#for how hyped up she was/is by the characters and the writers they sure don’t market her the same way

[red-balloon12]

Ay yo, notice how Zoe/Vesperia isn’t on here….just wanted to point that out.

Okay, so apparently, this is the new official poster for S6. Take a look.

Honestly, i did laughed when i saw it first, but I'll at least admit this looks better than the S5 finale poster. At best this looks like a promotion for new toys, at worst the artists making this is forced to work overtime with below minimum wage payment.

My biggest disappointment, which totally everyone kinda see coming, is how Ladybug is the only one with a new suit. Nothing for Rena. Nothing for Carapace. And Chat Noir at best only got a new hair style that's literally a mix between Adrien and Chat Noir. This isn't even bare minimum effort, this is laziness.

Like, what is wrong with TA and his entire team? If you refuse to be bothered with your writing skill, at least please us with visuals. Give us new costumes for the main heroes. Give us something to look forward to. But nooo, they can't be bothered with any of that.

This is basically a head start for a ride of disappointment S6 gonna be, and im so ready for the salt flood we're gonna get.

[little-diable]

Something Special - Dean Winchester (smut)

After watching SPN with @writethelifeyouwant this weekend, I needed to write a fic about Dean's "sex has always felt really good" monologue. Please like and reblog if you enjoyed reading this, your comments keep us writers motivated! Enjoy my loves. xxx

Summary: The reader tells Dean that she doesn't get the hype around sex, Dean is set on showing her that it's something truly special

Warnings: 18+, smut, piv, oral (f), friends to lovers, just pure smut basically

Pairing: Dean Winchester x fem!reader (about 2k words)

header and plot idea by @deathofpeaceofmind

No longer was (y/n) used to the calm beat of her heart, not urged on by the adrenaline thumping through her veins because she was chased by someone, or rather something. No longer was (y/n) used to sitting back with a smile tugging on her lips, allowed to take a few deep breaths without following either Dean or Sam to wherever they were called to. But tonight – for the first time in weeks – (y/n) found herself sitting next to Dean, head placed on his shoulder, hand holding onto a cold bottle of beer. The sounds of the movie the two were watching filled her room, but neither Dean or (y/n) found themselves concentrating on the plot, sharing jokes, thoughts, and questions as the minutes kept blurring by.

“You know,” (y/n) took another sip of her beer, eyes focused on the scene flickering on. The two main characters were about to tumble onto the mattress of their now shared bed, momentarily leaving (y/n) wondering how it must feel to be touched like this by Dean. “I never got the whole excitement about sex. I mean, yes, I guess it can feel good, but it’s nothing special.”

“What?” Dean’s raspy chuckles bubbled out of him, hand reaching for the remote to pause the movie. “Nothing special? It’s the most special thing out there, sweetheart.”

(Y/n) couldn’t stop her eyes from rolling, drowning another sip before she placed the bottle down, fully turning towards Dean. His forest green eyes studied her as if he was trying to figure out if she was possessed, no longer able to guide herself. “Then please, enlighten me. What’s so special about it?”

“Fuck, the guys you’ve been with before must have sucked in bed, huh?” No longer were Dean’s eyes filled with the almost childish glee (y/n) found herself admiring whenever he didn’t notice her staring, no, by now they were filled with something rather serious, something that forced the hairs on her arms to rise. (Y/n) shuffled around, breaking eye contact for a second before she let go of a deep sigh.

“I don’t know, I mean, I never got close to an orgasm with them.” Dean’s warm hand found her chin, forcing (y/n) to look at him. For a few moments neither one of them dared to speak up, trying to communicate without sharing any words, listening to the silent whispers of their hearts like blind wanderers forced to rely on the whispers of the breeze, guiding them along uneasy paths. 

“Will you let me? You deserve to experience how good it can actually feel.” It was just a whisper, a sound so quiet (y/n) wasn’t sure if she heard him correctly, and yet her curiosity got the best of her. Slowly she nodded her head, gasping in surprise as Dean’s plush lips found hers, kissing her without another warning. She was pulled into his lap, finding comfort close to his racing heart, to his strong thighs, and the hands that wandered up her spine to explore unfamiliar territory. 

Dean tugged her shirt over her head, dilated pupils flickering down to her chest, to the skin he kissed moments later. Every now and then their eyes met, just for a few seconds, and yet the seconds felt more sincere than any moments (y/n) had once shared with the men she had dated. But there had always been something special about Dean Winchester, the man that owned her heart without even knowing so.

“You see, sex has always felt really, really good. But, sometimes, it just makes you feel bad, you know?” Dean’s lips found their way back up to her throat while his hands worked on her bra, letting the fabric fall to the ground, taken from her before she could even try to cover herself up. “You’re drunk. You shack up. Then, it’s the whole morning thing. You know, “hey, that was fun.” And then, “adios,” you know? Always the “adios.” But, you know, when you get down to it, what’s the big deal, right?” The green colour of his eyes seemed to grow even greener as he sucked on her hardening nipples, set on leaving marks that would remind (y/n) of this very moment for days to come. 

“Dean,” she mewled his name, begging him to move down further. Another gasp ripped through her as Dean ground her core against his bulge, letting her feel how hard he was, just for her. Her clit was pulsing, secretly wondering if she’d be able to cum just like that, just from searching his closeness with most of their clothes still on. “More, please.”

“I mean, sure, there’s the touching and the feeling all of each other. My hands everywhere, tracing every inch of her body. The two of us moving together, pressing and pulling… Grinding. Then you hit that sweet spot, and everything just builds and builds and builds. I want you to feel that, all of it.” He chuckled at the desperate gaze swimming in her pupils, letting go of a soft “So impatient”. 

Dean clicked his tongue, flipping them around so that he could tower over her, hands tugging his own shirt over his head. Fuck, this wasn’t the first time (y/n) got to admire a shirtless Dean, and yet she had never dared to admire him for long, just a few seconds where he found himself distracted by something. But now Dean wasn’t distracted, no, he was awfully focused on (y/n), on the woman that would choke on his name in a few minutes. “I think I want you to cum on my tongue first, and then on my cock.”

“Oh fuck, do something, please.” His chuckles reverberated through the bedroom as he helped her out of her jeans, panties following shortly after. She was completely bare, naked for his eyes only, a sight so beautiful Dean found himself frozen. Both their hearts were racing, calling out to one another, very well knowing that this wasn’t just a quick hookup, not something they’d ever be able to forget. 

(Y/n)’s eyes followed Dean’s every move, watching him kiss his way down to her heat, eyes flickering up to meet hers as he brushed his tongue along her folds, moaning at her taste. She could already tell that this wouldn’t end like it had with the guys she had been with before, Dean would be able to make her cum in no time, pushing her over the edge before her mind could catch up with her body. 

Dean’s skilled fingers took care of her pulsing bundle of nerves, smirking against her skin as he dipped his tongue into her tightness. Her moans kept clawing through her, hands grasping her sheets in a desperate try to ground herself, unable to keep on breathing. Her body grew tense as she felt her orgasm creeping closer, forcing her to breathe faster, scared that she’d pass out from the tension now clinging to her. 

This very sensation had something so unfamiliar to it, (y/n) couldn’t help but wonder if she’d ever get to experience this again, already addicted to the feeling of Dean’s tongue taking care of her every need. Her moans urged him on to add more pressure to his movements, tongue fucking her faster, in sync with the movements of his fingers. 

“Oh god, Dean, I’m so close, please don’t stop.” Her sobs left his heart roaring in pride, tugging on his muscles as he watched her come undone. (Y/n)’s eyes fluttered close, teeth buried in her lower lip as she let the sensation wash through her, allowing her vocal cords to produce the sweetest sounds Dean has ever heard before. He found himself marvelling at her, wishing that he’d be able to grasp his phone, to take a picture of the pleasure drunken expression tugging on her features. 

Dean had always known that he was in love with her, and yet he had never dared to act on his feelings, preferring to secretly harbour a crush that was stronger than any emotion he was used to by now, instead of ending up with a broken heart and a broken friendship. But in this very moment, Dean found himself growing more confident, finally understanding that she was tied to him in the same way he was tied to her. 

“Dean,” a deep sigh left her as he pulled away, smirking down on (y/n) before he kissed her. “Fuck me, please.” 

“Such a good girl, I knew you’d love this, you deserve to be touched by someone who actually wants you to enjoy this.” Dean rose from the bed to tug his trousers down his legs, allowing (y/n) to take in the sight of his clothed cock, of the way his cock was pressed against the fabric of his dark boxers. Fuck, she had dreamt about this very moment for way too many times, wondering how he’d fuck her, how he’d push her closer and closer to the edge with his cock buried deep inside of her. 

Dean rolled a condom down his cock before he aligned himself with her heat, fingers interlaced with hers before he slowly sank into her. Both needed a few moments to adjust, exhaling the tension tugging on their muscles, urged on by the emotions that made this very night more special than all others they got to live through before. 

(Y/n)’s trembling hand tugged Dean down to her, sharing a passionate kiss as she wrapped her legs around his waist. He moved slowly at first, building up a rhythm that shot sparks down their spines, leaving them drowning in the heat thumping through their veins. 

“Shit, you feel so good.” Dean’s praises left her heart skipping beats, racing in her chest as if she was on another hunt, guided by the adrenaline rushing through her system. But this very moment wasn’t filled with the same kind of adrenaline she was all too used to, no, it had a new touch to it, allowing her to silence her racing thoughts. 

Her walls fluttered around his cock as his hand found its way back to her sensitive clit, pushing her closer and closer to the edge, very well knowing that they’d both cum any moment now. Heavy breaths left them, mixed with moans and groans that echoed through her bedroom, a sound that would forever cling to them, reminiscent like the emotions filling their bodies. 

“There we go, can feel you clenching my cock. Let go for me, sweetheart.” Dean’s raspy words pushed her over the edge, hands finding his shoulders to claw her fingernails into his skin. He fucked her through her high, staring down on her with a proud smirk before he followed her, releasing himself into the condom. 

Dean slowly pulled out of her, tossing away the condom before he searched her closeness again. For a few minutes neither of them dared to speak up, trying to catch their breaths with closed eyes and wandering fingers that stroked one another’s warm skin. With a kiss pressed to her forehead, Dean pulled (y/n) into his chest, tightening his grip on her. 

“You’re right, this is truly the most special thing ever.” 

[justfandomwritings]

An essay on why I won’t be watching next season.

1. Obviously actors have to promote their shows and hype them up. But the interactions between Nicola and Luke during the press tour were, in retrospect, clearly also acting performances, and it is rare to see acting within the press tour to the degree that those two put on while grossly exaggerating things like how sexy this season would be or how much Polin we would get. I don’t blame them. It’s clearly what they were told to do. And it’s fine to hype a show, but I think a lot of people felt genuinely lied to with the WAY this season was hyped.

2. The casting has been color conscious and inclusive in a way I greatly admire. But they have not been inclusive in other ways. And that’s not to say they should have to be. One show shouldn’t bear the responsibility of being inclusive to everyone and making up for an industries worth of exclusion. But we have exactly one size inclusive character in this whole show, and I’m not even demanding more, but to butcher the season of the only size inclusive person in this show this badly and in these ways sends me a clear message of what the writers thought they could get away with with a curvy actress and how they saw her.

3. The wait times for this season and next season are just too long. The hype dies down too much between seasons such that we care less and less each time we get a new one, especially when you only give eight episodes, regardless of their length. You know who also gave us a season in 2022 and then an eight episode season this year? house of the dragon. And they have to CGI a fuck ton of dragons. Yall were sitting on this season being done filming for over a year and for what? What did you do in post? A bee? And then to have the audacity to do it in two parts? Fuck off.

4. Add to that. The costumes and new sets looked so much cheaper this season than previous seasons. Where did the budget go.

5. The plot is too crowded. Maybe you thought a curvy girl couldn’t carry a season. Maybe it was bad writing. Obviously you needed Cressida and Eloise to have decent amounts of screen time but you also did half of Francesca’s story and set one up for Violet and Benedict that collectively took the majority of the screen time and left us with very little Pen and Colin. Which was a disservice you never gave Anthony or Daphne’s seasons and was why they were good. We got enough crumbs of the others to tell us what was happening but not enough to make them feel like main characters or to make it feel like an ensemble show. There were leads in season 1 and 2. This season it was an ensemble with too many moving parts. But everyone’s said that. It’s not surprising.

6. My biggest problem is the tone. The blame. Admittedly I’m a woman who relates strongly to Penelope so I’m not impartial here. But for a character who spends her entire life being abused by every single person in this show, who is pushed to her absolute breaking point before finally giving her mother and the tonne a taste of their own medicine. For that character to receive no grace, no understanding, no respect, for the vast majority of the season hurt. To not only have zero understanding of her situation but to frame the entire plot of the show around the fact that SHE alone should be sorry. To have minimal to no groveling from Colin over what he said last season, to have no acknowledgment of how he treated her as a safety net, to humanize Cressida who made her life hell with minimal acknowledgment of that fact, to have Eloise get ONE comment from Cressida of all people about her friendship with Penelope but no real reflection from Eloise or acknowledgment on her part or apologies for what a truly SHIT friend she was for DECADES. That hurt. Because the message is that sure, they can push you to your fucking limit, you can break after years of being bullied for your weight and your looks and your status. Your own mother and sisters hands can be filthy with insults and abuse. Your friends can treat you like utter garbage for years. They can befriend your bullies. Your soon to be husband can, very recently, insult you to his friends behind your back. But you owe them the apology for breaking after years of abuse. It’s not that the tonne couldn’t be angry or that they all should’ve fallen at Pen’s feet. It’s that those arguments never happen at all because once again, just like when she was being used and abused by everyone, everything was put on Penelope. And the cycle continues.

7. Colin should’ve groveled more. I know I said that in the previous point but it really ruined things for me so I want to emphasize it. I wanted that man on his knees the whole season, and I should’ve known I wasn’t gonna get that when y’all dropped the list of songs and there wasn’t any of the A List Yearners on the list. But I’m still mad.

8. Actually that’s a good point. Did anyone else think the songs didn’t go as hard this year? Except Pitbull were we excited about any of them?

9. You did the Pride and Prejudice ballroom trick with the dancing alone thing and you didn’t nail it. If you’re gonna do that trick it has to fucking HIT. (And it has to be enemies to lovers.) And you did it half assed. You should be ashamed.

10. There was a two second window there when Cressida asked the maid for help where I thought they were gonna swap lives and the maid would go with her aunt and Cressida would become a maid and I was like “holy fuck is Cressida gonna become Bennys love interest?” and that would’ve been better than what y’all did I think. And it would’ve justified her excessive screen time.

11. I love gender swapping Michaela and making Francesca bi. We love it. But why was Francesca immediately interested. Once again the writers don’t understand pining. Michaela is PINING for Francesca and can do nothing but love her from afar. Francesca loved John completely and whole heartedly. Michaela was a beautiful love story for her but was also a second chance. She loved John completely. She would never have an emotional affair on him. How did you immediately ruin such a beautiful second chance romance?

12. Where was Pen’s friendship with Anthony or Lady Danbury? Why wasn’t Colin proud of Pen the way he was in the book? To make her even more alone? To emphasize that she was alone and at fault and helpless? Fuck off.

I just don’t have it in me to watch this show deteriorate further.

[nagichi-boop]

WOWOWOW!! I HAVE SO MANY FEELINGS ABOUT THIS!!

Spoilers ahead, naturally (tldr they are giving my boy Shadow the justice he deserves)

Okay, where the hell do I even start-

They seem to finally be doing Shadow right!! I got worried cuz on some of the interviews they were calling Shadow a “dark hero” and I thought maybe they were still gonna make him super antagonistic, but my worries seem to be put to rest with these episodes (and we still have one left!).

I know the first episode still showers him as being gentle, but that was towards Maria, so that was a given. But there’s sooo much in this episode that shows Shadow is not just edgy.

While this is Maria speaking about Shadow, this shows that the writers are bringing Shadow back to being more than just an antagonistic rival to Sonic. He isn’t heartless, he just struggles to be vulnerable and show his emotions. (He’s so autistic and I love him for it /pos)

But to me, the more interesting part is Team Dark’s return because of course it is, WE ARE SO BACK!! And they appear right after Maria says “Then you’ll find even more people you can trust.”

Counter to how we have seen Shadow portrayed in recent media (I’m looking at you Boom and IDW), Shadow isn’t aggressive or secretive. They’re chatting like old time friends, and even if they are there for different reasons, they work together to fight. He doesn’t snap at Rouge or Omega and is actually rather chill about them being there. They have a casual friendly banter and explain to each other why they’re there without being vague or annoyed.

We then see Shadow save Rouge, which…yay! Shadow looks out for his friends rather than thinking only of himself, or saving her to then complain about having to do so.

We get to see them acting more like a team, even though again they aren’t here for the same reasons. Shadow gives them a command (politely) and they all follow his leadership and fight together. They work together - none of this Shadow being hyper-independent and rash. He is coordinating with his partners, and they’re listening to him. Obviously it’s too soon to declare them a team again, but this is definitely a step forward…by going back? I don’t know but I’m thrilled to see them working together and being friendly!

Rouge isn’t manipulative, either. Obviously this is a way to set up having Shadow in Generations, but it also shows off something nice about Rouge. She is on friendly enough terms with Shadow that she’s able to tease him a little. I’m sure she knows that Shadow isn’t keen on the idea of attending Sonic’s birthday party, but it’s also not a totally unreasonable request. She could ask so much of Shadow and she chose this of all things. This is the kind of thing an extroverted friend would tell their introverted friend to do because that is exactly what’s happening.

Shadow’s reaction is also very telling. He grumbles a bit, but he doesn’t lash out at Rouge or heavily protest. Sure, he maybe isn’t thrilled about the idea, but he doesn’t become unpleasant to Rouge because of it. Again, it’s the sort of response an introverted friend would give being asked to go to a party or something with their more extroverted friend. And he respects and cares about Rouge enough to comply.

Anyways, that’s kind of a summary of my thoughts about this. More than anything, I’m so freaking excited!! I was already hyped from the last episode but this one made me so much more excited and enthusiastic for the game. And I’m so glad that they’re writing these characters with love and not just giving them more generic characterisations. I can’t wait to see the third episode!

(P.S. I assume opinions are split, but I personally like Rouge’s voice in this. It fits her teasing, playful attitude in this episode.)

[ilikekidsshows]

My friend called me impatient for not wanting to wait until miraculous reach the point for Marinette get over her flaws, and I've seen some part of the fandom echoing this sentiment. "People are just impatient". but what they didn't understand is that I'm not impatient, I get a massive burn out for seeing Marinette doing the same thing over and over without feeling slightly guilty or remorse and she also never change, her character is so stagnant that is so boring and annoying. She doesn't even feel what she does is wrong, that's the problem!

Im a fans on DNAngel, manga that need almost 20 years to finally reach its conclusion because the mangaka keep having hiatuses. I'm also long term fans of Detective Conan, manga that still nowhere near the climax and I'm still waiting for it. When I'm a fan of a media, I'd waiting for it no matter how many years it need to reach the end as long as there's thing that worth waiting. Sure Detective Conan case seems to be recycle of the old case, it's always the same case but at least there's progress, the protagonist learn something, actively seeking the way to get out from his problem. Marinette do nothing about it, every single time it's always her whining and crying for whatever but do nothing to change. Protagonist who do nothing but expecting everything to be handed to her in silver plate doesn't worth watching for me.

If I must wait for 100++ episode for an arc to conclude, then at least give me something to root for, something to hype for, even a nice character development would be fine. Not whatever miraculous give me over the years.

Honestly I'm not even going to be surprises if miraculous end with Marinette waking up from her sleep, that all those seasons are just her dream, because it does feels like one.

---

The problem with Miraculous’ pacing is that, even if I believed that the writers were still going to have Marinette learn from her mistakes, which I don’t, stretching out a paper-thin arc through a series with several seasons is going to give this show very little substance. For all the writers bragged about how good they are at spicing up their formula in the London Special, they really aren’t. Marinette is still doing the same things in the last episode of season five that she did at the start of season one. Even after she started dating Adrien, she still kept going behind his back, whining about things that inconvenienced her and acting in a way that was charming nine years ago but has since then grown grating.

For all Astruc claims he’s only used 95% percent of his ideas and he could keep Miraculous going for 12 seasons, I just don’t see the show as being interesting for that long. We keep seeing the same Akumas with less and less interesting motivations, the side characters have been turned into an Adrinette-shipping hive mind and Marinette is still deceitful and self-centered despite being the fully graduated greatest Ladybug ever. Like, maybe things will change now that we’re getting a yet another retool and Marinette and Adrien are actually a couple; Marinette could finally talk to him like a normal person at the end of season five and no one is standing in their way so we could focus on something else with the romance stuff being more of a support plot. Or, season 6 will bring in Adrien’s grandparents to be Adrien’s new controlling guardians and Marinette will go back to sneaking around and scheming to get to spend time with Adrien. The season 6 preview already has her spying on him with binoculars. The more things change the more they stay the same, it seems.

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: when you know you’re working with a multiple season timeline for your show, it’s good to include smaller arcs and themes to tackle during a season to give people something to chew on while they wait for bigger developments. Otherwise your audience should only watch the premieres and finales to get anything meaningful. Miraculous’ format is how you get people making lists of actually plot relevant episodes so that they can skip what they perceive to be “filler”. Like, I’m also familiar with Detective Conan and that series, as I recall, is a master of feeding the audience. The cast has gotten so big specifically because the mangaka brought in new characters that he then committed to exploring and developing. Miraculous has five seasons and very few of the characters have been developed. We have Marinette doing the same stuff but more, worse and for less moral reasons. Arguably Cat Noir “learned” to stop flirting with Ladybug but he also stopped being her partner and is just a boring yes-man. His character is just as streamlined as the rest of the cast “You have no interests of your own, support Marinette, nothing else matters”.

Miraculous is like a badly written adult animated comedy. The status quo is maintained by the protagonist causing their own problems by acting like a moron, and being so allergic to self reflection that they won’t change their ways even when told point-blank that they’re the reason for their own misery. Marinette won’t change, because the paper thin plot and setup would collapse the instant she decided to act like an actually responsible hero. She never searched for Hawk Moth for this reason, she never tried to change any of the things causing her grief for this reason. She has more in-universe reason to tell Cat Noir about Hawk Moth than she has to not tell him, but she won’t, because the status quo demands Adrien not know, so she won’t tell Cat Noir either, despite not knowing they’re the same person.

I watched Naruto and Naruto Shippuuden, including some of the anime-only padding. I only skipped the arcs determined to be the most mind-numbing anime-only inclusions that contradicted the rest of the show, like Naruto’s shadow clones going on strike. I watched over 450 episodes, and I could do that, I could stick through that many episodes, because the series was divided into smaller arcs that made me feel like the characters were progressing and accomplishing things even when they didn’t win every arc. The original Naruto series is about as long as Miraculous is so far, and by the point we moved on to Shippuden we’d gotten:

Prologue: Introduction to the cast and their main goals, Naruto finding the first person to truly believe in him

Land of Waves: Naruto and Sasuke form their bond and Naruto finds his "way of the ninja"

Chunin Exams: We get introduced to a bunch of new supportive characters, Sasuke’s damnation arc beginning, and we get introduced to the second Jinchuuriki

Konoha Crush: the heroes fight off an invasion from a neighbour village, we get a proper introduction to the big bad Orochimaru and the death of the Hokage

Search for Tsunade: We get introduced to the Sannin ninjas and their pasts and motivations, we get a new Hokage

Sasuke Recovery Mission: Fleshing out some of the supportive characters, establishing Gaara’s proper redemption after Naruto defeated him in Konoha Crush, completing Sasuke’s damnation arc

I considered making a list like this for Miraculous, but then I realized that most of the developments in Miraculous are either taken back less than a season later, have such a miniscule effect on the grand scheme of things that they feel like nothing, or mostly things done in seasons 4 and 5. Like, the hero team gets put together and torn apart before it can accomplish anything and Chloé's arc just went back and forth until she was temporarily removed (Astruc's already revealed she'll be back again, undoubtedly in the exact same role as before). Alya learning Marinette's identity, Adrinette dating and Gabriel dying are the developments that haven't been walked back, and that's not a very impressive list.

[seekforwarmth]

Annual Writing Self-Evaluation

thanks to @allwaswell16 for tagging me! i enjoyed reading your answers a lot! 1. List of works published this year:

ready for a war

Devoted

fuck around, find out

seven, seven

the embers are new

bet on it

Harmony

Cold Spring

two languages, one love

could start a cult

must be love

don’t let the fire die

2. Work you are most proud of (and why): i’m proud of all of them for different reasons, this is very hard to choose. i’m going to say Harmony bc it was the first time i made a collab with an artist.

3. Work you are least proud of (and why): not necessarily a work but i’m not proud that i couldn’t meet my writing goals set for this year (writing a fic longer than 20k words, finishing a wip i’ve had for three years).

4. A favorite excerpt of your writing: from fuck around, find out

“Everything looks lovely but please, call me Louis. What was your inspiration for the menu, Chef Styles?” Louis asks, beaming. Harry lets out a laugh, refocusing his gaze to the dining area. “I’ll call you Louis if you call me Harry, can we agree on that?” Once he gets a nod of confirmation, he continues. “When Oli mentioned you wanted to retribute to the people working for the movie, and that you wanted it to feel personal, it immediately made me think of the time I arrived in New York. I was a youngster, with no family in the city and only a promise of a job that I wasn’t sure I was talented enough to fulfill,” Harry tells, remembering the nerve-wracking feeling of accepting the sous chef position when he was so young and with not much expertise. “Uh, an old lady by the name of Vittoria welcomed me to her house. She was like a second mother to me, sharing with me not only her home but her culture as well. She came to the States with her parents when she was just a toddler but grew up surrounded by the Italian community. We used to have gatherings every weekend with all her family—and I mean all the family, children, grandchildren, neighbors…I learned a lot from her, from all of them. And I used that as an inspiration for today. You’ll see three courses of my version of some of the food I had the pleasure to share with Vittoria and her family. Just wait until you try the tiramisù…it’s to die for,” he ends with a sigh. When he looks back at Louis, he notices something on his face. Fondness, maybe?

5. Share or describe a favorite review you received: i love getting comments, and there are so many that i keep in my heart that it’s hard to choose. i love especially the ones under my rare pair fics bc it’s when ppl usually tell me that they don’t read rare pairs but they gave it a chance bc of me. it means more than words can express when someone trusts you like that.

6. A time when writing was really, really hard: when i was ill around july and i kept changing and changing my blff prompt. i was very close to drop out bc i thought i wouldn’t make it. fortunately i did and i finished my second fic on time.

7. A scene or character you wrote that surprised you: writing Pedro Pascal surprised me a lot lol like i’ve obviously read Louis/Pedro fics before but i had never entertained the idea of writing one myself and it was a nice surprise. also, writing Louis/OMC wasn’t on my plans either but i welcomed it.

8. How did you grow as a writer this year: i personally don’t see any growth.

9. How do you hope to grow next year: i just hope to finish the ideas that i have. i don’t expect for them to be masterpieces, i just need them to be finished.

10. Who was your greatest positive influence this year as a writer (could be another writer or beta or cheerleader or muse etc etc): definitely my friends, the ones that read pairings or tropes they don’t like only bc it’s me writing them, the ones that hype my fics even if they don’t know if the story is good yet, the ones that offer their help and their advice to help me improve.

thank you to Anitra @allwaswell16 for being so supportive all this year, for betaing my works and offering your advice, and for encouraging me to keep going.

thank you to Emma @alltheselights who always reads my fics and leaves gorgeous comments under them, your support means a lot to me.

there’s three fics that wouldn’t exist without Mar @sunbellylou so thank you so much, my love, for being an inspiration to write the filthiest things.

thank you to Kenny @luviebaybie for being the most supportive even when life gets busier and busier. thanks for taking the time to beta for me, i appreciate it a lot!

thank you to Andy @outropeace for inspiring me to write abt Louis and the bodyguard, and for teaching me how to write a smau.

thank you to @linhuine, @smittenwithlouis, @nooradeservedbetter, @lemelous, @punkpillowprincess, @voulezloux, @disgruntledkittenface, @tokyolou, for your constant support and your friendship.

11. Anything from your real life show up in your writing this year: fortunately nothing bc i write romantic stories, no sad stories 🤭

12. Any new wisdom you can share with other writers: joining fic fests is not only an opportunity for you to shine, it’s a chance to build community so pls support works from the other authors in the fest, that’s what a fest is about.

also, hide your stats from ao3. there’s a lot of freedom in not knowing if your fic has hits and kudos or if it doesn’t.

13. Any projects you’re looking forward to starting (or finishing) in the new year: YES! i’m only working on two projects and i’m so excited abt them. the first one it’s a collab between me and @lemelous so expect a lot of gorgeous art, and the second one is a Louis/SebStan wip i couldn’t finish this year.

14. Tag three writers whose answers you’d like to read. ;)@voulezloux, @nooradeservedbetter, @disgruntledkittenface if you haven’t done this already.

*All answers should be about works published in 2023

[samasmith23]

Kamala Khan's death in Amazing Spider-Man (2022) #26 leaked NOT once... but TWICE in a row!!!

It looks like someone at Marvel RRREEEAAALLLYYY wants this whole publicity stunt of killing off Ms. Marvel (aka, Kamala Khan) to FAIL super hard considering that the pages for tomorrow’s Amazing Spider-Man (2022) #26 have been leaked not once, but twice now! And now we sadly know exactly just how Kamala dies…

Umm… last time I checked, Kamala has a healing factor. Sure it’s nowhere as powerful as Wolverine’s (and it does require Kamala to eat a lot in order to replenish her energy reserves), but unless that sword is powered by some kind of magic bullcrap which completely shuts off her healing factor, this makes zero sense! Kamala literally healed from a bullet wound to the stomach in her opening arc, and even survived having an entire building collapse right on top of her (just barely, but still)!

Also, it feels so random and arbitrary to have Kamala randomly use her shape-shifting powers to pose as a body-double Mary Jane, especially since she’s not utilized them a lot due her opening arc centering around Kamala becoming comfortable in her own skin after previously trying and failing to resemble her idol Carol Danvers (therefore overcoming her personal insecurities and internalized Islamophobia).

Plus, last time I checked Kamala's only since then shape-shifted into a couch, James Rhodes, and a scary cartoon face.

While it does feel somewhat in character for Kamala to risk her life to save someone she barely knows as part of her characterization as a superhero, the actual execution of it feels incredibly at odds with her past character development (whether it be struggling with her fears of death and mortality in Magnificent Ms. Marvel, or already receiving validation from her family, friends, and dozens of other superheroes, including Peter Parker, so why does she need it from him again when she dies?!).

Based on these leaked pages, I get the general impression that Zeb Wells originally fully intended to kill off Mary Jane here since all throughout his Spider-Man run he’s heavily hinted at it and foreshadowed it with that Paul guy (seriously... WHO THE HECK IS PAUL?!) and their two kids (who are apparently actual mystical constructs or something…), and that mystical supervillain wanting “the Scarlet Woman’s blood” (I know the phrase "Scarlet Woman" is specifically meant to refer to MJ’s red hair, but it is also unfortunately a derogatory slang term for a sex-worker). But maybe Marvel editorial told him to rewrite his planned death of Mary Jane at the last minute as a desperate effort to promote the upcoming The Marvels movie (which Wells shares a co-writing credit for the screenplay of), or Wells wanted to subvert reader expectations but did so in a distasteful manner?

I honestly don’t know... but if I had to guess I’d probably say it’s the former option since Marvel previously killed off Doctor Strange and the Scarlet Witch before resurrecting them a few months later to hype up their upcoming MCU films, plus the Spider-Man offices in particular are notorious for their editorial mandates and interfering with writer’s plans at the last minute (just look at how they recently forced Nick Spencer to settle on retconning Sins Past out of existence instead of One More Day like he was originally building-up towards). And do I think that Zeb Wells himself is an Islamophobic misogynist because of this? Probably not... especially considering I don’t know the guy’s personal politics (maybe he's a swell person IRL) and editorial mandates are likely at play here. I do think that killing off Kamala in such a random and distasteful manner is still a bad look and does give off those unfortunate implications. However, based on what I know I feel that this is more a case of judging the actions as bigoted (whether they were intentional or not) instead of labeling the person themselves as a bigot.

But regardless of whether or not the decision to fridge Kamala Khan is the fault of Zeb Wells, or Nick Lowe or someone else over at Marvel Editorial, I do want to make one thing perfectly clear... DO NOT... I repeat... DO NOT SEND ANY OF THEM DEATH THREATS! Like, I've already lost count of how many people I've encountered on both Twitter and Tumblr who are seriously outright calling for both Wells and Lowe's blood in response to these leaks.

And since the issue is being released tommorow, I feel the need to reiterate that harassing creators and sending them death threats is NEVER acceptable under any circumstances, and that doing so makes you no better than the kinds of supervillains that Kamala regularly fights against! We can criticize a bad story WITHOUT becoming supervillains ourselves! Follow the advice of @atopfourthwall here for heavens sake people:

Now this is hopefully going to be the last time I discuss Amazing Spider-Man (2022) #26 here on Tumblr as I have zero plans on giving any actual money to the issue myself. I may consider reading the Fallen Friend: The Death of Ms. Marvel one-shot, if only because it's being written by several of Kamala's past creators G. Willow Wilson, Saladin Ahmed, and Mark Waid, so I trust them to be able to salvage something decent out of this whole fiasco. But that's it. I do plan on releasing a future post which provides an in-depth analysis about the ways in which Ms. Marvel comics have discussed themes of death in a much more nuanced and respectful manner, but I have no idea when it will be released.

Until then folks... vote with your wallets. Please do not cave into the outrage machine and feed into the publicity stunt that this whole mess so obviously is. Don’t give tomorrow's issue of Amazing Spider-Man any more attention than it's already received. Instead go support all of Kamala's past adventures to show your love and appreciation for the character if you do not own the graphic novel collections already. And most importantly... for the love of all that is holy, DO NOT attack the creators involved with this terrible decision and especially DO NOT send them death threats!

[queenimmadolla]

really sucks evie got ran off for her age gap fic where the reader was an adult but now we're seeing a lot of people in the Fandom make excuses for joes character in hoard where he's 30 sleeping with a 17 year old

I havent been present, so im not sure whats going on but i would like to give my opinions on that film. i do intend on watching, i have a friend who has spoken with Luna and i’m sure its not meant to glamorize their completely inappropriate relationship. if anything it highlights this and shows just how fucked up they and their relationship are. Shows that its not something to yearn for and depicts why trauma bonding can also be detrimental.

What Michael is doing, regardless of his trauma and hers, is not right and this is made obvious.

I don’t plan on writing for Michael and I have him filtered out in my tags just because i dont want to come across works that romanticize him because I’m sure thats not what Luna wants and intended for, but i am excited to see Joseph’s range of acting and saura’s big debut, as it’s promising to be a strong one.

Now onto the evie thing. I haven’t been shy about this, but I (along with numerous others) am 99.9% sure the people whom harassed her over that were other writers. I cant prove it, because they’re anon hence that .1%. But the fact that when posts about hate goes around, all writers want to focus on is the anon kind (when sometimes its not anonymous, its just behind the scenes stuff that doesn’t quite play out in public) is kind of a red flag, as sometimes i have been quite apparent that it’s not just anon in posts and yet that is still what the spotlight is on. Most of the time, the people behind those anons are other writers—sometimes writers whom we interact with, interacted with, or writers who just hate from afar. So it wouldn’t surprise me at all to know there are hypocrites around, although Evie wrote for characters above the legal age limit (so not even the legal age), with an age gap. She did not write underage age gaps or just-of-age age gaps.

I did see the excitement people had about writing for Michael for a second a while back, though it didn’t last long because people did their due diligence and hopped off the hype train to wait for the movie to drop—again, romanticizing this is the last thing Luna wants. The sex scenes, the flirting, its not inherently depicted as romantic. Its just filmed in a real perspective. That first clip made me heavily uncomfortable and that was the point. I understand people are fans of Joe, strictly, so the sex scenes are what they want to see, but I’ll be watching Michael on screen—not Joe—so I’m already aware those sex scenes are going to make me incredibly uncomfortable. So, I’m hoping people will take what Luna’s trying to convey from this and not just a flash of some ass and a couple thrusts.

[lol-jackles]

Hello! I don’t suppose you watch Bridgerton, but something a little strange has happened there this season that I wanted your opinion on. Luke Newton (Colin Bridgerton) and Nicola Coughlan (Penelope Featherington) were leading this season, as each of the Bridgerton siblings has their own season. So this season was Colin’s, a friends-to-lovers trope.

Now, the way Luke and Nicola carried out press tours was *chef’s kiss*, handholding, talking about how they’d be jealous of each other’s future co-stars cuz they were each other’s leading people first, etc. Even the jealousy trope played out in the actual season was used as a quick, fun bait for fans during such interviews where if Penelope’s other suitor (Lord Debling) was talked about, Luke would act bothered. In short, they were perfectly in sync with each other and were all set for a beautiful season.

Understandably, the formula worked and people couldn’t be more excited for this supposed lightning in a bottle chemistry. But once the show opened, there seemed nothing there! It couldn’t really translate to the screen. The much muchhh hyped sex scenes (it was a running joke that the director ywlled ‘cut!’ but luke and nicola still kept going cause they hadn’t heard them, seemingly so lost in each other, and also another time that they broke furniture filming a scene) seem awkward at best. Rather than coming across as two people who have long known each other and so find security through extending their companionship into a romantic relationship, what we got came across as two teenagers engaging in an awkward, horny one night stand.

Netflix’s comments section is filled with people bashing them for different reasons. Perhaps they didn’t give their leads enough screen time in their own season, maybe they cut down on their steamy scenes, etc etc. but still, the scenes they did get together, like i said, didn’t do anything for the audience in the first place. On the contrary Kate and Anthony, the season 2 leads, have outstanding chemistry and during the moments they popped up this season, totally stole away the room.

This has got me thinking, why couldn’t the press tour magic translate on screen? And are there any notable instances where the red carpet/ on-screen disparity has come out so notably?

The romantic leads of the previous seasons went through chemistry auditions, so they were casted precisely because they have chemistry with each other. Nicola and Luke were cast primarily for their characters, and I doubt they went through chemistry auditions because producers didn't know if there will be more seasons as the odds are against any new shows. #NetflixCancelsEverything exist for a reason.

If fans found the sexual chemistry between Penelope and Colins lacking, then it's probably for the same reason why Friends Rachel and Joey hook up in season 6 had zero chemistry. While I'm sure Matt LeBlanc was game, Jennifer Aniston had worked with and known Matt for 6 years and saw him in the friend-brother zone. It was awkward for her. By the time Bridgerton season 3 rolled around, Nicola had worked and known Luke for 5-odd years and she saw him in the friend-brother-zone. It's awkward for her and Luke picked up on it and acts accordingly. I'm not blaming Jennifer or Nicola, I blame the writer/showrunner for seemingly forgetting two things: 1) just because a woman has friendly chemistry with men does not automatically mean romantic interest. It's a bane for many women in real life that their niceness gets misinterpreted by men to mean sexual opportunities, and 2) women friend-zone men for non-negotiable reason, because women are innately more selective because they have to be because the risks are so much higher for them than men.

Full disclaimer: with all three seasons I watch the first two or three episodes and then skip to the eighth episode. My nieces watched S1 first two episodes over one of the holidays at my house and while somewhat intrigued, I quickly figure out they were going to go through all the romantic tropes, so it was a nope for me, but I had to find out who Lady Whistledown was and skipped to the final episode. A habit I kept for the following 2 seasons and Queen Charlotte.

ETA: I liked how Penelope wanted to find a husband in order to get away from her own family, only for her marriage to actually draw her closer to her blood family by healing some of the rifts, and then saving her mother and paying for her sister's dream ball.

[zalrb]

What is your opinion on Kai in terms of a villain character?

Because the fandom seems very spilt on this. Some people say he's the best big villain since Klaus. Some people say that - whilst Chris Wood acts the role well - Kai as a character isn't written as well as other past big villains (excluding Silas and also the Travellers obviously).

Personally, I think Kai had so much potential (much like Silas), if he was just given to another set of writers. But he just falls short of being as good as Klaus or Katherine for me. And I'm not exactly sure why, but there's just something in the writing for Kai just doesn't hit as hard. Maybe it's just a me thing, but I want to know your opinion on Kai, since this whole fandom is very spilt on his character.

So, firstly, I don't think any TVD villain is great and I especially think that for Katherine and Klaus, particularly because of how they're hyped

rest of the post here:

so getting that out of the way, I wouldn't put Kai up against villains from other shows but he's my favourite TVD villain even though I thought the writing went left

and I'm sure I have more about it in the Bonnie Bennett masterlist you just have to read the Bonkai posts.

[peace-coast-island]

Diary of a Junebug

Go with the flow like the autumn koi and swim away without a care in the world

I should strive to be more like the autumn koi in the Moonlit Choral Brook. They follow the rhythm of the river like it’s a dance, always moving forward. I wonder how the world looks from their point of view through the crystal clear water.

We’re in Sunburst Villa for a fishing tourney involving autumn koi obviously. They’re kinda like the village’s mascot, so it’s no exaggeration to say that they’re everywhere. I don’t mind, I think koi are pretty, especially the autumn koi with its warm and vibrant colors.

Along with the journey, there’s MellowCon, an anime convention where Alexi and Emma are attending. Of course, I got a couple signed prints from them, one of them having been commissioned from Cheyenne, who regretfully couldn’t make it. Luckily, the next convention Alexi’s going to is about half an hour away from where Cheyenne lives and they have plans to meet up with some old college friends during that weekend.

We’re also hanging out with Jamie and the Linnea Squad for some sightseeing. Jamie wanted to treat the Linnea Squad to a vacation when she found out an old friend and her traveling party was in the area, so she introduced them to us.

The fishing tourney has been fun in a chill, low-key kind of way. I always prefer events more of that pace than something big and extravagant. Sure, those can be fun, but they also can be draining. For me, fishing is about taking it easy, so it makes sense for it to be a low stakes kind of thing. It would be nice to catch lots of huge fish and get a nice trophy, but that’s not a priority for me. I’m just here for the cool sea creatures.

MellowCon was also fun, although it’s not really my scene, so I didn’t really spend a lot of time there. To be honest, I really only hung around Alexi and Emma because I’m not familiar with the other shows and games over there. Really, I only know a very small handful of characters they play, specifically from Pillars of Stone and Flame. Still, it was fun looking around and seeing all the art and cosplay.

At least I was able to get into the conversations revolving around Pillars. Along with Emma and Alexi, it seems like a lot of the English VAs really kicked off their careers with Pillars - and most of them happen to be fans of the game too. The new update’s coming next week with a new exploration area and story chapter, both which I’m hyped for.

Along with the excitement for the new update, we also talked a bit about that dev, the one who was memed in an interview for coming off as a snob — and rightfully so, to be honest. Apparently, she made a spectacle of herself in a podcast by being sort of passive aggressive towards the fanbase. From my understanding based on translations, she doesn’t like the criticism towards the writing, except she kinda blows it out of proportion.

I mean, I kinda get it, but at the same time those criticisms are usually valid. I got interested in Pillars for the story and exploration, and while I am invested, I find the writing to be uneven at times. In other words, when it’s good, it can be really good, but when it’s bad, it falls flat. At least, in my opinion, the story has improved a lot since the beginning, though pacing seems to be its weak spot.

The podcast also goes a bit into Constellation Matrix, which is another game produced by the same company as Pillars, and that was what prompted the dev’s rant as she worked on both. I don’t know too much about Constellation Matrix’s lore, but there’s a lot of comparisons made between the character Fury and Pillar’s October - who happens to be played by Emma - in terms of their character arcs being similar.

From the gist of it, Fury was a fan favorite, at least until the writers butchered her character arc so badly that she died an anticlimactic death. In other words, she was a well written character with a lot of potential to take the story in another direction. Fans speculated that the writers didn’t want to commit or something, so they decided to kill her off and then act like she never existed. Of course, fans protested and the phrase “offed like Fury” became a thing. Even the company and the devs poke fun at it occasionally.

I mean, imagine screwing up so badly that you sort of became a cultural phenomenon, like, damn. I can see the parallels between Fury and October, which are likely intentional, though I think I have faith in Pillars to not pull an “offed like Fury” with October. I mean, October’s second character story chapter’s coming out in the new update, so she’s not disappearing from the spotlight anytime soon. Really, the only thing I’m worried about at this point is the pacing, especially later on when the story begins to focus on other characters.

And on an unsurprising note, that dev isn’t a fan of “offed by Fury” and went off on a tangent on why it was necessary for Fury to die and people were too dense understand what it meant for the narrative or something. I didn’t understand most of it, but she seemed really defensive over that for some reason, which is what people are memeing over because it really is ridiculous.

Aside from hyping about Pillars, the biggest highlight of MellowCon for me was seeing Alexi and Emma with their fans. Both of them never imagined that they’d make it as voice actors, not with the way their families discouraged them from pursuing it. And now here they are, living the life they never imagined would be possible if they hadn’t taken the plunge. It really is amazing to see.

Alexi had a pleasant surprise when her brother showed up with his friends to support her. She mentioned that out of her family, she has a difficult relationship with her oldest brother and their father after the accident. The way she describes it, they see her as damaged goods, a traumatized amputee who should be ashamed to be alive. Sounds harsh, but that’s just the sad reality of how some people are.

While things are far from ideal between Alexi and her brother, at least they’re talking. It’s sad that they used to be close, only for him to pull away when she needed his support the most. She said the worst thing was that he was being dishonest, always making up excuses to justify treating her like she’s less of a person. And when her voice acting career took off, she felt that his “support” was purely superficial, as in he only cared when it benefitted him.

As for her father, not only he looks down on her, he also thinks that voice acting is not a real job. His response to her getting more recognition as a voice actor was basically along the lines of, “Do these people have anything better to do? Aren’t they tired of her yet?” How rude.

Alexi said she wasn’t super close to him as they didn’t really have a lot in common to begin with, but they got along pretty well back then. She described him as old fashioned, the kind of person who thinks that people should just develop a thick skin and get over it. Basically, although he’d never say it outright, he’s ashamed of having a disabled and mentally ill daughter.

By now, Alexi’s accepted that they’ll never see eye to eye. She admits that she can be difficult, though I don’t think that’s an excuse for him to cast her aside like that. Sounds like the kind of person where there’s just no winning with them. When you’re at your lowest, they make fun of you for being weak. And then when you stand up for yourself, they complain that you’re unreasonable and stuck up. Sometimes you just have to say “Fuck it, I’m not bending over backwards just to get your approval.” Alexi’s been through a lot of shit and she doesn’t have time to deal with people like that. Good for her!

Then we met up with Jamie and her friends, the Linnea Squad and Caerwyn’s adventuring party. Linnea and her comrades are still traveling with Jamie from time to time, mainly because they need a mentor figure to look up to. They’re still at large, so going off on their own isn’t the best option.

Linnea’s still trying to reason with Jet and Gabe, but it seems like her pleas go in one ear and out the other. There’s no point in forcing them to talk if they refuse to, so she has no choice but to let it go. She and the others are still hoping for a reconciliation, but knowing how stubborn and hardheaded their friend is, they’re gonna need a lot of patience before things settle down. As long as he’s not causing trouble, and potentially putting the rest of the squad at risk, Jamie advises that it’s best to leave him alone for now. Sounds like a tricky situation, though I think the squad’s handling it well.

As for Caerwyn, she’s an elf mage who’s adventuring with her apprentice mage Salka, and Kalle, a warrior from the Glacial Mountains. They were planning to travel further up north, but they encountered problems at the Hallowed Pass. There was another member, a healer mage they picked up during their travels who later parted ways not too long ago, right before the group headed towards the Hallowed Past.

The ordeal the party experienced over there caused a considerable setback, but since they’re not on a strict schedule, it’s not that big of a deal. Basically, there were a bunch of curses and monsters acting haywire to the point that the roads became inaccessible. Caerwyn said it was just their luck that their healer mage just left because he happened to have an innate immunity to some of those curses, which would’ve made cleaning up a lot more easier. Still, it wasn’t anything that Caerwyn couldn’t handle.

While Caerwyn and Salka took care of the curses and flying monsters, Kalle handled the beasts and whatever physical obstacles came their way. The whole cleanup took nearly four days and they succeeded in reopening those routes, a feat that Caerwyn said would be considered impossible for most mages and warriors. I don’t think she’s exaggerating, otherwise, I think Jamie would’ve called her out.

Those four days really tested their stamina, especially for Kalle, so they have to take it easy for a while before going back on the road. Since they have to cross the mountains and blizzard season is approaching, which can get deadly in these parts, the group figured that it’s not worth risking their necks out there. Along with overexertion, Kalle also sustained some injuries while fighting, so he had been on strict bed rest orders.

Caerwyn and Salka are almost fully recovered while he still has to take it slow. And of course, he’s gone a bit stir crazy from being in bed all the time, but at the same time too tired to really do anything. That can be a drag sometimes. At least he was well enough to join us on the tourney for a bit and catch some autumn koi.

Since there’s no way of knowing when’s the next time they’ll cross paths again, Jamie and Caerwyn have a lot of catching up to do. Jamie says Caerwyn doesn’t have the best sense of time because she has a long life, so Salka often has to keep her in line or else she’d be taking them on detour after detour. After all, she may have all the time in the world, but for us humans, we don’t really have that luxury.

Salka has explored the village in and out, so she’s become our tour guide. The three of them tend to do their own things when they’re staying somewhere for a while. Caerwyn likes to look for shops that sell magic stuff, according to her, shadier a place looks, the more likely you are to find some treasure. Jamie wasn’t exaggerating when she said that Caerwyn’s a walking tome on magic. While she’s off doing that, Salka’s exploring the shops and replenishing on supplies, and Kalle’s running around helping the locals out.

There’s a cafe that’s not too far from the tourney, so it’s become our hangout spot. Not only the pastries are good, they also have these cute autumn koi rice cakes for the occasion. It’s kinda become our thing to end the night with rice cakes, green tea, and a couple card games.

The nightlife is pretty active here, so Caerwyn and Salka have been using these game nights to seek out a new member to join their party. As their journey goes on, they realize that they need a healer, preferably a licensed medic. The guy who left, Emlyn, wasn’t a medic, but he was a mage who Caerwyn considers a genius. Not only he’s immune to most curses, which is considered unusual, he can easily heal ailments that are difficult for even the most experienced mages. And the worst part, according to Caerwyn, instead of putting his gifts to good use, he spent most of his life living with regrets. Based on her tone, I wonder if she’s speaking from experience.

Before going off their separate ways, Emlyn left a notebook on various spells and medicinal herbs for common ailments, which has been a godsend for them. While that alone has been helping them get by, Caerwyn’s open to recruiting a medic just to be safe. According to her and Jamie, those kinds of mages are considered to be very niche, which is why it’s hard for them to find one. Basically, mages aren’t very common, and licensed ones, especially in the medical field, are very few and far between. Emlyn happened to be a unique case, so their replacement has some big shoes to fill.

Well, like Caerwyn says, there’s no rush. It’s not healthy to live life burdened by worries and regrets. Sure, there are things that are outside your control, but don’t let that stop you from living. Although Caerwyn’s made a name for herself as a powerful mage, she says she can’t help but feel like she hasn’t done enough, which is why she’s on this adventure now, to take it slow and really get to know her companions before she inevitably outlives them like most of her friends.

After getting burned out with the incident at the pass, she said seeing the autumn koi swimming in the river reminded her why she and Salka set out on this journey in the first place. Instead of a definite endpoint, they’re just going with the flow like the koi, and they’re content with that. Even if you decide to stop moving, the currents will take you along anyway whether you like it or not, so you might as well let it carry you away. You’ll end up somewhere, and you have the choice of exploring your surroundings or just burying your head in the sand. Like I said before, sounds like Caerwyn’s speaking from experience.

It won’t be long before we all go our separate ways again. Jamie hopes it won’t be too long before she and Caerwyn cross paths again. There may be no guarantees, but considering how much Jamie travels, Caerwyn bets that they’ll meet up again in the future, and hopefully introduce her to their medic. From how Jamie, Salka, and Kalle talk about her, Caerwyn is an interesting figure, one who I really hope to meet again in the future if fate allows.

Read on AO3

[evenmyhivemindisempty]

for the ask game: 001 favorite character (sandman), character you felt the writers screwed up (any media), 002 gabby/pierce, calliope/corinthian [eyes emoji]

Oooh for favorite Sandman character, definitely the Corinthian! He’s just - he’s everything! He’s queer, he’s a fuck up, he’s weird, he’s *trying*, he’s constantly looking to partner up with other people to help him overthrow his boss, he’s manipulative but not necessarily *good* at it. I love that he loves life, and loves humanity in his own way. He’s a nightmare, so his love is nightmarish and monstrous, but he’s so capable of having fun and there is something tragic about him being punished for being true to his nature. I’m not sure he’s really capable of being any way other than what he is, and I adore that for him.

I especially love him contrasted against the collectors - they’re all so full of resentment and spite, they’ve all invented narratives where they’re justified in killing their victims, and the Corinthian doesn’t need that at all! He doesn’t hate his victims! He’s a monster, he doesn’t need to justify what he’s doing. His speech to them was kind of hilarious in that it sort of missed the mark about why *they* kill - most of them aren’t really killing to kill at all! And when they speculate on the reasons for his name, and he kinda demurs?? Because it’s just his name! It’s not some badass moniker he came up with for himself like the rest of them. It is literally just his name.

Character I felt the writers screwed up… urgh, not to drag myself back into the OFMD fandom (yikes), but as someone who binged season 1 and was hella excited where season 2 would take the story… I gotta say Ed Teach. I won’t get too far down this rabbit hole, but needless to say, if you choose to write your co-protagonist and romantic lead as an abusive monster, that’s fine, but please actually follow-through, don’t just hand-wave it all away when it starts to headbutt against the “sunshine friendship&romance” plot you wanna tell

Gabby/Pierce

when or if I started shipping it: Not until I saw that deleted scene a few months ago!! God, I’m still feral over it. That he calls her by a nickname - that there was clearly a friendship between them, if not more – and it makes so much sense with how hyped up he’s acting right after her death, like he’s keeping himself going on willpower and Ritalin, and the way he looks so solemn when he’s telling Caliban people don’t change?? GAH. It’s a ship I didn’t think about for YEARS but has grabbed me right by the throat.

my thoughts: That I love it. That I want it. That there’s an entire movie about Gabby and Pierce’s relationship we only catch glimpses of the tail-end of, and I’ll never stop screaming about that.

What makes me happy about them: That they were friends!! She’s a nurse and he was the Reaver commander, but he *knew* her well enough to know that she loved comic books (like him!) They’re very different people – she doesn’t strike me as someone that would be drawn in to his posturing, and he’s hinted at being kinda nerdy and quiet at points in the movie where he’s not fronting, and I love the implication that she saw a side of him he doesn’t normally show to people.

What makes me sad about them: y’know it’s a tough call, but probably the part where she gets killed either by him or his Reavers on his command 😭 although it does add a deliciously tragic edge to it too

Things done in fanfic that annoys me: that there’s not more of it!

Things I look for in fanfic: assuming there was more fanfic of the two of them, I’d probably look for fanfics that explored Pierce being… maybe not *softer*, but more vulnerable with Gabby, but without making him OOC (I like my boy with his off-putting, nasty streak!) Them being drawn in to the aspects of each other that they don’t feel as comfortable showing is *chef’s kiss*

My kinks: ooh definitely femdom, CNC (i can see them switching roles for that one), pegging, and MFM threesomes with a “forced bi” roleplay element, light bondage

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: Probably Logan!

My happily ever after for them: Gabby was just faking being dead and digs Pierce out of the ground 😭😭 Always in love with endings where Pierce gets to be her extra good guard dog

Calliope/Corinthian

when or if I started shipping it: A while back (maybe a year ago now?) a friend of mine in a server drew a gorgeous piece of Calliope/Corinthian art (the one I attached to the tumblr post linking to my story, with their permission), and I was hooked after that!

my thoughts: Corinthian deserves a better master than Dream tbh, and I love him with an actual goddess who understands some part of his whole personhood situation. Someone who respects him as an individual, but also understands that if he doesn’t have someone holding his own leash pretty tightly (and giving him plenty of enrichment and affection), he’s gonna go off and do *sooo* many murders because that’s just who he is. And I love Calliope getting to indulge in some messy sex after her ordeal, with someone that just adores her for *her* and not that she’s a muse

What makes me happy about them: that their needs have the capability to balance out pretty well!! That I can see Calliope as someone who can survive and thrive with the Corinthian, and I think the Corinthian would be better off under her, too.

What makes me sad about them: when i remember they probably have met before, in happier times when Orpheus was still alive, and we’ll likely never see it 😭 did Calliope like Dream’s favorite nightmare?? Did she pamper him like a treasured pet? Was he jealous of her for her closeness to Dream? Did he adore having someone around that treated him with a softer touch?

Things done in fanfic that annoys me: again, that there’s just not really fanfic for them! 😭

Things I look for in fanfic: (assuming there was more to choose from!) really anything exploring the power dynamics between a nightmare with daddy issues and a goddess that’s spent the last 70 years imprisoned. I don’t think they could ever be regular boyfriend/girlfriend, free of power imbalance, but that’s what I adore about it

My kinks: femdom, Calliope as a masochistic dom, CNC with Calliope as the “victim” (specifically love her reclaiming herself and her sexuality & reconciling some of her trauma through some CNC), gentle domme, primal play, orgasm control/denial

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: honestly, I just love giving Call the Corinthian. I’m not sure I really ship her with anyone else - although Calliope/Destruction tickles something in my brain too. And for Corinthian, definitely Rose

My happily ever after for them: she gets to keep the Corinthian and he’s her pampered and very enriched monster 😌😌

[randomnumbers751650]

You probably hear a lot of weird theories daily, so this is another addition to them, but my theory says that Natlan will be destroyed by Celestia at the end of the Fontaine. I’ll elaborate further. But, in short, it’s due to the lack of foreshadowing and the writers aren’t really doing anything to hype the nation and because of unconfirmed leaks that made too much sense in this specific train of thought. There will be discussion of leaks after Read More, so be careful.

So, I started to think of this after noticing how absent Natlan seems to be from everything in the current point. The game started with Mondstadt and Liyue. My friend who was starting playing from the beginning said that Inazuma was mentioned at the end of the Liyue story, but I’m not sure how other characters or just things from Inazuma were referenced.

Also, an interlude: before you ask, I’m not looking at additional material, besides the trailers. I believe these things have to stand on themselves in the main story.

Returning each nation has something to be hyped for:

Mondstadt: a quite vanilla pseudo-medieval European fantasy, even if I see it as analogue to Hong Kong, it plays safe to introduce the player to the world

Liyue: plays a safe Chinese fantasy, but kinda new to Western players, so it feels fresh, plus the Chasm is considered a great level

Inazuma: standard Japanese fantasy, but it makes new things with Watatsumi and Enkanomiya, and the Traveler is essentially Commodore Perry opening the country

Sumeru: combination of Arab and Indian fantasy in a pseudo-cyberpunk story, involving academic cadres, I feel this is where the writers did try to make something actually new, never seen before in the medium

I remember seeing Sumeru NPCs (there’s a couple right at Mondstadt) and various references to things that happen in Sumeru. But there have been references to both Fontaine and Snezhnaya.

Fontaine: a country with many travelers around the other nations of Teyvat, many acting as visiting engineers and artists, known for its technological progress and for being the nation of justice; I imagine its plot will involve parallels with the French Revolution, because the term “industrial revolution” is directly derived from the term “French revolution”, because it implied revolutions in technology the same way the French Revolution implied a revolution in politics; wasn’t there a guillotine in a recent trailer?

Snezhnaya: another country with many travelers, including both Fatui and non-Fatui – which is quite surprising, because the writers are exploring earlier how a lot of Snezhnayans are just normal people, most of them are traders so far we’ve seen –, this is more distant because it’s supposed to be the last nation, and is also technologically advanced. We have, however, an idea of what’s going to happen: after bullying other nations as an imperialistic power for so long, the Traveler is going to bring the war to the Fatui in their home ground and this will shake things up there, so there’s a lot to be hyped about

The problem is where is Natlan in all of this? We know that it’s based on Pre-Columbian America and Pre-1500s East Africa, but what else, besides its trailer (trivia: I saw the revealed character is called Iansan, which is the name of an African divinity worshipped in Afro-Brazilian religions like candomblé)? We have a reference to hot springs in Inazuma City. And Capitano, being based. And…and…that’s all I can remember. Not even in Sumeru I remember any reference, and they’d be interested in learning about it.

From what I saw from old leaks, Natlan is under something similar to the Sakoku Decree, no one can leave the nation. Not only that, but it’s also a country without civilization, just sparse tribes that gather around Aztec-like pyramids. We don’t know why, but it’s something Murata has decreed for whatever reasons, but it seems she’s acting on some sort of luddism… I think.

Wouldn’t it be interesting to have a Natlanese escape their home country and go explore Teyvat? Or having an explorer returning with stuff and maps from there (I think Venti did something to help there, but I forgot where I saw it)? And yet, it’s been four entire game updates and the references are so sparse. We have no idea of what to expect because the writers apparently aren’t doing anything to hype them up.

I even tried to hype it up, by saying we might get chocolate-related recipes (because it’s no news but cacao comes from its real life equivalent) in another post, but the only reaction was a rude reminder that it’s a nation without civilization. Why would the writers just make Sakoku Decree 2: Pyro Boogaloo? And yet nobody in the current nations of Teyvat seems to miss them, it feels they’re kind of invisible. There isn’t even stereotypes of them being savages, it makes me wonder if Teyvat is that socially advanced to just accept the Natlanese way of life as an equal to any other in the world.

What makes each nation unique is their unique civilizations. And then comes a nation that has no civilization. From what we had so far, we don’t know what to expect. The Natlan country might be a sparsely populated continent, like the Americas before 1500 – but even so the Americas had quite a number of civilizations, like Central American ones, the Andean ones, even less known ones, like the civilizations in the Mississippi basin (due to greater unpredictability concerning the Mississippi river’s flood plains, it was harder to establish a civilization, creating cycles of thriving and receding urbanization; the moment right before the Europeans’ arrival was one in a receding cycle) or even the Marajoara civilization at the mouth of the Amazon river. There was also civilizations, big ones, in East Africa as well, like like Songhan and the Mali empires.

We’ve seen the writers will borrow from real life story, even if they do their twists. There’s little that remains from Pre-Columbian civilizations writings, so one thing could be a reenactment of Maya myths (but we have more of East African writings). Or even make a story involving imperialism and colonization, using the opportunity to introduce a new alien faction – like, James Cameron’s Avatar is popular, they could borrow from it – that started colonizing Natlan and might be a problem for not just the Traveler but to Celestia itself.

The point is that there’s nothing in the current story that says anything about what to expect. It feels like an afterthought. And, summarizing everything, there’s also the issue of escalation. Leaks said that there will be 440 hydroculii in Fontaine – this means that Natlan will likely have over 500 and they need to create a lot of things for the player to do there. Given how used the player will be at this point with civilization, how are they going to fill the world map with quests? And they have to keep that for a year and the dev team must know at this point what works and what doesn’t to keep the player busy for a year. Unless, of course, they have a plan for de-escalation.

But recent leaks made me realize: what if it’s the point?

Leaks being leaks, they aren’t supposed to be trustworthy. I will be vague, but the leaks said that some characters will be resurrected (and be playable) and that Celestia will activate at some point in Fontaine. These are bombastic if true, to say the least.

But, suppose they are. I’m more interested in the second one for this theory, because it was foreshadowed – Rex Lapis stepped down and the Geo Archon job is vacant, it makes sense for Celestia to activate and elect a new Geo Archon.

Celestia so far has been treated mysteriously. They’re the ones that govern with an iron fist Teyvat. They wiped out Khanreiah for the sin of wishing for a world without gods (implied militarism notwithstanding – I know there are Nordic influences for the Khanreian founders, but it makes me wonder if the nation itself borrowed a bit from US, with its high level of immigration and isolationism, which used to be a feature of American politics). They curse Seelies and Hilichurls to suffer for eternity. They made the Traveler’s sibling, once a great hero, and the Archon of Love to adopt a “destroy using whatever it takes, lies, murder, conspiracy, ignore morality, kill everyone and let God sort who belongs to him” approach to fight against them. And, considering how Genshin’s story borrows from gnostic mythology, it’s more than obvious that they will be the final antagonist. In my personal theory, Celestia is already eroded and now just follows protocols, like a faulty AI, that is unable to realize the world needs to move on.

But, we’re shown, like what happened to the hilichurls in the Chasm, but these are indirect ways to show this. There needs to be an event that makes the Traveler witness with their own eyes how far Celestia would go and let the Traveler (likely) judge they’re beyond redemption – the moment they’re tempted to say “My sibling did nothing wrong!”

That moment would be the destruction of an entire nation – Natlan. Why? I don’t know why they’d choose Natlan, but there are some things I consider signs, with the apparent disinterest of the writers in trying to make the player excited for it. Why would you do that with, essentially, a disposable country?

Of course, I might eat my words in August 2024 and feel really silly when reading this again, and they make something good out of it. But, eh, this wouldn’t stop me from having these thoughts.

[athena-85]

this is a general question for elriels but how do you feel about sjm not saying anything about the next acotar book? do you believe it's all BB or she's taking part in it?

I think that Sarah is busy with her new family. I don’t think she knows what to do about the Fandom right now. I can’t imagine what it’s like to be an author, and set up a Character like Elain, then see so much hate in your fandom for that Character.

That being said, Sarah J mass really likes to use the girl boss, strong, female character who have a lot of the non-feminine traits as her main characters.

The big question is, does Sarah care about her writing anymore or the series anymore? If not, everything comes down to money. She has Been labelled as one of the most prolific young adult writers, so I am sure her ego is playing a part in maintaining her title. and what I mean by this is book sales 

The Crescent city series is not selling as well as.ACOTAR. the last book ACOSF didn’t sell as well as her previous books. So she really just needs to keep the hype going. also, I know a little bit more about TV shows and movies, and what it takes to get them to go from an idea, development, pre-production and production and post production and I really don’t think that this show is going to happen. There is nothing that makes me feel like the show is going to happen. Especially in this market and how streaming is no longer as strong as it was. perfect example the shadow and bone show basically just dropped off the face of the Earth.

I’ve been in this fandom for five years, but read the books for the past 10 years. She really has disengaged from the fandom and I don’t know why.

[construingseacats]

Umireread: Legend of the Golden Witch - Chapter 8: Legend of the Gold

Sat, Oct 4 1986 - 10:00PM

The following contains spoilers for the entirety of Umineko. Please do not read if you are yet to finish it.

Taking a quick second here to say that I’m kind of disappointed that the Steam Version doesn’t play the OP every time you boot it up. I really loved booting it up every day during my initial read and watching it to get myself hyped again. Like yeah, I suppose nowadays I can just watch it on youtube whenever I want, but it’s just not the same, you know?

It’s almost like having the fantasy they’d constructed of their parents shattered by the grim truth of reality is a negative thing or something. Someone should write a 1.1 million word visual novel about that idea

23 year old talking down to a 17 year old moment. It’s always funny how young adults see themselves as full fledged adults rather than kids.

Yeah wow this scene is really going all in on the theme, huh. At first glance, it’s a pretty normal scene of kids being upset that their parents are mad. But really it’s just another proxy of the horrors of truth without kindness.

Saving this as a reaction image for whenever Battler says something perverted.

And so our great countdown begins! Honestly one of the coolest parts of the overall mystery of Umineko is going through the motions of there being a potential 19th person on the island, to there only being the known 18, to Kinzo being dead, to Shannon and Kanon being a single person. So, so good.

Another one of those lines where Ryukishi definitely smiled to himself while writing it. Yeah, there sure aren’t a full 18 people on the island!

Oh, and here’s our first Devil’s Proof - it’s interesting that Battler is the one to bring it up. I wonder if this is a concept that he discovered on his own, or whether it’s another hand-me-down from Kyrie that he’s grown accustomed to.

And hey, Chessboard Thinking! I guess this chapter is just “THEY SAID THE THING” central. I suppose that makes sense given this chapter is basically named after the episode title.

I’m not so fond of it when Ryukishi has a character do something and then immediately use the narrator to talk about them doing it, but this kind of line is really good in my opinion. We picked up on Battler using this type of thinking on the boat in Chapter 1, and now we’re getting confirmation here (several hours later) that it’s something that he picked up from Kyrie. If nothing else, I’m glad that Ryukishi isn’t the kind of writer who’d say this without justifying it elsewhere with an example.

Kyrie caps off this section by saying that her logic is full of holes, but honestly, she lays out a pretty solid deduction. It’s funny how many times someone will get something right and then go “nah that can’t be it”.

Man, my heart really breaks for Maria here. REALLY liking her more than I did first time round. I kind of want to say that she’s even more upset here than she was at Rosa’s mother of the year moment in the rose garden, which is an interesting look into her psyche if so.

God, the cut back to Kyrie here is stark. A 9 year old is all by herself in the hall, practically traumatised, and here’s Kyrie going “hey she can give us the answers!”

What makes this one interesting, however, is that it’s framed as Kyrie trying to cheer Battler up. I’m… not entirely sure I agree with this being portrayed as a good thing? Like, it’s not a conversation Maria will learn about, so it’s not going to hurt her, but being so lackadaisical to someone else’s suffering doesn’t sit well with me. Don’t get me wrong, I’m the world’s biggest advocate for “Don’t set yourself on fire to make others feel warm”, but I kind of wish there was a little more here about care for Maria’s wellbeing from at least Battler (if not Kyrie). I don’t know, this one just feels a little off.

So this is probably going to be my hottest take for the entire reread - but I don’t like this line.

When you read it the first time, it’s a HUGE point of intrigue, and honestly one that causes a lot of readers to perk up and start paying attention. After all, murder mystery, Epitaph talks about sacrifices, and now someone says they’re going to be killed? That’s got to be important.

But the thing is, I feel it’s a little… unwarranted? Like, in hindsight, this line feels way too dramatic. I’d argue it’s unearned, honestly. I’m not dismissing Rudolf’s sentiment behind this line, but given what he’s alluding to - a confession about Battler’s true lineage - it definitely feels like it’s being written unrealistically to make the story seem more mysterious. I just can’t see anyone actually saying this in this specific manner for the given topic.

Of course, a facetious “You’re probably gonna kill me” doesn’t carry the same weight, so trying to find something that keeps the mystery without sounding needlessly obtuse is kind of a have-your-cake-and-eat-it-too situation. I guess I’d opt for something like “There’s something that’s been building up for a while… And it’s gonna come to a head tonight. …Honestly, it’ll be a miracle if I’m still here in the morning.” That’s still a bit needlessly obtuse, but it feels way more natural given the circumstances.

After the earlier observation of “Episode 1 is written with an intent by Yasu to make Natsuhi suffer”, I can’t help but notice it showing up over and over again.

Once again we’re literally telling it as it is. I do wonder how different people would be treating this if it hadn’t first been introduced as Genji dressed up as Beatrice to discredit it.

Yeah Yasu is REALLY going in on Natsuhi here. It’s uncanny.

LIKE FOR REAL, ALL IN

You know, I was about to comment about how tense this scene is, getting everyone into position for the first twilight. Making a point to separate the different groups. And then Battler just has to go and say this, huh.

Another scene where both Shannon and Kanon are being addressed independently by Genji. Kind of interesting to think of it as the final meeting for how the night is going to go.

A special case indeed.

Another win for self indulgent self insert Yasu writing her to be sleeping in the same place as her crush. Next you’ll tell me there was only one bed.

It’s EXCEPTIONALLY funny to have Shannon gushing over Battler, and then the plot IMMEDIATELY misguiding you to George. I legit don’t think there is any way you could even notice this on a first time read unless you were approaching Umineko from an uncannily adversarial approach. Like, I think it’s reasonable to pick up on Kanon potentially liking Battler from the big bulging muscles scene earlier, but unless you’d somehow figured out them both being the same person, I don’t think you’d really be able to pick up on this detail from what you’d already seen from Shannon.

Ah, and here’s the Fukuin name drop. Very funny that the latter part of it is the “on” Kanji once again. I wonder how many more examples of Kanji wordplay we’ll see as hints to the Epitaph?

I made a note back in Chapter 3 where I’d forgot about this detail and thought the other “on” servants were additional identities of Yasu. I actually edited that post to respond to a reply about that and address it, in case anyone missed that.

You know, it’s very telling that George’s response to Shannon saying “I would have to obey that request if it was an order, since I’m furniture” isn’t “you’re not furniture”, it’s “that’s an order”. Very romantic.

George’s relationship skills in this scene overall are just pretty creepy. The impression I’m getting is that Yasu is writing this from a space of heteronormativity - by all sensible metrics, George looks like an atrocious partner for her here, but this is the kind of relationship that society wants you to have, right? He’s a rich disney prince here to whisk her away for a happily ever after. She should want this, right? She doesn’t believe that in her heart, but she feels like she should want it, so it’s written out of a place of obligation rather than love.

For some reason I remember Thank you for Being Born playing here, and man, it really isn’t. Pass isn’t a bad song, but man, I do not care for it. Another one that feels overly generic - funnily enough, it kind of reflects the forced heteronormativity by sounding like what “heartfelt confession” music should be without really saying anything special, but I’m almost certain that isn’t intentional.

Yeah George? You sure understand the meaning? Not even a hint that there’s something more going on under the surface here?

Really, the most realistic part of Umineko is that I’d also want to kill everyone in my immediate vicinity if George proposed to me.

Oh the glass shattering here is phenomenal. Perfect mood setting.

[scruffyplayssonic]

Are the ArchieSonic comics actually an 80's/90's syndicated cartoon? Episode 39: Babysitting hijinks

Welcome back to my look at the ArchieSonic comic series, and how it shared a lot of the same story tropes as a typical ‘80s or ‘90s syndicated cartoon! I’ve got a nice, short category for you today:

Episode 39: Babysitting hijinks 

For this one we need to go back to the early days of the Sonic comics.

Sonic #22 featured a story called “Tails’ Knighttime Story,” where Sally is trying to put Tails to bed but he’s too hyped up on raspberry soda or something and wants to run around pretending to be Sonic. Hey, we’ve all been there, right? I know I used to run around like that when I was a kid. xD

Since Sally didn’t have a copy of, “Go the F**k to Sleep,” on hand, she tried to calm Tails down with a story that would demonstrate that being a hero is a lot harder than it looks. In Sally’s story there was a knight called Sir Runalot who was beloved throughout the land for his heroism. Sir Runalot had an assistant, Mortail, who would follow him and do odd jobs like polishing his armour.

One day Sir Runalot decided to go on vacation, and Mortail seized the opportunity to try on his armour and pretend to be his hero. Unfortunately for him, an enemy knight from Robotannia came looking for trouble at the same time, and since everyone thought the armoured Mortail was actually Sir Runalot, Mortail had to try and fight him.

Sir Knightmare easily defeated him in combat, but luckily Sir Runalot showed up in the nick of time to save him. Mortail returned to his own life, realising he wasn’t ready to be a hero yet. Unfortunately Tails took the wrong lesson from this story, and borrowed Sonic’s shoes for an incomplete Sonic cosplay. 

This was a fun little story. I particularly enjoyed this joke at Antoine’s expense:

:) 

There was also a story in Sonic #159 where Rosie was telling a fairy tale to some orphans, but I don’t think it really qualifies as “hijinks.”

This story also doesn’t have the charm that the Tails one did, somehow. Probably because of the writer. Who wrote this thing again?

"Romy Chacon"? ...like I said, who wrote this thing?

Were there any other babysitting shenanigans we saw in ArchieSonic that I missed? Maybe I missed something, so be sure to let me know if I have! Come back next time for “the one episode that’s unique to the show’s premise and characters”!