#idk it's just really nice. if i had this exact same day in first year (doing economics and barely leaving my room)

[whentherewerebicycles]

my baby is six months old today!!! he’s been alive for half a year!!!!! it somehow feels both like he's been in my life forever and like i just gave birth days ago. I love him so much it makes me feel a little frantic sometimes. he is down for his first nap now and I can hear him in his crib grumbling to himself about the terrible indignities they subject sweet little babies to these days (chief among them being wrapped in blankets in a soft little sleeping bag in a cozy warm room for a nice restorative nap).

I think I want to journal a bit today—six things about the baby + six thoughts about my experience of parenting thus far. baby first!

well i mean. he is just perfect. he is just the best little guy ever. all babies are the best little guy ever but he is MY best little guy you know? i love him so much. what is his personality like? i would say he has definitely retained something of the watchfulness and slight reserve he had as a newborn. he has these huge dark eyes and he studies things very intently and in general likes to Observe the Situation before wading in. but he is, so far, not especially shy? the stranger danger phase has not set in yet so he enjoys being held by a wide range of people and will warm up to new faces after a bit, especially if they make silly expressions at him or sing to him. he also definitely has His People, who he is not reserved with at all. the second my sister walks in he starts kicking his legs furiously and babbling to her to get her to come over and talk to him. he looooves my mom and is way snugglier with her than anyone else. he adores his primary babysitters (his nanny + liz's husband A) and is sooo chatty with them. he was slow to smile (liz's baby was beaming at everybody from like five weeks on but i don't think O was smiling regularly until about 12 weeks) and he is still pretty selective with them (strangers do NOT get smiles unless they make a very silly surprising noise). but his general temperament is just like… he’s a calm, even-keeled, good-natured little guy who is down for pretty much whatever. this kid can hang.

he is REALLY good at independent play. if he's fed and changed he can pretty much entertain himself for 45-60 min at a time without any input from me. he just kicks around on his mat and plays with his toys. in the morning he wakes up around 6:30 but the family does not get up until 7:20 and he will just hang out in his crib making his hands dance in the air and chattering happily to himself. i think this is probably like 80% inborn temperament... my mom says i was the exact same way as a baby, just like totally content to chill and think and talk to myself. but i think maybe 20% of it is also things i consciously did to encourage this from about four weeks on and i am proud of that! i think one of the qualities i like best in myself is that i have a high tolerance for boredom because i can just get lost in my thoughts/imagination. as long as i have something to think about or some imaginary situation to play out in my head i am content. i really want that for him too! idk more thoughts about this when i journal about parenting lol. but i appreciate that he doesn't have to be entertained 24/7 (at least at this age). he is content to just be on his own or just be in the room watching people do other stuff.

obviously i adored him from the start lol but i would say that four months marked a big turning point in terms of how much fun he was to hang out with. he just started seeming so much more alert and engaged around then. and then this last five to six months span of time has just been SO fun. he's fully a little person. he has preferences and opinions and favorite toys and favorite people and favorite animals (ruthie). he is learning ALL the time. you can see him puzzling things out and beginning to develop a rudimentary understanding of cause and effect. right now, like in the past week or so, he is extremely into TEXTURES. he must scritch-scratch absolutely everything with his little baby nails. he is obsessed with his "baby paper" (crinkly paper) and he is much more open to tummy time now mainly because it allows him to scritch-scratch all the different quilts we use as playmats. he likes to scritch-scratch the glass when i take him to the window in the morning to show him his friends the trees, and if there is any kind of graphic on my t-shirts he MUST scratch the edges of it. and he does all of this with a look of total focus lol this kid is LOCKED IN on scritch-scratching.

he laughs so much these days. he also seems to have figured out that people react positively and often rush over to engage with him when he laughs, so sometimes if i'm on the other side of the room and he wants me to pay attention to him he will just do this "huh-huh-HAH-HA! HA!" belly laugh so i'll come over and make silly faces at him. i do pretty much nonstop funny accents and comedy bits for him and i'd say i get a laugh 50% of the time... the other 50% of the time he just gives me this wide-eyed look that clearly says "ok... this lady is nutso and i seem to be trapped in her care... i need to proceed carefully here..." which is also very funny.

he is really into being gently manhandled right now haha. i think it is probably related to developing proprioception? but he loves to be "flying baby" (where you lift him over your head and zoom him around like an airplane) and he loves being a pendulum in a giant clock (where you hold him under his arms and swing his body back and forth as you lift him up and down) and he REALLY loves it when you wrap him up in your arms and roll into a ball and roll over and over a bunch of times. also it delights him when you play-wrestle with him and tickle him even though he cannot yet really wrestle back lol. bonus points if you also growl at him and pretend you are going to eat him up... that's a big hit right now. when i was a kid my dad would wrestle with us all the time and pretend to be a bear chasing us around the house on all fours and let us ride on his back and stuff and it was so much fun. so far it is also pretty fun for the grownup lol i feel like it's a great way to get some silly energy out. but also i think i need to start lifting weights lol because this kid is already so heavy and i want to be able to keep tossing him around and wrestling with him when he's even bigger!!

on a related note: he is getting much stronger!! he is a big boy (as of today: 75th percentile for weight, 98th percentile for height, and wearing 12 month clothes). some of the physical milestones have been challenging for him because he weighs a lot and has a big ol noggin, so it's a lot of work to lift/maneuver his body. but he is rolling over pretty regularly and happily now, and in the last day or two he's started pushing up on his hands a little when he's on his tummy which was the big tummy time milestone he hadn't hit yet. he can also sit up with hip support and is starting to brace himself on his hands while sitting. the contrast with my nephew has been so funny to watch... my nephew is two and a half months older and is the tiniest, springiest little guy, so it's a lot easier for him to monkey around lol. but my nephew also just has this truly nonstop internal motor that seems to drive him to MOVE MOVE MOVE MOVE MOVE MOVE MOVE MOVE at all times. my baby uhh does not have that motor lol. he finds my nephew's frenetic energy a little overwhelming and is like actually i would prefer to lounge around here on my mat scritch-scratching a quilt, thank you. truly my child lol. why "move around" when you could instead sit in one place daydreaming. it's funny to watch them together and just be like ohhh kids are SO different there's such a wide spectrum of normal.

ok there are six things!!! some other rapidfire facts just for my files: he is still quite gloriously bald but he's started getting hair! no eyebrows yet though lol and no sign that they are on the horizon. he loves taking baths with me except maybe "loves" is the wrong word... he takes bathtime deathly seriously because it is Water Kicking Time and he was put on this earth to Kick Water. so bathtimes are training sessions... he does not smile at ALL during baths he is too Locked In, but he screams and screams when you try to take him out because he was STILL TRAINING. his eyes still have a little bit of that newborn dark blue left but are mostly dark brown now with perhaps the barest hint of hazel. he is really into music and will go into a trance state when you sing to him or play instruments for him. he loves to chomp on his toys. he used to "kiss" your cheek but now just wants to nom nom nom on your face. his cheeks get so rosy when he's worked up or chilly or excited. he is transfixed by his own hands. he does this sharp startled little inhale when something surprises him. he can now take his pacifier out of his mouth and sometimes put it back in (i'd say we have a 20% success rate of getting the pacifier back in the right way). he is almost always a perfect sleeper although we had a little rough patch last night so i'm holding my breath hoping he's not about to have some kind of regression. he loves to kvetch and has mastered the fine art of lowgrade grumbling and complaining. he is teething and so there is a lot of drool everywhere all the time. he likes to hold his board books while i read to him i think it makes him feel important and involved lol. he is very soft and warm and smells good. he loves to snuggle in the big bed with mom. he is the best. he is just the best!!! i am the luckiest person in the world. i love him so much and i love being his mom. what a good baby!!!

[hella1975]

there's a very specific kind of vibe that comes with living with your friends in final year that it just does not have in first year or even second year. like as a fresher it's usually the first time any of you have lived away from home let alone with SO MANY people your age and it's terrifying and exciting and randomised to boot so it's generally carnage for a whole year in the best and worst ways, and then second year you pick who you're living with and it feels like for the first time you're doing this adult thing PROPERLY. you have a place of your own now. these are the people you've chosen to live with. studying gets serious etc. but it's still fresh. it's still new. you still don't know how to navigate it. but final year? final year is when you actually get it right. you know how to manage your time better. you know what works for you and what doesn't. studying is the main focus and you've been out in the world for three years now and it's not loud and boisterous like it was in first year and you're not exciteable and awkward like you were in second year. you're comfortable. every single one of my flatmates has their own friend group and we mainly keep to our own social circles, but we'll still meet each other back at the house after a night out and sit in the kitchen or my room to do the debrief. sometimes i'll go days not seeing either of them despite sharing a house but every now and then someone will softly call up the stairs that 'the heating's on!' or one of us will sneeze and the other two will yell 'bless you!' through the walls. the lack of interaction isn't interpreted as dislike in ways it would have been even last year, because we're all just old enough to be past that now and settled enough in our friendship not to worry about it. idk. uni is very loud and unsettling a lot of the time so it's been really sweet to see how almost boringly comfortable final year is.

[mithliya]

i’m getting spammed with anon hate and i honestly don’t think this place is redeemable so im probs not going to be posting for idk how long. radblr has given me less than nothing. since joining radblr, people have overwhelmingly been unbelievably cruel to me.

my first year on radblr, women 1-2 decades older than me viciously harassed me for asking questions as someone not familiar with certain beliefs held here. these women harassed me for months non-stop, posted my full legal name, posted homes neighbouring where i lived in bahrain, and essentially released my private information. i had to threaten them back just in hopes they would leave me alone, which they didn’t really do. they simply stopped posting my name bc they wanted to make me look like im bad for finding one of their names simply by googling her url (her full name was her twitter username). one of the people in that circle was radicaldumbass, who then came back as macroclit, and again came back as radicalstoner. i moved on but i haven’t forgotten.

then, black-diaspora repeated the same thing. she posted pictures of my mother and led people to finding my mom's facebook. to this day, i still get anons with my mother’s name and my sister’s name. my sister was about 13 when anons first started sending me her name in threatening anons. somehow, black-diaspora was rewritten as a victim of mine despite her being repeatedly racist & lesbophobic to me & posting my mom’s info.

i was being abused by my ex-gf and women on here literally picked my abuse apart and enabled TRAs like lostelvenqueen to make up lies that i was the one abusing my abuser. that vicious lie was reiterated for 4 years. while being abused, women on radblr were mocking me for needing money when my ex-girlfriend was actively stealing from me at the time. to this day people use against me the fact that i needed help in that time bc some mutuals helped finance 2 dinners & my medication, all of which i either paid them back for or drew art as payment.

then, again, another woman dug through an old blog i ran as a teenager and found some posts here and there to make it seem like i, as a 15 and 16 year old, definitely loved being totally controlled by someone and physically abused whenever i didn’t follow his exact commands. i spoke openly about this trauma years prior to this person “exposing” me & arguing that i actually wanted that abuse by pointing to random innocuous posts and forming a story out of it. i think every abuse victim can imagine how difficult it is to still face trauma from something and instead of being allowed to heal, having it brought up to you several days a week to taunt you and having “feminists” tell you that you actually wanted it and are lying when you say otherwise. to this day, i get daily anons mentioning my name because this woman also put my legal name out there.

women here have put me in physical danger, they have made up the vilest lies about me, they’ve called me racial slurs, they’ve been outright racist to me, they’ve speculated about my rape & abuse, they’ve joked about lynching me, they’ve questioned things as minuscule as what i had for dinner. and despite that, i haven’t returned that same treatment. i remained relatively consistent, i simply criticised what i thought was wrong and provided evidence to my statements.

i made some nice friends on here & i’ll keep talking to them. but i’m going to be reevaluating why i’m wasting my time in a space that has overwhelmingly caused me stress, a space where countless unbelievable lies have been spun about me and a place where people have said & done the vilest things and in the end, i was always framed as a bad person based on half-truths or outright lies. now, people falsely claim that women who unfollow me or block me risk having their private information exposed, when i have met at least a dozen women from radblr and run a server with hundreds of women from radblr, have seen hundreds of faces, and have never exposed such information even if we end up disliking each other. i could tolerate many ridiculous lies, but why should i? i’m pretty fed up of tolerating this.

enjoy spinning this however you want and lying about me further. idk when i’ll be back or if i’ll want to be back. it’s pretty clear to me that this space prioritises lesbophobes & racists (& sometimes even downright misogynists) over people who calmly criticise it. i joined this space initially bc i thought it was somewhere where i could freely be a lesbian without being hassled for it, but radblr doesn’t even offer that anymore.

[colourstreakgryffin]

HIIIIII I'M BACK, my phone was broken for a few days and even when it was fixed I had no inspo for ideas on asks... BUBUBUBUBUT I'M BACK AND I GOT AN IDEAAAA

I've been losing interest in kny recently so I think I'll go along with Hazbin Hotel!!

Hear me out so much, Husk, Cherri, or Vox with reader who does ballet... I do ballet myself and that shit is soohohohoho fucking awesome and painful at the same time, like doing a split while doing a backbend too, not even like a half assed split no no no no no. A perfectly aligned split. I've had so much moments where I thought my legs would just... *pop* like a doll's. BUT ENOUGH OF MY RANTING.

remember to take breaks and drink enough water, you don't have to rush anything. take good care of yourself, make sure you have healthy habits and treat yourself to something today, like going out to a great restaurant! idk but just make sure you treat yourself to something nice today, Chiharu :3

here's terribly deformed Charlie bringing you chocolate milk :3

Haha! I have that EXACT SAME picture! I love terribly deformed Charlie bringing me chocolate milk every Wednesday. Thanks, Lottie! You know Husk’s response to our flexibility is a resounding ‘what the fuck’ and this is my first time ever trying out Cherri! And hey, I won’t write Cherri or Vox, I’ll write both!

Husk

Husk is a sweetheart when it comes to being your boyfriend, trust me. He’s caring, he may be a bit rough with his advice but he only does so in order to protect you. He’s skilled with people and he is happy to help comfort you. His patience is high… but even Husk himself is anxious at getting to see your beloved hobby

Ballet. Well, Husk isn’t against it. He always thought it was such an old hobby. That ballet dancers don’t really exist anymore but then again, he won’t express his thoughts outloud and he gives you thumbs up when watching your practices. It’s very impressive and he isn’t against being at every single practice to performance

You know Husk is freaked out by how flexible you are. Back bends whilst doing full on splits. Satan’s fuck, he is cringing at how a human body can do that but at the same time, he’s so impressed that he just can’t bring himself to hate what he is looking at

Husk is in complete and utter awe when he can review your practice performances. Ballet may be a bit disturbing to him, due to how much it stretches the body’s limits, but it’s also so beautiful, graceful and majestic

Husk can’t pull his eyes off you and he falls into a deep state of enamour. You’re so beautiful, even more than you already are, as you dance. He couldn’t even believe it was possible 

Husk is quite protective over you, like I said before, so when you land on your ankle badly, he is rushing onto the stage to check it and carry you out to make sure you’ll heal well. He won’t let you practice or stretch or practice your flexibility until you are doing better

“Honeypot. You will win this dance, I know you will. You’ve done training for years and you look incredible as you dance. Yes, I will be there in the crowd”

Cherri Bomb

Cherri Bomb is an energetic, supportive and joyful girlfriend. One that doesn’t mind getting a bit destructive and carefree with her partner and encouraging them to have more fun with her but has a soft spot. Of course, however, you know she will take your hobby seriously and help you or watch you for you, it’s actually fun to her as well

Cherri actually finds your ballet passion ‘precious and cute’. Something she is all for since it’s such a simple, innocent, harmless favourite activity. She likes making bombs to make things explode, you love to explode the competition and grace the dancefloor stage with your beauty and poise

Cherri may seem like she isn’t much of a dancer, maybe more of a rapper but seriously, she actually is and it’s canon that she is a very skilled dancer so there is no doubt that she is either passing down her own skills in dancing, training you more or dancing with you. She will dance ballet with you and practice two-dancer ballet with you

Cherri will blow up a hole in the wall at your practice ballrooms or your performance ballrooms to make it and she refuses to let anybody else try take care of you if you’re hurt so suspect her to get into a fight, in a crime of protective passion. She wants you happy and safe, she’ll fight for that

Cherri is actually quite fine with how flexible you are and how your warm-up stretching can really stretch out your limbs. The way you lift your leg up until it’s completely vertical and both your pelvis and the underneath of your thigh is visible. She is impressed and asks if you can teach her how to be so flexible. She isn’t as disturbed as the other two, she likes it

Cherri, just like Husk and Vox, falls into a complete and utter admiration at being able to watch you perform and dance. The soothing gentle music has her head dancing as well and her single eye basically widening, she’s more in love now then ever

“Hey-ya, bubblegum. Did’ya have fun on ‘dat stage? I had fun recordin’ it! You looked amazin’, you’ll win this tournament. No problem! Of course, babe, I’ll be in the front row!”

Vox

Vox is a busy man and can be a bit arrogant at times, but he is actually quite a good boyfriend. He gives off good advice and support, he is protective with his power and he is the type to spoil his lover. When he is around, he’d doting, he’s a bit overbearing but because he cares and he makes sure you’ll always feel loved and comfortable with him

Vox is actually quite supportive but he is the voice of reason. He won’t tolerate you overdoing yourself in your precious little hobby, he will encourage to dance ballet but if you go too far, he will step in and correct your behaviours. However, that doesn’t often happen so you can dance all you want at the big practice ballroom he hired out for you and/or dancing with you

Vox isn’t sure how to feel about seeing how flexible you are… it’s pretty hot but at the same time, it’s disturbing. You’re on the floor and you’re stretching your pushed-back leg over your back so much that you’re almost in a wheel-shape with your body. He’s amazed, he is already cheering you on, he’s recording it to brag about he can’t help but feel aroused

Vox, everytime he attends your passionate hobby’s practice and performance events, records it on his phone or on his own face so he can both watch it back to admire you and to show the other Vees that he is the boyfriend of the best ballet dancer in Hell. He sometimes forgets to record it since you look so… incredible

Vox is protective, extremely protective. You’re smaller, you’re weaker. You’re less wealthy and less well off. You require constant guarding to ensure you’ll be able to make it to the next day. If you even slightly land on your ankle awkwardly, he is stomping up to the stage and taking you away so he can check up on you

You know Vox almost drops the camera he is using to record you every professional dance on the stage and he can’t stop thinking about how unbelievably beautiful you look, how you’re as silly and velvety like a swan with your every spin and flex. He takes a few seconds to snap out of his awe over you

“Come now, sweetheart. You’ve done more than enough, that dance can again-kill everybody in this room and you made all those amateurs look pathetic. I want to reward you for this. Don’t you worry, I’ll be at the final performance“

[writerfae]

Okay! Here's the promised ask! (Idk if I'll get to everyone's parents, so sorry for everyone who gets left out)

Now, I don't know if you meant writing for them before they had kids, so this will probably be a mix

Starting off with Ranva and Milan, of course! (Their's will probably be the longest because... yeah)

Milan seeing Ranva for the first time and he's jaw drops, because look at her!

I think hearing about the time when Milan helps Ranva get away from the fae realm would be really interesting (plus baby Henry 🥺)

Ranva having the exact opposite problem of Henry, as in he had to adjust to the fae realm and her to the human realm (the parallels of these two kill me every day)

I'm actually really interested in the time before Aiden was born (as in they're already in the human realm, but he's not born yet), because we never hear about it

(or rarely)

Fenna and Cyrus

Ngl I keep thinking about modern au them, because cute baker Fenna is top tear!

Also, that thing you mentioned about Fenna holding Cyrus after their son died

Also, them just bickering 🥺

Hela's parents

I don't think I know a lot about her dad (or if I do, I forgot again)

And her mom looking for her, and her being mischievous is adorable ❤️

Now... I know very, very little about Maya's mom... so... sorry❤️

And meanwhile I want to come up with something fluffly for my guys but I've got nothing...

But listen 👏 (I think I made a post like this actually, but I was listening to the song again, so:)

Bendegúz: The soldier

Ákos: The poet

Endre: The king

Adél: The one who's singing

(Yes, I love going on rants about songs and my ocs. When I go on a rant about an Odette song that will be... well, you know what she's like🤣 there'll be emotions( but her playlist is one of the best)

Also, can you imagine Endre holding up Ákos to your ocs lion king style 🤣

Thanks, that’s so nice of you ^^

My initial thought was to write fluff for them as couples (with no kids) but since I have no actual plans for this god knows when I’ll even get around to do this I’m open for everything!

Milan was completely star struck when he met Ranva. Ranva’s sister noticed it first and told her. They were both giggling like crazy stealing glances at him stealing glances at Ranva xD and at one point he gathered his courage and really formally introduced himself, with hand-kiss and all.

To be honest, Ranva’s sister, her teacher and her maid were the ones who had the most part in arranging her and Milan’s “escape”. More interesting is probably the time before that (their secret meetings, Ranva telling Milan about Henry and about wanting to leave with them) and after (Milan helping her adjust, helping her with Henry, refusing to hunt for people who talked bad about his wife).

The way Henry’s story is mirroring his mother’s (but reverse) is one of my favorite things about the two. Also how different yet similar their way of freedom looks like!

When Aiden was born, Ranva already spent six years in the human realm. In the time till his birth a lot of her adjusting and dealing with missing home happened. Her learning some customs she had to adopt. Her making friends with Holly. Her, Milan and Henry being a happy little family despite some sullen grumbles from other villagers.

I wouldn’t really know what to tell you about it though, if you don’t have specific questions…

Fenna is already adorable, but baker Fenna from the modern au is even more so! Her and young Cyrus meeting in France is so cute too. I like thinking about younger them lately, even in canon. Not that they’d play any role significant enough for me to think about them, but I do and I adore them xD

The thing is that Fenna loves Cyrus. She remembers the man he used to be and she still sees that man in him, deep down. She’s hoping to one day get him back out. He might never be the same like he was before they lost Thorin, but she holds on to him because she knows deep down he’s still a good man. Flawed, but good. And she loves and believes in him still, though she doesn’t approve of the way he handles his relationship to their kids.

Halea’s parents’ names are Arian and Sofia. They are actually least developed, so I can’t tell you much about them. Except for that Sofia is originally from the Oak court, where her mother was one of the queen’s ladies. And Arian is head of the House of Hummingbirds, who married her and took her to the Willow court with him.

It’s funny how you know little about Maya’s mother, yet she’s the first parent beside Milan and Ranva that actually got a backstory xD

Gwen is a witch. She and her family before her, like many witches, were follower of the old ways. Which is what you call people in the human world that still believe in the old religion (the goddesses, the existence of fae and magic…) and follow old customs.

She grew up living with her grandmother and mother in their little cottage by the forest. She learned the old ways and her craft from them. Now she couldn’t do real magic, since humans are incapable of it, but she knew old rituals and little “spells” and knew how to make potions and (lucky) charms and she knew lots about herbs.

She and Maya lived from what Gwen sold on the big market in their hometown. Things like wool, eggs and goat milk and woven baskets. Dried herbs, balms and medicine. But also charms, potions and other stuff for the more “superstitious” people. Ranva was one of her customers, too.

Gwen was never interested in marriage. But she did want a child. Which is why she wished for Maya!

Oh yeah I remember you mentioning that! I think it fits your characters very well (both the song and the positions you applied to them like who’s the king and who’s the poet…)

Music can be a very good way to get close to our characters! I like doing that a lot too!

[shitpostingkats]

hello hello!! i came across your post about baron in the aromantic tag and omg i JUST. needed to say that i am having the EXACT same experience as you right now 😭, aroace watching fantasy high for the first time (though in not as far in as you im on like sy ep 6), but ive seen clips of the baron scenes before and it's just like oh my goshhhh isn't it CRAZY?? how a silly goblin boy in a dnd show makes you feel more seen than anything else on planet earth (for me at least)?? And he's such an amazing character on every single level too, i think about him and him and his mom every day... of my Life....

It's just likeeee. LIKE. Oh my gosh it's just so good. he makes me very happy. i literally started watching fh BECAUSE i saw clips of the baron scenes and knew i just needed to see this. anyway yeah this got really long but. Isn't he just the best ever TBH ....

aegfvhjksjhdl I had the exact opposite experience. Saw a single animatic for Baron's introduction scene like a million years ago and completely forgot it was from fantasy high until I got to The Scene and was like "Wait. I think I've heard this before."

Not to give to many spoilers, I came into Fantasy High knowing Riz was canonically ace but like... I wasn't sure how much of a thing it was going to be? Idk, I just figured it would be the (still very nice!!!! and important!!!) representation of just saying he's ace once or twice.

HOOOOOOOOOO boy I was not expecting to have multiple scenes that examine aceness and growing up ace that cut me to the bone. I felt seen while listening to Baron's second appearance, just validated and moved and really emotional. I straight up cried, which was doubly surprising, because the last time I cried over a piece of media I was in middle school and had just finished reading the Gregor the Overlander series. Brennan and Murph just wonderfully captured a lot of really hard to articulate emotions, emotions I was always convinced were never really going to be understood by someone who hadn't experienced them first hand. And that meant all the more to me, listening to it. We are not alone. We are not incomprehensible.

Riz Gukgak being aroace is so important to me.

[extralively]

School Stories: Crush

Gojo Satoru/Original Female Character Pre-Relationship, Bickering, Teenage crush, Obliviousness 2372 words Also posted on AO3 Summary: Suguru comes to the conclusion that Satoru might have developed a little crush on a certain someone...

Honestly, I had the first part of this written for soooo long but I just hadn't been able to finish writing it for some reason (ʃᵕ̩̩ ᵕ̩̩) I did end up sort of finishing it now, though it's shorter than I had initially planned, but alas. Should still be fun! Hopefully!

(Also, you may notice in this story that I mention a little something about how Gojo and Geto met that is actually all my own personal headcanon lmao. I don't think there's anything in the manga that necessarily contradicts this, but let me know otherwise! Basically, my headcanon is that they actually met a couple of years pre-Jujutsu Tech by running into each other, and Gojo immediately saw Geto's potential with his Six Eyes and started bugging him about it. So Gojo was the one who recruited Geto to become a sorcerer, and they eventually started spending a lot of time together and became friends, then ended up joining Jujutsu Tech together.

...idk I just like the idea that they knew each other for longer before everything went to shit, it hurts more lol)

Anyway, enjoy this silly little fic!

2006

It all started when Suguru came back to school from this one spring break.

...Well, okay, maybe it didn’t exactly start right then, but it sure got him noticing it more.

There were still a couple of days left in spring break before the new school year started, but Suguru had already come back to the school after spending time with his family. And as much as being with his family was nice and all... he was just really glad to be back in Jujutsu Tech.

So his first order of the day was to find Satoru so they could catch up—but the problem was that Satoru wasn’t at the dorms, and Suguru couldn’t sense him anywhere on school grounds. Well, Suguru had actually come back a little earlier this time around, and he hadn’t really let Satoru know in advance, so he simply pulled out his phone to text his white-haired friend and see what he was up to.

Suguru: I just got back Suguru: where u at

Suguru started making himself comfortable in his room, waiting for a reply. A couple of minutes later, his phone pinged with a text message.

Satoru: out

Suguru snorted—well, no shit. Satoru had too much energy to stay cooped up for long, so Suguru regularly received updates from his friend’s random outings—‘Suguru, I just bought new glasses,’ or ‘Suguru, they’ve got new Digimon figurines for sale,’ or ‘Suguru, I just got a girl’s number, and she has a friend!!’

...But, most often these days, Satoru’s messages seemed to revolve around one subject in particular.

‘Suguru, Wakatsuki and I went shopping, I got you a hat,’ he would text. Or ‘Suguru, Wakatsuki won’t let me pick out her karaoke songs,’ or ‘Suguru, Wakatsuki just fell asleep in my room watching a movie what do I do??’

If Satoru and Wakatsuki had unexpectedly spent a lot of time together last summer, it seemed that they were intent on doing the exact same thing whenever school went on break. And judging by how long Satoru had taken to answer his latest message, Suguru guessed the other boy was pretty busy right now.

Suguru: you out on a date

There was a pause before the next message came along.

Satoru: I’m with Wakatsuki

Suguru snorted.

Suguru: on a date

The next reply came hilariously quickly.

Satoru: no

Suguru snickered to himself.

Suguru: if you say so

Honestly, how had they even gotten here in the first place?

Last summer, Suguru had gone back home fully expecting Satoru to do the same—that the other boy would be heading back to the Gojo Estate during break. But then a few days after he’d arrived at his parents’ house, Suguru had discovered that Satoru had not, in fact, left school at all. After some prodding, the white-haired teenager had claimed he would much rather stay there than be forced to handle his family’s nagging face-to-face again, and had even rejected the idea to come stay with Suguru instead.

And that had worried Suguru a bit. Satoru, left all by himself at the school with no one around to rein him in?

A recipe for disaster.

Even worse was when he’d found out that Wakatsuki had also not left the school for some reason, and considering how she and Satoru had constantly been at each other’s throats during the first half of the school year...

A recipe for an even worse disaster.

Suguru had tried to assuage his fears by telling himself that Yaga would still be around, and that their sensei had actually developed a knack for keeping those two from throttling each other. But still, Suguru kept offering Satoru to join him during that summer, which Satoru continued to refuse; in the few times Suguru had brought his white-haired friend to meet his parents... it hadn’t turned out very well. Satoru was too different, too alien to get along with Suguru’s very normal parents, the small town they lived in too tiny and boring to hold Gojo Satoru for long.

So Satoru had stayed at the school all throughout the past summer, but at least he had promised to keep Suguru up to date with frequent text updates. That had provided some semblance of comfort to Suguru as he kept receiving reassurances that Satoru hadn’t blown up the entire school from sheer boredom, but then...

‘ugh, Yaga is sending me on a mission with Wakatsuki of all people,’ Satoru had texted him at one point. ‘I don’t need all the dead weight.’

‘Satoru,’ Suguru had replied. ‘Play nice.’

Suguru had been... a little worried. Mostly about Wakatsuki, because Satoru didn’t exactly know the meaning of the word moderation and Wakatsuki herself held no qualms about provoking one of the strongest sorcerers of the modern age despite their, ahem, differences in strength. And as Satoru’s texts complaining about the mission eventually ceased after half a day or so, Suguru had only ended up even more worried about what might have happened when those two were finally left alone with each other.

Really, Suguru had expected the worst.

But then a day later, Satoru had finally texted him back saying that the mission was done—and yes, Wakatsuki was still alive.

So that had been a relief. Satoru hadn’t accidentally squashed Wakatsuki while fighting, and those two had managed to survive being alone with each other for longer than Suguru had ever thought possible.

And as it turned out, they had done more than just survive being around each other, but Suguru would only come to understand what that meant after he’d returned from that year’s summer break. Because as he stayed with his parents during summer, Suguru had only vaguely started to notice that Satoru’s messages were slowing down as the days went on, almost like the other boy had found something to actually occupy his time with on a regular basis.

That something? Wakatsuki herself. And when Suguru finally returned from summer break, he’d been shell shocked to enter Satoru’s room to find them both there, watching a movie together.

So, something had happened during that summer, something that had eventually led to Satoru and Wakatsuki agreeing on some sort of truce between themselves. And that truce quickly evolved as they eventually became friends—real, honest, constantly bickering, friends. A true miracle had happened last year, and when Satoru wasn’t spending time with Suguru, then he sure was spending time with her.

...Spending time with her in a strange way sometimes... and this spring break hadn’t been any different.

“...I’m gonna take it off,” a voice was heard out in the hallway, and Suguru perked up. It was a girl’s voice, a familiar one—and accompanying it was a very familiar cursed energy signature.

“No, you lost the bet,” Satoru’s voice was heard. Suguru jumped up to his feet, moving towards the door.

“I’ve been wearing it all day,” Wakatsuki said. “I’m done.”

“No.”

“I’m taking it off—hey!”

“You’re going to wear it all the way to bed!”

“Says who?!”

“Says me!”

As Suguru popped his head out of his room, his eyes immediately spotted the two other teenagers standing in the middle of the hallway—and the ridiculous Digimon hat that Satoru had undoubtedly made Wakatsuki wear.

“You two look like you’re having fun,” Suguru greeted them with a grin.

“Yo, Suguru!” Satoru greeted back—as Wakatsuki sent the white-haired teenager a half-hearted glare. Her hands were raised up near her head, probably to take the silly hat off, but Satoru had both of her wrists held in his own hands to keep her from doing just that.

“Lemme go,” she grumbled, trying to pull her hands away—but Satoru was not budging. So she huffed, leaning backwards enough so she could raise a leg and half-heartedly kick Satoru’s side.

He still did not budge.

“Am I interrupting something?” Suguru asked, his smile turning sly.

Satoru seemed oblivious to what Suguru was trying to imply, so the other boy simply grinned some more. “Wakatsuki is just being a sore loser, that’s all.”

“I’ve kept my side of the agreement!” Wakatsuki called, and Satoru finally released her wrists. Wakatsuki did not waste any time grabbing the hat off her head and chucking it straight at Satoru’s face, then promptly rushing off to her own room. “Keep that Digimon freak away from me!”

It was hard to take her seriously when she stuck her tongue out at Satoru before closing herself inside her room, the Digimon hat harmlessly thudding against the wooden surface after Satoru had thrown it back at her.

Suguru snickered to himself.

...What a fun date it must have been...

-

“Satoru,” Suguru called, trying to contain his smirk. “You’re drooling.”

Satoru blinked, finally realizing he was staring.

Staring at what, in particular?

Wakatsuki stretching out her legs as they warmed up for class, of course. She had worn shorts today, probably due to the increasingly warm weather, and it wasn’t hard for Suguru to notice where Satoru’s eyes had been glued to, even behind his sunglasses.

“Shut up,” Satoru suddenly said with a huff, immediately turning around and starting to stretch out his arms despite not really needing to.

Also, the tips of his ears were definitely red.

Suguru snorted, and from the other side of the training grounds, his eyes met Shoko’s to exchange a knowing glance with her.

(It seemed that Wakatsuki hadn’t realized it either...)

“Satoru,” Suguru half-whispered, his smile turning devious. “Do you have a crush?”

Satoru still refused to turn around, just as his ears refused to stop shining red. “S-shut up. I do not.”

Oh, he totally did.

Suguru would have to admit that his previous teasing of Satoru over his, ahem, relationship with Wakatsuki had been mostly just that—teasing. It was kind of funny to think about how close those two had gotten despite the rocky start they’d had, and that they actually enjoyed spending all that time together now without complaint.

But to think that Satoru had developed an actual crush on her?

Hilarious.

Wasn’t Wakatsuki the one Satoru had deemed a complete weakling on day one? And yet, now here he was, desperately trying to pretend he hadn’t just been ogling said weakling in the middle of jujutsu class because it turned out he had a crush.

...Honestly, how hadn’t Wakatsuki realized it yet? Satoru wasn’t exactly subtle, and they spent a lot of time together. Sure, Suguru himself had only just realized it... but he was pretty sure that, in the back of his mind, he’d known that for a while now.

It really was that obvious.

Throughout the years they’d known each other, Suguru had watched Satoru try to woo quite a few girls by now—and it was always a trainwreck. Satoru’s good looks were forced to the heavy lifting for him like 90% of the time, because when Satoru opened his mouth, he was as overly confident as he was a socially awkward mess. Suguru found it hard to miss whenever Satoru became interested in someone (he usually became three times as loud and obnoxious, for starters), though he’d have to say that Satoru’s arrogance usually covered up for his total inability to talk to other people like a normal human being—the Gojo clan’s fault, of course—so maybe it went unnoticed by everyone else.

...But also, Suguru thought Wakatsuki was smart.

Had she noticed it but was ignoring it? Suguru didn’t think so—given how those two were always bickering with each other, he didn’t think Wakatsuki would be able to act normally around him if she knew that Satoru kept ogling her in class.

But... did she maybe have a crush on him?

Suguru hummed to himself, thoughtful, as he watched Satoru try to get a rise out of the girl in question. Like a boy tugging on a girl’s pigtails to get her attention, almost predictably so—but what did Wakatsuki feel about it?

It was hard to tell, to be honest. Wakatsuki was a lot more guarded than Satoru was, and Suguru didn’t know her that well. Suguru knew that she enjoyed spending time with Satoru for sure, but how far did that go?

...Hm...

Suguru watched as Yaga scolded Satoru and Wakatsuki—Wakatsuki having been successfully riled up by the white-haired teenager. Then he snorted when Satoru turned around and Wakatsuki raised a leg to literally kick his butt, before scampering off to hide behind Shoko so Yaga wouldn’t scold them again.

...Suguru would not be opposed to playing matchmaker if needed to, actually. Satoru needed someone who could keep him grounded—someone who didn’t really care about his status of being Gojo Satoru, and someone who wouldn’t let his strength get to his head. Suguru himself was trying to do his part in that, and the Gojo Satoru he’d first run into those three and something years ago was certainly not the same Gojo Satoru that existed now.

‘You’re strong, actually,’ Satoru had told him back then, and even though it had technically been a compliment, Satoru’s tone of voice had made it sound like a backhanded compliment instead. ‘You should become a sorcerer.’

Satoru had definitely mellowed out a bit from the arrogant boy he’d first met back then, and Suguru had worked hard to steer him away from the asshole that the Gojo clan had raised him to be.

...So it was kind of funny that the other person helping with that now seemed to be someone on the exact opposite end of the spectrum of strength. The fact that Satoru had been able to overlook Wakatsuki’s ‘weakness’ spoke volumes to how much he’d grown, and the thought of those two getting together now amused Suguru to no end.

Maybe one day, once Suguru was sure that the crush was mutual. After all, he didn’t want to ruin the careful balance that had been struck between Satoru and Wakatsuki last year in case he was mistaken. Maybe it would be better to just leave them be and see where they ended up by themselves...

...for now. There would be plenty of time for some matchmaking later, after all.

End notes: So that was that! I really need to continue writing the main story now halp

[jedi-enthusiast]

Debunking the "The Jedi are Evil" Theory Made by The Film Theorists PT 6

Point 6 - The Jedi Left Shimi in Slavery

Continuing on, Matthew says this:

"In fact, the Jedi care so little about the relationship between parent and child, that in the Prequel trilogy Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan literally leave Anakin's mother on Tatooine to continue living in slavery in Episode 1. We're told that they take Anakin, but not his mother because they don't have the money to buy her freedom from Watto."

WRONG!

And, what's funny is, he plays the exact clip that shows this is wrong right after he makes this statement.

They didn't free her because Watto refused, likely because he didn't want to lose both his slaves in one day, but not because they didn't have enough money or wouldn't pay the price Watto set.

---

Matthew quote, continued:

"But then a decade goes by without him ever following up. At no point during the 10 year period did anyone bother to think- 'Hey, maybe we should, you know, go check on Anakin's mother to make sure she's alive or, I don't know, maybe go back to buy her freedom since we have the money to do it, and we've won the war, and her son happens to be the most powerful Force-user in history.'"

First of all, Qui-Gon fucking dies like the day after freeing Anakin--so he can't follow up--and Obi-Wan, for a nice chunk of time afterwards I'd say, is a little too busy dealing with the grief of losing his Master (or his "parent," since obviously Matthew thinks parental relationships are the only ones that matter), the mental turmoil of killing a Sith, and also the sheer whiplash of "holy shit I'm now responsible for a whole other human being, what do I do???"

Like, there's literally a whole thing in a book where Obi-Wan is like "does Anakin know how to swim???" so I think there were some more pressing matters on his mind than worrying about Shmi.

I will also say that in another video Matthew says that Shmi and Anakin were just fine as slaves because Watto is shown to "treat them well," so he can't really use both arguments in this situation. If Shmi was "just fine" in slavery, then why should the Jedi go back to check on her or free her?

Either she's fine and the Jedi have no reason to go check on her, or she's not fine and the Jedi need to.

One or the other, buddy.

Plus, only Obi-Wan, Qui-Gon, and Anakin knew about Shmi. Qui-Gon dies, Obi-Wan is juggling enough things as is, and Anakin clearly never tells anyone else about his mother--so what was anyone else supposed to do about someone they didn't even know existed?

Second...you're getting your movies and also literally everything that happens mixed up.

The Jedi do not "win the war," a war fucking starts--which spreads them thin across the galaxy to the point that they can barely take care of the problems right under their noses without another fire starting somewhere else that they need to get to, so I doubt they'd have the time to go searching for Shmi. Plus, at the end of that war, the Jedi get fucking genocided...idk what you want them to do while they're getting murdered in the halls of their home.

Now, if you're talking about the mess on Naboo, that is over at the end of TPM--not in the "10 year span" you're talking about. It wouldn't be a stretch to say that, if Obi-Wan did go back to try and buy Shmi's freedom, that Watto's answer would be the same, and what would be the point of Obi-Wan going back a day after Watto already refused to ask the same question again?

And why isn't Padme held to the same standard?

Why aren't you asking why she--with more money, power, time, and resources--didn't go back to free Shmi?

Interesting double standard there.

---

Matthew quote continued:

"What makes the death of Anakin's mother all the more tragic, is that all of it could have been prevented. He reaches her just as she's in her dying breaths. Had he arrived days, or even hours earlier, his journey to Tatooine might not have ended with him having to bury her. The only reason that Anakin even knew about her is because he could sense her suffering."

Yeah, it could have been prevented...if Anakin had actually told anyone about his dreams.

In AotC Anakin mentions to Obi-Wan that he's been having dreams about his mother, but he doesn't elaborate. And when Obi-Wan tries to talk to him about those vague dreams that Anakin is telling him fuck-all about, Anakin switches the subject to Padme and doesn't bring it up to Obi-Wan again.

The Jedi are shown again and again to be extremely empathetic and, as I said before, they don't bar people from visiting their biological families if that's what they choose. If Anakin had actually told Obi-Wan "I've been having dreams of my mother dying on Tatooine and I can literally sense her pain and suffering," odds are that Obi-Wan would have encouraged him to go and check on her.

And it's made clear that Anakin was having those dreams for a while. His mother was gone for a month. If, at any point in time Anakin had actually told someone about his dreams, he probably could've gone to check on her earlier and would've been able to save her.

The only reason that Anakin wasn't supposed to go later on in the movie was because he was literally the sole person responsible for the safety of a very important Senator who people were actively trying to assassinate.

[acaplaya-musings]

Voiceplay Visuals - Time Warp

When I was considering the concept of doing a few "bonus posts" during my 12 Days Of Christmas In July miniseries, I was like "oh I am absolutely doing a post for Time Warp!" and so here we are!

Time Warp was released on the 14th of October, 2023 (last year), and is what the group has referred to as a "Biggie" video. What this means it's that it's mostly like a VoicePlay Mini, but it's longer than a minute, and uploaded as a proper video on the channel (other "Biggies" include Wellerman and Peaches). So yeah, it's not a full-length cover of Time Warp (one can only dream!), but it's still more than we would've gotten from just a standard Mini! The arrangement was a collaboration between Rob Dietz, Geoff, and Eli, and the video and creative direction were both just left to Eli. And this cover/video features the awesome Ashley Diane! Anyway, idk how long or short this post might be, but there's definitely fun things to show and talk about, so let's get into this!

Alright we're starting off the video strong, with Geoff wearing glasses and practically smouldering down the camera, SIR-!

(Seriously he already looks so lovely and handsome most of the time anyway - the fact that glasses make him look even better is frankly just unfair)

Oh and you might notice a sign in the far background (the blue-green thing) that says "Oviedo Mall". That's where VoicePlay films most of their Minis (and "Biggies"), and it's also where Pattycake Studios is located!

Sir you stop that right now! 😂😅

(Never ask me for screenshots from the Peaches video - I love it a lot but I am too damng weak to those eyes looking right at me!)

("Hey that's not a YouTube screenshot!" Nope, it's from the Patreon Early Access video. Don't @ me, it's the exact same video, but it just gives me a better/"cleaner-looking" screenshot in this case)

Alright, outfit talk time!

Geoff I suppose could low-key be dressing up as Brad Majors with the glasses? (Yes I have seen Rocky Horror Picture Show - only once a few years back, but I of course know the songs, and really know Time Warp).

Layne is definitely repping Columbia with that shiny gold jacket, and also hey it's a rare case of seeing (what I'm assuming is) his natural hairstyle! (Layne had curly hair in Jingle Bell Rock as well but I completely forgot to mention it).

Cesar is wearing a Rocky Horror Picture Show shirt, nice (I am fully unsurprised that he's a fan of it, lol), and Eli's wearing the same jacket that he did in the video for Good 4 U a couple years ago!

"It's just a jump to the left..."

Love the old-timey effect they put on the visuals for this bit, and the monocle!

(I can't do frame-by-frame scrubbing on Patreon videos, but there's a lot less User Interface stuff getting in the way when I wanna take full-length screenshots, so if the source of the images keeps changing during this post, that's why)

The main reason I wanted to do a VoicePlay Visuals post for this one: the dancing! (And I was totally dancing along with the first chorus here, couldn't help myself!)

Oh and speaking of the dancing, I gotta show my appreciation for the fact that Cesar and Ashley are doing the choreography properly (well, mostly - the "step to the right" bit should include matching hand motions!). E.g. having the right timing on "bring your knees in tight" (you don't do it immediately!)

I wanted to get a clear shot of Ashley before I gave proper appreciation for her sparkly sequined top! Very cute!

"...when a snake of a guy gave me an evil wink!"

(Both Eli and Cesar are winking!)

Zoom in on Geoff, Layne, and Eli down in the mini "cutaway box" at the bottom! First of all, Geoff has the biggest happy grin on his face and I love it, and second of all, Layne jumped into shot and almost immediately lost composure and almost cracked up laughing 😂

Layne kept going though, good for him! (And honestly leaving that part in instead of reshooting just makes it more entertaining for us imo 😁)

Cesar is iconic, that is all

I love how Layne appears to be trying The Least with the dance moves. 🤣 (Meanwhile Geoff and Eli appear to be having an absolute blast!)

Not gonna bother trying to get a decent screenshot of the "pelvic thrusts" bit, but it's still very amusing. Layne again going for Bare Minimum, Geoff is trying but his expression indicates he's close to pulling something or throwing his back out (rip), while Eli is absolutely going for it, and even does a little spin! 😁

Just Random Chaos Time. VoicePlay Brand Of Dumb! 😂😂

And of course there is only one proper way to end a performance of Time Warp, and this is basically how you do it!

Say VoicePlay, any of you know how to Madison? 🤔😜🤣

So that's Time Warp! I don't watch this one a great deal, so it was fun to have a reason to revisit it. This was an additional little "Halloween season upload" from VoicePlay last year, and I am so hyped for whatever they might come up with this year, but for now, I've got one more bonus post coming your way, and then we'll finish off with more Christmas stuff! See you soon!

[hongthoven]

hiii i saw your requests are open and omfg- off topic but youre so pretty😞🫵 hongjoong would deffo be proud of himself for having you as his stan. NO JOKE.

Ahh also I've read almost every work youve done and your writing style, everything just- HOW YOU WRITE IS ABSOLUTELY AMAZING, I could go on reading everything written from you for hours!

Anywayy- again, I saw your requests are open and ahaha since Im not a writer, and I admire you like A LOT i really wanna share one of my scenarios these days and mayyybeee you could writeeee abouuuuttt itttt hehe (ofc if you want --I wont be mad if you never make it lol ill continue support your work!)

So- IM SO WHIPPED FOR SEONGHWA. Been loving my man for years now lmfao so you already know whos this aboutt~, anyway hehe, i was thinking maybe writing 9th member fem!reader ! Ateez (and reader included ofc ofc) are going on vacation in a really nice hotel, with beach outside, everything's perfect for the members to relax a bit from their busy schedule! Reader is also kind of bf and gfs with seonghwa? I mean everyone in the industry AND out of the industry ships them, call them power dynamic and stuff and, even before that, reader and hwa always had that tense. Yk, reader is prettt close with all of her members, they feel like big brothers to her but fucking Park Seonghwa is driving her AND HIM insane since training day. Reader though, is mostly closer with Mingi if not Seonghwa and they are so so touchy with each other, flirting but for fun and nuh uh girl Seonghwa is POSSESSED. Hes so jealous and he doesnt even hide it. Doesnt even try to hide it. He doesnt have a problem with Mingi but when he sees his hands all over you gosh he really wants to make him watch you getting railed by him.

+ its beach day and ateez decide to play shoulder fights? Chicken fight? Lol idk how to say it and Reader get paired with Mingi which causes Seonghwa watching her thighs all over Mingis face. Ahhh- JEALOUS MUCH. Let me add also that of course Seonghwa and reader share the same room so in their way back from the beach it was so tense. Lol- kind of vers2 from your hongjoong jealous bf fanfic. (I RLY LOVED IT BTW🥲)

Im so so sorry if I didn't give you my exact thoughts but- i trust you enough to make it your own~ adding your little details and everything. Youre so talented I dont think you need my details- I think i gave out the main parts!

Thank you so much for your time and I hope you have, will have and had a nice day<33 im so excited for your new works!

(English is not my first language btw so excuse me if something did not make sense)

(actual representation of me reading the beginning of that message-- please??? what if I'm kicking my feet in the air and squealing right now? that was adorable! thank you so much ♥ I'm nowhere near beautiful, what you see is the disgusting reflection of my neverending love for Kim Hongjoong, nothing moooore...!)

I'm so sorry it took me AGES to get this request done but it is finally posted ♥ here ♥ !

I hope you enjoy! Thank you so much for requesting and for your lovely words! ♥

[heloflor]

Probably my hottest Mario take: I might actually like the 1986 Anime Movie more than the 2023 Movie. Yes the 2023 one is a better movie overall while the 86 Anime didn’t age well and is filled with plot conveniences and random things happening just because, along with the bad animation, questionable voice acting, weird soundtrack and sound design, but idk I still really like it.

It’s just that there’s something very charming about that movie. It came out a single year after the first Super Mario Bros, back when there was little to no lore about the Mushroom Kingdom, and it really shows in the way enemies are used and random characters exist but also you can tell they made an effort with the little they had. It’s like watching the very beginning of the franchise, way before it became the phenomenon it is today, and there’s something about it I really like.

I’m also fascinated by the way Peach and Bowser were written in it. This was the first time these two were given a personality past “evil bad guy” and “damsel in distress”. And not only are they both great in the little screentime they have, but these new personality traits, given one single year after the creation of those characters, remain to this day their personality, albeit with a few small tweaks (Bowser being a dad becoming a huge part of his character, Peach losing her temper in most versions). Kinda funny how these two are the biggest highlight of the movie despite only being in it for like 5 minutes, but still, love what was done with them.

And when it comes to comparing it to the 2023 Movie, I actually find it hilarious how many similarities the two have, including having the exact same skeleton for their story. It’s been 37 years yet Nintendo is still writing the same thing, I love it (more on the comparison here).

Oh yeah and because I just know there are some people who will go “the hell you like about this movie?!”, here’s an actual list!

- Literally everything about the intro is great once you get past the weirdness of the Mushroom people coming out the TV. We get Mario playing the Famicom, Peach managing to defend herself for a while before getting overwhelmed, Mario being hilariously chill about all of this, Mario more than willing to fight Bowser until he sees just how enormous Bowser is and gets intimidated, the back and forth between Peach and Mario hiding behind each other, that moment where Bowser gets rid of Mario with one finger and then smiles about it followed by a beat and then Peach starts throwing furniture at him, the Game Over screen, Luigi reacting like you’d expect. Just. Everything about this scene is great!

- The wooden title cards look amazing. It’s a small thing, but I love the “fairytale” vibe it gives the movie. And now that I think about it, that might also be why I’m being so nice with this movie, since fairytales do tend to be small stories with little going on and not always making sense, making it easier to forgive its flaws.

- The shop scene is also very solid in showing us who Mario and Luigi are as people and how they play off of each-other. On that note, I like their dynamic. It’s a bit of the usual bickering siblings who would still do anything for each other, but it works.

- The meeting with the wizard guy is also solid with the way Mario and Luigi react to things. It’s a bit of an exposition dump, but you can tell they try to make it entertaining. Plus, it works for how simplistic the story is (yes I’m giving this movie a lot of slack).

- The travel montages...yeah I’m gonna be honest with this one, it sucks. I do like how they use them to show the different power-ups they get, but it’s still very boring and I skip them when watching the movie. Except for the last one on the airship, that one is pleasant.

- Luigi tripping on mushrooms. Do I even need to say more? But yeah that whole sequence with the paratroopa is nice (once you get past the fact that a turtle made a bunch of birds). And I like how clever Mario gets to save himself and Luigi from the babies.

- I’m not one to care about people drawing smut of cartoon characters, but the internet is sleeping on those Toads. That’d actually be hilarious if the main takeaway the fandom had of this movie were to be the Toad girls. And on an unrelated note, their designs is more original than the Toads we get now!

- The whole sequence with the Piranha plants and the Lakitu honestly bores me and drags on a bit. The Piranhas might also be the worst animated part of this whole thing. I do like how much of a selfish bitch the Lakitu is though. Idk, that’s a fun character in their shittiness.

- The scene in the cavern is fine. I like how the Hammer Bros is used as that intimidating guard, and we get to see Luigi be the one to solve the issue this time around! On that note, I love that Luigi’s love for money isn’t only for jokes but is at times used as a plot point (him later on flooding the castle and finding Mario’s star). Mario’s daydream is also pretty cute.

- I probably watched that scene between Peach and Bowser a dozen times since I re-discovered this movie this year. I adore the way they are characterized, especially in the context of this being the first time they’ve been written this way. Bonus points for Bowser who has no rights being as adorable as he is in this. Ultimately this scene doesn’t really advance the story, but I still love that we got some insight on who these two are at such an early stage of the franchise’s existence.

- The underwater scene is also a slug to go through, though it’s interesting to see how they used the Cheep Cheep. Also Mario dressing up as a ballerina while the dog references that one queer music star is a yes.

- I find the third act of this movie to be honestly solid. Sure there are some contrivances with the fire platforms room and the water somehow destroying the castle, but I still like it. Granted it might be due to how much screentime Bowser gets here. Speaking of which, it’s actually surprising that Bowser turns down Peach when she promises to marry him if he lets Mario alone, with Bowser refusing because he knows Mario might be trouble since he already ate two of the power-ups. This is probably top five smartest things Bowser has done in the entire franchise. This isn’t an insult to Games Bowser btw, I fucking love this dumbass, and he is kind of a dumbass when interacting with Peach in this movie as well!

- While the ending is hated for a reason and I do find it dumb as well, it’s still incredibly sweet how Mario accepts it and wishes happiness on Peach.

So overall, is the 86 Anime good? Ehh, not really. But if you’re able to get past all the weird shit going on, it’s very charming as a piece of Mario history, and it’s especially funny to see all the small things that end up becoming a core part of the franchise. And because of that, I can’t help but like it more than the 2023 Movie, even if the 2023 one is an overall better movie (I’d give the 86 Anime a 4,5/10 and the 2023 one a 6/10 in terms of movie quality; but in terms of enjoyment the 86 Anime is above the 2023 Movie for me)

[bonesandthebees]

I'll tell one story from the trip tho!!

So Germany yes. That was added to my trip because I wanted to meetup with a friend there AND there was a really cool painting I liked that was in the Hamburg Kunsthalle, and Hamburg is right below Denmark so it was practically on the way!!

The painting in question? A wanderer above a sea of fog.

This painting is the whole reason I started getting into art/art history. In my philosophy class I took last year, we had a brief section on the Romantic period of history and I found it super fascinating and one of the examples from that period we learnt about was this painting.

This painting represents one of the core beliefs of the Romanticism period: finding yourself back in touch with nature.

The Enlightenment was all about science and cold hard facts and technology and blahblahblah and the Romantic period was the response to that, it pushed back against it. It was about love and reconnecting with nature and embracing chaos and i just ARGHRHT i know it Definitely (and I mean really, it definitely) had its flaws, but idk:)) it just really spoke to me and the painting itself is absolutely gorgeous. It was the first time I ever saw a historically famous painting and had it actually Speak to me.

I just found it very interesting, because all my life I grew up super science brain and stuff, so it was nice to just... View life from a different angle, if that makes sense.

But yeah!! Went off on a bit of a tangent there, but the point is the painting made me get into art!! And so it's special to me and I wouldn't have even gone to any of the (many) art museums I went to in Europe without it, so I figured why the heck not! Plus the Hamburg Kunsthalle is absolutely gorgeous like Holy Shit I saw the photos of the building and went "dang I dont even have to have the painting there to wanna go here, it's so cool"

And thank god for that. Because Bee. Bee.

I go to Hamburg for a fricken day trip--not even a day trip, just a few hours, because I want to maximize my time with my friend and she ends up not being able to go with me, but at this point I've put in too much research to skip this place.

So I'm hopping on a two hour train just for this one museum and I get there and wow it's even better than the photos. Like this place-- jaw dropping. It's SO FUCKING COOL but,

But.

The painting isn't there. The painting. Is not there. It's actually funny how I find out, I end up chatting with another tourist and he came to this museum for the exact same painting and I mentioned it to him and he was like "yeah no bro they moved it just a few weeks ago" LIKE WHAT 😭😭😭 so depressing I was just like ??!??!? Bc if u google it, it still tells u it's in hamburg like i had no way of knowing it was so frustrating 😭😭

But yeah so apparently it's in Dresden bc it's like some anniversary or smth and im just like wtf is dresden. Where is dresden. Why is this my life

(Dresden is in germany, 6 hrs from Hamburg so originally I thought I wouldn't be able to make it, but it's in fact inbetween Berlin and Poland, which I was staying in Berlin and going to Poland right after so it ended up working out perfectly!!)

And so. I added another city that I'd never heard of to my Germany trip just to find this painting that I was now getting excessively more passionate about than I'd ever been bc why is it this hard to find one goddamned painting??

And I arrive in Dresden btw and like immediately go to the wrong museum which is Hilarious and i just go to the front desk and go WHERE IS THIS PAINTING and theyre like ... Are u good-- Jk i wasnt that dramatic but i was feeling it 😭

But ANYWAYS the guy is like "ohhh yeah we have that painting just 5 mins away but erm. The museum is full rn"

And im just like ... Wdym full. Like. Today... Days... Weeks...???

And the person is like "full until 16"

And im here like "september 16??? Or 16:00 the hour??"

They meant 1600 the hour and i was like oh well idc about that bro that's only a two hour wait 😭😭 this gives me time to drop my stuff off at the hostel anyway sooo

AND SO

I drop off my stuff at the hostel

I go to the museum

And it's literally the first painting u see when u walk into the exhibit like dang i was expecting more obstacles at this point HAHAHAHAHA

But yeah!!!!!

I SAW IT!!!! I FINALLY FOUND IT!!!!!!

It's really cool:)) much bigger than I was expecting irl and his coat is a lot more green than it is in replicas!!

Im very happy I went searching for it and lowkey? Lowkey I wanna try this again hahahaha

It was a fun adventure and I fell in love with both Hamburg and Dresden. Like Dresden is honestly one of my fav parts of the whole trip (I'll go more detail into that later), and I would have never have gone to it without this painting so!!

I wanna choose more random paintings and go to unknown cities just for it hahaha

OOOO I love examining the shift from the enlightenment to the romantic period. of course the romantic period had its issues but it was so interesting to see art and literature shift focus from such stringent intellectualism to embracing emotions and nature and all that. also I've heard of that painting! it's such a stunning painting I totally get why you feel so connected with it

oh my god your story of hunting down this painting is wild 😭 I can't believe they moved it and just didn't say anything online??? but hey yknow I bet it was still incredible to visit hamburg. and then you got to dresden to see the painting anyway!!! that's such a cool detour to take. you got to see not one but two german cities you didn't plan on visiting before and you got to see the painting in the end!! it's always so much fun seeing a famous painting in person for the first time and realizing what details exist that just don't get across in photos.

I can't wait to hear more about hamburg and dresden. I want to visit germany so badly so I want to take notes about places to check out.

I think I've talked about this before but this whole thing reminds me of my journey to see girl with a pearl earring in Den Haag. I only went there for the museum and was just in the city for a few hours but it was still so worth the trip the museum alone was incredible and seeing the painting was unparalleled. I think picking paintings to see and traveling to find them is a really fun way to find places to travel. I should consider that for my next europe trip hmm

[monotonous-minutia]

I love women and working with women and women supporting women in their profession. and the fact that all my coworkers at my old job were women is not the reason I left. But at my new job there are about as many men as women (afaik I'm the only nb but I could be wrong) and it's weird but I realized I haven't had male coworkers since undergrad. So like 7 years. And not to be weird or gender stereotype-y but it's been kind of nice. Like most of my friends are girls or girl-adjacent but sometimes I feel like I get along with guys better. I know personalities and thoughts and behaviors are not strictly gender based but having guys around especially working with kids is nice. And they're not the guys like 'let me carry that for you' like they're helpful but they're not assuming I can't do something because I'm femme presenting (and tiny). I've already had some deep conservations with one of the guys there about beliefs and family and the actual state of reality. He gave me a grapefruit the first time we worked together because I said I was feeling light-headed and hadn't picked a lunch. (A whole ass unpeeled grapefruit. Apparently he eats them a lot. He said he brought 3 to work that day.) And there's one guy there who I'm like two months older than and we're awkward in the exact same way. We both take things too literally or too seriously but then turn around and give each other a hard time (good-naturedly). And idk maybe it's me being not 100% a woman myself it's nice to not be in a female only space. (I'm not out yet and tbh I don't think I'll make an effort to be. As great as it was to be out and accepted at my old job it was kind of exhausting constantly addressing it with kids and families.) But goofing around with him has seemed more natural and comfortable and I'm not walking away mentally hitting myself over whatever reaction he has. Idk maybe it's just his personality or the fact that we're the same age. but I've only been there two weeks and I already feel more connected to the team than I ever did at my old job. Not just him but everyone has been really nice and making an effort to know and include me.

Maybe I'm honeymooning and it'll end up the way it always does, with me saying something stupid that casts me out and I leave because I feel isolated and ignored. Maybe I'll be here three years and the cycle will continue and I'll never find a place where I belong because there's something fundamentally wrong with me. But for now I'm looking forward to showing up and being a part of this team and meeting the kids next week.

[ode2rin]

us again 🙁🙁🙁🙁 it was actually so good i’m so glad you decided to pick it up again THANK YOU FOR SHARING TJAT WITH US DONT EVER LEAVE PLSKDJFB

Anyway i will send a long ask about quotes i liked because i need to express my awe and support and compliment U because omg. what.

After all, everything here in this town is about you and him. 

i like how you decided to set it in a town instead of just saying smth like city or whatever, because i find it more like … romantic? and YES the way we rot in his memories he’s never getting rid of us we are his childhood and literally 19 years of his life t-t THE OTHER HALF OF HIS HEART (like u said).

And deep down, he didn’t want to believe it either – until that day you decided not to show up when you promised you would.

OUCH. the paragraphs before this one too i love the way you portrayed his coping to himself and how much of an effect we had on him 😭😭 at first i was like wrf i can’t believe we ghosted him like that but after reading the letter i would definitely do the exact same thing i’m ngl 😭😭

A thousand emotions danced in his eyes, each one a testament to the love that once blossomed between you.

i love it when they can’t ever forget about us. the use of the word blossom makes it seem like such a temporary thing and it just screams highschool romance because flowers don’t blossom often (like what… once a year or smth???) and that’s like saying our love blossomed and was peak in the past and idk what i’m saying but i hope yk what i’m saying and i hope i’m not misinterpreting ur work LOL but i just had to sauce this one in here too

In this universe, you're just some two ghosts standing in the place of you and him, haunted by the memories of what once was while trying to remember what it feels to have a heartbeat.

the alternate universe comparison I EAT IT UP ALWAYS BUT IVE NEVER SEEN ANYONE USE GHOST BEFORE TO DESCRIBE IT AND IM JUST LIKE WHAT YOURE SO SMART !!! HAUNTED BY MEMORIES TOO?? MIMI IS SO BIG BRAIN

while you share a kiss as greedy and fiery as the sea’s yearning for the moon.

the sea’s yearning for the moon that’s all.

I would’ve traded all my tomorrows for just one yesterday with you.

now this is genius. traded the tomorrows aka trading your entire future and dream and careers just for one moment in your fleeting highschool teenage romance with sae that was left in the past ……. 🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹

so yeah. i love your writing lots and i’m glad we’re moots<3 thank you mimi!!!!! and thanks for listening to my little rant tehe

yumi. YUMI. i would really really really love to hug you right now like this INSTANT (ಥ﹏ಥ)

the fact that you even took the time to go over the whole fic (ik it's a lot bit ._.) is enough to make me go ➡️ o(〒﹏〒)o btw i can't even start to articulate better word to tell you how thankful i am. YOU CAN HAVE A HUNDRED MANGOES FROM ME PLEASE 🥭

let me go over your fave quotes (that made my heart go swell btw wdym i have quotes now) AAAAAAA

➼ the small town !! let me telle you something, i actually love small town romance like a not so normal amount, it's prolly included in my top 5 tropes pls. i just love it when the other leaves and the other stays and by fate, they just meet again to rekindle what was once their shared memories. childhood friends to lovers is nice but if it's small town? NOM NOM I LOVE IT i've always wanted to try writing it and who's a better choice to try than our mr. i went to spain right here (even if it's not fullblown focus on that trope..)

➼ THE LETTER AHSJKAJSHAJ ngl, i would also do the same thing .. i just think sae is the kind to hold grudges lmao he definitely held MASSIVE hatred for not showing up

➼ i like using the word blossom in describing past love sometimes because (1) i love flowers, (2) it's a one time thing aka seasonal and it fits characs that yknow will fall in love once or twice in their whole life and that's it, (3) and lastly, it's temporary and it passes like time.. I LOVE YOU YUMI YOU REALLY GET ME I'M GIVING YOU SMOOCHES RN

➼ two ghost is actually a song !! i love that song so much (rumor has it that it's about taylor swift since she's harry's ex 👀) i've been listening to it and got inspired by the lyrics <3

➼ there's this children bed time story my friend told me abt that the reason why there are high tides is bec of a prince imprisoned in the sea and the moon was actually a goddess that he got punished for loving? and everytime the tide is high it means he's trying to reach for the goddess I CAN'T REMEMBER BUT THAT WAS THE STORY BEHIND IT and i decided to use it bec damn that story is the definition of yearning come on..

➼ now that line.. i was making pancakes when i thought of that oh my god and i reached out to the nearest paper i could find bec what if it leaves my mind 😭 ngl i love love love that :(

it's ME who should be glad 🫂 i'm glad i wrote make you mine bec it led u to MEEEEEEEE (iirc we became moots bec of it :>)

[the---hermit]

Geronimo Stilton and The Kingdom Of Fantasy

I had a minor emotional breakdown and of course the only logical thing to do was to pick back up one of my favourite childhood series and binge read the volumes I own. In this review I will be only talking about the first book of The Kingdom of Fantasy series, but I'll write posts on the other books aswell. Apparently this year had to start with lots of children's books, and although it is unexpected I am really happy about it. I grew up with Geronimo Stilton books, and this series in particular holds a special place in my heart (although I own only the first four books). Despite loving these books I had not read one in ages, I don't think I had ever reread them before, and it surely was a journey. This series follows the adventures of Geronimo Stilton in the kingdom of fantasy, a place populated by witches, trolls, gromes, dragons, faries and many more creatures. In this first novel we are introduced to some of the kingdoms of this amazing world, and I must say it hold pretty well to this day. The illustrations are stunning, I love the fact that each kingdom gets its own map, and there's lots of additions of mythology and fairytales, it's just a great book, and I realized that it might have influenced me more than I thought. It's also a very nice introduction to the fantasy genre for children, I think it gives off the exact same feeling of any other fantasy novel, so the fact that I love this genre so much might also be due to these books. I really recommend going back to these books, or in general to any books you loved during your childhood. This series has well over ten books but I guess most of them came out when I was more grown up idk, because I only own the first four books. This has certainly inspired me to go back to more childhood favourites in the future.

[vntako]

mixed miscellanea: under 30 minutes

short thoughts on ripples, negaeba, liar liar

"ripples" is—as its author describes—the beginning of a journey. it's only like, 10-ish minutes long, and it's free

sakevisual: Ripples

i find the story behind this vn helps reinforce its message. the story of a person deciding to make something for their friend to cheer them up is a bit cheesy i think, and an action with so much sincerity behind it. and ripples is very sincere about its message. the protag is a big jerk, but he meets a girl who shows him the sincerity in people. how like, people can be so wholeheartedly and so unashamedly honest in what they believe in.

i tend to like these kinds of stories where the characters act as mouthpieces for clashing philosophies. it's probably the whole dialogue aspect of it. talking to each other, hearing each other out, discussing, changing. i like to believe i can change the world, but a part of me vehemently denies that. mm. well, whether or not it's true, i don't think it's too hard to see that we make ripples (wao) in each other's lives no matter what we do

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"from the bottom of the heart" (negaeba kitto...) is a short story, shorter than ripples up there, this one is even less than 10 minutes

al|together 2008 "CROSS THE RUBICON" official website (insani.org)

it was translated along with a few other vns in al|together (i believe the first translation for narcissu was released in an earlier al|together, so the project is very dear to my heart). you can find downloads for this one and others in the link above. i don't actually have much to say about this one, it has a nice soundtrack, and i do agree with the author's sentiment in the Read Me.txt

sometimes a story is just a story, and not anything groundbreaking. this one tackles themes of regret and redemption. i feel a few elements were underused, such as the protagonist and the love interest having the same illness and being admitted at the same time that seems to set up for something more than what we got.

i can appreciate negaeba in that it's a story about weakness, i think. or something adjacent to that, probably? weakness and wanting to make amends, is perhaps a bit more precise. the story ends abruptly, and while i do think it certainly works as an ending to a story, i was left a bit unsatisfied with this one.

ooh, i will say i quite like the music in this one, though.

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"liar liar" is a short game made in 5 days. the author describes it as a test for technical code stuff exploding into smth else

Liar Liar by tokimekiwaku (itch.io)

a compelling plot is understandably not the main goal of this vn. despite that i found it kinda compelling. got the good ending on my first try and i thought the sequence of events was engaging enough. i find the art direction appealing too, it's super cute. went and did the other endings after too.

i wanted to play this a few years back in high school but never really got around to it for some reason. i had more fun with this than i expected ngl.

i didn't expect it to but you can look at this as a sorta women empowerment kinda story i think. both girls in the story are screwed over by guys in diff ways (cheating, stalking) and they exact their revenge upon them and the system by killing 'em. idk. it's something like that methinks.

vague spoilers for good ending here

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the good ending tells us that having a support system is a good thing and knowing you having someone to be there for you helps keep you safe. or smth like that.