#so writing him with the personality from around the anime era is so... weird

[polarisbibliotheque]

Nemesis (Vergil x Reader) - Chapter 6

Nemesis

Pairing: Vergil x Reader

Summary: The Abyss opening is a rare occurrence. In his youth, Vergil wanted to harness its power, but never thought he would meet his greatest adversary along the way. Years later, the Abyss is once again open and that might call for some rather unlikely alliances.

Chapter 1 (Prologue) | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 (you are here!)

Age restriction: 18+ - there’s a lot of blood, violence, cursing and all those things people want to forbid younger audiences of seeing. Also, cosmic horror is a thing here. Procceed with caution.

TRIGGER WARNINGS: This chapter STARTS with a dream where the reader sees themselves hurt - same going for Vergil. There's blood, broken hearts, difficult feelings, self-doubt and talks about giving up. Proceed with a lot of caution if that's difficult for you.

Special Credits: Our dear Ovid is a character created by @furyeclipse and, even when they don't show up, I'm crediting and thanking forever ^^

You can check out Fury’s writing (which I highly recommend) on this link: Fury’s Ao3

Author's Notes: Yes, it took forever, but hey, we're back! (Yes, I've a mix of Backstreet Boy's Everybody and Eminem's Without Me playing rent free in my head) This chapter is a little shorter than normal BUT we're meeting the devil in the red coat, DMC 1 style ;)

It's just so good to be writing again. I'm so sorry for taking huge times off, but I'll always update as soon as I can! Thank you so much to everyone who spends time here reading, I appreciate each and every one of you!

And special thanks to the anon who sent the ask worried about me, you motivated me enough for this chapter to happen. You have my deepest gratitude <3

Chapter 6

“I can’t mend it.”

Your hands rested on your lap, your shoulders defeated. The shards of your crystal broken heart laid on the floor, covered in blood. Your eyes were surrounded with a rim of red, so tired of crying, as well as your body – so tired of fighting.

You were done. Done. One day, you would fall on battle and you wouldn’t be able to get up. Your knees would fail, your legs would tremble, and the tears in your eyes would finally be shed.

All that strength… All that will, all that power… It came from something inside you that didn’t allow you to give up. But you had to admit, that was running out.

It doesn’t matter if you can mend it or not. You thought as you observed yourself, unable to help, unable to speak, unable to make them see. The only thing you could do was to look at yourself, deep inside, as if it was the first time.

And it probably was.

It doesn’t matter if your heart heals. It doesn’t matter if it’s broken. You have to get up. You have to keep moving forward.

“I can’t… Put it back…” That’s when your bony hands moved to your naked chest – empty, dark, with a never-ending abyss that could swallow you whole. Your fingers trembled around the corners of the wound, revealing an infinity of nothingness. “I… I’m tired.”

Your red eyes finally met yours – but they didn’t recognize you. They just looked forward, up, somewhere, searching… Maybe for hope, maybe for a way out.

As you saw lonely tears dripping from your tired eyes, you knew what that look was.

Hopelessness.

That dreadful void in your chest pulling you down, into oblivion, into a pit of tar that would make you crawl, fight and lose the battle, with your body finally choosing to shut down after wasting energy without a goal. Without hope.

“We are better than that.”

You furrowed your brows, as your tired form didn’t move. But that voice… You haven’t heard it in years: since the last opening of the Abyss, it was gone. Almost as if a distant nightmare, from so many lives ago.

The blue coated devil, that arrogant demon that managed to draw your blood as you did the same to him. As the years went by, he just… Vanished. You never heard of him again. When you had a suspicion of an Abyss opening, he wasn’t there. When the energy of the Abyss was felt once again, he wasn’t there.

And as the years went by, you started to fear. Was your nemesis… Gone? What if that really happened? Did you have anything else pushing you forward?

You had the Abyss, yes. You had your researches, your deal with Ovid. But apart from that, what did you really have? Losing your archenemy would be a great loss – even greater if it wasn’t by your hands.

“We are not… This.” As his voice echoed again, your defeated form looked forward once more, finding his form.

But he was so different. If you, as an observer, could, you would have gasped out loud. He was kneeling on the ground, without his clothes, skinny and bony, pale skin glistening in the dark void like the faint moonlight – you could even see his dark veins underneath it, so glaring on his face. His eyes carried a bloody anger you had never seen before – worse than when you fought: those were the eyes of a broken pride.

His bony hands were tied behind his back, wrapped in chains, just like his feet. A heavy set of iron clasped around his neck, with chains fading in the dark. His body was covered in scars, some open and bleeding, some old and closed. His lips had a tinge of purple, as if frozen, and his heart… Shattered near his knees, him being unable to pick it up, even if he wanted to.

“We are broken… Again.” You whispered back, your eyes lacking any kind of feeling. All the anger stored in his contrasted with the void in yours. “There will come a day we will not be able to get up again. Our bodies… Will give out.”

“As long as our spirit does not...” His voice was as stark as always, but, for the first time, you heard it wavering. “It does not matter if our bodies do.”

“For me, it does.” You had a faint melancholic smile on your wine-red lips – getting darker and darker as you gave out. “I’m only human.”

His eyes stared back at you, those silvery pieces of ice, burning like the last circle of Hell. Your form didn’t close your eyes, but you did. You wanted to get out of there. You wanted to breathe. You wanted it all to be gone. You wanted peace of mind.

“That is what makes you so different.”

*

You opened your eyes in a jolt, heart beating as the thunderous rain outside. You were back in your room at the Hospital, sitting on your bed, tucked in your warm emerald-green covers, during a peaceful night. You were safe, you were warm, and you were alright – and he was nowhere to be seen.

Furrowing your brows and taking one of your hands to your heart, you started breathing a little more calmly, trying to ground back into reality.

Since the day you two defeated the Hell Puppeteer, you kept having nightmares like that: seeing yourself, watching your feeble hands try – and constantly fail – mending your heart. It was the first time you hinted at giving up, though.

And you wouldn’t lie: you could feel it in your bones, in the stretch of your skin, in the weight of your flesh… You were tired. For so long, you had been fighting and avoiding any kind of help, any kind of relationships, any kind of support. You only had Margie and the Hospital staff – but even then, you wouldn’t allow too much closeness.

There was something missing inside of you. A piece of your heart, your own soul, that needed to be filled. You could try to keep going as much as you wanted, but you knew… Somewhere in the road, your knees would falter and you’d need someone to lean on.

But there was no one. As always, you were alone.

With a deep sigh, you wrapped yourself around your blankets and closed your eyes once more – maybe the warmness of the bed could keep those feelings at bay… At least for the moment.

As you drifted into sleep, right in the lands between, almost awake but with a step in the land of dreams, you could swear you heard a whisper in the wind.

As long as our spirit does not, it does not matter if our bodies give out.

**

“I’m telling you, he won’t be that difficult to find!” Lady’s voice had a little fun in it as you just rolled your eyes in response.

“He better be nice. If he isn’t, I’m leaving all the work to him.” You had one of your hands in your pocket, standing inside a phone booth, looking out the street during that foggy night. “Honestly, if I didn’t owe you, there would be no job to get me out of bed in a night like this.”

“Well, that serves as a lesson to both of you.” She laughed back as you only sighed in a lack of hope. You would never borrow money from Lady again – that woman was ruthless. “Besides, I’m also workin’ tonight, if that makes you feel better.”

“Yeah, I bet you chose the better job.” Of course, you had to complain.

“Of course I did.” And the way she almost sang the answer back to you made you sure she was winking back. “Ok, remember: white hair, blue eyes, red clothes, black boots, red long coat. There’s no way you’re not gonna recognize him.”

“Yeah, man likes his red, I’ll give him that…” You shook your head, already hearing Lady messing with her guns on the other side of the line. “When this job is done, we’re square, right?”

“Yeah! I’ll keep my word on that! Are you doubting me?”

“No, just checking if we’re on the same page.” You smiled a little. “Have a good hunt tonight, Lady.”

“You too, y/n! Talk to ya later!”

With a deep breath, you hanged up the phone. Stepping outside the phone booth, you kept both of your hands in your black long coat’s pockets, waiting for Lady’s friend to appear.

You had met Lady during a routine job. Both of you were good with motorcycles and, after getting into some trouble with some bikers who tried to know more than both of you in a bar, you and Lady easily kicked their sorry asses. You shared a drink, talked a little bit and, after finding out you were both demon hunters, sometimes you invited each other for some jobs that required more than one hunter.

It was nice, knowing someone like you. Lady had a troubled past as well, and neither of you entered into many details about that. You kept your distance, as much as you wanted to connect – maybe it would be better not getting too attached to people, especially with the kind of job you had.

“Well, well, what is such a fine beauty doing alone here tonight?”

You didn’t even look back at the man who talked to you. He was tall and dark, with some kind of devilish handsomeness to him – but he would not fool you: that scent, it was the scent of a demon.

After some time, you had learned to pick it up – but you could only feel it on the especially foul ones. Those were tricky and dangerous, even for you.

“Nothing that concerns you.” With those words, you finally looked back at him. His dark brunette hair dripped around his face like water, his enchanting eyes doing its best to lure you in; but there was something off with his slippery smile. “Hit the road.”

“It might be dangerous for someone like you to be outside in the dark.” He wasn’t fazed by your sharp words, offering his hand in return. “There’s a club nearby. Come, I’ll buy you a drink.”

“You may have heard them the first time.” Another voice cut the man’s words in half. He turned around and you looked over the man’s shoulders – finding a tall figure standing behind him, quite relaxed, but with a sharp set of sky-blue eyes underneath his silver hair. “Hit the road.”

You allowed a small smile to cover your lips. Red clothes, black boots, red coat. Indeed, you couldn’t mistake Lady’s friend with anyone else in this world.

The man tried to win a stare contest, but he soon averted the gaze of Lady’s friend. Mumbling something you couldn’t quite understand, he kept walking down the street, faster than you imagined he would. After a few seconds, you looked back at the man standing in front of you – sporting a smart smile on his playful lips.

“You’re Lady’s friend, right?” You finally asked and he nodded in return.

“You’re deep in debt with her too, huh?”

“I wouldn’t say deep in debt. It was a one-time thing.” You pointed out, picking up a big black case on the ground by your side and walking alongside him. You noticed he carried a guitar case on his back, which made you giggle to yourself. “How about you?”

“I’m pretty doomed. The woman has no mercy.”

“If she ever gets tired of being a hunter, she could easily become a loan shark.” Your remark made him laugh a bit – not too loud: you didn’t want to make the man who talked to you earlier realize you were following him.

After all, you had to know where that club was.

“Well, she certainly has the talent to do so.” He glanced back at you, slowly taking in your appearance. Human, yes, but cold. Almost like someone he knew. “I’m Dante.”

“I’m y/n.” You didn’t seem to realize he was watching, though. “She briefed you on this, right?”

“Yeah. People go missin’ after a mysterious man picks them up on the streets, probably offering them something.” Dante sighed as if he had heard it a thousand times. “They always seem like happy couples, until the people go missin’, never to be seen again.”

“Yeah. I think you helped me dodge a bullet with that one.” You discretely pointed at the man walking in the distance, who seemed to be looking for something… Hunting.

“Always glad to be of help.” He joked back, adjusting the guitar case he carried on his back. “Did you bring your work stuff?”

“Yes. Right here.” You raised the case you carried, showing him the careful silver embroidery. You had learned that with Margie and, as she got older, she enjoyed embroidering your clothing as she rested on her chair. “I guess we stole each other’s ideas.”

“Huh, guess we did.” Dante glanced quickly at his guitar case. “What’s yours, though? I’ve never seen anything like that.”

“It’s a cello case. They’re sturdy and can carry a good number of things.” You smiled back, seeing as he raised his brows. “I don’t play cello, though. Can you play the guitar?”

“Eh…” Dante shrugged, dismissing your question. You didn’t know if it was because he didn’t know how to play it or if he didn’t believe he could play well.

He did know a thing or two, though. When he was younger, Dante would sit with an old guitar with some broken strings and try to play the songs he heard on his favorite records. He would never say he knew how to play the guitar, because he never learned it properly – but he did know enough to have his fun. And that was enough for him.

“Hey, look.” He nodded towards the man in front of you, turning your attention back to the mission at hand.

The man talked to another man on the street – a young guy who looked like he had been stood up by his date around a bar. The man offered him his coat, which the guy accepted with a dazzled smile – demons could be quite alluring, especially to unsuspecting humans.

The man offered his hand – and the guy took it. They entangled their arms and started walking on the street, talking as if they were a long-wedded couple. You and Dante just exchanged looks and followed them without a word: sewing through streets and dark alleys, your steps took you to a set of dimly lit stairs on another pathway, leading to a door with a small pink neon sign above it.

The Devil’s Den.

“Huh, who would’ve known. Demons got sense of humor.” Dante mumbled back to you, making you muffle a giggle while the man and his doomed date exchanged a few words at the door and were allowed into The Devil’s Den.

“So… What do you think? A strip club?”

“Well, they should’ve known the Love Planet is the best place in town.” Dante took a deep breath, looking back at you. “Ready to get to work?”

“Always.” Your words were sharp and certain, a little cold even. Dante furrowed his brows, as he recognized something inside you he thought he had lost forever.

Keeping those thoughts for some other time, Dante put one of his arms around your shoulders and both of you went down the stairs in the shady alley, towards the doors of The Devil’s Den.

Three knocks, followed by two fast ones. You heard the man doing that and it worked: the doors opened, but another man stood before you – ready to get rid of any inconveniences in the club.

“I have never seen your faces before. Are you new…?”

“We’re here to play tonight.” Dante kept his serious expression, but held the man’s gaze with no issue. Once again, it was a stare contest the other one was doomed to fail from the start: Dante apparently had an ungodly way of breaking demons with just one look.

Like someone else you met, a long, long time ago.

“Hmmm…” The man looked at both of your instrument cases, apparently somewhat convinced. “Who hired you?”

“John. You can ask him if you want to, but he is going to be furious if his main act tonight gets delayed by security.” You added with a slight nonchalant tone, but the threat cutting like a sharp blade.

The man seemed to shiver right away. Stepping aside, he showed you the way inside the club.

“Apologies. Welcome to The Devil’s Den.”

“Thank you.” You had a convinced smile on your lips and the posture of a royal as you walked in, still protected by Dante’s arm.

“Who’s John…?” Dante finally asked as you were far enough for the man not to hear you.

“I have no idea. I just threw a common name in and just went with it.” You mumbled back, making him laugh for the first time that night.

“Now that was a good one!” He pulled you closer, though: that place reeked of demons and, if he was right, you were one of the very few humans in there that night. “I’m definitely gonna steal that!”

“Be my guest.” You hummed a laugh in return, scanning the club.

Indeed, when the fight began… It was going to be showtime.

**

To be continued...

[the-s1lly-corner]

creepypastas of your choice being new parents (reader can be included or not, or the reader can BE the kid. either works)

Eyeless Jack, Slenderman, and Jeff as dads/dad figures

getting silly with it. last request in the inbox, might write some other stuff later today for myself but idk we'll see, admins feeling a little sleepy RAAAAAAH no real mentions of reader i think, just the characters being dads but there might be vague mentions of partners so you can imply that is reader. shrugs. i tend to write these notes before actually writing the post this was originally going to have laughing jack but then i got bummed out when i realized that jack would not make a good solo parent simply because hes too chaotic accidentally swapped from saying "the kid" to "you" midway through writing this but im too tired to fix it so uhuh im making it everyone elses problem/j

SLENDERMAN:

by default i think slenderman can be an okay dad and im purely basing this on the fact that i grew up on the 2010s era of the fandom where quotev quizzes and fics for the fandom were peak. i think in the beginning he would be a little lost, especially if hes going to be raising the kid alone. i mean hes a solitary creature that rarely connects with others, he knows knowing about raising a human child. and thats assuming the kid is even human. if he has a kid with a human reader, are they more human or more... creature..? are they a hybrid? how much of slendermans genetics carry over? can he even have children since admin personally thinks he was made by zalgo like all other demons in this timeline? many questions. protective and strict dad, makes sure the kid does their work and chores, but makes sure he doesnt raise a pushover... definitely hostile towards anyone who harasses the kid, be it bullying or generally just being a douchebag. i think if hes the sole parent he raises them in the woods and teaches them things himself. doesnt bother with putting the child through schooling, theyre a child of the woods now babey!!/hj

look at it this way the kid is really self sufficient and can survive in the wilderness for an extended period of time and they know how to kick butt, assuming they also grow up with his proxies. yeah.. thats going to be interesting... would they see them as uncles or as sibling or family friends? its anyones guess. bonus father figures!!

EYELESS JACK:

also does not know what hes doing. i think i wrote somewhere that jack would put the baby in a carrier and walk around with them in the woods. maybe even showing them different animals and plants even if he knows that the kid cant understand him. definitely a case where hes going to need someone else to help him, be it his partner if theyre still around, or someone else... naturally its going to be harder to find someone to help him if his partner is out of the picture for one reason or another. main reason because that jack is... oh you know, literal man eating demon who sometimes goes into blind feeding frenzies if he gets hungry enough + he tries to put off feeding for as long as possible because it literally means taking a life and he still has his humanity in there. not going to say it out right but i think you guys can put two and two together and understand why jack is wary about having a small child hanging around his cabin. also he wants the kid to be able to grow up around other people. its unlikely, since the other person is likely going to be another creepypasta character because any normal person would rat him out... but he might also want the kid to have a 'normal' upbringing. lots of feelings here for him. kind of like a tired dad, between juggling the child and the things going on with him is really going to do a number on him. giggling at the idea of him trying to get slender to help him esp since i hc they have weird territorial beef going on

JEFF THE KILLER:

actually has a decent grasp of how to treat them but thats because he had liu/was an older brother. the dynamic is less father child and more so older brother younger sibling. probably lets you have a fair amount of free reign; he doesnt really strike me as a strict guardian. probably forgets to pick you up from soccer practice/j ....actually wait no i can kind of see him actually doing that on accident. tries to make it up to you by giving you treats because he does kind of feel bad for leaving you behind. you remind him a lot of his brother. im still torn on whether or not liu is still alive in my silly au but imagine hes not and he kind of. tries to raise you good and treat you well to make up for everything that happened. jeff with some level of mental clarity after the height of everything hits me in a weird sad way i can quite describe. like dont get me wrong hes still the knife wielding dude hes usually written as, but hes a little.. just a tiny bit mellowed out. just a tad.. side note i fully blame the idea of jeff being remorseful over murdering liu from a fic that had a chokehold on me in middle school so oooo... you probably know/interact with ben through jeff since theyre good friends. jumping into my personal hc/au jeff carries ben around in a phone since bens usually confined to electronics and they grew up together. obviously jeff outgrows ben because. you know ghosts dont grow up. so imagine you start becoming best friends with ben and ben is just. SPILLING so much old stuff on jeff, mostly dumb stuff jeff did and him being a jackass. idk i just think thats funny. its like when you suddenly get dad lore but instead of getting it from your dad you get it from dads ghost best friend

[ctwinsduo]

hey hi hey! do you perhaps have cniki/ceret/cwilbur hcs? any of them r fine and if you dont thats okay bye!!!

I don't have much c!niki knowledge I'm afraid however I will give what little hcs I have (also credit to my buddy @cinn-namon for half of these Eret HCs, if you want more feel free to mug him /hj)

Wilbur

- Prone to singing or humming whenever given the chance, when there's an audience he puts So Much Effort into it but he'll do it when he's alone aswell - Her first instinct in most situations is to laugh, she doesn't mean to but it just sorta slips out regardless of the circumstances - By far my wildest Wilbur hc: Wilbur is a nature spirit- my basis for this is mostly Greek mythology. In Greek mythology it's common for the children of gods and immortals to be some sort of nymph or dryad (basically a nature spirit) and the concept of nature spirits is a really vast one that can range from "pretty lady found in Trees" (Dryad) or "Unidentified mystical energy" for my HCs I tend to use more of the ladder. So Wilbur is a physical manifestation of the wilds, basically a shapeshifter but add a connection to the world itself. In theory he has no "true" form but the form he took when he was born was just a straight up fox (later learned how to shift into a more humanoid form as he grew) - More thoughts on nature spirit Wilbur ahead: how she appears and how well she can hold her form is entirely dependent on her current state, because of this she changed a lot between L'manburg and Pogtopia :3 When she first came to the SMP she looked almost entirely human, save for a few "off" traits (strange eyes, fangs, slightly pointed ears, ect.) but when Pogtopia hit she changed rather suddenly, becoming more like Fundy in appearance. Ghostbur was just a straight up spectral fox, and post revival Wilbur always has a few fox-like traits showing that she can't seem to get rid of - All of their mannerisms are slightly off- they don't quite emote "right". When they're fully human they come off as oddly animalistic, when they're more animal-like they're weirdly human. They tried to play themselves off as at least Mostly human for awhile but gave up pretty quickly - Has no fucking clue what his species is because of the samsung smart fridge nonsense- honestly he just assumes that he was Born Weird. When asked he's always weirdly cryptic about it - God awful cook, y'know those posts about people fucking up their food in unbelievable ways? That's Wilbur. Do not let her into the kitchen she will burn water - Disaster bi, seemingly most attracted to people who are either actively against her or have done shitty things to her in the past and she Cannot be normal about it (See: all of the shit said about Schlatt, Eret, Quackity, the list goes on) - Touchy but only when they're in a good mood. L'manburg era they'd always be putting an an arm around someone's shoulder or ruffling people's hair, small acts of physical affection, but any other time they've actively shied away from touch unless it's initiated by them. This is mostly because they're easily overstimulated by touch (despite being incredibly touch starved post revival)

Eret

- Wither hybrid, they can shift to hide some of their wither parts. When they were apart of L'manburg they also played themselves off as human - Loves to bake and stress bakes when especially stressed out- I like to think her and Niki would often bake together - Looking directly into his eyes activates a person's flight or fight response, which is why so many people have gotten Jumpscared by his eyes in the past - Probably has one of the best fashion senses in the entire SMP and yet only really dresses up whenever someone is coming over (90% of the time she just lounges about in comfy clothes, we love a comfy queen) - His memory is absolutely god awful so he's prone to writing things down or- more often- taking photos. A lot of the pictures from early L'manburg were taken by him - The L'manburg uniforms were made with Tommy and Eret's combined efforts (Wilbur supervised and occasionally stabbed himself trying to help <3) - Sews all of their own clothes, they'd love to sew for someone else but they haven't gotten the chance to outside of the uniforms (if they did they'd probably make an entire wardrobe though) - She's the one that taught Tommy to sew :3

Niki

- Catgirl c!niki supremacy - She likes churus (the cat treat) and will eat them like gogurt - Being as close to Wilbur as she was she's absolutely heard way too much about all of Wilbur's awful crushes on their enemies (she can never look at Eret the same way again) - She has autistic girl swagger idk what it is but she just does. Has the most unsettling stare known to man (by complete accident) - Despite being a cat hybrid she enjoys playing around in local bodies of water, big fan of stomping around in rivers

[sureokyeahwhatever]

i finished vampire the masquerade bloodlines after chipping away at it for a couple weeks after work. Those first 2/3rds of the game are a genuine masterpiece, but man, that last third gets really, really weird and racist.

The thing is, is that I actually have very little to say about that first 2/3rds. It's just good. The design is great, it's well balanced, it's open ended, it has great characters. It's wonderful. This part of the game feels like a real, worthy successor to Deux Ex. There's just nothing more to say, I think.

...

And that's why I almost have a hard time believing it's written by the same people as the last bit. The whole game up to that point (up to just before chinatown) is pretty darn smartly written with some relatively cogent social commentary. The quality of the missions also takes a really, really steep dive in that section too (lots of run and gun hallways, lots of extremely buggy areas, shitty boss fights, etc. But that's honestly understandable because balancing the endgame of an ImSim is practically impossible). Idk, it feels like a totally different game. I could almost just forgive all of that though, if it weren't for the ungodly and seemingly genuine racism with regards to the east Asian vampires.

Like. Ok. If we're being VERY charitable and we just flatly forgive all of the misguided-though-not-malintentioned 2000s era attempts at humor-via-stereotype (dialogue options referencing "tentacles" directed at a young japanese woman; old chinese guys who are always loud and drunk; jingoistic WWII-surviving japanese soldier; Chinese businessman speaking in riddles and mentioning the I-Ching; so on and so on) the whole handling of the "chinese vampire" storyline is psychotically racist.

You first hear of these guys -- the Kuei-Jin, which I learn from the wiki is a portmanteau of the Mandarin word for ghost and a the Japanese word for person, which... ok. -- as being basically like animals. They slaughter who ever they see, lots of people in the bourgeois faction see them as a nuisance, the people in the anarchist faction see them as "invaders from the east," which already had me like "Jesus fucking Christ, maybe these anarchist guys aren't cool after all". But anyway, you go to Chinatown to talk to them and -- by my estimation -- they were basically the same as everyone else. They're protective of their territory, they're secretive, they're paranoid of outsiders... I mean, yeah, they're fucking vampires and apparently all the other vampires see them as sub-human, so yeah, I'd be paranoid and secretive around me too.

The thing is, is that you have this anarchist friend who you tell everything to -- Jack -- and I wanted to go tell him "hey, I don't think these guys are so bad. Maybe we misjudged them" or something like that. And there was a dialogue option along the lines of that, but when I said it, his response was something to the effect of "don't let them sweet talk you with their 'spiritual path' bullshit. That stuff ain't for /us/". Which, I heard and again, said "ah! Interesting writing decision! We're learning that Jack ALSO has flaws like everyone else! he's not just some perfectly cool, levelheaded badass -- he has unjustified prejudices just like everyone else!" So I continued the story under the assumption that, yes, while the surface level of the whole "Chinese vampire" thing was being handled in a really immature, racist way, and in-universe all the other factions seemed to see them as exactly that -- racist stereotypes of conniving, backstabbing Chinese mafia goons -- this was all setting up an interesting "let's all learn to put our cultural differences aside and defeat those rich assholes who want to rule LA"-style ending. This would not be the case.

There was a moment towards the end that I THOUGHT confirmed my suspicion. You are told by the leader of the bourgeois faction to convince the anarchist faction to ally with them so they can, together, take down the Kuei-Jin. Around this time you also are intercepted by the leader of the Kuei-Jin who straight up warns you "hey, that bourgeois guy set me up. He's about to set you up too. Be careful. I hope we can be friends in the future." So I get this information and go straight to the anarchist faction with the intention to say "Ok, bourgeois guys are obviously doing a power play. Now's the time to join with the Kuei-Jin and take them out. We'll settle our petty differences later." (Side note, yes, I understand they were recently at war, but war happens in these situations. The best way to prevent another war is actively making peace. Not by just constantly threatening to go BACK to war). But no such option was available. Instead, all the options were different variations on "Let's join with the bourgeois faction and kill those Chinese guys!" What? But I don't want to kill those guys! And I don't really trust either of these other factions either because the anarchists are racists and the bourgeois guys are, well, bourgeois guys.

So eventually the "ending-tron 3000" comes up in the form of a conversation with a taxi driver which, as far as ending-trons go, is pretty cute. If you decide to ally with the Kuei-Jin two things happen: one, everyone hates you because it's completely impossible to convince anyone that they are anything other than parasites, and two, they kill you in a cutscene and you die in the ocean, which, all things considered, is probably the worst possible way this whole story line could have been handled. There was an opportunity here to have an exceptionally interesting moment where you bring people together to fight in solidarity against those who seek to concentrate their power over the city and all it's inhabitants. There could have been an ending where you work together with the Kuei-Jin and the anarchists to get rid of the bourgeois faction, render the "anarchist" faction system redundant, and allow LA vampires to establish their own federated society where people can live where and how they please without the iron fist of some Ivory tower pretty boys telling everyone how to live their lives. You could establish a system of vampire democracy across LA, with all the benefits and negatives that it brings. Would LA then be crushed under the heel of the bourgeois faction coming in from other cities? Or would it be able to stand the test of time and serve as an example for other cities to rise up and do the same? There's some interesting stuff here, both politically and for individual characters as perhaps you have to work extra hard to get Jack and the rest of the anarchists to believe that the Kuei-Jin are, despite superficial differences, just vampires like they are and that they all share common interests.

Instead, the game goes hard in the other direction. It calls you an idiot for trusting those eastern invaders and basically says "you should have listened to everyone else when they were mumbling under their breath about how you can't trust those Kuei-Jin as far as you can throw them". i.e., you were an idiot for not being racist enough. Like, I can understand the general theme of "trust no one", since it permeates through the whole game, but to literally introduce a faction of "conniving foreigners" who everyone hates, and then to have that hate be perfectly justified just feels boring, hateful, and honestly like a waste of a third of what was otherwise a great, great game.

Anyway. The game is good. Great, even! It's really hard to make an ImSim, so even though the last third has some rough (ROUGH) design flaws and bugs, I'm happy to look past that. However, it's really easy to not just put Chinese people in your game and make them evil stereotypes that everyone rightfully hates, so that's harder to look past.

I would say the ideal way to experience the game is to marathon the first chapter up to downtown, play less and less frequently from downtown up until the end of hollywood or so, and gradually lose interest around the time that you're asked to go to Chinatown. I think if you did that, you'd end up remembering the game very fondly.

[autisticzenitsu]

i want to clear the air, so this is the last you'll ever hear from me. i don't hate zenitsu because he's autistic-coded; far from it, actually. i just think he (and most others in the demon slayer cast tbph) is a poorly written character. in fact, if he's truly meant to be autistic representation, then then it makes the way he's treated and handled in the story that much worse to me. his meltdowns and otherwise dysregulated behavior are used largely for the sake of a punchline and -with the exception of tanjiro and maybe inosuke- the people around him either see him as a joke or are otherwise baffled by his existence, which is also used for comedy and not to make him feel like a sympathetic character. he's the butt of many a joke and that's about it, save for the few moments that buck that trend and make him more sympathetic. and while every character in demon slayer is about as deep as a 14 year old's self-insert sonic oc, zenitsu hasn't really shown much personal growth since his introduction, something he himself explicitly acknowledges in season 4. as a fellow autistic who to an extent also struggles with emotional regulation, i found his character personally insulting sometimes, so i think he's bad representation. if you love him, that's great and i love that for you, but he doesn't do it for me. to further clarify, i've only seen the anime and don't have any interest in the manga or light novels, and since that's going to be representative of most people's experience with this story, it bears mentioning because it will form the basis of their opinions as it has mine.

i want to apologize for causing you emotional distress in the first place by posting character hate in a fandom tag. i have actively avoided fandom spaces for over a decade, preferring mostly to just enjoy stories on my own and only occasionally post about them, so i broke one of the cardinal rules of engagement, and i'm sorry. it and my follow up ask were immature of me, so i apologize for that too. i hope you can understand a bit better where i'm coming from, even if we don't or won't see eye to eye on this. take care, and i hope you have a good rest of your week <3

Okay, thank you for that.

I'm not gonna touch the "poorly written" thing because bad/good writing is subjective, like all art is.

I really don't think he's treated as a punchline? Sure, some of his traits are played for laughs, but that can be said about Tanjiro's autistic coding. And Inosuke's autistic coding. And Muichiro's autistic coding. And Giyuu's autistic coding. And autistic coded characters from other media. (For what it's worth, I don't think Zenitsu's autistic coded on purpose; autistic coded characters rarely are).

Zenitsu IS seen as weird by other characters in canon, I'll give you that, but that's...reality for autistic people. It's not just Tanjiro and Inosuke who treat him decently, either. Shinobu treats him decently. While Aoi gets annoyed by his refusal to take his medicine, she doesn't treat him as less of a person, either. Kyojuro didn't treat him poorly. Jigoro didn't treat him poorly and loves him dearly. I'd honestly take far more issue with his portrayal if his friends and surrogate family found him impossible to deal with and acted like they barely tolerate him. But they don't.

(This is also Taisho era Japan; even in modern times, I think Zenitsu would get treated poorly by most people due to his autistic traits).

As an autistic person, I saw him and was like "he's just like me fr" and found a lot of comfort in his character. Granted, I'm also fully aware that if I were a fictional character, I'd be considered bad autistic rep.

I also appreciate that he WANTS to change, but has a hard time doing so, which is pretty realistic, imo.

I don't agree that he hasn't shown much personal growth, either. He grows a bit more confident and brave after season 1, he stands up to Daki while knowing she was a demon, and he can handle solo missions now. Also, his arc isn't over yet. But again, art is subjective, so to each their own.

I appreciate where the apology, and I do think I understand where you're coming from. I hope you have a good rest of your week, too!

[therummesoccupied]

FANG THE HUNTER: ISSUE #4 - THOUGHTS

I know! I'm very late! I'm sorry!

It's just... I can't think of a ton to say about this one that I didn't already say about the other three.

The writing is good, there are lots of neat character moments, art is stretchy and fun with plenty of visual inspiration from the games... yeah, it's cool!

Some specific points I'd like to note, though...

I do really love this scene where Fang just straight-up yoinks the Heavy Shinobi's katana and KO's him with it. It's the kind of thing I wouldn't normally think SEGA would allow, since we haven't really seen any character use a sword in canon since Black Knight (if Black Knight is even canon, for that matter).

Perhaps its the anime kid in me, but that was rad as hell.

I've seen a few folks complain about this moment - namely after Fang's proclamation that "Nobody takes what's mine" back in Issue 2, but... I dunno, I think it's fine.

Firstly, the situations are not equivalent. This isn't really a case of somebody "taking" Bark from him as much as him choosing to leave Bark behind.

Secondly, a big part of this comic's story has been the growing strain on the Hooligans' relationship as the story has gone on. His feelings about the other two have certainly changed since then.

Thirdly, I think he pretty clearly... doesn't mean it?? Like, all it takes is Bean looking at him funny and he decides to go help Bark out.

I dunno, this does not seem like a huge deal to me.

I also really like the fight between Bark and the Heavy King.

With the detail they add to Bark accruing damage over the course of their brawl and the little bits of lighting and shadow they add to him, they manage to make Bark look... kinda badass?

Like, I get he was always meant to be a cool fighty guy, but he's also always had that Silly Classic Sonic verneer over him that keeps him from seeming too... I dunno, COOL!

I'm just glad they even went the length to add this little bit of visual intensity.

Speaking of Bean and Bark, though, I must regretfully acknowledge that what I predicted did ultimately come to pass...

The Hooligans have broken up.

(Also I keep seeing Sonic YouTubers refer to them as the "Hoodlums?" That's... not their name? Whatever, it's just weird.)

Anyway, I actually really enjoy this move. It's not often in IDW we get to have a tale end in tragedy, so it's nice to see the conclusion here be so bitter. These are three characters we've been used to seeing together for YEARS, even before IDW Sonic began, and now, they're no more.

Maybe they'll have a heartwarming reunion someday, but thus far, this split has even carried over into the games, as we've seen in Sonic Superstars.

Speaking of Superstars...

That's how our comic ends - with Fang setting off for Northstar Island to begin the plot of Sonic Superstars!

In the time since this issue came out, I've learned this move was fairly controversial, but I dunno, I found it neat! This is the first time I can think of that we've had the plot of IDW play directly into a specific game!

They haven't firmly established if or when stuff like Team Sonic Racing or Sonic Frontiers happens within the comic yet (my personal headcanon is that neither have occured up to this point) so it's cool to see the IDW story so clearly connect itself to the games this way.

It's also neat to see IDW's Classic Era link itself to the Modern Era with Fang ending up in possession of the Warp Topaz, which of course, we will later see appear in the hands of Dr. Starline. I already did my big rant about how much I LOVE the Warp Topaz being here and how it has firmly gotten me onboard the Unified Timeline now, but it's still a very cool note to end on.

It does leave me asking a few questions, though?

Firstly, if Fang has the Warp Topaz at the beginning of Superstars' plot... why doesn't he... use it? I can't think of a single time he teleports or warps around in that game. Heck, his ace in the hole is a big mech of himself that doesn't appear to do anything of the sort.

Then... how does it end up in the cave where Starline finds it? Was there some form of confrontation between Starline and Fang we'll never get to see?

And wouldn't that be SICK??

As weird as the choice to end the story with Fang in possession of the Warp Topaz was, I'm pretty happy with how this miniseries came out! I really hope that, in the future, we get more arcs like this centered around specific members of the games cast.

I like the IDW cast just fine, but... c'mon. You KNOW that's not who we're picking up the comic to see.

The book tells me everything I need to know about them just by the way it puts them in the story.

The reason I love arcs like this and Scrapnik Island is because they take the characters I'm already familiar with from my time with the games - Fang and Mecha Sonic - and tells me things I didn't know about them, puts them in situations I've never seen them in before. Takes stuff I know from the games and EXPANDS upon it!

All in all, this is up there with Scrapnik Island and Chao Races & Badnik Bases as my favorite arcs in the series.

With Fang in the rear view, we head back to the Modern era for the Phantom Riders arc, the first issue of which is already out, and I hope to talk about it before the next one is released this time.

Thanks for reading!

[asher-agere]

Huh… you know I could see 15~16 Dazai not being that embarrassed. But I think younger Dazai and serious Dazai (17~18) would be superrrr embarrassed…

But anyways I have yet another request!! Can you share your thoughts on Fyodor with a little who is hyperactive but is also very physically weak so they’re just constantly moving while their body is aching so bad because of all the physical activity. But they like need to move when they are sitting/laying down they can’t focus because of an immense need to move around (I hope this makes sense, I am not the best at explaining the various weird things I experience…)

- Fyodor Enjoyer

How I see it Age 15/Stormbringer Dazai is like a teen desperately trying to be popular. Like yeah he loves these pretty girls in the anime, but revealing that? So embarrassing. Dark Era Dazai is just depressed, he cares but he doesn’t have the energy to care that much. Then ADA Dazai just has no shame whatsoever. He’d watch it at full volume just to annoy Kunikida

But yes I can absolutely do that! I am in fact sick at the moment, so I have energy to move around, but an awful headache making me regret even trying. So I can understand what you’re saying!

Caregiver Fyodor + Hyper Achy Little

⋆♱✮♱⋆

ִֶָ࣪☾. Fyodor is also not the most active person ever! His anemia makes him tire out very very quickly. However unlike his little one he’s perfectly content to just sit around. He is far from hyper. So I think he’d be sort of confused seeing the baby moving around even though it hurts them. He hates seeing his baby hurt, so why do they keep moving around so much?

ִֶָ࣪☾. However he wouldn’t really question or judge! He’d try convincing them to sit still, even if it’s a losing battle. He’d offer to hold them and gently rock and bounce them. And while that does sound nice, it’s not what the hyper baby wants! Fyodor can expect it not to work, but he’ll still try every single time. He doesn’t like seeing his baby in pain

ִֶָ࣪☾. Fyodor would find things for them to do that require movement? But sort of minimal! Like all sorts of fidget toys they can play with. Keep their hands busy while they don’t have to move their entire body! Much less painful, but of course not enough to entertain the baby permanently

ִֶָ࣪☾. The ideal solution that he can think of is a baby play mat! (Gym mat, play gym… Let me just get a picture)

Something like this! All the little one has to do is lay there and there’s so much to do! There’s things to reach up and grab, there’s a mirror to look into! And it makes everything look super funny. Some of them even have little feet pianos :0 This is like the dream to have one of these honestly. Fyodor would definitely get one!

ִֶָ࣪☾. Fyodor would be very pushy with pain meds or any meds that can help them work through the pain. He doesn’t want his baby hurting! And while medicine is very yucky pain is even more yucky right? Plus he’d make them some nice sweet milk as a reward for taking medicine! It’s definitely worth it

ִֶָ࣪☾. If the baby is going to insist on moving around despite him trying to get them not to, then he’s going to encourage things that tire them out quickly! If they insist on doing things that hurt them, may as well make it so they’ll be doing it for a shorter time period right? He’ll let them tire themselves out so they’ll be content to just come and lay down with him getting some nice cuddles!

ִֶָ࣪☾. If watching the baby push themselves ever gets to be too much he has a solution! He doesn’t mind being more controlling when it’s needed. He’ll grab a blanket and swaddle them up super tight! Moving around is no longer possible, he just gets to hold them and softly hush and coo at them. No more pain, he’s got them now

⋆♱✮♱⋆

Yay! At first I was struggling a bit for how he’d react to this, because I don’t think Fyodor would like a hyper regressor in general, but as I started writing I kept getting more and more ideas! Thank you for the fun request as usual Fyodor Enjoyer!

On a note separate from the request I’m sick sadly :( But that means I’m gonna be chronically online! Yay! Requests are very much so appreciated. If I run out of requests I might write some stuff about sick babies… Projecting? What’s that? Never heard of it. Anyway have a super awesome wonderful day! You all deserve all the hugs and love ever!

[minorfamilysupremacy]

it is insane to watch bible's actions nowadays. i will say, even back in kp era, there were one or two things he said that made him deeply unlikable to me, but like most i just ignored it. but holy hell has the facade dropped. the only thing he is now is a professional victim and you can tell he is SO pissed that his little show failed. these interviews or rather fluff pieces are just for bible to be sad on camera because it's the only way to stay relevant and ensure his fans continue to attack and blame build for everything, because despite it all, his fans couldn't be arsed to watch his show so this is all he has left. they will continue to beat the dead horse of "it was a thing that happened between two people", because anything else would mean they had to admit they chose the side of the woman who was sentenced to prison. oh and btw bible, weird how you never faced any repercussions for your social media posts about underage girls, rape, and transphobia... sure has its benefits being close to ponf hasn't it. god I hope karma comes for all of these people.

yeah, as an ex-stan i know i personally handwaved away a lot of stupid shit as his being young and having been catapulted into overnight fame and blah blah blah, but no. we got played for fools. dude's a piece of shit through and through and it's honestly kind of horrifying to watch. like, really, dude? pond is the fading star you want to hitch your wagon to? i'm just embarrassed watching him make a bigger and bigger ass of himself in every interview. it's always someone else's fault, he's always the victim, bloo bloo, crocodile tears (even more embarrassing since a lot of these interview questions are sent in advance so he can practice his fake waterworks).

and i think in his warped little mind, it IS build's fault that 4m is such a shitshow, or at least he's firmly convinced himself as such, because he and pond are glued at the asshole now and he can't let himself go against the party line. i've always thought sammon deliberately turned in a subpar product -- after all, did BOC ever say boo about the plagiarism accusations? because i sure don't remember it. and poi was punching way above her weight class by dragging in a much more respected writer when she was just trying to have a petty grudge match against her ex. i lost respect for sammon in the entire debacle for other reasons (i draw a hard line with animal violence, and the very vague details i know make it just sound gratuitous and lazy writing), but i was shocked she even stuck around to give them SOME kind of script. pond must have the best lawyers in thailand when he draws those contracts up.

but 4m was a shitshow not because of build, but because of poi and, more importantly, because of pond. pond sat back and dithered about which nong (gag, dude) he could wring more coins out of and tried, unsuccessfully, to play both sides like the loathsome little quisling he is. he did fuck-all to protect his talent and then he gambled on the 4m name still having enough appeal to gawkers to be successful, when anyone with two brain cells to rub together could have told you the project should have been scrapped with a quickness. (besides, if the version of the show we ultimately got bore ANY resemblance to its original vision, i sincerely question what was so tear-jerking about it. but i have a feeling what it was originally envisioned as is a far cry from the steaming pile we got.) the fact that they couldn't get anyone to pair with bible for ages is yet another red flag pond ignored, because god forbid he admit to any fuckups, and the coping about how jes is actually So Much Better and Lovely and Wonderful and their chemistry is So Incredible is...well, it's fucking pathetic. it's clowns all the way down.

and pond further bears responsibility for that fuckup of a 'rollout' of the show. how many countries did it get aired in, officially? seven? eight? half of those were places where explicit gay sex (which, as near as i can tell, is a good portion of the show to make up for the limp writing) is banned. european and american fans got entirely shut out from official support. i suppose that's probably because when build was in berlin, he personally spoke with the german government and explained that they needed not to air this particular show as an act of revenge, right?

but bible is never going to fucking look at the dumpster fire his life and career have become and lay the blame where it belongs, because he and pond are in this creepy symbiotic relationship where pond pimps him out to keep the business going -- seriously, jeff fucked off ages ago and mile is MIA with schrodinger's girlfriend, so they have no major talent outside bible to rely on -- and in return, bible gets shielded from repercussions outside of some well-deserved social media jeering. and both of them constantly pat each other's asses and soothe each other's egos and keep each other from any kind of introspection.

bottom line is, pond thought build was expendable at the time, because he was rolling in so much KP goodwill he thought the gravy train would never stop. turns out build wasn't expendable, so now pond's gotta choke the life out of the other half of the pairing to make sure he doesn't give up the grift (his constant european vacations don't pay for themselves, do they?), and that other half is more than content to play his simple-minded lackey because it's easier than having to fucking put a modicum of effort into anything.

karma will get them -- of that i have no doubt. there's too many rumblings of discontent, too many oldheads who have turned anti, not enough new people to stem the hemorrhage. man suang, for all pond's windbaggery, sank without a trace. THC is more notable for its controversy and rigging than anything else. DFF and 4m both couldn't sustain themselves through their entire runtimes and even people with no axe to grind with BOC were critical about the latter. they keep scrabbling for relevance in idiotic ways -- a sitcom with bible? a sitcom?! with what fucking comedic timing? -- or are late to the party -- they're supposedly planning a GL, which, by the time it gets to market, will just be one of many. gap was a while ago. GL isn't as much of a novelty as it was. and i mean, let's face it: do you trust this fucking studio with GL? i wouldn't trust pond to take out my trash without ripping the bag open, spilling it everywhere, and then making childish vague references about how SOMEONE he used to know paid off the hefty bag company to make his (pond's) life harder.

pond's all ego, greed, and stupidity. he'll trip over his dick (well, harder than he has already) soon enough. i personally can't wait to see it happen.

[lamemaster]

Thank you! I’m not sure what kind of description your looking for but I’ll give it my best. This is for the ship event. Also I really enjoy your writing it’s always fun to read!

I am an introverted woman who is great at pretending to be an extrovert in public but I get tired of people very quickly. I have a slight anger problem and get snappy (it only happens when I start to feel a little sick not an excuse but that is the most common thing.) To try and fix this I asked my friends and family to call me out on my attitude and stuff so I can better notice it and apologize.

I am mostly a calm personality until I either get really excited and passionate about something (I talk fast and get loud) or I am really anxious and nervous (take a lot of deep breaths and my shift around a lot).

I am sensitive to animals getting hurt I have to hug my animals and squeeze them good if I hear about another animal getting hurt. And I once tried to help a insect feeling really bad for it until I remembered that it’s actually the kind of bug you want to kill. Not a good example but kinda funny on my end.

Lastly I love to read, write and play video games.

I apologize for this being really long.

Reading your post, I felt like we were made from the same prototype lmao (snapping included).

Based on your description, I ship you with the gentle giant of Gondolin,❤️‍🔥 Rog❤️‍🔥.

Introvert with extrovert abilities, bubbly passionate being with a strong (uwu) love for animals, slight temper, sign Rog up.

My cannon Rog is a 'go-with-flow, it's fine, no problem' kinda elf BUT with you, it is not fine. How dare that elf look weird at your elf? Taking a stand for your elf is your birthright and nothing stops you from it ever (Rog thrives in his male wife era).

(Credit to the artist whom couldn't find)

The Lord of the House of the Wrath of Hammer does not believe that love knows no logic.

Every reason, every logic has only ever made him love you greater. You, who is willing to care for injured animals, a trait that deeply resonated with him. It wasn't uncommon to find you cradling some wounded creature in your arms. You seemed like a Maia of Yavanna herself, with the boundless love you had for the flora and fauna of the land.

However, your love wasn't limited to animals and plants alone. You were the life of social gatherings in Gondolin. Your spirited voice had the power to delight anyone fortunate enough to be in your presence.

Rog vividly remembered the first time he met you at one such gathering.

In a grand hall, filled with the entire population of Gondolin celebrating the annual feast, Rog found himself surrounded by other lords. Everyone was reveling in the joy of another new year. You were in the company of Lord Ecthelion, the Lord of the Fountain, but somehow, fate had led you to the same group of elves as Rog.

At that moment, Rog's thoughts didn't linger on your presence. Instead, he felt the overwhelming pressure to fit in, to be a part of the group, and to contribute to the witty conversations that flowed among the lords from the West. He had never felt more out of place. He couldn't help but believe that maybe he truly didn't deserve his lordship. He wasn't like them; his very name meant "monster," setting him apart from the rest.

Throughout the evening, Rog had attempted to interject his thoughts into the conversation several times, but each time his voice was drowned out by the bustling chatter of others.

"I-"

"Glorfindel! Come here, you oaf," someone interrupted him yet again.

Forcing a smile on his face, Rog tried again, "The harvest-"

"Did you see Salagant?" Glorfindel, who had just arrived, whispered excitedly, and once more, Rog's voice was lost in the cacophony.

"What about the harvest, Lord Rog?" a clear voice cut through the noise, and Rog's heart skipped a beat.

There you were, looking at him with the most earnest gaze. In a group that had overlooked him the entire evening, you listened to him with the utmost sincerity.

Maybe that was the reason Rog found himself walking you home that night, talking to you about everything that had gathered in his heart, mind, and soul, finally able to share his thoughts with someone who truly cared to listen.

[recurring-polynya]

If you're still doing these~! For the Fanfic Writer meme:

14. If you could see one of your fics adapted into a visual medium, such as comic or film, which fan fic would you pick?

17. What’s something you’ve learned about while doing research for a fic?

30. Is there a Bleach character that you haven’t had occasion to write for yet (or who’s cameo’d but not featured), but that you’d really like to it the opportunity presented itself?

14. If you could see one of your fics adapted into a visual medium, such as comic or film, which fan fic would you pick?

This is really silly because my first instinct was to say "If it's not too selfish--" but this is a purely theoretical exercise in an Ask Meme, if you can't be selfish here, where can you?? Anyway, I would pick one of my longer chapters of Heart is a Muscle, probably Call Me Back When the War is Over, but What We Do with Our Hearts would also be extremely acceptable, and I would like to see it animated in the style of the late OG Bleach anime (think Reigei Arc).

In these stories in particular, I feel like I am always trying to capture the Full Range of Bleach, from the fight scenes to the reaction faces to the dramatic dialogue, and it would be really super cool to see that somewhere outside my own head. ngl, I mostly just want to see the fight scenes, particularly the ones where Rukia fights Ikkaku and the one where Rukia and Renji fight Yoruichi, with sick Bleach fight music. I would also cry a million tears to hear Orikasa Fumiko and Itou Kentarou banter with my dialogue. I want to see Kira make a series of really horrible faces when Rukia and Renji make him go to the Squad 11 bar with them. I want to see how many split screen reaction shots they could possibly fit into the scene where Renji has to go have Fancy Dinner at Kuchiki Manor.

I also have to say that being adapted into comic format would also be extremely cool, I would not say no to any of this.

17. What’s something you’ve learned about while doing research for a fic?

Ahhhhh, this is hard because I feel like you know all my Fun Facts! (you probably know this one, too, but I still think it's neat)

Here's one I learned when I was studying travel in the Edo era enabled by the Five Routes. Traveling medicine sellers had a system called okigusuri, where they would just leave their big box of medicine at your home. They would come back on some semi-regular schedule and you would pay them for what you used, and they would re-stock your box. The medicine sellers kept really detailed ledgers that let them figure out which medicines were used in which areas, the rates at which they were used, families' medical histories, etc. These ledgers became so valuable that they could be sold when a medicine seller wanted to retire. The medicine sellers also brought little souvenirs with them, which reminds me of the pens that drug companies give doctors. I thought that was a surprisingly sophisticated business model, except that it's all paper ledgers and people walking around with giant boxes on their backs, and I love that combination of modern and period elements. Here's an article for further reading!

30. Is there a Bleach character that you haven’t had occasion to write for yet (or who’s cameo’d but not featured), but that you’d really like to it the opportunity presented itself?

I don't usually hold back from Writing What I Want and also from shoehorning every character I can think of into a fanfic, so I think my bingo card is pretty well checked off. That being said, I think the answer is actually, believe it or not, Grimmjow. He very much Does Not Appear in my usual circles, and I don't love him to the degree that I want to write an actual Grimmjow fanfic. On the other hand, he is very much an Important Bleach Personality and he's got really fun energy. He also has such huge popularity within the fan community that it just feels kinda weird that I never get to get my hands on him. The most I've ever written him was in one chapter of my Tattoo Artist AU. I think it was short and unimportant enough to be safely classified as a cameo but I had an awful lot of fun writing it. If I could come up with a story that he could reasonably take a supporting character role in, I'd love to have a chance at him.

(full question list here)

[realhumanbean]

Just Kids by Patti Smith - In Quotes

"It had started with the moon,inaccessible poem that it was. Now men had walked upon it,rubber treads on a pearl of the God. Perhaps it was an awareness of time passing, the last summer of the decade. Sometimes I just wanted to raise my hands and stop. But stop what? Maybe just growing up."

Staring with one of my most favourites from the book,which also sums up what this book is mostly about,or what I mostly cared about while reading this book. Regarding the writing style, this may just be the best book i've read in a long time. Unfortunately can't say the same regarding the weird throuple subplot that kept coming up throughout the book. But the writing style - the subtle poetry that takes a second for you to understand that, "Oh,it rhymes" is what I found really fascinating.

"It was then that I experienced the weight of sin,even a sin as small as a stolen skater pin."

"To have one's work caged in art's great zoos,the Modern,the Met,the Louvre? "

Lines like these were really new to me. Mixing mediums of literature unknowingly seemed like a crime. A crime that i'm willing to commit.

"Table manners aside, I recognised something of myself in both of them and accepted their locking horns with humor and pride."

And this one was just the best of it’s kind.

Now if we have to talk about Robert,personally I only liked him around the first half of the book. Then his creative side seemed to take over his rational side even before he got all the fame. It's just something about artists, can't love who they are but can't help loving the work that they do. So of course I loved a poet talking about her lover (who is an artist) and ended up with too many lines highlighted about him.

"Robert trusted in the law of empathy, by which he could,by his will,transfer himself into an object or a work of art,and thus influence the outer world."

"I thought to myself that he contained a whole universe that I had yet to know."

"Yet he also knew that I would not fail if he needed me to be the strong one."

"I understood that in this small space of time we had mutually surrendered our loneliness and replaced it with trust."

All of these being from the first half of the book, where the relationship between them wasn’t only based on being the art and the muse, i enjoyed reading.

"His dual nature troubled me,mostly because I feared it troubled him."

And this one line from around the end of the book really sums up the way their relationship turned out to be.

"I suspected my soul,being mischievous,might slip away while I was dreaming and fail to return. I did my best not to fall asleep, to keep it inside of me where it belonged."

Now this one felt like something i wish i could relate to. Not that I want to. I just think it’s a cool way to say "I'm a dreamer". Which is something this book allowed me to be more of.

I somehow end up reading books that end up being exactly what I needed at the time. And this book is definitely what got me calling myself a poet without feeling silly about it. To see someone grow the same feelings as me and turn those feelings into something as beautiful as poetry is exactly what I needed. Reading this book has quite literally been a journey. And throughout this journey I wrote some of my favourite poems ever.

"Remember we are mortal,but poetry is not."

I've read most of this book in college. This book has petals of flowers from my college garden. (the flowers that fell from the plants,not flowers I plucked like an animal ofc) So this book will always remind me of the start of my poet era in my college.

Not gonna rate this one cuz i still got 60 pages left. Gudbye.

[newx-menfan]

X-Men Monday with Erica Schultz

Spoilers!

🚩

“Later, in college, one of my best friends (still to this day) was a huge Marvel fan, and when I fell out of reading the books, he would always catch me up on things. Thanks, Kevin!” 😳😬

….🚩🚩

“I’ve read all her solo series, so I don’t know if I have a favorite. I like All-New Wolverine as it introduces Gabby, Zelda, and Bellona. It also allows Laura to branch out a bit. Tom Taylor was the writer, but there was a revolving door of incredible talent on that book. David Lopez, David Navarrot, Nik Virella… the list goes on and on. “

“I also enjoyed Mariko Tamaki and Juan Cabal’s work with the stories showcasing Gabby’s relationship with Laura. And who can forget Jonathan! Diego Olortegui, Marcio Fiorito, and Georges Duarte were also contributing artists on that run. It was interesting to see the Cuckoos and Old Man Logan, and even Deadpool show up.” 

😳😳😬😬

….🚩🚩🚩

“That was the assignment. I was given the option to do a story that was set in the past to help flesh out some more of who Laura is.”

😳😳😳😳😬😬😬😬😬😬

….🚩🚩🚩🚩

“In the Utopia era, one of the things that made Laura feel ostracized from the younger X-Men like Bling was that she had no social graces. She was basically a feral animal. This was on display when the original X-Men came back from the past and Laura and Warren started a relationship. So Laura’s honest (like Tech in The Bad Batch), but she’s not entirely honest with herself. If she were, then she’d have an easier time understanding the uneasiness felt by her peers during this time.”

😳😳😳😳😳😳😳😳😳😳😳😳😳😳😳😳😳😳😳😳😳😳😬😬😬😬😬😬😬😬😬😬😬😬😬😬😬

——————————————————————— Yyyyeeeaaaghh- none of this sounds very reassuring 😬.

I personally tend to have low confidence in writers who aren’t comic book fans/more in the “comic book culture”- maybe that’s an unfair judgement call and “gatekeeping”… but the America Chavez solo series by Gabby Rivera, Chelsea Cain’s Mockingbird, and the MCU blatantly STATING they don’t want writers who read the comics ON THEIR projects are all PRIME examples of how often this goes BADLY 😬.

The fact that Schultz cited Taylor and Tamaki over KYOST (her CREATORS) or even Liu (who a lot of fans really LOVE and the fact that this story is supposed to take place during her solos time period…) ISN’T a good sign. Tamaki was undoubtedly the weakest X-23 book and it kind of shocks me ANYONE would mention it honestly…. It makes me think this will DEFINITELY be “Tamaki 2.0” and revolve around the SAME facility story beats instead of something actually creative. 😬

It’s also a bit weird to me that Schultz focuses more on the art than the actual writers…I’m not saying they weren’t amazing…but it seems a bit strange since the writing of Laura and the canon should be her primary focus…

I find the fact that she was ASSIGNED the Utopia time period also troubling…because there’s plenty of writers who would have LOVED to do Liu era Laura! Whether you agree or not- Liu’s solo is beloved by a large subset of fans and seen as their “iconic” Laura… Liu admittedly did some really great things in that series and her Laura was really complex and interesting! To basically talk about it like you would talk about a homework assignment…isn’t great. 😬

Hell….Craig Kyle is literally going on Twitter, BEGGING Marvel to let him write Laura again!

The BIGGEST RED FLAG to me though has GOT to be talking about Laura being “ostracized” (again…who BESIDES Surge ostracized her Marvel?!! That’s literally just ONE freaking person??!! Mayybbbeee Hellion and Rockslide in the beginning of NXM…but even THEN Mercury was telling them to knock it OFF…and Julian and Laura later were best friends. LAURIE was more bullied than Laura in Academy X! WITHER and SURGE were more ostracized than Laura EVER was! Come ON!!) and talking about the O5 and her relationship with Warren…

NO X-23 fan liked “All New X-Men” Schultz. 😐🙄. NO long term Laura fan thought Warren was a good boyfriend or liked Laura IN THAT BOOK! And what’s up with the random Bling mention? Like I like Roxy…but literally no one immediately thinks of HER when they think of “New X-Men”…? She’s a Milligan creation…When did Bling ostracize Laura? Did Schultz get Roxy and Noriko mixed up?? Does Bling appear in this book? Like why are you dragging poor Roxy into this mess??? She literally did NOTHING except not want to be X-Men canon fodder??!!

“During this time, Julian is an important part of Laura’s life, but he’s only really in a flashback panel or two, if I’m being honest. Laura has to do some self-care in this series, and that means cutting herself off from pretty much everyone in order to find where she’s really going to fit.”

OH THANK GOD!

At the point that we’re going into “Laura was ostracized by the NXM and never had ANY real friends at Xaviers” song and dance AGAIN…I would rather not have Hellion set foot in this book…!

All I can really say about this is…. I REALLY really hope Hellion is back with Wind Dancer in Krakoa era and has just chosen to opt out from all the Laura drama at this point, instead of being dragged in every time writers need “poor sssaaaaaddd maligned Laura” ! 😳🙄

“If I’m thinking about it in the grand scheme of comics, I don’t think any relationship is ever dead. I mean, how many times have Rogue and Gambit broken up and gotten back together? Storm and T’Challa? Scott and Jean? Scott and Emma? And don’t get me STARTED on Hawkeye and his escapades! So I think there’s always a chance for Laura and Julian. Whether or not I’m given the go ahead to make that happen, I couldn’t tell ya! Not that I can’t tell you, it’s because no one has told ME yet. Hahaha!”

I find it HYSTERICAL Marvel gets asked pretty much ALL THE TIME about Hellion during Laura projects….they know it’s super popular…and STILL they won’t do anything with it despite knowing it would sell 😐. You’re basically outing yourself Marvel by saying Hellion and Laura is on par with Jean/Scott, Scott/Emma, and Rogue/Gambit…some of your most ICONIC comic book ships you have. 😐

Hellion and Laura are honestly NEVER going to come back, the same way DC comics will always find a way to screw over “Young Justice” and “Wally West” in their books- it’s nostalgia from an era older comic book fans hate. YJ doesn’t deserve the respect “the New Teen Titans” does…because it happened in the 90’s instead of the 80’s AND because the team is made up of second Gen sidekicks instead of first Gen…

Hell the animated series couldn’t even be BOTHERED to feature the REAL YJ cast as the main protagonists…it was instead filled with classic Teen Titans.🙄

NXM and the characters from it will always have a black mark despite their popularity, because it’s not “Grant Morrison”…or “Generation X”…or “New Mutants”…

The ONLY possibility of Hellion EVER being ALLOWED to be back with Laura…is if the MCU chooses to feature him as a love interest in one of their movies or shows…and most likely Laura ISN’T even going to be in the MCU, just like Miles Morales hasn’t 😐.

“Hi Larisa, so Haymaker is an interesting villain. They’ve been a part of Laura’s story long before Laura even knew it. One of the things we explore in this arc is collateral damage. Haymaker/Jordan is just that type of character. Their life took a dark turn and their rage led them to where they are. 

This story has a lot of healing in it. It also has a lot of pain. And it’s never comfortable to confront your past and try to make amends while still maintaining your pride. Let’s be honest, Laura is a prideful gal. So there’s going to be a lot of kick-ass action, and Laura is going to be put through her paces, but she’s also going to have to reconcile some of her past actions and how that affects others.”

Sooo it’s “Orphans of X”/Alex Cimini/Henry Sutter…taking some kind of serum…probably related to Laura and Logan’s healing factor…

Great. 😐

Overall the writing so far doesn’t ASTOUND me. Laura’s voice feels pretty “meh” and the art is pretty so-so. It’s not even Marjorie Liu levels of writing at this point. I am predicting this is going to be another forgettable and most likely skip-able “X-23 mini”.

It’s sad, because I think Laura has run essentially into more or less the SAME “clone” rut Superboy and Bey Reilly ran into….

Every story about Laura revolves more or less around the facility OR clones/Laura DOUBLES.

Her only consistent villain is perpetually Kimura and facility copies.

Her identity and story CENTERS around being a clone, instead of trying to branch out a bit by focusing in on her relationships with the NXM, NYX crew, Avengers Academy kids, ect…

There are other things you can DO with Laura, she’s not “out” of possible stories…but you would think it considering how writers have treated her the last few years. I will give Liu this, at least she TRIED to step away from Facility drama with the Hooded woman/enigma force/ect. The problem is- modern writers don’t WANT to be creative. The don’t want to have to break away from the “female Logan” or “clone” overused storylines. Even if it is making Laura’s character obsolete and forgettable.

Let’s be honest, Tamaki’s “Robo-Lauras” was the beginning of the end in, “How much can we stretch the clone/shadowy facility” storyline. At this point….just bring back Craig Kyle, Marvel. It may not be perfect…but it will probably be better than this 😐.

Maybe I am judging it too harshly (in my defense the “pitch” Schultz gives in the interview was pretty DANG awful!)…but nothing in this interview reassures me it’s gonna be good.

[lightyearssurrogatedaddy]

the oversexualization era was a nightmare though. Ink got dumbed down hard and things were still clinging to the toxic version of them, which made things so much worse. I got into the ship via animation memes and comic dubs on YouTube, which were mostly solid, I can recall a few that I do not like anymore, but I grew up on the equal ground version of them, where they act like an old married couple and argue about shit, but always bounce back and apologize. I spent some time entertaining the ew side of it, but really not for long. It was boring as hell and I lost interest.

and on a continuity note, there's no reason why they shouldn't get happy endings. They both have those fears, Error's been through shit and trauma, and Ink has his imposter syndrome. By all accounts if that were in a normal book and weren't connected to Undertale at all they'd be getting a happy ending, since neither one of them did anything out of pure spite or malicious intent just for the hell of it. So give them a happy freaking ending.

'Oh but Error kills people.' Dude and I agree with him, hear me out; you've heard my rants about Wings of Fire, and how much I despised the pointless romances and arcs that didn't even make it through to the next book, if its useless, it doesn't deserve to exist in my opinion. Not saying WoF shouldn't exist, it handles some topics and themes that I actually quite liked.

But just like when you're writing a book, you add what you need and you scrap the rest. No need for irrelevant subplots and character details when you can make a point in a shorter amount of time. And the best part about that is Error and Ink see the AUs as stories. Which aid to why they feel so goddamn lonesome all the time.

Their entire relationship (if portrayed as healthy) is built around boundaries and mutual understanding. They can't change the other's mind even if they tried their hardest. There's no point so they deal as friends/partners instead. And that's cool as fuck! I've seen so many romances and buildups that are just entirely about FIXING the other person.

'I can fix him' mentality ain't the best, it came from the reasoning that new wives in mediaeval times just suck it up and try to make the most out of a forced marriage. Liking someone for what they are and not what they could be is awesome bro. Enough ship shaming just let people vibe.

I'm not sure if any of this makes actual sense but I tried. Tell me to shut up if I get too weird or wrong about it.

[see]

2.) lloyd is not the best treated character in terms of writing

this was another argument the aforementioned kai fans made which is just objectively wrong. in season 11, the writing officially moved hands from the hageman brothers to a more ragtag group of shifting writers headed by bragi something i forgot his last name. this era of ninjago (11-16, dubbed "the wildbrain era", as wildbrain is the company that animated it). this era features a heavy heavy amount of side characters introduced in each season. lloyd gets screentime in the wildbrain era! ...talking to the side characters. lloyd was consistently pushed away from the main characters and instead made to interact with random side characters so they could talk about their life story at them. while i agree that lloyd was definitely treated better than kai... he's not the best treated.

3 and 4.) jay is the most liked, but the worst characterized

gonna keep this one brief. around the wildbrain era's start, jay started to be voice acted with a higher voice and began to be characterized as more of a ditzy little smoofy mitzy [insert gay ass tumblr words]. his characterization is legitimately fucking painful but he consistently has the most shit happening to him personally in the wildbrain era. fuck you jay

5.) nya is the only character with a character arc

by definition of a character arc, nya's the only character who has a full one. it starts in season 5 and ends in season 7. it's not great, but it exists. if you are talking about ninjago and you say "[x character]'s arc" and the name you say isn't nya, you are wrong

6 and 7.) the neurodivergent representation sucks

jay is just written to be quirky and silly imo but i think it's possible that they leaned into adhd when they saw people saying he looked like he had it. honestly though, i don't think he portrays a lot of adhd symptoms or experiences canonically other than being hyper and possibly experiencing hyperfixations. doesn't mean you can't hc him as having adhd, i personally do, i just don't see him as canonically being an adhd haver and if it was intentional/is canon it's not great

there is an episode in season one that starts with jay calling zane weird and all of the other ninja agree that he just doesn't fit in. the plot list of the episode is that zane is actually a robot. so it's okay that he's weird because he's a robot, but if he were a human... that'd be weird. he'd just be weird. even if you intend to take "robotness" as an extended metaphor for autism, it kind of just others autistic people and also kind of implies that it's okay to discriminate against people if they're weird and not explicitly diagnosed with autism.

8.) jaya inhibits nya

i'm also gonna keep this brief because this is a show-wide problem but every "jaya" charged season is like objectively awful for nya as a character. in the wildbrain era, nya actively has to act like a different person when interacting romantically with jay

[m1ckeyb3rry]

No fr it’s funny because even Ego says that like “you guys live in the comfort of Japan where you’ll never worry about surviving” so good that bllk is self aware but I agree the stakes in the beginning fr felt a bit intense which was refreshing!! Yeah im still a little irked about himizus backstory too like that could’ve been a gorgeous karasu panel instead but NOPE wtv also makes me a little sad that we won’t see karasus backstory animated since its in epinagi

HAHA its funny when you remember he has a second lead role in one of your reqs he will not get his happy ending quite yet it seems LMAOO but also I JUST SAW we literally called it yuki and Karasu certified gentlemen FRRR yayoi knew what she was doing!! I bet it’s also because granny Karasu lives with them too so he’s constantly surrounded by older women and learning to respect them! No because what am I supposed to do with the info in hioris profile he what?????? Hospitalized y/n era next /j I’m crying it just has me imagining like does that include like a whole ass full body cast where you can’t even see the person but yeah anyways and we all thought Karasu was the weird one for commenting on his leg this is a different level of freak

I’m convinced otoya is the animators’ fave because he looks so good?? Like they make him so majestic too I see so many edits of him trust yuki and nagi will get their moment when we see their match!! Very excited to see all the clips from there! Some scenes of Shidou are actually INSANE did you watch through the ep? Towards the end they have pics of the top 6 and when I tell you I fr got jumpscared by Shidou but I also could not care less like yesss save the budget for Karasu pls!!!

FR like how are they even connected…actually ik a lot of people ship megumi and sukuna because of sukunas plan for megumi and how he didn’t let him die etc but Karasu is wild…maybe someone mistook megumi for Karasu and went to town with it idk LMAO

IM CRYING THE STOCK PHOTO thats fr me whenever i have to be productive im crying well at least the sufferings over now!!! You made it!! LMAOO wait im kinda excited for when you have to get to the Isagi req too not just to read but to hear your commentary as you write LMAOAOA I love the classic Mira foreshadowing hint drops i like picking them out and being like “oh yk someone’s dying” or something LOL

AGAIN WITH THE HISTORICAL REFERENCE your research game is too strong but I loved the story overall I mean you know I’m not a Kaiser fan either LMAO but I certainly didn’t mind reading that!! Another win in my book wait again the Kunigami cameo LMAOOOO fr had me like “omg what are YOU doing here??” LOL

Wait your process for making the layout already sounds complicated to me LMAO ibis paint is fr pretty insane though for a free app!!

That panel is so good speaking of I can’t wait to see that animated too omg

LMAOAOAOA you are correct in fact those two edits actually made it to my fyp which was pleasantly surprising but YEAHHHHHH THAT KARASU SCENE CHEFS KISS he looks so good and LMAOOO the “mama a girl behind you” audio is so funny and it works perfectly with otoya being sneaky

- Karasu anon

LMAOO ego calling them out will always be funny to me like bro was not playing around 😭 but agreed it added a bit of self awareness to the show!! and yeah…idk why we needed an entire focus on himizu when we know he’s irrelevant moving forward…just another example of how bllk ends up on focusing on too many characters and spreading itself too thin 😫 it was a perfect chance to expand on karasu and/or kiyora who are both playing in the current match 🙁 but maybe i’m biased because i want more karasu i’m sure the two himizu fans out there were happy abt it

HFJDJSS KUNIGAMI FOREVER SUFFERING at least he’s entering the miraverse though…maybe one day he’ll debut in full probably not though because alongside being ginger he’s also kinda boring i fear 😭 perhaps if the wildcard backstory makes him rlly fascinating i’ll change my mind but idk…ANYWAYS YESSSS YUKI AND KARASU MY GLORIOUS KINGS also i think it’s funny that the rankings are voted by other blue lock characters and karasu’s constantly an asshole to like all of them?? yet they still voted him as the number two gentleman KDCNDJS bro has no enemies fr i love him 🥹 HAHAHA PLSSSS ngl the more i learn abt hiori with his ln and now his profile the more i’m like nah karasu is JUSTIFIED in fucking around with him LMAOAOA everyone thinking he’s the weird one when he’s just a slightly sassy guy who likes to say goofy stuff to his friends meanwhile hiori is like actually lowkey a freak 😰

SHIDOU CONSISTENTLY JUMPSCARING HE’S SO GOOFY I CAN’T 😭 pls i just know they’re going to do yuki and nagi so well in the next episode they show up in…okay but i saw a panel of manga karasu and i was fr like 😫 as glorious as he is animated he fr hits diff in the manga for some reason JSDHSJSJ anyways yeah they’re really eating it up with the otoya scenes ngl good for them otoya would be proud

yeahhh i think that’s why it’s such a popular ship!! since sukuna was all like “megumi absolutely cannot die” ofc we know that wasn’t romantic but when you’re a shipper anything works ig 🙂‍↕️ my only thought is someone who ships sukuna and megumi together started bllk and put the pieces together and created the rare pair of the century

I LOVEEE THAT PHOTO a guy sent it to a gc i was in whenever he had to do computer science hw and i IMMEDIATELY saved i think it’s hilarious 😭 literally me seeing all of my sae requests and zero nagi ones 😔 but YESSSS I’M FREE FROM KAISER AT LEAST not sure what i’m going to work on next but we’ll see!! hopefully it won’t take as long as that did to come out 😫

HISTORICAL REFERENCES ALWAYS #trust LMAAOOA yeah i don’t love kaiser as you know but he is fun to write abt sometimes he’s more on the karasu end of things where he lends himself to more plots…HELP i was thinking of leaving the guard anonymous but then i was like nah let me let kunigami get his first name drop KDJDJDDHJS anyways fun fact in the very first scene when reader takes kunigami to the art gallery and they leave the other guard to watch over her father the other guard is meant to be barou!! also if she didn’t get sick and meet kaiser/literally die she probably would’ve ended up marrying kunigami 🙁

SPEAKING OF HISTORICAL REFERENCES…rin said his fav historical figure is oda nobunaga apparently??? aka the person hollyhock y/n is based on 😭 rin is a hollyhock y/n stan wait imagine we were joking abt what it would be like if hollyhock characters met their bllk selves but imagine RIN meeting hollyhock y/n he’d genuinely glaze her i fear 😰 probably hollyhock karasu too since he’s also one of the three unifiers 😜 probably feels bad they got reincarnated into such “lukewarm” modern time equivalents

yeahhh ibis paint x fr goes hard i love it!! and it’s not too bad DJFHDJ the hardest part is picking what panel i want to use 😭 it wasn’t hard for kaiser because he doesn’t have that many panels with the long gold hair which is what i imagined him having while as an actual angel but i’m sure i’ll start to run out of sae panels at some point HAHAHA

UGH barou goal animated is going to be so good they always do him and his goals SO well i have full entire faith that he’s going to look amazing…barou my handsome amazing boyfriend…I CAN’T WAIT TO SEE KARASU SPAWNING INTO EVERY CELEBRATION TOO he’s literally in ALL of them (except nagi’s i think that’s just his fist pump and then we see isagi and chigiri running towards him) IT’S SO FUNNY LIKE BRO IS IN THE MIDFIELD WHERE DOES HE EVEN COME FROM 😭

THAT KARASU SCENE IS SOOOOO ugh he carried the episode i’m trying not to rewatch because i plan on rewatching all of s2 at once after it’s all out but it’s so tempting i want to see him again 😫 and the mama a girl behind you audio for otoya CRACKS ME UP it’s so him also wait lowkey is it just me or does otoya kinda look like rin 😭 maybe it’s the hair idk they’re kinda giving twin

[piduai]

I totally agree with you , I tend to remember the bad more than the good . I guess for self care it's better to just watch the arcs you loved . I watched the episode 153 or 157 something ( I don't remember the exact number but it's about Kagura not wanting to sleep ) more than ten times because I liked it. I think it's the best way to view an anime like this.

After all not much is to be  expected from an author like this.

The aliens versus us is just a way to portray the pre opening era . CLEARLY . No reach. If he could write "THOSE FOREIGNERS " he would. Very weird it's giving Isayama with Snk , the world population vs us the people of ( I don't remember honestly 🥴). It's like a nostalgic / xenophobic stand but not outspoken.

I just wish we got more contents of characters like Asaemon and nobume + mutsu these three really could introduce  interesting drama with their profession and personalities. I will never NEVER get over it 😩👹. You know what ? I wish gunatama was a female only cast ( I DARE TO SAY IT👹👹👹)

Also I don't like Emosugi , Kamui is so  cringe , he's what to expect from a teenage boy. He's so predictable, a violent  emotional red hair emo .

But  Takasugi Dramasuke ?!  I just can't . His rage is valid but he never gave anything . A plate of pasta without salt . The hype about him is what all his character is . I never understood it. He doesn't look cool and I think his feet smell NGL.

He's the example of a delayed frontal lobe growth. Soratchi just used limited appearance to tune the citizens on. I don't know how they fell for it . When the whole truth was finally exposed i was disappointed 🧍🏻‍��️.

I don't know how to explain it and why . He's just so cliché i thought ginballma would be more original but it's not when you look back when it's about serious topic.

i don't have arcs i particularly hate, tbh i watched it in 2013 for the first time and a lot of the cultural & linguistic jokes flew over my head, as well as a lot of references. so now i rediscover a lot of stuff on my rewatch, which is fun. but ig if you have stuff you really hate it's just better to skip altogether, i mean who cares. i only started rewatching it bc i need something to play in the bg while i eat/do my nails/clean around the house etc and short series end too fast while i don't feel like committing to a long series i haven't watched yet

yeah i do wonder, i didn't notice it the first time at all but now it feels very sus. it's also funny that earth = japan it seems, the word japan is never uttered actually but the existence of other nations is never brought up either. and amanto = foreigners, with kagura and the rest of the yato being alien chinese while catherine being alien something vaguely southeast asian. with the rest being animals. i don't think it's that deep just something that made me raise an eyebrow

asaemon is a one arc character and mutsu was shown for a bit towards the end, but nobume was snubbed lol. but again everyone else who isn't g*ntoki was also snubbed. with nobume it's a shame that her shoyo disciple side was never explored while some whomstie (oboro) got an entire thing around it. zura was also sidelined when it comes to this. nobume didn't really do much after sabuchan died from what i recall which is a shame. but also the cast is HUGE so with sorachi's limited formulaic writing abilities it's understandable lol

people always praise the character writing in gintama and i always disagreed with that because 98% of the cast is the same thing from different angles, or rather it seems that he can't write anything else. default character in this series is kind of a rude jerk who is actually super duper kind and niceys deep down and when it matters, and if push comes to shove they'll give you a helping hand no questions asked. most of them have their own quirks (kagura is an abrasive glutton, tae is arrogant, mean and backstabbing, nobume is aloof and apathetic, kyuubei and tsukuyo are overly-serious and awkward and so on and so forth) but the mold is the same. which is like, fine for shounen standards, and a lot of them are very likeable, but let's be real no giocondas are being painted here

i liked kamui until it was revealed that he actually fr fr is obsessed with his mom and sister and this whole time he was just lonely and misunderstood and lashing out. boring. he was fun as a power-hungry #psycho little shit but obviously we can't have any divergences from the mold in this house. as for takasugi he's always been one of my favorites so i can't say much here lol to each their own