#this recent season hoo boy

[so-bitya]

Whitewashing in Anime - Soma ft. Usopp

Avoiding "Brown"

Here is an image of Soma comparing his skin tone from the first season of Black Butler and the current season airing now. As you can see, Soma's skin is noticeably lighter than it was in the past. I considered the lighting and took shade from his hand that looks relatively mid tone. However, that's not really a fair excuse if the anime continues to lighten Soma's face this way.

I also compared his skintone from the Book of Circus season which is relatively more recent, and chose images where he's clearly in good lighting. Soma is still noticeably lighter this time around.

Whitewashing is an incredibly common phenomenon that been happening a lot lately in anime, especially with reboots. A great example I can think of off the top of my head is One Piece where they lightened nearly everyone's skin color in the anime, despite some of the cast being characters of color?

(^^^this character is canonly black according to Oda, the mangaka.)

"Oh but Oda gives Usopp pale skin in all his color illustrations"

One, he should know better. Two, if Oda said Usopp would be African in real life, and chose a brown, Jamaican-american actor to play him, then yes, they have been ridiculously disrespectful in how they've been portraying the character's racial features so far.

In that sense, it's actually relief that anime studios in the past weren't afraid of giving their characters darker skin unlike mangakas who were terrified of even the lighest shade of brown.

For instance, I am happy that A-1 studios made Soma, Agni, and Mina, who are all the same race, slightly differ in skin tone. Mina's skin is cooler toned compared to Soma and Agni's warmer hues.

HOWEVER, and other fans pointed this out, Soma and Agni's skin leaned so far from being golden brown to straight yellow in many scenes, that they were walking around like they have jaundice which is so... Of course A-1 studios found some way to mess it up ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Another thing, do you guys honestly think being accurate to Yana's art style is always the best thing to do in adaptions? Angela Blanc, the secret villain in the anime original first season, pretends to be an abused maid and gets whipped in her very first scene. And according to Yana's concept sketches, she was originally brown. I'm actually glad the anime whitewashed her in that instance.

I'd like to point out, Sebastian's skin tone has also changed in the new season, and he's noticeably tanner than his previous anime appearances and yana's illustrations. So why is this okay for the anime to make creative changes for sebastian's skin tone, but have to stay accurate for Soma? (whose dark skin been established in anime viewers' eyes for decades now).

To be fair, I did a comparison of the anime grayscaled and Soma in the manga during the Weston arc. I checked the values and while I will say that his skin is relatively in the same as the manga, only few degrees lighter, whitewashing isn't only about skintone.

Colourism in Features

We could argue whether its just different anime styles or the way Yana draws noses, but its not a great look for Soma's nose to be made noticeably sharper compared to his flatter/rounder nose in the manga/earlier seasons of the anime.

Talking about the Mandela effect and cognitive dissonance as well... there's also something about how manga readers seen Soma with brown skin and pure black hair years in the manga, only for the anime to lighten those features.

It doesn't help that Soma canonly has purple hair and yellow eyes (if anything, I do appreciate the more natural tones they gave Soma this season. No more highly saturated purple hair and yellow eyes!)

Yes, Kuroshitsuji is a fantasy story, and YES artists of color like to play with fantasy features with characters, me included! But my point is that black/brown representation in media is so little already, especially when character artists are also averse to drawing any defining racial features.

Yana has designed brown-skinned characters in the anime with straight white hair and light-colored eyes about three times now (ie. Agni, Angela, and Hannah). The only Indians with dark skin and hair are a bunch of homeless thugs that Soma and Agni stop from mugging Ciel, proving they're "one of the good ones", and Mina whose treatment in the manga/anime is abysmal.

Discussing Racism in Fandom

Alright, so over the past few days, I've seen some fans disappointed with Soma's skin tone change and I hope my post illustrates why they would be. But I've also seen some angry and frustrated reactions to those fans! And I want to ask, why?

Why is fans bringing up racism in anime considered "discourse" but reacting harshly towards those fans is not?

Why would fans expressing disappointment about whitewashing gets you more angry than the whitewashing itself?

Why is being disappointed that an anime lightened a character's skin tone, a character who both anime-only watchers and manga readers alike saw as dark-skinned, "stupid" to you?

How come the fandom gets a good laugh out of the usage of "fag" potentially canceling the anime, but talking about race is a "risk" to getting a new season?

And if you disagree with my points and believe the anime is only being accurate to Yana's work, why not just say "Soma's skintone is more accurate to Yana's color illustrations, but I understand the disappointment and shock," without being condescending towards us for being concerned in the first place?

I'd be pretty happy if the anime was just using intense lighting and that Soma is darker than he appears (in fact, if that happens I'll reblog the good news to this post!) Because this post isn't "discourse" to me, I'm discussing race regarding one of my favorite characters in the fandom. Discussions like these don't ruin the fandom, but actually help it become a more welcoming place for fans of color.

Whitewashing in Anime - Agni ft. Cithis

[weemsfreak]

𓉸

Happy October, loves! In honour of my favourite time of year, here is a short spooky Larissa Weems x f!reader where Laurel Gates lives on...but as does Larissa.

It is based around a quote from the 1991 Addams family, and follows Season 1 of Wednesday where Joseph Crackstone is no longer. Season 2 calls for more mystery and gore? I say add Larissa's revenge. ~3.6k words

𓉸

"So I was thinking, since last Outreach day ended in disaster with the statue and all, perhaps we could do without an unveiling. Perhaps we could plan something sincere, something that may bring normies and outcasts together in a…"

You picked up your Weathervane hot chocolate, taking a sip.

"Darling?"

Recently, you have been feeling uneasy, if that was the correct word for it.

Uneasy when out in the town of Jericho, but also within the walls of Nevermore.

"Yoo-hoo? Darling?"

Last outreach day had been a disaster, and there had been numerous disasters that followed.

Still, she insisted on organizing another.

Why you agreed to help? You could never wrap your head around it.

You hoped November would never come.

Your gaze shot to blue as a hand softly landed on yours.

"What do you think?"

Blinking, you looked out the window, and then around the coffee shop.

"I think, um- maybe we shouldn't have an Outreach day this year, Larissa."

Her smile dropped to a frown, confusion evident on her face.

"Why not?"

You shook your head. You'd never want to disappoint her, but you had a feeling, a horrible feeling; a feeling of dread and death.

You only had this feeling few times before,

but you weren't about to tell her that.

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The new mayor of the town was…nice.

He was always smiling.

He was always helpful.

He was always weary.

Him, along with the students and residents of Jericho, were weary of the outcasts; as if they hadn't been before.

It was worse now, due to that night. Which was ironic, considering it wasn't the outcasts who were responsible.

Still, Larissa insisted on getting to know the new mayor, insisted on forming a cooperation with him.

He had rejected the idea of a cooperation.

He had rejected the idea of outcast and normie relations.

He had rejected the idea of an Outreach day; until he agreed.

You found yourself in the town, picking something up from the mayors office to deliver to the oh so busy Principal Weems.

As you walked down the decorated streets eager to return to Nevermore, you caught sight of red hair entering an alley way.

Crossing the road and making your way past Uriah's heap, you were about to turn down the alley when a boy brushed past, making you stumble back.

He walked slowly down the sidewalk, as if he had nowhere to be, yet determined to be somewhere at the same time.

Something within you knew that he was...familiar.

Trailing behind, you followed to the town square, to the church, and then, he stood.

Confused, you hid behind a close building, peeking around the corner.

Your brows furrowed as you realized that he seemed just as confused as you were, until he gazed directly at you and you faltered.

His face was crazed, he was foaming at the mouth. He looked sweaty and wild, uncontrollable.

Your heart skipped a beat as you concluded that he was standing exactly where the statue of Joseph Crackstone had stood last outreach day, and he gave you a wide smile.

Hiding around the corner of the building again, you closed your eyes as you breathed deeply.

Jericho was no longer the town that you knew; although it was the town that it always had been.

Secretive, unaccepting, and murderous.

Peeking around the corner once more, you were relieved to find nobody staring back at you.

As you high tailed it for Nevermore, you couldn't help but think few things:

One - Larissa could NOT hold an Outreach day.

Two - You were beginning to believe that you were losing your mind; not nearly as fun as you had anticipated.

And Three - That boy you saw, was dead.

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Pushing open the doors to her office, you walked straight up to her desk.

"How was your trip into town?"

You let the papers fall onto her desk, trying not to lose your composure.

"We cannot hold an Outreach day."

With the tilt of her head and twitch of her lip, she furrowed her brows.

"You keep saying this, yet you're helping me plan it."

Taking a deep breath, you tried your best to convince her.

"I just, I have a very bad feeling, and I can't-I can't-"

Your best right now was not very good, at all.

Tears fell as you thought about why you shouldn't, why you couldn't.

Long legs carried the woman around her desk as she reached for you, sitting you on the couch in front of the fireplace.

"You can't what, love?"

She would never understand, because she wasn't there to witness it.

She wasn't there to see the fire, blazing in front of her as the dead came back for the living.

She wasn't there to see her students in danger, eyes wide as they feared for their lives.

She wasn't there to see how helpless the outcasts felt, how helpless they were; how helpless you were.

She wasn't there to see Joseph Crackstone and Laurel Gates before her very eyes.

She wasn’t there…

She wasn't there because,

"You almost died, Larissa."

Your words swirled around in the air, heard but not seen.

"But I didn't, and I haven't a clue what this has to do with Outreach day."

Closing your eyes, visions of people came back to you, visions of the dead.

Tears fell from your eyes in frustration, wishing that you could make her understand.

She saw Nevermore in shambles, she had built it back up.

She saw the fear of the aftermath, she had built it back up.

She saw her life flash before her eyes, and so had you.

"It’s just too soon. Students of Jericho high will not stand beside our students, people of Jericho will not stand beside us, and…"

And I will not stand beside you.

That was a lie.

You let your head fall into your hands as you let out a sob.

She gripped your body with all her strength and pulled you to her chest.

"The events of that night are still fresh in your mind, darling" she whispered.

"Joseph Crackstone is gone, we have nothing to fear."

Gripping onto her shoulders, you couldn't help but have fear.

She had almost lost the school.

You had almost lost her.

And you had seen Garrett Gates today,

but you weren't about to tell her that.

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"Ah Nevermore, we love you so."

Gomez and Morticia Addams sat in front of her desk, Gomez kissing his wife's hand as they did.

"Larissa, it is so wonderful to see you thriving. I don't know what we would've done if you had left us."

Larissa quirked a brow at Morticia's words, looking her up and down.

"Perhaps you would've held a party?" she quipped.

Morticia snickered as she looked to Gomez, "There's the sense of humour that I always adored."

Larissa smirked their way, and silence overtook them as they stared at one another.

"But seriously, we feel awful for what happened."

"The Gates family, all dead" Gomez said.

"Poor Laurel, I can’t help but feel as though we hold some responsibility" Morticia added.

Larissa looked between the two with disdain, but she did feel bad.

"Well, it's done with now, yes?"

She wished they would just get to the matter of Wednesday Addams, yet again.

"Joseph Crackstone shall suffer irreparable consequences. They all shall."

Larissa couldn't help but think that death was enough.

"For what they did to our ancestors? Death will never be enough" Gomez added.

Larissa nodded, clasping her hands together on her desk.

"Well, I believe that we must put the past behind us, and thrive for a better future."

She watched as Morticia stood, approached her, and placed cold hands onto hers, lowering her voice.

"Sic Gorgiamus Allos Subjectatos Nunc. We gladly feast on those who would subdue us."

Blue eyes met brown as Larissa felt a cold spell cast around her.

Morticia waited a moment, then raised a brow as she released her hands from Larissa's warmth.

"Not just pretty words."

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You accompanied Larissa to Pilgrim world, the new mayor insisted that she attend a pre Halloween 'Sinister Soirée' that he was holding.

She had agreed in hopes of pleasing the mayor, in hopes of getting closer to him for the better of Nevermore.

You knew what had happened 400 years ago, well, to an extent; and so did she.

You couldn't help but despise Jericho in some way, due to its brutal history.

Centuries ago, the pilgrims had hunted and executed those they deemed outcasts: anyone who didn’t fit their strict vision of purity.

You agreed that things weren't always black and white, there were shades of grey.

You agreed that the future didn't have to reflect the past.

But sometimes, you cannot let go of what happened, sometimes you cannot forgive and forget.

“I feel like we shouldn’t be here."

Larissa's grip tightened around yours as you made your way through the entrance.

You thought about her, and how she thrived for the better of Nevermore, the better of outcasts; you admired that.

But all the same, you were conflicted.

How had she been to hell and back, knowing of the injustice, experiencing it first hand; yet keeping the same outlook.

She knew deep down that the outcasts weren't safe.

She knew deep down that she wasn't safe.

"We can leave, Larissa."

She peered down at you through cold lashes as the new mayor approached.

"Principal Weems, so good to see you."

Larissa clasped her hands together in that innocent way that you knew so well.

It was odd, to see her as not Principal Weems, not Larissa, but dressed up in a costume so ethereal and otherworldly, like a ghost from a forgotten era.

"Mayor Winslow, thank you for hosting tonight. Such a fun event!"

You rolled your eyes as you adjusted your outfit, draped in layers of shadows.

"Thank you for coming. I hope you enjoy the haunted crypt walk, and perhaps try some fudge."

꒦꒷꒷꒦꒦꒷꒷꒦꒦꒷꒷꒦

Strolling down the Cobblestone streets of Pilgrim world, you couldn't help but feel uneasy, so deeply unsettled.

Maybe Larissa should've brought someone who, specifically, had any ability besides the ability to see the dead. Alas, that thought made you jealous.

You had avoided Pilgrim world for so long, and everything in Jericho the like.

Already feeling the cold presence of the dead, it lingered in the air, watching from the shadows of the ancient trees.

You needed a distraction, and you needed it now.

"Oh, the tavern! Can we go in?"

꒦꒷꒷꒦꒦꒷꒷꒦꒦꒷꒷꒦

You entered the dimly lit tavern, spotting one open table as you sat across from the Principal.

"Pilgrims of the night, what can I get for you?" A voice thick with faux historical enthusiasm.

Your gaze lifted from the pale woman to…a religious fanatic.

The very symbol of zealotry and hatred, Joseph Crackstone himself.

Your eyes widened, hands moving quickly to grip the woman's arm across from you.

Looking down at you, she took your hand in hers, rubbing her thumbs over it soothingly.

"We're alright, love."

Right. It wasn't really him, because Larissa could see him too.

"We're hardly Pilgrims," you managed, gesturing vaguely at yourself.

Larissa eyed you down, a smirk appearing on her face. "No, we certainly aren't" she said, turning her attention to the waiter.

You took in the ambiance of Pilgrim world, shooting her a look as you were, after a short time, fed up with the pilgrim's that surrounded you; those alive and dead.

"It takes a special kind of stupid to devote and entire theme park to zealots responsible for mass genocide."

The waiter then reached your table and set down the drinks, his grin faltering as he raised an eyebrow.

"Who you calling stupid?"

You held his gaze, unflinching, "If the buckled shoe fits."

The principal chuckled softly, shaking her head as she lifted her drink.

"Do behave, darling," she teased, her eyes hinting at your shared disdain for the charade around you.

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"Line up for the haunted crypt walk!"

You moved outside and stood in line, dragging Larissa with you hand in hand.

Walking through the partially lit up streets, you tried to enjoy your time envisioning the good old days.

Well, they were not good, you supposed; but they were old.

As you strolled, you tried your hardest to forget about your ability, but your ability would never forget about you.

"And here is the old barn, a place where they stored crops, grain, and livestock."

You looked to the right to find the old barn standing strong.

"Unfortunately, it was set ablaze one night containing the livestock, but it has been rebuilt since. Pilgrim world has remarkably been rebuilt to 30% of it's original structure."

Larissa listened to the haunted walk tour guide, before gazing down at your apprehensive, perhaps terrified demeanour.

The barn transformed to a burnt structure, only the frame, floor, and partial walls remaining.

Out of nowhere it was up in flames; hay, crops, animals, and people littered the floor.

The animals looked at you with fear, the smoke clouded your vision, and Larissa, Larissa watched you with tears in her eyes.

You gasped as you kneeled down in front of her.

"There is no time, child."

Taking her hands into yours, you attempted to help her up.

"Leave me, save yourself. He's chained us all to the floor."

People where chained to the floor, outcasts were chained to the floor; with nowhere to run and nowhere to hide.

You pulled with all of your force at the chains before attempting to break them from her wrists.

"I shant leave without you."

Your gaze focused on hers, but it wasn't what you knew.

Her accent filled your ears, but it was old.

Her hair flowed freely, her clothing in tatters.

She had the same sad eyes, but they didn't glisten, they didn't speak to you in the same way.

"Run, avenge us. Find the others and save our future."

You stood as she disappeared from your vision, backing away slowly.

"You are our only hope."

Coughing, you attempted to wave away the smoke as the barn in front of you reverted back to it's present state.

You had thought that the meeting house was the only place where outcasts were burned; of course that wasn't enough.

Turning in fright, you looked for those on the haunted crypt walk, met with only the dark of the night.

Everyone was gone, including Larissa.

"Larissa?"

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Strolling throughout the streets alone, you couldn't help but think about how lonely it would've been.

But the reality was, you weren't alone.

You could see only them; pale figures standing just beyond the veil of mist, their faces gaunt, hollow-eyed, staring.

They weren’t just ghosts. These were the spirits of pilgrims and outcasts, the ones who had been hunted, burned, and hanged for their abilities.

They were you, and you were them.

Making your way past the ol' haberdashery and fudge shop, you found an old house, one you hoped would be free of the dead and horror.

Entering through the front door, you passed through the keeping room, until you found an open passageway.

It was dark, far too dark for you to see anything; besides the figure of a tall white haired woman.

“Larissa!” you shouted in fear and relief.

You saw her, Larissa, standing in the darkness of a dimly candlelit room, her back turned.

Relief flooded your veins.

“Larissa, thank God” you breathed, running toward her.

“What happened?"

As you neared, something stopped you cold.

Larissa’s body was still, too still; you froze.

The figure turned slowly, and your blood ran empty.

It wore Larissa’s face, her exact face, but her hopeful eyes were wrong.

They were hollow, dead. Her smile was cruel, a twisted mockery of Larissa’s usual painted grin.

“You're just in time for the feast,” the figure said, its voice a low rasp.

You stumbled back, this was not Larissa.

It was something else, something ancient, and it had stolen her form.

“Where is she?” you demanded, voice shaking.

The figure smiled wider. “She is with us now. She is where she belongs.”

Your pulse quickened, you couldn’t lose Larissa again. Not to this place, not to whatever dark force lingered here.

The figure’s form began to shimmer, its edges blurring, and in an instant, it transformed; morphing into the twisted face of an old woman, a pilgrim, her eyes burning with malice.

“You outcasts were always ours” she hissed. “And tonight, we feast.”

The darkness suddenly lit up, your view of pilgrims evident as you watched them feast.

An old dinner table, wood and bone carved forks and knives.

They were eating meat; they were eating outcasts.

“I can see you” you whispered, hoping to keep your voice steady. “I see all of you.”

The dead paused, their hands retreating.

“You think you can subdue us?!”

It was loud, fueled by your anger, you could feel it radiating from the outcasts, radiating from the loss of Larissa.

“You think you can keep us chained here?”

The pilgrim spirit hissed at you, her face contorting with fury.

“You are nothing but prey.”

Your lips twisted into a sinister smile as you backed away.

“We gladly feast upon those who would subdue us.”

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You awoke outside, feeling the cold hands of the dead that had brushed against your skin.

They pulled you, drug you toward the church.

Your head pounding from the insufferable onslaught, you couldn't remember exactly how or why you had ended up here.

Muffled screams caught your attention as you stumbled toward ancient wood doors.

The church stood as a grim reminder of the village’s past, its stone walls blackened by centuries of dark history.

"Let me out of here!"

There was banging from the inside, but the doors wouldn’t budge.

“Larissa?” you shouted, fear clutching at you.

You would recognize her voice anywhere, even in panic, even when she sounded ghostly.

"Please help" she pleaded, tugging at the doors.

Even in times like these, you couldn't find a way.

You couldn't find a rock, you couldn't find a spell, you were no professional at teleportation; and you learned the meaning of dread.

Even the outcasts couldn't face the fury of those who lived to wrong them.

As you hauled on the wooden doors in hopes of freeing Larissa, they suddenly flew open and sent you back to the ground.

You quickly ran inside, watching in terror as Larissa was summoned; gliding helplessly across the floor and up to the altar of the church.

“I’ve been waiting for you” a voice, low yet warm.

“You are of my blood, and the time has come.”

Larissa was still and wide eyed, held in place as she spoke nervously.

"I can hear you, but I cannot see."

You took a breath, watching as Larissa, the version of her you had earlier spoken to in the old barn, moved until she was inches before the principal.

You swallowed deeply and whispered. "She's right in front of you, Larissa. She looks like you, perhaps your ancestor."

Larissa’s eyes darkened, her body tensing as if something had woken inside her.

She spoke in a way that you have never learned before; she was timid, confused.

“Time for what?” she asked, though you could hear the answer in the dead woman’s silence.

“Revenge,” her ancestor whispered.

Suddenly, the doors of the church slammed shut.

You could feel the dead rising all around. The spirits of the outcasts, those who had been wronged were no longer content to stay in the shadows. They wanted justice, and they had waited long enough.

"Joseph Crackstone may be gone, but Laurel Gates lives on."

Larissa took a shallow breath, retrieving the ability to close her eyes.

"I believe in a better future for outcasts. I'm working to bring outcasts and normies together in…in harmony."

You panicked as she started choking out her words, her breath becoming less as she spoke.

As you placed a hand in hers, her ancestor glided away as a disappointed mother would from her child; just to be peering down at her within a second.

She cupped her cheek with her dead hand, and you wondered if Larissa could feel it.

"It is up to you, my child, but this is a warning. They do not rest, they killed us all, and they now come for you."

Larissa's ancestor faded into the ether, dissolving into nothingness as Larissa herself began to rise, lifted slowly and steadily towards the towering ceiling of the ancient church.

You felt panic welling up inside as you gripped her hand tightly, but it was no use.

Fingers slipped away from hers, powerless to stop her from being pulled higher and higher into the eerie shadows above.

Your breath caught in your throat as you watched Larissa suspended midair, her eyes wide with fear as a faint whisper sounded.

"Sic Gorgiamus Allos Subjectatos Nunc."

Suddenly, as if responding to some unseen command, Larissa was hurled back down to the stone floor and the heavy wooden doors of the church flew open.

You rushed to the woman's side as she sat up in shock.

Kneeling, you watched the weight of the revelation settle over her like a cold fog.

"Laurel Gates lives on."

You placed a hand on her shoulder, gazing into blue as she turned to look at you.

Your voice was soft, and you prayed that she finally understood.

"The normies will reject outcasts, a rift sealed by fate itself. Eternal, unyielding, haunting us with the certainty that acceptance will remain beyond our grasp, evermore."

You cupped her cheek as tears threatened to fall. "We gladly feast."

Larissa’s lips pursed, her gaze narrowing as she stood and pulled you up with her.

She took your hands firmly, her eyes gleaming with a dark, unspoken truth.

"And Laurel," she said commanding, her voice full of dangerous promise as a smile played on her lips, "is just in time for the feast."

[scoobydoodean]

Looking at your recent posts/reblogs has reminded me of how much I hate the conversation between Dean and Bobby at the beginning of 4.22 when Dean is trying to deal with the fact that Sam has chosen to trust Ruby instead of him, when Dean can see that he’s obviously being manipulated, and, in response, Bobby just says

You stupid, stupid son of a bitch! Well, boo hoo, I am so sorry your feelings are hurt, princess! Are you under the impression that family's supposed to make you feel good?! Bake you an apple pie, maybe? They're supposed to make you miserable! That's why they're family!

and I feel like that line just summarizes how so many people view Dean both in the show & in discourse about it: that whenever he’s upset by something someone does, he’s being overdramatic, and the tension it creates is his fault for not just accepting that his loved ones will make him miserable.

(& the context of the quote is kind of the perfect example of this because Dean has spent the whole season trying to deal with his own trauma from hell & the fact that the angels won’t leave him alone while also continually giving Sam chances to be upfront about what’s going on with him and trying to warn him that Ruby is manipulating him into doing what she wants, and when that tension finally breaks because Sam refuses to believe—or even consider—any of Dean’s suspicions about Ruby, Dean is basically told by Bobby that he should just let it go)

I agree with you—and that speech is absolute trash.

To frame Bobby's reaction here a little, he and Dean have some conversations in 4.21 and 4.22 that I think leave Bobby pretty unsettled. I think his emotional reaction is driven by that.

In 4.21, Dean and Bobby don't see things the same way when it comes to Sam's demon blood detox and they also disagree on Dean intending to sacrifice himself by signing himself over to the angels to protect Sam. So I'd say leading into 4.22, Bobby is already apprehensive about Sam and Dean both being killed. We know he didn't weather Dean's death at the end of season 3 well.

In 4.22, right before Bobby blows up at him, Dean is also jumping to some conclusions about his relationship with Sam that are pretty extreme.

DEAN No, damnit! No. I gotta face the facts. Sam never wanted part of this family. He hated this life growing up. Ran away to Stanford first chance he got. Now it's like déjà vu all over again. Well, I am sick and tired of chasing him. Screw him, he can do what he wants. BOBBY You don't mean that. DEAN Yes I do, Bobby. Sam's gone. He's gone. I'm not even sure if he's still my brother anymore. If he ever was.

I think Dean having to work through thoughts like this is understandable given probably less than 24 hours ago, Sam was strangling him unconscious in absolutely seething rage, had spent the entirety of the season lying to Dean and then getting indignant when Dean caught on, and reiterated the incredibly damaging things he said about Dean's hell trauma from 4.14. At the same time, I don't think Dean's thinking straight. Sam's motivations in the demon blood arc are incredibly multi-faceted... but hating hunting or their family simply is not part of this situation. This is made most clear to us just a couple episodes before in 4.19 (where Sam tries to push Adam into hunting and praises their father for teaching them to protect themselves—and this certainly didn't go unnoticed by Dean who confronted him about it). The bit about not wanting to hunt hasn't been true in years and won't resurface again for several more. It seems like Dean is just swirling through a lot of unaddressed hurt and misunderstandings from the past as he processes through the last year.

I think Dean saying he is done trying and he has tried and tried and tried and he is not doing it anymore is completely reasonable (he also has no idea yet that Lilith is the last seal), but I think when presented with the harm Bobby knows Sam is doing to his body by proceeding, thinking about "his boys", Bobby sees Sam as being in more imminent danger and wants Dean to reach out one last time to try and get through to him. Dean's rare show of verbal processing sets Bobby on edge and because he's human too, he says some stupid things. And if we're being real, Bobby is like this sometimes. I love Bobby to death, and in a general sense, I think he's very caring and supportive toward the people he loves. But when he himself is scared or angry or otherwise agitated, his patience evaporates and other people's vulnerability makes him upset. "The Curious Case of Dean Winchester" is a more sympathetic example of this. Bobby is angry and raw and deeply depressed, and Dean's well-meaning love and support—no matter how casually offered—is received like poison because it reminds him that he is not okay. The same sort of language about Dean being a pansy and how they're both going to "grow lady parts" shows up from Bobby in this episode.

I go back and forth on what Kripke was thinking when he wrote that dialogue, because the man is absolutely obsessed with the exploration of "toxic masculinity", which I think he's done well at times and extremely poorly at others, and I think Bobby's speech clearly embodies that interest. At the same time, I actually do think that, leading into season 5, there are some aspects to the fallout of Sam and Dean's season 4 conflict that are ultimately just very lazily brushed over and so I do think he bought the shit he had Bobby shoveling to an extent. Setting the content and tone aside, in a vacuum, the idea that Dean has to be the one to reach out—while exhausting—plays into the idea of Dean as the hero character. And when I say this, I don't mean that Sam isn't a hero. Sam is VERY much trying to be the unconventional hero this season. But Dean is often made to embody the concept of the righteous hero as an ideal, and part of being the righteous hero in season 4 means ultimately being... right (in more ways than you even knew) but another part of it is having to be the bigger person. Your wrath has to be tempered by love. We could go further down this rabbithole as far as themes and meta narrative, but none of this, from a human perspective, makes me like this speech any more. It just sucks balls.

[longeyelashedtragedy]

Frank James Lampard OBE 👀

ougughgh, you whipped out the order of the british empire? 🫡 😳 maybe i was wrong to judge them teaboos back in the superwholock days (that's a JOKE)

@protect-daniel-james i'll respond here but i might use your ask to post some more Photos cause i'm not sure how to pick just one photo of the Long Eyelashed Tragedy

favorite thing about them: uhhh...so much? he gets me right in the FEELS, man. he tells on himself constantly and seems to be completely unaware. sadboi footballer with pretty dead eyes who loves to Read and took a little notebook with him on the team bus. the intersection of having it easy/privileged childhood & traumatic things that shouldn't have happened--i relate. exhilarating to watch his old performances and he seems like he'd be fun to have a conversation with. fascinating to analyze, this all feels sort of reductive...i'm very Fond of him and some of it is hard to put into words, but i feel very "what's not to love?" about him lol. and he has such a Narrative. he's very easy to write about though it probably doesn't turn out well at all (sounds great and deep in my head though)

also i find a lot of footballers hot but don't really experience significant attraction to them but he is an exception you know what i'm just going to end this here

least favorite thing about them: he lost weight after everton BOO HISS

favorite line: omg, frank james lampard OBE is funny because he's often so intelligent and articulate and then just whips out the WEIRDEST/most cringe thing out of nowhere. some examples:

-his "fight" with klopp on the touchline

THIS wtfery:

these BANGERS:

this classic example of childhood trauma "too old when you're young and too young when you're old" (what some ppl would call "entitled male athlete" but like..i know better than that lol). it's also just patently RIDICULOUS he was like 36...bolding is mine for the classic lines

But it was while on a night out in Manchester during pre-season that the ex-West Hamer star showed his new American team-mates exactly how ex-Premier League stars like to party.

Columbus Crew centre-back Josh Williams was with NYCFC at the time and he told the story to the Athletic.

...“This place is packed, multiple levels. And as soon as we walk in, you could see everybody recognise Frank. And it’s just me, my teammate and Frank and all the energy is just on him.

"He picks up a bottle, this huge bottle of Grey Goose, picks it up, opens it, just starts downing it. Passes it to me and goes, ‘Boys, we’re not putting this down until it’s fucking gone.’”

The trio passed the bottle around three times when the rest of NYCFC showed up.

After about an hour in the club, Lampard approached Williams and asked him about 'that game you Americans play where you throw the little balls — he’s talking about beer pong.'

ok let's see...

brotp: random one but i recently learned that he and ian wright are friends? and i just love that so much both as a gooner and a person. wrighty complements him well and is very...respectful lol. if we consider lamperry to be only one-sided romantic, then definitely lamperry

notp: franko x steven gerrard...there's only One situation in which i've enjoyed that ship (and it was an au). it does nothing for me normally, and i personally don't find stevie g attractive, so! again, it's like an "ew get it away from me" notp, it's just not my vibe.

otp: i mean...lamperry requited. franko x cousin jamie jamie jamie ....maybe someday they can give romeo and juliet their happy ending. and of course, frank and mason...i just really like this ship so much and it keeps my brain so entertained...even though it's not "healthy" and doesn't end well. these ships are all SO good!!!

random headcanon: oh gosh idk...i don't think i have any "headcanons" because everything he says and does in public just kind of tracks. bet he's done coke lol. idk

unpopular opinion: HOO BOY!!! here we go!!! i am aware that i have a wooby nature, but i actually like that about myself. i'd rather approach someone--anyone with softness and then tone it down when i decide they're a dick, than be uncharitable for no reason. that's my way and that's how it's gonna be! so that said...franko gets accusations of "arrogance" and i...i don't see it at all. it might come from his disingenous press conferences at chelsea and everton, but i see that as a man who has horrid self-esteem, was used to being treated by media and fans like a Starboy, and once he started doing badly, had no idea how to handle professional failure--not one single idea. remember on "diary of a ceo" over the summer when he said his first chelsea sacking was the first time he's ever failed professionally? that's insane. Like, imagine making it to age FORTY-TWO and not having a legitimate school or career disaster. that's insane to me. so he just put up a front and got cranky and defensive and funky about where he placed the blame (and to be honest--he has not done a good job as a manager, but he also wound up in some pretty dismal positions. taking chelsea caretaker manager was really shooting himself in the foot because that season just needed to be put out of its misery lol). i'm not saying he's a bastion of humility, or some misunderstood coaching genius, but i don't see him as any more or less arrogant than someone else. idk--i see a weird level of contempt for him that doesn't really feel deserved? he's just a sad sack. sort of a hubris tale in a sense, but also a tale of a man who is still stuck as a kid in some ways...i need to stop before i write a really bad dissertation lol

uh that said...

song i associate with them:

finally a footballer i can give a good answer to this for!!!

name me a better combination than me x lamps x pink floyd x this summer! comfortably numb, shine on you crazy diamond (all of it, but particularly sections vi-ix), wish you were here...

(i know this sounds basic...i know there are more i'm not remembering)

"money" in some ways because i listened to it while writing "visited upon the sons" (it hit me afterward that the fic and the song are structured in the same way...the chicken or the egg?)

from the oooold first days of the lampardverse:

behind blue eyes/a well respected man

also! wouldn't it be nice kind of reminds me of him and cousin jamie loool

favorite picture of them:

dude idk! i really love looking at photos of him! this is granit levels of difficulty...i Cannot choose so let's go with this sad sack from the blessed everton days:

[sephirthoughts]

writer asks: 19 please!

thank you for the ask!!!

19. the most interesting topic you've researched for a fic:

Hoo boy. So, the most interesting topic I have researched for a work of fiction was the Soviet-Afghan War, which was a part of the whole Cold War tangle of thorns, and was far more complex and horrifying and insane than it seems on the surface. And it already seems totally insane on the surface. Political situation aside, I learned a shitload about the Middle-East, and the Pashtun people in particular, and their culture. Pashto is an awesome language btw. Anyway that was all researched for an original fiction piece about Cold War super soldiers and the main character was a female radical from Croatia. It's...a long story.

The most interesting thing i've researched for a fandom work…it's a toss-up. One was the entire deep-sea salvage industry, for a recent fic about a wreck-diver and his sea-dragon boyfriend. I had to learn all about industrial dredging and underwater excavation and all the different kinds of ships and boats and what they all do. Then I had to learn all about SCUBA diving and skin diving and controlled apnea (holding your breath for a long time) and also exactly how shark skin works (it's bonkers). Then I had to get superficially familiar with maritime law, because there's all this ridiculousness with international waters and conflicting rights to wrecks etc. The most interesting part? I had no idea archaeologists and salvagers had so much drama. It's basically mean girls on the open sea.

The other was traditional Chinese cooking. Not the kind people are used to in the US most of that was invented here anyway. Like, traditional Chinese beliefs regarding foods, and what goes with what and in what season you serve which thing, etc. It was a fandom fic modern AU about a guy who meets a chef, who is from Hong Kong and is developing a traditional-modern fusion menu for his father's Chinese restaurants (the guy is Hong Konger and speaks Cantonese but his father's restaurants are mandarin so it's about half mainland cuisine and half Cantonese cuisine). Basically he cooks for him and the guy falls head over heels because how could you not? Not as exciting as deep-sea salvage or the Cold War, but I had more fun with that one than anything. 😂

thanks again for the ask, i haven't thought about those stories in a while!

[echoequinox]

Thank you for tagging me my dear @mellifloraa fjdksalfdjl you're so funny

last song: fucking Blow Me Away by Breaking Benjamin, I've been on this weird Halo music kick lately and goddamn the Halo 2 soundtrack has some BANGERS - Breaking Benjamin, Hoobastank, AND Incubus?? Like. C'mon.

favorite color: red.

last book: UHHHHHH fuck I started reading some random smut books but the last book ass book I read was... either starting House of Leaves and not finishing it or The Mare Who Once Lived in the Moon. Both great

last movie: Heathers I believe! Showed a couple people who'd never seen it before and it was fuckin awesome, love that movie, go check it out

last TV show: I am still bingeing Arcane, just finished Season 2 Episode 3 and hoooo boy. Do I have. Some spicy thoughts about it. But I will see it through to the end.

sweet/savory/spicy: Spicy, then Savory, then Sweet. I prefer sweet the least. Spicy is my fucking jam gimme buffalo chicken dip every day for the rest of my life

relationship status: I have a partner! And some other complicated stuff but you know how it be

last thing i searched: "Street Name Generator" and "US States" because I forgot where they all are lmfao. I needed to make a mental map of a stupid thing I'm writing

current obsession: I think I'm currently in between hyperfixations! Arcane isn't hooking me enough to be a true hyperfixation atm and I'm gonna start up MLPFiM soon to actually finish it for the first time but not quite there yet. When I am, though, hoo boy

looking forward to: Thanksgiving! Lots of food, even if I gotta deal with shitty family members I am gonna PACK it away and bring tupperware and eat them out of fucking house and home lmfao

favorite drink: Tea~ Specifically black or chai, and I've got Thoughts about flavors but most black and chai teas are terrific. I do drink them with like 4 big spoonfuls of sugar though because I grew up in the midwest so take what you will from that

song playing on a loop in your head 24/7: Locals (Girls Like Us) or The Emptiness Machine currently

current favorite character: HMMMM good question! I'm trying to think of who is the most Pookie to me. Jinx is up there, for sure. Miku recently even if I don't even really like vocaloids fjkdlsa

fun activity you would like to get into: Programming. God I have got to get into programming it's just fucking hard right now. God damnit.

last video game: Been playing a lot of Gregtech New Horizons (Minecraft Modpack) and also like, Blops 6 Zombies has been fun

last comic/graphic novel: The Strange Case of Harleen and Harley! Saw a post about it, saw that Harleen is so fuckign scrungly, and immediately snapped a new headmate out of that so that's kinda. Where I'm at lately lmfao

I dunno, @jaegertamer, @flitflit, @jam-does-audio, @rebisgender, @pending-trans-action-2 your turn to do the funny tag game thing, have fun

[quietbooklion]

Do y'all remember Rei? Because I don't.

OK, in all seriousness though, Rei is a character that didn't really leave a good impression on me when he and Keita and Jun were introduced as the new love interests for Irresistible Mistakes. When I say that he didn't leave a good impression, that doesn't mean I thought his story was bad. However, I didn't think it was good either. It was boring. And if you were to ask me what's worse, a character you think is boring or a character you hate, I would say a character that's boring. Because with a character I hate, there's emotion behind it, there are strong reasons why I didn't like that character. A boring character is worse because there was nothing remotely interesting about them that failed to garner any kind of emotion from me. And Rei was that character.

I actually forgot he existed up until a few days ago when I was writing my post on why Shunichiro's stories were frustrating me. I went back and looked at the characters and then I saw Rei and I was like, "Oh yeah. He exists." Which I know sounds bad but really, out of the trio, he was the least memorable for me.

I'm gonna be honest with you all. I did not like any of the new trio. I didn't like Keita and I hated Jun. Sorry to all the Jun fans, I didn't like how his story was written and I could honestly create a post talking about that. Keita's story also didn't really leave a good impression and I couldn't get attached to him as a character. Then there's Rei and I think it's fair to say that he's the outlier of the trio because there really wasn't anything memorable about him. I know he has fans and to those who like him, that's good. But if you were to ask me what his story was about, I couldn't really give you any kind of answer. With Keita and Jun, even though I didn't like them, I still remember bits and pieces of their story and how it ended. But for Rei? Nothing.

Then there's the issue I saw a lot of people had with Rei during his season 2 story arc and hoo boy. I won't spoil anything if you're interested in playing his routes but if you don't mind, then look at the reviews. After not enjoying his season 1 story, I wasn't all that interested in his S2 story but when I saw it was met with mixed to negative reviews from the EN app, I was quite shocked. I'm not going to make any kind of review seeing as I haven't played it, but after reading some reviews, I can honestly say that I probably wouldn't have liked it. Keep in mind, all of this is coming from the EN version of Love 365, I don't really know how his story is viewed in the JP app. That being said, I think it's safe to say that he wasn't really popular in either region.

To add insult to injury, Rei has the shortest storyline (unless they do the same to Dr. Maki) as he already got his Our Irresistible Future story ending. Bro didn't even make it past season 3. Now that we have Minoru and Aki recently joining the title, I think Rei kind of faded into the background. Which sucks because I'm sure there probably was enough resources to maybe write a season 4 storyline and end it there, but I guess he got shafted real hard in favor of the others.

[clownqueenofprom]

Royal Christening (A Hero is Born, #1)

I found this Risen Shadow/Fallen Sun au by @lavender-descendentheart wherein Lady Bone Demon finds Sun Wukong under the mountain and frees him, so Tripitaka is forced to settle for Macaque when about to go on the journey, that just REACHED my heart, so I had to write out like… like a first chapter for it.

Whatever this is. MK will be referred to as Xiaotian because what else do you want from me? You want me to call him SK for “Shadow Kid”? I’m not calling him SK. I’m not a vsco girl. And Xiaojiao Long for Mei because I just like that better than “Mei Dragon” to be completely honest. This note is because authors be writing these fanfics, using the Chinese names and then expecting people to just… KNOW who everyone is.

Qi Xiaotian was just a delivery boy. Nothing more, nothing less.

He was an orphan, with no memory of his life before meeting the noodle shop’s owner, who’d taken him in- of course, not without grumbling about how he’d have to pull his weight around the shop in exchange.

Xiaotian didn’t have any complaints. It was sometimes a hassle, but it was fun sometimes and it was certainly heaps better than being on the streets without a thing to his name. He was happy to do anything asked of him.

But a delivery to an unfinished construction site- that was halfway underground? He had to draw the line somewhere, right?

“An order’s an order, kid,” His boss, and as far as he was concerned, surrogate father “Pigsy” (that wasn’t his real name, but that didn’t make it any less fitting.) had told him gruffly, pointing his spoon matter-of-factly.

“I can’t have a costumer giving me a bad review! That’s exactly what the competition wants.”

“Oh, don’t be so dramatic, Pigsy,” Tang had said, leaning on the pig demon’s shoulder without a care, spinning around a chopstick with his free hand. “It’s raining cats and dogs! You can’t make Xiaotian go out in all that! Your noodles are the best in town!”

A cartoonish vein popped up on Pigsy’s forehead as he shoved Tang off of his shoulder. “Yeah, I bet!” He’d barked. “That’s why you’re always around here freeloading, ain’t it!?”

The moment another one of their typical childish arguments began, it became apparent to Xiaotian that he wasn’t getting out of this strange request- for noodles… underground.

Unfortunately, his little delivery boy cart wasn’t exactly accommodated to rides underground, especially considering the seemingly constant poor weather in Megapolis.

No matter the season, it was either foggy, raining, or snowing, which made it especially hard for a delivery boy such as Xiaotian. Scientists yet to have come up with an official theory for why the whether was so bizarre despite the location and season, but there’s been talk of a constructing a weather station to control it.

Matter of fact, he thought as he finally came across his destination, ready to climb down underneath the unfinished building and deliver his boss’ noodles, that was the very building he would be trespassing beneath this afternoon.

“Hoo boy,” he said aloud, a little bead of sweat rolling down his face at the sight of the undone building in front of him.

The heavy rain helped nothing, and since none of the workers were out, perhaps because of the violent storm, it looked throughly abandoned, thoroughly unstable, and thoroughly creepy.

He cracked a nervous smile, hesitantly walking forward and ducking underneath a wooden scaffolding, crawling into a hole that looked like it was about to become a basement.

He checked the directions on his phone (all of which had been manufactured waterproof, as the constant rain called for a lot of accommodations.) and hummed unsurely before taking a left, poking his head through a recently dug out hole.

As for what he saw- well, he wasn’t really sure what he expected in the first place.

It was just a cave, with pipelines for the unfinished building above lining the ceiling- but inside that cave was an entire squadron of mechanic-seeming… bull demons, all of which looked exactly the same, as if they’d been mass produced.

A tiny squeak of surprise escaped him, but none of the bull… robots seemed to notice.

Their appearance reminded him of one of the many stories Tang had told him while he cleaned up the shop- the story about the Demon Bull King.

It was no more than historical fiction, of course, but it described an epic battle, a raw display of aggression between two demons, the Monkey King and the Demon Bull King.

Monkey King emerged victorious, sealing the Bull King underneath a mountain with his staff before he vanished, never to be seen again until finally being defeated by the famed Six-Eared Macaque. (The details of that second battle were unknown to him until Tang got another bowl of free noodles.)

He shook away his thoughts, scrambling to find his phone. He hoped with all his heart that he’d found the wrong underground hideout beneath an unfinished business.

Of course, that was not the case.

At a genuine loss for what to do next, Xiaotian just sat there for a moment, awkwardly wedged in between an unfinished bathroom and a freaking underground lair.

”It feels like I’ve waited an eternity for this moment,” Over everything else, the sound of a feminine voice stood out to him. “Is everything in order?”

“Just making the final adjustments, mother.”

Xiaotian flinched, turning his eyes in the direction of the female voice, which was then followed by a male’s.

The woman was tall and dark haired, with an impractical but impressive horned headset and a traditional dress you wouldn’t see on anyone in the modern day.

The boy was much younger, her son, he inferred, and had red hair tied into a high ponytail and small glasses, along with a random scar on his upper cheek.

He didn’t recognize either of them, but one of them had ordered noodles, and Megapolis was a big city after all. Most of Pigsy’s shoppers were regulars. First time for everything, he guesses.

He used his teeth to hold the bag, laying both hands flat against the stone to force himself out of the hole. With an alarming lack of grace, he fell, rolling into the dirt.

He quickly recovered, however, pushing himself off the ground. “Hey!” He yelled, dusting the dirt off of his red hoodie.

“Huh?” The boy’s expression contorted into disgust at the sight of Xiaotian. “What are you supposed to be?” He demanded, as if Xiaotian were some creature that just crawled out from underneath the bed.

“Oh! Uh, I’m Xiaotian.” He smiled sheepishly, holding up the bag of noodles. “Here from Pigsy’s Noodles? Order for two classic bowls, right?”

“Not right, you oaf!” The redhead seethed, slapping the noodles to the ground. “Nobody here ordered your peasant food.”

In the corner of his eye, Xiaotian noticed one of the Bull robots start to seemingly sweat nervously, but the redhead didn’t see it. Instead, he pointed an accusatory finger at Xiaotian.

“Do you know who we are?” He hissed. “I am Red Son, the one and only son of the Demon Bull King, and I-”

“Enough of this,” The mother hissed, tired of her son’s rambling. “We’ve no time for games. Be on your way, peasant boy.”

She narrowed her eyes at Xiaotian, who broke into a sweat as he spared her a nervous chuckle.

She turned away, training her eyes on a little hill filled with dead grass, and a similarly wilted tree. In he middle of tiny hill was a staff. “We must focus all our energy on lifting the staff.”

Xiaotian furrowed his brow. Lifting a staff didn’t seem like it would be that hard.

A Bull robot, the same one that he suspected ordered those noodles, quickly scrambled up the top of the hill, pulling on the staff.

Instead of running like he probably should have, Xiaotian watched intently as the Bull robot heaved and heaved, pulling on the staff, but in the end, his arms gave flying off instead.

The Bull’s body landed at… Red Son(?)’s feet. “You fool!” The redhead said smugly. “You think we didn’t try that already? It’s going to take more than a few robots to lift the Monkey King’s staff. Only those deemed worthy can wield-”

Xiaotian cut him off, shoving his palm into the redhead’s cheek to move him aside. “Monkey King’s staff? That is a really realistic model, but that staff isn’t real, you know.” He said lightheartedly, ignoring Red Son’s cries of umbrage as he walked up to the hill, smiling until he reached the staff.

“You just have to twist and pull. Righty tighty, lefty loosey!” He said, quoting the old rhyme.

As he wrapped his hand around the hilt of the staff, a shudder went down his spine- not a chill, but rather a sweltering heat.

“You idiot,” Red Son said, rubbing his cheek. “Get down from there immediately, peasant! Someone must teach you your pla-”

The arrogant boy was immediately silenced when Xiaotian tugged on the staff, pulling it out of it’s spot situated in the ground. As far as he knew, it wasn’t even in there that tight.

The mother gasped as the staff can free, and Xiaotian held it in his hand, above his head in a mock victorious pose. Whispers aligned into an odd term as he held it, brushing against his ears.

“Sun Wukong,”; they told him.

“He did it…!” The mother gasped aloud, but the son wasn’t very amused.

“Then why is nothing happening!?” He demanded, before looking at his mother flatly.

“Mother, are you sure this is the right mountain?”

“No,” The mother said in annoyance, holding her palm to her forehead. “Maybe it was that other mountain with the magical staff, sealing away my husband!”

Xiaotian glanced down at the staff in his hands. There was no way that thing was the Monkey King’s staff, right?

His thoughts were proved wrong in a flash of erupting green light from the ground beneath him, tossing him across the room, clutching onto the staff for dear life.

Out of the ashes of what used to be ground, a giant bull- who could only be the Demon Bull King- the real Demon Bull King, even with a broken horn and a body and face that was riddled with scars from his head to his toe, the demon exuded power that Xiaotian had never seen before.

“Flesh,” he utters, “Bone…” He stared down at his clawed hands, clenching them, simply to test out movement. “I have returned to the realm of the living!”

“Demon Bull King!” The woman said, a wicked grin on her face. “How I’ve missed you.”

“Princess Iron Fan,” The King greeted in return. crossing his arms with what can only be described as ‘something kind of like a smile’. “The years have been kind. How did you free me?”

In response to the King’s question, Xiaotian’s body was quickly kicked away by Red Son, explaining what had happened in quick recession that was barely understandable.

“I-It doesn’t matter though, Father!” The boy sputtered. “If we have the noodle boy, we have the staff, and we have them both right here!”

The Bull King glared at Xiaotian, who backed up in fear and alarm, clutching onto the staff for dear life as Red Son continued.

“Together, we, the Demon Bull Family, will plunge the world into eternal darkness!”

Oh jeez, The supposed Demon Bull Family, along with their little gofers, the robots, turned to give Xiaotian a glaring look, their eyes gleaming in the darkness. Xiaotian stared at the staff in his hands, sweat rolling off his forehead.

This was all his fault, wasn’t it?

Next? 👀

[duckymcdoorknob]

Heyo! I am here to utilize the second of my 3 orders! (and to ask for more Tokyo Revengers because you mentioned you wanted more Tokyo Revengers prompts a few days back :P)

If it's okay, I'd like to order a Large Hot Chocolate with extra ice; topped with caramel drizzle and allspice :) The name on the order is Mikey and Draken :3

Thanks friend! I'll be back soon with the final prompt shortly! Here's my payment:

F R O G Y

This one sparks joy, thank you for the request

Baby boy Mikey always needs some lovin 🥹

Thank you for being one of my biggest supporters on my journey 😎.

I just finished writing this and HOO lord ouchie.

CW BELOW THE CUT: MAJOR SPOILERS FOR THE END OF SEASON 1!!! Injury trauma, panic symptoms.

♫ -ᥕᥲі𝗍ᥱr, ᥕᥲі𝗍ᥱr, ⍴ᥱrᥴ᥆ᥣᥲ𝗍᥆r- ☕️

Draken didn’t have a single clue as to why his best friend had changed so much recently. Well, he knew one thing that was weighing the boy down, but there had to be more to it. Mikey was quieter… a trait that the older never thought that Mikey would possess. The smaller blonde was dismissive, shying away from contact and barely speaking up at meetings.

So what the hell had happened?

—

It bad been one week since Halloween, and an uncomfortable, albeit solemn, silence had washed over the Toman base. Everyone seemed to be walking on eggshells, especially around Mikey. Something was different, and as his childhood best friend, Draken figured he would be the best suited for the task.

Upon noticing the shorter blonde’s sleeping state on the couch, Draken removed the cardigan that was draped over his shoulders. He carefully brought it down to cover the boy up.

When it touched down on Mikey’s cold skin, the boy cuddled up to it with a slight tweak of his lips. He looked as if he had just been draped in the world’s greatest security blanket.

Draken smiled fondly, relieved that the younger blonde had finally gotten a little relief. He knelt down in front of Mikey’s face, absentmindedly brushing a few pieces of stray hair from the boy’s face.

As soon as the tattooed male’s hand came in contact with Mikey’s forehead, the blonde’s eyes snapped open and he hastily snatched Draken’s wrist.

“Mikey?”

The young boy was panting with wide eyes, but his facial features were enraged. The tattooed male could almost see the steam emitting from his friend’s head. “DO NOT TOUCH ME! DO NOT.”

“Mikey what’s-“

The boy shuffled to the other side of the couch, cowering from his friend and covering his head.

“Mikey!” Draken followed, not wanting to leave his best friend’s side in this state.

“GET AWAY FROM ME!” Mikey roared, “DRAKEN BACK THE HELL UP, I DON’T-“

“MANJIRO!” The older grasped the boy’s shoulders. “Are. you. alright?” Each word was emphasized. Draken stared into the panicked irises that were right in front of his face.

Mikey snapped out of his trance.

The tattooed male took in a deep breath, hoping Mikey would follow. To his relief, he did. Draken repeated the action twice more, hoping to put some sort of peace into the panicking boy.

“Okay, now, please just tell me what’s going on, Mikey. I don’t want to have to force it out of you.” Draken sounded exasperated, but he was not going to give up this fight. “It’s your head, right? You don’t like it when we touch your head anymore?”

“Left side… temple... yeah.” The younger hiccuped.

“Left side temp-?”

Oh.

Draken remembered it clearly now.

The crowbar, Kazutora, the Bloody Halloween.

“What about the rest of your body?” he inquired.

“For right now, it’s only been the left side of my temple… think I scared poor Takemichy shitless when I yelled at him. Anywhere else I’m- I’m not sure anymore.”

“Do you trust me?”

“Always have.”

Carefully, and within Mikey’s line of sight, Draken slowly brought his hand down to the crown of the boy’s head. He gently ran his fingers through the short locks of hair. No words were needed, so he opted to stay silent.

In an instant, Mikey broke down. He fell forward into his friend’s chest, desperate for more of the reassuring contact. His sobs were loud, laced with every emotion he had been feeling in the past week. “Please don’t leave me! I-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean t-to yell at you I don’t-“ the shorter boy choked on his cries, “I don’t know what’s wrong with me, Kenny.”

“It’s alright, I’ve got you… shh, shh, shh… it’s okay. I’m right here.” Draken soothed as he wrapped his free arm around Mikey, and continued to run his fingers through the boy’s hair. “I’ll always be here to help you feel better.”

As time passed, the boys passed the couch one by one, others in small groups. Offering silent reassurances to Draken, no one batted an eye at their lamenting commander, or their vice hugging him close.

—————♡︎✞♡︎✞♡︎✞♡︎✞♡︎✞♡︎✞♡︎✞♡︎✞♡︎✞♡︎—————

[nerdgirlriot]

The plagiarism video and my brain

I need to gather up my thoughts because my brain has done some really heavy lifting with some of my past experiences and it's a wild ride. Not sure how coherent this is going to be, but! I'm going to try and unpack some of it.

Hbomberguy, a video essayist on Youtube, recently released a hefty video (it's, like, 4 hours long) about plagiarism on the platform, focusing on a few other content creators before getting to the bulk of the video, which is about James Somerton, a commentator who does videos about LGBTQ+ representation in media. hbomberguy has come with ALL the RECEIPTS proving without a shadow of a doubt that Somerton stole most of his content from other writers, reading their words and claiming them as his own. It's shitty, but unfortunately not inherently illegal, particularly since Somerton almost always backtracks when accused and then reups those videos with the barest of efforts to credit the original writers.

So, I have no idea who Somerton is. I sort of(?) recall some sort of controversy about a Youtuber who stole from The Celluloid Closet (a famous documentary about homosexuality and Hollywood) but I do remember that the person apologized and pointed out that there was very little research in the way of queer people in American media so of course he HAD to borrow heavily from Celluloid Closet. I sort of shrugged at the time and moved on, never thinking about it again until I watched the hbomberguy video

And hoo boy it's a lot to pack. Somerton apparently never had an original idea in his head. All the great points he's made in his videos were made by other people whom he stole words from, and when he DID have original content in his videos, it was largely misogynist and...rather racist too? Ouch.

So in the middle of the video, hbomberguy points out that Somerton did a video about the fascist themes in the anime Attack on Titan.  And I started to freak out. I, myself, wrote an op-ed for syfy.com about fascism and anime, and I mentioned Attack on Titan. it was originally posted in October of 2018, a full 4 years before Somerton did his video, so i was rather worried that he'd also plagiarised ME (this is how my brain works, and considering the full extent of obscure sources Somerton used for his videos, I don't think my fear was unfounded). The original article doesn't exist on syfy.com anymore, as they decided that Fangrrls as a vertical just wasn't working for their brand and they stripped years of work from female writers from their site. I have a backup of the article here for reference. 

As for whether Somerton plagiarised me, I feel icky but I ended up downloading the transcript for the video in question and perused through it. I don't THINK he stole any of my words, because the bulk of the video is about the anti-semitic elements in Attack on Titan's later seasons. When I wrote my piece, the fascist elements were still fairly subtle and the big reveal about the Eldians being treated as second class citizens, a once great power (given holy gifts by "God" no less) reduced to living in ghettos and wearing armbands and definitely being coded as Jewish people, hadn't come in yet. My op-ed was about fascism in anime in general, and I mentioned more than just Attack on Titan. I imagine that if my article were still widely available, Somerton might've taken from it. But is that my ego talking? It's probably my ego talking. But I know for SURE that this particular piece still sent a ripple through the larger anime community.

I know this because I am a woman who dared share an opinion on the internet and suddenly anime weebs were spreading the article through twitter and facebook and calling me out for writing a shitty take. 

Was my take shitty? IDK, I still got paid for it and I actually wish I'd written more about it but my editor said that it was fine and the article's like 5 years old at this point and waaaaaaay out of date now since AoT's fascist themes have grown so much more blatant. I only scratched the surface, while newer takes on AoT have the benefit of more story to make their arguments more sound. Some of THESE articles, the more recent ones, Somerton definitely stole from because hbomberguy proved it in his video. I'm just watching from the sidelines right now, very bemused and my brain is coming up with what-if's by the truckload.

I'm just unpacking this now because I don't think I ever fully faced the criticisms I received because of my initial op-ed. My editor warned me that my work could be inflammatory and that I should brace myself. I locked down my Twitter account (as my editor suggested) and ignored any messages from people I didn't recognize for about 2 weeks after the article was posted. Sure enough, the article was spread tens of thousands of times on FB and Twitter. Some of the comments I'd seen called me "misinformed" (fair), "ethnocentric" (I suppose), a "dumb bitch," (possibly?), a "woke SJW" (thanks!), and, most horribly, "white", which for some reason offended me more than the ones calling me a dumb bitch.

One big argument against my op-ed boiled down to the fact that I, as an American, am not aware of the subtleties in Japanese media and I didn't understand Japan's own relationship with its past and I put a Western viewpoint on it (ethnocentrism at its finest). Me...a Filipino-American. Me, a descendent of people (Filipinos) who were subjected to Japan's imperialist expansion in Asia. The Philippines became a battleground between Japanese and Allied forces in WWII. Bataan Death March? Hello? I know my history, but I didn't place this in the article. I thought my mentions of Japan's occupation of China and Korea were enough to show that Japan definitely had imperialist and fascist tendencies in its history and MAYBE that might provide a throughline to why Japanese media is still fascinated with this stuff but it wasn't enough, I guess. It is...a puzzle.

Oh and the original idea for "srsly what's up with Nazis and anime?" came from J, my significant other, who is Japanese-American.

Where's my brain going this? I don't know, but I think I'm happy I'm getting this off my chest now?

I'm sorry and if you read this all the way through, I'm grateful to ya'll.

EDIT: and America is as guilty of burying the sins of the past as much as any other country. Think about the historical revisionist movements which claim that African slaves liked working in plantations because we need to tell American kids these lies to feel better about themselves and not hate their own country. When my views were called "ethnocentric", what POV did my critics think I SHOULD have used? Or are we looking at a case of me "interrogating the narrative from the wrong perspective"?

[destiny-in-the-universe]

Commentary & Thoughts on Recent Fixations!

so, i recently finished another series; in other words, american dragon: jake long, and i am- screeching, literally. screeching.

first of all, i’m basically watching the shows i never got to see when i was a kid, or easily could’ve forgotten about because it was years ago, and holy stars- none of the shows disappointed, but unfortunately it has led to a recent amount of ridiculous brainrot and horrible fixating that could easily be a problem lol (it already is, i can’t seem to get enough of this content)

this is the reason why the secret quartet project has become such a big thing for me, but this isn’t technically about the crossover- this is literally me using tumblr as a way to get out my thoughts and theories and headcanons for the shows because goodness gracious, why did i have to fixate on cancelled- discontinued :)- shows but okay, this one is mostly about american dragon.

on one hand, you’ve got our title lead - jake long - who, oh my stars this kid- let me reiterate by saying he is in middle school (even though he’s fourteen, so did he get held back or are schools different in nyc?) and so a lot of his dumb, stupid, and daring decisions are literally because he is a teenager. jake however, is so adhd coded it’s insane, but anyway- like. he grows so much during the series- knowing when to open up to his own mistakes, that he’s clearly protective of his own family, and so forth but i also feel like bringing up: living a double life is hard and having to protect an entire magical community is going to wear you down, and we do get to see that- jake’s a kid with a huge weight and responsibility on his shoulders and hoo boy, he gets to go through it- esp. in season two- that was an entire rollercoaster

which also brings me to my next point: the huntsclan arc could’ve gotten an entire season dedicated to it, and not to mention- there’s- the whole thing with jake and rose and i’m just. we’ll get to that later but oh my god, the whole attempting to destroy the entire magical community should’ve gotten an entire season because much like other series i got into- american dragon is very episodic, and not entirely as connected but i wish we could’ve gotten more about the huntsmaster- what his deal is exactly, and why he’s got it particularly out for the american dragon specifically, but alas it ended too short-

but it easily brings me to my next point and one that will not leave me alone no matter what i do-

first of all: the dark dragon could’ve been handled so much better. like, don’t get me wrong- it was an interesting storyline, the arc was brilliant but because of the way the final episode ended- among other things- but seriously, i wanted more in the battle between the longs and the dark dragon, i wanted to see the dark dragon’s backstory and who he was but of course, i really don’t think he would’ve come back, after the season two finale

though this- oomf, that entire episode was wonderful and i loved it but also had me screaming the entire time- it ended a little anticlimactically and a bit disappointing i’ll admit because i had certain expectations, and you could definitely see where they were trying to pave into the next season but then that never happened. the dark dragon should’ve also had its own season with expanded lore and arcs- it also ended so anticlimactically, and i was hoping to see more for the identity reveal (i had no doubts that jonathan would be accepting but holy cow- i wanted more-)

also, fair warning- this might get long because there’s so much commentary and thoughts but there will be more, both for this and the other active fixations,

Character Dynamic Commentary

Jake and Rose: these two make me want to go feral; like, oh my god- they are so star-crossed, and their dynamic was so good? but you also have the fact that rose had amnesia; she literally had her memories wiped away, and replaced no less, only to move to another country. jake seriously went through it here, though this only brings me to my next point- rose realizing that jake was the american dragon honestly tore a piece of my heart out- but then we get the freaking episode where the huntsclan got their hands on the aztec crystals bc rose was being threatened and i swear i screamed; but rose and jake are such a power couple, like they would be unstoppable if they were able to fully work together, we’ve seen it. their relationship deserved to shine

Jake and the Long Family: i don’t really know how to describe all of them, but honestly- jake is clearly very protective of them; and while yes, he has the sibling rivalry with haley- and he genuinely does want the experience of a normal teenager, there’s still a lot he’s shown to be protective of his own family. there’s episodes where, despite his complaining about his own dad, jake realizes just how much jonathan long loves him and it’s so- holy stars, it makes me want to wag my tail, the one with the straogi where jake is weakened by them, and he still jumps at the chance to protect his dad even when he can barely do anything? or when he finally releases being a cougar scout could be fun? like also, the series finale- in season two, when jake almost gave up everything to save gramps from the dark dragon- he’s fourteen and does this, like i could honestly tie it back to jake having a dragon’s possessiveness but we’ll leave that for a separate post

Jake, Spud, and Trixie: i’m going to screech about these three. i love their dynamic- and jake and spud are very neurodivergent, you cannot take this headcanon from my cold, dead hands lol. like jake is adhd and spud, this kid is autistic. you will not be able to change my mind but seriously, their friendship is so strong and sure for episode reasons, sometimes they don’t exactly get along and it was almost killing me with the knowledge that spud and trixie didn’t know about jake being a dragon- the first reveal episode had me grinning, they are the best of friends. also spud knowing coding and hacking despite seemingly being very dumb? like he’s clearly intelligent- and admitted he would fail on purpose so what more is there to him?

Jake and the Dark Dragon: i love how i’m referencing a dynamic that barely got its screentime- but also, there was so much more potential for these two. like, i would’ve loved something where the dark dragon wanted to recruit jake to join his army- mentor him, it would have been such a great way to turn jake against his grandpa, against his own family but they didn’t do it. also, genuinely would’ve just loved learning more about what the dark dragon’s deal was- we got more for the huntsclan than we did for him, and maybe if the series hadn’t been cancelled, it might’ve been seen but alas

Now moving on to the closing features because i am immensely fixated- if there was a theoretical season three, i genuinely want the new threat that jake has to face to be the government (?) - think something like the guys in white from danny phantom but where they’re trying to capture magical creatures and do worse than what professor rotwood has tried (maybe even he goes on to help jake when he realizes that this group isn’t just looking to expose them) and planning to experiment on them or something. jake could be captured, or something like that and then things get more intense but we’ll get to this later because hoo boy, oh i have so many thoughts about the would’ve-been of season threes (looking at you too, rc9gn)

anyway, this show did not disappoint- sometimes it was kind of awkward to get through but even then, even with all of that, you could see the dedication placed (but the season two design for jake as a dragon was certainly… something)

anyway, that‘s all i have for today!

~ Mod Danny

[altersidearchives]

[Alterbits] The Slime-Encrusted Rabbit Hole (Part Uno)

So, yeah, while I'm mainly focused on video games for this, I am pretty big into cartoons too. So while I was writing up the Nintendo stuff, I decided to look up Nickelodeon and see what I got.

...and I IMMEDIATELY had questions with one of the first things I saw. Robot Jones, on Nick? With a third season?? That's readily available??? And it was also one of the first image results on Google when I searched "Nickelodeon." Taking a guess that it was recently put on a streaming service or whatever. Looks like an Amazon icon or something.

It was being hosted on MySpace of all things. I went onto the site and found it was some kind of watch party feature where you can buy seasons of shows to add to a digital collection, and they had a bunch of Nick ones, which is where the Robot Jones icon came from. On top of a bunch of others.

A page full of Nickelodeon shows on “MySpace Play.” I guess MySpace had a form of success in this timeline. Seems to be a watch party type service, makes sense.

Even more questions started ringing through. There was a show next to the Robot Jones seasons that looked like Elinor Wonders Why, y'know that PBS Kids show? But Elinor looks like a teenager or something. I was able to pull up the show's page, and I got greeted with this.

Getting a bunch of Stranger Things vibes from this. Wonder if that exists in this timeline as well.

I won't keep making comments, I'll let the cap speak for itself on this one, but that's when I decided I had to look into it further. Obviously I couldn't buy the show, I doubt I could put in a credit card from a parallel universe and I was NOT about to try it. I caught a glimpse of a Glove and Boots character too, if you can see it in the first screencap. So I was definitely having my curiosity peaking at that point. So I went to the Wikipedia page for Nickelodeon, and started to dig.

Hoo boy.

Now at first this didn’t seem all too crazy. The logo was different but I already got a glimpse of that on the MySpace thing. The first big difference was the “Paramount Universal” thing. I didn’t look much into that, so my only assumption is that Viacom merged with Universal instead of CBS and Comcast eating them up. At least I HOPE that’s what happened instead of the potential monopolistic nightmare that all four combined would be, but I digress.

Next up, looked like Nick Jr. died at some point, interesting, and there’s a full-on NickRewind network that seems to have taken over Nicktoons. I read on and it sounded not too crazy. The “Elements of Harmony” bit caught my eye, but I wanted to keep reading onwards, save it for later.

....The last paragraph caught me RIGHT the fuck off-guard. Two YouTube channels getting full-on shows on Nick, let alone rather, niche ones. I mean yeah, in our timeline we got FRED and ReactToThat (ew), but those channels were HUGE back then and were practically controlled by big companies anyhow. I dunno if JacknJellify and the GaB guys were bigger in this timeline or what but, wow. Shit’s getting weirder.

Didn’t bother reading the History bit, I thought that’d be way too much to shove into this anyway, but there were more interesting tidbits, I’ll spare the redundancy and not comment here, buuuuuut I did see a mention of Pikwik Pack and Let’s Go Luna (and what I think might be Xavier Riddle? That’s one of the ones I didn’t look at), so what happened to PBS Kids here? I thought the Elinor bit I saw was just a coincidence, but no I guess?

So I clicked on the list...

[justabooknerdposts]

Prompt request: Seven sleepover (plus Nico & Will)

*So, I had a request for a sleepover with the Seven, plus Nico and Will, hanging out and maybe having a movie night in my messages from ani2004.  Here’s the response!*

Seven sleepover (post-HOO):

Early October found six of the seven demigods of the completed prophecy in the Big House rec room, watching a movie.  They had gathered so that everyone could hear Jason and Piper’s report on their search for Leo.  They’d been traveling around looking for him through most of September and only recently returned.  After the weekend, they would be heading to LA to spend the rest of the semester at school. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much to report.  They’d seen some possible signs of Leo, Calypso, and Festus having been places in the Sea of Monsters, but nothing concrete or certain.  So it had been somewhat discouraging.  But Piper and Jason were remaining hopeful, as were the others.  After all, Leo had sent the holographic scroll.  He was alive out there.  Somewhere.

After Jason and Piper’s report, the evening had turned into an Argo II reunion party.  Reyna had remained in Camp Jupiter to cover duties so that Frank could come here with Hazel.  Nico and Will were joining them, too.  Nico had come to see his sister and Frank and, as Jason said, Nico had been a part of the Argo II crew as well.

So the evening had been a nice time for everyone to catch up—they’d talked, caught up, and eaten pizza that Percy and Jason had driven the camp SUV to go get.   Chiron had agreed they could all hang out in the Big House rec room, especially since it was the off-season at camp, so there weren’t many other campers here anyway.  They’d hooked up Chiron’s old video game console and played idiot mode games for a while, in honor of Leo.  Then, they decided to watch a movie; Frank and Will were both in the process of trying to catch Hazel and Nico up on modern movies.

“And Annabeth,” Percy said. “She was very sheltered as a child.”

Annabeth punched him lightly on the arm as the others laughed.

After the first movie, they put in a second, and slowly, everyone began to fall asleep.  The last awake were Hazel and Nico, still enjoying the magic of the modern movies, as incredible as anything in their world of gods and monsters.

Hazel was curled up in a blanket on the floor beside Frank, in front of Piper, who was asleep on the couch, her head in Jason’s lap.  Jason’s head was leaning against the back of the couch, his mouth open, half snoring. Percy and Annabeth were curled up on the other couch, both also asleep, Percy’s arm dangling over Annabeth’s waist. Sitting near Hazel, on the floor between the couches, and sharing their own blanket, were Nico and Will.  Will had fallen asleep with his head on Nico’s shoulder.  Hazel caught the look of nervous happiness on her brother’s face when he glanced down at Will.

Beside her, Frank was still awake, but mostly quiet.  His arm was snug around her shoulders, making her feel cozily comfortable, even though the New York fall air was chilly and the Big House was a bit drafty.  Hazel cuddled closer to Frank’s side as her eyes flicked again to Nico with Will’s head on his shoulder.  Her brother looked relaxed in a way she’d never seen before.

Maybe Nico felt her eyes on him, because he looked over.  A look of trepidation crept across his face.  After a moment, he asked her, “Are you okay with this?”

*

Maybe Nico shouldn’t have said anything.  The moment the words left his mouth, he wished he’d bit them back.  Especially as Hazel studied him contemplatively for a long moment, her golden eyes inscrutable.  Nico’s stomach tightened.  He didn’t want to hide himself anymore, but he also didn’t want to lose his remaining sister.  And Hazel was like him, a child from the forties, when a boy dating another boy simply wasn’t accepted.

Finally, though, she said quietly, “I just want you to be happy.  Are you?”

Relief rushed through Nico. His throat was tight as he nodded.

Hazel smiled. “Good.  There are benefits to this time, over the forties.”  Her eyes flashed, and Nico remembered some of the terrible things she'd told him about segregation.  “And if you get to be yourself now, Nico, then I’m happy for you.”

Hazel reached over and squeezed his hand.  Nico returned the pressure, more appreciative than he could say.

“Love is love,” Piper muttered from the couch.

Hazel twisted to look at her friend.  “I thought you were asleep.”

“I am,” Piper said, not even opening her eyes.  “But my Aphrodite senses were tingling.”

They all laughed before settling back in for the end of the movie.  Nico felt lighter than before, grateful for his sister’s acceptance and support.  Shifting just slightly to a more comfortable position, he let himself enjoy the new feeling, strange in a good way, of Will’s warm weight against him.

*

Percy waited to open his eyes.  He didn’t want to interrupt.  His friends didn’t need him for this conversation.  But once they were all back to watching the movie, he cracked one eye open to look at Nico.  There was a light happiness on his face that Percy hadn’t seen in years, a hint of the kid who had once stood in the snow and enthusiastically told him about Mythomagic cards.  Percy closed his eyes again, a slight smile on his own face as he snuggled down a little farther, breathing in the lemon scent of Annabeth’s shampoo, tightening his arm around her waist, grateful that his friends were also happy.    

[chibinightmares]

Stardew Valley - The Good Witch (or Warlock) of the West

Have you ever wanted to play Stardew Valley with cheats but felt bad because you were "being a dirty little cheater"? Have you ever wanted to play the game how you think it would be fun?

Well-- here's some good news for you! Why don't you try playing the game in such a way that gives off a cottagecore aesthetic while feeling good about cheating?

Introducing: "The (God) Good Witch/Warlock of the West"!

[hehe, get it? cause your home is west of the town-- I'll see myself out]

Essentially what this idea is-- is that the farmer (player/you) recently moved out of the big city after feeling burnt out from the unbelievable stress that is working under a corporate firm that literally could care less if you died to Pelican Town, a place your grandfather often spoke well of.. leaving behind your parent who taught you the ways of mysticism in the city to find yourself in a new situation-- a town to start anew.. which explains your connection to nature and the junimos who instantly take a liking to you!

Every day you've been given the chance to make a miracle [aka cheat] for the villagers in the town that you come to meet, whether it be giving yourself a second wind in the caverns when you're just oh-so close enough to reaching that tenth floor or it's Lewis' birthday and you forgot to get him a present so you just so-happened to have a blueberry stored away for such an occasion! But don't forget! If you decide to go the extra mile and "conjure" multiple things then you might exhaust your magical energy-- preventing you from being able to summon more miracles in the upcoming days but don't worry, you'll feel alright after a few days' rest!

I remember playing Modded Stardew with a few friends of mine and hoo boy, did they piss me off. I know not everyone likes the idea of cheating but then that takes away the fun of the game from those who might wanna take a try.. that's why I headcannoned this little story when I was playing with the Yandere Eliott mod and uh-- let's say my mods folder now equals up to around 66 mods-- T~T

It makes it more fun for me to pretend to be a bit-- witch in this game when using cheats cause sometimes I just wanna get the bundles done faster or whatever to explore this game at my own pace when it comes to passing the seasons and what not.

[pinkyandthesims]

Botanical Garden and Library

I made a greenhouse that also functions as a library! I recently got the greenhouse kit and I absolutely love it so I built this lot with some additions of eco lifestyle, blooming rooms, and real of magic.

The idea from the start was to have a big center tree growing from the middle and having it viewable from an open 2nd floor but HOO BOY did I struggle with this tree. At first, I wanted to use the new base game tree with the fairy lights and tiny door but I had some personal issues with it.

Since that item is a tree, it changes with the seasons and sways in the wind. Which is a pretty odd effect to have while indoors. I really, really liked the tree but it kept putting me off. So instead, I decided to go with the movie night stuff tree because it's not a tree- its a light. Therefore, it doesn't sway with wind and it doesn't change color with the seasons. Which ended up working much nicer with this build.

The downside being... I had to downsize the tree and the little flames in the lanterns don't size down with it. I can't win.

Let's just pretend they're fireflies or something, kay? ≡(▔﹏▔)≡

You can find me on the gallery as: PinkyDragon01

The name of this lot is: Botanical Garden Library

[razmatic]

Recently started watching bridgerton, I'm at episode 6 in the first season, and don't get me wrong its a good show - but it's difficult to watch because they are all such idiots! Poor, hilarious, second hand cringe idiots. I love them but hoo boy.