#she actually for real does that and its so aggravating

[oowouwuowoo]

like Maybe if her comments weren't repeating EXACTLY WHAT YOU CAME HERE FOR IN THE FIRST PLACE THAT SHE HERSELF DIRECTED YOU TO she would be f i n e . . .

teehee afternote from the tags below lmao

i maxxed out the tags by accident but it ended up being the last one i wanted to put in there anyways... but then i got sad i couldnt add more so that would've been another tag to add but then it wouldn't have been necessary? love that

i do like the posting ui. u can save drafts and it actually keeps ur tags, add the post to the post queue, also can set to post at a specific time/date very cool! there's good colors to choose from too! u can super easily add pictures gifs links audioclips make polls and you can make a break in the page for optional more content for the readers. that could negate the tag thing but we all know there's the shows and book and movies etc. that have a million characters and 30 wouldn't be enough for all the characters LMAOOO

ANYWHOOOOO time to learn how to fix this and get hired at tumblr to sort out the tag situation

also also first post that isn't a repost i think? omg mom look im doing it am i doing it right?

[uchihaharlot]

Soooo, Madara fan is here, thanks for your last head canon about him. ^^

Can I get "what if Madara falls in love with the girl who is much younger than him (let's say he is 35? And she is 18 or 19). 😔🙏

Hello my little Madara nymphomaniac 🥵🥰 I did not forget you!! ❤️‍🩹❤️‍🔥 Sometimes inspiration finds me at awkward times.

NSFW; mild grooming; age gap fuckery; consensual; he brings all the girls to the yard; obsessed.

— Madara is definitely the kind of man to go for green girls. The younger, the better. Though he won’t touch one that’s not an adult. He’s a pervert, not a pedophile.

— It’s not something he seeks out either, these types of situations work best if the girl comes to him. He is always accepting the warmth of a woman, especially if she’s fawning over him and such.

— Absolutely loves, loves, loves fucking them into stupid little babbling idiots. These are the kind of girls who just broke up with their first boyfriend and never had a real man inside of them. Probably never had an actual orgasm until he rearranges their pussy. H O L Y Mackerel, when he does lobotomize them with pleasure.

— Now this particular girl though, she’s fiesty and demanding. Knows what she wants. Rocks the boat just as much as he does. Actually has Madara on edge before he’s even ready to cum. And it’s not that she’s different from most girls her age, but damn if she isn't liquid katon in his palms and on his cock.

— Edging him to his heart and cocks content until he flips her over and fucks her rotten into his mattress. The sounds she makes are sweeter than any sakura tree in bloom. Filling her soft cunt to the brim until she’s panting his name over and over. With no end in sight, they fuck like they had been well acclimated to one another for years.

— At the end of their little tryst, Madara can't decide who is more desperate for more. Him or her? Several rounds ensue until the late early hours of the morning. By the time he wakes up she's gone, which is unusual. Madara will typically spent the next several hours coaxing these young girls out of his bed and off his cock. But her?

— She just door dashed his cock and slipped out under the radar. There's something arousingly unholy about this situation. That unregistered fear of missing out kicks in and, well, he's an Uchiha. They tend to fuck hard and fall fast—usually on their terms, but damn she got him good. How aggravating it is to Madara that the seemingly obtainable has slipped through his fingers. Its not that he really wants her, but he feels slighted by her ability to fuck now and talk later never.

— Ok, maybe he is a bit jaded. More than jaded, actually. Since feelings are like the common cold to an Uchiha, he goes about waiting it out...not today old man. For some reason, it's not his cock that aches for her return, but a deeper throb. One right underneath the ribcage that makes his throat lump up with a sense of forlorn and abandonment. So, with this...uncharacteristic and intrusive as hell mindset. Madara searches for her.

— Elicits the help of friends, under the guise that she stole something valuable of his (his poor Uchiha heart). Which, to him isn't necessarily a lie....but not the full truth. He's mad with lust, would be ignorant enough to call it love almost. But that's too soon. His corneas don't make this any easier, he replays their salacious night together over and over until he has every curve and speckle on her skin memorized. 10/10 jacks off to it.

— When they finally do cross paths again, the unfamiliar squeeze of his heartstrings is nearly as taut as when she had came all over his length those some nights ago. Madara will act as indifferent as he can, but fuck if he doesn't look like dog on the street. Eyes ravaging her fully clothed form as she stands before him.

— If falling into this sort of thing for her is something she will agree to, there is not a single place on this earth she can ever hide that Madara's affections won't follow and swallow her whole. She's basically going to be treated as acting Uchiha royalty, for as long as she is by his side. No other girl dare crosses paths with this woman and Madara is finding his feelings easier to accept than he initially imagined.

[m4xgirlie]

A Surprising Invite

Chapter One - Raela’s POV

hello! this is the first real story piece i’m posting here, and i so hope you enjoy it! word count: 2,246

The lights surrounding the paddock and track of the Las Vegas Formula 1 Grand Prix were astounding at night. Soft mood lighting achieved by carefully placed LED and neon lights surrounded the paddock, tables and hospitality zones shrouded in soft purple tones. As “The Way I Are” by Timbaland blared over the speakers, Raela sat at one of the tables, taking careful sips of a Sea Blue Redbull to attempt at fixing an oncoming headache in hopes that it wasn’t a migraine with a slow onset. As the song shifts to Masove’s cover of “I Will Survive”, she noticed someone walking towards where she sat on a slightly raised patio. Her eyesight grew foggy as a man walked closer, an aura of an impending migraine which caused Raela to groan in annoyance as she blinked rapidly to clear her vision. As she did so, the man approaching chuckled.

“Well, I’ve aggravated people before but I don’t think it’s ever been upon approach.” A deep, slightly strained British accented voice said. Raela realized quickly that she had been staring straight at him as she was trying to right herself. She laughed nervously, offering the stranger a sheepish smile as she hesitantly pulled out one of her earplugs.

“Oh, no, I’m so sorry! I’m not aggravated at all, my eyesight was just doing something weird for a moment and usually when it does it’s kind of a sign of impending doom for me.” Raela laughed out, unsure of how else to explain it without just telling him that she had chronic migraines with aura. He laughed heartily in response, his shoulders visibly relaxing an inch.

“Well, I hate to hear that you’re facing impending doom, but I am glad to know you’re not mad at me for approaching you, especially considering I’m a strange man.” He smiled easily, giving Raela a reassuring feeling. She felt eased at his understanding, and nodded at him. He took that as her permission to continue and his grin widened. “I’m one of the pit stop crew over for Oracle Redbull, my name’s Josh. Myself and some of the other crew noticed your outfit and we wanted to ask if you wanted to take a chance at lookin’ at the chassis?” She stared at him in surprise, looking a bit hesitantly down at her outfit.

“Really…? My… outfit, is what convinced you to walk over here and ask?” Raela asked, a little confused. She noticed her outfit could very much be mistaken as sporting primarily Ferrari’s colors, with a golden yellow colored silk blouse type top, a well fitted red leather jacket, and black jeans with the occasional tear or two down the thighs. The only offset that could mark it as a Redbull themed outfit were the navy blue knee high suede boots that she wore. Josh offered her his own sheepish smile as he scratched the back of his head.

“Well, we were kind of hoping you’d take that as the most logical reason because none of the pit guys wanted to run the risk of embarrassing you in case that neat little specs and stats notebook you have is more of a personal hobby.” Raela immediately began to feel warmth blossom from her chest, creeping up her neck before coating her cheeks as she remembered the amount of people in Redbull uniforms or jackets who were walking behind her earlier as she furiously scribbled down new stats about Lance Stroll’s chassis after it failed during FP3 as well as the specs of the track and its ever evolving texture against the tyres due to public use during the daytime.

“Ah- So uh… One or two of you noticed all of that?” She laughed softly. He nodded and looked up at the woman, looking a little nervous suddenly.

“Actually, to be completely transparent, one or two of us noticed that you were in your own world so we stopped to watch all of that. It was fascinating, especially as you put in your own personal notes about the differences in the teams chassis.” He chuckled deeply, noting how he’d felt as he’d watched her scribble about the differences between Ferrari and Toro Rosso or between Alpine and Williams, but particularly about the difference between Redbull and McLaren, as they were the contending teams for the championship title. “We want to see what you think about the Redbull chassis in person, and if there’s anything you think we could tweak. Sometimes fans have wild ideas that turn out to be just what we need.” He explains further. Raela nibbled gently on her lower lip, reaching up to take the claw clip out from under her hair before absentmindedly scratching the back of her head where it had been sitting, then pulling her wavy blue-ish black hair back into the claw clip ponytail she sported, as using claw clips instead of ponytail holders was a way she had found to mitigate some of the migraines. As she finished this small process, she looked down at Josh.

“If I didn’t take this opportunity, I’d be genuinely insane.” Raela grinned, grabbing her notebook and the small purse she carried with her, gently standing from her chair and descending the few steps of the patio. She walked over to Josh, realizing she was much shorter than him than she originally thought. Standing at 5’7”, she only stood to Josh’s chin, making him well over 6’. As the pair walked to the Oracle Redbull pit zone, she wondered softly to herself if everyone on the pit team would be so tall. But once they approached, she noticed the pit and tech teams weren’t the only ones there.

Max Verstappen stood to the side, leaning against the wall with his head back and his eyes closed, arms crossed over his chest. As she observed, she was unsure if he was asleep standing up, or simply just trying to relax. As she came closer, she saw Sergio Checo Perez sitting on the couch, elbows resting on his knees as he stared out in front of him. Josh grinned and called out to the two racers.

“Max, Sergio! This lovely woman is invited to take a look at the chassis, but I need to go look at something right fast. Take care of her for a second, yeah?” Josh asked, causing Raela to squeak and look up at him suddenly, her heart rate rising as anxiety clawed at the vulnerable muscle. Facing a pit crew is easy, they don’t have their faces plastered everywhere. To face her two biggest heroes amongst the F1 circuit? She quickly schooled her features, slipping into the facade she carefully constructs during her day job as a paralegal. An easy smile slips into place, covering the shock that had flashed momentarily as she held out her hand for each man to shake.

“Raela Perenzi, most of my friends call me Rye, it’s a complete honor to meet both of you.” She gently quips, her tone surprisingly level as she tries to hide the shakiness of her hands. Max smiles gently at her, noticing the hesitance in her posture. He takes her outstretched hand, giving it a warm squeeze as he does so. If Raela wasn’t mistaken, she would swear he gasped slightly as their hands linked, his eyes widening slightly. She felt uncertain that she could tell as well as she usually would against the haze of a headache and anxiety, so she swiftly dropped the idea as she released Max’s hand. As Sergio grasped Raela’s hand, she could see the exhaustion coating his features.

“You look like you need something to drink. If you’d like, I can go grab you some water right quick?” She offered, her need to help people overpowering her anxiety. Sergio scoffed slightly, smiling warmly at the woman in front of him.

“You are a guest, you shouldn’t run errands for drivers. Enjoy your time here.” He said as their hands released. Raela grinned, seemingly to herself before walking purposefully to the back of the pit zone, grabbing a cup off of the side of a cooler, and filling it with water. She gently carried it back to Sergio before softly tapping his shoulder with it.

“This guest just had the random honor of meeting two of the greatest racers in the world. If I have a chance to run even simple errands for you two during downtime, it’s a chance I’ll take.” Raela spoke softly, pushing meaning into her voice. He smiled up at her and took the water, nodding at her in gratitude. Max started laughing softly, looking over at her.

“You’re a lot more level headed than most fans would be right now.” He smirked up at her, looking at Raela through his lashes, head at a slight tilt. This caused her to giggle lightly.

“Yeah, that’s courtesy of a great day job mask that forcibly blocks out even an ounce of social anxiety.” Max started laughing even harder, causing her to grin as he found the humor in her remark. Sergio and Max both noticed as she visibly relaxed even further, her stance seeming to become more fluid as one arm hung at her side, the other relaxing with a thumb looped into her pants pocket.

��So Raela, how long have you been watching F1?” Sergio piped in. She looked down at the man on the couch next to her as she smiled at him.

“Oh, for as long as I can remember honestly. I found it one day while my mom was scrolling channels looking for the morning cartoons I usually watched. When I heard the first zings of the engines passing the cameras and then the different pitches as the drivers dropped their clutch or switched gears, I was just enraptured. I wouldn’t let my mom change the channel again. I think I was maybe 3 or 4?” She recounted, remembering fondly the first F1 race she ever saw on television.

“I hate to be rude, but how old are you now?” Max asks her, his tone gentle. Raela could feel the warmth in her cheeks returning, hoping her answer doesn’t shock the two men in front of her.

“I’m 21, about to be 22 just before the start of the 2025 season.” She responds quietly, scratching at the nape of her neck. Max and Sergio look at each other with visible surprise, and almost something else in Max’s eyes. Raela looks between the two warily.

“Am I missing something?” The hesitance is heavy in her voice as her throat starts to feel tight.

“I genuinely thought you were only 16. You looked incredibly young.” Sergio responds immediately, looking back at Raela. Upon hearing this, she can’t seem contain the almost cackle like laughter that bursts from her chest.

“Oh, well thank you!! But no, I’m 21 and actually a single mother, so I will absolutely take 16 as a compliment right now.” She sighs, relaxing again. She looked around for a moment, starting to wonder where Josh had ran off to, slightly eager to look at the chassis. Max must have noticed, as she heard him speak up.

“Looking for Josh?” He asked. She could hear a soft smirk in his voice, wondering about it for a moment before responding.

“Yeah I am. He said he and some of the other crew members wanted me to take a look at and maybe offer suggestions about the chassis.” She mutters absentmindedly, starting to notice other details of the Oracle Redbull garage. The subtle navy blues with streaks of gold and red swiping their ways over the walls, the shelves with picture frames and water bottles, even the way the floor was impeccably clean.

“He actually asked you over here cause he was curious about you.” Sergio quips, pointing at Max upon the second ‘he’, smirking to himself. Max choked on the water he was drinking, glaring at his teammate as he coughed harshly. Raela snorted shortly, rolling her eyes at Sergio.

“Yeah right. Max Verstappen, 27 year old most badass dutchman who drives for Oracle Redbull Racing in Formula 1 asked for a member of his pit crew to invite me, Raela Perenzi, 21 year old kind of american who’s simply a single mom and paralegal to the pit zone so he could meet her. If that’s reality, I must be living in a Tumblr fan-fiction. Nice prank, Checo.” She sighs, a soft smile on her lips as she continues to look around. She could hear Max clear his throat behind her, a few moments passing before he speaks.

“He was telling the truth.” The seriousness in his voice made her pause in her careful examination of the room. Raela slowly turned to look at him, her eyes wide as she openly stared. She turned to look at Sergio, who nods at her.

“You mean that.” She says, her voice flat and blunt as she looks back over to Max. He seemed to hesitate for only a moment before he responded.

“I saw you and thought you looked extremely interesting, and found myself wanting to know you.” He says, his voice light. She paused, taken aback by his candor. He continued on after a moment. “Let me get your number? I’d like to get to know you.” He asks, a softness in his tone that sounded somewhat like hope. Raela took a moment to think on it, surprised that this was happening to her. After a moment, she begins to nod slowly to herself.

“You get my number.” She said, pausing to watch his face light up with an excited grin before she continued. “On one condition. I get to look at the chassis with you showing me everything.” She says, her voice thick with finality as she smirks at him. This causes him to laugh a little bit before nodding, walking over to her and passing her his phone before taking the lead towards his chassis. She saved her number amongst his contacts, excited to see where this would go.

[see-arcane]

Sorry, I told myself I was gonna stop pestering you with Hellsing asks, but I have one more question I have a deep, burning desire to know:

Does Integra give Jonathan a real room or is he forced to sleep in the sub-levels with Seras and Alucard?

(ps, Merry White-Haired-Eucharist-Burn-Holiest-Love)

And a Happy Burning-Eyed Knife-Swingingmas to you <3

Since Jonathan is technically not a combatant (at first) I imagine he’s given one of the regular above ground rooms. Even when he gets in on the action, he probably keeps that space for Integra’s peace of mind if nothing else—wouldn’t want him getting tempted while Alucard is asleep and unaware of the kukri coming for his neck. Plus, like Walter, he can pass easily for just a polite civilian if someone important actually passed through. No secret cryptid soldier here, nope, just a guy cosplaying as a Victorian.

Though I imagine Jonathan is almost as uncomfortable with this as the alternative. Here he is in a pretty room in a place he can’t leave (this time due to time traveler entrapment) while ‘Dracula’ lurks below, waiting for nightfall before ambling up to bother him. And he probably chafes A Lot at Seras literally being boxed away in the basement.

“She and Alucard are our greatest assets, Mr. Harker. Provided they are given what they need,” said through a veil of cigar smoke. “Subterranean darkness does more for them than sunlight does for us. And her room is no less furnished than yours, if that’s the concern.”

My concern is that she was not given a choice. In any of this. One moment she was alive and human and the next a needless bullet has gone through her and her only hope is undead servitude. I haven’t missed that she refers to Alucard only as Master. Is that her choice? Or part of the condition? Did you even ask her what she wanted when she arrived here or did you just hand her a weapon and a box in the cellar and tell her to get to work, knowing she couldn’t say no?

“Mr. Harker?”

“No, Sir Hellsing. It isn’t my concern.”

“Glad we agree.”

So, yeah. Jonathan is maybe chafing against a lot of status quos in the Hellsing universe. But he does go out of his way to befriend Seras and treat her as more than comic relief or a tagalong as a result. And even if his room stays upstairs, he will brave the basement and the aggravation of its older tenant if it means greeting the other.

…though I imagine there’s some angst fodder lurking down there too. Especially if Alucard proudly shows off the cell where the Hellsing family kept him chained, experimented on, or left to rot in isolation until he needed dusting off for a fight. Cheery stuff. And perhaps a touch more disillusioning even before the mess in Brazil happens.

[anonymous-chicken-was-taken]

What the Ace Attorney Villains Could Get Charged With (to the best of my research) (in America laws)

Game One

!Disclaimer! I know nothing about law take this with a grain of salt I was just bored.

Frank Sahwit

Burglary - This one is obvious. He was a thief. He stole stuff. How many charges exactly depends on how many he admits to or can be traced back to him.

Breaking and entering - At least one charge from Cindy's case, potentially more depending on any other burglary charges.

Assault and battery - Hitting Cindy with the Thinker. The assault may or may not be aggravated depending on whether it was technically intended to be used in a way that would readily and likely cause death.

Second-degree murder - This one could potentially be brought down to voluntary manslaughter. It depends whether he intended to kill Cindy when he hit her, and if he was in enough emotional distress that hitting her would be semi-justifiable.

Incrimination - In pinning the blame on Larry, he did this.

Fraud - Even if pretending to be a newspaper salesman to steal from people didn't constitute fraud, Payne stated this as his job. This means he lied about his job to the court by saying he was a newspaper salesman. Which is fraud.

Perjury

Redd White

Incrimination - This is when he tried to frame Maya, and when he shifted the blame on Phoenix. This may lead to two charges.

Obstruction of justice - In incriminating Maya, he tampered with the crime scene. Plus, blackmailing a judge is probably illegal and probably falls under this.

Corruption - He was a corporate official, which makes some of this other stuff constitute corruption, mostly the blackmail.

Blackmail - Speaking of, he could be faced with countless charges of this, depending how much could be tied back to him.

Assault and battery - Punching someone in the face multiple times is illegal, kids. So is hitting someone on the head. If Frank gets aggravated for the thinker, so does he. Phoenix's assault probably wasn't aggravated, though, as I doubt his rings/fists would be ruled a deadly weapon considering the intent.

Intimidation - His threat for an "accident" to happen to Phoenix is more than enough to be considered a threat of violence.

First-degree murder - His murder of Mia was completely premeditated. There's little he can do about this.

Criminal threat - Threatening to injure or kill someone is bad. And using flowery language like "accident" doesn't negate it.

Wiretapping - While he didn't actually put the wiretap there, it can be inferred he ordered it. This makes it conspiracy, so there is some shared guilt.

Conspiracy - The wiretapping was a joint effort between him and April. He may try to claim otherwise, but its degree of success is debatable.

Workplace abuse - It's a real good sign when your secretary fears you murdering her like you did to that defense attorney a couple days ago, Redd, I'm sure you could never get in legal trouble for that.

Perjury

Dee Vasquez

Racketeering - Oftentimes, people in organized crime are automatically found guilty of this. This being charging someone for a service they haven't requested (think mafia "protection").

Blackmail - This one is also pretty obvious. Jack Hammer.

Obstruction of justice - This is her tampering with the crime scene when she moved the body. Also potentially when she tried to kill a lawyer involved with the case.

Attempted murder - By proxy, two charges, when she ordered her goons to kill Phoenix and Maya.

Voluntary manslaughter - Hammer was trying to kill her, she's got that justified self-defense plea. Not that it matters much, because...

Countless other mafia-related charges - We don't know the exact details of her mafia connections, but she's entrenched enough to have goons. We can safely say she did a lot of illegal stuff in organized crime.

Intimidation - Mafia goons trying to kill you is pretty intimidating. That and the threats of erasure.

Criminal threat - See above threats of erasure.

Conspiracy - She works together with Sal Manella in the obstruction of justice.

Perjury

Manfred von Karma

Forgery - He's known to forge evidence constantly.

Obstruction of justice - See above. Plus, tazing lawyers and stealing their evidence is pretty frowned upon. So is intimidating witnesses.

Assault and battery - The evidence room fiasco. Potentially aggravated depending on the actual voltage of the tazer and if he lied about it or not, but given they didn't die, probably not.

Theft - He stole evidence from the evidence room.

Intimidation - Brandishing a taser at someone is generally considered this.

Corruption - Being a government official, most if not all this stuff constitutes corruption.

Incrimination - Due to his conspiracy with Yogi, he is guilty of attempting to frame Miles by proxy.

First-degree murder - He sees a gun and a man he doesn't like in the elevator, and he does think about it before doing it. Thus, it is premeditated and first-degree. Also, given his conspiracy with Yogi, he may also be guilty of murdering Hammond by proxy.

Child abuse - Both Miles and Franziska could push for this, even just with what we have explicitly stated. Depending on interpretation and how poor of a guardian he was, this charge could have some serious ground to stand on.

Emotional abuse - Pretty much the same hat as the child abuse charge, only less uncertain.

Criminal threat - I don't know what you want from me, man. He threatens everyone all the time.

Torture - I haven't played investigations yet, but from what I'm looking at, he psychologically tortured a guy, so. That's pretty non Geneva convention certified of him, even if this isn't a war.

Workplace abuse - Again, this is hearsay because investigations, but he's pretty crappy to his subordinates, it seems.

Solicitation - He heavily encourages Yogi to kill Hammond and frame Miles.

Conspiracy - He provides Yogi with the means to kill Hammond, so while there is technically no mutual agreement, he's also guilty of this.

Perjury

Damon Gant

Corruption - As a government official, a great deal of his crimes constitute corruption.

Forgery - A great portion of the conflict of his case comes from the forged evidence he made.

Obstruction of justice - Most of the rest of the conflict of his case comes from the evidence he withheld.

Blackmail - Quite a severe case of it, at that. Multiple years against a single person is nothing to sneeze at.

Incrimination - That's what it was when he made it look like Ema killed Neil.

First-degree murder - He thought about killing Neil long enough to consider the pros and cons of doing so, and went through with it. That's pretty premeditated. A good lawyer may be able to get him down to second degree for Goodman, but it's highly doubtful considering.

Conspiracy - He had Lana hide Goodman's body, and while there was blackmail involved, there was still a mutual agreement. Thus, conspiracy.

Concealment of death - There are a few different names for this, but it's when he had Lana hide Goodman's body. It was unsuccessful, but there were still significant steps taken to have it happen on both their parts, so he may get a partial sentence.

Criminal threat - He makes so many threats.

Workplace abuse - I think using a pipe organ to punish your employees violates some international laws or something. Speaking of which...

Torture - Of the audio variety. Seriously this guy is the police how did this fly for so long that is BAD.

Vigilantism - This is actually very interesting. Despite the fact that he is a member of law enforcement and Joe Darke did kill multiple people, he still used illegal means to bring him to some form of justice. Depending on how much he wanted Darke convicted, it could be argued that his actions constitute vigilantism.

Assault and battery - One case of assault against Goodman, and two charges of battery against Neil and Goodman. Assault is the threat of violence and the means to follow through, and battery is the actual act of violence; seeing as Neil was unconscious, he could not have been threatened. The assault was aggravated, as a knife is a deadly weapon.

Perjury

GAME TWO

[reikunrei]

Omg thank you for your post about El!! That theory is fun and all but I can't believe people think it has any chance of happening in the show. It would amount to a "it was all a dream" ending, people who hate it, and most of all, as you said it wouldn't make sense. I wonder what you think El's ending is going to be, staying true to the themes of the show? I have no idea what they're going to do with her character and I'm really curious to find out. There's also that video of Millie saying she saw her character's ending and thought "ooohh" and walked away slowly. I feel like dying isn't a good choice but then she's just going to be living her life with her friends and her new found family? That seems too... simple. I'm curious to know your thoughts!

yeah, it's a theory that really drives me up a wall because it sequesters el into this "she's not actually important at all" role, which is just... shitty. for all their flaws, the duffers have a pretty good track record when it comes to writing strong female characters (for the most part), and so it feels just wildly out of character for them to pull the rug out from under el and say "oh, she wasn't actually real the entire time" (whether that be for will-based or mike-based manifestation theories. in both (or any) cases, it pushes her into a position of solely aiding her male counterparts and undoing everything handled in her own personal arc. thus: misogyny).

like you said, it really does feel akin to the "it was all a dream" types of storylines, which the duffers have explicitly scoffed at and said is not what's happening. so like, even if it wouldn't completely undermine the story as it's been presented to us thus far, we have more-or-less solid confirmation that it wouldn't be the basis of st5's conclusion, straight from the horse's mouth.

the only time "it's all fake/it's not real" really comes into play (from what we've seen) is regarding stuff with the lab and, specifically, the mf and henry. the "it's all just a dream" stuff is already explicitly presented to us as a bad thing, or not the solution and rather part of the problem. even as it specifically ties to el, nina is something that's largely or entirely fabricated (even if it has real anchor points), and while she comes out of it having regained her powers, that's very likely not the only goal of nina (but i won't get into that here, that's something james talks about a lot in his upcoming thesis post) and the unreality of it all is much more nefarious than it's been presented as thus far.

i mean, even thinking about st2 and will facing the mf as if it's not real/just a nightmare that he can tell to "go away"... only to have that trust in unreality be his whole undoing? like... it just doesn't make sense to me to make "she's not real" a conclusion when every single bit of unreality we've seen thus far has only aggravated things.

and i know i said this in the tags of that post earlier, but just to bring it to the forefront here... it really confuses me to have el's arc be about being different, being an outsider, and feeling like she doesn't belong because she's weird or "the monster"... only to say she should just be shut away forever or killed because of it? like... just say you think "undesirable" weird people should be separated from society and be done with it.

it's the antithesis of the entire show. stranger things, at its core, since the beginning, has been about society's outcasts trying to find their place in the world and accepting their "freak" side and not trying to "fit in." our introduction of henry has explicitly furthered this idea by putting the burden of accommodation on society, not on the individual. and i'd be shocked if they had her reach a point where she felt like she couldn't find a place in the world when we already see that she's more than capable of fostering a comfortable environment with her friends. it's too much like just... giving up, to go the route of "she's not real."

as for what i think the end of her story will be... i have no idea LOL i don't feel confident enough in anything to put down something concrete here. basically, i just don't think it's going to be something akin to "she's a figment of someone's imagination" or was "created" by one of the other characters. she has her own story, her own history, her own life. i don't know what millie could have been reacting to, but i wouldn't be shocked if it was less so "el's ending" and more so something about answering the question of who she really is. so... less of "what's her last scene on the show" and more just... generally figuring out what her whole deal is, you know? because there's still a lot of holes in her past that need filling.

so i guess an answer i can give here, which is definitely wishful thinking, is that i believe the way her story is "wrapped up" will revolve around learning who her parents really are and the actual history of her life (ie. she's not actually jane ives, one of the henries is her parent in some way shape or form, perhaps even brenner is her biological father in some way, etc.), while also touching on the truth of what happened in the lab in 1979 and forward/figuring out just how messy the order of events presented in nina was. like, i firmly believe that the ending of her arc will involve having to come to terms with some really harsh truths about herself and her lineage, and finally wrap up the whole "monster vs superhero" argument she's had going on in her head. so i do think she'll get her "happy life" with her new family and friends, it'll just be a very messy road to get there.

which ties very neatly into some of the overall themes of the show: that sometimes good people do bad things, bad people do good things, not everything is black and white, and the answer to everything is love, compassion, and understanding, even when someone does something "monstrous."

anyway. thank you for giving me a reason to talk about this more and sorry for rambling LOL this stuff just gets me heated!! it annoys me to no end to see characters constantly shoved into the position of "supporting byler" at the expense of their own arcs, and it especially stings for me when it's done to el. especially because i'm in the camp of, if the show had to pick a singular main character, it would be el. she's the tie between the outside world and the lab. she's the one person who helps to really keep everything together and offer answers. so it just feels wildly counterintuitive to essentially give all of that to someone else and make her an expendable middleman.

[doubledyke]

I think that in "domestic stuff" Edd will torture Eddy. Eddy isn't a slob, but he's a lot more relaxed about it, while Edd obsessed with cleanliness and organization. I think Double D would criticize Edd for everything, including the fact that Eddy likes to buy all sorts of aesthetic “trash.” And if they work together, then Double D will probably nag often too. In short, Eddy will have a hard time if he lives with Double D :D

edd? an uptight nag? say it ain't so...

i agree that they'd BOTH have some things to work on preferably before, but definitely after they move in together. by the time they're at that point in their relationship eddy would have a pretty clear idea of what to expect living with eddward. he's seen the guy's room. and he knows how he gets when he's stressed: the nagging, the nervous chatter, the theatrics. he'd be lying if he said he didn't find it a little endearing. i don't think eddy is a total slob either but yeah he's got his habits. he'll gain a new appreciation for his mother, realizing just how much stuff she did for him that he never noticed. and he's gonna realize quickly that it's a lot easier to just not procrastinate on chores if he doesn't want to listen to edd's yapper. i don't think it'd take him long to pick up better habits. like in my fair ed, but this time it's for real.

shoes + shoe rack = happy edd

dish + sink = happy edd

clothes + hamper = happy edd

simple math.

he's not just doing it for edd though, he wants a neat space too. he's just more the type to clean when it gets gross rather than maintaining on a daily basis. edd's quick to remind him of the microscopic nature of germs.

the aggravation does go both ways. edd's not the way he is for funsies. clutter and filth make his skin crawl and he legitimately cannot relax in an unkempt space. i like to imagine edd getting hit with a reality check when he moves out to go to college and has to share a space with someone who's actually there regularly. he'd be shocked to learn how little importance most people place on tidiness. especially his level of tidiness.

anyway, he fears that his home with eddy could easily start looking like eddy's parents' - 'packrats' whose empty nest is slowly starting to fill back up - unless he keeps a strict inventory binder and cleaning schedule for all household items and areas, separated by category, and color coded with the use of-

as far as the decor, again, he saw eddy's room as a kid, he knows what to expect. i'm sure there would be items that edd would veto outright, like those tawdry leg lamps, or any non-insect taxidermy. and the dusting of so many kitschy antiques in a room containing more than its fair share of velvet upholstery would be a nightmare. buuuut he agreed to let eddy do the decorating, so i think he'd try his very hardest to keep any snide remarks to a maximum of 2 per day... it's one of many things that edd has to learn to cope with. eddy's made a million concessions for him too, after all.

[crummblycakkes]

I'm back twst tumblr with somewhat of a profile for this au (twst as god intended: criminals and villains) warning because I think this is a LOT of text

In this au, Night Raven College is a sort of juvenile detention to hold the worst of the worst: powerful mages that cannot be contained elsewhere. It's placement is on Sage Island, where no one can leave, but also coincidentally only half an island away from the top school in all of Twisted Wonderland: Royal Sword Academy

Though it's purpose is to hold and rehabilitate and continue to teach the boys stuck in nrc, the schools budget has deteriorated so much due to having to pay for building damages that it can no longer pay for real therapists and good teachers

That's where rsa comes in! this year, rsa has established a volunteer program for it's students where they will go to nrc as staff and hopefully help its poor students think about improving their lives

it ends up being way more chaotic than they expect...

So we're starting with:

Heartslabyul!

Riddle Rosehearts has two attempted murder charges, one being against a magicless human and the other being against a trained magician (his mother, celebrate! ms rosehearts almost died!) and a couple of theft charges

To get a better grasp on the situation that lead him there, Riddle actually meets Trey when he's 15 instead of 8, ms rosehearts finds out and gets trey sentenced to night raven on false charges, leading riddle to look for ways to rebel even harder

so he moved on to theft, things like small convenience store stuff that he could fit into his pockets, one time snatching a box of cigarettes an employee forgot to put away after someone wanted to see them

that's where he got the smoking habit. it felt good to break rules, doing stuff his mother would be appaled by

"how does he get cigarettes at nrc?" azul.

he gets caught and freaks out, gravely injuring an innocent employee and running home in panic

his mother is upset because she didn't even know he snuck out and now she's finding out he's stealing and hurting people, they get into a fight, the authorities come in to see Riddle being very aggressive and take him in

he doesn't like his red hair and dyed it blue the same week he became housewarden (dye from azul again) and his uniforms are oversized because I like the detail that his gym uniform is oversized

Trey Clover, like I said before, attended night raven on fake charges at first but when he was released and returned home he was jittery and nervous all the time

no one knows what happened, but one slow day at the bakery a fight breaks out and treyy is the only standing with 15 people on the ground, all injured

he claimed he didn't do it at first, but layer changed his story to being self defense, but he was carted back to night raven again

he tries to be good but it's really hard when everyone else are actual rowdy evil people and are willing to commit actual crimes for malleus draconia

design wise I wanted him to look like a bit of a nerd

I like Cater a lot but also wanted to spice up his design a little.

in Canon he's against magicam monsters but here? he's the magicam monster boss. he's lost all his sense of self and dignity just for pictures. he's sold pictures of Vil Schoenheit to tabloids before

specifically his crimes are loitering and stalking and breaking and entering and using his magic to get away with it

Rook calls him the chasseur de bonheur here, he likes to take pictures of people smiling and being happy, which would be good if he were some sort of street photographer doing candid shots with consent but he's not

no one knows where he got the camera and film (it was azul)

Deuce the baby. he's here for normal delinquent stuff and aggravated assault on a magicless human

he really wants to get better, he's just normal deuce spade

wears his bow crooked because he doesn't really know how to tie one perfectly yet and he would like to take the piercings off but people seem to like them

Ace almost didn't get in but he's shoplifter an accumulated 10k from stores including alcohol using his wind magic, so he qualified

it hasn't really sinked in yet that he's in here he's having normal teenager fun

Alan Rabbithole, the volunteer from rsa

not a girl not a boy but a secret third thing (anxious mess)

he's already regretting his decision tye moment he sees chainsmoker riddle and wonders if it's even worth it to get him to stop

[jackienautism]

I just saw that post about your thoughts on the counselors and I'm curious, have there been any major changes since then?

i just skimmed the post youre talking abt (i write a lot huh) but honestly? i haven't had TOO many major changes since. JUST REALIZED ITS COMING UP TO AYEAR SINCE I POSTED IT IN MAY? THATS SO CRAZY TO ME WTF but anyway

nvm ill read through exactly what i said. the post is here btw

dylan: still pretty much the same opinion as back then LMAO i did have a more recent convo abt dylan (which def changed some thoughts abt him. esp related to his potential adhd and lack of a filter) but i stilll don't like him, sorry

nick: same thoughts as before honestly. i still think he doesn't deserve abi in the slightest. and his involvement w/ emma's dare still makes me very upset, ESP when the fanbase refuses to acknowledge his involvement in it lol. i dont doubt that racism comes into play w/ nick and his whole lack of a story and such, but i jut. i cant stand him

jacob: i take back the flip flop thing btw. i lowkey cant stand him. but to be honest:? ive gotten WAAAY less tolerant of male characters in general lately. and jacob is not exempt from this lol. i have yet to play TQ again (it's been quite a bit) but! maybe after we play tonight things will change. ill prob rb again if things do

ryan: HOWEVER. DO YOU KNOW /IS/ EXEMPT FROM MY "I HATE ALL MALE CHARACTERS" MINDSET? RYAN ERZAHLER. 100%. i love him lots and ppl r very mean to him fo r no reason. i talked abt this briefly in my angourie!cady post but just. when characters show certain autistic traits that YOU ALL cant deal w/ or understand, suddenly theyre a shitty person? they don't care abt their friends? theyre boring? KILLS YOU

max: he also is a pretty respectable guy to me i love you max. but as i said originally. i dont rly think abt him much

emma: she def had the biggest shift for me while playing the game for the first time!!!!! but in terms of like. if anything changed from when i wrote the original note? i dont rly think so tbh. reread waht i wrot eback then it rly makes it seem like i hate her 😭😭😭😭😭 I PROMISE I DONT..... I ACTUALLY LOVE HER SO MUCH...... SHE MEANS A LOT TO ME....... i just cant stand how she acts towards abi sometimes. def my biggest criticism of her. but at the same time. i understand WHY she acts the way she does. she means sooo muchto me. and esp seeing all your talk abt autistic emma? i just think that makes sooo much sense fo rher.and i LOVE it so much

kaitlyn: i dont even feel lik e going throuhg it all but. i feel like she may have gotten a little lower since i wrote that post? just bc i tjhink toooo many ppl think shes better than she actually is bc of her association w/ dylan? it pisses me off sooooo bad. and ive made posts abt this before but like. her character in general still aggravates me 😭 and i DO still stand by what i said in that og post. theres jsut... shes not that complex sorry guys. esp compared to EMILY? lLIKE. i know its unfair to compare the 2 but its pretty damn obvious that thye were going for another emily in kaitlyn lmao and they FAILED. MISERABLY

abi: oh.. abi oh abi i love you. i still hold her so close to me. she is so me for real (beats anyone up who says tjhat she's Them) i mean who said that

laura: LOVE U LAURA!!!!!!!!! i still dont have like TOO many in depth thouhgts abt her but just. know ever since i began roleplaying as her shes become THAT much more beloved and :] i love you girl

THAJK YOU FOR SENIDNG THIS IN!!!! AND SORRY FOR TAKING A BIT TO ANSWER

[foxglves]

mt19 musings again. I've decided that I'm gatekeeping so hard. you all need to stop talking about him right meow unless you can accept the true and real perspective (my perspective). stop sanitizing and misinterpreting my problematic fave. he is the worst person on earth and that is specifically why I am so obsessed with him. none of his charm and charisma and endearing traits off the ice would hit the same if he wasn't such an asshole on the ice. his style of play is impressive because he makes these insane and creative plays and racks up points and does all of that while pissing off his opponents 24/7 with purpose and intention. sometimes I sympathize more with his haters than (certain genres of) his fans because at least they get ittt. like he's so fucking annoying but to mee and the enlightened girlies thats his appeal. one man's hes so obnoxious >:( is another man's he so obnoxious <3. I'm actually offended on his behalf he puts way too much work into being fucked up and aggravating for all of you to IGNORE it like this. like what do you mean his pest reputation is undeserved he fought for that reputation. I've JOKED about the pest reputation being undeserved why are there people out there saying that unironically. you have to accept that he's a little bitch if you want to be a fan long story short if you can't handle him at his week long suspensions you don't deserve him at his stanley cup finalist TBH!!!!

^ girl that saw one post about a player she likes that was slightly incorrect and is going on a deranged rant about it. ostensibly all lighthearted. the flanderization of his more palatable traits does annoy me though and its been worse than usual lately. such is the curse of beautiful famous talented people

[zahri-melitor]

Oh my god, Gotham Knights #26. I’m screaming, crying, throwing up.

Just this. This is so damn crunchy. It’s a reminder that the core of the post-Crisis Batfamily revolves around the dynamics and dance of tensions between Dick, Babs and Tim, and how each of them relate to Bruce.

Dick’s on the upswing of his relationship with Bruce, after the adoption and the two of them hammering a bunch of issues out.

Tim’s at a low point where he’s been frozen out and deliberately hurt. Bruce revealed his identity to Steph! Plus Alfred, who’s been staying with him to punish Bruce, had just announced he’s going back to the manor, leaving Tim even more alone.

Babs is in one of her “I’m here for the rest of you; Bruce is aggravating me by being high handed again” phases (admittedly that’s…her default position unlike the other two).

And wow does the way the three of them negotiate the debate over “did Bruce kill someone” just show off both their best and worst character traits (and also they’re all acting way more adult than Bruce, which isn’t a surprise, but what can you do).

Tim and Dick talk! Tim worries Dick is a jumper! They find out they have different opinions on Did Bruce Do It!

(I just want to EAT UP the implication that Tim is worried that Dick might be about to attempt suicide over the fact Bruce killed someone, especially just after the whole ‘killing Joker’ situation)

Dick is Extremely Offended Tim might think Bruce Did It. So what does he do? Go off to talk it through with Babs.

Babs gives Dick the reality check that Bruce has been in one of his push-everyone-away loner modes again and that Dick off in Blüdhaven isn’t having to face it personally, but Batman isn’t even patrolling with Robin right now. Also that Tim’s experiences with Bruce are necessarily different to Dick’s.

When suddenly… Tim arrives to ALSO thrash this conversation out with Babs (They are such mirrors of each other I swear).

Dick takes the opportunity to try and touch base with Tim and find common ground, leading to one of the best/most devastating pages of the Dick & Tim relationship at this point.

Dick is trying to make his baby brother feel safe. Dick would do anything for Tim. Tim however is all too aware of how hollow this promise is, as well meaning as the sentiment is, because they’ve lost people before. (And as I noted, Dick’s actually still in a GOOD cycle with Bruce while Tim really isn’t)

Which leads to THIS angst.

Tim believes in Dick. He can get by just trusting in the detective work he’s been taught and knowing that Dick holds to the Code (and we are LITERALLY only 3 months real time on since Last Laugh, Tim you have phenomenal levels of belief in Dick). Dick however, has that same level of trust in BRUCE, and so can’t cope with Tim not also feeling that way.

(And then Dick goes off to cry to Alfred because he also needed reassurance)

God I love all three of them so much it’s hard to describe. They’re so functional together even when they’re fighting as they all, at their core, trust each other implicitly.

(Alfred and Leslie have some very meaty conversations together and apart also in this, when Gotham Knights was on its game it was one of the best Bat books out there)

Finally: Babs is not having a great time here either, as she’s having to coordinate and run the investigation on Vesper Fairchild’s murder without any assistance from the primary suspect.

Working out some anger issues there, Babs? (Robin #99)

[blackfemmecharacterdependency]

They Should Have Never Given You the Word “Queerbait”

It’s been 5 years and I’m still thinking about this, so now I am going to vent a bit. I hate when there is a Black female protagonist who is queer coded and seemingly in a slow burn setting, and the viewers flag it as queerbait and disengage.

I feel like I have seen so many shows where people can take a character who is never even suggestively queer and nit pick even the smallest glimmers to validate reading them as such and they will be able to ship and create and support all of the ways this is a queer character and trust the writers to possibly give more. 

But, when there are Black women in these areas, it falls down as soon as they aren’t given overt displays of wlw actions. I said its been 5 years, because I’m specifically thinking about Kiss Me First, but I also want to hit on Crazyhead, while I’m here because I feel like it got paid the same treatment in this regard. And both of those shows had such good writing, and as a Black queer woman WITH mental illness, both of these characters spoke to me and seeing them have potential for love stories for wlw stories was so rewarding, only to see the journey get bashed and the shows get cancelled. 

So. Let me talk a minute. Starting with Kiss Me First.  If you haven’t already watched it, you probably aren’t going to, so I’m not sparing potential “spoilers,” as I’ve said, its been 5 years.

Kiss Me First centers around this dynamic of an orphan, Leila, who recently lost her mom and is getting attached to a woman, Tess, that she met in this computer universe, who she also has befriended irl. Leila and Tess start off with some mystery, as you can’t tell what Tess’ intentions are for this woman, but you see very early on that Leila doesn’t necessarily trust people that are in Tess’ life. When Leila realizes that the person who Tess seems to care about the most is a dangerous and manipulative person, she does everything that she can to protect her.

The criticisms of the show were that people were “queerbaited” with the relationship between them because of the romantic and sexual relationships that these characters had with men and not with each other...

This is what is frustrating to me: So much of this series is realistic, INCLUDING the story arcs where these women are in relationships with men that don’t really serve them best. Real life queer people frequently have relationships with partners that they don’t really belong with before finding the love that they had been seeking. But, the moment it happens in media, especially with a Black woman, it is unbearable for audiences. They gotta see her eating box, or it ain’t real.

And it’s aggravating, because there is this fairy tale happening in which Leila literally is on a quest to save Tess. She knows that this guy is dangerous and her entire goal becomes making sure she rescues Tess from him. He lifts Tess on a pedestal and makes her feel like she is the most important person, but he is actually an abuser and preying upon this group that idolizes him, so Leila spends episodes working to get Tess out of his grasp.

In the end, they aren’t IN a queer relationship, but she has absolutely freed Tess and Tess is helping her to escape being framed by the enemy. They are “friends,” but if you have a queer eye, and are not racist, you’d be able to see that this is and was the entire time a fucking love story between these two women! If anything, they tossed in some dudes for the straights to pay attention. I’m livid every time somebody suggests that Kiss Me First is queerbait. To you, but not my Black, gay, bipolar ass. I loved it. I wanted to see them flourish. I wanted to be given the payoff, yes. But, I loved being able to see a beautiful love story between two fucked up people who were side by side at the end.

This happened in Crazyhead, as well.

Raquel is a target for an apocalypse and do you know how Amy saved her and the world? By telling her she loved her and giving her a kiss that brought her back from the brink of destruction...

Now... I will admit, the writers did a “no homo” type thing at the end... but the homo in me seen the homo in thee, so I wasn’t bothered by that. 

I just think that it is an unfair measurement, to expect everything to be served up for you in order to support representation, and not being able to detect subtext or to envision the potential coding shows a huge amount of privilege. I adore the fact that so much queer content as of late gets spoonfed to you, but I also enjoy a slow burn, and it’s not right that Black queer women rarely get one because you give up if there’s not an automatic tonguing and huge declarations. And in the cases of these two shows, there were very clear expressions of love and several moments of intimacy, but I guess they needed to trib for true love. 

Anyways, I love Kiss Me First and Crazyhead, and I consider them representation FOR ME. 

[tobiasdrake]

Oh, and then we have to deal with the fallout of the bad motive.

So, that First Blood Perk. Obviously the game wasn't going to let that actually be a thing, because it would deprive us of a core feature of the games: the Class Trial.

Honestly, I might have more respect for the game's whole "Rise up against Danganronpa itself!" thing if they had. If they actually let the killer claim the First Blood Perk and walk. Fuck you, no fun Class Trial will be had here!

That would be aggravating. But it would be aggravating in a way that feels truly resonant with the game's ultimate goal of tearing down Danganronpa brick by brick. The game is later going to say that the fandom is part of the problem and appeal to them to become part of the solution. So. Yeah. It does piss you off that we never got to play the fun trial game, doesn't it? Maybe you should think about that.

(Though I still wouldn't want the killer to actually be Kaede, especially with the crime scene clearly showing that she couldn't have done it. I'm not actually that impressed by "Your PC is the Blackened" after we already did "Your PC is the Mastermind" one game ago.)

But no. You knew they were going to cop out. I knew they were going to cop out. Despite insisting repeatedly at the end that they are making an unsatisfying Danganronpa experience on purpose, they are still trying to do that as a satisfying Danganronpa experience so they wouldn't dare deprive us of such an important feature.

So how do they cop out? Is it because the killer themselves don't know they're the killer and thus can't claim the perk? Could it be that the killer wants to weaponize the Killing Game to kill us all, like Hina and Nagito have tried in the past?

Nope. The killer decides she wants to get caught and die so that Shuichi can develop and grow as a character. That's it. That's the reason.

This is how Kodaka, recognizing that what he's about to do is a pretty shitty thing to do to an audience that he's spent time getting hyped for this character, tries to grease the wheels. It's not technically a Fridging because she wanted to die! She chose to sacrifice herself on the altar of Shuichi's growth! She climbed into the refrigerator and slit her own throat! That was her choice! So you can't be mad about it! She had complete agency over the reduction of her character to a footnote in the real protagonist Shuichi's personal journey! I didn't do it! SHE did it!

Whether these are valid reasons that make it Okay, Actually or if they're just overcompensating paper-thin excuses to justify an incredibly mean-spirited prank, that's up to you. I think you know where I fall on that dichotomy.

What's especially weird about the First Blood Perk is that it makes sense in retrospect. Trying to cancel the Class Trial makes perfect sense as something Tsumugi might do to conceal her own involvement in Rantaro's death and role as the true culprit. But it was offered well before any plans for killing were ever even a teensy-tiny thought in the back of anyone's minds.

So either Tsumugi is secretly an omniscient 4-D chess predictive grandmaster who knows every single thought that will ever pass through the minds of every single person in every single second of every single day only pretending to be an incompetent hack, or this was pure serendipitous coincidence. Something that seems complex and compelling but is actually a hollow, vacuous shell devoid of any real meaning.

Which is true? Eh, whichever you want to be true. The game's actually proud of itself for never committing to its own story, so there is no actual truth behind anything that happens. Even the reality show stuff ends on "But what if THAT was another lie and the REAL REAL real plot has never been revealed!? I'M SO CLEVER."

"This seems meaningful but actually it doesn't really fit quite right and in fact it might just be clever-sounding nonsense the more I think about it" is basically V3 in a nutshell.

[characteroulette]

A study on prosecutors -- (previous)

And now we come to what is probably my most interesting take: a study into Barnham is a study into Franziska, only executed poorly instead of well.

Your mileage may vary on this one, but I find it rather interesting that both Barnham and Franziska only have two cases each to say their piece in their debut games. But while Franziska gets to use that time extremely well and to her advantage, even being a big part of the final case (2-4) despite not being the prosecutor we face in that one, Barnham gets underutilised and shoved off to the side without any proper payoff.

Which sucks!! Because I know for a fact I would like him if we got just one more case with him!

I had to consult my sister on Barnham because she liked him (a lot of people do, I've found!), but I actually can't stand him as he's presented to us at first. Which is the writing doing its job proper!! Maybe not for the reasons they want, but he is our prosecutorial rival and thus we aren't meant to like him until his face is revealed to us in more nuance.

The entire second trial of PL vs PW is, however, an absolute trainwreck.

Phoenix is floundering because most of his usual assets are unavailable to him here. No autopsy reports, no forensic science, no science in general. Just mob mentality and a lack of any real and clear logic to what these people believe. They say that Espella is a witch, so it must be so!! Who cares what evidence or counterarguments you present? You're wrong and Barnham is right!!

This case also does the (in my opinion) SUPER annoying thing of the gallery chanting in favour of the prosecution. Spirit of Justice did this, too, and it wasn't any less annoying to me there. It's a good way to demonstrate that you have no standing here, that Phoenix is properly screwed were it not for Layton swooping in to save us, but gosh does it just irk on my nerves. It's so annoying and self-aggrandising for the prosecution, which only serves to make me hate him further.

But after all that, you'd think this case would at least showcase Barnham's deadly sharpness in the trial, right? Well, unfortunately, no. That part is also mishandled, in my opinion.

This trial does the cardinal sin of the prosecution blocking us from making an argument with what evidence we have, then blowing right past what we proved in order to make the same sort of logic argument which they then get away with. I have actually ranted about this issue in this trial elsewhere, so I'll keep this as truncated as I can: Barnham shoots down our arguments (despite the fact that we prove Espella couldn't have held the Talea Magica, everyone just glosses right over it) and then makes his own in a very hypocritical fashion, which Layton and Phoenix don't argue because narrative convenience. It's no less frustrating to me on a second run through and even worse the more I think about it in hindsight. This trial is a mess, so it's a good thing the next one is straight fire.

Speaking of, however, we do get a better picture of Barnham in the third trial of the game. (I don't really count what we see of him in-between the trials because he is just. Odd. It's a dissonance of he is going to cut off Phoenix's head and then oh nevermind, he'll tell us where we need to go. Very off putting and thus more of a blip than any real characterisation in my eyes.) (Also he isn't really cutting off Phoenix's head, it's just the awkward blocking from their talk sprites. It is very funny for him to hold his sword unintentionally at Phoenix's neck though.) (Also also hey Barnham you're a bad dog owner. Constantine runs around the town biting people, get your dog under control!!!) This whole trial is excellent due to the high stakes, but Barnham is a lot less aggravating in this trial, even if his refusal to stick with one single epithet drove me insane. I fully admit that is a me issue, though. His willingness to let us cross-examine Cracker with Luke's help and his refusal to let Emeer get away with what he did is great. Good moments from him there.

But then it's still an issue that he's so cruel to Maya, telling her to stop talking or they'll cut the trial short. It reminds you again and again that, in his eyes, witches are not people. It reminds you of the end of the previous trial and how he didn't even flinch when Kira was sent into the flames.

His regret for what happens to Maya is also, if I may say, a bit under pronounced. This moment is for Phoenix, really, where he might throw a punch at the man who contributed to Maya's seeming demise, and though Phoenix doesn't punch the man out, it definitely doesn't help us to like Barnham any more. There's an intriguing line between Barnham and the Tavern owner which goes nowhere (I thought it was going to turn out that she was his sister) because it's a point of convenience more than it is for character. Barnham going to her tavern every so often for a drink would be more interesting if it wasn't glossed over by the end.

Barnham sneaking outside of Labyrinthia to tail Darklaw is, actually, another point in his favour! It shows him starting to question his orders, if what he's doing truly fits his sense of justice! But we see too little of him in the Shade's village to get much more than that inkling. He's whisked away yet again before anything really interesting can happen with his discovering this whole ecosystem outside of what he thinks of as his home. He's not allowed to deviate from the script…

…which is why Darklaw simply writes him out. Barnham is sent to prison in the end, shutting him off from any sort of satisfying conclusion. That's it for his character! He sends Constantine to help Layton and Luke for a minute, but we literally don't see Barnham again until the ending cutscene! And I mean the one where Layton and Phoenix are headed back to London! Barnham doesn't get a single line of dialogue after he's written out!!! And this sucks, because I know we could have gotten really into his whole flawed mindset of protecting Labyrinthia even if it means shutting his sympathies off from those who would be human. His dehumanising of witches gets questioned in the third trial, but never fully deconstructed. So he ends up feeling like his arc wasn't completed and thus I never actually made it up to the point of liking him.

Because what we're stuck with is frustration and the hints of something deeper. Would have been nice to see those depths, just saying!!

But, since Barnham's arc is woefully incomplete, allow me now to delve into Darklaw and Layton's brief stints as prosecutors.

Darklaw is the exact type of character I love, actually. Girl who destroys herself for the sake of vengeance. It's misplaced vengeance in this case and we're actually able to save her, but this core to a character all ready makes me like her more than I did Barnham.

She's twice as frustrating when facing her in this final trial, however. Her clear leading Espella along makes you really want to dig your claws in and pull the truth away from her. Phoenix does his best, but he's kinda been declawed in this game so we're working with what we can.

Her animations are all excellent. She's cool and composed, but ruthless. Her appearances beforehand make her seem stoic, manipulative, and willing to throw anyone in her way down to the ground as she climbs over their bodies. She's twisting the story as the Storyteller tries to present it, making use of his hands off approach to further her own agenda. All of this comes through really well in the brief snippets we see of her, so it's awesome and makes me like and hate her at the same time.

You know she's involved somehow. You suspect she's behind this whole thing. All you need to do is work your way up to proving it.

Which you do once you manage to get her on the stand.

She's a lot less controlling on the witness stand, surprisingly. She's in damage control mode, morose almost as if she knows it's useless to keep fighting against this truth coming to light. If Phoenix has made it this far, then he's sure to figure out all the rest. It works as she can act as if this is all a waste of time, but the underlying emotion there is exhaustion. She's tired of how long this has been going on; she's been living with this vengeance in her breast for a good while and she can see it crumbling down around her. She doesn't give up fighting until the very end, until her driving motivation is shattered right before her eyes, but she knows the end is coming. I am such a huge sucker for that sort of resigned acceptance, of knowing there's no way to halt this boulder you began rolling down the mountain long ago.

And then, enter Layton as our final opponent.

Layton as prosecutor is so HELLA. He has such a delicate tightrope walk to perform, pushing us just enough so as not to raise suspicion from Darklaw or the Judge but also giving us enough hints to keep us clawing out the truth. He's got it all figured out, but he isn't like Klavier and will lead us there by the hand. No, he's more like a controlled and cool headed Edgeworth, challenging us to figure out what he knows and waiting for us to lead the charge.

His performance is immaculate. I really adore Layton in this bit of the trial, pulling out some of his harsher faces and then being soft and unassuming when it suits him. He really is masterful in this whole thing, I am enamoured with this lego Mii faced man. XD

It is a bit jarring to suddenly have his inventory and present the final pieces of evidence and arguments we need, however. Layton just decided to take over right at the end and it's a little sad he didn't give Phoenix the spotlight then, but such is the manner of this theatre kid spirit in Layton. He has to be the one to do his dramatic point and explain how it was all done, I get that. At least he invites Phoenix along with him, even if it feels very much like he's just doing it out of courtesy. Moreso once Darklaw reveals that Phoenix was never supposed to be here. (Then why did she kidnap us???)

It is also very weird how Luke is just absent from this whole final trial. There was a similar problem in the second trial with Maya getting sidelined once Layton and Luke showed up, so I have to assume it's an economy of characters issue. What I would have given to see Luke as Layton's prosecutor assistant, though….. It also makes Luke's sudden appearance in the cutscene with Espella and Eve a bit jarring. Like oh hi when did you get here??? And then he's suddenly next operating some heavy machinery??? Luke teleporting over the place here in this final bit, this is a tangent sorry

Anyway!! Very sad about Barnham's lack of closure to his arc. We got great Darklaw and Layton moments out of it, but I feel we should have gotten a cap to Barnham's character instead. Would be much more satisfying for him and maybe I would have actually liked him. Alas.

[joocin-thebox]

oh man this cat.... this cat!!!

my crossover lore you ask?? how is knh palace in warrior cats?? WELL

our girl maomao, beloved, still does her posions and medicines! cant deprive her of her quirk! iirc there is a limited bit of medicine in wc and they have their shortages, but lets just say the knh location is abundant with herbs for an apothecary's usage!

and yes, she calls herself an apothecary bc her papa heard it when he used to be a loner and he just calls himself that now (so does everyone else, but healer / doctor are the main terms)

beloved maomao cant truthfully expierment with snakes and the likes the way she does in knh, but she finds her work arounds. for that reason she is an excellent hunter, being delightfully exceptional at hunting snakes and extracting their venom (how? who cares) to make unordinary cures and remedies :0 she keeps dead snakes and bugs around for harvesting when she needs them, and eats whatever is left over/expired (whether this is realistic doesnt matter at all)

She has like a million scars under her pelt bc she aggravates a lot of cats and loses plenty of fights, but they never hurt her too badly. simple scuffles and cuffs on the ear can get our meow meow to back off and watch her mouth (most of the time) the scars on her foreleg though are from her experiments :) ointments and such and whenever white/green/yellowcough breaks out, she's at the ready with tried and true methods, or something outrageous that only brave souls would try

(she willingly gets sick to test these remedies, but has since been banned from coming into contact with diseased cats alongside dead ones) ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

now where does knh wc take place??? somewhere! that's for sure! no replacing any canon territories, there is no riverclan, there is no queen of england!

instead of a clan (bc it means something else in knh) the colony is called a palace, and it is like 4 times as large as a single wc clan would be! (imagine the lake / forest territories but they all belong to the emperor)

most terminology, laws, and roles are basically the same, still have our emperor, his younger brother, the consorts and the likes im thinking splitting the locations within the palace by direction like in canon, so one clan would equal one court, but all 4 clans are the palace and the area is usually referred to as such. there arent as many disputes bc the whole thing belongs to the emperor as for the rear palace? canonically it exists beside the actual palace, so idk! we'll figure that out later (or never)

starclan exists but its not a monolithic colony, so there are quite a bit nonbelievers but no one is splitting hairs over the fact

i think the only things that would have to change is some story elements and locations obv. like verdigris is a twolegplace colony that resides in the town near the palace, with the madam (grans) being only one of many leader types within it

verdigris is overrun with cats. there are people but not many, and the cats live in abandoned houses, sewers, old buildings, farms, etc!

maomao was born in verdigris, but as we know, her father isn't from there. Lakan is from the palace, specifically the eastern court! maomao has never been and as far as she knows, she has no father. Grans told her the cat that helped birth her disappeared and probably got eaten by dogs :) maomao has no reason or drive to question this information, but she is well aware of the shadow that seems to follow her whenever she's on the outskirts of verdigris...

her kidnapping?? uhhhhhh who knows! LOL! working in the rear palace? same as usual! i see no reason to change the poison taster factor when... like lets be so real... there is poison in warrior cats :) if shadowsight can live, maomao can live! but the types of poisons would have to shrink or expand dramatically bc they are cats

[sidebar: i had wanted to make a knh au where literally everything, and i mean everything, is the same, except the people are cats :) why didnt i? well... maybe im silly... and it's too easy...]

☆*: .｡. back to our program ᓚᘏᗢ .｡.:*☆

I will not be changing anything but the basic points of the story and it might as well end around e12 for this au

for my sanity <3

ill mostly be focusing on character designs, general locations, and arcs that are easy to translate IF i ever care enough to crossover anything other than the fengming arc :D

all fun and games (and finally peace of mind since ive been in art guilt paralysis for half a year)

biggest challenge??? cat jinshi... he's supposed to be puppy... and lakan is also supposed to be foxpuppy but i can translate fox into cat... AND LIHAKU IS PUPPY ARRRGHHH ill figure it out!!

[wordsandrobots]

OK, I have two overall things to say about Gundam SEED: Destiny (I’ve been sick, binging this nominally staved off extreme boredom; spoilers to follow).

Number 1: Arthur Trine is doing his best, damnit, and I hope he got a cup of tea and a sit down once everything was over.

Number 2: what an incredibly frustrating show.

In many ways it is leaps and bounds ahead of its predecessor, freed from literally repeating the same set-pieces of the original Gundam to tell a story that, honestly, has something approaching a meaningful point. Chairman Durandal is a compelling antagonist and the way he and Teen!Le Cookset gradually break the series’ pseudo-protagonist to their perspective is narratively interesting. The underlying message in what he does -- about how those in power pick out enemies that will best serve their ends and present themselves as the reasonable ones -- is definitely worth exploring. And the show even manages to address the Gundam-overload issues from SEED, by more clearly delineating the point of each machine and staggering them a bit more competently.

However. It inherits the problem of its length exceeding its content, leading to more stock-footage abuse and, far less forgivably, *three* clips shows, only one of which (the last, focused on Meer) has any actual merit. It also continues SEED’s determination to screw over every single female character who isn’t Lacus. For the record, I *like* Lacus: she’s a nice execution of someone having a ‘typical’ presentation wrapped around a core of stainless steel conviction, which is something I always enjoy in fiction. However, Cagalli in particular is an utter waste of potential, not being allowed to mature, gain focus, or make a single bloody decision without Kira or Athrun’s input, to the point where it’s actively aggravating to watch.

This is where we hit the limits of the genre and demographic, of course, and once again makes me appreciate literally every female character in IBO because Gundam generally is so very *not good* at this. (Obviously G-Witch is ahead again on the score, thankfully, but IBO is probably the best-case scenario within the ‘fiction aimed at boys’ problems that plague its predecessors.)

Shinn is similarly annoying. It’s not a bad thing he’s abrasive and the endpoint was always going to be him winding up a broken, weeping wreck because he’s too stupid to recognise anything beyond his own feelings. But his trauma flashbacks hit parodic very early and he’s far too irritating to be worth sitting through his screen-time. Like Kira, only the problem is the presence of personality rather than its total fucking absence.

My biggest complaint, however, is reserved for the variety of ways SEED:Destiny buggers up its good ideas. I’d have liked it a lot more if ‘Logos’ hadn’t actually been a thing. ‘Shadowy conspiracy doing [bad thing] from the shadows in the name of profit’ is the kind of message that gets slung around a lot in real life with no justification whatsoever and it really doesn’t help counter the people who do that if you hinge your plot on ‘no the Illuminati actually do have a giant laser on the moon.’ The cleverer and more cutting twist would have been to reveal there was no actual group called Logos and while the people Durandal named might have had interests in common, he was really just lumping them together for his own convenience.

You know. As scapegoats. Like the way this goes in reality, with the matters that this show is sticking its oar in and trying to Say Something about.

But no, because once more, this is a story interested in emotional reactions and personal epiphanies over any sort of systemic question because, well . . . that’s typical, isn’t it? Frustrating but not unexpected. Eureka Seven does nearly everything SEED/SEED:Destiny attempts better and that is hardly the first case of that happening with a Gundam show. Possibly this is just galling me more than usual because there are so many [swerves around the obvious pun] traces of a more interesting story here.

Oh well. Mu steadily getting his memories back was fun and I shall be taking the final epilogue to mean he, Murrue and Andrew settled down to a life of coffee-fueled polyamory. Yzak yeeting himself on to the right side of the final battle through sheer indignation was actually kind of funny. And I will give it credit, this did feel like one of the more meaningful ‘final battles to destroy a giant super-weapon’ out of the many, many times Gundam has done that (including in SEED, for gods’ sake). If nothing else, I appreciate the chutzpah of having Durandal rock up in an off-brand Death Star, right down to a recoloured Emperor’s chair.

Whatdyouknow. I actually did have something to say about this one. I think that just leaves Victory for main series I haven’t watched (I finished G Fighter; it was joyfully ridiculous). That probably won’t be changing any time soon. Ranking wise . . . SEED:Destiny probably sits around equal with 00 for me.