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erriga · 1 year

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Pathologic and Edward Gordon Craig

In this episode, one very tired theatrology student will try to explain how Craig's ideas about actors and theatre in general might have factored into the way theatre is used in pathologic, especially when it comes to minor changes made between patho classic and 2. We'll talk about puppets vs actors, the role of directors and how it all relates to death. Yay!

SPOILERS FOR BOTH GAMES AHEAD

THEATRE IN PATHOLOGIC

So, anyone who's seen Codex Entry's video essays might be aware that Pathologic very visibly uses and plays with various theatrical ideas and concepts, especially when it comes to XXth century avantgarde movements. So far, Ruby has discussed the influences of Artaud (my boi), Brecht and Beckett, but today we're going to take a little step back and focus on one thinker who might have just been on of the most important theatre theorists ever and whose ideas definitely influenced all those that came after him. We're talking about our favorite theatre malcontent- Edward Gordon Craig

Soo, Craig was a theatre theoretician, actor, director, and founder of the magazine "The mask" back in the 1910s. In it, Craig would talk about his thoughts on theatre, which were largely counter-cultural, at least in comparison to the standard established back in the mid XIXth century. His works are often cited as fundamental to the Great Reform movement, which included among others, Stanislavsky, Reinhardt, and Appia. Their works paved the way towards avant garde theatre and a completely new understanding to it.

Now, why is Craig so important? Basically, he complained a lot and had very cool, albeit sometimes impossible ideas which were later inspired other in creative ways. His main ideas were:

Theatre is not a synthesis of other arts but rather something autonomical, unlike SOME OTHER PEOPLE THOUGHT (im loking at you wagner)

The director>>>>>>>> some dumb smelly actors

The actor shall one day be replaced by the Uber marrionette (tm)

Today we'll focus on those last two, since they are interconnected and most relevant in Pathologic.

The second point is pretty self-explanatory. Craig proposed that the director and their vision is the most important part of any given theatre show. The director should have a holistic vision, knowledge about all the arts participating in theatre and abilities to make their ideas reality. Before that, directors were more like the caretakers of shows, while the main focus was on the star actors. And this way of thinking leads us directly toooo:

THE UBER MARRIONETTE

(project by Oscar Schlemmer)

So, what is the uber marrionette? Basically it's a slightly esoteric idea that somewhere between puppets and living actors exists a form which would be perfectly responsive to the director's artistic vision. Human actors were ego-driven, restricted by their bodies and minds which generally not malleable enough to be a good material, even going so far as to suggest that acting is not an artform at all, since it is driven by chance and not specific intentions.

In contrast to that, Craig explained the nature of puppets- perfectly controlled, humble, objects of worship. And also symbols of death. Which he thought of as perfection. So, in some way, a perfect actor is a ...dead actor. Or, not literally dead, but posseing the perfect stasis of death, one usually assosciated with inanimate objects.

OK, WTF?

As I mentioned those ideas are very cool theories but are rather hard to actualize in the real world, especially since Craig was sometimes vague about what he ACTUALLY wanted to see. He would complain about people misinterpreting his works and declaring that he wants to replace actors with literal machines, while also never specifying what he actually meant. So different artists tried to bring his ideas to life, mostly by "mechanising" living actors, or using some blend of life and artificiality. In practice it was mostly shit like putting actors in giant metal pots and making them communicate in mono syllables to restrict their natural expressions od self as much as possible

OK, BUT HOW DOES THAT RELATE TO PATHOLOGIC?

So my theory is, that by portraying the player character(s) as puppets in classic, and as actors and tying all of this to the idea of death, the makers of PAthologic are playing (pun intended) with the concept of the uber marionnette and maybe even proposing a solution to this impossible problem.

Let's start with classic, because it's pretty straight forward. The characters are dolls/puppets (I'll be using those words interchangibly because fundamentally they serve the same purpose). The theatre itself is specifically said to host puppet shows (which is in itself a nod to the long standing tradition of folk puppetry in Russia and other eastern european countries)

Which in hindsight, are a direct reference to the fact that the very story you are playing is nothing more than a game/puppet performance hosted by in-world The Powers That Be and at the very top by the makers of Pathologic. In that way it is a very straight forward (but ultimately incorrect) use of the uber marionette- the player character is a humble vessel through which an idea is manifested. It's a puppet made out of polygons and lines of code instead of wood or felt. Your role as a player in this performance is two fold- you are both the puppeteer (the one who moves the dolls) and the spectator (because you are being told the story, not the other way around). What you are not is the Director- that role, personified by Mark Immortel and later by the Executor and Tragedian is out of reach for you. So, as you can see it's definitely using puppets, but not necessarily uber marrionetes.

AND THEN WE HAVE PATHO 2

So, the theatre inspirations in Patho 2 are a lot less...subtle than in classic, one of them being literally namedropping my boi Artaud's concept of the Theatre of Cruelty.

But what I want to focus on in this case is the seeming dissapearence of the puppet metaphor from the first game. You are no longer compared to a puppeteer moving a vessel, but to an actor inhabiting a role. A role which is in a way highly restrictive, since there are only four endings, and only two choices that actually impact what happens in the end (what you do with the documents, and whether you take the fellow travellers deal or not) You are faced with the idea that you are replacable, so your personal ego is not valuable to the director in universe and the game creators out of the universe. And finally, to make it even more interesting, you are in-universe faces with the neverending cycle of life and death, through the system of deaths having consequences/being part of the game's continuous timeline instead of just out of universe reloading. I think you might already see where i am going with this.

I THINK THAT THOSE TRAITS MAKE ARTEMY'S PORTRAYAL SIMILAR TO THE CONCEPT OF THE UBER MARRIONETTE

So not the concept itself, but something that heavily resembles the ideal version of what it could have been. Now, does it theory make perfect sense? No, but I thought it was a cool though experiment to do nontheless. The idea of an uber marionnette is onfusing theatrologists to this day, and many people have claimed to having founf a way to realize it, but since Craig himself was unclear about it, we will never know how relevan those tries were. But I still think that the topic of video games and theatre concepts is a fascinating one (that will probably be the topic of my bachelor's thesis lol), and pathologic is a perfect examples of those two ideas working together. If you have any other ideas about it, please let me know, and if you're interested i can make more posts about the theatrological angle of patho!!

#pathologic #pathologic classic hd #pathologic 2 #pathologic meta #pathologic spoilers

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biffhofosho · 1 year

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RE: Neo Seoul Update

Hey, babe, rather than just answer in the comments, I figured I'd share it here since I have a few people who probably have the same question.

The short answer, @sandiegokpop, is haha, um, no, nothing definite... 🙃 LOL SORRY I AM FAIL.

The longer answer is "kind of"??? By the end of the year for SURE.

So, here's the deal. I made some mistakes when I first published Neo Seoul that I typically don't allow myself to make, but my muse, at the time, got cocky. She thought that because it was all planned in my brain already that it would be easy to get from A to B since it was only four oneshots. She was wrong. >.<

Typically what I do is write the entirety of a novel/multichap before I publish, which is why I can afford to do the weekly updates (PTT took 8 months to write before I even published the first chapter, and STS took over a year). I did not do that with Neo Seoul, hence all your suffering, I'm so sorry. 🤦‍♀️

Also, I am usually writing a half dozen things simultaneously so the muse stays entertained and does not leave me. I did a word count tally a few weeks ago, and I'm at well over 650k of MX smut... WTF IS WRONG WITH ME LOL. 🥴

So as I finish up the final installment for NS, I promise to keep entertaining you. I have a mammoth HW oneshot due out in the next couple of days, several October oneshots that I'm pushing for my spoopy series again this year, a Ki xmas exes-to-lovers fic, and a Kyun multichap and a HW multichap that we won't see until next year no doubt (plus, several other pretty far-along pieces that haven't even been discussed and could drop at any point the muse sees fit).

Like a real ding dong, I took that writing hiatus for a couple of months, and it super duper set me back in my scheduling. >.< It's never the plots that take me so long to write so much as it is the smut itself. I try my absolute best to make each experience feel fresh and unique to the characters, but that takes soooooooooooo much time omfg. I never want to bore y'all! I like to be different as much as I just like to explore because I want to have a little something for everyone.

Your interactions help me trust that I'm achieving my goals, so thank you for always checking in. Just know that I

ABSOLUTELY

POSITIVELY

WILL NOT

leave you hanging with Neo Seoul. There shall be no abandoned works on this blog.

There's no way I can cope with the enlistments without copious amounts of storytelling. I write almost every day since it helps me feel connected to them (and also, I'm a dope and a sap and a true delulu).

So I'm sorry I can't get it to you the way I usually do , but I will continue to work my absolute hardest to bring you something engaging and innovative and satisfying (and, hopefully, hot af, let's be real).

(Told you this was the long answer haha)

#neo seoul series #writing talk #writing process #upcoming fic #asked and answered #gee thanks

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therehereeverywhere · 1 year

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Jakarta.

After 4 long years.

I am now part of the esteemed division in my company, where the self-proclaimed “the smartest” people are. It doesn’t make sense at all if you ask me. I guess I have always been a social science kind of person, only didn’t know how what exactly that is before my master. My biggest takeaway from my master is the profound love of development econ that I found there, a whole world of wonder that quench my thirst.

I have always thought economics is too cold, too unfeeling. It talks about efficiency and market allocation as if it’s not affecting real human, who are suffering in the name of efficiency. The invisible hand who suspiciously favours those who could give more to it, well, to be fair, it is called the invisible hand, not the just hand. I’m so fed up with people glorifying models, as if it holds the answer to all social questions, which I can tell you 100000%, it doesn’t.

So being part of crème de la crème in this very distinguish institutions doesn’t bring joy to me, at all. I find it lacks the stimulating discussions, and a lot more backstabbing and office politic intricacy, which I detest to the core of my cell. The work I did here is not even half of what I had to do back in my previous dept or Bali, but the people, oh God, the people.

I keep telling everyone I don’t belong here, and they brought out the fact that I graduated from the top 3 econ school in the world, of course I belong here. But see, Hercules did all the tasks given to him, and he was granted the status of demigod. But eventually (at least in the Disney version), he realized he doesn’t belong in Olympus, his realm is down in the foot of the mountain. The same is true for me. Just because one is capable or deserving, doesn't mean one belongs.

I was also, absolutely horrified when the head of my division suggested months ago for us to do a charity as part of the social outreach. That’s when he said, let’s find the poorest, most broken down orphanage so that it would be good for us. Like, WTF?

Why does gratefulness have to be a zero-sum game, where in order for one to be grateful the other must suffer? Why can’t we feel grateful for the sake of gratefulness itself?

Don’t even let me start on the whatever blueprints I am working on. Blueprints for digitalisation in payment system: for an inclusive future. But nowhere in that blueprint talks about those at the bottom 40%, who couldn’t even afford to save, let alone purchasing a phone. Their cognitive ability is so overwhelmed by the various problems they need to solve, limiting them to see beyond today. When I raised this issue, the answer is that well, it would be inclusive for those already fit the basic assumption but still not benefiting from them. I laughed. How dare we say an “inclusive” future when our definition of inclusive itself is already exclusive?

If there in one thing that I could say I detest the most, it’s hypocrisy. And now I become part of the machine. What a world.

#life #grateful #zero sum game #hypocrisy #life on mars

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makeste · 3 years

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BnHA Chapter 308: VIBE: CHECKED

Previously on BnHA: Lots and lots of Shindou idk what else to tell you.

Today on BnHA: Tired Nomad Deku rescues Shindou from Muscular, and us from Shindou. Muscular is all “OH BOY I SURE CAN’T WAIT TO FIGHT DEKU AGAIN AFTER HE TOTALLY KICKED MY ASS THE LAST TIME!! I’M SURE THIS TIME WILL GO DIFFERENTLY SEEING AS HE’S HAD ALMOST AN ENTIRE YEAR’S WORTH OF ADDITIONAL TRAINING, AND ALSO HAS SIX FOURQUIRKS NOW, IN ADDITION TO THE CONFIDENCE THAT COMES WITH HAVING EIGHT OTHER PEOPLE’S SOULS CHILLING OUT INSIDE HIM OFFERING MORAL SUPPORT AND ENCOURAGEMENT.” Deku is all, “[kicks Muscular’s ass effortlessly].” Muscular is all, “[gets his ass totally kicked].” I for one am very satisfied with this, and with respect to all, I would like to hereby declare this post a discourse-free zone. I’m just happy to see my son out here making good use of his FOURQUIRKS, and more importantly beating Muscular in less than seventeen pages so we can all go on with our lives lol.

damn Deku since when were you allowed to look this cool

from this perspective and with the smoke, cape, backpack, and mask more or less obscuring his actual profile, he looks less like a sixteen-year-old boy and more like a grownass man

OH SNAP

we got a glimpse of this in the cleaned-up scan of 307, but seeing both of his eyes looking so distinctively All Might-esque here is... whoa. I mean we know that his face still looks pretty normal underneath the mask and he doesn’t actually have the black sclera, but still, this is an awesome look. mini-Might

lol Muscular

you and me both. I mean no offense, but yeah

so Deku is just standing there silently

typical Deku. tight-lipped and expressionless. mum’s the word. quiet as a mouse. silent as a grave

okay no but seriously this is so weird and creepy though you guys. Deku please say something or else I’m just gonna mindlessly say whatever stupid things come into my head in an effort to make things less awkward

so Muscular is all “I should probably make a cool speech about revenge but Horikoshi couldn’t think of anything good so I’m just going to stand here clenching my fist real slowly”

“I’m not here to go on a monologue” he says, as he monologues about not monologuing

okay you guys I confess I have only read through/watched the Deku VS Muscular fight once because the arm-breaking is just way too uncomfortable for me to revisit. and so as a result, I have completely forgotten Whatever The Deal Is with Muscular’s eye lmao so let me go look it up real quick

okay so it’s a prosthetic, obviously, and he changes it out according to his mood. that part does sound familiar. I just can’t remember which eye is supposed to indicate which mood. don’t tell me I actually have to go back and reread this shit

lol I’m skimming through chapter 75 now and remembering/realizing that I hardly paid any attention to this the first time around because as soon as I found out the villains were after Kacchan my brain was like “TIME TO FOCUS ON THIS AND ONLY THIS NOW AND FOREVER” and yeah. ah memories

anyway so he started out with the flower-looking eye, and then later on he was all

which begs the question, how on earth could I have ever forgotten the most ridiculous panel I’ve ever read lmao

anyway, but so after all of that, I'm only just now realizing that this isn't one of his previous eye prosthetics in the current chapter; this is an ACTUAL FUCKING ROCK that he's just randomly shoved into his eye socket fkdsjlk

so basically (1) I did all of that painstaking research for nothing, five whole minutes of my life wasted THANKS A LOT, and (2) what, and I have never meant this more emphatically, THE FUCK

anyway so now he's leaping at the building that Deku is standing on top of. but he’s not aiming anywhere near Deku though, wtf

(ETA: HAHA YOU BROKE ALL YOUR MUSCLES YOU LOSER.)

...huh

lmao okay then. I hope those annoying citizens in the building next door are watching this go down and rethinking their life choices

dlkdkljk

just keep standing there pressed right up against the window, why don’t you. “WHAT’S GOING ON THIS SUPER CLOSE COLLAPSING BUILDING IS BLOCKING OUR VIEW.” well, folks, we’ve long since known there’s a critical shortage of hero and villain brain cells, but what we’re learning now is that civilian brain cells are also in short supply

OH THANK GOD DEKU IS FINALLY TALKING THAT WAS ACTUALLY UNSETTLING AS FUCK

SO HE’S STILL OUR GOOD, POLITE, WORRIED, CONSIDERATE DEKU UNDERNEATH THAT COOL AND MYSTERIOUS VENEER. for real, thank fuck, because I swear to god if he suddenly started acting like the Dekus in all of the vigilante AUs my interest in this series would have dropped something like 50% lol. just because he dropped out of school and ran away from home and is currently dressed like the physical manifestation of a Linkin Park playlist doesn’t mean he’s not still the WORLD’S BIGGEST DORK okay

I MEAN, THIS RIGHT HERE. THIS IS WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT. HE’S APOLOGIZING FOR THE DELAY

PLEASE FIND THE ATTACHED SHINDOU YOU REQUESTED. BEST REGARDS!!!

OH MY GOD WHY IS HE SUCH A BADASS

something about making bold, confident statements while obscured in smoke?? idk but damn it fucking works

ffjkkl

more importantly, should you tell him you actually need your copy of Shindou in excel format and not pdf?? on the one hand you don’t want to sound ungrateful, but on the other hand what are you even supposed to do with this

this chapter so far consists of like 50% smoke, but on the other hand Deku VS Kacchan 2 had a lot of cinematic smoke too so who am I to complain

OMG IS IT HIS ARMS

IDK DID YOU?! TELL ME YOUR SECRETS. PLEASE, AT SOME POINT THIS FIGHT HAS GOT TO ACTUALLY ADVANCE THE PLOT

OHHHHHHH

IT’S EN’S QUIRK!! OH MY GOD OKAY THAT’S ACTUALLY AWESOME

I CAN HEAR THE SOUND OF DISCOURSE RUMBLING IN THE BACKGROUND BUT I DON’T CARE LOL. WON’T CATCH ME EVER SAYING NO TO ANOTHER SIXQUIRK. GO AHEAD, BRING THEM ON, I WANT TO SEE THEM ALL but take it easy though Deku. don’t want to give yourself lung cancer or anything

also it’s good to see that in a very real sense he’s not fighting alone. the Vestiges really did mean it when they said they could appear more easily now. this is on a whole other level

so is this whole next page still En talking, or someone else? because whoever it is sure is chatty

okay, several things

pretty sure it is En, because he keeps saying “I suppose.” for someone who never said two words until one page ago, this guy sure never shuts up. we can’t all follow Muscular’s lead I suppose. oh my god now I’m doing it too

really like the suggestion of Deku using the SIXQUIRKS like tools in an arsenal, because that’s what he’s good at! it’s almost like he’s been training for this his entire life. “you value quirks too much” LOOK HE JUST THINKS THEY’RE COOL OKAY IS THAT A CRIME

where the fuck did all this rope come from

not gonna ask what the fuck that thing is sticking out from the back of his utility belt. Horikoshi will surely explain this

is that a fucking jetpack. I’m sorry Deku were six fucking quirks not enough for you. you can fucking float??? but JUST TO BE SAFE, LET’S STRAP A PAIR OF ROCKETS TO OUR SHOULDERS IDK

-- or wait, is this all supposed to be like a visual representation of En’s metaphor?? OH MY GOD AM I JUST STUPID LOL, DON’T ANSWER THAT. NEVER MIND. NEW LIST!!

rope = blackwhip

jetpack = float

radio = danger sense

and so I’m guessing that this ridiculously phallic thing is supposed to be a flare or something?? and that = the new quirk, smokescreen. well that was a fucking ride lmao we now return you to our regularly scheduled chapter

so now Deku is floating to his heart’s content and thinking that he’ll just sneak up on Muscular and vibe check his ass or whatever

WOOOOOOOO DANGER SENSE YESSSS I LOVE THIS FOR HIM

okay guys, I'm gonna press pause here for a sec to make a serious note, because I am loving the shit out of this, but tbh I'm having trouble enjoying it as much as I want to because I keep getting anxious thinking about the discourse. I know that a lot of the fandom has very strong opinions on Deku's character development one way or the other, and I want to respect that. but I also really have no spoons to debate this topic at all beyond what I’ve already weighed in on. so if it’s all the same to everyone, I plan on staying out of this discussion, at least this week

anyway! that said, YEAH BOI GET HIS ASS

VIBE: CHECKED. CURB: STOMPED. HOTEL: TRIVAGO

-- OF COURSE HE’S STILL FUCKING FINE LOL HE CRASHES INTO BUILDINGS FOR FUN IDK WHAT I WAS EXPECTING

dammit Muscular. how many fucking quirks does it take to beat you?! the annoying thing is that even with all of his cool new powers, Deku is still something of a mismatch against him. anyway r.i.p. to all these poor buildings

OOOOOHHHHH

you guys have no idea how intrigued I am at the prospect of watching Deku try to play both good cop and bad cop here lmao

anyway so Muscular says he doesn’t know, go figure

“I’m not here to make small talk or anything” he says as he small talks about not small talking

OH MY GOD DEKU

are you really gonna talk no jutsu all of these villains from now on?? that last battle really did have a profound impact on you, huh! interesting

you guys he’s really doing it omg

Deku this guy tried to murder a five-year-old literally just for fun. I mean more power to you, but holy shit you’re really gonna try to defeat Muscular with anger management therapy huh

I MEAN

WHO COULD HAVE SEEN THAT RESPONSE COMING dlkjslkjk

FUCK’S SAKE DEKU, I KNOW YOU MEAN WELL BUT THEY CAN’T ALL HAVE TRAGIC PASTS KIDDO

but. I have to admit, I do still like that he tried. probably knew just as well as we did what the end result was going to be, but still. he made the effort in good faith and I respect that

uh oh

why do I get the feeling Muscular just got a whole lot deader

oh my god oh my god he’s doing the “powering up” stance ffff don’t fucking tell me you can still use your fucking arms here, Deku

BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY WHAT’S THIS??

okay so basically he’s saying that whatever it was he sensed in Tomura, he doesn’t sense from Muscular. which, yeah, that sounds exactly right. good judge of character here lol

AHHHHAHAHA YESS

WHOOPS, GET FUCKED I GUESS

WOOOOHOOOOOOOO

lmao so apparently this is the belated result of Shindou’s attack from chapter 307?? I’ll be damned. good for you Shindou!! I always liked you buddy. please just take my word on that and don’t fact check that statement

okay lol the one tiny bit of discourse I will allow is that it’s bullshit that he just did that with his right arm. like, I’ll fully acknowledge that. that makes no fucking sense, and I demand an explanation from the Great Plot Hole Filler himself. he’s never let us down before when it comes to continuity so I’m trusting him not to suddenly start now

that said, we love to see a rematch against a boring guy settled quickly and decisively within the span of a single chapter. THANK YOU

I like that Deku implies that his power is being a smart nerd who battles villains using the power of ANALYTICS. he basically didn’t do anything except restrain Muscular and wait for Shindou’s attack to take effect while halfheartedly checking to see if he regretted any of that murder and stuff

(ETA: and almost forgot to mention, he made excellent use of all four of his active SIXQUIRKS. it’s like the chapter title said; this is basically him fighting all-out, and it’s a sight to see.)

also, as cool as the mask was, this just feels right. like, we had our fun, now let us see his face, yes good

anyway, I think this was a good start towards establishing What’s Up With Deku Right Now! so if it’s all the same to Horikoshi, I would next like to take some time to explore Why’s Up With Deku. that, and What’s Up With Everyone Else, Especially Kacchan. por favor

#bnha 308 #midoriya izuku #muscular (bnha)#bnha #boku no hero academia #bnha spoilers #mha spoilers #bnha manga spoilers #makeste reads bnha

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pies-writes-and-more · 4 years

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So I saw this tik tok trend of “would you hit your girl as hard as you can for 1 billion 💵?” And I was thinking how tsukki would answer “no 😑” if you asked him cuz 1. He knows you’d be anxious at the anticipation 2. You crying would break his heart 3. This tik tok question is stupid cause who’d be paying the money?? Right no one, so it’s pointless. Dumbest question ever (wanted to share a funny thought)

Omg I’m dead this was the funniest thing I’ve gotten today 😂😂😂😂

This was too hilarious of an idea so I thought I’d make this a cute funny little headcanon thing! @blue-peach14 thank you so much for sending this in!!!! It was literally the funniest thing for me to read while I was at work haha. Hope you don’t mind me turning it into a little headcanon piece!

Warnings: None but probably some swearing lol and you know... the fact that some of them actually hit you lol

Characters: Tsukishima Kei, Ushijima Wakatoshi, Hinata Shoyo, Kageyama Tobio, Ennoshita Chikara, and Oikawa Tooru, all with a GenderNeutral!Reader (let me know if I used something gendered so I can change it pls!)

A/N: Thank you to @satan-ruler-of-hells and @thisnoodlewritesao3 for being such inspirations and helps for this 😂❤️and obviously @blue-peach14 for the idea :)

Tsukishima:

“What a stupid question”

Really just says this and rolls his eyes because he needs to consider the options

Would you??? Want him to do it??? Or were you testing how nice he was????

He decides it’s stupid cause who would pay for this???

Points this out to you and you’re just like omg Tsukki it’s just a funny little thing

Gives you a little annoyed look and decided on no (he really hates the look of tears welling in your eyes... it would be even worse if he were the one to hit you)

Flicks you in the head anyways but kisses it better immediately

Ushijima:

Didn’t understand what you were asking

Hits the top of your head cause he thought that’s what you wanted but like gently

You’re like ???? Um ushijima it’s not real

And he’s like what’s not??

Both of you just standing there like... what?

You laugh when you realize he didn’t get it

Have to explain it again and he just stands there with a furrow in his brow

“Would you... want me to hit you? Would that make you happy?”

You’re like um Ushi that’s a lot of money so yes. We could buy a lot of food

So you agree on yes together haha

Hinata:

@thisnoodlewritesao3 @satan-ruler-of-hells and I all agreed on this one

Would 100% hit himself on the head

Definitely didn’t understand the question

“Hinata why would you hit yourself??”

“For the money?”

“Hinata you’re supposed to hit me!”

O.O “why would I want to hit you”

“For the money!”

“But that’s why I hit myself”

A little back and forth before he refuses because he never wants to hurt you

Still insists he gets hit instead

Tells you he has a lot of experience since he gets hit in the face during volleyball a lot

Kageyama overhears and appears suddenly because he too wants to hit hinata

Kageyama:

A certified dummy

Whacks you in the head and is like so where do we collect the money

Man put effort in this hit too like damn okay leave a fricken bump 😭

Feels bad when he realizes it was a rhetorical thing

turns into a red blueberry boi because he just can feel the guilt eating him up inside

Kisses your little bruised bump cause he’s feeling v bad

internally yelling at himself pls tell him it’s okay because now he thinks you’re going to leave him and that’s literally the last thing he wants

he loves you so much he just only has one braincell and it’s playing volleyball

Brings you milk and your favourite juices cause they apparently will help heal you

Ennoshita:

Shakes his head when you ask, but you can’t tell if it’s out of disappointment or if he’s answering the question

Takes your phone away and tells you to stop watching so many tiktoks

(this is the third tiktok related thing you’ve asked him. Man is fed up 😂)

When you insist on an answer he tells you “obviously not”

Refuses to hurt you no thanks he is a good boy thank you very much

Will not discuss further, shuts you up about it by buying you food

Oikawa:

Didn’t even let you finish the sentence

Man hit you hard too 😂

“Oikawa would you hit me-“

SmACK

You just standing there like wtf oWWW????

He just smile like the pretty boy he is 😇

“don’t ask for things you don’t want”

“If you had let me finish my fucking sentence” 🥺

Lots of kisses after, feels a little bad for hitting you but also not really 😂

Haikyuu Masterlist

taglist (let me know if you’d like to join!)

@scphiredrafts @aurumk @devilkittymusic @thisnoodlewritesao3 @satan-ruler-of-hells @trashy-simp @jeppiet @lucyheartfilias-wife @darkvadeeer @haikyuutothetop

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4dtk · 3 years

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based on a lil discussion with me and @moonboohoo btw this is a little ooc since sukuna is a cat lol. enjoy!

[yuji is typing...]

oh my godddd you're ordering food? i want food too wtf

anyway. i hear u about your problem. why not just ask the first person you see when you get back home?

[(y/n) is typing...]

you want me to ask my cat??????

[yuji is typing...]

oh no not the cat, that feline is the devil himself im sure

the person delivering your food, ask them!!! maybe they'd be willing to give you a chance

[(y/n) is typing...]

hey!!!! :( dont be mean to sukuna :((

your maine coon curls up against you as you flop down on the couch with phone in hand, the other switching on the television with not much thought. your hand naturally strokes the cat's fur, jumping channels from one to the next in boredom as you wait for the delivery.

sukuna's purring carry on even when the doorbell is rung, accepting the food with a smile and careful hands. when you don't return, however, the cat perks up in curiosity, seeing the familiar twirl of your hair around your fingers as you engage in a conversation with the person at your door.

"so... is tomorrow okay?" you ask, tired of waiting for the perfect partner to come and sweep you off your feet. the other goes to answer, but sukuna interrupts before they can, hissing with the swishing of his bushy tail. it's as if he was a human himself, staring down at the delivery person despite the massive height difference.

"ah, s..sorry," you rush to place the food down, picking up the majestic cat into your arms to cradle him, "my cat's pretty aggressive to strangers."

"we could always reschedule it?" they say, shrugging their shoulders, "doesn't look like your cat wants me in the house if i were to come over tomorrow."

you smile apologetically, "'m sorry again."

they wave a hand, both in goodbye and dismissal of your apology for such a trivial thing.

the cat descends from your arms gracefully, walking off like he hadn't just cost you a future partner. as sukuna prances off, you roll your eyes at his dramatics, reaching for the food before finally settling down in front of the television again. at least now you had a purpose of going channel surfing.

it wasn't a very productive day, clocking out at an early 11pm to get ready for tomorrow. scrolling through social media was your favourite pastime, slotting in a bit of 'me' time before succumbing to sleep with sukuna snuggled up against your side.

the next morning wasn't merciful; with its bright rays shining through the window and the annoying construction going on from across the street, you could almost feel your annoyance levels rising before you got the morning routine.

"she wanted to invite them into the house? thank god i swooped in before they could agree. what right do they have to hang with (y/n)?"

what's worse is there was murmuring just at the foot of your bed, the pacing of their footsteps deemed too loud by your groggy, grumpy self.

wait.

"who's there?!" your shout catches the attention of the male, hand pointing at the owner of the noisy-ass footsteps with fear.

his messy pink hair was enough to catch your attention, but the tattoos littered across his arms and face was enough to make you gasp. you keep your mouth shut when he looks you over with red eyes, meeting yours with a tilt of his head. it's a sukuna habit, even when he's a human.

"who... are you?"

"seriously?" he asks unimpressed, crossing his arms over his exposed chest.

"sukuna!" you jolt in surprise at your missing cat, "sukuna?"

there's genuine concern and confusion when you repeat his name for the third time, coming to terms that he might really be in front of you.

"s...ukuna?" you whisper in caution, inching towards him as he keeps his eyebrow raised at your clueless state. tracing your hand across his carefully drawn tattoos was the first thing you did before moving on to his unkempt pink hair and mouth, where he still possessed his canine teeth.

he recoils as part of instinct, an uncharacteristic blush appearing on his face.

you overlook his behaviour but instead groan, falling back into the bed behind you in panic from the situation you've just encountered. your head comes up to gaze at the other, frustrated that he hasn't gone away after slapping your face, blinking your eyes or even falling off the bed.

"fuck. so you're real then."

"tch, then what am i? am i not matter, a material that constitutes the observable universe and, together with energy, forms the basis of all objective phenomena?"

you blow a raspberry, "did you get that from my science notes? god, whatever, let's get you some clothes."

luckily, with your wide array of oversized shirts, you were able to dress him decently. despite your confusion, you still were very interested to know how he came to be in your small apartment. with a skilled hand, you brew some coffee for the both of you, handing him a steaming hot cup after a few minutes.

"i change every night," sukuna says nonchalantly, immediately spitting out the bitter drink in repulsion.

he makes a disgusted face, “what the fuck is this?”

you deadpan, "really? all over my floor?"

getting up, your hands reach for the paper towels to clean up the mess that your cat-turned-human made, cringing at the way the paper towel turns brown with the immediate soak-up.

“but this is the first time i’ve struggled to change back. i’m not sure how i do it normally, but jeez, drinking your goddamn coffee makes me wish i was a cat again.”

with each passing minute, he gets on your nerves and by now, he’s shoved the drink back to you. standing up, he stretches his muscles like how he usually does in the mornings, allowing for every part of his toned body to show itself.

there goes the annoyance...

"well, i can't say i'm not attracted either..." you mutter to yourself, gulping down the extra cup before placing them in the sink. the laptop you frequent makes its way onto your lap not so long later, bringing up a essay due in the next week. you decided to start early this time and made sure to pace yourself, trying to rule out the last minute rushes you always settled for.

an arm encircles around your waist, taking you by surprise when you let out a squeak. sukuna is nuzzling himself into your arm while you try to frantically delete the out-of-topic sentence that was making its way onto the word doc.

"what are you doing?"

"morning routine," he simply says, laying his tongue on you without any warning.

"oh god, sukuna, no!" you groan, pushing him away from his tight grip on you like he usually does when his body is propped against your chest. you've woken up too many times, struggling to breathe because of his weight.

he retreats reluctantly, really wishing he was a cat again as he grunts at your behaviour.

"have it your way," sukuna mumbles, his naturally grumpy self amplified by your rejection. you thought back to the times your maine coon normally sat beside you quietly, basking in the way your fingers typed on the keyboard.

what could be any different? plus, you'd have a reciprocation of your head pats.

there's a tug on the other's wrist, "you can lay. just no- no licking, okay?"

you almost scoff at the sukuna rolls his eyes, but his actions betray him anyways because he's laid down beside you, curling into your side as he places his head into your stomach.

the desktop's illumination shines brighter than the morning's rays, hypnotising sukuna into a slumber as you play with his hair.

you wouldn't have noticed the male if he hadn't introduced himself, but his brash personality matched your cat too closely, knowing you were the only one he'd show affection to despite the constant hissing and glares he sent to your friends.

a gentle grasp of his hand snaps you out of your thoughts, bringing back memories of the way he'll lay his paw on you, even during the first time where you met him in the animal shelter.

sukuna stays peaceful throughout his sleep, pink hair slowly becoming messier the more he cuddled into your person. he was content now, at least, as you read over the essay to correct any mistakes.

it lulls him in and out of consciousness, stuck between wanting to hear your tender voice and relishing being embraced in his sleep.

either way, he was positive he wanted to spend the rest of his cat (or human) life with you.

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haleigh-sloth · 3 years

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Thoughts on Rei? I feel like I’m in the minority in that I don’t think she’s like morally on Enji level but I also don’t think it’s wrong to feel resentment towards a mother who didn’t protect her kids even if she was a victim too... like I want her to reconcile with Touya and all her kids (glad for her progress!) while I don’t so much for Enji (even if he will probably in the end) so I don’t mean to write her off but... sometimes I feel the fandom gives her a pass because her situation is so tragic and impossible to condemn, yet irl kids do resent the parents who are bystanders and I wish ppl would acknowledge that when saying she deserves no criticism?

Dude this is so weird. @redphlox and I were discussing EXACTLY THIS EARLIER TODAY WHEN WE WERE HANGING OUT WTF. WERE YOU THERE EAVESDROPPING. Lol. Anyway.

Ohhh god. I'm kind of terrified to comment how I really feel because some people get really upset over this but here goes nothin.

Please--if you disagree that is okay. I understand. Do not come to my inbox and be a bitch.

CW: Abuse, domestic violence under the cut

So before I can really comment on Rei I need to lay some things out.

Firstly--I've made it clear on here many times that I work in child welfare. I'm not talking out of my ass when I say the things I do. I find it really hard to converse about the Todofam a lot of the times because I look at it from such a different perspective that there's just a disconnect between what I think and what others think. Which is fine, it really is. Maybe this disclaimer will make sense after you read all of this to come lol.

Also: I am speaking from an American POV. I have said it before but I cannot comment on Japanese protocol for child abuse. But the psychology behind it all is all the same.

Secondly--a lot of people who give Rei a 100% pass do not understand how ugly and complicated family abuse and domestic violence is. I'm gonna have to talk about two different aspects here, because two different things were happening in the Todoroki household: domestic violence and child abuse.

In real life: When domestic violence occurs and children are involved---it does not matter who hit who or who started it or what the fuck ever. Both parents are responsible for the safety of their children. The victim of the domestic violence is held JUST AS RESPONSIBLE for their children's safety. They weren't the ones endangering their children per say, but they are responsible for getting their children out of that situation. By law, they are responsible. If a mother who is constantly abused by her husband fails to remove her children from that mentally and emotionally (potentially physically) damaging environment, BOTH parents are considered guilty for being neglectful of their children's wellbeing. For different reasons obviously, but's that's how it is looked at by law because those children NEED to be protected. They have to be. It does not matter who did what.

Now domestic violence does not always involve child abuse, but in the Todoroki household it did. Which makes it even MORE complicated and ugly. Rei, a mother in distress who is losing control over her life, is still responsible for her children's wellbeing. Touya and Shouto were both being abused by their father. Rei, as a mother, had a responsibility to her children. But could she stand up to Enji?

For Shouto: It's pretty clear that by the time Shouto was being beaten by Enji, she had no control over the situation. We saw her stand up to him once, and she probably tried other times as well. But it didn't save Shouto. We already know Shouto doesn't blame Rei at all, and he hardly views himself as an abuse victim and instead views his mom as the sole victim.

For Touya: This is the reeeaaalllllllyyyy complicated part. We know that when Touya was starting to spiral Rei had some semblance of control. Rei was in a better position to take control of the situation happening with Touya. The truth here is--Touya was abandoned by his dad at a much younger age than when he started really spiraling. Did Rei step in? We don't know. But judging by Touya's reaction to her attempt at helping him, and their disconnect as mother and son--I'd say she didn't step in when she could have early on.

"You're guilty too, Mom."

Here's the thing, Touya was smart. We know this. He caught on quick to what was going on. Rei's situation with her marriage to Enji aside--she is his mother. She is supposed to protect him. In ALL ways--physically, mentally, and emotionally. And she didn't. She did not protect him from the emotional harm that was being thrown onto him. By this point ^^^^ it was already too late. She didn't protect him and the emotional damage done by Enji was done.

Rei knew the reason she got married. She knew why Touya was born.

Touya has every right to resent Rei for not protecting him.

When you're a child and you're suffering on a daily basis because of one of your parents, and your other parent doesn't protect you? Yes--that is going to hurt. Touya is allowed to hold her responsible. She is his MOTHER.

HOWEVER---before some people lose their shit on me

Rei was in a very complicated position. From Touya's perspective--she did it to herself. That's not necessarily true--but that brings me back to the one FACT that rings true above all else. Rei is his mother and is responsible for protecting his wellbeing.

To put is as simply as I can: Rei is not 100% guilty by ANY MEANS, but she is not 100% innocent. Or rather--her feelings of guilt are justified, and absolutely normal. She did not go out of her way to hurt her children. She didn't . She is not guilty of abusing her children or neglecting them. Her failure lies in where she had room to step into a more protective role of her children--specifically for Touya. She tried with Shouto and we saw how that went. But with Touya the situation was different. It hadn't escalated to that point yet. As soon as the doctor told them to stop having kids--that is when she had the opportunity to step in and try to mend what was already so fucked up to begin with. Would it have worked? Maybe, maybe not. We'll never know. But her attempt that we saw with Touya didn't work because he had already spent years being emotionally abused by his father and watching his attempted replacements be born--one of them being a success. It was too late.

I guess my closing statement on Rei is:

As a mother, she didn't protect her children from mental and emotional harm. As victim of domestic violence, she didn't have any control over the situation. From one of her children's perspective (Touya), she didn't save him. From the other (Shouto), she tried and couldn't. All of those things can coexist. The fact of the matter is--domestic violence is ugly. But at the end of the day--BOTH PARENTS are responsible for their children's wellbeing.

It isn't just ugly and complicated in fiction. It's fucking BAD in real life too. Believe me they're the most complicated cases to resolve.

Needless to say: As a reader, I don't blame Rei at all. I still think the retcon of Enji is fucking bullshit. BUT, Rei feeling guilty as a parent is absolutely normal. It is. Even if she tried her best, for her to FEEL like she could have done more is a normal thing to feel.

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mandareeboo · 3 years

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SU Music Rankings

Bc I can and I wanna start some Disk Horse rip. These are all in order of preference, with explanations, etc. It’s a long bitch. That said, I’m not counting little short jingles or small joke songs like Little Butler. This is the meat and potatoes of SU music- just under 30 songs. I might do the rest if people like my takes lol.

I scored it mostly on three bases- how dear it was to my heart, how much/often I relisten to it, and also what it means to the plot. That said, little fun songs don’t automatically go farther down than big, plot-heavy songs either! It’s a strange little balance.

Special Note: I don’t dislike any of this music! I love SU and that includes its bumps and glitches. I just pick favorite children lol.

1.) Change

Was there ever a more Steven moment than when he wiped the blood off his face and kissed it into sparkles? I think not.

If “Be Wherever You Are” is an ode to young Steven, then this is teen Steven’s. Talking about change, and how much and how little it can do. How he holds his arms up for Spinel to hug him, so trusting. How he seems able to just. Break into soft tears at will, and not to be manipulative- it’s just his kind nature. The warmth in his voice. Fuck yesssss.

2.) Change Your Mind

This song is only fifty five seconds and it’s EVERYTHING to me. It really felt like someone was speaking the words I’d always held deep inside of me, unsure of how to say. It feels like a goodbye to someone who never really loved me.

As much as I enjoyed Future, if this was the finale of SU, I would’ve been perfectly okay with that.

3.) Drift Away

This song gave me legitimate shivers the first time I heard it, and it still haunts me to this day. Spinel stayed, and waited, and all she got was a transmission thousands of years later. Fuck.

4.) Here We Are In The Future

THE MOVIE IS SU AS ITS BEST AND I WON’T BE SWAYED ON IT. Steven being a teen who loves his weird family but is growing just a bit sarcastic to their drama. The adorable love he and Connie share. His slow realization that he will always be working, always have things to do, is both somber and real. The Crystal Gems won’t be safe with one epic battle. They’ll be safe with years of hard work and love. HIS LITTLE HANDSHAKE WITH AMETHYST.

This is a helluva bop and a great way to summarize the main character’s backstories.

5.) Let’s Only Think About Love

Did ya’ll know that Zach Callison killed his throat with that last note? He gave his all for this performance in a vocal range he no longer comfortably do and by god did it SHINE. The FLAIR. The FORESHADOWING. All of the Gems all being awkward about Rose and Steven trying to bring them to the present. Peridot having a mini-existential crisis in a cute yellow dress. I love Zach Callison’s normal singing voice but man is that a fucking bop. Nothing will ever beat it.

6.) Here Comes A Thought

This bad boy helped me out a LOT with some mental issues I was dealing with in high school. I was unmedicated, unsupervised, and full of anxiety. I’d have break downs when I tried to speak about certain things. I couldn’t function. This song inspired me. It helped me feel okay with my intrusive thoughts.

And the episode! -chef’s kiss-. Once again bringing up the morally gray area of training child soldiers. Connie expanding her social group. Steven’s trauma hauling ass in that second half. The ANIMATION. Stevonnie’s gorgeous singing voice. GOD yes.

7.) It’s Over Isn’t It?

Just barely squeaking above Stronger Than You, this ballad is everything gorgeous. The whole episode is. I think Mr. Greg stands in the top five of my episodes for the entire show. It even got nominated!

There’s just so much about this song that I love. The gentle melancholy of Pearl’s voice. How the crew had to redo the shots for this bit bc Deedee went so fucking hard. The hard cuts between Pearl, remembering the love of her life, and Steven, who has begun to feel like he took her away. I’d recommend this song to anyone, regardless of what they do or don’t know about SU, simply bc it tugs so many heartstrings of love, loss, and responsibility.

8.) Stronger Than You

Did you realize this episode aired SEVEN years ago? This bitch was what got me into SU! Hearing about Ruby and Sapphire made my little gay heart so happy inside, and then getting a whole song confirming that they were a couple, that their love powered the strongest Gem on the team? Aaaaaaaaa

To this DAY I get excited when I hear Estelle start singing. This song is timeless. This song will live in media history. God I fucking love this song.

9.) Other Friends

I’m not the biggest musical person, so I hadn’t heard of Sarah Stiles before her casting as Spinel, but JESUS CHRIST the lady went hard. She went SO fucking hard. Sarah Stiles started on 100 and somehow just kept CLIMBING. You can just hear the sheer manic energy building in her voice, the anger and resentment. 10/10 Sarah Stiles is a queen.

10.) Independent Together

This made the list entirely bc the crew was like “you’re gonna get a himbo ass Steven-Greg fusion singing with Opal while Garnet flies across the moon on Lion while floating” and I am forever thankful to them for it

11.) Who We Are

Bismuth deserved more songs. ‘Nuff said.

12.) Peace and Love (On the Planet Earth)

It Could’ve been Great is EASILY one of my favorite s2 episodes. I love the entire concept of this song. Of Steven making music to reflect how much Earth means to him and his family. Of him teaching Peridot some self-care. Also Peridot’s singing voice is really cute and squeaky.

I know it’s silly, but I would’ve really enjoyed a flip around of this in Future! Like Peridot reminding Steven how much he loves music, that he needs to take time to relax for himself, maybe with a new verse or just a remix of the original song!

13.) Something Entirely New

I watched this episode as it aired, and I legitimately almost cried. I love Charlyne Yi’s voice so much ya’ll- her raspy, not perfect singing voice against Sapphire’s deep soothing lull is great.

And to have Ruby and Sapphire’s meeting be the way it was- for Ruby to bemoan Sapphire losing Homeworld, to being stuck with a single Ruby, while Sapphire is a noble who has always been taught everyone in her “caste” is vitally important (and has, in her own mind, taken that to mean every Gem, as she should) and how they come together and make each other happy. Good shit good shit.

14.) I’m Just a Comet

The fact that Greg’s music career never really blasted off pisses me off to this day bc Tom Scharpling’s voice is fucking BUTTER. Also the song really feels like a jab at his parents now that we know the kind of dynamic he had growing up. “This life in the stars if all I’ve ever known” is definitely him wiping away their existence after reminding them (and himself) the things they used to say about him.

15.) Do It For Her

This episode. This fucking episode. This episode got me permanently hooked on SU. I’d just binged season 1 and was kinda meh about it overall after the bop of Stronger Than You. “Oh,” I thought to myself, foolishly, “I’ll probably just casually watch this from time to time.”

Like three days later Sworn to the Sword aired and that was it. I was hooked! Pearl’s gentle training song turning darker and darker, Connie’s accompaniment from nervous to determined to fully into such a toxic mindset. The fact that SU had the BALLS to discuss the repercussions of training child soldiers, now and later. This episode was everything to me, STILL is everything to me.

Six years and well over 100 fanfics written later, I think it’s safe to say this show swallowed me whole and never let go.

16.) System/Boot.pearl_final(3)

I debated putting this on the list because it’s not anything crazy important, just a way to show things are Wrong, but I had to do it entirely bc Pearl is so damn SALTY.

Like telling us about the Gems makes sense, she felt like she was given a duty, but she went so damn petty. WHY is that Ruby alone. Gross. This Amethyst is a trash dump. Wtf are you people.

17.) Full Disclosure

This episode really feels like a turning point for SU. Before, the show had its dark moments- but now we’re in the thick of it, and it’s not going away. Full Disclosure felt like an rebuff to the idea of returning to any normal we’d established in season 1. Gems are actually a giant species now. Gems tried to kill us now. There’s this Yellow Diamond bitch who got namedropped. Something about a Cluster.

The song itself is BALLER, with its ingenious use of Steven’s ringtone and photos as he tries to decide whether to clue in Connie on all this nonsense. Meanwhile we, the audience, already know damn well Connie about to yeet some common sense into him.

18.) What’s the Use of Feeling Blue?

I’mma admit it- I’m a Yellow Diamond stan. I’ve always loved her- her anger, her poise, her hardworking nature. I actively argued against the “Yellow Shattered Pink” theories back in the day. But, man, when this arc leaked? I got so overexcited I was too jittery to watch it for like two days. It’s easily my favorite arc of the series. The sheer alien nature of the zoo, the Famethyst, and absolutely Patti Lupone’s beautiful ballad. Goddamn. Yellow singing to Blue to try and help her regain her old status, the warble in her voice as she reminds Blue she misses Pink too, the movement of the bubbles as she talks about attack. It gives me shivers to this day. FUCK.

19.) Tower of Mistakes

This is, fun fact, that only SU song I have completely memorized. The story itself is kinda funny! See, we lost internet at my house for a solid 5 to 6 months when these episodes aired, so I only got a very brief window to view them all. But this was the first Amethyst song in a long while, and I didn’t want to forget it! So I keep replaying it in my head for ages. And that’s still definitely a thing.

Anyway will never not be sad that this entire song was about making it up to Garnet for Amethyst’s perceived slights with Sugilite (which was a two-way road), only for Garnet to pressure her into fusion later when pissed and never discuss it again bc Garnet probably never thought twice about it and Amethyst has the emotional openness of a clam that’s just been told its ugly. Helluva way to make someone feel like shit, G. Helluva way to bottle that shit, Ames.

20.) On the Run

I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a million times: Amethyst! Needed! More! Songs!

The dichotomy between Steven’s play and Amethyst’s honest desire to run away from home is so well-done, especially when you consider a lot of Steven and Amethyst’s actions are playing together. The song is also near and dear to me simply bc it’s my favorite Amethyst episode to exist (well, maybe second to What’s Your Problem, but not by much). Moments like these are all the proof I need that they were right to fuse first.

21.) Be Wherever You Are

This tune really just feels like an ode to who Steven was as a kid. Trapped on an island with no way home, and he’s just happy to be with his friends. The stars are beautiful and not oppressive. Also that one animatic with Lars and the Off Colors playing in the Homeworld Kindergarten to this music was iconic and made this song get stuck in my head for a solid month.

22.) Familiar

I ADORE how the crew use bright neon colors to show how alien Homeworld can be. And Steven recognizing that the Diamonds treat him how the CGs used to, and how prepared he is to “fix” a broken family. It’s a soft, gentle tune about melancholy. Also the Pebbles are beautiful.

23.) Let Me Drive My Van Into Your Heart

Such a cute little love ballad, but every time I listen to it now I just imagine the heart attack Rose must’ve had at the line “And if we look out of place/Well, baby, that's okay/I'll drive us into outer space.” like there’s a Vietnam war flashback if I ever heard one

24.) What Can I Do?

I’m kind of neutral on this one? Rose and Greg both have great voices, but the song itself lacks many lyrics. I think it was definitely a good way to show Rose’s flaws in thinking.

Also, I’m shocked they managed cram that much vaguely sexual innuendo into two minutes, followed by how Not Hetereo that dance between Rose and Pearl was, and not get their asses chewed by it. You go guys.

25.) Cookie Cat

I love a lot of the vibes this song has. The lyrics are so damn prophetic, but they also sound like the kind of weird 90s commercials I grew up on. It’s been like two decades since I saw the Shirley Temple commercial but I’ll be damned if I don’t remember “Animals crackers in my soup! Monkey and rabbits loop-de-loop.”

26.) Giant Woman

I am. NOT the biggest fan of Steven’s original singing voice. I feel bad saying that, since it was just Zach Callison as a kid, but he never jived well with me for some reason. So I wouldn’t listen to this on the fly.

The song itself is still really good though, with all sorts of fun animation of Amethyst and Pearl being bitchy to each other. It’s a bit sad in hindsight to see tiny Steven trying to get his moms to get along. Ahh, season 1.

27.) Strong in the Real Way

This song has SUCH a strong start. Pearl reflecting on Sugilite’s problems, but the show making sure to show us that Pearl’s lack of enthusiasm towards her also lends itself to jealousy as well as just general malaise. How much she cares about Steven, and wants him to grow up strong.

And then Steven just kinda. Ruins it? I appreciate his enthusiasm for tryna bulk up but to take what was starting as such a rich, personal song and broadcasting it to random strangers just makes me a bit sad. Almost a bit angry on her behalf?

28.) That Distant Shore

I KNOW this is gonna create some discourse, but I’m just not the biggest Lapis stan. I love her voice. I love the visuals of the song. And I get why she felt afraid and needed to flee.

But Lapis never got to take responsibility for her own actions. And, in the end, the song feels hollow to me- because we all know she’ll never talk to anyone about it, know she’ll burst back in and destroy the barn, and no one will ever question it. I like Lapis a lot, but I feel like her arc never was fully finished. She never got help. She never learned to feel safe.

29.) Dear Old Dad

I’ve yet to meet a single human being who likes this episode tbh. There’s some great discussion about what kind of parent Greg is from it, and what kind of dynamic he has with the Gems that he felt he had to fake an injury to hang out with his son. Honestly the first half was fine and dandy. It’s just that then they Greg just went out of his way to drag Steven away from missions and such. It never jived well with his character before or after.

Also, is it just me, or does Zach himself sound like he hates the song as he sings it? There’s no passion or heart in his voice. It sounds like they told him to read off cue cards and he did. Tom Scharpling’s best attempts didn’t save this one for being a skipper. But the episode, unfortunately, isn’t, so it gets a spot on here.

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andrew-minyards-bitch · 3 years

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aftg as things in my school

Renee: did y’all know that fanfic sites can’t be accessed during school hours?

Dan: …and why do you know this?

Renee: …

Kevin: *gives a throughout explanation on how the Middle Ages worked in Europe, explaining Christianity to Neil because Neil has a history text in his next class period*

Kevin: *continues to explain how feudalism was the government system during this time*

Random student on campus: are you trying to preach Christianity?

Kevin: …

Kevin: I’m an atheist 🤨

Student: ohh oh, sorry!

(this is in no way shape or form an outlay of what i believe to be Kevin’s belief, this is a comedic expression of what happened in my school between my personal interaction w another person and since I *was* discussing history i feel as though it suits Kevin’s character)

Kevin: so like can we bring…?

Wymack: no!

Kevin: soda?

Kevin: I haven’t even finished my question?!

Wymack: I’m sorry I thought u were going to say alcohol and i was like ? is he for real

Foxes: ALCOHOL IN A SCHOOL BUILDING LMFAO

Dan: stop- I was literally panicking because I thought he was going to say alcohol

Allison: PLS me too

Renee: can we bring those fake wine from weddings?

Wymack: NO!

Nicky: but it’s fake!

Wymack: [looks between Renee and Nicky] no no no no no no no no no no no no!

Matt: but but it’s just grape juice!

Wymack: it’s like you guys want me to get fired or something

Wymack: yeah so like I’ve been recently informed by my girls (in 1st period class but since this is aftg let’s just say “team”) that I’m the “dad” of the school? And Abby is the mom?

Whole team: ummm…yeah about that

Wymack: I thought I would at least me a cool uncle yk w/ my tattoos and all

Wymack: Id at least think that yk the tattoos will make me look cool, I don’t think I’m that old to be a dad

Upperclassmen, under their breath: parent! Abby and Wymack era, fucking knew it

Wymack: I do have a question though, if I’m the dad and Abby is the mom then how does Bee fit into this?

Andrew: Bee is the cool aunt

Renee: yeah, she would let us have sparkling grape juice

Wymack: no!

Wymack: [calls Kevin outside of the court]

Foxes: ooohh he’s in trouble

Bee: yeah busted!

Bee: Imagine your dad being your coach, that would be hell

Foxes: agreed!

Wymack: yeah.. my dad wasn’t a very good father

Matt: oh? I’m sorry, what happened?

Wymack: he left when I was 3 and when he visited he was always just punching me and getting mad

Matt: that must’ve been hell

Wymack: yeah, so like if you ever have conflicts w/ you dad yk you can come to me, I can empathize w/ you

Wymack: 😐

Matt: (ಥ﹏ಥ)

Allison and Aaron: [gets into a fight]

Renee: um.. Andrew? hello? are you going to do anything about this?

Neil: [films the whole thing]

Kevin: [eats an apple]

Nicky: [does zumba classes and randomly squats in front of Aaron and hollers]

Other sport players in the college campus: [trying to stop it]

Upperclassmen and the “Monsters”: [gets into an argument]

Them: [blocks the way bc they’re all standing up and arguing and are seconds away from throwing hands]

Neil: i’m just trying to get to my math class wtf

Aaron: help me study

Andrew: am i smart? yes do ik how to study? no

Aaron: 😑 me too but like pls just do ur best

Andrew: fine

Aaron: [studying for his biology quiz on thursday]

Aaron: and so this dude named Theodore Schwann had a bald spot on his forehead

Andrew: ???

Aaron: bald.. balls lol

Aaron: anyways so you can put balls in boxes which you can’t do with cells, wanna know why? because cells aren’t boxes

Andrew: this is how you study?

Aaron: [throws stank eye]

Allison and Seth: [make out near the women’s bathroom w/ tongue]

Kevin, knowing damn well that Seth can hear him and thriving off of it: hey Aaron! I just saw this dude kissing his on/off gf near the mf WOMENS BATHROOM

Aaron: that is unsanitary

Kevin: right!? and like shoving their tongues at each other and it was the most disgusting thing i’ve ever witness which is saying something because i slapped cold peanut butter on the table and got cut by a plastic spork on the first day of school

Seth: [stares at Kevin as they walk down the hallways and Seth is literally standing right next to Kevin]

Allison: guys there’s a bee in this class!!

Matt: slap it?

Dan: girl it’s near you

Allison: oh my god..

Dan: don’t move!

Renee: [gets up and goes to Allison, slaps the bee that’s flying around her head, bee lands on Allison’s hair, she freaks out, Renee thinks it’s dead and holds said bee with her bare fingers]

bee: [stings her]

Renee: ouch 😟🤨

Wymack, after Renee gets back from the nurse w/ a swell on her left thumb: she looks so offended and clueless as to why the bee stung her, she looked so confused and hurt too 😭

Renee: Abby I got stung by a bee

Abby: how’d you get stung by a bee?! did you do outside or something?

Renee: no, it just bit me

Jean: imagine being so unlucky that a bee stings you while you’re inside of a school building

Renee: IK!

Jeremy: omg look there’s another bee!

Renee: if you don’t stop!

68 notes · View notes

stargaze-issei · 4 years

Text

— 𝐛𝐨𝐝𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐢𝐤 𝐭𝐨𝐤 𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐝 + 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐫-𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧 !

𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐭; karasuno and fukurodani react to their manager doing the body count/bodyody audio tik tok ! [insp by this tik tok]

𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐞; crack(?

𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬; suggestive themes, maybe a little swearing i can't remember ajaksjq.

𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫'𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞; the trend it's to put pictures of all the people you've slept with, in case anyone doesn't know!!

karasuno !

-> it was a joke, it wasn’t supossed to get out of the thrid year managers gc.

-> the girls found it hilarious and was a good conversation topic for hours, discussing who you put or didn’t put.

-> they knew, of course, it was fake. you hadn’t slept with oikawa, KYOUTANI, BOKUTO, tendou, atsumu, TERUSHIMA and OSAMU.

-> it was SO obvious it was a joke for them that nobody felt the need to point it out.

-> they just said things like “the most quiet are the worst ones” “OMG DETAILS ABOUT THE TWINS!!” “did terushima yk,, made a good use of his percing” because they KNEW nothing was real.

-> until tanaka and sugawara asked kiyoko for her phone to watch some videos of the new play they were trying.

-> and misaki, from johzenji, sent a “forget about teru— 🤢 can’t even say it,, Y/N I WANNA HEAR ABOUT BOKUTO!!! ik man’s p a c k i n g”

-> tanaka looks at suga and suga looks at tanaka and they’re like .......tf

-> suga’s finger “slips” and they see the other messages until finally they reach your video.

-> you’re there looking pretty as usual and above your head reads “seems like were showing our body counts with this sound? here it’s mine 🤪”

-> tanaka is about to say “it can be what we’re thinking” but when OIKAWA’S picture appears both their jaws hit the floor.

-> nishinoya sees them and ofc he wants to know what’s so shocking, so he gets closer.

-> he drags hinata too, and shoyo’s like “that’s the great king!! play it again!! play it again!!”

-> fyi: suga paused the video because wOW and they don’t know who’s left in your video.

-> sugawara looks straight in the eye at nishinoya, going “keep hinata, kageyama and yamaguchi away and bring the team” with the MOST SERIOUS EXPRESSION

-> noya is lowkey scared??? like wtf??? but does as he’s told bc suga seems super intense.

-> kiyoko and yachi left to fill the bottles and pick some needed implements from the club room, you had classes for a few more minutes, therefore, there was nobody to stop them.

-> once the rest of the team, including tsukishima because everyone seemed to have forgotten he was a first year too, is together, suga plays again the video, while the littlest ones watch from afar in curiosity.

-> the silence, you will never hear them in a more tense silence.

-> they read what’s your tiktok about, daichi’s eyes go O.O, asahi goes RED, nishinoya seemed to be ready to FIGHT THEM ALL, ennoshita awkwardly laughs, even tsukishima blushes a little.

-> then oikawa appears. EVEYRONE’S EYES ARE FULLY OPEN AND NOYA LET’S OUT A GROAN???

-> but when kyoutani shows up they’re in SO much shock they kinda forget oikawa before, and daichi whispers an “oh god”

-> then it’s BOKUTO’S TURN and tsukishima just stops functioning. asahi is static on his place contemplating, withouth being able to form a coherent thought.

-> suga highkey wants the tea.

-> tendou feels like a betray to asahi, tanaka and tsukishima. noya, just for a second, wonder what was that like.

-> ATSUMU AND OSAMU FUCKING MIYA AND THEY EXPLOTE.

-> THE EXPLOTE LIKE WHAT????? WAS IT AT THE SAME TIME???? Y/N?¡¡¡¿¿1

-> they aren’t ready for the cherry on the top at the end, a picture of terushima sticking his tongue out, sweaty after a match, SMOKING HOT, and it’s not a picture he posted to his social medias or anything.

-> it’s only suga, and daichi a little bit, who realize that if that picture isn’t public, then either he send it to you or YOU TOOK IT.

-> that’s when you walk in the gym, just to say hi before going to change.

-> the first year are playing among each other and you are like ????

-> they don’t even notice you’re there so you go nearer to see what they’re watching. and you see the picture of tersuhima yukie, from fukurodani, once sent asking misaki WHY her kouhais where that hot. it was also the only picture you had of him and the one you used in you video the day before.

-> the phone in suga’s hands seems familiar and... that’s kiyoko’s

-> “Y/N” screams asahi when he sees you and the rest looks like they saw a ghost.

-> a second of silence goes before everyone blows in questions and you just hear names between bambling, “OIKAWA MNASNANPGDF” “MANASKL BODY COUNT ASLKLAS” “MAD DOG!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

-> and daichi makes himself heard despite the screams.

-> “y/n, i know you’re 18 and capable of making your own decisions, but we have to talk about... physical relationships, with our rival teams”

-> kiyoko arrives and quickly puts two and two together and asks yachi to go check on the first years.

-> she looks at you and sees you like WHAT TF DO I DO and nods and say “you shouldn’t have gone through my phone, no matter how curious you are, sugawara-san” COLD AS ICE ISTG.

-> AND SHE CONTINUES “what who y/n does or doesn’t do on her free time is none of your business, all of you, if she decides to get together with anyone it’s just up to her. you should be ashamed of yourself, specially the third years. you weren’t just violating y/n’s privacy, but mine, kaori’s, yukie’s and misaki’s. it may have been a joke, or not, but it doesn’t give you the right. if you ever do something like this again, we will be talking with coach ukai and takeda sensei” SHE GRABS YOUR ARM, TURNS AROUND, CALLS YACHI AND YOU THREE LEAVE LIKE QUEENS????

-> once you’re in the club room, both you and kiyoko start laughing because the team was FROZE in place. not even daichi was so scary.

-> the team then apologizes to both and send an audio to the groupchat too, and never bring the subject uo again.

-> still, they all wonder everyday if you really did or not.

-> and of course, they get so defensive when they see any of the boys in the video it’s hilarious to you and the other managers.

— fukurodani !

-> damn yukie making up dares that always ended up bad for either you or kaori.

-> mostly you doe.

-> at a sleepover, she was like let’s make fake body count vids and who falls asleep first has to show them tomorrow at practice!!! it will be fun!!!

-> you accepted because you usually fell asleep after one of them did but that time it was like they gave you a sleeping pill because you fell like a rock after a few hours.

-> as to why you were there, the day after, about to go ask the team if you should post it.

-> you list consisted on kenma, kita, sakusa, daichi, and just for the fun of it, konoha.

-> the girls call konoha aside so he doesn't ruin the prank, and you proceed.

-> "hey guys, should i post this?? i’m not sure if i look good enough to be seen by the world” bokuto practically yells at you that you always look pretty before taking your phone from your hands.

-> “why don’t you ask yukie or kaori?” asks akaashi, that was a question you hand’t thought about and by pure luck, you were saved by bokuto yelling at the team to come and see what you’ve done.

-> konoha is about to head their way and yukie just grabs his arm like “no ❤️"

-> and nobody can contradict yukie’s no so he has no choice but to stay.

-> anyways

-> the team gather around bokuto, who is about to press play. at first it’s just your face, and everyone agree you look pretty.

-> but then they read “did anyone say body count? ;)” and they look at each other like ......what

-> washio leans to stop the video because he genuinely doesn’t know what body count is, sarukui explains it a little too loud, grinning, and washio goes "oh–"

-> thanks to sarukui’s explanation bokuto confirms his idea because one part of him did think it was how many people you’ve killed.

-> they press play again and kenma appears and bokuto just stares, doesn’t react.

-> akaashi’s eyes widened and he GASPS, washio can’t hide his disappointment mostly because why would you make this video and then show it to them.

-> when kita shows up bokuto lets out a surprised squeak, along with washio that’s just question your and his whole existences-

-> sarukui is smirking, his complete expression yells “way to go y/n!!!”

-> sakusa comes as a shock to every one of them, even sarukui loses the grin for a bit.

-> “how did you manage to...?” whispers akaashi, half amazed, half grossed.

-> bokuto then has to pause it for a little to keep his composure, he looks at your like WHY WOULD YOU MAKE ME GO THROUGH THIS

-> but when they resume it and daichi welcomes him he thinks it just can get any worse.

-> washio is like “isn’t that karasuno’s–?”

-> “HELL YEAH IT IS” SHOUTS SARUKUI AND THE GIRLS BEHIND YOU LAUGH SO HARD BECAUSE HE IS SO PROUD OF YOU.

-> the rest is like 🧍‍♂️ while sarukui is SO happy for you LMAO.

-> it’s at the end when no one smiles. konoha’s picture smiles at them and bokuto just stops the video to look at him, only a few meters away.

-> he looks at the picture and then at konoha and so on.

-> can’t get his mind around it????? lowkey no one can.

-> akaashi isn’t even blinking and his eyes are concerningly open, washio is regretting all his past choices that led to this moment.

-> sarukui death stares at konoha. no more fun sarukui, he crossed the line.

-> kaori and yukie are wheezing WHEEZING I SAY and konoha is so confused.

-> his teammates look like dogs about to attack but he hasn’t done anything to upset them?? has he??

-> like robots, akaashi and bokuto get up and walk towards konoha. a part of you tells you to protect him but... what are they going to do tho...

-> “you’re out of the team” THEY SAY AT THE SAME TIME AND ALL AND KONOHA GOES WHAT

-> your co-managers can’t even breath istg NO HELP

-> you then intervine trying to keep konoha in the team lmao “IT’S FAKE GUYS!! A PRANK!! KAORI!!!! YUKIE!!!! BACK ME UP!!! I’M KIDDING DON’T KICK KONOHA OUT”

-> akaashi partially believes you, but bokuto?? nope.

-> you planted the seed on his mind.

-> the whole team acts weird when they see guys from your vid and are looking for chances to bark at konoha.

-> “AKAASHI HAS TO STAND BETWEEN YOU TWO ALL THE TIME” that’s the new rule he set.

-> just to see them freak out, konoha sometimes flirts with you at practice ;)

#haikyuu #haikyuu x reader #haikyuu headcanons #karasuno hcs #fukurodani headcanons #karasuno headcanons #fukurodani hcs #haikyuu manager #manager reader #haikyuu crack #karasuno crack #fukurodani crack #– star's; originals! [❀]

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elpercotreviews · 3 years

Text

My Anime 9/10′s

With probably no spoilers cuz I don’t wanna talk too long about them zzz.

1. Fullmetal Alchemist

YALL ALREADY KNOW THIS A 9/10. The only real reason this show is not a 10/10 is because it’s just a story that I’d never rewatch. There’s like 70 episodes, which is way too long for my short attention span, especially since I’ve seen it already. But yeah, by all accounts, this story is a masterpiece and is one of the only “shounen” anime’s that I genuinely enjoyed. No random sexualization. No dumb filler. All the characters have an actual purpose and role in the plot and everyone has their own morals and ideals that interact to make the story interesting. I couldn’t bring myself to really hate anyone, even the villains, because everyone was pretty well written. Also super satisfying ending that ties up everything properly without leaving me confused or upset. If you only watch a few anime in your life, Fullmetal Alchemist is pretty much a MUST WATCH to see a beautiful example of a modern classic anime as an artform. Also I should say that I really don’t like Hunter x Hunter (AN EXTREMELY CONTROVERSIAL OPINION BTW) but I love Fullmetal Alchemist so take from that what you will.

2. Parasyte: The Maxim

Same kinda shit where you already know this a 9/10 for me. It’s just a very satisfying anime that doesn’t have random sexualization or random filler or anything like that. Ending is also very good and ties up the story in a way that doesn’t leave more questions but also allows the characters to have a “life” outside of the scope of the story. I think Parasyte, because of its more horror and psychological-esque vibes, counts as a seinen and not a shounen, so for more mature audiences. I also really liked how the story was successfully adapted to modern times since the manga is from the 80′s. I have actually rewatched this anime, but what stops me from giving it a 10/10 is a few things that I found kinda “stereotypical” that I don’t wanna discuss further too much cuz it’s spoilers. I still obviously really like this anime and highly recommend it.

3. Zankyou no Terror

TBH, this anime is pretty hard for me to properly describe in a lot of words as to why I like it. The art was really pretty as well as the music, which was just straight up amazing. The cinematography of this anime is excellent as well, and a lot of scenes have that sense of being acted out by real people, as opposed to feeling completely drawn/animated. I was a teenager when this anime came out and I think a lot of the themes presented in the show really related to me. The show does kinda have some leftover questions when it ends that prevents me from rating it a 10/10, but I have such a soft spot for this anime. It’s from the same creator as Samurai Champloo and Cowboy Bebop, and although those two animes are also very good, they did not impact me as much as this anime did. Recommended for people looking for idk something that gives off Inception vibes?? In the sense that it’s much more about its themes and its message more so than the believability of the events that occur.

4. Magic Kaito 1412

THIS IS JUST A PERSONAL PREFERENCE BTW LOLOL I DON’T KNOW ANYBODY WHO’D PUT THIS AS A 9/10 ANIME. I JUST REALLY LIKED IT OKAY. It’s made by the same person who does Detective Conan but I like this a lot more because it’s a much shorter series and slightly more mature (more for teens than just straight up kids). I really liked the main guy, I think he’s funny and charismatic. He’s a pervert at times but Imma forgive that cuz of the 90′s. Idk it’s just a really fun anime that I don’t have to take seriously and can just watch and enjoy.

5. Mob Psycho 100 (season 1 AND 2)

Imma put season two as slightly better than season one. So season one would be like a 9 and season two is like a 9.25 for me. Super super funny anime and I like it SO much more than One Punch Man. I liked that there was a good balance of serious moments, but you can definitely still count this anime as a comedy. I’m typically not the type to watch “comedy” but this anime genuinely had me laughing out loud, while also crying and freaking out right alongside the main character. The main guy is super great because he’s just this shy and sweet middle schooler, and it’s really interesting watching him balance trynna have a normal life while also using his powers for good and such. Apparently the anime was decently faithful to the manga and there’s apparently enough material for a third season so I’d be pretty stoked for a season 3, but season 2 ended on a pretty good spot and was satisfying. TBH, if I had the time, I’d probably rewatch both seasons and bump it up to a 10/10.

6. Vinland Saga

This anime is just the first season of what I hopes to be a whole series that will be stay beautifully and faithfully adapted from the manga. As someone who read very far into the manga (but quit like years ago simply because I hate slow updates lol), I actually didn’t enjoy watching the anime at first. I was impatient and kept waiting for when like the “major” events would happen. So I watched like three episodes and quit. But when I had some free time, I decided to get stuck in and commit to watching the whole series and I was so pleasantly surprised with just how good it was. I was impatient but I needed to realize that there is no “filler” or like “wasted time” in the entire anime. I hadn’t read the manga in years, so so many things were only vaguely familiar but I think this helped me stay surprised and excited throughout the anime. I’m looking forward to the rest of the manga being adapted because it’s just a good Viking saga lolol. Major themes of stuff like growing up, violence vs. peace, what it means to be a good person, etc. Lots of blood and LOTS of violence like a LOT they are VIKINGS CMON but tbh not really any gore which I liked cuz gore makes me ughhhh. A very good watch and only a taste of an excellent story.

7. Demon Slayer

It’s just Demon Slayer duhhh. Of course this a 9/10 for me. I don’t wanna write much just cuz the show is so popular. Just read a REAL review of this anime somewhere else lmaoooo. Also yes I did watch the movie in theaters and yes I liked it a lot as well mmkay. I’m mad hype for season two. My S/O doesn’t like Demon Slayer as much as me, but also has Hunter x Hunter as their all time favorite anime. Do with that information what you will lolol.

8. Attack on Titan Season 3 Part 2

Same shit as Demon Slayer. Just go read someone else’s review about why it’s so good lol. Also, unlike Mob Psycho 100, I can’t include all of the seasons in this, because I have very various opinions about how good/bad the other seasons were. But this season 3 part 2, was just plain and simply amazing. While I might not like each season equally, as a whole Attack on Titan is also a modern masterpiece of storytelling. Read the manga if you can.

9. Great Pretender

I love this anime so much. Such a good and fun wild ride. The whole show is ridiculous but in a fun way. I’m a HUGE fan of heist films, so of course I absolutely enjoyed a heist anime. I’ve watched this show in sub AND dub, due to the fact that everyone is “technically” speaking English the entire time. If you’re a purist, just watch in sub OR dub cuz I did get confused here and there, especially when I would go back to compare language discrepancies. Because basically I did this super high maintenance thing where I switched back to Japanese whenever the main character had flashbacks, since he’s ya know, Japanese. The dub also has this confusing thing where the first five minutes or so are still in Japanese, but switches to English when a little cue card on the screen goes “For the Viewers sake, everything from now on will be translated to Japanese.” It’s cuz in the sub, the inverse obviously happens where the characters are initially speaking broken English to each other, but for convenience sake, everything from that point on will be in Japanese. It’s confusing at first but I liked it cuz it just proved the whole international vibe of the show. It’s funny either sub or dub when they joke about how bad the main guy speaks English, cuz in the dub he’s speaking perfect English, while the sub has him not speaking English at all. But anyway, great anime that WOULD have gotten a 10/10 if not for the last episode. Like without spoiling ... WTF WAS THAT LMAOOOO. The anime as a whole is super wacky and zany but at least I could try to think it’s real life, but that last episode was just so unbelievable and bizarre and pulled my suspension of disbelief into the STRATOSPHERE that I just had to convince myself that this show takes place in some improbable alternate reality where something like what happened in the last episode is at least 5 percent possible CUZ HOW DID ANY OF THAT WORK LMAOOO??? Once again, great show, one of my absolute favorites, BUT THAT ENDING THOUGH WTF.

10. BNA

Good super underrated anime that I don’t hear people talk about at all. If Beastars is anime Zootopia, then BNA is Disney Beastars lmaooo does that make sense? It’s a lot more fun and zany than Beastars and I liked it way more. Made by the same people who made Kill la Kill. I really like that more classic, animated “cheap” art style that the anime has, and I also really liked the plot of the story. Not a 10/10 cuz the show does leave a few unanswered questions at the end of it, but this show was such a fun and interesting ride. When I finished the last episode, I was left with a big smile on my face because I just genuinely enjoyed this anime. Recommended if you wanna watch something a little unique and more on the silly and wack side. Talks about some serious stuff, but luckily the show never takes itself TOO seriously, and remains overall lighthearted for a fun action/sci-fi show.

#bna #attack on titan #parasyte #anime review #myanimelist #great pretender #demon slayer #vinland saga #mob psycho 100 #anime #fullmetal alchemist #terror in resonance #magic kaito

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artxyra · 4 years

Text

The Secret Life of MDC | Part 2

Part 2 – DuPont believe anything they say

Part 1

Marinette was ready for anything they could throw at her because now she can bring them all down at once. Today was the start of her first time as a spy student for the School board and splitting her time between two classes. The first half of the day would be spent with Mlle. Bustier and the second half as a TA for a new teacher that recently just began over the summer.

“Are you ready, Buggy?” She heard Adrien ask her from behind.

“Buggy? That’s a new one, Kitten, and yeah I'm ready. Just one more school year with Lila and her mindless followers.” Marinette answers, absently playing with the ends of her blouse. Adrien feeling a shift in the air, grips her hand and gives the one person he sees as a sister the biggest reassuring smile he could muster.

“C’mon losers, I only have so many fucks to give out and I don’t want to blow it in the first half of class.” They heard Chloe call out behind them wearing sunglasses indoors that clashed with her golden outfit. Marinette had to prevent herself from scoffing at the fashion choice the blonde teen had made. It was a crime against fashion and the girl is the daughter of a fashion icon.

“Chloe, you know I love you, but what in the world prompted you to wear sunglasses indoors?” Marinette somehow managed not to raise her voice at a person she claims as a sister.

“Oh hush, Manette. I’m doing this to prevent future murders on my hands.” Chloe responded as Adrien and Marinette look at each other communicating with slight head shakes and hand gestures that went from them to Chloe and back to them.

“That makes no sense, Bee, and I’m afraid to know what you meant. Should I message Tim to get a lawyer on hand or just pretend that I didn’t hear anything and go on into the nightmare that we call class.” It was Marinette that took the charge like she always does in these situations where she and Adrien are at a loss when it comes to Chloe’s hidden mindset.

All Chloe gives them is a mischief smirk causing the two friends to fear what is to come.

~*~

“Good morning, class. Today I have exciting news!” The teacher, Mlle. Bustier, announces as she setting her things down and turning to the chalkboard.

The trio never would have thought they would be stuck with Caline Bustier since the beginning of their collége years to the end of their lycée years. The only reason why this is a fact is that many of the teachers in the surrounding Paris area moved out once Hawkmoth’s akuma attacks began to become more vicious. They didn’t want to teach in an area that could lead to death or effect their trauma even more. This caused the school board committee for all of Paris to let the teachers teach their current class up until graduation with only the senior teachers teaching two sets of classes which meant teaching a younger generation outside of their grade group. So far, the change has been going well with minimum out rejection.

For Mlle. Bustier’s class, it was the best transition ever; however, it only solidifies their downfall and future in the real world. Caline, a generous carrying teacher, has little to none of a backbone. Her teaching methods are questionable especially when it comes to her classes' growth, which is why the school board's deal to Marinette was to become a student spy rather than letting her go free once she passed the Baccalauréat.

Caline turns around to view her students. She’s happy to see every single one of them, but her inner smile fades away once she caught sight of Marinette. The girl had so much potential in the teacher’s eyes and it was a shame to see it go to waste. She tried to get Marinette to be an example for her peers, but the girl did nothing but cause a rift in the classroom.

“I have some amazing news. Starting today up until our class exchange program, each and every one of you will be working on a presentation choosing an infamous city in the United States. You can work in pairs no bigger than three for this assignment.” Caline began before going into detail regarding the largest project of their senior year.

The trio already knew what city they were going to pick; however, for Marinette, she was slightly wary. This assignment has little to with her problems, but she had forgotten about the exchange program that the class was selected last year to go on for this year.

Every year a certain senior class is chosen to go on an exchange to one of the partner schools in the United States. When Marinette graduated, she had forgotten that her class was chosen, so now she needs to find out how that will change her teaching assistant job plans and how she and the principal will overcome this.

“Ooh, we should Gotham! I personally know the Waynes. They are a nice family. You know?” Of course, it had to be Lila to ruin a good mood. The trio could feel the liar’s gaze lingering on them as they mentally plain on what to do. “You know Adrien, you could join my group and we’ll get an ‘A’.” Lila begins to sweet-talk her way through Adrien, ignoring the heavily implied discomfort the model was giving her.

“Huh, Lie-la, I’m actually planning on working with Chloe and Mari for this one. I’m sure Alya and Nino would love to be a part of your group.” Adrien speaks up as he repeatedly tapes the desk for help from his two surrogate sisters.

Lila huffs putting on the waterworks, like always does when she didn’t get her way.

“Adrien? C’mon sunshine, can’t you just work with Lila. She was really looking forward to doing the project with you. Nino and I decided to be a duo, anyway. I’m sure Chloe and Marinette can handle it on their own.” Alya may not be physically violent towards anyone, but she did know how to pressure someone into doing something.

Adrien shakes his head and decides that it was best to stay close to Chloe and Marinette in case something goes sideways.

Feeling the attention away from her, Lila knew she had to come up with something spectacular. However, it would be unfortunate for Marinette who decided to take a drink from her water bottle. “I know I shouldn't say anything, but I’m dating Damian Wayne.” Immediately the loyalist of flies surrounds the liar gushing about the latest news.

Marinette, on the other hand, chokes on her water creating a coughing fit. She stares aghast at the liar once the coughing died down. Chloe and Adrien couldn't help but laugh at this.

“Calm down, calm down, class. I still have much to discuss with you including the trip.” Mlle. Bustier states trying to reel on her students as the talking increases in volume.

Fading out of the class the trio opens their group chat. Marinette looks up every so often to make sure that their teacher was paying them no attention.

Queen Bee: Our class is filled with idiots. [insert screaming GIF]

Katana’s Bitch: Uh, Bee what happened?

My Voice is Music: Aren’t you like in class?

Gotham’s Princess: Yes, but that is not the point. Besides, I already did all this shit and just in class for "fun".

R U Kitten Me: Luka, my love, I’m gonna need loads of therapy?

My Voice is Music: Liar?

Katana’s Bitch: Liar?

Queen Bee: She tried to guilt Kitten into being her partner for this large assignment. Ooh, how I can’t wait until he comes out of the closet.

Gotham’s Princess: It will be something like this: [insert a WTF GIF]

R U Kitten Me: Ooh that’s a good one Mars.

Gotham’s Princess: [insert bowing GIF] Thank you.

Queen Bee: 10 o clock, Bustier’s looking right at us

Marinette looks away from her phone to be greeted by Mlle. Bustier stern facials. She sheepishly smiles at the teacher and begins to write in her notebook, but the content had nothing to do with what Mlle. Bustier was teaching.

A grueling class period later, Marinette rushes over to the other side of the building. She sets up the classroom for the teacher and waits for the students to arrive.

While Marinette becomes the TA for a different class, Chloe and Adrien are forced to deal with the idiocy of their classmates alone.

Chloe nearly got into a yelling match with Lila and Alya about Marinette’s whereabouts as everything soon became aware that the fashion designer was missing for the second half of the school day.

Lila, once again, tried to dig her nails into the model to be her partner for the presentation project, she even tried to pull the daddy card over the blonde not knowing that Gabriel has little power over him since he unofficially moved in with the Dupain-Cheng home and rarely makes an appearance at the Agreste home unless it was dire.

“I can’t believe how selfish you are?” Alya attempts to scream into Adrien’s face but is pulled away by Nino, once the DJ realizes what was going on. He even mouths his apologies to his friend as he pulls Alya to comfort Lila, who was making a big hissy fit.

“I just wanted him to have a good grade on this project. My Damiboo would have been a large help when we choice Gotham.” Lila sniffles in her limp hand as if she was the victim of a major crime. Chloe and Adrien just roll their eyes and continue to ignore their classmates as the second half begins.

~*~

Marinette laughs at the messages on her phone about the class before walking into Principal De La Fontaine's offices. Due to the constant attacks and akuma victim from Dupont, the Paris school board officials declared Principal Damocles unfit to be a principal and opted for De La Fontaine to oversee college and lycée of the Dupont schools seeing as they are short-staffed.

“Mlle. Dupain-Cheng, you needed to see me?”

“Good evening, Principal De La Fontaine, and yes I do. It’s about the exchange program. The class that I’m spying for was selected to go last year and I was wondering how that will affect my teaching assistant job?” She asks taking an empty seat opposite from the Principal.

“Why yes, we probably should discuss this before you go. This might be the last piece for the school board in regards to Caline’s teaching habits. I have already discussed it with Mme. Margaux about your month's departure.”

A sigh of relief escapes Marinette’s lips. The feeling of knowing nothing will happen to her job on the school grounds with her being gone for a month.

“Merci.” She says once their conversations end and as she walks out of the office.

Nette @GothamsFashionSense Guess who’s returning to Gotham for a month?? This fille right here!! [insert a Dottie screaming & kicking her feet GIF]

Immediately, the tweet receives dozens of replies, all ranging from screeches of who is she to can’t wait to play “Spot the Nette game” on twitter. Marinette couldn’t help up chuckle as the replies from her extended family proceeds to enter the replies.

Maybe the trip wouldn’t be so bad?

Yeah, that was a lie. Before the trip started, Lila made a tearful excuse about the presentation project then saying that Marinette and her group stole the presentation from her as their city was the same, Gotham, New Jersy. That ended up becoming a large battle about right and wrong, to which Chloe and Adrien won because they did most of the project.

The moment before the trio stepped into the airport, saying their goodbyes to Kagami, Luka, and closet family members was just as emotional. Adrien tried his hardest not to breakdown in Luka’s arms but the reminder of seeing Jon made him excited. Chloe was a weeping mess saying goodbye to her girlfriend, who promise to send messages every day to keep the bee miraculous holder sane. For Marinette, she knew that Paris was in good hands and always having Kaalki on hand has been a huge help when traveling between the two cities.

Upon entering the airplane, there wasn’t a single moment that Lila didn’t lie about her experience in Gotham. She somehow managed to get every Wayne boys' name wrong except for Damian’s and Bruce’s. Like whom the hell is Tom Grayson and Drake Todd. It took every bone in the trio’s body not to breakdown laughing and cursing at the liar for such ludicrous names. Though parts of her conversation went into the ultimate group chat where everyone from Gotham to Paris is on. Let’s just say Jason was craving for a bullet to hit the liar in an “accidental” way.

Part 3 >>

Tag List: *View my Tagging System guidelines for how to to be properly tagged or removed. The Specific tag List has been CLOSED.

#maribat #daminette #teacher assistant Marinette AU #teacher assistant au #mild salt #ml x dc #ml crossover #fic:The Secret Life of MDC #mlb x dc

812 notes · View notes

miyaniacs · 4 years

Note

Emergency request I guess. My mom told me she doesn’t want me in her life & that I ruin everything. Really sad about it, but I know I don’t deserve this, so I’m taking a break from her. So maybe navigating the realization I have a toxic mom, and thinking that everything negative she’s said about me is true even though it’s not with Atsumu, Kuroo, Suna & Bokuto. Mentally exhausted and just want hugs a comfort.

Okay sooo hey! Uhm I’m glad that you at least came to the realization that this is NOT what you deserve and you are definitely better off without someone telling you that you’re not enough - it doesn’t matter if it’s a friend or a family member - you need to distance yourself from those who drag you down.

masterlist

HC : Comforting their S/O who’s got a toxic mother

Atsumu

Okay so as soon as you told him what your mum said he is raging

Like wtf is she doing?

Who is she to tell the love of his life that she isn’t enough or that she isn’t worth it?!

He‘s probably starting to rant about her while - without realizing it - telling your how amazing you are and how much he loves you and how perfect you are in his eyes and how you light up his world

During his first 5 words of said rant he will tell you that your mum is toxic and that you can borrow his mum if you need one

Making you laugh by saying that his mum will probably be happy to have a girl and not just chaotic twins

While ranting he’s also walking up and down the room while wildly gesturing with his hands

When he starts the : HOW AMAZING YOU ARE - part his eyes lit up

When he reaches the end of said part he’s kneeling in front of you ( who’s sitting on his bed ) taking your hands in his and looking in your eyes while saying:

“Baby, you are more than enough - she’s the one who doesn’t deserve such a beautiful child. Try to cut her out of your life - she will eventually see what she lost. I’ll stick by your side the whole time. And now tell me again what exactly she said so I can tell you 10 reasons why you’re perfect for each one she said.”

Will definitely put on horror movies so he can hold you closer and show you that he can protect you !!! 😤😤😤

Reality will be that he’s laying in your lap, facing your stomach screaming whenever he can hear a person scream in the movie

The night will end in cuddles and him being all soft and fluffy and holding you in his arms, tightly pressed against him, not letting you go for one second.

Bonus: during all his ranting he took your favorite hoodie of his and throw it on you saying : here wear it so you get some comfort until I calmed down

Bonus Bonus : yes. Osamu comes later the night and brings you all the leftover from his shop

Kuroo

Ayt so his first priority after you told him would be to comfort you

He’d treat you like his small kitten

Letting you crawl in his lap, arms wrapped around his waist, faced nuzzled in his chest

If you start to cry he’ll rock you back and forth babying you

He’d stoke your hair and after a few moments he’d start discussing this topic with you

Kuroo will be really carful with it tho

He doesn’t want you to get hurt even more

So he’ll lead you the way

So you’ll feel as if it was ALL your idea to decided your mum is toxic and that you should distance yourself from her

He’ll be so encouraging with all the decisions you make

Later on he’ll make sure to show you how much he loves you and that he’s always there for you

Also he’d be so helpful when you’re afraid how your life would be without you mum in it

But since he basically grew up with only his father and grandparents he’ll tell you that you can still grow up being amazing- not as amazing as him tho but still amazing

He will help you get on his level of ‘amazingness’ Tho ahahah

Also kuroo is practically a mom so - you already got an amazing caring, loving mom with him ( still call him the male version of mom tho 😏)

Definitely will order whatever your comfort food is

Also definitely will make a fool of himself to help you to focus on something else’s

Bonus : idk WHY but I feel like the night will end on a playground ??? And later on emergency room Bc he wanted to test this COOL thing out he read about in some sience magazine and ended up hitting his head - now YOU have to promise the doctor to wake kuroo up ever few minutes to see if he’s not unconscious 😔 well at least his plan worked? You’re now thinking of something elese?

Bonus Bonus : after the 6th time waking him up you stayed awake and played never have I ever with Bokuto on the phone

Bokuto

Okay he wouldn’t be as vocal about how much he dismisses what your mother says

Neither would he be really helpful considering spoken words

YET

You come to him, all sad & almost crying

Omg

Before you can open your mouth, he’s all over you

You’re wrapped up in his arms in a breathtaking hug

He’ll shower your face with kisses

Take you to the bed & cuddle you to the MAX

He’s wrapped around your body like a monkey

An hour later he finally asks if you wanna talk about it

After you told him he’s all emo

How could your own mother be so mean to you?

He states to cry so you start to cry to because?? How could you now

Now you’re both in each other’s arms, crying, occasionally telling each other how much you love them

He’s trying to list all the things he loves about you but you don’t really understand anything because he’s crying

YET something about how soft and plumb and perfect your ass is was understandable

Bokutos way of showing you love and appreciation is enough for you to realize what real love is

And that the ‘love’ your mother showed you isn’t real love and it’s not what you deserve

You deserve this- laying in the arms of a man who loves you with all his heart

Suna

Okiiii uhmmm well how should I put it

You tell him everything yeah?

While being on the phone with him right after you had this talk with your mom

And he will listen to all of it

ALLL OF IT

Being understanding af

After you finished tho

💥SASS EXPLOSION 💥

He’ll sass out your mom for 30 minutes straight

You’ll end up crying because he just can’t shut up about it

THEN you hear someone knocking at the front door and he’s like : open up

There he is

Mother uhm BOYFRIEND of the nation with a bag full of all the stuff you enjoy

Ice cream, chips, chocolate, a still hot pizza, cheese to make nachos, you crave it? He’s got it all packed up

Also brought this one fluffy blanket you always use when you’re at his

You’re now on your bedroom floor, wrapped up in said blanket, all the food in front of you

Happily munching & watching Disney movies- Rapunzel is on rn

“That’s your mom - I always knew she reminded me of someone.” He says pointing at the TV as soon as Rapunzels “mother” is shown

His main goal would be to get your mind off the things she said

All cuddled up in bed now, ready to fall asleep he makes sure to tell you how much he loves you

So you’ll be falling asleep to him listing all the things he loves about you

At his point 58 you sigh and drift off to the land of dreams

#haikyuu headcanons #haikyuu x reader #haikyuu imagines #haikyuu x y/n #hq headcanons #kuroo x reader #bokuto x reader #atsumu x reader #suna x reader

287 notes · View notes

laurelnose · 3 years

Note

Very New to your blog and the posts are probably way old but I saw you do Witcher Biology (??) rants sometimes and Id love to hear your take, if you have one, on what monsters (namely "naturally occurring" ones like draconids and insectoids) contribute to the ecosystem if anything and whether or not they should be hunted into extinction. I was discussing it w/ a friend last night after dealing with Iocaste, the last silver basilisk, and now its smthn I'm Invested in

re monster ecosystems: I just figure theyve probably found a niche in the world by now and can eat anything smaller incl. humans but because theyve got no natural predators aside from eachother and arent hunted by anything but witchers , monsters are just breeding and eating and wldnt that damage the land? or have they made their own like, circle of life or whatever ? Ive little knowledge on the subject as a whole but the whole thing intrigues me

hi & extremely belated welcome, anon! my apologies for the length of time you’ve been waiting for this answer; I had to think carefully about how I wanted to respond to this ask, because: there’s a lot going on here. also, because I am a disaster, I ended up posting it to ao3 first while I was avoiding tumblr for a spell and then completely forgot to come back. oops. i’m sorry!! This one’s about 5000 words long, which is a lot for tumblr, so reading on AO3 may be preferable.

The two main thrusts of your first ask (how do monsters interact with the ecosystem and should they be eradicated from the Continent) are questions of invasion ecology, the study of non-native/invasive species and their effects on the environment. Monsters, having arrived on the Continent about 1200 years ago during the Conjunction of Spheres from entirely alien dimensions, are indeed technically non-native species!

However, invasion ecology is…somewhat controversial, to say the least—there are a lot of invasive species, who have a lot of different & complex impacts, and a lot of different ideas about what we might do about any of this, and it’s basically all arguing all the time, so I wasn’t really sure how I wanted to approach the topic. Not to mention that for reasons I couldn’t initially put my finger on, it seemed wrong to apply theories of invasion ecology to the Witcher monsters. We’ll get into it! There are also a couple of common misconceptions/oversimplifications of how ecology works in your second ask which I want to unpack. Hopefully I pulled this together into something that makes sense, and feel free to ask me for clarification!

Some important background facts:

Species have always been moving to and “invading” new places on their own; humans and globalization have accelerated this process into a Big Problem, as the sheer number of invasive species being introduced all over the globe strains ecosystems already under pressure, but “native ranges” are always shifting, sometimes more dramatically than you might expect. If you go far enough back in time, all species are “non-native”.

Because of this, the very definition of “invasive species” is hotly contested. This is why you’ll hear dozens of terms like introduced species, injurious species, naturalized species, non-native species, etc.; these all have slightly different connotations, but all refer to a species that did not originate in a particular location.

An introduced species is usually classified as “invasive” as opposed to “non-native” or “naturalized” if its presence significantly alters the ecosystem it invades; some people define this more narrowly as a species that causes harm to an ecosystem. “Harm” can take a lot of different forms, as every non-native species interacts differently with the ecosystem they were introduced to.

Aside from various potential impacts to human economic activity, most forms of ecological harm by introduced species involve the decline of native species, by a variety of mechanisms; invaders might eat natives, outcompete them for food, interbreed with them, carry novel pathogens, etc. Invasive species are primarily a threat to biodiversity.

Now, here’s my Hot Take:

The Conjunction of Spheres is analogous to real-life ecological cataclysms such as the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event, and thus monsters are not invasive species.

The Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event saw the extinction of 75% of all species on Earth after the Chicxulub asteroid hit, including the non-avian dinosaurs. The Earth has had several disasters like this, of varying severity—the Great Oxidation Event killed almost literally everything on Earth except for the cyanobacteria who caused it. These cataclysmic extinction events completely upended existing ecosystems, altering habitats beyond recognition and leaving swathes of niches emptied of life that the survivors could evolve to exploit.

The most recent Conjunction of Spheres on the Continent is supposed to have thrown everyone living on the planet at the time into chaos and darkness; it wouldn’t be unreasonable to assume that the interpenetration of multiple spheres caused mass extinction of species living in the pre-Conjunction environment, similar to Chicxulub or the GOE!

But Socks, you might say, evolution works on a massive timescale! It took millions of years to fill the niches left open by Chicxulub, but it’s only been 1200 years since the Conjunction of Spheres! And you are absolutely right*, but the Conjunction of Spheres canonically came pre-loaded with new species. We actually have no proof that any of the animals we see originated on the Continent: if humans are a post-Conjunction phenomenon, why not also dogs? Why not bears? Who’s to say any of those were actually there before-hand? (The elves, I guess, but as they have not, actually, said so, there’s no proof!!)

* FTR, 1200 years is a shockingly short period of time to go from cataclysm that plunged the world into darkness and chaos to functioning medieval-era society considering how long it actually took humanity to build 13 century Europe (horses had been domesticated for at least 3000 years by that time), even if we’re not assuming that most of the ecosystem was destroyed, so, my timeline concerns here are minimal, lmfao. TIMELINE WHAT TIMELINE.

…and actually now that I think about it the three options for the origin of dogs are a) elves or dwarves domesticated them, b) humans brought dogs with them during the Conjunction, or c) dogs have existed for less than 1200 years, and I refuse to accept that dogs are practically a new invention in the witcherverse, wtf.

Anyways: we really have no idea which species are truly “native” to the Continent, or what the physical environment was like prior to the Conjunction. While monsters are not native to the Continent, monsters are also not invasive—there cannot be decline of pre-Conjunction biodiversity or harm to the pre-Conjunction ecosystem because there is no pre-Conjunction ecosystem anymore.

should monsters be hunted to extinction?

So, the thing is, I think we should try to eradicate invasive species from non-native ranges if we can; the biggest problem with that is feasibility, not morality. It’s much more difficult than one might think to eradicate an invasive species once it’s established, and we have to be very careful that the methods we choose don’t have other impacts, but invasive species are a huge threat to the biodiversity of Earth! If monsters are invasive species, then the answer is yes, they should be eradicated from the places they are not native to.

(Notably, on Earth this kind of eradication is not the same thing as extinction; it would be a local extinction, or extirpation, where the species is totally wiped out in the places it invaded but still exists in its native range. This does get way more complicated if the invasive is already extinct in its native range.)

However, I have just outlined a possibility that would make it plausible for monsters not to be invasive species. Let me also outline why I prefer this interpretation. Here is a book conversation between the sorcerer Dorregaray of Vole and Geralt:

“Our world is in equilibrium. The annihilation, the killing, of any creatures that inhabit this world upsets that equilibrium. And a lack of equilibrium brings closer extinction; extinction and the end of the world as we know it. … Every species has its own natural enemies, every one is the natural enemy of other species. That also includes humans. The extermination of the natural enemies of humans, which you dedicate yourself to, and which one can begin to observe, threatens the degeneration of the race.”

“Do you know what, sorcerer?” Geralt said, annoyed. “One day, take yourself to a mother whose child has been devoured by a basilisk, and tell her she ought to be glad, because thanks to that the human race has escaped degeneration. See what she says to you.”

–The Bounds of Reason, ch. 6

This is a, uh, incredibly unsubtle reference to a debate that has been ongoing for decades; Geralt’s stance here is one of the key arguments in opposition to wolf and bear reintroduction. What do we do about large predators that may pose a threat to humans? How do we balance preservation of the ecosystem with the safety of people who have to coexist with these predators?

I can’t fully agree with Geralt, because large predators are integral to the ecosystem, which I value for its own sake and because humans depend on healthy ecosystems. But I can’t fully agree with Dorregaray either, because Geralt is right: human life is valuable and worthy of protecting. This is an issue that India has been running into in the past ten years; as their tiger conservation efforts yield fruit, people become more likely to encounter tigers, and thus more likely to have a bad encounter with a tiger. It’s become a political struggle as rural people who have to actually live with the possibility of a tiger attack come into conflict with urban conservationists who just really want to preserve tigers (& in some incidents, some of those conservationists have been Western, which is a whole additional level of fuckery). The fact is, there isn’t a good answer to this yet! We certainly should not drive tigers, wolves, or any other large predator to extinction, but we also have to figure out a way to keep people safe. It’s something humanity still has to wrestle with.

Under this framing, which CDPR reinforced when they chose to have the Count di Salvaress defend Iocaste as an endangered species while making significant provisions to minimize the damage she could do to human life, there’s far too much baggage attached for me to say yes, monsters should be hunted into extinction. If you’re going to make monsters analogous to wolves, of course I do not think we should get rid of monsters entirely!

And frankly, Geralt doesn’t think so either, despite his hardline stance about monsters that eat humans. Sapkowski isn’t exactly an anti-conservationist; though Dorregaray is shown as out of touch in this passage, at another point the narrative sides with him calling Philippa out on exterminating a species of ermine for her fur collar, and it’s consistently put forth that Geralt’s best quality is that he doesn’t want to perform violence for the sake of it or destroy things without cause, and one of the representations of that is that he refuses to kill endangered species even at cost to himself:

“What should I say about you, who rejects a lucrative proposition every other day? You won’t kill hirikkas, because they’re an endangered species, or mecopterans, because they’re harmless, or night spirits, because they’re sweet, or dragons, because your code forbids it.”

–Eternal Flame, ch. 2

If monsters and other post-Conjunction creatures are invasive species, the nuance in this conversation is flattened, and Geralt’s refusal to kill mecopterans and hirikkas becomes a flaw rather than a virtue. Boring! I also think that one of the strongest themes in the witcherverse is the idea of all monsters being human ills; wraiths are manifestations of hatred, necrophages multiply because of human bloodshed, cursed ones are created out of malice, mages like Alzur and Idarran of Ulivo go out of their way to straight-up create monsters from scratch*, etc. Iocaste attacks humans and takes livestock because the traditional prey of the silver basilisk, roe deer, has been extirpated by human destruction of their habitat. The aeschna in Blood of Elves attacks humans because humans have altered and polluted the flow of the Pontar, hunting the aeschna’s previous food (seals) to extinction. The true monster is the actions of humans. Monsters that appeared unbidden from another dimension into a previously functional ecosystem to invade and cause problems undermines this theme; monsters that are integrated into the ecosystem and subject to the same social and ecological forces as other animals supports it.

* Idarran’s “idr” monsters from Season of Storms absolutely should be eradicated. Did the world not have enough man-eating arthropods, Idarran? Did you really have to mutate horrible new ones and release them in populated areas?? Mages are a scourge, lmfao

Additionally, one of the biggest reasons I felt like I couldn’t actually apply invasion ecology to monsters was that, whether you accept my Conjunction theory as sufficient biological justification for this or not, monsters just don’t really behave like invasive species. It’s hard to explain this because the setting is pretty brief about its ecological details, but aside from the fact that the narrative frames them like just part of the ecosystem of the world, there are never any details like “that type of flower doesn’t exist anymore because giant centipede tunneling destroyed the soil they needed to grow in.” When monsters are the aggressors, their victims are always humans, not the environment or other animals, and again monsters are themselves often treated as victims of human actions.

So I say monsters aren’t invasive species!

Which means that monsters are, regardless of their strange origins, now a part of the Continent’s ecosystem just as much as bears and wolves.

So let’s talk monster ecology.

what do monsters contribute to the ecosystem, if anything?

So, the phrase “contributing to the ecosystem” is actually super loaded, and I want to unpack that before we go anywhere else. Ecosystems are made up of organisms, and organisms interact with and impact ecosystems, but they don’t necessarily contribute to ecosystems! The implication of “contribute” is that it is possible for an organism to not contribute, and it follows from there that some organisms are not useful. This is functionally nonsensical, and also dangerous.

Conservationists talk a lot about “intrinsic value,” which in this context is the idea that we should want to keep species around just because their existence is valuable! Biodiversity is intrinsically valuable. This is important, firstly because I do believe that all species are intrinsically valuable, but also: ecosystems are so enormously complicated that we do not know the full extent of any species or individual organism’s impact, and we can’t predict what the consequences of removing any given species might be. Treating all species as intrinsically valuable is hedging our bets. All organisms affect the ecosystem, because it’s impossible for them not to, and while some species definitely have outsize impact, none of them are “not contributing,” and frankly even if some of them weren’t, it would be the absolute height of human arrogance for us to decide we could tell which ones were useless when we barely even know what most species eat. Mosquitoes are the base of the entire goddamn food chain, and you still get assholes claiming they don’t “contribute anything.” Of course, most people don’t really mean all of these implications when they use the phrase, but I don’t find it useful to talk about what species “contribute,” and avoid using that language if I can!

What I assume you mean by “what do monsters contribute” is a combination of “what roles might monsters play in the ecosystem” and “are monsters actively harmful to the ecosystem, i.e. do they cause loss of biodiversity?”

And this is difficult to answer! As I’ve said, I don’t think monsters are invasive species, and thus don’t harm the ecosystem, though we know that monsters can be harmful to humans. However, when it comes to the role they do play in the ecosystem, there isn’t enough in canon for me to do more than wildly speculate! Also, there are so so many of them, and the role of a hirikka is going to be wildly different from that of a draconid.

Just offhandedly, most of the big predatory monsters can be assumed to fill the same roles as Earth’s big predators, one of the big ones being overpopulation of prey species, which has ramifications throughout the ecosystem. Some of them are canonically ecosystem engineers, or animals that physically alter their environment (think beavers); for instance, shaelmaar and nekker tunneling. Additionally, the big insectoid colonies can’t be relying solely on naturally-occurring caves for their homes; they’ve gotta be constructing some stuff themselves. These tunnels can be repurposed as habitat for other organisms, from giant centipedes to sewant mushrooms. Necrophages, like corpse-eaters in our world, likely limit the spread of diseases from decomposing flesh (and really wouldn’t be as much of an issue if everyone would stop, you know, doing war and mass murder, lmfao). Arachasae use tree trunks and organic plant material to conceal themselves, which is likely contributing to plant reproduction in a few different ways—but the arachasae decorating essay is a different topic that I swear I will finish one day oh my god—

…anyways, feel free to ask about any specific monsters or niches if you’re curious, but if I tried to go into detail with every single potential niche/ecosystem service all of the monsters we know of might fill, we would be here all day!

Let’s talk about a couple specific things you brought up in your second ask.

> theyve probably found a niche in the world by now and can eat anything smaller incl. humans

I mean…maybe! That is, yeah, they’ve definitely settled into niches by now, but feeding is way more complicated and interesting than that.

For instance: orcas can eat basically whatever the fuck they want—orcas are fully capable of bringing down everything from fish to seals to gray whales to great white sharks. But they don’t. In the Pacific Northwest, the resident orca pods almost exclusively eat salmon, while the transient pods largely feed on seals. Orcas are kind of an extreme example, but this is something called resource partitioning and it’s a big part of how animals limit competition with one another and what enables lots of predators to coexist in one place!

We see a big fuck-off dragon thing and we assume that it’ll eat anything it can fit in its mouth, and definitely some predators work like that. But just because an animal is technically capable of eating something and deriving nutrition from it doesn’t mean that it will. Silver basilisks made roe deer the staple of their diet before the destruction of beech forests meant they had to turn to humans—which is a pretty specific dietary restriction when there should be multiple species of deer running around, not to mention everything else a draconid could be killing! And given how many types of draconid there are…I have to assume there’s some kind of resource partitioning going on to prevent them all from conflicting with each other! For instance, if basilisks prefer roe deer, maybe forktails prefer wild goats, while wyverns are mostly kleptoparasitic (stealing other predators’ kills).

And of course, not all monsters eat humans at all; harpies steal from and attack humans, so they’re a dangerous nuisance, but they don’t seem to eat them. And in the books Geralt mentions plenty of monsters which are totally harmless.

So yes, there are lots of things monsters could be eating, but it would strongly depend, and there’s a lot of interesting places one can take monster diets! Netflix decided their strigas only eat specific organs, leaving the rest of the body untouche, & I love that for her. More monsters that need a particular kind of nutrition that leads them to take only specific body parts from some kills!

> because theyve got no natural predators aside from each other and arent hunted by anything but witchers, monsters are just breeding and eating and wldnt that damage the land? or have they made their own like, circle of life or whatever ?

Absolutely—invasive species whose populations rapidly increase once they’re away from their natural predators cause the decline of native species, often by eating natives directly or competing with natives for resources. And in fact, even native species who become overpopulated can seriously damage the ecosystem (see: white-tailed deer in the United States, whose overpopulation has such negative ecological effects that some people argue we should classify them as invasive, even though they have definitely been here this whole time).

However, even if we grant that monsters are invasive, it’s a little more complicated than that for a few reasons!

Despite the apparent preponderance of them in the witcher games, most monsters are supposed to be strongly on the decline, like witchers themselves. Geralt’s profession is falling out of necessity; human development of the Continent is going to be the biggest suppressing factor in monster populations in the future. Monster overpopulation is just canonically not a problem in this universe! But even in the scenario where the Inevitable March Of Civilization isn’t threatening monster populations, there are a lot of factors that could and would limit monster populations.

(TL;DR for this next part: yeah I definitely think they’ve figured out their own little circle of life—the term you’re looking for is ecosystem equilibrium, btw!—& I’m going to take the next 1.2k to talk about how.)

For starters, predation is only one among many limiting factors that affect populations & prevent them from ballooning out of control:

food availability: If there’s not enough food, there’s not enough food! It also matters how adaptable the animal’s diet is—silver basilisks moved from deer to humans, but if the eucalyptus went extinct koalas would not switch to eating cycads.

illness and parasites: Some people argue these are more important than direct predation for limiting populations, and I am often inclined to agree. Basically, if a population becomes very dense, illness and parasites spread more quickly, creating a natural limiter on how many animals can live in any one place. The greater susceptibility of some individuals to illness or parasites also winnows down populations. Non-native species often escape a good portion of their native diseases by moving to a new range—however, given how fast bacteria and viruses evolve, 1,200 years is a pretty decent amount of time for new diseases to arise. Also, just going to drop a link to my treatise on monster parasites here. It’s gross, mind the warning at the start of the post.

mate availability: If only a certain percentage of the population is actually able to reproduce, that’ll eventually bring the total number down. RIP Iocaste’s boyfriend 😔

territory/shelter availability: Animals need a certain amount of space and certain types of spaces to survive, and space isn’t infinite! It again depends on how adaptable an animal is; rats find ways to thrive nearly everywhere, but pandas can only live where there’s bamboo. If there’s not enough space to hide from predators, reproduce safely, store food, and avoid adverse weather, the population again limits itself naturally.

natural disasters: Wildfires, drought, flooding, tsunamis, storms, etc. pick off significant portions of wildlife populations. Disasters are sporadic rather than directly linked to population like most of the other factors but these periodic blows to population and the other impacts of fire or flooding are often integral to the ecosystem (see especially: fire regimes and fire ecology.)

Now let’s talk predation & monsters! (Genuinely, I think predation is one of the most interesting things in ecology; people tend to simplify it down to things eat other things, which—yeah, but there’s so much more going on there!)

First, I wouldn’t underestimate the effects of monsters eating other monsters! Even if it’s rare for a draconid to snatch up a nekker and carry it off, the threat of a draconid doing so can have dramatic impacts; researchers found that just playing the sound of dog barks on a beach stopped raccoons from foraging for crabs for over a month after the barking stopped, leading to an increase in crab populations, even though no raccoons ever encountered a dog. This is called the ecosystem of fear (which as a term is metal as hell) and it theorizes that just the fear of predators can lead to chronic stress for prey animals, decreasing reproduction and making them more susceptible to disease. Maybe draconids in Toussaint eat only a few dozen nekkers a year, but that might cause thousands of nekkers to have fewer offspring or fall to disease. When it comes to ecosystems the direct effect is usually only a small part of the story!

Second, when we talk about a species not having natural predators, we’re usually talking about an animal that would have a predator back in its home range—lionfish, for instance, have plenty of predators in their natural range (the Indo-Pacific), but no natural predators in their invasive range (the Caribbean), so invasive lionfish, suddenly freed of a limiting factor, can run amok. However, a great white shark has, aside from orcas (who do not actually eat white sharks, they’re just assholes sometimes) and occasionally other white sharks, more or less no natural predators anywhere once it reaches maturity, and that’s fine! Lack of predation of great white sharks did not cause their populations to explode and consume the ocean. White sharks are limited by other factors.

So: it is possible that wherever draconids originated (and it’s entirely possible that “draconids” came from multiple different places, tbh) there was something bigger that preyed on them, but it’s not unreasonable to assume they were also apex predators in their previous dimension (I mean…look at them), and that adult draconids were never really preyed on by anything else! It isn’t necessarily an issue for there not to be predators of certain monsters on the Continent.

(Though, of course, we also shouldn’t forget that most apex predators are prey when they’re young—baby white sharks are snack-sized for a lot of fishes, and bear cubs and wolf pups are similarly vulnerable. Based on the size of the eggs you see in TW3 draconid nests, a basilisk is hatched around the size of a little dog, which is the perfect size for small, ballsy predators such as wolverines to sneak into a nest and snap them up—predators such as more wolverines or raptors like eagles and hawks might also come directly for the eggs.)

When it comes to smaller monsters such as nekkers, who likely weren’t apex predators in their original dimensions and would thus be subject to that lack of natural predators—there are usually specific reasons why prey species manage to avoid predation in their introduced range. Lionfish confound Caribbean predators because lionfish are covered with huge poisonous spines that Caribbean predators don’t know how to deal with.

Drowners, on the other hand, are basically just man-shaped fish; they don’t have any adaptations or defenses that would really stump a bear or a wolf. Again, bigger monsters are still probably checking the populations of smaller monsters no matter what, but there’s really no reason a bear couldn’t figure out how to eat a drowner! Unless a monster has a unique defense (e.g. scurver spines), is actively distasteful to eat (rotfiends, probably), or is just difficult to take down (nekkers in packs), most of the non-monster predators* on the Continent will have incorporated various monsters into their diet by now, or suppressed monster populations indirectly with the threat of predation or by competing with them for food. It has been over a thousand years, which is nothing evolutionarily but is still a decent period of time for mammals, who pass hunting techniques down to their babies, to figure out how to eat ghouls—especially if we’re considering that the Continent’s mammals may also be a result of the Conjunction and would thus have to have been just as adaptable as the monsters to establish themselves. And I’ve also actually talked before about how wolves specifically might be preying on necrophages!

* For reference, the non-monster predators are, considering the Continent is more or less Europe, most likely lynxes, brown bears/polar bears (in Skellige), wolverines, foxes, badgers, and a variety of large birds of prey.

So—yes, if monsters were truly overpopulating, then that would damage the ecosystem. However, canon tells us they are definitely not doing that, and there are also many factors that would prevent that from happening!

(Though I will say that some of the reasons white-tailed deer are overpopulated are that we got rid of cougars and wolves and human development creates a lot of extra habitat of the type that deer like. Given that we know many of draconids are for sure in significant danger of going extinct, and the trajectory that Europe’s wolf and bear populations followed in real life, it is possible that the Continent will have to contend with an overpopulation of some of the smaller monsters at some point as they continue to try to eradicate the larger predators, both monster and non-monsters—you think the drowner problem is bad now, wait until the bears are gone and city development has tripled the number of sewers. Yet another of those humans-make-monster-problems-worse things I am fond of in the Witcherverse!)

…whew. that was a lot of words. In conclusion: ecology is really cool & there’s a bunch of ways monsters can fit into it!!

#kaer morhen biology of monsters 101 #and a bit of #witcher book blogging #asks #anonymous

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