#it just didn’t follow through with them very well imo

[aroaessidhe]

2023 reads // twitter thread

Star Eater

fantasy world under religious rule by an order of nuns who practice ritualistic cannibalism to gain magic

one young Sister who’s plagued by visions wants to get out, and ends up caught in the complex politics between factions vying for power and the revolution wanting to get rid of them

[punksocks]

Astrology Observations: No.28

*just based on my observations, only take what resonates

(Sorry it’s been a minute, I got my time back then I got sick- like same day! I’m good now, thank god, but it was absolutely insane and everything has been going on in the world, my God)

-If your moon opposes your ascendant you may be known for making the wrong impressions on people (especially first impressions) at some point in your life

-Not the first time I said this but I feel like Libra Asc tend to need to balance out aspects of their life more bc of their houses having the opposite signs over them.

-On the other hand I feel like Aries asc have a very straightforward, sometimes less complicated world view bc of their houses lining up with their traditional rulers.

-Mars in determemt and fall (Libra, cancer, 12th house) really gives you a finite amount of stamina

-I feel like cancer venus/moons tend to wax the most poetically and romantically about the nostalgia they feel. Even stronger for Venus.

-Men with cancer placements be like: I didn’t know I was manipulating you into being nice to me until it was already happening (lmao oof)

-I noticed Aries and Scorpio Sun men/masc folks can get romanticized a lot, I think this is bc their identity is ruled by mars traditionally, so they tend to be assigned more masculine traits/act their traits out in a more “traditionally” (or even just comfortably) masculine way

-Aqua Sun/asc/venus usually have some features that makes their face really stand out I noticed (unique brow/nose/head shape etc) (idk why I haven’t seen this with moons as much)

-Signs in your 8th house may come off as mysterious or hard to understand

-You may find it really easy to vibe with people that have Sun conjunct your Asc

-I’ve noticed that a lot of Virgo mars may eat like really spicy or punishing foods (especially if the mars is in a fire house)

-Saturn aspecting your big 3 can help you age really well- depending on how well you take care of yourself (extreme example: dick van dyke, he’s almost 100 and he’s still jumping around with so much energy)

-Pisces placements can be like incredibly intelligent and yet still come off as a bit spacey (one of my favorite YouTubers used to head extra credits and he is SO SMART, like just a seriously huge capacity for knowledge but he sounds spacey when he does his chill gameplays and pieces things together unscripted lol)

-Jupiter square/opposition Sun can make you come off as overly pessimistic, it can also make you come off as optimistic at the wrong times (laughing at serious moments, etc)

-Taurus placements are so motivated by food, it’s so real (the amount of times I’ve had a Taurus sun/moon/mars not hear a word I was saying bc they were scoping out a restaurant? Countless lol)

-I notice a lot of rappers & musicians (especially the innovative ones) have major Pisces placements

-Aries moons get emotional fulfillment by winning what they chase after (Aries in big 6 tends to make you go after things in general too imo)

-I noticed sometimes Leo moon can make you a bit self centered, like in the most literal sense, you may have trouble understanding perspectives outside of your own

-Virgos and Geminis and 3rd/6th house placements have great memory but they tend to forget certain aspects. They tend to forget or mix up details. (My ex took like 3 years to remember my middle name beyond the first initial lol god; also, I always remember zodiac signs but not birthdays lol)

-I love how Joe Pera has a cancer Mercury and his comedy is like the coziest comedy I’ve ever heard, he even got his following bc his helping people fall asleep and just talking through his chill podcast (did not expect him to have like the most fire in his chart tho?? Wouldn’t have guessed lol)- Pisces Mercury and Mercury with hard aspects to Neptune probably have a cozy affect on others when they communicate with them too

[gaybatmanenthusiast]

BREWING BONDS (oneshot)

(DRACO MALFOY x MALE READER)

⋆★ word count : 961

⋆★ warnings : Draco is really ooc imo, very sorry but I was super bored and didn’t wanna write him normally 🙂‍↕️

⋆★ summary : Draco and M/N are rivals on and off the quidditch pitch. However, a potions project forces them to work together, leading to an unexpected change in their rivalry

⋆★ extra : can you tell I like time skips?? anyways this is straight DOOKIE but lord my tumblr has been dry…

The Gryffindor versus Slytherin Quidditch matches were always the most anticipated game of the season. The rivalry between the two houses was fierce, and nowhere was it more evident than on the Quidditch pitch. Especially between M/N and Draco Malfoy. They had clashed on and off the field since their first year. M/N, being a chaser for Gryffindor, had always viewed Draco Malfoy, the Slytherin seeker, as a proper twat.

The latest match was no different than any other. The air was thick with tension as the players soared through the sky, the crowd cheering and jeering from the stands. M/N and Draco exchanged heated glares as they passed each other, each determined to win the match for bragging rights.

"Try to keep up, M/N!" Draco called out with a smirk as he flew past, the Slytherin emblem on his robes catching the sunlight.

M/N gritted his teeth and pushed his broom forward, determined not to let Draco outshine him. The game was intense, each move met with a counter-move, and neither willing to back down. By the end of the match, Gryffindor had won by a narrow margin, but M/N felt the familiar burn of Draco's glare on his back as they descended.

"Better luck next time, Malfoy," M/N wiping the sweat from his brow taunted, unable to resist.

Draco sneered. "Enjoy it while it lasts, M/N. We’ll see who’s laughing next time."

The following Monday, Professor Snape announced a new project in Potions class. “You will be paired up for this assignment,” he drawled, his eyes sweeping the room. “And I expect nothing less than perfection.”

M/N listened with half an ear, still feeling smug over the Quidditch match. But his attention snapped back when Snape called out, “M/N, you’ll be working with Mr. Malfoy.”

A collective ripple of whispers and giggles filled the class. M/N shot a glance at Draco, who looked equally displeased. They grudgingly moved to a shared table, their tension noticeable.

"Let’s just get this over with," M/N muttered, pulling out his Potions book.

"Fine by me," Draco snapped, flipping through his own book with a bit more force than necessary.

The project required them to brew a complex potion, which demanded precision and cooperation. Despite their initial reluctance, they sucked it up; the project weighing most of their grade in potions, their competitive seemingly worked well together both trying their hardest to one up the other.

Over the next week, they met in the library or the dungeons to work on their project. Initially, the atmosphere was cold, each interaction laced with sarcasm and thinly veiled insults. But as the weeks went by faster, M/N began to notice things about Draco he hadn’t seen before. The way his brows furrowed in concentration, the elegance of his movements when handling ingredients. M/N found himself admiring Draco’s skill and dedication, his initial animosity slowly giving way to something else.

One afternoon, as they were cleaning up their workstation, Draco unexpectedly opened up. “You’re not as bad at Potions as I thought,” he admitted grudgingly.

M/N raised an eyebrow, surprised by what he thought was a compliment. “Thanks, I think.”

Draco smirked, but there was a hint of something softer in his eyes. “Don’t let it go to your head.”

As the weeks flew by, their interactions grew less hostile and more comfortable. M/N found himself looking forward to their sessions, a feeling that both confused and excited him. One evening, as they were finishing up, M/N’s heart skipped a beat when Draco leaned in closer than usual to examine the potion’s color.

“You’ve got something on your face,” Draco said quietly, reaching out to brush a stray bit of ingredients off M/N’s cheek. The touch was brief, but it sent a shiver down M/N’s spine.

“Thanks,” M/N mumbled, feeling his cheeks heat up. He hoped Draco didn’t notice his blush.

Draco’s gaze lingered for a moment before he stepped back, a thoughtful expression on his face. “We should be done with this potion by next week,” he said, his tone almost… gentle.

“Yeah, looks like it,” M/N replied, trying to steady his racing heart.

That night, M/N lay in bed, staring at the ceiling. His mind was a whirlwind of thoughts and emotions. He couldn’t deny it any longer: he was crushing on Draco Malfoy of all people. The realisation was both exhilarating and terrifying. But mostly terrifying.

The next day, M/N found it harder to concentrate. His thoughts kept drifting to Draco, and he wondered if he felt anything similar. They worked in silence, but it the silence was comfortable and set M/N’s mind at ease

As they finished their potion, Draco looked at M/N with a curious expression. “You’re different than I expected,” he said, almost softly.

M/N’s heart pounded. “Is that a good thing?”

Draco hesitated before nodding. “Yeah, it is.”

The moment hung between them, heavy with possibilities. Before M/N could overthink, he took a deep breath and decided to take a chance. “Draco, I… I’ve enjoyed working with you. More than I thought I would.”

Draco’s eyes widened slightly, and for a second, M/N feared he had misread everything. But then Draco smiled—a genuine, warm smile that made M/N’s heart leap.

“I’ve enjoyed it too, M/N,” Draco admitted, his voice barely above a whisper.

M/N’s breath caught in his throat. “Maybe we don’t have to stop working together,” he suggested, his voice trembling slightly. “Maybe we could… I don’t know, spend more time together? Outside of class?”

Draco looked at him, his expression a mix of surprise and hope. “Are you asking me out, M/N?”

M/N’s face flushed, but he nodded. “Yeah, I guess I am.”

Draco’s smile grew into a smirk, and he took a step closer. “I’d like that.”

[xmissemmax]

So TIT Copenhagen, I have many thoughts and I decided that I would write them here.

We weren’t due to go to Copenhagen but luckily we were hanging out with @kavat recently who convinced us (didn’t take much) and I’m so glad we went.

Firstly, the weather in CPN was so nice, the sun was shining so much and that always makes me feel nice. @calvinahobbes had organised a phannie meet up (you’re the best) and there were about 16 of us altogether having lunch. This is one of my favourite things about phandom, just the people and meeting up with them. It was really nice and people had made crafty things to hand out and ahhh it was so nice.

The show itself, well I went in spoiler free which was hard but well worth it, I had no idea what to expect.

There are sections to the show, I’ll try and remember them if I can and will put them under this read more section so I don’t have a super long post - I’m likely to waffle soz.

- The opening part. The stage design is really nice. There is a good production (a lot like WAD), good lighting and the music is good. It seemed like they had the same people working with them (Ben and James are definitely back). I really liked the build up to the entrance and it gave me goosebumps. Seeing them both on stage together again was so nice, I missed Phil.

- Who are Dan and Phil. This bit was so funny. My face hurt from laughing. The set designs were amazing and anytime they mention the two flats it makes the part of me that wasn’t fooled by them laugh a lot. They seemed to do a lot of putting the dolls on top of each other in sexual poses on purpose. They know what they’re doing 😂

- the ad-lib section maybe was next. I wasn’t too sure on this section but maybe it needs a bit of time to grow. Dan calling Phil Capita£ester though, incredible. Also the audience shouting “cum” and Phil trying to hide it on the screen was soo funny. This part is definitely only going to get stupid things like “piss” “moist” “penis” shouted out much like all the other tours.

- ice berg part. Bloody Philip lying to us 😂😂 - can you believe in the last a sleepless night with Phil he recorded the video at like 8pm and slept through the night (innocent my ass haha). This bit was kinda fun but if you’re gonna let the audience pick the options at least follow what they shouted out (the vegas option is gonna turn into the cake scene for sure)

- the ghost scare part actually did scare me, but it was funny.

- the end part of the first section about doing what the top YouTubers do to be famous, well before the break I was like helloooo what is going on here but the part after the break SO FUCKING GOOD OMG. Dan came right in front of us, it was wild. The whole part being so choreographed the way it was!! The props, their acting, my face again hurt so badly from laughing / cheering etc. Ahhh I can’t wait to see it again it was sooooo good. Phils chest literally I was dead. I grabbed poor Maikes leg about 100x as it was so funny. Phil calling Dan and Cunt, the announcer saying Phil was squashing Dan with his “massive buttocks” omg it was just sooo good.

- Phil playing subway surfers whilst Dan ranted on about his childhood again, nice I guess but rehashed from WAD (sorry) and I wouldn’t be upset if this got cut.

- Phil does his own section which was nice but he was nervous (imo) and I’m sure this will get better as time goes on. It was so sweet what he was saying and he is a genuinely nice guy.

Phandom confessions. Good bit for audience interaction, Sister Daniel and Father Phil. Loved it, loved the outfits, loved the water gun, some of the confessions were very funny. It reminded me a lot of the past tours with the audience participation so I’m glad they have something in there. Dan looks so good in the nun outfit I’m not sorry.

- the ending. Well all night long I kept saying if they don’t do a song it just wouldn’t be right and let’s say they did not disappoint. It was better than I could have imagined. More choreographed moves (which were done wrong but it makes it all that better), the ukulele, the rave time, the lights, the thumping music fuck me it was incredible.

Things that I think will definitely improve with time, let’s not forget this was just day 2:

- their positions on stage, they seemed to be just walking into each other at times, not really sure where to stand or where to go

- Dan yaps a lot and Phil just does filler “yeahs”, I’m sure this is more of a confidence thing in the beginning. We all know Dan is a natural performer and thrives off it.

I am so ready to see it again, sadly it is not coming to the UK until January so we will just have to be patient but I’m so so so glad we have been already. I can’t wait to see how it evolves over the next few months and I’m sure January will be here before we know it.

Also, the trading cards as merch, fucking amazing idea.

Ps. I had such an amazing time hanging out with everyone as always. So grateful to Deps for bringing the best people into my life ❤️

[faroreskiss]

still open for angsty requests? how about this?

reader has a crush on Sky, like they fell fucking downstairs for the guy and it's impossible for them to get back up, the problem? Sun is his partner

i left this request pretty open on purpose, you can make it hurt and comfort, hurt no comfort, you can make it LU or exclusively SkSw, do whatever you want with the prompt!

Hey Anon, this is from almost a year ago, holy shit.

BUT HERE IT IS! I ACTUALLY DID IT!!

It is very angsty (imo), so I hope if anybody sees it, they... enjoy? Not sure what type of warnings I should put on this as it is NOT NSFW, but still a bit heavy.

Also fits a bit with the September vibes I guess.

The Pioneer Ao3

CW: Raw non proof read text, angst, possibly no comfort.

Can be read as LU Sky or SkySw Link. Mention of the Chain but not super relevant. Thank you @beyondtheglowingstars for reminding me and pushing my inspiration for this lol.

You had been away for a couple of weeks, exploring the Surface like the rest of the Skyloft folk. You were one of the pioneers.

Following Link's heroic rescue of Zelda, whom you still couldn't quite believe was the reincarnation of the Goddess Hylia, more and more people had begun their descent to the Surface with the aim of establishing settlements. Of course, it was going to be a relatively long process and the question of “What will happen to the Loftwings?” was still hanging in the air, but that was something to deal with in due time. 

Link and Zelda, your closest friends from the academy. Your childhood friends… Well, everybody was childhood friends in Skyloft, which had a limited area and not a big population, a fact you have found out only recently. In fact even the term was relatively new thanks to Link, who had been recently traveling with eight other “Links”. That was how you learnt in the first place, listening to them whenever they “dropped by”. 

But Link, he was special. Not special in the way other people thought of him as the hero, though. Sure, he was one of the only people, along with Zelda, which you could easily get along with. You both loved pumpkin soup and skydiving. 

Oh he WAS an absolute airhead. He barely practiced and somehow pulled through his knight exam. Though you did think Groose was an absolute ass, he had a point. Link did have it kinda easy. Not that it had ever been a problem.

To be fair to him, there had been a time finally that made him go through the challenge of his life. Most likely traumatized him too.

However, you were also there when he was first united with his Crimson Loftwing. You sneaked out of the academy with him on the night he first pulled the Goddess Sword out, meeting the spirit Fi. You were also there when he had to say goodbye to her. You always listened to him just as he always confided in you.

The way he made you feel without even trying was something you still couldn't comprehend. His full lips, his gentle yet mischievous behavior, and the warmth that radiated from his cerulean eyes, which looked like the clear sky above the Cloud Barrier, always left your heart aflutter. You could see how he changed because of his journey, but his core qualities were still there, only polished. 

Everybody knew he was a hero, a sleepyhead. 

But only you knew what a cute gremlin he was beneath that kind and naive looking surface.

Well, you and Zelda. 

You were supposed to play the Goddess at the 25th year Ceremony. You were so looking forward to it, you wanted to finally tell Link how you felt.

But instead you were recovering from a fever, something that is extremely rare to happen in Skyloft, people simply didn’t get that sick often-if at all. Zelda happily stepped in, which you were extremely bittersweet about.

You sighed.

You were really close with Link but Link and Zelda's connection was undeniable, just like the destinies that intertwined their lives. You often watched from the sidelines as they shared smiles, secrets, and stolen moments. Even when nobody else knew, holy Hylia (which felt weird to say out loud now), probably even before Link knew, you realized they were into each other.

Under other circumstances perhaps, you would have cheered them on. By Hylia, you wanted to do that. Two best friends falling for each other, you cheering them on? Absolutely. 

But it wasn’t that simple.You wanted his arms around you instead.

And then Zelda got kidnapped to the Surface, Link went after her. Of course she was his chosen hero. Each time Link got back from the Surface, during his adventure, he cried on your shoulder at night. You cried with him. 

You both thought you were going to lose Zelda, after all. 

It was an odd feeling, having your heart twisted in the most messed up way possible. You were overjoyed when they got back, yet envy clouded it and despair consumed it.

So you stayed silent. (Un)Lucky for you, Link’s airheadedness expanded to your end as well, there was no way he would know about your feelings. You felt guilty as well, how could you have nurtured those feelings when Zelda got lost, maybe you should have helped more?

At some point Link did disappear again, which was the point you were the one that comforted Zelda. Then Link came back with… uhm… other Links, for a while, which was another long story. 

So what was all this rambling about now?

Oh well. It was all fine now.

____________________________

Link walked to the area they recently (yet suddenly) had to set up, a little garden-like space with a lot of flowers, thanks to Peatrice. He had a few potions he picked up from Bertie and Luv, you liked those. He also had your notebook, you really liked carrying it with you generally, even when you didn’t write on it as frequently as before. He sat down near a tree, and took a look at one of the last entries. 

You wrote about the day when the Chain first arrived at the settlement, Link smiled fondly.

“Crazy stuff. Before getting on the road again to explore the surface, I went back to our settlement to resupply and saw… SO MANY LINKS?! They were similar yet different in other ways. They said they don’t have Loftwings though, how weird.

He turned the page, and read more about what you talked about with the others. It was quite entertaining to see another perspective. He continued:

“...I saw all those other Links, and most of them were really fond of their Zeldas… Even in those other lives, as if it was written on the stars. Except… There was this older fellow with a scar on his eye. He said he married a “farm” girl (still cannot imagine what it is) named Malon. So maybe in another life? Hah… Hopefully Hylia will show me mercy then. Maybe in another life. A life where it would be meant for us instead.”

Rest of the entry was just about your plans on your next tour out on the Surface.

Link froze and started weeping. It was too much. Just too much. How did he not notice?

___________

Yes, you had been away for a few weeks, exploring the Surface.

Except, you barely made it back to the settlement, with an almost gushing wound on your side from a moblin you barely avoided. You were a pioneer, it came with risks of course.

But nobody thought you would be pioneering the settlement’s first graveyard.

________

Gondo from the Scrap Shop was one of the other people that helped a lot, with your gravestone specifically. .

_______

Oh well. It was all “fine” now.

So what was all this rambling about? You thought to yourself, as you watched him cry. You tried hugging him with your non-existent body, yet… 

It will be okay, you whispered. It will be okay.

Link shivered.

[dear-ao3]

Bucket!

you did encourage the camera angles, soooo

this is more opinion but there are some facts in here if you count the mild history of cameras in F1 as facts.

F1’s main problem with cameras (imo) is that they really want to “keep people in the action” which they’ve done by keeping cars in the direct center of your screen all the times, and putting cameras at sections with wider angles of view. This is nice, because the sort of limited camera angles from before made it occasionally difficult to keep track of race action.

HOWEVER

They sort of swapped to this wide, central shot style, instead of implementing it. One thing F1 did really well was letting you feel and understand the power of these cars, even through a TV screen. The camera whipped around to follow Raikkonen absolutely sending his car through Eau Rouge (absolute madlad btw) or the Schumacher brothers chasing each other through that wide right hander in Silverstone. The cars felt fast, they felt close, and a lot of that was due to the very stationary cameras relatively close to the track, and the fact that the operators didn’t seem to feel the need to adjust the zoom angle every microsecond to keep the car perfectly centered on your TVs screen. Like sure, I couldn’t see all the pretty sponsor logos, or maybe I didn’t always catch the honestly fascinating front or rear wings of the 2000s (next up on the fact list?), but that was part of the magic. The cars were screaming past so quickly you could hardly keep them in frame at all.

This started going away in the 2010s. By 2020 it was nearly gone completely, and watching races just felt sort of stagnant: no matter how fast I knew Hamilton and Vettel were throwing themselves through every corner, they always seemed to be moving at the same speed.

But things are starting to change.

New cams like the ones on front wings, on/inside driver helmets, and the saving grace of the mid-season camera development upgrades (lol), the gyro cam. These are SO COOL, and the gyro cam in particular feels FAST, I think because the mildly warped field of view makes the motion blur heavier while still keeping that crisp video quality we’ve come to expect from modern cameras, combined with the defining feature of it rolling with the horizon as the car experienced angle changes itself.

Also just angles in general, like the ones at the Monaco pool chicane and tunnel, and some of the ones at Singapore this year, they just bring back that close-to-the-track action.

Interestingly, if you go back and watch recordings from the 1970s and 80s, you’ll notice they actually had some of these. The onboard cameras back then were genuinely exciting, and I watch them all the time. I’d recommend that any F1 fan do that, even if just to see the evolution of driving styles and cars. 

I think F1 is finally listening to fans saying they liked the more stationary cameras, the wild onboards, stuff like that. You can feel the speed of the cars like back in the 2000’s and early 2010’s.

mildly considering starting a bucket blog ngl but also the anon-bucket-question is fun what do you think

BUCKET!!!!

this is really cool. i had not thought about the camera angles before but now that you mention it....yeah youre fucking RIGHT!!!! and yes the gyro camera was fucking cool i loved it it was wonderful and insane.

alternatively i like sometimes when the camera angle shows one of the cameras on the edge of the screen WHIPPING around to capture the car (tho a shame that we dont get that angle).

10/10 as usual. i patiently await more facts :)

[lilyginnyblackv2]

Hmm, this is interesting to think about:

In Episode 7, we see how Yuzuko and Kazuki first met. 

She found him in a field of hydrangeas during the rainy season, holding an umbrella. He was at a low point here, in the sense of being very badly wounded and in need of physical help, which I am going to assume Yuzuko provided for him.

 We also get the full picture of her death in this week’s episode as well.

It is, once again, the rainy season and she is holding the same umbrella. So Kazuki met her and lost her around the same time of year. This adds even more depth and emotion to Karin’s words to Kazuki:

“So the thought that you only remember her looking sad...”

Since it is highlighting her later sentiment that “memories aren’t prisons.” Kazuki was locking himself in the memory of her death during this time of the year, rather than the memory of his meeting her. 

Now, when it comes to Rei, we don’t know when exactly it was that the two of them met. But it was likely a good bit before the events of Episode 1, since there was a familiarity between the two of them already. The interesting thing here though is that Rei didn’t find Kazuki like Yuzuko did, it seems more like Kazuki found him. This is based off of the February Animedia interview where the producer, Toba says:

Kazuki is very family-oriented; he's the so-called maternal type. The reason why he started living together with Rei is that he saw the complete shambles of Rei's lifestyle, went, 'This won't do!' and started fussing over him.

And we know from Rei’s general personality and the dynamic they have going on that Rei follows Kazuki, not the other way around. So, at his lowest he sought out someone to care for. But when it was just him and Rei, they were still at their lowest, diving deep into their bad habits and styles of living. 

They were both just in survival mode. They weren’t really living though. 

The one who finds Kazuki this time though is Miri. 

She finds him when he is at his lowest, and her existence in his life gives him the motivation to start changing and to start actually living again. This was in the middle of the winter, when everything is dead. And then this little ball of energy and sunshine entered his life. She provided him the same chance at a family that Yuzuko did, though obviously in a very different way than her (through being a daughter as opposed to a romantic partner and wife like Yuzuko).

And he jumped at the chance. We see him accepting her into his life slowly, bit by bit and through various different aspects and areas. But he still has boundaries set up, he still has a part of himself that is holding back, and he still sees Miri as something that was given to him in a way, then something he actively sought out.  At the end of Episode 7, though we see him “find” Miri. 

He chooses to go back to her. 

He also chooses to go back to Rei too. When he looks softly at the end of Episode 7, it is a look directed at both Miri and Rei. He’s proud and happy to see that Rei actually stepped up and took care of Miri. His warm smile is at the thought of him having a true second chance at a family again, without past memories blocking emotional bonds and connections.

And the thing is, this all happens, again, during the rainy season. Kazuki was, imo, seriously contemplating not returning at various points in this episode. But, he decided to go back to this unexpected family instead of losing the chance again, during the rainy season.

Episode 7 was a great leap in Kazuki’s character development. He’s finally starting to allow himself to properly heal, and like how Yuzuko found him when he was at a low point and in bad shape during the rainy season 5 years ago, Kazuki is here now, in the rainy season, actively returning to Rei when Rei is at his lowest point (in terms of caring for Miri). 

It almost feels like Kazuki is being to Rei what Yuzuko was for him, like taking on that same kind of role, though maybe not with the same kind of dynamic, more so just being the helping hand needed when in a bad place. 

That’s lovely in a way, but it does keep Kazuki in a sort of perpetual “giving” position in the relationship that he has with Rei. Since Rei grew up without love, we haven’t really seen him reaching out for it. Not in the same way it seems Yuzuko may have done with Kazuki or in the way that Kazuki seems to instinctually do with Miri or in the way Kazuki has done with Rei now. The gasp at realizing Miri was sick, then the confused stare for a moment, and finally the soft stare when he realized Rei stepped up and everything was fine.. That’s us seeing him making an emotional connection with the both of them at that moment, even if they were both asleep.

Something clicked there and we can see that a proper shift has happened, and that while Kazuki has always been more of an animated personality type than Rei, there is something much more true and genuine about this smile than the ones he has given in the past:

I think it’s because Kazuki has finally found himself and the obvious weight that he was carrying around has lifted. I feel like Kazuki maybe doesn’t feel like he needs to be found anymore and needs to reach out to Rei and Miri like he was doing in the past - to survive and deal with his trauma, but now he just wants to be with them and reach out to them and connect with them (we can see this through him saying he’ll teach them what good French toast actually is).

With Rei, we see that he has literally reached out to Miri in this episode:

And he is reaching out to Kazuki too. Usually Rei just goes with Kazuki’s flow, but he doesn’t actively seek anything out from Kazuki. At the end of this week’s episode though, he is actively seeking some kind of approval from Kazuki in regards to his French toast.

Kazuki may no longer need to be found or reached out to, but I hope we see Rei still try and do that, not so he can continue to take, but so that he can start to give back.

[stellarsturns]

Twisted Hate

part 1

pairing: dom!chris x reader, enemies to lovers.

summary; you and you’re enemy chris, are forced to go on a vacation. Yet, you both don’t hate each other as much as you think.

warnings: Swearing, Angst.

Was originally going to make this a one-shot but, i’ll make it a series if it does well!!

authors note: Hi y’all first fic thats decent imo! I hope you love. Its based on Twisted Hate by Ana Huang. (Not FULLY, just inspired ig)

Nick comes rushing into your room, you look up immediately. “Yes Nick?” You ask curiously.

“Omg, y/n! We are going on vacation and we have an extra ticket would you like to go?” He asks excitedly.

I smile, “Yeah, sure!” I state. Nick grins, “Omg, Okay!! Thank god. Start packing, we leave tomorrow!” Nick then leaves the room, leaving me alone with my thoughts.

** TIME SKIP **

I had finished packing when Nick walks back in, “Alright, so meet us at the airport tomorrow at 6am, okay?” He states, I smile, “Yeah! I finished packing by the way.” I say.

Nick grins “Alright, i’ll leave you get sleep! Night y/n!” He states leaving the room. Once the door shuts, it turns to complete darkness.

** TIME SKIP **

I arrive at the airport right on time, I expected that Matt and Nick didn’t want Chris to come, but I am greeted by the tall brunette, which once he notices I’m here, he has a disgusted expression on his face.

Nick speaks against the silence, “Let’s go check in guys. Cmon!” He waves. We all follow Nick like baby ducklings following the Mama Duck.

Once we check in and start to board the plane, Nick and Matt have seats together, which means I am sitting next to Chris.. Which we all know isn’t gonna go well.

I sit down in the window seat, then a familiar and annoying voice peeps up, “Can you move? I wanted to sit there.” The brunette boy states. I glare at him, “Why should I have to move?” It was now Chris’s turn to glare at me.

“Because I asked you to move.” He snarls. I roll my eyes, standing up so Chris can claim the window seat, forcing me to have the aisle seat.

The plane ride to Malibu was quiet between the two of us. Not one person muttered a sentence.

Nick and Matt were talking to me though which made the flight less boring for me, while Chris was just starring out the window with his foot up his ass.

** TIME SKIP **

When we landed in Malibu, we all took an uber to the hotel we will be staying at. We get the room-cards and we all head up to room “509”

Once we arrive at the room, Nick swipes the room-card and the door opens. The hotel was nicely decorated, the bathroom was very nice and comfortable. Then, we moved to the “beds” where it all went wrong.

“Why the fuck is there only one bed?” Chris states, anger passing through his voice. I glare at the bed in pure disbelief. I am praying I won’t have to share with-

Matt interrupted my thoughts, “Seems like Chris and Y/N will have to share a bed.” He says. Chris looks at Matt in disbelief, “Is this a joke? Are you trying to get us to be friends again or something?” Chris States.

Matt looks at Chris, “No, me and nick are just across the hall. Holler if you need us. Have fun!” He states laughing as they walk away.

I place my suitcase on the bed, Chris sitting in the armchair scrolling through his phone. I begin unpacking my clothes and putting them in the drawers before Chris interrupts the silence, “Don’t take up the drawer space.” He says no emotion showing at all.

I look at him and roll my eyes. “Asshole” I think to myself. I didn’t pack much clothes anyways.

Once I finished unpacking, I grabbed my suitcase and put it out of the way so none of us trip. He totally ignores me until the phone starts ringing.

** Beep Beep **

[ridiasfangirlings]

i feel like it gets glazed over in a lot of the fandom etc but the main 3 of homra are genuinely so well written imo

rewatching r:b makes me think abt how mikoto is geniunely emotionally smart the way he read yamata and his view on fushimi, then again with totsuka i just the way hes written and how you can see the different sides of him

idk i just thought it needed appreciation

To be honest when I first watched K I didn’t like Mikoto very much, I thought he was hard to read and just didn’t have a lot of interest in him. The side materials really helped though, I agree that he’s actually written very well as a character. I like that he’s such a contrast to Munakata, where Munakata saw being King as answering a question for Mikoto it was like equal parts blessing and curse — it both allowed him to protect the people he cares about and gave him a group of people who he wants to protect, but at the same time this power always puts them in danger and Mikoto has to dull himself to keep from losing control. He’s very focused on living freely and doing as he pleases, but it’s not like he’s unaware of the consequences either. One of the things I really like about the King and the Traitor short story (besides, like, all of it) is how when Fushimi berates him for being selfish Mikoto is just like ‘yup,’ like he kinda wanted someone to say that to him and he actually appreciated Fushimi being honest. And in general Mikoto caring about people — especially Fushimi — while looking like he doesn’t is great, in both the aforementioned short story and in LSW when he shows up after Hisui is defeated, I think it’s very clear to literally everyone but Fushimi that Mikoto cares about his well being. Mikoto puts on an image like this violent barbarian but he’s clearly very perceptive in his own way and does understand his people.

Totsuka I think tends to get flattened down by fandom some and it’s a shame because I love the duality of Totsuka. Like on the one hand he’s a tragic cinnamon roll who dies to start the story rolling, but he’s also someone with his own selfishness and flaws and he’s keenly aware of both how other people see him and his own feelings. He’s internalized the idea of himself as someone who ‘doesn’t hold onto anything’ and thinks that seeing Mikoto be King is the only thing he truly wants, and seems to treat it flippantly when Anna says he’ll die if he stays near Mikoto — but when he’s actually dying he regrets, and he’s upset, because he did truly want to stay with everyone. He can switch between being friends with everyone in Homra on equal footing and ‘seeming like he’s watching over them,’ he clearly tries to get Fushimi and Yata to understand each other and make up but he’s also very aware when he’s pushing Fushimi’s buttons and keeps doing it anyway. He can be friends with everyone but also cruel when he wants to be, and he thinks of himself as selfish because he wants Mikoto to be King more than Mikoto himself wants it. My favorite part of Totsuka is that he could have been this perfect innocent angel martyr but he’s actually a much more complex and interesting character than that. 

And of course poor Kusanagi, with his dead friends. Honestly if there’s one complaint I have with the writing for the Homra trio it’s probably in Kusanagi, because he’s great but I don’t think the series follows through with him enough. I’ve complained before about Circle Vision giving the dreams to the wrong people, Homra’s dream should have 100% been Kusanagi’s and taken time to explore his grief, because I feel like the show at large glosses over it. Like that whole movie was everyone else being like ‘yeah so this is a dream’ and basically everyone except Sukuna and Kusanagi accept that. Kusanagi would normally be one to immediately notice it though, it’s just he clearly doesn’t want to because he wants his friends back. I love that Mikoto and Totsuka stay behind with him a bit and drink with him but I really wanted more of that, justice for Kusanagi. I like everything that they do with him before that, especially in Side Red where we get the first hints of it with Kusanagi and Shiotsu talking about ‘when your King crumbles what will you do.’ I think Kusanagi in particular has the hardest role in the trio, because Mikoto’s accepted he’ll likely die eventually due to being a King and I think Totsuka’s always assumed he’d die first, while Kusanagi is the one who really has to accept that he’s going to be the one to survive.

[nightcolorz]

loveee the armand music discussions i feel the need to talk about some of my most armand songs of all time (no mitski this time as we’ve already discussed that ^^)

- notre dame by Paris Paloma (literally any paris paloma song tbh esp the fruits and labour but notre dame isn’t appreciated nearly enough) Very very religious guilt armand, angel symbolism heavy, also very cult era armand in paris. I would put lyrics here but oh its the whole song. its the entire song.

- Abstract (Psychopomp) by Hozier. again impossible to put specific lyrics but the song being about painful memories, getting past traumas with new loves, and heavy symbolism of a hurt animal in the road and the singer feeling kinship with it is just so SO armand imo its impossible to explain. i always think of a deer being the “poor thing in the road” in the song though it is left to interpretation, and armand’s doe eyes very much come to mind with that.

- Spellbound by Siouxsie and the Banshees (Following the footsteps of a rag doll dance, we are entranced, spellbound) Both these lyrics and the intense sound of the song bring to mind Armand’s heavy use of and skill with the spell gift, especially in TVL (for books) and s2ep5 (the show) You do feel entranced by his spells even if you don’t realise it and this song captures it perfectly (also i think S&TB are very armand overall so honourable mentions to Cities in Dust, Arabian Knights and Melt which are all sooo armand as well i just didn’t want to make this so Siouxsie-centric)

- Devils Don’t Fly by Natalia Kills (Angels were never meant to fall, and you were the loveliest of all) This song reminds me so much of 2018 YouTube but oh the lyrics are so very armand. Always called an angel, even referred to it as shorthand, but so torn religiously that he could never be holy, never be more than a demon with what he is and has been through. But being made so young and so beautiful, its very fallen angel of him.

- speaking of angels, Not Strong Enough by boygenuis (Always an angel, never a God, I don’t know why I am the way I am) I don’t feel like i need to explain this one it just Is

- Teen Idle by Marina (I want back my virginity so I can feel infinity, I want to drink until I ache, I want to make a big mistake, I want blood guts and angel cake) & (Adolescence didn’t make sense, a little loss of innocence, the ugly years of being a fool, ain’t youth meant to be beautiful?) Just something about Armand finding his worth through his beauty and physical desire, not to mention the utter horror of having to be a teenager forever, seen as that same sort of obscene beauty forever. The line about drinking and making mistakes feels very Venice-era as well, with Amadeo’s main coping mechanisms being getting blackout drunk on the daily and sleeping with people he knows he shouldn’t because he doesn’t feel like he’s good for anything else or even able to do anything else (which of course also leads to his death eventually)

- Jolene by Dolly Parton (Your beauty is beyond compare, with flaming locks of auburn hair) Definitely sillier but reminds me a lot about how people in the books (especially lestat) wax poetic about how beautiful Armand is and fear it somewhat in a mix of jealousy and insecurity.

- Dominion / Mother Russia by Sisters of Mercy. this one is much more vibe based that lyrical but there is the detail of armand being described as russian in the books and also the lyrics being very repetitive and prayer like (as well as the ‘some say prayers’ line) very much remind me of his repetitive prayers both when young and in the cult

- Swan Upon Leda by Hozier (One more sweet boy to be butchered by men, But the gateway to the world is still outside the reach of them, Would never belong to angels, Had never belonged to men) This song is overall about sexual violence and reproductive rights, but these lyrics deeply remind me of Amadeo’s abuse as a child and young man, and of men feeling a right to him and his body because they found him beautiful, angelic.

I have about a million more but I won’t go on too much. Hope you like my choices and give them a listen if you’re unfamiliar with any (to anyone reading this <3)

AHHHHHHH THANK U FOR THIS IM OBSESSED!!!! GONNA ADD THE ONES THAT ARENT ALREADY ON MY PLAYLIST RNN!!! (I already have got not strong enough, Jolene, devils don’t fly, teen idle, and Notre Dame, we r the same person). U get Armand like no one else mutual kittenbradensgf. Devils don’t fly made me laugh because it’s also on my Armand playlist because 2018 AMV YouTube songs r always so Armand to me 😭 !!! Ur so right the lyrics r so him. angel of darkness is on mine and I can’t stay it’s entirely ironic, lmao. Ugh this is my favorite I’m gonna run in a room and listen to these forever, ur analysis is so good

[the-obnoxious-sibling]

Reading your post about buggy and shanks. I get a lot but why guy like shanks would care about guy like buggy?

Their interactions in marine ford for me were just nostalgia with using buggy for what he needed. The way he talked about him with white beard also seems just nostalgia vibes. He doesn’t even know if he is a pirate or not.

Shanks seems so much more open to others. He parties with Mihawk. Drinks with Whitebeard. His crew interactions. All of them are much better. More honourable. Have courage.

Let’s be honest, buggy is one of the worst people. He is greedy and selfish af.(( I think it’s good he gets some shit from cross guild) I don’t see any reason other than my childhood was with this guy so I have soft spot but nothing special here.

well, if you don’t like buggy, i can see why you’d have trouble imagining what shanks might see in him.

but one of the worst, really? the guy who lied and stole to get a devil fruit is on the same level as the guy who murdered a decades-long ally for a devil fruit? like, yeah, buggy’s greedy and selfish… he’s a pirate. i know most of our heroes are Good And Noble Pirates, but it’s not strange to see pirates in one piece who have more ordinary motives.

imo buggy’s worst trait is not either greed or selfishness, but his two-facedness. he’s got a very very small number of people he actually feels loyalty towards, and everyone else is one bad situation away from getting metaphorically stabbed in the back. he tells himself it’s their fault for thinking they could trust someone like him—or in the case of his impel down followers, that they admire him so much they’d want to die in his place. sometimes he feels bad about it! (he wouldn’t bother trying to justify his actions to himself otherwise!) but self-preservation is always buggy’s highest priority.

he’s made himself into a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy of untrustworthiness, acting like this… and i find it kind of funny, because buggy takes other people at their word even when they’re obviously manipulating him! a very trusting, very untrustworthy guy. these contradictions are a big part of what i like about buggy as a character.

as for cross guild… i might enjoy the shit buggy gets from them more if it was for anything he did on purpose. like, beat him up for making unilateral one piece-hunting announcements, sure! but he didn’t design that boat. it just feels like punishing him for having followers who buy his hype… who mihawk and crocodile are also taking advantage of, so it’s not like they have any real moral high ground there. they’re just embarrassed to ride on the clown boat.

anyway, you aren’t really asking about buggy’s qualities, you’re asking about shanks’ feelings. and as i’ve mentioned a time or two before, we don’t really have any insight into those in present day! my big shanks/buggy post is about their thoughts and feelings in the past, because those do seem a bit more transparent to me, so i feel more comfortable speaking on them.

but present day shanks…

he says natsukashii when whitebeard brings up buggy, which is usually translated as “nostalgic” or “fondly remembered.” he’s not like buggy, when they parted ways he didn’t linger over any hurt feelings and let them grow bitter. that’s good! that’s healthy behavior! and his knowledge of buggy’s current status is kaze no uwasa de mada kaizoku wo yatteru to kiita, “heard a rumor on the wind [he’s] still being a pirate.” shanks has been on the grand line, in the new world, for years, why would he know anything concrete about a minor east blue pirate? he only learns about luffy’s first east blue bounty because mihawk brings the poster to him; i think we can assume shanks doesn’t have the time to search through newspapers from a distant ocean in the hopes of maybe seeing a one-line reference to an old friend.

i do find it amusing that the verb he uses to describe their separation is also used to mean “break up/divorce” but i’m sure you don’t care about that.

as for being more open with others… it’s not like they reunite under good circumstances. ace and whitebeard have just died, along with who knows how many others; massive bloodshed is only being held off by shanks’ presence and attention. shanks uses buggy to keep his old promise with luffy from being broken because that promise matters to shanks but he cannot afford to put in the time himself, he has to keep the marines from starting shit while they sort through their dead and wounded. it’s not exactly a “let’s get a drink and catch up” moment.

and that’s the only time we’ve seen them interact as adults!

claiming that because shanks wasn’t open with buggy in that moment he would never be open with him in another time and place is an ungenerous interpretation of the character. even if you don’t think the chapter 581 cover is canon, one of the few interests we’ve seen the buggy pirate crew and the red-haired pirate crew have in common is their love for a party. (probably taught to their captains by roger back in the day!) why wouldn’t they hang out and get day drunk if the opportunity presented itself?

and saying “my childhood was with this guy” and “nothing special” in the same sentence cracks me up—it’s not like they were in school together with dozens of other kids! buggy is the only other person who went through that experience. everyone else on the oro jackson was an adult, many of them 20-30 years older than those two. their experience of those events was inherently different. sharing an experience like that with one other person is special, even if that’s all there is between you.

and that’s what your question is ultimately about, right? is that nostalgia for their childhood all that exists between shanks and buggy? i don’t know. i don’t think we’ve seen enough of shanks around buggy in present day—or heard any of shanks’ present day thoughts about buggy—to make a definitive claim one way or another.

sure, on paper buggy seems like the kind of person shanks would look down on at best. but he smiles when buggy chews him out for saying hisashiburi (long time no see/it’s been a while) like he didn’t just lie about having a treasure map for buggy. now, maybe that’s just shanks being amused by a tiny yappy dog who’s no real threat to him. maybe it’s a real, sincere affection for this dumbass who still doesn’t see shanks as a threat. or maybe it’s nostalgia for the dumb fights they used to have as kids, with a hint of disbelief at how little buggy has changed.

even if it is, i don’t think that’s all their relationship has to be. an old fond feeling is a fine place to start from, to build something new—if that’s what they both want.

[ferret-the-overseer]

so camera angles in F1 right

In case you don’t know this about me, I’m a mild film/cam passionista, and I have opinions sometimes okay.

F1’s main problem with cameras (imo) is that they really want to “keep people in the action” which they’ve done by keeping cars in the direct center of your screen all the times, and putting cameras at sections with wider angles of view. This is nice, because the sort of limited camera angles from before made it occasionally difficult to keep track of race action.

HOWEVER

They sort of swapped to this wide, central shot style, instead of implementing it. One thing F1 did really well was letting you feel and understand the power of these cars, even through a TV screen. The camera whipped around to follow Raikkonen absolutely sending his car through Eau Rouge (absolute madlad btw) or the Schumacher brothers chasing each other through that wide right hander in Silverstone. The cars felt fast, they felt close, and a lot of that was due to the very stationary cameras relatively close to the track, and the fact that the operators didn’t seem to feel the need to adjust the zoom angle every microsecond to keep the car perfectly centered on your TVs screen. Like sure, I couldn’t see all the pretty sponsor logos, or maybe I didn’t always catch the honestly fascinating front or rear wings of the 2000s (next up on the fact list?), but that was part of the magic. The cars were screaming past so quickly you could hardly keep them in frame at all.

This started going away in the 2010s. By 2020 it was nearly gone completely, and watching races just felt sort of stagnant: no matter how fast I knew Hamilton and Vettel were throwing themselves through every corner, they always seemed to be moving at the same speed.

But things are starting to change.

New cams like the ones on front wings, on/inside driver helmets, and the saving grace of the mid-season camera development upgrades (lol), the gyro cam. These are SO COOL, and the gyro cam in particular feels FAST, I think because the mildly warped field of view makes the motion blur heavier while still keeping that crisp video quality we’ve come to expect from modern cameras, combined with the defining feature of it rolling with the horizon as the car experienced angle changes itself.

Also just angles in general, like the ones at the Monaco pool chicane and tunnel, and some of the ones at Singapore this year, they just bring back that close-to-the-track action.

Interestingly, if you go back and watch recordings from the 1970s and 80s, you’ll notice they actually had some of these. The onboard cameras back then were genuinely exciting, and I watch them all the time. I’d recommend that any F1 fan do that, even if just to see the evolution of driving styles and cars. 

I think F1 is finally listening to fans saying they liked the more stationary cameras, the wild onboards, stuff like that. You can feel the speed of the cars like back in the 2000’s and early 2010’s.

[currantlee]

A few comments on a recent post about RWBY I made got me thinking about something. Basically, I think that Rooster Teeth – and possibly by extension its parent companies – have artificially inflated RWBY as a media project and franchise rather than letting it grow organically. Therefore, it became a bubble that was bound to burst at some point. RWBY might never have been a profitable IP, which might be very relevant for its future.

This is not a problem that arose after Monty Oum‘s passing, I feel like this was already coming before that. Shane Newville‘s open letter (which absolutely comes from an emotional, mentally unwell state of mind, but has had many of its contents confirmed over the years, even beyond being one of the first descriptions of the toxic work environment at Rooster Teeth) makes a few points that support this impression. Whether you agree with the letter or not, you cannot deny that the first two volumes of RWBY, while they also had merch accompanying them and stuff, were not produced following industry standards – starting with the 3D software used, Poser Pro (Monty Oum‘s preferred tool for animation). This led to some really creative animation work that, while not always high-quality by industry-standards, was certainly pushing boundaries. It was creative and it worked for what RWBY was: a passion project created by someone who saw animation as his strongest suit – as his preferred medium to tell a story. I‘ve seen a lot of people claim that Monty Oum wasn‘t a writer, and while that‘s true, I feel like the implication of that statement is always that he couldn‘t tell stories on his own. I don‘t think that‘s true. I think Monty Oum was a great storyteller when it came to expressing certain things through animated action scenes. It‘s just that he wanted to tell a story that included more than just that and a few lines of dialogue – which is where Miles Luna and Kerry Shawcross come in, two at the time very inexperienced writers (who possibly had a fallout with Monty Oum over creative differences later), as well as some talented folks – people like Shane Newville. They were chosen to work on this because Monty Oum acknowledged their potential and liked to work with them, and I feel like that created an environment where they were really allowed to flourish. Volumes 1 and 2 are certainly not flawless, but I feel like I can tell the people making it had fun.

To Rooster Teeth however? I think RWBY (and by extension, Monty Oum as a creator) might have been little more than assets to them. RWBY was first created around a time when RT first tried to be more like, well, an actual company. At least from 2014 onward, but possibly even earlier than that, this included an effort to conform to industry standards more, mostly in order to be able to hire more people – very visibly so in RWBY in the form of the switch to Maya (my opinion about that is, the way they did it didn’t do RWBY any favors at all). I think they saw RWBY and Monty Oum as an opportunity to appear… More important, bigger, than they ever really were.

So what did they do? Again, I kind of have the feeling that they “upscaled” RWBY to a size where it appears like this big thing, but it became far too much to handle. Essentially, they created a mock giant, or a metaphorical quasi-star: something that can appear big from afar, but is actually very small / unstable (and if we go with the quasi-star metaphor, disturbs all of its surroundings). This is what I mean when I say that RWBY was a bubble bound to burst, because no star lives forever – and quasi-stars can only exist under very specific, very unstable conditions (I linked a Kurzgesagt-video in case you’re interested what exactly a quasi-star / black hole star is / was, cosmology is so fascinating IMO). Once these conditions exist no longer, they both fall apart and collapse into the black hole that is their core at the same time.

My main argument for this is that RWBY was essentially a huge money sink for RT (Source: Barbara Dunkelman’s unprofessionalism). They pumped so much money into this… Perhaps even more than they ever made from it. While this isn’t 100% confirmed, it is very much possible (and IMO not exactly unlikely) that RWBY was never profitable — which it might have been if RT hadn’t been so hellbent on creating the illusion of a multi-million-dollar franchise.

This is purely speculative, but this might also be why Volume 10 was never greenlit. We know that Volume 9 was to a significant part funded by Crunchyroll and in fact would not have been possible without them (probably because RT was already out of money at this point). They might have bought into this mock giant, then realized they had pretty much been scammed once Volume 9 aired. This might have led to Crunchyroll’s unwillingness to fund another season for something they knew now was effectively a money sink. Since RT at this point lacked the funds to produce Volume 10 alone and therefore was dependent on investors like Crunchyroll and Warner Brothers… Volume 10 was never greenlit, no matter how hard they attempted to get their fans’ hopes up and start a hashtag campaign on social media (as far as I remember, that was started by Rooster Teeth, not the fans. I don’t have my Twitter account anymore though, so I can’t check). Again though, this is speculation.

The worst part? This refusal of RT to just… Downscale RWBY again, this determination that it had to be this huge franchise… Was all put on the backs of the creatives working on it. We know at this point, from multiple sources, that RWBY and other RT productions have had an incredible amount of crunchtime, working overtime, employee abuse, … going on behind the scenes, which seems to only have gotten worse after Monty Oum’s passing. At the end of the day, all RT does and has ever done is blame others for their incompetence. Like, no shit, I’ve seen fans claim that it’s the FNDM’s job to “keep the show alive” (particularly in the light of #GreenlightVolume10), which… No, that’s not the fans’ job. It’s the job of the company who has been entrusted with this beloved IP, and said company has proven to be utterly incompetent on multiple occasions, which is unfortunate, but a sad reality for all those who love RWBY. And while Rooster Teeth has never directly said such a thing, they have certainly implied it and taken advantage of the existing sentiment within their fanbase, as well as their parasocial relationship with it (again, see #GreenlightVolume10 for reference).

To clarify, I’m not saying none of this would have happened if RT didn’t insist on making RWBY this big franchise (and biting off far more than they could chew in the process) – again, RT was far too notoriously incompetent at everything a company should manage – but I do think it might have played a role. It also isn’t an excuse for all the employee abuse. Again, what they should have done is downsizing the project, not inflating it further and further.

If I’m not somehow completely in the wrong (because IMO this just makes way too much sense to not be at least partially true – but let’s face it, a lot of this is just me connecting dots, and there is always a chance I’m connecting them wrong, even though I don‘t think so), then it kinda blows my mind that there are still people who believe in this scam. Though I will say, emotional attachment can do that to anyone. If anything, I’m honestly sorry that those folks lose something that means so much to them, and that false promises were made to them.

At the end of the day, the story of RWBY (the “franchise”) is twofold. It’s a story about an incredibly talented creator who passed away far too early, who was given the incredible opportunity to make his dream come true. It’s a story of people he trusted taking up his torch, and maybe getting lost in the dark along the way. It’s an inspiring story regardless, and I hope to see it continued at a downsized scale so it can grow organically, preferably in the hands of an indie animation studio like Dillon Goo (🤞)

But it is also a cautionary tale to both creatives and companies who employ them, a tale about false promises, abuse of both employees and fans, as well as how to not run a project. Don’t blow your thing out of proportion too early, don’t create a mock giant / metaphorical quasi-star. Let your ideas and projects grow and flourish organically and sincerely.

[year2000electronics]

do you have any tips or suggestions for someone wanting to make their own oc story? your ocs and their stories are so insanely cool but i have no idea where i’d even begin to make one!

also happy y2kvr-versary ! late i know but it was still the ask blog that caused me to follow you and i’ve just stuck around for your other content after. :)

HMMMM lemme just spill a bunch of my thoughts all at once, this is just some stuff i personally like doing with my own oc stories! by no means is this a comprehensive list and i am not a professional!

1. accept the fact that you’re probably going to need minor/side characters. of course that isn’t always the case, there are story types that only focus on a handful of characters, but let’s use the reckoning as an example: even though i love all the characters there dearly, it’s about sinclair and his donning and subsequent subverting of the “mythological hero” mantle by taking on the vices’ challenge. montez and duncan, the other two archangels, are there to serve as a secondary antagonist in holy orders and bring some more life to the story’s world respectively, and That’s Okay. recognizing that not all your characters are gonna be the most specialest boys is a great place to start with structuring an oc story imo!

2. KEEP AT IT. the reckoning as it exists now didn’t truly come together until 2020, which is when the ask blog was made. cardine (the city the vices reside in) is such a key, important concept that drives the story along and the reckoning wouldn’t be nearly as good without it, and that only got introduced in one of the final drafts pre-ask blog!! reworks, practice with laying out the events, thinking and re-thinking of stuff and spending years with it is really good. it’s healthy. i mean a lot of great films and tv get ‘saved’ at the last minute from being terrible by one terrible concept being scrapped so revising and not being afraid to change things is your best friend

3. learn some rules. i’m of the firm belief that storytelling should be an all-access hobby for everyone, so you don’t have to read all of save the cat and then write out a full script or anything, but like. turn on a movie you like, or read a book you love. think about what they’re doing to convey primary themes to you. pick out the themes, actually, that’s good too. being able to pick up on themes that aren’t just being stated to you as if it’s dialogue from sonic heroes is a great teacher on how to subtly weave those themes into your story

4. don’t be afraid to break those rules! a lot of that stuff is great to pick up but at the same time they’re YOUR characters, and if you find yourself getting bored by playing too “by the book”, nobody said you can’t change how things work. for example, a lot of my oc stories have “villain protagonists” because i just really connect with the way ‘villains’ present themselves in media. if you find yourself fixating on a side character and brushing your main character aside? screw it! you can just make the story about them! what if a 7/11 clerk went on an adventure instead of the main guy!!

5. INSPIRATION IS YOUR FRIEND. WEAR IT ON YOUR SLEEVE. i don’t mean you have to publicly disclose every single thing you were inspired by, but the amazing digital circus is REALLY big right now, and gooseworx has told people IHNMAIMS and the raggedy ann movie were big inspos and she clearly loves those things because they uplift the work higher! (plus it gave people a new appreciation for those things) and, imo, understanding what inspires you and celebrating it is a lot better of a mindset than going into something out of sheer spite (like you’ll see a lot of people online making very inflammatory “i alone could fix a piece of media that had to go through an entire writer’s room as well as corporate mandates, gosh why doesn’t everyone just Make Things Good?” type posts on social media, and i find myself straying more and more away from that). best example i can think of are all those very ill-fated “original alien stories” that su criticals made back in the day that were even more confusing than the gems and everyone had to pretend that “of course it makes more sense for the aliens to be flowers, gosh, why didn’t rebecca sugar think of this? we’re so smart”. my point is hate and shame can fizzle out quickly but creativity is forever

6. and of course, always make sure you’re actually having a good experience with the process. fun, catharsis, importance, etc. if it sucks, you can literally hit the bricks. i say that with experience because before my original superhero story existed (iris of the storm), there was another (problem students). it was dormant as a story for a really long time because i had accidentally made a superhero story without any of the superhero tropes i loved, but i couldn’t just… delete it all! OH WAIT. YES I COULD. i started it all over and got rid of ocs that i was glad i made but don’t need anymore, and i’ve never been happier cos iris of the storm is actually fun for me.

BUT YEAH THATS IT. thumbs up

[daszombes]

i have zero idea how this ask thing works but hello !!

🫵you,, you have knowledge...on twisting roads,,,

this question has been bouncing around my head for an entire year now that he's turned 1, so i must ask you. this is very important to me.., (i like concepts like this. i am oddly weird)

in the animation bit of his log, TR is animated falling to the floor and breathing heavily (or doing a motion similar to such) as he looks up at the red holograms. my question is if him being this human/organic is true (i always thought so because it was greenlit by you—erm i mean daszombes). and if so, i've always wondered from where he breathes from. hidden vents near his neck? from the creases inbetween robotic part segments? is his lower face area made of some weird material and there’s a system hooked up behind it?? through his skin—pores even?? another some other way??? some of my ocs have little holes near the bottom of their antennae.,,

TR talks with a speaker ofc (maybe??), but he also sighs. and after the nerves grow out of his antennae the following logs get pained and kinda breathy??? that detail was probably to emphasize the agony but it didn’t seem like he did it before. my brain is doing somersaults thinking about the logic and how and why TR would breathe. how organic is he? golly does he have a little beating heart?? blue or red or some other color of blood?? is his skin silicon or flesh? a nervous system overriding can’t *give* you a respiratory system…???

if he doesn’t breathe then are you open to fan interpretations of him doing so? i understand there could be a whole ‘nother route of him just replicating the sound to just be more human-feeling, though.

sorry,,, i get really obsessed over concepts like this 👉👈💦!! i think its fun to write and i have a ton of ocs who breathe and stuff. makes em feel more human. and its fun to imagine. apologies for the mountain of words aha, i hope ur doin well!! 💛

IMO the iterators were programmed with a lot of basic instinctual behaviors from the ancients, simple things like how to use their hands or how to stand upright were sampled from ancient biology I'd imagine considering iterators are humanoid.

TR displays a lot of human-like mannerisms with the falling to the ground stuff, the way I explain it (besides just the classic "cuz its cool" which is the actual reason) was that the pain responses are rare for an iterator to experience, so they react like a human, clutching their abdomens despite that not helping at all, attempting to breathe despite not being able to, things like that. Of course, there is always the option that iterators do just breathe because they need to breathe, which is entirely possible.

I personally think the former option is cooler so it's what I'm going with, but also like... they could just breathe because they gotta breathe. In which case if they did have to breathe I would give them a small screen or series of holes or spiracles along the neck or jawline. I like iterators being insect-like so spiracles are kickass.

[supercalime]

i heard about the whole jatp drama, and i totally get your worries in that regard 😭 sooo often a show has something great going for itself, just for the creators to fuck up so badly that it's almost unfathomable sksksk (also looking at the umbrella academy season 4 disaster). gotta say that at this point, i think i will leave 911 behind fr if bucktommy aren't together anymore. i am out with one foot simply because i only watch certain storylines while skipping others, some characters haven't interested or excited me in literal years. but i love buck. after so many years of watching him try to find real happiness, and with the show slowly reaching a point where imo it's seriously time to wrap it up very soon, i cannot imagine that they will manage to strike gold the way they did with bucktommy ever again. tommy is the first love interest of buck that they actually tried to integrate into the world and the firefam. tommy got the seal of approval, we see buck seemingly finally reach that point in life he was searching for. making him go through ANOTHER breakup just to introduce ANOTHER love interest, nullifying all that bucktommy has established? there is a limit for how often you can press the reset button, and we have reached it with buck a long time ago. let the man finally have something else to work towards. we need a breath of fresh air in here. i am optimistic about s8, and i will live no matter what happenes, but i think that would be my final straw to disconnect from 911 amd canon buck ngl 🤔 fingers crossed that bucktommy is alive and well because it's got sm potential!! 🙌

Couldn’t agree more bestie!

Tbf my reaction to the jatp bs is on me haha. Everything was more intense in 2020/2021 for obvious reasons so it wasn’t surprising for me to have latched on to a tv show and relying on it for my mental well being. But all that bullshit made me learn to change my mindset and behavior on how to interact with media and fandom, which is to have the bar so low it’s in hell.

Anyway, back to 911. I wouldn’t blame you for stopping to watch the show at any point if it’s not interesting any more. I’m not even a fan of this one. I saw bits and pieces throughout the years as one tends to do with procedurals and didn’t want to have my experience tainted with the fanon ship that shall not be named. In fact, I’ve followed lone star from the beginning and I think I still prefer it over the og.

Now onto buck and his relationships. I completely agree with what you said about hitting the reset button over and over. Procedurals tend to stall instead of committing to a solid change unless they get repetitive and/or write themselves into a corner (which both apply to buck here). So yeah, it would be a disservice to bucks character if he yet again goes through another breakup and the cycle keeps going, specially since tommy was pretty well received as his LI unlike all the other ones that weren’t meant to last from the beginning (Abby, Ali), were the wrong person for him (Taylor) or were forced down our throats (Natalia - there was so much telling and not showing how “right” their relationship was, it’s embarrassing).

So, unless there’s outside factors preventing tommy to come back and stay for good (contracts, conflicting schedules, etc), it makes no sense for bucktommy to not continue on the path they are going.

I want bucktommy to thrive, but I won’t hold my breath waiting just yet. If they are broken up or eventually will break up (which I must emphasize I do not want cause I ship them with all my heart) I might quit the show as well. Buck and Tommy were a breath of fresh air and I would love to see what could happen to them if we are lucky enough to see their romance continue