#sorry for gushing

[rose-garden-posts]

My favorite bit that me and my partner do is whenever I asked them something silly like “do you wanna see my outfit or wanna sit with me while I shower” they always answer with “do I want a million dollars?? What do you think” it never fails to make me giggle and laugh

[bitemegamer]

When you play the MC is just as into Cove as Cove is into them... That's the way I love playing the dynamic... I seriously cannot play it any other way, the way my character acts around Cove and the way he acts around them is so precious...

currently replaying the First Step and adoring just how precious these babies are *sobs*

[sky-scribbles]

OK, but I love that Essek might be appearing in the Mighty Nein series before he meets the Nein! It's not just me wanting More Essek (though I do) or wanting to see more of what was going on with his dealings with the Assembly (which I also do). I think this could be super fucking interesting from a narrative construction standpoint.

Because I cannot see how you can include Essek from early in the series and not make it clear to the audience that he's the Dynasty traitor loooong before the Nein find out. Essek having stolen the beacons will not be a surprise. It looks to me like the cast are swapping out surprise for a fuckton of suspense. (Suspense vs surprise was explained to me when I was studying narrative structure as 'surprise is when a bomb goes off that the audience didn't know was there. Suspense is when they see the bomb being placed and have to sit there begging the characters to realise it's there.' In this analogy, Essek is the bomb.)

When we watched C2, the question was is Essek the traitor? In the M9 show, the question for new watchers will be when will the Nein realise that Essek is the traitor? When Essek meets the Nein, the countdown starts ticking; people will know that he is a danger. He is manipulating them. He is going to hurt them. Will the Nein realise before it's too late? But then Essek starts really befriending them, showing more of his loneliness and vulnerability, and... I think the mood will shift. Oh, shit, he really cares about them, doesn't he? What will the Nein do if they find out? Do I even want them to find out? What if they reject him and it makes him worse? He can't keep this up much longer, this is unbearable, they're going to find out - OH FUCK THEY'RE FINDING OUT -

It's such a fascinating choice and I think it goes to show that adaptation is an art form in itself! The actual events in the world will be the same, or at least very similar, but a new format means you can show those events in a totally new way and create a completely different tone! Narrative structure is the fucking coolest! I'm so excited for this show!

[nootnootles]

Uwee Mash, Finn and first kisses

[problematic-yuri-poll]

Problematic Yuri Tournament - Round Two

Gushing Over Magical Girls vs. Sorry but I'm Not Into Yuri

Gushing Over Magical Girls (manga by Ononaka Akihiro) [explicit]

Submitted problematic elements: PHEW BOY, what isn't problematic about it? Sexual assault, manipulation, the entire cast being underage.

Submitted content warnings: Sexual assault for sure, noncon, dubcon, ageplay, bdsm

Submitted propaganda: Its genuinely good. Its a genuinely interesting story with excellent character designs and entertaining characters and the horniness is not just a coating of titties for fanservice, but fundamental to the plot. It is about self discovery and learning to accept yourself but not letting your desires consume you. The action is tense. The relationships between characters are interesting. Each character is charming in their own way, from the flop loser MC who is playing villain because she's hard up for magical girls to the magical girl who joined the good team bc the others watched her beat a demon in the head with a brick to the supervillain college dropout who wants to rule the world. There is an overarching mystery concerning why and how these girls gained power to begin with (i do NOT trust that little shit of a mascot). The mood and tone of the story is so masterful-- you can TELL when somethings wrong. There is also some very good comedy all throughout-- it's just a super fun read! They also got their first season of an anime recently (which is somehow hornier than the manga) so.

Sorry but I'm Not Into Yuri (manga by Mochi au Lait) [explicit]

Mod submission; MC fervently denies she likes girls at all while repeatedly drugging them into falling in love with her using a love potion. Plenty of drugging and dubcon/noncon shenanigans ensue. She's totally straight though she swears.

[mosaickiwi]

Fall Unto Me (part three)

Part one, part two

I said I was on break but then a lot of things immediately fell out of my brain cause of stress so now I feel silly... sowweeeeee 🤡 Part four WILL be the last part I swear. If you see more Angel!Angel and Demon!Ren from me after that (and da infodump if i get to it) genuinely tell me to shut the FUCK up!!!

yes i am probably writing the NSFW version it'll be in my compendium post if it happens

cw// religious themes

14 Days With You is an 18+ Yandere Visual Novel. MINORS DNI

Your resolve was getting harder to hold on to, but you kept it. This would be the last time. You couldn't part from heaven again after returning. Atonement was waiting for you, eternal devotion to your duty right after.

Another few weeks went by as you stayed with Ren a little longer, the sea of flowers outside your bedroom window changing little by little each day. So many of them were already fully blooming, most of their petals stretched open to show off a myriad of colors while others curled inwards to hide from you. Practically a taunting mockery with how they took their time. As if insulted you would dare leave once they painted the horizon with their beauty.

It made it all the more painful that you'd never see them again. Or the companion that now felt like a piece you'd been missing.

Something about that encroaching deadline had affected the devil, too. Ren was calmer in some ways. They still brought you gifts and knowledge like usual, but he seemed to be taking his time just like the flowers. Simple answers to your curiosities became thorough while he held you close and urged you to ask more questions about whichever object took interest. 

He'd offered to revisit trinkets you loved as well. Until you were as familiar with using them as he was. You couldn't understand it. 

Your time together was draining away by the second. Didn't they want to make exciting memories? No matter how much you enjoyed it, mastery over human instruments or crafts served no purpose. Heaven wouldn't let you bring those things home, nor could you ask a higher power to recreate them for leisure.

Maybe your love was in denial of your departure. Or maybe spending little mundane, quiet days and nights together like this was their way of coming to terms with it.

Today, you chose to fiddle with one of the oldest gifts while chatting with him. The sun was just beginning to set, casting the room in the faded, flaming gold hue you'd only now gotten used to. 

“—Love?” He was calling you, the end of his tail swaying gently in front of your face to get your attention. You’d missed a few words.

“Hm?”

“You've gotten much better at this,” the pink haired devil hummed above you. His chin was resting atop your head as they cradled you in their lap on a frayed rug, his back against the bottom of the couch.

You looked over your work. The woven red string wrapped around and through your fingers took the shape of a pointed star. You knew real stars looked differently, but the human interpretation was interesting.

“Truly, it’s better than before,” you said with wholehearted agreement. The first time you'd tried—only on the third day of your visit to earth—had simply tangled the string to a knotted mess stuck upon your fingers for Ren to deal with while you apologized, embarrassed beyond belief. 

The patterns they taught you were almost easy thanks to your afternoon of trying. You unwound the string and painstakingly wound it again into one that often graced your practice: an angel. He'd been particularly smug about teaching you the motions of that one.

“An impressive self portrait,” Ren joked and squeezed you tighter in their embrace. “Although it'll take more than some thread to capture your divine beauty.”

Naturally, you rolled your eyes even though the soul it was meant for couldn't see it. A mortal gesture you'd gotten the hang of quicker than anything, as he so favored innocent teasing before expressing his deepest sincerities.

You untangled the string and tossed it to the side, then turned in their lap to make a face this time for their benefit. “I’ll do a painting, then. I’ve had enough of this toy.”

He relaxed his hold long enough for you to wander across the room in search of new distractions, but innocently called after you, “We’ll have to light quite a few candles for you to see well. Unless you plan to have me mix paints for you in the dark.” A second passed before he spoke again. “It’d be a pleasant surprise, I’m sure.” 

“Something else?” you replied, making a swift turn towards the bookshelves. You came back with a couple of novels and sat beside them with your treasure. “Is this really all you want to do? You’ve read every book here before.” 

Even the books he’d bought with strange, flimsy paper currency for you, Ren had said so casually, were already familiar territory. Tedium hardly described how boring you thought these weeks must be for him. But he never objected to anything you chose, as long as you both stayed close to home during the day. 

And you always kept your wings hidden in case a human roamed nearby. You'd never seen one come close to the cabin, or even the field of flowers, but he insisted your safety—and proximity to them—was of utmost priority. It was hard to remember the last time you let loose your wings at all after walking on the beach with him. They interrupted your thoughts once more.

“My sweet, delicate angel, I’ve had all the time in the world to do anything I want.” Their blue eyes narrowed with a smile as they spoke and you knew more teasing was coming. “We could even sit here in silence all night, if you asked me nicely.”

“How kind of you, my darling demon,” you teased them back. 

Another jesting response in his gaze faded to something different as you pulled him down for a kiss, gently at first. The books you’d brought over lay forgotten, soon shoved under the couch in favor of your new activity.

Kissing the demon you called yours felt like second nature now. There was no sting that ever came, no homesick aching in your back anymore. Only the flood of tender emotions he gave you, tainted by your own guilt and fears of parting from him.

You needed more. A stronger distraction. Your hand on his shirt tightened, determined to keep him. To stay in this moment as long as possible.

Ren exhaled, a muttering of blasphemous praise you dare not repeat whispered from his lips to yours, along with one word. A word that sounded odd to your ears. 

You'd heard it countless times over the months, but it didn't feel strange until after the first kiss you shared. He must have said it earlier, too, when you were occupied with that damned little red string. Demonic language was much different, it certainly wasn’t that at all. And the sounds of the word did feel similar to mortal languages, but nothing came to mind. So naturally, you could only assume it to be another of their pet names, but…

The thought fell to the side as you focused on him. He was all that needed to matter right now.

Their comforting warmth that called of your sacred home, your nails curling into the bottom of his shirt just to fall lower, an iron, almost nectar-like taste that flowered on your tongue—did you bite him this time? It felt good. 

Desperately, you brushed your hand over his thigh, getting dangerously close to where you knew things risked going further. You caught yourself and froze. You wanted him, you’d known since that day in the rain. In every way a being could yearn for another’s love. And of course he felt the same. But could you really go home if it happened? 

“Before I…” The words hung in the air and what remained weighed in your throat. Before I leave. Departure was looming on the horizon, sure as the sun would rise tomorrow. You dare not mention it to the one you loved again. You opened your eyes to meet theirs, cautiously as you wondered, “Is this alright?”

“Yes,” they answered, longing clear as the evening sky in his voice. “I couldn’t bear—or ever want—to deny you. Little angel, all you desire of me is yours to take.”

Without another word you did just that. You thought nothing of the faint, staggered line you felt under your fingertips that seemed to start somewhere along his shoulder blade as you lifted the shirt away and pushed him to lay on the rug. Your hands pressed their ink-stained arms flat next to the disheveled mess of pink hair and horns. Ren grinned at your audacity to pin him, but held still for your much needed exploration. 

Eyes half lidded with patient lust, mouth parted to show off pointed fangs, the devil looked to be the very picture of your sinful desires.

To be one with them, even just once, was a memory worth making. No matter what punishment waited for you at heaven’s boundary. You skimmed your fingers from the base of his collarbone, down over their stomach, and began to undo the buttons that concealed what you’d been waiting for.

[thisbuildinghasfeelings]

Watching the episode again and I just cannot get over how well done it all is! One of the things I focused on this time was the way they managed to show us the state of TK and Carlos' relationship. We haven't really checked in with them one on one since episode 5, and I think there's so much here that can give us insight into what has been going on since then:

We see that the box is still in use! Since we're told in this episode that Gabriel died a year and a half ago, that means that about 6 months have passed and Carlos is still using the box! This shows clearly that he's been making serious efforts to be more present. I noticed some people hypothesizing that the fact that his phone was outside of the box was meant to show he was struggling to be fully present, and that's definitely a valid interpretation and maybe it is what they were going for...but to me, it seemed like the phone was outside of the box just because it was being charged. Carlos still left the phone next to the box when he went to bed and I think that indicates some major effort!

However, the presence of the box a whole 6 months later also indicates to me that they ARE still struggling. Things aren't 100% fixed. If they were, I don't think the box would really be necessary anymore.

Carlos wakes up on his day off and the first thing he does is reach for his husband. When he realizes TK isn't there, Carlos goes to find him, expresses his desire to spend the morning of their shared day off sleeping in together, and then kisses his cheek and sits on the couch next to him. TK is not remotely surprised by these behaviors. To me, this shows that there is not constant tension between them. They are loving and affectionate with each other. They look forward to spending time together and make efforts to do so.

When Carlos announces that he wanted them to sleep in on their shared day off, he makes it seem like such a thing is a rarity. Add to that the fact that he worked so late the night before that TK wasn't sure when he got home, and it's clear that they aren't getting to spend nearly as much time together as they'd like. While it doesn't seem like this is some dire situation, it certainly may be contributing to remaining issues that they are having.

The way Carlos talks about their counseling makes it sound like they are still going, which I think is a really good thing because it again shows major effort being made in their relationship!

All these things perfectly set the scene for the conflict in this episode, showing clearly that these two love each other, they're putting real work into their relationship, but they're still struggling. Under those circumstances, when you add in a major crisis and upheaval like the Jonah situation, it's inevitable that things aren't going to go smoothly. However, their love and soulmatism is still shining through, and we know they're going to make it and come out the other side stronger than ever!

[cupcakeslushie]

How would you make the Rat King look in your AU?

I actually haven’t made a solid decision yet. Or even a good design I like. Maybe when I get closer I’ll bribe @sharkfiinn to design me something as chilling and creepy as their Rat King. I don’t know how anything could top that guy. S tier design.

I do wanna start sketching soon. I just know I’m going to change my mind about a million times.

[kwyw]

I just want to say, I’ve been a supporter of Kamala Harris for YEARS now. Like, a ginormous crush on her brain and personality. Plus she has the most warm and beautiful smile/laugh. I freaking *knew* she was special. She’s a bad ass, she’s smart and she’s downright lovely.

I was so proud to make her my first choice in 2020, and even more proud that I got to vote for her as our vice president, and now I absolutely cannot wait to cast my vote to make her MADAM PRESIDENT.

[bigmoon-is-bigwife]

DUA LIPA TOO??????? Joel opens this episode with a Mr.Brightside parody that he wrote himself and then halfway through reveals that he paid for the rights to a DUA LIPA SONG for one of his montages. No one is doing it like him. Actually one of the most creative minecraft creators who's always doing new stuff and clearly enjoys it. None of his videos ever feel too samey or soulless. It's just so refreshing to see. He pretends to grumble and complain so much but the man is always putting in the extra work.

[itsabouttimex2]

I've seen people say that Mei's samadhi fire arc was rushed, I never really thought about it that much, but I wanted to ask more LMK fans about their opinion on it. I can't stop pondering about it sometimes.

The Samadhi Fire Arc

Honestly, in my opinion? The Samadhi Fire plot is probably the least rushed arc in all of Monkie Kid.

Season Four to me is rushed because they try to squeeze in lore about the Pilgrims, MK’s heritage, Pigsy’s feelings on being an adoptive father, the Monkie Crew’s feeling on their ancestors/forebearers, the Brotherhood, the Ink Scroll, and then try to set up for Season Five while they’re at it.

Season Five to me is rushed because they try to squeeze in Xiangliu, Nüwa, and Li Jing and flesh all three out with very little time to spread between another fetch quest (this makes four in total through only five seasons) while also trying to give attention to Mei, Tang, Pigsy, Sandy, Red Son and MK while not even having a special to help take some burden off of the 100-minute crunch the writing team unfortunately has to deal with.

However…

Because the writers set up the Lady Bone Demon beforehand, she’s not given too much direct attention in this season until near the end, instead getting occasional appearances throughout by interacting with Macaque and then Wukong and to some degree infecting both with her power.

Which means that we get a full ten episodes plus a special for essentially only two things- the Samadhi Fire foremost, with the Lady Bone Demon in the background until about the special, from my recollection.

This means Mei does get her fair share of character development throughout Season Three, which you would think might allow us to see her perspective and thoughts on the world around her. We do get to see a little more of her desire to “live up” to her ancestors very early on, but it’s addressed quickly and then entirely dropped.

Like, this was a heavily Mei-centric season! We should’ve gotten some thoughts and backstory and personal views and whatnot, but the Samadhi Fire basically took full control over any narrative that could’ve allowed the story to delve deeper into, well, Mei.

But it feels kinda like Mei herself is… secondary to the power inside of her at times, where she’s very much just an unlucky and draconic vessel.

Now this wouldn’t have been such a big deal if we had gotten something beyond the already seen “Mei wants to live up to her family’s expectations without comprising her moral values and self-identity”, but, uh… they dealt with that in the first season and resolved it pretty neatly. Her conflict with Ao Guang is just retreading water in the same way, when it would’ve been nice to have a deviation of some kind.

On a more positive note, one of the best things the season gives us is learning how she’s come to view Sun Wukong in the form of a tearful rant about his actions and the impact they’ve had on her and her friends.

That only matters to her for a few minutes, unfortunately, but it’s a highlight of the season, and I wish it hadn’t been dropped so quickly.

Now, her not being allowed to interact with him or Macaque past the third season in regards to the ways they’ve continuously endangered and hurt her is a horrible letdown that severely undermines the character growth of all three, which is part of the reason I think some people call it rushed.

Mei’s possession of the Samadhi Fire is dropped until season five, so it feels ultimately unimportant. Red Son; in spite of being fundamental to Mei’s mastery of his power, gets shelved from season four the next time we see him. Sun Wukong’s recklessness and threadbare “planning” is essentially forgotten about, because the next two seasons just find new shit for people to scream at him about. All of Macaque’s… everything, really, goes entirely ignored by the characters, narrative, and story.

And obviously that’s not exactly satisfying from a watcher’s perspective, because it feels like everything just has a strangely neat bow tied onto it in spite of there being lots of messy business in the past that still needs to be addressed, but just isn’t because there’s they’ve decided to write another “the world is going to end plot” instead of taking a breath and working through existing issues instead of circumventing older ones as irrelevant.

I think people are disappointed when they look backwards that these plot points or emotional beats were dropped and left unaddressed or only resolved with a heavy dose of “secretly all alongs”. For example…

Red Son somehow tracks Mei down without any real explanation. (No biggie, probably some kind of tech or magic. Him getting there isn’t as important as what he’s doing, so it can be ignored.) He decides to train her. For some reason he's good at teaching people to control themselves, even though he was barely able to control himself in seasons prior? Off-screen character development is never exactly satisfying, at least to me.

Throughout all of this interaction, he never once expresses the slightest of desire to reclaim or recreate the Fire for himself, and is content with Mei having it. Red even openly declares that the power is “hers” at the climax of the story.

(I could get into how fans treat Red Son + Samadhi Fire ((plus pandering from the writers)) in comparison to Mei, but that’s a rant for some other time…)

With his encouragement, Mei harnesses the Samadhi Fire and helps defeat LBD! This has a lot of longstanding implications for her place in the story and her role as a parallel force to MK! How exciting!

Sike! The Samadhi Fire is fucking gone, only one mention of it in the season, where an omniscient old man inside a hell scroll tells us that it’s gone.

Sike! Mei secretly all along still has the Samadhi Fire and also secretly all along has an insecurity complex over thinking she lost it but all of this is handled in about a minute.

Red Son secretly all along wanted to learn where the Samadhi Fire came from and is trying to recreate it...? When he's seen and felt how dangerous and uncontrollable it is and home of this was established before??

So, when you build up all these things for a full season and then drop most of them the fourth and wait until the fifth to resolve them, I think it left a very jarring impact on viewers who came to view the season as “rushed”… but only in hindsight.

It’s not a flaw I would attribute until I’m on the fifth season and thinking “this should’ve been addressed in an earlier season.”

Now, personally, there are some plot points I’m not really a fan of, like, again, the “macguffin fetch quest” nature of the Samadhi Fire rings. Normally I wouldn’t mind but again, this is Monkie Kid’s third macguffin hunt in total, and we get a fourth in Season Five. (Spider Venom Cure ingredients, LBD’s Mech Building, Samadhi Fire Rings, Power Stones)

Though I think the City of Lanterns is a cute bit of worldbuilding, like with most Monkie Kid worldbuilding it’s basically “Look at this cool thing! Enjoy it now, because we’re never coming back or addressing it again!” like they did with the Team Hideout, the Cloud and the Weather Station. “Look at this cool place! Okay we’re done showcasing a potential Lego set, change the backdrop!”

Or another is Sun Wukong just being… magically immune to it once he gets possessed?

Like, the whole reason he had to set out on this fetch quest was because the Lady Bone Demon was distinctly NOT immune to it? And he also was NOT immune to it? Because the Samadhi Fire is a wildly dangerous all-consuming fire that could destroy all of existence, but apparently all it takes to be totally unaffected by it is powerful person + possession by another powerful person? But again I guess the world-building and power systems of Monkie Kid have always been patchy and thin but it’s still frustrating AUGHHH

But I personally don’t think it’s “rushed” until it’s revealed later on that actually, “There’s more to the story!” when a lot of the story we have is just kinda… left hanging.

TLDR for anyone who skipped down here: It’s only rushed in hindsight. If someone theoretically stopped watching after Season Three I don’t think it would be called “rushed”.

[mooneln0ne]

Messy comic about his Intrusive thoughts

[cupiidzbow]

i miss my wife tails

[jackass-jones]

Take what I’m about to say with a grain of salt since I wouldn’t say snake was really written to be A Gay Character but regardless the way snake’s gender and overall personality is portrayed is probably one of the best depictions of gay men I’ve ever seen. He’s very pretty, dressed in expensive clothes reminiscent of a prince, with beautiful wavy hair and an air of poise and sophistication. He’s the smartest person in the room and he KNOWS this and he will not hesitate to be a condescending prick. He’s delicate and funny and charming. He has no fear or hesitation about suggesting he and Junpei share a bed or referencing gay sex. All these things tend to make a character the butt of jokes or at the very least regarded as lesser than the other characters but with snake hes the most admired one here. He’s very capable and is in fact so capable he literally needed to be removed temporarily from the situation so that the others could solve the mystery on their own. He’s absolutely fearless, doesn’t care about pissing off Aoi or getting shot multiple times by Ace. He’s fucking strong as hell and is able to survive being shot multiple times and have enough strength to dig his claws into Ace and force them to burn to death together. Everyone loses their shit without him and he’s the key to escape. He’s cool as hell and he fucks severely

[lych33dragoncookie]

Actually, elaborating further on the previous post. Shadow Milk is seemingly able to perceive the suffering of all these little souls constantly, non-stop, and he clearly doesn't mind at all. In fact, he seems to enjoy it, revel in it, he knows how grotesque it is and he loves it, it's prime material for putting on a show, and he wasted no time in doing that.

And I'm just here thinking... Man, if he made Dark Enchantress perceive what he does in the laboratorium, force her to listen to all the screams, the suffering, all that life being painfully drained away, down the very project she's staking everything on, the realization of her dreams, spending its every waking moment in pain- I really, really don't know if she'd be able to handle it. She's done a lot of horrible stuff, sure, but she's not without some conscience, and this is all a way of realizing her dreams. Sure, she's making a living superweapon, but she's also doing what she had set out to do all those years ago when she was a student at the blueberry academy, making a perfect cookie that never crumbles, that will endure forever. If she could hear all of this, see it for herself, know how much suffering all these souls are in... I can't help but imagine she'd just burn it all to the ground. Stop it dead in its tracks. Try to pretend the horrible things she saw never happened.

Because as it stands, I think she's only carrying all of this forward because she's no more than a supervisor. Other people are doing the dirty work for her, people who are shown to have been losing their sanity over the process, and while she does seemingly plan very meticulously, she's never actually present. She's never shown admiring "her" handiwork (quotation marks because she really doesn't do much here herself), like it's all a means to and end.

I really, really think it would break her a bit to really see just how bad it is. Unlike a certain someone, who is loving every. Second. Of it.

... christ this update got dark.

[in-a-bucket]

god i just love fangans so much man. seeing people coming together to create something inspired by something they're all passionate about, seeing everyone have different takes and ideas on a similar concept is just so cool and amazing and i hope people never stop making fangans or if they are in the middle of making one they don't give up, because i love them and i know thousands of other people love them too :D