#totally randomized small starter.

[saltedcaramelchaos]

the allos continue to confuse and frighten me

[gin-juice-tonic]

So, for Starters: Book Of Bill Spoilers warning. Another opinion from me below. This new one is about the lost journal pages again, of course.

Originally, I wanted to make a super big crazy essay about all the reasons I think the journal pages in BOB (The Book of Bill’s given name) are fake, and show off my super-cool totally completely sound deductive reasoning techniques in the process.  

Unfortunately, knowing myself I’m not sure I’m actually capable of accomplishing such a feat. You all know how I tend to post things in parts, sometimes out of order, often never finished. However I would like to share something in particular that’s been eating at me that I’ve seen… partially discussed, but only partially. And certainly not the part that I would like to discuss. 

It’s about the rats.

You know, the rats.

I saw these rats being talked about since before I was even able to have a look at the book myself. 

But before I get further into it all, I would like to start off with a joke: 

Why did dead rats, eggnog, a land orca, shrimp colors, It’s a Small World After All, and an Anti-Cipherite Suit cross the road? 

Well, that’s easy. To get to the other side. 

Of the book, that is. 

If you’re anything like me, you probably skipped right to the journal pages upon contact with the book. And if you’re even MORE like me, you were probably left a little confounded by them. Not only did they seem… wrong somehow. But they also felt random. Full of odd choices of subject that didn’t make a lot of sense. Could these pages really have come from journal 3? If so, why do parts of them feel so… completely out of context? 

And this is where the rats come in. As I mentioned before, I saw many people discussing them. In particular, they were noting a connection to this passage from earlier in the book:

Many of the related discussions also felt odd to me. Though I lacked the knowledge to be able to articulate why at the time. UNTIL, I read the book for myself from start to finish. That's when I realized something:  This is not the only time something from earlier in the book connects back to the journal pages. In fact, it happens many, many times throughout the earlier passages. (Here is a small collection of them for your perusal.)

And then it started clicking into place. The reasons the pages felt like they were so abnormally out of context… is because they WERE lacking context!

Now, before you can finish saying “Gin, you’re an idiot.” I would like you to ponder these three questions: 

1) Why, if these pages were taken from Journal 3, should they require context from outside of it to be able to be completely understood?

2) Why is it that this context can be found in what Bill Cipher has been writing in the preceding passages up till now? 

3) If you put food in a mogwai’s mouth at midnight EST but drive it over the CST time zone line back to 11PM before it can swallow, will it still transform into a gremlin? 

Okay, you caught me, that third one is unrelated. But the first two I believe require further thinking. So let’s delve a little further into the idea. Consider this the real third question: 

3) Are we to seriously believe that these, the only pages of J3 still lost to us, just so happen to tie into the new topics from the rest of the Book of Bill over and over like this?  

And since you’ve done so well thinking thus far, I’ll ask a fourth question: 

4) Are you aware of the concepts of Watsonian and Doyalist analysis? 

Assuming you don’t and you won’t google it, I’ll skip to the important part. Watsonian analysis is to analyze a story from within it, as if you yourself were Watson making deductions in a Sherlock Holmes novel.  

Now, from a Watsonian point of view, what happens when we try to answer our earlier questions? Why should it be that the Book of Bill provides so many of these points of reference to the journal pages? 

One possible line of thought could be that Bill wrote the earlier passages of his book *around* the idea of what was contained in the pages, but I think this doesn’t work for a few reasons. For one thing, the purpose of the book is to get the reader to make a deal, not to take a whole novel to set the stage for a 3 day mini Ford adventure. For another, not all of what I described prior is really fit to be called “context”, is it? The rats, the “Small World” cassette, and the Bill-Suit are one thing, but Eggnog? Shrimp colors? Land Orcas? I certainly wouldn’t define them that way. If anything, they’d be better suited to being called “references”. And unlike the more contextual ideas, there’d be no real need for Bill to sneak mere references to the pages into his grand story.  And lastly, there are a great deal of Bill pages that have nothing to do with the content in the journal pages at all.

So what exactly am I trying to say here? 

If we do intend to think of the callbacks outlined above as references, the only logical conclusion within the story is that the journal pages themselves are referencing back to the Book of Bill, not the other way around.

But… how? And why? Something Ford has written in the 80’s shouldn't be able to reference something Bill is writing post-weirdmageddon certainly. 

That’s because “Ford” isn’t referencing it at all!

And as for why… Well, have you ever noticed when you're writing a story on the fly, things you wrote earlier all come crashing back to you as you try to wrap things up? I believe personally that the journal pages are not pages actually written by Ford, but more a strange endcap on Bill’s crazy train of thought! That Bill is the one writing them, and the "references" are just fuel that further the pages creation. Almost as if, to quote someone much more knowledgeable than me on this subject…

(This single paragraph has been inserted a good deal after the original writing of this post.) I would like to clarify, I am not trying to claim the ideas presented in the pages have no basis in reality whatsoever. Ultimately, what I'm saying is I think Bill wrote them, and they should be taken with suspicion instead of as complete fact. "Did this event happen exactly this way?", "Does some of this feel distorted?", "Did this part even happen at all?" I think those are questions worth examining with the events detailed on these pages.

In the end, all I've described above (as well as other aspects of the pages I've not mentioned here) leave me with the impression the pages are not real.

As I stated only a bit earlier, the idea that these pages, the only pages of J3 purported to be lost, should be so connected to the rest of the book is beyond coincidence to me. Not to mention that in order to take these pages as total truth, you must give credence to several other passages of Bill's book as well. And I'm not too keen on having to trust him that much.

To all who have read this far, even to those who may have scoffed at the ideas in here or think I've only written up nonsense. Thank you for reading and considering my thoughts.

I am not saying anyone must agree with me on this. I know some people have found the pages to be important and meaningful to them, and I do not wish to give the impression that I think my view is the end all be all correct one, or that I think lesser of those who believe them to be Ford's own writings. I only want to share my own thoughts on them. And to anyone else who found the pages to feel "off" somehow, possibly validate their feelings too.

[deminetly]

୨NOT SO DEEP JOURNALING PROMPTS୧

……………………………………………………………

if somebody were to make a love potion for you, what should they add in?

make a collage about your dream future

describe how you imagine pictures in your head

your fig tree

the loot you would drop in a video game

what are you currently feeling, wearing, thinking, loving, needing, wanting, hating, regretting, missing?

write down every single thought that comes up until the page is full

whats in my bag collage

write down a guide to having a good/productive day

your life story as a playlist

3-5 things you would save in a fire

“maybe I was born to…” (and add things that make you happy)

random and specific things that would “fix” you (ex: a new journal, a really sweet cup of tea)

what were you interested in as a child? go out and do those things and write down how you felt. did it feel the same as it did when you were younger?

if you could switch lives with someone forever then who would it be?

what kind of planet would you want to live in if you were an alien? (weather, gravity, nature, magic, creatures etc)

ask people you know for movie recommendations, watch and analyse the movies. why do you think they like the movie?

make up totally useless superpowers for superheroes

write down all of the lives you would be happy living

make a resume

deep dive on why you’re always sad on your birthday

write down small things that make life worth living

think of the coolest person you know. what makes them cool?how are you guys similar?

write down all of the best feelings in the world but make them really specific

instead of writing about your day, make a comic

plan a party. who’s coming? where is it? is there a theme?

draw your emotions as people

write down all of your favourite lyrics and analyse them. how are they similar? why do you like them? how do you relate to them?

write down a few things you’re never tried and don’t think you would like then go out and try doing one of them. write about how you felt. were you right about not liking it?

would you enjoy living on a boat?

what was the last risk you took? do you regret it?

which lessons are you learning at this stage of your life?

do you believe in magic, miracles and coincidences?

whats something that younger you wouldn’t believe about your current life?

how do you want people to feel around you?

think of a plot for a movie

list your favourite sensations (smells, sounds etc)

try to explain your favourite movie or show that someone who’s never seen it

write about your favourite spot in your city 

choose a random word concept and write a silly poem about it 

list small things that make you happy 

list different ways to say I love you 

make a maze

make a word puzzle

write about your day like chapter in a book or newspaper article 

list your favourite childhood memories

invent something new (music genre, word, gum flavor etc)

draw monster, give it a personality and name 

your starter pack

what would you do if you were rich?

list random facts you’ve learned recently 

write an essay/letter to God listing reasons why you should get what you want

where would you live if you were a fairy?

list fictional places you would visit 

list random life lessons you’ve learned 

rate every song in an album 

where would you live if you were a fairy

if you were cartoon character, what would your catchphrase be? 

if you were to write a book or a movie, what would it be about? 

list features that ‘arent beautiful’ according to the beauty standard but you find unique and gorgeous

your solutions to the trolley problem

whats your favourite form of art and why?

if you were a perfume, what would be the top, middle and base notes?

draw yourself then write down everything thats been on your mind lately just floating around you

if you were to participate in a talent show, then what with your talent to be?

if october was a man

write a poem about pomegranate

“im easy to please, all i need is…” and list random things you like

search up “what do you see? draw it” from pinterest and draw what you see

read a book and write down some new words you learned or just words you thought sounded nice

what do you think your energy/aura looks like?

write down all the songs that remind you of yourself

whats something that loves and kills?

would you like living in the universe of your favourite movie/show? why?

how does your favourite song make you feel?

write daily entries about an imaginary royal life you live

go on a walk, write down all the locations of the prettiest places, capture them (print or draw pictures and write about how they make you feel)

imagine you’re hosting a tea party for your past, present and future self. what stories or secrets what they share with each other?

if you could bottle up any feeling from a specific moment in your life to keep forever, what would it be?

try to remember a wish that you made a long time ago, how would you feel if it came true now?

what memory do you revisit the most and why do you think it holds such power over you?

what piece of advice would you give to a traveller who was about to embark on a journey inside of your mind? 

do you think dreams have meanings?

if your personality was a landscape, what would it look like? would it be a forest, desert, a bustling city or something entirely different like a magical kingdom?

imagine your life is a book and a new character enters in this chapter, who are they and what role do they play in your story?

if you could speak directly to the moon tonight, what would you say or ask and what do you hope she would reply?

if your life was a fairytale, what would be the reoccurring magical object and what does it symbolise for you?

write a new ending to a significant chapter of your life, changing one key decision or event. how does this ending shape the person you become? 

write about a dream you wish you had while sleeping but never did

you find a golden key in your pocket that opens a door to a parallel universe where one aspect of your life is completely different. what is it? how do you feel in this new version of your life?

if your life had a colour palette what would it look like? what does each colour represent? 

write a message, seal it in a bottle and toss it into the sea of possibility. what do you write? who do you hope finds it?

write a letter to your current self from the perspective of your inner child. what advice, reminders or dreams do they want you to remember?

trace your hand and in it draw things youre holding onto even though you know you shouldnt

“me core” page (add lyrics, characters and pictures that represent you, your vibe)

start labelling every day like a TV show episode

make a sticker pocket

write the whole page in a fun font

instead of writing, draw how you feel

make bingo cards

write something with every pencil and pen that are in your pencil case 

put your playlist on shuffle and write down every lyric you relate to until the page is full 

design a tattoo you would get

draw how you think different peoples fridges would look like (ocs, characters, celebrities, your friends)

write down as many (good) memories from your childhood as you can remember 

get three random words and write a story or silly poem, including all of them

write about someone or something that keeps occurring in your dreams. why do you think that is?

who are your favourite and least favourite characters? why? how do you see yourself in these characters?

if you had to get a tattoo right now, what would you get? what meaning does it have to you?

where is the most ideal place to read a book?

write a short story about how the stars were created

what have been the biggest changes you have noticed in yourself in the span of a year?

would you be okay with your life if it stayed exactly how it is now? if no, what would you want to change?

would you want to live in your favourite show/movie? why?

who brings out the best in you? what about the worst?

write about your life events this month like a chapter in a book

“this reminds me of me” page

make up a different personality for each letter of the alphabet and assign people that you know letters according to their personalities

list all of the songs you know by heart

are you a dreamer or a realist?

whats the first thing you notice about people?

define beauty

do you think your name fits you?

design a dress while in a high vibrational state and then design another (different) one while in a low vibrational state

how would you explain dancing and singing to an alien?

what are the first things you notice about a person?

define beauty

have you ever found a writer who thinks just like you? who?

do you think your social media profile is an accurate representation of you?

do you think your appearance is an accurate representation of you?

what’s the exact opposite of you? which qualities do you like and which ones do you not?

what do you think people that have had a big impact on you would say about you?



[absolutebl]

Welcome to Tumblr BL Fandom - Here’s Your Primer

memes, insider trading & obsession meta post

The Death Stairs 

They haunt us. These same stairs constantly pop up in Thai BLs and we worry that someone is going to die on them (or fuck on them, or both).

BL origin = unknown, we only recently started tracking them (but the actual origin of the death stairs is 99 Home Studio117, RPC6+JM3 ซอย รามอินทรา 117 Min Buri, Bangkok 10510, Thailand. It appears to be a house rented out for filming. Honestly? They should AirBnB that level of fame. I’d rent it, buy a cactus and a chili plant, just for the photo op.)  

Rain Makes BL Boys Sick

For which the only solution is a sponge bath administered by another boy with a bowl of water and a damp white towel.

We don’t make the rules, the BL gods do. 

origin of the rain=fever = cultural

BL origin for the sponge bath = 2014′s Love Sick

The gayest bridge in Thailand

The Rama VII Bridge has appeared in so many Thai BLs - boys kiss on it and in front of it... A LOT. 

BL origin = SOTUS 2016  

Honor the Crumbs

Side dishes given very little screen time always end up being everyone’s favorites (especially in the pulps). Also falls under side dish syndrome. This is mostly a Thai BL thing, since they’re usually the BLs featuring more than one couple. (Taiwan is getting there, tho.)  

BL origin = @heretherebedork

The Engineering Department is Gay (also Pink Milk) 

The hot Thai boy in the engineering smock (red or blue) is either gay or a chaos bisexual. There are no exceptions. 

BL origin = SOTUS 2016 

Korea’s BL bubble 

A world where queer is simply accepted and a hostile society doesn’t exist. ​

Origin, probably Strongberry’s 2017-2018 shorts, but best known starters are 2020′s Mr Heart & Wish You

Namgoong award for best wingman 

Supportive straight(ish) besties! Appear throughout BL history, but really reached peak awesome with Namgoong, so a collection of us just started saying “thank you, Namgoong” whenever this archetype shows up. 

BL origin, Light on Me 

Korea’s BL formula 

(1 short Kpop idol + 1 tall actor / random separation in the last half of the final episode) x a small cast = KBL (usually 6-8 episodes totaling under 2 hrs)

BL origin, 2015′s The Lover 

Korean male beauty ideals here. 

Korea figured out boys can kiss 

To be fair Strongberry always knew this and Just Friends? gave it to us in 2005, it’s just they forgot for a while. A long while. 

origin = Korean 2022 BL

speaking of... 

Dead fish kisses

This tradition carried for years by Japan’s light BL, early Thai BL like Love Sick, & then Korea. It took Thailand’s 2016 BL (specifically elder gods KarnNut & MaxTul) to start breaking this curse. Could be argued that Ohm in 2016′s Make it Right also paved the way (while BoomPeak exemplify dead fish kissing). 

origin = early 2000s JBL when it was still known as Live Action Yaoi 

Taiwan = the kings of high heat 

Taiwan always serves up the most consistent and authentic chemistry, kisses, and higher heat. Thailand has it as well, but isn’t as consistent about it. 

BL origin = 2017 HIStory franchise and every Taiwanese BL since (although Eternal Summer probably started it in 2006) 

Taiwan’s marriage equality 

Taiwan was the first to feature sanctioned gay marriage in a BL, the first to depict queer engagements - and they regularly like to remind us that it’s legal there. As they should. 

BL origin = HIStory 2: Right or Wrong 2017 

Thailand’s food = love

Lovers cook, serve, feed, and/or eat together. Always. At least something along these lines in every Thai BL. 

origin, well just Thailand in general (and Asia to be fair), but probably SOTUS & Love Sick 

Vietnam’s domesticity

Vietnam always depicts at least some of their characters in a home environment, with family life, adopted kids, and more.

BL origin = Tein Bromance Extra

Cactus baby (and chili plant younger sibling) 

Hilariously a cactus plant was deployed as a courting gift, spy device, and blooming representation of sexual awakening in MaxTul vehicle Manner of Death. Tumblr adopted that cactus baby. 

BL origin = Manner of Death 2021

What China Did 

Massive wholesale censorship curtailed/abruptly cut short multiple shows in progress in 2016-2017. Also resulted in rewriting and reshooting of those in production, and more weird and invidious things. This also showed up as a purge (and likely persecution) of Chinese queer vloggers on YouTube, the imprisonment of several danmai authors, and eventually the censored bromances we now get today. 

BL origin victim = Addicted, Advance Bravely, etc...

Japan’s lanes 

Japan’s propensity to lean in favor of either

sweet, campy, and very low heat live action yaoi shot in a manga style with HEA, or 

dark, gritty high heat queer cinema and pinks shot in an atmospheric style with tragic endings 

BL origin, Boys Love 2006 & Takumi-kun 2007 

History of Japanese BL here and the weeds of Japanese BL here. 

#In Strongberry We Trust 

Small, queer, Korean production house Strongberry had been producing short form pro-queer KBL successfully for years, long before larger studios picked BL up. But when they transitioned to long form in 2022, we were a little scared they wouldn’t stick the landing. #InStrongberryWeTrust became our mantra.

BL origin = Choco Milk Shake 2022 

Faen Fatal(e) 

A side character, usually an ex-girlfriend but occasionally an ex-boyfriend, whose sole purpose is as a plot device to drive a wedge between the leads, or cause jealousy. 

BL origin = Love Sick

The Thai BL Pulps

Very low budget BL with terrible sound, crazy soapy plots, and earnest acting.

BL origin = Make It Right 2016 (term coined by @heretherebedork​ & self) 

The Mame effect 

AKA #oh mame must you? 

The mameverse features great characters, killer actor chemistry, and higher heat combined with terrible damaging tropes and non-sensical plot devices.

BL origin = TharnType (although technically started in Love By Chance) 

The 2 Moons Curse 

When a popular BL franchise struggles to survive over one season and keeps having to recast the leads. 

BL origin = 2Moons original 2017 

Dread Episode 11 

AKA Doom of Ep 11

Explained here. 

Golden Rules of BL 

Never trust: 

a Thai trailer, 

a Viki Category, 

a Vietnamese sub, 

an MDL description, 

a Taiwanese title, 

Japan, 

or a BL made before 2014.

Origin = me over the years 

BLoundary Test: has the seme ever respected a single boundary?

BLechdel Test. 2 ukes discuss something that is not their seme(s). Also uke indicates actual interest in sex in a relationship.

(source)

okay what did I forget? 

[alice-after-dark]

i think I kinda get Vox's anger at Alastor for being missing (probably presumed dead) for seven years and he doesn't even come see Vox first but goes to some random hotel instead and makes a business deal with THEM?! scandalous gasp. I kinda of sort of on a small itty bitty scale understand cause my cat who is small and defenseless went missing during fourth of July (so loud scary fireworks) and one of the craziest rain storms we ever had, and was gone for about four days, and we called for her all over the property but she never showed up, so we all thought she was super dead. There are the coyotes too. So I lost hope, gave up, and you know mourned what you could mourn for a cat. And then boom, she just appears right when we go to leave on a walk and I'm like '😡 bish, how dare you, I thought u died. I grieved you. I am currently grieving you, how rude.' like I'm happy but also the audacity. So I can kind of see that for Vox who most likely already accepted Al was dead, was moving on and then bam! He shows up like a cat who was only gone for a few days uwu 😺

OKAY FOR STARTERS I'M SO GLAD YOU GOT YOUR CAT BACK!

I've had to deal with a lost pet before and it was the most nerve wracking thing. But yeah I totally see where you're coming from.

Like, even though they had already fallen out, the idea that Alastor would just be gone is probably something Vox never considered. He thought Alastor would always be there to antagonize him, to frustrate him, to mess up his plans. And then one day he just wasn't. And that day became days became weeks became months became years. 7 years is a long time, so I can see that yeah, eventually Vox just has to accept Alastor isn't coming back and move on. Ngl, it's the source of my headcanon as to why Vox became such a workaholic and let himself get wrapped up with Valentino. Hard to think about the pain and the sadness when your mind is preoccupied with a million other things.

And then Alastor just pops back in like nothing happen. Not a word to where he's been. Hell, he doesn't even seek Vox out. Just...waits around until Vox, by chance, finds out that he's back. I'd be pissed too.

[heavenlyhoundoom]

Me roasting Sinnoh.

Turtwig: The most forgettable grass starter.

Grotle: Why aren't you ground type!?

Torterra: The weight of the world must weigh heavily on your back.

The cimchar line: Monkey...

Piplup: Noot noot!

Prinplup: Are the growths on your face painful?

Empoleon: The short king pokemon.

Starly: I don't see any stars on you.

Staravia: The fact that I can't think of any way to roast you shows how forgettable you are.

Staraptor: AKA, the emo bird.

Bidoof: I'll give you some respect for creating such a cult following.

Bibarel: How does it feel to be the most commonly used HM slave?

Kricketot: I think you're wearing your bib backwards.

Kricketune: And the reward for most ridiculous cry goes to...

Shinx: Holy shinx, I can't believe you're not a lion pokemon.

Luxio: Looks like this cat's going through an emo phase.

Luxray: The "why isn't this dark type" pokemon.

Budew and Roserade: Why were neither put in the same generation as your middle evolution?

Cranidos and Rampardos: Talk about total egg head.

Shielding and Bastiodon: How are either of you able to balance with those heavy shields on your face?

Burmy: You look really goofy without your cloak.

Wormadam: You can either have "Bigger Bush, Pizza slice, or "Why is this steal type? "

Mothim: How's stealth rock going for you?

Combee and Vespiquen: Finally, some bee pokemon that actually look like bees.

Pachirisu: Hide your seedots.

Buizel and Flotzels: I think these two got lost on their way to Sega.

Cherubi: The fact that the big cherry has to eat the small cherry to evolve is kinda fucked up.

Cherrim: Remember when this pokemon was impossible to catch in Legends Arceus?

Shellos and Gastrodon: Why do both forms have such beef with each other?

Ambipom: Ah, yes. The first of the many cross gen evolutions added to make weak pokemon stronger.

Drifloon: This pokemon is the definition of hide your kids.

Drifblim: Ah, a blimp, how scary!/s

Buneary: Its fur looks like it would make some top notch earmuffs.

Lopunny: This pokemon definitely wouldn't pass the censors nowadays.

Mismagius: This pokemon is the Whitney's miltank of the Paldea region.

Honchkrow: This pokemon takes the term neck beard too literally.

Glameow: Why would you give a cat eyeliner?

Purugly: Why are people calling this the ugliest pokemon when Loudred exists!?

Chingling: The first of the handful of random baby baby pokemon that were showhorned into gen 4.

Stunky and Skuntank: The fart joke pokemon.

Bronzor and Bronzong: These two have to be the most forgettable pokemon from gen 4.

Bonsly: Look ma, no hands!

Mime Jr: Was this pokemon really necessary?

Happiny: Why was this one of Brock's pokemon when it's not even rock type?

Chatot: Remember when you could make this pokemon swear?

Spirtomb: How does it feel having the fairy type take away your gimmick of having no weaknesses?

The gible line: I exist, so I must bite.

Munlax: Excuse me, but the Muppet show is auditioning in the other room.

Riolu: It is more useful than most baby pokemon.

Lucario: Gamer's first fur bait pokemon.

Hippoptas: How was Ash able to carry one on his head!?

Hippowdon: I wonder how many people mistook the female version for a shiny.

Skorupi: Sure, let's remove any scary aspect of a scorpion. Why not?

Darapion: Do the arms coming out of your head hurt?

Crogunk and Toxicroak: One Psybeam and you're dead.

Carnivine: It's incredibly ironic that this pokemon is weak to bug types despite also eating them.

Finneon and Lumineon: 💤💤💤

Mantyke: I can't get over how this pokemon looks high off its ass.

Snover: One ember and you're dead.

Abomasnow: I wonder if people decorate this pokemon for Christmas.

Weavile: Look at this Shadow the hedgehog wannabe.

Magnezone: I'm surprised this pokemon doesn't have levitate as one of its abilities.

Lickilicky: It's ironic that your tounge's shorter than your pre evolution's.

Ryperior: Insert Rhyferior joke here.

Tangrowth: This pokemon looks like it would be used by hippies.

Electivire: The electric yeti.

Magmortar: It looks like it has an easter egg for a body.

Togekiss: This pokemon has been arrested for joy dust trafficking.

Yanmega: This looks like it could be dragon/bug type.

Leafeon: Photosynthesis....Photosynthesis....

Glaceon: It's sucks that you can't get this pokemon until really late into the game.

Mamoswine: Mmm prehistoric bacon...

Porygon-Z: This is why you don't download Windows on your Porygon2.

Gallade: You know you only exist so that insecure men don't have to worry about their male gardevoirs making them question their precious sexualities, right?

Probopass: This pokemon is smashing.

Frolass: And you only exist to make the reason gallade exists less obvious.

Rotom: It's name is just Motor backwards.

Uxie, Mesprit, and Azelf: These pokemon look more like mythicals than legendaries.

Dialga: So are they friends or enemies with Celebi?

Palkia: The "why is this water type" pokemon.

Hetran: Why was this pokemon the first legendary to have a gender ratio?

Regigigas: The pokemon with the most crippling ability.

Giratina: It has a worm form.

Cresselia: The most beautiful rubber ducky.

Phione: The most unnecessary mythical.

Manaphy: Why was this given a baby pokemon?

Dakrai: Definition of "Ow, the edge".

Shaymin: This looks like a chia pet.

Arceus: You'd think this pokemon would be a legendary rather than a mythical.

[murkystarlight]

Okay- @crystallisedroses since you asked me to write more about Luktra(and I've been dying to talk about this actually) so here it is!

Another round of random brain ideas

I personally think Petra and Lukas were childhood friends. Since they knew each other before the game, and it couldn't have just been from Lukas getting a nether star from her. Because- Petra was trying to get Jesse's gang to be friends with Lukas. She has no reason to do that unless we say that Petra was already friends with Lukas and wanted them to get along. Or Lukas was sad that they(him amd the treehouse gang) are like... forced into a rivalry(because of the other Ocelots) and kind of in a bad situation with each other but he thinks the treehouse gang are nice people and wants to be friends. So Lukas asked Petra if she could help with being friends with them since he knows Petra is friends with them. So, I like to think the two are close friends.

Speaking of childhood friends,

They know a lot of things about each other. So they tease each other a lot and use it agaist each other quite a bit.

I also really like to think that Petra was a really small and cute (and chaotic) kid when she was young. So when she got taller(and stronger) Petra made a lot of comments on it. But Lukas doesn't actually mind it all that much. Still pretended to be upset and made a lot of banter with her though.

Of course, one of the usual conversation starters would be,

"How did you get so tall? You were like the smallest kid ever"

Petra probably leans on his head a lot cause he has the good hair(and he isn't short y'know. So makes him a little bit uncomfortable to use as a arm rest). Makes a nice cozy place to face plant in

I also like to think that, Petra just loves messing with Lukas' hair. She ruffles it, ties it, decorates it... stuff like that. Lukas hates it. But gave up on trying to fix his hair and tell her to stop. He has no choice but to let her play with it until she's satisfied

Sometimes when she is in deep thought, she looks like she's planning to murder someone and everyone else is worried while Lukas has a warm smile on his face not feeling anything is wrong. The others look at him and go "she doesn't look the slightest bit intimidating to you?" And Lukas just keeps smiling and says "she looks calm" With like zero emotion(the others get used to it later)(and I'm not saying the others, the treehouse gang, weren't friends with Petra before the game. I'm saying that I think Petra would have been friends with Lukas longer than with them. Like.. if she was friends with Lukas since pre-school, then she would have been friends with the treehouse gang since like... high school-ish)

AND if Petra was younger than Lukas- that could make the cutest thing ever. Imagine Petra being like a clingy three year old, refusing to let go of a new friend she made. And Lukas is just standing there looking down at her, a girl he picked up on the streets that is now currently holding onto his legs, and he is patting her head with a smile.

Watching old videos and photos would be so fun- (Lukas probably has a lot of blackmail material from when they were really young like elementary school +some recent ones. And Petras would mostly be from when they are a bit more of age)

Lukas' cottage in season two was like- a checkpoint to Petra before she started going into distancing all her friends too much. She would sometimes stop there to visit him if she ever comes across a part of the forest where he lives. They would hang out and Petra gets a place to rest. Lukas often bakes her small snacks to bring along her adventures before she leaves. Even if she refuses them, they do come in handy when she doesn't have enough food around

They both love animals, so they like playing with Lukas' ocelot. Lukas is totally fine with the cat playing with Petra more than him.

Lukas got her into reading. Or, well. She always kind of liked reading, but she never really told anyone or read in public in front of people(cuz- persona lol)(you can kind of see something like this in the Netflix version). But sometimes they read together. Just sitting in the middle of a forest on a nice sunny day and just read for hours.

Lukas tries to keep a healthy schedule. Most of the time he does. The problem is when he is really into writing, then he forgets to take care of himself. So Petra tries to remind him not to do that, even when she isn't around. Which actually is a bit very irritating for Lukas since, she always brushes off her injuries.

Whenever Lukas finds/notices a new scar or some injury on her he sits her down and starts patching her up immeatiently. While scolding her for being too reckless and not telling anyone about them.

One last thing I want to add in this,

the song 'Valentine' by Laufey and 'Small girl' by 이영지

It fits so well to them(or maybe anyone. Just- it fits well with Petra for sure though) in my head- I swearr

So that's about it for now. This- it's all mixed up and makes no sense... and probably not the kind of content you were expecting🙏 but I can only remember stuff like this right now. I'm open to writing more about this though if anyone's interested 👉👈

I'm sorry- so hh... take this instead

Friends, lovers, whatever

I had fun🙂

[bearratic]

Get to know the mun ! repost, don’t reblog.

——— BASICS.

NICK[NAME] : Benjamin. [Benji/Bear.]

PRONOUNS : He/Him.

ZODIAC SIGN : Aquarius - Feb 7th.

TAKEN OR SINGLE : Single.

ANYTHING ELSE? : Real fuckn dutch. Made of stroopwafels.

——— THREE SERIOUS FACTS.

Writing gives me the time and space to gather my thoughts. I use it as a practice in conveying emotion, which makes it easier to do so and thoroughly explain reasoning. I use writing as a base for learning human psyche, soul, mind and spirit which interests me deeply. I try digging deeper into feelings and actions - reasons why some are done and linking them together.

I pick muses based on some hint of personality trait I see of myself in them. I find myself often asking what I want so having muses that at least correlate to my thoughts are a better fit for me than just a choice at random. It can be big as the way they think or it can be as small as sharing a favorite drink. Exploring their interests based on their world and adding on to it makes it way more enjoyable for me to write, story and world building is important to me.

I fucking love everyone I have ever written and will ever write with. This has been nothing but a warm and loving experience for me.

——— THREE RANDOM FACTS.

My nickname is thanks to my father, who even though he named me one thing, found it often too long and switched it to another lol.

I go to at least 3 concerts every month. Mostly rock in genre if I get to chose but I never say no when friends ask. I will always be your +1 to any event.

If I had to pick a country to move to it would be Scotland, sorry but I have a light obsession with that place.

——— EXPERIENCE.

Zero dude. Literally none. I just picked it up as a hobby and passed my blogs one year birthday last august. I have been truly active in the writing community for only half a year in total.

I go with the flow, I enjoy coming up with things on the spot. Diseccting my muses and throwing them into any type of situation just to write myself out of it. Or-... make it worse for them. Keep it interesting you know?

I write through and together with music, I let it guide me often. This is kind of the reason I am a slow replier, I have to really feel what I want to put down and then I can stick to it. Besides that, English is not my first language so I have to switch back and forth in my brain real often. It can be a bit tiring but I gladly do it for my writing partners. Much love.

——— MUSE PREFERENCE.

Give me anything with a background we can explore and me and my muses are in. I thoroughly enjoy talking to you about your muses and mine, from their favorite pairs of socks to their family drama, idc I want to know.

I need a lot of building together, plotting and anything to truly write my muse closer to yours if you want anything deeper. I build through writing together. From something silly to movie scripts. Let them get to know each other to their deepest point.

——— FLUFF / ANGST / SMUT.

FLUFF : Yeah definitely, I’m a sappy dude. I like to daydream.

ANGST : Also yeah! I enjoy making problems for my muses, it makes me understand them more. Dread is and can be intense so be sure to be in the right headspace and let me know.

SMUT : Sure, though with my lack of writing experience bear with me on this one. I really have to know how you write and your muse for this to work, I do not wish to overstep boundaries either yours, your muses or my own. Which I am unable to know if we do not at least have a talk about it.

——— PLOT / MEMES : Thanks to you I know how much I enjoy plotting. I know I'm rather slow with DM replies but please don't take it personally I am just truly busy and can only do one thing atta time. Memes! Starters! Send me them all day everyday, I might not get to them immediately but I will and I will love it.

TAGGED BY : @sanctissimx I adore. Thank Yououou.

TAGGING : Cool ppl but no pressure. @cherriedrage @penandswords @patronsxints @carminewill @heterochromatica @ofcursedenergy @modeinthemiddle @huntershowl & You.

[pearatwar]

lalalalalalalaaa

pear buddy i might be working on something. totally unrelated question can you give me either a vague description of the features you have physically that are most important to you when you think about being depicted Or a list of objects themes or symbols that would be inside a time capsule labeled with your name

MERRY CHRISTMAS ALSO! in my heart i'm keeping you company bro ,, if you don't celebrate, wednesday! yay! i'm happy you're here palOkay sappy. i had a good dinner today

ohhhh boy oh boy oh boy here we go. bit thing coming

SO for starters it's going to be a pear. like. duh. cmon

when my more artsy friends depict me they give me an exaggerated chin and nose and with time they associated me with a crescent moon so. ughm. do what you will

seagulls! i heart seagulls with all my might

salt. lots and lots of salt and square crystals because my city is known for salt and i cry a lot

very angry and aggressive shapes. they walnt to kill you with hammers ans sharp Things. look up vectorheart as an aesthetic and get yourself an idea

a torn and crumpled piece of Paper held together by uncanny ways for the average Paper like staples

random drawings on graph and notebook paper, they encapsulate my soul

a rock. of the Small. variety

i deeply resonate with loneliness and change as themes because hell. thats. me

quick fire rounds! buckle up idiot ahem ahem THINGS I RESONATE WITH AND HOW I AM DEPICTED! in assorted order;; complex but useless math, sneezing, really big cargo pants, eyebags, semicolons, broken parts of things you like and used and whatever!! gradients, lots of green! so green you egt sick and throw up, bottle caps and soda tabs but i never drink alcohol, uhh cuts! light! like scratches! ihh way to kill the mood branching out like tree roots looking for substance! you know i didnthat a lot of ghe time when i was starting out my blog oh ah cold!! make it cold!! i am cold and chilly and i'm not a chill guy i am purposefully avoiding punctuation uhhgm. little quirky notes. uhh. idk throw in broken stuff i think you already did that..... uhb nnevermind that. i am kintsugi of the fragments others left pf themselves so good luck fitting 7.8 billion other time capsules in there

[deathfavor]

@ofcrossroads said: ❛ hold still. this might sting a little. ❜ (Chifuyu to Kazutora)

random assortment of sentence starters

Kazutora gives a low hum in acknowledgement, sparing a brief glance towards the disinfectant and bandages sitting on the counter before looking towards Chifuyu. " Don't worry, I won't move. " He promises. " Thanks for doing this for me. Kinda hard to deal with injuries around my backside by myself. "

Does the battered, scraped wounds hurt? Sure. But tonight is the calmest that Kazutora has felt in ages. It shows in his whole posture, from the relaxed shoulders to the slow, cat-like blinking of golden eyes, to more noise than words. The itch under his skin has been soothed, no longer driving him to wanting to claw out of his own skin like a prison cell. All that's left is something calm and nearly docile. ( Not quite, because docile never quite fits the tiger, but certainly relaxed. ) He lets silence hang in the air before he begins to speak.

" I tried that Muay Thai class being advertised around lately. My therapist said it might be good for me. " Kazutora doesn't often talk much about therapy or what happens there. Sometimes he says if it was good or bad but rarely brings up specifics. Other times its obvious from his mannerism alone, especially the rough sessions. But crammed into the small bathroom with Chifuyu trying to help patch a wound from a fall, he decides to. " Honestly, he was pushing it for a while for me to do something in the martial arts or something like that. He thought it'd be good for me and a healthy outlet. I was just scared to try. " Chifuyu was right, it did sting a bit. He's had far worse though and doesn't bat an eyelash at it. " Just. Given my history and all. " He shrugs and immediately stops when he remembers the order to hold still. His voice however perks up when he continues. " But it was actually really nice! And fun too. "

His gold eyes watch Chifuyu in the mirror, trying to gauge the other's reaction to his words. Like he's searching for approval or disapproval. He's not sure how well Chifuyu will take it. " Given my background and all, I was ahead of a lot of people other than the actual combinations. So I gotta do a lot of that. But the instructors were real chill and so were the people. It felt good. Lots of safety measures in place though things can still happen obviously. " If anything he seems rather proud of it though. " I was thinking I'd stick with it, at least for a while and see how it goes. It's Tuesdays and Thursdays so I'll probably go right after we close, or a few minutes early if that's okay? " He could do a lot of the closing tasks a bit earlier so Chifuyu didn't have to do any at the end.

" And there's a competition in a little over a month that I might enter if I do stick with it. They said I'd probably do really good. You should come. " Kazutora tears his eyes away from the mirror to turn his head to look at Chifuyu in the dim lighting. " I mean, if you're not busy when it's occurring. Or if it interests you. If it doesn't or it's too close to old memories I totally get that though." He rushes out in a quick attempt to offer Chifuyu ways out of the invitation so he doesn't feel he HAS to go just because Kazutora invited him. " Don't wanna bore you on a day off, you deserve that rest " He laughs sheepishly and glances towards the sink. " I just...thought it might be nice? "

[zurixmitchell]

CLOSED STARTER

LOCATION: Mayor office TIME: Monday during office hours FOR:@irzaozer

Zuri walked into the office, still looking at her phone, trying to figure out where she was. Looking up to find him at his desk, her face turned red like a stop light. "Oh my gosh, I totally did not mean to crash in here," she said, taking small steps backward. "This place is like a maze and ... so this is super random, but any chance you could point me in the right direction? I've been going in circles forever trying to find this room." She let out a small laugh that sounded more like a nervous squeak, mentally crossing her fingers that he wouldn't think she was a total mess. 

[currentlyfckingurmom]

Her Song Part 2

I place the Neighborhood's album, Wiped Out!, on the turntable and drop the needle. It was definitely worth investing half of my life's savings into an expensive record player that connected to the store's high-end sound system. If you're gonna own a record shop, you have to splurge on what really matters— the music.

Since it's past eight at night, there's nobody working in the store except for me. We close in half an hour, and I never make Ash or David (my other employee) stay that late because we rarely get any customers after seven. Syd fell asleep in the bean bag chairs half an hour ago, so it might as well be just me.

But I don't mind because that just means I can turn up the volume and sing along without fear of embarrassment. "Cry Baby" comes on and I turn it up as much as I can without waking Syd.

I sing the lyrics as I check the records inventory, writing down which vinyls are currently rented out, or are out of stock and need to be ordered. I get so into the music that I don't even hear the door open.

A gentle hand resting on my arm scares the shit out of me and I turn around to face the culprit, a small squeal of terror escaping my throat. I sigh in relief when I see Florence standing there and not a robber or axe murderer.

"Oh my god, don't do that," I breathe out with my hand flat against my chest, feeling my heart race in fear.

"I'm sorry," she cringed in apology. "I didn't mean to scare you. I tried calling your name a few times but it seems you were kind of in your own world," she explains.

"No- yeah, no, it's good. We're cool," I stutter, embarrassed that she saw my...performance.

We stand there in silence for a moment, though it isn't awkward; small smiles and rosy cheeks fill the void, happily keeping discomfort from seeping into the interaction.

"So, um, I was just thinking maybe I could get a cup of tea? And I really like this album that's playing so could I possibly rent it out?" Florence asks suddenly.

"Oh, of course! I'll go make your tea first and then I'll grab a vinyl for you," I tell her, already walking toward the cafe counter. "For here or to go?"

"For here. I think I'll stick around for a bit, see if you've got any other recommendations for me," she answers cheerily.

"Oh, definitely. Fair warning, though: my music taste is all over the place. I'm talking classic rock to pop to death metal to alternative to- well, you get the point, so anything I recommend will probably be totally random," I ramble, at which her intoxicating laugh fills the small shop.

I hum lowly to the music as I prepare the Yorkshire tea. Just from the one time she came into the shop, I already remember exactly how she takes it. I can feel her eyes watching me as I pour the steaming hot water, but I pretend not to.

She sits on one of the stools at the cafe bar, and I set her tea down in front of her. We exchange a smile and I say, "I'm gonna go grab that record for you. I'll be right back."

She nods and I navigate the aisles, already knowing exactly where the Neighborhood's albums are. I run my finger along the shelf before picking up the nicest Wiped Out! vinyl in the store. Technically, we have a rental copy of each album and I'm not supposed to rent out the for-sale vinyls, but I'm the boss, so who really cares if I make an exception just this once?

She hands me her card as I walk by her table and I ring up her stuff at the counter. The receipt prints out and I check to make sure she's not looking before flipping it over and writing "Dr. Feelgood by Mötley Crüe is one of my favorite rock albums :)"

I slip the receipt inside the record cover and place it down on Florence's table. Turning to walk away, I stop when she says "Wait, have a seat! I want to know more about you."

Sitting down across from her with a small smile, I ask, "Well, what would you like to know?"

"For starters, your name would be nice," she quips.

"Ah, fair game. I'm Y/N. And you?" I return the question even though I already know the answer.

She slightly squints her eyes, probably trying to figure out if I'm messing with her, before saying "Im Florence. It's nice to meet you, Y/N."

"It's nice to meet you, as well, Florence."

She smiles and slightly bites her lip, looking down at the table. "So where are you from?" she blurts out.

"Small town in Georgia," I reply. "Let me guess, based on the accent, I'm gonna say you're from...Texas. Oh yeah, definitely Texas," I joke, feigning seriousness.

"Hell yeah, I'm from Texas," she says with a fake southern drawl.

Laughing, I ask, "For real, though. Where are you from?"

"Oxford," she replies easily, returning to her normal British accent.

"Sounds posh," I mutter under my breath. She must've heard me, though, because she bursts out laughing once more and my cheeks begin to hurt from smiling so much.

Her phone vibrates and she checks it, frowning at the message on the screen. "I'm sorry, I have to go. It's been nice talking with you, Y/N. Thank you for the tea and the record."

"Anytime, Florence. The rental details are on the receipt. Have a nice night," I say as she grabs her stuff and walks toward the door.

"Goodnight," she calls before leaving the shop. I sigh and check the time, realizing I should've closed twenty minutes ago.

I rush to shut everything down and about fifteen minutes later, I'm ready to go.

Gently shaking her tiny body, I whisper, "Syd, babe, wake up. It's time to go home."

She stirs slightly and mumbles, "Don't wanna get up, Momma. I don't feel good."

"What's wrong?"

"Just don't feel good." She falls back asleep immediately and I give up, gently picking her up and carrying her out of the store.

The rest of the night is filled with a sick five-year-old and thoughts of an enthralling British woman. She seemed very upset by that text she got. I hope everything is okay.

[otome-mondays]

Review: Collar x Malice 🐈‍⬛

Ok yeah I’m very late to reviewing this game, but in my defense I didn’t have a blog where I felt ok posting otome reviews until now lol. Disclaimer: 1) it has been years since I last played this game. I have my thoughts written down but this is not going to be as polished as I hope my future reviews are. 2) This game has really rough themes and topics, please don’t read if topics such as terrorism, violence, suicide, and police are triggering to you. I’d recommend looking up a full list of triggers before deciding to add Collar x Malice to your list of games. 3) Like all my reviews, this will contain spoilers. This one has spoilers for some CGs and general route spoilers!

Onto the review!

Collar x Malice takes place in the city of Shinjuku, which is currently under lockdown due to terrorism attacks from a group called Adonis. You play as a girl name Ichika Hoshino, and while you can change her name I chose to keep the default. Ichika is a rookie officer assigned to the SCRPO department. Their goal is to help keep peace among the citizens, meaning there’s little crazy action happening in her specific department. Part of the SCRPO duties are doing patrols to look out for Adonis members and maintain as much peace as can be possible when you’re in such a situation. Unfortunately, thanks to plot bad luck, Ichika is targeted by the group and they try to convince her to join. How so? That’s where the collar comes in. So Ichika gets snatched by a member and a collar is placed on her neck. Not just any collar, a collar filled with poison. How wonderful! Now, there is a slight issue because she already got a small dose and can’t move and is stranded in a church of some sort in the middle of the night. A random group of men come in and save the heroine, being given a memo from Adonis. They introduce themselves to Ichika as a small ragtag detective group looking into X-Day outside the police force. There’s 4 members, but only 3 are present. These 3–Enomoto, Sasazuka, and Yanagi—are all former cops who quit for their own reasons and have all decided to do independent work looking into X-Day. Oh right, I should explain X-Day. X-Day is a day Adonis is counting down to with monthly attacks before basically purging Shinjuku from who they think are nasty lowlifes who deserve death. Adonis has the ability to fully monitor Ichika and those around her from the collar, and they want to ultimately recruit her and if possible the ragtag investigation group. Ichika also can’t tell anybody else outside the group or they’ll kill her. So now she has to hide this information from everybody close to her. Totally not stressful at all right? As she’s deciding to join an figure out what she wants to investigate, one more problem comes in. Okazaki Kei. He’s a SP officer who, along with his subordinate, are assigned to monitor Yanagi’s group. He also seems a bit persistent on monitoring her. Oh also not to mention the other oddball in the group, Shiraishi, who seems kind of suspicious. Ultimately, she decides to investigate a certain set of cases and put an end to Adonis with help from Yanagi and friends. And that’s where the route split is, depending on how you answered the questions in the common route determines which cases and ultimately which route you play. I played this game back in 2020-2021 when everybody was supposed to be inside and in lockdown as well, and it felt really fitting at the time. I’ll add some thoughts on each route next, but if you just wanted a general plot starter and to see if I recommend it, scroll past all the character sections for the end! I’m not going to make walkthroughs as there are already plenty out there, but I will mention I relied on Otome Kitten’s walkthroughs located on her website. I’m going to review the characters in the order I played:

Spoilers Ahead

Okazaki Kei 🏃‍♂️

So I decided to start with this route because honestly I was the most interested in Okazaki out of all the characters. I spent way too much time trying to see route order recommendations and I saw enough people say that his wasn’t big on lore so it’s ok if you do his route first. I also had the interesting challenge of otome being even more of a niche genre in the west than it is now so I struggled to find resources on the game. Now that could also be me struggling in general with technology sometimes lol. Okazaki here is kinda the odd guy out of the group. He isn’t investigating X-Day incidents with Yanagi and Co, but rather he’s keeping an eye on them with his junior partner Yoshinari Hideaki. The case we’re exploring in this route is the July case, and then we start investigating the November case. Nobody’s been investigating this specifically in Yanagi’s group, so Ichika is all on her own with understanding what happened. Okazaki decides he’s going to help for seemingly no reason, which does help her solve the incidents since she doesn’t have much experience. Without going into more details for spoiler reasons, Okazaki is a very sad character and honestly I love how well written he is. His route doesn’t go too much into the overarching story of the game and is also very isolated from the other characters. This is most likely due to how he’s not in the same group as the others and he’s not privy to how they are as people but rather their general actions and behaviors. This route is a really good starting out point! 9/10

Enomoto Mineo 🪭

Enomoto is highly recommend as a starting route by most people and I can totally see why! Even if you’re not a fan of genki style characters, he is a very enjoyable one. Enomoto is the youngest of the love interests and is a former Field Ops 2 officer. His mentor was a victim of one of the X-Day attacks, and because of that he ultimately left the force and joined up with Yanagi to investigate those specific incidents. On Enomoto’s route, we are investigating the April-May case, also the very first countdown to X-Day attack. Enomoto and Ichika really do start out kinda rocky as investigative partners, and slowly get to know and trust each other. I also think that Enomoto is a very well written character, and his route has some of the best writing for lots of side characters. I do have a couple gripes, such as his main tragic ending not being anywhere near tragic as…oh I don’t know…BAD ENDING NUMBER 4. That one actually caused me emotional pain. Anyways, his route can easily spoil who the leader of Adonis is to anybody who isn’t as clueless as I am (genuinely was focused on solving other mysteries to the universe). Like Okazaki, his route is very much an introductory route and is another great one to start with! Either play this one or Okazaki’s first and then play the other. 8/10

Sasazuka Takeru 🍩

Alright now for Sasazuka’s review. This was an interesting route, and honestly pretty good middle of the game route. I’m going to be honest and say I wasn’t super interesting in playing through his route, but I really came to love Sasazuka as a character while playing it. So let’s get into some details. Sasazuka is a former cyber crimes officer and he’s also our tsundere character. Now, he’s the type of tsundere that’s honestly very much verbally aggressive and it’s a very hard start for Ichika and Sasazuka. Like every other love interest and character in general it seems in this game, the man has severe trauma. His route has you exploring the June and August cases, starting with the August case. This route we learn a lot more about Adonis and why they’re doing what they are doing. Yet again, Collar x Malice is wining an award for great character writing in my brain. I really do like how Sasazuka is written and how he starts recovering and healing from his trauma. Now as for endings, like Enomoto he suffers from a mediocre tragic ending and also not great bad endings. His best ending is definitely the good ending, but who’s surprised about that. Definitely play this game 3rd though, it makes the most sense story wise. 8/10

Shiraishi Kageyuki 🐱

And here’s the controversial one. I cannot begin to explain how much I love this route. This is such a wild route and at first I totally hated Shiraishi but by the end he ended up being one of my favorite characters ever. I’d say Shiraishi’s route is like pseudo-yandere route? Or at least that was how it was described in some of the few posts I saw before playing and that immediately made me concerned. It honestly is a really good route and I wouldn’t personally classify it as a yandere route. This one goes over so much in universe lore and uncovers a lot of secrets, so please don’t play this before the other 3 routes above. Shiraishi’s route is also one of two that have to be unlocked, so even if you wanted to start with his you won’t be able to. To unlock Shiraishi’s route, all you have to do is finish one of the first three routes. I don’t think you have to get the good ending, but you do have to get either the good ending or tragic ending for it to count if that is the case. Now Shiraishi’s route goes over the September-October case. Out of all the cases you explore, I think this one was the saddest with the June case being a close second. Shiraishi is the only one in Yanagi’s group to still be working with the police as Director of the Field Ops department. Because of this, Ichika is very suspicious of him at first and thinks he’s potentially a double agent. I’d say he is easily the most traumatized one out of all the characters. He has a very intense love-hate relationship with Ichika even as colleagues, but they figure out how to communicate with each other. Now, a lot of people talk about how his good ending isn’t truly a good ending to them or a larger discussion of what makes an ending a good ending. This route has amazing writing, and the good ending is a part that proves it. Warning, it is very bittersweet but it is the best result based off of everything that happens. Now the tragic ending…I once again do not have words to express how I felt reading that. That ending is so twisted and I love those types of endings for bad endings. Honestly, this is probably the best route in the game even if he’s not my favorite LI. 9.5/10

Yanagi Aiji 🚬

Alright, final route time. Now, if you want to play Yanagi’s route and fully see the world of Collar x Malice and answers to all the questions, you’re going to have to wait a while. You will not only have to finish all the other routes, but you specifically have to have obtained all the good endings. If you’re like me, this will take a while because you want to see all the endings. If you’re not, congrats it will take you slightly less time! So Yanagi here is basically marketed as that “true route” but not really. He has his own prologue, he has the longest route, and he’s only unlocked after playing through the other routes. I hate to say this but Yanagi’s route was the most boring one to me. I love Yanagi as a character, but I do not really like him as a love interest…which is unfortunate because he is the most stable one. But, as with all the other routes and boys, he definitely is well written and has a well written story. His route definitely focuses more on solving X-Day and definitively ending Adonis and the terrorism attacks. Because of this, you’re not getting much romance. Sorry to all the Yanagi fans. Yanagi, as the little leader of the group, is investigating all of them. At this point, you already understand and have solved the cases in previous routes so now we just have to figure out who is behind X-Day and Adonis and why they are so freaking weird. As is the pattern, Yanagi is also a traumatized man. We love to see it. Anyways, he also has some growth and development from confronting his trauma in his route. Thankfully, unlike Enomoto and Sasazuka, he has both a great good ending and tragic ending. I’m not going into detail on either because major spoilers. 8.5/10

Overall Thoughts 🐈‍⬛

Collar x Malice is a great entry point into Otomate titles or otome as a genre. It has has some unique features like trigger mode, investigation mode, and then an occasional map mode for the station Ichika works at. I didn’t mention it above, but this game also has great side characters including Ichika’s little brother who does play a huge role in the story. If you’re looking for a recommended route order, mine is going to be Enomoto/Okazaki -> Sasazuka -> Shiraishi -> Yanagi. As for which route to play first, either pick who you’re more interested in OR pick whether you want to learn more about the characters or Adonis. If you want to experience the characters first, start with Enomoto. If you want to see more of an intro to Adonis first, pick Okazaki. My rating of this game is going to be a 9/10! It’s truly an enjoyable experience!

EDIT: I am adding in my LI and route rankings! This one is really hard for me, because I genuinely liked them all.

Route: Shiraishi > Okazaki > Yanagi > Enomoto > Sasazuka

LI: Okazaki > Shiraishi > Enomoto > Sasazuka > Yanagi

Resources 📝

I obviously pulled my information about the game mostly from the game itself. The CGs are also from the game. Now for people’s thoughts on the game, I looked at the otomegames subreddit, Blerdy Otome, and Otome Kitten. I also followed Otome Kitten’s walkthroughs. I highly recommend looking into these places of the internet for otome content and also more perspectives on the game!

[justfrozenthings]

I Latte You A Lot

Pairing: Anna/Kristoff

Rating: G

Summary: Kristoff didn't know what he expected in college, but it certainly didn't include falling for a beautiful redhead in his biology class. Now, working with her on a group project there may be a chance for their relationship to grow past friendship. There's just one problem...Hans Westergaard.

Notes: A little late, but this is for Day 2 of the School Days event put on by @kristanna-days

Read Here on Ao3!

The bell chimed, signaling that someone had entered the door of the quaint little coffee shop that sat nestled in the corner of Arendelle University.

As the door closed behind him, Kristoff looked around the familiar shop; hands stuffed in the pockets of his well-worn jeans. It was part of a routine that he built up, coming in during the evening on Wednesdays after a long day of classes only for it to be followed by more studying and an overwhelming amount of homework. The coffee was decent enough as far as on-campus coffee places go however, to say that the dark caffeinate liquid was what was luring him back was not entirely accurate. Matter of factly, it was not why he made weekly visits at all. Kristoff enjoyed coffee well enough, but not to the extent of what was expected of the typical college student. No, the true reason he was so adamant about coming was for an entirely different reason. An Anna Anderson reason.

The first time he had seen the cheerful outgoing red-head was the first day of classes in his Introduction to Biology class; he had walked in grumbling because the freshmen were crowding the halls of the science building trying to navigate their classrooms. The hallway traffic nearly made him late for his class so to say his attitude was the farthest thing from joyful was an understatement. To make matters worse the only available seat was in the back that just so happened to be right next to Anna. Her gleaming smile and sickeningly sweet exterior made him feel nauseated, and a little bit of comfort at the same time. Mostly nauseated though, because people that were that happy almost always tended to be big talkers who wanted to befriend everyone and everything around them. Kristoff quickly glanced around to see if there were any other seats available hoping he would be able to escape an hour and a half of someone trying to make friends with him. And of course, just like with all things it seemed, luck had not been in his favor today.

Kristoff groaned throwing his head back, eyes meeting the stained and off-white ceiling tile that only comes from age for a split second; before clumpily walking towards a whole class session of questions he did not want to answer and mindless chatter.

He was right, of course, there was almost never a moment where he felt he could focus on the professor going over the syllabus without trying to restrain himself from cussing the redhead out in front of the whole class. But he held his ground knowing very well it would likely somehow end in a phone call from his mother berating him for not being the proper gentleman she raised him to be. It didn’t matter where it was or how it happened, her keen ear for gossip always led her to discover even the most obscure situations. Speaking out due to his agitation was not worth the risk of hearing an earful from Bulda Bjorgman. So he put up with it for the rest of the week….and the week after that and then again the week after that. For weeks on end no matter how hard he prayed, Anna Anderson, he found was her name after their professor called role for the first three days, always seemed to have something to say whether it be something totally random like “Did you know hippopotamus milk is pink” to something that actually had to do with the class like “It’s amazing how something big like a dinosaur evolved into something like a small bird” or simple conversation starters in an attempt to make friends.

And as the middle of the semester neared Kristoff eventually gave in. If someone was so determined to befriend you, an introvert like him might as well give it a try right?

Surprisingly, in this case, at least, the answer was yes.

She ended up opening him up in a way he never thought was possible, to the point where he even began talking to his roommate Sven, resulting in yet another friendship; can you believe?!

While one can say two friends isn’t really a lot and doesn’t qualify you as a sociable person, to Kristoff, it did. Not only did he see it as a great achievement but to his surprise, also came to the realization was something he always needed.

While forming friendships wasn’t something he expected to happen nor aim for in college, and just life in general, something he certainly never thought would happen as long as he resided on earth, was fall in love. Especially with someone so spritely as Anna.

She changed him. He smiled more and was actually willing to hold a small conversation with a stranger without letting out an irritated groan and rolling his eyes. She became the reason he kept going.

“Kristoff?”

A beat.

“Kristoff?!”

A giddy voice pulled him out of his daze, shaking his head and pulling his focus back to the atmosphere of the coffee shop that was now starting to get busy as he looked back noticing the growing line of coffee-deprived college students forming behind him; noticing that the voice belonged to the specific girl he was just daydreaming about. And somehow, within that timeframe, he had also made it from the door to the cashier.

“Hellllooooo. Earth to Kristoff.” Anna waved a hand in front of his face standing up on her tiptoes and leaning over the counter just a bit.

He shook his head, pulling himself out of the flashbacks running through his mind. “Hm.”

Anna giggled, god how he loved that sound. “Welcome back Mr. Daydreamer, how was your brief escape from reality?” Her bright blue eyes shined, brimming with fascination and curiosity and Kristoff couldn’t help but gaze into them with devotion.

“Ummm…” he rubbed a nervous hand at the back of his neck and his cheeks started to show a hint of pink as he cleared his throat hoping she wouldn’t notice the break in his voice. “Good!” he responded with just a tad bit more enthusiasm than he intended. “I mean yeah it was-it was good.”

She snorted, covering her hand with her mouth to try and hide it.

Could this girl be any cuter?

“Well it must have been from how much you’re blushing,” she chirped.

Said blush deepened even more, which of course, didn’t help his situation and probably even made himself look like an even bigger fool, if that was even possible.

“I um-”

“Oh Kristoff, I’m only teasing,” she inquired with a flick of her wrist wearing the same bright same on her face that she always wore. “In fact, I find it rather cute.”

Well, that commentary certainly didn’t help things either.

“Now, while I would love to chat some more I unfortunately have to take responsibility and take your order.” Anna exaggerated her voice as she dramatized the whole situation as if she was being forced to do some unwanted burden. In most cases Kristoff would scoff at this kind of behavior, but not with Anna. Unlike most people Anna loved her job, sure it had been overbearing at times yes, he learned this from the few times Anna had practically begged to come over to his dorm telling him she needed a break from reality (though if he were being honest he thinks it was just an excuse to take away Sven’s title as The Ultimate Supermash Bros Champion , which was something, of course, he made up). It was part of the reason he loved her so much because even though there were times she acted like she hated it, he knew she didn’t mean it. At the end of the day, Anna was thankful because she was a working college student that had a job that paid well, was on campus, and accommodated to her schedule because she understood that not everyone was fortunate enough to have that luxury; Kristoff was one of them.

“Gotta get some fuel into everyone’s system before they tackle night classes. You know how it is. Plus, I need to keep up my good record. I haven’t been late once this week. Can you believe that?!”

He chuckled, knowing all too well that she was not an early bird as he had learned earlier on in the semester as she would practically come running into class huffing, puffing, and sweat-drenched as she apologized to the professor (who eventually gave up priding on her about the importance of being on time). “That’s great Fesity-pants!” Using the nickname he had given her when he had discovered that she had quite a fierce and stubborn attitude for someone her size. “Now, all you need to do is have that same motivation for class.”

She scowled at him as he shot back a teasing smirk before they both broke out into laughter.

“Okay seriously though, I think we’ve pissed off the people in line long enough. So, what will it be? Your usual I’m assuming since you almost never change your order.”

“Yes,” he guffawed. “And hey, what’s wrong with getting the same thing every time?”

“Because it’s unnatural and definitely gives off serial killer vibes. Seriously, I swear I read it in a book once. I just need to make sure I am not friends with a murderer.” She joked as she quickly scribbled something on a paper cup.

Friends. Probably something they will always be. Just friends and nothing more. The thought made his stomach flip.

“At least I already know what I want by the time I get to the counter. I am fully convinced that you take more time deciding what you want than you do deciding what chocolate you want from the chocolate store down the street.”

Another thing Kristoff loved about Anna was that she never ceased to surprise him in the strangest of ways. Her undying love for chocolate was one of these things, as she had practically dragged him at the end of class one day all the way to the chocolate shop where she had ended up ordering two of every kind because “how can they possibly expect me to only pick one I mean come on!”

Anna put her hands on her hips and raised a brow, once again amplifying her feisty nature. “Well it’s not my fault they had so many options. Besides, I didn’t want to hurt the other’s feelings.”

“It’s chocolate, Anna.” He deadpanned.

“Just because they aren’t alive doesn’t mean they don’t deserve love, Kristoff!” She crossed her arms over her chest and let out a sassy “hmpf.”

“Whatever you say Feisty,” he murmured still in disbelief about how someone could be so perfect as he pulled his worn leather wallet from his back jeans pocket to pay.

Once he bought his drink, he started to head down toward the end of the counter before he heard Anna call out to him.

“Kristoff!”

He turned to look, watching as Anna, once again leaned over the counter to look at him completely ignoring the impatient student in front of her who stood there tapping her foot, arms crossed, and an annoyed scowl on her face.

“Don’t forget we’re meeting up with Hans on Monday to work on our biology project. He said he booked us a study room for 3:30 so if you’d like we can just meet outside here and head up!”

Kristoff gave a curt nod a polite wave, masking how he truly felt inside. “Sure. Sounds good Anna!”

Hans Westergaard.

Even just the mention of the snobby junior made his blood boil. Rude, cocky, self-centered, and pretty much the epitome of everything Kristoff despised in a person. Not to mention the fact that he seemed to believe that they were in a competition for Anna’s affection. Something that was completely ridiculous seeing as Anna was not a prize but a human who deserved as much love, and even more in fact, than she gave to others. She was someone to cherish.

However, he still found himself getting caught up in the game - though he was disgusted with himself by it - he would be lying if he said that the jealousy Hans held for the close friendship he shared with Anna didn’t send something like pride through him.

Fortunately, Kristoff never had much interaction with him outside of class. Even in class, their conversations had been nothing more than brief all the while extremely unbearable. Class had been only twice a week, but even that was still too much of the auburn-haired bastard.

Last week their professor brought a project to the class’s attention. Apparently, it was a huge part of their grade and involved a lot of work and research so he said that it was gonna have to be a group effort; speaking over the numerous groans coming from students who were not fond of the idea of having to partake in a group project. That paled though to the curses students muttered under their breath when the professor continued to state that groups would be assigned (Kristoff being one of these people).

There was only one person he wanted to be with and said person had fiery red hair and a pair of gorgeous big blue bell eyes.

It seemed luck had struck him that day as both his and Anna’s names were said together as groups were being arranged. He wanted to leap for joy because never in his life had he been so lucky, he didn’t even care about who the third person was. He got to work with Anna and that is all that mattered in that moment.

Of course, that moment was short-lived when Hans’ name followed right after his because - as it seems in every case - he cannot have something good without receiving something bad in return.

Kristoff walked out the door of the coffee shop, dreading the coming weeks to follow.

This is going to be hell. He thought as he made his way back to his dorm.

[wowthatsextra]

since you said you're watching dc too, what characters from the o.c. do you connect with what characters from dawson's creek? or ships or other elements or whatever bc eg that scene in s1 when joey talks to her dad in prison really reminded me of ryan visiting trey in s1/his plot with his dad in general (but pls don't spoil anything for me, i know a few spoilers like i know about jacey bc the first few episodes i watched were the s3 ones where jacey starts but i don't know too much yet, like small spoilers are okay but... yeah i think you get the idea, sorry for rambling !)

No worries on the rambling, I understand what you mean. I'd be sure not to give out huge spoilers!

Joey's dad is a pretty cool catch and it definitely reminded me of the OC too.

For starters, I think Jen is totally Marissa coded (or Marissa is Jen coded). They both have the whole traumatized "bad" girl thing and a lot of things about their story arcs is similar. Marissa also has a lot of similarities with Audrey from the later seasons (also one of my favs).

While the dynamics are completely different, I do think that Dawson and Joey have a Ryan and Marissa quality to them as everyone including their SO's around them can sense that there is something between them even if that drives them nuts. (I think you can say the same about Sethmer and Jacey too but I connect it with RM and DJ more) There are some Pacey and Joey moments that remind me of Sethmer- some Sethmer/Zach scenes actually parallel with late S3 and S4 Jacey/Dawson scenes. Actually S4 Sethmer and S4 Jacey have direct parallels.

While the former is much more rocky and messed up, Mitch and Gail give me Sandy and Kirsten vibes. They actually have some direct parallels, like Mitch's passion for a restaurant.

Now some random observations. Now that I think about it, S3 Taylor has shades of Abby Morgan in her. Seth's Nana and Jen's Grams have some similarities. There's a reveal in early S3 of DC that reminds me of Lindsay. Jen has a storyline in S3 that is totally Sethmer. I also think that I can draw parallels with the college storylines!

Sorry if this wasn’t what you were looking for with all the mentions of the later seasons! Hopefully we'll talk more as you watch :)

[lanceappreciationblog]

this is so silly but seeing starter headcanons reminded me of my own and it’s really silly tbh

it’s hard to explain in full without just absolutely infodumping about how i think Lance’s family dynamic works and every detail about them but i PROMISE it’s all connected in some meaningful way. and if i infodump anyways? im so sorry 😭

but ive always headcanoned he raised at least one of his Dragonites from an egg, but it wasn’t his first. my headcanon is that his first Pokémon was actually a magikarp when he was a wee small child on his birthday. to get into the fam dynamic for a moment, my headcanons are whacky but im the captain of this ship and im going down with it. his mom was a blackthorn dragon trainer and his dad was a random flying specialist and delivery guy and yada yada you know how the rest goes. but the parentals decided the best way to bring themselves together for such an important gift was to give him an almost-dragon with a flying typing thrown in it. but maybe not tell little baby Lance what he’s in store for right off the bat. too young to realize magikarp —> gyarados he was not too thrilled about getting Some Fish as his first. dad would always say though: “be patient little one! you’ll understand soon enough”. and it was a STRUGGLE (no pun intended[?])for the longest time Little Lance struggled hard to make any sort of progress. tragedy struck before the magikarp could evolve which takes Dad Man out of the picture. but when the magikarp finally evolved it was like everything clicked and made sense for Lance, for once things made sense. The gift that kept on giving with some love and patience, and I’d like to think this sort of “exercise” taught him what unconditional love meant at such a young age <//3. so in my messed up world, Lance’s oldest Pokémon is the (blue) gyarados!

bonus: this made the red gyarados event hit home way harder than ever, and boy did it hurt lance to see that since he has such a profound soft spot for magikarps and gyarados (bonus bonus(??) if he reacts poorly to people even joking about mistreating a magikarp even in the slightest)

bonus x3: before Lance’s first magikarp evolved, he found out how to make roses out of it’s shed scales and would give these “scale flowers” to his mom to try and cheer her up because that Tragedy really really got to her. little guy was trying his best.

SO SORRY FOR THE LONG RAMBLE ive been thinking about this for almost 2 years it’s actually insane. —🐌

I'm totally with you anon, Lance brain dump is an addiction, but I'm all here for it. 💪

But anywho, I ADORE this idea!! Lance always reminded me personally of a strong, fierce, Gyarados, but where does a Gyarados come from but a weak frail Magikarp? Lance never strikes me as a "prodigy" child, however, one who suffered immensely and had to work so much for where he is now.

Your idea of his parents being there for him and then half of them being suddenly taken away, (hey btw what is THE TRAGEDY? 👁 ), must've been so rough for him and I can only imagine the stress in his trainer life only became more difficult.

Also, Scale Flowers are soo sweet aaaah. <33

Gyarados will always be Lance's most personal Pokemon to me. They just have so much in common man. :')