#just made the whole thing seem out of place? but I kinda dislike the idea of everyone having eng names too

[se7ens-oc-heaven]

I'm thinking about using everyone's Japanese names when they're npcs in the JP regions for Legendkeepers- eg Steven Stone as Tsuwabuki Daigo, Wallace as Mikuri etc

It may vary based on background as applicable (or if the name stands out as something Specific in a way that doesn't make sense, maybe) but I'm thinking too maybe I could apply this elsewhere if possible - so names for npcs in/from Unova and Galar will maintain the english-given names, but maybe Paldean npcs will use their spanish names...? Not sure I can apply this principle to Alola though so they may stay with their english-given names 😔

Orre trainers are a coin toss of whatever suits me because most of those Straight Up Aren't Names. Anywhere. Sometimes the jp names are usable, e.g. Trudly = Troy - but sometimes. They aren't, e.g. Folly = Heboi...??? Heyboy???? Shrugs

I will say if I change names, I'll include notes at the start of anything I post accordingly! At the moment most of my writing is in Galar or Orre though so it likely won't be too big of a deal anytime soon.

[harrywavycurly]

I NEED to know what it was like with Harry following her around the book store holding her stuff for her and maybe he’s asking for baking advice?🩷

Hiii lovey!! I’ll give you a little something with them in the bookstore because I just know Harry was so excited she even invited him in the first place, so enjoy💖

-find all things Southern Comfort here✨

A/N: Harry is in charge of carrying things while you wonder around looking for books that you think you’ll actually read✨

Harry can’t stop smiling. He knows he probably looks a little odd standing in the middle of a used bookstore with a tote bag with the state of Texas on it over his right shoulder and your pink and gold coffee mug that has “cup of ambition” painted on the front of it safely in his left hand, and no matter how odd he knows he might look he can’t find it in him to care. He is taking his job of holding your things very seriously as he watches you pick up a book and turn it over to read the back of it, he raises an eyebrow as you squint your eyes and bring the book closer to your face making him wonder if you wear glasses and just forgot them or if you need to get some.

“Sugar what does this say?” Your voice pulls him from his thoughts as you take a step towards him and raise the book up so he can take it with his free hand. You smile at him as you reach over and take your coffee mug from him so you can take a few sips while Harry looks over the back of the book, you reach up on your tiptoes so you can point to the top corner of the book. “Is that the price?” Harry looks where your finger is pointing and he also finds himself squinting in an attempt to try to read the absurdly small writing.

“It says five dollars I think?” You roll your eyes as you snatch the book out of his hands making him chuckle at your obvious dislike of the price. “Is it not on sale like the others?” He asks as you give him a smile when he reaches for your coffee mug so he can hold it once more while you put the overpriced book back.

“No it’s regular price and while I love a good romance novel I just don’t think one about a cowboy named Richard is worth that much because honestly what cowboy is named Richard? And it says he’s a calf roper and they ain’t nothing but bad news and I just know he’s gonna wreck that poor Mary Anne and not in the good way so back to the bin with him.” Harry feels his eyes go a bit wide as you explain what the book was about and he doesn’t know why the idea of you reading romance novels just makes his cheeks get pink. He knows everyone enjoys a good romance novel but here you are in your shorts and sweatshirt that has “let’s go girls” on it in bright yellow letters and your sunglasses holding your hair out of you face talking to him about cowboy smut.

“Richard is a horrible cowboy name.” He agrees making you laugh and Harry smiles at himself at the fact he made you laugh as he follows behind you when you go down the row and stop at a bin that’s labeled “friends to lovers” and Harry begins to wonder if the two of you have been in the romance section this whole time and he’s just been too distracted to notice.

“What’s your favorite trope honeybuns?” You ask him as you pick up a book and give it a once over. “I’m thinking you’re a slow burn kinda man.” He doesn’t miss the teasing tone of your voice that always seems to make your accent thicken and he grips your coffee mug a little tighter as you turn around so you’re facing him and it’s not until then that he realizes just how closely behind you he’s been standing because the top of the book in your hands touches the middle of his chest.

“I uh don’t uhm-”

“This one seems good it’s about Francine who is good friends with David who honestly sounds like a dream boat and they get trapped in a cabin during a snow storm and it’s the wildest forty eight hours she’s ever had but will their friendship survive?” Harry is enamored with the way you can somehow make the synopsis of a fairly uninteresting book sound so intriguing and while most of it has to do with your accent it’s the way it mixes with the softness of your voice that sucks him in and he knows he would be perfectly content standing here all day listening to you read to him.

You look up at him as if you’re silently asking him if he agrees that the books sounds good and all he can do is nod even though if he’s being honest it doesn’t sound that interesting to him but he can tell you seemed into it. You smile as Harry removes a handle of the tote off his shoulder so you can toss the book into the bag so it can join the few others you had found during the half hour the two of you had been wondering around the store. It takes all of Harry’s willpower not to grab your hand when you turn and begin to walk further down the row of bins, but he knows this is exactly why you handed him your things because it’s your way of setting a boundary with him and he is a gentleman after all so he’s going to respect it and just slide his hand into the pocket of his shorts to grab his phone as he follows behind you. He doesn’t think before he snaps the photo, it’s nothing scandalous it’s just you leaning over the bin of “slow burn” books with a small smile on your face and he can’t help but chuckle to himself when he notices you’re on your tiptoes trying to get to the back of the bin clearly reaching for a specific book.

“Honey can I borrow your-”

“Here you go love.” You smile when Harry just reaches over you and grabs the book you were struggling to reach since it was at the very back of the bin, handing it to you with a smile. His hand lands on the edge of the bin while he looks over your shoulder so he can glance over what the book is about. “Does that say Trisha and Harry?” He asks making you giggle as you nod your head and move the book so he can get a better look at it.

“He’s in love with her but he’s scared to tell her so he drags it out for damn near a decade but when he does finally tell her it’s on her wedding day.” Harry feels his mouth slightly drop at the dramatics of this plot and he already knows you’re going to want to add it to the tote bag.

“Her wedding day? What a twat.” You laugh and shake your head as you turn around and look up at him making him momentary forget how to breathe at how close you are.

“You kiss your momma with that mouth Harry?” Harry feels his cheeks get hot as you slide the book into the tote. “Always forgetting you’re supposed to be a gentleman.” You tease as you take your mug from him and take a few sips as you reach up and playfully tap his chest with your free hand. “Come on sugar let’s go see if they have any books on baking.” With that you shoot him a wink and Harry drops his hand from the edge of the bin so you can walk away from him and towards the cook book section.

“God she’s good.” He mumbles to himself as he finally find himself able to speak, he runs a hand through his hair and lets out a sigh of content before he turns and heads off in the direction of the aisle he just saw you disappear down.

[zaramnd]

Coffee Theory

(oh look its finally a good omens relating post! but its a scalding hot take that could prolly get me hunted down by the whole fandom)

the coffee theory makes no sense

first and foremost, what made the coffee theory emerge in the first place? main two factors i could think of is, an ethereal unhuman being (the metatron) suddenly going for a cup of coffee out of the blue and aziraphale acting 'off'

i don't rlly think its out of character or weird for the metatron to pick up a cup of coffee tbh

obviously with all the other angels other than aziraphale, we know its weird and unlikely as theyve showed very clear dislike and disgust towards the whole idea on consumption in general, however we cant put or classify the metatron as anything like them

the metatron is perceived as a messenger of god and seeing as hes the only one, he could love strawberry frosted donuts with sprinkles for all we know!

we havent had the time to get to know what the metatron is and what beings like him are like so essentially, bcs the metatron has extremely limited screen time, we know close to nothing abt what hes actually like and whether or not its weird for him to pick up a cup of coffee

other than that, aziraphale 'acting weird'

i genuinely dont see it

everything abt his body language seems fine and nothing seems off in the slightest so i genuinely have no idea what yall are seeing

so far, the only example we have of aziraphale not being himself is in the last episode of season 1 where he switches bodies with crowley

you can very obviously see the difference in body language and a little bit on the vocab too if you notice

the most 'off' thing i can kinda credit is aziraphale 'betraying' crowley

the thing abt this is that in aziraphale's eyes hes not betraying crowley in the slightest and actually believes hes helping crowley

he was given a choice to stay on earth and run off with crowley which is something he obviously wants, making it a favour for himself, or to become an archangel and get to opportunity to fix heaven from the inside so that theyre finally safe, or really, crowley is safe.

to him the options are to help crowley, or himself.

hes literally an angel could his answer be more obvious

obviously an angel isnt gonna put themselves first before others ESPECIALLY the love of their life

i cannot deny that it is in fact out of character for him to betray crowley, but that'd only help if he actually did

betrayal is a mutual understanding that one party has fucked up the other

aziraphale doesnt know or understand that

to him hes helping the love of his life

saving the love of his life

and with that i rest my case

(quick disclaimer: this is absolutely no hate towards anyone who believes in the coffee theory, really just believe what you want to believe is going on, who am i to smite people for having a difference in opinion)

[frenchiefreyed]

(uhhh SPOILER WARNING for any chapters ever? Mostly just theorizing though)

What if Aoi is EVIL???

Hello my brain has been thinking about this for a while so I wanted to make a post about it. This probably won't be all-inclusive to all the theories I've had about it but I'll do my best.

From the beginning I had a bit of a weird feeling about Aoi but I kinda ignored it because I was generally too focused on how much of a freak Akane was about her and how uncomfortable that made me hfchfhycfh. But I think the feeling in the beginning was that maybe she knew supernaturals existed and only pretended not to. Point of interest #1 is that she's really interested in supernaturals — of course this doesn't mean anything on its own, but it's interesting if the reason for her interest is related to having seen them. POI #2 is that when Nene is doing some wild, crazy, bonkers shit because she can see supernaturals, Aoi isn't THAT surprised by it. She seems slightly concerned for Nene, but not as much as she really should be if her best friend of all time is acting so abnormal. One of the main instances of this is when Hanako made Nene's hair look absolutely crazy and Nene shouted or stood up or something? And interrupted the whole class. Aoi was just staring at her like "I hope she's ok :(" or "why she been acting so weird..." but I really feel like a friend who is actually concerned should be like "what the FUCK is going on?????? Why did she do that to her hair????? Should I call somebody??? What???" This could be explained maybe by her not actually caring about Nene, and not that she knows about supernaturals, but that still kinda gets into evil Aoi territory and I might explore the idea later.

POI #3 (related to "evil aoi", not "can see supernaturals" aoi) is how it's revealed later that she kinda wants to disappear, secretly kinda hates everything I think? But that Akane is kind of an exception to that dislike. She continues interacting with and hanging out with him despite seeming to want to avoid getting too close to people otherwise. Iirc when she faces the possibility of her demise she only mentions Nene in the context of Hanako liking her, not in the context of potentially missing her or wishing she could see her again (please correct me if I'm wrong).

POI, or note? Theory? #4 is that she might mostly keep Akane around for the protection and benefits he gives her. To be clear, I think Akane is creepy as hell and is WAY too obsessed with Aoi overall, but I can't deny that she's somewhat encouraged these behaviors to continue and that she benefits from the arrangement.

#5 - She thinks that if people get too close to her they will hate her or something. This might indicate that she knows she's done bad things, or thinks she has something in her that's bad enough to be hateable? Sometimes people feel this way for absolutely no reason and it's just the brain eels whispering to them, but if she IS evil, its interesting that she seems to be self aware of it enough to know that people wouldn't like who she really is?

#6 - related to points 4 and 5, Aoi might keep Akane strung along without dating him — despite being interested in him — because of her belief that anybody getting "too close" would learn too much about her and hate her as a result. Therefore she keeps him as close as she possibly can without dating him so that she can still keep the benefits of having him around but not have to commit to being her "true self" anymore than she does with anyone else who is "just a friend". Akane seems happy with this arrangement but he really shouldn't be - it's kind of a sucky place to be in and it would somewhat indicate that she's, you know, using him. I wonder if Akane would have moved on from Aoi by now if she hadn't sorta encouraged him to continue...

#7 uhhhh in very very recent chapters, AU aoi slapped and belittled teru in a way that is very much classic abuse. Teru and Akane knock each other around all the time but they both are kinda "silly" about it, for lack of a better word. It's something that never seems, iirc, to fully upset either Teru or Akane - they're just kind of like "come on man stopp!!!". I can see why both cases could be classified as abusive, but the total different in atmosphere, vibes, and tone is why I'm willing to refer to AU Aoi's slapping and belittling as abuse while still supporting the shipping of Teru and Akane. And OF COURSE — this is an alternate universe where things are very different, and have been for a very long time. Aoi was forced into a situation from a very young age and we haven't seen enough to know what ways this has fully changed her demeanor. But, nonetheless, it's Aoi, and it's abusive, and it feels really weird to see it happen. It probably biases me to thinking OUR aoi might have something awful in her heart, but I think it might be a fair thing to mention?

#8 We have it confirmed that aoi is very good at masking her emotions and acting. This point serves both the "Aoi can see supernaturals" idea and the "Aoi is EVILLL" idea.

#9 Why might she pretend to not see supernaturals, you ask? Especially if she knows Nene can see them, too. I have a few ideas for this. Either she's SUPER EVILLL!!! and she has intentions to do very bad things (through spreading rumors maybe?) and she doesn't want anybody to be able to suspect her, or perhaps she knew from the beginning (whenever she first saw supernaturals) what it meant — she was going to die soon. She wants to disappear and she doesn't seem to want anybody to know that she wants to disappear — this is already something she has kept secret for years, so why would it be different when she realizes she will die soon? Somehow, she might have some way of knowing what it means to see supernaturals and might have been happy or even excited for her ultimate demise. She might have not wanted to tell other people, like Nene, because she might not have wanted Nene to try and save her. She might have just wanted to die.

#10 - she is very very calm when she "first learns" about supernaturals I think. Like almost too calm?? That kinda gave me the vibe that this isn't really anything new for her.

#11 - it would be extremely interesting if either theory is true and it adds to why she might keep Akane around. She'd know he can protect her from supernaturals and that might be what she wants, especially if she plans to hurt or destroy them?

#12 - sometimes Aoi just has this energy, even when she's being super nice, that she is capable of crushing the world beneath her feet (and someday will).

#13 - Nene completely idolizes and kinda romanticizes her, even in a really toxic and gross way. This could be the manga setting up for the ultimate moment when this person who she idolizes and respects so much eventually turns out to be completely working against her. It would make for a really interesting but upsetting moment of Nene having to come to terms with that. Nene would still be a bit of a bad friend even if it was for the sake of setup though.

I think these are all my points for now... I might share more if I think of them. if u read this far... What the freak?????? ur soooo weird /silly

[cssnder]

I thought you were a DA blog. That's why I followed you. But you talked about gothic and metal and it put me off kinda :/ you're a poser

I am no one to tell you what to do. But I truly believe that you should let go of the need to have a strict aesthetic. You're suffocating yourself in the name of being definable, for the sake of belonging to a community.

I am not a Dark Academia blog for the sole reason that Dark Academia, while being the genre of the novel I write and being one of my visual influences, is not my aesthetic nor a label I want to out myself under.

Well, sure, I do have a personal aesthetic, you could say. But quite frankly, it's almost indefinable. The only thing you could name it is this: Cassander. Simply because it revolves around all my different personal influences: Gothic; Dark Academia; metal and rock music; gothic and german expressionist silent films; maximalism; dark colours; the ugly, the unconventional and the fucked up — think about messy hair, absinthe as a top note in a perfume, washed out walls, clothes that seem to swallow you whole and hide you in the darkness, black blue lipstick for only makeup —, the provocative and the sensual — tattoos hidden in intimate places, garter stockings and latex lingeries, kinky sex —; the morbid and the dark. And, let's be honest here, these are only some of them. There's a whole lot more. And because this is my personal aesthetic — which, at this point, I do not even think of as an aesthetic but simply a visual representation of my own little world and my tastes —, I am free. I am free because there is not pressure to be this or that. I am à la fois indefinable and yet I can only be defined as me. To make it easier for you to understand it, here is a visual representation of my little world. This, I keep on Pinterest. I should probably update it sometime.

So let me tell you more. Most of my hobbies fit the Dark Academia aesthetic, and frankly, so does most of my taste in things. But I love bands like Type O Negative, Architect, Motionless in White, Drowning Pool, and so on, just as much as I love Satie, Debussy, you name it. But guess what? I also listen to pop music. I am into Junji Itō's work, and yes, I believe mangas are a form of art. I am forever in awe of the amount of details in his work and the way he manages to inspire unease and terror. I watch animes and my favourite ones are Monster, Death Note, and Attack on Titan, followed by (oh my God, I think you're going to faint if I say it, are you ready?) My Hero Academia. I love knitwear, I love simple and classic clothing, but I also love bondage wear and leather pieces and clothes with weird shapes and cuts to them. My thing, especially, is layering everything and playing with the overall shape and silhouette of an outfit. I like video games, although I prefer to watch let's plays rather than actually play them so far — Until Dawn, Resident Evil, Cry of Fear, Silent Hill, The Evil Within are some among them. And while the Dark Academia community is into sportive activities such as tennis or polo, I am into weightlifting, boxing and judo. And this is barely the top of the iceberg of my likes and dislikes.

In short, don't tell me what I am, what I can do or what I like. You have no idea, because you're not me. If you're disappointed, unfollow me. It is none of my business. But don't come in my inbox crying because the version of me you made up in your head doesn't actually exist.

[witch-queen-of-lesbos]

Fionna and Cake spoilers ahead if you haven't watched it yet.

So, disclaimer that I haven't really watched all of Adventure Time, especially the latter seasons, so I'm not like super familiarized with Simon Petrikov as a character beyond him as Ice King and Marceline's flashbacks of him.

But after watching the Winter King episode of course I came on Tumblr and everyone was going crazy abt him because of course they were! I mean look at him, he's such an interesting charismatic character!

But one thing I noticed was ppl talking about how different he was from our Simon, in the sense that he was pretty morally ambiguous/evil in placing the crown's madness curse on Bubblegum. Which needless to say, YES, huge evil dick move by him

So that's not the part I find interesting... But rather that a lot of ppl were comparing that to our Simon who is a very good boy™️ and would never ever even consider doing something like that, which... I mean, are we forgetting that just a couple episodes ago he was torturing that duck guy with electricity (who fckin died from this) to do an arcane ritual to talk to his dead wife/bring her back/??? (Not sure what exactly the ritual was) through the chaos entity she became.

Like, that's pretty evil! And mean! I think the whole "our Simon would absolutely never" takes make sense from a perspective that he seems to be a very caring person to the ppl he knows and loves like with Betty or Marceline, so yes I don't think he'd do it to PB, but the idea that he wouldn't do that to someone else (Maybe someone he dislikes, or barely knows?) Doesn't seem far-fetched from his character thus far in Fionna and Cake.

Like, say Winter King didn't die, made the copy of the crown, and our Simon stayed with him for a while, while slowly regaining the powers of the crown and losing his mind, and Winter King revealed to him how he managed to retain himself through passing on the curse (he did say, in his song, something along the lines of "perhaps he could teach him how" to do it)

I wouldn't put it past our Simon, with the influence of Winter King, and desperation not to lose himself completely again, to go through with it. Perhaps it would even be pretty in character for him, despite his shock when he found out abt it from PB (he did mention he felt kinda vindicated by it even if he found it pretty vile, Idk).

Maybe there's some context or character element of Simon's that I'm missing here? Is there some extra context to what he was doing to the duck guy that I dont know abt because I didnt watch the whole of Adventure Time that makes it less fucked up... Somehow? I don't know. I kinda wanna see people's thoughts on this, or why it seems that my vision of our Simon as a character seems so different from a lot of the tumblr community.

[viperwhispered]

Jamemi timeline, part 2

For more info on my yuusona Emi and her relationship with Jamil, you can find the masterpost on Emi here, the first part of the timeline for Jamil & Emi's relationship here and part 3 of the timeline here.

This part will mostly cover book 5.

Afaik, we don’t know exactly how much time elapses between Jamil’s overblot and the beginning of the next book. Jamil has time to recover before the party that Kalim throws in chapter 38 of book 4, so presumably some time passed already there. On the other hand, said party is also when Ace and Deuce turn up, and the Prefect already sent them a message when things first started going down so… Who knows how long it took them to travel back to Sage’s Island, I guess, but I find it hard to believe it would be weeks.

Plus when the Ramshackle ghosts greet the Prefect & Grim when they return, it kinda sounds like they haven’t seen them since they first disappeared. So who knows what the timeline is here exactly. (I may be getting sidetracked but you know, very different things have time to happen in a day or two versus a week.)

In any case. Party happens, Emi busies herself with the food and ADeuce, rather awkward about being around Jamil and so she rather keeps her distance. Jamil, in turn, is probably kept busy by Kalim and co.

Though perhaps, somehow, when the party wraps up, the box of leftovers that Emi ends up with contains plenty of her favorites. How lucky for her, isn’t it?

(This really depends on how much processing Jamil had time to do before this party, and if he already set his mind to fixing his reputation at this point. Also the whole just how fond is he actually at this point because honestly I still don't know.)

Book 5, then, begins sometime around early to mid January - a little over a month before the SDC held in mid-February.

Emi’s not exactly delighted by the prospect of having the SDC tribe stay over at Ramshackle. Part of her is kinda embarrassed by the state of the place, and it’s not like she likes the idea of practical strangers (or persona non grata) hanging out in her space long term. But, it is a whole dorm, she should still have space for her privacy, maybe they’d actually have some fun, and the headmage’s rewards might be worth it in the end… All the better if they actually win the prize money, but I don’t think she’d be exactly counting on that at this point.

Emi has a bad habit of thinking that she can just fix a problem if she just says or does the right thing. While she does recognize that the Jamil & Kalim situation is something beyond her, that doesn’t stop her from wanting to at least try nudging Kalim in the right direction. Not because she’s particularly invested in being nice to Jamil - she certainly still is wary and upset at this point - but because she just doesn’t think it’s right, having someone so under someone else’s power.

(Give her a few years and some legal experience and she will be starting a union. Emi & Riddle law school buddies when? …This was supposed to be a random aside but honestly now I’m actually pondering Emi’s future options. Anyway.)

Of course, Kalim would mention something about those conversations to Jamil - not to mention the ones Jamil would be there to hear anyway (like the one where Kalim chats with the Prefect & Grim, coming to grips with not being chosen for main singer, and all the things Jamil has made possible for Kalim).

And there’s Jamil like… Emi’s giving me the cold shoulder, but she also seems kinda invested in / fixated on my situation. So does she dislike me? Does she think I’m beneath her? Is she just taking me on as a charity case of some sort? Why does she care about this stuff? Girl stop being so confusing and meddling in my things.

On the other hand, the more Emi learns about Jamil’s circumstances and sees his interactions with Kalim, even during the SDC, the more she begins to understand just why Jamil was driven to do what he did during the winter break. 

And if/when she learns about Jamil a) poison testing and b) going into a coma for it… Yeah she's gonna be feeling like punching someone. (Though this also applies to finding out that Kalim has been a target of several assassination attempts and abductions. So much fun stuff around these two 🙃)

Still, just because Emi understands Jamil and his situation better, it doesn’t necessarily mean that she grows more fond of him. But, she at least does come to find his point of view more understandable.

Still, it’s hard not to bond with someone when spending a month so closely together. Taking part in the same conversations, just seeing more of each other... It certainly begins to lessen her distrust, at least a little.

What really gets to Emi, though, is being noticed and taken into account. Every little thing that Jamil does with her in mind - she notices, and it keeps on chipping away at her defenses. Jamil handing her things before she asks, putting things in a way she likes, little things to ensure her comfort…

And, like, how do you tell someone to stop doing those small things? That they’re unnecessary, that she’ll be just fine without? Especially when it’s actually kinda nice.

And sure, she'll tell herself that it's just Jamil being Jamil, doing the things he'd do for everyone (because his position and all that), but still. After everything, after trying to handle so many things by herself, it just gets to her.

At first, Emi gets almost angry - mostly because she doesn't like how much Jamil’s little gestures get her in the feels. But since Jamil's not letting up, it eventually mellows into reluctant appreciation.

So basically, something along the lines of:

Jamil: she’s scowling at me again 😔

Emi: forced servitude sucks and also this guy should stop being so considerate it's confusing 😠

Of course, there's also other things Emi notices about Jamil during this time. Act or not, he still seems sensible and reliable, rarely the one to be causing chaos in the group. Yet, he can be teasing, too, mischievous, even. Seems to know a fair bit of dancing and he's kind of a joy to watch when he really lets go. Jamil certainly seems more genuine now, too, but who's to really say about that one? 

Of course, Jamil also gets to see Emi in a different and more comfortable environment than what Scarabia was to her - especially once she adjusts to having everyone around. He comes to see her own kind of strength that she carries, how there's lines beyond which she won't be pushed, despite how soft and meek she might seem at first. How protective she is of her and hers - and how much weight she seems to carry, how deeply she feels, how certain… kindnesses seem to strike her deep enough to bring her walls up.

Yet, he also sees her laugh and banter, her sharp wit, and the way she lights up when something truly interests her.

Once, Jamil even catches Emi trying out the steps to the group's dance routine by herself, with such a cute look of concentration on her features that Jamil finds his heart fluttering.

Besides, it's a victory when Emi genuinely smiles at him - and an even sweeter one when he manages to make her laugh. 

Jamil should be satisfied when Emi actually jokes with him, even teases him - after all, fixing his reputation was the whole point, wasn't it - yet it only leaves him wanting more. 

And when she actually - finally - properly looks him in the eye, with those beautiful green eyes of hers… For once, it's Jamil who's looking away, his fingers fumbling with his hood as he tries to remember how to breathe again.

And then we come to the day of the performance and the overblot.

As busy as he is getting everyone away from Vil and his poison mist, Jamil doesn’t miss the relief and gratefulness Emi shows to him, or how unhesitantly she grabs his hand - another victory for him, even in the circumstances.

In fact, Emi can practically feel herself falling in love - or maybe it’s just the relief - when Jamil comes to their rescue and lets them know he already evacuated the coliseum. Competence sure is sexy.

Though Jamil mentioning how “If I let this play out, my whole plan to clean up my image will be completely ruined!” certainly puts a damper on that feeling of appreciation.

When Malleus turns up, Emi is very much surprised to find out “Hornton’s” identity - meanwhile, Jamil’s flabbergasted (and perhaps more than a little insecure) to hear Emi address the Malleus Draconia with such familiarity. (Jamil, just wait until you find out about the time Emi spent sleeping in Leona’s room. So casually rubbing elbows with princes and other powerful people, she is.)

Tired and disappointed as they are after the overblot and NRC’s loss, Emi and Jamil certainly still end book five on much better terms than they began it.

And since there’s just a few days between this and book six, I doubt there’s time for much to happen between them in that time. Emi’s glad to have her peace and quiet in Ramshackle - though she does also find herself missing a few things, some of the companionable conversations, not having to do everything herself, the little things from Jamil that she actually grew to expect of him… It all certainly leaves her feeling thoughtful, even a little wistful, just trying to figure out how she feels about it all.

[myrinthinks]

are you a zionist? the tags on that one post made me wonder and i dont want to follow a zionist. sorry if not and im bugging you for no reason lol

You know, I've been kinda going back and forth on whether to answer this or not, not because I'm offended or anything but on principle (and also because I couldn't tell what it was referring to at first and "are you a zionist?" is one hell of a thing to read out of nowhere; for everyone similarly confused: it's in reference to this post).

Because the thing is:

The whole topic of zionism/Israel's war on Palestine/Israeli colonialism could not have been what I was talking about in those tags because the post in question is literally about shutting up and never, ever talking about something. Contrary to that, I have reblogged numerous posts on the Palestine-Israel issue over the past months which I would have thought made my stance on the whole thing clear. (I have also donated to Palestinian relief funds but of course you couldn't have known about that because, somewhat ironically given the topic, I never mentioned that on my blog.) I'm astounded that out of all possible topics I never, ever talk about, you landed on one that, well, I actually have talked about.

I'm also astounded that you read my saying "so I simply never talk about them ever" and thought "better make her talk about it". When I say I don't talk about a topic, I mean it.

Ironically, I was - again - going back and forth on whether to include those tags in the first place when I reblogged the post in question, exactly because of anticipating asks like this one. I feel like it's a simple reality of life that basically every person we interact with has thoughts and feelings we don't know, have never even thought of, and might even vehemently disagree on, especially when that interaction is happening through an online lens. But somehow, a lot of people don't seem to (want to?) realise that, and actually acknowledging that simple fact somehow makes you suddenly suspicious when it's just stating the truth.

There are a lot of topics I don't talk about, either online or IRL, but not all of those are ones I know people won't share my thoughts and feelings on; in fact, the vast majority aren't. You are vanishingly unlikely to guess what I was referring to in those tags, even if you list all the things you can think about which I've never mentioned on here, mostly because what I was referring to are all utterly mundane topics, they're just things I happen to know some (not even all! Not by a long shot!) of my online friends have the diametrically opposed opinion on, passionately. (If you absolutely need an example, albeit a fandom one: one such topic - which has since changed because I found my people - used to be my love for omegaverse. I gobble that shit up, it's my absolute favourite trope in any fandom I've ever been in. But I had one online friend - "had" not for any particular reason, we just drifted apart naturally and haven't interacted in years; she actually fully deleted her tumblr some time ago - who was very vocal about her hatred of it. By pure happenstance she mentioned her strong dislike of the trope before I mentioned my strong like and as such, I simply never brought the topic up at all, ever.)

You are allowed to not follow me for any reason at all! If I, for some reason, have given you the idea that I might be [whatever you can come up with] and you're uncomfortable with that, you don't even have to hesitate, you can just unfollow/not follow me in the first place. I don't even know my follower count and accidentally look at it maybe once every two weeks. But even if that weren't the case, what am I gonna about it? I don't know you! You can just happily live your life without my having any way to contact you about your unfollowing me, and if you hadn't even followed me to being with, even better - I don't even know you exist! Spoken more bluntly: this.

I could be lying about all of these things. I would think that looking through my blog would be a much better indicator of my personality, stances, and attitude than point-blank asking me about it. I could easily try to trick you with my answer to your question but I've had this blog for almost ten years and I would be playing a very long ruse if I had spent that much time exhibiting views I don't actually hold.

[astrumavis]

I just found the hero's aspect armor in totk and oh boy. I can understand why ppl don't like how it looks. The way the model is shaded in game really doesn't do it any justice. I found, that if you go to a place with no harsh light, it doesn't look so bad, at least to me. so I think part of the issue is just shadows. Though the decision to make his face paint/tattoo connect over his mouth is definitely.....a decision. One that I wouldn't have made but alas. It is what it is. (under the read more you can watch me go insane trying to find an explanation for why he looks the way he does)

The whole set raises a bunch of questions. I've seen people call him a zonai, but I disagree. To me, he looks nothing like a zonai. sure the face is kinda similar and as well as that dark grayish- greenish skin color, but he also has some big differences. He has digitigrade legs, a tail, no horns at all nor the tufts/scales that Rauru has, a different kind of nose and notably different ears. The red hair, neck ring (?) and the ornament on his forehead are also very similar to Gerudo . At this point I'm already throwing my hands up in the air because what in the goddamn fuck kinda crossover is this. Who are you. Why is there no explanation for any of this. Why Nintendo. A suggestion would be that he might be a descendant of them, but that also seems unlikely, the traits just don't match up. Neither hylians nor zonai had tails or digitgrade feet, so why would their descendants have them ? It seems more logical to me that the ancient hero was a member of another race, perhaps related to the zonai, perhaps not. I'm not even going to attempt to figure out what kind of 6th- no- 7th race this was. I'll think about that mess another day. For now lets just leave it at that. I also just dislike the idea of him being the descendant of Rauru just like totk Zelda is confirmed to be. That brings me to the next point, the clothes, which are very clearly in the same style as the zonai and the main reason someone would assume at first the he was zonai (besides his animalistic look) Since I'm going with the assumption that he's not (directly), that raises the question of why the ancient hero would dress in the same fashion if he lived tens of thousands of years after the last zonai had disappeared. well. here's where shit goes a bit off the rails. See, one thing I've noticed about the ancient sages, is that similarly to the champions in botw, they also had their own versions of champions garments. Instead of blue and white ones, they had white and gold garbs in zonai fashion. Looking at the zonaite set in totk, you'll notice that the white and gold cloth with triangles is also present in that armor set as well. None of the other hylian guards seen in the memories have that garb, although they do have a similar headpiece with the fanned out feather crest. The zonaite set also seems like an "elevated" version of the ancient guards outfit. Red feathers, green stones and a more ornate look give it more resemblance to what Rauru and the saints wore as well as connecting it to the guards attire.

(I am aware that I am becoming the connecting dots meme but HEAR ME OUT-) Notably, the armor which the ancient hero wears is quite literally the same as the one of the zonaite set. If this garb is connected to positions close to the royal family similarly to the champions tunic, that would indicate the ancient heroes position as royal knight SO why the fuck was the little green cat man, who lived thousands of years later, wearing that ancient zonai royal knight armor? Good fucking question. Maybe it was passed down to generations? If this race was related to the zonai, perhaps they also kept some of their cultural heritage alive? Who knows. I sure don't. The more I wrote about this the more I realized just how puzzling this guy is. Maybe I'm overthinking it and he's just some descendant.

[thewilliamambervein]

Mass Effect fans trying to come up with theories makes me dislike fan theories.

Let me rant about some popular ones that I heard recently. Again.

- Other cycles leaving the milky way. I doubt that would have even come to them because most cycles didn't know about the Reapers ahead of time like the current one so they wouldn't be able to prepare something like this. Not to mention that the Andromeda Galaxy is actually on a collision course with the Milky Way so it has been getting closer over time and wasn't likely as close as it is when MEA took place.

- Asari are knowingly manipulating things. Well besides the standard political bullshit that Asari pulls, I doubt that the statues and pictures of Asari are able to make the respective races see something different. I always interpreted that conversation to be that the Asari has traits that each race finds attractive and because it is something that race likes they think it is the main thing. It is revealed that a Prothean scientist had also genetically modified them and that she was kinda going off the rails. I mean there is an implication that Protheans fucked with humans too but this female Prothean scientist probably went too far and basically made a force that would eventually create a galaxy full of women, who unfortunately would start dying since the gene that makes them killers in bed comes from pure asari relationships.

- Indoctrination theory. Not only has the writers come out and said that it makes no sense and is wrong, but it would also just be a spit in the face of all fans. I have seen people say that the destroy ending where Shepard seems to be alive is because it is actually the ending of Mass Effect 1 where Shepard breaks the control. The "it was all a dream" for 2 games would be stupid and also Andromeda disproves it. The idea that Shepard is actually being controlled the whole time is also just insulting to the writers and players. In reality, it is because his body was rejecting the implants already and didn't really need them to survive. If you REALLY want to think about it though that is worse because Shepard is trapped under rubble in a part of the Citadel that nobody knows about and probably is too injured to do anything as well as having no food or water. Sounds like hell.

[thralloftimegaming]

December Game Dev Progress

Hey everyone, I hope you had an awesome December and a great new years!

This month I've been feeling kinda bleh, with that and it being the holidays I've tried to take things a bit slower.

Game Features

Camera Rework

Changed how the camera works, took out the smooth zoom and made the Camera only exist at rounded x/y value of the Player. This fixed the weird scaling issues when zooming where you'd see things being 1 pixel wider or taller than they should be and the sprite wobble glitch when you stop moving.

Snow Rework

Changed how Snow and Wet Sand are generated and stored when Culled

I'm now storing them in a ds_map and a ds_list, so I can check a ds_map cell to see if there isn't snow there already for creation, and use the ds_list for quick searching for an existing one to destroy when removing them. Very important to remove BOTH entries when I remove one!

I'm also now checking against the AI collision map that Goblins and Animals use to see if they can move into an area. This saves me making a another whole check list of things, but since Grass isn't in the AI collision map, I've just made it so Snow can spawn under it for consistency.

I'm going to have to do something about how much Snow can exist at once though, since it's eating into the frame rate. Figuring out how to merge them into one object might work, or drawing them all at once with depth sorting maybe?

HMM! Reworked Weather to be localised?

This will save me loads of frames by not covering the whole island in snow. If necessary I can have multiple spots, and maybe even have them move? I guess the trick now is figuring out how to make it less square, I do have them set up for random width/height. I can probably use the shape system from the world gen that makes the rocks and trees etc, so it'll use the square but only place snow if it's in the circle of the square. This wont work with random sizes though, I'll have to have the shape in an array for each width/height variety so that's no good really.

What about having it move?

I like this but I think I need a cloud, seems weird just appearing out of nowhere?

Not quite a cloud but it'll do for now as proof of concept

Reworked the shape/size and changed the angle of Rain!

Also reworked how Snow and Wet Sand despawn, they now have life which decreases based on correct weather, their distance to weather cloud and the season! So for example, Snow melts faster in Summer!

Rain now waters Crops and Plant Pots in a specific area!

Slight issue with the Wet Sand despawning here, forgot the divide the coords by 16 to get the ds_map cell position!

Saving/Loading

Got Snow saved!

Also Weather and Time are now saving!

Update! New Weather system saves! :D

Slight graphical glitch there, I was had the code the sets up the Particle system being loaded AFTER the system was started :S FIXED!

Item Gifting

I reused the Players Inventory screen and also updated the Chatting system to get this working right. Goblins will have likes and dislikes but for now their response is random.

I'm going to add emotes to the portrait and a heart meter to the UI box, like with Pets!

Like so! I actually just used the exact same UI, just moved some things around and added a condition to get menu options based on if NPC or Pet. :D

New Things!

(no more images because tumblr wont let me, check out the same post on Patreon for the full thing: https://www.patreon.com/posts/75431590 )

Lemon Trees

Along with Lemons from the trees, you can also make Lemonade! I was working on a better tree design, but here's bigger Lemons in the meantime!

Free Cam

No idea what this will be used for, maybe just cutscenes? But it's set up now!

There was a some more stuff I was working on but got distracted trying to track down a bug where something was trying to access outside a grid. Never found what :| Also fixed a bunch of problems I made for myself with the Minimap where it wasn't updating properly. Turns out I'd changed the surface cleanup code from surf = -1; surface_free(surf); to surface_free(surf); surf = -1;

while the second version makes logical sense, seems it doesn't work that way.

I hope the new year is treating you all well. Thank you so much for your support and help this past year it's really meant a lot to me and helped me so very much to keep going.

Keep being awesome everyone! <3 <3 <3

[bonesandthebees]

on the topic of names, this is a random thing but idk just thinking about the meaning of names n stuff brought this up but i actually changed my last name legally !! (just this year, after my 19th bday pog)

i obvi won't say what but i will say i changed it to like . a word. not a name. i have an obsession w words with obscure meanings (like petrichor <3) and i've never felt connected to my last name... like i actually disliked it LMAO idk i just never liked how it sounded and whenever i looked at my full name i thought it just kinda . idk i never liked it

but ever since changing it to a name i chose, i just... i love it. i look at my name fully written out and it makes me so happy waefjwael I was a little nervous that it would just look weird and my entireee family was like "omg what if u change ur mind tho and hate it?!?!" even though i was pretty certain i wouldnt care, but yeah ever since i actually got the document back, there's been no regrets. it's one of the best decisions i've ever made. it's really helped me feel more comfortable in my identity n stuff.

i've had so many ppl question why i did it though lmaooo, theyre all just like "u can do that..." like yep! u can just change ur name for no reason lol. i mean . it gets annoying with having to tell all the gov places n stuff, but otherwise it's pretty simple lmaooo. def better to do it when ur young though bc then u have less places to tell

but yeah sometimes when im explaining to ppl why i did it, i get flashbacks to u talking about why you love writing stuff about names lmaooo /pos but yeah:)) just to say that i also really resonate with names having meaning n stuff hehehe

(yes I combined these two asks since they seemed pretty similar, the screenshot is technically the first one)

oh that sounds like such an interesting class!! it's always fascinating to learn different cultures history behind names. I love the idea of earning a name that's the same as a family member representing that you're sharing an identity, and also the fact that you can lose a name depending on your actions

also that's so cool that you changed your name!! I think changing your last name to a word is a REALLY cool idea. also, while I've heard plenty about people wanting to change their first names, you don't really hear about people wanting to change their last names that often? but like, I get it. I actually don't go by my legal last name that often unless I have to, or at least not my full one. I have two last names but I only ever use one of them in my daily life, and whenever I hear the other one used it really bothers me. there's a whole lot of reasoning for this I won't get into because it's personal but the gist is that my mom added my second last name legally for me when I was 11, and so up until that point I only had ever gone by one last name. and the timing of when that legal paperwork happened coincided with a lot of major things happening in my life, so I associate the person I was with that original last name as being a lot different than who I am now. now I only go by the second last name my mom added on for me and I hate when people use my original last name.

long winded way to say I get it, and I'm so glad you're happy with your name now!! you gotta love that you can literally just change your name if you want. one of my closest friends from college did that. I don't think she's gone through the legal hassle, but she uses a different first name than her birth one now which she started doing during covid. there's no reason for it. she's cis and she doesn't have any trauma attached to her old name or anything. she just didn't like it. who cares y'know? make yourself happy.

[baldpeoplehater]

ok so its 2 am. i am tired, i am incoherent and i have a lot to say.

first of all, before the final 10ish minutes i was actually pretty ok with the ending! i was so happy to see that most of the stories were wrapped up really nicely and were headed for a good place. but as soon as ted boarded that airplane. oh god.

although i never really shipped tedbecca before season 3, to me it kinda of seemed like they were ending up together? and i wasn’t mad about it. i actually got pretty invested in it after the whole matchbox/soldier thing. and it really sucks that they build all that up for nothing! all the signs with the psychic (“oh but they could have been for the dutch guy” yes! why not just leave them for scenes with him then?), the multiple ted/rebecca fakeouts (the whole bantr thing and the beginning of the finale episode), the AIRPORT SCENE? SERIOUSLY? and the worst part about it is that by building all this up but not having them end up together, rebecca’s ending felt unfinished and rushed (we barely got to know the guy and even though is “meant to be” or whatever they interacted once. come on), and (for me personally) it seemed that the show implied ted going back to michelle, which makes no sense at all. there was no need for tedbecca to be endgame, but both of their characters deserved better.

the whole roy/keeley/jamie debacle. (i think i just get throuple baited by ted lasso) seriously, i’m ALL for keeley ending up alone since she’s been in relationships basically the whole show. but why make her go back to roy when he apologized????? if they made up, as friends, there wouldn’t be A SINGLE storyline that would have to be changed. they still could’ve gone after jamie. the fight between jamie and roy could still be a catalyst for her to realize that she doesn’t want to be with either of them for now. it was completely unnecessary for them to sleep together.

why. on. earth. would you, for three entire seasons, disapprove of a relationship, show us how toxic it is, and then have them marry each other. seriously. of all the couples, beard and jane ended up together? dude. come on.

ok. let’s ignore the whole beard and jane thing being toxic and just assume they’re good now and she’s improved (her shredding his passport so he couldn’t leave was barely a figment of my imagination). although i dislike ted and beard being apart, i do understand that people move on and even the closest of friends sometimes have to grow apart. but why couldn’t they show us ted at beard’s wedding? he clearly was ok with beard staying for jane. there was no bad blood and even with him going back to kansas, i really doubt he would miss his best friend’s wedding.

and finally, i hate that ted went back to kansas. i can’t really logic myself out of this one, like i did with my other complaints because the reason why he went is really simple: for his son. and it’s the right thing to do. must be really hard parenting from another country and i’m absolutely sure that henry missed him a lot. but michelle could’ve gone to london with him, specially after it being implied that dr. jacob was out of the picture. it just makes me really sad that ted had to go back while everyone else moved forward.

ok! now the positive points because im not a complete bitch.

love to see rupert get absolutely shitted on. the wanker scene? poetic cinema.

i’m really happy that rebecca didn’t sell the club and that she realized that, although it wasn’t what she imagined would happen at first, they were her family now. also loved the juxtaposition of her giving 49% of shares to the fans against edwin akufo’s idea of a super league or whatever the fuck

COLIN GOT TO KISS HIS FELLA. THATS ALL I WANTED I LITERALLY CRIED

the ted/nate scenes really moved me. even though nate’s arc was kinda rushed, i was still happy to see him thriving at the end and going back to being the sympathetic character he was at the beginning of the show. him saying i’m sorry, crying on ted’s shoulder, coming back as assistant kitman instead of coach, it all showed that he changed. i’m also really glad that richmond won with his false nine after all.

MY BABY SAM GOT TO BE IN NIGERIAS TEAM IM SO EXCITED FOR HIM I DONT EVEN CARE IF IT DOESNT MAKE SENSE JUST LET HIM PLAY OK

the goodbye song from the boys and their reaction when ted says he liked it. priceless. (bonus points for trent joining in)

trent’s book being successful

willis

anyways. it was a hell of a ride. i don’t think we’re getting a season 4, but if we do i’ll be back on my bullshit. believe guys :)

[vsnotresponding]

púlsar fake dating au ii - ready to go

tag // intro post // part 1

Right, so, dating. 

Luckily, Níniam was right and they do know each other. Not intentionally, mind you. Níniam just likes to talk about the people he loves, so they’ve both heard about each other’s lives.

Karma knows Ira would do anything for Níniam, that her work runs her ragged, that she’s sharp and prickly and doesn’t play nice to strangers. She’d rather hang out with stray cats than real people, and if she has to be around people, she’d rather argue with them than just talk. 

She scares him a bit, to be honest.

And Ira knows Karma, too. She knows of his work (Níniam has read her some of his articles in spite of her not understanding half the things argued in them), and of what he does for Níniam’s rock club. She knows he’s painfully shy, and a mess at times. And, most importantly, that he cares for Níniam like she does. In her modest opinion, that’s more than enough to categorize him as someone who’s okay to hang out with (and not be overly rude to).

So yeah, they are doing this.

After the initial shock of it all, Karma had some time to think, mind still reeling. Sure, meeting strangers (or as much of a stranger as Ira is) scares him, but she’s doing this for him (well, for Níniam). Doesn’t matter. He’s grateful, extremely so. He’s a stranger to her as much as she is to him, and he’s doing him a favor, so Karma resolves to be The Best Fake Boyfriend To Ever Walk The Earth. He has no idea how to accomplish that, he’s never dated anyone before, but he figures that talking to her without Níniam as an intermediary might be a good start.

So they text.

It’s at odd times, mostly when Ira has some minutes to spare at her job and volunteering work, but at least they do. Well, Karma tries and Ira takes pity on him, answering in kind and “please tell me you aren’t asking me questions you googled”. 

And then, one day, Karma opened their chat and just started ranting about the paper he had been writing for a week. He usually did that with Níniam, or Sahare if it was somewhat related to engineering, but the former was busy with finals, and the latter stressed with wedding prep. He apologized after he was done, two hours later, chat still unread.

It wasn’t until hours later when Ira got out of work and actually answered his messages. Like, asked questions and stuff and seemed interested, even if she didn’t fully get what his rant was about. After an afternoon of wallowing in self-pity, he almost cried at her response.

And then it all kinda just followed its own course from there. She started sending multiple photos of the stray cats that live near her work. Like, lots of photos. Daily. There’s a three-legged cat that’s in most of them, gray and all scrunched up. Ira calls him Kitty, even if the cat’s ancient, older than all their ages combined. Karma's gallery is now 93% cat photos, he's run the numbers.

He won’t complain about it.

There’s also serious texts, like, “hey what am i supposed to do exactly?” and “you mean party party or rich people party?” and “yes karma there’s a difference” and “srs all of this because two people are getting married” “and i thought the wedding and an engagement party was already too much wtf”.

Because, yeah, there’s lots of engagements Karma must go to. There’s the most casual parties, which Karma argued they didn’t actually need to go to, but Níniam made them. To sell the whole dating thing, he said. And then, well, the Actual Big Events, where they need to dress up and go to an outrageous expensive place to mingle with people Karma either doesn’t know or dislikes. And the wedding, of course, held at the beginning of June.

After that? It’s anybody’s guess, they’ll figure it out when they get there.

And then, there’s the video calls. Níniam informs them, more than suggests, what their ‘dating history’ is like. He introduced them, of course, and they just clicked. Karma didn’t tell his friends because he wasn’t sure if it was going to go anywhere, and once Ira made the first move (because let’s be honest, no one would believe Karma did), he figured out he’d wait until some party came up to introduce her. 

A reasonable story. Plausible. Karma’s not specially religious, but he prays every night his friends will believe it.

“So,” Níniam explains on a call Friday night, “we have most of it ready to go. There’s only one thing missing.” 

Karma looks at his friend through the screen. Níniam and Ira are on the sofa in their tiny living room, the ugly pink and green pillows next to them making his screen do weird things. Ira’s head is on her brother’s shoulder, her eyes closing until they open again when Níniam moves his arm to jolt her awake. She’d told him they’d had a little crisis at work today, and that she’d left work much later than what she should have. That’s why they are having a meeting at almost 1 am.

Ira yawns, and groans.

“More?”

“You guys need to, you know, actually meet in person.”

Oh right. Right. In between cat photos and nerd rants, he had forgotten. They are supposed to be dating.

Well shit, Karma hadn’t thought about that.

Ira and Níniam bicker back and forth, but Karma can’t hear a word they say. He’s never liked physical touch. Sure, he remembers cuddling with his mom when he was a kid, and he lets Níniam and Sahare hug him in greeting, but nothing past that.

The mere thought of holding her hand paralyzes him, and he can feel his neck and ears blush.

Oh gods, will they have to kiss?? He might pass out. Right now just because of thinking about it and on the spot if it happens. Oh shit.

“You are not suggesting we need to practice holding hands.”

“Actually, I am.”

Their voices bring him out of his stupor. He really hopes they can’t see how panicked he’s about the whole situation, a mute hope, by Níniam's knowing look. At least Ira isn’t even looking at the screen, just deadpan staring at her brother.

“You are kidding.”

“I don’t—I mean—I don’t think he is.” She turns to him with the same look in her face as she was looking at Níniam. “I’m not—I struggle with stuff like… that.”

A few seconds pass. Then:

“Oh you are serious.” She pinches her nose bridge. “Okay, yes. Right, shy and awkward.”

“I heard that.” He says, not very shyly but very very awkwardly. Ira smiles.

“I think I can manage to get out of work early tomorrow—”

“Tomorrow or tomorrow tomorrow?”

“I’m not having this conversation with you again, Níniam. It’s almost 2 am.” She does look miserable as he turns back to the screen. “Sunday morning works good for you?”

“Sure.”

“Then I’m fucking out. Night Karma,” she nods to him as she stands up. “Annoying little brother.” Ira messes up Níniam’s hair before leaving.

Karma waits until they can hear her bedroom door close.

“‘Tomorrow or tomorrow tomorrow?’ What’s that?” Karma whispers, even if Níniam plugged in his headphones as soon as Ira left.

“Yeah as in, she meant tomorrow as in Saturday, but it is already Saturday.”

“We still haven’t gone to bed, tho.”

“That’s her argument.” Níniam’s grin almost reaches his ears.

“It is a sound argument.” For some reason, he’s blushing again.

“Yeah, but it’s funny to annoy her as her younger brother, you know.” Now it’s Níniam who yawns. “I'd stay, but I think she stuck her sleepiness on me. Anyways, talk to you later.”

“Later as in tomorrow or tomorrow tomorrow?” His friend snorts.

“G’night Karma.”

“Night.”

He goes to sleep smiling.

[vazelbeak]

Whos your least vs favorite character in HH and HB and why?

Hm, now this I'd say takes some thought, both because of how we don't have Hazbin out right now to entirely judge (how much they change from the pilot to the show like designs can very quite a bit Not just because of more or different writers but because of generally more resources provided like time and money, but that varies studio to studio.) But also because it depends on criteria, which if up to me, I find a lot of Vivs characters are good in certain areas but unfortunately lack components in others needed to give them well rounded personalities, motivations, backgrounds, ect.

Hazbin

Least favorite: This likely isnt too shocking as I find Angel Dust is for a lot of people is kinda both a least and most favorite simultaneously. He has a very distinct character design workable for a silhouette test which I can easily give credit to! However He doesn't appear to look much like a spider in those as much as a general insect. My mind immediately goes to a stick bug not because of the legs but just proportionally he doesnt really have any spider proportions and even non silhouette speaking if the spots under his eyes were his other eyes, my problem with that is the both only look like spots, and don't act like eyes. I also find myself not a fan of how his design thus far hasnt tied into his capabilities. Personally I'm a fan of zoology, I loved catching bugs and lizards as a kid and my grandpa worked in pest control so he actually did at times teach me about insects. So when I see Angel dust, a spider next to someone like Val (who ive heard a varied cockroach and moth) my immediate thought goes to "Angel youre a spider, youre arguably the most capable of taking him out".

Looking it up the animals that are largely immune to spider venom are hedgehogs, skunks, ground squirrels, and pigs (points for his pig I will presume it intentional!) While the idea perhaps he has gold teeth replaced his canines that could be used for that, it also brings to question why didn't Angel use them prior? Or did he and somehow fail like not using enough? How did Val get the upper hand when to my knowledge Angel had 40 more years in hell than him? What was angel even doing before Val even arrived? Overall I find him to have interesting bits to him, but he has the development reminiscent of OCs I made in highschool where they were largely based upon aesthetics, but the substance that ties those pieces together is largely lacking. I'd also enjoy his character more if the whole "sinners being based on animals and objects" wasn't aesthetic (hell if they actually meant something symbolism wise, like Angel being a spider bc he himself for lack of a better term in life was toxic. He got by in life by weaving nice webs of lies and false promises, and the moment someone fell for it and got caught, he would poison them and turn them into Husks.

And maybe thats part of what weirdly works for him and Husk to become close. Be it Husk is already an aftermath of what Angel turned people into, making him almost redeem himself by helping someone that represents all the things he did wrong to people, or maybe its just Angel is put in a place of for once needing to see someone not for what they can do for him, but for who they are, because he never had to face anyone in the aftermath of what he did to them.

Most favorite: It may just be the personal family stuff, and it may just be my love of animals, but Husk has to be a favorite. Its very possible and likely because unlike the others we haven't had as much of Husk shown or given to us to really dislike. He comes off as your grumpy older dude who even just seeing the basic details of characters before watching the Pilot, I could see him playing a father figure role to someone like Crymini (or Crimini? I don't see enough of her to remember the spelling.) a rebellious teen which iirc was part of the original idea, and seems to semi carry into the show now if the leaks gave any idea since he was listed as a shoulder to cry on. And that bit is good! We should be able to see that pose and expression on his face and read that! Overall unlike Angel his personality reads as more charming by contrast to Angels constant jokes and being mean. (Unfortunately for Angel hes given traits that for some people like me, that gets grating fast when theres nobody he's going back and forth with and theres direct consequences to his actions that only appear to hurt others. This is funny when theres acknowledgement of a character having tried their best or theyre a jerk but there is a invaluable ability that makes their behavior a sort of price to pay for which also makes said character come off as despite the behavior having good intentions or at least good for helping the people we're supposed to root for) but Husk while he can come off as a jerk as a grumpy character has it balanced by having other characters provoke it and appear unbothered by his annoyance. It makes him a jerk to the audience, but not to the other characters that would make him hard to like. His design id say while not the worst, also doesnt entirely make the most sense I know he was apparently made by Viv's sibling so I'm not gonna look to style, but I am like angel gonna look at the function. With a magic and slot machine themes I'm left wondering why he's a cat mixed with a bird and not a dove mixed with a lion (two animals associated with magic and even vegas wheres slot machines are associated with) or even just a dragon theme in general as theyre seen as magical creatures. Looking at his design it does leave a lot to be desired, but hes meant to be a cat with wings and looks like one. I will say I'm not a fan of his outfit as it stands. Both because it doesn't really read as a ba tender outfit, and because his lack of shirt just immediately makes me think "theres gonna be so much hair in those drinks" which is specifically an issue because a bartender outfit would help remedy this to a degree. I think as it stands Husk is a favorite for me because what little of his character we have is relatively consistent, we don't know enough about his backstory for it to drastically contrast with his current life in hell yet, and his design tells us his personality, but only in pose and expression. I also wish his design meant something such as if he's essentially a sorry excuse for a dragon because a Husk implies he's a shell of what he once was and so instead of looking much more like mythical creature he's reduced to looking like a cat with bird wings. Wings that based. Being dark on the inside would either be fake or poorly maintained to the point he's incapable of flying. Itd be cool if his appearance tied into a theme of someone who's somewhat lost sight of all the magic in the world/become desensitized to it all (and therefore good in the world). He is one of the last people next to Vaggie to fall for tricks that rely on you being overly trusting of people. He does however fall for stuff that feeds into his need to be the smarter person it makes him feel validated because you have to be smart to pull off magic tricks and not being smart makes him feel like he has nothing. Imply he won't take a card because he can't read it and he'll snatch it out of your hands to prove you wrong. But he really likes seeing peoples eyes light up at a slight of hand trick.

I would like to think bc Husk has stopped seeing good in the world its the ways others like Charlie and Vaggie try and fail at things that almost force Husk to care because despite him being that way, he can't stand other people going down the same path. So he may not say anything when you fail at something and get upset over it. But the next morning after a night of complaining youll see whatever it is completed. I really hope they manage to make his character work i think it could be done really easily with what we already have.

Helluva

Least: I think as much as I would like to say Millie for how under utilized and how much potential she could hold as someone who grew up on a farm and became an assassin, it doesn't compare to the shift from concept to final product that Blitzø had as well as his constant screen time that doesn't help. Starting visually Blitzø doesn't really look like a clown turned assassin and the spikes on his back give an iguana esque look to him as an Imp. I like the stylized head shape that a 3/4s angle can give his head a heart shape, however i find his forehead marking both overly complex and that it doesn't appear to serve much of a purpose to where it would benefit being simplified. Naturally I think it would be cool to see how Blitzo's iguana traits tie into his design such as not being very aware of social ques because iguanas often communicate visually. However my biggest problem with Blitzø is how he seemed to work much better conceptually. Which is to say Blitzø is a jerk.

Now, jerk characters have to be handled well. The more of a jerk they are and the more it touches upon real life forms of unpleasant behavior the more you need to work to make their behavior palatable enough to keep the audience engaged. We're supposed to root for Blitzø after all! But when Blitzø calls Moxxie the r slur, he sexually harasses his employees, those are very real things that are not very funny IRL (having experienced some of these things, it especially makes them all the more grating which is something that should be somewhat accounted for in making jerk characters by balancing their traits). And luckily there are ways these jerk traits can be remedied. Ill keep it to three I type long enough and my talking tends to be worse.

Jerk characters are very case by case due to the varied nature in which theyre a jerk. However there are general balancing methods.

-Karmatic repercussions. Karmatic repercussions are often the use of am almost cosmic force punishing a jerk character for their actions. It often is more employed in kids cartoons but the idea is to make fun of them for how they act or make them. A good example id point to is Squidward who is often an annoyed grumpy jerk who refuses to engage with the fun of spongebobs antics but this is remedied by often having a sort of punishment that is funny. Its funny for Squidward to be run over by giant rock because he naturally doesn't believe spongebob can ride a rock, as well as being comically squished in the sand.

- Heart of gold where is counts. I am under the impression this was the goal for Angeldust but functionally this is where your jerk character frequently is a jerk however will show their kinder side after things go too far or to prevent things from going too far. Usually youll see this is persistent for villains who team up with the protagonist against another far more evil forces but sometimes its out of remorse for a protagonist. A workable example id point to would be Cotton from King of The Hill who's a jerk, but when Peggy loses her teaching license he does help her get it back despite largely being a unpleasant person. He's unpleasant but when it counts he helped her. (I dont have a good gif for this one so this will have to do)

-Who cares he's a loser. This one is fairly simple and utilized in a lot of cartoons. CodeName: Kids Next Door, The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, Pokemon, Invader Zim, ect. Where a character is a jerk but theyre a loser which both downgrades the seriousness of what they do and makes us take what they say less impactful. A decent example I point to is Jack Spicer from Xaolin Showdown. He's a bad guy but we take his evil actions less seriously and are able to believe him becoming a good guy because we don't take those evil actions seriously.

And thats where Blitzøs concept art comes into play. i think a lot of his unpleasant and jerk traits would've been much more tolerable and able to be put up with if he was meant to be loser. He could insult Moxxie only to trip and fall into a mud puddle and it would work because it takes away any of the gravity of what he says. Quite literally "who cares what Blitzø says about Moxxie hes a loser". But on top of that its the way Blitzø is made a focus that also contributes to him being so grating. Youd think an episode focusing on where Millie grew up would focus on her and tell us a bit about maybe where and why she went from a farm to the assassin business and how she found the job but we got Blitzø and Striker. Youd think an episode that seemed meant to focus on Loona and Octavia based on the thumbnail and implication we'd see Loona's backstory would be about them, but instead it's Blitzø and Stolas on a sitcom set that we've had no indication really had any meaning or purpose to the story beyond Blitzø for some reason having trauma over seeing Loona at the pound. Which in itself was one of the big things that made me dislike his role im the story. Typically when you set up a flashback giving a characters backstory through the eyes of another person its to present a contrast in how they respectively viewed the situation or how that effected the character.

It would make sense if it was about why Blitzø is so over bearing towards Loona, because he's really trying to make her feel like she could do something with her life and that she's not a hopeless cause like she was told. But the way Blitzø is the one traumatized and we don't see how Loona was effected or how this looked through her eyes makes it feel like a last minute jumpstart to get Blitzø and Stolas out of the building after writing them into that situation.

Looking at it on a writing stand point and setting aside how unnecessary it felt to the plot akin to Millie and Moxxie's plot, a set up like that would have been a perfect for Blitzø to confront what happened that made him no longer perform on stage and why it was so significant. It felt like a perfect set up where Blitzø after having a flashback to how he met Loona would disregard the teleprompters and make a grandiose speech about how you can't just replace family the moment they become inconvenient to you. That in choosing to raise them as your own you have to take responsibility for not properly training and teaching them to behave and so he needs

Blitzø would be talking about its not right for him to just replace Loona when he adopted her knowing she had issues and made no efforts to actually correct her behavior. (In which Blitzø being overbearing would make sense as seeing this his responsibility even if Loona's an adult). But to the people on set, their actor just went of script and improvised a touching and impactful speech about the importance of responsibility. And as they end the episode, Blitzø gets the applause and cheer that makes him think he'd should consider becoming an actor as he makes his way to his dressing room until he's handed a paycheck and can't believe he's making so little. What do these guys take him for?! Do they have any idea how exhausting it is go be on camera for that long without commercial breaks?!

From their he and Stolas sneak out of the building while everyone else is preoccupied leaving the check discarded on thr floor of the dressing room and part of the joke is the actor Blitzø was mistaken for is later found dead is mourned for having died after giving the best performance of his life. Maybe someone sees Stolas discard his human form and they think he's the owl man cryptid known for hovering around people or places before tragedy but only conspiracy theorist types believe that.

But the sitcom plot didn't amount to much and the excuse Blitzø has a panic attack over Loona's trauma to a point of on camera claiming to see a kid snorting coke in the dressing room (which let me say with the amount of child actors that have come forward regarding how they were mistreated and knowing they turned to drugs either over stress or over their parents giving it to them, it comes off rather tasteless) doesnt even come off funny as unlike Darla Dimple in Cats Don't Dance, she wasn't mean or rude in a way to make it feel funny as though Blitzø was actually doing some good by revealing she did something horrible.

And because of that it just makes it harder to enjoy because Helluva Boss ends up this big show where Blitzø is the center of attention but he is arguably the least enjoyable character to have on screen. He's overall not a balanced enough character to find engaging on screen but its arguably made worse knowing theres such a massive contrast between who he is on screen vs the conceptual work that made his character feel much more balanced for the role he plays that feels like came to be from self fandomization.

Most: I don't know if this may be the personal connection speaking but to me, my favorite character is Octavia. Visually she doesn't look much like a hybrid between a swan and Owl as much as the crow owl hybrid Stolas is reminiscent of. I think it would be more interesting if her outfits had more variety in which she had royal clothes she has to wear but her outfit we currently see her wear is meant to be causal and comfortable but because she's part of the Goetia that is her only outfit meant to be because she's heavily expected to embrace her royal status and get used to walking around in royal attire. (Perhaps this is even an outfit she made herself and she would love to design clothing if given the chance?). I wish we saw more incorporation of the animals Stolas and Stella were and how Octavia inherits those traits as it could be a means to expand on how whether we like it or not we inherit our parents traits and not just physically. (Also perhaps expand on how Stella may be so against divorce because Swans mate for life meaning if Stolas leaves her she intended to kill the both of them. Meanwhile for Stolas as a tawny owl, while some mate for life its not universal potentially reflecting why divorce is seen as a problem. And in a way its their contrast in mentalities regarding marriage). Id argue she has the most interesting and compelling narrative of having to learn the harsh reality of your parents not being perfect and how to handle that. A struggle that you especially become aware of when your parents split and actively despise one another. My only issue with it is how often her feelings are dismissed or diminished as though an "id never forget about you" erases the times Stolas did ignore her or forget about something important in favor of Blitzø and Stella. (Viv your claim to writing the moments that everyone praises ignores how you as the creator of an indie production greenlight the worst moments too and its shameful to see you throw your fellow writers under the bus like that.) We've never seen anything meant to make these moments outliers or implied such outside of Stolas's insistence he does care for her and often times far too late.

And as much as it can be argued "why would Stolas remember, why didnt Octavia wait until he was done on the phone?" I both admittedly sooner sympathize with a kid who misunderstood their parents over a parent who to my knowledge would face no consequences to hanging up or holding the phone away to quickly ask "what" incase of an emergency as well as find it to be rather bad writing to make such a reach for why Octavia would feel so upset that she'd run away, just to flip it and insist "no actually she doesnt realize how much her dad loves her though". It feels inconsistent especially when we see Stolas in the audience of a sitcom set and not (what i feel wouldve made the focus on him more justified) ditching Blitzø because unlike his assassin boyfriend, Octavia has no means to protect herself and no familiarity with the human world.

To me Octavia would be an interesting figure to give us a sort of parallel or contrast to her and Stolas's upbringing. Did Stolas stay with Stella because in being raised by Paimon he assumed two parents was better than one based on what he wanted? Does Octavia need to produce an heir? Why not?

I think it would be an interesting direction if because Stolas was forced into an arranged marriage he has an aversion to anything that feels more than causal because his only experiences with love as a kid involved being forced into molds chose by other people and by result while he spared Octavia from needing to produce an heir, he's struggled to allow her form much in the way of any relationships outside her immediate family and it makes her likely struggle to understand other people since her interactions have been so limited. Overall I like her as a character, visually her design doesn't really work with what we know but could be expanded on to work if we got more of her character, and I really hope they actually give us more to her than just being "Stolas's sad daughter who just tragically doesn't realize he loves her"

A lot of it boils down to their intended ideas may be interesting and hold a lot of potential, but if you can't balance them out enough to be entertaining on screen and interesting characters both visually and writing wise, its gonna be really hard for me to root for who you want me to.

[such-a-daydreamer]

🗣Rant incoming

Personally I dispise all "stand alone" sanses. Dream and Nightmare too despite their "AU", and I'll get into that.

Like, I feel as though they don't deserve the name "sans" because they're so far gone from the original content they might as well be their own character. The UTAU fandom consists mainly of the star sanses and the bad time trio WHICH IS NOT UNDERTALE AT ALL??? Like, just detach away from undertale bruh, it'll make little to no difference.

Oohhhh noooo killer and dust and horror are murderers aaahhh. Okay so why have you baby-fied all of them and made nightmare the grumpy father?? If they're supposed to be maniacs why do they seem so functional? (Or functionless since this grownass man who's an overlord picks up after these dudes.) BORING. Why are they slice of life now??????

Ooooohhh nightmare is a being made from negitive emotions and he's BAAADDDD okay so tell me why he seems so void of emotions half the time? Where's his drive? WHAT is his drive, does anyone even know? He sort of just does things and then people make him kill some random dude just to justify his "evil" persona. He reads "asshole" not "culmination of hate and rage"

"Rah, my minions, commit die to randos or whatever i dunno." -nightmare

"Yessir" -horror, dust

"yessir(but gayer)" -killer probably.

Tell me why they made nightmare fell sans? Huh? TELL ME WHY?!

Horrortale is cool, I love it. HOWEVER- I don't like it when they take horror out of his universe. Personally, I don't think he would leave unless he took his bro with him. (Headcannons, anyone? Wanna draw poor lil horrorpap in the negacastle while they like kill people or whatever? LMFAO)

Dream and Nightmare. Oh boy. DREAM AND NIGHTMARE. I have always disliked the idea of having 'two sanses' in place of papyrus. Like?? MY BELOVED BOY, WHERE THE FUCK DID YOU GO???😟 and not to mention their personal story doesn't follow the game? BUT!!!! That being said I do love their story and all the angst they bring by existing in the same room lol

As for beings like error, ink, geno and fresh: I don't hate but I also don't love them. Geno is cool, I suppose. His backstory always fascinated me. Error is cool, I guess. It wasn't until I found out he was geno(???) That I double taked him.

I just kinda dislike how it's sans, but I get it. They're characters from a time when sans was all the rage, it makes sense.

Fresh... Dawg, the man ain't even a sans. He's his own thing and I respect him for that. Also I roleplayed as him for a long while and adopted some of his talking habits GRAH! SHHHH! (Him and Epic LMAO)

Ink.

Ink ink ink...

The man the myth the legend. I have no feelings towards that skeleton. His backstory is intruiging, I love his whole shtick and "role" but... he never feels complete to me. Like, he's never a fully realised concept to me (reference?) BUT LIKE I'm left expecting?

But i dunno, that's just me.

Alright, Im curious now