#i love that home is a really big theme in a good chunk of the songs

[aroaceamyrosearchive]

guys im being so nostalgic for moomins rn

[year2000electronics]

Your fiddleford monster au design makes me have so many questions in a good way. Gnawing on the bars on my enclosure kind of way. Does the curse seemingly not affect him in his one year stay helping Ford, and so he does that all himself? Does The Curse, as vague as it is, count that; and drive people to modify themselves and draw away from humanity? Like its not just this magical effect that happens but an active thing in the back of your mind to turn away from what you were born as and embrace something else? Ogh. I'm suddenly a lot more invested in this au

VERY INTERESTING QUESTIONS TO BE CERTAIN so fiddleford is a bit of a unique case where his "monster" theming is tied directly to his decline yes!

full answer under the cut it got long

in my mind, monster falls' curse is tied directly to gravity falls' natural law of weirdness magnetism/"the barrier" keeping bill in. once youve stayed there long enough for the curse to even BEGIN, it becomes harder to leave the town. you just feel drawn to it, and a dull ache in your soul if you leave. so obviously, when ford gets turned into a mothman, he does fully accept that because hes always felt more cryptid than man. but when the time comes for him to ask fiddleford for help, he lays out that "hey, youd be doing me a BIG favour if you came to help with the portal, but this town curses you if you stay for too long so itll only be a few weeks, i promise"

fidds agrees, because hey, whats a few weeks with an old friend? besides, he'll have his wife and son as an anchor to go back to. but the more he thinks about it, the more he likes staying with ford, the more he's reminded of those old times, and the more the curse starts influencing those kinds of thoughts to get louder and louder (but its not ALL the curse you know. still some autonomy in the situation) and so he keeps postponing his return date, almost "tempting fate" about the curse, because he doesn't really feel any different! his friend sprouted wings and antennae! he'd know by now, so he won't check! and ford shrugs and is like "well, alright, it's your choice, we can surely get a little closer to the point of no return"

and yknow, fiddleford denying that the curse could possibly be affecting him is almost like him in canon struggling to reconcile with his two "lives"- his home life and his life with ford. he wants to have his cake and eat it too, because he's just too timid to ever say no.

anyways, one day he wakes up and realizing he's heard the sound of technology near him for a while, and looks around, and realizes it's following him from room to room-

the beeping IS him. it's definitely been a year, he's already been cursed. it's just that he's a robot that looks near-human, just near-human enough that he could turn a blind eye to it and pretend like it never happened and that everything was fine. which i think kinda suits how ford loves the supernatural to a very personal degree, meanwhile fidds got roped into the town by pure happenstance

but. yknow, being a robot that looks human means youre still a robot. and it's a lot harder to erase things from a robot's "brain" without causing some major problems. haven't you ever been programming something or filling out an html code, and then you accidentally delete one thing you thought was inconsequential and all of a sudden youre staring at just a wall of code that's busted because whatever you removed, you DEFINITELY SHOULD NOT HAVE removed?

parts of fiddleford just go kaput and start breaking because he's purposely taking out large chunks of code from his own brain that end up being collateral from the memory gun. because, yknow, the memory gun is imprecise! it was designed for human brains! cos thats what fidds was for years! so it's like if you tried to repair a computer by ripping out the motherboard with pliers

thats my take on it anyways. Ya

[weirdmarioenemies]

Name: Mario Land

Debut: Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins

So I was lying awake in bed, thinking. What is up with Mario Land? Everyone knows that the setting of the first Super Mario Land game is Sarasaland. Nintendo loves to vaguely allude to it in character descriptions for Princess Daisy! But where does Super Mario Land 2 take place? Well, it’s in Mario Land, of course! Now, Super Mario Land does not take place in Mario Land. It takes place in a Land, in which Mario is a participant, but he doesn’t own the Land, just as he doesn’t own the World or the Galaxy. But he does own Mario Land!

Nothing is really clear about how Mario came to own Mario Land. Nintendo Power once described it as his ‘kingdom’, while the Wiki describes it as Mario’s ‘private island’. Lots of people immediately remark on how odd it is that Mario owns a castle in this game, and they’re right! It is odd! We don’t think of Mario as an avaricious man. He is a humble, working class individual. He lives in a cottage with his brother despite being a world-renowned hero. Except here, where he owns an entire landmass, with a castle! My personal canon, in my head, was that Peach or someone else gifted him with a large chunk of land and a castle as a reward for his heroic deeds. It seems the most likely, given what we know about Mario! But why couldn’t he settle for a vacation home, or anything of the sort? Why are we placing the responsibility of land ownership on such a modest soul? 

I think what is the strangest thing about Mario Land, to me, is that despite being Mario’s Land, it is so devoid of allies. Mario Land is vast and untamed, a collection of wacky themed zones filled with creatures entirely hostile to Mario! There are no maids or servants from Mario’s Castle, who fled Wario’s invasion. There are no Toads or Toad houses to aid Mario in his quest. Mario is entirely alone in a Land that bears his name, but his name only. Once his only symbol of power, his castle, is gone, Mario is back where he began, all alone in this foreign land. All the material goods in the world could not fill the void of - wait I’m sorry I completely forgot a key detail of Mario Land 2’s plot is that Wario put all of Mario Land’s inhabitants under a spell! False alarm everyone!

Everyone in Mario Land is actually Super Nice actually and was just brainwashed by Wario, who has the power of dark magic. The Big Bird from Tree Zone and the Octopus from Turtle Zone, and also Spikey, they all love Mario and see him as their king. I was gonna say the Witch too, but it seems the witch was Wario’s friend. Or are they Wario’s minions? If so, where are the inhabitants of Mario Land? Are they in hiding? We never see them! Who does Mario rule over? Is Spikey a wild animal? A brainwashed citizen of Mario’s country? Or an ally of the wicked and greedy Wario?

And of course, we have to discuss the matter of the Mario Zone. Mario was not content with having a Land, he needed to have a Zone in that Land, which is also Mario! It is actually one big Mario, a mechanical automaton built in his likeness. Mario has always expressed an interest in making toys of himself, as we see in the Mario Vs. Donkey Kong series, so it stands to reason that his major construction project would be just that, but bigger! 

Or maybe the Mario Zone always existed, before Mario came to Mario Land. Maybe it’s named Mario Land because one of its most famous natural formations is a giant wind-up toy that looks like Mario! And Mario’s Castle is named that by coincidence. I don’t know! I don’t have answers to any questions, ever! I literally don’t know anything! I’m going to bed!

Just kidding! I’m not going to bed. This post is a bit, um... rambly. But I thought it would be a shame to conclude it without appreciating how whimsical Mario Land is as a whole! There is a giant pumpkin with haunted woods inside it! There is a hippo that takes you to space! There is a turtle that swallows you and takes you underwater to a whale! There is a house that is just kind of a normal house but forces you to be really small to enter it! But I probably don’t need to tell you all that! It’s kind of what makes SML2 so wonderful! 

Would YOU live in Mario land? Would you want a monarchy as long as Super Mario is your benevolent ruler? What do you think of the giant turtle? Please let us know what you think of the giant turtle in the comments below. I don’t know. 

[igglemouse]

Here I am starting my morning the best way I know, with pancakes! You can never go wrong with pancakes, buttery, soft, drizzled with syrup and...I am sure the baby agrees! I feel like with each bite I can feel her kicking with approval and Pascal is not complaining either, although he is staring at my belly in between his own bites.

"Is it possible there are two in there?" he asks, revealing the reason behind the attention he's giving my bump. He's teasing, of course, but I know what he's getting at. I'm getting pretty big!

"Nooo, just one little girl!" I assure him, rubbing my belly with a big wide grin. "At least according to the doctor!"

"Doctors can be wrong sometimes," he shrugs, making a good point there. "You never know..."

And I do laugh at that but I really really REALLY hope the doctor is right because I am definitely not prepared for twins. Not at all. The thought of it is- "No, I think we will be sticking with one right now, thank you very much!"

Hey look at that, we're a team today! Yeah, doesn't happen a lot but it feels like such a victory right now! He's in the kitchen washing dishes and scrubbing countertops and I'm pushing the vacuum around, beating the dust before it can conquer our humble home!

The best thing about knowing that I'm having a little girl? Working on her room! I spend a good chunk of my day doing just that and while it is very much a work in progress I do think it is coming together. Yes, I know, pink is sooo predictable as a color but honestly? I love pink, I'm not ashamed to say it. It's a soft color and I want to create a sweet and calming environtment for mi princesa. I can already picture her wriggling around in her crib with toys scatted about and...ahh, soon, soon!

I'm realizing that I've always wanted to be a mother. I was in such a perilous situation before moving here that the idea of bringing life into the world seemed silly but now that I'm in a more stable situation? Well, let's just say I wouldn't mind, in the future of course, doing all of this again.

There is still enough daylight left when Irene swings by for a visit and as usual her mind is buzzing with ideas about her future restaurant. It's a common topic between us so today is no different.

"I think about it a lot," she tells me with the excitement in her eyes clear. "Names, themes, dishes, whatever pops on my mind I guess."

"Investors? Have you thought about that?" I ask, as it is honestly the most crucial question. The only way this thing becomes a reality is through simoleons. In the back of my mind I think of Ray, he's successful, isn't he? But our relationship is new and it probably would not help to push that right now. Fortunately, perhaps he is not needed?

"Yes, actually!" She says perking up. "I might meet with him soon here, I don't want to get too excited but it's a start."

It definitely is and I'm so very excited about it all becoming a reality some day. "Just take things slowly," I advise her, giving her shoulder a supportive squeeze. "You don't want to rush into the wrong deal with the wrong person. It's always better to take an inch forward than risk taking ten steps back."

And after that, I'm drained. Calling it exhaustion wouldn't even cover it. I'm calling it a night because growing a tiny human is no easy business, I'm sure some of you completely understand. So, I'm going to nap and see you all tomorrow!

Elsewhere, Simón find himself at a crossroads. Finally he feels it is time to move forward with his life although he knows that deep down there will always be a part of him that clings to what he had with Frida...but the reality is he knows she has moved on and it is time for him to do the same.

Sara might not be Frida, no one could ever be because there's always only one of anyone, so she is special in her own right. Warm, compassionate, and her humor is effortless. She makes him smile when he least expects it and she stirs feelings inside of him that he thought only one woman could, so perhaps she is the one to help him finally let go of the past?

But as much as he tries to look ahead, the past clings to him like shadow. His employers keep calling, keep offering him more work, presenting temptation to slip back into a world that he thought he'd left behind...

For some, the past is simply inescapable. The weight of it must be dragged along as its tied to your neck and going without it means losing your head. As he picks up the phone he wonders if it'll always be like this, if there is a way out...

Frida Varela Index ~ Episode 7.4

[doomzday-zone]

hey sorry it's me again (<- girl who needs to go to sleep) urrhm ok walks into ur office with a stack of papers it's me secretary over apologizer

anywah rum um um th hey hi so uh looks around can weeee talk about the really big theme of nowhere to hide in the book and the game interchangeably like um. um. hi. okay so I'm literally laying in bed right now complete darkness like oh wow the characters oh wow oh wow smacks into a wall face first. and um um

okay like I just feel like god this thing with like.. yeagh.. there really is nowhere to hide from your parents ❤ that's literally the ultimate thing being a child like you can't just LEAVE and that's actually such a scary ass theme and the way the house keeps getting put on more and more lockdown in the game is like This is so alarming ❤ BUT that doesn't happen (or isnt stated) in the book, the difference in the book since u havent read it is just that oz doesn't leave for a few days because he's scared and can hear the. the thing standing outside his door all the time and it's like (steps up to microphone) WOW I LOVE THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN LITERALLY NOT BEINF ABLE TO JUST LEAVE AND THE MENTAL STATE OF NOT BEING ABLE TO Just Leave um and the way you run out of places to go in the game is so like ohhfmygodd sorry it's just really good like the game feels like it's suffocating that boy like u gotta get out of here because soon there will physically be no exit !! and the way the hiding minigames work ooogg ooohhh hi hey um hi sorry this game is written so beautifully it makes me physically nauseous only good fnaf game ever. uh but the hiding games not being designed like traditional hiding mechanics in games like holding a door shut or something, but stuff like oh keep the spiders away because it feels more like SORRY KID THERE'S NOTHING THAT YOU CAN DO OTHER THAN SIT THERE AND PRAY havr fun!!! ob my god head in hands like You can try to stop the toys or not breathe so scared but you can't physically hold a door shut because you're too little 🙁🙁😞😞😞😢 this game is so alarming I hate it not really but it's like ohntmmgdos and and and and hi hey okay so more with nowhere to hide like

I said this in my insane tags on that one post but the way that every single adult is like Oh you're so fucking strange weird little kid causing trouble . like it's not only like he can't tell anyone because he'd sound crazy but the universe being predisposed to everyone not listening to children about anything ever is like I feel like I've been punched in the face thanks like directly in the jaw my teeth r on the floorrr

like ugh I h h RATTLES BARS

um and and and looks around :c I can say more things but I just yeagh..

YEAAAAAAAA ARGHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THEFUCMING. AHHHHHH !!!!!!! thats smth i REALLY REALLY like abt into the pit like you REALLY feel like ur put into the shoes of a kid here you can only do so much while trying and experiencing shit wayyyy bigger than yourself, n it just elevates the horror bc like, obv ur oarent/someone you love being replaced by an imperfect impostir is already a scary notion. n being a CHILD TOO????? like fuckkkkk man your options r dwindling. n the way kuds r treated in society n shit as well as eveything else, oswalds just a kid, hes in sixth grade like?????? how do you deal w this???????? theres a fucking EVIL ANIMAL in your house. the world is already si scary as achild w/o all this but yhis maies it ten yimes worse, AND your home isnt even safe either. the amount if stress n trauma this kid experiences in a work week is fuxking insane hashtag justice for ozwald gotdamn.

AD AND i still xant stop thinking about the fat like. oswald is forced to relive the trauma of the events n shit that transpired a freddys, from the child victims at the pizzeria, to Michaels and the crying childs in his own home. smth smth themes of generational trauma n whatever its insane my brian explodes into ten million bloody chunks.

n what u said abt the book..... man........ imagine being holed up in ur room for days in end bc of The Thing on the other end of the door. like LITERALLY FNAF 4 SHIT GODDD. oswald reliving the trauma of the entire fnaf franchise in five nights like: INSANEEE. CRAZYYYYY.

[technovillain]

This is a lot of stuff. I’m sorry.

I have a big PN3 idea that I wanted to turn into a long comic series, actually. It’d have a new bad guy structure that takes the “diving for understanding in terrible people” thing a bit further. And also starting to tackle the influence of bigger societal influences on the behavior of individuals. A big chunk of the character development is Lili (now a teenager) having to learn hard adult realities about fighting the good fight as she tries to take on a bigger role in the Psychonauts. It’s not just about removing the one bad guy anymore. The Psychonauts as an institution is also under threat, so the stakes are huge and everyone’s kinda being pushed further toward the edge (but especially Lili and Raz, who see this as their home).

It’s also about contending with lasting traumas from PN 1 and 2. Ford and Lucy have passed away (or, astral projected out of their bodies forever on accident depending on who you ask), and the circumstances of it bring up a new layer of issues on both the PN and Aquato sides—also tying up some stuff there from PN 2 that I wanted to look at. Like Frazie’s temptation and reluctance to let herself be psychic or Bob’s relationship with Truman. Raz himself, also a teenager, is grappling with all that stuff he felt like he was too young to process before, plus stuff about growing up. Even though it was a terrible thing to do, Raz can now better understand why Ford did what he did and wonders if he honestly would have done any better. He’s realizing in his own actions that you sometimes can’t avoid making a choice with nasty consequences, reinforced by the villain. And that has stuff to do with his family too, re: parents and siblings trying to keep the pack safe and together with unhealthy force. Dogen’s also a main character, trying to get over the fear that he’s a disaster waiting to happen and seize his own agency in things to protect the place that has been helping him recover.

It all sounds very grim on paper, but I have a plan to get it to tie together and work out based on the theme of getting to the roots of the status quo and changing it rather than bending to it.

Also, there’d be new fun enemies like Anxiety (buzzardlike) and Guilt (leech/serpentlike), which look like cousins of Panic Attacks and Regrets. They start out as little worms and crows but evolve into death-rolling alligators and dive-bombing raptors as things escalate. And changing the kids’ skillsets to fit their experience—like Raz swinging from mental connections instead of hamsterballing bc he’s bigger. Dogen making someone picture sheep to knock them out. Lili combining plants and fire to great (or terrible) effect. Ziplining on the core thread of a bad mood to get to a deeper area. Tandem lev ball combat. Going into a mind multiple times over the story to see how it changes in the face of developments.

Saying it again: really really sorry this is so long. I do really love the idea of a PN3, as well as your ideas. I felt the urge to gush bc I’ve been holding this idea in for years while I work on it. Thanks for reading. :)

I don't really have much to add to this but that's only because I love how detailed this is.....makes me think abt just how good a timeskipped PN3 could be!!!!!!!!!

[davekat-sucks]

The homestuck cafe's menu just reminded me of a great 4/13 story I have! I want to share it for people to read! For one 4/13 that I celebrated, I had a friend who held a party at her house and made a bunch of shots themed for all the trolls, beta kids, alpha kids and the antagonists. The colors of each drink were on point. I made 30 rice krispies treats that were shaped and colored with food dye to look like casey and they were MASSIVE. I brought gushers too! Candy corn?! You think we wouldn't have that shit!?!?! I believe it was the 9th anniversary, no epilogue yet.

We rewatched all the major flashes and only about three of us there actually read the whole story, three read a good chunk of it. We cosplayed too. I was Roxy. Most people who came had no idea what homestuck was and they just talked and drank in the kitchen where the drinks were. Must have been about 20 other people there just watching a few of us cheer and yell at a screen in the living room. Make her pay is my favorite flash, I always get so fucking into it. Make that 8itch pay. We did the whole How Do I Live bit like it was karaoke. The part where Jade enters the game, what a song! Fucking sunsetter played at some point, jamming out to that shit! My favorite! At Cascade I was pointing like crazy at how Sollux sacrificed himself for some ungrateful pieces of shit who don't give a fuck about how he just melted his brains! When Jake died protecting Jane in game over, I was so drunk that I screamed "SHE WOULDN'T DO THE SAME FOR YOOOOU!" My other friend had her meltdown when Tavros was killed "HOW DARE SHE!?" And Collide, what a high! what a let down! GO JAKE KICK ASS! EAT COOKIES! GO KARKAT DO SOMETHING! DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD!!!!! WHOOOOA! Everyone was screaming for Dad! I was the one screaming shit like "DECAPITATE YOUR BROTHER DAVE YOU PIECE OF SHIT!" Gamzee is in the fridge and I'm like "BURN IN HELL!" Gotta get a lighter out for when it shows all the beta kids and their homes! Someone is out here yelling "DAVE MARRY ME!" LORD ENGLISH IS STILL ALIVE YOU DIDN'T KILL HIM!!!! DAVE GET YOUR ASS IN THERE AND FIGHT!

I really wish I could have known what it was like to see things from their perspective! What they imagine Homestuck is actually about from that experience. It really must have been like that tiktok. The epic. mac game commentary where a guy is commenting on random objects like a unicorn and someone signing a CD with a pen. We were screaming over good music, digital collages and a story they can't hope to make sense of. No one ever tried to explain anything. It was pure chaos! Homestuck having bullshit moments just to anger people and bring them joy in the form of videos is what we loved about this stupid story! I still love it!

I would feel embarrassed I got so crunk over Homestuck infront of people who were strangers to me but it was their choice to come. They were warned that the experience would be like a fever dream and they came for that! They got to watch a few friends from high school get the band back together then get drunk and high on life! They got to watch people love and hate every single thing happening on screen and yell like we were watching the big game! They got to watch idiots celebrate the best and shittiest webcomic that ever existed! If that is their only experience with homestuck, more power to them.

[theresattrpgforthat]

I run a D&D club that is constantly getting new members, and we’ve recently hit a budget of some kind. I wanna buy some non-D&D RPGs for the club as

a) I don’t wanna support Wizards of the Coast,

b) D&D is REALLY complicated if you don’t have any pre-existing TTRPG knowledge whatsoever,

c) I wanna diversify the Club’s RPG portfolio and give an opportunity to turn it into a TTRPG club rather than just a D&D Club, and

d) I wanna give people who aren’t able to find a group the ability to easily start their own groups, as each of our groups has 9 players each minimum and I don’t think our GMs can take further weight.

In any case, the main issue I’m encountering is finding TTRPGs that aren’t just easy to play if you know nothing about RPGs, but easy to RUN if you know nothing about RPGs either. I also want at least 1 fantasy option so people who are attracted to D&D for the fantasy element can still access that. You have any recommendations?

THEME: First Time GMs

Alright, so I did some very intentional things here, in the hopes of making this helpful. Most of the games on this list are games I’ve played myself, so I know something about how they run. (There’s 1+1/2 games I haven’t played on this list but I have read the rules).

I also made sure all of the links were to physical copies of the books, because I find being able to flip through a book and read a physical copy of it helps me learn better, and I assume it’s easier to share a physical book with a club than it is to share a PDF. That being said, if you can get a PDF copy when you order the physical copy, I highly recommend doing so.

AGON, by John Harper.

John Harper has a reputation for good games - but more than that, they also make games that are easily contained within one-session chunks. 

As Greek heroes, the players will go to various islands in a search for glory, as the players attempt to win enough favour from the Gods in order to be able to return home. Each island can be run over the course of a session, with a structure of suggested signs and events for each island. 

There’s enough room for an adventurous GM to stray from the script (or even write their own islands) but for first-time GMs there’s a lot of tools to set you up for success. Not only that, there seems to be a big love for Greek Mythology out there, so this game shouldn’t be a hard sell! The best part is that this is the parent of the PARAGON family of games, so if it's a hit, you can go on to introduce games like Endeavour (Star Trek), Ruins of DOOM (dungeon-crawling), and Starbones (Pirates!)

Pugmire and Monarchies of Mau, by Sandy Pug Games.

This game uses a ruleset that’s basically a slimmed-down version of 5E, so it’s great for folks who don’t want to stray too far from D&D. It’s a fantasy setting with the twist that all of the players are Dogs or Cats: and (personal highlight), animal breeds that have inherent strengths and weaknesses feel much less racist than D&D races. 

There’s magic, relics, and inherently opposed groups in these games, such as the Cult of Labo Tor, a group of rats that descended from the same rats used laboratories, and thus consider their true role to be of experimenters and scientists. There’s also plenty of adventures, expansions, and supplements available for GMs, such as The Great Cat Conspiracy, an adventure in the Pugmire Rulebook, with pre-designed adversaries, lore, and tips and tricks for the new GM. 

Visigoths vs. Mall Goths, by Lucian Kahn.

This is a neatly-packaged rpg about teens in malls with playbooks and a list of pre-written adventures. What I think makes this stellar for new GM’s is all of the tools it gives you - the playbooks have all of the character choices laid out for you, so it’s easy for players to get a grasp of who they’re playing. There’s a map of the mall, so the table can look at the different locations for both inspiration and planning. 

On the GM’s side, there’s information about each of the stores in the mall, including the store clerks, who they know and like, and whether or not they are romance-able. The adventures have handouts and key NPCs so the GM knows who to focus on, while containing roll tables so that the outcome isn’t the same every time. Finally, there’s a track that will progress every time the players move on to a new scene, and because the mall has a closing time, everyone knows when to start wrapping things up and bring the adventure to an end. 

Best of all, you can’t leave the mall - so even if the players start to deviate a little bit, they can’t go completely off the map!

Mausritter, by Losing Games. 

This is a little game with a focus on dungeon delving, but as mice. The link above is for the physical box set, which includes cards to help the table with bookkeeping, a toolbox of resources to help the Game Master create mouse-scale adventures, and an adventure module called Honey in the Rafters. 

Mausritter is cute, but don’t let this game fool you - as mice, the characters will find themselves greatly outclassed by most things they go up against. It will take creativity and resourcefulness to get out of the dangers they find themselves falling into. For game-masters that want to challenge their players, while keeping character creation and management simple, this game is rules-lite with a lot of potential.

ARC: Doom Tabletop RPG, by Momatoes.

Rules light, tension heavy, that’s ARC. This game is designed with first-time game-masters in mind. ARC has a really interesting system called a Doomsday Clock, that will tick down towards a doom that the Heroes will want to prevent. It has the ability to run for one session or a short campaign, and it provides a step-by-step breakdown for the game master in helping them construct the story for the rest of the players. I love step-by step layouts like this, because they provide a concrete place to start and bring the GM through each step of the Clock.

The character creation is also broken down into steps, with easy-to-read text that helps players sort out their stats and skills, while also helping them answer some questions about their character’s personality along the way. This game can also happen in any setting, so you could run a fantasy campaign and a science-fiction game using the same rules! For GM’s that are worried about memorizing a lot of lore, this looks like a game that only needs as much lore as you need for the moments you’re experiencing in play - although if you want oodles of lore, I don’t see much stopping you either.

[kozykricket]

An Allay Revamp

Alright, I've mentioned I have issues with allays, some of them being nitpicky, and some of them being common complaints. Lets rapidfire address them. FYI, I am a big allay fan, they're super duper cute and i love the idea of using them for item collection for slightly less efficient but more whimsical farms :3 Issues: -Noteblocks dont really work as a "home block" because they have to be constantly (every 30 seconds) activated, and the whole "musical base" idea doesnt really work in practice, because you have to play the note so often and you'd also want a consistent dropoff location... (some say just let us tell an allay what pitch to listen for, but im cooking something better) -as much as the theming of amethyst = sound and allays liking sound fits, I don't feel like "right click with amethyst" is anything more than a band-aid-solution for getting more allays -allays can be frustrating to transport, even if they're really good at following you (i mean, mojang did a pretty good job, but i dont think any amount of fixes or buffs to speed can stop occasional questionable AI). also they get lost sometimes tbh but thats more of a noteblock issue, they just forget the noteblock -allays CAN still die, hypothetically, and i think giving them bonkers regen and health is the weird solution anyways, I think we can do better and have them revive, while making sense in lore. No more duplicating, but interesting renewability time! -i dont feel that its super intuitive who an allay "belongs to" like oh okay it follows *whoever gave it the item* thats... sure? eh Principles: -amethyst is too forced to just be Given to them -music doesnt really work in practice, despite being a little charming -lean into magical vibes -just make em work better -my particular take on some aspects revolve retconning a small bit of lore, potentially Now, TO THE REVAMP

Remember when people were asking about transporting allays and said "I wish we could store them in our inventory, that would help" Yknow, I think those people were absolutely cooking. I think we can go beyond just making books into "allay buckets" though! Rather than being close to a bucket, it would be a Summoning Tome; perhaps this would be a special book that you can craft, or books transform into tomes once you put an allay inside. Now, the idea is that you'd be able to right click to open or close the book, which would act as a summon. Whoever summoned an allay would be its "owner" (also, i think up to 3 allays in a tome could work maybe) What happens if I put away or drop the tome? It'd trigger the long distance teleportation, which I'll get back to. A failsafe of sorts, if you will Why summon tomes? - thematically I think it'd be very cool to use a book to summon them, for one, but I also think it'd just be very whimsical and... fitting! I think it'd also help allay safety. Why summon tomes? - Failsafes and overall Safety If an allay strayed too far from its owner, it would trigger a failsafe where it would drop the items its holding and teleport back into the book, and auto-close the book to let you know that it happened. The reason it would drop the items would be to prevent teleportation of items :p basically, I think it'd help allays not get lost, without necessarily giving them teleportation. they'd try to keep up with you to their best ability, but if they were just unable to pathfind to you, you could recall them intentionally or they would end up recalling if they just... really ended up nearly getting into like, an unloaded chunk. Why summon tomes? - If they die? ...and if they died, it would put them into the book and put them on cooldown for revival! bam, now you dont need to give them chunky health and regen! and you dont need duplication, either!

What about free roaming allays? How would they work? You could either release them from the tome, perhaps by shift right clicking, which would let them be free roaming and not bound to any player... or.... USE LECTERNS !! :D you could put an allay tome in a LECTERN and the allay would use *that* as the home block, and deliver items to the lectern, rather than needing a note block to repeatedly be activated. when a tome is in a lectern, you can close it or open it, by powering it with redstone or clicking it. this would allow you to recall an allay back into the comfort of its tome if you wished to reduce lag, etc :) I think the idea of a lectern holding a tome of allays as like, a summon-staff being held by a stand, in a way, is really fun :) its my favorite part of this all How would I obtain these summon tomes? So I said that we aren't gonna let you duplicate allays anymore, but 1) allays will still be renewable, even if you cant find any more 2) allays still can have theming involving amethyst Just wanna clarify that yes, allays would still be found in outposts and mansions, even if its a bit messy with the following lore retcon... So, we know that in official lore... well, we can assume that vexes arent just like, corrupted allays, and are merely similar looking because they're similar creatures in nature, perhaps born of similar... whatevers. and so they just capture the innocent familiars, and study and make their own evil ones. but i say while thats neat, id rather have vexes be corrupted evil allays SO we also know that raid farms are OP because totems really... shouldnt be renewable. so what if evokers dropped vex tomes? you could use them to summon vexes to kill anything attacking you, and they'd have anywhere from 1-3 vexes in them, so hey, raids make the tomes renewable. and you can probably see where im going with this: You'd have to purify the tome to get an allay tome! I think this could involve bringing them to a place of positive energy and vibes - an amethyst geode! Tada! We bring it back to amethyst because of the theming of sounds, and the chime-like sounds that allays make. Perfect! P.S They can still enjoy jukeboxes, as a treat. Noteblocks just arent used for their deeper mechanics double P.S (its late at night, i may Revamp this Revamp post tomorrow, by fixing up and restructuring a bit. but also i have school related writing stuff i should focus on lol. hope this is comprehensible and maybe brings you the same whimsy as when i imagined an allay tome on a lectern :D)

[multiwreckedmess]

February Filth Fest - Day 14

Pairing: boyfriend!Mingi x fem!Reader Prompt: soft dom/sub, foodplay (valentine’s day themed) WC: 2.3k Summary: Valentines Day is stressful, even when you have a Valentine. Everyone wants it to be this big special day and yet, how? When you love a person this much, you need to get creative. Or not. TW/CW: I made this one pretty goofy not going to lie. I wanted to write some fluffy smut. Reader is referred to with fem pronouns and a vulva, unprotected penetration, sorta soft dom Mingi although really its pretty vanilla. Food getting eaten off of bodies. Not vegetarian/vegan friendly.

As usual this is fiction, not a manual. This is not meant to represent real events. Please do not interact if you are below 18. I can’t control what you read online but I can kindly ask that you don’t tell me about it in ANY way. This is for your safety and my comfort!

Mingi bursts out laughing, fist clenching around his chopsticks. “I cannot do this, I really can’t.” “Stop being such a pussy and eat some fish god damn it.” You hiss, muscles frozen in fear of following Mingi’s chuckling. Mingi’s near crying with laughter, chopsticks shaking as he reaches towards a slice of yellowtail topped with a sliver of jalapeno. Shaking from the force of his guffaws he knocks the fish off the rice it so lovingly sat atop. “My dad owns a sushi restaurant.” “Mingi!” “I can’t stop seeing his face!” “Mingi, fucking christ, why didn’t you tell me?” You lay there, carefully arranged banana leaves and raw fish topping your naked body. You’d seen it once in a movie, a little kitschy but seemed like a cute and sexy way to have a quiet valentines day dinner at home. A nice bonding experience that didn’t involve the stress and effort of going to some crowded restaurant with an overpriced pre-fixe menu.  It hadn’t occurred to you to ask your partner’s parents' occupations. “I didn’t think it was pertinent! I’m so sorry-” tears streaming down his face. “I’m sorry I ruined your very…creative…idea.” Gingerly pinching the leaves arranged on your body and picking them up, takeaway sushi and all, Mingi helped place them to the side, revealing more and more of your skin. It wasn’t the way you’d hoped the night would go. Ideally the pieces would’ve disappeared slowly as Mingi ate, feeding you as he discovered the tastiest slices. Leaves slowly dwindling, building anticipation. Not shuttling the pieces away in chunks so that you could re-robe yourself in shame to sit on the couch next to your boyfriend picking through the mess of fish and green.

“I mean, the sushi is really good!” Mingi’s cheeks bulge with rice as he chews. “Rice is well seasoned…nice thick cuts of-” You glare. You aren’t in the mood for him trying to lighten it. You want to sulk and pout and ruminate. You want him to feel the cool breeze from your silence wash over him. Nibbling at the pieces Mingi places gingerly near you, the ‘sensual’ jazz playlist you’d found hums along in the background. The foolishness of it all still stings even though some day this will be a found moment, right now you want to disappear and wail into a mug of wine.

Slowly the evidence of your misfire dwindles, only a small stack of leaves remaining which Mingi gathers into a tight bundle to throw in the trash. “Easy clean up!” The man valiantly attempts to lighten the mood and is once more shot down with a mute stare as he exits to throw away the decoration. Slouching back into the couch with a heavy sigh you pull your phone from your robe pocket. “Mission fail. Imma kms.” You message Wooyoung. “WHAT. How?!” A flurry of bubbles appear on your screen in all caps. “How dare he, he doesn’t know how much effort went into the layout, the presentation, the acquisition.” “His dad. It was his dad.” “His dad? His dad saw you naked?!” “No dummy. His dad owns a sushi spot.” “Shit.”

You quickly darken the screen as Mingi reenters and plops down next to you. He sits on the edge of the cushions, fidgeting. Fighting down what he wants to say. He knows sometimes you just need time to be upset but he hates knowing that you are. “You did set up the sushi really nicely, you know. I really appreciate that you noticed how much I’d been mentioning wanting to eat it.” He speaks softly with a small half smile. “Hmph.” Pouting he tries valiantly. “Please, as a gift can I love you now?” “I feel dumb and unlovable and I hate myself so no.” “Can I love you twice as much to make up for it?” He pesters one last time, swearing to himself he’ll give up if you say it again. You fold for him. Anybody would. Such a big man being so cautious and tender. “You’re such a big doof.” You soften into his side. His glow is contagious when he smiles as brightly as he does when you give in to his affection. It’s warm and comforting like a sunbeam in the middle of winter, reminding you that better days are just around the corner. “Plus you’ve given me a great idea for dessert…” he grins wolfishly.

You can’t believe that this man has you in such a similar position as he’d found you. Naked and layed out on the bed you shiver. The anticipation has you on edge more than the slight chill in the air. Mingi appears at the door, twirling a silver can in his hands. Very unceremoniously he tips the can to the ceiling and squirts a small pile of whipped cream into his mouth. “‘Ou r’a’y?” He can barely enunciate with his cheeks puffed out cutely. It’s hard to believe that he’s the same man that makes your gut twist and toes curl when he looks so adorable. “I’m naked aren’t I?” “And very appetizing.” He leans over and kisses you, a hint of sweetness lingering on his lips. Steadying yourself you close your eyes. It’s difficult to allow yourself to slip into the right headspace as you failed so spectacularly earlier. Flinching, the shake of the can is unmistakable. “Are you scared?” He teases. “Is my baby a scaredy cat? What’s the whipped cream going to do to you huh?” “Shut up, you’re worse than me.” You say through gritted teeth. “I’ve never once been scared in my whole life.” You frown, and look at him, “you’re such a bull-” you try to argue but are interrupted by the sudden shock. The can splutters, spraying fluffy cream directly onto your breasts. “-shit Mingi! It’s cold hurry!” You jolt and squirm at the sensation. He slaps your thigh, “if you keep moving it’ll melt off you onto the sheets and then you’ll really be sorry.” With one flick of his tongue he collects the sweet sticky substance, pleased with your reaction. He lowers his head to suck and swirl around your nipple, in the guise of collecting any remnants. “Y-yess,” you hiss and arch into him. “Oh you like that huh?” He shakes the can, pressing the nozzle to dispense more onto the other side. ���Mingi- please-” you choke out as his warm mouth remedies the cold touch of the whipped cream deliciously. He lavishes the same attention to your other breast, drawing the sensitive skin between his lips. Blood flows to your sex, leaving you tender and tingly, hyper aware of the arousal leaking from your slit. “You want some?” He asks, lips parting from you with a pop. “I can put it on my-” “If you hope to put your dick anywhere near my pussy you know my answer.” “More for me then,” he shrugs, dispensing a line from the valley of your sternum down to your belly button, chasing the fluff the way back up. “Open.” You obey easily, tongue poking out and waiting. Carefully he squirts a tiny star from the can onto your tongue just enough for a taste, not enough to fill your mouth. “Meanie,” you whine and pout, trying not to smile. “You love me.” “You’re lucky I do.” “I know,” he smiles, placing the can on the nightstand and slinking between your legs. “I’m really lucky.”

Two of his fingers slide along your slit, circling, teasing. Your hips rock with him, always eager to bend to even the smallest of his touches. It helped that even his small touches felt large due to his size. Everything from his strong thighs, large hands, pointed nose, and thick cock made you needy and pliant against your daily nature. “Oh you’re ready aren’t you? My sweet thing. Mine. Mine. Mine.” He sucks small bruises along the insides of your thighs as punctuation. Leaving a physical representation of his sincerity for you to muse over if you ever wondered how he felt. He practically pulls your ass into his lap, tilting you with him as his form hovers over yours. Cock hot and heavy, he slowly rubs himself against you, sharing in your essence before pushing himself into your cunt. “Jesus FUCK,” you grit your teeth. “You really have to be so fucking huge don’t you?” “You really have to be so tiny?” He pants. “No matter how many times i fuck you-” he grunts and rocks himself back, “-still so tight-” he presses into you, bony vline meeting with the backs of your thighs with a deep sigh, “-but we always make it fit.” He nuzzles and kisses and dotes on you from your lips to your jaw to your shoulders. A big warm wolfish man curled over you protectively as the shared air heats between you. The burn of the stretch is fleeting, a flash that fades into pressure. The back of your throat empathetically choked by the depth he reaches inside of you. Although you know it isn’t possible, scientifically speaking, it feels like the head of his cock is pressing against the knot of your belly button with each readjustment of your bodies. You start to rock your hips, grinding your clit against him slightly, just enough to provide that pleasant floaty feeling of anticipation. The thud of your heartbeat has never felt so clear, magnified in your chest, pumping along in chorus with your ministrations. Slowly Mingi steadies you, palm resting heavy on your hip, leaning in closer to kiss you as he grabs a pillow from your side. Pulling you up to bridge your hips the pillow slips beneath your hips, propping you up just enough to ease the angle. “There we go, that’s better. Right?” He coos, thrusting into your slick warm heat. There’s an ease to each motion that comes with practice, with several bumps and bruises and early ends to sexpeditions, with knowing you. Really knowing you.

The slow drag churns your insides, summoning moans and groans. “It feels so good,” you mutter in wonderment. “Can you feel how much I love you, babe?” His thumb circles your clit eliciting another stifled moan. “Love you so fucking much. Wanna keep you all stuffed and happy every day of your life.” His pace increases as you flutter and clench around him. “You like that? Want me to take care of you, Princess?” You do. You like when he takes care of you but you hate to admit it. Even the part of you that wants to be worshiped like this feels a spark of shame that she isn’t doing more to please her man.

For what it’s worth Mingi loves watching you let go. The moment he finds the small spot with his cock that makes your eyelids flutter and mouth drop he knows he has you. It’s enough for him that you let him love you like this, steady and strong and without any need for showmanship. Getting to appreciate you without a sideways glare or smart retort in some act of both self deprecation and self defense. He finally feels worthy of the choked back whines you hold in your chest. Shuddering you cum around him without warning, cursing under your breath. Body buzzing your eyelids fall heavy into post orgasmic haze. “Mingi-” you mutter breathily. Even hearing his name so instinctively called has him fighting to keep focus. “Yeah honey?” “Cum, please,” you ask sweetly, face scrunched tightly as your thighs quiver and hips bridge. “Please,” you beg.

The tone of your voice speaks to some deep animalistic trigger in his brain. The whines coming from you driving his hips faster and faster. He doesn’t want to lose control like this but when you’re begging him who is he to refuse? “Fuck, really? So soon?” He’s panting and cursing as sweat drips between you. “Mhm, please- ah-AH-fuck- I need it.” Hands grappling his shoulders, you pull yourself to him, squeezing with every part of your body, grinding and grasping in some meager attempt to merge the two of you. Mingi holds you tightly as you do him while you cum, letting your walls work him to completion. His breathing stops, all noise caught in his throat as he pumps his cum deep into you. Air finally releases from his lungs with a shuddered low whine.

In the sudden silence of your bedroom you lay your head on his shoulder feeling the rise and fall of your chests. “You’ve gotten stronger.” “I’m training with Yeosang now.” He laughs, shaking the both of you. “I’m going to need to wear some more full coverage shirts at the gym tomorrow.” “Oh come on I didn’t break skin! Fuck me worse next time if you’re going to complain!” “Not a chance.” Both of you giggle. The sweat dries sticky on your back and thighs. Slowly you feel the telltale pins and needles in your ankles from sitting kneeling on top of him. The body origami you have to do isn’t graceful, a gloop of cum unceremoniously splurting forth from you. The gory aftermath of a good romp isn’t new to either of you. Mingi tries to hand you a tissue but you wave him off as you clench and waddle to the toilet.

Door open, he stands naked in the arch with a glass of water. “Here or bedroom?” “Isn’t it a little awkward to drink water while you’re…using the toilet?” “Bedroom.” “Nah give it, I’m tired.”

By the time you’re done cleaning yourself off he’s laying on top of the sheets in a clean pair of boxers, scrolling on his phone. The failed Valentine present feels so distant already as you snuggle into his side.

“You’re still sticky!” You whine. “We don’t have to cuddle.” With a pout you wrap your arm around his waist and squeeze the unflexed muscles. It’s just a normal night. Maybe that’s all it ever had to be.   

I SAID I WOULD COME BACK FOR THESE AND I WILL.

hope you enjoy and that it isn’t gotten by the tumblr police. give a like give a rb, with or without tags, feel free to send me asks or however you feel comfortable interacting!

[heyiwrotesomethings]

Hi everybody! I’m mostly settled in back home and I’m feeling a lot more energized and ready to finish up those last few requests so I can go into September with a clean slate. Thank you all for your patience, it feels good to be back :D

Under the cut are some pictures from my trip for those who may be interested to see what I was up to.

Starting off strong with a black bear we saw on the side of the road! We saw 5 total I think. All while driving, which was be a theme for most of the animals we hoped to see on our trip. One of the scariest moments was when one bounded into the road in front of us. A very close call, but nobody (person or animal) was hurt. (Riding Mountain NP, Manitoba, Canada)

This elk silently strode right into our campsite one morning. I looked up and I had a heart attack because he emerged from the bushes like a reverse Homer Simpson. He was very chill though, went to go eat leaves in the little island surrounded by campsites. He came back the next morning too. You really don’t think about how big an elk is until the only thing separating you is a picnic table. (Prince Albert NP, Saskatchewan, Canada)

Bison, also seen on the side of the road while driving by. This was also the same place where I saw the beavers and because of that I think that’s why this place is ultimately my favorite from the whole trip. I’ve only seen one wild beaver in my life before I came here so getting to see a bunch chew and swim around made me very happy. Also, you could not pay me to get into the water there. Never mind the fact that they had a blue-green algae bloom, but they also had leeches that you could see swimming around just by looking in from the dock. Icky, but fun to watch. (Elk Island NP, Alberta, Canada)

Moose, also brought to you by simply driving down the road. Which is funny because we went on a trail that pretty much guaranteed you to see moose and we didn’t see a single one. But this one was just hanging out on the side of the road maybe 40/50km away from the critically acclaimed moose spot. She was the only moose we saw, and some people were disappointed to have not seen one with antlers, but I say better one than none. (Jasper NP, Alberta, Canada)

Jasper probably had the most cool views. Love me a mountain with a big ol’ glacier on it. There was a nice, cool wind that blew through this area almost constantly. (Jasper NP, Alberta, Canada)

Another elk, but this one was too cool not to share in my opinion. Another from the car shot as we left Jasper. He’s running with the mountains in the background and he’s got the biggest antlers I’ve ever seen. Super neat. (Jasper NP, Alberta, Canada)

Here’s a nice little artsy photo I took. We saw a lot of these purple flowers around and I think they’re really pretty, especially paired with the beautiful glacial waters and rugged mountains. Wish I could see views like this all the time. (Yoho NP, British Colombia, Canada)

I know this probably doesn’t look like much, but I think it’s so neat to look at. It’s a mountain that still has snow (maybe a very small glacier idk) on it but also has a little dune that looks like it belongs in the desert and a refreshing little stream curving around the rock. I took this photo while on a 10 mile (~16km) hike too much elevation gain and the down didn’t feel much better, but on those rare stretches of flat ground I felt like Rock Lee when he took off his ankle weights. Also, 10 mile hike up a mountain, barely any people around, you think we saw any animals? No. No we did not. (Yoho NP, British Colombia, Canada)

I think these birds are called Clark’s Nutcrackers if my quick googling is to be trusted. I thought they were really cute, but also kind of vicious. I saw one dive bomb a woman and steal a good chunk of her wrap/burrito. (Banff NP, Lake Louise, Alberta Canada)

A whole herd of big horn sheep seen while waking around the campground. Some of them looked really menacing. Really big horns and super buff. If one wanted to mess you up, it definitely could. Still really neat to see from a distance! We also checked out the hot spring nearby. Too hot for me, so I spent most of my time in the little cool pool, a refreshing 55F (~13C). (Kootenay NP, British Colombia, Canada)

[reallyhardy]

PLAYTIME!

weird kind of a post but i just wanted to be nerdy about and highlight my summer position - while i'm a digital picture-draw-er most of the time and a bag sewist some of the time, for one little chunk of the year i'm a play facilitator at the whitworth art gallery and every august (where possible) - i'm not interested in having my own children but i love working with them and taking part in something enriching and educational and awesome. sooooo

since 2018 there's been a creative play session on for families every summer holiday. the first one ever was 'the sandpit one' where the learning engagement team turned our learning studio into this bigass sandpit - can be seen in the below video from 0:17 - 0:25:

and it was the beginning of a real shift in the gallery from like... 'make and take' arts and crafts and into creative play sessions (i joined as a volunteer juuust after the sandpit one so we always talk about it but i wasn't actually there for it.)

the next year instead of sand we did water - i was there for this one but i only facilitated a couple days of it. great fun we used a lot of the same things (beakers, sieves, ladles) to play, just in water instead of sand.

i wasn't involved in 'PLAYTIME AT HOME' during covid lockdowns but the theme was mud and i believe the learning engagement team set out ideas for how to play with the mud using stuff most people have at home:

and then another during 2021, this one's good it features annabel one of the artists here who is so much fun, i think she's the coolest. here she and lucy (the learning engagement co-ordinator) explain how it went down:

when we made it 2022 that's when i really came ON BOARD in a big way, and i got to be a play facilitator every day that we were on in something called our scrap studio - we had heaps of stuff from a place called the 'scrap centre' in leeds that rescues packaging material from manufacturing companies - and we had it all to built with and put together and play around in and it was SO much fun. my job all of last august was just to hang around and watch fun happen and it was just so, so mega. mega fun.

(for whatever reason they don't have the 2022 summer video on youtube booo but i do have a twitter link here)

and then THIS summer we're trying to link it up to the 'economics the blockbuster' exhibition currently on inside the gallery so we've got play markets and play 'currency'

and we're having kids make concoctions with our mud kitchens and it's been very cute and fun seeing them 'selling' them to their parents. and to me. it's just been a blast. i hope to just keep doing it forever. also i've been taking pics for my outfit every time and they all include this grey apron 🤣 but it's important it signifies that i'm in charge

[sparatus]

Fanfic Writer Ask Game: D,E and Y!

fanfic writer asks

thanks daisy!!

D: What’s the most personal fanfic you’ve written?

hmmmm i mean honestly a large portion of my no-reapers au exponential differentiation in general is therapy for me - the whole overarching theme of the series is "bad things happen, but there's still light in the darkness" and how the choices we make define who we are, and the primary conflict goes back to shanxi and how desolas chose to move on with his life but harper chose to dwell in his own hatred, and how that one difference has ripple effects on everyone around them. without going too far into personal stuff, it's very reflective of some shit in my own life, and the whole story is very therapeutic for me to write as it lets me examine those feelings and how i feel about the other person whom harper and co represent. other characters also provide outlets for various things, esp jack whose story arc has always been very resonant with me as a "bad" trauma survivor, so overall. yeah exdiff is my brainchild but there's also a lens for a lot of shit in my head if you look

E: What character do you identify with most?  Is there a certain fic of yours that captures these qualities particularly well?

at this point there's a good chunk of myself in quite a few of them, but i think. it's probably still saren. it's been saren for a long time. sparatus too, but saren has been pretty instrumental to a lot of my own growth as a person, especially as i fought to escape toxic social circles and rediscover myself after depression. don't let my intense love for desolas and sparky and abrudas fool you, i love all of them very much but saren. saren is me.

i see a lot of my own "bad" autistic traits in saren, and how i carry myself and hold myself and observe the world around me. obviously exdiff is going to have a lot of that, seeing as he's a deuteragonist, but i think more specifically the weight of memory is the most emblematic. he's the pov character, so we're in his head the whole fic, and it's a very meditative fic for me to write - while yes there's still things happening and connections back to the main plot happening over in itlog and what avitus is up to, but in memory we see saren detached from the main plot as he stays home and recovers from the events of broken mirror, and as he steps back and observes the day-to-day mundane life around him it's a really good character study i like to think. memory is my magnum opus in the whole series i think

for another one that isn't connected to a whole other series, there's also to catch a rabbit, aka "kryterius murder mystery," wherein he shares the pov stick with nihlus, and we both get a view of his own internal monologue as he runs through the case and an external pov from nihnih who has a lot of experience with saren's various quirks and oddities and doesn't make a big deal out of them just readily accepts them as part of who his friend is.

Y: What are your thoughts on your personal satisfaction with something you’ve written vs. the popularity of your stories?  Do you tend to be most satisfied with your most popular stories?

i mean. this is niche character and rarepair appreciation central over here.

my shepard fics/series (exdiff, bad end, jai shepard) are much more popular than most of the things i really really want people to look at - the three fics in the i'll follow you series, pre-canon desolas trauma and budding desabrudas, are honestly some of my best work (the latter two ESPECIALLY), and i'm really proud of the random <1k wordcount musing i put out like by any other name (desabrudas) and absolution (garrus/citadel dlc turian lady), and listen if i listed off all the stuff that i'm really happy with but got ignored by readers we'd be here all day listing off pretty much everything on my ao3. exdiff is my baby, my flagship series, i will always be begging people to read it cause if you want to see a big portion of my worldbuilding and character work outside the arteriuses + sparatuses and tiirtias you're gonna have to go Commit, but there is ZERO correlation between the popularity of a piece and how happy i am with it

[where-theres-smoak-2]

OBX Season 3 Review

I just finished watching the third season and honestly I have very few criticisms for this season, I think it was amazing definitely the best season they’ve done yet in my opinion. So just want to put a spoiler warning in here as I am going to be talking about some plot points and big moments that happen so if you haven’t caught up yet and don’t want to be spoiled scroll past this post. I have alot of thoughts so I’ve divided it into sections, if there’s a particular theme or subject that doesn’t really interest you then hopefully that will make it easier for you to get to the ones that do. 

Goodbye Island Paradise

This season was a bit different to the other two seasons in that the pogues were actually separated quite a lot this season, particularly John B who spent alot of the season with his dad. However I surprisingly didn’t mind that as I do think it fit the narrative and made sense within the story and for all the characters involved. I think being on the island, or more accurately, coming home from the island changed the pogues and they all struggled to reacclimate, they were on Poguelandia for a whole month, which is a long time so it makes sense that they would struggle to find their feet again once home. I do think they all struggle differently though. JJ seems to have the hardest time because he really had very little to come home too and then when he does get home its to an eviction notice on his home which really does leave him with pretty much nothing and I think the only reason he left that island was to be with the rest of the pogues, it was clear that he didn’t really want to leave. Kiara is having to deal with her parents and whilst at first they are happy to see her it quickly falls back into the same tensions and disagreements they were having before with her parents not wanting her around the pogues and in particular JJ. Whilst I do think part of her wanted to go home and see her parents I do think she, like JJ, ultimately was happier on the island and part of her also didn’t want to leave. I think Pope and Cleo have the easiest time reacclimating, I think he has a more understanding relationship with his parents and Cleo has really helped him appreciate that he really did have a good thing at home. For Cleo I think going to OBX was like a dream come true, I loved that scene when she is excited about having her own room for the first time. In some ways it was really sad because it highlights how tough a life she had previously but it was also really wholesome seeing how happy she was and I think she does fit in really well with Pope’s family and it seems like his parents really like her and she helped them have more trust in Pope. Sarah I think is very much in the same position as JJ in that she has no family or home to come back to, she did have John B but when his dad comes back he is so wrapped up in what is going on with his father that Sarah gets pushed out. I imagine it was a complicated situation as John B and Sarah had become use to it being just the two of them but for Big John it had always been him and John B against the world so its almost like Sarah and Big John and competing to be that person in John B’s life. Meanwhile you’ve got John B who I think obviously is very happy his father is alive but having spent a year without him is having to get used to having a father in his life again which is causing some issues in his relationship with Sarah. 

Big John’s Return

I do want to talk a bit about Big John and his arc throughout the season as it did take up a big chunk of the season. I do think they wrote his character very realistically. I loved the reunion between him and John B it was very moving. But the wholesome moments don’t last long as Big John is still very much on this treasure hunt and motivated by finding this big treasure. The relationship between John B and Big John does become tense because of this, especially when Big John makes it obvious that he doesn’t fully trust the other pogues and in particular Sarah. Again though I think this mistrust and paranoia makes sense for Big John’s character given everything he has gone through. He trusted Ward only for him to dump Big John’s lifeless body into the sea instead of calling for help, he thought he was being rescued by Singh’s men only for it to turn out he was being held hostage. It’s understandable after a year of fearing for his life that he will be struggling with trusting anyone and I think the only one he really does trust is John B. Obviously though John B is not comfortable with lying to the pogues as he has gone through so much with them and they’ve survived it by trusting each other and being there for each other. This leaves John B feeling really torn because on the one hand he is over the moon that his father is alive like he always believed he was and wants to be there for his dad but at the same time he doesn’t have that same level of mistrust that his dad does. Also it seems like Big John and John B see the gold very differently. Whilst Big John is very much still driven by finding the gold, John B seemed to me to just want to take a breath and spend time with his dad, I honestly think John B would have been good with forgetting the gold altogether and living in the chateau with his dad and Sarah. 

The Gold: An Escape or A Trap? 

One thing that I thought was interesting this season was them introducing this question of whether the gold was an escape or a trap and I loved how they explored that through the characters and how they see the gold and how they go about hunting for the gold. I think ultimately the answer to this question is that it is both and all comes down to how far you’ll go to get the gold. You have characters like Rafe and Singh, Limbrey and Ward who will risk it all for the gold (although I will say that Rafe and Ward can be anomalies at times in that they occasionally do have a conscience) they’ll kill and betray and even hurt their own family members if it will get them the gold. Limbrey kills her brother, Rafe tries to kill his sister and orders a hit man on Ward, Ward also tries to kill Sarah. For these guys the most important thing to them is the gold and they will do anything to get it, it consumes them in a very unhealthy and toxic way that leads them to do some heinous crimes but what’s interesting is all of them believe it is their destiny to find the gold whether that gold is the merchant gold, the cross or El Dorado itself. So when anybody gets in the way they become angry to the point of becoming unhinged because to them its not just somebody might get to the gold first and I’ll lose out, its somebody is getting in the way of my destiny. In this way the gold/treasure is undoubtedly a trap, its become such an all consuming part of their lives that they can no longer escape it. 

Then you have Big John who I think is kind of in the middle. I think for him the gold is both an escape and a trap. Whereas those I mentioned above mostly want the gold for themselves or because they’ve got some warped idea of destiny in their minds, Big John wants the gold so that he can give his son a better life and I really believe that is his driving force in the search for the gold. One of the most shocking scenes for me in Big John’s story arc was when he shoots and kills those two men from the coastal venture who were then working for Singh. The sudden brutality of it really caught me off guard and obviously its equally shocking to John B. It honestly left me very conflicted because on the one hand as the audience we know that Big John’s instincts were right and those men were going to kill John B but on the other is was upsetting seeing someone who had been painted as this victim of ward or as a hero become a killer. I think the difference between Ward, Rafe and the others mentioned above vs Big John though, is that whilst the others killed to save their own skin or to stop someone else getting the gold, Big John kills to protect his son. I really do believe that he saw that gun pointed at his son and acted on instinct. I think another difference is that whilst the others after killing one person keeps on killing anyone who gets in their way I don’t believe Big John does. I’m pretty sure the only other person he kills is Singh himself and even then its not like he kills him directly he throws the dynamite at the entrance to El Dorado and Singh gets killed trying to get to the stick before it explodes. But whilst I do think Big John has good intentions when it comes to the gold I do still think the trauma he has gone through combined with this desperation to provide a better life for his son has caused the gold to become a trap for him as well. He might not kill just anybody for the gold but he still does some pretty shady things in the name of it. Like for example trying to convince his son to hold up a little old lady to get her key card for the museum and keeping secrets from both the pogues and John B himself. Despite his good intentions he still gets caught in the trap of the gold and lets it consume him to the point where it almost becomes the only thing that matters to him. In his case though I do think that its John B that pulls him back to reality. In the end he chooses his son over the gold. 

Which brings me to the Pogues who I do think are on the opposite side of the spectrum. I would argue that when it comes to the Pogues the gold is more of an escape but one that is in danger of becoming a trap. I think the main difference with the Pogues though is that whilst they care about the gold and they want to find it, there never comes a moment when it becomes more important than each other. On several occasions when it has become a choice between choosing the gold or protecting/saving one of their own they have always chosen each other. When someone is hurt or at risk the gold ceases being important to them. An example is when Sarah gets shot in season 2, John B abandons the gold and takes care of Sarah his priority becomes saving her, when Pope gets stung and has an allergic reaction they abandon the cross in the church and focus on getting Pope medical attention and then in this season when Kiara is taken and they find the painting of the boat which held the merchant gold and the cross JJ says its not important as it doesn’t help them find Kiara. When they steal the fake cross off the train and JJ tries to draw the police away, Sarah and the other pogues make Topper turn around and go back for JJ even though that might risk them losing the cross and/or getting caught by the police themselves.

 Another difference is that the pogues have a line that they won’t cross which is killing others. When John B had the chance to kill Ward, a man who at the time he believed had killed his father, who he had just seen trying to kill Sarah, and who had tried to frame him for murder, he doesn’t take it. The same with JJ when he had a gun and was tempted to kill his father who had abused him his whole life he chooses not to. In this season when Pope is angry that Rafe melted the cross down and is tempted to kill Rafe again he chooses not to. Even when it comes to those who would harm or kill them, they will incapacitate but not kill them. For the Pogues the gold is that dream of escaping all their woes. Its breaking free from the system where the rich have everything and are treated with respect no matter what they do and how the poor have nothing but judgements thrown at them and are treated unfairly. The gold will allow them to run away and literally escape all their problems, the gold will offer them security for their futures. But the worry is whether it will become a trap for them, will it become an addiction that they can’t break free from. One thing I did notice, that I thought was interesting, is all those who will do anything for the gold are those who are already rich, who have had the taste of being rich and don’t want to lose that lifestyle and the power that comes with money. The question for season 4 is whether now that they have money will the pogues fall into the same trap as those before them and start to do anything to keep the wealth they’ve gained? 

Jiara 

So now I want to talk about the really good stuff, Jiara. They were amazing this season and so so well written. Like I love their story this season dude. Again I think it also tracked for these characters and there was no point that I thought oh so and so wouldn’t have reacted like that or wouldn’t have done that. As I said above I do think neither JJ nor Kiara really wanted to leave Poguelandia and were both happier there, I loved all their scenes on the island of them fishing together and how they were talking about how being on the island was just like what they were talking about their surf trip being. One of the best scenes acting wise for me was the one in episode 4 when they’ve got home and Kiara comes to talk to JJ after they nearly kiss on the boat. Both actors did amazing jobs this season and this scene was just chef kiss good. I liked that they made the distinction that whilst it was weird for them both it wasn’t bad weird. Like when Kie said it was weird to Pope after they hooked up I think she did mean it was bad weird, she felt awkward and I don’t think she did it for the right reasons really, I think it was more she was confused and knew how Pope felt about her and didn't want to hurt his feelings. But with JJ I think its that things are changing and its different but I don’t hate it kind of weird. The tension in the moment when they are almost about to kiss was amazing and you can see JJ is really struggling to resist her but he is also struggling with all this self doubt and so he backs away and has this whole kind of monologue about how they shouldn’t be doing it and how he’s a loser and how could she care about him before trying to convince himself that she doesn’t care about him. I think this complete freak out makes a lot of sense for JJ’s character, as Kiara says later in the episode, it freaks him out when people get close. He is too used to being told that he’s worthless and no good etc that he believes it to be true and believes he is unworthy of love, JJ is just not someone who is used to having nice things so it makes sense that he would be scared of things changing between him and Kiara and it not working out and that meaning he loses his friendship with her too.

I really hated the scene when Mike starts berating JJ and saying that he ruined Kiara’s life and that she is better off with out him etc and then JJ who actually remained pretty calm throughout all that and only replied that he meant no disrespect then hears Mike saying everyone sees JJ as a thief and no good for nothing and how he’s just like his father. What I hated about this was that everything Mike said is exactly what JJ already thinks of himself and hearing Kiara’s father say the same things only reinforces that in his mind and makes him decide that things between him and Kiara could never work, that he really is no good for her and so he takes the money clip. I do think there is alot more to JJ taking the money clip than just he stole from her dad. Kiara is obviously upset with JJ for doing this but its because she knows him well enough to know why he really did it and it wasn’t because oh if I’m called a thief I might as well get something out of it. It was him deliberately throwing obstacles and roadblocks in the way of their relationship. Its him giving up on the chance of them becoming something more and also making it more difficult for them to even have a friendship. This is really hurtful for Kiara because she is being really honest and open about how she feels and is trying to be understanding of JJ and saying she gets that he is freaked out and is trying to work through those feelings with JJ but he is shutting down and acting like he doesn’t care. It’s almost like he is trying to make her hate him or lose those feelings for him in some misguided attempt to save her from himself. 

The money clip comes up again at the anniversary party when JJ is annoyed when Kiara says she can’t leave right then. JJ kind of throws it in her face because he knows it’ll hurt her. But again Kiara sees right through it and knows its not the money clip that’s the problem its the reason behind why JJ did it that is and that’s what is hurtful to her, so she calls him out on it. When I tell you I legit gasped out loud when she said she loves him, I was not expecting it as soon as we got it, I thought there weren’t going to get any confessions or anything like that until the end of the season but I was really happy that she did. It did kind of break JJ though I think, he seemed to struggle to string a sentence together and his thoughts were all over the place. I just don’t think JJ was in the right head space to be hearing it, again JJ just hasn’t been given much love in the past so his instinct to Kiara telling him she loves him is to wonder why? How? What about him could she possibly love? Honestly its really sad how much damage his parents and others have done to him that he can’t accept it when someone does love him. It also really sucks for Kiara and I felt so sorry for her, especially after JJ says it won’t work and that when he gets back maybe he’ll see her at the break. Its like she is pouring her heart out here and he’s being dismissive of her. Yet she knows him well enough to know why he’s behaving like that and I honestly don’t know if that makes it better or worse for her. 

I also loved JJ’s whole rescue mission when Kiara is taken to Kitty Hawk. Also side note here but what the hell were her parents thinking with this move?! Their daughter had confided in them that she was abducted and she feared she was going to die and they thought the best response was to have her manhandled into the back of a car while she screamed for them to let her go and cart her off somewhere she didn’t want to go, because yeah that’s not going to trigger her at all, that’s not going to add to her trauma. Seriously they made me so mad this season. But anyway I loved how JJ was able to see the cat photo the camp worker had and then manipulate the situation with the whole her cat died story. I also loved how Kiara figured out that is was JJ and goes along with it, also her little smile when she sat on the bed and knew that JJ was coming to get her made my heart so warm. Their reunion in cabin 6 was also such a great moment, the way they looked at each other and hugged. JJ apologising was also a great pay off. Again because he’s not really apologising for the money clip he’s apologising for not giving them a chance and for shutting her out. Them saying I love you to each other was perfect, like with Kiara she was so happy that he was there and it was almost like you’re a goof but I love you. With JJ you could hear the relief in his voice when he said it like finally he had given in and was ready to take a chance on them. It just felt so real. And of course their kiss was epic too, I felt like they did a great job of building up to it throughout the season so it felt very well earned. Also I couldn’t help but laugh at all the girls cheering in the background and JJ trying to get them to hush up. You just know that was the most exciting thing that had happened to those girls since they had got locked up in that camp, you just know that jiara have become a legend at the camp now where every new arrival hears the story about how one of the girls was rescued by her lover and they tore away in the middle of the night like bonnie and clyde. 

There is only one criticism I have when it comes to Jiara and its probably me being greedy but I do wish we had gotten a kiss or something in the finale, they spent a whole season building them up but then there wasn’t really anything in the finale other than some light flirting when they were on the bus and them smiling and making heart eyes at each other in the time jump scene at the end. I’d have liked just one more little kiss or an arm around her shoulders on the bus, something like that. But otherwise Jiara were definitely the highlight of the season for me. 

Cleope  

 The moment Cleo and Pope made that no love club I think we all knew it wasn’t going to last and they’d fall in love with each other. I do think they have great chemistry with each other and I enjoyed their journey this season. I think they had much better chemistry than Pope and Kie and it felt alot more balanced between him and Cleo if that makes sense. I do love how Cleo seemed to ground Pope. I think he was beginning to feel very lost with everything that happened between him and Kie and finding out about Denmark's story and how much injustice his ancestor faced plus losing his scholarship, the gold and the cross. I loved the scene where after finding out Rafe melted the cross down and deciding to take the gun and go after him, Cleo was able to talk Pope down and just give him that hug he really needed. I also loved seeing Cleo blend so easily in with Pope’s family and getting to have nice things for a change. There was a little moment at the table, I think in ep 3, when Pope and Cleo are being a bit flirty and giving each other heart eyes and Pope’s mum and dad just give each other the side eye like hey are you seeing what’s going on here that I thought was really amusing. It was obvious they approved of Cleo and I wouldn’t be surprised if they are already mentally planning their wedding. I did think the way Pope and Cleo fell in love was very natural and it didn’t feel forced at all and I also love how Cleo let Pope know she had feelings for him by quitting the no love club. Their kiss was also really sweet and I am really looking forward to seeing where their relationship goes in season 4. 

Jarah 

Ok so I have always loved John and Sarah and that romeo and juliet vibe they’ve got going on. This season they are a bit distant with John’s dad coming back and that causing tension between them which ultimately leads to Sarah making a mistake and kissing Topper. Honestly I hated that Sarah cheated on John B especially as she already has this rep in previous seasons of being a cheater with her getting with John B before breaking up with Topper and with Wheezie’s comment about her cheating on every boyfriend she’s had, I was kind of hoping that John B would be different and she wouldn’t cheat on him. That being said I do get how it makes sense within the narrative. Sarah is clearly struggling with the trauma of having both her brother and father try to kill her, she’s home now but John B is being distant with her and I just think she was feeling very lost and had no where to go after her argument with John B. So when she is invited to hang out with Topper and the other Kooks it reminds her of her life before it all went wrong, when her dad was still her hero and her family were all together. She also had been drinking and all of that leads to her making a mistake with Topper. To be fair to her she clearly regrets it in the morning and she does tell John B pretty quick, its not like she tries to hide it for weeks on end. I think she was feeling pretty bad when John B showed up and was really apologetic. It caused some chaos though as John B rightfully was very upset and that lead to him beating Topper and ending things with Sarah. Which then lead to him having charges pressed against him and again this shows that bias towards the kooks because whilst yes it was wrong for John B to beat Topper like that I remember another instance back in season 1 when Topper tried to drown John B and John B didn’t go pressing charges. I think Topper really is as bad as John B when it comes to them getting into fights.   

I do think Sarah shows her loyalty to John B when she does everything she can to get him out after he is arrested. I think she felt it was partly her fault that John B was arrested because it was her cheating that lead John B to attack Topper. I think getting him out but also getting her dad’s plane to get them to south america was all her way of showing him look I am on your side and I am still with you. I also did like their reconciliation scene, you know before it all literally went up in flames. I am also glad that we had a few reminders that they are, or at least they consider themselves as, married. I do wish that we’d get a scene of Sarah admitting or acknowledging that John B is her husband to someone as we’ve only really seen John B referring to Sarah as his wife to others apart from that one scene when Sarah tells Kie. I get the feeling that to John B it was real, like he meant those vows and he really does see Sarah as his wife. But with Sarah there are times where it doesn’t seem as serious to her and is almost like a little funny thing that they did. So I would like in season 4 for Sarah to either refer to him as her husband or for them to make it legit and legal, I mean the 18 month time jump must make them if not already 18 then close to it. 

Topper

There were moments in this season where I did actually feel sorry for Topper. Like he does get messed around a bit by Sarah and its understandable that he is getting mixed signals from her. I did think that whole sequence of him helping the pogues steal the cross because they need his truck was really amusing especially when he tells her that she’s from a good family how can she live like this because like dude two members of her family are killers and rose is such an enabler always telling ward that he did what he had to do and he’s good man really, the only one other than sarah that you could really consider good is wheezie, that’s your idea of a good family Topper really? It was very obvious that Topper is not cut out for the Pogue life that’s for sure, but it still gave us some surreal yet comedic moments. I can also get that Sarah kissing him would have messed with him a bit too, but any sympathy I may have had for him went flying out the window when he decided to set the Chateau on fire with everyone inside. Pretty sure that would count as attempted murder. I do think that Topper has a really unhealthy obsession with Sarah, I didn’t like how after their kiss he just automatically assumed that they were back together without talking with Sarah. I get that he felt like he had been used after he didn’t press charges thinking John B will be gone and Sarah would stay, because lets be real Sarah was manipulating him there, but his reaction to finding out she was with John B being burning down their house was going way too far. 

Rafe

Oh Rafe you sure are a complicated one. I mean there were moments where he does do the right thing this season like helping Kie escape and stopping the hitman on his father but it was mostly him just getting up to his usual antics. I couldn’t believe it when he tried to argue that he was as much a victim as Peterkin, she’s dead dude and you’re still going around killing people to benefit yourself. I mean that poor husband who just wanted to buy jewellery for his girl, dead because Rafe needed his hat and wallet. I also couldn’t believe that he melted down that cross. I have always loved history, I even studied Archaeology at university and went on a few digs before ill health got in the way of me pursuing it any further as a career and so I felt that at a truly personal level like it pained me seeing a one of kind, historical artefact get melted down out of greed, even a fictional one. For that reason alone Rafe is permanently in my bad books. Still I can’t deny that Drew is an amazing actor who really does deliver every time. I am curious to see where they go with Rafe in season 4 and also what happens with his relationship with that girl he was hooking up with, think her name was Sophie, as I do think she could potentially be a good influence on him, it did seem like she was the one to convince him to not kill his dad. Guess we’ll have to wait and see how that all plays out. 

Finding El Dorado 

Most of the finale episode was focused on them finding and getting to El Dorado. I did think it was a good finale. There was plenty of action but there was also that classic OBX humour, like when JJ and Kie arrive on the bus and straight away see Pope and Cleo but then also immediately have to run, I love Kie saying already but we just got here, another funny moment was when Sarah and John B find Big John because they happen to be under the window of the room he is being kept in and hear him shouting. Sometimes I think these Pogues just get wins through pure luck. I liked seeing Big John start the episode being really mistrusting of Sarah to the point of not wanting to tell John B details that might help to actually trusting her and letting her and John B go on ahead without him and kind of passing the baton over to them. I also liked the look they went for with El Dorado itself it looked really beautiful and the kind of riddle you had to solve from the stone artefact and how you could only see the entrance to it in the dark was really fun. I adored the moment John B and Sarah actually found El Dorado. Like when they found the merchant gold or when they found the cross, you could just see the euphoria on their faces and how emotional they got. There is only one thing I would change about this scene and that is I wish the other pogues were there too to celebrate with them. 

 Another thing I liked was that when it came down to protecting his son or leaving the way open to come back for the gold Big John chose his son. I knew the moment that we saw he had been shot that Big John was going to die but I do feel like it was the right move for both Big John and Ward to die and for them to close that chapter of the story. I do think that Ward and Big John’s stories paralleled each other. They both became obsessed with the treasure which lead them down a darker, more violent path, but ultimately they both sacrificed their lives to save their children. However even though I think it was right for the story it was still really sad. 

I will admit that when first Ward then Singh’s top man showed up I was like oh here we go again they’re going to lose the treasure, because of course they can’t have nice things. So I was pleasantly surprised when they did actually manage to keep hold of the gold. Ward’s death I think was a redeeming moment for him as he chooses his daughter and dies to protect her. I also thought it was a good contrast between when he faked his death in season 2 as in that scene John B was really unable to comfort Sarah because of his own feelings about Ward and as Sarah said he looked glad which made it really hard for Sarah. So I am glad that this time John B was there and was comforting her, up until Pope notices that Big John isn’t doing so well that is. 

I did think Big John dying was really emotional, like that must have been really heartbreaking for John B, he spent a whole year believing his father was alive when everyone else was telling him he was dead and now he was having to watch his father die in his arms. I did choke up a bit when Big John takes both John B’s and Sarah’s hands and puts them together telling John B to hold onto this one and that he’s the best son anyone could have, John B putting the gold in his hand and telling him he did it, the whole scene was really heartbreaking but the part that had me full on crying was when Big John said ‘I’ll see you at home kid’ right before passing away and then you hear those damn bells in the background, I had to pause the episode to pull myself together. The memorials they made for both Ward and Big John were also nice tributes to them. 

18 Months Later 

You know this season did kind of feel like the last season of a series which really makes me wonder if they thought they weren’t getting another season. I mean it seemed like they wrapped quite a bit up, all the pogues were paired off and in love, Ward and Big John’s deaths, the Pogues finally getting the gold. But this time jump scene left me with soo many questions. Like we get some answers, Kie is saving turtles, JJ has a charter boat (which I like to think is where Kie is saving turtles from) Pope is going to school and Sarah and John B own a surf shop. But what’s going on with Cleo? Is she going to go to school with Pope? Is she going to stay with the Heywards and help them out whilst Pope is gone? Where are they all living? Did John B use some of the gold to rebuild the Chateau or did he and Sarah move into that condo her dad gave her the keys to, did they buy a whole new house or have living quarters above their business? What about JJ? I’m assuming he paid off his restitution and Barracuda Mike, did he also get his home back? What happened with Topper, last we saw of him he was pressing charges against John B so how did John B get out of that? Did he have enough money now to settle out of court or did he just threaten Topper that he knew he burned the Chateau down and if he dropped the charges John B wouldn’t press charges against Topper for what would have been a more serious crime? What happened with Kiara and her parents because honestly it made me so angry that they were there cheering after everything they did to her? Also the world knows that they found El Dorado so did they show the gold to someone and then have an excavation team go out and reopen the entrance to it because it seems unlikely that people are just going to believe a bunch of teens even with the gold? What’s the deal with this whole blackbeard guy? Is he genuine or is he a villain? Just so many questions. It’s going to be a long wait until season 4. 

Anyway that’s all I’ve got for now. As I said I did really enjoy the season. It had great character development and plot twists and I still really love this show.      

[jiamiuxin]

daiya no ace anime reflection/review

**spoilers!!**

im at a point in my life where i have a lot of free time at the end of the day and i find myself filling that slot with anime.

for the past two weeks, ace of the diamond has taken up a big portion of my mind as i found myself falling in love with the team and its players.

about a month ago was when i started a roll on watching sports anime. i caught up on haikyuu, binged blue lock and ao ashi, and finally spent another good chunk of time on free!!. ace of the diamond was no new title to me, yet for some reason i kept it on the back burner. i dont know why; whether it was the art style, the then-seemingly long list of episodes, or the fact that it was baseball. maybe it was all of them. when i burned myself out trying to find another anime, i finally settled on giving DnA a chance.

today, as i have finished all 176 episodes (no OVAs yet!) i confidently say it's one of my top, if not the top, anime ive seen so far.

i noted a few things as i progressed through the series: strong points, cons, favorite characters, and a few personal thoughts.

i will start off with the cons head on. daiya's is, i guess i could say, notorious? for its "annoying, loud, benchwarmer" MC. one genuine complaint i do have is the lack of animation quality in the third season. there were many still shots with voice overs, though i felt a little more satisfied with the animation towards the end. also, to a smaller extent, the anime is not as complete as the manga.

anyway, i think the slow burn is actually a strong point, as many others point out. indeed, it is the very low lows that make the highs so high. don't get me wrong, i love a stupidly powerful MC, such as mob psycho 100 or OPM, but the realism gives DnA its charm and relatability. when others say "season 1 is bad, season 2 is good, season 3 is amazing," they are not lying.

DnA's charm not only lies in its realism, but also its character development and character interactions. brotherhood, leadership, and teamwork are all themes throughout the anime. the way the third years cared for their juniors and the way the juniors fought to elongate their seniors' summers was beautiful, heart-wrenching, and gut-punching to me, a recent college graduate. these types of moments are not uncommon in sports anime, but something about DnA's execution made it so much more..emotional? relatable? whether it was due to convenient timing or the fact that the sheer amount of episodes made me feel like they were actually my own friends, i just felt so much more compelled when watching daiya.

on the topic of my personal emotions, as i said, the themes of graduating/retiring really hit home for me. but that made daiya all the more special to me. both personal relatability and just watching everyone's hard work made it so easy to sympathize with their determination. maybe it was the countless scenes of them heaving and gasping for air; or the scenes where TJ made their frustrations so visible and vulnerable. as a watcher, i did not see myself rooting for some characters in a show; normally, i'd take a normal stance with the expectations that the "of course, the MC team will win." i saw myself rooting for my friends. in addition, knowing TJ, we can never be too sure on how seido's games will actually go. everything comes down to the realism. it's daiya's realism that made me feel their passion, made them so relatable, and made it feel like they were actually at high stakes. i truly, rarely never cry when watching an anime. besides assassination classroom, no other anime has made me so emotional. not only that, but daiya made me cry several times. the amount of immersion is insane.

to no surprise, my favorite character is miyuki. he was the know-it-all. he was essentially the rock of seido with his calls. i often found myself wondering how strong seido would be without miyuki. no disrespect to ono; as he proved, and as kataoka also believes, ono is also reliable. but miyuki was just built different bro. anyway, i appreciated his character for not only baseball iq, but his rapid maturity into the captain role, and his flexibility with his juniors. i found his personality very admirable and his logical approach to situations both relatable and reliable. other characters i particularly were fond of were chris and kuramochi. if okumura had more screen time, i could also see him climbing up my list. as someone who had no prior baseball knowledge, daiya/seido as a whole, but particularly chris and miyuki, gave me a newfound respect for and fundmental understanding of baseball.

i think one last thing i wanted to note was that i really don't read manga. but for daiya, im definitely gonna pick up the manga now. i have never done this before for an anime, even others i really liked--hxh, haikyuu, one punch man, etc. i just never felt compelled to read the story further beyond the anime. but for daiya, this is something im willing to do. i just love it that much.

if you are having second thoughts or are debating on watching DnA, def watch it if you do not mind slow burn and can take a realistic approach. on the other hand, i do not recommend if you want to see an OP MC.

~

i am truly a nobody, especially not a professional anime critic LMFAO but i just wanted to vent my thoughts of daiya somewhere :) these are just my personal opinions

[squadrah]

Out of all of your la squadra backstories you've hinted at the one that I'm most wanting to hear more about is Sorbets. Maybe it's just cause I love gambling in media (Kaiji, kakegurui etc) but this funky cross dressing, plant dad gambling man has me just full of curiosity about his childhood. Do you have any more headcanons about it? Thank you!!!!

Aaah, this is a high compliment, I'm so glad that my Sorbet has been on your mind and is his own intriguing interesting person! <3

Because of this ask, I started digging in my drafts, and found some stuff from my CuriousCat that is on theme, so I will be posting those after I publish this ask, but in the meantime, there was one specifically on just Sorbet, so I will copy that here first:

From My CuriousCat

"How did Sorbet join the team?"

I headcanon that he's "materialistic" (as presented by anime canon) due to his family's history with debt, which ruined generation after generation. He was saddled with it too, so he got into gambling in the hopes of making enough to clear himself, but that ultimately got him entangled with the mafia, so eventually he caved in and joined them. He worked on Polpo's turf for a while (with Gelato joining eventually), but when Risotto Nero joined Passione, got his Stand from Polpo's test and was made Head Assassin, the organization decided he needed a team, so Polpo relegated Sorbet and Gelato under him as a pair of intelligence agents. Sorbet was a gambling addict by that point and had killed in order to get more money and feed his addiction, and Gelato had slit a few throats in the course of his adventurous life, so Polpo decided they were a good fit. Sorbet mourned his gambling connections the longest, but as someone with a good heart deep down, he soon took to Risotto and decided that lower dividends or not, having their own building block and getting money for clearing out scum wasn't so bad.

---

I feel that this still stands for the most part, but I want to add that both the plant thing and the cross-dressing or drag thing came from a certain association with material wealth. I see Sorbet as someone coming from an impoverished family, the type where they sometimes foraged and trespassed in orchards to get more food and experimented with home growing some garden vegetables - this coupled with the extravagance of beautiful flowers and neatly planted backyards conveyed a sense of luxury and comfort to Sorbet even at a very young age, so later he was very proud to say, have fickle decorative plants that he managed to make thrive in his apartment, and he enjoyed spending time at the courtyard because the team's combined body count made everything exceptionally lush and beautiful there. (Prosciutto's roses are probably the biggest and reddest in all of Naples.)

Additionally, the same extravagance and beauty is also conveyed by women's fashion and the glamour of Hollywood movies: I just have this mental image of a young Sorbet staring at the furs and dresses and jewels glittering on the silver screen and longing for that kind of wealth and luxury that you can not only own, but be (by wearing them on your person and becoming one with them). So basically these symbols and styles of living converged in his head and he started experimenting, only to find that it really clicked with him on an emotional and mental level as well. As a man he always felt drab and uninteresting, which is sometimes a good thing when your social battery isn't big in the first place and you need to just quietly exist from day to day, but when wearing drag, he would suddenly feel like the most interesting person in the world, someone who has everything, and this is the high he is constantly chasing when he gambles or pinches pennies or puts a big chunk of his payment aside. He just wants to have everything and live it up without constantly feeling like the financial noose is tightening.