#most genuine parts of the characters and gives an even more satisfying ending than expected from arc 5.

[the-one-that-weeps]

I find it a little poetic that, usually, plays have 5 acts, but isat has 6. And the sixth one is responsible for breaking the cycle. Like telling the viewer that "hey, it's not over. Your life isn't theatre. So go out and live."

[thekeeperof-thefandoms]

Hazbin Hotel characters react to your stims

(I'm doing my personal favorite characters, so if there are others you wanna see, ask me. They may also be slightly OOC.)

Vox

You can't convince me this man doesn't also have ADHD. He's just spent decades masking it, as well as most of himself, to present a perfect image. Probably heard the term as it got more well known but didn't really connect the dots until meeting you.

He fidgets a lot, tapping his claws, bouncing his legs, can't sit in a fucking chair properly.

Doesn't realize he's overstimulated and burnt out from multi tasking dozens of screens until you point it out.

Once he's aware of it you help him manage his work better so he can be less stimulated and tense. You buy him proper fidget toys to mess with and he makes himself some top of the line bass boosted sound canceling headphones. He gives you a pair, too. When you're both alone, you look up songs with loaded bass in 8d just to watch each other twitch and involuntarily move your head with the sound.

That's about the extent of the conscious level of unmasking he'll do though. He gets self conscious.

But, he adores the fact you're comfortable enough to stim around him. Or in public. He can and will violently end people for even giving you dirty looks for stimming in public.

If you show excitement and joy over being around someone through happy noms he will literally get heart eyes. Just be careful where you bite him because it may lead to something else.

He's happy to let you stim, which means tricking him into doing it more.

He remembers and sub consciously absorbs your echolalias or any word replacements you use. If you do a lot of call and response vocals he learns them. (Call and response is basically when you memorize a sound with two people. One calls the other responds. You can just say both parts yourself ((I do)) but it's more satisfying with someone else).

If you do happy flappies this man will short circuit. (He will laugh if you accidentally smack yourself though).

If you squeal and kick you may give him a heart attack. He thought you were hurt or something. He gets used to it eventually but it still startles him.

Vox is also a chatter box so you two can info dump about special interests to each other for hours. Neither one of you expects the other to remember details, but the fact you don't tell each other to shut up and are content to do your own thing while listening to your partner/friend gush is enough.

He has long since forced himself into strict routines so if you struggle to get tasks started or get distracted in the middle of them he's understanding but stern. Tends to cause more harm than good because he talks down to you unintentionally.

If you're a visual/hands on learner he also gets frustrated with you for wasting hours trying to figure it out yourself and getting yourself upset instead of just letting him do it for you. You get into a lot of fights about it at first. He gets better when he sees it genuinely prevents you from enjoying things or trying new things and that you just kinda default to defeated and helpless. He didn't mean to make you feel dumb, he just doesn't understand why you wouldn't want help. Until the tables turn and as he's getting worked up over something he can't figure out and you just stare at him.

He finally snaps at you what the hell you're doing and you smirk "need help? Why don't I just do it for you and you watch? Come on, you've been struggling for an hour, stop being so stubborn and just let me do it. I'll show you later, it's not hard." You feed his own lines back at him and his stomach drops.

"Oh....that feels...mmmm. Nope! Don't like that. Ok. Won't happen again, doll."

Realistically if you work with him and you make mouth noises a lot (bird whistles, tongue clicks, humming, random shrieks) he will get annoyed. It's distracting him and sometimes you don't realize you're doing it and mess up anything he tries to record. The first few times he snaps at you and it causes problems (hello rejection sensitive dysphoria) but eventually he learns how to better talk to you/communicate without accidentally convincing you he hates you.

Alastor

Probably on the spectrum himself, but it also could just be his anti-social habits. Either way he finds you entertaining and your bouts of sporadic energy and gremlin like behavior don't phase him. He's been dealing with Niffty for years.

If you sing or hum a lot to get work done, or listen to music he's all for it. But if you're the type of ADHD where work fast music=horny and bass he'll insist you wear headphones. If you're content to listen to swing (he'll compromise with electroswing) or jazz, he'll play the radio for you.

He doesn’t even care if you're a good singer or not, he just likes seeing you get into it. Will show off by singing it better than you though.

If you're someone who picks your fingers or skin, he'll slap your hands. You bleeding is making him hungry and distracting him. He'll find you something else to do with your hands. Same with nail biting.

He tends to pull his hair when stressed so if you stim with your hair he gets it and unless it's harmful (eating/pulling) he'll leave it, but if you're like him he's either cutting your hair short or braiding it.

Will die before admitting it but thinks you flapping, hopping, clapping, squealing is the most adorable thing ever. Also, laughs at you if you smack yourself, though.

Doesn't understand your memes so half your echolalia go over his head and he just kinda stares at you.

Scolds you for not sitting in the chair properly.

Smiles, nods, and occasionally says "that's nice dear" when you info dump. It's not that he doesn't care, he just can't listen to something he's not interested in for that long.

Mouth noises make his eye twitch but so long as they don't interrupt him, he won't scold you.

He understands you're not dumb but he also doesn't have the patience to help your or wait for you to get things done so he does them for you and tells you stop pouting when you get upset with him.

He likes you enough to not reject your touch and enjoys being in your space, but please refrain from happy biting the cannibal. He will bite back and it's less cute when he does.

Lucifer

The original AUDHD. You two chatter for hours about special interests.

He makes you stim toys.

You two do the adhd laugh so hard over dumb shit you gotta hold onto and smack each other thing. You both wind up on the floor.

Literally would never talk down to you or trigger your RSD. He's spent centuries feeling like he's constantly annoying, dumb, and struggling to time manage and do tasks.

Is equally fed up with people offering to do things for him because he can do it he just needs help getting started. The more you ask if he wants you to do it or when he's gonna do it the harder it is. So you two just sorta hobble together a system for getting shit done.

It's not perfect but if it gets outta hand he can just snap his fingers and fix it.

He happy flaps with his hands and wings and constantly knocks you or other shit over. It embarrasses him but you're in love. You two sometimes hold hands to do the happy bounce squeal, shaking each other.

He initiates happy bites more than you do. Honestly you both start looking like chew toys.

You two echolali all the time and share new ones you find. If you ever can't find each other, just shout one of your current vocal stims and he'll respond.

Literally, the definition of choas couple.

[wondereads]

December Reading Wrap-Up

The Villain Edit by Laurie Devore (★★★★☆)

I saw this author speak at Yallfest, hence why I decided to branch out quite a bit from my typical choices. The Villain Edit is a contemporary romance about a failed romance author who goes on a Bachelor-esque show to drum up sales for her backlist. She has a one night stand the day before production starts, who turns out to be a producer on the show. As much as this has the premise of a romance novel, I would consider it a contemporary novel with a strong side of romance. The focus is by and large on the development of the main character, Jac, as she struggles with her personal issues and starts to crack under the spotlight. I did enjoy the romance—even though the "love triangle" has a completely obvious end, Devore does some fun things with it—but I would have been perfectly content if Jac ended up alone, as long as she came to terms with herself.

Jac is a decidedly 'unlikeable' character, in both the show and the book, but she's highly entertaining to read about, and I felt a lot of empathy for her. She makes so many bad decisions and is unfailingly rude, but she rarely felt grating, even if I was banging my head against my steering wheel as I listened to the audiobook. There were some moments that felt a little misogynistic to me, but I think it was just playing into the dehumanizing aspects of reality tv. Even though this book is outside of my comfort zone, I had a great time with it, and it did a good job maintaining tension throughout.

Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir (★★★★★)

I am always blown away by how Tamsyn Muir constructs such intricate plots. I've read Harrow before, but I was still astonished by how neatly everything came together, each mystery playing into the others (I also have a crap memory so I forgot a lot of the book). Of the three Locked Tomb protagonists, Harrow is definitely my favorite. She's not 'funny' like Gideon or Nona, but she's snarky in her own way, and I have a soft spot for overachievers. She's also ridiculously competent and dedicated, and it's incredibly satisfying to see her always take it further than anyone thinks she will (soup).

Since I wasn't panicking about what the actual fuck was going on like the first time I read this, I got to slow down and take in more of the side relationships a bit more. Augustine and Mercy are both hilarious characters in their own right, and it's only multiplied when they're put together. I am an Ianthe hater (this would all be over if it wasn't for her), but she's just as compelling a character as everyone else. And then there's Jod. Fuck Jod. Anyway, on a technical level, Muir's writing is just breathtaking, with serious, flowery descriptions cut with hard-hitting, simplistic statements, occasionally lightened by humor that would be out of place in any other story. What an amazing book.

More books under the cut

Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir (★★★★★)

It took me a while to decide to give Nona five stars. Not because it isn't a spectacular book, it is, but because I experienced so much emotional turmoil while reading it that I wanted to withhold a perfect rating out of spite. Paul?? You can't put Paul in a novel and expect me to reward you for it. And yet it's all so good there's no other option. I'm actually quite furious with myself that it took so long to catch on to what was happening. I've still got absolutely no clue how necromancy works, but it was very interesting to learn its origins, only recorded through Ye Olde Twitch.

I was very excited to see the return of a fan-favorite character. I was a bit worried she Came Back Wrong. She probably did a little, but for the most part it just seems like her own, genuine decision to behave in this way in some semblance of a quarter-life-crisis. The first half of the book is rife with amazing new relationships, though I am hesitant to describe it as found family as it only lasts around 300 pages before quickly becoming lost family (that's not a spoiler, Muir would never let anyone be happy). In terms of the worldbuilding, beyond the origin story, it was so interesting to see what life is like outside of the Nine Houses, and there are many new mysteries introduced. I think the thing I most want to know more about is what the hell is going on with the Resurrection Beasts. I'm sure I'm not alone when I say I wait news of Alecto eagerly.

For She Is Wrath by Emily Varga (★★★☆☆.5)

This started off as a very strong book. The story revolves around Dani, who used to be the daughter of an esteemed swordsmith before she was framed for the murder of a warlord and sent to prison. She is able to break out of said prison with the help of another young girl who just so happens to have a secret stash of magic. Dani puts this magic to use to disguise herself in order to infiltrate the royal court and take revenge on all who ruined her life—especially her former paramour, Prince Mazin..

I really liked Dani, the main character, and her pursuit of vengeance is a classic tale, even if this weren't a retelling. The very beginning is a little convenient (really, of all prison cells?), but once Dani is able to start working toward revenge I was hooked. I found the magic system intriguing, the romance had a lot of good tension, and it was incredibly satisfying to see the execution of said revenge. The big issue I had with this book was pacing. I seriously thought this would be the first in a series; it felt like there wasn't nearly enough time to do everything the characters wanted to in just over 400 pages. However, in the last 100 or so pages of this book, so much happens. A character is kidnapped and saved, an ill-advised bargain is made and broken, a big betrayal and a big reunion occur, on top of like seven other plot points. These major plot points, which would usually be given at least a full chapter if not multiple, were being cycled through with only a few pages each, not allowing the reader, or the characters, room to dwell on what was happening. It was so disorienting and unsatisfying that I docked what could have easily been a 4.5/4.75 star read down to 3.5.

The Last Graduate by Naomi Novik (★★★★★)

I don't really have much new to say about this one; I remembered it pretty well, I just reread it for potential use in my thesis. It was tough to stay focused on the actual reason I was combing through instead of just underlining every time El and Orion were in the same room. I continue to be obsessed with their relationship, even years after the series has ended. My favorite part of this book is probably the Scholomance itself; I love that it is shown to be somewhat sentient, even if it is only to fulfill the parameters of its creation. I honestly wish we could have gotten more of it as a character in its own right, but I know the plot wouldn't work otherwise.

The Golden Enclaves by Naomi Novik (★★★★★)

This one was a bit different. Still reading for my thesis, but I honestly forgot a good bit of the story, so there were some twists that surprised me once again. Novik is not subtle about the magical world being an allegory for ours, the fortunate creating problems (pollution, poverty, etc.) for the less so and needing to be forced to do something about it. The only truly fantastical thing about the whole situation is that El truly can single-handedly force them to care, which is quite cathartic to read. While there are a lot of new characters and relationships introduced in this book, and I'm a fan of all of them (particularly El and Liesel), my favorite is El's mom. Her and El play off each other well, and it's interesting to see the woman El constantly brings up in her narration.

Threads That Bind by Kika Hatzopoulou (★★★★☆.75)

I was not anticipating this book to be so good! Threads That Bind follows Io, who uses her skills as a Fate-born, allowing to see the threads of fate, as a private investigator in the city of Alante. Her latest case leads her to a run-in with an inhumanly strong and half-crazed woman who wields her own cut life thread as a weapon. Investigating the mystery leads Io to criminal gangs, up-and-coming politicians, and her own absent sister, all involved in something dark in the city's past. I think the mystery of this book was very good; I definitely had my suspicions for the ultimate culprit (and there were some red herrings that just felt unnecessary), but the process of Io discovering the truth was highly entertaining and it wasn't completely obvious.

I also loved the magic system! The idea of characters being distantly descended from various mythological figures, giving them appropriate powers, was very interesting, especially since it isn't the typical demigod approach. My favorite part of it is that the powers come in sets of siblings, each one playing a different role. For example, of her three sisters, Io is a Cutter, representing the Fate that cuts the threads of life, which allows her to sacrifice one of her own threads to cut someone else's. The worldbuilding is also one of my favorite tropes, which is that it seems to be Earth but far in the future, after some sort of climate disaster. I hope the rest of the series explains more of the history! Io herself was mostly a likable and easy-to-root-for protagonist. My one gripe with this book was that she felt a little too perfect sometimes, a lot of her mistakes and failings coming from her rough upbringing, not necessarily her personal flaws. Still, I enjoyed reading about her, and I really liked the romance. Her and Edei have a pretty natural progression from allies to friends to lovers that doesn't feel rushed, which is often an issue I have with YA romances these days. There was one thing I was hoping would happen, but I'm holding out for the sequel (the title, Hearts That Cut, bodes well). Overall, I really enjoyed reading this book, and I'm looking to get the second one soon!

Wolf Siren by Beth O'Brien (★★★★☆)

Can't say much about this one, it's unreleased and I read it for work, but it balanced an understandable middle grade writing style well with the heavy topics it addresses.

Forged by Blood by Ehigbor Okosun (★★★☆☆.25)

This one was a bit of a disappointment. Forged by Blood tells the story of Demi, an Oluso who can wield magic in a land that has forbidden it. She is hired by a lord to kidnap the prince of her kingdom, Jonas, in a deceptive bid to get him a higher position that would hopefully benefit her people. Demi does so with the help of her close friend, Colin, but a wrench in their plans requires them to go on a bit of a journey with the prince. This book isn't really advertised as such, but it's absolutely a romantasy, not a high fantasy. Demi's world is an unsubtle allegory for colonization, the northerners having overthrown the original royal family and oppressing literally everyone else. This is a typical plot, but it's not the unoriginality I have an issue with; it's the fact that the romance kind of neuters the whole metaphor. In an attempt to allow Demi a romantic relationship with Jonas, prince of her oppressors, the story has to take a whole forgiveness-and-collaboration approach to what is basically colonization, and it just misses the mark.

In general, I wasn't a huge fan of the romance in this book. There are a lot of plot gaps that clearly only exist to make room for popular romance scenes, and the romance just wasn't good enough for me to forgive that. I was sort of into it in the beginning, but that was more the concept; the characters don't really have much chemistry. The thing is, I really enjoyed Demi and Jonas as characters (Colin less so, he was clearly only there for love triangle drama). They're both passionate and dedicated, which the romance doesn't really add to. The magic system is also interesting, based on Nigerian mythology, but the book doesn't dwell on it as much as I'd like. Overall, there wasn't really anything egregiously wrong with this book, but it wasn't nearly as good as it could have been.

The Poppy War by R. F. Kuang (★★★★★)

Another thesis reread!

Impossible by Lyra Cole (★★★☆☆.75)

This book is an omegaverse about five incredibly damaged people. Indie is an isolated girl with an intense eating disorder who discovers that she is an omega. In this world, omegas and alphas live in relative secret, making the transition difficult for her on top of her psychological struggles. Meanwhile, Hollis, Joshua, Leon, and Risk are four alphas whose pack fell apart in a mysterious, violent 'incident,' leaving them all traumatized. Normally books like this shy away from the impact PTSD and depression can have on someone's life. Impossible doesn't sugarcoat how flashbacks and severe depression fuck with a person's psyche, which I really appreciated. This is first and foremost a romance book, but it still allocates a decent amount of time to discussing the characters' problems and their healing process.

Other than that, there is a loose political undercurrent in the story, things that have far too serious implications for an omegaverse romance duology. Concerning that, I would have appreciated more happening; I was anticipating a bit more conflict coming from that area. The romance itself is pretty good; Indie and Leon by far spend the most time together, so their relationship develops the most naturally. The others feel a bit rushed, but I still like them. The book feels a little vague and directionless, but I enjoyed the characters and romance.

Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueline Carey (★★★★☆.5)

My longest read of the year tells the story of Phedre no Dalaunay. In the country of Terre D'Ange, there is one precept valued above all others: love as thou wilt. D'Angelines have a unique desire for beauty that presents itself in art, governance, and, crucially, sex. In the Houses of Night, which worship Namaah, sex is their method of tribute, and Phedre, sold by her mother to Namaah's service, has known all her life what she is meant to do. The only thing out of the ordinary about her is a red mote in her eye, Kushiel's Dart, which marks her as someone who experiences pain and pleasure as one. A noble, Lord Delaunay, takes notice of Phedre and purchases her indenture to then train her in the art of espionage. Her position allow her into places typical spies have no access to, and her skills loosen her clients' tongues. But Terre D'Ange is unstable, and her subterfuge leads her into a conspiracy to take a kingdom.

For a book published in 2001, this book is astonishing pro-LGBTQ and sex-positive. It portrays an understanding and healthy depiction of BDSM, draws a tasteful line between consensual sex work and rape, and boasts multiple characters that are openly queer. It's more politics and arranged marriages that get in the way of relationships than gender. This is also a complex and compelling political fantasy, pulling in court intrigue, diplomatic relations, and pretty good accuracy for medieval Europe (the map is just Europe, Terre D'Ange is France, it's not subtle). Phedre herself is a wonderful protagonist; she is dedicated, headstrong but clever, and knows how to utilize her talents to the best of her abilities. She has multiple entanglements throughout the course of the novel, but there are two main relationships, both of which were wonderful to read. One is a deadly dance, exploring the lines between love and hate, and one is complete devotion as the two go through hell together. Even for a book that discusses sex so openly, there actually aren't many sex scenes and most take up very little space; don't go into this one expecting a ton of smut. My only complaint is that the story does drag at times; it is over 1000 pages. I would read the trigger warnings before picking up this book, but otherwise I highly recommend it if you're looking for an in-depth political fantasy.

Otherworldly by F. T. Lukens (★★★★☆)

This was a cute, lighthearted paranormal romance between a goddess' familiar and a teenager who doesn't believe in magic. Ellery's region of the world has been stuck in an eternal winter for five years, but they might have a chance to save their city (and their family's farm) when they meet Knox, a familiar who's gone rogue for the chance to live his own life for once. The deal is simple: Knox helps Ellery discover why their Goddess has abandoned them, and Ellery helps Knox experience normal teenage things. Lukens has always been quite good at writing these cozy fantasy romances; they use magic tropes well to further the romance. I've previously had issues with them creating a world that 300-page romances just don't have time to explore, but this one was pretty self-contained and I didn't feel unsatisfied at the end.

The romance itself is very cute; Ellery and Knox play off each other well, and the story doesn't feel overly contrived or too rushed. I do think it's a little ridiculous that this one area of the world has been trapped in winter for five years and Ellery still doesn't believe in the supernatural. Oddly, it was the skepticism that broke my immersion. However, once they get past that, I thoroughly enjoyed the story. If you're looking for cute, fantastical romances, F. T. Lukens is a great bet, and I've enjoyed every book from them I've read.

[1800duckhotline]

2, 3, 7, 11, 14, 18, 19, 23, 24 and 25 for eureka!!

Edgy/misc OC ask meme ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ

2. What's something about your OC that people wouldn't expect just from looking at them?

Honestly, not too sure because Eureka's whole shtick is what it says on the tin... I would guess maybe the fact she originally was a peasant butcher's daughter from Bavaria in the 1300s? I love that tibid about it because it's very out there, kind of, but I don't know if people wouldn't expect it...

3. What is your OC's fatal flaw? Are they aware of this flaw?

Eureka has so many flaws, is aware of all of them, and genuinely doesn't give a fuck 😭 Like, chaotic at its finest. Among her many negative qualities (which no doubt are why I love her so much), I'd say its main two most 'fatal' ones are pride/overconfidence and gluttony. Both those whims tends to land it in sticky situations it wouldn't find herself into if she weren't always eager to satisfy her ego or hunger before anything else.

7. What's one way your OC has changed since you first came up with them?

The changes that happened to Eureka mostly pertain to its design, but the lore is more or less unchanged since I didn't start with a particular backstory for it in the first place - like with many other OCs it clicked into place naturally after a bit of playing around with her. Eureka used to have "markings" on her skin to signify that she was bound to a symbiote demon - this culminating in her back tattoo - but I decided to retcon the idea for my own sanity... it still has its cool sick king cobra back tattoo, but it's not inherent to her nature as a synchronizer, she just got it because it looked cool.

11. What is your OC's weapon of choice? Have they ever actually used it?

Eureka can shapeshift its body into whatever weapon it prefers, but she has a preference for enhanced muscular arms and hands and/or her teeth.

14. How does your OC want to be seen by other characters?

Scary/cool/mysterious/sexy/arousing/etc... Eureka doesn't have big aspirations but she does love to play the part of the villain more often than not. But for characters that are on her same power level, she LOVES to be a fucking nuisance to them.

18. Is your OC more cold and detached or up close and personal?

Definitely the latter. If you catch Eureka's eye(s), you will no doubt be pestered by its unfiltered attention (for better or for worse) until it gets bored of you.

19. How does your OC behave when enraged?

Not Well. Considering Eureka has extremely strong and flexible shapeshifting powers and eats humanss to survive or to entertain itself, well, if she's angry it's bad news for everybody around her. But it is hard to make her actually enraged due to her being extremely fucking old at this point - most she'll get is annoyed or miffed, and usually this occurs when she is already in battle against someone on her same power level, which means things are already exceedingly violent to begin with. Not much to be surprised about.

23. What emotion is the hardest for your OC to process? How about express?

Eureka struggles caring because it hasn't felt such a thing in decades, and when it does feel like it cares for someone, it's extremely difficult for it to express it in a way that is... for lack of better words... "regulated"?

Example: Eureka cares about Andrea, thus she sleeps with her because she likes toying around with her (and is fascinated by how Andrea can't die after having sex with her which... is the more common occurrence) - thus she puts curses on her for fun or embarrasses her in public; Eureka cares about Jenica, in a twisted mentor-like way, so instead of teaching them about the ins and outs of being a synchronizer, it basically taunts them or haunts them or mocks them under the guise of "teaching" them.

Like, basically, it's not too different from her usual way of approaching people, but it'll end up being reversely even more annoying and/or cruel to a person it will care about. It's all it's ever known LOL

24. What is an alternative life path your OC might have gone down? How different would their life be if they'd made those decisions?

I mean... let me be completely honest. Her one alternative life path would've been death. If Eureka hadn't decided to "take care" of the noblewoman who had employed her "services" in the late 1300s, she would have never read the book that let her fuse with Malacoda, and thus she would've kept working as the medieval equivalent of a crime scene cleaner until the day she died (or until she was disposed of by said noblewoman). Fusing with Malacoda is what made Eureka what it is today and there's hardly any chances of it developing a different temperament afterwards that'd lead to different choices; Malacoda may be a more "passive" kind of symbiote, but its presence alone influences Eureka to be vile even if it isn't doing it on purpose, if that makes sense. LOL

[mdhwrites]

Ok, so i watched the finale, it was pretty predictable but enjoyable. But during the after cred scene, it really just solidified how aimless these characters are, Willow truly became just 'strong athlete' who serves as Hunters arm candy. She doesnt seem to give a shit about plants anymore ig? shes just 'buff' now.

Gus went straight back to 'guy who likes humans who has a group to celebrate said interest'. Amity is just... making abominations? i guess? Hunter is making palismen, which seems shoved in because caleb apparently carved.

Luz is... magic. yeah thats it. Eda is a headteacher, which feels widely out of place, but whatever. King Is. Other characters are rebuilding? i just- it feels like these characters have nowhere else to go because they just had no personal goals outside of very basic shit.

With amphibia, sasha became a child therapist, anne became a biologist who specialised in amphibians, marcy became a game designer. These are all goals that reflect their journey.

Now I want to start by saying that endings are hard and that character endings can be even harder than that. If you do a time skip epilogue, you have to somehow be able to show that all the characters are happy, successful and moving on in a way that makes sense and is narratively satisfying. You also usually have VERY little time to do this with because it's purposefully meant to be fluffy and sweet and disconnected from the rest in a way that isn't going to fit with the core of the show. The problem is that part of why this is hard is because characters are meant to be complex and their endings should reflect on the themes of the piece as well. Marcy's creativity and wonder about things blooming into a webcomic (I believe it's a webcomic and not games at least, though games works too) is great because she found a healthy way to share those passions with others and make connections through them. Anne's whole arc was learning to find the wonder in others and the strange world she was in and so her aquarium job is dead on the money. Sasha had to learn the hard way how to stop being controlling, angry and manipulative and passing those lessons on is far deeper and useful to others than anything her cheerleader base would have made you expect. It also makes it so when the show states the theme of the piece, about separation being a chance to grow and what you'll find coming back together is all the stronger, it hits SO. FUCKING. HARD. And comparing that to TOH... Well, we got effectively six character endings from what I've seen, seven if you count Lilith but hers is just more of what she was already doing as her job in the series, just now with a harpy form so I don't. Only six are meant to be any sort of final cap on their character/lives. And I'm just going to say this outright: They're not all bad. So from best to worst, with the name at the start of each in bold in case you don't care about someone, let's talk about: Hunter Amity Eda Willow Gus Luz Hunter: It's good. It's genuinely pretty damn good. That's not a joke or a setup or anything either. If Hunter's arc was about rejecting Belos to any extent, then this is a GREAT finish, even without Flapjack. After all, the part of the Isles that Belos himself most directly destroyed through his consumption, greed and wrath was the palistrom trees and palismen. Having it be that Hunter is now helping restore those elements is incredibly potent. Of course, there's also the obvious connection of Hunter and Flapjack but arguably the bird had more to do with his arc than any one character so him influencing Hunter's future just makes sense. I think it also just fits well with Hunter's character though. Watching out for people trying to steal palistrom wood uses his old soldier training but now in a constructive way, he's obviously not a very social person so the isolation is probably nice to him to get away from things and the boy has a LOT mentally to deal with. Working on regular wood while thinking about all of that is going to be a good place to release those anxieties and tensions in a good, creative manner. And for themes of identity, I think it's fine too. While Flapjack was Caleb's palisman, I don't think we ever get it confirmed that Caleb himself carved for a living or the like. That makes this genuinely something Hunter is doing himself and not because of someone else. That includes if he's doing it somewhat for Flapjack because honoring a friend is a very personal thing and very different from copying the dead. And again, frankly, the job feels very right for Hunter because it plays into his strengths rather than his weaknesses and gives him the peace he needs. No notes. Good job show. You got one. Amity: Okay, that's a little mean because Amity's is... Fine. It finally gives a point to her and her father's arc that you can't argue with through "X led to nothing" like angst about her father or the abomaton problem. There is a through line to this, especially with her abomatons. It makes narrative sense and functions.

...Except how much have those things actually mattered to her and in how long? She still rejected her father's hug in Reaching Out and didn't ask Em and Ed about him so their relationship by the end of the show still wasn't good. Escaping Expulsion explicitly said Amity was letting her grades slip so she's been at least distracted from magic for over a season at this point. Yes they claim her hair is abomination styled but it's WAY too light colored for that frankly, making it look way more pink than any sort of purple. Worse yet is that Amity's arc, besides becoming Luz's girlfriend, can be generously claimed as having a theme of becoming her own person instead of what others want of her. This technically works but clashes some by her still following in one of her parent's footsteps. She just swapped from her mother's dream to her father's passions. Now Alador never pushed her to copy him, he was neglectful after all so that would have been hard, so it still works. It is still theoretically a form of abominations that is characterized in the show by being about passion rather than simply performance with Odalia pushing the need for it to be commercial, something Amity theoretically won't care about. Frankly though, with how much her arc tries to push her caring about others, her reading to kids, there even being from what I've seen a sweet moment between her and the Collector... Why not make her a teacher or a caretaker of some sort? That's harder to portray than abomination mechanic but it fits as an ultimate capstone for going from someone who only cared about personal position, being the best and would throw away lives for her goals to someone who rejected all of that. To someone who spent their life now lifting others up and her knowledge empowered her to do that better than she otherwise could have. So Amity gets like a B. It works narratively and for the character but there's some improvement that could be done.

Eda: Oh look, a job that is going to make her absolutely miserable! That is my first thought hearing that she's a headmaster. After all, being the lead administrator is NOT the same as being a teacher. The paperwork alone is going to make her wish she was dead, much like when Tsunade became Hokage in Naruto. But that's not really what you're supposed to be thinking with it. It's supposed to be the ultimate extension of both Momma Eda in her students being her kids but also the fulfillment of Eda going from reluctant mentor to full on teacher. Which... If there were more than two episodes of the series where Eda was actually even attempting to be a mentor to Luz, that might actually mean more and that is EASILY the stronger thread being pulled here. You have to make the students into a more abstract concept for the Momma Eda theme to really fit here. What could you have done with her? I don't entirely know but I would probably have said enjoying retirement with Raine. Living a life finally at peace and without a need to hustle and bustle to fight against the curse or the system. She could have the freedom she always wanted without having to fear for her life. Having her partner by her side also makes it so you know she has family, something she spent so much of her life without. So essentially it's an ending that works from a more meta perspective but when you actually consider the events of the show and the character, it's questionable how much it fits or how 'happy' an ending it will be for her, especially when it ties her down so hard.

Willow: Okay, being fair here, from a setup perspective this actually works better than Eda's ending. Her strength is much of what defined her character, magically and physically, and she decided personally to want to go into sports in S2. Her becoming an athlete fits on both of those levels. For a character who is mostly a plot device, that's not bad.

Except it really doesn't play into anything about how she began and her resentment towards the name Half a Witch. It also has nothing to do with her plants. These elements that the show tried to claim had her seething resentment, that dominated her childhood, are ENTIRELY gone from her ending instead of reclaimed in any way. It's frustrating because it really paints that early stuff as pointless and genuinely just for Amity's sake, not Willow's and that's not great when the athletic stuff always felt tacked onto me in S2 just to give her SOMETHING to do with Hunter.

It also just continues pushing this feeling to me that despite setting up and wanting Willow to be the shy, plant girl archtype at times, S1 especially wanting her to just be willing to wilt away, SOMEONE on the writing team hates that archtype. Just wanted to surgically remove every last scrap of that from her character, regardless of if she was given the time to justify it or the like. That was frankly more okay to me with the shy element than the plant element seeing as she feels BORN to do plant magic by the fact that she was a master practically from the first time we see her use it without no training.

But here's the real reason it's below Eda: I hate her design. It's mostly fine but it's also UNFINISHED. She has one kneepad and ONE SOCK. You can make excuses for one of those but not the fucking sock and it drives me up a wall. I also don't like that the reformed Isles would still have a character like Willow having spikes on parts of her uniform for sports. Get rid of those and imply things have become gentler show. It's not like you've ever cared about keeping the Isles' identity intact before.

Gus: Here is where we go from "It functions but is maybe not good if you think about it" to "You're being way more honest than you're meaning to be show." After all, we have that cyclical aspect of Eda where Gus is returning to the start of the show but there is NO thought put into this.

If there was, if the show was willing to show that Gus had become wiser and more considerate, he wouldn't be studying humans. Not on the Isles. After all, how is he even going to do it on the Isles? Studying Luz? That feels weirdly like being friends with Bigfoot while saying you still need to find Sasquatch and prove the legends are true. Dude, maybe stop being... weird about this race you know exists properly now. It's kind of uncomfortable.

It's not even a hard thing to fix: Say he's here to see Luz off before going through the portal door with one of those glamour stones to cover his ears. He needs to go learn anthropology and the political sciences of our world in order to prepare to be a proper ambassador. That actually might have been neat.

But, you know, that would have taken any thought or care with Gus and we're lucky he was even remembered in the finale frankly. It's a flat failure though and really highlights how Gus hasn't grown and is still mostly a joke to the writers.

So then the question is... If Gus is this bad, can it really get worse with

Luz: *breathes in slowly*

*breathes out slowly*

I've been pretending to grade some of these and if that's the case, I don't even accept Luz's ending. I tell the student that they ignored what the assignment was and just copy and pasted the first paragraph of their wikipedia entry and tried to hand that in as their answer to how the MAIN CHARACTER OF THE SHOW ENDS IT. Because that is exactly the vibe of this ending.

Luz didn't grow and she sure as shit didn't learn anything. Remember: Her theme for her character arc, the worst decision to me creatively, is the fantasy she wants to live versus the consequences of that fantasy. It doesn't even matter how bad that theme is ever handled in the show because this is theoretically the largest, explicit theme of the story outside of personal expression being all that matters.

And Luz literally ends the series chasing the same dream she had at the start.

I... I don't even entirely know how to respond to that. The show, which is a kid's show remember, legitimately said that her running away from her problems to play out one of her fantasy books was such a good choice, it should be the thing she does for the REST OF HER LIFE. That it is the final, definitive note for the character that Luz the Human is going to be Luz the Witch.

And you know what? If Luz's journey to being a witch actually meant anything in the show, this might have literally any justification. If during the course of the show she had genuinely learned a lot as a person over the course of becoming a witch, if magic itself had so many rules as to require you to be a functional human being in order to use it, it MIGHT work. It's not great but it might work. Except... Remember back when I was talking about Eda? About how Eda spends two episodes teaching Luz and that's it?

Remember: Luz is like 90% why the Selkidamus is beat while on the boat. By the beginning of S2, and explicitly with Escaping Expulsion, she is already closing in on the ceiling of her powers. She already outshines most other witches to the point where the Emperor is the only person to give her a real challenge combat wise so long as the series is actually remembering to let her cast spells. Half of her glyphs aren't even tried to be connected to anything but instead, as she puts it, are found from other witch's spells randomly. They're just... There and no one else noticed somehow.

And this is what you want to say her character was leading up to? A profession that in the human realm has no transferable skills because she can't just be spinning Stringbean all the time without it being obvious and glyphs don't work in the human realm. It's actually worse in the Boiling Isles because unless she's going to get employed as a glyph master or something, she still needs a job. Everyone has magic there after all and anyone can use glyph magic with ease. You don't even need to be confident in it. Thank you Gus and Looking Glass Ruins.

It is bizarrely revealing how little thought and care was put into Luz and the themes of the show with this being how it ends. It is just, top to bottom, a failure. The only way it functions is fans of the show being happy she's chasing her dreams into eternity. You cannot think about it for even a second without some sort of question coming up.

And what else would she do? Easy. I've been saying she should have become a counselor or a therapist literally even before S2. That was just the obvious way for her to grow to me. She learns that you need to balance reality and fantasy, your passions with the demands of the world and takes up a job that lets her help kids like her find happiness and a place in their world. Either world. It would imply she understands childhood fantasies are just that, it would highlight her empathy and understanding of others and also is an amazing culmination of the theme of Fantasy versus Reality.

And instead the show's response was probably as far from caring about any of those things as you can possibly get. I don't understand it and it blows my fucking mind.

But I mean... if you want to finally drop the pretenses and just admit that your show is nothing but basic, escapist fantasy... I guess there really isn't a better ending than this, is there? =======

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead, If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

And finally a Twitter you can follow too!

[finalgirlminamurray]

quick mini reviews of various other books i've read this year:

the eyes are the best part by monika kim. this was pretty good. i read it a couple weeks ago and flew through it in one day (do not use my ability to read quickly + amount of time i sometimes have to do it as any sort of average metric). i like a good complex female protagonist and the gorier parts are appropriately both gross and satisfying. what surprised me about this one is that it's mostly a fairly realistic family drama, but those parts are very well-done and compelling. the main character's relationship with her family and the complicated dynamics among them feel very real in a way that doesn't necessarily have to be drawn from life (i do read the acknowledgements, and i appreciated the author thanking her mom and saying she's nothing like the main characters' mother. not everything female and minority authors write is autobiographical, you know...) i'd recommend it. i don't think the gore is too bad if you're bad at handling that stuff but then again my perspective on that is a little skewed.

fantasticland by mike bockoven. this was one of the books i was most excited to read while waiting for my library's copy to come back in and it did not disappoint. most intense episode of defunctland ever. basic premise is that the employees of a fictional florida theme park (not intended to be an analogue for any real ones; disney world and universal studios both still exist in this setting) get trapped inside the grounds when a major hurricane hits and end up going full lord of the flies within a few weeks. the story is told through a series of interviews with each chapter presented as a survivor of the incident giving their account to the in-universe author of a book about it. i really liked this one. reading the back cover seems to build up expectations of a much more sensational story than it actually is; it ends up a lot more realistic-feeling than i expected, with the characters genuinely feeling a lot like real people (mostly teenagers and college students) all trying to process the situation they were just in. there's some ambiguously-supernatural stuff in a couple chapters, and if there's one thing i don't think worked it's that the book is maybe not quite long enough to give a feel of how things spiraled out of control as fast as they did. (i was expecting more of a gradual buildup, i guess.) most of what happened seems to be the fault of one guy immediately forming his faction into a violent gang of every-man-for-himself marauders, but i think that's also disturbingly realistic for the kind of masculinity-idolizing guy who's a little too eager for a real apocalypse to happen. also recommended, i feel like this one slipped under the radar a bit.

bunny by mona awad. going backwards a little to stuff i read over the summer, this was on my tbr for a while because it gets a lot of circulation. i liked it more than i was expecting, since "grad school/mfa hell" is kind of its own genre at this point with all the expected cliches associated with it. lot of reviews comparing it to heathers and mean girls and while i would lean more towards the vibe of the former i'm surprised none of them brought up the secret history, even though that's the go-to "dark academia" book. it's more explicitly supernatural-horror themed but i think it's a worthy successor if you want more in that vein focused on female characters. and if the term "dark academia" hasn't lost all meaning at this point. it's a quick read and i thought it was worthwhile but it's probably not for everyone - again, it's a highly specific subgenre and people are as likely to be annoyed by that as to like it. speaking of which...

hangsaman by shirley jackson. this is what bunny actually reminded me the most of, although probably because i ended up reading it right after hangsaman and was already primed to think about it. of the three jackson novels i've read i would have an absolutely impossible time picking a favorite, but this is probably the most underappreciated. (i do still need to read her actually underappreciated work like the road through the wall and the sundial.) fiction doesn't have to be relatable for you to appreciate it of course but i also felt like this was the closest thing i've read to an actual reflection of my first-year college experience. mostly due to me also being a reclusive introvert who didn't talk to anybody. so maybe not that much like my college experience overall but also natalie waite is literally me. when it counts. anyway this was really good. my last thought is that i was fully expecting tony to be revealed to be imaginary at some point but she never is, at least not explicitly, so maybe that's why i was still surprised by a certain twist in bunny.

the collector by john fowles. oh man this book. almost certainly the scariest or at least most effective horror novel i've read so far this year. if you want a story about a serial killer (or, at least by what's implied by the ending, the beginning of one) that really makes you feel for the victim as a real person in a horrifying situation this is it. what gets me about this one is that the situation objectively isn't as horrifying as others that try to do the same thing - she isn't being tortured or sexually assaulted or confined in unpleasant conditions, she's just being kept in an isolated house and not allowed to leave. i think most stories like this would invite some sympathy with the antagonist because of their psychology just making them really detached from reality, especially since we do get his pov first and last, but by the end of the book you will absolutely loathe him. the complete lack of empathy or ability to see his captive as a human being. especially since we very much do get to see her as one. funnily enough i was thinking about how some of the sections from her pov when she's just remembering stuff about her life from before she was kidnapped are the kind of thing i would find pretty uninteresting in a different book but here it adds to the effectiveness. there's some interesting themes here about the intersection of class and gender politics that were very much intentional too. will probably write more about this one in separate posts because it's the kind of book that stays with you.

haunted by chuck palahniuk. of his novels i’d only read fight club before this year so i picked this out of my current workplace’s more extensive collection and had a really good time with it. well maybe not wholly a “good” time because some of the stories in it are a lot but it was an excellent read. since it’s both a novel and a collection of short stories it might be hard to review as a whole so i might end up making more posts about this one too. some parts would definitely require some extensive trigger warnings before recommending but i think it all works really well for what it’s doing. there’s a good mix of the disturbing and the absurd here; i like when authors use this format to fully indulge all their weirder ideas. the first story “guts” really sets the tone here; palahniuk has said that whenever he reads this one live at least some audience members end up fainting and i don’t know if that’s from the content or them holding their breath at the start as instructed but i was certainly squirming in my seat reading it. fun stuff.

carmilla by j. sheridan le fanu. rounding things out i followed up this year’s dracula reread with another vampire classic. this one’s a novella and a pretty short read; i had picked up a new edition at the bookstore last month with a postmodernist introduction by carmen maria machado, whose works i read back in college and generally liked a lot. not sure how much this adds to the text of the novella, positing it as a real historical document edited and censored by le fanu, but then again i was reading the book for the first time and not primarily there for the intro. overall it feels like a dreamy and slightly surreal dry run for most of the vampire tropes that would become enshrined by dracula 25 years later. not that it isn’t good on its own, though. it’s insane how openly gay this is for the time; i know that close affection between women wasn’t necessarily read as romantic back then but like. at one point laura briefly wonders if carmilla is a man in disguise, which she thinks would actually make their intimacy more understandable. you can make an argument for gay subtext in parts of dracula but this isn’t even subtext it’s just right out in the open. i loved it to be clear although it does kind of run out of steam towards the end. you can really see the influence this had on dracula which feels like it earns its ending more thanks to having more time to establish the characters and build up the threat of its villain. it’s still highly recommended reading if you’re interested in the origin of a lot of vampire fiction staples. and lesbian vampires of course

that’s about enough for one post but i will forever continue updating on the books i read. reading is so fun everyone should do it

[egg-emperor]

What are your detailed thoughts on the Mario movie?

I appreciate your interest! ^^

Gonna preface by saying I've only been interested in the Mario series for a few years (beyond the Mario & Sonic Olympics if that counts) for about 5-6, compared to 16-17 years of Sonic and still can't say I'm the biggest fan as I haven't played many games and don't have a lot of knowledge. So I feel I'm not equipped to speak much on some parts but I can share my thoughts based on what I do know and saw! And don't be surprised that I compare it to the Sonic movies quite a bit XD

Not gonna go heavy with spoilers by getting too much into specific moments but might mark as such just in case.

I'll start with the summary of my overall feelings and that I think it's simple, cute, and fun and that's been my impression of every Mario game I have played and seen so far, so it's along the lines of what I expected and I'm satisfied with it, I'm not sure what else people were expecting. It made me smile and feel joy the most I have from any movie I've seen in a while. And it's not quite as generic as a lot of other movies of the genre because they care about capturing a lot of the game's essence.

The visuals and atmosphere were gorgeous, I love how they took great advantage of some of the beautiful colorful worlds they've already created for the series and utilized them well, as well as how they merged them all together creatively. That's exactly what all movie adaptions could and should do, it'll always be so much more beautiful and appreciated than anything you can do in boring dull live action landscapes lol

I like all the references and callbacks, I noticed many despite not being the most knowledgeable Mario fan, compared to both Sonic movies where I didn't even notice a lot despite all my knowledge and years of enjoying it because I couldn't even see them. The Mario movie managed to include tons of noticable ones AND has more subtle easter eggs and background details.

The actual Nintendo games music being involved so much more instead of just outside licensed music was really good. The visuals of the returning environments are fantastic. The tons of characters they already managed to include in such a short but sweet movie and handle so well is amazing. The tons of game aspects, references, and easter eggs to find are a delight.

I like the implementation of the power ups and how they didn't turn them into some magical thing and change it drastically. I like how they know that the game mechanic can work for a movie story and cared to add all the things that people actually know and enjoy about the games. Unlike the Sonic movie not doing that and giving him completely different abilities.

The faithfulness to the series capturing the magic and fun all around makes me smile. Despite not knowing Mario for long I can appreciate all of these things too and it feels like they care about what the fans actually want and enjoy about the games. Every video game adaption movie ever needs to take notes from this because it has all the main most important fundamentals.

I like how Mario was silly but still brave and heroic. I like how he determined he is and doesn't know when to give up. I love how it's a good thing and one of his biggest strengths and the important theme throughout. He's told he can't do something or the odds seem against him and he still fights and believes in himself and protects what he cares about. A simple but good message.

I like how Luigi is the cute silly shy scaredy cat he is but how he manages to step up to help his bro at the end. Would've been nice to see him get to do more but his moment of saving Mario and teaming up with him at the end was great. Their bond and moments together was sweet and I like how much it motivates them and how they want to stick together and protect each other.

Bowser was great because he's funny and wants to marry Peach and is also genuinely really threatening. It makes you understand why he's the villain and why it's such a serious dire situation for him to take over, he's fucked up and mean and evil and destructive and that's what I love in my villains!!! And Jack Black did an awesome job and didn't just use his own voice like hey I'm Jack Black lol Very unlike Carrey just being Carrey instead of Robotnik, especially in the first movie.

If I got a movie Eggman anything like this I would've gone insane and died from joy went to heaven ahsjsbfjsnfb it's not faaaair. I'm happy for anyone that feels the way I do about Eggman but for Bowser because I'm sure y'all would've been especially losing it for this. I do love him too and he is hot but you know my ultimate preferred fucked up dilf of the two lol. Bowser got such better treatment in my eyes. Happy for him as a fellow bf of Eggman's XD

Bowser, Mario and Luigi were my favorites so they're the ones I'll bring up here but I think every other character was handled pretty well too based on my limited knowledge of them outside of the movie and I didn't have any issues, they added to the entertainment a lot too. I like how they pretty much all have a good balance between humor and seriousness when the scenes call for it, nothing felt really annoying or forced, handled with respect.

The humor in itself was actually fine too, my brother and I tend to cringe at certain jokes and humor in kids movies these days some stuff being in the Sonic movies ngl but there was nothing of the sort in this movie that made us feel that way, we both noted to each other right way. Very inoffensive, not super obnoxious or hip and just generally enjoyable for all ages, which is a cool pleasant surprise coming out of a movie by Illumination especially lol

The animation is fantastic too, really putting all the character's tooniness to it's full advantage so they're lively and bouncy and expressive in ways that really helps bring out their personality. Again, that's why cartoony characters will always be best in CG no matter how exaggerated and expressive you think your live actors can be. Every character was charming and pleasing to the eye, a ton of love was clearly put into capturing them visually.

I'm surprised it's rated so low by actual reviewers last time I saw, not that I care about their opinions but I'm with the audience more than usual. I don't know what I'm missing about it not being likable because I haven't read the reviews and don't plan to lol. I think this is practically everything a video game adaption should be, though in a perfect world I'd want all the characters to have all the same actors behind them too.

I liked this way more than both Sonic movies combined, though I'm biased as of course I'll love full CG over live action hybrid for toony series like Sonic and Mario any day. But man, Mario is genuinely better and more likable to me than both Sonic movies in every way because I'm not really a fan of those at all in comparison. Even without the comparison as I hardly even thought about the Sonic movie throughout, it was enjoyable and made me really happy.

But then it's funny because I've been a Sonic fan for near my whole life while Mario for a mere 5 minutes in comparison so you think I'd be biased and saying that the Sonic movies are better or just as good but they really didn't do it for me. It felt like both Sonic movies were too concerned about appealing to non Sonic fans with generic Hollywood plot lines taking up huge chunks of the stories than giving them more of what we all actually love about the game series in the first place.

The Mario movie went all out in almost every way it could right from the first movie and THAT'S how it's done, I have so much respect and appreciation for it. They knew they didn't need to appeal to non fans specifically and can hold up great as is. I think that should always be expected out of any video game adaption, especially cartoony kids ones that have existed as long as Mario and Sonic. They did a great job and there's a lot of video game heart in it bravely and unapologetically.

The voice cast is still their most bizarre choice but it's honestly okay once I'm watching it and I don't have major issues with it, I stopped thinking about it after the first few minutes and it wasn't annoying as it was random and unnecessary. But of course I still think it's really sad and not fair that Charles Martinet didn't get to at least have the main role of voicing Mario, despite him literally being right there and more than willing to do so because nobody deserved it more than him.

I wish they'd honor legacy actors by letting them shine in their role on the big screen instead of bigger names for audience and money. Same happened for the Sonic movie and it raises my fear that even if we did get the CG Sonic movie of my dreams, Eggman might not even be voiced by Mike Pollock then either :( But I love what Charles get to do, I'm glad he had some part in it! Hearing him as Giuseppe/Jumpman and Mario's dad was a delight, his performance is always pure joy.

Though he still deserved way more of course and I'll always be really sad that most actors in the Sonic series didn't even get any cameos or side roles at all.

Something also funny to me is there were TONS more people in the cinema than both Sonic movies, both on the first day when we almost went as it was sold out and there were actually a lot of people in there when I went yesterday too. I haven't been amongst an audience for a movie for so long. For both Sonic movies the cinema was near empty for all those, so everyone around here has a big preference! XD

So yeah, I had a great time with it! I recommend it to everyone and this is a movie I want to watch again and own on blu-ray. This has helped me appreciate the Mario series even more because of how much fun it has with things that are in the games and don't stray from using it for the sake of wider appeal. And it's a gorgeously animated and designed movie with a simple but sweet story and sometimes it's all a great movie needs! I loved it 🥰❤️💚🐢⭐🍄🪠

[rainswept]

ngl i had to take a fat nap after that response ☹️

i have genuinely never felt so overwhelmed with emotion before, now we're in the same boat because i don't even know what to say to tell you exactly how much i enjoyed reading all of it. i got that whole eyes burning going on n shit and im having a very fun awesome time trying to put a name to whatever the feeling in my chest is (not), but love sounds like a nice way to put it so we'll go with that! i love you too, and appreciate the time you took to write everything out more than any sentence can convey the full meaning of

you're right about me not expecting my ask to mean so much, i wrote it because i knew most authors (and creators as a whole) like hearing how their viewers discover their work. you said you were curious in the notes of the url post, i thought i might as well send in my story to satisfy.

it would be a big step for me, but also a chance to say something nice to someone who inspired me and then move on after a “thank you” or vague acknowledgement to… prove to myself interacting isnt as bad as i thought it'd be?? something like that. i’m not sure what i wanted you to say, or how i wanted to feel about it

bbuut as per usual, you managed to surprise me no matter what i was looking for ( ‾́ ◡ ‾́ ) and it wasn't all over the place or hard to understand at all. my turn to be dramatic:

“what is the point of feeling if, as soon as you pry your eyes away from the page, the emotion fades with the ink?” is definitely a question i connect with. impressionable teenager check ‼️

i said i want to love like you because the way you dedicate yourself so completely is something i’ve never been able to do. i wasn't into picking apart characters before because i thought it was obsessive.

they aren't real right? who cares? which leads me to the metaphor i used for your writing: wholly consuming. imagine not being able to delve into those depths. of course it feels uncomfortable to be pulled under the waves at first— you aren't going to be able to breathe— but the underwater life has so much to offer. i know it now, because i’ve seen that unknowable infinity in your work and in your passion. and there's so much more to sea (ba dum tiss). thank you so much for showing me that

love changes a lot of people. it is sacrifice, and you often have to make compromises. so why not let myself be devoured by that endlessness? i would rather suffer, be swallowed by the ocean and have all of my soft edges filed into jagged pieces by the currents than to have never known that pain at all. because it changed me. i want to remember that.

i want to remember your words, and the part you played even if i am left with only hurt, because love is also giving. it's greed knows no bounds. it's scary, the only thing i had to offer was myself and my experience. but it's getting easier. i’m happy to be seen as a member of your audience, and will applaud every success long after our interests no longer align because that is my compromise for you ♥(ˆ⌣ˆ)

hope all that makes sense. i like the umbrella tag! i’m being perceived and i haven't exploded (yet) (destruction is imminent) ☂️

ANON i am so sorry for the late response i had to process this. i’m having such a hard time posting these bc i just want to keep them treasured in my inbox forever ugh

long post again

ANYWAY. you’re so poetic this is insane. hello???//?/? when i first saw this there were tears in my eyes literally. i cannot. the first paragraph. actually all of them. i . died?? goodbye?? this is the end of me as i know it. i will never be the same. these r the most impactful words anyone has ever said to me i think. i have no words. genuinely no words i’m going to melt into thr floor. plea. please. spare me anon. spare me. i’m in agony right now ur writing is so beautiful. ANONNNNN😭😭😭😭😭😭 god i will never recover. i am in tears

“i said i want to love like you because the way you dedicate yourself so completely is something i’ve never been able to do. i wasn't into picking apart characters before because i thought it was obsessive. they aren't real right? who cares?”

i get that, in a way. but as you said — “which leads me to the metaphor i used for your writing: wholly consuming.” — that’s how it feels to me, too, and it always has. i get the idea of thinking something isn’t important because it’s not real, but i’ve always latched onto them regardless. so i had to write, honestly. to get it out. because otherwise it would consume me instead. it sounds very dramatic, i’m aware, but it’s true — i have so many feelings surrounding these fictional pixels and stories and they have so much to offer and they take up too much space in my brain and if i do not talk about it i will Explode ™️. Or Implode ™️. so i write! because i want to. because i have to. because otherwise it will Swallow Me Whole. and i’d rather embrace it! i’ve always been an ‘obsessive’ person when it comes to interests — it’s all or nothing for me. so it’s one or the other — i can drown or i can swim, but i can’t really get out of the water of my own volition,,, and i’d rather not drown. so i’m both glad i inadvertently introduced you to that way of seeing things, and regret it, because it does hurt sometimes. but it’s worth it to me, and it seems like it is to you too, so that’s good!

ONCE AGAIN i could copy and paste this entire ask and comment on it but i fear it’ll just be me repeating your sentences and gawking at them and it would get way too long. 😭😭😭😭 so i’ll just let your ask speak for itself

“i’m being perceived and i haven't exploded (yet) (destruction is imminent) ☂️” also we can explode together actually. i’m glad u allowed urself to be perceived because. oh my god. 😭😭😭😭 this ask changed the trajectory of my life forever. half joke. destruction is not imminent you’ve got this

also, you’re definitely more than just a member of my audience now, in my opinion. if you do decide to stick around (and i hope you do), i hope we can become friends eventually too! even if you decide not to, these interactions have meant more to me than you know! so thank you, either way

[arminsleftnut]

hi!! i’m so excited to see a blog that writes for death note, it’s become a recent hyperfixation of mine and i can’t find any good fics!!! 💗💗💗💗

could you provide some nsfw content for L? any is fine really, hc’s or a full drabble if you’d like!! i’m desperate for L content lol 💗💗

YES oh my god of course 💗💗 deathnote is one of mine too (i rewatch it like once a week) n L is my major comfort character. i did a kinda cross between a drabble and headcanons for this! I hope it’s what you were looking for <333

CONTENT WARNING: smut (MDNI, 18+), female-bodied reader (gender-neutral pronouns), fingering, begging, mild pain kink, overstimulation, L being .. himself and also mildly obsessive, voyeurism (read: L is a creep misa was right), slightest bit of dubcon if you squint, masturbation, pillow humping, dom!L and yes i will die on this hill, sub!reader, L is actually a little mean in this one, dacryphilia, thigh slapping, fluff at the end if you squint, let me know if i need to add more!

i.

being physically intimate with L was something you never really considered when you first got together. you weren’t even sure sex was something that was on his radar; he had so many other things to think about, and physical pleasure seemed like something he didn’t pay any mind to.

and you were right— for the most part. it’s not something L ever stops to consider. it’s not that he’s necessarily disinterested, it’s just never been a priority. he usually just takes care of himself when the urge arises.

with you here, though, it’s different. he’s not alone anymore, and your own desires are something he assumes he needs to factor in, and as many times as you assure him that it’s completely okay if he doesn’t want to have sex, that you can take care of it yourself and it’s a nonissue, he’s still . . . curious.

he’s seen you before on the monitors; those times late at night when everyone else has gone to bed and you forget there’s cameras everywhere, that he can see everything you do. he watches you as you’re spread out on the shared bed he rarely sleeps in, slipping your fingers in and out of your little cunt, your mewls and soft whines carrying through the speakers and shooting straight to his cock. he wonders if it’s wrong to watch you like this, but even as he ponders if misa amane was correct, that he is a pervert, he still doesn’t tear his gaze away from the screen. there is the possibility you hadn’t forgotten about the cameras at all. perhaps you wanted him to see.

he doesn’t say anything, less to save you any possible embarrassment and more because he’s found that a subject is least genuine when they know they’re being observed. it’s human nature, he knows, to alter yourself beneath the lens of others, to hide, and he doesn’t want that. this is a side of you he hadn’t considered might exist— an obvious oversight, and one he aims to correct.

that was how L always was. he loves you, yes, you can say that confidently. but as quiet and soft-handed a man as he is, his love is not simple, nor is it gentle. like him, it’s invasive and relentless. it’s not uncommon for you to feel somewhat neglected, or that perhaps he forgets about you altogether, but he never does. in fact, it’s quite the opposite. you are just as much a fixation, a complex puzzle to be torn apart and examined as any case, and rarely does a minute go by in which he doesn’t think of you. it’s perhaps not as romantic as you might like, with his owlish gaze pinned on you whether through a monitor or when you’re sitting next to him, picking apart every detail, but you can’t say he doesn’t pay attention to you. sometimes, you think he pays too much.

when he finally touches you, it’s no different.

he watched for weeks before he broached the idea. the hours you spent trying to satisfy yourself, with your hand between your legs or rutting desperately against a pillow— yet you never seemed truly satisfied. it was obvious in your expression, face screwed up cutely in obvious distress, frustrated tears welling in your eyes and streaking prettily down your flushed cheeks. you could only ever take two of your own fingers, he noticed; you’d tried more a few times, seeming to find your own two small ones dissatisfactory, but you could never quite make it, leaving you in a painful limbo that always has you in a particularly sour mood the next time he speaks with you.

the more he watched, the more he realized how truly unsatisfied you were. one night, you spent thirty minutes rocking against your pillow, and despite the wetness that darkened your pretty panties, you eventually gave up, tossing the ruined pillow away from you with a small, frustrated shriek. he wondered why; and more still, why he suddenly found his own hand unsatisfying, and why he could only curve his own thoughts with ones of you on the monitor, spread out prettily.

it was horribly distracting, really. and with anything else, L had to make sense of it.

in the end, he ends up with more questions than answers.

it’s not his fault, really. it’s yours. you’re so fascinating to study, and so eager to let him learn. you’d been so utterly pliant as he pried your thighs apart, stuttering out reassurances that he didn’t have to do this, asking over and over if he was sure. he doesn’t bother to tell you that this wasn’t for you— he wouldn’t be able to think properly until he’d gotten his answers.

there’s none of the awkward hesitation you might’ve expected, no unsure fumbling of hands or knocking teeth. no, L is sure of this as he is anything else he studies, tearing it apart as he sees fit until he’s satisfied with the conclusion. you’re no different, and he’s just as relentless as he always is.

there’s a certain desperate edge to it when he touches you, like he’s trying to tear everything from you by force. he watches you squirm beneath him, mewling and pleading incoherently as the walls of your pretty cunt spasm around his fingers for what feels like the thousandth time (it would seem you can, in fact, take three), and the only thing he can think of is how many more you’ll be able to give him. surely this isn’t your breaking point? no, he knows better, that can’t possibly be it. you can take more, and he tells you so, deafened to your mindless babbling and choked sobs as you try to push him away.

it’s strange that you do that. you get so upset when he actually does pull away:

he has to pin your hands down eventually; clawing at him the way you are is only a hindrance, and it reduces his overall effectiveness significantly. fortunately, you seem to learn quickly, responding especially well to a sharp slap to your inner thigh. (he isn’t sure if it’s a carrot or a stick, given the way you clench around his fingers when he does it. regardless, it works, so he does it again).

it really only occurs to him to stop when your body seizes again, this time falling entirely limp, your eyes rolling into the back of your head. he might’ve worried, but your eyes flutter open only a few seconds later, and it’s then that he considers that you might be rather exhausted.

“are you alright?” his voice is quiet, hoarser than normal, and uncharacteristically gentle. he cocks his head at you, the puppy-like gesture such a stark contrast to the delightful hell he was inflicting on you only moments before that you can’t help but giggle tiredly.

at your assurance that you aren’t on the verge of collapse, not anymore at least, he takes time to clean you up, his touch feather-light and familiar in its softness. he lets you cling to him, winding his awkwardly long body around you in a sort of cradle, tucking your head beneath his chin.

he counts the minutes until you fall asleep, measuring your breaths against his own. as much as he enjoys tearing you apart to see what’s inside, there’s a strange satisfaction in putting you back together again.

this is my first published smut i apologize in advance.

[buckyownsmylife]

Follow you - Chris Evans smut

The one where Chris becomes your roomate and finds out he has a domesticity kink... and more

Warnings: Smut, breeding kink, domesticity kink, friends to lovers, rommates au, pandemic mention, hair-pulling kink, daddy kink, cockwarming, kind of allusion to an age gap, but can be read as reader being into teasing chris

Word count: 4.1k

A/N: Thanks to @mollygetssherlockcoffee​ for reading this over and helping me make it better! You’re the sweetest person ever!  this is for my own birthday celebration challenge! Like I explained here, I’m going to try to fill every single AU I listed with the characters I picked for the challenge, and since the deadline if May 27, these fics will be posted randomly, as I finish them. Hope you guys like it!

Chris’ P.O.V.

“C’mon, sweetheart,” I’d been trying to convince her to close her laptop for the last two hours, unfortunately without any luck. She just glanced at me before returning to her document, and I groaned as I left the living room in search of what I knew we needed.

“Close the laptop and I’ll give you a sip.” This time when she looked up, she found me holding a bottle of my most expensive whiskey, the one she’d been dying to try ever since she first got invited to my place.

It was a tense moment of evaluation while she took in my offer and her workload, her head turning from her computer to me and then back to the device again, and I found himself growing anxious because of how desperately I wanted her company that night.

“Please?” I tried to convince her, even going so far as to pout - which at least earned me a giggle. I considered it a win, especially with the way it made my chest warm up. “C’mon, we deserve it! After the week we had?”

She frowned when she thought back on the stresses we had confided in each other for the last couple of days, and I watched with glee when she slowly closed her laptop, prompting me to wave my arms around in victory. “We?” She teased, getting up to stand before me with her arms crossed in front of her body, making me laugh.

“Alright, so maybe just you.” I couldn’t really deny that my work “problems” paled in comparison to hers. “Listen, I’m only trying to help.” She narrowed her eyes at me, reaching out for the bottle and unscrewing it before taking the sip I’d promised.

“Shit, this really is good.” A smug smile took over my face as I wrapped my arms around her, walking us back to the couch before making us fall over it.

“Only the best for you, babe.” I watched her roll her eyes at the pet name, snickering at how it affected her. I knew it made her giddy and she hated it, it’s why I insisted on doing it - or so I told myself.

Something deep inside of me whispered differently, though. I tried to ignore it. She was my best friend and we were going to be living together for the foreseeable future. No one knew when this pandemic would let up.

And lord knows that nothing positive had ever come out of my investments in romantic relationships. So every rational thought in my mind was begging me not to overcomplicate this. I couldn’t stand to lose her friendship, anyway. That’s why I had invited her to spend lockdown with me - my need to know she was okay, and be able to have her around whenever I needed to vent.

She was the only one outside my family who got my anxiety well enough to help me work through it when I was feeling bad, and she had even been able to prevent me from having panic attacks more than once.

I just couldn’t imagine going through this with anyone other than her. I simply hadn’t anticipated how fucking horny this period of forced sexual privation would make me, and I never expected her to become a willing victim to my needs.

But boy, once the liquor hit and she ended up over my lap, shivering as she rode my thigh without a care in the world, was I glad that she did.

“Is this what you like?” I asked, looking up at her with my mouth hanging open, unbelieving of how fucking sexy she looked as she used my body for her pleasure. I didn’t even care that my cock was straining against my jeans, begging me to move her on top of it. As long as I could keep enjoying the show, being a part of it, I was satisfied.

“I wanna learn it,” I pressed, moving my hands to hold her ass, squeezing it the way I’d always wanted to do but never allowed myself to dream about. “I wanna learn how to please you.” She made me feel something I hadn’t felt before, in any of my past relationships. There was attraction, of course, but there was also this deep, familiar feeling that made me feel at home. It made me feel safe, and with the help of alcohol, I was desperate to explore it.

“Ugh,” she groaned, letting her head fall back, drawing my attention to her breasts, the way they bounced in front of my eyes, unfortunately still covered. My mouth watered at the sight of it, wanting nothing much than to strip her bare and wrap my lips around one of her nipples.

“Don’t say stuff like that, Evans.” The comment threw me off, making me frown as I took a hold of the hair on the back of her head and yanked her to me, devouring her lips. They were soft - so much softer than I’d ever allowed myself to imagine.

“Why not?” I panted against her mouth once I was forced to separate from her taste of whiskey to search for some oxygen. She kept moving, her eyes hazy and glossed over, and it sent a pang of lust straight down my body when I realized it wasn’t completely due to the drinks we shared. There was also desire in there.

“You want to learn?” She asked, hands bunching up my shirt as she used her hold to grind against me faster. “Then fuck me, Chris.” She molded her body to mine, engulfing my lips once more as I laid her down on the couch, excited to have her underneath me - excited to see her naked body, explore it, get to know every little thing that made her tick.

I knew it would be a moment I’d forever remember, regardless of the amount of bourbon in my blood. I just never expected it to become something I was so eager to relive over and over and over again.

It was supposed to be a one time thing. When I woke up in the morning, I was ready to go back to being roommates. We were good at that. She was a morning person, by the time I woke up every morning, she already had breakfast ready for me, and then we’d go out to the backyard to let Dodger out together.

We’d sit and talk and then I’d go for a run - she’d have done her yoga already, while I was still asleep - I’d answer some e-mails, she’d work on her laptop by my side and the silence was just as comfortable as all of our late night conversations.

She’d sneak out to the kitchen and come back with a few sandwiches for our lunch, and then the rest of the day would go by with us doing whatever mundane task we had in mind, together even if we were doing separate things, and I didn’t feel suffocated.

I didn’t even run out of things to say. By the time dinner rolled around and I followed her back to the kitchen, cleaning up the dishes while she fixed us dinner - I wasn’t allowed to cook in my own stove, mostly because she was terrified of my food but hid it under the excuse of that one time when I started a fire - then we’d eat together, watch a movie together, talk until we fell asleep - always together.

I was shocked. It’d never been this way in any of my previous relationships. In fact, I was certain it was the reason why they had never worked. I’d given up on any realistic expectation of settling down precisely because of this: I just never expected to find anyone with whom a day-to-day life wouldn’t eventually grow boring.

It’d been three months and I still loved to wake up to her coffee. We still fell asleep every night side by side, too tired to move into different beds because we had laughed our asses off after skyping Scott.

And now that sex came into play in our relationship? I just knew there was no way I’d ever go back to being nothing but friends - or living in a place where she wasn’t the first person I saw when I woke up.

It sucked that it took a pandemic and a night of alcohol to make me realize that, but damn, was I grateful that I decided to open a bottle of whiskey that evening.

I kept waiting for the catch, the moment it would all go to shit, but it never came. Our lives resumed to how they used to be, only now I had this ongoing inner battle to not just bend her over the nearest piece of furniture when we were busy, and the ability to do exactly that whenever there was nothing else to do.

And for a while it was bliss. There wasn’t a nagging voice inside my head questioning this arrangement because it was theoretically perfect. I had a best friend, a roommate and a fuck buddy, all wrapped into one single person that I adored.

Life couldn’t possibly get better - until I realized that I wanted more. Talks of lockdown being over started and she had plans of going back to her place, of course, but I couldn’t stand the thought of being away from her.

I wanted to see my family too, but I wanted to take her with me. Introduce her to my mom, see her get along with my sisters. Witness how she’d be with my nephews and nieces - I knew how much she loved kids. And that’s when it hit me.

I’d given my heart to her. Somewhere between the morning coffees and afternoon runs, the nights where I’d rant about all of my silly problems and she actually listened to them - really listened, never making me feel bad about what could only be described as rich people problems.

All the innocent little gestures, and the not so innocent ones - when I discovered she was exactly the nasty slut I’d always dreamed of, the way she would randomly drop to her knees and suck me off, even while I was on the phone. Most times she didn’t even let me repay the favor. She just genuinely liked to blow me.

She also liked to play with me randomly, like when we were watching a movie and she mindlessly reached for my crotch, rubbing me until I got hard. It almost always ended in sex, and I just loved it.

I loved it, and I loved her, and the idea of her ever sharing this idyllic lifestyle with anyone else made me irrationally jealous.

And that’s how I knew it. I didn’t want to mess it up. But how could I not fuck this up?

Xxx

“Chris…” Her sweet voice called out to me, reaching my ears while I was hiding in my office, trying to get my thoughts in order so I wouldn’t just randomly blurt out what I was feeling for my best friend to my best friend.

To her credit, she didn’t try to force me to keep her company - but that only made me fall even deeper for her, leaving me a complete and utter mess while she went about her day as if nothing was wrong in the world.

“Yes?” I looked up to see her by the threshold, clearly reticent about invading my privacy. It made me smile, thinking back on all of the times my exes hadn’t been as understanding, even after I let them clearly know what I was needing.

“I made cupcakes, do you want me to bring you one?” The thought of her in the kitchen, baking a sweet treat just for me had my cock twitching in my pants. Biting my lips, I pushed away from my desk to finally get up and stretch my legs, taking advantage of the monitor to hide my hard-on.

“No, I’ll come eat them downstairs with you.” She smiled before leaving, and I soon trailed after her, walking into the kitchen to find the most delicious-looking little treats, just waiting to be devoured.

Much like her, I supposed.

I was reaching for one of them, already licking my lips in anticipation when something caught my eye, prompting me to raise my gaze and look at her again, but really look at her this time.

She was wearing an apron.

There was nothing inherently sexual about the damn thing, but the way she looked with it, going about her business in my kitchen like she owned the place… It just felt right, seeing her there.

And suddenly I couldn’t hold back anymore.

“Y/N…” I started, leaving the cupcake back on the counter and brushing off the crumbs as I circled the kitchen island to go stand in front of her. She hummed before turning to meet me, smiling slightly to signal that she was listening to what I had to say.

But I didn’t know how to say it. So we just stood there, staring at each other until eventually her smile became a frown. “Chris, what’s going on?” I still couldn’t speak. Much to my absolute surprise though, she just sighed, wiping her hands on the apron while shaking her head, a knowing smile on her face.

“You’re stressed, aren’t you? You’ve been working so much, that’s why I thought the cupcakes would be a good idea,” she explained nodding towards the tray where her sweet treats laid. “They’re a reward and a break all wrapped in one delicious cake.”

The comment was like a punch to the stomach - or a scalding wave of desire rushing through my body, straight to my groin. The idea of her thinking about my needs and catering (quite literally) to them just did something to me, and I didn’t know how to explain it - I don’t think I understood it myself.

“But since they didn’t work…” she continued, blissfully unaware of the conundrum she had put me into. “I know something else that will definitely work.” And just like that, the woman dropped to her knees in front of me, reaching for my sweatpants before I could find a way to close the mouth that was hanging open.

“I guess I’ll grab a sweet treat for myself.” She looked so devious, small hand encircling my already pathetically engorged member, that all I could do was whisper an, “Oh, shit,” when she immediately wrapped her lips around it,  starting to suck me off without any preamble.

My fingers were white as I held onto the counter behind me to keep myself up. She looked so good, staring up at me with her lips wrapped around my dick, I felt like I was about to blow already.

Why did she have to be such a fucking tease?

“Oh, God,” I moaned when she managed to engulf the entirety of my member inside her throat, the choking noises getting to my head. My hand instinctively laced with her hair, first to hold her lips close to my navel, then to pry her completely off of my member.

“What’s wrong?” She questioned once she was able to speak, surprise written all over her features while I was still staring down at her slightly teary face and trying to find my voice.

“I-I have a problem.” There. I said it. I had finally made some progress in my goal to let her know what was going through my head. Only instead of curiosity, what I got was a confused expression from the woman still holding my dick, her eyes darting from my own to the member throbbing between her fingers.

“No, you don’t!” It would have been funny if I wasn’t so fucking frustrated. Yanking her by the hair, I complained, “Not that kind of problem!” pulling her to the living room so I could throw her on the couch, trying to ignore her moans of pleasure in the process.

I’d figured out pretty early on that she had a pretty serious hair-pulling kink, and if my plans of sitting down and having a level-headed conversation were ever in motion, they surely went out of the window the second she pulled my body down to cover hers and adjusted my cock so it would easily fill her.

“Son of a…” I groaned, letting my head fall down against her chest as the little vixen gleefully giggled underneath me, legs wrapped around my torso as she tried to thrust up and tempt me to move.

“Just wait a second,” I managed to reason, but she just shook her head.

“Fuck away your problem, Chris. Use me. I want you to.” Motherfucker. I really couldn’t catch a break with her. Just as she started to make me move again, my hand instinctively wrapped around her neck, lightly squeezing it just enough to get her to shut up.

“I wanna start a family with you,” I finally spilled, looking deep into her eyes as I tried to ignore that I was still balls deep inside of her. Her eyes widened, and now her mouth was the one hanging open.

I couldn’t really relish in it because she looked absolutely delicious and she felt stupidly heavenly to my throbbing dick.

A few seconds went by without as much of a reaction from her and I was about to pull out - despite still being achingly hard - but her legs held me tighter, stopping my plans of leaving her tight haven.

“You know…” She started to speak, a little out of breath, catching my attention as I finally gathered the courage to look her in the eye again. “When I first met you, I thought you were the epitome of a fuckboy.”

The unexpected sentence had me snorting, and then I just couldn’t stop laughing. Finally pulling away from her, she fixed her hair when she sat up and I did the same, shaking my head slightly as I rubbed my eyes.

Our own relative nakedness - well… mine, she was wearing her usual dress with no underwear under the damn apron - didn’t affect anything when I pondered over her words, until I decided to break the silence.

“I mean… I think I was?” She chewed on her bottom lip as she took in my response, analyzing it, weighing its validity in that gorgeous head of hers. I was nervous, but she hadn’t blew me off yet. And quite honestly? I’d do anything for that little hope that was growing inside of me.

“What changed?” Was her question, so unexpected I couldn’t help but question, “Huh?”

“What made you change?” It wasn’t an unwelcome inquiry, especially when the response became clear to me, lighting up my brain and warming my chest, spreading all over my body until I had no choice but to voice it.

“I realized I could have a future with you.” My smile was vulnerable but honest, and in her eyes, I could see that she knew that. When she threw one leg over my lap, straddling my hips, I allowed myself to breathe deeply again, leaning on the soft cushion while taking a hold of her ass.

“So, how are we gonna do this?” She non-nonchalantly asked, slowly rubbing herself against my still half-hard member. I groaned when I realized the implication of her words, knowing that the meaning paired with the feeling of her wet lips dragging along my cock would get it back up in no time at all. “You wanna do me right now?”

The brashness of the question made my eyes light up, as weird as it may sound. In that moment, it became clear just how perfect for me she really was, giving me what I needed exactly in the way I didn’t know how to ask for it.

“See? This is why I’m in love with you.” She rolled her eyes at that, making me laugh. I’d anticipated the gesture, I knew it’d take her longer to say it, but it was alright. The fact that she was willing me to give me a child was more than enough proof of her feelings for me, if her entire behavior ever since she moved in wasn’t already.

“Shut up and fuck me, Evans.” Throwing her back against the couch, she yelped in surprise when I took off my shirt and slapped the inside of her thigh, assuming my usual position of hovering over her smaller frame.

“Spread your fucking legs, darling. I’m gonna fuck you real good.” The way she bit her lip as I slowly penetrated her again showed me just how excited the prospect got her, and as I started to make good on my promise, her moans told me just as much.

“Holy fuck,” she commented as I pounded her ruthlessly, weeks of frustration and the rush of anticipation getting the best of me, and I was glad for the feeling of her nails biting into my skin because otherwise, I’d probably run over the edge of not even caring about her own pleasure as I chased mine.

“You gonna cum inside of me, honey? Make me a mom? Finally fulfill your dream of becoming a daddy?” Her words detracted me from my task of sucking bruises on the skin that was now mine to bruise, mine. I threw my head back, yelling a, “fuck yes,” as my hips sped up, desperate to fill her up, but I was determined to get her to cum before me.

“Say it,” she ordered, small hand circling my throat as best as she could, a throwback to what I’d done only moments prior. It wasn’t enough to choke me, but it did catch my attention. “I wanna hear you say it.”

Tears escaped the corners of my eyes as I blinked, the intensity of the moment overwhelming in the best of ways. “God, you are such a fucking tease…” She chuckled underneath me, giving my throat a squeeze before she raised up on her elbows to kiss my jaw.

“Better get used to it… daddy.” And just like that, I realized that I had yet another kink I hadn’t known about before her. Or maybe it was just her, and I was obsessed with the damn woman, painfully turned on by every little thing that she did.

“I’m gonna cum deep inside your little pussy, sweetheart,” I finally gathered myself enough to do as she asked me to. “You’re gonna belong to me forever now. Give me kids, make me happy. How do you like that?”

The mischievous grin she gave me told me everything. “I love it.” I knew this was her way of saying what she couldn’t yet voice, and I’d take it. I’d take anything she gave me, any chance I got to love this wonderful woman.

We came together, both riding our highs in deep ecstasy. I moaned when I felt myself empty all of my seed inside of her, incredibly excited about the prospect of starting our future together right then.

“You’re so fucking beautiful.” I cradled her face in my hands as I struggled to catch my breath, but she turned it to the side and pressed a kiss to my palm and I was breathless all over again. It was such a simple action, why did it get to me so much?

“You’re not too bad yourself, Chris.” I didn’t want to part with her warmth, so I just adjusted us on the sofa in a way that kept me inside of her, sighing contently as I realized I’d never have to sleep away from her again.

“I’m gonna stay right here all night.” I adjusted myself so I was resting my face on her boobs, perfectly happy to do just so, but by the tone of her voice, I knew she had a teasing smile when she called me an, “Old man.”

“And here I was, thinking you’d be able to go again.” Warmth filled my chest at the realization of just how badly she wanted me - just as much as I wanted her too. I was so damn ecstatic. Not even her pokes at my age would be able to affect me.

“Oh, darling… better get ready,” I warned as I adjusted myself to hover over her again, taking notice of the excited glint in her eyes, the way she bit her lip as she stared back at me. “I’m never gonna get enough of you.”

The next morning, I added a new kink to the list of random bits of information that were driving me slowly insane as I felt the overwhelming need to bend the woman that I now got to call ‘mine’ over the nearest piece of furniture and rail her until I had cummed deep inside her pussy: seeing her in my shirt while cooking breakfast.

Yeah, I was going to live a happy life by her side.

[absolutebl]

This Week In BL - The Dog Days of BL

June 2022 Wk 4

As @heretherebedork puts it, “Messy BL summer is a GO.” 

Being a highly subjective assessment of one tiny corner of the interwebs. Organized by which ones (in each category) I’m enjoying the most.

Ongoing Series - Thai

Unforgotten Nights (Weds on GaGa) Ep 1 - why yes I do like it better than KP, expectations are a bitch, aren’t they? TRASH WATCH REBORN! 

KinnPorsche (Sat iQIYI) Ep 12 - This ep featuring dum arguments, bad pottery and questionable hair. Why is Chay suddenly in an awful wig? Did he have ror dor? VegasPete are saving this show but still a dead hedgehog does not a cactus make. (Well THERE’S a sentence.) 

Sky in Your Heart (Fri YouTube) Ep 4 - It’s cute I guess.

Love Mechanics (Sat WeTV) Ep 1 - oh it’s great, also very very messy, but in my part of the world you need a sub to watch it and I am just not going to. I love YinWar, but not enough. 

Check Out (Sat IQIYI) Ep 3 - Getting back together with your ex is a bitch especially when she is? I guess we know why Daonuea was ghosted. This is definitely a messy cheating story, although actually nothing happened. 

My Secret Love (Sat YouTube Sat) Ep 5 - no ep this week, resumes next week 

Triage (Mon AISplay) Ep 9 - I’m still waiting on this ep. 

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

Old Fashion Cupcake (Japan Mon Viki) Ep 3 - OMG this show is wonderful, glorious, life affirming, charming. Just leaves me with the biggest grin on my face. Frankly it’s the only BL I am genuinely enjoying right now. 

To My Star 2 (Korea Viki) Ep 5-6 - oh it is extremely painful and I just can’t. Pass me another tissue and more ttopokki. (I may be disassociating with BL because of this show.)  

Senpai, Danjite Koidewa! AKA Senpai, This Can’t be Love! (Japan Fri Viki) Ep 2 - I don’t love this one, but I love the flipped POVs. It’s taking me a while to warm to Kaneda, but I finally found him cute when I realized how painfully subby he is. Also a TOTAL praise slut. I’m not there yet but I think I’m getting there. No ep next week, resumes week after. 

Plus & Minus (Taiwan Viki *rec* & GaGa Fri) Ep 12fin - Why the baseball field? That bit I don’t get. This is probably the most cheek-kissy couple ever – kings of the trope! Both couples are cute and kiss pretty in this one. All in all, I’m satisfied. It’s not groundbreaking, I liked all the cameos. I don’t know why Vicky says that there are 15 episodes on this one. Obviously this is the end. In conclusion, solid sweet unassuming little show. Full review here. 8/10 RECOMMENDED 

Want to See You (Vietnam YT) Ep 3-4 - The faen fatale character is just so asinine in this one. The brother is truly adorable though.

Love in Spring (Korea grey) Ep 9-10 . . .   

Frankly, I picked up Alchemy of Souls which is the Kdrama take on a wuxia dumpster fire I have been waiting for. It’s het, but I do not care because it’s like CW level craptostic and apparently that was all I wanted in life. What I’m saying is: I have a limited capacity for flowing robes, scenery chewing villains, wooden female leads, and slightly terrible fight sequences. So I am less enamored of Love in Spring, and I already wasn’t much enamored of it. I’m not saying I’m DNFing, just that my judgement is off. 

Gossip

W-Story, the Korean production house behind Where Your Eyes Linger, Sherry Blossoms, You Make Me Dance, and Mr. Heart is doing a new project: Jun and Jun. No further info.

In Case You Missed It

Is 2022 Thailand’s year of the 2 Moons resurgence? KimCop had multiple dramas, Bas did Gen Y 2 and cameos, TaeTee are in Triage, Earth is back (My Secret Love), Joong is back (Star in My Heart), and my one true love Pavel is finally returning to me (Coffee Melody - July 18th on Viki). Even Domw was rumored to have a show. Pretty much we are getting a BL from every case member who could give us one. Even Green was in Tuxedo. 

Taiwanese Actor Wayne Song (HS:MODC) is officially the king of cameos: 

Next Week Looks Like This:

Even Sun starring BounPrem premieres on June 29th on iQIYI. Depicts the story of a creditor (Prem) tasked with collecting a debt (from Boun) and looks like a beach tourism promo thingy. (Trailer) 

(last week) 

[wondereads]

June Reading Wrap-Up

Forced Bonds by J. Bree (9/10)

I really enjoyed this book; I think it's my favorite of the series so far for two major reasons. First, there's a lot more worldbuilding done in this book than all the others, including what's going on with Oli's Bond. Second, there's a rather large twist at the end, taking a direction I wasn't expecting from this kind of story. I have my doubts that it will stick, but for now I can appreciate a fantasy romance author making an unconventional choice.

The Once and Future King by T. H. White (8/10)

This was a fun read, much more fun than I was expecting from a fantasy classic. There are quite a few genuinely humorous parts, and it was more lighthearted than I thought it would be. I loved how Arthur, Lancelot, and Guenever were portrayed; it was a surprisingly nuanced take on their story that afforded all three of them the respect they deserve. Unfortunately, it is very obvious at times that White is a white man from England, even if he does have good points for the most part.

The Dark Secret by Tui T. Sutherland (8/10)

This book marks a major turning point in this series; I remember being blown away when I first read this as a kid. There's also a lot of great character development for Starflight. Part of what makes that development possible is his separation from his friends, keeping him from relying on them too heavily, so I get why the other four aren't there, but I definitely missed them.

Toward an Aesthetic of Reception by Hans Robert Jauss (5/10)

This was a highly useful piece of literary theory, but it is also incredibly opaque and difficult to read. It requires a lot of time and knowledge of other popular theories in the discipline, so even though I got a lot of important information, I only understood about 40% of what I read.

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus (4/10)

It's actually shocking to me that this is the book that took the historical fiction scene by storm. This book is the most watered-down, milktoast form of white feminism, led by a main character who is absolutely perfect and always right, hence never experiencing any character development. All of the characters are stagnant figurines, and the scientific aspects are annoying, often inaccurate, and obviously written by someone trying desperately to appear smarter than they are.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain (5/10)

Compared to White's book, the disdain this novel holds for Arthurian legend and middle age history is obvious. This book follows the story of a man singlehandedly introducing things like democracy, trains, and telephones to Arthur's England, denouncing their ways of monarchy, nobility, and superstition while taking advantage of those very systems to become one of the most powerful people in the nation. While there were certain funny parts to this novel, more often than not it was rather dry and hypocritical.

Haikyuu!! Vol. 34-42 by Haruichi Furudate (8/10, 9/10, 9/10, 8/10, 9/10, 7/10, 8/10, 10/10, 10/10)

It's difficult for me to talk about these volumes individually since they were initially published as individual chapters and then grouped up later for printed volumes. The story tends to blur together in my head, but overall I can firmly say that Furudate has written an amazing story. The care and dedication he gives to his characters is wonderful, be they side or main, and he rounds off so many arcs in a satisfying way. Volumes 41 and 42 in particular stood out to me because I was physically sobbing the whole time reading them. It's just hit after hit with those two, and I had to put them down multiple times because I was crying so hard I couldn't breathe. Fabulous work.

The Brightest Night by Tui T. Sutherland (9/10)

The final installment in the first arc of this series, I think it does a very good job rounding out the story. Sutherland does a great job of giving the reader a satisfying ending without violating any of the pre-established rules, of which there are a lot. There are a few things that come into play that I wish had been foreshadowed sooner in the series, but this is a middle grade series, so it's reasonable to not have that extra level.

Wild Seed by Octavia E. Butler (8/10)

This is my first Butler novel, and it was a good introduction. Overall, this book was really quite good; it's a mostly self-contained story about two people, rarely expanding out from their relationships, but it still manages to comment on a variety of larger world issues, often using these two characters as a mirror. The only reason this isn't at a full 10 is because, even though I'm aware this is part of a series, I was dissatisfied with the ending, since it didn't feel as if much had changed.

Better Than the Movies by Lynn Painter (8/10)

This book does what it says on the tin. It's a very cute romcom. It's entirely predictable, but it fulfills every requirement and ticks every box, so there's not really more you can ask for. The main couple has great chemistry, and despite not having a huge overlap in interests, their personalities mesh well. The protagonist, Liz, is a little goofy and quirky, things that could easily become annoying, but the reason behind it and her wholehearted enthusiasm prevent that. However, something I found frustrating was Liz's best friend, who is shown to be quite judgmental about Liz's ideals and yet gets mad at her when Liz then conceals things from her in an attempt to not be judged. I didn't like the friend at all, and I couldn't see why they were friends in the first place.

Moon Rising by Tui T. Sutherland (9/10)

I think this is my favorite of Wings of Fire so far; I just love a mind-reading protagonist. With Moon's various powers, she could easily become overpowered, but her inexperience and social ineptitude keep her grounded. The new main cast is fun and plenty distinct from the original five dragonets, and Darkstalker intrigues me so much!

Boys With Sharp Teeth by Jenni Howell (9/10)

This is actually a book I read for work, so I probably can't share much. Instead, I will just say that this was compared to The Raven Boys, one of my favorite books. While this take a more horror/thriller approach than magical realism, it definitely deserves that comparison.

The Fellowship of the Ring by J. R. R. Tolkien (9/10)

I am finally reading this classic fantasy series, and I'm loving it. It is a little slow, often meandering around the plot, despite the urgency of their mission, but I hardly even mind since Tolkien dedicates so much time to the worldbuilding. Hearing about the history of Middle Earth and the various peoples that inhabit it is riveting to me! Also, I appreciate how much emphasis is put on how doing the right thing is often difficult and takes far more effort than sitting by or enacting evil.

Bonus! July TBR

The Two Towers by J. R. R. Tolkien

The Return of the King by J. R. R. Tolkien

The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro

Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse

The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson

Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado

The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories by Angela Carter

The Changeling by Victor Lavalle

A Declaration of the Rights of Magicians by H. G. Parry

Shaman's Crossing by Robin Hobb

The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez

Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo

The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo

Twelfth Knight by Alexene Farol Follmuth

The Husky and His White Cat Shizun Vol. 1 and 2 by Rou Bao Bu Chi Rou

[unnecessary-dinosaurs]

SEASON FIVE SPOILERS

final full thoughts on s5

i went into this season excited, but not expectant of the quality of seasons 1-3. i knew it was gonna be better than s4 but i wasn’t sure by how much. that being said i was completely blown away by this season. it was everything i could’ve wanted from a final season and more.

this shows biggest strength has always been its characters. and this season is an exemplar of that. every character is so well written this season, especially kenji. kenji’s arc through this season just proves why he’s one of my favorites. he can be obnoxious and entitled, but even when he has everything he’s ever wanted, he chooses the camp fam. i love that he also didn’t come to his senses on his own. he needed help from mae, bumpy, ben, like a real person would.

i loved the dynamics between the nublar six this time around. wether it was focusing on established relationships like brooklynn and darius, or new ones like ben and yaz, it always felt very genuine and there was a very real sense of love present.

obviously the most important thing that happened this season was YASAMMY CANON. literally this blew my mind. the best relationship in the show finally payed off after five seasons in the most satisfying way possible. the kiss was amazing and i’m really glad we got to see them just being girlfriends for a bit. a lot of endgame ships just build up for the whole show and then end with them becoming canon. but i loved that we got to see them dating for a little bit.

also reintroducing brand, dave, and roxie was a great choice and their dynamic added so much to this season. i literally missed them so much.

i’m not going to analyze each specific character because i’m lazy but every character had their time to shine. sammy’s scene with mr kon at the end, ben being yaz’s wingman, ben freeing bumpy, brooklynn and darius’ scene, kenji and mae looking out for each other. everyone was great.

now i’m gonna talk about the plot. at first i was worried about the dinosaurs being controlled thing, and it’s honestly still not my favorite, but the action and emotion behind said action made everything work. i loved the two separate plots. the camp fam trying to stop mr kon from mantah corp island, and kenji and his dad on nublar.

i never would have guessed that we would go back to nublar, or that we would spend so much time there, but i absolutely loved it. it brought back so many memories from earlier seasons and tied together some loose ends, like the drone and distress beacon.

the final stand between the watering hole dinos and mantah dino’s was seriously so cool. i know it was ridiculous but that’s kind of why i loved it. it was like completely nonsensical dinosaur battle royale and it was a blast to watch. the spino got some cool moments and the eaties got their happy ending. some awesome action and an all around great climax.

one of the best parts of season 5 was daniel kon as the villain. so easy to hate. he was great not only for the plot but he was more involved with the characters than any other villain. i don’t think it’ll be too controversial for me to say he’s the best villain in the jurassic franchise.

and my final compliment to this season is that it was very true to itself, despite backlash to season 4. i’m really glad they didn’t shy away from any of the concepts introduced in s4 that were disliked. it would’ve felt out of place to just immediately drop brookenji, the brads, and kash. but instead s5 found a way to make them more believable/likeable, or ease them out. like how kash was killed off pretty early, but in a believable way that still developed his character.

anyways this season was a blast and just such a beautiful end. these characters have been begging for resolution since day one, and finally giving it to them was immensely gratifying. this show will always have a special place in my heart. i’ve been obsessed with it for two years, and so i’m understandably very nervous to fall out of love with it, but i’m happy it ended so well.

CampFam4Life!

[kindestegg]

Deltarune Theory: Ralsei is a guide for the script

It feels crazy that Deltarune Chapter 2 has only been out for like, what, two weeks? As of the time I’m writing this, and yet, there has already been so much secret hunting and speculation over this. Not even the full game, and people already go crazy over it. Naturally, I am part of this craze. In fact I was one of the people that played it as soon as it dropped.

And, I thought it was only me, but, at least for a little while, Ralsei’s behavior struck me as… odd. Not outwardly malicious, but just… odd. Particularly the first bit of the game, it was just so… happy and convenient? And Ralsei was at the center of it all, orchestrating it, making sure everything happened accordingly.

Eventually, that initial feeling of distrust went away, but… not quite. And it seems a lot of people began to feel the same way, pointing out bits about Ralsei that are just… out of place. Things that didn’t seem to stand out in the first chapter, are now popping out about him.

Questions include:

How does he know about what’s outside the Dark World, about the school?

How does he know about the game mechanics and call them out by names?

Why is he so interested in keeping the balance between only Kris acting and him and Susie doing magic?

Why does he seem so eager to dismiss what happened with Spamton NEO?

Why doesn’t he turn into stone or even get weak at any point during the time he spends in Cyber World?

Are the parts of his name and design connecting to the Dreemurr’s intentional, and if so, what does that mean for his relation to Kris?

How and why does he take player control away to look at what Susie is doing? Why must he wait until Kris is willing to do it? What does he tell them when he succeeds in this?

Now, I don’t intend to pose here “a supreme theory to rule them all”, I’m just a guy having fun and I’ve seen people voice particularly similar ideas to this one I’ve had, so I want to at least try to answer these questions through a relatively simple idea that would, almost entirely, immediately answer ALMOST all the doubts.

First, let’s start with some steps to build up this idea. For one, we know for a fact that Ralsei holds knowledge over game mechanics and may even break the fourth wall at times.

But we also know that Ralsei’s design resembles a lot of characters from Undertale we know and were fond of. For one, he can be likened to Toriel in the sense that he is the one to give you the first tutorial of the game and his clothes resemble her original outfit as well. Another connection, much more common, that people have made is that he is like Asriel, no doubt due to his name being an anagram, but also due to the fact he is also a cute young goat.

I would like to do a complete turn around here though, and say I do not think any of this points to Ralsei being related to Kris in the familial sense, for more than one reason, but my main one being that I don’t think Toby would be as frankly disgusting as to imply such a thing when there is so so much teasing in the direction of Ralsei possibly having a crush on Kris. I mean… really, Toby?

You know, I’m not too sure this would be the smartest idea, Mr. Fox, but alright.

However, I do think all these hints in his design and name have a purpose. And it has to do with how us, the fandom, see these two characters. For one, they are very beloved characters, and Toriel is one that we associate with her tutorials and guidance, whereas Asriel is one that people have yearned to see more in action. They are back, in a sense, but not present in our adventures so far.

What I’m getting at is that Ralsei is specifically designed to be the darling of the fandom. He is made to be loved, to be trusted, to cause feelings in us that make us want to protect him and accept his advice. This, in a way, also affects the in-universe characters who see him, as Susie put it: “as a big portable teddy bear��, whose job is “giving hugs”.

And I don’t just mean this in a character design way, like “oh wow Toby was so smart to make a perfectly marketable boy!” No. I think Ralsei exists as a meta element, his form being a direct manifestation of what we want to see.

He looks like that because he wants us to see him and lower our guard and expect his guidance. Remember how his form was shadowy and vague throughout all of chapter 1 until the very end of it and how he poofs into nothing but a pile of clothes in both chapters so far, no matter what form he’s in? What if he’s a shapeshifter? What if Ralsei isn’t even his real name? That certainly would explain why he says he doesn’t know what being Ralsei-like is like.

Ralsei? Ralsei? Oh God he’s gone.

Now, do I think he’s lowering our guard in the sense of leaving us vulnerable for an attack? Not exactly. I think it's so we learn to accept him…

Accept that he is a GUIDE for the game’s script. His entire existence hinges on guiding the main characters, specially Kris, throughout the story, and making sure the whole story, all seven chapters, play out exactly as planned.

You see, Ralsei isn’t evil. His goal is pretty simple, actually: guide us, the player, throughout the game, making us feel as safe and happy and secure. In that sense, of course he pushes so hard towards the pacifist route. After all, that’s the one that’s closer to a completionist route, as the sparing + recruiting mechanic adds more characters to your town, and therefore more content. He wants you to see all this content and get the most enjoyment out of it. His code urges him to bring you the best experience possible.

This would also answer why he does that thing with taking our control away from Kris and to watch Susie’s shenanigans. Because it’s satisfying to us. Notice how stressed out and pushy he gets in the alternate route when Susie comes out of Noelle’s room without being able to let us see what happened. He knows he messed up, something went wrong. He was supposed to let us see, so that we wouldn’t be bored, because God forbid the players be bored.

Just imagine this going through his head.

He also seems to genuinely care about Kris and Susie, and with good reason, as he knows these are the protagonists, and he is supposed to care for their well being too and ensure they reach their goal. I do think, however, there is a good amount of being genuine in his care, as he has no reason to react so boldly sometimes to either of them, showing outrage or affection in pretty telling ways. He isn’t heartless despite carrying out this job.

However it is also worth noting, for all his care, he cannot do the one thing that Kris would desire the most: free them from our grasp. And that is his ultimate failure towards them, and may end up creating conflict later on in the game.

From, here, there are two possible pathways:

Ralsei does not know about the dilemma Kris is going through, and believes Kris is entirely oblivious and passive towards being in a video game. He may even end up being the final boss to fight, as he desperately tries to keep everything on rails while Kris very much does not care for any of that.

Ralsei is entirely aware of what’s going on with Kris, after all, everything in a game’s design is planned, even the cutscenes, therefore even Kris’ struggles. Ralsei knows of the fate that lies ahead, that Kris will eventually be free, how it all ends. But to get there… is still a road ahead.

I think Ralsei’s affection towards Kris will definitely be explored in the later chapters. Not just because of the teasing we’ve been getting, but, if Ralsei really is a guide of the game’s code and script, what would that mean for him to get so attached towards the character the player is controlling?

Ralsei will have to make a choice. He will either recognize Kris is suffering and cannot wait any longer, or be faced with possibly having to fight them himself. This is why those two pathways matter as well. If he doesn’t know, his choice will come later and it will be an unpleasant surprise for him to find out the game universe is breaking apart around him with the self awareness of certain characters. If he does know, however, his choice is NOW, and waiting for the inevitable will be torture.

Just how long until he breaks? Or will he keep the facade until the very last chapter?

Like I said, I don’t intend this theory to be the biggest, most revealing and coherent theory. But… It could add a very interesting layer to Ralsei’s character, as well as answer many questions posed beforehand. He knows the school layout and game controls because he is part of the code. He can get to the other Dark World’s easily and remain unharmed because the game demands him to be. He looks like this so that we love him. He wants to give us the most fulfilling Castle Town so that we will love the game. He doesn’t protest even when Kris does things like try to give him the thorn ring, because to him, everything will be okay anyway. Everything he is, is for us. He isn’t evil or malicious per se, he just opposes Kris’ biggest need.

But he may have gotten himself attached. And that may be a clue to sparing him if he does become a final boss.

But! Tell me what you thought of this theory! Do you think it’s way too weird and farfetched, or do you think it’s possible that it could happen? Or maybe you agree with some stuff but not with other stuff? Go ahead and tell me!

[soulmate-game]

New fic *test*

New Bio!dad Bruce story? I’m testing out this first chapter, and if I like where it’s going I might add it to my growing pile of WIPs. If I have inspiration, I might as well use it. Because of life events stressing me the hell out, I’m throwing any writing plans out the window and I’m purely gonna write to destress right now. Whether that means updating THG or not, or continuing Maribat March, we’ll just have to see how this all pans out. Things are subject to day-to-day change.

I got inspiration from this from rereading my day 1 story for Bio!dad Bruce Wayne month from last year. I’m just gonna change a few things.

—*—*—*—*—*

For once, an unfamiliar face attracted the attention of everyone who caught even a glimpse of them. It wasn’t even because of the person themselves at first, but their dress. The skirt like the most fantastical of storybook ball gowns, fluffy layers of satin over a luxurious petticoat, with a stunning pink floral pattern whose busy appearance was tastefully offset by a shorter, sheer layer of leaf green tulle artistically weaved and somehow sculpted over the floral in order to tame it. The effect turned what should be a grandmotherly pattern into something softer, sophisticated and youthful and yet also reminiscent of fairytale princesses. Over top the short layer of green tulle was an even shorter later of white tulle, almost invisible except for the elegant embroidery of crystal-white vines that twined all over it, connecting the green below it to the bottom-most floral pattern and oddly adding a layer of childishness instead of maturity. At the waist of the dress was a dark plum pink satin ribbon, to separate the elaborate ballgown skirt from the bodice. Attached to the simple ribbon was a large brooch of fabric flowers, with a single plastic ladybug in the center.

The bodice of the dress came up into a cheongsam neckline, but was sleeveless. It was a simple design, of half green and half dark pink, with a white border separating the two. The white border had expertly done embroideries in a soft silver thread that would only be visible close up, the images the thread made being that of fairies and ladybugs dancing around one another.

It was, all in all, a stunning display that made the small eurasian woman wearing them look like absolute royalty. Perhaps a long lost fairy princess. Her black-blue hair was even done up in elaborate looping braids and a braided bun, with silver and green pins that further completed the regal ensemble. And yes, while the expertly done dress was what initially captivated her current audience, it was not what kept them from leaving her alone. That was all her personality, bubbly and bright as her blinding smile. It was a sunny disposition that very few people present had any exposure to at all, and it drew them like a sunflower to the daylight. They could not help but flock closer, or even just stand back and keep themselves turned to her presence. Already she had been at the gala for two hours, but there was no issue. She just kept proving her generosity, admitting she had donated both a dress and a suit of her own making to the charity auction that would begin soon, one of the main attractions of the gala. She skillfully charmed the more snooty of the attendants, and artfully twisted her words so that they felt compelled to donate more money that they truly had no use for. Later, they would remember their donation and wonder what compelled it, but come up with no satisfying answer.

And yet she was entirely unaware of her more silent audience, who stood back and observed. Truth be told, every one of them was glad to not be the center of that attention for a change, to have room to breathe for so long at an event where usually that commodity was so scarce that it demanded a fierce competition for. Compared to her garden of color, they were all shadows in shades of blacks and blues and whites, with a touch of red here and there that was entirely too thematic for their home city. The one who sported a royal blue suit tilted his head at the scene they were all calmly witnessing, his bright azure eyes glittering.

“She’s like magic,” he mused, clearly enchanted despite having not said a single word to the woman. “Perfect socialite. She’s kind, generous, she made that dress and the ones she donated to the auction herself so she’s obviously got an intimidating amount of skill for her age. She even tricks those old fuddy-duddies into spending money. It’s like a dream come true!”

“I don't trust it,” the one to his right said, a man just a few inches shorter in a classic black suit with a red dress shirt underneath. He absently swept his bangs away from his face as he narrowed his eyes at the woman. “It seems too perfect. She doesn’t have any identifiable character flaw, except maybe being a little clumsy and too energetic. She does babble a little… but nothing that actually suggests any depth besides her just being— good. That’s impossible, and I don’t trust it.”

“Tt. I agree with Drake for once. She seems entirely too comfortable with this setting, despite her blushes and rambles,” the one who spoke this like was taller, clearly a teen in the middle of his growth spurt. He, too, wore a plain black suit but his had subtle charcoal embroidery and he wore an emerald-green dress shirt under it that made his matching eyes gleam dangerously. “It seems almost playacted. Expertly so, but nonetheless not entirely genuine.”

“Wow, not many pick up on that. I’m gonna give your observations a solid eight out of ten. They’re all perfectly sound, but not quite complete,” a new voice made all of the silent group stiffen— somehow they had been snuck up on. The newcomer smirked at them as if having fully expected their reaction but still being pleased at being able to evoke it. This was yet another stunner; far too much color in her outfit to be a Gotham native, and far too much skill in the construction for it to signify anything less than extreme influence. She had bright golden-blond hair that was coiled into a low bun, with her bangs artfully curled and arranged to display her crystal blue eyes.

In contrast to the garden-themed dress of the Eurasian woman who had garnered their attention at first, this newcomer was wearing a pantsuit. It was all in a dark honey-gold, in a stiff fabric with construction that made it lay entirely in perfect, straight lines and hug her form in the right places. Black embroidery decorated the long, flared sleeves and pant legs and dripped around the square neckline like a faux necklace. A cape made out of the same material as the rest of the pantsuit was draped on one shoulder. It started out as the same honey-gold color, but it became a gradient as it faded to a solid black at the ends. Gold thread embroidery decorated the solid black bottom of the cape in delicate, deceptively simplistic swirls. The top half of the pantsuit was clearly inspired by military garb, simultaneously rigidly constructed yet fitted, with circular onyx buttons going down the center of the chest and a thick metal belt, all in swirling silver and black, sat perfectly clasped around her waist. It was far more solid-colored and simplistic compared to the fairytale dress in the center, but no less show stopping and luxurious. It simply showcased an entirely different attitude, almost as if the two women could never get along if their personalities matched their outfits.

“And who are you?” The man who had been the center of the group of shadow-like adults spoke up, back straightening to milk every speck of his generous six-feet-and-three-inches of height. This was none other than Bruce Wayne, the host of this annual charity gala. And normally, his current stance would either intimidate or utterly charm whoever it was directed at— but not this pantsuit-clad blond warrior. Her smirk merely widened, and her blue eyes took on a slight shade of teal as if trying to mimic the dangerous ocean depths.

“I am Chloe Bourgeois, the daughter of Andre Bourgeois, the mayor of Paris, and Audrey Bourgeois, the Style Queen. It’s nice to meet you again, Monsieur Wayne,” she introduced herself imperiously. “I also happen to be the best friend of the girl you were just staring at.”

Bruce nodded, but had trouble reconciling this clear powerhouse of a woman with the bratty and entitled preteen he had met years ago, at the last gala she had attended with her mother. “Of course, I didn’t recognize you at first Chloe. You’ve grown a lot since the last Gala I saw you at.”

Chloe wrinkled her nose, clearly not appreciating the reminder. “I was a bitch,” she admitted easily, seemingly not at all bothered by the confession. It caused not only Bruce but also the oldest three of his sons, who had all also met her in the past, to blink in silent shock. “Things have changed. Paris is apparently the perfect chaotic environment right now to promote emotional growth and smack spoiled kids over the head with reality,” she shrugged. Part of the reason her and her whole class had even been able to come to the Gala in the first place was the fact that Bruce wanted to offer the most attacked group of Parisians a respite and some support from their crazy lives. The fact that even Gotham seemed sane in comparison to Paris was a bit of a hard hit for both involved parties, but in the end everyone understood that “more sane” didn’t always equate with “less dangerous.” Considering all that, Chloe had no reason to sugarcoat the situation in her home city. “But it wasn’t easy at all, and Marinette was largely responsible for my improvement too.”

“Marinette?” The heathen who somehow got away with attending a gala in a black leather jacket over a dress shirt and suit pants asked, raising a brow. Chloe nodded.

“The girl you were just goggling at. Marinette Dupain-Cheng, the class president and resident workaholic. Does she ever sleep? Nobody knows,” Chloe shrugged.

The blue-suited man, Dick Grayson, shot a suspicious glance at Tim, who was standing to his right, as if he was worried his brother had made a female clone of himself just so he could continue to work hard and never rest. Tim ignored him and sipped from the thermos of coffee he had somehow snuck in.

Bruce cleared his throat to bring the focus back onto himself, and shot his most charming smile at Chloe. “They would have known who she was, if they had read the brief information I gave them about your class. But they never do listen to me,” he complained with good humor. “But back to the original topic, Miss Bourgeois, do you care to correct us on how our observations are lacking?”

Chloe laughed easily, smiling and nodding to indicate Marinette, still stuck in a circle of socialites and not seeming the least bit worn out.

“Of course. First; She is not completely acting. She really is like magic sometimes— disgustingly kind, generous, far too willing to help just about anyone for just about any reason. She’s one of the best people I’ve ever met, as much as it pains me to admit it. But she is exaggerating her personality a bit and hiding the parts she doesn’t want anyone to see, so there is a little acting involved. Just not as much as you seem to think,” Chloe then waved her arm in a flourish as if she were presenting Marinette to them. “In short; behold Mari Dupain-Cheng, the ridiculously likeable, disgustingly cute, extremely philanthropic mask that she shows everyone at public events like this. You don’t see any of the insomnia, or the anxiety, or the self doubt. Just the parts she wants you to see, accompanied with a smile to blind you to everything else,” her all-too-deep blue eyes settled back on Bruce then, a knowing glint shining in them. “Don’t you think that’s ridiculously similar to Brucie Wayne for you, Monsieur? Utterly, ridiculously, similar?”

Bruce grit his teeth. He hadn’t expected anyone else to know about his exceptionally well hidden secret, not even his kids had caught on or found his buried evidence yet. Yet his heiress comes up, nearly flaunting her knowledge in his face with all too many unspoken questions and criticisms.

And her cryptic words had succeeded in making all of his kids look at him with extreme suspicion. Shit.

“What are you saying, Miss Bourgeois?” he cautiously prodded. She hummed noncommittally before dropping the bomb all too casually;

“I’m saying I’ve seen her adoption papers, and you won’t be able to run from her for long Monsieur Wayne. As soon as she gets an opening, she’s going to pounce,” Chloe’s eyes glittered dangerously again. “And nowadays, Marinette doesn’t ever let people escape her. Your problem with adoption has created a rather unique problem, you know. You’re at fault for a large majority of her self confidence issues, and I want you to know that I am not going to forget or forgive that anytime soon.”

“Bruce,” Jason’s voice was dark and threatening. “What is she talking about?”

“Something we don’t want getting in the tabloids,” Yet another new voice popped up, allowing Chloe to smugly sink back into the background.

Somewhere during their discussion, Marinette had ambushed them.

“Chloe and I are very good at locating all the reporters in a room and distracting them, but we’re not infallible and this event has far too much coverage,” Her smile reeked confidence and charm, but this close all the Waynes could see the doubt hiding in her bluebell eyes. “Since I’m about to turn eighteen, I figured this would be as good a time as any to finally confront you. I want to make it clear that I seek nothing from you, except the occasional contact. I would like to keep in touch, if nothing else. But if you are adverse to that… then at least answer my questions after the gala,” her eyes developed a hint of carefully controlled desperation. “Please.”

Bruce met her eyes evenly, trying to read her. But she was difficult, simultaneously too many emotions to sort through in her demeanor and much too little. After an extremely tense moment of silence, his voice came out barely above a whisper:

“You do not want anybody to know?”

And hell, if she didn’t recognize the hidden vulnerability in his voice as the very same she heard in her own far too often. In a much tamer version of her own rambling, he went on:

“I can keep it silent if that is what you want. But I want you to know that I will not be adverse to you admitting it anywhere. I don’t expect you to change your name, but I would not be ashamed of the truth getting out. I am not ashamed of it, of you.”

Marinette’s smile grew a little watery. She had to clear her throat to keep herself from tearing up. “Maybe eventually, but not yet. I… I want to stay a little more anonymous for now. It’s one thing to be a well known designer with good connections. It’s an entirely different thing to be…”

“A Wayne?” Bruce finished, ignoring the daggers that were being stared into his back. “I understand completely.

“Father,” Damian’s voice was all sharp edges and rapidly suppressed panic. “What. Is going. On?”

Marinette shot him an apologetic smile. “Apparently, eighteen years ago, his prerogative was to put the child he actually knew about up for adoption when the mother died in childbirth,” her voice was once again only barely loud enough for them to hear, since she didn’t want any eavesdroppers. “Imagine my surprise when I find out he completely flipped sides only months later.”

--*--*--*--*--*

Hey, so please share your feedback on this. This is just to test out a possible new bio dad, multichapter fic and this is the opening scene I'm trying out. If you like it, please tell me what you like about it and please suggest titles for the story! I love you guys' feedback so much!

[oceanflowerrs]

ok im going to do The thing where i talk about rwby now. im on mobile so i cant add a read more so im just gonna. tag it with rwby spoilers i guess just kidding i know eveyrhting now

ok, so. if this were any other point in time id be content with just being like "it's really cool! some things are a bit goofy or lame but it's a good time with a lot of genuinely really good moments" and that'd be that right. but from what ive gleaned from val and other rwby fans i know the whole penny debacle has been Very Controversial. it is quite possible i have come in at a bad time.

now i just want to say, i really, REALLY like what they did with penny in this volume. her arc was really good and it felt super satisfying and genuinely emotional to see this robot girl slowly become more than the sum of her parts and into the girl ruby and co had always seen her for. seriously everything up until the final episode i think was written SUPER well and this was a very good The Penny Season.

i really don't like her death, however. this may sound like a kneejerk reaction from someone who "doesn't like it when things get bad in a piece of media" or something similarly insulting to my ability to comprehend media/art and view it in a critical lens. but it's still what i think. on a base level, i think it's stupid to bring her back just to kill her again. on a somewhat deeper level, i think it's stupid to kill her after going through a whole arc where she learns to be more than a machine, where she finally gets to feel, truly feel, all of these things that she's had inside her all along. she'd escaped her boundaries, she had become a real girl. etc etc. pinnochio and whatnot. robbing her of all that just seems weird and i didn't like it.

but from like. the perspective of it being a written work with the themes it has, it STILL just seems off. rwby first and foremost is about defying expectations. not doing what it's been setting you up to believe will happen. i don't think this is a bad thing (even if near the end it kind of gets old with just how much of the plan isn't going as expected but that's a different nitpick i have). winter is supposed to be the winter maiden. it's her name. it's one of the most obvious things from the moment you learn about the maidens. like yeah no fucking doy. and even leading up to vol. 8 that's very clearly the plan. ironwood has it set up and everything so that winter is guaranteed to get the powers.

but the plan fails. the expectations are defied. winter is too late and the powers are given to penny instead. this scared, confused girl (in the moment i mean), who already has so much on her plate to deal with, just trying to save as many people as she can. now she's knee deep in the middle of yet another conflict. she's the winter maiden now, which means now cinder is going directly after her. it means now winter is even more under ironwood's thumb as punishment for her failure. it means there's even more of her now that she doesn't fully understand. and it's hard for her, but she does it. she uses her new powers to protect as many people as she can, and even with everything happening both in and outside of her, she never gives up. to the point that maybe, just maybe it was meant for her all along. and when she becomes human, the weight of being half a person is taken off of her shoulders. she no longer has any doubts, she has no reason to waver anymore, she's whole. and with her friends by her side, she's ready for her new destiny.

but no she died haha looks like winters the maiden now after all. lal.

i don't know it just feels... insulting? what was the point of pennys character arc if she's just going to die immediately after? what was the point of making her the winter maiden if it was just going to end up with winter anyway, like it was most obviously going to be? what was the point of giving her so much if you're just going to take it away again? like no, penny didn't get to live life as a human. penny didn't get to stop the people who have been hurting her friends. penny didn't get to step up and become the thing she was finally ready to become. she died. in a way that only happened because she was human. everything she was was cut off for shock value i fucking guess. sure.

couldn't they have had her fall with the rest of the cast? couldn't they have found some way to transfer her powers without killing her? couldn't they have done literally fucking anything else than just backpeddling an entire character arc because everyone in the main cast wasn't sad enough? because they didn't feel like any of the other dozen character deaths were impactful enough?

it's. i don't know. obviously everything's a big cliffhanger right now so i can't say "i don't think it impacted the plot it any way". maybe jaune has the mask on in the vol 9 teaser because killing her is gonna give him like a joker arc or some shit. i don't know. i don't know how to end this.