#shipping for a moment ok lets try looking at what the story is giving us and now what i want for my entertainment in it

[viktormaru]

let people enjoy things, let the fandom have fun! lets not look into deeper things thats pretentions, lets not engage with anything critically thats just hating, lets just enjoy things lets do some escapism stop being a downer, lets not think im too tired to do that, i want it easy lets have that dripfed content curated for my fun, let people enjoy things, feed me the slop ill gurgle it all, lets think less im here to have fun and fun is when im not engaged at all, its just my taste, its all tasteless im gonna ignore it im gonna translate it into the easiest tropes and trends i can handle and repeat again and again and im gonna enjoy things

[alwayssassydreamer]

Bro?

Gif not mine credit goes to the owner

just a silly little story about awkward Ace and Reader having trouble telling each other how they feel

thanks goes to a friend of mine who gave me this idea

warnings; none

A/N: wrote this late at night after a long and exhausting day - might have some flaws. Not proofread.

you don't exactly remember how you ended up on the moby dick. the only memory being that you were on a ship when a storm came up which caused you to go overboard and when you woke up you found yourself in the infirmary of the whitebeard pirates with marco tending to you. later on, they told you that thatch was the one who caught sight of your body floating in the sea and pulled you out. that was a few months ago and since you were all alone with no family left you were more then happy that whitebeard let you stay, the old man developing a soft spot for you.

you are a rather shy person and not used to all the attention you were receiving especially not from so many good looking men. sometimes you felt overwhelmed by it and sneaked into your cabin to "escape" the scene. at first the crew let you leave, giving you some time to adjust to this new situation but the longer you stayed the more you had to endure it, with them telling you that it's only for your own good and that you needed to get rid of your shyness. and they were right it really worked. you started to loosen up around them, joking, pranking and just having relaxed conversation with them. all worked pretty well except for the times Ace was around. you couldn't help yourself but the moment you set eyes on him you were stunned. he was sweet and caring and his smile could melt ice and that's not because of his devilfruit. you had fallen head over heels for him. what you didn't know though was that he felt exactly the same for you.

You walked around the deck when you saw Ace talking to Marco and you stared, long and deep. that's why you didn't see the chair in front of you until the moment you bumped against it almost falling over. "shit" you cursed rubbing your shin. "Instead of staring at Ace you should better watch out where you're going" Thatch who had witnessed the whole scene said mockingly. "i wasn't staring, the chair attacked me out of nowhere" you mumbled turning to face Thatch, a blush on your cheeks. "How sneaky of that chair" he said a small laugh escaping his lips, as he stepped closer, nudging your shoulder lightly. "Maybe we should throw the chair overboard so he will learn not to mess with you" "shut up, idiot." you replied pretending to be mad at him. "Come on, go over to him. We'll be reaching shore soon ask him if he'd like to explore the island with you" "No and i don't want to hear another word from you" Thatch just looked at you and sighed shaking his head. you were about to walk off but when you turned around you bumped into someone. "sorry" you mumbled when you caught sight of Ace and immediately looked away. "it's ok, i should apologize for sneaking up on you" Ace said rubbing the back of his head, big smile on his face. you could feel the way Thatch was trying to hold his laugh in while Izou and Marco, who approached the scene, just shook their heads. well it seemed that everyone on this ship was aware of the fact that you had fallen for the second commander, everyone except Ace. The three of them decided to watch how this rather akward scene would play out their snickering not helping at all. "Well, uhm, i thought that since we will reach shore soon you might uhm i mean you like to eat right" was he just asking you for a date in the weirdest way possible. "well i wouldn't say like since it's more of a need to absorb nutrients and thus survive" What the hell did you just say. you couldn't believe that your reply would be even worse than his question. please let me dissappear was all you could think about when you heard Izou clear his throat. "i guess we should leave these two alone now" he said motioning for marco and thatch to leave. the latter was trying his best to keep his laughter in - still in disbelief how horrible you two were at flirting. "Well since you need to eat and i like to eat maybe we could, you know since we're reaching shore soon, you and me could, like go get something to eat, if you want to" Ace asked after the three commanders left. hands playing with the hem of your shirt you looked up at Ace. "if pops is ok with that why not" you replied shyly making ace smile.

after you had settled your "date" in the most awkward way possible you both continued your duties on the ship. you were excited and nervous to finally get to spend some time alone with ace. once again your thoughts were so focused on Ace that you missed the last step of the stairs. a squeak escaping your lips before finding yourself in two strong arms. "not again! if you keep being so lost thinking about Ace you're gonna break something" izou, who had caught you before you hit the ground, scolded. "it wasn't my fault, I'm pretty sure that the stairs rebuilt themselves and added one more step. and i wasn't thinking about Ace, i was meditating" you pouted. "yeah keep telling that yourself" Izou sighed as he walked off. god izou was right, though you'd never admit that, but you seriously had to stop daydreaming so much about Ace. the rest of the day went pretty well, you helped marco in the infirmary which was distracting you from Ace but once again you managed to run into a non moving object the moment you caught a glimpse of Ace. marco only covered his face with his hands shaking his head. "if this keeps going on i'm going to throw you both overboard. and don't tell me that the table was attacking you and that this didn't happen because of Ace because we both know that you're lying." Marco said in a calm yet strict tone. "i'm sorry. it's just that i've never felt something like this before" you almost whispered, nervously tapping your feet. marco took a deep breath then gave you a warm smile. "you need to talk to him about it yoi." "maybe later"

when you finally reached shore you could feel a knot in your stomach. maybe you weren't ready for this, maybe you should just stay on the ship in the comfort of your own cabin. no, you had to do this, had to get this off your chest otherwise you would never know if he feels the same about you. taking a deep breath you left your cabin and made your way to the deck where Ace was already waiting for you. the moment he saw you a bright smile covered his face making you blush. "so you ready?" he asked and you nodded shyly. "Ace you better keep an eye on her and return her in one piece" whitebeard shouted after you. "Don't worry pops, i will protect her with my life" hearing this words made you blush even harder. the two of you walked next to each other for some time an awkward silence between you. "you sure this is the right way" you asked breaking the silence. Ace looked around. "honestly i have no idea" he said rubbing the back of his head. "sorry i should've payed more attention to thatch when he explained me the way" he added feeling a little embarrassed. "i don't mind, i like it here, it's pleasantly quiet. and i'm also having trouble paying attention to whatever thatch is saying" you joked making him chuckle.

a cold breeze hit you making you shiver. "you ok? if you're cold i could maybe, you know help you, since i'm hot you know." he stopped nervously. "i mean i'm great at being hot.... no i'm not like hot hot but....uhm i'm warm because of the devilfruit" his cheeks burning red as he stumbled over his words. "no i get it you're hot, hot is good! I like it when things are hot. Wait, no, not like that! I mean… you’re fine the way you are. Warm. Or hot. Or whatever temperature you choose to be" god you could face palm yourself right now. what are you doing, why was it so hard for you to have a normal conversation with him. this was Ace the sweetest guy you've ever met, the one who always looked out for you, made you smile and put up with your clumsiness. you bit your lower lip wishing to dissappear once again. when you looked at Ace you could see a mix of confusion, embarrassment and admiration in his eyes.

you took a deep breath. "maybe we should just keep going" you said while he just nodded. "you know if you want to get back to the ship we can just" "no, it's fine here, i mean you are here and that's all that matters" Ace stuttered. "i mean who wouldn't want to spend some time alone with you. You’re awesome. You’re smart, funny, and you always make me laugh. I mean, you’re like the perfect" he paused panicking after realizing what he just said "bro" he blurted out "Bro? did you just call me bro?" you asked laughing. "what? no! i mean yes i said bro but that's not what i wanted to say" he stammered. "oh god i didn’t mean it like that! You’re not a bro, you’re… you’re way more than that. You’re… someone I really care about. And I’m just terrible with words" he sighed burying his face in his hands. "seriously you think you are terrible with words. did you ever listen to the weird things i am saying. or the fact that i run into every non moving object just thinking about you" you knew this was the perfect moment to let this out and help Ace feel a little less embarassed. He removed his hands from his face and looked dumbstruck at you. "wait, you run into things because of me?" "well i guess i really really like you.....bro" you taunted. "oh come on don't call me that now" he groaned and you kinda felt bad but this was just too funny. "nah, i kinda like it and i think it's cute when you get all flustered bro" "I'm never gonna live this down, am I?" he asked utterly embarassed. "probably not" you teased. "but i know a way you could make up for calling me that" "oh and what would that be?" he asked curiously as you tugged on his shirt. you didn't have to say another word for he clearly understood what you meant. hands placed on your waist, pulling you closer while your own wrapped around his neck, he leaned in and carefully brushed his lips over yours. "i love you (y/n)" "i love you too" you said smiling like an idiot, heart pounding in your chest as your lips engaged in the most passionate kiss you've ever had. You felt like a heavy load fell off your shoulders, finally knowing that he was feeling the same way you did. As you broke the kiss he pulled you even deeper into him, holding you tightly. "I hope this means you stop bumping into stuff" he mocked his head nuzzling into the crook of your neck, where you could feel a small smile spread on his lips "definitely.....bro"

[lovemyromance]

(Not a troll ask please don't shoot :D - genuine question)

But I feel like it's really downplayed how much Gwynriels gaslight the fandom. I joined ACOTAR bc I saw Gwynriel fanart and thought they were cute. I Got all the way to ACOSF still hoping for Gwynriel and got a whole lot of NOTHING. And honestly I think Elain is as interesting as cardboard (sorry), but you'd have to be downright blind to ignore she had something going on with Azriel.

Then I saw on titktok about the bonus chapter, everyone going in saying omg thats where gwyn & az are mates! So I cracked it open, read it - and bruh - HE'S OUT HERE TRYING TO GO DOWN ON ELAIN??

How can you put THAT interaction & the conversation he had with Gwyn side by side and people are walking away from it saying Gwyn & Azriel are mates?

I'm so genuinely confused why someone would start that nonsense. The way I ate up Gwynriel art/fan theories it was like she was a major character there from the start and they'd already had 8 kids and a HEA.

Then I open the books and they barely even have a conversation??

It was honestly really annoying. felt like a scam, like one of those authors peddling their book on social media and then you realize its a wattpadd fic written by a 12 yr old not an actual book

If it helps - we're all confused. Nothing has been proven yet about any remaining couple so idk why the Elucien and Gwynriels are out here straight up inventing fiction and trying to pass it off as fact to anyone willing (and even unwilling) to listen.

This ship war could've just been - "Hey I like Elucien more!" Or "I love elriel!"

But instead of just accepting these are all opinions and not actually what is in the books - people decided to straight up gaslight and claim that Elucien are a couple and Gwynriel are mates.

If you cannot point to it on the page where such a thing it explicitly happened - then it is not canon.

Lucien & Elain? They're mates. That's canon.

What's also canon - is that not all mates are a good pairing and end up happy together.

Whats also canon - is that the cauldron was wrong.

It shouldn't be hard to reach accurate conclusions if people stopped treating their wants and headcanons as fact.

Like for gods sake - let's just look at fanart. I'm not saying that every piece of fanart is canon or even should be canon - but elriel has much more canon fanart. Thats literally a fact. They have multiple major moments together - on the page.

What is canon Elucien fanart? When she falls out the cauldron - naked and humiliated and he gives her his cloak? When they sit together over a tea service acting uncomfortable? When she avoids him every other time she sees him?

What is canon Gwynriel fanart? When he gives her boss a secondhand necklace to give to her or anyone else? When he - and cassian and everyone else - watch her cut a ribbon she sees as an enemy?

I've seen so many people open up these books expecting some grand romance between Elain & Lucien and end up disappointed because... she doesn't even want to be in the same room as him.

So many Gwynriels with similar stories to yours expecting some entertaining Gwynriel love story only to also end up disappointed because Gwyn doesn't even exist till the last book and she and Azriel barely interact.

They chose to believe in a nonexistent ship and are trying to compete with canon Elriel evidence. Like ok - tough shit? But you can't just start making shit up.

Until Elain accepts that bond - or even gives Lucien the time of day - they're not a couple. They are nowhere close to endgame if everything she has done and said has shown us she doesn't want him.

Until Azriel himself declares Gwyn is his mate or vice versa - they're not mates.

And yeah I'm gonna get a lot of backlash from the "foreshadowing and crumbs" crowd.

But let me ask you this:

There are some Elriels who think the mating bond between Lucien & Elain is fake. There is plenty of evidence and similar language used about their bond that resembles the fake Rowan & Lyria bond. Plenty of signs showing their bond isn't quite right.

do you think Elriels can then claim it's canon that the Elucien bond is fake?

"We have crumbs and foreshadowing and similar language used" too. But do you see us going around claiming it's canon?

No.

We are very clear about the distinction between canon and headcanons. About what's in the books, and what is just pure guesswork and theory.

"Sparky spark" and "elucien is endgame" are both theories until proven. They are NOT canon.

Wish they'd just learn the difference. They'd be a lot less unhappy fans.

[lvrsparadise]

Can you write an angst with chris where he gets mad at y/n for something when she just wanted physical touch and then he runs after her and apologizes with like a fluff ending? If you can’t that’s ok! I love your stories :)

'CLINGY' - C.S

Synopsis - request !

Warnings! - angst, fluff, kissing, Chris being a lil poopy head, no actual use of Y/N, profanity, mentions of anxiety and anger issues, commitment issues, reader has a dog, a Pitbull, I think that's it. Let me know if I missed anything!

A/N - Of course! Thank you for requesting! I really hope this is what you meant, I wasn't completely sure about most of it, but I think it works.

Today was kind of stressful. I had an anxiety attack in the middle of my presentation in my creative writing course today. And that lead me here, sitting in my living room waiting for my boyfriend to answer his phone.

I sigh as it goes straight to voicemail, for the 4th time. My dog, Lucy, hops onto the couch next to me and lays down next to me, laying her head on my thigh.

I decide to text Nick to see if anything happened or something.

Me: Hey Nick, is Chris doing anything rn? Nick: No. He's just sitting on his phone. Why? Me: I've called him four times and he hasn't answered. It went straight to voice mail each time. Nick: Damn. That's weird. Me: I know. But I'll just leave him be for now. thanks Nick. Nick: Of course.

Huh.

I sigh as I drop my phone on the coffee table, making a clinking noise against the glass. As if Lucy can feel my emotions, she sits up from her laying position and gets in my face and starts attacking me with kisses, full of slobber.

After she calms down and decides to lay on my lap fully, I grab the TV remote and turn on something to keep me occupied. I go to Disney plus and turn on Tangled.

----

I'm at the scene when Flynn Rider gives the crown to the two thugs, and they put him on the ship and sail him to the jail, when I hear my phone buzz from its place on the coffee table. I sigh as I pick it up and low-and behold, it's a text from Chris. One singular text, that made my heart nearly stop.

Chris: Can you like, stop calling and texting me so damn much? You're being so clingy.

I just leave him on read and throw my phone back down, this time hitting the floor and not the coffee table. I feel my blood boil. My head is buzzing from anger. I try to focus on the movie, and I start to pet Lucy from her curled up spot on my lap, confining me to the couch.

----

The movie finished and I've since then turned-on YouTube, watching Joey Graceffa's Escape the Night series. I hear another buzz from my phone, and I pick it up from the floor.

Matt: fyi, Chris just left and is walking to your house now. Me: Thanks for the heads up. Matt: Course.

Low and behold, a knock at my door. Well, more like several knocks, each one making Lucy bark.

I scramble to the front door and open it, to see an almost angry Chris.

I furrow my brows. "Chris is-"

He just pushes past me and into my house.

"Why'd you leave me on read?"

I sigh as I shut my door and turn to face him.

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe to not come off any clingier than I already was!" I say with sarcasm in my voice.

"Why weren't you answering my calls?!" I ask in retaliation.

He looks dumbfounded. Like he doesn't even know why he dodged my calls.

"Chris, why were you ignoring my calls?" I ask sternly. I feel my mind go blank and fuzzy. I feel my stomach knot up. All because of my anger.

He sighs in defeat, probably now knowing why.

"I guess, I just had a little moment."

"What do you mean by moment?" My voice is calmer, and quieter.

"I mean, you know this. I just got scared for a second. My commitment issues kicked in a little. I got insecure. I just, my mind kept going over the worst scenarios of me fucking up our relationship."

My stomach un-knots itself and I feel the fuzziness in my head go away. My expression softens and I walk to him, grabbing his hands.

"Chris, you could never fuck up our relationship. I mean, even if you did, we'd always fix it. I know you have issues with being in a relationship, I get that. But you could never hurt me, never. I love you." I put one hand on his cheek and smile softly at him. One he returns.

"I love you." He wraps his arms around my waist and pulls me close to him. I wrap my arms around his neck, pull him closer in a hug.

After he pulls back, his hands are still on my waist. I lean up and press a gentle kiss to his lips before pulling back.

"Feel better?"

"A lot better. I'm sorry."

"It's okay. Just, if you ever feel like this again, let me know. I'll help you."

His handsome smile overtakes his face, making his eyes brighten. I push a few strands of his hair out of his face with a smile on my face as well.

Tags! ✮

@dwntwn-strnlo ✮ @ssturniolo ✮ @strniolo ✮ @20nugs ✮ @prettysturniolo ✮

If you want to be added to the list all you have to do is ask !! ✮

I love y'all! Have a wonderful and / or night ✮

[bohemian-nights]

No this fandom is actually insane

Do people think it’s ok to write “he was teaching her how to bathe”?????? I’m honestly scared to go read the post that they were talking about. The lengths that these people will go to just to prove that dettles never happened

Read at your own risk.

The person who wrote that is actually Black(or so they claim), but is willing to throw Black characters and Black fans under the bus and promote negative stereotypes about us for their mostly (racist) followers in defense of a racist characters desirability.

Sir/ma’am, if you are reading this, get some self respect. I’m actually embarrassed for you cause this shit is actually pathetic. You’re better than this.

Case in point they wrote this crap a while back with 100% sincerity:

(I should also note that I actually had a run in with them about a year and some change ago and they threatened to block me after I asked them if Corlys bathing with Rhaenyra would be normal father daughter figure bonding time so I blocked them first😊).

Like you don’t have to like Dettles, but when you are pushing harmful ideology and stereotypes (Black people are so stupid/dirty that we need the white mans help to civilize us) as a way to discredit them and make those who ship it look like angry Black women jealous of the poor helpless white woman and her stans, you’ve gone too far.

Let’s keep in mind that this poor helpless white woman was actively trying to kill a Black girl for a crime she claims she didn’t commit and that despite claiming that Nettles definitely didn’t sleep with Daemon her stans spazz out everytime you mention her name and actively want her cut from the show.

Or how about the fact that these same stans actively stalk and harass Dettles shippers whose only crime has been pointing out y’all’s bullshit.

Let’s keep in mind all of this shall we:

So who is actually jealous of who here? Who in this scenario wants racial revenge?* Who is the problem in this hellhole of a fandom?

Is it the people merely pointing out Nettles importance to the Dance and Daemon’s arc or the people who hurl racial insults and stereotypes? The people who want her erased from the narrative in its entirety cause she disrupts the status quo?

(The fact that someone would even fix their mouth to say that when Black people have been beaten, raped, enslaved, terrorized, tortured, disenfranchised, abused, subjected, and not even given common decency and respect for centuries by these people. If we wanted racial revenge it damn sure wouldn’t be off the back of a fucking fictional character).

The fact that they can’t see Nettles value and only see her as some irrelevant Black girl and reduce people liking her down to a gotcha/“woke” moment is fandom misogynoir in action.

They forget that she comes from nothing, claims a dragon, has a prince willing to give his life for her(six men or sixty remember that since y’all claim to be capable of reading🙃), survives the Dance and becomes a firewitch worshipped by a group of people, because they don’t want to acknowledge her importance.

It makes them uncomfortable to do so because she doesn’t look like them, but people like I’m not like those other Negros cover up for them so that when they are called out for it they can go see this n-I mean this Black person agrees with me.

Imagine being this butt hurt about a fictional character that you can’t even leave your racism or tap dancing at the door for five seconds.

Nettles doesn’t fit the mold, but that’s the point of her story.

They can recognize maester propaganda and scream about feminism when it comes to their white faves, but when it comes to the Black girl who is actively being stereotyped and maligned for her gender, race, and social standing in the source material they believe it no questions asked?

Again, what does it say about you that you are so willing to believe that a Black girl who was clever enough to claim a wild dragon doesn’t know how to bathe herself? What does it say about you that you think Daemon would never touch her with a ten foot pole just because she’s Black?

What does it say about you don’t want her on the show because of her race? What does it say about you that a fictional character who just so happens to be Black has you worked up into a tizzy.

Y’all claim to be for women(real or fictional), but in reality you only care about the women who look like you and shit on women you see as beneath you. Women who you think are a threat to the status quo. You’re no better than the men who oppress you.

[wordsandrobots]

'Real' robot? No thanks

I shan't be wasting time hang-wringing over the idea of a Gundam show from the point of view of the setting's antagonists. This is a well-worn and perfectly legitimate approach, and in any case, Mobile Suit Gundam (1979) goes out of its way to emphasise the humanity of the Principality of Zeon's soldiers. There are scouts who bend their orders to aid to civilians, wannabe special-forces who take the time to gawk at the teen prodigy who thwarted their attempt to blow up the Gundam, pilots who jump ship rather than go down with their mobile suits, and injured grunts who cling to family pictures while bleeding out in the desert. Even the actual *villains* of Gundam 79 – the Zabi family and their hangers-on – are generally presented as functioning people with loves and motivations beyond conquest. Only Gihren is utterly without morals. You know, the guy who took being compared to Hitler as a compliment? Garma, Degwin, Dozle, and even Kycilia all have moments of humanity, in spite of their reprehensible actions.

So yes, of course there are people fighting for Zeon because it's their job, because they believe the promise of spacenoid independence, because they buy into newtype theory, or simply because circumstances force them to. That's the kind of story Gundam is: the tragedy of people enduring a war driven by forces above their heads and beyond their control, who are just trying to make it home alive. If you don't get that, or that the Federation is squarely in the position of 'lesser evil but still a callous nation state doing dubious things to secure victory' from episode one, I don't know what to tell you. You've missed the point. I'm sorry, you just have.

There is nothing wrong with the premise 'wouldn't fighting against the Gundam be like living in a horror movie?' Indeed, I will go further: that is a good premise for a story.

But Netflix's Mobile Suit Gundam: Requiem for Vengeance is not a good story. It is, at best, a serviceable one, trotting from A to B with enough narrative cohesion and character beats to string the set-pieces together. By and large it manages an inoffensive momentum, unfolding a predictable sequence of events with reasonable competency. If I was not hugely entertained, I was not especially put off, either. They even remembered to turn on the contrast for the nighttime battles.

The biggest innovation displayed here is that this production was rendered in Unreal Engine as full CGI, eschewing Gundam's conventional animation style. In my view, that's also the key to its biggest problems. Let's take a quick spoiler break and I'll try to unpack what I mean.

I guess go watch the show before proceeding?

OK, so, there was a point in the middle of Requiem for Vengeance when I found myself questioning the physics of beam sabers. I'd never thought before about why what is essentially a burning stream of energy can be blocked by a bit of metal with a super-heated edge, or indeed by another such stream, because within the animation style usually used to depict such things, they are clearly physical in their interaction with the world. As solid as lightsabers and therefore as capable of acting like real swords.

But Requiem makes the decision to depict the Gundam's saber as, essentially, the jet from a blowtorch. Because that's what this *is*, isn't it? A narrow fountain of plasma? So it looks like fire, you can see the Zaku's heat-hawk through the Gundam's blade, and suddenly I'm wondering – how does that work? Why does the axe stop it instead of passing through? How does this obviously non-physical blade react as if it were a physical object?

There are any number of technobabble reasons you might give for how this works. Forcefields! It's probably forcefields. But what struck me was the beat of 'huh' I experienced, where I asked something I'd never previously *needed* to, even though it always existed as a legitimate question of the sci-fi mumbo-jumbo being deployed, and how that was a direct result of stylistic choices made when the Gundam was reinterpreted through the lens of CGI 'realism'.

Ah, yes. Realism. That elusive quality chased by film-makers and game-developers the world over. Or, specifically chased by a lot of big, mainstream studios who've decided it is vitally important the supernatural and the superscientific be placed within what is recognisably the real world.

In terms of such codifying modern works as 2008's Iron Man, this is primarily about papering over the stitching between what is filmed using actors and what is painted in later. In theory, something rendered entirely by computer does not have to worry about this. However, as many a 'triple-A' computer game has proven, the aspiration towards photographic quality remain. Characters and objects are honed so as to mimic the appearance and texture of real people and objects, with greater verisimilitude to life being a near-universally unquestioned goal.

I won't argue this doesn't have merit as a technical exercise. The results can be impressive. What I will say is: realism is worthless if it removes interest, and useless if it sacrifices coherence. The beam saber example is an instance of what I mean by the latter. Within Gundam 79, we apprehend immediately that the saber and the heat-hawk are of a kind, possessing an energised glow that is nevertheless opaque and physical. Within Requiem's portrayal, however, they no longer adhere to a visual language in which their interaction make sense. You cannot block an axe with a blowtorch flame. A minor illustration, yes, but it captures the tension created by transposing such elements into a more 'realistic' style.

Another may be found in the treatment of Zeon's various military vehicles. These are a bizarre selection of sci-fi objet d'art, from the aerodynamically questionable Dopp fighter jets to Magella tanks that can launch their turrets into open flight. They are strikingly weird designs that make little sense yet function perfectly inside their context. Where another, earlier anime would have had them belong to an alien species, Gundam is the show that pioneered 'what if the bad guys were human too' for the mecha genre, so they merely represent a design logic alien to the Earth Federation, which favours bold, blocky shapes more closely based on extant military hardware.

In Requiem, the Zeonic weirdness is deliberately muted. The Dopps are streamlined, literally flattened into a more traditional jet fighter profile. One Magella does attempt to launch its turret only to be blown apart before it can rise more than a couple of feet. Otherwise, they're just treated as ordinary tanks. And it's easy to see what the artists were doing here: "let's take these weird 70s designs and make them look like real tanks/jets." The result, unfortunately, is a dilution of the clear distinction between Zeon and Federation tech.

If you've watching the original Gundam and its sequels, you'll know how easy it is to tell at a glance which side something belongs to. Looking at them in stills, it is still reasonably clear these are meant to be Zeon vehicles. But in motion, it often took me a good few seconds to be sure I wasn't seeing their Federation equivalents. Visual interest doesn't exist purely for its own sake, after all; it serves to clarify the action. Plus, it seems to me that trying to downplay the wilder aspects of these designs actually draws attention towards those aspects. The Zeonic alienness has its own explanatory power; reducing it raises more questions, not fewer.

Lest you think me some terrible killjoy who doesn't like fun, I'm actually incredibly sympathetic to 'realistic' overhauls of classic designs. Have you seen what I spent years doing for the Daleks? Aesthetic overhauls aren't something I object to, nor do I think 'realism' as practised by the MCU and triple-A game developers is intrinsically a waste of time. What I am trying to demonstrate is Requiem's relation to its source material. It posits a story taking place exactly contemporaneously with episode 25 of Gundam 79, portraying the Battle of Odessa, the great Federation push-back that ejects Zeon forces from Earth. This is what was happening 'just off screen', depicted in a style actively at odds with that of the original

But not entirely at odds with it. Which brings us to another problem: an unwillingness to commit fully to the new style.

The big twist in Requiem episode 4 is that after being chased down by the Gundam and just barely managing to drive it off, Captain Iria Solari of the Red Wolf mobile suit squadron is recruited to go capture an example of the Federation's new mass-produced GM 'suit, so Zeon can identify its weaknesses. The hunted get to become the hunter, infiltrating a Federation base and attempting to hijack a couple of GMs, only for the Gundam to scupper things. All well and good. Not a bad swerve. Enables some useful developments.

Except this plan is delivered into the plot by a Zeon major general who appears to have stepped in from a different production entirely. Specifically, from Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team, because this is none other than Major General Yuri Kellerne, he of the Wolverine haircut and unfortunate disagreements with certain scientific officers (that is, it is unfortunate he should have disagreed with a man possessing so few qualms about massacring his own side).

It is truly surreal to have a character who looks like he actually belongs in a Gundam show enter the scene. I was quite impressed prior to this with the depiction of another character, Major Ronet, who captures the essence of a villain-of-the-week Zeon officer using Requiem's style. He looks entirely of a piece with the rest, while still being recognisably a certain type of character.

Kellerne though? For fuck's sake, he's got a full-blown anime bouffant. Juxtaposed with Solari's achingly realistic design, it's just – bad. This is bad. It's a stylistic clash that makes it impossible to take these scenes seriously. Not because either style is problematic on its own, but because they cannot work together.

It's worth pausing to consider Kellerne's native entry in the franchise, because 08th MS represents an older trend of revisiting the original setting. Starting with Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket, this saw the release of OVAs with a superior quality of animation and a more ground-level take on events of the Zeon/Federation war. In many respects, Requiem is positioned as the successor to these series, as Kellerne's cameo makes overt.

The thing is, War in the Pocket, Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory and 08th MS are all animes. Yes, they render the action with greater fidelity than Gundam 79. But they don't restyle it the way Requiem attempts to. The Dopp fighter is a great example of this. Compare the 08th MS version to the original and you will see that it merely adds extra layers of detail. It doesn't make it make more sense. Likewise for the character models. They look better than Gundam 79, by certain metrics. They still follow conventional anime aesthetics. You can't drop a design from this line of shows straight into a 'realistic' depiction and expect that to work.

Why does any of this matter? None of these issues exceed the threshold of nit-picking. OK, they're mildly distracting, but is there really a huge problem here?

Well, first, there is a philosophical underpinning to the drive for 'realism' we ought to grapple with, namely the idea only live-action and live-action-alike 'count'. I confess to having little time for this line of thought: the stylistic 'realism' discussed up to now matters far less than emotional or experiential realism. That is to say, whether something presents itself using stick-figures or a hyper-photographic style is not as important as whether it can convey the stakes, pathos, and other meat of a story. Art presents a plethora of options for communicating a message. Deciding one is intrinsically more valuable than the rest is a woefully narrow view of creativity. Traditional, non-realistic animation can be as emotionally arresting as any live performance. Why, therefore, should it be necessary to adapt it into a life-like style?

Second, there is the incomplete commitment to 'realism' that plagues Requiem and, I would argue, the entire concept of approaching works such as Gundam in this manner. Sure, stylistic 'realism' isn't about being strictly 'realistic'. It's about achieving a specific texture to the unreality that is functionally indistinguishable from that of the real elements. Yet doesn't the inclusion of a 17.5m-tall humanoid robot suits automatically grant you a get-out-of-realism-free card? If you have something that wild in play, why go to the effort of making it look like a real-world object? And if you're going to arbitrarily throw out the pretence for the sake of gratuitous continuity, what's the point of trying to begin with?

This circles close to what Requiem is, materially. If I use the phrase 'official fan-fiction', I hope you'll understand that's not necessarily derogatory. What I mean is something primarily homaging and reflecting a pre-existing work, rather than more straightforwardly building off it. 'Fan-fic' because it is bounded by what is already there; 'official' because it has the backing of corporate ownership and thus is positioned as more than merely people playing with the toys they enjoy. It's a category of derivative works into which I'd put previous projects such as Gundam Unicorn's animated adaptation – ring-fenced by an established canon, whatever their individual merits.

General Kellerne's stylistically disruptive presence is one example of the short-comings of such an approach. His design looks that way out of deference to 08th MS Team, whether or not it fits next to the other visuals (a side-effect of trying to cram him into Requiem's style is that he appears off-model anyway!).

Another is the plot. We might grant that doing Gundam-by-the-numbers is a self-contained introduction to the series' themes for a novice, but there isn't anything here those of us who've watched the anime(s) haven't seen a dozen times over. Even Solari's pocket-watch feels borrowed from 08th MS.

Now, credit where it's due: Requiem does not downplay the newtype angle. The psychic powers built up to over the course of Gundam 79 and made central to its sequels are usually the first thing ejected when the franchise tries to be more 'serious' and 'gritty'. It was a pleasant surprise to see them embraced. Solari is explicitly a newtype, with all the corresponding traits (supernaturally good pilot, able to sense threats, experiences predictive flashes etc). This is neatly used to establish some of the philosophy behind Zeon's cause, since most of our characters are already aware of newtype theory (humans moving to space tap into skills not previously needed) by dint of being on the side that uses this as justification for invading the Earth.

As in the source material, newtypes serve as a metaphor for the potential of each new generation. Solari was a talented violinist before the war, able to play near-impossible melodies, and this ability has been conscripted in much the same way OG protagonist Amuro Ray's mechanical genius was turned to murder. Equally, the central tragedy in Requiem resolves into newtype-on-newtype violence, as the pilot of the Gundam relentlessly hunting the Zeon soldiers is revealed to be a frightened teenager, paralleling both Solari's son, to whom she is fighting to return, and Solari herself, as someone struggling for their life in a war-zone.

I watching this straight after binging the original Gundam series (I'd previously seen the more refined compilation movies) and was struck there by how brief Amuro's interaction with fellow newtype Lalah Sune is prior to inadvertently killing her in battle. Then I remembered that's the point. These are two people sharing an identical potential for transforming the world, made opponents by circumstance, who understand one another immediately and intimately in the exact instant it is too late to matter. Amuro's cry that he has done something awful he cannot take back is not overlooking the other deaths he's responsible for; rather it is admitting the unique horror of lost possibility.

Following an encounter on the Federation base, Solari recognises the boy pursuing her is equally scared and out of his depth and thus attempts to talk him down. She even succeeds, reaching substitute!Amuro (hey look another traumatised child soldier who executes wild violence in a berserker-like fashion using a hyper-advanced military prototype; what are the odds?) and evoking his sympathy with her status as a mother (characterisation I'd be more annoyed by if Solari wasn't presented functionally identical to the trope of a father desiring to return to his family).

Then, immediately after saving Solari from being crushed by falling spaceship debris, substitute!Amuro is fatally stabbed in the back by another Zeon soldier.

Here we reach the crux of my dislike for Requiem. It has already muddied the clean Federation/Zeon divide and Gundam's internal physics in service of its chosen style, then compromised that style anyway in the name of slavishness to canonicity. Now, during what is position as the emotional climax, it openly rejects the visual language of newtypes.

Solari's powers are portrayed using vocally-stated unease and emotional connection to other individuals (as is standard), and a pair of dream sequences – one prophetic with respect to the Gundam pilot, another tying into newtypes' ability to draw in the souls of those who die around them. Performing at a darkened opera house, Solari's red dress slowly washes outwards, becoming a bloody wave as the audience is revealed to consist of the dead Zeon soldiers she failed to save. It's an arresting visual, as is the fiery descent into her own pocket watch (a souvenir from her dead husband, who was also conscripted into the war) that marks the earlier dream. We also see a brief shot of the Gundam staring straight back at her as she senses its presence on a distant battlefield. These are all effectively done and I genuinely enjoyed them.

Crucially, however, Requiem does not deploy the kind of over-layering that Gundam 79, Zeta Gundam, ZZ Gundam and the other follow-ups use to show the deep connections developed by newtypes. In the animes, in addition to visions and flashes of awareness, we have full-on mind-to-mind communication where people converse across voids of colour and light. Newtypes appear in ghostly form, too, interacting with the living during and after their deaths. There are also the obligatory glowing auras, cuing the viewer into supernatural happenings.

Requiem's 'realistic' style seemingly does not permit such things to occur in the waking world. That is to say, there is no reason you couldn't depict the standard newtype visuals in CGI, but this show opts not to. If I were to hazard a guess, given the restriction of overt psychedelia to dream sequences and what they did to the Zenoic designs, I would say the aritsts thought it would look silly.

The problem is, how do you then portray newtype connections? In the scene where Solari convinces substitute!Amuro to stop, we get a couple of cutaways to the kid in his cockpit, superposing with his Gundam's movements. That is a great decision, since the point of the newtype visuals is the characters looking past the armour and understanding the person within (not always a good thing, since antagonism can exist despite the link, but the central conceit is always to grasp the essence of somebody else). In these brief moments, we see, as Solari does, the human being, not the mechanical monster.

But the boy's subsequent death is just… the Gundam gets stabbed and keels over, and Solari is grief-stricken. That's it. No manifested ghost, psychic trauma conveyed by voice lines alone, a total absence in this crucial, heart-rending instant of substitute!Amuro's humanity. Just the destruction of property. The death of the monster, not the scared child.

If there had been one additional cutaway to the boy in the cockpit, I think this could have worked. A single shot of him looking at Solari in the second before being stabbed in the back. Something, anything, to imply the connection crucial to this scene. I am honestly baffled as to why it's not there. I feel I'm looking at a picture where a couple of critical numbers weren't coloured in.

To be clear, I don't personally care for the newtype concept as executed in the 'Universal Century' Gundam shows. I'm not annoyed by this because I'm wedded to the idea or the visual conceits. I'm annoyed by the incompetence of failing to land an obvious, even required emotional beat. The finale of Requiem for Vengeance is built around Solari confronting substitute!Amuro. She risks her chance to join the Zeon retreat from Earth – and thus of reuniting with her son – to help take down Federation forces endangering the departing space capsules. She then compounds this by attempting to convince the Gundam pilot to let everyone go, and ultimately abandons any possibility of returning home out of grief over his death. This is a life-changing encounter for her, as is normal for newtypes pushed into fighting each other.

In my opinion, the show does not sell that anywhere near as well as it could have. Further, it betrays the very concept of the newtype connection by leaving substitute!Amuro to be represented by his Gundam rather than his actual self in his final moments. There are cases where other newtypes meet such abrupt ends. Quess' death in Char's Counterattack springs immediately to mind. But that is a moment of a profound lack of communication, which is not what's happening here.

Animes such as the original Gundam shows can move seamlessly between high technology and visual metaphors for empathy without underselling either one. That they are not attempting to look 'real' provides the advantage of absolute coherence. Beam sabers, flying tanks, psychic powers – there are no joins to airbrush away. Everything is unreal, so everything fits together. A switch in medium and style creates the challenge of reinterpreting those disparate elements so they remain coherent. Ultimately, while Requiem for Vengeance has a good try at pulling everything across, it fails, not just at creating 'realism', but at capturing the conceptual depth of what it is assaying.

Being official fan-fic of the Battle of Odessa – being, essentially, 'the Gundam story' in miniature – invites unfavourable comparison with the original work. Unshackled from that, I suspect it could have done more to establish its own visuals, remove incongruities and find better means of conveying its emotional core. As it stands, I have to wonder if there's any sound argument for live-action-alike Gundam. Even the dream sequences don't provide something unique to this style. You could do the same in traditional animation and trivially push it further. So what, precisely, is gained by telling this story this way?

That's the question Requiem for Vengeance has left me pondering. And hey, if you want to answer with 'but it looks cool', fair enough. I'm writing way too much about my personal gripes with a perfectly passable piece of gratuitous mecha porn, simply because I found a more interesting complaint to make than “why the fuck didn't they hire somebody who knew how do facial animations?”

As for Captain Solari, she closing-monologues herself to Africa to join a Zeon remnant group and fight to give children a future without war. Never quite been sure how mecha pilots in these things envision that working, if I'm honest. Oh, and, uh, I guess nobody tell her that if she survives the next seventeen years, there's a decent chance she's going on a suicide run against the Federation spearheaded by a traumatised teenager strapped into a murder machine.

That might put a slight damper on what Netflix's music captions assure me is a heroic ending.

[A note to check you read all the way to the end: obviously the screenshot from Cucuruz Doan's Island shows CGI mobile suit models. But that's CGI aping traditional anime, rather than an attempt at realism. This is why I've been careful to talk about style, not medium.]

[astrowaffle]

Wow you guys really seemed to like the steampunk AU, that post got way more attention than I was expecting, so here's some more information and stuff:

-The world is still like a videogame that they got trapped in but now it’s a steampunk adventure-y type game with circus elements 

-The adventures are probably a bit different

-They’re probably more like, fantasy adventure video game style things with like puzzles and fighting? Idk I'm not a big gamer I've never actually played any steampunk video games. What are those like?

-Instead of circus tent, there is a big wagon thingy that I'll draw eventually

-there's still not much of a story and I'm not sure If there'll ever be

-I'd also kinda want to make some mini comics for this au but I suck at coming up with ideas :/

Pomni:  

-She likes to craft things

-friends with Gangle and Ragatha

-still very anxious but less anxious then normal Pomni?

-has a very logical mind and is good at puzzling things together but also doesn’t do well under pressure and typically panics in stressful moments where these skills might be useful

-She can play the flute because flutes are good, they are the best instrument. (I am totally not biased just because I play the flute in marching band)

-My headcanon for regular Pomni is that she’s less anxious than she initially is in the pilot after getting used to things, like, beyond the anxiety, her actual personality is very cheery and friendly, also very logical, because idk it just fits her somehow? So yea, that headcanon also applies to this au 

-but of course she is still an absolute nervous wreck because yes

-How else is she supposed to react in this situation

-also look at those fingerless gloves I want those

-the gears in her eyes turn when she is thinking

Gangle:

-Also likes crafting things

-friends with Pomni, Zooble, and Kinger

-she often borrows  sewing needles from Ragatha to sew her comedy mask back together when it’s torn, and also constantly tries to craft new ones

-She really likes her boots

-I don’t blame her those are some nice boots

-Ok wait a minute what if that little wing bow thingy on her head is actually a pen/quill that she can use to write stuff?

-ooooooh yes I like that

Caine: 

-✨monocle✨

-He can control the time of day with the clock that’s on his hat

-It’s a lot harder for him to heal injuries in this world, he can’t just instantly fix anything anymore it requires a bit more effort

-I’m doing this because I like when injury and pain and suffering

Bubble: um- idk it’s just bubble but now they’re a robot I guess

Kinger:

-ok but what if he had a collection of mechanical insects? Omg designing mechanical insects would be so fun-

-The clock that he wears is broken but he doesn’t notice. And Time is irrelevant anyways

-damn those gloves are fancy

-they probably feel really silky

-and his robe is also very silky because mmm good texture

Zooble:

-They are a robot now

-also a mechanic/inventor because nobody else is and somebody had to learn how to make new robot parts

-their right arm can go s t r e t c h

-bonds with Gangle over their hatred of Jax

-they’re also kinda protective over her

-I lowkey ship them (this ship is so underrated)

-No but seriously why do see zero art of this ship

- Zoob’s in denial about their feelings and still pretends not to care because they’ve had such a “I don’t give a shit about anything” attitude that suddenly developing feelings for someone has caught them off guard cause they suddenly are giving a shit about something and they don’t know how to handle it, But if Jax does anything to Gangle they will rush in to protect her in a heartbeat and just try to play it off as it just being because they don’t like Jax BUT WE ALL KNOW THE TRUTH ZOOBLE JUST CONFESS ALREADY-

-ok that got way too rambly let's just move on now

Jax:

-MY FAVORITE

-he likes shiny things

-He will collect those shiny things

-He also very fast because look at those LANKY RABBIT LEGS

-I mean technically that’s already cannon, did you see how fast he ran away after seeing abstracted kaufmo? He just z o o m e d outta there

-those keys on the chain are only a small portion of his collection

-his room is definitely full of weird steampunk knick knacks because yes

-He uses them to prank people

-the centipedes he has to scare/annoy Ragatha are mechanical

-I’m so excited to design mechanical centipedes I love bugs so much guys you have no idea I finally have an excuse to draw insects and maybe people will actually care because it’s fandom related now

-He does not like getting wet. At all. (this is also just a general headcanon for him but especially in this au)

-floofy

Ragatha:

-the seams of her fabric are prone to tearing so she always carries a needle and thread to sew herself back together. she's good at sewing

-My main headcannon for normal Ragatha is that her button eye is a parallel to an eye injury she had in real life before joining the circus, but in this AU she probably acquired the injury in this universe.

-she’s good at using tools and weapons but not in like, a mechanic sorta way like Zooble but in a defense sorta way

-like, she’s very kind and caring but also sorta tough and even though her body is good at falling apart, she knows how to use strategy to fight and um wait what would they even be fighting-

-idk I haven’t thought about that yet

-Gloinks?????

-do those exist in this au???

-wait it’s my au why am I asking this

-overall she is very, “tries to help everyone else and seems very tough on the outside but is prone to falling apart both physically and mentally but just gets good at quickly patching it up and ignoring it until it become too much for her to bear”

-pls help her she needs therapy

-they all need therapy

-I’m pretty sure we’ve all established that at this point

-but I’m just making sure you know that it’s still a consistent factor in this au

[lilisouless]

So…Stella

As you may notice for the lack of reaction I am sort of falling out of interest with Helluva Boss, which is a shame cause I really liked the potential. I want it to be known I had faith and was skeptical that shipping centering will ruin it but…yeah,it eventually happened. Actually,not the ship,I’d be more inclined as Stolas as a character than the ship.

I could extend but before I do the same as Vivziepop and ignore the subject at hand in favor of Stolas, I’d talk about Stella and her biggest controversy:

Was she ruined?

Well…

Let me explain: something needs to be good in order to be ruined, so at the start of show she wasn’t “good” but she wasn’t “bad” either. Here’s the thing: Stella was pretty one note from the beginning. Before the Circus, all she did was yell, trow things at Stolas, being racist and hiring a hit man right in front of him. Therefore , there is not really a lot to ruin there. Not a really good character honestly.

However, i would say that it takes an incridible amount of talent to ruin such a one note character, and it´s surprising they did managed.

Before i explain this conclusion i´ll say something i have said before, allegations Vivziepop will NEVER beat : Vivienne doesn't like writing women. Ok, i don't know it cause i don't know them personally but thats the way their writing feels, women who are not villanous feel like they are written as a charity, as a comfort price as a "i can't be sexist, i have a show with a lesbian protagonist, look i gave Millie another short story" The only one of her characters i feel there´s an enjoyment instead of "give me props" would be Nifty from Hazbin mostly cause she is a comic relief that doesn't need to much of a backstory (even then, she is also used to advance a male character´s develoment though) , but i´ll continue.

What does Andrealphus even exist? Well, the show needs a charismatic evil villain and it CAN'T be Stella, because that means there would be an enjoyment to her and the writers can't even allow that. Thats when Stella fails.

And here is my bigger problem: Stella is not well constructed, Stella is a tantrum.

When writers have noticed an unintended audience reaction and they portray it or try to fix it on their work, it shows, its mostly obvious when it happens. By season 2, they are aware that (surprise) people have some sympathy for the cheated woman. So they make her meaner, which is eyerolling, unoriginal, annoying , a waste BUT it´s not against her previous characterization , nothing about the little we had seen of her gets really contradicted. Therefore, annoying as it is, it´s possible to give it a pass. The next time she appears she is more loud, more annoying and stupid, the oportunity to be a bigger villain , at least on Stolas´s subplot, taken away so the shinning moments go to a male character instead, in PURE Vivziepop fashion.

Next episode we saw her, even more annoying. There´s one moment thats enjoyable on a sinister way: the scene where she pretends to comfort Octavia, then smiles. Probably implying she will play "understanding mother" in Via´s face but it will be actually poisoning her against Stolas, or manipulating or something that implies getting a bit away from her only trait that is "hating Stolas"

But no, next episode has her literally doing nothing but laugthing IN OCTAVIA´S FACE about their loss. They can't allow anything about her being enjoyable or entertaining, Andrealphus has to be the big and cool menace to comfront, Stella doesn't deserve to be cool for a single second.

Yet the biggest tantrum in this episode is not Stella related. This is one of those moments that i can't stand because i feel like the creators are looking at my face and saying "i think you are stupid"

The whole subplot of IMP refusing to kill the two men to them was probably a great "take that" but deep inside it´s actually begging for the audience to not go, please don't see things diferently, specially how ooc it is for them to not wanting to kill them for money. It´s a very cheap way to talk to audiences.

If the thing wasn't already too much "on your nose" the woman cheated is called "Karen" (please , i think we already have outgrown Karen already as a meme) and is obnoxious as saying "yes, this women don't deserve your sympathy" and it´s just bad because it´s awfully hypocritical : 1) She is framed as evil for requesting the kill but literally killing humans is the job of out main characters , why the show is suddenly so moral about it? . 2)The situation is meant to be a parallel and..no, it´s not the same, the human couple didn't have the power imbalance thing and upperclass pressure Stol/iz had ,it´s not the same situation; even the show ignores their previously stablished nuances

So the show ends up in a double edged sword when the writers think they are supeior to the audience, intelectually and moral but at the same time beg for their approval, they are imploring to not bail at the show. And that, in adition to VM´s lack of interest in female characters , gives a terrible combination.

My conclussion is that the fans are right...the wrong reasons because it´s very valid to be mad about Stella just not "she was villanized for the sake of the ship" no, she was already villanous, what she was was made dumber, lame, wasted and pushed into a mysoginistic trope for the sake of TWO male characters.

I was going to talk about the audience reaction and why i think people are not completely right in the backlash , but thats more like another subject cause writing along i realized that even if it´s for the wrong reasons , the dissapointment is very guaranteed and so is the resentment.

I don't think Stella has real fans, like she was never a good demon, a good character nor framed as tragic. I think what people are mad about is an idea and some sort of audience rebelion against bad writing. Which can be good but sometimes the point can be missing. I can explain it better in another posts.

[cinderella-ish]

5, 8 through 13, and 18 + 20 for the Furuba asks!

Woohoo! Thank you for sending this! (ask game here)

5. not at all! I was born in the year of the horse, so maybe that's part of why I felt such a disconnect with Rin at first.

8. I have to go with Chapter 88 (the Cinderella-ish play)! I know I already gave the corresponding episode as my favorite, but it's just SO GOOD! It's hilarious and heartbreaking and has beautiful character moments for much of the main cast. It's almost a credo statement for the series. And Hiroshi's brilliant narration is the cherry on top!

Question 9 answered here | Question 10 answered here

11. Yuchi is my OTP ❤️

12. The fabulous Yukeru writers on Ao3 have me shipping them. Same for the YukiKyo (? what's their ship name?) writers. And I've really come to love some of the rarepairs I'm writing for my longfic Bloom Within Us. I'll put them under a cut down below for those curious.

13. Ooh, this is such a good question! Right now, I think my answer would be Momiji & Kyo because of the series I just finished writing. I have a soft spot for Yuki & Kakeru, of course, and Yuki & Haru, as well as Tohru & Arisa & Saki. I also really enjoy Kyo's sibling-esque dynamic with Arisa.

18. Ok, to combine 18 and 20, here are two hot takes that sort of deal with character headcanons. Let me know if you want to hear headcanons for someone else, or more fleshed out hc for these characters.

I think my hottest take is that Tohru needed Kyo more than he needed her. I don't think she had anyone she let her walls down for beyond him; not even her best friends. Kyo at least had Kazuma, and he was pretty candid with Momiji, too. Tohru regularly refused to let people take care of her (except for Kyo), and she would've been trapped in her grief & unable to move forward without him. Kyo would've struggled, and he may not have survived, but while they both would've had friends, he would've at least had a loving parent who would've done anything for him.

While Bloom Within Us ultimately has a positive outcome for Kyo after Tohru dies, I've been thinking about writing a sort of companion piece where Kyo dies and Tohru has to grieve him. I believe that would be a much sadder story, especially with the timing related to her processing her grief for her mother and choosing to move forward with Kyo. We saw in the hospital arc how hard of a time she was having just thinking he rejected her. She'd also struggle with how the other cursed Sohmas - some of her dearest friends - treated/viewed him, and that might create a rift between her and her new found family. If he disappeared, I just don't think she'd be able to cope.

It's also probably a hot take that Shigure only gets as much hate as he does because a) people take aspects of the manga seriously that Takaya never intended us to take seriously (like his "high school girls" song. Creepy, yes, but that's a Takaya problem, not a Shigure problem.) and b) he's so full of self-loathing that he says he's not "kind" and "the worst kind of man" and people take him seriously for some reason. If you actually look at his "unkind" actions, they consist of a) speaking honestly and directly to Akito without first fawning over her, b) actually trying to break the curse (sure, he and Hatori and others refer to it as "using" Tohru, but the way he was "using" her was to try and help the younger Zodiacs form strong bonds outside the curse and to house a lonely, homeless teen), and c) sometimes asking insensitive questions or speaking uncomfortable truths. And yes, he was cold to Mayu, and yes, he slept with Ren (which is maybe the most bananas thing that happens in Furuba), and yes, he fucks with people for his entertainment (especially Mitsuru and Mayu, though, again, Takaya signals we're not supposed to take that seriously). But then we see him trying to cheer Hatori up by bringing him to the lake house, or giving Kyo guidance (and a place to live) from the day he appears, or removing Yuki from Akito's abuse, or using his cunning to get Tohru to relax and have fun, or at least stop stressing so much.

I truly think his speech about kindness came from self-hatred and not from some deeply-held belief about the meaninglessness of things like kindness. I think his speech about being the worst kind of man was again from self-loathing and not something he was proud of. And when he provoked Tohru about Kyo, I also think that was borne of his self-loathing and guilt over how the Zodiac viewed the cat.

Anyway, I know you aren't a Shigure hater, so this probably isn't terribly controversial to you. 😅

Oh, also, I read Arisa as straight. She totally gives me queer vibes, but the fact that she likes Kureno because he reminds her of Tohru, yet she doesn't like Tohru that way... I see that as confirming her straightness, tbh. (I still love AUs where she and Saki are together! They're cute!)

Rarepairs in Bloom Within Us below the cut! (These could be read as answers to 18/20, too!)

Yusuke and Kagura get together in chapter 32, and Hiroshi and Momiji finally get together in chapter 67. In Bloom Within Us, mourners sort of converge around Kyo due to his closeness to Tohru and help him through his initial grieving period. This leads to a situation where Kyo kind of slowly becomes the center of the Sohma family, hosting regular group dinners at the dojo and becoming close (to a degree) with all the formerly cursed Sohmas. Since he always was close with Momiji and Kagura, it made sense to me that he might connect them with Hiroshi and Yusuke. I don't give Yusuke and Kagura a lot of focus, but Hiroshi is basically the second protagonist of my story, and the relationship between him and Momiji (and Hiroshi's development to be ready for a relationship with Momiji) is one of the most important subplots. I've really grown to love them, and might write some more content with them just because I adore them so much. (And Yusuke and Kagura are cute together! But I'm not really interested in exploring them any more.)

I haven't written the chapter where Kyo and Saki get together, but yeah, Kyo ends up with Saki.

I always read Saki as having repressed romantic feelings for Tohru. Due to her extreme loyalty and her powerful wave-reading abilities, I think she'd catch Tohru's message to Kyo (to keep moving forward) and ensure she passed it on first opportunity, thus saving his life. And I think Kyo, with his people skills and unfortunate familiarity with grief, would be the one to figure out how Saki felt about Tohru.

In my story, Kyo has to first decide to live. Once he truly does that, he starts pursuing a future as a karate instructor, realizes blaming himself for everything only hurts the people who care about him, and finally decides to allow himself to fall in love again. He's already in love with Saki by this point, and has been for a while, but he's a dumbass about love and it takes him a while longer to realize how he feels, and even longer to decide to do anything about it.

I think it's possible to read Kyo and Saki as having sexual tension in canon. That plus them playing the prince and Cinderella in Cinderella-ish makes them a fun couple to explore.

Anyway, I think there's a strong case these couples would get together in a universe where Tohru dies, but not in any other universe.

Thank you for asking! This was fun!

[beeribas]

Hi, I’m offering writing commissions now! I am offering short story length works (1,000 to 10,000 words) and while I can go over 10,000 for some works I will prefer to keep works under 10,000. My work is 1 cent per word with a minimum of 1,000 words. I’ll be taking commissions on Ko-fi and the link to my page will be at the end of this post and in my bio. 

I’m a senior English major at the moment so my turn around time might be a little slow. I’m also (hopefully, I’m currently applying) going into grad school for Creative Writing in fall 2025 so turn around time will be a little slow at that point too. I have one properly published work (a short story titled Words to Use More Often in a short anthology titled Under the Skin) and one poem published in my school’s arts magazine. Please also note that I do have a learning disability that affects my grammar and spelling abilities so apologies in advance for any issues that may cause. I will have you look over the work before I send you the finished product to make sure it is what you wanted and isn’t filled with a lot of errors. 

I Will Do -

Genre fiction (fantasy is my main genre but my published work so far is realistic fiction and poetry)

Established characters for shows/books/movies

 OCs in an original universe or real world/realistic fiction stories of OCs

OCs in worlds from shows/books/movies 

Shipping (OC x OC, Established character x Established character, Established character x OC)

I’m more than happy to write fics and backstory stuff for D&D characters. A lot of what I write in my free time is about my own D&D characters so I enjoy writing in that setting.

I Will Not Do -

NSFW/Smut. I’m not uncomfortable with a little steamy stuff but I’m not a good smut writer so I won’t offer that.

Extreme violence or gore, I’m not fantastic at writing physical fight scenes so violence isn’t something I can really do. I’m not comfortable doing extreme gore but some levels of gore is fine (mild depictions of injuries, blood mentions, mentions of past injuries/trauma) 

Relationships between adults and minors

Anything that portrays things such as abuse, racism, or queerphobia in a positive light. I can write stories where characters face these issues but I will not write them in a positive or glorified light. I also will not use racist slurs.

For the most part I will not write stories set in worlds from fandoms I know nothing about or I do not like. This is mainly because I wouldn’t know enough about the world or plot of the original story to write something set in it. I might make exceptions for some things but if I don’t know the franchise/story the work you want takes place in I most likely won’t take it. I won’t do Hazbin Hotel or Helluva Boss because I do not like those shows for personal reasons so I’m not comfortable writing about them. 

Some Rules and Extra Notes -

No posting my writing online without crediting me and no posting my writing to fanfic sites. I’m ok with you giving copies of the work I do to friends for free but don’t claim my work as your own or try to resell it. 

I have the right to refuse service to anyone. If I’m uncomfortable with writing a particular prompt or a particular fandom I will refuse to write it. 

I will try to complete the story as soon as I can but it may take a while to finish some things. I’m in college and disabled so I do have some things in my life that might prevent me from writing for a few days. I will keep you updated on my progress and let you know if I will be taking longer than expected to write a particular story for whatever reason. I am a particularly fast writer and have written 3000+ word short stories in about an hour or two so it should not take too long for me to complete the first draft of your story but I will keep you updated if it does. 

What I Need From You -

Name(s) of the character(s) you want the story to be about, a description of how they look (and a pic of them if you have one), a description of their personality, and their relationships to other characters.

The genre you want the story to be in and your preferred word count if you have one.

Tropes you enjoy and would like me to include.

Tropes you don’t like and anything you don’t want me to add.

Any inspiration you want for your story. This can be anything from a music playlist to a Pinterest board to a different show or story you want emulated.

If you have a preferred date of compilation let me know. I will try to get a first draft done as soon as possible.

Be as detailed in what you’re interested in as you can, even if all you’ve got is character names and a vibe. 

I will need some form of contact to message 

My Ko-fi link - https://ko-fi.com/beeribasschultz/commissions

[loadednachosao3]

Could I possibly have some writing advice? I'm pretty good at writing smut, I'd say it's what I'm best at. The problem is that I can't really write anything else, more specifically I have trouble writing the events leading up to the smut. I'm trying to write something with Lalo and Nacho that leads into smut, but it's hard for me to think of anything for them to do other than just fuck.

hmmm ok... admittedly, this is something I struggle with too, haha! but I think writing the events before the smut can be one of the most satisfying parts if you do it right, so let me share with you what works for me...

decide what circumstances would make the smut more satisfying. if the characters are rivals, how can they undermine each other? what can they do to get on each other's nerves that'll make the sexual tension even more irritating to deal with? if they're in love, how can they express that outside of the bedroom, and what might they do that would make their lover eager to get them alone? if they've never met, what's a meetcute that might instantly make them attracted to each other -- or what are some situations you can put them in that'll make them notice each other that way?

decide what would happen OFFscreen. this is about as important as deciding what happens where the audience can see! mainly, when writing an extensive courtship/plot, figure out what's NOT necessary to write about. to take an example from my recent dadmaxxing au: between chapters 1 and 2, we don't see the rest of the party. the reader is informed through the narration what happened: it opens with Nacho having a hangover, it's mentioned that he remembers very little except meeting Lalo and puking outside, but I didn't write out the whole party, because that's extraneous. it's also a good narrative device to capture the feeling of a person getting blackout drunk. between chapters 2 and 3, we're likely not going to see much, if any, of the week between them having breakfast and Lalo taking Nacho out in his car, because the audience will (if I know you guys well enough) care more about the lacho interactions continuing than the minutiae of Nacho's week, during which very little will happen. basically: if it's not interesting, don't write it! your readers will thank you, and you'll thank yourself.

think about what's going on in your characters' lives outside of each other. do they have goals? problems? what do other characters outside of the ship want from them? thinking about this can give you some ideas as to how to take the story in a direction that isn't JUST 100% smutty. example: Nacho and Lalo are flirting, but Domingo needs to tell Nacho about a scuffle one of his dealers got into with a rival gang member. this can interrupt the moment and give Nacho something to deal with other than just sleeping with Lalo, but you can use that time to write about the sexual tension he's feeling and use that to build your way up to the inevitable release of that tension!

give your characters obstacles, both internal and external. external obstacles would be like the Domingo example above, or, in dadmaxxing, the other characters getting in the way of Nacho and Lalo's relationship. internal could be more like something in dad Lalo AU, where Nacho is held back by his war with himself more than he is interrupted by other people. if you make it harder for your characters to fuck, it can turn out that much more satisfying when they finally do!

think: "what circumstances would have to happen for them to even WANT to fuck?" is there a triggering incident that gets Nacho to look at Lalo as something other than just a soulless pig? is there an external force that puts the idea in Lalo's head to sleep with Nacho, like a porn with an actor that looks like him or something? be creative with it! put yourself in their shoes and ask yourself, "if I were that character, what would it take to get me to sleep with the other guy?"

and remember: sometimes there really isn't any reason for them to NOT just fuck! PWP is a huge genre for a reason! if the smut scene is THAT strong in your mind, you can start there and either JUST write that scene, or work your way backward and write the build-up last. sometimes getting out the part you really want to write FIRST is the best way to get you motivated to fill in the blanks!

I hope some of this helped! happy writing!

[just2bubbly]

I know this can be a bit distressing but I want a story where Kai is older where he remembers his love what he still feels for Cinder, this is just a story please thanks for the answer

Masterlist

Thank you for sending in this ask, nonnie, it was a bit distressing since I couldn't find a new reason to make these two fall apart but not to worry about that, I used my big brain and was creative enough to make something up. Hoping it serves you well! :)

Old Roses on a Summer Breeze

Ship: Kaider

Words: 1.7k

Genre: Angst

A/N: SOSN isn't canon in this fic, Future fic

Kai's Perspective:

"Yes, Torin. Do make time on my schedule for this coming Saturday evening. There's an event at Tara's school." He informs, shuffling through the pages of the manuscript Torin had brought.

"Are you the guest?" 

"Ha, for once I'm not. They have some school performance, I'm going to see her," he says.

Torin smiles fondly, both the men thinking about the little kid that made Palace delightful. 

"Boo!" someone cheered loudly.

"Fu- oh my stars," he cuts his swear word as he sees Tara," we did talk about this, no coming here alone."

"But Da, I wanted to surprise you," she reasoned.

"I mentioned it multiple times, Da's office has important documents." 

"Well I came in to show you something," she said, trying to save herself from scoldings.

"And couldn't it wait till we sat down for dinner?"

"Maybe not," she goes, coming ahead to sit in the chair before him.

Kai nods at her antics, Torin eyeing him. 

Sighing he closes the document he was reading, "Then off it with, love."

"Can Torin-da give us a moment?" she asks politely.

"Tara, are you sure it can't wait till dinner, I have some work to complete."

"I'd take only 5 minutes," she begged, making puppy eyes at him.

"Kai, it's ok. I'd come back again in a while. Does that work fine for you Tara?" Torin chuckled, coming to rescue the child.

"You are the best, Torin-da!" she announced, giving him a cheeky smile.

Exasperated, Kai gave in to their schemes, signalling to his advisor that he would ring him once he was done with Tara. His daughter brought her precious thing to his table as soon as Torin was out of the room. 

"I drew us," she says with pride lacing her voice, "You, me and Mama."

"That's wonderful. Can I see it?" He requested.

"Obviously," Tara murmurs, her words carrying a trace of sarcasm, a trait she had inherited from him.

The picture she drew was wonderful and he wasn't biased towards his daughter. She had a certain level of artistic skills that was beyond her age. She drew pictures better than her parents, provided none of them were good artists themselves.

"You will be such a fantastic artist in the future. I have to admit you look very beautiful in this," he comments.

"You always say I look beautiful," she said accusingly.

"Because you always do," he chuckled.

"Would you like to hang it?" she questioned. 

"Maybe. We can put it in the drawing room or the living room."

"I mean in the office," she clarifies.

"Oh," he says," You think so?"

"Yes, you have a portrait of you and Mum and me when I was a kid. You don't have a family picture at your desk," she explains.

"That's quite thoughtful of you."

"What does that mean?"

"It means you are clever to notice I don't have a family photo at the desk."

She nods and remembering her manners she thanks him.

"I think my desk has too many pictures already, how about we hang it on the wall? So every time you come here you can see it."

"But you said not to come in here."

"And let's change that to when 'you come here accompanied'."

He cleared as they walked towards the gallery in his cabin, where he had hung images of significant events in his life. His parents and him, later his dad and him, Torin and his family, his wedding day, Tara's birth and so many uncountable events.

"We would have to remove something for this to fit in?" he said aloud.

"We could remove that one," she said pointing out to a frame in the top left corner.

"Let me see," he said looking towards the picture she pointed. It was the Rampion Crew on Scarlet and Wolf's wedding day, young people with dreams of immense happiness. 

"That has many of Da's friends. Maybe something else," he convinced, trying to not think much about the picture.

"I have never seen them. Why don't you invite them for New Year like we invite Mum's friends?"

"They live far away and are just too busy to come, Tara."

"Friends make time for each other, that's what Mum says," she countered. 

Having nothing to say to that, he changes the topic," Let's find some other picture."

"This one? " she suggested to the set of the same individuals in different places.

"Maybe we could take that one down," he concedes unwillingly.

They do remove it, much against his wish. Once they do, he smoothens the corner of his daughter's drawing to put in the frame. 

"Tada," she cheered when their work was done, both staring at the wall. 

"It does look nice," he admires.

"I'm born talented," she bragged, drawing a chuckle out of Kai. Tara is lost in her moment of glory and pride, her father holding himself from going down a path of nostalgia and grief. 

"Are you sad because we removed your friends from your gallery?"

"No darling, Da is so happy to see your drawing in his gallery."

"Then do you miss your friends?"

"Yes, Da is sad because he misses his friends," he says, trying to keep his sorrow from coming back to him. 

"Then you can call them and tell them you miss them," she suggests like a wise lady. He wishes he could find enough courage to do so.

"This New Year, we will invite them over. What do you say?" he asks, taking his child in his arms and carrying her to the couch. 

"Yes, I'm excited to meet all your friends," she cheered, her hands taking the old photo from the table and looking at it closely. 

"I know this lady. Teacher Yamin taught us about her. She is the Queen of Luna before forming a demo-mo something," she fumbles "--democratic government," Kai provides.

"Yes, she is the Queen Selene Blackburn of Luna, the last of her lineage," Kai explained, but to him, she was just Cinder, the mechanic, the revolutionary, one of his past mistakes- nothing that Tara needed to know. 

"I didn't know you were friends with the Queen, Da."

"I'm friends with the Queen, I'm friends with a lot of famous people. Even Queen Camilla."

"You don't have Queen Camilla's picture on the wall," she pointed. 

His daughter was a wise lady he thought.

"Queen Selene was better friends than Queen Camilla," he explained. 

"How is she?" she asked incredulously.

"Like all Queens are, Tara." He gave away nothing, Cinder had no place in his present especially not as a role model for his daughter. Daiyu was enough of a role model for her.

Before she could go on being a curious child, Kai decided to cut the conversation short. Glancing at the time and in relief said, "Your time's up, love. Torin must be waiting for me. I'd see you at dinner."

She said her goodbyes and walked out of the room, leaving Kai sitting behind on the couch. 

Going against his better judgment, he picked that photograph. It was years ago- when Kai's only worry was being able to follow in his father's footsteps. Cress had clicked it while Thorne and Cinder had teased him to no end about his first time eating street food. Those were some happy days, he remembered. 

He stood up, walked towards the wall and smiled proudly over his daughter's drawing. His eyes were drawn slowly to the other pictures on the wall, the ones he hadn't paid much attention to in the latter years.

Scarlet's wedding, Cinder's coronation, the first Lunar Ball, Kai's failed attempts at baking cakes- some scattered images of friendship and love all hung around on this very wall. 

With how slowly things fell apart, Kai didn't have much scope to pinpoint where things went wrong. One moment there were talks of forever and the other moment he had just never found time to know her, for her to know him. When visits became infrequent and talks always began with 'talk to you later', Kai knew it was a slow change but it had crept on them like dust being ladden on old clothes. And just like that he didn't feel so giddy about proposing and when they had opportunities to meet his excitement had a lingering feeling of impending doom. 

Kai was 18 when he fell in love with Cinder, 6 when he was fascinated with Selene and at 25 he had fallen out of love with both Cinder and Selene. Somewhere along the way she did too. No one to blame but themselves- not the distance or prejudice that separated them. Just not quite knowing each other after years of dating, "You were the best thing that happened to me, Kai." She had said the last time they had talked. 

From what he had learned, Cinder had moved on quickly too. Just because you find new people doesn't mean you stop loving old ones, Kai even after his marriage and children was still harbouring a soft spot for Cinder. No remorse over his situation now, he won't change his wife and daughter for anything in the world. He just felt sad over a possibility that could have happened if he was a simple man with basic needs. He had found his love in Cinder and his forever in Daiyu, his feelings for Cinder were just a recollection of the past like old roses on a summer breeze. Something pain strikingly beautiful but not meant for you. 

The phone rang and saved him from further getting carried down an old road he had memorised by heart. It was Torin.

"Yes, she went. You can come along. Also could you please arrange a box for me, I'd like to keep some things aside," he requested.

He collected all of the images of his friends and set them aside. If Tara continued her musings, he would need a bigger space to hang her paintings. Only one remained, Cinder's coronation with all of them smiling down at the camera thinking they had seen the worst of days.

_

A/N: This fic felt like writing about 'Sometimes Love Stays' from Kai's perspective and it's just better to accept things and move on than lament over it and I know it's easier said than done but it's the harsh truth, I hate it too.

Taglist: @gingerale2017 @salt-warrior @slmkaider @cinderswrench @cindersassasin @impossiblesuitcase @kaider-is-my-otp @cosmicnovaflare @fangirlforever0704 and lemme know if anyone wants to be tagged.

[medusapelagia]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

I wanted to do this so badly that I cheated and copied it from @just-my-latest-hyperfixation... sorry 😝!

How many works do you have on AO3?

100 Today!!! Even if I have more stories here on Tumblr that I will post on Ao3 sooner or later.

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

728.469

3. What fandoms do you write for?

mainly Stranger Things but I posted a couple of The Witcher fics (one is my anon!) and I'm working on a couple of WIPs

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

28 AU-gust: Royalty  Never Again  I'm so good at telling lies (That came from my mother's side)  Ghost  My lucky charm  (All Steddie)

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Yes, always! Even if sometimes I'm a little embarrassed because I feel that "Thank you" is not enough to express what I feel every time I receive a comment.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Sorrow, a very sad little Harringrove with character death.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

This is hard... but at the moment the one that holds my heart is I'm so good at telling lies and no, the last chapter hasn't been posted yet!

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I'm looking forward to the moment someone will actually write something awful about my stories, but for the moment I was lucky enough to have only mildly bad comments.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

I do but I try to keep it sweet and, apart from some PWPs, it usually takes a lot for my character to get to the smut part: they have to earn it!

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

I wrote a crossover between The Crow and Stranger Things (It can't rain all the time) and some crossover for a Metalsandwhich event. The crazy one I wrote is a crossover between Jurassic Park and Kinktober for the Metalsandwich Movie Marathon, but it was so fun! 😂

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I don't think

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

I started writing in Italian and translated two of my fics into English (one of them being one of the longest fics I wrote). Never again: it takes forever and it's super boring because I already know the story😅

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Ages ago, when I used to write in Italian on another platform I did. It was a LOTR fic Aragorn/Legolas and it was a wonderful experience but I don't think I would be able to do the same in English.

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

in this moment Steddie, but I'm a big fan of Harringrove and Metalsandwich too.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I'll finish all of them because for me it's a pac.t between me and my readers: they give me their trust and I don't want to disappoint them.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I'm a very fast writer and I try to do my best to be better every time I start a new story

17.What are your writing weaknesses?

I always have to fight a bit with the smut scenes because it's a subtle equilibrium between being too clinical and letting the characters enjoy themselves.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I did it and I can do it easily because I speak four languages but in reality, I used it only one time: if the story needs it it's ok but sometimes it sounds farfetched

19. First fandom you wrote for?

The first fic I wrote ages ago was for City Hunter (a Japanese manga), after that, I wrote for Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter. Now, after almost 15 years, I'm back thanks to Steddie!

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

Honestly? Always the next one I'm working on.

My no pressure tags are @dragonflylady77 , @destroya-hargrove, @kallisto-k , @spaceofentropy , @lorifragolina , @rindecisions

[sycamorre]

4 and 21 for the prompts please!

Yessss more thank you! [micro-story prompt]

4. one chance

Everything was packed for Oriana's trip up to the Sun Soul Order. The cart was loaded, and Maia was occupied with giving her younger daughter a last minute talk before she left. Meanwhile, the other two siblings were giving them space, Asta standing a bit behind Maia while Hester stood next to Cassio.

While they waited, Cassio glanced over at Hester, a brow raised. "I know you're protective of her, too. How are you feeling about this?"

Hester thought for a moment, then shrugged. "If it's her chance at getting the training she needs, then I just hope she gets to make the most of it. And I want her happy, that's all."

"You're worried about her, too."

"Always have been."

Cassio hummed, thoughful. There was another pause as Maia continued to fuss over Oriana. But after a moment, the cleric thought of something else. "You know, Ori is not the only one who can possibly have a unique chance at something new here. Your mother was telling me how you had started working with some of the fisherman back home, but you were not enjoying it?"

It was now Hester's turn to look at Cassio with raised brows. "Yes... I thought I might want to follow in our father's footsteps but, well, it just is not the same out on the docks without him."

Cassio nodded, then smiled. "You know, if you wanted to try something different, I heard from the others in the capital that the paladins are looking for new members to train up. You have grown into a very capable young man, and you have a big heart for people. I think you might like an opportunity like this." Hester seemed to want to interject, but Cassio held up a hand. "I am not saying you have to make a choice right this second. Just think about it and let me know what you decide."

21. collapse

"Run. Run as far as you can, and let me handle the others."

Ledo's legs ached, but she kept running, fueled by the promise she made. She was not sure how long she had been going at this point, or how far away she was, but at the very least she wanted the lights of the port city to be out of sight behind her.

In one arm, she held the single bag with rations and supplies that they were able to gather before leaving the ship. Ledo clung to it and the loose coat she now wore as tightly as she could, despite the pain that lingered in her wrist. In her mechanical arm, Drache was being held firmly in place despite his protests. He tried again to wriggle out of her grip, and Ledo was thankful that the joints were able to lock in place in situations like this.

"Not now. Not yet. We need to keep—GAH!"

Something in the road caught Ledo's foot, and she immediately lost her balance, tumbling into the dirt and mud. Everything she held fell and scattered around her, and she found herself nearly frozen from the pain in the moment. She was incredibly aware that her body was in no condition to be doing anything like this, but she had no choice. Pushing herself up with her forearms, groaning, she reached for the bag again, trying to rake in anything that fell out.

Drache recovered quickly from where he fell, shaking off the dirt and stones before running over to Ledo. He nudged her arm gently, arcane engines whining as if trying to speak, like he often used to when she was working herself too long into the night. "I... I can't stop... Not yet." A sound akin to a growl came in response from the tiny mechanical dragon, and he bit at the sleeve of the coat and gave it a full tug. "Ok. Fine," she grumbled, now standing. "Help me find somewhere to rest."

The homunculus took to the air, flying a bit off the road and coming back to lead her a ways out of sight, where a cluster of trees and foliage created the closest thing she could find to shelter, at least to keep anyone on the road from seeing her. In the time it took to walk to it, she could feel the adrenaline wearing off, and the weakness of her own body was catching up to her again. As she made it to the trees, she felt her legs truly give way underneath her, and her vision blurred as she hit the ground. Drache, in a panic, tried to rouse her, but without success. Instead, he took up a watchful position, waiting for her to wake up.

"I'm coming back for you. I promise."

[chameleonlibrary]

Faith Lines: II

Pairing: The Mandalorian/Din Djarin x Visually Impaired!Reader

Summary: (After S2E1) The Mandalorian defeated the Krayt Dragon. That was great! But... It made him re-think his life choices. Peli Motto offers him to stay a bit longer at Mos Eisley to hang out with the kid at an upcoming festival. Not only to clear his head, although... Who knows what else he finds?

Part I: Faith

Posted on AO3 and Wattpad

Notes: Bare use of Y/N (get InteractiveFics! Trust me!), Tooth-Rotting Fluff

Wordcount: 1,803

A/N: Thank you so much for reading this. I can't find words to describe how happy I am to see that people liked this. Share, like or even comment. It motivates me a lot. Fell free to give advice or constructive criticism too, I'd find it helpful.

II: heart

Button clicking and beeping. In no time, you were taking off, away from Tatooine.

How can a short body have so much strength the same way Peli did? 

She got the air out of your lungs with the crushing farewell hug she gave you, as you were about to board the Razor Crest.

With Mando’s help, you climbed up the ladder to the upper deck and sat down on the co-pilot seat.

“Are you sure you’re ok with carrying him all the way to Nevarro?” He asked before putting the baby on your legs.

“Yeah! I don’t mind. Could help to not get him running around, don’t you think?” You opened up your arms, as you received the baby.

You took off the cowl and gently poked his little nose.

“Hi, you cute little thing,” you cooed and the kid blabbered.

Mando smiled warmly at you two under the helmet.

The Mandalorian decided to not travel with hyperspeed. Not because he wasn’t in a hurry, he wanted more time with you.

Obviously, he wasn’t going to admit it. The humming of the ship, your soft breathing and the flicking of switches; you leaned your head back on the seat and closed your eyes briefly, taking in the background noises.

“Is this what you usually hear all the time?” You opened up one eye.

“And baby crying, sometimes,” he looked at you over his shoulder.

“Guess we got lucky, then” you laughed a bit. 

“I always wondered what some of the planets look like…” You caressed one of the little one’s ears, your eyes lost in thought.

“I only ever got to sit down under them and stare at them, as they were aligned with the stars… Have you ever stargazed before, Mandalorian?” You straightened on your seat.

“It’s been a while…” He shrugged.

“How long is a while?” You leaned a bit in curiosity.

“Not sure…” Mando mumbled.

“You never take off the helmet to admire them?” Your question came out a little quiet, hoping it wouldn't bother him.

“Creed.” He stated. You raised an eyebrow.

“What do you mean? Like… A promise?” You had a puzzled look on your face.

“The Way,” he answered. You only nodded. It must be very important.

“Why cover yours?” He asked back.

“Well, you know… I don’t want to scare people away.” You motioned your face with your hand.

“I think they tell a story,” he said as he clicked a few buttons.

“Try to explain that to the little children who have cried,” you mumbled.

“The kid didn’t seem to mind,” he pointed out. You chuckled.

“Well, maybe he’s as fearless as his dad is,” you gave Mando a half-smile. He laughed softly back as a reply. 

You felt a bit of a pressure on your chest, then heard soft snoring, your jaw dropped in excitement and hugged the green bean’s body with an arm.

“Look, he fell asleep,” you whispered with emotion in your voice. You didn’t dare to move too much, and felt a million butterflies wash down on you at the cuteness of the moment.

“About time,” he touched a few buttons from his bracer, calling in the hovering pram.

Mando got up from the pilot’s seat and carefully picked him up, putting him on his floating little bed. The wooden frog near him. The warrior stared at his small frame for a moment, letting out a soft breath through his nostrils.

“I think you’re doing great,” you rested an elbow on your thigh and your chin on top of your hand. His helmet turned to you. It was like you had read his mind.

“I don’t think this is a life for a kid like him,” he muttered.

“Yet, look how far you have been through…” You reached out your hand. He took it and you gave him a reassuring squeeze.

It was rare for Mando to be in situations like this. Typically he only spoke in his harsh metal tones. Usually doesn't interact with others… Much less feel this comfortable right off the bat.

He looks deeply at you in thought… His mind drifts a bit and his expression becomes far more deep, as he reflects on the people he has met this far. Most of them have been nothing but harmful or not the most pleasant company— Counting the bounties, even.

...Yet, here was a person who clearly has more understanding of the universe than himself. It was an interesting contrast.

“Thank you…” That’s all he manages to say. He has received praise before when it comes to his work… But at his task as someone to look after his foundling? Completely new to him.

He let go of your hand and went back to the pilot's seat; more button and switch flicking. 

You allowed yourself to rest, closing your eyes and drifted off to sleep.

"Careful on your way down," Mando warned you as he climbed down the ladder and you after him.  You hugged his arm and once again pulled up your hood.

"Y/N…" Your name was softly called.You felt soft brushing on your cheek and your eyes slowly fluttered open. The shape of the helmet near your face made you smile.

"Yes?" You groggily asked.

"We're here…" He informed you.

You got up from your seat with his help.

The ramp lowered and sunlight allowed you to see smudges of what you figured was the town.

With a mysterious person on one side and a floating pram on the other, of course it was going to attract looks. The Mandalorian walked with his head high, at a very confident pace but also alert for the people who stared.

On the other hand, you felt a bit overwhelmed at the noise of so many people around and talking, yelling or the simple crunching of many footsteps approaching and passing by.

The smells were mixed… Between the disgusting smell of oil but also the market's food.The cloak didn't make it any better. It was a hot planet and the sun was merciless on you.

You hugged his arm tighter and held your face, sighing out.

"Don't you want to take that thing off?" The armored man tried to reach out for the cowl, but you held it tight with your hand, moving off your head.

"Alright then…" He sighed, hurrying his pace.

Soon enough, the sun was no more. And the smells somewhat changed; now there was a hint of gin and spotchka in the air. It was still crowded, but not like the streets.

You narrowed your eyes by trying to focus a bit on the change of light and the new shapes around.

There was an upcoming figure.

“Mando! About time you showed up!” A gravelly voice greeted him, and a belly chuckle was heard. The beskar armored man nodded their head at him, shaking his free hand.

“I need a favor,” the warrior requested and there was a hum.

“Of course, sit down. Over here.” The very kind figure offered you a booth.

The Mandalorian helped you, letting you have a seat first and him next to you.

“This is Y/N,” he motioned his helmet to you and you extended a hand to shake.

“Karga. Greef. Welcome to Nevarro,” he smiled warmly.”What can I do for you?”

You let out a breath and built up some courage.

“If it’s possible,” you started. “I’d like to settle down here with you and… Read palms,”

There was this long silence. Karga repeated the sentence under his breath and looked at his friend, with furrowed eyebrows in confusion.

“Y/N lost their workplace—” The warrior tried to explain.

“He shot my boss,” you interjected.

“Ah. Classic.” The older guy gave the Mandalorian an unamused look with a smirk. It made the tin man sulk a bit on his seat.

"I'm not asking for much, really. Just a booth, candles and someone to look after the rowdy clients. The rest, I'll figure it out," you were pretty much pleading. 

Your hands looked for Greef's and held them tenderly.

"Please?" You rested your hands on top of his knuckles.

He sighed, taking one hand and patted the back.

"Any friend of Mando is a friend of mine… I'll see what I can do," he let go of your hand and you bowed your head.

"Thank you so much…" 

The host invited the baby and you to a meal. And time went by, chatting and meeting each other, until the sun set… It was time for the kid and his dad to part ways.

There was a little whimper coming from the pram. The spaceman opened it up and a pair of green ears sprunt out.

"Ah, there's the little booger! Come here, you…" Greef cheered, like a proud grandpa, picking him up and putting him on his legs.

"What a pretty frog," the kind guy admired the wooden toy, giving it back to the little one.

You decided to make them company until they made it to the Razor Crest. You hugged Mando’s arm, resting your head on it and keeping up with his pace. Right behind you, Greef.

"Well… I guess this is it…" You mumbled sadly, as your steps stopped right by the ship.

“I wish you could stay longer…” You looked down, kicking a pebble.

The Mandalorian leaned his head down, his helmet touching your forehead. You closed your eyes into it.

“I’ll come back,” he whispered loud enough for the modulator to pick up.

 

There was a sad whimper from the kid and your heart dropped a bit at it.

“Aw, don’t worry, you… I’ll wait for you. Be brave,” you put your hand on his head and trailed to his ear, stroking it with care.

You were pulling away your hand, when his fingers reached for your finger. You didn’t move.

Then, you felt a rough material on your hand.

The little one gave you his wooden frog.

You gasped and held it to your chest. Letting out a sigh, your eyes watered a bit and sniffled at the feeling.

“Take care of him. Safe travel, warrior.” You extended your hand, placing it where you thought his cheek would be. He leaned on the touch, then stepped back.

There was a hiss from the ramp and the clanking sound of his metal boots boarding it.

You remained there, holding onto the carved wooden animal.

There it was, the rumbling from the engines and dust rising under the ship. A gust of wind hit your face and then, pure silence.

You turned around and walked to Karga hugging his arm instead and started walking back to the cantina.

“So, palm reading, huh?" Greef asked with an amused hint.

"Would you like to give it a try?” You suggested, with a smile.

[acourtofthought]

I'm so over the whole " books of buildup" regurgitated excuse from elriels, it's a broken record at this point, there is so much evidence that ACOMAF leaned Moriel, ACOWAR ends with a promising outlook for Elucien, and honestly, ACOSAF, if Azriel wasn't looking at Mor with so much heat, I could maybe give it to them, but, sorry, no. Azriel being hung up on Mor all throughout the series is a huge red flag. The way elriels act like Azriel wouldn't drop Elain like a bag of potato's for Mor really shows you we must have been reading a different series. I'm not saying there was absolutely nothing, but the way SJM wrote it, just fell so flat, it's missing all the components that makeup her endgame formula, and again; MOR, MOR MOR MOR MOR MOR MOR MOR MOR. Even though Mor doesn't feel the same way,HE does feel things for her and it was telling in ACOSF when he wouldn't give Rhys an answer, like, IRL, if you crushing on a guy or dating a guy who wasn't over his ex, you'd just *bE oK* with that. Please. SJM having Az rebound on Elain and Elain with Az to get over Grayson make sense for their arc, but doesn't mean it's endgame. Oh and as far as we know; Elain was still in love with Grayson in ACOMAF, ACOWAR and Feyre notes her sadness over Grayson in ACOSAF, sorry, but two people still longing for another is NOT A GOOD SIGN, no matter how you spin it in a SJM book. That's not how she writes endgame couples. But given how much context I've seen them twist and misinterpret, it doesn't surprise me in the least they cant differiante what a red flag is in a book written by an author who uses adults themes to tell a story, it's like they can't grasp the purpose of Elriel, at all. When I see "why would SJM abandon Elriel after all this...ummm easy, there was never any real buildup to a true romance, y'all saw it for what y'all convinced yourselfs of it to be, they dont read between the lines, disregard a ton of context clues, or think critically when it comes to patterns and the kind of author SJM is (she to date favors mates) and interviews of her talking about Elain and Lucien and telling us in her own words, we can expect tension but growth and healing TOGETHER. It's funny how they conveniently forget that. I see why they try and stamp it out from existence for new readers but we have the receipts.

She has ended canon ships with on page kisses, sex and romance, and Elriels really think she won't let that almost kiss amount to nothing more if she wills it. If they were so confident in their ship, why do they bully, harass and attack anyone who disagree with them? They've bullied published authors, her best friends, her family, book community influencers, podcast hosts, made threats about her kids, e-mail BB NON STOP with threats, the receipts and videos all exist if you know where to look of their disgusting behavior. For a group so confident, they sure don't act like it.

With SJM, she tends to blur the lines when it comes to interactions between some of the characters so a lot of things look like something.

Lucien and Feyre had many scenes that could have strongly hinted at them being together. Nesta regularly wanted Azriel to train her instead, thought he was the prettiest of the three, and even imagined having a threesome with him.

In ACOMAF we found out Cassian slept with Mor and STILL thought about how absolutely perfect her face and soul were in ACOSF, we could easily use the multiple books of buildup for them too.

And the biggest example is the fact that Az has looked at Mor with longing, hunger and yearning for every single book he's been in.

Just because Elain and Az nearly kissed and they are physically into one another doesn't make their hints any more meaningful than the moments those other characters shared when they are still not proven as endgame.

If Feyre and Lucien ended up not together despite her feeling up his bare chest in ACOWAR and him stroking soothing lines down her back, if Mor looking at Azriel in a way Feyre couldn't decipher and him blushing and looking at her with hunger in ACOFAS didn't mean anything, if Cassian actually had sex with Mor yet now looks at her like a sister then there is currently nothing about E/riel that's proof of anything. They are simply two characters exploring an attraction and that could come to mean nothing in the end just as it did for so many other characters.

But that doesn't mean anyone had multiple books of buildup. It will only mean that if they end up together and as it stands, E/riel isn't looking good. Like you said, there are some very concerning red flags that exist for them that weren't there for others. Like the most raw and real thing we've seen E/riel discuss is her garden.

Where are the discussions about Graysen? Mor? Her being made? Her losing her father? His struggles with his heritage? Even Nesta had deeper conversations with Cassian before her book and 99% of their interactions were snarking.

There is no endgame couple without the two characters being very real with one another, as uncomfortable as that can be and E/riel just doesn't have it.