#so i am either posting or re-posting it here today

[sleepy-stories]

[xomakara]

Elevator

(re-posting from my old account seulrinnie-rinrin/xomakara-secondary)

SUMMARY | You and Wooyoung are stuck in the elevator with nothing to do but talk. But when you are awfully aware of how close he is, you can’t help but act on your urges.

PAIRING | Wooyoung/Reader

GENRE | non-idol!Wooyoung, smut with no plot, unprotected sex (wrap it up everyone!), fingering, oral, vaginal sex, elevator sex

RATING | Mature

LENGTH | 2593 words

AUTHOR’S NOTE | On the shorter side but still smutty~

"Nononono. This can't be happening." You ran a hand through your hair, sliding down the walls of the elevator as it stopped moving. The lights were out and you could barely make out the figure of the man who stood next to you.

Of all days to get a power outage!

"Freaking out like that isn't going to make things better." The man muttered, his voice low and calm. "Breathe deep. Count to ten. Do something productive. Shit. I forgot what to do when things go bad."

He added, not sounding at all sincere.

You didn't need him to tell you to breathe; you'd been doing so since the lights went out in the first place. Your heart was pounding and the sweat on your palms made them slippery. The whole situation was just freaking bizarre and the adrenaline pumping through your body wasn't helping either.

You knew you had a bad feeling when you woke up this morning as you struggled to get out of bed. All your work clothes were in the laundry hamper, a lightbulb went out in your bathroom while you showered, you ran out of coffee and there was nothing left to eat for breakfast besides half an apple that had turned brown overnight.

On top of all that, the bathroom mirror showed that the faint lines around your eyes were more pronounced than usual.

And now you're stuck in the company's elevator with that very attractive employee in your department, one who is probably pissed off that he can't find anything to do while trapped here too.

"I knew I should have called in today." You muttered, burying your face in your hands. "This day couldn't possibly get any worse."

"How worse could it be?" The man asked, looking slightly annoyed but also amused by the sight of you bawling your eyes out on the elevator floor. He took a few steps forward before stopping again, taking another deep breath. "It's just a power outage after all. It happens every now and then."

"True enough." You agreed, raising your head to look up at him. "I just can't believe I'm stuck here with you."

"What's wrong with being stuck in an elevator with me?" He laughed.

"Not funny, Wooyoung." You frowned. "God, I can already hear all the other ladies in our department talking shit about me. Why do I always get myself into these situations? Like I haven't got enough problems as it is."

"I mean there's one way we can deter the shit talking." He smirked, gesturing at himself suggestively.

You groaned and shook your head. You really needed to get out of here soon or else your colleague was going to try to make a move on you and then you'll be really fucked. Not that you weren't interested in the idea, but you've heard some horror stories from friends who hooked up with co-workers and most of them ended badly.

You glanced around nervously, wondering how long the power outage would last and how long you'd be stuck in this elevator. You wondered if they'd think of any contingency plan if they realized how much time had passed since the lights went out. Maybe they'd sent maintenance to fix it? Hopefully someone will come soon.

"What are you thinking about, Y/N?" Wooyoung asked, sinking to the floor next to you. His legs crossed and his arms resting casually on his knees. "Having second thoughts about making a move on me?"

"I am not trying to make a move on you, no matter how attractive you may be." You mumbled. "Are you really sure you want to know what I'm thinking?"

"I have been told I have good hearing." He grinned, nudging you playfully with his shoulder. "Go ahead and tell me. Whatever it is, I won't judge you."

"Just being in this elevator is making my anxiety go up the wazoo." You sighed, sitting back against the wall.

"That's why I'm trying to distract you." He said with a shrug. "So, you really want to tell me what's bothering you?"

"I've just had such a bad day." You sighed. "I struggled to get out of bed this morning. All my work clothes were in the hamper, the light bulbs went out during my shower, I didn't have any breakfast except for a stupid apple that turned brown and I ran out of coffee this morning. Everything seemed to conspire against me this morning and..."

You took a deep breath and stared down at your feet, knowing that if you looked at him, you might let yourself get carried away. Wooyoung squeezed your hands gently.

"This kind of thing doesn't happen to me. I've always got my shit together, but today, everything seems to fall apart. One after the other." You muttered.

"Y/N, don't feel embarrassed about having bad days. Everyone has them." He murmured. "Sometimes life can be cruel and unjust, leaving us to struggle with burdens we never thought we could carry alone. It happens to the best of us."

"Maybe." You sighed. "But sometimes you wish that sometimes those bad days wouldn't happen at all."

"Well, we can't always get what we want, right?" He smiled gently. "But if we accept reality as it is, rather than as we wish it to be, perhaps we'll feel better and cope better with whatever life throws at us."

"Who are you and what have you done to the cocky Wooyoung I work with?" You let out an amused sigh. "Is it possible to see two sides of a person at once? Because I definitely saw a different side of you today. Thank you for being nice to me."

"Oh come on, it's nothing special." He waved his hand dismissively. "But I'd like a kiss as payment for comforting you. That's if...you want to."

You looked at him, eyes taking in his handsome face. His messy hair, slightly tousled from always running his hands through them. Those eyes that made you weak in the knees. The lips that were dangerously close to yours.

"Do you want to kiss me?" He asked quietly, tilting his head to the side.

There was a moment where neither of you moved, staring deeply into each other's eyes until finally Wooyoung leaned closer and pressed his lips against yours softly.

The soft kiss surprised you, making you pull away slightly. But Wooyoung didn't seem fazed by it and instead he wrapped his arms around you, pulling you closer. You returned the kiss, brushing your lips against his before pressing your mouth more firmly against his.

Your lips parted slightly as he continued to press kisses to your lips, opening wider as his tongue slid along the seam of your mouth, exploring every corner until finally parting to allow him entrance. He tasted faintly of coffee, which made you wonder if he drank a cup before he came down here, but his taste was still pleasantly sweet.

"You know I could care less about what our coworkers would say about us." He muttered against your lips. "I only have eyes for you."

His words, along with his closeness and the scent of his cologne filled your senses and slowly your breathing became deeper, almost as though your lungs were expanding and pushing the air inside even further. The electricity flowing between you caused goosebumps to rise on your skin, spreading all over your body as his hands tightened their grip around your waist.

As much as you wanted to deny it, his lips and his touch were sending sparks of pleasure shooting across your skin and a warm sensation rushed to your core.

"Wooyoung..." You moaned, closing your eyes tightly. You felt his lips graze your jawline, before moving lower to nip at your earlobe. A shiver ran down your spine and your knees began to weaken, causing you to lean back against the wall behind you.

"Y/N..." He whispered, nibbling at your neck before he began to suckle your earlobe. "Do you want me to stop?"

The question caught you completely off guard and you opened your eyes to stare into his. In the dim lighting of the elevator, your pupils were drawn into his dark eyes, which seemed to have gone darker, taking on a darker shade.

"No." You breathed, leaning in to press your lips against his.

And Wooyoung seemed equally affected by your kiss. Before you could blink, his hands reached up and grabbed the sides of your face, pulling you towards him so that your lips met once more.

With every kiss, the intensity grew and soon you were lost in the sensations coursing through your body. When he pulled away slightly to give you a chance to catch your breath, your breath hitched and you licked your lips before reaching up to run your fingers through his hair.

The man in front of you was no longer the Wooyoung you usually worked with. Instead, he looked like a man who knows exactly what he wants and won't hesitate to take it.

"Don't stop." You breathed out, Wooyoung lifted you in his arms. His face darkened with desire and his breath came out in shallow pants as he gazed down at you with hunger in his eyes. "Please..."

He dropped to his knees, lifting your skirt and tugging your panties aside, revealing your pussy. It was slick with excitement and arousal and you felt your breath quicken. The sight of your cunt getting wetter was arousing and thrilling, as he looked up at you expectantly.

Before you could stop him, he slipped two fingers inside your pussy and began to stroke you, bringing out small whimpers of pleasure. He continued to slide his fingers in and out of you, fucking you with such skill and control.

Your legs began to shake uncontrollably, feeling weak from the pleasure he brought you and you sank back against the wall, needing something to hold onto. He didn't need to be told twice and quickly placed his hand under your knee, bringing it to rest on his shoulder, his face now buried between your thighs.

You let out a gasp when his tongue began to lap at your clit, teasing it and making it throb with pleasure. You closed your eyes and tilted your hips upwards, allowing him better access to your center. Your hips bucked erratically, driving his tongue faster, while his fingers kept pumping in and out of you.

He hummed and thrust his tongue harder against your clit, causing you to moan loudly. You started panting heavily, sucking in your bottom lip as he began to finger fuck you in earnest, fastening his pace. There was no mistaking it anymore. He was totally focused on pleasuring you, intent on giving you mind blowing orgasms.

The combination of the electric shocks from his fingers in conjunction with the vibrations from his tongue was too much to bear. Soon your hips began to buck violently, moaning and whimpering, driven mad by the pleasure that overwhelmed you.

"Fuck!"

It was unlike anything you ever experienced before. As you screamed his name, letting go of all control, all you could do was keep your orgasm coming, flooding his mouth with your juices until your body relaxed against the wall and he withdrew his tongue, licking the last traces of your cum from his lips.

"Holy fuck..." You gasped, catching your breath.

"Good?" He asked, kissing your inner thigh and working his way up to kiss you. You could taste yourself on his lips, but it only added to your arousal.

"So good but now..." Your knees went weak and you rested your forehead against his. "Now I need you to fuck me."

In an instant, he lifted you so that you could wrap your legs around his waist. The position left you open and vulnerable, as he settled himself between your legs and pushed forward, burying his cock deep inside you. You gasped as you took his length fully, enjoying the fullness of him. The feel of him filling you to capacity.

Wooyoung thrust in and out of you, setting a steady pace that made you cling onto him. With each thrust, his pelvis smacked against your clit, making you cry out.

The speed increased as you leaned back against the wall, lifting your ass higher to accommodate him. Wooyoung gripped your hips, moving them back and forth with precision, hitting just the right spot. He pressed kisses to your neck, then your ears before finding your lips again.

The combination of the feel of his hands gripping your hips and the feel of his hard cock pulsating inside you, sent ripples of pleasure shooting through your body, igniting your passion.

"Oh God...Wooyoung..." You groaned, arching your back as his tongue found its way to your earlobe.

"You feel so good. I could fuck you forever." He whispered, thrusting into you harder and harder, his balls slapping against your ass with each thrust. "Can I fuck you forever?"

"Yes please...Yes. Yes.." You moaned, pressing your body tighter against his.

His moans were growing louder as he thrust into you faster and faster, matching your pace. With every thrust, his fingers dug into your hips, holding you tight against him. Every time you pressed back against him, he let out a long groan, then immediately buried himself inside you, fucking you harder and harder.

"Y/N... Y/N... Come for me..." He groaned against your ear.

It took every ounce of willpower not to let yourself cum, but his moans and the feel of his hard cock deep inside you drove you crazy and you knew you couldn't hold back any longer.

The muscles in your stomach clenched and a tremor coursed through your body as another orgasm ripped through you, leaving you trembling. Wooyoung thrust harder, gritting his teeth and growling as he came with you. The sight of him losing control and calling out your name made your heart skip a beat and make your knees buckle.

But before you could fall to the floor, he caught you in his arms and held you tightly, kissing you tenderly. You were completely spent and all you wanted was to collapse into his arms.

"I got you." He whispered, wrapping his arms around you protectively.

As soon as Wooyoung placed you on your feet, the power kicked back on and the elevator started moving again. The both of you let out a laugh as you fixed your clothes, making sure that nothing had fallen out of place.

"Wooyoung?" You turned to look at him, smiling at him. "Thank you."

He grasped your hand, linking your fingers together as you walked towards the doors. "Anytime."

As the elevator door opened, he let go of your hand, placing his hands on the doors and holding them open for you. He watched as you exited the elevator, giving you one last smile before he followed you.

When you got to your desk and Wooyoung to his, you were both silent, content in the fact that you had each other and no one else knew what had happened between the two of you. And when you turned to look at your phone, you saw a text from him asking if you wanted to get dinner later.

Your heart skipped a beat as your face lit up with a wide smile. The night was still young and there was plenty of time for you and Wooyoung to enjoy it together.

[qqueenofhades]

Thank you for your reasonable words. Your approach is the one I am striving to adopt permanently (whether we win this or not, and we have a good chance!!!!) of funneling my severe anxiety and panic episodes into organized action.

I think people in their 20s and maaaybe early 30s too? are used to either sinking to the ground in despair or “protesting” through angry social media posts and by purchasing small-batch-printed tote bags with progressive slogans.

Not that I don’t support both those things, but some people slightly older than us seem to have a more effective strategy of volunteering for and supporting what they identify as effective, soundly researched grassroots efforts.

Of course there are also a bunch of middle-aged and older Democrats who are sniffling into their Kleenex. But many of the over 30s in the party do seem to move their asses even when they are despairing, and that motivates me.

Thank you, dear, and I appreciate everyone who has taken the time to send me a supportive or encouraging message and/or say that my posts have helped them keep steady during this fucking insane stretch of time. It's not unprecedented in history altogether, but it certainly is for us, it just has never stopped, social media only exacerbates it, and... yes.

I do my best, with the caveat that I have no special magical wisdom or action to fix this all immediately (though truly, I wish I did). I have been a registered voter since 2006 and a registered Democrat since 2008, and while that doesn't make me the oldest person here by a long shot, it DOES make me older (and hopefully wiser, but yknow) than some of the early 20s/late teens crowd that gather on spaces like Tumblr. Either way, I have leaned fully into being the crotchety old elder and yknow, it's very freeing.

We have a good chance to win this. We have got to do the work, as ever, but that has always been the case and always will be, whether for this election or like, life in general. So chin up and let's do it.

[grapehyasynth]

Wilmon + 'he'd been receiving anonymous flowers for a week now.'🌸🌷

When I re-read this today I immediately thought of this full-fledged idea @piebingo posted yesterday. With her permission I am drawing inspiration from that idea. I also drew on this post about flower meanings.

He'd been receiving anonymous flowers for a week now, a befuddling situation he vents about to Felice when she stops by the shop that Saturday.

"...And not to sound paranoid, but I almost feel like I should interpret it as a threat, actually, because who sends a florist flowers from his competitor?!"

Felice's eyes widen over the bouquet of apple blossom, red camellia, and spearmint she's been smelling, so he's guessing he's missed the mark on downplaying the conspiracy theorist vibes. "How do you know they're from a competitor?"

"I didn't put any of these together." He gestures to the six vases on the counter between them.

"No, but--" Felice drums her lacquered nails on either side of a vase. "Do you remember the woman who came in here on Sunday and placed a big order for a birthday party?"

"Yes," Simon says, drawing the word out, not sure why Felice knows that information.

"That was Eva. Alex's sister." At Simon's nonplussed shrug, she adds, "There was no birthday party."

Simon is usually better at mental math than this. "...Is Alex my secret admirer?"

Felice throws her hands up in exasperation, nearly knocking down a smaller vase of cornflower and honeysuckle. "Oh my god, Simon! Eva bought all those flowers as a favor to me."

"I don't--"

"I bought the flowers as a favor to Wille."

"W-"

"Who has been sending them to you all week."

Simon takes a step back, looks at all six bouquets again, feels something catch in his chest. "Wille ... Wille arranged these?" he asks tremulously. He might have to hire his friend; he really had thought these had been arranged by his competition. Okay, not the point. "Why would he - why would he send me - and anonymously - and - red carnations?" he finishes weakly.

Red carnations: my heart aches for you.

"Counterpoint: why would you plant mean little flower messages in Wille's date bouquets?" Felice challenges.

"I-"

"It's the same reason. You've both been--" Felice consults the big laminated The Language of Flowers poster hanging behind the register. "You've both been very... red columbine about yellow carnation, but it's all just geranium."

"That's not how that works," he murmurs numbly. He lifts his gaze from the bouquets to find Felice smiling gently at him. "It's really - he's really--"

The bell over the door jingles. From his vantage behind the counter, Simon can't see who's just come in, but Felice smiles, leans forward, plucks a cluster of sweet pea blossoms from one of the bouquets, and slips it behind Simon's ear. "Why don't you ask him yourself?"

[herejusttosufferalong]

Re: To the anon asking about Rory.

They’ve been close friends for AGES. He’s not going anywhere sadly.

I don’t really like his vibe

Hey, I’m the one who asked about Rory—thanks for replying. I know they’ve been besties forever, but what I meant was if Rory was a huge part of L’s life before HBS. I don’t remember seeing him much when L and J were together, except in a couple of stories and the singing vids. Also, are Tom and Charmaine married? I like them for some reason; they don’t give me the ick like Rory and his gang do.

Continuation of my earlier ask:

My BFF and I talked to two of our male friends, and they patiently listened. We just finished filling them in on the drama from yesterday and today. We’ve been chatting since 5 am lol. Here’s what they had to say:

Luke and Nic are in love: There’s a lot of eye-fucking to prove it. The tension suggests they haven’t acted on it, which is expected. The guys think Nic wouldn’t be okay with that, and Luke seems decent enough not to have crossed that line. However, they do believe they might have hooked up before Luke had his HBS. They could be reevaluating their relationship, using intimacy tools to see if it’s genuine affection or just heightened emotions and sexual tension from filming their season.

Luke’s friend group seems toxic: By friend group, they mean just Rory. The others seem fine. L dating a young girl soon after Rory did confirms Rory as the alpha of the group, and L as gullible since none of his other friends are doing the same. Maybe J dating someone young also influenced L dating A. It could be an ego thing, a guy thing, or both. L will probably cringe at this situation looking back. They said this whole relationship has nothing to do with Nic. This is Luke’s problem—a midlife crisis, even—and he needs to figure it out, which won’t happen as long as he’s with Rory and his gang.

A is super insecure: It doesn’t make sense because she’s the one who bagged the hot Netflix lead and goes on vacations with him. But her social media behavior reeks of insecurity and constantly seeking validation. This confirms that L isn’t invested in the relationship, which confirms to us he’s VERY much into Nic. So, think about this whenever A’s trolling upsets you. 😉

Nicola doesn’t care: The guys think L and N might have discussed their feelings, but Nic sees that L has issues to deal with—mainly himself. She’s hustling and thriving, not caring about his current relationship. Posting their pictures shows her character and work ethic. This only benefits her, and Luke should learn from it. They think L should make a final thank you post, even if people find it disingenuous. It’s better than nothing.

A needs to chill with the Hailey Bieber cosplay: The white outfit was an exact recreation of Hailey’s, and it’s weird. She keeps track of her comment section and allows comparisons to Hailey, which is embarrassing to say the least. The guys think A will stick around as long as she can. L seems to struggle with breakups, and now that A’s integrated into his friend group, it’ll take a lot of time to end things. She might be playing into his guilt, which is why he’s still liking her posts. She's young but smart enough to understand that. They think the only way out is for L to keep busy with work, but he doesn’t seem to have any now. Expect things to get worse before they get better. If he works, he can slowly distance himself from the relationship, and it will inevitably end. Either that or he’ll meet Nic, talk, realize they still have feelings, and that will give him the courage to end it with A. Even then, he has to make it up to Nic for all the shit he’s pulled.

Nic and Newts dating: Once they start dating, we won’t get a hard launch or pap pics. They might return to their old social media banter and comment and like each other’s posts.

So yeah, I’m really grateful to have my brother and these friends who indulge and listen to me. I think it’s safe to say they’re roped into the ship as well lol. Love to see what you guys think. Omg, also, I watched a TikTok of Luke singing as a teen, and the guy in the back looks like Rory. If it is, HE’S the one who glowed up, not L lol.

It is Rory in the background looking jealous AF

Thank you for sharing anon, love seeing the different perspectives

💜🥃

[galadrieljones]

Zabel Interview, Team Delusional Round-up, re: the past few weeks (months?) 💫

(Based on an ask from @natural-blue-26! This post contains spoilers, pertaining to the script leak. If you don't want them, turn back!!)

First, let me say that @twdmusicboxmystery has posted an excellent video covering this topic over at her youtube channel. This post is jumping off of that, with some additional takes and analysis by me!

Also, note that I wanted to wait to post or to talk about this too much publicly until today, as I think there are a lot of genuine shippers who might be let down right now. Not all c*rylers are unhappy, unruly people. Many are shippers just like us, and even though I don't ship it, I support them. I am only putting this in the Team Delusional tag, so anyone who sees this is seeing it either because they follow me, follow the tag, follow someone who follows me, or they went looking for it themselves. I am not making drama or inciting a "ship war." If you're here out of anger, I suggest you turn back. I am just going to go over what I see.

The Facts

There has been a recent spate of events that have lead Team Delusional to a rare and more than modest resurgence. Until now, we were mostly just working with templates and symbolism, with a healthy dose of informed meta and speculation: We were seeing how the season 4/5 template was beginning to unfold toward the Grady arc, which includes Carol in a major role.

BUT. Let's check in with what's been going on over the past six months. A lot of this new resurgence starts with Emily's multiple trips to Europe for TWD cons in the past six months, integrated with her (yet unrealized) insinuation that she has been in studio recording one or more songs that Beth sang on TWD. Massive financial burdens aside, these are unusual undertakings for Emily. While she has done many fan cons over the years, visiting Europe twice in a four month period is bizarre (as well as expensive). She also talked openly and excitedly in the panel at French comic-con about how cool it would be if Beth returned. Further, Emily's "re-recording" of "Parting Glass" and possibly other TWD songs was a fairly big announcement for us at the time, but we haven't seen any more on it since. Speculation went everywhere from "She'll be singing in a flashback in Daryl Dixon season 2" to "Her songs will be part of the soundtrack" to "She'll actually BE in season 2, singing, in the present moment."

A lot of these things, if they were spread out over a 5 year period, wouldn't matter at all. But the fact that they're all taking place in the six-month run-up to Daryl Dixon s. 2, when we've already been able to speculate her tenuous return based on templates and other tells, is exciting. It's been almost ten years to the day of Beth's *death.* Why now? The timing on all of this is very suspicious.

Now, a few weeks ago, there was a LEAKED SCRIPT excerpt, which was claimed to be the final scene of DD 2.6. In the script, we learn that Isabelle has died and is appearing to Daryl in the form of a hallucination while he fights walkers in the Chunnel. This was confusing for many reasons. First, we already know, given their ruthless advertisement of the fact, that season 3 is already being filmed in Spain. So why are they headed to England? Also, where the hell is Laurent? Further, Isabelle's death, while unsurprising to many of us, creates some new questions. Many members of a certain *other* ship were ecstatic to learn about Isabelle's death, as Daryl/Isabelle ship rumors have been rampant in the fandom basically since season 1. Forget the fact that the same ship FREAKED out over Daryl/Leah three years ago (a clear nothingburger). Any time another female character even comes into contact with Daryl, a notable portion of fans must make their "displeasure" widely known.

Moving on. Yesterday, an article came out summarizing a yet-unreleased interview with David Zabel in SFX magazine. You can read it here. In the interview, Zabel makes the following comment about "C*ryl":

"The obvious thing to do, and the easier thing to do would be, 'Okay, now they're falling in love and they're a couple.' But I always felt like that would be a mistake, because it would feel like you were going into the TV book of tricks," he explains. "To me, there was never a question that [their connection] was something other than what it is, and what it seems to want to be, and why it works so well."

Zabel then goes on to hint at a highly-contentious romance with Daryl and Isabelle:

"What happened in season one was that you could see a connection forming, for sure," he says. "We didn't manufacture that but we left room for it. A lot of season two is about the development of that and where that relationship goes, and that little surrogate family of Isabelle, Daryl and Laurent."

Now, the full interview doesn't come out until September 4, at which point, we may get a clearer picture of what's going on. However, it seems that Zabel is politely declining the "C*ryl as romance" narrative. In the quote, he uses the excuse of wanting to avoid TV tropes; however, he then goes on to say (in a portion of the quote that is being wildly misinterpreted among the c*ryl ship) that "To [him]," there was "never a question that [their connection was something other than what it is." He then equates "what it is" with "what it seems to want to be" and "why it works so well." The misinterpretation is coming with that second part. "What it is" = friendship. Zabel is clearly saying that c*ryl "seems to want to be" exactly "what it is," aka: a sacred friendship and nothing more. He's basically saying that this already "works so well," and so why fix what ain't broke? Why create a romance between two characters who are clearly just very, very good friends when he could go another, more interesting direction?

Certain c*ryl accounts have misinterpreted that section of the quote. They seem to think he's saying that the c*ryl ship "seems to want to be" something else, something other than what it is. But if you follow the grammatical logic of the sentence, you can see that they're wrong here. It wants to be what it already is, which is friendship. Of course, to c*rylers, what it already is = romance, but that isn't canon. There's no proof of this. In fact, there's more proof to the contrary, that they're best friends. They're family. Carol was married to somebody else, raised a child with him, still holds a contentious relationship with the other man, allowed Daryl to toil away in the woods alone for five years because she needed to stay with her husband...

In addition to factual evidence from the show, the C*ryl Friendship Campaign has been going strong on social media for MONTHS. In her video this morning, twdmusicboxmystery also goes over quasi-recent comments from Angela Kang which are UNSUPPORTIVE of a c*ryl romance. The notion that this perspective is coming out of nowhere, which some fans are claiming as a way of blaming Zabel for either lying or betraying his fanbase (and the actors), is, frankly, absurd.

Please note that I'm not saying that nobody should ship c*ryl just because it isn't canon. That would be silly. I ship non-canon ships all the time. BETHYL is a non-canon ship! I've written whole fanfics for Beth and Daryl (well, I've tried lol, but most remain unfinished). It's one of the funnest parts of being in a fandom.

What I'm saying is that c*ryl is NOT CANON. It never has been. And the people who get angry about this, who want to get professionals fired over this, who think that they're entitled to getting exactly what they want, lest the show perish, are wrong. They're doing it wrong. It's totalitarian and, frankly, obsessive. This is not how you be in a fandom, and my interpretation here of the Zabel interview in conjunction with the C*ryl Friendship Campaign is that they are TRYING to let this highly volatile and frankly unpleasant faction of the fandom down lightly in an effort to get them off tptb's AND the actors' backs. They don't want to deal with this shit anymore. And by the way, they're actually not leading anyone on. They've been insanely clear here, in their rebranding of c*ryl to a platonic ship, as to what's happening and what's going on, and while I really do feel for the good people who may feel let down by this, I am GLAD to see that the showrunners aren't going to heed the demands of one tiny, loud faction of a giant fandom, and that despite the haters, they're going to tell the story they want to tell.

ANYWAY.

Over the past 48 hours, things have gotten...weird. Zabel's interview dropped less than a day after the TWD Skybound social media accounts appear to have...posted a Bethyl edit out of nowhere. @sweetz1919 also posted early this morning, bringing together a few more Beth-related posts on either official accounts or *near* official accounts, which post promotional material, and which are followed by AMC TWD. One of these posts is a repost on twitter by Scott Gimple, who so rarely posts on social media, that any time he does, it's like a unicorn, symbolically notable and certainly important.

Now, pertaining to the Zabel interview, another wide complaint taking place in the c*ryl camp is that Zabel is likely LYING or he is being taken grossly out of context, because if c*ryl isn't happening, AND Isabelle is going to die, then how could Daryl POSSIBLY get his happy ending?

THIS is where Team Delusional comes in. Of course, we have our theories. Most people think WE'RE the delusional ones. And maybe we are! Lol. I don't really care. Most of our theories are crafted through a TON of hard, circumstantial, pattern-driven, and symbolic evidence, evidence taken from IRL sources, and hypotheses made after paying very close attention to what's been going on and making LOTS and LOTS of connections over a period of many years. Me, myself, I've only been here for four, but some of you guys have been doing this for almost ten, and for that, I salute you! As I said earlier, TD has been theorizing Beth's "return" in DD2 based greatly on symbolic and template-driven evidence alone for a while. A lot of what we're seeing now on social media is playing directly into our hand.

Emily in Europe multiple times in a 4mo period, including a trip to Paris, with her latest stint being just a week before "official" filming for season 3 was set to begin? Emily re-recording tracks from TWD? Leaked script pages in which Daryl mentions Beth specifically AND suggest that Isabelle is going to die? Romantic!C*ryl = not happening? HOW could Daryl possibly get his happy ending now? The rest is TD theory, ie: WHY we think Beth will come back to manifest Daryl's "happy ending." Speculation and theories on how she could come back, the connection to Spain/England/France, that's basically all we talk about lol, each of us with our own interests and niche perspectives, all arriving at the same point.

SO while there is still no proof that she is coming back, all of this is a Good thing, actually. For us. Because while everyone is looking around, freaking out, wondering what's going to happen next, we are seeing and able to read a LOT of signs that others ignore. And rightly so! There's no reason the rest of the GA needs to think that Beth is legitimately coming back. That would overshadow Carol's role in season 2, which is significant. It's just important that the GA REMEMBERS who Beth IS, that she was important to Daryl, and that hey, people used to really like Beth, and they liked Beth and Daryl together, and that was hopeful, and nice for him, and he hasn't had much "hope" or "niceness" since, and wouldn't it be nice if he could have that again...? All of these things are really there to do just this: let the c*ryl ship down easy, and remind people that Daryl once held a very strong connection to a woman whose life "ended" too soon, and who has really never been mentioned again.

While I really have no idea what's coming next, I wonder if we'll begin to see more astroturfed discussion on Beth's *death.* How weird it was, what the hell was going on at Grady, etc. If we don't see it in promotional material, we may hear about it in-show. Because if Daryl is casually mentioning Beth (along with Merle and Glenn) to Isabelle's ghost/vision in episode 2.6, then this likely implies that he's told her about Beth before, and that he's talked to her about what happened. It implies that Isabelle knows who Beth is, which would be a truly insane development, since he's literally never talked about her to anyone, including Carol, as far as we know.

So anyway, as usual, we should all just keep our heads down, chins to our chest, keep hope alive, but with a balanced sense of anticipation. We still really don't know what's going to happen, so it's important to be rational, but it also won't hurt to have a little faith 💫

[fourthwingfan]

Madness - Chapter 13

Hi, everybody. I hope you all had a pleasent Easter! Now, we continue our story. Threshing is just starting. It's a really short chapter, I'm sorry, guys. :( But I plan to post the next one on Saturday.

There is nothing quite as humbling, or as awe-inspiring, as witnessing Threshing…for those who live through it anyway.

—Colonel Kaori’s Field Guide to Dragonkind

October first is always Threshing.

Monday, Wednesday, or Sunday, it doesn’t matter where it falls on any given year. On the first of October, the first-year cadets of the Riders Quadrant enter the bowl-shaped forested valley to the southwest of the citadel and pray they come out alive.

I will not die today.

I didn’t bother eating this morning, and I pity Ethan, who’s currently heaving up the contents of his stomach against a tree to my right.

A sword is strapped to my back, the hilt jostling against my spine as I bounce, stretching my arms across my chest one at a time.

“Remember to listen here,” Professor Kaori says from in front of the 147 of us here, tapping his chest. “If a dragon has already selected you, they’ll be calling.” He thumps his chest again. “So pay attention to not just your surroundings but your feelings, and go with them.” He grimaces. “And if your feelings are telling you to go in the other direction…listen to that, too.”

“Which one are you going for?” Liam asks quietly.

“I don’t know.” I shake my head. At this point, Mira knew she wanted to seek out Teine.

“You memorized the cards, right?” He asks, lifting his brows. “So you know what’s out there?”

“Yes. I just don’t feel connected to any of them.” I shrug. “And what about you? Do you have this ‘feeling’?”

“I don’t know. Maybe.” He says. “I thought I felt something.”

“Which one was it?” I smile at him. He totally deserves to be chosen.

“One of the reds.” He grins. “I felt strange when you dated with the greens.”

“Hey! It wasn’t a date. I really thought that I’m done for good.” I narrow my eyes at him.

“Yeah, I shouldn’t have called it a date. I don’t want to upset a certain wingleader.” He winks.

“Liam!” I hiss and elbow him in the ribs.

And he just laughs. God, he’s annoying. A little. But I like him.

We’ve only seen professors this morning, but I know the second- and third-year riders are scattered throughout this valley in order to observe.

„If you go in groups, you’re more likely to be incinerated than bonded,” Professor Kaori argues with someone near the center of the valley. “The scribes have run the statistics. You’re better off on your own.”

“And what if we aren’t chosen by dinner?” a man with a short beard to my left asks.

Looking past him, I catch Jack Barlowe running a finger across his neck at Violet. So original. Then Oren, Rio and Tynan flank his sides.

So much for squad loyalty. It’s everyone for themselves today.

I better watch them. They’re a nasty group.

“If you’re not chosen by nightfall, there’s a problem,” Professor Kaori responds, his thick mustache turned down at the ends. “You’ll be brought out by a professor or senior leadership, so don’t give up and think we’ve forgotten about you.” He checks his pocket watch. “Remember to spread out and use every foot of this valley to your advantage. It’s nine, which means they should be flying in any minute now. The only other words I have for you are ‘good luck.’” He nods, sweeping his gaze over the crowd of us with such intensity that I know he’ll be able to re-create this moment in a projection.

Then he leaves, marching up the hill to our right and disappearing into the trees.

My mind whirls. It’s time. I’ll either leave this forest as a rider…or likely never leave.

“Be careful.” Liam pulls me into a hug and he tightens his arms around me.

“You too.” I squeeze him back and am immediately swept into another pair of arms.

“Don’t die!” Ethan orders.

That’s our only goal as what’s left of our squad separates, each heading in our own direction like we’ve been flung apart by centrifugal motion, at the mercy of a spinning wheel.

***

Guessing by the position of the sun, it’s been at least a couple of hours since the dragons flew overhead, landing in the valley in a succession that sounded like thunder and making the earth shake.

I’ve come across two greens, a brown, four oranges, and—

My heart stumbles and my feet freeze to the forest floor as a red steps into my field of vision, its head just under the canopy of enormous trees.

This is not my dragon. I’m not sure how I know, but I do.

I hold my breath, trying not to make a sound as its head sweeps right, then left, and my gaze plummets to the ground as I bow my head.

For the last hour or so, I’ve seen dragons launch into the air with a cadet—now a rider—on their back, but I’ve also seen more than a couple of plumes of smoke, and I have no desire to be one of those.

The dragon huffs a breath, then continues along its path, its daggertail flicking upward and catching one of the lower-hanging branches. The limb falls to the ground with a monstrous crash, and only after the footsteps recede do I finally raise my head.

I’ve now come across every color of dragon, and none of them has spoken to me or given me the sense of connection we’re reportedly supposed to feel.

My stomach sinks. What if I’m one of the cadets who’s destined to never become a rider? One who’s thrown back time and again to restart first year until eventually something puts me on the death roll? Has this all been for nothing?

I don’t want to die. I don’t want to be useless. I don’t want to be seperated from my friends.

I feel happy with them. For the first time in my life I feel important. And I don’t want to lose them. Liam. Violet. Ethan. Not even Xaden, despite our strange relationship.

The thought is too heavy to carry.

Maybe if I could just see the valley, then I’d get a feeling like Professor Kaori was talking about.

I spot the nearest climbable tree and get to work, scaling branch after branch. Pretty sure the higher branches aren’t going to support my weight, so I stop about three-quarters to the top and survey the immediate area.

There are a few greens in plain sight to my left, standing out against the fall foliage. Oddly enough, this is the one time of year when oranges, browns, and reds have the highest chance of blending in. I watch the trees for movement and spot a couple more directly south, but there’s no pull, no aching need to head in that direction, which probably means those aren’t mine, either.

Relief hits me embarrassingly hard when I count at least half a dozen first-years wandering aimlessly. I shouldn’t be so happy that they haven’t found their dragons, either, but at least I’m not the only one, which gives me hope.

There’s a clearing to the north, and my eyes narrow as a flash, like a mirror, catches the sun.

Or like a golden dragon.

Guess the little feathertail is still out here appeasing its curiosity.

There’s another movement. There’s a woman with wihitis hair. Violet.

Then I spot three man entering the clearing.

Shit. They must be Jack and his group.

I climb down and keep my footsteps silent and race across the forest floor as fast as I can.

I am thankful I grew up playing hide-and-seek with Violet in the woods. This is one area of expertise I can confidently claim.

The clearing is closer than I realized, so I kick up my speed, my gaze darting between the leaf-covered path I’ve chosen and where I think they are.

The meadow is big enough for ten dragons, ringed by several large trees, but the golden one stands alone in the center, in front of the dragon is Violet.

I was right. The group I saw was Jack’s. They surrounded Violet.

Four man against Violet, and a dragon. Probably a baby if based on it’s size.

I feel my anger rising. I will kill them.

I unsheathe my sword but before I can say anything or take a step, I hear a low threatening voice.

„I would strongly recommend you rethink your actions,” a voice—his voice—demands from across the field.

My scalp prickles as each of our heads swivel in his direction.

Xaden is leaning against the tree, his arms folded across his chest, and behind him, watching with narrowed golden eyes, her fangs exposed, is Sgaeyl, his terrifyingly beautiful navy-blue daggertail.

[weirdmarioenemies]

I am going to rank more of the Super Mario Galaxies and none of you can stop me

Some galaxies are destined for greatness. But not all of them. Some galaxies are destined for pretty goodness, and that's okay. It's unfair to hold everyone to such absurdly high standards.

Those are the galaxies we're gonna talk about today! We've reached the B-tiers on this Galaxy Tier List, and we're gonna talk about them all today!

In case you missed the first post (which you can read here!), I'm doing a tier list of all the Galaxies in the Super Mario Galaxy series, and releasing a new entry every Sunday until we've covered them all. Forget about Church. This is what Sundays were truly made for.

My opinions don't necessarily reflect every member of the blog (there's like seven of us!), and they may not reflect your own either. If you disagree, that's totally cool.

72. Wild Glide Galaxy

Game: Super Mario Galaxy 2 Tier: B

Kicking off today's list, we have the Wild Glide Galaxy, another Motion Control Minigame, yippee! Gone are the days of ray surfing and bubble blowing (but not Star Ball rolling. that's still around), now we have a funny bird named Fluzzard, and even funnier birds named the Jibberjays!

The Wild Glide Galaxy is pretty alright. The motion control minigames are rarely really the highlight for me in the Mario Galaxy games, but for what it's worth, I think gliding with Fluzzard controls alright, and I really like the optional challenge of flying through the rings for the Comet Medal. There's not really anything wrong with Wild Glide Galaxy at all, it's just a little ho-hum, but that's okay. I mean, it's the tutorial for this type of gameplay, what are you supposed to expect?

That being said, there's a later Fluzzard gliding galaxy that's way cooler. Like, way cooler. We'll talk about that next week.

71. Bowser Jr.'s Airship Armada

Game: Super Mario Galaxy Tier: B

Did you know? If you put enough flying boats in one place, that's legally a Galaxy. I don't make the rules, I only follow them.

Yeah, these games have a pretty loose definition about what constitutes a "Galaxy"...

Anyway, I don't have an awful lot to say about Bowser Jr.'s Airship Armada. It's solid! I definitely prefer the first half with the cannons more than the second half with the autoscroller, though because of Speedrun Strats, I usually end up skipping the first half anyway... Did you know that? You can just blast yourself to one of the later airships and it totally works! I wonder if skipping the more fun part of the level diminishes my opinion of it, though...

That being said, Galaxy 2 kinda went and gave Bowser Jr. both a better "Airship autoscroller" level, and a better "blast yourself places with cannons" level, so the Airship Armada kinda loses out on that regard. Combine that with a Decent boss fight, and the Spranglers that always mess me up on the autoscroller (which I will admit is a Skill Issue!) and we end up with a mission that's fine, but I'm a little lukewarm on.

70. Honeyhop Galaxy

Game: Super Mario Galaxy 2 Tier: B

Is it just me, or is Honeyhop Galaxy the most forgettable galaxy in Super Mario Galaxy 2? I dunno, I think it's something about the repeated theme without really bringing anything new to the table, besides I guess one segment that brings back the Floaty Fluff from Gusty Garden Galaxy. It kinda just feels like a Honeyhive Galaxy retread, but a bit more condensed.

And that's not necessarily a bad thing to be, Honeyhive Galaxy is a really good one after all, it just makes all of Honeyhop Galaxy feel like something I've seen before. And I don't think the smaller scale really helps, since the large scale is part of what I love about the Honeyhive in the first place!

I feel like I'm being a bit too negative here, so I should probably re-iterate: while this galaxy feels like a bit of a retread, the stuff it's retreading is pretty fun, so I can't really hate it. I just wish they'd find more new things to do with the Bee Mushroom, that's all!

69 (nice). Bubble Breeze Galaxy

Game: Super Mario Galaxy Tier: B

And here's another Motion Control Minigame, this time taking advantage of the Wii's pointer! It is your job to blow Mario around in a bubble, but don't let the bubble pop! Because most of this galaxy is a poison swamp which is frankly, Not Healthy To Digest. Do you know why all the crayons you see are non-toxic? Because they melted all the toxic ones to make Bubble Breeze Galaxy, that's why.

Anyway, this galaxy summarizes my thoughts on the bubble minigame: I like it, I don't love it, I'm not too upset that it didn't return in Galaxy 2, but I wouldn't mind if it did. I question how much of this Galaxy ranking so low is the atmosphere, "poison swamp" can be just kind of a dreary thing to look at for too long, though maybe it's just that the minigame can feel a little sluggish since you need to be so precise. It's not too hard, even, just a little time consuming.

I feel if I liked this galaxy just a bit more, I probably wouldn't always take the Speedrun Strat of backflipping to reach an invisible platform behind the checkpoint, from which you can long jump to the Power Star and just completely skip the second half of the level.

68. Flash Black Galaxy

Game: Super Mario Galaxy 2 Tier: B

I don't know what it says that the lowest-ranking Super Mario Galaxy 2 Hungry Luma galaxy got a higher spot than all but one of the first game's Hungry Luma galaxies. I mean, besides "the first game's Hungry Luma galaxies aren't very good".

Flash Black Galaxy is a galaxy built around a solid gimmick, where the level is too dark to see outside of brief flashes that appear in-time with the music. Stuff like objects and enemies can always be seen which can clue you in to where things are, but otherwise, it's testing your memory, which is cool. I don't think it's the best one-off gimmick, but for a single level, it's definitely a respectable one.

I don't know if I really have much more to say about Flash Black Galaxy. It's pretty much defined by its gimmick, which I consider "good but not great". Makes interesting use of your memory, but slows down the pacing a little, but ultimately the galaxy is short enough that it doesn't ever overstay its welcome. Respectable B-tier.

I originally had it way higher (at 54th place, if you can believe it!) but after writing about it, I found I didn't care about it as much as I thought I did. Sorry.

Don't confuse this with the Throwback Galaxy. We'll talk about that next week.

67. Rolling Green Galaxy

Game: Super Mario Galaxy Tier: B

And here's the last of the galaxies that introduces a motion control minigame! I honestly kinda like the Star Ball, it hits a nice balance where it can be a bit tricky to get the hang of, but never really feels like something you don't have control over, which I can't really say about the ray surfing. There's a really fun sense of momentum there, it does a really good job of capturing the feeling of balancing on a ball, not that I know what that feels like...

Makes sense this was the only of the three minigames that returns in the sequel, it's easier to control than the mantas, but never gives you so much control it can feel kinda boring, like the bubbles. As for Rolling Green Galaxy itself, it's kinda what you expect for a level that introduces a mechanic. It's a bit basic, but not necessarily bad, and I like that it offers a few optional challenges on the sides. It also escalates pretty nicely, first giving you areas with fences so you can get acclimated to the controls, then wide open areas without fences, and then having you navigate around holes and islands, I really like that.

I'm probably still gonna dock it a bit for being a bit basic, but as a tutorial, I think it's pretty well designed, and I definitely have to give it props for that. Still, there are definitely other galaxies that I feel have made better use of this mechanic...

66. Rolling Gizmo Galaxy

Game: Super Mario Galaxy Tier: B

That being said, I think the "challenge version" of Rolling Green Galaxy, Rolling Gizmo Galaxy, is only slightly better, if not basically equal to Rolling Green.

I think this is pretty well designed as a more challenging follow-up, making you navigate through tighter spaces, rotating platforms, and overall forcing the player into a bit more careful play. It definitely serves well as that "final test" of the Star Ball minigame, testing how well you're able to handle its control scheme.

That being said, I feel that by being more challenging, Rolling Gizmo loses some of what makes the Star Ball missions so fun, you have to take it at such a steady pace that you never really get a chance to build momentum, which is kind of a bummer. Rolling Gizmo Galaxy doesn't really give you the same level of freedom that Rolling Green Galaxy gives, even in terms of alternate routes, so I'm gonna dock some points for that. Still appreciate the added challenge, though!

65. Gateway Galaxy

Game: Super Mario Galaxy Tier: B

For what it's worth, if this was a list of galaxies ranked by the order you play them in, this would rank first.

Gateway Galaxy is your tutorial to Super Mario Galaxy, and I think it does a nice job at that. Chasing bunnies is probably never gonna be my favorite thing in the world, but it's a nice way to get the player accustomed to walking around a sphere, and unlike some galaxies, there's no strict time limit, and the bunnies will politely inform you where others might be hiding. It would be kinda unfair if they didn't. This is the tutorial.

And I really like that it eventually extends into a proper "mission," letting you travel between planets, and introducing you to some of the game's mechanics, like collecting Star Chips, spinning to defeat enemies, and activating (or de-activating?) flipswitches. I also really like how you can't return to this galaxy until much later in the game, I think it's a nice way to show you how far you've come, or something like that, I don't really know. I'm not the most graceful with my words!

That being said, I need to be upfront: the Red Star power-up and I have never gotten along. I always felt the flying controls with it were super weird, even if it gives you a lot of freedom! I may as well mention it here, since it never shows up anywhere else...

Anyway, I picked that picture because of this Jacob Geller video, which all of you should watch, by the way.

64. Bowser's Lava Lair

Game: Super Mario Galaxy 2 Tier: B

Bowser building a lava-themed Galaxy? How unexpected...! I wonder what tricks he'll bring next?

Bowser's Lava Lair is a pretty solid, if not slightly forgettable, boss stage. It has all the sorts of things you'd expect from a Bowser stage, really, stone buildings, lava, members of the -omp family, and of course, a boss fight against the Man Himself. It also marks the debut of Mattermouths, which catches me off guard a little even though I totally know they're in this galaxy. They seem like such a Haunty Halls debut to me!

Not a lot to say about Bowser's Lava Lair really, it's solid, but a bit by-the-books, which is why it didn't score any higher. Maybe Bowser could take a few lessons from his son when it comes to designing memorable boss levels...

...That statement feels really weird given both "boss levels" we've covered thus far are from Bowser Jr., but I promise, he gets some really good ones in Galaxy 2.

63. Starshine Beach Galaxy

Game: Super Mario Galaxy 2 Tier: B

Oh hey, it's that galaxy that sort of vaguely references Super Mario Sunshine! It has Beach, it has Chucksters... it has those lily pad rafts? I think Sunshine had those. Really, throw Piantas in any sort of tropical area and you can probably pass it off as a Sunshine reference.

Starshine Beach Galaxy I feel is one of those galaxies that suffers a little bit from Super Mario Galaxy 2's more compact level design. It's kinda big, kinda flat, and kinda empty. I wouldn't say it's a significantly worse galaxy than Beach Bowl, there are some fun missions here, but if you compare the two, Beach Bowl just feels a lot more Alive to me, you know? This galaxy has like, three towers, a Pianta statue, and a whole lot of tiny islands and shallow water between. The level design in Galaxy 2 is a bit more linear, and in a more open galaxy like this one, it shows.

Still, this place is still plenty fun. The Cloud Flower is always a delight to use, and it's nice to have more exploration-oriented missions in the sequel. I just wish there was more to see when exploring, that's all!

62. Bowser's Gravity Gauntlet

Game: Super Mario Galaxy 2 Tier: B

There are not a lot of good images of this galaxy on the Super Mario Wiki, huh?

Admittedly, originally I had this a good bit lower, where Bubble Breeze Galaxy is right now. Then I looked it over and was like "actually, this one's cooler than that" and moved it up like six places.

I think this suffers some of the same issues as Bowser's Lava Lair, where it feels a smidge generic -- I mean, making your lair Gravity Themed in the game where every level is Gravity Themed? Come on. But after looking back at it, they do some cool things with that gimmick, particularly in the 2D area, where the lack of changing perspective really helps emphasize the weird gravity in this place. I love details like Podoboos jumping out of a pool of lava on the wall and into one on the ceiling, that's really neat.

Still, I think they could've pushed the gimmick a little further, and with some of the entries later on this list (including a Bowser level that occupies the exact same position in the first game!), I feel like they have a lot more fun with 2D gravity shenanigans.

61. Gusty Garden Galaxy

Game: Super Mario Galaxy Tier: B

Man, this one hurts. You don't know how much it pains me to put Gusty Garden in B-tier. I mean, it's like, one of the Super Mario Galaxies! It has The Music! How can I hate it?!

Well, if you're taking a B-tier placement as me "hating" something, then your standards are way too high, because I like Gusty Garden Galaxy! That being said, this is a video game old enough to drive a car now, so I'm allowed to be honest about it, and if I'm being honest... the music does a lot of heavy lifting in this galaxy.

Not that the galaxy is bad by any stretch of the imagination, there's lots of fun moments here, like the weird question mark planets, the giant caterpillar that eats through the apple asteroids, and probably the best bunny chase across both games. That being said... Gusty Garden feels a bit small-scale, you know? I feel there's not a lot of room to explore in Gusty Garden, most of the planets are pretty small-scale, and the level structure is a bit more linear than a lot of other galaxies in the first game...

Of course, being linear isn't necessarily a bad thing, a lot of galaxies in the sequel are similarly linear, so why should I count that against Gusty Garden? Well, my issue with Gusty Garden is that a lot of the planetoids end up feeling pretty samey. You go to a small planetoid, kill some Piranha Plants and Monties, and then take a vine or a Floaty Fluff to the next planetoid, rinse and repeat. There's not really much of a sense of escalation here, you know what I mean?

Also there's the fact the third mission is so weirdly out-of-place. It's not a bad mission at all, I think it's a cool level with a cool gimmick, it just doesn't really quell my feeling that Gusty Garden feels like it was cobbled together from bits of other galaxies that were getting a little too big.

I don't want to badmouth Gusty Garden Galaxy too much, because I still have plenty of fun here, and honestly, I always look forwards to it in a Galaxy run! "The music does a lot of heavy lifting" might seem like a defamatory statement, and to some extent I guess it is, but I also think it shows just how much stuff like aesthetics and sound design really matter in the grand scheme of things. Without it, Gusty Garden Galaxy may have felt pretty forgettable, but because of it, it creates an experience that frankly feels like more than the sum of its parts.

60. Beach Bowl Galaxy

Game: Super Mario Galaxy Tier: B

Did you know? "B" is for Beach Bowl. I just thought you should know that. Beach Bowl Galaxy is a respectable underwater galaxy with a really cool setpiece. I just love the way this galaxy looks, the huge bowl with water pouring out is a really neat visual, and the Beach Vibes are just on point here. Not pictured is the underwater section, which is decently detailed all things considered. I'd probably visit the Beach Bowl Galaxy if it was a vacation spot in real life.

As a gameplay experience? Beach Bowl is alright. As I've mentioned before, the underwater controls can feel a bit jank to me, which I think drags it down a bit, but I also feel like it's a very nice galaxy to just Explore, which admittedly is something I think the second game is a bit lacking in. Obviously the Galaxy games are a bit more linear than the 3D games that came before, but I feel the first Galaxy hits a nice middle ground for me, giving enough room to goof off while still giving a clear objective to move towards, and Beach Bowl is great in that regard.

The main thing holding Beach Bowl down a bit, besides the controls, is a couple of the missions. The second main mission here, where you grab the Golden Shell from a penguin and take it to the penguin coach, is one of the most pointless in the game, and this galaxy also possibly has my least favorite purple coin mission. I'm not even the biggest detractor of the Spring Mushroom out there, but making it mandatory to grab Purple Coins placed right next to the edge feels cruel. And while I complain about the underwater controls sometimes, you surely could've placed more than five coins underwater, right?

The rest of the missions are alright, though. I think the one where you look for Star Chips takes nice advantage of letting you explore a bit, and I generally enjoy this iteration of the Stone Cyclone, and even the 2x faster version! Still don't like the 4x faster version from the second game, sorry.

I think it's funny that the penguins are associated largely with tropical galaxies in these games. Why is that?

59. Supermassive Galaxy

Game: Super Mario Galaxy 2 Tier: B

"We grow 'em big here! Watch out!"

Supermassive Galaxy feels like a fun "novelty galaxy" to me, if that makes any sort of sense. What if Mario... but Big? Well, not Mario himself. You're one of the only things in this Galaxy that isn't big. Sorry! This leads to a lot of fun details, though, like the giant Lumas that speak in Big Letters and have a low-pitched voice, or the coin that's so big, you can wall jump off of it.

I wonder if they could've taken it further. Like, there are no oversized Star Bits here! That is a STAPLE of Super Mario Galaxy Level Design. The funniest thing they could do would make the Power Stars in this galaxy into Grand Stars, but I get those are reserved for boss missions.

It's also clever to use this as a place that properly introduces long jumps as a mechanic. Did any galaxy in the first game do that? I'm not sure if any of them did. But the framing of "Mario needs to do BIG JUMPS to make it past gaps in this oversized galaxy" is really fun.

Really, and this is a goofy nitpick, but I think what brings down this galaxy for me is the aesthetics, which kind of end up being a double-edged sword. I think the "generic Mario objects, but Big" is the best way to emphasize this galaxy's theme, but it also feels well... generic. After the Big gimmick, this galaxy isn't really all that interesting to look at. Might also have something to do with how linear it is. Despite everything in this galaxy being huge, there's not an awful lot of room to just goof off and have fun, which I feel is a bit of a missed opportunity.

58. Bowser Jr.'s Robot Reactor

Game: Super Mario Galaxy Tier: B

Megaleg I think is one of the coolest bosses across both games, and such a clever usage of these games' gravity mechanics. Megaleg is also pretty much all there is in this galaxy, and I'm not sure if I should count that for or against this one.

It's like, Megaleg doesn't have a lot of buildup. You have one small planet that serves as a tutorial for using Bullet Bills to break glass, and that's really it. I generally prefer galaxies that are a bit bigger in scope, so I definitely feel like I'm gonna dock some points for that. I feel like a boss this cool could benefit from a bit more buildup, you know?

On the other hand, I think that's kinda unfair. This is the first boss level in the game, it doesn't need to be overly complex, showing how the boss works and then doing the boss itself is really all you need, and again, I really like Megaleg as a boss, even if after once you reach the top there's not that much going on anymore.

I guess the takeaway is... these rankings are mostly based on my personal enjoyment, and less so of how Objectively Well-Designed I think the mission is. The difference between "the best" of a group and "my favorite" of a group can be an important one!

57. Bowser Jr.'s Fiery Flotilla

Game: Super Mario Galaxy 2 Tier: B

Another case of "this Galaxy is basically in the exact same position as the one before it, and it does some things better, and some things worse". For starters, I don't think Gobblegut is quite as cool as Megaleg. Don't get me wrong, Gobblegut is still cool, and arguably more mechanically interesting, I like how there's an incentive to destroy the later bulges earlier on so the boss is easier in the later phases when Gobblegut speeds up, in exchange for a more difficult earlygame. Still, I don't know if it's as cool as climbing up a giant robot.

The Fiery Flotilla also has a bit more buildup than the Robot Reactor, which I really appreciate. You know I enjoy a little bit of platforming before I take on the Big Boss! Still, the platforming is on the basic side (again, first Boss Level) and unlike Megaleg, the buildup doesn't really tie into the boss at all, you know? Like, "spin the big red orbs" isn't a really tough thing to figure out, especially when they're highlighted in Bowser Jr.'s dialogue, but it does create a situation where the game tells you what to do instead of priming you for it.

Does some things a little better, some things a little worse, so I think it's about equal. Gonna give it the edge because I like having the platforming at the beginning, and also because Galaxy 2 gives each galaxy more than one mission. There's a Gobblegut Daredevil Run! Wish we could've gotten one of those for Megaleg.

56. Sweet Sweet Galaxy

Game: Super Mario Galaxy Tier: B

What's that? A good Hungry Luma galaxy from the first game? I never thought I'd see the day...! It's also uh, the only good one in my opinion, given we covered all the rest in the previous post. It's also the first Hungry Luma galaxy in the game, so it's all downhill from here.

But yeah, I like Sweet Sweet Galaxy! I don't know if I'd say I love it, or else I'd probably put it a bit higher, but I enjoy it. I think it has a really nice sense of iterative level design, you know? It takes one idea (moving conveyors with holes in the floor) and riffs on it in different ways up until the very end. First you have a conveyor moving towards the goal, then you have the ones moving left and right, then you have the rotating floor, and then you have the one moving away from the goal. Sweet Sweet Galaxy has a pretty nice sense of escalation.

I also remember finding it weirdly challenging as a kid, for how early in the game it is. It's not brutal or anything, we're not looking at the Dark Souls of Mario Galaxies here, but especially in that rotating floor segment it can be hard to tell where the holes are gonna be.

It's still a little short and linear, but for a small "bonus mission", I think that's ultimately fine, especially for the first Hungry Luma galaxy in the game. Congratulations, Sweet Sweet Galaxy! You might have what it takes to hang out with the Super Mario Galaxy 2 Hungry Luma galaxies!

55. Bubble Blast Galaxy

Game: Super Mario Galaxy Tier: B

Did you know? "B" is for Bubble Blast. I just thought you should know that.

Congratulations to Bubble Blast Galaxy, which I personally consider the best of the three Trial Galaxies. As I stated, I can sort of take or leave the bubble minigame, which is why this isn't gonna rank any higher, but as far as it goes, I think this galaxy makes really good usage of it. The obstacles presented feel decently varied, and often require a nice blend of precision with quick reaction timing due to all the moving parts. It's really nifty, both on its own, and as an escalation of what we saw in Bubble Breeze.

Especially great is the bit towards the end, where you have to make your way down a tight corridor of electric fences while being chased by Bullet Bills, forcing you to act quick in a minigame that usually requires a lot of precision. Is it a little unfair? Maybe just a little, but it makes for an exciting sequence that works really well as a final test of your bubble-blowing skills.

Up next, we're going to be testing your jellyfishing and patty-flipping skills, so watch out!

54. Dusty Dune Galaxy

Game: Super Mario Galaxy Tier: B

Dusty Dune Galaxy is a weird one to me. It's like, whenever I reach it in the game, I don't really feel like playing it, but once I get around to playing it, it's actually pretty fun! I'm not really sure if there's a mission here I don't like playing, I like the Bone Twisters, I like the sand slides, I like the rush for the star in the sinking tower. Even the untimed purple coin mission is one of the better ones! This galaxy is honestly pretty consistently solid.

So like, why am I not Feeling It? Why is it that when I get to this galaxy in a playthrough, I'm always overcome by this feeling of "yeah, alright"?

I think Dusty Dune might have a reverse Gusty Garden Situation going on, where it has great ideas held back a little bit by so-so music and theming. And make no mistake: it's not that "desert" can't be an interesting theme, because it really can be! (We'll see the sequel's desert galaxy in a couple weeks!) But it's generic desert, you know? Where they kinda slap any vague "desert stuff" together and call it a day. This is a desert with both Egyptian pyramids and cacti! Despite what Mr. Video Game might tell you, those don't appear in the same deserts in the Real World.

I feel like if they leaned hard in one particular direction, Dusty Dune Galaxy could be really cool, but as it stands it sort of suffers "Generic Video Game Desert Syndrome" where it lacks a clear sense of identity to make it stand out more.

53. Sweet Mystery Galaxy

Game: Super Mario Galaxy 2 Tier: B

The Bulb Berry is a neat power-up, the more I think about it, it feels like a new spin of the Matter Splatter Galaxy from the first game, where what you see is all that's there, but with a bit more player control. I honestly think the lack of control makes Matter Splatter a bit more interesting to me, but I can see why someone else would like this take more.

If you couldn't tell already, Sweet Mystery Galaxy is largely built around this power-up, making for the second sweets-themed Hungry Luma Galaxy, though that's pretty much all the two have in common, because the gimmicks are completely different. Honestly I think the Bulb Berry is a little under-utilized, the only other galaxy I remember using it is Haunty Halls, which is its introduction.

A benefit Sweet Mystery has for being the second level with this power-up is they can play around with it a bit more, using it with stuff like moving platforms, and having optional challenges which can be rewarding, but run out your timer a bit, limiting both your field of view, which also corresponds with limiting knowing where you can stand! It's nifty.

The main weakness of this galaxy I think is once again an aesthetic one. There's not an awful lot of background details, and since it's built around the Bulb Berry, you can't see much of it at once. There's not a lot to see here, besides that giant present with the cake in it at the end. It's another galaxy that sort of shows the sequel's weakness when it comes to making more detailed environments.

52. Gold Leaf Galaxy

Game: Super Mario Galaxy Tier: B

As I've stated before, I'm gonna dock some points for reused content. Like, if you're gonna repeat any galaxy, then Honeyhive is a good one, but it can always be a little bit of a letdown to go to a new galaxy and realize it's a place I've already seen before, but with a fresh coat of paint. Especially given it's in the same game as its counterpart! But in this case, I'll mostly let it slide. I like getting to see Honeyhive in gorgeous autumn colors, and for what it's worth, the missions here are all pretty unique.

The Star Bunny mission is kinda whatever, given I've made my stance on bunny chases pretty clear at this point, and the rest of the mission is kinda just exploring a place we've already seen, but the rest of the missions fare a bit better. What can I say! I like Cataquacks and I like that obstacle course. I think building the Cosmic Mario and Purple Coin missions around the obstacle course was a smart idea too, since it helps make the galaxy feel more distinctive.

Being Honeyhive 2 ends up being a double-edged sword, since it kinda takes away from Gold Leaf Galaxy having a more distinct identity, but it does enough of its own that I'll let it slide, and it's also not like I'm gonna complain about getting more missions in a top-10 galaxy.

I guess that's a spoiler for a future review. Look forward to seeing where in the top 10 I put it!

51. Freezy Flake Galaxy

Game: Super Mario Galaxy 2 Tier: B

Autumn turns to winter as we talk about our final galaxy of the day! Freezy Flake Galaxy is a delightful little snowscape that lets you indulge in all the fun of a snowy winter day without any of the icy roads or dismal temperatures of actual snowy winter days. Unless you're playing Super Mario Galaxy 2 in a car sliding down an icy road with all the windows rolled down. Why are you doing that?

Anyway, I think that above all else, Freezy Flake Galaxy feels charming to me, you know? You get to run around in the snow and roll snowballs and incinerate snow statues of Bowser with the Fire Flower! All the things you'd do on your typical winter day. I especially love in the second mission where you get the Rock Mushroom, and get to watch snow build up in your boulder form, it's such a cute touch! I wish we got to do more with the Rock Mushroom, it's kinda ditched past the first planet in favor of the Sorbetti boss fight. I wonder if this galaxy would benefit from the three-mission format of the first game?

My only real complaint about Freezy Flake is that I think it's a smidge on the generic side. I mean, by the time we got this game, we already had the Freezeflame Galaxy, which is a generally cooler take on an ice galaxy (and also a hotter one). Freezy Flake, in comparison, is a bit tame, a bit less exciting, but whatever, it's cute. It's hard to listen to the music and not feel those warm winter fuzzies that I feel until winter actually comes and my hands are dry and I can't go outside without bundling up first and even once I do the ground is going to be slippery so I can't run around as much without fear of falling over except for the days where it is warm where then everything is mushy and gross, and it's dark outside at 5PM and when it is bright outside the sky is usually gray anyway and there's no leaves on the trees so everything looks dull and lifeless

...I hate winters.

And that wraps up today's post! Do you agree with my opinions? Do you don't agree with my opinions? It's okay if you don't. Even the ones about winter! If you enjoy all those things I was complaining about, then more power to you, I'm glad someone can find joy where I couldn't! And if you don't like something I do like, then that's fine too, I guess.

Next week, we'll begin covering the A-tiers! There's a lot of 'em, so I'm gonna be splitting them into two posts, with fifteen galaxies each! Look forward to it! I'll link it here when it goes live!

[certifiedlibraryposts]

re the palestinian bird thing: different anon here, idk what they meant but it’s worth noting that, in addition to political fuckery, that the campaign to remove the word “palestine” from the bird's name might have partially been an attempt to correct a bit of historical revisionism. the only reason that region of the world is commonly known as palestine today in the first place is because the roman empire renamed the area to “syria palaestina” after the roman-jewish wars. they had previously allowed the province to be called judea/judaea, as in jews and the jewish kingdoms that existed there before being conquered. and it wasn't until much later that the arabs now known as palestinians came to be. (disclaimer: I don't speak hebrew and can't be bothered to track down hebrew articles from a decade ago to translate by hand to fact check how much this played into the bird thing but it is a reasonable possibility and an understandable one, as jewish heritage has been so often destroyed and erased. regardless, the palestinian response to make the bird a symbol is equally understandable.) relatedly, be careful about the phrase “from the river to the sea”, because while it's sometimes about palestinian liberation, it's also often used as a dogwhistle that means “kill all jews in the levant”; and the dogwhistle version has become increasingly common as of late. look into the organization called standing together for antisemitism-free activism and jewish/palestinian solidarity.

I see what you mean, the history you mentioned seems to check out and it's unquestionably been a tumultuous part of the world that's been given a lot of different names over time. However I don't really feel comfortable in agreeing it was combating revisionism because it happened during what I understand to be a violent occupation. Without a source or truly knowing the intentions it's just kind of speculation.

"From the river to the sea" was used in that post in the context of Palestinian freedom and peace. Related to that point, I also received another ask concerned with my use of the word "zionist" as it has historically described a very wide range of ideas, and has also been used as an antisemitic dogwhistle. That was not my intent, it's the word I was most familiar with to get across my point that I don't support violence against or the erasure of Palestinian culture. Those using violence and calls for peace to excuse antisemitism are despicable. One can and should be an ally of both Palestinians and Jewish people.

I looked up Standing Together, I can certainly get behind their message of peace and cooperation, and people in Israel who are working to end the genocide deserve so much respect and admiration. It seems like reception to the movement has been mostly positive, but I feel it'd be irresponsible not to mention that the PACBI wing of the BDS movement has taken issue with it in the past week. I don't feel qualified to take a definitive stance either way, especially as I also can't read Hebrew or Arabic to get more direct contex. I encourage anyone interested to learn more and come to your own conclusions.

My overall point is that I do not support the genocide the Israeli miltary is enacting on the Palestinian people. I want to share more posts about Palestinian culture, art, and joy in a time where there is effort being made to erase it.

Finally, while I do my best to make sure what goes on this blog is accurate, I just wanna make it clear that I'm neither an expert at research, nor am I able to be a definitive resource for this topic (or frankly most things).

[rindragon-from-twewy]

Y'all never guess who the brainrot's been about today boiiiis-

Headcannon dump incoming; (spoilers for the ending) (I'm writing these from a post game perspective)

1: the most grandpa pyjamas you've ever seen. Wears his mask to sleep but wears one of those girlie-pop eyemasks with the big fake lashes over top so people know he's asleep (or at the very least, can't see)

2: Rollerskates round his penthouse to pass the time (occasionally), often blasting music through large stereos and his playlist is a terrible mix of classical orchestra and pop from between the 1970's-2010's

3: other hobbies include balloon crafts, card/magic tricks and decorating new masks <3

4: Ofc ik this one isn't real the way I drew it here but I like to think that he was sort of... cattle branded? With the 0001, a forever mark that he is the first and only 'successful' homunculus. Maybe I'd re-place it on the back of his neck? Since we never see there, canonically.

5: His favourite Pokemon is Mewtwo. He cried when he watched the first pokemon movie, balling at the "I see now that the circumstances of one's birth are irrelevant. It is what you do with the gift of life that determines who you are". Like he called up Yuma right after fully sobbing about how "Mewtwo's just like me fr-" and then didn't shut up about it, so much so that Martina got him the shirt I drew him in

6: I feel like he wants friends but is just... deeply socially awkward. Now that all the secrets are out etc etc, he has no real reason to hide anymore but... there's just no real way for him to get out and socialize. It ends up with him considering Yomi's ex-lackeys to be the closest things he has to friends, since I like to believe they all work directly under him now.

7: Coming off number 6, I imagine him going to Yomi's jail cell to vent to him and then intentionally take the opposite of any advice Yomi gives him. This ultimately backfires as sometimes Yomi does actually give good advice simply in hopes it'll stop Makoto from coming back.

8: He doesn't actually know how to look after himself very well. Beyond keeping himself clean, that is. He has people clean his house and do all his cooking, he's got a decent sense of the value of money but doesn't really mind throwing his own saving's about on random whims. Does this mean he tries to buy people's friendships through gifts? Occasionally. Does it work? ...... sometimes!

9: Ok so I assume we're all in agreement that either Makoto or Yuma had to die their hair- I think it's safe to assume Yuma was the one to cut his hair short but I think maybe Makoto's the one to dye it. I think No.1 wouldn't have been dumb enough to go "I know, I'll dye my hair purple, nobody will notice the roots showing and come to the conclusion I erased my memory on perpous!" Cuz he's not that dumb- (I hope-) So, you may be asking. Why blonde? Cuz he's a barbie girl in a barbie world, obviously.

10: So I spent the whole time playing raincode like "Yuma's so kirigiri and naegi's kid or something-" And ofc I knew it'd stay a headcannon and not be real cannon but it's stuck. So yeah, Makoto named himself after who he remembered to be his father. I think, since Makoto wants to be a good person, he called himself after the good-est person he knew at the time.

This isn't all the rot but if u read all that then just know this is all eventually gunna be included in fanfics I plan to write-

I am a writer I promise I just don't have the movitation rn-

[apolloslyrics]

Lazy "Wards"

So today, I was lying in my bed, and I was thinking about how I desperately did not want to refresh my wards. I was feeling tired, burned out, frustrated, and just generally awful. I knew I needed to refresh them, but I also knew that it was going to take so much effort that I didn't have. Thus began the thought:

Is there an easier way to ward my space?

Turns out there is! Now, I know wards are normally random things you put in your room and re-do every once in a while, but ✨️these ones are fun and cool✨️. I compiled a list of the five easy wards I do for when I'm feeling absolutely AWFUL. Here they are!

Morning and Night Playlists

Make two playlists— one that you'll listen to as soon as you wake up, and one that you'll listen to right before you sleep. They don't have to have any specific genre; just do what you feel like you need during those times. Maybe even create a playlist cover photo if you're feeling inspired!

Turn your fan on

I am dead serious with this one, folks. It could technically be considered cleaning, but FUCK IT. Open your window and/or your door and turn on a fan. Let that air flush OUT the energy from inside and pull IN the good shit from outside. I would probably do this like once a week. Have fun with it! Maybe even play those playlists and have a whole dance party!

Stuffed Animal of the Month

That's right. You heard me. Choose a stuffed animal that will protect your space for a month. Next month, choose a different one. Repeat that for, like, forever or whatever. The important thing is that you choose a stuffed animal, you tell them "Hey, I need you to guard my shit," and you give them LOOOOTS of cuddles in return. I love this one a little too much.

Tape a picture of a sigil on your door

This one's for the people who are able to be out as a witch. If you can't do a sigil, even putting a picture of an animal or object is good enough! Just tape it to your door, either facing you or the outside, and let it do its thing.

Incense and screaming

This is more of a cleansing method than a ward. DO IT. Open your window and/or your door again, light that shit up, and scream out all the energy that you've been building up. Tell it to get-the-fuck-out or you'll roundhouse its ass. But also find the good shit and ask it to join you!

I hope yall like this post. I really liked making it!! These methods are probably not all new, and I'm most definitely not the one who invented them, but STILL. I like them and I hope you do too!

[a-x-s-c-e]

Long time no see :')

I just remembered this account exists and finally logged on for first time in a decade. And possibly to the surprise of no one, I still write fanfiction and it's still SasuHina. Go figure.

Some general updates:

"Differently" - AU, Divorce, Rated M, Cross-Posted on FF and AO3 is updated pretty frequently, maybe too frequently, but I've become kind of obsessed with where it's headed. I just updated today! It's posted on AO3 first but I'm about to upload the newest chapter (9) on FF. Maybe it's because I use AO3 a little more, but the review traction is a lot slower on this. If you happen to like this story or give it a go, feel free to review. :')

"Inevitable Reality" - AU, Rated M, only on FF was last updated September 2023, a whole 8 years later from previous chapter. Don't jump me. :( I'm planning on finishing this story this year, or early next. I re-read it recently (and cringed at my old writing) but somehow didn't hate it as much as I thought I would. I forgot how much I love weirdo Hinata and anxious Sasuke, they're too cute to give up on. I was searching the title of this and found it surprisingly on a few recommendation lists. Thanks to those that read it/still message me about it! I promise to work on it this year. I would offer to re-write and fix, but I am not as motivated to do that. We'll see.

SasuHina Month 2024 - I am considering doing it...we'll see! I want to work on writing in universe - I've been so stuck on AUs because I'm always hesistant to write something incorrect with the series. I'm actually re-reading Naruto (and in deep, nostalgic pain from it) and plan to give Boruto another chance. So, if I participate, I'm hoping to write it entirely in universe as a challenge. Stay tuned!

Finally (and just as a bonus wtf comment)

"You're Welcome" - that one's from 2011 (I was a child when I wrote this) and I will never read it again. I cringe at the thought LOL. I want to delete it but I love reviews and sometimes I read them (even if they're old) for a confidence boost. Idk why some of you read it within the last four years, I know it's not well written and that's just me assuming who I was back then - out of all my other stories, this is simply one I physically cannot re-read without my face scrunching up. Anyway TL;DR I won't delete but I wish I had the guts to. Read my other fics instead LOL

In an effort to avoid spamming the SasuHina Discord, I'll just post chapter updates here. I don't know if I'll post as read-mores whatever linked there, and I haven't really been active on tumblr in forever either, so we'll see. I'll likely prepare a fanfic recommendations post soon but don't be surprised if non-SasuHina fics make the cut - I've expanded the net when I run out of things to read heh.

Thanks for reading!

[peachdues]

Hi Peach!

the latest episode of KNY and your recent posts have just made me go and reread TGW - don’t ask me how many times I’ve read it now cause I lost count 🤷🏼‍♀️

I love your take on my emo King so much. Giyuu is quite a deadpan character but you are able to write him having silly/funny moments so well. They don’t feel forced at all. Adding comedy to the endless of list of your amazing writing skills 🩵

And I’m so looking forward to the part II Tanjiro visit scene (poor poor boy) and the Miko chastising Giyuu for having an empty house (she will be chewing him out I can’t wait)

I went back and reread the first TGW teaser you ever posted and I hope you don’t mind me asking but was reader always going to be a Shrine Maiden or did that idea come later as the fic came together?

Now I need to be so honest with you - Peach ‘IT TAKES TWO’ killed me in the best horny way possible, I am quite partial to a wee bit of SaneGiyu so seeing them in a threesome fic the scream I scrumpt 😭 mean corruption kink Giyuu forever

I hope you’re getting lots of smooches and fresh air

much love

-🫧🫧

(PS no stop no don't write for Shinjiro, he’s totally not everyone’s anime dad crush at all 😉😚)

BESTIE BUBBLEEEEEEEEEE!!

So tickled that you reread TGW again. Honestly, I’ve fallen right back into the brain rot it, and spent a good portion of today writing for it 😭 seeing Giyuu smile in last night’s episode made me MELT.

and ALSMSKAKOAKS as always your compliments reduce me to an absolute puddle and I will never be solid again.

I’ll answer your asks about TGW below!

I won’t give away Reader’s backstory quite yet (that comes in Part 3!) but I will say — she was raised in a shrine and doesn’t have a lot of personal items either. She’s actually so overwhelmed by the fact she finally has a home — something that she can call hers, that she almost cries 😭 but you’ll see Giyuu feel sort of insecure about it for the first time (he just wants to impress his girl lmao).

As for your question about when I decided to make Reader a shrine maiden in TGW..

TGW came about because of the “I’m not your enemy” scene that was teased in the OG teaser — hence, why it was the first look. The entirety of TGW bloomed around this one mental image I had of Giyuu strangling his lover. I decided pretty quickly it would be his BOJ.

I knew she was going to be a civilian when I published the OG teaser, but I hadn’t settled on anything more concrete than that. HOWEVER, the second scene I wrote was the first time scene that ends Part I — I wrote that entire thing in like an hour while procrastinating. I first teased the virginity loss scene like, maybe two days after the OG teaser? So in the span of those two days I decided she would be a Shrine Maiden. It was a pretty easy decision — I needed her to have some flexibility RE her background but also give her a stable place Giyuu could come back to and see her. So that’s how I decided! But to answer your question, she was pretty much a Miko from the start, minus like two days lmao.

As for the Tanjiro scene — honestly, I’m enjoying the thought of it sm. Especially because he, like everyone else left alive after Muzan, had NO IDEA Reader even existed.

Giyuu actually takes off from the Butterfly Mansion to get her as soon as he regains consciousness and doesn’t tell anyone where he’s going — so when they show up concerned to his estate, you can imagine how SHOOK they are to se that not only is there a woman there (the implication of what they did the previous night being very clear lmao), but also that she’s introduced as his fiance. Like, “here she is, this is mine. I love her.”

I’m so glad you loved It Takes Two 🫡🫡 I am happy to provide spit roasting always!!

Sending you much love!! Please stop encouraging me to write Shinjuro I have too much to do!! I’ve already started HELP

[dingle-dee]

Hey serious callout time

Never thought I'd make this kinds post tbh

I first have to say please do not witch hunt, harass any of these individuals nor my account, I am only looking to inform you about the situation at hand.

If you try to witch hunt, dox or harass me you will be blocked. I do not condone any if that shit.

First of all must say this callout is about the recent AU appearing in the Pizza Tower Fandom called Asylum tower.

The AU compromises of peppino in a straight jacket commonly used to detain violent, unpredictable or malicious intending mentally unstable people, which on record has been used last in 1956. Peppino has a unamed mental illness similar to schizophrenia, psychosis and delusionry (despite the creator claiming he has none/unspecified*)

* which causes confusion with the straight jacket since if he wasn't mentally unstable why would he need a straight jacket

As someone who has experienced/ has had family who've experienced psychosis, delusionry and schizophrenia this is highly disrespectful and glorifying the aspect of Asylums and mental illness.

The creator has been harassed for these reasons exactly *either in a constructive or harsh way* but has either deleted all claims or come back in a non professional manner.

One of their posts which has now of today been deleted from their account had an untasteful way of handling the situation along with a disrespectful PTSD joke at the bottom.

I find it highly suspicious that someone would delete this covering up their distasteful way of handling things. And not actually point out the AUs many many problems

1. The term asylum isn't used anymore and is often associated with torturous conditions, unhealthy ways of coping and treatment and is only used in serious films/serious TV series and is glorified by hollywood. The term used now is mental clinic or just hospital in general.

The way they treat patients now is much better but from personal experience than I share with others and my family is it still torturous and brutal and half the time you end up worse or , worse case scenario the end doing suicide. So using this theming must be treaded lightly.

2. Straight jackets are no common place anymore and are mostly used In Hollywood as a way of dramatization of a scene in general and is a very unethical way of treatment. Using it for simple means like psychosis, delusionry or schizophrenia is like killing a thief for taking an apple. Unethical and a ill stereotype. In general not a fun cute wholesome thing and shouldn't be bounced around.

3. White padded rooms are are the stuff of movies and really padded rooms are torturous and not a fun thing at all that is not funny in a comic light that they re trying to portray.

4. The handling of this situation on the creators part is fishy at best, as I said one of their explanation posts was unprofessional and made a half baked joke that is honestly offensive. It seems like they are really try to play up the victim card here. I understand the feeling of being harassed since I have been under that light as well, I understand the stress but these posts/way of handling things from all parties has been a mess.

The creator has stated that some traits that the pulled are meant to be funny but they simply don't line up.

Claiming that a character isn't crazy but your clearly making them crazy in a straight jacket doesn't look good and is honestly doing the opposite for you.

Honestly these feel like cover up lies as well as dismissing the criticism given.

There's is nothing comedic about this au in its current stage, and honestly it should stay that way. The AU is distasteful all round.

People are dancing around this and making fanart similar to the clover kit situation. Only no one is acknowledging the larger image and only think at base value.

I'm pulling myself away now and anyone involved in the Asylum AU/ fanart chain please do some research/ please pull yourself away as well. This is not a quirky thing and never will be. If you condone this I'm not gonna block you but i will raise an eyebrow.

[kanmom51]

Not only did I miss it all, well most of it, but the whole post I wrote about it is gone.

😭😭😭😭

Crazy crazy night.

As per usual, nothing new, shouldn’t be upset or surprised about it, everything goes down when I’m sleeping.

I managed to watch Suchwita, and off to bed I went.

Dreaming, hoping, beyond hope, that JK will come to us live.

And then it all unfolded.

And I missed it. 😭😭😭

So, I wake up, see it, vent to you guys, try to save my beautifully worded venting, and effing Tumblr just poofed it all away.

I’m so friggin frustrated.

So, here I am now, trying to re-write, not very successfully (so if this post sucks blame Tumblr), my thoughts for this morning.

After Suchwita JM posted.

A little while later JK replied.

Kind of makes you wonder who JM was missing, seeing he just spent time with army at his pre-recordings. Same goes with JK. Who you miss JK?

And then JK came live.

And he did a whole JM centered live.

A whole “this one is going to be about JM” friggin live.

He watched JM’s songs.

He watched JM centred videos.

He listened to love songs.

God, I do have my work cut out for me.

But before I’m off back to work (I’m sitting here re-writing my post in between calls and meetings instead of working for a living), I do want to mention one wittle point.

JM Suchwita. Cute, happy, interesting discussion.

And I know what y’all are gonna ask me. Letter. Right?

Well, how do I say it?

I’ll make it sweet and short.

I think I will word it like this:

Suga didn’t know about the song, didn’t hear it either.

JM said he wrote this song to deliver HIS emotion to the fans. All this while serendipity is playing in the background.

(Notice the reaction to Serendipity playing in the background while talking about Letter. Karmy see it all...)

And he moved on.

The speed JM moved on from that, he left road runner in the dust behind him wondering where JM was off too so fast.

Now, if indeed this was a song about army, for army, the biggest gift JM could have given army in his first solo album, kind of strange how little he wants to talk about it, don’t you think?

Also, the whole album JM doing without the members, it’s his solo album after all. And for this gift of his to army, something that’s supposed to be so personal/intimate (the song is so intimate), and he has JK join him? For background voice which he did oh so well ¾ of the way through the song?

Oh, btw, Face off not a breakup song. Just wanted to throw that in, by the by.

And then we have JK.

The man that came to us the morning before. Guitar ready. All to give us that spoiler to the song he sang with JM. The song that he didn’t play the guitar for, but learnt it to be able to play it for us.

The man that took part in this song.

This supposed song for army.

Not a word.

I mean he came and played the guitar for us telling us about this song.

And now he isn’t singing it? Talking about it? Listening to it?

For a HUGE gift for army, those two are acting pretty sus at how much they are avoiding it.

Anyway, I’m off back to work.

We have a great day coming.

JK CK dropping today.

Of course you’ll be getting a full rundown of the live. You know me.

It might take time though.

So I’ll leave you with a couple of little gifts for you to get the gist of the mood of this live we got, a droplet in the sea yet to come...

And I thought I'd be leaving you with that, lol.

Look what our Jiminie replied to his Jungkookie...

And I wouldn't be surprised the actual translation is cuter than that. Will keep you updated, of course. 😘

[xxplastic-cubexx]

sorry if you've already mentioned but what (re?)ignited your love of comics/x-men/cherik? curious because there are so many different adaptations of them

i think im gonna speak for a few (or a lot of) people when i say that TL;DR the wolverine x deadpool movie that came out this summer is what pulled me back into comics and i COULD leave it there but i will go into excruciating and unnecessary detail instead because i love an origin story and i love oversharing.

under the cut tho because im nice sometimes (there's also wxdp doodles in here. if you want to see that)

ironically (and probably commonly), growing up i was more of an avengers kid. Kinda. Loosely <- binge watched the cartoons and movies and read copious amounts of comics and fics and i am hoarding fanart in my old dresser as we speak ok 'loosely' is a modest lie.

embarrassingly i remember getting into discus cause of captain america LMAO so yeah needless to say i was a Humble Fan- me joining my school's comic class/club didnt help either (shoutout to my teach from that she was the realest one out there for. A Multitude of reasons). she definitely is was inspires me to even draw still and make comics and i often think bout the tips i learned from her class tbh she was great

back to the movies t and comics tho, i got into em because my brother would offer to take me and that's how we'd hang out (i rarely saw movies in theaters and i even more rarely went anywhere as a teenager. still kinda like that today tbh ooops) and yk. it just snowballed after that.

my brother and i have always liked comics- he just more than me for a while (though he still very much loves comics and As We Know From My Posts we still talk about them whenever i see him To An Exhausting Degree)

durin then i was really into stony and i have a few surviving doodles i made but those are between me and god. and anyone who asks tbh LOL

'snap can you make this related to x-men again this is long' ok so fast forward to This Summer again I Still Don't Really See Movies but my brother offered to take me and this was the first time i'd actually seen an x-men movie in full

as a kid i only remember seeing the 'perfection' scene between erik and raven in first class while i was channel surfing. pretty sure i changed the channel after seeing mystique naked cause i was scared my parents would get mad at me if they caught me watching it LOL

BUT MOVING ON As A Kid i think it's also natural you'll sometimes watch 92 if it's on And I Did though evidently it didn't stick too hard (i do remember really liking beast and gambit though.... still do really): my knowledge of x-men was. INCREDIBLY sparse. like diabolically so so i didnt have too much expectations (aside from the fact i vaguely liked deadpool beforehand).

tbh i dont know why my bro never took me to see any of the x-men movies. it's not like he doesn't Also like x-men (90% sure nightcrawler's his favorite but my brother will be caught dead saying he has absolute favorites like that)- he owns a bitch load of deadpool comics/omnibus sets too (of which ive read over the years and reread this year) but Shrug moving on

Much Like Most Of The Internet i fell down the rabbit hole that way. i have some doodles i made a couple days after seeing WxDP that i now have an excuse to throw at all of you Look And Perceive

and so. As I Do. i got curious and told myself i'd binge watch all the x-men movies the week before i went back to school And Then I Did ft. My Brother Sometimes and then i said i'd binge watch all of '92 and And I Did That ft. My Brother Sometimes But Less So and now we're here. currently watching Evolution...

once i got to school i realized i lived near a comic shop and started getting into the comics that way (the first ones i got since going down this rabbit hole was Magneto Was Right!, The Resurrection of Magneto, and The Trial of Magneto. if you were curious !!!!! clearly i didnt care too much about context i just needed to see My Guy jelvejlkvj i have no regrets and Evidently ive read more since)

i'm pretty sure what dragged me into cherik specifically was the fact i saw a clip of The Famous ending to 92 where erik's aghast at the notion jean even has to question his love for charles. i think that was what officially had me refocus my lens on them: not a single poolverine thought after that LOL (all the cherik posting i saw on twitter definitely helped too but that was the nail in the coffin for any other interests i had: i was locked into cherik and x-men in general now)

that clip specifically, i was surprised at the fact they- frequently even- have the x-men franchise say erik loves charles and vice versa so bluntly. even if it's not meant to be romantic, i fear im just a fan of how casually the word's thrown around with them two and i got tender bout it all. Then Yk. i just live for the drama. the hilarity even. the sincerity .... they make me sick if i think of them too long so im gonna end it here

before i go tho ironically enough, the first x-men issue i owned was This one (story a this is that while stuck in some wacko dimension charles accidentally gets himself trapped in logan's mind while utilizing his astral projection. if you were curious). pretty sure i got it for free with another comic set i got years ago since our old comic shop loved to do that, but it's poetic aint it. maybe ill doodle something referencing it..

i should probably look into finishing this arc someday im Dummy curious to even know how it started and how it ends.....