#this scene is just so funny because they are having a very serious discussion

[notoneglance]

HIkawa: Are you and Ryou good friends now?

Shouichi: yeah!

Hikawa, aggressively licking his ice cream: >:( He punched me once! He attacked you!

[crystalrainfall]

Dear Izumi Curtis,

Maybe stranding kids on an Island, with no survival tools other than a knife and forbidding the use of alchemy, their only real reliable source and means of survival to make things easier, since these are children, might've been a mentally deranged decision.

I do not care that an employee was there to take care of the children, if said employee's only purpose was to fight the already weakened, and vulnerable, hurt children and steal recourses, such as hard earned food, from them in order to "train" or "toughen" them up...

The real risk of that wound Ed obtained from a WILD fox is nothing to scoff at.

The wound could've been infected if not treated properly, which I don't think a couple of children could've done easily, regardless of if they are geniuses or not ...

It's still highly irresponsible.

That's not to mention the diseases that fox could've carried.

This scenario could've ended in such tragedy which is only caused through pure negligence.

I do not care that Izumi herself was trained in a much harsher scenario, she was clearly an adult during her training in Briggs and thus could probably asses the situation and consent.

Which children just can't, no matter how much a child thinks they know an 10-9 year old just isn't mature.

And I don't even think pinako, the legal guardian for the two boys at the time knew of this, because if she did she rightfully so wouldn't have allowed it....

I hate that this is played off as a joke, that the two were trained in an absurd way...It's so easy to forget that fma is an anime when it's usually very grounded in reality and tries to explore deep conflicts... But when similar serious topics get ignored, the handling of the other topics fall flat and almost ignorant...

Slapstick in 2003 doesn't work.

It doesn't when the show tries to tackle extreme topics and tries to take itself serious...

Edward fearing Izumi and being physically hurt by her isn't funny because it feels out of place in a show that's meant to tackle trauma...

It feels like these issues are ignored and undermined.

Like I get this part was supposed to be a joke but it just comes off as not funny... Because you're just left asking yourself "is this actually trauma or just a joke?"

Which I think is the wrong message.

Just that it unintentionally comes off as extremely manipulative, having someone who's supposed to be a maternal figure for Ed and Al show this much violence...

And mind you, this is exclusive to Ed and Al. No other kid has ever been hit or treated that way, yelled at?, sure, but even then it was mild. Tf kind of messaging is that? It's okay to harm the ones closest to you? You're doing it for their own good? As long as the person treats you good afterwards it's okay to be hit?

Like I know this is probably unintentional, because these issues just aren't addressed in the show, so it's not meant to be taken literally but damn did they miss the mark hard!...

Like this entire sequence just pisses me off, there's already a post on this site which discusses the harsh flinch that Ed had when Mustang approached him after Nina's death in the alleyway...

The 5th picture of him just expecting to be hit again and accepting it... Just is wrong...

Like is this kid just used to it? Being treated like dog shit by authority or adult figures in his life, by anyone that isn't his deceased mother?

And the entire scene is flat, no music no nothing... This is just painful to watch. The hug afterwards just comes off as empty, damage control, to apologize after hurting someone, but doing it again.

[thekatebridgerton]

I like your discussion of Anthony's relationship with his sisters.

For Hyacinth, I have this image of Anthony at her wedding, breathing a sigh of relief. He got Hyacinth married and it didn't involve any of the Theatrics of their other siblings.

Imagine what he would do if he knew about all the breaking and entering & Mattress dancing the bride and groom have done?

Oh I have thoughts about that all right. But on a more serious note.

Anthony's relationship with his sisters is very sweet but also funny because he's at odds with all of them half the time and the other half he loves them to death.

With Daphne, he knew she was going to be the first one he'd have to step up for as a man of the house and she was born in more or less equal footing with him. First girl vs first boy when it comes to society expectations. There is a certain respect there that Anthony has for Daphne, and her womanly intuition. But I think Anthony for most of her life has treated her as an adult, I highly doubt that Anthony did much sugar coating with Daphne, she got to live most of her life in the role of his sister not his daughter and it shows in her relationship with him. The problem in their book was that Anthony at one point started worrying that Daphne wasn't as ready for marriage as she pretends to be and began to be a little bit overprotective over her specifically because of her adventures in the marriage mart. Which seriously weirded her out. And once she got married they went back to their usual relationship where they both respect each other's interests and leave each other largely alone. I'd also like to add that when it came to Daphne Anthony was hurt because he expected a little bit more of her since he always trusted her to be an adult and at one point Daphne was going something along the lines of ' well I'm not an adult, I'm not that mature, I'm just a girl' which really brought things into perspective for him

With Eloise the scene where they're talking things out into tspwl speaks volumes about their relationship. Because Eloise was stuck in the middle between being Anthony's sister and being treated as his daughter, which she never wanted and really rebelled against, both of them wanted to have a sibling relationship and both of them knew they couldn't have it because she was entirely too young when Edmund died and needed a father figure. but she resented that it has to be Anthony, she resented at her playful brother had to grow up too soon and now couldn't play with her, because she simply wanted Anthony to be the guy he used to be before their dad died. So she antagonized Anthony just to be contrary and have her fun. Also she is the sibling who is the most like him, prideful arrogant, I lay the law kind of person. So Anthony was sort of worried for her because he knew she was a lot like him and eventually she would chaff at the weight of the Bridgerton name, he just didn't know if he could protect her from the consequences, so when she ran away to meet Philip he probably had a little bit of a heart attack because he expected something crazy to happen to Eloise at some point he just couldn't prepare for this particular eventuality. Also I think it was a welcome surprise for Anthony to see that his most stubborn sister had actually grown up and was ready to become the leader he always knew she could be, he just never thought that and all this happened while he wasn't looking.

I think that Anthony's relationship with Francesca is the sweetest one, because unlike Eloise and Daphne, Francesca never actually made Anthony feel like a failure which he often felt like with his other two sisters. But Francesca she played by the rules, she never gave Anthony any trouble she was smart, a little bit sneaky, always there to welcome him with warmth, at home or in Scotland, sometimes you just have that sibling who is a healing to the soul. And I think Francesca was that for Anthony, perhaps that's why she fell through the cracks because she never complained and that made Anthony think that she was happy. I think in his younger years Anthony would just spend time with Francesca because he wanted to be with someone who was just always happy to see him, since everyone else seemed to have all these expectations and demanded so much attention, but not Francesca, she was calm and good and she understood when he couldn't give her as much attention as he gave everyone else. And because he loves her so much I think he also feels very guilty that he missed out on a lot of important things in her life and wasn't there for her when she was passing through her worst moments and he feels grateful to Michael that he made her smile again because to Anthony Francesca is special, out of all his crazy siblings, she's the one he probably likes the most and the only one he's willing to look the other way for. I'm pretty sure that Anthony did find out what happened in Scotland, and he pretended that he didn't know because she's his favorite and he doesn't want to have this conversation with her Anthony has never had to seriously scold Francesca for anything in her life and he doesn't want to start now ( at most he told her off for not inviting him to her second wedding and that was it. )

And then we have Hyacinth, she's practically Anthony's daughter so she is more babied than anyone else, I think Anthony spoiled her too much, and at the end he realized that he had to let her grow up make her own mistakes even if that meant he would have to eventually deal with a scandal (because of course she's wild and stubborn like Eloise but with Daphne and Francesca's social charm). Letting his baby grow up also meant setting her loose to find her own path. And let her be the' joy' of other unsuspecting individuals like Lady Danbury and Gareth for a change.

And that's the tea

[setaripendragon]

Okay so new accidental proposal idea for Bagginshield.

There's a big party in Erebor for reasons. Thorin is still not fully healed and when Bilbo asks if he's ready to go lay back down since he's been up way more for the day, Thorin says he must be the first to dance so everyone else can start too and dance at least a little more than one or two songs and glances tiredly at a group of dwarrow.

So Bilbo stands up, and being a well raised gentlehobbit, dramatically sweeps into a bow and offers his non dominate hand palm up and keeps his position as he asks if Thorin will dance with him. There is a huge pause.

NOW either Thorin can choke out a yes and take Bilbo's proffered hand and the hall erupts in cheers OR for comedy Balin can basically remind everyone that Bilbo is a hobbit and does not know their ways and Bilbo gets to be rather embarrassed that he technically proposed to Thorin in the most serious of ways for dwarrow, one that would only be done for a love match, and so publicly makes it way more intense. While Bilbo was just holding to proper Shire manners by not staring at the asked so they can feel less pressure to say yes if they don't want to.

I think if I had the health for writing that I would go with the first way as accidental proposals are so fun in my opinion but just wondering which way others would take it. So which would you pick if you were writing a story or would you have another way?

*Asks are sent for fun, no pressure to answer.

Oh, absolutely Thorin would accept! I'd probably write it that Balin or someone would be About To Explain, but Thorin, who 100% thinks Bilbo - clever, sneaky little hobbit - did the research and Knows What He's Doing, says yes before anyone else can jump in.

And then everyone else wonders if Bilbo did in fact, know what he was doing.

And Bilbo gets Very Confused when people keep congratulating him, and very exasperated with Thorin who keeps asking him about Proper Party Planning Procedure, and he keeps demuring because he knows Hobbity Manners, not what's appropriate for dwarves! Which Thorin thinks is yet more Respect For His Culture, and pushes for the hobbity answer anyway, which devolves into hours long discussions of Hobbity Propriety, and maybe that's when Thorin starts to get an inkling...

So he does the sensible, responsible, grown-up thing - hah! - and talks to someone not Bilbo about his growing concerns that he's planning a wedding Bilbo doesn't realise he proposed. And that someone (Balin? Dis?) face-palms because they're a bit too deep in planning a mountain-wide celebration to just drop it now if Bilbo didn't mean it.

And then someone (I'd go with Dain because Dain's my favourite, but Ori or Kili would be funny too) just blurts out something about 'the wedding' and Bilbo gets all 'Oh! A Wedding? Is that a big deal to dwarves?'

'Is it not to hobbits?!'

'Well, the actual... getting married part is important, of course, but we don't really celebrate it so much. It's all very personal and private, you see? It's common knowledge in the Shire that if someone up and vanishes for a little while, they're probably off getting married.' A long pause as Bilbo stares off into the distance looking more and more perturbed. 'Oh good gracious me! Everyone back home is going to think that I-'

'Well, aren't you?'

'Aren't I what?'

'...getting married?'

'WHAT?!'

And then probably cut to an epilogue-scene where Thorin and Bilbo are getting married in some very long-winded, official ceremony deeply steeped in Ritual and Tradition, and in between speeches and vows and probably Balin droing on and on and on (possibly reciting lineages? That seems like a thing that might be very important at a dwarven wedding), Bilbo and Thorin are having a hissed argument on the topic of 'I can't believe you thought I'd propose like that!' 'I can't believe you thought I was asking all those questions theoretically!' 'Oh, pardon me for thinking you might be interested in learning about my culture' 'That is not what I meant and you know it' 'Oh do I? You don't seem to know what I mean by things, so why would you expect me to know what you mean!' etcetera and so on.

I'd probably try to figure out a way to have it devolve into aggressively complimenting (complisulting?) each other somehow, so that Balin could ask for their personal vows/declarations of affection and intent, and they'd just... carry right on without missing a beat.

(Some dwarven songcrafter would turn it into a rom-com duet. In Khuzdul, so Bilbo has no idea it exists for years and years and then gets to reprise the 'Tell Me What Things Mean, You Great Lump!' argument when he finally does realise what it's about.)

[bildads-shoes]

Ever since I saw this incredible post I've been thinking a lot more about the book vs show differences, and one of the things my brain keeps returning to is the very different presentation of Heaven and Hell.

In the book, I feel like the majority of the time Heaven and Hell are mentioned, it's simply in reference to them being adversaries. They're often just referred to in the context of being Aziraphale and Crowley's bosses, both equally uninterested in humanity or the details of their employees' actions. Hence, we really do see them as not being so different from each other, and dislike them both equally. Personally, I feel this is a bit different in the show.

In the show we actually get to see Heaven and Hell. We get to see Beelzebub for more than a couple of lines, we get to meet Gabriel, and we get to feel the atmosphere of Heaven and Hell as settings.

In terms of their general vibe, the difference feels pretty stark. Heaven is empty, cold, unfeeling; every interaction between the angels we see is laced with mistrust and two-faced scheming. Hell, on the other hand, does have emotion; it's a deeply unpleasant space, of course, but the way the demons complain to each other feels more honest. Take Uriel and Michael: we've seen them throughout both seasons, yet I can't recall either of them expressing a single honest feeling. Shax and Furfur, on the other hand, have had a lot of honest moments both with each other and with other characters. In a bizarre way, Hell becomes more relatable, more likeable, in the show.

Of course, there are massive issues with Hell, but they don't necessarily come across at first glance. The really dark aspects are almost always played off with jokes, to the extent that we don't talk about them that much. Beelzebub is pretty well liked from what I can tell, despite evidently having extensively tortured their employees - but it's part of a funny scene so we instinctively overlook it. Gabriel, on the other hand, seems widely loathed; he's just blatantly a dick in Season 1, and we don't see enough of him actually as himself in Season 2 to balance that out. I'm sure that's also in part due to fake-Aziraphale's trial being resurfaced in Season 2 as a serious, traumatic event for Crowley. We aren't shown the impact that Hell's treatment of Crowley had on Aziraphale, so once again Heaven ends up seeming like the more 'evil' side.

So I suppose it's no surprise that we end up having more discussions surrounding dismantling Heaven in Season 3, with Hell's toxicity being a slightly lesser topic of conversation. It does instinctively feel a little like Heaven is the 'bad one' in comparison, whereas we have to actively analyse those throwaway/comedic moments to acknowledge the massive issues with Hell. Therefore, to me, that neutral/equal presentation of the two 'bosses' in the book is no longer the case in the show.

Perhaps this is all because the show is shifting more towards commentary surrounding religious institutions as opposed to the Cold War energy of the book. Or perhaps we'll be explicitly shown more of Hell's dark side in Season 2 and will return to truly seeing them as equally bad. Or maybe you have a totally different interpretation (please let me know 👉👈). I don't know man, I just needed to get this thought out honestly lol.

[mechaknight-98]

Gathering CEDH Edition: Mana Confluence

Author's note: insert funny self-deprecating joke here to appeal to the audience

"Hey, Um Hiro can I ask your advice on something," Connor asked me stuttering.

"You're asking your youngest friend for advice. Well, then you must be desperate. I am not judging let's see how I can hopefully help," I respond.

"Well it's about Yunjin..." Connor begins

"Oh yeah that reminds me, did you get my photocards signed," I asked hopeful.

"Yeah," Connor said as he handed me the cards signed by Le Sserafim's ridiculously popular it girl Chaewon.

"Oh sick you used the metallic Sharpies and everything," I smiled

"Yeah, she loved that they were Pokemon cards too," Connor replied.

I smiled but quickly remembered why he approached me.

"While I'd love to marvel at these. I do believe you had a question friend," I reply.

"Oh yeah, it's about Yunjin...I think I have a crush on her," Connor replies and my eyes go wide.

After Connor's fated Gathering with Giselle of Aespa or as she liked to be called by him Aeri. their relationship blossomed significantly. Both Professionally and Personally, which is why Connor found himself sitting with her in the general room of SM Entertainment. They had recruited Connor to do some filming with them after a very strong recommendation from Karina. Which is why Connor is in South Korea instead of New York right now. Connor was discussing various scenes for an upcoming music video for the group with the leader who had taken an interest in Connor. While Connor sits with Karina discussing various aspects of filming she breaks the flow of conversation to take a detour into something more personal.

“Okay Infinite sounds good, but I have something to ask,” Karina says to Connor, when she uses Connor's discord tag Connor knew it was serious/ or personal.

“ Karina we have been through this you can call me Connor in real life, but yeah what’s up?” Connor says and asks in return.

“It’s about Giselle. She has been in distress recently due to some comments on social media.” Connor scratched his head. Mean comments were par the course for any person in the public eye. Seeing his skepticism, and with Karina being the great leader she handed him a phone with some of the comments. he read them and watched in terror as they went from a little nippy to downright vile. he winced

“See. Someone who isn’t a part of this or her leader needs to talk to her. Maybe a close friend” Karina suggested confidently

he sighs, “I am not good at these types of things. I am much better suited to hyping her up.” is his follow-up. Karina holds firm

“Sorry, but you are the oldest you have to take responsibility. Also hyping her up is probably what she needs right now.” Karina says with a sly smile. So he sucks it up.

Later in the day after completing his shoot for Le Sserafim, he heads back to the SM building. On his way out of Yunjin, the Le Sserafim vocalist approaches him. Her bright hair billowing as she saunters over, “Hey Jen. Connor says to her.”

“Hey, Connor! how’s my fellow American?” Yunjin aka Jenifer asked

“Oh, you know getting busy living before I get busy dying,” Connor responds

“Good, good. Oh by the way we should like hang out. You seem cool enough and I need someone who isn’t a part of all this (She gestures around herself.).Plus I don’t often get the chance to interact with Americans out here so it’s great to see more.” Jen says. Connor laughs

“Jennifer, I am Korean as well … you remember that right? Also, are you asking me out? Because it sounds like it.” Connor teases while raising an eyebrow.

Jen laughs and says, “Yeah I know Who knows maybe.” He responds in kind and goes on his way. He arrives in time just before Aespa leaves for the end of the day. The girls look exhausted, especially Giselle who looks miserable. When Giselle sees Connor her eyes brighten.

“Friday Night Magic?” Giselle asks hopeful

Connor nods and Winter sighs relieved. “Ugh, you have no idea how annoying she’s been about it. Please take her. Maybe beat her again.” laughs ring out from all present.

“I don’t know she’s gotten a lot better.” Connor quips

“Only because you throw the most insane things at me,” Giselle said.

“You’re lucky you’re playing against me and not my friend Dexter.” Connor chides. Aeri looks at Connor with surprise.

“Oh and what does he play, and why haven’t I?” Aeri inquired

“Some evil and powerful stuff( Mostly in Temur Connor doesn't mention this but I am because it will be relevant later). Also to answer your second question…he doesn’t like coming out of his zone, but we may be able to coax him out later as he also likes K-pop as well.” Connor explains and replies.

Connor laughs as the duo gets into his car. He is careful to appear extra staff like today because one of the comments read “Who is that Dumb looking redhead? Is that her boyfriend.” (Connor has vibrant red hair…again will be relevant later). When they get into the car Connor is silent for a moment as the comments he saw earlier rush through his head along with Karina’s charge to him. He could see Giselle fidgeting with various parts of her bag while she got in.

“Yo Aeri. Are you okay? I saw some comments the other day that were less than on your recent comeback and wanted to check in to make sure you are doing alright.” Connor asks casually

Giselle sighed. “Can we not talk about it?” She asked. Connor nods. he knows from experience that this can’t end well but he lets it go for the time being. He wanted Aeri to be comfortable. He knows what it was like to have a well-meaning friend pry into your life. He sends a reassuring smile at Aeri and drives to the shop.

When They arrive Aeri smiles weakly, the Talk about her, Her weight her personality finally cracks her and she breaks. before entering Aeri looks at Connor with a serious face. “I can’t do this Connor. Can we do something else tonight?” He nods giving a thumbs up to his friend. She smiles sincerely this time. He takes her to a K-BBQ place that He wants to try. She is elated (I get it food is the easiest way to ease the soul.) to get into said Korean BBQ place. Surprise, surprise guess who’s waiting there is Jen and her unnie Sakura. Sakura is the first to notice Connor. Her eyes are always scanning and when she sees him, she squints, and then her eyes go wide and she smiles. “Oh Oppa come on over,” Sakura says giddily. Connor smiles and walks over with Aeri. Sakura shakes Yunjin who still hasn’t noticed Connor yet Letting her know their table is ready.

“Hey, Jen. Hey Kkura.” Connor says pleasantly. Jen turns around and her eyes go wide

“Ah, what?” she yells excitedly. Connor waves and Aeri smiles.

“Ah, you just couldn’t stay away from me.” Jen teases. Connor goes to introduce Aeri but Jen says “Dude we already know Aeri.” he nods and sits with them.

“you guys came just in time. It was originally supposed to be all five of us but Eunchae, Kazuha, and Chaewon unnie bailed on us.” Jen said as Aeri and Connor nodded and sat with them. Jen looked at Connor with just the happiest smile and brightest eyes, she turned to Aeri and said to her, “Hey Giselle Unnie. You look great today, but if I remember correctly I thought you were supposed to be hanging out with Connor tonight..alone.” Connor notices that Jen is not giving him his proper honorific which is weird since she is doing it for everyone else. he wonders if that’s personal like he has done something to upset her.

“Oh well it’s just a lot going on you know?” before Aeri could continue the waitress came to the table with menus. While Aeri and Jen talk Connor chats to Sakura and informs her of what’s going on discretely.

She looks at him and then Aeri with wide eyes full of concern. After he finishes she says to him, “Oh don’t worry about it I’ll talk to her.

Connor nods his head and says “Now don’t mention anything directly just try to make her feel comfortable.” Sakura puts her index finger to his lips.

“Allow me to work my magic,” Sakura says politely. Connor shrugs.

“Ah, what are you two whispering about?” Jen says suspicious of the two.

“Oh, Oppa and I were just discussing how amazing Giselle’s performances have been. She has been improving so much.” he nods excitedly eager to get the heat off himself. Both Aeri and Jen look at Connor confused. When the waitress rearrives at the table they order. Connor orders with Jen and Aeri with Sakura. He moves after ordering in his seat as he sits across from Sakura who looks around his neck area. “Hey oppa what’s that.” he noticed she was pointing toward his Gingaman tattoo on the right side of his collar that was slightly sticking out. he moves your shirt collar to show Sakura. Sakura looks at it for a moment… Aeri begins to chuckle.

���is that the starbeast sword?” she says between chuckles. Connor nods, and her chuckles grow to full laughs

“I knew I recognized it,” Sakura says with a smile. The two Japanese ladies begin to converse in the original tongue while Connor and Jen look at each other. they both roll their eyes when they hear the word American come from the two of them. Connor turns to Jen but she is watching the two girls talk with interest. so He sat “alone”, waiting for the opportunity to speak again. After about ten minutes of order, Aeri speaks to you, “Hey Connor why didn’t you make a Korvold paper deck?”

Connor looks at Aeri confused and answers, “I do have a paper Rocco Caberetti Caterer CEDH deck.”

Now Aeri looked confused asking, “Then how come I have never seen you play it?”

he claps your hands together, and responds “Well It has a lot more bite than Narset Enlightened Exile.” Aeri looks at him confused still.

“What do you mean by more bite?” She asked. This makes Connor realize even for all of her excellent English skills some things don’t translate. Connor tried to figure out how to translate until Jen came to your rescue.

“He means it’s stronger than his other one (she turns to Connor) that is right?” she answers and asks.

Connor’s reply is a simple nod. “in this context I mean it’s less fun to play against, and more geared towards stronger player’s play.” He fully clarifies. Everyone nods to his point, except Sakura who looks at Connor with interest.

Sakura turns to Aeri and asks“ Rocco that name sounds familiar. What’s that from?” Aeri explains to her how they both play Magic The Gathering, and as soon as she says Magic her eyes go wide, and she turns to him. “Oh, Oh, I play that… I played (Sakura snaps her fingers twice for recollection)…

“Arena?” Connor Suggests. Sakura nods

On the phone… yeah I taught Yujin, Yena, and Hyewon. Yujin is good and still plays. She would always complain about someone playing against Rocco. I stopped playing because they kept updating the game too fast but I guess she never did.” You look at Sakura confused, and point to Yunjin (Jen) who also looks at her confused.

“OH YUJin-ah, not YUNjin-ah.” Sakura clarifies and this brings alacrity to everyone present except Connor who forgot about Izone for a moment.

“Wait how do you know Yujin,” Connor asks Everyone looks at him for a moment. It still doesn’t click. A few minutes pass and then he remembers. “Oh right, you used to be in a group together. I completely forgot. Hmm, that’s weird considering how much my roommate loves Izone. He is the one who got me into Magic the Gathering. I got him into K-pop.” Connor says. Everyone present begins to laugh.

Sakura looks at Connor intrigued, “Oh what’s your roommate’s name?”

“Oh Dexter but I call him Dex for short. We also have this crazy guy who's like our little brother named...” Connor answers.

"Hiro is the name you were about to say right," Sakura asks. Connor nods

"Yeah, Chaewon mentioned him and how she signed some K-pop cards for you that were Pokemon cards," Sakura explained. Yunjin's eyes went wide

"Oh so that's who got the Chaewon cards," She replied. Sakura nodded

Aeri snaps her fingers in recognition of the names. After that the food arrives and The group eats and converses about various boring topics I won’t go through the tedium of repeating here. (I am trying to keep this somewhat engaging after all). Afterwards, they finish up Connor pays for the meal. (Like a boss)

“Thanks, Oppa,” Sakura says to Connor and he gives her a thumbs up as he leaves with Aeri.

When they arrive at Aespa’s dorm she smiles and says, “Thank you, Connor. I appreciate it.”

He says “No worries“ as he's going to leave before though can Aeri grabs him.

“Hey Oppa what do you do when you think you’re not good enough?” Aeri asks Connor pleading.

Connor considers her words, he doesn’t often falter for confidence (Like the previously mentioned boss he is). So he has to think for a moment and then respond. “As much as I want to say just be yourself I can’t bring myself to. It boils down to not listening to critiques that aren't genuine. For example, Hiro is always critiquing my work, but it comes not from a place of tearing others down but to refine them. Those I listen to. I don't listen to insincere critiques like "Why did you use that actress she's a fat pig. Those are insults and we don't listen to them. Eventually, you'll get better. besides didn't you have the least amount of training of your group? I wouldn't worry about the criticisms too much,” Aeri looks at Him and smiles.

“Okay, I will keep that in mind.” She says as she smiles and leaves. He drives his little blue rental back to his hotel to get ready to fly back home.

Two weeks later Connor’s back to work filming with Le Sserafim for promotions in the States. The staff and the girls for the most part are kind and gentle people. Connor enjoys working with them. As he is finishing up for day 1 Jen corners him along with Sakura. “Hey, you’re pretty good at Magic right?” Jen asks. Connor nods. “Good then can you teach us? Giselle has been trying to get us to learn because she wants people she can play with besides Yujin, and Sakura doesn’t remember how to play.” Connor strokes his chin.

“That’s a lot of work. Like a lot of work.” He explains.

The girls smile at him and Jen says, “Well then it’s good we are going to be together for a few weeks.” Connor sighs.

“Okay then, but if we do this… we are doing it my way. Do you understand?” Connor asserts.

Both Kkura and Jen nod.

“Okay well then first things first set aside 250$ each. I want you both to be able to build both fun and functional decks so I need you to do that. I also want you both, if you haven’t already download mtg Arena and just play with what they give you. This will be the easiest way to teach the basics and give you both a net of general play styles you enjoy. Please for the love of God Almighty do not spend any money on the app. You are both too inexperienced to know what’s worth purchasing and will not have fun in the long haul. please don’t be like me. Dexter tried to warn me but I didn’t listen. Also, I feel like I should mention this check out Dice Try’s YouTube channel and watch the videos on shards and wedges it will give you all a very clear view of what each one is about, and potentially what you align with,” Connor says before both nodded and leave for the day. After that Connor finished packing up all of his cameras, and other film gear and went home.

When he got home he got a discord call from Scorpion-love-00. “Hey Connor I need your help. We need a third for our commander game.” Connor (who hates 3-player games) sighs and responds

“Skippy you know how I feel about three-player games.”

Scorpion responds, “I know but we just need a third to change up gameplay, at least for tonight.” this turns out to be untrue as for the next two weeks you are playing arch-enemy against Scorpion and her new friend Ujinnie… Sometimes there’s a random 4th that joins. Who’s good but also kind of non-verbal (It’s me…I am that person, but I haven’t officially met Aeri, or Yujin yet, but spoilers it’s me… the narrator. Or it's another character you will meet later who plays Esper shenanigans) Connor tries not to be annoyed as his off time is becoming dominated by mtg. Eventually, he ropes his roommate; Dexter, who was a magic savant in his eyes.

this makes the experience more fun for everyone involved. Your friend hit it off with Giselle, and Ujinnie when she can play as well. Which was funny because were at each other’s throats at first. This would lead to one of the later “game nights” when Connor invites Dex, and me to Help with filming. Which brings us back to the present.

"So you like Yunjin...what about Aeri," I ask inquisitively

"Aeri and I get along great but it feels like she's my sister at times," Connor replies. I nod

"Well my take is that you figure out your feelings first, but I am also aware that honestly, you may just be in love with Yunjin," I reply. Connor nods and then says, Also thank you for helping me film fearless Kura when the girls come out here," Connor said. I looked at him blinked thrice and replied

"What do you mean help?"

"You are going to help with deck building and filming of course," Connor replied. I blinked again trying to process the insane information being thrown my way. I a rando would be helping Megastar Sakura Miyawaki film Magic the gathering content.

"Um Okay sure," I reply as I give Connor a thumbs up

A few days later we all arrived at the film location. As we set up with their decks the Fimmies + Giselle approached us surprised. “Oh, Connor Oppa who is this?” Sakura asked as she approached.

“Oh, this is Dexter. My friend who is a director and also a camera guy. He is good at mtg, and the other is Hiro...We don't know his real name just his social media handle. He is also really good at MTG super versatile as a player as well. We were playing together against Aeri and this girl named Ujinnie Yesterday and it was late so I figured they could help me today.” Connor clarified

Dexter and I looked up when we heard our names called before quickly going back to work.

“Wait is he the one who goes by Stealth Dragon Daihouzan?” Aeri asked pointing at Dexter

Connor shakes his head. I raise my hand, "No that's me," I reply to them. Connor looks at me surprised

"why didn't you say anything," Connor asked.

"I didn't think anything of it. I just play the game, and you guys were almost always online when I wanted to play," I replied shocked I was playing with my friend and two K-pop stars.

“Oh Yunjin ah ask him your question," Sakura replies Connor feels a pang of Jealousy as he watches Jen smile as she goes up to me. while Dexter and I on the other hand are focused on setting up the set.

“Oh, so your Daihouzan... Can I call you something shorter," Jen asks. I nod and reply "Hiro" Jen smiles at this point I notice Connor's sour look (His poker face was good I just knew how to read him specifically) I have heard a lot about you.”Jen exclaims

I nod and respond skeptically, “That's potentially worrying, but ah what the heck, how can I help you?”

“So I love typal decks and Aeri says you’re scary good at building them”

I cringe as Dexter looks at Yunjin hesitantly (we both dislike the term typal for various reasons), and then we look at Connor for guidance. Connor gives the thumbs up, and I respond, “What creature typer were you thinking and how do you want to play it?”

“I want an aggressive angel deck in white red black,” Yunjin responds. I sigh exasperatedly and die a little on the inside before he responds. Connor knew what I was about to recommend and he knew how much I hated to do so.

“Then you’re probably going to want to run Kaalia of the Vast,” I say dejectedly. Connor knows that was hard for him because I hated Kaalia so to see him suggest that for Jen made Connor laugh uncontrollably Envy fading into the back of his mind.

Jen was confused “What’s wrong with Kaalia?” She asked noticing the shift in atmosphere between her friend and his buddies.

“Nothing I just have a personal vendetta since my friend whom, I first played a lot against played her a lot, and well I was not a fan. She is wildly powerful but also super obnoxious,” I responded

Aeri's eyes narrowed at me looked at me and replied “You have a weird idea of obnoxious. I complained so much about your Omnath locus of creation deck,( Aeri doesn’t explain this but for those who are curious it’s The 4 color nonblack one, and one of my signature decks)” Connor watches as Dexter laughs, as he finishes setting up to face Kkura.

“Well to be fair I also did beat up on her because she was playing Yuriko, but the reason she is probably more upset is that she may be an enfranchised player, but she isn't entrenched,” Dexter responds. Connor looks at Dexter disappointed knowing the ensuing conversation that would follow.

“Listen just because you run free mana spells, lotuses, and og duals does not make you a better player,” Connor says to Dexter

“No, what makes me a better player is that I no-life this game. Same with Hiro,” Dexter responded which caused a laugh from all present Except Jen. Jen looked at him with surprise.

“No-life the game?” she said with her near trademarked confused face.

“Oh, Yunjin-ah he just means that mtg is the only game he plays,” Sakura responded

“That and Hunt Showdown.” Dexter clarifies. He lifts his sleeve to show his tattoo from the mentioned game.

"I play Warframe, and Monster Hunter," I interject

“Oh, that’s cool. so the two of you must be good,” Jen responds.

Dexter and I laugh knowing being "really good" is relative

Connor smiles as he looks at his friends getting along so well together. after finishing up chatting with the Fimmies Connor, Dexter, and I went to finish getting ready for the shoot. the shoot proceeds smoothly, and after the shoot; Connor, Dexter, Jen, Aeri, Kkura, and I go to hang out.

“So we saved our 250$ Connor,” Jen says to Connor after the shoot. Dexter and I begin to laugh in his seat while Connor is driving. He sighs knowing the two of them are going to have to help them learn the game in earnest.

“Hey before you do this. have you two thought of turning this in content? like YouTube videos. I know Sakura has her YouTube channel and this could be a funny episode.” Dexter suggested absent-minded Sakura looked at the Native Alaskan/Russian and her eyes widened.

Two weeks days later Jen, Aeri, Connor, Dexter, Sakura, and I were all on the set of Sakura’s YouTube (Fearless Kkura, which will become the interchangeable name for her now) channel which today happened to be a Studio that Dexter and Connor found. Dexter is acting as an assistant director for the episode, but also helping Kkura learn her deck. We all had input in construction. I was in charge of making playable mana bases because I never falter in those. Kkura is a bit distracted looking at Dexter’s shirt. It was Godzilla Vs. Great Ape Vegeta. “Okay so after you get a good mill chain going you’re going to want to start reanimating your big threats,” he said with a relaxed smile. Connor knows that Dexter loves Le Sserafim Sakura was his bias (Mine as you probably assumed is Chaewon) so he is trying his best here to not fanboy. Despite his worries, Connor sees he’s doing well. He’s relaxed. Jen and Aeri sneak up behind him.

“They have really good chemistry, Just like us,” Aeri says. Connor turns around surprised to see his two friends leaning against each other as they watch Dexter and Sakura discuss plans.

“Yeah, Kkura unnie likes his vibe,” Jen said with a bit of a laugh.

“Yeah, Dexter is a good guy,” Connor says.

“Oh, that reminds me. How’d you meet him Oppa?” Aeri asks. Connor notices Jen’s confused look at Aeri as she walks back to the table. Again he wonders if you did something to annoy Jen causing her issue with the honorifics.

“Oh that’s easy we are roommates in college and now kinda permanently. He also helped me get through some really bad times by being like an older brother to me,” he responded

“Oh, how old is he?” Aeri asks.

“he’s Eunbi's age,” Connor replied

“Oh wow, I guess he is an Oppa too. It’s so weird he and Kkura unnie feel younger.” Giselle states

"Wait how old is Hiro then," Yunjin asks. I happened to be walking by doing set up and casually said

"I am a month and 13 days older than Kkura," as I spoke I moved other cameras to where they needed to go. Yunjin smiled

"Thanks, oppa," Yunjin said. I gave her a thumbs-up as I continued on my way

“Well I don’t know Kkura that well but I do know Dexter, and that stems from his immense sincerity. Out of all of the players I know who play MTG, I have only seen two that embody a wedge and he is one of them. He plays a lot of simic x color decks but he is Naya boy through and through in terms of mentality and temperament.” Connor explains

Aeri laughs, “You know I see that. He is so focused and meticulous but also extremely kind-hearted and empathetic.”

“Also and you didn’t hear this from me, his best deck is not Maelstrom Wanderer but his Zaccama deck that's the real killer. That deck is nasty to play against.” Connor adds

“Oh really that’s surprising I would have figured it would have been Maelstrom based on Yujin’s complaints.” Aeri jokes

"Nope! Gishath has all of his crazy cards," I said as I walked past again

"Like what," Aeri asked

"Og duals, fast mana, and free spells," Connor explained

As I walked by again Yunjin grabbed me. "Stand still, will ya," she teased

"What's up," I asked

"No we just want you here as you're our friend too now," Aeri replied. My eyes went wide and my throat became dry.

"So you play green black blue right?" Aeri asked and I nod

"You helped with Kkura's deck right," Yunjin asked I nodded again

"What would be your pointers for helping us against Kkura's Kess dissident Mage deck," they both asked. I shrugged and replied.

"Most of your all's decks are commander-centric. so consistently removing said commander is going to be your best bet." the girls nodded and then turned to Connor

"So what about you guys' decks since you guys haven't shown us what y'all are playing," Yunjin said

"Wait we are playing? I thought the decks we built were just meant to be alternates," Connor and I asked

Aeri looked at Yunjin who just realized she spoiled the surprise.

"Yeah you guys are playing this episode," Aeri explained annoyed, "It was supposed to be a surprise but I guess the cat is out of the bag now," I nodded and took a step back then at Connor. a billion thoughts raced through my head but instead of worrying about them I just locked in on work. Yunjin dragged me off to have me help her get microphoned and Giselle dragged Connor with her

Connor and Giselle watch Dexter, Sakura, Yunjin and I all interact. "Crazy group we have," she said. Connor nods

"Yeah crazy to think it's been almost two months since we became friends," Connor states

"Yeah you're the older brother I always wanted," Aeri says. Connor winces a little before saying,

"Thanks" Connor replies

"Wait did I say something wrong," Giselle asked

"No I just didn't know what we were and this I guess is confirmation," Connor replies taking a page out of my book and scratching his head.

"Dude...Yunjin has your heart. I see the way you look at her. You should go for her. She is so smitten with you and would love it," Aeri says.

A huge wave of relief washes over Connor as he looks at Yunjin who is currently teasing me over the signed Chaewon card on my phone case

"Wait Hiro do you have a crush on Chaewon unnie," Yunjin says teasingly

I scowl at her and consider my response carefully, " I think all of you are super talented and I love all of Le Sserafim equally besides Eunchae, and that's only because I feel weird saying I love a minor," Yunjin laughs

"You're so silly. You and Chaewon will hit it off so well," Yunjin says

"Wait really," I say excited my mask slipping.

"So you do like her," Yunjin said victoriously. I sighed and nodded.

"No worries. I think she'll like you too. Now where did you get this card of Chaewon, and do they make one for all of us," Yunjin asked me. I nodded and replied

"Yeah there's this guy on Instagram who makes the cards, They're super cool. I can get one for all of you guys," I reply

"Oh that would be so cool," Yunjin says as we finish getting microphoned. Giselle and Connor laugh as they watch my stumbling and go over to a similar scene playing between Sakura and Dexter.

“So I hear you are a Wizone. Who was your bias?” Kkura asked Dexter intently

“Eunbi-noona I love her personality,” Dexter says flatly trying again not to Fanboy too hard

Sakura groans, “Really? Ugh”

“Wait wait wait. Aren’t you going to ask my Le Sserafim Bias?” Dexter responded realizing he made a mistake.

“Oh let me guess Chaewon?” Kura asks dejected

“While I do think she is cute, nope. It’s Sakura Miyawaki. Maybe you’ve heard of her.” Dexter said teasingly. Sakura began to blush and then lightly hit Dexter’s shoulder.

“We’ll talk after filming,” she said with a glare.

Before the episode started Dexter gave everyone super nice alter/proxies made by the online artist “Atomic Ashes”, but it was then revealed that we would also be in the episode him and he froze. he quickly recovered and got set up next to Kkura.

The Episode starts as we are rushed off the screen.

"Welcome to Fearless Kkura, and today I have some new faces," Sakura says in perfect Korean (I am told it's perfect by Connor who comments on how good it is.)

as Kkura mentions the new faces we are ushered back on screen, along with Yunjin and Aeri

"For those who don't know you all introduce yourself and what we are doing today," Sakura says. Dexter and Connor freeze I don't

"Hi, my name is Hiro these are my partners Dexter and Connor and together we are the Collective called DECOHI Productions. we make short films and other small productions, but I forget what brings us here today maybe Connor can help us out,"

Connor has now thawed and steps up, "Yeah We are here to help Sakura, Giselle, and Yunjin learn Commander, a subsection of Magic The Gathering,"

Dexter now finally calmed builds off of Connor, "Yeah we all helped them build decks and choose their commanders but before that, we have to teach them the basics, and maybe a few tips and tricks so stay tuned," he replies. We step back to the applause of Jen, Kkura, and Aeri.

"Wow great intro," Sakura said "Now let's get into it," she added. The cameras stopped as we moved to another set where there were seats and the other producers and directors asked us to sit.

The cameras start rolling and I lock in again.

"So what are the basics of Magic The Gathering Dexter," Sakura asks

"Well, Kkura the first thing you need to know is that Magic is a game of resources. everything is scare and limited,"

"Until it's infinite," I interject cooly,

"Huh," Yunjin asked confused

"Long story we'll get to that later, Now Connor please tell the lovely ladies about the game basics...Lands that is," I say

Connor and Dexter instantly know what I am doing and start riffing off of me from then on, "Well Magic has 8 card Types as of right now; Battle, Lands, Enchantments, artifacts, Soceries, instants, creatures, and planeswalkers. For commander, you may only have one of each card with a few exceptions. Basic Lands being the first. I think Hiro is best suited to explain the exceptions as he plays to many of the exceptions of MTG," Connor said

I looked at Connor surprised, "What's that supposed to mean," I say

Connor smiles trying to rile me up as he says, "It means you're a cheater,"

"But it's in the rules," I reply

Dexter smugly adds, "Doesn't make it fair,"

"Fair is relative, but I digress. In magic, there is a resource called mana. The easiest way to get it is to play cards like basic lands which tap for one mana usually. These can be played once a turn and tap for one of the 5 colors of Magic," I answer

"Oh this game has colors what are they," Aeri asks

"Oh green white blue black red," I reply, "Each color focuses on something different, and can be attributed to a virtue or vice,"

"Well now you gotta explain which is which," Yunjin said

"Green is Growth and Gluttony. White is Order or Inflexibility. Blue is change/Condescension. Black is Sacrifice or Pride. Red is passion and wrath. These colors can be combined with others to further their in-game strengths or shore up their weakness. the most common for commanders being two or three-color. Connor, Dexter, and I prefer three colors as they are the most consistent and most well-rounded the game has to offer."

"Oh really," Kkura asks, and the three of us nod.

"Well what have you built for us and what are your color combinations," Kkura asks.

"Well, I am blue red White, or nicknamed Jeskai. Jeskai is cunning and calculating but also warm and kind. except on the battlefield so enjoy it now friends because when we enter the field of battle I will crush all my enemies." Connor monologued

Dexter waved humbly and replied, " Red Green white is my combo. it's known for a lot of creature-based value. I like creatures so the combo works for me."

"Oh wow of course you two leave me with the hard job...(I turn to the camera.) Red players" I scoff which gets a laugh out of Kura and Aeri.

"For Sakura, we built a recursion-heavy Kess dissident mage deck that uses the colors Blue, Black Red, and hopes to utilize its graveyard as a second hand to push to an insurmountable advantage. This color combo is commonly known as Grixis. Next, we have Giselle on a White black Green (Abzan) Anafenza of the foremost deck. its goal is to keep the other players honest by limiting the amount of crazy shenanigans they can do. Lastly, we have hot girl Jen with an absolutely hot deck of Dragons and Angels helmed by Kaalia of the vast, red white black deck that seeks to cheat big beefy creatures into play to beat her opponents into submission." I relayed before taking a breath.

Eventually, Sakura asked the Magic words, "What are you playing Hiro?"

"Oh just the best color Combination," I reply.

[mulders-too-large-shirt]

s2 episode 18 thoughts

zoo episode! sad zoo episode.

but. i was giggling. because our very serious agents were forced to say lines like "you think it was an invisible elephant?" and i was laughing!!! sue me!! we can hold space in our hearts for the sentiments that both the sad animal story is sad AND ALSO the thought of them doing investigation work at the zoo is comical. like the tiger is INVISIBLE.

okay. from the top we start.

a janitor is grooving. his partner tells him to stop. i say, keep grooving, man. you deserve it.

dancing has been interrupted!!! stuff is exploding and crashing and we hear elephant noises?? invisible elephant.....? that can BECOME visible?

it seems while in invisible it went a bit sicko mode as the kids say and then came back to visibility mode down the road

(where did renting an elephant for this episode fit into the s2 budget....)

so elephant has been spotted. a family calls the cops. and i understand the sentiment but i'm not sure the cops can do a whole lot about the elephant situation.

NOOO a child is crying as the elephant is dying in the road... this will be a core memory for those poor girls

(elephant actor is really selling it though... emmy nomination deserved)

back to the scene where the janitors saw things explode. mulder jumps out the window and i can't explain why it was really funny lmao

mulder is convinced that the elephant being found dead some miles away is related to this scene of destruction. and yeah, the dead guy DID have an elephant footprint on him. but no one saw an elephant and the janitors were very much there the whole time. so what's the truth?

this is so silly. i'm laughing.

mulder's explaining his theories and scully deadpans "an invisible elephant?" and i'm laughinggggg. can you imagine an elephant making a huge scene but somehow the witnesses just managed to miss the giant creature responsible.

the zookeeper, whose name is ed, arrives at the scene. scully asks about the dead elephant, and ed corrects her use of the elephant's pronouns, which made me think he was an ally.

(later we learn that he was beating all the animals, so this is decidedly un-allied behavior. ally certificate revoked)

the elephant is named ganesha- hey, i understood that.

mulder says he's heard of the "elephant rebellion" phenomenon, and asks if this is an example. yeah of course this man knows about the elephant rebellion. "fucking nerd", i wrote in my notes.

(actually, i am aware that this season aired in 1996, and the infamous Hawaiian elephant incident was 1994. the phrase "elephant rebellion" sounds very niche and nerdy in 2024, but at the time i image this was still very fresh in the world's minds, and part of a wider reckoning on how animals are treated for the sake of entertainment, and this episode is commentary upon that. i was not around for this national discussion, but i did watch askamortician's video on the incident, which is very good by the way. i have mostly grown up in a world free of animals in circuses and with zoos as conservation agents, so interesting to get glimpses into the discussions that led to the shaping of the world i live in)

but then we see the zoo!!! zoo time!!! there are penguins. i saw penguins like that at the zoo once :)

they go to talk to the naturalist who is basically like "idk how the elephant got out" and i'm thinking, girl shouldn't you be... more invested in this?? like an elephant died. ur not even shedding a tear. i would be in mourning.

they see where the elephant was staying when she wasn't on display, and it's frankly awful. scully asks why it was so small, mulder notices chains on the floor, and she says it was leftover from the 1940's, and that ed is treating them poorly, and i understand why this and other elephants have chosen violence

the folks from a radical anti-captivity group are protesting the whole situation. and she refers to them by some acronym that mulder immediately understands, which is further evidence that he must listen to npr or something. my professor that knows everything all the time listens to npr so i'm guessing that is what mulder does too.

meetup time with the dude leading the protest! his name is kyle, and he is saying that no animals should be in captivity, and he often kidnaps animals from zoos to let them go... and i'm not sure if this is a great idea?? because if an elephant has been raised in captivity its whole life, is it gonna know how to be in the jungle?? idk i am not a scientist.

this episode is suuuuper fuzzy and has a very vhs quality to it... i bet y'all were sleeping on this episode, huh? i'm guessing there wasn't as much effort placed into de-fuzzing it because it was about invisible animals and not one of the "hard hitters" of the season. but i think it's camp and i'm seated.

so kyle reveals that ed, the zoo guy, is treating his animals awfully at this point, which is where i formally revoked his ally status. and he says that the naturalist is too busy being sued over her gorilla to really focus on making the zoo more humane.

yeah, you heard that: she "saved" a gorilla and took it home, and now the government of the country she took it from wants it back.

"i thought you said she saved this gorilla?" scully asks, and i dissolve into further fits of laughter, because that is such a funny line out of context and even in context.

well, she "saved" the gorilla by bringing it home and sticking it in a cage, so kyle isn't pleased by the whole ordeal.

so, what to make of these anti-captivity activists? mulder says he thinks they're all talk and not really apart of the whole crime, but scully says she thinks they are behind the elephant's fate, and will release another animal to get the zoo shut down. this is a deep philosophical difference.

he leaves and says he is going to talk to the animals, because i knew that was the type of guy he is

(he's actually lying, though. well, sort of, because he's calling his buddies at the lone gunman, that conspiracy magazine he is involved in somehow. and it's a video call using a camera and a projector, or as i described it in my notes, "a biblically accurate zoom")

his pals thinks its related to the nearby UFO hot spot, and offer this fun fact:

"no animal at the zoo has ever brought a pregnancy term" <- and yeah. i hit pause and yelled "WHAT" so quickly. hey. what's going on. are the aliens getting involved in their reproductive cycles??

frohike, the strange man who is always hitting on scully, hears mulder's phone ring and adds "if that's the lovely agent scully, let her know i've been working out" and i sentence him to a sentence of 10,000 years in the dungeons. (and this is a reduced sentence for his quick thinking in sneaking out her blood work when she was in coma mode)

she's calling to let him know that someone from the anti-captivity organization is breaking into the zoo!!! not a very good look for their cause!!! he climbs a fence to break in, and she looks around cautiously before doing the same. she is normally a ruler follower, after all.

where is this dude going?? to the... lions? he's setting up a camera?

ed the zookeeper has materialized behind scully, who explains she was following someone else, and then they go off into a warehouse area

but the activist dude is setting up his camera- probably just to record their poor conditions rather than anything nefarious, i think- when BAM! flash of light! terrible ruckus!!! tiger is invisible...?

activist man, you are going to be EATEN!!! and the camera is rolling while this happens!!!!

scully's trying to talk to kyle, the head of this whole organization, who is saying he doesn't know why the dude broke into the zoo, and he had nothing to do with it, and she says that if she finds out he was involved in getting that dude eaten by a tiger that she will have him charged

mulder comes to get her, and it's very cute.

she is mad!!!! "you know, that guy really pisses me off" she says, and mulder asks if she's calmed down- bad move, let her be angry- but he tells her that the video showed the attacker was INVISIBLE! even though she examined the body and it was CLEARLY mauled to death!!!! even more frustration ensues.

mulder decides he must question the gorilla... he is so open minded :)

(the gorilla has been taught sign language, so this is a thing you can actually do. but for a guy big into aliens, i don't think talking to a gorilla is really out of the picture, even if there was no known method of communication)

he asks her a few questions and gets very vague answers, learning that the gorilla really wanted a baby, and i'm like, where is this going... he says he is going to need scully's help and i'm thinking... is he going to have her give the gorilla a pregnancy test.....

not quite! it is ELEPHANT AUTOPSY TIME!!!

he is watching all this go on from above and commenting and NOT soiling his pristine suit by getting inside the elephant guts which made me laugh. just watch 'em do the dirty work big guy. i guess he wouldn't know what the hell he was looking at anyway. but with all the other random shit he knows maybe he WOULD know how to identify elephant pregnancy.

and his hunch is correct: scully says the elephant had been pregnant, delivering this news in very fancy medical terms while her face and clothes are covered in elephant gore. oh yeah baby. that's fbi work.

(she is so brave because i would Not have been able to do any work with elephant blood on my face)

okay okay now the tiger that got out has been tracked to a building... and the naturalist really really does NOT want to have to shoot him... but ed the animal beater does, and he kills the tiger!!!!!! what is he hiding....

this poor naturalist, who i am suspicious of, is just taking L after L, and dead tiger is not helping

and GUESS WHAT? tiger was pregnant at one point, too!!! even though there were no efforts to make that happen!!!! how could this be??

"what do you know about alien abduction?" he asks her, entirely serious. she laughs and we see his deadpan face. it never gets old seeing people think he is deeply strange and unusual.

he proposes that perhaps the aliens are taking the pregnant animals and their embryos, and then dropping them back down on earth, which the naturalist describes as "the most ridiculous thing i've ever heard". she has not opened her mind to the idea of the space-time continuum turning them invisible when they come back.

despite the hostile reception to his theories, he watches intently while she asks more questions to the gorilla in sign language. but as this is going down, she is given an order to put the gorilla into custody. another L.

faced with the thought of losing her gorilla, she goes to kyle, who she begs for help, and when he says that she should let the gorilla go back into the wild, she yells "she's MINE, kyle" which is a lot. and he refuses to help. honestly he was kinda rude about it but i understand sticking to your morals.

but he seems to change his mind, because he comes to the zoo at night, calling out for her. and i'm thinking, no, an invisible animal is gonna eat you!!!! but this isn't what happens... something FALLS ON HIM and KILLS HIM!!!! huh???

scully figures out that kyle and the naturalist knew each other, and asks if she went over to his office to ask for help, which she denies. because she is a liar. and she is also deeply mad, and says "why don't you ask agent mulder, he seems to have a novel theory... maybe it was alien abduction" okay queen this is even ruder like he is trying to HELP you

mulder thinks that SHE killed kyle so she could keep the gorilla... which would be tea...

he investigates the cage and he uses a pen to avoid making any fingerprints... will be employing this tactic if i am ever at a crime scene investigation....

he sees ed, the trainer slash animal beater taking off, with guns!!!

back in her office, the naturalist is packing up all the things from her office, including a framed photo of her smooching the gorilla... (sabrina brier voice) oh!

scully is like well ur actually not gonna leave right away. because it looks like kyle was kinda murdered. and she says it was an accident, ed was scared and hit him with a cattle prod. and out of desperation, she gave ed the gorilla. THE ANIMAL BEATER?? you gave HIM your precious baby??? girl.... these decisions.....

back at a warehouse he tracked down ed to, mulder is holding him at gunpoint, which he is remarkably good at doing

the gorilla is going ham because she is in a weird and dark place and mulder says ed, you're gonna have to tranquilize her... but when they open the door, he doesn't shoot and instead leaves mulder in the room with an outraged gorilla!!!! no, mulder, we all shout!! she pummels him, and he doesn't seem to know sign language, so there is a immovable language barrier!!!!

but she backs off from pummeling him, which is good, because gorillas are horrific and CAN kill you.

(and i semi-recently saw a gorilla at the zoo so i'm looking at this one, and i'm trying to figure out if it's a real creature or a dude in a suit... pls someone feel free to share what the truth is. i mean if they got an elephant actor maybe they could hire a gorilla one too... but it looks off. kind of like a guy in a suit. so i'm thinking about that episode of spongebob with the scary guy in a gorilla suit. which was honestly a scary episode!!! but i digress. mulder locked in with gorilla)

OH. LIGHT FLASH! alien time....?

he wakes up on the floor with a bloody head from gorilla pummeling, and scully bursts in, trying to get him to stay still because there is a big bleeding wound on his head, a place you do not want a big wound to be. she is really doing her best to wrangle him and take a look, but he is too wiggly for this.

the naturalist is at the scene, and he does the sign language the gorilla did back to her, which was quite good. if i saw a gorilla do sign language after it beat me i would not remember how she moved its hands. good memory on that mulder guy.

they get a call for an animal in a field, and of course, it is the gorilla, who was hit by a car, and the naturalist sobs into her... fur? hair? as she dies. a tragic end to a gorilla life.

mulder wraps the case up, asking the hard hitting questions: are aliens stealing zoo animals to breed them and steal the embryos, and then preserve them? is it archival or conservationist in nature? he gets very philosophical, as he always does when writing a report. and i can imagine skinner reading this and saying "... okay" and then not saying anything else.

so, what did i think? well, i think they aren't gonna want to recreationally visit a zoo for a while, which kills that one fantasy of mine, but don't worry, i'll make them go to a museum instead. and if there is museum related trauma in a future episode we can work around that.

honestly though, was this episode the best? nah. but was it campy? yeah. the aliens made the tiger invisible, dude. how could you not love that?

i do think this episode was trying to partake in the growing discussion of animal captivity and ethics, especially in the wake of the elephant incident of 1994, and i'm not sure if it really takes a stance beyond "hurting animals is bad". i suppose if anything it comes off looking like it supports the anti-zoo agenda, which is still something that is in the public discourse. i know because i follow a lot of zoos on instagram and there is always someone in the comments saying that the creatures should be free and then someone else countering that they are super endangered and actually he is doing just fine in his cage, eating an appropriately designed cake for his needs. but that discourse hasn't left the public sphere, so it's interesting to see it represented here.

and maybe aliens ARE interested in conservation. i would personally just take the whole animals rather than stealing their embryos and leaving the creatures on the side of the highway, but what do i know? not much in terms of tigers.

i liked seeing scully get pissed off, i thought that was really funny. but overall, this episode was more intersting to me in terms of cultural commentary and outlandish plot than character devlopment. which is fine!!! we need a break from the heaviness of the last two episodes.

[mercedesssssss]

insane scene. let's discuss.

first, him watching her walk up, like he Knows who she was probably just with, and the heartbreak but also just *in awe of her* anyways on his face is sooooooo 😵‍💫

the way when she walks up and he just doesn't say anything for a moment, it shows #tome that he's thinking abt It.

secondly, him saying "normally I'd take care of this but the guy looked sketchy" or whatever the hell.... BE SERIOUS what are you talking about "I'd take care of this" like ... can't take him srsly sometimes like okay honey that was an awful excuse but i love you dearly anyways

like he could've called abbott, cho, fischer, but he called lisbon not just bc he prob knew abt the date, not just bc she's his partner, but simply bc he wants to see Her.

At any time.

For any reason.

Ever.

thirdly, her being like "you called me out here for duck tape?" & him being like "you need to trust me" is just so important to me because even though it's glossed over in this scene, (they don't spend any time on it, it's not the main point of the scene) her trusting him has always been so important to him. It certainly would be now more than most any other time considering how Tense everything is.

and then her just not believing him and immediately jumping to the conclusion that he wanted to screw up her date, which honestly as a viewer isn't big of a stretch at all but surface level it kind of reminds me of the s5 "I'm not you're girlfriend" line, bc in terms of the situation it kind of comes out of left field, just like in that s5 scene, but on a *everything* level it's both subconsciously lisbons feelings for jane coming out AND her wanting Him to talk abt his feelings for Her, & it's so insanely good bc she's totally right to think it

and then he continues on to *try* to act like he didnt know! and its funny here especially because, yes, the show has shown he's a great liar, we know this, but sometimes he's not (here) and when it comes to This (the jisbon of it all) it was just getting harder and harder to keep lying and pretending and that's why here he kind of does a TERRIBLE JOB

and in another circumstance that conversation couldve ended up going in a totally different direction, except for the fact that he was being partially truthful in his reasoning for calling her, because while he did have all those other reasons behind calling Her specifically, he also did call her bc he genuinely thought/knew someone was in trouble.

so then #it gets put aside once he convinces her and they go inside.

like I said, insane scene.

in conclusion, jisbon tension angst pining yearning etcetcetc all very loved by me 🫶

[olderthannetfic]

i saw this post today where this person was talking abt fandom racism and was pointing out some real issues within my fandom and favorite ship that I too had noticed… but then kept bringing it back to the lack of one particular other ship they liked, when it's like, no that's not the problem, and that ship is unpopular because those characters have zero romantic or sexual chemistry and barely any scenes together. (it was really funny that someone had reblogged this to take their 'lack of seeing this one character in a sexual way in fic miiight be racist' complaint to be like 'i think you're right! we should have more fic about [a long list of different ships involving that character with people they have ACTUAL chemistry with].' it was really funny. ofc op totally missed the point they were making there.) anyway i just feel like way too many useful conversations about this stuff are ruined by people making it about shipping or other really subjective fandom preferences. i get that this is because something like 'number of fics X ship or character has on ao3' is an objective measure, and something like 'level of orientalism in how a lot of people are writing this desi character' is not, but i wish people would realize it tends to alienate more people that it converts. and ime, it's often the people who maybe would most benefit from hearing those criticisms (e.g. are writing unintentionally racist stuff in their works, and are someone who would want to know about that and how to do it differently) who tune it out the second you make it into insulting their shipping preferences.

i mean, there WAS some real racism in the star wars sequels fandom, including among the fanfic/shipping side. not just the shitty dudes harassing kelly marie tran. we saw the really bizarre 'predator' language people directed at john boyega just for making some joke posts on instagram about disliking reylo and its shippers. it was the very classic racist thing where people see something as automatically more threatening when a black man does it. ....but how many people had already tuned all that out because the people most outspoken about the racism in the fandom kept reducing it to 'if you ship reylo over finnrey, or kylux over finnpoe, you're a racist'? it's like a boy who cried wolf thing. if you've shown that you can't uncouple serious discussions and concerns from just being pissy that your otp is not more popular, people are going to see you as someone who can't be taken seriously and then ignore you when you do have a real complaint. it's like how i'm sure that some of stitch's essays are thoughtful and important, but i have no desire to read stuff by someone who is infamous for harassing people just for what they ship. i don't feel like i can take any of that person's judgments about fandoms i'm not in, for instance, seriously.

that's not to say fandom preferences in shipping can't ever be influenced by racism (or other 'isms') but is it ever really *that* specifically that is the problem, or the broader pattern it is part of? and i feel like 'maybe fandom is a little too focused on het and slash ships between two young skinny conventionally attractive white people' is a message more people are open to than 'your specific white M/M or F/M otp is racist'

anyway it reminds me of the stuff i've seen sometimes in academic fandom studies about how you can't really honestly study a fandom where you're deeply mired in its discourse - you need to focus your work on fandoms that you're familiar with but not in that way. and i think that maybe also applies to some of these discussions about fandom racism and misogyny. maybe you're just going to have better takes on something when you're not deeply invested in other unrelated arguments about it, like about which ship is the most popular. like i could not care less about star wars shipping and have zero take in reylo vs. finnrey, so that's why i feel like i could trust my perception that the way a small minority of reylos were posting about john boyega's instagram posts was racist. it didn't matter if he was genuinely being a jerk to them or about their ship. he obviously wasn't a 'predator' and it was pretty telling language for a group of largely white people to use about a black man making fun of their ship on a different social media site.

--

The laying pipe thing was blown so out of proportion, yes. Call it sexist, sure, but it wasn't fucking predatory.

[dirty-bear-rick-sanchez]

Episode thoughts under the cut

I loved Morty knowing Rick so well that he just straight up lies about the coffee lmao. Also the way he says 'hey buddy' like he's a dad entering his kid's room when they're in a depressive episode is so funny to me

Rick just literally saying 'family' to address the family

I thought the ghost/unfinished business joke was funny

I also love Rick being so petty (and Summer being petty back about the portal). It's so funny that he just calls the family 'stupids' as well. Devastating insult bro

Interesting that Gearhead was the first person he went to? He definitely needed someone to give him the courage to get the rest of his friends for an intervention (especially BP)

'Told you he wasn't dead' killed me

BIRDDAUGHTER. Funny name, love her being an emo teenage edgelord who just goes round killing Gromflomites. 'This is worse than prison'? Love it

Also I really liked that we got to see this side of BP's character this episode? He's so funny and I love getting to see him be a shit. Him trying to parent his daughter and just drinking wine? We love another alcoholic girldad

I really liked getting to see Rick/BP/Squanchy actually hanging out as well? I feel like it's a good insight into how they probably were back in the Flesh Curtains days

I like the 'birthday, birthday, birthday' gag

Also Rick immediately being like 'fuck this we're getting wrecked'

The honey scene was definitely for the Rickfuckers

Can we talk about the fact that Rick was definitely trying to impress BP by bringing up the fact that he hosted the Oscars? Which is definitely why he wanted that gig in the first place

Once again I love getting to see this side of Birdperson. Definitely makes sense why he and Rick get on so well

I liked the visual gag of Rick being high

Also BP and Squanchy playing the knife game lmao

Rick sits so fucking dramatically

Look at BP's face, he definitely wants to fuck that Predator guy

Son heist

I love that Rick can immediately identify Squanchy's shit based on the smell? Like he knows it's his and no one else's

BIRDPERSON PUTTING HIS HAND OVER RICK'S MOUTH

(You know Rick is gonna be thinking about that forever)

I like the recurring Squanchy tooth thing

'Why is this my thing' lmao

Poor poopy child

WAYNE

Them all just chilling together waiting for their drunk food? love it

I love BP leaving to collect his daughter from attacking a Federation outpost with the exact same energy as a parent collecting their child from school after they got suspended. It's so funny to imagine the GF having the same sort of vibe as they do with Rick and just texting BP like 'yo we got your daughter here' (I know that's not what happened but it's a funny mental image)

Lmao Squanchy

I did like the fading pill bit

Poor Gene

Overall I liked getting to explore this aspect of the dynamic between Rick/BP/Squanchy/Gearhead (+ the others of course but they're the OGs yk?) and also the concept of intervention/alcoholism. I think it's interesting to see that Rick does want to help but his support system is so fucked that this ends up happening and it makes a lot of sense when it comes to his own issues. I really like the way they handle Rick trying to get better and do the right thing but struggling so much to break out of unhealthy behaviours/habits. He's painfully aware of how fucked up he is and how much of a bad influence he is but he doesn't know how to fix the issue/be a positive influence and he definitely views abandonment as a good thing because he's removing himself from the situation. Very interesting way to explore this aspect of his issues, especially since all his friends are also alcoholics with that level of denial/refusal to get better

I had this discussion with @hazelnut-u-out before the episode aired but I do like that they're showing Mr PB directly suffering as a result of Rick's actions in canon? Considering that he started as a joke/meta character it's very interesting to show him actually shifting to more of a serious character who appears in the actual show and experiences real issues, especially since the show becomes less and less sitcom-y as Rick becomes more aware of the reality of how fucked up all of these things are.

[fandomfaeofveryfewf4cks]

Things I noticed the nth time watching Nimona:

Knight armour can get sliced through like nobody's business (Balister's arm), but can take a laser hit without serious, body-altering consequences (Director hitting Ambrosius with a laser made from the same one that apparently has the power to wipe out half the realm, or kill an Immortal being who doesn't feel severe pain from an arrow wound)?

...is this because Ambrosius' armour was made to be more protective than Balister's?

"She manipulated BOTH of us." Ambrosius says this about Nimona, who he had very few interactions with aside from her very blatantly fucking shit up for the institute. How did she manipulate HIM?

I guess it probably makes sense when you consider he was going to arrest the director, implying that he believed Bal AND Nimona, but I dunno. The little rat in my head started running on its brain-powering wheel at all the possible fanfic plots this could lead to.

Nimona as Ambrosius grabbed the Gloreth statue when they fell to the ground.

On the one hand, this could just be actor!Nimona putting dramatic emphasis on how even in death, the leaders of the realm will cling to their hopes and beliefs, or the golden boy finally getting to join his ancestor.

On the other hand, we could make it deliciously angsty (yum yum) and say it is Nimona's personal desire to grab the statue of Gloreth for reasons such as: taking down the monster-killer image of her former friend out of anger and sadness because she never wanted that image to be so true in representing one of the few people who ever cared about her even briefly;

OR, While trying to think about how she would act if she were actually dying, she reaches for the closest thing to a friend that she has, but this is her staging a false death, as that particular friendship was false so this is just fitting, isn't it?;

OR, They wanted it to spread a message that with the fall of the director, would come the fall of the corrupt system they live in, as well as the fall of this narrow-minded view of both Nimona and Gloreth's story as well as Gloreth and Nimona themselves.

Nimona freaking out about the arrow in their leg in the comic vs Nimona treating it like a little scrape not to be worried about in the movie.

This is really interesting to me. In the comic, it's played up for humor like Nimona is almost overreacting, then having Bal take care of her because he does care about her. This shows it as a bit silly, but so very meaningful.

Then you have the movie where Balister is freaking out and it's kind of funny because clearly Nimona is relatively fine about it, so he doesn't really need to make a big deal out of it. Then he helps her and is still very careful about it like with anyone else's arrow wound, and asks her questions so he can better understand them. Again so very important.

I love both versions of these scenes, I just am so curious about why they made such a drastic change.

I love this movie so freaking much. (I knew that already, but it bears saying for the thousandth time. It's just so fucking good.)

For this last one:

TW: mention of police brutality (discussed as a theme in the movie, nothing specific outside of the Nimona movie)

"He's got a weapon." It's not a weapon. It's a phone. But Todd (and who knows how many of the other knights) didn't choose to see it as anything other than what the director told him it was, and destroyed it as he was trained to do. This screams messaging about the stupid, dangerous, and harmful actions of too many police officers who don't check the situation for themselves before acting on "information" they gathered from insufficient data and/or unreliable sources, and combine that with profiling to make decisions that so often end up being harmful and even fatal to others.

[ninja-knox-ur-sox-off]

More to Me

Pt 2 of Glaciated Memory AU | Master Of Ice Art | My Dearest Friend... (pt 1/prequel)

1k

When Zane found the blueprints in his father’s old lab, showing his design and revealing what he was, he thought it would be the last major discovery about himself that he would find.

Oh how wrong he ended up being.

He always had dreams. Prophecies. Memories. Not quite to the degree that Lloyd began to have them, but they came all the same.

When they needed to discover more about the serpentine war, they became all the more vivid.

He was fighting. For his friends. To defend them. Ice wrapped around him. His dark hands, the only exposed skin he had reached and pulled his friend to their feet. “Watch your step,” he told them. The man who looked up bore a resemblance to Lloyd in a distant way. His hair was a similar colour and he had a serious expression set on his face in a similar way, too weary to be on the face of someone so young, just like Lloyd.

“Thank you. We must hurry.”

The sounds of battle crept up behind him slowly as they ran. He used his powers to create ice walls left and right to keep their assailants out. They were heading somewhere. They were trying to get to something but what--

Dreams were a funny thing when you did not sleep. Even stranger was waking up.

Zane did not need to recharge. He had a self-sustaining power source. Still, sometimes he would still need rest if he overused it, not unlike his human counterparts needing sleep. Sometimes he would close his eyes and other times he would lay down and stare up at the stars or relax and read. Sometimes his eyes closed on their own, and although it was not sleeping, it was very close to it.

In this case he woke up with something in his chest pulsing, not unlike a heartbeat he thought. He didn’t need to breathe but he breathed anyway. In and out. Long and slow.

In all honesty he had never wondered. But now, it was time to ask.

“I’m gonna be totally honest with you, dude,” Jay said. “I have no idea what this is.”

Zane sat on the metal table in their little room set aside for experiments on the bounty, his chest compartment open, wires and things clipped and plugged inside and hooked up to the ship’s computers. His power source pulsed like a heartbeat as it always did, its bluish white light reflected in the color of his eyes. He contemplated Jay’s diagnoses.

“Nya and Pixal could not explain it either.”

“Oh, I was the last person you came to, awesome. Love that. I feel very appreciated and properly utilized.”

Zane smiled. “I did not wish to interrupt your gaming.”

“Sure, sure,” Jay waved his hand dismissively. “You don’t have to lie to me. I’m not real active with this kinda stuff anymore anyway.”

“Do you regret not being involved in it?”

“Eh,” said Jay, “I’ve got other stuff to fill the time now.”

“You can always come back to it.”

Jay paused to stare down at the wires and pliers in his hands for a long while.

“Maybe.”

Zane smiled. “I am sure Nya and Pixal would appreciate your company.”

.

Pixal was always very digitally focused. Despite being a nindriod himself, Zane had never felt the same pull towards technology that she did. He always operated off of instinct.

When they discussed it one time, Pixal had been intrigued about how he interacted with technology because, in her words, it seemed as though he operated things through feeling rather than numbers or calculations. Which was a funny thing to hear considering he was known by the rest of the team as the most calculating of the bunch.

Zane connected with technology the way he connected with his elemental power. Instinct, practice. He didn’t know the logistics of how it worked behind the scenes, behind the instinct and feeling. It had been that way since his first days training with Master Wu. His ‘sixth sense’, they called it. Now there were numbers that flashed across his vision when he calculated certain things, when he felt who was close and who was far. Then, it had been nothing but a feeling.

What a silly and confusing thing it was to not be human but to operate off of feeling.

“You’re different, Zane,” Pixal told him.

“Well,” said Zane, “I am a nindriod.”

“So am I,” Pixal told him. “And you are still different.”

That sat with him for a few days. He pondered on it quite a bit. Turning it over in his mind again and again. He was different, wasn’t he? Even in the body of a young adult without his memories he had always acted older than his counterparts. He had attempted to imitate and enjoy things with them and he truly had, but it had taken some practice.

Still, what he was remained a mystery. Not even Wu could comprehend what powered him.

“When I look, what I see is the element of ice, contained within you.That is all.”

Which, in and of itself, was a curious thing.

How was it possible for a vessel of technology to hold an element? How was it possible for the element to dwell in that vessel when it was passed from parent to child, through destiny and fate rather than human engineering?

“I guess we could try taking it apart,” Nya said. “But we don’t know what that would do to you.”

His core wasn’t what it used to be. There wasn’t a piece of it that he could spare. When the original source was destroyed by the overlord--when he had been destroyed by the overlord--the only piece that remained belonged to Pixal, who Chen’s men had dismantled to retrieve the remaining piece of Zane’s core from and place it into Zane’s new titanium body. That piece now resided in Zane’s chest as before. Small and there was no telling what would happen if they split it another time or if they chose to experiment on it, so what it was would remain a mystery.

For now.

Zane kept dreaming. He kept seeing a battle, feeling urgency. He kept seeing his father’s face, younger than he ever remembered witnessing.

In the end what he chose to do was visit the site of the battle that he kept dreaming about.

It was in an eastern area of the Birchwood forest. A distance away from his father’s original laboratory in a still snowy but warmer climate. He placed his hand on the frosted over birch that felt so familiar. He felt as though he had woven through them before despite never having set foot in this area of the forest. His father had never explored this far nor bothered to leave the lab.

It was curious. That it felt so familiar. Curious that he felt… no, he knew he’d been here before, but according to Pixal no one had set foot in this forest since the war had ended.

He scanned his surroundings. He could feel when his titanium skin started to frost over after being there for a few hours.

“Have you found what you are looking for?” Pixal inquired, her voice settling comfortably inside his head as it had when she had no body to linger elsewhere. It was something that was familiar too. Something that was a memory that he knew he had experienced himself.

“I am not sure,” he confessed. “It’s a strange feeling, is all.”

“What will you do?”

“I will come back home.”

And he did just that.

“Find anything?” Kai asked him when he landed on the deck of the Bounty. He was sitting on the steps leading up to the control cabin.

“Nothing but old graves, I’m afraid.”

“Too bad. You’ll figure it out eventually. Just let us know if you need anything.”

“Thank you, Kai. I will.”

There were curious things about himself he could not put his finger on, but he would always have his friends there to help him discover and support him if what he found was not what he expected.

“I heard you’ve been having dreams.”

Zane glanced to see Cole leaning against the doorframe of his room. “Yes.” He watched as Cole entered, taking his response as the invitation it was. He came to sit next to him on the bed Zane didn’t need but still used.

“Have you talked to Lloyd about it?”

“Not yet. I was attempting to investigate first of all. If I were having visions of the future I would have initiated discussion with haste, but to my knowledge thus far they are things of the past.” Saying what he thought they were--the previous master of ice’s memories--felt inaccurate somehow. Saying they belonged to someone else didn’t feel right. And if Zane had learned anything from his time living, it was that his feelings often allowed him to see while logic blinded him.

He closed his eyes and breathed for a moment despite the fact he did not need to.

“What do you feel like it is?”

When he opened his eyes Cole was watching him. He was the first person to ask him that. Not what he thought it was. What he felt.

He remained still as he thought for a minute. “Something. I feel it is something.”

“It’s not nothing. It’s something,” Cole repeated.

“Yes.” Zane said.

“Okay,” said Cole. Zane could hear in his tone that he believed him. “So what next?”

“I follow where I feel.”

“Like always then,” Cole smiled.

Zane smiled slowly back. “Yes. Like always.”

It was comforting to know Cole trusted his instincts. That his family trusted his instincts. At times he did not feel he deserved such intense trust, but he was grateful for it nonetheless.

Like Cole said, whatever this was, he’d figure it out.

He was Zane, Elemental Master of Ice. Titanium Ninja. And possibly, if his theories were correct… something more.

[mikuni14]

The Sign - Ep 1

Ok, but The Sign has everything I like (at least for now):

coherent plot

good pacing and editing

good acting

great chemistry, relationship, interactions, scenes of the main couple

the actors and the plot sell me the romance

I support the main couple, I am so invested in their romance and story

both main actors and both characters are EQUALLY interesting and attractive to me, this is unfortunately very rare in my case

novelty of the story, unusual for BL series main couple, more reminiscent of Manner of Death than traditional BL

authentic, effortless sexiness of the romance, scenes, characters and actors

very good side characters

a well-shown "men's world" with everything: competition, proving one's worth and masculinity, cockiness, silly conversations, jokes about sex, making fun of each other, but also brotherly bonds and supporting each other

already in the first episode we have so much of good stuff: a romance between interesting guys, a whole lot of other relationships, a truly repulsive villain, a murder, mystery and fantasy. As if the series was specially created for me 😍

good balance between fun, humor, silly tropes like falling with a kiss or running away holding hands 😆, and serious scenes. The funny scenes don't overshadow/ruin the serious scenes, which unfortunately happens all the fucking time in other series

this is the third series recently with virginity discussed and the first in which a person who has not yet had a sexual debut is 1) not forced to do so, 2) not ridiculed, comments are limited to light teasing, 3) Tharn is simply asked about it and he has a chance to say why and is heard without judgment

I like literally everything

Chart is an extremely bad character, at first I hated him because I was programmed that way by ThanType. But no, he deserves complete contempt, and no Tharn, he is not a good cop and never will be, this man should be eliminated from the cop selection at this stage, he will get people killed.

Did the murder actually happen? Is this maybe one of the training sessions like we thought they were actually freeing the hostage at the beginning of the episode? 🤔🤡

Anyway, give me Billy, an equally lovely and cool actor to match, a compelling love story, a water dragon and I'll be fed with it for weeks. (also, the scene in the bathroom when Tharn reacts to Phaya's voice, the hug from behind is, I'm sorry, I don't want to offend fans of other series at all! but it is hotter than other high-heat series currently airing. Heh! even the way Tharn looks at Phaya's hand on his shoulder was hotter to me than the entire last episode of Playboyy, sorry, it's not a diss, Playboyy is fun! but, well, that's just how I feel 😉)

This is my fav series currently airing 💖💖💖💖💖

[calsvoid]

santana for the character ask

character ask

version 2 — give me a character and i will tell you

how i feel about this character:

she’s my baby my daughter my little princess also she’s so me as we’ve discussed in the glumblr server lol i’m so happy about her getting her happy ending it’s everything she deserved and more she’s iconic she’s sexy she’s perfect and evil and where would we be without her lines

all the people i ship romantically with this character:

obvs brittana they’re perfect and i still am in shock they got together

pezberry, i am obsessed with fucked up relationships and i just think they’re so fun like i desperately needed them to have hate fucked multiple times throughout their lives

quinntana, except romantically is kinda a stretch. in my head, they work as weird fwb who also kinda hate each other sometimes and would probably kill each other if they got together properly

my non-romantic OTP for this character:

blaintana my beloved they’re my everything the true lesbian gay solidarity friendship the world (me) needed. i love all their moments, they’re so cute but also she’s this close to stealing his coffee and splashing it onto his face

unholy trinity save me save me unholy trinity. they’re so funny together and i love how they canonically are just really in sync with one another because yknow friendship (and obsession but shh)

also pezberry because as much as i love them with their sexually charged rivalry, i also love them just being besties. i’m so happy they made their relationship better (sorta) in the later seasons and it’s just adorable and i love them both so much

honorary mention for my sebtana step cousins hc because of course i have to talk about them. literally no basis in it for canon except like a handful of scenes one of which was deleted and all of which sebastian was being an annoying prick, which i ran with and decided to make them be each other’s least favorite/most favorite (step) cousin and please help this was just a funny idea and now it’s like a permanent part of my fanon universe

my unpopular opinion about this character:

i don’t think i have one?? i usually go with the popular stuff i feel like

the closest i can think of is that i hated the double wedding (it was cute but what the fuck do not fucking improvise a wedding hello marriage is very serious don’t do that) but that’s more to do with my issues with anxiety than it does santana

one thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon:

they should’ve had pezberry fuck. also more furtana

my OTP:

brittana <33333333 they’re literally perfect for each other still can’t believe they’re wives

my crossover ship:

i’m not a big crossover fan rip so none

a headcanon fact:

hates horror movies (i think glumblr was talking about it earlier) she’d insult them a bunch to make it seem like she thinks they’re bad instead of she’s scared. would watch one for brittany though because that’s the love of her life

[necronatural]

Here's my review of the ANN Ryoko Kui interview

No one asked but the visceral reaction people had was just so funny I'd like to have some clarity in how I view it from my personal perspective

-An opener to get to know Ryoko Kui personally that whiffed hard because the manga did not come from the mind of someone who likes to cook and experiment with food

-A question about Ryoko Kui's favourite dish. As she had such an empty answer for the previous question and many had heard of Ryoko Kui's picky eating this question is like a slow motion train wreck. It was popular to talk about but most people still wouldn't have heard about the picky eating thing so this is a good thing to have in an article

-The only truly, intrinsically unforgivable question: "OBVIOUSLY you like TTRPGs". Ryoko Kui will not stop fucking talking about CRPGs. The main party was conceived of as a Wizardry OC party. She constantly absolutely nonstop makes references to Wizardry. I'm going to get a headache that there was a possibility of asking her if she has ever played Fallout 1 and the interview is just so uneducated on her creative influences that this opportunity slipped through their fingers. This question makes me want to microwave my own eyeballs so I don't have to watch someone whiff this bad

-Baldur's Gate 3 isn't going to save that. I can't believe the followup question wasn't about CRPGs. Does the interviewer know what a CRPG is? I genuinely have to ask

-Pretty good softball question about worldbuilding.

-Tapping into the most interesting aspect of the main character by asking about personal influences in crafting such a person

-The follow-up about the idea of a 'perfect monster' really feeds into her "I made it up" perspective of her worldbuilding and more of her personal influences. It paints a picture of her process that I find really similar to my own and that's neat :)

-This is like, the most artisanal fucking question about disability and identification you could POSSIBLY do and I'm not kidding. Lead with the scene that caused the most discussion. Refer to the readers who relate to this deeply autistic experience in their fight. Ask if this resonance was on purpose. Circle back to the Laois-Toshiro conflict, the real root of the interaction. I think it's like...the west, specifically the US, has this really bizarre individuality and fascination with tidy little boxes to fit into, so it's incredibly disarming for a lot of people that she like...answered the main question. Laios is written as a relatable, accessible character. Those autistic experiences you mentioned hindered his ability to interact with Shuro, but Shuro was hindered from engaging with Laios by his own burdens. She talks about this inability to weigh each other's circumstances causing strife. Which is pretty straightforward! But people wanted the validation of the little box. Doomed question but not a whiff

-The Laios question was so well-crafted and meticulously designed to communicate to Kui why the question about the fight left such an impact, but the Senshi one is like the TTRPG one; just assuming shit of her that is obviously not the case. If I wrote this I would comment on the dichotomy between Senshi's very obviously silly and non-erotic panty shots and the incredible care she puts into illustrating him as handsome and cool (i.e. that chapter cover) in serious moments. It is a miracle of fucking god this whiff ended with us obtaining such a funny and direct answer and Kui found the influence interesting to bring it into the interview but it's still awful form to ask this

-WHY WOULD YOU FOLLOW UP ON THAT. LET IT GO

-The question about Marcille's outfit is really neat! I think it's cool to get confirmation on its roots, and the mother/baby influences really make you think

-Mediocre question about farcille. Again, there wasn't a lot of care put into this and the shipping seems more important than curiosity about how she views the intensity of her own writing. This question did not whiff & gave us something interesting but you really can't help but be annoyed when you're more interested in why she wrote them that way and not if Kui blesses your OTP

-Ending it on the Izutsumi question ties into the interview also ending I like the pacing of it and leaves me thoughtful and reminiscing on the series. Good one

FINAL SCORE

It was simply mid. 💔

[mimiatmidnight]

So, twelve hours post, here is my first round of thoughts:

I will never recover from all the baby clips. NEVER. RECOVER.

Doria is the classiest, most dignified person in history. That poor woman deserves a medal for what she endured so strongly.

The producers did such a fantastic job of weaving the love-storytelling in with the historical discussions and the present-day narrative. And MAN what a love story. I really thought I had a good sense of them before, but I feel so different now. I see them and their love in a new light. Which, hey, isn't that the exact point of this whole thing? So, mission accomplished. I am completely warmed and enchanted.

I especially feel I understand so much more about who they were before each other. I love how dedicated the producers were to establishing Meghan's pre-Harry personhood and just how much she lost to be with him. And I was so unspeakably moved by Harry's recounting of his relationship to the people of Lesotho and Botswana. How they took him in when he had no place he felt at home. How it fundamentally shifted his development into the man he would be become. Genuinely one of the most beautiful stories in the whole production.

Meghan is better than me because if I had to meet my future in-laws and there in my kitchen was Kate Middleton looking at me the way Kate Middleton looks at people, I would be on the next plane back to America. EXPEDITIOUSLY.

Also um can we take a sec to laugh at how Cambridge stans (esp those in the rota) are taking personal offense to Harry's cheeky but astute observation about his male relatives marrying for convenience rather than love? SO funny. I think he was very obviously talking about his parents, but hey if you wanna be like "This is so clearly about William and Kate" like . . . Ok mama, if the tiara fucking fits!!!!

Meghan is better at communicating the warm, gooey, happy parts of the story, and Harry is FAR better at communicating the serious, difficult, upsetting parts of the story -- the "shocking revelations," if you will. Meg is seemingly still struggling with this incredibly frustrating naivete surrounding their situation, and it does not come across the screen well to me. But that is a discussion for others to have, so that's all I'll say on that.

The Black historians and political commentators they brought on were absolutely critical to nailing that side of the story. Afua Hirsch was my very favorite.

I've already gotten at least one anon asking about my perspective on the addressing of Harry's SS costume. I appreciate the interest, but no. I am the granddaughter of a Holocaust survivor. My family and I have been discussing how to internalize and process Harry specifically, as well as people like him, for years now. And it's not something I'm willing to do over the internet with strangers. Sorry, but I hope you can understand.

Mandana's scene was so funny. She was like "Royal expert? You literally just made that up right now 🤨" LMAO

Ashleigh's appearance knocked me BACK omg. I'm so touched to see how they connected all those years ago, and I hope they have found a way to reconnect, away from all that sabotage.

As I posted just before, the way they are juuuuust planting the seeds for the Jason storyline to come . . . literal fucking chills.

I love that they know which photos of them are iconic. When the umbrella shot showed up I was like "Yeah they know that was history right there" 😌

Oh and showing them Meghan's old This or That interview, the producers are SO real for that kjgfhfdgfjgh

Please believe me when I tell you that I am not usually one to be all "Ohhhhh Diana ohhhhh she's looking down on them ohhhh this or that." Lol. But the clip of Archie reaching his little hand to her photo on the wall, and not to her face, which babies are neurologically wired to focus on, but to her hands. Yeah a bitch might just have teared up or whatever 🥲

I thought the whole thing was really well produced. So far, it's not the nuclear war all those panicking lil media experts were predicting. But my sense is that Volume I was very much an introduction to lay the groundwork for whatever we're about to go through in Volume II. And I cannot wait. For the time being, I am so over the moon to be granted this truly moving glimpse into what a beautiful life Harry and Meghan have built for themselves.