#i have so much useless knowledge and character opinions

[madame-mongoose]

Sobs in wants people to read Frankenstein so I have more people to talk about it with

[anomalouscutie]

feeling things about morgana. need to talk about him or ill die

[daz4i]

me when someone talks abt lucifer's canon and even refers to certain parts of the bible but is clearly talking about the one from paradise lost 

hope I'm not just a blog for you but also a place to read passionate yet unimportant opinions about niche elements of the lore of abrahamic religions as well

[ghysry]

A backstory for brisket Five? Say less!

Tags: Diego and Five bond:(, semi-happy ending, brisket Five, he's retired, not an x reader, if you guys want me to make one just ring the bell!, He's so silly!, now let's traumatize him, shows how brisket Five got his name

Characters: Five | the brisket boy (TUA show), Diego Hargreeves, slight mention of Luther Hargreeves and Sloane Hargreeves, Waiter Five cameo at the end

---------------------------------------------------

"You used to be one of the rotten ones."

Five wouldn't say he had any artistic ability, in hindsight his calculations all over every space of his childhood bedroom might look like modern art to the gullible eye but it's more of an eyesore when you actually understand the things written down, some even have corrections all over them, which at one point stops looking good and starts looking like someone barfed numbers on top of numbers. He learned mathematics in the years he spent walking the empty wasteland of an apocalypse at the ripe age of thirteen to fifty-something, reading books over and over again that survived in the apocalypse was his only source of enjoyment, if not enjoyment, then to pass the time.

No one knows one of those books he picked up was a cook book, a mini-series of them, he vaguely remembers having six out of the eight that you could get in a standard book set of these page torn burnt at the side step-by-step instruction nightmares. But he kept them. There were no stoves anywhere - and if there were, there would be no gas to turn the thing on; besides, he didn't exactly have the materials to cook food anyway, so it was useless to carry those six books around so much, embarrassing, even. Yet it was still in his cart, all forty years he spent heaving it and dragging the wooden mess behind him, those books never left his sight, and he never let them get damaged.

"Step one, throw a pot on the stove and set the fire to medium heat, slice the meat and add it into the water, then--" Five mumbled with his eyes closed, his hand fumbling with a fork, before his ears picked up footsteps right outside of his hotel bedroom. "Five?" Diego knocked on his already open door, letting himself into the older-but-younger brother's room. "You hear the thing with Sloane and Luther? They're getting married," Diego announced, eyeing his sibling for a second, trying to gauge his opinion. If Diego wasn't Five's second favorite sibling he would have sent him out of his room in less than a second, but he is. "I know. Space boy marries space girl before the world ends, kisses and hugs, do I have to be there?" Five grumbles, standing up from the edge of his bed and making his way to Diego, too lazy to use his powers.

"Yes, you have to be there. You're Luther's sibling too you know?" Diego, who's been trying to work on his parental instincts, can't help but see Five as a kid who just can't be understood by certain people, and with this knowledge in his mind, he also can't help but wrap an arm around Five's shoulder and give off a smile. "I'll be there too."

Well, this certainly wasn't what Five thought would happen a few hours before his brother's wedding. He was baking..a cake, a wedding cake, with Diego, his other brother. Five eyed Diego from his peripheral vision, watching him mix the cake batter incorrectly. "Give it here," he sneers, blinking next to Diego and grabbing the mixer, doing it the right way and watching his brother stare at him in what he thought was either awe, annoyance, disgust, or all three. "What?" Five stepped aside, cracking an egg into the batter and then mixing again. "Nothing, I just didn't think of you as the type of guy that cooks."

...

"I don't." Five stares down at his hand holding the mixer, blinking at the weird thought that maybe he could be the type of guy who cooks. After all this, when the world eventually ends and he finds himself up in his version of heaven (which he would prefer if his siblings were nearby, but he'd never tell them that), he'd open a restaurant and cook all the stuff he wishes he could've when he was stuck in the apocalypse. Or, maybe, he just dies - either way now that he was doing it, it felt pretty good, thinking about how people would eat his cooking. "Diego, help me with this."

--There it is, that dreaded moment. After Luther's wedding, after they found the other side of the hotel, after they reset the universe, after everyone else left. The sinking feeling that his siblings would never get to taste his cooking again, dare he ever try to cook after that shit show, it felt worse than standing here alone, by himself, in a park on the bench hoping nobody walks by him and asks if he knows where his parents are. Truthfully, he doesn't even know what happened to his parents, neither Reginald or his biological mother.

[SOMEWHERE IN THE GODDAMN PRESENT]

He gave up on cooking, he realized it sooner or later. After opening a restaurant that was - by the way - extremely successful, he found himself trying to contact his siblings in his free time, once or twice a week, calling them then hanging up a few minutes later to make it seem like he never missed them, and the reason he was calling was only to check up on whether or not they're starting another apocalypse or something. Klaus and Diego got more calls than he'd like to admit, Diego had a family, Klaus was finally off drugs because he lost his powers, and Allison was taking care of him while Klaus was taking care of Claire; who Allison finally got back in this timeline. But that wasn't when he gave up on cooking, it was when he realized this timeline was still doomed to fail either way.

He remembered it as clearly as he remembers that stupid commission handbook, the subway, the diary, the amount of times he felt his chest tightening at the mere mention of another apocalypse, even worse, at the mention of his siblings dying, or his siblings having to die for the sake of the world. That wasn't what he wanted, it was far from what he thought the ending would look like. Maybe, for once, he could accept that he was gullible for thinking he'd ever have a happy ending, especially one that had his siblings in it. If not for his siblings abandoning him, it was him abandoning his siblings. Again.

One more thing he would never tell anyone is that he still blames himself for ending up so far into the future. At first, when he ended up in the apocalypse and couldn't teleport back in time, he thought it was his fault. Seeing his siblings bodies laying there dead and hearts investing, he thought when he jumped too far into the future, he lost all the time he could have spent with them before the apocalypse happened. It's why he wanted to stop it so badly in the first place, to be able to spend more time with his family, the only family he had. Now, he was stuck in a stupid subway with his head in his hands, shivering in one of the empty seats, using his shirt to cover him up as much as possible from the harsh temperature of the subway. Ten years. Ten years on the subway, ten years travelling different timelines, surviving, leaving, wishing for a better adventure. It was just like the apocalypse honestly, if it happened in a train that smelled weirdly like a mixed cleaning agent and a car freshener.

It was on one of those off days when he found the abandoned restaurant, well, it was abandoned when he first saw it, but it felt like the universe was actively laughing in his face when the subway chose to bring him here, though it was the only place he could stay and feel even a little bit closer to home. He stepped inside the dusty establishment, coughing as he did so, the lights were on and flickering, but he was only here to try and loot the place for food. He walked around the place, old shoes sounding against the tiled floor, senses heightened and a butter knife he found clutched tightly in his right hand.

When he opened the kitchen door, he almost lunged in surprise, well, that is if he could lunge at all, or if he could feel surprised at all. It was..another version of him, cooking a meal of some sort, like something you'd find in a shitty three star fast food restaurant, and the grease was just everywhere on that thing. "Do you mind?" The other Five cleared his throat and raised his eyebrow, staring at the Five who was holding a butter knife in his hand.

"You hungry? I could cook you something too." Waiter Five smiled, well, it wasn't really a smile, more like a small smirk pointed towards the other Five who was just standing there like a bear poked. "I'll make my own food," Five answered, clearing his throat, but his hand never let go of the butter knife at his disposal.

"Got any brisket?"

[flavoredfaeman]

Okay making my own long post so that I can get out all my thoughts clearly

So to start off 1. I think that queer baiting is a completely useless term, in part because all it is used for is arguing whether or not something is queer enough (in part because queerbaiting is an incredibly rare phenomenon in western media), 2. I think that the way male queerness is treated in Deadpool is unfortunate, and 3. Gay people are allowed to find joy in goofy movies and it isn't that serious.

**this is all my opinion, a lot of these topics are up to personal interpretation just like with any other movies or media discussion (I am trying to also cover multiple perspectives here, but I am only one person)

Let's get one thing clear right off the bat, no one who is familiar with marvel and disney actually thought that Deadpool and Wolverine were going to kiss/fuck nasty/become an item. (Those were jokes guys.) Those of us who were hoping for queerness were hoping for some subtext at most or the Deadpool-typical type jokes where he smacks a guy's ass, makes a quippy comment and moves on. And within that context of expectation, we were given way more than we expected.

Now, I will say that it is absolutely sad that we can have these movies with gay jokes, but that actually portraying queer characters seems to be too much for them. As is typical (to my knowledge) of bigger movies, they were allowed to make a side lesbian couple (this is a much larger topic, but for the purposes of this conversation, let me add on: cishet men think lesbians are hot + women are not considered to be able to have "real" relationships without men. So they can get greenlit a bit easier.), but Deadpool is not allowed to have meaningful connections to other men.

Deadpool's jokes about gayness can be interpreted in different ways. To some people, they feel hurtful and deriding. To others, they are the jokes made by a man who is comfortable in his identity, and who makes jokes to take power away from people who may want to use his queerness against him. It's really hard to argue this one way or the other, since Deadpool isn't a real person who we can ask to clarify. As such, how one feels about these jokes usually sits within the context of how they view Deadpool and the movies in general. Personally, I think that these jokes are meant to shock audiences, but I don't think they are actually intended to be hurtful. Especially when the funny part of most of the jokes is when he is making them, not that it's gay. Like, straight or gay, it's funny to talk about sex in a really emotional/tense moment, or in the middle of a fight. Particularly when you see how he treats the other queer people around him, not to mention, you know, the fact that he's canonically pansexual. (Frankly I find it kinda weird to go "aah there's a queer man making jokes about being a queer man!! How terrible!!" but that's my prerogative)

From movie 2 to 3 there does seem to be a change in how queerness is being treated. A positive change, in my opinion. Because Deadpool isn't making all that many jokes in this one, he's got a few for sure (Wolverine has one or two as well!!) but a lot of what he's doing is becoming genuinely close to Wolverine. This shifts the dynamic, now it's not just Deadpool making gay jokes or advances to people who don't really reciprocate (to my memory, though I feel like Colossus may have flirted back at like the end of Deadpool 2?), instead the jokes are being reciprocated/responded to and the characters are being put on even ground. Wolverine is a realized character, just like Deadpool, so they are able to grow closer over the course of the movie, and form an actual connection and bond. (Also a lot of the gay jokes become "wow isn't wolverine so hot?" jokes)

Important to also add that yes, they do start the movie with a very fraught and tense relationship, they are both very violent characters, Wolverine has crazy anger issues, and Deadpool makes everything a joke. All of these things are important to their characters and story! If you took some of those early interactions out of context you could argue that Wolverine isn't reciprocating or something of the like, but that would require ignoring the majority of the film. They are kinda crazy and impervious characters who have opposite personalities in a high stakes setting, of course they are going to fight and try to harm one another.

As much as it's already been talked to death, it is genuinely important to discuss the metaphors in this movie. Because as funny as the Honda jokes are, that scene is heavily implied to be a sex scene. This is the art of film, what you cannot show the viewer, you must convey some other way. The fight happens to You're The One That I Want, they repeatedly stab intimate places (stabbing as metaphor for penetration), the way they position themselves in the car and through themselves at each other, and the camera panning towards the bumper as the car shakes (a classic fade to black sex move). This is all movie language, and it is vital to understanding what a movie is portraying.

The climax is also very important in this regard, because as camp as it is, they were willing to die for each other and in that willingness they were able to save each other. Like A Prayer is playing, they are holding hands, when Wolverine's shirt explodes Deadpool takes a moment to oggle him despite the fact that they're both getting absolutely electrocuted or whatever.

Now, despite all of this absolutely beautiful subtext, Deadpool and Wolverine do not get together. That is absolutely an important part of this conversation, their relationship is ultimately left ambiguous. But a queer man being in a homoerotic ambiguous relationship with another man, does not a queer bait make.

Vanessa is an important part of this discussion of course - though to preface this, I find their relationship really boring so I don't really remember a lot of what happened between them in the first movie. Deadpool is canonically pansexual, so his relationship with any woman does not make him any less queer. Though, it could be argued that she's been kept around as a character to make sure he's always in or longing for a straight relationship.

Some people have been arguing that the movie ends with Deadpool getting back together with her, which blatantly does not happen. They were in a weird stage of exes being friends at the start of the movie, where she was in a new relationship, and he was still pining. All he does at the end of the movie is go over to her to let her know he cares about her, which could be romantic or platonic - but IS NOT them getting together. And again - even if he still is in love with her by the end of the movie, he is still queer.

In addition, I don't think that Deadpool is monogamous. He's constantly flirting and showing interest in many different people. Now I don't remember if he ever has a conversation with Vanessa about monogamy, so I could be missing an important part of their dynamic. But as it stands to my knowledge, Deadpool being in love with Vanessa doesn't mean he's not in love with Wolverine.

Both of these potential relationships end in the air. And of the two (if we assume monogamy is important) Vanessa said she had a boyfriend, and Wolverine just moved into Deadpool's apartment. So Wolverine is in a much better position to end up with Deadpool than Vanessa is.

It's also good to note that everything we got in this movie was fought tooth and nail for by Ryan Reynolds and the movie's team. There is every chance that Deadpool and Wolverine's relationship would not be implied but rather outright in a world where studio opinions don't matter.

Everything that I've just described is not queerbaiting. A movie with queer people in it canonically, is not queerbaiting. Queerbaiting is when media sells a character/relationship as queer in order to get an audience and then tells that audience that they are not actually queer (usually done incredibly insultingly, think Sherlock). Marvel and Disney do not need to market towards queer people to get an audience, in fact marketing towards queer people is more likely to lose fans, and gain hate. It's also important to note that the marketing hasn't been marketing these two as queer, they aren't almost kissing in material, the cover is a friendship charm, the most they do is address the fact that Wolverine/Hugh Jackman is hot af. So it literally isn't queerbaiting.

Now, whether or not someone is disappointed in the level of queerness is completely up to the individual! Everyone is welcome to their opinions and feelings about the movie, disappointed or delighted. But a movie is not queerbaiting just because you are disappointed.

[lets-try-some-writing]

okay but what about robots in disguise?? its not a favorite of mine but it’s still pretty good. russel and his dad are decent lol

Frag that show.

It disrespected TFP on every level and for that it has my eternal hatred and contempt. The humans were annoying, and I HATED how many interesting plot threads there were that were either done poorly or with so little tact that the writing team should have just scrapped it. The designs are tolerable, but I hate how canon TFP characters lost so much of their individuality in their designs (coughtheopticscough). Smokescreen is fricking GONE, which bothers me more than I care to admit. We see the rest of the team enough to be reasonable, but they all appear in ways that don't really make me happy.

Ratchet was done well enough in my opinion. I like his RID design. It suites him. Optimus's design can go die in a hole, they brutalized that mech. Same with Jazz. Frag those stupid shoulder pads.

Grimlock is fun, I appreciate Sideswipe, although his helm hair thingies I think need a redesign to make sense in relation to his alt mode. Strongarm was HORRIBLY underutilized and I hardly saw any character growth in her. Drift and his crew were interesting, but similarly not given much room to grow. I really liked Windblade for the most part, especially the episode where she tries to baby Optimus and comes out having relearned that Op is still a PRIME with MILLIONS OF YEARS OF WAR EXPERIENCE.

The Primes who've done nothing but sit on their rears had NO RIGHT to belittle Optimus at every turn. Nor did the show have the right to make him an idiot for the sake of making Bee look smarter. As @nova--spark has pointed out, the personality Bee got in the show matches Smokescreen better. Bumblebee wouldn't have SUCKED so much at the whole leadership shtick. What happened to all that skill shown in the movie huh? HUH WRITING TEAM????!??!?!

While I am on this train. OPTIMUS DIED SO GOSH DARN LEAVE HIM ALONE!!! He should have stayed deceased, or if they REALLY needed him back, he should have either returned as an Civi or came back with actual issues. Like dang hear me out mate.

Optimus is forcefully returned to life, beats the Fallen with his borrowed power, but then has to actually deal with the consequences of essentially being a walking bomb for a while. Make him start losing plating, make his frame HURT, make him slim down again into the TFP base design. Just, give him a reason to have to sit back and RECOVER. Not this whole half hearted limping around garbage. To add to that, don't baby the mech. Let him stay at base and fulfill the role Ratchet did in TFP. Let him use his knowledge to teach and offer wisdom, plan battles and locate enemies. For Primus's sake he could have gone undercover on Cybertron or something if they really needed him to go be useless elsewhere.

THEY COULD HAVE EVEN HAD AN ARC WITH HIM GIVING THE TEAM A WAKEUP CALL!!! SIdeswipe has no respect for the mission, Grimlock is a fool, Strongarm is too snarky, and Bee in this seems to have largely forgotten about the seriousness except for during key moments. They could have made Optimus a minor antagonist, forcing the team to follow wartime standards since they laid down this plot thread regarding issues between leadership styles and Optimus trying to take control of the operation more than once.

I would have paid money to see Optimus's wartime mentality show itself in the best and worst ways through how he worked with this group of non war vets on a Decepticon capture mission. Maybe even have him use lethal force once or twice, or at least hint at it so that people can be reminded that he is a mech who went to war, killed countless bots, and both drove their people to and saved their people from extinction.

Bee could have had to teach Optimus to calm down. He could have helped eased his leader out of his wartime mindset. Or following that whole council running Cybertron route, Optimus could have had his moment of being very much right when he points out WHY he fought at all and gestures towards the new council. There was SO MUCH potential in this show, so many good threads and interesting Decepticon character that could have given so much depth to the war and the aligned continuity as a whole, but they were almost ALL ignored.

*deep breath*

Alright, sorry about that. I have big feelings in regards to how dirty Optimus was done. Moving on, the Predacons were killed off supposedly and that pisses me off ESPECIALLY because it was done in a fricking offscreen setting. What the hell happened to Predaking??? WHERE DID HE GO????

Starscream's design was rad though, not going to lie.

Where is Shockwave? No seriously where is that fragger? After several years of the map he MUST have an army growing in a tank somewhere.

Soundwave. Why. ARe. YOU. HERE??!?!?!? I love you man but dang you are so out of place. He made sense in the context of trying to get to Megatron, but idk he felt like he deserved better. He should have been the big brain behind the Cons on Earth if you asked me. It would have made everything far more intense, especially if the Cons dont follow Decepticon creed as seen by Soundwave.

The humans were annoying. Sorry they just were.

Fixit is Primus's gift to RID and he's one of the few individuals who makes it less annoying. Idk, I just like him in reasonable doses.

WHERE ARE THE TFP KIDS?! WHY HAS BEE NOT CALLED THEM?? GOOD HEAVENS THERE IS A WHOLE SUBPLOT RIGHT THERE!!!

*yet another deep breath*

Apologies.

To put things simply, I would rather a group of fanfic writers put RID together than whoever the writing team was. They could have made a coherent story with deep characters that actually address the ramifications of millions of years of war and lingering functionalist mindsets. They would have done the lore and the world justice even if there were no main characters popping up.

I think RID has so much potential, but that almost all of it went right down the toilet due to either the higher ups sticking their noses where they don't belong or because the writing team couldn't go two minutes without retconning or otherwise destroying established everything.

Thank you for coming to my ted talk.

[cosmic-metanoia]

Femininity Concepts in FFXVI

***Spoilers for Final Fantasy XVI***

Well, here I am again, now focusing on the female characters.

Like I did in the previous post, I will focus on the female Dominants first then highlight some secondary characters that really stood out.

*Jill - Come on, we gotta start with our beloved gal. She demonstrates this silent but strong (and even fearsome) spirit. She's very supportive of Clive but is not afraid to voice her opinions. She possesses a natural elegance and grace but demonstrates her fierce capabilities on the battlefield. She has a knack for negotiation and relating to others. We really see her unveil her dark side when she confronts her past head on in the Iron Kingdom. What's fantastic is that she asked for Clive's support and understanding but made it clear that she would be the one to face off against the Crystalline Orthodoxy's head priest (his name escapes me). Jill may not always make background commentary but her words are carefully selected and measured.

*Benedikta - She is your classic femme fatale that plays with men to further advance her position. Yet the one who she is in a love/hate relationship with is the one she can't have. She is ferocious yet what makes her different is that she contains this hidden sorrow and just wants to be genuinely loved. The way she frantically panicked when she lost her Eikon honestly brought tears to my eyes. She ended up with the wrong crowd and played this game of political chess in a room full of powerful men yet she instantly realized how useless she was to them in that moment of losing her most valuable piece.

*Side note: Let's hope that Leviathan the Lost is another female Eikon when the DLC hits in the next few months!! <3

*Jote - Okay, this awesome woman is HIGHLY underrated! She is incredibly enigmatic and we learn so much about her from the thoughts of other characters but never from her own lips! Initially players may brush her off as some unimportant maid servant but we see that she is so much more - a shield, a formidable fighter (though never witnessed!), a healer, a scout, etc. She's basically doing the jobs of Tarja, Clive, and Gav wrapped up in one! Yet her eyes give away her feelings towards Joshua and especially when she frets over his health. Yes, she longs for him but what makes it unique is that she loves him for who he is, not for what benefits his Eikon brings to the Undying that worships him.

*Mid - A freakin' prodigy. I mean, she is the head of the hideaway engineers! An occupation that is stereotypically masculine. She is 100% focused on her tasks and is not your typical 16 year old gal for sure. Her genius inventions, zest for life, and fast-talking mannerisms has all of the hideaway family wrapped around her finger (true, also because she is Cid's daughter). That whole scene with Joshua kneeling to kiss her hand upon meeting her cracked me up - she's the last woman who requires a chivalrous display but what I love is how she laughed and pulled him up and gave him a reassuring pat on the shoulder.

*Charon - What can I say, this woman does not take s--- from ANYONE. She's even intimidating to some of the men at the hideaway which is absolutely hilarious. She is a hardened woman that commands respect but has her softer side which takes time to reveal. Money is on her mind but eventually she learns that there should be more to life - using her abilities as a cunning merchant to help a cause greater than herself.

*Tarja - Like Charon, she also does not accept any B.S. and takes her job as the non-magical physicker very seriously. What's great is that she isn't a nurse but the actual (and only) doctor of the hideaway. Her extensive knowledge is incredibly valuable and the hideaway would definitely not have survived without her.

*Vivian - A woman held in high-esteem who is so focused on the garnering of knowledge that she even gets targeted by assassins. Her intelligence certainly tips the scales in favor of the Cursebreakers to gain the upper hand.

*Anabella - I have a huge post written about her but I figure it's worth mentioning a particular aspect. She possesses quite the evil ambitions and is able to persuade not just the theocratic Sanbrequois emperor but powerful men from other nations - NOT just through her looks but through her conniving strategies. She longs for a powerful legacy forged by the greatest possible noble blood and even views herself as the prized breeding cow.

Some other examples of different aspects of female characters include: Eloise who is an astute businesswoman who conducted deals and contracts while her brother Theodore (sob) became her trusted porter; Martha who is the tough protector of Martha's Rest - the Rosarians put their trust and faith in her; the same with the Northreach residents when it came to Isabelle. What's great about her is that she is a courtesan but we see her blossom into a strong and trustworthy leader that many held in high esteem.

Even the stoic Dorys is the commander of a Cursebreakers squad.

I love how the story had female characters each with their own drives and ambitions whether they were motivated by a just cause or for evil reasons.

[tenebris-lux]

(Warning: this post has a lot of gushing.)

I enjoyed the way Graham Rowan read Hennessey’s letter, and how Felix Trench screamed as Renfield; the latter was interesting to me because if I hadn’t known the context, I wouldn’t have known it was him. Screaming distorts voices, more so if one’s angry like Renfield was.

Btw, I’m not good with UK accents, so I’m curious what accent Hennessey had. Was it Yorkshire?

Oh, the hoarse way Seward begins his diary. Before he even said the line “I am too miserable,” I could tell he’d been crying or struggling not to. Then the way he grated out the next lines… OH, that grief. It’s so perfectly done, I can easily empathize with the feeling of talking through a cramping chest. Mr. Sims, how did you execute that so beautifully? Also love how he pauses and breathes slowly to center himself before continuing. I am not sorry, but I am LOVING that first paragraph.

And Van Helsing’s quiet, soothing tones to Holmwood as he brings him into the drawing room. I’ve said before that I think Van Helsing talks way too much, but it was very comforting to hear the way Alan Burgon delivered his lines. Lots of sympathy there.

In fact, every line in this entry was uttered so well. The way Seward says, “Ah, well, poor girl, there is peace for her at last,” with forced energy as he shoves his grief aside for later. He’s putting on the tough act, but we all know how emotional he is privately.

By the way, the music shifts are wonderful without being melodramatic, as Lucy shifts back and forth between herself and the vampiric state. And the way it turns chilling when Van Helsing says, “Not so; alas! not so. It is only the beginning!” The music and line deliveries work well together, like harmony.

I enjoyed Van Helsing’s monologue to Seward as he practically begged him to keep trusting him. Mr. Burgon delivered those lines with such deliberation and force, that I never realized in reading the book before that Van Helsing was desperate for Seward to keep trusting him through these strange and apparently useless and grisly next steps. I also like it because of yet another issue I have with the character of Van Helsing—he tends to overtake the spotlight, in my opinion. He talks so much and directs the flow of who talks and when whenever he’s in the room (this is just how it seems to me when I’m reading it). He’s got all the knowledge (apparently), yet holds it back until he decides everyone else needs to hear it. I have issue because, when I read it as text, it just seems too controlling. And that’s why I appreciate the way Mr. Burgon said those couple paragraphs. It showed me that there are things he can’t control and has to ask, even beg for: his friend’s trust. And Jack’s trust means a lot to him.

Er, tl;dr—good job, everybody. This episode was awesome. I loved it.

[theonlyendersgamefan]

No spoilers

SHADOWS IN FLIGHT IS ACTUALLY GOOD??

I genuinely forgot that Orson Scott Card is a competent sci-fi author. Every other shadow book has me like “please let this be a normal feild trip” and then you get 100k words of the slowest Mormon manifesto disguised as political thriller. (Except for shadow of the giant (they could never make me hate you, shadow of the giant))

Shadows in flight is classic 80s sci-fi and relative to the rest of OSC’s library it only has a little bit of sudo-incest. But even outside of that I’m also just really engaged with the story and junk. And even if the story was entirely non existent Cards distinct writing style from Enders game and speaker for the dead, which was lacking in the first half of the shadow saga imo, returns here which is a breath of fresh air.

I feel I should mention this early on just for transparency sake but, a positive book review by me is entirely useless because I will rate a book 5 starts purely based on my own ability to creat fun mental visualization out of it.

Let me explain. Delving truely a tiny bit into spoiler territory.

At some point a group is in a hallway in 0g and they’re all geard up. My own interpretation of this scene has this group, who is not usually especially discreet, be as disciplined as a highly trained swat team. In reality, text on paper, their gear is no more then rudimentary. Just as a consequence of not needing anything more. They are probably moving as instinct guides them. In my mind, however, they are fully bravo 6 going dark. No wasted movement, swift and efficient. The entire atmosphere of the story changes, they are having conversations through coms and I will mentally add in radio chatter even if it doesn’t make sense. Or I’ll make up a whole dramatic sequence for them opening a hatch or turning a corner. It’s fun as a little brain exercise but it’s not black on white text so my review of the book, which is based partly on the above, is biased because I imagined it in a way that I would like best.

What I can say is that this book is much less intrusive than the rest of the shadow saga. Orson Scott Card still can’t help but tell us directly what we’re supposed to think and HIS interpretation but in this book I feel that he’s taking a similar approach as speaker for the dead. Each character is written strongly enough that they can disagree on a conclusion based on the same information and neither is pitted to be explicitly wrong by the book (like a couple other shadow books I could name (I HATE SHADOW PUPPETS (Why waste such a goo name on such a boring book))).

Overall the book does give you more space to breath and more time in between receiving information and the characters declaring their own opinions. I actually several times got to the conclusion of one of the characters before they did because they all think their conclusions out. Instead of starting with the answer and condescending to everyone about how obvious the reasoning is later.

I’m also a big fan of the tech in this book. It’s much more grounded then in say xenocide. Advanced but based in concepts of physics and chemistry and biology that are common enough knowledge. You don’t feel overwhelmed or like you just have to accept that this is true and not gibberish.

Anyway SHADOWS IN PEAK.

I definitely didn’t write out all my thoughts here partially because I’m trying to stay as far from spoilers as I can and partially because I’m just writing down ideas as they come to me (is that obvious. I’ll write more about this book for the foreseeable future actually, it’s becoming my favourite shadow book (shadow of the giant in a close second but it’s becoming a more distant second which each page of shadows in flight)

I also haven’t actually finished the book.. I’m half way through and had to talk about it, soz.

[lairofdragonagelore]

Dragon Age: Vows and Vengeance

Episodes: 1, 2, 3, and 4

Episodet: 5, 6, 7, and 8

Personal Conclusions

What lore do we extract from them? What seems to be questionable or a recall of a concept from a previous game? I basically collect the interesting ideas and make small speculations or comments on them, testing their reliability or lore consistency as far as I can.

*These Podcasts, like Absolution, are not considered reliable sources of lore [read the end of the post]

Episode 5: The Scales of Justice

This story happens in Par Vollen, Qunari lands.

Thaash seems to have a natural sense to perceive where to go, to the point maps are useless for her. She is called “Qunari”, but when she interacts with other Qunari, we can perceive a certain disdain by the Qun but not a total rejection from her part. We still need to learn where she stands at with the Qun. She speaks Qunlat [or I think that was the chant about]

There is a treasure presented: Ruins of Bloodfire Stones, sacred rubies that are forged from the scales of a dragon. This treasure is in the “Temple of the Lost Dragon”, sacred ground for the Qunari.

Drayden and Nadia are jailed in a building described as a pyramid. This may be direct callback to the codex   The Pyramids of Par Vollen, but weirdly incorporated, because in the podcast they are mere prisons when the codex explains they were closer to [Ghilan'nain] laboratories [more details in the Par Vollen section of Dragon Age Iconic Patterns: The Sun].

This podcast presents very questionable Qunari lore: I won’t rant here, but certainly the whole episode shows how little the writers know about the lore of the Qunari, their moral values, their language, their strict rules that they follow, the importance of the “role” in Qunari society. I highly recommend not to use this content for anything Qunari-lore related. In general, this applies to all the series of podcasts, as we are seeing progressively.

Painful, very painful use of Kadan word. That a Qunari child steps in front of a Kithshok to stop his role… it’s painful. What is this? And the implications that Qunari could not care much about kids or their enemies, when we know their culture is all about not wasting resources, not even your enemy when it’s capable of becoming a useful weapon for you, it’s also painful. These writers had no idea what the Qunari were, and Epler, who had to check this, either.

The writers also don’t know about dragon lore in DA. Female dragons are always winged dragons. It doesn’t matter their spine colour.

The conclusion of how the ring works and how it will guide Elio throughout the Fade to Nadia…. All this is confusing and just so out of the blue in my opinion.

Drayden has seasicknes.

Language is immersion breaker: “yep”, “ain’t”, “piss off”, “you guys”, “jinx”, “nah”. They are a step from start using “lol”. It was a bit annoying that many characters have been using "yep" in the previous podcasts, but in here the language fell on the modern English. I can see this as a careless work.

Our future companion Taash is introduced in this episode.

Personal opinion: As we check the writers we discover the following: Will Melton has a long career very focused in Marvel-like scripts, which shows it in the podcasts, unfortunately. On the other hand, we have Jeremy Novick whose portfolio seems a lot more serious but a shorter career. The director Matt Sav is a person who has more experience with musicals, music, and musicians than… well, narrative story in fantasy genre. I think we can assume these podcasts are a bad product, as it was Absolution: made by people who had no experience in the genre, no real knowledge of the franchise, and they were more doing a freelance job badly paid by Bioware/EA [most likely] since the big majority of their seniors were laid-off in the last decade or simply quit. The only exception is Trick Weekes [who "inherited" Gaider's role in the company], but certainly they can't do everything. They are the only person with the “Bioware” style of narrative that was always so valued in the games of this genre. What i felt with this podcast is that the company is just relaying on Dragon Age's fame to convince new players that this is a good product [the podcast], or use the despair of old fans that have been waiting a decade for a new story in this world. As usual, companies keep killing good art concepts. Update: And as it was expected, Epler explained later that the authors of these podcasts knew no Lore [details at the end of this post].

Episode 6:

This story starts at the shores of Rivain and continues in Antiva. Antiva has been suffering earthquakes that have swallowed entire villages, sudden teleportations (????? Because the Veil is thin I guess? These podcasts are a pain for lore fans), the forests have been wasted, terrible storms hit the land, and the crops have become rotten overnight. Clearly, the story informs us that a series of unnatural disasters have been hitting this country. This context has increased the social frictions and can bring political consequences.

Marethari Talas apparently wrote books or shared her stories about dreamers before becoming an abomination [??]

Elio, as heir of a family of Dreamers, is suspected to be able to find Nadia just… because they have a connection[??] product of the Eye that exploded in episode 1 [???]. What's lore?

Drayden's old name is Aristide of House Amato, which seems to be a noble antivan family. She has a mabari called Ophelia too [there are no other dog breeds in Thedas, it seems, lol].

Our future companion Lucanis Dellamorte is introduced in this episode. Which considering the situation he is in the game [no spoilers] it would mean these podcasts are happening, at least, a year before The Veilguard. This podcast also puts Lucanis in a situation that shows him as not so specialized on killing Venatori Mages, since Drayden’s father hired him to be his bodyguard [more reasons to see that these podcasts are not truly well inserted in the lore]. Apparently, Lucanis and Drayden’s father were good friends since the latter found in Lucanis a kind of confident, speaking a lot about his child Drayden. Maybe honouring that friendship is the reason why Lucanis does not mind to work for free for Drayden in this case.

Episode 7:

This Episode starts in Antiva, and continues in Nevarra. We see Nevarra being hit by earthquakes and storms, similar to Antiva, but no sudden teleportations happen here because the “writing” doesn’t need it, apparently.

Introducing a finger inside a deep stabbing wound is a way to asses if inner organs were hurt. You can also feel “spams and arterial ejections” [?????]

“If there's one thing a Crow can do besides killing, it's treating a wound” Potentially possible? I don’t know if I trust this sentence after listening that said Crow fingered an open wound.

Blood of the Black Rot: concoction that gets into the humors, slowly turning the blood into something like oil. Ironically, black rot has some references in DAO when it comes to the Taint. There are no lore-about a poison described as such. Strangely enough, the poison produces black veins in the white of the eye, finding some resemblance to the Blight. Is this intentional or the writers just kept messing the little lore? I don’t think it even matters. We are informed that there is no antidote.

A weird “blood magic” called “Exsanguination” is shown: blood magic can be used to take out all the blood of a person [so the body has no blood for some time], “cleanse” it of any poison in the air with the help of spirits [????], and put it back into the body. It’s not what the blood magic in DA lore is about: Blood fuels magic when you don’t have mana or lyrium to drink, it is used to summoning demons, and to control the mind of mortals. Can we assume this is a new use? I don’t know.

The antivans claim that there is no strong necromancer in Antiva, when we know Yavanna has been around in its Swamps for a long time. It’s true that in the comic The Silent Grove she is killed, but nobody but Alistair, Varric, and Isabela know about it. That Lucanis proposes to cross half country with a poisoned person instead of approaching the Witch of the Wild closer to them is unexpected. Yavanna has brought back people from death to ask them questions, so her necromancy arts are unquestionable. Crossing an entire country is a lot more reasonable.

Being “touched by the fade” makes you “resistant to death” [as Emmrich literally says, which is an absurd]. Let’s assume that was a mistake that nobody corrected and we learn that they are resistant to poison: It is also absurd in DA lore; since mages [who have a deeper connection to the Fade, if anything] are not poison-resistant. These writers keep showing that they have no idea what they are writing about [which is reasonable, they never worked in fantasy genre or DA context] but also it shows how little care Bioware had to keep these podcasts consistent.

Manfred doesn’t speak, he just makes sounds. He apparently has a connection with Emmrich that allows him to fully understand him. Apparently he doesn’t like nicknames.

Emmrich can send a message “beyond the Veil” to Drayden, who is unconscious. So, in terms of lore, are they telling us that Drayden is walking in the Fade? So they are more like a mage than anything else. And What’s this weird “message beyond the Veil”? It sounds a bit of a nonsense. Imagine that if the Mages could communicate through the Fade in this fashion, Thedas would already have a system of interconnected Circles with Mages bringing and sending messages all across the continent.

Emmrich informs us that the ritual that Solas and Elio performed in the Silent Plains caused some general consequences on the Veil in all the region.

The authors managed to create an original character [Nadia] and write her absolutely out of character in this episode, showing her with a blind, naive trust to the owners of the Castle [Pascal and Spinella] who are maniacally giggling, sighing menacingly, and emphasizing in a cheap acting words like “crypts”, “divine”, and behaving in the most suspicious ever. Plain, obvious, cartoon evil characters. And yet, Nadia doesn’t even question them, when she has been mistrusting every person who was not Elio in all the previous episodes. She even drinks what they offer to her without batting her eyes, despite all the obvious, villainous tone that the whole conversation has. This brings the question: how much do we can trust the companion’s characterization in these podcasts when they can’t keep consistent their own original character?

Demons are characterized as in the Christian mythology instead of the DA lore. Demons sing chants to… do magic. [??????]

Emmrich speaks with the demon as if this were a demonic possession in a Christian context, even starting to perform an exorcism [??????!!!]. It has no way to be perceived like this by mages in DA lore context: once a person has been possessed, they barely can be fixed. The few cases where possessions were removed implied a journey to the Fade with a lot of lyrium involved if the saviours were not mages, to kill the demon in the Fade [Connor’s case in DAO, Pharamond in Asunder, and Feynriel in DA2]. Even when the possession has been done by a Spirit who is willingly to leave the body, it also requires a good amount of Lyrium [Frostback Basin [DLC]: Stone-Bear Hold Avvars - Part 1]. By the way Emmrich speaks, looks like he is about to perform an exorcism in the most christian way possible, giving us yet another evidence that these podcasts have no DA lore. “You are not welcome to that body. You shall leave now” is not what a mage in DA world will say, since they know that any posessed person is already very compromised. By the sounds we listen, we can guess the excorcism is starteing, so the demon, instead of abandoning the body, kills it [???].

Somehow the ring that was in Bellara’s flicker, that was taken by the Corrupted/possessed Templar, now is in the hands of Possessed Elio. Again, the object seems to work like a GPS, when nothing in DA lore behaves like that, only phylacteries.

By the end of the episode, Emmrich can see that Elio is not a human, but he never saw it in Pascal. Consistency issues. Once more, we have more proofs that we can’t trust these podcasts: not for their lore, nor for their companion’s skills/characterizations. They barely are consistent within the same episode. The writing is so bad that the character ability appears out of the blue and disappears right afterwards to fulfill the story’s requirement.

Our future companion  Emmrich is introduced in this episode.

Episode 8:

This Episode starts in Nevarra and continues in Miranthous, making a stroll through the Fade.

The main demon of this story is called Maeror [????], not a human emotion in common, as always happened in every single demon shown in DA games and books . Instead they picked a Latin word for "grief, lamentation". Apparently this demon has been following Nadia since a child and he “marked” her , explainign why she was always a cold-heart and aggressive person [Christian demon-like, not DA lore demon]. It’s also implied that she may have accepted him as a child, since she “embraced darkness” [so, in this mess, the authors are telling us that Nadia was always marked but not possessed, but later she was XD how anyone can take these things seriously?]. This demon tortured her all her childhood, somehow “lost her”, and then he re-found her when the Eye exploded. He “killed” but also “possessed” Elio [the inconsistency with its own story is stunning], then corrupted a Templar who he possessed too [remember the Templar immediately changed targets: from chasing Bellara, he started to chase Nadia], and somehow, he again retook Elio’s body [???]. All this process had as a goal to reach her and “possess” her and claims that when he possessess her body, he will not alter his ability of being an Altus Mage [?? what?] even though he would be in another body [a non-magical one with non-Altus abilities]. To half-justify this, the demon claims that Elio’s body is dying [?] because “all the energy and lyrium of the Fade” [??? WTF?]. Since the authors don’t understand that DA demons feed upon human emotions, it’s impossible to understand this demon, since it doesn’t behave like a DA demon but a Christian demon. An entire episode proving that nobody from Bioware truly cared about this.

Again, the lack of lore knowledge of the authors and the disdain of Bioware in taking a careful look of these episodes put us in a complicated position to understand how to fit this in DA lore.

Neve claims that the anomalies are getting worse. This detail makes us suspect these podcasts are closer to the point where we start the game DA:tV, which makes Lucanis’ episode completely inconsistent. But who cares? The Authors and Bioware clearly not, lol.

Once more, the demon sings chants before possessing, because the authors have a Christian concept of a demon. “(distorted) (chanting) Energies of darkness, unburden the lost from their prisons of misery. Invoke our sacred Veil as we cross the barrier from one mind to the next.” [please, Sacred Veil!?]

Neve tells us about the terrible past of Tevinter and how hard it had it: in the Steel Age Qunari invaded Minrathous. Invasion is a big word: During the Steel Age Tevinter lost Par Vollen to the Qunari, and the Qunari invaded Rivain and Antiva, taking control of Treviso. They were even reaching the Free Marches. Miranthous never was invaded even though Tevinter minor cities around it were compromised and some attacks to the main city were made [similar situation in which Veilguard is]. This is an event called the Qunari Wars [Book of World of Thedas]. Again, the writing is so bad that it explicitly says that one of the big scars that these attacks left on Tevinter was the “collapse of a catacomb” [???] and the leaders of the moment never considered them worthy to fix them. Only Liberati go there to commit suicide [??] when in the beginning of the episode we were told that they used these catacombs as households. Inconsistencies within the same story.

Suddenly we have a found family trope with a lot of characters that were barely met hours ago, or in the case of Drayden or Harding, had some few weeks of knowing each other very shallowly. The level of Marvel movie-like bad dialogues and situations here is incredibly immersion-disruptive.

“NEVE: With that portal he opened, I'm going to tap directly into the Fade and fill this entire chamber with a disruption field”. Neve became a Rift mage out of the blue [??].

Our future companion  Neve is introduced in this episode.

Personal Conclusions:

These episodes are highly unreliable as source of lore and characterization of the companions, since it has shown that even their original characters are written out of character when they need the story to go in some direction.

Everything is so interconnected that makes feel Thedas as a small world. There was no need for Nadia or Elio to exist, and to make every companion connected through them. An episode of each companions showing us a bit of their daily life would have been enough.

The writing is bad, and considering the portfolio of the authors, it’s focused on marvel product series, with bad, unbelievable, and very convenient stories and characters, where facts are told instead of being shown. All this, so alien to Bioware narrative style, is immensely disruptive for the narration.

The level of sound quality was marvellous, as well as the VA of the companions.

I certainly will bury this and pretend it never existed, as I did with Absolution. These are product that show a need to sell a product instead of keep adding and expanding a rich world as it is Dragon Age.

These Podcasts, like Absolution, are not considered reliable sources of lore:

[diejager]

Can i request fatui hcs with Shoko from Jjk reader

This is very ooc in my opinion- there isn't much known about the Fatui Harbingers TvT

Pierro (Pierrot)

He prides himself with recruiting fatui soldiers, agents, or workers for the Tsaritsa. Being the oldest of the group, he acted as a protector, a proud watcher of the people he personally recruited in the past.

Similarly to Childe, who he pinned the Delusion on him, he catered lightly as an uncle would to his nephew like Pulcinella did to him, he cared for you for a variety of reasons. Some are more personal than professional.

Pierrot likes your professionalism while on duty, to do well meant the goodness of Snezhnaya. You do what's asked and do it well, the castle's sole doctor. A practitioner of medicine and keeping men and women from dying. They needed you, especially the new recruits and rowdy fatui agents (he lost count of how many times he's seen Tartaglia sitting on one of the many cots in your infirmary that juxtaposes the morgue - yours). If he were ever wounded, either small or big, he wouldn't think twice before going to see you, he trusts your inquiries and abilities in your profession - more so than he would with Dottore.

He often remarks on your carelessness - as he calls it - is more so your cool personality, easygoing enough to make him and others feel comfortable enough to share information; not that you'd gossip or tattletale on them, you gave your vows to their Queen a few months back. Perhaps it's the perks that came with your title, the carefulness with your patience but an open-minded and laid-back character with coworkers and friends.

You're blunt, unafraid of the consequences of your actions like most Harbingers were. He appreciates that. Although infuriating at times, he knows he could come to you with words, seeking your advice from a medical perspective, to receive truthfulness, unlike some agents that would submit to his ideas, going with it and against their morals because he's Perrio, the 1st Fatui Harbinger. He likes that about you. You'd stop at his office, dark and eerie for others (it didn't bother you, you liked it, you said, eyes adjusting to the darkness while you took in every detail of his office.), and sit on the chair facing his, tired eyes meeting his glowing ones and speak freely. He might've felt insulted if he were Scaramouche with his petty anger, but he values your insights.

Outside of work, anything related to the Fatui, you're just a regular doctor, tired and knowledgable in the human anatomy, able to tell where to hit without necessarily wanting to lift a hand and do it yourself. Even protection, you declined any. He fears you'd end up hurt by something or someone, you ingrained yourself too deeply into his life to simply vanish.

He knows you have a hidden dagger, he watched as Pantalone gave it to you with a kiss on your hand. He remembers feeling a seething pang in his chest, he was far too old for this, far older than you to have a moral relationship - though it wouldn't stop him if you wanted one with him.

Hopefully, you'd want that, want him as he wants you. However, being able to see you every day, talk with you and shake hands are enough for now. He's satisfied with that much at the moment.

Il Dottore

The second Fatui Harbinger to meet you when you crossed the doors. A doctor he calls himself, a self-made genius with a pompous air - he has nothing to hide because his prowess made up for his asshole-like personality. He likes to refer to himself as the only doctor in the compound - used to before you came along - mirthful of his scientific novelties and every speck of magic he could make without a vision.

He's a little jarring on the first meetings, snide and envious. The amount of shoving and shoulder bumps he gave you was innumerable, Pierrot found it useless and glared at him, but you didn't bother. He often stayed in his laboratory than wander the place for wounded people.

He's passed the point of rivalry after a few months, coming and going to see whether you have time to assist him when he saw the plethora of anatomy books and science-related subjects he saw in your office - you remember his approving nod the first time he visited (plus Pantalone's praises about you).

Dottore regularly stops by to initiate a scientific debate - as he calls it - and asks for your insights, sometimes taking a corpse or two with him to test his discoveries. He likes to know he could walk up to you and incite a morbid, but anatomical hypothesis without disgusting you with his derogative terms of the dead and every little, ghoulish detail of his experiments. You even acknowledge his findings and help as much as you could, small details he kissed about it on paper or on his live subjects.

He can and will talk shit about others in your presence and you'd laugh, maybe add a bit to his insults. He admires your ability to differentiate your personal relationships with your work, calm and calculating, near cunning when you're wearing your coat and gloves, but a sweet-talker with a cool countenance when you shed your shell.

He brags if he can, you'd listen to him drone away, bobbing and humming, perhaps criticize him here and there. He finds it entertaining, it's fun seeing Signora or Scaramouche scoff at him when he's talking so brutally about them; or when Sandrone's usual calmness morphs into a glare his way; or even Columbina's forced smile.

If he could, Dottore probably wouldn't want to spend a second away from your infirmary, maybe ask to have his lab moved near yours. He can already Invision the chaos you'd both create! How fun.

Columbina

The aura she gives off is... weird and inexplicably unease, even for you, though you try to see past the character they build for themselves. She's aware of that; she, along with Dottore and Pierrot, hold much - too much - power on their own and she appreciates your efforts.

She sings, and she likes to, it gives her an air of a damsel and fits to her moniker and her appearance, but she likes singing and wants to have people listen to her. You do, she could walk through your door and chirp as long as she wants in your office while you work, you don't shoo her away, or push her out, but back and sneer at her. You let her sit on your duvet sofa against your wall and sing to you while you deal with paperwork.

Columbina shows - at least she tries her best to - all her to you, her true self, and her Damselette, the sickeningly sweet and petite girl people know her for. She learned to trust you with her secrets, having witnessed your pledge to the Tsaritsa. She saw the honesty and loyalty in your eyes - perhaps it was towards the Tsaritsa alone but she hoped she counted - and how you bowed low for her.

She'd try to coerce you to disclose some private knowledge on a few faceless agents within the castle, for they were little secrets, but you stared at her with this deadpanned look that she hadn't received in a long while - not since she became a Harbinger. Many times you declined her, saying that you were a doctor before a fatui, and that information about every patient was private matters shared only to close relatives or the patient itself.

Then, she knew she could trust you, and she does now. She pops in more often, hair flowing behind her with a gentle smile, not like her usual one, it's more genuine, honest like she's with you.

It was a rocky start, but now and then, she slipped up, and Damselette cracked lightly, telling you her fears, her pains, her sorrows. She was glad and still is that you support her unconditionally. If she's in your office and someone knocks, you ask them to come back later, if it's an emergency, you deal with it and come back to see her afterward.

You're a loyal and caring person, sarcastic at times but bluntly truthful in a way that makes people believe in you, and it's often that she finds herself wondering if you'd have those characteristics towards a lover - if you have one. If not, she wants to know if you'd take her, and welcome her as a lover as you do with your patients: warm and reassuring arms.

Il Capitano

He upholds a strong unit and responsibility within the fatui, strong-willed and powerful in his ranks. He oversees most recruits but never you, you're any soldier or fighter, you don't hold - nor would you, as you once told him - any weapon except your scalpel and knowledge. He acknowledges that and respects you for it.

Your sense of justice isn't far from what he has, similar to his. He finds that respectable too. You stand for what you believe and do as you're told spectacularly. There are many things about you he can, and will, respect.

He doesn't talk much, only barking orders and growling at others, questioning them and grunting. Though he doesn't shy from others, you don't either, that's a sight he finds himself looking at often.

He takes reports from you on his soldiers, if they're overworked if they're sick if they're dying if anything happens to them. It's his duty to ensure that his soldiers are in top condition to work and fight; the better the health, the better the soldier. Your handwritten reports are neat, clean, and straight to a fault that he might envy you for it. Oral reports are less common but do occur, your voice is unwavering, back straight and you're blunt, forwarding information without a stutter or mistake.

He sees that you take your job seriously, with care and finesse. Your office and infirmary are sterile and orderly, same for his own office and home.

Perhaps he doesn't speak to you often outside of work, he tries to have a few casual conversations without seeming inappropriate - although he wants to be able to drone about things he witnessed in his time, wants to speak freely, and share things with you.

He hears from some agents that you're a good listener, that you keep everything private, under wrap, and contained inside your memory. He wants to have a try at it, but he's skittish about opening up.

He plans and calculates the risks, overseeing whether anything might hurt him, and he comes up with one too many what ifs in his mind. Maybe it's fear that makes him hesitate, stop and think instead of act. In the end, however, like everyone else, he enjoys your presence, and he respects you as others admire you.

He knows he's uptight, too serious with a stick up his ass, but you've told him many times that it doesn't matter, you like him for who he is. He feels pride swells in his chest whenever he's reminded of that sentence.

He never shows his face, you've never seen it, though you publically show your liking for his hair. He hides beneath his armor and mask, cloaked for protection, and you accept him for that.

He can't help but wonder if you'd take him, taking him in and letting him lead as he's used to doing. Cary you with him, move alongside you, let you take charge as much as he wants to.

Pulcinella

This old coot has an eye for treasures and a knack for finding valuable assets and predicting where they'd go. He hadn't found you first, but he could see that you'd be useful when he caught sight of you walking down the hall, clip in hand with Capitano in tow.

The cold and calculative side of him urges him to exploit you and find what he can do to help advance the process he has in mind. To make you better faster. You were nothing but a valuable asset that rivaled Dottore's intelligence.

Approaching you was the best option, converse and learn from you so that could learn from him, but you were perfectly capable of doing whatever he had in mind; you did them better than he first assumed, dare he say.

You were curt, unabashed with your words towards him that made his brows lift and pointed nose twitch with surprise. You are good at this.

He started seeing Dottore appear more often at your door, Columbina as well as Signora, the captain at times, and a scowling Scaramouche that glares at him. Pantalone's a sight he sees more outside your office, in halls, and library/archives. You can make people open up, something he hadn't expected, he could work with that but reminded himself that he needed to be aware of his actions.

Whatever words he told himself are now forgotten, and he finds himself buying more treats than Childe's siblings needs, saving some to drop off at yours after his visit. The casual glances he sends your way with warmth in his golden irises multiply by the day.

He even, unknowingly, ushers you onto a cot when he sees the dark - darker - circles under your eyes, worry making him take care of you as you do with others.

He tries to take care of whatever he finds useless that you have, if he walks into your office and sees a mass of paperwork to stamp, one that anyone can do, he takes care of it; if he sees agents bothering you about medical supplies, he leads them to Dottore for him to mark everything missing or nearly finished; and if he sees you still at your desk past 10 pm, he walks you home.

He waddles after you like a penguin, it's almost adorable. Pulcinella dots on you like a caring father, he "hovers" over your shoulder with worried glances and warning glares towards the Harbingers vying for your attention.

Scaramouche

Anger incarnated in a midget, that's what he was and still is, grouchy and leering towards everyone, spitting and glaring whenever the moment arises because they "annoy" him - or so he says.

His disagreeable personality made people steer clear of him as he did with others unless he needs them. He's aware that no one likes him and he doesn't care; nor does he care how they think of him, or you.

Like every other human on Teyvat, you're an insignificant being that's been blessed enough to be near him. He sees you walking in the halls, the main lobby, or the library, you're like an annoying bug that keeps appearing where he is in the first weeks of your employment.

Unlike the others though, you keep to yourself, you don't tremble in his presence and you don't even bother glancing his way. Somehow, that irks him more than you being afraid of him or trying to appeal to him for his favor. You don't speak to him once at all.

Until he needed to speak to you about something, he never made a move to approach you, cranky and venom-spitting every word that goes through his mind. You stared at him with such a bored and tired expression that it almost made him flinch back when he gazed at you. No one ever gave him that look after he screamed at them. You answered back with a cold monotone voice that made him doubt if you were human or not.

You surprise him at every turn, and he comes out fuming and angrier than he went in, but you always did as you were told- without mistakes. He's pleasingly satisfied by that aspect of you.

Through all the anger and pain, he learns that you can be trusted, that you're someone that keeps their word and worked well alone or with others. He's surprised to know that you pledged to the Tsaritsa, he thought you were just a doctor employed by Pierrot, not someone who'd met the Archon and works directly under her like the Harbingers. He's seen how the soldiers and agents treat you, like one of the Harbingers.

Given months to adapt to you and your work, he glances at you from time to time with bothered eyes. You fought back, yet you submissively did as you were told, with perfection. You listened well, worked well, and didn't bow down in fear like all soldiers.

He learns to accept you, let you work for and with him, little cracks through his shell to protect the pain and betrayal of the past. He's not perfect, nor are you, but he likes that, helps make sense of his abandonment.

He's a bit shy, skittish and awkward with his emotions, but surely, he'll work on that if it means a better understanding between the 2 of you. He's jumpy when he fully opens up, flinches, and backs away if he shows too much, or shakes and turns red when he's in physical contact with you for longer than necessary.

He reminds you of a cat, loves you, but has this weird way of showing it, by hissing, swiping, and scratching you. All with love. He's a tsundere, honestly. That's why he doesn't try his luck by going for something bigger than he currently has. Scared of losing what he has while achieving something greater.

Sandrone

A mechanical genius in the mids of prodigies, Sandrone works with automatons and anything robotic she can get her hands on. She's smart and has created - built from scratch - weapons that have proved useful to the fatui.

She's sassy, sometimes snappy, and spites people because they've angered or annoyed her, which is almost everyone in her mind. You're part of the small exceptions, you don't outwardly engage her or bother her if you don't need to, you keep to yourself and never approached her. She's usually the one to go see you for a small wound by scraps and metal from her forge.

You treat her delicately, with gentle hands and nimble fingers that make her wonder how you'd do as a mechanic. Meticulous with your tools, you work wonders, miracles that Dottore would never be able to. She likes to compare you to the deluded scientist, and paints you as the better one, deserving of the title of The Doctor.

She's intrigued by you, your intricacies, your interests, your quirks, and the things that make you - you. She, like Dottore, finds interest in your intellect, your knowledge of the subject.

When she has time, she'll bring a manual to your office, have you read it, and tell her your thoughts. You tell her if you don't understand something, you don't play coy and act as if you understood or shrug your shoulders because you don't care.

You tell her your mind as she does with you, and she finds comfort that you don't hide, don't fake, and don't take advantage of her, you take her for her. You let her spew her smilingly insane plans and ideas for the use of her automatons, she shares everything she has with you before bringing it to life. Your inputs are useful, it's a different and clear-minded point of view.

She wants to take it off, take you by the hand and pull you out of your little office, away from the prying eyes of the rest of the Harbingers and the late nights that give you dark circles. Sandrone wants to make your dreams come true, bring comfort, and shower you with care.

La Signora

Proud and graceful in nature, Signora first sneers at you, wary and unconvinced of your abilities. She stands high and nightly like her title says: a lady.

She's rarely home, often traveling to other regions for business and building relationships with the leading figures. This puts her at a disadvantage in seeing your work in person or regularly.

Through word of mouth, she learns of your accomplishments within the Fatui and the Harbingers, catching their hearts so easily that she almost scoffs at the news - no, actually, she did scoff to squirming agents.

Back from Mondstadt, she struts through the halls, deciding to stay home for a few weeks, 3 months at most. She's able to see your magic at work, fixing and mending broken bones, wrapping and stitching wounds, and manages to do all that every day, nearly 12 hours a day, and still have a clean work habit and working area. You don't snap at her when she sneers at you, you nod and fire back bluntly without any emotions about her ways and what she could do to better herself.

Shock, unyielding shock at your character, though it was refreshing from the shivering agents and the hateful Harbingers around her.

Given a few weeks, she sees the best of you, and slowly, finds herself on the sofa across your office, ranting about something that's been burdening her the past days, a sad frown on her face and clenched fists.

She stops by regularly, to rant or talk, discuss something she found interesting during her business voyage outside Snezhnaya.

She even lets you call her by her namesake, her given name: Rosalyne. She likes to hear it leave your mouth, sounding perfect when it hits her ears. She feels more grateful for the Tsaritsa's grace for letting her meet you, one of the goodness in the cold world she lives in.

Her heart burns as fiery as the fire in her soul, maybe brighter than the flames of the Crimson Witch when she holds your hands, when she speaks to you or when she tentatively smiles at you. Her heart taps at her ribs, pumping loudly in her ears, tipping them red.

She wants to take you, have you, and feel you in her arms as she takes care of your aches. Cold, she is to others; hot and caring, she is to you, a romantic and dedicating lover she'd be for you- if you'd take her.

Pantalone

He's an ambitious man with big plans, somewhat likable compared to some Harbingers, nicer and more compliment-giving than the rest.

He's rich and smart, the richest of all Harbingers with the economic power of the nation, he deals with trade and banking; a poor child turned a rich man.

You're someone he likes, easy on the eyes, and not too difficult to deal with. He can smile and you'll tilt your head in acknowledgment. You send clean lists of medicine and tools you need for the infirmary, easy to read and understand, unlike Dottore's chicken scribbles on his financial reports.

He took these moments to get to know you, try and find out a bit of your history, to know your likes and dislikes with mutual friendship in mind. He sponsors you with your ideas for medical upgrades, he says that they're good ideas. Pantalone decides to add surprises to your orders too.

A pretty necklace on the second month, made of sharp and cool blues that matches his clothes. Earings with the same shades as the first the next month, gifted by his hands in a velvet box.

He spoke highly of you to Dottore, someone he started liking and wanted to spoil rotten. As someone who he works with, he found it rational to ensure that you both became closer - enough that Dottore stays a friend and him your lover - to make things easier.

He sends you invites to his luxurious house when he can, or to eat out at a nice restaurant in Snezhnaya, on his account, always. Anything you want, he buys; if you hint or he feels that you might need, you'll find it on your desk the next day with a romantic letter accompanying it.

Pantalone's the type that'll spoil you with material goods without wanting anything but your devotion to him, your love, and help - if he even get wounded (as a banker and without vision, he doesn't do anything on the frontlines like Signora or Tartaglia, he sits at the farthest back and finances anything they'll need for their work).

He is a materialistic lover who gives and gives; he bathes you in luxuries wherever and whenever he can, and he likes doting on you. Unlike the rest, he's gentler than them, almost more human than the others since he calls himself a banker and not a fighter.

Arlecchino

She has this dark side to her, one that's mentioned by a few Harbingers, her hunger for power over others; not unlike Pantalone's hunger for equality between humans and archons.

Although her face stays passive most - if not all - times, her voice portrays a different story. She speaks with disdain about businessmen and dignitaries, people with money who don't see the world outside of the comforts of their homes. Arlecchino hates them for that, detests them.

You're neither rich nor do you see the world outside the castle, but your work of line involves those that do, you mend the wounds of soldiers that go farther than their region's limits, across the sea and into foreign lands.

You don't feel, but you see and sympathize with them and those that risk their lives on strange lands, in a way, you could understand where she stands - she wants you to.

She sees you walk past her in hallways, nose deep into your notepad; names and conditions with the cures and remedies needed when she glanced sideways, some recognize, others are strangers. The pinch of your brows shows the frustration you feel about the situation, you told her so when she walked into the infirmary with you whispering under your breath about how everyone keeps getting wounded.

Your voice is monotone when you talk to her, she almost scoffs at the similarities between you and her. She would hug you if it was her thing.

She's seen your work, when she's not busy, she leans against a wall near the entrance and watches you work with careful and delicate hands on the pained and suffering fatui. The dedication you have for the weaker makes her heart thrum, and beat with the sympathy you show - though she empathizes, you sympathize.

It's a snail-like process, she's slow but steady, and Arlecchino moves only with certain steps and ensures that she would have what she wants.

She wants to slowly insert herself into your life, and make you adjust to her and her cold appearance. There's so much of herself that you might not know about, but she wants you to know her, not the one people tell you about.

Tartaglia

You're a few years older than him, maybe 2 or 3, it's not that high of a difference in his mind. Though he's known you far longer than that, he still remembers the smile you gave when you treated his wounds.

He goes to you with any aches he gets, from minor headaches to bloody lacerations, and you'd get him patched up and a sugary treat. Who in their right mind would reject the possibility of getting treated and a reward for his fights? Definitely not him.

He tried his best to follow you or stay near you when he could before his ascension, using the thrill and adrenaline in his body to battle without regard to his body, collecting scars each time for you to fix. Being shirtless in his shorts as you fixed him up, by his back towards you while he kicked his legs and talked about his family.

He's overjoyed that you ask about his family when you meet, he hadn't found time to invite you over until he formally became a Harbinger. He invites you to dinner once a week if you're available, you're surprisingly good with children even though you shrink back from the overly excited moments you witness. Like Pulcinella, you bring some treats along you, yours healthier than the old coot.

He talks to you as if you've known him his whole life - at least his fatui life. Freedom of speech he lets himself have in your presence that he wouldn't be able to have with the other Harbingers or the Tsaritsa. He'll sling his arm around your shoulder, pushing against you, and cackle at whatever you said that he finds funny.

He has a cocky and loud charisma around strangers, friendly even; stone cold and mean with other Harbingers, he hates some as much as they hate them. Although changing, he shows you all the facades he puts along his real one, caring and warm.

He's the youngest, he knows, his eyes lack the warmth others hold and his smiles can seem uncannily inhuman at times, but he hopes you'll give him a chance. He knows the highs and lows of human beings, his too, you'd always be there for him and he wants to be there for you too.

His parents like you, and his siblings too. Everyone feels like you have a place in their household. His dad encouraged him to act on his feelings, to tell you (but he fears rejection, a contrast to his usual arrogance, he might stutter or his cheeks might burn too brightly if he ever confesses) and his mom subtlety winks at him whenever she invites you over for diner and drinks the next night.

He could take you ice fishing, hunting, or seeing the world and the different techniques physicians and doctors use in other regions. He's sure you'd like it if you accepted his offer.

@kitto-lover @stygianoir @emperatris-rinaka

Taglist

[crusherthedoctor]

More topics I need to think about for Paper Mario: Featuring Eggman From The Devil May Cry Series™ (title pending). There's not much practical reason to wonder all of this out loud in a post, but eh, I like to share my thought process on these things. :)

- Complimentary roles for the mainline characters. Bowser will be the hardest one, as Eggman will cause trouble for him as well (there's only room for one motherfucker in this world, and it's the one that doesn't even come from here, so says Eggy), but I don't want to cheaply shit on Bowser too much in order to artificially elevate my preferred villain, and as I said before, I also want to avoid the predictable route of having him team up with Mario in favor of a more original solution. Peach is another one that'll take some thinking: not that being kidnapped automatically makes her bad or useless, as PM64 and TTYD themselves prove otherwise, but I can't think of a sufficiently juicy reason for why Eggman would bother to kidnap her aside from maybe to piss off Mario and/or Bowser, and even then, I think I could come up with something more unique that achieves that reaction. Plus, Eggman kidnapping a princess would probably invite '06 comparisons, so y'know...

- Paper continuity. It's no secret that all the post-TTYD installments veered off into wildly different directions - and I don't just mean the gameplay - that regardless of whether you like them or not, you could say they're somewhat incompatible with the first two in terms of overall feel. Obviously, the intended feel for this fic is for it to be similar in spirit to PM64 and TTYD, so I'm wondering how to handle potential nods to games that have very little in common outside of the paper aesthetic, and making them coherent and in-line with the 64/TTYD world so to speak. (As a random side-note, not liking Super Paper Mario and its story - to the point where I actually prefer Origami King over it despite its Sticker Star/Colour Splash elements - might be my most controversial Mario opinion.)

- Characters that have inconsistent presence or no presence at all. Bowser Jr. and the Koopalings may be considered mainstays in the main franchise, but they never made an appearance in the Paper games until much later, so in order to preserve the PM64/TTYD feel, I might have to exclude them. It helps that I've never been too crazy over them anyway. The same applies to Kamek, as I'm likely to use Kammy instead for the same reasons. The real question is what to do with characters like Wario and Donkey Kong, who have had no presence in the Paper games whatsoever beyond some indirect nods, but are fun and distinct enough that it might be worth incorporating them in some way, assuming I can think of anything for them to do that can tie into the overarching Mario VS Eggman conflict.

- Partners. Since Vivian will be returning ("Oh look, a purple girl with pyrokinesis, never heard THAT one before"), do I make the rest of the partners brand new? Or do I take some from PM64 and some from TTYD to make it look slightly less biased? :^)

- References to other Mario works. This isn't much of a problem regarding the mainline titles and certain spinoffs like Mario Kart, since they're famously fast and loose with the idea of a consistent and ongoing narrative ("MARIO, HOW DARE YOU CALL IAN FLYNN A BAD WRITER ON MY FAMILY VACATION"), but since this is Paper Mario we're talking about, what I'm wondering is whether it would come off as jarring if there were some small references on occasion to, say, the Mario & Luigi games for example.

- Not going overboard with Sonic references. Eggman could occasionally make brief allusions to characters and other stuff that's happened in the Sonic-verse, but since this is 90% a Mario fic, Mario fans will be the most likely readers should there be any. Not all of them are guaranteed to be as knowledgeable about Sonic, and while I certainly wouldn't want to treat the readers as morons, at the same time, they shouldn't be forced to read up on all the lore of a different franchise that they might not even be into in order to understand what's going on. Plus, keeping the Sonic side of things intentionally mysterious in this fic compliments the Mario-verse's perspective, and lack of familiarity with Eggman.

- And of course, just like with my Sonic works, I want to maintain as much of the official flavor as possible, despite the inherent premise sounding like it came straight out of 2005. Eggman suddenly dropping into the Mario world, and Mario and Co being forced to take care of him without Sonic and Co being there to assist them, would obviously never happen, but if it did, how would it play out in a way that stays reasonably true to the spirit of the source material? How can this premise potentially say something about not just Eggman, but also the Mario cast? And so on.

...You know what else would never happen officially, but I'm still curious at trying my hand with it anyway for this fic? MarioXViv-*BANG*

[soccerpunching]

Bestieeeeee 😻,

What is your worst IE headcannons?

I'll tell mine back 💅💅💅

I may be too out-of-touch from the fandom to know what people would consider bad and worst but I do have some that others may have an issue with! AND I WAS JUST ABOUT TO ASK YOU ABOUT HEADCANONS TOO, BUT YOU GOT ME FIRST! AND I WOULD LOVE TO KNOW YOURS VERY MUCH!! (although I haven't watched most of ares and orion so i may not understand some for now, I would love to hear them still!!)

This ended up a long post, I'm making this cut...

I'll start with a tame one (may also be really boring), but this one needs my other hcs for anyone to understand the actual one I want to share. Here's a "brief" list of the others (happened between og series and inago):

Gouenji has unparallel knowledge of ALL Disney, Pixar, Dreamworks, and Ghibli movies and will defend the female characters with his life. (This is why I thought he probably knows MLP as I said on the last ask)

He's not a fan of social media and does not use anything outside of inalink and private messaging. Not bcs he's cool, he just doesn't understand them. Much like in honosuto with the laptop, initially with inatube, and him always forgetting his useless phone.

Yuuka convinced him to make an inatter (twitter) and inagram account bcs she does not want anyone to steal the @ and that she also wants to be able to tag him on her posts (and of his teammates/friends) so they can keep the memories. He saves all the pictures he gets tagged in and sometimes prints them out to keep in an album he designed (he's very good w crafts). I still can't believe honosuto came up with those social media names (except for inagram)

He only cared about the bare minimum use of social media so he only ever retweets in inatter (never made his own tweet ever; but he does reply on some that addresses him) and only posts his creations on inagram with no caption or a few words about what he made (made takoyaki, felted a bunny, crocheted a penguin, made cupcakes, etc.).

He only has three kinds of inatter rts: about soccer, about making art, and tweets of his friends and family. Yuuka made his bio in both of them. He also became good at taking pictures of his creations thanks to Yuuka.

However, he is mildly updated with internet language bcs that's all he hears from his sister and her friends and from his own friends in the group chat that he only talks in when he's mentioned. He assimilated most of the phrases they use in chats.

Having said all this, he almost has no social media presence. You're lucky to see his page updated after two weeks. He doesn't reply with strangers either unless it's a kid who loves or interested in soccer.

He also doesn't share much in interviews. Very bare minimum of answering questions and always answers in short sentences and just poses for the camera shortly before he bounces. His favorite answer to questions is "oh that's private" not bcs it's private but bcs he doesn't want to talk that long unless youre asking him about his opinion on human rights-- something that his agent and/or soccer club prevented the press from ever asking him again (an hc drop another time). But anyway, he always had strong opinions and doesnt hold back in expressing them (og series and inago) and that's trouble for the club sponsors so they make a lot of effort on stopping anybody from having the opportunity of asking him anything outside of his personal and athlete life.

And the last context here is that Gouenji is autistic, but we already know that.

Okay so now time for the actual bad HC I want to share... which is how Gouenji came out as bisexual to the public

This started with an inatter thread of a person criticizing Anna (Frozen) for her actions in the first movie that reached Gouenji's timeline. Gouenji answers with 7 tweets worth of respectful paragraph of why Anna shouldn't be criticized bcs of how she was brought up, bcs of her isolation, and bcs of her grief, etc. So, everybody lost their mind, etc etc. AND NOW, at the midst of all this, a soccer fan asked him the question below that he answered without thinking much about:

This blew up and his notifications gets flooded with questions about his sexuality and questionable taste that he really didn't mind answering if it wasn't blowing up his phone.

He was out with everyone in his circle that he forgot the world didn't know he's bi. So, he fixed that by tweeting "yes, im bisexual" on his timeline. He logs out and then decided to wait a few months before logging in again.

This didn't sound as fun as I amped it up to be but I think it's a terribly bland HC that I find kind of funny

BUT THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THAT ASK!! I VERY MUCH WANT TO HEAR YOURS!!!

[beautifulpersonpeach]

GODDAMMM JIMIN YOUR VOICE!!!!!

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Ask 2: What’s your verdict on Vibe bpp? Im not very knowledgable but it sounded like what i heard in radios back in the 2000s, i saw people say that its not very kpop, do you agree? I wasnt into it until jimin came in dunno if I was just biased lol.. I’m was very surprised at the level of participation Jimin had in this song.. Turns out he even wrote some of the lyrics enough to get credit.. and i feel like he got half of the verses And spotlight in the MV too! Maybe cuz its his first official collab but I was surprised at him advertising it in his ig lol he’s never done that before.. it looks like theyre planning on doing music shows too!!! Curious to see how this collab will do in the charts too.

*

Ask 3: So. What did you think of it? Doesn’t Jimin look absolutely gorgeous? My heart.

#Vibe #ParkJimin #KillMe #WhatImDeadAlready

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Ask 4: WILL HE BE PERFORMING AT A SHOW?!?! LIVE?!?!?!

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Ask 5: heyyy bpp!! with the bigbangtan collab turning out to not be a hoax a lot of people are now hoping for a blacktan collab someday. do u think its possible? imho it might be a possibility but tbh i just cant see there styles and philosophies meshing well at all at least not until bp comes out with music that is very diff from what theyve done so far and i just cant see that happening any time soon bec even their solos so far arent that good imo. what do u think?

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Hi Anon(s)!

VIBE is very much giving me 80s groove mixes, stripped back. Only thing missing is a Kenny G saxophone solo.

My favourite parts/timestamps:

1:55 - I love how they stripped back the instrumentals in Jimin's chorus so we really **hear** him. God, his voice. It's almost acapella and I'm glad Teddy had the sense to not bury that magic under useless synths.

2:17 - What is it with Jimin and bridges? He understands the assignment. Every single time.

*

Because I was aware of my bias going into it, I gave this song a few more listens than I typically do before forming an opinion. And like I suspected, the only reason I like this song is because of Jimin.

Taeyang gave me nothing to work with I'm sorry. The D'Angelo aesthetic failed to land, the only person who brought sauce to this joint is Park Jimin. I think even Taeyang, Teddy and co recognize that too, because though it's Taeyang's song and technically a feature, it feels like Jimin's song with Taeyang featuring. (The lines split is also smart from a business POV because it will get ARMYs and Jimin solo stans to buy/stream it more). Jimin has writing credits [*] so I can only assume he wrote his verses because the difference between his verse and Taeyang's is like night and day, and in Jimin's verse, the lack of gendered pronouns is something I can't help but notice.

In terms of jikook/ML collabs so far, I actually prefer this to Left & Right and Dreamers, but I like Bad Decisions more. So I'm giving this song a solid 6.8/10. It's a decent track and the hook is fun to sing. And thankfully, the song is short enough.

Frankly, if this single was supposed to whet people's appetites for Taeyang's album, it does the opposite for me, but it does do that for me with Jimin with PJM1. I **need** to hear more Jimin.

Anon in Ask 4, Taeyang has said there's a live performance so it's possible we get to see Jimin perform it live with him. (Jimin is blonde right now, in case anyone forgot)

Anon in Ask 5, you might not have heard, but ARMYs have a running joke that the tannies collab with people unlikeable to the fandom. I think a collab between Blackpink and BTS/any of the members is certainly possible (everything is possible in Chapter 2), but it will be a character building exercise for everyone involved.

And y'all know all I really do in those sorts of situations is laugh.

My favourite shot:

*

It's a bit unfair to Taeyang to have him dance beside Jimin, honestly. But he managed to hold his own for the most part. The live will be fun to watch.

*

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(Jimin's dance lines are perfection)

***

[*] EDIT: Updating this to correct that Jimin has composing credits on Vibe, not writing credits. Only Taeyang and Vince have writing credits. So for Jimin’s verse I can assume Vince did the writing, and if Taeyang did then even more kudos to him honestly (though it begs the question… you know what, I’ll drop it lol). And again, the lack of gendered pronouns for Jimin’s verse sticks out (which is probably true for any queer listener tbh).

[minsarasarahair]

You Yao (Are You OK) Season 1 has 12 episodes and Season 2 has 24 episodes. Its completed.

Adventure Comedy donghua with fun characters. Of course, there are angst that will hit you from time to time but I see this donghua as a whole as a fun donghua to enjoy without thinking too much.

Its a story about conflicts between natives and transmigrators (transmigrators: outsiders who isekai'd in different world after their death and ended up using someone's body)

It answer the question where is a person's home? And how far they are willing to go to protect it?

The romance is not the main story so its very subtle but they gave you obvious hints that they are a pair. It has 4 canon gay pair and 2 straight pair in the main cast. Even in the original material, the romance is still subtle so the adaption works.

The story is divided to different perspectives from the 4 canon gay pairs. You will find yourself liking and sympathize with everyone excluding of course, the villain.

It was implied that the world they are in is virtual so the 3DCG animation fit the story. Sadly, they don't dive deeper to the world's lore and just try to survive but that's the point of the story. Its not about finding the correct answer. Its about only fixing the problems that you think you can in front of you and deal with your life in your own way.

The story love using medicine, poison and sickness as metaphors.

The voice acting and flow of the dialogue are very fun to listen to. Its very dynamic.

Synopsis: In this world, transmigrators are need to be reported to the owner of Best Tower Lou Zhu according to the law so its easy to track them but some transmigrators thinks the law is very discriminative so they hide their identity. On the other hand, natives are losing opportunities because of the arrival of outsiders with unique knowledge and some are even sadden by the fact that their deceased important people can be replace by a new soul. Its a mix opinion between two sides. To put it simply, both of the sides are anxious to how the other side perceive them. So how can they live happily together with these conflicts?

The donghua is actually the happier version of the original material. It can be enjoy after you read how sadistic the novel is. You can tell that the donghua is like a love letter to the fans who badly need to see their favorite characters get their good ending. The adaption don't only use the novel's main story but also use extra stories as reference. The donghua also toned down the characters' flaws where the main cast became good people but in the original, they are either morally grey or antiheroes. They also make the characters interact more with other characters other than their love interest so they look more involved in the community.

If you're someone who appreciate supporting and side characters, you will love this donghua. The supporting and side characters are not useless. Some even have their own goal in life that's not related to supporting the main characters.

[riymeep]

Hey I’ve recently started getting back into Sonic X and am currently on the second season and am interested in the topic of Chris Thorndyke and wish to give my opinion (but get ready because it is a fairly common one).

*Note that everything I say comes from my knowledge of the first two season of Sonic X, so if I get anything wrong, please politely correct me*

Chris Thorndyke. A child with shitty parents that the fandom overall utterly despises. He likely has attachment/abandonment issues due to the neglect of his annoying parents and developed what some fans call an “obsession” with Sonic.

While I do not agree with the overwhelmingly large amount of hate the character gets, I do not actually like him myself. Yes, many of his actions are driven by his trauma, including the ones some fans, see as “annoying”. You are still allowed to find him annoying, as I definitely got annoyed by him at multiple points. But that is not the main reason for my disliking of him.

One of the two reasons I dislike Chris is simple. He doesn’t actually do anything. He’s a fairly useless character. He has done some useful things, such as saving Sonic from drowning and taking the emeralds from Eggman at the end of season 1, but outside of moments like those, he doesn’t actually contribute much to the story. So much time is spent with Chris, but we don’t get to see him actually accomplish much nor is he a significant character to the plot most of the time. It often feels like the show is just padding time with him, and it gets tiring very quickly, although I have yet to watch season 3, so I’ll see if he does get better in that aspect.

Now to the other reason I dislike him, his bond with Sonic honestly feels a lot like Sonic’s bond with Tails, but not as good. Chris and Sonic became instant friends, which I’m not against. What I am confused by is how close Sonic is in Sonic X compared to the other characters. His friendships with Tails, Amy, and Knuckles are given barely any attention to, yet Sonic and this kid he’s barely known seemingly have a brotherly relationship.

Ah yes, Chris the younger brother figure to Sonic who feels like he can only be dependent on him before slowly learning that he should be able to grow on his own and not be tied to him. It reminded me a lot of Tails, except the fact that Chris is not as useful. The writers essentially sidelined Tails (and the others) just so that they could give Chris a similar story when they should have just given more attention to Tails, considering it’s a show for the Sonic franchise. I’ve also heard that at some point, they say that Chris has experience with mechanics, which I feel further proves my point.

Anyway, that was just my take on the character of Chris Thorndyke. I do understand that this was probably the coldest of takes, but I still wanted to let my opinion out somewhere. I may change my opinion as I further watch the show. In the meantime, if you want to see a post that’s in favor or Chris, @autisticshadowthehedgehog made a great post in defense of him and I think it’s worth checking out. It is titled “What was up with Chris Thorndyke, anyway?”

Just remember despite all of this though, the real villains of the show are his cruddy parents, which I will always hate far more than I dislike Chris.