#nothing conclusive....just thots

[allyriadayne]

some thoughts/livetweeting regarding my rereading of the hedge knight:

maekar as this desperate father is so compelling. fourth son trying to outshine his brother through his flop children even if it kills him, trying to live through them but finding them all too alien and making it up through sheer force of will.

this over identification with his children is v interesting to me, because they are maekar's only way to be someone in a family with "too many heirs" but. BUT daeron is a drunk, too different to disciplined maekar. aegon is an unruly child, aemon is useless in the citadel, but aerion is able and fit capable of competing in tourneys probably with a much better ability and success than baelor's son valarr. it's aerion who is maekar's life raft in trying to raise himself above his brothers, esp baelor who seems to be perfect. imagine your best chance being AERION.

then imagine being maekar thinking he might have a good chance to prove himself against a hedge knight (easy. plus he's fighting with his sons! and the kingsguard! for show!) who did so much harm to his family, and then fucking baelor sides with his rival. don't kick him, he's already down!!!

maekar is so pressed! his chance to fight for his family's honor has just being stomped by baelor's huge horse. i know he resents baelor really had to die because no one could measure up to him

baelor is not a competition anymore but he'll still hear the whispers just like he says valarr will. and! interesting how maekar finally sends aerion away when he doesn't need him to one up baelor anymore. baelor's dead and valarr is no rival to him, even if he doesn't envy him like he did his father. maekar killed him but will not face the consequences directly in his reigns, /now/ he's glad he's the fourth son.

hmmm imagine if aerion were the one to kill baelor accidentally instead of maekar vvv troubling for someone who projects himself so much on his son.

dunk stop kicking him!! He's already grieving!!

maekar: surely the conses won't quence when my unspoken intense rivalry with my perfect older brother manifests in the worst way possible during a trial set by the gods

dunk:

maekar: and maybe if I kill my brother it doesn't mean anything at all

[laurfilijames]

Hello lovely! I was curious how you'd rank Will's outfits in TF. Which look is your favorite?

Love, Jess 💜

Jess

JESSS.

This ask has thoroughly destroyed me but I am so grateful to you and the thots that have come from it, so thank you very, very much. 🥵

These were not easy decisions, and it took a lot of time staring and researching, but here are my rankings:

The Polo.

Come on. The fit of that thing? Fuck me. The way it stretches over his broad shoulders and his firm tits and how it showcases those arms of his?!? I'm wrecked. Every single time I see THAT scene I am incoherent and making noises and there's drool.

Not only the shirt, but the jeans?!? They cover those legs of his in a way that makes them go on for DAYS. The belt? The way he makes a point to hold the belt as he's talking? Fuck off, Captain Miller, you're too sexy for words.

The Grey Henley. (I couldn't find a better gif 😩)

Just. Yeah.

I hardly have words to explain this one.

I mean, he could've undone that last button which probably would've put this outfit at number one, but god the fit of it is purely carnal and I'm unwell. Points for rolling up the sleeves to show off his amazing forearms which are a favourite feature of mine and a whole kink in itself. And pairing it with those cargo pants? 👌 A+ Will.

I'm calling this next one The Warrior Outfit.

The plaid shirt. The slutty scarf. The tac vest with all his gear and weapons 🫠 (hey, Captain let's put those zip ties to good use…) We have another appearance of cargo pants, this time equipped with built in knee pads (🥵) I can't begin to explain how this outfit gets better over time with him being soaking wet from rain and swimming across that river, the mud and dirt and grime, plus the blood from his gunshot wound….I'm starting to think this needs to move up in the ranks but I'm honestly such a mess right now I can't make a decision to save my life.

The Hoodie

I know that polo is under it 👀 Imagine how warm he is in that? I would like to bury myself in it and never be seen again please and thank you. He just looks so comfy and cozy and thicccccc in it and I really love this casual look on him. For some reason it screams Husband to me 🫠

The “I’m a professional and this is my fancy shirt” Button Down.

He's just so fucking sweet in this shirt. I imagine this is like his “date” shirt. I want to rip it off of him. Points for tucking it in those fucking jeans again 🤤 and rolling up the sleeves. 💦💦

Honourable mention to this outfit

Which I'll call The “this was rolled up in my bag for a week but it matches my eyes” shirt

It looks comfortable. Linen and breezy. Clearly effortless judging by the wrinkles 🤣 and fuck me the way it compliments his eyes in that last scene has me screaming. I'd really like to see him in just that white t-shirt that's under it though.

In conclusion;

William Miller can wear anything or nothing at all and it will severely disarm me no matter what.

[thevelaryons]

thots on seasmoke claiming addam on the show? yeah it was funny but i hated it. i hate that they had addam run from him.

I put off answering this ask because I wanted to see this week's episode before I jump to any conclusions. Anyways, now I've watched episode seven and yeah, I hate that scene too.

Addam's claiming of Seasmoke is meant to be about him actively asserting his identity as a Velaryon:

Marilda at last break her silence, claiming both boys were the natural sons of the late Ser Laenor Velaryon. [...] And when Addam of Hull mounted Ser Laenor’s dragon, Seasmoke, it seemed to prove the truth of his mother’s claims.

— Fire & Blood, The Dying of the Dragons

Since in the show, Addam & his brother are going to be openly considered Corlys' sons instead of Laenor's, the writers could've still had Addam actively claim the dragon that belonged to Corlys' other son, a Velaryon dragonrider. Addam is intent on proving himself to the father that ignores him and becoming a dragonrider would be his way to do that. The show wants to make him a passive character for some reason.

Despite being a child, Addam in the book was not a passive character but a very active one. Even with Addam managing to bond with Seasmoke out of the blue in HOTD, he should've flown to High Tide, and made Corlys acknowledge him as his son. That's what book!Addam would've done. He claimed the dragon in order to earn his position as a Velaryon in Corlys’ eyes. Meanwhile, all the show gave us is Rhaenyra saying one word to Addam and he kneels immediately because he’s just happy to be of service.

HOTD also changed Addam's moment of saving Alyn from a much larger dragon (the show gave aspects of this moment to Hugh who is depicted as saving another person from the large dragon, Vermithor):

When he stumbled from the dragon’s lair with his cloak aflame, only his brother’s swift action saved his life. Seasmoke drove the wild dragon off as Addam used his own cloak to beat out the flames.

— Fire & Blood, The Dying of the Dragons

Addam's very first act as a dragonrider being him saving his little brother who had followed him to the Red Sowing is meant to serve as a parallel to his final act as dragonrider which was Addam protecting the men who had followed him into battle.

Addam in the book was described as "brave" and "relentless", yet we saw nothing of that in the show's version of him becoming a dragonrider. That scene in episode six isn't even really meant to tell us anything about Addam as a character (except maybe that he's kind of cowardly?). Instead, the whole purpose of that scene is to be a pop culture reference:

All because a dragon dropped on him from the sky, show!Addam becoming a dragonrider is now purely by accident.

[vidavalor]

i keep seeing these thots that crow or azi or both are casanovas and got all the experience. or just some experience whtever

but i dont want that

i want them both to be complete unexperienced so they can have all the experiences together!!!!! (If they want them, if they arent ace which would be just as fine i just want them to be each others first everything if they arent ace)

and i so hate the thought of either of them being a player. Like ik they would treat everyone with kindness and respect but i just dont want them to have any experiences with others

Hi, friend. C'mon in and have some cookies. I made chocolate chip today. :)

First off, I can understand where you're coming from and I appreciate that your Ask to me wasn't unkind in the way you expressed it. I think we need more media with asexual characters in general, even if I don't think that's the story that is being told with Crowley & Aziraphale. (It might be with some other characters on the show and I hope that it's conclusively shown in some way in S3 as it would be a good thing.)

A word of advice from my ancient self here: I would caution you against equating virginity with "purity" or "romance" in a way that suggests that people who have had other partners are somehow "spoiled." There's nothing wrong with choosing to wait for a partner you feel comfortable with or for marriage or for any other reasons. Everyone's decisions regarding that are their own to make. The idea, though, that you judge romance relative to experience is a little worrisome. Life is full of many firsts. I'd caution you against holding a "first time" up in such high regard. There can be many different kinds of firsts. People grow and change throughout life and every experience is different and no worse or better than another one just because of when it happens. The idea of virginity meaning a "pure" experience is also oppressive to childhood sexual abuse survivors (of which there are, sadly, many, myself included).

There is nothing wrong with having sex-- just as there's nothing wrong with not having it. How many partners a person has had does not make them any less "pure" than people who have had none, nor does it mean that the sex would be less intimate or romantic with someone who has been with other people. How many partners a person has had does not impact the potential romance or level of intimacy they can have with a new partner. You don't both have to have never had sex to have a beautiful experience together.

As for first experiences with one another, I actually think they did have quite a few first experiences with one another-- regardless of whatever else did or didn't happen before. They've only ever loved each other so neither of them had ever slept with someone they were in love with before they started sleeping together. Forget first kiss-- I think Crowley is the first thing Aziraphale ever tasted, period, as I think their first kiss happened before the Job minisode. My next meta is actually about another "first" related to their relationship that they had with one another that I have the feeling from your ask that you might like. (It's called "Fish" & will be up soon.) There are still plenty of "firsts" in this story, if that's your thing, regardless of them having sex with other people.

[inposterumcumgaudio]

Uncle Jack & Foggy Jack

So if you're asking about both of them, I'm assuming that's because you're into the idea that they are one and the same.

I don't dislike the concept, but I like it much more for that the game seems to push that notion while simultaneously giving you nothing to substantiate it and, at times, even giving you details that seem to contradict it than the idea for its own sake. Good shit!

It's another one of those things you'll never have a canon answer for!

And frankly, I've never really found the question of whether Uncle Jack is Foggy Jack that interesting. It's a little contrived, a little obvious, a very basic bitch story. The most famous man in town has a mental breakdown and becomes a serial killer? And he somehow does this despite being instantly recognizable by everyone? And also he's doing this while he's still filming his show every day and looking all normal and shit?

Too, the whole Foggy Jack thing intrudes on the natural predisposition of fledging fanartists to make serial killer OC's.

Foggy Jack also exists as an urban legend in the town in a way I think predates even the toxic fog (and I was given a separate ask about this as well so I'll save my thots about that for then!)

But suffice to say, because I do not find the whole Uncle vs Foggy Jack thing compelling and I'd never really devoted much thought to it, I struggled to think of something interesting to say about it. The only chapter I ever wrote about the subject was actually about why Ollie's surface-level investigation of the crime scene in "A Pomaceous Puzzle" did not arrive at the correct conclusion. It simply doesn't fit the MO.

However... in reviewing what we know concretely about Foggy Jack from the main game, I actually did arrive at a fascinating new theory.

Because we think of this as a duality, do we not? Uncle Jack is one side of the coin, Foggy Jack the other. That's why you asked about both.

Let us go over what we know for sure about Foggy Jack, that was reported in the game, to separate out the unreliable information given in "Lightbearer". There are only two sources of "solid" information about Foggy Jack in the main game:

In "The "O" COURANT - Article 3", we learn that five Wellie women - Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes, Mary Jane Kelly, and Mary Anne Nichols - have been found hacked to pieces in the streets. All of these women are named for real-life victims of Jack the Ripper.

Stated in the above and reiterated in "Interrogation Report", these murders seem to take place on particularly foggy nights. "Interrogation Report" also states that the witness, Daniel Dunglass, reported that the apparent murderer's face looked "oddly familiar" to him.

One further piece of information that we learn in Ollie's act is that Foggy Jack apparently kept a hideout in the Gardner House, at least until plague wastrels overtook it. We know this from the suitcase which contains a cleaver and the "Mystery Note" with the only the phrase "I'm afraid you've come to the end of your time" on it.

And here we learn that Foggy Jack has some interest in Margaret. And that makes sense if he's actually Uncle Jack.

But... what it's it's not a duality.

What if it's a triptych?

What if it's not Uncle Jack, but someone who would have us come to that conclusion? Someone who would want us to think Uncle Jack is avenging his murdered daughter, but is in fact trying to frame him for it?

Why, who would have motive to do that?

Who indeed.

But DJ, you say, that's crazy. You play through Ollie's entire act and not once do they ever imply that he could be Foggy Jack.

Yeah, well, there's a lot of stuff they don't imply through his act, ain't there?

And just like with Uncle Jack, the details don't say anything conclusive but consider.

Ollie is said multiple times over his act to have periods of lapsed memory, both due to the Oblivion he took and excessive drinking. Margaret mentions specifically in both "The Camp of Thine Enemies" and "Cache as Cache Can" that Ollie has trouble remembering things due to his drinking. And it's an interesting coincidence that Ollie also "vaguely remembers" leaving himself a cache of supplies in that quest and its the same sort of vague notion that leads him into Gardner House where he finds Foggy Jack's suitcase.

He's also in deep denial about the limits of his morality and how far he'll go to see traitors get theirs. Still, killing innocent women just to make Uncle Jack look bad? Surely not! Maybe Ollie ratted out a little girl and got her chased down and murdered, but he's not a serial killer!

Then again, if there's one thing Ollie hates, it's a collaborator. Deutschland Über Alles special and all. And you know who about the first people to start collaboratin' with an occupying force are?

Prostitutes.

All of Foggy Jack's not-hallucination victims are named for the "Canonical Five" of Jack the Ripper's victims, all known prostitutes. Which, sure, maybe that's just the reference, but we actually meet Elizabeth Stride before her apparent death. As Ollie. At the Jack O Bean Club, where she works as a cook serving a bunch of collaborationist traitor lovers. She has no love for them, calling them toffs and wankers as she does, but she does also muse aloud to herself about it: "Take the job, she says. You'll never have to suck another cock, she says." Which sounds an awful lot like a thing a (former?) prostitute would say, making it two separate issues to Ollie, really. And why else would a fine upstanding Wellette be out on the streets at night anyway? That's how Foggy Jack gets you!

And for my most tenuous point: remember that guy from the Interrogation Report? Daniel Dunglass. I looked his ass up and

Reminiscent!

Dunglass (the character, not the actual guy) also says that the murderer's face is "oddly familiar" to him. Uncle Jack is familiar, but not oddly so. Ollie isn't exactly a nobody in town, but he's definitely odd looking in a world that conformist.

And as long as we're drawing specious connections, Daniel Dunglass (the real guy, not the character) was a Scottish medium famous for levitation and speaking with the dead. You know who else does a lot of that?

But... even if Ollie is Foggy Jack, I don't think he killed the constables at the apple tree. Which means there's copycat killer pretending to be the guy who's pretending to be Uncle Jack pretending be urban legend Foggy Jack.

[sebsxphia]

Ok so aside from Bob having a size kink, why am I imagining that he also has a slight corruption kink?? Like you’re his shy little dove, but he couldn’t help it but draw the slut out of you 🫣🫣🫣

YEP YEP YEP

me and @beachbabey discussed this right now and we came to the conclusion that he absolutely does have a corruption kink. he’s sat in the hard deck with the others and you’re staggering to the bar to order a drink to quench your thirst, because he just fucked his shy little dove within an inch of their life in the bathrooms, where anyone could walk in.

oof!!!

thank you so much for this thot my love!! nothing but facts here!! 💌

[messrmoonyy]

don’t mind me thirsting in your ask box but you’re the ultimate tess writer so i figured. idek where this came from but i found an audio on twitter and. pls god i want tess to make me sound like that. you cannot tell me she isn’t an utter master with her hands, she can have you writhing under her touch in minutes. she’s totally the kind of person to get off on that too? enjoying seeing her partner utterly wrecked as a result of her actions? she’d tease you just to watch your reaction. make you tell her how she makes you feel, that you’re close, make you beg her to come. tldr i need her to destroy me xx

Hello my sweet.

First of all, thank you wtf. Secondly, You are all always free to dump your thirsty thoughts into my ask box. I’ll lap them up every single time.

Now lemme give you some h word thots below the cut

I am gonna need you to send me the link to that audio for completely scientific reasons, that’s all. Simple scientific research 👀

But. Yes. You’re so fucking right and I agree with literally everything. She’s a god with her hands idgaf what anyone says. You literally have nailed exactly how I see her and how I write her, she gives off the vibes to me that she honestly doesn’t even care if she gets to come or not. She would quite happily just spend hours turning you into absolute fuckin mush, making you come over and over. Yk just ‘ one more for me baby I know you got one more for me ‘ makes my brain go brrrrrr. She can have it over in minutes or she will drag it out for hours. She’s masterful with those fuckin hands of hers.

Absolute menace when it comes to teasing and edging too tbh. I think she literally loves nothing more than edging you over and over until you’re just a squirming, sobbing mess beneath her. And absolutely makes you beg. Makes you talk. I’ve written her like that already and honestly in all my other smut I have for her she just completely falls into that in my mind. She will make you talk, she doesn’t care that you’re too far gone to form a word. In fact that just makes her want to do it even more ‘ use your words ‘ ‘ tell me how bad you want it ‘ 😮‍💨😮‍💨 She wants to hear you beg. To tell her how you feel. To moan so loud that any fucker nearby knows that she is the one causing that, that you belong to her.

In conclusion, my sweet anon, I too need that woman to destroy me. It’s not a want at this point. It’s a need.

[roguelov]

Today is Saturday. And so I shall respectfully submit my smutty thots to thee. Consider, morpheus is generally hairless outside of his head. Reader/ s/o becomes insecure about their body hair. Morpheus learns this, conclusion: morpheus with a happy trail. Scruffy morpheus. Imagine. Imagine morpheus not telling them he added hair and then stretching or something and just seeing a peak of dark hair leading into his jeans 👀

ANON! YOU HAVE GRACED ME THIS DAY WITH SUCH A LOVELY MENTAL IMAGE

I just love the idea of a record scratch moment for you as you first see his happy trail followed quickly by the blank error screen in your brain

Also like to add onto this idea imagine you not have shaved in a while down there. You and Morpheus get into a heated make out session and soon his lips start to travel down your body. You grab his shoulders to stop him and he just gives you this small pout as his eyebrows furrow together

“What is it, my love?”

“Oh well … it’s just … I haven’t shaved down there … in like while so -“

“And?” He asked, raising his eyebrow.

“Well I - it’s … weird? Gross?”

He scoffed, “My dear, nothing about it is ‘gross’. You are wonderful as you are.”

You blushed lightly, completely bashful by his words.

“Now.” He graciously fell backwards onto the bed as a devious smirk tugged on his lips. His eyes twinkled with such mischief and what. “How about you take a seat on your throne, my love?”

[jihyocentric]

Can we have a little sahyo in the dorm mates!verse? Maybe sana's a member of the same sports club of nayeon who finds the nerdy girl who often watches their training sessions in secret cute (and maybe she catches to the crush the girl has on her captain but nothing's wrong with trying right?) Then maybe we can a little jealousy moment afterwards? As a treat? 👀 I wanna her your thots

not sure if this was what you asked but i tried

-

jihyo shouldn't be there and she knew it. not because it was forbidden to watch the basketball team training, but because yeri would often be there to cheer up for nayeon. so she picked the days she knew nayeon's girlfriend wouldn't be there. none of the girls from nayeon's team were bothered by her, truthfully they didn't even realize there were people watching.

except for sana. sana was actually intrigued by the girl who she found out the name was jihyo, she found her cute despite jihyo not being essentially the type of girl she would really be into. sana also noticed jihyo always looked at one specific person. their captain, who happened to be nayeon, her friend. sana sighed, wondering if she had a chance with the cute girl, but by the way jihyo was a frequent viewer and never once looked at her, she knew it was a lost battle.

but it didn't hurt to ask. or maybe it did, because nayeon slapped her head when she asked who was the 'cutie' (she used that word, and the flirty tone annoyed nayeon) watching them from afar.

"no need to be aggressive!" sana complained, passing a hand on the place nayeon had slapped.

"stay away from her." nayeon said, putting on clean clothes after a quick shower in the locker room. "that's jihyo, my roommate. she's my friend and i won't let you put your hands on her."

"come on!" sana whined. "she's pretty. if you don't want to help, then i'll get her number myself."

sana took her bag, not even minding to take a shower before trying to leave. nayeon followed her, looking to the sides to see if there was anyone still there. thankfully there wasn't anyone close to hear them.

"no, sana." nayeon said it again. "you can be her friend, but don't try any funny stuff."

sana squinted at nayeon, looking at the way her friend was holding her wrist, almost as if she was threatening her. sana quickly solved the puzzle, getting shocked at the conclusion she made in her head.

"oh my god." sana laughed. "you're jealous."

"i'm not. i don't have a reason to be." nayeon replied, letting go of sana's wrist. "it's just a warning."

"you totally are. i may not try anything with her because i respect you as my captain, but i saw momo staring at her too... and you know how momo is," sana crossed her arms, "she's probably talking to the cutie right now."

nayeon grabbed her things quickly. "don't tell anybody about this conversation."

"your secret is safe with me." sana told her. "i never liked yeri anyway."

nayeon decided not to say anything at that. she was too ashamed to even defend yeri, and now that sana knew, her heart was racing in her chest. sana didn't know a lot, but she knew enough to guess that nayeon and jihyo were together. but she decided to trust sana, too busy cursing momo in her head for approaching her jihyo to care about the consequences of her jealousy. she just simply couldn't hide it.

and sana was right. momo was talking with jihyo when she came out of the locker room and looked at the benches. jihyo seemed a bit flustered, just like she was when she first met nayeon, and it made the captain's wrists tighten. as soon as jihyo spotted nayeon, she gave up trying to reject momo in a polite way and just gave momo a random number that was supposed to be hers. nayeon crossed her arms when she saw jihyo giving momo a paper, watching as momo left with a smug smile on her face.

when nayeon finally approached jihyo, the younger was visibly nervous, knowing how nayeon was when she got jealous.

"what was that?" nayeon asked, arms crossed.

"it's not..." jihyo started. "she asked for my number and i gave the wrong one. that's it, i swear!"

"did you really?" nayeon stepped closer, making jihyo take a step back. gladly, there wasn't anybody there to witness nayeon intimidating the poor girl.

jihyo sighed, giving in and hugging nayeon, with her head on the captain's neck. after months doing that, touching nayeon in public had become more comfortable, although that meant they were less careful.

"don't do anything with me, 'm still sore after last night." jihyo mumbled, her voice coming out muffled.

"you're mine, jihyo." nayeon stated. "mine only. and you should stop coming here, i don't like the way momo and sana look at you."

"but i like to watch you play." jihyo looked at nayeon. "it's sexy when you're sweaty like that."

nayeon narrowed her eyes at jihyo, who looked innocent even after blatantly teasing her. she had been with jihyo just the other night, but there she was, hard again, and it was all jihyo's fault.

"enough." nayeon took jihyo by the wrist, dragging her back to the locker room with her. hopefully nobody would be there.

"i told you i'm sore, unnie!" jihyo whined, trying to release herself, but nayeon was stronger than her.

nayeon cooed at her. "you can still use your mouth, baby."

[rinhaler]

Hot take I feel like pt 1 of yakuza!ryomen sukuna, yakuza!toji fushiguro was enough. I don't think it needs a part 2, and I feel like it might be a drag [not saying that your writing would be boring, if u do write, you'll do great job]. There are few scenarios like uraume's plan busting or sukuna knowing toji×yn affair. But we all know the obvious answers to that. Uraume would be killed, and sukuna would keep yn either way. You have also answered many asks, by seeing those theres not much to develop the story. I think. I'm just seeing a lot of people asking for a pt 2..I couldn't put my thots properly here🥲 I'm always High. Anyway. In conclusion, I'm satisfied with pt 1.

Definitely an uncommon opinion but a VERY welcome one. I really don't want to do a part two 😭😭 I have nothing else to say about that AU. I'm happy to answer questions people might have and thirst about it and stuff but writing a part two was never the plan and it just wouldn't be fun for me. It was just meant to be some gross icky porn with a plot to celebrate Toji's birthday! I've said all that needs to be said, I don't have any ideas for a part two and I like how things ended. Thank you for supporting me and my decision it rly means a lot 🥺💖

[tigerexe]

long post on my thots on t&b 2 cour 2

BIG SPOILERS AHEAD

and again

BIG SPOILERS AHEAD

Well. i didn’t like cour 2 very much

i’m pretty disappointed really... a lot of it felt messy and yuri’s unfulfilling character arch and apparent death physically twists my stomach. gonna try and put this into a coherent order and giving each section a snazzy title. this is gonna be a mostly negative review of my thoughts so if you really liked cour 2 and would like to stay positive feel free to skip this read. that’s totally cool. chase your bliss. train and fight!

part 1: how to develop 15+ characters in 13 episodes

the problems that come with having such a large cast  is really starting to show in cour 2... my bias towards certain members of the supporting cast might be clouding my judgement but i feel like the writers didn’t know what do do with most of the ensamble cast during a lot of the episodes. i felt it especially during the portion the heroes are suspended and trying to investigate Gregory, theyre mostly just all standing in the same room, reacting to the same things over and over again as they wait for the main characters to forward the plot.

the small, personal moments between characters other than kotetsu and barnaby were few and far between. i did like each buddy duo being given at least the tiniest bit of mini-archs (antonio’s gift, pao-lin and lara dealing with lere’s mom etc) but my poor sweet firesky barely got anything. i had gotten the idea based on promotional materials keith and nathan were going to have a slightly larger role than during the first half (my fault, i know. shouldve kept my expectations lower) but even if that didn’t happen i still feel like they were given the short stick... do keep in mind i’m speaking as a guy who had convinced herself canon firesky romance was actually possible and spent the entire cour waiting for something. ANYTHING. to happen between them. even during the final episode i was sitting there, only half jokingly thinking “we popping the biggest bottles when canon firesky happens in the last 5 minutes of the last episode with no buildup”.

*spongebob Hawaiian Coctail plays me out*

it bothered me so much how during each buddy duos fight with L.L Audun they all apparently showed heroicsm by protecting and caring about eachother, enough to leave an impression on Audun, but the audience barely got to see any of that!! i think some of this could have been fixed with better phasing and a better focus.

part 2: everything happens, nothing resolves

man, what was up with all the unresolved and eventually dropped plot threads. i can’t think of a single setup that had a statisfying conclusion to me. L.L Audun came closest, as he was a really fun character but the way he was utilized fell so flat. his potential history with Mr. Legend couldve been touched upon, how he sees himself as a hero despite his action etc etc etc but instead he was just Gregory’s pawn for 10 minutes until he goes berserk and becomes a generic out-of-control final boss.

Little Aurora, who got such massive foreshadowing during the first cour turned out to be a mcguffin woman who will cause vague NEXT hate if she dies. she didn’t even have time to do anything before they caught Gregory and fixed the X issue :/ sigh.

i can’t even list all the potential directions i thought the plot would go based on previous foreshadowing and setup.

part 3: poor sweet darling Yuri

Yuri gets his own section because good lord, why would they do that. Yuri’s entire arch in this cour felt so needlessly, awfully cruel all the way to his apparent unaliving of himself (i say apparent because i’m in denial). the way his relationship with his mother, that was previously strained, was presented very happy and sweet until she gets killed. nothing wrong with Yuri achieving a better relationship with his mother ofc, but it was so transparently done here in order to further increase the manpain he suffers after she’s gone.

mr. legend was also handled very strangely. i thought his force ghost appeared much too frequently, like we get it. youre a manifestation of Yuri’s guilt or whatever, get a job. but jokes aside his last scene with yuri was so weird. him admitting his wrongdoings to Yuri felt like a weird attempt to redeem him? even if i read it as Yuri attempting to cope in the moment, as the only family Yuri has left is the hallucination of his abusive father who even still leaves him all alone to sob in a puddle of his own mothers blood. get what i’m saying? about a lot of this being so needlessly cruel? and oh ho ho we haven’t even gotten to his death scene yet.

i still feel a clump in my stomach and my chest thighten when i think about Yuri’s death scene. it truly makes me feel physically ill. i know that’s probably silly of me, to get physical anxiety symptoms about a corpse looking anime man but jeez. that shit hurted. just the fact that Yuri has to go through all that torment, all that pain, just to off himself after sacraficing himself for the main characters after Kotetsu told him his dad became abusive because he didn’t have a bestie unlike me :) (oughhh i get what that exchange was going for but it pisses me off. why would Kotetsu be more shocked at Mr Legend fixing fights than him being a domestic abuser. Kotetsu. a father and certified wife lover.)

The way they made Yuri so completely alone and isolated as he died once again feels so cruel. the fact that he had to die because he was “irredeemable” for killing awful people (for the most part i’m not gonna argue Edward needed to die), while that being an age old story in media, just feels so hollow.

part 4: positives????

i do feel i need to rewatch the whole thing again before i can truly, truly digest it but the first viewing did not leave a strong impression. i do think the parts i actually liked will hopefully stand out more on rewatch.

like i said, the little moments between buddy duos we got were great. Subaru especially definetly came out on top this cour. he’s definetly one of my favourites after this.

I also want to mention again how much i enjoyed L.L Audun. he was just Reinhardt Overwatch with some doomfist overwatch and allmight mixed in there. i love how huge he was ... (biting my tounge not to go on a tangent about his unused potential again)

i honestly don’t care too much about Kotetsu and Barnaby, mostly because i’m so fixated on most of the supporting cast but i’ll say a lot of their moments were quite good. i don’t enjoy them as a couple or see them as such but the way barnaby really cares for his emotional support old man is touching. the moment Barnaby’s suit breaks and Kotetsu tosses him his own was hype. 

lastly i loved the firesky conversation where Nathan offers to hire Keith as her secretary mostly because the mental image of sexy secretary keith keeps me going in there dark times

^cute keith pic to lighten the mood

[kasunex]

I have to say, I have noticed a major shift in Love is War between Season 1 & 2. Of course, one of the reasons I like Love is War when I normally hate this genre is that the show builds on itself rather than remaining stagnant. But one shift in particular is bugging me: Shirogane.

Shirogane was my favorite character in Season 1 and for a pretty simple reason: he was born into poverty and worked his way to the top of the social ladder at a prestigious school through sheer grit and hard work, yet still struggles with feelings of inadequacy and imposter syndrome. His character isn't anything groundbreaking, but it's a very compelling, relatable, and even motivating portrayal.

Here's the issue, though. By Season 2, the all important imposter syndrome that kept his character balanced is just kinda...shoved to the background, if it's still there at all. Shirogane at this point is just a chad, and for the most part, he knows it. In Season 1, Kaguya was always planning twenty steps ahead, but both Kaguya and Shirogane were clearly invested in their little war game. At that time, the two of them couldn't even ask each other for a pity ride home without making it a cat-and-mouse game. In Season 2, Kaguya is still like that, but Shirogane...just kinda isn't. Take the moon episode, he just casually starts throwing his arms around Kaguya and cuddling her like it's nothing. He's embarrassed about it a bit after the fact, but how this sudden confidence fits in with his imposter syndrome seems unclear at best.

Hell, take the intros. The Season 1 intro was always clear to mirror the two, if Shirogane blushed so did Kaguya and vice versa. The Season 2 intro on the other hand is just Kaguya simping over Shirogane while he stands just shy of telling her to "begone, thot." It might not be so bad if Kaguya was upping her game as well, but she's about at the same level as she was in Season 1. There's no war anymore, Shirogane wins, regardless of who confesses, Kaguya is a blushing mess and Shirogane is smooth as can be.

Ok, character development is always good, but it feels so off. If Shirogane is suddenly so confident around Kaguya, why is he still holding off on a confession? The explanation for why he's waiting for her to confess is supposedly that he's self-conscious about their status gap, reasonably so perhaps, but at this point that self-consciousness doesn't seem to manifest in any other way.

To be honest, I entertained the thought Shirogane was just supposed to be on a total ego trip for a while and was maybe just toying with Kaguya. But then his rejection of Ai (best girl cough) Hayasaka made clear he's still loyal enough to Kaguya to turn down a hot as hell girl directly coming onto him. He still has his morals and isn't lost to ego, and if the temptation is even there it's not apparent.

At this point, Shirogane's character just feels confused. The plot is trying to hold onto the last semblance of Shirogane's former inferiority complex to keep the central conflict unresolved, but the rest of his personality has just ascended to demi-god. He comes off as borderline flawless, but the story is desperately trying to ignore this conclusion and insist that no, Shirogane is still self-conscious.

Take the election arc. Shirogane, who has nothing but his academics and student council work fitting him into such an elite academy, practically throws half his lead out of pity and kindness towards his opponent. How do they reconcile this with his supposed lingering imposter syndrome? They make it abundantly clear that Miko is a clown who doesn't stand a snowball's chance in hell. It all but completely dodges the potential character dilemma.

Even when Shirogane is occasionally revealed to have something he isn't perfect at, like with the singing episode, he's one Chika montage away from being the best like no one ever was.

Honestly it's all pretty ironic. Shirogane's goals and actions are the central driving point of most of the story at this point, yet his character motivations have for some reason completely fallen by the wayside. I feel like someone reading this is gonna "laugh in read the manga", but whatever the case, it's really jarring how much Shirogane shifted between seasons, especially when the rest of the characters feel more or less the same.

The writing wants to have its cake and eat it too, to keep the character built up in Season 1 without actually reinforcing Shirogane's character flaws. What we're left with is a character who comes off one step shy of Jesus, yet is still supposedly too self-conscious to confess to his crush. Perhaps this could make for a somewhat fascinating character, but as stands it feels totally disconnected.

[ccsthemovie2]

the birth of the sealed card

[tomatograter]

What are your Thots on jake’s pq route?

I already wrote some about it in this post where I discuss the problem with taking dirkjake as a literal parallel to tavris (Mainly, that it’s inaccurate to both situations and misrepresents the dynamics at play) but it’s been long enough since release that I feel like I can talk about it without that criticism being taken as a personal witch hunt. TL;DR: As a general rule of thumb I don’t cite Jake’s PQ as part of his characterization, and I think basing your Jakewriting on it will only lead you astray.

I liked a lot of the Pesterquest routes and the alphas were among some of my favorites, but I think when you play the four of them in sequence Jake’s really... stands as the odd one out. It’s almost as if he’s afforded way less sympathy from the get go for some indiscernible reason, or like MSPAR took a day to say ‘I can’t stand this kid in particular’ after dealing with waaaaaaaay more mindboggling troll customs or stupid dangerous situations that tested their patience and their limits. When it comes down to it, it’s mostly an issue of framing.

Let’s go with the “Just the Alpha routes” example, because I think that makes the overall context clearer and the response/reactions it gathered (or the lack thereof) easier to understand. The alpha kids were the last 4 Pesterquest episodes. They were also afforded entire volumes just for themselves, which cemented our expectations on “oh, they’re going to really dig into unexplored territory!” and for the most part, that’s what we got! It was really nice to see the internal mechanics of Jane as someone raised within a corporate echochamber, Roxy as a grieving, isolated kid, deprived of all human contact, and Dirk as a nerdy doomsday prepper haunted by private flashes of himself as a supervillain. It all works! Those are things the alpha kids were dealing with on the background of the broader Homestuck story, things we were only hinted at as the *larger* problems played out. It makes you understand their point of view. Except on Jake's route, where nothing about his life seems to be relevant at all? 

With Jane we get discussions about HIC and her family, with Roxy beautiful passages about a mother they never met and growing up alone— Same for Dirk, who gets a whole brother zapped from an alternate timeline. But on Jake's route there's not even an expansive dialogue path dedicated to Grandma English, Skaianet, the rebellion, or the giant red ship that came and murdered her in the night and then bombed his house, leaving him trapped inside his only surviving tower. No understanding passage realizing that this kid has had to fend for himself in an island full of Actual Giant Alien Monsters trying to eat him alive, or that he cremated his guardian specifically to avoid attracting predators to the scent of fresh blood drying on her mutilated corpse at the age of an actual toddler. The text refuses to dig into any of the psychological implications or impact an environment like this could have on a kid, which is even weirder when you consider MSPAR has met and helped Vriska get out of a similar situation. The whole thing with Jane in the previous volume has just happened, even, while Jake's particularities go unremarked. He was just supposed to deal with it. And that's because a choice was made to portray all of Jake's problems in this route as sort of... single handedly Dirk's fault? Something he should have Just Dealt with?

There's not even a hint that Jake knows Hal exists. Which is important! Jake can pick out Hal from Dirk based on *verbal cues*, and the fact that he considers Hal a barrier between him and his "real friend" getting to communicate with one another is a whole point of contention (and even comedy) in the story proper. Instead of examining Jake's isolation, or grief, or how he literally locks himself in his room and plasters it with cinematic posters to pretend he's just the main lead of a wacky adventure movie in the face of the immense shitshow outside, we get brobot acting nonsensically and threatening to break into Jake's room to beat him up. 

A general reminder on brobot: He was programmed to scout the jungle and deal with predators so Jake could a) Be allowed to safely leave his room (something he simply didn't do before age 13 out of sheer terror, and we know this because dirk and jake talk about it on his birthday conversation, when he first gets brobot) and 

b) Learn how to defend himself in the case of a surprise attack, with different combat settings adjusted to his level. The brobot has a novice mode Jake feels patronized by, but pushes him up levels quickly enough. In Homestuck proper, the brobot only enters "stalking mode" after Hal gets pissy with Jake for finding him out, and forcefully switches the setting on to make Jake work for the Uranium inside it. When you take Hal out of the picture, this plotline makes no sense! Jake's route is set way before the Alphas even think of entering the game, so this particular event hasn't even happened. Jake goes on to text Roxy and she turns the stalking setting off remotely anyways, so even if brobot was programmed to murder Jake in his sleep, or jump him inside the safe zone of his room (he's not) he has literally no reason to be acting like that when he's been set to Baby Buff Up Mode.

(Brobot does end up spontaneously pulling himself apart to give Jake his reward after this)

Which brings me to my other problem with the general framing of this volume; the alpha kids don't feel present in Jake's life as friends at all. It's all "romantic options" and "shipping discourse" and MSPAR making these silly logic jumps to justify insisting on this line of query, and all it does is completely flatten out anything of interest having to do with Jake as a Person, to build up an image of Dirk as being suspicious and shady for his volume and more or less come to the conclusion that Jake sucks because he just Cant Choose Who To Date Between All His Friends! And that's why jake is just like tavros… and dirk is just like vriska! Or something. 

And just as a reminder, here's Jake talking with Roxy so I don't have to explain why that feels like a weird choice to me. (click to zoom)

And then there's the endings. On the vriska ending, MSPAR just ends up weirdly angry at jake for being such a piss baby and not getting that he's tavros and dirk is vriska so he had to… uh… take all his anger out on this 13 year old alien girl he has never met and teach her a lesson to prepare to do the same on dirk, or something. And on the other ending Jake mentions his pen pal, is zapped to meet jade, they have some non-committal greetings and then a cosplay party where Jake insists that he totally likes Lara croft not because she's a femme fatale and he relates to that, because he's never ever in his life thought of anyone being interested on him. Or Something. He likes Lara croft for normal reasons only. He wears really tiny shorts and does sexy poses because he's not aware at all of how other people find him attractive. He's just too dumb to get this, or the shipping thing, or that he's tavros and Dirk is vriska (who the hell are these people?).

Jake feels like an afterthought in the grand scope of events. Sidelined on his own episode. This volume is busy with rehashing age old fandom arguments that have little to do with his character, because said arguments were started and maintained by bored teens engrossed on fighting online instead of analyzing Homestuck; we introduce vriska for no interesting reason at all (thank god at least Jake has enough decency to say he's not into hitting on 13-year-olds, because that would have been particularly rancid.) And aside from catchphrases and old slang sprinkled liberally into his dialogue like a fog making machine, none of the motivation for the character is there. What does he want? What does he fear? Why does he act like the way he does? What would accommodating him look like? What would helping him look like? We get this on Jane's volume, Roxy's volume, and Dirk's volume. To really heart-wrenching and dramatic results, too. You get to know who they are, where they live, what they want, what they fear, what might help them get better, but Jake is just sort of There. He's a burden. MSPAR either ends this volume berating him for not doing what they want or finding him weird and confusing and like they don't know each other at all, and the fact both of those were marked as dubiously bad ends in the game files speaks for itself, I think.

[vulcanservepinch]

don’t wanna start any discourse but seeing people going hurr durr spock had Romantic Encounters with women in tos.... like. through what kind of goggles are you looking at it?? some sort of male gaze dudebro anything goes and any interaction is “romantic” if it’s between conventionally male and female presenting people???

leila drugged him. extremely fucked up imo. she had feelings for him, he seems mostly uncomfortable, bam! bring on the sex pollen! and i absolutely fucking hate how they put the romance theme music into the background when she first appeared, to set the scene supposedly? idk man. hate it. the whole thing. not ok. if you flip the roles imagine a man drugging a woman bc she doesn’t want to fuck him. yikes ! just as yikes the other way round.

romulan commander? it was part of the plan to distract her, next.

droxine? idk, i read spock as gay so ofc my view is perhaps a bit biased but i just always saw him as being polite and trying to flirt back, if for nothing else, just for the heck of it bc it was for once him and not jim a woman was interested in lmao.

zarabeth? i haven’t watched this ep in so long but didn’t he revert back to like thousands of years?? or something?

so the two cases he slept with his female “love interest” he wasn’t himself and well, i don’t know, there probably are some conclusions you could draw from that! but each to their own! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

ugh just had to get these thots out.

(and not to mention how many of kirk’s Ladies Man™ “conquests” have been similar in nature but that’s a whole other essay)

[javierpinme]

The Catalyst

Pairing: Din Djarin x f!reader

Word count: 1.6k

Warnings: sexual tension, mention of Cara Dune is its own warning

Rating: T

Summary: You don't know why you thought you could make it one day without fighting with Mando. The tension has been building for a while and it looks like you're about to reach the conclusion of it.

A/N: I originally sent this in as a thot as an anon hoping I would finally stop thinking about it, but alas I couldn’t so here we are. I originally uploaded this on AO3 a week ago and realized that I never put it on here.

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The cheers of the villagers are a complete contrast to the earlier events filled with screams, flesh tearing, and blasters firing. The threat of the raiders is over. Mando and you have made it out alive with zero casualties. The only acknowledgement between the two of you after Cara and him solved the problem of the AT-ST is a stiff nod. Anything more than that would reveal your hidden feelings; you're not ready to unpack that one just yet. The adrenaline of the ordeal is shifting into a state of exhaustion. The familiar ache seeping into your joints and muscles that usually follows post-battle.

Mando is tired too. You can see it in the way he slumps his shoulders and his slower than normal strides with Cara. You walk to your temporary living situation and don't even bother to remove your clothes that more than likely have blood on it. You'll deal with your dirty sheets in the morning. You sit down on the edge of your cot and your boots are mocking you. Why did you have to pick shoe wear that involves you bending to untie them? Your muscles are screaming at you to relieve the tension building. There aren't that many comforts in the galaxy, but even the cot felt like a 5 star hotel bed when you feel like this. Mando comes into the hut shortly after though he never removes his armor. You respect his creed, but there wasn't a threat anymore. It can't be comfortable sleeping like that, but telling him would make it seem like you care. You don't, of course.

You don't usually feel the need to fill the silence, but you find yourself filling it. Goodnight. There's a pause from the other side of the hut and your mind starts running that you crossed an unspoken invisible line that the two of you created. Then you hear it. Goodnight.

There's warmth from the sun rays spilling onto your features when the sun starts to rise. You can see children running around off in the distance and you can't help the smile forming on your face hearing their laughter. They more than likely haven't known peace since the raiders started their wrath. It felt good to have played a role in that.

The stretch you do lying in the cot feels wonderful on your back. Out of the corner of your eye you see Mando in a similar state of relaxation. His hands are folded behind his head and his ankles crossed. He must have noticed you were awake, because he immediately breaks the moment by leaving. Does he ever stay still? You can't help the drawn out sigh that falls from your lips and close your eyes to take in the sounds surrounding you.

The sound of heavy footsteps cause you to open your eyes along with the feeling of something being placed on your on the edge of your cot. Breakfast. He brought you breakfast. Good morning, thanks. Morning. He says with a grunt at your appreciation of bringing you food. You lift yourself up with a groan to a seated position and enjoy the moment. It was too quiet.

You’re not even sure how you got here. The reason for your argument in the first place was drowned out by your inner need for dominance. You were at a slight disadvantage due to the towering presence of beskar, but what you did have going for you was your stubbornness and smart retort to his intimidation tactics.  You’re both vibrating with unresolved tension with no chance of release; nothing to redirect what you’re feeling so resorting to your usual vices which is screaming at each other.  

It wasn’t always like this. You used to make him laugh underneath that tin can sometimes. Sometime between being just a crew member to whatever it was that was beginning to develop between the two of you that was when the fights started. It was easier than dealing with the latter. The galaxy was too harsh for allowing anyone to feel love without anguish following closely behind. The only communication you seemed to agree on was silence, yelling, and sarcasm. It was easier that way.

You’re in Sorgan and it’s pouring outside. He’s trying to get you to go inside, but you’re so damn stubborn you refuse just out of spite. It doesn’t even matter that your clothes are soaked causing your body’s response to the freezing temperature. He can probably hear your teeth chattering from where he’s standing. The thunder and lightning isn’t helping. It adds another layer of the already volatile situation you’ve both found yourselves in. Why is it so fucking cold?

Dammit you’ll get sick. You’re not useful to me if you’re bedridden.

That’s it. That’s the catalyst. You're not sure if he can even see the glare you're giving him in the darkness, but you hope he does. You can’t stand to be in the same room with him anymore. Even just the thought of hearing him breathe at this point is a nuisance. It’s almost too much. It will kill you, you’re sure of it. I’m bunking with Cara. He’s lost his patience. You can tell from the heaving of his chest, but you can’t find it in you to care. You don’t need to see his face to know there is a scowl under there. You’re surprised you can’t see smoke coming out of that helmet. Why isn’t he saying anything? His body is so rigid and tense. You might have gone too far this t-

What are you doing?!

 He’s thrown you over his shoulders to carry you back to the hut you share. It’s like you don’t even weigh anything even with the extra weight your soaked clothes add. You would be impressed with his strength if you weren’t supposed to pretend how much you hated it so you thrash your legs in protest. You liked the screaming better. Now you feel like he’s treating you like a petulant child by giving you the silent treatment. He’s trying to make you look like the one with the temper tantrum because there might be witnesses. You’d be surprised if you didn’t wake up the whole village. He can probably feel how freezing you are and puts you down. Without saying another word he kneels down in front of the fireplace to create warmth in the room. The only sounds filling the room are the crackle of the fire and your own shallow breaths.

Your clothes. Take it off or I will.

You know you can’t keep your clothes on. You know you need to change into something dry, but you refuse again just to establish you’re the one in control. You’re in control. Not him. Realistically you’re aware you could get sick and you would probably need to stay in bed. Then you briefly wonder if he has a filter in that helmet because you’d definitely sneeze in his face if he didn’t.  How can you change when he’s made no move to even turn around?

It’s nothing I haven’t seen before.

What?

You had argued about god knows what and you left to blow off steam the day before. By the time you made it back the hue in the hut changed from that orange soft glow that golden hour usually brings to a soft blue. It would have been pretty if you weren’t so damn annoyed still. Mando was asleep thankfully so no awkward dance of trying to ignore the other in close quarters. You watched the soft rise and fall of his chest signaling he was indeed asleep. He was almost tolerable when he was sleeping even with the snoring. Almost cute. Almost. It didn’t matter that you never saw what was under the helmet, but you would never give him any indication of that. You were so tired. You were physically drained from the day so you took off your clothes haphazardly and changed into a nightshirt to sleep your frustrations away. Tomorrow will be better.

You were awake the whole time and didn’t say anything? You seethed.

You seemed to be having trouble and I didn’t want to hear your complaining when you inevitably tripped.

He’s challenging you. You’re both very well aware the dam could break based on your next move and he’s not going to lay out all his cards. Would the fighting even stop? Even with the resolve of all your combined tension? You’re taking too long and he’s staring. It’s hard to tell when all you see is a black abyss in place for eyes, but you can feel them boring into yours with loathing or is it desire?

You’re going to get sick if you don’t change.

He cares, but he would never give you any indication of that. He takes a step towards you to let you know he wasn’t lying about his earlier statement. If you’re going to do this you’re going to make a fuss about it. It’s childish, yes, but you don’t have it in you to care. It’s better than laying out all your cards. He can’t enjoy this if you’re glaring at him. I hate you. No, you don’t.

Never losing eye contact you start untying your boots. Glare. The cool air is doing nothing to calm your heated skin after your shirt is removed, but you can’t decide if the temperature is rising from anger or something else. Don’t enjoy this. Too late. The rain is still roaring outside and there’s almost an electric charge in the room waiting to spark. It’s too quiet. Then he says,

Glare all you want but this is doing something for me.