#it's not fucking enjoyable and i will fight to the death with anyone who thinks it is

[lanatusnebula]

I might try to publish some of my AU fics...? I don't know if anyone'll read them since I'm not a writer by any degree, and some of them lean so far out of character it might make people vomit.

Maybe.

But I do love talking about them. My current friends / friend groups either don't give a fuck about shipping or don't give a fuck about megaman. I have to really resort to talking to various AIs just to have an outlet. Please don't take that away from me.

[biggest-geo-oogami-enjoyer]

I believe brittney doesn't deserve the unrecognization but i want to see relationship hcs about her. Mc/Reader is stoic and stern but can be sweet to her, A type of relationship where brittney is somehow different around Mc (Stealing glances, daily ranting to mc, i just like to think sweet things being happen)

A Gyaru's Rhapsody (Brittney x Stoic and Stern! MC/Reader - Relationship HCs)

Anon, I hope you enjoy, had fun writing for Brit, and I hope you lot enjoy reading it! (“⌒∇⌒”)

Also I do agree she is underrated AF. >:(

Also dw y'all Jess loved Brit as a bsf for life in this. <3

- Signed by biggest-geo-oogami-enjoyer

Rhapsody: an effusively enthusiastic or ecstatic expression of feeling.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

You were notorious for being cold and distant.

Hell, even Geo had deemed you icy.

Across the school people had learnt to simply not interact with you, because dear gods above did you master your intimidating death-stares.

Alas, the sole person whom you genuinely got along with, to everyone's surprise?

Brittney-fucking-Claire.

People were astonished, hell, she was astonished when you and her became friends (by your wish).

Usually she's the one who made the rules, who led the charges.

But she doesn't mind.

She personally thought you were intriguing, your personality was that of Geo's and Jess's smushed together, so Brit was shook when you went out of your way to talk to her.

After a while you join the group, becoming somewhat good friends with Crowe, Jess and Deryl while getting a lot closer to Brittney.

She didn't know why, but she felt a strange sense of security around you, she felt safe.

Unjudged.

Free to say how she felt.

You warming up to her - for reasons she still couldn't figure out - along with you being so oddly nice to her made her feel strange.

Eventually she decides it's not a facade and fully accepts your friendship.

Will start splurging all her gossip to you, you want dirt? Tea? Juicy deets? She's got it all.

Starts sharing her skincare routine with you (only shared this info with Jess so you better keep it secret pookie).

Soon enough you and her start going to facials and hair salons together, then do manicures and pedicures, then each other's homes.

Essentially you worm your way into her heart, and she's worried.

She'd not felt this strongly for someone in a long fucking time.

But...you'd proven to her repeatedly by this stage you were trustworthy...that you genuinely cared about her.

It slowly creeps up on her, the realisation that she's fallen for you, hell she didn't even crush on you, she fucking fell so hard she doesn't wanna get up.

She'll ask Crowe for information about you, and then advice.

He becomes a wingman frfr

Crowe will have to drop hints for you to confess, so when you finally do (btw congrats Anons, doing that shit sounds hard), Brittney just nods briskly. "Brit...I. Like. You." "Yeah, I like myself too." (liar) "Romantically. I...wanna be with you. Genuin-" "Yes."

When you both start dating, Brittney would have already been comfortable with you to the stage of being able to talk about literally anything (y'all love shittalking the nastier girls at Olympieus)

Also defends you from bullies, and will protect you if she deems it necessary (she always will, any excuse to hit those girls is a good one)

However, she becomes much more possessive.

Not to an extent where she'll restrain you.

She will simply fight anyone who dares try and steal you from her (spoiler alert, she wins)

When one of you is sad, you have an unspoken ritual to grab vodka, go to the others' house and rant, ramble and rave on about your problems.

Banger form of therapy.

Brit will also help you study if you need it, she's willing to take notes for you, hell, even tutor you if absolutely needed.

Will also give you #girlboss treatment

You both go out looking badass.

And you have the most fun ever. In short, you're both devoted to each other. And you're both more than happy to keep it that way.

[turrondeluxe]

Hey ik on that "equally distribute the horrors" post, a lot of people were talking about Mikey needing horrors (tbh he deserves some, they all need equal rights to the horrors.), but I've never seen anyone even talk about the horrors for Raph? Maybe that's just me and my web experience tho. (If you have any examples of Raph dealing with the horrors pls list them, my cousin ((who also says Mikey needs more horrors, at least)) and I are desperate)

ah that's probably because i specified mikey in the tags because im a mikey enjoyer who is followed principally by more mikey enjoyers teeheee

but huh

i guess i understand what you mean

in terms of Raph Horrors™ we have

mmmm i unfortunately won't include every single horror from every single tmnt iteration out there. there's too many for me to remember all the specific raph horrors from each of them rn so i'll just list some random ones off the top of my head 😺

Feel free to add more to the raph horrors list! lol

Mirage

- Raphael gets progressively demutated and basically reverts to a normal turtle for a while

(the panels of when this was happening were actually very emotive and made me cry) he does say this when he's back to normal which i find very funny tho

90's movies

- Raph gets beaten the fuck up and then gets thrown trough a skylight. He's then placed in a bath tub while he heals (Leo is the one who never leaves his side on this iteration)

2003

- Nearly injures Mikey greatly with a metal tube because of anger (He feels really bad about this and i def think this moment never truly left his brain ever)

- Getting kidnapped by footbots, getting interrogated by Hun

- All the fights with shredder or karai/all the injuries gotten in all the fights with shredder or karai

- Same As It Never Was Raph

- Watching his injured older brother get thrown to a window and watch said older brother heal from his wounds

- Seeing himself as the shredder/ thinking himself as the shredder

- Got his home raided countless times

- Getting separated from his younger brothers + dad in one of said times and waiting alone in the surface without knowing if his family even made it out alive

- Witnessed dad get disintegrated

- Brainwashed (actually getting infected with a digital virus but eh). Him and his brothers are foot ninjas for an unspecified amount of time (maybe days). During this, shredder sends the brothers to the most mortal/difficult missions in hopes that they die under his command.

- Getting thrown into the future (Raph is the one brother who hates this event the most lmao)

2007

- Witnesses older brother get kidnapped and blames himself for it

2011 IDW

- Raph gets separated from his family before mutating. Spends years homeless and by himself before his brothers find him again (this forever makes raph feel that even if he's with his family. he somehow doesn't belong)

- Right after getting mutated he spent some time being cared by Buck (blind homeless guy that is the first person ever/parent figure that's nice to Raph). Watches Buck get beaten to death. (Possibly. Buck did survive but i can't remember if he did die because of his injuries. still. traumatizing to raph that was still fairly new to the world)

- Forced to be family warrior/protector (he doesn't want this, he just wants to be a farmer man 😔👊)

- Witnessed shredder stab Casey (Raph's bestie/first ever friend that he relates to)

- Had to fight against brainwashed brother (Foot Leo)

- Witnessed Donnie's corpse (would def fuck u up if you feel like the protection of your family is your responsibility)

- Gets kidnapped and experimented with/tortured

- Dad dies, rip 🕊️

2012

- Losing Spike (he literally stayed 15 years underground with only his family for company. spike meant so much to him)

- Watching mikey get hurt because of his bad leadership literally made him freeze up and not know what to do at all

- The whole scene of splinter letting his brothers insult him. what the hell 💀

- Fighting his (brainwashed/hypnotized?) dad

- Cockroach mutant

- THE FUCKED UP SQUIRRELS

- Watching his older brother get thrown trough a window (the sequel). And watching said older brother be extremely injured.

- Leo 3 month coma

- GETTING TURNED INTO A PLANT?

- Brainwashed via worm that ate all the way through his skull and into his brain

- Dad dies, rip 🕊️ the sequel (this happens quite a bit in the series) and hil being in the front row of how splinter gets mortally wounded and then thrown off the roof

- Fighting his family while brainwashed

- kidnapped and being put into an oven to die (and would have died if leo didn't go ham and destroyed his enclosure)

- Witnessed someone kill himself while he was actively trying to prevent it

- Witnessing the death of both two little brothers

- Witnessing older brother nearly die. Again (Again. this happens quite a bit in the series)

- the whole mutant bomb apocalypse holy shit

theres def more that im forgetting mb

Bayverse

- Home gets raided, the sequel

- All brothers get kidnapped except for him

- BROKEN SHELL BECAUSE OF SHREDDER AND HE JUST KEEPS GOING???? please..............take one second to rest THATS YOUR SPINE

Rise

- Eldest sister syndrome

- The fucking bunny plushie that I've forgotten the name of (his siblings were so mean for no reason at all that ep 😭)

- Rise shredder

- Having to forcefully remove his family from deathly situation even if it meant leaving a beloved family member behind (he prob blames himself about karai ....augh)

- Kidnapped/taken hostage (?)

- Kraang Brainwashed

- Having to fight younger brother while brainwashed

- Apocalyptic Kraang Future

The last ronin

- Died for literally no reason at all . fly high king 🕊️

Mutant mayhem

- Getting kidnapped (quite violently too)

- Milking Machine

- Getting shell cracked from being squished too hard

[ilynpilled]

I think most people started liking jb as a couple after the bear pit scene, but when I read the books back in freshman year I think it was the sword fight. Maybe it is the fucked up dynamics enjoyer in me, even though jb ends up being relatively wholesome (at least for this series’s standards lmao). The chemistry in that thing was tangible. It is so funny too bc I always viewed it as proof of Jaime’s attraction/admiration/complex feelings for Brienne already being a serious problem in his subconscious from very early on. Ofc once he actually clashes swords with her, his respect grows noticeably because he also realizes her skill and strength, and Jaime is dudebro powerscaler coded like that. Nonetheless, Jaime at that point being a character that just wants to “cut through” his problems puts that entire scene into a very interesting perspective. Brienne is literally a problem that he wants to cut through. “His brother never untied a knot when he could slash it in two with his sword.” He is in such a dark place as a character that his instinct is to kill his problems, even if said problem is a living person.

“Jaime had told him of it often enough. How time seemed to blur and slow and even stop, how the past and the future vanished until there was nothing but the instant, how fear fled, and thought fled, and even your body. "You don't feel your wounds then, or the ache in your back from the weight of the armor, or the sweat running down into your eyes. You stop feeling, you stop thinking, you stop being you, there is only the fight, the foe, this man and then the next and the next and the next, and you know they are afraid and tired but you're not, you're alive, and death is all around you but their swords move so slowly, you can dance through them laughing." 

He uses violence as a means of depersonalization, as by killing he transforms into some beast who operates on impulse. If he is so powerful physically then he is untouchable and does not have to face complex paradoxes that he cannot seem to overcome inside of his mind and heart. This is also why when this ability is robbed of him he is forced to confront himself.

This parallels Brienne pretty nicely bc she too views fighting as an effective coping mechanism, though it is considerably less dark for her. It is less about enacting violence upon your problems and destroying them and more about protecting yourself from them.

"Fighting is better than this waiting," Brienne said. "You don't feel so helpless when you fight. You have a sword and a horse, sometimes an axe. When you're armored it's hard for anyone to hurt you."

This is also present in the fight itself: “yet somehow he could not reach her. It was as if she had an iron cage around her that stopped every blow.”

Fighting is like a different language these two share. It means more to them than it does to most people. It is a means of survival, not just physically but mentally. No wonder their dreams are often them fighting a manifestation of their trauma with swords. Already there will be a level of intimacy at play during their clash. It is also interesting that this established dynamic of Jaime on the offense, and Brienne on the defense, changes as the fight goes on.

Back to Jaime and how he views her though: She is his captor, sure, but she is also someone that is challenging his entire world view that he constructed for himself to enable his behavior and not get crushed by the weight of his self-concept. She is someone whose judgement of him is so thoroughly founded in genuine care about his victims. She faces him with it head on, not behind his back. The way she dehumanizes him bothers him so much, because she already proves herself to be someone whose opinion of him has weight. She stops to bury innocents that fell victim to her supposed “allies”. He stops to imagine her in Cersei’s gowns, and looks at her muscular calves and arms as she rows, even though the only woman he ever wanted was Cersei. She is his other half, after all. She is a woman that is very competent in a role that was not meant for her by the rules of the realm. So much of his animosity towards her is rooted in all of this, especially considering that she judges him so harshly, with her absolutist morality and naivety pissing off Jaime even more. There is a big part of him that desperately seeks her approval.

THEN THE WAY IT IS WRITTEN. I know George gets shit for his sex scenes but this shit is so good idc. That old man went off here.

“Give me the sword, Kingslayer.” “Oh, I will.” He sprang to his feet and drove at her, the longsword alive in his hands.

The swords kissed and sprang apart and kissed again. Jaime’s blood was singing.

“swinging so hard that sparks flew when the swords came together, upswing, sideslash, overhand, always attacking, moving into her, step and slide, strike and step, step and strike, hacking, slashing, faster, faster, faster… …until, breathless, he stepped back and let the point of the sword fall to the ground, giving her a moment of respite.”

The dance went on. He pinned her against an oak, cursed as she slipped away, followed her through a shallow brook half-choked with fallen leaves. Steel rang, steel sang, steel screamed and sparked and scraped, and the woman started grunting like a sow at every crash”

“Come on, come on, my sweetling, the music’s still playing. Might I have this dance, my lady?”

She is stronger than I am. The realization chilled him.

“His point scraped past her parry and bit into her upper thigh. A red flower blossomed, and Jaime had an instant to savor the sight of her blood before his knee slammed into a rock. The pain was blinding. Brienne splashed into him and kicked away his sword. “YIELD!”

Jaime drove his shoulder into her legs, bringing her down on top of him. They rolled, kicking and punching until finally she was sitting astride him. He managed to jerk her dagger from its sheath, but before he could plunge it into her belly she caught his wrist and slammed his hands back on a rock so hard he thought she’d wrenched an arm from its socket. Her other hand spread across his face. “Yield!” She shoved his head down, held it under, pulled it up.

Brienne lurched to her feet. She was all mud and blood below the waist, her clothing askew, her face red. She looks as if they caught us fucking instead of fighting…Small wonder, we were making enough noise to wake a dragon.”

“Well met, friends,” he called to them amiably. “My pardons if I disturbed you. You caught me chastising my wife.” “Seemed to me she was doing the chastising.”

Swords being used as phallic symbolism is nothing new in literature. Also so funny to me that people think jb being “sexual” would ruin the “purity” and “depth” of the relationship. lmao we are way past the point of it being the “the platonic comrades with mutual respect” thing some of you see it as. I am hesitant to believe that was ever really the case with this relationship.

[tarajenkins]

It's that time again

Time to make a massive post for my thoughts on the Lord Vauthry side of the new Encyclopaedia 3! ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ Spoiler alert: they aren't positive at all, lmao As it turns out, there is a convenient cover-our-ass disclaimer right off that this book is diegetic. The information in it is supposed to have been gleaned from the Scions. The Scions who, especially in the case of Eulmore's ~dark secrets~, would know jack shit about fuck all.

Admittedly, Hydaelyn should've known at least some of this through the death of her last Oracle, but for whatever reason it slipped her mind to tell us any of it in-game. Whoops!

Or maybe she was relying on that child to be the stopgap against the Rejoining happening too soon, like Selch. She could've at least given credit where it was due, if so. >:T

Twitter had a huge pearl-clutching shitfit the other day about that Oracle's death, which boiled down to "EW GROSS FATTY BEAT A CHILD TO DEATH OMG". The OP showed a screenshot of the page which mentions that Vauthry attacked the Oracle after having a nightmare that she would kill him. But they chose not to link the FIRST part for whatever reason, where it stated the Oracle in question had been fighting Sin Eaters alongside Ran'jit before Vauthry was even born. So unless this Oracle was an infant slayer of Sin Eaters, Vauthry was the child in that scenario--at age TWELVE. A twelve-year-old somehow defeated Hydaelyn's avatar, who was a skilled fighter trained by Ran'jit himself. (Ran'jit was a Master Assassin at five years old, btw. No, really.)

That said, the fanbase in that post naturally bought the OP's failure to math the way Estinien buys his hair ties: like suckers. Players were parroting the misinformation via solo posts and showing their entire ass on fatphobia in this character's tag all day. And, of course, where the fandom forgives and forgets the atrocities of almost every other character, people suddenly seemed very invested in making Vauthry enjoyers EXPLAIN THEMSELVES because this character did THIS.

When that was called out for the glaring hypocrisy, one poster replied it's just that "people are shocked at child abuse suddenly being mentioned and relevant."

Except child abuse has ALWAYS been mentioned and relevant in this game. It also applies to Vauthry himself. Emet-Selch essentially killed Vauthry before he was even born, dooming an infant to a life of madness and violence by fusing the baby with a Lightwarden. His father groomed him on lies for a power grab, Ascians further manipulated him in his madness to raise the Virtues, Ascend Gaia's parents, and who knows what else. What would you call that, if not abuse? Thank Emet-Selch for the previous Oracle being murdered. That wasn't going to happen with a 12-year-old who wasn't corrupted by a Lightwarden.

But, let's be real. All the derision of the character's weight during that Twitstorm made it extra obvious what makes him ~problematic~ to them. For their faves, it's "it's just fiction uwu" or the classic ~moral relativism~. For Vauthry, it's rabid foaming because it's clearly a Moral Failing to enjoy THAT character, and we who do must be harassed for it! Case in point, the Twitter OP even pulled out the old uwu ~at least I'm not a ~Vauthry shipper uwu" chestnut, I kid you not. At least, rabid foaming on behalf of vidya game children everywhere until I asked if it was finally time to discuss how many pixel children were murdered by the Rejoinings or Garlean occupation, for a start. Kids freezing in the Brume, etc. Kids made monsters by corrupting them in the womb. You know. A Tuesday. Crickets, then.

"I can't imagine Vauthry ever being a child", someone else posted.

They showed him as a baby in his mother's arms, in the Echo flashback. It's not hard. But I guess it's easier to dehumanize a fat character than it is to think a little.

If anyone else wants to be pissed at me saying all this as they were years ago, I really, really can't be arsed to care. It's rare NOT to see this character's fatness derided in just about any discussion of him. It sure was in his Twitter tags the other day. And, well. Every day. If you want to prove me wrong, though, confront that behavior when you see it, make shutting it down the norm, instead of whining how I'm "too rude" and so that invalidates my points somehow. No shit I'm rude when this "great community" has all the wit of bullies on a playground. Go tone police them instead, maybe.

ANYWAY

On the plus side, some of this new sorta-lore does seem to still back up some of my original in-game theories, but he was already twisted by the corruption from birth. There's no denying that anymore at least, no more hearing stuff from the fanbase like "uwu Emet-Selch gave him a GIFT, Vauthry just abused it uwu". (Who am I kidding, the last part will still happen.) Also, since the actual writers of this book don't stand behind anything written in it, I can still give him the happy ending in AUville that he should have had canonly. ⸜( ˙˘˙)⸝ ♡

What the purpose of this book is when nothing in it is concrete, I have no idea. But if Square can't back off their unimaginative fatphobia, can they at LEAST make Eulmore make sense?

NOPE ( ᐛ )b

Vauthry's father was named Veronth Mudthane, and in this retcon they imply he took more than a minute to decide that allowing a rando to corrupt his baby without asking his wife first was a swell deal. "The Scions" should've at least known the Echo shown in-game just…completely refutes that. But this book also has a blurb for Anogg but shows a portrait of her brother Konogg, so I honestly have to wonder if "The Scions" even played this game.

Vauthry's mother, as per usual, is not given a name or otherwise addressed at all. Because reasons.

"A euphoric Veronth went on to spoil his offspring in extravagant fashion, showering this "new god" with adoration bordering on worship. Such treatment would warp any child's mind, and Vauthry was no exception: he grew up willful, wanton, and possessed of an awful temper."

No exceptions except: Alphinaud, Alisaie, Nanamo, the fandom darlings of Ishgard (arguably excluding Emmanellain but for some reason he always gets a free pass), Hildibrand, Sark Malark, I'm sure I am forgetting some but you get the idea! There's only one difference, I wonder what it could be--

reads book's description of Vauthry's "corpulent chest"

--ah, right. The shitty tropes barely disguised as storytelling. Double standards! It's not just for jackasses in the fanbase anymore! "The Scions" are trying to lay this on "spoiling", when the child was fused with a Lightwarden. Ask Titania how that went for them.

The book goes on to say Vauthry murdered both of his parents at age nine in a fit of temper. You read that right: age nine. With witnesses. Somehow. They go on to mention the witnesses may have been okay with it perhaps because of "a growing mastery over his Lightwarden powers of domination". You know, those powers of domination that didn't exist in-game when Alphinaud chastised the Eulmorans for willfully ignoring the plight of the rest of the world. Those powers of domination that, when they finally were exerted in-game, resulted in the Eulmorans staggering around like drunks, muttering and supremely useless.

In-game, Vauthry wasn't "dominating" anything until he sprouted meatwings and fled to Gulg. Otherwise, Tristol would never have been able to ask to leave? Alphinaud would've been affected, even if the WoL was shielded by the Blessing of Light. Kai-Shirr would have chopped his arm off gladly. The Eulmorans would be blameless for everything Alphinaud and the narrative blamed them for.

In any case, both in this book and in-game, the writers completely gutted their own narrative of Vauthry and/or Eulmore being symbolic of All Things Bad. It's pretty impressive. Vauthry was corrupted by a Lightwarden, like Titania; his mind and behavior were compromised by this from birth. And if he DID control the Eulmorans the whole time, then they had no free will, either.

The book claims Vauthry used Ascension as a cruel game and delighted in ~revealing the truth~ to his victims as they became Sin Eaters. But they never explained why there would be a need to hide any truth with this latest spin on the dumpster fire that is the Eulmore arc.

In-game, there were rules to even request Ascension of him, and it was limited to and at the discretion of the formerly rich free citizenry. Workers could be granted it, but only if their patron vouched for them. The free citizens apparently had to wait until they were at their natural end, as per the Warbler's patron. The random disappearance of so many people from the stagnant population of that tower over the years would cause a panic by any stretch of the imagination. Word would get out, because workers on the inside were shown to be able to visit loved ones in Gate Town. Only allowing Ascension at the natural end of life would cover all that part up, except Vauthry was only 29 years old. The opportunities for Ascension: The Game would've been about as often as Minfilias spawned in that one century. (Which, according to the game, was totally hundreds on hundreds of Minfilias!) Either way makes zero good sense. The convoluted lengths they went through for the sake of these cheap fatphobic tropes is staggering, I s2g.

Meol still doesn't make sense, either. They doubled down on the "fat character eats people" trope in the book, but tbh I've come to expect unoriginality from anything directed by Naoki "Diversity would be unrealistic in my giant magic summon fantasy game" Yoshida.

Sin Eaters are said to have been found in cages next to a butcher table sort of setup, even though in-game, Sin Eaters have no bones, blood, or meat. In fact, the sparklies they dissapate into upon death are rather important to the narrative, as that is what turns people into new Sin Eaters. Meol, you know, that dish which was still entirely optional, and so really contradictory to using it as some master plan to MC the populace.

TL;DR: This is what happens when you phone in lazy tropes instead of a story for a last-minute arc and call it a day. Imagine what we could've had if they'd done some actual thoughtful writing. Also TL;DR:

Mood, Your Lordship

[difeisheng]

the thing about xiao hua in the lost tomb 2 is that i would argue he's the most ruthless of all the live-action versions (at least so far). he's the one dealing with the ugly underbelly of what it means to be head of the xies, the one onscreen telling the rest of his family to fuck off or die because he won't walk away or go down without a fight. he moves quickly and cleanly and he kills people without blinking if the situation is severe enough to warrant it.

but he's also the version of xiao hua who smiles the most and genuinely means it. whether it's at his men who've stayed by his side, or at wu xie who he beams at from the first time they're onscreen together and never stops looking out for him, or at zhai xingyao, the brother who he's kept safe enough to have his back. he's got all the gravity of the burdens he's had to carry his entire life, but he still finds enjoyment in the simplest ritual of sitting in his courtyard watching opera performances on his laptop. xiao hua has restraint and control and he can click his emotions on and off like a light switch if he must, though with the emotions he's willing to share, he's so easy with making them known.

adding onto this, there's a passage from book canon that i feel is crucial to understanding xiao hua's character, and it's from volume 7 (from wu xie's pov):

“Are you a good person or one of the bad ones?” I asked.

“What do you think?” He looked at me and sighed. “Do you think a good man, upon hearing that his childhood playmate’s life and death was uncertain, would still ignore it and finish his own business first?

(...) "Do you know how many times I did such things before? I often wondered if I didn’t listen to my grandfather and went back immediately, would those people still be alive?” He also smiled. “You can’t have friends once you think like that, because you know you can’t go back and save them. If you became friends with someone and this happened, then you’d be sad. So to prevent that and be able to abandon others with ease, I decided I couldn’t be friends with anyone. It sounds a bit melodramatic, doesn’t it?”

I didn’t know how to answer him, so I just chuckled a few times.

“But these were my thoughts when I was a child.” He said. “Now that I’m older, I’ve figured a few things out.” He sighed and raised the wine bottle and motioned to me, “So, Little Master Three. With me here, you have to take care of yourself.”

(quoted from the Merebear translation)

although tlt2 xiao hua is younger than he is in this section of the books (this exchange takes place while him and wu xie are at mount siguniang, or the last arc of ultimate note), he's a xiao hua who's already been through the change his book counterpart describes in the passage. he's made it forward in reckoning with what he does in his life, and he doesn't consider himself a saint by any means for it, but he's found what happiness he can still make room for and save despite all that. i'm glad that tlt2 gave us a xiao hua who looks like he's gone through that realization, and let him shine in who he is after coming out the other side, not only in his own sideplot but also in his interactions with the other main characters.

one of my favourite moments in tlt2 is from the last battle against the jade(?) warrior, when one of xiao hua's men dies (i'm so sorry i can't remember his name) and he's angry. how xiao hua wields his anger is typically cold, calculated, he only lets a hint of it show because the self-control is more terrifying to watch than full displeasure. this time he's fully expressing genuine rage, and i think it's the most unrestrained we ever see xiao hua with it in any adaptation. one of his people died, someone he cared about and wasn't afraid to show it, and so whoever is responsible is going to lose his life next. and it's beautiful.

tl;dr i adore how tlt2 xiao hua is characterized and how that characterization drew on his book journey, even though this adaptation introduces him at a slightly younger age. hats off to everyone involved

[sanisse]

Can I ask a potentially silly question?: as someone who hasn’t been able to get through the silm yet (despite my valiant efforts), why is Russingon such a popular ship? No shade to the ship at all, I just literally don’t know what it is or what makes it so common (canon interactions I’m assuming?) and I figured you be able to help me given the on enjoyment of Russingon and your knowledge of the lore

Please help 😂😭

Ohhh I'm late to this but I can give you the short answer and the longer answer.

Short answer is doomed romeo-and-juliet-esque romance is very juicy and makes ship brains go brrr. Maedhros being the firstborn of Feanor and Fingon being the firstborn of Fingolfin means that there's just a lot of potential there for "our dads are fighting and disapprove of us but we're still going to be friends/lovers because fuck what anyone else says" and that's just...hngg. And of course then there's the whole sailing to Beleriand & the Oath and Angband and Fingon's death...

But in any case. The long answer is that they're really really close in the text.

 “Long before, in the bliss of Valinor, before Melkor was unchained, or lies came between them, Fingon had been close in friendship with Maedhros; and though he knew not yet that Maedhros had not forgotten him at the burning of the ships, the thought of their ancient friendship stung his heart.” (The Silmarillion, Of the Return of the Noldor, p. 124)

It's Fingon who rescues Maedhros from his torment in Angband, and as the text goes: “Thus he rescued his friend of old from torment, and their love was renewed; and the hatred between the houses of Fingolfin and Fëanor was assuaged.”

And while I'm not saying this makes them canon, I think it's very interesting that Tolkien inserted a new subheading for this story of Fingon’s rescue of Maedhros from Thangorodrim: “Of Fingon and Maedros” (HoME XI, Later Quenta Silmarillion, p. 177.), which is very similar to three other titles in the Silmarillion: “Of Aulë and Yavanna”, “Of Thingol and Melian”, “Of Beren and Lúthien” all of whom are married couples.

And that doesn't even take into account the fact that Maedhros and Fingon have a tight alliance when Fingon becomes high king, and that they pretty much rule together. And beyond that, Maedhros and Fingon exchange a LOT of gifts, which from LaCE is a bit of a romantic gesture.

Maedhros and Fingon also share two motifs with Beren and Luthien and Aragorn and Arwen. Like Beren and Luthien, Maedhros and Fingon have a rescue that involves Song (fun to note that Sam and Frodo are an echo of this as well). And post Fingon's death, Maedhros goes to dwell in his grief on the hill of Amon Ereb. Post Aragorn's death, Arwen goes and dies on a hill.

I don't think Tolkien intended for them to read this way any more than I think he intended for Sam and Frodo or Legolas and Gimli or Turin and Beleg to read the way they do, but it's a popular ship because the text tells us over and over that they're extremely close and gives us a lot of ... uh... interactions and parallels which are just ripe ground for romantic ship material.

And yeah, height difference and doomed romance make ship brain go brr.

[nextinline-if]

I’ve seen people ask authors who they’d ship their characters with, but I’m curious which ROs, from other WIPs, are your favorite? Is there any specific reason?

I absolutely love your story so much! You’re wonderful!

I'm unsure if both of these asks are yours, but I'm sorry it took so long to answer (like months RIP). Screenshot one was recent the other is older. Also thank you anon for your sweet words. <3

I appreciate your no-choice-patience <3 This is such a fun question. I read it wrong for about 4 months and kept stressing about which ROs to ship with mine. My brain was NOT working.

I'm being fucking serious, unfortunately. Please laugh at me in the comments. </3

Here are some of my favorite ROs from other WIPs:

Seven - @infamous-if; I can write a paragraph about why I like Seven but does anyone really want that? Heh. When the game first started, I was SO ready to be like "f you Seven, you jerk!" And then we find out that Seven still has that tattoo. Okay, interest peaked. Well, played. You got me f'ed up. I like to play tropes where it's from ex - to enemies - to lovers. Juicy stuff right there.

Ari - @theoperativeif; There's something really enticing about not just a slow burn but a slow burn that has the extra burn because of the obstacles in the relationship that prevent you from reaching each other. Ouch. I normally don't like slowwwww burns. Like, a little slow is good cause it's realistic but like where I ONLY get to imagine them in my MC's head or in memories? Got me f'ed up. (Again). I think I like this because of the trauma the two characters have faced together. Is trauma bond a tope? Don't know but let's go with that.

Blade - @shepherds-of-haven; On a surface level, you get a character who fights for those he cares for, has strong convictions, and is hard to get close to. I'm a sucker for those. But on a deeper level, I really enjoy the way his story is written and told. Unearthing Blade's past and trying to weave your MC into this complex character's heart. Not sure what trope is going on here but I'll take it all.

Sol - @theabyssal; Yeah, my Death is pretty pissed at Sol right now...but you're telling me that literal sunshine fell for Death? The Abyssal has A+ writing as is, but adding an incredible love story like that really hooks my soppy lil heart. The complexities...THE COMPLEXITIES. I'm on the edge of my f-ing seat here people. I want Sol to suffer and beg my Death for forgiveness. And my Death will make Sol suffer emotionally and then accept the forgiveness :') (she's a weak betch)

Dara - @ataleofcrowns; I mean, I LOVE forbidden/let's romance my general type of vibe. But Dara is an exquisitely written character. The whole game is beautiful but the characters are so full of depth. There's always another layer. Plus, I normally play a shier MC but I like catching Dara off guard. It's so enjoyable. Got me giggling and shit.

There are plenty of other lovely ROs from amazing IFs that I like but these came to the top of my mind and I didn't want to make this too long. I like tropes that f me up emotionally. More tears = better. Rip my heart out. Maybe put it back in. Maybe leave is on the ground. Author's choice.

That said, I go for a lot of different tropes and try to do multiple playthroughs to romance all or most of the cast. I think every character can offer something different and I don't want to miss out <3

[catholic-character-tournament]

Round 3 - Catholic Character Tournament

Propaganda below ⬇️

Gabriel

Well he's an angel so I'm taking him being catholic as canon. There are a lot of themes in the game that point to catholisism specifically.

He's so fucking funny. he listens to nine inch nails and quotes one of the songs in a fight basically "fight me like an animal". he and v1 kind of have this yuri thing going on. he has an official bodypillow. hes a metaphor for being excommunicated and no one gets him like me and my friends do

The *true* Catholic experience is leaving the church and having a gay awakening, ask anyone

its debatable if Gabriel truly believes he's "the one true savior" or is mocking the idea of it

ok im actually gonna write some gabe propaganda bc despite what you may expect from a game called ULTRAKILL theres a lot to be said about his character and how catholicism is represented

Gabriel is a genuinely caring person who struggles to square his desire to help people with his duty as an archangel. He's the only one in Heaven trying to make things better for those in Hell, but his faith is used to manipulate him into committing atrocities against the people he used to protect (see the "TRAITOR" mural in 4-2)

he only realizes his mistakes after losing everything and being sentenced to death, but he still decides with only a little time remaining to try and make things right. for the sake of spoilers i will just say that the measures he takes are... extremely drastic and very enjoyable. i just really like the idea that even facing the end of all living things, no matter how steep your crimes, it is never too late to fix your mistakes. you are never unworthy forgiveness.

hes also SO FUCKING GAY for this dumb little robot. it mauled him so hard he tasted his own blood and he fell in love right there. theres no way this guy has a normal healthy relationship to pain he is soooooooooo fucked. i love him. please vote for Gabriel "patron saint of gay lapsed catholics" Ultrakill !!!!!!!!

Shadow

In sonic destruction (the AI generated fan thing snapcube made a while ago) shadow was catholic or something which I think is reallyyyyyyy funny

Ok listen. I know this is a stretch but hear me out. He says “oh my God” in the Twitter takeovers so we know this is a possibility. I see him as a Christ-like figure because I saw his whole confrontation with Mephiles and was like “this is a thing that happened in the Bible??” and the pose Mephiles shows him in is literally like a crucifixion and Mephiles is meant to be a demon / false prophet reference. And also he’s called a demon in Shadow The Hedgehog 2005 then the guy who calls him that is like “I was wrong I’m sorry” and that also reminds me of a thing with Jesus in The Bible. But the biggest reason is his whole thing with Maria cause I think he’d come to earth and hear Ave Maria once and convert to Catholicism idk he’s like we’re comforted by a female familial figure named Mary sometimes called Maria?? And her color is blue????? Heck yeah I’m in because I Will Cry. Also feel free to share this as propaganda obv even if he doesn’t get in the bracket just. It’s funny.

I feel like he’d battle a lot with being seen or portrayed as a demon and how the aliens he’s related to very much look and act like demons idk lmao- and also I feel like confession would just be good for him I think he needs it for his mental health

There is a debate on the lovely website tunblr that Shadow T. Hedgehog is an allegory for Jesus Christ.

He is Jesus, idk what to tell you. He lived, he was sealed away, he was awakened again and deemed the ultimate lifeforms, he’s angry but not evil, does what he believes is best for people and the world at any given time. Total loser.

[ghostybane]

Bane's Opinions on MAMIYA DDD

Ok so I finally finished playing MAMIYA DDD and there is so much to unpack! I have been waiting for a year and now after reading through all of the events, I have gathered my resolve to talk about my opinions on it. I'll talk about Doomsday and Daydreams first before Mamiya and Natsume. DOOMSDAY I wanted to get Doomsday out of the way cause beforehand I did see some spoilers containing Minato's route and I wasn't too comfy about it (I hate Mayuri and Minato and tbh it was fucked up as it was). But I'll start off with Minato- and I know that doomsday crosses over with Haruki so some bits remain the same but it's easy to get through.

Minato: I liked reading Minato's route, It does focus on his identity as himself and as "Mina" and that it's about accepting himself, while also confronting Ni'igaki about his experience and that he won't run away from her and face her up front. He's become a much more stronger character and I really enjoyed it, I also did enjoy the part he meets with Yumehisa and Mina together. It was just really sweet and a wholesome moment. That was pretty memorable to me. I liked his character development a lot, he was the type to fall apart if no one could accept the way he is. Dressed up as a girl to continue acting the role of spreading happiness to everyone and even when he is exposed he runs away from it, but he faces it again when dealing Mayuri. Throughout the story, he finds himself, discovers "Mina" and learns to accept himself and face his fears and fight against Ni'igaki. It was a really strong and powerful arc for his character and I think it was a good choice. (I love and care for Minato so much you have no idea!!! But I am really happy with the ending and that I believe in him!) Haruki: It was straightforward but from his point of view. It was an enjoyable experience to go through his route as well. I like Haruki's character a lot, He's the rough looking character with a hard exterior but he's actually genuinely kind and soft. When he meets Touma again, he deals with his family issues and the reason why Haruki isn't able to love anyone cause of something he said in the past that made their family split apart. Though he learns to be more opened about himself and that he is capable of being loved by someone (Minato) and it improves himself as a character, where he takes control over his life and deals with things properly. He then was able to face Touma head on and settle things about their family problem. It genuinely was an enjoyable experience to read.

DREAMSDAY Ok so this is where lore of Keito comes in and an epilogue explaining MAMIYA's existence as well. It was straightforward and to the point, I still don't get how Keito is in the wrong timeline...but It is assumed he just ended up in 2012 cause the years were mixed together with 1999. Aside from that it was enjoyable, and holy fuck this route was more fucked up than I expected...

Ryou To be honest I was a lil confused with the whole Karma thing but it started making sense as the answers were given. The whole thing about Keito's death is so messed up, especially the fact they were making Ryou become MAMIYA was just insane. I love Keito so much that he wanted to protect Ryou at all costs and it was so sweet. It further developed that Ryou, who appeared in the timeline of 1999 wanted to be in a future together with Keito and he also went to save him as well and lead him back to his original timeline 2012 and see Keito alive (He is around 28 years old in the year 2012). Then up against Samejima they were interesting as both of them, tend to fall into their violent tendencies they fought it out to resolve their issue. It was a satisfying ending.

Keito I think Keito's lore was interesting although between the two timelines I'm not so sure which one is supposed to be canon Keito, aside from that. They don't entirely exist since he's perceived much more older after the Karma had been fixed. But anyways I like that it explains from his perspective before and after the Karma, I also did like that he was very close with Yumehisa and that for Keito to stay alive in this current timeline. That is how all the MAMIYA's (pink house) also disappeared. But it was very enjoyable to read his POV and I think it was pretty much the core to the story that leads to Side: Mamiya and Natsume's death.

then there is DOOMSDAYDREAM

I am a lil mixed with it but I think the way it ended was a lil satisfying enough, We had a lot of MAMIYA and Yumehisa lore and it was good for the story! But I sort of wished there was more for Natsume, reason why he was looking for MAMIYA. Why he died in the forest, and I kinda wanted to see baby Natsume...It would be nice if we had more backstory abt the way he perceived the world through his eyes, but all it did was get straight to the point. Let Yumehisa take over Natsume's work and Natsume proceeds to sacrifice himself for the sake of saving his friends and granting them a happy ending. It also didn't go in depth about his death at all, which I thought was the main point but oh well....we get a simple answer and that was he died because of a heart failure.

It was left with a cliff hanger as Yumehisa becomes a spectator and directs Natsume's story to a happy ending. I do also wonder if he may die at the end as well but...man...I didn't feel satisfied cause it was left for the audience to assume that Yumehisa will grant them all happy endings. AND THEN THERE IS EX- And tbh Idk what I was expecting...I thought it was gonna be important to the main story but no- it was a just a WHAT IF and Idk....I was really confused with the way it was supposed to go. All I understood was that Natsume snapped because of Yumehisa, he killed all of his friends and he had nothing. All he wanted was revenge and basically he just becomes a villain and kills off everyone, it's just so out of character. (Someone could you explain what the fuck EX was supposed to mean- but it wasn't that important so I discard that)

that is all of my opinions of the routes of Mamiya! They were heavily spoilery so I don't want to add in the tags. But I loved reading through DDD and it was nice, I feel a lil empty though after the finale but I assume that Yumehisa was able to fulfill Natsume's wish and set things right. Thank you for reading this long ass blog hahah!

[gojuo]

tbh the whole aegon storyline is giving “writers don’t get the severity of actions they’re writing” bc the way the whole scene in his chambers proceeded… him telling his mother that he could never be enough all teary-eyed as if she’s mad that he’s doing something silly like drinking around, and not raping servants. also how come alicent is already over hers “you’re no son of mine”, she smiled as if how could he even think she didn’t love him… don’t get me wrong that’s not me hating her, i also don’t think it’s impossible of her to still love him despite his actions, but the structure of it all just feels as if the show itself doesn’t take any of his crimes seriously. and bet they’re never getting mentioned again. also i’m pretty sure someone was referring to aegon as a “jerk” when what they’ve written is way beyond that.

Yeah because the writers don’t. The r4pe plotline isn’t about Dyana the victim, it is about Aegon the r4pist. And even then it isn’t about Aegon the r4pist, what it is is a cheap manipulation tactic so that the audience will for sure never side with the opponent of their favorite gwirlboss uwu morally superior and always right paragon of virtue never did anything wrong in her life ever even though she put a literal bounty on her 2-year-old nephew’s head and then laughed when his dismembered body was delivered to her and also fully sanctioned Blood and Cheese Qween. It’s such pathetic fucking writing and anyone with two brain cells can see right through this awful choice. They just had to make Aegon one of the worst things ever, didn’t they? But a bigger issue with this writing choice is that his on-screen character is inconsistent with his apparent off-screen character. Off-screen he’s a cartoon villain who r4pes women and watches children fight to the death, but the way he is on-screen, the way he talks about himself, the way he cries about the parental neglect he went through, the worthlessness he feels, the way he cries so easily about all of this and then the vulnerability he shows his mother when opening up about his insecurities, like… these are just not the actions of the cruel person the writers have made him be off-screen and as a result it is so damn hard to reconcile these two Aegons with each other. And that’s why it is so obvious why introducing Aegon’s as a r4pist before even introducing Aegon himself is nothing but the writers trying to manipulate the audience into favoring their own favored side.

And if this cheap shot at forcing the audience into one side wasn’t enough, they also just had to make Aegon a child fighting pits enthusiast too. As if Aegon’s entire fucking reason for even accepting that stupid crown wasn’t because his people convinced him his family and children would be in mortal danger with Rhaenyra “I enjoy executing and murdering people who might as well look at me wrong” Targaryen as Queen. As if it wasn’t the tragedy of Blood and Cheese which led him to taking this war and the threat of Rhaenyra seriously. Like I fucking cannot take these writing choices seriously in any way, I’m sorry but I just can’t. They made him a r4pist and a child fighting pit enjoyer not to explore that part of his character arc, but only for fans to go "Oh so you stan a r4pist?!?!!!" all the damn time in my goddamn inbox.

I’m never going to take these writing choices seriously because I see them for what they are: Not actual writing choices which matter in the grand narrative for this specific character, but the writers manipulating the audience into never rooting for said character. So yes these writers do not take what they did with Aegon seriously, they just needed you to be Team Black and feel morally superior for it.

[bluiex]

OKAY SO

c!DocM77 FANLORE

Warning: This massive fucking wall of text contains discussion of war, violence, seperation from one's family, implied/assumed child death, implied death overall, Entire Villages Burning Down, explosions and people injured in explosions, mild gore if your imagination is vivid though i tried not to describe it too gruesomely, a bit of internalized ableism regarding large injuries prosthetic use, and ✨PTSD symptoms✨! Proceed with caution, fellow blockmen enjoyers.

doc lived a majority of his life in a simple little village in a distant server, working on mechanical projects and tinkering for people. he's very autistic and very undiagnosed.

asp he met a lovely individual- an eagle avian- and they had a kid, that kid being doccy

doc still remembers the way his heart /soared/ when doccy took their first wobbly steps, a few hours after birth

he can also still remember how about a w33k later his heart sank when he saw his name on the draft list

his child isn't even a full 7 days old and he's already being told he's going to war, to fight for a government that's never done a god damn thing for him

he can't say no. he has literally no choice, so his community, who he's all close with, swears to him that they'll make sure his child knows they're loved- that their papa is away for a while but that he'll be back

he's just a regular foot soldier, and that's fine by him. he frequently ALMOST gets in trouble for fucking with machines he doesnt have the authority to be messing with

keyword almost because they always realize 'ah. hes fixed the crucial flaw we couldnt figure out.'

one day he's out on the field being Actively Shot At, and a machine nearby breaks down

it provides excellent cover so he runs to go fix it

and forgets that the fuel tank being shot is also a risk

the fuel tank is shot and the machine fucking explodes

it takes hours for anyone to find him, and when he is found, he's damn near dead already. the left side of his face has been practically flayed off by a piece of metal, and his right arm is just... fucking mangled

they bring him to the triage tent, blah blah blah have to amputate his arm + remove his absolutely brutalized eye

so when they send him home- he is far too damaged to fight- and he finds his cozy little village practically incinerated, still smouldering, corpses everywhere,

he cant even be surprised

but his heart shatters when he finds the little butterfly plushie that his neighbour made for doccy

he wanders, pretty much fucking entirely dissociated, for days on end, until a group of vagrants picks him up. he's so dead silent they assume he's a mute [doc having verbal shutdowns as a result of stress so real]

the first thing he says after Several days,

is his child's name, clutching that little plush butterfly in trembling hands

someone can tell he's grieving, and coaxes him into talking abt his kid

and then someone interrupts halfway with

HOLY SHIT WE MET THAT KID???

and doc very rapidly goes from being almost too quiet to hear,

to extremely loudly stating that THEY WILL HELP HIM FIND HIS FUCKING KID.

now, doccy's not even 3 months old yet

theyre just so fucking lost and confused and scared. they joined the first group of people they could, thinking in 2.75monthold logic that 'everyone ive ever met is papa's friend. i have now met these people. they must be papa's friends. im staying with them now'

when doc and doccy find eachother again he just breaks down sobbing, and the moment doc can, he gets the FUCK off of that server and takes doccy with him

he jailbreaks his comm to ignore whitelist functions, private server protections, etc., and server hops relentlessly until he can find a safe place to stay- which is how he comes across hermitcraft, around early S3

the moment he's on server he's being absolutely swarmed by hermits wanting to know who he is, what he wants, how he fuckin got in

and he's entirely ready to fight all these people off and get the hell out

but then someone spots doccy and everyone immediately pauses

and they start to notice the way doc's entire posture reads as someone with no intent to harm

they see the wild, yet unfocused look in his eye, how fresh his scars clearly are, how clumsily he weilds his prosthetic arm

they take stock of how every time he moves, it is to achieve one if thr33 things:

making himself look bigger

k33ping the hermits away from him

k33ping doccy close to him

they all pretty quickly realize 'this guy n33ds somewhere safe to live'

keralis lets Doc stay in his home while he settles in. eventually he moves out,

into a literal hole a little ways away

and from then on, it's history, they all lived happily ever after*

*doc has major ptsd. there are some days where the idea of being too far from doccy terrifies him. he struggles with his prosthetic for ages before he says 'fuck it' and builds his cybernetics. some days he regrets that decision, as he would like nothing more than to strip the metal from his body. some days he would rather be incomplete, than a twisted amalgam of man and machine.

the first time he hears any talk of war on the server, he panics, and tries to leave. they have to explain to him that 'war' just means 'we get silly'.

he struggles to bond closely with the hermits. some nights he dreams of tragedy. he dreams that he finds his new home scorched into nothing.

but that is what it is. home.

================================

OKAY THATS MY DOC LORE. hehehehhehehehe. bluie ik ur in a state where long sends are A Lot so dont worry abt trying to get to this, just take care of yourself, alright?

=

[piracytheorist]

Sometimes I feel like I'm the only one who doesn't think Ethan's one-liners are cringe. They are a little dorky sometimes, sure, but I laugh every single time I hear them, because some of them are genuinely good? Ethan saying "God must really love you, bitch" will always have me cackling. "In death as he was in life: DISGUSTING" is fucking hilarious. Him standing in front of an actual, literal dragon, and still talking shit? Now that's just badass. Or what about telling Mother Miranda that the problem is her?

While everyone's view of what Ethan is like is perfectly valid, absolutely, I'll never understand why some people genuinely think he is some lame, soft guy who's only capable of being cringe-y and stupid. Ethan's a brave person, who's maybe not a badass because of his choice of words, but because he has the guts to say those words, even in the face of absolute horrors, and then doing so without hesitation, or fear. He IS brave, and he IS tough, and badass in his own right. Dude single-handedly went up against every mold monster at the Baker House, as well as a whole-ass village full of monsters, and he came out on top every single time. I'd say that's pretty fucking cool.

Oh don't get me wrong, whenever I (and I assume the grand majority of Ethan fans) call Ethan a cringey pathetic meow meow or any variation of that, it's only a joke to cover the fact that I wouldn't do any fucking better myself.

I love Ethan because he loves his family more than anything, he'll do anything to protect them, go feral to fight the monsters that keep them away from him, walk through horrors and nightmares in order to save them, but ultimately he is still Just a GuyTM. His silly one-liners only emphasize how human he is, and this is why I love the fact that they're not "cool" or "sassy". It's what every one of us would say in such a situation, then spend twenty minutes in the shower later being like "GOD I was so fucking stupid, couldn't I find anything more witty to say? I should have said that instead!"

The fact that he has the guts to talk back to the monsters that try to kill him shows his bravery and perseverance. The fact that the stuff he tells them are silly af shows that he's also a human being like us. He's not some male-fantasy superhero protagonist. He's just a dude. He's your neighbour. He's you. And that makes him very relatable and enjoyable to follow along. He's neither a super-duper fantastical guy whose story you go along with even if you don't understand his motives and/or reasons, nor an empty vessel that's just there to move the game forward. He's a simple guy with a simple goal that even people who don't care about having children will understand, and many many people will be touched by. When he says his one-liners you're supposed to relate to him (and frankly my deepest condolences to those who don't relate to or aren't entertained by those moments, you have no idea how much fun you're missing out on) and either nod along or scream "YOU TELL 'EM ETHAN! THAT WAS LAME AF BUT YOU TELL 'EM!"

(For what is worth, by the way, one of my absolute favourite lines of his is "You're the one who's cursed" LIKE EVEN TYPING IT DOWN I'M LAUGHING. If you asked me top 5 Ethan lines that one would unironically be in there for sure. Like it comes after the first big Boss fight and you're all up and excited from the adrenaline and the excitement of winning, Dimitrescu dies cursing at you... and then Ethan goes like "I am rubber, you are glue" AND IT'S HILARIOUS)

In short, I don't think anyone but a few butthurt RE fans actually mean any negativity or even criticism when they talk about Ethan's "cringey" one-liners. If they didn't invoke any kind of positive reaction in you, then sorry sweaty but they were not made for you :) Almost everyone I've seen talk about that has been with an understanding that Ethan is still a badass to go up against those monsters, with enough wits about himself to even speak and (try to) insult them, and the nature of his one-liners just adds a humorous and relatable tone to the whole thing. It makes Ethan who he is, and I wouldn't have it any other way <3

[motherthroat]

ok see now i'm gonna go down the list again n send u a novel bc quite frankly i'm relentless n want to know wht three emojis u wouldn’t give me + clown around Together 😇

🍪 - this is a given and my motivation behind handcuffing us together for all of eternity duhhh<3

💥 - this is visible to anyone with eyes but i do understand tht it may be nice to hear so yes mori ur layout is very pleasing 👍

🚬 - you Are cool, n perhaps intimidatingly so, but not to me bc you’ve been soft w me before n even tho you're taller.. in my heart, you're my height. or shorter :3

🍜 - see i can’t say this bc i feel like ur skills cannot be imitated bc wht infuses such flavor into ur work is the fact tht it comes from You n it has ur heart in it. so. i will leave all of tht to you n all of the fawning n rabid cheerleading to me 😌

🧠 - yes i learn that there are indeed intelligent life forms out there which is always reassuring and desperately needed in these dark times amen 🙏

suddenly blind and unable to read idk wht the next emoji is omg 404 blue screen of death currently buffering only to finally load…..

🍧 - yes. u are. n i remember sometimes going “omgggg am i special… seeing the soft underside… 🥹👉👈” heheheheheh but again this is jus a Given like. nods at u

🧢 - see idk if i have the proper qualifications to determine whether or not ur a Bro and i would hate to be misdiagnosing out here 😞

🫀 - ok so see the thing abt this one is tht i’m actually a goodie two shoes tht can’t fight n has nonexistent arm strength so this whole killing someone n digging a grave thing would have to perhaps fall to u like . it’s almost a cannibal au situation except we’re not eating them yk? 🫶 but i would offer emotional support ofc n a moist towelette to wipe the blood off. sooo ride or die as in that + i'm your chihuahua guard dog tht would bite anyone's ankle <3 (but this is also a given bc again: the handcuffs. would i cuff us if we weren't ride or dies? exactly.)

🗣 - the thing abt this one is i’d be happy tht ur out there thriving living ur life or i’d assume tht u were here but deleted ur posts before i woke up / logged in bc the alternative would also kill me immediately </3

the only time i’d ever send u a tomato is if i were gently placing one in ur hand bc we were in the kitchen cooking something delicious n u asked me to get u one :) peace n luv on planet earth

i made tht small text n it's still long as hell . rip

𝄢 hey 😎

🍪 ─ u're v fascinating n i mean that. even if u do smth incredibly weird that'll annoy me i'd still go hmm i can fix them. or not bc i'll most likely be knee-deep joining u on wtvr u're doing. u make my ti-dom...... ti-domming

💥 ─ the fact that i'm ur moot rn is prove bc ppl w horrid sense of aesthetic just existing piss me off

🫂 ─ a given. in fact, u can bring up the most outta nowhere, embarassing topic n i won't ever think fuck this lil weirdo asking me stupid shit. tho if it's trivial matters like a post reminding me of u, i prefer to interact publicly. for no rzn................

🚬 ─ no ♡ u are cool... the way i find will byers cool. unintimidatingly so. n the fact that i'm shorter in ur heart is actually sickening to read ngl. this is us denise, this is how we look side by side ↓ 1.) i can rest my chin on top of ur head 2.) if i'm any shorter then we'd both be chihuahua material which is wrong

🍜 ─ ur ability to befriend anyone quick n be generally likable instead of mr. oversuspicious who yells at anybody stepping on his lawn due to a few bad experiences x

❤️‍🔥 ─ do i need to say anyth. c'mon. c'mon. everytime i log in, i wonder what's denise gonna say today abt raggedy ass ppl n what cute stuff is denise gonna come up w. u helplessly dying on the floor due to ur lactose intolerance for the 5th time is Content. atp i'm an enjoyer of a whole denise* not just denise the st blog

🧠 ─ maybe. not necessarily learning new things but being reassured that smone hasn't forgotten the thing

─ ok? i was making a creamy red sauce rigatoni w flan as dessert n u gotta pay the kiss the cook toll to even get the flan i put on the upper shelf but ig smone is full. more for me 🙄

🍧 ─ another given. n here's the thing: i don't like it when ppl get 💗💞💓💕💖-coddly w me. s not inherently bad, just that a lot of em expect u to match energies/respond similarly which is. i don't do that. n i don't like how fragile sm mutualships can be over it. but i don't mind u barfing ur love all over my activity partly bc ik uk how i am n none of my painstaking push n pull will deter u + it's U. that's it

🧢 ─ pft no. never even crossed my mind. u hv ZERO bro energy

🫀─ i knew u have the arm strength of soggy fries so i alrd fully assigned myself to do the brute work yes. on a srs note, u're my Friend friend. now me making a distinction between a friend n a Friend friend seems terrible but the latter isn't just existing in the same space peacefully, no, i wanna get to a point where u n i fight over small things n make up 5 mins later. i want us to bonk e/o on the heads. i want sm henpecking going on when necessary. ik u can be relied on for that level of #trust

❤️‍🩹 ─ *n this is why i wanna meet u irl. i want this so bad it's actually embarassing

🗣 ─ yes but if u're enjoying life away from this lawless wasteland n its chronically online weirdos i can do nothing but let u be. get that fresh O². touch that grass

🍅 ─ why the hell would i give u this. why. not in a million yrs. unless... ☹ peace n luv on planet earth indeed. later i'm peeling chilled fruits n sharing it w u on the front porch as we watch the sun set alongside édith piaf's hymne à l'amour

[mrsmarymorstan]

Does it mean you did not follow JJK that have one of the most tragic/romantic relationship between Gojo and Geto? That did not have any heterosexual explanation between their bond.

Ah! I do watch it, but I don't read the manga and I watch in Dub due to my disabilities so I'm not EXACTLY up-to-date the same as others are.

I will agree, that Gojo/Geto are an excellent couple and I have been enjoying the angst between them this series!

However, I'm just not THAT big a fan of JJK because:

1) The animation is very much on the side of "work smarter not harder" with a lot of repetition of fight choreography. This wouldn't be a problem so much if it wasn't that it was an ACTION series! I want cool ass fight scenes not something that's just the same thing each and every week. This is because Mappa have some of the WORST working conditions in the industry (which is saying something!) so I do not blame the team at all, but it does impact my enjoyment of the series.

2) It was advertised to me as something new and revolutionary! It had never been done before! It was THE BEST SERIES TO EVER EXIST EVER!!!! And you know what I saw? A combination of every Shonen Trope that has ever come before. An orphan boy eats a body part of a famous person and gains their magic powers but is also now possessed by them, and so he attends special magic ninja school with a sassy brunette girl and an emo boy from a powerful family. His mentor is a white haired man with his eyes covered who the whole fandom thinks is mega hot. Like, this has been done before. So many times. If it had been sold to me as it was, I might enjoy it more! But no. It's not at all revolutionary. They also tried to sell the movie as a love story? And I am sorry if your main couple do not have enough scenes together to fill out a Taylor Swift AMV then you have FAILED at telling a love story!

You're right Anon, Geto and Gojo are by faaaaaaar a better example of a tragic love story than Yuta and Rika!

3) Sorry I have read 90s Superhero Comics you cannot shock or surprise me with the death of a female character. My fridge is full thanks. I don't need anymore girls in there, k thanks.

Like I said, I do watch it, and I can see why it's so popular! I'm just not reading the manga so I am not Up To Date, and the treatment of female characters is so much better in Blue Exorcist and Akane Banashi that NATURALLY those are where I'm gonna be drawn to on the ol' Shonen Jump App!

But hey, if you have Action Shonen series that never fridge their female characters and give them solid independent arcs and character development then please! Let me know!

Anyone who recommendeds MHA is wrong though dear FUCKING GOD I had to stop reading because of how COLD it was getting with all them fridges out!

[patrochillesvibes]

what are you favorite kinks for achilles and patroclus? 😈

😈😈😈😈😈

Welcome to my Ted Talk

Brat Play

Achilles is a brat. Don’t @ me. Homer wrote him that way.

A brat is a type of submissive. They are rebellious, pushy, and mouthy. They deliberately provoke attention. Remind you of anyone?

Aside from being a particular brand of flirty and a rather playful BDSM play, bratting is a way this type of sub establishes trust. BDSM is all about trust. Subs hand control over to their Doms, and this cannot be done safely and consensually without trust. Brats don’t submit without a fight because it’s how they measure who they can trust. Think of it as the saying; ‘if you can’t handle me at my worst they you don’t deserve me at my best.’

There’s incredibly strong and profound trust between a brat and their Dom. Who is the dear companion? The most beloved? The advisor and supporter? The one who is reserved and kind? Whose description matches that of a Dom? Patroclus. Achilles has the deepest trust and the deepest love for Patroclus. It is Patroclus who he respects. It is Patroclus he has given control to. It is Patroclus who cares for him in return. And that is the textbook Dom/brat relationship.  

Impact Play/Spanking

There’s a lot of variety in impact play. There are endless reasons why people find it enjoyable.

With Achilles, I think a lot of the appeal relates to brat play and funishment. Brats misbehavior to rile up their Dom. They push back and break rules. And what is the result of bad behavior? Punishment. Committing and carrying out punishment is the ultimate display of dedication and love to a sub. You care enough to help them be better. And that’s why brats act out. They want to see if the other person really does care about them or if it’s all talk.

I think they also enjoy it because Achilles is a demi-god. It’s a fun challenge to push the limits of his body.

You could also argue that it acts as a great stress relief and emotional outlet. Achilles spends the end of the Iliad wrecked with grief. He bratted too hard resulting in the death of his beloved. He could use some catharsis.

Size Kink

“He pointed to the trail of fine, dark hair that ran down my chest and over my stomach. He paused, and my face grew warm.”

Between Achilles staring at Patroclus’ junk in chapter 10 and Patroclus having poor self-image, I’m convinced that Patroclus is hung. Why else stare at cock? Achilles is a cock slut and a size queen. You cannot change my mind.

Primal Play

Rough, raw, aggressive, animalistic sex. It’s about instinct and urges. It is deeply emotional. Like most kink, there’s a lot of variety with this kink. The most basic play involves a hunter (Dom), a prey (sub), and the chase (or struggle) for dominance.

What does Patroclus do throughout TSoA? He chases Achilles. Achilles goes to Pelion. Pat goes after him. Achilles goes to Skyros. Pat goes after him. Achilles goes to Troy. Pat goes with him. Achilles goes to the underworld. Pat goes after him. Then there’s the fact that one of their favorite games to play was running. Who was always the one always trying to catch up in those races? 😏

Look me in the eye and tell me they’re not into grappling for dominance before fucking till they black out?

Breeding

I can't believe I almost forgot this one

There was tautness to his voice I had not heard before. ... “Do you want to?” he asked. I saw the struggle on his face. Jealousy was strange to him, a foreign thing. He was hurt, but did not know how to speak of it. I felt cruel, suddenly, for bringing it up. ... “If you wanted it, it would be all right.” Each word was carefully placed; he was trying to be fair. ... The relief on his face filled me with sweetness.

Achilles is enraged at the idea that someone else gets to have Patroclus' baby. If anyone has that honor, it should be him. Obviously 🙄 And I think Pat is into it too based on some phrasing from that chapter (you know that dark-haired child looked like Achilles.

And I think tying into this is creampie kink. (I mean, nothing is hotter than watching seed drip down thighs)

Gender Play

Achilles spends an extended period of time living as a woman. It takes a trick from the crafty Odysseus to out him. There is absolutely no way they didn’t not fuck while Achilles wore a peplos (dress). And you know it got them crazy aroused.

(I’m a big fan of genderchilles. Let Achilles be trans/fluid/bi-gender/genderqueer etc.)

Foot Fetish

“Up close, his feet looked almost unearthly: the perfectly formed pads of the toes, the tendons that flickered like lyre strings. The heels were callused white over pink from going everywhere barefoot. His father made him rub them with oils that smelled of sandalwood and pomegranate.”

Pretty self-explanatory there.

I could go on as I have a lot of kinks that I like for this couple. But for this ask I’ll just stick with what can be based in canon.

What are your kink hcs?