#this is all leadup to me

[im-tempted]

i think s1 (ep 35-37 i think) the finally fight of duel kingdom is so interesting especially with the B plot of whatever the fuck is going on with the ring fucker

cuz it's the first real time we actually see the millennium items in action yugi/yami obviously but also with bakura and Pegasus

during the big duel it's the first time (in anime) that we really see the puzzle boys communicate in any real way

but also we see Pegasus using his eye (which is notable at this point for not holding a ghost) in a way to effect peoples minds setting the precedent that that's what they do

but at the same time having yami Bakura be fully just summoning demons into the real tangible world

i definitely like the manga way they roll out the items better (faaaaar sooner)

but i think it's interesting how they choose to right at the end of the season just absolutely shove as much lore as they can at you

[raayllum]

Rayla and Callum re: possession plot line + all foreshadowing (s1-s5, supplementary material)

“An assassin doesn’t decide right and wrong. Only life and death.” Rayla parroted the mantra Runaan had so often repeated. She did not know if she was reciting the words to convince the prince that his fate was sealed, or to convince herself to seal it.

(Book One: Sky novelization; 1x02, and 1x04)

“Wow. So they look identical, but they might kill you or they might save you,” Callum said. “Exactly. Just like me…” Rayla smiled.

One more, she thought. Just one more win. A human stepped into the pit. His armor, a weather-beaten but familiar silver-grey with a red collar, told a grim tale: an exile from Katolis. He’d likely fled deeper into Xadia after the battle at the Storm Spire. He was barely taller than Rayla herself, and couldn’t have been older than— —what would he look like now, she wondered? Nearly two years older, a few inches taller— The human’s sword flashed towards her. Rayla sprang away, and the crowd bellowed. [...] The human kicked dirt at her, and Rayla scraped at her eyes, angry—infuriated, even. Humans were frustrating. Humans were clever. Humans could do anything, they could be anything, they could take their own fates and change them— When she blinked her eyes back open, Rayla saw several things at once. In the pit, the human charged forward, sword aloft. And in the crowd behind him, a flash of red. A scarf. For a moment Rayla was somewhere else, far away and safe and warm, following that red scarf instead of turning her back on it— —and then the human’s fist struck her jaw. She shouted in pain. One blade rose instinctively to block another blow, but the human grabbed her wrist and twisted so hard she dropped it. Then he swept a leg under her, catching her by the heels, and before she could breathe again Rayla was on her back in the dirt, staring up at the wooden bones of the ceiling. “Rayla! Wake up, come on! We’re gonna be okay—!” The human stood over her and tapped his blade to her chest. Rayla craned her neck, looking around. The sound came back into the world, and the crowd’s cheering had turned from raucous support to mocking, shrieking laughter. Groaning, she let her head fall back to the dirt. “You win,” she said. [...]

“What was that?! You beat yourself!” Back in Redfeather’s little hovel, Rayla sat in the hammock, arms tight across her chest. Stella, who had been told to stay behind for her own safety, snuggled against her neck and cooed. Rayla fiddled with a little wooden token someone had shoved into her hands as a consolation prize for her victories in the pit. Her fingers traced a carving of a hermit crab on one side and the stark profile of a Tidebound elf on the other. “What happened? Why didn’t you keep fighting?” Rayla took a deep breath. Her ribs ached. “I got distracted.” Redfeather gave a disbelieving laugh. “Don’t they teach you to avoid that kind of thing when you become an assassin?” “That’s different,” she protested, even though her heart knew it wasn’t. It was the same problem every time. Hesitation, sympathy, distraction… all just weakness in a different mask. 

Chasing Shadows, part 2

Rayla pulled the chest back, out of reach, and pressed the curve of one blade to his neck— —and held it there. The human froze, meeting her eyes. He looked afraid. Rayla wanted to hate him, this young Neolandian boy, she wanted to hate him like she hated Viren. She could almost see Viren’s face in his: the white streaks of his hair, the sickly pallor of his skin, the bruise-like shadows beneath his eyes. Was he not the same? But what if it was true? A plague, an illness, a wound— “Life is precious. Life is valuable. We take it, but we do not take it lightly.” [...] Rayla looked at the driftwood floor. “Because I messed up. He got away with the rest.” Redfeather sighed. “You hesitated. Like in the Bone Pit.” It stung. She was right, of course. Rayla caught a glimpse of her own reflection in a glass bottle and scowled at herself: the face glowering back at her was not the face of an assassin, and it never would be. [...] Redfeather nodded. “I like you, but you’re still trying to be the person they’ll welcome back home. You’re a Ghost. You can’t be that elf ever again. You have to decide who you are going to be instead. So—who are you?” Rayla balked at her. It was an awful question. She wasn’t an assassin, she wasn’t an elf of the Silvergrove, she wasn’t anything at all, she was just— —“Rayla.” That voice again. Rayla pushed away, trying to focus on Redfeather. “I’m—” “—selfless, strong, and caring—” He persisted, as he always did, and his voice took her far, far away. 

Chasing Shadows, part 3

She has made the princes her best friends and gone on a journey to free every elf and human from such terrible fates.

Rayla's Tales of Xadia bio

[mamawasatesttube]

superboy (1994) #92

thinking about them again...... man......

[cobra-wives]

you give me lawrusso adjacent; chris naked in new york x ruben patterson shootfighter. essentially, literally any amalgamated mixture of the zacchio-verse and their roles. i don’t mind - i love them all.

i nod.

i raise you; cobra husbands adjacent; terry mccain excessive force x captain vernon the dog who saved summer.

pleaaase let them be the villains in johnny and daniel’s lives in EVERY UNIVERSE.

[blackjackkent]

Slowly discovering the freeing power of the words "I know this is bad but I'll fix it in editing."

[smokestarrules]

guess what I finished watching

[orcelito]

Also sorry I'm inevitably gonna b talking a lot about the breakup bc I got a lot of feelings to process. I sure didn't see it coming, so I didn't get any time to prepare for it.

[martyrbat]

one path i was debating, the one before bruce ACTUALLY breaks it, is he and khoa never have their snow fight or their rain breakup. they stick together, they train together, they STAY together because of the loop and the trauma bruce faced, the realization that he's in love. love has always fueled him and after losing minhkhoa again and again, after cradling his corpse again and again, he actually chooses khoa. he chooses to believe in his honey-promise of returning to gotham as men instead. and like.... that alone i want to write and but the time loop aspect can very quickly get sidetracked or forgotten about and like... NO idea how to tackle it with the skill it deserves lol

@martyrbat

[grinchwrapsupreme]

babygirl, i am having a terrible time

[blazeball]

sniffles

[theoryofarson]

our dining table first kiss up there for kisses of all time for me

[unhingedlesbear]

Ultimatum got me thinking (As it often does) and now I'm wondering about like... the process? Of becoming the ferryman? Like the lead up to it. All the preparation that we don't get to see.

We know a few things from what we see, Du'met made a recording of Joseph Morello to show the next victims (Kate and Mark) so I assume he did the same with Mark? But what else with him like... surely there would be some form of rehearsal for the whole situation so he can put up a convincing act? There's also a recording of Morello's voice acting as Du'met so I assume he did the same with Mark too.

And as for Kate is she just stashed away in a room somewhere?

Kinda wish we got to see all of that like now I'm intrigued on just how much preparation there is beforehand. And obviously Du'met has to reset traps and all that too before the next group arrives. How long does this all take?

I'm overthinking it but like... it's interesting to me shush

[classicjdog]

CURSE MY FUCKING SHITARSE INTERNET I JUST WANT TO PLAY SOME FUCKING TEKKEN GAAAAHHHHHHHH

REINA IS SO FUCKING SICK AND I CAN'T PLAY HER AGAINST REAL PPL I'M STUCK FIGHTING THE STUPID AI FUCK

[chloecherrysip]

Please don't ever stop posting about Mario and Luigi. It's not annoying at all. I am living for your posts. <3

Aww shucks! Thank you, anon. ❤ ❤ ❤ That is very sweet and also a relief, because I truly don't know if I'll ever be able to fully shut up about them, haha.

[local-magpie]

feel like i should say if youve been watching me bitch about the mcu all day, that the context here is i adore the mcu to bits - i just fucking hate where it went & the quality drop as it became a performative cash cow project, abusing CGI & churning out work as fast as possible to make their grand (extremely mid) storyline. i was firmly in the "super" camp of superwholock back in the day and i am not ashamed to also admit to being a loki fan or basing a lot of things in my life on tony stark at the time. i still read frostiron fics to this day.

i am not here complaining the mcu exists at all. i am complaining that it's refusing to quit beating a dead horse into the ground - theres barely any bones left.

[myersesque]

damn . internalised ableism got hands