#i guess they weren’t popular in the US and that’s why no one has done a video essay

[weirdthoughtsandideas]

Desperately waiting for someone to make a deep dive into the Lou! comics, bc let me tell you those were INSANE.

If you’ve only seen the animated tv show of Lou, they only adapted the first comic book.

What is special with Lou is that she ages, which means she starts out as a naive 12 year old and then become an angsty teen and then a uni student. The only problem is that for someone younger, it’s harder to understand the books where she’s older, and when you’re older, you feel bored with her early books.

But it’s very fun! Things flip out!

She also came out as bi as she started University which makes me SO BADLY wanna re-read the comics just to see if there were hints as she grew up

[mydearsteven]

a Diamond from space in a school

promt: Steven doesn’t know what a school is and decided that he wanted to come with you on what you’re doing.

featuring: Diamond!Steven x Reader

you were only doing your homeworks on homeworld, it was a quiet night. But what you didn’t realize is that tomorrow is school day. You see you would often spend time at homeworld thanks to the technology of warp pad but tomorrow you have to go to school, and not having any clothes on homeworld did not make it better. You would eventually try to ask Steven to go back to earth tonight because you have school.

“Steven, can you teleport me back to earth? i have school tomorrow.” he stared at you confused. What on stars is a ‘school’? it felt weird on his mouth. Steven would ask you what a school is and would explain it to him.

“so.. ‘school’ is a place where you learn and make friends?” you nod at him. “hm, interesting. I want to go to school with you.” your eyes stared at him in shock, he only rises a brow wondering why you react in such way.

“is there a problem, __?” his head tilted to the right while his face remain calm. You don’t know how to tell him that you need to sign up first before entering a school, you eventually told him that he needs to sign up next year if he wanted.

Steven scoffs and look at you in the eyes. “i do what i want. That is my planet after all, if they dare to deny me i could just destroy the head of that place.” he frowns and crosses his hands, you could only sighs and hope for the best.

‘

it is now monday, and you are waking up from the sound of your alarm going off. ‘6:00… better start preparing stuff i guess..’ you thought, getting off from the bed you shook your boyfriend who was still sleeping.

“Steven, wake up. We need to get ready for school.” he groans and ignored you who eventually wake up because of your constant shaking. “do you always wake up this early?” he inquired while rubbing his head, you chuckled and say yes. “stars.. i couldn’t imagine my life living like this.”

you made breakfast for the both of you while he took a shower, once he was done though he shouted your name so that you could take a bath too. You reached up to your room only to find him using the diamond clothing from homeworld. “no! you’re absolutely not wearing that.” searching through your wardrobe, he was groaning once again. “why? this is like my everyday clothes.” you found his pink jacket and a black shirt with a diamond authority like shape but only pink on it, you threw those at him.

“you’re going to wear that, trust me its so much better.” trusting your words, he wore it and he thought it was really comfortable than his diamond clothes. You blushed a little, he look even better with normal human clothing. It suit him.

finally after taking a shower, the two of you ate your breakfast and went to school.

ofcourse being a half gem has it perks, one of it being able to leap and landed safely. That’s what exactly Steven does, he carries you and he told you to hold on tight, suddenly leaps up on the air. Squeezing your eyes shut you finally realizes that you’re already on the school ground, everyone was staring at the two of you; wondering how in the world did you two get from up there and landed safely.

you weren’t exactly that popular but not that nerdy either, though you have some bullies going around you but not to THAT extent. “why’s everyone looking at us? i thought that was normal.” you glared at him. “yes, normal to us but not these people, Steven.” he only shrugged before finally the two of you reached the principal office.

you knock on the door once and there was a voice. “come in!” twistinh the door knob, you saw the principal there with a stern look on his face. “what is it do you need? and who… is this?” he looks at Steven, noticing his pink diamond shaped eyes. Steven only look at him calmly with his hands inside the pocket.

“what?” he inquired, the principal suddenly smiles. “__! what do you need?” completely ignoring Steven’s question. You asked him if your boyfriend could be here for one day, the principal ofcourse declined this idea.

“what? are you dumb or something? he HAVE to sign up first! which is going to be in a few month. And he also needs some..” he make some ‘money’ looking gestures on his hands, you could only sigh at this.

you were about to put the money on the table before finally Steven’s hand get the money away from you. “Steven?! what was that for?” you shouted at him, he only glares at the principal with an intense glare. The principal only gulps at the sudden change of atmosphere inside and outside the room.

“you will let me in. Or else.. i might need to give some punishment to you for not following my orders.” he said in a threatening tone, save to say the moment you guys went out of that room; the room was almost destroyed.

“okay, now! lets go to this.. ‘glass’ of yours.” you gave him a deadpanned look. “its class, Steven. Not glass.” he shrugged. “same thing.”

‘

walking inside class, the whole class suddenly shuts up and look at the boy who was behind you, who is obviously Steven. You can’t deny, he does look attractive in that clothing. Well proud to say that he’s yours, and you knew that Steven wouldn’t leave you for any of the girls who even dare to laid eyes on him.

the teacher immediately tell you to go to your seat, when you wanted to go though you felt hands on your wrist. Steven is nervous, he has sweats on his forehead. Not because he’s scared, he just don’t know what to do.

“hey, Steve. Its alright i’ll be right there okay? just tell them your name and that’s it.” you tried to reassure him and slips your hands away from his grasp, leaving him alone.

Steven look at the students who was infront of him, he was mostly focused on you though. “uhm, my name is Steven Diamond Universe. That’s it.” the class was stunned on how his voice sounds like silk.

the class was quiet for a moment before someone raised their hand. “Steven, is that your real eye color?” everyone inside the class immediately look at his eyes, most if them finding it pretty to have that amazing shade of pink. But they’re even more suprised when he said that its his real eye color.

another student raises their hand. “oo, Steven! were you that person who was carrying __ that came from the sky this morning?!” Steven answers calmly. “yes.” with that one answer only, the whole class suddenly became a fuss.

“ooh!! Steven! can you do that to me too?!-“ “no! i was first to ask!” “cut it out you all, he clearly choose me!” you were uncomfortable because well, he is your boyfriend and all of these people just met him. But by the looks of it, Steven looks pretty chill about it. You knew that he would never carry them since he ‘doesn’t want to get his hands on organic things’ even though he is half organic and you’re an organic.

the teacher cut us all out and asked Steven where he wanted to seat. “Cut it out class!! anyway.. ehem, Steven. Do you know who you want to share a seat with?” Almost all of the class immediately left a spot for Steven to seat, since you don’t really have a seatmate you’re just there.

Steven look over the whole class before smirking at you, walking towards where you’re sitting the people he passes by cursed under their breath.

“hey there lovely, sitting here by yourself?” he took a seat beside you, while you just nudged his elbow slightly. “pftt don’t do that again.” you blushed by how he calls you ‘lovely’.

after the first period was finish, it is time for lunch. And by what i mean is you have to deal with his complaints about the food. “ew.. gross. Is this what they gave you at school? you know what, i should sent Pearl to give us a PROPER meal.”

and he really did did that. His spaceship was coming and all of the students and teachers inside was walking out of the building to see what was going on. Only to see you standing by Steven’s side while Pearl was giving him his lunch.

“okay Pearl, you can go back to homeworld now.” you’re pretty anxious on the way everyone was staring at you. “ofcourse, my diamond. I hope you have a nice visit here on earth.” Steven only nods before Pearl took off to homeworld.

once you turn your backs around, you saw how everyone was staring at the two of you. Steven saw how uncomfortable you are and decided he would just takes you to your house, it would be better that way rather than just staying here doing nothing he thought.

after you went home you dropped yourself on the bed. “holy hell that was so awkward.” he chuckled and starts to cuddle you. “awww are you tired?” teasing him only results in a light smack on your head. “shut up. And go to sleep, i want to enjoy this moment before back to working again tomorrow..” once he finished those sentence you heard a light snore coming from him. You laughed a little before pecking his forehead and start to drift off to a deep slumber.

a/n: holy sharts this is long. what the hell

[theflavorofmyautismisspicy]

I want to yap about the Finnish dub of the series so here’s some random facts about it I’ve learned.

The voice actors for the main characters haven’t actually done much work besides this show. Like their resume is just “side voice in one Horrid Henry episode” and that’s it. Expect for Leon’s voice actor, he’s the only one who has done a few other notable voice acting jobs. Also the voice actor for Markus has acted in musical theater a lot so I guess that’s interesting. He also went to the same high school as my sister lmao. On the other hand, the “not main characters but play a more or less major role” such as Willi, Hadschi, Michi and Natasha are all voiced by like very talented and critically acclaimed voice actors?? Like the people who are carrying the entire Finnish dub industry on their shoulders and have played like 50 different roles. Especially Willi’s voice actor caught me off guard cause he’s also an actor and his most well known role is a very iconic character in Finnish popular culture from a very iconic and very long lasting soap opera TV-series. Like what do you mean the actor of Seppo Taalasmaa also voices Willi in the Finnish dub. It breaks my mind.

Also some kinda interesting random facts about the translation (or atleast I find them kinda interesting). They weren’t allowed to say the word “hell” in the dub, which like I get it, it’s a kids show, but there’s so many cool euphemisms to the word hell in Finnish language so the fact that they used none of those is such missed potential. Also when choosing the setting for the series they just like,,, did an almost direct translation of Grünwald?? Like it takes place in a town called Viherlaakso which is an almost direct translation of it. There does actually exist a place called that but it’s like a small and irrelevant section of a bigger town, I honestly think they just went with the almost direct translation and didn’t mean the actual real life place with that name to be the setting cause it just feels so random. Honestly if it was up to me, they would be living in Kerava. That’s a much more accurate setting for this series. Also the s1e10 just never got dubbed. It was just straight up banned for showing “the kind of bullying they didn’t want to show to kids”. Which is kinda weird to me cause yeah Jojo got almost killed but that’s just kind of an average episode of the show. Like why specifically that one was deemed too inappropriate for kids. We will never know for sure.

But yeah all in all, all though the Finnish dub has some miscastings and translation errors I still think it’s honestly pretty good. Idk maybe nostalgia is affecting me but there’s some real talent behind most of the voices and it’s definitely better than the English one. They also did the thing, that for example the Swedish and Italian dubs of the series also did, aka dubbed the opening theme song and honestly, I like the Finnish opening more than the original, it’s such a banger.

[skye-huntress]

I’m in Love with the Villainess Reaction

Episode 10

With Lene gone, Rae has to take over for all her duties, including brushing and styling Claire’s hair.

Oof, Rae can’t even appeal to her sweet tooth without it backfiring.

Wow, Claire’s so out of it, she can’t even keep up the act of hating Rae. I saw a little smile there. Truthfully, I think Rae has already helped her more than she realises during this difficult time period.

Well, she perked up quickly at the mention of her “sister”

Why’d she have to write it like a love letter?

Popular with the ladies as ever. All but one, that is.

Honestly Claire, I don’t know what you were expecting. Rae’s doing the same comedy routine since the day you met and after months she finally has a new audience.

Oh dear, Rae, you have no idea what you’ve just done gaining Manaria’s interest like that

I see a lot of girls in the cafeteria, and not a single one came her to eat.

Ah yes, the world’s only quad-caster (as far as anyone knows) and one of the few magic users more OP than Rae.

Manaria’s right, simply being a quad-caster is nothing to boast about on its own. Knowing how to make full use of your magic is a different story. For instance, Rae experimented with her magic to modify and even create new spells in ways that weren’t possible in game. Her tungsten carbide barrier is a perfect example.

Don’t worry, Rae. Manaria may have won over Ralaire, but you’ll always be her number 1 thanks to feeding her your cooking.

I saw a family tree on the author’s Twitter that explains the familial relationship between Claire and Manaria. If I’m not mistaken they are what you call second cousins.

So here’s finally the missing piece in Claire’s childhood flashbacks. Manaria was the one who helped her after her mother’s death.

Don’t worry, Claire, I think we all understand how you could make such a mistake.

Okay, seriously where did all the boys go?

Since Manaria is a character that appears in the game, Rae is all too familiar with her capabilities.

Manaria could spend time with any other girl in school, but the one she is currently interested in is the one who doesn’t want her around.

Oof, good thing Manaria didn’t hear her internal exposition in her head, or she’d have some explaining to do later.

Rae, you’re making it worse!

I’m with Rae. My neurodivergent ass can’t even process poetry so it has always been the bane of my existence, especially during my High School English classes.

Why are they so offended? Rae brushes off invitations from the Princes all the time.

I see Rod has finally returned from wherever all the boys disappeared to.

You can hype Rae up all you want, she’s not going to play with you!

Yeah, he might be a chess master, but in battle, Rod’s fairly predictable. He just uses his massive reserves of power to keep throwing his minions at his opponents until they run out of magic. In a war of attrition, he’d win every time.

From what I understand, anybody can use spell breaker on the same magic as their own attribute/s, but it’s almost impossible to analyse magic in the middle of a fight, so it’s not a practical spell for most magic users. Manaria is one of the few who can pull it off, making spell breaker a specialty of hers.

Really, Claire, you’re only just noticing Rae is in a bad mood. Maybe if you stopped fawning over Manaria every second of the day, you might have noticed how unusually quiet she has been.

Yeah, Rae being jealous is the most obvious, and predictable reaction in the world. You get no points for guessing it, Claire.

Claire still isn’t convinced of Rae’s feelings, and honestly, this is largely Rae’s fault. Yet, here Claire is offering Rae a chance to actually prove it and erase any lingering doubts.

Yu knows what’s up.

Oh no, now that Manaria has figured Rae out, now comes the next phase, the teasing.

There’s an excellent question, Rae.

All this time, you were trying to set up Claire with Thane. This was the plan, right? For Claire to find her own happiness. Is this not what you’ve been working towards this entire time?

[keeksybee]

Rick and Spanish:

I’ve always wondered why he never speaks Spanish, Sanchez is obviously a Spanish name and while I get not using it with the kids or Beth because he actually cares about them understanding him, it’s totally in his character to use it with other Ricks or to piss Jerry off knowing it would drive him crazy to be talked about and have no idea what he was saying.

My main premise to this is I honestly don’t believe Rick is a no sabo kid (nothing wrong with being one BTW) I’ve done the math and if we assume Beth is 34 at the beginning of the series in 2013 (Summer must have been born 1996 when Beth was 17 and Morty would’ve come 3 years later in ‘99) that makes her birth year 1979 and presuming Rick had a slightly more planetary mindset when she was born that makes him 23-26 as was average for having kids back then, making his birth year 1953-1956.

Historically I get Beth not being taught Spanish to avoid discrimination, maybe it wouldn’t have been as bad when she was growing up but If Rick’s parents immigrated during WW2 , just before or after Rick was born or when Rick was a very young child that makes him a first gen immigrants child and while northern states were better, they weren’t great either, he would have very much been subjected to some pretty intense racism that he wouldn’t have wanted for his daughter no matter how much it hurt him to not know part of her own culture.

However I also believe Rick’s defiance streak is probably genetic and like hell he would give up his first language just to assimilate like many children of that generation may have been forced to, it was a thing in immigrant homes in America, particularly South American ones ( I’m not sure where the name Sanchez would be from specifically) where the children were banned from speaking their own languages. He however, was Rick Sanchez and would steadfastly refuse to be ashamed of himself or where he came from. It would have been a massive scandal when he married Dianne in their small town, she was most likely pretty, popular and white, he would have been heavily targeted as the schools wouldn’t have been non segregated for very long by the time he was in high school. Marrying Dianne was probably a very satisfying “Fuck you” to people who’d tormented him.

Which leads to the question why do we never hear him use Spanish. Six seasons and 40 years of heavy drinking and drug use and we never hear him slip once, and it’s not like he doesn’t screw up in other areas, language would be a simpler one. He never switches, never even swears in it, but there has to be something that triggers it.

I always imagined it would be Morty getting mortally wounded in a way that he can’t seemingly fix with what’s available to him. His June-bug is bleeding out in front of him and he can’t do shit, another person he couldn’t save. He breaks down, clutching the limp body his grandson, begging a god he doesn’t believe for the first time since his teens in a desperate mix of Spanish and English to do something, and illogically, when he thinks Morty has died, giving him what he remembers of his last rights knowing that if there’s a God the fact it’s him administering his rights is probably not doing any favours for his Grandson’s eternal soul, but then Morty miraculously coughs up blood.

He coughs up blood, not good but it means he’s alive, he can think now, he can do something, so he does.

Morty survives. Barely. He erases the memory, even he considers it too traumatic for Morty to recall, but he has to live with it, it haunts him, it haunts him in a way he hasn’t felt since his Dianne and Beth were killed in his dimension. That’s when he starts speaking to Morty in Spanish, the occasional “mijo” here, the rarer story about his upbringing there and openly conversing in Spanish with other Ricks in Morty’s presence.

Morty learns almost fluent Spanish in four months just to try and spite him. That’s his June-bug, guess Beth did pass down that competitive spirit, and some of his smarts too. It’s nice talking regularly in his mother tongue again even if he’d never tell Morty that, and it’s adorable when his grandson can’t pronounce something properly, messes up the tense of a word or stumbles in Spanish when he’s pissed off, it reminds him of a little kid. He gently corrects the tense errors under his guise of grumpy, codgery old man, Morty doesn’t even know how much better he gets.

Jerry’s pissed that he now doesn’t understand his father in law or his son, but that’s okay, it’s Jerry.

[jilymicrofics-deactived]

Today’s submission is a bit different - another non AO3 submission!

Author #16 | Title: Expectation | Not Rated

Prompt/s: expectation

Read below ⬇️

She is erasing the blackboard when he enters the room as if he owns the place and sits on a desk by the last row. Lily lifts his eyebrows at him and, in turn, Potter just smirks at her; it’s the kind of smile that makes some of her friends sigh, and while it does add to his charm, Lily does what she usually does in his presence these days: she frowns.

“May I help you?” She asks, uninterested.

He gives her a look of polite obviousness. “I am here for the class; this is the tutoring class for Chemistry, right?”

Lily glances at the formulas on the blackboard for a moment before turning back to him. “Yes, so?”

“I’m your new tutee, Evans.” He laughs suddenly. “Funny word, right? Tutee.”

“Amusing,” she replies, unsmiling. “Nice prank. I’m guessing Black is filming this or—”

“No, actually…��� There is a flush on his cheeks that Lily doesn’t remember seeing out of the football field. “Sirius doesn’t know I’m here. I—I have been told I need to get at least Exceed Expectations on my next Chemistry exam, or I’ll be kicked out of the team.”

“Then go study.”

“This is what I’m trying to do—look, my father is a Chemistry genius, but I obviously didn’t inherit his genes.” He watches her for a moment, then runs his hand through his hair as if he is just out of the field after a match. “Hey, Lily—may I call you Lily?”

“Not really.”

He breathes out, relieved. “Good, it felt strange. Evans—you are a good soul. I know it, everyone knows it. You wouldn’t let me reprove when you hold the key to my success, would you?”

“I don’t really care, Potter. Maybe some time away from football would do you some good.”

Potter looks properly appealed by the idea. “How could it?”

“You weren’t such a toerag before becoming the football star of the school.” She crosses her arms and looks away, annoyed by her outburst. It didn’t matter that Lily had nice memories of being friends with James Potter before Year 10; they had grown apart, James – Potter had made other friends and then he had all but ignored her in favour of enjoying his popularity and his arrogance. Lily didn’t mind it, she vouched she didn’t, at least not for herself. “You keep messing with Severus.”

He leans against the desk, suddenly annoyed. “It’s your boyfriend who doesn’t leave us alone.”

“Oh, right, because he has nothing better to do than follow you around to be bullied.” She grabs her things, admonishing herself for sparing her time for James Potter. “And he is not my boyfriend.”

“Oh.” There is something in Potter’s voice that makes her turn to him, despite herself. “I always thought, you were always together—”

“What?”

“Nothing.” But he smiles all the same, and it’s not obnoxious or a smirk anymore; Potter looks just glad for a moment. “I really need your help, Evans.”

Just go away, she tells herself. Instead, she shifts her weight from one foot to another. “What exactly do you want, Potter?”

He bites his lip, looking far more uncertain than she has seen him in the past couple of years. “I need good grades in Chemistry. It’s my worst class, and the coach says I cannot play if I don’t improve my grades.” He wides his eyes, begging her; his eyes are a nice shade of hazel. “Do it for Gryffindor? You don’t want us to lose to those snakes, do you?”

She doesn’t, not really, but this is not the reason why Lily walks to him and sits in the chair in front of his desk.

“Three o’clock,” she says. “Thrice every week. You will have homework, and if you don’t bother doing it, go find someone else to help you.”

He lets out a relieved breath. “You are a lifesaver, Evans—”

“I’m not done yet. We can use this classroom—”

“Can it be somewhere else?” Potter winks at her. “I’d rather people didn’t know.”

“You mean you don’t want Black to know.” He looks ashamed; she fights back an urge to laugh, though she doesn’t think he is fooled by it. Potter looks glad about her reaction. “There are some rooms in the library, I can book one for us.”

“Or you can go to my place.” When she lifts her eyebrows, he raises his hands. “Just for studying, my mother has this big office she doesn’t use. We would have it all for ourselves.”

“Is that how you attract girls to your place? To show off your big office?”

“I don’t really… Hey.” The smirk is back on his face as Potter tilts his head, eyes moving over her face. “Why are you concerned if I have girls in my place?”

Lily flushes. “I don’t,” she insists, though his smirk doesn’t sway. “We are studying in the library, not anywhere else. And there is something I want in return. Leave Severus alone.”

He rolls his eyes, straightening his back away from her. “I will if he—” Lily glares at him. Potter sighs exasperatedly. “Fine, I’ll lay off Snivellus. Snape.”

“Good.” She stands up. “Then I’ll meet you tomorrow afternoon. And Potter…” She looks at him. Other than a pen behind his ear, he didn’t bring anything to the classroom. “Bring your material for class tomorrow.”

He chuckles. “Yes, Ma’am.” Lily sighs. She is by the door when he calls her back. “Hey, Evans. I want something in return also.”

She chuckles despite herself. “You came here begging me to tutor you, and now you want something in return?” Potter nods, his face as serious as he can get. Lily shakes her head, not hiding her amusement. “Fine, let me hear it.”

“Promise me you won’t fall in love with me.”

Lily stares at him; Potter meets her eyes without blinking, his face showing an innocence that she doesn’t believe for a second. Lily knows him ever since Year 1; maybe she did have a crush on him when she was young and didn’t know better; maybe, for all he is arrogant and annoying these days, she has to admit he still holds a certain charm, with his dark-pit messy hair and hazel eyes that always promise mischief; maybe sometimes she wishes their paths hadn’t deviated so much as they grew older; maybe her heart skips a beat when she hears his laugh or when he is actually kind to another soul. 

But for all the maybes, there is only certainty as Lily smiles at him now.

“I promise you,” she assures, departing without looking back.

[iamafanofcartoons]

Rabbit Debunks Hbomberguy’s “RWBY is Disappointing Video” and explains why the Critics are wrong about RWBY.  Part 1 of 2

Making a thread reacting to the hbomberguy RWBY is Disappointing video.

Mostly as a refresher and also because there’s been a lot of dissension regarding it so why not.

Intro Calls it R (Rue) By lmaoo.

You’re not supposed to pronounce the W So the gist of it, is that he feels like it has great concept that could be interesting, but fails to execute it in any meaningful way???

Like overall it’s bad but there’s few good glimpses-

Of what could be a great show.

I guess for now I guess I can give it the benefit of the doubt and assume good intentions so far.

No words on the History of Monty Oum and RT history.

I mean it pretty much all checks out

Though immediately admitting your bias against the show takes the validity of some of your criticisms away ngl.

So he loves the Red Trailer but brings up the views it gained and then brings up the views of the episodes (Vol 1 ep 1 and 2) as a sort of gotcha like “oh see the trailer is more popular than the episode like look at the 15M to (episode 2) 6.8M ratio!!!”

Like those are two-  Wildly different things my guy

But what’s up with that “Red Like Roses Part 1 is the best composed music Jess has ever done” take?????

That’s wild asF fr.

Like no way you listened to the soundtracks of V1-3 and still have that opinion.

Like it’s amazing but????

“Does she get the scar from the fight or from something else, oooo mysterious”.

Is this a bit????

She so obviously gets the scar from the fight so I hope it’s just a bit lmao.

Also the complaint about Adam is so weird?

“He’s so obviously a bad guy that it doesn’t make sense”

“Since there’s already wolves set up as the baddies in the series”

Like, it’s not word for word what he said but that’s the gist of it?

It’s a bad and very nitpicky complaint since there are many series with more than 1 antagonist and antagonistic force.

I don’t know.

Saying “it’s coming from a well meaning place” but then saying it’s extremely bad, followed up by an intro song saying that RWBY is lame and it sucks all while dedicating it to Monty is…. So disgusting??? And very disingenuous???

Using the ending of Vol 2 as a point in your “they don’t know their story” when Ruby is laying down all the things that they have yet to solve (leading into the new volume and this laying down the groundwork for it)

It’s obviously in your face my dude.

Ah damn, a little out of order, but is there instances where Miles or Kerry  acknowledges good faith criticism? Panels? Deleted tweets? Anything?

Mainly just curious if it’s true that they haven’t and he just didn’t do the research by saying he “has a hard time finding any”

Another thing. Forgot to mention.

Really wish he prefaced his complaints about the voice acting and writing that he understood that the studio itself was amateurish and small with not a lot of budget to work with. (Unless that’s true) not that there isn’t criticism but that- There are TANGIBLE reasons why it’s the way that it is.

Where Do We Even Start?

Uhhh they never dropped the Dust Theft plot line????

Volume 2 was literally the culmination of the dust theft and the reason is because of Cinder’s plans.

Another thing that’s in your face but just, weirdly you gloss over???

“The intro doesn’t set up the story properly… leaves out the fragile peace between the nations…. Leaves out faunus… leaves out semblances…”

Quite literally, the intro talks about things that weren’t even revealed until Vol 4 to 9. The intro is good and sets up what it NEEDS-

Like sure you can say “oh but it’s only added till later when they got the story that they wanted to tell straight”

Mate, a pro tip for a lot of writers renowned/acclaimed have admitted that some of their works or some of their best writing decisions were made by the seat- Of their pants.

You think Naruto, one of the most iconic and popular anime of all time would have spun into how it is just off the intro of the first episode?

What about Bleach?

ATLA?

One Piece???

There are so many instances where the intro just isn’t all encompassing bc- That just isn’t how story writing goes.

You can have the best most rigid outline in the whole world, but at times you’re gonna go off script because there’s something you want to expand upon more or explore.

Ends off this segment by saying that RWBY’s story is interesting and it has neat ideas (backahandedly by adding “to write a wiki about”) but the storytelling only gets worse.

Which, I sort of disagree with???

It’s not stellar by any means, but I chalk that up with them- Not having the sort of resources available.

However from what they managed TO put together it was coherent enough to convey what they were meaning to portray.

Though I do have my gripes with certain aspects of the first two volumes.

But from V3 on? It’s only gotten- Stronger.

Yes I harp on V5 a LOT and it’s still one of the weaker volumes, but the conversations and character dynamics where stronger than they’ve been.

It was mainly the animation in the last few episodes of the giant fight that I just, wasn’t vibing with at all.

Worldbuilding and Conveyance

So next he talks about how aura was explained.

Bringing up both Harry Potter and ATLA and how they tell it as an example.

Following it up by making a rwby edit to make it seem as if it was mundane and boring.

Which isnt the case at all.

If you- Actually take the time to watch the scene.

It's about 1:20 long and while the explanation of what Aura does is being told to the viewer, it shows Ren taking down the King Taijitu with his aura.

It's another valid form of story telling because it's not just two characters talking on screen.

it's also giving us an insight of how it would be put into action.

"No one just happens to have full on speeches prepared in case anyone is to ask"

Uhhh, have you met Weiss?

Even the examples you gave literally is Hermione and Katara.

"Why does Jaune not know about this?

When he came from a long line of hero's and monster Hunters."

Idk, how does Naruto not know about Chakra despite 8 years as a academy student.

He probably just skipped out on it or didn't take it seriously enough.

He never went to- A prep school like Signal either.

His transcripts were faked, so you could easily say he went to Beacon with nothing more than a Dime, A old Rickety sword and a dream lol.

Also Pyrrha is super smart and also a really great battle tactician.

Of course she would be able to- recite what Aura does word for word.

It's not mischaracterization.

You just want to twist that narrative against her.

And not just that, I feel a strong mischaracterization of Jaune.

If Jaune is played off as an idiot for jokes, that's cool. But if he's shown to just not- Understand or doesn't know about the world at large, then that could hint at the fact that Jaune is more than just an idiot.

He's probably born in the sticks/boonies.

A country bumpkin if you will where Hunters aren't all that well known nor pop culture.

It doesn't dumb down the other characters.

Because Weiss is frustrated herself that someone so famous isn't recognizable by anyone and everyone in the world.

Same thing with her and the SDC

For Christ sakes, he only knew Pyrrha from a cereal box be fr

Well he brings up the Jaundice thing and yeah that's fair, a lot of people have gripes with that (i'm not one of them) and brings up how Pyrrha is only really a character for Jaune's development as a fighter and romance option but not much else on her own.

Which... Yeah I kinda- get that too.

Like, I liked Pyrrha too, but I do wish she had more to do in V1 and 2.

But in V3 is where she shines.

Hell there were so many people who did cry and got shocked by the end of Vol 3 even with the amount of screentime she gets.

"Praise RWBY for being feminist and progessive cause most of the mcs are women... But Jaune has 4 episodes dedicated to him, and has the coolest girl in school flirting and helping him become a stronger warrior."

Jaune isn't the main character.

How I've always viewed RWBY and JNPR has always been: RWBY as the protagonist and JNPR as the deuteragonist.

They hold about the same amount of importance because of how close their teams are.

So of course you're going to want to give the deuteragonist development and screentime to.

And yes Jaune had Jaundice.

RWBY still has an ABSURD amount of episodes dedicated to them as well so the balance/ration will always be in RWBY's favor regardless of how you feel about Jaune as a character and Jaune's importance to the story.

Same goes for the rest of NPR

"The writer's dont know what Yang's semblance is.

It goes from her being angry, to it being her taking hits and she transfers that energy back to them by hitting them again, and then temper tantrums, and then re-xeplain it as a redirection of energy stored from hits."-

Uhh, no.

Her semblance has always been about redirection of stored energy from attacks and aiming them back at the opponent.

Every single time we see her use it, it's always after she's taken several hits.

It's probably still possible to use it without taking hits, but its more than- likely less powerful.

He goes on to talk about how semblances are abstract and only gets mentioned 14 episodes later.

Which sure ok, but the gist of them and how they work are still easily within the story.

Could they have expanded upon it more earlier on? Yeah they could.

But to sit there and say, "When Pyrrha used her abilities and Ruby and Weiss look at her like she was weird and surprised and confused she has powers too"

no no no no no, that is grossly misreading the scene.

Pyrrha has kept her semblance a secret from anyone and everyone.

No one knows what it is or if she even had one.

They were just confused by what she did, why her hand glowed black, and why her hand was out.

It had nothing to do with them being confused about why someone else had a semblance, but more so they never knew what Pyrrha's was.

and also, the reading of Semblance = magic is both meh and eh.

Like if you looked at any and every single semblance that exists in RWBY, every single one of them have to do with concepts that has nothing to do with earth, wind, fire, and water.

Whereas Magic in the series- has Maidens throwing storms, lightning bolts, fire, ice, etc. at any enemy they choose.

That's the major difference between magic and semblance.

Magic is divine, naturalistic. Semblances are more man made if that makes sense.

Man he really does not like how semblances are portrayed/exposited.

Like it's been just as long as he harped on for Pyrrha expositing the aura scene.

like the exaggeration that he's going to, to explain this is kinda crazy

It's not a semi complicated concept at all, like he said it was.

It's very easy to follow and very easy to understand. he brings up Emerald and Cinder knowing about it, but doesn't bring up the fact that Pyrrha had to have put it in her application for Beacon or her personal- record that only Beacon has track of.

A record that they broke into with the helps of Watts, but not just that.

But Mercury also figured it out because he's an intelligent fighter just like Pyrrha is.

You can just say that Pyrrha's opponents were all just dumb for not figuring it out.

But no, it's just bad writing I guess.

Brings up WoR as an example of not being able to tell the story completely and labels it as homework.

It's not necessarily out of the norm though.

There are lots of character guides, extra material that expands on characters, worlds-

nd ideas that you can't really put the time in the show to do.

Like let's look at the first 3 volumes and how most episodes where 12-15 minutes long.

And even then they were still trying to get the hang of writing for something so massive as RWBY.

Having extra material so readers can get a better understanding of the world around them isn't bad. because even then, most everyone knows who Faunus are.

How Aura works, what a semblance is. all of these on a surface level.

If you want to dig deep, thats what WoR is for.

Unless you just wanna insult the show and embrace ignorance?

Some Positive Examples

Such a nothing complaint really. 

Just Miles and Kerry's writing vs Monty's character acting (in terms of how he conveys the four in a team fight (example being Team RWBY vs Mecha Roman)). 

I mean, I dont know what to really say here.

"The writers are so busy writing drama and wacky skits to explain why they're friends while Monty is putting in the REAL work with the fight scenes and showing how close they are and how far ruby has come at becoming a leader."  

Yeah... Cause that's what writers and animators do

Briefly touches on Ships and how Monty, Kerry, and Miles referenced them in the fight. (also decided to call it creepy since Ruby is 15 and the other girls are 17...

Which isn't that bad??

Like Sophomore and Senior in High School really).

Wasn't Ichigo Kurosaki 15 and Naruto not even 13?

Also says they didn't make a name- for Ruby and Yang because of the certain fans that ship those two together so they avoided that one altogether

.... Which yeah??? Did you want them too lol??

I can't seem to see his point of bringing this up because on one hand it feels like he's admonishing them for it, but  on the other hand he seems... like he's a little upset that they dont have a team attack name?

Maybe just at the inconsistency of it. Which i can understand.

I would have maybe came up with one that isn't fandom made so they can have a cool SISTERS team attack, like Rose Dragon!

Ends off this segment talking about more Miles and Kerry vs Monty (with Shawn being added in).

Another example of writing vs character expositing through animation by using the Pyrrha vs Mercury fight as well as the exposition between Emerald, Cinder, and Mercury.

Lots of talk about animation being weird and how he's seen worse animation but the stories were good enough to overlook it.

I'd be a broken record by stating this again and again.

But just look at what they had to work with. Look at how divided the writing and the animation- really were with Monty coming up with new characters that the team had to shove in last minute.

Look at Poser even and how the engine was something really only Monty and Shane (oops I made a mistake in that other post) could work to the level that they did.

Look at RT and even CRWBY at the time.

And now look where they are now.

You can't tell me that they've gone downhill when most of your gripes that you've complained about are/have been fixed in the later seasons.

Gonna end it here and make it a 2 parter. This thread is-

Long enough and I'm tired extremely lol.

I'll do a QRT tomorrow and start it back up. 

If anyone has more to add or correct me on, feel free to QRT anything you feel i didnt do a good job of explaining or just missed in general.

Any help is appreciated.

https://twitter.com/PhonyMangaka/status/1653898140678856704

[fraudkuna]

“i think i’ve only ever been wasting my time all this time, doing nothing.”

“i don’t know about that.” gojo says. “there’s something special about standing still, isn’t there? look at us now, we were at each other’s throats just seconds ago.”

you wait for the usual fire that blooms at gojo’s taunts to fuel a witty response, but the temperature is less hot than you remember. it just makes you warm.

you breath the feeling out and wait to see if it’ll leave with your exhale. when it stays, you smile. “it feels like i’ve been standing still forever. i don’t remember the last time i felt like i’ve done anything productive.”

“that’s harsh.”

“it’s true though.”

“why do you think you need to do well?”

“because what else was i put on earth for? it feels disgusting knowing that i can’t fulfil anything, that i haven’t yet. it’s not like i’m unfortunate or anything, i have everything i need to make something of myself but i just can’t. and all this time while i can’t, everyone else can.”

“no one has it figured out. we’re all just faking.”

you shake your head. “it doesn’t matter because to me, it feels like i’ve been left behind. and how i feel is all that matters.”

the wind fills the silence before you speak again.

“i wonder how people do it.”

“do what?”

you gesture vaguely at everything. “well, life is hard, you know? the thought that all of my life and all that’ll come after, i’ll only ever be disappointing myself or failing or missing opportunities and missing timings that might just make my life better and more meaningful but it doesn’t matter because i missed it. there’ll be good things, sure, but the bad things are just, i can’t look forward to that.”

“like tripping in front of the person you like.” gojo nods wisely.

“like stumbling over your words.”

“like submitting the wrong file to your lecturer.”

“knocking over a glass of water.”

“running into a pretty girl and pressing your shoulder into her hands which were holding a sandwich thus causing mayo to drip down her shirt.”

you squint over at him. “that one sounded real.”

he waves away your concern. “i thought this was a safe space but i guess not.”

“whatever.” you laugh faintly. “i just, i don’t know. it’s hard. and i know i have no right saying something like that when all my life i’ve been privileged with education and caring parents but i, i can’t be happy and it’s all my fault.”

“you can’t help it, it’s the chemicals in your brain.”

“and what is that brain connected to?”

gojo sighs. “will depressing thoughts make your life better then?”

“no, but it’s the only thing that comes out.”

“i know you probably don’t want me to sprout words you’ve already heard before, but they’re popular statements for a reason.”

“i know.”

“does that mean you want to hear them?”

“no. i already know what you’re going to say anyway. i’m not a lost cause, gojo, i know what’s wrong with me and why it happens. i just can’t make it go away."

“you know i can’t do that.” gojo smiles. “this is your fight, won’t it be cheap if i lend you a hand? it’ll only be a temporary solution.”

you groan. “like a bandaid.”

“and scars are uglier than fresh wounds. might as well deal with it now.”

"don't say that. i think scars are beautiful."

"on everyone but you."

you frown. “what are you saying? what should i do?”

“weren’t you listening? that’s something for you to figure out.”

“what was the meaning of this conversation then?”

“was there a meaning? i thought you just wanted to rant.”

you blow a raspberry and fall backwards, starfishing on the grass. gojo joins you soon after and his pinky lightly brushes yours as if in silent support. there’s little to say at a time like this, and whatever there may be is small talk at best. so you close your mouth.

unresolved, unfinished, the feeling only tastes worse.

stars fly across the sky. while it feels as though every minute has you chained by the feet, the world will continue anyway.

you close your eyes against the night and push these feelings back for one more day.

[rumor-weed]

Anything more on Stephan or this 'Cassidy'?

“Boy, I know ya asked this nine years ago, but we didn’t really have an answer ‘til now. Looks like Stephan - er, was it Stefan? Never knew how to spell that pronunciation - might’ve been disappeared by a few guilty vegetables who all seem to be claimin’ THEY did it. Maybe they all did. Maybe nobody did. How come they all got alibis for why they couldn’t have done it, but they’re all swearin’ they did? Stephan’s gone, though. We haven’t seen the prince in ages - rumor has it he wasn’t even a prince, Anon. Maybe he was just some rich kid pullin’ some weird of sort of prank, one of those scam ‘fake prince’ emails that found someone who took the bait. Could be. That’s just a theory. A Rumor Theory.”

Audrey paused and considered the next name.

“Cassidy… ah! The child Archibald adopted without really askin’ his wife first, huh? That’s a good question, Anon! But uh… well, I don’t think we ever got answers. Sometimes I wonder if she was even real. The twins sure weren’t! But we all thought we saw them, right? Weird. But Cassidy… well, I liked her fine, I guess. I’d hope, if she was real, she’s just grown up, unlike the rest of us, and escaped to somewhere safer. Something weird about this town. Water that makes ya never age? Vampires? Serial killers? Paparazzi for a mildly popular but dyin’ kids show? It just doesn’t add up. And now Archibald is back. He’s back, Anon, and I don’t know what to think of it. It just isn’t right. He claims not to remember the last ten years! But Lovey claims she murdered him. Well, he’s not the first person to come back from the dead, a little different from when we last saw him. There’s that whole Art Bigotti thing too. I wasn’t around when he was Jumanji’d, but there’s somethin’ fishy for sure with him. And Mom Asparagus, well, if she’s dead, who’s to say she’d stay dead either?”

Audrey nodded as she determined it. “Actually, I suppose, until we find her, she is simultaneously both dead and alive. Schrodinger’s Mom Asparagus, I guess. But who’s to say for sure? Do we really wanna open that box? Risk the smell? She’s been gone a few days now. Are answers really worth it? So whatever happened to the others who we haven’t seen in years, such as Stephan, Cassidy, or really anyone else, it’s impossible to know for sure who’s capable of comin’ back. Can’t say I’d mind, it’d shake things up a little. Lots more rumors to share. But uh, I just hope they have a good sense of humor. Ten years and a lot changes. We all just want to laugh and poke fun at the people we used to be, affectionately, because we know ourselves now. It’s nice to not take yourself too seriously, right?”

She gave the anon a long look, contemplating. Nine years waiting on an answer they must’ve long given up on. and yet, here she was, answering it all the same. Times moves on, but sometimes no matter how far we walk, we eventually end up in the same places again, just a little different from the last time we were here. She wondered if the anon, who really probably had left the message behind and forgot about it, was doing all right, wherever they were. It was hard not to wonder who wrote the message. A friend? A stranger? A neighbor? The creator of My Immortal?

Anything was possible.

And wasn’t that beautiful?

She looked forward, as if she were looking directly at the screen, and she curled her leaf into a ‘C’ shape. “And that’s how Audrey… ‘C’s it.”

[brittleskyblue]

I’m crashing the party with angst again bc that bit of dialogue from that lost sector hit me with feels.

(Set after the angst fic I’m working on but I’m too impatient to wait till that’s done. Nelan and Ivo return to Neomuna, and it’s been a few weeks since the incident at the Veil)

* * *

The archivist, Quinn, had called this place an arcade and that these rectangle things are machines that people play games on. It was quite popular to the people of Neomuna. She can’t remember off the top of her head if such things exist in the City. She feels like they should.

Nelan studies one of these machines, wondering why the Vex had been so transfixed by it. These weren’t like the “music boxes” they had once encountered on Io years ago. The machines were colorful and made noise sometimes, but that was about it.

They tilt their head and press one of the buttons of the machine. It beeps at them. It startles her a little, but still she smiles. It was a curious thing.

She turns to make a comment to her Ghost, who apparently was absolutely baffled by the concept of arcades, but she finds him sort of staring off into space. Well, actually just at a nearby arcade machine that seemed to be reflecting his image off the blank screen. Come to think of it, he’s been pretty quiet instead of the normally chatty Ghost he is. Nelan knows that when he goes quiet like this there’s something on his mind. Given recent events…

“What’s wrong?” They ask.

Ivo looks over at the call of her voice, holds her gaze for a moment, but then casts his eye downward, the points of his shell drooping slightly. Yeah, he’s definitely got something on his mind, and Nelan can only hazard a guess as to what it is. They had a fairly good idea of it.

“I worry, Nelan, that I’m nothing more than another machine, like these games.” He tells her. “I haven’t just switched off, like during the Red War.”

‘You mean because you lost your connection to the Traveler and not Light itself?’ She thinks but holds herself back from saying. It’s still a bitter memory whenever he mentioned the Red War, and she counted herself fortunate Ivo didn’t die that day, remembering how battered he looked when they had found each other again. 

“Is that because I’m a person?” He continues, even as they hold out their hand for him and he goes to them. “Or am I just plugged into something else now? But I suppose a game machine can’t feel the absence of its creator…”

Nelan knows he means the Traveler, how it feels so distant from him since the incident at the Veil. It was widely reported among Ghosts that the presence of the Traveler for them was diminished, and yet they still had the Light it had given them; that which had given them life. Some said it was “gone” or “dead” or “silent”, even though it was still there physically above Earth. It’s “gone” and yet somehow they were still here. Ivo was still here.

They also wondered if by “plugged into something else” he means the instances of possession at the hands of the Witness. They recall that after the first time it had happened at the Luna Pyramid, he told them that he was worried that a piece of Darkness resided within himself now. He’d been afraid it would happen again. She hated to think that maybe he’d been right and neither of them knew it then; that if it had been done once it could be done again.

Nelan knew Ivo was still struggling with what happened at the Veil, how the Witness had used him as the catalyst to make the link and he couldn’t do anything to stop it. She too was still struggling with how she hadn’t noticed what was going on until it was too late; how she had been unable to protect Ivo from that dark force taking hold of him. They were both a little better now, but even a few weeks out from the convergence, neither of them were fully okay.

But it was a good thing they still had each other.

Nelan brought Ivo in close, bowed her head, and whispered to him, almost reverently.

“This unit has a soul.”

Ivo makes a confused electronic noise at them. “What?”

They raise their head peer down at their Ghost. “Something I heard in passing. I think Temperance might have said it? Don’t know where xey got it from. I just know xey said it to Fynch once.”

Ivo makes a noise that sounds like a laugh, but he goes quiet once again.

“…Do you think I have a soul?” He says at last, his voice sounding so small.

“I do.”

No hesitation. Not when it’s something she’s always firmly believed. It was true that Ghosts were beings created from the Traveler, commonly referring to them as A.I.s, but she’s always seen Ghosts as being so full of life. They were alive. They were existing. They were bits of stardust that experienced thought and feeling and were worthy of existing in this world.

“Though the Traveler is distant, and we don’t know what’s happened to it, you’re alive. You were still alive back then when the Light got taken too. Light or not, Traveler or not, nothing has changed that. You’re not- you’ve never been just a machine to me, not when you exist as your own self. Your own person. You are the person- the wandering soul- that found me. You’re alive.”

Ivo stares up at her, and then after a moment he hovers up from her hands to her eye level. He then floats forward and nudges her head.

“You know, you can be very philosophical when you want to be. Gonna make me mistake you for a Warlock.”

They chuckle. “Just because I can be philosophical does not mean I’m a Warlock. Besides, have you seen Temperance?”

“Fair point.”

She smiles and turns on her heel. Ivo follows as she makes to leave the arcade. Their bond holds steady.

“We should probably head back before Nimbus starts trying to place bets on whether the Vex got us or something.”

“Yeah.” They sense him dematerialize, his voice comes clearer in their headspace. “And… thanks.”

They smile and hope he can feel their sincerity and love through their bond.

“Anytime. We’re in this together.”

[baileyjane3769]

Original Copy is on Quotev, for a better viewing experience and chapter by chapter reading head on over to my Quotev page @BobbyWolf3769 or click the link here

***

When a game is over and all hidden things have been found, what is there left to do? Move on. That's what you would have liked to have done after finishing the disappointing secret ending of a popular otome game. But when the story is over, and all things were said and done, you find yourself trapped in that very game. Faced with the task to keep everyone alive, can you make it to the end without falling in love?

Long read ahead

Chapter Seventeen

According to Plan?

Some time before Emi’s confession.

“Do you think she can do it?”

“Shh! We don’t want them to see us, Y/n-chan.”

“Why are we in the bush again?”

Not wanting to leave anything to chance, you decided to watch Emi’s moment from a distance, with her knowledge of course. Yuki just decided to tag along and she dragged Akui with her, so now you three were hiding in the bushes from a good distance while observing the interactions between Emi and Suzuki. Perhaps you were being overly cautious, but this was someone’s life you were talking about, the matter was bigger than a simple confession.

“Wait, he keeps looking at her!” Yuki excitedly whispered, tugging on your arm.

“Sshh, I can see that,” you whispered back. “This… this is a good sign.” A sigh of relief escaped your lips, but you weren’t letting your guard down just yet.

With bated breaths, you continued to watch the two from afar, hoping with everything you had that one of them would make the first move already.

“So this is what you’ve been up to.” A voice teasingly said from next to your ear.

You gasped and almost fell back when your head whipped around only to find yourself almost nose to nose with Kaneko Fuyuhiko, who snuck to crouch next to you. “Eep–!” You had to quickly slap a hand over your mouth before you gave away your hiding spot.

“You-!” Yuki was about to explode on Fuyuhiko, but luckily Akui had quickly placed a hand over her mouth.

“K-Kaneko-kun?!” you exasperatedly whispered. “What’re you doing here?”

Fuyuhiko simply gave you a closed eyed smile, completely ignoring how Yuki looked to be being held back by Akui, before nonchalantly responding. “Well, I’ve noticed how your little group has been acting rather peculiarly this week.” He then turned to look on at Emi and Suzuki, an amused twinkle in his eyes. “I guess this is what had you so distracted. Playing matchmaker is see.”

The words lumped in your throat, unable to escape as you sputtered. You did not expect for Fuyuhiko to show up and bust you like this. “W-well, actually…uh…” You were at a loss to respond. You weren’t even sure why, it’s not like you were committing some crime or anything, but the cheeky smirk plastered on Fuyuhiko’s face made you feel like you just got caught with your hand in the cookie jar. ‘Focus, Y/n! Emi and Suzuki are the priority here.’ “The details… aren’t important. But, yes, technically I have been trying to set those two up together.” You finally responded.

“Interesting. Didn’t know you knew about the affairs of the heart, L/n-chan,” he teased. “Though, I’d say you’re doing a decent job.” He looked back up at Emi and Suzuki as they both continued to silently tend to the gardens. Fuyuhiko observed as Suzuki would occasionally sneak glances at Emi. “He’s definitely interested in her.”

His words pique your interest while Yuki simply scoffed out of spite. “Puh-lease. What do you know about love?”

Fuyuhiko turned to her, a challenging grin on his lips as his eyebrow arched up. “Ha, do you realize who you’re talking to? I know the affairs of the heart, and besides, I am a guy after all.”

His words got you thinking. Fuyuhiko has had plenty of experience dealing with romantic feelings, so he probably has a better reading on what Suzuki is feeling than you did. Which is why before Yuki could utter her snarky come back, you said, “Kaneko-kun, would you mind sticking around? Our goal is to have him confess today, and you being here would be a big help."

“Y/n-chan?!” Yuki exclaimed in mild confusion.

Fuyuhiko chuckled while nodding his head. “I suppose I can offer you my assistance. After all, what’re friends for?” he responded, the hint of his signature boyish smoke still lingering on his lips.

“We are not friends…” Yuki quietly grumbled under her breath, to which Fuyuhiko promptly ignored.

“Our Lover Boy is clearly interested, but if that interest is enough to get him to confess is another story,” Fuyuhiko told you.

“Yeah, I figured as much,” you thoughtfully said, thinking about what you'll have to do if Suzuki never makes a move or straight up rejects Emi. “Let’s just watch and see.”

For a few minutes longer, your little group continued to watch with bated breaths as you all observed Emi and Suzuki as they went about their gardening club duties. A watchful silence fell over the group as they stared on at the two, looking for any sign that one might make a move.

“What are you all up to?” The voice of Akihiko suddenly announced his arrival. He stood standing obviously over your group of teens crouching behind some bushes, peering down with a raised, suspicious eyebrow. His eyes shifted over to Emi and Suzuki, but before he could comment any further on what you all were doing, you quickly pulled him down behind the bush, joining your little group crouching on the ground. “What’re you–?” he started to say with a mildly surprised expression as he was pulled down.

“Shh,” you gently quieted him. “I know this is a bit… unorthodox, but trust me this is for a good cause.” You tried to explain yourself. And you were quick to elaborate at Akihiko’s arched brow.

“What good cause could possibly justify hiding in the bushes and spying on our classmates like this?”

“W-Well, Emi-chan knows that we’re here at least,” you halfheartedly countered. “She originally wanted us here for moral support because she’s interested in Suzuki-san and wants to confess, but then Kaneko-kun showed up, and he said he’d gauge Suzuki’s reactions for us, and… well… now you’re here…”

Akihiko’s perplexed expression softened slightly, a curious and more understanding gleam replacing his skepticism. "I see, so if I'm understanding this correctly, you're trying get our two classmates together, and you're here behind this bush to wacth how it pands out because. . . she asked you too?" he squestioned, still whispering, "you're all hiding in the bushes to play matchmaker?"

“You see, that’s what I said,” Fuyuhiko chimed in.

“You guys!” Yuki suddenly called for attention. “He’s making a move!”

All attention snapped back to Emi and Suzuki, watching as the aforementioned boy tucked a strand of hair behind Emi’s ear.

“Ooh, real smooth,” Fuyuhiko whistled.

Your heart pounded within your chest in anticipation as you watched the scene unfold. You could see Suzuki’s lips moving but couldn’t hear what he was talking about as you had chosen to be at a good distance to give their conversation some privacy. Emi looked bashful as she apparently responded to something he said before a look of confusion overtook her features at something Suzuki said. She reached into her skirt pocket to pull out what looked like a hair tie. She handed it to him before hesitantly turning around. You were glad that you told her to let her hair down for today, knowing it should play well into your plan. It wasn’t supposed to be like one of those ‘she’s pretty once she lets her hair down’ situations, it was more sp supposed to be not only a conversation starter but also to spark curiosity in him.

Yuki was practically squealing as Suzuki gently combed Emi’s hair back into her usual style. His movements appeared slow and deliberate as to not hurt her, and from here you could see how both of their faces were slightly flushed. Once he was done, he didn’t step away immediately, instead staring down at her intently, an internal war in his eyes. You held your breath as you wondered if this was the moment he would confess, but your heart almost sank when he stepped away, muttering something as he looked away with a red blush on his face.

From next to you Fuyuhiko sighed. “No, I doubt he’ll confess right now. He might not even realize that he has some attraction towards her.”

You had to bite back your disappointment as you watched Suzuki go back to the gardening work, watching as Emi stood still, looking on as Suzuki went to work. She must be just as disappointed as you were, but you had a plan for this scenario, and now it all relied on Emi and her confidence.

“Wait, is she saying something…?” Yuki squinted.

Emi did in fact say something, her words calling for attention from Suzuki as he stood to now look at her head on. What she said caused his eyes to go wide as a noticeable blush took over his features.

“Did…Did she..?” Fuyuhiko could barely speak his question as he was actually surprised.

“She did,” you responded, not taking your eyes off the two, trying to figure out what Suzuki’s reaction would be.

The boy stood motionless for a second before a gentle smile crossed his features as he bashfully turned away, stretching his cheek. He opened his mouth to say something, and it seemed that whatever he said caused Emi’s expression to slowly morph into that of elation. Suzuki faced her again, before confidently nodding his head. Your heart was able to relax as the two shared a tender embrace that anyone could tell was now between two individuals who were more than just friends. 

You felt your shoulders relax and all tension finally left your body. As the scene unfolded before your eyes, you could feel a collective sigh of relief and excitement from your group. Fuyuhiko let out a low whistle, a satisfied grin forming on his face. 

"Well, I'll be," he muttered under his breath. "She actually did it. Impressive."

Akihiko pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “I’m still unsure what exactly I just witnessed, but I presume this outcome was favorable,” he admitted.

Yuki was giddy and shaking with excitement. The next thing you knew, you stared with wide eyes as she was jumping up from the hiding spot, Akui unable to catch her in time, a jovial grin on her face. “Whoo-hoo!! She did it!” she blithely exclaimed, throwing her hands up, gaining all attention on her.

The entire group froze in surprise as Yuki's exuberant exclamations broke the relaxed silence that had settled after your friends' embrace.

Emi and Suzuki both turned their heads towards your group, their faces displaying a mix of surprise and confusion as a fiery blush settled onto their features. Emi had been so engrossed in her moment with Suzuki that she had temporarily forgotten that you and your friends were watching.

Fuyuhiko facepalmed himself with a loud groan. "Remind me again why you’re friends with her?" he muttered under his breath.

“Well…”

Sensing her mistake, Yuki quickly went to compose herself, a pink blush settling on her face as she sheepishly smiled. “Oh…sorry.”

You, yourself, wanted to facepalm along with Fuyuhiko as the feeling of second hand embarrassment you felt after witnessing that. The point of hiding was so Suzuki didn’t know you were there watching the interaction. Akui shook his head with a subtle smile, finding Yuki to be endearing while Akihiko simply sighed. Slowly, you rose to stand next to Yuki.

“O-Oh, hey…ha ha…haa…” Boy did you feel awkward.

Emi starred in an embarrassed mortification as, slowly, the rest of your group rose to stand along with you and Yuki. She quickly snapped her head to Suzuki, wanting to explain your group's presence even though she was confused by the appearance of Fuyuhiko and Akihiko, but the words seem to die in her throat. “Uh, ehh…” She could only stare up at the boy, waiting for his reaction.

Suzuki stood there, blinking in confusion as he took in the sight of the five of you standing there, having now been seen by both him and Emi. His confusion was evident on his face as he glanced back and forth between the members of your group over to Emi. The atmosphere was tense as everyone seemed to wait for a response from the raven haired boy.

It was a breathy, amused chuckle that left Suzuki that eventually broke the silence. “I see your friends are as eccentric as ever, huh, Nakano-chan,” he casually said in a friendly manner. He placed a hand on her head and gave it a light ruffle. “Guess you needed some support.”

Emi looked both relieved and embarrassed, flushing redder at the contact of Suzuki’s hand to her head, a bit of sheepishness mixed in. She shakily chuckled and nodded in agreement. “Yeah, I guess they can be a bit much sometimes,” she remarked, though her eyes held a slight fondness. She thought back to the start of this week, you and her weren’t close but you gladly offered to help get her long-time crush to notice her, even enlisting the help of your own friends. It really was forward of you, but Emi couldn’t be any more grateful now that Suzuki has agreed to a date with. “But they really do mean well.”

Suzuki stared down at her, a fond look in his eyes. He was glad to see her make such supportive friends. “Do I even need to ask what you all were doing in that bush?” Suzuki asked once he turned to look back at your group, an amused look in his eyes.

While you and Yuki fumbled to come up with a response, Fuyuhiko, ever the sly talker, spoke up. "We were just making sure everything was going... smoothly. But you look like you have things handled here, so,” he wrapped an arm around your shoulder and began to collectively shoo your group away. “We’ll be taking our leave now.”

The rest of your group, relieved by his quick thinking and smooth talk, quickly followed his cue and began to retreat. Yuki was pouting a bit, clearly still not completely over her embarrassment. Akihiko pushed his glasses up, his expression neutral as usual. Akui was simply following Yuki as he gently patted her back to reassure her from her embarrassment.

You couldn’t help but glance back ever so often as your group retreated, Fuyuhiko’s arm mostly forgotten. “Looks like things are going well between them, right?” you nervously said to no one in particular.

Fuyuhiko chuckled while nodding in agreement. “Yep. I’d say our work here is done.”

You couldn’t help the lighthearted scoff that escaped you. “Your hard work?” you questioned with a bemused expression as you nudged his side with your elbow. “I’ve been busy all week trying to set those two up.” The light banter allowed for you to momentarily forget about your worries regarding their date tomorrow, which was technically the date marked for Suzuki’s death.

Yuki was too moppy to really notice your close proximity to Fuyuhiko, but Akihiko was more than lucid enough to see it. He wasn’t sure what this tight feeling was as he watched you interact with the school’s notorious womanizer. Surely you weren’t falling for his same old tricks like every other girl, you were much too smart for that… right?

“Ha, come on, I know I only just joined the Emi x Suzuki ship, but I did my part,” Fuyuhiko replied, unbothered and rather amused by your jab.

Akihiko, meanwhile, continued to discreetly watch your interaction with Fuyuhiko, feeling an unfamiliar tightness in his chest. It was a strange feeling, one he hadn't experienced before. He couldn't quite place it, but it was there, and it only seemed to strengthen as he observed your easy banter with the flirtatious boy next to you. Were you and Fuyuhiko always this close? You both have started interacting more ever since your slip in the bathroom, perhaps that’s when the closeness started.

Before Akihiko could think about it anymore, Yuki seemed to recover and quickly went to catch up with you and Fuyuhiko, leaving behind Akui as she gently broke the two apart. Gentle only for your sake.

“Do I need to always remind you to not be so touchy with her? She’s much too innocent to see your true intentions!” As usual, Yuki stressed with a huff as she effectively broke the closeness between you and Fuyuhiko. On the other hand, Akihiko's eyes lingered on you for a moment longer before he silently followed after the group, his earlier pensive expression replaced by his usual neutral one.

The blond flirt managed to keep up his usual charming smile, but there was an unnoticeable tightness to it now, the slightest hint of frustration in his features. “What intentions? I’m simply bantering with a friend, is that so wrong?”

Yuki scoffed. “You don’t have female friends that are just 'friends'.”

Sensing the rising tension, you quickly came up with a conversation changer. “Yuki! I, uh, just realized that you never joined a club. I’m sorry, you’ve been so busy helping me and Emi that I forgot.”

Yuki, caught off guard by your sudden subject change, looked at you in surprise. A pout formed on her face. “Oh…you’re right.” she admitted, her voice tinged with a hint of disappointment. “I guess we’ve been so busy that I forgot,” she spoke again glumly

“Do you think there’s still time to join one?” you asked, placing a hand on her shoulder.

“Not likely,” Akihiko finally spoke up.

Yuki quietly huffed. “I see four eyes is still here…” She mumbled quietly under her breath causing you to nudge her.

Akihiko’s eyebrow twitched as he resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “As I was saying, since it’s already the end of the fourth week since school started, many club advisors tend to deny late requests since it’ll be hard to get the new members to catch up.”

“Man, guess I really won’t get to join a club this year.” Yuki bemoaned.

“Excuse me, did you say you were looking for a club to join!?” A chipperly excited voice suddenly said as a short girl dashed in front of Yuki.

“Woah!! Oh My Goodness Where'd You Come Out From?!?” Yuki shrieked, jumping back slightly in surprise. Your whole group actually looked surprised.

“I couldn’t help but overhear you mention you’re looking for a club to join,” said the very short girl with long, messy hair, and who had large brown eyes that were hidden behind her round framed glasses. “Well look no further!” she announced.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise to hear that you recognized this girl. She was none other than the club leader of the failing photography club, Hayashi Anju, a side character that many tended to forget about or found to be just plain annoying when playing the game. She acted more as an assistant and guide for the player who was only found in the photography clubroom. That clubroom acted as a home base for the player whose game mechanic acted as the place to store in-game pictures and story evidence.

“The photography club is alway open to new members!”

A/n: Whew, finally got this chapter out. Not much happened but we did get a new minor character as well as some stiring emotions in both Fuyuhiko and Akihiko. My hearted flutteres writing Emi and Suzuki, just love those two so much. Also, I don't know if you can tell, but judging by the fact that each chapter is taking longer and longer to get published I can confidently say I am starting to feel some sort of burn out. Like I said awhile back, I'm wanting to go on a brief hiatus to prepare for the next stage of my story as well as take a break and go back and edit my previous chapters. It has only recently occured to me that I've been writing non stop since February when I published this book, and before that I was working on the first chapter since last november. I am so proud of what I've wrote and accomplished but I think I am deserving of a break. I'll probably be back in about two months, maybe? I'm not too sure yet, but I'll definitly be back to writing before the end of November. I'll publish the 400 heart once we reach that milestone and then that will mark the official start of my hiatus. Guess ya'll guys will have to wait till late november to read about the date between Emi and Suzuki. Till then, I hope everyone continues to take care of their heath and enjoy life, see you all again when I'm back.

Fun-fact #4:  The feelings Emi has for Suzuki can be summarized by one song. A song called 'I Do Adore' by Mindy Glendhil. I was listening to it the other day and the whole time I was like "This is Emi in a nutshel," lol. It really captures the image I have for Emi and her affections for Suzuki, summarizing her emotions perfectly.

[jokertrap-ran]

[スタオケ] La Corda d'Oro Starlight Orchestra Main Story Chapter 2 (HARD-2) Translation

*Starlight Orchestra Masterlist *Spoiler free: Translations will remain under cut *Main story tag will be #Main Starlight

Seto: *Humming* ~♪

Seto: Oh? It’s you…

Seto: I see. It’s that time now, huh? It must be, now that I’ve met you here.

Seto: Your initial journey has come to an end now, hasn’t it? What do you think of the new friends you’ve made in a new place?

⊳ Choice: Are you asking me why I have more friends now?

Seto: Of course not, I can guess that much. You do look pretty satisfied, after all.

⊳ Choice: I went to Mito…

Seto: I see, Mito, huh… It’s a brilliant city filled with history. Seto: It’s close to Yokohama, and it’s also a place associated with the great musician, Yukari. I think it’s a brilliant place to have as your first destination.

Seto: …Eh? You befriended Mito’s delinquent and Student Council president?

Seto: That’s amazing. I can’t believe you managed to scout such hidden talents.

Seto: But I suppose that’s just something right up your alley since you’re someone who can awaken the latent potential hidden within others.

Seto: Looks like your Orchestra’s going to be filled with light from all walks of life. I’m really looking forward to it now.

Seto: Hey, mind telling me what happened?

Seto: I can’t imagine it was easy to make it all work out in the end.

⊳ Choice: We got caught up in a brawl…

Seto: Wow, that’s something alright. It almost sounds like something right out of a book. Seto: But it was a real fight, wasn’t it? To think that you snuck in in the midst of one… you must be really courageous!

⊳ Choice: We ended up being barred from the concert hall…

Seto: Oh dear, now that’s a right pickle. You must have made reservations for it a long time in advance right? Seto: Music is something that everyone has an equal right to play. You can’t just bring other matters into it to drag someone’s rights into the mud.

⊳ Choice: There was that incident with the miniature pigs…

Seto: Ahahaha! Looks like you’re real popular! Seto: You got to experience something that no one else could’ve done! It’s something you can look back on and laugh about since you weren’t hurt. Now, you have a brilliant story to share with the others.

Seto: Still, judging by that pleasant look on your face, I’d say that this trip was a pretty fruitful one for you.

Seto: They say all’s well that ends well. And I think they’re right.

Seto: Regardless of what happens in the process, how things end never fails to make an impact on our memories, for it is what we remember most vividly.

Seto: I’m glad to hear that your first trip ended well.

⊳ Choice: Come with us next time, Mashiro

Seto: Thank you for inviting me, but I cannot leave this place right now. Seto: So share your stories with me, alright? Seto: That way, it makes me feel as if I’m accompanying you on the same trip by living through your experiences.

⊳ Choice: I look forward to the next trip

Seto: Mmhm, I look forward to it too. I can’t wait to hear more about your journey to slowly build up that Orchestra of yours.

Seto: Even if unexpected things crop up to block your path, I’m sure you’ll pull through and make it to the finish line.

Seto: If you gather all these possibilities together, I’m sure the symphony you seek awaits at the end of the road.

Seto: Your symphony — something that belongs only to you, and a reverberation that only you can create.

Seto: It may be just a rough unpolished diamond that doesn’t shine now, but I’m sure it will shine ever so brightly if you polish it right.

Seto: I’m sure you’ll be able to find a gem much bigger, and much brighter than any of the premade ones.

Seto: —Because you’re here, conversing with me right now.

Seto: …Just kidding! Hehe, did I spook you right?

Seto: I’m just pulling your leg, really. I’m just your ordinary high-schooler, so it’s a given that you’re able to talk to me.

Seto: But, well, you truly are skilled. I’m sure you’ll be able to create an orchestra filled with shining stars.

Seto: Hey, won’t you share your stories with me again sometime? Come back the next time your little trip comes to an end. I’ll be here.

☆ ━━━━━━━ ∘◦♬Main Starlight♬◦∘ ━━━━━━━ ☆

Previous Part: (Chapter 2 HARD-1)

[company-and-co]

This was a bit ago, but…

Writer Asks

Tagged by @yallemagne

I’ve never done this kind of thing before (mostly because I’m almost never on tumblr) but I love being asked about what little writing I do.

1. How many works do you have on ao3?

8 right now. I just can’t seem to sit down and finish all the fics I want to write.

2. What's your total ao3 word count?

22,572 words (for now).

3. What fandoms do you write for?

I have things brewin’ for pretty much any fandom I find myself in. But as for what’s on ao3, it’s really just Nobodies (video game) right now. I’ve been working on some Dimension 20 and Star Wars fics though.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

1. Take All the Courage You Have Left — Dimension 20 (the most popular fandom I’ve written for)

2. Meet Us in the Movie Pit — Sanders Sides (first fic that I’ve posted still on ao3)

(This is where the amount drops quite a bit vvv)

3. You’re in Too Deep to Go Back Again — Nobodies

4. The Apostles — The Bible (mate I don’t even know)

5. Retirement Just Wasn’t Meant To Be — Nobodies (first Nobodies fic I wrote)

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I try to, even if it takes me a little while. Not on all my fics, mostly because they weren’t the labors of love some of the others were (ie: any of my Nobodies fics).

6. What's the fic you wrote that has the angstiest ending?

Oof I haven’t really written any angst yet. Probably…Expedition Survived? It’s a GTFO fic and that game has quite the angst potential. Other than that, probably You’re In Too Deep, though it ends on a humorous note.

7. What's the fic you wrote that has the happiest ending?

Hmm…Movie Pit I think.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Nah, nothing I’ve noticed. Please don’t try to change that.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Nope. Not sure I ever will, just don’t see the need to.

10. Do you write crossovers?

I haven’t, but I’d be willing to if I got a good idea.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Don’t think so.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No, but I’d be honored if anyone wanted—hope they like under appreciated mobile games!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Just The Apostles. A frenzied research project that my friend added fun to. Not sure why I had suddenly become obsessed with knowing everything about the 12 Apostles, but luckily I had a pretty cool friend that enjoyed the process too.

14. What's your all-time favorite ship?

Ooo…I don’t know that I have one. I flip fandoms sporadically, but ones I come back to a lot is The Witcher and Assassin’s Creed. Eskel/Geralt probably. Or maybe Ezio/Leonardo. It’s a tie really. Don’t make me choose. Please.

15. What's a wip you want to finish, but don't think you ever will?

Here’s the thing. I try not to have wips, because it’s very hard for me to just sit down and write. And if I don’t just to sit and write, then I don’t finish a fic. This is why I currently only have one multi-chapter fic, one-shots are just easier for me (plus, the one-shots are often a couple thousand words). So, none?

16. What are your writing strengths?

Oh man. Uhh…

Writing what I want, I guess? I don’t write much because I prefer to read other people’s works.

Really, I’d say dialogue. My current fic is a lot of dialogue, so I’m getting a lot of practice.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Fuckin’ tenses, mate. I try so hard to keep my fics in the same tense, but then somewhere I suddenly slip without realizing! I’m trying! And characterizing—it’s why I go for the characters with little to none, I’m just too worried about being OoC.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I would do it, if I had someone double-triple check it’s correct. And if I could figure out how to do that thing on ao3 where you can hover over a word and it shows the translation (even on mobile sometimes!!).

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Ever in my life? Probably Warrior Cats or Harry Potter, that was about the age I was in when I got into fanfiction. First posted on ao3? Skyrim. First posted on ao3 that is still there? Sanders Sides.

20. Favorite fic you've written?

You’re in Too Deep! I went into a fugue state when I was writing it and I’m very proud of it. I’m really liking Beyond My Remote Concern, but I have one more chapter, so we’ll see how it ends up.

I have no idea how to make friends here, so this ends with me! 🤙

[isure-hopeso]

12.31.2022

Despite an overflow of life changes and a heavy workload, I somehow managed to read 35 books in ‘22. Posting here because Tumblr will never die.

The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott 6/10 really cool insights to her life Redwall 8.5/10 nostalgia lane! The Nickel Boys 9.5/10 insert big bad emotions here, and for good reason Mirror Mirror 5.5/10 not as good a read as I remembered The Way of Shadows 8/10 I’d have immediately begun the next book if the story weren’t so f’d up The Gift of Self Love 6.5/10 a workbook of sorts, pretty cool but not very deep Paul, the Pastoral Epistles, and the Early Church 8.5/10 deconstructing has been really cool lol A Caribbean Mystery 8.5/10 Miss Marple is who I wanna be when I’m old Pawn of Prophecy 9.5/10 the first novel of my favorite series in a long time, The Belgariad Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea 3.5/10 Jules Verne just really liked big manly men a lot A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor 6.5/10 a rad story, but I wasn’t wildly hooked Fortune’s Rocks 7/10 I don’t vibe with the teen girl meets old guy story, not okay, but the writing was sooo well done  Queen of Sorcery 8.5/10 second in The Belgariad, I bought it immediately Journey to the Center of the Earth (in Croatian) 7.5/10 I read this to keep practicing Croatian, but the story was also pretty nice The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (in Croatian) 9/10 also for practice, but I genuinely love the Tom Sawyer short stories The Murder of Roger Ackroyd 10/10 truly one of Christie’s greatest works, part of her Masterpieces set And Then There Were None 9.5/10 a reread for me in Christie’s Masterpieces, but one of her novels that got me hooked young! “Witness for the Prosecution” -- a short story in Christie’s Masterpieces set, didn’t include in my book count, but super well set up mystery Death on the Nile 8/10 amazing story, but much slower than Christie’s other Masterpieces Where the Crawdads Sing 6.5/10 a very romantically written book, which I bet is why it got so popular, but the overall story was simple Magician’s Gambit 9/10 Belgariad 3, I was addicted to this series Phaedo, Cratylus, and Theaetetus from Plato’s Works -- didn’t include them as books, but still unsurprisingly cool to read Ghost Hunters Adventure Club and the Express Train to Nowhere 9.5/10 this novel was hilarious and also exceedingly well written, I was amazed Castle of Wizardry 8.5/10 Belgariad 4, story split up a bit here, but I could see why for the long run lol Enchanters’ End Game 9.5/10 Belgariad’s 5th and final, suuccchhh a good way to end a series, so fresh and so clean clean Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister 7.5/10 ever read a book when you were young, then reread it older and realize how much you didn’t understand before? that was this one lol The Dragon Republic 8/10 big ouchie in my feelings place, but I powered through for the bonkers storyline The Two Towers 9.5/10 I reread at least one LOTR book per year, it’s kinda sad how much I live in these stories Eating the Cheshire Cat 5.75/10 nothing to do with cheshire cats, very confusing, pretty cool story, I don’t know how I feel about it altogether lol The Mystery of the Blue Train 5.5/10 honestly probably my least favorite Poirot story, but I still couldn’t guess whodunnit till the end “Kitchen Princess” 1st Omnibus 9.5/10 used to read these all the time in highschool, and I practically started crying when I began rereading it lol The Haunting of Hill House 7.5/10 for little baby pansies like me, this book was actually readable, which was very important to my friends at Halloweentime The Book Charmer 4/10 Hallmark movie in a novel, but I needed emotional healing and it served its purpose lol The Handmaid’s Tale 8/10 big kudos to Atwood for surviving in her mind while she wrote this A Cup of Silver Linings 3/10 sequal to the Hallmark book, I’m aware of the implications of this, but I needed to feel happy feelings at the time lol Valiant 7.5/10 wanted to jump into some old well-loved YA sad girl vibes for the catharsis, but forgot the story is actually pretty cool lol The Secret Adversary 7/10 Christie always hits the spot at Christmas time and was a super good way to end the year Books are my safe space, and it shows. I also got really lucky this year with a lot of bangers and very few flops. But honestly, I’ve really loved reading such a wide variety of books this past year, and I hope I can keep broadening my reading horizons in 2023. If you read this, bless you and may you never get a papercut again.

[xamaxenta]

Luffys like you only took this job to hunt for boyfriends

Ace gasps and pokes his head out from their shared closet like i cant believe you think so lowly of me !!!

Luffy squints at him meaningfully, whilst he’s learning to swim, Ace is totally not doing his job and instead scouting for hot guys

“I almost drowned.”

“No you didnt, sabo was with you.”

“Sabo saved me unlike the onduty lifeguard.” Luffy retorts bluntly, rests back on his palms as Ace emerges in a hideous leopard print button up

“Yeah okay but youre undrowned, What about this?” ace strikes a pose and almost falls over when Sabo shoves his way into the room

“Nah.” Sabo and Luffy parrot in unison. Sabo glances him over with that particular curl of his lip when he’s distinctly displeased about something. Ace has two guesses as to why, either his fit sucked or Sabo was also mad about the Luffy almost drowned today thing

“Tough crowd.” Ace mutters and goes back into the closet for something less lurid

“So tell us about the guy thats got you all googoo eyed.” Sabo delves right into it, hes perched on the bed next to Luffy, “—i mean. He must be a big deal for you to ignore Luffy like that.”

“Uh” Ace pops his head out from between the winter coats. Conversing with a conversational Sabo who was on the cusp of pursuing violent resolutions was like tiptoeing through an active landmine field.

“Yeah. Hes really tall.”

“Really tall?” Sabo scoffs, was that it ? Luffy snickers.

“Yeah, and he’s like ripped.” Ace throws away an orange tank top in favour of a black one.

“Ew. Gym rats attract one another huh loof.” Sabo mutters, Luffy giggles and kicks off one of his house slippers.

“Ooh did you get lost in his . Big. personality too?” Sabo grins when Ace whips around flustered at his suggestive tone.

“Ace we’re not blind or stupid—“ Sabo glares at him when Ace snorts muttering a soft coulda fooled me— “you weren’t watching the water, you were watching that guy like a starving animal.”

Ace opens his mouth to deflect but Sabo cuts over him, god he looks so much like Mom like this Ace absolutely hates it — “Garp gave you this opportunity to prove that you’re not the same kid he had to bail outta jail every fucking weekend.”

Ace realises what Sabo’s hinting at, he could be ashamed but what he did with his time and this job was his business, “since when did you care about what happens between me and gramps?”

“I dont. Actually, i care about you and what happens to you if you keep throwing away these chances.”

“I wasnt actually drowning.” Luffy says after a long moment of silence.

“Yeah.” Ace knows, contrary to the popular accusation in the room he actually had been doing his job, “sabo wouldve buried me on the beach if you really were.”

“You bet.”

Ace tugs on the tank top, he’s running late for his date, he hopes blondie doenst mind

“That looks acceptable.” Sabo says in lieu of an apology for his prior harshness.

“See you later?” Ace pats himself down for his wallet and keys, Sabo nods and kicks open the door, it doesnt mean theyre done having this conversation but Ace is grateful theyre leaving it for another day

Gaw dang

[fozmeadows]

race & culture in fandom

For the past decade, English language fanwriting culture post the days of LiveJournal and Strikethrough has been hugely shaped by a handful of megafandoms that exploded across AO3 and tumblr – I’m talking Supernatural, Teen Wolf, Dr Who, the MCU, Harry Potter, Star Wars, BBC Sherlock – which have all been overwhelmingly white. I don’t mean in terms of the fans themselves, although whiteness also figures prominently in said fandoms: I mean that the source materials themselves feature very few POC, and the ones who are there tended to be done dirty by the creators.

Periodically, this has led POC in fandom to point out, extremely reasonably, that even where non-white characters do get central roles in various media properties, they’re often overlooked by fandom at large, such that the popular focus stays primarily on the white characters. Sometimes this happened (it was argued) because the POC characters were secondary to begin with and as such attracted less fan devotion (although this has never stopped fandoms from picking a random white gremlin from the background cast and elevating them to the status of Fave); at other times, however, there has been a clear trend of sidelining POC leads in favour of white alternatives (as per Finn, Poe and Rose Tico being edged out in Star Wars shipping by Hux, Kylo and Rey). I mention this, not to demonize individuals whose preferred ships happen to involve white characters, but to point out the collective impact these trends can have on POC in fandom spaces: it’s not bad to ship what you ship, but that doesn’t mean there’s no utility in analysing what’s popular and why through a racial lens.

All this being so, it feels increasingly salient that fanwriting culture as exists right now developed under the influence and in the shadow of these white-dominated fandoms – specifically, the taboo against criticizing or critiquing fics for any reason. Certainly, there’s a hell of a lot of value to Don’t Like, Don’t Read as a general policy, especially when it comes to the darker, kinkier side of ficwriting, and whether the context is professional or recreational, offering someone direct, unsolicited feedback on their writing style is a dick move. But on the flipside, the anti-criticism culture in fanwriting has consistently worked against fans of colour who speak out about racist tropes, fan ignorance and hurtful portrayals of living cultures. Voicing anything negative about works created for free is seen as violating a core rule of ficwriting culture – but as that culture has been foundationally shaped by white fandoms, white characters and, overwhelmingly, white ideas about what’s allowed and what isn’t, we ought to consider that all critical contexts are not created equal.

Right now, the rise of C-drama (and K-drama, and J-drama) fandoms is seeing a surge of white creators – myself included – writing fics for fandoms in which no white people exist, and where the cultural context which informs the canon is different to western norms. Which isn’t to say that no popular fandoms focused on POC have existed before now – K-pop RPF and anime fandoms, for example, have been big for a while. But with the success of The Untamed, more western fans are investing in stories whose plots, references, characterization and settings are so fundamentally rooted in real Chinese history and living Chinese culture that it’s not really possible to write around it. And yet, inevitably, too many in fandom are trying to do just that, treating respect for Chinese culture or an attempt to understand it as optional extras – because surely, fandom shouldn’t feel like work. If you’re writing something for free, on your own time, for your own pleasure, why should anyone else get to demand that you research the subject matter first?

Because it matters, is the short answer. Because race and culture are not made-up things like lightsabers and werewolves that you can alter, mock or misunderstand without the risk of hurting or marginalizing actual real people – and because, quite frankly, we already know that fandom is capable of drawing lines in the sand where it chooses. When Brony culture first reared its head (hah), the online fandom for My Little Pony – which, like the other fandoms we’re discussing here, is overwhelmingly female – was initially welcoming. It felt like progress, that so many straight men could identify with such a feminine show; a potential sign that maybe, we were finally leaving the era of mainstream hypermasculine fandom bullshit behind, at least in this one arena. And then, in pretty much the blink of an eye, things got overwhelmingly bad. Artists drawing hardcorn porn didn’t tag their works as adult, leading to those images flooding the public search results for a children’s show. Women were edged out of their own spaces. Bronies got aggressive, posting harsh, ugly criticism of artists whose gijinka interpretations of the Mane Six as humans were deemed insufficiently fuckable.

The resulting fandom conflict was deeply unpleasant, but in the end, the verdict was laid down loud and clear: if you cannot comport yourself like a decent fucking person – if your base mode of engagement within a fandom is to coopt it from the original audience and declare it newly cool only because you’re into it now; if you do not, at the very least, attempt to understand and respect the original context so as to engage appropriately (in this case, by acknowledging that the media you’re consuming was foundational to many women who were there before you and is still consumed by minors, and tagging your goddamn porn) – then the rest of fandom will treat you like a social biohazard, and rightly so.

Here’s the thing, fellow white people: when it comes to C-drama fandoms and other non-white, non-western properties? We are the Bronies.

Not, I hasten to add, in terms of toxic fuckery – though if we don’t get our collective shit together, I’m not taking that darkest timeline off the table. What I mean is that, by virtue of the whiteminding which, both consciously and unconsciously, has shaped current fan culture, particularly in terms of ficwriting conventions, we’re collectively acting as though we’re the primary audience for narratives that weren’t actually made with us in mind, being hostile dicks to Chinese and Chinese diaspora fans when they take the time to point out what we’re getting wrong. We’re bristling because we’ve conceived of ficwriting as a place wherein No Criticism Occurs without questioning how this culture, while valuable in some respects, also serves to uphold, excuse and perpetuate microaggresions and other forms of racism, lashing out or falling back on passive aggression when POC, quite understandably, talk about how they’re sick and tired of our bullshit.

An analogy: one of the most helpful and important tags on AO3 is the one for homophobia, not just because it allows readers to brace for or opt out of reading content they might find distressing, but because it lets the reader know that the writer knows what homophobia is, and is employing it deliberately. When this concept is tagged, I – like many others – often feel more able to read about it than I do when it crops up in untagged works of commercial fiction, film or TV, because I don’t have to worry that the author thinks what they’re depicting is okay. I can say definitively, “yes, the author knows this is messed up, but has elected to tell a messed up story, a fact that will be obvious to anyone who reads this,” instead of worrying that someone will see a fucked up story blind and think “oh, I guess that’s fine.” The contextual framing matters, is the point – which is why it’s so jarring and unpleasant on those rare occasions when I do stumble on a fic whose author has legitimately mistaken homophobic microaggressions for cute banter. This is why, in a ficwriting culture that otherwise aggressively dislikes criticism, the request to tag for a certain thing – while still sometimes fraught – is generally permitted: it helps everyone to have a good time and to curate their fan experience appropriately.

But when white and/or western fans fail to educate ourselves about race, culture and the history of other countries and proceed to deploy that ignorance in our writing, we’re not tagging for racism as a thing we’ve explored deliberately; we’re just being ignorant at best and hateful at worst, which means fans of colour don’t know to avoid or brace for the content of those works until they get hit in the face with microaggresions and/or outright racism. Instead, the burden is placed on them to navigate a minefield not of their creation: which fans can be trusted to write respectfully? Who, if they make an error, will listen and apologise if the error is explained? Who, if lived experience, personal translations or cultural insights are shared, can be counted on to acknowledge those contributions rather than taking sole credit? Too often, fans of colour are being made to feel like guests in their own house, while white fans act like a tone-policing HOA.

Point being: fandom and ficwriting cultures as they currently exist badly need to confront the implicit acceptance of racism and cultural bias that underlies a lot of community rules about engagement and criticism, and that needs to start with white and western fans. We don’t want to be the new Bronies, guys. We need to do better.