#to be honest i feel like my main strength is in creating characters. like i have this one family of werewolves i've been slowly but surely

[fingertipsmp3]

Ughhhhhhh I hate writing and I hate not writing and I hate myself

[lilyprettyremy]

Redefining Femininity: Your Guide to Embracing Grace and Inner Strength

Hey love,

Let me tell you about something that’s completely changed the way I see my day-to-day life: stepping into my Soft Girl Era. It’s not just an aesthetic or a mood, it’s a whole mindset that’s about slowing down, showing yourself love, and finding joy in the tiniest things.

And listen, I get it. Life gets crazy, and sometimes we feel like we need to keep up with everything. But honestly? There’s magic in choosing softness and deciding that you deserve the good things, right now. Let me share how I’m doing it and how you can, too:

Romanticize Your Life

I used to wait for big moments to feel good—birthdays, vacations, those rare “perfect” days. But here’s the thing: life isn’t made up of perfect days. It’s the little ones that count! So now, I’m pouring my coffee into the prettiest mug I own, spritzing on perfume even if I’m just staying home, and playing my favorite music while I do my skincare.

Use your best things every day—your fancy candles, your satin pillowcases, your sparkling water in a wine glass. Why not?

Pick one “special” activity you love and make it part of your routine. Journaling, reading a dreamy book, or even sitting outside to watch the sunset can feel like a treat.

Glow Through Your Style

Soft Girl vibes start with wearing what feels good to you—literally and emotionally. For me, that’s cozy knits, flowy dresses, and the kind of jewelry that makes me feel like the main character. I’ve started thrifting pieces that bring me joy and pairing them with staples I already loved.

Go through your closet and pick the pieces that feel like you. Maybe it’s pastels, maybe it’s neutrals—whatever makes you feel soft and confident.

Accessorize! Add gold hoops, a simple hair bow, or your favorite gloss.

Care for Your Heart and Mind

Let’s get real: being soft doesn’t mean being weak. It means being honest with yourself and letting your emotions flow without shame. Lately, I’ve been journaling almost every day—it’s like having a heart-to-heart with myself. Sometimes I even set a timer for 5 minutes and just write everything I feel. It’s so freeing!

Start or end your day with journaling. It doesn’t have to be deep—write about what made you happy or even what annoyed you.

Try a mini reset when things feel overwhelming: sit in silence for a moment, take a deep breath, or cry if you need to. It’s all okay.

Create a Beautiful Space

I used to think my environment didn’t matter much, but wow, was I wrong. When my space feels cozy and pretty, I feel better. Adding fresh flowers, twinkly lights, or even a soft blanket can completely shift the vibe.

Add one small thing to your space that makes you smile—like a cute photo, a plant, or even a thrifted vase.

Try a mini DIY: create a vision board with quotes, pictures, and colors that inspire you. Tape it to your wall or keep it in your journal as a reminder of what you’re working towards.

Nurture Your Relationships

The best part of my Soft Girl Era? Feeling closer to the people I love. I’ve been making an effort to check in with friends, even if it’s just a quick voice note or a funny meme. It’s not about perfection; it’s about connection.

Send that “I miss you” text you’ve been thinking about. It might just make someone’s day.

Be present in conversations. Put down your phone when you’re with people and really listen.

Make time for the relationships that feel good and let go of the ones that don’t.

Softness Is Strength

Choosing softness doesn’t mean you’re fragile, it means you’re strong enough to prioritize joy and kindness in a world that can be harsh. Every time you choose to take care of yourself, you’re showing the world, and yourself, that you’re worth it.

So, let’s lean into this together. Light that candle, grab your coziest sweater, and step into your Soft Girl Era. You deserve a life that feels gentle, beautiful, and completely yours.

What’s one thing you’re doing for your Soft Girl Era today? Let me know—I’d love to hear! 💕

[weiila]

About posturing in Helluva Boss

I made a joke post a few days ago about Satan being an angry crier and that's why he needs Yogirt, but I'm only half joking.

A very prominent theme in Helluva Boss is characters putting up a facade of toughness and strength when they're actually close to a meltdown or trying to fake it until they make it and being terrified of being found out.

Blitz is the prime example of course, because he's the main character - his anger and insults hide a very caring and desperately lonely interior.

Fizz is very much the same, a loudmouth who truly believed he could not be loved without earning it, and for years played the role of the sassy jester while in constant fear of losing everything he had worked so hard for.

Loona had to pretend to be a savage, violent beast in the pound to protect herself, but broke down the second she thought nobody was looking. She still has trouble showing Blitz she does care (until Mastermind).

Ozzie is very different when he's working - which is how he's introduced in Ozzie's - compared to how he is in private, which we see later on in Oops.

Millie is an unstoppable murder machine at work but a sweetheart as soon as she can clock out (and sometimes during work as well).

Bee MIGHT be the most honest character we've seen that has been on screen for more than one episode, but there are probably more layers to her as well. I'd say Striker too, BUT he tries so hard to be cool yet can't keep his head on straight when things go bad.

For a minor character, look at Crimson. He seems like this scary, imposing mob boss, but he buckles the second he's out of subordinates and Millie heads towards him. He manages to play it cool as he surrenders Moxxie, but there's zero resistance despite what he's painted himself as. Oh yes, Crimson has absolutely killed people, but if he was half the badass he pretends to be then he'd at least try do deal with Millie himself. But he doesn't. Most likely he can't fight for shit and has only managed to take out people weaker than him or with tricks. Without his underlings he's got nothing.

Now Hell as presented as very much a dog-eat-dog place, so them putting on this air is absolutely a way to survive.

And then there's Satan.

Satan created a whole species to specifically be obedient. Why? Because it makes him feel superior.

Satan flat out lies about being the first ruler of Hell, but Lucifer isn't around to correct him. Would he say that if Lucifer was? Probably not. But he says it because he knows nobody present dares to correct him. (This was vague in the episode with Ozzie and Bee just looking annoyed but confirmed by Viv in case you haven't seen that tweet being reposted.)

I have zero doubt that this dude has self-confidence as sturdy as a gnat. He can't handle being questioned or called out or worse of all, have his power being doubted.

And about Yogirt: Satan can't even keep his own Sin under control - he needs a support demon to do that. None of the other Sins we've spent time with, including Lucifer, are ruled by the Sin they represent - not even Mammon. Even if Mammon is absolutely greedy, he's enjoying himself and more importantly he can control himself and realize when to back off without needing outside help. Satan cannot do that. He needs a lil' dude to flutter up to talk about him about breathing and gemstones, or he loses it.

Every Sin, plus Charlie and Ars Goetia, transform when they get angry, and it seems like it's involuntary to a large degree (angels also seem to have this issue). I believe that the Satan we saw in Mastermind is actually his full demon rage form, BUT he desperately wants everyone to think that's his casual form (and that you wouldn't like him when he's angry!). If he lost his temper too much, it would become obvious that he doesn't change to become even scarier and then everyone would know that the imposing, godlike dragon man isn't what he really is.

My humble conclusion, dear reader:

Satan is nothing but a master fraudster, the ultimate faker-till-you-make-it and he's scared spitless of losing that image. Satan is the weakest Sin because he's controlled by his Sin instead of the other way around, but over millenia he's managed to con everyone into thinking he's the biggest badass in the land.

... except possibly Belphegor since she must have been the one to assign Yogirt to him. Keep a few eyes on that sheep, people. She knows things.

Anyway Satan is probably on the road to having a breakdown of epic proportions because Blitz is about to become his worst nightmare and it'll be glorious.

[xcerizex]

"hope can get you through fire"

For some reason, he recalled the strange letter he received this morning; what happened to Sena? Worry over him for what reason? What does he mean by frustration? Who was that special person he mentioned?

Does it even matter? If he's dying right now, there's no point in even thinking about something that might not come true.

I want you to know that you do have a future.

"..."

Thinking on those words, he propped himself up on his elbows using all the remaining strength he had left, and did his best to crawl out of hell.

(koyo, koyo x misa, mentions of character death, MAJOR SPOILERS for koyo's godly ending, some fluff, koyo sends a letter to his past, the reference letter can be found in the given link below, 1.7k words)

Holding up a finger to his lips, Yozora tells the latest rumor of the urban legend circling around Narimigahama.

"...Hey, have you heard? There's a legend saying that if you wrote down a letter and burned it by holding a broken match to the center of the paper, it'll be sent to the past."

"No, no I have not. And if you're trying to convince me to do it just because it's not as scary as your other challenges," Misa points a threatening finger at Koyo, "I'll eat the rest of the sweets in your fridge."

Even if she did do that, she would have had all the right to. After all, the one who stuffed his fridge chock-full with every homemade treat possible was her, who somehow made it her life's mission to cram every spare space possible with sweets. It's been a month since Valentine's day, but Koyo still can't see the back of his fridge.

At her threat, he chuckles. "Rest assured, the one that'll be doing the challenge is me, not you."

Misa swings her legs off his bed, "Will this be the main topic for your next stream?"

"Yep." Still sitting in his chair, he grabs open a drawer, revealing some writing tools and paper. "But since the actual rumor itself is pretty simple, I'll have to spice it up somehow."

She shoots him a worried look as she sees him open up another drawer, revealing a box of matches.

"Don't burn your house down."

He couldn't help but smile dryly, "Trust me, Misa," Koyo takes out the box of matches and shoves them deep into his pocket. "I have no intention of having my house burned down again. I won't be doing it at home."

"Then where?"

He hasn't decided yet. First and foremost...

"I'll make a decision when I get to that, for now, it'd be better if I started writing the letter first." He spreads out the writing materials on his desk, and Misa finally removes herself from her spot on his bed, walking over to his side to peer over his shoulder.

"When they say you'll be sending a letter to the past, where exactly will it end up?" Koyo feels Misa's breath puff against his cheek and stiffens, his hand holding the writing pen suspending in mid-air.

"..."

"Koyo?" She tilts her head at his reaction, unaware of what she's doing to him, and Koyo shakes his head. This level of intimacy was normal for them of course, but he's still trying his best to grow accustomed to it.

Trying to play it off, he twirls the pen in his hand nonchalantly. "Yeah well, this variation of the rumor is said that the sent letter will end up with your past self. To be honest..."

Koyo stares at the blank piece of paper in front of him.

"If it's true, I could think of a few things I'd like to tell him."

Misa hummed, and rested her on his shoulder. "So that's why you didn't want to during the stream?"

"Mhm. I'll just vaguely tell them about what I wrote, that should be fine. Truth be told, I'm not expecting it to work." He laughed.

If the letter really did go back to the past, surely he would have remembered about it in some way? Or maybe this was a bad idea, and Koyo was creating some sort of new paradox.

But Misa, unlike her usual skeptical-self even with her exposure to the occult, does not question him. Because she knows him, knows that this letter is more of a sentimental gesture for himself, rather than something he's doing just for the sake of his streams.

"So what are you going to write?" Turning around, Koyo faces his girlfriend, and sees her staring at him with her clear, blue eyes. The ones he loved, and never thought he'd love in the first place.

How strange it is, that through some twist of fate, they ended up with each other.

"Just some advice." Pressing the tip of his pen against the surface of the letter, he begins to write.

'It hurts, everything hurts.'

He could hear Reika's girly giggle ring in his head like a curse. No matter how he tried to shut it out in his mind, it followed him, even as the flames consumed his house and the monster that had ruined his life finally lost it's life right beside him.

It was sickening, he wanted to throw up, to find a way to get rid of this pain. He knew there was no hope of him staying alive, and with every second that passed, he felt the strength in his body fade away.

He really was dying.

"Ugh... hack-"

A small groan escaped his mouth, but it was quickly ruined by the fumes of smoke filling his lungs, making him cough. He'll die before the flames burned his body to ash, whether it be from the gashing wound on his abdomen, or the toxic fumes destroying him from the inside. That fact is his only piece of respite in this damned situation, because at the very least, either would hurt less than burning along with everything.

This is the only thing he can make do with, so he closes his eyes, prepared for the rest of his life to flash before them, awaiting the moment of his final breath.

'I don't want to die like this.'

A burning hatred, and a thirst for revenge hungered in his bones as if it could keep him alive for even a second longer. But Reika was already dead, even if he survived, what would remain left of this insatiable pain?

For some reason, he recalled the strange letter he received this morning; what about Sena, his best friend who was already on the verge of death? What does he mean by frustration? Who was that special person he mentioned?

Does it even matter? If he's dying right now, there's no point in even thinking about something that might not come true.

And one last thing...I want you to know that you do have a future.

"..."

Thinking on those words, he propped himself up on his elbows using all the remaining strength he had, and did his best to crawl out of hell.

In all honesty, when he found some random letter tucked in between his things, he was scared. Scared that Reika had somehow found a another way to sneak herself into his life, even as he was trying to run away from her. He almost threw it away too, held up the letter above the trash bin, but his hand slipped, and the letter fluttered to the floor, wide open for him to read and see.

Instead of that sickeningly sweet perfume he had expected, what he smelled instead, was the aroma of baked sweets, and the scent of the laundry detergent he always used.

He hesitated, before he picked it up and read it.

"If any of that is true..."

It hurts moving, and with every inch forward he crawled, he felt more blood ooze out of his wound. Slowly but surely, he knew that he wouldn't be able to hold on for much longer.

'I want to live.'

He wanted to see if the future the letter his future self described to him was real. He wished for it.

It gave him hope.

Little by little, he makes his escape. He hears the loud sirens in front of his house, the panicked voices of the gathering crowd, and loudest of all, the screams of his parents as they fight against the firemen blocking their way from trying to save him.

But the noise becomes distant, and his vision turns dark, as he recalls some of the last few lines of the letter he'd received.

Ah, you must wonder who I'm talking about.

If there was still a future left for him, then...

She's the most important women that the me of today met in this world.

He'll make it out of here, no matter how much it hurts.

Later on, as he opens his eyes and realises that the world he's in is no longer the realm of the living, he'll forget about the letter entirely.

But it's done its job, because for now, he's alive.

"Phew, I'm finally done." The letter was short, but throughout the entire process, Koyo had spent almost an hour agonizing on what he should and should not reveal. It was a little more taxing than he had expected, so he stretched his arms out, wanting to rid away the fatigue.

"Here." Having watched over him silently as he wrote, Misa places a cup of caramel pudding in front of him, the one she made herself. "If you're tired, you should take a nap."

He decides to take his shot, "Will you join me then?"

"W-what? What are you saying?!" Hissing back at him, her cheeks flushed a vibrant red, and Koyo routinely stamps down the desire to tease her further, afraid she'd get mad at him.

"It's just a nap, and I'm being serious..." His voice becomes smaller and smaller as he trails off, as he grabs her by the waist and pulls her closer, his own ears turning red from embarrassment.

This is not him teasing her no, he's being 100% serious. He ignores his usual urge to escape, and looks at her in the eyes.

"I really will eat the rest of the sweets," she jabs a finger at him in indignation, not wanting to lose to him, "please stop teasing me."

While he's absolutely sure she wouldn't do that, considering she's not mean enough to eat all the gifts she gave him, he knows she absolutely can. His girlfriend had a major sweet tooth after all.

"Go ahead and try." He reaches up to pinch her cheek, and is reminded of the time they first met. "If you eat anymore than your usual, you'd definitely get chubbier. Not that it would be a bad thing of course-"

She smacks his hand away, and narrows her eyes at him.

Koyo couldn't help but laugh at her familiar reaction, feeling the nostalgia seep into his heart like tea leaves to hot water, filling the air with an aroma irresistible to him.

Picking up the nearest pillow, Misa whacks it over his head.

"ACK!"

Maybe he's teased her enough for today.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KOYO! This is probably the first time I've written a birthday fic for a fictional character and posted it on the same day lol, but this was more of a coincidence than anything. I would like to give my gratitude to the madlad who made 266 pages of compiling 9RIP content, who sparked this brainrot.

This fic was based off B's Log September issue where Koyo did write a letter to his past self, but instead of it arriving to ghost Koyo like he had originally intended, I made it so that it arrived before he became a ghost. I couldn't help but think about how sweet it was!

If anyone wants to read the letter, here's the link (credits to the original maker, none of it belongs to me).

[iwanthermidnightz]

*sigh*

The way some (because it’s not all) of *them* are acting over what someone intentionally picked out from the entire prologue to share online (lol after screaming not to leak things lol), knowing it would go viral and lead to harassment of Gaylors/Kaylors is sad.

Especially when it proves that they go with whatever satisfies their insecurities over the possibility (re: TK for the time being). Lavender Haze “ended Gaylors/Kaylors” until the entire song and video came out, right? Or what about when “It’s Time To Go” and “Right Where You Left Me” were released and ended Gaylors/Kaylors” because they were about Karlie’s “betrayal”? Which led to Taylor commenting and saying what those songs were about.

When she deleted the reel about the LH, who was in shambles?

It doesn't change the fact that Taylor:

Wrote queer-coded lyrics and had an entire era of queer themes

Asked why people were mad when they could be glad (GLAAD) in a video where she placed herself in the queer community.

Pushed for the Equality Act to be passed and wrote letters, which she signed and added a rainbow to.

Said “out now” while wearing a rainbow dress to say reputation was available.

Has said, “I want her midnights”.

Wrote an entire song referencing a tattoo and a Tumblr account that a woman had removed and deleted.

Gave permission for “Seven” and “Ivy” to be used during scenes between queer characters on “Heartstopper” and “Dickinson”.

But somehow, Gaylors/Kaylors are projecting these things and creating them from their imaginations?

I am straight, but I have picked up on the queer-coded themes, etc., that she puts out. I actually…take the time to observe and listen to her lyrics and ask my queer mutuals on here questions about things I don’t understand because conversations help, and they matter. I don’t disregard their feelings or discredit their perceptions of her lyrics because I am mature and secure enough to respect their connections from her music to their life experiences.

From the excerpt (seems to be getting all the focus), it seems they think she is singling out Gaylors/Kaylors, but I think she’s simply saying that she was hoping that if the focus was taken off her dating life and that energy/focus were placed into her female friendships and having that concept empowered, they wouldn’t sensationalize or sexualize them.

Yet, they still sensationalized her friend group by criticizing /saying it was elitist, non-feminist, and a publicity stunt because all of her friends in the group happened to be white, rich, and thin. As for sexualizing, she specifically addressed the media by saying for her 25th birthday, she would like for THEM to stop accusing all her friends of dating her. While this was after kissgate, when the main discourse was not only still on her dating life but whether or not she and Karlie had kissed, let’s also look at these select lines from the reputation prologue:

“When this album comes out, gossip blogs will scour the lyrics for the men they can attribute to each song as if the inspiration for music is as simple and basic as a paternity test. There will be slideshows of photos backing up each incorrect theory.”

The same people who say Gaylors/Kaylors are sexualizing (because let’s be honest, that’s the only word they zoned in on. Lol) her female friendships have (along with the media) been sensationalizing the alleged “beef” with one of those female friends specifically since 2017. They also engage in sexualizing her male “relationships” that are also sensationalized until they aren’t because they loved all her “boyfriends” (Calvin less than others, lol) until they ended.

Anyways, thanks for letting me rant, IWHM. I wish you and others who stand to be harassed or cyberbullied over this peace, patience, and strength.

you came in hot with that one! thanks anon 🙃

[elkieselkiewrites]

Happy STS! How has your WIP and/or OCs changed since its/their creation? What's something you wished you could keep but just wouldn't work? What's stayed consistent throughout all drafts of this WIP/OC?

Hey, happy STS! So many of my stories and OCs have changed since their inception, but I guess I'll talk about Postmaster WIP today!

Postmaster WIP started out with two characters: Fannan and Aarna. I love Lord of the Rings, but I always feel that the elves and dwarves are just not really strange enough in Tolkien and Tolkien-derived fantasy adaptations. So, I created an elf who was more tree than person, and a dwarf literally carved from stone, and I made them fall in love (because let's be perfectly honest, there is nothing more romantic than building your bestie a boat so he can join you in the afterlife... if you know what I mean)

That was where I had intended to leave it to be perfectly honest, but I remember brainstorming some ideas with my partner, and we came across the phrase "dwarves don't have statues" and I totally fixated on it. I wrote a few scenes about Fannan and Aarna discovering dwarven statues and the implications of that amongst a society where children are not born but carved, and I realised I'd really started worldbuilding around these two.

Once more of the world was established, I decided I wanted a story with Fannan and Aarna in it, but I didn't want them to be the main focus. So, I started to think about interesting ways that a High Fantasy quest might start. I love putting ordinary people with ordinary jobs in the driving seat for my stories, and I settled on a postal courier for the job. Ida was a mish-mash of several different character ideas I had and couldn't settle on, and has been the character who has changed the most since her inception. She was originally younger, less driven, and clumsier. Now she has more conviction, which is both a strength and a source of conflict.

Then there's Renia and Bolek, who also changed a fair bit, at least in terms of how their story pans out. Originally I had Renia run away from Bolek and never fully reconcile with him, but I liked them both as characters too much, and Bolek's interactions with Nol morphed into something that I had no original intention of, but just grew organically with every interaction I wrote for them.

The way the story progression works changed a lot as well. I started it as a character driven story, based around some folklore I was discovering while living abroad, but soon that folklore started to overtake the characters' plots, and it became more of an exploration of monster-of-the-week scenarios based off of that folklore but set in this High Fantasy world instead.

So what started as essentially a fun, quirky re-interpretation of some Gimli and Legolas fanfiction became a story entirely and totally removed from that.

[girlvinland]

OC-tober Day 14 is Inspiration!

I’m going to drop some templates I used here for Covrin and Mercurio quite some time ago, but also elaborate more on them and other characters under a read more.

I’m going to be honest, I can’t find where this template originated from/who made it, so if you know, please let me know so I can give credit!

Anyway, more information under the cut! All of these are specifically for my Dark Souls OCs since that's been my main focus for quite a while now lol

Covrin - He was actually created for a short multi-person server RP and was developed more in a years-long RP. At the time, I didn't have any DS OCs, but when I thought about what kind of character I wanted to make, my first thought was a Morne knight because I loved Eygon's armor and think the characters from Carim are interesting. But rather than have him be like...the typical Carim asshole, I thought it would be nice to have a character from there who was kind and somewhat naive. Unfortunately things didn't stay that way after the accidental death of his maiden, as he ends up becoming pretty traumatized from the experience. But Cov is still Cov, it just takes him a while to return to himself.

Avalea - Covrin's maiden, she was always supposed to be a "caged bird" type of character, someone whose life essentially belonged to others, never having a say in what happened to her. She does gain awareness of this, and once she and Cov leave Carim, she rebels a little bit, trading her maiden's robes for clothing she prefers, running around and getting dirty, and eventually developing feelings for her knight. Her canon story ends in death, definitely a tragedy rather than a feel-good story.

Mercurio - Started as an NPC merchant-type character in a long-term RP, but was developed into a full character later on. I wanted a character who relied more on magic and charisma than brute strength, plus the merchant archetype is fun, thus Mercurio was born. They were inspired by a mix of characters I really love in other media + a friend's HCs around Oolacile. They have also been a way to explore ideas around gender exploration and experimentation. Merc is my favorite DS OC that I have.

Percival - Another Morne knight because I couldn't help myself lol. He was actually inspired by one of my best friends growing up in multiple ways (specifically some aspects of physical appearance and personality). Outside of that, I thought a lot about how Carim seems to be a very heteronormative place, so I wondered how LGBTQ+ people might be treated there and what their experiences would be, esp in the case of a gay knight who has a lifetime responsibility to a maiden.

Samson - In keeping with the Carim theme, I thought having a pardoner would be fun and that such a character could be an interesting potential love interest for Perci. Would they need to keep things secret? How would they go about it? I actually got really inspired by a lot of queer history and symbolism when making Sam, especially wrt flower language and Polari. Another thing that has inspired me a lot with him is the more religious/political stuff in Carim regarding Velka, the Way of White, Caitha, etc. I thought it would be cool to investigate the idea of a character who exists in a role that essentially becomes obsolete over time.

Cassandra - Percival's maiden, and someone I wanted to sort of be Avalea's opposite. She's abrasive and selfish, and doesn't really fit into the stereotype of a docile maiden. Honestly, I kind of spread traits about myself through my OCs, and she wasn't an exception. She's one of the characters that's been harder for me to develop sometimes because I see my own negative traits in her. However, she's reflective, and she changes over time. She's an archivist, and that part was actually inspired by some of my own work experience lol

Dominic - Since Perci and Sam had a less than ideal experience being queer in Carim, I wanted a character who embodied more of the joy of it. I thought Astora would be a good place for that, and honestly a lot of his traits came from the way I tend to think about Astora in general- sunny and optimistic. I feel like Dom had a pretty good week to himself, so stopping here for him!

[roseinyoursaltwater]

So I don't change much when it comes to the warriors themselves. I'll update in a different post, I haven't planned out to much lore hahahah. Most of this is just like phrases or books or stuff like that pertaining to the story. (PLEASE NOTE - I am not religious and my knowledge on religion is either ancient civilizations or what I've been exposed to which is Christianity. I do apologize) ALSO - I obviously don’t support some of the standards listed below but like I’m creating a sexist religion for plot sooooo)

Phrases

• Oh My Irene - Oh My God (Same as cannon), I feel this would change names depending on the region you're in. But Irene is the main one used) (ie, regions who ship Esmund would use his name and Irene's interchanging)

• Holy Divine - Jesus Christ (I made this up. I think it's funny hehe)

Books

• The Divine is the main book which covers the life of Irene and her wars, sayings and just life. This book is widely used in Ru'Aun. It has been altered over the years

• each region has books that paint their gods in good light. Though characters in different regions aren't exposed to those books.

• They are unknown books, "lost to time" that depict the wider picture of those years of history (they probably live in Hyria's attic let's be honest) (she probably wrote them, let's be honest)

Desired Traits and Standards/Culture in Ru'aun Based on Religion

• Giving, helping your family, neighbors and foes. It's a huge part of the religion. Irene is seen as the matron and so you must be as understanding as possible. This message is slowly lost overtime.

• Purity. Mostly enforced by places like O'Khasis. Purity is a huge fixation on the religion. Whether it's sexual or with ideas or violence. You're expected to only do "dirty" things when needed

• motherhood is heavily emphasized. Caretaker, nurture, protect. Women are seen as these bringers of life who radiate kindness and love their children.

• Violence being needed. Only take lives when needed and when there is no other way out. Try to be diplomatic. O'Khasis and other powerhouses disregard this.

• The standards of giving allow for good trade amongst the land. O'Khasis uses this standard to mooch off of it's civilians by taking as much as they can from them. Other places like Meteli or Phoenix Drop take this saying to heart

• Saving yourself for marriage and being a homemaker is emphasized greatly to the higher classes of wealthy villages and kingdoms

• Occults like Werewolves and Meif'was are looked down upon, mostly by powerhouses. O'Khasis deems Meif'was as immature and that their magicks aren't "beautiful" like Irene's - that they're naive. Werewolves are seen as barbaric and their polyamory is frowned upon.

• Shadow Knights are hated in the region. Valued by power houses for their strengths. They are usually killed on sight in villages and strong followers of the Divine will kill themselves when brought back as Shadow Knights due to the disgust at themselves.

• All powered beings besides the Jury are looked down upon. Even if used for their strengths. Places like O'Khasis doesn't value their humanity.

[archer3-13]

was gonna create a more in depth list, but instead heres a rapid fire bullet points on my general impression of stormbloods main story before post patch content

no specific complaints gameplay wise.

theres a good story here that wants to break out of stormbloods uneven story.

highlights included the doma portion of the story and the azim steppe, though that was in part because i was playing a xaela wol whos self imagined backstory fit the story being told.

the low point was probably the very start of things if im being honest. stormblood doesn't make a strong first impression riding off the spectacular ending of heavensward post patch content.

returning to ala mhigo from doma, things get a bit better in the land of ala mhigo story wise. ultimately though i find the overall package of stormbloods main story to be disappointing, because it feels like either one of these stories deserved an entire expansion to themselves to flesh everything out. instead they awkwardly share a single body.

lyse is the biggest casualty so to speak of stormbloods uneven writing i would say. its not hard to see what they're trying to do with her, and i would even say it has a lot of potential for a really moving character story as she matures into a leader worth following. to paraphrase the not youth however, stormblood doesn't "cook" lyses story enough for the resolution to hit in the way it needed to. we are informed about lyse having great leadership qualities, but we never really get to see them in action, where as what we see her doing is usually pretty emphatically not leadership things but rather adventurer things. at worst she comes across as a figurehead once again imitating others for lack of her own individual qualities, at best it feels like her development happened when you weren't looking. not helped by how she ironically just feels like diet yida in terms of her character traits outside of that.

speaking of informed traits though. zenos. for a supposed tactical genius master general of unorthodox strategies, we really don't get to see any of that do we. what we do get to see is a perfect exemplar of garlean colonial policy and ideology, a man so used to the power and privilege of his position that he wields his awesome might with little care or regard for the consequences. a beatstick who can power his way through any problems and takes that as intrinsic proof of his righteousness and mastery. but thats not what they're going for, they're going more for a hxh hisoka kind of character, a warrior savant of such uncontrollable bloodlust it affects everything he does and thinks, and a man who lives only for the hunt of powerful prey. thing is, with hisoka it makes sense and facilitates what happens in the plot. he acts capricious and allies with the heroes on multiple occasions well also allying with the villains only to betray everyone, because it fits with his motivations. hes out only for himself and his own amusement, and enjoys risking his life on seemingly impossible bets or against the insanely powerful. hes incredibly strong, but whats most scary is that he fights very intelligently ontop of that strength to the point that chrollos best strategy to beat hisoka boils down to "overwhelm him with random bullshit", and it still doesn't work. zenos? as i said hes a beatstick, who spends most of the plot throwing money at the problem or sitting on his throne murdering people for bringing him bad news. he can't really have an opportunity to showcase his capriciousness thats fueled by his bloodlust, because hes the main antagonist to the point of a bottleneck. at most he pisses off in doma because he's bored but thats bare scraps for what a character like that would need. and then in the end, he fuses himself to a giant dragon god thing, and rule of thumb here. a hisoka esque character would never do that unless they're backs were to the wall and they were suppose to be showing how they aren't as hot shit as they claim. zenos just kinda does it cause he insinuates it was always his plan. and that blows.

hien was cool. as said i enjoy the doma and azim steppe part of the story, and hien was a breath of fresh air by virtue of having his head on his shoulders and a sense of humor that made him genuinely quite endearing in the sense it was written in an endearing way.

nero my beloved, you got the after credits thunder and lightning introduction you always deserved. i hope you enjoy that hate make out old man yaoi relationship with cid you glorious bastard.

[cinderella-ish]

Fruits Basket Personality Types Part 5: Kyo Sohma

Gosh, Kyo is such a wonderful character, isn't he? Seeing him find happiness in the end was genuinely healing for me.

Kyo Sohma's Enneagram

Wound: Oof. Where to start? Kyo's father was shown to be verbally abusive and is strongly implied to be physically abusive. His mother kept him hidden away, and Kyo felt like she didn't accept all of him. He was called a monster from the time he was born, and then he was blamed for his mother's death.

Wounding message: You will only ever hurt the ones you love.

Core desire: For his loved ones to be safe

Core fear: Hurting the people he loves

Defense mechanism: hypervigilance, projecting blame onto others, pushing people away

Strengths: resilience, sensitive to others' needs and feelings, hard worker, loyal, diligent, responsible, loving, warm

Challenges: self-defeating, extremely low opinion of self, resigned, judgmental, hypervigilant

When healthy: kind, warm, relaxed

When unhealthy: aggressive, competitive, out of touch with feelings

Here's what connects when I go back to the Enneagram post:

Wound: could be 1, 6, or 8

Wounding message: 6, maybe 5

Core desire: 6

Core fear: 1, 2, 6, or 9

Defense mechanism: 6 or 8

Strengths: 1, 2, 3, 6, 8

Challenges: 5, 6, or 8

When healthy: 1, 3, 6, or 8

When unhealthy: 2, 6, 7, 8, or 9

I've written before that I see Kyo as an 8, but I was wrong! Kyo is clearly an Enneagram 6.

Sixes are a bit unique in that they have two different ways they show up: Phobic and Counter-Phobic. From Truity:

Phobic Sixes deliberately move away from the source(s) of fear, and tend to fly under the radar. They’re open and expressive about their vulnerabilities and weaknesses, so others can understand their situation and line of thought. This is their prime defense mechanism to avoid being manipulated. Counter-Phobic Sixes, on the other hand, possess a high-strung, irrational fear of fear itself — which may paradoxically translate to rule-breaking. They try to keep up an image of independence on the surface: a tough exterior to shield their persistent internal uncertainty.

Kyo is clearly Counter-Phobic, putting on a tough front to mask how scared he really is.

This excerpt, also from Truity, is such a good description of Kyo, I'm just going to include it in full:

As a child, the Six may have grown up in an unsafe environment, had overprotective guardians, or experienced a traumatic event that shaped their worldview. This type sees the world as a place of danger — anything or anyone outside of the Six’s circle of trust is a potential threat. Sixes are extremely logical types. They are constantly strategizing and planning for future events and how to protect themselves and their loved ones from harm. When you think of the stereotypical “survivalist,” you are likely imagining someone with several Enneagram Six characteristics. The Enneagram Six is part of the “head-based” triad, along with Type Five and Type Seven. Each of these types deal with fear as a core emotion, but no type tackles fear as head-on as the Six does. A healthy Six is a person you want to have on your side — they are loyal, trustworthy, honest, and protective. When less healthy, the Six can get in the habit of fear-based decision-making and creating self-fulfilling prophecies.

I wrote a bit in my series on Kyo's relationship with Momiji that Kyo's main focus from the beginning is on protecting Tohru, and he's often scolding her when she's in situations that put her at risk of harm.

It's typical of Kyo to get stuck in his head and become self-defeating. When I think of the "self-fulfilling prophecies," I think of his reactions in the True Form arc, or when Tohru confessed her love to him.

Sixes are in the Head center, and they tend to overexpress fear. This shows up for Kyo not only in his hypervigilance and attentiveness to Tohru's safety, but even in the way he's easily startled. Those moments are quite funny in the series, but it's kind of sad knowing the root of his jumpiness.

Wing

Sixes will tend to lean more towards some aspects of Fives or Sevens.

The Enneagram Institute refers to 6w5s as "The Defender," and 6w7s as "The Buddy." "The Defender" sounds more like Kyo to me.

EnneaApp describes 6w5 like this:

Seeks security by investing in strong beliefs and aligning with a group.

More inclined to delve deeply into a hobby or specific area of interest.

Can be aggressive for a cause; strong focus on fairness and loyalty

Skeptical; reactive to sources of authority that seems unjust or unfair

More introverted than 6w7; serious; very focused and self-controlled

This is such a good description of Kyo!

Subtype

Since Kyo tends to be more focused on 1:1 connections (particularly his connection with Tohru), I think he's a SE or SX 6. Here's what Enneagram Explained has to say about SX 6:

SX 6s are the Countertype of type 6 as they react in an opposite way with their vice (fear), this is the subtype that is usually referred to as a “counterphobic 6” They may even be unaware of their fear as they tend to take on a “the best defense is a good offense” mentality.

They go on to say that SX 6s can sometimes be mistaken for type 8s.

Tritype

Kyo's Tritype probably includes both 6 and 8, and his Heart type is probably either 2 or 3. After reading the descriptions of those types on Katherine Fauvre's website, I think Kyo fits 3-6-8 (the "Justice Fighter") the best:

If you are a 368, you are ambitious, inquisitive, and protective. You want to be accomplished, loyal, and straightforward. Verbally adept and a good reader of people and situations, you have the ability to identify unjust authority, rebel against tyranny, and verbally spar against it. You seek people and situations that share your values and work hard to achieve your goals. You want to get along with others but can struggle with being too direct and outspoken.

Kyo Sohma's MBTI

I already wrote a bit about how I see Kyo as ESFJ in my MBTI overview post, but here's a breakdown of why:

E vs. I: I think Kyo falls near the middle of these, but he tends to focus on the external world and on other people, so I'd lean toward Extroverted.

S vs. N: I see Kyo as strongly Sensing.

T vs. F: I see Kyo near the middle of these two again, but with a tendency toward Feeling.

J vs. P: I see Kyo as strongly Judging.

Type Dynamics: Here's how I explained Kyo's Type Dynamics in the MBTI post:

Fe- Kyo wears his heart on his sleeve and is highly attuned to the needs of others.

Si - Kyo prefers routine and predictability. He remembers details about the past which inform his understanding of the present.

Ne - since Kyo is still young, this process is probably not very developed for him, but he may tend to brainstorm aloud. He sees possibilities in the outside world and shares the connections he makes with others.

Ti - this process is probably more developed for Kyo than in most teens, since he's experienced so much trauma. Kyo possesses a strong internal framework and can sometimes make harsh judgments, especially about himself.

There are examples of each of these in canon, even Ne. Things like when he suddenly suggested pancakes at the beach house, or how he talked through his thoughts on the future with Kazuma might be examples of how he brainstorms aloud and shares the possibilities he sees in the outside world with others.

Here's the description for ESFJ:

ESFJ: Warmhearted, conscientious, and cooperative. Want harmony in their environment, work with determination to establish it. Like to work with others to complete tasks accurately and on time. Loyal, follow through even in small matters. Notice what others need in their day-to-day lives and try to provide it. Want to be appreciated for who they are and for what they contribute.

Wow, that fits him perfectly!

So, to summarize:

Enneagram: SE CP 6w5 (The Loyalist/The Defender)

Tritype: 3-6-8 (The Justice Fighter)

MBTI: ESFJ (The Provider)

What do you think? Did I get it right or wrong? I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Next up: Yuki!

Fruits Basket Personality Types Series: Enneagram | MBTI | Tohru | Akito | Yuki | Haru | Kisa | Momiji | Hatori | Ayame | Rin | Hiro | Ritsu | Kureno | Shigure | Kagura | Kazuma | Saki | Arisa | Machi | Kakeru | The Hondas | Kaibara Students

[inflammatoryfandomblog]

okay. so voltron’s second season (”seasons” 3-6) were. well.

i have to say that i sort of vastly preferred the first production block. i definitely think the show was more in its element with the episodic “defeat zarcon” stuff than with... to be honest, i have no idea what’s happening.

i mean it started off pretty good. could have gone in a lot of directions. i was interested in the idea of lotor, whose ideology seemed to be a very good contrast to zarcon’s but still seemed to be a good villain. a darker side to the alteans, the fact that the lions can bond to multiple paladins, etc etc etc.

like idk, i know there are people that would take issue with it but it would have been kinda cool if various characters could bond to the different lions sometimes, and the relationship with each one could reveal something about the character. like maybe it would have been a contrast to zarcon, who was hyperfixated on the black lion and thought that because it was the leader, it was the Important One or whatever.

anyways this is called “inflammatoryfandomblog” and it’s time for the griping.

-> the plot is about quintessence, which... the galra empire depends on for some reason, even though it was really the druids we’ve seen use it before, and they were destroying whole planets for the stuff and using it to power zarcon’s little ego “i’m going to get the lions trip.” it’s kind of unclear what else uses it. and i think that’s like my main issue with this season/production block? aside from the S1-like episodes, it feels very muddled and hard to really get into.

i just. am trying to make sense of lotor’s plan. or haggar’s plan. or what they each wanted. or what even what quintessence does. quintessence seems to be like, a... theme-thing... for being too entrenched in the past and what you’ve lost, and so being poisoned by it is losing sight of the present by trying to recreate it. at least that’s what makes the most sense. it’s not, uh, subtle--but it’s not used well enough to relieve it of the Magical Bullshit feeling. 

(this is something she-ra has over voltron; whatever plot magic BS happens is generally woven in better, thematically, with adora and glimmer and catra--but this just might be because there’s a lot less characters and she-ra very early on drops the pretense of being political in any way; it’s the type of series that’s very transparent with that--it says “yeah lmao our world doesn’t matter this is basically a basic family story with princess/scifantasy icing”, while voltron is very different in this regard, and so this approach does it no favors, because how it developed its world was a very good selling point for me in the first production block)

like “oh we just offer them more quintessence and they’ll listen to me” seems like a really bad justification for......... anything......... and idk if they even needed that plotline, i feel like lotor wanting to create an “inclusive/fair empire” is a pretty interesting oxymoron without the weird altean magic stuff. that haggar also unlocked. somehow. i wasn’t very invested in it i suppose; it failed to sort of convince me at any point of being true to the setting, which was a real strength of the first season.

-> i remember being miffed at the lack of shiro/lotor interactions (i mean, the lack of interactions sort of gave it away that this shiro was not worth investing into, especially since it was so telegraphed that druidlady was controlling him, but i was annoyed at the time) because i dunno, real!shiro and lotor could have built up an understanding re: being forced by zarcon to do bad stuff. generally the shiro clone plot is very meh, i feel it would have been better if a) the “real” shiro was actually taken to be some sort of trojan or he’s dead and the clone has to reckon with what it means and be an actual character or b) shiro’s spirit guided them and he was a mentor figure the entire way through, only getting back into a body at some point or another.

generally the entire clone plotline was just kind of worse than most possible alternatives to it, including having both shiros be alive and kicking. as it is now shiro is basically the same as the one from the first production block and can’t have changed.

-> for a second, since most of my predictions panned out in some way, that shiro *was* actually going to be zarcon all along. that would have been wild. similarly a very funny alternate universe is one where the gang splits the comet, gives half of it to the evil alteans and half of it to the galra and simply lets them fight.

-> i liked that the characters went off and had lives/missions outside of voltron (or at least, pidge/keith) and had a few episodes dedicated to those. those, aside from the early “season 3″ episodes and the fun one-shot ones were very enjoyable breaks from the mostly incoherent main plot. i had fun watching them instead of being like “hmm. so this is a Thing now” in the Main Story 

i really feel that ultra-dramatic storytelling is not these writers’ strong suit. which, fair, i mean, i’m not a writer, but i don’t think it’s a stretch to say that they’re a lot better with episodes with some implications as opposed to long, serialized, dramatic structures as a group. i think it might just be a matter of experience; most cartoons until the 2010s were very episodic, and longer stories just have more production/meddling complications which are non-trivial, whereas with episodes, if something doesn’t work... you can just dump it. but episode-episodes also don’t play well with streaming. just kind of an unfortunate media-landscape conundrum there.

(note that japanese animation for example, while it’s very serialized, most of the time has the benefit of having source material already laid out for it. really the equivalent of something like that are like, comic book shows i guess.)

-> animation is really stellar and action is very good. studio mir is great. they always stick the landing.

-> i guess i like that they tried to do something with the idea of “the evil emperor is dead/gone, now what?” which is kind of a difficult plot to write honestly, especially when the main cast are transformer-power-rangers, it’s not obvious how to make them relevant enough to have the focus on them. (and in classic fashion, i don’t really like making suggestions.)

-> lance is going to get with allura nooooooo. i was really invested in the idea that he defects because of a hot girl. instead he just gets jealous of lotor. the sad thing is i really think they could have been at least good friends (lance/allura). the scene where allura replicates trying to flirt with the blue lion is really funny, and lance bringing out everyone’s goofballness would have been a good variant on his general archetype. instead lance is mostly Annoying and gets a few disconnected Scenes. i can’t even really think of a good lance episode this season.

-> pidge baby though. she’s obviously flawed (esp with the prisoner exchange stuff like wth lady) and like. the main plot is dead to me at this point. but i really liked her side episodes. same with keith etc etc.

-> predictions for next season (if i get around to watching it):

-> 1. sendak (zendak?) invades earth. “YOU EARTHLINGS DEFEATED ME LIKE A CHUMP... LOOK WHO’S THE CHUMP NOW???” -> 2. allura and coran start a cow extermination policy -> 3. everyone gets sent to a mental institution and they have to break out -> 4. haggar does some quintessence bullshit and tries to revive lotor or whatever. zombie lotor is horribly mangled and rips a hole through reality again! -> 5. shiro binge-watches all the series he’s missed in the time he’s been dead. he likes kdramas or wuxia. not anime though. -> 6. ?????? lance becomes embroiled in cuban politics. just randomly. (he’s the one who likes anime.)

[pain-in-the-butler]

Hii!! I absolutely ADORE Coattails!!! Thank you so much for writing it!! I feel like you really understand the characters and the story in a way not many do, so I would really love to hear some of your headcannons about Ciel and Sebastian, maybe somethings you would have liked to write into the fic but just wouldn't have fit or made sense to the story^^^^ whether its individually or about their relationship, either would make me very happy!! Thanks again for creating something so precious and close to us. Have a nice weekend!!!

Well hi there, anon! Wow, thanks for all this enthusiasm, I'm super stoked you're into the story! I really appreciate all the hype!

Hmm, as for your questions, let me consider how to answer them... I already have a place for posting any Coattails drabbles, so if there's something I really want to write that won't otherwise work in the main story, you can count on it showing up there. But there have definitely been a few very short scenes over the years that I've cut or reworked as necessary! I'll compile what I can remember here:

Chapter 3: After Mey-Rin's backstory came out in the manga, I changed the scene where Sebastian asks her if she had ever hidden or lied after making a mistake as a kid. Initially, Mey-Rin had told Sebastian that she'd hidden after breaking an heirloom belonging to her father.

Chapters 10-17: The horse jockey plot actually changed a lot while it was being written. Initially, there was supposed to be a literal underground racetrack that Sebastian and Ciel would infiltrate, but during the two-year break between chapters 14 and 15, I decided that I didn't like it anymore and changed Hastings' ploy to be solely about developing the strength injection. I didn't originally plan for Sebastian to reveal he's a demon to Hastings either, but sometimes I just let my writing guide me and see what happens (that's most of the time, if I'm being honest).

Chapter 17: I played around with the idea of Ciel getting one of the strength injections and having to deal with its effects in the short term, but ultimately decided that Sebastian would be too attentive to allow this to happen. It wouldn't have added anything to the story either.

Chapter 26: I really wanted to include a scene where it's lightly implied that the person in the mascot costume at the Funtom event is Yana Toboso, since she's done that RL at the pop-up store, but the chapter already had waaay too much going on, so I nixed it.

Also, Sieglinde's existence is hinted at in chapters 26 and 27, and while she sadly won't make it into the main story of Coattails, I would love for her to meet Ciel and Sebastian in a post-story drabble!

If you were looking for more "deleted" scenes between Dadbastian and sonboy, usually when I come up with those they don't get removed because they're so central to the story. So, sorry I don't have much to provide! I usually do feel disappointed any time I have to do a time skip, because I imagine there must have been a sweet moment between those two during it that'll never be realized. I think small moments are just as important as the big ones, if not more so.

AH, but headcanons about Ciel and Sebastian, in terms of Coattails... Let me see... Well, I guess I'll share some of the things I keep in mind whenever I write the two of them!

Sebastian sometimes misses when things felt easier in their contract, but he doesn't want to go back to how it was before either

Sebastian's favorite thing lately is asking Ciel a question when he doesn't know how Ciel is going to answer it. He often has to restrain himself from being too overbearing

Sebastian's least favorite part of experiencing love is feeling like there's so much he has to worry about now (he doesn't know how to deal with all of his new worries yet)

Sebastian's favorite part of experiencing love is how different it is from anything he's known before. He really doesn't understand it at all yet but he's very curious about it

And now for Ciel headcanons:

Ciel feels that "current Sebastian" is easier to talk to, but doesn't yet trust him completely and isn't convinced that Sebastian's changes are for the better

Ciel hates everything about growing up because it means contending with the fact that he's not already an adult

Ciel talks with Sebastian more than Tanaka because he's afraid his emotions and his past would scare Tanaka

Ciel is pretty sure Sebastian knows he called him "father" one time but has vowed to never ever mention it (he'd rather not know)

Well, not all of them are happy, but I hope those HCs gave you something to consider while you wait for more story! I don't know when chapter 30 will be done yet, but when it is, you'll know! Thanks again for all your interest in Coattails! This was fun to write 😊

[ecargmura]

Solo Leveling Episode 12 + Final Thoughts - Birth Of The Shadow Monarch

It seems that this job-changing quest seems to be a set-up created by the system to change Jinwoo’s class into something they want him to have. The illusion of choice lingers heavily in the system as no matter what Jinwoo rejects, the system will still force him to do whatever it wants him to do. I feel like the System itself is the major villain; if not, maybe it’ll be the final boss?

The System obviously wants him alive, hence why the penalty quest saved his ass. The four hours of being in there allows him to recover and heal his wounds. I do feel like this was intentional. After getting a new weapon, one that can strike down armored foes effectively, Jinwoo does manage to defeat the knights after realizing that he needs to focus on the mages who are summoning them and not the actual knights.

I think the scene where the old Jinwoo was looming upon him was his feelings of self-doubt and insecurity. I also feel like the system did that intentionally—I am on the train of thinking the System was the villain all along, like how Kyubey was in Puella Magi Madoka Magica.

I think out of the fight scenes, the battle with him and the last-minute golem was the best. Since I like RPGS, I have a kick at fighting extremely large enemies as a measly human. I think that was the vibes that this fight wanted too. I just like seeing Jinwoo being strategic and resourceful by using whatever he can, whether it be chandeliers or just strength.

The scene where he becomes the Shadow Monarch was amazing, honestly. The way he gains the ability to summon shadows of fallen monsters with some drawbacks, but the way Igris resurrects and they all bow down to him was so cool. The way he says ‘Arise’ was nice too.

A second season has been announced, which is obvious with the way the Jeju Island Arc has been teased. Imagine ending the show with the monster ant segment and the fate of all those Hunters are left unknown. That’d be a huge waste. Also, I do hope that Jinwoo remembers Jinah’s guardian-teacher meeting. Also, I will be tuning in for the second season as I do want to know what happens next.

Final Thoughts

I normally don’t watch shows like Solo Leveling, but it was an exception. Since many anitubers raved about it and how it’s so popular in Korea, I decided to give it a try since Korean media is getting popular these days. To be honest, it’s a bit different from my initial expectations. While it is a power fantasy type of story, it is also a deconstruction of it. The main character doesn’t get isekaied by a truck and instantly becomes popular in a new world. Instead, he almost dies in a dungeon incident and now sees hologram screens that are controlling him.

I think the nice thing about Solo Leveling is that Jinwoo’s not exactly a loser? Like, usually these types of power fantasy stories have the MC be extreme losers in life, but Jinwoo seems to be civil with people and Joohee seems to like him because he was a nice guy. The fact that Jinwoo being a 24-year-old adult also makes it interesting because he is a rather responsible adult from trying to work hard to provide for his family to not using his authority as an adult to harass anyone younger. A majority of the characters are also adults too, so they all behave like adults that know how the world works or adults still trying to figure themselves out. He doesn’t seem out of place for a typical power-fantasy story and behaves like an adult too. I’m glad that he isn’t written out to be a teenager because it would’ve gotten a bit annoying if he had been one.

I’m actually surprised that a story like this doesn’t have as many characters as I would have expected a show like this to have. Usually, stories like this usually would introduce an influx of characters that nobody would remember after an hour, but Solo Leveling does a good job having a good balance of ‘characters no one cares about’ and ‘characters people care about’. I think that having the story reuse characters that appear in the beginning was a nice touch too. I didn’t expect to see Joohee or Chiyul again, but they did show up in another mission. Kang Taeshik, a supposedly background character, also has a role too. I think that the writing of these kinds of characters show that the writer knows what they are doing in building up significance.

The animation was one of the three best things about this show. The way A-1 decided that they wanted their reputation as a good animation studio back came with good results. The way they animated so many battle scenes was easily amazing. I especially loved Jinwoo’s fight with Taeshik and with Igris. The animation went hard there.

The music was great too! Courtesy of Hiroyuki Sawano, the music was great. Definitely ear-worm quality. I quite liked the somber song that was played in Episode 6 where Jinwoo decided to murder Hwang Dongseok’s group.

The voice acting was really good! While I mainly listened to the Japanese dub since it was the fastest to come out, I do commend the good voice acting. Taito Ban as Sung Jinwoo was really great! The transition in his tone from gentle and soft in the beginning to deeper and stern after episode 4 was really nice to hear. I do like that he’s not obnoxiously loud like some Shounen anime MCs tend to be; maybe it’s because he’s an adult. I do hope Ban gets a lot more roles in the future because his voice is nice to listen to! The voice cast for the other characters are great too. I think other than Jinwoo, the other stand out for me was Kouki Uchiyama as Kang Taeshik as Uchiyama shines with villain roles.

The English and Korean dubs are great too! I totally recommend you listen to them! I do commend the English dub for pronouncing the characters name the ‘correct’ Korean way and not how an American would pronounce them. Jinwoo’s name is pronounced as ‘Jinu’ (G-Nu) and not ‘Jin-woo’ with the emphasis on the “w”—the W is actually silent. I would know because I can speak the language. Also, the Solo Leveling English cast has two Korean people (Sung-won Cho as Woo Jinchul and Alan Lee as Kang Taeshik) so I found that cool. Aleks Le, who’s not Korean, does a great job voicing Jinwoo! I’ve been seeing his name everywhere recently and I hope it keeps up! Get that dough! The Korean dub was really good too! I think it’s super underrated! Please give it a listen! Jinwoo’s Korean voice actor is Min Seung-woo and he has a really nice voice as he is the Korean VA of the Wanderer from Genshin Impact.

There are rumors that Solo Leveling has been licensed for six seasons. Fans must be really happen to know. I heard that a lot of fans are happy with the adaptation for this story and some say it’s better than the original manhwa webtoon. I honestly can’t wait to see what the following seasons has in store. If you have watched this anime or have read the webtoon, what are your thoughts on it? I’ll see you guys when Season 2 airs!

[lxmelle]

Do you think that Gojo will return some day? Since we have Geto's family members back in the latest chapters, we have a litttttle chance to get Geto back. So, based on SatoSugu connection, maybe Gojo will be back too...(I know it's kinda stupid and naive, but anyway i still hope).But... to be honest, i have mixed feelings about that. I mean, on the one side i feel like Gojo's story is over. He died on a dramatic note, in such a worthy way for the strongest jujutsu sorcerer. That's why he will be remembered forever. But on the other, i think that Gege made a unique and memorable character, but killed him really fast. I feel like Gojo's story left unsaid, unfinished. We lost him too early. I will miss him (i already do). But anyway, Gege doesn't like him, so 😔.

Hi!! My first ever question! 😃 Thank you for asking 🥰

I’ll do my best to offer an answer. Spoilers ahead!

To be honest, I feel like you’ve come to the echo similar sentiments to many of us in the fandom who love Gojo.

From an objective standpoint, the conclusion to his character arc made a lot of sense. He isn’t the main character, as popular as he is. Similar to your point, his dramatic end was through a good fight and it was fitting as the strongest in the modern era. He already exceeded all his ancestors in defeating Mahoraga and overcame his pride so some degree by discussing with others what they should do if he loses in the battle. He wasn’t perfect, but no character is in JJK. Gege did design him really well and he’s been sooo loved.

His immense strength that usually is associated with the main hero in fiction can be confusing, because why doesn’t the strong triumph over evil? Did he not deserve a better life / death?

Of course he did... 😔

But JJK isn’t that kind of story, I guess.

We get shown time and time again that death comes to the characters at different times. Loss can be unfair - loss of limbs, binding vows, etc. and I guess it’s just meant to mimic real life. The characters are fallible and make decisions or judgements that may not work out or are incorrect. They, like people in real life, have flaws and don’t have the power of foresight. They can be wrong.

It’s uncomfortable reading sometimes, isn’t it? Especially when we get attached to some of them. This is also what I remind myself when I feel overwhelmed by the loss of so many other characters who just had so much potential that never got realised. When powerscalers diss Geto it gets my back up too - because it just doesn’t feel fair that his potential was capped by the timing of when jjk 0 was written before domain expansions were created, and we never got to see how powerful he could’ve been - oftentimes people say it was Kenjaku who used Geto’s body better. Idk if it’s true, but I can imagine it does because of his life experience.

I don’t think you’re naive for having that hope at all. I have similar wishes and hopes - I’d love for Geto and Gojo to relive some kind of a life together - teacher AU or something. I hope with all of my satosugu soul that they’re reunited and it wasn’t some death fantasy in Gojo’s head 😭

As for being revived, I don’t know if Gege will throw some kind of curveball, but if the jujutsu world crushed Geto’s soul so much, and if Gojo was happy to just be with Geto and leave the rest to the next generation, then I’m happy for them to remain dead. Sorry if this isn’t what you wanted to hear 😢 I just don’t know how happy they’d be knowing so many have died to Sukuna and what their purpose would be in the new world.

This is perhaps why there are so many in the jjk fandom who are creating art and fiction, discussing metas and proposing theories. We just love the characters and sometimes there isn’t space for everyone’s story to develop to its full potential. Gege himself doesn’t like spoonfeeding information, apparently, preferring to leave things (frustratingly) vague at times to allow for reader interpretation or prompt research.

Love it or hate it, Gege writes really cleverly in my honest opinion - the amount of foreshadowing even from earlier on is something I marvel at. How he weaves in real-life themes (like the idolising of “popular idols” or “unfairness” and “politics”) alongside mythical / religious themes - is really incredible. As for Gojo, I think his strength was a challenge for Gege to write about as well, hence his sealing in prison realm.

That lends itself to why I personally feel Gege didn’t hate Gojo, but maybe found him difficult to handle to progress with the story due to how overpowered he was. We often dislike in others what we dislike in ourselves, so maybe that’s gege because apparently he’s similar to Gojo 🤣

But yes, I hope that I managed to offer something to your question, @vacuum2314 ! Thanks for submitting a question to me to answer! <3

[notwantedonthemoon]

THE HANNAH RAMBLE

This rapidly spirals into me plotting fanfiction. PRELUDE:

Gotta be honest. Hannah completely blindsided me. Her character did not go the direction that I thought it was going to go.

When I was studying Not Wanted on the Voyage in class, she was given a super impressive introduction: “the most intelligent character in the cast” (which I will respectfully disagree with. I think it’s Crowe, because my love for that bird is immense and unending) and her scenes in book one were stellar. I am most fond of book one Hannah. She had poise and ambition, she was menacing and mysterious. I liked that! I liked that a lot! I think she has a future in politics or perhaps as an extremely cutthroat lawyer. Unfortunately her talents keep being wasted in middle management at Applebee’s (the Upper Decks).

I was envisioning her throwing a coup and taking Dr. Noyes’ place as the main antagonist of the book. I feel like she had potential to be an even more terrifying villain than Dr. Noyes because she’d not only be cruel and ruthless like him, but she’d be smart, too. Noah was kind of an idiot. 

The message that I was expecting from Hannah's coup is a commentary on how systemic issues by getting rid of the bad people in power; the entire structure that they were functioning under needs to be overhauled. I was expecting a story in which Noah was killed off and everyone breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that the root of evil was done with… only to discover that Noah was never the root of the evil in the first place, but rather, a product of it. His ideas are infectious; they didn’t start with him and they certainly won’t die with him. 

And now that he's dead, there are some people who are very interested in continuing his legacy. 

The environment that these characters were raised in is very, very flawed and we see a lot of what the culture expects from people very early on: formalities and borders are encouraged, power imbalances are essential for the structure of this society, obedience to one’s superiors is equivalent to love, differences should be eliminated, and questioning your superiors is dangerous and insulting. Noah is terrible and has committed so many atrocities that he should definitely be held accountable for, but I refuse to believe that there is anything inherently evil about him. I refuse to discount a character like him as ‘just a bad apple’ because people are products of their environment and these guys are living in a world that has a tendency to produce tyrants. You can’t say someone is ‘just a bad apple’ and ignore the same rotting barrel that all of them are showing up in and Not Wanted on the Voyage is very good at showing how all its characters are impacted by their environment

I think a lot of Noah’s strength as a character lies in his simplicity. I vaguely remember read an academic article somewhere that describes him as more like a force of nature or a strawman than an actual person, and I disagree. I think that he is painfully human. He doesn’t want to take any responsibility for his actions, because he doesn’t want to be the villain (no one does!) and he always has to be the victim. He throws his authority around and mistreats everyone around him because it feels good to be powerful and to get what you want. He’s so human and that makes him scarier because he’s the type of villain that you could realistically become by giving into your worst impulses.

I suppose that's why Mottyl was so tentative in calling him evil.

What I’m saying is: if it wasn’t Noah, it would have been someone else. Someone like him is inevitable (but so too are the people who stand up to him).

This world has a tendency to create tyrants and Hannah has been primed to be Noah’s replacement. Even the victim in a harmful system can internalize its values and they can end up becoming the perpetrator. We do see that with Hannah in the book (her treatment of Emma, for example), but on a much smaller scale than what I was expecting. 

But what exactly was I expecting?

THE PART WHERE I RAPIDLY SPIRAL INTO PLANNING FANFICTION:

I was expecting Noah to die somehow (don't think too hard about how, because I sure didn't), leaving behind a power vacuum that multiple candidates would be vying to fill aboard the ark.

There’d be Noah’s sons: Shem, who’s the oldest and should be expected to replace his father… actually who am I kidding, he’s not going to be involved in this. 

There’d be Japeth, who, at the core of his character, is scared; he learned, abruptly and in one of the most traumatizing ways possible, that powerful people can do whatever they want to you; but you know who never had to beg for his life and bend and bargain around the whims of stronger people? His father. If Japeth inherited that kind of power, he’d never have to be scared and powerless again. 

And then there’s Lucy; yes, she wants a better world for herself and her loved ones. Yes, she has good intentions and has always done what she thinks is right, but Lucy grew up in the trigger happy, might-makes-right culture of Heaven that produced her battle-obsessed brother. We already know that Lucy has a ruthless streak:

So I want to see how far she’d be willing to go to achieve her goals. I think Lucy should commit some murders, actually. I cannot believe that her kill count during the book is a solid zero.

Friendly reminder that Lucy is basically a disgraced war general from Heaven. She has canonically led armies. So why on earth is her kill count the same as Ham’s????

Is my frustration, perhaps, anything like what Lady Macbeth felt when she was trying to get her husband to commit regicide. Actually what I said about Lucy applies to Lady Macbeth too, I want Lady Macbeth to commit a murder or two.

And finally there's Hannah, who’s ambitious and clinical and calculating and wants to carry on Noah’s legacy not out of love or loyalty to him, but because she wants the respect she’s owed. She wants to have her words spoken and heard and appreciated, she wants to be Yaweh’s new prophet, she wants the security and prestige of Noah’s position. 

We'd be viewing this disaster of a succession crisis through Mrs Noyes and Mottyl's increasingly distressed narration.

Can I just say, though: Mottyl would make a fantastic diplomat. She’s comfortable talking with both humans and animals, she’s very frank but very considerate at the same time, and her greatest strength is making allies by being friendly and dependable. 

‘LOCAL NEWS. Exhausted 97-year-old mother of six desperately drafts peace treaty: more at nine. Also she’s a cat.’

I think it's clear you're screwed when all your hopes are riding on the negotiation skills of a 20-year-old cat.

Anyways, this entire plot was inspired by this song:

[disclosed-spire]

"I spent quite a while writing this, so if you'd want to see more of other characters, be sure to let me know!"

I have been gathering up the courage to send this ask, so I am just gonna guess you want the asks to be sent here.

Can you please tell us about your Gourmand headcanons?

Yeah Ofc! I love Gourmand as they're just absolutely great, especially since my pal gourmy is the first campaign of downpour when it was released. I enjoyed their campaign a lot, and had a blast towards the end of their campaign. Seriously, I wish I could get a hug from them because I KNOW they give amazing hugs!

Time for everyone's favorite family oriented orange slugcat! And as everyone knows, this is my own hcs about them and, and definitely some Gourmand spoilers. Please don't be offended at any of this, as these are my own personal beliefs!

If anybody wants to see more of my opinions on the characters, be sure to ask me! I'm welcome to answering questions about my thoughts and HC's, as well as discussing and hearing others POV's!

ANYWAYS! GOURMAND SPOILERS UNDER THE CUT!

Design Choices

My design for Gourmand isn't very flashy or anything, but to be honest, I feel it suits them and their personality! It's very close to the original, but has my own little flair and sparkle to it to make our pal Gourmand stand out a bit!

I decided to give them just oranges for a pallet, with their nose being the darkest, which is a dark orange. I usually shift blacks and such for cannon designs to another color of the design but a lot darker to keep the colors overall the same, but just a little easier to look at (in most cases).

I made the tips of Gourmand's limbs, including their tail, dewlap, and ears, a darker orange as I took a bit of inspiration from cat breeds in real life, with my own cat being the main inspiration. This makes Gourmand stand out a bit more, and makes it easier for me to make art of them, as their limbs mark where my own wacky anatomy should be.

Personality

My version of Gourmand has a tough exterior as they need to keep a strong stance towards the hardships of the world around them. Despite this, Gourmand also shows a lot of love, compassion, and sympathy for the world around them at the right moments of course! Gourmand doesn't view the world as only black and white, instead, more of everything being in a morally grey area. Gourmand believes there's a reason for everything, and if possible, they try to go to the more pacifist side of things to keep peace.

Speaking of this, the reason Gourmand is like this is because they believe this deep in their heart, but also because they want to provide their colony with a good example. Gourmand wants to show their colony that while the world is extremely dangerous and that they need to take caution, but also that they can also show compassion even in the scariest of situations.

Other than setting an example, Gourmand loves telling tales of adventures, history, and places they've been, as it always makes others happy, and especially gets the slugpups super excited. Sometimes these stories are made up, but Gormand always lets the listeners know beforehand to clear any misconceptions.

Gourmand is a great parent to all, and generally kind to everyone unless their friends, family, slugpup, or colony is in trouble. While Gourmand is kind, they are a force not to be reckoned with, as they are strong both in personality, and physical strength, and those they care about fuel their determination to continue on.

Powers

Gourmand's powers are a bit of a weird one to me! Being able to create something from your stomach isn't something I've seen before, nor do I have a naturally logical way to explain how this would work (Enot was different as they didn't need to have logic applied to them bc cryptid slugcat), but I'll try my best to explain how this works in a rain world logic sense (hopefully). It's a bit complicated, but here's my best shot!

The best way I could possibly explain slugcat powers is that their body developed some kind of mutation, something with radiation (highly unlikely), or something with being a descendant of a purposed organism/modified slugcat. This is where I believe slugcats get their powers from, as this is the best explanation I have for such unnatural abilities. In Gourmand's case, this happened with their stomach!

My best logic to how Gourmand's stomach creation works is that Gourmand needed to have swallowed the created item in their life at any moment for them to make it in their stomach again. Since Gourmand takes a food pip when they create an item in their stomach, this makes me believe that their body harvests the nutrients to make it, using the information of the dna/material/whatever made the item to re-create it in Gourmand's stomach to pull it out. This explains the randomized effect of what's pulled out of Gourmand's stomach.

As for the crafting mechanic, I wouldn't say that's a power. Gourmand could use their power to help combine items, but for the most part, I feel that it comes from a chemistry standpoint. It's still very useful and important! To me though, I don't think it's a power, even from a rain world logic POV.

Headcannons and Slugcat Colonies

This category is a bit different from the Enot post, and that's because I have my own thoughts about the cannon slugcats!

I personally like to think there's a big distance between Gourmand and Survivor/Monk's timeline placement as this makes the most sense in my head for what I'm gonna say, and it gives Gourmand the "Old and cool legendary ancestor" vibes!

Gourmand in my HC was the one that found the slugcat tree, and started a home there for the whole colony! If it weren't for Gourmand, then Monk and Survivor's campaigns wouldn't have happened. I want to give Gourmand that bc it makes them just the more special in my eyes!

The reason I believe this is because it doesn't make a whole lot of sense for Gourmand to already be there and then start searching for food, and then to get up and leave once food is found. If there's more food in an area, animals tend to stick around, and the slugcats aren't an exception from this. I believe that Gourmand searching was making sure that the area has plenty food, as the colony recently moved and was looking for another temporary home. Another thing to support this is the wall drawings, as I feel the colony would talk about Gourmand through generations.

Another one of my HC's is that Gourmand is the leader of the specific slugcat colony. A lot of people probably think this already, but I'd at least like to give my own take with my own spin on how a Slugcat colony works.

Gourmand is a leader in my eyes because of how useful they are to the colony, and how strong they are. Animals usually prove dominance in size and strength, which Gourmand definitely has (My Gourmand is a big lovable fella)! But since this is also fiction, I added more to this. Slugcats usually choose their leaders based on a few qualities, which are:

Size: Gourmand is big yes, which gives them the upper hand at intimidating possible threats! Slugcats view Gourmand as very important due to this factor, as any predators that would try to harm a slugpup would have to face the intimidation of an angry Gourmand. This is why Gourmand fits here!

Strength: Gourmand DEFINITELY has some big strength to them, bro does 3 damage when not tired! This is viable to a slugcat colony as this shows that they can rely on their leader in even the most difficult of situations. That, and also they are capable of defending the young! Slugcats view this as one of the most important features in a leader, so this is why Gourmand is super important in this category.

Intelligence and Powers: Gourmand definitely checks out here! Their powers and their intelligence combine together, making them VERY useful to the colony. Gourmand can use their powers to help get their colony out of a tight bind, to entertain, and to direct. Slugcats can always count on Gourmand if stuck, which is why Gourmand fits!

Compassion: My Gourmand DEFINITELY fits here! Gourmand is super caring and great with kids, kind to everyone that they can be, uses their powers to help others, uses their intelligence to lead, and does everything in their ability to make sure their colony is safe. Why Gourmand left to look for food is because they wanted to make sure their colony would live and thrive. They'd do anything for their colony, and care for them dearly! This is probably the most important rule of a leader to them, as slugcats are usually social creatures, and rely on companionship to thrive.

If a slugcat leader doesn't fit most of these, and/or possibly abuses their leadership, the colony will choose another leader, and in VERY extreme cases, the leader will be thrown out of the colony (Totally doesn't have something like this with another character).

Relationships

Iterators

Gourmand is overall friendly towards all of the iterators, as Gourmand gets the feeling that the world has been unkind to them, given their situation. Gourmand knows that being stuck inside a box isn't the best, especially if they cannot leave, and can only view the world from small holograms. Gourmand feels bad about their situation, so they come to visit the iterators to help keep them company, and to tell the iterators stories they'd be interested in.

Gourmand does have a lot of respect for them, as they know that the iterators have a lot of power, but have to be careful with their given situation. Gourmand views the iterators as fairly important, and that alone makes one of the reasons Gourmand respect them.

Slugcat Family + Monk and Survivor

Gourmand is their ancestor, so Gourmand is related to them. Despite this, Gourmand has a HUGE amount of respect for the slugcat family. This is because even though they had two kids they lost, they decided to stay strong, and to dive in after their family, which Gourmand finds to be very admirable. Gourmand would do anything to make sure they're safe.

For Monk and Survivor, Gourmand has a huge amount of respect for them both! Gourmand finds it admirable that they stayed strong in a world so dangerous, able to take caution, and able to use the tricks they've passed on through the colony. Despite this, Gourmand also feels sadness for them as they know it was an extremely rough situation on slugcats so young. They'd do anything to make sure that Monk and Survivor don't get separated from their family again.

Nightcat and Inv/Enot

Gourmand is friendly towards them both! Although Gourmand tends to dislike Enot's flirting, they still think of them both as friends. Gourmand does find them a bit mysterious as they both seemed to appear out of nowhere, and with the strangest first interactions as well. As far as Gourmand knows, Enot and Nightcat don't know their parents, and don't have any family nearby. Regardless of this, Gourmand took them both into their colony, and loves talking to them.

Hunter and Artificer

Gourmand is best friends with Artificer and Hunter, and values hunting with them! The three are nearly inseparable, and value each other's company, as well as talking about the colony. Slowly overtime though, Gourmand began to have a crush on the two, and seeing the two in a relationship was nice, but they wanted to confess their feelings to both of them. Eventually Gourmand does, and the three end up in a poly relationship! They're quite happy together :D

Regardless of this, Gourmand has respect for Hunter as they went to save Moon despite them being sickly. Gourmand has since then been finding ways to help Hunter, and with Sig's help, they're lessening the effects that the rot had on Hunters body. Through all this, Gourmand sees Hunter as a fearless and stoic warrior, and loves how kind they can be despite this.

Artificer is a bit of a different story, as Arti had some bad experiences with the colony, and Gourmand doesn't agree with Artificers genocidal ways. Gourmand was a bit on edge of first meeting them, but it grew to fondness as Gourmand realized that Arti is trying to correct their wrongs, and make up for what they've done in the past, with one of those being to apologize to their colony. Upon finding out about Arti's situation, they've grown closer to Artificer, and letting Arti interact with the colony as a way to help heal from the past. Gourmand is a firm believer that Artificer can heal, and they choose to stick by Arti every step of the way.

Spearmaster, Rivulet, and Saint

Gourmand isn't super close to Spearmaster, Rivulet, or Saint, but enjoys their company! Gourmand knows they mean no harm intentionally, but also respects Rivulet and Spearmaster quite a bit for helping the iterators. Saint is a bit more distant, and from what Gourmand knows, Saint has a bit of a complicated past. Gourmand isn't going to push it, but they'll always be there if Saint needs someone to talk to. Gourmand is always welcome to them joining their colony, and is on quite good terms with the three.