#every single entry was a gem

[cacklingstranger]

Finally watched this year's HoyoFair!

I swear "Funny Bone" singlehandedly turned me into a Sampo appreciatior

Never in my life did I expect that I would see HSR's resident rat man as badass

[nyashykyunnie]

˗ˏˋ Jinwoo x Fem! Reader ◛⑅·˚ ༘ ♡ ˎˊ˗

ₓ˚. ୭ ˚○◦˚𝕊𝕦𝕟𝕘 𝕁𝕚𝕟𝕨𝕠𝕠˚◦○˚ ୧ .˚ₓ

・┆✦ Entry : 045 ✦ ┆・

╰┈➤ ❝ [ Only If You Say Yes ] ¡! ❞

Jinwoo was the type of boyfriend who never forced himself on you. He was too much of a gentleman you can't help but think maybe you're the toxic one in this relationship.

But he wouldn't give you the opportunity to let it sink in on how good he treats you because he would just bombard you with lovely kisses and gifts.

In the past, he always lacked the funds and time to spoil his precious beloved. Now that he has the means to shower you with luxury, how could he not?

Your lovely and brilliant smile would always be the first memory that plays in his head whenever he feels like burnout and exhaustion is about to swallow him whole. Those precious eyes of yours that never failed to glimmer like twinkling stars are in his mind as he pushes through a hard labor day.

His beloved's face that is like a tender flower blooming at the peak of springtime, his lover's blinding unparalleled beauty will never cease to make his heart stop.

So how could he, a man who is nothing more than a fool in love, not treat you tenderly as if he is handling the more fragile piece of gem?

Every single thing about you is so loveable.

The elders say that the honeymoon phase of a relationship comes and goes quite fast, but Jinwoo begs to differ.

He never really got out of it.

Nor is the fool willing to change his ways.

After all, would you really call it love if you can restrain yourself?

"Sarang, careful there" Jinwoo cooes gently, holding your hand as you curiously took one step in front of the other while playing atop a fallen log. "We wouldn't want you to be hurt."

"I'll be fine, my boyfriend is the scariest hunter after all!" You say proudly, like a proud puppy showing off its toy plush.

"I'm not that scary," Jinwoo hums, the corners of his eyes curling.

"You beat up Thomas Andre like a thug, are you not scary?" He immediately laughs nervously, embarrassed to hear his troublesome history with the fellow hunter.

"...It was justified, sarang, he pissed me off"

"Mhm," You skip, landing playfully on the ground with a soft thud, "So like a thug."

"Sarang...." Jinwoo sighs, relenting in this small banter knowing you will probably not shut up unless he gives in.

And that was the thing about you, you made Jinwoo instantly obedient. Sure, he always considered being polite with other people before but on particularly bad days, he secretly spat and cursed at those people while maintaining an insincere half smile while doing the facade. With you? You can bully him all you like and he would still love you.

Arguements? Rarely ever happens because he is always wrong unless we're talking about safety.

Why is there a need for a fight? Just tell him and he'll correct himself immediately.

Jinwoo just wants to devote himself to you.

That's all he wants.

To see you happy.

"Jagiya?" He calls out, gently tucking a strand behind your ear. "Can I hug you?"

"What's with that question?" You raise an eyebrow but still stretch your arms out for a hug.

Jinwoo's strong arms would immediately.

"Nothing just..." Jinwoo sighs, burying his nose on your hair to inhale the lovely scent he can never grow tired of. "Feeling a bit clingy."

"You know you can always hold me whenever" You say, rubbing his back which prompted the hunter to hold you even closer to himself.

"I don't want to make uncomfortable" He chuckles dryly, "What if I hold you while you're not feeling it?"

"You holding me will always make me happy"

"I still want to ask," Jinwoo smiles, kissing your cheek affectionately. "Just because"

"Jinwoo, you're being sappy, you can't even get drunk yet you're acting like you're drunk" You say, pinching the man's cheek which earned you a soft bite at your digit.

"Well... I cant blame you for saying that" He simply says.

He just wanted to cherish you, really. He really does. The trauma of war can never really be taken out of his system. It's only through you and his family that he can feel sane. If it weren't for that, he would as well be a hollow shell of a human being forced to be a vessel of war by his predecessor.

So don't blame him for being a bit weird sometimes.

He's just a little fucked up in the head after the war.

He'll come around.

But Jinwoo will always, always, cherish you.

꒰ 🪼 A/N: I am still in the process of having writer's block so please excuse this very bland story qwq. I'm mind blocked with Jinwoo and I feel so overstimulated. I might do different characters for now until I get my woowoo juices back. For now, please forgive me guys qwq꒱

ʚ(੭´͈ ᐜ `͈)੭ .｡✧･ﾟ: ~♡ — All stories written by kyunnie; translations, reposts, plagiarism are strictly forbidden.

[templetogavage]

Weekly Weighing (04/14/2024 to 04/20/2024)

As with every week, this week brings 7 posts I loved throughout gaining & encouraging Tumblr this week.

1. https://www.tumblr.com/mattyhalled1/747953626637582336

Thanks to @mattyhalled1, who is often the source of some fun little surprises during my weeks, I got to see this incredibly hot comparison photo from @joshcroissant. There's a couple of types of good comparison photos- one where everything is exactly the same, down to pose and clothes, for example, can be thrilling- but this, where every single part of this image marks a noticeable contrast (even the beard!)...well chosen before, definitely.

2. https://www.tumblr.com/need-mass/747882780198846464/things-guys-said-to-me-at-the-last-rugby

@need-mass bringing the ex-jock fantasy to life. Just like civilians, stumbling into providing fetish fodder.

3. https://www.tumblr.com/wh-2002/748431247567634432

@whopper-t provides an interesting view- click through to see more. (Landed on my dash courtesy of @wh-2002)

4. https://www.tumblr.com/fatlardassboy/748449764107010048

Thanks to @fatlardassboy for sharing this one. @tan82 looks great wearing a sports-themed crop top. When you've got a belly that nice, you must show it off.

5. https://www.tumblr.com/mattyhalled1/748135261730406400/greed-makes-me-grow

I lazily clipped a few seconds of @overfedcub here. I highly recommend going and watching the whole thing, with audio on. (Thanks to @mattyhalled, once again, for surfacing this gem.)

6. https://www.tumblr.com/jake-is-still-drunk/748216030423367680

One of many pictures in this set by @well-fed-tw1nk. I chose my favorite, but click through if you want to see more. Much thanks to @jake-is-still-drunk for still being at this- I remember that URL from what feels like ages ago, in gaining & encouraging Tumblr time. Reblogs like this keep us going.

7. https://www.tumblr.com/wh-2002/748229668461756416

If you're into belly play, @gainerjake has a video that I expect you'll enjoy. Another entry by @wh-2002; I look forward to seeing if I get similar additions in the future!

And that's this week's Weekly Weighing! (A couple days late.)

[amiiancasselmanyet]

Fix Me is a Mid 2000's Classic, You're Just Not From Canada

before I start this essay series, I would like to clarify that this is NOT a series of reviews but just me genuinely expressing my feelings I have towards the albums in question because I’m a highschool dropout…bon appetite or whatever

also tw for eating disorders, self harm, general mental illness and addiction but this is fix me, you probably knew that

When most people think about early to mid 2000s rock albums that became staples and bands that became household names, there's a few that genuinely come to mind. Let’s get the “emo trinity” out of the way; From Under The Cork Tree was Fall Out Boys sophomore album from 2005 that is still widely loved for good reason. The songs are good and the lyrics hit when you least expect it. Every. Single. Time. Then, of course, we have The Black Parade. I cannot express my love of this album enough, it is quite literally my all time favorite and while Three Cheers has a more solid concept (man kills other men to try and get his lover back, homosexual antics ensues), there's a reason it’s arguably their most well known and beloved by the kids who used to bully you in middle school. Of course we have A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out coming in right after this, there’s not much I can say since this album truly deserves it’s own essay that I won't manage to write (Ryan Ross please come back the kids and I miss you) but, like the other albums, it's a STAPLE at Emo Nites and Emo Nite knockoffs (shout out to Sneaky Dees in Toronto). There is, however, an album among them that's a hidden gem due to the fact that . Fix Me was the debut studio album from Marianas Trench, arriving in 2006. This album stands out from the others in a lot of ways, its sound, its vulnerability and its general lack of a concept. This album was a shot in the dark and a testament to taking chances. Let's talk about it. 

If you’re even a little bit familiar with Marianas Trench (you definitely are because you are on a blog dedicated to the drummer, my beloved bias Ian Casselman), the sound you’re used to most likely isn’t here. This album is gritty, it’s production is grungy. When you look at the other albums at face value, it stands out as nothing like the rest. If you dig deeper, however, you realize that this album truly was the foundation of what was to come. The guitar heavy sound continues throughout the discography, even if it feels less clean than its successors. It adds to the aggression a lot of the songs have, it makes the lyrics hit harder. It was too rock for the pop charts but too pop for the rock charts.(I’m pretty sure Josh said that but this thing isn’t getting a bibliography, this is a more sophisticated shit post on a blog that, again, focuses on the silly drummer with mutton chops) While the sound is incredible, the true core of the album lies in its vulnerability.

Fix Me is essentially an auditory diary, with each track feeling like a new entry. There are themes focusing on the actual struggles Josh Ramsay dealt with at the time. There’s a lot about addiction (specifically heroin), self harm, eating disorders (specifically bulimia) and general depression. It's angsty. It's difficult  to hear at times. You're not supposed to get personal during essays but this is literally on a blog where I refer to the followers as “casselman nation”, it’s a lawless land and fuck you I’ll do what I want. This album, at its core, felt like it was almost a diary entry from a younger me. 

14 year old me was very different from the current me, I had a different name entirely, a different outlook on life and a lot of things that shaped me today had not happened yet. I was unmedicated and everyone else's problem. If you ever scroll down on the personal tag of my main (you WILL NOT, you DO NOT need to see my digital footprint and angst), you'll notice that there's a lot of themes on this album that pertained to me at that time. I was VERY depressed, undiagnosed bipolar 2, bulimic and…doing things in school bathrooms I shouldn't have with items from my art class I shouldn't have had access to in that state (not going to elaborate, I’m sure you get where I’m going). When you deal with those things head on, you tend to, from experience, seek out public figures, whether it be musicians or celebrities or youtubers (shout out to Dan and Phil lmao) who have similar experiences that you had. For me, a big one from the get go was Marianas Trench. There’s something oddly comforting in not only knowing you’re not only alone but that you’re ALSO going to survive. I truly wish I was able to hug 14 year old me but I also know that they’d be proud that I DIDN’T do the thing I wanted to do before I turned 17.

There’s another reason Fix Me is truly removed from other albums and it truly feels like the biggest component; there's no concept. Fix Me has its own identity but it's not through a story or through successful singles, it's through the fact that it has none of it. It shines through its simplicity, its impact is through the way it can stand alone. It’s an album by the band that could be, and should be at times, put on shuffle. It’s an album where you can pick any song, off the top of your head, and listen to it when you’re feeling angry or sad or full of unbridled angst. Sure, you CAN listen to other songs on other albums one at a time, Masterpiece Theatre is the first on I can think of off the top of my head, however, would you want to? Would you want to listen to The End of An Era and have it followed up with a song like This Means War? It 100% kills the immersive nature that the band has carefully crafted over the last 20 years. (yes they’ve been a band that long considering the fix me bsides are from 2001, yes it makes me feel geriatric) I think the biggest reason that it personally hits every mark imaginable for a grungy punk record is the fact that there is no secret meaning hidden in each song, its open and honest from the get go. It’s raw, real and does exactly what it needs to do.

Through its sound, its ability to be honest and vulnerable in its writing and the easily accessible material, it's a staple. Shake Tramp belongs in an Emo Nite just as much as something like Sugar We’re Going Down and more than Welcome to the Black Parade (I love that song but it doesn’t fit the vibe as well as House of Wolves or The Sharpest Lives, Emo Nite is just catering to the normies and preps). Decided to Break Its video should be as beloved as I Write Sins Not Tragedies. Marianas Trench deserve their flowers for being such a staple in the lives of canadian teens who are struggling, the adults who want to comfort their inner teen selves and those who, in general, are feeling small.

[pocket-sized-nightmare]

my third entry for @mcyt-yuri-week!

prompt: hurt/comfort

ship: gem/pearl (hermitcraft)

The first few days after coming back from a death game are always the hardest.

Pearl is having an easier time with it than she did after Double Life, but she’s still struggling to adjust to her life on Hermitcraft. The sound of ticking clocks or the shimmer of enchanted items still makes her freeze up, and it takes several reminders from multiple Hermits before Pearl remembers she’s allowed to wear a helmet again.

Luckily, she’s not the only one in that position – all the other Limited Life hermits are experiencing the same problems. False jokes to Pearl a few days after they all get back that she can tell who played the death game by who’s wearing an incomplete set of armor. Pearl is glad to be able to laugh about it again, but she has the sinking feeling that she’s simply burying her trauma under bad jokes. Still, she can laugh off almost anything… except for storms.

If ticking clocks were a symbol of impending death, thunder showed its unavoidable presence. A clap of thunder and a lightning strike accompanied every final death in Limited Life, and Pearl has learned to associate the sound with the loss of someone she loves. She has her strategies for dealing with it – earmuffs, Otherside and Cat on repeat, and trying to sleep through the worst of Hermitcraft’s weather – but they can’t solve everything.

About a week after the end of Limited Life, this turns out to be a problem.

Pearl is mid-flight back to her base when storm clouds abruptly gather above her. She sighs and flies faster, hoping to make it back home before the rain starts.

Unfortunately, the rain starts less than five seconds later.

It quickly escalates from a few drops to a pouring rainstorm. Pearl rolls her eyes, pulls her hood over her head, and tries to keep flying. With any luck, she’ll make it home before the water weighs down her wings.

A few minutes pass, and the rain only worsens. Panic begins to build in Pearl’s chest. She knows what storms look like, and this doesn’t seem normal for one of them. As if to confirm her fears, a beeping alarm suddenly rings out from her communicator. She takes her eyes off the sky for a moment to check the alert.

<Hermitcraft EAS> ADMIN: EMERGENCY ALERT

<xisumavoid> hello everyone

(Despite her anxiety, Pearl almost laughs aloud at the tonal shift.)

<xisumavoid> i’m sure most of you have noticed this by now, but we’re currently experiencing a weather glitch

<xisumavoid> weather commands aren’t working, and the server keeps spawning storms

<xisumavoid> i’m doing my best to fix this as quickly as possible, but until then, it’s only going to worsen

<xisumavoid> everyone needs to take shelter as soon as possible. this is about to turn into a hurricane

There’s a moment of panicked silence, both in the chat and the server at large.

<xisumavoid> limited life people especially i am so sorry. this will be fixed soon

Right on cue, Pearl’s wings become too heavy to move. She glides to the ground and lands painfully in the mud. “Great. No more flying.”

To make things worse, she’s in the middle of an open field. She can just barely see the lights of the Soup Group bases from behind the fog, but her only way to get there is on foot.

An echo of thunder sounds behind her, and she panics and runs.

Pearl stumbles across the muddy field for a few blocks before she realizes she isn’t alone. There’s someone else fighting her way through the hurricane – someone else with bright red hair, deer ears, and antlers.

“Gem!” Pearl screams. The wind drowns out her cries.

Pearl tries to catch her breath against the raging wind. The world feels overwhelming and crushing, and it’s all she can do to hold onto a single affirmation of it’s fine, it’s fine, it’s fine. They’ll be fine. Gem will make it home, and Pearl will make it back to her alien base safely, and they have nothing to be afraid of–

A blinding flash of light and an enormous boom cut through her every thought as a bolt of lightning hits just a few blocks away from her. Gem, startled by the lightning, slips and falls to the ground with an awful thud. Pearl doesn’t realize she’s done the same until she reaches out to steady herself and her hands meet mud and grass. She instinctively reaches for her communicator to check for something, but it takes her a moment to remember what she’s checking for: Who died now?

There's no death message, but it still takes Pearl too long to remember that lightning is a natural phenomenon. She digs her nails into the dirt and takes shuddery breaths as Gem stands and stumbles towards civilization. It's fine. It’s fine, it’s fine, it’s fine…

A glint of shining blue catches Pearl’s eye as it moves slowly across the field in Gem’s direction. Pearl looks up, pushes her sopping wet hair out of her eyes, and freezes. An awful cry of terror fills her lungs and then dies in her throat. She can’t move. She can barely think.

There's a charged creeper after Gem.

Oh, void, Pearl’s mind screams in her ears. Oh, void, no. A charged creeper could kill her so easily, and then she’d be gone. Hermitcraft is supposed to have respawn on, but if the weather can be like this, who’s to say the death mechanics didn’t break too? I can't lose Gem. She means too much to me. I can't lose her. I won't lose her.

Pearl summons all the strength she has left and breaks into a run. The wind pushes her back, but she beats her wings fiercely and fights her way through the storm. Thunder echoes in her ears as she races across the grass, and the rain falls even harder until it seems to form a constant curtain enveloping the world.

The charged creeper hisses and flashes. Gem turns around and finally notices it. She’s experienced creeper explosions before, but a charged creeper is a new one for her. That amount of electricity won’t just kill her – it’ll hurt even after she respawns. Gem shrieks. She tries to run, but she’s fighting a losing battle with the storm. It feels like her feet are frozen to the ground. She’s going to die. Oh, void, she’s absolutely going to die–

Gem’s feet are suddenly swept off the ground as Pearl practically tackles her. As the charged creeper explodes with an earsplitting boom, Pearl wraps Gem in her arms and shields them both from the blast with her wings.

Even once the creeper is gone, Pearl and Gem stay on the ground for a moment, wrapped in each other’s arms as they try to catch their breath. Gem buries her head in Pearl’s shoulder and whispers, “Thank you.”

“Of course,” Pearl whispers back, trying to hide the pain in her voice.

Gem breathes deeply and pushes herself up to standing, then helps Pearl up. “Come on. We have to get out of here!” Before Pearl can say anything, Gem takes off running, leading Pearl behind her.

Their attempt to make it back to Gem’s house is a battle that seems even more intense than Limited Life. They dodge lightning, try and fail to shield themselves from the pouring rain, and catch each other when they slip on the flooded grass. Through it all, Gem and Pearl refuse to let go of each other’s hands. They’re Hermitcraft’s shiniest duo, the server’s most valuable treasure chest, and if they’re going to survive this storm, they’re going to do it together. (And if Pearl notices that Gem’s hand feels soft and warm in hers, or Gem can’t stop remembering the comforting feeling of Pearl’s arms wrapped around her and wings saving her life, neither of them say it out loud.)

After what seems like an eternity, Gem’s base comes into view. Gem sighs in relief and breaks into a sprint towards the door – only to realize Pearl isn’t holding her hand anymore.

Gem whirls around and sees Pearl collapsed on the ground.

“No!” Gem runs over to her. “Oh, no, Pearl! You took most of the damage from that creeper, didn’t you? Oh, Pearl, no, I wasn’t thinking…” She gently lifts Pearl up and slips her shoulder under Pearl’s arm, supporting Pearl as they both stand back up. “Come on. It’s just a few more blocks to safety. We’re not dying out here. I’ll make sure of it.”

Pearl takes a shuddery breath. “Okay. Let’s go.”

Summoning the last of their energy, Pearl and Gem struggle through the glitching storm and finally reach the safety of Gem’s base.

Gem throws open the door and pushes Pearl inside, then runs in and slams the door. 

Pearl sinks to the floor in pain. “Oh, void, that didn’t go well, did it?”

“It could’ve gone worse. One of us could’ve died.” Gem sits down on the floor next to Pearl. Now that they’re finally in the light, she can finally see the damage Pearl took from the creeper explosion. Pearl’s delicate wings are singed and fluttering randomly, as though there are still tiny currents running through them. From the way she winces when Gem puts a hand on her back, it’s obvious that Pearl’s back and shoulders are covered in even worse burns. Both Gem and Pearl are soaking wet, freezing cold, and covered in cuts and bruises. “I think I’m starting to understand what Limited Life was like,” Gem laughs awkwardly.

Pearl sits back and sighs, wincing with every movement. “Yeah, you’re right. I may have overreacted. I’m so used to associating thunder with permanent death, and then I saw you, and…” Tears involuntarily spark in her eyes, and she does her best to blink them back. “And everything was glitching, and I was worried the respawn code was corrupted too, and…” She can’t hide her tears anymore. “I didn’t want to lose you…”

Gem is about to hug her when she remembers that Pearl’s back is too burned to touch. She settles for cupping Pearl’s face in her hands and kissing her softly on the forehead. “You won’t lose me. You saved me, Pearl.”

“We saved each other,” Pearl whispers back.

They sit there for another moment, too anxious to move, until Gem finally stands up with a determined expression. “Alright, we didn’t go through all that just to die of hypothermia. I have a first-aid kit somewhere in one of these chests, I think. Can I get a health check?”

“Um.” Pearl refuses to make eye contact. “Two hearts.”

“Two?” Gem nearly screams. “Pearl, you have to say these things! I wouldn’t have just sat around here in my living room if I knew you were on the edge of death!” She immediately leaps into action. “Okay, I’m gonna grab you a towel and some dry clothes. I think we’re about the same size. I have some golden apples, healing potions, magma cream… let’s get you fixed up, alright?”

Pearl nods. Gem disappears for a moment, then returns in a new outfit with her hair wrapped in a towel. She carries a small pile of clothes and a purple shulker box with First-Aid Kit written in her signature messy cursive handwriting. “Okay, drink this first.” She hands Pearl a sparkling pink potion. Pearl downs the entire bottle in seconds and sighs in relief as the burning pain in her back lessens bit by bit.

“Better?” Gem asks, taking out two golden apples from the first-aid kit – one for her and one for Pearl. “Here, have one of these, too.”

They eat their golden apples at the same time. Comforting purple sparkles drift around them both, restoring health wherever they fall. Gem wraps Pearl in a towel. “I brought you some dry clothes, if you want to change out of what you’re wearing.”

“That’s really sweet. Thank you so much. It’s just…” Pearl’s voice trails off as she awkwardly gestures to her wings.

“Pearl.” Gem almost laughs. “Do you really think I would hand you clothes I know you can’t wear? Look.”

Pearl unfolds the clothes that Gem gave her. There’s a pair of fuzzy white socks and denim jeans embroidered with sunflowers, but Pearl notices the third item in the pile most of all: a soft blue sweater.

Pearl unfolds the sweater and holds it up. The phases of the moon are stitched into the front, the sleeves are the perfect length, and–

She flips it over and realizes something.

There are two perfectly moth-wing-sized holes crocheted into the back.

“Gem, did you…”

“I had a bunch of time while everyone was away on Limited Life. And also way too much wool. So I thought I’d try to make you something! I was going to give it to you at a more, um… opportune time… but I guess this works too.”

“Gem, this is incredible. I love it. I love it so much, Gem, I can’t believe this. It’s perfect. You’re perfect. I…” She trails off as she realizes what she’s said.

Gem blushes beet red. “I’m glad. I really wanted it to be good.” She chuckles. “Only the best for my– for the precious pearl of Hermitcraft, right?”

“Thank you. Thank you so much. I don’t know how to thank you enough for this. I’m gonna go try this on now.” Pearl disappears behind a door as her tears begin to fall again – not from pain, but instead from love.

By the time Pearl returns in her perfectly-fitting moon sweater, Gem already has two bowls of beetroot soup and a pumpkin pie on the table. “Late-night snack?”

“Yes, please.” Pearl happily sits down at the table and takes a sip of soup. “Oh, that’s so good.” “I do my best,” Gem says with a grin.

They sit and eat together as the storm outside slowly lessens. After a few minutes, a message pops up on their communicators:

<xisumavoid> weather glitch should be fixed!

<xisumavoid> i won’t change the weather before the storm stops because i want to make sure it’s totally resolved

<xisumavoid> but it shouldn’t be a hurricane outside anymore

<Grian> THANK YOU X

<ZombieCleo> you’re a lifesaver thank you

<PearlescentMoon> oh that’s awesome! thank you so much

<falsesymmetry> now please get some sleep x

<falsesymmetry> it’s long past midnight

“It is?” Gem asks, looking around.

“Oh, wow,” Pearl says, realizing the same. “I guess I didn’t notice it with the storm going on. I should be going home now, shouldn’t I?”

Pearl stands to leave, but Gem grabs her hand. “Want to stay for the night? The rain isn’t gonna stop anytime soon.”

That’s how they end up curled up together on Gem’s bed, resting in each other’s arms. Every so often, Pearl jumps in alarm at the thunder, but Gem’s quiet embrace is enough to ground her every time. They fall asleep together that way, keeping each other warm and safe until long after the weather glitch has passed.

It almost (not quite, but almost) makes Pearl and Gem wish there would be storms more often.

[redbatchedcumbermayned]

Dopamine Week #3 - fic rec #5

We all know @holylustration's excellent work for the Rogue Trader fandom:

Predator & Prey is THE longest running Marazhai x RT fanfic and by far the most liked one on AO3, and it is absolutely justified since the writing is as always spectacular.

And My Knight So Daring is the well known and beloved KnightPilot!Heinrix X Aurelia AU that has us all waiting for every update.

But Holy has also written a delightful fic series that deserves a lot more love - and more entries:

It features the male Commissar Rogue Trader Edmant von Valancius and his courtship with Lady Cassia. It also features a very cute kitty by the name of Mouse.

As always, Holy writes with so much love and attention it's hard to single out one thing that is great but I try:

Edmant is a Lord Captain with a great beard and an even greater sidearm who is woefully out of his depth in his courtship with the Lady Navigator.

The three fics published so far paint a vivid picture of their beginning romance and I for one would love to read more. The prose is lush and vivid, the dialogue is on point and always fits the characters, and the cat behaviour is so life-like and loveable that one can't be angry when Mouse ruins yet another romantic scene with being a cat.

Please show these little gems some love and attention. <3

[swordswoman97]

So that stream today. Wasn’t expecting lore, got home from to lore to watch. Real glad the weather forecast led to me going to that ren faire yesterday.

-First off the major thing, They found Gabriel! He’s saved! He’s not technically back yet, but I imagine he’ll probably make his reappearance whether tomorrow or Monday. My theory about what was going on was… right idea wrong details? I think I made a pretty good guess considering we didn’t know about the sabertooth gang until today.

-We got more details on Ros’s backstory! I really like how Noname weaved her backstory into it and I hope they do similar things with other pirates’ backstories later on. It really makes everything seem connected.

-Speaking of Gabriel, man is down bad for Owen. Like every single one of his journal entries mentioned her. My man is in for a rude awakening considering P!Owen doesn’t do commitment or monogamy. Though despite complaining about Gabriel coming off as desperate in his journals she is still very happy to see him safe. Maybe she likes his devotion more than she wants to admit or maybe she just wants to let him down gently.

-As for something he definitely likes: Acho. Those two have traded flirtatious jokes before but this stream was on another level. Owen compares hitting star with a cannonball to giving star flowers? Then another comment about tying him up, when they were trying to skip night on the one island Acho specifically put star’s bed next to the one Owen was already in at which one of them comments that the others don’t need to hurry? Okay you two. Also when Scott (I believe jokingly) comments he doesn’t think Owen should be a Heron anymore Acho encourages the idea of Owen switching to the Nightingales. Honestly they’re kinda cute ngl.

-Acho also opens up a little bit to Owen about stars backstory. It was honestly a sweet scene, and I definitely think of everyone on the Faction Isles, Owen is the most likely to understand considering her own family issues.

-On a less positive note, Owen seems to be considering leaving the Herons. She has some pretty major issues with the Heron leadership, and at the end of the stream she asks Christian about switching factions.

-So those undead at the fortress are definitely caused by the corruption like we all agree on that right? They only showed up after Michela freed it, they were all purple. This was definitely corruption. And I imagine this isn’t gonna be the only affect it has on the islands.

-I also imagine this probably isn’t the last we’ve seen of Sabertooth Gang. They’re not gonna give up, I guarantee they’re gonna cause more problems. I also guarantee that sun gem is gonna get stolen or lost eventually and the consequences definitely aren’t gonna be good.

-Owen was a secretary apparently. I’m guessing it was probably whether for her parents or some other family member in an attempt to prepare him to take over the family trading business. Either way, definitely nepotism.

-We can now add the Slayer to the list of people Owen is flirting with. This further confirms my claim that her two types are pretty blondes (Gabriel, Ausbie, Finnegan) and pretty people who can kick her ass (Saffrie, the Slayer.) And you have Acho who fits into both /j

[mia-talks-toons]

(S1E1) Steven Universe: Revolutionizing LGBTQ Representation in Cartoons

Hey there, I’m Mia, and welcome to the first entry of my blog! All of my posts are going to follow a similar structure, with the first half being about the show I’m covering, with a summary, what I enjoyed about it, and all that good stuff. The second half would explain what effect it had on the greater cartoon landscape, or what it represents in the industry. Today I’m going to be talking about a cartoon that’s very close to my heart: Steven Universe. The show first aired in May 2013 on Cartoon Network and ran for 5 seasons, a movie, and a single-season epilogue series. It’s about this kid named Steven, a half-human half-alien hybrid, who’s being raised by three ancient alien warriors named Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl (as you can see in the intro). Together they fight monsters and protect the earth from danger. These aliens are called gems, and every member of their species is based off a different kind of gemstone, from physical, chemical, and spiritual standpoints (which I think is REALLY cool, by the way). Over time, Steven Universe’s focus goes from wacky adventures to exploring deeper themes, such as grief, toxic relationships, depression, and living up to other people's expectations. The show has been praised for its absolutely stunning animation, incredible songs, and the way they developed their characters. It also has a 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, if you care about that kinda thing. 

Now let me tell you, I absolutely LOVED this show as a kid! I watched every episode as it came out, I drew fanart (see the picture below… Also ignore how bad it is. I drew it when I was like 13, okay?), I made my own gem-inspired characters, and it really impacted my view on the world. A major part of the show is its message of treating others with kindness and acceptance, which I try to live by to this day. 

Now then, how did it revolutionize queer representation, do you ask? Well, a majority of the characters on this show are part of the LGBTQ community. Stevonnie is a nonbinary character, the first out of many to appear on the show. Pearl is in love (though it’s unrequited) with Rose Quartz, Steven’s late gem mother. Every gem character on the show, in fact, are feminine-presenting agender beings. And Garnet, the most important character for this section, is actually two characters: Ruby and Sapphire, who were so in love that they vowed to fuse together and live as one for eternity (super adorable by the way oh my goodness). All of these characters were probably my first time seeing prominent non-cishet characters on TV, and the same thing can be said for a lot of people around my age at the time. It wasn’t easy for the show to do this, however. The most explicitly queer characters, Ruby and Sapphire, had to be censored in many non-North-American countries, with kisses cut out and some languages using masculine pronouns to refer to the more butch of the two, Ruby.

Despite all this pushback, Rebecca Sugar (the creator of the show) and their crew worked hard to make sure their characters were allowed to be who they really were on-screen. All this came to a climax during the 2018 episode “Reunited”, where Ruby and Sapphire have an entire on-screen wedding ceremony to celebrate their love. This was a HUGE deal at the time, and even countries where equal marriage was banned HAD to air the episode, due to about a million other plot-essential things happening during the second half. I vividly remember staying up until midnight JUST to watch the episode as it was released online, as I was extremely invested in the pairing.

Being able to have a queer wedding episode was no easy feat, and the Steven Universe crew had to fight hard with the network executives for them to allow it, but in the end, it was all worth it. After SU was able to break boundaries for queer representation in cartoons, other shows came along and were able to have out and proud LGBT characters as well! Adventure Time, which Rebecca Sugar started working on before moving to their own show, featured a kiss between two of its lead female characters: Princess Bubblegum and Marceline. The Owl House had the Disney Channel’s first openly bisexual protagonist AND first nonbinary character, Viewers were able to see a beautiful relationship blossom between Luz Noceda (the main character) and Amity Blight, her girlfriend, and Raine Whispers, who uses they/them pronouns has to be one of my favourite characters in the entire series!

Though this representation doesn’t only mean a lot to the world of animated television, it also means a lot to ME. I’m nonbinary and queer, and my family isn’t the most accepting of people who share my identities, so it meant the world to little 13-year-old Mia, who was ashamed of who they were, being able to see characters who were just like them! Those characters, as unimportant as the casual viewer might find them to be, allowed me to see parts of myself represented for the very first time. People like me were able to exist and be themselves, unapologetically, and it inspired me to do the same, many years later.

Okay, I just realized how long this entry was, so I’m ending it here, but in my defence, I had a LOT to talk about! Thank you all for reading, and be sure to tell me what you thought in the comments section! Also, if you have any cartoon series you’d like to see me cover, I’d love to hear it (though I already have an extensive list LOL). See you all in the next blog entry!

[thetrashqueeeen]

The thing that’s pissing me off about this Faith Becoming a Doctor storyline is nothing to do with Faith and everything to do with how IT IS NOT THAT EASY! I have looked into training as a doctor and had to give up on it because it is logistically impossible for most working class people and casualty could have made a point here!

Right so first things first, there is no conversion degree for healthcare professionals- they just have to do the same graduate entry medical course as every other degree educated person. This degree is 4 years and only offered by a handful of medical schools in the country so let’s pretend Holby Medical School is one of these universities and just suspend our disbelief- moving on

Before she can even apply she would have to take this test called the GAMSAT which is absolutely ridiculous and now don’t get me wrong I think you should prove that you are academically capable of completing a degree before you start it but the GAMSAT is not doing that. For starters, it’s not a pass or fail, you’re ranked by percentile compared to other people who took it, so you don’t just have to prove you CAN do it, you also have to be better than everyone else who tries. Furthermore, the questions aren’t marked like the exams we took in school; or even uni. The entire paper is marked, and then the amount of marks a question is worth is decided based on how many people got it right. For example, a question 90% of people got right would be worth 1 point, but if that same question was only gotten right by 1% of people, it would be worth 10 points, so there is very little way to intelligently work for a better score. It’s also been proven by research that the correlation between GAMSAT percentile and completion of medical degree, academic attainment and retention by the NHS is not statistically significant. There are 2 sitting a year and you have to do them at the specified time and place, making it very hard for someone working shifts (like Faith) to get that test done. To add insult to injury, it is £250 PER ATTEMPT and you have pay for practice exams. Let’s not even get into how Faith is supposed to study for a test that is 5 hours long and 1 section reading comprehension, 1 section essay questions and then a third section which is UNDERGRADUATE level biology and chemistry and A2 level physics with no practice material all while working full time and being a single mother.

Secondly- the course is not entirely funded by student finance. Each year is 9.5k and only about 60% of this is covered by student finance. The other 40% ish is covered by an NHS bursary- except for the first year. This means you need to come up with about 3.8k (from memory) in tuition fees to sit the first year. Your NHS bursary doesn’t kick in until you pass first year and go into year 2. Faith will be paid more than a ‘regular’ nurse, but 4 grand is not a small sum of money and would be hard for her to pull together.

Finally- this is not a course that is offered part time (if they keep her in this show and pretend that she’s doing it part time or, even worse, as evening classes, I am going to LOSE MY MIND) and it’s very, very hard to have a part time job because of the heavy work load and eventual placement shifts. My fist degree was a BA and I had a job the whole time, but I also had low contact hours and no placements to do. There are no bursaries for living costs that I could find and there is no way you could live off a student finance maint loan, if they even offer you one, especially when you’re supporting 2 kids. Faith would not only need to live somewhere with a university that offered GEM, pay for and do well in the GAMSAT and have 4k to pay tuition her first year, she would also have to be able to stop working for 4 whole years.

This is not something she would do over the course of a few weeks, she would be worrying about funding, about living, about the kids and having a menty b about the GAMSAT. casualty could make a really good point here about how someone who would succeed as a doctor, and has committed her entire working life thus far to the NHS, financially could not afford to retrain. Instead I’m sure they are going to take the ‘night classes’ route and I am, in fact, going to LOSE MY MIND

[river-muse]

So, I've started my Not a Savior, Not a Human series reread, however, currently my access to ao3 is a bit limited, I hope you don't mind if I drop something like a comment here instead? If you'd prefer it up on ao3, I understand and will post it there. For now, Happy New Year to you, and here's notes for the To our desperation:

The growth Vergil did in the background is immense, Dadgil very strong and prominent 10/10 on the softness meter. It is also abundantly clear the twins are, as they always have been, on their immediate and perfectly tuned personal wavelength. Multiple important things are conveyed through body language and gestures alone between the two, and when not - they have an unspoken agreement on child-safe and not-even-between-the-two-safe topics they can and can't cover.

Dante is mostly the goof we know and love, and he's great. Big hat's off to you for clearly assessing him as a big danger still, as the chapter's are from Vergil's POV and the two do have their rivalry and sights trained on each other constantly. I bet the only reason he was up for a fight with Vergil there, was because he saw an easy win in their 'terms over child interaction' negotiations, and really needed to blow off some steam. Love the clear surprise on his face in the morning, when he had to realise that the previous evening was not just wishful thinking, plus the revelation that Vergil trusted him with Nero. That was adorable, it's also probably the source of the later 'you really care about him, he's not just an heir to you' comment - Dante had an easier time believing that Vergil didn't care that much about Nero and so left him with Dante (did he wander if his brother would return), than believing Vergil cared for Nero very very much And he entrusted his beloved son to Dante. Ah, defense mechanisms, defence mechanisms)

Also, again, your Vergil game is precious here. It's not just the softness,

(although his interactions with Nero are all gems, and don't seem out of character at all, as most Dadgil fics tend to do in my opinion, here it's clearly written that Nero is just (1) little window Vergil feels safe enough to show his love through, even his trust and love for his own twin are a scrambled mess in comparison, he needs this)

it's also how he notices every single little thing about their 'intrusion' into Dante's home (that pool table dent, Vergil my man, you are the first to point out any junk and garbage in Dante's home yet this one bothers you). And the 'weaker link' line was the brightest indicator there, even Dante shut up at that one. Not sure if Vergil realised how much of a giveaway that was.

So yeah, this first entry into the series is extremely strong and has a ton of nuance under it, that even without the very promising 'twins learn to communicate using Nero as their little precious middleman' setup, the foundation laid in this chapter just hooks you right up. Amazing job on this, strong begining like this is very hard to nail.

Oh you are ABSOLUTELY allowed to send comments and deep-dive analyses here!! This is going on the Fridge(the AU tag AND a new tag for me so I can read it later and giggle while twirling my hair) because WOW I'm floored at how in depth you went!

I absolutely LOVE writing subtleties in Dante and Vergil interacting with each other because it opens up the space for them to either read the other like an open book or get it wrong but be 100% convinced of what they've assumed which affects their interactions after. As much as they WANT to be brotherly again there's so much sitting between them because of time apart and what's happened. People change over the course of years and they're no exceptions as much as they have iconic personality traits. The flavor just changes but the core stays the same.

I have So Much that I hide between the lines in this series and it's exciting that I'll get to see what you pick up on! Enjoy the rest of your reading, and I'm super excited to see your next comment! Happy new year <3

[curryfury13]

The Start of It All

I know, I'm sure all of you want to know how all this started. No? Well, you're finding out anyway. Cheers.

A little over a decade ago, I fell in love. A lot of great stories start out that way, don't they? We got married and moved out of town for his work, then shortly after found out I was pregnant with our first child. Now, I'm sure you're wondering what this has to do with fan-fiction and Kingdom Hearts, just stick with me, it'll all make sense.

My body didn't like being pregnant. It fought me every step of the way, but I made it through and 9 months later we had a baby boy! He was absolutely perfect, but I had to be placed on bed rest for a few months afterwards. On top of that, we didn't have any family in the area, my husband worked far away without much paternity leave, AND because of me being sick most of my pregnancy I didn't really get much of a chance to get out there in this new place to make friends. Leaving little ole me home with a new baby. Both me and this adorable potato of an infant, miserable in my bed, staring at the ceiling for months.

It didn't take long for me to sob about it to my husband one night after a particularly lonely day, and he suggested I try writing. I'd just recently discovered fan-fiction—I know, I was really behind the times—and had mentioned in passing the idea intrigued me.

We spent the next week talking about ideas and creating this rudimentary story and original character. Then one morning my husband left me a laptop on the bed before he went off to work, and I spent the entire day writing.

Guys, you, person currently reading this, it awoke something in me. I think I got three chapters posted in a single day and people were already commenting and cheering me on! It was like this little tiny community was already building and I was bolstered in a way I hadn't been in years!

Which, I don't know how people were so into it, because reading it now, golly did I not know what I was doing. Great pitch right? Telling you I have no idea why people like a story I wrote a decade ago? If you give it a read, you can tell me the hidden gem inside it.

Anyway, that beginning grew and grew over the years. I finished that book, True Friends, just before my son's first birthday. Then the following book, Third Beginning, a year after that. The third book is still in the works today. A lot has happened between all that time. I've been in over a dozen fanzines, started a reader-insert KH Imagine Blog and wrote over 100 entries for it in under a year, started a Kingdom Hearts OC Week Event, made SO many wonderful, incredible friends in the community, and even my amazing husband started writing Kingdom Hearts fanfiction set in the same universe as my character, Hinata. We have a whole little Hinata-Verse series going on and it's grown in so many ways that I could have never expected ten years ago.

None of this is here for me to brag or wave some sort of pride, it's just here to share a story. If you know me, you know that I view fandom and OCs as a special part of a person's heart. Their creation means something and this is what Hinata means to my life. And not just her, but every one of the OCs in her story and all the characters I've met in the community. It's a passion of mine and this is my space to share it.

Thank you for reading <3

[animebw]

Short Reflection: Fall 2022 Anime

Was Fall 2022 the single most stacked season of anime ever? It’s certainly a contender, at least. Not only were there once again far too many good shows to keep up with, not only were a lot of those shows really fucking good, but there was such a wide variety that no matter your tastes- shonen, slice of life, mecha, political drama, whatever the fuck Akiba Maid War counts as- you were basically guaranteed at least one phenomenal show to stay hooked on. And if you’re someone like me who appreciates pretty much every genre as long as it’s done well? Then my god, I hope you skipped lunch, because this feast never fucking ended. I’ve already given my thoughts on Yama no Susume’s underwhelming fourth season (6.5/10), Mob Psycho 100′s safe but deeply satisfying finale (8/10), and the bonkers roller coaster of Chainsaw Man (8.5/10), and there’s still way too many anime left to talk about. So without any further ado, let’s dive right in to the disappointments, the hidden gems, and the runaway smash hits that closed out this fantastic year for anime.

My Hero Academia Season 6: Unfinished/10

There’s not much I have to say about this one yet, as I’m planning to give it a full review when it’s all over. But I at least wanted to say this: I fucking told y’all My Hero Academia was going to reclaim its crown. I told y’all this show was eventually gonna earn its place back as one of the greatest long-running shonen of all time. But nooooo, you were all busy pretending that a few lackluster fight scenes meant this show was the worst garbage ever and handing out accolades to gorgeously animated pieces of stale cardboard like Demon Slayer for plastering pretty wallpaper all over the vapid nonsense at their core. Well, how does it feel now, huh? How does it feel to remember what an actual great shonen action series looks like? This is the best that MHA has been since season 3, and while it’s gonna fall to the next cours to determine where season 6 ends up on the pantheon, it’s so fucking good to see this show operating at full capacity again.

To Your Eternity Season 2: Unfinished/10

Genuine question: what the absolute fuck happened to To Your Eternity? I still remember when that incredible first episode dropped back in 2021 and everyone was ready to crown it the new patron saint of cry-inducing philosophical fantasy. How did we get from that to this? To increasingly hacky production values that rarely rise above passable and never once manage to capture the awe and wonder this story is so clearly shooting tor? To writing so tonally inconsistent it decides to introduce a cast of wacky over-the-top camera-muggers in this serious and serene fantasy yarn? Didn’t this show used to be good? Didn’t it used to be a genuinely compelling exploration of human nature and immortality and moving on from loss? When did it fall apart so badly that it barely even resembles the show it used to be? And that’s not even getting into some of the most abysmal queerbaiting I’ve seen in a very long time. There were definitely worse anime this year, but nothing else left me feeling so utterly betrayed. I can only pray the slight upswing of quality it’s experiencing in its current arc continues, because otherwise this is going to end up the most crushing disappointment of anime in 2022.

Reincarnated as a Sword: 3/10

Let us all stop for a moment and consider the absolute state of the isekai genre. Here we have yet another story of some personality-deficient schlub transported to another world that runs on JRPG logic, where he instantly becomes the most OP person (or, well, sword) around and never has to struggle for anything. The characters and setting are all as painfully generic as every other entry in the genre. The plot wastes so much time rattling off video game stats to justify its boring OP worldbuilding that it forgets to write any sort of interesting or nuanced personalities for the people in its world. The production values are passably okay without ever showing a single shred of personality beyond the most by-the-basics staples of this watered-down Dragon Quest backwash. There is nothing worth recommending here, nothing you can get from this show that you can’t get in a million better ways elsewhere. And yet, Reincarnated as a Sword has one thing going for it: it doesn’t try and justify slavery. In fact, its real protagonist is an enslaved catgirl who breaks free from her chains and seeks to prove her worth, with the titular sword serving as her paternal guardian. And that alone puts this dull, uninspired, pointless slab of processed anime loaf above a decent chunk of its contemporaries in the isekai genre. Because that is how fucking far the bar has been lowered at this point. God help us all.

My Master Has No Tail: 4/10

The frustrating thing about My Master Has No Tail is that there’s not really anything wrong with it. It’s a cute little historical anime about a tanuki girl learning rakugo from a fox spirit in a time of huge technological upheaval for Japan, a time when all the old spirits are at risk of losing their place in the world and must find some way to adapt to the new era alongside humanity. That premise should result in something really interesting, or at least unique enough for a mellow slice-of-life hobby show with a supernatural twist. And yet despite the lack of things to complain about, I just could not get on this show’s wavelength. It just doesn’t push far enough in any direction to be memorable; the animation is competent but also as basic as it gets, the characters are inoffensive but simple, the comedy is decent but rarely rises above a chuckle. Every single aspect of this show is just a little too underwhelming to really make an impact, and with nothing but average everywhere you look, the whole thing ends up kinda boring. I do like the themes it’s playing with, how art is used as a vessel for spirits and humans to keep their connections strong in an increasingly secular, industrialized world, but it’s not enough to bring this show up anywhere above harmlessly mediocre. What a shame.

Arknights Prelude to Dawn: 4.5/10

I find myself fairly conflicted about the first season of Arknights. On the one hand, it’s a relief to get a gacha game adaptation with some actual gravitas behind it, and the story of a post-infection dystopian world struggling between compassion and justice has some genuinely complex things to say about the morality of living through hellish situations. And its cinematic production ambitions ensure it’s rarely boring to look at. On the other hand, though, I get the sense that whoever was behind the script didn’t take into account the differences between what works narratively in a video game and what works in a TV show. Divorced from their role as an audience surrogate/POV who needs to be explained everything so the player can understand how to play, the mostly silent Doctor comes off as a nothing character who could be cut from the show without changing anything. Ditto the under-explained, underutilized tactical cell phone that probably only existed in the first place to justify how the game’s combat looked and functioned, and the dialogue that’s mostly a series of plot points taking us from one Important Setpiece to the next. I want to like what Arknights is doing, but it’s not until the shockingly great final two episodes that it starts to feel like a proper show and not just a lavishly animated cutscene compilation. Hopefully the second season continues that upward trajectory, and maybe then we’ll be able to call this a truly excellent gacha anime.

Do It Yourself: 5/10

Between this show and Healer Girl from earlier this year, I think I’ve come to the conclusion that I really need more than vibes to keep me interested in a show. Don’t get me wrong, vibes are good! But there’s a whole subsection of cute-girls shows that are basically nothing but vibes, and absent anything else to sink my teeth into, I find myself feeling very little connection to them. You’d think Do It Yourself might have a little more going on, what with its near-future setting, stabs at commentary on the importance of not letting automation fully run everything, and extremely gay undertones. But no, it’s mostly just cute girls doing DIY carpentry for twelve episodes. It’s a show for you to turn your brain off to and just, well, like I said, vibe to the expressive FLCL-esque art style and richly detailed guide to DIY carpentry with a bunch of intermittenly interesting characters. And while I can appreciate those vibes well enough, there’s so little intrigue to anything that I can’t really bring myself to care about it all that much. I dunno, maybe they shouldn’t have kept the one character who actually generates interesting narrative friction at arm’s length for nearly the entire show. And maybe they should’ve let Serafu and Pudding kiss. Actually, no maybes there, they definitely should’ve done that.

Play It Cool, Guys (1st Half): 5.5/10

Here’s a pleasant little surprise I don’t think anyone saw coming. Sure, this slice-of-life about a bunch of clumsy dudes navigating their own awkwardness isn’t gonna set the world on fire, but it’s become one of the more unusually absorbing short anime I’ve encountered in a while. I think what draws me to Play It Cool, Guys is that it’s just very unpretentious; it promises a chill twelve minutes every week of low-key sweet-natured comedy, and that’s exactly what you get. The punchlines aren’t amazing, but they pretty much always hit. The characters aren’t very complex or interesting, but they all carry themselves well enough that you enjoy seeing them on screen. It’s even got a certain kind of confidence to just be so low-key and not try to overextend itself with cheap gimmicks or recycled plot beats to grab your attention, because it trusts that its word and characters are charming enough to earn your investment on their own. And you know what? That confidence is not misplaced. It might not be my favorite thing in the world, but I have a sneaking suspicion it’s just going to keep growing on me as it moves into its second cours. Check back at the end of winter, and I might just end up giving it a much more enthusiastic recommendation.

Urusei Yatsura (1st Half): 6/10

Is there still a point to Urusei Yatsura today? Yes, Rumiko Takahashi’s groundbreaking rom-com about an alien girl falling in love with a philandering douchenozzle invented the anime rom-com as we know it, not to mention possibly starting waifu culture itself with Lum. But fifty years later, with all its component parts iterated upon by basically every romance-adjacent anime that followed it, does the original property have anything left to offer on its own merits? Or is it a relic of a bygone time, no longer useful as anything but a historical artifact for tropes and archetypes that have all been used better by the works it ended up inspiring? Halfway through this modern reboot, I’m still not sure what the answer to that question is going to be. What I can say for sure is that this show makes me laugh more often than it doesn’t, and while not all of it has aged gracefully, it’s oddly refreshing to see just how much more egalitarian the anime rom-com used to be. This is no incel wank fantasy where a loser guy gets all the hot girls by doing basically nothing; this is a show where everyone’s just a little bit nuts, and you’re not so much rooting for anyone to get together as you are just enjoying the chaos that results when all these different flavors of asshole butt heads. That’s far more my speed than any of the wish fulfillment harem slop that learned all the wrong lessons from Urusei Yatsura’s success. Whether or not it’ll end up anything more than a series of mostly amusing episodic sketches remains to be seen, but for now, I’m content to just watch the madness unfold. Plus, it’s got Hiroshi Kamiya and Mamoru Miyano sniping at each other like every episode, you can’t not love that.

Pop Team Epic Season 2: 6/10

Sometimes, you just need a little chaos in your life. That sentence probably sums up the appeal of Pop Team Epic better than anything else I could ever write. Sometimes, you just want to let loose on a stream of consciousness through utterly batshit comedy skits that switch tone and animation style on a dime, packed with references to countless things you’re only vaguely aware of, never quite sure if all this insanity has any kind of point or if the pointlessness is itself the point. Pop Team Epic is just fucking weird, y’all. But it’s the kind of weird that clearly comes from a group of talented people having a blast throwing anything and everything at the wall just because they can, not caring about whether any of it sticks or not because the messy, nonsensical act of creating the damn thing in the first place is reason enough for it to exist. What other show will give you a dating sim spoof, yaoi lesbians, legitimately great mecha action, a final fantasy parody, gratuitous violence, a live action flipbook segment, and a full-on tokusatsu show starring Aoi Shota as a time-traveling sentai hero, all in the space of 12 episodes? If that kind of memetic insanity is your jam, then you need to get this show in your eyeballs yesterday. Pop Team Epic makes no goddamn sense, and god bless it for that.

Spy x Family Part 2: 7/10

Does a show need a plot? Is it enough for it to simply wander through a bunch of random side quests and coast on charm alone? That certainly seems to be what Spy x Family is banking on; after a relatively plot-solid first part where most episodes had at least a little in the way of new developments, part 2 seems content mostly to put the Forger family members in a variety of amusing scenarios and leave all the big picture stuff in the background until the final episode. And it’s a testament to just how damn charming these characters are- and how slick the production continues to be- that it mostly gets away with it. it’s fun watching Loid, Yor, and Anya bumble about as they slowly figure out what it means to live a “normal” life. But I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t impatient for the plot to pick back up. I dunno, after so many episodes of just faffing about, I felt myself getting kind of burnt out on the sitcom hijinks. And it doesn’t help that the biggest new character introduced is basically just a genderswapped Yuri, a.k.a. the worst character in the series. Spy x Family works best when it’s balancing its fluffy and kickass sides, and part 2 just leaned a little too far into fluff for my tastes. I still had a lot of fun, but I’m more than ready for the Ostania-Westalis conflict to be important again.

Blue Lock (1st Half): 7/10

The premise of Blue Lock is one of those immediately head-slapping moments of “Wow, why has no one tried this before?” brilliance: what if you took a shonen sports anime and made it an edgy death game? Sports anime are already full of larger-than-life personalities and conflicts, so taking that over-the-top competitive camp and applying it to a situation where the characters have to destroy each other to get ahead in a winner-takes-all battle royale is such a no-brainer, I’m shocked it’s taken this long for someone to come up with it. Sure, you don’t actually die if you lose Blue Lock, but losing the ability to play competitive soccer ever again might as well be death for a shonen sports boy, so it still counts. Point is, this premise is certifiably genius. Which makes it slightly disappointing that so far, the show isn’t taking as much advantage of it as it could. Don’t get me wrong, there’s some of the skullduggery and backstabbing you’d expect from your typical death game, but for the most part, Blue Lock just plays like a traditional soccer anime. A very good soccer anime, to be sure, but I find myself wishing it was willing to get nastier and edgier and really take advantage of its premise. Hell, it’s not even the best straightforward soccer anime this year; Ao Ashi has it beat in everything but animation. So count me a fan, but also count me hopeful that it leans more into what makes it unique going forward.

Raven of the Inner Palace: 7.5/10

In a fantasy-tinged version of Medieval China, there lives an imperial courtesan known as the Raven Consort. But unlike the other courtesans, her duties do not involve, well, nighttime visits. No, her mission is to put to rest the wandering spirits of the dead, the shades of those who died with regrets or unfinished business that still tie them to the world of the living. As long as anyone can remember, she’s lived alone, existing for nothing but her mission with no bonds to the world around her. But when a new emperor deposes the corrupt regime, he makes it his mission to set right everything his forebearers set wrong... including freeing the Raven Consort from her isolation. Thus begins one of the most absorbing anime I’ve watched all year, a story of the sins of the past as they claw at the fabric of the present, the struggle to untangle eons of societal oppression, and what it truly means to make amends for mistakes that left scars too big to ever heal. Raven of the Inner Palace is a bit of a slow burn, but when it takes off, it fucking takes off. And I know most of you barely even heard about it because it was overshadowed by all the louder, flashier shows this season, so consider this your wake-up call. Don’t sleep on this one, it’s really damn good.

Akiba Maid War: 8.5/10

Honestly, I don’t even want to say anything about this one. I just want to tell you all that you need to fucking watch Akiba Maid War and let you experience its many surprises as deliriously blind as I did. So if that alone is enough to convince you to go watch it, then stop what you’re doing and go watch it before you’re spoiled on anything. But if you need a little extra convincing, then consider the following: what if I told you that this seemingly innocuous maid cafe show is not, in fact, a quaint little otaku-centric slice of life, but a full-on pastiche of yakuza movies that takes all the genre’s bloodshed and mayhem and filters it through maid-colored glasses? A show where maids gun each other down and jockey for power and get in vicious turf battles and yet never once break maid keyfabe? Where the simple joke of “yakuza movie but they’re maids” is played so straight and pushed so far to its absolute limit that it somehow wraps back around to being both a completely ludicrous parody of itself and a completely genuine, 100% heart-on-its-sleeve love letter to both seemingly incompatible sides of its double identity? And walks that seemingly impossible tonal tightrope near flawlessly before bringing it all home in a final episode so pitch-perfect it forced me to pump my score up half a point just from how hard it stuck the goddamn landing? Are you convinced yet? Did I mention there’s a thirty-six year old murder maid who totally kicks fucking ass and doesn’t let anyone shame her for being a middle-aged woman working a cutesy job? What more do you want from me? JUST GO FUCKING WATCH THIS SHOW ALREADY I SWEAR TO GOD

Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury: 8.5/10

I had no idea what to expect going into my first ever Gundam anime. Sure, I was excited to finally get a taste of what this storied franchise had to offer, and the excellent prologue and promise of an interesting female protagonist were certainly reasons to be hopeful, but as someone who’s rarely clicked with mecha as a genre, I wasn’t sure how this first foray into the definitive mecha anime would turn out. What I never expected- what I don’t think anyone could’ve expected- was that The Witch From Mercury wasn’t content to just be the first even female-led Gundam. No, this show decided to be REVOLUTIONARY GIRL UTENA. IN SPACE. WITH MECHA BATTLES. And I don’t think I need to say a goddamn thing more to convince you to watch this show. It’s goddamn Gundam Utena! It’s the queerest, most socially conscious anime of all time re-imagined with a futuristic metal exoskeleton, only with Utena’s symbolism-drenched ruminations on gender and patriarchy replaced with a no-less-compelling grounded portrayal of the evils of space capitalism and the political consequences of corrupt systems. Well, presumably; this first cours has mostly focused on the ground-level school romance antics as it builds up all that big picture stuff in the background. But I say again: GUNDAM. FUCKING. UTENA. I couldn’t have picked a better introduction to the world of Gundam if I tried. And as long as the second cours doesn’t shit the bed, this is going to go down in history as one of the greatest things to over come out of the mecha genre.

Bocchi the Rock: 9.5/10

And yet. Despite all the big shonens and bold anime originals, despite Chainsaw Man and My Hero Academia and Gundam Utena, when all was said and done, one series rose above them all. One series that looked at all those big names with a smirk and sailed past them as naturally as breathing. Ladies, gentlemen, and everyone in between, Bocchi the Rock is a goddamn motherfucking masterpiece. It takes the band-girls coming-of-age majesty, the painfully relatable social anxiety of Watamote, and the sheer animation flexing of Nichijou, and blends them all together into a gut-busting, tear-jerking, jaw-dropping tour de force that raises the bar on what slice-of-life anime is capable of just as thoroughly as K-On did thirteen years ago. Hitori Gotou is a socially paralyzed weirdo who’s never had a real friend because her anxiety’s too overwhelming to make friends, but she knows how to play some mean guitar. So when a chance encounter leads to her joining a band, she resolves to stick with it and try to finally break out of her shell, one hilarious misstep at a time. It’s a wonderful story of overcoming what holds you back and finding a community that accepts you for who you are, brought to life with some of the most astonishingly Extra(tm) animation that regularly left me choking on my own laughter. And the music uniformly kicks ass, and the incredible supporting cast provides a wide array of perspectives of introversion and extroversion, and Ryou is such an asshole and I love her, and fucking hell, I love this show! Other anime may be deeper or more complex or have more to say, but almost nothing else is so consistently charming. Every second of this show is delightful. Every moment is lovable. It’s a new gold standard for animated comedy, for cute girls, for coming-of-age, and for music anime in general. Bocchi the Rock fucking rules, and every single one of you needs to give it a watch. Something tells me this is gonna be one of those shows we’re still going to be gushing over for many, many years to come.

[astralartefact]

My Entry for the DOD3 10th Anniversary Countdown! featuring Five P. Sullivan and uncensored Four Wazowski

I had a lot of fun with the process so I put together some of my sketches and thoughts below the cut!

I still wonder if we would have gotten a promotional Intoner Idol Unit if DoD3 came out a few years later... Because the Intoners are definitely at least Idol-adjacent (i know i know they're directly based on Madoka so it's actually a magical girl thing - trust me, i know) but those purely promotional short lived Idol Units (like in Girlish Number if anybody remembers that anime) weren't really a thing until years later... Were we robbed...? I mean SaitoP probably would have just had Gems Company do it so who knows.

But also I think in that case they might actually have went with the original DoD4 Pitch so they could make the intoners an actual Idol Unit in-game and tie it more directly into the story... (I still would love to see what the DoD4 pitch would have looked like in practice. really keeps me up at night.)

Anyways. All that to say that's why they're an Idol Unit.

Since I love when Idol Albums go hard on a theme I decided on a parade/marching band theme relatively quickly in the spirit of commemorating and celebrating this milestone. The outfit designs are heavily inspired by X's outfit from Caligula 2. Which I haven't played but the music is good. (Also, Zero's thing is supposed to be a whistle nestled in a flower not the Pokémon Glimmet)

Also I made Idol signatures for them bc that's my secret passion

Btw I'm not really into the -zaka46s of the Idol World but I was really tempted to just redraw some of the Sakurazaka Covers for this because some of those (specifically some of the alternate Nobody's Fault and Ban covers) are very Drakengard 3 coded.

Because those also always seem to have at least 5 alternates for the same release I was also thinking about doing 2 additional alternate covers (the one above was originally going to be an alternate just with 5+4+1=10) and i even sketched an idea i had for the original main one out:

but i don't know, i don't hate it, but i didn't feel it either. Maybe it was the horrible realization that i would have to draw multiple instruments, maybe it was how badly I fucked up one's arm in the sketch but I just... didn't want to continue it so I changed plans and ended up with what you saw above.

Btw I wanted to Mike Wazowski Four from the very beginning that was going to happen regardless because that's a) what she deserves and 2) it was Five's day and that's exactly what Five would dol!!! Like I love Four, she's one of my favorite Intoners, but you always have to portray Four at least a little bit pathetic. That's her entire thing! (I think it ended up looking more like I'm holding her face hostage until 19/12 like it's an patreon exclusive instead of looking like one of those stickers japanese cd packaging often have, but eh I still think it's funny)

I also think Utahime 5 is a better sounding name than Utahime 6 but I crumbled to the pressure of knowing that somebody would complain about it.

Anyways. The inspiration for the version I arrived at was actually Bish's Zutto Music Video (specifically the shot at 2:46) and wouldn't you know it Bish is also pretty Drakengard 3 coded and since I love that shot and it's kind of Five's vibe especially with the Yellow Shopping Cart I just based the entire thing on it - it just fit an album with her as the center really well and if there is one thing that I like more than out there themes for an Idol Album/Single it's when they also have out there centers - so I guess I got lucky getting Day 5 so I had even more reason to center this piece around Five!

Anyways, Happy 10th Birthday Drakengard 3! I love you <3 Thanks to the other artist for their great works (it's been great waking up and seeing 2 new pieces of DoD3 Art every day!!!) and of course also to the organizers of the Countdown for doing the hard work of putting this together!!! Also, I love these girls. I do think about them more often that I should, even after all of these years.

[herooffire101]

Hello, and welcome to the first of my Tuggerlina week entries. I'm posting this once again early in the morning because of stuff I'm doing today. All my entries are fics, and I hope you enjoy them. @jelliclekay , enjoy! The first day, First Encounters! Majority of them take place in a different universe than my first entries last year. Basically, Asparagus Jr. and Jellylorum are siblings, Jr. is a young single parent to Bomba after her mother abandoned both of them after she gave birth to Bomba and fed her once. Jr. takes baby Bomba to the Junkyard immediately, where Jenny started her on kitten formula (that she procured from the humans). The Jellicle Moon compelled Jr to mate with this orange queen (who was also under the influence of the Jellicle moon) and found that she did not want to be a mother, so she left as soon as she could. Anyway, Enjoy!

Oh she’s poofy/Oh he’s fluffy

The Rum Tum Tugger sat on his haunches, watching with a curious eye, with his patchy mane not fully in, of movement coming from Jennyanydots’s den. He did see Asparagus Jr go in there, every day, making the curious kitten even more curious. Why was the adult tom going in and out of Jenny’s den? Mummy mentioned that there was a kitten being cared for, and he might be getting a new friend soon. He was getting bored when he noticed something red coming out of the den. At first he thought it was Jenny, but the red became red ears, and then attached to those red ears was a kitten with a white face attached to those red ears! This red kitten was definitely a different red to Mac, and it only became clearer as more of the singular kitten came out of the den with Jr. and Jenny coming out behind them. This red kitten was more of a tabby with a white bib, and was really a poof ball, and they really stood out to Tugger. The one most startling thing about this kitten that Tugger could see was that their eyes were almost a bright startling green, sparkling like shiny gems, so unlike the dark green of Mac. Tugger knew that most kitten eyes start out blue and turned into a different colour as they get older, but the kitten’s eyes already turned green! Then he heard Jenny talk to the kitten.

“Come on, Bombalurina, time to meet your new friends!” Jenny softly said, patting the kitten’s back. The kitten turned their head to face Jenny, and then faced Jr.

“It’s okay, Caraid. We’ll introduce you to them.” Jr. calmed the kitten. The kitten rubbed Jr., not even voicing love. Why wasn’t this new kitten speaking?

Tugger, with the other kittens, consisting of Mac, Munk, Cass, and Lonzo stopped playing as Jenny and Jr. came up to the group with the new kitten. “Kittens, this is Bombalurina. Bomba is now old enough to come play with you.” Now as this kitten is now closer, Tugger saw more detail in this kit’s face.

Cass broke the silence. “You’re a queen! I’m not the only queen kitten anymore!”

Bombalurina smiled at Cass, still silent, but she did nod. “Ummm…Jenny, why isn’t she talking?” Tugger asked, confused why the new queenkit wasn’t talking.

“Bomba here is nonverbal at the moment. She will talk when she wants to, as she just can’t seem to get her words out.” Jr. explained, rubbing Bomba’s back, making her purr. “She’s my daughter, and if she struggles to communicate with you what she wants, don’t be afraid to ask for help from me, Jellylorum, Jennyanydots, or Skimble. Don’t force her to talk because she will get frustrated and will let you know.”

‘So, she is Jr.’s kitten. Where’s her mum?’ Tugger thought, and then Bombalurina popped into his face, and she was sniffing him. He jumped, and he could look into her eyes, and they were memorizing. Bomba then gave him a toothy smile, which communicated her desire. “Why do you want to touch my mane?”

Jr. and Jenny both had surprised expressions. “Bomba is also a sensory seeker occasionally. She might want to feel it. We have been encouraging her to figure out what she prefers to touch, but as you can see, she does struggle on asking if she can.”

“Oh, that makes sense. You want permission to feel it?” Tugger questioned, slightly unsure. This was a strange kitten, as standout as she can be. It’s just…something about her that made him feel…a strange comforting sensation about her. Like he was drawn to her. “Okay, just…be gentle. I also don’t like certain sensations.” Her eyes widened, and then nodded in understanding his needs. She lifted her right paw, being incredibly careful about it, and felt his mane, which he didn’t mind. ‘Strange…I like her touch.’ Then what seemed like a happy purr came from her, smiling….and then she pounced on him. “Aak!” Tugger squeaked out as she landed on him. “Why did you pounce on me?!?”

Then strong paws lifted Bomba off of him. “Bomba, we don’t pounce on other kittens without permission.” Jr. lightly scolded, “It’s okay to pounce on toys, but not on other kittens unless you are playing.” Bomba had the acceptance of being sorry, her ears down. Tugger watched as Jr. put Bomba down, still so memorized by her. He was caught within her aura. What was the thing with Bomba, this new queenkit in their group, that he was so drawn to?

Mac scoffed. “You got pounced on by a girl. Can’t say no to a girl?”

“Hey! I say no to Cass all the time!” Tugger snapped at his oldest brother.

“It’s true, he does.” Cass agreed, “Much to my displeasure. But Bomba here, she has some kind of special thing that makes her unique. It’s not her fur color, which I am jealous of, but something about her that I even feel it. I think that even Tantomile and Coricopat would love to feel.”

Bomba had some kind of look, like she was thinking, and then she made some kind of noise, waving her paws around in what looked like a certain motion. “Ah, like Grandpa Gus!” Jenny said, smiling.

Munk finally spoke up. “Oh, so you know some kind of sign language!” The rest of us looked at him. “What? I’ve seen some humans have a conversation with only their hands and face, and some of them, even their kittens have these weird small things right behind their ears. Dad and Skimble said that sometimes humans, like some of us cats, don’t have some to all of their hearing, even when they are born!”

“Eeeee!” Bomba finally vocalized, her smile as wide as her ears. She then hugged Munk, which startled all of us.

‘Oh, that is a cute voice’ A stray thought of Tugger.

“Uhhhh, thanks for the hug, I guess?” Munk said, being extremely awkward with the hug.

“Yea she’s physically affectionate. Munkustrap, you made her feel heard, which made her really happy. I hope that you all will be great friends for her, and definitely support her with finding her voice.” Jr. said, smiling fondly at Bomba.

With some more small talk, Jenny and Jr. watched as the rest of them included Bomba in their kitten games, which really made her smile, which Tugger really liked. At the end of the day, when it was dinner time, neither Tugger nor Bomba wanted to be separated, because she didn’t have make an extra effort to being understood with him. Tugger was amazed in such a short time he could understand her with very little effort.

*A little extra*

When Bomba laid eyes on the fluffy Maine Coon kitten ‘Oh my Bast he is so fluffy!...I wanna touch it. Can I…touch it, please?’

‘His eyes are so memorizing. Oh, he understands me! I’m…so…HAPPY!’

‘But daddy…’

In her own special sign language, ‘Oh, like Grandpa Gus?’

‘He accepted me! Now about the fluffy one.’

‘But Tugger is my best friend! He gets me!’

~~~~~

Well, that, my first entry! Tugger accepted autistic Bombalurina, and he feels her magic, and it’s compatible to his inner magic, making them true mates. Bomba does eventually speak verbally, but it takes her a while longer, and the first time she speaks is to her Dad, saying “I love you, Daddy.” As her first words.

[cinemacentral666]

Mom and Dad (2017)

Movie #1,132 • THE YEAR OF CAGE, CH. 48

While this isn't a great film necessarily, it's a prime example of why I started this Nicolas Cage filmography review project 17 years ago. I was hoping to find some fascinating and/or original under-seen hidden gems and this certainly qualifies. Reuniting with Cage is Brian Taylor, one half of the duo that made Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (a far superior sequel compared to the original) as well as the Jason Statham Crank movies. This is his first and only solo feature as writer-director (though he's been tabbed to helm another Hellboy reboot) and I really hope he gets to make more films because, despite its flaws, this is definitely worth a watch. (If anything it's proof that all movies need to be 80 minutes long on the nose!)

I won't get into the specifics of the plot because going in 100% cold absolutely added to the enjoyment of this satirical, bloody horror (I didn't even know it was a horror movie). Suffice it to say, by the time the great Lance Henriksen shows up, hellbent on killing his son (Nicolas Cage), there are only ten minutes left. It was at this point I realized that, as a satire, there was no way anything was going to be resolved successfully (what's the point? it's hard being a kid? it's hard being a parent? both parents and kids are stuck in an unending loop of resentment and pain that will forever trump the joys that supposedly come with those roles? SURE). But the film's breakneck pace works in its favor, as does its obstitant refusal to address the logistical WHY any of this happening in the hellscape it presents. It also features Cage at his unhinged best and it's a lowkey/darkhorse entry for Top Cage Rage performances in a career full of them. And let's be honest: this is why we're here...

And most of the action is great: stylish and effective. Look at these two elderly people getting killed...

As muddled as the message might be, this is a well-made movie and it's good enough where that grave sin can be forgiven.

FUN FACTS: Bokeem Woodbine shows up in uncredited, blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo. And the idiot loser Dr. Oz makes an appearance as himself, acting like the idiot loser that he is (he honestly seems too dumb to realize that the movie is making fun of him? LOL).

THE VERDICT: 8 CAGES OUT OF 10

CLICK HERE for all 𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝔜𝔢𝔞𝔯 𝔬𝔣 ℭ𝔞𝔤𝔢 Chapters + Ongoing Rankings.

..in 2020 I decided to watch every single Nicolas Cage movie in alphabetical order. This project will take me multiple years to complete. New chapters post every other Thursday…

[lodessa]

✨ 2022 Writing Year In Review ✨

Thanks to @feeisamarshmallow​ for tagging me! Sorry it took me a while to get to it!

1. Number of stories posted to AO3: 10

2. Word count posted for the year: 37,228

3. Fandoms I wrote for: Stranger Things, Star Trek: Voyager ( and a hint of Prodigy), Revolution, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Battlestar Galactica.

4. Pairings: Chrissy Cunningham/Eddie Munson, Kathryn Janeway/Chakotay Charlie Matheson/Miles Matheson, Faith Lehane/Buffy Summers, Lee "Apollo" Adama/Kara "Starbuck" Thrace"

5. Story with the most:

Kudos: Five Times No One Saw Eddie and Chrissy Together (No Make That Four) 303 Kudos on my entry into a new fandom.

Bookmarks: (See most kudos above) 47 Bookmarks

Comments: (Same) 20 Comment Threads.

6. Work I’m most proud of (and why):

"Don't Leave Me Dry" I think. There's something about writing a fic you know is going "bomb" but you just want to write it so much you do it anyway. I knew going into it that once again I was writing a problematic ship in a dead fandom, that would probably be commented on by @romeorevoarchive and one other person, but I was struck with one little moment, that kind of inspiration that usually gets trapped in the shower or car, and I went for it anyway and do you know what: I love the immediacy, the way I ended up using music to frame it, the characterization, the physicality, the rawness and tenderness that feels so quintessentially Miles and Charlie.

7. Work I’m least proud of (and why):. . .

This is maybe going to sound weird (or entitled and bratty) and also sound contradictory to what I said in the prior response, but. . . 23K of the 37k words I wrote were my three part More Normal Things series and part of me wishes I had just left that whole thing with the first part. While the hit count didn't drop that much between them, every other metric (kudos, comments, bookmarks) took a nose and it just makes me feel like I should have quit while I was ahead. Maybe I should have written the more flashy concept Hellcheer AUs I had instead of continuing to just explore their dynamic. Maybe I should have just been pleased with the amazing welcome to the fandom I got on that first fic and moved on after that positive little moment. There are things I really liked about those second two parts, but it is obvious that readers felt diminishing returns, and that makes me wish I had updated any of my other series or WIPs instead.

8. Share or describe a favorite review you received:

Is it cheating to choose a whole series of comments I received / comment conversation I had in response to Salvation and Rapture For the Lonely? They started with this gem

and only got better from there. When I finally posted my Martha/Nine epic in 2018, I knew that it was ten years late and a super niche pairing to begin with, but it was my hope that at least one person out there would stumble upon it and be really excited for the same reasons that most people would not be interested at all, and in the last four years that is exactly what has happened a handful of times. This wonderful human left effusive, detailed, comments on every chapter and then responded to my rambling replies in a way that gave me that high of finding someone who just GETS IT.

9. A time when writing was really, really hard:

Most of the year, honestly. I really struggled to write anything most of the time (pretty much the only time writing was really flowing was August).

10. A scene or character you wrote that surprised you: 

I definitely didn't see Hellcheer as a ship (or writing anything for Stranger Things) coming. If you had told me that my new ship in 2022 would be some freshly introduced high school kids from a single episode of the show, I would have been skeptical.

11. A favorite excerpt of your writing:

From "Whispered" :

“Going to take more than that to get rid of me, Summers.” Faith feels herself smile, mostly because it hurts to move her face that much.

“Good,” Buffy smiles back, doing that lip biting thing that is a suggestion and a protestation of innocence at the same time. Perfect. Humanizing. Prudish. Primal. The reluctant hero. The girl who knows or doesn’t know she’s hot. “We still have a First Evil to defeat.”

We. When was the last time either of them actually believed that even existed? Had Buffy ever? Or was it only Faith who even wanted that to be true? No. Buffy just wanted everyone to play by her rules, not the other way around. Sometimes, Faith even wished she could do that, be relegated to a sidekick instead of a problem. If there’s one constant in the world it is me being a disruption, a wrinkle in someone’s perfect life… No. She reminds herself. I don’t have to be. I can be different.

Buffy is looking at her, really looking at her, and Faith wonders what she sees. She must look like shit. Feeling superior as usual, B? she thinks, but that’s not really what she sees in her expression. If I’m vulnerable, so are you. That it? She’s not sure that’s quite right either, but no more comforting thought is coming to mind, so she looks away.

12. How did you grow as a writer this year: 

Honestly 2022 was pretty much a fallow year for me as a writer. I suspect I won't see what changed in my writing until I am looking back on it from the perspective of what I write in 2023.

13. How do you hope to grow next year:

I would really like to get better at being able to push through and get words typed more consistently even when they are not flowing.

14. Who was your greatest positive influence this year as a writer (could be another writer or beta or cheerleader or muse etc etc): 

@romeorevoarchive who held my hand through everything I wrote or didn't write this year and even read some fic for a fandom she doesn't care about. Also special shout out to @anverli for the visual inspiration for (Don't Leave Me Dry) and many people but especially @phoenixwrites for the enthusiastic welcome to Hellcheer.

15. Anything from your real life show up in your writing this year:

Probably the most personal work I wrote this year was Exhausted Midas. I've been feeling really overwhelmed and burnt out, both like I need and want to do more and like I need to cut back on my commitments. I've been dropping a lot of balls. It is hard not to feel like this is who I am now, and I feel like that's a lot of what I was exploring with this character study of Janeway, pre-Prodigy.

16. Any new wisdom you can share with other writers:

This isn't new but here are a few reminders for myself and others:

Just because you are struggling to write right now doesn't mean you will never write again. Try to relax. Read. Trust that inspiration and focus will come together again someday.

Learn to scale down the scope of a writing project, just because "what happens" is big, doesn't mean you need to show it all: skip to the most interesting part, do abrupt transitions if you need to, add flashbacks if you need context instead of writing thousands of words to get to that critical detail

Find a buddy you can talk through the process with while writing, someone who you can send snippets to, someone you can bounce ideas off of, someone to make you feel less alone and in your own head.

Sit down and do flash fiction based on any prompt. There's something about just finding a way to make some constraint work and typing out whatever you can in what sitting before setting it loose on the world.

17. Any projects you’re looking forward to starting (or finishing) in the new year:

Last week, I came across a list from two years ago with 20 things on it. I had actually written and posted 1, which means who knows what will happen but right now:

I would really like to update (and possibly even finish) one of my major partly posted WIPS: k'war'ma'khon (my Georgiou!lives Discovery AU) and Dragon Marked (my soulmarks, reincarnation, modern with some magic Dany/Jorah epic).

I would like to complete my long planned sequels for The Smallest Twine (my Janeway and Chakotay meet before the end of the Cardassian War and that changes EVERYTHING AU . . . though it makes me sad to think about how Laura inspired it all and she's not here to enjoy the rest of it now) and the next installment of Balancing Act (my Logan/Veronica/Weevil threesome + series)

I would like to finally finish and post some of the in progress fics that have been languishing in my Google Drive for years, including but not limited to: the Veronica Mars Season 3 AU I started in 2014, the Greek Myth AU Janeway/Chakotay fic, my Jaime/Brienne, Sansa/Aegon, Davos/Jon Connington ASOIAF solution.

Some fic ideas I have not actually written, including but not limited to: Miles gets swapped with an alternate timeline version of himself Revo fic, Hellcheer Room With a View AU, that BtVS/Punisher crossover fic with Faith/Billy Russo (okay that pairing actually the whole idea), my inevitable Elendil/Mirael fic.

18. Tag some writers whose answers you’d like to read.

Let's go with: @clarasimone, @liminal-zone, @janiedean, and @lilalbatross but anyone who wants to do this, should