#it’s a balancing act between liking the characters and despising them for what they do you know I assume most watch it from that viewpoint

[concoulor]

I’m going to have extremely mixed feelings if he does end up fucking that fascist because roman could pick literally any other person in the world grindr is free but their dynamic is really interesting to watch & could further our understanding of roman’s sexuality

[necrotic-nephilim]

for the ask game, an AU where (somehow…) jason and tim (begrudgingly) team up in the search for a hero/battle for the cowl era (either when jason says tim should work with him on the gang stuff or when batman jason asks tim to be his robin) :]

for the ask game!

god, Search For A Hero my beloved. for the Search For A Hero version of their team-up, I think I'd write it something like this

I think the biggest reason Tim says no when Jason asks him is Jason asks Tim too early in the arc. as the storyline develops, Tim gets more and more desperate to best Ulysses, which is what pushes him to make the mistake that gets Ulysses' siblings killed. he's in a tight spot and he misjudges the situation. (i think the guilt he carries from that moment is one of the biggest inciting incidents for becoming Red Robin) so, i'd introduce Jason to the plot just a little later. just as Tim is on the edge of desperation. Tim isn't entirely adverse to working with villains if he thinks he can stay on top of them. so instead of sending Jason to prison, i think if Jason came to Tim at the right time, Tim would begrudging accept Jason's help

part of Tim's plan would be leveraging Jason's power with the mafia/mob scene in Gotham. they'd agree that topping the gangs would just cause a power vacuum (i'm pretty sure that's actually addressed in SFAH but i could be misremembering) so it's more about a balancing act, which is where Jason thrives. Tim is right on the cusp of being willing to do more morally questionable things, so it'd be a fun internal war for him to second-guess himself at every turn.

there would be such a delightful lack of trust in their partnerships. TIm has *zero* reason to trust Jason, and while Jason likes Tim enough, i don't think he's naive enough to put any trust in Tim. so there'd be moments where they don't fill each other in on aspects of the plan. Jason kills people behind Tim's back, Tim keys in his cop friend behind Jason's back. it builds the tension between them with a lot of hot arguments that get more and more charged.

the jealousy. there would just have to be a scene where Jason gets wildly jealous over Ulysses' complex over Tim. Ulysses tries so hard to pit himself as like, Tim's biggest adversary, his opposite. and Jason would *despise* that. sure, Jason is working with Tim, but part of the fun is that they're still enemies as they do it. i think it'd be sort of fun to have the moment where Ulysses blows Tim up be something Jason witnesses and he raises unholy hell about. because if anyone is going to kill Tim Drake, it's going to be him. and that angry possessiveness is what makes the romantic/sexual tension something neither of them can ignore anymore.

Tim deciding to put on the Red Robin suit to fight Ulysses would be where Jason just. goes full tilt possessive "he's mine i marked him that's my suit. see. mine. i said so." and Tim would push back but. what ground does he have to stand on bc he could've picked any suit with any cowl to protect his head after the blast, but he did choose Jason's. it was his own open invitation to Jason in a way. and well. they fuck nasty about it. and then Damian becomes Robin, so why not Tim keep the suit and just maybe, keep Jason in his back pocket.

and!! for the Battle for the Cowl version. man on one hand i love "Tim accepts Jason's offer to be his Robin" fics but i feel they lack a bite to them, so this is personally how i would try to pull it off, while being relatively in character.

so the biggest thing for me is, TIm agrees to be Jason's Robin not because he trusts or likes Jason, but for the same reasons he became Robin in the first place: to keep Batman stable. being Jason's Robin isn't about wanting to work with Jason, it would be Tim knowing there's no world Jason is ever going to stop and seeing Jason slowly tip over the edge of madness and well. if Tim was self-sacrificial enough to do it for Bruce and attempt to do it for Jean-Paul, he can do it for Jason.

him agreeing would i think startle Jason. like, Jason's offer was never particularly serious because he's at the point he knows Tim wants nothing to do with him. so when Tim says yes it sort of. snaps Jason out of the rage BftC puts him in. he's so startled but enticed by the thought, he willingly agrees to stipulations Tim sets, like no murder. like even if just to see where this goes, Jason jumps on the chance.

i'd really want to keep Dick and Damian as Batman and Robin, and the weird divide that would exist with Dick/Damian and Jason/Tim both running around as Batman/Robin and how off kilter that puts Gotham. like Gotham is so baffled by it, it actually makes criminals easier to handle. because they have no clue if they're getting the Batman who needs Robin to keep him in line, or the Robin who needs Batman to keep him in line. people know there's two Batmans, two Robins and no one knows quite what to do with that information. who's the "real" Batman? who's the "real" Robin? and on the personal level, the divide between Dick and Tim would be unmistakable. Dick would know what Tim's doing and try to convince him Jason is a lost cause bc well, Dick at this point *really* believes Jason is a lost fucking cause. So Dick's genuine care and concern for Tim just drives a further wedge between them.

i think there'd need to be a scene where Tim flat out asks if Jason even *wants* to be Batman. in a sort of attempt to slowly ween Jason off of being Batman, but also because i don't think Jason ever really wants to be Batman, he just wants Batman to be what his vision of justice is. and it'd be the first real heart to heart they have, discussing the legacy of the Robin and Batman mantles and how it's affected them. it'd be heated, but it'd be their first real conversation as just. Jason and Tim.

to me, i think the end goal of this AU would be Tim successfully "taming" Jason, and not in like a soft way, but in like a manipulative way, where even Jason knows that's what Tim is doing, but he just goes along with it because it's the first real human connection he's had in a while. also, i would work in Scarlet, Jason's sidekick in Batman & Robin (2009) as like. a pseudo daughter figure for them to help Jason find his humanity a bit. so it's not just Tim as Jason's rock, but also this misguided girl they'd both try to help. and well, then they ride into the sunset and all that, but still have a complicated, toxic dynamic they're both aware is unhealthy, but as balanced as it can be.

[demento-mori]

Currently partway through Act 2 (i think im on loop 5 or 6?) so here are some more of my thoughts so far. (I might do one of these for each Act, depending on how lengthy/significant each one is.)

The way the different plotlines/sidequests with the various towsnpeople progresses throughout each loop as you learn more about them it a very cool and innovative use of the timeloop mechanic! I feel like its a very good way to avoid the loops from becoming too repetitive and to give the player a sense of progress.

Ahhh the game is turning one of my most despised turn-based rpg features against me in such a clever way that I cant even be mad about it. See, it really annoys me in rpgs when one character gets knocked out in battle and so doesn't gain experience from that battle, leading to them becoming underlevelled, leading to them getting knocked out more in battle and so it becomes a vicious cycle (this is part of why i havent finished omori yet). The game is kinda doing the inverse of this, with Siffrin being the ONLY one consistently gaining experience due to the loops. Its a simple but effective way to show the effect the loops are having on them and the growing divide it seems to be creating between him and the rest of the party.

Adding on to the last point, I appreciate how the game allows you to keep new weapons for the party between loops as a means of balancing out the experience issue. Same thing with memories. Again, its a simple but effective solution.

I also really appreciate the balance there is between the town exploration and combat sections. It does a really great job at preventing either from becoming tedious or repetitive, which is a common pitfall for timeloop based games. (I also say this as someone who really dislikes turn-based rpg combat, and gets fatigued from it easily even in games I like)

In terms of story and character progression, I cant help but notice how Siffrin is starting to become a little... disconnected from the party as a natural result of the timeloops. Like, obviously you dont want to listen to the same dialogue or explain yourself to the party in every loop, but imagine it from the party's end when Siffrin suddenly stops communicating with them, doing things they shouldn't know how to do with no explaination. I can't imagine its any good for Siffrin either, becoming more isolated from their party and taking on all the responsibility by themself. I can't help but feel like this is going to have consequences down the line......

I also died in combat for the first time in my previous loop and...... siffrin...... buddy 😰😰😰.............. youre scaring me here bestie this is not a healthy mindset to have...........

(Potential spoilers with this one) Something else i noticed characterisation-wise is in regards to Loop. When speaking to Siffrin about the other party members, they always refer to them in a very detatched manner. "Your Housemaiden", "Your Researcher". Its notable knowing what I know about Loop and it makes me wonder even more what the fuck happened to them. It strangely reminds me of Flowey from Undertale in a way. Someone who is in the same meta situation as the player character, who ostensibly should also have an attatchment to the other characters in the story the same way you do (and likely did at some point in the past), but seems to have become detatched and jaded from their experiences with the "game". Floweys my favourite undertale character as well, so im fascinated to find out more about Loop and what led them here.

[cometomecosette]

"Les Misérables" musical character interpretations: Javert

Next in my series of characterization comparisons: Javert.

These descriptions are all based on performances of the role that I've seen, either in person or filmed. They can also be combined with each other to create more characterizations: for example, I think Earl Carpenter's excellent Javert struck a balance between the Heart of Stone and the Firebrand, with hints of the Neurotic here and there. I've only seen one Dutiful Officer, though – we all know who – and I'm not sure if that portrayal would work onstage or if it requires the subtlety of film acting.

By the way, I've only attributed a sarcastic sense of humor to the Neurotic because that's what I've seen. In theory, any type of Javert could have that quality, but in my experience, the most sarcastic Javerts have also been the most neurotic and mentally unstable by the end. Whether this is a general rule or not I don't know.

The Heart of Stone

This Javert embodies the hard, cold, unbending nature of the law. He stands with perfect, rigid posture and makes no unnecessary movement. His face is generally emotionless too, except to convey an icy disdain. His entire body and voice radiate sternness, discipline, dignity, and iron-clad dedication to his duty. Rarely will he use physical intimidation or threats of violence – his baton is usually tucked firmly at his side, only raised when necessary – but his hard, withering stare and cutting tone of voice are enough to make anyone except Jean Valjean submit to his will. Lawbreakers barely register as human beings to him: they’re simply dirt to be swept off the street. Only Valjean comes to matter personally for his elusiveness. Yet even then, we sense that he would hunt any other convict just as relentlessly, and that he despises Valjean less as a person than as a symbol of crime, just as he himself seems almost more like a symbol of pitiless law than a human being. This isn’t to say that he’s too stoic and detached to be fierce: in moments like “Confrontation,” he has no lack of ferocity. But it’s a hard fierceness, like the sharpness of an icicle. Even in anger, he never loses control of himself, but is deliberate, decisive, and stony. That is, until Valjean shatters his worldview by sparing his life. At this point, we realize that this Javert is all too human after all, as despite his efforts to fight it, he spirals into confusion, helpless rage, and despair. It’s particularly shocking and poignant to see this Javert fall apart, because he was such a block of granite, who once seemed as if he would never crumble.

The Firebrand

This Javert’s defining trait is anger. He often – though not always – tends to be younger than the Heart of Stone, with the fiery energy of youth and with the wounds of his childhood as the son of criminals still raw. In the Prologue, his “No!” in response to Valjean’s “Yes, it means I’m free!” will likely be an indignant shout (rather than, say, a quiet, disdainful sneer), and if Valjean is especially insolent, he might give him hard blow with his baton. Or else he might not: he might have a controlled, rigid veneer that superficially resembles the Heart of Stone. But whether his fire is contained or wild, we constantly see it burning. He shows utter contempt for every lawbreaker and disgust when they try to beg for mercy, and he typically handles them all in a more aggressive, physical manner than other Javerts do, with free use of his baton for intimidation. His hunting of Valjean is clearly not just dedication to the law, but a quest for revenge against the man he considers his greatest challenge. Their mutual hostility is fiercely personal. His barricade scenes are fierce too, with the students likely needing to restrain him from attacking Enjolras or Gavroche after he’s exposed as a spy. The first stanzas of “Javert’s Suicide” will naturally blaze with fury too. But for the first time in his life, his anger proves futile. Then at last, it dissolves, and more vulnerable emotions consume him: childlike fear, desperation, maybe even tears. To describe just how Valjean’s mercy breaks him, we might recall this quote from Man of La Mancha: “Blows and abuse I can take and give back again. Tenderness I cannot bear.”

The Neurotic

This Javert’s whole journey is a slow descent into madness. At first, he seems like a Heart of Stone: cold, stern, efficient. In his flinty calm, he might even display a sarcastic sense of humor at times. But during “The Runaway Cart,” the cracks start to appear. He’ll convey a quiet yet chilling sense of anger that Jean Valjean has eluded him for so long, and of subtly sadistic pleasure that he’s finally been caught. Then when Monsieur Madeleine, the mayor whom he’s deferred to and obeyed, reveals himself as the real Valjean, something snaps within him. In “Confrontation,” this Javert will be frenzied, animalistic, nearly crazed in his joy at having Valjean in his clutches and then rage when he resists arrest; when they fight at the end, he’ll likely try to brutally beat Valjean, not caring if he takes him away alive or dead. When we meet him again in Paris, nine more years of vain searching will have done no favors for his mental health. This Javert’s rendition of “Stars” isn’t a firm statement of belief, but an anxious, desperate attempt to assure himself that the law is “the way of the Lord” and will prevail. He looks to the stars for comfort; their stability soothes his increasingly unstable mind. In the barricade scenes, he shows increasingly ferocious rage, by now much more like a Firebrand Javert than the calm, sarcastic Heart of Stone he once seemed to be. And when the object of his obsessive hatred spares his life, a total breakdown occurs. His suicide soliloquy is a display of wild-eyed, body-contorting, shuddering insanity, both frightening and pitiful. Yet this breakdown is no shock to us; we will have seen it coming long ago.

The Dutiful Officer

When Valjean sings “You’ve done your duty, nothing more” to this Javert, the audience will be more inclined than usual to agree with him. This inspector is neither icy, nor fiery, nor neurotic, but an ordinary policeman we might meet every day, simply dedicated to his job. While of course he’s stern, unbending in matters of the law, and willing to use intimidation or violence when necessary, he’s a reserved man who rarely gets angry and whose usual demeanor is of dutiful stoicism, not fierceness, sarcasm, or rigidity. Though he disdains lawbreakers, he hasn’t fully lost sight of their humanity and is sometimes willing to hear them out, though their words never move him to mercy. Nor does Jean Valjean seem to be a particular object of his obsession: like his more imposing cousin the Heart of Stone Javert, he would hunt any other convict just as doggedly. The deaths of the revolutionaries don’t leave him unmoved either. Rather than just searching for Valjean after the barricade falls, he’ll survey the students’ bodies with quiet, grim horror, and be especially shaken when he finds Gavroche’s body. At this point, we’ll sense that Valjean’s earlier mercy has opened his eyes to all the law’s injustice, and that as a result, the slaughter at the barricades becomes essential to shattering his faith. Also unique to this Javert is his air of quiet thoughtfulness. There’s no epic breakdown in “Javert’s Suicide”: it’s an anguished yet reflective, intimate moment, where he quietly mulls over his torments and ultimately finds no logical choice but to die. He’s a less dramatic Javert than others, but of all Javerts, he’s the one who most clearly isn’t a villain.

More comparisons to come!

[optiwashere]

How do you manage to write smut that's like, actually arousing? What's the secret?

Well, first of all thank you! I'm glad you enjoy it, I really am. Happy to hear from you here as well 💜

Also, I'll let you in on my secret — I can't stand almost anything I write after it's posted. I see nothing but the flaws, grammatical choices, and technical foibles. This extends triple, quadruple, to smut. So if you're feeling the same kinda way, that your writing feels somehow off, then just know you're not alone.

I could give some pointers, but I don't really know how much benefit anyone will get hearing these from me of all people. But in my opinion it's a lot of the non-smut aspects that highlight the smut and make it shine. So here ya go.

Keep it in-character. I'm not out here talking as an authority on anyone's characterization, nor am I saying I'm some master of it and there are plenty of people out there with differing opinions, so take this with a colossal mountain of salt. But you should focus on making the voices, internal thoughts, and prose in keeping with the POV character. This is something called "POV control" and it's a very useful skill. Be able to flow in and out of a character's POV as the need arises. How Shadowheart interacts with sex is very different from Karlach is different from Orin, for example.

Strong focus on dialogue. This is a sorta addendum to the first point. Characters shouldn't suddenly turn silent when they're having sex. That is, unless that's the point of the story! They should also be speaking in-character even (or especially) during sex. Also, "porn dialogue" is something that gets brought up a lot in writing, and I think we all know it when we read it. That being said, people in the real world do say things during sex that, out of context, are hilarious. So it's a balancing act.

Fitting descriptions. This is actually one of the more important ones! If a scene is very romantic and meant to be light and fluffy, maybe avoid words for genitals altogether and focus entirely on simple visual aesthetics (how moonlight plays on a body, to give an example). If it's meant to be rough and focused on bodies or the mechanics of the scene, ham it up on those words. This also isn't a binary. Things flow back and forth all the time.

Firm language. I don't mean, like, power dynamics "firm." I'm talking about a willingness to use the words that fit the descriptions and sticking to it. Some people despise certain words, but other people will find the alternatives hilarious and completely tone-breaking. Find the words you like and stick to them; consistency gives your voice strength.

Don't try to appease everybody. You just can't. You have to write what you personally enjoy reading/writing/doing/thinking about, and go with it. If you try to cater to everyone's whims with any of the above, you'll wind up with a beige platter of nothingness. That doesn't mean you can't explore other tones or flavors, but don't try to do too much in one story.

Focus on emotions. Emotions could mean anything from love to lust to anxiety to fear to uncertainty and so on and so forth. My strategy is to center a fic on a theme/emotion that resonates with the characters involved and then I explore the smut around that central point. Revisit the idea between the action. Show how the characters' feelings around the theme change or how they're reaffirmed.

[ludinusdaleth]

1 5 and 8 for Astrid Becke :)

1. Why do you like or dislike this character?

i admit i was honestly at first, terrified by her. she and the blumentrio reminded me deeply of my own past traumas. i didnt want to watch episodes with her in them. and then.... i did, and my heart melted. i shouldnt have feared her; she was like me. shes like a sister i feel i need to protect & comfort. i love her complex trauma and the tragedy of her balancing act between caleb and the cerberus assembly, ambition vs vengeance vs love.

5. What's the first song that comes to mind when you think about them?

im once again going to promote one of my cr playlists because i have one for her. i think a few songs that really hit about her would be "we have it all" by pim stones (general scourger/cerberus assembly song), "little soldiers" & "the moon will sing" by the crane wives (blumentrio regrets), and "marshal dear" by savages (her anger toward trent she had to contain for so long).

8. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you despise?

i hated how much people despised her when c2 aired, when they adored essek at the same time. i feel like a few people want to understand her nuance now, but that was not the case circa 2021. she was silently screaming for help (and in some ways, still is) and all people saw at the time was her ambition.

thank you 💙

[soo-won]

Hello!! I'm new to the Akayona fandom. I love fantasy, military, and historical, so my friend referred me to read this manga. I immediately fell in love with Su-won (Soo-won?) and then his advisor (sorry I can't remember his name…I always call him Su-won's advisor) I saw your posts, and they are all great!

I have a feeling that people in this fandom don't think like me. I mean I feel like people blame Su-won and his advisor so much, though they were just doing the best for their country. My heart is broken because I've been loving and respecting Su-won from the beginning. I don't get why the characters who care for their country with their lives are portrayed as the "villain." Their behaviors, to me, are easy to understand. There were many kings, emperors, and counselors in Chinese history who acted like that.

The main characters seem to care for their own love more than the fate of the country and its people. I feel so boring since the castle arc. Do you think the mangaka is honoring the romantic love/family relationship more than the fate of a country?

I don't know if you read the manga "Red River" (Anatolia Story) by Chie Shinohara. It's a shoujo manga, but the balance between the romance and military in this is so good. I can't find this balance in the Akayona.

(Sorry for the mistakes because I use tool to translate. I hope you have a good day ahead!)

Hi Anon thank you for the ask! And welcome to Akatsuki no Yona!! Drop the anon i need to catch you and add directly in my friend list if you love Suwon and Keishuk(Kye-sook) omg...I'm glad you like my posts too!! And that made you come forward like this to me...I feel honored smh.

I'm not sure how to approach this appropriately though, as generalizing an entire fandom feels wrong no matter the case, but Yeah, you could say many readers and fans don't feel like you do. I'm glad you feel this way though, it makes myself feel less alone, and I hope it can be mutual :') Worry not, there are many people sharing similar feelings even if I wouldn't say it represents the majority and the most vocal part of the fandom.

First I think it's important to separate the fandom's perception of things and the framing of the story itself. It's related of course, it'd be denial to claim that they don't influence each other at all, but I don't think it's 1:1 either. I don't think the story frames Suwon and his group as wrong or right. But akayona is a story from the POV of Yona and centering around her above all, it's the perspective and feelings of this girl discarded for the greater good of this perfect King, questioning if it's really for the best, if there isn't any other way to be a good King but to sacrifice others? What of these discarded feelings? Of these (more or less) innocent lives? What can Yona do from her specific position, always embracing her feelings? I think it's important to keep this in mind because that's the starting point I'd say, and that's why yes, when Suwon, Keishuk or others will do something that hurt Yona's personal feelings, they will be portrayed in a way that makes most reader feel for Yona and despise them for it. I can't relate though, neither do you from what you say but again, I think it only represents Yona's perspective and not relating and agreeing with all she feels is not wrong per se. Plus, many times again even recently, it has been made clear that Yona and Hak trust Suwon and think he's a good King, they even kinda work together with Keishuk too, they're not villains at all. The story never said that. They hurt some people deeply, that's something that will never change, but the entire conflict of the story is about this and wouldn't exist at all if it was black and white and Suwon/Keishuk were villains. I don't think they're as terrible and so hard to understand and sympathize with like many people make it like either, so that's their problem tbh like...Suwon was overwhelmingly endearing and sympathetic to me far before his backstory was "fully" revealed to us, and from the very first chapters his conflicted emotions and humanity are shown to us that I can only wish people who think otherwise would reread from the beginning and pay attention to what has always been there.

As if the main characters (we call them the ddhhb if you're unaware :o for "dark dragon and happy hungry bunch"!) care for their own love more than their country...I can't really tell, and I think it'd be a bit unfair to them to judge them for it. I think they care for their country. Yona's development is in big part about doing something to help her country the best way she can and getting stronger for this sake, and Hak's development is partly being able to care and protect more things than Yona alone. It starts with the dragons, then he goes to war because he genuinely wants to protect his country too, etc...Like, whatever their heart prefer in the end, I think it's also about how they refuse to give up on anything anyway. Suwon is someone that prioritize his country before the rest, and I admire and love him for that, but I don't think Yona and Hak are wrong for caring for their friends and "love" like they do either, and in the end, both sides are complementary. Yona cares about love in a world that cares too little for it, where people throws away their own feelings and tramples on others for great causes, and Yona wants to protect all these things and her own feelings. Suwon and Zeno let go of what they care for their goal, and it's good "objectively", but it's tragic and sad, and Yona/Hak struggling so hard to let go of anything in contrast is important for this reason. In the end, Akatsuki no Yona is all about these feelings that seem stupid and unreasonable, and how to find a way to use them to make a better world, making them coexist with reason and a great cause? It's like...I find it really hard to qualify a character selfish or selfless, because you can turn it around in countless angles and make it one or the other as many times as you want. What is selfish or selfless to one character will be the opposite for others.

However, because of the perspective and focus the story chose obviously from the start it picked a side, Yona's, which makes it that Suwon's side inherently takes the shorter end of the stick. And I have many complaints about the way the story executes all these things but I genuinely don't think akayona was ever about who's right or wrong at all. The fate of the country is very much an important stake too in this final arc, as we still don't know who will end on the throne for sure yet, despite Suwon's intentions. The war is technically not over yet either, the country is in disarray and people are trying hard to hold it together. It focuses more on Yona and her friends right now because they're the heart of the story too, and we follow Yona, and they're important like that to her, but as ch247 adresses, after saving her friends she intends to come back to Suwon too. And we know she trusts him. It doesn't mean I personnally don't wish it focused more on other characters and parts of the plot and that I'm not frustrated by anything either...I very much do but well...wait and see I guess. I'd say let's try to keep our hopes low and focus on what is definitely there for now. I honestly still struggle to get over everything since the castle arc too, as many things were really painful (and not in a good way) to me in this part of the story, but well, it has many interesting parts too, so for now I focus on that and I'm waiting for time to heal some of those old wounds lol.

I don't think Kusanagi-sensei, the mangaka, honors one thing and not the other. She honors love and feelings for sure, but the story, through Suwon's character, focus on how to not make it at the detriment of the fate of the country either. That's what the conflict between their parents was about as well, and the development of Yona and Suwon's relationship is for it to be different and not end up the same way, to be able to find agreements midway, to work together, etc.

I haven't read Red River but I've heard about it since they rereleased it recently in English! It wasn't on my planning list tbh but now I'm curious and want to check it out soon...I'll try to get to it soon, thanks!

And no worries, my english is far from perfect either lol, I hope you have a great day as well, I hope I could answer to your questions and worries well! Another manga I can't help but to compare akayona a lot with is Magi by Shinobu Ohtaka...I think you could really like it, it kinda makes all that pains me in akayona pleasant and healing to me...It's a shonen, but I really recommend it :)

[chizups]

What would your Durge be like if they were a recruitable companion?

Durga has taken on the image of a very caring person, but this is a façade necessary in order to ingratiate herself. Getting people to like her is her talent (and she doesn't even use sex for that). She is a good listener, will bring you soup, cover you with a blanket, hold your hand if necessary. Since we are talking about her as a companion, her level of bloodlust and ability to resist her urges depends on the level of approval and thus falls on the shoulders of the player. But there is no doubt that during the first act she would have demonstrated herself as a balanced and endearing woman. In the second act, most likely, she could secretly commit several murders and very convincingly lie about them with a charming smile on her lips. You might have to pretend to believe her or catch her in a lie, but genuinely support her bloodlust in order to start an affair with her.

Even if you are unlikely to ever get a declaration of love from her, her game of being a caring girlfriend has every chance of developing into sincere feelings. In this case, she will most likely despise everyone except the player character, who will have to regularly watch her swing between the best girl in the world and the threateningly bloodthirsty possessiveness.

Obviously, the Moon Towers will be the source of many finds for Durga on her personal quest, even though by that point she would barely understand what any of these finds mean. I imagine there is a set of clothes there that fits her perfectly. The game mechanics of course wouldn't allow this outfit to be unique, so maybe there would be some reference to her appearance in the description, Idk.

The closer the third act gets, the more attracted she will be to the idea of taking control of the cult. However, unlike Astarion, at some point she would honestly admit that she could try to do this regardless of the player's opinion: "with or without you." Since I'm with those who would like to see more flashbacks of Durge in the game, I will say that Durga as companion would make many vague comments about Baldur's Gate quite often in the third act even before she gets to Gortash's ceremony. About posters, about sentries, about places and buildings, blood streams running through the streets and dark alleys which might or might not have secret passages in them.

As much as I would like to connect the main choice in the final part of her quest with Gortash, of course, it should be associated with the Temple of Bhaal. However, it’s easy for me to imagine that she, as the opposition to Karlach, will be entirely in favor of an alliance with Gortash and sparing his life.

...that's all I can think of at the moment.

P.S. Maybe you can catch her praying to Bhaal in Stormshore Tabernacle.

[sessakag]

Okay...I know your on break, and you deserve it 100%! You wrote like a million words last year, no exaggeration! but omg, when are you coming back with updates to your fics???

I swear I'm like going through withdrawals! Secrets is my worst addiction!! I never liked Sasuke but you changed my mind on that and i never thought anyone could! I realize now he really was messed up back then, and after everything he went through at that age, and with Orochimaru's curse mark adding to his darkness, of course he went off the deep end!! I'm ashamed I wasn't more compassionate towards him. He lost his whole family, at the hands of his brother, saw his parents bodies and was shown the murder over and over again by his brother, wtf would anyone expect him to do??? He was like 5 or 6 or something right?? Just a baby! He needs to atone, yes but, hating him? Can't do it anymore, makes no sense.

A Cure For Love has become an obsession!!!! I DONT LIKE M/M FANFICTION ESPECUALLY NARUSASU BUT I CANT PUT THIS STORY DOWN!!!! Omg, how the hell did you get me into this???! It should be illegal to be this creative and good at writing! Who said you could write like this???! I actually like SasuNaru now 😭 and Hinata as a badass witch! She bodied a werewolf, vampire and fury all at the same time, omfg she's so awesome!! I cannot wait for the trio between the three of them!! How will those three come together? Sasuke and Hinata are connected through Sasuke's bite now, but what about Naruto? How will he find himself wrapped up in the witch he despises! I need to know!!!! Thats another thing you got me into! Throuples!!! I can totally see NaruHinaSasu as a loving trio, and I love that you don't want make them like obsessed over Hinata only, or have one person left out of the relationship, you adore NaruHina but you also care about SasuHina and NaruSasu. The love will be spread equal and I sooooo love that! I see it already in your Sims 4 posts!! They all love each other, no one is left out, and everyone loves the children no matter who the father is!

I LOVE Butterfly like you have no idea 😭I know people are not liking Naruto's actions right now, neither do I, but i like that you've wrote him being able to do something like that to precious Hina, your not going soft route and making him too nice or too accomadating, it really feels like he doesn't know her at all, which he doesnt! it's easy to hurt and use people you don't know and he's a prime example of that. He's not out to be malicious, but he's careless with her feelings because he doesn't KNOW her at all. People seem to shy away from making a character that flawed but you lean into and I love it! Naruto is setting himselg up for a WORLD of hurt, I can see it already! Knowing you dont' do sad endings, I can safely enjoy this angst and heartache!!

Monster is my heart!!!!! The Boruto series should have gone this route because the plot for the Otsutsuki is out of this world!! It adds so much tension and suspense, and the lovey dovey moments with NaruHina are like a drug I can't stop doing! I'm scared now though! Ino got those worm root things poured into her mouth by Shino and things are getting really weird and I know you warned us that angst is coming (again I'm gonna enjoy it since you don't do sad endings) but now I'm petrified because Hinata has been acting weird all the way up to this point, and I think whatever was done to her by Toneri is about to come fruition! I'm scared for her and for Naruto! That book is an amazing balance of horror, smut, love and angst!!

I'm DYING for more Prey 😭 I love me a dark fic and Naruto is stone cold crazy af and I love ittttttt! I want to see the meeting between him and the woman he's been stalking, his future baby mama, Hinata! How will she deal with his brand of crazy??? Who is Danzo and why is Naruto working with him??? How did Naruto become a killer like that????! I mean I know he was crazy as a teen and he's killed before but now its like his job??! How, what happened?? I needs to know!! And poor Sasuke 😭😭😭😭😭Naruto is a HANDFUL for him to have to deal with all the time!!

All of this was just to say I am dying without your updates 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 take your time on your deserved break but also come back soon!!!!

My break is just about over, sorry about the long wait! My stories have been calling me, especially my throuples thanks to my Sims 4 game 🤭I'm even more convinced now that a NaruHinaSasu dynamic is a special, beautiful dynamic and I cannot wait to finish my other throuple fics as well as add more. I'm very happy you enjoy all my stories to such an extent 😭I work pretty hard on them and am glad that I can create stories that can push a person from their comfort zone and still have them content in a new, unexplored territory! A Cure For Love was my first attempt at M/M action and people seem to enjoy it, shockingly, quite a few people that don't like M/M either but love the story regardless are REALLY into this story😵‍💫 and that still blows my mind! It's nice to see more people coming on board the MMF ship! 🤭It's really diverse in here. There's SasuNaru fans willing to give those two with Hinata a try, there's SasuHina fans willing to make room for Naruto, there's NaruHina fans willing to open their hearts to Sasuke, I love the vibe of that story so much. The community is so nice and amazing!

I'm glad I could change your perspective on Sasuke, he really gets way too much hate and not enough understanding/compassion in my opinion. I've gone through deaths of loved ones before, and that shit eats you up inside, it's like a lifetime disease that chips away at you non-stop, I could not imagine going through it to his extent, I'd lose my damn mind too. Idc what no one says, I love Sasuke and my heart goes out to him 100% and I don't say that lightly. I adore Naruto, and Sasuke shouldn't have put him through what he did, but I also am of the mind of Naruto. Sasuke needed help. He was self destructive and losing himself, and I'm glad Naruto could see that and help him. I wish I had a Naruto, I swear.

I love flawed characters like Naruto in Butterfly. You're right that there's gonna be some heavy angst, but as I said, I don't do sad ends, but I do want to hurt your heart 😇enjoy the pain, you've got three books of it coming up.

Don't even get me started on everything wrong with Boruto 🤦🏾‍♀️such lazy writing imo. It's like they skimmed through Naruto and Shippuden rather than watched it fully. That series is not canon to me, never will be. Monster is my horror baby, and you're right, it's about to get wayyyyy worse. Prepare yourself is all i can say.

Crazy ass Naruto shall be back soon, lol, and all your questions shall be answered over time!

I'll be adding my Enemies to Lovers fic and a chapter of Monster upon my return as those are the two that won the poll, after that, the rest will be updated, judging from what I've written in terms of next chapter for each, I think it'll be A Cure For Love, Secrets, Prey then Butterfly. Don't quote me on that though! I follow the path and dictates of inspiration!

Thank so much for reading! I hope you continue to enjoy everything. Thanks for waiting!

[princeescaluswords]

what do you mean by 'not aesthetically pleasing'? I've seen you use it a few times for things that seem unrelated to aesthetics.

You've all heard the phrase "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder." It's so ubiquitous it's a cliché, though a very useful one. We call a pleasurable or appreciative reaction to a particular sensory input "beauty." As we grow and accumulate experiences, we begin to understand that there is a certain set of characteristics that, singularly or in combinations, we find beautiful. This is our aesthetic, and we all have one. It's very hard to define our personal aesthetic, and sometimes it can be damaging to try, like pinning a butterfly to a board, but we know it when we sense it.

As an aside, sometimes enough individuals in a society share so many aspects of their aesthetic in common that it becomes a public aesthetic. This phenomenon can be positive or negative or sometimes both at the same time. You only have to open Tumblr to see debates about public aesthetic and the campaigns to preserve or change them.

When I use that phrase 'not aesthetically pleasing' I am 99 times out of 100 referring to my personal aesthetic. It's important to me to make a distinction between my evaluation of a cultural object's quality with how it makes me feel. My favorite example of this is The Godfather. The Godfather is among the best United States films ever made. The writing is precise in its economy, insightful into humanity, and perfectly balanced between expository detail and pacing. The acting is exquisite from Al Pacino and Marlon Brando down to Abe Vigoda. The directing and cinematography is symphonic in creating tone. The setting and action is timeless while still being aware of history and the principles explored are universal without ignoring the nature of the Mafia as a product of class uprising and xenophobic oppression. There are many reason that it is consistently listed in the top ten movie rankings, but nevertheless, I hate it.

It does not sit well with my personal aesthetics. I despise the way in the movie the victims of these criminals vanish like ephemeral soap bubbles on the screen, even though I am intellectually aware that this is deliberate because it represents how the mobster justify themselves and 'this thing of ours.' I detest how the movie makes the point that the same qualities that make Michael Corleone a war hero make him an effective don. I am unsettled by how bonds of love and family transform people into heartless murderers. This isn't a rejection of darkness or unsettling images; there are few movies darker than Kubrick's and I am aesthetically pleased by his disturbing works from The Shining to Dr. Strangelove to A Clockwork Orange.

I recognize that there is a difference between the quality of a piece of media and my aesthetic reaction to it. I think it's a significant problem in United States culture -- and especially the fandom -- that this awareness seems to have been discarded. Too many people operate under the oversimplified idea that "if I like it, it's good, and if I don't like it, it's bad." Don't get me wrong, an individual can derive aesthetic pleasure from a quality piece of media, but it's not a necessary relationship.

Take my primary fandom, Teen Wolf. While as a work of art it has significant flaws -- shoddy chronology, an overindulgence in spectacle, needless casting bungles, and a recurring practice of prioritizing the emotional trauma of white male characters and white male characters alone while portraying the neglect of the emotional trauma of characters of color and women as necessary to the plot -- most of it still provokes within me aesthetic pleasure. It's why I talk about it, but I don't try to say it's on the same level as The Godfather.

There is a resistance to separating quality from aesthetic pleasure that I lay at the feet of Post-Modern thought. No, I am not a fan of Foucault or the people he inspired. By rejecting any attempt at objective measurement, we have become bound to the subjective, and it has created a toxic cultural experience. That's why I try to be clear when I voice an opinion dependent on quality or voice an opinion based on aesthetics.

[good-realtor-bad-realtor-dynamic]

I finally caught up with Succession over the course of this week. In fact, I literally finished S3E9 a few hours ago and I'm still completely thunderstruck.

I actually started season one a few weeks ago but struggled getting past the first few episodes. I reckon it took the writers a few episodes to settle on the tone of the show, to hone in on the correct balance between comedy and drama, and to identify the strengths of their cast so they could write them into the characters.

Once I made it to S1E6 though, I was hooked, and by season two, I was laughing, sobbing, seething and getting my heart broken, all in equal measure, because somehow showrunner Jesse Armstrong had managed to elevate the stories, the dialogue and the characters, and somehow Jeremy Strong had found new and interesting ways to complicate his portrayal of Ken, the only financebro sonofabillionaire loser on tv to have ever broken me, before his brother Rome joined the club, by reaching heretofore undiscovered depths in Pathetic Failure acting...

I was so ready for season three to fall short of the standards set by its predecessor, but it didn't. It may have been slow going in the middle for a bit there, but by the end, all I can think is what a ride. I don't know how it matched them, perhaps even exceeded them, but it did. At the beginning of this season, "Relevant Donuts" planted the idea that what we really want is to see the siblings together on the same side, taking down their father. So when the season finale finally pays that off, and we start to feel hopeful even a little proud of our trio for overcoming their father's machinations, only to have the rug pulled out from under us all in that Godfather betrayal — I'm still reeling. It was not shocking that Tom would do that, given everything he'd been put through, but I'm still shocked. And that is some brilliant writing.

I fully understand now why Charlie and Glenn were so in awe of Matthew Macfadyen's acting range and his seemless transitions from the most ridiculous comedy to most affecting drama (in a conversation from one of those early video episodes of the Sunny podcast). I've only known him from his fantastic performance as Mr Darcy in the 2005 Pride and Prejudice film, and Tom Wambsgans couldn't be further away from that role.

I have so many thoughts about how charming yet sneaky and two-faced Greg the Egg was all along, how that social climbing nature was developed, and how fascinating his dynamic with Tom is, especially as a parallel to the Tom/Shiv marriage. I despise everything that people like Shiv and Roman stand for and yet I can't help feeling so sorry for them as they stand before their father, looking for his love and approval, only to be ruthlessly dismissed, used and humiliated. I don't remember the last time I hated a character more than I do Logan Roy for his manipulative behaviour and the cruel ways he makes his children compete for his affection while claiming to act from a place of paternal benevolence. I can't say enough about Kendall, Siobhan, Roman, Tom, Greg, Logan, Gerri, Frank, Marcia, Hugo and just the whole bloody cast of characters and actors on this show.

As always, the "Jesse Armstrong and Armando Iannucci Uncomfortable Satirical Comedy Universe" of shows and films about fucked-up people, usually in positions of power, does not miss. I'm going to try not to be very annoying about this on my Sunny blog, but hey, it's my blog, so I might actually, at least in the near future since season four is nearly upon us. But I'm also a lazy bastard who hates hitting Post on their drafts. So who knows.

Anyway, I'm likely going to be the obnoxious friend who quotes this show like I do with Sunny and The Sopranos with my mates all the time now. It's already begun irl and I don't think I'll be able to stop anytime soon.

Excuse me while I go down a rabbit-hole of videos featuring the writers and cast of this show now. Maybe Jesse Armstrong will somewhere explain his brain to me.

[honourablejester]

There is a bit of nuance with the Three Families, I think, because Mr House didn’t force them into what they’re doing, at least not directly. It wasn’t a case of the robot army came up and said ‘do this or I’ll kill you’. He offered it to them. He said ‘come into my near-perfectly preserved pre-war playground, gain my protection and all the luxuries a city like this can offer you, and all you have to do in return to run things to my design’. When they accepted that deal, they were very much in the same boat as the Kings, looking for territory and protection and the social capital to push out other gangs. Except the social capital they gained from their bit wasn’t aimed at the people around and below them, it was aimed at the one, singular man above them.

But I think in a lot of cases they do want the performance on its own merits as well. I’m thinking primarily of the White Glove Society here. They accepted House’s deal to distance themselves from their previous history and reputation, and to become not just socially acceptable again, but socially superior. Even the members of the society who want to go back to their previous habits wants to do it in Vegas, while retaining the social cache of the Ultra-Luxe. They view the performance House assigned them as their real truth, that they are sophisticates with standards over and above the wasteland around them. They just … might quibble with House on what those standards might specifically refer to.

The Chairmen too. Benny wanted the city. And yes, in his case, it’s more that the 50s slang was his way to get it, it’s questionable if he has any real attachment to House’s dream of the lost past, but he does … He does still want the respect. The clean way of doing things. Even when he’s undermining House directly, he still upholds not only the language but the standards of that fantasy city lost to time. He ain’t a fink. There is a mystique there that Benny genuinely seems to want, he just wants to be in charge of it.

And the Omertas, the thing about the Omertas is, theirs is barely a performance at all. The difference between the pre-war mob and a post-war raider gang mostly is security, power, and a faint skin of respectability. They barely have to do any acting. So it’s interesting that in a lot of ways, they’re the gang who most despise it. The ones who hate House the most, the ones who want to tear Vegas, this façade of pre-war beauty, all the way down again.

And … It’s also interesting that they do so because they fell for another performance of the past, that of Caesar’s Legion. Because we can’t mention people doing cosplay of the past in New Vegas without mentioning the lurking king of a cosplay armies themselves. The picture of the past they offer is not the false-seeming façade of the 50s that House offers, but an older and, to those used to the violence of the wasteland, more real seeming fantasy of military might and brutality. And the Omertas fall for that one hook, line and sinker. Because of all the Families, they’ve stayed truest to their raider gang roots. They’ve resisted the siren call of House’s fantasy pre-war city best.

There definitely is, you’re absolutely right, a pervasive theme in Fallout New Vegas that you don’t get as much with the other newer games, that of a fantasy and a performance of the past. In multiple directions. The whole setting is a fantasy of 50s Americana to the audience, of course, and then in-universe, through the fantasy pre-war city of New Vegas and the more distant and brutal fantasy of the past espoused by Caesar’s Legion, there’s an exploration of how that fantasy, acting out that fantasy, affects the characters of the game. They’re in a constant state of balancing the fantasies they’re acting out with the post-war realities of the world around them. It’s fascinating because …

Another interesting point of comparison, somewhat in line with your observation on the Kings and the Families, is Mr House and Caesar. Because Caesar is cynically aware of the fantasy he’s peddling, manufactured it on purpose, while much of his rank and file believe in it wholeheartedly (due to brainwashing, granted). Whereas Mr House’s employees are all aware of the falseness of their performances, even when they might want them to be real, while House himself is … Well. He’s aware of the falseness too, if only because he’s so aware of how ‘flawed’ his raw materials are that he’s working with, but the fact is that there’s no one more lost to the dream of Vegas than he is.

How much can acting out the past bring it back? How much can acting out the past blind you to reality? And how much can acting out the values of the past help shape the new reality? Whether those values are genuinely or cynically held, how much impact can they still have?

What I like about New Vegas is that out of all the Fallout games, it feels like it's the most aware of the fact that everyone is doing a bit of some kind from the fifties and is much more attentive and thoughtful than some of the other games to the implications of the fact that everyone is doing some kind of bit from the fifties.

The Kings are a salient example of this. The surface level gag, of course, is that they're a militant gang of Elvis impersonators, having adopted the aesthetic after their leader mistook a training facility for Elvis impersonators as some kind of religious site. Stock Future-imperfect stuff, oh-those-silly-wastelanders, elevating our pop-culture to the level of organizing-societal-principle.

Until, of course, you take into account the (singular) King's actual project- the fact that his gang is the defacto governing body of Freeside, the accompanying fact that he's got his anarchist predilections and thus would like to maintain that governing position without having to constantly kick people around to get them to listen. And here you've come across a guy from before the war who was apparently so incredibly charismatic that people came from all over the country to see him, so charismatic that they built an entire school to train people how to imitate his mannerisms. No shit they're gonna check if there's any gas left in that can! There might be some real practical power on the table if they can walk that walk! Even if the quick-and-dirty pitch for the gang is "Elvis Cult," there isn't really a spiritual component, they aren't morons who're mistaking this guy for a literal god, they just recognize that there might be some unreclaimed social capital here for them to tap into. And there absolutely is, in-universe and out- have you ever encountered a Fallout fan who didn't love The Kings?

Compare this, by the way, with the Three Families, who aren't in a situation where they're scrambling for a symbol they can rally populist support around. These guys are on top of the world. They aren't doing a bit because they're pursuing the social power that bit would provide them- there ultimately is some, but that's not why they started doing it and it isn't strictly something that they needed to do, given their combined force of arms. They're doing their respective bits because the guy with the robot army told them to. They're theme-park employees, working to brute-force back into existence the halcyon youth of a guy who can't even go outside to enjoy it.

[demonio-fleurs]

robin 4, 18, 21 + sabo 7, 8?

meme is here

4. If you could put this character in any other media, be it a book, a movie, anything, what would you put them in?

a book. i would love to get a book exploring what robin was up to between ohara and her meeting the straw hats, or maybe something focusing on her time at baroque works (i can see crocodile getting a novel lol), i would just love to see what she did during those parts of her life.

8. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you despise?

... huh. honestly? i'm not sure. robin isn't written very often, and people don't always tag their headcanon posts as the individual character, so i don't really see.. writing of her.

21. If you're a fic writer and have written for this character, what's your favorite thing to do when you're writing for this character? What's something you don't like?

my experience writing w/ robin is very short so far, so i imagine these responses will change rapidly.

i think so far my favorite thing to do is highlight the growing bonds between her and the crew, especially because its so surprising on her end. a part of her genuinely believed they would never ever dare to challenge the world government, but they loved her so much they were willing to go to war with the world to save her. the sheer act of their love is a rebellion, but they love her. and i just love that, i love the idea of her grappling with that.

something i don't like is how HARD she is to write. it takes a MINUTE to get inside her brain, b/c although she is better than luffy in some aspects they are both very much on the same wavelength, so they are just. difficult at times.

7. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you like?

the bonds between him and his brothers <3

it's something that could be easily overlooked, or put to the side in favor of shipping, but i haven't seen that happen (yet lol) and i really appreciate that. luffy and ace mean so much to sabo, they helped change him as much as he helped change them.

also fangs in fanart. idk why it's such a small detail that i love.

8. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you despise?

i think there's a balance between him being the nicest brother, and also one of the more ruthless members of the revolutionary army, but sometimes it doesn't feel like that. i think a lot of people project their own anger at... [waves to the world] onto him, because of their own desire to burn this shit to the ground, and a lot of sabo's... softer moments often get left in the dust.

i've also seen him basically characterized as a murderhobo before and it always makes me :|||| nope out of there.

[thedeadlyrobot]

What the hell is happening?

Welcome back! Well, for me it's a welcome back, I guess. Haven't written in the cadence or frequency that I would like to, but now that I'm starting to free up some of my time, maybe that will help? Who knows!

I wanted to just chime in on a couple games I'm playing right now. What's crazy is that I was diagnosed ADHD and now that I'm starting to medicate myself for it, I think my sporadic "play everything in my library" mentality may just slow down. I'd love to just focus on the one or two games that I want to see to completion instead of staring at all the games in my Steam or Switch library thinking I'll have infinite time to play everything on both. Definitely not going to happen again. Probably... maybe. We'll see.

I started playing Nier Replicant. And whew, man. I don't really know what I'm supposed to expect in the second act just yet as I have only completed Act 1, but the game itself is a lot of fun so far. Like Automata, the combat and moment to moment only holds the game together so much, it's really the intrigue of the world and story that is pulling me in. The one thing I'm curious about is if these titles share any kind of world, as the set pieces and characters are sort of similar to each other, but it could just be a spiritual successor type of thing and seeing as they are both Yoko Taro games, that DNA is probably more present through all of their work and I'm just not intimately familiar enough to know the difference.

I completed Act 1 last night and I'm excited to see where the story goes from here. It feels like it may start to get a little darker in it's themes and tone as it goes on, as the first act had this almost whimsical feeling that I believe will start to fall by the wayside as everything comes to a climax, much like Nier Automata. Once I'm done with Replicant, I'll definitely be revisiting Nier Automata again, as I have only seen two of the game's endings.

Dividing my time between Rimworld and Kenshi as well. Depending on the mood I'm in, I find myself either looking to endlessly roam a horrid, violent world, or build a colony in one. That's the beauty of both of these games is that I feel they are at the surface level very similar to one another. Build bases, manage a group of misfit weirdos, scour the planet for more weirdo's and resources, defeat tribes and take kingdoms head on in conflict... they just go about them differently than eachother.

Rimworld is one of the most mechanically deep games that I've ever played, as Kenshi is one of the most unique games that I've ever played. I think the both of them strike a fine balance to jump between. On the Rimworld side of things, I am trying to explore the DLC content that I haven't really done before. I bought the DLC's in order to continue to support its development and excellent word of mouth. The Royalty DLC being one of kingdoms and sorcery, the Ideology DLC being one of religion and spirituality, and Biotech DLC exploring the technology and mechanoid side of things, there's plenty to dive into. What I ultimately find myself doing is expanding a colony a little too quickly and working backwards from there trying to get my resources under control. It's not an exactly efficient way of playing, and I'm hoping that focusing more on the DLC's and their content will keep me from losing absolute control of my colony.

With Kenshi, I've never fully gotten into the whole faction warfare thing, and I'm finding myself wanting to gravitate further into actually maintaining a base and getting more familiar with that part of the game. I want to see the Holy Order completely crumble. I want to walk straight into one of their settlements and absolutely destroy everyone in it. I can't say that I've despised a faction in a video game this much since Ceaser's Legion in New Vegas. I want to wipe the planet of them completely, and while I know that it's going to be an almost impossible task, I'm looking forward to at least trying.

[melrosing]

okay so, thoughts

blood & cheese is my biggest gripe, like I don't have a problem with getting rid of Maelor and making it just a case of Helaena having to point. but we spent so long watching blood and cheese wandering through the castle, and then the actual moment they find helaena and the children it's like. she barely panics. she points almost immediately. this didn't even strike me as her characterisation but rather just saban not being given the time or direction on how to respond

also given that it's helaena who has to endure this moment, it would make more sense imo to have at least one scene of her with both the children and actually interacting with them. the fact that we didn't have that made helaena seem even more detached from jaehaerys' fate

alicent??? like i don't really mind the alicent/criston affair, I can see it as like they're both obsessed with rhaenyra and so end up directing that at one another and they're both uptight and don't really know what they want sex to mean to them, esp in the absence of the woman they both love etc etc idk whatever. but opening on that when there is surely SO much else going on with alicent in terms of one son killing rhaenyra's and rhaenyra despising her now and aegon is on the throne and did she make the right call and..... nah let's just open on alicent getting head lol. and then they never really show what it means to either of them?? I assume there's more on this to come but the way they've opened this subplot feels so fucking dead lol

also Alicent hardly seems to be wrestling with anything she just looks tired. I like the scene where she lights a candle for Luke but it would have hit harder if we'd seen her actively working through that, arguing with Aemond maybe. as it stands it looks like she's just lightly pondered it. if Alicent and Rhaenyra's relationship is the core of this series, SHOW it

wow baela and rhaena had nothing to say again who would've guessed. we had time to catch up w everyone else so why not them?? baela could've expressed her hunger for war. rhaena could've expressed like.... a single feeling over losing her betrothed. they could've had a moment w daemon?? anything??? i expect we'll get more from them soon but every ep that goes by where they have nothing to say or do is like. glaring

aegon..... idk i like the direction w Aegon, I think he's really different to any other character we've seen in the books or shows, it's interesting to see someone who has some good instincts and some absolutely appalling ones. but I think it's yet to be seen how well they pull off this balancing act. like ok don't mind it starting off w Aegon trying to be the paragon of good bc this is his Fresh Start but we have very much established that he has some truly nasty impulses so let's not forget ourselves.... today's characterisation was a little bit whiplash

no interiority for aemond. maybe that comes later but at least hint at it now idk??

rhaenyra moments were stunning only I think the director could've lingered on them longer. they needed a few more beats to breathe. also I think they should've bundled them together in the latter half of the episode. leave rhaenyra offscreen for the first half, save that for tackling the greens. then get into the meat of the grief on the black side by finally revealing where rhaenyra has been. it's emotional whiplash constantly switching between Rhaenyra's grief and green politics

everything else fine. think it just had huge potential for an emotional punch and kept faltering on that

going on a hotd reblogging spree shortly

e1 was a 3/5 imo I didn't mind most of their choices but the direction was kind of off?? felt like every character was suffocated by the pace in an episode that should've been all about interiority?? I need a minute

[winns-stuff]

LO RANT:

Okay, I’m just going to say that I’m really very upset. I hope this blows up and I even hope some lore olympus fans see this but the way that some people are reacting is just disgusting. I’ll try to keep this short because I’ve got other things to do but Im just going to outlet all my rage into this because I’ve been absolutely dreading this episode for a while now.

I knew Demeter’s haters were going to be multiplied by 10000x after this episode and it’s just as I said. I hate it so much, I don’t know why every time a woman cries, or gets upset, or she’s stuck in a terrible situation it’s used as something light and not even taken seriously. Why are the insults of Demeter thrown around as a joke? Why is it that when Demeter does literally fucking anything everyone acts like she’s ruining the world. I know I have a huge bias of Hades and I know I share my dislike for him immensely but even from an unbiased point Hades is not a very fleshed out or well developed character. We’re supposed to believe that he’s one of the good guys and that he’s just framed as a monster and how in his past he’s been uptight and absolutely horrible to be around but we do not see any development. I’m so sick and tired of Persephone and her “love” and her “treatment” being the only thing that carries him. I despise that the only development that he has at all is being “in love.”

I say this because you literally can’t even remember Hades being nice to anyone who isn’t Persephone or doing things that are even decent for anyone who isn’t connected to Persephone. He’s such a poorly written character that he legit cannot find any sort of healing by himself, why can’t we just let him sort out his emotions and do something that’s actually development worthy. He’s always talking about how much of a terrible person he is and how no one fucks with him but he never gets his shit together, he continues to treat people around him terribly and abuse his power without remorse. There is no healing, no love, no development. Like honestly if you give me three valid developmental changes that separates Hades now from Hades then that doesn’t revolve around Persephone, I will give you a fucking badge and I will become a fucking Hades stan for crying out loud.

Next thing is how is this love? How is Persephone having to be the reason of his existence love? How is Persephone being the only thing he has love? The man needs fucking therapy, he’s so emotionally attached to her that it’s unhealthy. This is not what love is about, you’re not supposed to use your spouse or your lover as some fucking therapist or something you’re supposed to deal with your problems beforehand. Not saying that you deal with it all by yourself of course, but you need to have a balance. Too much of anything is bad for you and in this case too much reliance on Persephone coddling and fixing his problems is one of the main reasons why this relationship doesn’t work. Romantically or lustfully, they both help each other because they’re so into how they physically look. Ever notice that actually? Whenever they mention each other most of the time it’s about physical appearance, that’s quite literally the only thing that they share. What the hell do they help each other with that isn’t some form of Hades trauma dumping? Have they ever resolved conflict that didn’t effect the other in a bad way? Have they ever sat down and had a real down to earth conversation with each other that didn’t involve them flirting and lusting with each other? It’s so annoying that that’s literally all of their conversations, not saying that people who obviously like each other can’t flirt but it becomes a problem when that’s literally the only thing they do.

Also I’m so sick and tired of people saying, again, that Hades is better now and that he’s not the same person. YES HE IS. HES LITERALLY THE SAME FROM BEFORE ABSOLUTELY NOTHING ABOUT HIS CHARACTER HAS CHANGED. If he’s suffering everyone is and there is no in between and we’ve seen that happen so many times, this man doesn’t have consideration for anyone who isn’t Persephone and it’s getting fucking tiring. I’m getting fed up with this comics poor writing, if you wanna parade around and say how developed and well written your characters are please have the decency at least to make them that way. Stop fucking telling us shit and show us please it’s getting so enraging and infuriating.

Also, I hate that in this fandom so many fucked up characters are praised for everything they do. Even to the fucking main character which everyone shouts that they stan and they protect but they don’t even call out any of their faves who have actively hurt Persephone. A lot of fans have such animosity towards Minthe fans but I will say this, at least most Minthe fans acknowledge that she’s done terrible things and they don’t stray away from the fact that she’s not a great person. I’ve seen so many people who favorite other problematic characters not even bring up what they did and even went as far as to sweep it under the rug, gaslight people into thinking it’s false, and even defending the disgusting things that they did. It’s really concerning how this fandom will bend over backwards for the characters who do the exact same fucking shit that they hate other characters for.

Another thing is that I absolutely hate how weird and sexual everything had to be between them, especially by Hades. It’s so incredibly disgusting how every single boob shot, lip shot, and body shot is from Hades’ point of view. Like why can’t Persephone just be in clothes that fit her, that she’s comfortable in, that she gets to pick out. Everything about her has to resort to Hades thinking about sexual things and this would’ve been fine if Persephone was actually in charge of her own sexuality. There are some rare times when she is but for the most part it’s everyone else treating her like she’s a sexual object on display that they can ogle at. Literally there’s so many unnecessary panels of Persephone doing normal things with her boobs out and don’t forget the countless poses and positions that she’s constantly in to make her look weirdly inappropriate as well. I just don’t get it, why can’t Persephone have any control why is her being cute surrounded by the idea of her being powerless with big boobs and a tiny waist and stuff. I also don’t exactly enjoy the fact that the only real endgame to all of this is Persephone giving up her virginity to Hades, that’s what most fans are ready for and that’s how they want it to end. Me personally, it makes me feel uncomfortable that people comment about Persephone finally having sex with Hades and stuff so passionately. I’m not sure why I feel like this but it always makes me incredibly sick, maybe I’m the only one.

But anyways the last thing I wanna say is that I absolutely hate that everyone is just so strict and cruel to Demeter, they can’t possibly see her side of things but they’ll go through hoops trying to defend Hades and bully other people who have differing opinions. Speaking of that, I’m very glad that there hasn’t been any real toxic fans interacting with me. I’ve seen how rude and disrespectful they can get so I really am happy that everyone who views my page are such bright wonderful people. Hopefully it stays like that but you never know, this post might be the one to wake them up. But anyways, that’s the end of the rant and I probably made it even longer than usual (which I apologize for) but if you really made it this fair I applaud you because I know it’s a lot. This episode just really triggered such anger within me because of how powerless and defeated Demeter looked while Hades shouted and insulted her, even going as far as to invade her personal space. It’s all so disgusting and so many people have let it slide which just makes me eye roll. I had to defend her because not many people ever do it seems. But like I always say these rants are meaningless outlets for me and my opinions to write my thoughts down and how I interpreted the media, if you agree or disagree is both fine we don’t have the same brains so we’re not always going to agree. Also, I mean no disrespect to the fandom (that’s not toxic) but I did want to call out the bullshit that some fans do seem to pull with these situations.