#where nathan is just really struggling to understand

[supersecretmetalocalypseblog]

my dad (who rarely ever talks about his interests), looking at our ferrets, Kiwi and Pickles: I never remember this ones name, I'm gonna name it something else. Ur name is Zazz now, I can't remember ur name, needed more zazz.

Me: Her name's Kiwi?????

My Dad: It's Zazz now, she likes it see?

My little sister, contributing: The other one is named Pickles, rename her Toki or something.

[sciderman]

do you have a comprehensive cablepool analysis/thoughts post somewhere? love those guys and your version of them makes me sad in a fun way :)

hooowah! not exactly - not really. that's kind of so broad i don't know where to start. but you're so right. sad in a fun way. i think wade's dynamic with nate kind of brings out the most entertaining version of wade – because he's so... so pathetic when he's with him. kind of just a hopeless case. absolute loser.

[x]

i think there's kind of just this fun dynamic with 9319 wade and nate specifically where wade's kind of perpetually being thwarted. he's just – he's this wile e. coyote figure,  and nate's this stoic brick wall that wade's constantly hurling abuses at and taking his aggression out on because nate is just – is the one figure on the earth with complete and utter bottomless patience for wade wilson.

wade's kind of always looking for a victory when he's with nate. he's looking for a win. he's looking for nate's approval. he's constantly, constantly itching when he's with nate. almost like a puppy. nate's this absurdly powerful, handsome guy, who's inexplicably interested in wade. and wade just doesn't get it. he doesn't understand why.

[x]

so wade's irritable about it. wade twitches and struggles and complains and punishes nate, because it kind of just doesn't make sense to him.

[x]

wade's just – he's this much younger, more insecure version of himself when he was with nate. he mellows out a lot later on - gets more secure in his skin as he gets older and more experienced – but with nate, wade's constantly fighting his inadequacy issues. and i think i just – i really like writing this younger, more vulnerable version of wade.

[x]

he has nate's eyes on him, and it's everything wade's ever wanted. so he does everything in his power to keep nathan's eyes on him. to keep nathan entertained. whether that be holding a knife to his throat or gluing nathan's dick into his ass. and he'll pretend like he's not that interested, actually. and he's just doing it for the shits and gigs. but the truth is wade is restless for nathan's attention, good or bad, all hours of the day.

[x]

i love writing this - you know, kind of child-like wade wilson who's constantly vying for attention. constantly lashing out and – you know, in a much less controlled way than he does later on, with peter. wade's in much less control of his impulses, and is much less sensitive with nathan's emotions, in the same way a child might not know he can hurt an adult's emotions. thinks they're impervious.

in a similar, almost child-like vein - while nathan has bottomless patience, wade's so impatient. he needs everything now. he doesn't do delayed gratification. he hates to wait. and it's something they consistently butt-heads on.

[x]

it's something i explore a bit in tunnel o' love - wade's funny little worldview where nothing is permanent and he needs to milk every moment for all it's worth.

[x]

it's something wade's conscious about - that he's selfish, and he's greedy - he wants every ounce of love and attention because, god knows, he was deprived of it all his life.

[x]

so it kind of means that wade wants so much. so much from nate. but feels terrified to ask for it.

[x]

[x]

[x]

ultimately maybe a big part of why nathan and wade might not have worked out might've been wade's hesitation to open up entirely with nathan about what he needed from him.

[x]

whether nate would've been able to deliver on it – you know, probably not. and i guess wade probably knew that. but it wouldn't have hurt to ask.

[x]

ough. well. now i think it's time to suffer so sweetly to the notorious cablepool playlist for to make me cry

[dalekofchaos]

Things I would change about Life Is Strange True Colors

So after multiple replays of True Colors, I've finally come up with a list of changes.

My other LIS changes

LIS

LIS:BTS

LIS 2

First change would be the logo. This was the original logo and game menu. Just keep the True Colors logo and keep the record in the title and it's perfect.

Compare that to the bland logo we got, it really works better

To help make the game longer, I would've added a prologue chapter where it's about Alex's final days in Helping Hands. We get to interact with Alex's friend Chelsea, see what happened between Alex and Mari, see the reason why Alex wants to keep her power bottled up and tries to get away from strong emotions, get the call from Gabe and end with that final session with Dr Lynn.

In general, I feel like there should've been more consequences to Alex's powers. All we get is Alex beating the shit out of Mac and taking Charlotte's anger away from her turns Charlotte into a husk of a person, and Alex pisses Steph off and of course not telling Eleanor the truth causes her to turn against you. The trailers showed Alex has the tendency to be consumed by powerful emotions and Alex constantly talked about her power like it was a curse. There should've been more build up to Alex learning to control her empathy. High Empathy leading to good choices and good ending while low empathy leads to her friends turning on Alex.

I initially thought there would be more drama like helping Charlotte forgive Ethan. Her pain towards Ethan feels understandable when your loved one's death is indirectly caused by someone who's also dearest most.

Whether Riley and Mac continue their relationship or not, it doesn't feel if there's any impact in it.

Apparently there was SUPPOSED to be consequence for taking away Pike's fear.

"if Alex took Pike’s fear away, when she was down in the mines (apparently in this draft she wouldn’t have been shot by Jed but instead would have found an entrance to the mine another way) Pike would become this “weird emotionless serial killer” and would start chasing Alex around in the mines in order to protect Diane. If it isn’t clear to you by now, the game seemed to have a much darker tone than what we ended up getting in the final game. I’ll leave it up to you to decide if that’s a good thing or not."

Honestly more consequences to Alex's powers depending on our high or low empathy should've happened in general.

I feel like more time should've been spent with Steph and Ryan. To me neither of these relationships are believable. The difference between Alex's relationship with Steph and Max's relationship with Chloe is that we spent a good chunk of the game with Chloe.

And as little time as Max gets with Warren, there is at least some substance with those scenes Max has with Warren. Warren starts up the plot of the game by getting the flashdrive, Warren helps Max against Nathan, Warren offers Max to take mind off things by asking her out on a date, Max can help Warren with his science experiment, Warren helps Max make a bomb, Warren saves Max and Chloe from Nathan, Warren takes the picture that helps Max get back and Warren is supportive no matter what choice Max makes.

Yes Ryan helps Alex in the record store, patches up Gabe, helps find Ethan and we have Ryan dealing with his grief and sorrow of losing Gabe. But that's it. Everything else is obligatory detective work or talking about trails and birds. Ryan is boring.

What we know of Warren

He's a geek like Max

He's into sci-fi, horror and a lot of obscure media

He loves science

He's helpful

a kind and sensitive nature

very shy and insecure and struggles to express and deal with his feelings, so he tries to hide that underneath humor and bad jokes

He's dealt with bullying in the background "knows how to be invisible"

He will ride or die for his friends

What we know of Ryan

He loves Gabe and his friends

He loves his dad to a fault and has good memories of his mother

He protects people

He loves birds n trails

*Cricket chirps*

I'm about to compare screen time between Chloe and Steph. I replayed both games and I counted up all the scenes in their respective games where the player is forced to have an extensive dialogue with them, this discounts optional conversations and interactions that are made of a single choice. I am counting the bare minimum number of times each game forces the player to somewhat meaningfully interact with them. Let's start with Chloe.

The truck scene

The scene talking about Rachel

The conversation after Max attempts to fix her camera, Chloe gives Max William's old camera and they reconnect

The Lighthouse conversation

Reconnecting at the diner

Funtime at American Rust

Train track walk n talk

The Chaos Theory talk in Chloe's truck

"Scary Punk Ghost"/Blackwell Ninjas

Pool

The aftermath of finding out about Rachel

Alternative reality Chloe at the beach

Alternate reality at Chloe's home

Returning to Chloe via Warren's picture

There are a total of 14 meaningful scenes with Chloe not counting optional interactions

With Steph.

Black Lantern conversation

Foosball

The LARP

The investigation after the festival

4 meaningful scenes. That's it. There's just a total lack of content regarding our two romantic options in True Colors, now sure the number of times we interact with a character doesn't necessarily dictate how much we grow to like or sympathize with said character, but it's glaring just how few meaningful interactions are had with Steph or Ryan.

Also, really? Steph and Ryan are really willing to run away with Alex so quickly in the amount of time they've known her? "I wanna spend the rest of my life with you" you knew each other for an entire month, calm down.

And I feel like there could've been more time and substance in regards to Steph & Ryan if the game were longer and were developed as an episodic game in terms of being developed like LIS 1 & 2 were. I felt like they just got all the superficial aspects of a young adult relationship, slapped it all together and called it a day. So yeah more time with Steph and Ryan is definitely needed.

In regards to the Jed & Mr Chen Twist. I felt like it was unnecessary.

Jed as a pawn for Typhon works. The whole Mr Chen being one of the miners left behind and emotion guiding Alex was so contrived and convoluted. Also it changed from Typhon to being an evil and soulless corporation to Jed being the guilty party and I strongly hate the notion of changing the perceived big bad to a lame twist from someone you trust. In LIS 1 it was Nathan and his father as the perceived villains but what a twist! It was Jefferson all along! Now it was Jed. Stop. Doing. That!

And boooy don't get me started on how impractical Alex surviving being shot and thrown down a mine shaft is.

Like if Alex can survive all that, Chloe can survive Nathan's gunshot in the bathroom.

So an easy fix would be Jed and Alex going down the mine together and Jed shooting Alex and leaving her for dead.

Just keep to the "Jed doing "Typhon's work for the devil" Add a subplot that Typhon was responsible for the death of Ann Lucan via lead poisoning or some other heinous crime. Jed and Pike were working together to bring them down. But the mining & Gabe's accidents happened. Typhon gave Jed a choice. Either he goes down with them or he gives him and Ryan a chance to live. He's a puppet, but he's being blackmailed into doing Typhon's dirty work instead of being the only guilty party of being judged. Like Pike, you should've been able to turn Jed up against Typhon in the end despite what he did to us. Honestly instead of Jed, Alex's judgement should've been reserved for Diana's boss Lena.

However, the bit I mentioned about Pike being turned into an emotionless serial killer, What we can do is have Pike purposefully screw up his and Jed's investigation and when the mine accident happened, Pike made everything go away and Typhon gave Jed the deal. Pike takes Jed's place as the hands-on villain, where he was always on Diane's side (because ACAB), and Alex thinks she's taking his fear of Diane, but in actuality, she takes his fear of everything coming to light, so that's what sparks him to take Alex to the mines, then chase her through them to try and kill her. Lena the big bad. Diane was a reluctant party and now Pike just doesn't care and wants to kill Alex to save Diane. Also because ACAB

As for the endings. This reddit post sums up what could've been.

After finishing True Colors for the first time, it felt wonderful. But after I finish the game for the second time, I don't bother to play it again as the outcome is pretty much the same. True Colors' endings don't affect me much emotionally compared to LIS1 & LIS2 endings.

Whether you choose to forgive or condemn Jed, he just broke down into tears in similar way. Unlike LIS2, you can spare Lisbeth's life and let her witness her downfall or have your revenge by killing her; you can spare the vigilantes by breaking them out of custody or let them remain locked or even killed them.

Outside LIS franchise, there're other games (e.g Bioshock 1 & 2, Dishonored 1 & 2, etc) that also gave different endings based on how the players play. Kind merciful gameplay -> optimistic endings; Harsh brutal gameplay -> darker twisted endings.

In LIS2, you can actually transform Daniel into a law-abiding citizen or a career criminal based on your morality choices. Your treatment towards your little brother will also affect the brotherhood.

Tell Me Why is another worthy mention because it's a choice-based game developed by DONTNOD. Despite it's not a LIS game, it's still able to capture similar energy with LIS1 and your choices do matter. Since the game focuses on twin siblings reunited after many years of separation, good choices will strengthen their bond; bad choices will strain their relationships -> their conversations become less compassionate but more awkward.

Since True Colors is about empathy, they should give us different endings depend on how Alex treat people around her in Haven Springs.

High Empathy rewards happier endings like we have in game. Every council members sided with Alex for showing kindness to them. Empathy also increased by forgiving Jed, calming Mac down that earn his respect, helping other people in Haven (e.g a guy who lost his dog, telling two people that they were in love with each other, etc). In the end, Alex would use her power to help people in need, also being kind, merciful and show forgiveness.

The worst ending is nobody believed Alex in the final confrontation, Jed & Typhon got away and Alex was forced to leave Haven and go back to foster care. Harsh reality, some bad people do get away (e.g Chad & Mike in LIS2 EP4; if you chose to hit Hank & steal the camping gear, Hank would be labelled as a 'local hero' in the newspaper in LIS2 EP2). Low empathy would cause Alex abuse her powers to manipulate others, make others look worse like how Alex chose not to calm Mac down.

Second-worst ending is low empathy with nobody believed Alex except Pike. Alex hard-exposed Jed & Typhon that they had to face their crimes in the end. The whole town resent Alex as they were still in denial how their local hero turned up to be a liar, miners losing their jobs in Haven.

Neutral ending is half of the town believed Alex. Jed & Typhon were exposed and the town initially was in denial but eventually accept it. Alex would use her powers to help good people, but manipulate others who are bad (I'll show you kindness if you're kind, I'll give you asshole treatment if you're being an asshole). Neutral may be achieved like Alex calmed Mac down, but condemned Jed.

What bugs me is there are absolutely no consequences for the actions you take in the game. In LiS 1&2, and BTS you can get people killed if you do the wrong thing, you can ruin lives and end relationships if you commit to the wrong choices. There is absolutely no consequences in this game in the end. No matter what you do it ends the exact same way and you get to choose your own happy ending it feels so unearned.

So yeah big things I would've changed.

Helping hands Prologue chapter

Episodes are longer lengths, episodically releases and more development for the game in general.

More negative consequences to Alex's powers

Actual development with Alex's relationship to Steph and Ryan

Keep Typhon as the villain with Jed as a blackmailed pawn

Actual consequences to our choices and endings

[moonstruckloverwritings]

Dating Nathan Prescott Would Include..

(Perfect song to describe Nathan Prescott in general btw ⬆️)

Pre-dating Phase

Nathan would be a hard person to date I’m not gonna lie. Not in the way that’s like “it would suck to date him” but more like “he blocks everyone out so much good luck on getting to that level” kind of hard to date.

It would take a lot for him to consider you. I don’t see him falling for someone who pities him. I feel like you’d have to be similar to him for him to notice you. Which includes..

Being judged by most

Having a darker unique execution to your art

Party a lot or do drugs or drink to be able to handle your life better

And personality wise, be pretty chill and adaptable but will throw down to stand up for yourself.

Have a lot of mental struggles

All in all, what I really mean is, he wants someone that ACTUALLY understands him. Not some poser who just says they do.

Dating phase

But once you get to the dating phase. He’s naturally clingy and at the same time isolating himself from you (obv because of the whole dark room situation)

When he’s free from mark, he wants to spend every minute he can with you. Sneaking out is a big thing in your relationship.

So is partying. Even if your the bookworm/not-into-parties type, you’re still going just.. sitting in a corner with a book while he parties

He likes to spoil you money wise. Will pay for all your dates, meals, gifts etc

But he will have a lot of mental struggles as well.

He will often worry that the money is the only reason your with him.

Or that you pity him.

A lot of reassurance is needed with him.

Or even proof of loyalty

I don’t think he would tell you about the dark room situation unless he saw a lot of signs in you that you would be interested.

Because why risk it?

This may lead to “where are you going so late? Why are you and mark Jefferson always talking between classes” arguments.

On another topic, I feel like physical touch is a bigggg thing for him. So are words of affirmation. All the things he never got from his parents, especially his dad.

He’d always be wanting to hug or cuddle or hold you hand or waist.

And he always wants to hear that you like him and why.

Like I said… lotssss of reassurance.

He always feels like a fuck up and like he’s not enough for anything or anyone.

Show him otherwise. 💛

[muppetears-stuff]

Warren hate has always been ableist in the very beginning. He gets too much shit for not understanding Max's body language. He gets a lot of hate 'for not taking a hint' or understanding social cues. Hell in the very beginning of the fandom like in 2015 i think i remember there were angry pricefielders calling Warren the literal r slur because he's 'so stupid'. Their words not mine. l I've seen people talk about how they're convinced he's a s*ciopath or a n*rcissist or a ps*chopath which I find ableist and uncomfortable. I think the biggest red flag from the fandom is how there's a lot of shit talk about Warren is an 'obsessive freak/stalker' in their eyes to talking in general about how 'obsessiveness' and 'obsessions' are red flags and are signs of 'evil' apparently and not symptoms of mental illness or neurodivergency apparently. I really relate to Warren and I also suffer from obsessive and actual intrusive thoughts, so i find this fandom to be extremely cruel and alienating toward people with stigmatizing illnesses which I find explains the Chloe demonization bc she is so BPD coded. I don't think Warren is autistic coded like Max but I do think he's ADHD / OCD coded in a way I can't explain. Sorry to drop this really long rant in your inbox, but you're not wrong about the Warren demonization and I just wanted to say something about it. Becauze the demonization of all these characters go back to ableism and the Life Is Strange fandom is the most ableist fandom I've ever been in at all and that really speaks volume about how atrocious it is.

THIS ^^^ YES. FUCKING YES, ABSOLUTELY.

I find the Warren hate unwarranted (hehe) and SUPER FUCKING ABLEIST. you make amazing points, thank you for putting my thoughts into words anon🙏🙏

He very much struggles with social interactions, very evident by the way he only talks teachers or people that are into the same stuff as him, he can become very chatty, sometimes too much, when it comes to things he likes which comes off as "annoying" and "obsessive" when he just wants friends.

Mr. Well's talks about it in his student file, btw.

I share. Alot of the same traits as Warren, with myself also having ADHD and liking science and talking excessively to the point where I find MYSELF annoying.

It's so upsetting too that the developers leaned INTO the stalker/obsessive Warren allegations that I can't even fucking talk about him or mentioning that I like him on certain platforms without the fear of people saying I "support stalking" which I don't. I can't defend him and say that he wasn't stalking without someone going, "but it's canon, the developers confirmed it!!" Yeah well, Mark and Nathan have done some more fucked up shit and I still see people defend them. (I love Nathan too for his complexity and ability to become better. He just needed help, but it doesn't excuse anything he did.)

Warren is the best character. He had so much potential to be an amazing recurring character, but he was their simply for plot convenience or to make the player not suspicious that Mark could be behind everything because Warren was "creepy"

I'm probably gonna have people saying I'm being a baby over this and that he's a fictional character and stuff, you can totally have your own opinion on Warren Graham, I'm not telling you you can't, just please stop calling people who like him "stalkers" or say they support stalking and creepy behavior, when that isn't true. The amount of hate towards anyone that isn't Max or Chloe, and then the immediate hate on YOU for not liking them or liking/defending another character makes me sick, as well as the flat out abelism. The reason why I left the fandom in the first place before picking it back up because of Warren<3

Thank you again, Anon. For sending me such a lovely ask(?) And letting me rant about him because he's my favorite, and I agree with you so much, you're so right<3

[queenofcats17]

The Ink Demonth 5

Today's theme is Secret!

Decided to feature dear Freckle for this.

===============================================

Joey Drew was a man full of secrets.

Anyone who met him knew he was notoriously evasive about his past, always managing to skillfully steer the conversation away from the subject in a way that made you forget you'd ever been talking about it in the first place. Although his apparent friendship with Nathan Arch and connections with some of New York's most elite families gave some hints about his upbringing, Joey himself refused to reveal anything about what his life had been like before the studio.

He didn't talk about his family, either. No one in the studio had known he even had a sister before Esther Klein had shown up to deliver the bankruptcy notice. It had been quite a shock to everyone when they'd heard Esther and Joey yelling at each other and Esther had called him her little brother.

And if he was a little more accommodating toward his Jewish employees, then that was no one's business but his own. Anyone who brought it up would certainly regret it, that was for sure.

Yes, Joey was a man with many secrets. And there was only one person he'd ever trusted with even a fraction of them.

But Henry was gone. He'd been gone for a long time now.

This was why Joey was currently talking to an ink clone of Henry he'd created from the Ink Machine.

"You know, you could just trust other people," Ink Henry said as Joey paced back and forth. "Like Abby. Abby's your friend, isn't she?"

"No, no that wouldn't work." Joey shook his head. "She wouldn't understand."

"She'd understand a lot better than a pile of ink," Ink Henry said. "She'd probably be more helpful too."

"I don't need help!" Joey snapped, stopping his pacing. "I just..." His anger faltered as he quickly began to pace again, chewing on his lip. "I just need someone to talk to. Someone I can think aloud to."

"If you just wanted something you could think aloud to, you didn't need to make me." Ink Henry folded his arms. "You could have just talked to a doll or something."

Joey stopped, his lip curling in disgust. "You can't be serious. I'm not some kind of nutcase!"

Ink Henry gave him an incredulous look.

"I'm not!"

"You're talking to an ink replica of a man you still haven't gotten over because you're too paranoid to trust a living human. That's not exactly the picture of mental stability," Ink Henry said flatly.

Joey huffed, his cheeks going a bit pink. "I'm not that bad."

Ink Henry gave him another incredulous look.

Joey groaned and covered his face. "Alright. Fine," he conceded. "Maybe I'm not doing well. But what am I supposed to do?!"

"Trust people," Ink Henry firmly replied. "Keeping all these secrets isn't healthy for you. Hiding your past and this ink machine bullshit is going to kill you."

"No, trusting people will only get me hurt." Joey shook his head, his eyes darting nervously around the room. "They'll betray me. Just like my family did."

Ink Henry sighed, running his hand over his face. "Alright, I can already see where this is heading so let's just... move on."

"I can't trust people. I can't," Joey muttered folding his arms as if to protect himself.

Ink Henry looked up at him, his expression unbelievably weary and sad. "...There are a lot of people who care about you, Joey," he said, his voice soft. "I really think you'd be a lot happier if you let them in."

Joey said nothing in reply, pointedly looking away as the copy of his friend melted into nothing but a puddle of ink. Maybe he was struggling a little, but... if he let himself be vulnerable he would only end up hurt. That was how it always went. If he had to walk this path alone, so be it.

He would not let himself be hurt again.

No matter what.

[winniethewife]

4 for the ask thingy with Jake, Nathan and Miguel >:)

4 write a book with, read a book to, hit with a book

Write a book with Miguel.

I mean, I could just ask him questions about his future world and write a really snazzy sci-fi/crime story based in his world. Like Sherlock in the future or something silly. He would probably barely put up with my antics but it'd be fun.

"Hermosa...That's not how that works." "Its fiction hun, it works how I tell it to." "But..." "Shhhhh....Its a book."

(I would normally write more but I'm fighting with writing Mig for my story so I'm already sick of this man right now lol)

Read a book to Jake

Okay, picture it with me. Jake after a long shift of driving or whatever Khonshu has got him up to, he's tired, he comes home and just wants to relax. I'm sitting on the couch reading my book. He comes over and lays down his head in my lap.

"Princesa, read to me." "Jake I'm half way though the book, you aren't gonna understand what's happening." "I don't care, Just wanna hear your voice."

So I'll start reading to him, just where I am in the story, at first he just lays there and listens. but he starts to get into it, and starts asking questions, he wants details. I try to answer them but knowing me this might be like the third book in a series, but its my favourite so I just reread it sometime, so after the tenth question that I'm struggling to answer without proper context I just get up and get the first book in the series, plop back down, and let him get comfy in my lap again and start from the beginning.

Hit Nathan with a book

I mean Honestly what did you expect. Half of me hates this man with a passion, the other Half Loves him like crazy. So yeah I'm gonna hit him with a fucking book! I'll be sitting somewhere in that house of horrors trying to read and he'll come find me, cause he's bored, or just wants to fuck with me. I'll be grumpy he's interrupting my me time.

"Don't you have a robot to fuck or something?" "I'm going to assume you aren't trying to insult me" "You would be wrong." *silence* "You know you have a tablet with hundreds and thousands of books available to you?" "And?" "well you're reading 'To kill a mocking bird" again." "It's my favourite book." "Really?" "Yes, Really. What of it?" "I figured you'd like one of those trashy romance novels. one of those with the shirtless men with long flowing hair looking over a-Ow! Hey wha-OW!"

Then I'd hit him on his dumb bald head with my hard cover copy of the book, twice for good measure.

fmk alternatives

[thedeal-if]

How would the ROs comfort an MC who is having a moment of inadequacy and feels that they've failed their departed parents.

Hurt/comfort scenarios 😭💕

I've been forced to take some liberties 👁️ there are quite a few chances for MC to express (if they do feel that way) this kind of worry to the ROs so—

Oh, you can tell the guy is struggling. Do Demons have parents? Parental figures? Where do Demons come from? Dante’s face scrunched up when you mentioned your own parents— the implication is clear, he has no clue what you’re talking about.

“Hm— I don’t get it, no,” and Dante adds “I don’t get why you’re worried. But I wanna help.”

Dante bites his lip, thinking hard.

“I don’t get it. But you’re amazing!” he says passionately, he waves a hand in your direction “And we’re going out to do something right now!”

“Oh, love,” Lilith pouts a little, fiddles with her hands. She opens her arms and wraps them around you, hugging you as if she could squeeze your worries away “I know it’s not the same, but I’m very proud of you.”

Lilith smiles, she presses a chaste kiss to your cheek and wipes the lipstick stain with her thumb.

“Do you know what will make you feel better?” the Succubus grins with an airy chuckle “I can make you some comfort (favorite food)! Or, well, I can try for you.”

Josh, who lived and grieved your parents’ passing right by your side, looks like a wounded man whose stitches have ripped open.

You probably provide a similar picture.

Maybe this is a thought that you’ve shared with him before, or maybe you’ve never really bothered to put that pain into words. Josh reaches out towards you mid-tirade, he intertwines your fingers together and squeezes lightly.

“Tell me how you feel, okay? Vent a little,” Josh suggests.

You barely get the words out, Villanelle listens attentively, hugs you tight and says:

“We should ask the cards.”

Villanelle gives you virtually no time to say ‘yes’ or ‘no’, she’s already found a flat surface and is pulling the tarot deck out of her bag. Her excitement at the prospect of being of help is endearing at best, whether the cards work or not.

The witch shuffles, shuffles, cards fall and are flipped over, Villanelle hums in acknowledgment, nodding sagely until she apparently sees a message laid in front of her.

“You are loved and you are trying your best,” she says kindly, barely gazing at the cards, eyes locked into yours “I don’t think you could ever do them wrong. It’s sad that you’re not confident about that.”

Victor listens to all you need to vent, nods along until you have nothing left to say, and you can practically see the moment discomfort tenses his entire figure like he’s a mannequin.

“Were your parents that kind of people?”

You shrug a little. To seek the practicality of a situation you’re already fairly sure is majorly irrational seems a little unfair.

You acknowledge that fact to him, “There’s no logic to it, I just— It sucks.”

Victor frowns, clearly not understanding, but still displeased at seeing you upset about it. One of his big hands falls on your shoulder, he pats it once, then twice, and then Victor’s fingers squeeze lightly, fondly.

Aliyah, the epitome and physical manifestation of the definition of tough love, looks at you with a little snort.

“It seems to me that you’re disappointed in yourself, am I right?” she smirks a little like being right means more to Aliyah than the actual content of her words “Blaming them is much easier than admitting it. So? That’s it? You’re doing nothing with your life and expect it all to get better by being a crybaby about it?”

You glare at Aliyah. Her lack of filter… it’s always been quite annoying. Maybe you’re wrong— calling her the epitome of ‘tough love’ puts the concept of ‘tough’ to shame, and turns ‘love’ into flagellation.

“Don’t look at me like that,” Aliyah snorts “Tell me what’s really wrong, we can fix it.”

Nathan’s initial reaction to your problems is to offer a little—forced—laugh, restlessly pointing from himself to you, then to himself and to you again.

“You and I— We should make a club,” Nathan says. You frown a little at his words. He explains, “The old guy upstairs, y’know. And I’m— Well. Me. C’mon, as comparisons go, you have nothing to worry about.”

Perhaps you’re not a celestial being losing divinity, but your very human problems have a very human way of consuming your brain. Nathan doesn’t seem to understand that, but he sees you’re still sad, he tries again.

“We should do something,” he says with a cheeky smile “I bet I can cheer you up.”

A sharp intake of breath on your part has Eden tilting her head, “What is it this time?” she asks. Her inflection is neutral, but not mean, filled with measured curiosity.

“The usual,” you shrug, self-deprecating smile speaking louder than you could “You know.”

Eden hums quietly, eyes flickering away, she thinks for a few seconds, and she looks at you.

“Let’s go do something,” she says simply, already setting in motion, almost impulsively “It’ll get your mind off of things.”

[rdng1230]

More Ted Lasso Musings

Before I start let me say once again that this season has contained absolutely wonderful moments and is still a wonderful bit of light in a buuuuunch of darkness. Also spoiler warning.

Cool, so I've figured out what's bothering me this season and its that they're either showing us everything and telling us nothing, or showing us nothing (of actual character significance) and telling us everything. in the showing us everything and telling us nothing category we've got my love Keeley Jones. I feel like we've spent a massive amount of time at KJPR and I still feel like I'm scratching my head as to what they were trying to tell us. They've set Keeley up to be this incredibly competent and bright person, and when they give her her shot it all goes to shit. and I get it "you can't always get what you want" so says the song for this season's trailer, but I'm struggling to understand the thing that she got that she needed that she didn't already have. She had Rebeccas love and support, I mean she has Roy back but this does not seem like the show where the moral of a long story about her starting her own business is that she has her boyfriend back. I actually would love people's take on what you think we're supposed to get out of Keeley's storyline.

Onto the telling but not showing category we got my guy Nate the Great. He has been so totally short changed this season on his redemption arc. It is HARD to become a better person. It is HARD to admit you fucked up. It is HARD to turn against your own knee jerk insecurities and reactions. It is ESPECIALLY HARD to do that in an environment that is actively incentivizing you to act on those insecurities and reactions. So even though I absolutely believe Nate deserving and capable of these huge leaps forward in overcoming his own internal crap, I think we've completely sidelined that narrative of what's pushing him to actually take those huge leaps forward. At the end of season 2, it was clear Nate was really struggling, and I'm not gonna lie I hated the way he treated those around him, like Beard said it was "personal, and weird" but I also felt a huge amount of sympathy and compassion because no one gets that way without something horrible happening to them first. So when the last scene of season 2 happened and he was teased as this big time villain, I was sad, but not surprised. I expected him to get his redemption, but I also expected that to be a really difficult journey for him where he was likely going to get worse before he got better. So now we're in season 3 and he suddenly just makes all these huge leaps forward, they feel from out of nowhere, not because I don't feel like he's capable of it, but rather that should've been more difficult to do, and also it should've been a moment of great personal triumph for Nate! The way I think of it is imagine if Rebecca had just waltzed into teds office in season 1 and confessed about the sabotage with no context. Sure we would've believed her capable of it, sure we would've believed she deserved forgiveness, but we all would've been scratching our heads as to what made her have this reckoning within herself. they would've told us Rebecca changed instead of shown why and how she changed like what they're doing with Nate.

I actually think there's so many parallels between the relationship of Nate and Jade and the relationship of Roy and Jamie. Both Nate and Roy made stupidly bad and self destructive decisions around the end of last season. Both are in a low point in their emotional journeys, almost all of Nathan's emotional scenes have been with Jade while all of Roy's emotional scenes have been with Jamie. The thing is, that's not where their respective internal work really needs to get done? Nate already took the plunge and asked out Jade last season, and Roy already showed real vulnerability when he hugged Jamie after the thing with his dad (not that I think that means everything wrapped up with a shiny bow or anything, but just that each character has much bigger fish to fry in terms of character growth) I do think Nate and Jade have become really cute just as Roy and Jamie's scenes have felt ripped straight out of a fluffy fanfic. but do these scenes actually show us that Nate/Roy are getting better? We've already seen Nate being an absolute sweetheart with the women in his life who he loves, his mother, his niece (even if we didn't actually see her till this season it was clear that they had a very warm and positive relationship) and Keeley, so him being able to be vulnerable and open up with Jade is lovely, but not really that new of a territory. If we could just see Nate having a shift maybe with his coaching staff or the West Ham players, this would feel more meaningful because we saw him struggle way more with people he perceives as part of his own hierarchy structure. Its the same with Roy. We've seen Roy open up to Jamie in the past so their relationship, while fucking adorable, is not doing anything to address the real struggle inside Roy that he's ignoring. It would be way more meaningful to see Roy have moments where he chooses to have joy instead of running away. Instead we get scenes like where the sports pundit squad just says oh by the way Nate left West Ham, in the same way that Ms. Bowen says to Roy that he seems less stuck. Umm what? Since when? what happened? All tell and no show. Or showing only the least character growth relevant scenes and then just be like oh by the way they fixed it.

reblog and comment away because I'm interested in people's take on this.

[ink-bean]

Ok, guys. It's time for another Bendy theory.

In the beginning, I want to warn you about spoilers from the games BATDR, BATDS, and the books Dreams come to Life, The Illusion of Living, and The lost Ones.

And without further ado, let's dive in.

After playing BATDR several times and reading all available books from the Bendy universe, I still have so many questions.

Most of them are circling around Joey and his appearance in BATDR. It just doesn't fit. Nothing of it does.

Let's start with the things we know about Joey Drew from his memoirs, "The Illusion of Living,"

He was born as Joseph Drew, son of a shoe maker. With a loving mother, who encouraged him with everything and a father who was absent most of the time because of his job.

Nothing special, nothing out of the ordinary.

And that's almost all we know about his childhood and his teenage days.

He's also known as a visionary, founder of Joey Drew studios, creator of Bendy, a decent, humble and honest guy, who hates lies, who has a pretty unique view about the world he's living in since he was a kid, outstanding in almost everything he does, trusted and appreciated from everyone who has the pleasure to meet him, and successful in forming his life as he wants it to be, in one word 'perfect'.

The perfect boss, the perfect man, who has anything under control.

Sounds dreamlike, don't you think?

Yeah~ and that's all what I believe it is. A Dream. A version of him, he wants to be.. the version of how others should see him. We can almost call it an illusion, which I think doesn't complies with the truth.

Why do I think so? Well~ where should I start?

First of all, no human is perfect, and after all the information from BATIM, he's very far away from being the man he describes himself in his book.

He repeated several times that HE is the creator of Bendy, not Henry.

But all he had was 'just' a very vague idea, and Henry was the one who let them come to life.

His old "pal" Nathan Arch, who published 'The Illusion of Living' again after Joeys death, speaks very highly of him, although Nathan's memory's seem always to be different from the things Joey said. At least all the things that involved Nathan.

I know memories can become muddy over time, but that's just the tip of the iceberg, and we don't get any input from other people involved in Joeys stories.

So no one can say for sure if they are just 'polished' to be more interesting or entirely made up.

From his employees, we know for sure that the studio later on has a hard time staying over water. (or better 'over ink' *dadush* *caugh* Sorry...)

Joey denies this more than once, publicly and towards his staff.

That's pretty odd. He always says that he hates liar, so why is he lying?

Of course, I understand that you don't want the public to know about all the struggles, but why continue to lie towards your employees? Who KNOW about all of this?

Or does he really believe that everything's fine?

Definitely not, at least at some point. From BATDS, we know that Joey asked his good old pal Nathan for money, which Nathan simply ignored.

Intension unclear.

And then the biggest question mark of all, of course, the Ink Machine.

So, what do we know about the Ink Machine?

We know that Thomas Connor was the one who built the machine, we know that the machine has ink in it, that turns people into madman with the slightest contact, and turns them into Ink creatures, and we know that the ink corrupts the memorys of everyone who's 'infected' with it.

But, at least at my knowledge, no one knows where the Ink is coming from.

The original machine is described as massive in "The lost Ones", than here is the slightly smaller machine from the loop, and we know that Joey has a small version of it in his apartment.

Bendy was Joeys whole world, and after Bendy Land failed completely, it's not so hard to tell what he would do with magic ink and a massive printer. He wanted Bendy to live.

So he did and probably created the Ink Demon in the process.

We have several notes and audio logs, where people stated that they see 'something lurk in the shadows', they hear growling noises, and the whole studio was permanently flooded with ink.

So, the Ink Demon was, in fact, in the real world, and Joey gave a damn about that.

Everything's fine, he has everything under control... as usual.

Now comes the tricky part.

It seems that Joey came to the conclusion that "real toons" need a soul, as we know that the Ink Demon is soulless.

In 'Dreams Come to Live', the Ink Demon teared Buddy apart, which led to his dead.

It's not described how the process exactly worked, but he somehow managed to transfer buddy's soul into a perfect Boris.

And, oh boy, was he proud of archiving HIS dream. His dream came to life. An Illusion, his Illusion, came finally to life. No sign of remorse, so sign of reflecting how his actions put everyone in mortal danger and destroyed the lives of everyone he worked with.

So we can assume that all toons in the loop are possessing a soul that was printed in an artificial body and that their real bodies are dead. As a lost one (and Sammy), you seemingly don't have to be dead. The ink is turning and twisting their bodies into the ink world, making them a part of it.

But they are souls nonetheless who suffer from memory loss. Sammy is the best example for that.

I think we all can agree at this point that Joey Drew and Joseph Drew are two entirely different personas.

In my opinion, Joseph played a role in achieving his dreams. To be in a position where he can do whatever he wants to do.

The reason I believe that, is that one audio log from Joey we can find in BATIM, chapter 4, on the first floor of the maintenance area.

It says:

"I believe there's something special in all of us. With true inner strength, you can conquer even your biggest challenges. You just have to believe in yourself and remain honest, motivated, and above all, who you really are.

Ok, let's stop it right there. I can only do so many takes of this trash a day. And tell the guys in writing I want more use of the word dreaming in every message. Keep railing on that, get it? Dreaming! Dreaming! Dreaming! People just eat up that kind of slop. Hmm, what? It's still on? Well, turn it off, damn it!"

In the second part his voice changed completely, he's clearly annoyed by all the bullsh*t he's talking, to keep up the appearance of the honest, friendly and hopeful Joey Drew, who always wants the best for everyone and encouraged people to make there dreams come true.

The Joey Drew all people knew and love.

And said that, I want to talk about BATDR.

We surprisingly met Joey Drew as Audrey, and he was exactly like he described himself in 'The Illusion of Living'. He tried to help Audrey, and explained the situation as good as he could. The good old pal Joey.

According to how he puts his words, he seems to suffer from memory loss too.. like the rest of the souls in the loop.

Does this mean that, despite his claim to just be a memory, his soul is IN the Ink world?

This version of him seems very sincere to me.

Or is there another reason for his state of mind?

But how would this even work?

According to our knowledge, Joeys Book of the Illusion of Living is a key to change things in the Ink world, so... did he drew (haha, drew) himself into his world before he died?

Did Joseph drew his version of Joey into the world he created?

Did he alter the memories of his ink-self, so he can't remember that he's just a role Joseph played?

But why? To help Henry? Did he suddenly feel remorse about his decision to trap his former partner in an endless loop, filled with despair and hopelessness?

Out of spite because he felt betrayed by Henry?

Like he said to Audrey, all of this is just an illusion, and nothing of it is real.

Henry is perfectly fine and lives his life in peace.

I don't think so. The whole story he's telling Audrey is so strange to me.

Nothing of it makes really sense. But I think that Ink-Joey THINKS that he's telling the truth.

That he suddenly had a change of heart that he sent Allison in the form of Alice Angel to help Henry.

And we know that you need a soul and a dead person to create a toon. Allison may not be perfect like Buddy-Boris, but I think it's the same procedure.

If this is true, he had to kill Allison and print her soul into the body of Alice.

And even IF he wanted to help Henry. Why did Joeys Ink-self never make himself known to Henry? So many questions.

Same with the part of 'I wanted to have a family'.

Neither Joey nor Joseph ever mentioned the need to have a family or to be a father.

I believe that Joseph printed Audrey, but not out of love. More likely is that he did it out of curiosity.. how far can he go to prove that all life can be an illusion?

And maybe Audrey was not the first 'experiment', I think Heidi and Porter are failed ones... not human enough to live in the real world, so he banished them into the ink world.

But I digress, back to the point.

So, how did Joey get into the loop, and what is his purpose?

Haha~ 'purpose' is the key word I waited for.

And now, buckle up. It's going to get a bit wild.

I think that Wilson is the one who put Joey in there.

Why do I think that? Well~

It's odd that Joey knows that he's dead in the real world, especially with an exact date.

And as far as we know.. time doesn't really exist down there.

Wilson is the only one who can transfer his mind into an inkbody he created of himself.

So he knows what's happening in the real world, and he can provide time within the circle.

We also know that Wilson is in possession of the Illusion of Living, so he can manipulate certain events down there, but unfortunately for him, he can't control everything.. the Ink Demon doesn't let him take control over his domain.

Plus, the ink-version of Joey matches exactly the Joey from the book.

Furthermore, Wilson is the son of Nathan Arch... Joeys good old friend, who let him sink further into his demise on purpose.

It's also odd that you can find a memory of Wilson inside Joeys memory of the studio.

And to round those 'coincidences' up.. did you realise that the drawing of Henry in Joeys' story wears exactly the same outfit he's wearing in the loop? Very strange indeed.

So why did Wilson create a version of Joey in the first place?

Simply to create a sort of trust towards Audrey. She's the ace in his sleeve to get rid of the Ink Demon for good, to control the whole world.

Joeys words were the reason why she gave Wilson a chance. To let her think that the Ink Demon is the only reason why everything down there is so miserable.

And still, there are so many questions remaining. I'm SO excited to get more information about the whole universe and can't wait for the new books.

I would also love to hear your opinion on the whole thing. Maybe I missed something?

Anyway, thanks for staying with me until the very end.

[hecticlife]

Leon Amos picked up their key from the front desk 1 month ago. The twenty-eight year old uses he/him pronouns and is a music producer and musician from Seattle, Washington. According to their apartment application, people have told them they look a lot like Luke Hemmings, and the character they identify with most is nathan campbell from insecure. Santa Moneda gives you a warm welcome, and we hope you enjoy your stay.

hiii i’m tj (28 / she/her / gmt-4) and this is leon and i love him so much so please extend the love lmao

bio born and raised in seattle, leon is an only child. his parents went through a pretty nasty divorce when he was seven. his father disappeared from the map and even though he was supposed to pay child support, he hardly ever did. leon’s mother did everything in her power to give her son the best education. anna paid for guitar and piano lessons. she even sent him to berklee because that’s how talented leon has always been in her eyes.

he was in bands in high school, but it wasn’t until college that he learned how to work collaboratively with other musicians and songwriters. his newest band -where he plays rhythm guitar and sings, sometimes piano- has been doing gigs since they all graduated a year ago, but the last mini tour is over and leon really needed a rest. so, he was supposed to take a break. And he did. so he’s now in valpo, working with other artists and on his own music. his godmother rents an apartment facing the ocean in viña del mar. she lives in santiago. and every time leon wants to make some music, she generously lets him stay there for free. it's a safe and familiar space. anna and his godmother are good friends. they spent countless summers here as leon grew up. that's why he feels so comfortable with the chilean culture. he knows it and understands it. he's been staying here for two months.

tw bpd artists from teddy (band) is indie rock. they have some catchy pop-infused choruses, and a lot of the production is done in nyc. that's where leon's been living for the past eight months. he writes most of the songs, they relate to his struggles to live a normal life. he was diagnosed with bpd (borderline personality disorder) when he was nineteen and has been medicated since he was thirteen. he was diagnosed once more, not just bpd, also bipolar. this was six months ago, between his first tour and the second. he'd been traveling the state and somehow managed to date a stripper for four months. the next tour was bigger. he went to europe, south america and australia. but being diagnosed as bipolar a week before leaving, it really messed him up. lots of partying and bad decisions. thank god he met salem when he did. that's his person right there. they've been living together in brooklyn for six months. and even though she's the best thing to ever happen to him, leon can't expect her to heal him. fix him somehow. he tries not to let it get to him, but the moodswings and the impulsive rage are sometimes too strong for him to handle on his own. that’s why he uses music as a coping mechanism. and even though you can definitely dance to artists from teddy’s music, the lyrics can get pretty dark. this also percolates his solo work. sometimes, the monologue in his head can get rotten, infecting everything in his life. you’ll find him uncharacteristically depressed. it lasts a week tops, though.

headcanons

plays guitar, piano, bass and sings

goes to therapy

such a party animal, it’s another coping mechanism

absurdly obsessed with music

doesn’t want to have children

stoner

chain-smokes watermelon flavored cigarettes (you can't find them outside of chile)

[fructo]

☂ | my april reads

I don't post on tumblr a whole lot (i think my total posts are less than five) but I just wanted to make a little april book summary for myself :)

I can't guarantee no spoilers, soooo.....

Cinder (The Lunar Chronicles, #1) - Marissa Meyer

I rated this a 4 stars out of 5, though in hindsight I'd go back and change it to a 5. I've never been big on the Grimm Fairytales but reading this series did warrant me pulling out my copy of them. Regardless, I loved Cinder as a character and I really connected with her and her desire to do good without her personal gain. I sort of expected the twist with her being Princess Selene, to be honest, which I think is why I took off a star.

Scarlet (The Lunar Chronicles, #2) - Marissa Meyer

Once again a 4 stars out of 5, and the reasoning was because I didn't particularly feel like Cinder's chapters were all that interesting in the middle of the book. We did get Captain Thorne, and he definitely grows on the reader. Following their escape, the story just fell. HOWEVER, Scarlet and Wolf. Wolf and Scarlet. Oh my goodness. Wolf is so bloody precious that when he betrayed Scarlet at first my heart broke into two. I enjoyed the ending for them :)

Cress (The Lunar Chronicles, #3) - Marissa Meyer

Before I finished this book, I immediately went and watched Tangled. I then proceeded to get the soundtrack stuck in my head and I'll admit it's still sort of stuck. I rated this one a 5 out of 5 because this was definitely where the conflict picked up. Levana was such a wonderfully-written villain. Normally I enjoy morally-gray characters, but she was just pure evil. Cress' first introduction is in the first book, but seeing Meyer expand on her character and show her struggles was beautiful.

Winter (The Lunar Chronicles, #4) - Marissa Meyer

I rated this one a 5 out of 5 in spite of the fact that I would've liked to see more of Jacin's perspective and some more elaboration on his character. I know there's not much to him in the first place, although he is a very complex character, but still. Winter immediately become one of my favorite characters in the series, and her desire to know Cinder as her family really connected with me. Her story really nailed Levana's coffin for me, and I just wanted her to get her happy ending with Jacin the entire time.

Blind Faith - Ellen Wittlinger

I rated this one a 2 out of 5. This isn't normally the type of book I would read, but I thought the plot sounded interesting so I tried it out. In my opinion, the relationship between Liz and Nathan would've been more impactful if it had been strictly platonic, because the romance at the end just seemed forced. I disliked Roxy; I understand that she was Liz's best friend, but some of the things she said to Liz were just downright red flags and it was difficult to tolerate. I enjoyed the plot and identified with the struggle surrounding religion, but those two characteristics of the plot overshadowed that in a large way.

It's only three days into May and I've already finished two books so I'm pretty thrilled to share that in June (the books I've checked out from the library are WONDERFUL).

I would definitely recommend checking out the Lunar Chronicles if you enjoy fairy tale adaptations. The characters are so enjoyable and varied in personality that you can see how they work well together :)

[lilyginnyblackv2]

Tiger & Bunny 2 - Cour 2 - Various Thoughts Post - SPOILERS!!!

I've watched Tiger & Bunny 2 Part 2/Cour 2 and now I want to write up some posts with my thoughts on the cour. Of course, SPOILER WARNING FOR TAIBANI 2 PART 2 / COUR 2! All thoughts will be placed under a Read More.

First, I'm going to start with the smaller thoughts that I have. I want to get the more misc. thoughts up first before I forget them, I'll likely also talk about the plot stuff here, since for me the action and actual plot stuff isn't as important as the thematic and character focused elements of the series.

Then I want to talk about the handling of familial relations in this part of the cour, similar to how I talked about it in regards to cour 1.

The final post I'll get up will be my thoughts on how they handled relationships in general, and how I feel about the ending.

I'll likely also discuss where I think they could take the series if they were to continue it, though, I will say right now, that how they ended this second season makes it so that I feel they could just comfortably end it here as well. Even though I would want more. Not an endless amount of content, but just a bit more. If they never do that though, I'll be okay too.

So, no to the more misc. stuff under the Read More!

1. I love how they opened with an interview with the top duo, just like they did with cour 2 for Season 1. They also focused quite a bit on FireSky this season and I loved how we got to see more of Nathan's business. Also, I fully expect a bunch of FireSky!Secretary!AU fics after this, lmao! I loved that.

2. Seeing all of the heroes working together and using their own resources and smarts was really nice. T&B also handles exposition and explaining plans and ideas in a very interesting way. They don't explain anything mid-battle like a battle shounen would, but they don't do a complete all show, no tell approach either. They give you, the watchers, all the clues first, then set up situations where explanations need to be given to other characters within the show itself, so those who may not have figured things out on their own (for whatever reason) could be caught up at the same time as the characters.

3. The series did a great job of avoiding deus ex machina. Aurora easily could have been this. But they worked around that. That being said, I do feel that Barnaby's injury being okay after using Kotetsu's suit. It seemed like too easy of a fix, and a part of me really did want to see both Kotetsu and Barnaby retiring from being superheroes in the end and/or the idea of Barnaby dealing with a debilitating injury, since that is a very realistic scenario and could have provided some interesting commentary. But, I do also understand the direction they wanted to take the series in this regard. I'll talk more on this later.

4. I didn't really have any interest in the whole plot for this cour. The stuff with Gregory Sunshine and stuff was kinda meh for me. Like every time he was on screen, I just wanted him to be off it, lol. I *did* like his interactions with the Ouroboros lady (though, her backstory did feel a bit rushed and wasn't that well done, but it was sufficient enough for me). The way they handled his sexist actions and remarks, and kind of had the two characters in a power struggle with each other, though, was quite interesting and well done to me. We need more anime that do this to pathetic, gross, sexist pervert characters:

Like, please! It's also in these moments that you can really tell that the director is a woman this time as opposed to S1.

5. Agnes not ending up skinny by the end of the season was beautiful, I loved it! I also love how, like with S1, Agnes pulled through for the heroes at the end, but, like always, she isn't doing it because she necessarily cares about the heroes (though, I do think she does on some level), but because of how much blood, sweat, and tears she has put into HERO TV, lmao. It's honestly so refreshing to have an adult female character in an anime have this sort of personality.

6. I really liked the inclusion of these plush toys:

It reminded me of the toy bears from Season 1, though this time Kaede likes them too (she has one on her phone).

I also got teary eyed at Barnaby responding “Maybe,” when the doll asked, “Are you happy?” That may not seem like a positive answer, but for Barnaby it is. I feel that answer is what gives me hope that we might get some more T&B in the future. And I'll talk about that some more in a later post.

7. I'm so, so glad that they *finally* addressed Karina's crush on Kotetsu. I'll discuss this in far more detail later, but just, thank goodness. It was like they had to spell it out to all the dudebros out there that Kotetsu only ever saw Karina as a child that he cares about. He related himself to an uncle, so he views her like family - like a niece, and that is *never* going to change.

“I’ll be like your uncle that says, “Have fun, but bring her back before her curfew.”

8. This part of S2 really said ACAB. Especially when they have Agnes being like, "You're shitty ass apology and realization, and eventual help, doesn't negate the fact that you basically sabotaged the heroes and caused a lot more harm than good." She didn't say it quite like that, but that was what she meant, lol. I loved it.

9. I like the way they hadbRyan deal with Gregory Sunshine, since that was a personal matter for him. I also like that they didn't have Kotetsu use the drug. I was never a fan of that theory, because there was no way I could see it working with Kotetsu's personality without either a *very specific* set of situations or with him just being OOC. It also felt redundant and a bit pointless, since the drug was just to enhance preexisting powers, not magically fix them. So I am a big fan of how they had Kotetsu go into berserk mode instead and lose his powers completely that way. It just personally works better for me.

10. The stuff with LL Audun was okay. His character seemed a bit cheesy, but like that fits. He was like a mix of an actual X-men (appearance-wise) and that old school superhero cheesiness that we sometimes think of. The English dub gave him a voice that really fits an older era as well. It was a nice touch.

11. That being said, I didn't really care for how they had him come to the realization that the heroes were good and that he didn't need to punish them. It felt a bit like lazy writing, but I also think they did a good job of making it clear that this particular character wasn't all quite mentally there anymore.

12. Having Kotetsu confront the truth of Mr. Legend! YES! I have a lot to say about all of that, and it will be in my post on familial relationships in this cour.

13. There was another time skip and you can really see that in Kaede and her friend. They both look older and just the way Kaede was talking and corresponding with Kotetsu - so much growth on both of their ends. I’ll be discussing this some more in another, later post.

14. The angle of Gregory's powers being perceived as an unknown contagious disease was quite a choice and made me think of two things: COVID and AIDs (especially given the fact that Cour 2 takes place in the 80s, specifically 1981, which is the same year that the AIDs epidemic started). 

15. Karina, Nathan, Pao-lin, and Lara all have a very physical and visible reaction when they hear that Gregory's powers are supposedly activated via hugging (all agree with the power being odd and they all mimic hugging themselves). None of the male characters do this. It's something I've never really seen before in an anime, but I appreciated that small touch. It's a small detail that I feel really highlights how a female perspective was directing this season.

16. Mattia with Saito killed me! lmao I feel we’ve all been in a situation like that, where you have trouble understanding someone, but you feel silly or embarrassed about that, so you just kinda nod your head and go with it. But Mattia is legit trying to answer Saito’s questions and it is a mess, haha.

17. Speaking of Mattia, I really like how they wrote the situation with him. It was really creative to have him be the “betrayer” character, but also not at the same time. Also, the way they incorporated him working with Saito afterwards was nicely done.

18. The main news channel spreading misinformation, discontent, and hatred...As an American with two parents who love a certain Faux News Channel (and watch a certain podcast - all a bunch of stuff that just spews misinformation everywhere)...That really hit close. Also, if I’m not mistaken, the news caster was Lara’s mother’s tennis rival (and ex-friend), which added an extra element to it. Especially when Lara’s mother told her that she was going to be changing (which I’m going to talk about more later) while her rival seems like she is just going to stew in a hateful way of thinking and viewing the world.

Finally, to end on a sweeter note, let’s talk about the flowers in the new ED (which is beautiful and has a gorgeous song to go with it) :

The flowers are daisies. 

The General Flower Language Meanings: New Beginnings, Love, Hope, Affection, and more. 

 White: Purity, Innocence 

Yellow: Friendship, Joy, Get Well 

Pink: Gentle Admiration, Affection, Adoration 

All of these meanings fit Kotetsu and Barnaby’s bond and the themes of S2 Cour 2.

That’s it for this section. I’ll have my post on familial relationships and then the buddy relationships (and other relationships - looking at you Antonio x Agnes) up later. So keep an eye out for them. Also, feel free to add your thoughts to these posts, as always, and thanks for reading all of this! <3 

[capcavan]

Dear Cap-senpai, how does one come up with a cool, original and cohesive AU idea for AFTG? I want to write for these characters, but I have no idea where to even start. - Sincerely, a struggling writer

I am really honoured that you ask, because I see myself as mess I am just very devoted mess Making any sort of story is always the same no matter if you do fully original work or something based on pre existing IP You need to pick topic you enjoy this way you will have fun developing it it will make it feel like fun activity not work or effort. Ok lets take the Rikoi au as example bc my brain is right here right now general idea is ,, Riko as mermaid" now the question is how do i make the concept of mermaid tie into his family history i tie it into his design, i try to consider his background and possibly how his culture could tie into it - rikos family backstory - Japanese koi - i could read up some Japanese stories about koi to get even deeper - swamping number from arabic 1 to japanese to fit the theme bit more - moving moriyamas all the way back to Japan to have more traditional looking garden/pond environment for him so this is Riko but every universe and story need supporting cast [your cast can be 1-2 character it can be 5-20 or more how much you can handle but having more character makes your world and story feel more alive ] so now we have renee who because of her canon background witch charity becomes part of meer rescues team foxes who are half way house become meer sanctuary aaron and andrew who are the most different twins ever become 2 different species neils father who is piece of shit is still a piece of shit! <3 ilu nathan it's all about finding loose parallels! you don't have to tie things that way but finding things that tie your new AU yo canon even slightly will help other people understand the new dynamics and find something to relate to taking into account their love for original work when designing a story even for 1 character try to spend at least a bit to think of the world around them - aftg is actually great example of this - our main narration is made by neil who spoon feeds us very limited amount of information but in EC nora explained in much more detail how the whole world around him functions and motivations of other characters- we wouldn't knew those informations but nora wrote those books taking them into account this is why the relationships character formed have so much depth I also watch a lot of youtube videos about story analysis for video games and enjoy listening to essays about characters motivations !

[melodygatesauthor]

Weekly Update - 06/11/2023

(Just realized I forgot to post this yesterday hehe)

As a reminder, I do weekly updates. You can see the original post here for details on what will be in these!

Updates Below the Cut:

Long/Chaptered Fic Updates

A Bit Dodgy - There WILL be an update tomorrow! 06/13/2023. We have chapter 12 incoming!

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Mini-series Updates

Blue = should be posted this week

Pink = In progress actively (working on but will not be posted this week)

Red = Backburner Fic (not working on this week - will work on a later date)

The Fractured Moon - currently working on These Fractured Knights (TFM Bonus Chapters) 🫣😏 - No new updates this week though.

Feeling You Can't Fight is DEFINITELY coming out this week on Wednesday! I was hoping to post it last week but I didn’t get around to editing it! My goal will be to put out a chapter a week for the next 6 weeks for this one (fingers crossed - will post more often if I finish the chapters sooner than that) but we will see!

Summary

You are the new staff manager for the National Art Gallery in London, replacing the prior manager who you'd heard was unpleasant to work for...and that was putting it kindly.

When you meet the nervous, but friendly, gift shop clerk, you can't help but fall for him almost immediately. When it becomes clear that you can't shake this desire to give Steven everything he deserves and more, you can only hope that he feels the same way about you in return.

It WILL include the other two boys as well. - Coming this week

Working on a secret series based on a series of artwork done by an artist in the community. Hoping to have that out this week! - Coming out this week! (I hope)

Not a Doctor - I’ve been asked by a few people, and I personally have been considering it for a while, doing a part 2 to this fic! It won’t be coming out this week, but it’s in the works! (Still in the planning stages)

Worth the Risk - taking a small step back from this for now. It’s not at the top of my inspiration list so I’m moving it down the line temporarily. - will work on a later date

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Requests Updates

Let’s have a chat about requests guys. So I’ve been really making an effort to work on them, and I’ve been struggling to feel inspired to work on it at this moment in time, and it’s been a little stressful. That being said, I’m going to do a couple of things to simplify this for myself (this does not include things I asked for like Nathan Bateman requests or the 1k drabbles):

1. I’m going to keep them shorter. I think I set up an expectation for myself (and maybe for you guys too) that I’ll be writing lengthy fics for the requests. I’m going to keep them under 2k going forward unless I find it exceptionally inspiring. Please don’t think that your request is bad if I don’t write a longer fic, please just understand that it's all in an effort to manage my time more.

2. I’ll do a bigger post regarding this point once I have a minute to think about it more, but I’m not going to be opening requests again after I finish these ones. As I’ve grown and my work (like my real life job) has gotten busier, this has become a lot to manage all the while continuing to explore my OWN thoughts and ideas. I LOVE giving back to the community and writing for you guys, but it's turned into something that's bringing me anxiety and pressure to perform and that's not how my hobby should feel. - This doesn't mean I won't ever have my inbox or like event drabble requests open and things like that, this is just for regular requests. Like I said, I'll elaborate more in another post.

3. I'm GOING TO FINISH THE REQUESTS BELOW. Some of you had submitted multiples so I'm going to only commit to one of them. Anons, I'm sorry but I'm going to cut you loose. I love you, but I have to let some things go. (Except for the Nathan request since I asked for it and I still haven't ever written for Nathan.)

I hope you all can understand where I'm coming from, and I appreciate your support so so so much. I'm sure there are other writers who have open requests who would love to take over if I end up not doing yours. <3

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If your request is in blue, that means I'm going to try to work on it this week (06/11-06/17). If it's in pink, I'm going to try to work on it a different week. It's taking me a while to get into the headspace for some of them so thank you for your patience. Green means it's done I'm just working on editing now.

Blue Jones X f!Reader requested by @saraicus

There are 2 prompts in particular that I liked from the list you sent so I'll be doing them. - His eyeliner running down as he’s banging you against his desk.

Moon Boys X f!Reader by @simpforbritgents

Asking for something like Feeling Flustered where the moon boys are doing guided phone sex.

Moon Boys X f!Reader by @mercuryrosesixx

Moon Boys w/ a f!Reader w/ nipple piercings.

Marc Spector X f!Reader by @blueflowerhat

Marc shower sex based on AI prompt.

Doctor Marc Spector X Patient Reader by @burnincrown

Role Reversal (sort of) of Not a Doctor - Marc is the doc, reader is the patient and he takes advantage - Dark Fic - I'M MOVING THIS ONE UP TO MINI-SERIES. It's going to be a long time in the works, and it will probably replace TFM when that one is done so I'm going to put this one up further on next week's update and I will credit you for inspo but I'm not going to necessarily consider it a request since I've been developing quite the lengthy outline for it lol. - Work on it a different week

Nathan Bateman X f!Reader by @campingwiththecharmings

This is the prompt that hit me like a Nathan-shaped mac truck! -> “if you don’t like my teasing why are you moaning”

Nathan Bateman X f!Reader by Anon

Cam girl reader x Nathan - Nathan turns to a cam girl, he's been kinda stalking her. (Excited hehe)

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That's all for now guys! I love you all and thank you so much for all the support you continue to give no matter what. You're amazing <3

[judasisgayriot]

aw, you missed me :) that’s good to hear, i was worried you almost thought of me as a ‘tumblr writing assignment’. anyways, for the next rant, i’ll give you some creativity. i wanna hear your top three (or less, or more) MESSIEST heroes moments. don’t be shy in the hatred/confusion, give me a full on dissection of the best of tim kringe.

Hi!! You know I love a rant lol, thanks 😂 and best of Tim Kringe? ohhh my god. WELL. Trying to not just say ‘all of season 3’, lol, but season 3 is a MESS and hard to watch. S2 gets a lot of flak but it’s mainly just fucking boring (the feudal Japan stuff is interminable) and I’ll give it some leeway bc writers strike etc. and it has goooood Nathan angst so yay. Season 3 is just fucking Wasted Potential City tho. Like they keep kind of bringing up the kernels of ideas that COULD be interesting but then just dropping the fucking ball or never doing anything good with them or leaving stuff unresolved for no reason or just veering wildly off the road and it’s just ????

Not to turn this into a Sylar rant again lol but this is the point when all of the stuff surrounding him just gets truly stupid. They invent a new retcon backstory for him to try and make you feel sympathetic (infamous ‘my dad sold me to one direction and The Chain by Fleetwood Mac is my trigger’ lol), they flipflop around on him like hell, the Sylar is secretly a Petrelli wait no he isn’t stuff is at least kind of fun in an ‘Angela causing drama and problems on purpose for no real reason’ way lmao but it does lead to him killing Elle when she was in no way involved in any of that and I love her so I’ll never forgive him sry ANYWAY… (he already forgave her for her actual actions of helping the company push him into becoming a killer but then he kills her over something that’s nothing to do with her?? Make it make sense!)

they have the stupid bad future plotline which goes nowhere, is never explained or resolved and is just baffling, plus the return of Gruff Badass Future Peter, my fucking BELOATHED (I’m that rarest of things a five years gone hater tho, lmao), sylar is nice?? In the future bc he has a kid and he can control The Hunger, but Peter like, catches The Hunger from him and now he’s A SCARY KILLER AHH (for all of 2 minutes before they just like, drop that completely and then never mention it again. Much like the rest of the clusterfuck that is s3.)

Okay so all of that mess but actually The Hunger top one Tim Kringe moment, it just truly makes no fucking sense as a way to try and explain why it’s actually not poor Sylar’s fault he’s a serial killer lmao. It’s truly just nonsense pulled directly out of their asses with no relation to what came before it. He already has a motive, I understand why he does what he does just fine! He’s fine as a villain just stop this!! Stop. This isn’t healthy. Lmao

Anyway. Next up how Nathan’s villain arc makes no sense. I’ve said this before but I can absolutely see villain!nathan working as a concept and I would have enjoyed it, he does already have that deep self-loathing of his own powers and just does not really understand what the ‘right thing to do’ is, understanding morality on an innate level is a real struggle for him and I actually love the scene where he asks Peter, he of fierce moral convictions and Nathan’s only real arbiter of morality, what he should do. He’s so sincere in that but future!peter just says ‘do the right thing’ which is no help at all lol, anyway so having him get to the place of helping to oppress people with powers would not be a stretch!

But they do this bizarro world version of it where Nathan buys into his dad’s plan (I get it, Nathan has always been subdued/controlled by his father and the ‘I made you’ scene makes me shiver too. He’s truly just a tool to Arthur.) but then. Then peter scuppers that plan (which is to CREATE MORE powered people with the serum or whatever), Nathan is so angry that Peter knocked over his Vats Of Stuff that he commits some very (IMO) OOC violence on him with a pipe, then turns around and does a complete 180 and now instead of saving the world by making more people with powers because he believes that’s the only way to stop bad things happening - I believe that he’s made himself believe that - he now suddenly wants to lock up all the people with powers instead. Again, I understand how he could get to that point theoretically, but it’s like they did a mad libs telephone version of that plot arc! It’s like the season is missing a bunch of scenes that make those actions make any sense!!

Also don’t get me started on his death, like I enjoy s4 for all the angst it provides that hinges on this, but they do the truly stupidest thing possibly imaginable… they have established Claire’s blood can bring people back to life already, she’s IN THE BUILDING and they still try and?? Get Matt to try and put Nathan’s thoughts into Sylar’s body instead?? I understand Angela might be momentarily crazy with grief but Noah is complicit, should have some common sense and ALSO WAS LITERALLY BROUGHT BACK TO LIFE WITH CLAIRE’S BLOOD. It makes you want to shake everyone involved by the shoulders lmao

Listen I do actually love this show and even s3 has some great stuff to chew on (flashbacks to Petrelli family/Arthur backstory drama, Company founders flashbacks and lore, delirious religious mania Nathan who’s having mental breakdowns live on television and hallucinating) and like I said, a lot of stuff that COULD have been great, so that’s why all this mess annoys me so much lol.

Also for a sin that DOES belong to s2, both Niki’s but ESPECIALLY DL’s deaths are absolute bullshit, and DL deserved so much better Jesus Christ

In conclusion,