#which sucks because it makes me feel like a bad friend

[nite-puff]

ya’ll ever think about how mondo is a very romantic person who was forced to be aggressive??

not even just romantic as in like a physical attraction sort of romance (which yes that too. it’s canonically very easy for him to be down bad). like he has a lot of love for things. his friends, his gang, dogs, motorcycles. and he very openly shows that love. he goes on and on about them so passionately and with so much adoration. in his own special way.

and him being an artist is also very romantic to me. like guys. mondo’s an artist. he puts so much care into each of his works too. whether that be the embroidery on his jacket, the hand painted designs on his motorcycle, even his hair and makeup that he does everyday. that’s all art that he finds so precious and so integral to who he is. i know he thinks that becoming a carpenter will be when he starts making things instead of breaking them. but the truth is that he’s been lovingly making things this whole time.

he also loves doing things for and having intimate moments with the people he cares about. his relationship with taka is my best example of this, so i’m gonna stick to that. it’s very obvious that taka is a very important person in his life. and he constantly makes that clear to taka. like in that one utdp event they have together. mondo tells taka what he wants to do with his future in a way that feels very intimate and heartfelt, with them being alone in a classroom together. that moment is very much meant for the two of them, because mondo then goes on to thank taka for all his support throughout all the time they’ve known each other and then promises to build him a house someday. mondo let’s taka know that his love and support has not gone unnoticed and even promises to give him something very personal in return- a house that he built with his own two hands.

mondo just loves to be there for the people he cares about. he witnessed kiyotaka cry for his sake in the sauna and call him nice, so in return, he tries his hardest to be the best friend that taka never had. in the utdp, he sticks to training with chihiro and always makes sure to point out how much she’s improved and reminds her of how strong she truly is. he even stays up until the late hours of the night (late enough that he shows up to class late the next day because of how little sleep he got) talking to who we can assume is takemichi over the phone because michi was having a rough time and just needed someone to talk to. and mondo was, of course, more than willing to be that someone.

all that is to say. man that guy is really in touch with his feelings but was forced to express them in a way that was much more violent and aggressive. and that’s so much sadder when it’s so clear that he’d rather express those feelings differently. like he derives so much enjoyment from doing the things i just pointed out. like it sucks that things didn’t work out that way. god, mondo you’re so tragic and so loving.

[harteofthehart-ayyy]

//OKAY. RUBBING MY HANDS TOGETHER. I’ve gotten tagged twice (I think) and I’ve been meaning to make myself a little list and now I will begin. I’m DEFINITELY forgetting people so don’t feel bad if you weren’t mentioned. I just have ADHD. That aside, here are the ten that come to mind first!

1. Everyone in the Hoenn server sphere. I’m not tagging all of you because that’s so many blogs but I love you guys and I love seeing your shit on my dash. Astra also @wishmaker-astra, who, despite being Unova-based, is in the Hoenn sphere. The entire Hoennverse sphere counts as one btw.

2. @lemmondrivenbite you guys crack me up oh my god. fujoshi rpf rotomblr blog. I have laughed so hard I’ve nearly started screaming because of you guys.

3. @real-team-luster I love seeing Darrin. This guy is so . out of touch. Out of time out of my head when you’re not around. I’m not fully aware of everything going on with him but it is always fun to see this guy struggle.

4. @pastoria-marsh-official hi Bast I love your marsh blog <3 I love preserve/safari zone shit in general as a citizen naturalist who used to work at a zoo, and I think Pastoria Marsh Official has so much character. Especially using the Japanese names of Pokémon, love love that! :)

5. @skitter-smack BURGY <3 I’m such a Burgundy fan. Follow Burgundy for Digging. We Need To Dig. (And on that note, @sillydex45 too. Sneets.)

6. @equine-fanblog Harte’s son! Love to see the antics he gets into which are basically just him being insulted. Poor guy. I think everyone should go be niceys to him. Or not. Your choice. I’m a huge Lace fan I love Lace.

7. @mimikinyuu I snile when I see slutchposting. I need to interact with you more I feel like our characters would gel.

8. @plasma-king-official oh my fucking god this blog is a riot. SUCKS that it’s Ghetsis and most of my characters have him blocked but this blog is SO funny and I’m SUCH a big fan of how elaborate it all is and all the lore behind it and all the silly shit going on in the background. Very silly blog I love seeing it on my dash.

9. @kantocamping I still need to draw the Harte Koichi zoom call. Waiter! Waiter! Another middle aged man in the rotomblr biosphere!

10. @alolapokemon is an honestly great more realistic look at Alola with a character who lives on a boat. Love seeing the worldbuilding here and the shit you come up with, it’s so cool to read about Lynn’s complaints about…so many things that really parallel real life! Very cool, worth a look!

11. SECRET ELEVENTH @thatfailedpokemontrainer and @battle-subway-ghost share the eleventh spot as Those Guys Who Are Friends who I like to see on my dash :) hi guys

// what if we all tagged our favorite blogs and went to check eachother's favorite blogs out as a result of tagging our favorite blogs. what then

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

“If Chloe caused Marinette’s trauma, then why they’ve United to humiliate Kagami in “Animaestro”?

To be fair, I’ve read a post which was written a long time ago where one user said that Marinette uniting with Chloe to do the same things to Kagami that Chloe was doing to Marinette for years was Out Of Character for her. And this was before the first draft of infamous “Derision” was ever written…

Two things can be true at once. You can criticize Animaestro in the context canon has put it in while also agreeing that it and Derision don't fit the narrative and basically have to be discarded to make any sense of canon. I take both of these stances and will happily explain them.

If Derision was "always the plan," then Animaestro's writing choices make the writers look extra terrible as it means that they had no issues making their lead put another person through the same kind of traumatizing humiliation that she'd gone through herself. Even worse, Marinette inflicts that trauma by willing joining up with the instigator of her own trauma, never once stopping to wonder if this is too far. She's too obsessed with her crush to care about another person's suffering. It's perfectly reasonable to look at these two moments and come away hating her. It's even reasonable to just hate her after Animaestro. That wasn't a good look.

Even if Derision wasn't always the plan, the writers still wrote it after writing Animaestro, not caring how that choice would effect people's view of Marinette's actions. It's not reasonable to expect your audience to disregard one episode in favor of another. People aren't being unfair for taking these two episodes at face value.

If you want to tell a good story, you have to own what you've already written and allow that to limit what ideas work for your story no matter how good they are in a vacuum. Animaestro and Derision are just generally a bad episodes, but they should never coexist unless Marinette is supposed to be seen as a bad person OR Marinette is getting a complex arc around overcoming her trauma and Adrien obsession. It is perfectly fair to ask why we're not getting either of those since the writers chose to make all of this mess canon.

However, I also agree that Marinette's actions in Animaestro are just generally not suited to her character. The show did a terrible job of writing Marinette and Kagami's cat fight over Adrien. Because every conflict had to be established and resolved in 20-minutes or less, Marinette was constantly coming up with random petty, unflattering, and downright insane takes on Kagami. It made Marinette come across like a total mean girl in several season three episodes which sucks when you consider the way the conflict was played in season two. Episodes like Frozer allowed Marinette to have a good balance of jealously and being a good person making her feel realistic, but not a petty mean girl.

In Frozer, Marinette sent Adrigami on a date to the ice rink and went along to help Adrien even though her girl friends told her to back out:

Alya: This is gonna be your worst mess up in history. You have got to get yourself out of this right now. Ideas girls! Quick! Alix: Tell him you'd already promised to hang with your GFs. Rose: Maybe you got lost on the way over? Juleka: Maybe you're gonna go to a concert? Mylène: You had to finish an essay on Periwinkle's migration. Marinette: Actually, girls... I don't think I want to cancel. All Girls: Huh? Marinette: Adrien really needs me and if he wants my advice then why not? After all, it's not an issue and I'm definitely not jealous because... Rose: Because you two love each other. Marinette: Because there's nothing between us. (looks down sadly) Alya: What do you mean nothing between you? Mylène: There's everything between you, actually. Marinette: I always jumble my words around him. So how could I even manage going out on a date? I think we're actually just meant to be friends. Whenever I talk to him as a friend, I hardly stammer at all. That's a sign right there. Right?

And when they were at the rink, Marinette gave Adrien actual good advice:

Adrien: I don't know what to do about Kagami. Should I offer to hold her hand? Marinette: You have to let her fall. Adrien: Huh? Marinette: No, what I actually meant was that you cannot let her fall in any way. I mean, do whatever you can so that she doesn't fall.

If you have to include a petty fight over a boy, this a decent way to do it. Show Marinette struggling, but ultimately doing the right thing. Acknowledge the temptation to sabotage the date, but let her be a good person in the end. Don't go the Animaestro route which makes Marinette come across as both awful and delusional:

Marinette: I'm not too sure about this. Chloé: Fine! Keep on not being sure about it and tomorrow, Adrien and Kagami will be on a plane headed for Japan! Marinette: Adrien? Japan? There's no way! Chloé: You think? They're already going to the movies together, their parents are signing papers together. (camera zooms in on Mrs. Tsurugi in the background, stamping a document with her signature) Marinette: (imagines Adrien and Kagami on a plane and dancing with kimonos on) We can't let her do that!

The fact that Marinette agrees to sabotage Kagami could be overlooked if she stopped herself before actually doing anything. We all have bad moments. But she doesn't stop. She spends a good chunk of the episode working with Chloé and there is no defense for that. Marinette is absolutely in the wrong here.

We can acknowledge that while also acknowledging that Marinette's actions also don't make any sense in the same timeline as Frozer which happened a full season before Animaestro. In both episodes, Adrien is on a date with Kagami. Why is Marinette willing to be the better person in one situation and not the other? What changed? Why was she better on an actual date than she was on what is arguably a friend-date where Adrien is just being Kagami's escort? Why was Marinette able to push aside her friends telling her to bail on date one - reasonable advice - while being totally susceptible to Chloé's insane advice that they should sabotage date two?

There is no in-universe answer and that's why I'm willing to agree that this episode just generally shouldn't exist. It adds nothing to the story and is a poor choice when you look at where this plot started and where it ends. We go from supportive Marinette in Frozer to sabotaging Marinette in Animaestro to supportive Marinette in Hearhunter, which has Marinette once again supporting Adrigami on a date:

André: Which flavors for these two? [Kagami and Adrien] Orange and peppermint, a perfect pairing that's always a success; nothing can turn it into a mess. And for you two [Adrien and Marinette] blackberry and peppermint, an explosive mix that's a fact but often times it's the opposites that attract. Orange and blackberry, quite unusual it's true not the most obvious but it works for you two. So what will it be? Kagami: You pick. I don't really get what he's saying anyway. Adrien: Yeah, you pick, Marinette. We trust you. Marinette: Can't you find a blend for the three of us? André: I can, but too many flavors mixed together may throw off the delicate balance. Marinette: I don't know. Blackberry and peppermint doesn't seem like a great pair. And what if the mint finds the blackberry lame and wants to be with the orange instead? And it's true that orange and peppermint are awesome together and well orange and blackberry just doesn't seem like they go together. (looks at Kagami and Adrien together, walks up to André) Look I think your first idea was the best. The orange and peppermint ice cream for.. for my friends here. André (concerned) Are you sure Marinette? (she nods, Adrien approaches cart) Marinette (walks away and speaks to Kagami) I'm gonna head back to the palace. I told my parents I'd bring them back those cocktail umbrellas.

And, yes, Marinette does mess up the date by getting Kagami to help in the day's akuma fight, but that's way more in line with her Frozer behavior than her Animaestro behavior because it's not petty jealousy. Marinette didn't come up with a way to mess up the date. She was going to let it happen until the akuma attack, which had already messed up the date anyway. That's a far more complex and nuanced way to play the conflict. It's not the actions of a mean girl. Where did Animaestro-Marinette go?

The only way to make Animaestro fit in a functional character arc is to have to come at the start. You don't put an episode like this or Ikari Gozen after Frozer. That's just bad writing. I'd even argue that Animaestro is a bad fit in general because you don't need to take Marinette that far to give her a solid arc around "sisters before misters."

While Ikari Gozen has its own issues, it has Marinette being more avoidant than mean, which is about as far as I'd take her. There is no reason to make her sink to Chloé's level. It just makes Marinette look bad for no good reason, especially when Chloé is right there, able to take the villain role on her own! It's glaringly obvious that this episode only plays the way it does because of the stupid "Marinette must always do something wrong" rule and not because of some greater story reason. Without that rule, Animaestro could have been a perfectly fine episode where Chloé acted on her own, leading Marinette to realize how bad it is to let jealousy drive your actions, which would have been a wonderful lesson!

The "Marinette's character has to be warped so she's always in the wrong" rule is why I can get pretty defensive of Marinette. It's not that I think her actions are okay, they're often 100% not, they're just also clearly writing issues and not intentional character beats. I'd feel very different if Marinette's worst moments were ongoing flaws or part of a character arc, but they're not. They're generally one-off moments that could be removed from the story and no one would notice. Marinette doesn't even learn anything in Animaestro!!! She never apologizes for what she did or anything like that. The best we get is:

Marinette: I promise I'll never take Chloé's advice again!

Which is not the right lesson here!!! Everything about this episode is so frustrating! Marinette should be able learn lessons without having to be the one to mess up, damn it!

[meloethelavendeer]

Prefacing this by saying i love krusie, but:

Every time somebody breaks up suselle for krusie instead of polyshipping an angel dies

Every time somebody makes art of noelle being visibly upset and distressed by krusie happening an angel dies

Like do you really need to break up the adorable canon ship to make your best friends to lovers ship work. Do you really need the transbian out of the way that bad.

The hallway scene in chapter 2 makes it fairly clear noelle is actually pretty chill with susie and kris hanging out. She doesnt seem mad if only a little bit flustered.

She asks susie to come do work with her and corrects herself to add kris, clearly respecting and supporting the two as friends.

Meanwhile later in the game a similar scene plays out and she starts shaking berdly at him merely mentioning a crush on susie. Like you can reason she did nothing to kris in this scene because they arent explicitly saying they have a crush on susie and its infront of susie but still even despite this she never brings this up to them again and even has them as a sort of wingthem for alot of the chapter. All this to say noelle is at least tolerant of kris and susie being a thing and heavily implied to be open to being in a polycule.

This is to say even if you do wanna break up suselle for krusie, which sucks, at least portray her accurately. Dont make her pissed off. Whenever i see art of kris and susie kissing with noelle in the background fuming i just. It makes me mad.

Alot of you just need to know polyamory exists and see that it fits perfectly here. Krusielle is litterally so much better and in character then breaking up suselle for krusie.

I see people justify it with "oh but noelle is obsessive / toxic" which she isnt and also "but suselle makes me uncomfortable" which is like. Ok who am i to invalidate your feelings but. How does that even happen.

Krusie is a valid and awesome ship, i love kris and susies dynamic i really do, but if you need to break up suselle to do it then you need to reanalyse the game.

Plus as said krusielle is the best ship in any media ever so :P

[sturniolostars]

𝓟𝓤𝓒𝓚𝓘𝓝𝓖 𝓐𝓡𝓞𝓤𝓝𝓓

∗ smut, mentions of death, abuse, eating disorders, self harm, overall mature themes

∗ Chris was used to everyone liking him. But Evelyn hates hockey players and Chris hates her and her stupid figure skating. However they have to share a rink for now and can’t help but feel a pull towards each other. How will this play out in the end?

Previous Chapter

Chris’s pov

I didn’t even have time to ask if she was okay. She was sprinting out of my room and down the steps. I tried to chase after her but she was pretty fast for someone who had just creamed all over my fucking fingers.

“Evelyn wait!” I call out. I lost her in the crowd and while I knew she was probably heading for the front door once I got there and looked outside to see if she was running or driving away there was no sight of her.

This is bad. We are obviously still not on good terms. She still hates me– in fact she might hate me even more, and while the taste of her is still on my tongue my brain is also still trying to tell me to hate her.

I think I really fucked up

Evvie’s pov

I just need to go home. Even if home was actually last place I wanted to be. If I was lucky my father would be passed out drunk and my mother would either be asleep or up, but too tired to point out every flaw I have.

I sigh and grip the steering wheel pulling into my driveway. I enter my home feeling relieved my dad actually was passed out on the couch with a few beer cans around him. I grimace but walk towards the stairs that lead up to my room.

“Evelyn” I hear my mothers voice from behind me. I take a deep breath and turn around to face her with a small smile. “Oh hi mom” I say softly. She scans me up and down. “You look like your gaining weight Evelyn have you been sticking to your diet?”

I self consciously suck in my tummy. “N-no I’ve been sticking to it” she rolls her eyes. “Mhm get up early tomorrow. I want to test that claim with a little weight check” I swallow but nod keeping my little pretty smile on. “Yea of course” she nods and turns around no ‘I love you’ or ‘I know your doing good’ not even a ‘I know I’m breaking you but it’s just because I love you’

I climb the rest of the way up the steps telling myself it could be worse. That my dad could be awake and looking for a live punching bag, that my mother could be degrading me more than she just did, that I could go back to weigh ins every day. I make it to my room and open the door lying on my bed.

“It could be worse”

-

I do wake up earlier and walk downstairs into the guest bathroom where my mom was waiting for me already. I step on the scale self consciously sucking in again even though it would do nothing to really change my weight. Force of habit I guess.

She looks down at it. I was over by a single pound. I swallow looking into her gaze……a gaze that shows pure disgust and disappointment. “I’m sorry” I say even though I have nothing to be sorry for.

She scowls “you will cut down on food you understand” I nod. “You will not embarrass this family by gaining weight or anything like that” I felt hollow but still manage to nod. “Yes mother”

And with that she leaves me alone and broken. I get ready and drive myself off to school. A school where I had nothing but figure skating. Hunter was my skating partner yes but he didn’t care about me. Which left me with no friends, no clubs, no hobbies, no time…..

I fight through the day just wanting to get to the rink I forgot was being shared. Just me and figure skating and– I look up at the hockey team on the ice seeing Chris in all his stupid fucking might speeding around with a puck.

And stupid Chris Sturniolo. It’s going to be fine. Just think about skating. Think about how you’re going to be perfect for mother and father. Don’t think about how your stomach is growling. I sigh.

“It could be worse right?”

a/n: this chapter kind of had a lot. Please reach out or talk to someone if you’re going through anything! (Tell me if you wanna be on the taglist)

Tags: @kadesturnz @watercolorskyy @megamorgan44 @kikirasweatsweathoho @bernardsbendystraws @wurlibydominicfike @sturnslux3 @courta13 @stargazer6969 @idrk2292 @astrxl

[so-what-im-a-lowlife]

..

[revvethasmythh]

So I went and watched all the possible endings, and it confirmed something I had been thinking, which is that the redemption ending choice is, perhaps, the most immediately regretful one--but that they all come with some form of regret. In the redemption ending, Rook has to knowingly deny themselves the catharsis of retribution (should they desire it, which, at least for me it felt difficult not to) in order to offer Solas one last, painful chance to do the right thing. That willful denial of your own catharsis feels like an immediate regret. Giving Solas the opportunity to pursue atonement might very well be the best choice all around, but it is also incredibly painful to offer that to someone who has done so many terrible things (not a small amount to you personally). Why does he deserve another chance? Especially when so many dead (including a beloved mentor) lie in his wake? Which, I suppose, is the point: he doesn't. But you offer it anyway and it SUCKS ASS, because how could it not?

I don't know how this plays with other story choices (a sacrificed Davrin or a Harding who embraced her anger, for example), but within the context of my own choices, I can imagine an immediate satisfaction to either tricking or fighting him--especially the trick ending, where you can actively name drop Varric--but it feels like the sort of thing that would feel worse as more time passes. Once you've calmed down and are able to ask yourself if that's what the people you've lost really wanted. Varric, in Regret Superhell, didn't want vengeance. He just wanted his friend to walk a better path. And Harding always believed there was another chance for anyone, so long as you kept reaching a hand out for them--even when it sucked ass. So the redemption ending feels like a sort of indignance, an instant regret for not doing worse, for not getting comeuppance, for being forced to eschew satisfaction (related: I wonder if the Inquisitor feels those things as well coming out of this ending, considering how long they've lived under the shadow of Solas' actions). Conversely, the other two endings feel like an immediate satisfaction, because you got to trick the trickster with all the wits Varric taught you, or because you finally got to punch him in the face and it felt really good. But I feel like those endings would come with a creeping regret, something that sneaks up on you later, especially when remembering the fallen and what they would have wanted you to do. Ultimately, because of that, it feels like no ending is devoid of regret. Which I suppose, is rather thematic.

[rileys-battlecats]

was trying to figure out why I feel so Wrong rn and I think it's because I didn't follow my usual daily routine like At All and now my brain is freaking out. woke up at a vastly different time, had entirely different tasks throughout the day, took a nap at a weird time (to make up for the fact I had about 3 hours of sleep last night), zero human contact for the past 15 hours, and ate different food from usual (various leftovers from social events/thanksgiving, instead of cooking for myself like normal). and before I really realized that these were all things that were Bad For My Brain I was just wandering around my house like "why do I feel like garbage?? I've literally been outside so much today my brain should be happy"

ANYWAY here's to me not remembering I have issues with unstructured living because my days have been so similar for the past 4ish years that I straight up Forgot that things being too different too fast makes me crazy ✌️

[stellewriites]

really fucking grinds my gears how my dad knows just how to make me feel fucking guilty for putting up boundaries and saying no

[100frogsinatrenchcoat]

I’ve done to the conclusion that actually Parties Are Bad And Boring and also they should come with instruction guides for specific flavors of party and what the social expectations are.

[weezerlvr228]

hi fam !!

[not-bluejay]

guys i’m totally and completely fine with the fact that no one ever cares about me as much as i care about them ^U^ <- lying

[manasurge]

bleh

[todayisafridaynight]

seeing info only about the kiryu and majima statuettes but absolute radio silence on the ichi one is utterly sending me. Theyre hiding the fact theyre gonna make ichi pale as a cracker again

[2-kamikou-1]

ok but no guys seriously how do you ask for reassurance in a way that doesn't make you look like a stupid yandere stereotype

[icterid-rubus]

I’ve got a bizarre and predictable cycle of making friends getting very excited about hanging out and seeing them a lot and then becoming terrified and tired of hanging out and it’s annoying