#lmk cause i like both

[milliesfishes]

last time i had this much in my drafts was right before my fic fest on my birthday

[camtot]

2 versions of the same idea 🛹

[fansids]

Reverse Prince Au

And because I keep forgetting to make an official post about it, I combined the False Prince Au with the Reverse Au to make the Reverse Prince Au.

Qi Xiaotian:

This comic is still canon to the au. Macaque gets pissed one night and shadow punches a probably magical plum tree. Qi Xiaotian is born and Macaque keeps him for his own reasons. MK is not Princess Iron Fan's adopted son and more of her adopted nephew that Mac drops off randomly. Macaque is an inconsistent parent mentor and sort of comes and goes as he pleases in Mk's life because reasons, which does not affect Mk at all what are you talking about he's a perfectly fine and mentally balanced person ha ha haaa.

.

Red Son

Red Son is the apprentice of the Monkey King, except instead of Heaven dumping him on SWK post JTTW, he comes of his own volition. This obviously causes tension between him and his family. I am still deciding if he's the Red Boy from jttw, or his younger brother. Because the latter would be hilarious ngl. Anyway, Red Son wishes to make up for his past and be a hero and he...he's trying. He refuses any and all direct help from SWK.

.

Long Xiaojiao

Long Xiaojiao is the only child of the Long family and the direct descendant of Ao Lie. By day she's a completely perfect, diligent, hard-working daughter. By night she street races (less than legally), which is how she meets Red Son. Slowly, they become friends.

Everything starts when MK sort-of-accidentally-purposefully releases the Demon Bull King. Red Son does not react well to this random ass kid (he does not know he's a monkie) casually lifting Sun Wukong's staff like it's nothing, and reacts even less well to his father being released. But he refuses help from his uncle and SWK initially doesn't see MK as enough of a threat to push it. Long Xiaojiao joins Red Son on the fun when he lets her (and when he doesn't cause he can't tell her what to do and that's what besties are for). Que silly shenanigans until Macaque appears.

[cannedwyrms]

Spoilers for Shadow of the Erdtree but...

So, Moore. I'll admit, didn't strike me as very interesting my first playthrough. Yeah, he was a funny little guy, but that seemed to be it.

I wanna talk about Moore for just a bit.

However, on a few subsequent runs and an unhealthy amount of thinking, I believe Moore is a lot moore complex than I originally thought.

When we first meet him, he's right outside Belurat, next to Ansbach. Most of Miq's followers can be found on close proximity to each other, which may just be to show that they are all fellows, united in common cause, but there might be some reason for specific placements.

As far as I'm aware, Moore's placement next to Ansbach doesn't have any significance, but I'd love to hear any theories or thoughts if you have any.

He's like the supplier for Leda's band, working with other members of the forager brood to find things, which he then shares with the others.

"Things give joy to all," as he says.

Moore talks in a very simplistic manner. To me, it almost seems like he's forcing some of the words out. This could be because he's actually not a guy, but one of the pests, part of the forager brood. That's just a headcannon of mine, but I do think there's some evidence for it.

Anyway, Moore's quest revolves, as all of the followers do, around the breaking of Miquella's great rune.

But there's quite a bit of missable dialogue before it that really adds to his character.

We learn he's part of the forager brood, who you can find, well, foraging all over the Lands of Shadow. They'll give you cookbooks, and generally be cute little guys (gender-neutral). There's one by the church of crusade that's shivering and cold.

Pop down a warming stone or other similar items, and it'll heat right up. If you go back to Moore after doing that, he'll give you a cookbook with two items that are almost useful.

If you attack any of the brood, he'll eventually invade you and you'll be forced to kill him.

After the great rune is shattered, Moore seems to have a bit of a crisis. He feels abandoned, and will tell you that him and his brood were abandoned by their mother.

Before we continue any further, let's speculate on who Moore's mother could be.

Personally, I believe the forager brood to have, in some way, been birthed by Romina. A bit obvious, perhaps, but the pests have always been associated with the scarlet rot, and Romina became pretty bug-like after she accepted the rot. As to why she would abandon her buggy children, that's where my theory starts to fall apart. If I end up making a post about Romina herself, I'll explore this idea further.

Back to Moore, we can now get into the specifics of what his quest is actually about. What the theme is, how it informs our reading of the rest of the game, etc.

Moore's quest is about trauma. And, to be moore specific, Moore wants to forget the trauma of his abandonment, and believes Miquella's love is the way to do that.

After the great rune is shattered, you are able to give Moore a rare three-way choice to end his quest. If you choose the "sad forever" option, Moore will tell you goodbye and be found dead, next to the corpse of one of his siblings.

If you choose the "put it behind you" option, Moore will decide to keep following Miquella, believing that his love will "banish the pain."

The next time you meet him will be in your fight against Leda, where he will remark about what a tragedy it is for you and the others to fight, and will die. He seems to regret needing to fight you. At his heart, Moore is kind and gentle, only moved to the tides of battle because he, like so many others, believes it will save him.

Accepting Miquella's love is not the solution to moving past his trauma. There is no easy escape, and even if Miq's love did banish Moore's pain, it might not even help him feel any better.

This is one of the moore interesting ends to Moore's quest, because it informs us a bit about the theme of his questline, and Miquella's faliure to understand others' suffering. Becaus Surprise! Somehow I'm actually still talking about Miquella!

Basically, if Miquella really wanted to fix things he would've invented therapy.

Moore's final ending is very interesting as well because he's the only character that can actually survive the whole dlc.

If you choose "I don't know," Moore will eventually come to the conclusion that, even though it hurts, even though he's still sad, he has his family and the things he enjoys doing, and concludes that that's enough for him. And because of that, he actually survives the dlc. He's still there after you defeat Miquella and Radahn, and even though he's sad that Leda and the others never come by to visit, he's still alive. He's still foraging.

And this, I think, is actually another thing the game is trying to tell us.

Amidst all of these great ambitions, these demigods and champions trying to bring about change, to "fix" the world as they see fit, the one person who survives is the only one who finds contentment not in some great goal, not in revenge or obsession, but in simply appreciating what he has and trying to make the best of it.

It's not a perfect solution, sure, but Moore eventually comes to understand that, while he might not be fully happy, losing himself to some goal is not going to magically fix his problems or give him some sense of fulfillment. That's why he's the only one that survives.

Even in the base game, most characters eventually die, mostly for the reasons I stated above. Alexander chases a glorious battle, Hewg loses himself to the promise and obsession of making a godslaying weapon, Melina burns herself to fulfil our goals.

But Moore can live.

And maybe this is what Miquella was missing. In the pursuit of a perfect world, he missed the fact that no world can be perfect, especially not one built off the back of suffering. Instead, Elden Ring says, true peace—true kindness—comes from making the best of your situation and appreciating what you already have.

Of course, this doesn't mean you shouldn't try to improve your surroundings any, it just means that often our happiness can come from things we might have taken for granted.

Personally, I like Moore's second ending the best, the one where he fights alongside Leda and the others, but that's only because I'm a sucker for a good tragedy. Moore's inclusion in that fight also strengthens the idea that what you're doing is kind of wrong (something I'll get to when I talk about Leda) and that there is no moral black and white, only shades of gray.

All in all, Moore is a lot moore interesting than he might first appear, and his inclusion reveals another theme and strengthens all the other ones we've talked about.

I'll get to Leda soon, and eventually to all of Miq's followers, but when I seriously started analyzing Moore I realized I needed to make a post on him. Although, I'll admit I'm still not completely sold on this interpretation, I'm still pretty proud of it.

Okay, bye.

[puppyeared]

XIN YA MOMENT

[chirpychipslive]

were parental issues a part of the job requirement for playing guitar in pink floyd

[littleplantfreak]

Something Comforting - Sakura Haruka

It's a song fic! Actually I used two songs. If you're not caught up on the manga it has some light spoilers so read at your own risk!

It's sfw and it's angst/comfort/some third thing but it's 3am. Under the cut cause its 1500 words

Summary: Sakura's been having nightmares and his friends are concerned.

Quick note and I wont bother y'all till the end: The song lyrics are in bold and italics in case you're confused. The two songs are "Someone to stay" by Vancouver Sleep Clinic and "Something Comforting" by Porter Robinson

You were alone left out in the cold

Clinging to the ruin of your broken home

Sakura Haruka wasn't a stranger to be alone. Pretty much everything could be done without help if you try hard enough. If you struggle hard enough. If you don't have the expectation of help, that someone will come at just the right moment, getting things done begins to seem easier and easier. Why reach out when the answer will be no? Why spend time wondering why nothing is getting done, when you can do it on your own? There's no point relying on anyone when you're perfectly capable and have been for as long as you can remember.

But he came to Furin

And someone came at the right moment.

Sakura Haruka is not alone.

You've been fighting the memory, all on your own

Nothing washes, nothing grows

He sleeps through every class on Monday. No one really worries too much the first day. After all, they'd just had the fight with Noroshi and there isn't a body in Furin that's completely healed up yet. Once he sleeps past patrols every day for three days straight, Nirei starts to notice the dark circles under Sakura's eyes staying dark. Maybe even increasing in intensity. Speaking with Suo, they start to notice Sakura's not eating as much as he used to. They push here and there to make sure he eats something, but his heart isn't quite in it. The whole class begins to notice too.

"Sakura-san?" Nirei asks on their way to the cafe.

"Hmm?" He's watching the ground as he tries to stifle another yawn.

"Have you been having trouble sleeping?"

"...Not really." He's lying.

"Are you sure?" Suo presses, following up on the other side of him. "You drooled all over your math test earlier. It was stuck to your face for five minutes before you noticed." Nirei can tell he's trying to sound teasing, but there's no goading to his tone right now.

"Been waking up a few times. 's not a big deal." A yawn so big his next step is hindered and he's tripping on his own feet. Both boys nearly catch him, but he catches himself. "I'm fine." Sakura says shaking off some of his exhaustion.

Too lost and hurting to carry your load

We all need someone to hold

He's suffocating again. He thinks he is at least. The pain isn't right, but the lack of air is. Thrashing and grabbing for his throat, he is trying. To relieve the pressure. To choke out the words that come out in pathetic watery cries. I'll go with you.  He can't get the words out. Everything is static and loud and he can only make out his inky black hair tendriling closer and swallowing him up in a gaping maw darkness.

The panic he feels upon waking is made worse by the urge to hurl the remains of what little dinner he's had. "Stupid." He whispers, wiping the sweat off his face he crawls to the bathroom and rests his head on the cold tile.

Cause getting made you want more

and hoping made you hurt more

oh there must be

something wrong with me

"Pardon the intrusion!" Suo calls in as Sakura is mid-bite in his convenience store noodles.

"You sure this place ain't haunted? Lookin' real haunted right now..." a loud, spooked voice belonging to Tsugeura follows as he clings behind Suo.

"Sakura- ah he's already eating! We brought food from Kotoha's too though if you're hungry after." Nirei pops his head in and drags a bunch of bags towards the kitchen.

"Pretty minimalist huh, Sakura-chan?" Kiryu whistles while checking out the bare apartment. It's matter-of-fact rather than an insult, not that Sakura cares. A grunt comes from Sugishita at the end of the line looking nonplussed. Sakura isn't sure whether he should get up and do something or chase them out. He's never had this many people in his apartment and it's crowded even more by the luggage they're all toting with them.

"Did all ya get kicked outta yer houses or somethin'?" He asks mouth still full.

"Ah not quite!" Nirei takes the lead to explain. "We wanted to have a sleepover to celebrate...I guess...if that's alright with you..." he trails off losing some of his initial enthusiasm when Sakura's bewildered expression doesn't change.

"Right and we figured your place is the best choice," Kiryu begins setting up a rolled sleeping bag in the corner. "You are our grade captain after all." Suo has taken to the kitchen, filling it with various things from both Cafe Pothos and extra food the locals handed them on the way there. Sugishita sets a potted plant on the counter with only a "Kalanchoe" before he points to the care card stuck in the dirt.

"Uh, bless you?"

"Umemiya-san sent it. Said it's real easy to take care of," Tsugeura says plopping on the floor, legs crisscrossed as he opens a protein drink. Sakura would normally refuse and argue with them on the various fluttering around they're doing in his apartment but the energy just wasn't there. He continues eating, humming or using short, one-word answers to the variety of questions each person throws his way. His space has been claimed completely by his friends and by the end of the night, they've taken up every inch of floor space. Once the lights are out, there's a faint glow of blue from the corner where Nirei's installed a small nightlight he insisted he needed to have when sleeping. Next to that was a small white noise machine Kiryu plugged in although he himself was curled up with headphones in.

Sakura curls up on his futon to when he feels his head his something softer than normal. A double take confirms there's a pillow where his head should be and he drags his eyes around trying to figure out which one of his friends misplaced it.

"I think it's an extra. Use it since everyone else has one." Suo whispers from above where Sakura's head is before closing his eyes again. It's flatter than a normal pillow. Do they even make them like this? Sakura isn't sure it's normal but he can't really find a place to put it with four other boys spread out around the room. Sugishita to his right and Nirei to his left, while Kiryu and Tusgeura are stacked somewhere on the other side of sugishita. So he settles on it and listens to the weird but kind of alright music coming out of Kiryu's machine.

And getting made you want more And hoping made you hurt more Someone tell me Something comforting

He's drowning this time, before he jolts up in the futon. Instead of darkness, the light shows everyone around him soundly knocked out and he takes a steady breath before laying back in bed. The machine is still making noise with something like waves going in the background now. He feels two soft thumps on his back where Sugishita is set up. He hears him pick up his head and gravels out a "You're good." Not a question, and another thump as Sugishita's head hits the floor again. Sakura becomes acutely aware that Suo's head is closer to the top of his pillow, now to the point where his hair brushes near his own head. Nirei is also closer than before and has been gripping Sakura's shirt as he's curled up.

Despite his heavy breathing earlier, it's actually easier to breathe once he takes into account the bodies around him. He slows his breathing to match someone else's though he doesn't pay attention to whose, and his eyes are being pulled shut again, his body desparate for sleep. For the first time in more than a week, Sakura sleeps deeply through the rest of the night.

By the time everyone wakes up and files out after breakfast, there are a few things left behind that Sakura's not sure what to do with. He reads the care card for the plant and shoots Kotoha a couple questions on the specifics. No one in the group chat ever claims the pillow he used, or the shampoo and conditioner he finds unopened in the shower. The nightlight and white noise machine were left with both Nirei and Kiryu saying they have seconds at home and to keep it there for next time they sleep over. The same sentiment comes from Tsugeura about the set of small hand weights Sakura's been making sure not to trip over in the mornings.

His apartment starts to look more and more full as it becomes a place where small parties and gatherings are held. Whether gifted or left accidentally", he usually has something new to move around the next day. Sakura isn't sure when, but at some point someone hung up curtains when he wasn't looking despite knowing for a fact it would've been a half an hour job at least.

Sakura Haruka is not alone.

He's pretty okay with that too.

_______________

So sorry if there are typos im so tired and spent long enough just making sure the format was decent enough. Also I've never written this many words all at once before so that's cool! Some writing notes if anyone's interested!!

Kalanchoe's name apparently comes from a latinized corruption of the chinese Kalan Chau for "that which falls and grows" which i thought sounded cool to put in! It also symbolizes endurance and persistence (as well as affection and love but like...every flower/plant is like that usually it just depends on which flower language you're going off of.)

Sugishita was the one who left hair stuff in the bathroom after finding out Sakura only uses like...a bar of soap or a 3-in-1 to wash his hair. Like an animal or something ಠ_ಠ

Kotoha put the curtains up with Umemiya while everyone dragged Sakura to the convenience store for snacks one day. It actually took three days for him to notice.

Suo ends up bringing a teapot and leaves to leave(lol) at Sakura's because he's not using regular tea bags every time he comes over smh

I think both Kiryu and Nirei bring plushies over and "forget" them every time. They both also eventually put up pictures they either took on their phones or got at photo booths. Absolute mad lads at scrap booking and cork boarding

Also ive never done a song fic kinda thing before? i used to hate reading them and now look how the turntables. It's 3:39am goodnight!

[cursezoroark]

edens!

requested from @emissary-of-dog

[everyfandomsprincess]

Day 8 of the Monkie Destiny Challenge: Mountain/Chains

[imminent-danger-came]

IVE ONLY SEEN ONE PERSON POINT THIS OUT BUT MK TRIES TO PUNCH MACAQUE DISGUISED AS WUKONG BEFORE HE EVEN REALIZES ITS WUKONG. I CAN FEEL THE MK AND SWK FIGHT IN MY BONES. Also can you imagine with like that one art post Mei asks MK who HE wants to be, not a reflection of somebody, not the Monkie Kid, not the Harbringer of Chaos and HE REPLIES WITH HIS REAL NAME I WOULD GO INSANE

I'm like. 85% sure that person was me afasdfafsd. I know I've mentioned it before somewhere!

Because it's like, MK feels extremely abandoned and hurt by Wukong during s2. MK's line of "Fine! Then just leave! At least my friends will never abandon me!" in 2x01 Sleep Bug is VERY telling, and it also makes me sob when put together with 3x10 The Samadhi Fire:

MK: "NO! Mei is my best friend—I'd never abandon her when she needs me! We're heroes! It's what we do!"

And 4x02 New Adventures:

MK: “You don’t know! We’d risk it for sure! I won’t abandon them when they need us.”

MK's own low self-worth combined with Wukong's tendency to leave in the worst way possible, which was only further exacerbated by the Lady Bone Demon's manipulation.

And I think MK's experiences and feelings throughout s2 made him resolve to never make his friends feel abandoned.

But of course, since this is Lego Monkie Kid, it's more interesting than just that—because MK leaves at the end of s4. It was out of fear, sure, but so was Wukong leaving in s2 and at the end of s3. MK does exactly what he set out not to do, making the same mistakes his mentor has, literally going to isolate himself on Flower Fruit Mountain for an undetermined amount of time.

It's things like this that make the question of "Who is MK" so intriguing, because that's who MK want's to be. He want's to be himself. But who is that person?

Is MK just like Wukong? Is he a harbinger of chaos? Is he just a noodle delivery boy? Is he Monkie Kid? What if you remove all those labels? What's left? What is he?

(Plus the whole "I just want to be me—to be MK!" "Yeah well...we all know where that leads." interaction between MK and the curse in 4x07)

And now that we've thrown MK's mysterious past and ominous future into the mix, we are in for a FULL on identity crisis spiral next season.

And well, when it comes down to it, MK was willing and ready to fight Wukong in s2. The lmk writers are fantastic at paying off several arcs all at the same time (see all of 3x10, which literally had the culmination of Mei's, MK's, Wukong's, and Macaque's arcs all in one. It's fucking phenomenal), and this is partly due to the time constraints of the show as a whole, but it's also just damn good writing. MK's past, his identity, the hurt he's experienced across every season—that's all going to come to a head. I also imagine it's going to happen right along side Mei, Wukong, and Macaque's arcs once again, because that's just how this show do. It do insane shit.

I also happen to be a believer in "Samadhi Fire Part 3", in which we get another 3x10 and 4x08 parallel to round it all up, and I am waiting, WAITING, for Mei to repeat MK's words back at him:

“Mei! You have to stop. I know you’re upset, and that’s okay! I know what it’s like to have a power you don’t know how to control—to feel like the fate of the world is in your hands and you have no idea what to do! But you always have my back, and help me through it. We, will figure this out! Together!” (3x10 The Samadhi Fire)

((Which, MK himself is repeating Mei's words back at her, with "But we're going to figure this out." I NEED A POSITIVE FEEDBACK FRIEND LOOP BABY))

But yeah. I'M WAITING MAN. WE HAVE THE SAME BONE FEELINGS.

[foxgonyoom]

I’ve seen posts about how MK should get to go apeshit, and I’ve made my own about how Nezha should get to go apeshit, but consider:

MK and Nezha BOTH going apeshit

At the SAME TIME

[funkbun]

my awesome new animal

[bidokja]

i know the translation is partially at fault but y'all cannot look at jang hayoung and think she is not a trans woman like. of course they aren't good about handling her identity. of course they aren't explicit about it. do you really expect the "men in dresses are predators that deserve to be killed" web novel to have well handled trans women in it?? she "doesn't care about gender" but basically goes by she/they, doesn't want anyone referring to her as a man, and literally learns from ngmy who only teaches the skybreaking sword art to women. like. Hello.

[jinglingeyes]

Of fucking course, I read something and

immediately think of Tang.

And ESPECIALLY of course I can feel bugs chirping in my ears. THE FAN IS ON AND NO WINDOW IS OPEN

[yeonjunszn]

todays acquirements 😋😋

[thembrooklynboysbig]

if i had a nickel for every fixation of mine involving 7 boys from the 60s with a movie filmed in the 80s, then id have two nickels