#so sorry this is incredibly abridged

[indirectcomedian]

(crow) tell me more about julia hart that fanarts got me curious

jullia harts whole arc as a character is so fun but i am tired and dont have the brain power rn so. very basic overview is that she went through a corruption arc and went from this

to this

and in becoming spooky and evil under the influence of the house of black she was the happiest she has ever been! she even had a championship run (until she got injured). she recently got cleared to come back so it is very hype!

[sparring-spirals]

1- generally on board with the concept of CR abridged. Needed, i think. fascinated to see what that looks like + what kinds of things they choose to cut or keep.

2- SO fucking funny to me that an "abridged" version of the episode is one hour. sorry. thats just hilarious to me. it IS abridged. from 4-5 hours. its still 1 hr long. incredible.

[prrtnrr]

((Putting in a new post bc i went crazy, so sorry for the info dump

character birthdates are released through the official art books for the persona games. Under the info for each character a characters Height, Weight, Zodiac (more on this later), Blood type (more on this later), and birthdate. I made this graphic to put all the persona users (plus nanako and her dad bc why not) onto a chart to share their bdays-

i got their bdays from the art books, theres some strange things i wanted to make note incase anyone else knows where to get the info bc i couldnt find it

Tatsuya Suou has a different birthday listed between p2IS and p2EP, i'm unsure on why, both birthdates still make him a leo tho.

p3 protags, p4 protag, and p5 protag do not have bdays nor blood types listed since theyre "silent protagonists", meaning the player is to project their own bday onto said protags

Aigis has multiple manufacturing and activation dates, i went with the month+year they were made.

Morgana, Teddie, Metis, Aigis, and Koromaru don't have much listed i assume its bc theyre not human.

This is the characters with official bdays organized by western zodiac signs, ppl use zodiac signs to test compatibility and personality types of ppl, similar to the myers briggs test?? thats the best example i can think of.

This is the characters with official blood types organized by blood types, in jpn theres a theory that blood types give a person a personality type and can be used for compatibility tests (like western zodiac but with blood). People with blood type A are seen to be highly organized, precise, and pay close attention to detail. People with blood type B are seen as easy going, honest, and bubbly. People with blood type AB are seen as a combo of both A and B and are generally "perceived as geniuses or psychos". Finally people with blood type O are seen as eccentric and seen as natural leaders. This is a very vague description of each type, I recommend doing your own research into it! its interesting!

Finally I organized each persona user under their birth year and birth month bc i think thats interesting.

I hope this helps! An amazing resource for any persona info is the SMT Fandom Wiki that's so well loved and constantly updated, if you need drawing ref or an abridged description of a character that is my go to resource. Another resource I love is The Cutting Room Floor, a website that catalogs cut content, debug info, and other general behind the scenes info. It has information for any game i've ever played, persona or not, like their Zelda game info pages are fucking incredible. If you have any interest in game design or how video games are made I cannot recommend this website enough, its so incredibly interesting! I know all this bc I got into the persona series in 2014/2015, idr the exact year but I was in school then, I've had almost a decade of time to absorb and collect info lol if anything i put down is incorrect pls lmk and ill fix it <3))

[utopians]

just curious why didn’t you like red white and royal blue !!! i haven’t watched it but i know someone who was literally raving about it so i’m curious to why you didn’t like it

oh god just a lot of things I fear... I'll try to make an itemized list of em

one of the lead actors could not act his way out of a wet paper bag. like genuinely one of the worst performances I've seen. the guy playing henry was fine but the guy playing alex was just incredibly bad and it was impossible to ignore

it was generally just. not a very good movie. like extremely twee and shallow writing. if this movie were exactly the same shot-for-shot but it featured a heterosexual couple it would be thoroughly and completely indistinguishable from any other hallmark channel drivel. I know people love to say "ohhh gay people also deserve stupid bad movies!!!" but I disagree. we should simply make good movies instead

a good amount of massively corny dialogue

the politics were just... deeply 2016. very bad. it absolutely epitomizes the whole miserable genre of liberal 'escapist fiction' that's completely focused on putting queer people or people of color in positions of power within an exploitative system instead of sparing a single thought about whether that system should exist in the first place

like sorry but writing a narrative about the british royal family where the uncritical happy ending is "adoring crowds affirm the beloved hereditary prince's place in the hereditary hierarchy" is just. come on man. come on

similarly just an absolutely uncritical and wholly positive take on the office of united states president. laughable

the whole scene where uma thurman asks alex if he's on truvada in that unbearable fake southern accent. uncanny. also texans don't sound like that

the pacing was bad, bad, baddddd. everything happened far too fast, probably as a symptom of trying to adapt a several hundred page long book into a two hour movie. it felt like I was watching some sort of abridged version of the movie for like the entire first half of the film

this is a small thing but the production value just seemed really bad. like it was serving youtube webseries. which isn't necessarily the worst thing in the world but combined with the acting and the writing it certainly didn't do the movie any favors

this is also more of a personal pet peeve and I recognize that but the score was obviously just pulled from a generic stock music library and I really hated it. it was just very obnoxious and on the nose. I get it's often unavoidable but I'm a big stock music score hater

[rukafais]

one day i will do a grand breakdown essay on Why Jarlaxle and Kimmuriel’s Relationship Makes Me Incredibly Unhinged With Citations but for now you get this abridged version. Spoilers for Lolth’s Warrior/last book in particular but also Generations and other Way of the Drow books a little bit. also this is STILL a long post i’m sorry I am VERY not normal about this

so last trilogy (generations) kimmuriel's all, man i wish i was an illithid. i like illithids. hive mind's great. love those guys.

   But here, in this place, nothing was measured in that manner. In this place, Kimmuriel Oblodra didn’t exist, other than to be a single colligation in the one being that was the whole of illithid society. Here in the hive mind, his fingers caressing the great pulsing brain, the edifice of connection and oneness, thoughts and memories became interchangeable and mingled.  Study in the hive mind was merely a matter of searching what had become your own expansive knowledge and memories rather than hearing or reading the words of a separate being. Kimmuriel often lamented that he should have been born an illithid. The hive mind knew this truth within the drow’s heart, of course, which explained why he was so welcomed here. One could not easily hide insincerity in this place. One could not easily hide anything from the illithids.

A large part of the individual that was Kimmuriel wanted to just stay here. Let Luskan and Bregan D’aerthe be the concerns of another. He could remain at the hive mind and caress knowledge itself, bask in pure thought, revel in memories as visceral as if he had walked those pathways in the lonely and singular drow form he had been forced to wear.

and then in THIS trilogy (way of the drow) kimmuriel has mentioned it's also going to be his afterlife as a way of rejecting the concept of a god-given one/escaping the clutches of Lolth, or any god, entirely

“The multiverse is a matter of divine numbers,” Kimmuriel said. “The particulars of the tyrant gods are merely noise—temporary noise in the ultimate eternity of it all. We are manifestations of pure and singular thought, grains of sand on an endless beach or drops of water in the endless ocean that splashes onto that beach. The hive mind is a conduit into that pure and singular thought. It is my destiny to directly merge, to become less speck and less droplet, and more a viewer of it all. You felt the power when we channeled it from the hive mind to obliterate Demogorgon those years ago. You felt it, the ecstasy.” this kind of description is also imo, implicitly has thematic connections to transcendence; kimmuriel is interested in it, he asks drizzt for his opinions as drizzt has gone through a similar process, he examines the memories of Kane’s own transcendence, etc. It’s not the same but it is similar. Transcendence is a process that is easy to initiate and hard to come back from because you essentially become one with the universe and it's so ecstatic and amazing that you have trouble remembering who you are as an individual, and if you lose that thread enough, you kinda cease to exist as like, yourself. You just get lost in the sauce, forever. but, some kind of strong emotion and focus can bring you back from it, if you go in with a purpose and you manage to maintain that purpose: 'ecstasy' is a key word here because kimmuriel uses it to describe what channeling the power of the hive mind/being tapped into that pure conduit is like, and vitally, to strengthen the connection, transcendence is also described this way:

“The body will not turn back and the mental and emotional discipline needed to deny that call of ecstasy is enormous. When you transcend, you will know such joy, unrelenting, even building as time, which becomes meaningless, passes, yet the time to find the needed discipline, the denial of pure desire, is short, and failure means that you will be forever removed from this existence. Afafrenfere just stared at him, jaw hanging open. “I know not how to put it more clearly or bluntly,” the ancient monk answered that blank stare. “You will not want to come back, and so you, as you are known and as you know yourself, will be no more.” So, i posted all that text, now i'm gonna get into the next bit Several books have established that Kimmuriel is lonely without psionic connection and the hivemind fills an unmet need in him.

 However, as a direct counterpoint to the hive mind and what it is capable of giving him (despite its love for him, and I do believe it’s reasonable to interpret this passage: Arguments came back at him from so many other corners of the hive mind, though. He was unique here, or nearly so. Only this synapse of the hive mind, this being named Kimmuriel, that existed in that drow reality in that world of Faerun, could bring in such expansive experiences and knowledge of that place. He would be limiting the hive mind and thus limiting himself if he lost the balance between recipient and source. as a kind of love, even if it is an ‘alien’ expression of it; Kimmuriel is worth more to them as an individual and not an illithid, even as an outsider, than he is joined and subsumed to them) we have...stuff like this:

Kimmuriel’s work here was done. He offered that thought to Pescatawav, and the Most Endeared excused him to go and tend to the more pressing problems he faced on his home plane, among his own inferior people. There was no sense of gratitude, no thoughts of hope that Kimmuriel would succeed. It just was. There were a few moments like this for Kimmuriel Oblodra, when he almost reconsidered his life’s journey, when he saw so plainly the difference between the sensibilities of the hive mind and those of Jarlaxle. His only friend. we also have jarlaxle getting kinda disassembled and put back together by the hive mind so his memories can be deconstructed and it's kind of funny but also Kimmuriel had been desperately worried about subjecting his dearest friend to the intrusions of the mind flayers. Perhaps he should have been more worried about subjecting the illithids to the sensibilities of Jarlaxle.

Jarlaxle is So Much that he’s kind of affected the hive mind. Good job buddy. But it means they now have that connective tissue: Kimmuriel cannot hide anything from the illithids including whatever strong feelings he has for Jarlaxle, and Jarlaxle is also very attached to Kimmuriel: “Kimmuriel is your second.” “He’s the other half of my first. In my part of Bregan D’aerthe, in my, shall we say, personal journeys, you are my partner.”

Like really attached: “Where will you go?” Jarlaxle pleaded when Kimmuriel didn’t answer. “ “You know,” the hulking possessed man replied audibly. “No,” Jarlaxle breathed. “I won’t let you!” Drizzt saw that Jarlaxle was fighting back tears. [...] “There is an emptiness . . . I will miss you, Kimmuriel,” Jarlaxle said, as quiet as Drizzt had ever heard the rogue.

Like, really really attached:

“I am lesser without you, my friend,” Jarlaxle told the image. “Both practically and in my heart.”

I could go on but I’m trying to make this short etc there’s like a fucking billion examples.

So. Kimmuriel is not content with just his mortal body on his own plane, which is a lonely existence, or just feeding his mind which is essentially what the hive mind does for him. He needs friends and people to like...make physical existence worthwhile to actually reach a pleasant equilibrium. His more passive suicidal tendencies actually sort of ebb after Generations, where he is considering mortality carefully but also is like "i'm not sure i actually want to die":

“So, he let you in there and he gave to you his memories of transcending the physical form.” “And now I understand better. But of course, there remain limitations on that understanding, because such an act may or may not be a permanent state of being.” “There’s only one way to find out the truth,” Drizzt admitted. “I am in no hurry to leave this life.”

So he's clearly found some sense of purpose to make being physical work for him , and again! A large part of that is Jarlaxle! He names other friends (especially Gromph) but a LARGE part of that is Jarlaxle.

And then he fucking dies of course I've shrieked enough about that lmao

and when he says goodbye he confirms that yes, he is going to his ideal afterlife, where Drizzt hopes he finds peace similar to transcendence:

“My time is ending,” the voice of Malagdorl repeated. “There is nothing to be done.” “Except to say farewell,” Drizzt said. “I will remember our talks on the road to the monastery, my friend. May you find oneness with the hive mind and peace in eternity.” “And you, warrior. Survive, I beg.”

joining the hive mind, a cluster of individuals swirling into a greater ‘being’ and is also referred to as ecstatic, is compared and contrasted to a process of becoming one with the universe that is hard to come back from as yourself because it feels That Good.

Got all that? Good. Because now we get to the epilogue of Lolth’s Warrior:

Jarlaxle left them, then, and went to his private room. He sat down before a table and pulled a cloth off the circular object resting in a tri-pronged stand atop it. He closed his eyes and reached out, hoping. A familiar image appeared in the ball a long while later, and Jarlaxle breathed a sigh of relief. “I am glad you are floating about this day,” Jarlaxle said. “You miss me.” This day, he heard in his mind, a most familiar voice. And perhaps again, now and then. Jarlaxle understood the unsaid part: Kimmuriel would not come to him at his beckon. Less so, came the thought in his mind. There is so much. So much. “And so much I still need from you.” You will be disappointed.

 [...] “I am lesser without you, my friend,” Jarlaxle told the image. “Both practically and in my heart.” It is the way of things. And that was it, and the spirit of Kimmuriel departed once more. Perhaps for the last time, Jarlaxle knew, though he desperately hoped that wouldn’t be the case. Here he is!  It’s not a summoning circle or a calling spell, it simply just seems to be that Jarlaxle reaches out and hopes that Kimmuriel will be around to answer him, and he does. Taking Jarlaxle's gay little sad thought calls, plural, because they have done this several times already, is worth it to Kimmuriel, enough to tear himself away from his ideal, implied to be VERY GOOD FEELING AFTERLIFE for.

Enough to maintain a sense of self and individuality because he speaks to Jarlaxle like he's the same person, just very distracted and its like WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO WITH ANY OF THIS. like fucking. Im not even getting into the implications that it's rooted in love, like, the hive mind’s love for kimmuriel as an individual and kimmuriel’s love for jarlaxle and jarlaxle’s love for kimmuriel?? subtextually? becuase jarlaxle is the only one who has consistently treated kimmuriel like a person

To trust Kimmuriel is to trust a creature we cannot begin to decipher. Why Jarlaxle elevated him to lead Bregan D’aerthe, I will never understand.” “Perhaps Jarlaxle believes that he understands Kimmuriel.” “Then Jarlaxle fools himself.”

they are noted by other characters to be extremely close to the point that they have a trust bond that is rare among menzo drow:

Now, though, I witness a much different structure within Bregan D’aerthe, and one very much more powerful. For Jarlaxle has given to his followers something truly special among the Lolth-serving drow: an element of trust. And he does so by example. Jarlaxle has entrusted Kimmuriel Oblodra with the very leadership of the band on those many occasions when he, Jarlaxle, is out on some adventure or other. He has even tasked Kimmuriel with reining in his own worst excesses—with keeping Jarlaxle himself in line!

(also see the other half of my first thing; when Jarlaxle says Zak is his partner Zaknafein immediately rebuts it with “Kimmuriel is your partner”) they go from standoffish and awkward to like calling each other friends and kimmuriel being Totally Fine with jarlaxle just touching him unprompted, a guy whose personal space bubble is Don’t Fucking Touch Me Asshole:

“I hesitate to take Azzudonna, this woman I barely know and know not at all as a friend, and you expect me to subject you to the intrusion of the hive mind?” “Why, Kimmuriel, did you just admit that you love me?” Jarlaxle teased, but the psionicist was having none of it. “Good,” said Jarlaxle, nodding to his drow companions. “Then I want you to cast it now on my dear friend here,” he explained, wrapping his arm about Kimmuriel. and then kimmuriel dies and this literally does not slow him down. and then he dies and, as the epilogue shows, comes back to jarlaxle anyway.

like it's not even thematically inappropriate is what fucking gets me, because kimmuriel has already established he is someone who essentially lives in two worlds and needs both to be happy and the conclusion is that he doesn't have to choose, he can have both, and that mirrors jarlaxle's defiance of having to give things up to be 'good' Jarlalxle doesn't have to abandon everything he was just so he can become Good and Palatable to a surface world that doesn't give a shit about him (drizzt did this only out of desperation, even; his flight and rejection and all of it, for him menzo is a home that he wanted so badly to belong to, it hurts to leave, but he knows he has to because he can’t bear it. that’s a different essay though). he can have all of it, as much as he can carry. he wants all of it. he hates to let go of it. that refusal to let go saves almost three thousand people from menzoberranzan. kimmuriel's refusal to be forced into a choice means he comes back to jarlaxle in some way and form, even with the deck stacked against him to make it incredibly fucking difficult to do so and again, kimmuriel has literally everything he has ever wanted in dying, everything he's ever aspired to, the One Truth he’s been reaching toward, and it is, apparently, still not enough.

In conclusion:

“Look at yourself!” Gromph scolded. “You care. Kimmuriel Oblodra— and how remarkable that any Oblodra or Odran cares! Have you gone soft, then? Have you abandoned your sole goal in life, to find the One Eternal Truth along with those tentacle waggling illithids?” Kimmuriel wanted to deny his words, to deny him, but his responses sounded without conviction. “Have you become enamored of the flesh, Kimmuriel?” Gromph asked more seriously. “Have you found within your emotionless mind a bit of love for that which we mere mortals covet?” idk man look at it its on the ceiling. i dont fucking know. i truly do not know. i am not going to be normal about this for the next five years.

Bonus:

When Kane is talking to Afa about transcendence and Afa’s reasons for transcendence (he wants to find his dead boyfriend again):

“Nothing in the multiverse is more powerful than love, my friend,” Kane said, and he smiled, and moved his hand. 

Like sure okay whatever. Sure. It sure is huh.

[filliteapot]

What are your thoughs about the Fruits Basket reboot anime overall? What things were good, what needed improvement?

The biggest problem I see here is that the last season was considerably compressed and abridged, many important things were cut out, and the development which was good in the original manga didn't get as much space and time it needed in reboot. I also didn't like the direction of some dramatic moments (too much unneeded drama in places where the manga was pretty chill), and disliked some changes made to modernize the story (they are like... useless?). The other problems like wacky moments in animation and lazy use of wide shots are unfortunately the reality of most animes nowadays, so I won't dwell on this. Also the fandom was at times so annoying and I've had enough of their bullshit as an administrator of fan community. Frankly speaking, not a single not-so-good-adapted scene in reboot made me as frustrated as people with their dislikes and opinions of high authority of how you must love Fruits Basket correctly so they just could not let new people just enjoy the show without their valuable comments. I guess I was the same lvl of annoying about the first adaptation so I feel sorry about this

Good things - it's a complete adaptation I've been waiting for so long. I'm a pretty hardcore fan of the original manga so I don't see it as a perfect adaptation, but reboot made the most important thing it could do for me - it made me look at my forever favourite story from another angle and realize things I never noticed in the original and made me love it even better. I don't know what to praise - I was pretty much content with everything until the cuts started, but as I said, it didn't ruin my impression. Many scenes that were never animated are so good in this reboot -- that's why the second season is my favourite. Seeing it all come to life and colours and voices was incredible. My personal joy is that reboot gave us many openings and endings, and all of them were great imo, I still listen to them often.

Also, we got 3 (three) artbooks with new Takaya's arts! We got new manga extras! We got new merch (Kureno merch can you believe that? such a shame I still didn't get anything with him)! We got plenty of people with good artstyles who loved the new version (and went to read the manga too) and made the beautiful fanart Furuba totally deserves! More people got to know this story even existed! Spreading Furuba knowledge is always a good thing imo.

Also we had that iconic historic meme moment when shounen lovers got offended that Furuba was #1 on MAL and started creating fake accounts to lower the raiting. It was hilarious. Shoujo wins, guys, so your struggle was pointless, but it amused me a lot.

[inadvisablebutinevitable]

hellooo how would you rank the aftg characters personally? like in order of favorite to least favorite?

bestie I actually wrote a whole thesis essay response before realizing how unhinged it is so here is the abridged version: (note this is all for the canon versions of these characters, fanon ratings would probably be different)

Neil Josten

David Wymack

Nicky Hemmick (I know I know but it will take me 1000000 years to explain all my Nicky thoughts)

Kevin Day

Matt Boyd

Andrew Minyard (WHY IS HE THIS LOW?? Guys I don’t know I do love him I promise I would do anything for him)

Allison Reynolds

Jean Moreau (once again should be higher I love him I do)

Danielle Wilds (her and Allison could also swap places and I’d still be like “yeah that’s right” bc I love them both)

Catalina Alvarez (my fave tsc character besides Jean she means everything to me you don’t understand)

Jeremy Knox (I love him I do I just know nothing abt him)

Renee Walker (it physically hurts me to put her this low I love her so much I would die for her)

Laila Dermott

Aaron Minyard (don’t come at me pls I like him and I love fanon Aaron I just wasn’t Aaron’s number one fan in canon but I still have so much love and respect for him I swear)

Seth Gordon

I don’t really hate any of these characters I swear (except Riko he’s ranked so low he didn’t deserve a spot on the list) ((he’s a compelling villain tho)) (((Tetsuji is ranked like -100000000 I will never forgive Tetsuji ever)))

if you really want my never ending thoughts here they are under the cut:

warning for a long ass post I’m so sorry because sometimes even I can’t focus enough to read my own long posts

I have spent so long staring at this ask and trying to figure out how I can pit my children against each other but here is my best try: (this is in order of how much I enjoyed their characters personally when I was reading. The list would prob be different if I was ranking them as people and not as characters):

Neil Josten. It’s always gonna be Neil I’m sorry. Recency bias means that I’m currently thinking (and posting) abt Jean 24/7 but Neil Josten will always take the cake for me in ways I can’t even articulate. His dry humour and narrative choices always have me in stitches. He’s got so much trauma but he doesn’t want to do anything about it but push it down until he meets people he cares about and they found family him into actually healing. He cares so deeply and loves in such a subtle but incredibly strong way. I don’t know how to even express this without saying that the reason I can’t put aftg down every time I pick it up is because of Neil. He tells the story in a way that makes me want to know everything about literally every scene. It’s all Nora ofc but the personality between the lines is how I define “Neil” and I will never not love it. You’ve got me going and now I’m not gonna stop. I can’t even apologize for the length bc I will never apologize for yapping about Neil Josten I say that shit with my FULL CHEST

David Wymack. Do I even have to explain myself here? Those are his fucking KIDS and he would do ANYTHING for them while being a SASSY LITTLE SHIT about it the whole time plus he’s a DILF I would kill and die for him.

Nicky Hemmick don't shoot me pls LOOK do I think what he did to Neil in Edens was at all ok? Absolutely not. When I first read tfc I was HARDCORE hating on Nicky and then trk and tkm made him one of my favourite characters. I don’t think he’s perfect but I love the way he loves. It isn’t hard for him, none of the monsters had to prove themselves to Nicky, or even try to be a decent friend for Nicky to automatically decide that these were his people and that he cares about them. When we meet him Aaron is a homophobic dick to him and Andrew literally pulls a knife on him and yet we immediately find out that he willingly dropped everything and moved an ocean away from his home and his boyfriend to raise them both in the US and not ONCE does he act like he seriously regrets it. Me? I would be holding that shit over their heads every time they act disrespectful but for Nicky loving them despite the shit they put him through is not even a question. It’s not even just the twins too. That one scene where Neil asks “are we? Friends?” And Nicky is SO SHOCKED that Neil didn’t know and goes “oh kiddo of course!!” is my Roman Empire. Plus he’s hilarious obviously.

Kevin Day guys I love him ok, the first two books he compelled me but TKM he POPPED OFF. “I’ve never been skiiing” BANGER “I’m gonna be the deadliest piece on the board” GOOSEBUMPS, “My father comes to all my games” HAD ME IN TEARS. Don’t even get me STARTED on that sexy ass racquet hand switch at championships I’m going to combust. I love that he’s literally obsessed with exy and has the most complicated relationships with the mc’s of every book and yet steals the show every time. Kevin Day I love you.

Matt Boyd. I love him because he would love me for putting Neil first and kill me for not putting Dan before him. He loves his girlfriend and his homies and his sport and cars in that order. He’s a golden retriever who saw a team full of scary-ass wolves and still tries to be friends with them. He wasn’t a part of the “clique” that Neil was in but he did not let that affect his perception or love for Neil in any way. He’s been to hell and came out with just as much love in his heart as he did when he came in. He told Neil that he didn’t know if Andrew would be good for him but then he saw that Andrew fought Kevin for him and decided that he approved bc all that mattered to him was that Neil had someone who would defend him the way Matt would. Then he immediately becomes the #1 wingman right before the shower scene bc he would rather die than cockblock his homie. I love him so much

Andrew Minyard. Like Nicky, I was absolutely a HATER in book one and then he became one of my faves. I like that he’s brave and determined, standing despite everything when the world tried to put him down, but not without his flaws. I really appreciate that Andrew isn’t perfect, he struggles, he’s violent when it’s necessary and sometimes when it’s not. I love how he was always willing to protect Neil, despite everything in him telling him that Neil couldn’t be trusted. He’s a flawed man, but at his core, a good one.

Allison Reynolds is that girl. She reminds me of Andrew (both of them would kill me for saying that) because she takes no shit and gives no fucks. She’s who 16 year old me wanted to be when I grew up. She goes through every emotion in these books and comes out full of righteous anger and uses that to kick the raven’s ASSES and I’m so here for that

Jean Moreau. It’s weird to me that he’s so low because I love him he’s my special boy. I thought that he was interesting in TRK but Riko was a more compelling villain to me. Then ofc we learn that he was never meant to be the villain and he was ranked just below Kevin for me because I just wanted him to be happy. Then tsc happened and he became my hyper fixation. He has a VERY similar sense of humor as Neil except for Neil his jokes were directed at abnormal behaviour, and for Jean he just gets so appalled at the most normal things. I digress about his humor I love Jean and if u want to know why just read literally any of my posts

Danielle Wilds is my GIRL. Her story compels me so much and I really wish we got more backstory for her (obvs we got plenty considering the cast of characters is so huge but still… I want more). She loves her team so much despite everything and she works so hard to keep them together I wanna give her a hug and a kiss. (That scene in TKM right after Andrew breaks Riko’s arm Dan was the FIRST one to find Neil and she was so concerned about him she cares about him so much STOP they’re FAMILY I LOVE THEM)

Catalina Alvarez was my favourite character in tsc (aside from Jean) because I love her so much. @theresalwaysafiresomewhere said that cat reminds her of me and it was still to this day the best compliment I’ve ever received. I cannot name a single thing abt cat I don’t like so I’m just gonna keep going.

Jeremy Knox is only this low bc I still know nothing about this man. Reading his pov and seeing him thru Jean’s eyes was helpful in securing him a spot in my list of faves tho, I want to know everything about him please Nora please

Renee Walker also should not be this low it physically hurts me to put her here but like most other characters in this half of the list, she didn’t compel me as much until tkm. Just a personal thing I guess. I do love her though and I wish she got more time with Jean. It still bothers me that she loved Jean but was the bigger person about it and knew that they weren’t at the right place in their lives, and yet we don’t get to see how making this decision affects her. I think she deserves to be loved more. I hope she gets a happy ending the same way Jean does.

Laila Dermott I love her I just don’t really know enough abt her

Aaron Minyard I like him I promise I do he’s got some of the best one-liners! He killed drake did all that in college with an gf and all the power to him but really I think that fanon aaron just appealed to me way more. Canon Aaron just annoyed me because— gunshots actually you know what maybe it’s once again because unreliable narrator Neil hated him and Neil’s my fave so I had to be a hater too 😔

Seth. I know some fans love him and I respect that but I just… idk I don’t see the appeal. Fanon Seth is great tho I’m a fan.

Canon Thea is somewhere on this list near Laila again bc I love her but I don’t know enough about her to be like “yeah she’s my fave”. The version of Thea I created in my head based on the crumbs the books and the ec gave us, on the other hand… she’d probably be somewhere up there with Kevin

[swearyshera]

Advance apology for the long ask in a likely sea of 'em. A lot of people talk about wishing they could experience something they love again for the first time, this series was genuinely as close to that as I've ever felt. Just given the span of time my attention flucuated on and off but once the latter half of s4/s5 began my attention was absolutely nailed to your feed. Its up with Dragon Ball Z Abridged as parody series that become so dramatically effective they become a valid or definitive way to experience the series. Goddamned sensational.

Your portrayals of the characters soar. They provide a hilarious, cruder take on each that still cuts right to the soul of who these people are and lays it bare, which I think is the mission of any good-natured parody. Adora, Catra, Glimmer, Scorpia, Bow, Prime etc. There is not one that does not shine. It tackled a ton of issues and misgivings I had about canon, and even elevated or clarified many scenes and arcs through addressing them a more direct fashion. You took full advantage of not having to dress up and dance around the dark subjects canon was sort of doomed to handle inadequately given its age bracket and thematic priorities. Many scenes were jawdropping. Ive raved about it before, but your scene with Glimmer actually talking about her mom with Catra still leaves me gobsmacked every time I reread it. Your big moments towards the finale btwn Adora and Catra are obviously sublime and tie their wonderful arc off fantastically, but in my heart of hearts that cell talk will be the crown jewel of this project. Loved seeing the LGBT message take center stage in way canon had to hold back. To paraphrase Tolkien, I'm can't count myself among those gifted people, and youve def got a target audience in mind, but if youve ever worried if your stories resonate on a quote unquote "more universal" level, I promise you can put those worries to bed. Since becoming an adult ive intentionally sought out more and more queer-inclusive/created stories and I havent regretted it a bit, and the rising tide of fascist sexist/homo/transphobic bile in politics gets more and more frightening. But I've also seen how strong and resilient LGBT people are in the face of it, empowering themselves in no small part thru stories like yours. Please don't ever give up on your art. The world needs artists like you. Sorry if I come off pretentious or condescending, I feel like that when I try to get everything I think out at once. I'll be among the first to come running if you ever start another project like this or make something on an even grander scale. Thank you a thousand times for this. Also writing a wholeass sitcom pilot based on an offhand quasi-joke I made is the most weirdly touching thing I think anyones ever done "for me" (at least nominally cuz of me), especially a stranger. So thank you for that too.

Aw, you'll make me cry, you know! I think you've understood everything I wanted to do with this strip (or at least, when I started thinking beyond just 'characters saying fuck'), and... yeah, it's been an incredible journey, both for the blog and for me personally.

I've always tried to keep the parody good-natured. You can often tell, particularly in parody, when the creator dislikes one particular character (I mean, Horde Prime was probably the exception here), but I love all of them, so it really comes from a place of love. It's quite odd because I never set out to "fix" the show, and I wouldn't want to, but some things I've done seem to have had such an impact that a lot of people think I have done just that.

The Glimmer/Catra conversation is absolutely one of my favourite things I've written from this. It's such a pivotal moment in both their stories and character development, and I am truly humbled that multiple people have called it 'better than canon'. Like... I'm just some person trying to be funny and occasionally serious, and people are saying something I wrote is better than what a team of experienced professional writers did? Give over, no... But it's still a moment I can be proud of.

I won't be stopping writing things. This whole blog has given me a new lease of life and something to aim towards. I've got an excellent pilot script pretty much finished, and I do want to bring Hellspawn up to that standard too (thank you for suggesting someone make a Sweary Frosta sitcom - I'm someone!). That may well involve a complete re-write, but I'll be sure to share it.

Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for your kind words along the way. It really keeps me going :)

[jasper-pagan-witch]

For the AMA: What cartoons/shows did you enjoy as a child? Who were your favorite characters, and what archetypes do they represent?

Ooo, I like this question very much. I enjoyed many cartoons and shows as a kid, but of course my mind is blanking on them now that I'm actually answering this question. Of course, the vast majority of my favorite characters were from video games instead of cartoons, but...

Some of my favorites growing up were definitely Toph Beifong from Avatar: The Last Airbender (who frankly needs no introduction), Scorm from LEGO Legends of Chima (my insane little scorpion guy, I love him so much, he's so fucking stupid and needs anger management classes), Arcee from Transformers Prime (I stan women who are allowed to be badass), and...you know what, I'm gonna count Dragon Ball Z, I liked Vegeta a whole lot.

Toph is the incredibly powerful character with a severe drawback - you know, being blind and all. As someone who wears glasses and whose vision is only getting worse, I adore the fact that her disability didn't disappear or was magically cured.

Scorm is the archetype of the flat, 2D villain who does evil for evil's sake, because the Chima show was...pretty meh with writing when Scorm finally came around. But I love him very much regardless, to the point where I'm writing an entire fanfic series about him having his debastardization arc.

Arcee is the archetype of a female character who's had to become more stern and serious around her male coworkers (the rest of the Autobots), which admittedly isn't the best trope, but Little Jasper adored her growing up because I live in rural Missouri, where misogyny is still alive and well (unfortunately).

And Vegeta is...Vegeta. You need to understand, Little Jasper only had season 2 (part of the Namek arc) and season 4 (part of the Android arc) of the Dragon Ball Z Abridged series and only found out other information by looking up fanfiction and fan wikis on their 3DS. Little Jasper was grasping at STRAWS for information. But Vegeta is a major dick and Little Jasper found that to be very inspiring.

Thank you so much for sending this in! Sorry it took me a hot minute to get to it!

~Jasper

[icantrecallaskysoclear]

hi there, I've been looking everywhere too for the Tale of Two Cities musical with James Barbour. Have you happened to find a copy yet? Id do anything to watch it! Thank you

Ashley P.

Hi Ashley! I've yet to find a full copy of the James Barbour show. It's SO SAD!! I'm sorry I can't help you out. I too would love to get my hands on a copy of this incredible show ❤️ I do have a copy of the PBS Concert edition, which is pretty good even though it's abridged. DM me if you're interested in that 😁

[foileadeux]

I’m very new to this page, but two things.

1. I am absolutely in love with your gjinkas. They’re all beautifully designed and your art style is incredible. Grimm has become a personal favorite. His energy is immaculate.

2. What’s your AU about, if you don’t mind explaining? Feel free to give an abridged version. I’m the kind of person who loves learning about other peoples’ AUs because I love seeing what the community comes up with lol.

ahhh thank you so much!! im sorry that grimm is your favourite because i havent the foggiest what to do with him most of the time HAHA but he's fun and check my pinned for a lil rundown of the au!! riiight below the links to my socials

[lefresne]

hello, your blog is really nice and you seem like you know a lot of things, so i want to ask, i really like arthurian legends and knights in general but reading the original books and poems is a little too hard for me (i can't keep up even if i really like the theme and story) do you know of any book that speaks about these things in a simpler way? like in a simpler vocabulary i think, or maybe some books where they explain all the lore without me having to have read the original stories, sorry for the english

Hello, thank you for your kind words <3 ! This is tricky, I would probably first redirect you to Tumblr user Gringolet's wonderful intro to arthuriana master post - it is very thorough and includes some shorter texts in translation to get you started! However, I do have a few favourites I like to plug: A lot of people recommend the Keith Baines Malory (abridged and modernised) but I haven't read it so personally I usually recommend the Oxford World Classics edition by Helen Cooper. It is also modernised and abridged, but honestly, if I were to trust anyone with abridging Malory in a thoughtful way I would trust Cooper! If you would like to read shorter narratives, I highly recommend the William Kibler translations of Chrétien De Troyes - incredibly fun and readable and really captures the humour of the original Old French, and comes with some useful notes and a glossary of terms which is great!!

Peter Ackroyd has also retold Malory which you might find useful. I have not read it but I quite like his retelling of the Canterbury Tales - I am also however a dedicated hater of his Chaucer biography, so make of that what you want. I also recommend the Rosemary Sutcliff's retelling! it is a children's book but don't let that put you off! I've spoken in the past on here about how much I respect good children's literature and this is good. It is mostly playful in tone but addresses the darker themes of the legend in a way that is compelling to readers of all ages in my opinion. John Steinbeck's retelling is also absolutely wonderful (I love his retelling of Yvain's exile in particular -Yvain trying to come to terms with his fucked up family is something all retellings could include more of ) but very sadly unfinished. I think of Steinbeck's guinevere and her dark brows often.

I also highly recommend the myths and legends podcast (I believe you can stream it on Spotify etc)! I loved their Morgan podcasts and the SGATGK podcasts! they were incredibly thoroughly researched and kinda blended various traditions together in a really interesting way! if you find reading the texts tedious this is a really fun way to get to know the 'canon'!

before I leave you with these I'm going to also let you in on a secret: there is nothing wrong with skipping parts you find boring if you are reading these texts for fun. One of my professors once confessed to me that they had not re-read Malory's book of Tristan since their undergrad and skipped it when they re-read, and they are an eminent arthurian scholar! make those texts your own, my friend!

[mauriceclivealec]

Hi, sorry to bother you, but do you have any information on the audiobook version of Maurice read by James Wilby? I can find scant evidence of it on used book selling websites, and even my university libraries (which is surprisingly thorough as you can usually find what you need through at least the interlibrary loan system) does not seem to be aware of its existence, though it has both the Peter Firth and Ben Winshaw versions listed. I read on someone's blog that it was abridged but I don't mind. I would really appreciate any and all info you have! Tangentially, I wanted to say as someone who only recently got into Maurice (I'm afraid I wasn't even born until over a decade later after the film came out...) that seeing how your blog spans back to 2011 yet hasn't been deleted after all these years is incredible. I see it too often that old fandoms become graveyards of broken links and dead blogs, and while I respect people's autonomy to delete whatever etc it always feels like I arrived too late and the library of alexandria has been destroyed... Exaggerating a little, but I think your blog as an archive is incredibly valuable (and same goes for any tumblr blog, really). So, thank you. Even if you can't help with my question!

Thanks for the compliment! Glad you can enjoy it. I unfortunately have no info on the audiobook but perhaps a follower will. If someone can hook us up I'll post it here for all to enjoy.

[worldofesdh]

I suppose I need to introduce my concept at least nominally. So I'll attempt to explain what's going on with a brief, super summarized timeline of the world leading up to things as they are now.

In the beginning, dragons ruled and dominated one side of the planet. They had developed as a culture and took over the largest landmass on their planet. They had explored and evaluated the other landmass, and while there were some interesting plants and animals, cultivating them in special facilities on the larger continent was completely reasonable and so they never took over the smaller landmass, deemed to be used for scientific purposes if it was ever needed, but otherwise left alone for use as a nature preserve. The dragons developed such a mastery of magic and technology that many began to ascend to a spirit form, free to roam immaterial plains. Those that remained approached magic as could be identified by some as "sorcery." Bending the world to their whims with wild, chaotic magic, that served their incredible intent and mental fortitude. Of them, some built ships and began to explore the vast cosmos others still began to search for meaning in life and intellectual fulfillment.

All this time, many other societies and civilizations existed in the cosmos. Among those, the ancient elves, had mastered the use of druidic magics to develop and cultivate plant life capable of surviving in any environment. They developed trees that fed on comets and asteroids using the radiation of the nearby suns to fuel their growth. These trees produced what the masters of the druidic craft would use to explore the stars. These massive ship building trees would, once a century, put off seeds designed to travel along solar winds, which were usually captured by elves to prevent them from landing at important bases. One of these seeds slipped through, however and unfortunately landed on the planet of the dragons. At this time, it was only draconic scientists left, who had created a race of sentient primates designated as primate base stock, which were placed on the continent formerly used as a nature preserve. The humans saw many animals on the continent and eventually tribes formed, each respecting a different animal and seeking to emulate characteristics they derived based on what they saw of the animal.

These tribes respected each other, and would gather annually at a sacred place within the densest jungle. The dense jungle was considered a sacred place to these people and they would have a coming of age celebration for all the people of the tribes. During this celebration, it was common for newly of age members of the tribe to choose a new tribe they felt more attuned to. They were always welcomed with open arms.

One year, this celebration did not take place due to ongoing conflict among the humans. That was the year a star fell from the sky and struck the center of the continent, just on the edge of the thick jungle. That star contained an Elven seed, which would eventually grow into what the people called a worldtree. All conflict among the humans stopped upon seeing the star fall and preparations for celebration were made. Sorry guys, I'm running out of stamina on the first post WHICH NOBODY WILL SEE and so I am going to take a break. Part 2 of the abridged history of this world will come in a later post

[jacquelinemerritt]

Dragon Ball Z: Abridged Episode 38 Review

Originally posted February 19th, 2016

Sometimes character driven storytelling can be pretty messy.

“Dr. Gero, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Androids” is, in my opinion, a great example of character-driven storytelling at its finest, as well as at its messiest. The episode begins with Dr. Gero having successfully escaped by attacking Bulma, Baby Trunks, and Yajirobe, and this escape fractures our protagonists.

Vegeta is pissed at Trunks after his revelation last episode that Android 19 and Gero were not the droids they were looking for, Bulma and Yajirobe want to leave the battle, and Gohan wants to check up on his father, leaving only Piccolo, Krillin, and Tenshinhan to chase after Gero. Trunks and Vegeta do eventually rejoin the Bald Trio at the lab, but it’s at the last moment, and only after we’ve seen Trunks plead desperately for his father to stop trying to fight and be berated in turn.

It’s a mess of an episode, if you’re looking purely at how difficult it is to progress from plot point to plot point, but it works because each character’s actions are based on motivations that have already been established. Vegeta is egotistical, sadistic, and unforgiving of failure, so as much as we might want for Trunks to convince him with reason that he should hold off on trying to fight the androids, it’s much more satisfying to see Trunks try and fail miserably (this in turn makes clear Trunks’ love for his father, as he’s doing everything in his power to save his life).

Gohan’s love for his father is similarly a valid reason for him to temporarily check out of the story with Bulma and Yajirobe, even though fighting the androids would most likely be easier with him present. Finally, Piccolo, Krillin, and Tien have all been established as fairly heroic, and so, with Krillin in particular, it makes sense that they would all chase after Gero: regardless of the danger, it’s the right thing to do.

This may not be the most efficient method of storytelling, but ultimately, even when it’s a tad slow, it’s all the more satisfying, as we get to see the relationships between these characters pay off in very big ways (and in this episode, Trunks and Vegeta’s relationship is the one with the best payoff).

Now, once our heroes find Gero’s lab, the episode shifts its focus completely to establishing our new antagonists, Android 17 and Android 18. This scene allows the episode to lessen its scope, and its storytelling becomes all the more effective for it, establishing Android 17 as a sly manipulator who can outmaneuver even the “genius” Dr. Gero.

This also provides an incredibly effective payoff to how underpowered Gero and Android 19 were, as these new androids, which Trunks confirms are the real threat, are able to take out Dr. Gero with three quick hits, where it took Vegeta ten to take out Android 19. They may look like the Grand Central Station of disappointment, but they’re clearly more powerful than anything our heroes have had to take on yet.

Rating: 4/5

If you enjoyed this review, consider supporting me on Patreon.

Stray Observations

Vegeta: “Love each other? Making a lot of assumptions here.”

Vegeta to Trunks: “I’m sorry, but I don’t listen to bastards.”

Bulma: “Oh my god, I solicited my son for sex.”

Trunks: “We both know I’m your son.” Vegeta: “Are you as disappointed as I am?”

Krillin Owned: We’re at thirty, thanks to Krillin having a one in 540,000 chance of running into Dr. Gero, and then running into Dr. Gero.

Android 17: “It’s just, every time you talked, all I heard was ‘Kill me, kill me, kill me.’ Think it’s gone now though.” Later: “Sorry Doc, just following orders.”

[silhouetteofacedar]

Pearl, Ch. 4: Sea Legs on 7th

Previous Chapter - AO3 - MSR, rated E

It’s only a ten minute walk from the bureau to the courthouse, but Mulder is starting to regret not insisting they drive.

Scully’s having a rough day, if her sallow face and pursed lips are any indication. She’s uncomfortably quiet.

“You alright?” Mulder asks, hovering over her as they walk.

“M’fine,” she answers, because that’s all she ever says. “Just queasy today.”

“Let me know if you need to sit down for a minute,” he says, and she bristles.

“We have an appointment to make, Mulder,” she reminds him. “We’re almost there anyway.”

Mulder’s stomach is unsteady too; not from chemotherapy, but from nerves. They’re applying for their marriage license today.

It’s happening, it’s all happening, and all he can do is shorten his steps to match Scully’s pace as they walk. She senses this and starts walking faster in response. Scully has an incredible talent for pushing Mulder away in the smallest ways possible, telegraphing with her body that she doesn’t need his help or his pity or his accommodation.

And yet they’re heading to the DC Marriage Bureau. Funny, that.

Scully’s face is clammy by the time they enter the Moultrie Courthouse.

“Hey,” Mulder says softly, drawing her aside, “Scully, you don’t look too good.”

“Thanks,” she says stiffly, digging around in her purse and pressing a tissue to her lips.

“I mean… I-I think you should go home. We can do this another time.”

She shakes her head carefully, taking a deep breath. “We’d have to walk back to the office either way, Mulder. I’ll be fine. Do you have any gum or a mint, by the way? Something I can suck on. It… it helps with the nausea sometimes.”

Mulder rummages through his jacket pocket. “Just sunflower seeds,” he admits, “And… a nickel.”

Scully holds out a hand, and he places a few seeds into her palm.

“Thank you,” she says tightly, placing the seeds in her mouth.

In sickness and in health, Mulder thinks, giving her shoulder a squeeze. Her body feels rigid beneath his hand.

They file their license request without incident or fanfare, and Scully’s stride is clipped as they head back to the office.

Halfway up 7th Street, she stops walking abruptly and steadies herself with a hand against the rough brick of a building.

“Don’t ask me if I’m fine,” she whispers before he can say anything. “Just give me a moment.”

She takes a few slow, deep breaths. “Okay,” she says huskily.

“Shall we walk? If you need to lean on me, you can,” Mulder says gently.

“Despite how I feel right now, the world isn’t actually tilting sideways,” she replies. “I can walk on my own.”

He feels like a kicked puppy trailing after her, but dammit, she’s sick and being stubborn and his heart is turning to pulp beneath her low-heeled pumps and their names are next to each other on a piece of paper a quarter mile behind.

And Dana Scully, doctor and scientist and meticulous planner, manages make it all the way into the little basement bathroom before being sick.

Sometimes Mulder waits outside the restroom for her, to hand her a cup of water and make sure she’s alright; but today she’s spiky and tense and radiating that she doesn’t want him near. So he waits in their office, loitering by the filing cabinet, flicking through folders and pretending not to worry about her.

She walks into the room a few minutes later, and Mulder takes one look at her face before dropping the act.

“Scully,” he sighs. “Please. Go home.”

She looks up at him with watery eyes. “It’s just the chemo,” she rasps.

“Dana,” Mulder says, crossing the room and clasping her shoulders. “You need to rest. I can manage alone for the afternoon, I promise. You finished your report, our license application is in, things are stable.” He changes tack, infusing his words with forced levity. “Go sleep it off, have some tea, watch shitty TV. Play hooky for me, okay?”

She’s silent, then he feels her deflate under his palms. “Fine, I’ll go,” she says hoarsely. She clears her throat. “But I’m going make arrangements with an officiant when I get home, because-”

She abandons her sentence, and Mulder drops his hands to his sides. Because time is ticking, he thinks. He can read it on her wan, pinched face.

“I’ll stop in at a jewelry store on my way home, get us some rings,” he offers, wandering behind his desk and nudging his chair awkwardly with a knee.

Scully ducks her chin in an abridged nod. “I doubt we’ll have much need to wear them outside the ceremony, so they don’t have to be anything special. Plain bands are fine.”

Mulder nods. “I’m on it. What’s, uh, what's your ring size?”

She looks up at him, blinking. “I- I don’t know,” she admits. “I’ve never had occasion to find out.”

Mulder purses his lips in thought before leaning down and opening one of his desk draws. He digs through a clutter of office supplies before finding a ball of string. “C’mere,” he says, beckoning her over. “Give me your hand.”

She holds her left hand out, and he loops the end of the string around her ring finger, pinching the cord where it overlaps.

“Do me a favor and cut it right there,” he says.

She grabs a pair of scissors out of the pencil cup on the desk and snips the string, leaving him with a short piece the circumference of her finger.

“Good enough?” he asks.

“It’ll have to do,” she replies.

Mulder hadn’t put ‘shopping for wedding bands’ on his bingo card for 1997, and he’s admittedly out of his depth. The guy behind the counter at the little jewelry store on Prince Street in Alexandria isn’t helping his confidence.

“You want a wedding band?” he says, sizing Mulder up with a once-over. His eyes pause on Mulder’s tie for an uncomfortable two seconds too long, and his nostril flare with what could be disgust.

“Yeah, uh, one for me and one for my partner- fiancé,” Mulder stumbles, correcting himself unnecessarily. “Nothing flashy.”

Picking out his own ring is as easy as pointing at a plain gold band and slipping it on his finger. It fits well enough, and the jeweler packs it away into a tiny box.

Mulder feels somewhat ridiculous handing a jeweler a tiny piece of string and saying ‘this is how big my fiancé’s finger is’. The look the man gives him doesn’t ease the feeling.

“I can’t guarantee correct sizing with this,” the jeweler cautions, gingerly holding the string between two pinched fingers as though it’s a live, writhing worm.

Mulder shrugs. “I’m, uh, sorry, but that’s all I have to go on.”

The jeweler huffily wraps the string around a ring-sizing mandrel, and Mulder thinks he catches the man rolling his eyes. What a dick.

“Alright, so according to this highly sophisticated piece of string, she’s a size six,” the jeweler says flatly. “That’s the average size we carry for women. We can resize most ring styles for you later if it’s the wrong fit.”

“Right, thanks,” Mulder mumbles, scanning the glass case for a suitable ring.

His eyes wander over to slightly higher-end territory, and he immediately sees It.

It’s a simple ring, a thin gold band with a single pearl bracketed by a trio of tiny diamonds on each side.

He has a sudden vision of Scully tucking her hair behind one ear, wearing those delicate pearl stud earrings he secretly loves, and he feels a slosh behind his kneecaps at the image.

Fuck it. She deserves something pretty.

“I��d like that one,” Mulder says, pointing to the pearl ring in the case.

“That’s a promise ring,” the jeweler informs him. “A bit subdued for an engagement.”

“We’re a subdued couple,” Mulder replies, pulling out his wallet.

We.

Scully gave him no budget; and besides, this was his gift for her. That’s how tradition goes, right? Man buys woman ring. And from the sour look on the jeweler’s face, this ring isn’t even that expensive.

The man snaps the little velvet ring box shut and puts it into a crisp bag with the other box. “Will that be all?” he drones.

Mulder holds out his debit card. “I’ve done enough damage for one day.”