in common. 

[bae-leth]

Things to think about: Dimitri and Felix being those ridiculously worrying parents anytime Natalia or Artemis get sick or break a bone or something like that. Like it gets to the point that the castle healers dread flu season or are desperately praying that the kids don’t get hurt mostly because they’re sick and tired of dealing with the king and king consort.

ahh they might also be esp worried about sickness because Dimitri’s mother died from that plague iirc :( and we don’t know where Felix’s mother went, but one can assume/hc she passed away early due to illness, too. Watching your child get sicker is always terrible, and I can imagine the two of them just... fretting, because they can deal with enemies and war, but they can’t battle nature, can they?

oh god i just had a horrid thought. Imagine if one of the kids gets horribly sick one year - and I mean, horribly, don’t-know-if-they’ll-survive-sick. what if.... Dimitri..... starts thinking that this is his punishment.... his price for atonement ok oh god i’ll stop typing now and throw myself down a flight of stairs this is fdfd too sad NEXT ASK!!

Okay so do you know the animated movie Swan Princess? Basically I’m picturing something like Claude having a kid, let’s say a son who’s friendly and smart but also super mischievous and prefers the behind the scenes politics to the battlefield (I like the name Faris for him). And Faris and Natalia get engaged young for the sake of strengthening relations between Fodlan and Almyra but every time they meet they’re at each other’s throats but end up being a lovey dovey couple when they grow up.

One of my cousins is called Faris haha so I had to do a double take when reading this ask at first.... but I like this idea, it’s v sweet! The parents probably see them meet for the first time and wholly expect a childhood friendship like they all had... until Faris says something snarky to Natalia. and suddenly they’re brawling on the floor and the parents are like ‘???? WHAT HAPPENED. THIS WASN’T SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN-’

It reminds me of Anne and Gilbert from Anne of Green Gables, and that’s!!! always a good thing!!! Talk to me more about them.... I’m always a sucker for childhood friends/enemies enemies to friends to something more AUs...

For that Fraldarddyd family AU I know the original post says that when Artemis grew up he became super popular. So I just picturing this angel of a young man stealing hearts wherever he goes. He doesn’t even try, doesn’t even realize he’s doing it. Meanwhile his dads and big sis and all his honorary aunts and uncles (and the??? Archbishop???) are scaring off anyone that so much as looks wrong at the little prince.

AHHHH you know those people in the world who are just??? Pure sunshine?? Their selfies blind you because they’re so full of light?? Everyone silently joins the ‘protect them’ squad after five minutes of knowing them?? No one can say no to them? Artemis is probably one of those people. He totally has a #DefenceSquad watching out for him all the time, even if he doesn’t catch on himself.

Funny things to imagine: so you know how in Dima and Catherine’s support Dimitri revealed that Catherine thought he looked like a girl when he was little? I like to imagine that when Natalia was little so many people thought she was a boy. Adorable things to imagine: picture shy baby Artemis just hiding behind Dimitri or Felix with his tiny hands clutching their clothes while his dads gently pat his head.

awww I’d love to imagine that Catherine says the same thing again but altered a little for Natalia, just for old time’s sake! She says “Look at that young lad wielding a giant lance. How adorable!” right when she knows that Dimitri’s watching his daughter’s progress, and the king just sighs and goes ‘rly. In front of my salad? Really??’. Natalia just watches her father sigh and erupts into giggles.

and ohhh don’T DO THIS to my HEART.... baby Artemis..... hiding behind his dads..... holding their hands..... peeking at strangers from between their legs.... THAT’S SO SWEET I.... I MIGHT JUST CRY.....

Can you imagine how nervous Dimitri and Felix would be in the Fraldarddyd Family AU since the two of them have complicated/limited experience with their own parents? Are they doing this right? Are they messing up? Will their kids love them or grow to hate them?

oh definitely! They want to be good fathers, especially because they know that they’ll often be busy due to irl duties, and they know the issues with their own parents, too (particularly Felix in that regard). It’s a learning process, though, and I've no doubt that they'll grow into fantastic parents with time :')

dimitri, crying silently when he thinks of his family: do I... do I deserve this? 

felix, sighing: how. many. times. do. i. have. to. TELL. you-

I just realized that Artemis' future class (a magic wielding wyvern rider) is basically the Malig Knight class from Fates. The only difference is that Malig Knights also use axes but Artemis is weak in those. But 3H classes mostly allow free use of weapons so hey. Anyways Artemis gave rise to the Malig Knight class in the future of Fodlan, we stan a legend.

omg.... Artemis truly is a trailblazer!! He starts using magic on a wyvern, and everyone just watches him. and immediately thinks to themselves “on god I’m doing that tOO-”

The Officers Academy gets a lot of proposals to open up this new class for everyone after Artemis sets everything going.

[rgr-pop]

that reminds me, i have been meaning to do a bit of a scholarly genealogy of that nu nu political history book, and the ones that preceded it. keeping names redacted here for searchability due to connections to me lol, i will revisit this later more clearly. re: the post i posted, i am assuming that kfp was on tracy’s committee, but i can’t remember. i know tracy’s chair was t*m bender, and her husband came out of the same program under m*rilyn young--i think kim was at least a reader on his diss... but tracy is not in this new book. kfp got her phd at columbia in 2005, i’m not sure who her chair was but per the acknowledgements of her first book, foner (obviously), freeman and katznelson were all on her committee. the first two are an easy guess given the time and place but her work doesn’t especially look like theirs--though imo j*shua freeman is so broadly influential bc writes too many books!--but i really should have realized (immediately guessed) she was a student of the latter. one of the editors, mason williams, also came out of columbia, but his advisor was alan brinkley--kind of an interesting insight here into links to old guard political historians and state historians vs. ...well, whatever katznelson is, that’s another discussion. for example: one of the authors got her phd in 2001 at princeton under DANIEL RODGERS which is a whole thing! right when he was working on age of fracture. 

david freund got his phd at michigan--i always forget this, and also that colored property is about here! i can’t figure out who advised him, but that would help me understand how michigan became the main place to study american political urban history of the latter twentieth century--when they hired l*ssiter a few years later, it basically turned into a l*ssiter factory. freund thanks elsa barkley brown, robin kelley who i forgot was there, earl lewis and terrence mcdonald--thinking terrence mcdonald is the answer to my question. kathleen canning would be another figure to look at, and i am wondering if deborah dash moore was there yet...i don’t think so actually.

off the top of my head i know two contributors to this new anthology did their phd under m*tt l*ssiter (who contributed a conclusion, along with fein’s), lily g*ismer (a co-editor) and n*than connolly. only one of these contributors came out of kevin kruse’s princeton (sarah m*lov), which is fascinating because...that department owns political history. i don’t know why i haven’t read her book, she looks cool as hell. rachel moran came out of penn state when jennifer mittelstadt was still there, a fact that makes me actually very interested in her work--i’m heavily anticipating her chapter on “the nanny state” given my current phase!

julie w*ise got her phd in 2009 at yale with gilbert joseph (i think he is a latin americanist) and stephen pitti, who is in chicano history (i think out of “immigration history”). melissa b*rja came out of columbia with mai ngai! i have some thoughts on that, probably.. everyone loves ngai’s work and yet it is also positioned as so peripheral to nu political history in a way that is...i have some thoughts.

brent c*bul, another editor, did his diss at uva with brian balogh. that is the program that l*ssiter came out of, though (per, again, first book acknowledgements) his advisor was paul gaston. he does thank balogh though along with NELSON LICHTENSTEIN and JULIAN BOND who, it had totally escaped me, were teaching in the department at the same time. this is interesting to me because uva just isn’t a player at all in modern us political history anymore (balogh is still there but he must be approaching retirement?). given lichtenstein this is all making sense to me now. i haaad forgotten that andrew k*hrl (also in this book) is at uva now, though. karhl got his phd at indiana under a number of mostly black history scholars including kg muhammad and claude clegg, and some historians of the south otherwise.

suleiman osman is one of two amstu ppl in this book--definitely in many ways the Political Turn is a turn against american studies, I would say--and he came out of harvard american civ, but I don’t know who advised hi---oh it was liz cohen. LMAO! that’s as canon political-cultural urban history as you can get! love it. that makes so much sense. stuart schrader also came out of american studies (nyu), i don’t know who was on his committee but i am dying to know because i am huuugely anticipating his book! 

so that’s definitely not as concentrated as i thought! but i want to refer to this later, when i read the book i want to compare it to its predecessors and kind of...map this and sort of see if there is a change in concentration (esp re relations to amstu and ethnic studies departments and cultural historians, i think)

[peachesnbasil]

incredibly long thoughts on the latest granblue chapters (spoilers and general rambling)

SO MUCH IS HAPPENING.

first off it was lovely seeing everyone’s faces again. i’m not really sure what it is loki is up to. the whole let’s gather allies thing is weird since he was so antisocial previously but i guess we’ll see. i think maybe the death of his brother is weighing on him more than expected, and i’m wondering if he’ll meet up with orchis again since she is technically his niece, as furious as that seems to make him. i think, apart from furias, the other major big bad for this arc is going to be the violet knight. i feel like we’re working our way through the knights- black knight in arc one, golden knight in 2. scarlet knight was sort of there both times but his plot was more in 2.

speaking of furias something is def up with him. total personality switch. and both drang and loki pointed it out, too, so i think that this is either not the original furias or one that has been severely corrupted by the true king, maybe similar to what happened with gilbert but with more control? although gilbert got progressively crazier while furias went from tempter tantrums to ice cold so maybe it’s not the same thing. probably not dark essence? the person who used dark essence the most is pommern, and he’s still mentally in one piece even if it’s physically taken a toll (shoutout to pommern for basically doing the ‘major villain to weird uncle’ thing, also his new clothes are nice lol). 

then of course there’s orchid?/zwei who is. kinda over the top i feel (don’t at me but it felt like shadow the hedgehog L O L). but i am intrigued by her at the same time, and i’m looking forward to the story doing more with the ‘what is original/real’ sort of vibe they had going in arc 1 with orchid/orchis and the black knight. esp with furias’ ‘the age of the false has come’ thing.

drang and sturm!!!! the moment it became clear that orchid was going to be a central chara i knew they’d be back but i was not expecting them back so soon. i was extremely happy to see both of them, though. what an entrance. i yelled. thank you wilfrid for chauffering them. although i’m really, really hoping that we get black knight back too, both because i think she’d be interesting considering we haven’t really delved into her feelings about the orchis/orchid ending, and i want to see her react to orchid?/zwei. also god, eugen please talk to your daughter. you promised it to the spirit of your dead wife come on. we gotta start fixing these family plotlines. i’m imagining drang is gonna have a reckoning with ferry when she comes back to the plot (oh my god i am. so excited for that to happen) and eugen and black knight need to have theirs too (prolly won’t get closure on golden knight/pholia and scarlet knight/hal until we get back to nalhegrande but i want to see those too).

another thing is katalina. she’s due for her 5* and presumably this means she’s gonna bond to a primal like the rest of the crew did. i briefly thought maybe mithra in the spirit of her promise of protecting lyria but idk. or whatever the name of the primal on the dydroit belt was that controlled bonds? or maybe we’ll pull a new one out of a hat. either way i’m excited for her to get some development since despite having her in our party since day one we still ultimately know very little about her. i love team mom.

and then we finally started getting some exposition about good ol dad, who was apparently the disciple of an actual god (granblue hands me everything i want on a platter yet again). the fact that we might need to go up against him is not that surprising considering this is, after all, a jrpg. but i’m really excited to finally start knowing more about the red dragon/girl in blue thing. also, wasn’t that half-shown girl with the true king called ‘priestess?’ would she be connected to the same god dad is? we didn’t get to see her face so she’s still super mysterious but i’m intrigued!

too bad there won’t be more until january. although, luckily, i’ll prolly be right out of surgery at the time so it’ll be like my get well soon present lol.

some final thoughts:

- low-budget crew was hilarious. i love their mascot.

- orchid as a symbol of peace!! she’s really growing on me. i love her. i hope she gets to go on a gourmet food tour with orchis.

- please new art for lyria and siero, PLEASE. it really shows it’s age next to everyone else’s shiny new art

- fenrir.... between this and the recent rerun of jade event i really feel for her. i still have mixed feelings about her but if we can get some more development i’ll be interested....

- katalina and rosetta covering their respective daughter’s eyes was a great moment. at this point i’m sure lyria and io have Seen Some Shit but like. still cute

- listen. i have so many emotions about the exchange with drang and sturm where he says ‘isn’t it nice to have a place to call home?’ and she just kind of shrugs it off. that went direct to my heart. i earnestly hope she like. knows she can trust all the crew. i’d love to see her open up a little. one day i will have to make a post just talking about my feelings about these two but this one is already too long, so that’s enough for now lol.

[yumenosakiacademy]

@ramudaamemura oh now thatz a name i havent heard ‘round here in a while! i remember watching the PH anime! the ending was so unsatisfying but i heard the manga is LOADS betta n wanted 2 read it for a while but i kinda,, forgot to bc reading manga is kinda tedious for me whoops... i remember liking Gilbert for some reason! past!me thought he was pretty n cool.

n i did kinda mean novels bc bookz r cooler 2 read imo but!! manga is cool too (esp bc then i can see all the characterz being Pwetty!) if anyone has any other AiW ones ‘cept Al!ce In the Country Of Heartz! 

[aphgermanyheadcanons]

👀👀👀 I would love for you to talk about Lud's development from ww2 to modern day for hours

anon ur feeding my ego here who knows what disastrous consequences may spawn from ur actions but??? just know that ily

WELL my friends since we are here!! B) let me divulge to u ,,, the evolution of Lud. i could start with him as a child but i admittedly know way less abt that time period n also that would take ten years so that shall be for another ask

ludwig during ww2 was rlly rlly messy in the sense that he wasn’t exactly in his right mind. he’d defo been brainwashed by the propaganda n in general he wasn’t a fun guy to be around. ludwig was arrogant, impetuous, too hyperfocused on exacting revenge n showing everyone wrong. he thought he knew best which rlly caused a rift between him n his brother

his desperation in the time period just before ww2 led him to grasp at literally any promise of smth better, but instead of rising back up he fell down the slippery slope to some place even further from where he’d originally started. ludwig turned a blind eye to many things he shouldn’t have at the prospect of havin smth- anything- better for his ppl n a shot at revenge n power aka proving himself bc he was young n stupid. he ostracized those that truly cared abt him like his brother (who was never rlly for what was going on), rod, eliza, liech n im sure a few others as well, isolating himself to soak in that damn web of lies

ofc disillusionment is never pretty esp when ur the one who made the mistakes n as we’re all aware ludwig had screwed up big time. by the end of the war ludwig’s eyes were opened n his middle name was Regret his first name was Guilt n his last name was Failure. ya boi was not in a good place emotionally not to mention economically, socially n politically but yk thats another story!! 

what i would like to touch upon is where ludwig was maturity wise at this time. i’d like to remind u all that ludwig at the time of ww2 would’ve been hm 130 at most?? less than two centuries thats for sure. in nation years he was a child, he should’ve looked like a gotdamn child but nah lud grew up too fast by the start of ww2 he was already lookin 18-19. ludwig was forced to grow up fast n tho this is applicable for many nations he grew up at a time when many of his “peers” already had centuries beneath their belts. i’d argue this is esp important to note considering how most of the european nations grew up at roughly the same ish time. this explains some of why lud was so eager to stake his claim on the world. he would’ve felt a heckin lot of pressure to show he rlly was on their level

anyways ludwig was young af when he was thrown to the wolves n tho that doesn’t justify his actions it’s smth to keep in mind

so lud’s out here coming to terms w the fact that’s he’s screwed everything up n likely if it weren’t for the western aid ya boi would’ve been a goner. he was to keep it short depressed n basically ready for Death™. it was legit just alfred’s marshall plan n the fact that his ppl were still a thing that forced him to power thru. but yessu the aid sent by the west spurred on the miracle of the rhine which marked the bringing back up of germany to his feet after the war n lud eventually did recover from his depression say, around the 50s bc u gotta do what u gotta do when ur a nation

ludwig from then on out did experience better times i mean discounting a few things like the berlin wall- ah yes i should talk abt this

alright so before the division of germany ludwig had always had gilbert around for him. gilbert had raised him since the v beginning n even thru his ugly stages aka ww1 n ww2 gilbert had stuck w him. it was only after ww2 that ludwig was truly separated from his brother, forcing him grow up once n for all n shoulder the true burden of a full fledged Adult™. war guilt, recovery n repercussions ensured it. moreover, ludwig felt responsible for the abolition of prussia amongst many other things that had occurred as a result of the war so a big part in his magically doubled maturity was the desire to recompense for his wrongs n become someone his brother might someday be able to forgive

which is ridiculous considering gilbert would die for ludwig get it bc he did

so anyways!! ludwig builds himself back up into a respectable member of society n bam we get all the goodies of present day germany like the EU, etc. germany rn is one of europe’s most influential players n i would say?? a lot of this is bc ludwig wanted to make up for what he did wrong tho this eventually was coupled w a desire to become a nation his ppl could be proud of again n i’d say he’s done a fine job of it! ofc this isn’t to say he’s without his problems but ludwig today is a much more mature n agreeable man than he once was largely due to what the world forced upon him n how he decided to handle it

tldr; ludwig was Messy during ww2. he realized that was bad n felt rlly guilty esp bc of gil gettin demoted from nation status so ya boi worked rlly hard to become someone his bro n his ppl could be proud of n matured n accomplished a lot making him into the gr9 dude he is today

also im writing a fic on the subject of post ww2 germany (that will be gerame based) that i should prbly post the first ch to but !! follow me @realmwrites for news on when i do eventually post it B)