#yes! i have among us brainworms

[short-yandere-stories]

I couldn't resist the brainworms that came from the small moment we got seeing Nakime and Muzan in the latest episode so have a short brainrot. Him sitting there on the chair,,,

:✧:･ﾟ:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ:･ﾟ✧ ･ﾟ:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

:✧:･ﾟ:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ:･ﾟ✧ ･ﾟ:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

CW: yandere themes, infantilizing behavior, NSFW, Non-con, oral sex, cockwarming, slight vouyerism

This is a yandere work. Proceed with caution and please be mindful of your triggers.

:✧:･ﾟ:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ:･ﾟ✧ ･ﾟ:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

"Nakime, have a look over there," Muzan ordered, pointing at another area of the map he held in front of his lap. The demon who had just been raised to the rank of fourth among the Kizuki nodded, striking a note on her biwa.

Progress was being made on locating the rest of the Demon Slayer Corps. Nakime's enhanced abilities were exceptional when it came to searching and surveying vast areas in a short amount of time. If Muzan had fed her more blood to enhance her abilities sooner, maybe they would have found the Blue Spider Lily by now. Though, now that Nezuko had braved the sun, there was no need for the Spider Lily anymore. It was easier to search for one demon among the Demon Slayer Corps than a rare flower, and at this rate it was only a matter of time until they'd locate Ubuyashiki's manor as well.

Muzan was pleased with his current circumstance.

Especially so since his thick cock was resting deep inside your mouth.

You'd been sitting on your knees for the better part of an hour now, tears brimming in the corners of your eyes and jaw aching from the strain. It was embarrassing you to no end either, being used like this in front of someone else, even though Nakime's eyes were mostly elsewhere.

Muzan didn't care much for your feelings or embarrassment. If he wanted you to cockwarm him with your mouth, that is what you would do, no matter if it was in his private chambers, at his desk, or here, in front of Nakime.

You knew better than to defy him, even when he was in a good mood, so you remained on your knees, cheeks flushed in shame. At least it was only one of the Kizuki, one who was using her Demon Art to search areas far away. Yet you swore you could feel her eye staring at the back of your skull.

"There was no one there of interest, Lord Muzan," Nakime said, looking up at her master. He merely hummed, moving one slender finger to point at another area of the map.

"Search here."

"Yes, Lord Muzan."

With that, Nakime struck another note on her biwa. It always felt a little better the moments immediately after she played a chord, knowing that she definitely wasn't seeing you at that moment. Otherwise, you never knew when she was back before she spoke, and it was always a relief no matter how brief to not have her see you in this state.

You doubted she cared much for what she saw, but it didn't lessen the embarrassment you felt. You didn't even notice yourself slowly easing yourself away from Muzan's cock until you felt sharp nails scratching against your scalp, effortlessly sheathing himself fully inside your drooling mouth again.

"We're not done yet, pet," he chided, looking away from the map for a moment to stare down at your red, teary face. It was truly a sight to behold, and it felt impossible for him to get harder, but he did.

A low whine slipped past your lips, muffled by the girthy length inside your mouth, and Muzan chuckled, petting your head condescendingly.

"Seems like I haven't had you take me down your throat enough if an hour is where you reach your limit. We will have to do this more often."

:✧:･ﾟ:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ:･ﾟ✧ ･ﾟ:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

[alpaca-clouds]

Dungeons & Dragons - Or: Why Capitalism Sucks at Making Money

If this past year managed anything, it managed to get me really into DnD. Before I did not play DnD much, rather going with Shadowrun or (heavily homebrewed) World of Darkness. But with first Honor Among Thieves releasing - and then Baldur's Gate 3 giving me brainworms tadpoles... Yeah, hurray. New hyperfixation unlocked.

But as I started to read through all the lore, but also meta stuff happening around it. And yes, I quickly understood why basically everyone was frustrated with Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast. But I also think, that this betrays one of the big issues with capitalist logic and how it often fails to reach an audience - for the reason I outlined before: capitalists are actually super bad at realizing what works and why, because they only judge based on spread sheets.

And yes, the headline is hyperbolic. But let me explain.

A Community-Based Game

I mean, the biggest scandal of DnD this year was probably the entire thing about the community license. And this is very much something that shows quite well, how bad WotC is at recognizing why DnD works and has worked so long.

DnD centrally has been build around this idea of community. Now, mind you: This community was very, very focused on cis white guys for the longest time, but everybody else just managed to get in there and make their own little bit of community. Which also lead to a lot of homebrew stuff, that at times tackled some issues that the rules themselves did not address at all or not well. The combat wheelchair is probably the best known example of this.

But even outside of marginalized communities... DnD always thrived through the community aspect itself. People self-publishing magazines and adventures for it since the fucking 70s. As well as play sets, dice and what-have-you. DnD was always very much about all this and thrived through it. And now in came WotC saying: "Oh, yeah, actually you will now have to give us a big cut. (The big irony was, how Unity made the same move later on.) The fandom outcry was obviously big, there was a boycot, it worked. And WotC went all:

Of course they basically won the world competition in backpaddling (though again, Unity was a big contender this year as well) and quickly went back on this. But of course there is a problem: When your entire product is so much build around community and your community starts mistrusting you, you got a problem.

And this is basically what happened.

The Audience Problem

There is another problem of course. Financially the DnD movie failed - and I actually think this says a lot about how WotC kinda misunderstands the audience.

Now, there will be people trying to tell you, that given that the movie had great reviews and stuff. But the movie had a production budget of 150 million USD and only earned a bit more than 200 million on worldwide box office. Given that the marketing budget was likely around 30 million, the movie barely broke even.

Of course, part of the reason for it was that it just had a bad release date. It released parallel to the Super Mario movie, which ended up being one of the most successful movies of this year.

A friend of mine could not believe that the movie had financially flopped. They were like: "What the hell? Literally everyone I know who watched the movie went to cinema like three times to see it again." But... Yeah, that is true. But the issue is that these people are a very certain group.

Because lets make one thing clear: The people, who adored the movie so much, that they went to the cinema several times and bought the DVD/BluRay on release... were mostly queer nerds. Because this is the group of people who this movie spoke to.

And let's make this clear: I love the movie for this. I love that it so clearly went for this audience. Because I am part of this audience - and I adore this film.

But basically the movie has a general issue in terms of audience. Because on one hand the movie is too nerdy to have a wider audience appeal of people who had never played DnD, while on the other hand the movie was kinda not nerdy enough to go full force for the nerd audience.

A lot of people in the fandom have instantly sussed out one thing about the movie: "Why doesn't Edgin cast any spells? And why do we see so little of the weirder species?" And part of the reason undoubtedly was budget related. But the other reason is that... well, it is currently a well accepted wisdom in media production that you cannot sell a high-magic story. At least not outside of animated media.

Hence... There is surprisingly little magic being cast in this. And we also do have a mostly human main cast - or why Doric is the most classically pretty tiefling you have seen with her human skin tone and all of that. Because media productions do not trust the audience to accept high magic concepts.

Who is DnD actually for?

Okay, let me talk a bit about DnD 5e - and a good decision, and a bad decision. And how that affected DnD.

Everyone, who is somewhat into DnD probably knows that 5e massively changed the game. With one simple goal: Make it more accessible. Which manifested in several ways.

For one, the game was in some ways made less offensive. Because prior to 5e there was a ton of racism, sexism, queerphobia and ableism inherent to the game rules and times to the game lore. This is just a fact. Things like species that are inherently evil and stuff like that - and also some of the real-life racial coding inherent to some of the species. Removing all that stuff is a good thing. Like amazingly good.

And also, they made the rules a lot more accessible. Before the rules were bogged down with a lot of stuff, that was simplified or removed. Again, this is a good thing.

And this worked. It worked really well. Of course, this was also partly due to stuff like Critical Role and other actual plays like that happening and promoting the game. The player base probably increased ten-fold from what it was before.

Yes, it should also be noted that there is probably a good topic for a study on how formerly nerd-thingies became more and more mainstream during the last 10 years or so, but yes, DnD was one of those things.

But in this there was also a rather bad decision made, which ironically also mirrors what happened with Marvel. And this decision is: Because we want to reach a wider audience, every single thing we release for this has to reach the widest audience possible - rather than allowing that certain things might have a more specific audience.

I am sorry to talk about the MCU here, but it is just such a perfect example of this: The MCU basically made two mistakes. Overwhelming their audience with too many releases. But also not allowing the movies to be for a certain audience, but for the broadest audience possible. A good example is how they dealt with the minority-lead movies. They got directors and at times even writers from that minority - but then basically did not allow them to be too specific and be too critical of, for example, a racist system because that might not go over too well with white mainstream audiences.

Now, WotC did not really do anything like that. But they also went with this idea that everything they officially released should have the broadest possible appeal. Hence the weirdly low-magic approach to the movie, of which I assume that it definitely was an executive decision made.

The fact that the movie resonated so much with the queers more than anyone else was also not intended - at least not from the production company. Like, let's be honest. No, Xenk and Ed were not supposed to be read as romantic. And how appealing the found family trope was, probably was not intented at least on the side of Hasbro (not sure about screenwriters and director).

The Lore Problem

This perfectly connects to one of the big issues that all the franchises going for a broad appeal after being very nerd-focused for so long, run into: The Lore Problem. And this is quite ironic, because I ran into the problem earlier this year as well.

See, as I was writing fanfics for DnD:HAT I quickly ran into the problem that I knew next to nothing about the world of Faerûn. Sure, once upon a time (like between 2007 and 2011, while I was living in Austria with my then-boyfriend, who really was into those games) I played the old games of Neverwinter Nights and Baldur's Gate 1 + 2. But let's be frank: I barely remember shit from those games. And getting to understand what actually happened in the lore between and after... Well, there is just a ton of lore. I mean, people are playing around with this world for literal decades. So, yeah. This can very much be overwhelming for someone getting into it anew. Like, where can someone new even start?

The fact that - at least partly for legal reasons - most of the Actual Plays also do not work with the official lore, rather just using the rules to create their own worlds, obviously adds to this. Even the tables I played on so far always preferred original worlds, because the lore of DnD is just very intimidating.

The one thing that actuall ended up getting me into the lore was BG3, because it left open just the right questions to go into the Forgotten Realms wiki and just look for stuff, before also starting to listen to lore podcasts.

But here is the thing: WotC is also not helping with this issue. Like, they absolutel could create a proper accessible compendium on DnDBeyond that would just allow people to get an overview of the world and the timeline of things happening, maybe go into some of the major factions of the world and such. I mean, heck, they really, really want you to use DnD-Beyond rather than roll20. Yet, in DnD-Beyond I do not even have a monster compendium without paying, which roll20 offers.

Like, sure, WotC, it is okay to lock up the adventure modules behind a paywall, no problem. But if you do give me even the most basic tools to run a campaign, I am gonna use roll20, thank you very much.

But yeah, what WotC should make just more accessible was just: Timeline, important places and the maps (heck, make them interactive, you have the fucking money), maybe also a proper list of the pantheons and factions within the world. Heck, add maybe some inspiration there for what players might want to do within one of the scenarios and then, under this, go and link "hey, we made this one adventure about this, if you are interested!"

Something I did not realize originally was how much freedom the lore still leaves the people. Like, often even the important settings and events are just set-ups for adventures that the characters can have in there. There might be a few novels or comics then, that go into an example of a thing certain established characters like Drizzt or Elminster did during the time, but there is a ton of freedom to explore.

But by basically locking everything up behind a paywall, you will never get people even interested in this kinda stuff.

Because here is the thing: I like my lore. I love lore. I adore lore. But... Without BG3 explaining some stuff and giving me specific questions to ask about it, the lore would have been very inaccessible to me.

Just think of people as... people

Of course among it all there lies the central problem that comes with capitalism running something like this. See, whatever CEOs and shareholders are sitting on those chairs with WotC and Hasbro, they do not see the players as players or the community as a community, but as consumers. Just as they see their employees not as valued constributors, but very exchangable wage slaves.

They do not see the value of the community exchange with stuff like fanmade modules and things. While incorporating a bit of homebrew stuff in DnD Beyond, they are absolutely not interested in the wider market of people just creatively interacting with DnD and making a little bit of money from it. If anything they see those people as potential rivals on the market.

Heck, they have issues seeing things like Critical Role or Roll20 as the enrichment for the franchise that either are - but more like potential rivaling forces and money they have lost.

And their employees? Yeah, as we learned... Most people who from the side of WotC helped the Larian team with BG3 have been let go by now. Because WotC and Hasbro do not care for their employees, they only care about having some numbers going up.

I fully admit it. Apart from Buying BG3 and the money I have invested in anything DnD:HAT related, the only money that WotC got from me, was some of the novels I bought on Audible.

But here is the thing: WotC is doing a shite job at wanting me to invest into any of their stuff. Partly because those modules I would like to have are not available anywhere anyway - and partly because... As I said, give me a reason to get something, rather than just expecting me to randomly get something.

And mind you, this is no slight against any of the people just working for WotC. This is mostly about shareholder and executive decisions made. Stuff that basically just sees either their employers or the players just as a ressource to exploit, rather than... people.

[teecupangel]

hello i love your pgr x ac au so much... i'm having brainworms about it even as i'm working on some projects so i have to let it out here GOD - are ezio, altair, and connor the only constructs? what about the other assassins? - what's up with the templars? - what weapons would those three guys use? i'm mostly imagining them with the hidden blades (obviously) with the idea that it's a little like bambi's mantis blades but they also have swords here ran out of ideas BUT if something else pops up i will probably end up dropping it into your askbox... so sorry for the dump pgr's one of my favorite games and seeing it with ac awakened something in my brain

Hahahaha, honestly, I wasn’t expecting a lot of people to enjoy it considering PGR isn’t all that well known but I’m glad to know that the story resonated with a lot of you guys.

And, to be honest, I started getting an idea for a PGR x AC crossover because I was playing PGR and all I can think of is that Desmond would have made a good commandant (he'd definitely act more like a dad to Gray Raven, that's for sure). I’m a fan of Cerberus and I can totally see him being the tired dad of the chaotic trio with Murray taking care of the politics (and relaxing) XD

But then another idea came to mind and that’s how we got Inheritance Among the Stars hahahaha

I did say there are no real plans to make a sequel at the moment but I can answer your questions with what I’ve thought about

Are there other AC characters who have turned into Constructs?

If this was a purely an AC story in the world of PGR, yes. We’ve already seen Rebecca and Clay as Constructs (+ Lucy) and I’m thinking of Evie, Jacob and Arno as another Construct team (maybe with Jayadeep as their commandant) with Evie being the Attacker, Jacob being a Tank and Arno being an Amplifier (and the leader). Another idea I have is that Kassandra being a Uniframe/Transcendant of some kind. Shay though is an Ascendant (or maybe he’s a Transcendant, it depends on what is up with the Templars XD)

What is up with Templars?

(Shrug) They’re off doing what they do best. Scheme XD

I will say this: there are Templars in the World’s Government and they are quite interested in Project Animus.

What weapons would those three guys use?

Oh yes. I definitely thought of their hidden blades to be quite similar to Bambi’s mantis blade but they only use their hidden blade when they know it would be a killing blow. Their other weapons though are:

Altaïr – sword that looks a lot like the Sword of Altaïr, Altaïr relies on speed to deal lots of damage in a short amount of time. Mechanic-wise, he’s similar to Alpha Crimson Weave as he has two styles of fighting, one has him using his sword as normal and the other has him using his sword while sheathed.

Ezio – a crossbow that shoots off paralyzing shots and a hidden gun that he would use for emergency. He can summon funnels ala Wanshi Lucid Dreamer that shoots where he aims or can create barriers as long as they’re grouped together.

Ratonhnhaké:ton – a tomahawk that would always return to him if he wills it. Unlike the other two, the closest to my idea of his Construct body is Lamia Lost Lullaby. His usual form is similar to how he usually looks but he has another form where he takes on different forms depending on what color the orb he pinged last (doesn’t have to be 3 orbs pinged) before transforming. Red is his eagle form which he can fly for a brief short of time (like Loki), blue is his wolf form (his attacks would be similar to 21 Feral), and yellow is his bear form (I’m kinda thinking his moveset is similar to Karerina Scire)

Hahahaha, feel free to add more if you want. I felt the need to answer your ask because there were a lot of notes I had that I didn’t include because I thought they would be too deep into PGR mechanics XD

[scrollsfromarebornrealm]

brainworms

fuck it, I shall be unhinged

SPOILERS BENEATH THE READMORE

but first

EVERYTHING CERTAINLY WAS NOT FINE AT ALL

Okay so ever since last August this bit of dialogue has been living rent free in the back of my head

That 'infect' line is pretty interesting considering we get a somewhat similar line in patch 6.4, when Jullus speaks to Zero on the nature of trust among mortals. Thancred also had a similar line, telling Zero to stick around the Warrior of Light and she'd learn the meaning of trust.

It also speaks (at least in my opinion) the sheer level of damage Athena's betrayal and his self-sundering inflicted on Lahabrea. This man got wrecked. He was in love, possibly high on fatherhood, is on the Convocation, enjoys a great deal of respect from his peers--and he is hurt so badly that he limits himself to feeling any and all emotions at a reserve. He prizes logic and cold hard facts. Talk about a fucking crash to the bottom!

And even with his self sundering, he still feels deeply! Call him out over his shutting out of Erichthonios and the man just stares at you like you fucking slapped him straight into the abyss. And when he rejoins himself--he's still that cold, hard, logical asshole of a man--still repressing his feelings.

Anyway. Brainworms. I'm playing with the idea (still gotta let patch things settle, get some proper sleep and the like), but fiddling with the idea that Lahabrea--or rather, Hephaistos was at odds with Junia, because like him, Junia was wildly passionate and worked more according to her feelings rather than accept and follow logical outcomes. Though when they did get along on matters it was actually frightening for all involved.

I'm disappointed that we didn't get any time with *our* Lahabrea--this version of him is post Panda and self-rejoined and *right* before the Final Days, but as I've got the feeling that Pandaemonium is a good-bye to the Ancients on a whole in terms of story (could be wrong but as of rn there seems to be no need for the WoL to go back to Elpis), this version of him is probably the best good-bye we'll be able to get. And honestly it might be better this way. Lahabrea was so unhinged at the end of it all that just sleeping in the Lifestream is probably the best medicine, if he hasn't moved onto being reborn yet.

Regarding anything with Riven--I'm now on the fence regarding the idea of Junia finding out about her future...soul-child, so to speak. I have two trains of thought--one where she did find out about Riven and the Final Days, and her assistance in securing Pandaemonium. Junia decides to protect Riven as best as she could by giving out that Riven was a familiar she created, giving her freedom to wander the world. She then gives Themis a cryptic clue regarding Pandaemonium and Riven's arrival, and finally, to make sure that she doesn't foul anything up, uses Kairos to wipe her memories and implant false ones.

The other line of thought was Venat. It's in line with Elidibus's explanation in Panda 2.0. Venat tells Junia that she encountered a strange being in her travels--one that reminded her greatly of her student. Junia is suspicious initially, even more so when she starts to get details of Riven's time in Elpis. Venat then 'admits' to her successor that she suspected the strange being was possibly a concept that had escaped and evolved on its own--and had decided to model itself after Junia and her actions. Junia accepts this--much to her brother Lucis' displeasure.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Either way, following Pandaemonium's stabilization, Lahabrea--who has been unable to cast out the memory of a gremlin that looked and sounded too much like a certain illogical and annoying co-worker--

(not to mention her combat skill eclipsed the most powerful of the Convocation)

Confronts Junia over Riven. Junia being Junia, effectively blocks and prevaricates on the matter. Surprisingly Lahabrea lets it drop. Yes he'd like to get his hands on the little gremlin for Science™️ but really, he did warn her away from Pandaemonium so alas.

Later on before the Final Days, he is privy to a comment Junia makes-- voicing her wish for a strong and caring daughter who could 'help the world'. This makes him stop and pause--was the little fiend Azem's daughter?

And then all the Very Bad Shit happens, Lahabrea loses his fucking mind, doesn't meet Riven again until the events of ARR and HW. By that time he's so far gone he doesn't remember the events of Pandaemonium and possibly doesn't until his soul hits the Lifestream.

"SHE WAS THE FUCKING 'FAMILIAR'?!"

Riven: *sneeze*

[synonymroll648]

👀 Do you have any WIPs that you would never let see the light of day? If yes, what are they about?

👖 Are you a planner, plantser, or pantser? Is it consistent?

📊 Current number of WIPs

👨‍👧‍👧 Do you tell people in real life that you write fic? 

🍰 Name one of your fave comfort fics (doesn’t have to be your all time fave).

*deep, deep sigh* i have some wips back from my wattpad days. my computer died immediately after writing that sentence so i think that's a sign from above to not talk about those fics lmao (they were super cringe)

my typical process is:

-get a vague idea

-daydream a ton about it and form multiple scenes in my head

-put them in a chronological order

-make sure the brainworms are here to stay, and not just a fleeting what if

-maaaaaybe make an outline but rarely

-'fuck it we ball it's writin time'

3. *goes still* homie. homie please. don't make me count please i'm begging you *strangled noise* fine. fine. for the ask game. we have the wattpad wips i will never look at ever again, so we're not counting those. we have the fic i'm writing (belatedly) for keefitz week, we have the sophitz bookstore fic (which is extremely late), we have the sokeefitz roadtrip fic (which is even later), a photographer!fitz fic idk if i'll ever come back to now that i think about it, a marellinh fic i completely forgot about until just now, a bexamy fic i completely forgot about until just now, a qpr keefex fic i completely forgot about until just now, a keeptober fitz fic i don't think i'll come back to but will incorporate elements of into other fics, dellivvy fic i will revamp eventually, and those are all the ones that i've started. there's a ton more that i'm still in the daydreaming stage of.

4. yes, actually. numerous irl friends know, as well as my family. they're chill :) fun fact: i wrote an among us fanfiction for an english final and got full credit on it earlier this year. some people here know that already, but some don't. very fun thing to share lol

5. ohhhhh my god that is so hard. ok hang on let me open my reread tab group of fics on my phone. ok so we'll pick one that's been a long time go to for me - I'll Be Your Real Tough Cookie, With the Whiskey Breath. i recommend this one to people all the time because oh my god. autistic pansexual keefe. aro fitz with chronic pain. they're dating. the prose is gorgeous. oh my god i love this fic sm <33

[philosophicalpug]

OK SO PART THREE OF DAWNE I GUESS so to branch out a bit, i think dawnes also a fervent follower of the rules, its easy to see why, its that need to be seen as a perfect model person so he can always be admired and more importantly: to never cause controversy so he doesnt get canceled. This would contrast nicely with jaunes penchant for illegal activities for one, and also would cause further rifts intbetwen his interpersonal relations among the students, particularly rwby Seeing them do their shenanigans and be lauded as heroes probably makes him mad, he could never do something like that, in my mind because he cant risk it, so it just eats at him bit by bit, from the inside. Dawne would likely try to form a buddy buddy relationship with RWBY honestly, The prodigy, the heiress to the biggest company in the world, a Faunus rights advocate and yang (yang needs no further clarification) blake senses his bull right away, ruby sees the best in people and i think yang would generally just love the chance to throw hands with another top of the line hunter-athlete but would clue in given shes more emotionally tuned than people realize. Weiss... well i think shed be charmed. Poor Jaunes crush not only dislikes him but goes for the cooler older brother, y i k e s. we can skip forward to the dance and a new piece of information is revealed- Dawne Cant Dance. (am i taking neptunes schtick here? yes. do i hate neptune? no but this just serves a better story) i dont think hes necessarily a person with two left feet, but clearly he spent his time working to be a hunter that he didnt pursue the same things as the rest of his family (which doesnt help with his emotions in the long run) and He doesnt even bother going, which breaks weisses heart. Notably its a much more serious issue because i think that with the vytal festival coming up, hes almost completely focused on getting better to win it and FINALLY getting one over that nikos bitch. So rather than it being some small teenage insecurity, its a LOT more loaded and thus a lot more harsh to weiss. But i think this is the point where jaune and Dawne finally talk, (i might even make the whole conversation when i have time or the brainworms strike) but i think jaune would be a lot more agressive and state that its not ok to just use people like that, and theres nothing worse than the feeling of being cast aside, Jaune would know. Hes not being pragmatic about fame or his odds at being a tournament- he was being a coward, and they were raised better than this. This resonates With dawne, i think in this moment he would begin to understand just how *pissed* jaune is, it flickers on his semblance, because always, in some incredibly small way, jaune was always his ally, they were brothers, and that tiny ember began to flicker dangerously in the wind. Perhaps he began to see his point of view but... this is far too small of a moment for someone like him to change how he needs to. And i dont think hes ready for weiss. He could almost see the emotional minefields this conversation holds- jaune isnt admiring him-he must hate him, out prefrom him at every turn, take the girl he had a crush on, being partners with that bitch- Fine. And so hes about as refined as a bulldozer in the conversation. if jaune wants to set him up for failure hell just power through it like everything else. Its not subtle, its tactfull in the sense that it doesnt try to pad things between them, it is direct and lacking all the flowery verbiage usually used to wow others, Dawne just wants this over with. No masks, no smiles, just plain honesty. And Weiss... cries.

@philosphicalpug

Dawne's Semblance is effectively an Ego Boost - The more people Praise and Appreciate him, the better he is, and in that way it's a self-serving cycle. The amount he's boosted depends on whether or not the person boosting him has an unlocked Aura, their amount, and the amount they mean their cheers. Aura-Locked People boost him way less, but it's still noticeable when crowds enjoy him.

This was really good for him before going to a Hunting academy! He was one of the Top competitors in Tournaments!

In fact, he was so good, he was the Runner-Up in the Mistral Championship Circuit Four years in a Row, only Second to Pyrrha Nikos!

Pyrrha Nikos, the Invicible Girl! Argus's Sweetheart, celebrated and beloved by all! She could Have Anything She Wanted! All the love and Attention on Remmant, given to her on a Silver Platter.

He gave his all, and she won without breaking a fucking Sweat!

There's no one on the planet Dawne Angeles hates more than Pyrrha Fucking Nikos.

As for his cowardice-

The only things Dawne fears more than losing his life is losing Everone's attention and Adoration.

Dawne would've let Cardin throw the Sap at his team. He'd feel guilt for it, but not enough to stop it.

But if given the chance - if allowed to grow, and feel actual attachment, and to feel like someone might genuinely like him for who he is - Then maybe, just maybe, he'd be more scared to lose that connection/person than he'd be scared to lose his life.

[raitrolling]

trolls playing among us hcs

liiore: sorry i dont know this game very well... how do i go through the vents like [name] did?

katrin: if shes not killed off first she gets accused as the impostor and voted off. every time.

nancor: always happens to be the one who comes across a body. also more often than not gets accused of self-reporting because how the fuck does he keep finding the bodies

dismas: hey im new at the game how do i go through the vents like [name] did? (: (:

aislin: sticks with a buddy at all times to prove her innocence

eichio: diligently does all the tasks, even when hes the impostor

zotick: WILD CARD BITCHES!!!!! intentionally makes the game harder for whatever side hes playing on with all sorts of Fuck Shit

aegiel: the first to yell ‘WHERE WAS THE BODY’ as soon as discussion phase starts

charon: attempts to play strategically as the impostor, but then starts getting bloodthirsty the longer it takes for people to report bodies. once killed everyone in the first round and has been chasing that high ever since

callan: comes up with the worst lies whenever called out on being the impostor, but somehow gets away with it every time

somerl: actively avoids everyone because he doesnt want to die, ends up getting voted out because he never has an alibi

amarys: didnt know only impostors could use vents and jumps into one in front of like five people. also constantly walks past bodies without noticing them

ananta: modded the absolute shit outta the game. also ragequits every time theyre falsely accused of being the impostor and voted off

ashell: immediately leads someone to the medbay to prove his innocence

davitt: wanders around aimlessly not really understanding the game, yet somehow manages to figure out the imposter every single time

ariete: accuses everyone of being sus just because they walked funny or stood around a little too long

velour: [hits emergency meeting button] guys i got the card scan done first try! ok thats all carry on

mikiel: no one likes to accuse him of being the impostor because he will destroy your eardrums by screaming into the mic that theyre a fucking liar hes been doing tasks in electrical all this time and YOU SAW HIM THERE

aiolos: does whatever would be funny to watch on his stream, another active hindrance to whatever team hes on. person: ‘i saw you kill [name]’, impostor!aio, immediately: ‘no you didnt’

lusien: quietly doing tasks the entire time. never engages in conversation except to state what task hes doing. ‘can i continue doing simon says now’

daimon: always happens to stumble upon a body right as someone else walks in and gets accused as the impostor

viltau: everything he does is fucking shady as hell but somehow no one can pin him as an impostor, if working in a team will backstab his impostor buddy to save his ass

belamy: the most relentless interrogator who will derail entire discussions because his hunch is right (its not) and everyone needs to listen to him (they do)

[incorrect-ikevamp-quotes]

Masterlist Time!

As promised, here’s a list of posts that include my writing and/or my analyses of the game.

Analysis Posts/Meta/Translations:

My impressions of the first three suitors

My impressions of the rest of the suitors (cont.)

No thoughts just me simping for Leo

My thoughts on the new three/antagonists Charles, Faust, Vlad

First Impressions of the Bois vs Current Impressions

Comte Loves Strong Women Don’t @ Me

Comparing Comte’s Protectiveness to that of IkeSen Mitsuhide

What do I think of Ikerev’s Edgar Bright?

So what’s the deal? Why doesn’t MC get turned into a vamp more? (mild spoilers for Comte’s rt inside)

Do pureblood vampire bebbehs drink blood?

How do I feel about Leo refusing to turn MC? (Tl;dr: understandable, but bad)

My first vs current impressions of the Ikesen lads

Why don’t Dazai and Arthur like each other?

MBTI Designations for the Suitors

MC Deserves Fang Rights

Implications of Isaac’s Being an Aberrant

Why do Comte’s bank account be lookin’ like that yo

Comte’s Wild Side (includes some mild event and comte rt spoilers)

Push and Pull: How Comte struggles between Emotion and Rationality in the course of his MS

Household Electricity in Ikevamp

What language is everyone speaking??? (The answer: yes.)

Does Comte’s real name have any special meaning or allusion? (This has mentions of Comte’s real name so SPOILERS KIDS)

Personal rt rankings and Thoughts on Arthur

How would Leo react to MC agreeing to Comte’s offer to turn her? (includes a lot of Leo character analysis too)

Sebas Rt Theories (these were all predictions I made before reading the JPN MS)

Predictions for Rt Releases Based on JPN Order

About Comte being able to meet future versions of himself; more time travel conundrums (with sizable Dazai rt spoilers)

Comte’s second bday story meta: how is Comte a gentleman? Or is he not?

Comte ES MC!Vamp AU analysis bc I have brainworms

Comte’s 4th Birthday Story (My Heart Will Go On)

Comte’s 6th Birthday Story (dreams do come true)

Asking the real questions, How Old Is Comte?

Comte's 6th Anniversary Collection Story (VAMP MC WOOOOO)

Comte's 6th Anniversary Story Set (uwu)

Comte's One More Wedding Event

Comte Drama CD Translations:

Track One (Balcony Soliloquy)

Track Two (Golden Retriever Meow Meow Hours)

Track Three (Slaps Comte's Little Pizza Hands)

Headcanons/Fanfiction:

HS AU for the boys~

That time of the Month thoughts

Purebloods Deadpool Baby Hands (Oh the Joys of Regeneration)

Horny on Main for Comte

How would time travel work for a turned MC?

BEACH DAAAAAAAY

Ikevamp Suitors and MC with their Baby

How would the suitors feel about modern times?

How Dem Bois Laugh (Dazai’s can be found here bc I am Idiota)

Fistfights: Who wins when Comte vs Vlad, and Comte vs Leonardo?

How would Sebastian react to losing a loved one suddenly?

Gen Z MC with the Bois

Among Us: Mansion Edition

Suitors with Meme-Monger MC

V Affectionate MC Confessing her undying Love to the Suitors (this one includes Shakespeare, Jeanne, Leonardo, Napoleon, Mozart, Vincent, and Comte)

Dazai MBTI Analysis

Love Bites: Comte/Leonardo/Sebastian

Alphabetical Fluff Headcanons:

Mozart:

C,U,Y

Isaac:

A,K,S

B,C,F

L, T

Leonardo:

B

E, I, K, L, N, O, W, Z

Comte:

C, H, J, L, S, Y

B, F, K, L

A, G

Jeanne:

Q, T, Y, Z

Sebastian:

G, H, J, P, U

Vlad:

C, N, O, S

Theodorus:

B, I, L, U, V

J, M, O

Napoleon:

B, C, H, K, M

F, N, O, Q, T

Shakespeare:

C, F, I, P

Vincent:

A, B, D, K, P

Route Spoilers/Route Summaries:

Misc Yelling about Jeanne

Does Comte bite MC?

Is Jeanne Jared, 19?

Jeanne’s Pet Tiger, Cherie

How possessive is Comte? (in terms of IkeVamp canon)

Comte and Jeanne hacer las paces (make amends, so to speak)

Comte’s Wedding Event

Suitors at the time of their human deaths with Comte: what aligns with our history and what doesn’t?

Explaining who Charles, Faust, and Vlad are for newer players

What happens if Sebas and/or MC stay in the mansion? How does their absence affect the future, and do they die in the past?

Comte’s real name

Comte’s Kidnapping CG--what’s the cinch?

Comte’s MS Romantic Ending

Comte Event before his MS release

Comte jealousy event (Comte do be a beast sometimes)

Comte Purple Moon Event (”the puppetmaster that cursed my [REDACTED]”)

Vlad Character Page translation (not mine, a link to further info)

Sebas RT Spoilers Agonizing

Can Comte play the violin?

Request to Spoil Dazai’s RT (more reader discretion advised, it’s fairly intense)

Spoilers for Sebas’ rt end: does he return to the future?

A Statement on Sexual Assault in relation to Arthur’s MS (there are trigger warnings, but even so reader discretion is advised)

For those of you that would like to join in my hubris and try to translate JPN rts: 

My method

[unioncolours]

Fic: CLEAR

Genre: Fluff, slice of life, this has barely a plot

Pairing: implied Shikajin

Lenght: 2,2k

Inojin notices Shikadai behaves oddly. Something is not right and Inojin is determined to find out what it is, and help him when needed.

Alternatively: This is a brainworm that has lived in my head since April 2020. You’re welcome. 

Please read down below and keep reading! 🖤

 CLEAR

They were sitting out in the meadow bordering to the Nara Forest, just talking about this and that, passing time, like they liked to do, just the two of them.

It was a beautiful day in Konoha and Inojin enjoyed this afternoon immensely. He finished the juice they had with them, swallowing the final drop of liquid, as some guests peeked out of the edge of the forest a bit away from them.

Two deer.

Inojin liked the deer. Not the same extent the Naras did, but he found them beautiful to look at. That was why he became so excited when he saw the brown animals sniffing the fresh spring air out in the open.

“Look!” Inojin whispered, looking at the deer. He didn’t dare pointing at them, in case his movement would spook them.

Shikadai looked up and stared. Just stared. He didn’t say anything, just let his gaze wander along the line of trees. Inojin looked at him, waiting for a response.

It didn’t come.

Shikadai’s wrinkle between his eyebrows let Inojin know he was confused.

“The deer,” Inojin said and pointed at them. “Over there. By the big tree.”

Shikadai stared some more before breaking out in a smile.

“Aaah,” he said. “Yes. They are brave when they come out here. Normally they hide inside.” He nudged Inojin gently. “They’ve gotten so used to you, since you come here so often as well.”

He laid down flat on his back, closing his eyes. Inojin looked at him, feeling a little but concerned by the weird reaction. Shikadai’s peaceful face was however enough to calm him down. Maybe he just had been a little bit tired. Inojin followed him down on the ground and let his eyes close as well.

  The next time Inojin noticed Shikadai was behaving oddly was when they watched TV. There was a humour show going on, where the participants had signs with funny text written on them, and even the funniest jokes didn’t immediately warrant a laugh from Shikadai. The laugh came delayed, after Inojin had laughed and after the narrator read the signs out loud and Inojin found that odd.

And after that he found a lot of different moments that only served as proof to his theory. Shikadai didn’t tell hi to friends who walked the opposite direction towards before it was almost too late and both Inojin and Chocho noticed training didn’t go as well as before. This behaviour spanned on for a couple of weeks, before Inojin finally decided to confront him.

“Can you read what it says on that sign?”

They were out on a market square and Inojin had spotted a sign for a teashop a bit away from them, golden text against black metal. It seemed like the perfect text to test Shikadai.

“Which sign?” Shikadai sounded indifferent.

“The teashop sign,” Inojin said. He followed carefully how Shikadai’s eyes darted across all the signs along the streets. He didn’t seem to find the sign. “Black and gold,” Inojin helped even more.

“I don’t know,” Shikadai finally muttered. “I can’t see the sign you’re referring to.”

Inojin grabbed Shikadai’s arm and gently dragged him with him.

“Tell me when you see it,” he said, and they walked closer and closer to the sign. Inojin waited with anticipation for the moment when Shikadai would see the golden text.

“There,” Shikadai said when they were close to the sign. “Golden Leaf – Tea Shop.”

“Yes,” Inojin said. He took a deep breath before opening his mouth. “You know, I saw this text from where we were standing at first. It was sharp and clear from the very start.”

Shikadai was quiet for a while and Inojin gave him all the room to puzzle through the reality.

“It’s not normal to not see it sharply before at this length from it,” Inojin continued softly. “You don’t see things well far away, isn’t that right?”

Shikadai stared up at the sign, clearly irritated at it.

“I guess,” he finally muttered. He sounded angry. Defeated. He turned around to walk back to where they had walked from.

“It’s easily fixed,” Inojin said, trying to level down the situation. He followed Shikadai, who had his eyes steadily fixed on something invisible in front of him. “Hey. Talk to me.”

“This is just so troublesome,” Shikadai muttered.

“But easily fixed,” Inojin continued, on purposely sounding light-hearted. Shikadai shrugged. “Are you embarrassed?”

“Dunno,” Shikadai said.

“You seem like it,” Inojin said. “It’s fine. It is nothing weird to wear glasses. Sarada does it.”

“Sarada has worn them since she was like three years old,” Shikadai retorted, as if that was the only allowed age to have decreased eyesight if one was younger than fifty.

“And it doesn’t matter,” Inojin continued. “What matters is that you don’t seem to see things like deer in your own forest. That we have managed missions so far is a miracle. What if you get hurt because you didn’t see something approaching you, or someone in camo clothing? And what if your eyesight continues worsen? What then?”

Shikadai pressed his hands down his pockets, annoyed, but he knew Inojin was right. He didn’t see faces of people standing further away from him. Animals disappeared for him among the green and brown of forests, the colours blurring together. He couldn’t always read texts in the tv if he didn’t sit closer than the sofa.

He could work around his weakness, and it had worked thus far, but it only worked so far and so long. Soon he’d begin to suffer from not seeing. The worst part was the colours blurring together. Roots in the ground weren’t as visible anymore and he had tripped a few times.

“I’ll talk to my parents,” Shikadai finally said.

“Good,” Inojin said.

   Shikadai stared out of the window while eating dinner with his parents. He saw a big lump of green from the trees, individual leaves not existing for him, only a big green cloud with blurred edges. He stared at the blurry edge, feeling angry, because why wouldn’t his eyes make them sharp again like they once had been?

“Dad,” he finally said, accepting defeat. “I don’t think I see that well anymore.”

Both Shikamaru and Temari looked up.

“What do you mean?” Temari asked.

“I can’t… see things far away,” Shikadai said. “Like the leaves outside.” Both his parents looked out of the window at the leaves in question. “They’re all blurry. I can’t see deer in our forest. I can’t read signs if they’re not close to me.”

For some reason he had expected them to be disappointed. Disappointed in him and his body for not following the perfect shinobi mould. Instead, they offered empathic glances.

“How long have you noticed this going on?” Shikamaru asked gently.

“I don’t know,” Shikadai said. “It’s not like you notice when it happens. Probably for months. All of a sudden it hits you that you can’t see. And I’ve tried to work around it, tried to ignore it and make up alternative ways of working where sharp eyesight isn’t necessary so no one would know. I thought I could defeat it on my own, you know. But I don’t think I can anymore.”

To his surprise, Shikamaru just shook his head fondly and chuckled.

“Awfully stubborn as usual,” he said. “You should have told us as soon as you noticed something was up. It’s okay, Shikadai. Let’s appoint a time for you to an eye doctor and get it checked.”

Shikadai sighed, not knowing how to feel. Partly relieved that he would get to see well again, but also annoyed at having failed making this on his own.

He was a stubborn boy, but one that finally accepted his little weakness.

    “I want to come with you to choose your glasses!” Inojin pouted in the phone when Shikadai called him after the visit to the optician.

“No, I want to choose myself without your input,” Shikadai replied, voice filled with warmth, as he sipped a bit of the milkshake he had bought himself as a reward after the weird experience of having someone shining bright lights in his eyes and having him look at letters, red and green, dots and stripes through prisms and glasses. “I’ll go back to choose frames soon after my milkshake.”

“Choose something colourful!”

“Never,” Shikadai smiled to his phone, sipping some more. “You have to wait until your eyes suck as well.”

“What if mine never sucks?” Inojin teased.

“Hah ha,” Shikadai said dryly. “My milkshake is empty now. I’ll go back and choose some frames for me. They’ll come in a couple of weeks, whichever I choose.”

“You’re going to be so cute,” Inojin said and Shikadai blushed a bit.

“Bye,” he said and his voice sounded like a sunny smile.

   The couple of weeks rushed by. Shikadai lived in the world he was used to and that had become his normal, with leaves not visible and faces he couldn’t recognise. It was what he was used to, and he was a bit nervous as he walked into the opticians’ shop to fetch his glasses. Now something was going to change, he wasn’t going to have to squint all the time or accept some information was inaccessible for him.

And something was going to change about his appearance as well. He didn’t care about that part too much and was more concerned about other hassle that came with glasses.

His first thought when he got the glasses on was disappointment when he became hyper-focused on the black frames around his eyes. So, I am going to look at this all the time, huh? He even expressed his concerns and the optician promised him he’d get used to it and he’d forget they’re there. He’d even forget to feel them on his nose and around his ears. She warned him he could be dizzy or feel nauseous, but he just had to get used to see again without straining his eyes. Seemed fair.

Everything seemed okay and Shikadai walked out of the store, only to stop and just stare.

Everything was so clear. Edges were so sharp he wasn’t even able to comprehend this was normal and this was what the world looked like with a clear eyesight, something he now realised he hadn’t had for months. The depth of his surrounding felt different as well and he walked as in a daze, just staring around him through clear glass with the right adjustments and strength.

He had learned how to recognise Inojin even with the weakened sight of him – it was hard to miss the whirlwind with blond hair and most often purple clothes, but now he could look at Inojin’s features without standing close to him.

Shikadai could see Inojin’s face and despite him feeling like walking on clouds thanks to his depth perception feeling off when he just had everything corrected, he walked faster up to him. His own face cracked up in a smile.

“Hi, handsome,” Inojin said when he was closer. “Oh, they look really good!”

Shikadai put his hand instinctively up and touched the temple pieces. It still felt very new and odd.

“Hehe, thanks,” he said. “Do I look smarter now?”

“You look gorgeous as always,” Inojin said. “Milkshakes?”

“Yeah,” Shikadai said, still feeling the glasses on the side of his face.

He spent the day marvelling at the world around him. Feeling shocked at the brightness, the everything he hadn’t known he was missing out on. The milkshake tasted extra good, despite his head feeling weird from the new perception of his surroundings. It helped also that Inojin smiled to him in that terribly sweet way all the time.

   Two deer were peacefully munching on the grass and Shikadai was sitting on the other side of the river. He observed them while aimlessly touching his face, feeling what would become his new normal and every day. He could see them sharply, every thine on their antlers clear as they’ve never been before-

His parents had taken a look at him and nodded affirmatively when he had come home with the added aid to his face, but they had not drawn any attention to it. Shikadai was grateful for it. This was nothing spectacular after all, just a new look on him and nothing more. When he had gotten used to the glasses, and he took them off before bed or a shower, he couldn’t understand he had once been satisfied with blur around him.

“How many deer do you see?” Inojin asked.

“Three,” Shikadai snorted back at him.

“Good,” Inojin said. “Was just gonna check if you’re eyes work.”

“I hate you,” Shikadai jokingly said and affectionally pushed Inojin.

“Have I told you how good you look in those?” Inojin asked, through a little laugh.

“I don’t need to look good; I need to see!” Shikadai replied, knowing well that Inojin had been staring at him nonstop since a few weeks back when he received his spectacles the first time.

“Sure thing you do, sure thing,” Inojin said and leaned against Shikadai, lacing their fingers together as the deer peacefully kept munching on.

 The End

[whomturgled]

also since I’m on the tgcf brainworm rot express again,, when xie lian says he doesn’t feel pain anymore i think it’s bullshit and what he means is that he’s lived so long and suffered much more painful things (ex: the thing that made hua cheng ykno Materialize or w/e) than being stung by a scorpion snake or falling from the sky into a bunch of trees so in comparison it’s nothing. he’s just used to it and knows he won’t die and if he can tolerate it then it’s fine and he’d rather ppl didn’t worry bc at the end of the day; it won’t kill him. and he’s seen other ppl suffer so much, especially during the human face disease plague, and he was powerless to help (except that one time) like he even cut that one guys leg off or w/e which didn’t even end up fixing it- if it could kill someone else, then he may as well take it for them. bit of a martyr complex. he is quick to want to change subjects/not talk abt the pains he’s endured, like being trampled to death, saying he doesn’t remember (and whether or not that’s him repressing traumatic memories or him just saying he’s forgotten or genuinely bc he’s 800 fuckin yes old) and then that he’d rather remember eating a steamed bun the other day than being trampled. also the “DOES IT HURT” w/ jw. also a less meta thing that was prob meant more as a joke and a way to show that xie lian is the equivalent to ur 70 y/o grandpa on fb sharing minion memes but he literally shares Pain Relief for Backs and Joints :) or whatever in the heavenly dm’s.

he has become desensitized over time to pain to some degree, sure, just like how someone with chronic pain will become used to it over time and discount their own pain (ex; i have fibro among other things but why list them all out lol and am constantly in pain but like that’s just how it is and I’m used to it as my base level of existing so it’s Normal and i’m Fine but my Fine might be intolerable for someone else, etc etc.) i think it’s really mostly a mentality thing. he wanted to save the world, the common people and he continues to be a compassionate person. also probably recognizing .. essentially.. privilege in like. again he Won’t Die and he came from such luxury and all that ??? idk how to word where I’m going w( that one. the losing sense of Dignity or caring abt that stuff and his years living as The Common People (see: poverty and How The Real World Workstm and cruelty etc) i bet he also just got used to essentially being a pincushion whether that be in the sense of physically or insults @ him or ppl hating him, him taking blame (that one thing w the prince of yong’an and fangxin), w/e. he’s gone beyond humbled lol

anyway what i’m saying is xie lian it’s okay to admit things are unpleasant and you should care abt your own well-being and please go to therapy

[akatokuro]

The Inevitable StS Rewatch, Episodes 26-29

Leo Aiolia is... an angry person, you say? I never would have guessed!

- This whole Aiolia scene is REALLY interesting on a lot of levels and does a lot for his character.

- I love his whole immediate reaction to just hearing that there are deserters on the loose - Sanctuary is a brutal, awful place even without the recent setup of the Pope making things even worse. You are more than likely to get killed if you are a trainee there. It is more than understandable that people would want to escape. But Lia's response is "you fucking morons."

- Well, Lia probably has baggage about people trying to "escape Sancutary" to begin with, but...

- Lia is a decent guy, especially for a Saint, but he's determinedly and deliberately Lawful Neutral as fuck. He jumps in for the deserter babies situation, is clearly stern and unpleased, but then deliberately "softens" to urge the babies to go back. He's not going to be cruel about it, and he's more "merciful" than a lot of Saints would be, but he's also not going to let them go. His preference is resolving this without having to kill anyone, sure - but if it really comes down to it, he's going to uphold Sanctuary Law.

- And then, of course, Lia gets thoroughly disrespected and shittalked to his face by a bunch of Silver fuckwits. Lol at even the trainees calling him "Aiolia-san" vs "Algol-sama." Like, dude... yikes.

- Aiolia is even kind of weirdly meek when protesting, stammering and trailing off and all. You’d never guess this guy is a Gold Saint going from the dynamics in this scene, who could effortlessly squash everyone involved here like a fucking bug.

- And finally, Lia is clearly off-put by the blatant cruelty here, but does he actually do anything about it, whether it's against Algol and Shaina directly or the broader situation? Nah.

- yumetabibito, being the filthy Aiolia-lover she is, went ahead and checked, and this scene didn't exist in the manga, and Toei almost certainly wrote it before the reveal in the manga that Lia is a Gold Saint. It's hard to imagine that it would exist if they had known, because it revolves around Aiolia getting no fucking respect. Presumably, all they had to go off of was that Aiolia cameo from the first chapter, which they seem to have mostly gotten "likes Seiya and Marin?" from. So they’re vaguely trying to align him with them as sort of a sympathetic underdog in Sanctuary.

- But even so... they somehow stumbled into a really good and fitting scene that adds a lot to his character with future context in mind!

- yume and I have talked about, well, okay, Lia gets shit on and bullied for being a traitor's little brother - that's an important part of his characterization and his motives - but where does the hostility towards him really come from? He's clearly well-liked amongst the trainees and the regular soldiers. Among the Golds - okay, yeah, Milo, Deathmask, and Aphrodite would give him shit. (Goddammit, Milo.) But most of the rest of them either don't care or would be sympathetic.

- Getting his face spit on constantly by SILVERS, though, makes a lot of sense and would be even more rage-enducing than getting spit on by his actual peers. Because the Silvers obviously feel "safe". They know that Aiolia can't actually fight back or do anything without validating everything anyone has said about him and his relationship and his brother. He has to take it. And the fact that he just takes it leads to even less respect, with him being seen as a push-over while Aiolia quietly fantasizes about stomping on their broken arms.

- So in that way, it makes sense with the shitty crop of Silvers that around that jerking Leo Aiolia's chain is thought of as actually sort of a fun, twisted game. They get to taunt a fucking GOLD, a "traitor's brother" and wave their dicks around in his face and all the Gold can do is seethe powerlessly.

- tldr; Aiolia is very angry, has always been very angry, and even though it came together like this on accident - scenes like this give a lot of depth and context to that endless, boiling anger to the point that it is really, really fucking funny that it was almost certainly Toei writing out of ignorance of who Aiolia really was. How Aiolia is treated, and how he responds to the situation - both with the deserters themselves and with Algol and Shaina being assholes - says a lot about him.

- Meanwhile, as ridiculous as the [REDACTED] are, I can't help but find the weird sci-fi HQ Saori and the Bronzies have early on charming in a really corny way. I bet Saori really misses leading from this setup compared to that shitty little stone bed and curtain they throw at her when she's at Sanctuary, jesus.

- Man, there really is a lot more SeiShiryuu service than I remembered in these earlier eps. Will never be my ship, tbh - SeiSao is my One True Love - but lmao.

- for some reason saints on a plane always cracks me up no matter how many times i see it

- (note that once again we set up hyouga rushing in to help and then getting there too late to actually do anything. beautiful beautiful failswan)

- every time seiya whines about hitting girls i want there to be a flashback to this bit of him smashing shaina into the cliff face

- Oh for fuck's sake, the Steel fucking S--

- Wait, what was I thinking. What was I talking about. I have no idea. THANK YOU SAORI YOU ARE TRULY THE BEST.

- Shiryuu vs Algol is probably one of the more engaging fights in StS, Gold Saints aside. It's fun to see Shiryuu try to find a workaround to the shield and everything he tries blowing up in his face until he's cornered into jabbing his own eyes out. The sort of contrast between Shiryuu being the Bronzie who has the best chance at actually finding a normal life and a normal happiness with Shunrei, and Shiryuu being the one who keeps throwing himself into getting mauled like this, is probably the most compelling aspect of the character to me.

- One of the things that's also nice about Saint Seiya as a shounen is that it really feels like all of the Bronzies, not just Seiya, are equally crucial members of the team and get their own equally important fights. Like, Shiryuu legitimately gets to star here and save everyone because Seiya fucked it up. I used to like Rurouni Kenshin a lot, but I remember, like, yes - Sanosuke got his "big fight", but it was very much because Kenshin graciously "let" him because he could tell it was important to Sano or whatever. Or in Bleach, where the question of the others in Ichigo's group contributing during Soul Society is basically laughable. Neither really feels like the case in Saint Seiya.

- This is totally where CLAMP got their eye horror fetish from though isn't it. God I still can't believe Saint Seiya is directly responsible for the existence of CLAMP...

- Nothing to really say about the rest of the episode, but I do have to comment:

- Dude, what the FUCK.

- ANY of the Bronzies saying shit like this about Mitsumasa is grotesque, but fucking Ikki actually sort of makes my skin legit crawl. What the fuck, Toei. SOMEONE BRING BACK THE REAL IKKI PLEASE.

- Shunrei is such a good girl. She doesn't deserve this shit, man. What she honestly deserves is the privilege of getting to stab Dohko to death in his sleep--I mean, uh, what?

- THIS WAS COMPLETELY FUCKING UNNECESSARY. WHO THE FUCK SHIPPED THIS ON THE ANIME STAFF I REALLY WANT TO KNOW

- In seriousness, HyoShun is really darling. I love how weirdly attentive Hyouga is to Shun all the time; it's a really charming recurring detail. I IMAGINE SHUN IS CHARMED BY IT TOO. 

- Hyouga's good point is that, despite his bluster, he really is a sweet kid who is 100% sincere all the time. He acts tough but it's not like he's tsun or defensive about showing people - mostly Shun - compassion and concern either.

- lmao and then Ikki ditches these losers I like how after the HyoShun he instantly starts acting a million times more in-character. Did seeing the swan touch your little brother enrage you enough to expel the brainworms at last, Ikki...?

- Saori and Ikki are really good in this scene, though. I love everything about their quick exchange - Ikki being contemptuous and defiant of her, Saori answering without hesitation "HELL YES DO WHAT I SAY" when he asks if she's ordering him around. Both in how cool Saori is, but also her frankly falling back onto really bad habits dealing with the Bronzies when she's sort of panicking and doesn't know what to do. I love the scene of her lamenting about how she couldn't stop Ikki and obviously feeling like a fuckup by herself later, too. I really do appreciate that there is attention given to the arc of Saori learning to be a leader.

- I love Sanctuary openly referring to Saori as their leader, even without knowing she’s Athena, too. Damn right she is!

- Though I do still really think Saori should have been more involved in confronting Ikki when he was still extremely (justifiably) buttmad about everything. The idea of those two having a weird, special understanding about what Saori has to answer for would have been really cool...

- AND THEN SAORI GETS KIDNAPPED BY CROWS. YOU KNOW WE'RE BACK IN CANON, BECAUSE INSTEAD OF EVIL NEFARIOUS BUGS, WE HAVE EVIL NEFARIOUS BIRDS!

- Next time: THE SEISAO APOCALYPSE, MOTHERFUCKERS, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS: THE DESTRUCTION OF SEIYA’S BRAIN