#i mean i spent a lot of time perfecting them ngl

[animalpetcel]

Carnelian Blood Thoughts

I have spent the past day or so just binge reading Carnelian Blood, the spin-off series to Diabolik Lovers (my guilty pleasure) and one of the many series of Rejet.

Honestly I had a lot of fun lol. I feel like the mystery of Carnelian plan's, the missing 6th Erosion member and the origin of both the guys and our main girl I feel like helps make the content feel meatier and not just rely on romantic moments with the boys (or them just goofing off). And the fact that the cds get plot moments at all is pretty interesting! I also like how it is kinda more evident that they all have different relationships with their dad (from Byakuya's freak outs at the near mention of him, Toxin's more gung-ho attempt at fulfilling Carnelian's orders, Creha and Yoru being more doubtful and Neight/Ura being the ones who are actually in touch with him).

I think the only kinda frustrating thing is that Erosion are chimeras, demon world races with something imbued in them (the tl said they had demon parts but I'm not actually sure what it meant by that?). You'd think that this means that we would be able to see more of the behaviors of the adler, vibora and werewolf races that sets them apart from DLs vampires right (even with a bit of other stuff mixed in)? Well no bc they also drink blood (but of not-humans this time...which feels like splitting hairs) bc of their chimera condition and have so far demonstrated only supernatural abilities related to their chimera condition....so Toxin & Yoru don't do werewolf stuff, Creha doesn't do anything related to vibora and Neight/Ura & Byakuya don't seem much like adler...it's disappointing that they feel like just...weaker vampires atm but I'm willing to give them time to cook.

(Also outside of Neight/Ura and I think Toxin, the boys haven't actually made the largest use of their chimeric traits. But again I'm willing to wait and see).

Now here's my thoughts on each individual member, from youngest to oldest.

Creha: Ngl I thought either him or Neight/Ura would have ended up being my favorite but instead it was someone else (Yoru). I think his video game obsession and how he uses that to kinda avoid difficult things, or it also demonstrating how he gets tunnel vision when he's focusing was really neat. I only kinda think that it would be nice if Creha demonstrated a specific preference for certain video games rather than the writing making it sound like he loves every single video game genre equally (he does seem to have a preference for challenging games...but that's also pretty vague. Not that he can't be a video game nerd, but nerds also have specific stuff they like). Also I thought that the two little scars he had under his mask felt but a little goofy, like I've seen similar characters who avoid showing their mouths for similar reasons but bc of the genre Creha can't actually look non-traditionally attractive so they just kinda look like really light scars.

Byakuya: Ngl he's probably my least favorite if only bc it is really hard to decipher what's he's saying at any given moment. I find the way how he gets affected by his "blood cravings" the worst out of all of his brothers, and the fear he has for Carnelian interesting but there isn't a lot of bite on otherwise? Even his obsession with disinfectant feels like it's missing context so until we get more info on him I can't really say much.

Toxin: What if "Sold to 1Direction" went terribly wrong? Or right if you're into that thing. Despite him not being my favorite, I want to spin him around and study him like a bug. I guess off all the boys I consider him to be the most unsettling, simply bc I do think pop stars similar to him like...exist lol. The way he craves perfection and flies off the handle into destructive rage is both unnerving and I feel like creates a nice mesh between his "princely" persona (also contrasting with his twin brother, who is spicy on the outside but mostly sweet on the inside, while Toxin is the reverse). My only question is that how did take the moment of him basically dragging the mc on stage and assaulting her for like...his fans to become aware? Not that they wouldn't defend him (ppl like that exist), but that there aren't even rumors that his guy has anger issues lol. I also find it interesting how he's the main guy pushing Carnelians' goal forward while Yoru is on the more hesitant side. I do wish we saw these two play off of each other more tho bc I feel like there could be some good content in showing how they became so different. So I will be watching him closely as more content comes out.

Yoru: Best boy! Baby! He cooks, he (begrudging) plays piano, he seems to be the mostly sane member of the group and swears like a sailor! What more could you ask for? I find it funny how, despite him being the "bad boy" of the group, he's actually the kindest to the point where he's the only one who doesn't kill/torture you in his bad ending cd (partially bc the mc kills him but ssssshhhh). Even tho he still sucks our blood and namecalls the mc, he feels almost out of place bc of how less violent he is compared to the rest of the DL universe. He also seems to be the only one curious as to why Carnelian wants the MC, and his distrust of Carnelian, and the fact that he might have been taught by Elias I feel like gives him a lot of plot threads for juicy drama if they like...ever give Carnelian Blood a game (pleasepleasepleaseplease-)

Neight/Ura: I think he's (they're?) like my second favorite. Honestly I really buy into the theory that Ura might be the sixth boy on that island, and the way he described having to see his own dead body makes me sympathize with him. I'm honestly fairly happy that Neight gets to be the "leader" of the group, even if he doesn't get to that show that (or his smarts) often. Honestly the dynamic between Neight and Ura left me with a lot of questions. For starts, does like...their school know that he has a split personality? Ura never seems interested in like, even remotely pretending to be Neight, and Neight falls asleep often (honestly the CDs struggle to balance these two. Even in their solo cd it did not feel like these two got to have as much back and forth as I would have liked, and the group cds did "Neight falls asleep fairly early in and then we spend the rest of the cd with Ura" way too often that it never feels like we spend enough time with Neight) in random places yet it doesn't even cause that much of an issue? Like maybe seeing Neight have to struggle to clean up Ura's messes and Ura feeling limited by Neight's responsibilities I feel like could have added to their attempts to kill one another. Also Ura at one point says that he doesn't want to perform, nor help the rest of Erosion but that also like...doesn't go anywhere? Like I just feel like they could do more with two being forced to coexist.

I'd like to ramble about Carnelian and his plans as well as comparing him to Karlheinz but I think I'm gonna wait for a bit more of his plan to come to light. I do wanna say that I wish his daughters lived if only bc it would be nice to have more non-evil/dead female side characters.

Anyway those are my thoughts and everyone is feel to add to them or ask questions! I really hope they get a game bc I feel like they really have a content that'll benefit from the change in medium. I heard that there are more cds coming out too so I'm excited for that!

[xiaojaan]

would anyone be interested in buying cbse psychology class 12 handwritten notes?

[yandere-paramour]

Oh....ohhh my baby 😭 your jamie & lil atalanta art is SOOOOO CUTEE 🥺🥺🥹 But it got me thinking......typically I can totally imagine in her case as a wealthy only child who grew up with parents who love her, her growth would be documented A LOT (or maybe just a normal amount?)

But what's the case for vivien & noelle? 🥺 I assume with their environment growing up they won't have as much childhood pictures as atalanta? Oh nooo now the thought makes me so saddd 😭 I have many pics of lil me that my mom took (and I begrudgingly pose cutely for every single one) and I love showing it off to people now whenever I find one (thanks mom)

I know the yans would love any pics of me but ngl if I show them MY childhood pics I'd bound to get curious and ask about theirs in return

You're right. Atalanta's childhood was very carefully documented. There are THOUSANDS of photos of her growing up, you can honestly put them side by side and see a linear progression of her evolution to adulthood. There are pictures of her being born, her preschool field trips, her kindergarten graduation, her sports games and debate tournaments, all going up until she was dropped off at college, and there's more continuing from there. Both parents have a rotating slideshow on a digital touchscreen photo shuffle in their respective studies and they would love to show you. It embarrasses Ata to no end.

And yes, she learned very young to always look adorable and perfect for the camera even if you feel like throttling someone. The Montclairs have a reputation to uphold, after all.

Childhood pictures of Noelle are few and far between, but she and Odette made out better than the younger girls Thérèse, Celeste, and Blanche (Noelle's little sisters reveal!!!). Her mother was too busy working a dead-end job and sucking and fucking to take pictures of the kids, but they do have a few baby and toddler pictures each, often with one or two sisters nearby, and a range of school pictures every year. Noelle doesn't like them much. All her childhood was spent as a skinny, bruised little brat with a choppy, uneven haircut and stained, ill-fitting hand-me-downs with holes in them from the clothing drive. Noelle never had anything new until college, and she doesn't like being made to be reminded of her shitty childhood. She does take pictures of the younger sisters now, but they're teenagers and hate it, but Noelle knows they will want actual good reminders of their childhood when they're older.

Vivien has some childhood pictures, but they're sporadic or lost to time. When he was very small, there were always "well-meaning" foster families wanting such a cute kid, and they would take him to fun places like the zoo or children's museum and take pictures of him. But they would inevitably get tired of his hyperactive and distractible behavior and they would get rid of him, sending him to the next family without any thought for his emotions or by sending on his pictures. Only a few families went far enough to develop the photos and give them to him. When he was older and had a somewhat worse reputation due to being taken in and returned so many times, he lived in a group home where no one takes pictures of you unless it's a mugshot.

However, he has tons of baby and toddler photos taken by his parents before they died. He was their first and only child and they adored him.

(Drawn by @sienna-brulee)

[dreamyyesenia]

The Joy of Life - Teenage Things

Finn Wilder was in his senior year at high school now. He was a very good student but he also made sure to have fun and attend activities with his friends. Finn also played in the football team and had already progressed to level 2. Ever since he had met Bria, Briar's best friend (I didn't choose the name lol), as kids, he had had the biggest crush on her. After years of being friends and silently observing her flirt with others from afar, Finn decided it was time to show some courage and just ask her out. Bria was surprised as Finn presented his proposal sign to her, which he had spent all week preparing. To Finn's delight, she said YES.

Briar was 2 years younger than Finn but she already had her future planned out perfectly. She wanted to become the best chef ever to exist and own a prestigious restaurant in Del Sol Valley. So, most of the meals the Boyer family ate at home were prepared by her - with Rosemary's help of course. Briar Rose hadn't met anyone she was interested in romantically. She had asked her best friend Aden out to prom, not because she was in love with him but because she knew he had a crush on her and frankly, Briar didn't fancy anyone. The only sim she had found remotely attractive was a rather mean sim, Frankie L'amour Perdue. That didn't bother Briar too much though. Frankie was being his honest self. And he admired her, a lot. And Briar craved attention more than anything else.

Read more ⬇️

All in all, teen years were (seemingly) going perfectly for the teens.

Still, Finn was far from being happy. He had been a toddler when his parents had first split and he had been a child when they had decided to give their relationship another chance when Rosemary got pregnant with Briar Rose. Thus, his parents relationship problems, thought they were nothing new to him, frustrated him a lot. Maybe it was the reason he had waited so long to ask Bria out. His parents had always told them they were soulmates and "the one" for each other - so why weren't they able to work through their issues together? It left Finn feeling jaded sometimes.

Briar was coping the best with their parents struggles out of all of Rosemary’s children. Cooking was therapeutic to Briar. To her, it was like painting and she kept dreaming about new ways to combine flavours and make dishes look aesthetically pleasing. Whenever she felt sad or angry or any other unwanted emotions, she fled into the world of spices, flavors, recipes. Creating new recipes and perfecting her cooking skills had become her safe space.

-

Note:

Briar Rose is going to be tough cookie because she literally finds everyone to be "Unattractive" or "Very Unattractive". Frankie (the sim she is embracing) is at least "Attractive" but ngl I had been shipping her with Aden (second picture)... Anyways Finn and Bria are being the cutest lovebirds ever though, I'm loving every second of playing with them!

[blushblushbear]

The kitsunes on their wedding day?

Alright, let's put a ring on these boys!

Aki:

Nervous

Excited!

Nervecited!

vibrating with happiness

thinks about sneaking a peak at his spouse to be but doesn't cause no no he wants the surprise

that perfect moment when he sees them walk down the aisle toward him <3

does not care about the ceremony (in fact I think members of his clan care more that he does)

Only cares that today is the day you're his forever

and he'll be yours <3

VERY emotional

cries during your vows

actually tears up as you were walking down the aisle towards him but now that you're further into the ceremony he's all water works

he's just so happy

ngl bonus points if you end up running toward him at the alter

he will catch you in a spin hug

you've actually never seen Aki look so sincere and serious

but he is EXTREMELY serious about you

about your union

he truly believes himself to be the luckiest kitsune alive

holds your hands tight as you finalize the union

cups your face and pulls you into the deepest kiss

his darling bunny <3

more crying during the after wedding speeches

also LOTS of dating with his new spouse

THE MOST OVER JOYED

Haru:

NERVOUS NERVOUS NERVOUS NERVOUS NERVOUS

oh and did I mention

NERVOUS!!!

this is a big commitment for him

and he's sure about it but also HAHA WOW this is gonna be forever huh??

at least he hopes it's forever

oh gods

might actually need you to talk to him through the door

ngl the moment he hears your voice he's more sure about this then he's even been of anything

but nerves are still nerves and your voice is so soothing to him so keep talking

is so tempted to fling open that door, kiss you and run away with you right now but he restrains himself cause all these people are here he can't disappoint

(also you guys spent a lot for this venue, jeez weddings are expensive)

so he promises he'll be there waiting for you at the alter

he doesn't mean to ask this, it just sort of jumped out from deep within him, but he does ask

"and you'll be there too, right?"

he sounds so

scared???

terrified...

but he feels more certain when you tell him

'As if anyone could keep me away'

another teary eyed boy as he watches you walk toward him at the alter

he tries really hard to hide it but oh hell who's he fooling

his vows are simple but extremely heart felt

and he can't stop staring into your eyes as he says them to you

actually, from that point on, he kind of can't stop staring

his eyes are following you for the rest of the evening

giving you this adoring lovestruck look all time

he deeps you when he kisses you at the alter

and at the reception he does do that garter thing (even if you're a dude in a full suit, he'll have you wear a garter just so he can reach up there and take it off) (((....might not throw it into the crowd though.... might keep it.... he earned that fair and square lmao)))

loads of dancing and drinking follows

also lots of him holding you, kissing you, watching you

just so enraptured that you're actually his

he feels undyingly lucky

he's also very excited for a very long honeymoon with you

Fuyu:

Fuyu taking a mate before the whole of his clan (and also many members of the other clans) tries his best to remain the very picture of dignified on this, his special day of union to his beloved

the key word here is tries though

and it's true, before you join the crowd at the ceremony, he was actually a statuesque figure of refined stoicism

but the moment his eyes fall on you

he melts

he softens

he begins to radiate a warmth that only comes with the deepest love and adoration

before the ceremony he was nervous, he'll admit it

worried he would not make a suitable enough husband for a boundlessly graceful creature such as yourself

that his stiff demeanor and occasionally cold bits of habit would prove inhospitable to a marital bond

that he would, over time, come to be too old fashioned, too stoic, too set in his ways to make for the kind of loving partner he fully believe you deserved, and that he so desperately wanted to be

but he was certain there would be no love as grand as this for him again, and you had vowed that you would accept his hand in marriage

so he resigned himself to accepting this most blissful fate with the utmost gratitude

and not sully this day with so called 'cold feet' or any sort of doubts to that nature

but he was definitely still nervous while getting dressed

however the moment he saw you enter the room, glowing with a majesty of his spouse to be, and walking towards him down the aisle

the only thing he was able to feel was a well of love as he fell for you all over again in that moment

he actually predicted that he would probably be falling for you over and over again for the rest of your lives

his vows are grandiose and exciting

and full of the utmost sincerity

and as he listens to your vows, his eyes begin to well up

and when you cup his face in your hands and pull him in for your first wedded kiss, he swooned so hard he thought his knees were going to give way

he's another one who rarely takes his eyes off you the whole rest of the evening

he listens to the toasts but his eyes are locked on you

your first dance together as a married couple is one he'll never forget

and though he doesn't loosen up as much as the other kistune, he does still imbibe with his spouse and toast to a long happy life together

also he dances a bit like a dork after a few drinks and it's adorable

[tobbesdiscordkitten]

when was this i love recorded if he was whispering that he loves stephanie? and i don’t understand how could he love her when all she did was use him

Hi, anon.

I apologize for the late response, the holidays have been very busy over here, and I haven’t had much time to draft my responses 😩 As for the other anons who are still waiting for an answer from me, or a request to be fulfilled by me, I will get to them soon! I haven’t forgotten lol.

To answer your question, Chinese Democracy began recording in early 1998, and the sessions weren’t finished until 1999. This means, around that time, Axl must’ve removed the “Stephanie, I love you” outro from This I Love. However, he might’ve discarded it much later in the process since he was still working on the album until 2008.

The history behind This I Love is quite interesting. It is the oldest song off Chinese Democracy and it’s the only GNR song to be written in France. This I Love is known as a “post-illusion song” and was written in 1993, towards the end of the Illusion tours, when Axl was in Paris. This is also the same year in which Stephanie broke up with Axl in February.

The song transpired because Stephanie was cheating on Axl with Warren Beatty while he was touring overseas in 1992. During this time, she probably cheated on him with Charlie Sheen by going to his cocaine-infused parties.

In the book, Watch You Bleed: The Saga of Guns N' Roses, by Stephen Davis, he explains that “[Axl] hadn't slept in three days, and was unable to turn off his stage adrenaline to relax. Axl spent hours on the phone with Stephanie Seymour, and became agitated because she had reported that Warren Beatty had been calling her.”

In reality, she was dating Beatty and was sugar-coating the news to Axl, yet he suspected her ulterior motives. Why would Stephanie do this? Didn’t she love Axl?? My theory is she didn’t love him as much as he loved her. She might’ve had an infatuation with him at one point but, overtime, it sizzled away, and she became attracted to other men, solely because of their net worth.

Another theory I have is, after their breakup, Axl waited a full year before suing Stephanie because he was waiting for her to come back to him IF her relationship with Peter Brant failed. If she did come back to him within that year, he would’ve invited her into his life again, ultimately giving her another chance. But she never did.

In fact, when she was settling the case between Axl, Stephanie was 6 months pregnant at the time with Brant’s child. I find this skeptical because Axl always wanted to have his own kids. It doesn’t make any sense why she never got pregnant by Axl, but she did by Brant upon meeting him in February of ‘93. Something tells me that she did get pregnant with Axl’s child but she performed an abortion because…Well, she knew he wanted to have a family and, since she’s a bitch, she would do such a thing to him. But that’s another theory of mine! I don’t mean to stir the pot or create unnecessary drama about this topic 😅 Some people even speculated Stephanie was pregnant with Axl’s child, not Brant’s. I dunno…It’s just very interesting to think about.

Axl wrote This I Love because it was a way for him to cope with the loss and it was “a great healing experience to compose something you have no real idea you’re capable of.”

Furthermore, Axl devoted the songs to Stephanie’s son, Dylan, so he could find out the truth about their relationship instead of believing the lies from Stephanie. I’m not sure if Stephanie told Dylan about Axl, or if he heard Chinese Democracy, but it’s always best to take precautions IN CASE these things DO happen. Ngl it was a smart move on Axl’s part.

One frequent visitor to the GNR studio mentioned that "when Stephanie Seymour's birthday [July 23rd] came around, Axl seemed to shut down for weeks. A lot of this record is about Stephanie: She was his perfect woman, at least his image of what she should be.” I’ll never understand why Axl thought Stephanie was perfect, but maybe he saw something special in her that’ll we’ll never fully grasp, simply because we weren’t in that relationship to discover it. We can’t deny she had a huge impact on him, though.

Another detail I’d like to note is Axl never blamed Stephanie for cheating on him. He always blamed the men, like Warren Beatty, for corrupting her. For instance, in 1993, Axl dedicated the song Double Talkin’ Jive to Beatty and bashed him on stage, using words, to a large crowd at one of his concerts. This tells me that Stephanie meant everything to Axl and was the “perfect” partner he was looking for in his life, compared to Erin.

[oklotea]

MY FAVORITE TINTIN SIDE CHARACTERS

ARRGRGWHDHEH I'M VERY VERY PROUD OF THIS I'M NGL!!!!!!! I LOVE THE WAY I COLORED THE CHARACTERS, I LOVE THE POSES I DREW THEM IN, I MADE SOME DECENT COMPOSITION IN THIS ONE!!!! HATE THE EDITING I DID I FUCKING SUCK AT EDITING

Anyway, I'm going to ramble about these guys and you can't leave until I'm done ok? Ok.

First of all, MY BOY MY SON MY PERSONAL LITTLE DEMON, ABDULLAH!!!!!!! he is very endearing to me!!! But I really do wish we could've seen more of him!!!! He looks mischievous enough to sneak on adventures along with the marlinspike crew himself for shits and giggles!!!!! HIM AND HIS DAD'S DYNAMIC IN LAND OF BLACK GOLD IS MY FAVORITE IT MAKES ME SO GIDDY AND HAPPY. like no matter how obnoxious and annoying Abdullah's pranks can become, his dad will forever love him unconditionally. MY FAVORITE DYNAMIC. I MISS THEM SO MUCH.

A little note, even though a lot of poc representation in tintin is pretty influenced by the stereotypes of the time, and a bit of orientalism, tintin and the land of black gold is also the first time in my childhood where the words "assalamualaikum" Was muttered in any piece of animated media. It definitely wasn't perfect, but that was important to me as a Muslim child. Maybe that's why Abdullah and his dad hold a special place in my heart!

Next up we've got ARREGEHFHFHHGHJ!!!!!!! CHANG!!!!!!! MY FRIEND FROM SCHOOL WHO HELPED END A CRIME RING IN SHANGHAI!!!!!!! I adore him and his personality so much!!!! HE WAS ONE OF MY FAVORITE CHARACTERS AS A KID AND HE STILL IS TODAY WHEN I REWATCH BLUE LOTUS!!!!!!!! The way that the moment he was saved by Tintin in that flood he pledged his undying loyalty to Tintin will never not be sweet to me. HE IS SO TALENTED AND CUNNING, HE SAVED TINTIN FROM CERTAIN DOOM MULTIPLE TIMES IN THE LITTLE TIME THEY'VE SPENT TOGETHER, AND IN TINTIN IN TIBET, TINTIN SAVES HIM ONCE AGAIN (Tintin in tibet is also a very memorable and special episode for me) AND JUST-- ARGEHDBEHF I CAN CONTINUE ON AND ON ABOUT HOW CHANG SHOULDVE BEEN INCLUDED IN MORE ADVENTURES!!!!! actually Tintin has TONS OF CHARACTERS who should have been given more important roles in a lot of different stories!!!! Idk maybe that's just a wish that will never be fulfilled.... Still I can dream!

And last but DEFINITELY not least... THE MILANESE NIGHTINGALE HERSELF, BIANCA CASTAFIORE!!!!!!!!!!!! AGHHDHEHFHJDHV MY GORGEOUS MY BEAUTIFUL MY LOVE MY EVERYTHING I MISS HER SO MUCH

SHE WAS A HIGHLIGHT FOR ME!!!!!! AND SHE IS VERY UNDERRATED!!!! I love seeing how much she treasures her friends, how she's so dramatic about everything, how she has such an unapologetically loud and large presence and personality everywhere she goes, how she is genuinely passionate about her singing and her art, how she clearly knows her worth and won't settle for less from anyone.

Every time she was on screen she always made me feel very happy and warm inside, also I really like her voice!!!!!

AND HER DESIGN!!!!! ARRRGHWHFHH HER DESIGN!!!

I'm ngl, she was the hardest for me to draw. But at the end I'm quite satisfied with the results!!!!

She would be such an amazing friend. SHE'S ALWAYS BRINGING GIFTS AND BEING CONSIDERATE WITH HER FRIENDS, AND SHE WOULD NEVER HIDE JUST HOW MUCH PEOPLE MEAN TO HER

PLEEEEASEEEE CASTAFIORE I MISS YOU SO MUCH GIRLFRIEND COME BACK TO ME-

Anyway, the last picture is how I'd imagine Chang and Castafiore's first meeting would go. She as always, acts as sweet and polite and extra af as she always does, let's Chang know that Tintin's talked a lot about him! And then she would bring out some biscuits and pastries she bought as a gift for everyone, and then she and Chang would sit together while eating, and they get along really well, CHANG HAS A WICKED SENSE OF HUMOR THAT CASTAFIORE CAN'T GET ENOUGH OF, (haddock would be completely dumbfounded with how good at talking to Castafiore Chang is, and how anyone could talk to her for so long) but little did haddock know, in their conversations, Castafiore does a whole lot more listening than speaking, especially when Chang starts to tell his back story, and all the things that have happened to him and Tintin. After Chang ends his story, he looks up at her after a while of being lost in his story, and mascara is dripping down her face silently, her mouth is agape, and for a few moments couldn't say anything.

Suddenly she burst out loud, pulled Chang into a hug, and sobs after listening to the horrors this sweet kid has gone through.

In over a few hours she seems to have grown a strong attachment to this kid, she'll probably send a package filled with gifts a few months later, along with a long letter talking about what she's been up to and her wishes that Chang will succeed with anything he's currently busy with, and that he shall take care of himself well.

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the small character appreciation I was able to share for some obscure/underrated characters! And that they will occupy your mind just for a little while. I love these three so much, tintin shaped me as a person, tintin made my childhood, I hope you have a great day.

Click for better quality!!!!!!

[sadlynotthevoid]

Ngl, the Ark of Miracle Nikki sounds like the perfect way to get characters transmigrate from a world to other.

I mean, imagine most people from TBOAH getting suddenly teleported into a massive (techno? magic? fashion inspiration fueled?) flying ship, which can travel through the space-time, because "your world is doomed because of an asshole. We're so sorry. Please feel free to use the facilities and rest until we arrive to your new home".

Besides, I would really like to have og!Cale befriend Aeon and Marina. They would get along, specially having in count that "new world" means their nobility is nothing. He wouldn't need to hide himself and they aren't from his world, so no precoinceived ideas.

Besides, Marina is a kid. Og!Cale would look at this cheerful lively kid and wouldn't be able to hold back his big brother instincts. "She's a lot like Lily when she was a toddler", he probably would think. (Because, yes, I headcanon that og!Cale spent a lot of time with Lily when no one was around and she was still "too young to remember". Lily isn't sure whether she dreamed it all or not)

And imagine Aeon introducing modern music to og!Cale. Og!Cale, who may had learned music when he was a kid (classic noble kid activity), liking many of these various styles of music, all so different from the elegant ones the noble likes and the vivid ones he heard at the streets and bars. Then Marina telling him that Aeon also writes songs, but warning him not to listen them in a way too serious tone (she's such a gremlin).

And between all that you still have the tboah characters aclimatizing to the idea of a new world, fixing relationships, and planning what to do now that their status mean shit (poor royal family. Ha.)

Just a transmigration story where the characters have time to talk with their family and adjust before being send to other world.

Maybe the world they're going to is the Soo's Earth. One that is on its way to recovery, but has way less population than before.

[crackshct]

Aeragan-Epharshel Notes

Just a collection of canon facts and my own preliminary notes to expand on them. Boothill doesn't bring up his past to strangers very often, so I don't think any of this will come in threads too often, but when it comes to worldbuilding, I just can't help myself.

General Ecosystem

Aeragan-Epharshel seems to be both the name of the planet and the name of the continent that Boothill grew up on. For all its cultural diversity in planets and star systems, HSR does tend to present each planet/star system as culturally homogenous so usually whatever city we get to see is reflective of the planet as a whole.

There are at least two seasons: cold, snowy winter, and uh... not winter. Boothill was found/presumably born in winter. The season(s) outside of winter sound mild enough to cater to a life spent outdoors.

Aeragan-Epharshel is mostly grasslands, but there's a notable presence of forests, at least where Boothill grew up. Ranching seemed to have been his family's primary occupation, although hunting was also important, and he helped out around the farm with his siblings all throughout his child and teenage years. This area, or at least Boothill's memory of it, was idyllic and peaceful, and there was no (recalled) hardship. His family had everything they could possibly want or need. Nick (Boothill's father) had called it the perfect world, and Boothill adopted that view as well.

There's also a desert wasteland, depicted as being dangerous and chaotic, where Boothill had eventually gone off to "become a cowboy" (more on that later, because HSR's use of the word is really funny ngl). This area had towns and merchants, so it's likely that there were natural resources (minerals, oil, etc.) that drew people in to try to survive in this otherwise inhospitable place.

Cultural Overview

There isn't a lot about the culture of Aeragan-Epharshel in canon yet. A tribe system is mentioned, but the size and structure remains unknown for now.

What we do know is that guns were highly important. Boothill's original name means Loaded Gun in the Aeragan-Epharshel language, and this was considered to be a beautiful name. Learning to shoot a gun also seemed to be something like a rite of passage, and marksmanship competitions were prevalent. Boothill had earned a number of honors for his skill and courage with a gun in his teenage years.

Horseback riding was also important, namely for work and battle.

Eagles and eagle feathers were important icons, if Boothill's design is anything to go by. He has a pair of eagle feathers in his hat, and paired with the number of times he's gotten visibly upset in canon over losing his hat, it's clear that this is extremely important to him. These are likely some symbol of his bravery and accomplishments on Aeragan-Epharshel.

Also cowboy culture...

Cowboy Culture

Not unique to Aeragan-Epharshel. Cowboys are mentioned in Penacony's ancient history and also on the planet of Talia. However, HSR seems to use this term - not for people who herd cattle and work on ranches - but for free-roaming, rowdy, unrestrained individuals often on some quest for revenge and are otherwise homeless. Really funny. Boothill was more a cowboy before he "became a cowboy," as described in his character stories:

Since becoming a cowboy, he mastered every skill there was to hunting. They charged through the sandy wastelands fighting bandits, making deals with merchants, and battling for places to survive with the beasts of the wilderness. He had narrowly escaped death, tasted the flavor of taking revenge on a rival gang, seen friends lose their lives in the flight of a bullet and seen families fall apart in mere moments... He lost many, yet gained a lot as well. In the end, his courage earned him status and respect.

Adding to that, Cloda - an NPC in Dreamflux Reef - has the "Interstellar Cowgirl" epithet under her name. When she talks about being a cowgirl, she says "I am a cowgirl who roams the universe as I please! I won't let anything stop me!" and also "Of course I'll have a happy journey. We cowgirls always find the style of life that suits us best!"

There's also this Dreampeek Call exchange between a young Boothill, Nick, and Graey:

Graey: The steamed veg is ready. Try it while it's hot. Nick? You telling Boothill those cowboy tales again? Boothill: I don't get it. Why leave ya hometown just to find that gang who robbed them and take revenge? There's food 'n' drink, and family'n' friends here. To throw all that away and pursue someone who might not even exist, is it worth it? Nick: Haha, of course you don't get it. There ain't no reason needed for vengeance. Only baddies need reasons.

So. Nothing to do with cows.

This is very much more the romanticized stereotype from Hollywood Westerns, and where we get all the lone ranger desert imagery in Boothill's ult. None of this is actually indicative of his life on the farm in Aeragan-Epharshel, but where his teenage and young adult life eventually led him. "Cowboy" might as well just mean "nomadic gunslinger" or "guy who does whatever the hell he wants."

IPC Colonization

From what we know, the IPC just Showed Up one day and decided "hey we're going to drill here." They offered some laughable price to buy the land, but otherwise ignored all protests from the locals and kicked them out by military force when the locals tried to rise up and fight back. Hm. Sounds familiar.

Boothill was among those who tried to fight, but not even the best gunslingers could make a dent in the IPC's forces. Many of his friends died, and he overheard the head of the endeavor - Oswaldo Schneider - say this about his homeland:

"As these savage and uncivilized cowboys are unwilling to cooperate with the Marketing Development Department, we have no choice but to assume administration of this world on their behalf. We are running out of time. You are permitted to use military force and bring civilization to this world."

Hm. Sounds familiar (x2).

Anyway, after a bloody and devastating clash, the IPC razed pretty much all of Aeragan-Epharshel. Boothill's parents, his daughter, and all of his siblings were killed. His land and his family's farm was destroyed. The survivors, mostly the elderly and the young, were pressured into reservations that have continuously been reduced in size ever since. In intergalactic history, the destruction of Aeragan-Epharshel's local population is said to have been due to some "unknown disaster."

By Boothill's account, the Aeragan-Epharshel that he knew and loved is long gone, even if the planet and some of his tribesmen still exist. We don't know the extent of the IPC's development of the planet, which has only been ongoing for about ~20 years at this point, but we do know that the ore being mined is used for powerful weapons.

Boothill's escape from Aeragan-Epharshel is unclear, but he was, at some point, captured by the IPC and extensively tortured. Since his life ever since has been spent dodging and fighting back against the IPC across the galaxy, I don't think it's too farfetched to imagine that his capture was sometime during Aeragan-Epharshel's subjugation. His life as an outlaw and wanted criminal began afterwards, and eventually led him to replacing his entire body with cybernetic parts.

TBD

I'm perfectly content with HSR not adding further details about Aeragan-Epharshel in canon, but I'll be updating this post with more information and thoughts over time.

[nyarlathotep-thecrawlingchaos]

Hhiiiii I hope you're doing well 🥺 I had a pretty depressing day at work so I was really happy to see the fluffy alphabet requests.

Could I get I,K, and M with Zoro please? Thank you!! And take care!! 💕💕

I know depressing days are the worst, at work or otherwise, so ngl I kinda jumped on top of this the second you sent it.

I hope this helps even a little.

And thank you for the request!! 💕

Fluffy Alphabet Masterlist here

I is for I Love You (Who says it first, how long does it take, how does it happen?)

“You—? Oh. Oh. I…I love you too.”

You’re probably going to have to say it first. Not because he doesn’t love you, but because love is still sort of a foreign concept for him.

Love is difficult for Zoro to really grasp. He’s been alone for the vast majority of his life. He really only had one friend prior to joining the Strawhat crew. Seriously, it's a foreign concept.

He knows that you make his heart beat a little faster any time he sees you, that he feels as weightless as if the entire world has been lifted from his shoulders when you kiss him—and that he would protect you with his life without question. He really doesn’t wholly understand what any of that means, it’s not something he’s ever had to deal with before, but he likes it. He likes it a lot.

When you do draw up the resolve to say it, however long it takes, it all just sort of all falls into place for him—love, that’s what this is, right, that makes perfect sense.

Once the shock of realization wears off, he’ll say it right back without any hesitation, with a smile a mile wide and a deep kiss, pulling you to him by your waist.

And he’s not going to waste a single moment to say it again after the first time, just so he can hear you say it back.

K is for Kisses (What are their kisses like? Where do they like to kiss you/be kissed?)

“Ah—goddammit, come here—”

If you’re just cuddled up together and relaxing, then it’s slow and deep, one of his arms curled around you with his hand rubbing slowly up and down your back, his other hand brushing back through your hair.

If things are a little more heated, then he’ll have you pressed against the wall, hands grasping at your waist and your hips, your lips crushed together hard enough to leave them swollen and bruised.

Feeling your lips trail down throat to his chest while you’re lying across him drives him absolutely wild, and you can expect to be flipped onto your back and have him tugging at your clothes within seconds while he kisses every inch of your skin he can reach.

How he kisses you at any given time depends a great deal on the circumstances—but regardless, he’s been starved of affection for most of his life, physical or otherwise, so he cannot ever get enough of your lips.

M is for Morning (How are your mornings spent together?)

“Oh, come on, I got up first yesterday…”

You’ll almost always wake up first; Zoro’s a deep sleeper, and any excuse to sleep in is a good one as far as he’s concerned.

You also definitely won’t be getting up before he wakes up. Even fast asleep, he’ll have his arm curled around you, and any attempt on your part to rise will just result in him pulling you tighter against him. You’re basically his teddy bear, and you must accept your fate as such.

He’s not really much of a morning person and tends to wake up slowly. Don’t try to convince him to get up before he’s ready to or he’s bound to get grumpy about it.

It’s not really like you want to get up, anyway; there’s a certain serenity to lying there with his arm tucked under your neck while he stretches and rolls his shoulders, while he turns his head to press his lips lightly to yours or brush them against your temple, while you both just lie there as a tangle of limbs and jokingly bicker over who should get up first.

Every morning is a lazy morning.

[a-small-batch-of-dragons]

Emotional Distance

Ngl I feel like a lot of people sleep on the angst potential of Remus being the one to distance from Roman. Roman's discomfort from Janus saying "You know I love you"? His initial distrust of Virgil and trying to keep distance plus the jabs? His desire to not be like his brother? His people pleasing? All of it could be fed into based on that concept alone. It can be taken in so many hard angst or hurt/comfort directions. – ax3-e0ns

Read on Ao3

Warnings: roman has pretty severe abandonment issues

Pairings: none

Word Count: 3783

Once upon a time, in an Imagination far away, there lived Creativity. Creativity spent his days making anything he wanted. He made skies of sapphires and great stone castles. He made forests of magical trees and filled them with wonderful creatures. He filled the sky with diamonds and made stories that anyone could get lost in, because the happy endings would find them and everything would be right again. But stories do not stay the same, we do not always get our happy endings. And when Creativity rips itself apart, it seems as though there might never be a happy ending ever again. But Remus is back. And now Roman has to deal with seeing his brother after they've been Split.

 

Virgil didn’t think too much of it. Princey was going to be a jerk to him because he presented obstacles to Princey having everything he ever dreamed of—or what Thomas ever dreamed of. But that was his job, so he didn’t care. If pressed, he might actually admit he enjoyed the verbal sparring. Princey was fun to mess with and remind that he wasn’t actually the perfect prince he claimed to be. C’mon, the flaws in perfection are fun to mess with. And if Roman blew himself up and got all blustery and rude, well, that was just incentive to keep going.

Yeah, sure, some of Princey’s insults hurt more than others, but that was a risk that came with the job. They were making a habit of it, throwing sharp words back and forth, some of them were bound to hit eventually. Besides, Virgil always gave as good as he got and it wasn’t like the others would let Roman get away with it. He may or may not have been keeping a tally of how many times they made Roman apologize for something he said. And it wasn’t like Roman only aimed for the soft spots. He knew better.

So yeah, it wasn’t surprising to Virgil that Roman tried to keep him at a distance. That’s what they were supposed to do, wasn’t it?

2.

Patton gets it. He’s a lot! He can be overwhelming and enthusiastic and sometimes that’s not what people want. He’s all about making sure people are happy and if that means they need to take a break sometimes, that’s what they should do!

He’s just happy that Roman lets him know.

The two of them get along really well most of the time: they have their own inside jokes and they go on adventures in the Imagination together and they watch funny cat videos and they talk about the stories they want to read, it’s the best. They have great fun just messing around doing absolutely ridiculous arts and crafts projects that normally end up with both of them covered in glitter and their new things proudly displayed on the wall in Patton’s room. He always asks Roman if he wants them in his room instead, but Roman always says no.

“All my walls are covered with my stuff, I want you to have the stuff we made,” he says, “unless you really don’t want it…?”

But Patton always does, so he puts it up and Roman grins when he comes over and sees it.

But sometimes they need slow days. So they bake or just watch something and sometimes even that’s a bit too much. So Patton doesn’t mind when Roman says he’s too worn out to do something that afternoon after they went into the Imagination the day before and made cookies all afternoon the day before that. It’s the right thing to do, really, to help support Roman. After all, Roman’s always so good with making sure he feels better and gets him all cheered up, it’s the lease he can do to leave Roman be when he asks for it, right?

So no, Patton doesn’t think about it too much. Roman likes to be left alone sometimes, and that’s okay.

3.

Janus understands, he does, but that doesn’t mean he has to like it.

Roman was easy to manipulate. Roman always has been easy to manipulate. When Roman discovered just how much he’d been manipulated, it made sense that he would react…strongly. Insults, yes, pushing him to the outskirts of the conversations, yes, banishing himself away when Janus came around, yes, yes, all of that. And Janus would weather it with minimal complaint because it was fair. Completely justified? No, not really, but understandable.

He would be happier about it if it weren’t so obviously hurting Roman too.

Creativity is not something to be neglected. It needs an outlet, somewhere to express itself, somewhere it can be appreciated, even if it’s only internally. And Roman has more than his fair share of personal projects, things he never lets Thomas see, but he doesn’t let them see it either. And it seems like he goes out of his way to keep it like that.

Every time Patton asks him what he’s been up to: vague answer. Any time Logan asks him for a brain storm: only Thomas’s ideas. Even when Virgil lobs a painful softball about him being lazy or unproductive: volley back about Virgil being an expert or he just shoulders it without a response. And Janus can hear the lie of omission buzzing around Roman’s head but he can’t do a damn thing about it.

It’s not like Roman would ever open up to him. Not when it’s like pulling teeth to even get him to acknowledge that he’s upset about something more than just…surface level things.

So yes, Janus understands. He just hates that he does.

4.

Logan does not understand what is going on and he intends to get to the bottom of it.

Roman is isolating himself and intentionally keeping them all at a distance. There have been no long-lasting arguments that would result in such behavior, and any smaller disagreements have been settled to the best of everyone’s respective ability. He would not be amiss to ascribe a level of immaturity to Roman, but that seems an unlikely cause given Roman’s levelheadedness—and he did not ever think he would be attributing that characteristic to Roman—in other circumstances. So that means either it is something that Roman is not telling the rest of them about, or it is something else entirely.

He goes to Roman’s door after he opts out of movie night and knocks politely on the door. Roman comes to answer it in a plain T-shirt and shorts.

“Yes?”

“May I come in, please?”

Roman shifts but does not allow Logan entrance. “What did you need, Logan?”

Logan frowns. “You’ve been isolating yourself from us, why?”

Roman blinks, momentary surprise flickering over his features before it settles on a familiar half-smile. “Thought you’d be happy to not have to deal with me for a while, Specs. You miss me that much?”

“It’s not about whether I miss you, this pattern of behavior is alarming.”

“Are the others worried?”

“I would imagine they would be if they knew the extent to which you were—“

“So you didn’t ask them?”

“What?”

Roman sighs, running his hand through his hair. “Look, Logan, I’m not…’self-isolating,�� or whatever you want to call it. I’m just tired tonight and I don’t feel up to watching a movie with the rest of you. I’ll try and make it next week, okay?”

“That’s not—“ he catches the door when Roman tries to close it— “it’s more than just movie nights. You don’t talk to us about things that are bothering you, really bothering you, and you keep trying to brush us off when we ask about you or your projects.”

”Never thought you’d be the one anxious to hear about my work, especially when it falls outside of that 0.5%.”

“See? Like that.”

Roman shakes his head. “You should go back downstairs, Logan, they’re probably going to start the movie without you at this rate.”

“Now you’re not even trying to be subtle about it. You should—“

“Logan.”

The firmness of Roman’s voice startles him into silence. Roman gives him a look and gently yet firmly moves Logan’s hand off the door.

“I’d like to be left alone now,” he continues, jerking his head toward the stairs, “enjoy the movie.”

The door closes with a decisive click. Logan stares at it for a long moment before hanging his head and walking back downstairs.

”No luck?”

“No. He shut the door on me when I tried to push.”

Patton toys with the ears on his cat onesie. Virgil sinks a little more into his hoodie. Janus sighs.

“I don’t know what’s wrong.”

“Me neither.”

”I don’t know what else to do,” Logan says quietly as he takes a seat, “I don’t understand.”

“None of us do.”

5.

Then Remus appears.

He sends Thomas on a horror show roller coaster with a sinister music number and knocks Roman unconscious for nearly half an hour. For Janus and Virgil, it’s something they’d seen coming for a long time, for Patton and Logan, less so. Remus cackles and throws them all off guard every chance he gets, delighting in the mayhem he causes and everyone is left scrambling to pick up the pieces.

Everyone that is, except Roman.

The first time Roman sees Remus, he stops. Fully stops, staring at him, as Remus grins and keeps doing…whatever he’s doing with the inflatable dolphin. Eventually, he looks up and spots Roman and his grin widens.

“Ro-bro! Wanna help me out? I could really use a hand with the extra bamboo skewers.”

Patton quickly ducks behind Logan. Janus just sighs and Virgil mutters here we go.

Roman looks at him for a long pause.

“Remus,” he says eventually in a completely even voice, “you’re back.”

“Back and bloodier than ever!” A squib explodes on his chest as he spreads his arms. “Did you miss me?”

Something moves across Roman’s face too quick to name. He looks at the dolphin and then back at Remus. “Welcome back, I guess. Good luck with the skewers.”

And he turns and walks up the stairs.

They’ve never really described Roman as…cold before. And yet that’s exactly what it is. It’s not like with Logan, where he takes Remus’s creations apart with cold logic, or even that he ignores Remus altogether. No, it’s just…the briefest of acknowledgements, the weakest of yes-ands, the polite yet insistent removal of himself from whatever context Remus might be in.

It’s not what they expect from Roman. It’s exactly what they expect from Roman.

”He’s getting worse,” Patton mumbles when yet again Roman declines their invitation to dinner, “I don’t know what to do.”

“Is he still eating?” Virgil pushes his food around his plate. “I don’t see him eat anymore.”

”He’s eating, his box of snacks is still being emptied.”

“You check?”

“Of course I check, what do you take me for,” Janus scoffs, “an amateur?”

“We’re missing something.” Logan adjusts his glasses. “There’s something we haven’t taken into consideration.”

“Me.”

They all turn and look at Remus, eating his food on top of the fridge. Despite his comically contorted position, he looks oddly serious.

“I’m sure it’s not that,” Patton tries, “Roman missed you, he said so.”

“Yeah, he might’ve missed me, but it’s not like that makes up for anything.”

Logan frowns. “What do you mean, Remus?”

Remus sighs, setting his plate aside and getting down from the fridge, still strangely stoic. “I mean what happened when we were younger.”

“…what happened?”

+1.

Once upon a time, in an Imagination far away, there lived Creativity. Creativity spent his days making anything he wanted. He made skies of sapphires and great stone castles. He made forests of magical trees and filled them with wonderful creatures. He filled the sky with diamonds and made stories that anyone could get lost in, because the happy endings would find them and everything would be right again.

But as time went on, and the people got older, some of his ideas started to…change. Now he thought of deep caves filled with monsters, monsters that would kidnap people. The heroes would still rescue them, because they had to, but now they left with scars that didn’t heal quite right and memories that hurt to think about.

Creativity didn’t understand. He wanted to have fun with his work again, just make things that people would like—but what about what he thought of? Weren’t the dark ideas fun in their own way too?

No, because they hurt people—

—but those people aren’t real, so what does it matter?

Why did he want to hurt people?

Why did he hate the part of himself that kept coming up with these ideas?

He didn’t hate himself, he just wanted to be better—

—well, if he wanted to be better so badly, maybe it’d be better if he didn’t have these kinds of thoughts anymore.

Yes, that was it, he just wouldn’t have though thoughts—wait—wait, no, no, no!

Creativity Split and the Imagination howled in pain, a deep chasm forming between two sides: on one side stood the castle, the castle he had loved for years and years, and on the other rose a massive thing of oily black stone, a tower that stuck out like a sword hilt impaled in the earth. The forest grew black and twisted, monstrosities lurking around rickety hanging bridges. Creativity was no longer unified, no longer was control over the Imagination absolute.

The people of the Imagination found half of Creativity weeping on the floor of the castle, a bright sash of red the closest thing to blood it could manage. His tears ran gold over the white of his shirt, a new costume forming before their very eyes. He looked younger, stronger, more like the Prince they all expected him to be, except for his eyes.

A drawbridge shut that day for half of Creativity, and they never again saw it open.

Roman sighs as he opens his door and heads down the hall. Janus had been pestering him about a rematch for weeks and he’d just managed to get him to agree to a time. He picks up the well-worn deck of cards and starts down the stairs.

“I hope you’re ready,” he calls as he goes, “because I won’t be going easy on you this…time.”

He stops halfway down.

Janus is not the one sitting waiting in the living room. Instead, Remus looks up at him. His hands are folded in between his legs and he actually looks somber.

”Huh.” Roman glances at the cards and put them in his pocket. “So that’s what this was?”

“Yeah.”

“Janus doesn’t actually want that rematch, does he?”

“No, he does. I had to bribe him with a heat lamp with an extra long battery life to get him to help.”

“Mm. Is he in his room?”

“Yeah, I think so—wait,” he says quickly, standing up when Roman turns to go, “can we…talk?”

“You want to talk?”

“Yes, Ro, I want to talk.” Roman stops and just waits. “Can you—just come all the way down, for Beezlebub’s sake.”

Roman walks down the stairs and stands at the end, leaning against the banister with his arms crossed. Remus looks for a minute like he wants to protest before he sighs and walks over.

”I missed you.”

“I missed you too.”

“Did you?” Remus scoffs. “Because it seems like you want nothing to do with me.”

“I do miss you. I’m glad you’re back. It’s been hard without you.” Remus frowns. Roman inclines his head in the direction of the Imagination. “You know some of them still ask what happened?”

“You didn’t tell them?”

“I told them you wanted to follow your own path without me getting in the way.”

Remus suppresses a growl. “What else did you tell them?”

“To be careful going over the bridges if they went to go see you. I didn’t make you out to be the bad guy, Remus, I didn’t forbid any of them from seeing you. I never put up walls or a big sign that says don’t come back, or anything.”

“I know you didn’t.” Roman just nods and doesn’t say anything. Remus growls again and lightly shoves his shoulders. “Where are you? What’re you doing, aren’t you mad at me? Say something!”

“I mean, I’m not thrilled that you left without helping me fix that outer wall—“

“Then let’s go do it!”

Before Roman can say anything, Remus grabs his shoulder and sinks them into the Imagination. He shakes his head to get his bearings—it’s so much harder to sink right in as opposed to going through one of their doors—and sees Remus already hefting a giant block of stone.

“Well? Come on, we can do it together.”

Roman goes over and helps Remus lift the stone block into place. One by one, they repair the wall. Remus keeps trying to get him to talk. He doesn’t. They put the last one in and Remus stands back, panting with a beaming smile.

“There, how’s that?”

“Looks good. Thank you.”

Remus’s smile drops. “That’s it?”

“I mean, it’s not like we can extra fix the wall—“ he’s cut off when Remus shoves his shoulder. Hard.

“Stop it,” he snarls, stalking forward and shoving him again, “whatever you’re doing, whatever punishment this is supposed to be for me, it’s working, alright? You’ve made your point, you’ve punished me, I’m sorry, now stop it!”

“Stop what?”

”This!” Remus shoves him again. “This thing where you’re being all cold and stoic and emotionless and letting me shove you around!”

He does it with two hands this time, enough to make Roman stumble. Roman dodges out of the way of the next one and it just makes Remus angrier.

“I didn’t come back for this—this version of you, I want my brother back!”

“This is your brother!”

Roman grabs him and pins him against a different part of the crumbling wall. He’s panting now, not quite glaring at Remus, who must’ve gotten the wind knocked out of him. He takes a deep breath and lets it out as calmly as he can.

”You left,” he says, deliberately slowly, “you tore us apart because that’s what you wanted. You wanted out, you wanted to be away from me. Do you have any idea what that did to the rest of Creativity?”

Remus’s lower lip wobbles as he shakes his head.

“Creativity got sorted into you and what wasn’t you. It hurt, Remus. You have no idea how much it hurt.” He tightens his grip until his nails dig into Remus’s arms. “Because you ripped free but you were going somewhere. You…you left me there.”

“I didn’t know,” Remus manages, “I…I didn’t know.”

Roman scoffs before he can stop himself. “Of course you didn’t. How could you? You weren’t here.”

He lets go and pushes himself away, turning and walking a few paces. Behind him, he can hear Remus pulling himself together.

“But I’m back now,” he hears, and his fists clench, “I’m back, Ro. We can—ah!”

He reels back, covering his bloody nose with a hand. He looks up, panting.

“Okay, I deserve that.”

Roman punches him again.

“That too.”

He draws his leg back and aims right between—

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, not that, not that, maybe not that.”

Roman stops, breathing slightly heavier. Remus looks up at him, blood gushing from his nose. He turns his back again, taking a deep breath. The crumbling tower looms over them, its fractured shadow etching black lines into the ground. The grass rustles as Remus takes another step closer. Roman raises his chin.

“You left and it hurt me,” he says, trying to keep his voice even, “it still hurts. I won’t go through something like that again, Remus.”

“Is that why you won’t get close to the others?”

“I know better now.”

For a brief second, something wells up in his chest, strong enough to take his breath away and threaten tears at the corners of his eyes. He chokes it back and shoves it under his tongue.

“I think you should go now,” he says, choking a little, “thank you for fixing the wall.”

He only has the briefest of moments before he hears two quick steps and something throws itself at his back.

Warm warm warm solid real Remus safe brother hug hold keep stay Remus no don’t warm cold so cold so cold it hurts it hurts please stop oh god don’t let go—

“Go,” he chokes out, the force of the hug and the emotions running through him breaking his voice, “Remus, go, go, just leave, you need to leave, I can’t do this again, just go, just go—“

Remus doesn’t let go. He digs his heels in and locks his arms around Roman’s waist. He tucks his head against the space between Roman’s shoulder blades and holds on, even as Roman starts to pull and push at his arms.

“No, no, no, Remus, no,” he manages, sobs beginning to steal his voice too, “let go, let me go, you have to go, you have to leave, you have to…you have to, I can’t do this again, you can’t do this to me again, I can’t, I can’t—“

His knees buckle, sending him to the ground. Remus is on him the second he lands, wrapping his legs around him too like a koala, just clinging onto him for dear life. Roman tries to get away, tries to pry him off, tries to crawl, but the warmth and solid arms around him keep making his limbs turn to jelly. HE can’t catch his breath, not with the way Remus’s mustache keeps scratching against his ear because that’s his brother, his brother is back, his brother is hugging him, his brother won’t let him go, he won’t leave, he won’t leave again—

“I’m here,” Remus whispers as Roman starts to sob desperately, “I’m right here, Roro, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, I’m here now, I’m not leaving, I won’t leave, I promise.”

Roman thrashes, wiggling in Remus’s hold. “Let me—wanna hold you—let me—le’ me turn ‘round—“

Remus lets up just enough for Roman to turn and get his arms round his neck, clinging to him life a raft in a storm and sobbing to his shoulder. He hunches protectively over his brother and presses his cheek hard to the crown of Roman’s head.

“I’m here now,” he murmurs over and over, “I’m here, I’m not leaving, I’m here, I’m here.”

Gold tears mix with silver tears. Blood drips onto red and green sashes. White meets black in a fierce embrace as the setting sun turns the green grass red, red, red. The brothers stay there, wrapped around each other, as the Imagination shudders once more.

The tower stands, crumbling it may be, but it stands.

Happy endings will find them and everything will be alright again.

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[chrismcleaneatspants]

General season 2 opinions. MASSIVE TDI 2023 season 2 spoilers ahead (as well as a huge wall of text.) You've been warned.

Ok, so here's everything I like about the season (I can count them on my fingers)

-There were some funny jokes

-MKulia was entertaining and it's now in my top 5 favorite ships, but it's not perfect, as I'll explain later

-Hockey dudes were a joy to watch I suppose

-Bowie stole the show as usual

-There are a lot of neat challenges (The canoe, slide, and dog challenges was a particular stand outs to me)

-MK herself was really funny

-MacArthur's cameo was a surprise to be sure, but a welcome one, and she bounces off of Chris really well

-Duncney is still broken up lol

Honestly that's about it in terms of positives, cuz I have a million other negatives for this supposed sequel to (imo) the best written season of the show.

-The Relationships were the single worst aspect about this season full stop. Ripaxel and Praleb are probably the worst couples the show has ever subjected me to. For Ripaxel, they basically removed anything interesting Ripper had going on and Axel wasn't allowed to live up to any kind of hype she created because one lame ass poem turned her into Ripper's girlfriend for the remaining duration of her run, only for the both of them to be tossed aside in episode 7 in perhaps the worst double elimination in the entire show.

-Praleb started off ok. I thought it was gonna be a one-sided crush plot initially before Episode 6. They had a couple cute moments before episode 8, of which their screentime became suffocating because afterwards is was this painful back and forth where Caleb tried explaining himself and Priya would be mad at him, then ally with him, then be mad at him again like it was so tiresome. By the time they got together in the finale again, I was wishing they had just followed up on Pramien instead. Caleb by himself was funny in the first half of season 2 and Priya was great in season 1, but the two of them together were insufferable

-Speaking of Priya, she went from one of the best characters in season 1 to one of the worst in season 2. Why did she have to make it all the way to episode fucking 12 after winning season 1?? Just for some generic heterosexual romance? They also made her so dumb with shit like knowing Julia is manipulating her but then getting a surprise Pikachu face when Julia manipulated her??? You spent your entire life preparing for this show, how the fuck did you not see this coming???

-Segwayying into Julia, she's the worst antagonist full stop. I've never seen such an absolute downgrade of a character. She was a goat in season 1 who was aware of her situation and acted accordingly because the stakes were real. Here? Reality basically warps around her just to keep her in the game. She does things characters would never fall for in season 1 and they just go with it?? They insist on keeping her in the finale and do basically nothing interesting with her. She's not even as funny as Island Heather at the end of the day.

-I mentioned MKulia earlier, so I'll just get to it here: I like it in concept. Two evil sapphics causing chaos together is really fun. My main issue is that it was very sudden. They both were not fans of each other at the end of season 1 and now I'm supposed to just believe they became friends off screen? I mean, I guess, but it's kinda cheap. I would have really liked it if it was straight up enemies to lovers ngl. Also the fact MK had very little agency outside of being Julia's lackey doesn't help either. I want to point to the fake contract thing, for instance. Why did Julia do that? That sounds like an MK thing to do.

-Time to dive into other characters: Damien is an absolute fucking tragedy. At the end of season 1, Damien had one ambition: win next season. They kinda did that, sure, but they regressed Damien into being a complete coward to do so, not to mention he didn't even go all the way either. Damien didn't get a W until episode 6 and tbh that was his only W. By the end of his tenure, I was left confused on what the point of his run was. (I'll come back to this later.)

-What was the point of Nichelle? Like seriously, what did she contribute to the season at all? They didn't do the ironic underdog story with her, and considering she was getting all egotistical and aggressive, i thought she was gonna be the antagonist for sure...until Julia got rid of her in episode 5 in a way that really shouldn't make sense cuz like Nichelle is an actual celebrity that stars in blockbuster movies, I'm pretty sure she could sniff a fake contract a mile away, right?

-Hockey dudes were great, but I felt like they were very dumbed down at times? Like they were just generic dumb dudes that just meandered around a lot of the time (Wayne in particular just straight up floated away from a challenge at one point)

-Bowie was alright too. His line delivery is great as usual, but let's not kid ourselves: In a well written season, he'd be going straight for Julia the next time his team lost. Bowraj was nice to see even if the season didn't really do a whole lot with it

-Am I the only one who thinks this season is a tad bit misogynistic? Like this is the shortest them phase the show as ever had (to the point where i'd argue teams don't really matter) and 4 of the 5 team phase boots were girls. Millie and Emma in particular were really bad. Like, you could make Millie a team phase boot without like shitting on her that hard. And Emma got like fuck all closure outside of breaking up with Chase off screen like wow, way to utilize such a high potential character, Fresh. And this is saying nothing about how the girls that did make it to the merge had plots basically dominated by romance and like nothing else. And then there's MKulia which is apparently intended to be a friendship but like is written like a romantic one at times. It gives me all-stars gwourtney vibes and (as a fan of gwourtney myself) not in a good way. At least MK and Julia were somewhat in character I guess, but they had their edges really sanded off and honestly as a friendship (situationship?) it's a complete downgrade from Millie and Priya in so many ways

-And another thing: who's the protagonist this season? Outside of Praleb, who am I supposed to care for? Who am I supposed to root for? By the halfway mark, the show doesn't really make any convincing arguments to root for like anyone there outside of maybe Damien? And he went gone in episode 10, so like, hockey dudes? No one has an interesting enough narrative for me to care.

-The immunity idol stinks as usual. Like, why did Damien do THE SAME FUCKING THING HEATHER DID IN ALL-STARS?? That actually pissed me off so much holy shit. The immunity idol as it stands in the show is basically a shitty plot device made to keep characters in as there's no real strategy revolved around it.

-Oh and another minor thing: Owen's cameo sucks, and that's entirely due to him not being physically aged up at all and just being a vehicle for the same dumb jokes they always make with him. so stupid

-Anyways, I spend an entire season with two shitass straight relationships taking up screentime, a whole multiude of potential plotlines from last season (pramien) and this season (scary girl's revenge, millie being the new ripper, damien's comeback, julia having internal conflict over her friendship (feelings?) for MK) being set up and just nothing being done with them, and characters in general just being nerfed or borderline out of character (Ripper) and what am I rewarded with?

-Soar Losers. The most boring nothing finale in the entire show. The choices for finalists suck, Wayne, while being the least bad option for a winner (and i do still like him a lot), is still a mid ass winner in the grand scheme of the entire show. And more praleb drama? fuck off I hate them so much. The challenge did not feel finale worthy at all, and honestly it was the worst challenge in the whole season. On top of being a bunch of nothing, the show decides to bring back the worst trope it ever had: losing hair as karma. I almost ragequit the episode on the spot that shit makes me so irrationally mad. I think it's even worse here because Julia still had hair after the fact, which makes it seem like they were aware it's not a popular TD trope but wanted to half commit to it anyways for the sake of tradition or something. Terrible finale to an already decently sized letdown of a season, but it has some ok MKulia moments I guess. The finale was just emblematic of the entire season, where things just happen and you're just expected to go along with everything. (Also side note how come Chase wasn't the one to jump off of the cart for pizza immediately?)

TL;DR reboot season 2 imo was a step down in every conceivable way from season 1 apart of i guess comedy and it's left a very sour taste in my mouth. I'm probably missing a few points that I'll add onto later but man it feels nice putting my opinion out there.

[megumi-fm]

26th to 30th Apr; doa🚲 complete!!

hi. gah. okay. here's my wrap up for the month

📝 prepped for and completed the last set of internal tests for this degree [2/2] (which I got through after much cribbing and whining and quite literally projecting study topics onto my blorbos 👍 ) 📝 started GRE prep!

🎓 got some gradecard related paperwork done 🎓 spoke to my prof regarding my internship deliverables for uni—report format, certificate requirements, etc etc

📥 I voted! it was the first central elections since I turned to an adult and the whole experience was quite interesting

💻 completed a bunch of tasks for my internship

💻 made like a super extensive flowchart about all the work done at my internship which took me like a total of 20+ hours T-T 💻 finished preparing my Uni Internship presentation! 💻 submitted the presentation to the assistant guide, waiting on her response to make changes atm

🍶 7+ glasses of daily water intake 🎵 svt's new single is out and I've been going insane about it and thus this challenge comes to an end... I had started this off as an 18day daily habit tracker but then it kind of grew out into a challenge for the month. Special thanks to Yumi the loml <3 (@thelastneuron) for starting the Days of April challenge (Yumi idk when you'll see this but i miss you and I hope you've been kicking ass during your hiatus). also massive thanks to Zip (@zipstidbits) for leaving the kindest comments/tags on my post during the past week and to Tanishka (@booksbluegurl) who is literally the sweetest and has been sending in asks and keeping me company during this challenge <3

there's a lot more i wanna yap about in regards to how the month went but I'll leave that under the tags xD goodnight besties <3

month end brainrot

april started off with dips and more dips but by the end of the month it feels like I've caught up. productivity is a wave so as long as I keep riding at it i'll be okay.

also. progress is cumulative. even the seemingly inconsequential completion of daily tasks has lead to an overall improvement through the week. things add up

I spent a lot of time this month (and moreso this past week) feeling dejected that I've been leaving my tracker posts (and my digital planner entries) incomplete... but like. the whole point of trackers and planners (and this studyblr) is to get work done. work is the priority and the tracking is a means to an end. so if im getting work done that is already a win. yeah... i've had to keep reminding myself that

there is no one-tool-fix for tracking and journalling. what works for planning out one task will not work for the other. I need to strop trying to fit all my plans into one formulaic strategy box

on that note. it's time to return to handwritten journaling. digital journalling (notion + YPT + discord + tumblr) was fun while it lasted <3 but my brain needs novelty again so it's time i switch back. I think I finally have an idea for a system that could be sustainable for me... although I say that every time I switch to a new form of tracking. but hey. as long as it helps me get work done for whatever duration of time, it's good enough

using kpop and kdrama references to make notes and study really paid off. ngl I only did it cause I was super desperate but incorporating stuff I couldn't understand with a topic I really like paid off. It also gave me the motivation and momentum to study for much longer than I otherwise would have

last but not least. my water intake has been really good this month! I've also been eating healthy and I've been cooking more my phone usage has also been reduced by a lot. sure none of them have had a perfect streak but i started at zero and it feels like I've levelled up quite a bit. the exercise component has been a bit difficult to maintain given my workload :/ i need to figure out what to do about that...

yep. that's it for now. this month really tired me out, I think im gonna lay off daily challenges for a while. For now I guess I'll stick to my (bi?tri?)weekly tracker posts xD

[emma-is-swaggy-and-epic]

DISCLAIMER THAT THIS IS THE 3RD TIME I'M FUCKING UPLOADED THIS PIECE OF SHIT BECAUSE TUMBLR KEEPS FUCKING UP MY IMAGE LAYOUT WHENEVER I POST IT SO IF THIS SHIT DOES THAT AGAIN I'M NOT GONNA FUCKING FIX IT BECAUSE I DON'T WANT TO HAVE TO EMBED ALL THE LINKS TO THE BASES I USED AND WRITE DOWN ALL THE TAGS ALL OVER AGAIN

X / X / X / X / X / X

Ngl it was relatively easy to think of pony names for these characters since i've had the idea to make this for a while so i've had a lot of time to think about it lol

For yuriko: i chose the name "flawless lace" because in her regular form, i specifically chose the name "yuriko" for her because it means "perfect" so i wanted to try and include that aspect into her pony name. Some considered names for her were "perfect storm" and "lily lace" since the "yuri" part of her name means "lily" (though i decided against it bc i remembered that's the name of an actual pony in MLP...) the markings on her legs are meant to sorta mirror the stockings she wears in her usual form

For sprite: i chose the name "baby carrot" simply because that was a actual name i considered for her normal form before i decided on "sprite" (which is kinda funny since a big part of sprite's character is that she likes apples.....a food that is basically as different from carrots as it can get) she is a goat-alicorn hybrid because she's normally a deltarune OC, specifically a fankid of kris and ralsei; with the latter being a prince from the dark who is also a goat monster

For carrie: a big part of her backstory is that she named herself, she's literally a carrot that decided to be human one day (...or pony, in this case) and is trying to fit into civilsation as best she can; so i tried to give them a pony name that sorta fits that, and so i named them "carrot mulch" because i could totally imagine her trying to introduce themself to someone and doing that one trope in movies where the main character doesn't want to share their real name and just looks around the room for things to call themself lol. I also decided to make her a blank-flank since she probably hasn't spent that long a time as a pony and therefore wouldn't have a cutie mark despite appearing fully grown

For makeighlyn i feel like my choices are pretty straight forward, the character is a girls' flash game mascot created by a christian fundamentalist cult who somehow escaped into the real world and now works as a demon slayer so i decided to give her a name and cutie mark that reflects that. The only thing that i feel is worth mentioning is that i find it interest how the amount of pink in her design makes the blue in her hair look a lot darker...either that or i might've accidentally hue-shifted it or something

Choese is another pretty straightforward one, he's a flirty cheese-themed mouseboy so i gave him a heart-shaped cheese cutie mark and named him "gouda squeaks" because he's a fucking rodent. (Sidenote: i love smoked gouda so goddamn much omg)

Lastly for crystalline i decided to make her a breezie since she's normally a fairy and y'know....breezies are just the MLP equivalent to fairies....i also decided to name her "fee-fee breezie" since breezies usually have really cutesy names in the show (some of them straight up have references to their species in their names), the "fee-fee" part of her name is short for "feelings" since crystalline is an emotion fairy

Y'know when i first created crystalline back when i was like, 10 i was going through a phase where i just VIOLENTLY hated things for no reason (specifically things from MLP such as the vampire fruit bats, flurry heart and the manta hawk from the IDW comics) to the point that i would make them out of polymer clay JUST so i can make my pony toys kill them (i was a weird kid, needless to say) one of these things being the breezies....so ngl i feel like the fact that i made crystalline a breezie is really fucking ironic lol

[ac-liveblogs]

Love how we spent all that time on Wanderer and MiniDurin parallels and it turns out they're not even friendly enough for Wandy to accompany MiniDurin on a maybe-something-approaching-suicide mission.

Also really, really hoping Albedo is meant to come off as a eugenicist monster because otherwise I really dk how to feel about 1 Durin getting murdered while another Durin sacrifices his body to become a 'real boy'. In a quest where the characters say to our faces that Durin is basically a baby with a power too big for their stupid baby skull.

Like, sorry, Albedo, but babies can't be evil (even if the game is trying to make them as unlikeable as possible to suit their '''''''evilness'''''''). I feel like we should try engaging with the baby first. Talk to the baby. Maybe use the Travelers magic purification powers to purify the baby. Feed the baby kind beings rather than clones made of wasted potential and inferiority complexes. Anything other than immediately using Souleating Oviraptor on the baby.

Like, I get that Durin is a danger to Mondstadt. I get it, but I don't know how to feel about everyone celebrating what's about to happen rather than treating it as a necessary evil.

Then, you get to the ritual itself and Albedo is like "I am closer to humans in class than dragons" and "by making life more perfect, we can make the world more perfect" and "Once Durin is a Real Boy, I'll finally know someone else like me", all of which kind of suggest that Albedo views a persons race or species as higher than their. Like. Existence. To the degree that killing 1 Durin to perform a dangerous and untested experiment on another Durin is a wonderful elevation of their beings.

I mean, it's consistent, if nothing else. Genshin is full of "did you know humans are cooler and better than dragons and seelie and saurians and whopperflowers and adeptus and suanni and puppets?" so it makes sense that up to 2 literal infant dragons (minimum 1 bc you can bet there won't be any """"evil""" Durin in there) sacrificing their individuality and consciousness to become (1) human boy is a good trade.

I mean, I guess it's a good trade for me because he's a Kosma Expy. But still.

Sorry 2 keep harping on this and obvs ignore till u play but it just gets worse the more I think about it. Like I know Genshin is a big game so it's unreasonable to expect thematic consistency but it's comical to me that Xilonen "You can't paste over your personal tragedy (Nechca dying) with a happy fairytale ending (Imposing Nechca's personality onto Nepechca so Tzalolli can pretend Nechca never died)" exists in the same game as "Let's paste over Evil Durin with the literal manifestation of some Witch's fix-it fic." Like these themes couldn't be more diametrically opposed if they tried. Now I know there are differences between these stories. As tragic as it is, Mondstadt will be safer if Durin dies, while Nepechca's death would benefit none but Tzalolli herself. Durin is also dead (except not really, because you could absolutely speak to """"Evil Durin"""" through his vessel) so this is a living Durin using the corpse of dead Durin to their benefit (still pretty yikes ngl. I don't think Durin consented to having their corpse desecrated) while Nepechca was a living child being overwritten by a dead one (who already 'had their chance' so to speak) but it would have been nice to see the story acknowledge the similarities and differences, discuss the implications, etc. Instead of popping the baby.

It's cool! There was uhhhh a lot going on here, huh. It didn't bother me too much because by the point this came up I was already totally checked out by everything that came before it, but I did think it was weird too. It's an... interesting conclusion to the Durin situation in a lot of different ways, yeah. As you said, I was also reminded of Xilonen's story quest - it's not a one to one comparison as here it seems to be that the two Durin will be combining their personalities rather than a straight overwrite, but it does tread close enough that its a bit eyebrow raising. Though in this case, it is the only way the narrative is providing to stop an inherently malicious force for good rather than Just Straight Child Abuse/Murder, so it's a greyer situation.

"Kathryne is just a doll, so we can possess her no problem!" vs "Scaramouche, just because you're a puppet doesn't mean you don't have a heart, you deleting your own personality is bad!" this game has contradicted itself before, yeah.

I think what gets me is the framing. Durin needs to be resolved this way BECAUSE he's such a huge threat that will keep coming back no matter what... but the game does a really bad job of framing Durin as a threat. We never talk to him or fight him, we only ever fight his proxies who manifest as generic overworld enemies. HYV says he's a huge threat, but I'm kinda "uh, whatever" about it because between the Knights having Durin on such a hilarious lockdown, all the losses being off-screen and HYV not bothering to give him a real boss fight... Durin's threat comes across as really abstract.

So talking about "this is the only possible way to handle it" um, I don't believe you. HYV handled this so lazily that I really, really don't believe you. Decisions like this should only come after you actually try exhausting other options - for Mini Durin's sake, if not actual Durin's (who, yeah, I don't think really gets much of a say at this stage, but again...)

In the meantime, Durin often gets described as being childlike and innocent, lashing out with too much power because he has too many emotions he can't control. He didn't mean to hurt Dvalin, and he's jealous of Albedo. So you do just... automatically feel bad about the idea of treating him this way? We didn't try anything, and it's a kid?

By the time they're resolving it, it's like... well, that was super easy, didn't even take a boss fight, and also it sure is convenient there was a "good" Durin to paste over our Durin to replace him... but also, that's like a... almost? Murder-suicide being framed in a weirdly positive way.

If Durin were better established as a threat and this was the only way to defeat him (like us literally being unable to kill him while shit goes SUPER badly wrong), and Mini-Durin's death (lol) being framed as a tragic, scary sacrifice (lol again) I'd be more... on board with it, I guess? As it is, it just comes across as really... are we sure this is the best solution? We didn't even try stabbing him. Or uh, purifying him, yeah... I don't know how I thought Durin would get resolved but "gets merged with his summer alt and becomes a gacha unit" wasn't it. I kinda thought Dvalin would be involved, honestly.

On Albedo being a eugenecist - I don't think that's the intended read for his character ("this is our only choice!!!!", handled extremely lazily), but Genshin does have a consistent throughline of humanity being the most prioritised species in Teyvat that doesn't mesh well with this. I don't think Albedo being excited about having someone else 'like him' around is a bad trait, even with the circumstances... (though, Albedo explicitly only identifying Durin as his brother after the change is..... hmm, interesting)

I guess I'm more bothered by Mini-Durin's response to it, and us being all "yeah sure okay" about it. Theoretically, two different people being smashed together into one totally foreign body could be a really interesting struggle for the Durins, but I suspect we're not going to get much with them on that front.

ALSO god yeah LMAO SCARAMOUCHE WASN'T EVEN THEREEEEE WHY EVEN BOTHER WITH THIS...

it's so scara can officially have a character he gets associated with, isn't it. ISN'T IT

WHY Albedo and Klee didn't have a bigger role in last year's summer is completely beyond me.

[unmakingandincorporeality]

Spoilers for Scott Pilgrim takes off

So 13 years ago Scott Pilgrim (the film, and then, much more effectively, the comics) called out a bunch of really shitty traits of mine, and it was the catalyst for a lot of self work and personal growth—it said stuff I needed to hear in a way I was able to listen to, and it means a lot to me for that reason.

It was also really powerful to experience a piece of media that showed a protagonist who is simultaneously pathetic and aspirational. Like, ngl, I saw a lot of who I am and a lot of who I want to be in both Scott and Ramona. It felt good to admire them and aspire to their better qualities, while also wanting them to do better to prove to myself that I could be better, and seeing in their depictions the ways in which some of the things I aspired to be actually sucked and needed rethinking.

(that last bit didn't actually feel good tbh, some of those books made me sick to my stomach and it took a long time before I was ready to read them a second time.)

And the new series has so much more in it that I want to talk about. Like, how the whole vibe of the show captures how being in love and being loved back feels, because it's not just that the other person feels really cool, it's that they make you feel like you're awesome, that they make the whole world feel like an adventure.

But the thing that I'm really dying to talk to someone about right this very second is the last episode, the bit where even older Scott is talking about how he spent ten years like a monk training every day to master all sorts of skills and shit, and even older Ramona is just like "it sounds like you just didn't go outside for ten years"

Because that narrative, of cloistering yourself and doing monklike work every day to perfect your abilities, is so, so common, and it's so, so bullshit. But it's SO FUCKING EASY to use it to justify not getting out of your fucking room, which is something I've absolutely been doing lately.

Anyway. I'm glad a work that I love and that helped me grow a lot came back and immediately punched me in the face with more character flaws I ought to be working on, but still made me feel excited about being the kind of person I am. I think, more than the other versions did, "Takes Off" really nails the important nuance that Scott and Ramona aren't truly aspirational figures, but they also aren't bad guys. They're flawed people who often hurt other people with their emotional cowardice, but they're also genuinely cool and exciting and are worthy of love. That the best case scenario isn't that they stop being Scott Pilgrim or Ramona Flowers, it's that they start being better to the people they care about and who care about them.

Anyway I'm gonna go hide under a rock for fear of judgment from people on the Internet seeing me call Scott Pilgrim (the character) cool