#still getting used to drawing them but I wanted to mix their original and live action apperances

[auryborealis]

POV: the Straw Hat crew sees you smile for the first time and they all develop a crush on you

[blessed-by-saturn]

Astro Observations (1)

These notes are really just based off of my observation of my personal placements as well as people close to me. This is a mix of natal placements and synastry placements

Natal Placements

Cancerian energy if underdeveloped can be domineering emotionally sometimes. A lot of the cancer dominant people around me that are underdeveloped tend to be emotionally unstable and rely on the people around them to ground them.

Wherever Neptune and Pisces is placed in your birth chart is where you experience the most projections/expectations from other people, but also where it is hardest for you to fully conceptualize about yourself. For example; having Pisces energy in the 7th and 8th house can cause you to experience people making assumptions about your relationship status or how you perform in the bedroom or manage money. At the same time you yourself may have a lack of understanding in how you present yourself as a potential partner or if you’re good in the bedroom or handling money.

Leo Risings in 20-29 degrees tend to attract attention much like other Leo risings, however they are more reserved and I feel more intimidating than a Leo Rising at 0-19 degrees.

Scorpio IC/4th house does indicate some issues with the home life, however if it’s healthy it’s not as bad as it could be. I think that some Scorpio 4th housers may feel an obligation to their family [doesn’t have to be strictly blood related]. They’re also pretty secretive about their home life and about personal information in general.

12th house dominant people tend to get bullied and outcasted a lot, seemingly for no reason. However they are one of the most authentic crowds out there. If I had one message to say to them it would be this: The people that are meant to be in your circle will prove themselves to you.

Eros and Aphrodite Natal Placements

I feel it’s important to note that I am inexperienced sexually, and that some of these placements can indicate why.

Eros [433] opposite Ascendant natally can cause you to feel like there’s two wolves inside of you /jk. Essentially, your sexual personality/fantasies differ from your regular image. For example, I have Eros in Scorpio in the 7th house. This translates as me desiring very intense and intimate sex with one special person that checks off all my boxes. I’m very particular and picky about who I want my first time to be with. It’s opposing my Ascendant in Taurus which causes me to come off as very laid-back and “nonchalant”, enjoying the finer things in life and going with the flow.

Eros [433] conjunct Sun both in the sign of Scorpio natally can cause you to be near constantly thinking about sexual fantasies. For me specifically with it being in the 7th house, I have the sexual fantasies of being with that one special person and engaging in various... activities.

Eros [433] square Moon can come as feeling guilty or just complex in general about your sexual nature. I used to be envious of the women who were sexually expressive because I didn’t know how to emulate that energy, especially being a virgin in a sexual society. The challenge to overcome with this placement is essentially creating your own form of sensuality/sexuality in a way that makes you feel comfortable and confident.

Eros [433] in the 7th house conjunct Sun in the 6th house can cause people in the workplace or daily living areas to project their sexual fantasies onto you. I’ve had many people get flirtatious or handsy with me or make comments that honestly were not appropriate. But they all still have to do with the theme of “If we were together I’d do xyz with you./ You look like the type of partner who’d be into these things.” etc. which aligns with the 7th house theme of partnerships.

Aphrodite [1388] in 6th house can cause you to attract strong connections either romantically or platonically originating from the work place or routinely/daily living locations. I’ve also noticed that my work ethic is what tends to draw these people in or one of the main things that they compliment outside of looks.

^This is another one of those placements that I’ve noticed people get very flirtatious and needy with me - more specifically women. There are a lot of women who claim me as their “girlfriend/wife” and get very physically touchy with me (i.e. sitting on my lap, giving me unprompted massages, forcing me to touch them in intimate places).

^I personally believe this is because Eros [433] and Aphrodite [1388] are conjunct each other, as well as my Sun, very tightly and oppose my Ascendant. I also feel that because these asteroids are in Scorpio and, like I said prior, I’m very selective with who I want to give myself to intimately these people are literally sitting on the sidelines waiting for me to give them the greenlight on having sex.

Aphrodite [1388] square Moon can cause the native to be emotionally repressive with their crushes or to be neglectful of themselves in general. While I personally do not neglect my self care, I do tend to get emotionally withdrawn from people I have crushes on. I also can confirm that I feel I can’t fully embrace my beauty and that I have to downplay it in fear of garnering negative attention from women. However, as I get older I start to care less and less about outside opinion.

Synastry Placements

Having your Venus in someone’s 2nd house can cause the Venus person to be more of a gift giver. It’s not necessarily expensive things, but more of those “I saw this and it made me think of you so I got it.”

Having someone’s ascendant in your 5th house does not always indicate sexual/physical attraction. I personally feel more comfortable around the ASC person, like I can be more carefree and embrace my inner-child without being judged. The ASC person may also feel as though they can relax easier, but seem to be less likely to join in the antics every time.

Having your sun in someone’s 3rd house can make for fun and stimulating conversations. As the sun person, I tend to be the one doing the talking, initiating the conversations, and trying to get the house person to think outside the box. The house person is a good, active listener [usually], and contributes to the conversation in a way that makes me feel like I can talk forever. Yapper x Listener dynamic if you will. The House person feels as though they can communicate freely without being judged, and that the flow of conversation is pretty chill. There’s pretty open-minded discussions that go on with this placement

Having your ascendant in someone’s 9th house can be the Ascendant person teaching the House person new ways of thinking and introducing them to new philosophies. Alternatively, the House person helps the Ascendant person to evolve and grow through their own personal philosophy by prompting them with questions that forces them to reflect.

Having your Juno in someone’s 12th house can make you feel slightly obsessive over them. The love you have for the 12th house person is pure but all-consuming. You can be dismissive of the House person’s flaws because they make you feel so good and happy. However, the 12th house is also the house of hidden enemies, so when the connection starts to fall apart and the rose tinted glasses are off you start to feel like you were deceived or betrayed by the 12th house person, and possibly vice versa.

^ The 12th house person typically feels relaxed in the Juno person’s presence, depending on chart layouts, like they can be their true authentic self and the Juno person won’t judge or criticize them. The 12th house person can burned themselves by trying to live up to perceived expectations of the Juno person

[justheblueberry]

handbinding of A Study in Scarlette by kittebasu

There are people who want to live forever, and then there is Shinichi, who just wants to live a little longer than this.

this bind has been in my head since i first read the fic like, three years ago. i dreamed up so many ideas for it, for so long, and now it's finally done! the typeset was actually done in early 2022, back when i was still using google docs, but it went through a few iterations because i was just. so. fiddly. with every aspect of this book. it needed to be perfect (as close to perfect as i, an amateur bookbinder out of my depth, can get) and it had to be absolutely over the top, to reflect the insane amount of love and care that the author put into the fic itself.

the first time i read this fic, i barely knew what detective conan was, much less all of the intricate plot details; i was just along for the ride, but by the end i was completely invested. i went back and watched through the anime as well as a few movies (it took me six months) and then read the fic again. and then a few more times. kaishin and the world of dcmk has utterly gripped me. it's 100% this fic's fault and i love it so, so, much.

i went through a few iterations of visual designs and i'm really happy with the little details i managed to squeeze in.

the entire color scheme is based around red, because 1) it's a murder mystery, 2) for scarlette shinamoto (and the title of the fic as well as the original holmes novel it references), and 3) the irony of "lady red" actually being red. the secret fourth reason is that i think red/gold is a super sexy color combo.

i sewed the textblock with red thread to reference holmes' "scarlet thread of murder".

another detail i love is the five yen coin bookmark, it was one of my first ideas and it turned out even better than i thought.

i wanted the endpapers to evoke a sense of the white marbled floor of the ballroom, with the glow-in-the-dark kaitou kid caricature being the luminol on the floor, and the little pops of red looks like blood that's been mixed in. i lucked out in that the other side of the endpaper was like a lavender-purpley color, i like to think of it as a little wink wink nudge to the color of the actual Lady Red.

the chapter pages got a few reworkings, but i'm happy with the illustrations i ended up doing for each of them. the chapter titles are one of my favorite things about the fic, each one has so much meaning packed into it and flows so beautifully, and i wanted to put as much care into making them pop as possible.

the cover was a linocut carving i designed and carved, which i then printed onto the bookcloth, and ironed on htv on top.

i also threw in a couple of my drawings of my favorite scenes.

this is getting way too long, so i'll end it here. i'll have a separate post detailing the process every step of the way, if anyone wants to take a closer look. this fic is kind of directly responsible for getting me into fanbinding, so it's safe to say it altered the course of my life. i now spend way too much time (and money) looking at book stuff.

kittebasu, if, somehow, you see this and would like an author copy, i would be honored to make one and ship it to you; i would be overjoyed to gift you with any art i have the ability to make, because the fics you wrote have irreversibly altered my brain chemistry, and being able to give back in any capacity would be a dream. (thank you.)

a few postscripts:

i am not selling any copies of this fic. partially because i believe in the gift economy of fandom as well as firmly keeping fanbinding a hobby that will stay unmonetized, but also because it took me months (years, if we are counting when i first finished the typeset) to finish this and i do not have the strength.

however, if you are also a fan of this fic and would like a copy, i honestly, fervently, encourage you to give fanbinding a try! renegade publishing and its discord server are an absolutely wonderful and free resource. i knew nothing about bookbinding and had zero materials when i first started, but i've learned so much thanks to the lovely people there. if you're still apprehensive about getting started, i'd be willing to share my typeset of this fic as well as answer any questions about the making of this book if you DM me.

[lailoken]

Hi! If you don’t have the capacity to answer questions like this thats totally okay but I was wondering if you have any thoughts/resources on house cleansing rituals? My family and I are soon moving into the home my parents will likely live in for the rest of their lives, and I’m feeling drawn to consecrate the space with some cleansing and protection magic but unsure of where to start. We are of Irish and Danish descent living on Coast Salish land, I’m sure there’s some rich folk magic I could draw from but I have no teachers or guides to show me the way! I deeply admire your work and appreciate any advice you might offer :) Thank you!

Hello there, and I'm sorry it's taken me so long to respond! I've got a whole bunch of messages I've been meaning to respond to.

I definitely get that urge to "magically nest" into a new home.

I'll start by addressing the cleansing aspect of your question. When it comes to a new home (or really, any new space or item that you're going to be exposing yourself to energetically over time) there is often an urge to cleanse in some way, which is understandable. However, I encourage you to check in with yourself and your intuition of the space, asking if it feels truly pertinent to cleanse it. I bring this up because, some things—and homes especially, in my opinion—can actually benefit from and be strengthened by the accrual of energy in them. For instance, sometimes you move into a place, and it just feels gross and wrong on a visceral level, as if it was covered in "energetic grime." In a situation like that, cleansing makes total sense, as the goal is to remove that influence so that you can begin to imbue it with energy of your own. However, other times, you move into a place and immediately feel the warmth, love, and care that has been steeped into it, in which case, why would you want to remove such a rich and supportive energetic foundation from which to build upon?

As an example, when my in-law's first moved into the house we later inherited, it was shortly after the house's first tenant had died within it. She was a very kind and funny old woman who really liked my in-laws and helped make it possible for them to buy it following her death. For the first ten years or so of living in the house, they still strongly felt a sense of her caring nature present in the home, which makes sense given how long she lived there. What's more, though, any time my in-laws would argue or struggle with tension, they would begin to smell cigarette smoke and hear distant country music they couldn't find the source of (two things the original homeowner loved and indulged in daily), which would always lead to them laughing and patching things up. The energetic residue left by this woman could theoretically have been cleansed upon moving into the house, but I believe that would have been a sad loss for the house and the family.

With that little rant out of the way, let's say that you do have reason to want to cleanse the home and address that approach. There are many different ways one could use to energetically cleanse a building, but the main ones that seem worth mentioning here include Fumigations, Washes, and Recitations.

Purifying Fumigations involve invoking the excisive virtues present in a given material or mix of materials (such as Rue, Sage, or Vervain) and then burning said materials to release the ritually activated and aligned virtues of excision to aid you in cleansing the space. Practically speaking, this looks like wafting smoke through the home.

A Cleansing Wash involves steeping the excisive virtues of pertinent materials (such as Salt and Chile Pelper) into a solvent base (such as Water, Vinegar, or Oil), invoking and aligning said virtues ritually, and then using the homemade solution to physically cleanse the space (using the different solvents depending on your need—i.e. use oil for polishing wood, use vinegar for cleaning glass, etc.)

Recitations of Banishment involve walking through the house reciting or reading words of power aloud that call for the expulsion of unwanted energies or entities. This method will generally benefit from a close connection to the source material and/or a close working relationship with one's spirit allies.

In many cases, a mixture of two or more of these approaches will be used in conjuctjon to purify a home.

As for domestic protection magic, that's another subject with innumerable approaches. Additionally, most useful domestic protection magic I've encountered seems to focus on particular facets of protection (which is why my home is layered with multiple wards). As such, I struggle a little bit to think of a concise and clear way to discuss this aspect of your question. However, here are some links to previous posts in which I've discussed things like:

Protecting the home from Intruders

Protecting the home from Storms

Protecting the home from Fire

Protecting the home from Malefic Forces

A Generalized Property Ward

Additionally, I believe that developing a close working relationship with the spirirt of one's home—called a Genius Domi in my tradition—is probably one of the best ways to establish magical guardianship of the house.

[forgettingcrowbin]

Some more dragons

To give more context to people! Yes this story sounds very silly but I was trying to make things work with the tons of headcanons I have lol

Geno (sky/ice), Fresh(rain/ice), and Error(night/ice) are all half-brothers (they share the same mother who is now dead) They live in the rainforest together between the Nightwing and Rainwing territories

Geno is sickly and often needs a scarf or blankets to make him feel warmer. He sustained injuries to an attack to the rainforest and Error found out he was an animus by wishing his brother to stay alive

Fresh is a very clever hybrid who can change the colors of his scales but not as well as full Rainwings. He tends to stay either bright colors mixed with his original white

Error learned he was an animus after an attack on the rainforest, he's best friends with Ink despite always getting mad at the happy-go-lucky rainwing (Error is cousins with Cross but that'll like never get brought up or found out by any of them)

Ink is just a regular Rainwing but is friends with the hybrids out of the village so people thing he's a little funky. He's an artist through and through and Error gives him a giant brush that makes his drawings come to life using his animus powers

Dream and Nightmare are both twin Nightwing/Sandwing princes (Nightmare got bullied too hard for being a "bastard prince" even though Dream is also one) Both are empaths and can feel other's emotions!

A massacre happens in the Sandwing Kingdom when the royal family (trying to stay pure) tries to kill Nightmare when Dream isn't around. Nightmare escapes, angry that his brother got better treatment than him, while killing many other dragons in the process

Blue is a royal Seawing guard in training even though his parents wanted him to be a cook and Red is a Skywing who is captive by the queen since he was experimented on by his father (scientist)

Reaper is an outcasted Nightwing due to accidentally killing people with just a touch (animus curse by xgaster) He uses it to his advantage with his Nightwing powers by being able to prophecy someone’s future or find parts of their past. He is known as this Reaper judge that gets sent for when giant disputes happen and the Queens of the tribes need to figure out who to punish. When he meets Geno, who is also animus touched to not die, Reaper is fascinated that he is able to touch Geno

The broad animus stuff is due to Xgaster (Nightwing who is part of a split tribe situation with eviler Nightwings lol) trying experiments on Nightwing eggs to make their dragonets stronger. I imagine its a group still like wanting to be better than every other tribe and resides in the old Nightwing palace

Cross is a Nightwing who is gonna stop his dad in the big storyline

MURDER TRIO! All of them are dragons that were outcasted and seen as incompetent or needed a home. They pledged their allegiance to the Sandwing prince Nightmare and promised to help him take the throne.

Dust is an animus prince in the Icewing tribe that went crazy after killing his siblings, he tends to be calm but becomes crazed easily and can kill easily with his powers (although he tends not to use them anyways and is just a very good fighter). He created a cloak to calm himself down and he tends to keep it over himself. He actually ran away because the judge (Reaper) was going to be sent to their tribe

Killer is a Rainwing that was captured and trained to fight in the now shut down Skywing arena. He was used as target practice for his changing scales and they even burned a target onto his chest so they'd always be able to see him even when his scales changed

Horror is a bigwings who watched all his sibs die during a famine in the Mud kingdom (due to drought). Older Mudwings tried to kill him for being a waste of space but he escaped and joined Nightmare.

[rubykgrant]

At last, finished up the re-draw! Here is the line-art, flat colors, solid shading, the original, and two versions of the final with more shading/details (one version is mostly the "regular" tones for their colors with a little bit of a cool tint in the shading, and the second version is a little more ambient, with the implication of softer light in the dark). All done in MS Paint with a mouse, but with practice, I got better with making the shapes look nice and solid

(also, here is a slightly re-written/adjusted fic that goes with it. Enjoy~)

4 holiday parties in one week was entirely too many. Next year, they would have to plan this out better, space it out.

It didn’t help that Kai always wanted to throw a rager, regardless of the occasion, so her parties felt like 3 combined together. Donut also liked to go all-out, but thankfully his parties were a little more coherent (usually because somebody like Wash or Doc reigned him in). The problem with a Sarge party was his obsession with making it “old fashioned”, which evidently meant forcing everybody out on a hike in the woods to find a tree (not once but TWICE they had seen bears… no thanks). Their other friends were a little bit more chill with the get-togethers, but it was still just one thing after another.

Grif and Simmons stumbled into their apartment, after a Tucker-hosted party (which was wonderfully calm since Junior was there). With lots of groaning and grumbling mixed in, they went through the motions of taking off their jackets and shoes, changing into comfortable clothes, brushing their teeth, and AT LAST flopping down into bed.

“It is too GODDAM FRIGGIN’ COLD,” Grif proclaimed, making a big show of shivering next to Simmons. “I don’t care what you say, we need to leave the heat on when we go out-”

“NO, Grif. Heating the house while nobody’s home wastes energy,” Simmons argued back, not even bothering to open his eyes.

“That’s BS. Invent us some kinda perpetual energy device, so we’ll have unlimited power, and then I can come home to a nice and toasty bed!”

“I’ll get riiiiiiight on that…” Simmons rolled over, snuggling up against Grif, eyes still shut. At first, Grif was annoyed; because he hadn’t been able to pull the covers up yet (cold though they may be), and NOW he had a lanky nerd draped over him.

Then Simmons started kissing him.

“… no fair,” Grif mumbled, because what was he supposed to do, NOT kiss Simmons back? NOT wrap his arms around Simmons? NOT enjoy the way it felt, when Simmons pressed his body close, hooked his lower legs with Grif’s, and ran his finger across Grif’s scalp?

After a long day- heck a long week in the middle of a long MONTH, they were both tired, and perfectly satisfied for this to be what it was, and not turn into more (that would require several extra steps, and it wasn’t as if they hadn’t been enjoying themselves in that regard fairly often. This, kissing and embracing, was perfect… and exactly what they needed right now).

This was their first year living together, just them. They had shared the larger apartment place with everybody else for a couple of years, but when it seemed that their lives really were going to stop being so STUPIDLY DANGEROUS, it felt like they might be ready to have a place of their own. Be big boys, and all that. It was a lot different than every other time in Grif's life when he made a really big change. The fact that he wasn't trying to escape from a bad situation was definitely a switch... and it was nice. It was just nice, knowing he wasn't "leaving everything behind" even if he was moving forward, he wasn't going to lose his friends or his sister even if he didn't see them every single day. It was nice knowing he was where he wanted to be, and was WITH somebody he wanted, who wanted HIM.

Simmons could feel the heat from Grif's body seep into his own, and this just increases the warmth between them. One of the many benefits of sharing a bed together. As they move around, getting comfortable, Simmons’ shirt rides up, exposing his tummy to the still chilly apartment air… and it takes an incredible amount of self-control on Grif’s part not to tickle Simmons mercilessly (in the back of his mind, Grif is very proud over how mature he is).

Instead, he uses his feet to kick the covers up, closer and closer, inch by inch, until he finally can grab them. It wraps both men in a momentarily FREEZING cocoon, but then the beautiful heat between them spreads through the rest of the bed. Soon, the heating will kick-in, and air will be warm as well.

“I hate when you do that,” Grif said with a sigh.

“Silly me, I thought you LOVED when I did that…” Simmons nuzzled against Grif’s cheek.

“I hate that you can just end an argument by kissing me,” the smile Grif had on his face told an entirely different story. "I used to just flip you off and pull a Bugs Bunny mind-trip to mess you up, and I'd win... but now? You have a kissy-kissy cheat code,"

Simmons snorted at that.

“Oh shut up, you do the EXACT same thing to me. You know how to push all my buttons and pull my strings… and there’s nothing I can do about it,” Simmons told him.

“Yeah? Why’s that?” Grif asked.

“Because I’m totally, utterly, helplessly, hopelessly in love with you…” Simmons said in a ho-hum, no big deal tone of voice. Like he was stating a fact. Water was wet. 2 plus 2 equals 4.

“GOD, you jerk, I love you too~” Grif said, his voice now shaking with uncontrollable giggles. This wasn’t fair either, the way Simmons made him feel like a little middle-shooler who was twitterpated, making his insides go all squirmy and fluttery… he still remembers, a few years back, when he had been trying to convince himself that a romantic relationship with Simmons was never gonna happen, and even if it did, Simmons probably wouldn’t be worth it; he was too awkward, they were BOTH too selfish and mean, it just wouldn’t work (this was a weak lie he told himself, in hopes of of snapping himself out of all the YEARNING).

Now they were together… and Simmons was affectionate, doting, and just amazingly intuitive. He loved knowing that he made Grif happy, loved being the one who gave Grif everything he needed. Grif discovered he could share his sweet side, and loving Simmons brought out the best in him. They still had their friendship, they teased and joked with each other… but now there was more. So much MORE, and it was so GOOD.

After they both laughed and finally settled down, Grif kissed Simmons again, this time on the forehead.

“Hey, remember that thing we planned to do, back when we were kinda being subtle about it? The thing if nobody figured out we were together after a year?” Grif asked.

“Mmm, I think they all figured it out by now... but, I remember we had a couple ideas. Which one were you thinking of? Put a picture of us kissing up on a billboard, or do song dedications to each other over the radio, or-” when they initially started dating, they wanted to keep it a secret for bit… and then it became a game, waiting to see when the others would notice.

“The New Year Kiss thing,” Grif provided the answer to his own question. The idea for that was, if nobody realized they were dating until the end of that year, Grif and Simmons would kiss on New Year’s Eve, in front of everybody, and then inform the group that they were several months into the relationship, just for the shock. However, they had finally decided to just share the news with everybody, starting with Tucker.

“Oh, yeah… haha, what about it?”

“When all the Christmas crap is done, WE should throw our own party. A Happy New Year party. We’re a real couple now, so we can do all that fun host stuff, right?” Grif turned on his side, so they fit together more closely.

“Sure, we can do that… you can finally gather all your favorite party snacks together,” Simmons said encouragingly.

“Hell yeah…”

“And I can show them how to have fun without going bonkers…” Simmons yawned, and Grif let out one short chuckle (he knew “having fun” for Simmons was creating an itinerary and making a detailed list of party games).

After a while, they shared more I-love-you's and a good-night... ironically, Grif doesn't drift off right away. He keeps thinking about how nice this has been, and how it has given him hope for more; the idea of "settling down" with somebody had never been too appealing when he was younger. His own insecurities and bat habits, plus having rotten taste in "romantic partners", did not equal an interest in long-term committed relationships. Now, Grif is pretty confident that he wants to be with Simmons for the rest of his life, and doesn't even question that Simmons feels the same.

Their apartment is nice, but maybe... maybe they could find an actual HOME together. Or build one. Could they build one? Or like- design it, then hire people to build it? Yeah, that would probably work better (if they tried to do it themselves, Sarge would "help", and then they'd wind up living in a replica of Red Base in some neighborhood somewhere). A home that was theirs, in a place they could pick, where their friends and family could visit... the word "family" echoes in Grif's head, and he's almost surprised by how NOT scary it is. He and Simmons- they could do that, together.

Well, not right NOW. Not tomorrow, or next week, or next month... but someday. Maybe next year.

[the-secret-keeper]

Part 2 to the Obey me X Twisted Wonderland / Barbatos X Reader

This was requested by @babyxwolfiex glad you liked the original!

TW: Talk of malnutrition, talk of extortion, though not described in detail the readers leg is messed up in the beginning, and angry demons attempting to maul a crow.

Enjoy!

"Very wisely put." Diavolo complimented, as Mammon moved to help me stand, while Barbatos bent down to properly heal my leg.

"You'll show us, darling?"

"Of course." I nodded to Barbatos. "Plus," I glanced at Satan, "I think he'll be the most interesting to watch react. I can guess how the rest of you will react." Satan raised an eyebrow to me, but said nothing, as they all stood to follow me.

"If you would like a tour of the school, I would be more than happy to-" Belphegor glared at him, causing Crowley to shut up.

"You are all more than welcome to come along as well." I extended an offer to the other Dorm Leaders as I walked towards the door. "But, when we get there, you may want to remain a few paces back." I paused, looking around the room. "You are all, unbelievable." I sighed.

"What?" Leona asked in an annoyed voice.

"For someone with such a presence, you all seem to forget him easily." I shook my head. "We will pick up Malleus before we head to my dorm."

"What?"

"For the heir to the throne of a kingdom, you sure do seem unconcerned that you completely forgot about him, Dire Crowley." I scolded him, causing him to sheepishly back off. "Besides, I want him and Dia to meet. I think they'd be good friends." I brushed off everyone looking at me, before taking the hand of my boyfriend and leading all the demons, dorm leaders, and the headmaster out of the conference room and to the mirror room.

Once we retrieved Tsunotarou, we made our way to the Ramshackle mirror, but I stopped everyone short.

"Look, I need to set some ground rules, because knowing my friends, they're still there." I sighed, glancing at the ground. I looked back up. "They have permission to be there, no you may not act as though they do not own the place, they practically live there with me when I'm not at their dorms. Grim, will be Grim, just appease him, it makes things easier. No he is not named after the money." I pointed at Mammon who had raised his hand. He put it down. "No fire magic, critique the house and you will be given to one of the dorm leaders and they will decide what to do with you. Despite everything, he does have his name on everything, so no you may not kill Crowley." I stated before muttering, "at least not before I can put everything in Crewel or Trein's name."

"Can I violently maim him?" Satan asked, sensing where this was going. I narrowed my eyes for a moment.

"I'll think about it. Oh, and Satan." He nodded. "Don't, run anyone over. Yes, you may take pictures, no, you may not keep him unless Lucifer says yes, anything else you may want to do with him you will need to ask him. Yes he can talk, he can also fly and use fire magic."

"What?" Asmo asked.

"Trust me, it's necessary." I promised before taking a deep breath, and walking through the mirror. "Welcome to Ramshackle dorm." I said, gesturing to my dorm. There was no noise, so I turned, only to see them all in varying forms of shock.

Asmodeus, he seemed to be gripping Satan's arm with all his strength, or at least a lot of it. I couldn't figure out whether or not it was because of the looks, or the condition.

Satan wasn't faring much better, but he was more angry than shocked, fists clenched so hard his knuckles were white and I was worried he'd begin drawing blood soon. His pupils were so dilated, I wondered how he could see.

Mammon was seemingly experiencing a mix of emotions. His eyes read as sad and worried, but his body language read as anger. Either way, he had grabbed my hand and wasn't letting go, though he wasn't hurting me.

Lucifer, once out of his trance, immediately began tearing Crowley a new one. Despite his anger, he was being at least somewhat diplomatic about it. Ranting off about health and safety codes, about endangering lives, and about how irresponsible he was being.

Leviathan passed out. Legitimately. Though I shouldn't be too surprised, I guess, since he's so similar to Idia and that's how he reacted the first time he saw my dorm. He probably put together very quickly that, when I have WiFi, it's shitty and isn't very often.

Beel, looked like he wanted to cry out of worry, but he was doing something much more important. Holding back Belphie, who had immediately lunged for Crowley upon seeing my living conditions. Beel has quick reflexes, and is very good at knowing what his twin is about to do, so it makes sense.

Barbatos, is hard to read as always, but judging by the fact that he's clenching his fists and glaring daggers at Crowley, he's furious. He's likely only holding back because Diavolo hasn't let him go loose yet. I squeezed his hand reassuringly, to which he latched onto my shoulders, quietly apologizing for not coming sooner.

Speaking of Diavolo, he was much closer to Beel in reaction, but was handling it more like Lucifer. He wasn't yelling, in fact he was trying to calm Lucifer down, but he was still berating Crowley for how he's been treating me.

"There you are!" I looked at my door.

"Boys!" I smiled. "Guys, these are my friends here. Meet Ace and Deuce, they live in Riddles dorm known as Heartslabyul. Jack is in Leona's dorm, Savanaclaw. Epel is in Pomefiore, which is run by Vil. And Sebek,"

"Is in the same dorm as my Young Master, Diasomnia!"

"I was getting there, Sebek." I sighed. "Boy, these are my friends and boyfriend from where I used to live. Barbatos, Diavolo, Lucifer, Mammon, Leviathan, Satan, Asmodeus, Beelzebub and Belphegor." I finished introductions.

"Don't forget the Great Grim!"

"I could never, I was just saving the best for last." I assured Grim as he flew to in front of me. Satan, upon seeing Grim, calmed down immensely, and almost grabbed him out of the air. I figured that would happen. "Isn't that right, Satan? Only the best for the Great Grim." He nodded enthusiastically, causing Grim to laugh in a high and mighty tone and fly over to him.

"Good job." Barbatos whispered.

"I knew that would happen, it's why I gave him those extra rules." I whispered back.

"It's like there's 9 more Malleus'." Ace whispered fearfully.

"You are an idiot, Trappola." I scolded. "All of my friends, Tsunotarou included, are amazing. I mean, these nine are probably even more than what you're used to handling."

"They can't be more scary than Overblots." Epel agreed with me.

"Well," I said in a high-pitched tone, remembering the time Lucifer tried to kill me, Satan tried to kill me, Leviathan hurt me, Asmo hurt me, and Belphie did kill me, "I wouldn't, say, that." I laughed awkwardly.

"What are Overblots?" I froze at Diavolo's stern tone. He doesn't usually take that tone with me. I slowly turned, seeing all the demons staring at me. "Mc, what are Overblots?"

"It's, not,"

"It's a monster that forms when a person overuses their magic, becomes overwhelmed by negative emotions, and loses control of their entire being." Riddle surmised. "The Dorm Leaders, aside from Kalim, but including his Vice Dorm Leader Jamil, have all Overblotted. Mc is the one who saved us." The air grew very tense.

"You really are a therapist, huh?" Mammon tried to joke.

"I suppose. If only I got paid like one. Then I wouldn't have to rely on Crowley for food. Though, admittedly, I do often attend dinners and parties at other dorms, so it's not as though I'm completely deprived of food."

"You haven't eaten in three days."

"True, but there weren't any Unbirthday Parties during that time, and I didn't want to intrude on anyones dinner, seeing as I wasn't invited. I spend all of the little money that I do earn fixing this place up and making sure Grim is taken care of." I explained. "He's a very pampered kitty."

I felt Mammon let go of my hand. Mammon picked up his younger brother, still passed out on the floor, and handed him to Asmo, who complained but complied. Now the only demon without something holding him back, he lunged for Crowley.

"Mammon sit!" I commanded, causing him to fall immediately to the ground. I managed to get out of Barbatos's grip and approached Mammon.

"C'mon!"

"Mammon. You and I both know you would've killed him."

"Only a little."

"For most people, death is irreversible, dummy." I flicked his forehead. "I'm fine, really. Besides, knowing you lot, I'll be out of here before morning."

"You're exactly right." Lucifer grabbed my arm.

"Off." I commanded, and he let go.

"You're going to come back with us."

"This will not be an argument." I blinked at Barbatos, before nodding.

"But I will be able to come back, right?"

"Of course!" Diavolo guaranteed. "Now that we know where you went and how to get here, you can come and go as you please."

"Thank you."

"Can we keep him?" I laughed at Satan's question.

"No."

"Can we keep him?" I asked Barbatos, who looked at Diavolo.

"I see no reason why we can't have a marvelous animal such as this at the palace."

"Palace?!" I flinched at the outburst of the dorm leaders and first years.

"Did Crowley not tell you?" I asked the dorm leaders, not surprised by the first years confusion.

"It seems to have slipped my mind."

"Lucifer, please slap him." He smirked, moving towards Crowley, who began running away. "These men are demons, and Dia is Lord Diavolo, the next King of the Devildom. Barbatos is his butler. The other seven are the Seven Deadly Sins and the other seven rulers of hell." Malleus nodded sagely, as though he knew the entire time, though I had never actually introduced him to anyone.

"How did you meet these people?" Deuce asked, his voice going up in pitch as he frantically looked between all of them and me.

"Oh, they kidnapped me and I spent a year in the Devildom as an exchange student! I came back though. Could never really go back to normal life after that, and, of course, I couldn't really be separated from Barbatos for too long." A very loud resounding slap, followed by a thud rang out during the bout of stunned silence that covered the group.

"At this point, nothing about you shocks me. You could tell me you're an angel, and I'd believe it." Jack sighed.

"I'm not an angel, though I am descended from the reincarnated soul of one, and I know three."

"I believe it." He nodded.

"We should have a celebration once we return to the Devildom."

"Ooh! A party!" Asmo dropped Levi, who had begun to regain consciousness. "I'm down! Always ready for some fun!"

"What kind of celebration?" Lucifer asked, adjusting his glove as he returned victorious in his quest to slap Crowley.

"A festival!"

"Sounds fun, can my friends from here come?"

"Of course! The more the merrier!" Diavolo insisted. I beamed.

"You're all going to love hell!"

[lurkingshan]

Japanese QL Corner

ICYMI: There are so many Japanese qls airing weekly, so I’m going to start posting this little round up at the end of each week. Most of these shows are on Gaga and I highly recommend watching!

Tsukuritai Onna to Tabetai Onna 2

Besties, I screamed!!! We were blessed with episodes 9-12 of this fantastic second season this week, and we finally reached the moment we've been building toward for so long. I AM SO PROUD OF KASUGA AND NOMOTO. Amazing job using your words, ladies. And I loved the way they tied Kasuga's family plot in here, with her need to move giving her the motivation to finally tell Nomoto what she wants. Nomoto was ready for it, too, and already planning to confess on her own (still not over that adorable screamsqueal she let out after inviting Kasuga for Valentines dinner). I can't wait for them to buy a big house, invite Nagumo and Yako to live with them, and start their very own lesbian commune where every meal is amazing.

Chaser Game W

I did some investigating this week because the way these characters are written was just not making sense to me. And as it happens, not only is this show about women written by a male screenwriter, it was adapted from a het manga! Itsuki's character was originally a heterosexual man. Let me tell ya, this made a lot click into place for me. Trust a male writer to take a het romance about power dynamics, gender swap one of the characters to make it a gl, and fail to adjust the characterizations and plot for the completely different power dynamics and communication styles that would entail. It doesn’t explain all the issues with the writing, but it sure does explain a lot about the puzzling lack of feelings processing and communication between these two women. Despite that messiness, I will finish watching this one to support the ratings so we get more gls soon.

My Strawberry Film

What we got here is a love chain of pain. Chika loves Ryo, but Ryo loves Hikaru, and Hikaru is fixated on Minami. Everyone is pining and there is no way for everyone to get what they want. A classic high school angst set up, though admittedly not my favorite kind of story. I will continue to hope that Chika experiences an awakening and we end up with both a bl and a gl pair in this show. I did not expect them to find Minami that easily (or that she would be their peer), so I'm curious to see where they take the plot for this one.

Sukiyanen Kedo Do Yaro ka

Last week I said I was wary of them bringing Mizuki back into the mix to interfere in the relationship, and as expected I was irritated with the way the show used him in this week's episode. I like where that final conversation between Sakae and Soga ended up, but I didn't care for the way Mizuki was used to interfere. It felt like a retread of the last couple weeks, didn't accomplish anything new for those relationships, and just made Sakae seem kind of weak willed and immature. Sakae was not feeling confident about Soga's feelings because he had not communicated clearly, but every time Soga tried to talk to him, Sakae just stood there and let Mizuki get in the way. I would have liked to see him draw a firmer boundary with Mizuki and talk to Soga like an adult, but instead he was wavering through most of the episode and not giving Soga the chance to explain things. It was an annoying dynamic and I hope it's actually over. But of course, Mizuki hasn't left yet and the episode didn't allow us more than a brief happy moment before flashing forward to a breakup, so we're clearly in for more seesaw shenanigans before this ends.

Perfect Propose

I love this show, y'all. I already posted a little love note to this episode, which I thought was so smart and authentic in the way it depicted Hiro's ongoing struggles with work, his burnout, and his fear about moving on (also shoutout to this post from @befuddledcinnamonroll for a great overview on why the storytelling choices are so effective). And for an episode where Hiro and Kai shared only a couple scenes, it got a surprising amount of relationship development done, as Hiro became more aware of his growing feelings for Kai and Kai made his intentions and his boundaries clear. I love that he put the ball firmly in Hiro's court to decide what he wants and ask for it, and I am so looking forward to seeing Hiro run next week. If only I could get another six episodes, everything here would be perfect.

Ossan's Love Returns

I'll be honest, this show has been kinda wobbly for me in the back half. It feels like they put too many balls in the air and are not quite sure how to land them all. For one, I am just not nearly as invested in this Izumi/Kiku loveline as the show clearly wants me to be--I've been shipping Kiku x Moving On the whole time and was hopeful we may be finally getting there, but it just keeps coming back around. Takegawa's story seems to have gotten lost somewhere along the way, and I was so confused by some of the storytelling choices re: Kurosawa's plot this week that I had to convene @twig-tea and @my-rose-tinted-glasses, and our collective brain power still couldn't quite piece together the show's intent. I loved the first stretch of the episode with the whole squad assembling to puzzle through what they know about Chief's health woes and support him, but then they lost me with that goodbye video sequence immediately followed by a one month later psyche! moment. If they are not killing Kurosawa off (which I don't think they are) the very overwrought final scenes with him, Haruta, and Maki hit pretty weird. Having now seen the end scene that undercuts it all, it could be that it was meant to feel like comedic melodrama, but in the absence of any solid reassurance to the audience that the health threat was not real, that did not really land. All that said, I still love all of these characters and it's been a real delight to see Haruta and Maki settle into their married life, so I'm still very happy to be watching and looking forward to how they wrap up.

[wickerwax]

5 times outtake

This is the original first part of Five times Obi-Wan defended Quinlan with his words (and one time he skipped that step) when I was mucking about with having them meet properly earlier but then I started thinking about how that might shift other things and it didn't fit right anymore so I went back and wrote the one I actually used, which is very different and I like very much.

But I also still like this very much. And maybe one day I will go back and explore those changes but if you saw the size of my WIP list you would perhaps take pity on me (and give it a month or two).

Bruck sneered. “I don't know why you follow Oafy-Wan around when he’s obviously gonna wash out - what, are you too stupid to see how the Masters avoid him?”

Obi-Wan froze, in the middle of reaching for the door-pad to the hall.

Surely Padawan Vos wouldn’t fall for that – obviously he had been humouring the initiate who had helped him hide from a Master Nu on the warpath, and then struck up an unexpectedly wide-ranging friendship. (Obi-Wan would miss him when he got sent away, he thought, imagine adding another to his little family of crèchemates with this sort of timing. Typical.) If anyone was trailing after it was Obi-Wan, not Quinlan Vos.

“Jealous, Chun?” came Quinlan’s voice a moment later. “I think you should get your eyes checked, honestly.”

“I’m not jealous,” Bruck spat, and Obi-Wan didn't need to open the door to see the sour, scrunched up face he was making. He thought it looked menacing. (Obi-Wan thought it made him look constipated. Bant had almost thrown up laughing, and Mon Calamari didn’t even have a reflex for that.)

“Force, Chun,” Quin laughed, “I’m embarrassed for you, have you tried being less of a dickhead?”

Bruck made the tea-kettle sound that usually preceded throwing a punch. Obi-Wan hit the door-pad and rushed outside. Quinlan had caught Bruck’s fist in his hand and was laughing harder. “Dude, is that it? Someone’s been skipping his hand-to-hand.”

“He’s been skiving to do more ‘sabre katas. He thinks that’s what will draw in a Master.” someone said, cool and dry.

With a faint sense of alarm, Obi-Wan realised it had been him. He managed not to add, as though I’m not living proof that’s not the case.

They both looked over, Quin still grinning and Bruck going the sort of red-faced that clashed horribly with how pale his hair was. He yanked his hand free and stormed away without another word, which made it one of the friendlier interactions he’d had with him, of late.

Probably a good thing because he had several pointed comments locked and loaded, and he’d had a few moments recently where that sharpness of tongue had gotten him in trouble, even when he was trying to be good about the fighting – but no-one got to talk to Quinlan like that.

Unfortunately, it was kind of a long hallway, so they watched him leaving for a slightly awkward span of time. Quinlan snorted and draped himself over Obi-Wan’s shoulders, the smaller boy yelping as the unexpected weight threw him off balance. “Wanna get midmeal out in the lower levels?”

“Quin, get off, you oversized tooka!” His shove was as bitter and black as it was effectual (that is, it was mostly sweetened milk and Quinlan didn't budge an inch). “I have an assignment due, I can’t sneak out.”

“You? My favourite little nerd? Left an assignment until the night before?” He shifted and then Obi-Wan’s escape attempt became more serious as Quin scruffed a hand through his hair. “That doesn’t seem likely.”

“It’s - stop it, Quin! - true! I mixed up my dates!” He’d actually been trying to multi-task making plans with Quin and getting his notes cleaned up, and transposed some numbers wrong in his distraction. He just found it hard to look away when his friend was happy, and he smiled so bright, and the sun had turned his eyes all bronze-warm and layered and- and that was - it was normal to want to make your friends happy, that was all!

Suddenly overwhelmed by having Quinlan wrapped around him, he went limp, and rolled when Quin swore and dropped his dead weight. Popping back upright, he found his friend eyeing him with a worrying sort of consideration.

Obi-Wan drooped. “I heard what Bruck said.” he started, hoping to cut the whole thing short and save himself the trouble. “You don’t...you don’t have to spend time with me if you don’t want.”

Quinlan went very still. “What?” he said, sounding strangled.

Internally, he sighed, but obligingly hefted his feelings in a firm hand. “I said, it’s okay if you don’t want to spend time with me. You’re like...already a padawan. And really cool. And you know so many things, and you’re already going on missions and learning all this stuff that I’ll never – I mean, I just – IreallyadmireyoubutIdon’twanttoholdyouback-”

His friend relaxed entirely and strolled forwards to catch him back in a headlock, shaking him firmly. “I don’t do things I don’t want to do, Obes. And I literally just asked you to sneak out with me. ‘Fraid you’re stuck with me, my favourite little nerd.”

And if the headlock was a bit more like a really long hug, and Quin’s voice went soft at the end, and his whole self lit up gold and glowing tucked close beneath his arm – well, who was going to tell?

[eluxcastar]

Writing here because the type limit for comment in that one anon is FEOLSEKFMSEF.

NAUR, NOT THE FINAL LESSON NUH UH. If Arlecchino canonically doesn't die next patch, Brighella shouldn't too… BET. I do love the idea of a match between Cap and Brig! (wait, tf do we name her if she ain't "brighella" the fatui harbinger like it is the name she only knows) I mean, I did think about about her dying too… so tempting. I kinda ride that Acheron idea, some intense danceeee ehe… Her ult kinda has the Arle schemed and vice versa.

Angst material… hmmm, I did have an idea but it was only IF Arlecchino was centuries old but due to her taking over recently by canon that is scrapped because it is too inaccurate by the possibility lol. (It involved lowkey dying, and giving her heart to Arle then did get resurrected by the abyss order for them to use but she went rebellious and just lingers around Teyvat and the Abyss). A dance between the two, YES. I've always thought of Arlecchino being incapable of being romantic with Brighella beyond obsession. But, with all those fanfics I am consumed by sweet Arle with acts of service... Hahaha! We shall wait for the next patch on her potential emotional stance ykyk... Maybe she does care, despite having the reputation of discarding anything that does not benefit her. For me, Arlecchino is more of "You belong to me" kind of person not "You belong with me" Hold up gotta reread the lore stuff, after doing an assignment

Hehe Final Lesson inspiration I knew it was evil ALRIGHT it's on if Arle doesn't die I won't kill Brig either but if she does not only will I cry but I'll make it worse

I still call her Brighella, but she was also briefly called Matilda in my notes after the folksong Waltzing Matilda (what is she but a jolly swagman camped by a billabong (￣▽￣) wait I just realised she lives in Wangshuu Inn next to a body of water—she IS a jolly swagman camped by a billabong (°ロ°) !)

I also struggled so bad with the fact Arle is young because like, the timeline was screwing me over in my original plans (；￣Д￣) I was like WHY CAN'T YOU JUST BE OLD (to my friend if you're reading this GO AWAY it's NOT because of the accusations I like old people) it would've made my life easier, but alas miHoYo can never do such things. I would have loved that idea because it's so edible— SACRIFICING herself for Arle??? Then Arle having to grapple with potentially being responsible for Brig becoming an unwilling pawn of the abyss??? delicious (*/▽＼*)

I LOVE the dance between Acheron and Black Swan sm something about those vibes just fits them so well

Yk I agree with that philosophy that Arle is a "you belong to me" not a "you belong with me" kinda person. I also like the idea Arle is lowkey obsessed with her (and though it's subtle in OoR it's sprinkled in there ( ´ ꒳ ` ) ) I wish that it didn't get so long it lagged every word program I put it through because I think when I rewrite it, I'll lean into that more and draw out the time it takes for them to come to an agreement ( ◡‿◡ *) Possibly a mix of the two where her 'love' for Brighella is born of obsession, their relationship is probably in some manner unhealthy, but she may be able to learn to love her normally as well (I doubt either of these people are capable of a healthy or normal relationship LMAO)

Random fun fact to throw into this one: the differences in thinking about their relationship are also what prompted me to have her completely unable to understand why Brighella gave up so easily and generally have there be a disconnect between what Brig wants and what Arle wants for her (ノ*°▽°*) because those are two very different things

Second song idea for the two of them I had five seconds ago: Fire and the Flood by Vance Joy ♡( ◡‿◡ )

[refinedpet]

Ashley Game Log 2024

So for the past few years (since 2021 I believe) I've kept track of every game I play, beat and replay in a given year. And I've made a habit of ranking them at the end of the year.

At first, this was just for me to send to friends, then last year I posted it on Bluesky.

This year, it gets to live on Tumblr, because I'm now a full time resident here.

Unfortunately, I barely played any games this year. After June I kinda entered a permanently messy mental state and it slowed down my game playing considerably. Not to mention a lack of releases in any of my very favorite series. And the ones I did get, I was too poor to buy before the end of the year.

So, now I welcome you to, a ranking of every game I beat within the year 2024 (not counting some Replays because alot of this year was replaying old Pokémon games, but some will be counted)

I only beat 21 games this year (down from 27 last year)

#21 - Helltaker

So this game is extremely short, and free, so there's only so much you can complain about. But ultimately I found the writing in it a little too uncomfy and wish fulfillment-ey. That said, for a game made to get people to draw their OC's, excellent work on that, gotta hand it to you there.

#20 - Sonic Generations

I've been hearing for the last 10+ years of my life that this was the best Sonic game and- I'm sorry but what the fuck are you people on about.

The Classic Sonic stages just, aren't good. They control bad, I'd rather just be playing Classic Sonic. The 3D Sonic stages are pretty alright, some of them are enjoyable. And then the 2D Modern Sonic stages are what if the Classic Sonic Stages sucked less. All this wrapped up with mandatory bad filler levels, boss fights that across the board kinda suck, and a story that's so non existent that there just not being one would've been better.

All 3 play styles don't control well. Classic Feels worse than the Genesis games and Mania, 3D feels way too loose and slippery, and only the modern 2D stages I don't have any major complaints with on a control level.

For what it's worth I played the remaster in Sonic X Shadow Generations. We'll get to the other half of that game later

#19 - Pokémon X

So I beat Y when it released of course, and years later bought X. This was my third time trying to replay it, and my first time not getting so bored that I couldn't finish it (mostly because I was playing alongside my girlfriend at the time)

While I don't think X&Y are the worst Pokémon games, I do generally not enjoy them and I was shown more reasons why this time. I don't find the progression particularly fun, the story is still bad, and Mega Evolution, while a very neat and cool mechanic. Basically can't be used in the story!!!!! I wanted to use a Mega, but wasn't going to use a Kanto Starter again or Lucario. This means your options for a Mega within the story are. Gengar or Abomasnow. Every other Mega either the Pokémon itself or the Stone is post game. I might not like ORAS, but at least it let's me use the Generations gimmick. And hey at least it's not Dynamax.

I still had an alright time, but I wouldn't have been able to beat this game if not for playing alongside someone I enjoy talking with

#18 - Alleyway

This is Breakout on the Game Boy with Mario inside the paddle. It's pretty neat. It's just Breakout. It's fun for a bit

#17 - Class of '09

So last year, the re-up was in my top 3, and I super stand by that. However while It still has alot I enjoy, I don't think the structure of this game is as solid. It's on me for playing the sequel first, but I'd kinda rather just replay that. Still solid though

#16 - Mega Man: Dr.Wily's Revenge

This is the first Game Boy Megaman game! And I really enjoy it. The GB Megaman games are cool since they basically act as a mix between Megaman games. And as a first one on the GB, this is a solid, worthwhile entry. I think it's better than the original 3 Megaman games if I'm being honest

#15 - Fashion Dreamer

I kinda hate having this game so low, and while I do love alot about it, it unfortunately lacks the bulk of what made Style Savvy flow as a game. There's not really meaningful progression and you're just making outfits. Which is fun! Amd there's good stuff, but also I wish the game had more structure.

#14 - Pokémon Fire Red

So I've beat Leaf Green already, and this was my first time replaying the Kanto Remakes. I soured on them for various reasons overtime and was left thinking alot less of them. Like not having the new Johto evolutions in the story and not changing enough to make me wanna play them over the originals since those at least have janky charm. However, I still was able to enjoy this playthrough, it helps since I personally haven't touched Kanto in a while due to skipping Let's Go and my recent Heart Gold playthrough I paused right before Kanto. I also went very hard on planning out my team, and everyone's movesets which added alot of enjoyment for me.

#13 - Princess Peach Showtime

This game was a joy! When I was playing through it, it was exactly the kind of game I needed at the time. I don't think it's a masterpiece but I found just about every level some amount of fun, I adored the variety in gameplay and while I wish you didn't need to replay the whole level to get a collectable you missed, at the same time I never got annoyed while 100%ing it.

I love smaller scale games like this existing, it feels like playing a 3DS title in alot of ways

#12 - Mega Man II (GB)

This is if Megaman 2 was a good video game

#11 - Sonic Colors DS

This was an extremely good Sonic game. It was my first of the Rush Trilogy I played and really made me want to try out the first two. I probably like it more than Colours Wii at this point. This was also my Age Regression game for a bit, so perhaps my view on it is skewed

#10 - King of Fighters 2002

So I played alot of KoF and Fatal Fury games this year, but didn't wanna crowd the list with a bunch of fighting games I played less than an hour of and thought I'd just give it to the KoF game I actually have continued to keep playing. I'd tried both series before, but this year I kinda fell deeper into a fighting game obsession and this and Darkstalkers 3 were by far the ones I played the most. I'm still not good at fighting games though

#9 - Persona 5 Royal

Honestly I'm shocked this game is so high. I really don't like Persona. I'm an SMT girly. I think the games combat is boring, the themes are wishy washy and undercut themselves, I'm annoyed by at least something about most characters in the game, I hate how long you go without the meh gameplay. Stuff like Mishima's existence, and Kawakami's early Support Conversations, and lots of just really bad writing choices like making Ryuji a perv for no good reason when it doesn't make sense for his character, and Morgana running away arc, and how poorly the female characters are all handled.

I don't like so much about this game. I didn't have genuine fun until 50 hours into it.

And yet, the more time passes the more fondly I look back at this game. I spent half a year playing through it with my girlfriend at the time. And because I was with her, and getting to talk to her about it, and do voices for characters, it made me able to get through the long stretches I could've never done alone.

I don't just think of this as Persona 5, I associate it with alot of the running jokes we made throughout our playthrough that only we'll ever fully understand.

And being made to look at the game through this positive lense has just made me warm up to the parts of the game I was already somewhat inclined to like.

I love Futaba and Akechi as characters even fully within the context of the game. The rest of the party is all really good. I love Yusuke, and Ann and Makoto for their own reasons. Alot of the Heart to Heart only characters I enjoy! I adored doing No Good Tora's, and ended up looking forward to seeing more of alot of the side characters.

Not to mention the Royal exclusive Chapter is like. Actually good. It's if the game was actually good. And for what it's worth I extremely enjoyed Futaba's story in the main game.

Persona 5 went from a game I was bitter twords to a game I hold alot of hate for and yet also begrudgingly love aspects of.

I still don't think it's a good game, and if I tried playing it alone, I wouldn't have been able to enjoy it. But I'm glad I was able to play.

#8 - Splatoon 3: Side Order

I swear I didn't give this 8 on purpose. Yeah this is DLC, it's a DLC campaign though so it deserves its own spot. It's alot of fun and I enjoy the story! I just wish it felt more replayable after beating it with every weapon. I think this is the best Splatoon Single Player after Octo Expansion

#7 - PokéRouge

This is upsetting to me, but here I am.

So for those unaware this is a Pokémon fangsme, and its also hard drugs for my brain. I was addicted to this game for like a month, to the point it was a PROBLEM how much I was playing it. And then the original creator left in a weird, gross way and the team remaining acted transphobic. So I used that as an excuse to quit my addiction and even with their attempts to back pedal, I refuse to play again because I'd rather not let this game have a hold on my brain again.

I wasn't even going to count it at first because it's a fangame, but it was just too good and I put too much time in it to ignore

#6 - Wario Ware Move It!

So, I really love Wario Ware. And Smooth Moves is my favorite Wario Ware. And this is a sequel to it.

Anyways this game is really good, and I adore it

#5 - Pokémon Emerald

So I beat Sapphire as a kid, I've replayed Sapphire a good bit throughout the years, and I watched playthroughs of Emerald as a child, but never beat it until this year. And honestly? Maybe one of the best Pokémon games if I'm being real. I love the greater context for Hoenn as a region and my main worry being missing the physical special split wasn't as big a deal as I thought. I loved replaying through Hoenn, and this was maybe the most fun I've had doing so. Emerald might be my third favorite Pokémon game now

#4 - Life is Strange True Colors

I love the LiS series, and in alot of ways this is the first time I've enjoyed one as much as when I played the original as a teenager. I love the setting and characters, the story it tells and how the main characters powers effect the story feels like the most refined out of all the LiS games. Also shout outs to Lesbian Failgirl Radio DJ simulator DLC Chapter

#3 - Shadow Generations

THIS! This is what I wanted Sonic game to be as a kid and they just weren't! IT'S SO GOOD! SHADOW CONTROLS SO WELL! AND ALL THE LEVELS ARE SO MUCH FUN! Not to mention the different abilities she unlocks. And while the story isn't amazing and I wish Omega and Rouge got to play a bigger role, it's waaay better than Sonic Gens.

This is probably my favorite Sonic game now and it's made all the better because SHADOW!!!! AAAAA!!! I love her so much!!!

I should've played one more game better than it this year so I could've made a 'Damn 4th Chaos Emerald' joke

#2 - Fields of Mistria

So, technically this game is in early access and not finished yet. But I've played everything that's there and in its incomplete state this is already the best farming sim I've ever played without question. I love the characters, it looks absolutely beautiful, it's so charming and cute. Not to mention the games customization options and how it let's you change your outfit, name and Pronouns just whenever.

I will probably count this game again next year since it'll be finished by then, and gods I can't wait to experience more of it.

#1 - Like a Dragon Infinite Wealth

To the surprise of no one who actually knows me. Like a Dragon 8 was my favorite game this year. When playing it in February I said "I think the only game that has a chance to make this not my Game of the Year is Fantasy Life i" and then that got delayed again, so here we are!

My first Yakuza game was 7, because I'm a turnbased JRPG girly and it quickly became one of my favorite games of all time. And somehow this game is even better. The combat is so incredibly good, like some of the best turn based combat I've ever experienced.

I love it's characters so much, I adore Ichiban as a protagonist and this games story is so wonderful. Not to mention the insane amount of side content like every other Like a Dragon game. Dondoko Island ate hours of my life, the Sujimon side story was extremely enjoyable and not to mention all the smaller scale side stuff I don't even have time to list.

This game is probably the only one this year that's managed to break into my Top 10 of all time and it did that effortlessly.

...

Anyways I'm not done yet because I wanna go over stuff I didn't beat but played alot of aswell as other stuff I replayed this year!

I played through the majority of the Paper Mario TTYD remake and then I got distracted by real life and found the train chapter really hard to get back to and finish. Overall I was enjoying the game alot though.

I also started Super Lesbian Animal RPG which is, insanely good and I need to get back around to.

I did my usual Replays of stuff like Fantasy Life, Terarria and Plants Vs Zombies. But I don't go 2 years without touching those games so ranking them feels a tad redundant.

And that about covers it. There's other stuff I started but didn't beat, however my year for games was far more tame than it has been the past few. I'm hoping to better incorporate playing games with my life this year, and get around to the stuff I really wanted to play at the end of this year but completely missed due to lack of money. Notable DQ3, Zelda Echoes of Wisdom, the new Life is Strange and Mario Party Jamboree.

I'm also very much so looking forward to XCX DE, Pokémon Legends ZA and Fantasy Life i next year. Not to mention the Switch 2 will likely release sometime within the next year.

Though I'm always gonna replay more old games than focus on new things.

I hope this was in any way enjoyable. Maybe I'll post my lists from years past if I see any interest

[fnaf-enthusiast]

FNaF 2 general Headcanons

Withered Freddy

He is still the same tbh

Nothing much changed for him and on him

He somehow drops even more dad jokes

'Raises' Toy Freddy like one would their son and the others always giggle at that

He deeply hates BB but won't show it openly, he probably doesn't even know himself why he dislikes him

Actually likes the new tunes the toy animatronics play but still prefers the songs his band used to play

Whithered Bonnie

We all know he has a lot insecurities now because of his face and his arm but mostly his face

He is the most insecure of the four and it shocks his friends to see him not only change appearance but also personality

He's now just deadpan walking around and sometimes makes a sarcastic joke or two

Though he sometimes still talks a lot and is back to his old self when he talks with the other withered animatronics

He actually doesn't hate his replacement they hangout sometime but it's more like a distant friendship

He also started to swear a lot more and it actually funny to see BB's expression when he hears those words

Withered Chica

She is a close second next to W. Bonnie when it comes to insecurities

She somehow still manages to keep that secret, she sometimes talks with Foxy and Bonnie about such stuff, and she is still very extroverted and happy

She's kinda sad she can't eat pizza anymore but she surprised herself by not caring about it that much

Loves to scare everyone with her broken voicebox and sometimes teams up with BB to annoy the others

Withered Foxy

He's not as flirty as used to be but he doesn't really care all that much

He's had his own insecurities a long time before and knows how to handle them

He turned the flirty jokes and dark jokes up a little now

He and Bonnie now take bets on who will start a 'fight' with who because the toy animatronics always manage to get into arguments

Scratches the wall with his hook and 'draws' his storys and tells them to BB

Once in a week or two he talks with the Puppet because he reminds him of golden Freddy a little

Golden Freddy

He's even more distant now

He already kept to himself but damn he sets new records for that

It isn't like he's insecure, he never really was, but he's afraid he might get a little too emotional when he sees they others

He hangs out most of the time he shows himself with the Puppet

They both are mostly silent or whisper to each other but they love to just observe what's going on in the pizzeria

Toy Freddy

He's like an average teenager

He would play fortnite if he could 100%

He sometimes tries to prank the withered animatronics but almost always fails and gets scolded by Freddy or cussed out by Bonnie

He and toy Chica make almost every day a food fight and sometimes W. Chica and W. Bonnie join

He rages relatively quickly when he loses, no matter what he's loosing at

A huge fan of ice cream, choko-mint to be specific

Toy Bonnie

He is very social but has small mood swings

One day he chats nonstop and the other he sits in W. Bonnies corner with him and talks about live

Is a little clumsy but covers it up by using a joke he got from W. Foxy or W. Freddy

He loves slushys(ya know what I mean, right?)

He always empties the machine and tries to mix every flavor possible

Has also no concersln about himself when he wants to win a bet and makes all types of crazy stuff

Toy Chica

She loves to talk with W. Chica and is from her personality a lot like her original

Sadly has no taste in music and somehow ends up with everyone teasing her about it

But she can tease back and she is very good at making people flustered

She can also be very sassy

Loves lollipops and would probably also love cotton candy

Mangle

my poor bby

She is very distant from the others

Has a lot of insecurities, knows that they should talk about it, but doesn't have a clue how to talk about her problems

Since mostly static comes from their voicebox they don't have that much courage to talk

But sometimes she talks with others, the others can understand W. Chica even though her voicebox is almost just as broken, most times they talk with W. Foxy or hang around Puppet because they find their presence comforting

Puppet

Is the calmest but also the most caring of everyone

Is almost like a therapist for everyone

They mostly keep to themselves but don't mind a nice soul keeping them company

Has a nice laugh wich reminds one of a small child

'Protects' BB when he once again gets in trouble for one of his pranks

Once in a blue moon they tease one of their friends in a fun, harmless way but they don't do that often because they are worried of hurting someones feelings

Baloon Boy

The biggest troublemaker of them all

But also the worst

Has distorted his laugh to scare the toy animatronics multiple times and got his ass almost yeeted across the pizzeria

Puppet is his safe zone

He loves cotton candy, he inhales that shit

Tied to learn the guitar on multiple occasions but somehow he can't learn it

Mad respect tho, he won't stop trying

He laughs at almost every joke, no matter if he understands or not

[guppyfish77]

Another year Another summary of Art! An Entire Year of Submas lets gooooooooooo!!!! This year I feel like I really pushed myself when it comes to illustrations and I feel like I've learned a lot! But at the same time I feel a little tired, next year I think I wanna relax and experiment a bit more, I gotta learn to loosen up! Might get more art out if I do :p

I also feel the Submas grip ever so lightly relaxing (unless they decide to do Unova remakes haha XD), so I might introduce some of my numerous ocs in 2024! I'll probably start with the conductor oc ;]

Thank you for all your support! (you are all very nice! ToT), I still have a good amount of submas stuff planned in the works so look forward to that (๑•̀ㅂ•́)و✧

If you are interested, I also have some commentary and behind the scenes for some of my submas illustrations! I wanna talk about it and now seems like a good time to do so now that the year is over! (Beware! its going to be long!)

All titles are linked to the original post

Lunch Break

hoho! This one is the sort of AU thing in which the only thing that changes is that I give Emmet a Victini friend (not a part of his team, I dubbed them the "victory duo" because Emmet likes winning and Victini is the Victory Pokemon), I planned out a few wordless comics regarding the idea, they were all very lighthearted slice of life kind of stuff, usually Victini causing some mischief and the brothers having to deal with it

and here's the thumbnails for this piece! I played around with various angles but decided to keep it simple and choose a straight on angle. It was originally a snack break and Emmet sharing a granola bar with Victini, but as I was planning it, submas unexpectedly showed up in the Pokemon Anime where they were serving ekiben, after learning about it it quickly turned into a lunch break! (how fun when new information lines up with an art piece you are working on hoho! ^ ^) After studying what foods Ekiben usually have in them (there was quite a variety!) I took what I learned and try to make the food look like the gear station logo :D

In the background there are children drawings because in the battle subway one of the trainer classes you can face off against are preschoolers, and I thought at least one of them would share their drawings with the subway bosses (and of course why wouldn't they hang it up?), there is also a trophy in which you can get in the players room if you beat the subway bosses on the super trains (one day, battling competitively is not my forte), I did my best to make Emmet's office feel lived in by adding a little bit of clutter (like adding a note) but overall very organized

(hey hey that joltik mug looks familiar in the corner there, its the same one Rei is holding in the christmas drawing)

Bonus Emmet and Victini Drawings

aw come on dude, not on the trains!

ah this one, it gave me quite a bit of frustration! This piece I used to challenge myself on perspective, and challenge me it did! The version you see now is I believe the 6th iteration of this drawing! The reason for restarting so many times is because I originally wanted it to be in 3 point perspective, but I couldn't get it to look right so its now in 2 point... Haha Some valuable lessons learned there!

This illustration was inspired by the history of New York Subway Trains and Graffiti! I read about it when I got to visit the New York Transit Museum and found it super interesting!! Then I went I gotta do something with this! Since Unova is based in New York after all!

I got so many subway surfer comments, they don’t know I forgot subway surfers existed while making this and that I am a huge nerd lmao

I had a lot of fun designing the graffiti on the train (yes it says among us) stylizing the fictional letters was so fun! I studied some graffiti to see how they do it, I could've pushed the graffiti style more but then it would be illegible! I also mixed in elements of Grafaiai graffiti, and trainer that is running away is the artist trainer class in SCVL because they are graffiti artists! And the train that got graffitied is the Wifi Train, due to BW (and the DS) servers being shut down, I doubt that train gets used much anymore, which makes it a perfect target!

Derailed!

hohoho! This was a fun one! I'm not sure how many of you guys read my tags, but in there I did state that this piece was based off the fact that model trains are powered by electrifying the rail it runs on (very low watts mind you) and the fact that Joltik eats electricity, but thats not the only inspiration, it was also inspired by those videos of cats laying on the layout and derailing the train!

Theres quite a variety of thumbnails for this idea (including a comic!), and the idea was there in 2022, but this year I decided to fully commit to it! I started rendering the top right one and almost finished it, but it felt really boring to me, so I switched it up and made some thumbnails in a new perspective and viola! thats what ended up being finished!

The train that is being derailed are Sanriku Railway Type 36s, based off a model train I have in my collection! (While sharing this fact on the original post Haiku Bot detected it as a Haiku?! and this art went out of my target audience, that certainly was a day (⊙□⊙;))

Also I straight up put a picture of Thomas the Tank Engine in the background, I'm not sure if people noticed cuz its quite blurry, the fact that nobody said anything means I probably would’ve gotten away with it before sharing this fact, so hehe :3c

Unexplained Melancholy

eyy! this one! It started out wholly different

It was originally me dropping Warden Ingo in various natural landscapes around Hisui as I didn't feel like drawing anymore linear perspective (ah, but heres the thing, all environments require a little bit of perspective lol), and it was just going to be Warden Ingo hanging out in a lush forest, specifically by the train rock that was shown in his concept art! but after sitting on it, I realized I could do something more with it! by making it a snowy environment I could make callbacks to Emmet's coat being white! hence the "SNOWY!!!" being scribbled there, that was added like weeks afterwards, Then I realized I could push it even more by making the whole environment about Emmet's colors! So the new thumbnail is in color because thats whats its about!

The moon smile thing was stumbled on by complete accident, while working on it it felt empty there and I added Emmet's smile to fill the space before going "moon!!!"

The piece is also a sort of a parallel to last years piece “I am Emmet, I wish for Ingo and I to be a two-car train once more” composition wise, sort of, I tried to at least 👍

Black Tower and Whitetree Hollow

Ah! I was quite proud of this one! Black City and White Forest are some of my favorite places in Unova mainly because the parallels are so very cool!

As the thumbnails suggest it was all going to be in complete black and white, as I was working on it though I could not help but add some values in there so yup! I quite like both compositions but the perspective won me out, plus that one focuses more on the characters than the other one (as much as I love backgrounds, it really is supposed to be about Emmet and Ingo U_U)

Being places of duality and having a battle challenge in there, it really fit them!

Emmet drops the hottest single of all time 🔥🔥🔥

Not really much to say about this one since it was very much done on a whim, but

its not the first time I drew Emmet with his hat backwards, I did this little doodle around the same time I did the train graffiti piece, been wanting to do something with this silly idea, and when I heard that audio, I went :o

Following Some Rumors of a Time Machine

the finale! I decided to choose Area Zero because its a very cool place! I am inspired by cool places! and I decided to give it my all for this one!

The thumbnail I made was more for jotting down the idea, and the landscape was going to be more eyelevel? Later I decided to make it so you were looking down into the crater and you get to see the fog blocking the crystal caverns, to show that Emmet was going deeper into Area Zero and the Deepest part is his destination (the time machine, not the underdepths, I didn't know about that yet haha!) I was always going to make Emmet encounter a Slither Wing, with it being based off Volcarona, a gen 5 pokemon :]

Anyways, That's all I have to say! I hope you found it interesting! (and enjoyed my varying quality in sketches and thumbnails XD) Thanks for listening! see you in 2024! ✌

[softausterity]

i'm drawing right now but i need to sumigoro parallels post because ghrngfhgrbh!!!!

long ass post and full p5r spoilers. you know how it is

THING ONE: LOCALIZATION BAD

i have mixed thoughts about the choice to add more cognitive characters in p5r but it is good because it very clearly displays some things about like, how people are perceived. right? like cognitive haru sucks for other reasons but it's a good display that her father does not understand her. she's a robot mindlessly following his orders, very literally. same thing with kamoshida and madarame and everyone else. and it's very easy to look at cognitive haru next to cognitive akechi and go "these two act exactly the same" but with one major difference:

that's goro akechi! correct dominant hand and everything! yusuke, who you can also draw easy comparisons to, is Literally A Fucking Painting to madarame. and that right there is Just Akechi.

i'm going to go into the localization because they beefed it up real bad here which is a personal insult to me. everything taken straight from this pastebin i have had bookmarked for like 2 years so i have no idea where i got it from originally.

the 'puppet' bit starts with the line "I was wondering how he'd protect himself if I used my power to tear though his Palace. Turns out you're how. So he's making a puppet kill me… Sounds like something he'd do." in japanese, the second bit of this line is "お前がその係…同じ顔した人形に殺させるって訳だ。…あの男らしい" which our pastebin translates as "You're in charge of that… in other words, I'd be killed by a puppet with the same face as me. …That's just like him."

the notable thing here is that akechi identifies the cognitive double as "A puppet with the same face as (him)" at the start of the interaction. what he's getting at here, with the "that's just like (shido)" is that he's saying "Shido still thinks i'm just some puppet he can order around to do whatever he wants!"

and cognitive akechi responds to that: "Aren't you, though?"

the localisation has completely lost this thread by this point and will continue to completely ignore it despite the fact this is the resolution to akechi's entire character in vanilla P5 no i'm not mad about it - "That's right. I'll do anything. But look at yourself… you're the true puppet." which is just "uhhh no you lol" - the pastebin translation is "That's right, I'm a puppet. I'll do anything. But if I'm a puppet… then the true puppet is you, isn't it?" ("そうとも、オレは人形さ。何だってする。 けどオレが人形なら…ほんとの人形は、お前だろ。")

like. cognitive akechi IS akechi. shido thinks that he can tell akechi to do whatever and he'll do it, and he's right. the entire time, akechi's big plan has been "i'll trick him into thinking i'm co-operating with his plan by co-operating with his plan, and then once he's the prime minister of japan, i'll tell him i was his son the whole time, and he'll be sooooo owned! that'll totally get his ass and I'll Win!" (preemptively addressing a common misconception: he was not going to kill shido. he never says he is going to kill shido. the exact phrase he uses is "living hell.") akechi is the puppet.

and then after the PTs have the heart to heart with akechi and he makes the decision to disobey shido & sacrifice himself for them, his final line in english is: "So, my final opponent is a puppet version of myself…"

which is Nothing. in japanese, it's:

"My final opponent is the puppet I used to be, huh…" ("最後の相手が『人形だった俺自身』か…")

which is EVERYTHING. he changed! he throws away both his life and everything he was working towards to have one real moment of free will!!! that's His Real Actual Death without maruki, and with him it shows why akechi is so fucking horrified at everything that's happening.

anyway, this post was also about sumire.

there she is :)

maruki thinks about sumire as some waifish wilting flower who needs kasumi to do everything and is so consumed by grief that she can't do anything on her own, and it looks like he's right!

pulling out the dogmeta again:

sumire is that weak and helpless when we first meet her, because maruki isn't giving her the tools to help herself and grow. you know, like a therapist? he's making her Feel Better in a way that does not address the problem and will instantly explode and ruin her life again if he's ever removed from the situation. sumire cannot get better because the person who's supposed to be helping her get better doesn't believe she can get better.

akechi and sumire are both completely reliant on Shitty Father Figure who have correctly identified them as useless on their own, akechi changes when he realises he's being controlled, sumire changes when she realises she doesn't need to be controlled.

THING TWO: LOCALIZATION STILL BAD

so you know the part in the sumi boss fight where maruki tentacle-crucifies sumire and makes her persona freak out and then he's like "waaah how horrible you have to save her amamiya-kun!!!" because he's the good guy?

the first thing akechi says is "Tch, it's gone totally berserk..." and in japanese the word he uses here is "暴走" now, berserk is a completely accurate translation of this! but the word comes up a couple other times earlier in the game, you may have spotted it, and it's translated there as.. "(making someone go) psychotic" and by a couple other times i mean every single reference to akechi's powers except weirdly one time with this random old couple in the very beginning of the game.

so akechi and sumire both have a second phase in your boss fight with them where they 'go berserk/psychotic'! just that maruki's making sumire do it a little more noticeably than shido is with akechi.

i'm normal.

[yuseirra]

Um so!!// Earlier I jotted my feelings about Fatal, how I feel about that song and interpret hikaai based on how that song is.

I used machine-translate.. can't write the full thing twice-

I really like listening to it. I think it's a very clever song! I wonder if you'll agree with how I interpret and feel about the emotions in that song. There's a lot I think and read from it, it's probably very subjective. But I've been referencing it a lot as I draw fanarts of Hikaru and his thoughts about Ai.

***

Ah… this wretched manga…

Haha. But Fatal was so much my thing.

There are countless impressions you could get from that song. Even my own feelings subtly shift every time I listen to it.

One thought I always have is that this isn’t some one-sided “worship.” The narrator isn’t worshiping the other person—surprisingly enough. They do think the other person is beautiful, vibrant, and crave them deeply, but this isn’t someone blinded or oblivious to the other’s essence.

There may be people who’d disagree with me, for that's what it could appear as in first glance, but I’m certain of this.

Emotions of this depth… I think they can only emerge when there was a truly close and meaningful bond between the speaker and the other party.

That’s why I’ve explored it so thoroughly—there must be something there.

There’s some resentment toward the other person, sure. But… it’s a kind of resentment that feels more like, “If seeing me disgusts you, then please tread lightly over me as you leave.”<this is from a famous poem. In other words, the narrator is the one being stepped on.

They love the other person so much that it’s tearing them apart. The resentment comes from that place: “You’ve hurt me so deeply. You’ve left me flawed because of you. But still… I want to see you.” It’s not an aggressive kind of resentment.

The one singing this song… they’re not someone who dares to do anything against the person they love. At least, that’s how I feel. Even though the other person hurt them, they wouldn’t dare hurt them back. They’re dying inside, maybe even going a little mad, but… they’re so desperate to see that person, so incapable of enduring life without them, that their mindset is, “I’ll give everything I have, sacrifice anything—whatever it takes. I can’t live without you.” It’s spiraled into that kind of desperation.

That’s why I thought: “Oh, this person can’t be the one who hurt Ai, can they?” That’s the impression I got immediately. But the one singing this is Kamiki… it had to be him. No way this is Aqua. So I was like, “Wait, isn’t this that character? What’s going on? What is this guy?”

They’re yearning so deeply, grieving so profoundly… these emotions are so strong.

Truly…

Haha… I’m listening to the song while writing this.

I think this person was originally a good person. I can see it, plain as day.

But they’re no ordinary person. They have some kind of ability—seriously. I think they lost something significant, maybe everything, after Ai’s death.

To feel emotions this intense… how much must they have loved her?

To feel this way, they must have had a really close relationship with Ai. For feelings like this, it had to be mutual. One-sided love doesn’t mean it’s lesser, but… there’s something distinctly different about it. I can’t quite explain it, but it's something I can sense. And it did turn out that Ai loved them dearly so my hunches must be on the right track.

I don’t usually miss details like this. Most of the time, I can see through things clearly, but this character is so incomplete, even at the end. Their fragments are scattered, mixed with fakes, lies, and uncertainties. It’s like a batch of cookies with poison hidden in some of them. You can't trust every info they put out there.

So I’ve been waiting… waiting for answers.

I think Ai and her boyfriend really did have a good relationship. It’s because they were so close that everything fell apart so spectacularly, and the fallout was devastating. Kamiki gave so much of his heart. He must’ve been so happy at one point, which made Ai’s cold words hit him even harder. It made him question everything—“Was it all a lie? Did you hate me this much?”—to the point that he couldn’t trust anything anymore.

But… he loved her too much, and after Ai’s death, he couldn’t let go. That’s probably why he went off the rails, deciding he had to bring her back to life. That’s how I see it.

I know I portray those two in a really… haha, a very beautiful light.

But I don’t think I’m romanticizing them. Well… maybe my portrayals tend to soften characters a little when I do fan art.

But actually, if you look at Chapter 162 and those flashbacks, this guy was genuinely smiling so brightly. He really seemed to love Ai. I’d already been consistently depicting them as happy together even before that chapter came out. That must’ve been the truth because those flashbacks are like life flashing before his eyes. And Ai was smiling warmly too. The truth for these two is that they loved each other deeply and wanted to live together forever.

Honestly, I don’t think Kamiki is the kind of person who could ever harm Ai. Just seeing him made me think, “He couldn’t have hurt her, could he?” And even now, it’s uncertain. If it were definite, the story would’ve confirmed it before ending. That would’ve been the simplest way to justify Aqua’s actions. But it remains ambiguous—I say it's because it’s not true.

Aqua’s reasoning for targeting Kamiki, in the end, wasn’t about avenging Ai; it was tied to Ruby.

Anyway… yes. I’m confident in how I depict and interpret them. :)

Looking back, those two were still one wreck of a couple though. If I’d heard of this manga after it was completed, I might not have read it at all.

But… it feels like fate. Honestly, Chapter 154 and Fatal were so much my style—along with Mephisto. Those two songs are connected. Their narrators speak the same words. They’re both empty people, longing to see someone who’s dead. But Aqua doesn’t feel this way about Ai—it’d be creepy if he did. Ai was his mother in this life. The emotions in that song feel romantic, directed toward a lover.

It’s probably because something resonated so deeply with me that I keep bringing up and drawing these two. That song really is my thing for sure. I don’t think the song’s emotions are just about obsession. It’s deeply sorrowful, though that sorrow is somewhat cloaked in madness. At its core, I think it’s about grief and yearning. Losing someone hurts so much, doesn’t it? And the narrator of that song truly loved that person, and wanted to meet them again no matter what. Such a thing is impossible. Still, they wanted to try. That’s the impression I get.

So, what Kamiki did in the story… I guess that’s what's it. Not that it was right—he was insane. But… it was understandable to some sense. Really. His life was so miserable; the more you think about it, the more horrible it is. Maybe he tried living badly because being good got him nowhere. He’ll probably end up in hell...; Given his position as Aqua’s antagonist, he’s probably being despised by the fans as well. But I don’t think he was originally like this. I believe he was noble once. I agreed with that even before the story explicitly brought the idea up. He’s not just some madman. Someone kind like that became this twisted, and we still don’t know the full story.

Honestly, maybe the author didn’t know what to do with him either.

He only needed Ai. The question is whether Ai wanted him and whether she’d take him back. She isn't obliged to save him. But it was mutual—so she’d take him back, right? If he’s alive, I see it being one out of the two: he’d either become entirely purified, losing all his malice, or he’d keep searching for Ai. But if we take Aqua into account… if Kamiki lives while Aqua dies, what about Aqua? So I guess he can't come back either huh.

Come to think of it, didn’t Ame-no-Uzume persuade her husband in the myths? Maybe Kamiki saw the video and was persuaded. Aqua could’ve just let him go, right? He said he’d turn himself in! Even if that was a lie, how would it lead to Ruby getting hurt? How could Kamiki predict that? He’s a broken god, for crying out loud! After Ruby’s performance, he may have turned himself in? I don’t know! We don't know what he's been thinking, right? It’s all so strange.

This is how I see it. He was a god that was supposed to guide others, so he was always asking as a child, “Is this right? Is this the answer?” like how he was in chapter 140. But with no proper adults around him, he was exploited. He broke, causing others around him to warp as well. After Ai died, he completely lost it. Now he’s an irreparable disaster. That’s more believable to me than him having gone and hurting Ai.

Even when he was with Ai, he had the black star, which never healed. That warped his future—Ai’s pregnancy, their breakup, meeting Ryosuke and Nino, everything spiraling into chaos, and then Ai’s death. Why? Why would he hurt Ai? Why kill Goro? I don’t think Kamiki saw any of it coming—not back then. The lyrics match up perfectly too! This guy is a god that's been terribly flawed!

Yes. Thinking about this manga makes me ramble. The manga doesn’t explain enough!

But seeing how theories like this emerge, it feels like there were some crumbs put out there.

Still, they need to tie up the loose ends!! Are they kidding me?

Anyway, I love Fatal! I’ve been listening to it nonstop since July. It’s hugely influenced my creative work for this manga. Good music has such power. Its ability to convey emotions directly… that’s what music is. I truly believe emotions are powerful. I don’t agree with the idea that logic is superior. Without emotions, people can’t make sound decisions. It’s crucial to manage and use your emotions wisely!

I wonder how many fan art I’ll be able to draw for this piece in the future… but if I can keep drawing, I’d like to do so.

[bluebellhairpin]

Thorin Oakenshield X Fem!Reader

Summary; Retrieving missing ponies, exploring Troll caves, being hunted by Orcs - Oh My!

Warnings; Pregnancy used as a bluff. Character death mentions. Canon-typical violence. Reader is female-body-coded, uses she/her pronouns, and is Human.

Listening to; 'Solider, Poet, King' Instrumental Cover by Cullen Vance

Part 1 || Part 3

Series Masterlist || Masterlist || Ko-Fi

This is a re-write of a old series! If you'd like to read the original, you can find it Here.

“I should've seen this one coming,” 

Your mumbling came out breathy, almost like it wasn’t spoken at all. Beside you were the Durin brothers, Fili and Kili. On your watch, ponies had been stolen - by Trolls was your guess, of all the beasts this land had to throw at you, it had to be them - and now you had to deal with forming a plan to get them back. 

Between the three of you, nothing was happening very quickly. 

A curse broke behind you, and you turned to see Bilbo approaching - juggling three bowls of stew between two arms, and almost making a mess of it. You looked at him, and an idea sprung. 

“Bilbo could get the ponies.” You leaned over to Kili, whispering so the Hobbit couldn't hear. “He’s small and quiet - those giant’s would barely have time to think!” 

"Strapping idea -”

“Master Boggins!” Fili said, surging forward and clapping the poor Hobbit on the shoulder to pull him forward. “We’ve found ourselves in a bit of a mix.”

“See we’re meant to have fourteen ponies -” 

“But there’s only twelve -”

“We know where they are -” 

“But we need your help.” They both said. How they managed to sync up so well was astounding - they weren’t even twins - but you knew sometimes siblings are just like that when they’re close enough. 

Eventually Fili and Kili wandered off, chasing the direction where the ponies would be, you followed, with Bilbo behind. Bilbo was urged forwards, Fili disappeared, and soon you were the only one left watching the Hobbit try - and fail - to free the ponies. It wasn’t that he was getting caught - but you felt you were going to burst at the amount of times he ‘almost’ was. 

Then he was. 

You quietly yelped with him - almost jumping from your hiding spot. You stayed still, biting your lip in indecision at what to do when Kili and his brother appeared at your sides. The others came up behind you soon after, and when they decided Bilbo had been tortured with trying to stall in conversation enough, they all surged forwards, crying ready for a fight. 

You were less enthusiastic. Much less. You’d barely had a hand on your sword to draw it when it was all over. A short-lived battle indeed. 

The Trolls, three of them, were corralling you all into bags - big hessian, dirty things - you did not want to be put in one of those things. Despite your thrashing protests - and your contemplation of resorting to biting (which fell through, those were horribly gross looking fingers) - you were thrust into a bag alongside Thorin. 

The damn thing didn’t even cover your shoulders - if the drawstring wasn’t so tight, you might’ve been able to wiggle out. You’d give the trolls credit, they knew how to tie a good knot. 

“Human’s good for stews, not roastin’ like Dwarf.” One said, drawing your attention and making your eyes go wide. “Chop her up and put her in, that’ll fix the mess yous made of it.” 

“Roast Dwarf, Human stew - we gonna eats good tonight!” 

“Hey no! You can’t eat me!” You squealed, kicking your feet in the bag - Thorin made a grunt beside you after you kicked his shin in your panic, but said nothing of it aside from hissing out a quiet ‘watch it’. Especially after a troll picked you up and paid zero mind to your screaming. “Listen, you can’t eat me! You can’t!” 

“Why not? You’ve got nothin’ special about you.” He looked at you with a sideways head-tilt.

“I do! I’m not like the others, you couldn’t eat me yet.” One of the smarter Trolls looked over, noticing the extra fight you were putting up. 

“Why wouldn’t we eats yous yet? We says a Human’s more tasty than a Dwarf anyways.” He said. 

“Aha see, that’s the thing. I’m…” you swallowed, thinking of some excuse you could do that the others couldn’t. Then it hit you. “I’m with child!” you blurted. But it phased the Troll none. 

“Meanings you’re extra, extra tasty. More meats on you.” He took you from his friend, grabbing his knife and bringing it far too close to you for your liking. 

“No, wait, wait! Just think! Once I get bigger and give birth you’d have an extra Human to eat. I’ve heard babies are even more delicious than full grown Humans - you’d have it and me to eat then!” you spoke quickly, wasting no time in trying to lie your way out of being eaten. “In fact, you should probably let me go.” 

“We ain’t stupid.” The Troll said. “We got no reason to not tie yous up lie the rest,” 

“No see, listen, tying me up would restrict the growth of the child.” you bluffed, knowing all you needed to buy more time. “If I’m not tied up then the child will be bigger than normal.” you added, nodding as if to convince them.

The Trolls seemed to buy your excuse and put you down in the pen with the ponies, but made no effort to free you. But you did.

You wiggled you arms - thrashing like a madman as if it’d make any difference. And it did. Soon you had one arm free, but the rest would have to wait. You didn’t have enough time to free the rest, you needed to help the others - time was of the essence. 

You looked over at the pile of Dwarves and Bilbo, catching Thorin’s eye as you slowly moved towards the back of the pen in hopes you could just slip away to get help. Gandalf was out there somewhere, and maybe if you could get away - pray he was close by and find him - then he could help much more than you. The Trolls were too busy trying to stop one of the Dwarfs from squirming to notice you clumsily slide out of the pen and back further into the forest. hobbling and finally shedding the bag as you went. 

Thorin watched you. His mind told him you were slipping away to save your own skin. But his heart told him to stay silent and wait. Even though he thought you disliked him with a fiery passion, you held both his nephews in very high regard, and became almost like a daughter to Balin. Not to mention how you effortlessly had the likes of both Dwalin and Ori wrapped around your little finger. 

He believed you wouldn’t leave those you liked to die simply because you thought one person you disliked deserved it.

You found Gandalf within ten minutes, and you managed to not get caught again as you watched on as he saved the others.

What a wizard. 

The Trolls were turned stone in the first light of day, and you set to quick work of helping the others out of their restraints. You’d already unbagged Fili, and Dwalin when you reached Thorin. He looked at you intently as you worked on the bag. 

“How’d you come up with that idea? To fake yourself being with child?” he started, “If Gandalf didn’t save us and we were stuck, you’d only prolong your own suffering.��� Once he finished talking you were also finished with his bag, letting him get himself out fully as you leant back on a stone. “You’d have watched us all die.” 

“I guess I was with child once, in a way. That sort of thing doesn’t leave you very quickly.” You mumbled. You played with your hands as he looked over at you with a slightly shocked face. “Technically it wasn't mine, but by the time our time together ended it really seemed like he was.” 

“What happened?” His question made him seem genuinely interested. You couldn’t help the feeling in your stomach that made you want to share everything with him. A deep breath left your nose. 

“Long story short, I passed through the Misty Mountains, a group before me wasn’t so fortunate. A young boy was the only survivor, and I couldn't just leave him there to die, so I decided to take him with me until I reached the next village or town.” You said, watching as the others untied and dressed each other. “I tried my best, but trolls have to make sure they ruin everyone’s best day.”  

Thorin remembered Gandalf had said you'd come across Orcs and Trolls before. This was your encounter with trolls, but what about Orcs? He decided to ask, leaning beside you as you both looked over the others. 

“If you don't mind me asking - and I don't want to come across as prying - what exactly happened?” He asked gently, keeping his eyes forwards and off you. You glanced over at him, noting that there was still not a single punch of aggression in his words or demeanor. 

“It was a little ways back towards the mountains from here.” you started softly, “I had the child strapped to me, had to tuck my pack under my arm - I knew it meant I couldn't get to my sword quickly if an attack came. I knew it was risky, but the boy couldn't walk, he was too small, I had no other choice. Out of nowhere, a Troll came. It got the child and I.” You let out a shaken sigh, eyes watering slightly, and your hands wringing each other in your lap. “I barely got away from them, but Orcs came after, and in the confusion I couldn’t get away in time for the both of us. If I’d moved faster it would’ve been fine.” 

Thorin felt a sudden guilt wash over him for how much of a arse he’d been to you. He took in a silent breath of courage, then - as if possessed by someone who hadn’t been ignoring you for the past three days - took one of your hands in his, letting his thumb brush over your knuckles. He felt himself relax when you didn't object to his actions. 

You looked down at him, and he looked up at you. 

“I'm sorry.” He felt himself saying, although what happened to the child was no fault of his own. 

In fact, it was either orcs or frostbite, not the King of Durinsfolk. Orcs certainly would have been a much quicker death, frostbite would've been much slower. Orcs may be cruel, but they prefer the quick death of children since they weep more than they scream. Oh, how Orcs loved to hear people scream. 

“I guess it wasn’t one of those things meant to be changed.” you said, shaking your head lightly. “He must’ve meant to die. I only changed how and when. But at least he’s with his family now.” 

Thorin and you shared a look, one that passed understanding between you both for a few long moments. He needed you - something really was going to happen on this journey back to his homeland. You needed him - so you could get home too. 

An unspoken agreement was formed - one that would turn out to be much more effective than your old one. You’d help each other. No more pushing each other's buttons. No more getting on one another's nerves. 

You’d finally get along.

Close by to where you were almost made into a Troll's dinner, was a Troll hole. 

The fellows in your Company were almost happy to venture in despite the smell - but you could see a few of them didn’t mind needing to say outside to keep watch though. You wanted to join them, real bad, but something deep inside you told you to go in.

Like you needed to. 

It was so dark, and the smell only made your eyes water - blurring your vision even more. You pushed past it all, including the Dwarves around you making long-term investments. Something drew you towards one of the furthest corners. 

You looked, seeing nothing. Kicking the dirt though proved fruitful when the sound of metal scraping along stone reached your ears. Down at your feet, among the dirt and leaf litter was the hilt of a sword.  

Reaching down, you took it and brought it level to your eyes. 

It’s hilt was leather bound, with a blade cover that was the length of your arm. Both were worn, old. But you took the cover off to reveal shining steel. The metal was uncarved, untouched by anything other than a forges hammer. 

“You should take it.” Gandalf said. You turned to see him watching you from under the brim of his hat. “Such an unnamed sword has no history. An unwritten past. It can serve you well in the future.” 

You looked down at the weapon, cradling it in both hands like a single wrong move could slice your fingers off. Gandalf was probably right - usually he was, as unfortunate as that could be sometimes. Your current sword was good, it served its purpose well and you intended for it to continue to do so, but it wasn’t made for you. It wasn’t made like this. Finely forged, and strong. This one was a better fit for you than your old one - it was too short, too heavy - this was longer, lighter. 

So you took it.

Stepping out of the cave was a breath of fresh air - literally.

The smell of wet moss and dirt was so welcomed after being in that hole, even the brightness of the sun shining through the trees above was a welcomed pain to your eyes. The moment you took to appreciate the piece of world around you didn’t last long. 

Panic rose in the dwarves, and you took forward to Dwalin to ask what was wrong. 

“Thorin, he saw someone coming.” 

“Orcs?” You asked. Maybe the new sword wasn’t a good idea - you were unable to figure out which sword to reach for now. 

“Not sure what or who,” Dwalin said, “But whatever it is is coming fast, be prepared for a fight, lass.” 

To be completely honest with yourself, you’d thought you’d prepared very well. Strapping your new sword across your shoulder quickly, with your old one drawn - you felt a rush run through you as if you could take on an army. But when a sled came into view - being pulled by a group of rather large hare’s, the Company met the man at the helm with confused silence. 

Until Gandalf shouted out a name and moved past the group to start a hushed conversation. 

“Whose that?” You asked, arms going slack at the signs of no immediate threat. 

“I’d guess some other wizard by the looks of his funny hat.”

“You're one to speak Bofur.” 

“He’s a strange one,” you mused, watching as Gandalf pulled a stick - a bug? A stick bug? - from the mouth of his friend. “Is it normal to see two wizards together in one place?” 

“You think seeing one wizard is normal?” Kili asked in return, looking up at you with a smirk. You shoved his shoulder - their rough love was rubbing off on you.

“You are a cheeky one.” You said with a smile. 

Everyone dispersed slowly, still weary of the new company and the news he might be bringing, but ready to relax with no immediate danger. Then something changed. The wind, maybe, and in the distance was a howl. 

Your ears perked up, and so did everyone's guards. Shouts of warnings - Wargs and Orcs approaching - rose, and a ripple of panic went through the Company. With nowhere to hide, and your ponies spooked off into thin air (Gandalf's horse and Phar Lap included), it seemed like you were trapped. A fight was coming, and the future didn’t look so bright. 

“What’s happening?” You heard. Bilbo was behind you, timidly clutching a sword - new, his, Gandalf given too no doubt - and looking none like the burglar who tried to free the ponies from trolls just hours earlier. 

“Orcs, by the sounds.” He’d never seen dangers like Orcs before, you realized as you watched his eyes blow wide open. “Don’t worry, stay close to me. I’ll keep an eye on you.” He nodded, reassured by your words.

But you weren’t feeling so confident. You hadn’t really fought an Orc before - avoided blows, and ran yes, but not fight. You didn’t know if you even had the strength in you to do it. Though no time like the present to find out.

You liked this plan. It was working. 

But you were running out of breath, and each time you had to be pulled - or pull others - back to hide behind a boulder out of sight of the wizard Radagast and the Orcs following him was getting to be exhausting. It was like you were going round in circles, only a matter of time before someone saw and knew the wizard was just a distraction. 

The Company was running out of time. 

Such a hiding place was where you found yourself. You had your sword drawn, concluding that it wasn’t a matter of ‘if’ but ‘when’ you’d need to use it. Bilbo had listened, stickling close to you - if he wasn’t, then he was close to someone else instead, never straying far from the group. 

A breath of wind brought close the sound of a Warg approaching, and you pushed closer to the rock behind you. Thorin was beside you, your head level with his. You watched as his nose flared - from the running, maybe, but he could’ve been scared like you too. 

“What do we do?” You whispered, but the noise made him turn to you with a deadly look. 

‘Be quiet.’ his eyes said. You swallowed thickly, and turned back to face the lands in front of you. At least if that thing bit your head off, your last sight would be a pretty golden field. Then Thorin’s shoulders slumped beside you, pressing into yours. ‘It’ll be okay.’ the action told you. ‘Stay calm.’ 

So you took a deep breath in, as quiet and slow as you could manage, and decided to trust him. Right now what was needed was cooperation, not panic. Following what Thorin said hadn’t served anyone wrong so far - it couldn’t fail you now. 

And for a while, it didn’t. But that ‘while’ didn’t last long.

The Company was trapped. 

You all crowded together, forming a circle, readying to fight Orcs and their Wargs until breath left you no more - even you, your hands weren’t as shaky as you thought they might’ve been. 

Kili was shooting riders left, right, and center. Dwalin was charging towards them like he had zero value for his own life - really, you reckoned it was just him trying to get this ordeal over and done with, and honestly good for him. Bilbo was looking quite lost. You were trying to keep track of everyone while not getting in the way. And Gandalf - was nowhere to be found. 

“Where is that wizard?” Fili asked. His voice travelled well. 

“Left us to die by the looks.” Thorin yelled back. 

“Over here you fools!” Gandalf said, suddenly popping his head up above some small rocks behind you. 

“Thorin!” You yelled, pushing Bilbo towards the hiding hole as you saw you’d gained the dwarf’s attention. “Get everyone over here now!” 

You ran over to Gandalf, standing on the other side of the hole and counting as each dwarf (and lone hobbit) slid inside. 

Nine, ten, Bifur made twelve - but there were meant to be fourteen. Thorin was practically right in front of you, two agonizing strides and he’d be in and safe - but Kili? Kili was far, far too far away for your liking. 

Thank the gods he always listened to his Uncle. 

“Kili!” Thorin yelled. You watched as his nephew turned, then turned again, then - finally - started running your way. 

Gandalf was in, then Kili. All that were left were you and Thorin. He turned to you, and you’d bet your life he was going to get you to go in first, but you wouldn’t have that. You wouldn’t let him. 

“Age before beauty, your majesty.” And you pushed him in, sliding in right after. 

Inside, everyone was huddled together, still weary, still prepared for the Orcs to follow, but a commotion started above.

The sound of a horn, horses hooves. A body rolled down in front of you, the dead body of an Orc. Nori poked it with his hammer, but it didn’t move. Then it was quiet. They were gone, and it was over. 

You looked up, almost dreading the would-be climb back out - the steep slope, and the borderline mud-dirt had a picture of you covered in filth flashing over your eyelids. With your hands on your hips you were almost psyched enough to do it when Dwalin said something about a tunnel. 

Slope be damned, a tunnel would be like heaven in comparison.

It took little to no convincing from anyone for you to follow it - joining the long line of travelers with Dori at your front and Balin behind you. Even Thorin’s words of aggression-lased hesitancy weren’t putting a dampener on you enjoying the walk out, rather than a climb. 

Eventually the darkness gave way to light, and the tunnel opened wide. Beyond was a sight that had you standing still in awe. 

Rivendell.