#like this run has a whole bunch of plot obviously but the reason it's so long is because there's a SHIT TON of plot and development

[cher-rei]

afterglow- pt 2 [ T.A.A ]

pairings: trent alexander arnold × fem!reader

summary: young and aspiring marketing and business major jamie carter (you) is privileged with working alongside the liverpool marketing and public relations team while also getting entangled with their star player and right back, trent alexander arnold.

[wc: 2,1k] [part 1] [part 3] [part 4] [part 5] [part 6] [part 7] [part 8] [part 9] [part 10] [part 11] [part 12]

genre(s): friends?? to lovers, work romance, fluff

warnings: swearing

notes: guys I totally forgot that curtis has a girlfriend help💀 so I'm just gonna remove her completely and in here they're not together... it's for the plot I swear

"what the fuck?!"

"jamie!" your sister's voice echoed through the house to your bedroom that early wednesday morning. it was normal for her to scold at you whenever you swore anywhere near her. which was all the time seeing as the two of you shared an apartment.

you didn't bother apologising as usual though and sat up straight in your bed, your blankets dishevelled and a look of confusion plastered on your face. "no way," you gawked at your phone screen and ran your fingers through your hair to try and comprehend what had just happened.

"there's really no reason to be shouting at 7 in the morning." you brushed your sister's comment off, the older girl taking it as a sign to join you on the edge of your bed to see what had gotten you all riled up.

she let out a heavy sigh as she moved you over so that she could sit with you. "speak woman. I don't have all day."

you took a breath and turned to look at her, eager eyes staring you down for any sort of explanation you could give her. "Okay so basically I just woke up and obviously my first instinct is to check my insta and twitter notifications because I got a bunch."

she gave you a look. "which isn't anything new. probably just a few followers or something."

you pointed your index finger in her direction. "exactly. but then--"

you turned your phone in her direction, your twitter feed showing up. "--I saw that I was being tagged like crazy. only to realise that this whole liverpool pr thing is blowing up."

maya gave you another look. as if you to say 'what did you expect?'. she began to get up from the bed but you quickly caught her wrist and pulled her back down again, urging her to stay for the rest of the story.

"jamie," she sighed. "you have an entire fanbase, of course they're going to go crazy over something like this."

you shook you head. "that's what I thought. but then I decided to go check my instagram notifications because apparently..."

you turned your phone screen to maya, displaying your follower list and lo and behold right at the top, your most recents followers queued up.

"what the fuck?!"

you jumped up at your sister's reaction. "that's what I'm saying!"

jude bellingham was one thing. but the entire liverpool squad?? there was no reason for that to happen at all. you were just some random twitch streamer on the p.r team, nothing more.

was it because I kicked the ball on monday?? it was so because I kicked that ball on monday.

you weren't going back to the training center for a while though. there were too many errands to run and meeting to sit through. and today's meeting at 10 was sure to pile even more projects on your table.

the match on saturday against wolves was going to be a premier league match so a lot of preparation had to be done for the interviews. yesterday's meeting already gave you a headache so today was going to be something for sure.

"is jamie not coming in today as well?" curtis asked no one in particular while his eyes roamed the hallways, yet there was no sight of the girl anywhere.

from beside him, trent quirked an eyebrow and nudged his arm. "you're on a first name basis already huh? you work fast."

curtis scoffed at his comment, recalling mpnday afternoon's events all to clearly after jaimie had left. "hey I'm not the one who stalked all her socials the second she left."

"what?" trent raised his hands in defence. "she looked familiar so I had to check."

"who looked familiar?"

the two jumped up at the sudden question, their glares shot at dominik who had pushed in beside trent who only shook his head, not bothering to brush off dominik's arm that was slung over his shoulders.

"the new p.r girl," he answered and put his phone away.

"jamie?"

trent shot him a weird look and then to curtis who was smiling from ear to ear with an 'I told you so' look. "what so you're all just on a first name basis? how did that even happen?"

the conversation carried on until they got to the field and even during their warm-up session. but it still seemed off to trent who grew more an more confused whenever someone chimed in with an "are you talking about jamie?"

it didn't make sense to him. they barely knew her or had any decent conversations. what difference did asking about where she was from or how many siblings she had make? but either way, the team wondered why trent has such a big issue with it.

"did you guys know that jamie's a twitch streamer?"

"what the hell?" trent groaned in obvious frustration when ibou chimed in while they were doing their laps around the field.

"what? are you just going to call her 'ms carter' for the rest of your life?" ibou asked again with a low chuckle which got a small shrug from trent.

"obviously not. it's just that she's a staff member and has a job to do." he turned his head to look at curtis who seemed fed up either the mini lecture that he was getting, but he felt that it needed to be said.

"she's not here to be your friend or--"

"--I fully agree with you trent. I'm glad some of us have common sense," harvey retorted out of nowhere.

seriously. they didn't even know he was there. the smallest of the group was adorning a look of determination as he jogged alongside his teammates. one that screamed, 'I hate jamie carter.'

ibou scoffed from beside him. "oh shut up. you're just mad because she's taller than you."

the group couldn't hold back their laughter as they watched harvey go quiet, a look of defeat on his face as she shook his head to the side. he'd get her back. one day.

but with trent's issue, everyone's argument was that they were just trying to make her feel comfortable. and he could give them the benefit of the doubt there, he knew how fans tended to react to situations like this and their presence in general was probably a lot to her.

but there was no reason to be involved with her personally. okay so what if he was the first one to follow her on Instagram?? when dominik saw that he was stalking her account his first instinct was to take trent's phone and follow her, just to tease him.

but then everyone followed her so that was kind of pointless.

after a bit more back and forth banter curtis let out a sigh. "but either way, she's friends with jude in a way or something." he gave trent a cheeky smile and the right back couldn't help but roll his eyes, knowing very well where he was leading with this.

"and any friend of jude, is a friend of mine," he finished and put his hand on his chest causing ibou to laugh but oh boy he wasn't finished just yet.

curtis took a moment to clear his throat and looked behind their group to see dominik running along with darwin and cody, laughing about what ever.

"if this is like any movie I've watched, then someone is walking out with more than just a premier league trophy."

that earned him a harsh slap on the arm from ibou but he didn't care and instead ran up in front of trent, now taking the liberty to jog backwards to take him head on. "what do you say? are you going to keep that 'ms carter' thing up until she becomes mrs alexander-arnold"?

"boys!"

everyone immediately halted at the sound of virgil's voice booming from the front with robbo and salah. "am I going to have to chase you to make you run any faster?"

you sat in the meeting room that afternoon with your laptop in front of you and your attention drawn to the front where the projector was with the media teams director, marvin colesmen.

he was a a slender man no older than 40, with blonde hair that was styled to the side. he wore a polo shirt underneath his blazer with a very obnoxious pair of socks as well.

"regarding our performance, we're doing fairly well but there's much room for improvement. but let's all thank clara for the last minute camera replacement last week since the last one broke."

everyone at the table immediately turned to look at someone who you remembered to be shaun. all he did was roll his eyes, and judging by the death glares he was receiving he definitely broke that camera.

mental note: don't break anything. ever.

"ms carter?"

your head snapped to the front at the call of your name, a bubble of anxiety filling your stomach now that you were put on the spot.

"do you have any thoughts on anything I've said?"

thoughts?? I don't have any thoughts??

"uhm..." you sat upright in your chair as you trailed off to formulate a response. "I think that more attention should be drawn to the team's more laid back promotional content."

great answer.

marvin tipped his head to the side at the response in intrigue. "care to elaborate?"

not really.

you licked your lips as you thought. "coming from a supporter, the occasional training video and interview don't really attract attention."

you watched as marvin urged you on with a nod. "and I think we should expand our content to something more entertaining. it'll be more rewarding for them team that way as well, I'm sure they're tired of answering the same questions every other week," a small laugh left your lips but you immediately stopped.

the room was dead silent and the atmosphere was a little too hostile for your liking. it was obvious that everyone was waiting for marvin to either shoot you down mercilessly or agree with you. but the experience was nothing short of terrifying.

the director nodded his head and continued to mutter something to himself before sending you a smile. "I'm giving you a week to come up with entertaining alternatives. if you convince me enough, I'll give you what you need since you'll be with the team from next week onwards unless I need you. you'll be joining them on the trip to molineux saturday morning as well. I'm sure the fans wouldn't mind seeing you in the booth either."

what's that supposed to mean?

when the meeting was finally over you didn't waste a second and rushed to pack your things and get in your car. you needed to hurry if you wanted to miss the rush hour traffic but of course you were wrong and sat in the car for an extra 40 minutes. lovely.

by the time you got back home, you felt as if every bit of energy had be drained from your body. you dropped your keys onto the counter in front of the door and kicked off your shoes.

"jamie?"

you let out a groggy "yeah" and dragged yourself to the kitchen where your sister was finishing up supper. you didn't say much and took your usual seat on one of the barstools and rested your head on your arm.

"so," maya poked your head. "how was work?"

as an answer you gave her a mumbled run down of your day, and by the time you were done the only words she heard were "broken camera".

she let out a hum regardless to show that she was paying attention and continued to stir the pasta in the pan. "well a kid fell down the slide today. I know I'm the teacher but I still laughed."

you couldn't help but cough up a laugh at her sudden confession. you looked up at her with a smile and she slumped her shoulders. "I just hope no one saw."

by the time you had gotten out of the shower. finished your night routine and ate dinner you were surged with a sudden burst of energy and needed to get it out. after a bit of scrolling through your socials and interacting with your followers and a much-needed poll on instagram, you decided to start a twitch stream.

and boy did it lead somewhere.

[wutheringmights]

I finished rereading The Song of the Lioness quartet by Tamora Pierce a couple of days back. I already talked about the first book in a post that garnered more attention than it deserved. I guess we were all happily reminiscing about the menstruation scenes together, or Tortall fans are so starved for content they (we) will reblog anything.(Understandable. I too am starved for a thriving Tortall fandom.)

I'm too lazy to make separate posts about each book, so we're just going to do a mega post covering the second, third, and fourth book.

Unlike last time, I will be giving a little criticism to this series. I still love it endlessly, but there were a few things about the prose I thought was interesting that I want to talk about a bit.

So, without further ado~

In the Hand of the Goddess

I think this one is my favorite one, despite how rushed the plot it. It contains all of my favorite plot points, like awkward romances with George and Jon, attending knight lessons, and a little summer war. Fun stuff.

But it definitely feels rushed. I really wish someone told Pierce to make this a 12 book series, expanding on Alanna's years at the castle. It would have gone so far to better develop the romances and the friendships in these books.

I am fascinated by what Pierce chose to skim over. Characters would die or kiss for the first time off screen, with the prose resuming with Alanna reacting to it. It demonstrates an understanding of character work that I personally adore and try to emulate in my own writing-- the real bones of a story being in how characters respond to fantastic events as opposed to the fantastic events themselves.

Also, the whole veil spell Roger cast in objectively stupid, and I mean that in the most affectionate way possible. You're telling me that Roger used magic to make Alanna lose interest in doing anything about the obviously evil things he was doing? That's fucking hilarious. You know an editor came back to Pierce and asked her to come up with a reason why Alanna wasn't just going to spring into action at the first sign of Roger trying to kill her, only for Pierce to come up with this. It's so silly. I love it.

Woman Who Rides Like A Man

Did this book age poorly? Yes, but not as badly as I remembered. That's not a stirring defense, and it's really not meant to be.

The Bahzir are a mess of Orientalism, and Pierce definitely deserves criticism for not only the way she wrote them but for the ways in which she frames their cultural practices as something that needs to be fixed. Having Alanna want to force them to change their culture to suit her beliefs is not a great look for both the character and the writer. And that's not even getting into the whole assimilation plotline.

But I did enjoy Pierce's attempts to expand on the definition of womanhood, especially as a part of Alanna learning to embrace femininity. There is this running thread in these last two books of Alanna learning about all the different ways to be a woman and choosing for herself what her gender means to her. It's not done particularly well, and anyone looking for a revolutionary examination of gender roles and identity is going to be sorely disappointed. But there's an attempt here that I can't help but appreciate.

This book is also where Pierce starts to slow the plot down, which lends it to having the most reasonable pacing out of the bunch. That being said, it's also the book where the lack of development for a bunch of the side characters start to hurt. I really wish Gary or Raoul joined Alanna in the desert. Raoul gets his moment in the sun with the Protector of the Small books, but Gary remains largely forgettable. In fact, I spent this entire read-through convinced this man dies at the end of the last book, if only because I can't remember where he appears in any of the other books.

Lioness Rampant

This book somehow has the improved pacing of the third book while still feeling rushed. The quest for the Dominion Jewel really should have been it's own book, if only to give Thayet and Buri more room for development. Thayet in particular really needs her moment to shine, especially when she continues to be an important character in the other series.

But do you know who did get a lot of screen time? Liam.

Remembered shit about this guy before going into this book. I could only vaguely recalled disliking him as a kid, but not as much as I venomously hated Jon. (Speaking of which-- I love the way this man is realistically shitty. Him getting dumped by Alanna is always my favorite scene.) But Liam? Fuck that guy. Holy shit. I give full applause to Pierce for portraying the important milestones every girl goes through growing up, which includes having a situationship that is so shitty that it becomes essential character development.

Roger's return feels very... cheesy? I think Alex should have stepped up to be the final villain on the story. Unlike Roger, Alex was Alanna's friend. They have history. The betrayal would have imbued that final fight with so many more emotions than it ultimately had. I also would have liked Alanna to have at least meaningfully talked to Alex sometime before the climax.

Honestly, it's impressive how reactive Alanna is as a character in the last half of the book. She doesn't seek out how to stop Roger's plan, or fix Thom, or anything. Other characters make plans and she just... waits for something to go wrong.

That being said, by virtue of Alanna's relationships with George, Liam, and Jon all happening sometime in this plot, this book becomes a good place to look to get the full berth of how Pierce handles romances. Which, I love her approach. The romances are never over the top or, for lack of a better word, too romantic. It's very down to earth, with characters dating, marrying, or breaking up for realistic reasons.

Jon and Alanna were friends who broke up because they had different life plans. Liam and Alanna broke up for having fundamentally different values. As much as I bitch about how shitty Jon and Liam are, they're not cartoonishly evil. They're just a little shitty the way most of your exes will be. Jon and Liam are men could find love with someone else. They just aren't suited for Alanna.

Meanwhile, the most romantic things George does are wait for her and be supportive. He doesn't fight or get territorial. He makes his feelings clear, then waits for Alanna's cues. Alanna definitely loves him, but she ends up with him in the end because their lifestyles and core beliefs meld together. There's no grand romantic gesture or whirlwind affairs. They are just a good pair.

I have read stories with far heavier focuses on romance, and none of those couples feel as perfect as Alanna and George. Those stories prioritize all the gooey moments over showing why the main couple should get together. For how little romantic interactions they have, you believe these two could have a successful marriage. Perfect stuff.

---

Over all, I really enjoyed rereading these books. For all my griping, I still love the story. I love Alanna. She's a character who is fundamental to my soul. No matter where I am in life, I will always want to open these books and find her again, to walk back into Tortall and join her on her quest to be a lady knight.

My copies of the series come with forewards from a previous edition. In one of them, Pierce wrote that this series started off as an adult fantasy story that was much darker and edgier. I need to know what that story looks like, what happened in it. Pierce can claim as she wants that she hardly remembers what it looks like, but I refuse to believe that. Release the unedited first draft, Pierce. I am begging you.

[canirove]

My neighbour Rúben | Chapter 21

Author's note: And we've made it to the end 😔 Hope you guys have enjoyed this story even if it isn't the very best out there and the plot isn't groundbreaking 😅 But sometimes you just need to read something cute and simple, and that was my aim with this. As always, thank you very much for reading and all your support. It means a lot 💜

Previous chapter

Masterlist

It had been a month since my fall at the Etihad. Since I had made it to the news because someone had reported that the woman rolling down the stairs was Rúben Dias girlfriend and that that was the reason why he had run to her aid half way through the team’s warm-up. Turns out that I wasn’t dreaming when I thought I had heard his voice.

And, of course, after being on tv now everyone knew about us, my parents included. After a few calls from my mum asking me how I was, she had finally convinced my dad to come visit me in Manchester, see with her own eyes that I was actually ok and that I wasn't lying every time she had called me, and also meet Rúben.

“Can you please stop? You are making me nervous” he said.

“I can’t. This is huge, Rúben. Like… huge” I said, dramatically lifting my arms in the air. “It’s not just that my parents are coming back to Manchester after ages and the possibility of us fixing things, but also ruining them forever. They are coming to meet you too. My boyfriend. The first I’m introducing them to.”

“Hopefully the last one too” he replied with his usual smirk.

“God, I hate you” I said, back to pacing around the living room. 

We were meeting at Lucy’s apartment since she and Julia were out with Rodri getting to know each other a bit more. Though Julia was already as in love with him as she was with Rúben.

“I love you too” he chuckled, those three words being something I still hadn’t been able to say despite being what I felt. 

“Urgh, that’s them” I said when I heard the door’s bell. 

“Relax, it’s gonna be ok” Rúben said, putting his hands on my shoulders. “I’ll charm them the same way I’ve done with your whole family.”

“Yeah, sure” I said, with a nervous laugh.

“I will. This is gonna work, ok?”

“Ok” I said, taking a deep breath.

“I love you” Rúben said.

“I love you too” I replied, not realising what I had said until I saw the smile on his face. I loved his smirk, but this one… This one had just become my new favourite smile.

“C´mon, let’s go meet my in-laws. We don’t want to keep them waiting” he said, taking my hand and walking towards the door.

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

And all that, takes us to the present day. 

"Do you know what day it is today?" Rúben asks me as we walk towards our apartment. Because his apartment, is ours now.

Lucy and Julia have moved to Rodri's house, where she is loving having a huge garden to play football with him. Though what she is loving the most, is the idea of becoming a big sister in just a few months.

"It wasn't planned, it just happened" Lucy shrugged after sharing the news. "But I know he is the one, and not because every single person that knows me has said it. It is because I can feel it. It is different to what I've felt with all the other guys I've been with before, my ex included. He is the one."

After they left, Rúben asked me to move in with him, and I obviously said yes. Now I still take care of Julia from time to time when both Lucy and Rodri are busy, but I am not her nanny anymore.

"I'm 6 now! I don't need a nanny, that's for babies" she said one day. 

What I keep doing tho, is being her piano teacher. Hers, and a bunch of kids from her school. We’ve kept the piano at Lucy’s apartment, only going there for my lessons so we don’t bother Rúben. But besides teaching, I’m also playing at events and weddings all over the country. It doesn’t matter if they are posh or tacky, if they have a low budget or lots of money. If I like the people I’m playing for, I say yes. 

My dad didn't like the idea at first and said that, of course, I should focus on teaching. But when he saw how much I was earning by playing on those events, he changed his mind. And I want to think that the fact that he was seeing me enjoying playing the piano for the first time in my life, also had something to do with it. 

And things have also kept getting better and better between us. He has joined grandad and I at some Arsenal games, and Rúben got to charm him just as he said he would. Though I must confess I still am getting used to how well they get along. Seeing them laughing together feels so weird… 

"Do you remember or not?" Rúben asks me again when we make it to the front door, the new doorman opening it for us. Roger retired and he is now living in the countryside with his wife.

"Wednesday?"

"That's now what I asked. The number."

"Eh… 10th?"

"Urgh" he says, rolling his eyes. "Today, three years ago, we met for the first time. And it happened here, in front of this lift."

It had been three years already. Three years since I met Julia at the shopping centre. Since Lucy asked me to work for her. Since Rúben and I crossed paths on this same spot and I just froze in place. He was the most handsome man I had ever seen, and he still is. 

"I remember the way you looked at me" he chuckles. "You couldn't stop staring."

"I probably looked like an idiot. Or a creep."

"You looked very cute" he says, calling for the lift. "I couldn't stop thinking about you, about who you could be."

"Really?" I ask. He had never told me about it, about what he had felt when we first met. In my case, I didn't have to tell him. As usual, my face had said it all.

"Really. I don't know what it was, but there was something special about you. It felt... Different."

"Lucy would call that the one feeling" I chuckle.

"The what?" 

"The feeling you get when you meet the right person. The one" I say, walking into the lift.

"Interesting… But you know," Rúben says, walking behind me and pressing our floor's number. "This lift isn't just important because we met here for the first time. It also is important because it brought us together again."

"Oh, please. Don't remind me of that day."

"It wasn’t that bad" Rúben says with that smirk of his.

"The beginning was really bad. The end, not so much" I say, mimicking his smile.

"That's what I thought. And here is the thing" he says, stopping the lift.

"Rúben, what are you doing?"

"Listen to me" he says, taking my hands on his. "You just said it yourself, that what I felt when I first met you was because you were the one. And it's the truth. You are my one. The one I want to spend the rest of my life with. I had a list of things I wanted to tell you, but I’m too nervous and I've forgotten most of them, so I'll keep it simple" he says, letting go of my hands and getting on one knee. "Will you marry me?" 

"Rúben, I..." I mumble, watching him get a small box from his pocket and opening it, the most gorgeous ring I had ever seen inside it. "Are you sure?"

"I've never been more sure or serious about anything in my life. So I'll ask again, here, on this lift that brought us together. Twice. Will you marry me?"

"Yes" I say, my voice shaking. "Yes, Rúben, I will marry you."

I barely give him any time to get up, throwing myself at him and kissing him. A kiss, that three years later, keeps feeling and being movie worth it.

"I love you" he whispers, his lips still on mine.

"I love you too" I reply.

"But before we keep making out, can I put this on your finger?" he says, showing me box.

"Yes, of course."

"I hope it fits" he chuckles. "Lucy said it was the right size."

"She knows?"

"She knows" he smiles. "And she was right. Perfect."

"Wow" I say, inspecting it closer. "It's beautiful, Rúben."

"Do you like it?"

"I love it. Though not as much as I love you" I say, kissing him again.

"We should probably go home, don't you think?" he says. "Continue with the celebrations there."

"I like how that sounds. Very very much."

But the moment the lift's doors open on our floor...

"Congratulations!" our friends and families scream.

"What the..." I mutter, my heart on my throat. "What is this?"

"A surprise party to celebrate our engagement" Rúben says, hugging me from behind.

"So… they all knew?"

"Yep" he replies, kissing my neck.

"What if I had said no?"

"Oh, c'mon, that was impossible" Lucy says, coming to give a hug. "He is your one, remember?"

"He is, yes" I say, looking at him while Rodri and Ivan congratulate Rúben, a big smile on my face. "He is the one."

━━━━❃━━━━ FIN ━━━━❃━━━━

[sequence-trotter]

i liked hsr 2.2 generally but man they sort of dropped the ball on a very classic and simple plot

traditionally when a bad guy is like "arrrrgh the world is bad and upsetting and painful, i'm going to jam everyone into the lotus eating machine and give them all perfect dreams and everything will be good,"you provide an additional, further reason in the fiction why retreating into the perfect dream (i.e. escapism and conscious blindness to the evils of the world) is bad. the infinite tsukuyomi is slowly draining the lives of those bewitched for someone else's power; no one else in the holodeck is real; while your every wish is being fulfilled, other people are dying.

but they didn't do this for sunday's plan. that's not bad in itself! stripping away that layer of "practical" concern and turning the conflict into a true ideological tussle can be pretty worthwhile. by demonstrating his awareness of those kinds of concerns, sunday sharpened his own point and made it clear he very sincerely wants everyone to be able to thrive.

the problem there is no attendant sharpening for the astral express and friends. their objections to it are pretty hazy: firefly bristles at the idea that she's seen as "weak," but it seems pretty obvious that the stellaron hunters (who, uh, seem to be at least indirectly responsible for plenty of death and destruction so far) are strong in sunday's reckoning; himeko points out that people will never suffer to live under the will of another, except that we just went over how many people already do (and even heroic figures like the express crew are subject to the whims of aeons); in theory you're fighting on behalf of the ostensibly "weak" people of penacony who don't want to live in a dream, except you never ask them and you only successfully wake them up because you explicitly summon a bunch of galactic superheroes with unusually strong resolve.

no one really engages sunday on his level. and worse, we actually see what his victory look like, and apparently it's a world almost exactly like the normal world except, implicitly, nothing "truly" bad happens to people. the game treats the idea of living in a dream where nothing bad happens as obviously fucked up...but we already have characters like black swan who literally exist only as perceived/remembered sensations rather than as physical people. there's a whole simulated universe with simulated gods with apparently sapient existences! the lines between dream and reality are already extremely blurred in the hsr universe. the game also doesn't ever clearly establish that everyone is in separate dreams, holodeck-style, and indeed at the very least black swan (who tbf is a memetic entity) is clearly actually inside your dream right next to you.

it's a shame, because everything with sunday and robin in the run-up suggests that they might actually engage on a slightly higher level than the game has handled a lot of themes to this point. the bird story creates an obvious space to explore the feelings of the one figure in the story whose feelings matter most but are never heard: the bird themself! but neither the bird nor robin get much of a hearing or a chance to develop their feelings or philosophies and the astral express crew can't muster much more than "freedom is generically and obviously good." it'll still work for many because "freedom is obviously good" works for a lot of people, but i found the turn pretty disappointing.

[greentrickster]

...oh gods, was thinking about what to do about Tianlang-jun, because he deserves to know the truth and really doesn’t deserve to stay squashed under that mountain forever, and also I like Zhuzhi-lang, he deserves to be happy and have a nice boyfriend (and whoever his boyfriend is deserves to have a rather tragic, obsessively loyal boyfriend, too ( “I could make him better” “I could make him worse” well I could tell him I like seeing him no matter which form he’s in and that I don’t mind if he eats rodents at the table and accidentally gain influence over a powerful demon who can and will kill thousands if he thinks it will make me happy)).

But anyway, that was a tangent. The point is, what to do about Tianlang-jun? How to involve him if Binghe’s not out causing problems and miscommunications and there’s no real reason to involve him in the plot? And it hit me... Binghe’s not running around trying to take over the demon realm this time, but he’s openly allied with the future Mobei-jun and the Demon Saintess, he’s somehow in good with Cang Qiong, and he’s obviously a Heavenly Demon. Point is, he’s not trying to take over the demon realm, but everyone keeps expecting him too, including a bunch of demons.

And that’s just not going to work, because while it’s perfectly possible for a married couple to both have happy, successful careers, Binghe does not want a career outside of being a househusband. He has spent time with Tatsu and he recognizes life goals when he sees them. But people keep expecting him to, and it’s starting to cut into his time and be disruptive, so what’s a Hopeful Hybrid Househusband (to be) to do?

Why, dig up his full-Heavenly Demon father and make him go be the ruler of the demon realm instead! Time to start the ‘Sins of the Father, Blessings of the Son’ quest chain! This can and will involve Binghe doing some research, learning about Tianlang-jun’s imprisonment, and using his dream demon powers (which are probably the ones he’s best at) to go have a chat with his bio-dad about this whole, “Hey, if I free you, will you take over the demon realm so I don’t have to?” thing.

Tianlang-jun: How about you set me free and I burn this miserable world to the ground and/or force humans and demons to coexist in the process?

Binghe: I don’t like this plan. My Shizun lives in this world and I love him. Also all my stuff is here. And my other friends.

Tianlang-jun: Your who now?

Binghe: My Shizun. He’s a cultivator at Cang Qiong, and I’m gonna marry and keep house for him.

Tianlang-jun: ...seriously?

Binghe: You’re stuck under a giant rock, you don’t get to judge my life goals.

Tianlang-jun: You realize he’ll just betray you, right?

Binghe: What? No he won’t!!!

Tianlang-jun: Cultivators always betray demons, that’s how it works.

Binghe: Shizun would never!!!

Tianlang-jun: Kid, why do you think I’m under a rock?

Binghe: ...beeeecause you were causing problems in the human realm...?

Tianlang-jun: ...is that how they’re describing my sad and woeful tale of heartbreak and tragedy?!?

Binghe: (prompted insistently by his system) Tell me your sad and woeful tale of heartbreak and tragedy.

And it’s Tianlang-jun, of course he does. At the end of which Binghe genuinely admits that it’s a super tragic tale, and thank goodness he already has a mom because bio-mom, how could you? Okay, new deal: what if this Binghe erases Huan Hua Palace from the map and frees Tianlang-jun from the mountain, and then Tianlang-jun can go take over the demon realm and Binghe can get back to his courtship?

Tianlang-jun: ...eh, not convinced. Kinda want to do it myself. And just get rid of cultivators in general. Though I will give you points, that was an impressively terrifying smile you used to suggest it.

Binghe: Thank-you, I learned it from Tatsu-sensi. And anyway wouldn’t it be more poetic if I did it? Since I’m your son and her son and all? So it’d be like, they helped create the seed of their own destruction or something?

Tianlang-jun: 8O You’re right, that would be just like in a play, that would be awesome! But couldn’t I at least get some revenge on Cang Qiong as well for putting me here?

Binghe: No, I live there and they know I’m half demon and still like me.

Tianlang-jun: (#doubt)

Anyway, Binghe gets at least a half promise from his bio-dad that he’ll consider it, then goes to tell Shizun his new plan, because his system insists that Communication is Key to a Good and Stable Relationship.

Shen Qingqiu: ...Binghe, you’re not allowed to destroy Huan Hua.

Binghe: But Shizun. (tears dribbling out from beneath his sunglasses)

Shen Qingqiu: Binghe, no.

Binghe: But no one else in the cultivation world even likes Huan Hua!

Passing hall master: It’s true, we don’t.

Binghe: Thanks, elder bro!

Shen Qingqiu: You’re not helping!!!

Eventually Shang Qinghua gets dragged into all this, since its his fault Tianlang-jun exists in the first place (not that Binghe knows that), and he manages to get Binghe to agree to at least do some reconnaissance first.

Cue Binghe sulkily agreeing and accidentally blowing this whole Old Palace Master situation wide open. The crowning cherry on the case is when Cang Qiong eventually brings Tianlang-jun in via a plant body to act as a character witness. His name is cleared, and Cang Qiong dig out his original body in compensation for Yue Qingyuan being one of the key factors in unjustly sealing him in the first place. Tianlang-jun and Zhuzhi-lang then hang around Cang Qiong for a couple months while Tianlang-jun’s original body heals up and so he can guilt-trip Yue Qingyuan about all this. Binghe and ZZL aren’t quite sure what to make of each other, but ZZL does like Binghe’s tattoo and at least in this version of events they aren’t starting with any bad blood between them.

...and you know what? Fuck it, Tianlang-jun/Yue Qingyuan enemies-to-lovers 50k words. Me? Pair up the heart-broken spares still pining over their lost loves? Hell yes. This would be spicy as heck and I’m here for it, Mr. I-run-on-guilt x Mr. Has-never-heard-of-shame, Go For It Tianlang-jun, seduce that sect leader! We gotta have a Peak Lord dating the ruler of the demon realm somehow!

It all ends with Binghe & Co. sitting on Qing Jing Peak with the slightly stunned expressions of “Well that happened” (and Shen Yuan internally fanboying because that’s his protagonist for you, can’t even skive out of his narrative responsibilities without being unspeakably cool).

Also, Zhuzhi-lang and Gongyi-xiao are dating now. Shala-lala-lala, kiss the snake.

[welcometothejianghu]

Welcome to another round of W2 Tells You What You Should See, where W2 (me) tries to sell you (you) on something you should be watching. Today's choice: 절대 그이/My Absolute Boyfriend

My Absolute Boyfriend is the 2019 Korean live-action adaptation of the Watase Yuu manga "Absolute Boyfriend." (There are two other adaptations, one Taiwanese and one Japanese.) It tells the story of a woman who has just broken up with her celebrity boyfriend, and the robot who becomes a real boy by falling in love with her.

(And yes, the reason we started watching it was because of Yeo Jingoo, since the tantalizing prospect of "that guy who played Han Juwon, playing a robot boyfriend" was too amazing to pass up.)

I need to note right off the bat: I am not usually a consumer of bippy k-dramas, romcoms, or het romance in media in general. No shade to anyone who likes these thing; they're just not my regular cup of tea. So if your tastes are akin to mine, you may have looked at the poster and been like, hm, no thank you.

Thus I am here to try and sell you on it even if you are not a fan of these genres.

This show is so unwatched that (as far as I can tell) there is nothing for it on AO3. There are a mere eight hits for the manga, Zettai Kareshi | Absolute Boyfriend, but there's nothing at all for this adaptation. This is an absolute crime, for reasons I will detail in the forthcoming five reasons to watch (above and beyond the simple pleasure of watching Yeo Jingoo be a handsome goober, though that remains a serious point in its favor):

1. Balls entirely to the wall

You know those Tumblr posts where someone comments and is like, at no point could I have predicted what the next word in that sentence would be? Yeah, that, only the sentence is the show.

This show is absolutely bonkers. It is absolute storytelling mayhem. It is gleefully head-clutching weird. Someone told it that girls like exactly three things -- cute boys in adorable outfits, cute boys with their shirts off, and cute boys in Situations -- and it is ready to deliver.

I could tell you what the plot of the show is, or at least I could try, but that wouldn't convey the sheer volume of shenanigans it gets up to. I feel like every time it had a flashback montage (set to one of its six licensed pop songs), I was like, oh yeah, that happened.

The thing, too, is that it's so self-aware. This show knows precisely what it is, and it's having fun with it. The acting is often melodramatic, but obviously very consciously so. I'm not going to say the show never takes itself seriously (because it does -- see my point #5), but it never doesn't know exactly what it is.

Browsing the MyDramaList page, I can see that a lot of viewers had lukewarm feelings on the show as a whole. (Normally I don't make the mistake of reading the comments, but since this is such a non-property in English-speaking fandom, I had to go find out what the hell.) And yeah, I can imagine that if you came into this expecting a more straight-faced entry in the genre, what you get could be confusing and alienating.

If you watch this, take off your nitpicker's hat. There are many, many points that do not make sense. Just go with it. Let the cute boys take off their shirts. Kiss a robot. Embrace chaos.

2. A++ Girlfriend

Eom Dada is great. She's just so weird. I love her and I absolutely understand why those two boys want to get with her.

She is a special effects makeup artist who runs her own three-person team that specializes in sci-fi/horror properties. One of the first things we see her doing is mixing up a bunch of different types of fake blood, because, hey, a lot of different stunt people are going to die today, and you can't just use one type of blood for everybody!

She is a dadgumn professional, is what she is.

What she isn't, however, is a pick-me, not-like-the-other-girls girl. Several times, she gets dressed up real cute and femme, and she never expresses negativity toward her more girly-girl friends. It's not that she's rejecting femininity so much as that her vision of femininity is big enough to include creating beautiful fake severed body parts. When someone describes a female character as "quirky," I cringe reflexively. But that's what she is! She's got quirks! She's a nice, normal girl who is also a big weirdo.

Since I did go read the comments, I found out pretty quickly that a lot of viewers hate her. Part of this, I'm sure, is just your generic vitriol you see aimed at any woman in a show, because holy fuck, we sure do hate women.

But I think part of it may come from how she's not asking "how high?" every time those boys tell her they'd like her to jump. There's some real viciousness out there toward women that turn down men, epecially from other women. Without getting too much into psychoanalysis about it, an awful lot of hate gets directed from other women toward the female ex-/partners of desirable men, much of which comes from the terrible assumption that if you were in her position, you'd be appropriately grateful! You'd treat that boy right! That lucky bitch doesn't know how good she's got it!

...You see how that's bad, though, right? Like, really bad and toxic?

Eom Dada tells those boys "no" when she doesn't want what they're offering. She's realizes early on that setting yourself on fire to keep your partner warm is terrible, so she stops. She's going to make them wait until she wants it -- and if she never wants it, well, those boys just get to keep right on waiting!

Read me loud and clear: I'm not saying the only reason to dislike Eom Dada is misogyny. Sometimes you just don't like a character! It happens! It's legal! What I am saying, though, is that when you look at a lot of the hate toward her all at once, certain trends emerge, and they're more than a little bit ugly.

And I think that's unfair because she's an absolute pumpkin who deserves all the smooches and spicy noodles she wants.

3. ...Are they gonna kiss?

And by "they" here, I don't mean Girlfriend and Robot Boyfriend, who obviously smooch. I mean Robot Boyfriend and Ex-Boyfriend.

They hate one another! They make heartbreaking sacrifices for one another! They're vicious rivals! They team up to solve mysteries! They're incredibly suspicious of one another! They trust one another completely! What the actual hell is going on with these two? Because oh boy, the show itself sure doesn't know.

Their relationship yo-yos constantly throughout the length of the series. They're never friends, but they get weirdly close on several occasions, including rescuing one another from terrible predicaments. They also both seem fascinated with each other, above and beyond how they're competing for the affections of the same girl. The actors have some solid chemistry (much of it comedic) in their shared scenes. They're certainly not afraid to get right up in each other's personal space.

This isn't queerbaiting, it's not using gay as a punchline, it's ... something, that's for sure. And by that I mean, I don't know if I've ever seen a more powerful vindication of the principle that the optimal solution to every love triangle is a threesome.

This to me is one of the flaws of the show, that it has decided it must never acknowledge the strength of their independent bond outside of its place in the central love conflict, and to keep from doing so, it keeps nuking Ex-Boyfriend's character back to square one. He learns about love and trust and growth! ...and then we need the plot to have a which boy will she choose??? conflict, so he's got to unlearn all of that real quick so he can be a real dillhole again. If it didn't feel obligated to do that, things would get sexy fast, I'm just saying.

Here is the main reason I'm baffled that I'm getting no AO3 hits for this: These three would be one hell of a throuple. Where are my bisexual horndog fix-it fics where all three of them wind up sharing Ma Wangjoon's comically large bed?

4. Weirdly healthyish messages about romance?

I mentioned earlier that het romance in media is not my thing, and one of the main reasons it's not is how many just gross messages it delivers about normative gender roles and behaviors.

This show absolutely starts that way. Robot Boyfriend is raised on all your classic romcoms and taught that love is all about giving everything with no concern for your own well-being, while at the same time overriding all your partner's objections because you know what she really wants. When he first latches on to Eom Dada, he's kind of your classic overbearing comedy stalker who doesn't take no for an answer, because True Love.

And then ... he changes. He realizes that his romcom education is not going to help here, so he decides to figure out what kind of boyfriend she actually wants. Once he does that, he starts to figure out that he wants to be loved too. And that's when things get interesting.

He never stops being pretty forward about things, but it becomes far more playful when he's not pressuring her, just reminding her that the offer is still on the table. Eom Dada then responds by becoming clear about how she definitely wants to take this boy out for a spin -- just at her own pace, when she herself is ready for it.

It makes an interesting contrast to how, when she was with Ex-Boyfriend, all she wanted was for him to acknowledge her (which he wanted to do too, but couldn't, for absolutely bonkers reasons, because this show is just Like That). The two of them are still in love, but the show makes it clear that being in love doesn't mean you're going to be good together -- and it doesn't mean you have to forgive the bullshit your ex-partner pulled back when you were together.

But the love triangle isn't even the sole source of romance! There's a whole 'nother love ... triangle? quadrilateral? Whatever, you've also got Robot Boyfriend's charmingly goofy MIT-educated co-creator/trainer/big brother, who becomes the object of affection for at least two of the supporting characters.

My take on this is that Handsome Robot Hyung deserves the whole harem: the boss lady who can pick him up, the cute thirsty girl who does yoga, and the sweet gay-coded boy who is so impressed that he knows robots. (This is another tragic casualty of the NO HOMO attitude of the show, where that boy should be treated as a legitimate love interest, but can never be. But we know better!)

I'm used to seeing love triangles solved in one of three ways: 1) one point on the triangle gets demonized so significantly as to make the other one the obvious choice; 2) the eventually unchosen point gets given a Consolation Prize Significant Other so we don't fell too bad about how they didn't get chosen; or 3) one point dies or is otherwise removed from the narrative, letting the other two hook up without guilt. None of those things happen to either of these love polygons. Despite some genre-appropriate catty, melodramatic speed bumps, everything gets resolved in the manner of adults with reasonable amounts of emotional maturity. It's weirdly kind of nice.

(This isn't to say there's no toxic bullshit that slips in -- for instance, I still don't know what to make of that one arguing couple, or what Robot Boyfriend says to them. It's just much less than I expected.)

Your mileage may vary about the choices the show makes at the very end. It's not how I would have ended it, sure, but I also don't think it could have ended any other way -- remember, this is a show that never forgets what it is. It is contractually obligated by its genre conventions to keep certain narrative promises. If anything, I think it's interesting how much it feels it can get away with leaving hopeful yet unresolved, up to and including how many people are still comfortably single at the end of the show. Partnered romance isn't always the solution to everything! Sometimes you've got your career and you've got your friends, and now you've got some time to work on yourself! Maybe it won't always be that way, but it sure is right now. And that's great.

5. A surprisingly sophisticated meditation on memory and mortality (say that five times fast)

Real talk: In the past four months, I have lost a lot of people, places, and animals who were very dear to me, and had some close calls with a couple more. It has sucked exactly as much as you think it has.

So yeah, in the last few episodes, I blew through some tissues.

To a certain degree, it's exactly the kind of melodramatic tearjerker narrative you'd expect from a property like this. And let me tell you what, there is nothing wrong with getting a good, sappy cry going because of the overwrought dramas of fictional people. There are plenty of objectively mediocre shows and movies I put on because I know I'm going to be a blubbering wreck by the end.

This show, however, has the extra layer of interest that Robot Boyfriend is both Boyfriend and Robot. I don't want to spoil anything, but I will say that having a guy designed to be reformatted every time a new person smooches him adds a whole lot of interesting layers to what counts as death and mourning.

Add that to how Eom Dada is still grieving the loss of her beloved father, who taught her everything she knew about her career, and you get some surprisingly moving little moments that creep in through the wacky hijinks that make up the rest of the show.

Look, it's nothing I'd ever teach in a Philosophy seminar, or anything so profound as that. But it's quiet and nice, and it has more depth than I expected, and it all hit me right in my tender little feels box. If that's the kind of thing you're open to, you could do a lot worse.

Thinking about giving this one a shot?

Viki's got the series in its full 40-episode run. (It's actually 20 hour-long episodes split in half because of commercial break rules, if you're wondering why it's sometimes Like That.) So does Tubi. I guess your choice then becomes which one's ads you'd rather sit through.

I think if you go into this with the attitude that you're just going to go with it all and laugh at how zany it is, you're in for a fine time. Whether or not you think it's good is up to your standards of quality. But it's hard to deny that it's a whole lot of fun.

And then get your ass to AO3 and give me some OT3! Mama needs these three cutie patooties to smooch~

[candy8448]

It is done!

I've finally completed many month (maybe even over a year) mission of listening to all the zelda OSTs in release order (now it did take ages cuz i would spend forever between each ost and the longer ones would take so long to get through)

I compiled all my favorite tracks into one massive playlist, as well as covers that i like!

Now i am going to go over each ost and say my thoughts on them! Ill also be mentioning one or two tracks from each game that were really notable for me

(I didn't listen to Twilight princess or Spirit tracks because i dont want spoilers for when i play them)

The legend of Zelda:

The ost for this game is 9 mins long, drastic difference to totk with many MANY hours of music

Obviously a classic, the overworld theme. I really like the "game over" theme, its nice but the ringing of the NES boops hurts my ears so much

Adventure of Link:

I really like the final dungeon theme and the battle theme, so good to just jam to

A Link to the past:

Not much to say here, it set a bunch of classics, dark world theme is super good though and the great fairy fountain theme will always be welcome whenever i hear it, either as the great fairy or as the title screen (tbh i prefer it more as the title screen theme) and the title screen theme! When that bursts out i wanna scream, It fills me with so much nostalgia for this series as a whole

Link's awakening:

Now this one is difficult, because this game is my favorite game out of the games i haven't played just plot wise, but for some reason listening to the music was just super tiring for no reason. Now i was listening to the gameboy version but i tried the swith version and it was also tiring and tedious to listen to?? Im going to go through the switch version ost at some point in time.

You can never go wrong with tal tal hights though, and the ballad of the windfish is just 😭

Ocarina of time:

Im afraid to say anything on it because of the fans of it XD i did play a tiny bit of the game but got to Zora's domain as a child and stopped

Obviously it has a great soundtrack, it has a ton more classics like gerudo valley and such. I like Sheik's theme. The fire temple i am aware is controversial and i think that's the reason it makes me so unnerved when i listen to either version of it

My absolute favorite though is Song of storms (or windmill hut). The first time i heard it, it just stuck with me and i am taken in by it, it luls me, its like magic, im enraptured by it. I don't know what it is about this 20 second theme but i can listen to this on repeat for hours, its one of the first things i learned on piano, when i played the game i just stood in the windmil hut for ages. Such a good track...

Majora's mask:

SUCH an earie ost! I have been wanting to play this game forever. The vibes the ost is just perfect for this game. Clock town is obviously good and its cool how it gets more and more frantic as time goes on, you really feel like time is running out. Overall i think the whole soundtrack does amazingly at embodying this idea.

Oracle of Ages and Seasons:

The two tracks are very similar rhat i can't eeally do these two games separately. For some reason i have a bias towards seasons despite not playing either or really knowing the story??

I love that seasons has song of storms (for some reason), skull pirate's escape is good (oos), ambi's place (ooa) noice, Nayru's song is so nice, and i adore the "Zelda awakens" theme that's in both of them

I love how the tracks for these went back to the boopy style, it makes the themes just has a certain feel that i cannot put words to that feels so right. I have the feeling that when i play these games im going to have a great time with them

Wind waker:

Tbh, not for me, the style of the music is just not the kind of thing i like. Doesnt mean it doesnt have really good tracks though!! Cannot go wrong with dragon roost and i do like a track that i cannot remember the name of (but tbh that is just mostly because i really like the beat) and the Great Sea sailing theme does sound so freeing, you can feel the wind in your hair with that track. Its just that the rest of the music style is just not something i dig so much, its just a personal opinion.

Four swords:

I forgot about this game, and could not recall the ost at all. Had to open sime tracks again to listen to and tbh all i can say is... meh? The ost isn't too great... gotta give it credit for it's version of the overworld theme thoug, possibly one of the better different renditions?

Minish cap:

A cute little game, dont remember much of the soundtrack but i have quite a few saved from it so it must count for something, and i really like the "story" theme whenever i hear it and Mt. Crenel is okay

Phantom hourglass:

Again, it has a similar style to wind waker and i didn't really like it. Linebeck's theme though, what a wonderful character! ("Return of the Ocean King" is also decent)

Spirit tracks:

I did not listen to this soundtrack but the ost is just *chefs kiss* from the ones ive heard. The tracks "the sacred duet" and "battle with king Malladus" are the tracks that made me desperately want to play this game and i am still longing to play it because of these two tracks. I love how throughout the Malladus battle theme there is the constant chugging of the train on the track. I have no doupt that the rest of the ost will be this amazing. (The title theme is perfect, you really feel like you are on a racing train) ive since listened to "in the fields" and ooooooh i love ittttt i so cannot wait to play this game!

Skyward sword:

Man you KNOW i can ramble about this forever. My favorite Zelda game! I cannot put into words how much this game's ost makes me feel all of the emotions in the world, i can only list a few tracks that make me feel so much oooough

Ballad of the goddess (obviously), Romance in the air makes me all fluttery and happy, skyloft theme always feels like home, any version of fi's theme puts me in tears, Groose's theme he is such a silly guy, the loftwing flying theme is so nostalgic, Ghirahim's theme is so menacing, all the Lanayru tracks have such a certain zen feel, silent realm theme's have such a frantic echoey empty perfect feel to them which fit so well, and the guardians awaken theme will make me have a heart attack, and the song of the hero has so many feelings ive talked about before, so much that this track alone made me make a painting for the scene.

This game just stepped into another feel of zelda music with the orchestra, and it captures the grandios of this big, timeline setting adventure so amazingly. I cannot get enough of this game. Arguably one of the best Zelda OSTs in my opinion.

A Link between worlds:

Such a good ost in this game. Dunno what i can say apart for it is one of the better ost's in the series for some tracks alone. Ravio's theme, Hilda's theme, Yuga's theme, Lorule overworld, all the milkbar tracks (the fact that there is also ballad of the godess in there makes me so happy as well), so much of the game's ost is so good!

Triforce heroes:

Such a surprisingly great ost for a game that sounds so much like a fever dream. The main theme?!?!? The woodlands?!?!?!?!? I cannot stop listening to these two such a bop, go listen to them!

Breath of the wild:

Botw has no music???? What the heck???

The tracks are so good! Even all the ambient piano flourishes! It fits the atmosphere so well, but you've probably heared people saying all this before so onto some of my favorite tracks

All the champion's themes fit each one so well, main theme cannot not be good, i lobe how Tarrey Town's theme builds up with each character's home town. The divine beast themes are really cool sounding. Parasailing minigame theme is so fun! Guardian theme will also give me a heart attack, the memory get jingle, i miss Kass and his music so much, Korok forest is so :D, HYRULE CASTLE IS SO GOOD OH MY i love the marching feel. Dark. Beast. Ganon. THIS THEME IS CRAZY BRO that piano!??!!?? All the everything going together?!??!!? This fight may be a victory lap and super easy but it sure as hell has some fire music!!!

Tears of the kingdom:

I finally finished this ost today. It reuses a lot from botw, and tbh it is a little dissapointing how none of the village themes changed even if it does feel safe and familiar, and the surface is largely the exact same even though it is where we spend so much of our time.

There are obviously amazing tracks original to this game though. The main theme was so amazing to hear in full after so long of waiting! So was the prologue theme ("poor Hyrule, for Link has found the body" remember that???) All the dungeon themes have me in awe alongside the sage themes. Each one just fills me with so much ough. The dungeons and their themes were definatly a massive step up from the previous game. I ranked all the sage themes before in another post and go deeper into each one. Link humming while cooking is so cute! The big "BWAAA" when diving into the depths feels so cool and creepy. One of my favorite details is that in the forgotten temple, next to the goddess statue you can hear a broken up version of Fi's theme which im so happy for the sksw ref! It also supports my favorite hc that the forgotten temple is the sealed grounds from sksw! (As well as the reward you get fron that quest but we aren't talking abiut that)

!!!!End spoilers next!!!!!

In the lead up to the final dive into ganondorf's army, the track reminds me of Skyrim and it really does not fit in Zelda. I feel like they shouldn't have used that track. Ganondorf's fight theme is so cool, how at first it is quiet to just hear you two dueling in an echoey room and them builds up. AND HOW CAN YOU FORGET THE FINAL FALL?!?!?!? Such a PERFECT END its amazing how is blends so smoothly to create the perfect scene, all your emotions building up to the end!!! Such a perfect ending to the game. All the music in the end sequence in the Hyrule castle chasm really does do an amazing job of dialing up and down the tension and emotions at the right moments and building up everything until the very end when the credits start rolling.

Overall the ost is great considering all the new tracks!

So that is all the games (other than tp and st)!

Now on to all of the non-cannon games! 🥲

[pinkbowsandprettyprose]

Everything posted so far on Twitter re: TMMN Episodes 13 - 14 ✨

Potential spoilers under the cut! I’ll continue to update this post as more info gets posted.

HUGE disclaimer that this is all speculative based off of what is being posted to Twitter from people who saw the episodes firsthand. Not all of this will be perfectly accurate. Don’t come for me if eps 13-14 air and some of this isn’t quite right 🫠

OP/ED impressions:

Sentiment is generally positive saying that both the opening and ending are really cute, but at least 1 person commented saying the animation quality is not as good as the S1 OP, and hoping they’ll fix it up a bit for the broadcast on TV.

More than one person said that Smewthie sounds like they are getting to be better performers. The person who was disappointed in the animation quality remarked that they think the music was the main focus and got better, while the animation got a bit worse.

Apparently there’s a bunch of ship bait in the opening including Zakumint and Tart/Pudding.

Plot beats (in no particular order):

Episodes 13-14 revolve around Ichigo and Masaya being boyfriend and girlfriend, Deep Blue’s awakening looming, a sidebar about Mint and Ichigo’s friendship and Mint’s home life, and the aquarium battle where the Blue Knight shows up.

We get to meet Ichigo’s mom and dad for the first time! Mint runs away from home in episode 14 and has dinner at Ichigo’s house with her parents / has a sleepover with Ichigo while discussing the trouble in her home life. It’s apparently really sweet. One viewer said they cried during this episode.

Ichigo and Masaya kiss at some point — unsure where this is, I’m thinking this might happen in the scene where they’re hanging out after Masaya’s kendo practice and he dozes off in the lawn, so Ichigo goes to pick a piece of grass off his face and they get super close? Totally speculating here, OP didn’t specify.

The Blue Knight has long pants. Yeah, I know. 😭 Pour one out for the bootyshorts.

Mint has a character song! This probably happens in the scene where she’s staying at Ichigo’s.

Some of the Mews have upgraded/new attack styles. Lettuce was specifically mentioned as having a cool new attack.

As I suspected, Quiche has an existential crisis over his mission with Deep Blue because of his feelings for Ichigo, and tells Pie as much. He goes a lil psycho during this dialog and threatens to do something drastic after he’s told not to lose focus on the mission.

The aquarium battle has all 3 of the aliens instead of just Quiche. In fact, Quiche doesn’t participate in the actual battle portion as much as he’s there just to harass Ichigo.

And oh boy, is the “harassing Ichigo” bit way different from the manga AND the original anime. According to one viewer, Quiche fabricates a whole new alternate dimension that kinda looks like the underwater Ryugu Palace from One Piece, and transforms Ichigo into a matching dress for it (a la Labyrinth). He tells her that even if the rest of humanity dies, he’ll save her. There’s something in here about a scene with a merry-go-round. Obviously she tells him to piss off, so the illusion is shattered.

Quiche is livid when the Blue Knight shows up to protect Ichigo, and has to be held back by Pie and Tart at one point.

There’s one line where Ichigo tells the aliens that they’re protecting their Earth, and Quiche laughs and says something to the effect of “you really don’t get it, do you?” So, expect more building on the alien’s belief that they’re entitled to Earth / the reason between their mission.

The aquarium battle is more intense than the original manga battle. One person used the word “murderous.” Battles might be getting grittier for S2.

TMMN gets rid of the scene of Alto showing up to change Ichigo from a cat back into a human before the aquarium scene.

There’s some food for Ryou/Lettuce shippers 👀 It’s not super clear in the post I just found, but Ryou may have a scene where he catches Lettuce from tripping, and in another scene, Lettuce brings him a cup of coffee while he’s working (Ryou takes his coffee with two milks no sugar)

[opalvatter]

C dramas of 2023 so far…

Honestly, I just fell down the c drama rabbit hole a few months ago so not that many things to report. However, in least to most favourite so far...

5. Love like the Galaxy

Basically the story of 2 traumatised dumbasses (affectionate) who cause more trauma to each other, mixed in with palace plots, 2 other simps, a bunch of jealous women, far too many characters (including king Wendy and his two wives) and revenge, revenge, revenge and more revenge. And obviously, Love. The classic.

The only reason this is rated this low is because this was way too long to watch and everything else on this list is spectacular.

4. The General's lady

This show is practically 'scary man who is only nice to his (1) woman.' That is it. That's the story. No one cares about the plot.

This was the first c drama that I watched. And honestly, this story is not that great overall in terms of plot and everything, but has enough sweetness to make me swoon every 10 seconds.

3. Legend of Yunxi.

The open-ended tragedy of the medicine girl and the fake prince who is supposedly a monster. Not to forget mentioning the million other very important characters and flower valley owner, Mr.secondary love interest. Cold guy, who has a backstory, meets 'ugly' smart girl and tries to kill her at first sight. She runs and meets sweet guy, who has a backstory of his own. turns out, she gets married to cold guy anyway so no point in running. Don't worry, In this story everything is connected.

This was the second drama that I watched and has the most intense plot so far. unpopular opinion: I love the ending! To me, personally, it makes sense.

2.The Eternal Love

What do you do when you have 3 seasons of the same plot, but repeated falling in love and too much Humour ? You Binge watch only season 1 and ignore the other two.

Season 1 : Bossy, sarcastic Real estate agent gets transmigrated to the past, into the body of a Meek, responsible girl. Drama ensues when the body that now holds two souls, has to get married to the hot brother of OG girl's lover. There is now a love square that only the two girls and their hilarious maid know exist and everyone is confused. The 14th brother's outfits are terrible, the king has a glitter crown, the OG girl's lover gets possessed and now has great eyeliner, everyone has a secret tragic past and there is a demon king who walks around a circle chanting " I'm a bitch " 49 times.

Season 2 : They travel back in time and go back to the future. and only our hot guy knows what happens. and everything happens again. but everything is diffrent and there are now 2 hot guys.

Season 3 : This time, they get transported into an alternate reality where women rule and our Leads get soul swapped into the bodies of the ones in that universe. But, this time, the difference is, this dimension's hot guy is present most of the time and our hot guy only gets released when a memory comes to him. BUT, every time they kiss, he turns back into this universe hot guy, making everyone confused. again.

1. The Romance of Tiger and Rose

Normal day script writer gets transported into her own story and the only way she can go home is to finish the story without dying. Too bad she gets transported into the body of the mean girl, The hero's first wife who he poisons. Someone who is literally the first person to die. The someone who dies 3 episodes in.

But uh oh! now that she survives, the whole story goes up in flames and while trying to get the hero and heroine (her sister) together, she makes the hero fall for her, makes the heroine turn into the villain and overall fucks up the plot in the worst and best way possible. She didn't even have to try. Oh, and she also made another guy fall in love with her which makes her husband the king of jelousy.

Worthy mention to their Servants, Bai ji and Zi Rui, who each share 1 of their own masters' brain cells and are absolutely done with their masters' constant lovey dovey bullshit.

[thefirstknife]

I think the issue with people complaining about a cliffhanger is that there's different ways to tell a story, and they aren't expecting how D2 does it. For some series, they have an overarching plot but by and large you can pick up entries in just about any order, or even omit some, and get a good experience. Other stories you really have to go through them in order without skipping or you'll be confused. The problem with Destiny is that the cliffhangers try to treat it like the latter, but the simple fact that a bunch of relevant story and lore content is only accessible via write-ups and YouTube videos (so not actually accessible at all to some people) rather than in the game means it's forced, in many regards, to be treated like the former type. Which doesn't work great. It's trying to run something on framework designed for the opposite. So when people hear that story elements get removed yearly (seasons) and entire expansions are gone (vaulting) the reasonable assumption is "every story expansion is pretty much entirely self-contained" except then it turns out not all of them are, and LF ended up having a lot more plot hooks for TFS. Which makes the annoyance very understandable when they looked at the game's model and reasonably expected a different storytelling format. (It still doesn't excuse the vile behavior many people have displayed, but it makes more sense the more i step back from the game and see that it seems like they've evolved themselves into a messy corner with their choices for how they run and unfold things.)

Oh, that's definitely a problem Destiny has always had. Even before vaulting, though obviously vaulting made things worse. Like, Destiny 2 was advertised as a game anyone can pick up when it came to the PC for the first time, without the need to play the first one. This was not the case at all. When I jumped into D2 at launch, there was not a single tutorial or explanation for anything that was happening and I was definitely not gonna watch 50 hours of footage of lore on youtube or playthroughs or buy a console I don't have just to understand a video game.

But the game was playable. Obviously I didn't understand anything, but the game was perfectly playable and is still playable now. Basically, the only people bothered by this weird lore stuff are people who get immediately invested into the lore itself and let me tell you. That is by far not anywhere near any significant level of people. It may seem like something normal to go into the lore section and read the lore, but the overwhelming majority of people never do that.

This is obviously a bigger issue for players that do care but skipped parts or don't want to spend hours and hours of their free time backreading everything. However even with that, I don't think that the cliffhanger stuff could really be handled any differently by itself (vaulting notwithstanding, since that's a whole different problem that isn't tied to Lightfall itself as an expansion). By the virtue of it being a cliffhanger at the tail end of the saga, it's by default not going to be exactly friendly to new players (story-wise). Actually, in some way, by introducing something brand new that even veterans had to learn from scratch (Neomuna, Veil, Cloud Striders, new discoveries of Light and Darkness...), we were all pretty much on the same playing field, veterans and new players alike. But basically, Lightfall had to be a cliffhanger, given its position in the overall story.

I don't think Destiny was ever newcomer friendly, not in at the time I started, not later either (despite having free campaigns in Shadowkeep, every new player I got into the game struggled immensely to understand what's going on). The story of Destiny definitely suffers in a lot of ways due to D1 being locked to console, vaulting and various other issues with lore delivery, though a lot of it has gotten better over time. I still wouldn't expect Lightfall to really be drastically different no matter what, except maybe if the whole structure of expansions and time between them was changed.

These issues certainly didn't help Lightfall (and many other expansions), but I wouldn't say that Lightfall was particularly affected by continuity. In part specifically because it introduced so many new things. Nobody had any reference point for Neomuna or Cloud Striders. We all learned it at the same time. And from a vast majority of people online, I've seen that they didn't even bother trying to learn (I've also seen people being personally offended that they're not getting the veteran's treatment and that they weren't able to immediately understand everything through their vast knowledge of Destiny lore). There are fantastic lore books and quests that follow the campaign that expand on Neomuna expontentially and people have simply not played them. I genuinely believe that a lot of people went into Lightfall thinking it's going to be the big showdown with the Witness and that there's a bigger badder evil behind the Witness. When that didn't happen, people declared Lightfall "worst expansion ever" that "Bungie lied about." It's a very strange situation to me. I won't say that the story was the best ever, as I generally think Destiny campaigns tend to be fairly basic, short and more cinematic. But the response is so overwhelmingly negative in a way that reveals, to me, complete misunderstanding of storytelling.

I obviously can't get into the shoes of someone whose first interaction with Destiny was Lightfall and I've seen people who were put off as well as people who got immediately hooked. I can only say from my experience with vanilla that I spent a year with zero information and references and the only way i could've gotten them was to go watch youtube and it didn't really bother me all that much, since I didn't care a lot about the story in the first place. The game worked fine gameplay wise without understanding the story. And when I did get interested, I still had to go watch youtube to understand it. There's no summary in the game and never was. Lore books are exactly informative of the basics or the timeline or things that happened in the past. My ordeal of learning about Destiny lore is actually largely what made me make the blog so I can help others.

But yeah, no matter what Bungie advertises, Destiny has never really been friendly to new players story-wise. It's actually one of my biggest pet peeves because it would be super easy to create some kind of in-game encyclopedia with detailed summaries of everything that unlock as you play the game. You know, kill your first dreg in Trostland, unlock "Eliksni" entry in the encyclopedia. I hope that whatever is coming after TFS the first thing they're working on is the ability to NOT vault anything. Like, that's first priority to me. When this saga concludes, whatever is coming after, it has to be set up from the start in a way that we don't have to ever lose any story content or render it unplayable. On my knees begging.

I'm not sure if this would've helped Lightfall as I don't think there would be any new player or returning player going through 20 seasons worth of content and 5 expansions just to hop into Lightfall. I think that no matter what, there's always going to be people disappointed in the story as it nears the end. I just wish people gave it a reasonable chance and if they were able to accept that maybe they got it wrong and that their first impression is not entirely grounded in reality (mostly because I'm 100% sure people missed stuff on their first playthrough. As an example, people were mad about "how does Osiris see what's happening to our Ghost at the end! It makes no sense!" meanwhile as you get into the facility, Ghost has a line saying he'll be directing "visual feed" to Osiris to help them navigate. There are a lot of details like this that people repeat over and over as "proof" that Lightfall's story made no sense. It relies on no previous knowledge. To be clear, I missed things too). As usual I'll say that my critique is that a few things could've been structured better and a few more details added to make things tighter for understanding what's going on.

This is definitely a conversation worth having more than any other mindless critique online that's borderline Cinemasins level of engagement. I'd actually be interested to know what's the split on how veterans and new players perceived Lightfall and what were the specifics that confused them or that they disliked, and especially with a combination of how much they were into lore before and after Lightfall.

[ratherembarrassing]

hello! i’m curious about your book thoughts so far for wot, if you wanted to share any of them?

i just finished eotw! just this very minute!

i had a great time! i think i'll need to reread the last few chapters because uh, that was very confusing. but besides that i really enjoyed the world and the eighty seven thousand characters. rand is a baby. there's a whole side story we basically never see between moiraine and nynaeve and egwene. that tiny bit with nynaeve and lan? so small yet !!!!!!. moiraine.

obviously i have the show in my head first, and it was super interesting to see what they had kept the same (very little), what they had taken and used in a different way (a lot), and what they completely dropped (SO MUCH!). there's literally no way you could make a true live action series of material this dense, but i'm not even sure you would want to. collapsing "and then mat, perrin and rand all went on separate adventure and heard the exact same story buried in amongst a bunch of other stuff" into "all five of these kids are ta'veren and moiraine clocks them immediately" really does free up a fuckload of time. that wouldn't make the most exciting tv (that episode is probably the dullest of s1). but those adventures were fun to read! "everyone goes to the eye of the world and then poof, rand goes on a side quest?" no, just send rand because he already knows. and NO ONE else knows? heightened drama! moiraine's a bit tired at the end? NO NO SHE IS FUCKED. these things made sense to me.

but there is something of a shame in those condensed plot points. the books is gorgeously littered with so much world building. the run of chapters at the queen's blessing where everyone reunites and then everything goes sideways only works because so much came before it, but it also works a heck of lot better than in the show. siuan's dreams are a poor substitute for all that work, and poorly executed to boot. sometimes words really do just do a better job.

also, there were exactly two moments that i took a photo of so i wouldn't forget, and they are probably a great encapsulation of what my real interests were here all along:

when old mate in the wagon is explaining the history of caemlyn and the damodred involvement, and rand fucking falls asleep.

when nynaeve asks where rand and mat are and moiraine's like "elsewhere." and nynaeve swears at her but perrin doesn't describe what she said. i fucking lold.

i'm probably going to read new spring next, because reasons. if anyone has any opinions about where in the order of things i should read it, let me know!

[idkjustletmescroll]

Idk why rise of red is on my mind so much when it hasn't been since I stopped watching it, but anyways--here's how i would slightly modify ror because i feel like writing this. I'll probably take it down tmrw. Anyways:

-The start of the movie pretty much stays the same, but uma's the acting principal until mal and ben come back and find a permanent replacement for fg, not the permanent principal.

-It goes pretty much the same way, but qoh realizes that "taking over a high school" doesn't equate to "a coup," so she takes a bunch of important people hostage instead, i don't write politics so don't come at me. Anyways, red still sentences Cinderella with treason, etc.

-Also minor changes: when red first meets chloe, she's kind of startled by Chloe's bubbliness, but starts to answer nicely--yes, i'm princess red, i mean there's kind of a barrier over wonderland rn, but you know--and then her mom looks back and red quickly does the whole jabberjocky line. Idk I just feel like red would be excited to make new friends away from her mom's influence.

-Also, qoh takes members of uma's crew hostage or something, just to further dissuade her from acting up, at least rn.

-They go back in time, meet bridget and ella, etc. The villains are pretty much the same, but hook doesn't have his hook yet (chloe can be all confused and clarify it for the viewers), and idk why hades would be there. He's a god. I did love the hades x maleficent background moments tho so...that's smth i guess?

-Anyway, they're all making fun of bridget, and ella tells bridget not to care what other people think of her, but it really gets to bridget, which is obvious to the viewer; and then people, not even the villains, just a few normal "good guys," start trying to get chloe and red to ditch bridget and ella. Obviously they refuse, but bridget's embarrassed and has a terrible idea.

-She starts to tell ella about it, and red and chloe cause like plot, and ella and red are just like "be careful, watch your words, do you want someone with you?" and chloe's like, "girl wtf you are NOT supposed to do that and it's for a reason." And then she and ella have their "get your hands dirty" scene or something like it way earlier in the movie.

-But bridget sneakily follows the villains to the black lagoon, where we meet uliana's big sister ursula, who's chilling there to talk to her sister. And bridget makes a deal with ursula that every cupcake she makes will make whoever eats it like her and want to be her friend, but in exchange, bridget will have to give up her love of baking. She struggles with it, but uliana says something that reminds bridget of the incident and agrees.

-Red and chloe track down ella and stuff, and chloe breaks the vase, as it happens in the film, and ella gets pissed, which is understandable. And then ella gets grounded.

-When bridget goes back to school, she makes cupcakes and hands them out again, and now everyone loves her and wants to be her friend, and everything's happy! But when red and chloe tell her ella's been grounded, bridget's kind of distant and doesn't seem all that interested--too wrapped up in her new friends and the popularity she's never experienced in her life. But now she's desperate for it not to end, but she also hates baking now. So, you know, not all THAT happy.

-Red tells Chloe they should sneak ella out of her house to go to castlecoming, and chloe's obviously not big on rule-breaking, but she's warming up to minor infractions, especially now that bridget's acting weird--they don't know about her deal with ursula, so they both think chloe's protests pushed her into acting like that, and chloe'll also be established as not having been popular growing up, so she doesn't want to alienate her new friends.

-So they have their red-blue friend(ship) development, and break ella out of her house, and manage to run into fairy godmother (who's a recent graduate in this version, not a current student). She's still been struggling with her magic, but manages ella's look, with the same caveat. Ella stops by the dorm to get Bridget, but Bridget's left a note saying she's getting ready with a bunch of her new friends. Oh, and red and chloe also get makeovers, cause i want outfit variations!

-Everyone's chilling, but ella's feeling kind of left out because bridget's with her new friends; charming notices her and dances with her, and she starts to realize he's not really stuck-up and he's actually pretty nice. In keeping with the fairytale, he doesn't recognize her and is kind of sad because he thinks ella isn't there, and thinks this is, like, a new kid or someone's cousin idk and idc. Anyways, red and chloe are celebrating; everything's great.

-Until one of uliana's gang eats one of bridget's magic cupcakes, wants to become her friend, and she gets pissed because she doesn't want her crew deviating from her. So she starts talking about the deal bridget struck with ursula, which never specified that people would want to REMAIN bridget's friends after the initial cupcake, and a bunch of them start laughing at her.

-Bridget is obviously humiliated, and ella tries to get to her, but uliana or her crew attack her, charming tries to defend her; the clock strikes midnight, ella decides to leave and meet up with bridget in the dorms later when she's not being fucking attacked, she drops her shoe, etc. Bridget only saw ella with charming, though, and thinks ella abandoned her, so she doesn't go back to their dorm. Red and Chloe look for bridget but don't find her, and red mentions breaking into merlin's office to see if he has, like, a crystal ball or something to find her location.

-Chloe protests again, because following the rules earlier would have saved everyone so much trouble and pain; but red argues that bridget could be in danger, and they can't waste time looking in places she's not.

"get your hands dirty" reprise because i like that song okay sue me.

-And ofc chloe eventually agrees to go through with it.

-Meanwhile, bridget's at the black lagoon, trying to strike another deal with ursula.

-In this new deal, nobody would ever be able to harm bridget again, but in exchange ursula demands her softness of heart or whatever. And bridget hesitates, and goes to take a walk to think about it, replaying the years of bullying in her head.

-Red and Chloe break into the office and find a crystal ball, and use it to find bridget at the black lagoon; they almost get caught by merlin, but they escape, although in the scrying ball's reflection you can still see bridget talking to ursula.

-Red and Chloe find bridget heading back into the grotto and hurry to try and talk her out of the deal, telling her that ella tried to help her, that they like her, that if people need to be spelled to want to be her friends they're idiots, and they just met her and they like her, so why shouldn't anyone else?

-And bridget goes back to the dorms, but there's something unfinished/ominous about the way it all plays out; even red and chloe mention something like, "well, that was anticlimactic." But they go home, everyone's alive and happy and loves each other!

-Except the qoh and ella aren't necessarily friends; they're just also not enemies. They talk to each other very formally: "queen bridget" and "queen cinderella," almost on the cold side. But both red and chloe are too happy to really notice, except very briefly in passing.

-Back in wonderland, maddox hatter is very aware that something's gone wrong.

It's like 1 am and i only watched the movie once, so if you're going to criticize me be nice about it.

[gae-blog]

I (finally) finished Dawntrail and... I liked it. It was fun. It never really manages to hit the highs of Shadowbringers, but I did ultimately enjoy it despite some pretty glaring flaws. I think this article does a pretty good job of summarizing my feelings on the story, so I'll just write some scattered thoughts here. Spoilers below the break.

Dawntrail continues Endwalker's theme of having its plot be completely reliant on the characters standing by and watching as the villain completes the next step of the evil plan, which ranges from some eye-roll moments to being annoyingly frustrating (culminating in a scene in which the cast lets the main villain casually walk through their midst to go collect the macguffin)

The zones are the prettiest and most diverse of any expansion. Dawntrail absolutely nails that atmosphere of adventure, and I think the zones go a long way in supporting that.

For how much care has gone into the presentation of the expansion, the fact that they are still using the same 10 ARR tracks for MSQ cutscenes beggars belief. If only they had a library with dozens of hours of other ambient tracks to pull from.

I've seen a lot of criticism online around the fact that the scions aren't really involved in the story, but that was actually one of the things I was most hoping for going in. The scions have been the main cast for four JRPGs now, so having them stand aside to give screen time to new and yet-undeveloped characters was something I really liked (even if the execution leaves a lot to be desired).

That said, the writers also couldn't commit to that idea and ended up dragging along the twins for the adventure anyways, much to their own detriment. Their reasons for being there are extremely flimsy, they don't actually do anything of substance, and they only have a dozen lines between them across the whole expansion, and yet their inclusion still makes them feel dragged out and overused. It really does feel like they were written in at the last second for the sole purposes of filling out crowd shots and being available for duty support.

I had a lot of complaints about during Endwalker about healer design specifically, and while those fundamental issues haven't really been addressed, the noticeable difficulty boost in the second half of the expansions has gone a long way in alleviating my grievances, and gives me hope that the dev team is at least aware of those issues.

The second half of the MSQ feels strangely like retreading ground. I didn't really mind, since it does feel different enough from what's come before, but it is funny how at no point does any character mention the other time we had to stop the leader of a failed utopia from sacrificing a bunch of innocents in order to prolong the ghosts of the people they failed in their duty to protect.

While I ultimately enjoyed Dawntrail, it did reinforce my belief that the game should have ended with Endwalker. Obviously Square Enix is never going to shut down FFXIV until they have literally no other choice, but I think it would have been so much better to end it there and start on something new. The game feels like it's running up against the limits of its own design, and I don't know how much longer they can keep scaffolding off of game systems that were rushed on release over a decade ago.

[chahnniesroom]

things i left out of tenderness (contains major spoilers!!!!):

a scene somewhere in chapter 1 where xdinary heroes happens to walk past a skz schedule and they see y/n and basically dogpile onto her, showering her with love and affection. would have been used to show skz (who wouldn't know her that well at this point) how close she was to them and her more unreserved/less serious side

this line which got chopped bc it didn't fit anywhere since i changed the tone of the scene: "Don't worry," she fakes a smile. "I won't let this affect our working relationship and I'll still be at the dorms to charge. I promise."

chan confronting y/n abt the concussion (i could not for the life of me write a scene where he finds out she got it from fainting lol i would just stare at a blank page and have no ideas so this whole plot point got left off basically 😅)

y/n choosing to use a wheelchair at the airport during the epilogue bc she is mostly healed but in the event of some sort of issue prob wouldn't be able to run/move quickly and did not want chan to have to worry about her

bonus scene 4: premise is that 3racha + y/n are at some sort of fancy event and y/n runs into a bunch of ppl she knows (bc her parents have connections). there's one person in particular that she seems almost overly familiar with and she introduces him to 3racha. when y/n introduces chan, the guy is like oooooh so you're the reason that we broke up. 3racha is like ??? and y/n playfully hits the guy (chan has to control himself bc he is like what is going on and why is y/n so comfortable with this person). then y/n and the guy explain that their parents know each other and originally had arranged a marriage between the two of them. but obviously soulmate bonds are super rare and respected so when y/n and chan found out they were soulmates then the whole marriage deal was scrapped. the end!

[boxwinebaddie]

Miss Ninaa!! When are you free for the summer???

hello, sweetling! and good morning, good afternoon or good night wherever it is that you are. <3 regardless of the time of day, please just know that the world around you is brighter bc you're in it. c':

so i just want to start out by saying that i know i say this a lot...but i cannot tell you what it means to me that you guys care enough about me to be curious about the trajectory of my offline life.

...like, i really just have the sweetest anons in the world, huh? ;-;

i feel unbelievably blessed and count my lucky stars everyday because of each and everyone of you. thank you for being your lovely, lovely selves and caring not only about me as a person but my silly and strange au styles from hell.

speaking of, i am aware that it does not seem like it because of how sporadically i post ncu related content ( if at all ) but i am trying to work on some stuff...as you know well by now, i like to really take my time putting out my work because the quality of the content that you read is paramount to me. you are all far too near and dear to my heart to receive lame, rushed, unclear boof ass content from me.

like...i simply will not do it. thank you for your paitence.

( i will say that i am specifically working on an ask about the greenhouse kiss which AAAAAA giggling, twirling my hair and kicking my feet, like it is SOOOOO satisfying, holy shit! it's also very, very important to the plot which is why i have been taking my time on it. i do hope to put it out today but i am trying not to make promises that i can't keep, get your hopes and dreams up just to dash them and most unfortunately, i do not have a great track record in that regard. i know it's kind of a bummer...but i like to be honest w/ y'all. )

ANYWAYS!

without further ado, here's a little glimpse into my life. xx

again, thank you for asking...that is very cute of you. c': <333

( this is lengthy and lowkey irrelevant. you can absolutely skip this but i think that i am pretty informative in here, so it might be useful? idk. )

so actually, my summer is pretty busy and jam-packed for the most part! or, the first two months are, at least. because i decided to take on summer camp here at the school i work on! camp counsellor nina!

i decided to nab a summer camp supervising position for a couple of reasons. like, obviously, teaching does not pay that much, so really, i need to make all the money i can while i can. don't worry about me tho, guys. bc actually am doing extremely well for myself. <333

( i am a very lucky person, haha -- god nerfed me by being mentally ill, but did make me pretty and personable...which gets me far in life. on the topic of mental illness [ of which i am very ] today i should fare quite well bc other than having a mild headache and being lowkey naseous because my mood stabilizer has that side effect for me...it is worth it when i rem(ember) to take it because it makes me very calm and level, so i am better at responding to my asks/doing my tasks. )

another reason is it keeps me busy...when i am not constantly busy, i get very depressed and fall into gnarly sprials. my job has a lot of downtime and when i am not running around like crazy because a bunch of teachers are out, i'm bored as fuck and i get lazy or restless.

very lame...this summer, i will be looking for a different job ( fml, if you are my boss, don't read this ) and i am a bad procrastinator so i missed the deadline for a fuck ton of teaching positions, but hopefully i can find something in the realm of associate or assistant teaching because....lmao, point and laugh but i am still a little too nervous to teach a whole class by myself. if kids get disadvantaged academically because i am too incompetent at teaching, i will die.

but yeah...if i am still babysitting fourteen year olds after this ( they did grow on me, but it's really not my speed ) please also point and laugh because i would rather go back to retail...yes, i am desperate.

on the subject of teaching kids that are in my wheelhouse and doing stuff my speed, summer camp is actually all k-5 so i will FINALLY being doing a majority of my teaching in the age group that i have my literal credential in. YAY! it's going to be hot as shit where i am over the summer, probably also tiring as shit ( have you seen how little kids act in the summer? ) but i am so fkn exCITED to work with the littles HEEEEELLL YES, BROTHER! uncle nina will be Vibing! <333

so for the first four weeks i am doing general camp stuff, getting a feel for stuff and wokring with all the grade levels...but the LAST two weeks, i get to specifically associate teach in the kindergarten classroom and AAAAAAAA!!!!! I FKN LOVE THE KINDERS!!!!! i visit them every other day because, again, i am bored as shit and they need help over there so i usually hang out with them in PE and play hula hoop tag with them...rn they are learning how to jump rope. soooo stinking cute, oh my god.

-- BUT YES I AM SOOOOO FREAKING STOKED YOU GUYS LIKE I WAS MADE FOR THIS BROTHER. i am gonna wear so many crazy outfits and do such weird makeup pray it doesn't melt off my face.

also, during camp, they go on little field trips and things, hopefully swimming, ( uncle nina is mermaid nina ) and feed you the same stuff as the campers so i get to eat like a nasty frat boy and have pizza and pasta and stuff, which, let me tell you, i am genuinely stoked because they cater a free lunch for the faculty here everyday and it's supposed to be all fancy and shit...but there is a reason it's free because it is SOOOO mid. like it really is kind of ass. i don't know how they do that.

but, sigh, camp is only six weeks so i have to fill my time with other stuff ( also i guess that means in six weeks from when school is done on june...14th, i think? i am free? ) i hope to use that time to structure the fuck out of my life, planf or the future because i am hella bad at it and i hope to do a lot of writing! kind of a pipe dream at this point becaue all my stuff has been *british tolkien vc* actual shite and i can't finish anything...but maybe when i feel better, writing will come easier? when i am less busy and stressed? i hope so. and i hope you guys are still around if i am here but i Completely understand if you are not! it's been a long, bumpy ride. you did your dues and you are free to step off at any time. again, i do not blame you. i am annoying.

BUT YEAH! that's my summer for you! summer camp, hanging out with my cat ( her name is lily, she is very beautiful, very kind, very fluffy and dumb as rocks but she is my babygirl ), getting lots of sushi, going to the thrift store, doing self care stuff, doing less self harm in various odd forms specifically in the form of self sabotage, getting my life together and organized, finding a new job, bettering myself and the world, being kind, entertaining all of you and hopefully writing again! yay! i'll update you as much as i can.

and please, please, pleeeease update me on your lives! i know i don't always respond, but i read everything. my friend who won FIRST PLACE for her raven sculpture, I AM SO PROUD OF YOU BABY. my friends who unfortunately went through breakups, i am so sorry, please know it is their loss, you are stronger for it and i hope you heal, but if ravesey can...you can baby. also proud of my various friends going to college and my friends that are not! my friends toiling through their lame jobs and my friends who are dipping their toes in the world of creativity through writing, drawing expressing yourself! i love, love, LOVE you! thank you for sharing your lives with me.

( speaking of friends, i am specifically hoping to spend my summer bonding with my rant girlies and we made a little group chat and we are being so funny and chaotic and unhinged. i love them all so bad. )

BUT YEAH! thank you for asking my love! look out for some important in character asks, hopefully some finished or more distinguished writing and know that if i am not responding or posting, it is not because i lost interest...as you can see, i am very busy, especially as the school year approaches an end, my summer is a little busy, i fall into ugly manic/depressive cycles and am working on taking care of myself...offline. thank you for understanding.

and thank you for being here! you are troopers, forreal! you are angels and saints for putting up for me and enduring me never posting or posting really chaotic weird stuff. i love you. thanks for caring. <3

i love you and i hope you heal,

uncle nina, future ceo of glamour girl summer camp <3

P.S. i am specifically working on developing and post more about my other aus because i want to give you some variety and challenge myself to do stuff out of my comfort zone! so if you are excited at all about the tsot/tfbw nina stuff, please make some NOOOOISE! lol and if you are not i totally get it, but if you could give me gentility and grace, i would appreciate it because i'm insecure abt it. MWAH!

[fizzbot]

I literally just sent you one but what if. You did more. For me? :3333

9, 10, 11, 12, 18, 20, 21, 22, 24 VIOLENCE (please do not look at how I spelled it in the last one) ask game <333

3, 4, 13, 17 (This time with Octavia), 18 (Striker), 22 (Husk), 24 (This time with Fizz), 25 (This time with Charlie) for the other fandom ask game :333

JKLDHFJKLSDFHJKL NO ITS OK I LOVE GIVING YOU MY THINKIES!!!!!!!!!! :DDDDD lets do this!!!!!!!! >:333333

violence ask game og post here!

9. worst part of canon for hh, its the valangel plotline. god its so bad. you cant have a silly joke character also be a horrific abuser, you have to pick one. also dont hire rape fetish artists to handle a very real?? issue?? hello??? for hb,,,,,i gotta pick the same vein and give it to stolitz. I KNOW I KNOW i bitched a lot about them in the last answer post but JKLSDFJKLHJKf IT MAKES ME SO MAD. especially bc (much like hazbin) the original plot of the story is SO FUCKING GOOD. a group of low-ranking hell creatures run an illegal business where the access the human realm??? ARE YOU KIDDING ME. THATS SO GOOD. i love that its a direct parallel to hazbin's "solving the overpopulation" main plot JKLSHDFJKLDS ITS SO FUNNY AND SO PERFECT AND WE WERE ROBBED IN BOTH SHOWS FOR VIVZIES STUPID FUCKING FETISH BAIT

10. worst part of fanon the vivzie dickriders are so goddamn annoying. ive noticed that this is kind of a trend in any media that has a large "critic" audience. like it also totally happened with miraculous ladybug. but for some reason when a bunch of people hate on the show bc it sucks, mostly bc the creator also sucks, it spawns a parallel group of people who will defend anything and everything about it. like there are people who devote entire blogs and accounts to ""disproving"" vivzie allegations (which no one has ever done successsfully btw bc she did all of the shit shes being accused of). and theres people who will defend every shitty plotpoint and piece of bad writing and leave no room for nuance. like, yes, im critical of the shows, but i can admit theres good in them. obviously i enjoy them enough to have a sideblog for them. but like. these people dont understand that its GOOD to critisize media, ESPECIALLY media that you like. its important to acknowledge when certain trends can be seen in the work, because otherwise youre going to be more susceptible to being negatively influenced. like, vivzie has history of antiblackness/racism/antisemitism. is it a coincidence that these people are horribly misrepresented in the show?

11. number of fandom-related words you've filtered only 2 related to the hellaverse actually!! but ive had to put a whole bunch of different variants/spellings. i have radioapple and adamsapple blocked just cause theyre the most prevalent ships that i dont like.

12. the unpopular character that you actually like and why more people should like them MIMZY. i fucking love her SO MUCH!!!!!! :DDDDDDDD part of why i despise radioapple and its shippers so much is bc so much of the fandom hates her for ""interrupting their moment"". SHUT THE FUCK UP shes the best part of their song and also the best girl and shes so pretty and cute and youre all WRONG for hating her!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! light of my life <333333333 spinoff show about just mimzy immediately

18. it's absolutely criminal that the fandom has been sleeping on... rosie x mimzy :(((((((( they dont even have a proper, fully agreed upon shipname. i thought you all loved old women yuri :/// also POLYVEES????? i am SOOOOO sick of the ""vel and her gay dads"" shit. it is so goddamn annoying. VOX CALLS HER "MY DEAR". VAL CALLS HER "BABYDOLL." theyre all fucking.

20. part of canon you found tedious or boring honestly? all of hazbin. the heaven arc was just SO rushed and still felt like the same thing was happening every episode. helluva never/hasnt become tedious to me just bc its so much more episodic i think

21. part of canon you think is overhyped the fuckin. shipping. stolitz in helluva is SOOOOOO hyped and for NOTHING and the whole war was hyped in hazbin and yet was also so incredibly nothing. OH AND PENTIOUS' REDEMPTION??? everyones acting like its the most interesting plot twist ever as if it doesnt suck objectively

22. your favorite part of canon that everyone else ignores loona and via ://// the only time i see them talked about is when people are shipping them which is gross. i really really really want to see more of them and have them be developed more and given personalities outside their shitty fathers.

24. topic that brings up the most rancid discourse VALANGEL. OH MY GODDDDDDDDD i fucking HATE hearing ""hot takes"" about that arc. THEYRE NEVER HOT TAKES. EVER. theyre just excusing vals actions or excusing VIVS actions in making it. I HATE IT SO MUCH

fandom ask game og post here!

3. NoTP? OOH. i have a bunch. ummm. literally any striker ship that isnt blitzker. striker x chaz, striker x moxxie, striker x millie, striker x sallie, striker x stella, etc etc i could literally list them all day. i hate all of them. every single one cannot work without mischaracterizing him to hell. he works with blitz because theyre equals and they LIKE EACH OTHER. OH DUH radioapple!!!! literally biggest NOTP ever i fucking hate them. i hate adamsapple, and cherrisnake, anddddd.......there are obviously more but im blanking. some i dislike for more innocent reasons. like any ship with tex and/or any ship with sallie? i hate all of them just because those characters are so. Nothing. they have 0 substance apart from being sexualized

4. Is there a popular pairing you don't necessarily dislike but aren't too invested in? OH well i guess i kinda answered this above hsdjkf. i guess my hottest take is fallenstar (chaggie) and m&m. i simply do not give a shit about them. i care a LITTLE more for vega n charlie, but like. pretty much JUST because theyre sapphic. what does m&m have going for them, they are literally textbook boring married couple. who give a shit

13. What's a character or ship you haven't written/drawn yet but would like to some day? sjkdfhjksdf ive doodled them beforrreeeee but ive gotta draw more verbie <////3 im thinkin about making a finished piece for them they are CUTE.......otherwise i think ive drawn/written about like everyone i care for sjkdfhjsdkf

17. What's a book, movie, or show you think [Octavia] would like? AWW this is cute....ummmm!!!!! a piece of lore i just made up for her is that i think shes rlly interested in human culture. like she likes movies from earth, and literature from up there, so on and so forth <3333 shes really into horror movies but specifically the old and bad ones <3333 she will rattle off 100000 facts to you about how they made that fake blood for that scene or "did you know they used a REAL chainsaw?". i think she has an affinity for the macabre BUT i also think she has a bit of a soft spot. she was kind of robbed of a proper childhood a little bit (as were most goetians) so shes a sucker for sappy soft stuff too. she casually watches mlp or care bears and plays lots of minecraft and terraria <3

18. Type [Striker's]'s name and tell us what the autocomplete suggests as the next word shjkdfhjksdfhjkfsd ok so i wasnt sure whether this meant using google autocomplete or phone autocomplete. i tried google first and my only result was 'striker helluva boss' cause thats what i google for art ref. but then i tried it on my phone and. uh........................................................................this is so embarassing. i pulled out my phone and pressed the middle autocomplete button a few times and it landed on 'striker tying up blitzos arms'...........LISTEN. IT WAS BECAUSE I WAS WRITING DOWN THIS ART IDEA AND IT REMEMBERED. WHY DID IT REMEMBER

22. Give us a headcanon for [Husk] UMMMM!!!!!!! it is so muc harder to come up with these for characters i dont relate to as much..........i am so sorry but i have literally thought for so long and cant come up with anything that you havent already said <////////////////////333

24. What's your favourite thing about [Fizz]? i remember really not thinking anything of it at the time but i LOVE the transition of how he is in public/at ozzies to how he is at home!!!! its really interesting to see him soften up and i think theres a lot to be said about the persona he puts on in public that i just KNOW the show isnt gonna explore. i dont think hes the. best anxiety rep, but i do think there are moments where its compelling. OH and i LOVE watching his energy bounce off blitz, its super fun :3

25. What's your least favourite thing [Charlie] said or did? grgghgg ohh girl,,,,,you had so much wasted potential ://// this is a lot more nitpicky than my answer for stolas but its easily that one moment in ep 4. where she WHINES and CRIES like a BABY over angel and vega carries her away. the infantilization is SOOOO irritating, esp bc literally in the NEXT EPISODES they try to portray her as a strong and confident good leader???? its so pathetic and SO frustrating especially when she could easily make it up to angel by KILLING HIS RAPIST.

WAHHHJSKDFHJKLD THANKS FOR ASKINGGGGG i love getting out all my thinkies :33333