#even the ones that would be huge spoilers for other story concepts lol

[mixelation]

reborn au plot.... stuff. has plasticity spoilers. also canon characters die!

i said this recently, but i don't have much in the way of an overarching story after tori's, like, 17. part of this is just that i haven't made some major decisions about the premise (like what orochimaru is up to) and part of it is that...... what problems would even challenge these characters. like we have a bunch of weird interpersonal shenanigans but like obviously one appeal of this au is giving tori opportunities for Feats.

so i decided on a Feat.

i think as an ongoing looming threat, i might have some petty proxy war stuff going on. no one wants to reignite a multi-nation shinobi war, but everyone is scrambling to grab things for themselves, especially since konoha just like.... stole from iwa??? ame burned down half of kusa? oto-nin are just? in the wind???? someone probably hires orochimaru. people are out trying to snatch jinchuriki left and right.

so i was thinking thusly: one of the bigger nations captures fuu for the seven tails. ame sends an akatsuki pair which includes tori. somehow, the situation goes completely to shit. multiple nations are involved. the seven tails is released, killing fuu. everyone wants this weapon and they don't care if they had to kill a young girl to get it.

akatsuki's solution is that they should simply control all weapons. tori knows this will fall apart. she also knows that, even if she wrestles the raging seven-tails into a container and gets around the multiple nation's people ALSO vying to capture it for themselves, and she takes it back to konoha, this also solves nothing. and so she thinks: if no one can resist the temptation of a weapon, then i will remove the weapon.

this is the part that's a pretty big plasticity spoiler, but also a few people guessed it so i don't mind sharing. basically, the shinigami doesn't like tori because he can't have her. she's a weird, foreign thing that shouldn't be there. functionally, she can't die. she can be irreparably maimed, so she still has a healthy fear of most life-and-death situations, but she technically can't die. (she's unsure if this still applies in this universe in the earlier parts, but we'll let her figure it out eventually.)

the side-effect of this is that she has more bullshitty leeway with summoning the shinigami than other people. it can't take her soul so it will take things around her more indiscriminately, so she's not going to use it if her allies are around. but if she's fed up and doesn't care if everyone dies? fuck it, we're going to kill the tailed beast itself.

i want how this to be accomplished to be kind of metal and/or gross. you know that scene in plasticity where tori is simultaneously herself AND the shinigami and she's confused? like that but they're eating the seven-tails.

tori comes to later and the whole battlefield is dead, from the shinobi to the plants and wildlife. whatever other akatsuki was with her is either some probationary schmuck, a canon character who got separated, or hidan-but-he's-not-revived-yet (i'm leaning towards this last one). at first i was like "how does she explain she killed a tailed beast" to other people but THEN i decided

tori realizes she's done something she should not have been able to do. she's just created another weapon people will want to use. so she gets up and goes home, and she lies.

the seven tails killed everyone and ran off. yes, even the forest. even the little bugs in the trees. the soil is irradiated. i guess it was pissed off. how did i live? aren't i a barrier specialist..........?

and then of course everyone goes out looking for the tailed beast. like, you can't just have a wild bijuu running around!! but they can't find it. it's nowhere. it will never be found because it no longer exists.

probably at some point she'll tell someone, most likely itachi and/or deidara. hidan might confront her about it. but i just love the idea of her getting a major feat and then immediately denying it.

also she may or may not decide to repeat the experiment

[hellionyura]

Jackunzel Animatic: Wherever You Are

Hi fellow Jackunzel shippers! I have something exciting to share!! I just made an animatic for Jackunzel. You can watch here: https://youtu.be/V8ey7SKI9_8

And a little preview:

Please give it a like and share if you could, it would really make my dreams come true to have more people watch my creations! <3

Anyways heavy texts below if you're interested to hear my ramblings thoughts while making this animatic: (Contains a little spoiler if you haven't watched the animatic yet so go watch it right now! Hehe)

This idea came to me in January 2023, when I heard the song 'Wherever You Are' by Kodaline. It was about finding each other and I related to how Jackunzel has two different appearances, and so I made them go through different lifetimes, and how they always find each other in each one. Also huge shoutout to @justinepush for inspiring me with this cute animatic.

1st life: Human Jack & Magic Hair Rapunzel

In their first lifetime, the story roughly follows the original Rapunzel's fairytale, where the witch found out that Rapunzel has been seeing the Prince secretly, and banished her from the tower, then threw the Prince out of the tower, landing on a bed of thorns below, thus blinding him. They managed to find each other years later, reunited with their twin children. In this animatic though, they both lost their lives to the thorns, and Gothel was shocked/surprised not because she was worried about Rapunzel, but because her treasured golden hair is no longer usable. So in this one, Jack was either a Noble from Corona Kingdom, or a Prince from a neighbouring kingdom?

2nd Life: Guardians Jack & Rapunzel

Rapunzel was chosen as a Guardian, with healing powers. I don't have much thought on her center, it was probably something along the lines of Guardian of Wish/Longing because of how Rapunzel's wish in Tangled was made true by herself (with the help of Flynn yeah but she was the one who initiated it).

I needed a simple design for her Guardian appearance so I whipped up something quickly:

3rd Life: High School students

They're both normal humans now, and meeting by coincidence, not confronting any dangers or whatever, so hopefully they can take it easy now and enjoy each other's company for a long time :)

I think it's interesting to note that they may not remember each other from their previous lives, but something does click when they meet each other. But I leave that interpretation up to you. They can also remember each other if you want ^3^

The only pairing I haven't touched is Guardian Jack and Brown-haired Rapunzel. I'll whip up something for those two in the future probs so look out!

This whole animatic took me a whole month, but of course the planning and conception was cut short because I wrote down the main plot back during its inception in January 2023. While drawing each picture, I would always lose confidence saying things like "yeah this isn't going to work out" or "aahhh this looks trash no one will like this" or "maybe i should just stop now because this didn't turn out as amazing as I thought it would be", and I had to take care of myself before burning out and quitting it altogether. I also lost confidence because my style is so anime-like, I thought people wouldn't like it since it's way different from the studio's artstyle, but anywayss...

This was my first animatic and deciding to draw 60 different coloured illustrations wasn't a good idea for a first-timer, but I kept going because even if people won't like it, I'll just do it for myself.

This was a long post, but whewww. I'll probably draw some fanarts of their High School AU. Thanks for reading! (If you actually reached here lol)

[faeriefully]

(first ask ever so lets go!)

Glad you liked Frieren! What got you into the series? I honestly just want to hear more on your thoughts in general lol

Oh, boy. I've been saving this one. Let's go! (No spoilers ahead)

My friend is a huge anime watcher and told me that she thought I would enjoy the series. (And oh boy was she right.)

Frieren: Beyond Journey's End is everything I want my stories to be.

From the fantasy setting, magic system, and world building, to the character dynamics and subtle but steady character growth, it is phenomenal.

The running themes of time's steady progression-- consequences of actions, both good and bad across generations and decades is brilliantly executed by the character concept of Frieren.

The key to defeating evil being presented as a form of humility- one that evil cannot comprehend- is absolutely brilliant.

The gradual revelation of multiple layers of the world and history and character relationships. I love that a large aspect of this show is simply character study. It's an intensely character driven show and I adore that.

The simple and subtle humor is wonderful. It isn't afraid to be silly and goofy- and the fact that often it is the wiser characters who show this silliness or (for lack of a better term) humanity in their lives is artfully done.

The art style and music are both GORGEOUS.

The longevity of love. The impact people have on you, even if they are only in your life a short while! The emphasis to value the people around you and pay attention and build relationships and never take people for granted!

The humble confidence and trust in one's ability without arrogance.

The training and working for both yourself but also for others. Learning and growing in order to serve!

The lasting impact of love and valuing relationships because they are fleeting and appreciating the time that you have brings me to tears.

The absoluteness when it comes to evil and how to deal with it. There is no compromising with it. You kill it.

The valuing and emphasis on the small !! aspects !! of !! life!! Little moments of joy in life's toils and journeys. Helping the ordinary people around you. Home being the most valuable thing to protect and value! Valuing the everyday work! The magic in the mundane!

This story is beautiful because it tells the truth.

[etoilesbienne]

Nice to see that apparently we’ve all read it runs in the family. It was my guilty pleasure fic and i didn’t expect to see other people talking about it. I started reading it like a month after i got into bad and dsmp and i was /obsessed/. It’s one of those fics that changes your brain chemistry and makes you stare at a wall after reading it. To this day im still subbed to it on the off chance that it gets another chapter.

like genuinely its an enamoring fic it has an odd premise but like the author has so much potential in, like, being able to write genuinely engaging narratives. i'm shocked at how much setup is put into the work and you can tell where the narrative is going in a way that's like watching a trainwreck. You know exactly where it is going but the journey of getting there is so fascinating to watch.

anyway i want to ramble about what i liked and what i didn't like in the fic. so. huge reader discretion advised, go look at the other warnings i posted about this fic before reading this (also spoilers for the fic ahead)

like part of its most interesting facets is it is one of the few fics that tackles this sort of heavy subject matter of assault and kidnapping and doesn't really shy away from how genuinely negative it is and can be. like don't get me wrong ive enjoyed other psychological horror before, but it was, like, nice? to see the "pets" all be like genuinely upset and respond realistically to the situation they're in. no "they really like it secretly" undertone.

not a criticism but my favorite part of this story is the random ass normal human names they try to give everyone. they made skeppy have a white ass last name. bbh's name is Bad Halo. purpled doesn't even show up but his name is mentioned to be, like, "nolan purpled but he goes by purpled because his cheating whore of a mom named him nolan and he hates her" genuinely funniest line of the whole fic one of my favorites i can never ever forget it. i need to find all the human names in this theyre so fucking funny.

also badboyhalo? while he IS woobified and made much more demure and defanged, he's still like... that IS badboyhalo. his moments of complete suspicion at every encounter. his doubting. refusal to break the mould and rock the boat out if fear something bad would happen. VERY badboyhalo sentiments. also the fact the writer knew about skephalo divorce. going to be honest, looking at how their other work contains a6d, i think the writer was/is a bbh watcher. and then the schlatthalo. the fact they made schlatt ask to curse? and then bbh laughed when he did? this person understood both of these guys. they did their homework. schlatt isn't a megalomaniac evil villain one note. i don't know if i'd call both of them "in character" per say, but i can definitely say they had consistent characterization and i could understand how their characters got to these versions.

also the technohalo multifaceted concept? techno seeing bbh as too innocent? putting bbh on a pedestal and denying his humanity in that way? WILD. the setup and writing was all there for, like, bbh using his body and manipulating techno to turn against phil.

like the good parts of this fic are such crazy highs and peaks it makes the lows look so much worse.

speaking of which: wilbur soot.

by god is wilbur soot not a character, he is a force of nature and just continuous digging deeper on trying to fix a problem the writer accidentally started. none of sbi really are fleshed out or rounded characters, but wilbur soot is like by far getting the worst treatment. im not even a wilbur fan LOL.

he's supposed to be a schizophrenic serial killer which already isn't a great start, and then you watch the writer realize the issue and try to fix what they've started. this is when schizophrenic medicated slimecicle comes in. followed by badboyhalo looking at the camera and going Not All Mentally Ill People Are Bad. which was just really funny in such a morbid way. but then the writer DOES go in an interesting direction with phil denying his condition and refusing to help him get medicated. however with the slimecicle medicated moment it comes off as a medication = The Good Mentally Ill Person narrative. genuinely i dont know how id solve the wilbur issue without extensive rewriting. he's just a mess.

phil i think is one of the most interesting of sbi, being made into a central antagonist and a genuinely good villain. his scenes have well made tension and poses actual threat and stakes to the narrative. he's a good villain! techno has an interesting arc with bbh but just isn't given enough screentime and doesn't have much beyond "brute to be manipulated" which sucks a little. tommy is tommy. only one of sbi i could see not dying in a fire at the end. wilbur, despite his other issues is a narrative driver with his capriciousness, but the schizophrenia plotline is such a mess that he just is not a person here, he's a plot device more than anything.

more abstractly i do wish they committed and, like, had sex scenes or were blatant about sex happening. like they keep dancing around it but so much of the fic does not make sense if sex isn't what's occurring here. like i get subtlety if the avoidance of sex is what they're aiming for! but its okay to, like, maybe make it more clear whatever techno and bbh have going on is obviously sexual, because that can be used to advance the narrative and make it more clear bbh is using his body to manipulate here, because that'd be a good plot point to continue the themes and motifs of the story. i also just do not know how else to interpret the relationship lol.

my other biggest criticism is make it less misogynistic. the only three named women are the dead samsung smart fridge (who is now a dead mom named samantha), minx the alcoholic witness, and puffy, who is somehow ranboo's mom. like the ableism is horrific here but its so over the top stupid in the ableism, while the misogyny is subtle and just reeks. genuinely why is puffy ranboo's mom that sucks so fucking bad. make her be his aunt or guardian or something. but mom? c'mon.

i rambled way too long lol there's more i can say but this fic is my roman empire. the writer has so much potential but just needs more life experience to understand mental illness and misogyny. also a beta reader to fix their formatting. and maybe make their dialogue more human. shoutout to ranboo giving his name and phone number to tommy after tommy literally fucking tells him he'd "make a beautiful corpse" CRAZY exchange. no human would do that.

[laufire]

april reading meme!

BOOKS

We Will Devour The Night by Camilla Andrew. The version I read is available in the author's ko-fi (aninkwellofnectar), and the final version will come during fall of this year. I've talked about this saga before (The Essence of the Equinox), and I still recommend it to those of us who like complex characters (especially female characters), gothic horror, and lush prose. This is a sequel, and I like it even more than the first instalment. It gets deeper into the darkness of the world and it's an amazing read. The third and final part has started been posted on ko-fi as well, for anyone interested.

Why Does He Do That? Inside The Minds of Angry and Controlling Men by Lundy Bancroft. I wish I could make everyone read this book. It wouldn't fix everything, because it runs against a lot of people's deep-seated belief systems, but maybe it would make SOME of them start second-guessing those beliefs... Anyway. A MUST read in terms of abuse and intimate partner violence.

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë. I read the book for the first time about 15 years ago, and only reread it now. I loved it even more than the first time. The atmosphere, the revenge tale, the love story between Catherine and Heathcliff, all the ways these families' lives affect the others, how you have to parse through Nelly's account of events... I still wish I could hit Lockwood in the head with a stick lol. Just once. Not even too hard! But hit him in the head, I would xD

COMICS

Batman: Huntress/Spoiler - Blunt Trauma. One of those "it could've been so good if it was good" comics. It would've had to NOT been written by Dixon, of course. His ideas about these two characters are palpable here. He's met real women and girls, I know this, but he's completely failed to take anything from these meetings into account to understand them as people. And boy, does it show in his writing.

Green Lantern: Willworld. I've had this comic in my list for aeons and I moved it up when I found out its author would be writing Jason's upcoming ADITF "what if" story starting July. I really liked this one, and how it showcased Hal's character. It's not a guarantee I'll like his Robin Lives run, because comic writers have biases and blind spots and huge gaps in their knowlege regarding certain characters, but "he seems to be a good writer" is already a huuuuge leg up compared to most modern Jason content lol.

JLA: World Without Grown-ups. This was interesting because I've watched the Young Justice (cartoon) version of this premise, which is VERY different, from the villains to their goals to the handling of the crisis (since the cartoon had an established teen team), down to the emotional beats (the Zataras). They're too different to be compared, tbh. This one was quite fun though, and it made me feel very fond of Bart. Also Tim's parasocial relationship with Jason's memorial made an appearance LOL.

Colin Wilke's appearances. I am MOURNING this kid. He has like 9 appearances (and a couple of them are barely a few pages) but each one is gold. Bring him back. Make HIM Damian's best friend. Integrate him in the storyline!! His character and his dynamic with Damian had so so much potential. I am definitely going to include him in my fics.

Batman: Li'l Gotham. (plus the two stories introducing it in Batman Annual #27 and 'Tec Annual #11). A couple of things conspired (including me finding out there's a version of Colin in this lol) and I ended up reading it while I was sick. It's mostly fun fluff (as opposed to just corny fluff) and a quick read without much meat in it, but a few things nudged the inspiration muscle and Dustin Nguyen's art is adorable.

Batman Tales: Once Upon a Crime. I liked this one more than the above! It follows in that universe (a Gotham where everything is smaller and cuter lol), mixing it with some fairy tale vibes. Pinocchio!Damian is A Concept. Although my favourite story was "The Snow Queen", with Mister Freeze. The art goes into a whole other level in all of these, but especially that one.

Batman: The Chalice. Bruce Wayne receives the Holy Grail. I read this one in my list of Talia appearances and hers is the part that interested me: Ra's wants the Grail to make her immortal, like him, and Talia tells him that she has no desire to live forever. Her words are "Having lived my life in your company, the prospect of eernal life is not the attraction for me it might be for another." There are A LOT of things you can read into that sentence, and one of them, to me, is the idea that death to Talia would be an escape from Ra's, which is... interesting. Sidenote: this one was written by Dixon, who once in a while gets his wired crossed and is not wholly terrible with female characters xD

Ghost/Batgirl. I hadn't heard of Ghost before but I'm kinda curious after reading this mini run. I found a lot of the concepts it worked on (resurrection, mind control, etc.) quite interesting, although I ended up feeling the execution didn't delve too deeply into them. It's an story I might want to reread and pick apart at some point, though.

JLA: Tower of Babel. Yeah, THAT arc lol (also part of my Talia-reading). I also read JLA Secret Files and Origins #3 (in May, though), which shows Talia's whole thoughts on it as she steals the plans + some of the consequences the whole thing has for the other bats whose teammates no longer trust them (Dick, Tim, Barbara) + the wording of Bruce's contingency plans (which btw includes acceptance of lethal methods against Clark lol)... he certainly got off easy after this añsdlkfjasdf. Honestly, imo, the most selfish, cowardly thing he did was walking out before the JLA could tell him they'd voted him out. I know he and the comics probably won't frame it like that afterwards, but that's how it felt to me. The very least he could've done is face his teammates.

[honshew]

thoughts on bg3

overall, i had a lot of fun and would recommend to anyone interested! very ambitious game, and i'm amazed it exists tbh. there are so many really, really great aspects of it. however, i'm also glad to be done with it, bc i started to have less and less fun with it at the last part. which is an unfortunate place to have the worst part of the game. i really wish it wrapped up in a more satisfying way, because i became really attached to the characters and the incredibly detailed world. a shame it had to be rushed toward the end of development. it's incredible, though could have been more still.

i'm spending some time trying to figure out what i liked about the game, so this may or may not be updated as thoughts come to me. there will be spoilers all the way thru the end of the game so here's your spoiler warning

i think while people unfamiliar with dnd can play and still have a good time, it probably will feel overwhelming and there will likely be things you won't understand unless someone explains it to you. i can't even really call the tutorial a bad one as much as it's barely there. but i do know plenty of people with zero dnd experience still having fun and simply enjoying learning on the go!

on the other hand, being someone who plays dnd, once you figure out the interface it's a pretty smooth experience. there are some things that are a little different to accommodate how the game works (e.g. second-story work reduces your fall dmg rather than increasing your climbing speed, since the game doesn't really count climbing as distance), but those are pretty quick to learn. seems to me that the devs thought people who didn't play dnd wouldn't be all that intersted in bg3, but a ci'd be curious to see how many bg3 players will look for a dnd group to join from here.

act 1 was solid and was paced well. i really liked how many characters ended up showing up later in the game, as opposed to characters you save once and never see again. i think what was most fun was getting to know what i could get away with LOL not just an exploration of the world, but an exploration of the game itself. i have video of me talking to auntie ethel while my friends set up and set off a circle of flame barrels, so i got a front row seat of her being blown to smithereens.

act 2, also solid. i really enjoy quests that involve impacting a place in a really tangible way, like in okami, so the shadow-cursed lands were pretty cool. unfortunately, the game doesn't really show you this happening except a liiiiittle bit at the end, so it doesn't feel as good as it could. still, i liked exploring the area a lot. all of the mini-bosses of the area were unsettling, but we got past literally all of them via high charisma rolls. actually aside from the exploring, a lot of the fun was seeing how we could cheese boss fights, which carried into act 3

act 3 felt way more all over the place and buggy, which significantly lowered my enjoyment. ofc a game this massive will have issues, but i'm still sad that the last part of the game where everything crescendos is where i enjoyed the game the least. small things not working the way they're supposed to (e.g. certain npcs not running or climbing up a ladder when they are fleeing I'M TALKING TO YOU ZUMBO PUMBO AND FEATHERWEIGHT FALSON, astarion falling sleep to a spell even tho he's an elf during his end-of-quest fight). what sucks about things being so frustrating too was that the main quests had really great setups or concepts, but the execution was messy. still, we had a lot of fun messing with bosses. cazador couldn't do anything bc he was forced to dance while we killed him, orin was disintegrated, gortash turned to stone. kinda wild having a bard with 100% spell hit rate....!

i do wish we got to explore baldur's gate more. i totally get that would be a huge undertaking tho. i had a thought that maybe act 3 should've been its own game, but then i guess you couldn't call it baldur's gate 3 if you never get to baldur's gate. i didn't play the previous bg games, but i liked how they wove in the story from the previous installments and ttrpg modules without leaving newcomers to the series out of the loop too much.

i liked shadowheart's, astarion's, and wyll's quests a lot. the ansur part of wyll's was really cool. i adore trials to test character as a setup, especially ones administrated by some major figure. but also? fuck balduran for what he did to ansur and later to me. he's the city's hero, but he only really looks out for himself. which is cool for me as a viewer, not cool for the character i play as LOL

i have more thoughts but i will type them up here later maybe this has gotten long enoguh

[bitegore]

🍄♻️🤔

🍄Describe your wip/one of your wips in the format of “_ + =__”

okay for the sake of my fucking sanity i am NOT going to presume I get any real wiggle room here. or i will do another 400 line proof. because it is fun but oh my god it takes so long.

((Felyx + Taran)(Rex + Haven + Taran) + fake dating)^spite = fireworks

♻️A scrapped idea for your current WIP(s)

not sure it qualifies as a "wip" because I haven't actually decided to pull it out of the graveyard of abandoned-works out-of-progress yet - call it a wip-aspirational or something lol - but the more I poke at Haven and Taran's actual story the more fun I have thinking about siccing Rex on the two of them. In like 2020 or 2021, so, a good while ago at this point and at a time I'd describe myself as "rusty" I started working on whatever the worst version of a meetcute is (ending in the equation above) lol. If I recall correctly my endgame then was that the three of them would fall into a stable orbit. I think that's kind of silly now. They're not that kind of people.

other scrapped idea, same story: Rex and Taran were meant to get along. That's not happening. It's a lot funnier if Rex and Haven (both deeply, deeply difficult people to get along with who hate accommodating for other people) can find a way to coexist pleasantly but Taran, resident NormalGuy who is extremely accustomed to unpleasant asshole bullshit, genuinely cannot get over Rex's various fuckeries beyond, like, the civility of "I recognize that you are living in my house now because the other person who lives here really likes you, and I don't want to have a screaming match in my own fucking kitchen." I tend to make Rex tolerable to speak to when I write him on his own because it's narratively difficult to use a protagonist who will just spit anything handed to him in someone else's face, but in this particular setup he is actively attempting to get Taran's genuine actual hatred on purpose because he's under the impression that's the goal and he's having fun with it also, so it lets me just make him a huge cunt asshole too which is more fun than having him show any scraps of humanity anyway :D

ok let me come up with something you have actual interest in lol

The Rex & Casey conversation fic I was working on ran into an unrecoverable roadblock (I decided the premise needed work) and has to be restarted in a different place with a slightly different version of Casey (tragic!), so one of the things I had to scrap to keep it rolling is Rex commenting on the color of the sky. It's really sad for me because I always think it's funny when you have a guy In a hell dimension like "damn... this place is weird.... the sky isn't bright red, it's eerie". But I can't justify The Story bringing Rex into The Real World as a Plot Element now that I know more about how it works, so I

......

Aha. Well. Actually. I can't justify Alan using The Story to bring Rex into The Real World, because I know how he works. Might have fixed my opinion on my own premise.

We'll see, I'll sleep on it. It needs to cook longer anyway. I also realized (aw2 spoilers) (for serious) (skip this paragraph now if you havent at least finished the first run of the game) if it happens in The Story In The Real World it's got to be situated between Saga's first time going through the loop with Alan and the Final Draft, but I still haven't found enough time to watch t full playthrough of Final Draft, so I'm sure when I hit Zane's part in there and then endgame I'll know a bit more about the direction I want to take.

🤔What’s a story you’d love to write but haven’t even started yet

Anything like that I have, either it's so busy being a concept I cannot write it yet, or I've started it just to make sure I won't forget it XD so it's hard to come up with. And most of the concepts are less "this is the kind of story I want to write", so much as "this is the kind of effect I want it to have". You know. I want to write something ~mind-bending~ or I want to ~do talking animals but cool~ or whatever.

A lot of words to say I'm drawing a huge blank on this question.

I think - and this is something I keep approaching with different stories but not leaning into, because, frankly, I'm the first line of concept-check for myself, and i get bored - I'd really like to try a story that works as one extended record-scratch. You start at the very end, in a scene that means basically nothing to anyone, and then in the events of reading the entire rest of the story you get more and more context until the very end of the book is the exact same scene as the first part, like, down to the description, and then it just loops infinitely. Something you could read spiral-binding style so it doesn't really have a "start" or an "end", just points between chapters with cardboard so you can close it anywhere, if it's a physical book. you know, some experimental shit.

Unfortunately I find time loops boring as hell to write. This would be ONE loop, so it'd maybe be better, but I'm still kind of burnt on being willing to touch another timeloop from how badly I did not enjoy the one I wrote for an exchange like two full calendar years ago. And also I do have other things to be doing.

That's also not a story! That's a plot structure! I might as well say I want to write The Hero's Journey for all it really tells you 😂 at my heart I'm a parodist, I'm going to need to see someone do it wrong and decide to do a better job than they did to really get a fire lit for an actual narrative here. I do love me some themes of insurmountable stupid bullshit you put yourself into on purpose because you decided you could surmount it and then discovered you couldn't, and some futile attempts at some stupid shit for retroactively-really-dumb reasons that weren't worth it, so it'll have that. as seasoning. because what is a permanent stable timeloop but one person committing suicide over and over? I'm only really able to approach the properly frozen-in-sequence ones as either Hand Of God (boring) or Sunk Cost Fallacy On Steroids (fun! interesting! miserable in a slightly unusual way!) so...

....well, it's going to have to keep simmering, because I like what I've got in the broth, but there's no meat in there yet, only spices. It would make a terrible meal right now. But it answers the question, I think.

[rachaellawrites]

Writer Questions Tag

I was tagged by @tabswrites. Thanks!

Leaving this an open tag for anyone else to jump in on.

What is your absolute all-time favourite idea you've ever had?

Uhhh.... I genuinely don't know. There's a lot of existent and forthcoming writing projects that I'm really excited for/proud of, but I'm not sure if I can pin down an all-time favourite idea. I'm terrible at picking favourites!

I guess I'm especially excited to dig into the magic system for a wip I haven't started writing but have a lot of notes for. It's a twist on elemental magic that I'm very proud of.

Is there a question you've been asked in the past that really stands out to you, and you still think about sometimes?

Not really. At least not that I can readily think of.

What is your favourite part of being a writer? What parts could you take or leave?

Favourite: Taking my daydreams and putting them into words so other people can step into them.

Least favourite: Self promotion.

What is your greatest motivation to write/create?

A mixture of ideas that won't leave me alone unless I write them down, and spite.

What is the best piece of advice you've ever read or been given as a writer?

I don't know if it's advice, exactly, but discovering the concept of zero-drafts was extremely helpful and validating to me as a plantser. And even just coming across the term "plantser" as an in-between of planner and pantser was helpful - it made me realize why a lot of conventional writing tips weren't working for me.

What do you wish you knew when you were first starting out writing?

That I'm a plantser lol

What is your favourite story you've written to completion? Link it if you like and can!

I think my favourite at any given moment is always going to be my most recent. Right now, that's When We Lie, the third book in my series, A New Age of Magic.

What is your favourite out-of-the-box quote?

I unfortunately am bad at remembering quotes and don't keep any written down anywhere. I keep meaning to change that, but it's hard to find the time.

Which of your characters would you say has the most controversial mindset? Why do you say so, and how do you personally feel about their ideals?

I can't say who it is or what wip they're from because it's a huge spoiler, but I have one character who is literally willing to sacrifice anyone and everyone if it means protecting a handful of loved ones - not even all their loved ones. Just a few. It's hard to explain nuances of this situation without spoiling the story it's centered in, but essentially: The people they kill are rarely an actual threat to their loved ones. The actual threat is a nebulous potential, and they've been promised that all this killing will protect their loved ones if that potential ever becomes reality.

I think, obviously, any character that does a lot of murdering outside of self-defence or protecting something dear is difficult to defend or understand. But I think (or at least hope) that the way this character is introduced and then has their mindset twisted will make readers feel a sort of conflicted sympathy for them.

If you, when you first started writing, met you now, what would younger you think?

Younger me would be confused and possibly upset that I've (thus far) gone the self-pub route, and also disappointed that none of my books were instant bestsellers lol

[bahamutgames]

Sea of Afterthoughts

Game: Sea of Stars (August 28, 2023)

Console: Xbox One (Via Gamepass)

Another afterthoughts coming at you hot off the presses! It's been a bit of a rough day. Being a little under the weather and making some mess ups, but I got some work done and it's only just now noon so hopefully I'll be in a better headspace going forward. Anyway, we've got games to talk about!

I played Sea of Stars a little earlier this year around its launch, and I've let me thoughts sit for a long while so I figure it's a perfect time to finally tell you what I thought about the game!

As always this is NOT a review! This is just me throwing up my thoughts onto the internet to get them out of my head and so other people who played the game can see what I thought! You shouldn't take this as serious well written criticism, and every game I talk about is something you should play for yourself if you're interested!

BIG SPOILERS FOR SEA OF STARS AHEAD!! READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!!

Opening

So I've actually been interested in Sea of Stars for a while. I saw a screenshot for it in a game informer magazine around when covid started and it looked SUPER nice. As it got closer I only got more and more excited for it, it was really amazing looking! Sadly when it launched, I just wasn't in a comfortable place money-wise to pick it up and I was pretty upset. I LOVE JRPGs and I was missing out on what looked like the best this year! Thankfully for my birthday my family got me a month of gamepass and I was able to finally sink my teeth into the game through that!

Stuff I liked

Man, where to begin? There's a LOT to love about Sea of Stars. Right out of the gate, this game is GORGEOUS! The sprite art is seriously amazing, being highly detailed with great animations. And they do a lot of sprite manipulating to make things look even more detailed such as having trees and plants actually sway in the breeze or having the ocean with actual ripples and waves. With some amazing enviornments, great character and monster designs, and even some nice hand drawn cutscenes, it's a seriously beautiful game all the way through. I was particularly impressed with the Dwellers which would typically be HUGE boss monsters with loads of detail on them (Torment was NUTS).

The game also have wonderful music, probably to no one's surprise I was really into the battle themes of the game, and the main theme is nice to. It's been a bit since I've played it so not a lot of the music is still in my head but I don't think there was a single track during my playthrough I didn't enjoy!

The story is also very interesting, I love the world they built, the solstice warriors are VERY interesting and I really love a lot of the concepts in the game like the dragon sleeping on the mountain and even the dwellers themselves. The story is nice and keeps you very engaged for most of it (we'll get to it) and the characters are really lovely! There's some misses but overall I think the cast is wonderful! I liked Valere and Zale and alot, but there's no doubt Garl is the best character hands down! He's charming, capable, fun, and just all around a great guy. I remember when the game was coming out I was rubbed a little the wrong way that he was fat and a chef. But I think the game handles him so well, he's not bumbling or food obsessed like most fat characters in fiction. And he's not a chef because he's fat, he's fat because he's a chef? If that makes sense? He doesn't feel like the butt of the joke ever and honestly, he might be one of my new favorite RPG teammates ever, it's nice to have a teammate of my body type I can cosplay lol

However where Sea of Stars REALLY shines is in the gameplay. This game has some absolutely fantastic traditional turnbased JRPG gameplay that still manages to bring in new ideas without totally watering down the formula, and inspiration from tons of sources while still being wholly unique to itself. The game really wears its influences on its sleeves so I'll be making a lot of comparisons to other games to explain stuff, apologies for how tacky that might come off lol.

So Sea of Stars is obviously heavily based on Chrono Trigger, you can really see that in the visuals. But the gameplay also brings in some elements from CT such as having area of effect attacks, so enemy positioning matters, as well as crossover attacks between allies! There's timed hits just like the Mario RPGs, which are always welcome imo. You can even see what moves some things are based on specifically. Like Moonerang (which I loved a LOT because I was pretty good with the timing so I could totally devastate some enemies) is clearly based on the shell bros. moves from the Mario & Luigi games. Meanwhile Sunball works similar to Geno Beam, ect ect. And of course there's simple timed hit and timed block action commands which are staples in Mario RPGs. The overworld sections also have a lot of interactivity, like using grappling hooks (which I LOVED, you could use this to get first strikes) or blowing gusts of wind to push things around. This is another feature I always love to see as it adds nice depth to exploring the world maps and solving puzzles. Even item management is interesting, there are no healing items. Instead, cooking mechanics similar to the Tales of series make an appearance, and they are the main way of making food. You find ingredients everywhere, overworld, shops, and even enemies, so you'll never have trouble getting what to cook with. And I think making cooking the main source of healing is a great way to encourage me to do it. Also, those foods look SO tasty!

There's other positives too, I like that the whole party shares an EXP meter, so they all level up together (even if they're not in the party! this is important!) I love that you can swap teammates during combat (always a fan of this and it's really needed for this game particularly.) The ability to stop enemies from casting spells was neat. There's a lot to like about this game and its REALLY good gameplay.

Stuff I didn't like

BUT, the game is not perfect. Early in I have some very teeny tiny gripes. Sometimes it can be almost impossible to properly hit enemies with everything you need to make them stop casting, personally I really did not like the pirate crew at all and also don't really understand why they're hanging with Serai or why they wanna go to the Sea of Stars. But, whatever, it's all small stuff.

No, I think this game is FANTASTIC... Pretty much until the final act of the game. RIGHT when you get out of the Sea of Stars and onto the other side. That's the MOMENT the game kinda starts to drag and lose itself in my opinion. So, after they kill Garl, the best character. You then travel across the Sea of Stars, into an alternate reality where everything is more Sci-Fi... kind of? Only for 2 dungeons really. Serai is a cyborg, which is cool! Though it doesn't come up much. And then you realize there's a HUGE chunk of the game left in this alternate world, where it really feels like it should sort of be the climax. And I don't really care for a lot of stuff that happens at this point in the game. It all feels weirdly tacked on and doesn't get the development time it needs at that point in the story. They try throwing loads of new stuff at us but like, at this point I kind just don't care anymore, and again these concepts are introduced and then IMMEDIATELY left behind. The weird smoke soul creatures? Yeah one joins (we'll get to it) but I don't think what he is is ever mentioned again? The weird bird cult with daffy duck? Neat idea but like... idk it's kind of nothing and then it's gone? And you free a prisoner who shows up out of nowhere to help you and it's supposed to be this feel good scene but... I don't know who that guy is? He's just a random NPC to me?

Then there's B'st. Your final teammate and easily the worst teammate in the game. I just don't understand him. He's clearly meant to be a Garl replacement as a heavy hitter. But like... there's not really a reason to have one considering the true ending (we'll get to it!!!). His skills just make him generally more useless than the rest of the cast. And from a story perspective, he shows up SO late into the game that I absolutely do not care about him at all. I have no time to bond with him compared to the rest of your party who you have for nearly the whole game! B'st basically solely exists to tie up a lose end in Garl's story. Which is neat, but I can't help but feel like he could have been SO much better as maybe not a teammate, or being a teammate that's introduced way earlier than near the end of the game. This is something I feel like a LOT of indie RPGs do, introduce a new teammate CRAZY late into the game where no one will care about them at all. In my opinion, while it's always the more the merrier when it comes to RPG teammates. If you're gonna add a character that late, just cut them or find a way to introduce them into the plot earlier so they don't feel completely tacked on.

But, that's still not the worst part of Sea of Stars. No, that's the ending, and ultimately the resolution of Garl's story. So, you have to beat the game at least once to get the true ending. You fight a cool final boss, and then the true villain just kinda gets escorted out and the whole finale ends so unbelievably anti-climatically. And for good reason, this is NOT the true ending. No, to get the true ending you have to nearly 100% complete the game. I HATE when games do this. It's very common in platformers but I have never seen this in an RPG before. To get the true ending you must complete a personalized sidequest for each teammate to get their ultimate weapon (ala Chrono Trigger), fully rebuild a town (why do so many RPGs have this side quest lol), and collect every single rainbow conch, which are hidden all around the world. And while you will have a head start from playing the whole game, it's still a daunting task that requires you to do TONS of side quests on top of this. And there's no way to just view totals in the area, you can have a parrot tell you at random what's left in an area, but unless you're CERTAIN you've collected all of one thing and he isn't just never choosing to tell you about what you're missing, it's basically pointless.

So you do all that, and you get Garl back! B'st fulfills his whole purpose of bringing back... the teammate he was meant to replace...

So why are we hanging out with B'st again??

Anyway, then you get the true ending right? No??? Idiot. Now you have to go around the whole world and catch EVERY FISH IN THE GAME. Yeah, there's a fishing minigame too. And the only way to know if you've caught every fish is to actually enter the fishing areas and check inside the areas. Albeit it's not THAT bad since you can fly on the world map at this point. But also you promised I was done with the game two times. Let me leave please.

After that, you are FINALLY permitted to go to the finale and fight the real final boss. Who is the main villain of the game... before he gets escorted out again. But at least this time the ending isn't super anti-climactic. In fact, it's a good ending. So, why is it locked behind nearly 100% completing the game? It's not just a slightly different ending, you are just straight up getting a worse conclusion unless you put in this HUGE amount of work. And I was hunting for this stuff during my blind playthrough, what if you found NO side content? You'd suddenly have to do hours of shit to get the true ending. It's nuts. And very confusing.

I feel like the ball was dropped during the second half of the game. Maybe be combining more of the first and second world this could have been avoided? Maybe by making getting Garl back a required part, and maybe having B'st be a side character rather than a half hazard teammate you could fix some of the awkwardness? But I don't know. The game is still great! And absolutely worth the playthrough! But damn they really punish you for making the effort by the end of the game.

Final Thoughts

Sea of Stars is an AMAZING Indie RPG. It's everything I was hoping for and then some. If you're a fan of the genre, you have to play it. And I'm very excited to see what they cook up for the DLC and future Sea of Stars titles (I still haven't played the messenger lol). But ultimately the game just drops the ball so awkwardly by the end of it. Then expects you to still have the steam after that fumble to do EVERYTHING in the game for a decent ending. I've honestly never seen anything like that before and it totally knocked the wind out of my sails while playing.

Again it's a GREAT RPG and I'm so glad I sat down to play through it, but I just don't think it's that game of the year I was hoping it would be. I still think there's something I've played this year that just scratched all the itches more than this did.

===

Thank you for reading! I know this and the last afterthoughts I did skewed a little negative, but I do want to make it very clear that I liked Sea of Stars! And I think the next few games I talk about will be more positive over all!

There's so many games coming out lately and I really can't keep up with any of it. Lately I've been playing some shorter stuff that I haven't had a huge oomph to talk about. So that's why I've been a bit inactive. But hey, just one week again from the biggest game ever for me aha

Also, apparently Tumblr might be in some danger according to some scared posts I've seen. I have no idea if this is true. But if it is that would kinda suck! I'd have to find a new place to post massive word vomit essays about games I played, so hopefully that's not the case. But if it is, you should follow me on another dying platform: Twitter! To see what I'm up to and if I have to replace this blog with a fuckin... wix or some shit idk.

That's all I have for today, go out and play a game you've been excited for!

[linklethehistorian]

Cherish Development Notes — Part 1: Origin

Since two people have already asked me to make this a thing, and 7 others  also liked the post, I’ll just go ahead and put this first one out there. Along with my usual tags, I’m going to be tagging these posts “#Just Cherish Things”, so feel free to block, follow, or do absolutely nothing about the tag as desired. lol

I guess the first thing I really want to talk about — which I was actually asked about yesterday — was what the general process of writing the chapters for this fic is like, as a whole, and actually that’s a really interesting question because…my process for Cherish — given it’s my only non-oneshot fic — is actually way different from any other fic I write.

But, before I can talk about that, I first need to talk about something else — namely, its very different origins from all of the rest.

(Although it’s not super long, the rest is nevertheless under the cut for some basic Fifteen/Storm Bringer spoilers. Also, I guess since I’m putting one of these here, I’ll mention I talk about the ships VerRim/Rimlaine and ChuuArt here briefly, too, because…obviously. lol but really, the tags and the fact this is about a fic revolving around them should tell you that anyway)

You see, unlike all the other fics I’ve created — which, from their very conceptions, were all stories intended to someday be shared with the world — the tale that you all know today as Cherish had much more humble beginnings; that is to say, it did not start out with the intention to ever be a written fic at all.

In fact, tracing it all the way back to its true roots of like, January 2020 iirc, it was really nothing more than this extremely wild, elaborate…well, I guess you would call it a headcanon, originally.

I believe I mentioned in a much earlier ask about BSD Paul that it was somewhere between August of 2019 and the release of Storm Bringer that I began to openly dabble in front of friends with the idea of a regretful, even redeemable, Verlaine; this, in a sense, was a much more secretive extension of the groundwork I had already set there and in years prior (that groundwork being a long-standing scenario in which Chuuya had found a way in a future time to revive BSD!Arthur Rimbaud and the two fell in love, thus leaving Verlaine alone to suffer and dwell on the mistakes that led to him losing his partner and would-have-been lover many times over).

The primary distinction between it and its foundation material, however, was that, unlike with the said other headcanons and ships that set the stage for it to even happen, I had kept everything regarding poet!Arthur and Paul, and the pairing comprised of them, entirely to myself — at least, for a very long time. Why? Well, the reasons were actually quite simple, really; first and foremost, I didn’t think anyone could ever give even half a shit about it even if I’d tried, and secondly, I greatly feared being judged over it, even by some of my closest friends. I knew very well that there were at least a fair number of people out there on the internet in general who had a huge problem with “real person fiction”, as it’s called, and although I knew that technically BSD itself was a form of that in a weird way and thus most of the fandom would probably be a lot more understanding (not to mention that the real person involved was a long-dead historical figure, anyway), I honestly just couldn’t justify it to myself to go through the risk of harassment and confrontation just to share something that, in my mind, no one but me would ever have any interest in to begin with.

At that time, I had made up my mind that it would never see the light of day even among my friends as a headcanon, much less ever become a written fic.

However, as the months went by, and it kept growing and growing into something deeper and more interesting, it became a lot harder for me to hold to that self-made rule, and eventually I ended up giving in and rambling to just one of my friends about it in private — that person being my friend and ever-kind supporter, Jailrose, whom I felt safe with (and whom, it seems, no longer has a blog on here).

In the end, it is only her I have to thank for Cherish’s existence in its current form, as it was purely her constant enthusiasm, support, and insistence that despite my uncertainties, she thought it would make for a great fic she would love to read, that helped me to finally gain the courage well over a year later to publish it on AO3 as the fully-fledged, multi-chapter story in progress that you all know it for being today.

[Read the fic!]

[liquidstar]

hi this is evilmario666 anon. im ok now and i realized that despite the misogyny that does exist on account of genre and perspective re:zero actually understands the subaru archetype of guy very well and i was jumping to conclusions too quickly based on what i was seeing. it was impolite and unfair of me and id like to apologize both to re;zero and you, i am no longer on the verge of a blood rage. thanks once more because i am genuinely having a ball of a time . lost track of arc numbers but im on the one where subaru accidentally SPOILERS kills emilia becaus he tries to reveal return by death

NO YEA ANON ITS OK sorry i didnt respond to ur first ask last night i was too tired to read long things lol

but i TOTALLY get how you feel like subaru early on legit annoyed me with his behavior, and it was completely intentional. not that he didnt have his endearing traits, i think the first thing that made me really like him was the fact that he got to know the names of the village kids and legit cared about them a lot because before getting to know them he just considered them and everyone around him as "npcs", and the village kids in particular arent "important" characters. (also dont take all of what im about to say as subaru hate, having read most of the story now i legit love the guy but im just talking abt his portrayal in the show in the early arcs)

basically arc 1 just served to introduce us to characters and concepts so there wasnt all too much of an arc there, subaru is dense as hell so he still came out of all that thinking he was gonna get his Isekai Harem Fantasy and so when he arrived at the mansion in arc 2 he literally treated all the characters like tropes (even before that though he would assume emilia's behavior based on what the tropey response would be). he just didnt see any of them as people and thats where a lot of the conflict came from, in order to overcome in that arc he had to actually befriend both rem and ram in a way that actually mattered, and he really did start to care about them as people and we know that because of the story he tells ram about the ogres.

arc 3 though addresses his mindset about this hero fantasy he has a lot more bluntly, because while he may have grown some in arc 2, he still has a huge martyr complex and places emilia into this role where he gets to be her hero even though she didnt ask for that, and their fight about it is simultaneously really satisfying to see him called out, and hard to watch because hes being such a child about it, hes so incredibly entitled to her at this point. the show luckily frames him as completely in the wrong and shows us the nastiest parts of this mindset in him. one of my favorite scenes in this arc is the one where he accidentally kills her, but just before that. when he rushes into the room and yells at her about how shes useless and unable to save anyone and we focus on her face, and she just says "why are you crying?" and the cut zooms into her eye to reveal that he was staring at his own reflection in it, he was talking to himself. that just perfectly describes what she is to him at that point- a beacon to project all his insecurity and doubt. re:zero loves using those eye-reflection shots, and i love seeing them because my absolute favorite theme in the story is "self-recognition through the other"

subaru does legitimately learn and become better, he acknowledges how shitty hes been in his convo with rem and it gets turned into a really sweet moment between the two of them, and it gets memed a lot but "i love emilia" is honestly a really good line because its in that moment that he stops trying to either run away or project and face his feelings genuinely in a way that doesnt throw her under the bus. by the time arc 4 rolls around hes so much more likable, and his dynamic and relationship with emilia becomes honestly really cute, the way they talk is sort of dorky and charming (spoilers, but even when they have another argument that calls back to the one they had in arc 3, you feel its coming from a legit place now, and when he kisses her he does so only after getting explicit consent and telling her its okay to dodge). hes so much more sympathetic and you really root for him. i loved the choice to not show any of his backstory until arc 4, the point where youre supposed to be on his side completely.

all that being said though its NOT a series i think is perfect nor do i think its super feminist, i just think its a good deconstruction of these isekai tropes and calls them out in a blunt way that i enjoy seeing. there are lots of things about it that i dont like too though, some of the character designs sort of bother me and seem antithetical to this, part of that is that the writer and character designer are different people but it still passed. but i still enjoy the story and characters enough that it doesnt totally sully my enjoyment of it (some are more egregious than others tho). at the end of the day im so along for this whole ride, i love the way it explores its themes, again especially the whole "self-recognition through the other" thing but also suicidal ideation and of course the deconstruction of what the isekai genre has become.

TL;DR: the series perfectly understands the type of nerdboy that watches isekai anime and wants to be sent to another world just like their favorite blank-slate nerdy protagonist and it directly calls them out, saying "no. youre not gonna be an OP hero who saves the day and gets all the bitches with that fucking attitude. youre not gonna be able to escape your insecurities via this escapism, you treat the women around you like trash, youre not entitled to any of this, youre just pathetic." and though subaru is a character that gets better many of the viewers of the series straight up plugged their ears to its themes so they can jack off to rem lol.

[nunchiimagines]

BRAIN DUMP!!!! :D

OKAYYYYY!! Wow, I have to get this off my chest!! I feel like I’m going to go crazy if I don’t write out this idea for you guys! AND PLEASE....if you have any suggestions I would LOVE to hear them!!!! 😭 Here goes....how would you guys feel if I did a....

BTS One Piece au???

Like I’ve had this idea for quite some time and it would definitely be something that wouldn’t be created until after the completion of Spring Day’s redone series. But like here is the general idea behind it and I’m sorry this might get long!! Also, there might be some spoilers for the actual story of One Piece so please read with caution.

A LONG LONG LONG time ago I created an OC for the One Piece universe who I developed SO MUCH content for. I ended up making over a 100 page fanfic about her insertion in the series and her relationship to the characters. I was so proud of the concept but then it kinda just died out because One Piece started irritating the hell out of me with how the story was continued and my love for it kinda died out. But that never ceased my admiration for many of the concepts that Oda created to this day. Anyway, I stumbled upon the fanfic I wrote about the OC and started thinking how interesting it would be to use this concept for a BTS version. And that’s kinda how we got here lol.

So, that being said, let’s talk about You (aka the Reader). You are a child of Primm, a clan that was put on the earth to protect those who were marked with “The Will of D”. In the BTS version it wont be called “The Will of D” but it will be something else similar to the idea. Because of this purpose, all members of the Primm family have an obscene amount of physical strength and intelligence that exceeds even the Mink Clan. They are immediately trained from a young age having mastered all forms of Haki and they are put through physical and mental exercises to increase their agility, combat power, and speed. If someone from the Primm family fails to protect the individual marked with D, they will be sentenced to death having tarnished the purpose of the clan. 

In the OC’s case, she was supposed to protect Ace and Luffy and well....Ace died, indicating that she failed part of her purpose. However, seeing as she was also tasked to protect Luffy, she was put in a position where she was banished from the clan until the rest of her purpose was fulfilled. In this case, she can no longer come back to the clan until Luffy has fulfilled his dream. As long as he can do that without dying then the OC will be allowed back in. However, this is not without its limitations due to her allowing Ace to die still. In addition, the OC ends up becoming a liberator and captain of her own crew, someone who is similar to the Revolutionary Army but works according to their own agenda. Her main purpose is to free the slaves from auctions and household even if it means becoming one, especially World Nobles (something SUPER illegal). She incurred a crazy bounty having succeeded multiple times and was put on a watch list not only for her lineage but also for being a non-pirate for having such a huge bounty.

In the BTS version, all 7 members will be the ones You (the reader) have to protect. They all bare “the mark” and you are supposed to ensure their safety at all cost. What makes that so difficult for you though is how all 7 of them are associated with various groups, some of which oppose each other greatly. Your need to travel around and help slaves is how you managed to find and meet all of them at one point or another.

So lets talk about what that means!! 😋

Lets start off with the pirates. I LOVED the relationship between Ace, Luffy, and Sabo. Like, I wish Oda could’ve fleshed out their relationship more into their teen/adult years instead of cutting it so short when they were children by “killing” Sabo, separating Luffy and Ace, reuniting the two to actual kill Ace off, and then bringing Sabo back so suddenly after the major time skip. Like damn, my heart hated that the three of them couldn’t reunite but it is what it is and I’m going on a tangent at this point. 

So, if it wasn’t obvious, Ace, Luffy, and Sabo are going to play a critical role in this. I figured Jungkook, Taehyung, and Jimin could take the honors of filling those roles! However, it’ll be a bit different.

Jungkook is going to fill in for Ace. Taehyung for Luffy. And Jimin for Sabo. A majority of the concepts of Ace, Luffy, and Sabo will carry over to Jungkook, Taehyung, and Jimin but there will be major differences as well. 

For example, like Ace, Jungkook’s father will have been an infamous well renowned pirate king who put JK’s life through hell and who JK hates with a passion. But Jungkook will not die like Ace and will actual become the main captain of the main pirate crew. 

That being said, Taehyung, unlike Luffy, will not be the main pirate captain and will also not be clueless and stupid. He, like Luffy, will have an infamous reputation and encounter crazy strong individuals who he always manages to beat. 

Jimin, like Sabo, will come from a stereotypical richy rich noble family who tries to control his every waking move. He runs away, meets JK (and later Tae), and they become sworn brothers, promising to be pirates of their own crew. Unlike Sabo, he will not get his ship blown up by a World Noble nor will it take 80 billions chapters to write him back in the story. There will be an incident that separates the 3 but it’s nothing dramatic. Jimin will join the Revolutionary Army, Jungkook will become a 1 man pirate crew (for reasons), and Taehyung will become a pirate captain of his own crew. How Ace, Luffy, and Sabo met and grew up will be almost identical with JK, Tae, and Jimin. 

Now, how do you play role in this?

In the OC story I made, she gets dropped off at Dadan’s hut where Ace is staying. This is before Luffy shows up and after Ace meets Sabo. Ace did not like the OC for quite some time but eventually warmed up to her and developed feelings for her until the day he died. Sabo knows of her but doesn’t physically meet her until after he meets Luffy and also develops feelings for her as well. Luffy only ever saw her as a big sister figure and loves her deeply in his own way. For the BTS version, it will be the exact same thing except all three of them fall in love with You (the reader).

Let’s go to the Marines!!! >:D

The rap line....our lovely rap line will be the marines in this story. But not just any type of marine, they will take the role of the 3 most well known Admirals from One Piece. So Namjoon, Yoongi, and Hoseok will have a very similar role to Akainu, Aokiji, and Kizaru respectfully in that order. Those 3 are so overpowered it’s not even funny and even though they are literally bad guys (Aokiji being an odd unknown in that sense) they had this cool badass aura to them that lowkey made them kinda cool even though personally I really don’t like Akainu and I REALLY don’t like Kizaru. Anyway, Smoker is my personal favorite marine (a few others too, like Fujitora and Garp and so on) and the ideology of him and a few of the other marines who are bit less rigid in the marine ideals and realize that they’re not as righteous as they come across will be very prominent with Namjoon, Yoongi, and Hoseok. So really the only similarites they share with Akainu, Aokiji, and Kizaru are their title, their strength, and how cool they come across (even thoguh they suck).

What’s your role in this?

They are VERY WELL aware of you. You being a liberator and having a crew who aids in your successful work, you are SUPER wanted. You are on a watch list and the marines do everything they can to try to hunt you down on numerous occasions. Because you are so evasive, the Ruler and Elders have instructed the 3 big admirals to come after you which is how you’ve met the rap line so many times. You have an odd relationship with them, in many cases you’ve had to work together. This has happened so many times that they’ve all grown a soft spot for you followed by serious romantic feelings. The three also have a weird love-hate relationship with the maknae line as well, having grown accustomed to them too.

Lastly, the Mink Clan!

So, personally I think the Mink Clan is so cool and so unique compared to some of the other characters Oda has created. It was refreshing, to say the least, and I wanted to play with that a little because I think there’s a lot of wiggle room there too. So this is where Jin resides. I played with the idea of him being a marine but I wanted to do more and remembered the Mink Clan! 

In Jin’s case, he is the next in line to be the ruler. I haven’t decided what kind of animal he’s going to be but I do know that he’ll be a bit different from many of the other minks, especially the males. The females are more humanoid and the males are more beast. But they all have fur/mammal-like qualities. Humans, to the minks, are known as lesser-minks, and Jin is going to be an odd mix of the two. He has the hybird characteristics of a mink but he has no fur like a human. He was born that way but was never looked at as less than. His mother was a princess of the minks who was beyond beautiful and his father a handsome human. Jin just came out as a hybrid of the two. Despite that, that is about the only human characteristic about him. He still goes through Sulong when the full moon comes out and he is said to be one of the strongest minks in the tribe.

He meets you a few times on many occasions. In this story, minks go for an outrageous price at auctions. You had freed many of his people and personally brought them back to his homeland. He had helped many many time in the process. It didn’t take much for him to fall in love with you and has since tried to court you.

Now that this has all been played out, the really fun thing I want to do is eventually have them all join the same crew. There will be a series of events that brings all 7 of them together to join one crew, even though that requires 3 of them betraying the marines. You will be there right along with them and it will be a poly adventure romance story. They all, except you, will have a devil fruit but, again, I haven’t thought of that yet. This has so many things that need to be figured out and if you’ve read this far, I would love to hear your ideas on different things. Like a devil fruit for each of them, or the mink breed Jin will be. Stuff like that. Only if you want. I would also love to hear if any of you would even be interested in a story like this and any other feedback! Sorry this is so long but I wanted to share it with you all so badly. It was eating away at me like crazy lol.

Anyway, thanks so much and please enjoy the upcoming chapters of Pied Piper!!!

˚✧₊⁎Nunchi

[elpercotreviews]

Reviewing My Anime 10/10's *Relatively* Spoiler-Free

Note: What I rank a 10/10 is very specific and obviously very subjective to my own. Something can only be a 10/10 if I already consider it a 9/10 AND I must have rewatched it. I am someone who typically does not rewatch/reread anything, unless it's something I truly absolutely enjoy. With that being said, because of the requirements, I only have 4 animes that I rank 10/10, and tbh only one of those animes would get that ranking from the general anime audience. The rest are SO SO SO specific to my particular tastes that I would be absolutely stunned if someone also had the same four as me, because the requirement is so specific. Imma make another post eventually for my 9/10's because I think that list makes a lot more sense for a general anime audience lmaooo.

Soooo, in order of least personal to most personal (although obviously they're all personal to me lol) we have:

1. Psycho-Pass

Recommended for people who: are really into that dark dystopian future society vibes, are fans of Ghost in the Shell, like detective/crime stories

Okay, for a few people, this one actually probably makes some sense. At the moment, it has an 8.37 on myanimelist which means this anime is super well liked. I've watched this anime twice, first the original and then the second time I watched the director's cut (yes that exists lol). Overall, I'm a huge fan of the entire Psycho-Pass anime series as a whole. I've watched all three seasons, as well as two of the movies. I didn't watch any of the Sinners of the System ones cuz tbh I literally couldn't find an english sub of that anywhere, it just doesn't exist lol. I think it's okay cuz the ratings for the Sinners of the System trio of movies seems meh. I've actually watched Psycho-Pass the Movie like three/four times LMAO but that's simply cuz a movie is obviously much quicker to watch than an entire anime season. Like just objectively, the Psycho Pass series as a whole is very inconsistent in quality due to the fact that it's all original, so they do technically just make up everything as they go lol. Season two is all right (I think it gets more hate than it should), three is good but season one by far is the absolute best in the entire series. I'd argue the movie is technically my absolute favorite out of the whole IP, but I actually give the movie an 8/10. The movie, because of being obviously way shorter, simply does not have the deep controversial and philosophical lines of thought that season one has. It lacks that extra depth that would make me put it anything higher than an 8. The two main characters have good chemistry as a crime-fighting duo and the main villain's rivalry/relationship with the male lead is super compelling. The female lead is meant to be relatively naive/more on the innocent side which works with the plot as it allows the show to naturally explain and give more exposition as to the actual world and rules of Psycho-Pass without having it seem so ham-fisted or just throwing info to the audience.

2. Violet Evergarden

Recommended for people who: cry to sad movies, like gorgeous animation, are very empathetic, like vignette-esque storytelling

All right if you even remotely consider yourself an avid anime fan, then this anime is probably also somewhere on your 10/10 list or at least an anime you consider to be "very good." That is, unless you are that very vocal minority who simply really just REALLY do not like this anime for some god forsaken reason. However, in my honest opinion, I think an anime like this just really doesn't sit well with ... how do I put this blunty ... people who do not give a fuck about other people or anyone else's feelings but their own. Basically, IF YOU ARE SELFISH, A NARCISSIST, EGOTISTICAL, OR ANY SORT OF COMBO OF THOSE THREE, YOU WILL NOT LIKE THIS ANIME. And if you do, you probably don't think you're any of those things. Because of the anime's very premise, I find it very difficult to see a very self-centered/heartless person particularly enjoying this anime. The whole premise of this anime is that the main character who, because of her upbringing, doesn't understand feelings/emotions, especially the concept of love, grows as a human and slowly begins to learn what love is. The show does this by showing multiple sets of characters meant to represent different types of love (romantic, familial, platonic, etc). The vocal minority of people I've seen give Violet Evergarden bad ratings all typically argue that although beautiful, the anime doesn't have any substance/doesn't really mean anything. If that's honestly all you got after watching the entire show, then you deadass just don't get it, and you probably will never ever get it. If you've seen or heard of Vivy: Fluorite Eye's Song, than just know that these two animes are VERY very similar in vibe despite being technically different genres. However, I personally found the themes and concepts in Vivy are done much more masterfully in Violet Evergarden which I think is due to Vivy's heavier focus on a story-driven overarching plot/action as opposed to Violet Evergarden's focus more on emotional impact/an episodic format. I've watched the entire series and I've rewatched the main show twice. TBH you can probably skip the gaiden movie AKA the one set at the girl's academy it was highkey pointless. Compared to the opera episode they added as a "special", the gaiden movie was still good but I wish resources were dedicated to something that actually added to the story. ALSO YES I KNOW ITS A GAIDEN AKA A SIDE STORY AKA FILLER SO YES NO DUH IT DIDNT ADD ANYTHING, BUT STILL. As for the main show, I think I cried for three episodes (the one about the playwright/author I forgot lol, the mother and daughter, and the soldier). On my rewatch, I didn't cry but I still deeply cared for and related to the characters. Violet Evergarden is a beautiful anime with a beautiful story.

3. ACCA: 13-ku Kansatsu Ka

Recommended for people who: like bread and bakeries, don't mind a very chill and slow-paced story, like stories about political intrigue and hidden agendas

Based on a relatively short manga, ACCA: 13 follows the main character Jean Otus as he performs his job of auditing the 13 districts of his country Dowa, while rumors and politics brew in the background that threaten to entangle Jean into a complicated plot. To be honest, I think properly reviewing this anime is impossible for me, because I just can't really explain the vibes of this anime besides "chill" and "intriguing." I think trying to explain anything more than the basic premise I just wrote would spoil a lot of what ACCA is, because it's plot is actually relatively quite simple and straightforward. Compared to Psycho-Pass which has a relatively good cult following, and Violet Evergarden which is universally praised, ACCA is an anime that I've yet to personally meet anyone who has ever even heard of it LMAOO. And almost everyone I know watches anime, so that's saying something oof. ACCA is made by Madhouse, which if you don't know, is a super well known anime studio, producing big hits such as Death Note, Hunter x Hunter, One Punch Man, etc. That's why I'm surprised that ACCA has flown just SO under the radar, but that may be due to the overalls nature of the anime itself. ACCA is an anime where all the characters hold their card close and no one seems to really share their real thoughts. One main criticism the anime has is the lack of deeper connections to characters and that for a main character, Jean Otus is very bland. To be honest, I think that's a very fair criticism and I can understand why this would prevent people from rating this anime higher than an 8 or 7. Due to the very nature of the anime and its plot, I do agree that there is a huge cast of colorful characters that we unfortunately don't really get to know more about. To be honest though, I don't mind this because I feel that's honestly quite realistic, especially factoring in Jean's job. All these places he's going and all these people he's meeting, it's literally just his job. He's not on vacation, these people aren't his friends, so the anime has no real reason to dwell much longer on places past its specific episode. Just like in real life, you encounter so many people and go past so many places that you probably won't ever see again. So for me personally, I didn't mind that the anime didn't explicitly show much about the backstories or lives of the cast, save for the very main characters (as their backstories were plot relevant). I think as viewers of not simply an anime, but a whole other world, I think it should be satisfactory to inherently understand that these are whole "people" who have entire lives that we are not exactly privy to. So although admittedly our understanding of many of the characters was all around quite shallow, I think that works for the scope of the anime, which was relatively simple and focused on just Jean living his life and the political plot stirring in the background until it was brought forward in the second half of the anime. Also I love Jean Otus. I actually completely absolutely adore him. He is literally my profile pic for myanimelist LMAO. I think calling him "bland" is fair from other people's perspectives, especially as the supposed main character of an ANIME, but I feel that if ACCA was in a different format like a novel, I think his personality would have been less criticized. Like I said, I love him soo much. I don't find him bland at all, but actually very interesting and highkey attractive LOL (if only he'd quit smoking but it's part of his charm 😞). Yes for an anime "protagonist," he is quite underwhelming especially compared to others, but I think that makes him very charming!!! Like all he wants to do is just chill, vibe, and do his job lmaooo. I think as a person, he’s very charismatic, and in the world of ACCA the rest of the characters see that as well. Because like, if he really were such a bland person, why would so many people like him and actually trust him lol? As for why it’s technically my favorite anime of all time (my ultimate one is a movie), I can’t give super detailed reasons why to be honest. I just really like the overall vibes of the anime itself, and I think the anime is just super unique and original. I’ve watched a ton of anime over the years, but I’ve genuinely seen nothing like ACCA in the slightest. I mean, just look at the recommended animes on the myanimelist. The recommended animes are all stuff I’ve also personally really liked (like fugou keiji unlimited and the great pretender) but yeah there’s just truly nothing that’s close to what ACCA is, and because of that, it reminds my absolute favorite anime show. I’ve seen the dub and the sub, even though I am a vehement dub hater lmaooo (except for very few circumstances, and this also applies to all non-English media, not just anime). There was only one thing in the entire show that slightly confused me/ seemed slightly unbelievable and I won’t spoil but it had something to do with the overall timeline of some events, but it doesn’t detract from the story at all. Oh and the art style! I really love the art style of the anime. It stays pretty true to the manga, but is also just an overall kind of art style I really like. I really enjoy the more like 2d/flat/drawn art style versus really clean and really detailed stuff, and I’m typically not a big fan of very obvious use of CGI (unless done tastefully like in Demon Slayer). All the backgrounds in ACCA have this painted/drawn style and the anime itself has this like muted(?) filter over it that makes the anime seem like someone’s drawings just put up on display in a way that’s really refreshing and nice. I highly recommend this story for anyone who wants a breath of fresh air and to get away from the typical action-packed high energy of big name anime.

4. From Up on Poppy Hill

Imma make a whole separate post JUST for this movie so I can explain why I love this movie so so much. And honestly, Imma need a whole separate post in the first place to address the elephant in the room when it comes to this movie (if you’ve seen it, then you know what I’m talking about). And if you’ve haven’t seen the movie, maybe you’ve heard about one of its controversial themes. I’m not gonna say what it is, cuz I KNOW it’ll be super off-putting for a lot of people, but please omg just hear me out. I just love this movie so so much. I’ve seen it like 7 times and counting. I have it downloaded on my computer and on a flash drive. I’ve watched the sub AND the dub however I’ve stopped watching the dub because it makes me sad every time I hear Shun’s voice actor ;-; This movie is legit an honest-to-god comfort movie for me that I could watch over and over and I’ll fall in love with it again each and every time. And once again IMMA MAKE A WHOLE SEPARATE POST BECAUSE I SWEAR PEOPLE ARE GONNA BE LIKE “Yo ain’t this the movie with the -----” and it’s like PLEASE LET ME EXPLAIN. The vibes of this movie, the themes it addresses (yes even THAT theme), the music, the art, the characters, is perfectly presented in a way that I will never stop watching this movie. The only other film that has come close to the amount of times I’ve watched From Up on Poppy Hill would be Legally Blonde lmaooooo. 

[retvenkos]

There have been rumors that sab is going to include six of crows next season. Any thoughts?

whoo, do i have some thoughts™. 

i should preface by saying, though, that if you are excited, good for you! if you think it’s a concept™, it most certainly is, and if you don’t want to see hate for the idea, then do not read ahead. i have some things to say about the idea, and none are too positive.

let’s get into it...

lol, plenty of spoilers ahead. mostly for the six of crows duology.

✧ *:･ﾟ

first of all, let’s hit it from an obvious, show running perspective.

six of crows is a lot™. there is so much happening in that book, and even more happening in crooked kingdom. not only are there new characters to add and explore, but there is new lore and new places that would all have to be hit. already, i felt like shadow and bone season one went fast. there was a lot to establish, and even more to expand upon, and i think there is so much to cover that trying to squeeze it all in would be a disservice to the characters and the world, which is the exact opposite of what the showrunners want, since they are lining up the grishaverse to be the new fantasy hit.

especially when the shadow and bone trilogy is adding in new places and characters, i don’t see the need for them to shoehorn in the six of crows duology. i’m sure there’s plenty for the crows to do, during these following two seasons. in fact, i’d even be fine if they wrote the crows out of the third season (which would ideally follow ruin and rising) entirely and maybe threw in a cameo at the end to get viewers excited for a six of crows show.

basically, there’s so much to cover, and shadow and bone already hit the ground running. i think that adding in the six of crows story arc would be too much of a time crunch, on the runtime of the show.

✧ *:･ﾟ

secondly, i’m ranting about a couple of characters, and how they are not six of crows duology ready.

the easiest one to talk about is kaz brekker, because book!kaz is dirtyhands kaz. our first introduction to kaz in the boks is him telling an opposing gang member that he can’t kill kaz, because if he does, his girlfriend will burn in a fire, and no matter how fast he runs, he won’t get there in time. kaz is like... “do you smell that? i think it’s her hair burning.”

and this is a more mild transgression of dirtyhands kaz. in the same book, kaz pulls a man’s eye out, he swallows lock picks, and he plans and executes the greatest heist of all time.

compare this to kaz in the show. kaz in the show is just a mean, angry boy in comparison. and this isn’t me hating on freddie carter - he did an amazing job. and this isn’t me hating on the writers either. i understand why they did that.

decidedly, there is a lot™ happening in shadow and bone season one. you don’t really get a lot of time with any one character, and if you do, it’s the shadow and bone characters. the showrunners knew they had to make kaz a likeable character to people coming into the series blind, and kaz brekker is a pretty hard character to like when you don’t get his backstory or even the slightest hint of it. part of what the six of crows books had going for it was the changing point of views, and inej’s trust and feelings for kaz. inej narrates a lot of stuff, and she does it in a more sympathetic way, making us give kaz the benefit of the doubt - especially since inej is such an upstanding character. you get a little bit of that is the netflix show, but you can’t get a lot of it because (1) time constraints, and (2) inej and kaz are actually at odds for a lot of the show - especially the opening bit. literally, their first interaction is a fight.

so, to get newer fans invested in this emo teen, they made him less dirtyhands. this is also fine because these events happen before the six of crows duology.

if we start the six of crows arc in season two, however, there is too much growth for kaz to do in between seasons. we need to see some of that on screen. especially since his plans were a bust, and the most dirtyhands thing he did was with the inferni, and he wasn’t the one to kill the inferni - inej was. (and i love that scene like the rest of you, but there could have been other ways to get inej to save kaz while letting kaz show some more of that ruthlessness.)

and that’s just kaz. admittedly, he’s an easy character to pick apart, but we have to talk about a few more.

nina zenik? yeah, let’s talk about her. the six of crows nina we knows has a lot of guilt over what she did to matthias - even if a lot of it is repressed. she has a slew of complex emotions over matthias, and it’s all been fermenting inside of her for a year. point is, in the show nina still thinks what she did was right, and she hasn’t had time to question that inside of herself. sure, in the books she still posits that what she did was justified, but there’s a bit of uncertainty there, caused by the acidity of guilt. i want to see that war inside of nina. it makes their love story all the more compelling.

and while we’re talking about helnik, let’s just cover matthias helvar real quick, because, personally, his character needs that time spent in hellgate, now more than ever.

i’ve already mentioned my beef with aging up matthias is a few other posts, but why don’t i reprise it?

matthias is an incredibly complex character, and part of what makes his change earnest is two things - the struggle he continues to feel throughout the duology, and his age. now stick with me.

part of matthias’ struggle is that he is still that little boy whose family were killed by grisha. in the books, matthias is only 18. that seems mature, but by all accounts, it most definitely isn’t. he doesn’t know anything about the world. he has been training to be a religious soldier, where he was heavily indoctrinated. what has matthias truly seen of the world? likely, very little.

furthermore, because he’s only 18, how many expeditions has he been on? sure, matthias has seen grisha tried for their “crimes” and he has been training against grisha since he was a boy, but do you think they’re putting eleven year old matthias out there, against full grown grisha? my bet is he only started truly hunting grisha when he was 14.

when he meets nina, he hasn’t been hunting grisha long, and he’s young enough to where we could truly see how him being smitten with nina could impact his thoughts.

matthias in the show is played by a man who is 27. no hate, this isn’t ageism, but if he’s been hunting grisha since he was 14, he’s been hunting grisha for 12 years. he has gone out on numerous expeditions. hell, in the show they give matthias a large amount of credit for capturing nina. it is sO much harder for you to buy the “nina is a beautiful grisha and has changed my life” storyline when he’s 27, almost 30. furthermore, this matthias has seen way more grisha trials. the concept that he doesn’t know that grisha aren’t given a fair trial is just absurd, at this point. furthermore, you add on the fact that he’s been indoctrinated longer, and it makes his story all the more difficult to grapple with.

on the one hand, i understand that they aged everyone up (which i was happy about, for the majority of characters. kaz, i am once again looking at you). on the other hand, it puts a huge strain on matthias’ character, and if they were to try to juggle the six of crows plot with the shadow and bone plot, so much nuance would be lost and the majority of new fans would not understand people liking matthias. you would risk alienating his character (and nina’s, by effect) and that is not what either character (or actor!) deserves.

they’ve already made it so hard for us to buy the “nina changes matthias” storyline - even though they’ve made him a tad sweeter and more likeable - and if they try to fast track it, it’s going to fall through.

i think matthias needs his time in hellgate for some soul searching and some struggle. with matthias, the only way out is through, and we need to have time for that to happen.

inej and jesper are a little less difficult to juggle since they’re are done pretty well, but i don’t want to see their complexity and nuance fall through (especially jesper’s) because the show is doing too many things at once.

basically, the crows are currently in their fledgling state, and if they were to be thrown into the six of crows storyline, it would not be nearly as fulfilling.

✧ *:･ﾟ

finally, i just want to say that the overall genre and theme of six of crows and shadow and bone are completely different. i feel like there would be far too much dissonance in the show. you could already feel it in season one, but because alina fears being kidnapped and then she goes on the run, it works. six of crows, though, is a completely different show and i think it would be odd to shift from ~life aboard sturmhond’s ship~ to ~breaking and entering in the ice court~.

✧ *:･ﾟ

anyway, those are my thoughts, anon. surely you didn’t ask for this, but you received it, anyway.

[vidalinav]

Sneak Peak of some chapter in Queen of Queens in the future:

Y’all I have such a problem, because I write random scenes to avoid the one I’m suppose to be writing.... But it’s such a good scene. I love it! SO here is sneak peak of Queen of Queens chapter like.... 35. Lol. Which I may or may never get to so... I figure I post now. It’s Elain’s POV, because eventually this story will have all of them. Because obvi it’s just a post-acosf fic. 

Context: I cannot give you. Because then I would be giving away the plot. But Lucien and Elain are in a brothel, because of.... something I cannot tell you... but they discuss their bond sort of. Anyways read if you want. 

~

“Why didn’t you try to talk me out of my relationship with Azriel?”

“Because it wasn’t my decision.” Lucien said, shrugging as they listened to the moans singing from the brothel. On other occasions, Elain might have felt it indecent to be seen in this hall, but after every indecent thing she’d done in abandoned hallways and hastily found closets, Elain thought that might have made her a bigger hypocrite than she already was.

Lucien took a sip of his drink and Elain watched the knot of his throat move as he swallowed.  

“It was always you’re choice… To choose me. To not choose me. I wasn’t going to stand in your way if you felt was the right decision.”

Elain looked out into the open space, quickly looking towards the ceiling instead of the females grinding on each other, and the male grabbing one of the worker’s waist, the female going to sit on his lap. She frowned, wondering briefly if she’d ever looked like that too. Two large fish eating at each other’s faces.  

“Choosing you didn’t feel like a choice,” She said at last.

Lucien shook his head. “But that wasn’t because of me.”

Elain scrunched her brows at the tone. That know-it-all indignation.

“It felt like I was being pushed to you,” She explained, “because you’re my…mate or whatever.”

The male beside her only scoffed, leaning forward, the drink in his hand dangling between his open thighs. “Have I ever pushed you?”

Elain shrugged a shoulder. “No.”  

“Did I kidnap you? Threaten to take you away? Rage that you were sleeping with another male while you still have an active bond with me? Because you did do that.”

“I’m aware!” Elain enunciated, the words coming out more annoyed than she wished. She didn’t know where her old, polite self had gone. Every time she was near him she only felt the urge to punch and kick.

“Did I treat you with anything less than respect?” He probed, his own voice growing louder as she began to grind her teeth. Elain could only shake her head, thoroughly irritated.

“There you go then.”

“I don’t understand why you’re mad.”

“I’m mad Elain, because you seem to think of me as some villain when I haven’t done anything wrong. I can’t control how you interpret every move I make, I just figured you’d be a little bit more understanding considering you are in the exact same position as me.”

Elain crossed her arms, thinking of what Nesta had said. Why can’t you understand?

“I can understand just fine thank you!” Elain could feel her face growing warm, her nostrils flaring as she took deep breaths. “I don’t need you telling me what you feel I should think.”  

She clenched her fists, and Lucien followed her gaze to her hands.

He chuckled lightly and something about the sound made her want to claw at his skin.  

“Why are you laughing?” She asked, irritated.

 His eyes shined as he laughed fully this time. The sound quieting the desperate groaning. “I’ve just never seen you angry.” A piece of long, red hair fell to his face. Elain felt the urge to tuck it behind his ear, but she dug her nails into her palm instead. “You get this funny look on your face.”

“You think my face looks funny?”

He smiled, nodding as her breath hitched quietly, “I do.”

~

Wink Wink Wink. This was like a huge spoiler about plot, so I probably could have told you context. But.... that context is bigger then learning that in this story Azriel and Elain have a thing for a hot second. Because I’ve already said in a previous post that I love that concept. 

This story is a bit above me right now. So I’m trying to plan where it’s going. But to do that I usually write backwards. Which means randomness all around. Also, Elain was easy to write actually. I thought it would be hard. But she just came out like that. Like this annoyed princess-y type whose a bit spoiled in some cases, but is actually kind of more just learning who the hell she is. I loved making Lucien irritating to her! I’m excited now to write this more. 

Anyways, chapter 1 hasn’t even been posted. I need to get back to that. 

[shinjukuspiritcommittee]

Top 20 2021

My Favorites (updated)

Hello my readers, it’s been a while since I just posted something not related to a headcanon and I am doing one right now. I just wanted to take a bit of a break to just get SOMETHING on here on my days off work. Plus I’m just trying to find my groove when it comes to writing again so hopefully this helps me just get back into the mood of making a post more often lol. I wanted to revisit this topic for a while just because we’ve had a lot more events and a lot more alts in the game were added. And I know for a fact LifeWonders reads these posts in some capacity because I have meme’d an AR into the game with my top picks from the last list I did for Christmas 2019. No I didn’t. I’m just joking around and I know LifeWonders doesn’t read this.

Anyways rather than just make up a list on the spot like last year I decided to use the Housamo Sortmaker (Link: https://club.housamo.xyz/sortmaker/ ) to try and make a list that’s more revealing to what I was thinking at the time. Since I talked about 20 characters ish last time I’m just gonna read from my 20th place to my 1st place spots and try to justify whatever I was thinking at the time. Anyways-

20: Marchosias and Susan: This one was a surprise for me if I’m being honest but I’m just gonna blame the fact on Shukou’s recent involvement with LifeWonders in the form of Live A Hero and how Ryekie and Mokdai live in my headspace rent free whenever I think about the characters in that game. Maybe we can see about getting some LAH headcanons since that’s a LifeWonders property too). So out of all the characters Shukou drew for Housamo why did I pick Marchosias? Easy, it’s been 4 years and this poor man has yet to receive a proper alt or any kind of skin for that matter and I think that it’s a crime. Sure he’s not my favorite but he’s definitely grown on me because he’s just a gentle dad kind of character and his design has grown on me over the years. I just hope he doesn’t get left behind since he has a lot of really interesting and potential things to look forward to in the future given how the main story has unfolded.

19: Shiva/Algernon: The helmet heads are together because DAI XT quickly became my favorite artist for Fire Emblem Heroes and I really just like their designs. DAI XT just knows how to draw robots, armor and muscles well. Also Chapter 11 with Shiva you can read into some interesting perspectives. I don’t want to spoil any of the untranslated content for anyone who’s waiting for the official english translation. But if you are curious Roureem has a blogspot where he posts summaries of the newly released events.

Link: https://housamosummaries.blogspot.com/

18: Cthugha: I love this goober so much. He’d constantly try to act super sentai just trying say good morning everyday. He may not be very bright but that just adds to his charm and honestly I enjoy how he always tries to play the hero in a lot of scenarios because it’s refreshing when they implement him after a bunch of heavy hitting story stuff. I’m not gonna spoil too much about it but I will say he’s more than welcome after everything Chapter 10 and 11 put the reader through.

17: Mineaki: I’ve made a post about him being one of my least favorites way back when I first started this blog and let me just say how times have changed and I’ve learned the value of not judging a book by it’s cover. I still think there’s something a bit off about Kowmei’s style for his characters, but Mineaki has definitely grown on me. He’s a caring instructor who does watch out for his students even if it’s not always in the most direct way possible. Not to get into too many spoilers he’s got a lot of intrigue around him as well and I am curious to see his role get expanded down the line.

16: Ded: Housamo is the reason I really like christmas. The Christmas stories despite following a similar structure to each other do tend to be my favorite stories. Ded himself is also just another good dad character. He’s also two guys for the price of one, so I mean… you know… you’ve got the forever ask your other dad situation. There wasn’t much thought put into this choice I just like santa as a concept because I think the outfits are cute, it’s always nice to get something for people you care about on Christmas and Ded is the perfect embodiment of both sides to Christmas.

15: Shinya: Everyone we need to manifest buff Shinya for 2021, this is not a drill. This is legitimate. We must make Taromati’s and my wish come true. To be more serious again he’s just a sweet and gentle character. He’s also drawn by my favorite Housamo artist. Their characters always just look so naturally good. I’m just surprised he hasn’t gotten much of an alt given he’s perfect material for Valentine’s day. He’s just a soft boy and I would love for him to be in more things because I just enjoy seeing him.

14: Jacob: I have to be honest Jacob is on here because every time I look at him he just gets more handsome to me. I wasn’t all that impressed with his introduction and we don’t know much about his background but I’ve just been drawn to him more and more. Maybe it’s just because he’s drawn by GomTang? I just like looking at him and I can’t help it. To speak a bit less crass he’s another gentleman kind of guy and those are always nice.

13: Shennong: Yeah I like the doc a lot. Firstly, I’m a huge sucker for big bulls and Shennong fits the bill. The white fur really adds to his appeal visually and the purple horns give off a bit of an unnatural appearance. Shen feels like someone who’s been touch starved and alone for a long time given how he acts as a character and when we actually hug him I just lost it. He always has others well being on his mind so he’s not afraid to jump in and help, or give a much needed lecture about when you need to take better care of yourself. He just comes across as very well balanced overall.

12: Heracles: I won’t lie- at first he didn’t interest me much. He looked incredibly plain when among the rest of the cast and he seemed like the typical “bait” character since the banner had Echo, Barguest, Gyumao and Snow. But after reading the translation for Valentine Time Slip I was taken aback at how much of a gentle giant he turned out to be and I just really liked his interactions with the others in that event. And honestly his special quest from that year was one of the more unique ones given the slower pace and more romantic vibe it had. After the event warmed my heart I did a complete 180 and I just knew I really liked him.

11. Yasuyori: Before I start praising him I feel I have to justify why he didn’t quite make top 10 and it will have some mild Chapter 10 spoilers. To be as vague as possible his resolution just didn’t vibe with me at the end of Chapter 10. Like it wasn’t a bad resolution and it was the right choice to make but in my opinion there really wasn’t a moment I felt was clear where he made a choice for himself. Everything just sort of happened around him and it felt like he didn’t really do much to improve his situation. To an extent I kind of see that being the idea given his origins and the story he’s based on and there is some semblance of him coming to terms with himself alongside his isolation being portrayed pretty well, but I just wasn’t satisfied with it as much as I would like to be. With that out of the way, oh my god I just want this boy to never stop smiling and I just want to give him hugs constantly please he just deserves to be happy!!! Yasuyori is a character who’s got a lot of baggage and he’s just trying to find ways to properly cope with his trauma and not repeat past mistakes and I just really like that idea. His role in Xmas 2020 (sorry I just forgot the name of that event, but its when he gets his alt) was a much better representation for his character in my eyes. I’m not gonna spoil anything like I keep saying but he isn’t one to disappoint in future appearances and I just hope this lovable lug keeps getting the support he deserves.

10: Hephaestus: A spicy way to start the latter half of the list. I just want to give this lad a hug and tell him he is worthy of love. But at the same time he is a little shit… and I love that. I can’t fully explain why I grow a paternal instinct in me seeing this grown man sob about his mother but I just do. I want to keep him safe and give him all the affection he wants. Though I am aware a lot of Hephaestus’s interest in his parental figure is… questionable. I am just gonna say I would accept his love for what it is and he just wants approval.

9. Shuten: I’ll be honest I have no proper reason for why I like Shuten so much. He’s just a cool and reliable guy. He just seems like a go with the flow kind of person most of the time and he’s a bit more direct than most of the characters which I always appreciate. Plus I have an unspoken bias for naop guys in Housamo.

8. Durga: While not number 1 on this list, I still really like Durga. She’s quirky but not to an annoying degree, she’s determined and definitely very confident in her own abilities. Her growing to be more sociable throughout her events is something I enjoy seeing because it really creates this sense of growth.

7. Kyuma: I get a lot of people don’t like Kowmei’s art but I really think we should look past it because Kyuma is one of the sweeter picks. He’s someone who just wants to prove himself for his own worth and not what David can provide, but David is part of him and it just creates the potential for a good arc. Plus this boy is unintentionally smooth and will just take your heart when possible. I honestly want to see Kyuma more in events because he’s honestly the jock that carries 3 of the 4 brain cells. He’s also the last one without an alt so I’m just hoping he gets one in 2021 because he really deserves one in my opinion. (Also fan art makes him really cute).

6. Tomte: Tomte is relatively new but honestly his event in 2019 really endeared me to him. I’m trying to be spoiler free because the best way to enjoy these stories is for yourselves but let me just say his arc in the event was really endearing to me and much more than I was expecting. His fan service is also incredibly hammy and I love it. Visually Tomte is one of my favorites, I love his multi colored hair and starlit pupils cuz it makes his otherwise more generic look have some flare. I knew I liked him out the box and when I read about him in the summaries and can’t wait to read the official translation for him. I was just very endeared.

5. Tetsuya: Tetsuya fucks. Moving on…

Jokes aside this one’s a bit simple. I have no shame in admitting I think he’s attractive and his whole resistance towards wanting a relationship is cute in a weird roundabout way. When he says no I just want it MORE. I just really like duo haired tsunderes.

4. Kengo: Kengo 3rd alt 2021. Please LifeWonders I need my favorite Summoner. He’s a bro and that’s what counts. Kengo has got your back, not afraid to rely on you, a very fun and dynamic guy. Sure he’s not that bright when it comes to making plans or any book smart, but there are times where he’s the best at being able to read the room or just understand what someone needs to hear even if it isn’t always what someone wants to hear. His bullheaded nature is actually one of his redeeming qualities because it’s nice to just not overcomplicate things and just understand what’s actually going on. Yes the early story didn’t do many favors for him but to me the events, especially the later ones, do much more work for his character. To me, at least.

3. Ashigara: Ashigara is best bear, and I will defend that stance in 2021. The main thing that draws me to Ashigara is that I can see a bit of myself in him. He gets very emotional when he gets left alone, he’s very loud when with his friends, has a tendency of speaking his mind- just someone who wears his heart on his sleeve. I also appreciate that in spite of the negative he isn’t someone who backs down when the going gets tough and in a few instances he’s able to hold his ground physically at least.

2. Wakan Tanka: Love at first sight. This ray of sunshine still persists as the number 1 husband, but number 2 character. Firstly I am a huge fan of the partial beast aesthetic. The buffalo ears and the horns  are absolutely adorable. Secondly he’s a perfect body type; he’s not too muscular but not exactly flabby. Third he is just so positive and I love that. He’s someone I admire and wanna hug.

1. Taurus Mask: The more things change the more they stay the same. I’m still a big Taurus Mask fan for all the same reasons as last time. I just… relate to this boy. He is an incredibly shy boy who uses his public persona for confidence. Maybe I’m reading too much into it but it’s like we’re soul bros!

So yeah, my tastes haven’t changed in a year and a half.