#i am going insane from all those charm orders LMAO

[ooowyn]

owyn it’s not cool to draw animal crossing crossovers anym- i don’t give a shit

[cinnamonest]

I know nothing about Persona let alone Goro Akechi but after reading the bsf and yan profile post I want to give this man a hug (and my tits). His story seems so sad ;-; and he's so pretty and for what?? 💢

Honestly, as much as I enjoy genshin I never truly found it to have any meaningful or extremely well written characters (which is not a bad thing, I just can't take them seriously when they all look like that lmao). All credit to making me think twice about them goes to writers and artists in the fandom. So the change in content feels soooooo nice. Made me appreciate your writing in another way

I've heard about Persona a LOT for years, but I didn't have a huge drive to play it until your liveposting (p.s I love the LP so much) and especially the posts with that one insane policeman guy who is a loser (affectionate, also giving him my pussy). Any recs? 😅

HE IS MY BABY BOY you're so right he is so pretty 😖😖😖 Akechi is genuinely an excellently written character, and Persona 5 Royal is one of the few games I think fully deserves to be so hyped as it is.

Tbh I think the problem genshin and similar games has is that there's so many characters, you have to essentially go out of your way to dig into lore to get anything beyond surface level from them. This happens a lot in series with lots of characters — like with Danganronpa for example, your experience of a lot of characters completely changes upon playing their free time events. A lot of genshin characters get very little screen time on the main story, so all their characterization is in their quests, lines, and character profile content. Which to be fair, with a game of this nature that's kinda the only way to really do it, so, I'm just glad they give us that extra content tbh. I've played some gachas that would introduce new characters but give very little beyond a design and name which is kinda sad when you want to know more about the lil guy you're playing with.

But AAAAAAAAAAAAAA thank you so much anon I am going to ramble here, but I'll put a tl;dr at the bottom!

Soooo if you want to get into Persona, I'd recommend the series in a certain order with some notes. There's 5 main entries in the series and a lot of spinoffs.

A word of advice in general with marathoning a game series: with any series it's a good idea to play in order of chronological and thus technological progression, especially if you intend to play the series back to back, otherwise going from a more recent game to an older one can damper your experience due to the decrease in graphical quality, gameplay smoothness, and general content quantity.

However for this series, the ideal order to play really depends on the factors of 1) which version of Persona 3 you choose to play, and 2) if you want to play Persona 1 & 2.

Regarding Persona 1 and 2: These are some of those games where your enjoyment will strongly depend on whether or not you're a person who is okay with some of the frustrations, limitations and slowness/jankiness common to old games (they came out between 1996-1999). I know some people don't mind or see it as a sort of vintage charm, while others get very frustrated with that — if you're the latter, I'd recommend saving yourself the frustration and skipping them, but if you like old games or have a high tolerance for jankiness, you could start here. I will also say that, even amongst the vintage/90s games fan crowd, P2 is definitely more popular and considered better than P1. It's also much better on the aforementioned issues.

Also, unless you have an original PlayStation or PSP, you'll have to emulate these.

Regarding Persona 3: there's several versions — the original came out in like 2006, then there was a remake version called P3 FES which added an epilogue (which is being added to the recent remake soon anyway), then a PSP remake called Persona 3 Portable (which has ports on modern consoles), then the most recent remake, Persona 3 Reload, came out just a few months ago in 2024.

Obviously the newest remake has vastly improved graphics and added lots of gameplay content. However, one of the biggest differences is that P3 Portable had the option to play as a female protagonist — this altered a lot of aspects of the game and is exclusive to that version (which has disappointed a lot of people hoping she'd be in the 2024 remake), so you can't play as her if you play Reload (unless, I believe, you play PC, there's a volunteer team currently making a mod for her).

Personally, I bought P3 Reload, and couldn't get into it, so I dropped it. Then I bought P3P on a whim and LOVE it so far. Getting to play as the girl protagonist makes a massive difference in my opinion, and more than compensates for the older graphics/gameplay. It's not just the romance routes either, her dialogue options, interactions, music, and overall vibe is different enough that it changes the feel of the story.

It really depends on what you value more — 2024-tier visual quality/gameplay and the epilogue, versus the Female Protagonist experience, so just pick which you prefer.

For the order thing, if you choose to play P3P (or the original/FES for whatever reason), I'd start here, but if you want to play Reload, I'd play it either last or just before P5 Royal.

Moving on, Persona 4: Golden and Persona 5: Royal are both the definitive editions of their respective games. They're remakes of the originals with a lot of added content, and unlike Persona 3, there's no reason to play the older versions over these. Notably their themes/vibes are kinda opposite of each other (big city world-scale societal rebellion versus small rural town murder mystery), I wouldn't say either story is better or worse, they're not really comparable and more a matter of personal taste.

As for the stories, admittedly if you've read my posts, you've essentially already been spoiled on the identity of the killers, but honestly it's still worth experiencing the story, there's multiple big plot twists before and after the reveals regarding Akechi/Adachi.

I would play Persona 5 Royal last, largely because it's widely considered the best entry to the series and is by far the longest. However if you only intend to play one game, it should definitely be P5 Royal. The only real flaw to P5 is it's much easier than previous games.

From here, there's a few more spinoff games, whether or not you want to play them really just depends on if you enjoy the genre. There's a bit of lore in some of them but nothing critical.

Dancing All Night/Starlight/Moonlight - dancing rhythm games

Arena Ultimax - fighting game, acts as an epilogue to P3&4

Persona Q 1&2

These are Nintendo DS spinoffs with chibi style art. I haven't played these and admittedly don't know much about them, I think they're dungeon crawler genre? It's popular for the aspect of which it involves the characters of the different main games, so you get to see them interact with each other.

The downside is that these games are oddly expensive, I think because there weren't too many copies. I intend to get them eventually.

Persona 5 Tactica/Strikers:

These are P5 spinoffs that put the cast in alternate stories, strikers is the closest to a true sequel from my understanding, tactica is more of a dungeon-crawler. I didn't get them because Akechi isn't in strikers and is just minor dlc for tactica.

The Phantom X

This is upcoming I believe, it's going to be a mobile game with a new cast.

The TL;DR of my advice:

- Play P2 only if you're into vintage gaming

- Play P1 only if you're REALLY into vintage gaming

- Play Persona 3 Portable if you really value the female protagonist/male character romance experience, otherwise play Persona 3 Reload

- If you play the original Persona 3, FES, or P3 Portable: start with that, then P4 Golden, then P5 Royal

- If you play Persona 3 Reload: play P4 Golden FIRST, then both P5 Royal and P3 Reload in either order.

- Play the spinoffs just based on what type of games you like, if any.

[thesilvercondor]

(Spoilers for Aim To Be A Pokemon Master Ep1 (JN137) below the cut)

ok so i am perpetually obsessed with Anabel and thus extremely biased but like. fun little conspiracy theory. Ash is actually developing Empathy (ability to sense pokemon's emotions, and use this for knockoff telepathy with them).

I have not seen past the first episode of this series, if there’s further evidence I might return to this theory but I kinda doubt there will be any lmao. Proceed beneath the readmore if you want to see my insane ramblings (1k words).

So, let’s look at this episode real quick, shall we? First major event- Ash accidentally attacks a Beedrill nesting site, potentially angering nearby Beedrill. And like, in the vast majority of Bulbapedia’s anime entries about wild Beedrill- those things get angry all the freaking time. I’ve already seen people down in the comments of this episode talking about how they didn’t think they’d seen a wild Beedrill be calm before.

However, Ash manages to calm it nearly instantaneously- which one other character has actually pulled off before- the only canon Empath, Anabel (S9 E24, ‘Talking A Good Game’).

I just find it interesting that this scene was included in the episode, given that it has no obvious importance to the rest of the storyline, you know? Unless it was meant to draw parallels, between this episode and *checks notes* some obscure episode from the early 2000s that barely anyone remembers. *sweatdrops*

 Uhhh but anyway!- next major event in the episode- the token ‘Empath’ finds an extremely powerful Pokemon, who is openly hostile to them, but calms it down by helping to care for its wounds.

In JN137, this is Ash helping Latias with a (burn?) on its wing, while in S9E24, it’s Anabel pulling out a stick from a Gyarados’s injury.

 Then, the third (and most major) event is the reveal of Empathy being used as Telepathy in a battle situation. This one uh. This one I have less evidence for, but we’re just going to pretend that Ash isn’t good enough at empathy yet for the parallels to be perfect, ok? Just to stoke my own ego.

Anyway- S9E24, Anabel first uses this with her ace, Alakazam. It’s characterized by her giving orders without talking- aka, though Alakazam can’t physically hear her, he can still hear her.

In JN137, Ash is captured by Team Rocket’s ‘Supercooled Capsule’. Here, Ash’s voice is extremely muffled- to the point that even Team Rocket (1-2m away from him) can’t hear him well. Meanwhile, Pikachu is uhhh 25-40m away? Down on the forest floor. (perspective is unhelpful, here’s the best screenshot I got).

Anyway, while being extremely muffled and getting progressively further away, AND while having his back turned on Pikachu- Ash proceeds to practically whisper his command to Pikachu to aim a 10, 000 Volts at him. And Pikachu understands instantly. Like yeah, I get it, this is an anime, not everything is realistic- but doesn’t this feel at least a little sus to y’all?

(left: Ash’s whisper, right: Anabel’s Empathy)

So yeah uh. I’ve yet to watch the other episodes of this anime. But if he gets overlaid on Pikachu at any point to give commands, then Imma 100% claim Empathy my dudes.

Especially since, the next RSE episode (S9E25, ‘Second Time’s The Charm’) is partially about Anabel trying to teach Ash Empathy- with the final line of the episode being her thinking- “I guess you can’t sense feelings yet, Ash […]”. Here, please just picture me pointing commandingly at the word ‘yet’. She reckons he had potential- and maybe that potential is finally coming true.

 Since we’re doing Anabel quotes right now, I’m going to throw another one at you- her response to being asked how she talks to Pokemon like that (aka while using Empathy):

“"I don't even really know how I do it. I guess its been happening ever since I was a little girl. I'd come to the forest and talk to everything. Trees, grass, the stars; and all the wild pokemon- and that's how it all started!" (S9E25)

So you know. She went into the forest. Not much of a goal. Interacted with literally everything she saw, without discrimination. Sounds kinda like the start of the episode; with Ash stopping to interact with every single wild Pokemon he sees. That’s how she developed Empathy- so maybe this is how he develops it too.

Like, this is Ash’s final series. Why start with him just wandering around looking at random mons, unless that act is something seriously important?

 Finally, just to add a bit more pizzazz; this episode is about Latias and Mew. (Oak’s poem at the start is something about if you want to make a lot of friends, you need to find 151- and 151 is Mew’s Pokedex number so. Yeah.) These two just so happen to be two of 9-12 ‘Empath Pokemon’ I have currently identified.

I’m counting Empath Pokemon as anything that has a Pokedex entry that mentions its ability to sense emotions (like Anabel does). Not just influence emotions (like Milotic), or get attracted by specific emotions (like Shuppet/Togetic/Blissey), but actively sense all emotions.

Latias’s Pokedex entry mentions that it “…is highly sensitive to the emotions of people.”

Meanwhile, Mew’s Pokedex entry mentions that it “…only appears to those with a pure heart.” (this is one of my ‘debateable’ Empath mons, as like. What is a pure heart exactly. I’m guessing it needs to be able to see all emotions in someone to decide whether their heart is pure or not, but I could be wrong.)

But yeah, if this series is about him trying to acquire two Empath Pokemon… it might also be about him trying to acquire Empathy itself.

 Anyway I’m gonna. I’m gonna watch the other episodes eventually. Not just yet, cos I wanna dream about a world in which this conspiracy theory is any way feasible-

  (oh yeah also before anyone asks. Anabel didn’t use an Empathy Pokemon in the anime, but in the games (Emerald and USUM) her ace is either Raikou or Latios, with the latter being another Empathy Pokemon- “…it can sense the emotions of others.”.)

(oh and full Empathy Pokemon list: Latias, Latios, Ralts, Indeedee, Hatterene, Sylveon, Audino, Solrock, Finizen. Bonus: Mew (how do you determine a ‘pure heart’), Mesprit (it created emotions so surely it can sense them?? But no pokedex entries on that) and Lucario (can sense emotions but through Aura not Empathy).)

[viostormcaller]

Thinking about it, it kinda sucks just how little new horizons has.

Like... I love the game to pieces and maybe this is just bc im in a shitty mood (which i am) but like... god this is gonna be long and ranty and I'm sorry in advance that mobile tumblr doesnt have the read more feature

For starters, holidays are all scheduled on the company's terms, meaning in 7+ years or so there will be no more in-game holidays because by then they'll probably be thinking about/getting ready to release the next installment of the series on whatever console is out at the time and they won't want to update new horizons anymore. And adding onto this, you need the internet to download the updates. What happens to the players who don't have internet?? Can they just never experience the holidays like bunny day and toy day and turkey day? That takes a HUGE part of the fun of the series out right off the bat. Sometimes making everything rely on the internet is a bad idea. Idk if anyone can like tell me if having no internet means you can't take part in the holidays, but like... god if that's true thats really sad.

They recently took out the hybrid flower and big fish islands, which makes no sense whatsoever why they would do that to a game that has so little, but ok?? It's not like that feature was hindering the gameplay any

There's a lot of furniture but Not a Lot of Furniture, you get me? They took out EVERY set except the classic set (renamed "antique") that you can buy for an insanely high price, and the log and wooden block sets that you can craft, but other that that it's all unrelated items that aren't part of any set, aside from the cute set and diner and throwback sets which as far as I can remember are the only other sets you can buy in the game. No alpine, no ranch, no minimalist, no princess or gracie, no modern or sleek, none of that. And 90% of all the buy-only furniture in the game is just the color variants. You can't even customize them! And it's hard as fuck to find the color variants you want, much less for completing a furniture set

And speaking of which, your starting villagers don't get their default house interiors. Your first three + your two starters from the tutorial days have the same generic layouts. You NEVER see what their houses are supposed to look like, and even if you give them the wallpaper and flooring they're supposed to have (if you figure that out online somewhere), their house doesn't change (I tested this with Sherb and was kinda disappointed).

And stuff is so EXPENSIVE. I know it adds a challenge but my final loan was NEVER 1 mil+ bells in New Leaf. And you can't even expand the extra first floor rooms you get. I'm literally getting less for WAY more. The biggest rooms you get are the basement and upstairs rooms. The first floor rooms aside from the main room really don't have a lot of space and with the different furniture they DO offer, I don't have a lot of room to put things in. But it's not like I can even afford it anyway -- just a freaking air conditioner was 63,000 bells. In New Leaf it was 2500. That's a MASSIVE jump. And the kitchen items are so freaking expensive, as well.

And speaking of houses, for someone who was literally in the real estate industry in the last game, tom nook adds very few house exterior options. And the even more shitty thing is that a lot of the colors straight up don't match. They couldn't even add a plain white roof.

God and the fucking DIY recipes. I know I've said this before on my other tumblr but the RNG for this game is the worst I've ever fucking seen. There is no reason why, two months into the game, I can be given a recipe for a simple DIY bench, which EVERYONE LEARNS IN THE TUTORIAL. Who the fuck am I giving it to?! No one, because literally every player knows it already, and you can't gift diy recipes to villagers! And I keep getting repeats of recipes. My villagers give me fruit DIYs all the time, it's so rare for me to get any new ones. And two days in a row I've gotten the recipe for the deer head mount thing from the same villager. New recipes should 100% take the priority before repeats. This game is slow paced, sure, but that's just frustrating. It doesn't make me excited to learn more recipes, it makes me feel like I'm never gonna learn any new ones because I'll get the same fruit DIYs for a week straight.

And speaking of which, you can't put trees, bushes, or flowers in your storage, which to me makes literally no sense. I can fit a giant ass fountain in my storage but I can't put a flower plant? Really? And speaking of storage, for a game that added 300 whole slots for mail instead of the usual 10, I will never understand why they decided to halve the amount of items a player can order a day from the nook shopping, AND make it so that it takes a whole day to get there instead of making deliveries at 9 am and 5 pm like in New Leaf.

And the fact that they made it so hard to get non native fruit and flowers and shit??? Like they at LEAST added Lief so flowers aren't as much of an issue anymore, but you actually have to travel to other people's islands just to get all the fruits?? I know you have to do the same thing in New Leaf but the reason why this is an issue for me is because you have to pay for online access, meaning most of those nook miles for planting all the fruits are locked behind a paywall unless your villagers can gift them to you. And your mom, when you first start the game, has a chance of giving you the one fruit that's on the non-native fruit mystery island, meaning you'll only get ONE new fruit and not two separate ones (for example, my sis got pears from mom but her non native fruit islands have cherries i believe. I got pears from mom and my fruit islands also have pears. Doesnt help that that's the one fruit i hate lmao). They also took OUT a bunch of fruits, like mangoes, durians, lemons, bananas, lychees, persimmons...

And the fact that your nook miles rewards are ISLAND LOCKED. That is the WORST SHIT. Not everyone has the ability to play with others, bc no internet or no money for the subscription every month. Not everyone WANTS to play with others bc maybe they get social anxiety (like me, which is why i havent asked for things that are impossible for me to get even though i want them for my island or house), or maybe they simply just don't want to. But the fact that each island has their own color variants of the same goddamn rewards that CANNOT BE CHANGED makes me so upset. I do not want nor should I have to rely on others to get the items I want because my game doesn't have my preferred color variations. And it's not like I'm far enough in the game to have anything worth trading for said items, nor do I have the bells.

And Isabelle does next to fucking nothing and I'm really irked about how they made her character in this game. Yeah she's cute, but that's ALL she is. She became more ditzy than anything else. She doesn't let you know about visitors in the town or the plaza or if a bridge or incline was built bc of a completed donation goal. Like really useful info to know would be if Flick or CJ is in town or who is selling stuff in the plaza. Flavor text is nice but if that's all you say 24/7 it loses its charm. In New Leaf she was helpful and hardworking and super focused and on top of things. Idk why they changed that aspect of her. I know her role in New Horizons isn't as big as it was in New Leaf, but still.

And then there's glitches that STILL haven't been patched (as far as I know anyway), like the game-breaking villager corruption glitch (which you'd think nintendo would have made a priority but they're too busy removing other features it seems) or the house exterior glitch.

And it's bad enough that your game saves to your fucking system a la Fantasy Life. But even WORSE, no one can have separate islands on one console. It's not enough to own two copies of New Horizons. Each player has to own one copy of the game and a whole new Switch just so they can play on their own islands. Parents can't usually afford that (aka $360 for each kid give or take) so for a game marketed towards kids, I don't know why they thought that was a smart move (well, I DO know, and that's because money, but still). And to top it all off, cloud saves are not supported normally. If you lose your game or your switch and aren't subscribed to nintendo online, well, it looks like all your progress is gone! And there's nothing you can do about it. And they directly claimed that they did this just so people can't manipulate the game because it's supposed to be played in real time. But people can still fucking time travel by setting the system's clock! They achieved nothing except to make the players frustrated!!! If you make a game you need to accept that the player is going to play how THEY want to. You shouldn't try to make everyone conform to the way YOU want them to play. That just makes you a controlling asshole and the game loses a lot of its fun.

This game was 60 bucks and they took so long to make it and we ended up with less than we got in New Leaf. The main thing they gave us was a shit ton more clothing items (which I really like). Like I said, I love this game to pieces and it's actually one of my favorite games right now. There's so much I love about it -- I certainly don't hate it or anything. But this game has SO MANY flaws, a lot of which are needless. And I think the kid in me just misses the days where you can pay for a game and get the whole game right away. No updates in tiny batches, no content locked behind paywalls, no day one patches, no reliance on internet connection and multiplayer... mainstream companies have all gone really downhill with that shit and it just disappoints me to no end. But because Nintendo is kid-oriented, I think that's where it hurts the most. It was supposed to be accessible, family friendly fun like back during the days of the Wii and the DS. But companies get so wrapped up in competing with each other and trying to make the most money that they forget about all that. I dunno. It just sucks.

If you read all this, god damn I'm surprised XD I got super ranty and I apologize. But I'm in a sad mood and I after learning about features they've taken out I just had to get all this off my chest. It's been weighing on me since the game released, especially since for months prior this game was all I could think about and I was really looking forward to it. It just let me down in a lot of ways, I guess.

[mysticthot]

RFA With a Crush

happy late valentines day i spent my night writing this and eating chocolate

Yoosung-

Yandere boi comin at u

He gets like lowkey obsessive, not anything creepy but like

He’ll hang out in places you hang out so hopefully you’ll talk to him or at least see him and think he’s cool

Tends to day dream in classes you have together cause he just gets so distracted by you

Has definitely been called out on it by his teacher and he almost dies of embarrassment when you and the rest of the class all turn and look at him

Talks about you all the time

To everyone

His mom gets weekly updates

The rfa all know you, they on a first man basis

He’ll see you walking across campus and he just dies and immediately messages the chatroom to tell them how cute you looked in your sweater

He would be too shy to actually talk to you tho

He’d try multiple times, walking up to you, taking a deep breath, then just dying and turning around and walking away before you saw him

Once you turned around and he was walking towards you, you smiled at him and he freaked out and just kept walking and left you there

legend says he’s still walking to this day

One day he was meeting Zen and Seven for lunch and they’re all sitting down and the waitress comes walking over and holy shit it’s you!

You walk up to their table and smile, getting ready to take their order, when you see Yoosung

He dies when you look at him

Immediately just covered in sweat

“Hey, we have class together don’t we? You’re Yoosung right?”

You said his name and his soul leaves his body

Didn’t think you knew his name

He nods and mumbles something out that not even he understands and Zen and Seven are looking at him like he’s insane until they see you’re name tag

“OH MY GOD IT’S MC.”

“ShuT Up SEvEn!”

You’re laughing awkwardly now, not exactly understanding what is going on cause Yoosung is bright red, his friend called Seven is laughing loud enough to catch the attention of multiple other tables and the one with the red eyes is typing furiously on his phone into some kind of chatroom

“Ok...I’ll give you guys a couple minutes to decide.”

Yoosung has never been so embarssed in his life

He wants to leave, but Seven and Zen are refusing to go and he doesn’t want to leave them alone with you

(he’s lowkey triggered by the fact that Zen agreed that you were hella cute he doesn’t need that kind of competition)

You come by their table frequently and Seven keeps making little comments about Yoosungs crush and you’re blushing cause Zens calling you cute and Yoosungs finna be over that table fighting if he dont stop

By the end of lunch, he’s pretty sure it’s the most embarrassed he’s ever been

But also he finally got to talk to you and you didn’t get (too) weirded out by him

You smile and wave at the boys as they leave the restaurant, and Yoosung almost misses the moment when you wink and blow a kiss at him

He almost passes out

Chatroom better get ready that’s all he gonna be talking about for the rest of his life

Zen-

He is such a hopeless romantic, I lowkey feel like he would be the type to make eye contact with someone on the street then spend the rest of the week wondering it that person could have been the love of his life

He just really wants to be in love

(boi same)

When he has a crush he’s not shy about it

He’s a confident boi so he’ll go right up to them and start talking and trying to get to know them

Next thing you know he has your number and you’re going out friday night

Then he meets you, and you dont fall so easily for his looks charms 

And he’s pretty sure he fell in love at first sight 

You’re his new neighbor, and he saw you out there moving boxes and immediately thought you were the cutest thing ever

He wanted to go help you, but he had to leave for a rehearsal, so instead, he waved and tried to look good while he walked out to his car

You smiled at him then just continued on your way

He was shook, people are usually more stunned by his looks

Thats ok he’ll just impress you another time

From then on he tries his hardest to meet you

But it seems like every time he’s home you’re not, and every time your home, he has to leave

He never gets the chance to talk to you, but he see’s you around all the time

You know how when you see someone and you dont know them you basically build a whole world around them and then suddenly you’re in love?

Ya he did that

Always going on in the chatrooms that you guys are star crossed lovers

“You haven’t spoken a single word to her.”

“Shut up trust fund kid you don’t understand!”

He goes out of his way to try and impress you in those small moments he does see you

He just wants so badly to know you, so of course when he finally gets the chance, he would screw it up

You were outside walking your dog around the neighborhood when he was getting ready to go for a run

This is his chance!

He’s now running towards you, trying to catch up so he can introduce himself

Its like things are moving in slow motion, picture it:

He’s jogging, hair flowing

You’re walking, back facing him, totally unaware, looking like a model

Your dog it turning towards him teeth bared and barking

“oH SHIT-”

Next thing he knows he’s running the other direction from your dog, with you chasing both of them

You finally get close enough to grab the leash that had been pulled out of your hand, stopping your dog from chewing on Zen’s leg

“I am so sorry, I dont know what got into him, he usually doesn't get aggressive like that unless he thinks I’m in danger...” You apologize, calming your dog

Zen is bent over, panting and now realizing it was a little sketchy of him to be basically chasing you down the street

“That’s ok, how about you make it up to me by telling me your name. I don’t think we’ve been properly introduced yet, I’m Zen.” Boi immediately turns up the charm of course

You’re shocked for a second, but you don’t really expect any thing else from your hot neighbor who seems to always be trying to impress you

Maybe now you’ll stop messing with him and admit he has caught your eye

Jaehee-

Girl is so busy with work she doesn't really have time to be crushin on anyone

So of course she would meet her crush at work

You were new in the office, and Jaehee was given the task of showing you around

She starts off thinking you’re just a nice person, you would make a good office friend for her to talk with or possibly eat with (when she has time to eat rip)

Then she starts to think of you more and more

She looks forward to the moments when you would walk past her office to use the copier, and you would smile and wave at her through the window

It would make her heart jump

And she would smile back, a little bit awkwardly, and wave before ducking her head back down

It took her quite a while to realize it was a crush 

Its normal to think of your friend all the time

Its normal to want to talk to her, but also being nervous every time she looks at you

Its normal to blush just at the thought of her, right??

Just gals being pals nothing to see here

Sweet girl is probably the one that would look up those ‘do u have a crush quiz’ then she would get to embarrassed to do it and delete the website from her browser history lol

She lowkey starts coming out of her office more just so you will stop and talk to her

Definitely the highlight of her day

One day shes talking with you while you’re getting a soda from the vending machine, when you mention how you’ve started watching some musicals she recommended 

Girls just

cums

She invites you over to watch some of Zen’s videos before she can even realize what she’s doing

You say sure and that you would see her after work before skipping off to your desk

She’s left there shook

Did she actually just invite you to hang out with her??

At her house???

God she hoped this was a date

She returns to her office to find Jumin waiting for her, he does not look amused

“Assistant Kang, I’ve been waiting.”

“Oh sorry Sir, I was just-”

“Flirting with Ms. MC?”

She shook

Boi just gonna call her out like that??

How does he even know what flirting is this boi supposed to be a robot how he know what a gay is????

(oh ya does jumin han is gay thats how)

“She’s been distracting you long enough, just ask her out and get it over with.”

The last thing she expected coming into work today was getting a date and advice on her love life from none other than Jumin Han

But, at least she has that date

Jumin-

Jumin Han does not get crushes.

Or, at least he hasn’t had one yet

He’s so out of touch with his emotions, he would prolly think he was dying or something if he had a crush

Lmao Jumin would take of one those do you have a crush quizzes but unlike jeahee he has no shame so he would send her the results and have her type up a report rip

He met you in the absolute last place he would have ever expected to meet someone

Knocking on Assistant Kang’s door, Elizabeth in hand, he was shocked to find not Assistant Kang at the other side 

He’s immediately sizing you up, you look like a normal girl in your pajamas, but you don’t look like you could be a relative of Jaehee, so why are you here

He doesn’t have the chance to ask before you’re gushing over his cat

He’s pleasantly surprised at how you call her beautiful and ask for her name and gently pet her head

He was hesitant to let your touch her, but you had asked first and Elizabeth was purring so he allowed it

You were talking about her breed when Jaehee came walking into the living room

Immedietly triggered by the way Jumin is not only smiling at you, but the fact that he’s letting you touch Elizabeth

“Oh, hello Mr Han, I see you’ve met my friend MC.”

Jaehee has friends?

He kinda wants to stay and talk about cats with you, but he had a plane to catch, so he leaves Elizabeth in Jaehee’s care and turns to leave

“Bye Jumin, have a good flight, nice to meet you!” You called after him, waving.

He awkwardly waved back before turning and walking away

This was a strange feeling

He spent his entire trip thinking about you

It was honestly an inconvenience for him, and he did not appreciate the fact that thoughts of you made a weird feeling happen in his stomach

Not having it

When he got back, he had the driver stop by Jaehee’s to pick up Elizabeth

He refused to admit to himself it was because he wanted to see you, but he was a bit disappointed when you weren't there

He didn’t see you for quite a while, and he had almost managed to get you out of his head, when he heard a familiar voice in the office

For a moment he thought he imagined it, until he looked up and saw you standing near his office looking lost

He was out of his chair before he really knew what he was doing, then he stopped and composed himself before walking out to you

You were asking one of his workers for directions to Jaehee’s office when you saw him

You immediately smiled and walked over, happily greeting him

He could see the surprised looks on the employees as he greeted you and offered to walk you to Jaehee’s office

You chatted with him asking about his day and his cat, and he was pleasantly surprised at how he actually enjoyed talking to you

You didn’t talk to him like he was some big CEO, or a trust fund kid, or your boss, you just talk to him and smiled

He liked your smile

The talk was cut short then Jaehee found the two of you, giving a strange look between her boss and best friend

She’d never seen him look at someone like that, other than Elizabeth

“Ok...come on MC, time to go!”

She skirting you the fuck out of there

Jumin is strugglin

If he thought his little crush was bad before, it was excruciating now

But he didn’t seem to mind it as much

He just wanted to talk to you

But he only knew you through Jaehee

So suddenly he became even more present in his assistants life

Randomly stopping by her desk

Calling her for seemingly no reason

She drew the line when he started showing up at her house for vague business related things 

“Mr Han. Why do you keep coming here.” She sighed, it was 10 at night and he had interrupted one of Zens videos

“I need you to sign this.”

“And that cant wait till tomorrow in the office?”

“I suppose it could, I figured you would just want to get some work done.”

“...Mr Han why do you keep coming here?”

He admits he wants to talk to you

Jaehee dies a little inside

Why is this happening

But she cant hide from him the fact that you have been talking about him as well

She agrees to give him your phone number if he will leave her alone

She cant believe she just set up her boss with her best friend

What has life come to?

707/ Saeyoung-

God he’s such a spaz (the ideal boi tbh)

If he had a crush the whole world and his crush would know it

He met you at a coffee shop, him and Saeran were waiting for drinks when you came walking out of the back room, in a little apron with the coffee shops logo on it

He falls out of his chair

“ohmygodsearan look at her! She’s like a star princess and I’m the star prince and were gonna fly off into the stars and-”

“Get off the ground what’s wrong with you? And lower your voice the whole god damn place can hear you!”

He can see you biting back a smile as you call out his and his brothers names

They go get their coffees and, but he’s pulled off by his brother before anything can be said to you

He’s about to complain, before he sees on his cup you had crossed out his name and written star prince in it’s place with a little heart

Literally screams

From then on he goes to your coffee shop all the time

Boi becomes a regular and he’s known for relentlessly flirting with you every time he comes in

He always has a new pick up line and you always have a new name for his cup

He tired to collect the cups but Vanderwood nearly tased him for the mess it made

Speaking of Vanderwood, that boi knows all about you

Him and Saeran never escape his ramblings about you

Unlike the rfa who can just leave the chatroom, his voice is inescapable

He cant help it tho

At first he was just thinking you were cute, but the more he actually talked to you, the more he liked you

You laugh at his jokes and make puns back at him and he just thinks you’re so sweet

You like him too, but he’s never actually asked for your number or anything, so you’re not sure if he’s ever gonna go past just playful flirting

It actually takes the help of Saeran to get you two together

It was one of the rare moments when Saeran wasn’t out with his brother, but he still ended up in your coffee shop, mostly out of habit

You smiled when you saw him, greeting him and getting started on his normal drink 

He watched you work, and you made pleasant conversation with him despite his short answers

Saeyoung had been kinda down lately, he had fallen back into one of his depressive states, so he hadn’t been in for a while, but he simply told you he was sick when you asked

He really did want his brother to be happy, and even though he acted like an idiot, he really did like you

So he decided to help his brother out

“Here,” he handed you a slip of paper, “Saeyoung has been feeling...under the weather, he would love to hear from you. I know he’s a fucking dork, but he really does like you so...be nice.”

He grabbed his drink and immediately left you with the phone number, a small smile on your lips

You would never have been able to guess the volume of the scream that came from Saeyoungs room when he got that text

Vanderwood looked at Saeran

“What have you done...”

V/ Jihyun-

He’s so soft

Thinks you’re so sweet and cute and wants to hold your hand

Blushes so hard whenever you’re around

You work at an art gallery that frequently shows his paintings and he just loves how you’re so passionate about your work

You complement him on his art, and he’s out for the rest of the day, boi cant handle it

Jumin’s the only one who knows about his crush 

He had gone with V to unveil some of his art, and immediately noticed how his friend was acting off

He was kinda spacey

Looking around, fidgeting with his hair and clothes

Then you walked in, and Jumin watched as his friend was instantly drawn to you

He was almost inching his way towards you, trying to make it look causal

But he just looked very nervous

Then you noticed him and came over to say hi and introduce yourself to Jumin

V is smiling at you looking all love sick

And Jumin just has this shit eating grin on his face cause he knows what’s goin on

He excuses himself to let you and V be alone but it doesn’t last long cause boi quickly gets shy being alone with you and goes back to join Jumin

You just make him nervous

He’s not used to feeling this way, its been a while and he just doesn’t know how to act

“That was quite a display.” Jumin smirked

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Oh please, everyone in that art museum can see how much you like that girl.”

That just makes him more nervous around you

Can you tell??

Do you know how much he likes you???

He starts associating you with painting, and he ends up painting you

Quite a few times actually

Then he feels like a creep

So he paints over them

Then the whole thing just starts again

It would take him so long to confess to you if you didn’t make the first move

Cause my boi is just so insecure

Some one just give him a hug pls he needs it

Saeran-

You know how when little boys get a crush they pick on them and tease them?

Well this boi is always pulling on your pigtails

Because of his brother, he hangs around the rfa a lot, so he sees you a lot

And he does not appreciate how you make him nervous

Or how you can talk to him so easily while he gets chocked up and can barely say hi

And he really doesn’t like how you make him blush

So he’s so grumpy around you

But you’re still nice to him and it just makes him more grumpy cause he ends up feeling bad for being so grumpy

Seven notices right away

“Awww does my little brother have a little crush on MC? That’s so cute!”

“Shut the fuck up.”

He slowly gets over the whole angry crush thing when he realizes he cant keep being mean to you

His therapist keeps telling him to let people in, and that if he likes you he should show his feelings rather than push them away

So he makes an effort to be nicer to you

He hangs around you when the rfa gets together

And he participates in the conversations that you always try to have with him

And you guys become actual friends

And you hang out with him and his brother outside of the rfa get togethers

And he’s regretting his life choices because now it’s so much harder for him to ignore his little crush on you

And Seven is always teasing him

He’s triggered

He’ll basically just go through periods of pushing you away then letting you back in then pushing you away again

But you know how hard things are for him, and you continue to be so nice

And he just wants to be with you all the time 

Life is hard

He tried to show his feelings for you, but it always come out wrong

Boi tried to make you dinner, sets a fire in the bunker

Tried to buy you a present, got angry while trying to wrap it and broke it

Tries to ask you out on a date but gets embarrassed and accidentally ends up kicking you out of his house

It be like that sometimes

And Seven is just so over watching his brother be an idiot, even if it does make for good teasin material

So he takes things into his own hands

He invited you over to watch a movie with him and his brother, picked out a film with a pretty long sex scene, then mysteriously disappears

Saeran is mortified

His face is as red as his brothers hair and your sitting next to him with the same wide eyed panicked look while some actress moans excessively on the screen

He doesn’t know what to do so he just gets up and leaves

So you there just watching porn in their living room alone

Of course thats when Vanderwood makes his appearance

Saeran didn’t see you for a while after that incident

Until Seven dragged him to an rfa lunch and you were there and you looked so cute and you still smiled and talked to him even after what had happened

So finally, he just gathers up the courage and blurts out

“Do you want to go get ice cream with me!”

It was more of a loud statement than a question and his face is so red and his hands are shaking

But you’re smiling at him and holding his hand and you’re so soft and warm

“I’d love to Saeran.”

EDIT- i did Vanderwoods too so here it is!!

God im so in love with these boi’s

thanks for reading!!

[thegeminisage]

merlin thots about the s5 opening episodes.......

here’s your courtesy cut

one of my favorite things about s5 so far is how very nicely arthur and merlin have both 1. grown up and 2. grown into each other...they still give each other shit 24/7 but it’s a lot more companionable and comfortable now than it ever has been. furthermore, both of them exhibit the use of MULTIPLE braincells even at the SAME TIME. they work very well together as a team even in the heat of battle (we did see shades of this near the end of s4), despite merlin being kind of useless at physical combat when he couldn’t rely on his magic for a boost. they can have entire conversations without a word and they’re just INCREDIBLY synchronized. the whole #vibe has really gotten a level up

timeline-wise, it’s been roughly a decade since season 1. in s1 they said the purge began 20 years ago (upon arthur’s birth), and shortly after, he had a coming of age ceremony - 21′s an important number, so in season 1 arthur began as being 20 and turned 21 before the end. season 2 = 22. gap year for s2-s3 = 23. season 3 = 24. s3-s4 gap year = 25. season 4 = 26. 3 gap years betweeen s4-s5 = 27, 28, 29. season 5 = 30. i don’t know how long it was in real life between seasons 4 and 5 (definitely not three years), but i really do feel like they’ve both aged SO much and they absolutely act like people who have known each other for a decade.

gwen as queen is AMAZINGNGLSDKJGHDSLFG she’s SO PRETTY i love her SO MUCH. love that she has her own serving girl now! this is what she deserves

the round table is good too altho it looks a bit too big for that room. it’s amazing though like...FUCK uther pendragon arthur has come SO FAR

merlin being nice to the new girl is very charming. makes him seem older and w-w-WISER (love that word) by comparison

also love that merlin gets to ride a horse while some of the footsoldiers walk. that’s #status. that’s *** ******

pretty sure i had a stroke during merlin’s vision of arthur’s death. the whole thing was done SO well - they go from the battlefield and arthur’s incredibly dirty face as he very realistically looks like he’s falling down and dying and then cut to a very alive and present arthur asking what’s wrong. you can really FEEL the whiplash, and also the dread settles in nice and deep, at least it does if you’re me and you’ve read spoilers, like, “only you can keep arthur safe” BUT I KNOW HE DOESN’T I KNOW HE CAN’T I KNOW HE FAILS and merlin might as well know it too because he looks ready to CRY and thru the rest of this 2-parter opening he acts like he thinks arthur may drop dead at any moment

i feel like i read somewhere once that actors don’t like to eat during a scene unless absolutely necessary because when you do 30 takes of something you get very full very quickly and some even go so far as to have a spit bucket just out of sight so that they can just get rid of it without having to eat any more. which makes it absolutely bananas to me that so often in merlin the characters are not only eating but eating very quickly as though they really have been roughing it in the wilderness all day & are absolutely famished...they don’t have to show them eating so often BUT THEY DO

arthur getting merlin into a tight spot by insisting he perform, planning on laughing at his failure? funny. merlin ACTUALLY USING MAGIC TO TEACH HIMSELF TO JUGGLE so that he could watch arthur’s jaw hit the floor? PRICELESS. i wonder how long it took him to do that, he definitely wasn’t using a body double

merlin is acting so bleak and dire in these episodes that even mr no-empathy himself asks him whats wrong, multiple times. they’re doing a VERY good job at really driving home the fact that arthur’s time is running short and there’s nothing anyone can do about it. merlin’s so sick with dread he’s making ME sick with dread. arthur’s here and being his normal dumbass self but the distance between them feels HUGE during the moments merlin is thinking about arthur’s impending doom

arthur all “i cant believe u can juggle i didnt even know you could catch” and then throwing the boots at merlin only for merlin to NOT CATCH THEM and arthur goes “see explain that” and merlin goes “wish i could” and i D I E 

because he’s KNOWN HIM FOR A DECADE and he still can’t explain the magic and at this point it must feel like to him that he never, ever will UUUUUGH it’s funny how they can feel so close to each other one second and like THIS the next i am DYING

the little conversation they have when they make camp the next night is the same. the sad music plays, merlin keeps looking at arthur like it might be the last time he sees him, and arthur keeps insisting on asking merlin what’s wrong and trying to make him feel better...they’re really for real friends!!! they’re so serious and grown up!!!!!

ive lost count of how many times either merlin or arthur has been nearly dead and had to get hauled around by the other one

also of how many times merlin used his magic in a way that should have been obvious to bystanders and wasn’t

“if morgana doesnt kill you i will" “threatening a king is treason merlin” “what about threatening an ASS” listen. look me in the eyes. this is TOP TIER banter

remember how in the early seasons they’d bend over backwards to leave plausible deniability when expressing affection? like “we’d be good friends if you weren’t a prince” or “you’re not wise or anything but yeah you’re wise” or whatever dumb toxic masculinity bullshit...those days are OVER with. merlin speaks DIRECTLY from the heart. “i’m worried about you” and “i swear i’ll protect you or die at your side” he is not fucking around even a little bit. this fool is in love

they were ALMOST cuddling when they slept together under that overhang

the two of them trapped in that net was PRICELESS. in the early seasons i got a little tired of the frequent slapstick/juvenile humor and wished the series was a bit more serious but now that they’re here i cling to every shred of levity with my whole heart

i was SO relieved to realize gwen wasn’t actually planning on killing that poor girl - i kept saying the entire time it was very out of character for her, no way could she be that cruel

arthur: “you wanna kill me fine but my last request is for you not to kill merlin” merlin: “you wanna kill arthur fine but you’re gonna have to go through me” arthur: “for fucks sake”

merlin: i never do as i’m told! that’s *** ******

i dont care if mordred DID save their lives i NEVER wanted to see him less i am so full of dread

i can’t BELIEVE morgana also has a pet dragon. she and merlin could have been the BEST foils and i’m STAYING mad about it. she was actually so good in this episode - way less full of evil smirks - that i briefly rejoined the morgana defense squad and got REAL pissed when mordred eventually shanked her, ESPECIALLY after she was so happy she was nearly crying to see him again. WHAT IS IT WITH THAT KID AND STABBING PEOPLE KNOCK IT OFF

the snowy environments in this episode were soooo good. the scenery was just...top fucking tier and it’s nice to see them somewhere other than the same old places. also like NO allo but arthur looks really nice just wandering around through a bunch of fucking snowbanks with dirt all over his face

arthur and merlin’s little ploy to steal that dagger by arthur faking a collapse was SO GOOD. they’re SO IN SYNC. i was THRILLED. better still: he winked when he was done. he used like FIVE WHOLE BRAIN CELLS AT ONCE and he was ALMOST as proud of himself as i am proud of him. what a guy, that arthur pendragon

their escape was really good too. the nonverbal communication? top tier! they just give each other little looks and then proceed to wreck the whole scene. doubly funny when the slaver is like WHO SPILLED THAT STUFF and arthur just kind of jerks his head over at merlin. snitches get stitches, YOUR HIGHNESS

i barely felt one whole emotion for sefa or her dad but him dying was like. sad. this show is sad. why the fuck am i watching it. i hate character death. they were hugging

arthur seemed like he was having just the time of his LIFE sneaking into that big ol tower of doom. dude was all cute little quips and smiles. popped his head outta that lil minecart like a kid at christmas

i love also that you give percival nothing but a single sword and in short order he goes about liberating all the slaves, killing all the slavers, and then reappropriating their swords to a better cause. he’s a one-man army. i was SO impressed. and he really looked like he was having fun too

merlin seeing that lil baby dragon again was SO fucked up and sad. why can’t it TALK :(((

also lmao “merlin you cant be that stupid” “no i am if you dont believe me watch” and merlin bolts and arthur sighs with SO much longsuffering and says “im going after him”

the light in morgana’s eyes when she talks about wanting to have arthur’s head and then her stabbing him over and over without actually killing him...she’s batshit insane. rip

i do like that arthur sort of TRIED to talk her around...it’s the first time he’s really gotten to speak with her since the end of season 3 when he found out who she was

on a final note, though, i am less than thrilled with the knighting of mordred...how is it arthur can KNOW who he is, that he’s a druid, and can do magic, and LET HIM INTO THE KNIGHTS, and still have sorcery be outlawed in camelot?? it doesnt make any SENSE

[sophygurl]

RotE feels spewage

Okay, so now that I’ve read everything currently written in the Realm of the Elderlings series (but boy howdy am I excited about the new short story coming out soon!), I’m gonna try and capture some of my overall thoughts and feels. This will be very long and undoubtedly spoilerific. 

For the record, I started the whole series about a year ago and have just raced through it all. The first thing I read was the short story Homecoming and it so fueled me with all of the mystery and magic that I started in on the first Farseer trilogy and then banged out through all of the other short stories and novels in order. 

I am happy to see there are lots of RotE fans on tumblr, but sad to see most of the posts go back months and years ago and there isn’t a lot of current discussion. Woe is the fangirl who finds a fandom later than everyone else. But I won’t let that stop me from sharing my thoughts. 

Okay so I have some new all-time favorite characters from this series. Strangely enough, Fitz is not one of them. NOT that I dislike Fitz, and I sure did enjoy reading 3 sets of trilogies from his perspective, but he’s just not a fave-fave. 

A lot of the people (and animals) around him became faves, but I have to admit to being somewhat in the minority from what I’ve seen, in vastly preferring the Rain Wilds/Bingtown stuff over the Six Duchies stuff. Again - not that I don’t love all of it, but just those were my fave bits and the stuff I personally related to more and want more of.

Most Fave Characters:

Paragon. Oh my dear mad ship, how I love you. How can my favorite character be a sentient ship made out of dragon cocoons who has literally gone insane? IDK, Robin Hobb that’s why. I am so pleased for Paragon that he got to finally be dragons, but oh how I’ll miss my crazy traumatized liveship. I hope we get to see more of his dragons in future works?

All of the Vestrits, but particularly the women. Especially Althea, Ronica, and Malta. Their character arcs were phenomenal and I’d love to read any and all side-stories of their lives and adventures between the Liveship Traders trilogy and the Fitz and the Fool trilogy, as well as anything in their futures. 

Bee! Bee Bee Bee Bee Bee. Bee Farseer. Bee the Destroyer. Bee....loved. I love her. Every single thing about her. More Bee! MORE BEE!

Thick. He was probs my favorite part of the Tawny Man trilogy and omg the picture of him as an old man with a cat in his lap teaching Bee how to make skillsongs and being happy and comfortable and cared for is just killing me. ILU Thick!

Thymara. Best part of the Rain Wilds Chronicles imo. And the bits we gleamed of her and Tats and their kid in the Fitz and the Fool trilogy made me so happy. The way her wings grew! I bet she flies all the time! Oh please please tell me more about Thymara’s life once she settled into Kelsingra! 

Nighteyes. I don’t know that I can discuss my feelings for him without sobbing, so I’ll leave it at that. 

Nettle Farseer. What an amazing arc, and getting to see her from being a baby to having her own baby. MOAR Nettle! 

Perseverance. Where is the Per fandom?! I adore this little due with my whole heart and soul. So brave, so kind, so patient, so loyal. I cry just thinking about him and how good he is. 

The Fool/Beloved/Lord Golden/Amber/whatever all else... I think I loved his Fool persona the most, but they’re all fantastic. 

Chade Fallstar. Look, I know he’s a real son of a bitch, but I love him anyway. I’m a sucker for old wizardy teacher types and prankster/trickster types and just always wanted for him to find some happiness and belonging.

Kettricken. Such a strong, sweet, fierce, stable, amazing woman. Who was so in love with Fitz and you can’t tell me otherwise! 

Ophelia - my second favorite liveship and one I think might... even?? want... to stay one??? Maybe??? We’ll see. Hopefully. Please tell us. 

Patience. Quirky mom/grandma figure who couldn’t have her own kids so protects the ones that need protecting forever in my heart! (Also Lacey, who I am certain in my heart of hearts was her lover as well as her friend and bodyguard.)

Spark/Ash. Another wonderful genderbender in the series. I hope they get to keep being both sides of themselves. 

Motley. How can you not love a crow who calls Fitz “stupid” every chance she gets and who bonds with Heeby and loves all the same characters we love? I hope Motely finally finds a good wit-bond. She deserves it. 

Every cat we ever encounter in any of the books. 

Characters I love but with some reservations:

Kennit Ludluck - I mean I hate this man, but I also love him. He was a fascinating character and his relationships with other characters were interesting, and his whole ... thing ... with Paragon was so emotional and intense. And I could have forgiven every other awful thing he ever did up until he raped Althea and then it was just - nope. Sigh. 

Dragons - particularly Tintaglia, Sintara, Mercor, Heeby,and Relpda. Dragons can be terrible, but they’re also a lot of fun.

Rapskal - loved loved loved him before he merged with the Elderling memories. Still kinda like him, but not quite as much. His relationship with Heeby is always sweet. 

Ships (as in shipping not liveships)

First a note about Molly. I always felt like Molly’s character was strangely un-fleshed out. She was just Girl who is a Friend, Young Woman who is Attractive, Woman Fitz Loves, Woman Fitz Longs For, Woman Fitz Finally Gets to be With, Woman Fitz Loses. And then from Bee’s perspective she’s Mom. But she never felt like a fully realized character to me??

So it was hard to love her, to ship her with anyone, to really understand and empathize for Fitz’s feelings for her. She was just kind of this Figure. Which is really such a shame, because Hobb has so many other wonderfully filled out female characters who are so varied and fleshed out and amazing in such different ways from one another. And then there’s just Molly. Woman Fitz Loves. For ... some reason?? 

IDK - is this a thing that other fans feel? Did I miss something that everyone else gets?

I mean, I understand that the fandom mostly ships Fitz with Beloved/Fool, but did anyone ship Fitz with Molly? Or ship her with Burrich for that matter?? 

I personally shipped Fitz the most with Kettricken, but I obvi get the Fitz/Fool thing too. I always thought when Fitz grew up into himself more, he’d realize it was for the best that Molly and Burrich had ended up together and leave it at that, and then eventually the feelings he and Kettricken obviously had for one another would have a chance to blossom. But whatever. She gets to raise Bee now, so that’s something. 

So anyway, my ships for this series:

Fitz/Ketrricken, as stated above. 

Fitz/Fool, cannot be denied.

Fitz/Nighteyes - not in a romantic or sexual way but they were true soulmates. 

Fitz/Burrich and Fitz/Chade and Fitz/Verity as son/father.

Fitz/Dutiful and and Fitz/Hap and Fitz/Per as father/son.

Fitz/Nettle and Fitz/Bee as father/daughter.

Fitz friendships - Fool, Riddle, Thick, Nosy, Smithy, Myblack, Fleeter, Motley.

Fool/Shrewd as friends or even a touch of father/son.

Fool friendships - Fitz, Prilkop, Verity, Kettricken, Nighteyes, as Amber: Althea, Brashen, Paragon, Jek. 

Chade/Shrewd as brothers.

Verity/Chivalry as brothers. 

Patience/Lacey - mirite?

Chivalry/Burrich - right?? right??!?! Come at me about it. 

Althea/Brashen - perfectly coupled. 

Malta/Reyn - especially once they’ve actually had some time to get to know one another better. (their courtship was kinda yikes in a lot of ways tho)

Etta/Kennit’s charm necklace lmao.

Nettle/Riddle - so sweet together. I’m glad she gets her happy ending, so to speak. Getting to be recognized for who she is at Buckkeep, having a job/calling she’s good at and loves, getting to marry the man she loves, having a child she gets to actually raise. All the stuff Fitz never got to have. 

Erek and Detozi! How cute are they and how adorable was the way their relationship was shown in the books? Awwwww. (I did think for the first couple books that they were both dudes so I was slightly disappointed when I figured it out, but still sweet.)

Sedric/Carson

Alise/Leftrin

Alise/Sedric as friends.

Alise/Thymara as friends.

Sintara/Mercor - can you ship dragons? I think I do. 

Fave Places:

Rain Wilds - anything to do with the Rain Wilds, Trehaug, Cassarick, Bingtown, Kelsingra, etc. Love it, want more of it. 

Withywoods. I fell in love with this quiet home and the people in it, especially as seen through Bee’s eyes, and especially once she discovers the places in the walls.

The Pirate Isles - fun stuff and I liked that we got to see a little bit about how it’s developed both as far as appearances and it’s political/trading place in the world. 

Stuff I especially want more of, questions I still have, mysteries I want solved, etc.:

I’ll honestly take anything in this world at any time, but here’s the stuff particularly weighing on me....

Magic: SO much more about magic and how it works and where it comes from. For instance, the Silver.

How is it in the dragons?

How did it get into the memory stone?

How is it related to the Skill?

How did the Farseers get access to this magic?

How do people not related to Farseers sometimes get it?

Is the Skill/Silver related to the Wit or are they totally separate things?

Do dragons have Skill and Wit? And also something else?

What, exactly are (were?) The Others.

AND WHY ARE THEY TERRIFIED OF CATS?

Speaking of cats - why can they talk to anyone regardless of Wit?

Are cats and dragons related somehow??!

And what about pecksies?! 

What about The Whites? Where does their magic come from? Is it related to all the silver/skill/dragon stuff at all? Where did they come from and how are they related to humans, Elderlings, etc?

Also what in the freaking frak IS the skill-current and how does it woooorrrrrk? 

HOW are the Vestrits all so linked to magic?!?! I keep having these theories that Ephron did something to all his kids and grandkids, maybe to protect them from the blood plague, that made them all more susceptible to things like dragon glamour and skill-healings and the like. And why did he decide to stop trading with the Rain Wilds and magical items? What did he KNOW? Am I making stuff up in my head, or is there something there? I feel like there’s something there.  

History: grand-scale and smaller more personal things I’d love to see explained more either in short stories or as characters learn more in potential future trilogies and such - like as Nettle and the coteries learn more from the skill-cubes or as the new Elderlings and dragons learn more from their artifacts and buildings. Some examples:

Chade’s life. Would ADORE a short story about his life pre-Fitz, his many adventures as Lady Thyme and other identities, his life as Lord Chade and all of the secrets he never told anyone, his various spy networks and how they worked, etc. 

How did the Servants get so corrupted? How did their unholy alliance with The Others get formed? What was Clerres before it was the White Prophet/Servant place? What were the bones and skulls from? Some creatures bigger and badder and older than dragons?? 

FITZ’s Parentage! Especially his mom! We know she was Mountain-born, we know she had an affair with Chivalry who was not one to go about having affairs like that, we know Fitz’s grandfather forced his mom to give Fitz up, but that’s literally it. How did Chivalry and his mom meet and what happened between them? Why did his mom’s family decide she couldn’t keep him? Did she have the Wit - is that how he got it?? What was little toddler Fitz’s life like?? What happened to his mom after she was forced to give him up?? Did she marry and have more kids - are their Fitz-siblings and their kids and grandkids out in the world, maybe in the Mountains?

And that time really early in the books, maybe the second one? When he encountered some people in the market from the Mountains and there was a young woman who started screaming and pointing at him and crying and was held back by the others - I mean, that was his mom yea?? Why did we never come back to that scene. I kept waiting for Fitz to remember that and link it to what little he remembered of her. Sigh. 

Stories about Dragons and Elderlings of old! Maybe some about their destruction but also just ... what their lives were actually like?? How they came about?? How they made their art and architecture and stuff?? IDK. I’m so curious about this part. 

Maybe something about King Wisdom and how he sought out the Elderlings for aid, or if the Elderlings were already gone by then how he discovered the putting-your-life-into-stone thing? Maybe some stories about skill coteries who traveled together up the skill road to make their own dragons? TELL ME HOW THE FARSEERS ARE LINKED TO THE ELDERLINGS!

The gods, too. Sa and the priesthood of Sa and how all that got started, how it got corrupted, etc. How Sa connects with El and Eda. Are they real? Are they representations of the Skill or the Skill current or???  

Chalced’s history is one I’m very curious about. Are they connected to the Servants and Others in toppling the Dragon/Elderling civilizations, or did they just hate the Stone Pillars for other reasons? How did they get to be so ... terrible? 

Future:  Some of the stories I wanna see about what comes next!

BEE!!!! Bee and Kettricken and Per and Integrity and Hap and Motley and Spark riding through the Mountains together with Fitz/Fool/Nighteyes-as-stone trailing them! How all of their lives progress, and how Hope and Promise grow up together and what their lives are like and maybe check-in with Steady and Swift on occasion and yea. 

Are Fitz and the Fool and Nighteyes happy now that they’re whole and in the Skill together? How long can they stay active and watch over Bee? 

Gosh, I’d really like to see how the folks at Withywoods continue to heal and recover. Too bad they don’t have therapists in this world...

Will Prilkop be able to take the dozen or so Whites left and build something new? Maybe use their powers for good? Will Bee ever be prompted to find and use a Catalyst or will she continue to refuse to be a White Prophet? Will another White step in her place, and if so - will it be good or bad?!?! 

Will Motley find a wit-bond? Did Fleeter ever find one?? What about Swift - we never found out if he got one did we??! More wit-bond stories! 

Chassim, the Duchess of Chalced! How is she faring? Is she able to make progressive changes to her country? Do she and Selden keep in touch??

How are the Rain Wilds and Bingtown Trader’s societies being affected by all of the changes? Same for the Pirate Isles. Are they able to adapt and prosper? Would love to see some stuff about their times both between when TRWC ends and Fitz/Fool trilogy begins and also after all the dust settles as the Liveships turn into Dragons and whatnot as well.

How are Erek and Detozi doing??

Geography: I’d love to see some complete maps of the Realm. Maybe have some stories set in or around the Spice Islands since we hear so much about them but have never been there. Will we find more Elderling ruins? Where the Whites originally came from? Are the icy glacier areas in the North covering more ancient ruins? More about this world!!

So yea that’s a lot. And that’s just what’s occurring to me right now. I feel some deep re-reads are gonna be in order. This might one of those series that I just continually find myself reading and re-reading. 

I’m dazed.

Come talk to me RotE fandom!! (my inbox is open)

[synchronysymphony]

My dear that's too vague, please rant

okay I’m so sorry wow but here it Comes ,, (this is really therapeutic for me LOL so you don’t have to read it bc it’s going to be so long) (also under a read-more bc I don’t want to ruin anyone’s day)

my guy ,, I’m not the type of person to give up easily. I’m persistent, and I really do believe in getting up and trying again, no matter how hard things are. But I feel like I really should give up, because nothing I do seems to do any good, and I’m fucking up everything in my entire life.I adore academia. I always have, even as a little girl when I had to teach myself math, and assign myself grades because being an unschooler can suck for someone who genuinely wants to learn everything, and has no one to ask for help. But I was good at it! I did teach myself math, and history, and literature, and science, and all those things– and I taught them to my younger siblings, too. When I got to high school, I thought things would change, because I fought so hard to get out of homeschooling (not that it’s a bad thing; it just wasn’t right for me), and now I had a chance to learn, and be taught, and do real homework, and it all seemed so perfect.Except, I really struggled! I didn’t have a good background in math and science, so I had to work so much harder than everyone else just to do worse (which, granted, for an AP student isn’t really bad, but I’ve always looked for reasons to hate myself, so this was a good one). And it continued all four years! I loved learning so much, and on the few occasions when I could concentrate long enough to read the textbook, I got really into it and could spend hours just poring away. I took AP chemistry, not because I’m good at science, but because I wanted to learn it, and I was fascinated by the labs. But I didn’t do very well in the end, and that probably really affected my ability to get scholarships. I ended up going to Ohio State my freshman year, 2500 miles away from home, because they gave me more money than anyone else.When I transferred to UCLA for my second year, I thought everything was going to turn around. I was back in California! I was studying at one of the best linguistics programs in the country! Except ,,I still couldn’t study. I still couldn’t concentrate. And I still couldn’t get out of bed or participate in class or go to office hours often. I tried really hard, and I still am, but nothing seems to be working. I had to give up my computer science minor because two weeks into Intermediate Programming, I realized I couldn’t remember how to do functions (which is like ,, really bad lol). I love learning so much, and it’s always been my dream to go into academia and be a professor/researcher and share knowledge with the world, because in my eyes, that’s the noblest thing I could do (me in particular, not “one”). But I can’t fucking cut it in this world. My syntax class is so hard. I failed two quizzes, do you know that? Most of the people in my class really hate it. All they do is complain, and they don’t care about it, and they’re definitely going to forget everything in two months, which is totally fine, and I’m not judging, but I hate myself so much, because I do care, and I do want to learn, but I do so horribly in comparison. 

And then, my future. I love working in the lab with all my heart, but I don’t think I’m going to get a position there for next year. I decided to take a gap year, you know, because grad school is expensive, but now I need to find a job, and I’m so scared that I won’t be able to. My mom thinks I’m a burden already, and I am, and I really do think it would be better if I died, because then she wouldn’t have to pay for me anymore. It’s a bit of a sunk-cost fallacy, though, because I’ve stayed alive for this long, so it seems like I should continue on. But that’s logically not true. I don’t know if I’ll get into any grad schools, and even if I do, I’ll probably just fuck it up and throw away my chance like I did here. I can’t do anything right, not even the things I love. Yeah, if I’d done a different major, I probably would have been fine, because I’m a good writer, and I’m good at analyzing texts and stuff, but gosh, can you imagine the blowback if I’d decided to do literature or political science? It’s bad enough that I’m doing linguistics and cognitive science. I think the only reason people accept it is because they don’t know what it is.And speaking of which, my dream is of course to get a PhD in linguistics (morphological processing, yeah), but my mom wants me to do psychology. Which, okay, I’m interested in everything, and I do love psych, but she wants me to do it at her university, because it’s free. What kind of horrible person would I be to turn that down? It’s another reason to die, because I know I would go completely insane if I had to live in my home (without my siblings) for another six years, but I can’t say no to my mom after everything she’s done for me. I would be good at clinical psych, I know I would. I shouldn’t even complain. Because what am I even looking for, fulfillment? That’s so selfish. I’m probably the most selfish person ever, because here I am, in love with something so economically useless. I can’t pay for my parents’ divorce by drawing bad syntax trees. I don’t know what’s going to happen in my future, but I dread it so much. I never thought I’d be alive this long, and actually, I still don’t think I’ll make it out of college alive sometimes. I have a really detailed plan for when I die, and I could carry it out literally any time, and most days, I feel like I will. But I probably won’t, because I fail at everything else, so I’m definitely going to fail at that, too.

People have always thought I was popular, and still do, and I do act like it because I’m a conventionally attractive valley girl, but I’m so scared of losing everyone around me and doing something bad that would hurt them. It’s happened before – I’m too pretty, and I get too much attention from people of other genders, and that makes the people around me upset. And I’m not even that great anyway. Like, I’m fun to party with, and I’m charming (I think), but I’m not Good. I’ve had so many bad romantic relationships, and some of them are totally not my fault lmao but others must be. I don’t know what I did, but I must have done something. They would never tell me, though, so I don’t know how to fix it. Anyway, I’m also a really bad person. I’m so selfish and lazy, and I don’t do enough for others, and I’m so self-absorbed, and I’m a whiny crybaby who can’t even stand the word “bitch” and I’m just so weak and annoying and gross. I’m too bubbly, and I say motivational things, and I tell everyone to do their best, and it’s so annoying, but I don’t know what else to do, because I tried creating a fake personality before, and it was just weird, and I hated myself even more. I’m scared to lose people, but I’m even more scared to hurt them, so I end up pushing them away, or isolating myself, and I know I’m going to end up all alone. I’m so afraid of getting older. I have panic attacks whenever I think about graduation. I haven’t even ordered my sash and cap yet, because I’m too much of a fucking baby to go online and do it, and now it’s probably too late. I’m missing so many things, and I’m too old to be this young. I’m so immature, you know? And so ignorant, and so inexperienced, and yeah, I want wisdom, but I’m so afraid to grow up and get it. 

I have two papers to write this weekend, and a take-home final, and a final to study for, but I’m struggling so hard, because I just want to die, and it’s hard to think about anything else. I’m stupid, like it’s not even an indictment, I mean intelligence is just a construct anyway, but I hate it. I want to do better, and I can almost do it, but then something happens, and I fall back down again. I can’t do anything right, and I never have, and I never will. I will die as a complete failure and waste and burden on the world.

And I think that’s the worst part. Because above all, above anything else, I want to be good. I want to help, and make the world better, and create some light and beauty where I can. But I’m not, because even my presence, even the smallest breath I take, is an inconvenience at best. At this point, the only good thing I could do would be to die, but even that would have consequences, because then my parents would have to pay for the funeral (I have it planned– I’m going to keep them from knowing that I killed myself, because the shame of having a daughter who committed suicide would upset my mom so much, but funeral costs aren’t cheap). I just keep putting it off, because I’m a loser like that. Right now, I do have a reason, because I need to write the paper for my group project, but once I do that, I can die. My group partner can present it by herself, I’m sure. But knowing me, I probably won’t. So that’s another thing to hate myself for.

I’m sorry for unloading this. I really am. I know you asked, but you don’t deserve to have this dumped on you, and of course, no one else does either. I’ll do something, so don’t worry, but yeah, don’t feel too bad. I’m still going to do my best (at least until Tuesday). 

[caterinaprimrose]

The way you write it, it sounds as if you are romanticizing an abusive relationship.

 Oh no, of  course not. That’s awful. Lmao. Abuse is a serious fucking thing, in any manner. Physical, emotional, mental, substance, violence in general is just an entirely scary thing that no one should be subjected to. 

However, this is fiction. 100% disassociation of character and writers. I’ve never written a story like this before, and it’s honestly one of my favorites. Here is why, the dynamic is fabulous. 

I actually got an anon I haven’t answered yet that asks, “Can you give us an ooc analysis of Braxton and Caterina?” So I should tie these two things into one! 

This subject has come up several times, and I feel that my readers here on tumblr have an unfair advantage considering I only post major events in the character’s lives. Anyone that roleplays with us actively sees the cpmplexity that Caterina and Braxton have.

First, to understand the relationship you have to understand the characters.

There is no doubt that the relationship is abusive in mental and physical levels. Mostly mental, however. He’s only actually physically harmed her once and it was because she fucked up in the company, so he would of beaten whoever did that. (Not saying it’s okay, just clarifying he wasn’t beating his woman to beat his woman.) 

Caterina and Braxton are almost the same person in all realness. That’s why Braxton doesn’t trust her, because he wouldn’t trust himself. People don’t see that, however, because she’s always got this public image set up, as does he. 

Braxton and his company do less-than-legal work, much like a mob (no secret OOC). Braxton is ambitious, greedy, manipulative, insincere, detached, intelligent, prideful, and vindictive. Every single one of these traits applies to Caterina, too.

However - publically, Braxton is kind, generous, charming, harmless, rich, and has the city’s best interest in heart. 

Publically, Caterina is bubbly, stupid, exceedingly vain, spoiled, arrogant, girly, prim/proper, playful, submissive, flirtatious, kind, etc. Everything a stereotypical rich, snobby woman would be. 

Caterina, real Caterina, has this mentality that society is way behind its time. She hates that everyone blindly follows these morals and laws made up by people who don’t follow them themselves. She sees the structure of society as an idea, some type of leash to control the people. Just because some guy who one day declared himself a leader said so. She thinks that she is enlightened, so she doesn’t have this moral system restricting her, that’s one thing. 

That’s why she’s okay with putting herself into these really terrible situations with bad people. She does something to get something. 

Now, to back up even further and explain where that mentality came from - she has never been independent. Her mother died at a young age (Like fifteen) and so she was taken in by this man whom she fell in love with and emotionally (and even a little physically) harmed her. She ended up killing him (so she thinks) and running in the end. But she didn’t know how to take care of herself without doing dirty work. So she has spent her life from man to man, each more rich and influential than the last.

 She was patronized for it, but coaxed into believing that this is okay by those men. She’s built on manipulation and lies.  She was told that she’s going a lot further than most because she has no bounds holding her back. 

So she spends her life watching out for herself, always keeping herself secure and when one started to falter she had a plan B. Sick, I know. 

Fast-forward, we get to Braxton.

Braxton’s history isn’t fully known - not even to his writer. It’s been slowly revealing itself and piecing together for the writer and readers on this roleplaying journey. 

From what we’ve gathered (mind you, it might not be true but this is what Braxton the character has said ICly), Braxton didn’t like his mother - at all. She always pressed for him to be a businessman. He never played with the other children, he stayed inside and studied. He never learned to share. So he’s almost like this overgrown child with a lot of power which makes him incredibly volatile. 

Caterina and Braxton mixing together makes perfect sense. 

They’re both overgrown children. Not in a dumb way, but in an emotionally unstable way. Not to say that Caterina is insane - she’s not. I hate that escape-goat to just label a woman as insane. No, this is how she is and I can justify it with the experiences the character has gone through and the complex psychological effects. She’s just not a good person. She’s a terrible person in a terrible situation but that’s the situation she thinks is best for her. 

Caterina and Braxton work so well because they feed one another. She feeds into his vanity - he has a huge god-complex and she knows how to really blow that up. So she worships him in order to get the things that she wants. That is security, housing, food, extreme amounts of gold, additional fame (She loves attention. It’s hilarious.), and she hardly has to work for it.  

He also gives her a challenge. There is a constant game between them 

Caterina became infatuated with Braxton over materialistic items. She saw that he’s willing to do anything for his benefit, and she saw that as a sign of strength. She needed someone who had no boundaries, just like her. So when she attached herself to him, naturally he saw this opportunity and took it. 

Her fearless adoration and pending love for him gives him this intense advantage over a very capable, intelligent woman. She, herself, believes that once she can gain Braxton’s full trust he’ll start to love her too and that’s the challenge she’s so obsessed with. 

In a way, Caterina is almost like Braxton’s creation, he broke her of her self-serving attitude and remade her into his own image. If Caterina didn’t see Braxton has worth it, if she had little faith in him, she wouldn’t stay. 

It’s like you’re putting one whirl pool next to another and making the maelstrom. 

So he bends her to his will and delights in watching her strive to please him. When he’s bored, he can play games with Cat and she will always play back - willingly, and with pleasure. He can hurt her and then snatch her back up again with well chosen words and actions. 

He prides in the fact that he’s taken this beautiful, successful, ambitious woman and turned all her plans and mentality towards benefiting him - which, to Caterina, indirectly benefits her. 

She, in both her devotion and her adoration of him, is a mirror to Braxton’s ego. Highly narcissistic, she would provide proof to him of his own genius and brilliance - both in the very fact of her existence and because she fervently believes it herself. Cat is his, body and soul, and that must be immensely gratifying to someone as egotistical as Braxton, especially considering how easily he controls her.

That being said, I do think that Braxton cares for Caterina. Not in any grand, passionate, self-sacrificing or selfless way. Not in a way in which her well being and happiness are important to him. Not in any normal, healthy way. But in his way, and maybe soon, as much as he is capable of.

And eventually her uniqueness in response to him, I believe, will penetrate something very deep and buried within Braxton’s psyche and bring it back to life - a faint glimmer of tenderness consumed by layers of darkness and depravity.

And maybe Caterina is just very delusional in thinking that she can keep digging and breaking herself down, down, down and turning into what he wants so that one day he’ll feel as intensely about her as she is coming to feel about him - but that’s what she believes. 

So when I write these things, these stories, I myself am not romanticizing their abusive relationship - I’m writing it in a manner at which Caterina feels. I’m writing as if she were a real person. The work shows how captivated she is by him because she is captivated by Braxton. She feels romance so to give off that air of romance I write it poetically. 

It’s an artistic choice I make with all of my characters, to use words that give the readers feelings my characters feel - even if it betrays the actual situation. 

So in a way, I would hope that the romanticized writing with an abusive situation would make you uncomfortable because that means I wrote it right and you’re very caring and human. 

If it makes you sick and you don’t enjoy the story, by all means - unfollow. I’ll understand. Not everyone can disassociate their characters and themselves, and especially if you’ve been in a similar experience, if my writing surfaces some sort of bad memory or emotion in you - just unfollow Caterina’s blog. I don’t want anyone to suffer because of this character’s story. 

I have much much more family friendly blogs like @quinn--nadine and @melodyofmercy :) 

This was super long but I feel like I explained it well, I hope that helps!

@braxtonhudson

@thewildercard 

@everythingisbetterwithpirates 

@warlordofruination