#i'm actually going to throw myself in the ocean over this

[pmak2002]

Ow Joan but also Bob why did you have to go and be a prick 😭

really normal story i found about bob and joan (in 1984) from and a voice to sing with

[itwoodbeprefect]

inspired by my own 9-1-1 / bad buddy post, here's a bad buddy / starsky & hutch sequel about cutting ties with your past, polluting the ocean, throwing small shiny rectangular objects, etc. 🌊

[empressgetou]

YOU'RE MINE, I'M YOURS

boyfriend senku x reader

hours after both of suika and y/n who went across to shore to the island where senku and the others were supposed to be. luckily for them ryusui managed to throw suika overboard who was cleaning the docks and y/n who was nearby the kid just in time for the petrification by a second.

y/n stayed behind the island to look for senku as suika went back to the ship to check up on the others and just as night the night falls ibarra and kirisame's group came checking up on the ship making the woman worried about the poor girl on her own in the ship.

"the lab!" echoed through the island.

i recognized that voice anywhere, kohaku! senku and the others must be near. as i look up on the side of the island there they were in a gather with a few people i don't recognized, i was about to ran up to them then i saw kohaku kissing senku...

KISSING SENKU??

i was never the type to be the "im jealous" girlfriend, even before the petrification my relationship with senku is actually great than the usual couples around. that's because he never gave me a reason to over something minor. sure, i may or may not have been a little jealous over the whole marriage thing that was set up with ruri back a few months but that was in the past and now i see this? boy you better have an explanation to this too or i might cut your–

i ran fast as i could to catch up, as i can already see the mobile lab who im assuming suika managed to drive through up to the mountains. as soon as the vehicle stopped they too have stopped their tracks and managed to spot me in my place.

"y/n! you're here! you weren't petrified?" gen asked surprisingly and his eyes went to the leek head whom im not naming.

"nahh ryusui managed to throw me into the ocean just in time with suika" i laughed a little remembering a few hours ago how pissed off i was thinking he has even the audacity to throw us like we're a rock or something but im glad ryusui did managed to save us.

"kekeke somehow i had a feeling you survived that thing though i never expected you'd be here on the island" senku already on my side and had a little smirk on. oh how i wanna punch that handsome face so bad right now.

i rolled my eyes, "course i did. m'not really and idiot ya know." i smirked back.

"good job, you two!" praised senku.

we managed to get out of the villagers hair and went to the underwater cave to hide in the meantime while we prepare in infiltrating the harem and well that includes getting kohaku ready for the act.

"the ingredients are simple!"

"honey, lemon and coconut?"

"ahhh you're making a conditioner?"

"that's ten billion points for you, my dearest!" senku pointed at me as if ive won the lottery.

"you mind leaving me some for my hair?"

and then here's amaryllis having the greatest idea i never would've thought i'd come up with. but men dressing as women? specially senku? i never thought i'd see the day.

"pftt"

"yeah, yeah laugh it while you can honey. you don't know what's coming next for ya." he said while having an obvious annoyed face.

gen however pulled it off but his height was a bit much for an average girl. then there's soyuz, yeah i dont even wanna explain how he looks. and then lastly ginro, well he passed, perfection i might add.

"well that's that. obviously we know who is coming to the harem" i said as i was about to go back to the mobile lab, kohaku spoke.

"we're not done yet y/n, you're next!" and managed to pull me to her side.

"waittt! im not–"

"no buts! come on, you're a candidate yourself if i say so myself plus we could totally infiltrate the harem without a problem if both of you and me work together inside."

"ughhh nooo i don't wanna. too much workkk"

kohaku and amaryllis managed to dress up y/n nicely and while doing so senku's eyes never left her figure and her hair specially. he realized that y/n never actually leave her hair down just like before the petrification maybe because they were always busy working back at the village it would be distracting having her long wavy hair in the way, he only saw her hair down whenever she'd take a bath by the river and whenever she would sleep beside him. amaryllis also put make up on y/n and it definitely just made her even more beautiful and vibrant much to senku's pleasure. he was falling all over again.

"looking good there", he complimented

"thanks. i thought you'd never notice", y/n sarcastically said.

"been a while since i've had make up on too. does it look weird?" she asked worriedly.

"nahh you're good. you're beautiful." he said almost whispering.

"alrightyyy y/n, you're coming with us right?", kohaku asked

"huh? but i'm not really needed there right? hehe", y/n tried to convince her friend.

before y/n and her group went to the harem selection she managed to get inside the mobile lab and talked to senku.

"so i was thinking since ya' know could be a few days or weeks before we'd succeed in the infiltration but i just wanna clarify something." fiddling her hands thinking maybe she just misunderstood what kohaku did to his boyfriend.

"yeah, got something to say before you leave me here all alone?" senku joked still doing his science work.

"i saw kohaku kissed you last night." and went silent, it made y/n think maybe she was stupid to even conclude at that idea.

"ah yeah she did"

"what! why?"

"easy tiger, that was unexpected for me as well, we have to get a distraction from the enemy. gen's fault he included me."

silence again.

"but i guess that made you uncomfortable huh?" she nodded still fiddling her fingers.

he saw this and went to holding her close.

"m'sorry if it made you feel bad, i take full responsibility of how you're feeling right now. tell you what i'll give gen an earful about that and maybe after this whole infiltration thing, we spend time more together after, hmm?" trying to apologize the woman.

"mmm, i see.."

"i understand i just want to know why it had to be done." she said faintly smiling.

"m'sorry if you understood that way. there's nothing going on. m'still yours forever and always" he tried to cheer up.

she then hugged him and he immediately reciprocated. silence engulfing them once again while enjoying the company of each other.

"i love you"

"me to honey. i love you so damn much. i'm yours. okay?" reassuring her and gently pushing his lips into her sweet candy flavored ones.

masterlist

"mmm, you're mine and i'm yours" she giggled.

[balkanradfem]

When it was my last day living with the broken-bones lady as her live-in carer, and I knew I would go home the next day, I had a dream in which I was flying. But it was not my normal flying dream, this was something else.

As a kid, I would commonly dream that I could fly, but I would usually need a prop. I would need to wear my 'special green pants', or hold onto a 'magical stick', and only with it I could fly. But by the end of the dream, I would usually lose my prop, and become unable to fly, to my dismay.

As an adult, I would have dreams in which I could fly, but towards the end it would become harder to do it. At the beginning, I would find myself high in the sky, looking over the roofs of the houses, having a great time, but then next time I would try to take off, it wouldn't work every time. I would have to run and jump and even then it would only sometimes work, and it would take great effort to fly, and I could only go very low by the end, losing my confidence in my ability to fly. I would have to concede that my flying powers were temporary.

The dream I had the night before going back to freedom was insane level. I was not only flying, I was soaring. It was not 'run and jump and somehow low fly', I would push myself off of the ground and I would be a hundred feet up in a second. I was flying to the tops of mountains. I was running to the edges of the cliffs, throwing myself over them, seeing the ocean and then flinging myself up laughing. I tried to land on some rocky area and had a realization that landing on sharp rocks can actually be dangerous! I then practiced landing on the top of the mountains instead, learning to slow down and pace myself so I wouldn't hurt my feet when I landed. I was in the sky for that entire dream. I was practicing maintaining speed and landing techniques. It was the closest I will ever experience to being a bird.

I'm still thinking about that dream and how awesome that was. The views I had seen, the ocean, the mountains, reaching everything from high up in the sky. How it only kept getting better. Knowing that freedom was coming gave me the most incredible flying dream I ever had.

I always wanted to fly because I wanted to be free. And now I am.

[gods-no-longer-tread-here]

I need y'all to be so normal about this but I'm writing a GoYu Bakery AU (first two chapters are up on AO3) and I'm just. SO proud of how I wrote Gojo's dramatic gay ass realizing he has a crush on a college kid in this scene in chp3.

~

The realization was slow. It actually hit him just as he was midway through saying hello to Megumi as he returned to the office. Gojo froze, words dying in his throat, as his brain began to frantically analyze his own behavior over the past six months. He’d been so sure that he was only going to the cafe for the food, and for the way no one fawned over him, that he’d completely missed the fact that he was only happy after a visit if he got to speak to Yuji.

He had not been going for the food. He’d been going for the baker.

Gojo let out a string of vicious cursing, calling himself a dozen kinds of idiot, and just barely caught himself in time to set the slice of lemon meringue pie he’d brought for Megumi down gently, so as not to ruin it, instead of throwing it at his poor assistant.

“Megumi,” Gojo said in ominous tones, “I am the fucking stupidest man on the planet.”

“Yes, I knew that,” Megumi agreed. “What did you do this time?”

Gojo began to pace the waiting room, running his hands through his hair. “Okay. So. You know how I’m shit at explaining what I want from other people in regards to things like relationships and sex?”

“Yes. Tanaka still wants you back.”

“Tanaka can wait. Well, it appears I am also shit at explaining to myself what I want. Because I thought I just really liked the food at Lucky Pond, and the atmosphere, and how nobody treats me differently there. It’s a novelty. Nothing more. Except.” He spun on his toes sharply, feeling like a prophet of doom, realizing that he had well and truly fucked up. “It’s not just that the food’s exquisite and the atmosphere’s comfortable. It’s the fact that fucking Itadori Yuji works there.”

Megumi blinked mildly. Then his eyes widened in shock, and he blurted, “He’s over a decade younger than you!”

“Exactly!” Gojo exploded, throwing his hands in the air. “He’s a baby, barely nineteen! But he’s adorable and sweet and talented and kind and just stupid enough to be endearing but still intuitive enough to be fun to talk to and I want to be the kind of man worthy of his attention so bad that it’s pathetic!” He collapsed in a chair, flinging his arm over his eyes. “Megumi. As your mentor, I beg of you to kill me, throw my corpse in the ocean, and make everyone think I retired to Malaysia.”

“Absolutely not. Fake your death like a normal person.” Megumi shoved the pie aside and started typing aggressively on his computer. “I’m emailing Nanami. He can take over all business with Lucky Pond while you get over Itadori. Fucking hell… at least you realized this before he fell in love with you.”

“He’d never,” Gojo said gloomily. “I overheard him talking to Jupei last week about his celebrity crushes—he likes women. Tall, curvy women with butts and boobs. Not dudes with no meat on their bones.”

“Sensei, are you… are you actually moping?” Megumi demanded incredulously. “Because a guy ten years younger than you is straight and into curvy women?!”

“Oh, god.” Gojo covered his face with his hands. “I’m fucked. I’m so fucked. I’ll fake my death. Nanami can run the business himself, it’s fine. I’ll run away to America and change my name. Should I dye my hair brown or red?”

“Neither. Blond is pretty common in America, right? Blond and blue eyes? You’ll fit right in with the rest of them, annoying as you are.”

"Fuck you. Blond it is."

[dustdeepsea]

writing post-mortem

I wrote (what feels to me like) the ending of castling last night, editing through a haze of new year's eve prosecco where I live in the future. 2024 is over, 2025 is here, let's have some slightly hungover introspection.

I produced about 9k public facing words in a bit more than a month in what was basically a funhouse nightmare version of my usual process: no beta reader, no outline, just vibes, editing as I went, posting regularly and writing for a popular ship where I had not consumed all of the primary (and major secondary) text. I couldn't wing the characterisation. There might be discourse. I set the comments to "AO3 users only" and prayed no one would hate me.

The actual story found me half-way through the writing. It was supposed to be a dark, psychosexual piece. It turned into a someone accepting another person completely, even their trauma and survival mechanisms (personified as a demon, and then later, an angel). Past me would have binned it in disgust, but I kept going because, well, honestly the fic was already live and I was getting nice comments. So I kept writing, trying not to overthink the process. (You could say the spirit of Determination saw me through...)

In contrast, I wrote about half of that in a horrible half year of writer's block in the middle of the year, agonised over and edited so many times I felt literally ill and unable to move past it. (I wandered off to draw, learn how to make focaccia, and tried not to dwell. It helped.)

If I had my usual perfectionist way, each chapter of "castling" would have been twice as long, remixed and reprised more canon plot beats cleverly, and probably ended with me throwing myself into the ocean. Instead, it's written. There's even art of it. There will be a spicy epilogue—strangely, I'm not too worried about that, as the hardest part of sticking the emotional landing is done. (It's not a personal 10/10, but what is, ever?) I'll do a big promotional post when that's finished, maybe.

But Spite is a real third player; Rook has two boyfriends who would literally kill for her and shape the Fade for her. Maybe they'll go on to have more adventures in the future. Selfishly, it does feel like my wandering in the desert is done, even though most readers might not know it.

Anyway, happy 2025, here's wonderwall:

[marleykay]

There is something in the air. It will not leave me alone.

Source always gives out warnings. Source is fair. That is karma.

You act in evil, you send out that energy and it comes around to you in kind. That is fair. It may take a while, but it happens. Karma is justice.

I'm not the most religious person. But I will say The Bible was originally a channeled piece of writing before man interfered with it.

And I have a verse that keeps repeating over and over in my head.

"Do not touch my anointed ones; do my prophets no harm"

Try to figure that one out.

You've done your work in the dark. Now it is coming to light. I told you. I've been saying and warning everyone things were going to come into the open and the light, and there was nothing that could be done to stop it. I've been saying that for months. On here and on that aura forum.

When you lie and act in dishonesty and deception, you disrupt the harmony and flow of Source. The energy from that in turn works to throw it out to get back to its normal flow. Doesn't matter how long it takes. 3 days, 6 months, 5 years, 3 decades. It will eventually happen.

Source decides how they deal with liars. With deceivers.

Here it is, apparent that Source has chosen its messengers. Has chosen how, when and where messages will be released. All for its plan.

You're anxious and frightened. You don't like that the truth is out there in the open. You don't like the stories going around. You're going to try to try to dispel it.

You don't think Source, God, universe, creator or what have you doesn't know how you will react? That it hadn't thought of that? Source knows you. I'm sure that's all been taken into consideration. You're not going to be able to out maneuver it. I've already said that.

Karma has already been paying you visits. It will continue to. And it will happen in waves. Think of the ocean.

I'm not trying to scare you. I'm just being honest. I'm being fair. I'm telling you so you can, I don't know, brace yourself.

I don't play an underhanded game. I don't play in the dark. I don't cloak myself in deceit. I don't do it the way you do it. I'm being open with it.

The next half year in particular is going to be hard on you. There's nothing you can do. You thought the law would be your cover, and Source told you no. It used one of its messengers. One of its 'prophets'.

This is literally God you're dealing with. It knew the moves you were making in secret and the motives. It's going to make you pay for it.

You can try to tell people that psychics aren't real or that psychics are biased or whatever else. But you know. That's all I care about. Along as you get this message, I'm golden. I really don't care what others think of me. It's not my business. It's not my prerogative.

Higher powers have been at play in this situation for a long time. There is free will, so they can't interfere, but they can try to guide. Source wouldn't allow Henry to be tied to a lie. They sent messengers. His guides themselves kept making him feel and sense things. They were shouting something wasn't right at him. It was going to get out eventually. Source itself tells me the child looks nothing like him. He would have realized just off that itself. He didn't sense the spiritual bond that comes from siring children. Having children is actually a very spiritual thing. There's links, chains that connect you forever. It's why sometimes adopted children always feel like something is missing. He never felt that. He never felt like he had fathered a child. His intuition and 'human' mind were at war for a bit over it. It fostered his doubt. Along with the messengers. They did make him feel more confident in what his intuition was saying.

You hope to still 'win'. You've gone too far with him. No amount of apologies or anything will make him bend to you. You disrespect a person enough, and that door will forever remain closed to you. He wants nothing to do with you. I don't think you can comprehend the amount of resentment and misery he feels towards you. Sorrys will not turn that around. If he ever forgives the deceit and resulting turmoil from it, it will be for himself. Not you. Does not mean there will be reconciliation. You're someone he doesn't want to be around and even look at. You keep pushing your boundaries, and pushing yourself further on him will just further that.

You think the harder you push just means it will eventually work out for you. It will not work that way.

[lesbianneopolitan]

Diary: NEEDY GIRL

I don't want to go to school. I can't get along with anyone. Not with my classmates, not with my teachers. Everyone seems stupid to me. But I know that this feeling is wrong, and that if I were really smart, I should be able to fit in with the people around me.

In other words, I don't fit in.

I wonder if it's a defense mechanism that makes me look down on others. If I don't do that, I'll go crazy. I just have a strangely high sense of pride, no…maybe I'm just pretending to be proud. I'm just trying to convince myself that I'm not smart because I have different concerns than the average person…

I call the people in my class who communicate by talking about popular music and manga "shallow." I feel like I've gained individuality and intelligence just by knowing some minor works on the Internet that I hunted around to kill time…but honestly, I just love dark movies.

I can empathize with unfortunate people and fools who indulge in pleasure. Last night I watched "Requiem for a Dream". Ruining your life because of drugs is shit, but I can understand it. It's like life is boring if you're not drunk on something. I can understand that a billion times better than the stories of handsome guys and beautiful girls falling in love and getting together.

There's nothing. My life is simply nothing. I want to give a reason to this "nothingness," but somehow I perceive my upbringing and environment as excessively unfortunate, and I gradually mistake the convenient delusions that play out in my head for the truth, and that scares me.

Classrooms, parents, classmates, how intelligent I could be, income, social media, the opposite sex that approaches me, the same sex that is showing off…I'm vaguely afraid that trying to maintain myself by blaming others will lead to an irreparable mistake someday. But then I have to think that it's all my fault��yet, depending on how you look at it, I'm the culprit, being a lonely student addicted to my smartphone who hasn't taken any action is my fault.

I wish I could throw away my mistaken pride, admit that popular music and manga are actually interesting, and talk honestly, without thinking of those attempts at conversations as "fawning."

But I can't help thinking that.

Am I really that bad? Isn't it the fault of the adults who turned a blind eye? It's the fault of the people in my school who betrayed me, right?

I, I… I want to die, but if I say "I want to die" out loud, I'll become so shallow that I'll die. I can't stand if my emotions are labelled with an ordinary "troubled teenage girl A." The health teacher tapped me on the shoulder and said, "It's okay. There are good things in life, so let's do our best at our own pace!"

That's right. There are good things, aren't there? Let's think about fun things. I'm sure the teacher's life will be full of "fun events" in the future.

When I finish work and go home, my beloved lover might hug me. I might enjoy a slightly luxurious dinner with my friends.

Maybe the teacher also has to rely on psychiatric drugs in a pitch black room to make it through the morning. But it was the teacher who said there were fun things, so surely there must be a lot of fun things?

Like being drunk forever.

There are a lot of fun things, right? Your mother makes you an omelet rice. Your friend invites you to an amusement park. The manga you were reading becomes an anime. The people you hate get run over by a car. Your mother becomes kinder. The people you hate drown in the ocean. You awaken your psychic powers and are able to blow up the people you hate. You get everything from the bookstore. The people you hate get carried away and fall off a cliff. The people in the classroom, the adults…

[a-student-out-of-time]

Mod, I’m worried about the future. I’m young, but I’m worried about WW3 and potential imminent nuclear war. Why? Because I don’t want people (like my favorite artists and VAs) to have their lives tragically cut short, as well the planet to become inhospitable./gen

//I'm not going to dismiss your concerns, because I was at that same point when I was a teenager. Instead, I'll tell you what I wish I'd been told back then: the mainstream news tells you the worst things possible because it's how they make money.

//Our brains have a natural bias toward negativity, since it probably helped us survive while we were still running from predators in the wilderness, but it's been carried into the modern day and become one of our worst attributes. I'm not joking, there's business incentive in the news to bombard people with negative information because it draws in more clicks and views since we have a natural inclination toward it, and that comes at the cost of truthful, factual information.

//Add obvious political bias in both directions and you have a recipe for misinformation and propaganda that can easily drive one to catatonic depression. I know because that was me as a teenager, and I still get that way sometimes. But let me tell you right now that it's all bullshit.

//Yeah, it's time for some real talk because I've been in a major funk myself.

//I'll start by saying the danger of a full-scale nuclear war is, in all honesty, incredibly exaggerated. They tell you that nukes could destroy the world or render it uninhabitable because that's the best way to deter anyone from using them, but when you get posturing and saber-rattling (not uncommon since 1945), then people start to believe nuclear war is inevitable. It is not.

//That isn't to say that nuclear weapons aren't still incredibly dangerous and should never be used, because they are and they shouldn't be. What people neglect to mention is that Russia's nuclear arsenal is, in all likelihood, so old and obsolete that they probably don't even work anymore. Nukes are actually quite fragile things, requiring delicate machinery to even detonate properly.

//Seeing how badly Russia's performed in Ukraine, using all their resources and still losing so many valuable vehicles and military figures while also trying to suppress a rebellion at home? They tried to gamble on scaring everyone with nukes, but after 2 and a half years, they've done nothing with that. It's an empty threat especially because the moment anyone actually fired a nuke at a smaller nation, they would become an international pariah state. Putin and Kim Jong Un have no reason to actually bomb anybody because that would simply guarantee the destruction of everything they still have, and they're desperate to cling to power even as their nations crumble under their own actions.

//But even if worst comes to worst? There's no consensus that nuclear winter is even a real possibility. The initial estimates were based on cities in Japan that were firebombed during World War II, and their buildings were mostly made of wood and paper. Modern cities are mostly concrete and steel, which probably don't burn in the same way. It's not a theory we should test, but it's worth contemplating.

//Even if that did happen, any idea that you've heard that nuclear war would throw us back to the stone age, that we'd lose all our knowledge and have to start over? False. Most of our storehouses of knowledge, along with common knowledge about how to create things, would survive untouched. Hell, our global fiber optic cables are mostly on the ocean floor, so we might get the internet back up pretty quickly.

//The ecological effects of this would also dissipate within 10-15 years, and so a generation after nuclear war, the world might be back to being relatively normal. Yes, it would be a period of intense misery and hardship, but we would survive and recover. We're actually in a better spot now because the global nuclear arsenal is much smaller than it was in the 1980s.

//But that's a direct event. What about the issues regarding climate change? Progress is being made on that front, so much so that it all would've seemed impossible just a decade ago. We have more ecologically-friendly products being produced, alternative energy sources are coming closer to overtaking fossil fuels entirely, building materials that can actually capture and store carbon dioxide and being developed, ecosystems are growing and recovering at an astonishing rate, the ocean is being cleaned of plastic, and better methods of farming are allowing more efficient use of land.

//These are all just a few examples. With new revolutions in the field of fusion power and proof of concept tests for power-beaming satellites succeeding, I'm honestly convinced we will overcome and reverse the issues regarding climate change. Yes, it can be reversed, we can re-wild the environment, and we're getting to the point that we can actually bring extinct species back. Hell, we can directly grow raw meat and milk in bioreactors now, potentially eliminating the need for cattle and dairy farming while eliminating the risk of disease or contamination.

//For some other great news, global crime rates are at a historic low point, new medical technologies are restoring everything from mobility to hearing in patients, a ban on plastic bags in one state has removed 1.5 billion from the environment, and so many other inspiring stories from just the LAST YEAR AND A HALF.

//In short, while there are plenty of things to be concerned about for the future, we cannot and should not forget that there are great things happening all the time and that there are people working hard to make it possible. People who don't simply lay down and give up when things are difficult.

//That's the big problem nobody talks about enough. The real problem in the world today is misanthropy; this prevailing hatred and disgust with our own species ironically allows the worst issues to flourish because that's simply what we expect. When you don't expect better out of people, things won't get better. Pessimistic nihilism isn't intelligent or cool or mature, it's a self-fulfilling prophecy that breeds laziness and lets the worst things in our world persist.

//The world can be better and that starts when we believe it can be better, and most people believe that. I believe that. I hope I've helped you start to believe that too.

//If you want some more, here are a few that I recommend:

This video by SF Debris: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQHVGqgHD2A

The entire channel Science & Futurism w/ Isaac Arthur: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZFipeZtQM5CKUjx6grh54g

The blogs Reasons For Hope and Hope For The Planet, both great sources for real inspiring news

Good News Network, my most trusted source of information: https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/

//Above all, stop worrying about the worst case scenarios. Spend your time learning, creating, sharing and just enjoying life. Some of the best works of literature came out of some of the most tumultuous times in history, and we survived those. We'll survive this one too.

//I really hope all that helps and I hope you have a great day ^^

[puricodraws]

Here's a long post no one asked for, but I gotta get off my chest. Lots of infodumping about Kingdom Hearts and in particular the casting of it's voice talent, so strap in y'all. So something I find very interesting is the way Square/Disney has treated the character of Kairi throughout the years. She started out as a damsel character, and was hated by very vocal group in the fanbase. I myself didn't really care about Kairi any which way, I didn't find her particularly interesting and I could understand the hate for the character like... a little bit? But what's funny to me is how that perception has changed over the years. Maybe there is still a very vocal group of people hating on Kairi on some forum I'm not aware of but I feel like the general consensus on her these days is: That's our girl. We can recognize that she is a victim of bad writing and the damsel trope. She's become a bit of un underdog in my mind. Like, treat her better Square! Come on!

The issue with Kairi is that she's just a... nothing sandwich. Kairi is a sweet girl, she likes Sora, she likes to write and makes good luck charms. She's also secretly a princess and therefore has a pure heart and can do nothing wrong. She is a little bit sassy sometimes, but not too much, she cares about her friends and will jump into danger to protect them, but most of the times she is the one who needs to be protected. She's strong, but not too strong, she's sweet and easygoing, and she's boring as hell. In the games at least... She rules in the manga.

In the game she softly lowers a bottled letter to Sora in the ocean, while in the manga she tosses it in there with all her might.

In the game she sort of runs away when Axel tries to kidnap her but in the manga she THROWS HANDS at one of the nobodies who tries to capture her.

Also later in the story when she is kidnapped by Organization XIII, she actually manages to escape for a bit by wiggling through the bars of her prison cell, and then throws hands at Demyx, who is actually trying to help her out. (the manga takes some liberties with the story, it's great you should really read it if you get the chance)

Shiro Amano actually lets her put up a fight and let her actually try to escape by herself when she's captured. Watching this girl be strong and throw hands without hesitation is so so great. Shiro Amano said: Girls should be allowed to go feral once in a while, as a treat. Also I would be amiss if I didn't mention this moment with Olette:

(In the game, Olette awkwardly and weakly puts up a hand to protect Kairi when Axel shows up in Twilight Town to kidnap her, but is just ignored in the most disrespectful way.)

Anyways, back to Kairi. It's sad to say, but her original characterization is just boring. She doesn't really want anything for herself and she doesn't really have a function in the story except to wait around for the boys to pay attention to her or get kidnapped and need to be rescued. And while in recent years the writers are finally exploring her being a keyblade weilder and having her actively participate in the story, they still just can't resist damseling the poor girl, fridging her, and putting her on the sidelines while Sora and Riku take center stage. It's great to see how the fandom's perception of her has changed over the years, people are seeing how Square has been dropping the ball and are actively rooting for Kairi to get more stuff to do. Fans are creating mods of the games to make Kairi playable, are writing fanfiction exploring role reversals where Kairi is the hero and there are several notible fan comics comics that explore her character in a really interesting way.

Anyways, now to get to the actual thing I wanted to talk about: How she's casted in the English version of the games, and how the inconsistent approach to the casting feels... a little disrespectful. Having a consistent voice for a character is something I, and many others really appreciate. It shows a level of care from the creators to bring a consistent group of actors together to bring life to the world. Now, VA's being replaced in the Kingdom Hearts series is not uncommon. The series is known for casting well known actors, and actor availability and budget are problems for which recasting is the solution. For example: Billy Zane got recast as Ansem by Richard Epcar, Brittany Snow by Meaghan Martin as Namine. And then of course there are Christopher Lee, Wayne Allwine, Leonard Nimoy and Rutger Hauer, who had to be recast because they sadly passed away. (RIP, Kings)

Like, all of that makes sense. So here's the confusing situation with Kairi:

Xion and Kairi share a VA in the JP version. This is an intentional creative decision that ties into the lore of Kingdom Hearts. Risa Uchida has consistently voiced these characters in Japanese for years and does a fabulous job.

Sadly this was not the case in the English version. Hayden Panettiere originated the role of Kairi in English, but they got Alyson Stoner to voice Xion when the character debuted in 358/2 days in 2009, which was originally a DS title. Before this they also got Alyson to voice Kairi in the re:Chain of Memories dub in 2008.

These titles were likely smaller budget, which becomes pretty obvious when you look at the overall quality and presentation of the cutscenes. In Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2 the dialogue was recorded in English and the japanese lipsynch animation were redone to match the English dialogue. This was not the case in 358/2 days. The dialogue was recorded to match the japanese lip flaps, and the animation was not altered at all to marry the two together. So availability and budget could have been an issue in getting Hayden Panettiere to record for these games. At the time I also considered the possibility that Hayden simply didn't want to do it anymore. It wouldn't have suprised me, because these things happen. Take Brittany Snow for example, after KH2 she got her big break in the Pitch Perfect films, and probably became too busy to come back as Namine. From 2006-2010 Hayden starred in the popular TV series Heroes, which could have impacted her availability and desire to do KH. And with the lower budget for these projects, and where Hayden was at in her carreer at the time, it could stand to reason that she was simply not interested. I should also mention that in this time period Kairi barely got anything to do. When she did show up it would be for a couple of lines of dialogue. As for Xion, 358/2 days on the DS had around 10 or so voiced cutscenes. So the amount of voice work needed for the character was notably smaller compared to one of the numbered games. So the amount of voice work needed, budget, and availability could all have been factors to why Alyson took over for Hayden during this time.

Now don't get me wrong: Alyson is amazing and is, as far as I'm concerned, the definitive voice for Xion. She originated the role and brought so much to the table. She has a wonderful voice, is a talented actress and we have no choice but to stan.

Before long it became apparent that Alyson replacing Hayden permanently was not on the table. In 2010 Hayden reprised her role as Kairi and took over the role of Xion in the secret ending of Birth By Sleep!

So at this point it seemed that the original creative intention for these characters would be honored. Kairi and Xion should have the same voice actress, for lore reasons, and that actress should be Hayden Panetiere, who originated the role.

And wouldn't you know it, in 2012 Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance comes out for the 3DS. It's another hand held title, but the budget is lit. There is lipsynch animation for voiced cutscenes, and the amount of voiced cutscenes is comparable to KH1, KH2 and BBS. Kairi has a few appearances, but has only one line of dialogue. Same goes for Xion, while she does get a line of dialogue near the end of the game. Hayden came in to record for Kairi and Xion and it really seemed like she would be taking over the roles from Alyson.

So obviously, at this point in time it's all but confirmed that Hayden wants to work on KH, and the creative team were making an effort to consistently bring her back as Kairi and Xion. That would be a tough deal for Alyson though, was she gonna get replaced permanently as Xion? Well wait a second and I'll tell you!

So in 2013 Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 Remix was released. It was the first in a series of HD remasters of the Kingdom Hearts series, and the collection included KH1, KH re:Chain of Memories and around 3 hours of newly made cutscenes retelling the story of the DS game 358/2 days. Days originally featured mostly textbox cutscenes. These scenes were remade from scratch and would feature newly recorded voice acting in Japanese and English. Now I don't need to get into it but... The 358/2 days cutscene "movie" is.. not very good. It's boring to watch through, which I think is to blame entirely for the way they approached it. They remade all the cutscenes true to their original appearance, but forgot that there's no action gameplay to break up hours of dialogue scenes. The pacing is bad, the action is non existent, and what's worse is that it doesn't have adjusted lipsynch animation at all. This means the English voice acting was done to match the japanese lip flaps, resulting in awkward pauses and weird deliveries of lines.

The saving grace was that Alyson Stoner was reprising her role as Xion, recording new dialogue for the cutscenes. They also reused her previously recorded dialogue for the DS cutscenes as well. So... I guess Hayden isn't taking over Xion after all? Or perhaps it was easier to get Alyson to come back, so that they could reuse some of the original voice lines from the DS version? I can't imagine that THAT would've been the deciding factor though, because there weren't that many cutscenes from the DS version that would have to be redubbed should they get Hayden back on board. It's hard to say what the reason for this was.

But I was happy to hear Alyson as Xion in the "definitive" version of the 358/2 days story. She has a pleasant voice, and she portrays Xion beautifully in my opinion.

So then KH HD 2.5 Remix comes out in 2014 and features no new Kairi/Xion content. It does feature the Final Mix version of KH2, originally released exclusively in Japan in 2007. This version had new cutscenes, which were now finally dubbed in English for the HD remaster. What's more is they they also reanimated the lip animation to match the new English voice acting! An interesting thing to mention is that at this time, Meaghan Martin had completely taken over the role of Namine, fully replacing Brittany Snow. They luckily didn't choose to redub Brittany's original lines with Meaghan. But it does result in this funny moment where following Roxas' prologue Namine's voice is suddenly different for a single scene.

Anyways, flash forward to 2017, and the release of Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Remix, which included a brand new title by the name of, and hold on to your wigs for this one....

Kingdom Hearts 0.2 Birth By Sleep -A Fragmentary Passage-

This was the first look at what a next gen Kingdom Hearts title would be like. You got to play as Aqua and it was wonderful and heartbreaking and cool as hell. At the end of this game a cutscene plays where after a decade Kairi finally gets to be involved in the plot again. She is summoned by Master Yen Sid to begin her training as a keyblade weilder. And she is voiced by.... Alyson Stoner??

A few years later KH3 came out, and Alyson Stoner voices both Kairi and Xion in it. She does a great job. But it's all so confusing.

It seemed so clear that the studio's intent was to get Hayden back as Kairi, and potentially Xion as well. And KH3 was the next big budget numbered title in the franchise. The casting for this game was insane, they got the full cast of Frozen to reprise their roles. Idina Mcfreaking Menzel showed up for Kingdom Hearts! What happened to getting Hayden back? I don't get it at all. This is not to shit on Alyson at all, her Kairi is adorable, and I honestly can't imagine anybody but Alyson Stoner playing Xion. Whenever Hayden picked up the role of Xion I was excited to hear her, but it never felt quite right.

But yeah, this whole situation unfolded in the weirdest of ways. For years it seemed they were absulutely set on getting Hayden to voice these characters. Was she not available to come in for KH3? Well, to answer that question:

Apparently, Hayden wasn't even ASKED to reprise Kairi.

This could of course be a situation of her representatives getting the offer from Square/Disney and choosing not to give it to her. Which happens in Hollywood, and sucks. But there's also a very real chance that Square/Disney didn't even bother reaching out and offering it to her.

Seeing how they decided to recast Hayner, Pence and Olette in KH3, even though their actors are still working as VA's and would have likely loved reprise the roles, I'm leaning to the possibility that they simply didn't bother to reach out to Hayden.

Hell, that's what she said herself.

All in all it's an interesting series of events. It's confusing, and a bit saddening as well. I can speculate why it all happened, but who can really be sure what their reason for replacing Hayden were. Perhaps they decided to do it because they found Alyson to be a better fit for the character? I may be reading into things but there's this interview Hayden did for the release of KH2 were she talks about the recording process and how the voice directors would keep telling her to "raise her voice an octave higher and make it sound more princess like." I gotta say the way she said that irks me..... I love the way Kairi's voice sounds in KH2! Hayden has a beautiful voice, it's a bit lower and more mature sounding than your average cutie girl voice. I would have loved to hear that quality in the character moving forward. Alyson ended up doing a lighter, cuter version of Kairi in KH3. And I do enjoy how Kairi sounds in KH3. Like, it's fine, she sounds very adorable, and it's fine.

But idk man... it feels... weird. I can't help but feel as though they replaced her voice with a younger sounding one, taking away the strength and maturity of the voice that I loved so much. Effectively infantelizing her. And then of course they proceed to damsel her, fridge her, bring her back to life and put her on the sidelines for the foreseeable future.

I feel like it all ties together with how the writers see her. She's not really a main character after all, she's not a priority. After years of showing a dedication to keep her voice consistent, it was all just thrown out of the window in the end. It makes me feel like they just didn't care in the end, people would be more upset if Sora or Riku got recast, but they just assumed no one would really care about Kairi. I can't help but care though.

I just wish for a future where Kairi can become a main player in the story, and where she is allowed to grow and mature. Where she isn't used as a carrot to dangle in front of the male lead. Where she isn't kidnapped or killed off as motivation for someone else. Where she can be a girl who is not just pretty and adorable and easy going and sweet, but a girl who is strong, silly, determined and is willing to fight like hell for the things she cares about.

Where she is allowed to interact with the world around her, and discover what her place in it is. Where she can discover what she wants for herself, instead of constantly having to be something for someone else!

IDK, maybe that's too much to ask from a Kingdom Hearts game though, haha.

[xerith-42]

yo yo could i perhaps have a crumb of your rewritten storyline for s2 ep 95? luv ur stuff

I always love people describing art in a fandom as crumbs. Makes me think I'm sitting on a park bench throwing out crumbs and bird feed to the local crows but instead of food I'm just tossing out pieces of paper with my inane ramblings about block people on them.

This is a segment of my rewrite of Season 2 Episode 95, titled Fool of a Muse. Said rewrite is the one with my oc Haven in it, so she's there because she's one of Laurance's emotional pillars, and I change Aph's name to Irena because I like fucking with her. I actually re-rewrote this scene a few weeks back to include some of the original dialogue to prove that aspects of the scene could work given the right context.

Fool of a Muse

Laurance tried to keep his head straight, but it simply wasn’t possible. Not there. Not while hearing her speak of secrets of the deceased. The voices of the calling were always louder when reminded of death, and staying in a tomb was practically asking them to start acting up. He left in order to get some space to clear his head, walking towards the beaches, hoping the ocean waves would drown out the sound.

Instead he found the opposite of what he wanted. Standing on the sands was Irena, a hand over her stomach, who turned at the sound of Laurance approaching. Clutched in her other hand was Aaron’s bandanna. The voices only got louder at the reminder and the sight of their target.

“Laurance? Is everything alright?” She asked softly. Laurance stepped back, which only worsened her concern.

“I-I’m fine,” He lied. Irena simply laughed, turning around to admire the sunset again.

“You don’t have to lie to me Laurance, I know that look.”

“You needn’t worry about my well being.” Laurance finally stepped closer to her, standing at her side and hesitating at the urge to try and hold one of her hands. “How are you feeling?”

“I’m doing… alright.”

“Now who’s lying?” Irena chuckled a little bit, and Irene help him if that wasn’t one of the most assuring sounds Laurance had heard. Even if it was shaky, she could still laugh.

“What makes you say that?”

“Dante told Garroth about what happened to you the other day. And Garroth couldn’t help but tell me.” Irena sighed, tucking the bandanna into her pocket.

“I told him to keep that between us. It was just an imp playing a trick on me.”

“Why are you trying to hide from me?”

“I’m not—”

“Yes you are.”

“I just don’t want to talk about it. Not while the wound is still fresh.”

“You know that Dante told Garroth because he’s your guard, and that’s why Garroth told me. It’s our sworn duty to take care of and protect you. We can’t do that if you refuse to tell us what’s happening.”

“I wasn’t going to keep it from you for long. This is a security issue on our island that would be brought to light in due time. I just… I needed time to process what I saw.”

“You mean who you saw.” Irena let out a sigh.

“Why did you run?” Laurance turned away.

“You know why.”

“I want to hear it from you.”

“Irena, I… I couldn’t be around you like that. The calling never ends, not in my waking hours. If I had seen the way you were immediately after his passing, I don’t know if I would have been able to hold myself back.”

“Are you sure that’s what this is?” Laurance finally looked to his side and saw Irena’s pitiful expression. They were alone. She was weak. He could just do it now.

“I told you, I’m not your problem to worry about.”

“I'm going to worry regardless. I know you aren’t proud of it, but you are prone to jealousy. I just want to ensure that’s not what this is.” Laurance looked away as his hands clenched into fists. Why was she pushing this?

“And what if it was?” Irena went silent. “Look, I’ll never pretend I understood Aaron, or why he did any of what he did. And I didn’t trust him entirely either, not after he hid he was the Lord of Falcon Claw from us.”

“Laurance, it’s not that simple—”

“What I want to know is why you cared so deeply for him. What made him so special he was worthy of your love?”

“I-I don’t want to talk about that.”

“Well I do.”

“Laurance, regardless of my feelings, he proved himself trustworthy to us. Remember when you turned? He saved my life without killing you.” Laurance held back rapidly growing tears.

“And I’m ashamed he had to do such a thing. But you’re avoiding the question.”

“Maybe it’s a question I don’t want to answer.” Irena’s continued refusal had Laurance already losing his patience. The voices had enough too.

“Why not?!”

“Laurance!” Garroth suddenly snapped. “That’s enough.”

“Stay out of this!” Laurance suddenly roared, his head jerking so he could snarl at the intervening guard. Irena moved back when she saw the flash of red in his eyes.

“It’s not our place to question her on personal matters.”

“Don’t pretend like you aren’t upset over this too.”

“I’m only upset I couldn’t protect my lord adequately. You should be grateful you have the opportunity, not throwing it away over your jealousy.”

“You weren’t here, Garroth! You didn’t see the way he acted around her!”

“I only wish I could have been. He made the ultimate sacrifice for her, and in turn did the same for me. You should understand that. You were lucky enough to come back from it.” Too far and Garroth knew it, but there was nothing he could do now. Anger flowed through Laurance faster than he could keep up with, the voices of the calling louder than his own thoughts. Garroth was right, he was taking this too far, he knew that, but he couldn’t stop himself.

“Don’t speak as if you understand the hell I’ve been through! The hell I went through just to get back to her! I’m here now so why care about him?!” Laurance’s eyes flashed back to their normal state, but by the time regret came to his expression, the damage was already done.

With those words, Haven finally moved from where she’d been watching the conversation, racing forward until she was a step away from Laurance, before slapping him across the face. Irena groaned, nearly falling over which made Garroth rush to her side while Laurance stood there in shock. When he finally could hear his own thoughts over the voices, he saw the tears building up in Havens eyes.

“Would you listen to yourself?!” Haven nearly screamed. “Would you think of saying the same thing if I had followed through?! If I had used my own life to break the realm barrier either of the two times I almost did it, would you be stupid enough to be enraged with someone for grieving over me?!”

“Y-You’re different–” Laurance couldn’t even fully remember what he said.

“Am I?! Aaron loved Irena the same way you love me! Would you accept someone yelling at you for mourning my death?!” Laurance opened his mouth, but closed it after a second. Then he noticed Haven’s hand on the handle of her sword, her sheath undone. “Whether you realize it or not, your selfish words have begun to harm Lord Irena. If you continue to do harm to my lord, I will not hesitate to strike you down.”

“Irena, you need some rest,” Garroth insisted as she groaned again. She just nodded, letting Garroth half pick her up and carry her over to her home.

“Will you stand down, or are you finally going to fight me?” Haven could see the battle in Laurance’s features. Streaks of red flashed through his eyes, and his pupils had begun to shake. There was a clear conflict about what the hell to feel and how to act on it. It went against his nature to wish harm on Haven, let alone Irena, but the calling was almost jumping at this chance. The voices in his head started to demand it.

But he couldn’t. Laurance’s shoulders slumped, and he stepped away from Haven, his humanity clearly winning. Haven still didn’t remove her hand from the handle of her sword, not until Laurance finally fell to his knee, tossing his sword aside, and hanging his head in shame.

“If you see it fit to punish me, do it now,” He insisted. “I have acted shamelessly, and allowed my emotions to cloud my judgment. Only a fool would ask for forgiveness, yet I throw myself at your feet to beg for it.” Haven sighed, finally buttoning up her sheath and taking her hands off of her sword.

“I will grant you what you ask, but in exchange you must promise me something.”

“Anything.”

“I need you to promise me that you won’t keep running away from how the calling making you feel.”

“Haven, I didn’t run today, and look what happened.”

“And look at how Irena didn’t even have the strength to yell at you to leave. Your Lord is in frail condition, both emotionally and physically.”

“The calling will tempt me.”

“And if you ran from it, she could die without you there to protect her.” Laurance groaned at the thought of it, something that clearly ran through his mind every day he was away from them, and Haven knew it. She knew Laurance frustratingly well. “And if Irena were to fall, not only would the grief of losing her begin to take hold of your mind, the calling would latch onto me next. Would you really risk that happening?”

“I would fall on my own sword before I ever considered hurting you.”

“Well you’re no good to me dead.” Haven glanced down at him. “Pick your head up.” Laurance raised his head to look at Haven, and she saw nothing but love and oh-so-human fear in those beautiful eyes of his. “I want you to promise me you won’t run from this. And if you do, know that I will follow after you.”

“Haven–”

“I didn’t before, remember?”

“And I told you–”

“I don’t care what you told me! Laurance–” Haven rolled her eyes and groaned as she tried to formulate the best way to word this to him. “Look, I know you guards struggle to understand this, but the people you’re protecting care about you. Even if you’re willing to go to ridiculous lengths to protect us, we’re willing to go to the same lengths to ensure you don’t die in the process.”

“Seems like an exhausting thing to do.”

“It is! If I were able to, I’d just stop caring about you sacrificial idiots! Unfortunately–” Haven looked down at that frustratingly charming smile of Laurance’s. He loved seeing Haven riled up and frustrated, and he was clearly enjoying the way she kept pausing to try and get through to him. They were both furiously stubborn, and he loved it. “Unfortunately, if I were in the Shadow Abyss that day, I would have thrown myself into whatever danger I had to in order to save your life.” Laurance froze for a moment, a chill going down his body.

“Haven, don’t say stuff like that.”

“What I’m trying to say is that you aren’t going to get away with this again. You can’t just keep running from the consequences. You wanna run off into danger, try to satiate yourself with isolation so you don’t want to kill somebody?! Too bad, cause I’ll be right behind you!”

“But I don’t want you to be!”

“But that’s not how the story goes.” Haven smiled as she knelt down in front of Laurance. “The poet will travel to hell and back just to get another glimpse at their muse.” Laurance sighed, finally relenting, taking his hand off of his knee and holding it out to Haven, who took it tenderly.

“And their muse will always follow, in hopes of hearing just one more note of their song.”

“So, darling muse, will you make this poet into a soldier who fights the fates for you?” Laurance looked up into Haven’s eyes, before pulling her hand closer and placing a kiss against it.

“My fabled poet, you need not do such a thing. They already fear you.” Haven giggled, before pulling Laurance into a kiss. It was slow, not about feeling particularly good, rather just about cementing in that promise. And the fact that Haven was easily the more stubborn of the two.

[needyraincandy-u]

Diary: NEEDY GIRL

I don't want to go to school. I can't get along with anyone. Not with my classmates, not with my teachers. Everyone seems stupid to me. But I know that this feeling is wrong, and that if I were really smart, I should be able to fit in with the people around me.

In other words, I don't fit in.

I wonder if it's a defense mechanism that makes me look down on others. If I don't do that, I'll go crazy. I just have a strangely high sense of pride, no…maybe I'm just pretending to be proud. I'm just trying to convince myself that I'm not smart because I have different concerns than the average person…

I call the people in my class who communicate by talking about popular music and manga "shallow." I feel like I've gained individuality and intelligence just by knowing some minor works on the Internet that I hunted around to kill time…but honestly, I just love dark movies.

I can empathize with unfortunate people and fools who indulge in pleasure. Last night I watched "Requiem for a Dream". Ruining your life because of drugs is shit, but I can understand it. It's like life is boring if you're not drunk on something. I can understand that a billion times better than the stories of handsome guys and beautiful girls falling in love and getting together.

There's nothing. My life is simply nothing. I want to give a reason to this "nothingness," but somehow I perceive my upbringing and environment as excessively unfortunate, and I gradually mistake the convenient delusions that play out in my head for the truth, and that scares me.

Classrooms, parents, classmates, how intelligent I could be, income, social media, the opposite sex that approaches me, the same sex that is showing off…I'm vaguely afraid that trying to maintain myself by blaming others will lead to an irreparable mistake someday. But then I have to think that it's all my fault…yet, depending on how you look at it, I'm the culprit, being a lonely student addicted to my smartphone who hasn't taken any action is my fault.

I wish I could throw away my mistaken pride, admit that popular music and manga are actually interesting, and talk honestly, without thinking of those attempts at conversations as "fawning."

But I can't help thinking that.

Am I really that bad? Isn't it the fault of the adults who turned a blind eye? It's the fault of the people in my school who betrayed me, right?

I, I… I want to die, but if I say "I want to die" out loud, I'll become so shallow that I'll die. I can't stand if my emotions are labelled with an ordinary "troubled teenage girl A." The health teacher tapped me on the shoulder and said, "It's okay. There are good things in life, so let's do our best at our own pace!"

That's right. There are good things, aren't there? Let's think about fun things. I'm sure the teacher's life will be full of "fun events" in the future.

When I finish work and go home, my beloved lover might hug me. I might enjoy a slightly luxurious dinner with my friends.

Maybe the teacher also has to rely on psychiatric drugs in a pitch black room to make it through the morning. But it was the teacher who said there were fun things, so surely there must be a lot of fun things?

Like being drunk forever.

There are a lot of fun things, right? Your mother makes you an omelet rice. Your friend invites you to an amusement park. The manga you were reading becomes an anime. The people you hate get run over by a car. Your mother becomes kinder. The people you hate drown in the ocean. You awaken your psychic powers and are able to blow up the people you hate. You get everything from the bookstore. The people you hate get carried away and fall off a cliff. The people in the classroom, the adults…

[luimagines]

*walks on in shockingly calmly for once, hands you a mug of hot chocolate and a basket of cookies without elaborating* Just passing by to say hello, I wish you a good day and thank you for all your work in the fandom, happy late two years! Plus dropping some stuff about thief reader, as well as Cattle Raider Reader with Twilight that won't leave me alone in between writing for the Fairy Tale au and trying to swat an Assassin Reader with Warriors away from this ask, life's been difficult and I've recently became a dog parent for the second time and me and my older dog can definitely sympathize with Time and Twilight as a result, the pup has as much energy as Wild on caffeine and energy potions.

Thief Reader's first reaction to Warriors is definitely "Aww Captain! I thought we had something special!" While still shamelessly running a check on Time to make sure they didn't hurt him too bad during the initial scuffle, ruffle Wind's hair because while they missed their second partner in crime but have no idea wether he'd be receptive to hugs, then promptly introduce themselves as "The one person who couldn't compete against Link's one true love."

Time, baffled and who low-key had a crush on their older self and their current self before they were separated during the War of Ages: "I'm sorry?"

Thief Reader, fondly rolling their eyes and whipping out a mask that looks suspiciously like a golden wolf with red eyes and placing it over Time's face, and probably giving Twilight a heart attack in the process: "Yourself, obviously. I knew I couldn't compete with the legend and your desire to help people, if Malon and her highness couldn't talk you down from it then what chance did I, a lowly thief have? I'm selfish, I couldn't keep you from doing what you loved if I tried, but I couldn't see you get hurt either." *Shrugs, looking away* "... Besides, I did basically force myself into your journey, I helped, but I also burdened my first friend, between you and me that day on the portal, of course I'd chose you to survive and go back home in a heartbeat. It's the least I could do for you." *In a heartbeat, moves on while winking towards the Chain* "Well! That's enough of that, so they're all yours in a sense, mhm? Thank goodness none of you got his unfortunate nose." *Starts passing around all of the stolen items back, pauses at Twilight with a hum, head tilted as they put his neckacle back over his neck and hands Wild his Slate* "Oh, aren't you lot just precious, can I keep them Link?"

Time, taking the mask off with an unimpressed look on his face: "I can't believe you actually kept it, and no. They're not pups, Reader."

Thief Reader, crossing their arms: "I know and you know that's not what I meant! Learn how to share, besides they're much more well behaved than that nasty shadow I swindled recently."

Thief Reader had a tendency to steal a lot of items from Mask and vice versa since he learned how to be light footed from them, Thief's Reader's absolute favorites were his cap, earring and the masks, they wouldn't touch most transformation masks because some lines you just don't cross, they only steal the FD mask out of them in order to keep a young Mask from overusing the transformation with Wind's and Warrior's help once they explained what was up with it, and they repeat that behavior now with the Chain, as a result they know the Fierce Deity well because even if they wouldn't use the mask they probably kept it close enough to their face to talk to him into protecting and keeping an eye on Link in case they couldn't. They don't care he's a deity they can and Will throw it into the ocean if they don't care of him. Their favorite being a golden wolf mask they got from appeasing a Wolfos, they couldn't give it back to Mask before they were separated, but they kept it well maintained all these years to give it back to Time with the excuse of 'It suits him better than it ever did them' as they used it as a replacement to cover their face once they got older. They used a scarf to cover their face during their tenure as a thief when young and Mask ended up with it, so he gives it back now that he can finally return it (though they still sometimes end up swapping them back and forth on accident still, force of habit), also Thief Reader is the only one who can listen to him when he gets sneaky and is the only person in the Chain who doesn't jump, just makes sure to spook him back or they get together to covertly mess with the youngsters (Warriors is onto them but HATES that he can't gather proof, it's the War of Ages all over again).

As for Cattle Raider Reader aka the cousin of the Wild West inspired rivalry enemies to lovers au that I'm still not elaborating on, in medieval times there was this whole thing where different tribes or villages raided each other's cattle, either as war practice or as genuine stealing when times were rough, the idea here is that Reader is from a neighboring village from Ordon that engaged in the practice in a competive way and since Twilight was one of the best with a horse around, logically they clashed a lot to match Reader (Reader being the leader of the offensive village with Twilight trying to get Ordon's cattle back or defending it), as a result they had a very fierce rivalry/enemies thing going on before the twilight came. Reader came around to scout things out in Ordon for the next raid only to find out Twilight, the village children and Ilia are missing due to monsters, decide that something having happened to their rival was absolutely unnaceptable and set out to look for him, incidentally they run into an injured Wolfie at the beginning of the game (since ya know, Rusl actually burns Twi if you're not careful) and while at first they consider walking away because it's a wolf, the eyes reminded them of Twi and so they cave and help fix him up enough to go back to the quest and Midna before heading out, leading Twi to go "... Huh. Maybe they aren't that awful after all." And after a couple more accidental run ins during Twi's adventure and a more or less proper reunion in Castle Town after Lanayru, where they connect the dots that "Oh wait a second this wolf doesn't only have Link's eyes it IS Link" after seeing him try to sneak into the castle again with Midna, they help him out on the condition that they aid him in this questing business because like heck they're having their rival not come back home by being reckless and Hyrule is their home too, they're gonna help defend it. Things just spiral from there.

Their first introduction to the Chain is probably when the Chain is overwhelmed in Twilight's Hyrule, Twi recognizes he's near Reader's village and also realizes he didn't tell them where they went and while they're probably undoubtedly mad at him that it's technically the best shot for them all to make it in one piece. So he leads them there and Reader, who had spotted the battle in the distance and recognize Twi's horse, saddles up, grabs a sword or an axe, throws it onto the head of the nearest Lizalfo near Twi with unnerving accuracy, then turns to Twilight with the "You BETTER have a good explanation for this or else you're next" glare, Twi, who is too used to this at this point is just "Missed you too Reader.", While the Chain is just confused in the back on how Twi knows this person and why he's so chill even when they look like they would skin him as Wolfie to make a fur coat if not for the situation at hand (meanwhile other Chain members are probably having an epiphany of where Wild gets his fighting style from, because Cattle Raider Reader is ruthless, a menace and will grab anything on the battle field to throw at the enemies if their weapons aren't nearby).

Or something, I don't know I kind of have a headache so it's probably not flowing clearly, really need to write this all out in full one day...

Anyway, that's that for now! Once again thank you for all your work in the fandom, I'll definitely be coming on by to gush more about your writing omce I can so uh, fair warning, I can get rambly XD.

Hope you're having a nice day!

-Just an Anon on A Stroll/WintertimeStoryteller 🐚

Ok first of all- I have so much to unpack here XD

Thief Reader is giving me some heavy vibes of a fic I read once but with the roles reversed. I don't remember the name of the fic. To Steal a Thief's Heart? (doubt it.) But in that fic Link was the thief and rogue and it was awesome. If you're interested I can track it down and send a link. :D

I love that Reader shows up on the scene and is instantly back to their shenanigans all over again. Time doesn't even seem all that phased for the most part- maybe them shoving the mask onto his face was a blessing in disguise. He could hide his shock and gaping mouth, lol.

Time crushing on them twice was cute though. Love that. <3

TELL ME ABOUT THE WILD WEST STORY!!!!! WINTERTIME!!!!!!!!!!

This is insane!!!! Don't dangle that in front of me DX

The torture. Not fair.

BUT FOR THE ENENMIES TO LOVERS

Y e s. H E L L O. I'm listening. Intently. Gib. Gib more plz.

My god, I could see that reunion in my head so clearly. The axe nearly taking Twi's head off, him ducking without a second thought. The charging rage of Reader where they retrieve their axe and point it at Twi. And he's got a stupid (if sheepish) smile on his face.

Also it's ok. I love your rambles. Literally feel free to come by any day <3

[calcichel]

Okay, how do you date a Hummer? I've got my own idea but I wanna hear yours first-

I wanna hear yours! I'm out of ideas.

Oh really? I just think.. it makes me think of American muscle. I just think a Hummer.. to me, it's like a batting cage, burgers, and beer. It's the B's. It's gotta be something where you show off some of the more traditional components of masculinity, through hand-eye coordination and the desire to eat-

That's a fun idea for a date.

Yeah, you know, I'm trying to impress here.

Yeah, that's lovely.

So you go to the batting cage first, and then afterwards, you say whoever - I don't know if they've got strike-outs or home runs or whatever, but you compete and then you go, whoever loses has to buy the dinner. And then you go out and you get burgers and beer, and-

Aw, I love that.

Actually this is all happening near a promenade. And then you take the Hummer down the end of the Santa Monica pier. And you sit at the end of the pier and you watch the sunset.

Well, it's a bit of a to-do because you can't three-point-turn, because it's too narrow. So you've got to reverse all the way. And it's sort of embarrassing, and the Hummer's like,

"Oh, I should be able to turn round, but I can't-"

And you're like,

"It's okay. It's okay. It's okay!"

"No, I really wish I could-"

"It's okay, it's okay."

"I know you've probably been out with some mopeds, and they can turn around-"

"No no no, look, I'm out with you. It's okay. It's okay."

"No, I should just drive myself into the.."

"Don't drive yourself into the ocean! Don't talk about yourself like that!"

Your date's gone horribly.

"We've had a great date!"

"Yeah."

"It's okay, it's just reverse.."

So it starts reversing. But-

I'm never asking you for first-date advice again.

There's people on the pier-

That one ended in potential suicide, man, that's crazy stuff.

Nah, nah, it's not ending in suicide. Let me finish the date.

There's people on the pier. And the Hummer's built it up so much, and you say, "Tell you what, I'll race you back to land."

And then - foop! - it runs someone over.

...

The police show up. "What happened here?"

"I don't know, officer."

Now you're an accessory to a crime. Accessory to manslaughter. Can you be that?

Sure.

Yeah?

Why not? I've been watching six seasons of Better Call Saul. I feel qualified to throw in on this. I say yes.

It started well, my date. I just wish… I wish the Hummer hadn't gotten so in its head about the pier. That's on me. We could have just gone on the sand.

I don't think you should take responsibility for that.

You only get one shot with a Hummer.

Everyone's an adult, man. You do what you can, but ultimately, you're not in charge of someone else's happiness. Especially on a first date. It's kind of a toxic way to enter a relationship.

Yeah, I know. I know! I know, I know, it's just we… we had a good time.

[unnonexistence]

ok we are doing Pacific Rim Data Visualization live on my blog tonight because i can't help myself

I'm going to put this post in the main pacrim tag in case anyone is interested, but i don't want to annoy anyone, so everything else is just going to be in my #unscientific aside tag. okay? okay.

basically i am making graphs of stuff hermann would have been making graphs of (& predictive models about).

so i'm thinking one nice way to show the increasing frequency of kaiju attacks over the years would be a bar graph along these lines:

2013-2025 is a pretty good time span in terms of number of bars, so it'll look nice, and it'll clearly show the increase over time. i might leave 2025 out because the movie takes place in january 2025 so it'll look funny to leave it in (only 1 attack pre-movie, i think).

now this would be a very broad-strokes graph. this is the kind of graph that just kind of says "hey there have been more and more giant monsters emerging from the ocean lately. that's probably bad". i want to do something with hermann's predictive models, & this isn't going to work for that.

i could do a more specific one, e.g. by month, but even for 2024 when there are a stupid number of attacks in the timeline, that's not ideal. some months are only going to have one or two & it'll look funny. also, his model gets down to "number of minutes between attacks", which is way too specific to use a bar graph.

for the predictive model, when i think about "increasing frequency of kaiju attacks" & hermann's speech about it*, what I picture is a line something like this:

ignore the scale, i just put whatever. the point is Number Go Up.

the problem though is that means the y axis needs to be number of kaiju attacks, and the x axis needs to be time. which like... idk how to make that work? this is probably just because idk what i'm doing, but like... the attacks are happening at distinct points in time. how are we defining "number of attacks"? it would have to be number of attacks over some timespan, right? i guess it could be Total Number Ever but that seems weird.

this maybe should be a dot plot of some sort, but the thing with the axes is throwing me off. I'm going to work on some of the actual data stuff and report back, but at some point i probably need to do some research about the types of graph i can make & what they're used for.

if anyone has ideas or otherwise wants to talk about this PLEASE let me know. nerd bullshit is more fun with other people.

*you know, the one that got meme'd? "In four days, we could be seeing a kaiju every eight hours until they are coming every four minutes."

[hime-bee]

hiya bee, uhhhh not really the best at giving romantic advice, but pls don't blame yourself!! >:00 love is super weird and makes us feel super duper weird emotions and makes us feel gross and mushy, and that's okie! the way i see it, definitely get to know this guy better. see just what kind of person he actually is and gauge if you can feel any good vibes coming from him or not bc i will actually cry and throw myself into the ocean if something bad happens to you >:((

but also see what kind of stuff he's into (games, tv shows, movies, books, hobbies, etc.) and see if you two can find something you both can bond over! you can also learn more about each other and grow closer that way! i'm wishing you the best of luck, and always remember to love yourself first, because you are the only "you" that this universe will get so don't ever lower your standards <33

will send ulpipi thirst soon, i'm going insane girl

as a lil bonus to make ya feel better, hab some new pics of mittens being a nasty freak. caught him sniffing our shoes, his whole head was right up in there, he's a nasty lil germ <33 he kept annoying me for attention, he likes having the base of his tail scratched and wouldn't stop rubbing against me until i did it again,,

Latiiii 😭😭💞💞 I don't mind at all, I just appreciate you taking the time to send the ask and giving me reassurance! I can confirm tho, love is making me feel mushy gushy while also making me feel like I wanna set myself on fire LMAO. It's such a weird emotion and sometimes, I rly do feel like I could do without it (but I'm a romantic at heart so maybe not). I'd love to get to know him better, and I hope he feels the same still!! I'll also keep myself safe, for you, Lati, and everyone else worried about me 🥺💖

We're into the same games and anime, I think!! So that's a starting point! I've lowered my standards before, and I'm trying not to do that again all for some reciprocated feelings lol. Thank you for reminding me of that, Lati-

Also??? LOOKING FORWARD TO MORE ULPIPI THIRST!!! And I love Mittens so much, he's such a cute lil man!! 😭💖 HE'S GETTIN A BIG WHIFF OF THOSE SHOES THO LMAO, WHAT A LIL FOOT GREMLIN I would die for Mittens