#like holy shit we are regressing

[weallpartyatybcpatricksfuneral]

"girls support girls-" okay but are you normal about queer women? are you normal about BIWOC? are you normal about disabled women? are you normal about autistic women? are you normal about fat women? alternative women? unattractive women? are you normal about women who choose not to shave their legs and armpits and faces? are you normal about butches and tomboys and masculine women? are you normal about trans women? are you normal about trans men? are you normal about nonbinary folk and people who lie outside the gender binary or renounce gender all together? are you normal about women who absolutely despise and detest the latest trends? are you normal about weird women who unsettle you with their interests? are you normal about women who don't wear makeup, who will never wear makeup, who openly dislike makeup and the makeup industry?

[likeabxrdinflight]

One of my many supervisors today made mention of how a failure to achieve a monogamous romantic relationship could be considered a failure to thrive...I tried to push back a little and say it's more the lack of community at all that's the bigger issue but oof...

I would appreciate it if the entire world could stop being so subtly shaming of people for not following the social scripts we're "supposed" to. It's not a "failure to thrive" to be single. It isn't pathological to not have a monogamous relationship.

[fantasticgothicpeachsludge]

Every time anyone but especially a trans lesbian says a woman is ugly because she’s “built like a man” an angel loses her wings

[thelaughingmerman]

We actually have a date range for da4 now holy shit

[cyberdragoninfinity]

I would love to hear your thoughts about the fucked-up turtle (Terapagos)

"Now let's talk about the turtle. Can we talk about the turtle please, Mac? I've been dying to talk about the turtle with you all day."

Ok so. Short Answer Re: Thoughts About Terapagos:

WHAT THE FUCK. WHAT THE FUCK. WHAT THE FUCK. WHY DID IT DO THAT. WHY DID THEY [GAMEFREAK] DO THAT.

Long Answer Re: Thoughts About Terapagos [SPOILERS FOR THE SCARVIO DLC naturally. i havent seen Horizons so i dont rly know whats goin on with this little guy in the anime, just what we've got in the games]:

When the last little batch of new Pokemon in Indigo Disk leaked, about 12 hours or so-ish before the DLC dropped, I was at dinner with my bestie and we were looking at our phones like we were reading breaking world news. And I was looking at this tiny ass png of Terapagos's full Tera (Stellar) form.

And I immediately blurted out "holy SHIT it's turtles all the way down."

If you're not familiar with the phrase, check out its wikipedia page; here it's most relevant as a saying thrown around with regards to the philosophical concept of infinite regress, i.e. a series of elements (or questions begging an explanation) that that goes on infinitely with each member producing the next. So let's say the world rests on the back of a giant turtle--well, then, what does that turtle stand on to keep it from falling into the void? Why, another, bigger turtle, of course! But what about that turtle? Well, you're not gonna believe this, but it's turtles all the way down.

And here's the other thing about infinite regress: it's a logical fallacy, it's circular reasoning--honestly it's a little bit of a cousin to the "which came first?" chicken and egg argument. The question in these cases never truly gets answered, it just goes on and on forever. Bigger turtles on top of even bigger turtles.

It's a paradox. :)

So Stellar Terapagos, just look at that thing. Even its dex entries talk about how it looks like a planet, how it resembles "the world as the ancients saw it"--it's very much not only trying to evoke the World Turtle concept, but the symbolism of a classic paradoxical saying. So we've already got that going on with it, that already makes me bonkers. AND THAT'S JUST THE SURFACE LEVEL.

Cuz when we look at how Terapagos behaves, things start to go from "well isnt this guy a little weird" to "oh. oh this thing is kind of fucked up and terrifying, hello, what the hell is wrong with it" REAL FAST. Its two most stressed features we see in Indigo Disk are A.) its crystalline nature and how its the progenitor of Terastalization, but also B.) it is ferociously powerful and borderline uncontrollable. It's violent. It bursts out of a Master Ball and almost kills Kieran for daring to try and control it. Heath's illustration of its Stellar form in the Scarlet/Violet Book looks so otherworldly and almost cosmically horrifying. It has Weird Fucking Powers the game does NOT elaborate on (but I will; see more below.)

And also, hey, yeah, its Stellar Form looks like a stack of world turtles, but why the FUCK does its Terastal form also look like a goddamn dream catcher.

Personally I've been a big fan of the 'imagination theory' re: the Professors and the Paradox Pokemon and Area Zero, and folks have been arguing that Indigo Disk debunks that, but honestly I feel like we're loitering around some untold explanation that's even more bizarre. Terapagos is at least on some level tied to dreams and existentialism, and I really feel like there's more to Tera Crystals and Terapagos's relationship with them than what we've been told. Hell, its cry is even the noise we hear all game when we Terastalize our Pokemon, which produces its own myriad of questions (Are the Crystals some degree of alive? The Tera Crowns all do have Terapago's little turtle head at their base, too--does Terapagos physically or spiritually connect with a Terastalizing Pokemon? And what about that weird crystalizing the AI Professor does during its big boss fight? MUCH TO THINK ABOUT.)

Oh, speaking of Crystals--yeah. I can't NOT talk about the Indigo Disk Crystal Pool Postgame Secret when talking about Terapagos. ONE MORE SPOILER WARNING FOR THAT--SERIOUSLY GO TO THE CRYSTAL POOL AFTER GETTING THE DLC CREDITS. IT WILL BLAST YOU TO BITS. anyway.

Yeah so that's what I mean with Why Did It [Terapagos] Do That. The fact that you dont even need to have it in your party for the postgame Crystal Pool cutscene to trigger and for Terapagos to just pop out of the PC boxes on its own accord and warp space and time (and maybe even reality itself) to irreversible consequence, implying once again some great and uncontrollable power within this beast. Crazy Ass Moments in Pokemon History for CERTAIN.

And the thing that makes me most insane, thinking about Terapagos twisting time to allow you to meet the Professor, the Real Live Professor, to swap notes with them so to speak, the way it facilitates all of that, is the position it now puts the player and Scarvio itself in. If the Professor's research rests on the back of a white book given to them by a child, then what does the research of that white book rest upon? Ah, well, the expedition of Area Zero spurred forth by the fallout of the Professor's research. And what did THAT research rest upon, again...?

Turtles. The whole way down. Chickens and eggs and a paradox you're now responsible for. At the hands of a Normal Type Pokemon that tried to kill a 14 year old.

Terapagos scares the shit out of me. I love it so much. Why Did They Make It Like That <3

[takemebacktowheniwassane]

i've been seeing a lot of falsettos posts recently deconstructing the fandoms beliefs and firstly

holy fuck thank you, i try to steer clear of fandom (and fandom-izing thereof) drama but this is getting a lot more visible recently so here's some little tidbits for you

whizzer brown is not an unflawed character!

okay so i haven't seen enough dissecting this but!!! in the chess game!

the whole point of marvin using that game to determine the ending of their relationship is because he suspects whizzer is constantly deceiving him and wants to prove it.

whizzer LITERALLY proves him right!

he asks marvin to help him along (yes i know he says he doesn't want help, hear me out, it's a little more complex than that) and takes advantage of the fact that marvin is- like- infatuated with him.

he draws him into a sense of false security then starts throwing accusations at him ("since you need a man!" "what?" "who's 'brainy'," "or witty, move.") until hes able to win, which he does with ease because he's been using marvin having this idea that he isn't smart against him.

of course, marvin's side of this isn't the best either but honestly, for once the fandom should focus on a different character when they think 'insane asshole'. typically we should also probably change our perspectives a little to be more unbiased cuz fr guys, this is getting really.. annoying.

i understand he's the most visibly flawed but that doesn't excuse constantly picking the worst parts of this musical (without other context, btw) to use against him.

and this post certainly isn't here to excuse anyone either i've just got a lot of opinions that i wanted to share while falsettos is.. trending? right?

2. marvin's (headcanoned but still somewhat researched) autism

this one isn't brought up as much but when i do see it around, it's kind of a skewed viewpoint.

while rewatching bits of the proshot i realized a lot of different neurodivergent traits that he shows-

he's helpless during I Never Wanted to Love You and is childish and regressive when he's upset (not every autistic person is like this either, i know this is a bit of a touchy subject so i just wanted to add that).

usually when people depict it i see it either toned down or joked about which is fine when all in good fun, and when its done respectfully.

not here to attack anyone, just here to point it out and say that yes :) he most likely is neurodivergent, but despite that his actions aren't condoned. he's still kinda a dick who needs to get his shit together

3. ..the lesbians also have shit going on?

just putting this out there- I DON'T SEE ENOUGH FOR THE LESBIANS! OR TRINA!

the girls in this musical are like thoroughly neglected and i think that's kind of shitty just assuming the fact that william finn put them in to demonstrate how gender roles put people in degrading positions (and he even makes it more prevalent by showing marvin as something like a misogynistic character who forces whizzer into more feminine roles to show the audience what woman have to/had to go through in society).

anyways, the lesbians aren't just there guys. they have a plotline too. in Something Bad is Happening, you derive a lot from charlotte singing about the outbreak of HIV/AIDS and realize how she operates on a daily basis (she's passionate about her work and takes every bad day as a hit to her life and career, explaining in a way that as a black, jewish, lesbian, FEMALE doctor in this time, everything that goes wrong is immediately brought down on her so much more than it would as any straight white male pharmacist-).

cordelia on the other hand has to handle the fact that her girlfriend is so adamant about her work ethic that she can't actually be super present in their relationship at times like that.

but either way she still sticks by her and is constantly trying to be supportive and endearing despite feeling like she's not amounting to her gf who's basically a hero in her eyes.

i kinda just wanted to bring that up because they mean a lot to me and they don't get enough love from the fanbase, thank you for listening to my TED talk <3

[pendwelling]

hello, pen-nim! I just wanted to ask about the "ether children"(!?) that CYC apparently has???? Like holy shit yes?????? They have kids??????????

It's been keeping me up at night ngl sjjsakaks

THEY DO HAVE KIDS and honestly it's so genius. I laugh about it all the time LMAO (anyway please brace yourself bc this ended up becoming a really long post WKFHDJ)

In non-romance fantasy settings, I always wonder about high-status characters like Crown Princes of the like and how they would make/appoint successors—even more so when it's implied that it'll probably be faceless characters who we never even meet (take Alver Crossman in LCF, for example, who iirc also mentioned he would just appoint one of his siblings' children as his future heirs). Even though TWSB is not a romance, its political setting has always played a prominent role and influence in the story, and even long before CYC have their "children", characters such as Cédric (a Crown Prince and future Emperor) and Christelle (previously a Duke's daughter) had been subjected to inquiries about marriage and about fulfilling their duties. Naturally, as these character's are ones whom we've followed for so long and through several trials and adventures, readers of course would want them to be happy with whomever they have to make successors with. But BECAUSE they are character's whom we know and have grown to know, we also know that a political marriage would not make our characters necessarily happy, or that it's something they'd even want (and to readers, would be an unsatisfying outcome to see).

Ham Ga-in Christelle actually isn't that interested in marriage (not to mention has a complicated relationship with and idea of parenting/parental figures, and thus, mothers/motherhood) as has expressed that if she WERE to marry, it being with a close friend where they'd be like roommates or in an eternal sleepover like, say, Yeseo, wouldn't be a bad idea since it sounds fun (such as in that one part when Cédric and her were being questioned by Fred and Aurélie about their fake relationship during Jesse first house arrest arc LMAO). As for Cédric, naturally, as a Crown Prince, he is very understanding and diligent as to what his duties expect from him, as such, even when there were discussions over whom would be the best political partner for him (high-ranking nobles such as dukes' children such as Vérénice Mendy, even affluent daughters of merchant families, etc), he most probably would have accepted anyone his mother and godmother decided would be most fitting as his partner. Love was never really a factor for a Crown Prince's marriage (though, I should notably state that his mom, Empress Frédérique, basically enthusiastically kidnapped(willingly) and eloped with her husband out of love against the wishes of his affluent mage family LMAO), though, that isn't to say that they won't take into account his feelings to—but it's clear that his feelings are, all-in-all, that of duty and acceptance (and buried reluctance, which Yeseo and friends bring up and consider when these talks were happening, and tell him that his feelings DO in fact, matter).

ANYHOW, all this is to say that both Christelle and Cédric (ESPECIALLY Cédric) are characters who qpuld inevitably have to continue their family lines.

So, how does our author Sookym resolve this?

Answer: They basically both respectively end up accidentally making magically-adjacently created magically-genetic babies with Jung Yeseo as the mother (LMAO)

CYC's firstborn daughter is actually an "age-regressed/reincarnated" version of one of their past adversaries, Lynn Isenia, a water-attribute Cardinal-level Holy Knight from the Divine Kingdom of Venetiaan who was part of Wilhelmina Sneijder's apostles. After Christelle and Jibrip Diop defeated her in battle [530s], she ended up activating her stigma which resulted in her physical body melting into water before disappearing. Both Christelle and Jibril presume her to be dead after this encounter. Prior to her "death", Lynn had actually expressed interest both in Yeseo (for his pure and bountiful ether) and in Christelle (for the divine power and ability that the Blessing of the Azure Ocean gave her), so it's many not out of nowhere that her resurrected body became Christelle and Yeseo's "child". (Side note: on the continent, Water has often religiously been symbolic of resurrection and new beginnings.)

So, how was "Lynn Isenia" (re)born?

Prior to her "birth", Yeseo was actually visited in a dream by a little baby expressing how hungry they were ("I need pure ether to grow big!" [693]. Yeseo, blearily under the impression that Rhea is the one asking for ether, eventually gives in, and the baby satisfying responds about how delicious his ether is, before finally thanking him ("Thank you, Dad.") which jolts Yeseo awake. Suffice to say, this was basically conception dream of soon-to-be Mama Yeseo.

Turns out, after using her stigma, Lynn Isenia became a wandering puddle/water-blob existence, and eventually found herself tagging along with Yeseo and Co. She was able to cultivate herself back to a human form by basically using Christelle's water-attribute ether as an embryonic sac, which was then had been further nourished and natured by Yeseo's pure ether. I call Yeseo the mom here because he's also the one who technically(?) "births" her LMAO—as in, she emerges/phases out from his belly and pops into existence in his arms out of the blue 😭😭 Everyone is so shocked by this scene that they pretty much forget that Yeseo has been "forever single", and in her shock, Christelle even asks him if an annunciation(LMAO) just happened, before Yeseo reminds them all, flustered, that he literally physically cannot give birth by himself and that the child couldn't be his 😭

That aside, turns out, the baby was born more water than human and without much of her memories, but she does remembers bits and pieces about being "Lynn Isenia", and so people draw the dots together from there. Despite this, she is undoubtedly her own, new, separate existence from the previous Lynn Isenia, with her own personality, wants, and needs (she is also pretty much just a baby, and not a Holy Knight who tried killing them once lol). This arc was actually super interesting to me, because throughout it, Isenia has shown attachment to Yeseo, but ESPECIALLY Christelle, whom Lynn actually considers very firmly to be her "mom" (since Chris' ether was also what helped nurtured Lynn). I love this arc a lot because it delves even deeper into Ham Ga-in as a person, as well as her suppressed anxieties and traumas regarding her own identity crisis, her outlook on parenthood, and subsequently, her relationship with her new mother-figure, Isabelle and her ever growing and increasing, yet suppressed, guilt over taking over her daughter's place. Christelle actually dislikes the idea of Lynn being her "baby" so much, to the point where she even feels hatred towards her own self for being such an "irresponsible/childish" adult. Of course, her worries are very valid, because Lynn is basically a "baby she never planned for", and even worse to her guilty conscious, one who sincerely loves and admires her so much despite Christelle's aversion. But eventually though, after very well-written emotional build-up and resolution, Christelle reconciles her relationship with her new mother Isabelle (one of my favourite parts EVER of the novel btw) and even more so with Lynn, whom she proposes that they reformulate the nature of their relationship and asks that Lynn instead call her "unnie". In the end, Lynn gets adopted by Isabelle, and officially becomes "Lynn Rambouillet" 🥹 Christelle and Lynn have a very fun and playful relationship after this, now that they can fully open their hearts to each other, and Christelle herself does her best to be an adult figure worthy of Lynn's sincere admiration and love.

So that's the first CYC child! Of course, Chris definitely acts more like an auntie/older sister, but does sincerely comes to care for the baby, and Yeseo, being the one with the most (momCOUGH) older brother instincts, takes to child-rearing pretty much like a fish in water. I think that I should also note that Lynn is very much Christelle's family. The baby takes after Christelle in their disliking and bullying of Cédric LMAOOOOOOOOO (at one point, Lynn refers to someone as very handsome, and Yeseo, naturally, assumes it's Cédric, before Lynn confirms that Jibril's looks are more of her style LOLOLOL and even picks up on the trend of calling Cédric a pig too. I think at one point, she even calls him ugly 😂😭)

BUT ANYHOW, NOW FOR CEDYES'S CHILD LMAO

Surprise~! Congrats to CYC on being the family of another daughter! Tbh, I think it's really fitting, because CYC all feel like Girl Dads.

SO!!

Their second baby is also a reincarnation. This one is MASSIVE SPOILERS regarding character death and some parts of the ending, because this happens like. in Chapter 797 and into the 800s.

Cédric and Yeseo's "child" was actually born from a seed. It was initially empty, and needed a core ingredient in order to germinate. This core would eventually be the body of the deceased Elise Venetiaan, who died at the end of the Riester and Venetiaan war (by whom, i will leave thay to you to find out *winks through tears*. Her death was very well-written and she's such a beloved and tragic chatacter oughhhh). Collecting her body, the Spirit of Eranda of the earth-attribute used it as a vessel to nurture the Seed and looked after it, pouring divine power into it and keeping it safe. It needed much more than just the Spirit's divine power, however, and eventually asked for Cédric to give it some strength. With this request, Cédric uses his abilities to offer it a sacred ether flame, which the Seed absorbs into its membrane [812]. His gift and offering of holy flames was not enough however, and the Spirit eventually reveals that in order for the Seed to fully achieve growth, it would require the "sacred moon" to finally bear fruit, and that no other ether would work. Naturally, the moon in question is our Jung Yeseo. Things gets a bit complicated because there's a lot going on in this arc (it's one of my favourites OUGHHHHH it's so damn good I swear) but basically, Yeseo was pretty much forced home by the powers of the Narrative and the Three Sisters (Bozena), and with that, he also took with him the literal moon of the TWSB world, as well as everyone's memories of Yeseo in the process. So, when the Spirit said that they need to moon to finally bear fruit from the Seed, it further propels Christelle, Cédric, Jibril and the original Jesse's (Losna, whose body he retook following Yeseo's second expulsion from their world) mission to bring back their "moon", gradually recovering their memories of him and growing all the more determined to get him back.

And eventually, they do finally reunite again 🥹 Upon returning back to the TWSB world (and establishing a permanent link between the TWSB world and Yeseo's world), Yeseo is finally asked by the Spirit to bless the Seed. Pouring his golden ether into it, the Seed cam finally begin its process of sprouting, now that moonlight has returned to the world and with Yeseo blessing the red seed [887].

The baby is finally born from the fruit in Chapter 917. Empress Frédérique is actually the one to first hold her, and is instilled with a feeling of familiarity/nostalgia upon holding a baby with hair as dark as Cédric in her arms once again. We can definitely assume she got that dark hair because of Cédric's influence on the Seed, but her eyes are still blue like Elise's were. It's an emotional birth for sure, with Losna and Cornelisse eventually getting their turn to hold her, too, and they both cry over their older sister having finally been reborn with a clean slate—chance to live a now more happier and relaxed life, one that will be full of love, especially with her new very extended family.

Because the colour of the fruit she was born from was red, the baby Elise Riester eventually gained the nickname of 'Cerise' (first coined by Yeseo and then picked up by everyone else)(lmao he really is her mom), which is additionally really fitting because "Cherry" in French sounds really close to Elise's own name hehe. She's a cute baby, and also gets officially declared by Frédérique as a "granddaughter/descendant of the Empire" (basically saying that she has chosen to adopt her, and Cédric has gained a younger sister despite the absence of the Prince Consort wfkfkdkdk but because her birth was miraculous and witnessed by many, it's easily accepted). Maartje, her only genuine friend and reliable adult companion in her life before her death, becomes her Godmother TvT and the Venetiaan siblings always visit her and shower her with love.

Also, you may perhaps wonder why she wasn't made a Venetiaan again, but keep in mind that this is right after the end of the Riester-Venetiaan war, where trials against the main villains have occured, Christanne has declared that she will be stepping down from her position as Queen, and that Venetiaan is now under Riester rule. The Venetiaan Royal Family's mistakes and history are now all basically made public, and while the people are still very loving towards them, the Royal Family themselves acknowledge that their family has done and has allowed many back things to happen to Venetiaan under their rule, and that a lot of cleaning up in the kingdom has to be done. Though, it's implied that Cornelisse will eventually come to be the new Queen, once all things are settled.

"Won't baby Cerise and her siblings be separated, then?" Actually, think of it like a joint household wkwkkkw. It definitely helps that Cerise was born near the Temple of Boundaries, and the (new) Pope's residence (which Cédric has enthusiastically proposed to fund and construct, and even build a new portal that leads there directly from HIS ROMERO PALACE 😭😭😭😭 just so that he, Chris, and friends could always visit Yeseo and vice-versa now that he's Pope)(almost forgot to mention that the portal to Yeseo's home in Korea is also in this location, so Cédric literally offered to build him a new home that is both near his second home in Riester, as well as his first home in Korea so that he can easily switch between worlds....... He's is just like his great-grandfather Romero. A SIMP 😭). Thus, Cornelisse can easily visit her little older sister, and even Losna actually expresses a desire to remain in Riester, too, since he didn't have many good memories in Venetiaan, anyway, aside from his sisters 🥹🥲 So he'll be able to visit Cerise easily! He's actually even been offered to be the stand-in regent of Yeseo's territory estate in Sérénité when Yeseo is away, which works out now that Yeseo will probably have to take up Popal duties now too WKDHJDKDKD

OH I COMPLETELY FORGOT TO MENTION THIS TOO LMAOOOO

Their second child was actually foreshadowed by Jung Hyunseo of all people, who, prior to all the events of these chapters, actually had a conception dream where Yeseo came home with a baby girl with dark hair and blue eyes 😂😭😭😭 Pray for this guy, he's gonna get grey hairs early. Hyunseo was actually really worried that his troublemaking younger brother would actually come home one day with a niece out of the blue.

AND TURNS OUT....... YESEO REALLY DID JUST THAT LMAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

At some point, Yeseo takes the portal back home with Cerise and Cédric in tow so that he could introduce her to Hyunseo. But for some reason..... this guy....... the way he does it was pretty much:

"Ta-da~ It's our baby!"

(WHY IS HE LIKE THIS 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭)

Hyunseo is literally hacking up a lung from how shocked he is, meanwhile Yeseo is sincerely praising (bragging) about their baby to his dumbfounded brother while Cédric is watching this chaos with a very smug and proud expression (THIS BRAT.... WHAT ARE YOU, THE FATHER?? 😭)((PRETTY MUCH......))

I'm actually really amused by how she might potentially grow up, because so far, it seems that she is really taking after Cédric 😂 She's already a Holy Knight despite being a baby—fire-attribute like her dad!! Hyunseo wondered if she inherited this from Cédric, too, to which Cédric merely responds with more smugness 😭 Hyunseo really hates Cédric, I cannot express how funny this is. His younger brother got caught up with an arrogant guy!!

BUT ANYHOW. SORRY THIS WAS SUPER LONG. Also a pretty late reply bc it just takes so much time to write these LMAOFHDJDJKS but omg. TWSB is really just..... it's so good. Sookym single-handedly solved the Heir Question by making her MCs magically manifest children together that could inherit their families/continue their bloodlines in their stead. Chris is awarded her own title of Marquess after the war, so Lynn is probably set to inherit the Rambouillet family after Isabelle, and if Chris doesn't have kids of her own. As for Cédric, his political and religious partners are most probably going to be Christelle and Yeseo, and since ChriCed's relationship is the cat-and-dog way that it is (HAHAHA) even despite having grown closer and partners, I think it's fair to say that Cerise would be 2nd‐in-line to the throne, and if Cédric never has children, if Cerise ever does in the future they can be eligible to become the next Crown Prince(ss), or otherwise they'll adopt from collateral lines. But in the end, I sincerely hope these girls would grow up with LOTS of love. They both deserve it after all the troubles they went through in their previous lives... 🥲 Elise's wish before death was for the cleansing of her country, too, so in this new world and era of peace, it's SO reassuring and deserving that she could be reborn in families that would give her so much love.

OH I would also like to point out that both girls have similar colour palettes, as in, Lynn has blue hair and dark eyes, while Cerise has dark hair and blue eyes. Sookym has actually admitted to purposefully doing this so that they could really look like sisters, and we as readers can absolutely assume that they will could grow up as such, too... 🥹

(Sookym behind-the-scenes from their blog! This was in reference to Lynn's appearance in the latest official illustration of the Rambouillet family: https://sookym.tistory.com/m/2) :

Anyhow, it's fair to say that they are pretty much spiritually CYC's children, just with the official roles as their adopted younger siblings haha. The sibling relationship is more so with Christelle and Lynn, but Cédric and Cerise..... Dude. I can literally see this guy as a Girl Dad. He's already so smug that she already takes so much after him and that she was born with both Yeseo and his own help, it's so damn funny. LIKE YOURE NOT TECHNICALLY ///ACTUALLY/// HER FATHER, BUT YOU SURE ACT LIKE IT HUH...... 😭 Cerise is going to be the most spoiled and loved baby in Empire for sure, and Lynn will naturally follow too, since they both share a crazy family and have the most powerful people taking care of them hahaha (look how Gerrit is being treated—he's not even a Riester but he's always doted on and gaining absurd amounts of pocket money from everyone, even from Cédric hahaha)

ANYWAY I HOPE THIS WAS ABLE TO SATE SOME OF YOUR CURIOSITY!!!!!!!!

I love the CYC children so much....... their mere existence fills me with such joy, and I hope we see more of them in the upcoming side stories 🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹

[joeloverture]

ok, more on this because apparently i have to say all of this. if responding to it makes the hate worse i honestly could not give less of a fuck about it than i already do. i am here to express myself so u best believe that is what my ass will be doing!!

this is gonna be a bit long and a bit winded bc ive been keeping this close to my chest for a while.

i genuinely don't fucking write for an audience. if i was writing for an audience you'd have never seen me post fair's fair. you'd have never seen me writing flesh currency! i write what i want. when i'm horny. when i want to make other people horny (i guess?). when i feel like it. when im healthy enough to do it.

no my fics are not the magnum opus. no they arent being strung up in the goddamn louvre. that isnt what im trying to do. i juice joy out of my fanfic writing and am KIND enough to put it on the internet for others to enjoy if they so wish. nobody is holding you at gunpoint to read my "shit writing".

fanfic writers either dont post enough or they post too much you really, really gotta pick one.

i spent like 5 months on hiatus in debilitating pain and was in and out of the hospital for a few weeks out of those months. i couldnt even write a goddamn diary entry. you have no idea how happy i am to have my creative voice back.

its... my winter break. of fucking course im writing lol i dont have anything else to do!!!! there's nothing else id rather be doing because i actually like this!

id rather write as a hobby than crank out anon hate, personally. maybe that's a me issue?

then, a bit more on identity and the role of identity in all of this

ive had to start counting the amount of anons i get with hateful slurs in them. since coming back i've been called the r slur. the f slur. the c slur. the b slur. everything in the fucking book. not only is it uncreative, its regressive.

y'all either dont like me because im annoying or blatantly showing autistic traits or outspoken abt being marginalized or bc you dislike my writing or because you have absolutely nothing better to do (the latter of which is particularly pathetic)

regardless you are weaponizing my identity to either try to terrorize me in general or drive me off of this site. think about how weird that is.

also so many of these asks are laden with an undercurrent of ableism. like, oh my god, the disabled girl is posting a lot ! woah! holy shit! call the fucking news outlets!

oh my god, the disabled girl is showing autism traits on main!!!! should we call autism speaks? should we invite sia?

this isnt even me defending myself, i feel no obligation to defend myself against these fuckers. i just did want to arrange my thoughts for the dash. sometimes talking helps me compose that sort of thing.

[dsudis]

To Be Brand New - 25/25, all complete!!

holy shit, we made it!!!

Check out all the art by @fishfingersandscarves

To Be Brand New || Dream of the Endless | Morpheus/Hob Gadling || Explicit || 25/25 || 141,159 words

Book 7: Brief Lives (The Sandman), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fix-It, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, at least during this story, Age Regression/De-Aging, Slow Burn, like the slowest burn, Like One of Them Is A Pre-Sexual Child for the First 100K, What If The Red String Of Fate Was Also A Toddler Leash, Touch-Starved Dream of the Endless | Morpheus, Protective Hob Gadling, Cuddling & Snuggling, Caretaking, Bathing/Washing, Sharing a Bed, Crying, Hurt/Comfort, Minor Injuries, Illnesses, Depression, Suicidal Thoughts, Explicit Sexual Content, Masturbation, Not Exactly Loss of Virginity But Kinda?, Implied/Referenced Monsterfucking, Happy Ending

On a rainy day in the Dreaming, Dream of the Endless watches the dreamfolk doting on Daniel Hall, and wishes he could be someone small enough to be loved. Hob Gadling has waited a long time for a chance to be closer to his stranger. This isn’t the way he ever imagined it happening, but he does love nothing better than being surprised.

[Read on Ao3 here!]

Thank you to everyone who supported this story in the writing, everyone who made art, and everyone who has been reading along all month! We're here! We made it! :D

[strawberryamanita]

It makes me juuuust a little insane that when the Barbie movie came out, everyone was like "why are people calling this groundbreaking when this is on the most bare-bones fundamental level of feminism" and then it turns out we actually needed to start that far back because holy shit the cultural regression has been remarkable.

Just a tiny bit

[azazelsazaleas]

Set a course...for home

So I just finished Voyager. And I have thoughts.

Endgame, like the series, was good but felt like it could've been so much more. I'm not the first fan to point out that it's weird that the last thing we see is Voyager flying towards Earth, with no coda or montage or anything showing each of the crew when they get home. What really surprised me on this viewing (I saw it once back when it first aired, but it's been over 20 years and I barely remembered it) was how slow the pacing was until the last 20 minutes or so. I kinda feel like the writers could've trimmed a bit out of it so we could have a more satisfying denouement. Oh well. They got home, Janeway thoroughly wrecked the Borg, and I'm not going to lie - I got a little choked up when they fly out of the exploding Borg Sphere and Janeway says, "We did it."

With that said, may as well go through the good, the not-so-good, and any other random thoughts I have in retrospect.

The good :

Captain Kathryn Janeway.

I'm sorry, that deserves to be written thusly:

CAPTAIN KATHRYN FUCKING JANEWAY

Oh my god, I love this woman. I think, at this point, she's my favorite Star Trek captain and easily one of my favorite characters in the franchise. She absolutely radiates an aura of "I am in charge here, and this situation is going to go how I decide it goes," and she delivers every damn time. Strong-willed, controversial, authoritative, intelligent, creative, and just damned incredible. Janeway alone is a major reason to give this show a watchthrough.

Not to mention, Kate Mulgrew is a fucking INCREDIBLE actress. She brings 110% to every episode, and I swear to god, she basically carried the first two or three seasons.

And speaking of amazing actresses, Jeri Ryan was incredible. A lot of people loved her performance in Body and Soul (and yes, watching her channel Robert Picardo was delightful), but seeing her constantly changing personalities in Infinite Regress two seasons earlier was the big "Holy Shit" moment for me. Even beyond that, she was brilliant as Seven of Nine (and say what you will about ST:Picard, I loved seeing her step back into the role). It also doesn't hurt that Seven is one of the most interesting characters on the show, if not on Star Trek.

In general, the show had some great characters on the main cast. I found I really liked Tuvok and B'Elanna as well. Tim Russ nailed that "annoyed Vulcan who secretly cares" thing, and I thought B'Elanna's struggles with her identity were generally well-handled, at least for mid-late-90s TV.

I'm honestly surprised how fine I was with Tom/B'Elanna. I was not expecting that relationship to work as well as it did.

Speaking of "didn't expect that to work," Naomi Wildman was genuinely endearing as the "kid on the starship" character type that Star Trek seemed adamant on having in the 80s and 90s. I"m glad the writers learned their lessons post-Wesley Crusher.

Oddly enough, I also found I enjoyed some of the "bad" episodes - Threshold, Tuvix, etc. Voyager got pretty weird, so some of the more questionable creative choices were just damned entertaining. Not all of them, though. Which brings me to...

The Bad:

Oh my god fuck the Kazon. They are easily the worst recurring villain race I've seen on Star Trek. They don't even seem like ST villains, they seem like the kind of thing you'd see on a b-rate late night 1990s crappy sci-fi action show. They're like an attempt to make Klingon copies but without literally anything whatsoever that makes the Klingons compelling.

Speaking of which, fuck Seska, too. I still have a hard time buying that any self-respecting Cardassian would look at the Kazon and go, "yep, I'll throw my lot in with them."

The whole Neelix/Kes thing was...gross. I'm sorry, there's no way around that. They had no chemistry, no compelling reason to be in a relationship, and the whole thing with Kes's age felt like a variation on the theme of "she may look 12 but she's actually a 5000 year old dragon." Whichever producer came up with that needs to have something solid thrown at them.

In general, Neelix was just the worst character for the first couple or three seasons. He got a lot better, but early Neelix was...yikes. I got genuinely frustrated with how much time was focused on him.

I also have mixed feelings about Chakotay. Sometimes he was pretty great, but the whole behind-the-seasons thing with the "cultural advisor" made for some pretty bad early character building, and after they gave up on that, he felt kind of flat. And now that I think of it, inconsistent. It seems like the writers (at least in the early seasons) couldn't decide between making him a tough hardass who'll punch you if you don't get in line or the more calm, measured, cautious voice in contrast to Janeway's bullheadedness.

Seven/Chakotay was just...no.

Other random thoughts:

I have mixed feelings about the EMH. Robert Picardo was great in the role, but as the character progressed, I feel like he got away with crossing lines he really should not have. The entire episode Renaissance Man just pissed me off. Can't say I was thrilled with some of his behavior in Body and Soul, either. The whole running gag of him having a giant ego seemed to swing between hilarious and painful to watch, as well.

The show was good, but it felt like it could've been so much more. Part of it was Paramount's insistence on not having anything serialized, but part of it was also how actionized it got. There's a number of episodes that felt like they could've done something more interesting but instead the producers wanted phasers and explosions.

I have very mixed feelings about how the Borg were handled. On one hand, Seven is an amazing character, the Scorpion 2-parter is probably my favorite pair of episodes in the show's run, and there are a couple other Borg-relate episodes I liked. On the other hand, I thought the Borg as a direct threat got stale quickly, Dark Frontier nerfed them way too much, they felt underwhelming as an enemy in Endgame, and (yes I know this is more of a criticism of First Contact, but still) the Borg having a Queen ruins a lot of the creepy mystique they have. No matter how you slice it, I think the Borg as a recurring enemy were pretty much spent by the end of Voyager.

Favorite episodes (off the top of my head): Scorpion 1&2, Equinox 1&2, Bride of Chaotica!

Final score: 7 out of 9 (you were expecting anything else?)

[liquidstar]

i think subaru is interesting as a protagonist because of the way he gets fleshed out over the story. i mean, its fairly common to reveal character backstories to have their actions leading up to this point make more sense, but for an isekai protagonist in particular i just think the way its done is so interesting.

you start the story with pretty much 0 context about who this kid is. and this is typical genre convention, you assume that you dont need context because its an isekai. the story doesnt really have to establish anything beyond that hes just some nerdy kid. thats how it usually goes right? hes not MEANT to have a backstory, hes meant for the viewer to project upon. and that works for a while but

by arc 2 his very specific character quirks start to pop up, and you also start to see that hes trying VERY HARD to play a role in his head. a very specific role that hes chosen out. and this eventually comes to a head in arc 3, especially after the julius fight and falling-out with emilia. and thats when you see him at his lowest with actual deeply rooted FLAWS. ones he was desperately trying to run from to play the isekai hero role. and then you get the "from zero" speech which is such a turning point for his entire character.

but you still haven't even begun to scratch the surface of what makes him tick. the story doesn't give you his actual backstory until arc 4, with the trial's glimpse into his family and school life. and everything about him makes sense. not that it didnt make sense before but holy crap... hes a character. hes not a just self insert. hes got a lot of really specific fucked up shit going on in his head. he has a family, he had friends, he went to school, he was a teenager... he was a guy! a person! and now you really get who that person is and why hes Like This

and it seems like thats it. from here on out its just about development, arc 5 doesnt really dive deep into any more of his backstory, and arc 6 is all about REGRESSION for him. his memories literally go back to the exact point they were when the story started. though this time we have a lot more context.

that's all you need to know right? i mean by this point the story is seven arcs in, what other possible revelations could there be about the protagonist that would put his entire story arc until this point into a whole new context-

NATSUMI SCHWARTZ

[skylar-325]

Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint Read Through

Ch 32-52

Beginning: Ch1-10

(I think this was my favourite read through so far XD)

I pushed to punch this asshole's face. I didn't understand. This wasn't the 'third regression' Yoo Joonghyuk that I knew.

>KDJ: Look at me YJH, look into my eyes. *grabs his shoulder* This isn’t you. Get the fuck out of this safe zone so I can be safe.

I was bleeding from minor wounds and the shoulders struck by the grolls' horns were red with blood.

>Reading it in the novel feels so much worse than the manhwa for some reason 😭

"You can become much stronger with me than with him. You still won't go?" "Yes. I won't." "…Stupid kid."

>oh he’s so mad lmfao

"I only use it on men." "Oh my."

>…Dokja buddy let me hold your hand when I say this. You are a homose- *gets run over by a car*

"I know what I know. Of course I don't know. I'm just talking to myself."

>…huh?

If my guess was right, our damn regressor would be on the 'sunfish route¹'.

>WHOOP he said the thing!

"Hey, why are you talking to Heewon-ssi but ignoring me?" "Uh… that, I'm a bit weak to older females."

>I…IS EVERYONE IN THIS BOOK QUEER?

[The constellation 'Demon-like Judge of Fire' likes your desire to rehabilitate a fallen friend.]

>Oh I bet she does

"I saw it in a book when I was a child." "When you were a child?"

>I love Gilyoung with all my heart but he can be so suspicions sometimes

I thought of how Lee Hyunsung's eyes would shine with loyalty towards me and already felt warm.

>AWWWW

Mjolnir was lightly lifted by Lee Gilyoung's hands. Lee Gilyoung swung the hammer around before looking at me.

>So Gilyoung is Thor, k ok cool

[The constellation 'Secretive Plotter' hates spoilers.]

>DUDE SAME

A novel reader recently spoiled something huge in my comments and I wanted to tear my hair out like WHYTFBNHGGBBN

In fact, sunfish were very durable creatures. They died because they were vulnerable to stress, not because they were weak.

>someone get this man a therapist. wont that save the world? some stress balls and anti-depressants and he’ll be unstoppable.

"Alone?"

「 I… 」

"What did I come here for if you are alone?"

>i love this scene so much 🥹

"It sounds like you know a lot." "I know him the best in this world."

>That’s…Dokja you’re making this too easy

"I came here because of you! Why are you alone? We are together!"

"No, wait a minute."

"I've always been around you! Don't lose hope! Think of the child!"

"That isn't what I…"

>HAHAHAHA I’M DYING

"…Indeed. Don't worry, I'll give him this love letter!"

>lmaooo i love this scene holy shit XD

"I am Yoo Joonghyuk."

>oh here we go

"But Yoo Joonghyuk-nim should've realized it from your past regressions. Even if you have an outstanding miracle, you alone can't fight against the disasters that will come."

>The first grader is trying to teach the guy with a phd in yjh lmao

–Then tonight will be a hot night?

–H-Hot…?

>Poor Hyunsung someone protect this man 😭

These jerks, they only got the cute side of Yoo Joonghyuk in the beginning…

>EXCUSE ME????? CUTE?????? DOKJA MY MAN GET UP

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

Next: Ch 53-73

Previous: Ch 21-31

Beginning: Ch 1-10

[tbhimnoteasyonmyself]

15 Day BL Challenge - DAY 44

Hellooooooooo~~ A good week to you all!

What Dramatic Scene Really Stuck with You?

I'm all for dramatism tbh, though I do think BL is very prone to unnecessary drama right at the end to spice things up just bc, which I am not a huge fan of. That being said... Maybe we should start a Jack&Joker counter?

JackJoke's Argument in the Hospital (Jack & Joker)

The sequence of events is A LOT. Carbon is back, Toi Ting is thrown, the gang goes to the hospital, Joke is bawling, Jack arrives, Jack and Joke argue and break up, there's a surgery... Like OOF, HOLD ON, LET ME PROCESS THIS!!

But it's really good, I mean... The argument is so on point. From Joke putting the blame all on himself to Jack being hotheaded... It all makes perfect sense. And it's heartbreaking. I think we can all agree every time Joke cried a fairy died somewhere. So R.I.P to the 5892 fairies who died during the production of Jack & Joker and their respective families. Thoughts and prayers 🙏.

HONOURABLE MENTION: Sky Getting Assaulted Again (Love in the Air)

One moment Sky's at the race, the next one he's reliving his biggest trauma. It's so fast. So fucking fast. But it's so well done, I mean... Peat and Fort and both great actors and the development of that entire sequence is great. Also the actor that plays Peat's ex, Dunk Patak, was so ABSOLUTELY FUCKING PRECISE playing that role, like, holy shit, shout-out, dude, you made me fucking hate your face, congrats!

Plus the convo scene where Sky and Pai talk about the situation and what they feel regarding it... As someone who's been on both sides of this situation... Wow... No words, it was really well done. The regression to that moment when you talk about it... The powerlessness you feel as the person listening, not having been able to do anything about it... It's by far my fav scene in LITA. Hands down.

[swedebeast]

Stargate SG-1, season 7, episode 3 goof

So, we all love Stargate in here, but some goofy things happen in it. I am not talking about space worms and viking god aliens, but I am talking about things that were not meant to be looked over by someone with a pause feature.

So, in this episode Colonel O'Neill gets age regressed by aliens, and Teal'c and Daniel search in their database for alien abductions of similar events. "Your people have had many encounters with beings from other worlds", says Teal'c - because we got all kinds of UFO abduction stories and hoaxes. Thing is, they need to search for situations and stories with similar events - with O'Neill have his age regressed to that of a teenager.

Teal'c and Daniel marvel at how many abduction cases match.

277 hits and... the search criteria are

"abduction, other world, bright lights, encounter"

Nothing about age regression, nothing even about stolen time, and you get a measly 277 hits? Like, holy shit, this counts as "a lot"?

I love you Stargate, but come on.

[sparkles-and-trash]

some dabihawks lovechildren fluff ~

To begin with, Touya was the nervous wreck.

With all his baggage and trauma he was terrified of transfering that to innocent kids.

Keigo was always calm, sure it was gonna be a-okay!

…until he actually like, held the twins.

Saw their tiny faces, held their little hands, he had a full blown «holy shit these are real humans I have to care for» moment that makes him a little crazy.

Touya however, regresses right back into his big brother years.

He loves being silly with them, throwing them in the air, making them giggle so heard they’re out of breath.

Everytime Keigo reads up on parenting books and forums and goes into a bit of a frenzy, Touya likes to remind him that;

«Hey, look at how fucked up our childhood was, and we turned out fine!»

…which used to make Keigo being up the villain and child solider point, but he gives up on that during the twins’ first year.

Keigo spends four years running around after the twins telling them to watch out, be careful, wear their helmets, don’t fly without supervision, to take care of each other, all without realizing how crazy he’s being.

Then they decide to build the twins a tree house.

It starts out with Touya and Keigo doing it together, but after Touya nearly killed Keigo five times within the first hour because of how helpless he is with tools, it ends up with Natsuo coming over and helping Keigo out.

Keigo goes into full on project mode, and Natsuo likes Keigo, and he loves his niece and nephew, so he hangs on the best that he can.

After three days the little birdhouse, as Natsuo likes to call it, is finished, and the kids are so excited they can hardly stay on the ground.

When they finally arrive to the scene, Touya has to excuse himself for a solid five minutes to get his laughter under control.

Keigo built their kids a tree house.

On the ground.

Well, it’s maybe two or three feet off the ground, but it’s hardly a tree house of any kind.

The kids are still happy as can be, they hadn’t really known what to expect anyway, and Natsuo has to explain how the hours started up actually in the tree, but got moved a little closer to the ground three times a day.

He’d try to talk Keigo out of it, but he quite honestly found the whole thing funny as hell.

Touya doesn’t have the heart to tell either Keigo or the kids how ridiculous it is to have a tree house on the ground, especially since all three of them can fly, so he just lets them have their fun.

When the twins gets a little older and brings friends over, some of them like to make some comments about the «ground house», but the twins always defends it so hard the other kids give up.

After all, were their tree houses buildt by the former no 2 hero???

Didn’t think so.