#so it really is not an accident. -and all of that we've seen was actually intentional. -which makes all the bigotry even WORSE!

[woomycritiques543]

It was never an "accident..."

I feel that what people fail to understand is that the way the certain characters are written in Hazbin or Helluva in a sexist or transphobia direction is a choice Vivziepop herself made, especially since it's so frequent and she hired someone who is clearly a bigoted person.

It's not an "accident" when you're transphobic on multiple occasions and even erase your own trans characters like this behind someone's back:

Hell! Charlie getting the least focus compared to Angel and constantly being fetishized for being a woman is a choice.

Charlie doesnt even get a birthday, only Angel does, and all that she gets is either fetish art or pinups with the occasional gif for ship bait or that one preview poster she had. But in the past years, that's it!

But you know who gets a anniversary/birthday, twice, and even an entire music video, and a comic, while Charlie's comic outright got cancelled mid production and is now lost content?

(Not joking. There used to be a Charlie Comic in production, but it was cancelled with explanation and all the material for it is now lost to time and will never be public because of the un-professional behavior Vivziepop had towards the comic production, it's so lost in fact, that there is very little evidence of it's existence online and you have to know that Faust exists in order to know that it exists at all, the information is that rare that you can use a simple "charlie comic" search for it anymore. The comic is now entirely lost as what was finished will never be made available to the public outside of a few production streams back when Faust was around.)

ANGEL DUST.

You know who's the main focus of the pilot's thumbnail?

ALASTOR.

You know who's sexualized the most while simainatainously not getting an actual chance to shine despite being the main character of the entire franchise, while every other female character, even in Helluva Boss, is treated the same way, meaninging that this is a "this is how I treat girl characters!" situation and not a "what show has the gender that's the most focused on when even the pilot of the "female focused show" is about Angel Dust and Alastor?

CHARLIE.

Even the ship merch is fetishized, when there's literally no reason for it to be?! Valentine's day doesnt have to be sexual, and this was just being used as yet another excuse to fetishize women again, while the only male characters here are one's that are the most feminine presenting as possible, so it's just fetishizing feminity as a whole, in EVERY SINGLE PIECE OF MERCH that is "pinup!"

The only exception being Ozzie, 99% likely as a failed attempt as a "GOTCHA!" moment, when Vivziepop literally called musclar men "DISGUSTING!" in one of her past streams.

Hell, at least Ozzie has an excuse here since he gets actual screen time. While the women are ignored, and to make it worse, are constantly sexualized in the most "90's" way possible.

This isnt even about the fictional character, it's about the depiction of something, or someone, from the writer and how that contributes to representation. That's it, it's really that simple! Especially when they erased a trans character just because "OOP! We've run out of room for trans characters, sorry! 😈" like- what?! It's so fucking degrading, the way the show presents women is so degrading and it's clearly obvious the moment you watch and episode and the moment you see the merchandisng that 90% of it is either yaoi fuel, the women being shoved in with the guys or next to them, and if the girls are the main focus.... they're fetishized for being lesbians or sexualized constantly just because they're women! Which makes all of this a CHOICE! A choice, that Vivienne continues to make, that's hurting people's representation, specifically for financial gain off of creeps who like to fetishize the hell out of people who are either trans women or cis women, as if women havent been constantly fetishized in media as it is since the 30s! The fetishization is a CHOICE!

The merch runs featuring mostly women always being sexualized to make you mostly focus on their bodies is a choice! It's a choice!

Oh yeah, and Angel Dust is constantly being fetishized for his boob fluff, which though subtle, is definitely coding for trans fetishization as well. Which is why im actually grateful that the design A24 appealed has a non-emphsized chest, just because it's was used to fetishize the concept of a man with boobs in a ton of merch back when he had his original design. To concerning extents.

Even with Alastor, he's legit WHITE in the merchandising, he's even lighter here than he is in canon. This is literal whitewashing.

So in a big nutshell about what kind of person Vivziepop actually is:

Vivienne whitewashes her OWN poc characters, in the merch, fetishizes trans women, uses Angel Dust to fetishize the concept of a man having breasts, which is trans fetishization, supported a terf and lied about it, uses her only slightly plus sized character to body shame plus size people (a writer using their script to sugarcoat or encourage bigotry), mistreats her own studio by rushing her workers despite claiming that she "cares" about indie animations, has EVERY SINGLE POC character in her shows that are designed by her have light grey skin and straight hair, hired a man who had her character say the word "RETAR^D!" as a "joke!", not even having the tone show this as a "bad!" thing but as somehow "cute!" (ew...), supports proshippers, and even supports some much worse people as I am going to discuss in my Brandon Rodgers commentary.

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

So I absolutely despise the Senti-Rich kids plot, and I get the feeling you dont like it much either

Can you think of any way to make a plotline like that actually work in ML?

You would be correct in your assumption! There are a lot of ways to make that plot work. I'll list a few going in rough order from least changes to canon to most extreme changes to canon:

Never use the peacock for canon fodder sentimonsters or mention that sentimonsters have a remote control and the ethical issues become a lot less complicated, letting you treat the peacock like a wacky fertility drug. This path is kinda boring and still makes the Agrestes look bad, but it would remove all my main issues.

Modify the peacock so that there's something to make it clear that the senti kids are different from a normal sentimonster. I think I've seen someone mention the idea that, to make a living senti, you have to give up part of yourself and that's an interesting idea, though I think that sort of nuanced commentary on infertility is too complex for a kids show. Still, the general concept could work, especially if you added a way for a living sentimonster to break free of their amok.

Lean into the secret society stuff the show hinted at with things like the Diamond Dance and whatever the weird mask party was back in season four. Have some sort of rich people conspiracy to have perfect children that the heroes have to stop.

Along similar lines to the previous or in addition to the previous: actually acknowledge that you've introduced a slavery plot to your show and let there be a free the slaves plot. And I mean really free them. None of this, "well, you're technically still a slave, but we've given you the remote control, so it's fine! Just never ever let that ring out of your sight, okay? And be careful about giving yourself orders by accident!"

My favorite path: change the peacock's power to be something else, but keep the general plot line of that power being used in relation to Adrien (and the other two, if you want). I'll admit that this one is somewhat similar to the first idea, but the reason I like this and not that is that I just generally hate the idea of magical designer babies, but I like the idea that Emilie used the peacock for Adrien's sake. It's nice dramatic tension. I actually assumed this was going to be the big reveal up until we learned the peacock's power. Post reveal, I assumed that I was wrong because the sentimonster stuff seemed like too stupid of a move for anyone to make. I also find the peacock both overpowered and too similar to the butterfly, so I've wanted it to be something else ever since it was first introduced. The sentibaby plot line just further fueled my dislike.

[doberbutts]

I'm pulling this out because this shit is funny as hell hold on

Merry and Pippin (2 in 1) actual hijinks and shenanigans of mutual stumbling over each other's first times. Bonus points if they are hours apart. Pippin finds Merry rolling in the hay in the morning, decides he wants in on this and doesn't want to be outdone, finds himself a willing partner, and Merry interrupts them by accident. Comedy gold.

I don't view Frodo as someone interested in sex (boos and hisses from the Sam/Frodo crowd) however Sam I think would similarly be Frodo opening the door to their shared living space after the quest and Sam's, err, "helping" Rosie in the kitchen. Sam stutters an apology, Rosie starts trying to explain, and meanwhile Frodo's just like "really? where we eat???"

Blink and you'll miss it moment between Legolas and Gimli OR the most intense, drawn out, intimate yet tasteful scene with a bonus at the end where Gimli goes "wait wym we're elf-married now". Probably in Rohan, after the drinking contest.

I'm choosing to believe that the scene between Arwen and Aragorn in Rivendell before he left, where she's wearing a mostly translucent shift and he is in a state of far more undress than we've seen him prior and ever seen him again, is a post-sex scene. So just put it there.

There is not a single person who will ever be able to convince me that Boromir did not get mad pussy in Gondor. The same goes for Faramir, who was loved by all except their father.

Gandalf, also, is not a sexual being to me. But with PJ's insistence on highlighting Gandalf's relationship to both Galadriel and Celeborn, I would believe him to be a third in whatever dynamic suits them.. Maybe he and Galadriel have telepathic elf magic ring sex and Celeborn is just like "yeah sure that's fine w/e". This is movie-canon only, of course.

Bilbo also- reclusive, kept to himself, constantly wandering the wilds alone or with Gandalf? Either he and Gandalf are regularly FWB adventure buddies or they're just plain uninterested in the whole deal.

I'm of two minds with Smeagol. On one hand there is great comedy gold with the little fucked up loincloth man and on the other hand there is so much tragedy to his character that I can't decide if it would be funnier to have him still have sexual desires or if it would be sadder to take him at his word when he states that he lost all desire and interest and pleasure in everything except the Ring. Perhaps he attempted to have sex with another Stoor early on in his possession of the Ring, before he was chased away. Maybe someone he had been trying to court, before the murder of Deagol and the subsequent chained events of consequences.

[melrosing]

so stuff I’ve not liked about the finale and S2 more generally…. unfortunately it’s a lot and i'm thinking i might need to say this in several parts but first and foremost: the pacing really was shit and i don't just mean there weren't enough action scenes i mean the whole season they've had almost nothing to say about these characters and have just been making us think they do by having them repeat the same ham-fisted monologues about power and peace and the cost of war and whatever whilst moving at a glacial pace from one minor plot point to another and by the end of it most of these characters STILL haven't changed, and where they have it feels undeserved, and yes they really are at roughly the place they started so what have they even got to show for these eight hours of TV?? like damn

and I do get that the writer's strike has really effected them here and HBO hacking two eps off their season affected them too and that really can't be helped. but the pacing has been pretty poor from kick off and I can't just put it down to this being a more 'internal' season. i do not care about big battles. it's fine to have a season of a show that’s more about the characters’ interiority rather than plot action. that’s the exact reason why I like AFFC so much.

but these characters barely have interiority like idk what to say. some like Rhaenyra, Jace and Alicent have been spouting the same monologues every episode about wanting peace/wanting agency/wanting peace again etc etc, and the more interesting moments like Alicent's apparent suicide attempts, Rhaenyra's butchering of the dragonseeds etc... I mean where IS the interiority here?? unless they are spelling out a character's thoughts in the most literal way they can (as per Jace's diatribes about the dragonseeds), they leave their audience to do absolutely all the work by showing us nothing, and just leaving us to figure that the characters must be having some kind of thoughts but y'all can decide what they are.

and even Daemon, whose entire ARC was about his interiority.... like look I was so so ready to love this arc. i love fucked up little dream sequences. i love harrenhal. i was really enjoying the angle they took with alys. i was here for it. but now we've seen the whole of his S2 arc, im going to say yes, it was intended as a redemption adjacent kind of arc, and it isn't a very good one. Daemon has a handful of weird dreams, gets shouted at by some Riverlands folk, and he's a changed man.

consider the character everyone compares Daemon to (and who I'm always more than happy to talk about) and that's Jaime. and look at the sheer ground covered in ASOS: Jaime breaks out of a dungeon, Jaime meets a younger version of himself, Jaime gets his hand hacked off, Jaime reveals his anime villain backstory in the bath, Jaime deals with Roose Bolton, Jaime has a weird weirwood dream, Jaime fights a fucking bear - and at this point we're still only about halfway through.

now in contrast, what have they actually managed to do with Daemon this season. where has that finale moment with Rhaenyra been earned. this is not slow pacing for the sake of powerful character development, it's slow because they don't have anything else to say.

and also look at the state of characters like Aemond who seemed really promising in S1, yet in this season he barely reflects on the fact that he hadn't meant to kill Luke, and this war is an accident that he started, etc etc - he's just a killing machine lol. there were some nice touches in there, like i say i enjoyed Helaena telling Aemond how he'll die in the finale. but I no longer trust these writers to do anything with their more inspired ideas because they just consistently fail to do so.

look at Baela!!! like my god, has Baela had the opportunity to do anything except A) what she's told and B) counsel men on their feelings. she has like one moment looking at Daemon and you feel like the series is going to explore how complex it is to be Daemon Targaryen's daughter.... but my god they never do!! so where IS this interiority we've spent eight episodes on! what have they got to show for it!!

and i talked more weeks back about how frustrating i've found the writing of women more generally in this series and as of the finale I am finding it so egregious and so condescending. women want peace. women want to protect their children. women are tired of men. women are tired of war. women are trying to end this war peacefully. women are pacifists. women hate violence. and so on and so on and so on like jesus christ who am i even talking about here. even i don't know. it's so boring. it's so dry. and it requires female characters to always be the paragons of virtue, never do anything truly condemnable, never be unlikeable, never fucking anything except stand around saying how much they hate this. im bored of it and it makes me angry that they would do this in a series that specifically seeks to make everyone grey and everyone complex - they keep suggesting that might extend to the women before abruptly shutting it down again. see Alicent and Rhaenyra even STILL, after EVERYTHING, trying to peacefully shut down the war for the sake of love and friendship in the goddamn finale. I don't believe it anymore!! it's not cute! it's just dull!!!

and finally that just kind of brings me to how shortsighted a lot of the plot developments seem, when you see how the characters fail to reckon with their pasts or shit that just happened. Rhaenyra and Mysaria make out, and then that's never mentioned again and the tone never changes between them. Rhaenyra is done thinking about Luke. Helaena is done thinking about Jaehaerys. Aegon actually didn't mention Jaehaerys in the list of things he's 'lost' in that finale. Alicent's relationship w Viserys was just now condensed to 'we were fond of each other but he always liked your mum better'

like idk it's just. if this season's pacing is all about giving characters the chance to change and grow into the people they'll be when this war REALLY kicks off.... do it. write it. do not just write the same monologue a dozen times and hope it'll hit harder with each. doesn't work like that. sorry.

[warning-heckboop]

I really love your changeling dev au 🤌✨️, i was thinking does this make dev the youngest in fairy world ? then that means there is a fairy who accidently had a baby but beacuse of da rules, it cause them to give it to dale as a gift? Im sorry don't know how the gifting works 😅

Okay, first off. Apologies for the late reply. Writing the fic on top of work and other plans took a lot out of me.

On to the actual question! To be honest, I hadn't actually thought too much about Dev's origins regarding who his actual fairy parent(s) would be. So let's brainstorm now, shall we? I'll be putting this under read more, because it got kind of long :')

Full disclosure, I never watched the entirety of the original FOP, especially after Poof/Peri was born, so I don't have a full grasp on the canon lore. I know before Peri, fairy babies were against the rules for thousands and thousands of years, but I guess I kind of assumed that after the dam was broken, they just kind of let fairies have babies whenever they wanted again--especially considering there's a "fairy shortage" in the later episodes (that's my understanding, at least, from what I've read. Again, I've never watched the later episodes, especially not the really later ones with Chloe). Even if this wasn't necessarily canon, I consider it canon in my head, especially since I like seeing people's OCs who are younger fairies born after Peri! Just gives more possibility for world building, I guess.

Regardless of the above, however, I think I'm leaning towards going more the route of Dev being an especially unique case. As I mentioned in my previous posts, Dev was given to Dale as a sort of compensation for Dale's lost childhood, where a fairy could have intervened and helped him escape Vicky's wrath, but he was just somehow overlooked. As I mentioned as well, I see this as a sort of cover-up that would have been handled very high-up in the fairy hierarchy, possibly by the Fairy Counsel themselves. Not only is giving a human a Changeling Baby an outdated and frowned upon practice that they want to limit the number of fairies knowing about, but I also think they'd just want to hide the fact that they so largely failed Dale (and the other children who worked with him) to begin with. They can't let the populous know that their all-powerful and all-knowing leaders screwed up like that, so instead they'd rather just pay off those affected in secret, and pretend like it never happened.

(Does this imply that there might be more changeling kiddos out there that were given to the other kids who suffered under Vicky alongside Dale? Maybe. I'm probably not going to ever expand upon that myself, but if that piques anyone's interest, feel free to build on it yourself!)

Based on this line of thought, I don't see this as a scenario where Dev was born first and then they decided to give him to Dale afterwards. I think Dev would have been created specifically for Dale. We've seen that fairies can reproduce like humans do through birth, obviously, but since they are magical creatures, who's to say there aren't other methods of creating more of their kind?

A fairy's human form appearance isn't completely detached from their natural form appearance (based on my own headcanons which are based on those created by @bunnieswithknives, who originated the 'natural form' concept I'm using in this au, for context), so in this case, in order to create a child that the world and probably even Dale would truly believe is his own flesh and blood, they'd have to create a fairy who would have traits that resemble Dale's. Maybe it was even a process of using magic combined with something of Dale's, like a lock of hair or something like that, to create a fairy child that to some extent really is related to Dale, although less in a "biological child" sort of way and more in a "slightly-modified-by-magic clone" sort of way.

I guess that's all just a really long-winded way to say: I don't think Dev has fairy parents! He's just a product of magic, and the closest thing he'll ever really have to a technical parent would, in fact, be Dale. I hope that's not a disappointing answer, haha.

[taraljc]

So on the night of the accident, we were only a few miles from Westview.

I really love that The Covenstead Rule that we've been assuming was about Agatha recruiting a coven is really actually Teen assembling his coven in his 3 mile radius, too. Because it's his journey that drives the plot of the show.

Which is not to say the show is not about Agatha but it is specifically about Agatha and Teen. They are co-stars. They are co-leads. This is their story, and all the ways that it dovetails and intersects and mirrors. Each member of the supporting cast have ties to both characters.

Lilia telling WilliamYou don't need to be a psychic to see that you're a good egg. Enjoy the now, baby. It's the only thing that's certain is so heartbreaking, even if she is remembering a future that hasn't happened yet.

The more I think about William's bedroom and the posters on the wall and what they tell us about William, and Teen's bedroom and what they tell us about him, the fact that The Wizard Of Oz remains there, as does Houdini, I really genuinely think that we haven't seen the last of William Kaplan's soul because that bedroom represents a balance between both of them.

[quietzap]

how do you navigate your feelings towards ziam and cheryl/bear/kate/maya on top of this immense grief? i don't mean to be insensitive but i haven't found an answer for myself yet, i can't believe we'll never get answers now

(To anyone seeing this, read until the end before saying anything thank you.) Well. I'm gonna ramble a bit but bear with me. Spotify played Let Me and Common on shuffle the other day and I cried a bit. It's unfair. It should've never ended this way. But I had already accepted ages ago that we might never know the truth. I still have my beliefs. That Zayn and Liam were together. Maybe they had broken up who knows but if they did then I still truly believe their bond was a once-in-a-lifetime thing. I've gone through so many emotions this past week. But seeing the posts of cheryl etcetc or people mentioning bear (Zayn was the only one who didn't fwiw), it didn't make me feel anything. Maybe bc I had already accepted we couldn't do anything about the stunts, and/or maybe bc it's still difficult for me to accept he's really gone or bc it doesn't matter to me at this moment. Or bc I haven't actually sat down to think about what it means that he's gone. I've just been thinking of the pain all of Liam's loved ones are in right now and will be in for the foreseeable future. And I include Zayn in this. I also don't really want to think about it bc I think I might get angry. We've all seen Liam's video on snapchat from last month, where he said he was stunting and forced to do things he didn't want to do and to send help. I often used to say that I didn't understand why the boys accepted this situation instead of just getting out, consequences be damned. Ofc it's easier said than done. But I thought maybe they thought it was worth it in some way. But then, Louis got out. Zayn got out. (In some way, I mean they have privacy and a real career, like Niall and Harry). I guess I will never understand why Liam was still the only one so stuck in this shitty situation. Why couldn't he live his life in peace like Zayn and only appear when he released music? Why couldn't he find a better team or why did he even accept to go along for so long? Why did people let him? Why?! That's what I want to know. Fucking why. And I want Liam's image/reputation to be redeemed. Anyway I digressed I'm sorry.

I just sincerely hope Zayn will be ok. Jaymi who was in Union J lost his soon-to-be-husband a couple months ago (Olly was buried the day they were supposed to get married last month). They'd been together for 14 years. And Olly died in similar circumstances (a fall from the 3rd floor of a hotel). And as incredibly awful as this is, knowing that other people are going through similar grief helps a bit, and I hope it will help Zayn and Liam's loved ones know they're not alone. (Edit: I'm not saying these deaths are linked, Olly's death is an accident, Jaymi was there when it happened. This paragraph is about not being fully alone in grief because other ppl go through similar things).

Idek if I've answered your question. I guess basically the stunts don't cross my mind coz it's not important to me. These past few years when Liam was alive it wasn't important (tho I hated it) bc I accepted the boys made their own choices. And now it's not important bc it won't bring Liam back and bc his loved ones matter more to me. Now, if I'm actually wrong about my beliefs then it is what it is and I feel for his exes/gf/child, and if the maya thing is true I still think addiction made him act that way and that if he'd got a chance to really get better this wouldn't have happened again. If I'm not wrong tho, I truly feel for Zayn who doesn't get to grieve the way he deserves to. Tho I'm glad he has loved ones who know the truth and who can support him the right way.

I hope this helps. Feel free to tell me if you want to discuss this further or anything ❤️

(Link to the videos of Liam from snapchat: x)

[fly-in-amber]

When I Think the Sbg Gang Will "Die"

these are just my headcanons for the order i think they'll die in, and why i think so

(also i would just like to say ahead of time that the lack of good colors for them sucks)

Tyler We saw this, it happened a while ago, but why was he the first? I could just be reading into this too much, but one of the things about Tyler that really stood out to me was how protective he is of the people he cares about. Being the first to "die" would make him feel weaker, which would also make him doubt whether he could really keep the others safe like he wanted.

Aiden Also happened already, but we've all seen that what made him so reckless (not necessarily when he died, just in general) is that he was clearly neglected as a child. Regardless of whether his parents cared about him or not, it feels like they didn't really know how to raise a child, and they ended up leaving him alone a lot. This made him reckless and borderline suicidal.

Taylor I'm not really sure if I think that her or Logan die next, so I just put her first because why not. Taylor is the most pacifistic out of all of them, but Tyler getting hurt made her reckless, which has been making her put herself into even more danger. She's become a lot more likely to charge into a fight without hesitation, and this means that she is a lot easier to hurt than before.

Logan Like I said, idk whether Logan or Taylor will die next, so this is just the order I put them in. Logan is their "sniper", so he's used to shooting from afar. Even in the facility, he had his guns, so he didn't have to fight them with close-range weapons, meaning that it would be harder for him to adjust to fighting them without a gun.

Ben He’s the caretaker of the group (yes I did write family by accident), so watching the others “die” and being unable to protect them would hurt him a lot more than dying first. Unlike Tyler, who was definitely shaken by the fact that he died first, meaning that maybe he couldn’t protect the others, Ben wouldn’t be as affected if he died earlier, as he wouldn’t really be using that to decide his strength. However, watching the others “die” would make him feel useless, as if he couldn’t help anyone. Also, I don’t think he’ll use his voice, unless someone is in grave danger and he has to warn them, but even then it’s not likely.

Ashlyn Okay this is just a given, as she’s definitely the biggest character out of all of them, but also, there’s the fact that she blames herself for everything that’s happened to the others, even if there wasn’t anything she could have done, so watching everyone “die” would make her suffer both mentally and emotionally. Personally, I think that there’s a chance that she’ll actually die, and not just in the phantom world, and tbh, I think it would be really interesting to see how the others would react to her permanent death.

okay i didn't really finish this (aiden, logan & taylor's are all incomplete) but i know that if i leave this in my drafts it's never gonna see the light of day so here

[skyeslittlecorner]

Oh no...! The fluff...! I'm gonna have sweet tooth because of your works (jkd i luv them dun worry :'3)

So we had the kings as kids now... How about they meet their kids from the future??

Like some kind of accident(s) happen that take them back in time (yeah I'm out of idea 😭 sr)

Family's meeting!!!! *vroom vroom*

Shhh, that's my plan! If I give everyone cavities, we'll be lining up to see Morax as dentist, and he won't hurt himself in the war again lmao

The royal kids are definitely clever beasts. It wouldn't surprise me if they figured something out and were thrown into our times for 24 hours. We've already had a Christmas miracle, so I can believe anything. Let the kings meet their teenage offspring~

꧁:･ �� ･:꧂

Satan would like a family more than anything. When one day he saw white-haired twin nobles next to you and heard that they were your children from the future, his heart would melt in an instant. Ironically, they're both taller than him. But he's still able to get through it. He wants to take them to the front to see how they fight and then have a good beer (juice for them, they can fight but not drink) in the best pub. You have never seen him so happy and with so much love in his eyes. Do they really have to go back to their own time? Well... As soon as they were gone, Satan would grab your hand with a smug smirk. Be prepared to not get out of bed for a week, and certainly not on your own.

Mammon has a bunch of children, and nobody can convince me otherwise. You can create a whole group of idols out of them, and that's basically how they are treated in their times. He would spend time with each of them, curious to see how the future would unfold. Each of them is so enterprising that they would rule Tartaros without hesitation if he just left them alone for a while. But what he likes most is your reaction. He would watch lovingly as you happily talked and cuddled with every one of them. They also know well that the most important person in the entire country is their sweet human parent. Be ready to be spoiled by both Mammon and your entire group of children.

Beelzebub is terrified. He'd be sure he was absent so long that you'd actually had teenage child. There is no doubt that girl he met is his daughter. She appears and disappears just like him, has this petty smirk, and her first impulse was to sniff him. Besides... he just know it, okay? They actually ran into each other by accident in Avisos. After all day with her he will come back, promising you that he will visit you more often. You wonder how quickly he will forget about it, especially since he is clearly relieved when you tell him that you don't have children (yet), and it was just some anomaly in space-time. And it’s not that he doesn't want children. He would rather be there as they grow up… as much as he can. 

Leviathan first glances at you, just to find out if you and this beautiful princess have something in common. His daughter must be perfect, and only your genes and his combined would be able to create a being more beautiful than himself. Not that you'd ever heard him say that out loud. Jealousy would fight within him with duty. Fatherly pride will prevail when he sees that she is perfectly brought up and treats him with due respect. Ah, anyone who looks at her will hang. If he's only going to have her for one day, then only he and you can spend time with her. The nobles will be delighted because they haven't been hanged so lavishly for a long time. 

[neonscandal]

something I wanted to understand, the author said that satoru was quite a womanizer, but then he said that geto was much more popular among women than satoru I didn't understand

Technically, the author said that they didn't see Gojo being faithful to one or a certain woman not that he was a womanizer.

With what we know about Gojo (and Gege Akutami's trolling ways, for that matter), I think that's up for interpretation.

FAN INTERPRETATION

Fans really took that sentiment and kind of ran with it because, to us, Gojo is high spec in every way. Canonically good looking, tall, competent at like.. everything according to Akutami, strong and presumably loaded. Of course someone like that would be a womanizer, right?

Except Gojo is an oversized child who still kinda refers to Digimon in conversation and primarily hangs out with 16 year olds. People project a lot of their BS onto him because they can't imagine ticking all those boxes and not being an asshole. But he’s a corny dork who is seemingly impervious to the outright disdain of most of the people around him. IT’S COMICAL. Personally, I think this interpretation is incorrect, demonstrably.

The other side of the fandom is naturally like... well of course he couldn't stay faithful to one woman. He's been faithful to Geto for ten years! I think we know what camp I've pitched my tent in *gestures vaguely to the rest of my blog* Especially when you bear in mind that Gege Akutami specifically designed Gojo and Geto to be intrinsic complements of one another.

CANON

I'm not so SatoSugu addled (once the brain rot sets in, it's terminal) that I am unable to disclose the secret third way we can interpret this. Canonically, when we look at Gojo as a character... it almost makes sense to assume he's simply not interested in dating at all.

Empirically finds it hard to relate to others

Even when he does care for others, he's still emotionally shallow and aware of it

Gojo clan leader with all associated unpleasantries and responsibilities from a young age

Single benefactor to two children; assumes direct responsibility over two more by staving off their execution

First line of defense for all of jujutsu society

Has a grand design of toppling said jujutsu society

Has experienced devastating loss which informs the grand design of his life's mission and he's always plotting, even when it comes to the seemingly altruistic act of "adopting" the Fushiguro kids or pressing Yuta and Yuji to learn under his care. When you consider that context, it furthers the idea that he's pretty divorced from emotion. Like, he wants them to have a childhood but its still at the pleasure of his convenience and ultimate purpose.

LOOK at this gorgeous, gorgeous boy from pop layer art because I need it and, when I covet, you must also covet. Edit: I'd accidently copied the wrong link there! It's been fixed 💙

In universe, we've seen maybe two canonical couples: Yuta & Rika and Hakari & Kirara (to be animated). This supports the fact that Gege's not really concerned with injecting "romance" into the plot unnecessarily. Undeniably and supporting the SatoSugu agenda, however, is the fact that JJK 0 very much aligned Gojo & Geto with Yuta & Rika with the theme coming to a head in season 2 with Gojo's sealment. For clarity, I mean how love ultimately cursed Rika and Geto after death by Yuta's begging her not to leave and Gojo not properly disposing of Geto's body. Love turned Rika into a curse and allowed Kenjaku to swoop in on Geto.

GETO'S POPULARITY

Geto is, quite literally, popular with everyone in universe and that was before he became a cult leader... which also indicates a predilection for popularity, I guess? As a character, he is principled, thoughtful, gentle and strong. I think, collectively, we tend to toil over the fact that Gojo spent more time missing Geto than he actually knew him. But... that's the same for Shoko and Nanami. After Geto's defection, Nanami couldn't forsake him even if he morally couldn't approve of his actions. Over ten years later as the night parade of a hundred demons is set to take place, Yaga starts saying something along the lines of finally getting rid of the scourge that is Suguru Geto and Shoko makes it a point to leave. I think it's because, after everything, she still holds affection and pity for Geto and would rather not hear him being bad-mouthed for breaking under the pressure of things.

He was the best of them, after all.

[kobunnie]

the one that got away

ft. fushiguro megumi

⤻ summary ; katy perry's song

⤻ word count ; 2.8k

⤻ genre ; angst, (there are fluff moments)

⤻ cw ; none

⤻ pronouns ; she / her

Your first mistake was getting attached to someone the summer after high school.

"You are so cooked, y/n," Nobara sighed, watching you lay on your stomach as you stared at your phone expectantly.

"Shhhh," you shushed, tapping your screen to see if you had somehow missed his notification. No notification. "Why isn't he texting me back, Nobara?"

"Maybe he's busy."

"Or he's ignoring me!" you wailed, throwing your face into your bed, muffling your defeated groans. "He must've seen the preview of my message and decided that I was crazy for even asking!"

"I can barely understand you."

You raised your head, eyes watering. "He doesn't want to hang out with me!"

Nobara rolled her eyes. "I don't understand why you're so down bad for this dude you've only known for like what, a month?"

"Two," you corrected. "We've known each other for two months."

"Barely known each other. You met him by accident through Itadori at a party. And subsequently, after that, you had only talked to him in person two other times. You've only just started actually talking to him three weeks ago."

You pouted. "Yes, but I like him, Nobara. He's cute and funny and just seems to get me."

"I think he's quiet and rude."

"You don't know him like I do."

Nobara screwed up her face in disgust. "You have issues."

You laughed and sat up. "I really do like him, Nobara. I don't know why, but it's so easy to talk to him. We get along really well. I want to go out with him."

Nobara grabbed your hands in hers. "Okay, but you guys will leave for university in a little over a month. And you guys are going to opposite sides of the world. What happens if it goes really well, too well, and you get too close? Wouldn't it suck to leave? How would you deal with that?"

You pursed your lips. "But wouldn't I regret it if I didn't hang out with him?"

"But you could also end up regretting doing anything with him at all."

"So, is it worse to regret something that did happen or something that didn’t but could have?"

"I don't know, y/n," Nobara said defeatedly. She smiled tightly. "Just think about how this will affect you in the future."

Your phone pinged and you quickly pulled away from Nobara, swiping it up and scanning the screen.

Fushiguro Megumi: Ok

"What did he say?" Nobara asked, noticing your expression.

"Just 'Ok'." You flipped your phone towards her. "I don't even know how to react to that."

You hated to admit it, but his answer bothered you. It was dry and discouraging. It's not like you had expected him to send you a message like, "Yes! I would totally like to hang out with you ASAP" but still.

"At least he didn't say no?" Nobara offered.

Your phone pinged again.

Fushiguro Megumi: Let's get dinner

"He said ‘Let's get dinner'," you read aloud.

"Okay, dinner date, a classic. And he suggested it, I guess that's a good sign."

You nodded in agreement. "This is true. Maybe he's just a bad texter?"

Two days later, you bounced on your heels at the train stop, waiting for Megumi to show up. The two of you had decided to get ramen together at this new build-your-own-bowl place downtown. You were nervous to meet with him, but also excited. You got along really well when texting, how different could in person be?

“Hey, y/n.” You turned and saw Megumi walking towards you.

You smiled. “Hi. We have to go this way.”

The two of you walked towards the restaurant, engaging in simple small talk. He asked what you had done that day and you asked him how his train ride was. You also talked about Itadori, reminiscing about how ridiculously funny the boy was at the end-of-year party in May where the two of you had met.

“What kind of noodles did you get?” you asked, leaning over the table to see into Megumi’s bowl.

“Udon,” he said. “What about you?”

You tilted your bowl. “These skinny ramen ones. But udon sounds good too, Fushiguro.”

“You can call me Megumi,” he said, dropping his gaze to his bowl. He stirred his noodles.

You smiled. “Okay then, Megumi.” You were happy that he thought the two of you were close like that, but at the same time, your stomach turned at the thought. Nobara was right. Maybe you were going to get too close.

The conversation came easy, and you were smiling and laughing more than you had ever had with any other guy you��d ever hung out with. It was weird, but also pleasantly surprising.

“I like talking to you, Megumi,” you blurted, pushing aside your finished bowl. You dropped your gaze to the table, realizing what you had just said.

“I like talking to you too, y/n.” You looked up and Megumi smiled softly at you. Your face flushed a pink color.

You cleared your throat. “Maybe we should hang out again?”

“I’d like that.”

Over the next three weeks, you hung out with Megumi a total of five times more. You wished it could have been more, but it seemed that each time you wanted to hang out someone was busy or someone had an appointment. The two of you got brunch where you found out that Megumi was a blueberry pancake person which seemed all too perfect in your head. You also once went shopping, where you bought a pretty new dress after getting lunch together. At one of your last hangouts, you invited him over to bake cookies and watch a movie where you found out that Megumi was a pretty decent baker. 

“You didn’t tell me you were a baker, Megumi,” you laughed, watching as he rolled the cookie dough into little balls.

He shrugged. “I guess there’s a lot of things about me you don’t know.”

“Trying to be mysterious or what?” you teased.

He laughed. “Of course.”

You stared at him, thinking that he was the most beautiful person you had ever seen when laughing and smiling. It almost made you forget about how he would be leaving soon.

Meeting Fushiguro Megumi had not been on your bucket list for summer. His presence in your life was a wrench in your plans and you couldn't even begin to explain to your friends why he mattered so much to you. After all, you two had barely had a month together and nothing lasting that short was ever truly that serious.

Fushiguro Megumi: What are u doing today?

Fushiguro Megumi: I wanna see u

You stared at the messages on your phone, thinking of how to respond. Of course, you wanted to see him too, but he would leave the next day. You were afraid that if you saw him, you'd break down and he'd realize how embarrassingly much you liked him.

Fushiguro Megumi: What's wrong?

What was wrong was that you didn't want to humiliate yourself in front of the guy you had foolishly developed real, deep feelings for. You typed back your response: Nothing. Just busy.

Fushiguro Megumi: Too busy to hang out for a few hours?

Yes. But really, no. You called Nobara, hoping that she would be able to give you advice.

“I don’t know what I should text back to him,” you explained. “I mean, I want to see him. But is it worth it?”

“Do you remember when I told you this wasn’t a good idea?”

You frowned. “That’s not exactly what you said.”

“But you know it’s what I meant.”

“Come on, Nobara. Help me?”

Nobara paused. You heard her sigh through the receiver. “Do you think it’s better to regret something that did happen or something that didn’t but could have?”

“I get it, Nobara, you’re throwing my words back at me.”

“Yes, but no. I’m serious. It’s a good question to think about. Honestly, you’re already in way too deep, so why not just see him? At this point, you’ve got nothing more to lose.”

You nodded. “Yeah, okay, I’ll text him back then. Thanks, Nobara.”

“Yeah. And I’ll be here when you crash out when he leaves!”

“Whatever.” You rolled your eyes, but you also knew that she was right. You probably would end up crashing out.

You: No

You met Megumi in the park by your house. The sun was getting low and you guessed that in a few hours or so, you’d be able to watch the sunset with him. It was an almost too perfect place for a goodbye.

“Hi,” you said, sitting beside him on the grass.

He looked up and smiled, raising a box of strawberries. “I brought a snack.”

“I love strawberries!”

“I know.”

The two of you sat together on the grass, bathed in the dimming glow of the sun for hours. You talked about everything and nothing. He asked about your life and your friends, listening intently whenever you delved into a tangent. You talked to him about your favorite movies, and the two of you easily found common ground. But you didn’t talk about the future, or what was going to happen the next day. You couldn’t even bear to ask him if he was excited to leave. You were afraid. When the sky turned purple-pink and the edges of the sun began to dip below the tree line, you felt a stab of anxiety, knowing that your time with him was about to end.

Do you tell him how you feel? No. But, yes? Maybe you should. Your chest seized at the thought. But what if you were wrong about your entire relationship? What if you were really just friends? You would be okay with that, right? But also, he was leaving anyway. Maybe you should get it off your chest.

You thought about what Nobara would say, how she’d throw your words back at you again: is it worse to regret something that did happen or something that didn't but could have?

Before you could say anything, Megumi said, "I wish we had talked more before.”

You nodded but didn't say anything, scared that if you did you'd start crying.

Megumi stared at the ground. "I wish I had gone up to you when I first saw you in October."

"Wait, what?" You turned to him. The two of you had met in May. "October?"

He shrugged. "It was Halloween and Itadori had dragged me along to someone's Halloween party. He was dressed as Phineas and I was Ferb from some TV show he watched as a kid. I didn't want to be there at all. I didn't know anyone and parties are overrated; too many people with too little space. Plus, I wasn't enjoying the outfit he had put me in. When Itadori started talking to people I didn't know, I decided to leave to find us some drinks. When I found him again I saw him talking to a princess."

He looked up to meet your eyes. For Halloween that year you had been a princess while Nobara had been a dragon. It had been Nobara's idea and she had shimmied you into a too-small pink princess dress that she had gotten from the clearance kids section at the costume store. She thought it was hilarious.

Your breath hitched and Megumi dropped his gaze back to the floor. "For a second, I thought you were a real princess. You were certainly beautiful enough to be one. When I got to Itadori again, I remember that I had asked him to introduce me to you but by the time the opportunity had presented itself Itadori had forgotten and was in a deep conversation with that friend of yours, the one who was the dragon. I didn't want to interrupt, it seemed pointless. I told myself that there would be other opportunities. Besides, Itadori was pretty drunk at that point and I was the designated sober to take him home, so I just concerned myself with taking care of him. When we were leaving and Itadori had sobered up, he asked me why I didn't go up to you myself. Honestly, I don't know why I didn't. I guess I was nervous. But I regret not going up to you. Because as it turns out, I didn’t see you again until that party in May."

You didn't respond for a long moment, unsure of what to say or how to react. You were angry at him. You were angry at Itadori. You were angry at yourself. You were simply angry. You whispered, "Why would you tell me that?"

"I don't know."

Part of you wished that he hadn’t told you that. If he hadn’t, then your brain wouldn’t be filled with a million “what ifs”. What if he had gone up to you in October? If he had, then maybe, you could’ve had more time together. Maybe you would’ve actually been a couple for a little while. Or not. You didn’t even really know how much he liked you now. Maybe it wasn’t enough. Maybe he was saying all this because he was just really going to miss your friendship. You realized how complicated your relationship with him was. You flirted and went out and there was obvious attraction. But neither of you had ever really said anything to each other that alluded to something deeper. You knew that you felt it, but what about him? Maybe you guys said nothing because of the fear of how little time you knew you had left. So who really knew how many things the two of you were keeping from each other?

“You’ll have a great time in college,” you said, trying to ease the awkward silence.

He nodded. “You too.”

“Did you know that statistically most people meet the person they're going to marry in college? So who knows who you'll meet," you blurted. You pinched yourself, why did you say that?

He stared at you, his face unmoving. You couldn't quite make out what exactly his expression meant. "I guess so."

You smiled tightly and turned away from him, suddenly self-conscious.

Megumi was silent for a while. "In another life, it would've been different between us. This wouldn’t be the end of us; we would work out."

You couldn't hold the tears back any longer. Teardrops spilled out from your eyes, splattering onto your legs in quick succession of one another. You hiccuped and buried your face in your hands, unable to stop the tears from flowing. You felt an arm around your shoulder, pulling you close. Megumi didn't say a word as he pressed you to his chest, holding you. You could hear his heartbeat: fast but steady. The two of you sat there against each other for what felt like an eternity but couldn't have been more than ten minutes. Your breathing steadied and the tears stopped. But still, neither of you moved. You knew the moment would end if you did, and you weren't ready for that yet.

When the moment did end, both of you continued to not say a word. It wasn’t awkward, but you were afraid to speak and you guessed that he probably felt the same way. What do you say after everything that just happened? The sun had long since disappeared and the street lamps turned on, casting shadows across the park and engulfing the two of you in hazy dim lighting. The two of you stood and gathered your things in silence. Once done, you hugged one another once more. You wrapped your arms around his neck, pulling him close. He hugged your waist so tight you thought you might pop from the pressure, but at the same time, you didn’t mind.

You stood together for another minute before reluctantly beginning to pull away. You pressed a hasty kiss to his cheek and whispered, “Goodbye, Megumi.” You pulled back, averting eye contact before turning to leave, not even waiting to hear what he might’ve said. It hurt too much to think about. Part of you hoped that he would call after you; stop you from leaving. But no such thing happened. You thought of turning back to look at him but you didn’t do either.

Part of you believed what he had said: that in another life you two would’ve worked out. In another life, maybe you would’ve even been his girl. But there was only this life. And in this life, he was the one that got away. You walked away only hoping that at some point, some part of him had liked you at least half as much as you liked him.

[lenaboskow]

so last night i was sitting here trying to clear my writer's block by jumping between wips and then i had a thought: a writing experiment where i write what an "evan begins" ep would look like. and i know what you're thinking-- "we don't want that" but HEAR ME OUT (this was written while sleep deprived but i'm too lazy to rewrite it, bear with me)

"evan begins" isn't actually buck coming to terms with his given name, it's actually the beginning of him losing himself in his relationship with tommy over the course of several episodes (telling everyone that he no longer goes by buck, distancing himself from the 118, getting reckless on calls because tommy, who is as uninterested as we've seen him to be, only seems to care when he's hurt just like his parents).

and eddie. eddie hates this. he just got christopher back, and now buck is pulling away from him, from their family, from the 118, is refusing to be called buck, and won't stop risking his life for no reason. he tries, he tries so hard to get buck to listen to him. eddie never calls him evan, not once, and buck ignores him every time his name leaves his mouth. it hurts, but eddie knows that he can't give in, that he needs to fight for buck because no one else is, has time to because they're all going through their own stuff. but buck helped him get through chris being in texas, and now eddie would help buck get through whatever this is.

but buck isn't making it easy. he isn't talking to anyone, not really, but it's like he's specifically avoiding eddie. that's why it takes so long for eddie to realize what he's doing. that he's reverted back to his childhood attempts at getting attention. and the way he notices? complete accident. eddie's at the hospital, waiting for news (because buck never remembered to take eddie off of his emergency contact list, and eddie would use that power as much as possible until he realized), and tommy shows up. he and tommy aren't on the friendliest of terms anymore, mostly because of eddie's newly identified jealousy, but they make small talk. tommy makes a comment, something about how he and "evan" hadn't had the chance to go out on a date in over a week, and it clicks.

eddie shows up at the loft that night. tommy's there, he answers the door, and eddie pushes past him, heads straight to buck who's sitting on the couch that isn't even comfortable. he stands in front of him, and before buck can ask why he's at the loft, eddie says "i know what you're doing, and it needs to stop".

buck. buck just... goes quiet. the lack of a denial is enough for eddie, and he turns to tommy, telling him he needs to go. tommy puts up a fight, but eddie's more stubborn, and may or may not threaten to call athena (who is not tommy's biggest fan). is it ethical? no. does it have any legal standing? no to that as well. but eddie doesn't care, and it works, and suddenly he and buck are alone for the first time in months. and buck breaks.

he tells eddie everything, how he didn't feel like himself, and that he didn't know why he was doing what he was, but he didn't know how to stop it, how to leave this relationship that took so much from him. he tells eddie he feels like a failure, like a disappointment, and that he feels guilty for abandoning him right after chris got back. feels guilty for abandoning chris, and the rest of the 118. and eddie just holds him.

the next episode is titled "buck begins again", and we see eddie help buck pick the pieces of his life back up. there's a not so pleasant breakup, apologies are made, and eddie is right there by buck's side the entire time.

i don't think, don't want buddie to get into a relationship in this episode, but what i think would be an acceptable ending would be buck telling eddie "i know, and you know, but i'm not ready. i want to be better for you, for us, for me. will you wait for me?" and eddie just smiles, and nods his head. end episode.

[shootwithintenttokill]

Can we talk about Jesper Fahey unintentionally being one of the most powerful Grisha in the Grishaverse? (Bear with me)

Okay, agreed, Jesper struggles with doing basically anything intentionally. Makes sense - he was never trained.

But if we consider what he can do; controlling the path of bullets. Taking tiny chunks of metal moving at ~120-370 m/s, and directing them. And not just a little bit. He literally managed to make his bullet curve 90° around a right-angle corner. This is a skill we see no other Fabrikator able to do, and you would have thought, if it was a common ability, or even ever seen before, the Darkling or the Triumvirate would have utilised it in the Second Army. They have not. The only people known to use it are Jesper and his mother.

(And let's just give an honourable mention to Aditi Hilli, who could extract poison from the bloodstream of another person. You remember how the tidemakers in the Ice Court needed to be on Parem to mess with a person's blood? But Aditi Hilli? ...I don't want to say no problem, because she did die, but she saved Leoni too, so... half-marks? I'm just saying Jesper has some serious badass genes.)

Actually, talking about the tidemakers on parem, Jesper, with no training and having all the blood in his body sucked out of him, still managed to kill them with dust. A rather dark trick, but one we've never seen David Kostyk, or Leoni Hilli, considered the two most powerful Fabrikators alive during canon, replicate.

But the real reason Jesper is so powerful has very little to do with that, so much as HOW he does it. Every grisha alive used their arms to direct their abilities. After being captured by the Darkling in S&S, Alina has her hands bound, and says something about how she can summon, but not direct light without her hands, so she's basically powerless. It's obviously a common tactic, because the Druskelle do the same thing with Nina and the other Grisha they captured, and only after they get their hands freed on the sharp edge of a broken cup can they use their abilities again.

The only people we see not using their hands for the small science, in fact, are Adrik, who has to relearn his technique after he loses an arm, and, of course, Jesper Fahey, who can direct bullets with his mind - no hand movements required.

If anything, it's probably this ability that makes him so good at directing bullets. After all, at the speed a bullet is going, you don't have time to be waving your hands around to control it. What's especially funny to me is that before Wylan pointed it out, he had no idea he was even doing it. He was using an ability no other Grisha can, and Didn't Know. Can you imagine him mentioning that to Nina... or basically any Second Army Grisha.

("You can control bullets?"

"...you can't?"

"...how?"

"I'm not sure. I mean, my mother sort of taught me, but also I didn't really realise I was doing it until my boyfriend pointed it out, you know?"

"...YOU WERE ACCIDENTLY CONTROLLING BULLETS?!!!")

This is, of course, all book canon, but somehow the show takes it even further. It hasn't been officially revealed Jesper's Grisha in the show, but there are enough clues - Jesper repairing Kaz's cane, Ivan's cut-off comment after their fight, not to mention the fight itself - that I'm taking it as canon. In this, it is accepted NO ONE can use their grisha abilities, except merzost, without first touching their hands together. Not The Darkling, not Alina, no one. Except, of course, Jesper Fahey, who can shoot his bullets and direct them to the exact same point on a kefta, after deflecting them off random objects first.

Tl;dr: Jesper Fahey is amazing and crazily powerful and should be appreciated.

[divineerdrick]

Homestuck: Beyond Canon Upd8 for August 11, 2024

So I've heard we have an upd8 today! And we've got a news post too! Right off the bat, we'll have another chapter "a little later in the month." Guess I'll have to keep my ear to the ground. Not sure there's an extension out there that can determine when the team upd8s a Ren'py game attached to their website.

I haven't been able to support the Patreon for a bit, so I'm unaware of the music previews James mentions. His little spiel makes me worried he might go Grimdark at some point . . .

We've still got another collab in the works, but we don't have the details yet. And yeah, I've been experiencing heat where I live that definitely slowed me down a peg.

On to the upd8!

Holy crap! Year 4!

Even with the realizations she made before, apparently this is still really slow going.

Nanna!

Oh wow! She's literally growing up! Wherever she is, she's physically aging in what is probably real time. Here's a shot from the last blog for comparison.

Her hair and horns are both longer, she's taller in frame, her neck is longer, and her eyes and mouth sit smaller on her face. Somehow though, she's still fitting into her outfit. Wonder if they're letting her alchemize new clothes?

Oh man! We've apparently missed some reconciliation with Eridan, John, and Kanaya! I feel especially robbed about missing out on the Kanaya portion. But we all know who the "HER" is. Though it would be a hilarious fake out if it was Nepeta or Feferi!

Hah! We apparently have both Nannasprites here!

Vriska does not say no to cookies!

We get another callback to Vriska's previous adventures as she remembers talking to John about their relationships with their ancestors. But she apparently doesn't understand how humans can have family ties. At least she seems more curious about it now.

Of course Nanna would have to describe having a child as having "novelty". It's nice to see a little bit more background on this version of Jane.

Vriska just cannot get past the idea why anyone would put up with a baby given the unavoidable accidents.

Nannasprite has apparently seen everything Jane has accomplished and is, at the very least, curious how things might have turned out if she hadn't settled down.

Wow. That had to really suck. Nana never felt loved or even wanted before she settled down. That might have been why finding someone who did love her and want to start a family with her caused her to change all her plans.

This is another attitude that Vriska previously would never have considered. She was always certain she had to be best, had to surpass every expectation, and very much felt she had a destiny to fulfill. The idea that someone would just "give up" on all that and do their own thing is more alien to her than humanity itself.

Wow! Vriska was actually mindful she might have lost her cool and genuinely apologized! She is learning!

And some genuine affection here too.

Wait! That's broken Paradox Space! Is Vriska facing Game Over Terezi?

And these are Vriska's typing quirks! Wait! Does she have to come to terms with Game Over Vriska? AKA (Vriska)? Does she have to reconcile with herself?

Wait! Mindfang? Does she have to come to terms with her relationship with Mindfang? If that's the case, no wonder she's not getting anywhere. Everything else has probably been about figuring out what the other person wants. But Vriska's problem was she was always trying to live up to Mindfang, an extremely poor example and role model. In this case, she almost certainly need to stop caring about what Mindfang might want.

Oh! It's not Mindfang! It's Vriska's idea of her, all wrapped up in her relationship with her lusus. It's basically both of Vriska's parental figures rolled into one.

She definitely needs to not give a shit about what this entity wants! While there is value in understanding who her lusus was and who Mindfang was, there is no value in engaging with them. This is all about Vriska learning how trying to live up to their needs and expectations, instead of living up to her own desires, caused her so much pain and heartache.

Heh! "Momfang."

Wow! They really are wrapped into one!

Also I can't decide if this reminds me more of the Venom symbiote or Conceptual Hair.

It is important that Vriska recognizes that these two entities were formative to her. But I really feel like that's all there is here. Understanding who they were and the impact they had on her life. The next revelation is that this doesn't need to define her.

Momfang's words echo a lot of Vriska's own thoughts and words on death and murder. Whether she, or indeed we, like it or not, Vriska does need to forgiver herself for her past. But not by accepting the violent environment as justification. She needs to understand that while she has extenuating circumstances for what she did, Vriska still did those things. She has to come to terms with that and forgive herself for it.

Vriska has learned from Vrissy! Suffering is not what makes you strong. Just as the muscles of a body builder tend to be weaker, more limited, and even useless compared to those of an athlete, suffering often comes with just as much that weakens you. Strength always has to come from within. Someone's strength who gets there through finding something or someone to be strong for is just as valid as someone who gets there through pursuit of an ambition is just as valid as someone who gets there through hardship is just as valid as, well, any path that gets you there. It's a bitter pill if you're the one who's suffered. But it is the truth.

Even on Alternia, none of this was ever fine. Even by their standards, her childhood was full of abuse and violence.

Man! The team is determined to make Momfang's twisting form as creepy as they can for mostly still images!

I don't know if Beforan Lusus could be like this, or if this quirk was part of Scratch's work. But we clearly see that some Lusus just weren't good guardians, despite coevolution. "But so are some parents!" I hear you cry! That's still different. While it's possible in the vast variety of humanity to be raised by a true monster, most abusive parents are still human. There are paths victims of abuse can take to find comfort or even peace and understanding because of this.

Vriska's "mom" is literally a spider, an animalistic predator. "HUNGRY. KILL. FUCK. EAT. FEED." On earth, even when spiders demonstrate sentience and intelligence, it is from an entirely different evolutionary path. We could not relate to the mind of a spider. And neither can Vriska.

There are many reasons why a parent may become abusive.

Vriska's was abusive because that helped it find prey.

Yep. This is not about what Momfang wants. It's about what Vriska wants. "And wasn't considering it now, to 8e clear." Again. Spider!

Huh! But that doesn't stop Vriska's image of Mindfang from being curious.

Vriska knows part of what's wrong. But as most of us know all too well, knowing what a problem is only the first step in fixing it. All you can do is try to catch yourself when "you're doing it again," while also trying to not make that become something you're constantly on guard about.

"Oh my god. Tavros was right!!!!!!!!!"

As was Nannasprite! You're supposed to learn form each of these "sessions" and use that to help with the next.

Now I'm sure that "h8r" is talking about Terezi.

We've often believed that what we read of Mindfang's journal was tame. Homesmut Mindfang is apparently canon.

No Momfang! No! You do not get to use Mayor callbacks!

"What will you do?"

Vriska knows what she wants. How does she prove it? Killing or being eaten seems like it's just more of the same. This could just be as simple as walking away.

Only way to win is not to play. It was always a false binary. There was always another option, it was just a case of seeing it.

Happy Vriska is best Vriska!

Yep! Just walk away!

Yeah, no! No hug for you!

Can't decide if I like "Gestalt of Rivia" or "Hierarchy of Arachneeds" more!

Let's not stop there though! I feel like we know enough now about how this works to start making some predictions.

So the Cueball suggests Scratch. He also played a great role in Vriska's life and actions. How Vriska needs to grow past him is trickier. Scratch was only ever using her, and I'm pretty sure Vriska knows this. Now she's dealt with Momfang, though, I don't think she'd get hung up on him. He is considerably cannier than Momfang, but this still feels like a misdirect. It could potentially lead to Rose. She's the other Hero of Light after all, and she and Vriska have both Scratch and the Cueball in common. I'm willing to bet Vriska didn't take enough advantage of Rose's presence on the meteor. This might create a scenario where she just has to learn from her fellow Hero.

Then we have a feather. This is probably the hardest to draw any conclusions from. The only character in Homestuck connected to feathers is Dave. Another potential hero to learn from. It's just hard to imagine not having to reconcile with Terezi, and I'm pretty sure she's not the 8ball. But I also can't think of how the feather connects her to . . .

Scales! It's a bit of a reach, but scales and feathers do have a connection. Also, why would Vriska have a feather? Maybe it's a quill that she used in her FLARPing days? Either way, I'm gonna say the feather is Terezi. Mostly because it's what I want.

The 8ball will be (Vriska). Vriska needs to come to terms with her Game Over self. She needs to realize that it not only was she wrong to look down on her, but that (Vriska) was always right to just look for happiness. (Vriska) was always valid and deserves to lose those parenthesis. Even if they are really convenient.

[genericpuff]

Omg hiiii, I absolutely love Rekindled! You're so talented, and the story you're making for Persephone is so intriguing! A lot more than whatever trashfire Lore Olympus has become.

That being said, what was the moment you stopped liking LO Persephone? Have you always disliked her, or was it gradual? Or just a specific moment that made you go "yeaaaaah.. she's not it ;-;"

(And bonus question if I can ask, but how do you draw hands?? I hate them with a passion, but unfortunately hands are pretty necessary T^T)

aahhh thank you so much!!!

honestly, I was a pretty big fan of LO up until the trial arc. Like, you've all seen me hate this comic with a fiery passion, but the only reason I'm able to do that is because before I hated this comic, I loooved this comic. I'd literally be counting down the hours until new updates, I loved the art, and I was too smitten by the appeal of the series to notice its writing problems, I just loved the romantic drama and the H x P ship, and yes, I loved Persephone, I loved her design, her personality, and I felt so 'seen' by her struggles, both with her trying to pave a path for herself and the SA plotline. I was even (regrettably) one of those people who would lurk in the antiLO tags and think "wow, these people are dumb, can't they see how brilliantly written this is ?? they're nitpicking!"

But then the trial arc happened which involved writing a plot that didn't put the romance front and center anymore - now that Rachel had to actually write something complex and logic-driven, the blinders started to fall off and I went wait... maybe Rachel doesn't know what she's doing. Persephone choosing her own lawyer? And it's Hades, one of the judges? Why are they suddenly establishing Thanatos as Hades' adoptive son? I'm not a lawyer, but I know that's not how any of this works and it really tipped me off that something was amiss, that Persephone was having all of her solutions conveniently handed to her on a platter and all of the other characters were suddenly being made to look like assholes just to make Hades and Persephone the heroes.

And then... Eris happened.

See, one of the things I loved most in the story was Persephone's character arc concerning the Act of Wrath. I write stories about characters with dark "personas" all of the time. So it was something I had frame of reference for, I really loved the premise of Persephone earning her name through this act of violence and while it was dashed with the opening of S2 revealing it was "all an accident", I was excited to see how the trial arc would bring about new information and confirm who was telling the truth about what "really happened" with the Act of Wrath. If the courtroom drama wasn't gonna be realistic, I could at least hope for some good 'OBJECTION!' reveal that would finally put to rest once and for all what really happened, and maybe Kore would finally embrace this 'dark side' she had.

So for the actual twist to suddenly reveal itself as... 'actually, this one goddess we've never mentioned before blessed you with wrath. why? idk she just did. anyways she's the reason you have wrath and that's what made you commit the act of wrath. problem solved.'

And that was where the twisting of 'faith' happened. When I went through the subconscious realization of , "Oh no, Rachel doesn't know what she's doing and it took me this long to notice. Oh no, maybe those antiLO freaks had a point-"

That said, there was a glimmer of hope in the midseason finale. Persephone was sentenced to remain in the Mortal Realm to carry out her mother's duties and I thought, "great! This will be Persephone's Rocky moment! She'll have to prove herself without the help of Demeter or Hades! This is gonna be awesome!!" During the hiatus, I was VERY excited to see where the story was going, I still had so much hope and I figured the mishandling of the trial arc was just a bump in the road. The series was still good, it was just going through a rough patch, these things happen.

And then it came back and it all went downhill from there. There was a 10 year time skip with very little insight as to what happened. Minthe and Daphne were just suddenly back to normal. They were referencing some food shortage or terrible event that happened during Persephone's reign that they never explained in explicit detail. And now, all of a sudden, Persephone was just returning to the Underworld, where Kronos had suddenly taken over. I had cautious optimism but throughout it, I was really seeing the cracks that were already forming opening wide. A lot of what I had to say wasn't positive anymore, I literally couldn't understand what the reasoning was behind these writing decisions and I couldn't find myself rooting for Persephone anymore, everything just seemed to convenient and easy for her to make her seem like the "strong and confident" character the comic claimed her to be.

The S2 finale was my breaking point and I think it was for a lot of other people too. That was pretty much where my 'transformation' from passionate stan to passionate critic happened, and it happened alongside the creation of the UnpopularLoreOlympus subreddit which would become my new 'home' within the community. After seeing how much the story had gone downhill, it made me realize in hindsight just how awful and one-note Persephone is, how she really never cared about anyone but herself and Hades, how her mother did, actually, have a point about her being practically groomed into a relationship with a billionaire slave driver, how she was very intentionally drawn to look like a child in ways I couldn't believe I had never noticed before, the list of "awakenings" goes on. And it sucked! It sucked to have that realization that the thing I loved wasn't just imperfect, but incredibly problematic in its writing and art choices. And just like when I loved the comic, I couldn't just let go of it, I had to understand to some degree why this happened.

It happened because Persephone was always being written as a one-note, easy to project onto self-insert character. A Wattpad protagonist. Not an actual representation of the Goddess of Spring, but a blank slate for the creator and the fans to imagine themselves as purely for the power fantasy of hooking up with a rich and abusive guy.

That was when I made my first piece of LO art intended to be an 'edit' - a redraw of Persephone's rebirth as the Dread Queen from the S2 finale, an ode to the Persephone I was hoping to see but never got. The rest from there is history.

I know I'm being SUPER dramatic about it but this was literally how it felt to go through the realization that this comic - and its characters - wasn't as good as I thought it was, and I think that's a sentiment that's shared by a lot of the 'haters' in this community. LO was a big part of my life and even some of my friendships with people, so when it went downhill, it felt like such a hit to the gut. It's still a big part of my life, albeit in the opposite direction, but I still wonder sometimes over the "what ifs", what if the series hadn't turned out this way? What if I had never realized its flaws? Rekindled is basically a love letter to those what ifs, satisfying the feelings I never got to keep with LO, and giving me a reason to count down the hours on Saturday nights again. I'm glad it's made that same impact for others, too <3

[i-am-trying-my-best-okay]

Attempting To Analyze Luka And Till To Try And Figure Out How Round Seven Will Go

LUKA:

From what we've seen of him, while he knows how to manipulate people's emotions, doesn't quite know how to understand them and process them. We see this as far back from when he was a kid, when he and Hyuna's brother would get into fights, and he would use his frailty as an excuse to go running to Hyuna for her to defend him; it's an excuse to get her attention, to get her to side with him against her brother. This probably made him feel good, like she placed him above her brother, even if it was momentarily.

However, this strategy came crashing down when he went too far, when he killed her brother. Perhaps this was an accident, just him being too frustrated that day, him going to far, and he didn't realize it till too late. Even so, it was fine, he just needed to present himself as the victim to Hyuna like he usually did. What he didn't anticipate, was Hyuna's complete horror and rejection of him.

Now, we don't know when exactly Hyuna ran away and went rouge, but it couldn't have been right away; also, if we're going on what we saw that one time with Hyuna still having cuffs when she was an adult, then it wouldn't be till many years later. The aliens wouldn't have put Hyuna in a different group or anything; even if she did somehow try and plead a case that she was worried for her safety or something, they'd take one look at little prized Luka and be like 'nah he's harmless; that stunt with your brother was in self defense', basically not caring at all about Hyun Woo dying at all; he wasn't as profitable as Luka. It helps that Luka is so sickly; it helps with him getting out of any actual punishment on the rare occasion he slips up. And so, in the aftermath, Hyuna and Luka still had to interact with each other everyday for the remainder of their training in childhood.

Now, to backtrack, for Luka's backstory, this is more speculation than anything. But from what I can tell, he's always had a camera in his face, some sort of eyes on him looking for media entertainment. Even before he's been properly trained, we saw that small scene of him as a child with a bunch of aliens crowding him, eyes on him, and him just looking so tired from it. I'm assuming that he was either breed and born for being a singer, or he was clocked at a very early age. Either way, he started getting media attention from before he was even put into training with others. It's in this, that Luka formed his understanding of interactions; it's performative, doing whatever the aliens want out of him for their entertainment, he learns that he needs to do certain things in order to get a positive reaction out of the aliens. It's what he needs to do to survive, all he's been trained to do really. From this all he knows about socializing is how to get an emotional response out of someone, a completely hollowed understanding of how emotions work.

And then he was put into training with other humans, which is likely the first time he's actually put with other humans. He's ostracized; he's seen as sort of 'other', since he's leagues ahead of the other humans who've barely started properly learning and he's been trained for this since forever. Also, the other humans likely have been around other humans before, meanwhile we have Luka over here who as none of the common social ques that humans have. Basically; he's never been treated like an equal before, he only knows the dehumanization dynamic from aliens, who just want him to perform. But with his group, their not asking him to perform, so he essentially ignores them, thinking that's all an interaction is. That's when Hyuna comes in; she feels like the sort of person to see how Luka is put on the outside of the group for being strange, and doggedly tries to become friends with him, despite his initial disinterest. It's through this, that Luka forms an obsession with Hyuna, his first friend, the first living being that doesn't demand anything from him. He can relax around her, do weird shit like chew on his sleeve if he feels like it and she doesn't mind, doesn't have to mask a response. He actually has positive feelings himself when he's around Hyuna, something he's not really used to. But despite this, Luka still has a dysfunctional idea of how emotions are, and really likes Hyuna, so he wants to get a positive out of her, so he still tries to do things he knows will get that out of her, like that thing with her brother.

Now, back to Hyuna now being horrified of Luka, he really doesn't know what to do with this. He tries to fix it, do every trick he knows to get a positive response from her, try to get her forgiveness, but nothing was working, and he doesn't understand why, and he's getting increasingly and dangerously frustrated. Luka is not use to getting a negative response, and I think it's through this that he really learns what that's like. So, I think to ward off his frustration, he tests getting negative responses from his fellow humans, particularly his opponents. It's through this, that he finds out how useful that can be, a more secure way to survive. As the years go by, Luka gets all the better at manipulating others emotions, and it's through this that he understands why Hyuna still won't forgive him, despite his understanding of these emotions being very clinical. Because of this, he knows how to try and better manipulate Hyuna into forgiving him, so much so that it actually starts messing with Hyuna's head. She emotionally begins to be swayed into forgiving him, but rationally she doesn't want to, and it gives her a whole complex of what she knows what she wants to feel versus what Luka is manipulating her to feel. But she ends up running away from the aliens before Luka could completely manipulate her.

When she runs away, Luka falls into a spiraling depression. The one person he's ever loved is gone, the one person who made him feel anything. From this, he dives into his work, trying to glean any sort of joy from manipulating negative responses from his competitor's to make them mess up, turning it into a sort of game at this point. It becomes his only defense against the constant eyes on him from the aliens, the constant and disgustingly dehumanizing attention that has choked him ever since he could remember. Luka folds further and further into himself, burying whatever sliver of humanity he felt with Hyuna. However, he follows very closely the revolution movement that's happening, knowing for a fact Hyuna would join (or start?) the group. The aliens likely have covered up this revolution, especially from the humans so they won't get any ideas, but with Luka being Luka, he likely has the influence to get some insider information whenever he can, causally eavesdropping on important alien figures talking about it while he sings for them. Whatever the case, no matter how much time has passed, Hyuna haunts him just as much as he haunts Hyuna. And even after all this time, he still doesn't hold the proper remorse of murdering her brother or trying to manipulate her into forgiving him, just regretting the results.

TILL:

From what I can try to glean from Till's past, it's littered in violence from the aliens. I can see there being a sort of cycle with Till; he does something that his alien owners lightly punish him for, which puts him on the defense and gets violent, which in turn makes the alien's get violent and try to restrain, which makes Till get even more violent, and so on. The aliens viewed him as sort of this feral dog, completely untrainable, moving him from home to home, shelter to shelter. They try all their methods they have to make him 'submit', but each and every time he simply refuses.

I sort of have this theory that Till didn't start out as someone with an owner, or someone who was even regulated by an alien in a adoption facility or something; he used to live on the streets, completely unmanaged, which is very rare for humans. Maybe he even had other stray humans he hung around, or maybe he managed on his own. Either way, eventually he gets captured by the aliens, and maybe his fellow stray humans get captured and broken down or killed in this. The aliens try to integrate Till into their human pet system, but he's just not having it. He wasn't trained by aliens since birth to act a certain way, which would explain his intense resistance towards them. He sees the situation for what it is, how humans being put in such a degrading and dehumanizing dynamic is wrong, and it makes him angry to be expected to put up with it. It makes him especially angry that his fellow humans expect him to go along with this dehumanization, just to keep the waters calm. Because even the humans that have sort of realized that this is wrong, were still trained under this system, and has just accepted that they need to live with it, and Till won't. They all act like he's crazy, aliens and humans alike, but Till refuses to give in.

Whatever the case, Till proves to show constant resilience, something that probably was having him set up to be on track for being 'put down', having no worth as a 'pet'. Till knew this, but it just made him push even harder, fight back harder. We see in a few flashes of Till be experimented on with syringes; possibly in an effort to make him calmer. This was probably something that happened before and after he became a singer. Even then, physically and biologically abused, he refuses to go along with this system, to try and hold on to any sense of autonomy he has even as they try to restrain and degrade it. And all this fighting does take a toll on Till; we see it in the heavy bags under his eyes, but even so, he keeps going. You know, unironically, I think Till is the embodiment of the term "the indomitable human spirit"; he just absolutely refuses to be cowed for the sake of an easier survival.

I think what kept him from being 'put down' was when it was discovered he had a talent for singing. I don't know how this was discovered; maybe Till was just bored and entertaining himself with singing or strumming a guitar, or maybe they had him tested for a talent before the decided to kill him just in case he had any sort of monetary worth. Once they figured out he had a talent, he was shipped off to be the Anact Garden's problem.

Now, Till, at his core, is an extremely protective person; it's actually kind of insane. Once he decides something is 'his', he tightly holds onto and protects it with everything he has. We see this time and time again; deciding to be the sole protector of the flowers and encouraging them to grow, literally beating someone up if they stepped on them. Following Mizi around just in case she would need help, and one day she did, and she didn't hesitate to run into that cave and fight off whatever monster she had stumbled upon, literally just some child squaring up against some mutated beast (or possibly striking a deal with it? we didn't see the whole thing. either way whatever he did must have been a huge deal because it literally changed Ivan's life). He doesn't even care if Mizi loves Sua and that she'll never love him; he just wants her to be safe and happy. And in defending Ivan as well, cause he was a weird kid, and I know Till would go from snarling at Ivan to snarling at another kid who's making fun of Ivan. And that's why he fights so hard for his own rights and autonomy as well, because he's protective of his own sense of self, refusing to let go of it. His protective instincts are his main motivation for basically all of his actions, all of his supposed feral behavior.

It's probably this that trait that drew Ivan to Till in the first place; his and Till's first interaction was Till beating him up over some flowers. It kind of looked like Ivan felt alive for possibly the first time in his life during that fight. I bet afterwards, if Ivan were to question Till on it, Till wouldn't even understand the point of the question; like of course he would defend the flowers till his last dying breath? Duh? Don't be a dick? Ivan probably followed Till around all the time, but I imagine the reason Till didn't form as close a connection to Ivan was because Till sees Ivan as just another source of violence in his life he needs to fight against. It's why he probably developed such a crush on Mizi; Till is drawn to kindness more than anything, to softness. It's why he forms a connection to the flowers, to Mizi. He can't see the kindness in Ivan, not till it's too late.

It's probably those protective instincts that made him turn back when Ivan was trying to get him to run away; of course he wanted to run away. But then he thought of Mizi, left unprotected. And then he considered Ivan, who upon running away, would also be left unprotected out in the world. His need to protect was being torn at, and in the end, he chose Mizi, leaving Ivan to fend for himself. What he didn't expect, was to see that Ivan came back too. That's when Till truly stopped seeing Ivan; his guilt didn't allow him to. He feels like he abandoned him, thrown him aside what he feels he needs to protect, forced him to come back to the facility, and now Till can't look him in the eye.

Honestly, I think it's these protective instincts that serve in his break down after Mizi left. He feels like he failed in protecting her, and not only that, he feels like there's nothing left for him to protect. He'd already thrown away the idea of protecting himself when he was entered into this competition, only motivated to protect himself to get far enough to go against Mizi in the final round, in which he was going to throw the round so that she could live. He completely threw away any protective instinct for his own survival, having accepted that at the beginning of this competition, because those he loves will always come first, and he and Mizi both couldn't survive, so really it was a no brainer for him. But now Mizi is gone, and he doesn't know how to get that desire to protect himself back, can't find the motivation for it. And so, going up against Ivan, all of the years of constantly fighting are just coming to get him, and he's just so tired. With nothing left, he was just going to throw the match. And then Ivan comes up and starts kissing him, which catches Till completely off guard. But then Ivan starts choking him before Till could process what that meant, and this made a lot more sense to him. Ivan killing him on stage lines up with everything he thinks Ivan to be; just another source of violence, and he's going to let him. But then he realizes what's actually going on, and it all clicks into place for him; Ivan loved him. Ivan had a whole inner world Till never knew because he decided to look away. And Ivan was something Till still had left to protect, but now he was gone. And all he has left to protect is the sacrifice Ivan left behind; himself.

TOGETHER:

It's unlikely these two have ever really met before; they were in different age groups when they were being trained as kids, and given their extremely different vibes it's unlikely they'd be asked to perform together or even be asked for from the same clients. So this competition is likely the first time they've met. Having never really met, what they currently think of each other is Till thinking Luka "is a dick who messed with Mizi and kisses up to the audience", and Luka thinks of Till as "an idiot who will go unhinged at the drop of a hat and has no sense of his own self preservation".

Till finds the motivation to want to survive, for Ivan's sake. He wants to protect Ivan's cause for dying, almost like he wants to make up for not properly seeing him over the years, for tossing him aside and not protecting him. Bro's got a whole complex he'll work on for the rest of his life, but right now it's really motivating him to win, so at least there's that.

It would be really easy for Luka get a negative reaction out of Till; he's very reactive to things. But I think Luka will fail in getting the right kind of reactions out of Till. Typically, when he backs his competitors into a corner, they feel too much turmoil to properly sing. But that's the thing with Till; he's reactive. If Luka pushes him physiologically, his response won't be to shut down, it'll probably motivate him to sing even better, try to sing over Luka out of spite. So Luka's best bet is to try and provoke Till into violence, and it'll prove a challenge for Till who probably already hates this guy for giving Mizi a breakdown. I bet for the entire round Till will have to try so hard not to beat this guy up, to push all his aggressive energy into the performance, but it's so clear how much he just wants to murder this man, leaving the crowd and the guards on pins and needles.

Till's normal style of competing seems to be singing over his opponents, making sure they have absolutely no time to collect themselves. It's kind of funny, how both Till and Luka's strategy is just to make the other one look worse. But Luka has a lot of experience with making the crowd like him, so he throws tricks at Till he wouldn't be expecting, somehow blending the performances perfectly. But Till has never been one to stick to the script, so I can imagine him just playing a wildly different tune, trying to force Luka to change lanes again and again, seeing if he can keep up. In the end, this isn't a performance; it's a fight, a tug of war for the spotlight.

On another point, I wonder if Till will accidently remind Luka of Hyuna; she was obviously a rebel herself, given her whole thing of going to go join a revolution, so I wonder if at some point in the performance Luka will see a bit of Hyuna in Till, and it'll cause some faulter. It's kind of funny; Luka will on purpose psychologically torment Till with those that he lost, and Till will accidently psychologically torment Luka with the one that he lost.

Really, them competing with each other is sort of like a round of chicken, seeing who will crack first. But of course, all this could be for naught when we thrown in these two uncontrollable elements; Hyuna and Mizi. They're here, at the facility, and they're in trouble. This is something both of them will deeply care about, and it's unclear how it'll factor in. I wonder, if at some point during the performance the two of them will realize Hyuna and Mizi's situation, and give each other a look, like they're saying to each other "okay fuck you and all but we've got to help them", and then their battle turns into a weird sort of temporary alliance. Maybe they try to distract the aliens with their performance or start actually fighting. Maybe they do some sort of weird complicated dance move that's made to break the power and to make it easier for Hyuna and Mizi to get away. Maybe they just say 'fuck it' and run off the stage together, going to help the other two and have them all escape. Either way, I think the ending of their performance won't have anything to do with the two of them at all, but rather another. And I suppose it's fitting for the two of them, whose current sense of identity is tied so closely to other people, rather than themselves.