#idk man just these 2 being gay it brings me joy

[universallygaypirate]

This is your daily reminder to eat your veggies ;3

[bunnysnuff]

Being in a ‘V’ relationship with Nick and Charlie. (Pt2)

Pairing: Nick Nelson x F!reader. Charlie Spring x F!reader (Platonic).

Triggers: Poly 'V' relationship, talks about mental health, Fluff, talks of platonic and romantic relationships. Idk let me know if I've missed any :D.

Note: this relationship with Charlie is PLATONIC ONLY. I will only write Charlie as a gay man as that is what the characters sexual orientation is. Also this is based on season 2 in Paris bc season 2 has my heart forever and ever.

In a poly V relationship, there are three individuals involved: one person who is romantically or sexually involved with two others who are not directly involved with each other. (Source)

Request.

Nick takes on the role of the enthusiastic tour guide, excitedly leading you and Charlie around Paris. He wants to make sure both of you have the best time, and he balances his attention between the two of you. His joy is contagious, making you both laugh as he stumbles over French phrases and gets overly excited about everything from the Eiffel Tower to street crepes.

Charlie is more relaxed and takes in the beauty of Paris quietly, often letting Nick do most of the talking. He enjoys walking through the streets with you both, comfortable in the quiet moments as well as the louder ones. There’s something peaceful about being in a foreign city where he feels less pressure to fit in.

You love how Nick’s excitement contrasts with Charlie’s quiet appreciation. It creates a perfect balance as you explore the city together, and you often find yourself capturing candid photos of them both, smiling and enjoying the moment.

Nick makes sure to carve out special moments for you both. One evening, he takes you to a quiet café for a romantic dinner, just the two of you, where you share food and talk under the glow of string lights. Afterward, he brings you back to meet up with Charlie, who’s had some solo time, and the three of you sit by the Seine, laughing and watching the boats drift by.

Charlie and Nick have their own special moments too. One night, you suggest that they go for a late-night walk together, giving them time alone to connect and enjoy the beauty of Paris by night. You’re happy knowing they get to share that intimate time, and you later hear about how they talked about their future together, with Charlie feeling safe and loved by Nick.

Nick insists on visiting all the iconic landmarks, dragging both you and Charlie to the top of the Eiffel Tower, to the Louvre, and along the Champs-Élysées. Charlie is less interested in the touristy spots, but he goes along because he enjoys seeing Nick so happy. He occasionally rolls his eyes at how excited Nick gets but always does it with a small smile.

You enjoy the mix of iconic landmarks and quieter spots. On one particularly relaxing day, you and Charlie find a cozy bookshop to browse while Nick runs around snapping photos. It’s a perfect balance—Nick getting his high-energy sightseeing fix, while you and Charlie enjoy the quiet, intellectual side of the city.

One of the highlights of the trip is having a picnic in Jardin des Tuileries. Nick is in charge of gathering food, coming back with baguettes, cheese, pastries, and wine. The three of you spread out a blanket in the grass, enjoying the warm weather.

Charlie leans against Nick as the two of them share quiet, tender moments, while you soak up the atmosphere and enjoy the scenery. There’s no rush, just a calm day with the three of you enjoying each other's company.

You often catch Nick glancing at both you and Charlie with that loving smile, clearly happy to have you both by his side in such a romantic setting.

Nick is open and affectionate with both you and Charlie, holding hands with each of you at different times throughout the trip. When it’s just you and him, Nick is romantic and sweet, taking advantage of the Parisian setting to kiss you in front of famous landmarks or share quiet moments in hidden gardens.

Charlie, while more reserved, also appreciates these moments. Though he’s not romantically involved with you, he has developed a deep bond with you over the course of the trip. Sometimes, the three of you sit together in comfortable silence, Charlie leaning against Nick and you resting your head on Nick’s shoulder, enjoying the warmth of your closeness.

You and Charlie have formed a friendship that's based on mutual respect and understanding, and even though Charlie doesn’t show affection in the same way Nick does, he’s come to appreciate your presence in Nick’s life.

When the three of you explore crowded areas, like Montmartre or the Louvre, Nick naturally positions himself between you and Charlie, making sure neither of you gets lost in the crowd. He’s protective and attentive, always holding onto one of your hands or making sure Charlie feels comfortable.

Charlie hates crowds, and Nick is sensitive to this, often checking in to make sure he’s okay. When Charlie needs a breather, Nick will gently suggest finding a quieter spot, where you all can regroup and relax. You’re more than happy to follow their lead, as you’ve learned to read Charlie’s cues and support him when he needs space.

Nick tries so hard to speak French, but sometimes it goes hilariously wrong. He’ll attempt to order food or ask for directions, and while his enthusiasm is adorable, his grammar often leaves locals confused. Charlie, who’s secretly been learning French, occasionally steps in to help, though he finds Nick’s attempts endearing.

You love the way Nick’s attempts at French bring out a softer side of Charlie, who enjoys teasing Nick about his pronunciation but also appreciates how hard Nick tries. It’s a running joke throughout the trip, and you often join in on the fun, making Nick laugh at his own mistakes.

Nick loves trying new things, so he insists on sampling French cuisine, from escargot to crepes. Charlie, on the other hand, is a bit pickier, and you find yourself siding with him when Nick tries to get you both to eat something a little too adventurous.

One night, the three of you stumble across a small local concert. While Nick pulls Charlie into a dance, you watch, feeling warm inside at how well the dynamic works. Later, when the music slows, Nick pulls you in for a dance too, while Charlie sits back and enjoys watching his two favorite people in the world have fun.

When it’s just you and Nick, he’s completely focused on you, making sure you feel just as special as Charlie. The two of you spend some mornings wandering through Paris’s quieter streets, holding hands and stopping for croissants at small cafés. He’s attentive, making sure these moments feel intimate and romantic.

You often find yourself talking about how the relationship works, appreciating how open Nick is about balancing his feelings for you and Charlie. It reassures you that he’s fully committed to both relationships, and it deepens your bond.

As the trip comes to an end, Nick feels nostalgic, not wanting the magical time in Paris to end. You and Charlie both comfort him, assuring him that the memories you’ve made will stay with you forever.

The trip strengthens all of your bonds. You leave Paris feeling more connected to Nick, knowing that while he shares something unique with Charlie, the relationship you have with him is equally as important.

[brittlebonesguy]

time for season 8

NOOOO!!!!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! lex is BACK???????? what, to haunt me? i thought i wouldnever see him again. and fucking TOM>??sexist, pervert tom? this has ruined my day. at least i know thisis the season boston rob meets his wife (amber) so that'll be fun at least. but i have a feeling this season is a stinker. ohgod and that "i'll do anything for you just to look at me" rob from the amazon season. kill me. "no body trusts anybody" boston rob says with his soon to be wife standing 2 feet away. i'm really only rooting for rupert. maybe amber, we'll see. sue you're gonna get brain parasites please. alicia is so right though, its day two who made amber and rob be in charge, richard is obnoxious shii ann say it louder! i want a season long combat between shii ann and richard, that would be funny. colby's face dropping the moment he sees jerri lol. he knows shes gonna hit on him again come merge. bye tina! sad it was you and not ethan

colby.....what does him being gay have to do with it. oh big tom how i loathe you. i actually don't want rudy voted out thanks. damn. okay bye old man. now that shii ann isnt surrounded by the worst filth possible i am liking her more. richard is crazy what was that? biting a shark back? i don't even care if sue is annoying. an enemy of tom is a friend of mine. sue, you are the love of my life. never leave. amazon rob really is just so pathetic. ah yes the classic jerri fight where she says the other person is controlling while also being controlling. she makes points but girl please. yes shii ann colby and lex are incredibly sexist and honestly please never speak to them again.

jenna we're doing this again? why did you come back. this whole thing of her leaving is so dramatic. of course tom would think that amazon rob is smarter than alicia... come on......NO ONE wants tom out? be serious. anyway bye amazon rob

this is colby's worst nightmare: jerri getting put on the same tribe as him. richard being naked on the balance beam think was.....definitely something and definitely gross. fuck YES boston rob winning against the show off with colby. jokes on you robby, i never though colby was tough. i agree that richard should go, however i feel like colby's motivation is homophobic, so actually i think he should stay. yes jerri, reject that alliance/vote. i love this shii ann and kathy alliance. FUCK YES bring jerry in the mix. richard, shii ann, kathy, and jerri? never thought i'd say this but dream alliance right there. kathy.....kathy please....don't ruin this for me. BOOOOOOOOO!!!!! i still have to deal with COLBY????? fuck you guys for getting my hopes up

yeah obviously doing a blinsdside would result in upset feelings kathy but sometimes you need to do them anyway. annoying. who gives a FUCK about LEX???? i forgot about how bug boston rob's ego is. i want shii ann to have a villian arc, and her origin story was colby making a snide comment at her. for sue's sake im glad richards gone because it was really fucked up. the victim blaming that happens with this show is crazy. i'm glad alicia is on her side. yeah im sure you're not sitting back because you suck or anything, ethan. lex they girls already had no compulsion to keep ethan and colby around, please stop patting yourself on the back. everyone being too callous about the whole situation is crazy. i agee with jenna in the splitting of the food. i take back everything i said, fuck kathy. its just the amount of "oh i know the guy and he would NEVER" blah blah.... and im sorry if something violates and humiliates you that much, then sometimes emotions come out, kathy. and its not pretty because its not suppose to be.

idk the jerri hate isn't sitting right with me... oh yay kathy got chosen to be safe...joy🙄. ethan's "some of us are heros and some of us are goats...and i'm a goat" has a completely different meaning now. colby not be annoying challenge failed. the way every cell, fiber, sinew, ligament, joint, nerve, and bone in my body LOATHES tom...if i have to see one more quirky music scene of him acting like a fucking idiot im beating jeff probst with my bare hands. actually lex there was an opportunity to get colby out last tribal, but that was jerri's idea so obvi we'll pretend that didn't happen because a woman came up with the idea. i love how petty jerri is. and yeah shii ann really should set aside her hatred for jerri and get out colby, which she won't because why would she make a move ever. she always talks about doing it but in the end she's just a floater. ethan is so dramatic no one gives a shit. "im sorry jerri to speak for you" "yeah please don't" that...is so funny. THE EVIL IS DEFEATED!!! fuck off colby NEVER come back. thank you shii ann, i take back what i said before and i hope you kick ass the rest of the season. also in defense of jerri, i have actually come around on her. she was right about the jerky, she was right about getting colby out. shes just RIGHT, not the most likable and a little annoying, but men get away with that shit all the time. case in point: ethan.

the men on the other tribe being so mad every time they lose to boston rob is so funny. idk....people making fun of rupert makes me sad. rupert's opinions about boston rob are so correct. i agree. serves boston rob right to miss horribly at the challenge. jerri don't feel too bad no one would have made those shots anyway. sometimes ethan is just so serial killer, i can see why him and lex are friends. why do the women of survivor always do this. they just trust mean implicitly. it makes no sense. "i just trust him, i don't know how to explain it" 🙄 bye ethan!! dont come back. i'm really liking shii ann as well. she's setting aside her personal opinions and seeing the bigger picture, which a lot of players don't do.

the ghandia slide of that book thing......distasteful. and now lex wolf whistling about a woman he doesn't even know. okay i know amber wins this season so im interested to see how she makes it out of this. because no way lex is like oh for sure rob i'll save your gf for a MAYBE alliance. again with this jerri hate. why can't we just vote out lex? i'm also SO SICK of lex being "in charge" and then telling people that thye're being voted out instead of just doing a blind side like hes the godfather or smth. i'll miss you jerri. why on earth does everyone think boston rob will keep his word? he literally doesn't. .......i hate tom. it's always rupert and the girlies. he refuses to play survivor unless he's got two women by his side. i wish men weren't the way they are tho.

exactly lex of course rob was gonna go back on his word. kathy......wtf. don't do that idiot. HA. thanks kathyyyyy. THE OTHER EVIL HAS BEEN DEFEATED!!!! as much as i hate him, i think lex is gonna make a funny juror.

god YES please get out big tom. ......cool rob is safe...😒 that foot shot of alicia was FOUL like back the fuck up. danm kath, i wish that worked out. shii ann is definitely going next. pagonging in an all stars season is so weak. please stir it up shii ann. i hope she gets immunity because.....its getting less interesting. when its just a majority alliance taking over and then going cannibal. i hope this challenge is a wake up call for alicia. and also i relate to her. i too would be emotional. jenna.....is annoying me. oh what a shock you're gonan give shii ann the bowl of rice, as if i didn't call that. rob is also really getting on my nerves. oh? only shii ann is obnoxious jenna? just herno one else here? miss oh im soooooo sorry alicia let me hug you even though we aren't friends and you don't want to be touched or talked to. alicia.....please just betray rob. fuck YES! shii ann got her first immunity. serves the tribe right for ousting her the way they are. its so rude. and the fact that not a single person will talk to her about game play at all is strange and telling. even though straying away from rob and aligning with shii ann is the better option for literally everyone but amber. "don't get too cocky sweetheart." honestly all of you can go fuck yourselves. 👆🏻you've been telling shii ann for days that shes leaving the first chance you guys get and are shocked when she doesn't really like you guys and tries like hell to win immunity, which everyone said "i'd be SHOCKED if she won that" assholes. she was gloating, alicia, because you guys say that she can't win anything and also SHE WAS GOING HOME TONIGHT. like....use your fucking brain. wow very original getting rid of alicia. can rob just leave already.

rupert didn't care about you not catching to fish jenna, he's upset because no one helped him gut and clean them, which all 120lbs of you could have handled. i will miss you shii ann. truly. and the truck curse still prevails. i......do not know how amber wins. and rob wins again 🙄. this game play.. consider me....bored. YYYYYYEEEEEESSSSSS!!!!!! the final evil has been defeated. go fuck yourself tom if you EVER come back im personally castrating jeff probst.

jenna saying that she's taking fate into her hands by voting out rupert so they don't go to rocks when her literal only two options are vote the way shes being told or go to rocks. ........ i dislike you. oh rupert i wish you had won that immunity 🫤. jenna acting like she's gonna go to rocks....like we all know you're gonna write ruperts name and go to final three (which is as far as you'll go btw). thanks for nothing jenna. no closer to a million than if you actually let it up to chance. and the final immunity goes to rob😐. this romance is so barf. kathy.....that was brutal. i hope rob feels awful after that. "since you're so interchangeable" jenna pleasekjadkjasnkjsbf. tom just sounds fucking drunk all the time. they were absolutely ruthless. rob and amber look SO upset about it too.

cbs is just letting their star host hang out of a helicopter with harness? bold. rob dominated jeff 🤨. okay then. congrats amber! i don't care for your husband. the "you suck" in the audience while lex was talking was me actually. the booing for jerri is a little much jesus. and yet colby gets nothing but cheers? i know sexism when i see it. no seriously lex is being the biggest hypocrite there is. assholes. all the booing made jerri leave. justice for my girl. JENNA AND ETHAN??? girl.....say sike. youre dating him??????? oh so they get to go on a cruise after being voted off huh? thats pretty nice. the audience voting for another winner and i think kathy saying "its rupert!" very true. colby is a contender? 😐that the fuck were some of those sexiest survivors? ROBB??? the man who just finally understood what empathy was? the fuck. AND TOM IS A CONTENDER FOR THE MONEY???? thankfully rupert won because i would have flipped if it was any of the others. all in all this season was kind of disappointing considering it was all stars. it had its juicy moments but it got bogged down by all the people i don't like so I'm gonna give it....5.8 out of 10

[goatbonnie]

Im going to add my sleep deprived rant/essay about two trucks as propaganda for two trucks.

Warning, mentions of: Sex and Sexual Themes, Toxic Masculinity, American Patriotism, LGBTQ, Alcohol [brief], Car Accidents, Death, White ppl barbecues, Loving Relationships. This has been your warning

To preface, I personally believe this song is a critique on toxic masculinity and how it is also linked to the "Classic American Man" thus also critiquing certain parts of Americanism [idk if that's a word]. The official cover for this song depicts two trucks with an American flag overlay on a background of fireworks. The trucks are in a sexual position, having sex as the song says. It is very obvious from the cover that this song has a strong American tone.

The song starts off strong, with no beating around the bush, the trucks are having sex. The song is very upfront about the topic of sex as if it isn't bad that the trucks are having sex, it's just normal. The trucks i believe have symbolism. Throughout the song, a lot of references to America and masculinity are made. The trucks are just one of the things representing those concepts. Trucks are often owned by manly men [not always, i respect any truck owner who is not a manly man] and it is something that those men are proud of. In a lot of country songs where a male singer sings about how manly he is he will bring up his truck [as well as other things like beer]. With trucks mainly being a man thing people often will gender trucks as male [great example is truck nuts], two trucks having sex is kinda gay. Toxic masculinity often makes men afraid of anything that might make them seem gay, even something that is supposed to be a normal thing. The masculine trucks having sex and being gay would be something to fear. The second half of the chorus has less to analyze and is simply just a less obvious way of saying "i got a boner". the truck sex turns whoever is singing the song on.

I'm not going to go through each chorus as they are mainly the same, though as the song progresses the chorus does increase in intensity [i will however talk about the chorus after the last verse as there is something i would like to bring up that i haven't seen talked about nearly enough]

Onto the first verse.

It is shown that the trucks are not just having sex, they are making love. They are not just having sex because it feels good, but because they love each other. They are not doing the whole giga chad who gets tons of sex because he is the alpha male but rather two people who love each other wanting to share a good time with each other. With the second line, it is shown how the trucks also tie into representing America. The trucks are built tough right here in the States meant for THE American man. The classic man who loves his truck, wife, children, and beer. However, those trucks who were made to be masculine are gay lovers. The line 'Two beautiful murder machines' stood out to me since at first i couldn't just pick out how it fits into the whole toxically masculine American man theme that the rest of the song holds. Thinking about it further leads me to realize that car accidents are one of the most common reasons for death and that vehicles are really dangerous. Yet we as Americans see vehicles as something beautiful that represents freedom regardless of the fact it takes away from the freedom of life for many. The 'American angels in the sky' partly reinforces that thought with the now-dead Americans that were evidently killed by these freedom machines. [walking away from that tangent] The last line is about how the grown men cry from the sheer joy and beauty that the two trucks have, tears of joy one might say [or perhaps homophobia].

Verse 2 starts with ZZ Top being next to the singer. ZZ Top is a Texan blues-rock band, They are a symbol of some rural American masculinity with their big beards. Robert Z'Dar's role in Maniac Cop has a lot of aggression and authority, macho. These two references have a lot to do with 'what a man should be like' aggressive, authoritative, strong with impressive appearances. The third line has two parts in my mind. The barbecue is just another classic American man thing, we all know that stereotypical American family cookout [I actually managed to get a burger out of one of those and i wasn't even part of that family]. The bringing you to your knees bit I believe is a nudge to an innuendo but is meant to represent that the barbecue is so great it makes your knees weak [or religious prayer]. The final line says that the two trucks can do the same, with their beauty and passion being so great it's overwhelming and you fall to your knees.

The bridge really solidifies the song, it breaks away from a large part of the instruments and is calmer, the singer is almost whispering at the start of the bridge. The bridge establishes that the trucks really are in a relationship. The trucks are in love and they are not afraid of expressing that fact. They are filled with so much passion for each other that the singer cant handle the amount that they have. This really is not just a temporary throw-away relationship that these trucks have, they have something goddamnit. Their love is so powerful that the singer feels his heart expanding. To note, some people will view queer relationships as an inherently sexual thing [its why some think lgbtq is not appropriate for children] but queer relationships arent just sexual, theres more to it. His heart expanding is not him having a heart attack but being filled with awe and love and acceptance, these gay trucks are really changing lives.

Verse 3 is interesting, I ended up having to look to others online to fully understand this verse. In the first line, it states that there are 2 trucks and 1 cylinder block. A cylinder block can refer to a truck's engine, the heart of the truck. There are two trucks and one cylinder block, their hearts are one, a beautiful representation of their relationship. I have no idea why the singer is/wants to be crushed, i do know there is this weird thing online where people want to be stepped on by hot people so maybe it's a reference to that, or maybe the singer got too close and the trucks crushed him. Like a rock is a reference to Chevy's 'like a rock' used on their trucks, this small fact shows that one truck is a Ford and the other is a Chevy, therefore diverse. The third and fourth lines are more American patriotism, more specifically the fourth of July. The main way people celebrate the fourth of July is with fireworks and eagles are often used to represent America as it is the country's national bird. The fifth line backs up the fourth of July thing by mentioning the founding fathers, the founding fathers aren't often a huge topic but they were the ones to write the declaration of independence and that independence is why we celebrate the fourth of July. The founding fathers are also crying over these trucks, presumable for the same reason as the grown men who are also crying, the sheer awe and passion and love and pride and beauty. [everyone is crying then theres the singer]

Finally, at the end of the song. I only want to mention this part because quite a few things change from the first chorus to the final chorus and I'm only gonna talk about those changes. Basically, through the choruses the singer gets more and more horny, that is the explanation behind the 'oh yes' and 'uh!'s. The main reason I wanted to bring this section up is the 'ya he ya he yahaa' part [it is the end of the screenshot but is not the end of the entire song, the chorus repeats a few more times]. That part is what i like to call "the musical orgasm" and that's about it, i don't see people online talk about that part but i once saw one person say that and it's stuck with me as part of the song. I just think it's funny, no real impact to the song, it might make people uncomfortable, but i just find humor in the fact pretty much everyone who sees the trucks are crying then there is the singer who is really turned on.

i wrote that a while ago sleep deprived running on the energy the song two trucks gave me

I Swallowed Shampoo: Look at it, look at those names, that’s not Normal. It's a guy singing about his eventual doom because he drank shampoo like a fucking d idiot

Two Trucks: Two trucks having sex, need I say more?. two trucks have sex and fall in love <3

[elysianslove]

Please wrote more surrogate fics please . could I request one with SakuAtsu or could you just start a series on these. If you'd me comfortable with that. That on IwaOi surrogate fic brought me so much joy. I can't even describe it.

oh my goodness i’d love to!!! it makes me so happy knowing you liked it cause like,,, idk why it’s just special to me :) also im so glad you asked for sakuatsu bc these two ships are basically my favorite jhfgbsj. and yesyes i’d love to have a mini series with like little scenarios of each ship <333

this was insanely long. like insanely. 

content warning; artificial insemination, pregnancy, haikyuu manga spoilers, gay people being happy idk 

being iwaoi’s surrogate 

BEING SAKUATSU’S SURROGATE 

↬ it took forever to even get them together, so with a duo as indecisive as them, it’s imaginable how long the decision to raise a child together took. it took a long, long while for that transition from enemies to lovers to be final, and even then, they hadn’t realized how serious their relationship was until they were off getting married and then suddenly wanting a child? 

↬ it was something atsumu brought up out of the blue, just casually as they sat side by side on the couch. “wouldn’t it be nice if we raised a child together?” and it stuck with sakusa ever since. he didn’t know why he was obsessively thinking about it as much, but it’s all he could think about. literally. anytime he so much as thought about atsumu with a child, and a child of their own too, his stomach did a thousand and one flips. sakusa was never the biggest fan of children, and he knew that neither was atsumu. but, this would be different, wouldn’t it? Still, he tried to remind himself of the cons; they were pro-athletes, they didn’t have time, they didn’t understand the weight of the responsibility, were they even ready for something like that? somedays it was too tiring to take care of themselves, of each other. were they ready to be responsible for a whole life, someone dependent entirely on them? it seemed too— unrealistic. like something he could only hope to dream about, and just dream about.

↬ until he thought of atsumu with a little kid, a spit image of either one of them, sitting on his lap, giggling and laughing and squealing in glee. and so he decided, there will always be cons, he just has to see if the pros outweighed them. and honestly, they did. they were pro-athletes, sure, but that also meant they were financially stable, and could provide for a child, properly. they were mature now, knew each other very well, and had adapted to living with one another. they had family and friends all around. the kid would for sure grow up loved and cared for, and him and atsumu would add another person to their family. it really seemed like a dream, but this time, an attainable one.

↬ so as he ate dinner with his lover, he blurted out, “let’s raise a child together,” and atsumu honest to god choked on his food. he asked sakusa if he was serious, if he meant it, if this was real, and sakusa’s answer was yes to every single one of his question. yes, he was serious; yes, he meant it; yes, this was real. as real as can be.

↬ they both already knew they wanted a surrogate, and it didn’t matter who was the father. so long as the child was theirs.

↬ finding a surrogate was, well, a pain, to put it into perspective. sakusa was so picky about the “requirements,” if you will, and atsumu was suspicious of every single woman, it was kind of ridiculous really. he just “didn’t trust that they wouldn’t run away with the baby!” in his words. atsumu suggested sakusa’s older sister, which seemed perfect in his head, but sakusa refused, claiming it was 1. extremely weird, and 2. he doubted she’d say yes, with her own life to handle.

↬ and it finally, finally, came to atsumu: he could always just ask, well, you. he had met you during his college years, and since then, he’d been coincidentally crossing paths with you ever since then, and you’d even managed their msby jackals team at some point. it was weirdly ironic how he’s coming back to you, kind of like fate.

↬ so he suggested it to sakusa, and for once, the latter didn’t really have any way to object, except, “what if this inconveniences her?” other than that, you were the perfect candidate. they knew you well, trusted you, knew they could rely on you. and atsumu was sure you wouldn’t run with the baby. with regards to the inconvenience part, well, they could always just deal with that when the time came.

↬ they invited you over for some breakfast two days later, after they’d thought about it properly, endlessly, and figured you were their best option. it was weird seeing them so nervous when you first arrived, like they were breaking up with you or something. atsumu barely ate with how nauseous he felt, and sakusa spent the entire time watching you eat instead, hands fidgeting and legs shaking. it was really weird, but you didn’t bring it up, letting them take their own time to tell you whatever it was they wanted to tell you, because obviously, they clearly had something to say.

↬ after breakfast, you sat in their living room, just watching the tv quietly, until sakusa offered to get you some water. you weren’t really thirsty, but you agreed anyways, unsurprised to see atsumu rise from his own seat a minute later with a, “be right back,” as he headed to the kitchen. you could hear them bickering and whisper-yelling, and if you weren’t starting to grow as nervous as they were, you would’ve had it in you to laugh. they returned looking like they were bearing the most daunting of news, sitting down on the couch perpendicular to you. atsumu’s hands were sweaty and intertwined tightly together, while sakusa tried to remain as composed as possible. it seemed like the dark haired man would speak up, finally, parting his mouth with a deep breath.

↬ but it’s atsumu that blurts out, “please have my baby!— our baby. please have our baby.”

↬ honestly, your first response was to laugh, in disbelief, as you clutch your glass of water. but then you see their faces — god they looked so goddamn scared — and you realized that, they were really serious. they really wanted you to carry their baby for them. holy shit?—

↬ you were mostly speechless after that, stuttering as you ask them to please explain, you’re honored but are they are, have they thought about this? properly? in depth?

↬ to your surprise, they really knew what they were doing. they’d done their research, and thought about a million other options before deciding that you were the best one. they also repeatedly told you that you didn’t have to do this, and that they didn’t want to guilt-trip you into doing it either. they wanted you to say yes only if you yourself wanted to say yes, and if this wouldn’t negatively affect you or halt your life in any way. you were the one that was going to be carrying the baby anyways, weren’t you? at the end of the day, this was all about you.

↬ you asked them for time to think about it, and reminded them that it wasn’t a no. you just wanted to make sure you were making the right decision whichever that ended up being. a few days later, you call them, asking them to meet up one way or another, and atsumu’s even more nervous than he was asking you; not even sakusa’s gentle lips to his temple or large hands soothingly rubbing at his back or his kind words could help him. sakusa himself was insanely anxious. in his head, it seemed like your ‘no,’ would finalize everything. that it would really mean no hope in having a child of their own, their very own.

↬ you invite them over to your home, and the kettle is already boiling when they arrive. you make them tea and make small talk if only to delay the inevitable. but, to each of their surprises, you take a deep breath and say, “i’d be honored to carry your baby for you,” with the brightest, warmest smile. sakusa has to bite his inner cheek to will himself to not cry, because he can’t believe you said yes. you agreed. you’re going to carry their baby. him and atsumu were having a baby.

↬ atsumu doesn’t stop himself from throwing his arms around you, collapsing on top of you in tight hug that you kind of can’t breathe, but you let him, and you laugh when he thanks you for saying yes, that he’ll “be forever in your debt.”

↬ it’s the happiest you’ve seen either of them.

↬ when you’re done with the process of insemination (of course, atsumu does joke that the three of you should go the natural way and have a threesome, to which he earns a smack from his lover and a smack from you, at the same time), the three of you just have to wait, really. it’s the longest period of waiting you’ve ever had to do, but you try to be patient, as patient as you can be. when you wake up one morning and throw up, you look at your period tracking app to see if maybe you were pms’ing. except, you weren’t. you were late. like a good three weeks late.

↬ immediately, you’re booking a doctor’s appointment. you wait to tell sakusa and atsumu after confirming your suspicions, because you don’t want to raise their hopes up for nothing. they’ve already been swimming in a pool of doubts ever since the insemination, calling you everyday to check up on you and ask for any progress. when the doctor confirms your pregnancy — holy shit you were pregnant — the first thing you do is go over to their house. you know it’s not the best idea to show up unannounced, but with how long they’ve been waiting, and how much they’ve been wanting this, the more and more you fed into it, you couldn’t wait any longer to tell them. you arrive, and the moment sakusa opens the door for you, you gasp out, “i’m pregnant.”

↬ sakusa’s quite literally frozen in shock, his mouth pressed in a thin line with eyes wide open, while atsumu walks over and goes, “oh hey,” in greeting before noticing sakusa’s face and just ???? “what’s going on?”

↬ “i’m pregnant.”

↬ “you’re what?”

↬ you show them with tears stinging your eyes the results of the test you’d taken at the doctor’s, and atsumu grips the report so tightly, like it’ll disappear if it slips only slightly from his hands. sakusa’s still in shock, trying to process everything. it takes him a good while before he can function properly again.

↬ the pregnancy itself is a lot smoother than you’d imagined. iwaizumi, as their athletic trainer, although not well versed with pregnancy, knew a lot about health and taking care of yourself in general, so he made sure you were always eating right and healthy. he even accompanied you once when sakusa and atsumu couldn’t, to the doctor, and made sure to ask him specifically what you should and shouldn’t be eating. all of the olympic/national team are more excited than anything. they’re insanely protective over you, and always pamper and care for you you when they can, whether that be back/neck/shoulder massages or giving you their food when they notice you eyeing it or letting you lean entirely on any of them for support as you walk. granted, they do make fun of you, especially the bigger your stomach got, but they mean well, really. suna once made fun of you and, because of the hormones, and because he was genuinely just mean, you started to cry. since then, suna swore off bullying you, at least until you gave birth.

↬ osamu is beyond ecstatic to become an uncle. he’s so excited it makes atsumu incredibly emotional. he goes with his brother on trips to ikea to buy a crib and gifts him an insane amount of baby clothes and always begins a conversation with, “how’s the baby?” every time you’re around, osamu’s hand can be found resting on your stomach, soothingly rubbing, excitedly grinning when he feels a kick. he is just so happy for his brother, he could cry.

↬ you ask them if they want a gender reveal when you find out or to keep it until the delivery of the baby, but they’re both insanely impatient (even though sakusa does try to convince atsumu to wait because it’ll be exciting, he himself isn’t even that convinced of that and they just ask you to tell them). with the help of osamu and his and atsumu’s parents, you organize a gender reveal party. the moment he sees the pink smoke, atsumu cheers so loudly it makes you laugh till your stomach hurt. sakusa’s grinning wider than you’ve ever seen him, grabbing atsumu’s face and kissing him, before pulling you into a tight hug. it’s literally the cutest thing ever, everyone just cheering loudly around you and celebrating with you.

↬ when you go into labor, you’re with neither of them, but with osamu, aran, and kita. they were staying the night at a hotel since they had training away from where they lived, and you were spending the night at osamu’s because the fathers of your baby really didn’t want you to be alone so close to your due date, and who better than osamu? your water didn’t break, but you kept having contractions. you were brushing it off as normal pain at the start, but they started to get worse, and closer together in time. kita, because he’s kita, had been keeping track, and told you how far apart your contractions were. to which you went, “contractions?!”

↬ aran’s calling sakusa and atsumu as kita grabs your bag as osamu grabs his keys and helps you to his car. you really couldn’t have been around a better set of men, because they were perfectly composed the whole time, helping you breathe and stay calm by staying calm themselves, reassuring you that you didn’t need to worry and that you will get to the hospital in time. they did flinch every time you screamed or cried out in pain, but aran held your hand the entire drive there, and kita guided you to steadying yourself as osamu drove as fast as he could.

↬ the issue was with sakusa and atsumu. to say they were freaking out would be an understatement. they were positively losing it. atsumu’s anxiety was louder than sakusa’s, but the latter’s was clear as ever on his pale skin and clammy hands. they were so annoying in the delivery room, literally faring worse off than you, who was pushing a whole baby out of her body. when you finally gave birth to a healthy baby girl, atsumu sobbed and sakusa cried in his hands, so maybe it was alright after all.

↬ they literally couldn’t believe their eyes when the nurse handed you the baby and placed her on your chest. she was so, so tiny, so beautiful, and theirs. honestly, you couldn’t hold back your own tears at the sight of her, and at their reaction to her. you held her in your arms as they thanked you, over and over and over again, for the biggest blessing they could ever receive.

↬ despite the fact that you were simply their surrogate, sakusa and atsumu knew they couldn’t just separate you and your baby, and neither could they just take her home all of a sudden. so for the first few months, you stayed in their guest room, but the baby slept in her own room. it was more difficult than you expected it to be when you were leaving her to go back to your own home, but they promised you repeatedly that they’re not really taking her away. it wasn’t as if you couldn’t visit at any time you wanted to come visit her. but at the end of the day, you knew what you had been signing up for, and that she was their daughter.

↬ she grows up to be a gorgeous woman. she’s interested in volleyball, sure, she’d been raised with volleyball players everywhere around her, but it’s not her immediate passion. atsumu thought he’d be more upset about that than he actually was, because he found out that it didn’t matter at all what she wanted to do. hell, if she wanted to do nothing at all and stay home forever with them, he was 100% on board with that. whatever made her happy and healthy, he was okay with. she grows up to be really close and really comfortable with both of her fathers, and they make sure with every passing day that no matter what, she can always come to them. and she does, about every little thing. and each and every time, they listen and advice and guide her properly. a s parents, they’re a perfect balance of strict and lenient. they set and raise her to never cross those boundaries, but otherwise they give her complete freedom. they respect her privacy, her decisions, everything.

↬ there was a day when she came back home from school, and they had taken a biology class for kids, where a teacher had explained periods to them. obviously, as curious as ever, she’d asked her dads about it, because she didn’t really get it. she wanted to know the how’s and the why’s and the what’s and the when’s. with every passing second atsumu had felt his lifespan shorten. eventually he suggested they call you, who she knew as her ‘aunt’ for the time being, since you were a woman and nobody would really explain it better than you. when she did get her period eventually, and had to sheepishly and shyly ask her dads to go to the store for her because she needed, um, supplies, atsumu lost it. sakusa had to try and calm him down all while laughing as he got ready to go to the store for her, because the drama of miya atsumu never gets old. he just couldn’t believe she was already getting her period. what the hell! what the actual hell!

↬ of course, he proceeded to embarrass her by telling osamu, telling sakusa’s parents, telling his parents. not cool :(

↬ when she was old enough, especially to understand the concept of being a surrogate (oh my god the sex talk was a whole other insufferable thing), they told her about you, and that you were actually her biological mother and not just an ‘auntie.’ she tried to be angry at them for keeping it from her, but she was honestly more excited about finding out than anything. it brought the two of you closer together, and for the next mother’s day, she organized a whole brunch for you, her and her dads, got you a gift, flowers, everything. yeah, you did cry.

↬ you genuinely have never been more satisfied and thankful for a decision like this one, ever, especially because of how much of a blessing the outcome had been.

can u tell this isn’t my first time thinking about this. ever since i posted the iwaoi one i’ve been wanting to do a sakuatsu one, but i didn’t really know whether anyone had enjoyed that or would want more, so thank you for sending in this ask!! love u all mwah <3 

[daringdarlingdt]

Ok there’s been an influx of stranger things fandom posts coming across my dash bc of a few mutuals and I haven’t really interacted much with the fandom in the past despite liking the show, mostly because I watched it all a while after season 3 came out and all talk about it had kinda died down so I’m really excited about actually getting a bit hyper fixated on this and talking about my Thoughts. Yay!

On that note I have to say I am unsurprised and delighted at all the queer shipping going on and I will never deny a queer ship to those who want it but I must admit that I don’t really bc Steve as queer. I 100% think Eddie is and I think they’re besties and I get the impulse to hc Steve as queer in some way because he is The Best Character and it would just be great if he were representing you and he totally could be queer and I want y’all to be happy with your gay or bi or anything else Steve hc but headcanoning him as straight actually makes me personally the happiest. For two reasons.

1. I’m in love with him. I myself am bi and not even fully a female person and if I did headcanon him as queer I think he’d be bi but then I’d want to imagine him and Eddie as a thing and I’d rather fantasize about dating him myself… y’know?

2. I actually think it’s so much more satisfying and endearing that he is a straight, able-bodied, affluent white man and is still the best character because he wasn’t when he started but he went through this character arc where he stopped catering so much to the expectations put on him by his social status and became a really wholesome, accepting, maternal, un-toxic guy who rolls with the lgbt and regularly parents a bunch of freshman all while maintaining his perfect hair and being a ladies man. D’you know what I mean?? Like it’s important that Steve is able to be both a cishet fairly masculine guy and also stand with a towel over his shoulder, hands on hips, telling his adopted children ‘no, because I said so’ and also immediately support his best friend/crush when she comes out to him and not out her to anyone else btw even when everyone’s like why aren’t you dating her?? I know it’s the bare minimum but still it’s important.

Plus i don’t think the lesbian/himbo solidarity is quite as funny and iconic if the himbo is also queer because then it’s just queer solidarity and like. That’s important and good too it’s just not the same. And I recognize that the complexity and focus on Steve’s character is why he would be such good queer representation and lots of straight characters have these qualities and are given this depth but even on the show the other canon queer characters are given a fair amount of stuff that they have to deal with and there are other non-canon characters I believe are queer who are also complex. Like Eddie. That one tumblr post is right he could have been pretty stereotypical but instead he is both soft and cool and brash and also terrified a lot and reconciling the image of Cool Guy Steve with the fact that he’s actually an amazing person and becoming friends with him and dealing with high school biases and the feeling of needing to be morally superior than other cliques and realizing its all bullshit. That’s really interesting. And he’s gay (at least I think so). I also believe that Max is somewhere under the bisexual umbrella. Possibly pan idk. I think she would kiss a girl without a moment’s hesitation because she’s just awesome like that.

All that having been said. I do still ship Steddie a little bit on the DL. Like if I see a post about them. I will like it. It will make me smile and if it’s really good or has anything to do with Steve and Robin’s friendship, I may even reblog it. I ship Steddie and believe Steve is straight simultaneously. My feelings aren’t that strong either way and whichever brings me more joy in the moment will rule. This is just my explanation for why I’m fine with him being the token straight friend. But as I said before I never deny a queer ship unless there is something seriously wrong with it. So like go off little gay ppl in my phone watching this truly fucked up show about teens fighting interdimensional monsters and only focusing on the teens personal drama. I feel you.

[fruitcoops]

So this is sort of similar to the people writing fanfic about the lions but can you imagine the YouTube edits? Like the videos that are just "Cap having heart eyes for Loops for 10 minutes straight" or "Loops lovingly dragging Caps name through the mud for 3 minutes" like those kinds of things and I can just imagine them doing reaction videos and it just being funny and the world just loving coops

Okay so this wasn't a specific fic request but I got carried away with imagining videos and....here you go. SW credit goes to @lumosinlove, but Grace and Anna are mine! Bonus points to anyone who remembers the easter egg in this one!

Message From: Gracie

ANNA HOLY SHIT

Anna frowned at her phone screen, squinting to read around the spiderweb crack decorating the upper corner. She had tried to convince herself that it was cool, goth, edgy, but in the end she had to admit that it was just irritating. In a tragic turn of events, packing tape couldn’t fix everything.

Message To: Gracie

Wtf did I do

Two weeks of radio silence, then unexplained accusations. Anna shook her head as the grey bubble disappeared for a third time and turned back to her computer. Grace may have been her favorite cousin—and favorite person, if she was being honest—but very few things came between Anna and video editing. Especially editing for a Lions meme video. She had a whole 2,341 followers to attend to, after all.

Message From: Gracie

DID YOU SEE THE FUCKING INTERVIEW???

Message To: Gracie

Wow thank you so helpful

Message From: Gracie

Skip to 2:45 bestie

A link popped up just as Anna cut a segment from the sleep study video, where Loops’ heart eyes were in full effect. It was a rare, precious find for fan editors like herself.

“Come on,” she groaned. Maybe introducing Grace to the deepest parts of her hockey obsession was a mistake. But, really, what else was she supposed to do when she learned her cousin, who didn’t even live in Gryffindor, got to meet her favorite players just by chilling in a café? What kind of cosmic joke was that?

She narrowed her eyes at the embed of the link, then stifled a shriek. Impossible. How had she missed an upload?

As if on cue, her computer pinged with a new notification from the Lion Pride channel. “Oh, fuck me,” she muttered, scrambling to save her half-done video and pressing play.

The interviewer asked basic questions, ones she had heard the answers to a million times while curating her content. It always felt funny to hear people refer to Cap as ‘Sirius’—it was too official, too formal. She had spent countless hours on the compilations of his softer moments, and they were her most popular videos. Cap Having Heart Eyes for Loops for 10 Minutes Gay. Cap Being an Actual Puppy for Six and a Half Minutes. Everyone Wanting Cap Cuddles for Fifteen Minutes. Every Time Cap Smiles When Someone Mentions His Godson. The list was endless. She loved it.

She did a silent fist pump when she saw the interviewer had snagged both Cap and Loops; that would give her a whole new stream of workable content. If she was lucky, she could expand on her series of Loops Lovingly Roasting His Friends, part…fuck it, who was even counting anymore?

Anna was so caught up in her excitement that she nearly forgot about Grace’s suggestion. I’ve never skipped through a video on the first watch before, she thought hesitantly. But maybe just this once…

Her cursor hovered over the 2:45mark. She closed her eyes, and clicked it.

“—have you been adjusting to life as a celebrity?” the interviewer asked. Anna nearly rolled her eyes when Loops laughed. That question had been used far too often to be interesting anymore.

“It’s had its ups and downs,” Loops said with a smile. “Mostly, though, the fans have been incredible and just knocked my socks off with their support.”

“Really? What’s your favorite part of the Lions fanbase?”

He didn’t miss a beat. “Their creativity, for sure. There was a video a while back where we reacted to some of the comments people left, and this person on Twitter made an absolutely beautiful collage of photos.”

“I have it saved to my phone,” Sirius added.

One more clip for the simp video. Anna made a note on the small corner space of her European History notes. The degree can wait for ten more minutes.

“Do you have a favorite creator?”

The interviewer was clearly teasing, but Loops’ smile was genuine. “I don’t know about a favorite, but there’s this person on YouTube who makes a shit ton of videos and they’re hysterical. I saw one the other day about—god, what was it again?”

“Every time I smile when people mention Harry,” Sirius answered around a laugh. “Can you blame me?”

Anna didn’t hear the next question. A ringing noise filled her ears as she sat, frozen, on her shitty dorm mattress and listened to her literal heroes talk about her dorky little channel. “Holy fuck,” she blurted after a moment of silence. “Holy fuck.”

“—subscribed?” The man’s voice snapped her back to reality.

“Of course I am!” Loops said. “You think I’m passing up a chance to watch a compilation of my friends making stupid decisions for the entire internet to see?”

A noise that would have been a shriek if Anna had any breath left in her body escaped her lungs; she clamped a hand over her mouth and shakily exited from the video before going to her YouTube account. 800 new notifications. 700 new followers in the last quarter hour. She was pretty sure she blacked out for a second from sheer shock and joy.

Message To: Gracie

What

Message From: Gracie

You’re famous!

Message To: Gracie

What

Message From: Gracie

I bet he knows your stuff better than he remembers me tbh

“They know me,” she whispered, staring at her computer. The unfinished video showed a perfect frame of Loops’ soft smile as he watched Cap get his toothbrush stuck in his pajama shirt. Somehow, the thought was both exhilarating and horrifying. What if they thought she was a creep? She wasn’t, not really, just a bored college student with not enough free time for a job but too much to keep herself busy with schoolwork. Her 2,341—no, 3,052—followers were just other hockey nerds looking for time to kill.

And the subject of those videos was one of her subscribers.

Anna slipped her headphones back on and began to edit like it was her last day on earth. Her fingers flew across the keyboard on muscle memory while her brain fizzed. Perfect, she thought. It has to be perfect.

In four hours, it was done. She sat back, panting, then hunched over again and began tapping out a title card.

Hello. Idk if anyone saw the new Lion Pride video today (linked below if anyone wants to see why I’m dying right now) but apparently Remus Lupin is subscribed to this channel and has been for a while.

Hi Loops. I’m Anna. You met my cousin once and she said she liked your sweater.

Now that that’s out of the way, please enjoy the next five minutes of our new rookie being the sappiest mf in existence (except for his fiancé). Mr. Lupin, please tell Hattie I say hello.

She pressed upload, peeled her headphones off, and collapsed backward on her bed.

Message To: Gracie

If I die here, tell the world I did it doing what I loved

Message From: Gracie

Will do

OH FUCK YOU FOR BRINGING UP THE SWEATER I SOUND LIKE A CREEP

Anna covered her itchy eyes with her forearm and settled in for a long, long nap. Her brain still needed to repair a few circuits.

[septiembrre]

I'm a little late but I just saw your post from a year ago about latinx rep in good girls and its sad reflecting back on it and how the show could've done better. Rio was just another stereotype, I hate how he was ambitiously latino and there was just no connection to his culture. Was he first, 2nd, or 3rd Gen? If he was 1st Gen it didn't make sense to have the family speak English. One thing that always annoyed me is how OOC he was at times and how the writers purposely made him out to be like some brown aggressive misogynistic man. They didn't bother making him complex. In a way I'm glad the show got canceled. As a Mexican woman the way Rio was written was racist.

Wah, I’ve been sitting on answering your ask. I wanted to tease your ask apart and respond to it sentence by sentence. But... my brain kept rechazandolo, so now I have feelings dump instead.

Since Good Girls ended, I have been parsing through how I feel about S4 and GG overall — sometimes more positively, sometimes more negatively. Then, I flip to reminding myself it’s not that serious (it's just tv! this is supposed to be my leisure activity!). Then, I waffle back to reflecting.

So, no textual analysis just feels and whining under the cut. I know folks are still mourning the end of the show and I don't want to yuck anyone's yum. Tagging with #ggnegativity.

My short answer is that Good Girls is my beloved, sometimes joyful, sometimes hurtful, complicated little show. Even now that we’re no longer getting new episodes I’m wary of sifting through the information we have about Rio because it’s a mess and it seems like a lot of his character was poorly thought out (ahem, all those dumb messages from Bill Krebs confirming multiple instances of lack of intentionality or care!).

I say this because I was tempted to start responding to you by riffing off of your comment with, “y'know, now that you say that, I think he’s third or fourth gen…”, pero who cares? And the point was never specifically about what gen he is, or even more specifically about... lol, I was going to say it doesn't matter what nationality he was, they just needed to pick one. Ugh, but the wording of that is too glib. The lack of intentionality behind these details feels sanitized to me, it feels very white gaze, it feels lazy.

However, I could have forgiven a lot of this weak character construction if his baseline, plot-related characterization on-screen was more consistent. But, Rio was often used as a plot device in a way that often fell flat for me, a weekly recurring bogeyman whether his antagonism made sense or not. On one hand, I feel for the creative team, because I think they were in a hard place, trying to avoid romanticizing Rio, and trying to seemingly backtrack the sexualization of him in Season 2, but... Idk, it's complicated.

Retrospectively, it’s sitting with me how much Good Girls is rooted in whiteness. While it's something I discerned before (lol, most obviously with 2x13 and in S3 with Lucy's disposability), you know how some shows get to their third or fourth season and finally start investing in their marginalized characters? It’s a crappy thing to hold out hope for, they're crumbs! But, I was. And we did get some Rio worldbuilding. But, ultimately, it felt weak to me -- under-conceptualized or under-worked.

For example, I liked Nick as a Bigger Bad who drove Rio and Beth together. I also thought that Nick's non-existent moral code was a lovely foil to Rio's, and that this contrast humanized Rio in a way that he needed. It also cast a new light on Rio's behavior of the earlier seasons, outside of Beth's perception in a way that I thought was healthy and needed. Great, meaty stuff! However, Nick and Rio's relationship came across as shallow to me. There really did not seem to be a lived-in quality to their scenes. The show really struggled with that element overall -- even with the three lead protagonists (their decades-long history with each other and interactions between their families being largely absent). I wonder why they made that choice.

It's strange because on the flip side we got a hefty amount of contextualization for MLM guy Vance and Annie's bf Kevin... Even that cop who Mick killed! All white men, too.

Me da pena.

Or maybe the thing that bothers me is that those scenes between Nick and Rio didn't center Rio's perspective effectively? Despite the one-on-one scenes being outside of Beth's framing (Rio being a secondary character typically tethered to Beth's story arc), there still was a lot of distance between Rio and the viewer? Like I think of Vance in his kitchen with his wife and child, and the way we as viewers were brought into that to empathize with him, and I think of the distance of Nick+Rio boxing scene or the scenes at the bar. Argh! It's hard to pinpoint without the textual analysis I feel too grumpy to do. It was such a narrative choice to keep Rio aloof and I side-eye it.

Anyway --

Overall, the writing room/show creators/decision-makers didn't seem to consider Latine/x/a/o viewers throughout the crafting of Good Girls and that sucks. It really feels like I'm being told to conform to the white gaze in watching the show, and after 2x13 that makes me feel prickly and defensive. A part of me yearns to do a rewatch to map Rio’s character (and inconsistencies) but I still yield joy from Good Girls — it’s been my main comfort story during the pandemic. I also rendered joy from Season 4 specifically — some of those scenes between the leads at the end were phenom!!

I am leaning into what's bringing me joy right now, so I feel hesitant to stew in critique, even while I also feel some sort of need to make sense of the hurtful racializations. I have a compulsion to write them all down on the same post or list -- somewhere where I can see them all at once and understand. But, at the moment, it’s not a use of my time and energy that feels good. Opting into fics and writing is bringing me a lot of joy during hard times.

I have to close with one final whine, that I am SO fatigued with television options right now. I find myself desperately wishing for more TV out there whose priority audience isn't only white folks. Good Girls isn't alone in its treatment of Latinx characters, or alone in mishandling characters of color or gay characters, or prioritization of empathy for white het male characters, but certainly, creating something more thoughtful shouldn't be so hard.

[hiimsociallyawkward]

his father's son

ayoo back again. these are always so much fun to make because otherwise it's me just yelling at my ipad of everything i'm thinking while exercising and singing show tunes and that's never fun. basically, all of my thoughts while watching his fathers son. hi bestie @lady-ofmagic-andstars

OH

IS THIS WHAT I THINKI IT IS

KNIGHT RUNNING?

CAMELOT RED WITH THE CAPE FLUTTERING?

PLEASE

SAL;DFJSADLKFJASLDKFJASLDF

KNIGHT MERLIN

HE ACTUALLY LOOKS SO GOOD HOLY CRAP

ASLJSALFASD AND HIS FACE WHEN THEY FIGURE OUT THAT THAT THIS IS AN ATTACK

STOP THE EPISODE JUST STARTED 🥵🥵🥵

omg merlin is still wearing the cape wtf he looks so good pls bbc have mercy

go away now agravaine.

let me relish in the joy of merlin wearing a cape

damn

you're welcome for this btw 😎😎

stop 😭😭 not arthur thinking that he's not worthy

ok i wish knew arthur knew his destiny but also i know why he can't know but i just don't want him to be sad because he's doubting himself yk???

i actually hate agravaine actually stop i feel like it's harsh but drop dead please 🤪

arthur is so good he just wants peace. agravaine please stop you're making him doubt everything that he is

i wish arthur listened to merlin but after watching this ending i can appreciate it

'i can't just kill a man in cold blood' 🥺🥺

arthur don't push him away he's just trying to help 😪

merlin has his blankie 2x this episode and you better believe that i'm commenting both times

arthur is just. i feel so sad for him sometimes. he's still so young and he has to rule a country now and just-

i get why arthur is doing what he's doing and such but i'm still sad.

alskdjfaslkdfjasdf jeez arthur not knowing abt merlin's magic is just. wow this episode is starting off strong 🤪🤪

ARTHUR DON'T BE MEAN 'stick to what you do know'. i mean. fine i'm just sad. SOMEONE TELL ME WHY I'M SO SAD SO EARLY ON IN THE EPISODE IT JUST GETS WORSE I NEED TO STOP

agravaine please leave now

ok that was hot how arthur walked in after the fact though. 'arthur pendragon. pop off'

arthur just wants peace i'm so sad he doesn't want to kill him but jsalkdfjsal;dkfjasdf

watching spn i watch the beheading a lot so i was expecting it but this is merlin haha

GWEN

WHY IS SHE THE BEST I ACTUALLY LOVE THEM TOGETHER. fvck you agravaine. actually die. please STOp

ok so merlin says 'dont push your friends' and while arthur says that he doesn't need anyone, at least he doesn't say that merlin isn't his friend. it's the little victories 😭

these castles are actually gorgeous

agaravaine please die now. stop

you manipulating arthur by claiming these things will make arthur into a good king is just making me so sad

fricken 'appropritate person' aalskdfj;alskdjfasldf

i literally just want arthur to be happy

dude i'm like 13 mins in and i'm angsting so hard over this

'a matter of the heart'🥺🥺

agaravaine die please :,)))))))

ok i'm so sad for arthur

he's still so young and he has the weight of his entire kingdom on his shoulders. he just wants to be a good king for his citizens and he wants peace and every good thing is just taken from him. he doesn't want to kill caerleon. he wants to marry gwen. and we have FREAKING AGARVAINE. this is why we can't have nice things.

ok the arthur using merlin as a punching bag transitively but also literally?? idk my head is blank. but like; merlin is letting himself be used as a punching bag and also it's his 'duty' to let arthur use him as a punching bag? idk idk thoughts?

stfu i don't want these white old men saying long live the king

pls chill

alright alright morgana

she is actually p good at getting onto annis's side so i'll give her props for that

oh shoot kneeling down to the queen? this is a power move but not a power move yk?

CLOAK

ok this is dumb but i love seeing merlin meander around with his little chores

ok what is bbc thinking when they have the "oh i'd never sleep in a bed with merlin" am i supposed to laugh? well i'm not. alrighty then

gwen :,) look at her in her pretty dress

you're breaking my heart right now arthur

you're BREAKING GWEN'S heart right now arthur

laksdjf;laskdfjasdlfkj I. JUST. WANT. THEM. TO. BE. HAPPY. please i need to read fanfic i'm angsting too hard over this

you tell him gwen. you're a badass and arthur is a sadass

i will not take gwen hate or slander

oh frick i was voted onto my school's hoco court so basically i had to walk across the football field and i felt so awkward and arthur walking down the step while everyone stares at him; i wonder if he feels as awkward as i did

LMAO 'he's not alone gwen' and pan to the arthur standing on a cliff alone?? pls

aw the domesticity 🥺

leon ruffling merlin's hair and that clink was such a good clink

where were these knights last episode. i'm suing

saj;flasjslad and arthur just loking at them fondly pls. he's so sweet i love him

'he's our king' that line makes me feel stuff

arthur sdfsd;as i just want him to be happy

MERLINS BLANKIE. WHY IS HE SO CUTE

bruh 💀 i laughed at the pure absurdity of him tripping over the tent

ok ok you know that vine 'two bros chilling in a hot tub 5 ft apart bc they're not gay?' that but 'two bros, chilling in 2 separate tents 5 ft apart bc they're not gay'

was- was that supposed to be a slap?

arthur is so earnest here and i love him he's the sweetest

sa;ldkfjsldfa arthur being protective over merlin

annis is such a badass. actually queen energy here. literally

merlin saying that they're friends again and arthur not denying it :,))))

these knights are so honorable

stfu agaravaine

'only one person who is just an honorable... ME' - arthur pendragon. HAHA sorry i cackled at this

agaravaine. i stg if you look at morgana like that i'll actually gank you

you absolute freak pervert person

alright ik morgana is evil and everything but i stan her improvement in magic

like- can merlin please get on with learning more magic??

as;dlfkjasdlfkja THE RING. dude i can't rn

merlin saying 'camelot needs you alive', i'm going to say yes.. but also if we swap out 'camelot' with 'i' then this is just a perfect insert line for fanfics :,)

THANK YOU OLD FRIEND. PLS you can't do this to me

aw when arthur asks if merlin is ready and merlin says ready

dude this episode is making me a lot more sad than it should

dude what is annis's champion. like look at his shoes??? they're leather?? literally stab him in the foot and we're golden.

youre welcome for the feet pics ;)

ok idk abt you guys but i can't write fight scenes with swords that well so i just base fights off tv and stuff and if you want inspo this is a great fight to write

legit the first battle with arthur and lancelot in the courtyard? yea i stole that

omg even with the champion is on his knees he's still taller than arthur??

alsjfalskdjasldfkjas ARTHUR AND MERLIN MEETING EACH OTHERS EYES AND ARTHUR NOT KILLING ANNIS'S CHAMPION

dude the trope of 'you make me want to be a better person'?? please i live for this stuff

ok the knights saying long live the king? i love that

alright alright annis&arthur

annis is ACTUALLY queen energy i love her. i love her pop off queen

oh shoot annis hit morgana where it hurts. bring up uther that's right queen

oh yes more castle pics 🥵🥵🥵

a aaw the ceremony for them

merlin and arthur are PALS i love them togehter

stop. there are so many words but i'm so glad they're lads

arthur is lying so awkwardly on that bed HAHA

DUDE THIS IS SO PRETTY AND CUTE AND OH MY FRICKEN ALSKDFJALSDJFASDLFKJASDL. alrighty then

yes arthur you're a dumbass you're lucky that gwen is taking you bad she's a frickin badass biatch who doesn't need you

alright arthur say what you mean why don't you

are we.. are we gonna kiss rn

THE SOUND TRACK PLEASE I LOVE IT. THE ROMANCE SWELL I ACTULALY LOVE IT

THEY'RE SO PRETTY TOGETHER

i love arthur in his night clothes and his bare feet. like that just makes it feel so much more domestic and homely and they love each other and just everything they're actually everything. THEYRE SO CUTE.

ANYWAYS i'll be back next week to endlessly rant about a servant of two masters. thanks i love you bye 😘

[neroushalvaus]

Top 10 favourite characters from any fandom

I was tagged by @limalepakko , thank you! Since I have recently listed male characters here (or you know, in August, but we all know time hasn't been a thing for many moons), I took the liberty to list characters in general this time. I also went with which characters feel right at the moment, so does not show all my favourites. I also try to keep these short. (edit: okay so these are not remotely short, I will post a list first and have the explanations be under the cut, read if you want to hear my ramblings c': )

1. Fantine, Les Misérables 2. Javert / Jean Valjean, Les Misérables (yes i am cheating) 3. Carrie "Big Boo" Black, Orange Is the New Black 4. Jane Marple, Agatha Christie's Marple 5. Aunt Lydia, The Handmaid's Tale 6. Bridget Jones, Bridget Jones books & movies 7. Rock Lee, Naruto 8. Sarah O'Brien, Downton Abbey 9. Marilla Cuthbert, Anne of Green Gables / Anne with an E 10. Sister Monica Joan, Call the Midwife

*

1. Fantine, Les Misérables

I love Fantine with all my heart. I remember reading Les Mis for the first time and her story sending chills down my spine. Her character development makes me so sad, from a girl who falls hard and fast and won't deny anything from her lover, to a woman who is so beaten down by society that she can't do anything but laugh at her fate. But I love how she doesn't lose her pride or her fighting spirit and how she still has the guts to spit in Valjean's face when she sees him after being arrested. And I love how all she does is for her daughter and how despite selling "the gold on her head and the pearls in her mouth" she is content, because all that matters to her is that Cosette will live.

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2. Javert & Jean Valjean, Les Misérables

I was really trying to limit this list to one character per fandom, but alas, I am but a weak little person. Thus, I am cheating already. The thing is that when it comes to Les Mis characters, Fantine, Javert and Valjean are the eternal top 3 for me, but I'm never quite able to say who I love the most. Last time I picked Javert for the male character meme because I love the symbolism and critique of society his character embodies, but let it be known that Jean Valjean is the best character in all of literature and I will fight you on this. The original soft on crime icon (aside from Jesus Christ but they're the same and you know it). Valjean's character journey is such a complicated one from an ordinary man (no worse than any man) to a person, who had been shaped by society and criminal justice system to be a very dangerous man, to someone you could compare to a saint if you wanted to... To an ordinary man, who would do anything for his daughter. He has so many character-defining moments, the biggest ones being in my opinion the trial of Champmathieu and letting Javert go instead of killing him. I just love Jean Valjean so much and could speak about him for hours.

*

3. Carrie "Big Boo" Black, Orange Is the New Black

Hopping away from the Les Mis hole and into a OITNB hole. I was debating on whether I'd put Boo or Pennsatucky on this list since I love them both so much, but I've been feeling so much love for my angry butch king that it had to be her. First of all, I'm just so happy to see butch lesbian representation where the butch identity is not just a joke. I know OITNB sometimes uses Boo questionably, but in general she is a nuanced character and one of the most interesting ones in the series in my opinion. I'm so sad they forgot all about her on the last seasons. I love everything about her, how she has trouble with feelings besides anger and often deflects serious stuff through humor, how fiercely protective she is of those she loves (boosatucky otp forever fucking fight me), how proud she is of her butch identity ("i refuse to be invisible")... Also, not to express attraction, but... Mama I'm in love with a criminal. And not to be a slut for how characters view religion/spirituality/God, but the relieved smile she has in one of her flashbacks when she says "there's no God... there's nothing", like you can't just do stuff like that and expect me not to love the character to bits.

*

4. Jane Marple, Agatha Christie's Marple

Last time I listed Poirot and was a bit frustrated I couldn't list Marple, but now it's time to right that wrong! I love this little old lady so much. I love Agatha Christie so much for just going "you know who is the person who knows everything that's going on in a community, and thus would make the perfect detective for a detective story? the nosy old woman". As she is introduced in The Murder at the Vicarage: "Miss Marple is a white-haired old lady with a gentle, appealing manner — Miss Weatherby is a mixture of vinegar and gush. Of the two Miss Marple is much more dangerous." She is so likable and witty, you can't help but love her. My favourite portrayal of her is by Geraldine McEwan, she looks so gentle but has such a sharp gaze. I would spill all my secrets to her any day. I also am compelled to tell you that when I was a child we had a costume party at my school and I dressed up as Marple and learned some old lady things in English (it was before third grade so I didn't know much English back then) just for the occasion (such as "thank you, my dear", "what a lovely necklace you are wearing" or "there has been a murder"). Teacher might have thought me rather morbid but I remember that day being quite good.

*

5. Aunt Lydia, The Handmaid's Tale

The Handmaid's Tale is such a great series and a book and Aunt Lydia is such a great character. The way she's capable of being absolutely cruel and vicious, but how she is also protective and caring in her own way. One of my favourite scenes in this series is when Serena Joy (my other favourite, can you tell) tells Lydia to "remove the damaged ones" from a line of handmaids and Lydia tries to argue with her. Sure, she is responsible for some of the punishments these women are now "damaged" by, but she truly believes those punishments were for a greater good and now the handmaids deserve their place with the others as much as anyone else. It is chilling and the character is such a dark shade of morally gray, but I can't get enough of it. The actress who plays her, Ann Dowd, has so interesting thoughts about her, like here. I just love this character so much I could scream.

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6. Bridget Jones, Bridget Jones books & movies

I'm mostly talking about the movies here because Renée Zellweger's performance is iconic. Plus the movies are what made me love this character first. But I'll give it to the books, they're one of the few books I've laughed out loud while reading. Anyway, how do you even begin explaining the love I have for Bridget Jones... I love how she is a character so many people can relate but who would be a comic relief side character in some other story. Yes, yes, it is really bad that she is constantly described as fat when she really is not, but when I was growing up she gave me hope that people who are viewed as fat and/or unattractive by other people can be admired and appreciated, and they don't have to be super talented at everything and highly intelligent and some kind of a super smooth social butterfly to "make up" for what they "lack". And also that they can have standards (i once dodged a bullet by rejecting someone by pretty much subconsciously quoting Bridget Jones so..). I also love how the comedic tone of everything does not dismiss Bridget's feelings. For example in some other movie we maybe would concentrate on how "stupid" Bridget was to trust that Daniel was in love with her, but in Bridget Jones we concentrate on how Bridget was hurt by Daniel cheating on her, how he is the one who did wrong. Idk I just love Bridget Jones so very much can you tell.

*

7. Rock Lee, Naruto

Aka the boy who would have kicked Madara in the balls if Kishimoto had any sense of drama and good storytelling. I think I robbed Lee by not putting him on the fav male characters list. You know that post that goes like "gays be like 'these are my comfort characters', 1 literal ray of sunshine, 2 war criminal" etc? This child is the sunshine. I've been reading and watching Naruto again ( @hapanmaitogai is my sideblog for that nonsense) and I'm so ready to adopt Lee and/or Gai. Rock Lee is just such an earnest character, he has a goal he will give anything to achieve and he's the one true underdog in this manga. I love how he's so kind and polite (it's not so clear in English but in the Finnish translation he speaks as formally as he does in Japanese, he uses singular polite "you", calls Sakura "Sakura-neiti" = "Miss Sakura" etc... i love one polite boy). Also, he has the best fights in the series. Like Lee vs Gaara is a Classic, but we simply can't forget that time Lee absolutely crushed Sasuke in just a few minutes, or that time he politely asked Kimimaro not to kill him while he drinks his medicine. The best boy. I love that boy so much.

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8. Sarah O'Brien, Downton Abbey

Last time it was Thomas' turn, so now I must talk about the snakiest snake, the queen of weaponized handmaidenry, Miss O'Brien. She is such a great character especially in the first two seasons (I obviously love her on season three as well but Julian Fellowes really tried to make it hard by not explaining her actions at all, didn't he. Well, luckily I am ready to stuff the gaps with my headcanons). She has some of the best comebacks in the series and brings some needed realism in some conversations. I also love how she uses her position as a lady's maid for her advantage and how she is proud of her profession despite being highly aware of the power structures in the Abbey. And then there is the soap. That is such a good character moment, because for a character who always plans ahead, who is ruthless and cunning and intelligent... I don't think O'Brien thought about the soap thing at all before she left the room ("Sarah O'Brien, this is not who you are" hit me like a train). Just once she did something with nothing but anger motivating her and that became one of the defining moments of her character. And one of the defining things of the future relationship between her and Cora. That's why I find the Sarah/Cora ship so interesting, because there will always be the undercurrent of bitter regret. Also Sarah O'Brien and Thomas Barrow are the greatest brotp and Fellowes was a coward for driving the smoking scheming gay best friends apart, and

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9. Marilla Cuthbert, Anne of Green Gables / Anne with an E

I'm not saying L.M. Montgomery is entirely responsible for me having a fondness for strict, older women who first act unkind but have a heart of gold, but she most certainly did not help. Between characters like Marilla Cuthbert and Elizabeth Murray, how can you not fall in love with the type? It's been a while since I read the Anne series, but I really love how Marilla's character has been adapted into the Anne with an E tv series. Geraldine James looks like she was born to play her, she has me in tears so often. She has the ability to portray someone like Marilla, who is a very hard and stern person but feels deeply for her loved ones. I was watching the episode that dealt with Matthew's heart attack and Marilla berating her brother while hugging herself like she was trying so hard to hold herself together absolutely destroyed my heart.

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10. Sister Monica Joan, Call the Midwife

It was a tough choice between her and Sister Evangelina. I just love these nuns very much. Sister Monica Joan is such a lovable and wise character. She is so knowledgeable of many subjects, from the Bible to astrology, and I feel like her unspecified memory problems and confusion are handled very tastefully. I also love how she's such an important part of her community despite not working as a midwife anymore. She is such a kind woman and gets visibly upset when others are treated poorly. And how could I not mention her saying "I do not believe in weeds. A weed is simply a flower that someone decides is in the wrong place", like... I love her so so much.

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I won't tag anyone, but if you read this and you want to do this, consider yourself tagged and you're no allowed to mark me as the one who tagged you!

[skzshortcake]

Stray kids ship please! (P.S ILY ) I dont know if there are any guidelines for what to send in a ship so i decided to put my zodiacs, a description of my personality, and my aesthetic :)

Zodiacs: Sun: Cancer|Moon: Gemini|Mercury: Gemini|Venus: Gemini|Mars: Pisces|Saturn: Cancer

Personality description (courtesy of my best friend, dont ask me why he wrote a whole paragraph-): Alright so Grace is basically 50% goofball 50% sweetheart. Seriously shes sweeter than candy. Also shes like the funniest person alive, its like her mission in life to make everyone laugh and whenever she does she gets this big smile on her face and proceeds to make you lose your shit laughing even more. Also she laughs at like literally everything, so shes ALWAYS smiling. Shes super random, shell like randomly break out into song in the middle of the mall (THAT WAS ONLY LIKE 1 TIME DJDJ) or start dancing in the middle of an empty parking lot when its raining, also whenever an atmosphere gets too quiet or uncomfortable she’ll scream something off the top of her head. Mostly she’s a complete sweetheart tho. Like her family high-key sucks and never made her feel loved or comfortable with showing emotions straightforwardly so she mostly does it in subtle ways (like physical affection, gifts, acts of service, etc.) Shes insecure tho, and she wants to make sure you know she loves you, so she’ll try really hard to tell you through words sometimes. That always results in her stumbling over her words or stuttering or rambling (plus a very cute red face, i may be a very gay man but i still recognize a cutie pie when i see one.) And then she gets all flustered and starts apologizing and you kinda have to just let her know that hey, its okay, i know you tried and i understood, or itll never end. Also shes like a complete romantic. Like she helped my brother plan his wedding cuz she knew him and his fiance and she just lOVED IT and kept getting this big ole smile on her face whenever she saw them do something romantic (she always goes “awwwww” when she sees little kids running around holding hands or old couples being sweet.) Shes also like the most accepting person ever, like regardless of your sexuality or gender or race or religion, she doesnt care, she just sees you as human, which is refreshing. Her hobbies are basically anything involving art (she especially likes to sing and draw, her voice sounds like a literal angel) also she’s huge bookworm (especially dystopian fiction, she lives for that crap), and music is essentially her entire life. P.S: Say hi to ur fav blogs for me (alright ig Jay says hello).

Aesthetic I achieve (apparently, according to Jay I do, idk myself that well): Sunny days, sunflowers, daisies, picnics on a red plaid blanket, laughter, number 2 pencils, playful kisses, teddy bears with red ribbons, tea with honey, sun hats, striped shirts and denim jeans, buttered popcorn and caramel apples, bumblebees, waffles topped with blueberres and whipping cream and pancakes drizzled in strawberry syrup

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oh my god you and your friend are just precious. tell him hi for me! 

I ship you with hyunjin!

I think he shows affection in the same way that you do, grace!

so I think you two would get along just fine!

hyunjin just loves you so much, he’s got this type of love for you that’s like “I adore you so much and you’re such a genuinely good person and i’m so proud of you and I want to be around you all the time.”

he loves your aesthetic so much and makes sure to take you out on dates that he knows will make you happy

like he’s out exploring in the city and finds a cute park with a hidden area where the sunlight peeks through the tree branches

and his first thought is “I need to bring grace here”

skz can tell that he’s just genuinely happy around you, you bring out the best in him

you make him want to jump for joy!

he wants to show his dancing and singing to you because he feels so appreciated when you take the time to watch him

sometimes he just lays on you and won’t move

he’s just so comfortable in your presence 

but he does kinda want to baby you a bit too!

hyunjin seems to me like he wants someone who will let him take care of them but still be a bit independent

so he shows his affection by texting you with lots of emojis! and through helping you with the little things like dishes or cleaning your room because he loves your reaction when you fake punch him and tell him he didn’t have to

he just giggles and his eyes form cute crescent moons as he pulls you into a hug

“I just love helping you, sweetie!”

he’s always around you, you play video games together, you eat together (and when you’re not together it’s over facetime), you sing together, you read together anything! (ps he really wants to see your art, he adores everything you to and will promote your art so much!!)

nicknames he would call you:

sweetie, baby

a date you would go on:

picnic date in the park!

he takes you to that little secluded area and lays out a pretty blanket for you. he wants to take plenty of pictures of you with the sunlight and your cute straw hat. and he even went out and bought fruit smoothies for you both! he probably talks with you for a bit until you’re both tired and then you lean on him while he plays videos on his phone.

honorable mention: jisung!

[theropoda]

3, 4, 6-8, 11, 13-17, 19-22, 26-30 uwu

WOO LAD THAT’S A LOT THANK U!!! this got long and i wrote an essay or two LOL so im putting it under a readmore!

3: Best game you’ve ever played? WEEEELLLL.......let me preface this with two things: one, i am a FAKE GAMER as in my laptop is not at all made for gaming, it’s piss poor, so a big chunk of games i’m interested in is because i watched a playthrough of them lol. i have a 3ds but only 3 games on it (animal crossing new leaf, tomodachi life, nintedogs & cats). second, i’m very bad at choosing favorites of things.....BUUUUT .....i choooooose, in no particular order, OFF, pigeonetics, elder scrolls oblivion, pathologic classic HD!! i’m more than likely forgetting a few though, so sorry about that

4: Worst game you’ve ever played? as i said above, cannot choose favorites, neither can i choose whatever the opposite of favorites is but...uhh, does lif even count as a game? like lif, the stupid little furry flash game i remember playing on some shady website. it was surprisingly very active with a BUNCH of people there but i kept dying like every 5 seconds....AWFUL

6: A game that’s changed you the most? WELL define Changed.....ummm aha first thing that comes to mind is OFF. it’s one of those things where you never knew you wanted something so fucking bad until you saw it--and it’s like that for me. i NEVER knew i loved that odd, surreal, colorful, “looks playful and simple in some parts but incredibly violent and unnerving in other parts” aesthetic til i played it. like aesthetically i love that game to BITS and something about it just stuck with me til the end of time.

later in life (meaning, past year or so) it changed me because it taught me a lesson about storytelling and creative endeavors. a very useful lesson. which is: things don’t really need to have a meaning. stories, art, music, writing, whatnot, while it CAN be deep and meaningful, while you CAN use it as a way to communicate with the world about all kinds of heartfelt things, it can also be...nothing, really.

once i, as usual, got ridiculously overwhelmingly sad about small things. specifically seeing other people around me come up with all kinds of deep and meaningful characters and stories, sometimes putting them into webcomics or writings of theirs, and they were all so well-thought out and detailed and what i envied most was people put a lot of themselves and their experiences into them, venting and coping through them, whilst also making these larger-than-life grandiose complex stories and worlds and so on and so forth.

it made me look at my own ideas and get mad/frustrated at how shallow they were. but then i remembered OFF and i felt better because Fun Fact, mortis ghost has a now-abandoned dA account and if you go through the comment section on his profile, he answers a lot of fan questions and he mentions several times that the game didn’t really have a “meaning”, it didn’t really have a “deeper story” or moral or anything, really. i’m paraphrasing this but i vividly remember him saying “i wanted to make a game, so i did”.

that made me feel a lot better because it made me realise that sometimes art--especially stories, in my case-- doesn’t NEED to be DEEP or have MEANING...sometimes it can just BE!!!! sometimes it really can just be all about AESTHETICS like who GIVES a shit if there’s a hidden meaning if you take the first letter of all of your characters’ names and put them backwards, sometimes all that matters is if they just VIBE with you y’know....

yume nikki is similar in this regard bc that game doesn’t have any story other than “collect egg” and yet it’s so impactful. that game doesn’t have a story or meaning it just IS........ :) GOD THATS SO LONG IM SORRY ABOUT THAT but yeah. funny violent ghostbusting baseball man is a game that changed me :)

7: A game you’ll never forget? OFF AGAIN LOL,,, it’s just so memorable because of how unique it is. visuals, soundtrack, story, everything is so memorable. unforgettable. oh god you can tell how much i love this damn game can’t you

8: Best soundtrack? yakuza 0, OFF, there is a picture (another game by mortis ghost, again composed by alias conrad coldwood who also composed OFF), pigeonetics (the entire soundtrack of which is here), jojo’s bizarre adventure all star battle and eyes of heaven, silent hill 2 & 3, undertale....probably forgetting more but all of these...earcandy

11: Hardest game you’ve played? i am a shitty gamer so this is Most games i’ve played lol!! but uhh..well you see. hardest game i remember playing as of recent is pathologic classic hd in which it’s...not only hard to understand what any character is saying at any given time lol but also, i don’t think it’s HARD it’s just...you need to focus. you REALLY need to fucking focus and pay attention in this game. so i wouldn’t say its HARD, but i’m only putting this here bc it’s in recent memory.

i say recent memory because the true answer is susceptible to “yeah, but now you’re older, it must not be so hard.” as in if i played it now i think i’d have a way easier time. but when i was around....10-12 years old i had several ps3 video game adaptations of animated movies and i had SUCH a fucking hard time with them. g-force, bolt and up in particular were fucking HARD. like genuinely, the hardest time i had EVER had in my live playing video games is tied to these three fucking games. g-force and bolt ESPECIALLY. one particular level in bolt took both me AND my sister around a year to fucking finish.

again, i was baby, so i bet i’d have a much easier time with them now that i’m 17. but for now, in my experience, bolt and g-force for the ps3 were harder than pathologic classic. i think icepick lodge should take a few notes for them for pathologic 2.

13: A game you were the most excited for when it wasn’t released yet? STREETS OF KAMUROCHO...i spent the entire day of its release anticipating its launch lol

14: A game you think would be cool if it had voice acting? hmm..most games i like and know about do have voice acting so i dunno....i guess it would’ve been kind of cool if morrowind had like, full proper voice acting. but i can understand why it only voice acted things like greetings and battle insults because GOD that game is SO...complicated...and as a result, the conversations are so lengthy and text-full. playing morrowind is really like a goddamn book! if it was voice acted i’m sure all that information would have to be shortened bc i know no one is going to fucking voice act two whole paragraphs

15: Which two games do you think would make an awesome crossover? pigeonetics and yakuza in which instead of being about the criminal underworld it’s about shady and unethical pigeon clubs, breeding, racing, etc etc...a lot of illegal shit does happen in the world of pigeons especially when it comes to racing; prized racers have been kidnapped and held for ransom before. and then there’s Avian Cucking: The Sport, where people breed the sexiest pigeons (horseman thief pouters), release them outside to seduce other people’s sexy pigeons, and bring them back and keep ‘em, drama ensues. will kiryu ever escape his past as a professional pigeon-napper, and find solace in his new life as a pigeon hobbyist? find out now by playing YACOOZA......

JOKES ASIDES i don’t know i really don’t....umm, pigeonetics and animal crossing somehow?? :O... like, instead of managing your own town it’s managing your own loft!...orrrr, the jojo games (all star battle & eyes of heaven) with yakuza, because i think they’re somewhat similar because they’re both haha Wacky Silly AND serious over the top fighty-fighting.....or maybe a crossover with OFF and discover my body, which, despite being an incredibly short and obscure indie game i still love to bits for what it’s worth. WAIT ANIMAL CROSSING AND MINECRAFT THAT WOULD FUCK SO HARD OH MY GOD

16: Character you’ve hated most? From what game? i can’t think of any character i like, HATE...with a burning passion.. there are a few i dislike or have a complicated relationship with though.. i’m not interested in the series anymore but ouma from drv3...i’ll admit that he is a bit fun sometimes, especially in the very early beginning he’s a likeable brat but as the game progresses he becomes more irritating than anything and i have an issue with him in regards to writing, despite the fact that i have never been awake in any english class ever lol. it’s too long to put in this already long post but i’ll keep it at that. if you like him, well, good for you for finding joy in something i couldn’t! but he just doesn’t do it for me.

AH I JUST REMEMBERED....MINE......FROM YAKUZA 3....maybe i’d change my mind if i watched a playthrough of y3 again, because i think you always absorb something better on your second watch (tho i honestly Dont have the energy to do that all over again, the yakuza games are too fucking long), but i really hate his writing. spoilers for y3 but, i think mine’s writing, alongside other things in the game, were super messy...and a big part of why i hate him is that not only is he one of those “could’ve had great potential but fell flat” sorta guys but also his love for daigo is seen as some fans as good gay rep and i?????/.............um....WELL let’s just say that, i think people nowadays will see any gay character ever in any circumstance and say it’s good gay rep just based off the fact that A Gay Character exists....he was Not, good gay rep imo....he was not, let alone, Good. .........

17: What game do you never tell people you play? can’t think of any games i wouldn’t tell people i play.. idk exactly what this question’s asking. does it mean what game you don’t tell ppl you play bc you’re embarrassed about it...? i’m not very embarrassed by any of them. the only thing that comes close, i guess, is uhh lioden and wolvden. i’ve only interacted with those communities a LITTLE TINY WEE BIT, yet of what i’ve seen it’s a goddamn dumpster fire and i’d never want to be associated with them lol

19: Which game do you think deserves a revival? i’m well aware it’ll never happen and that it’s more a wet dream than anything but...PT/silent hills..... on a more realistic/”could happen” note, PIGEONETICS!!!! SERIOUSLY, it’s an amazing game about amazing animals and it teaches genetics in a very simplified and efficient way!! genetics is SO hard for me to understand, i fucking hated studying it but this game really helped me understand how it works AND its super engaging and interesting!! HOWEVER, of all the pigeon genes we know of, only a handful were seen in pigeonetics and i’d LOVE a sequel that employs new game mechanics AND new genes!! i wanna learn about bronze and stencil genes! i wanna learn about phenotypes like grizzled and pied!!! genes like sooty and dirty!!! @ UNIVERSITY OF UTAH GENETICS DEPARTMENT PLEASE IM BEGIGNG YOU

20: What was the first video game you ever played? earliest memories of Gaming involves me at my aunt’s house playing two games: super mario brothers and some kind of trapeze game. i don’t remember anything else though

21: How old were you when you first played a video game? i can’t remember but i must’ve been REAL tiny.... 6-9 years, maybe??

22: If you could immerse yourself in any game for one day, which game would it be? What would you do? immerse myself meaning go into their world...? huh....on one hand i’d like to go in the world of yakuza 0 to play in the arcades and do whore related activities but i’d also love to go into the world of animal crossing (and i’m pretty sure i’d be some sort of generic dromaeosaurid in that game!!) and shop, chat with villagers, do chores for them, go fishing, bug hunting, eat delicious fucking food like the apples mangos peaches cherries etc etc.....OH AND FOSSIL HUNTING THAT’S THE BEST PART!! though it would definetly be a little weird, to be a little dinosaur and finding a fossil of a...little dinosaur....i guess the non-sentient species went extinct and the dinosaur i am is some kind of, descendant of a sapient non-avian dinosaur that survived the k-pg extinction event...oh but who cares all i want is a cool little ambulocetus fossil or something. and some cherry pie :)

26: Handheld or console? my old ps3 just went kaput one day years ago so i haven’t used it in years so i can’t compare well... but i’d say handheld, because it lets me like DO stuff more...would love to get a console one day, a ps4 maybe but i’m kinda worried it’ll make me stay in one room all day wasting away my time when there’s other stuff i can do, y’know? but something handheld like my 3ds, on the other hand...i can do stuff with it. i can take it to my room and play it between breaks i take as i clean the room and fold my clothes, i can watch something on the tv and play the game during ad breaks, i can take it outside too if it has charge to last me a while! so....handheld i guess

27: Has there ever been a moment that has made you cry? yakuza 0 and undertale in particular have ALMOST made me fucking bawl with many of its moments....yakuza 0 especially, after that Fucking Ending i had trouble sleeping because oh my fucking god. video game people SAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

28: Which character’s clothes do you wish you owned the most?

29:  Which is more important, gameplay or story? HMMM....well, if i were to play a game with a shitty story but really good and fun gameplay i’d probably continue playing it for the gameplay. but if i played a game with shitty gameplay but an interesting story, there is a chance i’d play it more for the sake of the story but also i might just quite and see the rest of the story on youtube or something. i’m more likely to go through a boring story for fun gameplay than go through boring gameplay for an interesting story, so i guess gameplay is more important to me....that is, WHEN i actually own and play a game as opposed to when i just watch someone play a game because i don’t own the game but wanna know abt the story lol

30: A game that hasn’t been localized in your country that you think should be localized? i have no idea how video game localization really works....but i assume localizing a game in india would mean something like, removing content according to cultural norm and also somehow translating it into the 22 official languages..? or just two or three language if it’s tied to a particular state, which seems way more doable. i honestly have no idea? i’ve never interacted w the indian gaming community that much to be honest, all i know of it is of the video games i’ve seen sold in some game stores and a few whispers about like solid snake or whoever from my school’s cafeteria....the most popular games here, to my knowledge, are those very streamable games like fortnite and PUBG and your call of duties and whatnot. those generic shooters. and even then, that honestly isn’t the “indian” gaming community bc this country is so FUCKHUGE, it’s just tamil nadu. one state.

soooo, according to what little i know of gaming interests in where i live, i don’t think any of the games i like should be localized here bc i don’t really think there’s an audience for it as far as i can tell :( maybe animal crossing? it’s a fun little games for all ages and i think it has a chance of becoming popular here, so maybe that is worth a shot! but i can’t think of any other game that i like that really has an audience here (other than Me lol)

[cavesalamander]

My brief thoughts on this season of anime!

Just a quick review of the ones I’d recommend and/or keep watching. I managed to find all of the below on Funimation or Crunchyroll or Youtube!

Horymia: (Yes) This is looking to be a very funny romcom slice of life style anime, and seems to be a fairly good one! Had me laughing a lot. The Main couple are a nerdy quiet boy who’s actually dumb as a sack of bricks using his disheveled appearance to hide his tattoos and piercings, and a popular pretty girl who’s actually a total homebody. Their friends seem to have a lot of potential to be fleshed out as the series progresses and I look forward to seeing how it goes!

So I’m a Spider, So What?: (Yes) Whooo another isekai (excited)! This time a girl and her entire class!? Get isekai’d in a massive explosion. The main character reincarnates as a trash monster in a dungeon and must fight her way up the food chain just to survive. Meanwhile her friends who have mostly reincarnated as Cool Humans or the occasional elf or baby dragon, have mostly found each other, and want to figure out what happened/why and if they’re all okay. It’s genuinely pretty funny, though leans a little too hard sometimes on the gamey aspects of this new world. I think it may get darker as it goes along too.

Mushoku Tensei: (No) Whooo another isekai (derogatory). 34 yo old man gets reincarnated and uses his worldly experience to Learn Magic Fast and creep on his mom and prepubescent tutor. If you can stomach that stuff, it actually has a fair amount of potential? It did set itself up to touch on some interesting stuff down the road, but I’m kind of Over the horny toddler/young boy trope and it kinda just seems like the protagonist is Just Awesome At Everything but not in a remotely charming way.

Cells at Work Code Black: (Yes) If you liked Cells at Work, this is that but dingier, and is able to tackle some darker themes - like what stress, smoking, drinking, and probably eventually STDs can do to your body.

Kemono Jihen: (Yes) I don’t wanna explain TOO much about the plot of this one because it looks to be a mystery series, and the first episode sets it up the characters very very well. A man from the city is called to a rural town where animals are being mysteriously killed and found rotting. He’s tasked with finding and killing the perpetrator, assumed to be a monster of some kind. It does the horror very well, and even in the first episode manages some twistyness.

The Hidden Dungeon Only I Can Enter: (No) Even for a blatant fan service anime this one is just......... stupid. It might have a scrap of joy to it if the protagonist were anything other than a boring sycophant. His harem just all seems to be random girls who’s singular personality traits are to be in love with him in various stereotypical ways, that he just uses to min max his Cool Stats. But like, it’s not even self aware enough to make that into an interesting premise.

Sk8: (Yes) It’s a racing anime that seems super stylish and fun and very well animated. The protagonists have some cool chemistry already, and it really leans into the Underground Illegal Racing part of the fun - all the various characters who battle in death defying races through this abandoned mine, all have seemingly ordinary day jobs. Definitely worth a shot if that sounds up your alley.

Suppose a Kid from the Last Dungeon Boonies moved to a starter town?: (Probably) Okay so the premise is just there in the title and is actually pretty fun. Think: a random NPC who is considered pretty weak where the monsters are lv 50 moving somewhere where the monsters are scary at lv 5, shenanigans ensue. The MC boy is hilariously oblivious to the fact that anyone with a shred of sense can see he’s insanely over leveled to the area, and just trying to be nice and polite to everyone ^u^. The tentative nature of my recommendation is that it is kind of leaning harder on the Girls are Obsessed With Him train than is ideal. How much it depends on that as opposed to utilizing the premise to its fullest extent will have an enormous bearing on how fun the show is to watch going forward.

Ex-Arm: (Absolutely not but yes) It’s a fucking train wreck.

Heavens Design Team: (Yes) God decided to outsource creating animals to a team of angels, and works as a client giving weird ass requests for the angels to fill. Hilarity ensues, and it is peak edutainment to boot. It’s so much fun learning weird shit about animals, or trying to guess the animal these seemingly random train of failed attempts leads to.

Dr. Ramune -Mysterious Disease Specialist-: (No) It has a promising premise and some good moments. The main characters are solving these weird “diseases” that people get by finding the actual emotional cause and using magic of some kind to monkey paw it into a resolution. This could be really fun and interesting, but something about the execution just... falls flat? Like maybe it picks up as the season goes on but for now it’s not rly worth it.

Vlad Love: (Yes) I was going through the list of anime this season and was like wtf is this and literally just now watched episode 1. It’s about a girl with a blood donation kink and her vampire girlfriend. Literally. It’s rly funny and over the top ridiculous but like, gay vampires.

Back Arrow: (No) It’s like... fine. It’s about these two warring kingdoms surrounded by a wall with a mountain range between. They worship the wall as god, and occasionally get gifts from beyond it, in the form of mech suits they use to fight each other in. One day a boy shows up from beyond the wall in one of those suits and no memories of anything and he wants to get back. Which... could be promising I guess? But something about the show just didn’t grab my attention.

Skate-Leading Stars: (No) It’s like Yuri on ice if it was less gay and less well written I guess...? The first episode set up the Drama competently enough, but I just... couldn’t give a shit.

Project Scard: (No) For some reason part of Tokyo has been turned into a post apocalyptic hellscape where people just murder each other. They also have super powered tattoos and use them to fight each other. Animation is very similar to Handshakers - which is an Aesthetic that may not appeal to some. The first episode didn’t rly do much for me but I could see it going somewhere if it tries.

Wave!!: (No) Might have been a tentative yes if I hadn’t gone on and watched the second episode. First ep went hard with the queerbaiting cause they want to be the new Free! but with surfing, but Ep 2 just forgot all about that entirely. Dialogue is mostly boring and there’s like 3 sets, which becomes painfully obvious very quickly by ep 2.

Idoly Pride: (No) Literally looks like they ripped off the waifus of a bunch of other more popular anime and made an idol anime with the most basic ass idol plot. Nothing exceptional here.

Gekidol: (undecided) It’s an idol anime... set after a mysterious apocalyptic event? It’s mostly so far seemed intriguing as hell but not my jam. Mysterious craters destroyed parts of Japan, and its rebuilding and the MCs wanna bring light to the world. Maybe aliens exist? Idk! I’m intrigued.

I*Chu: (No) Another idol anime but this time it’s cute boys! Idk maybe this is a decent idol anime but it rly didn’t grab me and idol stuff isn’t usually my jam. I couldn’t tell anything exceptionally unique about this one from just the first episode.

WIXOSS Diva: (No, but) I don’t normally watch spin-offs of series but I didn’t realize until halfway into this that it was one cause Crunchyroll didn’t attach it to the core line. It’s like... magical girl battle idols in VR! Which honestly if you’re a fan of that it might actually be worth checking out.(edited)

Idolls!: (No) Another idol anime! But this one uses mocap 3d models. Phoned in plot line delivered by a weird tiki statue that tells the girls what to do. Seems extraordinarily low budget, and more just a way to sell music. The whole episode happened in a single set and  was basically just... girls want to make it big as idols... oh no... gotta book a stage! Yay they got one! Now must get an audience! Like... ok

Hortensia Saga: (No but) Sword and sorcery fantasy setting that’s mostly sword, main character is a princess masquerading as a male knight alongside the son of her dead parents’s also dead bodyguard. The first episode is very lore heavy and felt kinda like the prologue to a video game. So it ended up feeling a little expository and trope laden, but it has potential. Seems a bit Game of Thronesy? Wasn’t like... bad or anything, so if it’s your thing you might enjoy it.

Otherside Picnic: (Yes) I think it’s gay first of all, two girls going exploring / treasure hunting / monster hunting in a bizarre mirror world to their own. Girls are cute, it’s very interesting premise and writing seems solid.

Wonder Egg Priority: (Yes) It deals with some HEAVY themes? But it’s... a bit of a psychological horror but in a way that feels very like it’s dealing with some of the real life issues. The main character girl comes across as neurodivergent, and it’s just... idk man the first episode was good and left me wanting more.

[lliaq]

okay, now that I’ve slept on it I’m actually gonna try to put down my thoughts on the season, so obvious TUA season 2 spoilers below and it’s probably going to get really long

Just to preface this, I haven’t read any of the comics, so I can’t speak to how the show compares to them.

Guess I’m gonna start with the positives, and I think what I enjoyed most about the season where just little moments between the siblings. Obvious standouts being Ben getting to talk to Vanya and Diego. I think those were the only two scenes that acutally made me tear up a bit. It was just really nice seeing him get that opportunity, and something that I’ve wanted to see since S1. It would have been even nicer if he got a moment with all his siblings, but hey, I’ll take what I can get. Another one was at the very end with Vanya and Diego just sitting on the stairs together. Just a nice little moment, even if it was short.

Luther apologizing to Vanya was a pleasant surprise and showed that he actually used his time alone to reflect and have a bit of character growth, so that was another plus.

I overall liked Allison and Ray’s relationship, and I was okay with the way it ended. It was kind of bittersweet, but it made sense and felt in character.

On that note, I also liked that Allison learned to achieve things without her powers, because never having to do that was kind of a big note of her character in S1. Not necessarily sure it had to be done by taking her voice away, I think if anything it would have been even better if she did it by choice, but I’ll get back to that.

I enjoyed the whole old Five vs “young” Five thing. Not much more to add to that, really.

And lastly, I enjoyed Reginal a lot more than I thought I would. It was interesting to see a bit of a different side of him when he was with Grace, felt like it gave his character a bit more depth, and I mean the actor is just fantastic. Like, I fucking despise Reginald, but it’s a joy to watch his performance. The way he went in on Diego at the dinner was fucking brutal, man. That was heartbreaking to watch, and the fact that none of the others stood up for him sucked, but honestly I think it just shows that despite them bonding a little, they still have a ways to go in terms of being a functional family. S1 didn’t span all that much time, and they were separated for most of their time in the 60s, so it makes sense that they’re still learning in that department. Them getting into the car with Vanya showed that they’re getting there though. Also, to get back to Reginald, I think they’ve made it pretty clear now that he’s an alien, so there’s that too. No more confusion about that.

Now on to the so-so stuff. Things that were neither all good nor all bad.

Vanya & Sissy - oh boy man. I mean first of all: give me that lesbian farm life, hell yes. I was rooting for them from the start, and I just really loved all their interactions. Also, idk if that was intentional on Ellen’s part or not, but her chemistry with Sissy was leagues above whatever the fuck was going on with Leonard. That being said- I’m personally not a fan of cheating storylines, just in general. I get why, in this case, but yeah. And unlike with Ray, I really wish they would have taken Sissy and Harlan with them to 2019. Because, for one: can we at least have one happy gay couple on this show? And second: They both deserved to have a life where they’re not constantly judged for who they are. From a character standpoint I get that going to the future would be really scary and shit, but just imagine man. Vanya and Sissy could have been together without having to hide, and Harlan could have vastly benefited from the better understanding of autism we have now. Not that either of those aspects are perfect in 2019, but they’re a long way from the 60s.

Diego and Lila’s relationship I honestly didn’t care much about. It felt like they just completely dismissed Patch and the impact her death had, by not even so much as giving her a mention. And I also just didn’t really feel it man. I mean they spent some time together in the asylum, but it seemed like they weren’t even friends really - and then by the end of the season they love each other, like girl, it’s been less than a week. Relax.

Lila on her own, I did kind of like, but I feel like she could have used a bit more development, and a little less ‘I had sex with this guy once like five days ago and now I love him more than anything’

Ben. Ben Ben Ben. I was kind of up and down on his arc. I actually liked that he was just so done with Klaus’ shit, even if calling Dave a fling might have crossed the line a bit for me. Some of the posession stuff was weird (though I’m glad they at least had the ground rules talk), but at the same time getting to see him experience the most basic sensations like air on his face and dirt under his feet was nice. He did also save the world through the power of communication and love, so you know- good job, Ben. And then they killed him (again). Ngl, I was pissed at that- but I figured they would probably find a way to bring him back somehow, so I held off judgement on that until the end, and I was right. Still not entirely happy, and whether or not that’s going to change will likely depend on what happens with S3.

Klaus’ cult story line was kind of eh. I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t really like it either. His attempts to save Dave were more interesting, even if they ultimately didn’t work. Other than that, he didn’t really go through any growth this season. It did piss me off that Allison enabled his drinking after he relapsed. Fuck that.

I’m glad we got to see a little bit of how Allison losing her voice affected her, but I think they could have done more there. Idk, it just felt a bit lackluster for something so huge. Like I mentioned earlier, her living a life of never actually having to work for anything was something that shaped her character and personality in S1, and I‘m glad she’s had that realization. That being said, I think it would have been even more impactful if she worked for what she wanted w/o using her powers by choice, showing that she was was willing to put in the effort to grow and change, rather than being forced into it by circumstance. But you know, sometimes life works like that, and people don’t change unless they’re forced into a situation where they have no other option.

And, somewhat related, I think the last point for this section is Allison and Vanyas relationship. While I’m glad that they’re closer now, I wish they would have at least adressed Vanya slitting her throat. I understand that Allison doesn’t blame her, we already saw that at the end of S1, but c’mon. At least have a short conversation about it, because that was a big thing. It feels like they just used that to fuel the ‘Allison needs to learn how to do things without her powers’ storyline, and then it just got dropped, never to be mentioned again. The show tends to do that a lot, and it completely diminishes the impact of these big moments.

Okay, now to the purely negatives, here we go.

Luther moping over Allison. For the love of god. Listen, Luther did grow on me this season, compared to S1 - but I was so fed up with his moping around. Can we just not do the incest thing anymore, please. I already went through that shit with Shadowhunters (except there it at least wasn’t actually incest), I don’t wanna do it again.

Harlan. I honestly did not care for him at all. That being said, I usually don’t care about child characters, so that’s not a big surprise and not necessarily the show’s fault. But also, the fuck even was that storyline. I’m sorry, but it just made no sense. Which actually leads me right to the next point

Inconsistently written powers. Diego doing the thingy with the bullets like since when tf can he do that? I understand that the show already changed his powers from the comics, but up until that point it was strictly about knives. We never see him curve or manipulate (or whatever it is he actually does) any other objects, so this just felt so random and out of nowhere, and like they just wanted to give him a ‘badass powers moment’. If they wanted to indicate that his powers were more than what we’ve seen in S1, literally all they had to do was have him use them on something that’s not a knife at any point in the season. A 2 second shot, done. And then you don’t get to the finale and are suddenly like “the fuck”. But, boy, Vanya was even worse. Sounds. That’s what we learn her powers are in S1. Sounds, she manipulates sounds and sound waves. So how in the everliving fuck does she a) bring someone back to life, b) tranfser part of her powers to that person and create a magical connection, and c) take that part of her powers back? None of that makes any sense whatsover. The stuff in S1 where she’s sucking the life out of her siblings was already a stretch, but they’ve just made it worse this season. And this is just a minor gripe with the VFX, but her floating out of the barn looked so bad. I know it’s hard to make floating/flying people look good and natural, but other shows and movies have done it, so it’s not like it’s impossible.

And lastly: The villains. They were terrible, period.

I don’t like the Handler that much, she’s just so...plain and boring and really the only thing she has going for her are the outfits. Nice outfits don’t make a good story though. But the Swedes were even worse. Just every scene they were in felt like it dragged and I just wanted to skip past it. And then they have the fucking funeral scene with swedish Adele like are you kidding me? Am I supposed to feel bad for these pieces of white toast with zero personality or development? ??? Honestly, they could have cut them out completely and replaced them with more development for Lila and I would have been perfectly happy with that. Or replaced them with literally anything else. I don’t think I would have felt like I was missing anything important. Also, AJ? What was up with that? Again, haven’t read the comics so idk if he’s a big deal or not in them, but I really thought he would play a bigger role. That felt like such a waste of a character and like what even was the point?

I really feel like AoS (esp. S1-4) raised my bar for well written and developed villains. Admittedly, a 22 episode season allows for a lot more time to actually do that than a 10 episode season, but still. If you have less time to develop characters, then you need tighter writing and TUA completely dropped the ball on that one.

Okay. I think that’s it. I mean, I probably forgot a bunch of stuff, but these were the things most prominently on my mind after letting everything sink in for a bit. Overall I’m pretty meh about the season as a whole. I’ll probably watch S3 (if they renew it, that is), but I’m not super hyped about it or anything. The only thing keeping me interested are sibling interactions and the Ben reveal (even though his emo hair is an atrocity. I’m sorry Ben, I love you, but no.)

[ohmystarsy]

all the tag games I’ve been tagged in in the last few months

as the title says - I’ve finally found some quiet time to do all of them, thank you all for tagging me!!! it is always a pleasure and I LOVE those tag games, just life has been really busy recently, even more so during that whole pandemic thing.

I put all of them under read more, bc there’s  A LOT of text. the tag games include:

name ten favourite characters from ten different things, tagged by @majoris

name your seven comfort movies, tagged by @majoris and @natowe

quarantine Q&A, tagged by @ithilnarmo

20 questions about yourself, tagged by @jennyyfishh

I was tagged by @majoris​ for name ten favorite characters from ten different things (tv, movies, books, etc.), then tag ten people.

favourites are the worst! but I will try my best neverthless.

Eames from “Inception” (idk, he is flirty af but also has rly bad taste in clothes and I love that; it might be also Tom Hardy thing tho)

Thor from MCU (just. the kindest of Avengers? says women rights? struggles with what it means to be “worthy”? pls)

Cahir Mawr Dyffryn aep Ceallach from “The Witcher” (I just love evil blonds with redemptions arcs who suffer throughout the whole series bc they made some bad mistakes in the past; also yes I have always headcanoned him as blond, idk why)

Leia Organa from “Star Wars” (an Icon, what else should I add?)

James Flint from “Black Sails” (gay pirate disaster that we all deserved and it was given)

Clara Oswald from “Doctor Who” (idk I just always related to het the most from all companions that I’ve seen. I love her fearlessness, her bossy side and that she takes no bullshit from the Doctor)

Sansa Stark from “Game of Thrones” (I hate what the show did to her, but I always loved her in books; how she starts as this silly, annoying girl and then grows and grows and outgrows everyone else)

Phryne Fisher from “Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries” (I just love this show and this woman; I’ve never seen a characterisation as this one; at one side she is never serious and she often plays silly woman, but that is only a facade for the world??? and she never cares about what others think of her, I’d love to be like her when I grow up, if I wasn’t already a grown-up)

Roy Mustang from “Fullmetal Alchemist” (I mean. I’ve never knew a manga character could be so hot. Also he’s a snarky bastard, but that’s what we love about him don’t we.)

(Purple) Hawke from “Dragon Age” (idk I just like this sarcastic little shit)

I was tagged by @majoris and @natowe​ to name my seven comfort movies (and god it’s gonna be difficult bc I rarely watch movies but here we go)

Inception

King Arthur: A Legend of the Sword

Lord of The Rings: Two Towers

Brooklyn 99 (I know, not a movie, but this is actually what I usually watch for comfort - I think I’ve seen season one like 10 times at this point)

Thor Ragnarok

Mamma Mia!

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

(generally when I’m in need of comfort movie I just look for some action movie this is how I roll, fighting on the screen makes me calm *shrug emoji*)

I was tagged by @ithilnarmo​ for quarantine Q&A

1.  Are you staying home from work/school? Yes, I am, although there was some battle with this (long story). Luckily the project I work on is on the final stage (it’s already being built), so it’s actually possible to do everything from home and also a team I’m on is super communicative and it all goes rather smoothly.

2.  If you are staying home, who is there with you? I live with my sister, who is now finishing her Master’s Degree, so we are in this together! (There is also occasionally a dog on our neighbours’ balcony just next to us and it’s always a highlight of a day.)

3.  Are you a homebody? Before this pandemic I thought I am, but now I think I just don’t like clubbing and partying lmao, bc I just ITCH to travel or just go outside and walk in the city and I CAN’T.

4. An event that you looked forward to that got cancelled? Well, not an event, but several of my plans for spring and holidays got cancelled. I was supposed to go the Baltic Sea and Gdańsk in spring (on seperate occassions) and then I and my friend had to cancel our holidays to Faroe Islands in May/June, because it will probably be still too early to travel.

5. What movie have you watched recently? I think it was “Escape from the ‘Liberty’ Cinema”, which is hella weird Polish movie from 1990, just after end of communism. It tells a story about a censor who starts to question his job bc suddenly the actors in the movie that is being shown in one of the cinemas rebel (inside a movie) and don’t want to play it anymore. Really weird. Really.

6. What shows are you watching? Brooklyn 99 for like tenth time.

7. What music are you listening to? Same as usual.

8. What are you reading? I’m reading “The Waves” by Virginia Woolf (my fav book ever), for a month now, bc 1) I don’t have much time now I just work all the time, 2) I read it in English and can only read like 10 pages at once. but it’s SO GOOD, guys. so good.

9. What are you doing for self care? lmao don’t have time for that. I try to take breaks from work, sometimes go outside or at least step outside to balcony (and stare at the neighbours’ dog), I cook dinner every two days and a NICE stuff, so at least food brings me joy, and I try to sleep regularly, although I do a poor job on that.

aaaaand I was tagged by @jennyyfishh for 20 questions about myself

1. Nickname: I actually don’t have any, it doesn’t work like that in Polish (Kasia is already what you’d call a nickname from my full name Katarzyna, but this is just how we call all Katarzynas) (sometimes I wonder what is the point of the full names if we never use it in speech lmao)

2. Zodiac Sign: Scorpio!

3. Height: around 170cm

4. Languages: Polish and English; I was kinda conversational in German some years ago but now forgot all of it, I’d probably understand some of Ukrainian and Russian if I really tried (was learning Russian for three years and Ukrainian is just similar enough to Polish) and learnt some Swedish too, but again, don’t remember anything rn

5. Nationality: Polish

6. Favourite season: spring

7. Favourite flower: daffodil and tulip

8. Favourite scent: verbena, petrichor, sea

9. Favourite color: yellow

10. Favourite animal: dog probably

11. Favourite fictional character: look at tag game number one on this long list : )

12. Coffee, tea or hot chocolate: coffee!

13. Average hours of sleep: 6-7, but my body wants 10

14. Dog or cat: both, actually; now I’d rather take cat than dog, but that’s only bc I live in small apartment and am out of it for too long

15. Number of blankets you sleep with: one??? second blanket is for really freezing winters only (like -10/-20 celcius degrees)

16. Dream tip: what does it mean even? idk man, sometimes if you wake up from rly good dream, if you think about it hard and fall asleep quickly you can still return to it

17. Blog established: probably somewhen in 2011? idk what is time anyway

18. Followers: 2051

19. Random fact: oh god idk, ok I will maybe say sth I’m rly proud of, which is that my short story was published in an anthology in year 2017. I still can’t believe my name is printed there.

(where is 20th question tho???)

ok, I am tagging for all of those above: @shirewalker @sorrydearie @natowe @cptnjaneway @iaskier @spectralarchers @majoris @jennyyfishh @ithilnarmo @ohhelga @marsza @stupidape just choose whichever of those above you’d like to do or just ignore it completely : )

[monochromemedic]

What are all the Fallout companions like?

depends on the game my friend there’s been a couple of fallout games, the ones i know the best are new vegas and 4 although i didn’t hang out with much of the vegas companions as I should have. I mean i’ll give you info on the ones i Know but it might be long an inaccurate gonna be kinda long

Fallout new vegas:Rex: DOG. 2. *peggle 2 gif* Cyber dog that was owned by the leader of a group called the Kings. They are just a bunch of elvis impersonators. You give him a new brain cause he’s sick. He’s like a dog but cooler.Boone: Super Duper Depressed angry seething emotionaless sniper whos so damn upset because his wife, the only thing that brought him joy after he left a part of the army was sold to slavers, ya know, as a slave and he killed her and his unborn child to save her from being a slave and lives with the guilt. He is mad. all the time. or seething. quitely.E-De: floating little robot. can’t speak but makes noises. He has backstory but it doesn’t really matter. He is a little ball.Lily: Nightkin grandma. Nightkin are like super mutants which are like big mutated humans that like to make flesh bags of things and kill because of a virus they got. But nightkin are like them but crazy cause they use stealth boys which is a thing that makes you invisible and it fucks up their head. She is nice and a grandma and thinks you are her grandson. Has a voice in her head telling her to kill but is still super grandma even though she looks like a wrestling star.Cass: she is sad because she is a trader but her trading van got burned with everything in it. she drinks alot. it’s about it.Raul: Ghoul which are people effected by radiation so much they basically turn into a zombie that is immortal as long as you don’t get fucking shot. Mexican I believe? at least spanish in some sorts. He’s a mechanic. He is nice.Arcade Gannon: Gay doctor that is sassy and actually reads books. Has a tragic past of belonging to a group of people called the Enclave who were shitty people. Doesn’t like to bring it up. Fallout 4: Dogmeat: a dog. That’s it he’s just a normal ass dog but a good one. Codworth: Robot butler you had before you got frozen. He is british. You can put a hat on him. He is polite and posh.Curie: imagine one of those but she was a scientist and you let her out and she wants to do science so bad she wants to become human somehow you fucking acomplish that. That’s her. She is polite and french. She doesn’t know shit and is kinda oblivous and just wants to do science.Danse: Part of the Brotherhood of Steel a group that has been in many games and in this game their dicks that wanna take technology and kinda... are racists. Danse is a good two shoes in the sense that he follows those orders to a t. You learn out later he’s a Synth, a synthetic human like a human made in a lab by tech. Everyone is afraid of synths cause the people who made them do bad things. Danse didn’t know he was one because ... complicated stuff too long to put here. He wants to end it but you can save him and tell him there’s more to life and you care about him. Danse is very robotic in tone, big beef cake and after that he tries to be less of a ignorant slut. Most of that racist shit was him trying to fit in to the only family he knew and trauma from his childhood friend turning into a mutant.Hancock: a ghoul who is a mayor of a small town where stabbing people is ok. He does alot of drugs. people wanna fuck him alot. did a drug so bad he turned into a ghoul some how. Literally named himself hancock after you know... the old dude and took his clothes cause he related.Maccready: use to live in a little cave full of children only. (long story) later grew up moved out and met the love of his live and had a kid only for the kid to get sick and his wife to die so he fucking moved to the commonwealth to find a cure for his kid. Can’t swear cause he promised his son, is a mercenary that worked with an asshole group but left cause they were dicks. He likes money. People say he s a rat alot because he is scrawny and kinda rat like. You can kiss him. voiced by Matt Mercer. Child in a man’s body at times.Deacon: works for the railroad a secret organization that liberates synths. helps them move on, get new identities and live a normal life. Secretive himself, lies a shit ton, literally spies on you in game until you meet him. has disguises but all of them has his stupid signature sunglasses. Funny guy, till you learn that he use to be a bigot as a kid and killed a person and he hated that and left the group of other bigots and wanted to start a new life with his wife and have a kid until they learned she was a synth and the group that was bigots hated synths and so they killed her and he killed them in retalliation and now he can’t look himself in the mirror or can’t get close to them for fear. Changes his face so much his face right now probably isn’t even close to what his old face was.  Todd won’t let me kiss him.Preston: member of the minutemen, a group of people in old patriotic gear wanting to help people. Was one of the last ones. Super duper nice but kinda monotone. Tells me to help people so often. probably the :) emoji but if made real. just wants to do good.Cait: got sold as a kid and made her way to becoming a fighter in a combat zone you learn shes hooked on chems aka drugs and you can help her not be an addict. she is irish and swears and wants to punch everything. Rude lady. Her backstory is super dark. she goes back after she gets the money to go home to her parents that sold her and just shoots them. like damn.Strong: super mutant. wants to smash. like kill.. alot. that’s bout it.x6-88: a synth from that evil place the institute that can work with you. he’s kinda a prick. monotone and just wants whats best for the institute. doesnt’ care about anything else.Piper: reporter in a big town she wants to alert people about synths. gets into trouble. she has a sister.  Nosy.Nick Valentine: old noir style detective except he is a synth that is an older prototype modal that makes him look super robotic. just wants to help. you can call him a dick and techinically it’s true. idk much about the dlc companions  uh two are robots and ones and old guy and the other is gage whos a raider i kinda killed him so