#interesting ideas and potential that were barely ever explored

[delkios]

Happy May the Fourth to everyone except for those that made decisions regarding Scorch.

[mari-lair]

I got some asks about aoinene before so i may as well get my view on them off my chest.

( warning: I have a negative bias toward this ship and despite trying to be brief and unbias, I very very likely failed.)

To me, Aoinene makes each other worse, not as people, but as characters.

It's the kind of ship that the more I look at it the more empty their friendship feels, and yes sure they have their problems, but I don't mind when a ship have issues (hakubo and sumire are such a cool dynamic, 10/10 for me and they are a million times more 'toxic' then aoinene will ever be), but the aoinene problem is that they feel like fanservice. There is no conflict. There is nothing. They become shadows of themselves.

Aoi isn't stuck in the "I am an exposition girl :D" role because she is oblivious to the bigger story, and all they need is communication, Nene put her there. Iis insane that they've known each other for 2 years but she don't know anything about Aoi. Every time we learn something interesting about Aoi, is when she is seen in other's people's pov, even characters that barely interact with her like Teru and Mei have a better understanding of Aoi than Nene.

To Nene, Aoi is the troupe of a perfect friend. Nene cannot process her flaws, she rejects the idea, and Aoi can't make Nene talk, face her own issues. So there is never conflict. Their friendship is a love that morphed into a horror situation. A staged friendship.

"Aoi is cute and nice and kind. I refuse to believe she wouldl ever be anything else, let's not think about how i was thrown in the trash by her, that aoi was mean, she was a fake. I will not accept her being the real aoi. I won't even think about it."

"I know Nene is going through a lot but I need to play the happy girl with no troubles role for her. I won't ask about her problems or even show hints that I know something is off after learning about supernaturals, and that her crush is dead, and human sacrifices are a thing that happen. That's not what she wants from miss popular me."

It reach the point where their fluffy arts feel like fanservice to me, more of a 'look! cute girls doing cute things!! Aren't they such good friends??' photoshoot magazine than a genuine bond.

Look at this beautiful and cute art for exemple.

You would imagine the chapter is about them, that they will have some form of talk about their feelings in it, so much happened since the last time they talked after all!

Maybe Aoi apologize for throwing Nene out while Nene apologize for planning to die without Aoi's consent, making the same selfish mistake Hanako had done to her when he sacrificed Aoi so Nene could live. Maybe is just a quiet talk about how much things changed? A lighthearted but warm chat of how disorienting seeing supernaturals are as former girls that never had to deal with it? Something, anything, to connect them. Maybe the oposite, a big conflict that gets ugly now that the masks are down...? We had a lot of those in this arc, like kou and teru in chap 87, aoi and akane in chap 69, nene and hanako inc hapter 91! But no.

There is nothing. Is always nothing when they talk.

This beautiful cover art is from the chapter where Aoi issues were immediately brushed aside when she tried to bring them up and the usual bubbly Aoi was forced to come back.

They are bafflingly shallow for how much time they spend together and how much potential is bubbling under their mask, keeping their basic dynamic from their introduction even when the characters are begging for something to change.

So that's why I dislike them, they don't make each other better, they don't even have the gall to make each other act worse, they just make each other boring. Aoi is only allowed to be a fleshed out character when we get away from Nene's pov.

Is only through her interactions with other characters that any hint of dept, or hell, even fun quirks and overall aspects of her personality that are hinted with her friendship with nene, are explored or allowed to shine.

There is potential though! And I could see myself enjoying writing a one-shot exploring how painful for both parties the shallowness of their relationship is in some alternative universe, but unfortunetely the fandom ruined it for me. Which is a shame, since Nene is aoi only other friend, and their charade friendship is genuinely valued/loved by the other.

I tried to read fics and analysis to see if I was missing something but the fandom have a 'omg they are so cute and can do nothing wrong! All their issues will disappear if they hold hands <3' take on them, with so much mischaracterization both girls become unrecognizable. There is also a lot of Akane and aoikane hate, even masked aoi hate, cause god forbid their dear girlboss angelic lesbian queen have any negative feelings towards her bestie or likes a boy whose main flaw used to be the same as Nene (idolizing her to the point of dehumanization), and while that is not the manga's fault, it does affect my negative bias for this ship, make it far stronger.

After 2 years in the fandom, I just don't have the patience for this ship anymore. I don't think people are secretly evil if they ship aoinene or project themselves onto the girls, but it just isn't my thing. I am not looking for a fight either Anon, I block people cause I want as much peace as i can, and if what they ship makes me uncomfortable, is not their problem, is mine. Let them have fun out of my sight so we both strive pls.

[astvrook]

洪水 | YANDERE THEMES | HEESEUNG.

much has been speculated about "sloman", whose uniqueness lies in his emergence from the sewers of south korea. known as lee heeseung, during his school years, he faced bullying because of his poor eyesight and dependence on glasses. his extreme shyness also made him the target of cruel teasing and aggression that often left him injured.

he possessed introspection and anxiety about his surroundings, revealing disturbing signs of violent instincts. yet, over time, the constant belittling undermined his self-esteem, despite his submissive nature.

once heeseung met you, his vibrant life became monotonous, losing interest in social activities and group events, along with the appearance of unfounded rumours of criminal behaviour swiftly circulating around campus. he was once arrested for assaulting a former classmate and in a cycle of obsession that drove him to extremes. through charitable acts and sexual encounters, however, he sought an escape from psychological overwhelm. because, although exhausted, heeseung gave himself body and soul, with his obsessive thoughts weaving a dangerous web, and the burning desire drove him to act violently.

when they began a relationship, heeseung always looked completely exhausted, with the scratches on his back telling the story of unbridled passion the night before, and "obsessed bitch! i'd attack anyone and gouge their eyes out for you." he told you, as desire enveloped him and he moved with fervour, exploring every corner of your body with deep movements.

his breathtaking, heart-stopping kisses remained etched in your memory with astonishing clarity. being honest with yourself, you never did not enjoy the exquisite sensation of his soft tongue delicately exploring your mouth, and heeseung, for his part, felt truly alive when you were near. your presence was vital in his life, as essential as the skin that covered him.

you personified, for him, the idea of an inner danger.

it was in late 2019 when officials discovered an alarming scene in his basement: nine bodies devoured by ravenous maggots. and ironically, each individual present had had some sort of interaction with you. for example, one of them was a young man who rudely interrupted heeseung once to ask for your phone number.

that's when you realised that lee heeseung saw each individual as a potential threat.

happily, through numerous investigations to unravel the motives behind sloman's crimes, none of them managed to effectively delve into the killer's malevolent inclinations. you alone knew that you were his source of inspiration, his muse, and never mentioned it.

(…)

and now, years have passed since what happened, and as you slowly regain consciousness, you become aware of the cruel grip of the chair beneath you. while your eyes grow accustomed to the darkness, a grisly scene reveals itself to you: a once pristine wall was now stained by a dense, clotted mass of blood, surely witness to a heinous crime from the distant past.

you attempt to inspect the abandoned chamber and spot some barely visible traces of blood, which makes your skin crawl. even the sound of laughter in the gloomy atmosphere was a clear sign of trouble, because you recognised it.

it's lee heeseung's distinctive laugh.

your pulse quickens and a wave of panic sweeps over you with unfathomable intensity.

"all individuals, no matter how repulsive, deserve a dignified representation and a final feast to bring solace. my choice would be an exquisite feast, to be shared with you… my loved one (y/n)".

our eyes fall on heeseung, and though you don't initially recognise him, a flood of memories sweeps over you with force. his appearance remains as striking as ever, but since you last saw him, he has undergone a remarkable physical transformation. he's grown in stature and gained muscle mass, which is reflected in the greater definition and prominence of his muscles, and you also sense an additional level of maturity in his appearance, now with a seriousness he didn't show before. moreover, he demonstrates a new talent: his remarkable artistic skills in using unconventional materials, such as paraffin wax, to recreate his famous clown make-up.

being near him, a wave of negative emotions sweeps over you, sending shivers down your spine at the mere sight of his presence. meanwhile, heeseung's words echo in your mind. he leans in for a kiss and the simulated blood that gushes from the wounds near his eyes stains your face. as a result, bit by bit, your thoughts become confused.

his relentless, passionate kisses saturate your mind, leaving little room for anything else, and the touch of his hand on the inside of your thigh sends an electric shock through your entire being, confronting you with a harsh reality.

"your striking beauty and the fear you provoke within me lead me to act undesirably, (y/n)".

just then, an intense anxiety causes a piercing tingling and pain throughout your body, bringing you to the brink of a fiery explosión. and heeseung feels an intense fury bubbling up inside him, making his hands throb, just as the burning desire to wield his knife and pierce hearts burns in him, as powerful as the instinct to breathe.

at the same time, a burning anger buzzes in his ears, burning his chest and clouding his vision with a red haze. "absence plunged me into madness, but now that you're back and I feel whole again, (y/n)." knees bent, heeseung's soft kisses dance over the contours of your legs.

feeling his thumb brush against your pelvis, an instant tightness in your stomach overwhelms you. scorching heat spreads through your being and descends in a wave that tightens your muscles, as the pounding of your heart and the trembling of your legs intensify as you watch his lips roam over your body. in seconds, you gasp as you feel the touch of his tongue on your exposed skin, unleashing a roar in your throat and awakening an unbridled passion in heeseung that spreads.

with passion, heeseung caresses your silky legs with his hands and lifts them to rest on his strong shoulders. In spite of the immense pleasure that almost consumes you, find the strength to resist and not succumb completely as suddenly you begin to feel self-conscious with two men standing out behind you, unable to ignore when open your eyes.

looking recognisable, you find it curious how the simple use of similar cosmetics can make people appear more attractive. then, in a moment, you can clearly distinguish them.

both jay and jake are watching you calmly and attentively. and you realise that all three of them were present in this specific place: the triad of failures.

"honey, see… this tradition of having dinner together as a family of three is something so… special." heeseung elaborates as he feels the tension, and you inwardly curse.

because there was no place safe enough to hide from heeseung indefinitely.

ENHYPEN MASTERLIST.

[godlygivenanxiety]

you’re so real for that peacetime au jilco post,, i will admit i think the fact they added that half baked au to canon in the first place is bullshit. but setting the annoyance aside, there’s potential there for some really interesting jilco

one thing that could be fun is seeing what their dynamic is like when they have external limits: canon jinx&silco exist in their own little bubble with nobody who gives a fuck what they are and what they do with each other, and they have no external reasons to take a step back besides the fear of abandonment/ruining what they have and silco’s inevitable self vitriolic guilt spiral.

but in the everyone’s-happy-au they’re a. less deranged, and b. surrounded by actual reference points for what healthy relationships should be, which would up the taboo factor. and there would be consequences if anyone caught on that they were fucking. both of them (but mainly silco because he would be perceived as predatory) would risk losing their carefully crafted little life and family and the things that let them be so content.

but with it being riskier and them having to fight harder to actually have each other, i also think things could be softer between them? one of the fun and less healthy bits about canon!jilco is the way he encourages her to be crueler and sharper. but underlying the way he shapes her into a monster like him and urges her to lean into that vicious anger, the primary goal behind it is he wants her to be the best she can be. canon!silco sees an unchained and focused monster as the ideal. it’s what he wishes he still was. and he sees all of jinx’s potential to be better than him and to be everything he couldn’t. she is literally synonymous with zaun to him until he finally learns that she is the priority over zaun. she’s the embodiment of his dreams.

and in the au, powder still has all that potential and the spark burning in her. she’s stifled by the same fear she has in canon, but without silco pushing her to lean into and weaponize being a jinx, the fear manifested differently. it inverted and now she doesn’t try anything or explore her ideas for fear of jinxing it. multiversal ekko didn’t have time to convince her of her full potential beyond a few cryptic sentences, but i think the softer and less sharp-edged silco would be able to. he could be able to help her overcome the fear in a different, less destructive way, that would probably leave both of them happier than they ever got the chance to be in canon.

i would love to hear your opinions on them or any thoughts you have on how au jilco could go, there’s so many possibilities there

YOU GET IT YOU GET IT DING DING DING

something i love about Silco with Jinx is that he BELIEVES in her so so soooo much, and i feel robbed of it with the Good Timeline because we barely see him, but i just know that even if he IS a man without a grudge, he's still much more similar to jinx than Vander will ever be- and i have my... theories, about when Vander and Silco made peace (after Vi died and Vander's family was in a more fragile state, i assume? and i do think it was Vander's initiative to forgive and forget), well how could Silco even begin to help the family heal? perhaaaaaaaps giving more attention to the little girl that just missed her big sister? perhaps because when the girl's parents died, he also lost friends? perhaps because he wasn't a father to them, but he empathized with the loss of a loved one regardless of circumstance?

perhaps Vander even failed to look Powder in the eye at first, and Silco helped, in his own way. therefore, he's not Anybody in Powder's mind but a kind older man that helped her through the toughest time, even if he had no obligation to. who cares what he had been doing before becoming part of their family? Powder never cared much for rights and wrongs as strongly as her sister, and well... we count our blessings, don't we?

THERE'S SO MUCH THAT COULD HAPPEN!!!! especially when talking about Powder's potential as an inventor, i just KNOW that Silco would encourage it, and oh, imagine her not only afraid of exploding something but of hurting Silco... god, what if she makes her own version of HexTech to help her people, what if Silco himself sponsors it, what if they meet at her lab and have their first kiss while he's praising her blueprints and she asks to the sanctuary of her big sister if she's going insane for how she feels and cringes at her sister 'seeing' them kiss- what if she feels the same rush of making something work when she's around Silco, who doesn't just tell her to think of herself but shows her how, that tells her she's as charming and efficient as a leader should be (and she never thought herself a leader, no, but it does make her heart beat faster, nobody ever told her to lead anything)...

AAAAAAAAA I JUST WANT IT SO BAD

[wawamouse]

so you write Oz like it’s high concept novel quality I just wanted to say that first off. Fontana should give you the rights tbh

curious as to if you see the potential to ever write Miguel/Alonzo as romantic or mutual? the way you write them is so rawly intriguing and ambiguous the way it is dgmw! just that I find it interesting to consider them in all different configurations w romance+the Consequences thereof as one of many options

Hahah thank you <3

Idk, tbh I’ve never thought of writing Miguel/Alonzo straight up… I know I have like 1 fic tagged as them but I should probably take that tag off the fic bc it’s not really there like that/I scaled back on some of stuff I had planned anyway :S… It’s kinda funny because I remember watching Oz Youtube clips before I’d watched the show (like, back in middle school maybe, when I was a dumb little homo desperate to find queer rep in media blah blah blah). Back then lowkey highkey being very intrigued by Torquemada, but then I watched the actual show and I was like oh boo… He’s barely in it.

That’s all to say, I find him entertaining as a character and I think it’d be interesting to try and tackle a character study of him (of course, I’d be making up a lot 🥴) but I don’t think my default interpretation of his character is really a thing that makes it possible to write him in any kind of romantic relationship, you know? Based on what little we learn of him from the show, I feel like his main thing is like getting off on power imbalances, voyeurism, enmeshment—that kind of thing. Which is interesting! But yeah, no, I don’t really see romance for him. Without getting too into it, he seems more… business minded, to me? I feel like he just wants to scare the hoes and get rich, which is pretty funny of him. I think exploring some kind of dynamic between Miguel and Alonzo that I haven’t already done yet would be fun bc I tend to write Alonzo as just a creep near Miguel, unless he’s an AU version of himself… and honestly, I prefer the idea of a fun, chaotic Torquemada to the creep but it's so clear that Miguel thinks Alonzo's a creep that I guess I end up writing him that way too 🤷🏻‍♂️

Writing a fic where Alonzo turns out to be actually helpful/a tentative ally once/if Miguel is able to set boundaries/get his head on right, etc, would be interesting 🤔, but yeah, that’s about the extent of where my head’s at with them. Plot Plot, not ship stuff LOL.

(Rambled, sorry + this is probably not the answer you were looking for so sorry x2)

Tldr: I don’t think writing Miguel/Alonzo as mutual or romantic is really in the cards for me atm

[mister-eames]

Hello Ash! So, we know that Dom got into dreamsharing because of professor Miles, but how do you think Arthur and Eames got into the industry? And why did they stay, what attracted them to it?

(this is especially true for Arthur, who seems to not have side gigs apart from it, from what we know at least)

And do you think they'll stay after inception?

Hello lovely!!! Oh I love this question and I'd love to know your thoughts/theories as well!!

For Arthur, I love the fandom fave military backstory, and having been a part of the original project. Or maybe Miles used to work in the US and it was Arthur that was one of his 'best and brightest' that Cobb corrupted. Mostly, I gravitate towards the idea that Arthur was never a student or in the military - that he worked himself up into a position as a research assistant through sheer hard work and happenstance, met Cobb through this position and got roped into dreamshare when Cobb went off the rails.

Arthur, to me, seems to be one of the most grounded in having a life outside of dreamshare/criminal activity. I think he was deeply attracted to the exploration of it - to the knowledge, the learning. A whole new world of ideas, notions and theory that he couldn't extract from any book. His thrill was the unspooling of it all. If Arthur wanted to know about dreamshare, its mechanics, its history, then he had to work for it, experience it. Dreamshare, to Arthur, was a challenge, it was the chance to dream up the life for himself that he always wanted - to make the money everyone said he never would.

But then, I think, once Arthur had learned and experienced as much as he could... it stopped being a challenge. It stopped being fun, something he enjoyed. It stopped being the thing that lit the fire under him. That, and what happened to Mal. Maybe he just wants to do something else, go back to a semblance of normality. I truly think he got a big dose of 'play stupid games, win stupid prizes' with Mals death, amongst other things to where it just wasn't worth it anymore. He stayed to get Cobb out of his mess, and didn't return to it, after Inception, except potentially for a handful of times when someone really needed him.

For Eames.... also love the military backstory. Solid. Works for me, love it. I'm also fond of the idea that he was just a young man down on his luck at one point, got into stealing, forging, cat burglary, whatever, and was tasked - either by fee or by blackmail - to steal a PASIV. Of course, seeing what a high price it fetched for, he kept it for himself. The rest is history.

I have a headcanon that Eames was actually retired from dreamshare at the time of Inception, and that he couldn't help but have one last chance at succeeding where he had failed before (and one last chance to dream with Arthur again). I don't know if he ever goes back after. Maybe on very rare occasions, to see if he's 'still got it'. My feeling is that his heart hasn't been in it for a long time, and that the detriments truly outweighed the benefits for him.

I like to think they were both on the path of different things in life besides dreamshare at the time of the movie. Neither of them seem particularly invested in the work itself for the reasons I mention before - especially Arthur, he didn't even want to take on the job, had no professional interest whatsoever. Eames barely kept a toe in the door prior to his recruiting. That, and I think they're at a transitional point in life - thirty-ish/thirty-something - where your priorities are just...changing. Your drives are different, your goals. You look back at your twenty-something version of yourself and say see, you survived, it's time to take a deep breath now. With all of the imagination, influence and investments they must have, I don't know if they would want to spend their time moving forward the same way they did the decade before when they were young and careless, after all they've been through.

[eneiryu]

I re-read caught the stitch come loose but lost the needle instead and I was wondering what you're thoughts were of Theo's lack of sleep and nightmares from the perspective of Liam, Malia, Scott and Shohreh? Those are the four that you explicitly mentioned noticed "Theo pretending to sleep" (Shohreh), "the dark circles under his eyes" and the phone call from Malia where she says "I don’t know, maybe two hours, the last few nights," (Scott), the whole scene where Malia turns into a coyote to stay with him as he throws up and shakes and Shohreh tries to break the door down, and then in the prequal when Liam takes his nausea in the motel bathroom, when he talks him to sleep and later when he says something like "sleeping through the night means you're happy" or something. I'm just fascinated by the thought of these people seeing the impact that staying in the operating theatre, having his memories probed, using their equipment and techniques and them noticing that something was causing him to loose sleep. I know that he sleeps better with Liam there but 'two hours in a few nights' would be obviously bad for anyone, Theo included, and I was just wondering what you thought they felt/thought about that? Sorry for the weird ask, I'm just so curious, I love fics where the outside perspective on someone who is struggling is depicted

Agreed outsider perspective fics are always fascinating. No one ever “sees” themselves without unconscious biases and such, so it’s interesting to get the more objective view.

For Shohreh I think it’s probably different than the pack, because she had only known Theo by reputation, previously: she didn’t experience what the pack did with the Dread Doctors, or the Beast, or directly at Theo’s hands. So she’d know that he had a dark past, but it wouldn’t be personal. But she’s also an alpha and extremely aware of the swath of damage the Doctors had left behind (at least the way I’ve written her), and so I think she’d have that element of, is this karmic? Is this redemption, Theo trying to make up for what he’d done, but still tinged with that sense of distance. And more immediately: he’d be a person, and a young person at that, suffering right in front of her face, and not letting anyone help him through it. So I think that was really hard for her (hence her trying to break the door down), and trying to get Theo to be more reasonable, or more measured, in what or how quickly they were trying things. But at the same time: I write Shohreh as a leader among werewolf society, not just her pack, and Monroe posed a significant danger, and Theo potentially had the key to protecting them all from it. So I think it was this constant struggle for her between the practicality of needing Theo to go through what he did in order to stop Monroe, while knowing, eyes open, that as a result, a just-barely-adult was suffering extremely for it.

I think the only reason Scott didn’t step in and put a stop to it was that he wasn’t there, most of the time. He was getting it all secondhand, and when he was there, that’s usually when Liam was around, so Theo would be doing better. Because unlike Shohreh, I don’t know that Scott would have been able to sacrifice Theo’s wellbeing for the good of werewolf society as a whole. I think he would have demanded they find another way, not matter Theo’s or anyone else’s protests. But I also think Scott would realize that Theo inflicting all this on himself was something that Theo needed, which is an idea I’ve explored before in some of my stories: that Scott sees that Theo’s at times reckless attempts to help the pack are also him desperately trying to redeem himself, both to the pack and to himself, with the latter being more important. And I’m not sure that Scott would have been able to let himself get in the way of that—I think he would have worried that he’d be doing Theo more damage, and worse, if he did.

Malia it’s harder to say. She’s such a delightful mix of practical and just uninterested in and unaware of societal norms, so on the one hand I think she’d be thinking, well we need this information and this is the only way to get it, so of course Theo has to go through all this, while at the same time being like, well this is dumb and he’s hurting himself. But at the same time, I think Malia gets more than most that people need to be able to make their own choices, and their own mistakes, even if they’re self-destructive. That trying to take someone’s choices away and then call that care is honestly worse than almost anything. So I think she’d respect Theo’s choice, and she’d fight to make sure others respected it too, while at the same time being unhappy about what it was doing to him. Because against all odds, they had become friends, they had become pack, and it’d hurt her to see him struggling.

And Liam. Ah, Liam. Again I think part of the reason Liam didn’t lose it and demand that Theo stop, and everyone stop letting Theo do what he was doing, is that he wasn’t seeing it. Whenever he was around, Theo would be happier, calmer. He’d sleep. Liam was the immediate balm for him, so Liam wasn’t seeing the direct evidence of what was happening. And that might even make it harder for him to believe what he was being told about Theo the rest of the time, because it’d be such a stark change. So Liam might subconsciously dismiss it as exaggerated, or whatever—who could really go several nights in a row only sleeping two hours? They must have meant like, five, or two each night, or whatever. But if he had found out? If he had been confronted with it in a way he couldn’t ignore? I think he would have been so righteously furious, and he never would have let it continue, and he would have raged at everyone who did, no matter the fact that it may have denied them the ability to help stop Monroe, and led to more people getting hurt. I don’t think he ever would have been willing to sacrifice Theo for hypothetical “others.” The only reason he did it at the end of the story is because Theo literally begged him to, and Theo was right in front of him when he did.

Anyway, I’m not actually sure I answered your question(s), but I hope it was interesting anyway? Thanks for the ask!

[shrinkthisviolet]

So I noticed your tags on a reblog a while ago about how you had a problem with The Flash - and I'd love to know more about what you thought of it overall (as I understand that the later seasons took something of a nosedive in quality.)

Oh boy 😅 I could go into depth about my problems with each of the seasons, but honestly, for the sake of brevity, I’m just gonna abbreviate the major problems I have for each season:

Season 1

—Iris should’ve been looped in sooner, especially given how many times she was put in danger by not knowing

—The waterfront kiss and the lightning psychosis bs is stupid—I’m glad the first thing was erased, and I try to ignore the second thing. There’s nothing romantic/funny about cheating or justifying it

—Eowells should’ve been killed off normally, not by being erased from existence (because?? How does the timeline still exist??)

Season 2

—Zoom’s motives were incoherent, and he’s only a good villain because of his menace factor

—Wally and Jesse should’ve both gotten powers from the accelerator, not just Jesse

—Jesse should’ve had Zoom-related trauma that impacted her ability (and desire) to be a speedster in s3

—Eliza Harmon should’ve been a WOC like in the comics, and she deserved a better storyline and she deserved to live, yes I’m still mad about this.

Season 3

—Savitar. In general. Wtf (existence makes no sense, him being a wannabe god instead of just Future Barry is boring, and also he was only interesting in the finale. By which point he should’ve been dead anyway. Also there’s no mf way he could’ve actually killed Iris bffr)

—Killer Frost. Incoherent—her siding with Savitar makes sense with the s4/s5 retcons, but those are from seasons when she regressed as a character imo. Also I never liked the split personality idea

—Iris being the only one at risk means there are no stakes because she’s the main female lead and would never really be killed off. All of Team Flash should’ve been at stake, with the possibility teased that they might disband permanently.

—Flashpoint was wasted potential and tbh should’ve happened after s1. Or at least it should’ve been more deeply explored here. But in any case, it feels cheap to have this after Barry already fully came to terms with his mom’s death in s2 (I know, it was grief over his dad, but still. It undercuts a fantastic episode)

—The time loop setup is nonsensical and impossible. Breaking it means that s3 never happened. No one should remember anything that happened this season.

—Caitlin and/or Frost never apologized to Iris for being an accessory in her attempted murder (and in s4, Frost threatens her life again!! Yay!! Friendly bonding!!)

Season 4

—Can someone tell me why tf Team Leader suddenly became a thing? I swear the closest the Team ever had to a Team Leader was Eowells, way back in s1. The idea of a Team Leader after that feels too hierarchal for them, idk why that was introduced

—Caitlin worked with a human trafficker of her own volition (and Frost too, this was presumably a decision made by both of them) and yet she is only held accountable in one line (“Where have you been the last 6 months again?”) and it’s quickly swept over by making Amunet into a ditz and ignoring the fact that she is a human trafficker

—Bodyswap plot was weird, DeVoe should’ve just taken their powers

—Marlize never had any clear motives after she gave up her ideals to side with her husband.

—The Thinker in general is just stupid tbh

—Caitlin and Iris barely got to be friends, and after this season, they may as well not have been. Caitlin was also unnecessarily snippy to Iris this season too (“we will, Caitlin” “no. I will” + “I’m your friend, Caitlin” “work friend”). This is a general problem with this show—female friendships are given lip service at best and no room to grow

—Barry and Iris deserved a proper wedding that wasn't interrupted

—Thawne did not hate every minute of pretending to be Harrison Wells, that is garbage writing and fundamentally misunderstands his character

—Barry should've killed Thawne in this crossover. He was so close!! WHY (and they still could've brought him back later if they really needed to)

Season 5

—Both Cicadas sucked, and the father-daughter Orlin-Grace/Barry-Nora parallels fall flat when you remember a) Dwyer literally hates Grace until she’s comatose and b) those parallels only get mentioned in one conversation

—I wasn't too fond of Cisco giving up his powers, it felt like a strange decision, especially since he gets them back briefly in Crisis and somewhat permanently in s7. I've talked about that more here (definitely read all the additions too!)

—Iris’s angle in the argument with Barry should’ve been “no one works with Thawne, they’re manipulated by him” not “it doesn’t bother me that our daughter worked with the man who half-orphaned you, threatened my life, hurt everyone on this Team, and killed my fiancé”

—Nora acts wayyy too young for being 25-28. She should’ve been 18-20. She very much gives off the vibes of a young adults who’s newly independent (and this further ties into the themes of legacy, which is a theme usually present in YA stories, with teenage/young-adult protagonists. Obviously the theme of legacy can be present in any story, but this presentation of it is usually prominent in YA stories)

—Nora having the NSF should’ve occurred at the end of s5, not during 5x20. Would’ve been more poignant if she had to choose between keeping it and becoming Thawne, or giving it up and dying a hero 😭 and her having the NSF in canon came across more as a temper tantrum than her being corrupted by a destructive force.

(Hey also why tf do people remember Nora after she’s erased—)

Season 6

—Loved Iris having a fleshed-out journalism arc, especially going forward, but her journalism career should’ve been reintroduced a while ago. Possibly even in s4 (beyond just a scant mention of her writing an article about DeVoe)

—Thawne should’ve been in Crisis. Especially over Lex mf Luthor

—The Mirroverse arc is…ugh. I don’t love the idea of Iris being replaced with an evil alter and no one noticing for an entire half-season. And an important Westallen conversation about Iris’s agency happening with Mirror Iris, not real Iris!

—Mirror Iris had sex with Barry under false pretenses. And gloated about it. But five minutes later, we’re supposed to feel sorry for her?? Yikes

And now we’re on to my least favorite seasons! Not a lot of points here, but that’s because out of all the bad stuff, I’m just picking the egregiously bad stuff:

Season 7

—Iris being saved by an emotionless Barry is weird and they both deserved better than that

—Chillame is the worst character this show has ever made. Or at least the top 5

—Eva is a dumb villain who wasn’t even compelling to watch. She was very one-note and…I don’t even remember her motive??

—The Forces arc is bizarre. I don’t like how they personified literal forces of nature, it’s dumb. And them calling Barry and Iris “Mom” and “Dad” is worse

—Frost’s arrest storyline was bs. I was honestly kinda excited, because I hoped she’d face some consequences for the stuff she did in s3 and s4, but…nope!! Kramer’s a bad guy who hates all metas!! And Frost (a white woman) gives a speech modeled after the BLM movement!! It’s gross.

—idk much about Godspeed in the comics, but he was definitely done dirty here. And that’s not even mentioning the stupid lightsaber fight…and the fact that Barry just…lets Thawne go?? And says “yeah, he’ll be back one day, but that’s Future Us’s problem.” Speaking of which…

Season 8

—Well, well, well, if it isn’t the consequence of Barry Allen’s actions. We get Armageddon, which is compelling for the first half and drops off in the second half. The logic is faulty (how is Barry the RF when Thawne killed him as a kid? Why does Iris love Thawne just because he’s the Flash?), some of the stuff in this arc is arophobic (“why don’t you love love?”) and tbh the Chester/Allegra romance is very forced, I’m not a fan. Cecile trying to one-up Iris regarding grieving Joe was also very gross

—Iris’s time sickness is so ridiculous. It started back in s7, but the show acts like it started in s8 because of the Negative Forces. It’s awful and it’s another excuse to rob Iris of agency. It should’ve just been a pregnancy…or scrapped entirely

—So regarding Caitlin's grief and Barry's response...honestly, so many problems would be solved if these characters consistently went to therapy, especially Caitlin. She always reacts to grief destructively. Barry, however, shouldn't have responded by destroying everything in her lab instead of...idk relocating her and having a talk somewhere else??

—No, Barry would not be a bad person for killing Thawne after he thought Iris was already dead. Personally, I think he should've killed the mf ages ago

Season 9

—Red Death was underwhelming, that’s all I have to say about it

—why tf is Chillame still here

—Khione deserved to make her own decisions and not be forced to die for Caitlin and/or Frost to live…but also, as a character, she’s very bland. I also skipped any episode where she and Chillame were even remotely romantic, mostly for my own sanity

—I was so excited for the finale arc and it did not deliver!! It flopped real hard!! Eddie is turned evil so fast it made my head spin, the return of prior villains was underwhelming (including their defeats...why tf did Allegra defeat Thawne?? Why did Cecile defeat Godspeed?? Why did Nora defeat Savitar with one stab wound not even piercing the armor??), and the resolution is just...hugging it out?? I guess??

And that's about it as far as major critiques go 😅 if anyone wants me to expand on any of these points, I'm happy to!

(Except the s7-s9 stuff, which I don't even plan on including in my Morgan AU because those seasons are honestly so bad that I'd rather forget about them entirely. I don't like s3 much, but at least it has potential that I'm interested in revamping/exploring)

[dailycharacteroption]

First World Caller (Wizard Archetype)

(art by Matteo Brizio on Artstation)

 When you look for the power and blessings of the fey, you probably look for druids, maybe rangers, or else an enchantment-focused caster like a bard or even mesmerist. One usually does not look to the disciplined and measured power of a wizard for flights of fey fancy.

And yet, with today’s archetype, we are presented with exactly that. Whether it be because of artificially strengthened pacts or bonds with the fey or the First World itself, or a natural affinity for the fey realms, today we are looking at a form of wizard that boasts the ability to call in a bit of the First World wherever they are.

And why not? With it’s primal and wild magic, as well as it’s connections to the earliest days of the multiverse, the fey realm of the First World seems the perfect place to study magic at it’s most wild and untamed, free from the structures and systems imposed by gods and mortals alike.

This archetype is heaviliy associated with gnome civilizations that still dwell in the First World, but any ancestry, gnome or not, can potentially learn or be imbued with this path.

 These wizards bond with a familiar, which seems to have been created or linked to them by how their soul has interacted with the First World in their past, perhaps before they were even born. Either way, these familiars are part fey, and though their physical defenses are not as impressive and they do not grant their master the typical blessing based on their species, they do gain a measure of fey resistance to damage that is not from cold iron, as well as a bit of resistance to magic and the ability to shapeshift into a humanoid form. Later on, they even grow insectile wings if they don’t already have them, gaining flight.

With their connection to the First World, these mages excel at summoning creatures, and learn how to summon many different types of fey ally in addition to the typical summons.

In addition to this, more powerful callers can infuse some of the ever-changing nature of the First World into local reality, altering it’s physical and even magical properties. Gravity, magic, and even alignment-based planar properties are theirs to impose upon such a region for a short time.

Interested in a character with a unique familiar, summons, and even the ability to create massive areas that can help or hinder with planar traits? This archetype may be for you. You lose out on the arcane school, which will limit your spell slots somewhat, but the options opened up by your new summons and the like should make up for it. Naturally, summoning spells are an important part of the build, and feats that bolster them or help you acclimate to the conditions you impose upon reality are good choices.

 This archetype has a nice little touch of “magical destiny” to it that is perfect for “secret heirs to magical kingdoms” sort of personal storylines, as well as the eager young mage that leaps into exploring their unique ability.

  All his life, Micross has been able to see hints of the fey realms, and had a gift for befriending the denizens that seemed attracted to his presence, but he never had any idea what it meant. So, he studied, hoping to understand more by developing his own magic through this connection. Finally, a breakthrough was discovered when he heard rumors of a way to follow the thread of fate back in time, allowing him the opportunity to see where this connection comes from and what destiny he was shouldered with… but will he find peace of mind, or disappointment?

 On the world of Vushan, elves have a much more defined fey connection, and the royal families of which often exhibit an inherent ability to command the fealty of the fey and the very fey realms themselves. Nobody expected such an ability to manifest in a half-blooded scion born from a tryst with a human woman, however. But, that ability does make him a contender for the throne, causing much stirring in the elven courts.

 After barely surviving a peryton attack, Akkez fled through a fey grotto and ended up in the realm of the fey, where he bartered his magical skill in exchange for passage and protection. It’s been years now and he has learned many new magical abilities. However, he still remains there, partially out of fear that the peryton still hunts him, but also because his debt to the fey continues to grow.

[vixen525noms]

Meeting a Pen Pal

I have no idea if I'll make this an rp or story but I really love the concept and this was a fun drabble to make.

Warning: Lot of talk of monsters that eat folk. But none that actually happens yet.

-----

Juniper had been a bit hesitant to sign up to try the service at first. But the ad had free trials because the company wanted to use them to test things while they worked out everything before marketing it further. Some sort of magic crystal equivalent of pen pals. The crystal let you talk instead of just writing. She was curious about how they differed from normal communication magic. Apparently these were designed to only connect to a specific other crystal. This service they were testing was supposed to take your interests as a way to match you with a potential friend. She really didn’t have friends, so… it seemed worth a try.

So she filled out the form. She wrote about her interest in books, including which types were her favorites, then about how she enjoyed exploring hard to access areas in the deep woods, and even loved flying along the bluffs south of the barrier. She wrote down that she could sing, and someday wanted to learn magic. She wrote down she liked nature and biology, even listed off creatures she found interesting. She even found the monsters outside the border protection fascinating! She had read up on how many had different, unique biology not found among the less dangerous species. Of course she understood they were too dangerous to study, many even seeing folk like her as food, but it was still interesting to read about the dangerous species. She submitted her form and waited.

Juniper saw others on the street talking on their new, distinctive crystals before long, communicating with trial members at areas on the far sides of the haven or in other havens, and she felt a bit sad. It felt too fitting that she would be the only one not to get a match. Lonely as ever. She felt heartbroken that she was too different to talk to anybody. Maybe it had been a mistake to mention she found monsters fascinating. It probably scared others off. 

Then, she finally got one. A match. She hoped beyond hope it would work out. She heard some people turned theirs in to try different matches… maybe that’s why she finally got one? She didn’t care why. She had a chance at a friend. She had been so lonely. So when she had a break, she got it out and used it the first time. No answer, so she left a waiting message introducing herself. 

By the time she was on lunch break, there was a reply. She loved the friendly tone of the voice. When they mentioned a nice spot to chill, talked about the trees and the view, she was so excited! They liked to explore too! They even mentioned a spot just barely past the protection barrier… She thought she was the only one besides official transports who went past the barrier! It was so exciting. So she talked about a particularly difficult to reach area just past the barrier, the stream that ran through and how nice it was that nobody really went there. 

Soon they talked about books, and while she didn’t recognize what they mentioned, nor did they recognize hers, they happily talked about the plots of their favorite books and how they could check nearby stores and their respective libraries for the books. They would talk late into the night sometimes, and Juniper even sang for her new friend sometimes. She hadn’t sung for anyone in ages!

After a few weeks, the idea of meeting in person came up. Juniper was excited. Her new friend must not have been as far away in the sanctuary as she expected! Apparently they recognized one of the areas she described. Yes the woods were very dense and the hillside steep, that’s why both regular folk and monsters had little interest in it. But they seemed confident they could handle it as well. So Juniper packed some water bottles and snacks so she could spend her whole day off there, and left to start the trek. 

Unfortunately this meeting would not go as expected. She flew up the steep slopes, taking careful pause at her usual spots. She loved it up here. She knew there was only one predator hunting this area, and she had reasons to believe it would continue to ignore her occasional treks up here. Mostly because it couldn’t catch a quick winged fairy. She was glad she had taken the time to be sure of that modicum of safety. Couldn’t really take risks with such dangerous monsters. When she finally got to the highest part of the hill, she sat down under a tree to catch her breath, taking a sip. She pulled out her crystal to look at it. No pulse of light, so no waiting messages. Hopefully they would get up here. She really couldn’t wait to finally meet her friend.

[angstyaches]

couldn't resist sending you a few prompts from that list, what yummy dialogue!! i'd love to see some sick Donnacha and caretaker Henry (i adore their dynamic, it soothes my soul) maybe using "you're still alive, right?" and "shit, i've never been this sick in my life." i'm also fond of "i hid the car keys. you're. staying. home." but tbh flick everything you write is pure gold so please go for whatever prompts tickle your fancy <3

Anon asked:

yay! i wasn’t sure if you were so i didn’t want to make a request without checking first. from the question ideas #15 post that you reblogged, would you be interested in writing something for donnacha around the “bad day?” prompt? i’m kinda obsessed with the platonic caretaking between him and henry. i’m also really interested to know if donnacha will continue to explore his sexuality beyond his kiss with henry (without actually involving henry in the experimentation) and how any potential realizations will make him feel

Quotes are from this prompt list.

Thank you for the opportunity to expand upon Donnacha's bisexual journey because I've actually wanted to do that for ages.

CW: anxiety, slight (bisexual) panic, coming out, nausea, stomach ache, emeto, platonic caretaking, implied potential sc*t,

Word Length: fucking long.

___

11:36pm 

When he walked through the hallway and into the living room at this hour, he didn’t expect to find the room filled with basically everybody he knew – besides his family and his rugby mates. 

Donnacha froze, feeling like he’d just stepped off a plane. Or a merry-go-round. Somewhere he didn’t quite feel like himself, where the rules of life sort of went out the window, and existence itself shifted a little bit. 

All the nerves and adrenaline and sparkly feelings that had filled his night all left him at the same time, dumping him right back in the thick of reality. 

His stomach took a particularly low dip as he noticed Payton on the couch, their arm draped around Autumn’s shoulders. They both stiffened when they saw him, but they didn’t disentangle from each other. 

“Hi,” Autumn said. Her hair was longer than the last time he’d seen her. 

“Hiya,” Donnacha mumbled. 

Payton didn’t greet him. He’d been cold with them for so long now that they barely bothered anymore. Donnacha’s stomach twisted with guilt, as well as a hint of victory. An empty sort of victory, but still. 

Lucy was sitting on the couch too, in pyjama bottoms and a hoodie, one knee pulled to her chest. She looked up briefly from her phone. “Oh, hey, Donnacha.” 

And then Henry fixed him with a look, and Donnacha felt like he could breathe again. He was sitting at the dining table, with his worn copy The Catcher in the Rye and a cup of tea.  

Tea sounded fucking lovely, actually. The cocktails had been yummy while he’d been drinking them, but he would appreciate something to wash the sickly-sweet aftertaste out of his mouth and settle the burning upset in his belly. 

“How was it?” Henry asked him, ever straight to the point. 

That snagged everybody else’s attention more than Donnacha’s initial arrival had.  

God, he loved Henry, but he could kill him sometimes. 

“Oh, shit,” Lucy exclaimed, eyeing Donnacha’s jeans – his nice jeans, not his everyday jeans – and shirt. She let her phone rest on her knee. “Did you have another date tonight?” 

“Yeah, I did,” he responded weakly, focusing on her rather than letting his eyes trail towards Autumn. “It was kind of a... last-minute thing.” 

“Another date,” Autumn repeated. She was braver than him. Always had been. Ran headlong into things with a smile on her face. 

Donnacha gritted his teeth and tried his best to look casual as he met her gaze. 

“I didn’t know you were dating someone.” She looked genuinely happy for him, which Donnacha silently resented, and resented himself for resenting. Payton shifted their weight, and for once, Donnacha couldn’t even bask in their discomfort, because this was extremely uncomfortable for him, too. 

“Two someones, actually,” he blurted out. The words immediately tasted horrible in his mouth. He had no desire to make Autumn jealous, so what was this burning need to prove something? What was he even trying to prove?  

“Two?” Henry’s interest was renewed. “You weren’t out with the same person as yesterday?” 

Donnacha forced a smile, promising himself he wouldn’t get mad at Henry. But Christ, he just wanted a cup of tea, not an inquisition. 

“Nope,” he said. 

“Okay, so, how was it tonight?” Lucy wanted to know. She propped her fist under her chin and leaned onto her knees. “Was she pretty? Nice?” 

“Um...” Donnacha felt a tickle of a laugh rise in his chest, despite everything. His hands and his voice were trembling, which was mildly ridiculous. “Actually, he was... cute.” 

The room fell silent, and his unsettled belly was suddenly flooded with an anxious buzzing. This wasn’t the fluttery anticipation he’d felt at the start of the night, like he was a teenager about to step onto the field for his first under-20s game. This was despair, like fumbling the ball and costing his team the winning try during his first under-20s game. 

It sank in all at once, what he had just done. Jesus, what a way to come out to two of his roommates and his ex-girlfriend as... whatever he was. He probably should have at least waited until he had a word for it. 

“He was a polite sort of lad. Pulled my chair out for me, which has never happened to me before, actually,” Donnacha chuckled, mainly because nobody else was saying anything. The only person whose gaze he could bear to meet was Henry’s, and when he did, Henry gave him a little wink of approval. 

And then Donnacha got his breath back.  

He could kill Henry sometimes, but he loved him. 

Lucy looked the least surprised out of the other three, but she still squinted at him like he was a maths test and she’d slept through the last ten lessons. “Okay, sorry, but... yesterday, it was a girl, right? You showed me a picture. She had long, brown hair, a tattoo on her neck –” 

“That was, um, a genderqueer person, actually.” Donnacha rubbed the back of his neck. He wished he could stop saying ‘actually’ so much; he butchered it with his accent every time, and it made him feel like he was being insincere when he wasn’t. “Not a ‘she’.” 

“Oh,” Lucy exclaimed. “Oh, sorry.” 

“And... how did that one go?” Payton’s voice was low and somewhat deliberate. It was probably the first time they’d spoken directly to him in a week. 

“Ve was very nice.”  

Even Henry looked shocked and impressed this time; he’d surely assumed that someone like Donnacha wouldn’t even know what neopronouns were, let alone manage to use them in a sentence. It seemed like a silly thing to feel smug about, but Donnacha couldn’t help it. He barely recognised himself these days; it almost felt necessary to let some other people in on the craziness. 

“But m-maybe a bit too intellectual,” Donnacha went on, despite the swelling discomfort in his stomach. He was over-sharing. He had never been like this. Maybe he’d always talked things out with Autumn one-on-one, and now his ramblings needed other outlets. “I think ve would get, um, bored of me very quickly.” 

“I’m sure that’s not true,” Lucy frowned. 

Donnacha shivered, breathing hard against a wave of nausea. What the hell was wrong with him? Henry and Lucy were both gay, Payton was nonbinary, and Autumn was... well, he wasn’t entirely sure, but she was clearly attracted to someone who wasn’t a man, so not necessarily straight. This was the safest room of people he could be in. 

So why did he feel like he was going to faint, or throw up, or both? 

“Anyway. Cuppa?” He skimmed his gaze over Payton, Autumn, and Lucy. “No? Hen?” 

Henry shook his head. “No, thanks, hon, I’m still nursing mine.” 

“So you are.” Donnacha snapped his fingers in the direction of Henry’s mug. He’d never snapped his fingers before pointing at anything before in his life.  

Before he could do or say anything else weird, he turned towards the kitchen. His knees threatened to sag while he was putting water in the kettle, ears straining towards the living room. It felt like he’d just let off a slew of random fireworks and then left. He wondered if they would talk about him now, while he was out of sight.  

Sweat crackled on his forehead. What whispers would Autumn and Payton be sharing? Donnacha wondered – again – why he even cared. His feelings for Autumn were in the past. If she broke up with Payton and asked Donnacha to take her back tomorrow, he would say no. He knew that, as certainly as he knew Henry’s favourite chocolate was 70% cocoa with sea salt. His feelings for her had changed. That was what his kiss with Henry had taught him.  

He slapped a dry teabag against the back of his hand while he waited for the kettle to finish boiling. His cheeks puffed out under the force of a slow, lazy belch that crept up from his gut. God, those cocktails were not sitting great. Donnacha’s throat felt sticky, as though he was still sipping one. Now that his mood was dipping, he couldn’t help thinking that the fried chicken they had ordered to the table had been a little hard to choke down. He wasn’t used to deep-fried food, and he could feel how his belly was gurgling away trying to digest the greasy coating and the stringy meat. 

At this point in time, he remembered the unpleasantness of the food, and the shifting of his stomach, more than he remembered the face of the man that he’d shared it with. Although, that might have had to do with the fact that he felt like he was suffocating right now. 

Do you know what? Tea, be damned. Who could be arsed standing around, waiting for a kettle to boil, when they were embarrassed and not feeling well? 

Donnacha skulked back through the living area, slowing down but not stopping. 

“I’m off to bed, actually,” he said. Actually. He didn’t meet anyone’s gaze this time. “I’m wrecked. I’ll see yous tomorrow, or...” He broke himself off with a nod as he ducked through the archway and bolted for his bedroom. 

11:58pm 

He sat and fidgeted with his phone for a couple of minutes. He had texts from both Josh and Willow, but every time he thought about composing a reply to either of them, it felt like they were both in the room, standing over him with their shoes pressed against his chest. Josh with his brogues, Willow with ver knee-high boots. Josh, smelling like musk and molasses; Willow, smelling like an ocean breeze. Both of them fantastic and gorgeous and, apparently, waiting for texts back from him because they liked him. 

So why couldn't he stop focusing on the looks he might get if he walked about town with either one of them on his arm? Why, instead of giddy and excited, did he only feel this sickening dread?  

“Donnacha!” Henry’s voice said sharply on the other side of the door, as though they’d been in the middle of a conversation and Donnacha had said something outrageous. 

His skin prickled, hot then cold. He got up, stomped over, and opened the door. “What?” 

Henry made a face and shut his eyes, like he was rebooting himself. When he spoke again, there was something a little more fragile about his voice. 

“Bad day, was it?” 

“No! It was fine! I told you.” Donnacha sat down on his bed again. Standing was doing his stomach no favours.  

Henry paced in behind him.  

“Maybe our personalities didn’t click very well,” Donnacha shrugged. “Maybe he reminded me a bit too much of myself. And I might now know who or what I’m interested in, but I know for a fact I’m not interested in going out with myself.” 

Henry nodded as though what he was hearing wasn’t the ramblings of a slightly drunk man having a crisis. 

“And, of course, I was nervous,” Donnacha murmured, lowering his chin slightly. “You know? I’m twenty-five and casually dating for the first time ever. And it was a lad, hen. And this... the lads thing, it – it still feels weird, actually.” Actually. “But I was... no, I was the normal amount of nervous. It was a normal kind of date. Just normal.” 

Henry shifted his weight from one leg to the other, cane tilting with his hips. “Donnacha, I... asked if you had a bad day. Not a bad date.” 

Donnacha swallowed, this time tasting the chicken grease right in the back of his throat. He folded his arms over his middle and leaned forward, testing how the pressure felt against his stomach. “Oh.” 

“Yeah.” 

“Misheard ya, then.” Donnacha sniffed and cleared his throat. And then words came out of his mouth in a dizzying rush. "Bad days, I-I've had any amount of those recently."

"What?" Henry asked hoarsely. "And... you didn't think to say anything?"

Donnacha shrugged. He noticed that Henry’s glasses were slipping down his nose, just a bit, but he was eyeing the way Donnacha was sitting, hugging his belly.

“Are... you feeling sick?” 

Instead of a verbal reply, Donnacha hiccupped, the pain cutting so deeply through his chest that he made a choking sound like he’d been punched. 

“You gonna be sick?” Henry asked, casting a glance towards the hallway as an afterthought, presumably wondering if Lucy’s ears had pricked up at his words. 

“I don’t know. I don’t know anything, Hen!” Donnacha was raising his voice now, and he either didn’t care, or cared immensely. “I – I don’t even know who I am anymore.” 

Donnacha’s face burned as the words escaped him.  

Jesus Christ.  

He’d never been this moody and self-indulgent, but it felt as though he’d stumbled across this beautiful, yet painfully delicate, thing inside of him, and the thought of exposing it – allowing it to be observed, critiqued, potentially broken – to the world made him want to scream. 

Back home, he’d have sent his old man into absolute uproar if he’d come out with a line like that, accusing him of having too much time on his hands. His secondary school coach would have asked him if he’d rather join the drama society (ironically, of course, since his school hadn’t had a drama society). Even the lads on the current team would probably chuckle at him, or, at best, nudge him in the direction of a counsellor rather than have him bang on like this in front of them. 

Henry didn’t ridicule him. He didn’t accuse him of being soft. 

Instead, Henry hobbled forward to stand next to him, combed his fingers through Donnacha’s hair, and leaned forward to kiss his forehead. Donnacha sighed – or was it a little sob? – and tilted his head against Henry’s stomach. It felt good to have a body so close to him. This was more physical contact than he had experienced on either of his two dates, and that thought was so confusing that it made the knots in his stomach pull even tighter. 

“You don’t have to know,” Henry whispered. “You don’t have to know anything. Your story belongs to you, and no one else.” 

Bile rose in Donnacha’s throat. “Bit late for that now.” 

“What do you mean?” 

“Well, I... made a show of myself, didn’t I?” Donnacha flicked a hand in the general direction of the living area, as though the scene where he’d announced his sexual fluidity was still taking place out there, in open defiance of him and his current feelings about it. 

“You didn’t make a show of yourself. Donnacha, what are you on about?” Henry tilted his head and brushed a tear away from Donnacha’s cheek with his thumb. His hand was a little cold, thanks to his bad circulation, “Exactly what do you think you did wrong?” 

“I... I don’t know. I thought talking about it would be easier, is all,” Donnacha said on a trembling sigh. His stomach cramped, but the pain felt secondary to the panic that had wound its way around his chest. “It felt weird, a-and... it felt like stripping down to the nip and waving my arse in the air, with all of you watching me.” 

“That’s...” A smile, both wry and fond, crept through the lines in Henry’s features. “Unfortunately, that’s what coming out often feels like. I mean, maybe it was too soon for you, and you took yourself by surprise. You sure as fuck took me by surprise.”  

Donnacha chuckled drily, and Henry kissed his head again.  

“But I was so proud of you, hon.” 

A spark of warmth circled Donnacha’s heart. 

“Hope you know that.” 

Donnacha tried to swallow around a hiccup, not wanting to ruin what felt like a tender moment, but he failed spectacularly and ended up belching instead.

“Thank you," he mumbled. "‘Scuse me.” 

"We'll chat more tomorrow. I think you should try to get some sleep.” 

“I will, if you get out of my room, you weirdo,” Donnacha mumbled. He reached up to squeeze Henry’s arm before sinking back a little on the bed.  

“Rude.” Henry finally adjusted his glasses. He glanced towards Donnacha’s bedside cabinet. “You never made that cup of tea, by the way. Do you want me to bring you one?” 

Donnacha curled his lip, rubbing one hand over his middle. “Nah, my stomach really doesn’t feel great.” 

Henry nodded, eyeing him warily again. “Well, I’ve been having atrocious insomnia, so let me know if you need anything.” 

12:21am 

Jesus, but these cramps were getting brutal now. 

Donnacha was relieved that Henry hadn’t decided to spend the night in his room, because as soon as he had laid down, it sounded like a lawnmower engine had started up in his belly. 

He had resigned himself to sleeping on his back, which he didn’t usually do. Acid sloshed into the base of his oesophagus, thanks to the heartless bitch called gravity, but it was the only position he could find where he could cradle his sore, gurgling stomach with both hands. He woke a few times to find his hands had slid to his sides and had to readjust them. 

4:07am 

A car horn blasted him fully from his sleep.  

Donnacha groaned in pain (Oh, sweet Jesus, my belly hurts) and confusion (who the hell is sitting on their horn at this hour?!). He was starting to think he’d never get used to living in the town. Back home, the most he’d ever be woken up by was a crying fox, and even that used to be an exciting affair that he’d share with his parents and sisters over breakfast. (Did any of yous hear the fox last night?!) 

He sat up in bed, and as he did, his belly growled like he was starving, when he was in fact the opposite. Its contents went tumbling over into a heavy pile. Donnacha let out a hiccup-belch, his throat too tight to release enough air to relieve any of the pain. 

He planted a hand on his stomach, flinching when the pressure stirred up more pain than he’d expected. His belly was pushing out, taking up more space inside his old jersey than it usually did, and the surface of it felt stretched and tight. He frowned. He hadn’t exactly gone overboard last night, and none of his drinks had been carbonated.  

Must’ve been that chicken, he thought. Saliva flooded his cheeks even as he recalled it. A gurgle wove its way through his gut, accompanied by a clenching, slithering pain. 

A bead of sweat chased another bead of sweat down his back. 

He shot to his feet and moved as fast as he could without bouncing himself up and down. His stomach was jostled nonetheless, and he burped and hiccupped and gulped convulsively all the way to the bathroom. 

When he reached the toilet, he was drooling and gagging, ready to get this over with. Donnacha cringed and braced himself, but it wasn’t enough to lessen the unpleasantness of experiencing that sticky, greasy chicken in his mouth all over again, this time mixed with acidic juices.  

All he could do was squeeze his eyes shut and look forward to the relief he knew he’d feel later, when the food was unable to torment his stomach anymore.  

He retched hard, throat constricting around strangled groans. 

It was down his shirt, he realised when the retching slowed down and he opened his eyes. One of the hiccups in the hallway must have brought something up with it.  

Shit. He needed to go check that he hadn’t left any on the floor. If Lucy saw that, she’d – 

“Urrgggghhh,” Donnach moaned as sharp pains wracked his belly. He’d made a bit of a mess on the floor, too, somehow, but he’d had to deal with that later. 

The next wave was coursing up his throat, filling his mouth all the way to the backs of his teeth, before spilling into the toilet bowl. He couldn’t remember throwing up this thickly, this immensely, since he’d been little. He could almost feel the chill of the farmhouse bathroom – which was very different and much fresher than the chill that plagued apartment blocks. He pictured his mother fussing over him, checking his forehead with her hand, tutting as she went looking for the cordless landline so she could call his school. He could almost taste the 7Up that she would stir the bubbles out of, because flat 7Up was the cure for everything in those days. 

As he choked up a mouthful of yellow fluid that stuck to his lips on the way out, Donnacha couldn’t remember if stomach acid and flat 7Up tasted much different.  

Ew. 

He retched again. 

He wasn’t sure how long he spent in front of the toilet, but eventually, Donnacha noted that he needed to pee. Too exhausted and nauseous to stand, he peeled himself up off the floor and sat on the toilet seat. He couldn’t have said how long he spent like that, hunched over so that his head nearly touched his knees, arms gripping his cramping belly. All in all, this was a relatively safe spot for him to be in, especially if things went south. Well, further south. Based on how things were progressing, he wouldn’t have been surprised... 

Donnacha sat up, propped his elbows on his knees, and cradled his head in his hands.  

5:27am 

The front door slammed. 

Donnacha jumped. Shivered. He was still sitting on the toilet, and he felt dizzy. Had he dozed off? Or just spaced out for a second? He blinked and glanced over at the thin light white streaming through the bathroom window. 

It had probably been Lucy, he thought blearily, leaving for classes a lot earlier than usual. Made sense that she’d want to get out of the house, if she’d caught wind of any of Donnacha’s troubles in the night.  

Donnacha would probably feel bad about setting off her phobia later, but right now, he didn’t have the energy to feel any worse than he already did. 

5:38am 

Whether he’d beaten his insomnia or not, the front door slamming must have gotten Henry out of bed. He must have seen Donnacha’s bedroom door swinging open, and his empty bed, because Donnacha’s ears were suddenly prickling from the gentle taps of his cane as he came down the hallway towards the bathroom door. 

He didn’t knock. He just gently called out, “Donnacha?” 

Donnacha squeezed his eyes shut. Bad idea. His head immediately started to spin and his upper body started to sway. 

“Hey, hon?” Henry called out a little more sharply. “Still alive in there, aren’t you?” 

“Just about,” he croaked. 

“Want me to come in?” 

Donnacha looked down at his sick-stained jersey. He was still sitting on the toilet. He and Henry might have been close, but… not this close. Donnacha wasn’t sure he ever wanted to be this close to anybody. 

“No,” he muttered. 

“You coming out soon?” 

Donnacha groaned. “Yeah, yeah. Just go away and give me a few minutes.” 

“Alright.” 

5:45am 

“Jesus…” 

“Come on,” Donnacha murmured, reaching for Henry’s hand and attempting to turn him around. “You don’t want to be near that bathroom for a while.” 

Henry was inclined to believe him. 

“How did... I didn’t think you were that drunk last night.” Henry frowned. If he’d known this was going to happen, he could have left a bucket in Donnacha’s room. He’d seemed upset after talking to everyone in the living room, but Henry hadn’t thought he’d been hammered. Who got drunk enough to make themselves puke on a first date? 

“I wasn’t,” Donnacha whined. He rubbed the heel of his hand against his belly as they walked towards Donnacha’s room. “I think it was the food at the cocktail bar.” 

“Why, what’d you have?” 

“Ugh, this horrible, greasy chicken.” Donnacha’s cheeks puffed out a little, and his hand pressed further into his middle, as though his wrung-out stomach could barely take the mention of said chicken. “Ugh. Gave me this fierce belly ache last night.” 

“Or,” Henry ventured, “you were coming down with a bug.” 

“No. Nope.” Donnacha shook his head and let go of Henry’s arm as they reached his bedroom. “See, I had that one a few months ago. You remember it.” 

Henry stood still, frowning as hard as ever, while Donnacha lowered himself onto the bed. The duvet was ruffled from the night before, but he made no effort to pull it up around himself. 

Henry blew a gentle raspberry with his lips. “You don’t – you can’t just, like, get one tummy bug and then be immune to all of them. It’s not like the chickenpox –” 

Donnacha whined, making a face like a child who was about to be lectured. “Ssshhh, Hen.” 

Henry bristled slightly at being told to sshh, but let it slide seeing as Donnacha wasn’t feeling well. He eyed him as he settled down on his side, face pressed into his pillow. 

“Going to sleep?” 

“I’m actually just... gonna rest my eyes for a minute.” 

“Or you could go to sleep.” Henry reached for the duvet and started to pull it up over Donnacha’s side. 

“Can’t.” Donnacha's voice sounded ragged. “Training at half eight. Have to shower.” 

Henry snort-laughed. Donnacha lifted a hand to try to push the duvet away from his shoulder.  

“Match next week,” Donnacha croaked, tucking one arm under his head and curling the other around his belly. For someone who didn’t want to be tucked in, he sure looked like he was getting comfortable. “Can’t skip.” 

“Wait, you’re being serious?” Henry froze, still holding the corner of the duvet so that it made a tent shape over Donnacha’s upper body. He didn’t want to laugh again, but one was bubbling in his chest. “You’re hardly going to training, hon.” 

“I’m grand,” Donnacha told him. “I’ve got – gotten it all up. And… out. Out of my system. Should be fine now.” 

“I thought you might say that, so, actually –” Henry said. 

He swore he heard Donnacha mutter under his breath, “Actually.” 

“– I’ve taken the liberty of hiding your car keys.” 

It seemed to take a few seconds for the words to filter down through Donnacha’s tangled, exhausted thoughts. Henry used that time to lower the duvet and tuck him in, ignoring the twinge in his hip as he leaned.  

He hadn’t really hidden Donnacha’s keys – they had probably walked past them in the hallway on the way back from the bathroom – but Henry was relying on the fact that Donnacha seemed way too shattered to get up and investigate. 

Donnacha glared up at him from the bed, with all the ferocity of a puppy waking from a nap. “No, you bloody didn’t.” 

“Bloody well did. I know, I know.” Henry gestured lightly towards his own collarbone and let his voice drift towards Lavender’s, just for the theatrics. “I always have been a criminal mastermind of the highest order.” 

“I can walk,” Donnacha threatened, stifling a yawn, “if I leave right now.” 

“Dear boy, you’ll get blown down by the smallest breeze,” Henry relished telling him, “before you even get out of the driveway.” 

“You know that I can take you, don’t you, Hen?” 

“Oh, yeah?” 

Donnacha hummed in the affirmative, wrapping the corner of his duvet around his hand and pulling it in close to his chest. “Yeah. I can make you give me my keys and spill all your secrets.” 

“Usually, yes, but you couldn’t even take a bit of tall grass right now. Will you listen and get this through your head?”

Henry leaned forward on his cane, so his face was a little closer to Donnacha’s pillow. His hip twinged a little less this time.

“You’re. Staying. Home," Henry said, his stomach twisting with each word. He hated having to be stern - he had a fundamental aversion to it - but sometimes Donnacha could be so stubborn that he was a hazard to his own health. Henry reckoned he would never understand it himself, the way that Donnacha devoted himself, as well as the majority of his free time, to the rugby team. 

Henry righted himself, sighing, when Donnacha's silence indicated that he'd won. “You can beat me up over it when you’re better.” 

“Probably a good thing,” Donnacha slurred. Henry was almost sure that he’d just started to drool against his pillow. “My belly hurts something fierce."

Henry raised his eyebrows.

"I don't... mmm." Donnacha gulped, his hand tightening around the corner of his blanket. "Shit. I don't think I've ever been this sick in my life, actually.” 

“Donnacha. Seriously?” 

“Yeah.” 

“And... you still needed me to stop you from going to training.” 

Donnacha hummed in the affirmative, and Henry wondered hopelessly how someone so consistent could ever feel as though they didn't know who they were.

He reckoned he'd spell it out for him later, though, since Donnacha seemed to have fallen asleep and was - indeed - drooling on his pillow.

[bluebudgie]

So, initial SotO thoughts.

tl;dr: Liked it, not my favourite release.

More details below.

It's a little hard to compare to anything we had before since it's not quite an expansion but also a bit bigger than a regular LS release. Somewhere in between.

I liked it overall. I had fun (I don't think I ever didn't have fun with any release in this game). I do however have many smaller gripes that add up a little. Let's actually start with the biggest one:

The new maps

Well, obviously I loved the inclusion of chak on the new maps and seeing the little critters in a new shiny form was very exciting, but let's take the rose-tinted chak glasses off for a moment.

I like the fractal concept of the first map. It's interesting as an idea but I feel like it fell a little flat in execution. Rata Novus is probably the place that differs the most from the actual-Tyria version, and all the other fractals are just kinda... barely different? Like the Crystal Desert taken over by forged is just..... well, it's desert with forged in it. Like it already is in PoF anyway. And the Kaineng section kinda feels like that too, we have enough hostile jade bots in EoD anyway so... yea I don't know. Didn't do super much for me.

I wish NPCs were a bit more interactive. You can't really talk to many people at all. Core maps had so many random guys just standing around giving you little tidbits of dialogue. Especially the first map just feels very... barren.

Visually a great map nonetheless. Same goes for the second (non-hub) map we got, which is really unique in terms of architecture. We haven't really seen anything quite like it in the game before, so that's cool.

Exploration wise... ...yeah. I mean. Basically exactly what I had feared became true, no real exploration depth and at the very least on the first map you're pretty much expected to just skyscale to every point. Which goes really fast too, despite the whopping 50(or so?) POIs. I wish they had at least made some of the new masteries mandatory for reaching certain spots, but nope. Completed entirely without a single mastery leveled. Feels kinda pointless to introduce movement masteries if they aren't at the very least obligatory for certain events or map exploration. The second map makes the updrafts a little more useful since reaching some of the higher places can be a bit more tricky without it, but... yea I don't know.

I'm not exactly disappointed since that's pretty much what I expected to happen, but still I wish there were a few more interesting ways to get around places other than just straight up flying there. I guess I want more hidden stuff. Secrets. A jumping puzzle that spans half the map like in Draconis Mons. Well, for all I know they are there and I just haven't found them yet.

So yea, overall... visually beautiful; I'm glad about Rata Novus being a clownfest of snobs; I think if chak weren't in this I'd feel extremely lukewarm about those maps. That said, Amnytas has some of the highest quality grass I've ever seen in this game. Seriously what the hell is that grass.

Story and characters

I was worried about this for a bit while playing but the ending thankfully took the immediate worries from me for now.

It felt very... prologue-y. Which, in the end, it was. And I'm glad about that. I was so scared we were in another Gyala Delve situation of "here's an entire story that has absolutely no time to unfold and we'll abruptly end it pretending there was a conclusion". But thank god the epilogue made it clear that this was just the beginning to the storyline. (unless anet is preparing some clown make up)

So now that we had this introduction to the setting and first look into a new cast of characters I'm intrigued to see where all of this is going. I hope everyone we've met gets more screentime in the future and maybe some of them will tag along with us for the next adventures? The whole cast felt like it had a lot of potential. I want to see more of Gladium and Galrath. Isgarren seems interesting, I liked his dialogue. Sad about Mabon. Hoped Peitha would be a non-humanoid creature. Narcisse is cute. I like how they handled Zojja so far.

Didn't care much for the whole wizard tower story before SotO released, I'm decently interested now at least.

Gameplay-wise the player 2 experience was pretty miserable once again (Why exactly did I have to be a blue orb during the entire first flesh fortress instance? Why can I pick up and carry keys in the wizard's tower but then can't interact with the object they need to be used on? Seriously.) but that's nothing new.

As mentioned in another post, the German translation was a trainwreck of contextually wrong mistranslations, English sayings/proverbs translated literally into German when that is absolutely not how that works, misgendering (Zojja wasn't the only one with male pronouns - Yao was also back to that again) and entire chunks of voice lines randomly missing on several occasions. Seriously I don't know what went wrong here but please pay your localization team better. Or at least give them more context to work with.

Music

The few new songs I heard were nice. Lacking a bit in identity, but I guess it would be delusional to expect an EoD, HoT or IBS soundtrack here. GW2 music tends to be extremely high quality so I'm nitpicking on a high level with this one.

There is one battle theme that was really cool, though severely overused. I think it's the one that plays during rift events. Or like, during most of the release in general.

I can't quite explain why but I had several instances that made me think "this is what the PoF combat themes should have sounded like". The music as a whole somehow is very reminiscent of PoF. Like if someone took PoF battle music and went "chill a bit, please."

Was also nice to hear that one new ambient track that echoes the TD main theme and the Rata Novus theme.

Metas

They're okay. First map's meta drags on a little. Though I like collecting the essences. That one phase with the coloured bars is severely stressful. Second map meta is pretty neat. Was a little overwhelmed by it since it started literally 2 minutes after I got onto the map for the first time and I had no idea where anything was and just frantically followed the squad to find a giant squid bug demon on top of a huge tower. Seriously man give me a break. Fun experience though. Did it again on another day on an overflow map without a comm and we managed, though barely. Difficulty seems appropriate.

All in all...

Didn't completely blow me away. I liked it as a setup to something larger. Doesn't compare to any of the big expansions (though I do think the storyline in itself is at least more interesting than PoF, though it obviously lacks the polish of the expansion). If compared to LS seasons I'd say I had a better time with most of LS3 and LS4, and also large chunks of the Icebrood Saga.

I think how well SotO does in the long run largely depends on what gets added to it next. I'm excited to see more, and especially to get more context to all the new characters. Don't pull another Gyala Delve on me. Please.

And also.

Finally rid of the Commander title. Wayfinder is so much better.

[violetlunette]

Which Class A girl had the most potential for an arc? I'll say Momo.

She exists for the purposes of fanservice. BUT:

She's a genius.

Has a horrifically powerful quirk.

Is a recommended student.

Comes from a wealthy family who possibly are also heroes. (It's hilarious that we don't know details like this about a supposed main character, lol!)

Experiences the sexist nature of hero society at the forefront.

During Bakugo's match with Uraraka, the audience, Iida, and the heroes all acted like women were inferior to men and you shouldn't beat them up. This attitude is never seen again, but it's good bones for a story.

When we look at what we've got here, there's some great material. Take her internship. She has the power to create anything but living creatures, but she was accepted by a famous heroine because she's very conventionally attractive. Snake Lady basically said "You're smart and your quirk makes you a goddess, but forget about that. You're hot, and I can use you to market products."

Of course MHA can't be bothered to explore how pissed and gutted someone should be in a situation like this. And nothing ever comes of it! That's always the case with Momo, and it's both hilarious and sad. She exists for the purposes of taking losses. She's never allowed to do anything interesting with her quirk. She can create anything and she uses it to make sticks! Snake Lady could have also had good reasons for saying that. From her perspective, this is how you become a successful female hero. You sell sex appeal, and you market products and you make lots of money and get fame and success. So it's not really a black and white situation here. Momo is being exploited here, and the person doing it is teaching her how to game the system. It's a systemic issue.

And as far as being wasted potential? 100% Momo. If she got even 10% of the sauce that Izuku, Todoroki, and Bakugo gets, she'd be incredible.

Like just imagine for a second if she swapped quirks with Bakugo, and Bakugo remained as important in this alternate universe as he is in canon.

We'd see an unholy amount of bullshit from Creation. It would be awe inspiring. I doubt alternate, Explosion wielding Momo would do as much with Explosion as Bakugo does. Knowing this author, maybe she'd have the power to trigger the explosions from any part of her body, and so she's always blowing up her clothes.

As far as the other ones go:

Uraraka was interesting until she got pigeonholed into being the token love interest that Izuku's going to get with in the epilogue. No effort was put into developing their relationship, and she got no further development once it was decided that her character was supposed to mirror Toga's. RIP.

I wouldn't say she was as wasted as Momo because her quirk isn't really the best for the constantly escalating fights that MHA gets into. She'd have been infinitely better off if the author had stuck to his original idea and quirk swapped her with Mount Lady.

"I grow taller and larger and kick and punch people"! Fits the "PLUS ULTRA MORE POWER 100%!" vibe this series goes for. We saw the devastation that Gigantomachia did with his giant quirk. Maybe the author would have let Uraraka do something cool with it.

Tsuyu's the level headed one who wants everyone to follow the rules and be sensible. Which disqualifies her from playing a major role in a show about being reckless and breaking the rules. In theory, there's nothing stopping her frog quirk from being just as powerful as Mirko's rabbit quirk.

She fell off entirely and barely got anything after the USJ. She started off very promising as one of Izuku's friends.

Toru's a one note joke character and the depths of her light manipulation wasn't explored enough to be useful. She's bad at stealth and gets found out easily. She's not good at martial arts. She's not good at anything. And she's another character that we get barely any background for.

There's some bones here that could make for an interesting story, like how someone who is invisible lives, and what effects that would have on her growing up. Especially if she was born invisible. But nothing was done with it. An issue with having a supposed main cast of 20 characters.

Jiro's another of the puddle characters. Looks deep at first, but isn't. I have very little to say about her. She likes music. She finds Kaminari being stupid hilarious. She likes Momo. That's all we get from her.

Mina. She gets the honor of having a designated personality trait of being a bully hunter along with her friend Kirishima and then becomes the author mandated friend of Bakugo, despite him pushing them both away at every opportunity.

I'm thinking that gives her negative points. i can forgive some people not having a personality, but when you're given one and then it doesn't matter in the face of the plot, you're worse off than the puddle characters.

Agree with 96% of this.

This post is pretty long so I'll try to summarize my thoughts below.

Notes: Long post

With Momo it’s obvious; She has an amazing quirk and is very book-smart. She was talented enough to get into UA by recommendation (not that we learned much about that). Where she fails is that she’s naive and doesn’t have a lot of street smarts. (And I believe that, in the beginning, she struggled to think on her feet.) Another arc is that Momo has quite an attractive body. Momo doesn’t take notice, but others do in and out of the universe. As you stated, this could have been used to look at the difference between how male and female superheroes are treated. Momo isn’t ashamed of her body and sees no issue with showing skin. In fact, she sees it as logical. However, this tends to give the wrong idea to others (especially pervs like Mineta). It’s at the point where Momo is judged for her body instead of her quirk and abilities. Hell, her internship was just because she looked cute, not because of her skill. Now, this could have worked if it was explored more. (Though I’m not sure that Hori’s the right one to explore it. Not because he’s a bad writer [or a male] but because his skills seem to lie outside of this stuff.) Momo’s confidence was already low because of how easily she was defeated during the sports festival, but now she discovers that the few heroes that took an interest in her were only after her for her looks. No way that helped with her confidence. At this point, Momo could be struggling with her ego and wondering if she actually has what it takes to be a hero. On top of that, people could be making comments about her costume leading her to feel a bit ashamed of a body she had been so confident in. Adding to this, Momo should have spent more time with Midnight. Not just to give her death more meaning later, but it’s believable that Midnight went through the things Momo did, so she would have been perfect to guide her. (Also, I think they would have had an interesting student/teacher dynamic.) Midnight could have not only helped Momo to regain her confidence and not care what others think but could have taught her to use her looks to her advantage.

Ochako somehow suffered the most and least in development. There is A LOT of emphasis placed on her feeling for Deku, yet we barely see the two together, one on one. It’s only near the end that we see that and by then it’s too late. This is especially important as her feelings for Deku are what make her a rival to Tago, one of the main villains. (That’s bullshit, but we’ll look at it in the far future.) Outside of Deku, we could have seen how being raised poor affected her. As is, her eyes just get wide and she nearly faints at things she thinks are extravagant. That’s it. We could have seen her be jealous, then feel bad as the richest girl in class—Momo--is a sweetheart. We also could have seen her morals tested as she’s desperate to help her parents, but how far is she willing to go to do that? (Of course, she’ll do the right thing, but the temptation is important in stories.)

With Mina, she could have been used to explore the discrimination against Mutants, which was made a big deal very late in the game. It also would have been nice to give her some personality points to separate her from Toru. Plus, she has ACID for powers. You’re telling me more couldn’t have been done with that?

And since I talked about the others, I'll give some quick ones on the remaining two. (Toru I've talked about in the past.) Tsuyu could have brought some interesting points to the table as well. She has a quirk that doesn’t seem like much but could be a lot of fun if used creatively. More than that I would have liked to explore her lawful good nature. I think it is a very interesting debate about heroes. Should you do what’s right and damn the rules, or should you hold yourself accountable to the same laws that you uphold?

Jiro I personality feels satisfied, but we rarely get to see her step up. I think her quirk depends on her support items as she needs to plug into things to amp her heartbeat, and if it’s too loud, the item breaks. It would have been cool to explore that.

[kyliafanfiction]

Hi there! this is tash from BtVSPolls. It's not often I run into someone who has a positive view of the potentials, and I was just wondering if you would mind expanding on that a little bit. No worries if not though!

I don't have a positive view of them, I just don't have a negative view. I'm aggressively neutral about them. As a whole, they could do some annoying stuff (and who on the show doesn't?), but they brought some interesting perspectives to the story, and they honestly weren't that bad as characters.

I mean, apart from Kennedy (who actually got something that resembles development and depth) and Chao-Ahn (who stands out for dying) and Rona (who stands out for being the only black girl), barely even remember the names of any of the others without prompting. Felicia Day played one and she seems to have done really well with that, and good for her, but...

Like, my view of them is mostly one giant shrug emoji. Even at their worst, such as it is, I wouldn't remotely feel strongly enough about them to want to gnaw my arm off.

Obviously the potentials were part and parcel of their effort to find a spin-off that would work, when their other ideas didn't land, but they also served for an interesting story, exploring how being a potential works, council-raised and otherwise, and of course, the whole 'every potential becomes a Slayer' thing wouldn't have worked without some of them being present on the show for a while, and I absolutely think the mass-slayerification was essential. The other choices are that Buffy and Faith are going to die Slayers, or they never, ever, ever get to retire, even when they're old, or if they end up having kids (granted, I don't see Faith deliberately having kids, though I do think Buffy is generally interested in the idea, though I don't think it's a requirement for her or anything).

That or we have a series of slayers almost dying over and over again to make more Slayers and that feels like tempting fate in it's own way.

But like, the mess the comics made of it aside, more Slayers is good, and that couldn't have happened in the show without there being more potentials in the first place.

So yeah... shrug. They're okay. I feel pretty neutral on them.

[antagonistchan]

talking about a show i don't actually watch (yet) as if i understand it, like an asshole (because i felt the urge to ramble about something i've been subtly noticing all year)

man, even as a semi-outsider, the wild disparity in quality between seasons of Precure is fascinating

to clarify, by "semi-outsider", i mean that in 2013 i tried to get into Precure by starting with the original season, Futari Wa, and got like twenty episodes in before i got intimidated by how much was left. a couple years later, i decided i still wanted to get into Precure, but it'd make so much more sense to jump on at the beginning of a new season and then explore the backlog from there at my own pace. i procrastinated on this for ages, but then Hirogaru Sky came out and was such a massive deal that i decided this was where i'd jump on. i still procrastinated and didn't end up starting until September. i got five episodes in, and then fell off because i got busy, but i did really enjoy those five episodes (tbh, that fifth episode was by far the best of them). i also wanted to try watching Otona Precure as it came out, but again, that was right when i got super busy. however, even though i've only seen around twenty episodes of Futari Wa and five episodes of Hirogaru Sky, i've kept up with Precure for over a decade. like i don't necessarily know much of the story or anything, but i know most of the shows' themes and can recognize most of the Cures themselves and even put a name to them. like i can see that one dark-skinned blonde girl and go "Oh yeah, that's Elena Amamiya AKA Cure Soleil from Star Twinkle. Dunno anything about her aside from the fact that she's cute, but I can immediately recognize her"

anyways, the like, 2020 seasons of Precure seemed to be on a decent track from my outside perspective. i liked the character designs and themes, and i was regularly exposed to the ongoing season even if i wasn't watching. i regularly saw the ongoing season around. in the late 2010s, it often took me a couple years to really get consistently exposed to the newer characters enough to recognize them, but in 2020-2022, i always consistently knew who the current Cures were even though i wasn't even watching the show. that seems like a good sign. not an amazing sign or anything, but a good sign.

and then 2023 happened, and Precure did two of the most interesting things it's ever done.

in the main 2023 season, Precure pulled all the twists they reasonably could with the formula of their cast. 1: the blue girl is the main character, even though she's still very much the blue girl in personality. 2: the first proper male Cure (technically the second, but the first was a minor side character; Cure Wing is a real boy Cure). 3: the first proper adult Cure (technically the third i think, but the first two both had potentially disqualifying factors (like one of them was technically only like five years old chronologically speaking or something); Ageha's barely an adult at 18, but there's no asterisks to her, she's just a normal college student). and on top of the huge departures from the expected formula they were taking, it also just seemed like really damn good season!

and THEN, they announced a second show for the year, a show that was even more exciting in concept- Otona Precure, a sequel series to the 2008 Precure show, AIMED AT ADULTS (presumably, specifically adults who grew up with that particular show, because tbh any long-running children's franchise can benefit from doing adult-oriented spinoffs so that the media can grow alongside its audience), starring the 2008 show's cast all grown up and dealing with adult problems now!!! 2023 was such a fucking banger year for exciting and compelling ideas from this franchise!

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anyways 2024 is almost over and i've seen so fucking little of the 2024 show, Wonderful Precure. i haven't seen nothing- i do intentionally keep tabs on this fandom that i intend to join someday- but like, all i've seen is fanart. almost entirely lewd fanart, too- any given Precure season gets a lot of that, sure, but it also tends to get plenty of notable wholesome fanart too. i've seen some tame fanart, but nothing that stands out at all. i've seen no comics, no clips, no discussion- it really feels like nobody cares about the 2024 season in the slightest. sure, 2023 was an above-average year for this fandom, but i still saw plenty of activity in 2020-2022 as well! but in 2024, the only interesting stuff i've seen about Precure is about past seasons. and tbh, just from gleaning info from A: the fanart and B: official sources, i'm really not too terribly surprised. even just looking at this show and hearing about its theme, i struggle to be compelled.

like, fuck, for all i know this is actually an extremely good season and everyone's just sleeping on it, maybe because of how hookless it is. but, from my semi-outsider perspective, it really seems like Wonderful was a bit of a dud season. and the fact that this weak (or at the very least underpromoted) season directly followed possibly the most interesting year for Precure ever just makes the change so fucking visibly stark.

[m1ckeyb3rry]

Wait THE PONYS SO CUTE??? WTF?? NAME?? Also I’m crying I could be blind so correct me if I’m wrong but is that also a pile of horse shit in the middle pic but either way SHSSH SO ADORABLE those big eyes staring into my soul

AHAHA dw whenever I think abt that gif I think about you <3 but also you’re actually serving the side character community fr ykws funny I was just thinking about rereading bfb Otoya because I was somehow reminded of those expensive cupcakes

LMFOAOAAO YEAH CLOSE ENOIGH HES THAT ONE COORDINATOR CONTEST JUDGE hes indeed elderly and he’s at evened contest and his only comment is some rendition of “remarkable” LMAOOO (dw idr his name either)

Crying there’s so many hair style options they rlly had to go with the ugliest ones

When I read wc my first thought was word count then I realized that didn’t make sense and was like oh ok World Cup? And then I thought abt it again and realized that’s also wrong now ik you mean wildcard goodbye

LMAO FR Karasu with his jaw on the floor like “you didn’t want this baddie????”

YUKI LOOKED SO GOOD IN THAT STREET SOCCER PANEL??? Why didn’t they ever elaborate more on that skill in the main series though they also barely did anything with his gyro shot like HELLO?? Are we not gonna talk abt how insane that skill is I need like spinoffs for every major side character atp epitabieitaken when

No bc wc and Kunigami exploration has sm potential…Lowk I see kaneshiro getting flamed everywhere from ppl being like “this is shit guys” and uhh idk how reliable their info is bc it’s. Yk. The internet fandom. But apparently kaneshiros also focusing a lot on some really weird random other series which is why people are like “you’re writing about the wrong balls!!!” (It’s apparently called like ball girls or something?? I have no idea lowk it’s supposedly really weird from what I’ve seen in the posts I’ve scrolled past)

REAL pause you’re so right abt that it’s giving jjk culling games arc…I remember first reading that and they kept introduce relatively irrelevant (or at least imo irrelevant LMAO) side characters that we barely ever saw again or were rlly just randomly tossed in (im still salty about him never elaborating on Inumakis backstory like bro we literally got everyone except him) SO REAL he should’ve gatekept the ng11 and tbh that would’ve given more opportunities for more bllkers to actually play and evolve like with the ng11 in its like they’re too good that only the top players can keep up but it leaves no room for other people who have potential to evolve or anything like…ig that’s like half in line with bllks idea of like survival of the fittest but idk i personally would’ve enjoyed seeing more characters we alr know get developed instead of having them just be dropped off the face of the planet

Kurona was truly SO random…it makes me wonder if maybe it was just because they thought yuki didn’t fit the popular character trope enough so they shoved kurona in (from what I’ve seen kurona is way more popular than yuki I lowk dk why though) I think we just have the same brain because I literally could not care less about the u20 players (sendous spotlight should’ve just ended in the match showing how the bllkers beat him and went past what Japan had deemed to be their number one striker/ace) that ALSO would’ve given more space do develop of more characters I honestly don’t rlly vibe with how they mixed the teams like that it would’ve been interesting to see u20 as potential rivals maybe but just flat out inserting them into bllk seems weird…like they could’ve held a tournament later on after the whole bllk program to decide who from u20 stays and who else goes I just wish they gave more bllkers the chance to actually train and do shit in bllk (this rant is getting LONG)

HEVDSH it’s ok this is a Barou household not a Kunigami one

You fr just subconsciously had these parallels cooking it’s just embedded into your writing style also WAIT KARASU OLDER BRO you’re onto sth….imagine y/n’s first thought is “your hair kinda reminds me of my cousins/brothers” LMAOO reader having galvantula is fr like me grabbing one super effective pokemon against one elite four to carry me because I never catch pokemon of that type (i fr cannot remember off the top of my head which one it was but wtv) I’m crying the magikarp scam is really funny LMAOOOO

Plot twist pokemon govt is in cahoots w the evil team which is why they’re ass!! Anyways

Nagi’s growlithe rolling in the mud while chigiri and reos pokemon stare as they get groomed is so real (the mc team dynamic >>>>)

I need to go back into our convo and look and what you gave him bc I alr forgot I’m leaving this here as a mental note and I’ll come back to this but FR lowk if we’re following some of the bllk canon dynamics imagine they’re from the same town where the flying type gym is and the wanna hiori has is a product of his parents giving him a like top pedigree ducklett so he can become gym leader and then e4 and champion etc I can imagine him bumping into Karasu working with his reject pokemon and Karasu’s like damn that’s an extraordinary ducklett and hioris like I wish I could just have fun with a bunch of nice pokemon (now I’m imagining the ducklett has an attitude at first like those typical rebellious pokemon and it continues into the swanna phase until some point idk I’m getting too invested into this verse)

Ok that’s funny because I got like 80% of the way through Sun and then stopped playing LMAOO I’m already world building in my head this crossover is too peak…ok but WHO would cook their pokemon poffins I have some ideas but can’t fully pin one person

I WAS JUST THINKING THAT OTOYA COULD USE A CROAGUNK FOR TBAT PURPOSE wait I almost forgot that misty Lowk plays that role before croagunk is actually created?? Guys Tullia Otoya are just misty and Brock

NAGI AND READER IN A PERIOD DRAMA LMFAOOOOOO but REAL gotta Gatekeep to build anticipation (and to also not keep you on the grind like that your to do list would be never ending)

SHDGSHSHS crying I’ll be mentally preparing myself for more wild stories about your rizz and AWEE me fr when I scroll on tumblr and see a response to a long ass ask (our convo)

- Karasu anon

HE IS LITERALLY THE CUTEST SPARKLIEST PRETTIEST MOST ADORABLE PONY EVER literally whenever i get the chance to show him (he’s older and doesn’t leave the property where he lives anymore so we only do the shows that our barn hosts) the judges always tell me how adorable he is like he’s actually perfect (he’s also really lazy so he’s made my legs sooo strong just because of how much i have to push him along 😭) and yes that is in fact horse shit in the middle photo LMAOAO he was kept in his stall overnight so he didn’t get all gross and ruin his braids before the show 😩 his name is cloud (although he also goes by cloudie LMAAOOA that’s what i usually call him because he gives way more cloudie energy than cloud energy yk) and i literally love him sm 🤩 he’s like the polar opposite of the horse i owned in high school (he was an ex racehorse so he was HUGE) but i like not needing a step stool to groom him before my lessons so no complaints here

PLEASEEE i love how expensive cupcakes are otoya’s legacy KFFHSJA i can never walk past those overpriced whole foods cupcakes (not that i ever go to whole foods but ykwim) and not be like damn ik for a fact eita would buy those for me

HAHAHA i think he also has a program on the pokétch in oras like judging contests or smth?? iirc he’s also there in the games judging contests occasionally i just solely remember him from the pokétch but YEAH we’re thinking of the same dude skfhdjsjs

HELP if it makes you feel better i think i also use wc to refer to the world cup in a later paragraph so you weren’t too far off 😭

no because yk hollyhock karasu would definitely be like “no you don’t get it bro she’s lowkey insane” and bllk karasu would just be like “even better 😍” he is NOT going to fumble the bag

STREET SOCCER YUKI WAS SO COOL i almost wish they gave him a more rough and tumble backstory too like maybe he was from a worse area of the country and grew up just playing soccer on the street and getting in trouble until he was scouted for his good looks as a model and that plus his soccer skills were enough for him to move to a better city or something?? and once he escaped his previous situation he learned how to be super polite and kind in order to prove he’s better than his past and deserves a good life just as much as people born to it…it would also add some continuity if he MUST go crazy in NEL like it’s just him reverting to his childhood personality when put in a stressful situation instead of him randomly crashing out at isagi for no reason and then never doing anything again (with this backstory the reason why he’s chill post manshine would be a combo of him respecting isagi as well as doubling down on his efforts to remain calm and composed because the brief lapse made him feel very guilty and ashamed of himself…then an ego awakening that mirrors hiori’s [in an au where he replaces kunigami’s role in isagi’s two gun volley against pxg] is him realizing “wait i kind of NEED to be a bit of an asshole if i want to be a starter and make a true mark on the field” or something along those lines)

LMAOOO no because from what i know literally every other one of kaneshiro’s mangas besides bllk (lowkey including bllk) are batshit insane he’s kind of a weird guy lowkey 😭 honestly he’s doing a pretty good job with bllk though i don’t think it’s shit at all (especially compared to a certain manga that’s about to end atm) just there’s definitely things i would change too!! but at the end of the day it’s just an entertaining manga abt hot soccer freaks so it’s not that deep yk

100% all ng11 players should’ve been left until much later (excepting sae ofc because he’s there to serve a narrative purpose plus he introduces us to the whole ng11 concept) but anyways…as for the u20s agreed they should’ve left them all out to show how blue lock has surpassed them!! then ONLY exception is aiku (not just because of the oaeu he’s genuinely a good player) i would’ve liked to see him disappearing after the bllk vs u20s match (maybe he fucks off to sweden for a vacay or smth) and then when the u20 world cup team is announced he’s on there as he’s the former captain of the u20s as well as an absolutely INSANE defensive player…maybe ego contacts him and is like “ok bro icl you’ve got mad ego even though you’re not a striker wanna join the crew and not give up on soccer for good???” ALTERNATIVELY: it turns out he has dual citizenship so after the old u20 boys are kicked out and their soccer careers are ended or whatever he disappears and then we see him again in a u20 world cup match against sweden!! this could be a match where the aiku vs barou rivalry established in the ln is settled with barou getting his get back 🤩

LMAOAAO ig my internal self knows where home is (nagi) i can’t escape him 😩 and YES THAT’S EXACTLY WHAT I WAS THINKING TOO “my cousin used to use hair products to spike his hair up too 🥹” “tf does that have to do with me 😟⁉️” and then he literally adopts her as his baby sister 😭 it allows for plenty of karasu bonding and affection without him being a second lead and complicating things…also i think he’s going to be the one to find reader w barou’s body after her houndoom kills him so that’s a parallel for sure there ☝🏻 LMAOO no literally like i still remember my first ever pokémon game i could NOT beat the champion for some reason so i literally caught a random haunter, taught it destiny bond, and revived one of my other pokémon so when the champion’s last pokémon beat my haunter i still had one pokémon left and i was able to win DKFHSJSJSN that’s the vibe galvantula gives lowkey (in all honesty that’s why i picked it…i needed smth strong against water types because so many of readers pokémon [like donphan and houndoom] are weak to them but i ALSO wanted something that was strong against dark types because of barou’s all-dark type team and i didn’t want reader to have many basic pokémon which meant all of the fairy types were basically out and that only left bug!! however bug-grass is such a shitty typing because 4x weakness to fire is just 😰 and galvantula is the only bug-electric i think so that’s what she got!! but i have such a clear picture of the final fight with galvantula against barou’s sharpedo bro i wish it could be animated because it would be so beautiful 🤩)

HAHAHA magikarp/gyarados and aegislash are tied for craziest acquisition stories (i’ll talk more about aegislash’s in a sec) but basically a fisherman convinces reader she NEEDS a water type so she’s like “oh word ok what do you have” and he’s like “trust this will evolve into something powerful” and she’s like “aight bet” and gives him a (probably rare) pokémon in exchange for a MAGIKARP (cue karasu screaming at her for ten minutes straight and her being like “no it’ll evolve 🥺” and resident pokémon expert tullia being like “uhhh magikarp are almost impossible to evolve LMAO good luck”)

okay wait that could actually go hard…the pokémon government creating the evil team in order to make themselves look better + make people who have valid criticisms of the system unable to voice those concerns (“you think people shouldn’t be thrown into pokémon training without preparation or assistance purely to survive? YOU MUST BE PART OF EVIL TEAM”) i feel like corruption is touched on but it expanded as much in the anime and games (it is a bit in the manga iirc) it could be a really cool conflict that’s a bit deeper than the typical evil team wants to end the world scenario…it also kinda explains how they were able to find and utilize barou’s body in time despite being an “underground crime organization” that shouldn’t have as much funding as they do 😰 and if we go the murder route it’s also an explanation for how someone as strong as him was killed as well as another reason WHY they murked him (couldn’t have barou as champion because barou cannot be controlled) WAIT and maybe that’s why reo’s dad is champion instead of noel noa — noa is stronger but he believes that there should be changes with the way things are done so the government is like “yeah no way you’re going to be champion” and they literally threaten him into faking a loss when he tries to become the champion because they LOVE mr capitalism mikage being the champion as he’s very easily bribed to do and say exactly what they want???

team mc’s dynamic is SO FUNNYYY especially because the nagireo codependency is nipped in the bud as reader awakens nagi’s desire to battle relatively quickly so they’re all on equal footing (except for the fact that their crew is actually reo + his sugar babies you KNOW he’s paying for everything) they definitely have their own crazy adventures while they’re apart from reader and co too…another scene i can envision is nagi challenging reader to a battle and being like “btw i caught a new pokémon” and reader’s like “oh word 😳⁉️ me too” and she releases her little joltik expecting nagi to pull up w like a zigzagoon or smth else really basic and he just casually tosses out a cleffa (i think the clefable line is canonically from the moon in-verse) so she’s like “er wtf” and from the sidelines chigiri’s just like “yeah idk we were on a mountain and there was a spaceship and all…long story, super boring” meanwhile reader and co are like UM??? and it’s just never elaborated on what exactly happened and how nagi ended up with a literal alien on his team

okay wait karasu and hiori knowing each other from their hometown would actually be hilarious as well because imagine the way the whole fossil arc starts is reader and co find a fossil pokémon (maybe hiori’s amaura/aurorus??) and they’re like WHAT THE FUCK because what even is that and then reader is like “karasu what do we do 😰” and karasu is like “WHY WOULD I KNOW” and reader’s just like “idk you just always seem to know a guy” (kind of like how dads always “know a guy” for no reason) and karasu’s about to argue back when he’s like “wait…i actually DO know a guy 😔” and then they go and find hiori and the fossil arc begins after that…no you’re so real i keep coming up with little details for the verse it’s so FUN

ORDINARILY i would say barou is the poffin baker but for obvious reasons we can’t have that…lowkey yk what would be hilarious is gagamaru doing it 😭 i can imagine him foraging for berries and concocting something that just looks INSANE and no one wants to try it so he’s lowkey a hidden secret but yukimiya swears by him (most popular baker is ness but yukimiya thinks ness’s products are more placebos than anything and insists that reader and co go to gagamaru if they ever need anything because he’ll give them the real unfiltered shit w 0 preservatives and whatnot)

WAIT LOWKEY YES tullia and otoya are exactly like misty and brock (lowkey aiku kinda gives gary oak like he WOULD pull up to research sites in a red corvette with a bunch of random cheerleaders HAHAHA it definitely makes otoya fume too because that should be HIM)

THE PERIOD DRAMA IS BASED OFF OF AEGISLASH’S POKÉDEX ENTRY where they like use hypnosis and manipulation to control people and they used to be used as protectors of royalty in the past?? so basically there’s an abandoned aegislash that really wants a trainer and it senses nagi and reader’s vibes and is like “wait they lowkey could be the ones” so it kidnaps them and puts them in this week long hypnosis where they believe they’ve been isekai’d into a world without pokémon where reader is a princess and nagi is a knight who has to retrieve a magic sword in order to win her hand and they’re like WTF is going on but they decide that the best way to escape will be playing along with the plot (clearly without chigiri reo and tabitullieita there the combined brain cell count is like. two.) so nagi goes on this quest to get the magic sword but then he comes back empty handed because he realizes that the magic sword is actually the sword stuck in the stone #kingarthur in front of the palace so he goes to pull it out but he can’t??? and then he’s going to be killed on the spot for failing and for messing with palace property (it’s actually aegislash mad that he’s not worthy because he did it for selfish reasons) so then reader runs over and manages to pull the sword from the stone in time to stop whoever’s trying to kill nagi…then the crowd goes wild and they’re like all hail the new queen (another aegislash test) but she ignores them and puts the sword away to check on nagi because that’s all she REALLY cares about and aegislash is like “hold on she cooked here she’s like not selfish and is assertive and shit” and then she wakes up in her tent with a pokéball in her hand and tabitullieita are like “hello you’ve been missing for a week???” and she’s like “wtf no i just had a really weird dream but i didn’t actually go anywhere” but then she realizes that the pokéball (which she assumed was houndoom’s since houndoom usually sleeps near her) is actually a new one which means it’s a new pokémon she somehow caught?? so she releases it and tullia’s like “wow an aegislash 😮” but READER freaks out because the aegislash is actually the sword from the “dream”…let’s just say the next rival battle w nagi is a little awkward because he also thought it was a dream and didn’t even have proof it was real until reader quite literally throws the evidence in his face 😶‍🌫️

no because i’ve already done 15 requests for bllk since may and i have 12 more left to do PLUS my own projects so i think having them closed for a bit will be good!! and HAHA i will continue to entertain both fictionally and irl 🫡 our conversations are always lengthy but always entertaining fr wouldn’t trade them for anything!!