#life is not fair though

[notbecauseofvictories]

I don't know how strictly accurate this is, but one of the things I find shocking about watching historical dramas is how many people there are around all the time---according to Madame de... (1953) a well-off French household in the Belle Epoque maintains a workforce of at least 3, and the glittering opera has staff just to open doors. According to Shogun (2024) you can expect a deep bench just to mind your household, and again, people who exist to open doors.

Could people....not open doors in the past? Were doors tricky, before the standardization of hinges? Because otherwise, the wealthy used to pay a whole bunch of people to do it for them in multiple contexts, and I find myself baffled.

[egophiliac]

*shaky thumbs up* I just finished ch5...... y-you were not kidding about it being a heavy one.....

:)

(how's that going so far, Mal)

[tea-cat-arts]

Shen Yuan getting transported into pidw isn't "the system punishing him for being a lazy internet hater," but instead representative of "step 1 of the creative process: getting so mad at something you decide to go write your own fucking book" in this essay I will

[starry-songs-canvas]

Talking Him Down

Whenever Damian thought of his twin brother, he thought of his kindness. His fascination with the stars, his willingness to take the fall for Damian whenever sick or hurt animals were found in the compound. His aversion to killing or torture, which thought of as a weakness in the league, Damian had secretly admired. He thought of Danny talking him down from mistakes he knew Damian would regret.

He never thought the positions would be reversed.

Yet there his somehow alive brother was there, standing over an already bloody Vladimir Masters with rage-filled cold eyes and a knife in hand.

“You should leave, Dami. Before things get too messy.”

[hydrachea]

Explorers of Sky is a good game.

[sunderwight]

Bingyuan modern ABO AU where Shen Yuan tutors sweet white lotus Luo Binghe and dutifully sends him off to university all prepped and ready to take the world by storm, and then three years later Omega Binghe shows up on his doorstep with a baby, all washed out with his prospects ruined and the father in the wind.

Beta Shen Yuan, furious, is determined to look after Luo Binghe and his adorable baby whilst tracking down the feckless Alpha involved and then... castrating him? Forcing him to step up? One of the two at least!

Only it turns out:

-Baby isn't actually Luo Binghe's

-Luo Binghe isn't an Omega

-Binghe also didn't wash out and in fact just came into a massive inheritance

He didn't even know Shen Yuan was living at the apartment he went to, he was bringing the baby to Shen Jiu in order to blackmail him. The baby is SJ's and Omega Yue Qingyuan's, and had been quietly sent away to avoid scandal. As the next phase of Luo Binghe's hundred-step plan to marrying Shen Laoshi, cuddling the baby in a vaguely sinister fashion while making thinly-veiled threats was vital to blocking Shen Jiu's inevitable attempts to interfere with Binghe's pursuit of his younger brother.

But then Shen Yuan opened the door and promptly drew all the wrong conclusions, and now Binghe is rethinking his entire strategy, furiously googling Alpha-to-Omega transition options and making Mobei Jun make Shang Qinghua find out how to fake a birth certificate for a stolen baby.

[slavhew]

toodeee

everything is transient. only an easy to draw guy is forever

[cedar-scented-soap]

Concept drawing for a space/aliens rancher duo AU I've been working on!!!! :D I'm not super settled on Jimmy's design yet, but he's meant to be a moobloom adjacent space species!

(yes they're not in space even though it's a space AU, they're planetside at jim's ranch cuz I needed an excuse to work on drawing backgrounds)

[legally-allowed-to-slime]

fine. you can have pearleo as your domestic fluff and gempearl as your toxic yuri. just this one time

[kukkirankindon]

Is it bad that I simp for an angler fish, ■■■, blue whale, great white shark, silver spinyfin, mantis shrimp, and sea snake hybrid??? :)

[designernishiki]

kaoru was only 25 in yk2. if only she had been at the club maybe she wouldve quit being a cop and done something better with her life

[sayakxmi]

Saiouma Puella Magi AU, but Kokichi takes Madoka's role and Shuichi takes Homura's.

For one, Kokichi's too naturally distrustful to just hear "I can grant you any wish :)" and not think ok where's the hook. So he just does what no one ever has & essentially interrogates Kyubey, so he knows it all even before he gets to make a contract. So, some of his classmstes are MGs & he won't become one himself BUT he still ends up tagging along to just protect them in his Kokichi ways. (Though I'm entertaining Kokichi lying about being a magical girl, because, well, it's Kokichi).

(I also got a small idea of Gonta being a magical girls and Kokichi originally tagging along him into labyrinths, Gonta also makes him a magic gun from the toy one he had, and at some point witches out & Kokichi manages to kill him with that gun. So he always has that spare Grief Seed on himself, bc it's still his best friend & he can't handle the idea of just giving it away or using it himself (he does anyway in the end).)

Shuichi prolly ends up being a new kid & it isn't like MadoHomu, the ppl who reach him first are Kaede & Kaito, classic. Kokichi's there, too, but he's his usual sus self. He's actually discouraging ppl from making a contract when they find out magic and miracles are real, which absolutely includes Shuichi. He's very vocal abt it, but he won't explain stutf, bc 1) he's a liar, so who'd believe him? and 2) he doesn't want them to witch out upon finding out the truth or, idk, murder everybody Mami-style.

Anyway, fast forward, bad things happen bingo & by the end of the run most charas are dead, there's Walpurgis nachting, and he makes his wish to bring back the ppl who died notably not as magical girls. Contract signed, he fights & fails, rip. I also thought it was similar to how he thought he could end the killing game by himself - he though he could finish Walpurgisnacht by himself, too. And he failed in both times. Whatevs.

Shuichi doesn't actually make his time travel wish for Ouma specifically, he wants to save all his friends. Timelines are messy esp at first bc he either tells then or it backfires or just makes himself look very sus bc he's trying not to tell them. He also realizes why Kokichi hadn't told anybody aby witches at some point, bc, yeah, it messes them a lot, assuming they believe it.

Still, Kokichi ends up one of the few people who are nearly always giving him a chance, not necessarily out of belief, but out of pragmatism - bro can stop time & knows the truth, that's just too useful. So they often work together & Shuichi grows closer to him but still we ain't there yet. But the thing is, Shuichi's time travel still makes Kokichi more & more powerful with each timeline, bc Shuichi usually goes back after Kokichi dies, so the universe figured out this guy's life's important. Anyway, another notable thing is the iconic Homura kills Madoka scene, but it's Saiouma with guest stars of Kaito & Maki. It's Walpy, it's not defeated yet, but the training trio are spent & just kinda accept their fate of turning into witches together. And then, boom, Kokichi appears & steals their Soul Gems for a sec & he's like did u know you can cleanse your Soul Gem with a darkened one? But it's a lie & he quickly tells them so, he just had a spare Grief Seed after cleansing his Soul Gem & he needs them to do some stuff. Shuichi can travel back in time & fix things, and Maki & Kaito are needed to fight Walpy here. He actually questions what happens to the timelines Shuichi leaves behin, and ofc he doesn't know. There's a chance they remain, so Kokichi needs Maki & Kaito to fight Walpy here.

Kaimaki leave, and Shuichi finally looks at Kokichi & realizes sth is Wrong. Kokichi struggles to hide how he's trembling & grimacing, and it's Kokichi, so obviously it must be extremely bad. Shuichi dreadfully realizes something worse, and he weakly asks Kokichi why aren't his wounds healing. And Kokichi just falls, laughing weakly, and Shuichi catches him & searches for his Soul Gem and, God, he knew it. It's nearly completely black. Kokichi laughs & admits he lied abt having two Grief Seeds, he only had one he never wanted to use. But they'll have the second one soon, so no need to worry. He asks Shuichi to maybe destroy his witch form as it's hatching, so he'll have the Grief Seed without any fighting… and he admits that he hates fighting, he hates this magical world and all its violence. He says that Kaito was right in calling him a coward, even here he just can't handle the idea of fighting any longer, he's so sorry. And Shuichi tells him he ISN'T a coward. He was scared, but he always followed everybody, trying to help, and when push came to shove he would always make a contract for the benefit of others rather than himself. He's a lot of things, but a coward isn't one. Kokichi actually tears up hearing that, and Shuichi promises he won't let him fight ever again, and especially he won't let him turn into a witch and hurt anybody, because he knows it's the last thing he's ever wanted. Even now he only accepts turning into a witch to help them fight to keep others safe. So Shuichi won't let him. Kokichi probably apologizes and thanks him and then he dies.

Keeping Kokichi from fighting starts off as a side quest that gains importance with time, bc it's something Shuichi won't compromise on (ah, trauma), which leads him to occassionally neglect others a bit, which makes them more likely to get hurt & ironically Kokichi more likely to make a contract, especially since he gets more powerful & Kyubey is more interested in him with each timeline. And that also makes him witch out super quick. Shuichi's paying more attention to him & over time grows resentful of others for how they're treating him. To Shuichi it's no question that Kokichi cares & is just doing his best to help, but nobody realizes that.

But the biggest obstacle in keeping Kokichi from fighting is actually Kokichi himself, bc he's too smart and nosy, lmao. Even if he knows nothing, he will find out quickly. Doesn't help that Kyubey wants him to make a contract.

Also, obviously Kaito is Sayaka-coded and Maki could be Kyouko-coded, so that's a thing, BUT it's usually Maki that witches out. Kaito is usually pretty close, but Kokichi intervenes & he survives, but Maki later cracks on her own (and since in the new timeline Kokichi isn't there, Kaito's the one to die, so he's still the secretary). So it's Kaito who gets the dramatic sacrifice. I imagine he genuinely hoped you could bring somebody back if you tried Very Hard & Kokichi called him a moron bc obviously it's not possible. If it was there'd be far less witches that there are. But it's Kaito, he doesn't listen to reason. So, Kokichi follows him to the labyrinth. At first Kaito's mad cuz what if Kokichi being there ruins the plan? Maki hates his guts! But eventually he gets hit pretty hard, and Kokichi is near immediately by his side, trying to help him get up, which kinda makes Kaito short circuit a little bc wait Kokichi's trying to help? But witch!Maki attacks them & Kokichi pushes Kaito away & gets caught himself (and choked until unconsciousness, naturally). Anyway, Kaito gets him away, Shuichi catches Kokichi & Kaito makes up his mind about going down with Maki & asks Shuichi to tell Kokichi that he's sorry. He doesn't get him, but he got hurt trying to protect him, so he'll believe in that if nothing else. F.

As for The WishTM, in the last timeline Shuichi lashes out at Kokichi for his willingness to just become part of the system. In no timeline has his wish actually helped, it did NOTHINHG, which OUCH but it also makes Kokichi think out of the box more & he becomes the Law of Cycles. And Shuichi realizes what is happening & freaks out bc Kokichi's doing it bc of what he told him & like Homura they end up having a momentTM in space & Shuichi remembers. He feels a lot of guilt even tho he also questions whether anything was real, but if it was, he pushed somebody he far too realized he loved into erasing himself from existence.

[violetlunette]

Slight book 7 spoilers

Do you think your Yuu's gonna make use of the situation (i.e. General Lilia doesn't remember Silver) to get closer to his Moonshine? Unlucky for him, even with that part of his memory gone, General Lilia still has the urge to feed Yuu to the Silver Owls lol

Referencing this Yuu.

Twst spoilers, Chapter 7

Now anon; do you truly believe that my Yuu is so morally deprived that he would take advantage of Lilia’s regression and attempt to get with our sweet Moonshine while he is at his most fragile state and they were in his Father’s head?

~*~

Yuu: *thinking* Am I really so desperate to be with Silver that I would take advantage of Lilia’s memory regression and Silver’s most fragile state to get with him? Am I that morally deprived?

Yuu: …

Yuu: Of course, I am! <3 Sil--

Jiminy Cricket: Now, hold it right there, fat head!

Yuu: WTF are you?

Jiminy: I’m Pinocchio’s conscious on loan! Now listen here, sonny;

Jiminy: Silver is extremely vulnerable right now and on top of that, you’re in his father’s head! Are you really going to try and sleep with him, here of all places? And now of all times? Are you really going to sink that low? Have you no shame?

Yuu: ....

Yuu: Nope!

Yuu: Now step aside! *Waves Jiminy away*

Yuu: Oh, Silver—OW!! *Gets Stomped by steel heels* WTH?!

General Vanrouge: *Digging heel into back with a sadistic grin* No fraternizing in my camp, boy!

Yuu: Are you serious?!

[astrangergivingthestrangewelcome]

I do not think evangelizing on the double standard of women being expected to wear makeup everyday to grown women is actually productive or respectful (provided they are not judging me for not wearing makeup), we can all make our own decisions on how to walk through this world, however, it is true that whenever a woman in my daily life equates making themselves decent and presentable with having a coat of natural makeup on, I do have to viscerally repress the urge to shake them by the shoulders and scream that they've been had.

[tricitymonsters]

Amir and his sugar daddy tendencies vs. Himbo MC who doesn't want Amir to spend money on them. Who gently but firmly refuses to accept the way too expensive gifts Amir keeps offering to buy him, MC who starts frowning and fretting when gifted a car/bike/apartment/10.000 dollar watch. Because "Amir, love, please, this is too much, I cannot accept this."

So Amir decides to get a little sneaky. His love is looking for a PS5 but they are all sold out and there won't be a restock in the foreseeable future? He's gonna buy one through his connections and then have someone reply to Himbo MC's ad on craigslist or something, and get it to them that way. Listens and smiles when MC returns after picking the PS5 up, all excited and happy and gushing about how lucky they got.

MC wants to go on a vacation with Amir but insists to pay for their own share? Wow, look at this! Somehow, MC has won tickets for exactly that destination at a mall lottery!! (Which Amir surely had nothing to do with.)

Just. Amir watching as his sweet himbo partner is in awe about how fortunate they are lately. Who beams at Amir, sweet as sugar and bright as the sun. Who claims that Amir must be their lucky charm.

What sugar baby wants, sugar baby gets.

Amir's really good with boundaries 99% of the time, but when it comes to how he spends money, he can be surprisingly stubborn. Amir is unlike a lot of rich people in that he wants to Spend money instead of hoarding it, and he wants to spend it giving the people he cares about the stuff and experiences they want. Life's short (for humans) so it's important to enjoy the things that make you happy.

Also please don't think he won't beg and cry and plead with the MC like he wants to go to Santorini this weekend pleeeease please please let him pay he doesn't want to fly economy he'll whither away and die. PLeaseeeee let him get you the PS5 he wants to watch you play (he doesn't really care honestly). With particularly stubborn MCs he will be forced to get Sneaky about it and will be very ���� if caught.

Mostly, Amir doesn't want the MC to work super hard for something if he can easily provide it. Life's about enjoying what you can and cutting out work when you have the means to. He feels especially strongly about experiences as opposed to material goods too and is a lot less likely to give in on those. If you've never been to NYC or Tokyo or Wherever he will Take You There and if you put up a fight about it he will UGLY CRY and pout.

But if he can circumvent this by sneakily pulling the strings around MC... well, he can live with that.

[napping-sapphic]

hehe~~ i am soooooo sleepy and tired right now :3 i’m all cuddled up in all my blankets🥰 so warm and comfy hehe…..oh and also my past is haunting me😐