#this has got to be my 900th at this point

[fablexdreams]

Did what Theresa said when you would select Reaver's fate card in the menu of Fable 2 stick with anyone else the way it stuck with me, or am I simply insane? Cause for some reason, I think of it on a daily basis. "I see choked weeds and water," "He lies just out of reach." The description, as well; "The Thief is age, which robs us of our strength and looks. -It is the worst in all of us. It is what we must all fear." Like?! Something about the word choice, something about the tone of voice Theresa takes on, something about the silence after, something about his card image being a mirror with blood and a rose, something something something. It all gets me. It all haunts me to this very day, over a decade later. Its just…something. I hope whoever is responsible for it has cool pillows on both sides at night.

[bxriles]

The Importance of Authors Fulfilling Promises to their Readers

Seeing people defend Gege's writing of jjk these over these last few months is WILD. Everyone is entitled to their opinion and that includes me. So here's my 900th unhinged rant on this subject because hoooo boy there are THOUGHTS on this topic.

Before anyone comes for my throat, these are my opinions. You get yours and I get mine. And this is LONG lmao.

I've seen all the justifications for Gege's current writing saying that jjk is about being different from the standard shonen manga and being more realistic in its storytelling (i.e., killing the powerful characters) and whatever and YES. All of that is true. I don't have a problem with any of that. I would say all of that is why most of us fell in love with this story to begin with. Examples of this (done well) includes:

Nanami's death. Tragic. Broke my heart. But I think Gege was right to kill him. Nanami had served his purpose at that point, he died protecting the next generation, and despite how sad I was to see him go, I thought it was good writing. There was no need to keep him around at that point. Gojo gets put in the box. This made perfect sense to me from a narrative standpoint. Gojo Satoru is a NIGHTMARE for ANY author to write. His very existence is a problem because he can solve all of the problems of the universe and remove all conflict from the story. Sealing away the most powerful character was a perfect way to take him out of the narrative while still leaving his presence lingering over everyone. This also deviates strongly from traditional shonen because no character that powerful would have ever been sealed with ACTUAL ramifications in something more "standard" like Naruto! It broke the mold in the best way possible. I'd also say that the way Kenjaku went about sealing him was excellent. There really weren't any ass-pulls to get him in that box. Kenjaku takes Geto's body (a strategic decision), hides that body from everyone at the school, executes an insane plan that he knows will exhaust Gojo and mentally push him to his limits, and then SURPRISE! Here's your dead lover's best friend's body! Now get in the box(((: I thought it was good writing and completely necessary for the plot to progress. Megumi's possession. From the very beginning, Sukuna has been interested in Megumi. Seeing that pay off? Watching Sukuna do the worst thing we can imagine to Megumi? Amazing. Wonderful. Loved everything about it.

So, I don't have any problems with jjk's previous storytelling. I thought that it was well executed, broke the previous Shonen formula, and delivered good story telling.

You know what I do have a problem with? Writing like this:

Higuruma is suddenly as talented as Gojo. Bro what? I like Higuruma, but this dude has been a sorcerer for all of what? Two seconds? He's a suicidal lawyer who just got magic powers and only VERY RECENTLY started working with Yuji and company and he suddenly has as much talent as Gojo Satoru? The man with the Six Eyes? Be. For. Real. What is the point of this? If you needed an OP character, you already had Gojo. So again. What was the point?

Higuruma's possible death. We're only up to chapter 248 at the time of me posting this, so this may change. But as of right now, we've been told Higuruma is dead. He may come back, but we don't know. Either way, we're told dude is gone. What was the point of this death? We already saw Yuji lose a beloved male mentor figure (Nanami) and we already saw someone who had the potential to kill Sukuna fail (Gojo) soooooo... What was the point? We've seen this done before and it's boring to see it hashed out yet again but with new characters.

Kenjaku's motivations and death. I personally think that making Kenjaku a mad scientist for the sake of being a mad scientist is lazy. With all of his hair brained schemes (guys, he like straight up fucked Yuji's dad, come on), you would have thought he had some legitimate motivation. I can admit this is my own personal opinion and some might like this, but I think this is a weak explanation for all the nonsense he's done. And his death? Like... Okay?? Some rando newbie sorcerer is the one to kill Kenjaku? Kenjaku--one of the top two Big Baddies? All right?? I wouldn't say this is bad per se, but I would say it feels very unearned. (And before anyone freaks out, yes I know it's technically Yuta who delivers the killing blow, but it really was Takaba who put the work in and got Yuta to that point. Again, it feels unearned.)

And finally, the big one. The one that most people are upset about and the one that most people reference when they talk about the decline in writing and one that's about to get a(nother) long ass rant from me.

The lack of any meaning in Gojo Satoru's death.

I need to be perfectly clear that I do not have a problem with Gojo dying. Again, he's a nightmare character for an author to handle so I get it. I have a problem with HOW he was killed. Sukuna using Megumi's body was great. The whole battle of the domains was decent. But the end??? Gojo hits Sukuna point blank with a hollow purple (after Sukuna said he would die if he was hit with a point blank hollow purple) and then...? Sukuna pulls out some BS world cleaving slash that cuts Gojo in half (off screen mind you), heals himself, and then is perfectly--PERFECTLY--fucking fine after getting hit by an attack that he said would kill him???? And then he isn't weakened at all? Bro what??? How is that good writing? Even if you're all about subverting expectations and JJK breaking the shonen mold, how is that good writing? How is that satisfying???

Gojo's death meant nothing. He did nothing. He didn't even weaken Sukuna. He didn't give the students a leg up. It meant... Nothing. And I know that some people think that's the point, that jjk has realistic storytelling and that it's realistic to have a meaningless death but I would STRONGLY disagree. You want meaningless deaths in JJK for the sake of "realistic" meaningless deaths? You have Tsumiki and Yuki. Sure, Tsumiki's death pushes Megumi into the pits of despair because Shonen manga loves a good bit of *man pain* but what was her real influence on the story? Outside of the Megumi thing, she had zero impact on jjk. And Yuki?? Killed off-screen for some reason??? To buy Choso some time??? When she is arguably the more important one??? All right?? Christ, fucking Junpei's death meant more to the narrative and he was basically a fucking footnote in the grand scheme of things.

The problem with Gojo having a meaningless death is that Gege as the author broke his promise to his readers. Gege sets up a story that tells us how influential Gojo is and spends quite a bit of the narrative showing us once again how important he is. Whether he meant to or not, writing a setup like that means there will be expectations from your readers that no matter what happens to that character, it will mean something to the narrative. A good example of this done both well and poorly is Game of Thrones/ASOIAF, which is another story that breaks the mold of a genre like JJK.

Ned Stark is a POV character in the first book. He's important. He's the Lord of Winterfell and becomes the Hand. He's honorable. He's good in a world that favors the wicked and people know it. And then he gets killed and his death haunts the narrative and it means something. Robb starts a war. Sansa becomes a hostage to the Lannisters. Arya has to flee. Jon has to reaffirm that he's a man of the Night's Watch and can't go help his brother. The Red Wedding. Catelyn becomes Lady Stoneheart. The Boltons take Winterfell. The North Remembers (it's being set up better in the books I swear). And it goes on and on and ON. We're told from book 1 that Ned is important. George completely deviates from the fantasy genre by killing off one of the main POV characters in Book 1, but he still fulfills the promise that Ned's death will mean something and that Ned will be important even though he's dead. Ned's death then haunts the story from that point forward. An example of this done poorly? The show. We're told Jon Snow is important. We SEE that Jon Snow is important. Jon Snow is the rightful heir to the iron throne. And what happens? We get a season of "I dun want it!" and then he kills Dany and goes back to the Night's Watch to live out the rest of his days with his boys. He's not king. Killing Dany had no real repercussions. D&D tried to show us that it was Jon's identity that made Dany snap but it felt half-assed since she was already heading down that path before she found out. A promise was made that Jon Snow would ultimately mean something by the end of the story and guess what? Absolutely none of it mattered. He didn't even kill either of the Big Baddies. And he didn't do anything with knowledge of who his parents were. He wasn't Azor Ahai. He wasn't the prince that was promised. So it meant nothing. A promise was made to us by George (and the show runners ugh) that Jon was important and then it turned out that he wasn't. And the public outcry that GOT S8 received speaks for itself on how bad that writing was.

To me, Gojo's death is no different. The narrative sets up his importance. Gege makes a promise to the readers that this character will ultimately mean something and then... Nothing happens. That isn't "realistic writing" or "breaking the shonen formula" at all. That's just bad writing. You're not any less of a fan of jjk or any less of an analytical reader if you don't buy the whole "this is good writing because that's the point of JJK--to break the shonen mold!" There are ways to achieve that sentiment that are good. And I would even go so far as to say that the people like me who are irritated with this writing have no issues with Gojo dying. We have issues with how he was killed and how poorly it was all executed. And I'm not going to be told I "don't get the point" of JJK because of it.

And then there's the fact that Gege has set his story so far apart from other shonen manga (like Naruto or BNHA) that the readers will no longer tolerate any sort of "lemme pull this out of my ass" writing that they would have otherwise tolerated from Naruto or DBZ or Bleach or BNHA. (Note: I do love those stories btw! But they're guilty of this storytelling.) So when Gege shows us that Yuji suddenly has RCT (that's fine ig, he's been training) or tells us that Higuruma has as much talent as Gojo or does some bullshit that saves Sukuna from Higuruma's sentencing or has a random explanation that he pulled OUT OF HIS ASS for why Sukuna will inevitably get his shit rocked by the students, all of which are CHILDREN, when the strongest sorcerer of the modern era couldn't do shit to him, then YEAH. I'm going to think it's bad writing.

And yes, I am aware that JJK is Yuji's story, not Gojo's. I understand. I'm not saying I want Gojo to be the main character. I'm saying that this absurdly powerful character who influences everything was wasted in the hands of the author's current writing.

TLDR: It's not "good" writing or "realistic" writing for an author to write meaningless shit that ultimately does nothing for the story when that author has already made a promise to their readers to do the opposite. Criticizing this type of writing does not make you any less of a JJK fan and it does not mean that you "don't get it." You are allowed to be critical of a work you love.

Argue with the wall if you disagree.

[verstappentime]

“director’s commentary” for 'my heart knows your name' please !

oh man, the whole fic? okay !!

this one came from a prompt by @ikeracity for a holiday challenge, basically asking for a situation where charles and erik get together bc of an injury or illness near the holidays.

i LOVE h/c but i wasn't keen on doing a getting together fic, i wanted there to be some history there that would make one of them rush to the other's side. so the idea started with them being exes who got back together instead of a new couple.

my mind immediately went to a car crash, and i've been working on a different AU where charles is a doctor (not quite working out lol), so "doctor charles" was already a character to me and that led me to erik seeing charles again in the ER while he's working.

i love this fic tbh, i wish it got a bit more traction, but that's okay! i really love their relationship and i love that erik's a dad. i like that charles's drinking got in the way before. (i had just re-read 'August' by Red for like the 900th time too, which has a line i often go back to abt charles's drinking impacting their marriage at some point, so i also wanted to slide that in.) i do think it's a teeny bit rushed bc i was trying to make the challenge deadline -- but also, pretty much all of the ideas i had made it onto the page.

anyways! i think my favorite bit is the beginning with charles knocking his head against the wall freaking out to sam. the sam cameo in general was fun, tbh. but this one does have a special place in my heart, and other than my current WIP it's the only AU i've published <3

let me know if there are any particular lines you want to hear abt :')

(for anyone that wants it: https://archiveofourown.org/works/52441138)

[ditto-the-alien]

"SONIC HAS TERRIBLE LUCK" or "I try calculating time regarding sonic, Part 1."

Ok so before I begin, I have to explain what the hell I'm even doing.

This post exists because of multiple reasons, as any good post does, but the main one I want to bring up is the one shot IDW comic "Sonic's 900th adventure".

This comic, made as a celebration of 900 English language Sonic comic issues, is unique in the fact that it gives us a canon (minimum) number of adventures Sonic has gone on before frontiers: 899, or 900 at the end of the issue.

This got me thinking: "hey how long would pass on average between each adventure?"

THIS WAS A MISTAKE.

So first.... lets get the total number of days straight first. but in order to do THAT we have to make a few assumptions about Sonic's version of Earth and Sonic himself:

I am assuming that the years are the same length as our years: 365 normally, and 366 on leap years

Sonic was born at such a point that he has been alive for 12 normal years and 3 leap years.

I'm also going to give Sonic the benefit of the doubt and say this one-shot takes place on June 22nd, the day before sonics canon birthday, on a leap year.

I'm ignoring Sonic's actual age during most of these games.

Also ignoring the "most of modern sonic took place in a year and a half" thing from the Bumblecast, on account of that it's insane

This gives us the grand total of 5652 Days that sonic has been alive. However, we actually can remove a few days off from the calculation total right off the bat. By once again being in sonic's favor, I am saying the six consecutive months sonic was in jail included a non leap year February. so, Minus 181 days right there.

Currently at: 5471 days, 899 adventures

Also, for my calculations, if we have a confirmed time period for a game or comic arc, the number of days are removed from the total days and if something is resolved during that time that would count as "saving the world", one adventure is removed from the total.

we can also remove another month from the counter, as when in Issue 4 Blaze mentions that the Sol Emeralds spoke of a terrible event, Sonic says that Blaze is SEVEN months late.

Currently at: 5440 days, 899 adventures

Sonic adventure 2 removes 2 days, Sonic Heroes removes 3, and Unleashed removes at least 9 with the day and night mechanic for 2 more weeks removed as well as 3 adventures!

Currently at: 5426 days, 896 adventures

Generations.... generations is weird because it existed outside of time. so we get to remove one adventure just because (also I have no idea if tails double counted these adventures because of the time travel shenanigans. lets just say he did not double count them and continue on.

Currently at: 5426 days, 895 adventures

Now we reach something odd: The Classic Sonic Games didn't really care for explaining timeline (most of the sonic series doesn't but SHHHHHH) so to be charitable, if a zone that is set at night is in-between 2 day set zones, im gonna count that as an additional day.

Sonic 1 is completed in 1 day by these rules, Sonic CD takes one day, Sonic 2 takes 2 days, Sonic Chaos takes 1, sonic 3+K takes 3 (sandopolis is dark enough where a sunset should be imminent or just happened), Triple trouble takes 2, 3D Blast takes 1, Blast (yes this and 3D blast are different) takes 1, and Sonic adventure takes 1. This is batch 1 of who the hell knows. minus 9 adventures and minus 13 days.

Currently at: 5413 days, 886 adventures

Batch 2, here we go: Advance 1 is 3 days, Advance 2 is 1 day, Sonic Battle is 1 day, Advance 3 is 2 days, Rush is 2 days, Sonic 06 Retconned itself out of existence so arguing about THAT is a moot point, secret rings is 1 day, rivals is 2 days, rush adventure is 2 days, Rivals 2 is 2 days, and black knight is 1 day.

minus 17 days and 10 adventures.

Currently at: 5396 days, 876 adventures

Last batch of games, here w- oh yeah I forgot riders. uh... minus 2 more for both.

Currently at: 5394 days, 874 adventures

NOW for the last batch of games: I have NO idea if sonic 4 is still canon, free riders takes 1, colors takes 1, Lost World is 4 days... And finally because of technicalities, I can count Mania and Superstars. Mania is 2 days and so is Superstars.

Currently at: 5384 days, 869 adventures

.... so thats the total for all of the games and the average would be...

... what do you MEAN 6 DAYS BETWEEN EACH WORLD ENDING EVENT??????

... we still have most of IDW to go now. but at this rate I can say sonic doesnt get a fucking break.

to be continued.... later.

[sxrrandomfanfics]

What are your favorite characters in all of your fandoms and why?

Oh boy, this is going to be LONG. So I'm putting it under a Keep Reading

And I'm writing this for my 900th post! Wow!

Total characters/fandoms - 34

OK K.O. - Dendy Ah, my little blorbo. Blorbo shaped frog girl. Dendy is a scientific based character who doesn't seem to get many things and the fact she wants to learn more and grows over the course of the show makes me love her SO MUCH. She has a great design and wish that she got more screentime in the later seasons compared to season 1, but... cancellation is a jerk.

Psychonauts - Lili Zanotto You've got a ten-year-old girl whose style is something I wanted and I would have LOVED to have Lili as a role model for me when I was little. This gothic plant lover who randomly picks up animals and threatens to set people on fire has a style that is SO on point. The little tsundere has powers that match her personality and even as she gets comparatively worse as the series goes on and the first impression I had of her I didn't like... I still love exploring the possibilities with her.

Amphibia - Anne Boonchuy Okay, you have someone who can remind me of my Middle School friend group and kind of heal it? You have someone who embraces the culture and food that she grew up with? You have someone who just has some love of where she goes but treats it in a VERY realistic sense of knowing nothing about the world? CHEF'S KISS. Not to mention, the abilities she has the the GROWTH she shows in the show. Showing her flaws and gaining new strength. The heartbreak she deals with her friends and their toxic traits being brought to light as she gets an actual good friend in Sprig. It's so great to see.

Pokemon - (modern) Sneasel This is mosly for design and the idea that Sneasel's Darkness set it apart from many of the Pokemon. A rarity that used to be brown with white feathers to deep green with red feathers. The sleek and speedy designs is one of the best from my "home region" of Pokemon.

Undertale - It honestly has changed a lot. Looking back on canon vs fanon, I'd have to say: Asgore. He's just a sweet old goat man who's lost so much in his life. He doesn't want war against humanity, he only wants what's best for his kingdom. And even then, he just hopes another human won't fall down into the underground and he can just tend to the flowers. Let the old goat man garden and let him be happy.

Deltarune - Even without ignoring the Undertale characters: Susie. Similar to Lili, Susie is a troubled character with not much known except the fact that journeying the dark world with Kris opened up her eyes and her heart. She's also a great character to get a laugh, such as with messing with Ralsei in Chapter 2 and being willing to make HER own choices. She also shows off the soft side of her heart with Lancer and Noelle and that's GREAT for her. Susie is a hero.

Sonic - Rouge the Bat Sonic X, THANK YOU for showing me this delightful little bat mercenary who worked for the government. She's a creature who I wish was shown off more in the modern Sonic media in a way where she was a true mercenary and wanting the gems for herself. Give me a plot where she gets the Chaos Emeralds. Give me Super/Hyper Rouge, SEGA. Do it, you cowards.

Warrior Cats - Hollyleaf As someone who VERY MUCH followed rules as a child, I love Hollyleaf and her whole debacle. She's a part of a family who's supposed to have power but only Her BROTHERS get it. She's a child born out of wedlock and thinks that breaking the Warrior Code means she's automatically doomed to destruction. As someone who grew up in a VERY religious town (not home, the home life was good for me) the feelings that Hollyleaf suffers from was VERY poignant to me. I also LOVE Tenelleflower's interpretation of Hollyleaf in "Rewriting The Power of Three." But even still, Hollyleaf!

Wings of Fire - Moonwatcher OH MY GOODNESS I LOVE THIS. So going from one person destined to have powers but received none, to one who was born with powers everyone thinks were LOST. Moonwatcher is such a skittish girl who is just trying her best throughout her book and she keeps seeing bad things happening and can't do anything about it. Nor can she say anything without the risk of losing those around her. A far cry from Hollyleaf but a beloved character in a mirror world to her. Unfortunately a victim of Tui T. Sutherland's first book syndrome. Where overtime her protagonists from Book 1 become more... one-note and less important.

Pucca - "" Yes, I know it's a show that contains sexual harassment. YES, I know the main character is the harasser. But the style of the show and the fandom comics that got me into the show have REALLY stuck with me. In the sense where I like fanon more, but still enjoy her antics in the show.

The Owl House - Luz Noceda Luz Noceda. Typical weird girl who loves fantasy and writes fanfiction. Hey, a character for ME! But really, Luz going from enamoured to the fantasy to realizing the reality of this world is SO GOOD. The fact she goes from following a prophecy to making her own claim in the world with the magic she knows is fantastic. I love her.

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic - Fluttershy One of the characters who has to constantly relearn the same lesson, but I love her nonetheless. A shy little pegasus mare who doesn't even like to fly. She loves her animals and overtime she befriends some of the wackiest characters in the show. And it's fun to see her slowly get more assertive and be willing to stand up for what she believes in.

Steven Universe - Amethyst It used to be Connie, but you know what? Baby Amethyst in the movie and rehearing what LITTLE songs she got, makes me think that I like Amethyst more. She goes from being an aunt to a cool older sister and she relates so well to Steven. She's the bridge he needs and helps him so much.

She-Ra - Entrapta Again, similar to Dendy, Entrapta is such a cool design and I love characters similar to her. Also her relationship with Hordak is something very very fun and I like how that created Wrong Hordak, too.

Miraculous Ladybug - Marinette Dupain-Cheng Do they make her memorize her love interest's schedule and insist they're meant to be? I mean yeah, but she's a teenager who's been bullied all of her life and when Adrien came he was like... the first male who was showing her kindness. That's a mood for me and my first love (Granted, I wasn't this obsessed). And also she's a baker, who is a very sweet and creative girl who tries her best and when she's hit with inspiration she goes OFF.

Ace Attorney - Phoenix Wright Call me a sucker, but Phoenix Wright in the Ace Attorney series is a great man. He's a bit of a bumbling oaf with a big heart and I love his different story beats. Like why he wanted to become a lawyer, losing his loved ones, facing impossible odds and embracing the idea of truth over money. Love this goofball.

Infinity Train - Lake Lake's entire identity crisis of being a person is something filled with existential dread and death. This protagonist murdered someone, a COP, and was still in the right. She's got a heart and she knows it and she's ready to show the world.

Camp Camp - David Saying this as a camp counselor: Yeah, I'm biased. David is SUCH a good and relatable character to me. I got into Camp Camp when my camp had a lot of older campers who didn't care about the camp experience. I poured my heart and soul just like David did! And that's something that I loved! David is a ball of sunshine who keeps getting hurt cause he's the butt monkey of the show, but dang if Season 1 Finale didn't have the best David line!

Hero: 108 - Alpha Girl Does she have 0 backstory? Yeah... but there wasn't consistency with serialized cartoons and Hero: 108 was based on ancient Chinese literature which... looking at things like "Journey to the West" actually is supposed to be more episodic. Anyways, Alpha Girl being the hero of the Second Squad deserved more credit both inside and out of the show. A big brute who was willing to throw down and take what she deserved.

Kingdom Hearts - Roxas Roxas is one of the most complex characters in one of the most complex series. Why do I love him? He goes from an emotionless husk being controlled by the Big Bad Evil Guy, to a boy who

Star Vs. The Forces of Evil - Janna One of the best characters all the way through. Consistantly likeable and honestly if anyone were to have been affected by Eclipsa's chapter, I would have loved to have seen her. She was a side character who helped the scenes she was in and got one of the best ending lines for any characters.

Golden Sun: Dark Dawn - Sveta BEAST MEN BEAST MEN BEAST MEN. Yeah... I may be a furry. You give me a mid-late game ally who is a wolf/fox/whatever who can literally go BEAST MODE on an enemy? I'm gonna love 'em! Sveta is one of my favorite characters in the Golden Sun: Dark Dawn games for her tragedy. She loses her brother and has to rule the land without him. She's... she comes in last so her character arc isn't that great but she's a tragic werewolf and I love her.

Code: Lyoko - Odd Della Robbia Of all the characters I love, Odd is one of the most expected. He's a playful guy who is a bit of a player and machine/music nerd with weird hair. But also he's the best character in the video games. DS Code: Lyoko made Odd SO broken. Get full defense upgrade, hold down B, and MASH A. Nothing will damage you except Hornets.

Kim Possible - Ron Stoppable I'm partial to love interests. ESPECIALLY this one. Who didn't start out as a love interest but had GREAT chemistry for the friends to dating. He's also a great comedy character and so so so sweet. He's a reluctant big brother who soon grows to LOVE his baby sister and he is the one who saves the world in the finale with "mystical monkey powers." Great Guy.

Digimon - Takato Digimon Tamers is the best Digimon series. And Takato is one of the most realistic characters in a series that thrives on the characters telling the story. Takato cares for the digimon he created and is also terrified. This series and Takato is where Digital Monsters really lives up to its name.

Secret Saturdays - Zon Saturday She's a dinosaur and I love her noises.

American Dragon - Fu Dog I haven't watched American Dragon in a long time. But Fu Dog has some great lines.

Adventure Time - Flame Princess Flame Princess was the character I really loved. A character who was seen as evil for powers she couldn't control. Put into one box that she was able to break out of. She got a sweet friend in Cinnamon Bun and she absolutely did well for the kingdom, despite the fact of the brutalness she faced from the Candy Kingdom and the Elementals series.

Kill la Kill - Mako Mankanshoku My first "proper" anime. Mako Mankanshoku was hilarious and fantastic through the short series run. I loved her use in the series and that weird spotlight she'd always get when she was pumping up her sister in arms. Everyone deserves a Mako in their life.

Hey Arnold! - Helga Pataki Oh boy, what a shocker. But really, Helga goes through so much that she really doesn't deserve. And because of that her expression of affection has been twisted. The deuteragonist mean girl love interest has really caught my eye. ... Not sure what that says about me.

Invader Zim - Gaz Membrane Gamer girl who is done with everything. She doesn't care if Zim's an alien or not, or if Dib is obsessed with being right. She exists in her own world and people accept that.

Yu-Gi-Oh! - Seto Kaiba He's so pathetic. It's hilarious. He wants to beat an ancient spirit in a children's card game. He makes his little brother into the "Damsel in Distress" trope, but for boys even in a video game. This boy is just fantastic. Hilarious.

Gravity Falls - Stanley Pines Stanley Pines... Mr. Mystery himself. Always second place to his brother... BUT NOT IN MY EYES. I LOVE STANLEY PINES (even if I go by "Sixer"). Stanley Pines deserves the world and is a fun caretaker for both Soos Ramirez and Dipper and Mabel Pines. And his story is delightfully tragic. Love them so much!

Danny Phantom - Desire She is my favorite villain. Manipulating wishes is my jam.

[onbeinganangel]

for @skeptiquewrites who sent me a prompt from this list of kisses for me to work with! the prompt was 'we're with family and can't kiss but let's sneak into your old room for a minute' and she asked for a little bit of Perciver. this got a bit out of hand (who's surprised, not me) and it features discussions of coming out to one's family

not beta read and tbh barely edited, this is just straight out of my brain and into your eyeballs since these prompts are meant to be a warmup to working on The Big WIP, so my apologies in advance for any dumb mistakes

harder than i thought

(percy/oliver, 1.3k)

They’ve been dating for almost a year when Oliver decides he’s coming out to his parents and bringing Percy home to Glasgow for the first time. All for his birthday party, because when it comes to one Oliver Wood, it’s always go big or go home.

It’s weird that it’s when Oliver brings it up that Percy realises he’s never been to Oliver’s childhood home. Percy has met the Woods before, of course. Percy and Oliver had graduated the same year, fought the same war, and been generally inseparable way before their relationship crossed the line over from platonic to romantic.

Percy hasn’t been out to his family long either, so it all feels a little fragile, despite it being the surest thing Percy has ever had in his life. Coming out to his family had been slightly underwhelming, after all his overthinking and the practicing of his speech. He had made a big show of clinking his fork against his glass at Sunday dinner, pushed himself up with his sweaty palms flat over the dinner table and announced, as loud and as proud as his shaky voice allowed it, “I’m gay.” His mum had reacted with a casual “as long as you’re happy, love, do you want more roast potatoes? Oh, and do bring Oliver over next week” and that had been only after Bill coughed something that sounded suspiciously like “yeah, we know.” Despite the subdued reaction, Percy had felt lighter for it.

But Oliver has his own plan to air things out with his parents, and Percy will do the same as always until Oliver is ready: pretend they are just friends.

It’s not as easy as it seems. They do it plenty in public, whenever Percy goes to Oliver’s matches or they’re out with friends. But it’s different at home. It’s different because they’re too casual, both at theirs and at the Burrow now.

They wake up tangled up in one other, like one creature with too many limbs. Oliver gets out of bed first and goes for a run and Percy is up and ready to leave for work by the time Oliver is back. It’s way more than the freedom of going on dates in the Muggle world. It’s the way they brush hands softly even while doing the most mundane of things, the way Oliver puts his feet on Percy’s lap when they watch tv together, the way Percy wraps his arms around Oliver’s waist and places his chin on Oliver’s shoulder when he’s cooking or standing in the kitchen drinking a cup of tea. It’s the temple kisses, and the forehead kisses, and the knuckle kisses, the neck kisses, the kisses right on top of Oliver’s gorgeous hair that always smells fresh and minty. Percy’s fear is that he’s too used to all of that. And he’d have to survive Oliver’s birthday party and pretend they’re just friends for as long as it takes.

He takes a steadying breath and fusses with the collar of his shirt for the 900th time. It’s fair that he’s trying so hard. Meeting the parents, even if you’ve met them before, is a big deal.

“You ready?” Oliver’s voice comes from the other room.

His worry must be obvious in his face when he steps into the front room because Oliver’s mouth curls into a small frown and he says, “You don’t have to come, you know? I’ll say you’re a wee bit under the weather.”

“Merlin, no! I don’t want to miss your birthday party,” Percy argues. He really doesn’t.

Oliver crowds in on him, lips brushing Percy’s. “We can celebrate properly when we come back home,” he says, voice low, lips parting and puffing hot air against Percy’s.

“Will you behave, please? We just have to survive a few hours without touching. Stop making it harder than it is.”

“Oh, I could make it harder,” Oliver says.

“Bloody hell, you’re a hazard,” Percy says and pushes him away playfully. “Let’s go, okay?”

“Aye, let’s go.”

*

It’s nice. Nice, in the sense that Mrs. Wood hugs him as if he’s her own and asks about his parents and siblings. And nice in the sense that he can point at ridiculous photos on the walls (most of them featuring Oliver on a broom or posing with one, some featuring a rosy cheeked chubby baby) and say stuff like “Circe, is that what you looked like?” just to receive a deadly stare from Oliver.

It’s torture, though. It’s torture because more than once he finds himself reaching for Oliver’s hand or about to call him “love” before he reins it back in. It’s torture to make small talk with Oliver’s dad because Percy is saying “Yes, sir, I’m the Deputy Department Head now” and making jokes about if they ever have issues with their Floo, he’s the man to get in touch with but what he’s really thinking is “will you hate me when he tells you?”

Dinner is gorgeous and followed by a giant chocolate cake with pieces of fudge on top. Percy is fidgety the whole way through, even after a healthy dram of whisky. The quiet gets to him — a side effect of growing up in the loudest household in Britain, probably. But it’s weird, when it’s just the two of them, Oliver’s parents and his gran, and it’s weird because there’s not much to distract Percy and he just wants to hold Oliver’s hand and squeeze, and not entirely selflessly. They don’t touch but Oliver keeps looking at him, those gorgeous big brown eyes melting through every single one of Percy’s defenses and making him want to touch him even more.

He ends up in Oliver’s room and he’s not even sure how. They’d moved to the living room after lunch, with a Quidditch match on on the Wireless that Percy tried to pay attention to. The quiet had started seeping into Percy’s bones like when you walk into too-cold water at the beach.

Oliver pushes him into the small room at the top of the stairs, follows him inside and closes the door. The room is decorated in shades of blue — the walls, the duvet, the cushions on the bed, the shaggy rug — and covered in Quidditch paraphernalia — posters on the walls, more Little League trophies on the desk than he can count, more photographs of Oliver and his broom.

It’s so Oliver that Percy wants to drown in it. In all the blue of it, all the cosiness and that smell — that smell that has never left, despite Oliver not having lived at home for years. Spicy and minty and homey.

Oliver walks past him, leaving Percy at the door, still observing, committing every detail to memory and walks over to the desk, cocking a hip against it.

When Percy looks at him directly again, he’s smiling.

It feels a little like they’re about to kiss for the first time ever, excepted when they had, months ago, had been tentative and shy and had none of the fire this has. Percy crosses the room and lets himself be pulled against Oliver’s warmth. They just kiss for a while, a steady rhythm that tells Percy he’s not the only one struggling with the pretense.

“Not touching you is harder than I thought,” Oliver says against his spit-shiny lips.

Percy smiles and he sees the moment Oliver’s eyes light up and he realises what Percy is about to say, just before he says it. “Oh, Oli, I could make it harder.”

“You’re a bastard, you know?” Oliver says, but laughs.

Silence stretches comfortable, just slightly tinged with a hint of fear.

“You okay?” Percy asks, after a while, as Oliver tucks his head under Percy’s chin, his breath hot and tickly against the skin on his neck.

“Yeah. They’re not going to have a problem. They’re sound,” he says, and Percy squeezes his hand tight, watching the way Oliver’s eyes fill with apprehension. “It’s just hard, saying it, you know?”

“I know. I’ll be here,” Percy says, for lack of a better answer.

“I know.”

[rodeoxqueen]

Dante, Vergil, and V Watching One Piece With Their Male S/O

Howdy, 

This is a surprise gift-fic for @mooshs-crack-headcanons. Paul, if you are reading this, *socially-distanced cowboy kisses*. For my lone rangers who don’t watch One Piece, get on that horse because this show is fantastic. 

-Rodeo

Dante 

“Alright, I’ll watch it with you.” He says, coming over to your place on Cavaliere. He doesn’t really watch that much TV. Mind you, he doesn’t pay the internet and cable bill anyway. 

Dante has a really bad attention span for keeping up with shows. However, One Piece always has flashbacks to the previous scenes and he can always catch back up after spacing out.

 He never remembers the names. He just calls them by their hair color or powers. 

He likes Shanks and Ace a lot. He relates to the older and carefree Shanks and of course he loves that fiery cowboy. (When you-know-what happens, he actually starts sobbing. )

“I can tell why you like this show’s characters so much.” 

“Why’s that?” He gestures to his own chest and Zoro’s bare torso.

“You like man boobs, don’t you babe?” He teases. You smack him on the left tit. 

He really loves the zany chaotic scenes in the show, such as Luffy just grabbing his friends and catapulting them somewhere. The absurd humor really gets him laughing, such as when Zoro, Nami, Brook, and Kinomon are running around in Punk Hazard. 

“Wow, that was a lot for one arc.” 

“Wait till we get to the 900th episode-” 

“W H A T.” 

His brain explodes at the Wano arc. 

“I connected the lines-”

“You didn’t connect shit.” 

 He will make up his own attack names.  

“Gomu gomu no…...getting a beer.” He laughs as he pops open a Bud Light. 

“Gomu gomu no….smacking my boyfriend on the ass!” You hate that one. 

All in all, he loves the show and watching it with you.

Vergil 

Vergil doesn’t know why you agreed to sit down and watch so many hours of One Piece. However, it gives him an opportunity to hold you as he reads his poetry book. 

Eventually, the crackhead nature of the show distracts him and he ends up watching it with you. 

He actually gets really into the lore of the show. The poneglyphs and the origin of the devil fruits are fascinating concepts to him. 

“Of course you’d be into the devil fruits, Vergil.” You scoff as he gently traces your neck. 

“Don’t forget who’s your king.” He snarks back, smirk dropping as Luffy shouts another ridiculous attack name. 

“He sounds like my idiot brother.” Vergil gripes as you refill your glass.

There’s a lot going on in this show, a lot of action and a lot of slapstick humor. He has a blank stare but it’s because he’s trying to read into everything. 

Vergil remembers all the characters’ names, but forgets their faces. The opposite of his brother. 

The fight scenes are very interesting. He always gazes at the sword fights with this intensity, scrutinizing what the characters can do. 

He probably tries a couple moves like Law’s Room and Zoro’s One Sword Style. He doesn’t know what a weab is but still assaults Dante when he calls him that. 

One time you caught his doppelganger doing Franky’s “Super” pose and you laughed so hard you cried and slid down a wall, unable to stand up. He tries to convince you it never happened. It definitely happened. 

He tries not to be emotional when he learns about the Donquixote brothers’ backstory. One brother giving everything for power, the other brother fighting against him? Where has he heard this before? 

He likes how One Piece gives these powerful, top dog characters such riveting although sometimes strange backstories. It’s humanizing and validating. 

Vergil attempts not to show that Mihawk is his favorite. 

“He’s the most reasonable one here. It is relatable.” He argues. 

“Yeah, just like you, he also has a punk goth child with an attitude.” You point to Perona on the screen.

“Foolishness.” He says endearingly. 

It’s a decent show. He always knows where you guys left off, no matter what. 

V

V loves hearing about what makes you passionate. So when you talk about this pirate show, he offers to watch it with you. 

Next thing you know, he’s just blown away at how this show is about pirates but strays so far from that historical period. 

“My love, there is a pink birdman-” 

“Yeah, that’s just the tip of this iceberg.” 

Griffon joins you in your escapades, Shadow not caring to do anything but cuddle the two of you. 

V appreciates a good backstory and inner monologue. Connecting the plot points and character motive allows him to tolerate the moments of excessive fanservice. 

“I would ponder why anyone would consider this appropriate. This does not move the plot in any way.” 

“Yeah, straight people are crazy.” 

“Agreed.” 

Griffon loves Doflamingo. So, so much. V, on the other hand, prefers Basil Hawkins and Law.

“Gee, I wonder why.”

Law’s tattooed and sarcastic, Basil mysterious and poetic. Those two are literally your boyfriend’s fusion. He’s also white-blonde and black-haired too. What a coincidence. 

Law’s backstory gets V a little bit under the weather. It’s a bit too relatable for him. Luckily, you’re there to comfort him.

“But look! After everything, Law got a lot of friends and crewmates who would do anything for him, and a giant polar bear.” 

“Yes, you’re right. I have my family and darling muse right by my side.” Griffon squawks as Shadow raises her head and grumbles with disapproval. 

“Hey, asshole-” 

“And yes, my panther familiar and pestering chicken,” V smirks. 

V appreciates the show and once in a while, he will laugh at a well-placed joke. 

All in all, the boys have fun watching One Piece. It’s slapstick but handles social topics and tragic backstories with such grace. Although some points are oddly too relatable or hit a soft spot for these Spardas, it makes them feel like Oda actually understands them in a distant way. 

[maschotch]

the reblog of honor among thieves - i really want to know more about the backstory of hotch working for emily's mom. not to be weird but they had such an odd vibe

honestlyyyy like that first meeting in hotch’s office was already 🤨 but now you have this weird dynamic w hotch, emily, and the ambassador?? literally WHAT happened @t4thotchniss is writing his stay at the ambassador’s bc akdhskj there are just so many fucking possibilities that i cant decide!!!!

throughout all my musings, there are a couple things that stick out in my mind… i think hotch indirectly inspired emily to start profiling (like the way jj went to rossi’s book signing and then signed up for the academy). its not something hotch specializes in yet so its more of an enthusiastic interest than a refined skill at this point. and just from her experience dealing with politicians and her innate abilities/intelligence, they were probably on similar levels despite her age. so i imagine there are a couple interactions where they needle at each other, etc, and hotch will compliment her every so often (which is always a little stunning every time it happens. she’s not used to praise when she’s just being herself, certainly not when she’s “talking back,” as her mother would put it). it catches her off guard. when HE realizes that he can infodump and she’ll actually listen with interest, he finds himself rambling about all sorts of topics—bau included. (its not something he consciously decides.. it’s inappropriate and unbecoming of a security commander, but he’s just gotten back from seattle and he its been so long since he’s had someone to just.. talk with.) so when he tells her about this profiling career he’s after and how it seems like she’s got the skills for it, she starts to consider it. she’s been in her mother’s shadow for so long and she can only spend so much time wasting her life in some rebellious attempt to piss her off. and this profiling thing… he seemed genuine when he said she would be good at it, and being an agent sounds like somethin that would get the adrenaline pumping. its not something she shares with him (she’s only just started thinking about), but she listens attentively.

i dont think they interacted a whole lot, but i think the quick exchanges in passing or the stolen conversations in between their respective duties impact each other more than they realize. its a turning point for both of them and they balance each other out. whatever relationship formed was unintentional. he’s just another suit working for her mother and she’s just part of his assignment (a very difficult part, as his coworkers warn him). but they draw each other in… i dont know if its bc the gravitated naturally. or bc he’s assigned to watch her and not let her fucking escape again (elizabeth prentiss SEETHING and has to ask the latest fbi agent to babysit her fucking 23 yo daughter bc the last 7 agents in a row already quit). or bc theyre the only tolerable people in what seems like the 900th gala or dinner or whatever so they take what company they can get. any ounce of personality is worth its weight in gold in this suffocating house (mansion? estate?). she makes snide comments ab ppl like two feet away from them and she GETS his sense of humor (not a single one of hotch’s coworkers know WHY she always ends up laughing when she’s with him). they’re just… interesting.

i think she’s probably the first person who’s directly confronted him on his relationship w his father. he hasnt ever… talked ab it w anyone. and i dont think he tells her; he’s still tight-lipped hotch (just a decade younger) and yeah they can have fun but she’s still only here on break. he hasnt had nearly enough time to trust her (even tho. for the first time theres a strange part of him that wants to) and she hasnt had nearly enough time to badger him into submission. but its obvious that she knows something. he hopes its just that she’s perceptive and not that he has it written all over his face while he’s been trying to bottle it all up for years. and i joke that she would pester him about it (bc she totally would—especially a 20somethin emily) but i actually dont think she does. i think she’s spent long enough reading people already that she understands that he doesnt want to talk about it.. she’s just gonna be there for now. as a distraction, as a friend, as someone to confide in, as someone to get wasted with. whatever it is. she’s mindful of that even back then. and it honestly makes hotch feel so much better to have someone who’s kinda worked it out but wont say anything about it. she wont push his boundaries. it makes it so much easier to just.. breathe. to relax. (and then before he knows it he actually is opening up ab more than he intended, sharing more than he normally would bc he just feels comfortable.)

like honestly it couldve been nothing. it couldve been walking past each other in the hallways a couple times. but thats not fun lol and ALSO seriously WHAT the fuck is goin on w her mom? emilys only been here for like ten episodes—they had that insane first meeting like two months ago—and her fucking mom shows up and clearly remembers hotch.. like theyre reminding us “hey- dont forget theyve met before” like WHY would they fucking do that. tell. me. what. happened.

[yeonchi]

The Sea Princesses Iceberg (800th Post Special)

Technically, this would be the 800th post if it weren’t for a certain thing that happened earlier this week, but hey, I guess the 900th post special will just take a little longer to arrive.

After Sea Princesses was finally made available online in 2018, I’ve been seeing a renaissance in Sea Princesses content. Not to toot my own horn, but I’m not ashamed to admit that I contributed to this renaissance or, as I would later discover, that I was the one who made it happen. Amidst all the mediocre artworks and content, there were a few gems among them, such as the amazing fanarts by Rainbow’s Network (others have made great drawings as well but they’ll never trump hers unless they draw ALL the princes and princesses including the three unnamed background characters, Caton, Veto, Caramelo and Marcela), my Kisekae Insights instalments covering the involvement of Sea Princesses in my personal project, or even a YouTuber named MJZD Gaming who made a separate channel dedicated to Sea Princesses content and has started a reaction series to the Princesas do Mar books using my scans. I’m not kidding, it actually happened. The only thing I’m waiting for is a continuation of that (3 months on and I’m still waiting lol).

So anyway, a different YouTuber named Liamasterink did a video on the Sea Princesses Iceberg using the image of the iceberg from the episode The Big Chill (which is titled El Gran Iceberg in the Latin American Spanish dub) and it got me wanting to respond to some of the points he made and give my own take on a Sea Princesses Iceberg. Here is his video:

This is Liam’s iceberg, which he completely gets wrong because that’s not how you do icebergs:

And this is my translation of it. As you can see, Liam split his iceberg into four topics instead.

So anyway, let’s get into my analysis. Now, because the video uses text-to-speech and the background music in the video is prominent, I had to use Google Translate’s auto-transcription because the video doesn’t have it enabled (of all the videos, it had to be this one). As such, I’m going off quite a bit of guesswork and I can’t guarantee that I’ll get anything right.

Aspects of the series

So this section covers the basic stuff like that this series was broadcast on Discovery Kids (in Brazil and Latin America), it was based on the books written by Fabio Yabu and that each episode is about 10 minutes long. Animation and dubbing errors are also mentioned here; the respective errors are detailed in each episode’s page on the wiki. Funnily enough, dubbing errors like Polvina and Ester’s voice swap towards the end of Lost are reflected in the Brazilian Portuguese and Latin American Spanish dubs, but the Castilian Spanish dub took note of that and actually dubbed the scene correctly, so kudos to them.

When Liam covers Polvina here, he mentions that her design is inspired by Stephanie from LazyTown. I fail to see the resemblance - disregarding the discrepancy in creation dates, Polvina’s design was originally red until it was changed to pink for the animated series.

In regards to “possible cancellation” - this is merely a mythical rumour based on misinformation. Brazil and Latin America got the series the year after Australia, that is true, however Latin Americans seem to think that the series was cancelled because it finished airing in November 2013. I heavily doubt that it is true. Only two seasons of the series were produced and by November 2013, they were probably rerunning the series for like the 50th time. So no, the series was not cancelled - Discovery Kids probably decided to pull it in favour of some newer show. Considering how there wasn’t much good-quality Sea Princesses content back then, you guys weren’t alone in the content drought, but then some of you guys may have had DVDs or merchandise, so you guys had it lucky compared to me over in Australia. Sea Princesses got pulled from the ABC after September 2016 and they never reran it again. I thought the series was going to be lost forever until the English episodes were posted on YouTube in 2018.

The “nonsensical censorship” covered is actually the Brazilian Portuguese and Latin American Spanish dubs cutting out things for no reason, which is why those versions of the episodes are 1-2 minutes shorter than those of the English or Castilian Spanish dubs. If you watch those versions of the episodes and follow along on the English transcripts I have provided on the wiki, you can tell where the cuts are and what was cut. I wanted to document all the cuts in each episode since I managed to get the first season of the Brazilian Portuguese dub (I don’t know when the second season will be made available), but I gave up halfway into the first episode because the cuts got so ridiculous I couldn’t take it anymore.

The only reason why Discovery Kids would have these scenes cut is because they need to make time for their ad breaks. How long are their ad breaks anyway? Channel 7 in Australia managed to fit two episodes into a half-hour timeslot with ads, and it’s not like the “deleted scenes” are in the DVDs either. I don’t know how deep the rabbit hole goes with this, but there is no justification for this “nonsensical censorship” because there is nothing that needs to be censored. In a series with short episodes, all that these cuts are censoring is potentially important context for the story. If you live in South America and you want to relive your childhood memories, then the Brazilian Portuguese or Latin American Spanish dubs should be enough for you. But if you really want to analyse the series or know just as much as I do about it, then you should watch the English or Castilian Spanish dubs, particularly the English one as I have come to realise that that is the actual original dub and not the Brazilian Portuguese dub as I initially thought.

Also, while watching the Brazilian Portuguese dub, I realised that they used the English names for Elektra, Juli and Jessi (but they did use Elektra’s original name, Eletropaula, in Shooting Star). God, this really is a dub.

About the characters

Liam seems to agree with my opinion that Veto from Big Brother is a redundant character - he only appears in that one episode and he isn’t even mentioned again afterwards, plus Marcello already serves as an older brother figure to Tubarina. He also mentions that Delfi only appeared in the animated series and that the “animal hats” they are wearing are their crowns, adding that some people might think that they are wearing dead animals on their head. Boy, that’d be harrowing.

When Caton is brought up, Liam describes him as a misogynist who treats others badly. To be honest, I can’t really say that about him for sure because he only appeared in one 10-minute episode, but even from what little we see of him, it can be inferred that he is an asshole (but then why does he appear in Lunch Power as a background character talking to Marli and a couple of other girls in separate scenes?).

Then we get to Marcela and Liam states that she is probably a filler character because the writers didn’t want to make Marcello Tubarina’s only cousin. No, that’s not how it was. Marcela may have been written as Tubarina’s cousin in the books, but she never had any appearances in them (bar a background appearance in the first book, The World of Salacia). My guess is that when Flamma Films met with Southern Star and discussed how they would do the series, someone suggested that they should have some male characters making regular appearances as the “antagonists” of the series and that one of the main characters should have a sibling rivalry thing going of them. Whether Fabio or another executive producer made the decision is unknown, but I presume that’s the point where Marcela was changed to be Marcello. It’s a shame that basically nobody, not even hardcore fans of the series (by pre-2018 standards) know about Marcela. Although it would have made the story a little bit complicated, I would have liked to see Tubarina being the “middle child”, with Marcello and Marcela living with her and her parents, just so we could see the dynamics and chemistry between them.

The topic of Marcello’s parents comes up next and Liam believes that the Shark King adopted Marcello and let him live in the Shark Palace. It’s probably a good theory, but I don’t buy it personally. Come to think of it, why don’t we see the Hammerhead Shark King and Queen in the series?

Liam also says that the adult males in the series have dots for eyes whereas every female character has defined eyes along with the princes. Weird, huh?

This next point on the censorship of Marli confuses me because he seems to single out Marli for some reason. I know Marli is your favourite character, Liam, but why single her out specifically? Like I mentioned before, the Brazilian Portuguese and Latin American Spanish episodes are 1-2 minutes shorter than the English and Castilian Spanish episodes. Also, on another note, Liam, I don’t get why Marli would be your favourite character given that she’s such a bitch, but I’m sure you have your reasons.

After that, Liam poses a theory that the clownfish twins, Juli and Jessi, are lesbians based on a scene in The Twins where they (simultaneously) kiss Tubarina towards the end. It’s quite amusing for him to think that, but I don’t think that was really the intention. Juli and Jessi kissed Tubarina as a thank you because when she made them fight so that she could win the flower show (that she still could have participated in if she hadn’t sacrificed her best flower in remorse), it made them realise that they are still as together as they are when they aren’t fighting (basically it means they act the exact same way, which is a common cliché of twins in media). Could they be lesbians? Maybe, but again, we can’t really infer that just from one scene that could be taken out of context.

About the community

The first thing that Liam asks in this section is, “Is the series for girls?” While the series may have been designed and marketed that way, the truth is that it is for anyone who is interested, which can be said for everything else. With recent developments in technology and streaming, shows marketed towards a specific audience can also be targeted amongst a wider audience. We’ve seen this with the brony phenomenon a decade ago with My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. Besides, the fact that people like me and Liam are talking about this series both answers and completely defeats the point of the question.

While briefly going through the El Chavo del Ocho references, Liam states that Carlos Villagrán, who played Quico (the character who inspired Duante’s design), is a politician in Brazil running for governor. No, that is not exactly true. At the start of 2021, Villagrán registered with the Querétaro Independiente party as a pre-candidate to be the governor of Querétaro, Mexico, but the party ended up choosing someone else as their candidate, so Villagrán decided to retire from politics.

On the topic of fandom, Liam brings up the topic of fanfictions and brings up the Brazilian fanfiction site Spirit Fanfiction. I’ve never brought them up until now because, well, they are fanfictions, but of note, there are two fanfiction works of note that I want to point out, one being a Death Note parody and another where Ester meets a Drylander and some really messed-up things happen. On Fanfiction.net, user Rabbid Girl wrote three fanfiction works featuring OCs. That’s all well and good if you know Portuguese, but if you only know English, then you can’t go past my Kisekae Insights instalments. It might be mixed up with things like Dynasty Warriors, Doctor Who and Kamen Rider, but look, four whole instalments covering stories written over a decade. Nobody else can beat that because I’ve been keeping the spirit of the series alive all this time.

I don’t understand why this was covered here instead of in the last two sections, but Liam does agree with how Elektra was miscast in The Mural because she was meant to be a good friend of the girls. As I said in my review for that episode, Marli would have been a better choice for Elektra in that episode given her rivalry with Ester and her bitchy attitude, plus on top of that, we can swap out Bad Vibrations as well because that episode wasn’t as good. Elektra could have replaced Angelica in Polvina the Teacher given her hyperactivity (as stated in the official sources) while in addition, Angelica could have replaced Ester in The Dancing Princess (Ester, in turn, would replace Leia who was in the audience with Polvina).

Liam then brings up Rule 34 and says that it’s just sexy fanart and nothing more. To be honest, what did you really expect from such a niche series? For a time, futanari works (from one artist) dominated the tag until some guy came through with new stuff. Also, Boneless (now Fire Conejo) did a fanart of Marcello carrying Tubarina and in it, Tubarina’s hair was black and as such, I assumed that it was until people noticed Isa’s Gift and noticed that her hair was blonde (I still think it’s black imo). I haven’t been able to post an SFW version to show you all because he deleted it from DeviantArt and all we have left is the NSFW version. It would be easy to say “don’t lewd the Sea Princesses”, but obviously I can’t stop anyone despite this, so if anyone is interested in making fanart, Rule 34 or otherwise, I would highly suggest drawing the characters “aged-up” to at least legal age or their 20′s as that is the age the characters were in the later stages of my personal project and I’m quite interested in seeing what they would look like if they were older (plus it’s a bit less contentious especially if you’re doing NSFW art). But hey, I’m not going to stifle anyone’s artistic freedom just because I don’t like something. If I don’t like it, I’ll just move on.

Oddities in the series

In the topic regarding Polvina’s redesign, I think Liam mentioned an oyster tutu for her book design because he commented it on MJZD’s reaction to the books. Unfortunately, this is a misinterpreted term that came about because he didn’t bother to even use my transcripts or Google Translate in order to get an idea of the story. Allow me to explain. In Chapter 3 of The World of Salacia, a nervous Polvina sees a shark coming towards everyone, but it is revealed to be Tubarina’s carriage. Polvina stutters for a bit before she yells and in between, Ester makes a comment thinking that Polvina was talking about something else. In the original Portuguese raws, she says “tutu de ostra” (oyster tutu) but in the English translation, I changed it to “shrimp skirt”. It’s just a throwaway comment that has very little bearing on anything else. In both the books and the animated series, Polvina wears the same skirt shaped like the tentacles of an octopus, it’s just that it’s red in the books (matched with red heart-shaped pasties) and pink in the animated series (matched with a pink tube top/bandeau). In summary, it’s not an oyster tutu. Liam, I don’t know if you or MJZD Gaming will read this, but if you do, then I hope this clears things up.

Also, I never really noticed that the Octopus King and Queen were red even though Polvina’s attire was changed to pink, but I can sort of understand why they didn’t change their designs because it would look kind of weird. Plus, red and pink tones are incorporated into the design of the Octopus Kingdom and the Octopus Palace (even in the books), so I never really noticed the difference anyway.

Liam raises the possibility of a third season and notes that it probably won’t happen, which is another thing that sadly I agree with. Flamma had no further interest in producing any more episodes of the series after the second season and Fabio Yabu parted ways from them in 2009 in order to work on other projects, but if you ask me, he probably lost interest and decided to move on given that he didn’t really do anything new for it in the next decade. I mean look at his Instagram. When he was flexing his animations on the Mental Canvas app, he only did them for his Ziraldo tribute books and Combo Rangers. It just goes to show how much he cared for the series over the years where aside from publishing the books on Amazon Kindle, it gets a mention on Twitter every few years. Although, Yabu still deserves some credit for acknowledging that it exists, particularly as I’ve seen him leave compliments on other people’s art when they tag him in them.

I don’t like to speculate on personal things, but aside from having certain aspects of writing and production being placed out of his control, I suspect that there may have been an internal conflict in Flamma (possibly with its other founder, Reynaldo Marchezini) that led to Yabu leaving. In a #Mermay post he made on Instagram in May 2018, he stated, “I had the years of life I gave, even the years that were stolen by someone I trusted, and all that's left after that was for me to start over. But that's a story for another day.” It’s such a shame that there was so much untapped potential and missed opportunities in the series, but in the end, things are what they are.

Liam touches on how Salacians eat foods normally found on Dryland (yet doesn’t bring up how harrowing it is for them to eat fish) and the incest subplot between Tubarina and Marcello in Shark Love and The True Princess. I don’t know if the producers knew about it, but the only reason they did him was that he was the only boy around anyway, plus it’s not like they were actually going to go through with it.

On the topics of sexism, masculinity and feminism, Liam states that it’s usually the princesses who are out helping sea creatures while the boys rarely do anything other than tease the girls, play pranks or whatever. Even for an asshole character like Marcello, they managed to slip in a few episodes of him interacting with (hammerhead) sharks, but the girls had to be involved due to various reasons. Sirilo barely did anything to help the situation in Homeless when crabs swarm the Octopus Palace and in The Spidercrabs, the girls had to help him deal with the spidercrabs (and before you say that Sirilo managed to hold onto the rope on his own in the end, he probably would have never thought of that without the girls giving him that idea). Marcello and Sirilo ended up being the only male characters in the series who interacted with or helped their respective species. It’s not so surprising given that this series is marketed toward girls, but if I were to write the series, I would have given the boys some fairer representation and autonomy over their actions.

The final topics that Liam covers are about parents comparing this to the controversial 2020 French movie Cuties and pedophiles somehow finding this series, but then he never covers these topics in detail, instead just talking about how a minority of parents viewed the series that way, possibly due to their character designs. I’ve never really heard of any complaints about the series and its character designs, but then again the series was never popular enough in Australia for anyone to complain about it. Concerns about this were probably the main reason why Polvina’s design was changed in the animated series (I know Yabu may have mentioned the word bikini in one of the main series books, but it doesn’t count unless he draws it, so it’s still pasties). Personally, I don’t think the character designs (barring Polvina’s book design) are problematic, but discussion in recent years about the sexualisation of children (not helped at all by the existence of Cuties) leads me to dread what people today might think if they saw characters aged 6-8 in bikinis or swimsuits. I can only hope that the designs are good enough not to be jailbait by their standards.

I also want to add that adults who watch this series (with their children or for nostalgic value or whatever) are NOT pedophiles and anyone who unironically believes this is retarded.

And finally, Liam talks about his fanmovie idea as a potential sequel. Hey, if he can shill his own fanfiction on an opinion video, why can’t I? Be sure to check out the Kisekae Insights instalments I made for Sea Princesses.

My take on the iceberg

Heading says it all. I won’t repeat anything I’ve already stated in this post and most of the things on there have been elaborated in other posts regarding Sea Princesses, but I’ll still explain a few things quickly.

As you can see, the tiers of the iceberg are sorted by what (I think) fans will know as they dig deeper and find things like the books or my posts. See, Liam? That is how you do the iceberg meme.

Tier 1:

Polvina, Ester and Tubarina are obviously the main focus characters in the animated series while Marcello and Hugo are secondary focus characters, but most of the other characters have three or less focus episodes. Conversely, in the books, the girls are obviously the main characters, but one or two other characters will also get a focus while a number of others will get a line or passing mention.

Character development in the animated series is minuscule despite the constant focuses on Polvina, Ester, Tubarina, Marcello and Hugo. Characterisation is shallow as well because the characters in the animated series don’t seem to match the descriptions in the official sources. The books do character development better.

The international factor refers to how the animated series was a co-production between Southern Star in Australia, Flamma Films in Brazil and Neptuno Films in Spain.

Episodes with stupid plots include The Argument and Best Friends, while episodes with rehashed plots include The Matchmaker/Shark Love, The Mural/What’s Cooking and The Dingleberry Mystery/The Guilty.

Despite being “royal families”, the characters in the series act more like ordinary Drylanders, but if they lived in the sea. No emphasis is placed in the “royal” aspect in the animated series because the Salacian royal families live and act like ordinary Drylander families. Butlers are mentioned in the books and the kings are shown doing their diplomatic duties, but the princes and princesses still act like common Salacians.

There are quite a few missed opportunities in the animated series due to the lack of focus put on characters, which you can read in my reviews of the animated series. Plus there’s the Barracuda Kingdom saga that never went anywhere.

Tier 2:

In terms of background characters, you have Agostinha who doesn’t have a focus episode, let alone a line; “Goldina” and “Flourison” who are unnamed without any lines; and Matilda and “Jaune” who only get one or two lines (not to mention unnamed on top of that for “Jaune”). In the books, Agostinha gets a few lines, but Matilda, “Jaune” and “Goldina” aren’t named nor do they have any lines. Marcela got a character description, but she didn’t get any lines, nor was she mentioned or seen after a background shot in the first book. Caramelo was probably the only background character who didn’t entirely get screwed over; despite only being mentioned in the first book with no appearance or character description in the official sources, he gets a focus episode in The Pirates.

One topic that I didn’t include here, but would fit into this tier, is Dinho, the forgotten Blowfish Prince. He got a character description, but never ended up appearing in the series proper.

Then we have the Princesas do Mar websites, with the Flash site lasting from 2004 to 2017 and the Wordpress site lasting from 2009 to 2015. Honestly, given that they were both hosted on UOL, I’m surprised the Flash site lasted longer. Relating to both this and the last point, I should also point out that Marcello, Hugo, Bia, Delfi, Dinho and “Flourison” were created for the animated series because I haven’t seen signs of them in the first two books or the Flash site.

Mismatched characterisation is where one character is written like another. Ester is the biggest victim of this because in many episodes she’s probably just as bitchy as Tubarina; even in The Accident, Tubarina becomes the voice of reason between Polvina and Ester. Then there’s Elektra being written like Marli in The Mural, as I mentioned before.

I can’t remember why I put “episode pairing” there. I think it’s because each half-hour episode is actually two 12-minute episodes that can be broadcast together or separately.

Casual fans will know the First Law of Salacia, but real fans know that there are actually five Laws of Salacia. No joke, I didn’t know the Second Law existed until I translated Isa’s Gift, the Third or Fourth laws until I saw a snapshot of a page from The World of Salacia, then the Fifth Law until I actually brought the book (because the snapshot was from an old edition that had it missing).

Speaking of Isa’s Gift, this and Mothers and Daughters are short stories that were available online since the days of the Flash site. Though archives are still available, it’s a good thing that I translated them when I did because other people wouldn’t have known about them otherwise. I think the main reason why I was happy to see them available was because it gave a bit of an insight into what the characters would be like in the books. It wasn’t much, but it was certainly a good starting point because we got to see the rivalry between Tubarina and Maurico along with the origin of Isa’s Santa hat.

Tier 3:

So far, very few people seem to know that the books are available online thanks to my hard work during lockdown in 2020. Aside from Liam, MJZD Gaming and their friends, I’ve had a Brazilian fan send me a message thanking me for reviewing the books and maybe a couple of other fans liking my reviews. I think I’m the only non-Brazilian fan to actually have the books (bar one) so barring reflections, I have legitimate bragging rights, not that anyone would really care anyway.

The only “dark” episode in the animated series is probably The Forbidden Reef in the second season. In regards to the short stories, Isa’s Gift is a bit dark because of Isa’s fear of not being able to breathe without her Santa hat. The main series books have a darker theme to them in general.

The main shipping possibilities I have would be Marcello with Elektra, Ester or Socita and Polvina with the Drylander boy from The Boy. That isn’t to say that a ship between Ester and Marli would be impossible, though.

Aside from the El Chavo del Ocho references in Sea Princesses, there’s also the Combo Rangers in The Pirates (along with the three Green Lanterns that I wouldn’t have spotted until it was pointed out to me).

Tier 4:

If anyone wants to read about my journey to keep the series alive, check out this blog post from the wiki. If you want to learn about the history of the series, check out this page.

As for wiki vandals, they are all in the first link, though in summary, there was a guy who assumed that the series was broadcast in the UK when he had no proof of it, an anon who edited the pages and changed them to German (this was some time after I became admin on the wiki and thus was not covered in the blog post) and the guy from the feud back in 2017 who called me a pedophile for having an interest in the series and being too much of a pussy to expose me back or refute my criticisms on a public platform. That last guy came back again two years later even though the feud was long over by then, which shows you just how much of a butthurt gaijin retard he was.

My point on “problematic character designs” goes back to Liam’s point about parents comparing this series to Cuties and pedophiles finding this series. In turn, it also ties in to my thoughts regarding a continuation, reboot or revival of the series. This is something that I’ve wanted to address for a while now, but hesitated because I could never find the right time to do so. In short, would I like to see a continuation, reboot or revival of the series? My answer is both yes and no.

On one hand, I would like to see a continuation of the series with more focus and development on the characters (particularly those that have not received a lot of focus episodes) along with more serialised stories. On the other hand, however, I fear that there will be backlash for the “sexualised” character designs, given that they are canonically 6-8 years old (though aging them up and focusing the series for an older audience could mitigate this problem), or backlash over a potential reboot not being as good as the original (because for some reason, history has apparently dictated that 3D CGI reboots of 2D series will be terrible).

Now, personally, I’m not actually saying that I wouldn’t like to see a revival of the series; in fact, I actually don’t care if it doesn’t get a revival, because realistically, I don’t think it’s going to happen, let alone any time soon. Yabu left Flamma Films in 2009 and nobody else who could have done better than Southern Star has picked up the series since then. Before 2020, I would be grateful if Yabu published the Princesas do Mar books as PDFs or ebooks, but now that he has, I would be grateful if he fixed the mistakes in his ebooks and released English translations of the main series books and the remaining two literacy series books (I know I've translated the books myself, I just want to see how he does with the translation, compare it to mine and maybe support Yabu however I can).

By the way, if anyone wants to know why the Mr Bean and Friends channel hasn’t posted the rest of the second season past The Mural, I think I can explain why. Apparently, in October 2018, the Banijay Group was in talks to acquire Endemol Shine from Disney and Apollo. The deal was approved a year later and the purchase and merger were completed in July 2020, meaning that Endemol Shine are now the subsidiaries of Banijay and the rights to Sea Princesses are now with them (like Flamma and Neptuno are doing anything with their rights to the series in Brazil, Latin America and Spain anyway). What I can’t understand is why the Mr Bean and Friends channel stopped when its sister channels, Totes Amaze and Puddle Jumper, continued posting videos for another year, let alone stopping after that. I guess it was a good thing that I downloaded the Amazon raws when I did (because I can’t find them again now lol).

This is never going to be the last time I talk about Sea Princesses even though I say it will be the last time, will it? Anyway, thanks for getting through this dreck of a post and feel free to follow me and my content to see what other kinds of crazy stuff I’ll talk about in the future. Oh, by the way, I’ve had this drafted since October and since then, Liam has released a Part 2 of the Sea Princesses Iceberg, which I’ll probably get to eventually if only to react on it.

[nellied-reviews]

Super Energy Saver Mode Re-listen

Hellooooo! My Wolf 359 re-listen has hit episode 6, and guess what that means? Yup, you got it!

Super Energy Saver Mode

In which Eiffel struggles to name his top five lanthanides, Hilbert blows things up again, and the Hephaestus might be haunted?!

I'll confess, going into this episode I could not remember very much about it. The title felt familiar, I vaguely remembered that it was one of the episodes where something on the Hephaestus stops working, but other than that? Nothing. Zip. Zilch. So that was exciting.

And you know what? I can kind of see why I didn't retain much from this episode! Plot-wise Super Energy Saver Mode just doesn't do very much. There's not a complex solve or fix for the issues that come up, or a clever work-around. Instead, Minkowski and Eiffel just... figure everything out and fix it competently?

In retrospect, there is, of course, one big, plot-relevant, spoilery thing that happens. But even that is basically left unresolved by the episode’s ending, which aims to create a creepy atmosphere than anything else.

Because that is what this episode does well. Without the additional job of being plotty, Super Energy Saver Mode can just concentrate on being atmospheric. Coming into it pretty much blind, in particular, meant that I appreciated the tension baked into the episode - even once I remembered what was going on, I really enjoyed how spooky this episode felt.

As per usual, though, we don't start with the creepiness. Instead, we start with Eiffel chatting about something mundane - namely, the fact that it's the crew's 500th day in space!

It's something that I think, on any other show, wouldn't actually be all that mundane. There are a whole bunch of spacey series where I could imagine a pretty decent episode being built around the crew trying to host some sort of anniversary celebration. But here, 500 days isn't something to be celebrated. It's not a bad thing, per se. But it's not a good thing. It's just a thing, a reminder of how worn down the crew are at this point, and how many days they have left on the clock. We get the impression that this mission is more of a long, hard slog than anything else - and thus we're reminded again of how little Goddard cares about its employees' wellbeing and morale.

Eiffel and Hera are having an unofficial party, though, with just the two of them, which is sweet. In practice, of course, this just means that they're spending time chatting while Eiffel avoids work. But it's really cute, and I find the banter about top five lists and the various criteria that Hera uses to come up with them soooooo funny. I mean, Hera judges "Stick It to the Man" songs by active political regimes at the time of composition, and complexity of choral progression, which I love for reasons I can't quite pinpoint?

The sequence also shows how differently Hera and Eiffel think. Eiffel very immediately and intuitively forms an emotional connection to things like music, but can't even fathom how Hera just knows things like the 900th digit of pi, or all of the lanthanides. Hera, meanwhile, has so much more information and raw data at her metaphorical fingertips than Eiffel, but doesn't quite connect to it in the same way, and doesn’t entirely get how Eiffel does. It's not (like with the Dear Listeners) that she can't connect to music, or fundamentally doesn't get it. But she's working on a different scale, judging by different standards. And she's not embarrassed to mess with Eiffel because of it, or to talk about it with him. Really, it's a textbook example of how to hang out and be friends with somebody while still thinking and relating to the world differently - which I think is a large part of what I like about Eiffel and Hera's friendship.

Their fun little interaction gets interrupted, sadly, by Hilbert requesting extra power for his lab, which we can already tell will end badly, because come on, it's Hilbert. But what is interesting is how irritated Hera seems afterwards. I mean, she does the whole "I am not programmed to get upset" spiel, but nobody's buying it, and when she confesses that she doesn't like Hilbert's tone, there's definitely a lot of annoyance there. It reminds us, after seeing Hera's machine side, that she's still a person and still has emotions - a balance that Wolf 359 is generally pretty good at. Hera's allowed to be an AI, with the non-human worldview that that entails. But at the end of the day, she's still a character with emotional depth and nuance.

With that in mind, then, Hera admits that she doesn't like Hilbert's tone - which is totally understandable - but also that she's mostly worried that somebody's going to get hurt as a consequence of Hilbert's recklessness - which seems to be validated when the station's power cuts out and Hera goes offline mid-sentence.

Eiffel, given the circumstances, remains remarkably calm, but this does mark the point where the episode shifts genre to become what is, in effect, a haunted house story. It's set on a space ship, sure, but all of the beats from this point onwards are pretty much the beats you might expect if Eiffel were, say, spending the night alone in his late grandfather's crumbling old mansion, long rumoured to be cursed. It's paranormal horror at its finest, complete with weird voices and jump scares and a bunch of "it's probably nothing" moments.

I noticed, as well, that there was barely any music from this point onwards. There is some (shout out to the creepy little theme with the ghost-like, theremin-sounding wail and the soft bass guitar!) but it's subtle, and very much secondary to the sound effects, which suddenly get very loud. For as long as the power is off, we get all sorts of creaking, groaning and echoing - and with it a sense of just how big and empty the Hephaestus really is. Hera's constant presence and the electronic noises around the place do a lot to mask that, normally. But now we're hearing the silence, and it is eerie.

Adorably, Eiffel's first instinct is to ask himself, "What would Commander Minkowski say if she were here right now?" This leads into a huge and surprisingly detailed fake argument, of course, which is hilarious in and of itself, but there's also just something kinda sweet about how immediately Eiffel assumes that Minkowski would have a handle on things. Eiffel still complains about her a lot, at this point in the series, so the respect that this little moment betrays feels fresh and sort of unexpected.

Eiffel's not wrong to trust Minkowski, either. Once she shows up, the episode's main problem - Hera being offline - gets solved quickly and remarkably efficiently, with Eiffel doing the legwork and Minkowski giving instructions, and honestly, it's in moments like this that I remember how technically competent Minkowski is. I think I tend to remember the more military, combative bits best, with her stalking round harpoon in hand or shooting folks, so it's nice to be reminded that the Commander can also handle things like repairs just fine.

Of course, that  means that the episode's main tension is never actually about the power outage. The sudden silence and the threat of life support running out add to the episode's general atmosphere, sure. But the thing we are most anxious about, as the episode plays out, isn't the ship's newly-accessed Super Energy Saver Mode. No, instead of that, we're given a new mystery, and it's a doozy: what's up with that voice Eiffel keeps hearing?

It starts almost inaudible, but in the end Eiffel hears the words loud, clear and terrifying: "You're not the first." Which, like, terrifying much? It's vague and ominous and very chilling, especially with all the distortion that's going on.

In retrospect, of course, we know that this is our first encounter with Captain Isabelle Lovelace - indeed, it's one of the very few encounters that we have with the real, non-alien-duplicate Isabelle Lovelace, for whatever that's worth. We also know that she doesn't mean any harm - she's trying to warn the crew, in fact.

Strangely, though, knowing that doesn't actually this any less effective as a ghost story. After all, what are we hearing, but the voice of a dead woman, warning the crew about an even worse monster lurking in their midst? The Hephaestus, Lovelace's recording reminds us, is indeed haunted, if not literally then at least metaphorically, by the ghosts of its former crew and the traces that they have managed to leave behind.

With or without hindsight, then, the episode is creepy, hinging ultimately on the idea that there might be something not quite airtight in Hera's programming, that there could be something hiding - or deliberately hidden - just underneath her code. In making that the focus of the story, the episode opens up the tantalising possibility that something might fundamentally be wrong with the Hephaestus and its systems. The show's very setting is destabilised and made frightening - and that's a genie that you can't just put back in the bottle once you decide that you're done telling ghost stories. Instead, the feeling that something is not quite right persists even after Hera comes back online, and still haunts the episode as it draws to a close, since we don't actually get an explanation of who Lovelace is. Instead, it remains a mystery. A spooky, weird, always-in-the-back-of-your-mind mystery.

It's a bold move, and it feels a lot like what happened with the plant monster, which is also at large at this point. I'm beginning to suspect that this is a thing we're going to see more of, too - big, obvious plot threads that are ostentatiously waved in front of us, then dropped, apparently without comment. 

It's something I think these early episodes could do more easily, since the expectation that loose ends would be followed up on wasn't quite established yet. Later on in the series, everything gets more serialized, so if something like, say, an alien duplicate of Jacobi turns up and is left dangling, we can reasonably expect that it'll get addressed at a point. Earlier on? We've not got those expectations. This might just be the sort of show where weird, scary voices are brought up and then never mentioned again. It might be the sort of show that lets a plant monster loose and forgets about it for the rest of the series. 

When it turns out, then, that that isn't the case, even in these early, apparently inconsequential episodes, it feels like a bonus, and we get, in hindsight, a little thrill of recognition, as we realise that no, there was a plot there the whole time. It's a satisfying feeling, at least for me, and it's 100% what's fuelling this re-listen.

So yup. Super Energy Saver Mode. An exercise in atmospheric spookiness, an enjoyable haunted house story and just generally a pleasant surprise. Solid work, really.

  Miscellaneous thoughts

Eiffel is talking about an 830 day mission, if I've done my maths right - with the possibility of Command extending it! That is one long-ass time to spend in space with three other people!

I want to know Eiffel's top five Stick It to the Man songs so badly 

"Ooookay. Maybe this isn't one of those wait and see things. Maybe it's one of those... imminent death things."

Wait Hilbert had to amputate multiple of Minkowski's toes???

Bless her, Hera sounds drunk when she's coming back online ^-^

[seokiloquy]

Sink - Hinata Shoyo

AU: Fantasy / Merman

Revamp

GN! Reader, hardly any plot (it’s like nothing i’m sorry)

Word Count: 2.2K+ 

Pirates can be helpful sometimes. If you do anything to tick them off though, you're thrown overboard. They were self-serving, violent to a fault, and would only help outsiders if they got something of greater value in return. Profit, they said. Most pirate ships were run by humans, taking to the sea after being forced off of land by other groups. For this reason, the whole time on that ship was spent with their scorching gazes burning into the back of your skull. Being an elf, one doing work for the queen no less didn't help your cause. If you hadn’t been seasick you would’ve seen it coming. 

Now here you were, sinking down into the depths of the ocean hardy able to see the light through the crashing waves above you. Your wool cape weighed you down, getting heavier as it soaked in the salty water. It wrapped around your body, restricting your movements and thwarting any hope of being able to swim upwards.

Your chest hurt once your knees hit the sand at the bottom. The throbbing of your heartbeat in your ears was loud but didn't stop you from hearing the swishing of movement around you. Somehow, life underwater was the loudest and most silent experience. It was deafening.

"Hey there, person!"

You squinted your eyes as you tried to see despite the stinging from all the salt. About five, maybe less, metres ahead from where you pitifully kneeled, a merman swam over to lean against an algae-covered rock as if it was a bed. You bent backwards to get away from him, but it became useless since your torso just floated back up.

"Are you stuck? Odd. What is that? A tarp?"

The merman’s orange tail flicked, propelling him forward toward you with incredible speed. His webbed hands pulled at your cape and his long pointed ear twitched through the water, listening for something. You felt as though you were being sat on by a giant, the pressure on your chest grew stronger as you struggled to help the sea creature free you.

Once untied from your dark cape you were able to swim upwards toward the surface. You felt your chest expand as you swam higher making it easier to hold your breath.

Just as you broke through the surface of the water you gasped, grateful that you could finally breathe. You heaved in as much air as possible, trying to not let the splashing water get in your mouth. As you kicked and waved your arms through the water the aquatic man floated up next to you. He poked his head out of the water before ducking back down.

"Woah! You don't have a tail! Or fins, or anything! What are you?"

Treading the water with both arms and legs you kept yourself floating high enough to speak.

"Take me to shore and I'll speak to you then. This cape is weighing me down."

Nodding his head, the merman’s orange hair shook off some of the water in it. The movement made some water fly into your mouth, which you quickly spat out, not enjoying the taste. His hands hooked under your shoulders, hoisting you up to his chest.

"Hold your breath."

"I am (Y/N) (L/N) of the Elven Domain. I am an explorer and have direct orders from the queen to track down an artifact to keep it safe. And you are?"

"You're an elf?"

You sighed, staring the merman directly in his eyes. The two of you currently sat/stood on the sand, drying off. In front of both of you was the ocean that you had just crawled out of minutes before.  The merman flicked his tail happily and looked at you with a curious smile that seemed to eat away at his cheeks.

"You don't socialize, do you?"

He shook his head as he picked at the fins on his arms. “No, not really. I’ve been the personal worker for the princess since I could remember. Only the royal family makes connections with those on land. The rest of us barely remember the word for your people. Let alone seen one. And because I’m working for the princess all the time I don’t really have any friends or explore."

As he spoke, his tail had fully dried and began to morph into a set of thin legs. The colour from his tail seemed to take shape and become a pair of trousers that ended directly below the knee with a small frill. He slowly bent them with a large smile, wiggling his toes into the sand.

"We know of our abilities, but only those who attend world meetings use them. I've never had the chance."

Grabbing your hand suddenly, he pulled himself up and onto his feet.

"Now come on! You have an adventure to be on don't you?"

Marching forward Shoyo managed to take a couple of steps before his knees buckled inwards and he fell forward. His butt stuck in the air and both his lower legs and face were covered in sand. He was quick to adjust, flopping onto his back.

"I got to get used to this," he said smiling up at you

"I'm more surprised you managed to even take one step. What’s your name?"

His mouth popped into an ‘O’ shape before giving you another sharp-toothed grin, “Shoyo Hinata.”

You sat on the edge of a rock, cape splayed out by your side. Hinata splashed around in the water, bathing in the cold liquid against his skin and tail. A laugh would nearly escape you every time his head bobbed out of the water to either shake his hair dry or send a long trail of water out of his mouth in a tall arch. He occasionally would toss water your way in an attempt to get you wet, before going back to whatever he found entertaining at the bottom of the pool.

"So you are an elf. And there are other species out there like you. How many are there?" he asked.

Hinata pushed himself up on the rock next to you and let his tail begin to dry.

"There are humans and wizards. They are from the same family, but wizards have either become interested in the magic of others or are hungry for power. There are other water dwellers I'm sure. But no one has seen them since the War of Weapons. Along with some forest creatures who have small colonies instead of creating a large Empire like the Fae or Giants."

Hinata swung his tail trying to get off the last of the water so his legs would appear. As he did, drips flung your way, making you much wetter than any of his targeted splashes did. You scoffed, wiping your hands over your hefty clothing. Once dry, a silk-like material took the place of scales and legs, replacing the tail with pillowy clothing. You stared at them for a moment.

“Are those pants attached to your body or…” 

As you spoke Hinata's ears twitched as he heard every word along with any noise that came from the woods behind you. He ignored your comment, far more interested in the previous conversation. "Creatures like what?" he asked.

You looked to the woods thinking of the people and animals you have and will encounter on your travels. "There are centaurs, gods, dragons, nymphs and dwarves. Some that don't have specific names but recognizable features. Most of them fled to the woods after the war. The gods, well, there are no gods here. Not anymore, not really."

Hinata nodded and played with the large gem that was attached to your cape. His head tilted, "War of Weapons? What happened there?"

"I can't remember the exact details of course. It was almost three hundred years ago after all. And if you haven't connected with other races you were definitely born after."

Hinata nodded "I'm only a teen. So it makes sense that I wouldn't know. As I said, I’ve spent my whole life with the princess."

Sighing, you felt the sudden urge to throw yourself into the water. You cringed in disgust and looked into the deep ocean. The dark blue seemed much more welcoming now than it did when you had been thrown in. Maybe if you wished for it the dormant god would welcome you with open arms. 

"You're so young," you commented.

"And you're not?" Hinata tilted his head and looked toward you. He set down your cape.

"In age of body, I am. But of mind and experience, I have aged 400 years."

"400!" Hinata jumped back at the confession, hands holding tightly onto your gemstone. "But how? You look 14!" 

"People of Elven descent age much slower than the rest of the world. It's a gift and a curse. My own siblings are reaching their 900th years."

Hinata sat closer and rested his chin on your shoulder, pouting. You smiled and turned your head slightly toward him, getting a glimpse of the youthful expression that pulled at his lips.

"But the war. What happened?"

You looked to the horizon where you couldn't see the landmark or city.

"Humans, finding the magic of others made them power-hungry. They began to build troops in hopes of defeating other kingdoms and gain control of the world. Wizards, witches and the occasional warlock or enchantress began to appear. They had to go through deadly rituals to gain their power. And when they found out there was more to take, there was no stopping them. It was a war of not only hardware but of magical prowess."

Hinata rested his weight against your body as he listened to you tell the story of an old war.

"Elven, Mer, Demon, Wood, and God banded together to stop them. Each of them protecting the gems they had in their care."

Hinata stared at your side profile, his eyes reflected the light from the setting sun and portrayed admiration as he listened. The eyes of the mer glowed a brilliant gold colour with hazel accents and brown lining.

"Gems? Like the stones?"

You nodded.

"Some, although rare, have magic stored in them. There are three held by the gods, with them from birth to rebirth. Others are forged over hundreds of years on sacred ground. Often places are abandoned before a single gem is produced."

Hinata's orange hair tickled your neck, his webbed hand rested palm up on your knee. You took his hand and gently pressed your thumb into the center of it.

"(Y/N), what did you do in the war?"

Your eyes dropped into the water before you. Another urge, stronger than the last, wanted to pull you into the bottomless pit of water. It felt like you were about to choke.

"I watched friends and family live and die at the hands of the people we all treated so well. I can only wonder if they took our kindness as pity."

Hinata squeezed your hand with a slimy but gentle touch and dug his head deeper into your shoulder. He whined pitifully.

"I am an adventurer. So that's what I did. I went searching for clues, hideouts, anything I could find on the other side of the war. Along the way, I made a friend. His wings were a beige colour, very light. But his overall aura was much darker. His wings gave him little to no help because if he flew too high up, he would fall out of fear of being shot down."

You turned your head to the merman, shifting slightly to fully face him and avoid catching his pointed ears with your own. You raised your free hand up toward the darkened sky, pointing to the bright light from the moons above the two of you.

"His name, Kageyama Tobio. God of the moon."

Hinata sat, eyes larger than before as he looked up to the two shining dots of light in the sky. The moons, which he had never gotten the chance to see until now, danced slowly around each other as they spun around the world. He admired the still image of the two unequally sized moons.

"Where is he now?"

"Home, I assume. But his sister is young and missing. So there is no doubt in my mind that he is still searching."

The sun had fully set by now, letting the moons cover the forest in cool light and dark shadows. You lowered your hand to Hinata's shoulder and added some pressure to your fingertips.

"Rest for tonight. You've drained your energy enough for today." You smiled and pushed him down on the flat rock where your cape was, acting like a makeshift bed.

"And what of you? Are you not going to rest?" He asked, holding your hand as it dropped the edges of your cape over his shoulders.

"My mind is now plagued with thoughts. If I rest now I cannot guarantee you'll see me at dawn."

Hinata's brow furrowed as he questioned you. "Why would that be?"

You sighed and brushed his hair with your free hand. "My turning would toss me into deep water." You smiled slightly as Hinata's expression turned sour. "Now sleep. I’ll see you in the morning."

I honestly love this one cause the world is one I’ve had in my head for years... but have yet to actually do anything with... - Bacon

Posted: 03/08/2020

[rvexillology]

Really satisfied with my gifts this year!

from /r/vexillology Top comment: I have a good feeling somebody's going to comment "You shouldn't let flags touch the floor!". I'm aware of that, and I'm sorry. I took this picture in kind of a hurry, and we don't exactly have much room to properly hang up flags. The bigger flags are now sitting in my room, neatly folded. I made sure that the Oslo and Australia flags didn't touch the ground, since the Oslo flag is obviously pretty rare, and it means a lot to the seller that the Australia flag is taken as good care of as possible. I made an alternative version of this picture where all my gifts are labeled, which is why all the other stuff is there. Insert "man of culture" joke here. Anyways: The flag of the [Royal Gurkha Rifles](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Gurkha_Rifles) consists of their cap badge on a green field. This badge depicts two [kukris](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kukri) and a royal crown. I couldn't find the significance of the green color. It and the Düsseldorf flag have grommet hoisting. The flag of [Düsseldorf](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%C3%BCsseldorf) is a bicolor of the main colors of the coat of arms, generally with the coat of arms in the middle. I like flags with coats of arms on them, if they're done like this. The coat of arms' double-tailed lion comes from the arms of Count Adolf von Berg, who gave Düsseldorf city rights in 1288. The anchor represents the importance of shipping on the Rhine. The [Oslo](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oslo) 900th anniversary flag is so rare that the only picture I could find of it was [this](https://pics.qxlstatic.no/20_821956716/oevrige-samleobjekter/flagg-fra-oslo-by-s-900-aars-jubileum-1050-1950.jpg), from an online auction. It seems to be screen printed cotton and definitely authentic. It consists of seven blue and white stripes, based on [the city flag from 1924-2000](https://dms-cf-06.dimu.org/image/03347TEWzpnD?dimension=1200x1200) (ditched in favor of an SOB). It depicts on it a stylized version of [the city seal](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/da/Oslo_komm.svg/2000px-Oslo_komm.svg.png) in red, white, and blue, surrounded by the text "OSLO / 1050 / 1950". The flag of [Austria](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austria) is based on the coat of arms of [the Babenberg dynasty](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/33/Coat_of_arms_of_the_archduchy_of_Austria.svg/2000px-Coat_of_arms_of_the_archduchy_of_Austria.svg.png). In legend, the flag is basically a reference to an old duke's dirty clothes. The Dienstflagge (i.e. state/government flag) adds the coat of arms to the middle. The coat of arms features a shield of the same design as the flag; an eagle, believed by many to have been derived from [the Habsburgs' double-headed eagle](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f6/Banner_of_the_Holy_Roman_Emperor_with_haloes_%281400-1806%29.svg/2000px-Banner_of_the_Holy_Roman_Emperor_with_haloes_%281400-1806%29.svg.png); a hammer, sickle, and mural crown to represent workers, peasants, and bourgeoisie; and broken chains to represent liberation from Nazi tyranny. This particular flag has a sleeve along the hoist, which I haven't had for such a big flag before. Lastly, the flag of [Australia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia). I believe it's my first flag to have toggle and becket hoisting. It's a British blue ensign to represent allegiance to the Crown in the old days. It depicts the Southern Cross constellation to represent Australia's far southern location, which is what the country gets its name from. Lastly, it depicts the Commonwealth Star, which has seven points to represent [New South Wales, and Queensland too, Victoria, Tasmania, the South and West, and the rest](https://youtu.be/cfR7qxtgCgY?t=43). It was selected from a competition where multiple people (including a 14 year old) sent in pretty much the same design independently. On top of all of this I also got an early vexy present, which I'm waiting to post until after New Year's. I doubt you folks will appreciate it, but it's quite a rarity and was pretty hard to acquire.

[kikiskeysgame]

Chicago Blackhawks Player Reviews: Patrick Kane

Games Played: 81 Goals: 44 Assists: 66 Points: 110 Plus\Minus: 2 PIM: 22 Game Winning Goals: 7

Summary Patrick Kane kicked off the 2018-19 season on a good note as he scored a total of four goals in the first three games of the season. He ended the month of October with 18 points (with 11 goals & 7 assists).


Despite the Blackhawks struggles throughout November, Kane continued to keep up the good work as he ended the month with 11 points (with 2 goals & 9 assists) and was named the NHL’s “Third Star of the Month.” He missed one game during that month due to illness.

In December, he was named the NHL’s “First Star of the Week” on December 31st, ending the month with 21 points (with 9 goals & 12 assists).

During the second half of season, Kane had a season-high 20 game point streak where he scored 17 goals and had 26 assists; the streak came to an end on February 24th in a 4-3 loss against Dallas. He was also named to the Central Division All-Star Team in the 2019 NHL All-Star Game.

From January 6th to February 18th, Kane had a franchise-recording 17 game assist streak with 26 assists during that span; on January 20th, he tallied a career-high 5 points (with 2 goals & 3 assists) in a 5-4 overtime win against Washington. 

On February 1st, he got his 900th NHL career point as he had a multi-point game with two goals & 2 assists in a 7-3 win against Buffalo.

Kane was named the NHL’s “Third Star of the Week” on January 21st and the “Third Star of the Month” on February 1st.

In March, he was named the “Second Star of the Month” and ended the month with 11 points (with 10 assists & 1 goal).

On April 1st, Kane skated in his 900th NHL career game in a 4-3 overtime loss against Winnipeg. He set a career-high in points for a season with a goal & an assist in a 4-3 shootout win against St. Louis.

Thoughts from my point with view To me, it was no surprise that Patrick Kane ended up as the team leader in points, making it the fourth consecutive season that he has done so.

Even though the team’s struggles throughout the season, Kane would always be able to find a way to be productive in their games and find a way to make them interesting.

He has also shown that he still has the ability to develop good chemistry with his teammates such as Jonathan Toews, Alex DeBrincat, Erik Gustafsson and Dylan Strome. I was also impressed with how he was able to handle the high amounts of ice time that Coach Colliton had given him, even double-shifting him in some of their games.

Kane is signed with the team through the 2022-23 season with a cap hit of $10.5 million next season. With the season he had, I hope that he’ll be considered as a possible candidate for the Hart Trophy; it’d probably be a shocker to Hawks fans if he wasn’t.

[sparda3g]

One Piece Chapter 900 Review

One Piece has reached 900th chapter milestone. It’s an amazing accomplishment that Oda definitely deserves great recognition. As it hits the milestone, I asked myself, “What made this series truly magnificent?” The journey has been fantastic; whether there are good moments to remember or bad moments to wish to forget. Oda has been called “Goda” because he’s beloved by many and love his writing no matter what. This chapter answered my question; I wouldn’t mind calling him “Goda.”

I have to admit, I did hear reactions toward this chapter from early spoilers, yet I was hiding from those fans and info. The best I can describe is it is similar to Tokyo Ghoul:re Chapter 143. If you read it, you will know what I mean. If not, I’ll explain briefly. In that said chapter, there were uplifting feelings like everything will be fine and the wild ride is almost over. Then, that single page threw everyone off and the rest is history. Not only the tone is similar, but so as the reactions.

I have check around the discussion board before writing this and see mixed reactions. Happy for Oda being bold and did the unexpected twist that got people in denial, which is also similar to Tokyo Ghoul:re, only with the recent chapter. Frustrated that Oda did a twist that either fans didn’t want their beloved characters to get caught like this or believe all characters got buried as in lost hype. I for one love this chapter.

Oda must have created an illusion of happy thoughts when the cake was made to be the decisive factor of everyone’s fate. Hell, he continues to press forward with Big Mom actually loving the cake. In short, everyone is saved. The tension beforehand actually got me chills because it almost plays off that it was going to be a complete dud. While remembering the reactions from the fans being in the level of “WTF,” I was even more incredibly frightened. I still remember Marineford War Arc vividly and the shock value is still high to this day. Thankfully, the cake was good enough to bring Big Mom back to “life.”

As Big Mom start digging in the cake, the atmosphere mirages the tone of happiness and the arc was going to conclude in a bright light. Chiffon got to witness the effect; simply joy that her trust in that cake pays off greatly. Big Mom was in another world sensation. She technically got foodgasm, only done for comedy with her somewhat comical expression. It’s for the best to not go Soma on us; otherwise, it’s truly a nightmare.

The townspeople begin to celebrate as all of their troubles have been lifted. It’s sad that Sanji or even Chiffon gets no credit in creating the cake; only Pudding gets everything. What’s worse is that there are people that actually believed that Pudding threatened Chiffon to help out the cake and praise her like a goddess. Not only Sanji gets no mention at all, which hurts the ideal of a chef, but Chiffon remains as a traitor and despise by all. It speaks volume that Pudding looks depressed while being praised. I like the fact she feels this way; the character growth is apparent and while she can remain in the island (if Big Mom is now cool with her), she feels unpleasant to take the glory. The complete opposite of who she was before.

The strangest part of the chapter is how everything was looking bright for Strawhats and others that are against the Charlotte Family, only we didn’t get to see them celebrating. It’s true that they are in a predicament, trying to escape the island, but the one part that I didn’t want to see is the good feel from the enemy’s side. Basically, it got me a bewildered to see Perospero celebrating like we are cheering for him and his family all this time. I’m like, “…………….You’re not Sanji…” When the chapter ended, it hit me: this is good news for the wrong side.

From the very start, it highly focuses on Big Mom and the outcome; believing that it could be poison. Since she didn’t die instantly and continue to eat more, Perospero got excited that all of their troubles are gone, even though Strawhats are escaping. It’s sort of funny how he believed that she did eat poison but her immunity is so amazing that it had no effect. You would think the momentum would sky rocket for Strawhats; instead, it’s given to the Charlotte Family. In other words, stopping Big Mom with that cake did more harm than good. Because of it, the unexpected downhill spiral begins.

It was a bit uplifting to see the Sun Pirates saving the day and help Strawhats by making a pathway to escape for them. The loyalty is touching to say the least; once a friend, always a friend as they would say. Then the downhill begins when Oven comes through the Mirror World. The uplifting spirit ends here once Oven single-handily takes out the Sun Pirates by simply boiling the sea. Oven may get tricked or surprise attacked here and there, but he’s no joke when he can take out everyone in one move. You can call this a red herring for believing everything will be fine with them around; now, we are more or less back to square one.

The most haunting moment is not just with the images of downfall; it’s Big Mom singing a very creepy song, let alone just singing. Again, the cake should have been like good news if she is done rampaging, yet it’s nothing but disaster. The song is downright terrifying to read; can’t imagine how it would sound like in the anime. The choice of words is disturbing with the use of dead animals and selling out to hell for the sake of the imaginary peaceful world. It’s the nightmarish foodgasm.

It’s brilliant of Oda to incorporate the imagery of her world and the current event. As her song is filled with dark and creepy tone, it is fitting for what’s going on outside to be darkness as well. It just I didn’t expect this level of darkness. She is in her own world while her family, now uplifted with the best news, is taking care of Strawhats with ease. There’s no dialogue from anyone but Big Mom, which connects the scene together in a horrifying way. When Queen Mama Chanter shows up, I want to quote for them with, “You got to be shitting me…” I got chills just by singing along in my head. Charlotte Family continues to win, Strawhats continues to suffer.

If that wasn’t enough, Germa and Vinsmoke Family are also being cornered to the point that someone is really going to die. I wouldn’t be surprised if everyone does. This is like Metal Gear Solid 4 Oven Scene; just how much chaos and downfall am I going to see? The imagery of Big Mom’s past and her words scares me. It’s clear that she is way out of her mind and I don’t mean the fact that she is like high or whatever right now. This song practically describes her mentality too well. No matter what condition she’s in, she’s a monster.

The massive shock value that got people in denial or start singing Doraemon Theme Song is the Thousand Sunny getting destroyed in a single blast. The Jolly Roger is on the sea; leaving the depressing tone of defeat. Let me say that first of all, I don’t think Luffy and others are dead; but the ship being destroyed is really, really hard to debate on. I can’t say it is guaranteed destroyed, but the option is up there. When One Piece becomes unpredictable, it really hits hard with the “risk” or “twist” Oda conveys in his writing.

Even though the outcome is anyone’s guess, the situation still leaves in deep peril. Sun Pirates got taken out quickly (not all I think), Germa is struggling, and Luffy is in no condition to fight for a while. At this rate, we need Shanks or someone else to come in and change the tide. They were expecting to escape by the time Big Mom is pleased with the cake; instead, they are still trapped and if the ship is truly destroyed, they are screwed. Nightmare might be generous for this.

The chapter certainly got me shocked and I love it. While the overall thought for the arc is still in process, this chapter itself was outstanding. The presentation is brilliant with the use of the song that describes the scene and Big Mom’s character perfectly. I didn’t expect the dark tone it brought in, but it was captivating and unnerving. I don’t know if we should expect a rebound, but there are arcs before that didn’t end happily. Is this the arc that will join with others? In two weeks, we will know. I hope…

[misanthropic-bitch]

on this day last year I was miserable, matt had proposed to me a week before and I didn't have it in me to tell him I didn't want to marry him, because I was happier when he wasn't around. then I was also fighting with Justin for the 900th time, about me not wanting to choose him either because I couldn't let go of matt and I was broken from just that.

I was in therapy and constantly talking about how I don't think matt and I are going to make it, and how I didn't think I deserved Justin's kindness. but I couldn't move forward, because I didn't think I could make a choice without making the wrong one. but I actually did make a choice, but I was just standing in limbo, going from day to day numb and full of anxiety. I didn't make a choice until 7 months later when I finally told matt that we couldn't be together anymore, and Justin and I fell out because we disrespected each other too much that we were past the romantic partnership.

today, I left to get Chinese food and I come back to my boyfriend working on sight words with my daughter, I picked it up in his truck after he helped my load a bed frame in to it to sell to someone. he expresses to me how he wants me to feel comfortable talking to him about all of my problems, and he knows that right now there is a lot. he has taught me to shoot a gun, and teaches me about fixing the house. he has helped my family on multiple occasions and knows that they are the most important people in my life. he plans this future with me, and I somehow feel like a high schooler again.

Ray and I are not perfect, by any means, we have already had a fight that made it so we didn't speak before we went to bed, we got loud (not yelled) and had to make sure we made time to talk about it after the fight happened

I have NEVER had that with Matthew. not one time. it was always my fault, we never revisited (just re-fought about the same shit), we always screamed at each other, communication was terrible and there was never a mutual understanding or a resolution. and our first real fight, which was last weekend was when I knew, KNEW that Ray would be the guy I can see myself being married to.

we are only 3 months in, but at this point in my life, I go with instant and I trust myself. I have spent the last two years in fear and anxiety. I was at my lowest point and it took me finally leaving matthew for good, letting Justin go for good too and being wrongfully rejected by another guy for me to know I didn't need a man to make me happy or successful. I am able to be successful on my own, and Ray is successful on his own.

I hope this really does work out forever and I hope I don't look like a fool in the future. I'd be devastated if that were to happen. but, I love him so much already.

[mousedetective]

Cigs & Civility

So this was @mybrainrots‘s fic for the countdown to my 900th Sherlock fic, a glimpse into Sherlock and Sally’s past. I ended up weaving it into my take into that missing reconciliation scene that we heard they had, and voila! Here is a fic for all of you.

--

Cigs & Civility - The day Sally gets her promotion to Detective Inspector, she and Sherlock have their first entirely civil conversation in the entire time they’ve known each other.

Read @ AO3 | Buy Me A Coffee? | Send Me A Prompt

“Sergeant Donovan, meet our newest consultant, Sherlock Holmes.”

She’d had no reason to be wary until the instant he looked at her. The look he gave her. Piercing gaze that looked as though he was studying her down to the bone, studying her inside and out. As though he was judging her by bit and parcel, measuring her worth, whether she would be an asset or a hindrance.

And hindrance was what she came up, quick as a flash.

Bollocks that.

She had enough of that shite from the blokes in the Met, didn’t need it here in the Yard too. So she screwed on her most professional “eat shit and die” smile, extended her hand, which she knew would be ignored but would make her look gracious, inviting and the bigger woman, which was how one played the office politics game, and spoke. “I look forward to working with you.”

“Liar,” he muttered.

Damn he was good.

She’d be better.

She’d taken up smoking since his fall. Bad habit, she knew, but after one hangover from hell after too much wine, to the point even Hooper was worried, she’d backed off the alcohol. It wasn’t as though she’d been a social drinker anyway. She hadn’t any friends, really. Had sacrificed them for the job. Sacrificed more for the job than she’d cared to admit. Friends, love, happiness…

Footsteps sounded behind her on the roof. Not that she was bothered; probably one of the blokes coming to give their pointed two cents on her promotion. She didn’t even want to preface it with “well-earned,” though in many ways it was, and moreso than some of theirs, like Dimmock’s or others of the good old boys. They hadn’t had to live under Holmes’s shadow. They hadn’t had the stain of being fooled by Moriarty. They hadn’t had an office affair on their back with someone who went round the bend.

Bless Greg, was all she had to say. Had he not taken the brunt of everything at the risk of his own career, she might be a foot cop again for all she knew.

“Congratulations.”

She nearly choked on her exhale. Of all the voices she expected to hear behind her, that particular baritone had not been it, especially sounding sincere. But...bygones should be bygones and all. “Thanks,” she said.

“Lestrade, I have a lead,” she said, coming into his office, only to see his pet there. Typical. Might as well toss her lead out the window; Holmes probably had the case tied up with a nice, neat little bow, presented to Lestrade’s superior, and once again her work was down the drain.

Hard work for nothing. And why should hard work matter when there was a genius on board the team?

Oh, right. No team. Holmes worked alone because no one could keep up with him and his freakish way of thinking. Was he even human? Did he ever eat? Drink? Go out and have a life?

Sleep, for Christ’s sake? She doubted he slept. Probably had a cord somewhere shoved up his arse he pulled out and plugged into a socket to recharge and did computations in his head while he slept.

Freak.

“What was that?” Holmes said sharply, glaring at her. The word must have slipped out, but it seemed to have hit a nerve. Maybe he had feelings after all, or at least a sore spot.

Wonder what would happen if she hit that sore spot often enough? Maybe he’d go off and bother some other detective, give her a chance to make a name for herself outside of the boys club...

Holmes came closer, ending up next to her with his forearms bracing the railing. He nodded towards her cigarette. “Tell me that isn’t low tar.”

“God no,” she said with a laugh. “Those are shit and anyone who smokes them is torturing themselves.” She could see his fingers twitching and she fished her pack out of her coat pocket. He took one with relief and she offered him her lighter. After a moment he lit the cigarette and inhaled deeply, seeming to be at peace. “You needed one?”

He nodded, exhaling. “More than you know.”

“There’s a lot I don’t know about you, even after all these years,” she said, turning back to her own cigarette.

“We got off to the worst possible foot,” he said. “I was...arrogant. I still am, to an extent. But I made a judgment call those years ago that I was wrong about. You are extremely competent, Detective Donovan. You have earned this promotion. Had I not gotten in your way, you would have earned it long ago.”

She tapped the ash off her cigarette and then inhaled before exhaling slowly. “Probably. But maybe not. I was a fool to start something with Philip. You were right about that, though you didn’t need to make snide and public remarks about our affair.”

Sherlock nodded. “Fair point.”

“It’s a boys club, here. Stella Hopkins, me, a few others...there aren’t many women willing to brave it. Having you around didn’t help, I’ll admit. But it didn’t hurt, either. We all had to up our game.” She had some more of her cigarette. “It was only when you weren’t here they bloody noticed how much. And it helps that there was a push for more women in the ranks. But it’s a matter of timing and politics and a bunch of shite that I know you consider boring.”

“That game is more my brother’s field,” he said, nodding.

“He could have buried me,” she said. “I know he has that power. But he took an interest. Same as he took an interest in Philip after...everything. I know there was some nudging. Why?”

“Because, perhaps, there had been some wrongs done on both parts, and there should be an olive branch extended,” he said.

Sally raised an eyebrow. “A promotion to Detective Inspector is a hell of an olive branch, Holmes.”

Holmes shook his head. “That wasn’t the olive branch. The choice cases pushed Lestrade’s way, the lack of talk regarding your involvement in my supposed suicide...that was the olive branch. The promotion was due to your own efforts, Donovan.” He had some more of the cigarette. “There was time to think. Time to see what I had done. And I had a conversation with someone before I left, about what I was doing, what I was trying to accomplish. I was hurting people by what I did. We may not have been friends, Donovan, but you got caught in Moriarty’s web just as much as others did. If I left you to rot, I would not be the type of man the person I had talked to thought I was.”

“This person thought quite highly of you,” she said with an impressed look.

“She did,” he said. “I hope she still will in the future.” He took another drag of the cigarette and then stubbed it out on the railing. “Do me a favour, Detective Donovan.”

“I’ll keep an eye on Hooper,” she said, giving him a grin, one that grew wider when she caught his surprised look. “Who do you think Philip called at three in the morning with half-pissed ramblings about a snog with Hooper before you dashed off to save the world? I may have taken a long time to get this promotion, Holmes, but I am not as blind as you think.”

He shook his head and gave her a wave as he headed off. “Thanks for the cig,” he replied behind him.

She turned back and continued to look over the railing, bringing the cigarette to her lips again.

“How can you be so sure he’s a good man, Greg?” she asked, crossing her arms and looking at Holmes survey the crime scene, once again in his street clothes, giving not one fuck about protocol. Typical. Always thought he knew best.

“He has a heart, Sally. He does. It’s just...guarded. Someday someone is going to find their way to it, be it as a lover or a friend or something. Somehow. And we’ll see a whole new side of him.”

She scoffed. “A new side of the freak? I’ll take you out to dinner at Alain Ducasse if he and I have one single conversation where we don’t make a single snide remark towards each other. And I’ll top it off with the most expensive bottle of bubbly on the menu if he apologizes.”

Lestrade extended his hand to her. “It’s a deal, Sal.”

She stubbed out her cigarette and pulled out her mobile. She supposed she’d have to see if she could secure a reservation for two for tonight if Greg was free...