#i truly am not sure which route i should take

[8aji]

hi 👀

[hanafubukki]

Summary: Malleus offers you a happy ending.

[Can be seen as Lilia’s route/sequel to this fic]

“Take my hand YN, and I’ll make your happiest dream come true.”

You were frozen. It was tempting, especially now after seeing the hell Lilia went through. Your heart yearned to reach out and take his hand, but your mind screamed otherwise.

But the look gentle look in Malleus’ eyes-

“I-”

A hand concealed your vision before you were pulled backwards into someone, the familiar scent had you relaxing.

“What’s this? You’re trying to steal My YN away? What a petulant boy I raised.”

“I merely offered what will bring them happiness.”

“That’s my job. Tsk tsk I can’t believe I have to worry about one of you trying to steal them away from me. It seems I have to teach you a lesson still.”

“HAHAHA, you think you can take me on?”

“Of course I can! Who do you take me for? Now get ready!…and RUN!”

A hand pulled you away from the group as a malicious laugh echoed.

The calm after dealing with Malleus’ OB was very much needed. Your body aches in places you didn’t think possible, especially given that you were asleep most of Malleus’ blot.

But that was done, and the family was still healing. At least everyone was on the same page now. Lilia understood how much he mattered and his sons were able to express themselves to him.

A few strings were pulled and Lilia was allowed to stay, you are pretty sure that Malleus threatened the Headmaster or the Queen.

Either way, he wasn’t going anywhere which you were grateful for.

“Hot chocolate?”

You looked at the cup Lilia offered you.

You gave him a look, “Who made it?”

Lilia gave you a deadpan look, “I can make hot chocolate.”

“I don’t want it.”

Lilia sighed dramatically, “Silver made it.”

“Then I’ll gladly take it.”

“My son makes it and it’s okay, but if I make it-”

“I’ll die.”

You smiled into your hot chocolate as Lilia grumbled to himself.

The talk did them all good. I’m glad to hear him call Silver his son. Good for both of them.

“Curious minds can’t help but wonder.”

“Well, curious minds should ask.”

“What would your dream have been? If you had taken Malleus’ hand?”

You leaned your head on his shoulder, “I wouldn’t have taken it.”

Lilia pulled you closer, “Why not?”

“Because reality brings me more happiness than any dream could. I have you and everyone else here. No dream can beat that.”

You took his hand in yours, “Besides, only reality can give me what I truly wish for.”

You tapped on a certain finger, smiling at the slight widening of his eyes.

I want to be with you for the rest of our lives.

The smile Lilia gave you then had you falling for him all over again.

Bonus:

“Boys! YN proposed to me! Oh~ I am so flustered~”

You don’t look flustered. In fact, you look like the cat who ate the canary…I wonder if it’s to late to ask Malleus to put me to sleep.

...I seem to keep writing proposals in my Lilia fics 😂🥰

💚🌺💞🌻 Hope you enjoyed.

[another-random-paradise]

Listen, I found your account by coincidence and it was the most beautiful coincidence.... Your writing is very wonderful and I am happy that the rq is open

so can i rq a hc about twst? Where the reader loves agriculture and have a garden in ramshackle where they grow flowers and some vegetables as a hobby, which impresses their friends?

Honestly I don't have any specific characters in my mind so you are free to choose any 4 characters or less (I love everyone, so I'll be satisfied with anyone.)

And of course you are free to accept my request or reject it🪷🪻🌻

Grown with Love

So sorry about the long wait!! School has been a lot recently ;( But thank you for the request and the kind words!! I don't have the greenest thumb, so the garden details are kept very vague-

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

Agriculture loving reader with a garden

Characters: Ruggie, Azul, Malleus

Format: Headcanons

Warnings: None that i can think off

Ruggie

-When he first hears about it, he doesn't care all that much; it's just a hobby to him. But because he cares about you, he listens to you talk about it!

-When you mention that you also grow food in your garden, that's when he gets interested! He's pretty curious about what kind of foods you grow, what kind of care they need, ect...

-He comes visit ever so often and watches you work, he likes how concentrated you look! That, and the scenery of your garden with all the different flowers and plants is a very pretty and relaxing sight, perfect for whenever he needs a break from Leona

-If you ever make him a meal with food from your garden, he will very simply adore you- He wants to eat it slowly to truly enjoy it, but also scarf it down because of how good it tastes 

-Eventually, he tries to make a deal with you: He helps you out around the garden in exchange for some of the food you grow! If you accept, you best believe he'll give it his all, he makes sure to help you let your plants thrive! (Not that they don't already under just you're care <3) 

-If you agree to the deal, he'll keep some of the food to bring home to his grandma and the kids of his slum during the holidays, so that they have something fresh to eat for once

-All in all, he really enjoys the scenery, and would love to help out! 

Azul

-As you could have possibly guessed, even if the two of you are close friends, his first thought is money. 

-He asks to sign a contract with you; you give him fresh food from your garden in exchange for proper payment and/or free meals at the lounge. Once again, your choice if you want to accept or decline! 

-Aside from that, your garden does genuinely fascinate him! He grew up in the sea, he most likely hasn't seen most land plants, let alone the way they grow, so most of things in the garden are completely new to him

-He likes simply relaxing in your garden, watching how your different plants develop and grow, your garden becomes a bit of a save haven for him, whenever the twins or work stresses him out

-He often compliments you, wether on how good your work ethic is, how great your plants are doing, how beautiful your garden is, ect. And he does genuinely mean every one of them!

-He says he is at your garden so often, because it's a good getaway from his stress, but really your garden and all the unfamiliar land stuff just fascinates him 

Malleus

-Your garden will permanently become part of his route for his night walk, if you allow it

-He is genuinely fascinated by your work, he loves the way your garden looks, and isn't afraid to praise you for it! 

-If you have a flower or two that's native to briar valley, this man has stars in his eyes. He may give you a tip or two about how to get to thrive as greatly as they can, should you ask. they are definitely one of his favorite flowers  in the garden!

-He'll take the food from your garden, or meals cooked with it, over any other meal any day of the week! especially if the other choice is lillia's cooking

-He says he can taste how much love and care  is put into growing something, so your food logically tastes better to him than something grown and cooked as a job instead of as a hobby. 

-During shared nightly walks or really just whenever the two of you hang out, it'll be a mutual understanding that both of you can freely talk about your interests! 

-He'll tell you about gargoyles and you can talk as much as you want about agriculture 

-If you mention having a favorite plant, or that you have one that you've been wanting to grow but just haven't been able too for whatever reason, he'll definitely get you the seeds and whatever else is required for it!

This was such a cute thing to write!! Did struggle a bit because i don't know much about agriculture despite living next to at least three different farms-

Feedback is welcome!! just be nice!

Hope you have a nice day/night <3

[madeby-meru]

Thoughts on Episode 10 (Jason Route)

Now that I am chill after losing both the illustration and the route and having to watch it somewhere else, I can give my thoughts on this episode! ^^

I wanted to upload this sooner but had no time to finish it lol

beware of spoilers under the cut!

Overall, my main feeling while playing and after finishing was that i was tremendously bored for 90% of the episode. And honestly this makes me sad! I really like filler episodes, i love silly little moments that don't add much to the story itself but that let you see the characters in different situations and learn other tidbits of information about them. For example, I liked going with Brune and Elanda to look for Thomas, seeing them in a situation where they're worried about a friend that could be in serious trouble and how they reacted differently to everything. It adds depth and personality (which these characters desperately need). I have seen Roy's route in this episode too and i liked how it added a bit to his characterization of this very sweet and caring man. I have to say that i also loved seeing Thomas' mom again and im soooo happy that she got a redesign! (even though I wish she looked like an actual 60 year old woman, girlie looks addicted to botox). I would have loved to see Iris too but we got a couple more characters from the MCL games so I'm happy with that. I like seeing that we are, indeed, in the same universe lol.

However, in my opinion anything good or interesting in the episode was completely overshadowed by the sheer *absurdity* of it all.

It's the same issue as always, the "plot" doesn't make sense and unintentionally the characters end up being depicted terribly and (usually) Devon and Thomas suffer the most.

Devon looks like an irresponsible boss that doesn't keep his empoyees in check and lets them do whatever they want even if it harms the job or other emoplyees's work. He postpones the meeting with the town hall (would he even be allowed to do that? i'm sure this would have negative impact on Devenementiel) to look for Thomas, which honestly that's a good friend move so respect for that... but that is a full grown adult, not a child, and you dont even know if something actually happened to him. I'm sorry but here the job should take priority, it makes no sense for everyone to halt their work day and waste time (with a relevant project !! with the town hall !! in their hands !!) cause someone didnt come in.

Sending everyone to just look around the city is... so stupid? how big is Amoris? 1km square? for them to think that they can wander around and magically find him? ????

Now the ending was just... what the actual fuck.

I don't think the writing team is truly aware of how badly Thomas is portrayed. First of all, if you have a motorbike accident that is serious enough to leave the morotbike destroyed like they describe it: you do not walk away like nothing happened! Talking from experience, even a relatively small accident can leave you badly injured. And from what is being described in the episode Thomas should have been hospitalized! It makes no sense. Second of all, who in their right damn mind leaves a demaged vehicle in the middle of the street and walks away to buy a replacement? That is a fine, that is a public safely issue, a general safety hazard and a traffic obstruction, who does that ?! "He is socially unaware!" no, that is being straight up stupid and a jerk.

Y'all are portraying Thomas as an egocentric, careless, and self centered guy that does not care for anything or anyone around him other than himself, an irresponsible person that does not care if his actions are detrimental to his job or colleagues. And if we put this together with episode 8 showing him as someone with zero respect for boundaries or privacy and that will stalk coworkers with no remorse, yeah you're making a wonderful love interest.

And this pisses me off, this feels out of character. Thomas is such a fun and interesting and cute love interest, he could have one of the best romance stories in the game, why would you paint him like this? I'm sure that the intention was a "haha silly guy doesn't understand!" moment but y'all definitely don't know how to write that.

And I don't think this is "reading too much into it", cause you can see it all in plain sight. And also, analyzing shit and "reading too much into something" is fun for me.

This episode could have been so fun. It could have been a silly misunderstanding with some days off that Thomas takes to go to a competition (maybe we initially could think that he had an accident because a similar bike had one that morning! or because he had been complaining about motor issues and being wary of a potential accident!). In his route we could go see him and he could tell us about his hobby, and in other routes we could do something related to the other character's interests. We could get to know more about them, its an appropiate episode topic for the place that we are in in the relationships and its just cute and fun.

But anyway, I unfortunately could not play Jason's route myself and I had to watch it somewhere else instead, which honestly pissed me the fuck off cause i can't afford a replay at all. The special scene was cute, I liked the tone and how Jason sounded like he was trying to play it cool with all the "heh i just did it to show im better" (i can see right through you silly man). Ngl im sad i dont have the scene to replay it u-u

Thomas' illustration was my favorite by far, both him and Ysaline look gorgeous fr fr

[generic-sonic-fan]

Random thought: Omega finds a live bomb while Team Dark is on a mission. Screaming ensues.

I can sense deep in my bones that you intended this to be a light-hearted crack fic request. However, you should know that I am the world expert at turning fluffy requests into angst fics.

In this particular case, you've actually hit close enough to an abandoned WIP that's been sitting in my drafts forever. It has to do with Omega, and defusing a live bomb, and it's a spin-off of Annual Life Support Maintenance (which means please heed the tags!). I hope you like it, even if it's not exactly following your prompt!

Pragmatism

2444 words

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The base bust was a success. Rouge was good with computers, sure, but the Tails was better at the hardware end of things, and given what she needed was hidden in the processor of a Badnik she was grateful for the help.

And of course, taking Sonic’s little squirt along meant taking Sonic himself. Still fun, but a little less discretionary than she might have preferred. And then, of course, seeing Sonic being taken on what was supposedly a “stealth” mission ruined the illusion entirely, meaning that Omega begged to come along as well. 

This was no longer a stealth mission; a fact that was confirmed when Omega tore the doors off their hinges to breach the next room of the complex. Sonic shot through the crack and the buzz-sawing began. Then the bullets, then the flamethrowers, then the taunting between the two Badnik destroying extraordinaires about who got the most kills. 

It was a mission, one of the easier ones Rouge has had in a while. One of the ones that felt more like a game than an actual mission. Something like a genuine hobby, almost. She could almost understand Omega’s sentiment towards this kind of thing. 

Tails lingered behind with her, watching the two clear the route. Not that he couldn’t participate in the fun if he wanted to- an electric shock pistol with some truly wicked current hung from a holster on his hip. Rouge kept a few bombs at the ready also, but really, they weren’t needed. 

“Hey, boys!” Rouge called out to the rabble-rousers ahead. “Remember to not destroy the one we need!”

“Yes ma’am!” Sonic gave a mock salute before shooting to the next room ahead. 

Before she could take off to follow him, Tails tapped her arm.

“Hey, something’s strange.” the kid held up his tablet to her. It had a map of the complex, and a red dot tracking their target. Or at least, it used to. The red dot was gone. “It disappeared at the end of the next hallway, but I didn’t think there were any other exits.” 

Rouge shrugged. “Wouldn’t that be unfortunate.” 

“It’s also possible it’s entered a part of this base with a system isolated from the rest, like a clean room equipped with a faraday cage.” Tails added.

“Thanks for the heads up.”  

They both took off and flew into the next room, where Sonic and Omega were still arguing about kill counts. Rouge blew a raspberry at the two as she floated by into the succeeding hallway. 

She landed in front of a pair of blast doors. Judging by the tracks these doors rolled on, they had to be almost a foot thick. She spotted a computer terminal to the left. 

“Hey, kiddo!” She called to Tails back down the hall and gestured to it. “Try over there. No way Omega’s gonna be able to bust this one open.” 

“I FIND YOUR LACK OF FAITH DISTURBING.” Omega popped his head into the hallway, before pausing. He didn’t say anything after looking at the doors. 

“Well I find your lack of lots of things disturbing.” Sonic deadpanned. 

“YOU ARE MAKING IT EXTREMELY DIFFICULT NOT TO EXTERMINATE YOU TOO.” 

“Gee, love you too, buddy.”

Tails connected his tablet to the computer hardware, and the door slid open. The room beyond was a steely white. There was a large panel in the floor, suggesting some sort of hidden compartment. Perfect. 

“You are that good!” Sonic zipped to his side and cheered.

“I know I’m that good, but-” Tails replied.

“That was quick, even for you.” Rouge agreed. “Could be a trap.” 

“IRRELEVANT.” Omega marched into the space.

“Hey, that thing in the floor looks like a good place to start!” Sonic zipped alongside him. “Think you could tear that open?”

Rouge glided into the room and scanned the ceiling. It was perfectly round, that same shiny steely white, though it was more polished than the worn floor. At the far end of the room was a small computer monitor. 

Omega tore the panel off the floor, revealing a cowering Badnik that had a bank vault in its stomach. It attempted to jump out of the compartment in the floor, but before it could do so, Omega grabbed it in his claws. 

“Bingo!” Rouge landed next to him. “Hey, squirt! Get over here and work your magic!” 

Tails finally entered the room. His tablet was in one hand and a data cable was in the other. Omega held the Badnik steady as Tails flew to the back of the Badnik’s head, opened a panel, and plugged the data cable into its port. 

The Badnik went limp. 

The room lights shut off.

The enormous blast doors slammed shut with a crash behind them. 

“Hey!” Sonic ran a ring around the room, only visible by the streak of light from the air friction that he created. 

The monitor in the far side of the room crackled on.

“Well well! Let’s see how many of you. . . ohohoho! Sonic himself!” Eggman clapped his hands together. “And Rouge, as expected, then Tails. . . and Omega.” 

Eggman’s mustache drooped for a second as he said Omega’s name, before he quickly corrected himself.

“Oh come on, Egghead. Usually your traps have a little more style than this!” Sonic said.

“Yes, but I find you haven’t been appreciating them as much lately.” The Doctor replied. “So I’m trying something new.” 

“Um, guys?” Tails said quietly.

“Found it already?” Eggman giggled. “Go ahead and tell your friends what just happened when you inserted that data cable.” 

“It cut the. . .” Tails trailed off into a series of mumbles. 

“DETECTING BLOOD.” Omega shouted.

Sonic dashed to Tails’ side. “Are you hurt? Are you. . . oh, ew!” 

Eggman huffed. “Fine, I guess I’ll have to spoil the surprise. As long as that Badnik was powered, it also held the striker lever in place.”

Rouge ran her fingers over the pins of her own bombs. 

“You now have a few minutes to say your last few words to each other. Have fun!” 

The monitor crackled off and the lights turned back on, leaving Rouge blinking. 

In an instant, Omega began firing against the small visible seam in the blast doors, first with bullets before switching to missiles. Rouge clutched her hands over her ears. Sonic and Tails were doing. . . something. Little scraps of feathers were all over their gloves. She landed beside them to see the small body of a flicky jutting out of the Badnik’s chest.

“Huh. Powered.” Rouge stated what the other two had most likely figured it out.

“The transformer is only animal-to-electrical power! I can’t interface it with my tablet battery. Sonic, I might be able to hook you up to it.”

“I’ll all yours, little bro.” 

Tails absentmindedly handed Rouge his tablet, then pulled wires from the Badnik’s head and began wrapping them around Sonic’s arm. 

“Any luck on the door?” Rouge shouted to Omega. 

Omega put his weapons away and began prying at the door with his claws. 

“Try this!” Rouge tossed one of her bombs to him. 

He turned around, caught it, then placed it on the seam of the doors. He then boosted in front of where Sonic and Tails were working, using his own body to shield them. Rouge got behind him as well and set off the bomb. 

The shockwave caused Omega to stumble forward. Rouge helped catch him. Unfortunately, the door remained much more stable. There was hardly even a scratch.

“Okay, routing in three, two, one. . .” Tails touched two wires together. “Okay, Sonic, start making arm circles!”

Sonic grinned. His hand twitched- and a huge arc flash erupted between two curls of the wire. Sonic’s grin quickly turned into a grimace. All his muscles clenched. 

Rouge landed next to him and kicked him away, breaking the wire that connected him to the Badnik, though not without a painful shock for her as well. She landed next to Sonic and let herself collapse next to him. She checked his pulse- faint, but there. 

Tails dropped his work and tears filled his eyes. 

“Hey, he’s okay!” Rouge called back. “Keep working!” 

“I can’t! It’s clearly got some sort of failsafe preventing larger mammals from being plugged in- we’ve only got thirty seconds left!” 

Rouge stood up again. Tails stood frozen in front of the explosive Badnik. Omega stood frozen as well. And Sonic, well, having him focus more on keeping his own heart beating seemed like the best course of action for him. 

Before she could hobble over to Tails’ side and shake the kid out of his fear, Omega snapped into motion. He pushed Tails aside and peered into the cavity of the Badnik. 

“ROUGE.” He said.

She walked to him. “Yeah?”

“USE MY POWER SOURCE.” 

She stopped in her tracks. 

Tails shook his head. “Omega, your power source is a chaos drive, it won’t work-”

“I CANNOT SELF-TERMINATE. ROUGE. YOU MUST COMPLETE THE LATTER HALF OF THIS ACTION.” 

No, a part of her wanted to scream, I won’t do it. But the more pragmatic side of her knew there was no other choice.

Omega tore off his chest panel. Rouge approached him- and sure enough, when he turned to her, she could see the delicate bundle of feathers wrapped within his parts

Rouge stuck her hands inside, grabbed the straps holding it down and the feeding tube rising out of its mouth, and pulled on both.

Omega slumped forward.

A tiny flicky fell into her hands. Immediately it squealed in pain. 

Rouge went up to the explosive Badnik and found its interior chest cavity to be remarkably similar in build to Omega’s.

“What?” Tails whispered.

“Shut up. How do I get this in there?” 

Tails opened up ports and manipulated wires until there was a clear place to put the bird. Rouge tossed it inside and helped Tails hook everything back up again. 

The explosive Badnik’s eyes started to glow.

The timer on Tails’ tablet stopped. 

Tails stared at the flicky, and flinched with its every twitter and groan.

“Keep working.” Rouge said firmly. “Omega bought us time.” 

“He said he had a chaos drive. . .” Tails whispered.

“Well, you’re lucky he didn’t! So get to work.” Rouge snapped. 

Tails unplugged his tablet and turned to the monitor imbedded into the wall. “The Badnik’s trigger is mechanical, and I can’t modify it without setting it off.”

They came to the monitor. There were no controls or electrical sockets in the visible frame or plating, so Rouge broke panels off until they found a hidden port. Tails plugged in his tablet and got to work. 

Minutes passed in silence. Rouge wandered back to Sonic’s side. He was still breathing, his pulse still pumping, but he was out like a light. The part of his arm that’d had the wire wrapped around it left burns. There was nothing she could do to tend to them now. 

She returns to the flicky.

Omega’s flicky. 

Crudely hooked up with the explosive Badnik. Clearly being drained somehow, even she knew that much. An eternity or more passed. The flicky kept breathing.

“I’ve got it. I think.” Tails said quietly. 

Slowly, the doors rolled open. 

“Soon as we disconnect the flicky, it’s going to go boom again, isn’t it?” Rouge asked.

“And the door shuts again. The timer stopped at ten seconds til detonation.” Tails unplugged his tablet and hung it off his hip. 

“Do you think those doors can hold up to the blast?”

“I think that was the intent.”

“Then let’s drag Sonic and Omega out there,” Rouge pointed to the hallway beyond, “and then we’ll remove the flicky just before we dash out the door. Got it?”

“Yeah. I think.”

Tails picked Sonic up into his arms and took off. Rouge turned to Omega. She grabbed his left handle, and after significant flapping was able to lift him from the ground. They laid the two next to each other around a bend in the hallway, before returning to the circular room.

Rouge dragged the explosive Badnik to the edge of the room, as close to the doorway entrance as she dared to.

“Okay, kiddo. Stand back. Over by them.” She pointed Tails to the back of the hallway. 

“But what if you need-”

“Sonic will never forgive me if you get hurt. I’m not stupid. Go keep an eye on them and I’ll join you.”

Tails took off, hovered around her shoulders for a few seconds, then flew down the hallway. She waited until he was out of sight.

She grabbed the flicky and began unwrapping it from the wires and supports that held it in place. When she finally heard it coo, and the Badnik’s eyes began to dim, she yanked it out of the compartment.

She pulled her hands back through the door seconds before it slammed shut. She then flew as fast as her wings would carry her down the hall, but didn’t quite make it around the corner before the shockwave hit her, sending her to the ground.

She curled herself around the little thing of feathers in her arms as she rolled to a stop. When she opened her eyes again, the flicky twittered softly at her. 

“Are you okay?” Tails dashed over to her side.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine.” She pushed him off and stood. “Let’s get Omega back.” 

Tails followed her to the yawning chasm in Omega’s chest. One by one she reconnected the parts necessary, before gently working the feeding tube back down its throat. 

Omega’s optics lit up. 

“Did you sucCESSFULLY DEFUSE THE BOMB?” Omega asked. 

“What do you think?” Rouge teased.

Omega rotated his head either direction. “WE ARE NO LONGER IN THE ROOM.” 

“Mhmm.”

“WHERE IS SONIC?” 

“Right beside you.”

Omega’s gaze snapped to Tails. “DO NOT INFORM SONIC OF WHAT HAS TRANSPIRED.”

“I- I-” Tails wrung his tail in his hand, “I can’t promise-”

“Trust me.” Rouge slapped a hand on his shoulder. “It’ll be easier if Sonic doesn’t know.” 

“He’s my brother. I can’t promise that I’ll-”

“DO NOT TELL HIM.” 

“Okay, I-I won’t tell him for now.”

“You can blame me if it all gets out, m’kay?” Rouge squeezed his shoulder. “But really, this is a personal matter. Sonic’s better off not knowing anyway.”

“You’re right.” Tails nodded. 

“Here, look, I’ll help you get Sonic somewhere safe and explain what happened. Omega, are you good to get yourself home?” 

“. . . I WILL CALL SHADOW FOR ESCORT.” 

“Alright. Let me know when you make it back.”

“AFFIRMATIVE.”

Rouge went over and picked Sonic up. She then flew for the exit of the base. Tails followed close behind her. 

[girlfriendsofthegalaxy]

tuesday again 9/10/2024

someone adopt this little orange man from me in Houston TX! more details here!

listening

the 1991 Ella Mae Morse compilation Capitol Collectors Series is the official driving-cats-to-the-vet album bc it is so mellow but still fun. this album has previously been featured several times in tuesdayposts but i think you should all listen to it again.

seven thousand three hundred days IS a long long time to sleep ur so right ella

-

reading

two different works that annoyed me: Emily Hamilton's The Stars Too Fondly. my first clue should have been that this is my least favorite poem, bc ppl would quote it to me smugly after my mom died. im sure they thought they were being so super comforting to a budding astronomer, but, much like how i can no longer eat lasagna bc ppl gave us Twenty! Party! Size! Platters! Of! Lasagna! after my mom died (they would just Appear on our front porch, frozen), too much of this poem really soured me.

i had this book on hold Forever and then delayed delivery twice bc i have not felt like reading lately. here's the publisher's description:

In her breathtaking debut—part space odyssey, part sapphic rom-com—Emily Hamilton weaves a suspenseful, charming, and irresistibly joyous tale of fierce friendship, improbable love, and wonder as vast as the universe itself. So, here’s the thing: Cleo and her friends really, truly didn’t mean to steal this spaceship. They just wanted to know why, twenty years ago, the entire Providence crew vanished without a trace. But then the stupid dark matter engine started all on its own, and now these four twenty-somethings are en route to Proxima Centauri, unable to turn around, and being harangued by a snarky hologram that has the face and attitude of the ship’s missing captain, Billie. Cleo has dreamt of being an astronaut all her life, and Earth is kind of a lost cause at this point, so this should be one of those blessings in disguise that people talk about. But as the ship gets deeper into space, the laws of physics start twisting, old mysteries come crawling back to life, and Cleo’s initially combative relationship with Billie turns into something deeper and more desperate than either woman was prepared for. Lying somewhere in the subspace between science fantasy and sapphic rom-com, The Stars Too Fondly is a soaring near-future adventure about dark matter and alternate dimensions, leaving home and finding family, and the galaxy-saving power of letting yourself love and be loved.

should be catnip for me, right? wrong. starts out as a chat fic, which i hate.

i had a lot of trouble finishing the first chapter, which also has an extended third-person omniscient narrator flashback in italics, a thing i also hate. i KNOW you can figure out how to integrate this information into the book in a better way instead of dumping it in my lap.

i think part of why this is not hitting like i wanted is the tone, because i think this veers more new adult than i was really hoping for. i think introducing a big group all at once is very hard to do effectively. i do not like a series of character introductions that feel like they are trying to sell me action figures. or perhaps blind-bag figures. i do not like a six-deep list of cheesy puns about someone's name. i do not have the patience to see if this debut novel finds its footing a little later on, though i am glad a sapphic ghost in the machine romance exists in this world.

i also read dean motter's mister x (both the original late eighties through early nineties run and the 2008 follow-on).

let's yoink the description from wikipedia:

Set in Radiant City, a dystopian municipality influenced by Bauhaus and Fritz Lang's Metropolis, the series concerns a mysterious figure who purports to be its architect. His radical theories of "psychetecture" cause the citizenry to go mad, just as he did, and he takes on the mission to repair his creation. To accomplish this he remains awake twenty-four hours a day by means of the drug "insomnalin", all the while coping with a Dick Tracy–like rogues gallery and supporting cast including his long-suffering ex-girlfriend Mercedes. (ed note: the redhead in the santa beard below)

the art in this comic book is really and truly stunning. everyone was firing on all cylinders. beautiful retrofuturistic advertisement vibes, very fun play with panels and word balloons while still being readable, there are airships, you know how it is. looooooooove a hardboiled noir.

the Concept of mister x, this horrible awful futuristic city that grinds its citizenry up and spits them out? both figuratively and sometimes literally? love it!!! love a great wounded beast of a city as a character!!!

unforch the "who is mister x" subplot does not resolve in a satisfying way, imo. there's a lot of flip-flopping, there's a lot of options, he ends up being (maybe?) someone he was very definitively proven NOT to be in an earlier issue, and it really soured me on the whole experience. and also i don't believe it! that specific person makes no fucking sense! who mister x is, is by far the least interesting part of the series. tell me more about how he's fixing the city. show me more of the city. shut up and dance, robot artists

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watching

X-Men: Apocalypse (2016, dir. Singer). this movie did not need to be two and a half hours long. appreciated the EXTREMELY divorced energy from charles & erik though, quicksilver rescuing the school scene was also very fun. my bestie's husband has informed me we are NOT watching Dark Phoenix, i'm not sure if we're going to loop back and watch the ??? number of wolverine films or if we're going to see how i feel about deadpool. bc i find this character insufferable through clips only.

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playing

there is a feature in the video game genshin impact to turn your World Level (TM) down in order to make overworld enemies a little easier. i am at seven out of nine bc i genuinely can't finish the boss to unlock world level 9, and i am finding some of the overworld enemies too hard at 8 and want to finish the achievements in a more relaxed fashion.

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making

this is going to be a lot of previously posted pics so bear with me.

saturday morning/saturday evening. plants? repotted. porch and stairs? swept. old wasp nests? knocked down. different mirror on the porch to go out to the curb when i have the energy? yes. also a giant slab of engineered stone from the top of a dresser but that's out of frame.

speaking of the giant broken dresser that was in my apartment when i moved in just over a year ago, i ripped it apart with a crowbar and threw it in the dumpster. put my pretty zebrawood desk in the empty space and started thinking about what to hang on that wall. the wall across from it is maps, bc i think a cozy office should have lots of maps and it makes a good video conference background. maybe this will be the dedicated cowboy nonsense wall. i did so much dusting and vacuuming and mopping and the girls can't even hang out in here bc the orange boy is in the office bathroom. big sigh.

also a lot of driving around and emailing and calling thirty shelters and rescues figuring out how to get this orange man a home. please take this orange man off my hands.

[jacksgreysays]

I'm not sure I've ever told you about the idea, but I did end up getting permission to write a poly Kushina/Minato/Shikako for UnexpectedSensei!Verse. It's been a while since I thought about it though. Have you read UnexpectedSensei!Verse? If so, do you think I should go the funny/crack route or the serious route?

There's this specific version of the song "Still Here" that's Nightcore (but it hits different), and it's giving me serious UnexpectedSensei!Verse Shikako vibes. It's created this incredibly unlikely scenario where the initial candidates for Hokage are decided by some artifact or something playing super epic AMVs of those worthy, and Shikako shows up like the dark horse she is when Sarutobi is looking for a successor. If that makes any sense.

Unsure if these asks were directly related--it would be interesting if they were, but I'm guessing not--but I decided to bundle the answers together anyway, if that's cool.

First, I have read UnexpectedSensei!Verse and very much enjoy the series! It's one of my favorite DoS recursive series and truly contains the perfect amount of serious blended with Shikako's I am seemingly omnipotent and omniscient to everyone else but so blasé about it that it reads as funny/crack.

A poly Kushina/Minato/Shikako for UnexpectedSensei!Verse does sound like a fantastic idea! It kind of hearkens to... and I apologize for how CONSTANTLY I am self referential about these things... the spirit of this extremely short ficlet I wrote in which Kakashi overhears Shikako basically imply that had he bothered to learn fuinjutsu from either or both of Minato and Kushina then so many of his life's tragedies would have been avoided. I mean, but less Kakashi self-blame oriented of course. The spirit behind it being that Shikako, Minato, and Kushina would be an absolutely OP triad of mischievous genii, but with vastly different personalities and thought processes who maybe don't always agree but nonetheless respect (and eventually love) each other.

I may need a link for that nightcore "Still Here," lol.

I think an artifact--or maybe, to lean into that whole... Hidden Leaf and the mysticism of Mokuton, it's an ancient semi-sentient ginkgo tree--that decides the next Hokage or at least generates a report (whether that is in the style of an epic AMV, lol) or something that significantly contributes to the decision of the next Hokage is also very fascinating.

Like, this is a little reverse of what we're going for, but in the show Trese, the main character undergoes a coming of age ceremony by entering an ancient balete tree and basically receiving a vision, but it appears to take YEARS before she comes back out. Which doesn't seem to surprise people. So, it could be something like:

current Hokage (in this case the Sandaime--or, if we don't want to deal with him, we could just say, "person who is potentially deciding on the next Hokage") enters/touches/kneels before the secret semi-sentient ancient tree that lives inside the Hokage mountain somehow or whatever

person speaks a potential candidate's name --> tree gives a vision of whether or not they'd be a good Hokage (perhaps in the style of an epic AMV--I mean, ideally we're looking for cool inspiring hero, but even villains and tragedies have epic AMVs, you know? You can still be entertained even while knowing that person probably shouldn't have control over a military dictatorship)

repeat as needed for however many potential Hokage candidates there are

at end of person's list, perhaps the secret semi-sentient ancient tree offers their own suggestions

perhaps the secret semi-sentient ancient tree, being so ancient and mystical, isn't beholden to time and so doesn't really know how time works for mere mortals

perhaps the secret semi-sentient ancient tree, has been continuously showing an epic AMV of Shikako to EVERY PERSON who has asked for potential next Hokage candidates and is confused as to why it is CONSTANTLY being ignored only for it to FINALLY be given the name Nara Shikako and it's like... YES! THIS IS THE ONE! YEAH! I'VE BEEN TRYING TO TELL YOU THIS WHOLE TIME! HERE!

Anyway, thanks for the asks, aryaokayfriend! I know these were pretty short responses, and squished together, but I hope you got some fun out of them :D

[snowdice]

Big Bang Editing Story [Day 124]

I started writing this fic while editing my Big Bang story years ago, but am going to continue doing it for other things now that Kill Dear is out. I will write and publish 100 words of the story every time I finish doing whatever task I’m doing. If you’d like to block these proceedings, please feel free to block the tag ‘proofread stories.’ I will reblog this post with the parts of the story I do today. Edited chapters are linked; everything else I’ve done so far is under the cut.

My Master Post Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15 Part 16 Part 17 Part 18 Part 19 Part 20 Part 21 Part 22 Part 23 Part 24 Part 25 Part 26 Part 27 Part 28 Part 29 Part 30 Part 31 Part 32 Part 33 Part 34 Part 35 Part 36 Part 37 Part 38 Part 39 Part 40 Part 41 Part 42 Part 43 Part 44 Part 45 Part 46 Part 47 Part 48 Part 49 Part 50 Part 51 Part 52 Part 53 Part 54 Part 55

I have been sick as a dog since I last worked on this story. I'm not even doing any work today lol. I just want to get this chapter finished. Will probably do a couple rounds and then cook myself dinner, so there may be a gap at some point. Mostly I'll just be, like, reading when not posting. Wish me luck.

“Good day for a picnic,” Helen commented as she handed over the basket Thomas had requested from her a few days before. He was taking Logan, Patton, and Virgil to the cliffs today and it was perfect weather for it. Spring was truly here, which meant that those of Thomas’s duties that had laid dormant over the harsh winter were about to start up again.

The world had been on pause for a bit considering no armies or agents from any kingdom could get through the snow the last few months, but the concerns of last fall were showing their heads once again.

Thomas had just gotten word a day ago that the queen of Lamir had routed out a second assassin hiding in her ranks over the winter. The assassin had been sent shortly after it was made clear that the queen wouldn’t bow down after the assassination of her mother. Luckily, the assassin sent for Queen Cecil had not managed to complete her mission during the winter months.

While there had been no similar attempt on Prijaznia soil, Thomas couldn’t help but feel it was only a matter of time now that the snow had melted. They were already working on increasing security in the coming weeks and, though it was doubtful an assassin had managed to hide in the castle all winter without revealing themselves, they’d be closely scrutinizing all of the newer staff members.

It would be a stressful time in the coming months, which is why, despite everything Thomas needed to do, he was still going to take his son and his son’s friends on a picnic today. Logan had already started taking on royal duties as of late, but he still hadn’t taken them all on quite yet. Considering this was last summer before Logan was of age, they should at least try to take advantage of it where they could. Patton was a year younger, but the sentiment held for him as well.

Then there was Virgil. Despite their best efforts, they still didn’t know enough about Virgil, but Thomas was fairly sure he’d never had a summer to enjoy until now.

“Thanks for prepping lunch for us,” Thomas said to Helen with a smile.

“No problem,” she said waving them off. “I put in some of Virgil’s favorites.”

“Great,” Thomas said. “Do you know where the kids are?”

“Patton said they were going to go pet the cats, so I’d guess they’re in the gardens.”

Thomas thanked her again and told her to have a good day before exiting the kitchen. There was a nearby door that led straight towards the part of the gardens Patton and Logan had always favored. He figured they’d either still be around there, or they would have wandered towards the stables by now knowing that they’d be taking horses to the cliffs. So, he decided to simply walk the normal path from the door to the stable, hoping to find them.

His prediction ended up being hilariously correct. They were indeed on the path Thomas had chosen. It was clear they (or at least Logan) were attempting to make it to the stable. However, as was typical, a portion of the party had been waylaid by whimsy.

Logan was standing further down the path, arms crossed and frowning as he watched his friends. Patton and Virgil were surrounded by cats. Patton was sitting down, holding two of them in his lap and watching Virgil’s legs being swarmed by the rest of them, maybe two dozen in total.

Virgil looked confused, but not unhappy about the presence of so many cats. He was leaning down to try to pet them all.

Logan met Thomas’s eyes as he approached and waved a frustrated hand at the two of them. Logan couldn’t help but smile.

“Virgil fed one of them,” Logan complained as though he wanted Thomas to somehow go into the past and prevent this crime.

Patton and Virgil looked over at Thomas, noticing him when Logan addressed him.

“You’re going to make Princess Marisol jealous,” Thomas said. Logan frowned at Thomas as he used the ‘Princess’ label for the cat.

“Princess Marisol decided not to come,” Virgil said with a shrug. He continued to pet one of the cats.

“She’s probably sleeping on my pillow,” Logan said, sounding grumpy.

Thomas just chuckled. Princess Marisol was technically Logan’s cat, at least that’s what the kids said, and she did spend much of her time in the royal rooms. However, she was very clearly actually Virgil’s cat. Virgil just spent a lot of time in the royal wing as well.

In fact, Thomas still didn’t know where Virgil was supposed to be sleeping. He and Mr. Deknis had gone so far as to tail him a couple of times, but he always ended up sleeping in Logan’s room those nights.

Knowing Virgil, he might just sleep in the walls. Though that still did not answer the question of where his parents or guardians were. They still had not figured it out. Thomas would assume he was an orphan who’d snuck onto castle grounds for safety, but Virgil had told Mr. Deknis during their first meeting that he was supposed to be in the castle, and it had not been a lie.

Then again, it had slowly become apparent that Virgil was good at dodging the multrum’s powers. It was starting to seem more likely that he’d somehow inserted a second meaning into his answer to Mr. Deknis that night than he somehow had some ghost guardian no one was able to locate working in the castle.

“She deserves the pillow more than you,” Virgil said, bringing Thomas’s thoughts back to the situation at hand. The look of audacity on Logan’s face made Thomas chuckle.

Thomas cut in before it could become a fight. “I could get Princess Marisol a pillow, so she doesn’t sleep on yours. Or we can get you a new pillow if you’d prefer, Logan.”

“It’s not about the pillow for her,” Logan argued. “It’s about her inflated sense of superiority.”

“She deserves it,” Virgil declared. Thomas could tell he was just trying to rile Logan up, and Thomas was sure Logan knew it too, but still his son reacted exactly in the way Virgil wanted him to.

“You have enabled and encouraged this behavior from the start!” Logan seethed.

“She’s a princess.”

“She is not a princess!”

Patton shook his head while squeezing the cats in his arms, completely used to this behavior. He ran a chin idly over one of the cat’s heads while watching the argument.

“We’re never going to make it to the picnic at this rate,” Thomas said to him, “and after your mother made all of this wonderful food.”

“You’re the dad,” Patton said. “Make them stop.”

And, of course, Patton did just mean that he was Logan’s dad with that statement. However, when he glanced back up at the silly argument still going on between his son and the cat covered boy, it did almost look like a fight between siblings.

Especially with the dark hair and stubborn but mischievous look in Virgil’s eyes, Thomas could almost imagine the boy being his own child.

He shook away the thoughts and glanced at the picnic basket in his hand.

“We do have a lot of food in this basket,” Thomas said, pitching his voice up so that Logan (and more importantly) Virgil would hear them clearly.

Virgil immediately turned to look at him, abandoning all interest in antagonizing Logan to look at the basket curiously.

Thomas was never sure if he should be amused or worried about how food motivated Virgil often was.

“What’s in the basket?” Virgil asked.

“I’m not sure,” Thomas said. “Patton’s mom made it. We’ll just have to see once we get to the picnic area.”

Virgil nodded in understanding and began to gently extract himself from the droves of cats. Logan rolled his eyes, but didn’t seem inclined to continue the argument he’d been dragged into. Virgil and Patton got to their feet, and they continued on their way towards the stables.

The horses Thomas had requested be prepared for their trip were already in saddles, though the stable hand who had been handling Mr. Apples seemed a bit dirtier and more exhausted than the rest.

The stable hand seemed as happy to hand Mr. Apples over to Virgil as Virgil was to have Mr. Apples handed over to him. Thomas received Bella with a smile and Logan and Patton got their own horses as well.

The cliffs were about half an hour's ride from the main castle. There was a mostly well-maintained path to them, though it was easy to get lost if one didn’t know the way. Mr. Apples knew the way perhaps better than Thomas himself and seemed annoyed by the fact that Thomas was trying to lead the way. Virgil and Thomas ended up side-by-side whenever the path allowed it to placate him.

Thomas still marveled at how willing Mr. Apples was to let Virgil ride him, especially when he tossed his head in Thomas’s direction, a horse’s equivalent of giving Thomas a stink-eye.

“Are you excited for the picnic?” Thomas asked the boy beside him.

Virgil glanced over at him and nodded.

“I am too,” Thomas said. “It’s always beautiful this time of year. I’m glad I could find the time to take you all there this year.”

“Are you very busy?” Virgil asked curiously.

“I am king,” Thomas reminded, “and now that the world isn’t snowed in anymore things will be busy.”

“With the war?” Virgil asked.

Thomas paused for a few seconds. “Yes,” he confirmed. “With the war, but you don’t need to worry about that.”

“Why shouldn’t I?” Virgil asked.

“You’re just a kid,” Thomas said.

“I’m 14,” Virgil said.

Thomas glanced at him. “Exactly,” he said, “a kid, and luckily, you’re in a place that can afford you the luxury of being one.”

“What do you mean?”

“The war has been mainly fought on Mocnejsi soil in recent years. Our boarders have held strong against invasions. Unless something goes horribly wrong suddenly, it would take a long time for the main conflict to get here. The only real threat in the castle would be assassins sent after me personally.”

“Right,” Virgil said. There was an awkward pause in conversation before he spoke again. “You’re winning the war then?” he asked.

“Something could always happen,” Thomas said, “but for the most part, yes, we have quite the advantage right now.”

“Oh,” Virgil said.

Thomas shook his head as they were coming up to a narrowing of the path. “Anyway, today is a day to not think about war. Today we’re going to have a lovely picnic and do some bird watching.”

“Right,” Virgil agreed from behind Thomas as Bella took the lead (to Mr. Apples discontent.)

When the path widened again, Thomas did his best to direct the topic to lighter subjects and soon they made it to the cliffs.

Chapter 57 (Virgil)

Virgil had never been to a picnic. At least, that’s what Patton had informed him when Virgil had described his past experiences of eating outdoors. Logan had agreed even though he’d admitted that the definition of “picnic” was only eating a pre-packaged meal outdoors which Virgil had done plenty of times.

From what Virgil could tell, the main difference was just how much stuff one brought to a picnic.

In addition to the basket full of food (that Virgil still hadn’t gotten to look in yet), the king had brought a large soft quilt that he had Logan and Virgil spread out on the ground for them all to sit on.

Patton and Logan had also packed some things themselves to bring along. Logan had brought along a book to read, and Patton had brought along a board game (thankfully not checkers but something Virgil did not recognize). Virgil hadn’t brought anything (except for the fire knife he was definitely not supposed to have and was definitely not letting the king see) because he hadn’t known he was supposed to bring things. He wouldn’t have known what to bring anyway.

The blanket was soft and a much better alternative to sitting on the ground, especially because, while there was grass at the top of The Cliffs, there were also a good number of rocks.

The king set the picnic basket in the middle of the blanket once it was spread out and then lowered himself down to sit on one side. Patton quickly followed him, already fiddling with some of his board game pieces, though he wasn’t setting it up yet. Virgil highly doubted that Logan was going to be allowed to read his book unless Patton eventually got bored of the game.

However, they would, hopefully, be allowed to make use of the basket the king had brought along.

Virgil followed the king and Patton’s lead and got to his knees on the blanket across the picnic basket from the king. He peered at the basket curiously.

He didn’t quite know what picnic food was, but Patton had told them they’d be getting ‘picnic food’ and he was very curious about what that meant.

King Thomas smiled at him. “Let’s see what Patton’s mom packed us, huh?” He reached for the basket and flipped it open as Logan sat next to Virgil. “There is a lot more food than usual in here,” the king said, sounding amused. “Let’s see.”

He began to pull out packaged food and glanced in each package to identify it before setting it out.

“We have a few types of mini sandwiches,” he said, putting them down, “and some pasta salad.” He set down the bowl.

“We also have… er something else.” He showed it to Logan.

“They’re hot cauliflower bites,” Logan said instantly upon seeing them. Virgil perked up in excitement. That was one of his favorite foods.

“Ah,” King Thomas said, but shrugged and set it down. “We also have two desserts apparently: cookies and mini apple pies. That last one’s a bit extra for a picnic.”

“They’re very good,” Virgil said happily.

“And we also have.” King Thomas paused, looking confused. “Chicken alfredo?”

“Yes!” Virgil said.

“Why do we have chicken alfredo for a picnic?”

“It’s a Virgil picnic,” Logan groaned. “She packed us a Virgil picnic.”

“Hey, at least momma sent us something too,” Patton said.

“I think I’ll stick to sandwiches for today,” King Thomas said. He looked at Patton and Logan. “Do either of you want…?”

“No,” Logan said. Patton shook his head.

The king nodded and offered the entire covered bowl of chicken alfredo to Virgil. “Here, this one’s yours,” he said.

“Really?” Virgil asked tentatively. It wasn’t exactly strange for people here to offer him food, and he’d expected and anticipated getting to eat on this venture, but the king of the country offering him an entire bowl of his favorite food was something else.

“It’s not really my idea of a picnic food and you seem excited for it,” King Thomas said with a warm smile, still holding it out.

Virgil took it reverently. Despite the time it had taken to get to the cliffs, the bottom of the container was still warm. Virgil assumed it was one of the heating spells the kitchen sometimes used.

“Thanks,” Virgil said, setting it in his lap.

“Of course, Virgil,” the king said.

The bowl was enough for four people to have a little bit, but for one person it was a lot. Still, Virgil was offered a little of every other food in the picnic basket (and he ate a good number of the hot cauliflower bites).

“Where do you put all of that?” the king asked when Virgil finished polishing off the chicken alfredo bowl.

Everyone else seemed to have finished eating long before Virgil, though Patton still had a small plate of grapes, and he occasionally popped one in his mouth. King Thomas was currently setting up the board game they’d brought on the blanket between all of them.

Virgil shrugged in answer to his question. “It’s good,” he said, “and I don’t want to waste any of it.”

“You know we can just take the leftovers back to the castle and eat them later,” King Thomas said. “You don’t have to eat it all now.”

Virgil just shrugged again, watching as the king set out a group of 8 figures on the board.

“Here, which character do you want to be?” the king asked Virgil, gesturing at the group of figures. Virgil had not noticed the figures were different at first glance. They were all copper colored and about the size of his thumb, but they had slightly different shapes. He squinted at them each carefully, finding they all looked like people, but with different clothing. Some worse pants and some skirts, a few had hats, and one was even carrying a book.

After a few moments, he pointed at one that looked like it had vines wrapped around its arms and was wearing a floppy hat that almost covered its eyes.

“That’s the druid,” King Thomas told him with a grin. “Good choice, and luckily not one that anyone usually fights over.” He glanced at Logan who didn’t react to his father’s gaze. He just plucked the figure clutching the book off the board for himself.

Patton and the king picked pieces for themselves. Patton picked one with an apron that kind of reminded Virgil of his mom and the king picked one that was in a suit of armor before putting the other 4 figures away.

Unlike checkers, this game wasn’t just for two people, and so no one had to sit watching people play while bored out of their mind.

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They played a practice round so Virgil could figure out how the game worked, though honestly it wasn’t that complicated, so it wasn’t really necessary.

The theme of the game was all about stealing. They were supposed to steal special tokens from other players as well as characters in the game and the first person with 20 tokens won.

The other three players argued that stealing was not the point and not the main mechanism of the game, but considering Virgil was consistently winning the entire time, he would argue they were just playing it wrong. He managed to collect 20 tokens before anyone else. In second place at this time was Logan with 9 tokens.

Logan insisted on continuing to play the game to determine 2nd and 3rd place, so Virgil ended up watching them play for a bit. Virgil didn’t mind sitting and watching other people play this game, mostly because he still had the joy of victory running in his veins.

Thomas was definitely going to lose, he noted. He kept wasting his money feeding the nonplayer characters who lived on his lands. Virgil didn’t mention this faulty strategy to him in case Virgil ever played him again.

When Logan took too long thinking about his next move, Virgil took in their surroundings.

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He’d been a bit too distracted by the prospect of food and then trying to understand (and then win) the game to truly take in The Cliffs. They were settled a good distance away from the cliffside but Virgil could still see how quickly the edge dropped off. He couldn’t see the large river he was told was at its base from where he was sitting, but he did see a few of the promised wild birds (including doves) flying around. The king had promised they’d bird watch for a bit, and Virgil figured that would happen after the game was over.

A cool spring breeze brushed across Virgil’s face, and he put his hand in his hoodie pockets to warm them. Instead, his fingers hit something icy cold.

For a moment, he didn’t remember what it was. The crescent shape of it was familiar when he put his hand over it, but he had never felt it cold before.

It was the protection charm: the first charm Virgil had ever made with Logan so many months ago. It was meant to ward off small threats as well as warn you about larger threats by changing temperature…

It had always been warm.

“What?” Patton asked, having noticed Virgil suddenly tense. Virgil, despite how he drilled into his friend’s heads to stay alert had gone soft. He’d let himself be distracted by a full belly and warm blankets and fun games.

He didn’t answer Patton. He filtered the other boy’s worried face out as well as Logan’s face as he glanced at him and the king’s still focused on the game for now. He filtered out the picnic blanket and smell of food still lingering in the air and the vine covered figure set in the middle of the board on the winner’s space. He filtered out the sound of the breeze and the breath of his companions and the distant chirping of birds.

And he heard a whoosh.

Chapter 58 (Patton)

If Patton hadn’t already been looking, he probably wouldn’t have had any idea what happened.

Everything had been fine. Virgil had been sitting cross legged, idly watching the conclusion of the game they’d been playing when his posture had suddenly changed. Patton had looked over at him only to see an expression on his face he didn’t recognize, but it didn’t seem good.

“What?” Patton had asked, but the question didn’t seem to register to Virgil.

Logan had glanced up confused and also noticed Virgil’s face. He’d just opened his mouth to also ask what was going on when chaos descended.

Virgil was suddenly moving, crashing into King Thomas who hadn’t even looked up to see something was wrong at that point. Patton realized after the fact that Virgil had swiped up the board of the game they’d been playing as he jumped over it, the pieces previously stacked on it scattering all over the blanket. There were three thumps as some things hit the thick board, imbedding themselves into the surface.

When Virgil discarded the board in favor of the picnic basket, Patton saw there were small darts in it oozing a dark black liquid. The parts of the board they touched were dissolving, the grass under the new holes beginning to wilt rapidly.

Logan seemed to notice the oozing liquid the same moment Patton did and was quicker to realize what it was. He grabbed Patton’s arm and yanked him away from the board so hard he almost dislocated Patton’s shoulder, not that Patton was too worried about that. He scrambled away from it when he realized what it must be himself.

He could hear the sound of glassware smashing above them. Logan and Patton had rolled off the blanket in their quest to get away from the smoldering, melting board and apparently Virgil had pulled the picnic blanket fully over the king at some point.

Virgil himself was now gone from where he’d been the last time Patton had looked and it took him a moment to figure out where the boy had gone. The person who had been shooting poisoned darts at them had been drawn out of the wooded area they’d been hiding in by Virgil’s attacks.

They were cloaked in dark green from head to toe, explaining why they’d been difficult to spot when they were in the woods. Whoever they were, they were significantly larger than Virgil, possibly an actual adult or almost adult assassin, but they were also clearly a long distant fighter. They had not been expecting resistance let alone resistance in the form of a so quick he was almost a blur fellow assassin.

They had a bow strapped to their back, but they hadn’t had a chance to get it. Instead, they were trying to fight Virgil off with an arrow they’d managed to draw from their quiver. Virgil, meanwhile was lunging at them with a broken piece of plate in one hand and the picnic basket in the other.

Virgil dodged out of the way of the arrow striking towards his arm, though Patton didn’t think it was because he was afraid of getting scratched by an arrow, but because it may also be poisoned tipped.

Virgil was distracted by dodging for long enough that the older assassin managed to hit him in the face with the arm not holding the arrow.

He went down, but he took the older assassin with him, sweeping their legs out from under them. Patton hadn’t noticed (his mind working too slow for how fast they were moving) but they were on a slight incline. They went rolling in a tangle of arms and legs towards the edge of the cliff and skidded to a stop only a few feet away.

Virgil ended up on top, his piece of broken plate in his hands. He moved to slash it across the other assassin’s throat and managed to draw blood, but the assassin’s fist came out to shove at Virgil’s chest at just the right moment, causing the strike to veer off course and slice across the assassin’s cheek instead.

Virgil jerked to the side to avoid a second strike to the chest and went back for another slash. The other assassin rolled to the side as he did and the plate only managed to nick their ear. The point of the motion hadn’t been to dodge, however. They were lunging for the arrow they’d dropped a few feet away while they’d rolled. They grabbed it with their right hand and in the same motion stabbed back behind them towards Virgil.

Virgil rolled to avoid the hit, already slashing up with his plate as the assassin turned back towards him.

87295

He didn’t hit them this time but his swipe managed to stop them from stabbing him when they tried again. They shoved themselves back to avoid Virgil’s swing, putting a bit of distance between them. Both of them managed to make it to their feet during the momentary reprieve, but both also stayed crouched, eyeing each other.

They both lunged towards each other at the same time. The assassin went for a stab to Virgil’s neck with the arrow, but Virgil was already ducking down. This time, he wasn’t going for a kill shot. He grabbed the assassin’s wrist and at the same time drove his piece of plate into the assassin’s arm, slicing down from the elbow to wrist. The assassin spoke for the first time, cursing in a language Patton didn’t recognize as they were forced to drop their arrow.

Virgil took a moment to kick the arrow away from the assassin and it ended up falling off the cliff.

However, this pause gave the assassin enough time to regroup. Despite their arm bleeding profusely, they still decided to use it to backhand Virgil across the face viciously, leaving a long line of their own blood across his face.

Virgil lunged back forward, but the assassin was able to get a leg between them, kicking Virgil squarely in the chest and sending him flying back a few feet parallel to the cliff’s edge.

The assassin went to grab their bow and another arrow from the quiver still strapped to their shoulder.

Virgil, however, apparently went for another weapon too and he was much faster with a knife than any archer. A knife appeared in his hand, having been strapped to his ankle and was embedded into the assassin’s chest before they could even full remove an arrow from their quiver.

The assassin promptly burst into flames, fire catching their clothes (and from the smell of it their skin) ablaze. Panicked and dying, they stumbled two steps to the side. They stepped directly off the cliff.

There was a second of silence. They heard the sound of the body hitting the ground far below and then the flap of wings and screeching as birds below fled from the startling sound (and possible soon to be forest fire).

…

“Uh, Virgil?” King Thomas said. He had managed to get the blanket off his head at some point. When, Patton didn’t know, but seeing any of it was probably enough.

Oopsie.

Chapter 59 (Logan)

Logan and Patton had been useless during the fight, but that may have been for the best. Considering the skill differential when it came to fighting (and that differential had never been as clear as it was in this moment), that was probably for the best. They likely would have just gotten in the way.

The moment Logan’s father spoke, however, they both jumped into action.

They both knew their jobs in a situation like this. Patton pushed himself up to his feet ungracefully and all but sprinted over towards Virgil. Logan, on the other hand stood to face his father, putting himself very purposefully between the man who had no idea what was going on yet and the boy who was two seconds away from remembering what was going on.

“I can explain,” Logan said.

His father was still sitting on the ground. “You can explain,” he said slowly, “how Virgil just threw an assassin off a cliff.”

Logan thought pointing out that Virgil hadn’t thrown anyone off a cliff and instead had set them on fire with a magical knife causing them to walk off a cliff, would not be useful in this moment. He glanced back briefly towards where Virgil and Patton were standing and then turned back to his father. “Yes.”

“And what would that explanation be?”

Before even starting to speak, Logan found himself making large dramatic ‘explaining hand gestures’ that he’d thought he’d long since trained himself out of. When he was younger and in trouble, he always used to give himself away as guilty by being overly expressive with his hands (and arms).

“So,” Logan said. He was still not able to stop the hand motions. “Virgil was an assassin. He came here to kill you last fall, but he accidently went to the wrong room in the royal wing. Patton and I were having a slumber party and caught him in the act. Then we reformed him and now he doesn’t kill people anymore.” He paused and glanced back, remembering the body that had just toppled off the cliff. “Er, uh, he doesn’t kill people who haven’t shot poisoned darts at people recently anymore?”

“What?”

“Look,” Logan said. “You’re going to have to tell him you’re not going to execute him soon. Patton can only keep him from bolting for so long.”

[corvuscorona]

I want to talk about ff5 some more before we get too far into 6 & I become too full of Things To Say about it instead. spoilerz. I need to type sentences about narrative right NOW!!!

my wife mentioned 'less is more'-type writing in that post from the other day. you know what makes a really perfect awesome Genuinely Impressive example as to the way 5 does that? it's a perfect story, so the main villain would be a good place to look, I bet.

first: here is what I remember being told, textually, about exdeath, in the video game.

powerful evil warlock

exists because a tree had too many evil things sealed inside of it

can be put in a box on the high shelf temporarily, but he Will inevitably get out

wants the power of the void, to do various generalized things with

is overtaken by the void in the final battle

once overtaken by the void, the thing that he wants is to stop everything from existing, but mostly himself.

those are all of the items on the list. not a complicated guy. these 6 entire Things About Him, however, were selected by a genius, w/ a precision sniper rifle, very steady hands, & perfect technique. look:

the character I am about to reveal to you, represents Bad. and he has powers.

"where did he come from what's his problem" well, mankind did 'ritual of ignore my problems so I can pretend they went away' one too many times & entropy started taking it personally

(now that it has grown legs, btw, this walking problem has the means To Make Literal the idea that those types of things will come back to bite you in the end.)

having learned to demand that The Collective You contend with him, his goal is to Have More Power Over You. Being a nigh-unkillable Dark Warlock is NOT enough.

"so uh once he has that, what will he do next? like what does he want to use that power to actually do" ..............hey yeah that's a good qu

(at the end of the game, exdeath goes "haha I got the power!" & then, while the final boss fight is in the middle of happening, is like "oh actually the power got me! fuuuuck!" + the only context which follows this is a couple textboxes that say "hi I am The New Exdeath and I don't think any of this shit should exist actually." that is literally it.)

this is done sooooo elegantly. it makes so MANY other, similar stories look like Baby School by comparison. they don't glue human-readable motivations onto him. Furthermore I was not told that "see, dorgann knew that it was wrong to ignore such a big problem, but he was unwilling to face the many smaller problems that he would kick up on the path towards truly metabolizing and solving it, and now that he is dead the problem is back, as he surely knew deep in his heart that it would be, and so it is up to you to break that cycle." they do not. use. the word. "resentment."

game just. goes LOOK at our evil guy. here is what made him. here is what the previous generation did about him. here's that not working. ok? great. thank you. kill him now?

they let his motivations be total bobo nonsense.

BECAUSE!!!!!! THEY LITERALLY DO NOT MATTER. this ain't ABOUT him!! man!!! he's a metaphor that happens to know how to go "mwa-hahaha." the things that the story is saying are all routed through him, but the story is About everyone else. Exdeath is a decisively-designed embodiment of something the narrative proposes as a natural law: disengaging from difficult problems invites & perpetuates disengagement from the rest of life also. there is no separating these things—this is never once written out in a Text Box, but the game still states w/ a delightful definitiveness that doing The Work Of Maintenance on this world is perfectly equivalent to living in it.

[kumoriyami-xiuzhen]

Hakuoki Drama CD - Shimabara Disturbance Track 2 English translation

Heya, I know this is late... but my eye problems continued until the symptoms got better last Tuesday, on April 2nd. Long story short, I had difficulties keeping my eyes physically open without them feeling irritated or hurting after 6pm, which really cut away my time to translate for the past two weeks as I normally translate in the evenings, which didn’t help when I was actively cutting back on my screen time while that happened. Overall, my symptoms seemed to have cleared up for the most part since I started using Hypochlorous acid as recommended by my optometrist and I have thankfully stopped needing to walk around with a damp towel everywhere for relief. 

Anyway, I decided to post these as soon as I finish them to make up for the post-less March... I’m about a quarter way through track 3 (it and track 4 are over 10min), but I already have 5 and 6 done so it hopefully won’t take too long? I’m really sorry bout that!

Also, for various reasons, I've decided not to tag the characters for the rest of this drama for the time being. I'll tag them a week after I post the last track... if I remember to. 

Anyway, enjoy! 

Hakuoki Drama CD - Shimabara Disturbance Track 2: How to use reward money

Translation by KumoriYami

(pacing footsteps)

Saito: There's no need to worry about this myself, I'll just ask Yukimura directly. Thinking this, I came to her room... 

But, how do I say this? Isn't it strange to suddenly ask “do you want a a woman’s kimono?” Or should I indirectly ask about what can be done to make her feel happy? No, but not only that there’s....

(door opens)

Saito: Ah! Yu-Yukimura! No, I wasn't doing anything. Anyway, can I have some of your time? There's something I wanted to tell you...

Saito: Nn, then, excuse me.

(door closes)

Saito: Yukimura, um, ermhm... What I'm going to say isn't important, no, not only is it a trivial matter that doesn't matter at all... Um.... 

(footsteps from outside)

Harada: Hey, Chizuru, you there?

(Door opens)

Harada: Fu... Sorry, looks like you already have a guest? 

Saito: No, it's fine, you have something to speak about?

Harada: Ah, yeah, just now, what was her name? That girl named Sen came to visit. I'm sorry, Saito, can you bring Chizuru to see her? I have to go on patrol next.

Saito: I understand. Yukimura, let’s go.

..................

Sen: Chizuru-chan, long time no see! But it actually hasn't been that long. I wanted to see Chizuru-chan quite a bit. The Shinsengumi haven't been bullying you, right? Are you okay?

Saito:....

Sen: Everyone's been treating you well? Really? You're not saying that because of this person next to you?

Saito: I’m sorry, I can’t leave.

Sen: I know that, I just wanted to hear her honest words.

Saito: Uh, hn....  

Sen: In any case, Chizuru-chan can't lie. I still remember when you came to Shimabara. Truly, you're really someone who shines the more you get polished! It was really trough after that time. There were a lot of people asking who that geisha was. Hey, would you like to come again? Kimigiku would also like to see you again, you can wear a beautiful kimono again!

Saito: A beautiful kimono... 

[recalling]

(Heisuke:  If I had a lot of money, I would give Chizuru a beautiful kimono. She was very happy!)

Saito: Sure enough, Yukimura, she...

Sen: Well, please think it about it! You're always welcome!... Now that I've seen Chizuru-can's smile, I should be going back soon. 

Saito: Ah, uh... is that okay?

Sen: Yes, although I am a bit reluctant to, I really just came to see her today. Next time, let's go out for tea and chat! See you, Chizuru-chan!

(Sen gets up[?])

Saito: Wait, it's dangerous for a woman to go/leave alone. I'll accompany you.

Sen:, No it's okay. I grew up and Kyoto and will be taking a safe road/route back. 

Saito: I have something I'd like to talk to you about. Could I please escort you? 

Sen: Something to say to me?  I understand. Then, let’s go. 

..............

(walking on a road)

Sen: How long will it be before you are all willing to let Chizuru-chan go/When will you be releasing Chizuru-chan?

Saito: That’s abrupt. 

Sen: She's confined at your headquarters from morning til night, day after day, and even though she's a young woman, she can't even dress up, She's obviously worried about her father's situation but can't go looking for him. She must be feeling very anxious.

Saito:.....

Sen: Do you understand how cruel you all are to her?

Saito; We have our own circumstances. 

Sen:....

Saito: But, what you say is understandable. 

Sen: Eh.

Saito: I did say that I wanted to speak to you. I just want Yukimura to be able to dress in a beautiful kimono/I want Yukimura to wear a beautiful kimono [can be interpreted either way]. Would it be possible to borrow a room at Shimabara? If she goes there, she’ll be able to act as a woman as she wishes to

Sen: Ah, Chizuru-chan will definitely be happy! Then, leave all the preparations to me! I'll bring out our most beautiful kimono! I also have to tell Kimigiku about this too!

Saito: No, you don't have to go to that extent. Just prepare a room...

Sen: Just escort me here. I have to go back and start preparing...!

Saito: Hey, wait... listen to what I have to say... 

(their voices fade)

Kazama: I see. It looks like this will be very interesting...

----------

My personal bias says that Saito never lets go of Chizuru cuz they get married. xD

[pondhue]

honestly having a hard time trying to justify watching s8. we beat rick prime. imitation voice actors just feel Wrong to my autistic ass (tho i support them firing JR obviously). what do we hope for? more Diane backstory that will make her being dead/gone across the multiverse all the more painful? the birdperson child? am i a poser that "classic adventures" aren't enough for me?

edit: sorry in advance that this response is kind of long. i'm gonna be tagging it as #long text and #longtext for easy muting aaahhhh

anon your concerns are super valid. like, if you find yourself having a hard time, there's no harm in taking a step back and waiting to see what happens before giving it a chance. and if you still can't justify it for whatever reason, that's fine too. considering what Rick and Morty is and what it has become, it's completely understandable. i don't think you're a poser for feeling the way you do. i personally prefer that they steer from that too, and/or if they chose to still explore that route even now, i hope it's in a way where they deconstruct the formula rather than uphold it. Rick and Morty is the type of show where it challenges the viewer, but it also has the potential, i'd like to think, to challenge the people working on the show themselves (even more-so than it already has from what i've read/watched/heard). there's no harm in having expectations and going "i've had enough of this thing, i want something new". personally, i just see it as you being critical of media you consume and enjoy, which i don't think should ever be seen as a bad thing. if anything i think it should be practiced more (within reason of course). and i've also been asking the same questions to myself. i also have no clue what to hope for either, and after ruminating on it, i'm simply trying to embrace that maybe there's nothing to justify in terms of choosing to watch it or not. again, you could either wait until it comes out and give it a chance, or not! i'm choosing view s8 as all of us literally "sitting in the back seat of the ship" and being along for the ride, embracing the chaos. that's how it felt for me in the second half of season 7. it felt as if they were considering viewers who genuinely LOVE the show and just want it to get better (which could be cope on my part!! idk!!!) i think with how s6 went and especially with how s7 ended, i'd be more surprised if they went back to the classic formula (pre, like, season 5) after EVERYTHING that's happened thus far. not to mention that they're locked in with adult swim for like, many more seasons so i'm sure the concerns you're expressing here are definitely something they've considered and are likely now even more-so with the traction the show has been getting again. i truly want to believe that the minds behind R&M do not want to let themselves or the show itself grow complacent (again, could be cope and me just being really mentally ill about this show). sorry if this is incoherent/rambly/not what you were expecting when sending this ask. you really made me think more about all this though and i hope this answer suffices!

[greatwesternway]

🔥 a character the fandom is loving wrong

Not to be all "I'm the best at Duck" about it, but frankly I am.

A thing I see a lot of people do with him is focus on his rigidity. That is, his unwavering devotion to the Great Western Way. And by extension, I think a lot people relate to this and project that Duck's comfort zone lies in strict adherence to schedules and routes and plans and all of those things being immutable and unchanging.

But the thing is, Duck's not actually rigid that way at all. A TTTE character who more aptly fits that description is Bruno, from the reboot series. (Which, I've only seen two episodes of thus far, but it gets the same kinda heat the CGI does so I am looking at haters askance the same way...)

Duck's quite willing to yield to new ideas and shift to new plans. Like, "School of Duck" is pretty much about this idea that Duck can be given one task and spend his time trying to accomplish it, only to switch to a better and more efficient plan when presented with one or when one occurs to him. A truly rigid character would never have thought of turning Dexter into a temporary schoolhouse because a truly rigid character wouldn't think outside and beyond the given perimeters of the task at hand.

And in "The Thomas Way", he acquiesces to Thomas heading up the train, even though Hatt's order was for Duck to, once he knows Thomas isn't bullshitting him again. It wasn't that Thomas wanted to deviate from the plan originally that Duck was so against; it's that the deviation was just Thomas wanting to fuck around while Harold was in disrepair. Once Thomas was leading the way with the purpose of avoiding bridges and tunnels, which is in line with the Great Western way of delivering Harold directly and promptly to the Search and Rescue, they probably ended up doing all kindsa incidental sightseeing.

The premise of "The Thomas Way" itself is that the day's plans have changed unexpectedly. Duck was surely supposed to be doing something else when he was asked to report to Callan Castle. He is not bothered a bit by this change in plans though; indeed, he's even reassuring Harold that everything will be set right shortly.

The reason Duck is so up and on about the Great Western Way is simply that his old railway worked out how shit should be done most efficiently and to do it any other way is just to waste of time reinventing wheels. In that regard, Duck's very flexible so long as the overarching Way is being observed.

Also, speaking of wasting time, I sometimes see Duck as being characterized chronically late for things and rushing about. I thiiink this comes from the line "Duck liked to bustle about", which does not mean he's harriedly scurrying about all the time, but that he likes to be busy and do his work at a lively 45 mph clip. I don't think Duck's ever rushed anywhere outside of "A Clean Shave". This is a guy who's got his shit on lock; he literally knows exactly when all his trains are leaving the station and how long they'll take to arrive and how much time in between jobs that he has to chill in the shed telling Henry about all the tenders he's accumulated (and how many tenders that is and also casually allotting time in his schedule to make sure they're shunted and coupled up for Henry when he arrives that evening to collect them).

Duck's never late for anything unless he runs himself into a puddle.

[daybringersol]

i think the reason that i love william wisp so much is that hes literally me when i was younger, like back when i was depressed, self-hating and refused to try cuz i was scared. i felt hollow, like there wasnt any personality left under that pain. at some point, the idea of getting better felt terrifying to me, cuz i didnt know what id find under all the pain and trauma, if there was even anything left under there.

// JRWI prime defenders S2 EP39 spoilers, tw for psychosis, derealisation and dissociation mentions

with this new era of william wisp, i wouldnt be surprised if I ended up relating to him even more. I think theres a lot of directions he could go towards, personality-wise, and even if he ends up not going the same route as me, i know that the idea itself of having to find yourself after so long spent hiding is gonna resonate with me no matter what.

another thing i find interesting is that i also got that moment when i realised that everything i wanted was at my fingertips, which was the catalyst for me eventually getting better. it was during my psychosis, this friend of mine (who i held in very high regards) ended up telling me off, i dont remember for what exactly (psychosis does funny things to your brain) but it was something related to me not trying to get better. they said something that triggered my derealisation, which of course, sent me into a derealisation/dissociation spiral for some months, and basically straight to rock bottom. of course, i wouldnt recommend that you do that for your friends who are going through similar stuff, im pretty sure i could have died multiple times back then, but in the end, its what pulled me through to where im at now.

i dont remember everything, but basically, the thought process was : nothing is real, its all made up in my head, so theres nothing stopping me from imagining a world where im happy and living in it. i wrote a poem about it, not my best work for obvious reasons, but theres still something to it i think. here :

I want to see tomorrow

I’ve been wishing my whole life for the strength to say "I'm doing great!" when someone ask me how I am

I've always had that strength

I can just say it

It's just 4 words

I

am

Doing

Great

Easy, see?

It doesn't matter if it's false

Or if the tone of my voice was off

Or if the way my eyes naturally met the ground as soon as you entered the room

It doesn't matter

So what, if I'm lying?

In a fraction of second, I might not be lying anymore

No

In a fraction of second, I won't be lying

I've been making planets and universes in my head since I could think

I never thought of making one where I was happy

Why should it matter if it's only in my head

My head is real, it's right there

And in the end, all the other stuff too was in my head

I can trust you

I can have friends

I can be myself

I can have my body back

I can be beautiful

Inside and out

I choose what is true and what is not

It doesn't matter if I'm lying to you

It doesn't matter if I'm lying to myself

In the end, we could be both only in my head

It wouldn't matter

So yeah

I want to see tomorrow

Even if it's raining and even if I don't even notice it's raining

I'll just close my eyes, and I'll have everything I've always wanted

so yea ! even if of course the superpower thing and coming back to life thing isnt very realistic, as a metaphor, williams story makes complete sense. i felt dead, back then. and i truly feel like a different person now.

and im looking forward to see where the story takes him in the future !

[crowtrobotx]

Also i noticed that Wintersberg lovers create similar posts. "Heisenberg has eyes only for Ethan! Why the hell do you think he would fuck you?" Oh boy…There are so much aggression, disgust and negativity in one post towards the people who just don't share their "Heisenberg loves Ethan" headcanon! That's just unbelievable. If, for example, i posted something like "General Wintersberg headcanons: Heisenberg leaves Ethan for a woman" those unhinged folks' asses would get exploded in a second. I am sure they wouldn't like that. (And then i would just go "Hey come on, guys! Why are you getting offended? I'm just making fun of something you like! It's just a joke! It's not that serious!) But i think none of us should do that. None of us should copy their moronic deed! Instead let's just leave them alone and keep enjoying ourselves because we have every right to.

(Sorry I completely left this in drafts and forgot about it bc I have the object permanence of a baby)

I totally agree on both points! As I’ve mentioned before, if I posted my less than positive takes on that ship - which, ironically, almost all stem from my interactions with the actual fucking people who are over the top feral about it and have less to do with its actual content - in the main tags I would get swarmed by people rightfully upset that I’d deliberately tried to ruin their fun. But for some reason it’s “just harmless complaining/a joke” when the opposite happens. How pathetic.

I truly don’t get how these people can post (sometimes repeatedly) about how women are wrong and stupid for having hobbies and then respond when called out like “🙄 saying someone is gay isn’t an attack on women, wow, you must be a crazy person who needs to log off.” My brother in Christ, you are the one posting about how angry it makes you that the girls are touching “your” toys. Trying to pull the Uno reverse card like “actually I’m not a misogynist, you’re homophobic and delusional for being hurt that I said something nasty directed at you” is not the flex you think it is and YOU might indeed be the one who needs to log off if you’re instigating this shit.

Anyway. Yeah, as tough as it is for my Scorpio ass to not launch myself at these people for being dipshits, I am taking the route of “I’m just going to have to get more annoying in the tags and give him more girlfriends out of spite” lmao.

[archoneddzs15]

Sega Mega CD - Shining Force CD

Title: Shining Force CD / シャイニングフォースCD

Developer/Publisher: Sega / Sonic! Software Planning / Seraphic / Rit's Co. Ltd. / Winds / Twofive

Release date: 22 July 1994

Catalogue No.: G-6036

Genre: Strategy RPG

If there is one single, great tragedy with Shining Force CD, it’s that so few people ever actually got around to playing it. At the time, the series was just getting on its feet, and the Mega CD itself was still struggling to obtain some decent sales, which it may or may not have ever gotten (depending on who you ask). This combination of sad factors led many to overlook one of the better strategy/RPGs out there. Let me echo the voices of those who stand behind this forgotten classic and sing the praises of everything Shining! Ok, maybe that’s bringing it on a bit thick; you get the picture though. Why, just look at what Sega gave us. Both Game Gear carts (Shining Force Gaiden [1992] and Shining Force Gaiden II [1993]) together on a single disc, with an extra exclusive battle. Four books, 53 battles. How can you not like this? I’ve owned and beaten all the games in this series, and after going back to it, I gained a new respect for it. Not everything is to my liking, I can say that flat out, but the package as a whole is a winner and one solid ride.

What’s not to like? For one thing, the treasured town dynamic has been removed. No longer can you explore and chat with villagers. The game has basically been reduced to the fighting sequences, with some story tossed in for good measure. The plot is now mostly told on the field, and it at least still maintains the same sense of urgency and tongue-in-cheek doomsday atmosphere that the others had. Let’s be honest, none of the bad guys in the Shining Force games have ever been truly menacing, and the CD installment doesn’t detour from that at all.

The adventure opens twenty years after the conclusion of the first Shining Force, with the land of Gardiana having been rebuilt by Luke, Lowe, and Ken; all of whom now serve Queen Anri. Ambassadors from Cypress (not the island nation, mind you) present a gift to her that explodes into a fog upon opening, sending Anri into a deep sleep. A marvelous quest to save her ensues, which culminates with the start of the second chapter, seamlessly attached. Book II’s end in turn sets the stage for the awesome final battle, in which you choose twelve warriors from both forces to end things once and for all (if you meet certain criteria, of course). Did I mention that the main heroes of both books are usable? A neat little touch, that.

Thankfully, it plays as solid as its other 16-bit brethren. I’m not, however, going to get all technical about the gameplay. It’s a Shining Force game, and I’m sure that you’ve played at least one of the other three entries available. Nothing’s changed here, and fans will be able to dive right in without even reading the manual. Newcomers should have little trouble, although they may be slightly turned off by the constant stream of battles that constitute the bulk of the game.

Let me be honest with myself for a second and not let my love for this franchise cloud my judgment. I am more than a bit disappointed by the presentation. Sure, the visuals are a huge leg up from the Game Gear, but when you already have two games done using the same engine, how hard is that? The battles are as beautiful as ever, but where are my animated cut scenes? Moreover, if this is a CD game, why aren’t there any towns? The exploration dynamic could really have been taken to a whole other level here, and it’s a shame that the developers took the short route. Switching between a shop and my HQ just wasn’t the same, and I really did miss being able to wander around. I bet Camelot knew this too and tried to make up for it with Shining Force III Scenarios 1, 2, and 3 on the Saturn.

One thing’s for sure, the soundtrack is simply GODLY. Sega knew how to take advantage of red book audio on the CD system, and this title is no exception. OST-worthy and beautifully scored, the music practically carries the game by itself. It’s by far one of my favorite soundtracks on the Mega CD.

Another plus is the continuation of the Shining tradition of new and hidden characters. As you progress through the game, new heroes will join you, and there’s a bunch that you actually have to hunt down. This has always been cool because it gives a little more replay value to the package and ensures that you won’t complete the whole thing the same way twice.

Well friends, there you have it. A great adventure that was unfortunately given the cold shoulder for too long, is now commanding upwards of $70 on eBay. That’s the price for learning things late I guess, and although Shining Force CD isn’t perfect, it’s so good you’ll forgive its flaws and revel in its strengths. The quest is long, and the characters are lovable, which should be enough to make it worth some of your time. Every Shining fan needs this one, plain and simple.

[headcanonsandcupcakes]

My Thoughts on NATLA :)

Sorry that this wasnt posted yesterday as I had promised, but life got in the way and I wanted to write it without feeling rushed. And I want to preface this by saying that I am not the biggest blogger on ATLA, nor does my opinion truly matter, however, ATLA has meant a lot to me since I discovered it 4 years ago. It is the reason I reopened up my Tumblr since not touching it since 2015 (I know, I'm old). In addition to this, I have also been closely following the live action coverage since 2020 (thanks to the Avatarist on YouTube), so I feel the need to say something about it.

Now with that out of the way, below are my thoughts: The biggest criticism that I have seen is that the plot felt rushed, and most people that are using this point to criticize the live action are not noting that the show was only greenlit 8 episodes. In addition, the show was only greenlit for 1 season, making the writing process incredibly hard to make sure that fans were happy but also getting the main points across. Book 1 of ATLA appears to be considered the weakest season by many of the fans. And as someone who started watching this show back in 2020, I completely agree. There were many filler episodes, and there were some writing aspects that appeared to be all over the place. It should also be noted that Bryke was unsure if they would get another season, so they also had the same struggles as the NATLA showrunner/writers had. However, it appears as though many are holding the live action to a higher standard than the cartoon instead of realizing that both had their challenges. Another point that seems to be criticized is the acting. I think people seem to forget that most of the main cast were kids/teenagers that did not work in many roles besides this one. So of course, we arent going to get an outstanding performance. Lastly, another point that I have seen around the internet is the argument that, "this is why the creators left". Okay, I get it, to not have the creators involved in the series could be reflected as troublesome for sure, however, I think those making this argument seem to forget that Bryke are not perfect either. For one, they executive produced the abomination that is the 2010 film, and were gassing the movie up until the movie was released and was received poorly. Additionally, they also were heavily involved in Legend of Korra and look at how that turned out. So, what do I think of the show? Well, perhaps it is because I found this show later in life and I am not blinded to the nostalgia factor, but I personally loved this adaptation. To me, the changes that were made felt so necessary in order to get the plot moving, as well as please the OG fans, and also ensure that new fans can understand the lore. I also feel like they did capture most of Book 1 and you can tell that they cared about the source material. I also went into watching this with a very open mind and understood that this was an adaptation, not a carbon copy (which was constantly hammered by the showrunner multiple times but still seems to surprise people). I also feel as though you cant make everyone happy. The best analogy I can think of is the Lion King live action. People were upset that it was a 1:1 adaptation and didnt make any changes. I cannot help but think that if NATLA did take that 1:1 route, people would be upset that no changes were made. The SFX and the fan service that was given to us was so good, and it was nice to see Koizilla in live action. Now, I wont say the show was perfect. There were some clunky aspects and the dialogue could use some work, but to me I think they did a good job for what they were given (episode lengths and unsure of a season renewal). I think should they get a season 2 (fingers crossed), Netflix needs to give it at least 10-12 episodes. I mean, if somehow Orange is the New Black had 13 episodes for most of their seasons, why cant an exception be made for this franchise?

My favorite episode was by far episode 6. As someone whose favorite character is Zuko, I guess I'm biased, but I loved everything about this episode and the Pohuai Stronghold escape was so cool to see. I also think that Bumi's characterization made sense in this live action - I know this is a hot take but I feel like realistically, someone that has dealt with 100 years of war would be jaded and angry and hold some resentment. Again, maybe its because I am not blinded by the nostalgia but I thought it made sense. Additionally, I think it was very smart to include Azula in this version. We have to remember that Azula is a teenager just like Zuko and is manipulated by Ozai. To see her struggle and feel insecure doesnt inhibit her character to me. In fact, I think it sets the stage for when she eventually has that mental breakdown, it will make more sense and people will sympathize her more.

I know this is all over the place but I really hope we get a season 2. I think that all the criticisms aside (if you weed out the nitpicking), the NATLA team can make a great season 2.