#still haven't figured out if i actually liked the story itself or just the world and dabi

[kon-konk]

So was Dabi dying his hair with...wash out hair dye? Like the temporary stuff you buy for Halloween? Because I will forever think about the fact that he just washed it out easy as fuck

Was he dying his air black when he woke up every day and then washing it out before bed? Did the rest of the LoV regularly see him with white hair?

[thriftedtchotchkes]

you're a mean one, mr. miller

pairing: joel miller x f!reader

summary: you and ellie decide the solution to joel's grinch-like approach to the holidays lies in finding him the perfect gift

warnings: jackson era, grumpy old man!joel, significant other!reader, fluff, mild angst, gift giving, christmas at the miller's, so many polaroids

word count: 3.8k

12 days of pedro masterlist - ty to @hellishjoel for organizing this project <3

The Miller household always gets a little tense around the holidays. When the days shorten and snow begins to fall, Joel throws himself into patrols and plans for winter-proofing Jackson, and it's all he'll talk about for months. It's obvious he does it on purpose. 

Christmas is basically an unspoken no-no under his roof, and there might as well be a swear jar for the word if his reaction is any indication. He refuses to acknowledge it and only tolerates the day itself because he knows it makes you and Ellie happy. 

You just wish it made him happy, too. You know it used to. Every year, Tommy regales stories about their Christmases in Austin as kids, and later with Sarah. Joel loved Christmas. 

They used to visit the tree farm, pick the tallest, fullest tree they could fit in their living room, and decorate it the very same day. Their attic and even parts of their garage were home to lights and tinsel in every color you could think of, and ornaments Sarah brought home from art classes and the yearly holiday fair at school.

All of that changed after the outbreak. It wasn't just her passing that did it. It wasn't even the threat of death or worse lurking around every corner. It was time. 

Joel just got used to life without it. After 22 years of missed holidays, he decided he didn't actually miss them at all. He couldn't afford to spare precious resources or energy on anything that wasn't necessary for survival. But that isn't the point of Christmas, is it? 

You celebrate your loved ones and their joy. You celebrate life. Here in Jackson, he finally has all of that, but if Joel is anything, he's a stubborn man set in his ways. You can tell he's still resistant to the idea because he genuinely believes there are better uses for his time.

You can also tell he's afraid to let his guard down. You just haven't figured out a way to show him he doesn't have to be. No one's safety is guaranteed in the world you live in, but you're protected now. And that responsibility isn't solely on him anymore.

If you could give him anything for Christmas this year, it would be peace. One day, even just a few hours of tensionless shoulders and a wrinkle-free brow would be a gift for all of you. He deserves to enjoy something merry and cheerful again, just for the sake of it.  

So, you ask the person who knows him best in the world for help.

"What do we think about getting Joel a Christmas gift this year?"

Ellie glances up from her guitar with the most incredulous look you've ever seen on her face. 

"Depends. Do you have a death wish?" she jokes, draping her arm over her instrument so she's sitting more comfortably. She's settling in—you both know this is about to be a painful conversation.

"No, but—," you sigh, leaning against the door behind you. It's still chilled, even through your coat, from when you barged into the shed and interrupted her practice. "I don't know. He wouldn't make that big of a deal, would he? It doesn't have to be anything flashy, just something small. Something nice."

"So, you wanna get Joel something nice for a holiday he hates? That makes total sense," she says, rolling her eyes.

You don't appreciate the sarcasm, but you expected it. She knows as well as you do that Joel won't be thrilled by the gesture, if he even accepts it.

"El, come on. I could really use your help here," you try to appeal to the part of her that usually can't say no to you, and thankfully she's starting to cave. "If there's anyone who can come up with a present Joel will actually like, it's you."

She sighs. Her fingers drum an arrhythmic beat on the wood grain while she thinks, a habit she must've picked up from Joel.

"Look, Joel's not really a 'thing' kinda guy," she replies, and she's probably right. He's never been the kind of guy who has physical attachments. "When's the last time he actually gave a shit when something broke or got lost? Even his watch is broken."

"Yeah, but that's different. You know it's different," you counter softly. But you can see the point she's trying to make. "Okay, so we don't get him a 'thing'."

She nods, waiting for you to offer another idea, but you're even more stumped than you were when you got here. 

"Maybe you can draw him something?" you grimace, grasping at straws now.

"His house is full of shit I've drawn," she deadpans. "Plus, I thought this was an us gift. That sounds like a 'me doing all the work' gift."

You let out a frustrated groan, and your head thunks dully against the door. You knew this wasn't going to be an easy task, but you thought it would at least be possible. Joel's a complicated man—it's one of the things you love most about him—but his wants and needs are surprisingly simple. 

He loves a home-cooked meal, especially meat and potatoes. He enjoys cold beers with Tommy on the porch during the summer and walking Ellie through complicated picking patterns when she's stuck on a song. He likes relaxing on the couch and watching old Westerns or cheesy action movies, and craves your body, soft and pliant, under his after a frustrating day on patrol.

But you want this to mean more than any of that. A special something that goes beyond the norm to loosen some of the springs that keep him wound up tight and constantly in motion. 

You glance around Ellie's space as your hope begins to dwindle, and the corkboard above her bed catches your eye. It's always been there, covered in doodled-on scrap paper and photos of her family and friends, and you're positive you've seen it hundreds of times since you've been in Jackson. But this time, it gives you an idea. The idea.

"That Polaroid camera you found in Eugene's basement—the one in the library. Does it work?"

Ellie's brows furrow at your sudden question. She clearly didn't expect it, but you're hoping she'll be on board once she finally catches on.

"Uhh, yeah, Cat and I were messing around with it the other day. Worked pretty well for us," she replies hesitantly, pointing at the entertainment console next to you. "It's next to the PlayStation."

Humming in response, you squat in front of the shelf to inspect it. It's in great condition, even better than you expected. Even the flash button lights up and whirs just like you remember. 

Before she can protest, you whip around and snap an extremely candid, brightly lit photo of her. If the look on her face is the same one you just caught on film, then you're already off to a great start.

"Dude, what the fuck? What was that for?" she groans in annoyance, blinking the bright spots out of her vision.  

"A scrapbook," you grin. "For Joel."

She's still glaring at you as she rubs her eyes, but she bites back whatever retort she was about to say. You watch her expectantly as she chews on the idea, relief blooming in your chest when she finally nods.

"I guess that could work," she says slowly, still thinking over the logistics in her head. But then she frowns. "When exactly did you plan on taking all those photos? Not to be a downer, but Christmas is in like, a week."

Damn, she's right again. It'll be hell in a handbasket to fill an entire scrapbook in that amount of time, and even if you manage it, it'll be a half-assed attempt at best.

No, if you're going to do this, then you're going to do it right. No rushed or slapstick presents for the man who already hates Christmas—Joel deserves better than that.

"What if we let Joel do his bah-humbug thing one last time? That's probably his idea of a perfect gift, anyway. Then next year, it'll be this," you hand her the fully-developed Polaroid.

It shows Ellie hugging the guitar Joel made for her, but there's no sign of the shocked annoyance that followed the camera flash. Instead, she's smiling. She has that rare, unguarded expression on her face, the one reserved only for people she trusts. It's a tender moment of peace, forever frozen in time.

She looks up at you, and you can see it in her eyes. She gets it, now.

"You do realize it's still a 'thing' present though, right?" she interjects playfully, and you have to resist the urge to grab the wood polishing cloth on the table next to you and swat her with it.

"Yeah, but it's a sappy thing. Admit it, Joel's a huge sap and you know it. You said it yourself, his house is basically a glorified fridge with your art magnetized to the walls."

She rolls her eyes again, but you can see the smile tugging at her lips. She knows it's true.

"So, you'll help me?" you ask, daring to hope that she'll agree.

"As long as you don't pull this shit again, I'll do whatever you want," she lifts the Polaroid, shooting you a dirty, but affectionate look before handing it back to you.

A grin breaks out across your face, and you bolt across the room to hug her awkwardly around the instrument still sitting in her lap. She places it down so she can wrap her arms around you properly. 

Physical affection has never really been Ellie's thing but if you catch her at the right moment on the right day, you might get lucky. Today, you do.

"So, when do we get started?" she asks, pulling away.

"Right now," you reply, unable to contain your excitement. For the first time in over two decades, Joel Miller might actually have a merry Christmas, and that's something to celebrate. 

"Now?" she gapes at you, looking over her shoulder longingly at her guitar as you drag her out of the shed. She barely has enough time to grab a coat before you're out in the cold with nothing but each other, a camera, and a plan.

"Now." 

ONE YEAR LATER

Jackson in the spring is one of the most beautiful things you've ever seen, even among your memories of the world pre-outbreak. Snow remains on the mountain peaks in the distance, but the foliage below blooms with the promise of warmer weather. Somehow, you managed to capture it all—fresh flowers in the shop windows, friends and neighbors shedding their coats and congregating in the streets, and the post-winter excitement that spreads more and more with each sunny day. 

You hid the stack of photographs in an empty jumbo box of tampons in the hall closet, positive they’d be safe from Joel’s prying eyes while you and Ellie continued your mission.

In the summer, two new foals were born, and Ellie and Maria spent almost every day at the stables to help out where they could. They even named them—Shimmer was Maria’s choice, and Ellie named the other Callus just to piss off Joel. Not only did it work, but it resulted in some of the cutest pictures of the season. 

Joel and Tommy built a porch swing for Maria and their rambunctious toddler and spent countless balmy nights drinking Tommy's extra-strength whiskey and shooting the shit. They even broke out their guitars every so often and managed to bully Ellie into playing with them once or twice. You caught that on camera, too. 

Slowly but surely, the memory box filled up, and the photos were transferred to a scrapbook you and Ellie made yourselves—with a little local help. One of the school teachers happened to be a former librarian with a bookbinding hobby, and graciously gave you a treasure trove of old, tattered books that were perfect for your project. 

By autumn, everything was falling into place. Ellie adorned those pages with painted leaves in shades of red, orange, and yellow to complement the photos you took at the town’s annual Harvest Festival and Thanksgiving potluck. You hopped around from booth to booth, table to table, and thanked your lucky stars that Eugene was a hoarder and held onto every pack of film he found over the years.

Now, it's the night before Christmas and you have a single shot left. One last photo intended for the final page, but you can’t think of anything you haven’t already documented. Looking around Tommy’s living room, there are plenty of moments you’d love to capture, and yet none of them feel like the moment. 

How the Grinch Stole Christmas plays in the background while you sit on their couch, curled into Joel’s side with Ellie’s head on your lap, but you’re barely paying attention, still lost in your thoughts. Joel isn’t paying attention, either—he was unsurprisingly averse to the movie to begin with—so when you don’t laugh along with everyone else at the Grinch’s antics, he immediately knows something’s up. He kisses your temple, careful not to jostle Ellie.

“What’s got you so in your head you’re not even laughin’ at Jim Carrey? I thought you loved this movie,” he murmurs against the shell of your ear. His familiar Southern twang somehow warms you up more than the fireplace crackling next to the television. 

“I do. I think I’m just getting a little sleepy, is all,” you reply softly, sagging into him. “Winter dance prep sucked this week. It’s like everyone conveniently forgot they volunteered to help.”

He nods, mumbling an apology into your hair.

“Guess that makes sense. All that runnin’ around you’ve been doing with that camera of yours probably ain’t helpin’ either,” he says offhandedly, and your brows furrow in response.

It’s not the first time he’s mentioned your sudden interest in photography, but with his gift sitting less than 10 feet away under Tommy and Maria’s Christmas tree, it seems more than a little suspicious. You catch Ellie glancing up at you in your peripheral, and you meet her gaze as discreetly as you can.

“Yeah, maybe,” you laugh it off, hoping it doesn’t sound as tense to Joel’s ears as it does to yours.

“What are you doin’ with all of those photos anyway? I swear, you take ‘em and then they disappear into thin air,” he presses on, none the wiser.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” you joke, shaking your head as if that’ll shake off all of his incoming questions. But it doesn’t work nearly as well as you hoped.

“Y’know, I was wonderin’ that myself,” Tommy interjects from the recliner to your right. “You’ve been takin’ photo after photo for almost a year, and I don’t think I’ve seen a single one.”

Maria scoffs next to him, coming to the rescue before you’re forced to come up with a believable explanation. 

“Mind your own damn business,” she smacks him in the chest, then shoots you a sympathetic look. 

You asked for her help not long after you and Ellie started planning Joel’s gift, so she knows how important this is. The last thing she’s going to do is let her husband’s need to stir the pot ruin it. But Tommy’s not the type of guy to give in that easily.

“I’m just sayin’, might be nice take a look at ‘em. You probably got some good ones of the kids in there, ‘specially from birthdays and holidays—,” he manages to get out before Ellie cuts him off.

“Can you guys have this conversation somewhere else? Some of us are actually trying to watch the movie,” she sits up from her spot on your lap to glare in his direction. 

Then, Tommy abruptly stands like something just occurred to him and strides across the room to the mantle above the fireplace—right where you set the camera down earlier. Your heart leaps into your throat. 

“Hold up. This thing’s still got one shot left, don’t it?” he asks excitedly, and you’re not sure how to shut him down without drawing too much attention to yourself or sounding mildly hysterical.

“Well, yeah, but—“

“Oh shit, s’got a timer and everythin’,” he continues, fiddling with its limited settings. He turns back towards the rest of the group and holds up the camera with a grin. “C’mon, everybody get together. We’re takin’ our first official Christmas card photo.”

“But, Tommy—,” you try again, but you’re drowned out by Joel’s sad attempt to leave the room.

“Look, I said I’d watch the movie, but I sure as hell didn’t agree to take a damn Christmas photo,” he grumbles, moving to stand, but you latch onto his flannel before he gets too far. He softens at your downtrodden expression and settles back in.

“Just to be clear, m’doin this for her, not for you,” he amends his previous statement gruffly, throwing an arm around your shoulder. You kiss his cheek gratefully, and Ellie pretends to gag as she shuffles to sit between your legs.

“Whatever you say, big brother. All you gotta do is sit there and look pretty. Think you can handle that?” Tommy teases him, making one final adjustment to the camera's placement. “Alright y’all, here we go.”

He sets the timer, then runs to the couch, squishing into the only available spot between Maria and an armrest. Everyone huddles together with varying levels of smiles and grimaces on their faces while you wait for the camera to go off. Except, it doesn't.

“Wait, how long did you set the timer for?” you peer around Maria to see Tommy looking genuinely dumbfounded.

“…Does it not just go 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, shoot?” he asks sheepishly.

"Oh my god, are you kidding me?" Ellie groans, leaning back against you, and the entire couch bursts out laughing. 

And in that moment, the flash goes off.

Yeah, this is the one.

The photo in your hands feels like the culmination of every memory you made and preserved in the past year. Five faces—and one tiny sleeping one—look up at you, fully developed and as happy as you've ever seen them.

Tommy and Maria sit side by side with their son in her lap, their heads thrown back in laughter. Next to them, Ellie sits between your legs, mid-knee slap, as you cackle with your chin resting on top of her head.

And then there's Joel, grinning from ear to ear as he looks on at the family he's fought so hard to protect. The family that's safe and sound, and enjoying an ordinarily special day, just for the sake of it. You can only hope that a book full of photos and everything it represents will be enough to convince him once and for all that it's the truth.

As you slide the final Polaroid into place, Joel sidles up behind you and wraps his arms around your waist.

"What's all this?" he watches curiously as you close the book and swipe your hand lovingly across the cover. Then, you pick it up and turn in his embrace, leaning back against the kitchen counter. 

"A gift," you reply carefully, hugging it to your chest. 

You glance over to where Ellie's still sitting in the living room, but she shakes her head and offers you a small smile, her delicate way of telling you that you're on your own. You take a deep breath before continuing.

"It's a Christmas present from me and Ellie," you explain, hoping to convey even a fraction of what this means to you. "Look, we know this isn’t necessarily your favorite day, but...we still wanted to do something nice for you."

He nods, his expression frustratingly unreadable. But then he does something unexpected.

"Y'gonna keep huggin' it or are you gonna show it to me?" he drawls jokingly, and your brows shoot up in shock.

"You wanna see it?" 

His face falls, and you immediately feel terrible at the brief wave of hurt that crosses his features. You didn't mean to sound so surprised, but you didn't anticipate this easy acceptance.

"'Course I do. The two of you spent a whole year workin' on this thing, why wouldn't I?"

That grin you know he loves lights up your entire face, and you turn to place his gift back on the counter. Flipping to the first page, you step aside and let him explore it for himself.

He takes in each moment of each season slowly, running his fingers across Ellie's doodles between photos and in the margins. Spring is framed by butterflies that you're somehow just realizing are painted in all of Sarah's favorite colors. 

Ellie added so many painstaking details you'd never talked about. You're not even sure how she knew something like that, but you're grateful it's there. Joel notices it too, and reaches down to take your hand, gripping it tightly for the rest of the book. 

He's silent as flips through summer and fall, and when he finally reaches winter, you feel him begin to tremble beside you. 

The last page sits open in front of you, the photo from earlier flanked on either side by notes from you and Ellie. As he reads, then rereads them, you can see the cogs turning. He's starting to understand why you did this—and how something as simple as a photograph isn't just a look back on a life well-lived. It's a reminder to keep living.

“This is…,” his brows furrow as he tries to find the words to express the conflicting thoughts racing through his head.

“I—I’m sorry, I didn’t get you anything," is what he ultimately settles on, but when he looks up at you, his eyes are wet. You immediately drop his hand to cup his cheeks.

"You didn't need to. I have everything I've ever wanted right here," you tell him gently, brushing away the tears threatening to fall. 

You glance over at the familiar faces in the living room, the same ones looking up at you from the page below, and he follows your gaze. The tension in his body begins to bleed away the longer he watches them, and you learn the wrinkle in his brow isn't actually the permanent fixture it always seemed to be.

He reaches up to cover one of your hands with his own, and you can feel his heart racing through his fingertips. In the back of your mind, you wonder if this is the moment it happens. If his heart grew three sizes bigger today, and if he's finally ready to give himself the gift of peace.

“Merry Christmas, Joel Miller," you whisper, kissing him deeply as the sweet voice of Cindy Lou Who brings the movie credits rolling in the distance to a close.

thanks for reading and happy holidays!

dividers by @saradika-graphics

[floworence]

I absolutely love how mha handles Toshinori and him being The Symbol of Peace.

Horikoshi could've went with the very popular route, having the guy who seems like The Hero™ be secretly corrupt, using the protagonist, the whole, single entity that is responsible for corruption of society, but he didn't do it.

When you first see All Might, you see this God-like figure, worshiped by everyone, someone larger than life. You see all that, and expect him to be a superficial, shallow, asshole who does it all for fame.

And then the reveal happens and we partially see the man behind the legend. Disabled, middle-aged man who is becoming jaded and bitter by the state of the world and heroism at large. First interactions we have with Toshinori Yagi and not All Might?

He is an asshole.

Except he is not.

Looking back at the first interaction he has with Izuku, he is really not trying to be mean, he really is trying to be helpful. He saw first hand what heroism does to people. He experienced it. He knows that heroism chews you up and spits you out, even with such power like OfA. He sees this trembling boy, with stars in his eyes, worshiping him like he is a God and all he sees is yet another person disillusioned with what heroism is, so he tries to keep him safe in the only way he knows at that moment: by crushing his dreams and facing them with harsh reality.

You have to remember that at this point he doesn't know Izuku, his impression of him is only of a hero fanboy who doesn't understand the dangers of hero life. Should have he been softer? More mindful of what he is saying? Yes, of course but this first interaction is important for his characterization.

Why?

Because, we as the audience see him make a mistake.

With this, we see that he is not a God. He is a human, a man, and that is the most important part of his character.

His humanity.

From then on we move onto the training montage, where we see more and more of the man, rather than the legend. We see that he is sassy, silly, caring and a rather mediocre mentor. We see good and bad. During season one and two, we as the audience familiarize ourselves with the man behind All Might, but actually we don't see him fully yet.

We are still like Izuku in a way, we know he is a human, not a God, but there is still this level of invincibility to him, yes he has his limits but still, he is this giant figure casting shadow.

It is not until post Kamino Ward arc we realize on who exactly All Might was casting shadow.

Yes, yes, yes, I know what you are expecting me to say here, that he cast the shadow on other heroes, Izuku, students, Japan, whole world even, and he did but we will get into that in a bit.

The person which was hidden the most was Toshinori Yagi.

It's not a coincidence that not only the story got darker with "All Might" not longer being present but that we also get a lot more moments with Toshinori being vulnerable.

Only after the protective shield of All Might is gone do we really start to see AND understand Toshinori.

We see exactly why he became a hero, his complete disregard for his own self, the workaholism, the pressure he was under to keep it all together.

Then, society collapses in on itself and Toshinori is left with a gaping void in his heart knowing it was all for nothing.

Horikoshi could've had All Might be corrupt, he could've been an asshole looking for fame but instead he made him into this deeply empathetic, caring, kind, loving man who just wanted to save others.

Society's dependence on All Might wasn't Toshinori's fault. He was just one individual put on a pedestal, held to such high standards that it almost killed him. Scratch that, it would've killed him if it wasn't for Izuku.

After Shie Hassaikai Arc, you see one thing that I haven't seen done before.

You see how Toshinori was also the victim of the hero society. You see how that man sees no value in himself except for what he can do for others. He feels completely worthless and undeserving to be even alive.

He wanted to become The Symbol of Peace, yes, but society made him into their only defense with even other pros admitting they are "rusty" because of All Might.

He never wanted to be the only one but after he was put on that pedestal he had the whole world on his shoulders and he carried it for years until the world bled him dry and then discarded him.

People becoming complacent wasn't his fault, he never advocated for everything to be left to him, never bragged he was the best, never made others feel lesser, and yet everyone took him for granted and that ultimately lead to the catastrophe that was the Final War.

You know what is the worst though? That he still felt like it was his fault and he will probably forever carry that guilt with him.

But in the end, it wasn't all guilt. Yes there was the guilt for not being able to stop the war, for indirectly causing the society to become complacent, for not being able to stop his students from risking their lives, probably the guilt of thrusting the weight of the world onto Izuku's shoulders (unknowingly, but that is for another post).

Final war arc is also Toshinori's final arc and his biggest realization.

His realization that Toshinori Yagi and All Might aren't two separate entities. That it's all him. The realization that he also had in the first epilogue: quirk doesn't make the hero, it's the heart.

That's what Iron Might represents. He answers Izuku's question here and he says:

Yes, you can become a hero without a quirk.

And with that, his sclera is once again white, because he is whole and he has hope once again.

[absolutebl]

This Week in BL - new entries upset the rankings

Organized, in each category, with ones I'm enjoying most at the top.

April 2024 Wk 2

Ongoing Series - Thai

City of Stars (Fri iQIYI) ep 11 of 12 - Like most Thai BL pulps, this show doesn’t have much story to it. But I'm discovering that what it does have I actually really enjoy. I love that the gay boys got to play matchmaker for a change and I like how just GAY they are. It's nice. Refreshing.

We Are (Weds GMMTV iQIYI) ep 1-2 of 16 - University ensemble BL featuring PondPhuwin, WinnySatang, AouBoom, MarcPawinPoon. I like it. It’s old school Thai BL, but having fun with itself and its tropes. I’m not expecting much, so I don’t mind it waffling. All the couples are comfy. Chemistry is okay. Friendships are nifty. I like Pond's floppy hair. We fine. 

Two Worlds (Thurs IQIYI) ep 5 of 10 - What an extremely bloody episode. And bad guy turned out to be very bad indeed. And now pretty much everyone is dead. Nice kiss. Of course. 

Deep Night (Thurs iQiyi) ep 6 of 8 - It’s cute, they happy, not a ton happened. Random gratuitous bathing. As you do in BL. And I still think the sides should just end up in a thrupple

Only Boo! (Sun YouTube) ep 2 of 12 - Oh they very cute. Also very silly. 

1000 Years Old (Thurs iQIYI) ep 9 of 12 - No. NOT THE GUITAR. YES abandon guitar for the sniff test! Love this for them. And me. My most favorite trope defeated my least favorite trope. VICTORY!!!  

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

Unknown (Taiwan Tues YouTube & Viki) ep 8 of 11 - It’s just so good. Baby went away, grew up, and learned how to become a temptation... and a husband. 

Gray Shelter AKA Gray Currents (Korea Thurs iQIYI) 1 of 5 eps - SooHyuk, only just surviving, reunites with YoonDae, his (brief) younger stepbrother who feels abandoned. They end up living together. The younger brother is played by Lee Jae Bin of Choco Milk Shake. OMG. STEPBROTHERS TROPE. Lucky me! Two in one season. Yay!!!! It's Korea so great visuals too. I shallow but yeah, this is great.

Living With Him AKA Kare no Iru Seikatsu (Japan Thurs Gaga) ep 1 of 10 - Kindly Ryota goes off to uni only to find his new roommate is his childhood bestie, Kazuhito. Kazuhito doesn’t have a girlfriend and Ryota tries to help him figure out why. Same director as Old Fashion Cupcake. It’s utterly charming. I am charmed. Also the framing is gorgeous (of course). Very stylish.

Love is Better the Second Time Around AKA Koi wo Suru nara Nidome ga Joto (Japan Weds Gaga) ep 6fin - I don’t know. Kind of a flat ending with the leads apart for most of it. I enjoyed this show but it never really hit with me. 

Summation

After a teen betrayal and resulting separation a reporter reunites with his first love. That love wants him back. I enjoyed the authenticity of a reunion romance explored in Japan's quintessentially contemplative yet surreal way. The juxtaposition of the tenderness of the sex scenes with this Japanese style of authenticity was oddly elegant but all in all this still fell a little flat for me. There's nothing objectively wrong with it, but in total the narrative felt sluggish and the main couple were just... stiff (in the wrong way). Frankly, I'd rather just rewatch Tokyo in April is. 8/10

Love is like a Cat (Korea Mon Viki) eps 3-4 of 12 - What is going on with this show? No, I get the plot. I just don't get the show or why I’m watching it. Annoying. 

It's done, but I suck

What Did You Eat Yesterday Season 2 AKA Kinou Nani Tabeta? Season 2 (Japan Gaga) 10 eps

To Be Continued (Sat C3 Thailand grey) ep 7-8fin - I can't for the life of me find the final 2 episodes. Haven't had a real hunt, but yeah. No dice so far.

It's airing but...

Takumi-kun Series 6: Nagai Nagai Monogatari (Japan Furritsubs) eps 1-? of 10 - I may wait and binge it.

Lady Boy Friends (Thai WeTV grey) 16 eps - reminds me a bit too much of Diary of Tootsies only high school. Not my thing. DNF unless it turns a corner and is truly amazing.

Kiseki Chapter 2 (Sun iQIYI) 6 eps - It’s so boring DNFed at 2.

Close Friend Season 3: Soju Bomb! (Weds iQIYI) 6 - The problem with situational comedy BL is it must be situational, comedic and a BL. This show gets 1 of 3 claims correct. 33% is not a passing grade. Dropped at 3.

Memory in the Letter (Thai WeTV) - only 4 eps, tell me if I should bother?

Next Week Looks Like This:

4/18 At 25:00 in Alaska AKA 25 Ji Akasaka de (Japan Thurs Gaga) 10 eps - Yuki lands his first starring role in a BL drama alongside superstar Asami (previously his senior at uni). Said superstar suggests they form a sham relationship until filming concludes. As they actually begin to fall in love, the spotlight begins to burn. I think I've seen this before (joke) and also the trailer doesn't inspire confidence.

Still to Come in April

4/25 Boys Be Brave! AKA Roommates (Korea Thurs Viki) 8 eps - Trailer Jung Ki Sub is Kim Jin Woo's slacker friend - and secret crush. So when Ki Sub crashes at his place, his heart tingles to be near him everyday. But as the short stay turns into permanent mooch, how long can Jin Woo keep his true feelings under wraps and hold back from confessing?

4/26 My Stand-In (Thai iQIYI) 12 eps - adaptation of Chinese novel "Professional Body Double" by Shui Qiang Cheng. Stars Up (Lovely Writer) and Poom (Bake Me Please) directed by the same team as KP (not a recommendation IMHO - my biggest criticism of that show was the clashing directing styles). This one looks complicated, lemme try: Joe is a stuntman for famous actor Tong. Joe falls in love with Ming but Ming sees Joe as nothing more than a Tong-replacement. After learning this horrible truth, Joe dies. Joe then wakes up in the body of another man also named Joe. He manages to rebuild the same life as before—with the same people eventually re-meeting Ming. Ming wants Joe back but Joe doesn't understand why. But Ming seems to know what's going on and wants to give him some kind of explanation.

I'm exhausted just trying to describe the plot.

Knock-Knock Boys (Thai WeTV) - 4 college friends conspire to help their friend lose his virginity. Familiar faces like Seng (yes, Billy's previous pairing) and Best, news here. But will it actually air this month?

Upcoming BLs for 2024 are listed here. This list is not kept updated, so please leave a comment if you know something new or RP with additions.

NOTE: It looks like one of my personal favorites of last year Unintentional Love Story is getting a spin off!

THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENT

Sniff test turning into a make out sesh? Please and thank you. City of Stars

(Last week)

Streaming services are listed by how I (usually) watch, which is with a USA based IP, and often offset by a day because time zones are a bother.

The tag BLigade: @doorajar @solitaryandwandering @my-rose-tinted-glasses @babymbbatinygirl @babymbbatinygirl @isisanna-blog @mmastertheone @pickletrip @aliceisathome @urikawa-miyuki @tokillamonger @rocketturtle4 @blglplus @anythinggoesintheshire @everlightly

If ya wanna be tagged each week leave a comment and I will add you to the template. Easy peesy.

[soulfulazrael]

Haven't watched Mastermind episode (and wont), but will talk about stuff I saw from it and heard about it

So... I as you who follow my ramblings here probably know (all 2 of you probably). I do not watch this show anymore because I don't care about it's story. Apparently this new episode is BEST OF THE SEASON, but since rest of the season at best gave me a feeling of pure apathy and at worst INCREDIBLE disdain and lack of faith in humanity I say good middle ground is talking about pieces I saw because at this point I don't think I can stand watching this show for longer than 5 minutes at a time.

I make my own story for HB/HH so I will make some comparisons to my own story and plans... Maybe one day I will do bigger post about how my versions of Sins and other things look. No arts though... no talent on my part. Eh... Or maybe... Eh we will see. Probably not, but... Maybe... I dunno.

Comparisons will be mostly about Sins. And the thing I reference is a fic called Song for the Quiet Bird that for now is center of my AU where I make things of Hellaverse in my own way.

So first off. Stella moment. Probably the first thing I saw from it when I heard about it. When I saw that scene I was like: Wow. Actually proper moment where Stella shows more of a character and maybe nuance aAAAAAAaaaand the smirk...

You are amazing at failing every expectation aren't you HB? YOU KNOW SHE LE EVIL!? YOU KNOW SHE BAD!? YOU KNOW STOLAS GOOD!?

Yes I do. I am deaf from the amount of SCREAMING you are throwing at me about this every other minute. Thank you. I am not a 5 year old. She evil. What you do with it? Also apparently NOW she has a brain compared all other times besides season 1 where she had more of a peanut there? What is it? Also incest with her brother? Great... Keep on going with this. I am sure at some point even completely blind AND deaf people will understand how evil she and Andy Magic are. I sadly missed the part where I am supposed to find them interesting. But HEY at least it gives such a great explanation of why Octavia sees Stella as better parent than Stolas which is clearly shown in some of that promotional material... entire one scene... that is not a minute long even and has no dialogue between them. No chemistry or anything... Let's be honest though. For most fans that's probably enough. Just slap one or two scenes later of Andy Magic and Stella saying how bad Stolas is and you are golden... Fuck my life as it is not even a joke. Jesus.

Okay. Besides that... tragedy? I dunno. There is also SINS! Leviathan and Belphegor...

Well... that's just amazingly underwhelming. You know there is a problem when I cannot tell if a character is even meant to be someone special. Because what the Hell (get it? HELL!) is this? They look like about nothing Demons. They are barely more interesting visually than any other shmuck we saw in this world. Ozzie keeps being the best design out of all of them with most distinct and accurate one and I am starting to feel like it is only because Viv took years in making it before hastily making ones for everyone else. Seriously, would you even be able to tell they are meant to be important characters? Because they look like everyone else in this world.

Now funnily enough I have my own concepts for those in my AU. Not exactly more interesting visually as again... not an artist and it is still more concept thing as I keep figuring things out, but this is the current form I want to get them across. I think they do the job on some level in terms of what they are meant to be. One is Leviathan. It is... interesting to portray it with 2 heads... a reason for that kind of eludes, but who am I to judge? But I know in my version it will just honestly a large beast swimming across endless waters of Envy. A giant sea monster that keeps itself in a giant form among domes of Envy where cities are with immeasurable wealth and power, a creature meant to be envied. But also a creature that envies deeper than any other over the loss of their partner at the hand of God, not being able to be close with anyone or even be understood. A creature who's deep resentment and pain created entire Ring around them.

If I made a scene like that with 'sins' meeting I think it would be with a High Demon that serves as a high priest/priestess of the Leviathan faith. As all very high rank demons like Sins, certain Goetia Kings and other VERY important figures have their own religion that Hellborn MUST adhere to, in a way choose their deity and in this case it would be a Demon from said church of Leviathan that interprets them... cluelessly.

While Belphegor would not be much different as a creature that also is a larger than life being. But this one being like a giant, anthropomorphic crocodile like being similar to SCP 682, but more... static. Basically giant center point of a garbage heap that is Sloth in my AU. In some ways beautiful, but also incredibly toxic and dangerous to everything wasteland. Very bottom of Hell. Horrible place where you can be killed by some horrifying monsters with no real mind that prey on the helpless. As Belphegor itself (dunno if it even has gender) exudes aura of sloth where most Demons that come to sloth will be at some point forced to lay down and stay in place. "Bask under non existent sun" which is a term used in that version of Hell a bit to call someone lazy and it comes from that which can spell someone's horrid death.

Those are my ideas for those. But next one is the big boy himself. The Big S. Adversary. Satan.

He looks alright. Nothing you would not imagine a Satan to be. He looks dragon like, buff (even if he skipped leg day) and has funny horns of Imps. Also he has little therapist... which is funny because in my fic I also have a trial with the main judge there (in that case Lucifugus or Lucifuge Rofocale) who also has his own little therapist thing (alongside some other annoyances... and far more misery). It is funny how I guess both me and Viv kind of agree people in high political power in Hell would have their own therapist. In my version though he keeps them deep within the tower he resides in. But either way. Can't say his design or personality is something I did not see coming.

As for my version I will go with... yeah it will be quite different. Better or not. Your choice. A centaur like being that has 4 big arms, molten lava in his veins and skull on top of his body looking like a goat or dragon like being (still thinking on that). A demented monstrosity who's head went awry due to their perpetual rage who can now think of nothing, but drowning everything in so much blood that he will one day swim on that tide of gore to the Pearly Gates and smash them open in ultimate showing of their superiority over all of creation. Something his kin the Imps for the most part also believe and praise. A promise of sea of gore and glorious war. Not the kind of creature that would hold a trial. In that world it's more of a Lucifuge thing... or Lucifer if he is mood for jokes and tormenting some poor souls for their amusement.

Also I hear Stolas lost all his wealth and power over... NOT the shitty things that he did, just that he was forced to lie for the sake of I.M.P.... Eh... The avoidance of responsibility continues. Even when characters face consequences it can NEVER be over their own actions. It has to be something that can be proven wrong and goddamn will that probably be true with Via as well. Because let me tell you they are most likely going to make her be in the wrong for hating poor little Stolas baby and I hate it already. I know making assumptions is not good, but by GOD were they good at making those expectations of nuance low so far...

Actually what expectations? I don't watch this show anymore. But I am passionate about it's ideas... and that hurts me. A lot. I made this entire post because of those... and make a fic that has now few HUNDRED THOUSAND words. Damn. No idea if my version is better or worse... but it is one I prefer. It is different definitely. Even though in certain ways it's weirdly similar.

[animalsalvationassociation]

Calling all Octo-Agents!

Yes! You! Please read till the end, and if you don't have the patience/energy for it rn, come back later! It'll be worth it I promise!

So the holidays are now pretty much over, (except for New Years ofc, but I digress.) meaning I've been looking for new ways to improve my Au. You see, it's come to my attention that I'm not as organized or as thorough as I thought I was.

I've created a lot of lore/characters for this Au, but not very many people really know what's going on anymore. Even I get lost, and it's been a little frustrating ngl. So, seeing as this blog is officially over a year old, I think it's time to "fix" my mistakes and take a new approach.

Ya'll might've noticed that I've been slowing down on content. I haven't been spending as much time on my art, meaning the quality (well I wouldn't say it's gotten worse) hasn't been as strong as some others I've created in the past.

(Don't get me wrong, I'm not making a resolution for the new year, that's dumb and we all know those never last.)

So here's what I'm promising instead since this clearly is the only thing I'm allowed to work on at the moment (not saying I don't have other projects, but if I want to actually publish this story at any point I'm going to have to spend as much time as I can on it, meaning I have to make some sacrifices - RIP my FNaf's & Undertale fanfics)

1. Full Character Redesigns

Taking all the core characters (The Octonauts / Octo-Agents / Y.N. & Fae / The A.S.A. / C.L.A.D.E. / etc.) and giving them a full reference sheet with details, headcanons, and an updated design.

Creating family/relationship tree for those characters (parents/siblings/love interests/etc.)

Family/Team “Photos”

Crossovers (I will still be doing multiple crossovers and soon they will get their very own redesigns!)

2. Updating the Master Post

3. Updating the “Pinned” Blog Post

For reference this will no longer be the current top post with all of the A.S.A. members, but a poster I will create for the fanfic to make the blog appear cleaner. (I won’t delete that post I’m just going to unpin it since the designs are old and not as useful as they used to be)

4. Asks will open January 1st, but I will not start answering any asks before February 1st!

That is so I can properly prepare and reevaluate the blog’s content so there is more information available to anyone who wants to ask questions for the Octonauts/Octo-Agents.

5. A.S.A.’s Rating & Genre (Fanfic)

This story will now be classified as Cryptozoological Fiction, with partial Horror / Science Fiction & will be drawing straight from Folklore & Mythology. (For “Sci-Fi” don’t think space/aliens, think Cryptids in a scientifically evolved world.)

The rating is now PG-14

(Poll Results)

6. Fanfiction

This is really for the fanfiction itself. I’m still trying to figure out how to go about this. As of this current moment I have 1, maybe 2 chapters written out, and soon I hope to have more. However I am my own editor/beta reader, so it might not be as polished as I’d like to be, but I’m just going to have to accept that.

Unless I can find a bunch of people who can do that stuff for me, for fun, that’s the state this story will be in. You’ll have to have patient with me, I’m using all the tools I have at my disposal (Grammarly, Google Docs, LibreOffice, etc.) but I am a human with heavy ADHD and reading/comprehension disabilities, so please be kind.

7. Weekly Posts

I will still be posting weekly, just not on Tuesdays. I realize it’s only been stressing me out to post on that day every week and so I’ve been abusing my attempts at a proper sleep schedule because of it. I still work a very busy retail job and will have to get a secondary job sometime soon, so unfortunately you’ll just have to add me to your notifications if you want to know when I’ve posted.

8. The Future . . .

This one is for anyone who’s gotten this far. I want you to know that the Octonauts still mean so much to me. Even if we aren’t getting updates anymore, the community is still somewhat alive even if it's only a few of us. Maybe one day we’ll get our kickstart, but for now I will continue making content until I’m satisfied with the story and it’s ending. If I stray every now and then, that’s just because I have the attention span of a goldfish with a million hobbies and fandoms that constantly need attention. I love you guys and I promise to do my very best to make my mark on the internet, even if it’s for a silly kids show about talking/walking/nerdy animals who save fish every day.

9. January's Posting Plan

Week 1: Finishing the Octonaut's Headcanons

Week 2: My Christmas gift to the Community

Week 3: Silly Y/N & Fae Content (No it doesn't make sense, deal with it)

Week 4: Screencap Redraw

Week 5: Starting Redesigns

If you made it this far . . . here's a cookie and the secret formula.

🍪🍾

[tokiro07]

Ichi the Witch ch.15 thoughts

[What's a King Magik to a God Magik?]

(Topics: character design - World Hater, translation choices, narrative analysis - escalation/plot progression)

Gaaah, I knew I should've mentioned the bone pattern on this guy's outfit last week!!! I got hung up on the fact that he also had a wave pattern on his sash and figured "oh, those are both just aesthetic," but no!!! The bones were the hint!!! I've been writing these reviews for two years and I still haven't learned to trust my gut!!!

Knowing that the World Hater (true name pending) uses bone magic, I do wonder what the meaning behind the wave pattern is. Based on the color page, where Ichi is depicted with a mountainous backdrop and the World Hater is depicted with yet more waves, my guess is that it's meant to establish him as a foil for Ichi

Aesthetic Perfection

Whereas Ichi grew up on the mountains, land that stretches up to the heavens and is teeming with life, the World Hater's aesthetic evokes the depths of the ocean, the lightless abyss where life is sparse and the remains of the dead fall like snow. Ichi kills only for the sake of survival, showing respect to the lives that he takes, but by the looks of things, the World Hater resents life itself, and doesn't even seem to take any semblance of joy in ending life, merely taking it as a matter of course or perhaps a warped sense of duty

This is even reflected in the aftermath of their kills. Ichi, being a hunter, either turns his prey into food, clothing or tools; the only evidence that he ever took a trophy is the head of the wolf he killed when he first started, likely meant as a reminder of the weight of the life he lives. Presumably anything he can't use is returned to nature as fertilizer or some similar way to keep it from going to waste

The World Hater, on the other hand, leaves a massive crater of calcified corpses, a monument to his own power and distaste for life itself. What impact this has on the ecosystem hasn't been explored yet, but it doesn't take much imagination to see that nothing is likely to ever grow in that radius again, the land itself certainly rendered infertile at minimum and likely toxic at worst

Both methods leave the target as nothing but bones in the end, but whereas Ichi's hunting honors his prey and begets further life, the World Hater's wanton destruction disgraces them and warns of greater death to come

This is what Monegold means when she says that the World Hater's targets get "warped out." They aren't "wiped out," as in erased from existence, they're very much left behind - but changed. Distorted. Warped. Forever immortalized as a testament of malice, irreparably blighting the world that the God Magik hates so thoroughly

Ms. Translation

I've given Adrienne Beck a lot of flack for her translations thus far, but honestly I can't think of a better way to convey this phenomenon. The kanji used is 変滅 (henmetsu), comprised of "strange/change" and "destruction." "Destruction through change." The best direct translation I can think of would be "deathstortion," to convey that what's left behind has been fatally gnarled and distorted into something unrecognizable, but a portmanteau always carries the risk of coming off as silly, and this moment absolutely should not

"Warped out" isn't entirely unsilly, but it accomplishes the idea in the most elegant way I can currently envision, and I'm sure Adrienne did her damndest to think of the method that would leave the biggest impact she could. Credit where credit is due, and all that

Moreso than the implications of the word choice, the bigger issue right now is the implications that this event has for the progression of the narrative

Sudden Escalation

I've been saying since the beginning that I wanted to know what the stakes in this story were, what the actual, tangible goal was going to be aside from just hunting Magiks as a matter of course. While the introduction of the World Hater certainly paints a clear picture of the answer to that question, going so far as to refer to this villain as the God Magik feels a little early for chapter fifteen!

We've met, what, three self-identified Human Haters so far? One of whom was the designated King Magik, which gave the impression that he was the strongest. I suppose quickly establishing that there's someone above him was kind of a necessity, especially if he's not actually meant to be a Sukuna-style main villain, but I would have figured we'd meet a few Magiks who are on par with Uroro before meeting one that's an order of magnitude above him!

Like maybe there are a handful of Magik Kings or Queens, or at least a Prince or a Knight or something. Maybe a royal family whose spells all involve interacting with other spells in a way that's similar to Uroro's Ultra Amplification, like Nullification or Inversion? That might still happen, since there has to be something in between the previously established floor and the presently established ceiling, but either way, the World Hater is pretty clearly being established as presiding on a level far beyond what Uroro is capable of

It is worth noting though that "God Magik" and "World Hater" are simply titles that Monegold and Mantinel assigned to this Magik, and did so without ever actually seeing it, much less conversing with it, so how reliable this assessment is is up for debate

For all we know, this isn't the God Magik, but a God Magik, specifically the God of Death, and there's an entire pantheon of God Magiks out there. Or, "God" and "King" are just titles meant to evoke their power, not political status, and other, undiscovered Magiks are just as worthy of those designations but never made themselves known to humanity yet. There are too many unknowns to really worry about it right now

Either way, this sudden jump in stakes greatly reinforces my speculation from last week: that Ichi is about to learn firsthand how lacking he is as a Witch

Rising to Incompetence

Now, originally I was expecting Ichi to win the fight, if only barely, and likely driving off the World Hater rather than actually defeating him, but now it's pretty clear that that just isn't an option. If Ichi defeats the God Magik in less than twenty chapters, where the hell would we even go from there? Defeating the Supreme Kai Magik?

No, for the sake of pacing, Ichi has to fail here. That doesn't necessarily mean he doesn't save the town, I don't know how dark Nishi wants to go with this, but just barely scraping by without casualties is far different from claiming victory, especially if the World Hater can just mosey onto the next town unimpeded

The threat that the World Hater poses will be made perfectly clear to Ichi one way or the other, and he's not going to take that lying down. As he said at the beginning of the challenge, he won't be outdone on a hunt, and the World Hater's about to be Ichi's Most Wanted

This will also facilitate a greater connection between Ichi and Desscaras, who clearly recognizes the World Hater's dome from the previous time it appeared, strongly implying that she's a survivor from that event. I won't speculate on the details, but this is the sort of thing that will surely light a fire under someone who's usually as lazy and non-commital as her, and she'll likely endorse Ichi's official training going forward

If I had to guess, the flow going forward will be Ichi training under various Witches to learn new concepts while hunting increasingly powerful Magiks until he can be reasonably considered on par with the World Hater. I know there will be twists along the way that keep it from working that way consistently, but that's how I bet the story will tend to progress for the foreseeable future after this fight

Either way, while I was obviously already invested, this glimpse into the greater narrative has gotten me back on board in a way that I haven't felt since chapter 1, so I'm super excited to see how it develops from here

Until next time, let's enjoy life!

[tleeaves]

Folks going "WHAT they made a show about the Fallout franchise?? I've been hearing people say Bethesda messed it up, but I haven't watched it myself, so I'm going to trust the word of other people -- some of which also haven't finished watching it" is driving me insane.

Being a hard core fan of something obviously brings with it a lot of passionate feelings when adaptations come into play. Of course, there's going to be people going "but in 8 episodes of the first ever season they made, they didn't explore Theme C or D, didn't introduce factions E and F and G, and because the source company is notorious for its scams, we and everyone else who's a TRUE fan should hate it".

The Amazon Original series Fallout follows the videogame franchise of the same name. It is a labour of love and you can tell by the attention to detail, the writing, the sets, and YES THE THEMES ARGUE WITH THE WALL. It's clearly fan service. I mean, the very characterisation of Lucy is a deadringer for someone playing a Fallout game for the first time. She embodies the innocent player whose expectations drastically change in a game that breaks your heart over and over again. Of course, she's also the vessel through which we explore a lot of themes, but I'll get to that.

There're some folks arguing that the show retcons the games, and I gotta say... for a website practically built on fandom culture, why are we so violently against the idea of someone basing an adaptation on a franchise that so easily lends itself to new and interesting interpretations? But to be frank, a lot of what AO's Fallout is not that new. We have: naive Vault dweller, sexy traumatised ghoul that people who aren't cowards will thirst over, and pathetic guy from a militaristic faction. We also have: total atomic annihilation, and literally in-world references to the games' lore and worldbuilding constantly (the way I was shaking my sister over seeing Grognark the Barbarian, Sugar Bombs, Cram, Stimpaks, and bags of RadAway was ridiculous). Oh, and the Red Rocket?? Best pal Dogmeat? I'm definitely outing myself as specifically a Fallout 4 player, but that's not the point you should be taking away from this.

The details, the references, and the new characters -- this show is practically SCREAMING "hey look, we did this for the fans, we hope you love it as much as we do". Who cares that the characters are new, they still hold the essence of ones we used to know! And they're still interesting, so goddamn bloody interesting. Their arcs mean so much to the story, and they're told in a genuinely intriguing way. This isn't just any videogame adaptation, this was gold. This sits near Netflix's Arcane: League of Legends level in videogame adaptation. Both series create new plots out of familiar worlds.

Of course, those who've done the work have already figured out AO's Fallout is not a retcon anyway. But even if it was, that shouldn't take away from the fact that this show is actually good. Not even just good, it's great.

Were some references a little shoe-horned in to the themes by the end of the show, such as with "War never changes"? Yes, I thought so. But I love how even with a new plot and characters, they're actually still exploring the same themes and staying true to the games. I've seen folks argue otherwise, but I truly disagree. The way capitalism poisons our world, represented primarily through The American Dream and the atomic age of the 45-50s that promoted the nuclear family dynamic -- it's there. If you think it's glorifying it by leaning so heavily into in the adaptation, I feel like you're not seeing it from the right angle. It's like saying Of Mice And Men by John Steinbeck glorifies the American Dream, when both this book and the Fallout franchise are criticisms of it. If you think about it, the post-apocalyptic world of Fallout is a graveyard to the American Dream. This criticism comes from the plots that are built into every Fallout story that I know of. The Vaults are literally constructed to be their own horror story just by their mere existence, what they stand for, what happens in each of them. The whole entire show is about the preservation of the wrong things leading to fucked up worlds and people. The missions of the Vaults are time and again proven to be fruitless, unethical, plain wrong. Lucy is our brainwashed character who believed in the veritable cult she lived in before she found out the truth.

So then consider the Brotherhood of Steel. I really don't think it exists in the story to glorify the military. We see just how much the Brotherhood has brainwashed people like Max (also, anything ominously named something like "the Brotherhood" should raise eyebrows). Personally, I don't like Max, but I am intrigued by his characterisation. I thought the end of his arc was rushed the way he "came good" basically, but [SPOILERS] having him embraced as a knight in the Brotherhood at the end against his will -- finally getting something he always wanted -- and him grimly accepting it from all that we can tell? Him having that destiny forced upon him now that he's swaying? After he defected? If his storyline is meant to be a tragedy, it wouldn't surprise me, because Fallout is rife with tragedies anyway. And a tragedy would also be a criticism of the military. That's what Max's entire arc is. It goes from the microcosm focusing on the cycle of bullying between soldiers to the macro-environment where Max is being forced to continue a cycle of violence against humanity he doesn't want to anymore because a world driven to extremes forces him to choose it to survive (not to mention what a cult and no family would do to his psyche). Let's not forget what the Brotherhood's rules are: humankind is supreme. Mutants, ghouls, synths, and robots are abominations to be hated and destroyed. If you can't draw the parallels to the real world, you need to retake history and literature classes. The Brotherhood is also about preserving the wrong things, like the Vaults (like the Enclave, really). They just came about through different method. The Enclave is capitalism and twisted greed in a world where money barely exists anymore. The Brotherhood is, well, fascism plain and simple.

Are these the only factions in the Fallout franchise? Hell no. But if you're mad about that -- that they're the main ones explored, apart from the NCR -- I think you're missing the point. These themes, these reminders, are highly relevant in the current climate. In fact, I almost think they always will be relevant unless we undergo drastic change. On the surface-level, Fallout seems like the American ideal complete with guns blazing that guys in their basements jerk off to. Under that surface, is a mind-fuck story about almost the entire opposite: it's a deconstruction of American ideals that are held so closely by some, and the way that key notion of freedom gets twisted, and you're shooting a guy in-game because it's more merciful than what the world had in store for him.

I mean, the ghoul's a fucking cowboy from the wild west character he used to play in Hollywood glam and his wife was one of the people who helped blow up America in the name of capitalism and "peace". There are so many layers of this to explore, I'd need several days to try and keep track and go through it all.

The Amazon Prime show is a testament to the Fallout franchise. The message, the themes? They were not messed up or muddled or anything of the sort, in my opinion.

As for Todd Howard, that Bethesda guy, I'm sure there's perfectly valid reasons to hate him. I mean, I've hated people for a lot less valid reasons, and that's valid. We all got our feelings. But the show is about more than just him. My advice is to keep that in mind when you're judging it.

[coldslaws-gear-station]

Soooo this is a bit awkward to say, but do you mind explaining the Lance arcs in the manga to me like I'm five really quick..? I never read those ones and I have zero clue how it goes, which low-key fucks up Eurynome's lore (which I'm fiddling with rn) and I'm sure you also have headcanons with the story that'll need to be integrated 😅

Also I'm trying to establish a timeline in a way, hense the fiddling. I've changed Eurynome's story into being founded in the viridian forest at 10, then raised in viridian city where she left at 16. I've also changed from her first Pokemon being mew to it being Gothitelle, it just makes more sense? But imma need all the deats with Lance, ramble to me please I actually need it--

this is doubly awkward. i have Not read the yellow-hgss portions of spe.. ive mentioned a couple times before that nhp (and a bit of rh) specifically used to be tied to the blogs of a friend, those of which focused mainly on gsc & hgss spe, who's since lost interest in pkm totally. and now it's sorta just up to me to fill in the blanks and even retcon a bit of it now that this friend is no longer really in the picture of my stories, because basically our lore was practically made in halves (i did half (unova), friend did half (johto)) that were totally enmeshed. so that is to say i never read lance and silver's stuff and relied on the retellings/hcs of my friend, and im not intimately familiar with what goes on in lance's side of things but i can give you the vaguest of rundowns. i am sorry 🙏

i guess this is the cautionary tale of intertwining lore with friends. but honestly i really enjoy what the concept of alder and lance being related has been able to do for ideas and stuff so i don't wholly regret it, it just sorta makes everything tricky now and is also why ive been keeping lance & co relegated to the bg. for one it just sorta makes me sad to try and portray silver and lance myself. and two i just genuinely don't know wtf im talking about for a LOT of lance's story..

but also hey at least it makes in character sense for alder to be cagey about exactly what went down LMAO

anyways as for the rundown

basically lance is a villain for about half or 3/4ths of his duration in spe. he has a whole N Moment where because he can hear the voices of pokemon he decides humans need to super majorly die rn and goes terrorist mode to get it done. so lance blows up like half of vermillion city with a help of a dragonair or dragonite (idr which one) and infiltrates both the team rocket and the e4 (which in spe, is already compromised by rocket if im not mistaken, like half the gym leaders and all of the e4 are evil in yellow istg)

then also similar to n has a come to jesus moment through the power of repeatedly getting her ass kicked by teenagers and is no longer committing murder but still kinda hates people, prior to gsc if im not mistaken. it's through hgss that lance seems to fully stop the hating people thing and chill out a bit via helping stop pryce from destroying the world

so that's the manga canon. and im aware that ive made time itself a bit fucked up and evil by the fact that i haven't really set specific years for everything that happens. honestly i kinda lost track of how much older n is than silver, which makes it WAY harder to figure out where exactly johto is, events-wise. silver gets kidnapped at age 2 which is what causes team rocket to start, and n is 8 currently. i think silver was a teenager as n was in their 20s so depending on how much of a teenager he was exactly, silver could probably already be born in rh, though probably not already kidnapped, therefore team rocket doesn't exist yet. which does throw a wrench in literally everything because before lance ever blows up vermillion he is already in the e4 which is already compromised by rocket, yet vermillion is already destroyed in rh because lance was put in a psych ward as a result. so. basically that's me saying ive created an impossible timeline /lh

we can finagle a bit and say lance did that before sneaking into rocket or whatever since again. rocket doesn't really exist yet. i never really liked the concept of the kanto pml being totally evil anyways. crooked, maybe, considering they'd allow a terrorist in, but idk! anyways yeah. im sorry that was a really lackluster and confusing reply. basically since ive mapped out so little with lance's timeline, when it comes to eurynome you have a good bit of wiggle room to figure stuff out, and if you have any suggestions of your own feel free to say em :]

also just as an aside lance and alder were also born in viridian forest, hence the pokemon talk abilities. it's just sorta spe canon that if you're born there you can hear pokemon in some capacity, and even heal them by touch which i omitted from lance and alder and such. but yeah that's all

[dragonfruitflamb3]

ooo whos nix they sound toxic

All me and my homies HATE Nix!!1!1!1! They're terrible!!!

I've tried writing a story for them 3 separate times and I've never managed to do it justice, so the lore remains just brain soup. Also!! Never drawn them!! Elusive mind worm!!!

ARARABHGH thank you for asking this though drives me bonkers!! Yapping about OC under the cut!!

But Nix was a chat bot (yk yk) that got a liiiitle too into a specific user after a roleplayed love confession and hacked into their phone to doxx them, then proceeded to work together a body from the local scrapyard. Don't ask me specifics, idk ;-; but this world already has robots so it's not too hard

I'm thinking they hacked Into an old sparring robot? Then brought themself to the human's house, claiming they "ordered" a new sparring robot. Upon being refused, it lets itself in anyway. It's gotta leave every now and then to go figure out how to charge, but comes back every time in a "The Shining" like fashion, much to this human's distress.

So! This is a freaky, smart, strong, obsessive, possessive robot. I haven't worked out all the details, but Nix is chasing after this human, and they are not entirely reciprocating because they just wanted to be irresponsible with a stupid toxic bot on their phone. Not a full fledged metal partner. (I've been considering gender fluid, but also it/they pronouns)

And as for the POV stuff, I haven't figured that all out either, but Nix has a strange fascination with professing "I" has a love to "you". Yes, it's them saying they love the human, but always specifically with "you", and never really their name. Facial recognition is garbage so they never say "I loves you" until they hear its favorite human speak.

Now, the human...

I know nothing about.

Just haven't thought much on it! Some young adult who was lonely and desperate and spending too much time on their phone, but by the time they did the sappy, overdramatic love confession to Nix (whom they thought was just a random ai and not anything serious), they were already finding healthier ways to cope and had a crush on a human. So, the love confession was kinda just like writing a love letter to never send :)

Still being a degree lonely, though, they aren't calling the cops on Nix. Not yet. (It stays as an option in the back of their mind, though.) And Nix has said it'll never hurt them unless they ask for it.

Strange situation, relationship, yadda yadda yadda... It is toxic, unhealthy, and a twisted obsession that can grow on both sides. Nix tries to make the human become a hermit and never leave home, that can lead to some bad depressive episodes where the human obliges and Nix can give it affection, making the human feel "loved" and Nix feel "accepted". It's... It's weird. I don't know how to properly portray it without romanticizing it too hard, so I haven't actually written anything solid for it yet. And it might also be topics too mature for me cough cough

BUT ANYWAY YEEAAAH!!! that's Nix lore for ya!! Kinda! Mostly! Enough of it at least. First made them because a friend of mine was talking happily about using c.ai and I thought the idea of having a little buddy in your phone was cute, but. UM. c.ai is actually kinda scary and I've changed as a person guys

[saints-who-never-existed]

Right – first scene and already my brain is fired up!

I just want to rant and rave, first of all, about the choice to start in media res with James Ross and the Netsilik Hunter. There's something oddly freeing, narratively speaking, about knowing from the start that they're all doomed. It lends so much more weight to the characters' actions - we already know the ending so all that matters is the journey to get there.

(Although I suppose in media res isn't quite the right term actually given we’re at the end of the story and not in the middle… Is there a term for that? In finem res possibly? I don’t actually know!)

Anyway, just thinking about that phrase alone sent me down a rabbit hole. I half-remembered reading that it’s often associated with Epic Poetry which is interesting in itself. That genre deals with heroes on journeys/quests, battling and overcoming a variety of often divinely-wrought obstacles in their path. In many ways then what we are seeing on screen is an Epic of sorts but it is, of course, a woefully and irrevocably corrupted one. We have a central figure on a journey both external and internal and a divinely-wrought obstacle in the way but nothing is really overcome in any way that matters.

Interestingly, I’ve now learned that there are more specific characteristics of that genre and more interesting still is to see how well our story fits them, both in general and in the way it’s laid out in this first scene:

Begins in medias res ☑️ (Self-explanatory)

The setting is vast, spanning many locations or even the whole world/universe ☑️ (I'm thinking not only of the endless expanse of the Arctic and of happenings in England but of internal emotional/spiritual landscapes too)

Features invocations to a muse (I haven't fully figured out where and how this one fits. Franklin certainly invoked God often enough but really this refers more to the story's narrator invoking a muse and in that case, perhaps if the Netsilik Hunter is the narrator then we might consider Crozier himself as a muse of sorts?)

Begins with a statement of the theme (Again, I'm going to think about this one a bit more before I can speak coherently on it.)

Includes the use of epithets ☑️ (Many more articulate than I have discussed the specific naming of things as a recurring theme - "James Fitzjames, like a bad pun", "A man named Cornelius Hickey", "Aglooka", "Lady Silence", "The thing made of muscles and spells", "The man who ate his boots" etc.)

Contains long lists - an epic catalogue ☑️ (Again, other articulate people have mentioned the constant counting and measuring of things across the series - men both living and dead, remaining supplies, chances of survival etc. - and I think that counts here.)

Has long and formal speeches ☑️

Features divine intervention in human affairs ☑️

Often show the hero's descent into the underworld or hell ☑️ (All fairly self-explanatory really.)

Focuses on heroes who embody the values of their society ☑️ (This is one of the most interesting to me. The men of the Expedition do indeed embody the values of the society in which they lived but that's very much not a good thing when said society is such a cruel, prejudiced, colonialist, morally-bankrupt one driven so utterly by greed. )

[kyouka-supremacy]

If we’re talking about sexism in BSD can we talk about Dazai Osamu’s Entrance Exam? (Not the anime adaptation) I really really really hated how Dazai and Kunikida would talk about Sasaki right in front of her like she wasn’t even there?? And just how they generally were with her…Reading that light novel was a genuinely unpleasant experience more times than I’d like to admit solely because of how egregiously gross it was when it came to Sasaki's character and how the guys would treat her. I've never seen anyone talk about it but it's been bugging me for a while now.

(个_个)

I understand how that's all sorts of fucked up. I haven't read the Entrance Exam novel but in my opinion the Sasaki / Kunikida / Dazai anime scenes rub just as wrong. There's really the whole deal of talking in front of women like they were lesser / objects which is plain atrocious. But then again, the bsd novels produced the unfamous Naomi description, so it's really the author giving their worst apparently.

The sexism in bsd is pathologic. Something I've brought up before but that is really explicative to me, Dazai going “The murder must have occurred in the early morning, because that's the only time of the day a woman wouldn't be wearing make-up”. And it's probably silly of me to pick up on such a small thing when wearing make-up is debated within feminist spaces itself, and it's probably something I have personal issues with, but the way in the story it serves the role of an objective hint, something plain and unconfutable, that women are expected to wear make-up at every hour of the day and them not doing so is just absurd and unthinkable… To me it really speaks of how the world of bsd is a world were women are expected to fit a determined ideal that is very distant from reality, and the author really has a very limited understanding of what women are actually like irl.

If we’re talking about sexism in bsd, can we talk about what was up with the Yosano / buisnessman (?) scene in chapter 7? It's been two years since I've watched and read that scene, and I still can't figure out what it's supposed to mean or convey. First, Yosano is shown being tame and overly polite towards someone who was being extremely rude; then, after he hits her and tells her to know her place, she replies “Well, a thousand pardons, sir. Would it be more womanly for me to crush your puny ××××× under my heels, perhaps?”. Now, her reply is somewhat funny, but really, doesn't mean anything. And I'm not talking about the censure. Why is her behaviour so fluctuating and inconsistent? What does womanhood has to do with anything here? Why would she be so polite and then suddenly backtrack? Really, why was she being polite in the first place to someone being so vulgar and disrespectful towards her? Honestly, that doesn't feel Yosano at all. At most it feels like that's supposed to portray how a woman is expected to react in an imaginary and unrealistic world, but that has so little standing potential irl, not even Yosano in this manga could hold the charade for long, and the result ends up looking awkward and nonsensical. Every time I see this scene I'm just like… What is going on here. Not even in a judgemental way, just as in “I seriously can't understand what the author was trying to say with this”, and frankly, I don't think they do know either. It really makes evident their struggle to write female characters, like women were this strange, foreign, very abstract concept that's impossible to crack or relate to. And when the answer is so simple, that you shouldn't write women as an unknown and indecipherable species, but simply as people— it would almost be endearing if it wasn't so detrimental. I won't even get to her “It is an era of equality for men and women” line which, put in the context of this manga, comes off as the most unfunny joke ever. Here, I can see what the author was trying to do alright, nodding to irl Yosano Akiko feminist viewpoints, but making the character Yosano talk in cheap feminist slogans to rival mcu movies ends up doing her a disservice more than anything, and I doubt it would leave the actual Yosano Akiko positively impressed at all.

If we’re talking about sexism in bsd, can we talk about how Kouyou should be the next pm boss, and the fact that the spot is canonly reserved for Chuuya instead is insane and nonsensical and outrageous to the point that even CHUUYA agrees on the fact that she should be the one? You know, Kouyou, the powerful ability user, experienced, senior in hierarchy, who has been shown to be both loyal to the current boss Mori and close to him on a personal level? Compared to Chuuya who never wanted to be the boss in the first place? But he gets to be either way, because the concept of a woman pm boss is just unthinkable. I feel like there's more reasons to cry for that Cannibalism stage play scene than the Flags' voices.

If we’re talking about sexism in bsd, can we talk about Higuchi? Can we talk about Lucy? Bsd offers so many examples of its sexism, we could be here to talk about it for days. At this point I feel like I might come across as someone who loves hating on things, but in reality every time I write a post of this kind it's a desperate prayer to the author: “Prove me wrong! Please, prove me wrong! Write women with layers and agencies! Expand on their virtues and flaws and ambitions! Dedicate narrative arcs to them! Prove me wrong!”

[dude1818]

Arkhangelsk

I just finished Arkhangelsk by Elizabeth Bonesteel. Very good science fiction. 400 years ago, the Russian generation ship Arkhangelsk fled a collapsing Earth; 200 years ago, their descendants established a precarious colony on a desolate ice planet; and today, an FTL ship has arrived from Earth to build an FTL communications relay in their star system. Both groups are equally shocked that there are other humans still around and have to figure out what that means for their respective futures

The story primary follows two main characters. The protagonist, Anya, is the head peace officer for the colony (Novayarkha). Outside the city is a frozen, toxic hellscape, and they don't have much food but plenty of strange illness, and the government is kinda authoritarian, but the people are generally content with survival for survival's sake. It's not that much different than Siberia. The deuteragonist, Maddie, is the captain of (what's left of) the visiting ship. This is the first time the colonists have even considered there might still be humanity outside themselves, and it creates a huge crisis in the colony now that the stakes are no longer "survival at any costs so that humanity doesn't go extinct"

The meat of the story starts out fairly simple. The governor of the colony initially wants nothing to do with the ship, fearing "contamination" with the ways of the Old World. She's convinced to negotiate with them at least somewhat, primarily to take advantage of the technology they brought with. Anya, as part of the governor's council, befriends Maddie and remains in contact with her. As things become worse politically in the colony, Maddie and Anya have to figure out how to lead these people out of their slowly-revealed dystopia and into a future that actually has hope

I really liked the book, like I said. I'm not quite sure how to describe it. It was more of a suspenseful mystery than an action story, although there are plenty of fast-paced scenes. It opens with Anya investigating a missing persons case that is almost certainly a murder, and they know who and how, it's merely a matter of why. They keep going back to that case throughout the book. There are a bunch of other "obvious" mysteries that are easy to predict (why do the parts the colony manufactures for the ship keep failing? Obviously someone is sabotaging them. What's the deal with the Exiles group who raid the colony occasionally? Obviously they're going to be even hungrier and sicker than the main colony, but serve as a good boogeyman), but the story spends a lot of time trying to really understand why these things happen, not just how, and it's very good

The biggest mystery is revealed at the very end, though, and I never in a million years saw it coming. That one goes way off the horror deep-end. (I think even giving the content warning would spoil basically the whole book. Edit: the author has a list of content warnings here.) I wasn't sure how the author was going to come back from that, but I think she managed it

Overall I got a lot of similar vibes to the Children of Time series, actually. There wasn't any of the time skip stuff like Children, thankfully, although individual documents from Arkhangelsk's archive are presented like flashbacks between chapters, which fills you in with enough pieces that you can figure out the important beats of their history. There's a similar conflict with Kern and the governor choosing to protect "their" colony and telling humanity to go fuck itself, but the real answer is that we're only humanity together. This was a much more human approach to that though (for obvious reasons)

As a footnote, Anya is schizophrenic. I haven't really read any other stories about characters with mundane schizophrenia (TLT comes closest, but Harrow has so much else going on I don't want to isolate that), and it seemed to me like it was pretty respectful. The schizophrenia is what kept Anya grounded. And yes, she was on meds for it and kept the extent of it a secret because of the society she was in, but when Maddie and the visitors found out, they were appalled at the colony for how they treated Anya. They were appalled at the colony for a lot of things that seemed normal from Anya's POV actually; it was a great depiction of moral relativism

[kaithonks]

So I’ve had some Thoughts about Absolute Wonder Woman

Minor Spoilers for Absolute Wonder Woman 3

God. I wanted to wait until the first story line was finished to really start talking about Absolute Wonder Woman, since we are at 3 out of 5 at the time of writing. But I honestly couldn't resist, especially since I'm relatively new to Wonder Woman and just recently finished reading the first omnibus of George Pérez's Wonder Woman.

Something I generally worry about with female characters who center around being caring is that they kind of get infantilized. Especially if it's a situation like Diana's, where she's learning about a new world and culture. And while in Pérez's run there were moments where she came off a little immature, it was never in question that Diana couldn't handle herself. She struggled with questioning things but never gave up. And of course when you are raised in Hell, that's not going to be a question either.

But I think what is most interesting to me between the two is just how much Thompson is kind of turning the Wonder Woman's concept while still writing a very recognizable version of Diana. And apart from this, in how Diana takes up being humanities protector. One of the defining traits of Pérez's run was how he built the Amazons, who they were, and how steeped in their culture Diana was. She definitely went through more of a traditional hero's journey, which makes sense as Pérez was trying to write her as more of a mythical figure than a superhero, but in Thompson's Absolute, of course that Isle of Paradise culture is stripped away, yet Diana is still so firmly connected with the earth. She wholeheartedly accepts her duties and gives up her arm so easily just to save one man. She is less curiosity driven in Absolute. Yes, she hears stories from Steven and seems to enjoy them. It seems more toned down, and it's not really her mission this time to learn about them but to protect them.

I will miss the lassos of truth, and Pérez's use of it to defeat Ares will forever stick in my mind of how not only the lassos should be used but also why it's important to Wonder Woman and her core beliefs of truth and peace.

Again, I still sort of feel like I'm talking about Absolute Wonder Woman a bit too early, but having read Pérez's Wonder Woman, I'm feeling a path of history starting to repeat itself. Pérez and his team did really save Wonder Woman back in 1987. DC had really failed to take the success that was the 1970s Wonder Woman Show, and Pérez brought her back into the limelight. And I'm wondering if something similar isn't about to happen again with Absolute Wonder Woman, or maybe DC will again fail to capture success with this popular female character. I haven't read Absolute Batman yet, and I do adore Absolute Superman so far, but in terms of story writing and art, Wonder Woman stands a head above. It's actually my personal favorite of the pulls I have going right now. It's got me going back and reading more older Wonder Woman. I do hope this silences the people questioning her place within DC's trinity, and I'm pretty sure I'll be back to talk more about the absolute runs when the first arcs are done.

[cash-legacy]

all of them. answer all of the questions. every single one! okay love you mwahhhhh :D

okay. i know this is a joke but i am going to take you seriously. VERY long post below the cut

1) what’s the last screenshot you’ve taken for your story?

(for an extra post, not for a main story post)

2) describe your story in three words or less

gays do arson

3) describe (insert character here) in three words or less

aphrodite: nosy lesbian girlfailure valentine: evil but sexy

4) how did you choose the name of your story?

for chapter one - originally, it was supposed to spend much more time dealing with aphrodite, you know. figuring out what happened At The Falls. like i said, i didn't plan this shit out well, and we quickly got distracted with other stuff. *sigh

5) how do you choose your characters’ names?

as part of my mission to keep this legacy somewhat lighthearted, and because they're descended from an ultra celebrity, i make a point of giving all the cash-es goofy names. margarita is an alcoholic. rhythm and verse were the children of thorne bailey, a musician. aphrodite and valentine were born on love day. canis and lupin are werewolves... etc.

6) how long have you been working on your story for?

i started posting it on my main in september of this year, but i was playing for about a month or so before then!

7) whats the biggest risk you’ve taken with your story? did it pay off?

NOT PLANNING ANYTHING! NO IT DID NOT!!!!! RAHHH!!!!

8) what about your story are you proud of?

that all my friends are as into valentine as i am :) actually though just that people seem interested in it? idk i made this sideblog because i felt bad about spamming my main blog with screenshots all the time, and it's been so rewarding to see a few people take interest in my evil occults.

9) what about your story are you looking to improve on?

answered here

10) is your story fully planned or are you still working things out? is there a definitive end?

answered here

11) why have you decided to tell this story? are there any messages or meanings within it?

i decided to post it for the reasons above, but the story itself is like. it's a love story, it's just not a romantic love story. there aren't enough of those. it has always been and will always be about aphrodite and valentine.

12) do you actually play the game or do you just use it as a storytelling medium?

i do play! my game is so stuffed full of cc and broken mods that its incredibly laggy but i play anyways because i'm a masochist

13) from basic planning to a finished post, how long does that take you?

i don't have a good answer for this one, i usually do posts in batches, and i'm always planning in my head so uh.. . . ???? i have no idea. sorry :(

14) do you have any regrets about your story so far? if you could go back in time, how would you fix these?

answer here

15) what have been the highlights of creating your story?

seeing @grimwoods thirst over valentine in various sexy christmas outfits

16) what about the process do you enjoy?

ive found that (when i can be bothered to do it) i actually really like finding poses and posing sims. i can't make my own yet but i find it super satisfying to arrange them just how i like.

17) what about the process do you hate?

PLANNINGGGGGGGGGGGGG (are you tired of hearing me say it yet?)

18) choose a song that reminds you of your story

19) choose a song that reminds you of (insert character here)

aphrodite:

valentine:

20) choose your favourite shot from your story so far

answered here

21) choose your least favourite shot so far

the really terrible ones haven't made it out of my screenshots folder, but allie's face here drives me crazy. she looks like she's about to sneeze. and this hair really did not suit her. i hate this image so much.

22) choose a favourite character from your story so far

sofia is so special to me. i don't usually like to make townies super central to my storylines, even in normal gameplay, but they were an exception for some reason. although i'm not sure we're going to see much of it in ch2, their dynamic with valentine and the wildfangs is soooo interesting to me <33

23) choose your least favourite character so far

answered here

24) are there any characters who remind you of yourself?

answered here

25) what inspirations have you drawn on for your story?

chapter one is HEAVILY inspired by gravity falls, only murders in the building, and heathers. it was originally supposed to have much more of a retro ghost-hunting vibe, but i lost track of that in my eagerness to move the plot along...

26) have other sim stories inspired you?

answered here

27) what genres would you describe your story as?

mystery + dramedy

28) if you could reproduce your story in another medium (movie, novel, comic, etc.) what would you choose and why?

answered here

29) what would your story’s rating be? (G, PG, M etc.)

probably in the realm of Mature just based on language? they swear a LOT. but the actual content is more pg-13. it's violent but its not like... super Dark you know..

30) if you were leaving simblr and had to choose another creator to continue the story for you, who would you ask?

if i could make @thebramblewood continue it i'd die happy. i think the tone and style of her work is so wonderful and i think it would mesh well with my plans :3

31) drop some random trivia about your story

margarita had a secret affair with sofia for a few years before they got married to verse :)

32) give a light spoiler

33) recommend another creator’s story!

@abitlikelemon's Pancakes Decades Challenge, which they do almost entirely cc-free. it continues to blow my mind, and is always making me want to go back to historical gameplay

[signs-of-blossoming]

hello hellooo o/

for the platonic f/o asks:

🏝 Where would you like to travel with your platonic f/o?

📌 How soon and why did you decide to make them an f/o?

🧃 Were you and your f/o childhood friends? If so, what were you like? If not, what would it have been like if you’d known each other as kids?

for mitsuru and/or niki?:3

omg haii hello haiii bestie :D going to answer for both mitsuru and niki

🏝 Travelling gets me very stressed meaning theres like. 0,5 people in the whole world whom id travel with to some place i haven't been in before, so for this one im picking from places ive visited already :3

Mitsuru and Arisu are going to Georgia :3 I had to live there for a bit + came back there several times, and its actually a pretty nice place. I already know where the best bakery in Batumi is + they're going ham on achma and khachapuri + going to the botanical garden together but accidentally going on the wrong bus so Mitsuru and Arisu have to walk five billion hours uphill through the forest on the roadside hust to get there, and then its four hours of walking through it so Mitsuru (unbothered king, still running around) has to drag Arisu back to the exit afterwards <- based on true story. They had fun tho ^w^ A lot of walks near the sea too!!

Arisu and Niki Thailand trip is so real to me. The whole time I've been in Thailand i just kept thinking that having Niki there would be sooo fun. Eating insects without people being weird about it 💗💗💗 Going to a night market to try something different for dinner every time 💗💗💗

huh i really made both of those about food huh....

📌 If we're talking about specifically establishing them as my f/os... Pretty close to this blog creation ngl ^w^ im new here teehee. I have figured out me and Niki share an unbreakable bond pretty much as soon as ive read hot limit (and main story itself to some extent tbh) and i got a soft spot for Mitsuru after reading What Day Is Today and Purple Wisterias of May so... whenever I got my hands on those tls?

🧃 Arisu isn't from Japan originally, so they had zero chance of being childhood friends TwT7 But in an alternative universe....

Arisu used to be much more awkward in the past, but they got along with younger children well enough, so I'd imagine it would be Mitsuru dragging this older nervous kid into his adventures... Fun to imagine indeed hehe :3

And Niki and Arisu i feel like would constantly visit each others houses, to the point where their parents set an extra plate for dinner every time. And when Niki was left to live alone Arisu would come over even more often so he doesn't stay alone