#most dissapointing act in this entire story

[criesingayscale]

just now taking in Bum straight up was CHEWING painkillers like damn boy I know u hurtin but dry swallow like a fucking man

[majulians-groupie]

Headcannon idea! The main 6 finding mc stuck on the roof. How did they get there? Who knows!.

I LOVE THIS!!SOO....

Sorry that it took me so long to update,I will be doing all of the ideas that you guys recommended,it is just that it may take some time since studying architecture consumes my life energy.(LITERALLY,MY INSOMNIA ALMOST IMPROVED SINCE THE TERM STARTED😭)

I started writing a prologue to set the scene and I accidentally again wrote a 3.5k fluff one-shot.I'M SORRY I HAD TO,when I realised that my bullets were TOO long for a headcannon post , there was no coming back really.SOO,I hope you enjoy this as much as I did writing it,it was such a fun idea.Thanks for the feedback,it is amazing when we guys interact with eachother and share ideas!My dear anon,I hope you enjoy the belated reply!🪷✨️

EDIT:This idea fits surprisingly well with #vesuviaweekly 's latest theme,so I will be adding some very minor changes to make the story fit into that theme perfectly and submit it!♡

•To the fic:

♡JulianxMc FLUFF

"An unconventional proposal"♡

!(Just to disclaim,I tried to keep this gender neutral,so the words "knight" and "damsel" refer more to the stereotypes of these roles rather than the gender they traditionally come with")!

It was a casual Monday morning.You had just woken up and you were getting ready for the day.You decided you wanted to wear your favorite opal ring that was a perfect match to the earrings you were also wearing today.The thing is,the ring was nowhere to be found in your jewelry box.You angrily muttered to yourself as you were searching your entire bedroom,making a mess out of everything.It wasn't that you were so desperate to wear it today,it was just that this ring wa special,as it was a gift from Julian.

Julian,the sweetheart he was,had noticed you starring at it at the display of that jewelry shop every time you passed by.You were hesitant to buy it for yourself,since it was kinda expensive,but your softboi doctor decided it had been a while since he gave you a gift.He indeed, was a firm believer that gifts were not only meant gor birthdays and special occasions but for any moment you wish to give a little bit of joy to a person you love.He also generally loved to throw little surprises for you from time to time.

As you were getting angry that you couldn't find it anywhere,you see something shining from the window.It was your own ring,trapped in Malak's beak.You make a dissapointed gesture as you walk towards the raven

-"Of course.."

"Malak!Please give it back,I know it is shiny and you love it,but I don't want you to drop it like you did my necklace last time!Someone had snatched it off the street in seconds!

You knew it sounded ridiculous,but you could swear Malak glared at you before turning his back on you

-"OHH don't act offended mister!You got to admit you are just as clumsy as Ilya is.That's why you are so perfect for eachother!",you say in a fake sweet voice

Apparently your smartalk has only managed to piss him off more,since he decided to fly away.

"FUCK!"

As you climb up the window and jump to the front garden ,you notice malak on the roof,looking at you with a smug expression.You couldn't understand how a bird could express emotion so well.On the other hand,it was of course,Julian who would have the most dramatic familiar to ever exist.

-Malak come down!I have to open the shop!Asra is away with his parents!Come on!

As Malak literally ignores your entire existence, you hastily fetch the ladder  climbing on top of the roof and screaming muttering to yourself.

-"I.NEVER.SIGNED.UP.FOR.MORNING.RAVEN.SITTING"

You calm yoursef down as you try to keep balance, and you slowly get close to the thelittlethiefbundle Malak.

-"Please Malak,come on!I haven't even had coffee yet!"

As Malak gets a little bit  sympathetic to the well known fact that you were INDEED not a morning person,--and has been entertained enough by the whole to ordeal to get bored of your little cat and mouse game--he decided to fly back to you.

However,as he makes a movement and gains momentum,a stone hits his body and he falls to the ground,dropping the ring to the garden.You get over your shock as you see a bunch of kids no older than 12 years of age ,holding slingshots, laughing at the scene.

-"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?" you exclaimed angrily

"You can't hit animals like that!"

-"Oh but it's fun!"One of the kids,that seems to be the oldest and the possible "leAdEr" of the group replies as the rest keep laughing loudly.

-"No it is not!You could have seriously hurt him!" You notice that thankfully Malak is okay,and he is slowly flying back to you.

"What if his wing had been broken?"

-"But he stole your ring,we were helping YOU!" another kid exclaims.

-"He was just messing around!All pets do stupid things from time to time,but you are never supposed to be violent with them!"

-"Oh calm down nerd" the same kid says,which earns even more raucous laughter from the rest of the group

-"You little s-"

Your insult is interrupted by surprise as you notice one of the kids picking up your ring from the sidewalk.

-"Put that down,it's not yours!"

You make a movement towards the ladder,but two of the kids notice you and before you can reach it,they grab it and throw it down.

-"HEYY!" You scream as you almost loose your balance,but thankfully steadying yourself up.

-"Since you don't seem so upset about that ring being stolen,maybe it is time for it to go to someone that appreciates it" the oldest kid shouts cheeckily.

He picks up your earring from the floor and makes a move to leave with the rest of his little gang following him.Even though Malak could be injured,that doesn't seem to stop him from immediately flying towards the kid's hair and grabbing it with his tallons.

You stare at the scene in horror as the rest of the kids try to untagle Malak from their friend's hair,but to avail.When one of the kids gets particularly aggressive, the raven bites them sharply making the kid run away screaming and crying.Seeing that they ought not to mess with Malak, the rest of them run away as well.The oldest kid,now alone with Malak still pulling his hair rather aggressively,tries to grab malak from his neck.This throws off Malak,and surprisingly,in one swift motion,the kid manages to get free from his tallons,but the raven still chases him down in hope of getting the ring back,leaving you alone on the roof.As you try to get over the shock of what you just witnessed,you can't manage to feel a little bit bad about the little rascal,but can't deny that he got a well deserved lesson about both animal cruelty and stealing.

"That will teach him some respect",you muttered to no one but yourself.

"Do some parents even bother to teach their children basic principles?"

You quickly realize there is literally nothing to help you climb back to the ground safely that does not involve a great amount of risk,a self induced levitation spell included.Since there is no one around to help you in case of injury,you decided to chill on the roof and enjoy the scenic view of your roof.It was literally one of the reasons you and Julian chose this house.It may be a little small cosy and a little far from the city center,but the view that hill gave you and the peace the little grove of trees is creating more than makes up for it.

The sounds of the cicadas and the birds chirping reminded you of your hometown. It wasn't long ago since you suddenly started getting flashbacks from the life before .

It first started with blur,infant memories of your early childhood,which mostly consisted of sounds and smells rather than images.As the months passed,your dreams were becoming filled with memories of you and your siblings playing,singing,fighting and your parents scolding you or laughing at scene.Your memories were still kinda foggy ,and their timeline was not exactly linear , but it gets better and clearer over time and still is of course,better than not remembering nothing at all.

You almost don't realize you begin to doze off,as the last thing you remember is watching a little chipmunk stuff it's cheecks with some seeds he found on the ground.

It was a lazy late evening.Last day of the week,and Vesuvia was going through its golden hour tranquility,where the the market stalls and the shops would close,giving their place to the lively taverns and dimly lit pubs.The only people left on the streets were merchants that were gathering up their stuff,or workers that were sheepishly returning home from their jobs.Julian was one of them, and was tired .

Even though open clinic days were the most entertaining, as he had the chance to socialize and come in touch with people from all around the city,there was always one vital issue.Along with his energy, they would also drain his social battery.And yes,even he,the infamous theater kid  community theater star doctor had one.

And when in times like that,he could only speak to one person in the entire world,his darling MC.He was feeling a bit dim as they had not spoken to eachother at all today,since he woke up earlier than them,and didn't have a heart to wake them up.Limiting himself to a kiss on the forehead and a silent promise of one of their regulars cuddling-while-they-look-at-the stars-and-discusssng-about-life-while-slowly-falling-asleep-in-each-others-arms sessions,he left a goodmorning note on the kitchen and left for the clinic.

It was insane to him how well they communicate. How speaking to them somehow would make his mind relaxed,his chest lighter and his soul calmer,as if all the troubles in the world were insignificant.He was so greatful of those little moments of serenity.Six years ago,he wouldn't be able to convince himself that the existence of one person,could make him understand the importance of cherishing life rather than enduring it.

As he reached their home ,his sweet thoughts were interrupted by genuine surprise which didn't know whether it should turn to concern or laughter.

Not only MC was sitting on the roof alone,but they appeared to be calmly sleeping as if nothing was wrong.Julian quickly reached the house and went under the spot of the roof that MC was laying.He wanted to make sure they hadn't somehow fainted.To how on earth he found them unconscious on the fucking roof,was problem for another minute.

-"MC!MC ARE YOU OKAY?OMG

WHAT THE HEL-"

-"OH darling HI!"

You woke up startled,squinting your eyes,smiling at the site of your beloved doctor.

"You alright?You look tired!Was open clinic worse than usual?"

-"I...uh..WHAT?"

Julian could seriously not find the words to express his question and surprise about not only your whereabouts,but to also as to how could you take them for granted.

Seeing the confused look on his face made you remember that he indeed,found you sleeping on the fucking roof,so he pretty much deserved an explanation.

-"OHHH fuck.Yeah..about that...well,it's kind of a long story.."

-"Yeah I ASSUMED that love.Mind filling me in?You know I can't resist them",he smirks and looks at you playfully,now that he is sure that you are okay.He really can't wait to hear that one.

As you fill him in on the events of the morning,you begin to realize Malak has not returned yet.

-"You think something has happened to him?"you say worriedly.

-"No love,he is alright!I actually saw him chilling on his birdhouse at the clinic's garden before I left.No need to worry about him!He honestly looked rather calm, nestling and eating his snacks.He actually even accepted the almonds I have been trying to make him eat off my hand for ages.He also did not appear injured.Your knight in shining armor probably got tired and wanted to rest a little.."

-"But my ring..."

-"There is no use crying over tangible goods my dear."

-"But it was from you!",you said in an almost childlike naivety.

-"I will always be here,ready to go to the bowels of the earth,to fetch the finest of rings this world has to offer,one worthy to match your beauty,my fair damsel.But first,I am afraid I will have to assist your safe return back to the ground."

You see that look on his face,the spark in his gaze and his polished way-too-charming-for-his-own-damn-good smirk of his.He now is in theater mode. Well,there is really only one way from now on...

-"Oh my dear knight,thank goodness for your arrival!I was beginning to worry I will stay here for ages!Who knows what would happen if I were to miss the harvest ball?It would be such a scandal!"

-"I don't know whether you could really avoid that my fair lady.Court has been whispering you know.They speak of your shenanigans.They say that you are a scandal waiting to happen."

He throws the flirtiest and cheeckiest expression.

-"Oh..that's what have they been saying now haven't they?And where do you stand,curious knight?Do you wish to undig the secrets the face of the next subject of royal gossip is holding?While you also pretend to offer me guardianship nevertheless!How dishonorable of you!How dare you carry that shield and look me in the eyes?"

-"Honestly love, I wasn't exactly looking at your eyes at the moment though they are the most beautiful th..OH...um",Julian stutters as he realizes he broke character,which is very unusual for him.

"I am terribly sorry,my lovely vision!I wholeheartedly swear to you that my intentions were as pure as the light of the morning sun!It is just that I got enchanted by your glowing presence my dear!And can you really blame my curiousity?Who would not want to learn more about the secrets that angelic face holds?Oh,the witty and devilish thoughts everyone whispers you are capable of!I could only hope of ever gaining your trust to share them with me!"

As he steadies the ladder and carefully climbs towards you,he extends his arm.

"My love,I am happy to announce your little adventure is over!I am here to assist your safe return to the ground !Would you do me the honor of-

As Julian speaks a loud caw is heard from a distance.

-"Malak!" you exclaimed!

Malak flies towards Julian's hand with an incredible speed,dropping none other but your ring to his hand.

"Heyy!You got it back!Thanks buddy!You are amazing!" you excitedly say to him

As you turn towards Julian,you begin to realize,that he is positioned on a level lower than you,now with a ring on his hand.

Your nervoussness and awkwardness betray you as you simply stare at him,biting your lips,not knowing how to break that damn iceberg the ice

-"Uhhhh...."

You could see Julian's cheecks getting scarlet,his gaze anxiously going from the ring,to you .After a few very long seconds,he starts staring at the distance,his anxious expression ,turns into a michevious one with a playfull smirk appearing on his face.However,his gaze hid something more.A meaningful and deep look.If you didn't know him that well,you wouldn't also have noticed that the michevious looks was followed by another very specific expression.The expression he made when he realised a situation was getting serious.Our lovely doctor,master of improv,is actually able to handle this rather serious situation more than well.

Your thoughts are racing in your head,not daring to think that he would actually turn this into-

-"So...!!!!"he abruptly interrupts your inner monologue.

He clears his throat,trying to hide his nervousness.He really was a great actor.You wouldn't have realised the panic that hid behind that well practiced barrier if you didn't know him as much as you do.He may knew how to conceal the twitch of his eyelids,and the biting of his lower lip with practiced ease,but you could almost hear his brain-gears gritting.

"My darling MC,you royal Highness.My beautiful flower,sweet dove,light of my life in the darkest of moments and the most treacherous of times!I came here with a proposal!Your return to the ground can not only be done with the utmost of safety,but the acceptance of an offer.An offer that holds the most sacred of promises.A promise to cherish you,to protect you,to love you endlessly and stand by your side as you do what you always do,being the amazing person that you are!From the moment I first saw you I could realize that!Smart,funny,witty,and beautiful with the kindest of souls and the purest of hearts!Always down for a great adventure,one that would make one of the finest of stories to share with our beloved ones over warm drinks,or for us to remember when life shows it's harsh side to us!Always ready to sacrifice their own needs to help others,to open their home to everyone needing shelter and defending the ones that have been wronged even when they are not able to do it for their own selves!A true knight,hiding behind a damsels disguise!I could only dream of being a part of your legendary tale!Seeing it unfold,as the years pass,right in front of my eyes!The greatest of honors a kinght could be granted!Will you, my lovely vision,my comrade in crime,accept my humble offer?

You can't seem to be able to hide your surprise.A huge smile seems to be glued on your face as small tears escape your eyelids.To this day,when you recall this lovely and sweet memory,you still don't understand how on earth you were able to stay in character.

-"My lovely and brave knight!My dashing warrior,one able to overcome the darkest pits of both the mind and the soul.When I first saw you,you blinding presence was able to lit my dark mind,and give me hope.Hope, that things could start to make sense,as they never did around me.You were the last piece of a very chaotic but worth owning puzzle.You were right by my side as everything around me fell apart,as everything I ever knew about my world crumbled before me. As one of the biggest of revelations hit me during the most vulnerable of moments.But you were there.You stood by my side,supported me, became the backbone I needed to keep myself steady and keep fighting,as if we had no other choice if we wanted to protect the world as we knew it.You showed me what true strength meant.The strength of the mind,trust and the strength of patience.These are the ones that allow you to be vulnerable enough to accept the deepest of changes and thus,allowing you to evolve.Thanks to you, I stepped out of my comfort zone,and began the journey of discovering my new self,since the one I used to have was so abruptly taken from me.Thanks to you,I have learned to embrace change and move on,not dwelling into chasing a shadow of a long forgotten past.I learned to look into the future.And you my love,are my future!So yes,it would be only natural to accept your offer,and be your partner in life,along being your no 1 partner in crime!"

I throw a not so subtle wink at the last line.However, as soon as I finish pouring my heart to him,I realise I can not hold my tears anymore.But it is not just me.Julian does not even bother to wipe his own tears as he leaps from the last step of the ladder towards me and gathers me into his embrace.I almost feel I could dissappear into his arms,as he holds me as tight as humanly possible without hurting me and cradles my head,more tears of joy falling into my hair.He kisses my forehead and then we share a very emotional and deep kiss that turns into more and more.I feel him smile into my lips,and indeed,a big genuine laugh escapes him.I am now hold his face as I gently try to wipe his tears with my thumbs,beaming at him.

-"Happy about something"?

-"Only about the fact that my partner made me the happiest man alive!!And yeah,being the happiest man alive usually makes you look...I dont know..HAPPY!"I was actually trying to plan this for so long...Always trying to find the perfect time,place and moment.Always rejecting every ring I found at the market because it was not "the one".I was seriously overthinking this,as if deep down I thought a imperfect bad proposal would make you realise how bad I am for you, how I can't provide you with everything you deserve.He sighs.

"I'm sorry it took me so long...Malak must have seen me rehearsing in the mirror and decided to give things a *little* push.You think that's why he took your ring in the first place?"

-"Well..maybe.He always takes every shiny thing he finds at our home though.But I supposed he purposely opened my jewelry box."

You stroke his cheeck

"Anyway,it's not like I wasn't hesitating to plan a proposal as well,even though I wanted this as much as you.We really ought to give credits to Malak,for reminding us how stupid we are to still question how much we mean to each other"

-"Well,at least it worked well for me.I got to be in time to propose you before you did!"

I playfully smack him in the arm.He  chuckles and reaches for my hand,interwining our fingers together and softly kissing it.

For the first time in that evening,I take notice of the night sky behind Julian.How he was sitting exactly in the middle of the diagonal line the galaxy drew along its surface.How the light of the moon and the stars ,along with the help of the dim light the lanterns in our garden provided embraced his features so perfectly.I was simply staring at at him,gaping,admiring him like a work of art,savoring the moment,working on preserving this wonderful memory forever in my mind's eye.

Even though he turns scarlet again,he can't bear but to be a smartass

-"Like what you see darling?

-"Very much dear"

We share another passionate kiss,and we end up on the highest point of the roof,nestled in each other's arms,admiring the beautiful scenery for the thousandth time as if it was the first.And in a sense,it was the first.That day we made a promise.That day we finally overcame our fears,trusted eachother and expressed an internal promise we had actually silently made years ago.A promise rather simple but complex at the same time. That we will always be by each other's side.That day,was the first day of our life.

☆☆☆

Sooo,THAT WAS ALL FOLKS!

I hope you liked it,I know it was kinda long,so if you are still with me,you truly are one of a kind🩷✨️🪷.

I didn't even plan to turn this into a proposal fic,it just kinda happened along the way LMAO.In retrospect however,this feels exactly like the way Julian would propose.Out of a sudden AND in theater mode.Gotta love the ✨️chaos✨️

Tell me if you want Headcannons of the same incident with the rest of the M6,I am thinking of writing them!

Until next time,if architecture has not consumed me

Stay cool,stay chill stay HYDRATED

Eva🩷🪷✨️

[nebelihood]

I just CANNOT DEAL with your shortaki art!!!!!! they are such complex characters and you just GET them! I just UGH LOVE THEM SO MUCH! what do you like about them the most?

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!! AAAAAA I'M SO GLAD AND I HOPE I CAN COME BACK TO IT!!!!

I LIKE EVERYTHING ABOUT THE SHOW- BUT, if you are asking me about just Arnold and Helga, hmm...

Well Helga's my favorite out of the two of them. I really like her and I justify her quite a lot, which my be wrong of me but I feel like she really deserves a chance,,,,

To begin with I love that her character despite being the "love interest" (or in this case the "love uninterest") meaning she helps to they show's dynamic with the purpose of being in love with Arnold- the show still gives her enough screen time for her to develop outside that dynamic. I consider that to be super rich taking in account the story was developed during the 90s. She has episodes entirely to herself (Just like Arnold, Gerald, Phoebe and Harold) were she struggles with rejection from her male and female classmates, deals with the idea of being ugly, feels scared with the idea of being gone and not missed, fear of death, and all her family episodes!

During the first season Helga was SUPER MEAN- LIKE unnecessarily MEAN. But I excuse her cause she was more childish (And they were probably still developing her) As the series progresses you can understand from where her anger develops, and you can also witness her doing acts of true kindness (With no credit at all) out of her true admiration for Arnold.

Arnold truly teaches her and inspires her to be a better person, despite having to deal with an alcoholic mom and real jerk of a dad (not to mention Olga the perfect sister). Being a neglected kid, A NINE YEAR OLD KID. THE EPISODE WHERE HER MOM WORKS AND JUST KICKS HER OUT, THAT EPISODE MAKES ME CRY EVERY TIME.

Helga is really mean, evil and careless. She really is, but who wouldn't be in such situation. She could either spend her days as a sad kid- but she chooses to fight it with angerness (Although sometimes we can see her sad with certain situations). And although her fixiation is bordering to a sick person (HAJAHS) she directs it into a good light. Fixiating on Arnold cause he's a good kid. He's kind, nice, helpful, etc. When Helga hurts someone, Her OWN brain tells her is wrong but in the shape of Arnold- someone who she deeply loves and hates to dissapoint and ends up doing the right thing.

IT'S STILL HELGA THE ONE WHO CHoOSES TO DO GOOD THO- Arnold it's only a great visual help.

DID YOU SEE HER ON THE POTION OF LOVE EPISODE- SHE LOOKED SO EMPTY WITHOUT ARNOLD. WITHOUT ARNOLD SHE CAN ONLY THINK ABOUT HER PROBLEMS- OR WHAT SHE DID TO AVOID THAT; NOT THINK ON ANYTHING AT ALL. AN EMPTY CHILD.

I'd write more but my wrist is tired already and I'm getting hungry,, ajahsj these are some reason (ARNOLD HAS HIS STUFF TOO BUT I CAN'T DO IT RN) I LOVE HEY ARNOLD- They really give importance to kids in stories so realisic in the adult world, idk how to explain it. I love how natural it feels despite not having grown in the 90s. The characters are developed so beautifully. I think the show really attacks the phrase "They are just kids, what do they have to worry about?" in a perfect way.

IAUGSH I CAN'T AAA,,

[pinkthick]

Till death do us apart

Pairing: Doctor Strange x Fem!wife!Reader

Doctor Strange & Wong

Summary: As a result of being transformed into a vampire on one of his missions, Stephen battles with himself and tries to maintain control and he fails.

Warnings:Blood, Mentions of dead people

"You're covered in blood," You spoke in a trembling voice, while horrifiedly looking at Stephen. The sorcerer didn't want to see how dissapointed you appeared to be with him, so he couldn't force himself to look into your eyes. He just couldn’t bring himself to.

Your gaze was fixed on his silhouette as he leaned against the wall in front of you, and you weren't even aware that tears were beginning to fall from your eyes. He resisted your intense gaze, which seemed to be begging him to turn to face you—But Stephen kept staring at his blood-stained hands instead of meeting your eyes.

Blood. the source of this sickness.

The memories started to resurface. The scent, the fair.. the screams. He acted in such a way today and it horrified him to his very core. He despised himself. While he was supposed to be able to control himself more easily as time went on, it really seemed like everything was more difficult, and the doctor hurt and killed innocent people once more. Just because of that opaque red fluid that made his heart race whenever he caught a whiff of blood in the air. The flavor was something like pomegranates, sweet and tart, the kind that made his toes curl, and he adored it even if he shouldn’t.

What the actual fuck was wrong with him?

The vampires. The monsters. The ones that people kept their children hidden from and about whom horrific stories of brutality were spread. It was simpler for humans to act like vampires were merely another overdone Halloween costume. When he was still a human, Stephen himself pretended that vampires didn't exist, even if he did know the truth.

He still recalled that after he was turned during one of his missions, he was unable to bring himself to return to Kamar-taj for about two weeks. Most importantly, he didn't want Wong and you to see him this way. He didn't even consider going back to the Sanctum or your apartment since he knew you would be waiting for him.

Throughout those weeks, you were uncertain as to whether he was still alive, and he felt terrible about it because you didn't deserve that, especially from him. But perhaps—maybe it would have been better if he had died—it was so painfully evident to him that he was merely going to hurt the two of you in the end.

But being the fool that he was, he then lost control of himself in the city. Idiot, idiot, idiot. He was such an idiot!

He remembered the evening Wong found him next to a dead body. The neurosurgeon still had no idea how the Sorcerer Supreme had found him back then and was still unsure if he was grateful to Wong or not for going after him.

Even if the former doctor refused to acknowledge it, Wong always knew that Stephen was vulnerable. He was still terrified of his past failures, his inability to save everyone, and the fact that he knew some innocent people had died because of his negligence still bothered him every night. It didn’t matter if it was an unsuccessful surgery or a mission, it still stung to think about them, even if it happened years ago.

“Strange.” Wong moved a short distance before crouching down on his knees on the chilly New York cement. While still lying in the victim's bloody pool, which was now covering the entire alley, the neurosurgeon paid him no attention at all.

The former doctor's mind was still primarily focused on how hungry he was, impairing his ability to think effectively. He was able to starve himself for over two weeks, but a man died as a result of that because he refused to even consider drinking blood. In an effort to stop the bleeding, Stephen kept applying more pressure to the person's neck, but it was ineffective. No response was given by the man for over 4 minutes now. He died because of Stephen.

You killed him. You probably took someone’s father away from them.

Stupid.

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Murderer.

However, he was still being troubled by the strong, metallic scent of the fresh blood that was still permeating the air. He was able to restrain himself and swallow against the guilt that threatened to suffocate him as the sorcerer constantly said, "I'm sorry,"

“Strange!”

no.

The ex-doctor's thinking was interrupted, which caused him to stumble backward a little bit before becoming still, his eyes— Different. Too different— scanned Wong. A glint of realization sparked his expression and he let out a sob of relief mixed with pain. “I—I didn't mean to..”

Wong looked concerned at his.. friend? He was aware that Stephen wouldn't purposefully harm him, but he nonetheless summoned out a shield to be safe, which caused a small tug of Stephen’s heartstrings.

Wong didn’t trust him?

"You're such an idiot. You should have returned to Kamar-taj immediately. We could have—“

“I didn’t asked to be turned!” Wong was cut off by Stephen, whose eyes were glistening red.

“Of course you didn’t! Nobody does. But here you are!” The Sorcerer Supreme, his friend, looked at him with— repulsion and disgust. He felt his heart literally break and even if Wong screamed at him all sorts of things, he couldn’t comprehend what the sorcerer was saying to him.

Stephen never wanted to be a monster. But, he had become one against his will.

You hugged him, interrupting his train of thought, and he jumped a little as a startled gasp escaped his lips.

After a brief moment of shock, Stephen exhaled softly and put his forehead against yours.

“I'm sorry." he whispered through gritted teeth

The humans had every right to be scared of them.. of him. Vampires could destroy every thing they loved and cared about. It was in everyone's best interests that they were kept concealed and locked away, allowing society to act as though they never existed.

Stephen kissed your forehead, sweet and soft, and it was so blatantly the opposite of everything he was right now.

“Why don’t you hate me?” With tears in his eyes, the former neurosurgeon asked quietly.

He apologized again after you didn't respond, slightly tightening his hold on you while burying his face in your hair and exhaling heavily. You swiftly shook your head and drew back, wiping your face and sighing shakily before bending forward and giving him a delicate kiss on the mouth corner, your eyes shining. “I still love you.” Your voice trembled slightly as you spoke gently. "I always will."

He blinked at you and then smiled softly, cupping your cheek tenderly. You felt his thumb trace the line of your jawline before pressing his lips into yours with a passion you weren't expecting, a passion that assured you he'd never stop loving you.

“You don't give a damn about what I am? About what I did?” Stephen hesitantly questioned as he moved back to observe your response. His question caused your eyes to widen briefly as your mind began to race. You examined his now-blue eyes, trying to determine if there was any trace of regret in them. They weren't displaying any hesitancy of any type. They pleaded with you to tell him that you really did care about him. That you cherished him. That you would stay with him. That you'd believe in him.

“Do you remember what I said at our Wedding?” You questioned as you saw Stephen literally melt before you.

He wasted no time as he hugged you once more and started to say softly, in a quiet voice “I promise to love you for who you are, and for who you are yet to become. I promise to be patient and to remember that all things between us are rooted in love. I promise to nurture your dreams and help you reach them. I promise to share my whole heart with you and to remember to show you how deeply I care for you, no matter the challenges that may come our way. I promise to love you loyally and fiercely—as long as I shall live.”

You were powerless to stop yourself from crying once more. Even though it had been twelve years, he could still recall every word. The Wedding vow you made for him.

“Till death do us apart, right?” After a brief period, you murmured, melting into the honey tones of his eyes, before leaning in to give him a slow, tender kiss. Your hands were clenched in the fabric of his tunic as his arms slid around your waist and drew you inexorably closer. You felt as though your life depended on every single centimeter of contact with the man.

Yet all too soon, he drew away, leaving you yearning for more of his kiss than you'd ever known. He kept his eyes closed and pressed his forehead on yours once more.

“You’re not a monster,” you said trying to convince him.

“I know,” he lied, and your sad smile told him that you didn’t even believe yourself. You were a human, one of the best surgeons in the world right now and he.. he wasn’t himself anymore and Stephen didn’t know when he lost himself.

He had undoubtedly turned into something terrible.

And yet.

You were still here.

Part 1/Part 2

Notes: I wrote this instead of sleeping and learning. Also I wanted to write something short with Vampire Stephen because I have another idea in mind with him(just angst) . Probably will delete this one later tho.

Tag list: @strangesgirl @paola-carter @hamandchickensandwhich @captainannamerica @ivyheliotrope @lilithskywalker @yumeillu @winter-cant-decide @andlizeth @mintssanctuary @strangesslut @rotindselain @herseraphwings @kujosux @alahmorah @sa-filonzana @kety25jhosson @alchemxx @lucimorningst4r @dragonqueen89 @rinacreateart @clockblobber @quillweavianstuff @k1mikoz @mynamehasbeentakenbysomeperson @crazyhearttragedy @bobateadaydreams @darlingxgirl @crushingonfreddie @cloudedfairydust @robertdowneyhiddlesbatch @cemak @d0ct0rstrangewife @annabelloki @allie131313 @paola-carter @annemarielovesbeenjuice @hamandchickensandwhich @rachelessfreedom-world @strangelockd

[nomsfaultau]

Daily ask №14! 2 weeks anniversary woooo

Void edition!

Also I'm writing this sitting under a linden tree. Smells absolutely amazing.AH MUFFIN A BUG JUMPED ONTO MY THIGH WHILE I WAS WRITING THIS AND IT WASNT A BEE

What IS void? Is it an entity? A place?

How does it know everything?

Did it even come from the fault universe originally? I mean, it has access to knowledge no other character possesses. Is it something of another world then?

How the heck did it get trapped within Wilbur? Is it even trapped? Basically, Wilbur and Void. What's their thing?

Is void and void madness the same thing? Does void give people void madness? Does it happen by itself? Basically, what's the thing with that?

Okay but like if the higher being that was watching me was a teenage girl, even from another universe, I'd probably be more dissapointed than go mad. Plus they've handled far worse, I feel like. Existential horror doesn't seem new to the crew, why is void madness actually to distressing?

Somewhat personal stuff on the topic, don't read if you don't want to or don't care, I completely understand: I mean, personally, I'd probably take some comfort in being watched like that. It at least means that I'm interesting and or sympathetic and that my life will be interesting too. But I'm biased, as a person who spends their free time monologuing to the "chat" (aka nonexistent entities that I made up that watch me all of the time and hear my thoughts purely because the realisation that I am indeed alone in my mind and in general was too distressing to accept)

Haha anyways! Yeah fuck you, void : D

No that was Tubbo in a funny hat. And this is MASSIVE spoilers for Fault; the characters have only briefly brushed against void madness in very small doses, since they’re more concerned with things like interpersonal drama and being shot at. At most I’d say there’s foreshadowing with increasing implications such as in Tubbos’ minor foray into the void or Greg, but the curtain hasn’t peeled back on that can of worms.

I’d like to address part of 7 up here, since I think it’s an excellent framework to understanding why I added a layer of metafictionality to Fault (beyond the fact it’s cool as hell).

I narrate constantly in my internal monologue too. I think it's a very human impulse to frame things in stories even (or especially) when we never tell them. It's how we try to make sense of the world, create cause and effect and feel like we have control in a very stoichastic universe. We feel the need to explain in order to process things, which is why things like journalling, talking to people (or even imagining to do so) can be helpful. And so we create audiences both internal and external to partake in the act of a story, because that’s how it’s supposed to work. A speaker, a listener. In a way Fault is my way of processing different philosophy systems externally through the framework of a story, and I’m just lucky enough that other people have decided to listen.

Internal narratives make it easier to process things because in a way it’s a short cut. It explains the world in a way that’s simpler and easier to work with than reality, which would be very overwhelming otherwise. Instead of having to examine everything always and treat it like it’s new, additional information can be shoved in a category with similar data. This is where we get confirmation bias, prejudices, conspiracy theories too. Information that contradicts with our story is often discarded. Our story of how the world works is also the story of ourselves.

I’m going to sound pretentious for a sec here (well this entire preface really)(I promise I stole this from a YouTube video I’m not literate). In ‘The Mnemonic Imagination’ Keightley and Pickering posit that “Trauma is when an experience is so contradicting to your sense of continuity that your internal narrative is effectively destroyed.” It's too big to be discarded, and so the narrative is discarded instead. Fault deals heavily in trauma, in how it disrupts internal understanding of the world and creates new narratives. We see this in the hallway reframing Tommy’s understanding so that he and his friends are monsters. We see this in Wilbur’s bad experiences with humans leading it to simplifying into humanity into something always evil. In the past when faced with trauma, I would find myself repeating an explanation over and over to imagined people, to make it easier to process. Trying to frame it in a way that reintegrates it into the overall narrative, because it needed to fit before I could move on.

If trauma is the disruption of narratives, and Fault is about trauma, it made sense for me to examine how far an internal understanding of the world could break. I wanted to examine our relationships to stories both internal and externally. Metafictional madness will not be the only type of derealization at play at that point of the narrative, and I want to examine how trauma creates disconnect and alienation from the world around you. How the stories we tell ourselves affects how we treat others. And even more importantly, how to reject the new framework of the world that trauma creates. Chiefly, in restarting the narrative. Choosing to continue the story. Choosing to live.

People are made of stories. They are how we survive. Fault above all is about survival in all its messy glory.

And also it looks sick as hell.

What IS void? Is it an entity? A place?

The void is both a dimension and a collection of Conceptuals. It’s an eclectic group that are all ambitious cunning and territorial. Very dog-eat-dog, all scrambling for dominance.

On the dimensional front, it’s a bog standard infinite evil plane filled with monsters and goulies. The world itself is implied to also be an entity in their own right, or rather many entities, turtles all the way down style. Tubbo described it as such: “The terrain is layers. It’s all superimposed on everything else. Like, one spot might be an infinite mountain, but also a wine sea, but also an alien city, but also a bone bog, but also the fur of some beast, but also— just hundreds of realities all happening in the same spot. We can can sorta focus on one layer, but the others butt in. They’re all shadows cast from a million things, mixing into a blur but each version distinct.”

It’s like facets on the same gem, infinite fractals of planes of non existence each filled with horrors all fighting for dominance. It would be fairly maddening to fully behold, but luckily Tubbo gets some defense via being a partially omnipresent multitude.

3. Did it even come from the fault universe originally? I mean, it has access to knowledge no other character possesses. Is it something of another world then?

The void is its own world. Unworld maybe? Regardless it’s broken into the Fault universe.

4. How the heck did it get trapped within Wilbur? Is it even trapped? Basically, Wilbur and Void. What's their thing?

The void typically is separate from the dimension of Fault. It is ravenous but in the void there is nothing they can actually eat. So every few generations the void pools its power together to create a vessel. This is different from how The Blood God chooses a preexisting host. Wilbur never agreed to be a vessel, it was simply born as one. Through this vessel the void has torn a tiny hole in the fabric of Fault, through which it can seep in and cause problems. That’s the hole in Wilbur’s head.

Like many vessels, Wilbur has sovereignty over the void to some extent. Part of that is being a person, but part of it is being the culmination of the void’s efforts pooled together. So he is the one thing that can really control the void if with varying success based on his willpower. And like every other voidkeeper that has ever existed in Fault, Wilbur realized oh wait the void wants to devour all matter, and I’m matter so I should stop that. To Wilbur the void is a burden, to the void Wilbur is an opportunity. But also not their only opportunity, so if he dies oh well but they also did put in a lot of effort to make it in the first place. Imagine trying to create the perfect OC and a world domination scheme with the infinite number of typewriter monkeys. Who all have knives and will attack if they don't like your proposed amendment re: amount of teeth.

5. Is void and void madness the same thing? Does void give people void madness? Does it happen by itself? Basically, what's the thing with that?

The void can cause its own sort of eldritch madness, speaking in tongues, clawing your eyes out, basic stuff like that. Void madness is probably an inaccurate term since I was just being cheeky when I said it. It is not madness the void causes in and of itself, and is more of a byproduct from their actions. The void’s goal is to consume all of reality. Hence creating Wilbur, so they have access. But Fault is not reality, it’s a fan fiction, and so to eat reality the void first has to eat Fault. Like an entrée.

The problem occurs when the void eats through Fault, creating holes to reality beyond. This exposes characters to the fact they are in a story, which starts to cause problems.

It’s not eldritch madness in the common sense with the bleeding eyes and gibberish, but instead madness born from being aware of metafictionality. More like the ant understanding a computer chip type of madness. It’s a fact that reframes one’s entire reality in a way completely incongruous to one’s previous life, unfathomable to anyone else and thus isolating. It’s really a type of trauma, the type seen as too ‘horrific’ to share with others for fear of tainting them as well.

2.How does it know everything?

I don’t think it’s a symptom of being Conceptuals, else Phil, Niki, The Blood God, etc would be aware of the metafictionality. In all likelihood, trial and error. After a few goes with vessels one probably inevitably got a rip in the Fault universe to reality beyond and thereafter were desperate to break through two layers between dimensions instead of just the one. The void isn’t necessarily a collective given how individualist it is, but knowledge is power and they have literally eternity to spread the word through gossip, hushed secrets, brochures, etc.

6. Okay but like if the higher being that was watching me was a teenage girl, even from another universe, I'd probably be more dissapointed than go mad. Plus they've handled far worse, I feel like. Existential horror doesn't seem new to the crew, why is void madness actually to distressing?

Technically, the Fault guys actually haven’t dealt with metafictional madness. At most they’ve brushed up against it. Tubbo's gotten some brief glimpses and has some forbidden knowledge but doesn’t know what it means. Philza experienced some holes in the narrative and started to unravel since he’s weak to psychic attacks, but he thought it was just eldritch madness. And Wilbur kinda dismisses all that stuff because well it’s the void it’s TRYING to make you go insane so why would you believe the crap they’re saying?

The horror lies in realizing you are a character without control of your existence, thoughts, agency who suffers and lives for the amusement of otherworldly beings you can’t even comprehend. It’s the realization that your personality, traumas, relationships has been manufactured by a cruel god. It’s like suddenly blinking and the world around you is made of cardboard props, or the stage light falling in the Truman Show. It’s existential horror in the reframing of your entire existence, of knowing nothing is real it doesn’t matter while everyone you’ve ever loved carries on believing they’re people. They’re not. You aren’t.

You didn’t exist until a few months ago, and when the story ends so will you. The moment you aren’t interesting you cease existing. Are you real in the moment between scenes? Does your friend stop existing the moment they leave the room? Do you have thoughts only when the story is in your perspective? Do you have thoughts at all or just what the author forces you to think?

7. Somewhat personal stuff on the topic, don't read if you don't want to or don't care, I completely understand: I mean, personally, I'd probably take some comfort in being watched like that. It at least means that I'm interesting and or sympathetic and that my life will be interesting too. But I'm biased, as a person who spends their free time monologuing to the "chat" (aka nonexistent entities that I made up that watch me all of the time and hear my thoughts purely because the realisation that I am indeed alone in my mind and in general was too distressing to accept) Haha anyways! Yeah ṁ̵̮̌ủ̷̢͉̫̕f̸͍̠̬̾f̷̭̳͙̚i̷��̪̳̥̑n̷̢̩̝͗̿ you, void : D

There are a lot of ways to deal with that type of information. Not all characters react to void madness in the same way, much like they all have different responses to trauma. Your reaction sounds much more in line with the Zaphod Beeblebrox reaction to the Total Perspective Vortex, or the song Main Character by Will Wood. I mean not implying you’re egotistical like those characters, but similar in being flattered by it. You know, most people don’t know if their life has a purpose, but knowing you’re the literal main character of existence could be a pretty kicking deal depending on how you roll with it.

[severeweatheralert]

Hello dear Author! I was wondering, if Chishiya’s father were ever to make an appearance in your Firelight series, how would Chishiya react? I know that Chishiya doesn’t blame him, even though he should, but Niragi said that he trembled! Chishiya of all people! So it would be fun to know even if it most likely won’t happen(I think?)Thank you!

Hey, thanks for asking! There's a reason I'm setting up some childhood trauma background in the earlier chapters of Call of the Void, story wise, but more on that later :) I gave Chishiya that muscle trembling by his eye not just because his parents come up, but also because Niragi manages to zero in on what his issues are and where they stem from. Chishiya likes to think he's unreadable; he's been around Niragi long enough that that's not entirely true anymore. (In a way they have very similar backgrounds, which is why Niragi manages to guess so easily. He's pivoting the convo away from his own issues because he is a Certified Mess and not about to talk about that).

So if Chishiya would somehow meet his father/parents again? I think he'd pretend very hard that everything is normal. He's certainly not accepted that they did anything wrong - that would mean accepting he has a weakness, and he's not about to do that - so I guess he'd just revert back to normal Polite Behaviour. I imagine Chishiya's family is immensely dissapointed he's ran away from a) his job b) the country c) the government, because they only had him for appearances really, so they'd probably give him the Polite Cold Shoulder? He'd probably cope just fine during the actual meeting, but he'd probably also have a little crisis later that he doesn't realise is related (or realise it is a crisis at all). Firelight!Chishiya, with Niragi around? That could result in actual trouble. Like he says in chapter 2, last time he acted on instinct he set someone on fire :) Hope that answers your question! Thanks for asking, always happy to theorize :)

[hologramcowboy]

https://twitter.com/raths_kitten/status/1604578613042548736

Jensen also improvised as Soldier Boy and Beau Arlen. He’s going to become the actor you can never fully write for but may get great stuff out of. #SPNNash

https://twitter.com/inpainla67/status/1604578624790843396

jensen: i get texts from the show runner in the editing bay like ‘did you mean to do this?’ and i’m like ‘i dunno!’

Do you think this kind of lackadaisical attitude about the script actually helps Jensen, or hurts him? I would think that it hurts him because I've heard there are shows where improvisation is highly discouraged. It almost makes it sound like Jensen never really memorizes all his lines, he just gets an idea of the scene and uses his own words. To be honest, it sounds kind of lazy, but I was curious about your opinion.

I won't just give you my opinion but that of CDs, producers, writers, acting coaches, etc. An actor who doesn't memorize his lines disrespects the writing and the whole cast and crew. It's a huge no no. It's a very easy way to get blacklisted from auditions or even fired from set.

It sounds like Jensen has the entitlement of an A lister or a guy directing and producing his own movies and he takes liberties that surely offend the professionals involved as he is overstepping boundaries. If his relationship with the people on a particular set is like let's say director is his bff so let's him do whatever, fine but still needs to due inner prep work and proper script analysis.

If he's making calls on scenes without getting feedback from the appropriate people then his career is going to be very short and I am calling it now. Because that denotes a sense of immense entitlement and a lack of care towards others as well as especially towards the storytelling itself. Something a professional actor would never put at risk.

"an actor you can never fully write" is an actor who is incapable of embodying the character and rather creates a caricature of it...Jensen won't work on any A list projects because real actors don't work like that, ever. It's one thing to improvise a line based on your script analysis and inner work and another entirely to wing an entire performance with no through line and with the entitlement that you just work because you're Jensen Ackles. If that's the way Jensen approaches his scenes then he is no Actor, sadly, and he will never be an A lister, unless someone writes a hugely entitled character and then he can just play himself and "improvise" as far as it will take him and it won't take him very far. The industry is looking for actors who truly live their roles and to do that you must understand and embody the character. Jensen is all over the place and doesn't know his characters, he diluted SB and failed to bank on the role and as for Beau, he keeps shifting week to week so who even is he as a character? Because Jensen even changes his vocal register, mannerisms and makes misaligned choices compared to his previous work on the show.

Also, there's no such thing as "improvising" because when you are truly connected to a character you can follow his/her organic impulses and amazing things can happen and so I think this is the angle Jensen is trying to play, trying to come off like some very rare A listers like Meryl Streep who is indeed capable of organically following those impulses and giving you a lot to work with but I guarantee you that even Meryl learns her lines to perfection.

I'm really dissapointed, Jensen sounds like an extremely lazy, self involved actor when an actor should be about allowing others to experience catharsis by giving life to certain truths others can recognize themselves in. Sounds like Jensen goes on set to play different variations of himself and doesn't care about serving the story, the character and most of all the public. Hope I'm wrong but it all sounds pretty bad.

Thank you for the beautiful ask! ♥️

[xxstarryxeyedxx]

{Antique Bakery}

(anime) 12ep. 22 m. 2008

Studios:Nippon Animation,Shirogumi

Script:Fumi Yoshinaga

Producer: Hosokai Kousuke

A Sort of Boys Love,Slice of life anime adaptation of it's manga,in which the prime focus is the opening and operation of a small bakery.There two former highschool classmates,A now buisness man and the other a world class pastry chef. A former middle weight boxing champion and the caretaker of the aforementioned buisnessman.An unlikely quartet all working together in this bakery,this anime depicts their daily life and goofy situations,although taking a dark turn at moments and towards the end

Honestly for me,it was just another show for me to have in the backround of my crocheting and I didn't have any high expectations as it looked like a classic stereotypical BL written by a woman.It was.It had it's silly little plot points were the characters did not act as themselves for the sake of a little romance,it had it's weird lens of japanese folk viewing gay men as playboys,pushy or sometimes even a little violent when they did not get what they wanted in the name of romance or sex.The art itself couldn't really make up for the honestly a little dissapointing storyline,as they tried to translate the manga visuals into an anime form,although an interesting attempt.

Even though in the beginning I was face palming and laughing at the embarassing ways this anime portrayed homosexual men and their workplace "endeavors" as it loved to make fun of,something kept me watching.And was I glad to see that the story didn't actually focus that much or even at all at said gay characters.Instead it focused more on found family,family love and most of all,closure.Albeit,not something that hasn't been done much better but it was an interesting take on it.It becomes apparent that the main character has a traumatic childhood experience that shapes him into his core,resulting in slight homophobia in the beginning of the show,and later on ,the entire reason he opened a cake shop in the first place

The exploration of homophobia through complex trauma,overcoming it and the attempt to get closure after something so intense and haunting,is something that I really didn't expect the show touch as delicately as it did,for what it is at least.Especially an absolute banger ending in my opinion.And Banger opening.As afore mentioned opening quotes "Life goes on"

I would not recommend anyone to watch it necesserily,it isn't something truly special,story or art wise,but comperativly to most it is a light watch..if you don't suffer from second hand embarassment.But it was a pleasant suprise in the end and I am not at all mad I finished it

personal rating 5.5/10

[a-weird-cryptid]

Tumblr's really starting to get depressing...

I came here thinking it would be the perfect place to post my original art on and connect with/find fun communities. I was wrong. I couldn't have been more wrong.

I'm not angry, or mad, just... extremely dissapointed and sad, tbh.

As a traditional, mostly original artist you don't seem to have any chance on this app. If you want to build any kind of audience that doesn't just leaves you the second you post something unrelated to their community, you need to dedicate most of your blog to that community/audience. Any other traditional artists I've seen so far usually do stuff related to a fandom or astablished trope/community. Such as g/t for example. But if you want to make diverse, mostly original based stuff, the people here really let me down. Just having a few bits of different interests and fandoms here and there doesn't cut it either.

I have nothing against the fact that digital art is so loved by Tumblr. It is also loved by me, after all. And I get that what I draw is pretty damn bad in comparison to what others do... But partly seeing literally noone interacting with it really demotivates me to post more. I'm really starting to consider making this entire blog private, because the result would basically be the same. Though I see even less of a point in posting here, if it's private.

Another thing that really dissapointed me is the fact that the same people who voted on my polls never seemed to actually come back to see what came after. I was making those polls for my "audience", if you can even call it that, to be able to have a say in what I post next. I wanted them to feel like I care about them and their opinion, which I do. That's why I so far always "kept my promise" to make posts related to the results.

But seeing, for my standarts, extremely many people vote for sth and then never wait for the actual stuff they voted on? Where is the logic at that? I was getting my hopes up so much that I finally found communities, only for them to turn around and leave me alone.

Every single time a post of mine got over 10 notes I was getting excited. Thinking I finally found people to connect with. Only for then to get "slapped in the face" by as good as noone caring about things I've worked on for hours. No notes, no asks, nothing. It really makes me feel like the effort I put into things isn't enough. Like I'm not good enough. It's pretty discouraging.

I can't believe that I have more supportive audiences on TikTok (and Insta) than here. I thought Tumblr would be the perfect place to share my original, traditional art, stories and thoughts. I thought I'd have fun discussing different things I care about, finding others who I can relate to. Apperently I was wrong.

And the more I think about it, the more I start to understand why I hesitated to post things on Tumblr in the first place because of those reasons. While I could easily find people to connect with on other socials, I'm really struggling to do so here.

I tried to get this app. To understand it's culture and how the people here think and act. But nothing I did actually seemed to matter. Everybody keeps praising Tumblr for being unique and "not like other social media apps". Which is an aspect I really got excited about. But by being that "different" it also made it extremely exclusive so far. As if I had to get some kind of fucking VIP ticket to become part of the communities here.

It's pretty hard to find any communities and actually get what you post to your targeted audience, without any kind of real algorithm. With the only way to get there being by reblogs. Aka sth that many say you should do, but apparently most "ignore". When my posts got to the targeted audience, as good as none of those people decided to stick around. Even if I more often than not have/had some other posts that they might have enjoyed.

I tried to organize my blog more and put links into posts that are related to others, so you could find things easier and quicker. Mostly because I thought that might be part of the problem why noone seemed to find my other posts. But organizing things has literally changed nothing.

I also made a comic about all of this in a nutshell, which can be found here. But I doubt anyone's actually interested about it. Therefore I didn't bother to make it very readable and so on.

I'm really starting to understand why so many, from what I've heard, moved on to other apps and left Tumblr. I'm starting to understand why everybody keeps saying that "Tumblr's dead", cause it is. Except to those who are on it. Outside of this place though? It's dead. Noone really talks about it anymore.

I looked for other alternative to post my art on and find fun communities to connect with because of those reasons. I found some, when it comes to discussions and my opinions on things, but when it comes to art, fandom and random stuff, I couldn't find any. At least none that I would enjoy posting those things on. So I guess for now I'll continue using Tumblr for those things.

Another thing I want to mention, knowing that users can't change anything about it, are the porn bots. I won't blame any users for it. I know it's not their fault (most likely). But getting a notification that I have a new follower only for them to be a bot, is pretty dissapointing. It got to the point in which, every time I open Tumblr, I wonder how many bots I'll have to report and block.

For my few real followers: Thanks for staying around. I really appreciate it. :)

The same goes for anyone else who liked, commented on and reblogging my posts/art.

Also, because some don't seem to understand that posts like these are subjective and I don't want to attack or blame, etc anyone by writing this:

This post is about my subjective experience on Tumblr and with the people on here so far. I'm glad for everyone who's having a fun time on here, I really don't want to ruin that for them. I know that most prob don't see this app the same way I do and I'm most likely part of the problem. I'm not trying to attack or blame anyone for my experience, nor do I want to guilt trip anybody or make them feel like they have to interact with me and like, etc my posts out of pity.

I don't want anybody to interact with me/my posts just out of pity. I'm not writing all of this because I want to get attention by being a "special snowflake", "not like other Tumblr users" or similar.

I'm writing this to explain why I might not put that much effort into upcoming posts or not post regularly/as often anymore. I'll prob go down to making just one post per week. And I'm pretty sure some of you might have noticed the declining quality of posts over the last few weeks already.

I doubt I'll reblog, comment on, etc, many other posts, since I'm not spending that much time on this app anymore. None, besides the casually checking if I have any notifications. I try to mostly ignore it since it really drags me down, only coming to make a post or schedule stuff and that's it. Perhaps I'll reblog more on my "reblog blog", but here, on my "main blog" you prob won't find many reblogs in the future.

I also doubt that I'll post many opinion related things anymore. Might make a book review and a few random opinion posts here and there, but I'll try to focus on my art.

Because I'm really starting to question if all of that is even worth the effort. It really doesn't seem like the communities on here are into any kind of discussions.

If you honestly like my content feel free to follow, like, comment, ask away and/or reblog. But again, I'd really appreciate it, if you don't do it just because "look at that poor little artist".

More on all of that can be found in my last update. Because literally nothing has really changed ever since.

[thekingofwinterblog]

With manga Maka the bigger problem was that she has these very clear cuts of very strong moments allthroughout the manga... But after the arachne fight it's doesnt come together to form a cohesive whole, where you can clearly tell in what sort of mindset she is in depending on the point in time.

The angel wings post Soul becoming a death scythe is a good example.

For example i like this sequence of events, and her rejecting them on her own for something more badass... But the problem is the question, what the hell brought it on in the first place?

Why is Maka at this point in time interested in wheter or not her wings look cute or not?

This entire sequence of the story takes places after learning that Medusa betrayed them, and in the end left withouth ever giving any hint of where Crona was, essentially making the entire goal that Maka fought for that arc all for nought.

She should have been in a TERRIBLE mood when this took place, maybe even depressed... Instead she's decided that at this point in time it's now time to be very girly, and give in to her desire for something more cute.

This isn't necessarily out of character... But it is an absolutely bizarre point for her to be acting like this.

This sort of development would have made WAY more sense if it had been earlier in the manga, maybe sometime between Arachne and befriending Crona, not after suffering her most crushing dissapointment and loss.

For another example, there is her sudden, out of nowhere fear of her feeling like she's holding him back, and was only coasting off of his success... Which was not auggested at all through the manga before this.

Or even more bizarre, her apparently feeling guilty about not understanding Soul's taste in music, which qlso has never been suggested before.

At least with soul, us never really learning about any of these fears before this, was the qctual point, as him refusing to share any of his fears was his big problem from the get go.

If you actually start to dissect her big moments post arachne(as i have) you'll notice that A LOT of Maka's big moments just sorta... Happens, withouth any real buildup.

Like there was obviously plenty of ideas here, but organically getting maka to these point for her character journey never really happened.

Her fight with Giriko is full of these, shutting down his innitial body, then getting to push the female body to the limit and make the soul explode through making the guy have a sheer annurism of pure rage wasnt really something we had any idea could happen...

Maka discovering Asura on the moon came out of nowhere, and wasn't really needed given our favorite mirror already found out the location...

The moon battle, which had the moment where Maka finally wielded her dad in battle, should have been a decisive and great moment for her, where she finally, finally managed to let go of her anger at her dad... Instead it just sorta happens, and while its great in the context of forcing Crona to have reflect on killing medusa(Which also doesnt get any closure or followup), and the contrast between Spirit and Maka's genuine love for each other, as opposed to Medusa's relationahip with Crona, it's main purpose ahould have been as one of Maka's most important moments, as it shpuld basically have been the equivelant of Anime maka forgiving Crona in the sand pit, the singular moment you can pinpoint of her truly, and willingly forgiving someone who hurt her, because she loved them... Instead its just another beat in the fight, that i would not be surprised many people actually forget it happened.

A lot of big moments happens to Maka in the second half of the series, but it's not tied together, and other than her very consistent deep devotion and love for Crona, and the actions that comes from that, it's not tied together into a coherent whole, making her come across as a way different character than the consistent girl we saw in the first half.

Kinda weird tangent to go on from a comparison between the way the anime and manga portrayed Maka as cute, but the manga very much began portraying her very differently in part 2.

Anime Maka vs Manga Maka

Is there anything more to say?

But nah, I know I will be accused of cherry picking, and yeah I know there are many manga moments that show Maka being more simmilar to the Anime Gif in demeanor, but I dunno, I think the point still stands:

I think it's another reason where the manga falters in my opinion, people dont often discuss it, but to me it just seems Maka is reduced to this weird "uwu kawaii" thing (lol dont even how to call it without ruffing too many feathers) - and people will try to respond "Well shenis cutesy in the anime too!" , and I think thats the point: cute vs "kawaii" - yeah its a weird way of describing it, but its the best dichothomie I can come up with - the first is not creepy, like seeing your kids find a new bug and excitedly showing it to you like its the biggest discovery in the world, get what I mean?

While "kawaii" is one reason why I dont really consider myselfs an "anime and manga fan" in general (yeah Im full of contradictions dont gotta tell me lol, but maybe thats why its post anime...not...)

Like you know what I mean - like these weird idol anime with overly glossy eyes and shroedingers "is it supposed to be cute and childish or sexualised* tone (maybe I'm spoiling to much the iceberg and my negative opinion of SE Not...)

Like its not even me trying to say "Oh I hate all cutesy stuff", nah I genuinely like the Maka Crona moments for that fact, but ,I atleast I hop,e there are different from the standard anime thing which has those creepy undertones like all these "uwu senpai wants to sleep in the same bed with me??!" like you know these scenes arent written for girls of the depicted ages but for and by 40 year old greassy guys with guilty consiousnesses...

But I dunno, even beyond my own paranoai of if a piece of media is supposed to appeal to a certain "demographic", I just think there is something lost in manga Maka, especially compared to her earlier charachterization and the animes continuation of it.

I think the last time where you really saw it in the manga was around the Arachne madness chapter where she confidently just stretched out her arm to Soul. Idk. People will probably think that I mean "wow, you want Maka to be some fearless badass!!?" and nah, I dunno, maybe Im just fighting phantoms, but I dunno I think there is something there, mayb even something my own stupid story failed to capture, but that what made the whole "bravery" thing at the end work.

But maybe the iceberg will explain it all...

[my-lunaberg]

I went on a TftSMP binge yesterday before watching The Maze for the first time and I thought it would be fun to rank them :D Thats it, lets start !!

The Beach Episode: Ive only watched this one once when it first came out and it was so boring and I disliked it so much that when it came time to watch it again as part of my rewatch(es), I just didnt. The premise is fun enough but the execution is really lacking and I really hate how it breaks continuity, I know its petty but that kinda stuff is really important to me. I dont have much else to say, I didnt like it very much and if it were up to me, it wouldnt be canon but it clearly is so. whatever

The Haunted Mansion: Again, the premise is fun and I like the idea of a tale taking place in like, the near future and still featuring some characters we know from the present day mixed in with original characters, but again, I thought the execution was lacking. TftSMP lives and dies by its characters imo and I didnt particularly like any of them. The twins were pretty cute and I always enjoy Schlatt's performance but idk it just wasnt enough for me

The Town That Never Was: Honestly, I keep forgetting this one and I wasnt sure if I should even watch it since I didnt watch it the first time around but I watched it now and I cant say I regret it. It does feel very disconnected and it does feel weird to count it as part of TftSMP but its a neat little episode 0-type thing (even if it does feel pretty out of character for Karl ngl lol)

The Village That Went Mad: Ah, the one that started it all. Im so glad the fandom looked at this one and collectively decided that Karl was a time traveller because without it we probably wouldnt have gotten the rest of the series without it! Its pretty neat, although I do wish they did a bit more roleplaying because the most entertaining parts were definitely the in-charcter interactions

The Lost City of Mizu: This is where TftSMP starts getting really good imo. Its kind of an interesting how it almost acts as a transition of sorts, from the more gamified format to more traditional roleplay. Ive already made a post about this, but I think itd be neat if they would remake this one, because the concept is so good and I really enjoyed the interactions between Cleetus, Benjamin and Ranboos character (I forgot his name sry) but the format and the need to rush through the story felt really restricting. I also really enjoyed the details about the lack of food and stuff going wrong with the oxygen system which I never really noticed on my previous watches but really came to appreciate this time. I also liked how clueless Ranbob seemed, I honestly dont think that was an acting choice I think cc!Dream was just actually inexplicably unprepared but I thought it was really funny. Like, it seemed like he wasnt given a name or didnt have one prepared so he just made it up on the spot lol

The Pit: The premise of this one was really fun! I am a little upset that we didnt get the Ran lore that was apparently planned but it worked fine without it. Honestly, I dont have much to say, the characters were fun, I do wish we couldve seen them interact among each other a bit more but I still liked it.

The Wild West: Full disclosure, The Masquerade has been a long time favorite of mine and I was very sure it was gonna be my top one and while I ended up being right, this one is still very high up the ranking and it is the funniest one for sure. There were so many funny and dare I say iconic moments, I dont think I could list them all but my top three moments were: "This is where I keep my mail and. wife", Percy's introduction and exchange with John John, any moment with Jack Kanoff. I also appreciate the reference to The Masquerade :D

The Maze: I was soooooo excited when I read the premise and I'd be a lying if I wasnt a little bit dissapointed at the execution. However, Slimecicle absolutely carried this entire thing on his back, I absolutely adored his performance. That ending twist was also just great, idk why it got me the way it did but it elevated the entire episode for sure. The lore it ended on was also really interesting, although a bit disappointing in retrospect now thats basically over. I hope they integrated some of the lore from TftSMP into the main storyline as well because I do think its very interesting

The Masquerade: MY FAVORITE :DDDDD I adore murder mysteries in fancy mansions and I adore masquerades so yeah, ofc I love this one. I loved everyones fancy outfits, I loved Techno as Sir Billiam III, I loved Karl flirting with Mason, I loved the twist UGHHH. I also thought this episode was really funny, even if not as funny as The Wild West. My standards for humor arent that high tbh, I just liked how they made fun of rich people lmao. I think my favorite moment was probably the one where Karl was hiding in that closet with Sebastian and he was getting murdered right next to him, it was surprisingly tense. All around great, I loved it

[atrenchcoatfilledwithbeees]

I DIDNT KNOW WHERE ELSE TO TALK TO YOU AND IDK HOW TO USE TUMBLR BUT HERE IT GOES.

Dear God I'm so happy to see someone else who has as much dislike for the movie as I do. 😭 I read the books religiously since it's original release and was soo dissapointed. The casting felt more like I'm gonna cast popular actors cause I can with no regard for the books? I get one or two characters but the entire cast looking randomized bothered me exponentially. Seeing that Sophie's character was reduced to shit dissapointed me even more. She was well fleshed out from the beginning. I have alot of sympathy for the people who thought Agatha and Sophie would be dating but I also have a diff perspective in context of the books. Right from the beginning of the book they can barely function AS FREINDS. She never befriended Agatha out of good will either she thought being freinds with a freak counted as a good deed and kept this same mindset. She continues to be varying levels of selfish all through the book and then gets rid of Agatha the moment she is no longer needed. The actor seems much too pretty to be Agatha idk? I know everyone saw her mirror scene as gaining confidence but I saw it more as acceptance in a sense? And the general understanding that the way she acted also drove people away from her. To hear the movie cut that out is hmm. Blood magic? Why did they remove Sader and Evelyn and merge her with Lesso. Doesn't that collapse major parts of the later books.

Getting rid of everyone on the teachers staff seems odd. Uma ,Yuba ect

The evil students look like cheap DnD cosplayer teens and not malicious

Revealing the school master thing was an idiotic move and he's just ROAMING ARROUND???

They majorly fumbled with the characters ages. I know most people would like them to be teens but I feel like them being preteens/early teens helped play into things such as tedros bad Decision making and general pettiness. Why Sophie lashes out at her father ect ect

The side characters development made up most of the books. It's never focused on as a main point but introduced in the school entrance scenes and built up during class and other past times. Making them not important also seems like a bad move. I hate Harry Potter and don't wanna use this comparison but the movies did a good job of bringing over the relationships from the books.

What was up with removing major parts of the story to replace with foolishness the movie seems like a massive jumbled mess and a far cry from the books

Epxecting everything to be exactly like the books isn't an option really but these just felt like major parts from the book and bc they were cut the movie is a jumbled mess in return. I just hope more people start to read the books before saying silly stuff 😭

Omg yea I swear tumblr seems to be the only place where people are actually criticising the movie for what it is: a total shitshow.

Half the people I’ve spoken to who’ve watched it haven’t even read the books which is so annoying because the books are just genuinely so much better. I know that movie adaptations can’t keep everything the same but it felt like they’d just been given a few names and a vague plot and I seriously doubt that anyone who made it actually read the books given that the very first line of the first book doesn’t work in the context of the movie due to their removal of a key plot point

Overall I kinda wish it just never got made into a film: it’s pretty unnecessary and barely follows the plot at all

[mellarkably]

🚨 NHIE SPOILERS BELOW 🚨

first of all. that was a crazy ass season. so much happened and i can barely keep up or remember. so while this probably won't be a coherent or well worded recap, yhat defintely won't go over everything that i just watched for the past six hours, it'll just be my thoughts for now.

personally, i really liked the kamala plot and her struggle in the workplace. it was probably one of my favorite parts of the season. i'm not sure if kamala will be ditching prashant for mr. kulkarni but if she does i wouldn't be shocked. considering how prashant played into the whole workplace problem. also rip steve lol who remembers him. homie got done dirty.

now speaking of devi. there were many things she did this season that were not at all good or rational. however, i do like the fact that they delved more into her grief, and overall she actually seemed to develop over the season which made me happy. there are aspects of her grieving process that kinda felt unanswered, but hey, it is what it is. for what it's worth, im happy with the amount of growth she had over ten episodes. i actually felt like giving devi a hug so many times towards the end. and maitreyi killed it as always.

regarding the new kids! malcolm, well, i honestly kinda have intense apathy towards him as a character. he was cool at the start, a dick at the end—so yeah, i feel like he served his purpose overall. i felt extremely bad for oliver the entire time. and aneesa! she was the coolest addition they could honestly have had to the team. she's fun, charming, and fits in very well. i felt extreme sympathy for her ed and im glad they put a hotline at the end of those episodes. she's a great girl.

i'm very glad they gave paxton more of a well fleshed out personality this season. he seemed much more personable overall. although i felt like his episode at times fell a bit flat or felt too preachy regarding the whole hot people can be smart too concept, it was overall a fantastic episode and gigi hadid was a great choice as narrator. also loved the little switch to ben's pov when andy steps in. that was funny. i also liked the fact that they went into his ethnicity!

regarding his romantic feelings for devi though. i feel like i can't understand? like does he like her? does he not? is he embarassed of her? is he not? i failed to understand where he was most of the time. the mixed signals, like. paxton. i like you, but huh? well, to be fair, the romance in devi's life this season was pretty much a rollercoaster ride anyways so. i do love paxton's obijan though. great guy. we didn't get enough of rebecca though!

out of the two besties, i honestly liked fab's story a lot more. it felt relatable, that whole feeling of not being able to fit in as a new sapphic. and i adore fab and eve. i'm glad they didnt make their relationship too cookie cutter.

eleanor's subplot was alright. again, it was really hard to kinda, if i put this blatantly, give a fuck about malcolm and whatever their relationship was. (loved tyler alveraz's performance though) but i liked her talking with her stepmom sharon. i wish they spent more time on that rather than malcolm but again, they don't have much time to waste.

i loved nalini's subplots. all of them. she was honestly one of my fav characters this season, as well as devi's grandma. we got to delve into the indian culture more too, so that was very cool. her relationship with dr. jackson was also nice for the short time they had with each other. i didn't expect them to breakup, i kinda just expected devi to learn to be okay with her mother moving on, but then again, i also agree that it felt a little fast. i loved the flashbacks with mohan too.

i feel like i wanna save ben and benvi for last because i have too much to say. it was an absolute rollercoaster ride to be a team ben while watching this season. i'm a bit dissapointed that we didn't get any individual plot regarding him, stuff that didn't have to do with girls, but i get why. he got that in s1, and it was paxton's turn to shine.

regarding the whole ben and aneesa thing; honestly, i think they're cute. i love aneesa and i love ben. i just want him to be happy. but it's clear he still has feelings for devi and he doesn't really know what he wants, which sucks for everyone involved. i think that he just assumed that devi liked paxton more than him, that he was her second choice (which honestly, considering the things that transpired, it's not very hard to see why he though that, and he was clearly hurt with her clear choice of paxton over him on multiple occassions) but oh well.

i feel like ben was a catalyst for a lot of the things devi needed to do. like apologize to aneesa, for example. and in that way, they still work well. i loved their banter, whenever we got it. i have hope for them in season 3 (if it happens), considering the way they ended it, but eh. aneesa is also a great girl, so it sucks that this is the direction we're going. but yeah. i am a bit bitter with the dreadf lack of benvi i kinda got this season, but their conversations and the way he helped push her development did make me feel a little better.

as for what team i'm on or whatever, i don't feel like i'm avidly on any team tbh. i'm still lowkey rooting for ben and devi. the reason why i'm not completely getting behind daxton is because i didn't really like what paxton did in episode 10, with the whole not wanting them to be public thing. the entire season felt like he was sending mixed signals. not that i'm saying hes a shitty guy or anything, but yeah. and the reason i'm not completely team ben is because he seems to be teetering between aneesa and devi, so yes, again with the mixed signals. kind of. but the reason i'm still rooting for ben is because i really liked the way they pushed each other, or majorly, he pushed her development, with asking her to apologize, etc. and although him getting together with anessa was not a win for me, a benvi, to relish, i think it helped devi learn to act a little more mature and less territorial.

if i'm being completely honest, i think that devi needed to be single at the end of this season, at least for now. i read the synopsis of episode 10 and was kinda hoping that she'd make that choice, that she'd choose herself, because what she needs isn't a boyfriend. what she needs is just to recover. and i honestly still don't feel like she completely got over her dad's death.

OVERALL THOUGH. this was a much better season than the first one. i feel like they finally got into their groove in terms of acting and comedy. (also trent is the funniest >>>) although i felt like this season was kinda like the first one but on steroids, which at most times was very anxiety inducing to watch, i did like the episodes and i was heavily entertained. go watch it!

i also really need a season 3 so—

[hypermascbishounen]

Erzsébet design is just dollar store Ultimecia.

I don't think this was on purpose, lol. I think the people who work on nfcv are so disrespectful of video games as a medium, and never play them, and are hacks in general, that they think their first idea is immediately bound to be superior. And it's just a low rent version of a video game villain most people consider a dissapointment.

Final Fantasy VIII gets a lot of flak that's in bad faith, but it's story falling apart in the third act, is unfortunately true. And yes, a big part if that is how Ultimecia, is a 4th grader with mommy issues idea of an epic villain. The entire plot technically centers her bwahaha scheme, but she herself is basically not even a character.

And her design is indeed kinda ugly and forgettable, and its attempts to be sexy are tasteless. So yeah. They literally just re-created everyone's least favorite video game antagonist, in an attempt to create a "Superior to Stupid Video Games" antagonist, lol. Good job everyone.

(FFVIII was actually my first FF, so I didn't go into with the expectations a lot of people fresh off of FFVII did, and I have a lot of fondness for it. That being said, Ultimecia really is one of the most boring aspects of it imo, and it's a shame how much the game has to build up to her reveal bc she's such a nothing-burger of a villain. She feels like a last minute replacement for more interesting antagonists)

I almost forgot how she also does, in fact, combine herself with a lion deity lol. Stupid furry aspects forever.

Erzsebet's final transformation looks like if the Cats broadway show tried to go in an edgier direction.

I cannot overstate how Erzsébet is a child's idea of a villain. The show wastes so much time hyping her up as the biggest evil who ever evils, a terrifying harbinger of death and destruction, the Vampire Messiah Who Will Eat The Sun (no really), who deadass drank the blood of Sekhmet to become something akin to a goddess, something so utterly monstruous that Dracula is peanuts by comparison...

And then this is what she looks like in her final form.

a furry with the literally most hideous dress i've seen in my life.

Oh, not that her "human" form is particularly well designed

What is that onion hair. What is that dress. What is that cleveage. Designer. Designer are you alright.

I don't say this lightly, but she's more ridiculous than fucking Ga'ran from Spirit of Justice

At least her spider motif was kinda cool.

And I would complain about her personality too, but they forgot to give her one, so eh.

[my-writings-and-musings]

Firstly, I've just been dying to tell you I love your writting x3 it's absolutely fantastic! My favorite is the young liason ones. I think they're just the cutest! Would it be alright if I requested Fortress Maximus and Brainstorm for that? Please take all the time you need, and I hope you have an awesome day! You rock :D

Awww thanks a million!! I do strive to provide the cuteness, and I shall do so here! I'll also link the past Liaison posts for those who haven't read them yet!

Part One: Here!

Part Two: Here!

Part Three: Here!

Part Four: Here!

Part Five: You're Here!

(I've already done Fort Max in part four but I just couldn't help doing him again with a different setup.)

Fortress Maximus

·Stuck in his cell after his "incident", he's unaware of the liaison program when it initially begins, and is thus clueless of what goes on beyond his tiny space in the dark. Amongst the crew, the young humans quickly learn of the ship's considerable history in its short run, including the hostage situation that nearly cost them their beloved psychiatrist. The humans are shocked by the details, but none more so than the news the bot responsible is jailed up in the depths of the ship. All at once, they begin to question such a practice; wasn't this poor bot just acting out of pain? Hasn't his victim recovered and forgiven him? Being told that Fort Max is too dangerous to risk does nothing to dissuade them, and thanks to their youth, the gathered group soon hatches a plan to see something for themselves.

·As one might expect, Fort Max is beyond surprised when he's awoken at night by a number of very tiny visitors to his cell, and is shocked to see that they're all human! Autobot training kicking in, he's immediately concerned for their safety and gets on his knees to encourage them to leave. Lots of these prisoners are dangerous! To top off his shock, the humans say they're not lost and are there for him. They explain the new program with the Lost Light, how they heard his story, and how they're all here now to see him. For an instant Fort Max is speechless, because these tiny humans have just done more for him than the entire Autobot cause ever did. It takes more willpower than he cares to admit not to let his voice crack.

·Despite all of his assurance to the liaisons that what he did was wrong, and that he deserves to face punishment, they hear none of it. Even urging them to leave and stay on the safe parts of the ship go unheeded. They've decided that they like him and don't want him to be lonely. It's incredibly selfish, but he can't bring himself to deny the comfort their company brings him. Every night, with stealth granted by their tiny size, they visit him for as long as they can. Some bring games and entertainment from earth to share with him, and in time he gives up trying to convince them to stop, finding each one of them to be a treasure he just can't give up.

·It's mostly by bad luck they're eventually caught. Ultra Magnus just so happened to be conducting a late night inspection when he came across all the liaisons gathered about the supposedly deadly Fortress Maximus in what appeared to be a slumber party. The former Enforcer had immediately called for back up and demanded the children be released, not backing down when they all made the baffling move to clamor between the cell bars and shield the gigantic Autobot with their tiny frames. No amount of explaining the big bots potential danger could make them leave. Eventually Rung himself had to be summoned to mediate, and at the sight of Fort Max so carefully cradling his friends and begging that any punishment only come to him so they would be spared... The psychiatrist happily declared there was no need for such caution.

·Put on the spot, Ultra Magnus had decided to allow a partial commutation of the bots sentence. Though he's under watch and isn't permitted to have weapons, he's allowed to have his own room and far greater range of the ship, but under supervision. The liaisons accept only after Max does. In no time they're helping him settle into his room, bringing him housewarming gifts, and coming over as often as possible to visit. It almost doesn't feel real to the poor bot. In an almost comical turn of events he's been freed and has gone from loneliness to being surrounded by tiny, loving friends. Even Rung visits from time to time, joining in on the fun and making it clear he holds no ill will towards the big bot for anything that happened. As they all gather for another movie night together, it occurs to him that his painful past has never felt so far away, and for the first time in so long he feels ready for the future.

Brainstorm

·Ever the on the move genius, his curiosity had been piqued the instant he heard humans were going to be on the ship, as a new species is always a fascinating opportunity. He's not all dissapointed by the gaggle of bright eyed youngsters when he finally meets them. Their tour of the ship is quickly guided to his workshop, and in no time he's showing them all the fun ways he's breaking physics or on the cusp of doing so. Pretty soon the rest of the tour is delayed so they can see absolutely everything he's working on. Brainstorm finds their attitude of "science just because" to be monumentally refreshing in the wake of his occasionally stiff crewmembers. Why does he need a reason to experiment on certain things? Sometimes it's fun and invigorating to just invent something because you can!

·As he finds them incredibly motivating and they love helping however he can, he quickly gives each human permission to accompany him as his assistants. With their unique human perspective, he finds himself seeking out ideas that could benefit them directly, whether it's purely for their entertainment or for more practical purposes. Their need for "food" in particular offers a great deal of potential. He's not foolish about it, of course! These little guys are delicate! But if he can make delicious meals that can be stored easily and prepared instantly, why not? Humans need to eat multiple times every single day, why not make it easier and more fun! The hardest part proves to be getting them not to explode...

·The liaisons come to love the incredible energy he brings to every single experiment, and the feeling is mutual. Even if he doesn't understand the references to "Bill Nye" or other such things, he happily allows the humans to take selfies as he works. Spreading the word to their fellows on earth can only help their species catch up, after all. In time though, he starts to socialize with the group outside of his workshop, even bringing them to Swerve's with him to introduce them to all his friends. They stick to him the entire time even though their enthusiasm proves popular with every bot on the ship. Having often struggled to fit in, he finds the feeling of belongings refreshing in ways he never could have anticipated it might be. He'd protect each and every liaison with his life.

·It's quite unexpected when somebot brings up his... stunt, with the briefcase. He'd been so happy for once that his failures had simply... not registered. Thus, he's caught off guard when the humans start asking baffled questions. It's all he can do to mumble an excuse and leave, the confusion in their bright eyes burning into the core of his spark. So many instances of them looking up at him with respect and excitement now seem far more precious, because there's no way they'll ever want to be around him again. Now they know he isn't just the ship's eccentric scientist, and that at his most desperate he tore time and space apart... In hindsight, how could he have allowed himself to forget? He's dangerous, and the liaisons should have been kept distant to begin with... Humans are far too delicate to risk anything happening, and he never would have forgiven himself for allowing harm to come to them.

·Unbeknownst to Brainstorm, the entire group was far from aghast at his actions. If anything, they were heartbroken for his sake. To have been so desperate he'd happily tried to erase himself from existence, in part to save a bot he loved... They want at least to talk to him. Using skills he taught them, they hack past the gridlock on his workshop, and the scientist is shocked by their effort. Before he can say a word they're surrounding him and offering the most effusive of reasurances, particularly regarding how they never want to lose their beloved science bot, and he takes it upon himself to comfort the crying group with a promise he's not going anywhere. In an instant, something becomes incredibly clear to him; these little beings care about him. They don't want him to leave. Trying not to cry himself, he assures the group that he's long since learned his lesson. There's plenty of wonderful things in the present to stick around for.

[rouiettes]

raya and the ugliest fucking dragon i've ever seen holy fuck who the hell thought to give a dragon fuckiNG EYEBROWS WHY WHY—

aka the musings of a filo non-binary bisexual who feels victimized by the dragon designs of this fucking movie supposedly centred around THE LAST DRAGON???? MAYBE THEY SHOULD HAVE STAYED STONE GDI WHAT THE FUCK SERIOUSLY WHY DO THE DRAGONS LOOK LIKE THAT

let's get one thing straight.

none of the characters in this movie. rest assured. not a single straight person was in this movie. trust me.

raya and the last dragon had all the foundations of a good movie

IT COULD HAVE BEEN SO GREAT

BUT IT WASNT

AND HERE'S WHY

(in my humble opinion okay pls dont come for me)

a disney movie with sea culture at its heart and soul, i was so hyped to finally watch this movie

(not as hyped as i could have been tho bc let's be honest DISNEY DID SHIT WITH RAYA'S MARKETING)

(AND PERHAPS FOR GOOD REASON LOL I SWEAR I DONT HATE THIS MOVIE OKAY)

you had the amazing score, the amazing concepts for plot and characters, the solid solid worldbuilding???

if you just told me about how raya's setting and premise, i'd probably be "wow this movie sound like the whole package"

and then i'll actually watch the movie and have just as much trust issue as raya did :/

but i digress

A DISNEY MOVIE WITH SEA CULTURE AT ITS HEART AND SOUL

do you know how diverse sea culture is??? VERY

and one thing i was very happy to see was how raya handled it

it was by no means perfect but

the subtle shows of culture in the way the characters acted, and the environment of the movie was just CHEF'S KISS

not only that but the ideas the movie had in terms of its world and the people in it felt genuine, it felt alive

a dragon that isn't the typical fire-breathing lizard

characters who look like they could easily be my neighbours or children i've played with

instead of pandering to this movie felt like an actual homage to sea cultures

and for good reason bc seeing all those familiar names rolling in the credits had me feeling some type of way :")

also that fucking soundtrack gave me chills throughout my watch of the movie

okay now that we've got the things i actually like about the movie, let's talk about what i don't like

if there's one word i could use to describe disney's raya it would be: rushed

like i said in the beginning, all the groundwork for an astounding disney movie were already there

but all of it just goes to waste bc the plot and it's characters feel so Unfinished

the movie felt like a bullet-point presentation of the story

WHICH IS SO FUCKING DISAPPOINTING BC THE CHARACTERS SEEMED SO INTERESTING but all we got were shadows of what they could have been

cardboard cutouts of the archetypes they filled

i'm not asking for a bottomless well of depth, but i at least wanted more for the cast than just: angry misunderstood princess, angry misunderstood princess with an undercut, that one dancing kid from moana but with more spice, boss baby, and the mountain

and i get that they had to sacrifice some of their depth to keep the run time of the movie short but you have got to be better than this disney

i hate to compare but it felt like this movie tried to go beyond what moana gave us, and shot so far that it ended up back to where it started, and then stumbled back a few steps

AND IM NOT EVEN SAYING A DRAGON MOVIE WITH A BIG CAST IS IMPOSSIBLE

BC IT'S ALREADY BEEN DONE

HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON DID IT THREE TIMES

and you'd think the plot for one of the few disney movies with a non-western setting would have more than just a macguffin considering how batshit sea folk tales can be

but you'd think wrong folks.

GENUINELY IT FELT LIKE THEY WERE ATTEMPTING SOMETHING BUT WERE SHORT OF BRINGING IT TO FRUITION

sure moana had a macguffin too with the heart of te fiti, but the heart itself wasn't the heart of the movie

it was the journey of moana and maui

it was that BEAUTIFUL TWIST WITH TE KA AND TE FITI

ALL DELIVERED WITH A NATURAL FINESSE THAT HAD YOU ON THE EDGE OF YOUR SEAT

YOU WERE ALONG FOR THE RIDE OF THE STORY INSTEAD OF QUESTIONING EVERYTHING THAT WAS GOING ON LIKE I WAS

maybe this was just me but like, i felt so bad for the friend who watched this movie with me bc all i could go on and on was how the plot felt like it was getting in the way of itself

why didn't the different kingdoms (??) kept the gem in rotation or smth, when did they decide that heart would keep it and then get mad at heart for keeping it????

why didn't awkwafina dragon just show herself to the kingdoms bc everyone seems to be in agreement that dragons good right? that they would be the key to getting rid of the druun right??? SO THEY'D ALL AT LEAST HEAR HER OUT OR SMTH RIGHT????????

and yes raya has trust issues but it seems to only spring up at the most convenient times plot-wise, we didn't really see her learn to trust other people again OTHER THAN THE TIMES WHERE SISU WOULD HAMFISTEDLY SHOVE IT DOWN OUR THROATS THAT SOME PEOPLE ARE GOOD SOMETIMES RAYA

we see it with boun, but then she just trusts noi, her monkeys, and tong THE GUY WHO STRUNG THEM UP AND WAS THREATENING TO TORTURE THEM????????

i'm gonna be honest and say that if it weren't for namaari i'd have absconded the moment sisu came on screen

as far as i'm considered the actual plot of the movie is just the entire sword fight scene between her and raya

and finally

we get to the part i will be erasing from my brain for my own mental well-being

WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT DRAGON DESIGN

WHY OH WHY TH  E FUCK DOES SISU SOUND AND LOOK LIKE THAT

my friend said they looked like the ponies from mlp in 3d AND NOW I CAN NEVER UNSEE IT

THEY HAVE EYEBROWS THEY HAVE HUMAN FACES

HUMAN FACES ON MAJESTIC DRAGON BODIES

THE INTERNET HAS COLLECTIVELY DECIDED THAT SISU IS BASICALLY FURRY ELSA

every time we got a sisu close up i lost 5 years to my life

disney i am suing for damages

if you want me to drop the charges i demand raya 2: electric boogaloo but it’s just raya and namaari enemies to friends to lovers ark

and also for them to never say dragon nerds ever again

AGAIN. HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON GAVE US BEAUTIFUL DRAGON DESIGNS. HELL IF YOU WANTED MORE EASTERN LOOKING DRAGONS FUCKING SPIRITED AWAY??? HAKU??????????

AND YKNOW WHAT. SISU WOULDN'T EVEN LOOK THAT HORRIFIC IF THE MOVIE WAS IN 2D

im not the first person to be side-eying disney's decision to keep pumping out these 3d movies but like.

no amount of added dimensions could ever make that dragon design okay

and there so many more points i could go off on to show how this movie was rushed

how the other dragons, and even sisu's siblings whom she had been missing for the entire movie DIDNT MAKE A SINGLE SOUND???? NOT EVEN A FUCKING GROWL DISNEY???? DID YOU EVEN TRY WITH THE DRAGONS AT ALL??? THE SUPPOSED CENTRE OF THIS MOVIE'S PLOT?????????

HOW THE CHIEFS OF THE OTHER KINGDOMS WERE BASICALLY PLOT DEVICES????

THAT ONE CHIEF'S SKELETON WAS MORE INTERESTING THAN ANY OF THEM COMBINED ALIVE

kudos to that one granny chief though

u can never have enough bad ass old ladies

AND GOD THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ANY OF THE CHARACTERS JUST FELT SO FORCED

ALONG WITH WHATEVER LESSON SISU WANTED TO IMPART ABOUT TRUST

LOVE THESE CHARACTERS THEY ARE FUNNY THEY ARE FRIENDS FOUND FAMILY

TRUST PEOPLE IF U WANT THEM TO TRUST U

TRUST PEOPLE OR ILL LITERALLY FUCKING KILL U

children aren't stupid disney. if you tell your story well enough, they'll pick up on the messages you want to give them. YOU DONT HAVE TO THRUST EVERYTHING IN OUR FACES

i was exhausted by the time i finished this movie

bc i really wanted to love it. i wanted to feel more for it than just: well, it's a movie :)

i dont hate this movie though like it's not even worth the energy for that

i think that ultimately, despite all my issues with it, this movie was a step in the right direction when it comes to having non-western stories being told by non-western people in big name productions

i'm glad raya and the last dragon exists

i just can't help but be dissapointed though bc this movie put so much effort into putting my people and culture at its forefront but at what cost???

good characters and story for a good setting and design????

does it have to be one or the other?????

DOES THE DRAGON HAVE TO HAVE EYEBROWS??????