#tldr we'll have to see which one is stronger

[impromptu-sketches]

Jinx manhwa season 2 thoughts & predictions (after reading chapter 54)

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(spoilers ahead)

First, I'm dying to see Jaekyung's backstory and it better be good (and by good I mean bad) to have made him this way. Clearly he has zero family in his life. He doesn't even have any friends. The only people he has is his coach, the guys at the gym (not many anymore since most of them left at the end of season 1), Kim Dan (and before Kim Dan it was his latest boytoy which was only a tool for his jinx), and Heesung if you can count him as a friend :/ (and now his new PT?)

We've only seen him without Kim Dan for one chapter now (ch. 54) and it's the clearest it's ever been how lonely his life is. So I'm expecting a backstory that'll explain how he ended up this way. I agree with others when they say that Jaekyung grew up poor because of boxing being a 'poor man's sport' and that he seems to despise people who care about material possessions and money (Heesung, people giving him gifts on his birthday, Kim Dan asking for more money in the beginning of the series). I think there may be some reason for this specifically. Also, he says that he only bought his apartment because of the pool, so that explains the penthouse. He does own a lot of expensive brands and things that Kim Dan notices when wanting to buy him a gift, but I think this is just Jaekyung wanting good quality. Things that go against this idea are his cars haha but maybe we'll see an explanation for this.

His jinx and how it started. There have been a lot of parallels so far to BJ Alex, and in that story we see Alex was the way that he was because of his parents general lack of love and his first love being an asshole and breaking his heart (simply put). I don't think Jaekyung had a past love because he said he'd never even dated before? So instead I think the jinx will tie in to severe childhood/early adolescent bullying - whether it started because he was poor or weak or both. And I think this is where we're going to see his last opponent Baek Junmin. We'll have to see how exactly it started, it might be as simple as he started to notice he did better the day after sleeping with someone and by continuing to dominate someone in the bedroom he was able to mentally overcome his feelings of weakness and gain the confidence to win. It allowed him to take some control back in his life. Or, sleeping with someone gave him some form of comfort and that's what made him feel better before the fight.

The biggest mystery for me is his parents. I've heard others predict that he grew up in an orphanage and that's plausible. I'm really not sure what the story is with his parents, but I don't think it'll be a huge part of his backstory compared to the bullying.

I've heard some people wondering if he was part of the underground fighting they mentioned in season 1 and that doesn't feel like Jaekyung to me... unless it was very early on and he had no choice.

TLDR - Overall, I think it'll be a pretty simple backstory like he was bullied as a kid because he was poor & weak, he felt that his only choice was to pick up mixed martial arts to get stronger and be able to stand up for himself and be able to fight back, he found success but at the cost of having a jinx.

Questions I have going into season 2:

Jaekyung's family / parents / how he grew up / how he got into MMA fighting

How and when did his jinx start?

When did his insomnia start and is it connected to his trauma?

How did Heesung find out about his Jinx?

How will Jaekyung and Kim Dan interact again for the first time since he left?

Will Jaekyung forgive Kim Dan's debt? Will he use the debt to see him again?

Why is Jaekyung so angry and have the mentality that he can't lose?

Did the grandma pass away in the month time skip? :(

Where is Kim Dan and is he okay??

[torchickentacos]

21 and 22 for drew? or may if you’ve already been asked those ones about him!

From this ask game! LONG, under cut. Various off-topic musings included.

21. If you're a fic writer and have written for this character, what's your favorite thing to do when you're writing for this character? What's something you don't like?

Ok so disclaimer for the few people who read what I write- this may or may not translate into my end product. I try to keep it in mind but ultimately my fics kind of write themselves and I have minimal input tbh. I'm not steering this car, I just put my foot on the pedal. I make it go but the characters are the ones driving with reckless abandon.

Also these are all just my opinions and if anyone hates them, please don't let me know.

Something that I like doing when writing Drew is leaning into how much he thinks. I enjoy leaning into his internal dialogue, his hang-ups on every little thing, his propensity to dwell (in my characterization of him, anyways, which is, ehhh, give or take maybe 85% taken from canon and 25% bullshitted. My math is wrong but I'm not changing it, there's just an extra 15% of my own bullshit and we'll pretend it was intentional).

When writing him, there tends to be a lot more going on internally than when I write, idk, May or Ash or whoever. Drew's always attuned to the situation, picking things up and filing them away. He's always formulating opinions and thoughts and emotions that rarely make it out of his head. He feels a lot of things but generally they stay inward, whereas when writing someone like May, if she's feeling it, she's probably also expressing it regardless of if she should or not. No filter vs too much of a filter for his own good.

I think that, in a related vein, he's always holding himself back. Both vocally and just... kind of in general? Maybe not career-wise, but emotionally, he'd rather get close and then dart away over and over again instead of making any leaps. He's careful. He'd rather balance on a tightrope than take the fall USUALLY *(this is how I write him, and other portrayals are ones that I love! this is just what I do, not what I'm saying is the right thing). We see it in canon- he gives May roses but hides behind excuses. He starts conversations but leaves just as quickly. He's mercurial and never builds up the bravery that he needs. He's careful to the point of cowardice- and not just ship-wise. This can be used for any number of things, which I find fun. He likes being in control, and if he doesn't feel like he has a steady grasp on a situation, he leaves. And you can't control people's emotions, so that's scary, so he dips out from emotional moments unless something stronger keeps him there. It's a constant push-and-pull between his own mind and emotions. One's always trying to rein the other in and break free of the other at the same time.

He likes certainty. This contrasts well with a certain someone whose entire battle style features assist and metronome, which is built in uncertainty. She challenges him. But that's for another post.

Something I dislike writing is leaning into how much of a jerk he actually is in canon sometimes tbh. Canon can keep that- I do enjoy it situationally but overall I leave that to writers who are better at showing that side of him without making him grating. I prefer watering it down some and making him be annoying in different ways lol, which admittedly does actually close off a few interesting avenues and facets of him. But I think given the tumultuous nature of rival ships and fandom's current... propensity for tossing out words like 'romanticizing' and 'idolizing' and whatever else, I'd rather just leave well enough alone with the worse aspects of him and avoid being called a verbal abuse apologist or whatever 😭 I don't want any avenues for some jackass to be like 'oh ew you write m/f relationships where the man is mean and dominant over the poor woman' or whateverthefuck. TLDR, I'm a people pleaser with worn-thin patience for rival ship discourse.

I also lean towards AU/slice-of-life stuff where his rival jerkassery is less applicable to begin with, anyways. I am FULLY guilty of watering him down and making him nicer, but I'm self-aware, so... there's that, I guess, lol. I also think he'd chill out as he gets older, anyways, leaning more towards 'vaguely prickly and sardonic' than anything else.

Anyways, it's kinda weird to answer these when I never actually share my writing on this blog, but oh well. That privilege got revoked after someone was mean about my writing around me without knowing that it was mine, lol. It wasn't even good criticism (which baffles me because god knows they had material to work with), it was just general bitching about ship fics that aren't as complex as War and Peace. God forbid some people enjoy fluff. Send me to the corner of shame along with the few dozen people who liked my writing and the people who left kind comments. Anyways, it's funny now, but I still won't share writing here. The best way to support me is to support writers in general.

So! General call to action. Go find a fic for your favorite ship (or just any fic in general but I'm being petty and saying 'ship' since the rude person seemed to take issue with shipping) and leave a (NICE. 🔪) comment. Just a heart emoji if you feel like it. Tell writers when you reread their work, just a 'Hey! rereading and remembering how much I liked this one :)' or something. It'll keep them going for a week, I'm telling you. I still think about and reread every single comment that I have ever received. I keep them all copy-pasted in a google doc. It's 24 pages long and 11.2k and it makes me cry (in a good way).

22. If you're a fic reader, what's something you like in fics when it comes to this character? Something you don't like?

This is going to sound so fucking backhanded but I LOOOOOVE reading fics where he has friends. I love reading him talking to Solidad or Gary or Ash or May as a friend or whoever else!!! Make him socialize!!!! it's fun! Lord knows that he doesn't do it enough and it shows. I like reading fics where he gets to interact with people that he doesn't talk to often in canon. So anyone but May pretty much. I love his horrendously down-bad tunnel vision where he only acknowledges May and literally nobody else, funny as hell, but also it'd have been so fun if he actually spoke to other people. I read a fic several years ago where he and Paul were sorta-work-friends, it was some 2014 assassin AU PS/CS/IS fic. but I remember that Drew would intentionally play coldplay songs around Paul to annoy him or something like that. They had a frenemies-bromance-coworkers thing going on and it was just DELIGHTFUL, if a little odd! That shit's hilarious! Let me see Drew bothering other people on purpose and joking with friends!

So. Things I don't like. I personally disagree with the early 2010s FFN portrayals of him as a casanova womanizer, BUT I also kind of love those portrayals for their sheer absurdity and the camp factor lmao. It's not even an ironic enjoyment, it's a genuine affection for that whole era of fics. It's the opposite of how I write him, but it's nostalgic to look back on old fanon. I also don't care for fics that break him and May up but that's obviously a personal bias that I've literally gone against myself on, lmao. It can be done well but sometimes it skirts into ship-bashing territory, usually at Drew's expense. Just because it's not a preference of mine doesn't mean that it's a bad thing to write! I'm just not the audience and that's okay, it's not a failing of the writer. I mentioned the person who disliked my fics and said so publicly, and that doesn't reflect on me. It reflects on their tastes. Same goes here. It's just not to my taste. It's subjective and not at all a statement on the quality or validity of a fic that includes those things.

[tashacee]

Food for thought: Aspect Wild still has the champion's abilities thanks to time shenanigans and zonai magic shenangians.

But instead of BOTW champions we'll see the sages from Rauru's time and a very confused Wild.

Too add on to "Wild's Hyrule fucking with him": Rauru and Sonia's spirits appear while he's stuck in the Aspect armor. Sonia takes one good look at him with a deadpan expression: " Running away from home? Without a note??? Son. My sweet dear boy, how could you?"

And Rauru just nodding along. Everyone putting up a great act that Wild is indeed non hylian until he's able to free himself from the armor.

Which he will according to a comment you made one of your fics.

But as a what if: Divinity magic doesn't mix well with Zonai magic? For Example: The end of TOTK where Sonia and Link tries to set Zelda free but it seems to only work when Rauru joined in. So here's the what if factor: Wild can't remove the armor at all — purely because the Zonai magic is stronger than Divinity. Especially 𝙤𝙪𝙩𝙨𝙞𝙙𝙚 of Wild's Hyrule. The longer he's awat from his era? The stronger the magic. Doomed to be forever the ancient hero as his DNA (RNA?) is now converted to what that hero's race is.

TLDR of that what if: Hylia fucked around and found out.

Pfffffft i completely believe that Rauru and Sonia would absolutely join in on the joke, anything to tease Zelda's dear precious hero <3

As regards Hylia fucking around and finding out, I am SO tempted to have him retain some physical characteristics when he transforms back. Namely a tail. I want him to keep the tail.

And still purr. And knead.

Hnnnng let Wild be a cat nintendo

Thanks!

[tizzymcwizzy]

I may be interested in watching Trigun, but I have doubts cuz I see there's a 1998 anime and a current one so, I should watch both to understand the plot or is it a FMAB situation???

oooooohhhohohooho *rubs my hands together* >:] okay

it is KIND OF a fmab situation but also not and all,, the trigun 98 anime was airing alongside the manga and then ended before the manga finished so it had to improvise a lot about the ending and thusly (from what i know, i have not read the manga yet) ends differently than the original manga and does not explain a lot about the plot and villains,,, i haven't seen the original fma anime yet so i don't know how deep the comparison goes but they seem like they have the same case

and the stampede is, yes, a later rerelease of the story that can only exist since the manga has been finished,, but from my impression !!! it is STARKLY different in some aspects to that of the manga's plotline and pacing, which is a very different case to fmab which is a truer adaptation that follows the original manga's plotline

SO neither of the animes will give you the truest understanding of the manga's story (also there's 2 mangas, trigun and trigun maximum and im not fully aware of the differences between them, again, haven't read them yet) that's why i'd recommend watching both of 98 and stampede!! which is what ive done, if you don't wanna do that then ill give you a rundown of the differences so you can pick which seems more interesting to you

trigun 1998 begins the same way the manga does and does all its reveals and like, early story stuff the same way the manga does (I THINK,, AGAIN, HAVE NOT READ THE MANGA) the tone of the anime also matches the manga, i think, and that may not seem like something that's super important,, but it has a lot of a funny goofy silly moments and mystery !!! that i feel add a LOT to the experience of the story that stampede just doesn't have cause of it's shorter runtime, the characterization of the main cast is i also think way closer to the manga and (in my opinion) way more fun and likable than stampede JDGDHFJ

stampede is very different from the original storyline (again,, i will reiterate,, my impression of it cause idk exactly how different 98 is to the manga but im sure 98 is much more similar than stampede is to the manga) it begins, runs, and the season ends very differently to how 98, and manga, i think, does the story,,, it switches out set pieces, characters, and plotlines,, BUT it really gets into the lore and villains in a much deeper way than what trigun 98 does, it actually explains shit and includes plotlines that the 98 anime just could not include which makes it really intriguing and more dramatic

enough about the plot and more into my personal opinions,,, trigun 98 is super fun and silly and has a lot better of an introduction and characterization of the main cast than stampede does. 98 has a better intro to the story and world than stampede does beCAUSE stampede is only 12 episodes and rushes through a lot of the beginning for the sake of getting to the plot and lore, but stampede has a much stronger ending and a deeper exploration of the main characters and villains than 98 because it actually has the resources from the manga to pull from

that's why i think that if you wanted to watch both you should start with 98 first because it's got a better beginning and set up for the story's main themes and messages than stampede does, but stampede then delves into those themes l messages, and villains! that 98 didn't have a chance to explore to their fullest

this is also why id recommend you read the manga as well cause there's a lot that is still missing from the entire trigun story that neither anime will explain to you (we'll see what stampede season 2 has to offer but that's a ways a way)

WHOO THAT WAS A LONG FUCKING ASK IM SORRY DHDHJFJGG but i hope it gives you some insight on how to approach getting into it!

TLDR: the 98 anime and stampede are both different from the manga in different ways so id recommend you watch both of them, 98 first and then stampede, but also read the manga :)

[thatdesklamp]

Oh my goodness! Hello!

I wanted to pop in and say that I absolutely adore Intrinsic Warmth. I honestly requested an AO3 account so I can stay updated with whenever you post. I literally read Intrinsic Warmth for the better part of my Wednesday. Chapter 12 was so heartbreaking, I really hope Gojo and Hebi figure things out stat.

If you dont mind, I have a few questions regarding Gojo (i dont know if you’ll expand on later or just leaving it be - so absolutely no pressure to answer this).

Number one is in the 2007 oneshot Gojo thinks about one time before the big fight where he thought of Hebi in a romantic light - will we ever figure out what that moment was?

and then my second question is: did Gojo ever speak to Jin Hebi in chapter 10 when Hebi left to go have a bit of a panic attack in the other room. I’d be super curious in what their interaction would be like now Gojo is an adult.

No pressure at all with these questions! You’ve created such an amazing character and I love how Hebi interacts with everyone in the story, I can’t wait for chapter 13.

Hello!! Thank you so much :( That's so cool and crazy--and bingeing a fic that's nearing 150k words in one day is absolutely insane, and you're stronger than me. IW is reaching my usual cut-off point for fics, lmao, in terms of word count--and I just know it's so likely we'll be reaching 200k at some point, which just gets a bit long for me LOL. So you're braver than me!! Huzzah!

And questions! For sure! I love getting questions because I either 100% know the answer and get to be like, oooh! they noticed!, or it's something I literally hadn't even considered and now I'm like, ooh! I've got to think about this some more!

The first one is somewhere in the middle. I've got one irl friend who properly knows about IW, and she's my first port of call when I have random questions about characterisation or how things come across in my writing (she's awesome), and something she said ages ago was actually the inspiration for the 2007 oneshot, about Gojo having dreams about Hebi without really understanding what it meant. Anyway, she's mentioned that she's always thought 15yo Gojo would've had the tiniest little inkling of some feelings, which honestly was why I put that in there.

Also, honestly because I thought it was pretty funny to put a reference in there without any elaboration. Will they notice? What will they think? ha ha ha he he he.

I can't say at the moment whether I'll circle back to it! If it comes up in IW then I might talk about it as a nudge-nudge-wink-wink to the tumblr people over here, but I also can't see myself writing a oneshot about it just because I do think the ambiguity is really really funny. tldr, I'm not sure! Maybe. It's up to future me.

Your second question falls squarely in the realm of, oh shit, I didn't even think about that but now I absolutely have to. I too would be super curious about their dynamic! Damn. I hadn't thought about what Gojo was doing when Hebi was off, not with any specifics, but I absolutely do want to explore how an interaction between him and her dad would work now they're adults.

Okay, after thinking about it for a little more: when he was younger, Gojo would have never missed an opportunity to talk to the Hebi family, esp. Jin, my girl's father. Usually to taunt them, show off, pretty ostentatious and superior. It'd stem from his hatred of them from what they did to Hebi, but also from the more immature desire to prove his superiority over everyone.

I think when he'd get older and more mature, when Hebi was retreating from her family, he'd see speaking with her family as somewhat of a betrayal of her, a la 2005. If she's not talking to them, he shouldn't either, to show solidarity. Also, it'd be politically wise: excluding the family from the company of Satoru Gojo is an intentional slight, and one that would have been felt throughout all of the society. But I can't see politics being Gojo's main motivator; it'd have to be his loyalty to Hebi. His hatred of her family wouldn't have changed, probably just getting stronger to be fair, but there would be less of that childish need to assert himself as the 'best' over her family.

But I think, at some point, he would have spoken to them, and properly gone off on them. I can't think at the moment as to when, specifically, but I just have a feeling he would have, as an adult. Maybe when she wasn't speaking to him? Not sure. But this is something I want to circle back to. If you see it in future IW chapters, you know why!!!!

[evilblot]

I'd say even with SwSh's issues, it's still a decent game. The next-gen 'mons are well designed, the characters are pretty good, the wild areas are a cool concept. The Tundra DLC is also pretty cool!

Oi birb friend, what a pleasure to see you in my inbox! How you doing fam? 💕💕

Pleasantries aside, get a load of my gamer thoughts under the cut skskks

The problem is that, conceptually speaking, Pokèmon SWSH is indeed a valid game! I mean the Galar region is visually stunning (especially Hammerlock, Motostoke and Ballonlea, where I’d love to live ngl), the new gen is lovely and I really like some of the mons (Rillaboom, Corviknight, Polteageist, Grimmsnarl, Obstagoon, Runerigus, Glastrier hello? These are my children and I love them) and most of the characters are absolutely valid both in terms of character design and diversity, I mean fat gym leaders?? Many skin colors and ethnicities??? Good job Nintendo, finally some good fucking representation. Also Chairman Rose is one chonky snacc of a man and I have no shame in admitting that I really really wanna sink my teef in his dad bod sjkaslk 👀👀

Anyway. The wild areas? Honestly now that’s something I never thought I’d see in a Pkmon game. Like for the first time in, what, 25 years we can freely move the camera and explore around the place without routes to follow? Incredible. Groundbreaking. Absolutely astounding.

Unfortunately, as regards the technical sector itself... Big Yikes™.

The animations are something I’d expect from a ps1 game not from a next-gen console (and I’m not even gonna start talking about fighting animations because I can’t, I’m not strong enough sjsjsk), the mons models aren’t scaled according to their actual size reported in the pokédex, the graphics are somewhat mediocre (and I know a game isn’t defined only by its looks but since the gameplay isn’t stunning either I consider this to be a problem), no GTS (unless you pay for a Nintendo Online Membership and even if so there are other issues too), virtually no replayability, the dynamic weather is everything but dynamic, the entire character of Hop is basically a copy paste of Hau but more annoying, they cut over 140 moves (including signature ones) and removed old features (such as Mega evo and Z moves) with virtually no new additions.

All of this is not only a huge step down from earlier titles, but it goes beyond what used to be already barely tolerable standards to way below standards, and keep in mind this is the biggest, most profitable franchise on Earth... Not to mention the title is still quite pricey (it’s 60 € for the digital release and around 50 for the physical copy), and also you need an extra 30€ for the DLC making the price to rise up to almost 90€, which is definitely a prohibitive price for such a game imo.

In conclusion? Shit fam I dunno.

On one hand I wanna too feel the Pokemon experience once again, since it’s been a while since I legitimately played a Pkm game, but on the other hand I don’t really feel like throwing away 90 bucks like this... We’ll see I guess.

Anyway thank you so much for the ask, love to hear the opinion of my fellow gamers in these trying times <3