#overall though I’m glad to have reached this point before tomorrows episode

[harmonytheme]

After going through the stages of grief about 100 times in the last few days, I've hit the acceptance stage finally and I'm content on accepting the fact that this is where hayrays story is going. I just want the reveal to happen so that we can get to the good angsty drama. I know we are going to get some good tension, and even better angst than the first time, because at least this time hayray were actually dating before any of this.

I think it was yesterday that the acceptance really hit me. I still go through little periods where I get really annoyed about it, but overall, surprisingly, I’m really excited to see how this story pans out?

It sounds so strange because of course I don’t want this for them, and watching Lucas have his heart broken is going to be very hard. But a crazy storyline like this means tension and angst and pining and most importantly, lots of screen time! I’m really looking forward to seeing what Nate and Oscar do with these scenes. We have a long road ahead of us but I’m feeling optimistic about it. I’m sure the good angsty drama will be worth all this pain.

[im-justso-bored]

Week 3 of clown theories and analysis

S3E03 - Meetings Have Biscuits

OH BOY. what a lot to unpack here. so im gonna save that Scene™ for last because i’ll never get to everything else if i don’t. i’m actually having to rewatch while writing this review because honestly what even happened other than The Bus Scene™??

The Tuning Fork Kills - i’m not a big fan of these kills, they were so unrealistic lol everything else about this scene was gold though. V going back and forth between the maid and the baby was hilarious. im disappointed we couldn’t actually see V steal the baby. does V even know how to properly hold a baby lol

I Have All My Best Thoughts In The Bath - Such a Carolyn thing to do here lol idk about anyone else but when Eve came into the bathroom, i got so excited, you can just tell when she walks through the door that she’s back to her old self. also this might be an unpopular opinion but i like Mo. i saw some posts about how unusual it is that Eve trusts the Bitter Pill team so quickly but i think it’s less a matter of trust and more a matter of resources. both Bitter Pill and MI6 need something from the other and Eve surely can’t do it all herself. Also each group is invested with Kenny working at Bitter Pill and then of course, Carolyn being invested as his mother. i dont think either group is really happy about the arrangement but they’re working with it to achieve a common goal

I’m Not Ready - i love how Dasha just casually puts the baby in the trash and literally no one notices lol. I’m actually really surprised that V didn’t hop on the next flight to London after processing that Eve is alive. i guess that really shows just how much V actually feels when it comes to Eve that she LITERALLY HAS TO SORT OUT HER FEELINGS BEFORE SEEING EVE, she’s such a gay mess and im here for it

6 Million Euros - so im a little confused by how willing Konstantin was to loan Charles 6 million euro that he doesn’t have. it seems that they’re old friends based on their conversation about their families but it sill seems a bit strange to me how Konstantin agreed to give him the money. Also if V was tasked with killing Charles, wouldn’t Konstantin know this if he’s supposedly still working for The Twelve? so why go through the trouble of looking for the money if he was just going to die anyway? This makes me believe that Konstantin is working for someone else entirely. what do you guys think?

Roman Centurion - can we talk about how V is literally everyone who has ever gotten their heartbroken? she gets to London fully expecting to see Eve and instead of putting on La Villanelle, she decides to go for a “powerful” scent to show Eve just how much she’s moving up in the world and has “moved on”. she’s so dramatic 😂

Poland - Niko is moving further and further out of Eve’s life and as much as i want it to be Eve who is done with him, i’ll take it at this point because finally.

Who Doesn’t Answer Their Phone On A Stakeout?! - what a GREAT scene. Other than The Bus Scene™, i think this is my favorite scene of season 3 so far. This scene really brought me back to season 1 with the music, the tension, the coldness and calm with how V carried out the kill. 10/10. this is also my favorite kill of season 3 so far. everything about this scene was perfect. This scene was also a great tribute to Killing Eve: No Tomorrow! the tension was sooooo good, this scene actually gave me chills. like i was pretty confident that Carolyn wasn’t going to die but they had me second guessing myself. also the way Mo reached out for Carolyn and was so relieved when she opened her eyes! Both of their performances here was incredible. Especially when Carolyn went home. We’re seeing so many different sides of Carolyn this season and Fiona is nailing all of them!

I’m Wearing Power - I love Villanelle and Konstantin’s relationship so much, i totally thought V was going to say something about how Eve kissed her and Konstantin would be the disapproving best friend who has told her countless times to stay away from her “ex”. im really curious to see where Villanelle’s interest in finding her family stems from. she said that in order to have power, you need knowledge and that’s why she wants to find her family which i believe is partly true but i also think there’s another reason. we’ve seen her having more feelings this season like when she was empathizing with Felix and then when watching the news with the father and the baby. Maybe she wants to know what that feels like? To have someone so happy to see you again after thinking you were gone? maybe she saw herself as the baby? Her family thinks she’s dead and maybe she’s thinking she’ll get that same reaction when returning to them. if that’s the case, that will reunion will end badly for her. im excited to see how much episode 4 dives into this storyline.

Admit it, Eve. You Wish I Was Here - okay so this scene was just as gay as The Bus Scene™, if not more so. Eve went through so many emotions here. Confusion as to where the voice was coming from, realization when finding the bear, anger at the thought of V toying with her again, and then ending with just pure fucking longing and acceptance as she replayed the voice over and over again. she’s so gay and i’m so glad she’s finally giving into it

The Bus Scene™ - it’s been 18 hours and i still haven’t processed that this actually happened. we were all satisfied with them beating the shit out of each other but they really went above and beyond with this scene. everything about this scene was perfect. the way Villanelle walked up Eve just radiated confidence and big dyke energy and i think i speak for all of us when i say, Jodie could step on me and call me a piece of shit and i would thank her. Eve was ON SIGHT and I STAN. Eve’s reaction was absolutely perfect. I love just how completely she caught V off guard and got a couple of hits in before V regained her composure and ABSOLUTELY TOOK CONTROL OF EVE AND MANEUVERED HER AROUND THAT BUS WHILE SMILING. Like godDAMN, that was sexy, the power struggle between the two of them is just perfect. and the wAY V FUCKING HOPPED OVER THE SEATS AND SO EFFORTLESSLY STRADDLED EVE. i don’t think i’ve ever been more attracted to anything else. and in the midst of all of this, V had the audacity to say “Smell me, Eve”, i love how unpredictable she is because that sure as hell caught me off guard but at the same time, sexy as hell, only V could make something so outrageous sound so sexy. and the fact that Eve kissed her is sooo important. V was never going to do it first, not after Eve stabbed her and i’m so glad the decision was made to have Eve initiate the kiss. it wouldn’t mean as much to us as fans and to V if V were to do it first. I love how all of V’s confidence and “power” just evaporated when Eve kissed her, we stan a soft Villanelle! and the way they paused to look at each other before EVE HEADBUTTS HER WHICH IS JUST PERFECT. Everything about this scene is so in character for both of them. As outrageous as this scene may seem for anyone from the outside looking in, it was fucking perfect for these characters and everything we needed for a first kiss from them. i’m really excited to see them together again later in the season. i’m really curious to see how or if this changes the dynamic for them. look out for a fanfic about this soon, i think that’s the only way im going to be able to fully process this

OVERALL - i really enjoyed this episode, the tension was just perfect, the plot is picking up and really seems to be going somewhere which im really looking forward to. as of right now, this season could really go anywhere and im really excited to see how it all plays out. i cant believe that after next week we’ll be halfway through season 3, it’s all going by so fast! thanks for letting me rant!

[loreweaver-universe]

And that’s the episode.

I HAVE VERY MIXED FEELINGS ABOUT THIS.

On the one hand, a very large portion of the episode was extremely painful to watch.  We’re talking, like, The New Lars levels of painful.  I hated it while I was watching it.  Watching my favorite ship get risked in a very in-universe stupid way was painful to watch.  Like The New Lars, it was even in-character for Steven to do this, which is honestly...I’m not sure it’s worse than something like House Guest where Greg went OOC for the whole episode, but it certainly didn’t help.

Unlike, The New Lars, however...

The ending of this episode was great.

Connie gets it.  Connie understands.  Connie got scared and shocked, but instead of that harming the relationship, she reached out and told him she does love him but the time just isn’t now.  This is the most on-screen affirmation of their love for one another we’ve ever had, and after that terrible moment where I watched the shock cross her face, it just all fell into place, and from then on everything was great about the episode.  A perfect wind-down from the tension, a positive affirmation of their love, and one perfect final laugh to let all the lingering badness dissipate.

I’m really torn on how to rate this episode.  I really think from an objective standpoint it was quite good, but it was also very painful to sit through.  If I could split it up between pre-proposal and post-proposal...I almost would.  As it stands, though, I think that because of the painful, long windup before that perfect throw, Together Forever comes in at my new #9 for Season 6 (between Bluebird and Guidance) and my new #79 overall (between, fittingly, Together Alone and Guidance.)  It was really, REALLY hard to rank, and even now I’m not sure I put it in the right place, but I think that’s where I’m going to settle with it.

Up next for the liveblog is going to be the next episode of Steven Universe, Growing Pains.  We’ll be doing that on Monday.  Up next for streaming...well, I finished the Black Eagles campaign of Fire Emblem: Three Houses, so it’s back to other games.  I think tomorrow I’m going to be streaming some Godhome attempts in Hollow Knight, with perhaps a Steel Soul attempt or two sprinkled in.  You can see all of the Fire Emblem and Hollow Knight streams I’ve done by clicking either of those game names.  See you there!

Before I go, though:

It feels wrong to say this, when everybody else is being sent home from work and worrying about their livelihoods, but I’m kind of just treading water myself.  I make a little over $600 a month from this blog, and between rent, bills, and medicine, that runs out in a hurry.  I have not been able to save up any money, even now that I have food stamps and Mainecare, and it’s getting to the point where I’m worried about my future if something serious goes wrong.  If you can afford it, I’d really, really appreciate it if you could drop me a few dollars a month over at my Patreon.  Anything you can pledge helps me out.  There’s a lot fo you who read my blog on the regular; I don’t know how many are active accounts post-purge, but the blog has about 4500 followers.  If even a fraction of you pledged a dollar per liveblog, it’d give me some breathing room to work with.  Whatever you decide to do, if you decide to pledge, donate, or even just continue reading and watching my content, I appreciate each and every one of you.  I’m so glad I can make a living entertaining people, and I hope to be able to afford to do so for a long time to come.  Thank you.

IN OTHER NEWS:

I recently completed a blind playthrough of Hollow Knight on Twitch!  You can watch all the Hollow Knight streams I’ve uploaded to Youtube by clicking here, or watch me stream other games live at my Twitch channel!

I recently completed a blind playthrough of Steven Universe: Save the Light on Twitch!  You can watch all the Steven Universe streams that I’ve uploaded to Youtube by clicking here!

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It’s your kindness and support that lets me do this stuff, and I wouldn’t be where I am without all of you to do it for.  Thank you all so much for your support, and for tuning in every episode!

OTHER PEOPLE YOU MAY ENJOY:

I may have been one of the earlier Steven Universe liveblogs, but a whole community of livebloggers has sprung up over the last three years!   I linked to a bunch individually for a few wrap-ups, but honestly, this end-slate is already eight billion miles long, so I’m just gonna link to my links page.  Click here if you want recommendations of other livebloggers, or other neat people, or webcomics and podcasts that I recommend.

[videogamelover99]

Reason

A/N: I physically cannot write something that’s not angst. Anyway, with Episode 15 of TAZ Graduation (by far the best episode, in my opinion), I couldn’t help but need to write this. Warnings for: sexual coercion, abuse of power, classism. AO3 link here. 

Summary: 

"When you transformed Silvia Nite, the fear in her eyes made you feel powerful. Don't you want that again?"

"...I kinda do."

Chaos takes their time to convince Fitzroy that their power is worth it.

When Fitzroy was eight, his father finally took him with his caravan. It was hired out to a Madam Adaman Fern, a human whose new estate was waiting to be moved into. Fitz had watched the items get loaded in by his father’s crew, one by one: solid red wood furniture, silverware of the purest metal, a grandfather clock, and pounds and pounds of jewelry, carried in malachite boxes, full of amber, jade, gold and precious stones that he’d never thought existed. He’d excitedly watched from his father’s place at the head of the wagon, his father smiling as he calmed the horses down, stroking their necks. It was a long trip, passing fields and rivers and mountains, each more beautiful and grander than the last. Fitzroy, in his short life, had seen nothing father than his nowhere town and the local farmer’s market his mother liked to go to. He tried to consume all of it, to not miss a glimpse of anything they passed on their way. That night, the crew had a hard time wrestling him to sleep.

When he woke up, earlier than he ever had out of his excitement, the first thing his eyes were drawn to was the large, three story mansion. It loomed above the horizon, its marble columns reflecting the light of the dawn in a way that made them shine with early morning luminescence. The caravan pulled up in front of the large iron gate, and the crew got out, ready to unload. Beyond the gate, he could see a cobble-stone driveway, circular and in the center of it – a marble fountain, shaped like many outstretched hands, holding up the sky. In front of the carriage stood a woman, helped down by a man in a black and white frock. They slowly approached the caravan, stopping a few paces away from Fitzroy’s father as he got down to greet them. They had not a speck of dirt or road dust on their silken garments. Jerry, when right in front of them, with his grass stains and horsehair covering his overalls, looked a bit like a homeless vagabond. He nodded politely at the two as they watched the luggage get unloaded.

“Careful with that,” the woman said softly, eyeing the people handling the grandfather clock, “it’s been in my family for generations.”

Then she spared a glance at Fitzroy, and the boy smiled wide, like he always did to grownups he didn’t quite know yet. His mother loved that smile, said none of their neighbors could ever resist it.

The woman did not smile back. Instead, she gave him a look, one that made him want to climb into one of the wagons and never crawl out again. A look of pure, unashamed resentment. They she turned away quickly, as if Fitzroy was not worth any more of her time, her jewelry clinking gently as she did so.

Fitzroy remembered that look well. He’d remembered it, because it was the same look that the students at Clyde Nite’s Night Knight School sent him as he passed down the hall, weighed down with expensive, barely affordable books, and ill-fitting clothing his dad had given him. It was a look he chose to remember, when his body was too tired to stand, when his mind was unfocused, when his muscles ached from the overexertion of his training, when his hands shook when holding the sword. He remembered it, and pushed on, past the pain, past the sickness, past the shaky adrenaline.

You could say that at some point, his tenacity had become singlehandedly fueled by spite.

At first, he thought Silvia Nite was better. She’d called out his potential early on, when he’d felled several on the training field, his shirt clinging to the sweat on his back, his face and hands covered in dirt. She’d smiled, and he smiled back, proud that finally, finally someone was noticing his potential.

He had run into her in the hall once, embarrassed and out of breath from being late to class. She’d offered him a helping hand as he tripped over his own feet, mumbling an apology. “Your class can wait,” she said, leading him by the arm, “walk with me.”

He nodded frantically, at loss for words. She led him through the hall of the castle, and into the courtyard. They walked side by side, and Fitzroy had to fight the impulse to lower his head. She breathed power the same way he breathed oxygen. He’d admired the way she held herself, above any trifles or misunderstandings.

“I hear you’re making quite the progress,” she said, stopping just under an old apple tree.

“Y-yeah…I-I mean-” he choked on his words, nervously wondering if he’d already fucked this up.

She smiled at him. “Breathe.”

And, on command, he did. “That’s me! Always, always punching the clock, working those books…” he wanted to jump off the nearest cliff.

“Good,” she turned away from him, plucking one of the flowers from the tree, watching as a few stray petals flew to the ground, “you know, a lot of the other staff members didn’t believe me.”

“Believe you…?”

“About your potential.” She stroked the petals with the tip of her finger. “You’re a talented young man, Fitzroy,” she turned to him, and grinned. “I’m glad you were able to prove them wrong.”

“Oh…I-uh…thanks, I guess? T-thank you.”

She shook her head. “Don’t thank me. You’ve got no one but yourself to praise.” He nodded dumbly. His chested swelled with pride. She’d noticed. Silvia Nite had noticed him. His hard work, his monkey, his time, his pain - everything was finally worth something. “It was very good talking to you, Fitzroy Maplecourt. It’s time for you to head back to class,” and she walked away, the flower still in her hands.

He might’ve felt a little giddy when, after one of her lectures, she’d approached him again. He’d noticed the looks of the other students, some sneers, some of unidentifiable pity. He shrugged them off, thinking them envy. It wasn’t hard, given how much better he was than everyone else at mostly everything. Magic excluded. A Knight didn’t need magic to be successful. A Knight did, however, sometimes needed a helping hand. Which was what Silvia offered to him, placing her long, perfectly trimmed fingernails on his shoulder. She was much taller than him, her elven features similar to his own, and yet so much more pronounced, regal. “I believe there are some people in the oversight guild I can introduce you to. You’d want to build up contacts once you graduate.”

He’d nodded, already having thought of that for months now. Because even though his kingdom, Goodcastle – was already lined up for his taking, something told him broadening his scope was a wise decision.

She let go, stepping back toward her desk. “Meet me at my office tomorrow afternoon. There, we can continue this discussion.”

He should have suspected something, then. But he was too much of a fucking idiot, wasn’t he? And the opportunity seemed so close. Silvia Nite had tossed in the bait, and he’d fallen for it, hook, line, and sinker.

But when the time came, and he poked his head into her office, even he could tell that something was wrong. The window blinds were down, and as Silvia walked up to greet him, shaking his hand, and reached over his shoulder to lock the door behind him. A part of him knew, when she told him to sit down, not letting go, smiling, her praise oozing out of her lips like molasses. Suddenly agitated, he shifted in his seat, all to aware of her gaze wandering all over him. They sat down, Silvia behind a redwood desk, him sitting across from her, hands writhing on his lap.

“I can help you, of course,” she’d said, her tone matter of fact, “graduate faster. Find important people to introduce you to. It would be an opportunity you wouldn’t want to miss.” Then she sat back in her leather chair, adorned with the carved faces of eternally hungry wooden lions, and said: “I am a busy woman, though. It would take quite a lot of my schedule to do that for you, do you understand?”

He’d nodded. And flinched, when her hand covered his, and the whole time, his mind was screaming that it was wrong, wrong, wrong. He felt trapped. Under her gaze, in the shadows of the closed blinds, by the lock in the door behind him.

Then her other hand moved to grasp the back of his neck. “So you’ll have to do something for me as well, Fitzroy.” Then she tugged on his collar, and he sprang back, his legs finally working correctly. He was breathing shallow, panicky, because he knew that look. For so long she’d masked it under the pretense of kindness, with nice words and smiles, but at its core, it was all the same. The look of someone who thought that Fitzroy was nothing more than the mud under their shoes. He’d been such an idiot not to see it sooner.

The older woman moved back in surprise, her hand still hovering in the air. Then her gaze narrowed.

“Y-you…” he tried to find his voice, but it was shaking to much for him to form any words. He suddenly wanted to laugh. “You think…you can just…I will never-” He’d never felt so angry in his life.

Her eyebrows rose up, perfect arches she’d no doubt spent hours of her precious time on. She eyed him up and down, standing from her chair, and he bristled, his hands turning to fists. No matter how skilled in combat he’d become, he would still be no match for her. She held his gaze.

Then she sat down, waving a hand. “Alright. You may go, then.”

He practically flung himself at the door, turning the lock with his shaking fingers. “And Fitzroy?” she called, just as he was about to leave, with a tone that sent a chill down his spine, “not everyone is as accommodating as I am.”

After that day, the calls of kissass and teacher’s pet turned to something much more vicious. He made himself suck it up and carried on. Only a few months before graduation. He could make it. After all, one thing was made clear to him. There would be no one who would ever respect him, not until he left this school behind.

The anger didn’t go away. It festered, with every jeer, every rude gesture, every pitying gaze the other teacher had sent his way, and had boiled over when he had to face her once again, in her magic class, trying to light this goddamn candle that would not light the piece of shit-

Her gaze dug into him, ignoring all the other students, the resentful look so clear, so unmistakably present, and if he could just light this goddamned candle so he could leave-

And then the whole room exploded. And moments later, when Silvia Nite was turned back to normal, her gaze wide-eyed and terrified, Fitzroy felt like he couldn’t get enough of the fear in her eyes.

Chaos paused the memory, turning it over in their hand. “You were angry. Good.” They smiled at him, hovering over his shoulder as he looked alongside them. Their shifting head of hair wrapped around his shoulders like a cloud, undulating and free. “You had every right to be.” Their voice was like a whisper of the wind. “She wanted to possess you, control you. Her position gave her the illusion that she could own you. And she was wrong.” They waved their hand, and the memory faded from view, melting around them like sugar. “This is why I chose you.”

They came to him every night, his nonsensical half-dreams replaced by their strange, every-shifting world. Sometimes it was a room in a castle. Sometimes they were out in the woods. And sometimes, the two of them would just sit there, on the foot of his bed, his own body sleeping fitfully behind them. Chaos looked delighted whenever they came. They were possessive, but not in the way people were. They lacked that look in their eyes. They knew they owned him, but not from any illusion of power, not because they thought they were better than him. They owned him, simply because they could.

They turned to him them, smiling, but not amused. Reveling in their truth. “With my power, there will never be such humiliation. Isn’t that reason enough?”

[venus-says]

Symphogear AXZ Episodes 09-13

When bonds become miracles.

And we finally get at the end of the road on this marathon!

These past 2 weeks have been a wild and fun ride. I’m a mix of exhausted, happy, sad, and excited to close this project, so let’s dive right into it because I have lots of things to say!

So these first episodes (9 and 10) are a continuation of the “new combinations” mini ark that started in the last episode. And I kinda regret that I didn’t do any research beforehand because I could’ve planned these posts more efficiently, but oh well. XD

I’ll try to start with the things I didn’t like so we can move forward to the final ark on a good note.

I think I’ve mentioned this before but I have a serious love and hate relationship with Shirabe and Kirika. It goes more to loving Shirabe and hating Kirika most of the time, but this isn’t what happened in this ark.

Shirabe was very annoying in episode 9, and I think the writers did her very dirty for that episode in specific. They try to play out that because of the walls she built for herself she’s not so open to others and this affects her on battle because Kirika is the only one she can work along with. But that’s not really the truth because we’ve seen her work and get along with the other girls so why would this make her so uncertain about the whole situation? Like, even if you say you can’t make it work, it doesn’t mean you can’t even try, especially in the situation they were at that moment. Maybe it’s just me, but as I was watching every time Shirabe says she can’t work with anyone other than Kirika just sounds like jealousy and it just doesn’t work.

I believe the last minor thing I dislike in this part is Tiki. She’s annoying as fuck and she was getting on my nerves in these two episodes 

Thankfully, as a counter-point to Shirabe annoyance, Kirika and Hibiki’s combination was very fun to watch, and even their interactions as civilians were pretty good and it gave a bit of lightness to such a dense period of the story. And I’m surprised how they managed to put things together to make such a beautiful moment in the end when Kirika jumps to save Hibiki and Saint-Germain, Kirika has already more than once talked about her birthday so when she falls out of the attack and let Hibiki knows why her birthday is so important the moment suddenly gets very emotional and it just works so beautifully.

Talking about the fights on the two episodes, as much as I like Tsubasa and her cool motorcycle their Fast & Furious fight was just so boring, and the way they didn’t even wanted to hear what Prelati had to say just made me roll my eyes even more. The fight against Saint-german was pretty cool, though my favorite part of it was Hibiki being Hibiki and trying to talk with her. If this was any other show I’d probably think this is dumb, but this is symphogear a show about people connecting and I just love these moments.

The last thing I have to comment on this little block, probably my favorite thing about episode 9, I believe they tried to set up a connection between Shirabe and the bunny shrine and I’m very excited to see if they’ll dive in Kirika and Shirabe’s past in XV.

The final ark had its ups and downs, but overall I liked pretty much all of it.

Episode 11 was pretty much just action, and it was pretty good, the choreography for that fight was pretty interesting and it was very good seeing Saint-Germain and Hibiki working together, I don’t know why but I had this “this is very satisfying I wanna see more of you” all the time while watching them fight Adam.

And speaking of him the revelation of him being a puppet was pretty shocking. I didn’t expect that at all, it was a good surprise.

If I have a problem with this episode in specific is that the solution of Gungnir being a philosophical armament was kinda a Deus EX Machina??? Like it came out of nowhere?? I believe they’d know about since they have Gungnir for years, even prior to the current events. I also didn’t like this because it makes that Hibiki is the only one who can truly fight this treat and it makes things less interesting. But they had some form of secrecy about the identity of who was helping the S.O.N.G. team and I wanna believe this is something relating to the next season so I’ll let it pass.

Also, they kinda turn Hibiki into a God and that’s a fucking big deal so...

I like the poetry of making all of the final events play in Hibiki’s birthday, especially if you consider that she was kinda reborn after being released of the God’s power and all. The whole plan to set her free was pretty interesting as well, I wish that the secret weapon they had relating to Miku was giving her Sheshoujing back so that she could get near “God Hibiki” and talk to her more directly, but it still worked fine (besides the moment when they throw the anti-LiNKER in the two buttcheecks of the manifestation of a God).

And it is here where we reach the highest point of this finale when we get to see that, in Genjuuro’s words, people can connect and work together as one. And the big climax moment isn’t against a villain but is the villains getting redemption in a pretty good way. I did dislike the fact that neither Cagliostro or Prelati were actually dead, I think it’d make a better thematic rhyme if in that moment it was just Saint-Germain and the other two manifested near her because of the resolve in her heart and by the influence of heavenly power around her, but nonetheless it was still pretty good, and it somehow brings us back to season 1 finale that I loved.

Sadly this isn’t the end of the season because we didn’t get to use the opening as an attack yet.

And the first part of episode 13 broke the mood for me. Adam revealed a beast form, and once again the final fight isn’t a direct straight forward combat where both sides are trying to argue to finish the situation in the best way possible, just a big fight.

But hey! They turned Hibiki into a Gold Saint and she finished Adam off with a Pegasus Meteor Fist right in his monstrous stomach. At that moment I was just clapping in standing ovation because is so absurd.

The final slice of life part of the episode was pretty good, even Tsubasa’s grandpa being a major dumbass I enjoyed. Of course, to me, this would be even more perfect if we’ve had cut from the alchemists saving the city direct to this more normal environment, but I still like it.

We have Maria feeding Tsubasa and the latter being out of her character because of tomatoes. 10/10 high-quality content.

The post-credits scene was quite interesting and i’m very glad that I’m watching this one day before the new season comes out because it’d kill me all the questions they’ve dropped on top of my head like if it was nothing. Is Miku free from Balal’s curse? Does she also have the ability to be a vessel for divine power? Will she ever get her gear again? What does all of that mean??? I NEED ANSWERS.

Hopefully tomorrow we’ll have some of them. I don’t know when I’ll be able to watch XV’s first episode, but as soon as I do I’ll post a review so be in alert for it!

Before I go, I’d like to once more thank everyone who stuck with me during the past 12 days. If everything goes right this week I’ll try to get more active in here again and I hope I’ll still have you all with me. Thank you and see ya~

[canaryatlaw]

okay, well today was alright. alarm went off bright and early at 7:45 am and getting up was quite the struggle but I made it happen. Got up and got dressed in time for the 8:21 bus, because there can never be the 8:30 bus that would actually work with my timeline *sigh*. made it to church with about ten minutes to spare (since I had to take the bus ten minutes before what would’ve made me on time) and hung out in the kids team volunteer lounge for a few before the huddle. It was set to be just me and one other girl in the babies for this service, which shouldn’t be bad. Since it’s the middle service which is the most popular they have the babies and walkers in different rooms, whereas for the other services they generally combine them. When it comes to the babies room I always say it’s either everything’s calm and perfect or everyone’s screaming and something’s on fire. Well, today was one of the latter days unfortunately. I was holding this little boy who was crying for so long, and I’d get him to stop only for him to start again totally unprompted two minutes later. It got to the point where we would normally call his parents, but due to some weird technical glitch we didn’t have his parent’s phone number (they’re generally printed on their name tags so we can easily contact them) so we had to just wait it out. And contagious crying was in full swing, so it was pretty much always at least 2 babies crying at any given time. so that was a lot, but we survived. Once we were all finished I was told there was cake in the volunteer lounge (lol) leftover from the couple who runs the kids ministry’s daughter’s 3rd birthday party the day before and it was all fancy like made from a bakery and everything and damn it was good cake lol, so I was basically shoving that in my mouth and then running to the service. My lack of sleep definitely hit me hard while sitting listening to the message, and I was struggling to keep my eyes open for quite a bit of it. I thought I had a pack of caffeinated gum in my purse (and I later found out I did) but I couldn’t find it for my life so I just had to survive. It was the time of year though when someone from team World Vision comes to talk about getting people to do the Chicago Marathon with them and raise money for their efforts to bring clean water and so much more to communities living in poverty in Africa and beyond. I have a soft spot for their organization after what I like to call “The World Vision Incident” that happened in March 2014 and is the reason I very intentionally dropped the world “evangelical” in referring to myself (I won’t get into the details now because I’ll get infuriated and never shut up, but suffice to say it left me absolutely horrified as to the behavior of the “Christians” involved) and has led to me sponsoring a child through them (her name is Retseplie, she lives in Lesotho, Africa, she is 13 years old and shares my birthday of March 26th). Sadly running a marathon is very strictly off the table for me being that my lungs can’t work properly when I run, but I always appreciate their challenge and love that many of my fellow churchgoers do take on the challenge. The sermon itself was fairly well related, starting a new series called “Loveworks” which is also the title of our like outreach team that organizes events giving back to the community here and everywhere, so we were talking about how if you’re not helping the poor you are very much not doing what the bible has instructed you to do and stuff like that, I probably would’ve recalled more if I wasn’t fighting to stay awake but not much I can do about it now (I may relisten to it when it pops up as a podcast episode in a day or two). Once church was over I headed out, taking the train to the bus home. I quickly changed out of my nice church clothes, then ate my leftovers from the cheesecake factory last night, the food portion anyway, I left the cheesecake for later on. For most of the afternoon I worked on little things I needed to get done including doing the dishes which had become a massive pile that was beginning to smell, and that’s really rank so we needed to put a stop to that for sure. It was quite the pile so it ended up taking a solid hour or two, but I felt very accomplished when I finally finished it. I put them all away after that and had to soak a few in hot water and soap because they still smelled really musty and gross, but thankfully that worked rather well. I eventually sat down on the couch with my cheesecake and some bubble tea I made and watched last week’s Supergirl episode since I hadn’t gotten around to that yet and wanted to be able to watch tonight’s episode, which I did shortly after finishing last week’s, in between which I watched a bit of “Ellen’s Game of Games” which is fucking hilarious. Overall reaction through the two episodes- ugh, I wish they’d just drop the children of liberty storyline already, it’s so fucking cringeworthy and it really was so unnecessary, we could’ve had such a good full season villain in Lex and red sun Kara. Of course it doesn’t help that I already have a strong dislike for Sam Witwer (RIP Jimmy) and any character he plays. I did like the few moments they had with his son when he runs into his friend at the raid of the alien bar and he starts questioning things, and ultimately ends up reaching out to his friend to try to help him. Of course now I’m sure it won’t help that his mom apparently just got killed by an alien, but I mean, if you’re going around acting like a giant asshole and actively endangering the lives of thousands of aliens living peacefully like....sorry buddy, but you brought that on yourself. I liked that we got to see some more of Kara Danvers and not just Supergirl, especially when she actually gets to do some reporting. The interview with Dreamer at the end was so damn good, I was actually on the verge of tears watching it, it was really excellent. I loved Kara and Lena teaming up to search for clues about Lex and what all they end up finding. I thought the brief flashback with the two Luthor siblings was very interesting, up to this point I don’t think I’ve seen anything suggesting that Lex was ever protective over Lena in any way really, so that was surprising but also kind of nice to see. I felt bad for Lena at the end when she was confessing to Kara that she had been helping Lex because she believed he was terminally ill, and I’m just like Lena, sweetie, this was not your fault, and I’m glad Kara was there to say it. So yeah, overall not bad episodes but this season still isn’t doing much for me. Once that was over I switched over to netflix and watched a few more episodes of the family baking showdown show I just started which was quite entertaining, and I pretty much watched those until I showered and started getting ready for bed, and now I am here, and did I mention I’m tired? so yeah. Tomorrow plan is to make it to the post office to mail the international autograph and to Target to pick up my prescription from Friday at the allergist, the two are on the same road so I should be able to figure something out. Until then, I will be getting some sleep. Goodnight loves. Hope your Monday doesn’t suck.

[the-fandom-newsletter]

Fandom Newsletter #4

Today is Friday, the 26th of October, and Welcome back to another Fandom Newsletter! 

Writers: Atlas, Blackpurrl, Fyne, YoursTruly Editors: Fyne and YoursTruly 

“Oh my God, Karen! You can’t just ask people why they’re white.” ~Mean Girls

Let’s get started! 

First to YoursTruly with the Horror, Hannibal, Tim Burton, Animation, and Gaming fandoms--

Horror: Horror fans love the new Halloween movie! The movie has been a massive success among fans young and old! The movie gives off a nostalgic vibe, even referencing the older movies several times throughout the film. However, if you’re going to see this movie, stay until after the credits, there’s a little surprise at the end. 

Hannibal: The Fannibals have began trying to bargain with show runner and producer Bryan Fuller for another season. The show left off on a not so satisfying conclusion, and many fans want more. Bryan Fuller has even teased the idea himself quite a few times. Will we get another season one day? Guess we’ll have to wait and see. 

Tim Burton: Disney is offering, throughout the month of October, Halloween themed cruises. They even offer an onboard show featuring Jack Skellington and Sally. And you can even meet these characters for pictures! Now that’s a cruise! Also- The Nightmare Before Christmas celebrates its 25th anniversary this year! 

YouTube: YouTube recently crashed worldwide for two hours. YouTube hasn’t said much about the incident, but problems like this are becoming more and more common on YouTube. Many people are wondering what the causes of these issues are. 

Animation: Goretober is in full swing! Many animators have been uploading their daily Goretober art. 

Gaming: The season of scary game releases is upon us! October is the month where many creators on platforms like Steam and Gamejolt are releasing their horror games in anticipation for Halloween. 

Now to Blackpurrl with the Harry Potter and Bands fandoms, along with World News--

Harry Potter: Countdown to Fantastic Beasts: 27 days!

Bands: Did you know, about twelve hours of songs are uploaded to SoundCloud every minute? Insane!

World News: Denmark Shooting for the Digital Stars

Next to Fyne with the Sherlock, Supernatural, and Spooptober fandoms, as well as the weekly positive news--

Sherlock - Ever wonder how our beloved show even came to be? Apparently, for years, writers Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss took a train to and from Cardiff while working on Doctor Who, and discussed various projects they were interested in doing. One that kept coming up repeatedly was a modern-day adaptation of Sherlock Holmes. This reportedly went on for some time (with neither man making any particular effort to get it up and going) until Moffat’s wife, Sue, invited both men out for lunch. Her place of choice just so happened to be the Criterion, a watering hole and eatery in London’s Piccadilly Circus. It just so happens to be the same place where the fictional John Watson (Sherlock’s best friend) first hears of the famed detective. The two men got the hint and began working on the series, bringing us our show that we have today. I think we all owe Sue a little bit of a thank you, don’t you?

Supernatural - Did you notice that (according to Archangel Michael in the episode The Song Remains the Same) Dean and Sam come from the bloodline of Cain and Abel? So is this important? Or is this just another coincidence?

Spooptober - This year is the year that Halloween movie Hocus Pocus reaches its 25th anniversary. The premise of the movie is this: After moving to Salem, Massachusetts, teenager Max Dennison explores an abandoned house with his sister Dani and their new friend, Allison. After dismissing a story Allison says is superstitious, Max accidentally frees a coven of evil witches who used to live in the house. Now, with the help of a magical cat, the kids must steal the witches' book of spells to stop them from becoming immortal.A family favorite movie that almost everyone has seen and that is playing on at least one channel nearly every night of October. If you haven’t seen this iconic movie, you definitely should go channel surfing at some point this month.

Positive News - The words we use to talk about mental health can perpetuate stigmas. A new portrait project featuring people who have mental health issues aims to make us think again about the language we choose.

Lastly to Atlas with the Voltron, Musicals, and Movie fandoms--

Voltron: This fandom is a ticking time bomb set for December 14th. We are all going to die.

Musicals: George Salazar ships Boyf-riends! 

Movies: Who else wants a live action Corpse Bride?

Now back to Blackpurrl with the weekly movie review--

Movie Review: Hannibal Rising

This movie relays the story of Hannibal Lecter’s childhood. Although most of the especially gory parts are not on camera, the viewer eventually knows exactly what became of the victim. It provides an interesting plot, and explains why the famous cannibal does what he does. I would not recommend this movie to anyone under thirteen or anyone who cannot handle tragic stories. Overall, I’d give it a 10/10.

And back to Fyne with the weekly trivia fact and quiz--

Trivia Fact - Did you know that the inventor of liquid soap became paralyzed after he slipped in the shower?

Are you an optimist, a pessimist, or a realist?

1. You fail a test. What is your reaction?

A. I'm stupid. I’m going to fail my exams.

B. This was just a blip. I’ll do better next time. 

C. The questions were too hard. This is where my abilities stand.

2. You have quit smoking, but you accidentally have a cigarette. Which of the following is your reaction?

A. You have been set back, so you just go right back into the addiction.

B. You have been set back, but you believe you can quit again.

C. You have been set back, so you come up with ways to avoid similar circumstances that led you to the set back.

3. You are shown a picture of a man who isn’t smiling. What do you think this man is feeling/doing?

A. The man is plotting, rude, or experiencing something unpleasant.

B. The man is relaxing, thinking, or did not have enough time to smile. 

C. The man is posing for the picture.

4. A close friend of yours sets you up on a blind date. How do you feel about this?

A. You have no clue what your date is like and you are afraid they’re going to set you up with a complete loser.

B. You have faith in their opinion and want to see for yourself what your date is going to be like. 

C. You decide to see what your date is like and decide for yourself how well your friend did. 

5. You’re a business owner who goes bankrupt. How do you proceed?

A. You see this failure as a sign that you are not meant to be in this business and pursue other options.

B. You see this failure as a lesson and use it to help you further your business in future reference.

C. You see this failure as a sign and choose to make plans to pull yourself out of bankruptcy.

6. You get a raise. How do you feel about it?

A. You don’t understand why you got the raise and you wonder if there is an ulterior motive.

B. You accept the raise happily, glad that your hard work has finally been recognized.

C. Yay! More money!

7. You’re an accountant and today you made a mistake with a number. What is your reaction?

A. You figure out where you went wrong, and then feel horrible about it for a long time afterward, questioning your abilities and worthiness as an accountant.

B. You figure out where you went wrong, fix it, and move forward.

C. You recognize the mistake and move on. 

8. You have a bad day. Which of these is you after the day is over?

A. You believe that your life has been full of hardship and negative experiences.

B. You see the bad days as part of your life that help you grow or benefit you in some way.

C. Recognize that you had a bad day, and resolve to try again tomorrow. 

9. You are struggling with groceries and someone comes to help you. How do you respond? 

A. You become suspicious, tell them that you have nothing to give them, and maybe even yell at them to leave you alone.

B. You thank them and talk about their day or ask them about themselves.

C. You politely say thank you and either accept or decline their help. 

10. You go on a vacation. Which of these is you?

A. Complain about everything you do and could potentially do, and eventually wind up not wanting to do anything at all but watch TV in the hotel room.

B. You want to experience as much as the location has to offer, even though you had no plans about what to do.

C. You enjoy the vacation and plan extensively about what you want to do and when.

Mostly A’s: You appear to be a pessimist. Always seeing the bad and negative in everything probably isn’t helping you be any happier or lead a happier life. Try and maybe appreciate things more often.

Mostly B’s: You appear to be an optimist. Always seeing the good and positive is probably helping you be fairly happy, and even leading to a happier life style. Though try not to be too optimistic all the time because it may end up hurting you in the long run.

Mostly C’s: You appear to be a realist. I guess you’re sort of a neutral character. Good for you.

(This isn’t physiologically proven, its literally just a test I made up in my free time so don’t take the results to heart and please do not be offended)

And finally, back to YoursTruly with the weekly book review--

Book Review- The Life Of P.T. Barnum is a fantastic book for anyone who loves a good biography. The book is a wildly entertaining autobiography by P.T. Barnum about his own life, starting from his childhood and following him through all his adventures. All in all, a fantastic book. 10/10 

Wish our illustrator and writer Blackpurrl a happy birthday today! Comic is brought to you by our very talented artist, Blackpurrl. That’s all for this week, we’ll see you next week with another Fandom Newsletter! 

Signing off, 

Atlas, Blackpurrl, Fyne, and YoursTruly 

[canaryatlaw]

okay, well today was fine overall. Up at 8:45 for court, I was a little concerned about juggling two cases in two courtrooms both set for 9 am, because I was stupid enough to put myself in that position, but things ended up working out, though in the opposite direction that I thought- I thought I could get the just me case done quickly and then go to the one with other parties present, but that one ended up pretty close to the front of the court call, so I told the coordinator at the other room to just stick me in a breakout room and I’d let them know when I’m good to go, so that worked out. I have multiple cases right now (one this morning and one I have up tomorrow) where the other side is filing a domestic relations (divorce, custody, etc.) case, which means the OP case gets consolidated with it, and I can no longer be their lawyer, and it’s been super fucking frustrating because apparently divorces are on the rise right now (can’t imagine why!!) and trying to find clients other legal aid counsel is getting increasingly difficult. the one I have up tomorrow I really did not want to lose (I’ll spare you the details, but it involves a young child and it’s BAD) and I had expressed as much to my boss, and it sounded like our family law department could jump on the case, which would mean I could probably stay on for the OP part of the case, so I sent the client an intake to fill out, but when I passed it on they basically just told me they weren’t taking anything and I just forwarded it to my boss like.....and she was confused about it because apparently they had spoken about keeping some cases going that were extreme, so she’s going to talk to them about it and see if we can work it out, but in the meantime the client should start looking for other potential divorce counsel (from legal aid, as she has no income and is living in a shelter right now), and since the cases are getting consolidated tomorrow it means I have to officially withdraw from the case, and I’m really just fucking mad about it, you guys know how I get revved up with cases involving kids and even though I haven’t been on it very long (probably about a month at this point) I feel very protective of the client being such a vulnerable position and assured her that I may have to tell the court I’m withdrawing, but I will not stop being her lawyer until we get another lawyer on the case, or our family law department is able to accept it. I’m just really irritated about the whole thing because this is not the first time it’s happened with a client I felt really attached to, and just having to give up the case without there being anything I can do about it is really fucking frustrating. And the client is super sweet and speaks some english, but when exchanging emails I’ve been putting them through google translate (she speaks “Amharic”) with the translated version on top and the english underneath it, and that usually helpful enough for her to be able to answer in english. It’s kind of fun, because they don’t use the same numerals we do, so it’s just totally different. but yeah, I have that going on tomorrow and I’m super pissed about it and just feel really bad because the last thing I want to do is to leave this poor woman with no lawyer in such a vulnerable situation and I’m totally committed to making sure that does not happen, even if some of that is not part of a traditional attorney role (as if I give a fuck). but anyway. that case today was fine and short, they’re going to file the DR case soon and hopefully find that client a DR lawyer too. ugh. then there was my other case with the judge who really likes me (hehe) but she’s caught up in this one thing she wants me to do to go to publication that isn’t normal so we got stuck up with that this morning which was frustrating but like I get it, she’s a new judge and I can’t expect her to memorize the entire statute right off the bat, and her intentions are good at least as far as wanting a default order to be enforced and not ignored because of lack of service (though I spoke with my boss after and it didn’t sound like this would even help that. so I have to figure out what to do there. after court I worked on the leftover clinic cases from yesterday, getting everything ready to be filed. Apparently the courthouse is in a somewhat chaotic situation because apparently one of the judges tested positive for covid, and possibly other staff members who worked in screening (meaning they see a LOT of people) as well, so like half of the staff is in quarantine and not at the courthouse, so I understand it’s pretty chaotic there at the moment. my own case did get processed pretty quickly though, it was a pretty strong case so I wasn’t really worried, and the hearing went fine, though at the end the judge asked if we could go back to using the short forms we switched over like last year to the updated ones that everyone else was also supposed to switch over to but hasn’t yet, and I had to awkwardly be like uhh that’s really not something I have any control of but she could speak with my boss I guess? I was running right into a staff meeting that started a few minutes before we finished up, and I did mention the judge’s comment, and apparently since we have a new clerk of court in cook county she’s apparently been pushing to use the new forms when the old clerk was pretty against doing so, so I think the new one is ruffling some feathers about it, but oh well. staff meeting was fine, once we finished I stayed on the line with my boss for our monthly check in which is kind of new and we had to reschedule like 5 times haha. the introductory stuff was kind of awkward and just some stuff that I feel like I didn’t entirely grasp but I think the jist of it is mostly just to ask for clarification if unsure of some things. but after that we spoke about case questions I had, which ended up being really helpful on a lot of cases going forward, so I was glad we had that taken care of. the rest of the afternoon was chill, at some point I was looking at fb and saw that the family that lives in the apartment below me, the dad had posted that his wife was pregnant with their fourth child, and she had gone into labor this morning two months early, and they lost the baby 2 hours after she was born. Obviously this is such a shock and trauma, and the dad had been one of the first people to reach out after I lost my dad, and I really appreciated it, so I messaged him saying how sorry I was and offered to bring them a meal, so I’m going to make them some broccoli mac and cheese (apparently their kids really like broccoli for some reason) for Friday night. He was saying how hard it was to just even get through the day, and I said if I had learned anything over the past year, it’s that God is truly near to the brokenhearted, and that I would be praying for them and pass it along to my family to pray as well. He’s a religious studies of some sort professor at one of the catholic colleges up here, and we’re always liking each other’s facebook posts about religion, which is nice. after that though and when I was finished with work  I had to go over to the hospital/med center at 5:30 for two MRIs the neurologist wanted me to get (even though we’re fairly sure it’s not really a physical issue), but at 5 the monsta x airbnb thing went live for tickets but there was like 20 of them for who knows how many fans were trying to get them (like, probably in the thousands), and I refreshed the page as soon as hit 5, but when it loaded a second later it was already sold out, so I don’t even know what to make of that. Oh well. After that I ubered over to the med center and received instructions to get to the right place, which was nice that I didn’t end up getting horribly lost or anything lol. Everything was pretty straightforward, they had a list of things you have to check off, and I had to check off that I have a metal plate in my wrist after breaking that in two places and it needing to be repaired, so I listed that, but it was the only thing. Not long afterwards they brought me back to the actual machine, of course my legs were being super shaky and uncooperative trying to get on the thing and the tech was getting concerned haha and I felt bad but oh well. the procedure was fine, just chilled out and tried to stay still, which I was able to do for the most part. after that I was free to leave, so I ubered back home at like 6:20, with our first small group meeting starting at 6:45, I was concerned I was going to be late if the doctors took too long, so I was glad I made it on time. It was a pretty good session, lots of laughs which was nice but also some very deep talk, going in I wasn’t totally sure if I would like it, but I actually do really like it so I’m excited to continue with that. the group is actually called “Swipe right for Jesus” which I really just think is too funny lol. after the group ended, I watched last week’s episode of Chicago Fire that I had missed as they didn’t have a new episode today, then watched the season premiere of The Resident, which was very enjoyable. once that was done I just switched over to the news for a bit and then Jimmy Kimmel, and decided to turn it off around 11 and start getting ready for bed, and now it’s of course just past 1:30 am because time doesn’t actually exist, but I do really need to get to sleep now, so I’m going to do that. Goodnight my friends. Hope your week is treating you well.