#imo it drags a little in some places but i do like how this turned out

[waywardsalt]

While Ganondorf is busy as king of the Gerudo and Linebeck is often out at sea, they hardly manage to find time to spend together- but with the right timing and allowances, find time for a bit of desert exploration.

-

ganonbeck fic complete!!

here's a new link to chapter 1, and chapter 2 is finally up as well.

FanFiction.net version: X

[chiscaralight]

hello ^=^

I really like your writing very much!

Can you write about Model!reader x mafia! scaramouche?

The idea is kind of strange but I can't stop imagining Darling as a famous model all over Teyvat who was in a toxic relationship with a famous actor but the media covered it up until Darling met Scaramouch by chance When she was in a bar and she did not know that it was his property because the Fatui is a dangerous gang known for its dirty methods

Or maybe she witnessed a murder and he had to avoid the possibility of her exposing him so he kidnapped her.

I don't know if you're comfortable with this or not but can you add a part where Scaramouche order Darling to lick the gun?

hi thanku sm! this is definetly out of my usual writing comfort bubble but I absolutely love the idea. i like both of your concepts so I tried to combine them. i also didn't directly make darling lick the gun bc of him, but it was definitely in their mouth lmfao i hope at the very least it works for you! once I saw the ask I literally went to take a walk to think about to do with it lol. but it was so so much fun! thank u for this ask<3

mafia!scaramouche x model!reader nsfw. its kinda long imo. gun play. mentioned assault, cheating?kind of. oral m receiving. fingering. mentions of blood tasting?, uhhh probably missed some tags but enjoy!

there's nowhere you can go where you're not getting recognized. granted, you're almost world famous. a gorgeous model that everyone is pining to be. perfect face, perfect body, in the sweetest relationship with one of the biggest actors. everything was supposed to be amazing! but that stupid man you call your boyfriend is making your life a living hell.

you're sliding the sleeve of your dress a little lower to hide the bruise he gave you earlier as you lean against the bar. the place has the perfect atmosphere for a lovely date night. too bad when that brute gets here it'll be anything but fun. speaking of which, where is he? you'd been sitting alone at the bar for almost half an hour and while he was an asshole, he knew how to keep to time.

so you decide to go outside and wait. it'll be nice to get some breeze after being cooped up in the atmosphere of the building alone will be nice before the inevitable change of tide. your heels are clicking down the sidewalk, masked by the sound of cars passing by and signs buzzing. then you hear it. it sounds like, shouting, arguing? it's coming from the alley up ahead.

you're trying to keep your noise to a minimum as you peer your head into the alleyway. there you see... your boyfriend????

he's on his knees, being held down by two men. there's a woman, who's frantically explaining how he tried to touch her, and that's when you see the crest on her jacket. your eyes widen. the fatui. they're insanely bad news. you've heard all about them through the grapevine, about how tight-knit they are and super secure. so why was the man who was holding the gun towards your boyfriend's head not wearing the symbol anywhere at all?

before you can even process the thought, the loud bang from the gun is ringing in your ears. you can't control the gasp you let out, and all four people that are still alive are snapping towards you.

your lip is sucked in between your teeth as you're holding back tears. the same gun that has been in this man's hand is pressed against your powdered forehead in silence. it's the other lady who speaks first, muttering something about how your 'man' is a criminal. the only words you can get out are:

"i know."

now scaramouche's interest has been piqued. he nudges you with the barrel of the gun and you're looking up at him through tear-filled eyes. you're a pretty thing like this, near the end of your life but still so composed and meek. you drag your sleeve up, and you catch the way his eyebrows furrow. the lady's head turns in confusion as you speak.

"the bastard has been abusing me for months. even if you kill me now, i'll die happy knowing that bastard is rotting in hell."

another wave of silence.

scaramouche drops the gun. he orders the two other underlings to let you go and dispose of the body behind you. he whispers something to the last fatui before she nods and helps you up. a breath you didn't know you were holding escapes your lips and she tells you to follow her.

you're back in the bar, but away from all the eyes of the public. it's somewhere secluded, the area calm and decorated as you wait. you don't know what for, but you're waiting. you expect to see the lady from before, but what you're met with is that man again.

you soon learn his name is Scaramouche, one of the higher-ups in the organization. you're both staring at each other again and in the blink of an eye, his gun is pointed at you once again from the other side of his room. he's not going to shoot, obviously. he's testing you.

and you pass with flying colors! your demeanor doesn't shake once. your eyes are locked onto his and your body is still. he's closing the gap between where you're sitting and him, and the tension in the air is thick. soon enough, the muzzle of the gun is mere millimeters away from your lips. he's looking down at you. and you blink up sweetly at him before you drag your tongue along the side of the barrel. he can't hide the smile that pushes against his lips. he's going to have so much fun with you.

your lips are wrapped tightly around his cock, sucking as good as you can while the firearm is pressed to the side of your head. he's sitting back on the sofa so lazily, watching as you bob your head so perfectly. he's wishing he shot that deadbeat boyfriend of yours weeks ago when he had the chance, maybe he wouldn't have had to wait for such a perfect mouth to suck him off like this. his free hand slides to fist your hair as he draws closer to his climax. the tight grip causes you to moan around him, and he's cumming into your mouth, cum sliding down your throat as he fucks his orgasm into your mouth. but the two of you are far from done.

your dress is bunched up above your hips, giving him the perfect view of the cunt he's bullying. he's thrusting into you hard, finger resting on the trigger as the gun lays softly against your tongue. he's groaning, reminding you it's fully loaded, and the only thing you give him in response is the small view of your tongue circling the barrel. you're the one with the deadly weapon aimed at you, but he's almost sure that you're going to kill him like this. how many times do you get to see such a doll like this, taking you in so well as their life literally lay entirely in your hands? your eyes are struggling to stay open and you're clenching around him extra hard, so he leans down to give you one word. cum.

the way this one hits you is unlike anything you've ever felt before. it's nothing but pure, unadulterated pleasure as you arch up into him.

when you finally come to, he pulls the gun away to aim it at his head. your eyes go wide as you can see his finger weigh down on the trigger. you're attempting to stop him, weak arm reaching at just as soon as he-

nothing.

the gun was empty the entire time. and the laugh he lets out is so annoying, that you're almost pushing him off of you. don't scowl at him like that. it doesn't fit that pretty face of yours. but he tells you not to worry! because the next time he has you like this, hell make sure the gun is fully loaded. and it'll be in your hands, not his.

[cinnamonest]

Lena thank you for the spanking bit, has to be one of fav kinks ever because it just... fits every single yan regardless of who they are??? Kinda like a "universal" thing, just top notch. Do you think we could ever get headcanons for it?

Thank you for this anon, you're absolutely correct it is a top-tier kink

Also I've been wanting to write more about god-era Morax so thank you for the opportunity to do so, I rambled way more about him than the others here sorry lol

As for those who fit the kink best imo I’m going with Childe, Diluc, Ayato and Morax

//major spanking kink material (obviously) but gets kinda bad in severity/intensity, also mentions of hair-pulling, biting, throat fucking, anal, two cocks for Morax again (as always 👌)

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Childe is probably the best one here to end up at the mercy of here for once, for the sake of your poor ass at least.

Not that it isn't still awful and painful — he’s a sadist at heart and just adores making you squeal and cry. What at least makes it comparatively at least bearable is that he tends to use his hand — although that does make it more personable, more humiliating.

He tells you, though, exactly what he intends to do. You're being such a little brat today… come over here…

He doesn't even seem angry, but rather excited. He's all smiley and cooing in a way that feels so utterly humiliating and degrading.

Oh, but please do run. Please, please make it so much more fun for him, run away and try to hide. There's virtually nothing in the world that turns him on as much as either a game of chasing you or hunting you down wherever you're hiding. The fact that you're that scared of getting your ass beaten is kind of cute, actually. Are you that sensitive to pain, or is it more protecting your pride that gives you so much resistance? Not that he's complaining or anything.

He'll even give you a very wide opportunity to run, make sure you have plenty of avenues to do so. His heart rate begins to go up seeing the look of realization in your eyes when you spot an opening to run off, and he'll give you a minute or two of a head start. It doesn't take him long to find you nonetheless, hauling you up over his shoulders and carrying you back to your room with obvious excitement, like a predator dragging squealing, still-living prey back to its den for its inevitable fate.

That being said, doing that will make it worse for you — at that point you probably do deserve a belt at least, you know? Regardless of the instrument of choice though, he keeps you bent over his knee — he can feel your squirming more that way, and he can grind his hard-on into your stomach as you thrash around and squeal. Each strike still lands on bare skin, but rather than having your lower half naked, he likes to sometimes move the hold on your back and grasp at the waistband of your panties instead, jerking them up to wedge between your cheeks, effectively holding you in place and baring your skin at the same time.

He's so mean about it, taunts you that same voice you hate so much—

Aw, are you actually crying? Maybe I'll stop if you beg for something else…

There's no set number or standard of how much you'll be punished for any particular offense, which can be more torturous than anything. At least if you were given a number, you'd know how much more you had to endure. Instead, you just lurch and squeal each time his hand or the leather comes down... you kick your legs and thrash about, to no avail. In fact, you're pretty sure it just makes him hornier, you feel his cock twitch and his breathing grow more ragged the louder you cry out, and his hand on your back forces you down harder.

He’s actually totally shameless about getting off to it, too, so you can’t use that against him.

God, you're so cute when you cry like that... squeal louder for me...

The only real upside is that it's usually abruptly cut off at some point once he's too aroused by it to continue, and needs to just bury himself into your holes. You get slid off his lap onto the couch or bed, barely getting any time to recover — still sniffling and whimpering— before being contorted to whatever position he wants and rammed into without warning… thus for once, him being perpetually horny and having virtually no self-control actually becomes a positive. It still doesn't help, though, that the sex makes his hips smack against your sore ass with each thrust, but crying out about that only makes him go harder.

You know it could be much much worse — he makes sure to remind you that he could easily keep going until you completely break down, but he's so nice and you should be grateful for that — but you're still sore, and it leaves a pinkish-reddish tint under your natural flesh tone — something he likes to point out to you later, groping at your ass and laughing when you jolt at the sting. Your nose wrinkled with your expression of disgust as you jerk your head away from him, and you mutter under your breath.

Bastard...

And then, you squeal and lurch forward as one more harsh smack lands on your backside. You try to ignore the chuckling that follows as your eyes well up with embarrassed tears, and you bury your face beneath the covers of the bed.

-------

Diluc’s punishments are awful in terms of pain, but thankfully they're over fairly quickly because it's largely an act of momentary fury and irritation, and once he gets that anger out of his system, the punishment will be over, too.

He's still very intimidating about it, and it doesn't help that it's always a sort of spontaneous thing he decides on in the heat of the moment — thus you see the exact moment you know you've crossed a line, but also know (or at least, quickly learn) that there's nothing you can say or do at that point that will get you out of being punished. His eyes narrow and his voice lowers and he tells you to get over here in a voice that makes you feel like your heart just stopped, and your stomach feels as if it twists into a knot when you see the confirmation of your dread when he takes his belt off.

Running is not advisable — it's not like you'll succeed, and you'll just make him more mad. He's rough with how he handles you, dragging you by your clothes and hair over to bed, counter, or the back of a couch, forcing your head down.

How bad any one particular spanking is varies a lot depending on how mad you've succeeded in making him. He's not merciful at all, so he hits with force based on the level of his frustration. Thus, your attitude is important — you can technically commit a lesser offense, but if you keep backtalking and being bratty and fighting it, you'll likely get a worse punishment than you would for a worse offense for which you were apologetic and submitted to punishment easily.

What does change with the severity of your offense is that if what you didn't isn't so bad, you can keep your clothes on, but for particularly egregious transgressions, even in spite of the heat of the moment, unfortunately, he doesn't forget to pull your clothes up or down and off to make sure you're bared first.

He virtually always uses a belt, much to your dismay, and prefers to bend you over various surfaces since he can strike harder that way. It’s painful, you always end up in tears quickly, begging and pleading and spilling apologies for whatever you did, but he never has any mercy on you.

Much like you can’t get out of it to begin with, there’s also nothing you can do that will make it end any sooner than he feels like it. Over and over, grumbling with each strike about how you’re such a brat, how you can’t just behave, how it’s your own fault, until your flesh is reddened and burning badly enough that even when it’s over, all you can do is slump forward and cry.

If he went really hard on you, he might feel a little bad afterwards, getting you a wet cloth to soothe the burn… but he’ll still remind you that you wouldn’t be lying there all shivering and sobbing if you just learned to behave yourself properly.

For him, it’s more of an actual punishment first and foremost and not really an intentionally erotic thing, at first he’s too mad to think much about the eroticism of it… but seeing you lying there sniffling with your butt so heavily marked and welting, admittedly he does quickly get hard… and he’ll get incredibly flustered and embarrassed if you accuse him of getting off to it.

But be careful — push him too much on that matter, and such antagonism might be grounds for a round two on your already-stinging ass.

-------

Ayato’s punishments are particularly unpleasant, but the thing is that if you're in that situation, you deliberately chose it. Because he's gracious enough that you get a lot of warnings before reaching that point.

If you're being bratty, temperamental, rude, or whatever other behavior he doesn't like, you get a certain look first. The standard half-lidded eyes, unpleased expression, the universal ‘stop that right now’ glare. Maybe a passive aggressive comment if he can slide one into conversation.

If that fails — in other words, if you keep being a brat regardless, deliberately ignoring his warnings — you then get a verbal warning. He'll address you directly if it's just the two of you, but gods forbid you’re digging your own grave by misbehaving in front of others, he waits for a moment where everyone else's attention is on something else before pulling you close in a faux gesture of affection (with a grip harsh enough to ensure you get the message but not enough to alert anyone else in the room to his quiet fury), lowering his voice, whispering directly into your ear.

We’re going to have a talk about your behavior when this is over. Do you understand?

You know by now what a "talk" actually means, and hearing the words makes you stiffen and swallow. Granted, by the time it reaches the point that you've been that bad, you won't escape without at least a few swats, but if you persist, you'll just make it much worse. All you can do is nod your head and wait in dreadful anticipation.

As soon as the company you had leaves, you try to slowly back away, looking for an opening to run, but he has you grabbed by your clothes or hair and is dragging you off before you can even try. The total silence on his end as he drags you over to your room only serves to amplify your dread, and thereby your little whimpering protests.

The primary thing that will make it that much worse is what he uses to punish you, because from the day he brought you home, he anticipated a need for discipline at some point, and thus had a whipping cane custom-made just for you. One of those thin wooden canes designed for no other purpose than infliction of pain and punishment, which he leaves sitting out in your bedroom at all times, making sure it's always within sight as a subtle threat, a reminder of his power over you and that your behaviors have consequences.

He doesn’t raise his voice, doesn’t get heated, yet somehow that makes it so much worse. He’s perfectly calm as he holds you down on his lap, a hand wrapped into and grasping your clothes on your back to ensure you’re not going anywhere with each sharp pain on your bare skin. He’s very disciplinarian about it, ensuring to emphasize the reason and intention of the punishment itself—

Remember that you had every option of avoiding this. This is only the consequence you deserve. Do you realize that?

You nod and whimper and try to apologize, but it doesn’t make each swat any lighter. He’s rather harsh about the severity too, the degree of pain, duration, number of swats and outright humiliation often feel disproportionate to what is in your opinion a mild offense, although you know better than to voice that thought.

You beg, sure, you cry and whimper and say you'll take any other punishment, but it goes in one ear and out the other, your words have no effect, and while his voice has that characteristic gentleness to it, he's still cold and firm in his reply, if he even gives you one.

You're not getting out of this. Hold still.

He does take care of you afterwards, so lovingly and gently it makes you angry. He reminds you again that it wouldn't have to happen if you behaved, that you have no one but yourself to blame, all while kissing your crying face, holding you close and gently massaging the newly formed welts.

He also likes to make you gauge how many lashes you deserve beforehand, often making the total number a certain multiple of how many times you mouthed off or did something against your rules. And of course, whenever there's a fixed number, he makes you count.

Listening to your voice grow more and more shaky and begin to crack, your speech becoming slurred with sobs and oh, how precious is the sudden panic in your voice when you realize you've lost count. The way you tense and start begging and whimpering when he replies—

I suppose we'll have to start over...

-------

Morax’s punishments are always by far the worst.

That's largely because there's a maddening element of psychological torment involved. It's slow, drawn out, the dread and anticipation are almost worse than the punishment itself. He actually employs a variety of corporeal punishments, each of which make your stomach churn just to think about, but unfortunately, putting you over his knee and beating your ass until there's a deep red hue to your skin is a personal favorite of his.

What makes his style of discipline so unbearable is that you’ll be punished for literally anything. There is no possible offense, no rule to be broken, that won’t earn corporeal punishment of some kind, most usually on your poor ass. You get a very clear set of rules, rules you’re expected to know and obey from day one. Countless little rules, so many of them meticulous and pointless. Things you must do, things you must not do, and rigid standards for your attitudes and behaviors.

Each and every violation is its own offense — not to mention, things like lying when asked about what you did, objecting to punishments, even talking back or trying to defend yourself when accused count as individual offenses too. Sometimes you don’t even realize you’ve broken a rule until he tells you you’re going to be punished for it, and any protest or whining counts as another offense.

Really, you’re lucky if you can go a few days in a row fully able to sit without any stinging pain, and it’s not uncommon for you to earn back-to-back punishments one day after another. You know for a fact that your record of days in a row without ending up laying in bed, whimpering and crying and clutching your backside in pain is a single digit number.

Sometimes, if it’s severe enough, you’ll get put over his knee right then and there, but he’ll also tally up the small offenses and, at the end of the day, punish you cumulatively for every small offense you’ve made, because he can’t allow even the slightest offense to go unpunished.

It’s not limited to things you do in his presence either, because he has ways of finding out everything you do.

Every day that you can't accompany him, he has an established routine for when he returns. Firstly, of course, you're supposed to greet him when he comes in (any attempts to be petulant by giving him silent treatment or hiding away will result in further punishments), but then, as he sits you down, holds you close, he asks you the same question.

Have you done anything you should not have today?

It's a torturous question.

On one hand, you could have very well been very well-behaved, in which case you can answer honestly with at least some confidence (although even then, part of you hesitates thinking maybe you committed some offense unintentionally).

But when you haven't been well-behaved and you know it — that's what's torturous.

It's a gamble. He asks every single day, so him asking itself is not a dead giveaway that he knows what you did. If he doesn't know — well, you might be able to lie and get away with it. Inversely, how unfortunate would it be if you told him, and it turned out he didn't know, and then you had to suffer when you could have gotten away with it?

On the flip side, if he does know — well, you'll soon be squealing like a stuck pig regardless, but things are much, much worse if you try to lie. You would know — you've taken that gamble a few times now and lost.

He seems to have ways of finding out everything — you only lied when you were absolutely confident, thinking there was no way anyone saw the thing you did, only for your stomach to lurch when you feel the soft stroking against your thigh stop, and are met with a low voice—

…Is that so?

And the tone, the way he says it, you immediately know you've messed up.

Of course, you could hypothetically keep denying it, but entrenching yourself further in a lie is, by that point, the worst decision you could make — you would know, you tried that once and you couldn't sit down normally for over a week. The best thing to do now is to confess… you won’t get any mercy or a lighter punishment, but you’ll avoid the additional punishment you’d get for doing anything else.

But even then, he can’t even give you the decency of forcing your body to bend and getting it over with. It has to be drawn out, torturing you to the greatest degree possible — sometimes, he does this by delaying it, telling you he has something else to do first, leaving you to sit around and wait in anticipation for an hour or more. If an offense is bad enough, one session might not even be enough, and you're told that you'll get another one tomorrow, adding to your dread.

But most of the time, the torment comes from forcing your own participation. He keeps you firmly in his lap, reaching down to grope at the flesh where your butt meets your thighs.

What do you think you deserve to have happen to you?

Another test, a question for which you’ll only receive something worse in addition to whatever will happen already if answered incorrectly. There’s only one right answer—

…Y-you should... punish me...

On the bright side, he’s genuinely pleased once you start learning well enough to know what the right answer is.

You’re stood up, guided over to the drawers, hands firmly on your shoulders to ensure you don’t get any ideas about running. You hate that one drawer, it makes your stomach churn just to look at. He has a damn collection for you— leather straps, whipping canes, paddles with holes in them just to hurt that much more. He tells you to pick one.

That, too, is a test— you know which ones hurt more. You're supposed to gauge what you deserve based on the severity of your offense, and he'll be that much more displeased if you go too lightly on yourself, and will consequently be more forceful, which you do not want. Eventually, you manage to make your choice, biting your lip, pointing with a shaky hand, tensing as his hand runs motions that would be soothing in any other context up and down your thigh, pausing to grasp at the fleshy part of your backside.

Then you're led back— sometimes to face the wall or bend over a counter, but most often he prefers to keep you over his lap. Not that you'll be forced down either— not unless you make that necessary, which of course, you do not want. Unless you want it to be that much worse, you follow the commands— pull your robes up, the waistband of any underwear down, bare your skin (always, no matter how mild the offense), lay down on your stomach, put your hands behind your back so he can grasp your wrists.

And even then, even then you have to be tormented further.

Now, what did you do to deserve this?

You recall to the best of your ability, hoping you didn't forget anything, lest you be accused of trying to be deceitful in hopes of escaping consequences, which will add another tally to the list.

It’s painful. It always is. You've reached a point where your resolve to not cry and squeal is defeated pretty early. You used to try your best not to for the sake of your pride, but you know by now that it will go on long enough that your tears and crying out are inevitable.

He manages to somehow be so stoic and calm and yet somehow so, so cruel about it.

Does it hurt?

Your shoulders quiver with little sobs, you go tense as he gropes and kneads at the raw flesh.

Y-yes, it hurts, it hurts so bad, please no more, please—

You cut off with a high-pitched cry as the stinging pain strikes again. And again. And again. It's always so much, so unfair compared to the weight of whatever you did. That slight pinkish undertone isn't quite satisfying enough either, he never stops until there's a deep, deep red tone to your flesh.

If you've been especially bad, you may have to count… but he actually tends to prefer not giving you a set number. You're more fearful that way, uncertain of how much more you have to endure.

You're certain he gets off on the pain for one thing, the sound of your cries and the way you jolt and squirm, but the humiliation is worse than the pain itself, for you. He knows that, revels in it. He's told you before—

You're such a prideful little thing… that will certainly need to be fixed.

Repetitive subjection to something so inherently humiliating and vulnerable, and being made to break down, any semblance of toughness and dignity being torn away at his hands, is a way of slowly breaking down your pride. You know that, it makes you so angry, but you can't help but let that vulnerability be exposed every time, to act in such a way that ensures he knows how badly it humiliates you.

Your go limp with exhaustion when it finally stops.

What have you learned?

You can barely speak, voice hoarse from the strain of your cries and speech muffled by sniffles and sobs.

I'm sorry… I won't do it again…

And then, he has the audacity to be so, so sweet to you. Looking down at your tear-streaked face, smiling— no, smirking, a belittling, amused expression— leaning down to kiss your forehead.

Poor thing.

Kneading at the sore flesh in spite of how the touch makes you wince. As if it isn't his fault, as if he had any mercy on you the whole time you were begging for it to stop.

It only makes you angrier. More than once now, you've earned a second round for how you reacted to his undeserved kindness. So ungrateful.

It's never a solitary punishment either, always coupled with something else, always something equally humiliating and discomforting, if not painful. You know he gets off to it, because the second punishment is almost always a direct sex act of some kind.

You'll take his cocks down your throat, grabbing your skull and fucking your face without any restraint, forcing you to swallow every last drop of seed, even forcing your head down to lick up whatever you spill off the floor. Your saliva just provides the lube to force you to bed and fuck you until you can't even stand, and all the while his hips bounce off your poor ass, each movement stinging against the sensitive flesh. He'll bite your flesh, unnaturally sharp teeth even piercing you skin, leaving you covered in marks. If he's feeling really, really mean, you don't even get the semblance of pleasure of it ramming into your poor sore, raw pussy— you'll take both cocks into your tight little ass instead, a stretch that makes you squeal and thrash and cry. Your legs kick and you lurch forward, desperate to pull yourself off, but you're jerked back with a growl as he slams into you, completely bottoming out. Eventually, you give in as the stretching pain ebbs away and trying to take whatever pleasure you can from the faint stimulation to spots of pleasure through the walls of flesh. But the act is utterly humiliating nonetheless, your hole left twitching and gaping for hours as cum leaks out and onto your skin. You can't even sit for days, both your poor asshole and backside sore and tender.

Your embarrassment and resentment builds. You loathe him for it, feel so humiliated and angry at yourself and how deeply you dread the punishments that it makes you nauseous.

And thus, in one particular incident, fed up and filled with spite, you made the greatest mistake of your entire time trapped with him— you decided to run, seeing that for once you had an opening to do so.

A stupid choice, really. You don't get far. Not even a full ten steps.

You know immediately that you have severely, sincerely fucked up. The sheer harshness with which you're grabbed, the back of your clothes grasped and twisted with unprecedented force, the draconic growl to his voice that makes your blood run cold.

Oh, dearest, you have no idea how badly you've just stepped out of line.

His other hand latches onto your throat.

You're going to be sleeping on your stomach for quite some time, won't you?

The statement alone makes tears well in your eyes, any bitter pride quickly crushed. You shake your head profusely, start begging for forgiveness, but you know in your heart that it's far too late for that… it still doesn't stop you from whimpering and apologizing as you're dragged back down the hall, no doubt to one of the worst punishments you've endured yet.

[lastoneout]

Okay, honest question, who is Yotsuba?

OH HO HO ANON I AM ALL TOO HAPPY TO EXPLAIN :3

Yotsuba is a character from the greatest manga ever made, Yotsuba&!(or Yotsuba to! it translates weird, most fans just call it Yotsuba) which is a comedy slice-of-life manga about Yotsuba Koiwai, a five year old girl, and her very strange yet wholesome family and friends!

It's from the same mangaka who gave us Azumanga Daioh, though while that manga is told in a four-panel comic style and doesn't really have much of an overarching plot, Youtsuba is done in a traditional manga style and despite also being very episodic there is a bit of a throughline surrounding Youtsuba getting settled into the neighborhood she just moved to, growing up, and eventually, in the later chapters, getting ready to go to school for the first time. Also, there are storylines that take place over multiple chapters as well! Despite the fact that the manga has been releasing since 2003, the chapters are pretty sporadic and the comic has only really covered about one year of the character's lives, but it never really feels slow or aimless. It feels almost...timeless? I guess. It's really nice.

Anyway, the manga is legit one of the most wholesome, funny, heartwarming things I have ever read. Kiyohiko Azuma is a fucking MASTER of comedy(you may have seen screencaps from a Sailor Moon fan comic he made going around on tumblr in which Jupiter accidentally sends Venus shooting across a pool that made me laugh so hard I cried) and he balances it well with lots of slow moments with GORGEOUS artwork where you can really take in the scenery and all of it is seeped in a wonderful nostalgia for childhood that legit makes me super emotional.

I don't think the manga has ever really taken off in terms of popularity, at least not to the degree that it deserves imo, which is likely in part due to the creator being firm about it never getting an anime adaptation and the sporadic release schedule, but it's far from unknown. There's been an official(I think??) score released and plenty of figurines and merch. It's also birthed a lot of memes, and it def has the same issue as One Piece where if you read it and love it you will turn into a walking billboard and try to drag your friends and family in with you. It's just THAT good!

You may have seen art of or people cosplaying Danbo, a "robot" made of old cardboard boxes that Yotsuba adores (Totally a real robot btw, def doesn't have a middle schooler shoved inside there, that would be silly wdym /s)

And this pose from the back of one of the manga volumes featuring Yotsuba, her father, and their extremely tall friend Jumbo has been redrawn with other characters like 500000 billion times

And you've also probably seen this going around tumblr before (that's Fūka she's my favorite cringe fail daughter I would literally die for her).

Also, I would be doing a disservice if I didn't mention Yanda, who is a friend of Yotsuba's dad and also Yotsuba's nemesis. He's a loser who constantly gets dunked on by a toddler it's fucking hilarious.

But yeah it really is just like, a manga that feels like a hug, or a warm blanket or something, it's so comforting and funny and fantastic, I find myself re-reading it any time life gets to be too hard just bcs it's that good at distracting me and reminding me that live is worth living.

And also given that it's literally my favorite manga, I saved up a bunch of screencaps to use as reaction images after a read one time, and thus now it's my own little joke that if you send me anon hate I'm just gonna send you back a picture of this cutie

Bcs come on how can you be angry when you're looking at this???

Anyway here's some screencaps of the main supporting cast bcs I love all of them so much <3

YOU WILL READ YOTSUBA I AM NO LONGER ASKING

[kuroowo]

Post break-up HCs

- Gojo x Reader x Geto

Genre - Angst, Hurt/No comfort, Exes, No-Curses AU

Masterlist

The relationship was hurting you more than you could bear. It reached one too many dead ends and faced with your final straw, you decided to let go of their hands and leave them watching your back.

At first, Geto & Gojo didn’t and couldn’t accept it & were trying to reason with you at every chance they could get. No matter the time or place or event, if you were there, you would spot them and their mile long reasons why. Over time though, Gojo was the first to accept the reality of your relationship whereas Geto was a bit more stubborn in believing that this was just a very rough patch the three of you were going through.

However, after awhile, Gojo and Geto seemed fine. Outwardly, that is. To the rest of the world, it’s as if they’ve moved on relatively easy (for such a sweet looking and long standing relationship) and it was like you never really made that much of an impact on them. But to the keen eyed, it was terribly obvious how in love they still are and how they can’t seem to let go no matter how much time passes.

Note - I personally think in a world without curses and it’s looming threats, Geto & Gojo would be more open (in many senses/aspects). I’d also like to think that you complete them. IMO they’re both individuals with a strong sense of independence and freedom, but their communication could be better and sometimes they need to be grounded. I think you bring that to the table and it makes everything work so smoothly that the three of you can’t be anything but soulmates. At least, that’s what STSG believed. It’s what they still believe, even after you left them.

Gojo, who can’t let go because he associates much too many things with you and the memories of you.

Every little thing, whether useless or useful or in passing or significant or eye catching, it doesn’t matter — every single thing reminds him of you. A little trinket he spots during his travels, a cute dessert spot he could’ve dragged you to, places you would’ve loved to visit, Megumi’s pets you loved to pet and spoil, kikufuku, little doodles, coffee shops, certain accessories, anime shows and merchandises, & etc. etc. (Gojo still accidentally buys a number of things meant for you, and he doesn’t ever bother to return them)

It physically pains him to a stop the first few weeks because when he turns to his side, it’s not you and Geto anymore. It’s just Geto and the sorrows you left behind. (He accidentally texts you the first few weeks because he was still in a little bit of denial. He blamed it on habits, but even that he knew was blatant denial)

It didn’t help either that during the first month, he wouldn’t stop talking about you. Nearly every conversation, nearly every passing comment, Gojo would not miss the opportunity to relate it to you somehow. Nanami tapped out at day 6, Shoko tapped out at week 2.5 (surprisingly long, he thinks), and Haibara, sweet Haibara, still listens to him to this day. It’s not very often anymore. He’s learned some semblance of self-control (he thinks you’d be proud and also because his pride wouldn’t let him do it much anymore), but on days where he can’t seem to shake your hold on his heart, he goes to Haibara. (He can’t go to Geto because the first and last time it happened, they got into a fight and then tried to call you after. He couldn’t tell if the constant ringing haunts him or elates him, since that means you didn’t block him)

Note - I would like to think that Gojo in a No-Curses AU would be more open to talking about his feelings/being vulnerable/being open to his close confidants to some degree because well, the weight of the literal world doesn’t rest on his shoulders. He doesn’t exactly cry to them, he more so just… talks about you. Nanami could be drinking an Americano and Gojo would tell him that you liked yours in a certain way, as if he was telling him about the weather outside. As time passes, he talks less about you, but on days he can’t seem to shake off the heavy feelings, he’d talk about his memories of you & what he knew about you.

Geto, who can’t let go because he’s still in the belief that you’d turn around and come back to them, to him.

Geto can’t fully accept the reality of you leaving them, so his fractured heart feeds him with grand ideas of you knocking on their door, with tears in your eyes and flowers in your hand, begging for them to take you back. That you had a lapse in judgement and went through a period of craziness that convinced you that you didn’t need them. You’d apologise, sincerely and earnestly, and with open arms he would snark at you, but kiss you almost urgently in the same desperate breath.

He longs for such, more than he would ever be willing to admit. So he puts on a brave, nonchalant face. Smiling and chuckling, touched with a twinge of tension, and goes about his days being branded as someone you left.

An ex who still yearns for you deep down, and it manifests terribly in his dreams. (Sometimes, Suguru would wake up with tears staining his cheeks, but he’d refuse to acknowledge it)

An ex who used to tease you about the silly Sanrio plasters you used to buy for yourself, but now has a drawer full of them. One by one, he’d pay for them whenever it catches his eyes. One by one, stored in a space you used to occupy. Untouched and waiting to be used.

An ex who still keeps the knickknacks you gifted him. Handmade and one of kind, “Like you.”, you used to tell him. His heart still flutters. He keeps them packed and hidden in a compact box, sealed with memories tainted in quiet regrets and dried out anguish. His favourite will always be the two little clay dolls you made. One’s a snow white dragon with ugly bulging blue eyes in the shade of Gojo’s and the other’s a black matching pair with tiny purple irises in the shade of his. You promised him you’d make a version of yourself so the three of you could match like those lovesick couples you always made fun of, but you never got around to it. 3 weeks later you were gone, and a year later he’s still waiting.

Note - I think Geto would take it really hard in the lonesome comfort of his own presence. Keeping every single thought, tear, and hopes locked in his big, brittle heart.

It doesn’t do well on them that you share mutual friends either. It makes them want to be petty and hurtful, make you see what else you could lose, but when they catch your smiles and laughter in their peripherals, it simmers their bastard urges and quiets them down into pitiful longing.

It’s even worse when the kids ask about you because they didn’t know how to tell them that it was a lot of their fault why you left them.

Megumi, who loved you most out of all of the children, took it the hardest and it made Gojo & Geto hurt in different ways. But surprisingly, Megumi was also the fastest to bounce back once he realised that you breaking up with them doesn’t mean you’ll stop interacting with him too. “Don’t be silly, Megumi. You have my number and new address, just call or text or visit whenever. Nothing much is changing between us, y’know? Unless you wanna get rid of me?”, you can’t help but tease him when he pouts at you. Gojo & Geto couldn’t have been more jealous (and maybe even a little resentful) of Megumi.

Mimiko & Nanako had a mix of emotions. They were anxious, thinking maybe it was their fault somehow. They were young, they were angry, and they were hurting on behalf of their beloved dad(s). They were in denial, you had made so many promises with each other already. They were tearful. They miss seeing you everyday. They miss your head pats. They miss your praises. They miss your comfort. They miss you. (They tag along with Megumi when he goes to visit you. The ache in Geto’s heart twofolds each time.)

Tsumiki was the oldest one out of the 4 and has divorced parents and separated co-parents. She knew the protocols and how to still maintain your relationship with each other, but it didn’t mean that she didn’t felt sadden by your departure and change in relationship dynamics.

(STSG tried using the kids as a reason to make you stay too. Nanami gave them the good ol’stink eye for this)

Gojo & Geto are still together, but they don’t entertain the idea of a third anymore. (They won’t admit it, but no one could ever take your place. And truth be told, they’re still holding out hopes for you to come back to them)

[dootznbootz]

I'm not very fond of Epic AUs where Odysseus adopts Astyanax.

It's fine for a one-off joke or comic and ofc this is just my opinion but... if Astyanax lives (like in Racine's play), he should always stay with Andromache. His actual mother, yk. Not with one of the men who sacked Troy. Zeus' prophecy is bound to happen and Odysseus knew keeping the infant around was a bad idea.

If Astyanax dies, I want to see him in Elysium with his father, finally in a peaceful place and having all of eternity to catch up. Then Andromache joins them (sending her to Asphodel would be too cruel) and they finally reunite.

Would anyone picture Neoptolemus adopting Astyanax ? The son of Achilles, who dragged Hector's body in a chariot. No ? So Achilles' associate doing the same would be weird.

And Odysseus ? I want him CRAVING for a son, waiting for so long until he can express his paternal affection (and always cursing Palamedes even after his revenge 😂).

Him meeting Telemachus all grown up should be his first real shot at fatherhood. It'd be underwhelming if he already had a little boy with him. If Telemachus has a little brother, Penelope should be the mother. Or they adopt another baby together afterwards. No Astyanax and ESPECIALLY NO TELEGONUS !

So yeah, imo Astyanax and Odysseus don't belong with each other. Any thought ?

Headsup: This is just an opinion. My opinion does not matter. If you like this AU, PLEASE don't let that stop you from creating! Just because it's not for me, doesn't mean it's not for you or for someone else :D

I absolutely agree and you absolutely put into words WHY.

There's the term "woobifying" and in some cases...I think that's what people just often do with Epic/The Odyssey. (especially from Epic) I'm saying as someone who is a very soft and fluffy person. I love soft and sweet fics and ideas. I love stuff that makes me smile. But I almost feel as though with certain soft things, you're taking away what makes characters who they are. which DOESN'T make me smile lol

like I think there's more fun in simply a "no-war AU" than the "Astyanax lives AU" xD like, that way, Odysseus is with his family, gets to be a dad, Astyanax gets to live (let's not think too hard about how "no war may have meant no Astayanax")

As that way, they still get to be in character as well.

Penelope and Odysseus for example, are scallywags lol. They scheme and swindle. They giggle and kick their feet when they get extra cattle. They hold grudges. They can be snooty and prideful. They're as full of love as they are full of hate. Odysseus, during the Sack of Troy, in both the Odyssey AND Epic, will do whatever it takes to get home. Like yes, in Epic, Jay has it where Odysseus has to "become ruthless" but I can understand what he's doing with the narrative. Odyssey Odysseus? Um...Iphigenia is proof that Odysseus is already ruthless.

Btw, why is Astyanax the only one Odysseus would want to save with these AUs? What about Iphigenia? Is it because of Epic?

Yes, I DO think Odysseus (and Penelope for that matter) have a lot of parental instinct. I plan to write Odysseus carving lil wooden toys for random kids just as something to do. He does tricks. (ngl, while it seems they weren't around in the Mycenaean era, Yo-yos were a thing in ancient Greece. I just KNOW Odysseus would be the type to do so many tricks. (also string and wood🥹)) He has a soft spot for Greater Ajax's boy. My goober was friends with Menelaus and Agamemnon even before he met Penelope (he saw two exiled guys take back their kingdom and thought "hm??? vulnerable state??? They're very rich?? hehe >:3" but then became fond of them. The reason why he went to Sparta was to help Menelaus with Helen but fell in love himself.) and he's carved lil toys for Agamemnon's kids

He's carved lil Iphigenia toys. She likes Dolphins. He still helps sabotage the letter in some myths and even hypes up the crowd.

Even if it IS just based on Epic, "The Horse and The Infant" and "Just a Man" are HUGE turning points for Odysseus. Or even just a show of character. Like yes, "Odysseus is learning ruthlessness" but he already is ruthless. He literally says "I would trade the world to see my son and wife". AND HE STILL DOES THE DEED! HE WAS RUTHLESS SINCE THE BEGINNING! The Second song in the Musical and it already tells you about Odysseus and what he is willing to do. Is he sad and haunted? Yeah. Still did it.

And I really love that as that's Odyssey Odysseus as well! Odysseus isn't an unfeeling violent villain. He's just a man.

Also...What happens in the Odyssey is no fucking place for a child. ;~; The cyclops, the Goddesses, the monsters? Why should a lil boy be anywhere near that? How did he survive while drifting to Ogygia? Does Poseidon try to keep them together? As no one would be in the state to take care of each other together for that many days.

And in general, in the Odyssey, to me, it's such a huge thing that he literally lost EVERYONE. THAT HE IS ALL ALONE. All of the people who were with him are now dead, and there was nothing he could do. It was already fated.

It's horrible but there's something so poetic in him being the "Sole Survivor", especially after all the hell he went through.

Also yeah, I DO really hate the thought of Telemachus knowing "You took care of this baby when I needed you?". Like my OdyPen have a daughter after he returns as the whole "only one son" and that's already really hard for Telemachus to watch Odysseus be a father for her, regardless of how often and how adamantly Odysseus reassures him that Odysseus desperately wished to do the same with him.

[medusas-graveyard]

Unhealthy Obsession.

Okay wait actually, remembering how it took a while for Pariah Dark to get sealed off just means that they were some bending in his sworn oath, right?

Okay another angst prompt, consider; softly insane! Danny.

(Tw: Dark!Danny, morally ambiguous? No one's having a great time tbh but like it's poetically soft imo. Also our boy's officially lost it :∆ his words are cryptic.)

Final warning: This is depressingly sad for Danny's part, sure. But he's also unjustified so I'll classify this as [Dead Dove: Do not eat]

Danny's adopted by the Waynes just like, a bit little short time before his coronation (also he's around 16-18 years old because I'm dragging the desperate for validation because he never felt seen unless someone praises him trope). At that time span he's this very rarely seen brother that's absolutely trying his best between juggling his very impromptu 'how to be a proper monarch' lessons (read: the ancients drilling manors, rules, oaths, etc to his poor head because they don't want a repeat Pariah Dark) and being a present family members because he genuinely loves them. (They know about the vigilante stuff and the Waynes understandably backed away from convincing him, seeing how Danny already has shit ton on his plate.)

Until one day something big happens that almost ended the world, and Bruce dies. It was just him and his dad there, with no other bird or bat in sight. No one knew yet— no one needs to know. Kronos' carefully crafted human, no— prince finally shatters after all the pressure, and all he thinks is how unfair the world has been to him.

It's a very, very slow descent to insanity, what he had been through.

He lost so much, he won't lose anything again. And amidst the eerie scenery of a prince cradling the body of his father, was the sight of himself stitching him back together— giving him a new life. He whispered apologies after apologies to the unconscious man; and for a second Kronos would've pitied him.

Except he didn't. He knew he can't.

After all the chaos they finally had each other again, and Danny stood contently as he watched Alfred personally tend to his family's wounds, big or small. He also watched as his family bicker with each other after all they've been through, and realized something; all of this will die.

Alfred, Bruce, his brothers, Cass and Steph— they're all painfully mortal. He'll outlive his family, and in the end he'll be alone. He doesn't want to be left alone.

And what is to do when you realize your family is painfully, awfully mortal?

...you either curse them with immortality, or place a generational curse on them so you'll all meet in every life, of course! (Oh, did I mention about cursing your family so they'll all get reincarnated everytime they die to make them find each other by everytime?)

... except these curses are incredibly forbidden, because they go against the nature of life and death.

Which leads to the sight of Danny being cuffed from his neck, his arms, his wrists, and his legs. His expression is deadly calm, he smiles softly contrast to the Waynes that are watching in horror. He watches as his family's face contorts to something unreadable when his captors reads over his charges, and he couldn't bring himself to feel remorse.

"By the name of the Infinite realms, Prince Phantom is sentence to imprisonment, for the charges of tempering with the cycle of life and breaking the Royal oath."

"He will be serving until the day of his coronation by the terms of the infinite realms, under the watchful gaze of the ghost of time. The guilty may be there farewells before they are sent to their sentence."

Danny smiles at them; soft but undeniably cruel. He bows at them, like how he would bow on days where his father would teach him how to ballroom dance.

"this is not a goodbye, it is merely a see you later." He starts, voice full of merit. "May we meet again, and may the circumstances of our next meeting a better one."

His smile turns sharper then, the contrast between it and his soft eyes sends an unpleasant shiver. "For our destiny are tied, and our Fates will overlap with each other."

"You cannot change our destiny. For the blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb, and our bond has tied us together."

"None of you will run from me— none of you can run from me."

"Because I will chase you down and hunt you until our family is complete."

[williamaltman]

Ok so, I've been wanting to talk about the whole episode 5 recollection thing ever since we saw it on the previous trailers, and since there were more shots of it in the new one too I'm gonna take the opportunity...

So, in all the little shots we've seen, we have Louis going at Lestat. So I'm guessing the idea is that they're gonna make the """fight""" actually more of a fight and not just Louis getting beaten.

Personally, I am pleased with this, because I think it's basically the best way to deal with this whole mess. I never had an issue with Lestat and Louis "fighting". What I have issue with is how extremely violent it was, how Lestat actually seriously hurt Louis. If it had been just a punch or two (though that would already be domestic abuse) I wouldn't have been fazed, but his whole body was bruised and bleeding. There was a trail of blood when he got dragged across the street. He took months to heal. In their little "fights" (actually not sure if it's more than one) in the book, Louis was completely fine. Lestat never truly hurt him physically.

So, to sort of get into a writers mindset I guess, how could you "fix it"? Well, I don't think they could say it's a fake memory. I'm sorry but the idea that it was implanted by Armand for example is just ridiculous to me. I don't think it even makes much sense in the first place, but besides that, I hate the idea of just blaming Armand to make Lestat seem better. This black and white idea of one of them being the "bad boyfriend" and the other the "good one" that comes from both sides is NOT true to the characters imo, and I also think it's a shitty narrative to go with, storytelling wise.

Besides that, I'm not sure how else you could fully retcon it and say it was fake. I saw people theorizing that only the drop was fake, but again that seems to rely on the Armand fake memory theory, and I honestly don't think they'll retcon it since it was kinda the whole point thematically from what the writers said (that it's a parallel to Paul and that they were "very pleased with themselves" for it). And clearly the initial "fight" is not fake from the new shots we got. Obviously "Louis made it up" is not an option. I remember people talking about how it was from Claudia's POV, which I honestly don't remember whether that part was supposed to be from her diary or not, but even if that's the case the most that could do is establish that the details of the fall are messy because she wasn't there to see it, and that maybe Lestat wasn't so "triumphant" after it.

Lestat attacked Louis, just because he THOUGHT Louis wanted to leave with Claudia. He started it, which does matter imo (I don't think they can change that to it being Louis) and it was completely unequal. I know this fandom is lowkey plagued with gender role discourse, but Lestat, as a stronger vampire, has a huge advantage against Louis, akin to a man hitting his wife, but probably even bigger due to supernatural strength.

And that is to say, technically the main problems will probably still be there. Which is how it should be imo, cause after doing that they have to commit to it, at least to some extent. The idea should not be to fully exonerate Lestat, but to basically soften the blow (literally and figuratively) by adding some more nuance to it. The writers said themselves that they want Louis to be belieavable as a victim.

So, I'm guessing that what we're gonna see is Louis defending himself, getting some hits against Lestat, and that Lestat was hurt too, and maybe something new about the fall. Which honestly is gonna give me some peace of mind. I get why people don't like the idea of discrediting Louis' account of the event, and of how the fandom can turn on him if he's not some perfect victim... But there was (is) just something in me that can't fully ship Loustat as much as I did before with that having happened.

Like, for a while I have basically just chosen to ignore it as much as possible. I don't rewatch the episode, I skip it during reactions, I skip the beginning of episode 6 where we see how Louis is after. I have acknowledged it many times but more as like a meta thing that happened. I probably wouldn't say it's triggering, but it just crossed a line to me and I'm gonna welcome (almost) anything they do to make it less bad than it seemed, not because I want for Louis to come off as a liar or anything but just like... For my own relief, to kinda have a bit of weight off my shoulders when watching the show and shipping them? Obviously I don't know anything for sure and I might be wrong about some things I'm guessing, but not having it be so one-sided at least already helps a bit. (Please don't come here to say I'm a weak bitch who can't handle dark gothic romance or some bullshit like that. I've already talked about that back when the scene aired and if you think it's a simple as that you're probably just dumb and insensitive)

[markantonys]

Show to book wot fan here! Currently reading Dragon Reborn and as far as I’ve heard Shadow Rising is well considered the best of the lot, so I’m excited to get to it. Still, feels a bit weird to know the series peaks so early? Just wondered how you felt the rest of the series holds up? (Spoiler free if you could 😅)

hello my friend! i will definitely keep spoiler free here (and if any fellow readers reblog or reply to this post, please keep it spoiler free as well so that anon can check out the notes safely if they wish to!)

so, i think a lot of the reason why shadow rising is considered the best is that it's the first book to really blow the story wide open. it's our first time exploring some new locations and cultures and meeting new characters that become integral to the series (and the big new culture is a fan-favorite, so people love the books where we spend tons of time immersed in that culture), and we get some new worldbuilding, new lore, and new threats. TSR is the first book where it feels like RJ has worked out the early-series wonkiness and fully knows who each of the characters is and where he wants the story to go. TSR represents an exciting turning point for the series as we transition from these lighter, more generic early books into Hardcore Wheel-Of-Time-y Territory, so that's a part of why it's considered the best by so many readers! not because everything that comes after it is terrible or a letdown, simply because it's so exciting compared to what came before. (although books 2&3 have a special place in my heart, so no hate to them! there's also the flipside where TSR is VERY dense and a much more difficult, though rewarding, read than the first 3 books. i believe it's the longest book in the whole series.)

but, IS everything that comes after it a letdown in comparison? now, i wouldn't go that far, but i do think the quality of the storytelling goes downhill in the second half of the series for reasons i will explain in a moment. for me, books 4-6 are my favorite chunk (i enjoyed 5&6 at least as much as 4, so imo you've got several great books to look forward to, not just TSR!), and my peak enjoyment of the series happened here. but there are still some excellent and iconic moments and storylines in the second half of the series, just fewer of them than in the first half imo.

i'd say it comes down to structure. the first half of the series is pretty focused and tightly paced with most of the screentime given to our core main characters and most storylines introduced & resolved within the same book (bar the overarching series storylines like preparing for the last battle, of course). in the second half, we get a lot more time with minor characters at the expense of our mains and storylines start dragging out to last several books (probably BECAUSE there are getting to be so many different storylines and not enough space to address all of them thoroughly in each book). it kinda feels to me like RJ got bored of some of the main characters and/or felt stuck on what to do with them, so kept wandering off into sideplots to show off all his cool worldbuilding and his massive cast of supporting characters. which might be fun for the readers who like that kind of thing, so it's subjective! for me personally, i came to the books because i loved the specific main characters i'd met in the show, so i didn't enjoy feeling that their stories were treading water or not getting enough screentime.

there are also some things with the specific groups of characters who get to spend time together or not in the second half, but that's extremely subjective so i won't get into that haha i'll just note that relationship dynamics i personally hated got a lot of screentime while ones i personally loved got very little, so that contributed significantly to my personal preference for the first half of the series and thus you may end up feeling very differently than i do! on the flipside, there's stuff like elayne's main storyline in the second half of the series which is one of my absolute favorite storylines in the entire series, but a lot of other readers always hate on it and say it was boring (while adoring storylines *i* hated and/or found boring), so it really is SO subjective.

so, bottom line: a lot of it will come down to personal taste, but i do think that objectively, the quality of the writing & storytelling is better in the first half of the series and does indeed peak in books 4-6. but whether you'll feel a sharp decline or one so small you barely notice it is different for every reader. for me at the end of the day, i didn't like books 7-14 nearly as much as books 2-6 and have no desire to ever reread them, but i'm glad i read them once and there are some gold nuggets within them that i adore (as well as some things that actively infuriate me lmao)

[astraxxei]

Hello! I'm here to provide a request for the drought of Lyney x male reader content.

I had an idea where the reader could be a Kelpie that serves as a guardian of a lake in Fontaine and was loyal to the old Hydro archon. Some Fatui were polluting or destroying his lake and he became angered and fought them. Lyney and Lynette would come in and help him repel the Fatui which is how they meet each other.

You could write more about how the two bond as friends, idk anything is fine.

Thanks!

Hello!!! This is a really interesting prompt imo, so I'll do my best! Feel free to point out any misunderstanding or mistake <3

Lyney x Kelpie!m!reader

Fluff/sfw - no warnings!

Reader uses he/him pronouns.

A/n: I feel like I kinda did Lynette dirty here, This escalates a little quickly help, I'm sorry if it's short I tried.

❝ I was bound to meet you...↝

Y/n was sleeping soundly in his lake. Trouble wasn't really common in this, almost abandoned, though elegant thanks to the wonders of nature, place.

Despite the peace and quiet in y/n's sleep, something was clearly off.

He heard sounds of laughter in his sleep. Y/n's eyes opened and he felt something land on his head. It was an empty can. He looked at the can, angered, determined that whoever had the audacity to throw trash into his lake would pay. He took on his human form, hair falling to his shoulders and a beautiful gown made of water. He rose up to the surface of the lake, an angry look on his face, his beautiful eyes shining. Y/n saw the four fatui members, who were throwing trash in the lake, engaging in a conversation and laughing to each other. Furious, y/n stomped his foot on the surface of the water, yelling at the fatui.

"You dare pollute my lake, ignorant mortals?!"

Y/n and the fatui soon got into a fight, the sounds of the battle echoing in the distance. Lyney and Lynette soon approach, startled by the sounds. Lynette turns to Lyney.

"Do you think the fatui are causing trouble again?"

"Let's find out." Lyney replies, as the two approach the location of the battle. They see y/n slightly injured, still trying to hold the fatui back. Lyney bursts into the battle, dragging his sister along with him.

"I'm not going to let this happen! Come on, Lynette!"

Y/n soon drives away the fatui with the help of Lyney and Lynette, the fatui running away defeated.

"Do not approach my lake again."

Y/n turns to the siblings.

"I am very thankful for your aid. Could I repay you in some way?"

Lyney shakes his head. "You must be a Kelpie. It's our pleasure and honor to help someone as powerful and graceful as yourself."

Y/n blushes lightly at Lyney's compliments.

"Very well. I can assure you I will return the favor." Y/n turns his head to Lyney, smiling. With a nod, he turns to Lynette. "Excuse me, miss. Could I ask you to leave me alone with the young sir for a moment?"

Lynette nods and steps aside, heading to a nearby log and sitting there. Y/n turns at Lyney, lifting his chin up with his fingers.

"I must admit you've caught my attention. Tell me your name."

Lyney smiles and introduces himself, a faint blush on his cheeks. Y/n smiles, looking down at him, speaking in a flirtatious tone.

"My, my. Lyney, huh? What a beautiful name. It certainly matches it's beholder's energy."

Lyney nods, trying to stay calm despite blushing a little brighter now.

"Thank you. What's yours?"

Y/n introduces himself, looking into Lyney's eyes.

"You know," Y/n coos, walking around Lyney slowly, smiling warmly. "I don't have a lot of friends despite the creatures of the lake. It would be relatively nice if you'd like to come here more often."

Lyney smiles and nods, giggling quietly. "Of course I will...after all..."

He looks into y/n's eyes.

"...You caught my interest as well. The first time I looked at you earlier, it felt like I was bound to meet you."

With a smile, leaving y/n slightly surprised, Lyney starts walking away, towards his sister.

"I'm looking forward to seeing you again very soon, y/n."

Y/n turns around to head into his lake again and chuckles.

"Very well. I promise you will not regret any of our future encounters, Lyney."

With that, the two part ways, smiling to themselves. Lynette gives Lyney a teasing push with her elbow.

"Don't you think he's very attractive for a Kelpie?"

Lyney blushes and giggles nervously.

"Oh, shut up Lynette~"

[magnaflourious-nerdity]

So the ask got deleted accidentally, but @autisticharrywells asked me about SANGYAO for toxic ship bingo, and now that I have forcibly dragged them through all 50 episodes, i can at last go off---- you FOOL! you have fallen directly into my trap!!! Muahahaha

I do not know how I ended up here. I don't know WHY I ended up here, except that I'm some kind of masochist.

Like I was all prepared to be 100% team wangxian otp and read all the fic and shit, and I started out so promising. (And I do love them...) But then. Then. That little demon brought a bird to class. And the other little demon protected him during the Wen thing. The stabbing ?? The warning as Meng Yao was leaving to huaisang DESPITE actively bleeding. The pleading to Mingjue to let Meng Yao stay despite no evidence of Huaisang ever really standing up to question NMJ decisions before like that (esp in front of other clan members) (other than with things like blowing off Sabre practice) THE FAN CLENCH. MY HEART. And THEN they committed their various atrocities during which the no turning back point was hit for them so many times and yet i do believe the remorse was there and so too was some affection still, twisted as it was by time and hatred and isolation and i... I just....I slipped?

There's so much there!!! (and please keep in mind I'm mostly talking from a cql/the untamed perspective, though I have seen the donghua and am aware of book cannon, I just kinda prefer the show as the version I take to heart (with some notable jgy or Huaisang based exceptions bc i'm nothing if not willing to excuse their pretty boy mid-divorce war crimes))

These two have such a deep shared history that spans the entirety of the cannon, and their relationship is extra fascinating on rewatch as you can more clearly track the downward spiral of events.

There's also the tragedy that it COULD have been avoided, was so close to being avoided several times bc JGY is not really EVIL, (any one who says this is being super reductive imo) but he does preserve himself above all other things and people through sheer learned necessity (with the exception of xichen and isn't that also a beautiful part of sangyao tragedy?? That so clearly xichen and JGY were destined to be the tragic counterparts to wwx and lwj's relationship not nhs and jgy? That xichen was the only thing JGY ever sacrificed true parts of himself for, that huaisang knows that he could have done the same for him, but didn't? Because there was too much history with Mingjue to let it go, and also bc the devotion or affection he held for huaisang when they were both on the mountain never surpassed that point. He had too much caution to truly be himself, and Huaisang, I don't think could ever truly see past JGYs status in the way that xichen was able to since he served as his big brother's vice general and also his appointed companion to a degree. ) And where does that leave huaisang? Where he always is. ALONE. On a mountain he never fit in on in the first place. Where does it leave JGY? Stuck in a permanant customer service role to his awful father and branded further untrustable as a spy. Humilated and broken down to the point of just. So much murder. (Some of which I still maintain tain as a public service coughcoughJinGuangShancoughcough)

They are so much alike and yet so different in such key aspects, that I also have to believe they were meant to act as parallels to one another, just like wwx and jgy, or xichen and wangji. The planning and manipulation they both do (in their own ways bc i am in the camp that while huaisang is smarter than the average bear, smarter than he ever wants to let on bc it makes his life easier, he isnt able to truly outpace JGY's ability to craft a situation. What he is good at is manipulating people and social situations, and adapting his outlined plan extremely well on the fly- with the exception of maybe xichen. I dont think he meant to truly hurt xichen like that. I think that was a natural panic that if JGY was allowed to live it would mean Huaisang actually had to die at some point instead, Though I do also think perhaps there is some lingering resentment there that leads to it to bc why is JGY worth pardoning after his crimes to xichen? Doesn't this mean he inherently valued JGY over Mingjue, over Huaisang’s own pain and anguish? (he did, but not maliciously, lans are love blind we know this))

The tragedies of nie huaisang are inextricably linked to the tragedies of jgy and vice versa! Technically, huaisang, as a bastard of the clan leader with one of his concubines, (I think that's right) should be discounted as a noble son, esp considering his weaker nature and lack of talents dictated to be valuable by the standards of the nie clan. He should have the same status really or at least a status more closely similar to jgy who is constatly looked down on because of his mother's position and bastard status, despite his constant hyper competency, as we see so vividly. And yet Huaisang is given title and rank and (some) respect where JGY gets trodden into the mud and shit of life, even as he succeeds in raising the jin clans success through his actions and talents. Meanwhile, huaisang is thought to be a useless leech by others, untalented in the ways of ruling or anything that's deemed an actually respectable skill by clan leader standards. A pathetic little dude who doesn't know how to do anything, and yes, he does get cast as a headshaker in the eyes of the people, but it's never his background thats brought into question as to why he might be failing. It's considered a result of his personality, not his upbringing. And even then he doesn't get shit talked as much as JGY does. Huaisang has all the privilege that JGY was never afforded, and does that color JGYs view a bit? Does it make him just bitter enough that, when combined with his father’s looming threats and taunts, and Mingjue’s inability to ever let anything JGY does go, that he's willing to hurt huaisang in such a way, even just as a byproduct of his mission?

Huaisang’s plan is successful, bc people discount him as incompetent, yes, but also bc they still see him as a noble, as someone of enough inherent value, diminished though it may be, that he weilds that influence even when playing the fool. JGY doesn't get that respect even at his height of his power and competency as a ruler.

They are, neither of them, strong cultivators. But that factor only really affects JGY bc it means he has to fight even harder for acceptance and validation. Huaisang also gets the luxury of CHOOSING not to be a strong cultivator. Because his position in life IS secure, he can slack off. He is allowed to try his hardest to avoid the fate of his family and do his utmost not to cultivate in that manner. Which I think, too, causes some of the resentment. On both sides. Huaisang never has to work a day in his life, has barely any expectations to live up to and still gets the respect Meng Yao is constantly robbed of. And for huaisang- On top of killing his brother via musically-induced, full-bodied rage embolism, JGY is now also the reason that huaisang is thrust into a position he was entirely unprepared for way before he was supposed to be.

And we know, we KNOW that JGY is responsible for so many of Huaisang’s pretty little things. His beloved indulgences granted not by his own brother, but by his doting san-ge. Things that got burned or destroyed by Mingjue simplu for the fact that a) they were from JGY and B) they are not the type of things NMJ cosidereds respectabke hobbies or skills. A large number of his fans and painting supplies are gifts from JGY, and he stood up for and encouraged those hobbies against the person he probably fears the most at that point, Mingjue (even if he's already actively trying to kill him by then). And huaisang seemed genuinely pleased that JGY had found acceptance and was getting what he (thought he) wanted. The friendship and affection was real, just not near strong enough to withstand the crimes of the other.

And oh boy that divorce was rough and bloody and beautiful and tragic and I just love the messy nature of the relationship, how deep and how twisted it went and became. And i think, right up until the very end, JGY didn't truly want to believe that Huaisang was capable of doing this to him, I don't think he ever wanted to hurt huaisang again the way he had to when he killed Mingjue. Use him? Maybe. But not in a malicious way, not by his standards.

I am happy to read any sangyao content I can get, however! I love reading about them as companions on the mountain, growing together, bonding. Maybe young and in love? I love reading the gradual drifting apart. The years they schemed and used each other. The final divorce. And what comes after. Or what could never be. Any content, I will take, and it depends on where in cannon we are that a particular square is filled in.

Jgy had to fight for both acceptance and sheer survival, and huaisang never really had to do either. Except maybe during the ~10 years of the gap when Huaisang had figured him out, but was pretending to be useless to achieve his ends. You could argue the mindset that aside from just avenging his DaGe, he was also concerned about his own survival bc what if he became an Inconvienience instead of just the annoyance he was playing up to be? If he actually stood in Guanyao's way? It would be much easier to take him out than Mingjue, realistically. But what would be that threshold to have JGY actually do anything? Are Huaisang’s histrionics and uselessness useful to him? Or a result of guilty indulgence? Or left over fondness from a ti.e they were so close? Some combo of all? Who can say and I fucking love that uncertainty about them

Saying all that, these two are the poster child for OTP I don't want to end up together in Canon, lol. Unless it's one of the many time travel fix it aus, they simply have too much history and shared issues and rage between them to ever make sense working out. But their stories are so incomplete without the other, they are inexorably linked, and I just think they're neat!

(Please don't come for me cql fans. im sure I've misunderstood or posted an opinion that's utterly debatable on here. But like, also. I'm tired and I love them and I don't care.)

I have more to say about them that you'll probably get to hear at some point when we talk, but for now, they have BROKEN MY BRAIN.

Also, to all my fellow sangyao peeps: please feel free to send fic recs if you want. I am so hungry for the content.

[doccywhomst]

BELTEMPEST REVIEW (EDA #17)

a pretty (bad) book. 1.5/10 for doing my boy dirty.

i don’t usually rate anything this low, but many confounding negative variables really fouled up the plot and characters for me. if you read more, beware: there will be excerpts and major spoilers.

here’s my general perspective: this is the dr who christian sonic the hedgehog fanfiction. it has so many buckwild scenes (like the doctor building a forcefield device that protects a spaceship that crashed on an island from a huge tsunami, and subsequently surfing the tsunami literally to the white house oval office window and having a conversation with the president), and the plot is one giant jesus metaphor that starts nowhere and goes nowhere! so if that’s your thing, you’ll love it.

however…. imo, the doctor is extremely obnoxious in this one. like in war of the daleks, he goes on long pretentious rants, talks in riddles, the quips are trash, and he occasionally feels more like seven (probably bc jim mortimore wrote 4 VNAs - it really surprised me how bad this book was, i’d never have guessed that jim also wrote “the natural history of fear” audio). here’s an example:

he’s like this from the very first scene (p.14):

i know the doctor is kind of a clown sometimes but this dude is a whole court jester, with bells on. it’s too much for me. he talks in amusing little circles, which might be interesting as a one-off in a much better novel, but becomes a dragging constant in this one. i also hate how he constantly talks down to people like a smartass caricature.

here’s some dialogue that i did enjoy, because it felt shockingly substantial (almost out of place), and expands on a scene from scarlet empress:

that was on page 93. the only part i really liked.

the plot orbits around the turbulent sun Bel as it begins to expand, scorching and destroying many of its 22 inhabited planets. ever since the peoples of Bellannia II, IV, XIII, etc. developed space travel, they’ve been dumping their radioactive and toxic waste onto a dead little world, which falls into the sun; little did the Bellannians know, a giant alien embryo was incubating in Bel’s warmth, and their pollution threatens to kill it. dun-dun-dun!

it’s kill the moon. it’s just 249-page kill the moon, but now with a melodramatic Rapture subplot.

right…. okay. just read this:

she ate 💅✨

anyway. millions if not billions of Bellannians are killed as the sun consumes or breaks apart their planets, and some of them turn to a traditional religion that encourages suicide (achieving an “Endless State” through eating poisoned wafers), but many of them are Actually Saved™️ by a little guy you might have heard of called…… Saketh.

the plot was kinda convoluted but essentially he was burned to death but came back, and now anyone who consumes his flesh will live forever (from what i gather, they die but they’re in suspended animation purgatorycore? and they’ll be brought back to life later? but the book ends abruptly and doesn’t explain much.)

i obviously hated it. i really wanted to try to like it, but i couldn’t take it seriously. jim mortimore’s style feels purpley and theatrical, but instead of erring on the side of camp, it feels like it’s meant to be genuine religious/political commentary. it’s serious like how christian sonic fanart is serious. maybe i’m just not the right audience.

the intro might be one of the most interesting sections, given how personal and anthropological it feels: it tells two versions of the deaths of two brothers, who are among the last of their people. it was pretty good, i liked it. but not really the rest.

so yeah. overall, 1.5/10. this is in my bottom three worst EDAs so far. it’s a pretty harsh rating but i’m generous when my appreciation is earned :/

[romanceddawn]

video editing

related to the ask i answered from @whats-amata-you about video editing, i'm going to go into a more in depth guide on editing with CapCut on desktop under the readmore ^-^ there are other editors out there obviously but this is the best free one i've worked with so far

this is very long and im sorry for that, i just have adhd and wanted to talk about everything, i hope its helpful and if theres anything thats confusing let me know!

basics:

before you start you wanna go into your settings and make sure Proxy is turned on, this will help with lag from any big file sizes

to give a rundown of what i know about the capcut menu so far (and whats the most useful for basics imo):

the tool bar section essentially, for splitting/cutting down whatever section you have selected, mirroring it, rotating it, etc

the main edit section- video, audio, and speed are the basics that you'll need but ill go into some of the other parts listed in a few

how to resize the output ratio, depending on the ratio of your clips/videos you may need to resize them to whatever you want the output to be. i use 4:3 most of the time and resize the videos to fill the space correctly (if you mass select the clips you can resize them all at once)

the zoom bar for the timeline so you can work more precisely or quickly with clips

once you've got your new project started and all your clips and audio imported, you wanna click and drag those files down to the timeline and itll put them in the middle 'cover' layer, HOWEVER, you wanna drag video clips ABOVE the cover layer after, and then 'hide' the cover layer. this is because the middle layer locks video clips in place and offers very little freedom to work, doing it on free layers is better (when you drag itll look like the first pic, with a line highlighting above the main layer. the eye symbol in the second pic is how to hide a layer)

you can also edit the ratio of the output and mass edit the videos to fill the video player while you've got your clips in one place

NOTE: i try to move all the videos so that there is a good bit of empty space in the beginning of the project, this is where your song and actual edit will be worked on, and you want some empty space between the song and the videos you're using so that you have space to move them around and cut them down later on

from here, you wanna cut down the song audio you want to use and put it at the very beginning of the timeline. you wanna pay attention a bit to the intro and outro so things dont sound disjointed or off beat or have too much dead silence, but for the most part it doesnt have to be perfect. you can also edit the volume of the song in the audio menu top right so its not blasting your ears out while editing

also, a tip for audio: if you need a section to be shorter or longer, you can sometimes splice the audio up and piece it back together. its easier to do this if you zoom in really far and pay attention to the beats and sounds, but with enough practice you make a song work better for the edit while still flowing smoothly!

you should also decide if you want any speaking parts for your edit or any neat sounds and set those clips aside, the clips that you dont want to have audio you can mass select and right click them, there'll be an option to extract audio which you can them mass select and delete (if you decide you want audio later you can right click and do recover audio on any clip that needs it) if you have a clip where you only want part of the sound, you can extract the audio and cut it down so only that section of audio remains, but make sure to keep it synced with the video!

the next step is just fitting your clips to the audio! it doesn't have to be 100% perfect, nor do you have to have a new clip on every single beat, but it is good to use the beats of the song or the words as a general idea of where you should cut the clip to so it looks smoother. if you zoom in far you can see on the audio tracks where the beats are along with listening and you can use a marker (highlight in yellow on the first pic) to tell you where it is later, this will also help the clip snap into place when resizing (second pic)

EDIT: there is also a button on the tool bar that will mark the beats for you if you dont want to do them yourself (no, this is not gen ai, its just a beat detection tool)

this is pretty much the last of the basic stuff, aside from whatever little edits you want to do to size, speed, audio, etc. when im fitting clips i always do it all over the place so just take your time and dont worry about making it like a puzzle, just fit clips to wherever you think they look and sound the best

for everything after this, its not a necessity or anything, if you just wanna slap your watermark on the video and export it you totally can i do that all the time when i dont wanna deal with other stuff, but ill give the rundown of extra stuff just in case you want it too-

colors, sharpening, filters

so, while you can adjust each video's colors individually, its a lot easier to nab an adjustment layer from the top and pull it down to the timeline, then resize it to your edit (first pic). you'll mostly want the basic section which will give you clarity, saturation, etc (second pic), and the curves section which can help you edit the colors of the video, either to an extreme or light amount (third pic) i havent played with hsl too much but you can mess with it to your liking too! (if you need a few clips adjusted a certain way you can also split the adjustment layer so you only edit the clips it's above as well)

you can also use the pre made filters for this, right next to adjustments, but not all of them work great with animation

animations/transitions, text, edits

so to make your clips move and look more lively, you have two options: animations or transitions (or both if you want)

for animations, you click on a video clip and go up to the animation section where you can choose a combination of in, out, or combo. theres a lot of really fun ones here and you can adjust the durations of them until they look how you want, you can also add in AND out animations together on one clip

for transitions, you go to the section up top, pull one of the transitions down between two clips, and then you can edit the size of it. you cant add two transitions at once but they can go along with clips that have animation added to them so you can layer the effects!

effects and stickers are in the same vein of just fun stuff you can add, i havent played around with stickers a huge amount but capcut has a pretty good amount of neat things for edits tbh, but also if you want to make your own 'stickers' you could probably just import a transparent png image and put it on a layer above your video

for text, i usually just do default text and edit it to my liking but i know they have some neat premade stuff too, either way you wanna put it as the very top layer so none of the adjustment or effects layers are doing anything to it

theres a few other things that capcut has to offer that i havent explored yet or thought they were a little more than basic, but once you have all this down then the editing program is your oyster to play around with as you please!

exporting

after everything's the way you like it, you wanna delete all the extra clips/audios you didnt use, that way the program will default to ending at the actual end of your edit, then you wanna go up to file and select "Export" and you'll see a menu pop up

now it defaults to saving in a hidden folder in your appdata which is the most annoying thing in the world so you wanna select the folder to export (highlighted), save whatever folder is best for you, and then click export! it chooses video automatically so you dont really need to do anything extra, you also dont have to choose a folder every time, it will save into whatever you first chose every time after this

afterwards, you simply upload to your social media of choice with whatever caption and tags you want!

i hope this covered everything, and you have a fun time editing! ^-^

[freakywizard]

hiii r&m anon here again!!! i noticed you mentioned liking season 7, so i was wondering if you had any favorite or least favourite episodes, plotlines, all that jazz. season 7 debrief, if you will. would love to hear your thoughts!

ram anon gracing my inbox once again (always a pleasure)

huge rant below the cut (talking about rick and morty triggers the longwinded newspaper art critic in me sorry)

s7e2 and e4 were the best episodes in my opinion. absurd, darkly funny, overall just so perfect. i was especially excited about s7e2 since the rick/jerry dynamic has intrigued me since episode s3e5. i love that that episode basically just confirmed Rick and Jerry may be foils but are also perfect complements? they can only understand / appreciate each other when they are literally existing in each other's flesh? i try not to wax poetic about ram but this episode was tempting meeeee

and re: e4, i think this show's writing is at its best when the writers come up with a stupid concept and treat it seriously. i love that this episode saw the concept of 'what if corpse spaghetti' through to the end. classic dark comedy, absurd, wacky goodness. lovee it

one thing i do hate about this season (as well as seasons 5 and 6) is the number of callbacks to 'old' rick and morty. s7e3 and s7e8 were some of the worst episodes this season, mostly because they just reused old plotlines and developed them in the least interesting ways possible, imo. did the mid gag from s3e5 really need its own episode? it really did not. i think that this is one of the worst consequences of the show becoming less episodic and more serialized - the writers just endlessly milk the early seasons to recycle into plotlines, one-off gags, whatever. the self-referentiality and meta humor of newer seasons will always, always grind my gears severely.

also, s7e7 was almost unwatchable. it reminded me of s6e2 in all the worst ways - just dedicating an entire episode to a SINGLE movie reference, doubling down on the singular reference as the episode drags on. god that episode sucked. so boring, annoying, unfunny.

i have extremely mixed feelings on s7e5. On the one hand, I'm still annoyed that the backstory from s3e1 is even canon, and Rick is yet another entry in the long tradition of flawed male protagonists turned into a nihilistic depressed shitshow by the death of a wife. it's such a pat trope, imo.

HOWEVER, i really like how this episode developed Rick. I'll always be a fan of ruthlessness and revenge plotlines, so im biased. but i've come to appreciate Rick Prime as a villain, as a testament to how much Rick hates himself -- there's a version of himself out there that would torture himself across the universe by killing off his own loved ones, just to try to prove his own superiority? it's all very mindfucky but im super into it. Rick C137 killing Prime with his fists, all while Prime goads him? it was such a cool scene. i love when the show does selfcest

i also still have mixed feelings on the evil morty and his growing prominence in the series. it was nice when he was just a little treat, but it became clear in s4 the writers were aware of fan expectations for the character. i can't help but wonder if that's shaped the way they're writing him, especially giving him the centralized role in the story of possible-future-final-antagonist? that being said i've always liked evil morty, he's a fun character to watch on screen. although i'm extremely cautious of my enjoyment. he's already starting to feel like a fanfic rip-off of himself a little bit (that one line where he said 'well, they don't call me good morty' was so bizarre. evil morty was the fandom name for him, and the writers adopted it and made it a diegetic epithet for the character???????)

s7e10 was refreshing after a long season of Morty getting sidelined. I love how this one starts with a classic rick and morty set-up (what if *weird thing* in *random place*) but turns it into existential horror? really cool. i don't think it was the most subtle way to do morty character development, but it was interesting enough that i was invested. also, rick pinning morty's picture to the pinboard. so good

overall my reaction to this season is 'we're so back.' it was LEAGUES better than s5-6, which i think are like the ram dark ages. i don't think s7 was the best season yet (as some are suggesting) but I think that this season marks a positive turn for the quality of writing in the show.!!

here's my episode ranking in ( i mostly did this for fun)

E2

E5

E4

E10

E6

E1

E3

E9

E7

E8

Basically, e7 and e8 were irredeemably terrible. e9, e3, and e1 were mid/fine. e6, e10, e4, e5, and e2 were all varying degrees of peak rick and morty.

other mics. thoughts:

i felt like there was a lot of long, no dialogue, sad music montages that felt like references to the famous scene from s4e8? the one from s7e4 comes to mind immediately. but there were another few sprinkled in

s7e3 rick telling a scientologist "worship how you want" ??? he would not say that. who let that slide in the writing room?

the fight scenes and gore were all really well animated!! since s3 the animation has only gotten better and i love the gore

i actually love the new VAs. they're different from roiland, obviously, but i honestly think they're both doing a better job. the performances are more naturalistic, and less grating? i thought the change would weird me out, but it's subtle, and i like it

Rick canonically bad at eating pussy in his youth

[smoothshine]

Tag game: eight shows to get to know me

I was tagged by @scienceoftheidiot and @goneadrift (thank you!! 🥺💕), and now the deal is that I get to rant about a couple of shows I like, so let's get straight to it!

1. House M.D.

- Knowing how many seasons are there in this show, I think it says something that I purposefully rewatched the full thing several times, and I probably will do it again at some point. Many characters from this series have a special place in my heart, and oh boy do I love myself a good medical drama sometimes. + the different medical cases are just very interesting for me to observe, even though I am by no means a medical specialist, let's say I know a thing or two from this field x)) (and some of you are probably aware of that, ahah)

2. Lethal Weapon

- This one is another one of these shows that I occasionally come back to for a rewatch, the chemistry between two main characters is amazing, and the main plotline is pretty good imo, + it's a classic detective-involving series, where, granted, not every case is super intriguing or complicated, but I think the characters and their development and relationships with each other - all this usually goes first when determining a series that I'll most probably like, and it delivers that part for sure! (Yes I used this specific gif because now I can't stop picturing this, but with Royais + Hughes, lolol, sorry I have a brainrot)

Also, look at this silly little totally not dysfunctional guy, come on, you can't help but love him:

3. Lucifer

- Ohohoho this one was one of the first quite long-term obsessions for me - I was watching it with my good friend as it was coming out (pretty sure starting from like, season 2 we began to watch it as it was airing, or at least I was and then I dragged this friend along for the ride, ahah), and I remember having so much fun with it - making theories, trying to predict the direction for the next season, simping over the main cast, being (more often unironically than not) frustrated with love triangles, all the good stuff. I also really like the soundtrack used in the series, and, of course, I have to mention the fact that its main leads are a blonde badass detective who is actually a sweetheart and her goofy dark-haired bastard-certified material partner who can actually be very scary and powerful to anyone but her :333

Go figure if I have a type or not, right (omg I just realized she also has a cute pet name and it's "detective")

4. Fleabag

- This one was such a pleasant surprise for me, the further I was watching the more invested into it I was getting, and in the end it turned out to be such an emotional rollercoaster, while also being able to handle a balance between more serious scenes and great humor really well. The romance plotline turned out to be very interesting too - overall, it's a great pretty short series that I can definitely recommend for people to check out at some point (I was indeed very happy when I found out @goneadrift was watching it too, hehe)

5. Sherlock (the BBC one)

- Honestly, this one is associated with many good memories for me - we used to watch it for a couple of years in a row with my parents during New Year, and it was like, one of the highlights of our celebration. Life just seemed so much easier these days, and I always remember them with warmth and joy. But! Apart from the sappy stuff - I genuinely think it's a nice modern AU Sherlock adaptation, hehe, as always, I pay a lot of attention to the chemistry between the characters, especially the main cast, and I think pretty much everyone nailed it - I find the characters from this series to be very enjoyable to watch. The other point that I want to mention here is the directing - I remember myself being very impressed by some of the shots and directing/editing choices they made there, and, of course, the main soundtrack is now pretty much engraved into my memory, hehe

(So yeah, aside from the last season, which I don't think is that bad, but definitely not as good as the earlier ones imo, it's a great show!)

6. Elementary

- Surprise surprise, another Sherlock adaptation involving detective storyline(s), who would've thought, right? Honestly, I don't remember a lot about it, since I haven't rewatched it in a looong time, ahah, but, believe it or not, I still love it and have a couple of good memories associated with it. Used to watch it during weekends back in the day when I still watched TV, lolol, but yeah, I think it's a pretty unique Sherlock adaptation, and you can definitely have fun watching it!

7. Forever

- That one is unexpected, definitely not my usual series of choice, but surprisingly I finished it pretty quickly and was glad I decided to give it a shot x)

(For the record - it's a series about a guy who works in the morgue while trying to find how to get rid of his immortality curse 👀👌).

8. Fullmetal Alchemist

- Gonna follow the lead of @scienceoftheidiot and add this one on the list too, because my god this series has me in a chokehold. Specifically Royai stuff of course, but I think in general this is the kind of anime (both FMA and FMAB btw) people who are generally not that much into anime can enjoy (I am saying as I am, apparently, one of these people, ahah). It's just a great story with a great cast and lovely imagery and soundtrack, I mean, what else can you possibly need? (Meanwhile here I am, going absolutely insane every time I think about my two beloved war criminals kissing)

O, here they are, by the way!

Aand that's all for today, no-pressure tags for @lassusog @chrysopoeias @nightofnyx8 @fullmetalscullyy @jedidragonwarriorqueen and anyone who wants to participate (also because it doesn't allow me to tag more people for some reason??), in case you feel like it! :3

[purplebass]

what do you think of the finale of daisy jones?

Hi anon! I've just finished watching and I have some thoughts... I really liked the first episodes but I thought that the last two were really slow and they changed things that imo worked fine the way they were in the book. The ending after we know what everyone did and we finally discover that the interviewer is Julia and she shows Daisy and Billy Camila's last message, made me cry. It was an emotional moment and that, at least, seemed very faithful to the book. And I liked that they showed us Daisy and Billy actually meeting because we're left to guess at the end of the book. This is an addition that I don't mind.

But, back to what I think didn't work out:

I think the moment where things started getting mmmh to me was post Daisy OD, which in the book I think happened in another place? And it's a wake-up call for Daisy. Don't get me wrong, I loved the moment on the show and how it was done.

Then the Chicago concert. I remember that in the book we see that after the concert it's Camila who takes care of Daisy and talks to her to make her understand that if she keeps sabotaging herself like this, she's not going to make it and moreover, she's going to take Billy down with her if she keeps this up and she then asks Daisy to leave. In spite of everything, Camila loved both Billy and Daisy and acknowledged their attraction but at the same time she was an eye-opener for both on why they couldn't be together. And it wasn't just because he was married to her. Billy and Daisy were toxic for each other and even if they clearly loved each other differently from how Camila&Billy loved each other, their story would end in tragedy and they realize it when they sing Honeycomb and cry (because that song is both about them and about C/B). They could "make a good thing bad". Because even Daisy and Billy are aware that if they give their relationship a chance, they're going to destroy each other. That's why them singing Honeycomb is even sadder but also beautifully poignant in that story. It's the moment where all the members of The Six hit rock bottom and face the truth and secrets come out and that's a life-changing moment for everyone.

And in the show they turned everything into a cliché! Damn. While I think they did Karen/Graham good and were faithful to the book, the whole triangle resolution was a mess. Camila confronted Billy and Daisy about the things she saw and heard, which is good because unlike most of the characters on the show, she's willing to communicate and talk about their issues. But that, added with the fact that they also implied several times that Camila herself betrayed Billy with Eddie (which doesn't happen in the books even though we know that Eddie likes Camila but she's never once unfaithful to Billy). And Billy even knows that and he's willing to forgive her, which is again, not something everyone would do, but only after Daisy rejects him and makes him understand that's the thing he has to do??? Like, come on. They turned the heartbreaking Honeycomb moment into a flat, seen-a-million times overused Hollywood flick movie moment with Billy running to stop Camila from leaving. When, like I said above, that moment was special and powerful because of something else. I know they wanted to make little changes so that it would work on screen, but it felt boring to me, plot-wise. They also added the moment with the fan offering Billy a drink and Billy relapsing later than it happened for emphasis.

Don't get me wrong, I'm still glad they made this show because it wasn't bad and I loved the chemistry between Riley and Sam. But if It were me, I would've stopped at 8 episodes and avoided most of the mess of filler moments that dragged the story and sitcom worthy writing they showed us in ep 9 and most of ep 10. But I really loved the last ten minutes of ep. 10, so there's that.