#yknow they have these things called arcs where they start one way and end a different way

[thebicanary]

you know what actually yes i am going to say it in a post proper. i see the garrus and wrex comparisons a lot in the "ashley is a racist" arguments, tali to a lesser extent. but i don't think we talk enough about how the fandom at large is like "i can excuse mordin actively experimenting on krogans and creating the genophage to cull them and DEFENDING his actions for all of me2 before finally feeling some remorse and trying to fix it in me3, but i draw the line at ashley saying some off-colour shit about aliens that she apologises for after going through character growth in the space of one game"

[chainera]

My Thoughts on Vercury + Doodles

To be honest, my relationship with this pairing is literally a love-hate one.

When I first heard about it, I’m not going to lie, I was super turned off. This was during SolarBall’s early episodes, where Mercury was shown constantly being bullied by Venus and I could not imagine being paired with my bully if I was in a similar situation. There was no chemistry between them, and even if there was, it wouldn’t be healthy. Especially during the whole Venus’ name arc, where Mercury constantly mocked him and got an asteroid to the face. Personally, the ship made no sense to me and sounded downright toxic. But of course, the more recent episodes came out. The atmosphere (even though there’s no atmosphere in space lol) between Mercury and Venus seemed… more neutral than hostile or tense. This is mostly because Mercury started to stand up for himself. Two scenes of note is the moment where Mercury laughed at Venus’ comment during the Rocky Planets episode and when Mercury snapped at Venus during the ‘Solar System by Size’ arc. What’s interesting is that after Mercury yells at him, Venus looked regretful, which was definitely new. Mercury didn’t shout at him about the consequences of him siding with the Sun or anything like that either, he simply said that he was fine with Venus hating him ‘for the sake of everyone else’. After that, Venus didn’t immediately change his mind but did try to explain his side of things, which was also new. As of right now I still don’t see anything happening between them, but I definitely do see the appeal in the ship and the potential for it to eventually happen.

From a settings standpoint- the potential is obvious. We don’t know what happened to cause Venus to pick on Mercury so much, we don’t know what their past was like, and with the answers to those questions revealed, Mercury and Venus might reconcile. Venus clearly has a lot of problems with his conditions as being called ‘a literal hell’ by the Earthlings, and Mercury also has his own insecurities and issues with the Sun. Mercury is already learning how to deal with these things, but Venus hasn’t quite figured it out yet. I’m quite interested on how Venus will be developed and how Mercury will play a role in this. I don’t think Venus downright despises Mercury, and vice versa, but they do have a ton of shit to sort out which may lead to a hopefully happy ending. Now, from a character standpoint there’s also a ton of potential. Venus and Mercury are kind of opposites, and yknow the saying… opposites attract. It would be really sweet if Mercury could calm Venus down when he was getting too ticked off, and Venus could treat Mercury nicely in his own way. Their personalities contrast really well. I didn’t like Vercury before because I felt if it actually happened Mercury would just allow Venus to treat him like crap, but now I feel like Mercury would know how to set proper boundaries and they would be equals. In a healthy relationship, there shouldn’t be a power imbalance, so with Mercury’s character development and Venus’ potential to change and be kinder (though not necessarily gentler) power imbalance shouldn’t be a problem. Another aspect is the fact that Venus and Mercury are both quite lonely. Earth and Mars are extremely close friends (or more haha), and while Mercury does have the Sun, he’s kind of forced to walk on eggshells in that relationship. They’re also neighbor planets, so there’s that. In all, I definitely agree with the concept of Vercury, but if it should happen, it should be after Venus and Mercury at least began to try and sort everything out. Here’s some (a bit spicy) doodles as a reward for listening to my rant again :D

As always, I’m open to other people’s opinions- especially on a topic as complex as this one. I just ask that you be respectful. Thank you.

[trainingdummyrabbit]

haiii pik :] i'm usually Scared to ask this in your inbox out of nowhere because i don't wanna bother at the wrong time but,, , uhm i have been Thinking. about the cocoa and lc agent azrael duo quite a bit lately and. this is all just a hypothetical for Funsies and i do no want to disrupt your original plot in the facility but just. wanting to talk about what it'd be like if they actually got to work together in the facility ^_^ considering cocoa's whole yk. That. and azrael's own problems i wonder how it'd be like for them to have be assigned to suppress higher risk level abnos and deal with later ordeals., ,this may or may not be an invite to talk extensively but it's all up to you o7

CRACKS KNUCKLES. I Can Do This >:] verily !!

quite a lot to chew on tbh... honestly, the starting would be the hardest part ithink. or at least, on her end it would be.

this got quite long and rambly. continue if you will. 👍

see like, cocoa isnt really Averse to interaction in any sense of the word-- she was honestly quite friendly, if a bit spacey. towards the start of her being Like That, i mean. super airheaded, will honestly just go along with things if you drag her along. she just kinda. ":)?" ":)!" ":)??" she doesnt really register that much, but just kinda matches the energy of whoevers around her.

but at the same time, shes very distant in the sense that. She Is Not Paying Attention. kinda resets between scenes, if you will. you have to be pretty persistent for her to ever actively remember anything-- let alone for her to Act on that memory. shes silly and will play around, but also she like. Really Super Doesnt Care, actually. the "and" in the "yes, and", if you will. (also she doesnt really. Speak. she has certain basic phrases and echoes whats said around her, but only ever really Responds that way.)

otherwise, shes very mechanical. does as she does and doesnt think about it too hard. however, its hard to notice the Drive of her actions unless you Really pay attention to her. because it usually just comes off as "She Just Does What She Wants. we just dont know what that is. shes surely got her reasons though." all it really is is habit, though. habit and the vague idea of Yeah Thats Close Enough To What People Do, Sure.

all that to say, youre gonna have a Really hard time reaching her that way. she is Not paying attention and Will Not Remember. though, depending on where azrael is in his whole . Everything. it could be different. if hes still locked in his Distancing state, i imagine theyd be. pretty wholly neutral. yknow the whole 'weve never talked but we sit at the same bus stop at the same time every day in silence so now itd be weird if they werent there' thing? like that. in idle downtime, they are just. next to each other, vaguely. (id have to wonder if azrael would notice how consistently Still she is. if anything would come of this. she is present to a very common degree, but never Does anything, past when shes called for something. she herself is unbothered by this, but..?)

if hes more in his Prying state, being more curious, things could be a smidge different. i can imagine that, given azrael's background and how he functioned towards the start of his arc, the way she acts might. bother him, a little. not necessarily "irritate," but more. "Somethings Not Right Here." she wouldnt make it any easier to find out (given that she doesnt even hide it on purpose really,) but there Are little notes to be picked up from her.

i dont think anything could be done for her that would "wake her up" in that state, but i think he Would be able to become a part of her Normal. just. yeah. that one. that one thats always there, and then comes and sits next to me, and talks about things. not quite consciously, but she'd come to Expect him to be there. just kinda passively gravitates. makes room for him, if you will.

now, combat-wise. honestly? i think theyd work pretty well together. iirc az is more dps focused, given the whole. Motions To All Of Him. despite the Big Fuckoff Sword, cocoas actually more of a tank role when it comes to combat. she just. Takes It. its honestly really reckless-- she doesnt even Try to dodge a lot of the time. you can toss her around like a ragdoll and shell just get back up. even if shes pretty critically injured, she just. keeps doing it. the "Just Win" approach, if you will. shes a persistence predator. theres no reason for her to Stop when she starts, so she doesnt. itd be. really dangerous, if she wasnt a little freak of nature jdhfbgjdhf

which is to say, cocoa would be very very capable of covering for azrael if ever they had to face a threat together. though, more pressingly, to me, this is where more of cocoas character gets the chance to show through. she works well, very thorough, very reliable in her role; but her demeanor is a Very stark change from her usual. Violentce(tm). its the closest to Actually Agitated that she can get at that point. the "mechanical" descriptor becomes less of a similarity and more. um. concerning.

the thing is, too, is that she gets uneasy when someone else is in the line of fire. its hard to tell if this is some sort of concern, or if its just that she doesnt like having to keep track of another variable to work around. (its both. unfortunately, she represses the 'concern' Hard, and it kind of comes across as irritation. or um. as 'irritated' as she can get, really.) which is, again, to say; she will get Very restless if someone has to cover for her. shes entirely task-oriented, but theres a certain Tension she seems to put off when things get dire.

...that she entirely seems oblivious to the instant things calm down. and i think that would be what tips azrael off about. yk. Something Being Wrong With This One.

so like. the thing about these two is that cocoa is like, wholly Entirely incapable of exerting any sort of Anything of herself for a very long time. however, azrael very well could have the patience and persistence to simply. chip his way in. again, become part of her normal. becomes Habit. if he does, its hard to say that she Notices, but the way she acts does Change. routine starts to form Around him, and all. and honestly... that is really, really important to her.

because like. if someone is constantly just There for her, she will do the same thing back. maybe not entirely consciously, but still enough to be noticeable. she isnt very capable of reaching out, but she Does know that patience. and will simply allow things to be, to be said, without positing any expectation.

(i cant really speak much on either of their respective breakdowns-- azrael's because i feel it is not my place to speak (and cocoa is terribly suited to this sort of thing past essentially just being a punching bag,) and cocoa's because. um. Well Thats Quite A Lot. its something she only reaches due to the presence of another character (You Know Her.) and only really gets out of due to being a) Exhausted, and b) Stopped From Doing Serious Damage To Herself (and others..) in all honesty, i cant really say she Solved much past being able to see herself a bit more. but thats an aside.)

past everything, though, in her more conscious state... i do actually genuinely think they could get along pretty well. they have a very similar calmness about them, for lack of a better term. stillness. azrael would. also very much enable cocoa's sharp tongue, which is Really funny to think about. stupid little thinglets staring at you from a distance. silently, but the judgement in it is nigh tangible.. jhdbfgjd

they have this odd sort of dynamic, to me; this kinda dry, kinda sharp sort of reaction to things. cocoa very much (in the cat sort of way,) mirrors azraels demeanor, simply because well. he feels like the type of character she would genuinely start to trust, once she gets the ability to. shes still heavily passive, but remembers more, and goes out of her way to accommodate him. cat bringing you leaves and twigs but its things he may have said he'd liked at some point. (she also gets much more Defensive of the people she chooses to like, so that as well..)

her method of showing closeness to people is incredibly, Incredibly quiet, but i think he'd be able to do it, if he can push through those first barriers. she's hard to goad into much of anything, so you rarely ever get anything out of her, but it Does affect her.

i do also think about the funny little "Thats My Friend." whiteboarddoodle from the other day cause like. thats Exactly it, really. like.. she would just. "oh. we're friends? okay cool :)" and would play that part until she actually gets the mind to register "oh wait. youve been here the whole time. oh. okay."

tl;dr theyre getting wellcheers together in the break room. in my heart. yay <33

[snugglesquiggle]

i feel a lil bad asking this right when a lot of people are excited for hostile takeover, but for financial reasons, i might need to start putting some of my energy into more serious original projects again.

i'm not pausing HT — i don't think i could stop thinking about those lezbots if i tried — but being able to take breaks to work on other things tends to be good for my energy levels in general.

and honestly, when i first started, i thought HT itself was just going to be a quick break from those projects, and now i'm four months in and my plans keep growing >.>

anyway, the purpose of this post is that i wanted to gauge interest. i know most people follow me for murder drones stuff, but do any of the original stories i'm considering interest you?

more detailed pitches for each of these can be found under the cut. honesty is appreciated.

a note before i pitch them — when i write original fiction, i post it to my site and a site for original fiction called royalroad. i'll probably reserve my ao3 account for, yknow, fanfiction.

the plan is that while the stories will eventually be available publically, supporters to my patreon will get to read several chapters ahead of everyone else.

Aurora Moonrise

It is the nature of comets to dazzle and destroy. These eldritch spirits from beyond the stars grind kingdoms to dust with joyful ease. Only the power of a daughter of the moon can repel them. There are none left. Aurora knows she is different. Her father is a plain man, and her mother is a mystery. Her prismatic hair, her divergent mind, her inability to weave common enchantments — it must come from her mother's side. But her mother is gone and no one will say why or where or anything. It's enough to make her want to fight someone. And Aurora fights — people, animals, spirits, it doesn't matter. She doesn't want to hurt them, but it's thrilling. She'll just have to become a knight — knights get to fight things, right? And knights get answers to who their parents were. When a cursed storm leaves Aurora glowing in the light of the full moon, she awakens new powers she can't control. Powers unheard of, except in those old stories. But the word on the lips of churchmen is witchcraft — communion with unnatural spirits that spells doom. Will she defend humanity? Or is she a threat to it?

pitching this one is hard, because the most interesting thing about is a twist reveal at the end of the first arc. at first, you can see it's framed to suggest — and Aurora initially believes — her mother is a "daughter of the moon", but of course, she's actually a comet.

as the poll option suggests, her inhuman heritage makes urges her to fight and hinders her ability to understand the basics of human social interaction.

this would be a long story, lighter in tone than the others, and structured like a fantasy trilogy, about Aurora journeying across the land doing what she thinks heroes do. along the way, she picks up several party members with their own weird baggage. all of them girls, of course, and it gets very gay by the end — but it's slow going because, yknow, aurora doesn't understand romance, either.

i'm very excited about this project — just thinking about it is enough to get me bouncing. you can actually read a four chapter teaser right now, and i have over 70k words of notes past that, with the whole thing outlined start to finish.

Thy Wretched Mask

Everyone wants to peel off their skin and scream into the night. You're just supposed to keep a handle on that. Beca's trying. Now on the run, she'll just have to get it right in a new town. She's got nothing to her name save a pet raven, but a little pickpocketing will change that. Maybe a burglary or two. As long as she doesn't tear someone's flesh apart in broad daylight, she could keep things controlled. It's a lonely life, but friendship is only temptation. She should just keep to herself. So why does she listen when the woman from the shadows talks? They're making an offer that could lift her off the streets for good. The catch? She has to kill someone. Again. That's definitely too much temptation.

once again, the most interesting parts of this are a surprise. Beca isn't human; she's saddled predatory instincts she doesn't understand. the "fungal possession" comes into play several chapters in. it gets intense enough that i believe it's one of the few times i've teared up while writing something, and it's so far the first and only time i've written something that explores topics of plurality, which is pretty personal to us

i say HT is the first time i've written romance (and it is), but TWM came close, and would have gotten even closer if i continued it.

i've already written over 20k words of this (unpublished), but due to the writing exercise it began as, it requires substantial rewrites; i cringe when i try to reread it, and it honestly makes the prospect of returning a bit unexciting.

this would probably only about the length of a novel. (original projection was novella length, but i think i want to flesh it out more.)

of all of my potential projects, i think this one is probably the biggest thematic overlap with Hostile Takeover. but uh, it's dark enough to make that look like a sappy romance >.<

Running Out of Skin & Time

Tomorrow, a lord will be flayed alive. Once his flesh, freely given, is woven into a vast frame, enchanted scars will turn him into a living portal, a gift that could turn a blightstricken town into a bustling trade nexus. Apnoe has woken up beside the same dead girl three nights in a row. The lord's flaying is tomorrow — same as it was for the last three nights. She's the only one who's noticed. Assassins lurk in the flaying festival's crowds, and when they strike the lord dead, the whole town watches their dreams crumble, and then Apnoe wakes again as if from a dream. She knew this quite well; on the first night, she had killed him. Scarred flesh grants magic. How deep a wound did it take to make every living soul in the city relive the same day? It wasn't Apnoe's, and she doesn't know why only she remembers, but then again, most scar magic treats her differently. After all, she's dead half the time. Apnoe would kill to end this nightmare — but it seems the only way out is saving a man who'll die tomorrow anyway.

of all the options, this story is the least well flesh out (no pun intended), but it has a lot of potential. a "time loop" where a character relives the same day over and over is something not enough stories explore well

(if it means anything to you, the inspiration for this fic was literally just thinking "what if the Shibuya Incident was a time loop?")

i call this "superhero fantasy" because, while i havent figured out the tech level (it's industrial, but how modern?), the magic system gives everyone unique and specific abilities that are easiest to imagine as superpowers.

the time loop effect itself is the rube goldberg interaction of half a dozen powers, and part of the fic is puzzling out just how it works, as well as puzzling out how to overcome the various powers arrayed against the lord.

it would be a very complex, cerebral fic, all about power progression and fight scenes, but at its heart, i want it to be the story of two dead girls who love each other enough to unravel fate itself

A Chimerical Hope

Duskroot is destroyed. A minor stronghold, its enemies were cunning and coordinated and its allies didn't lift a hand. As vultures at a corpse, mercenaries hunt for survivors. Awelah escaped Duskroot. She lost everything. Vengeance drives her, but can she kill a angel beyond death? Ooliri's mission is to aid the refugees. He has to prove he belongs in a family of medical geniuses. But healing isn't enough — can he bring the dead back to life? Makuja seeks safety among the refugees. Death and servitude leaves her gaze empty. It's easy to be a follower, but is there a purpose worth living for? First, the three need answers. A grand scheme is unfolding, and Duskroot was only the first step.

unlike all of the others, this isn't an idea for a story, or a plan for a story, it is a story, one i've written 100k words for. you can read it here

it's set in an expansive setting i've spent literal years thinking about with giant insects empowered by virulent mutant bat blood and cold black corruption pouring out from a hole in the sky.

it's also, shamelessly, only avoids being called naruto fanfiction by dint of sheer weirdness

Aurora Moonrise may be the story i'm most excited about, but ACH is the one with the most ambition and purpose behind it. if i could only ever tell one story in my life, it'd probably make it ACH. it might be over a million words if i ever finish it

but i also think it's probably too weird to get very popular.

And so on

if you can't tell already, i have a LOT of story ideas. before i ever watched murder drones, would you believe i was literally already working on a story about killer lesbian robots on a inhospitable frozen planet haunted by a creeping cosmic horror?

and i'm kind of tempted to work on a story about modular mushroom creatures that live underground. or a fricken pokemon mystery dungeon self-insert i've already finished one chapter of.

and of course, i have several other stories i could continue working on.

but like, the stories i've listed are the ones i can honestly say i might work on right now. and, practically speaking, the stories that might genuinely takeoff, if i dare hope.

[timetravelinator]

My Wild, Off-The-Wall Doctor Who Theory

Okay, so. I've got a 60th special theory. It's very probably wrong. But I'm posting it here just in case it isn't.

What if the Doctor really, actually, for real dies. The Doctor is dead. But Donna regenerates.

I know, I know, I know, hear me out. 

First, from a behind the scenes standpoint. The Doctor Who marketing team has been leaning pretty heavily into the concept of regeneration. They did an hour long Youtube livestream with all of the Doctors regenerations, and everyone on the marketing team seems to be trying to ensure that everyone in familiar with the concept. Now, this could be to prepare us for why Fourteen regenerated the way he did, but it also could be that the next Doctor isn't techniclaly Fifteen. Except, one point against me, I think his theme is actually going to be called “Fifteen” so that’s maybe an indicator that I’m dead wrong, but I’m having fun with my crack theory. So anyway, Davies both hasn’t called Gatwa Fifteen *and* in a recent interview for SFX Magazine, he said that he’s going to be calling Gatwa’s first season “series one” which is. So wild. He’s starting all the way over. And that’s so funny to me. So, from a technical standpoint, there’s not much to suggest that this couldn’t happen. It’s not likely, but it could.

Second, from an in-show standpoint. What sci-fi mumbo jumbo could make this possible? Well I’m glad you asked. SO, Donna’s last episode, Journey’s End. Ten gets shot by a Dalek and is brought inside the TARDIS, where he thinks he’s going to regenerate. But, last minute, he puts all of his regeneration energy into his severed hand. Later on, as the TARDIS is crashing, Donna, who's been hearing a heartbeat, reaches out for the severed hand. There's definitely an energy transfer there, and it does end up creating TenToo, who is almost like a mix of Ten and Donna (The DoctorDonna.) And at the same time, Donna gets some attributes of the Doctor as well. Mainly, we see that she now knows pretty much everything the Doctor knows. And of course, this is what's killing her. But what if she got other attributes of the Doctor as well? 

When Ten is leaving Rose on the beach for the second time, TenToo tells her that he'll grow old with her and that he "can't regenerate." And listen. I'm not saying that all of the Doctor's attributes *had* to be split evenly between TenToo and Donna during the metacrisis. That might not be how that works. But if it did....that would mean Donna got the regeneration aspects. It doesn't make that much sense, but it's not out of the realm of something that could happen in Doctor Who. Honestly just this part (and not the Doctor also dying and Donna becoming Gatwa) makes more sense. However, the only line of dialogue we currently have from Gatwa is him saying "Is anyone going to tell me what the hell is going on?" which is a very Donna thing to say, and I just think that would be so neat. The Doctor definitely could've also said that. Especially since he does seem to be wearing Tennant's new suit (just deconstructed) but I would just be so interested in the implications of it.

Now, obviously, we have to contend with fan reaction. People would absolutely hate this. He is The Doctor, yknow. He's a British pop culture icon. He's been around for 60 years. But Davies was best, at least in New Who, at giving the Doctor well-rounded character traits. He had a character arc that he went on that went mostly ignored during the 11th, 12th, and 13th Doctors in favor of different arcs because that's kind of the nature of Doctor Who. But he's also been around 60 years, and the character just keeps getting older and older. Even Tennant's Doctor, three Doctors ago, was constantly talking about how old he felt, how tired he was. There are places you can go from there, Twelve attempted to a little bit, but he's just going to keep getting older and going through more things and at some point, especially 60 years on, that could get narratively stagnant. But what if there was a way to keep "The Doctor" without keeping the same character. They could even be called The Doctor after having dropped the Donna part from "The Doctor Donna." It would switch it up, be interesting, go new places (like, maybe an "I'm the last of the Time Lords but do I even count as a Time Lord?" arc, that'd be fun.) And also, watching the incarnation of the Doctor who famously "didn't want to go" accept his death. And a reminder that it's David Tennant, who would be the best choice to end the Doctor on, if they ever were going to do that. British people and hardcore fans might hate it, but I'd kind of love it. I've also seen the theory that Rose Temple-Noble could regenerate as well, as a result of the same process, and that's also interesting but I don't really have a narrative idea of where that's going.

Anyways this is probably all a load of horse shit but it's just wild enough that I'm having fun feeling like a conspiracy theorist about it. Thanks for reading!

[gulliesforever]

you ever think about how jake moved to la for a job opportunity. and then spent his whole time at that job talking about amir to the point where his coworker had to ask who was obsessed with who and he still didnt get it. and then he moved back because he missed amir, he sat on a beach listening to a frickin shitty playlist amir made him. and then years later he follows amir across the country again, and ultimately stays with him. and then do you ever think about how they didn't talk for like 3 years but then amir facetimed him one day and despite how much jake 'hated' amir calling him he still started up a podcast network with him. do you ever think about how much jake loves amir and would follow him to the ends of the earth but will likely never reach that conclusion himself. and do you ever think about how-

GINGER AND CELERY I DID NOT GO TO BED AT 5:30AM THINKING ABOUT THEM AND WAKE UP AT 7:26AM STILL THINKING ABOUT THEM TO DEAL WITH THIS ASK!! EMOTIONALLY AND PHYSICALLY AND ALL THE LLY'S!!!! HOW DARE YOU!!!!!

no, but i litreally think about it all the time!!!! essay incoming because I'm very long winded!!!

Like you basically said.... Sick Day is, i think, the peak of Jake and Amir being extremely queercoded. not only is it an unironic queer drama plot where they both find unfulfilling love interests and then come back to each other (disregarding any intent of irl janda)... it also simply annihilates any doubt that jake doesn't CHOOSE to be with amir, which basically manufactures the crux of the complexity of their relationship and codepency.

And of course... Everyone asks, yknow, "why do you stay?" when it comes to Jake.

and you're right: he loves amir.

he loves him, of course he does, otherwise he wouldn't do these things for him. and on some level, he must know that. because he always comes back when he has the opportunity to leave. and i think road trip does a great job of conveying that jake loves amir and he knows it. but more than that, i think, actually the finale arc showcases another something that im not sure jake can really come to terms with. it's like, almost beyond love at all. its kinda just that... jake likes, needs, and wants what amir offers his life. and that's absolute destruction and discord and somebody's attention.

without amir, jake is just some failure of a writer at collegehumor who can't get dates, has no fulfilling prospects, and is so insecure he's not even sure who he wants to be. with him, he has a life where things happen, where he has the opportunity to be right and do things because amir is always wrong and getting into things. in other words, jake is a fucking loser. but that's... exactly what Amir is too, except he's has no concept of shame about it. and so jake NEEDS amir. because hes on this same wavelength as him, but he's more right and he's admired and that means he's WORTH something. that, to me, is incredibly interesting.

I think sick day showcases both sides of it - Jake loves amir, he genuinely admires his stupid songs and high voices and idiotic jokes as much as he can't say that - but he also NEEDS him because "he was obsessed with me" and therefore that must mean "im worthy of being obsessed OVER".

and what i find super intersting about that too, is like, as the series goes on, they tend to get a lot more violent with each other with LA being a point where jake was legit letting amir die and even praying for it. one might take this as like, he's being regressed (as especially after road trip) but to me, it almost makes it seem like they have fit these horrible roles that just keep escalating so much that in a sense they are confident they will never be able to leave each other. "i can wish amir death, it's not like he's actually going to die", lol, and "he already knows id choose him, so its not like it matters how mean i am". almost like a weird sense of stability in the most instable way. because it's just straight up toxic.

and so i think that informs my thoughts in terms of amir not seeing jake for "3 years" and then them starting a podcast together miraculously. its like. i think they both realized after roadtrip, finally, that they are not really leaving under any circumstance, and they've kind of come to peace with it (so amir leaving for 3 years is honestly not that weird because he's gonna come back anyways), and they speak this love language of foul-mouthed hatred and malice just because it's how they operate. that's why it feels so damn homely. its because now they both know they love each other, but they're playing their part because that's the only part they know how to play and it works. they dont have to say "i love you" to get that across. and that, to me, is incredibly romantic and fucking insane.

so yes, in a sense, I do think about how. i think about how all the damn time.

[myfaveisfuckable]

Rants under the read more

mihashi/hamada: listen literally any ship that isnt abemiha or tajihana is a rarepair for this manga which deeply sucks if u arent a fan of either of those ships but i dont think this pairing even has a tag like these two are childhood friends hamada starts a cheer sqaud for the baseball team mihashi plays on theyre generally pretty close (its been a while since ive read the start of the manga but im pretty sure hamada also got mihashi into baseball in the first place? like hello??) n then theres like one fic in their platonic relationship tag so 👍👍

Nokiami : (spoilers for the game) all the fan stuff ive seen for the game is painfully straight unless its focusing on the two ships where one character is canonically gay n in love with the other (protag of the sequel game with his gay bestie i forgot the name of n yuuko/fei) n ami is usually just drawn on her own BUT theres a lot of canon subtext between nokia n ami mostly as a result of not much actually changing based on if u play as a boy or a girl regardless nokia to some extent likes ami she flirts with her talks about their relationship as if theyre already dating theres a scene that parallels a m/f couple in the game that plays exactly the same between ami n nokia with two other characters saying something along the lines of ah young love during a mandatory side quest ami gets offered an implied sex doll that looks exactly like nokia (weird story there the quest ends with it being heavily implied that the people that take the dolls end up having their organs harvested while their minds are stuck in a digital space called eden unaware that theyre not in the real world) n she has to think about it before declining the offer nokia's character arc is working to become a strong leader n reliable friend cause she wants to stand next to ami instead of relying on her theyre childhood friends but forgot about it ok i need to explain a bit more of the story so like as kids ami n nokia along with three other characters met beta testing for eden n one of them ended up getting eden syndrome to make sure theyre all able to leave safely (theres a thing called eaters that if u get eaten by put u in a coma cause theyre storing the contents of ur brain in them) n a guy who wants to use the eaters to get to the next stage of evolution removes their memories of the incident so years later as teenagers ami nokia n arata (one of the childhood friends important to the story but not to the ship) become friends again n reunite on eden where ami ends up getting eden syndrome but in a funky way cause she was logging out as she got eaten so she has a cyber body that over the course of the game deteriorates n at the end of the game ami basically dies right as everything is being fixed all the victims of eden syndrome are no longer comatose but ami is cause yknow kind of deteriorated too much n it happened right in front of nokia's eyes as she reached out for her hand so they could go home together n nokia cries for the only time in the game cause of that but ive genuinely never seen any fan stuff of them interacting so despite them being teased romantically n built up as being really important to eachother theres nothing not even like nokia with takumi (boy protagonist) im submitting it specifically as nokia/ami just cause i like wlw ships more if u want to do it neutrally protag's surname regardless of gender is aiba sorry if this is incoherent its been like 6 months since ive played the game

[idkman-fish]

Reviewing(?) Interview with The Vampire

cuz i just finished watching it... like a few minutes ago.

WARNING THIS CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE MOVIE.

now first off imma say MAN LESTAT AND LOUIS LOOKED YUMMYYY- however there are things about the movie that I can't look past for example Louis owned a plantation-

and in once scene it looked like there was something disgusting going to happen, but was stopped by a cut towards vampires bursting in which I am very glad.. cuz... what the fuck man.

But regardless of those elements I do say its a very good movie, and MAN THEY HAD A LOT OF TENSION BETWEEN THE MEN. LIKE LMAO??? also my mom told me she had the book and due to me searching about it I asked her if it was gay and she said it was atleast bi- which fair because like lets acknowledge theres also NOTHING STRAIGHT ABOUT VAMPIRES AND THEIR AESTHETICS.

I love this movie so fucking much although there are parts I didn't like because they were unneeded, but historically Louis owning a yknow... makes sense, but still... very uncomfortable with that. So, I'm on Lestat train tbh like sexy vampire French man is better than Louis with his... questionable start in the story. At least he didn't remain one for long, but with his arc of valuing lives also makes no sense as well with how it started. And I can get him also valuing lives due to experiencing loss, but still to me doesn't make sense considering what he was- yknow in the beginning.

But overall with that it's a pretty good movie, and if there's one thing I love it is the aesthetics and set design along with the costumes, the ruffles, the colours they used and all were lovely- and some nice eye candy (I love old clothes and stuff from different eras, ITS AMAZING) although probably not historically accurate to certain things(I like history, but i'm not exactly a knowledgable of what'd be accurate for certain eras at times, but if anyone wants to know the story begins in 1791 and the movie I specifically watched in the 1994 Interview with the vampire, so have fun with that)

Story wise I do appreciate how they establish things and how Louis and Lestat are both pretty much clueless, Lestat despite making Louis a vampire had no idea how to answer his questions because he never got the answers either and I honestly like that alot. After a bit of the movie and Louis not wanting to kill or feed on humans they end up adopting a child called Claudia, Lestat who definitely did to a degree cared for her treated her like a pupil and essentially spoiled her and trained her to be a killer whereas Louis acted like a father to her. They both individually cared for her although Lestat despite him definitely caring for her, purely turned her as a way of giving Louis company and also to keep Louis at his side. Louis after Claudia "killed" Lestat ended up caring for her on his own and they search for answers on what they are together, but didn't find an answer. And then Armand and the theater vampires come into the story which I do find their parts of theatrical stuff very fun and I do think it makes sense that they pretend to be humans pretending to be vampires as no one would believe that they are truly vampires, they were smart.

In this part of the story this is where the questionable scene is for a second when Claudia wants Louis to turn a woman named Madeline in order to have a companion as well as a caretaker essentially, but then the theater vampires in order to punish them for "killing" Lestat come in, Louis gets trapped and Claudia is trapped with Madeline and burned in sunlight genuinely I have no works for this scene, but I do like the acting in it- After this Louis angered by the fact they killed his daughter kills all the Theater vampires in a fire and decapitates some as well, afterwards Armand comes and saves Louis from the sunlight, but Louis clearly has a distate for him after this as well since he didn't stop them from killing his daughter.

I do like how Louis essentially throughout the story felt like his lost a sense of purpose, all he can cling onto is the guilt for killing and the guilt for being a monster. That's essentially all he has left to live for. And then meeting Lestat again, they reminisce a bit (also its in the place Lestat used to own(i think? that or its just in another burnt house) which uh again, still dont like that but eh) and then Louis leaves Lestat, and thats where it ends.

I also like how in the end of it Louis rejects turning the interviewer, but then Lestat comes in while the interviewer is driving and is very annoyed at the tape- and he also is giving the interviewer a choice much like how he did Louis years ago in the story and thats how it ends.

It's a pretty good story, although I wish I could read the book.

overall not as gory as I was warned it would be by my mom and man its not as terrifying as another movie I've watched where its i think called Carnage Park? it takes place in maybe texas and the protagonist is a woman who uh... my god she suffers and although its a good movie its one I wouldnt suggest watching until you are much older than me because ITS FUCKED UP.

but aside from that(and the elements that i REALLY didnt like) it was a pretty good movie.

[its-no-biggie]

i LOVE this. i really dont like these 2 very much in canon but this dynamic is SO much more compelling, and honestly feels more in-character for BOTH of them. not to mention the implications for ultra despair girls.......

okay consider. the setup is the same - byakuya is captured and toko is stranded with komaru and has to save him. and you can keep the stuff about how shes already on thin ice with the future foundation bc of genocide jack, and if she comes back without byakuya she might get kicked out - but get rid of her "i HAVE to stay with the foundation to stay close to byakuya-sama" motivation. i dont think she would stay with the future foundation out of loyalty to the cause or anything but like. maybe she likes the job stability in a post-despair world. maybe shes worried what will happen to her if she isnt affiliated with the future foundation (because of the whole. serial killer thing). ANYWAY she thinks if she returns empty-handed she'll be in a bad spot so. unfortunately she has to rescue him. then instead of constantly being like "i cant wait to see him again~~" the whole time shes like "ugh why did it have to be HIM who got taken hostage..... hes gonna be sooooo smug when i rescue him...... he'll never let me live this down...... maybe i can just leave him behind......" so her driving force can still be rescuing the hostage but. shes kind of annoyed about it the whole time lmao

AND!!! this strengthens her character arc!! her big character flaw that she overcomes in this game is that shes, to put it bluntly, a selfish coward. she betrays komaru to save byakuya, not because she cares about saving the life of a hostage but specifically because of her one-sided obsession with him. if the hostage was anyone else, she would not get this involved. and then her big turning point is letting komaru go free, even if it means she cant guarantee that byakuya will be safe. but doesnt that have more weight if she explicitly views byakuya as a pawn to be traded for her own self-interest? she doesnt actually care about saving HIM, shes sacrificing herself and her own interests to let komaru escape. this is functionally what this story beat is supposed to be, and it gets muddled by having tokos sacrifice be. a loved one in danger. yes, tokos obsession with byakuya is self-centred, and she doesnt really think of him as a person, but at the end of the day, she is trying to save a person she cares about. so just. give her a selfish motivation that ISNT centred around a romantic interest???? if the character arc is about her learning to set aside her own interests for the sake of someone else (komaru), then having her not even care about the hostage shes trying to save, only seeing him as a pawn to further her own interests, is WAY more coherent.

and i mean. this doesnt solve the problem that byakuya is basically just an object used to further tokos narrative in this game, but like. if youre already doing that, you could at least do something more interesting than having her be obsessed with him yknow? hell, in this au you could even lean into the fact that byakuya is obsessed with toko - he pulled strings to get her into the future foundation and shes enjoying the perks of it. she knows if she saves him here she'll be able to call in a favour in the future. its way more interesting!!

anyway and then the scene where she saves him would be HILARIOUS. hes like a princess in a tower waiting for a prince charming to save her, except hes an entitled asshole and she wants nothing to do with him. byakuya (smugly): "i knew youd rescue me" "took you long enough. i was starting to think you werent coming......" "wow, you did all that just to rescue me? you must really care" toko: *we should have just left this guy in the cell istg*

[ Danganronpa ] - Reversed

What if Byakuya was the one obsessed with Toko ?

[funkiestbear]

Dnd campaign info dump

To go about this rather quickly, glossing over some non important details. Our party, Varis the half elf Wizard, Kulga the half orc barbarian, Tiefling paladin (whos name im completely blanking on rn),Alynn, an aasimyr Fighter, and my Minotaur Fighter, Morgoth War-Caller, were sent on a boat to join an adventures guild on a newly discovered continent, Mundibyr, We adventure for a few weeks, level up a bit, I take rune knight, as I thought the idea of discovering old magical runes was thematically appropriate and cool. After some adventurers go missing up north, we find their bodies near an alter to the archfey Oberon, and (after whopping this warlocks shit) we go back an share our findings to the captain of the guard, Sora, a dragonborn paladin, the only person I liked on that stupid council, she could fight, had a good head on her shoulders, we were pretty tight. (she becomes sorta of important soon stay tuned). Attacks from wild creatures become more frequent to the town, and after some time, we find that the place we call Mundibyr, was actually a piece of the Feywild, specifically Oberons domain, and that a darkness is covering the south side. After an encounter with some talking animals, they slipped that Oberon had been kicked out by an alliance of 2 other Archfey and the Demon God of Undeath, Orcus. (Basically the Archfey power structre shifts and Orcus gets to devour that part of the feywild.) After learning this, all other settlers left Mundibyr, save us, and a new party member, Vats, the Goblin Rogue, who stayed to pick at all the stuff people left behind. Searching for more answers, we earn the trust of a Moon dragon named Lymrynth, who is attempting to revive Oberon and send the misplaced feywild back to its own realm. We offer our assistance to the dragon, as Orcus growing in strength was not something we were too interested in. (dispite having killed one of her agents, the warlock from earlier, none of us are really sure if she knew the truth or not.) Its at this point, our dm asked us for backstorys, as we were nearing the end of this arc, and he needed to prep our home continent (which hadnt been started yet).

Two more of Lymrynths agents go missing in the southern darkness, and we get them, bring them back, and on the way, discover a tree, miles high, dead and rotting, we make a note and move on, but were all pretty sure this is were Orcus is probably cooking something nasty up.

Returning the two agents and informing Lymrynth about the tree, we recived some magic items from the dragon and travled to banish Orcus from the material plane. One very long fight later, we banish Orcus and free Oberon, the land over the next month fading back to where it came. Morgoth takes the wand of Orcus, and its here where things get WILD. Were brought to the feywild by Oberon himself to thank us for our efforts and rewards us with two items per from his horde. I took, a +3 Shield, and the Spear of Heliod, other party members took some fun items, but the Paladin takes the deck of Many things, and has started each session since with "Anyone wanna draw a card?". When we first get the deck a few people drew 1 or 2 cards and gets themselves banished to the underworld, yknow the one where not even a wish can bring you back. And before I get into how many cards Morgoth drew, and what happend..

Morgoth Backstory time!!!

• The Warcaller clan, traces its roots to Oberons part of the feywild (This was actually an addition by my dm that made my runes feel even cooler bc, they were technically mine to begin with)

• After a hunt that left the clan weakened, Morgoth father, Valar, took upon himself 5 wives, who each bore him 5 children.

• Morgoths family, the weakest of the 5, were dispised by Valar, and after a heated argument between families. Valar had the 5 children and the mother, Hurin, put to death, save a 16 y/o Morgoth who fled the clan.

• Years later at age 22, he arrives in Mundibyr, and rediscovers his peoples lost arts.

Now, 5 has been a reoccuring number to Morgoth, and so I consider it his lucky number, Morgoth draws 5 cards.

I drew, the, You get a 4th level follower, You lose all of your magic items, One stat goes up by 2 up to 24, Your alignment swaps AND, You can reverse one event when you want. I immediately use the last one to bring my party memeber back, the fighter I receive is one of my brothers, which was so cool! I pump my STR to 22, and kinda kicked myself for loosing the magic items but whatever. My alignment however, DRASTICALLY changed Morgoths whole vibe, He was Chaotic neutral (imo favoring good) for the entire campaign, and has now been turned Lawful Neutral, (favoring evil now). After his exile, Morgoth pondered his existence, his conscience told him that wrong had been done, but his chaotic upbringing kept his hand steady, "Surely, the weak deserved to be punished, a man of Strength such as Valar cannot have his judgment be clouded", Morgoth thought all those years ago. With his internal change, brought about a sense of Justice and Order, calming and focusing the Minotaurs mind to a singular goal. Bring Valar War-Caller to justice. Snap back to the actual campaign, Oberon allows us to explore the feywild for the evening before we leave the next day. As we leaving his dwelling, Morgoth hatches a plan, if you dont know, when you attune to the wand of Orcus, you have to beat a dc 17 con save or you just insta die. Morgoths pretty beefy, and has a few rerolls available to him from his Runes. As expected Morgoth attunes to the wand of Orcus, the moment this happens, Oberon, still injured leaves his dwelling, and harshly scolds Morgoth for attempting to use it demanding he shun its power and hide it. When Morgoth obviously refuses, Oberon kicks the party from the Feywild. Nice going me :D.

With our business with the fey wrapped up after months of play, Varis teleports us to his former mentor, Servum's, Castle. A dragon attack on a small town happens, shortly after we vacate the empty, but magical and animated castle. We come to find, that humans are harvesting dragon essence to make immortality elixir, and other dragons are pretty pissed out it, having an etire town burned to the ground, Varis contacts his mentor for assistance, and is told to meet with Servum, at the college in the capital.

Varis teleports us there and talks to Servum for awhile, and through a summary of events, Varis informs Servum that a member of the War-Caller clan is with his party.

Servum tells Varis that the King has been having a problem with Warcaller raid partys, and that there is a bounty for any living Warcallers. The reason, The War-caller clan in recent years has grown so strong, the Capitol cant contest them, and that using aark magic, theyll sacrifice one of his progeny to kill Valar, and that if a War_Caller is in the city, the guard WILL be coming to arrest them.

My fucking jaw dropped.

The entire session was escaping the city. Guards every street, entire companys patrolling the city. Varis turned me invisible which helped significantly, and used his status as a former student of Servum to pull some strings with the gate watch (which there were 3 total gates, Minas Tirith style.

Approaching the party was a knight and friend riding on horseback, a squad of guards following them. After ducking into an alley to avoid the patrol, perception was rolled, and the Knight is question, was Sora, captain of the guard, brandishing new armor, new religious iconography, and new weapons. Knowing what we know, we believe the deck of many things has skewed Soras perception of Morgoth, though to be quite honest, she probably would dispise the new Morgoth. Both seem to have changed. After a very stressful session, we escape the city. Were headed for the port city Daksos, our paladin has a relative there, and the guard there is significantly less equipped.

We left off arriving at Daxsos.

Im so hype for tuesday..

[ourflagmeansgayrights]

ways i want stede to be taken down a notch by his crew in season 2:

stede was only the captain of The Revenge because he had money. he did nothing to earn his position elon musk, anybody? but in season 2 he doesn't have that anymore. i would love a conversation where the crew really spells out for stede that they don't owe him shit. i would really love a full episode abt stede proving to the crew that he's worth following. just more building on the scene from episode 9 where the crew is standing up for him and stede says the bit about "a people-positive management style." really dig into what actually makes a good leader, and what about stede's personality that makes him actually worth following.

i want to see stede really come to terms with olu's line about "we don't do this because we like it, we do this because we don't have any other choice." in the first episode stede blew past this line because he was still operating on wilful ignorance ("some of us thrive on danger!"), and then it was immediately overshadowed by stede realizing his life was literally in danger. he never really thought about what it meant to not have any choice about this lifestyle. and now that he doesn't have all his money, he's got a lot less options than before, but he still has a connection to high society that the rest of his crew doesn't.

sort of in the same vein: stede realizing the privilege of being able to read. when lucius tells him none of the other crew members can read, stede sort of... scrunches his face in disgust?? which is crazy to me. literally what kind of people did he think became pirates???

yknow what actually the last two things can be summed up as just: stede realizes how much harder everyone else's life has been. maybe like, an episode where we see how stede ended up hiring everyone, what they told him when they were applying to the job versus the real reasons they ended up on The Revenge. god this could easily be done in a parody of real-life modern interviews: "why do i want this job? oh, i'm just really passionate about this field and i love being a pirate so much! i'm totally a team player and i love working for long hours and living with my life literally constantly in danger :)" and stede is just like "wow! you sound like a real go-getter!"

would like to see stede and the gang trying to steal a ship, and stede realizing how much of a leg up he started with by building his own fucking ship. i mentioned this a bit here but i will truly never get over this. he built his ship. he built his ship. literally what kind of pirate builds their fucking ship. what the actual fuck. yeah calico jack is an asshole but he literally had a point where he called stede a store-bought pirate.

last but not least: i need the crew to give stede shit for making the Black men on his crew pretend to be slaves in the first episode. this bit, more than anything else, is what i want to see addressed next season. maybe tie it in to the first thing on this list: stede is coming up with a plan, and it involves pretending to have money, and as he's coming up with the strategy he tells olu and roach "and you'll pose as my help again" and they both decide "actually, fuck that, we're not doing that shit again for you." they tell him how much that shit sucked, how degrading and uncomfortable that was, and they point out that he's not really their boss anymore. just... god i rlly want the crew to call him out for this.

basically, stede's growth in season one was learning about how the things he sees as his weaknesses (being non-violent, being emotional, being "feminine" because he likes clothes and flowers and fancy interior design) are at worst just neutral traits and at best are actually his biggest strengths, and coming to terms with how the fact that he didn't fit in his old life isn't just because he's not good enough, it's just not the world for him. i want his arc in season 2 to be about actually learning about this new world he's chosen to live in, learning that it's not just the thrilling adventure he thought it was, and basically just learning that his experiences are not universal.

[lemonlurkrr]

@aureateart​ ok. My favourite parts of twilight princess  (and some other random thoughts about TP sprinkled in there) taken from my monster TP word vomit google doc :

Link lmao

Ok but for real, I like this incarnation of Link :)

I love Ordon (it just seems like such a chill and cozy village)

ALSO love how easy it is to interpret Link as being a sort of older brother figure to the Ordon kiddos. It’s just,, super cute? AND GHHH nice nice good thanks nintendo for giving me characters to care about/characters that I can imagine Link caring about

He didn’t sign up for any of this (tbh, none of the Links really signed up for this jshdjsd). But I mean like, dude was just going to take a trip to castle town, drop a gift off for the royal family, and come back. But haHA oopsies he did get to castle town eventually but definitely not the way he expected hsjdhsd

He’s just a little dude?

AND FUCK. HE REALLY HAD NEVER BEEN OUTSIDE OF ORDON UNTIL ALL OF THAT

everything is new for the player AND Link

Midna

She’s cool :)

she really just

*teleports into your jail cell* hello whore.

I am no master at writing but AYYYY she do got a character arc!!!

She was actually pretty helpful sometimes, I ALWAYS checked in with her before turning to a game guide

Other NPCs

NICE

Love all of the TP character designs (ASHEI’S ARMOUR??? AOWOAOAOOAO)

Saving Zelda and all of Hyrule was important yea but thinking back maybe it was more like, the Ordonians and the kids were what was pushing Link to keep on going

I like the Resistance members :) Very video gamey of them to have one NPC assigned to each dungeon but hey!!! Kinda cool getting to see a little glimpse of each of em

Idk, it’s just fun to imagine Link popping into Telma’s bar after each dungeon and taking a little rest :) (or to celebrate? maybe just chat, idk, give this man some downtime!!)

Honestly it was just kind of nice that Link wasn’t entirely alone. I mean, I know Midna was there the whole time, but I am always for giving Link a big group of friends (see my love for hyrule warriors, age of calamity, and LU LMAO)

Hero’s shade, very very cool, kinda sad he died with regrets but HEY. He got to pass on his knowledge eventually

AND the connection to OoT?? AND assumed to be related by blood too????? GOOD SHIT

Ilia, I REALLY really wanted to like her (er, it’s not like I dislike her, she’s just,,, kinda there for me).

It definitely seems like Nintendo was pushing to make her the romantic interest, but GHHHHH they really threw that out of the window for me by having her lose her memories

I saw a text post a while ago that said it would have been interesting if Ilia was Link’s sister instead and YES!! That would have been cool too :0

Wish we got to know Zelda a little more

I feel like we barely know anything about her

Idk man, like I said earlier, I never really had any sort of drive to save Zelda during my playthroughs

She obviously knows Midna, so maybe if they gave us just a little bit more of that relationship I’d be more interested in her?

TP WORLD BUILDINGGGG

Botw has good world building too, but each race felt kinda,,, isolated? I absolutely love the different architecture and vibe each town has (and all the the weapons too) but ghhh yea everyone felt so separated. As far as I can remember, we don’t see tooo much of the races interacting with each other? Now that I’m typing that out maybe that’s to be expected because of the calamity but KLSJDKJFD ANYWAYS THIS IS ABOUT TP

The world feels nice and alive, love how populated everything is

Castle town I like castle town a lot, it feels dense and busy and I really like how you can’t talk to every NPC you see

Very cool very fun that we got to see the Gorons hanging out in multiple spots

kinda wish we got to see the Zoras a little more (I guess they are a bit limited since they need water but GHHHH the tp zoras are so prebby,,)

BUT HEY, I do remember seeing a zora or two hanging out in the hot springs around death mountain after beating the lakebed temple (I think, might have been a different dungeon) 

but aaaa would have been nice to see them in at least a couple of other places. I think it would have really added to the “congrats Link!! You’re restoring peace to Hyrule” feeling you get from seeing the Gorons hanging out in Kakariko and Castle Town

ORDON

Love how chill it is and how it’s kind of separate from Hyrule proper

They really do seem to be doing their own thing apart from the rest of Hyrule

Just kinda adds onto the “he’s just a regular dude minding his own business” kind of vibes I get from TP Link

Also I like Ordona :)

THE LIGHT SPIRITS,,

Love their design

And love how they’re not exactly like a pure white?

Different spirit representing each aspect of the triforce my beloved

But yes hi I think Ordona is very cool

Who are you, how did you get here, which goddess do you represent? Do you even represent one of the three golden goddesses? Do the Ordonians know about you? Have any of them ever SEEN you??? Do they worship you? Does anybody even know about the existence of the light spirits?? FUCK so many questions but ghhh I like how they broke the status quo a bit by throwing in a fourth spirit :)

I feel like this one is kinda weird but I like that voice sample they used in the light spirit music. It’s spooky and pretty at the same time :)  

cutscenes mmmmm

Ok ok, the spooky lanayru cutscene is very good

BUT THE “Link, Chosen Hero! Lend us the last of your power!” CUTSCENE MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM LOVE IT SO MUCH

IT just

Idk man

It just hit different

I like the music

And seeing the light spirits swimming around in the light juice water whatever it is

Summoning the light arrows?

AND HHHHH “Lend us the last of your power!” THIS IS IT. This is the final battle.

Seeing Zelda bow down, and then Link putting his hand out 👌👌👌

Link: ok bud, let’s do this together :)

Connection to OoT (did I already mention this? Maybe., Whatever)

Very cool nintendo :)

I love seeing connections between all the diff zelda games.

Because like, on one hand, they’re all separate from each other because of yknow, individual hero stuff. BUT ALSO, they’re all connected because of the reincarnation stuff

Grrrr walking through the sacred grove and going “The Hero of Time walked around here a long time ago” FUCK THATS SO COOL

Is the Hero’s Shade watching me? What does he think of me? DIsappointed? Proud? The Hero of Time went through HELL so this timeline didn’t have to deal with any of the shit Ganon was gonna pull with the triforce, better not fuck this UP Link!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Midlink is cute

Kinda hurts that she smashed the mirror but that was probably so Nintendo didn’t have to worry about people going “but what about the twili??????” for any of the other games LMAO

BUT ALSO LIKE SKJDKLJFJ There are some pretty massive plot holes in TP anyway so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ whatever it’s fine we’ll just use this for angst because GOD do y’all like angst

So is Shadlink

Honestly don’t know where this ship came from but it’s cute so whatever

THE MUSIC??

Love Midna’s theme and how they referenced the dark world theme from ALttP (I remember trying to learn the dark world theme on the piano and doing the Leonardo DiCaprio point meme at the little jingle I recognized from Midna’s theme)

Hyrule field theme SLAPS.

Apparently references a couple of the other over-world themes from the previous zelda games (I got this from 8-bit Music theory’s video on the over-world zelda themes, he talks about TP at around 11:40 but def recommend watching the whole video if you’re into music analysis stuff)

So there’s this bit of the Hyrule Field theme, I don’t know the official name for it but I remember seeing somewhere it being called the “at an advantage theme” since yeah, you hear it during the boss music whenever you expose their weak points. FUCKINGGG LOVE THAT. Didn’t notice it during my first playthrough, but hearing it during my second was like a little easter egg for my ears every time :)

Midna’s lament is very pretty (and fun to play on the piano)

COURAGE THEME.

I didn’t care for it too much when I started playing the game but hearing it in ZREO’s arrangement of the Hyrule Field theme literally makes me turn into a puddle of emotions. Also hearing it around and of the Ordon kids (I think it plays after Link saves Colin) AAAAAAAAAAAAA

Orchestra piece #1 and #2 HOLY SHIT???????????????? 

Literally, the first time I listened to those I just,,,, plugged in my headphones, volume 100, layed on the floor/against my desk and silently vibed. I don’t know what the hell it is, but those two just fit so well with TP?? I still avoid listening to them nowadays cause if I DO I definitely will get overwhelmed with the “god I love this game so FUCKING MUCH” kind of feels.

Wolf link sucks at singing

the first time I heard him howling Zelda’s Lullaby I lost my shit because LKSJLDKSGLKJFSKG god that was.,, Bad. Anyways, hearing him howl some of the songs from OoT was cute :)

TP STAFF ROLL??? 

VERY GOOD. IT’s like 10 minutes long and GOD do I love every single second of it. It doesn’t have the same energy as the skyward sword staff roll or the orchestra pieces but GOD does it hit good??

Nice and calm after that big exciting adventure. Maybe it would have been more fun or emotional to have a higher energy piece but it was really nice getting to sit back and watch the camera fly around Hyrule. Seeing like, the Gorons and the Zoras having a good time, the kids returning to Ordon? GOOD SHIT.

and AAAAA that end, when you hear the main Zelda theme and see Link riding off out of Faron woods on Epona… good shit. It gets you thinking, where the hell is he going? What is he doing? Off ot do more adventuring? Going to help out the resistance or something? Going to help Zelda? Or maybe he’s trying to figure out a way to restore the mirror of twilight? Whoooo knows.

hhHHHHhhh it’s just that final reminder that YES!!! YOU JUST PLAYED A ZELDA GAME. JUST ANOTHER STORY APART OF THE WHOLE EPIC OF THE ZELDA SERIES AS A WHOLE

I also want to acknowledge the instrument/samples they used for all the twili stuff.

They’re all just so unique and contrast SO well with the rest of the TP OST. LIKE FUCK!! Anytime I hear the screech from the Twilit Kargarok? Sends a shiver down my spine. I associate those sounds SO strongly with the twili realm. (Like, the same way you associate the BSHEWW VVWWMMM sounds with light sabers)

I love it so god damn much

literally any time there’s a certain sound or motif associated with something I lose my shit

Sacred grove sacred grove sacred gro-

lovely lovely lovely so much fun playing that on the piano. AND again, I did the Leonardo DiCaprio pointing meme when I heard the theme from the lost woods come in GHHHHHHHH

shoutout to TP Faron Woods for helping me study and get through all of my schoolwork

BLEGUUHHH can you tell that I really love music?

and also yea I guess TP is kinda cool too :\

IF YOU READ ALL OF THAT THANKS I GUESS

[ooooo-mcyt]

Yknow what? I'd actually go so far as to say that, as much as ive seen it complained about, it's actually pretty hard to "UwU" or "Woobify" Grian within the context of yhs.

I mean. It's possible if you go really extreme with it, but it's hard.

Grian at his core is actually a primarily decent person most of the timeand is a primarily innocent party in most things. One who goes through a Lot.

If you really think about it Grian's moral compass isn't too far off normal basic human morality. He's often anxious and hesitant when faced with any involvement in criminal activity, he's frequently dismayed and offput by suggestions of violence (the less deserved the more dismay is expressed as well), he's disappointed and frustrated at seeing the people around him do fucked up things, he's almost always polite with a good head on his shoulders when faced with a kind or reasonable person. Even well into ts, long after first coming back to Japan, Grian is still incredibly uneasy and fidgety with the suggestion that he take part in violence, I mean, remember that time he, Taurtis, and Sam were tasked with killing Geode and Grian not only initially tried to refuse outright but then checked in shakily with the other two multiple times just to confirm if they were really going to kill someone. Grian's typically the character most likely in the entire series to be incredibly put off by and very hesitant about doing bad things (especially to people he's not one million percent certain deserve it).

And while one could argue that we can't really praise his moral compass for being hesitant about involving himself in crime/wrongdoing when he often ends up participating anyways. Actions speak louder than words and all. However I disagree. The fact that Grian vocally does not wish to be involved in this kind of thing and has proven to behave on the more reasonable and polite side when acting independently in relation to likewise level headed people....is Very important. In fact, in actual legal cases, oftentimes a factor in trying individuals is the question of whether they would commit the crime in question indepently or under normal circumstances. This is the basis for necessity, duress, and insanity pleas, amoung other's. People who would not act the way they did in a certain scenario under normal circumstances are often liable to be judged favourably in their actions. In fact, speaking of duress pleas, Grian's got a pretty solid one for a lot of his actions. The times Sam or Yuki held a knife to his throat or the times police threatened to kill him if he doesn't comply with orders or any alike incidents. In cases where duress isn't applicable to Grian's behaviour there are oftentimes incidents in which an outright case for violence in self defense can be made. In fact, most of Grian's circumstances leave him very viable to be judged sympathetically on a legal standpoint. The fact that he was a minor, the fact that he had no apparent history of violence or crime, the fact that he was in a severely abusive relationship with a criminal and entering said relationship marked the start of any sort of criminal behaviour from Grian, any criminal behaviour from Grian always being in a group setting never lead by himself, the fact that he always clearly and openly protests when pulled into these group settings, the duress and self defense pleas that are applicable to pretty much all incidents in which he does engage. Which are also all factors that can and should be accounted for on. a moral basis as well, obviously. And like, Grian has a reputation for being arrogant, cynical, and rude or whatever, but he's really not. He very rightfully calls out other people's horrible bullshit and makes snappy remarks towards his abuser but that's the opposite of a problem and Grian's proven himself more than capable of reasonable civility towards reasonable people. Grian just isn't the selfish arrogant disrespectful criminal that he's sometimes implied to be and in fact he's largely innocent- or absolvable, if you'd rather- in most of the things levied against him. Grian's not a literal saint giving to the needy and taking care of orphans in his spare time but he's a decent guy overall???

And hey, speaking of that super abusive relationship Grian landed in. Let's not forget the impact of that situation. Sam was undoubtedly abusive towards Grian. He threatened Grian's life various times, he basically told Grian he was nothing compared to Taurtis, he shoved plastic down Grian's throat and laughed when he choked, he got Grian locked up in solitary confinement through complete lies just because he thought it'd be entertaining I guess, he forced Grian to kiss an abnormally large amount of people against his will (some of these instances sam recorded despite being asked not to), he himself tried to make out with Grian without consent while Grian was sleeping in his own private room, he forcefully dressed Grian up in feminine cosplay meant to be ~attractive~ complete with fake breasts, he lied to Grian about the gender identity of someone Grian dated as a joke (his words) and lightly mocked Grian afterwards, he locked Grian in a basement for three days straight and it's unclear whether or not he was planning to let him out anytime soon, he dragged Grian into a closet with school staff despite Grian's very vocal distress and discomfort then scolded Grian for considering reported it when this staff member made uncomfortable comments on the outfit Sam had forced Grian into, Sam offered to give Grian to another guy who made a similar uncomfortable comment later on as part of some trade, he consistently dragged Grian against his will into criminal activity whether by threatening him, tricking him into participating, or just altogether falsely implicatng him, amoung Many other things. And every step of the way Sam did his best to completely gaslight Grian. He used every gaslighting technique in the book. Telling blatant lies (for example, "i would never stab taurtis", "you are taurtis", "grian's crazy and he stabbed taurtis"), he denies doing shit to Grian that Grian knows damn well he did ("i would never stab taurtis"). He hard projected his bs onto Grian (from blaming grian for 'making' sam do awful shit sam did to claiming grian actually fullstop did the awful shit sam did). He was just constantly trying to turn people against Grian (convincing yuki and taurtis to back him up in calling grian a bad manipulative friend and insisting he needed to apologize for 'making' sam horrifically abuse him. arriving in the police station and instantly without hesitation telling them grian was crazy and dangerous and pinning his own crimes on grian. having taurtis back him up and help scold grian for getting mad about being locked in the basement for days). Telling Grian he's crazy (taurtis incident again, solitary confinement incident, the time sam kissed grian without his consent while he slept and grian got mad). Telling everyone else that Grian's a manipulative liar (taurtis incident again, solitary confinement incident again). Yknow. Gaslighting. Sam was just so unbelievably abusive. In like. Every possible way. Which adds a LOT of trauma to Grian. That on top of his parents abandoning him as a little kid too because we couldn't leave it at severe abuse.

Grian's not a bad person. And he's certainly a very sympathetic person. Which is why it would be hard to woobify yhs Grian. It would be hard to make a very sympathetic very sad character egregiously sympathetic and sad. His whole arc is getting abandoned by his parents, going to visit his friends, and getting violently abused and forced into a multitude of disturbing activities against his will for an extended period of time.

One could argue that sure Grian isn't a bad person and sure Grian's got a pretty sad life, but certainly a lot of people are guilty of making Grian more helpless and scared and generally 'pathetic' than he is in canon.

To which I reply...not really?

Grian already doesn't have half the fight response people ascribe to him throughout the series. That was a whole other post but honestly Grian's response to traumatic situations is very frequently to cave to them and he's got a much stronger submissive streak than people often admit. I mean, Grian was asked to dress up as his best friend who just got stabbed "to make things less awkward and make me feel better" and he did it within ten seconds of being asked without the others even needing to threaten him at all. Grian does express quite a bit of despair, fear, and submissive tendency in canon when faced with dangerous or traumatic situations. And while it's possible to go a bit too far with that if you consistently leave out the token fight entirely, I see people swing way too far un the opposite direction way too often. There's a reason Grian never actually killed Sam in canon. There's a reason Grian never made a serious attempt to get him arrested for his crimes. There's a reason Grian never just left. When Sam found Grian after he ran out of the gym during the Taurtis incident? Grian didn't lunge for Sam. There was no serious altercation between the two. Grian scrambled back and tearfully babbled platitudes while shoving plastic down his own throat on command. And even beyond that, a lot of the interpretations accused of making Grian too helpless/scared/'pathetic' are works that involve Grian processing trauma years after the fact. Which. Even if Grian was the most aggressive on edge fighter in the history of trauma responses during the traumatic events? People don't process their trauma after the fact the same way they instinctively respond in the moment. Even if Grian never shed a tear throughout any of the traumatic ordeals he experienced, it would be far from unrealistic behaviour for him to still process after the fact by panicking and sobbing his eyes out regularly. Which, again, Grian wasn't even all that fight oriented while it was happening so panic and tears isn't even super far removed from his actual in the moment responses let alone processing after-responses. It's just. It's really hard to "UwU" Grian tbh. He's a decent person, he went through hell (his own words actually), and he was never even really very effectively aggressive when he did. And while it's possible to dip too far into that territory, far more often I see things swung egregiously far in the other direction.

[dumbbitchawards]

Ok I have a question. Is Tom and Greg from succession an actual couple or are they just shipped together. I always love finding new shit but I also don't want to be queerbaited so I'd prefer to know before I dedicate my time to watching succession. Thanks!

Ok buckle up anon cause this is gonna be a long one:

Currently, Tom and Greg are just a ship. It is implied that Tom might have a thing for Greg, but Tom is currently married to Greg's cousin Siobhan (Shiv). Right now Tomgreg is just a ship, thought this is liable to change depending on how s4 goes.

S3 was weird, because there were moments where it honestly did feel like it was gonna cross the boundary from ship to canon, but that never came to fruition, at least in terms of them actually being a relationship and not just doing weird gay shit every episode. Like, Tom literally kissed Greg and told him he had a big dick, but they're not "canon" per se.

We're not really sure how it's gonna go in s4, because the chances are high that Tom and Shiv might be getting divorced, and god knows what Tom will do when that happens, but as of right now Tom and Greg are just a ship. S4 is due to start filming soon, and probs won't be out till late 2023 or into 2024, so I wouldn't place bets on Tomgreg happening anytime soon.

Honestly, Tom and Greg are a complicated topic. The way that the show is written behind the scenes is relatively loose - they let actors improvise on-set a lot, and it has changed the direction of the show before. For example the actors who play Roman (Kieran Culkin) and Gerri (J Smith Cameron) were allowed to do some improv, and it worked so well that they're now a canon ship on the show. Tom's actor (Matthew Macfadyen my beloved) has had moments like this too - most notably in the aforementioned kiss from s3 when the script said that he was supposed to flick Greg (Nic Braun) in the balls, but instead he kissed his forehead.

I don't know if I would call them queerbait, because the way they're written seems very purposeful to their characterisations and their arcs, though others might disagree. Like, we can't call it queerbait right now until we know how it ends - just because it doesn't happen immediately doesn't mean everything that led up to it was baiting, yknow? Just because something isn't canon doesn't automatically mean it's queerbait, especially in a show that was never really designed for fandom-type engagement/ship discourse/etc, and ust because they're not canon now doesn't mean they never will be. And honestly, the way they're going right now, I wouldn't be surprised if they actually became canon in s4 - we just don't know right now.

Even though they're not canon, if you're looking for a good show, I would still recommend watching Succession anyway! Just because it doesn't have a canon blorbo couple (yet) doesn't mean there's nothing worth appreciating about it. It's extremely wellcrafted, and probably one of the best satirical dramas of the past decade.

Sorry for the long response I just love media discourse I'm literally doing a degree in film studies I love this shit lmao

[dreamrecorder]

Ok so- idk if you’ve seen demon slayer;; but there’s this episode (it was during the spider fambam arc) aNywaYs- so like. Rui yeets ties* (i guess-) Nezuko like. Up in the air. With his weird spider thread jazz— and like. It’s sHarP weird spider thread jazz— so she’s like. Yknow. Being sliced and diced with string— but it kindaaa reminds me of like. Xiao. And his like.... weird... sad.... uh. Karma. Thing. Like y’know where he’s like hanging from his arms- red stuff. Yeah. So like. Now for the actual request

Xiao’s s/o (female if you don’t mind;;) gets kidnapped by like— the fatui or smth. And they tie her up like Nezuko :D to be like “lol haha Xiao be all like-” and she’s just. Like. Dying. Slowly. Dripping b l o o d and yknow. All the tea. And Xiao comes to rescue her— and he’s like 0-0 “wait...” and he realizes that’s like- exactly what happens to him- and so. He beats the fatui’s butts saves his s/o, anddddd she like.

Idk. This is where I need your angst expertise ❤️ like- she could d i e. In his arms. And poor Xiao would be so scarred omg poor thing- BUT THE ANGST- but at the same time;;;; the f l u f f of him being able to save her just in time and she was like fighting for him the whole time or whatever and ended up needing him to save her anyways- and then Xiao feeding her almond tofu until she gets better ❤️❤️❤️

IM SORRY THAT WAS SO LONG- im probably going crazy from lack of sleep from reading fics for too long sndndnsnsj

But if you do this,,, BLESS YOUR SOUL I HOPE TO EITHER BALL MY EYES OUT OR SQUEAL FROM THE WHOLESOMENESS-

Anyways.... thank you! Have a stellar day~ ✨❤️

The heart yearns and the wind heard

lmao this ask is so adorable i hope you’d enjoy this ksks

anyway, full Angst train up ahead but there are moments of Fluff too. There are mentions of blood and violence if those are not your thing- dont worry guys, this goes with a happy ending cos you and Xiao deserve one~ on a final note- non canon compliant and suuuuuuper long- like- legit this is very long

The Yaksha sighs.

He’s here again. His mind and heart has returned his being into this crimson world his demons have created within him.

He feels it. He feels the corruption binding him tighter again for every death he brings by his tainted hands.

He looks at his bindings. And ever so slowly, the red and black coiling around his person will eventually reach his heart.

One day, he thinks, all this crimson and black in this world will swallow him whole and he will see the light no more.

Xiao sighs again.

This is his karmic debt.

~

The moment you stepped foot within Wangshu Inn, you knew he was in his prison again. After giving a quick greeting to the inn keeper, you hastily went to Xiao’s room. The closer you got, the heavier the atmosphere became.

You reached his door and knocked softly. As expected, no reply as he continues to struggle to take back his control over himself. Without hesitation, you stepped in. To anyone else, they would have instantly met his spear at their throats, but with you, this doesn’t happen. Instead, you see him crouched on the wooden floor with a hand on his chest. His knuckles were white and his breathing was ragged. His amber eyes- lost. Observing his form, yes… his moments of corruption are becoming progressively worse.

With swift steps of familiarity to this routine, you went to him and grasped his shoulders.

“Xiao, it’s me…” You whispered with clarity. And oh- how your voice brought a wave of comfort to his soul.

“N-name…” His voice cracked, but him calling to you is always a good sign.

You gave him a small smile and proceeded to grasp his hands together with yours. After which, you then leaned your forehead to his to chant your prayers. As your prayers progressed, slowly but surely, the corruption begins to fade along with the black mist that covered him. However, you took note how this ritual took longer than the last.

Once everything is done, Xiao just slumped onto your shoulders, still breathing deeply. “How are you feeling?” It was a useless question you asked every time this happens, but you always, always, have to make sure.

Usually, he would mutter a small ‘fine,’ but now- words seemed to have left his mind and all he could muster was an almost-unnoticeable shrug.

Truth be told- his response disheartened you, but you did not show it. Instead, you opted to simply encase him in your arms and caress his hair. After all, these are just one of the few, rare moments Xiao would leave himself into your care. Xiao is aware, himself, that his state has been becoming worse and worse. And you both know, that a day would come when he would just attack anyone- friend or foe- without a trace of hesitation. So, just this time- he speaks his feelings.

“Name?”

You answered immediately with a questioning hum.

“What would you do… when I finally lose control over myself?”

It was very subtle, but he felt how your hand stopped caressing his hair for a second, then proceeded to the previous task at hand again. In all honestly, you can never find yourself having an answer to that question. “And why would I ever let that happen to you?” You questioned back, fully aware that you were dodging his question.

Silence surrounded the two of you, unsure on what to do with the sudden heavier atmosphere.

Not wanting to face the cruelty of the world yet, Xiao simply buried himself on the crook of your neck even more. And despite the ghostly sensation of his lips on your skin, you could feel him mouth the words ‘I love you.’

“As long as I’m here,” you whispered, “nothing can hurt you.” And that was the most beautiful lie that the Yaksha has heard, but he was willing to believe all the same.

~

When word about Fatui diplomats starting a bank reached you, there was a nagging feeling in your head that trouble would bring itself present anytime soon. It was like an itch that wouldn’t get away. And the only way to have that itch gone is to scratch it.

“You are absolutely a fool.” Xiao stated darkly with crossed arms, for once disagreeing with the plans of his master.

“We can never know what their intentions are unless we let them start their bank, no?” Zhongli said as he gazed at the marsh spread beneath him.

The Yaksha only scoffed but said no more.

Building up your courage, you deemed it was your turn to voice out your thoughts, “Um… Rex Lapis, I see your point, but wouldn’t it be best to resolve the problem before it persists into something larger? We all know- All of Teyvat knows, that the Fatui are not to be trusted.”

Your archon offered you a kind smile, “I understand your worries, Name. However, as of the moment, they have not presented themselves as such. If they truly are our enemies, then it would be beneficial for us to know their intentions.”

You frowned deeply at his statement. Seeing you do so, somehow, your archon immediately identified your main concern.

“Is this about the Tianquan assigning you to be her representative for the Fatui?”

The moment those words left his mouth, a growl tore from Xiao’s throat, but he held his tongue.

“Did Ganyu tell you?”

The Archon nodded and you sighed.

“I volunteered, actually.”

And at that point, Xiao vanished into thin hair, but you could still his sense his presence around.

“May I know why?” Zhongli questioned gently.

For a moment, you struggled for words. You didn’t know how to describe this ‘itch’ to him. “At first, it was supposed to be Ganyu, since in the Tianquan’s eyes- Ganyu is an adeptus and she does not know that I am, too. Perhaps she didn’t want to put me in harm’s way, a ‘visionless human’ at the side of a harbinger. After some convincing to Ningguang for my volunteering, I spoke to Ganyu next.

“The adepti are divine beings that walk here in Liyue. I had this feeling that putting a divine next to a power-hungry harbinger would become an issue. I told Ganyu that, since I looked ‘harmless’ and ‘ordinary,’ the harbinger’s interest about the divine would never surface.”

A stretch of silence wrapped around them as Zhongli pondered over your words. “Perhaps, are you also planning to dig out the truth of their arrival?”

You nodded, “I knew you would allow them to stay, so I just took it upon myself to unfurl their secrets.”

“Hmmm… I grant you permission on doing this. However, should trouble arise, do not hesitate to tell us.”

~

The glare pointed at you was strong. Even without him saying a single word, you could hear his phantom voice in your head speak with such coldness, What are you thinking?

You simply gave him a reassuring smile, “I’ll be fine, Xiao. I may be a human in mortal eyes, but please do remember that I am also an adeptus, no matter how weak I am.”

Xiao releases a huff, but still sits by your side at the floor of the balcony, letting the moon kiss his skin. “You’re not weak.” He mumbled as he snaked his hand to yours.

To him, you will never be weak. In fact, you were the strongest being he has ever laid his eyes on. Not physically, no. It was you mental and emotional fortitude. Back during the Archon War, he always admired how you kept your head held up high no matter the suffering you have experienced. No matter how much death surrounded you, you still fought. And that strength made you a survivor. During the war, you never failed to help the wounded. Even when someone dies under your care, you held strong for the departed and for those who are left behind. You were a pillar of hope.

He brings your hand to his lips and kisses every knuckle “… Just be careful. If ever you are in trouble do not-“

“Hesitate to call your name.” You finished, beaming at his words.

~

As someone who used to be a healer and a doctor, you were quite familiar with several mild skin diseases that mortals can suffer from.

If there is an itch, you do not scratch it- for you will only aggravate the area even more.

Now that you’re working alongside the Fatui as the Tianquan’s representative, the itch you kept feeling was only irritated more. Especially whenever you spoke with the Harbinger who goes by the name Childe. And since your work requires you to cooperate with him, you also don’t miss the chance to discover what he hides, should the opportunity presents itself.

Childe… his azure eyes certainly have their… charm to those unaware. However, you knew better. You know he’s capable of drowning you just by his eyes. While he may be a cheerful man, his eyes lack the lustre of joy. The eyes are the windows of the soul, yes? If so, all you see is an unending ocean that you do not want to swim in. The surface may be calm, but the deep is relentless. However, duty bound you are- deep within the ocean, you shall find the secrets the Fatui hides.

Again, another scratch to the itch, but it only irritates you more.

~ 

The news of Rex Lapis’s death became the catalyst of you confronting the Harbinger. From Yujeng Terrace all the way to Northland Bank, you ran (with Ningguang’s permission of course). Before you can even open the door to his office, something caught your eye.

It’s faint, but you’re an adeptus. You sensed elemental traces, just smack bang at the middle of the door. You carefully scrutinized the tracings, and fortunately you knew Snezhnayan script. And what you read only made your heart sink.

It’s ready.

With the adeptal arts, you managed to uncover the origins of these elemental tracings.

Scratch.

Without hesitation, you followed these tracings until it led you into some ruins.

Scratch.

Following the tracings further, you find yourself in a dimly lit room. Wary, you summoned your weapon imbued with your element.

Scratch.

Searching the room, you came across several antique boxes. You opened them.

Scratch.

What you saw were familiar. Too familiar. Dimming the room more with your element, you find more Sigils of Permission hanging on the walls and on the ceilings. The energy within them were faint, but with enough numbers, it’s enough to kill a-

“Well, well well, I thought you’d be there mourning for your Archon. But here you are, snooping around someone else’s research material.”

The sound of his voice made you sharply turn your head to him, your stance now more offensive. “What are you planning?” You bit coldly.

The Harbinger hummed a small tune, “Nothing much… But! If you’re really curious, I guess I could tell you.” He hummed some more but you knew he’s not finished. Once he finished his tune, he grinned to you menacingly and the depths in his eyes became even deeper and darker, “After all, I won’t let you leave this place with you knowing my secret~”

~

There was this one time, Xiao struggled against himself so much, he scratched himself red so that he could anchor himself back to the real world. You remembered how much you cried as he slept in your arms. You never wanted to see him do that again. Seeing him hurt himself also hurt you, too. It was like a stab in the heart, then a twist, and twist some more. A slap in the reality that you might lose him one day.

As he slept, you solemnly observed the wounds he sustained himself to. They were angry red, just like blood.

Now, you, yourself scratched that itch in your head too much into a wound for blood to seep through. You scratched too much and now you have to bleed from it.

~

You were slipping in and out of consciousness. Sleep was tempting you more and more but you know you have to wake up. You were aware that this is going on for days.

Everything hurts. You remembered how his blades, imbued with the Sigils, weakened you thoroughly. Every slash he brought to your body just drained the energy away from you. But still you had to do something.

He wanted an adeptus- he wanted an adeptus in order for the Sigils to grow stronger both in number and in power.

Now here you are, bound by chains and suspended at the middle of this empty room. These chains were adorned by talismans that drained away your energy. You were bleeding from your wounds of your previous battle.

Drip. Drip. Drip goes the blood and pools on the ground underneath you. The ground, you barely noticed, was lined by Liyuean script which enacts the ritual of the Sigils draining your divine power from your blood.

To the eyes of a sadist- you were a picture perfect in a canvas. A dark room lined by the damned Sigils, glowing an eerie gold. Then there's you with your bloodied clothes and chains. The red pool underneath was casting a red glow on your way, giving you a red shade to your pale skin.

Everything hurts-

And everything was driving you mad.

You can also feel the Overlord of the Vortex feed from your energy through the Sigils. You sensed his lust for power and revenge. You felt his anger and the corruption within him. You felt his hatred and his want to bring death. For days that felt like years, you’ve been battling against that very same god in your head. This battle was not something you shall not lose to and failure is not an option. If you fail here, then Liyue will fall. 

This god- he was driving you mad slowly.

If ever you are in trouble, do not hesitate to call my-

You shut the thought from your head. You are not going to call him. You will not speak of him. You will not think of him. You will not call him. Not to this place where his corruption will grow. No. You Will Not Call Him.

If it means that me not calling you will keep you safe from the corrupted remnant of a god- so be it. 

Please

However, no matter how much you denied yourself to call his name, no matter how much your heart yearns to be with him- the wind does not ignore the pained sob that left your lips.

~

Ever since the news of Rex Lapis's death and the visit of the Traveler with a Sigil in his hand- the corruption within him just bloomed into something feral.

The Sigil- there was something wrong about it but Xiao doesn't know what is it that is wrong. Then there's you- where are you? Surely with the news of their Archon's death- it would send you to bring forth a meeting for the adepti to talk this over. But now- for days- you remain not by his side.

With you missing- the demons inside him are slowly taking control over him, taking advantage of his vulnerability for you. For each passing day, it was slow torture for him- The worry bubbling in him was consuming him. He glared at the Sigil between his fingers and not failing to notice how his dark aura covers him once more. 

“Traveler,” Xiao called sharply, “What is it you intend to do next?” 

To any mere mortal, the look his eyes held were enough to strike fear, but the Traveler stealed themselves- meeting the adeptus’s gaze with an equally serious calm. “I have my suspicions on a certain harbinger and I-”

“Where?” The Yaksha growled.

“In the Golden House.”

Without a word nor warning, Xiao placed a hand on the Traveler’s shoulder and teleported them to the place where the Exuvia is hidden.

To the Traveler, everything happened so quickly as one event led to another. One moment, they were standing among unconscious bodies of the Millelith then the next thing they knew a corrupted and demonic gust of wind flew them away to the side. Regaining back their vision, they could see Alatus’s spear now at Tartaglia’s barrier made of Sigils. 

Alatus narrowed his eyes at the floating talismans and began to calculate the flow of this incoming battle with precision and accuracy despite his losing control over himself. 

It was a tense minute of sizing each other up, but eventually, Tartaglia has broken the silence with his annoying innocent voice. 

“Who would have thought that I’d have the honor of fighting another adeptus of Liyue?” 

The question immediately fed the corruption within him, the dark aura exploding at it. He knew that he should not believe in the Harbinger’s words so easily, but the glint in the latter’s eyes held truth. You could be out there, hurting, scared, alone. You could be out there, bleeding out. You could be out there dyi-

His aura exploded once more at the thoughts spreading in his being. With a burst of unspeakable power, Alatus lifted his weapon and pierced the barrier once more, this time breaking it without failure. At the threat, Tartaglia backed away as he donned his mask.

In a similar fashion, Alatus, too donned his mask. “I will ask you once,” the Conqueror of Demons spoke with a deathly calm, “Where is she?”

~

He should have killed him then and there. But the call of the Overlord of the Vortex must not be ignored as it threatens Liyue. 

In the small opportunity of escape, Childe took it. But he was weak and injured as Alatus swiftly threw his spear to block his way and teleported right in front of him. In a show of power, the Conqueror of Demons lifted the mortal by the neck.

“I will ask you again, where is she?”

In fear, Childe told him everything and at his every word, Xiao listened carefully- never speaking once. But the anger within his heart, it boils- it rages. His amber eyes bored into Childe’s soul- thinking what he should do to this mortal. Oh how killing him would be so nice. However, when the Yaksha’s gaze landed on the regal form of the Exuvia, he merely threw the mortal in its way.

“Killing you would have been easier. However, the crimes you have presented against Liyue are not mine for me to judge.

I leave the Harbinger to you... Rex Lapis.”

Once out of the Golden House, the Overlord roared once more, shaking the lands of the nation. However, along with it, he heard the faintest of voices. I’m so sorry... I couldn’t hold him back anymore. 

Only then did the demons in his heart freely took control of him. Just like the stories of old, where the Yaksha walks, death follows. But they were no stories. In his way towards the ruins where you were held captive, every step he took brought carnage and even more death and blood to taint his hands. No Fatui will leave this place alive. The very being of destruction ended many lives. Each death, the demons were growing stronger.

All he wanted now was to kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill killkillkill killkill kill killkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkill

Then seeing you suspended in the ceiling and bound by chains. Blood was painted on your lifeless skin. Wounds were littered and bruises were blooming on your form. But most of all, your eyes. What were once full of life and hope- now empty and blank. His demons quieted down.

Broken. You were like a broken porcelain doll.

“N-name...” His voice cracked, not believing it all.

With haste, he quickly broke your binds and caught you in his arms. he was fast to check for your pulse and your breathing. And thank the Archons, you were breathing but barely. You were now walking the line between life and death. With all his might yet a gentle caress, he hugged you for dear life. “Name... It’s me...”

But still, your eyes still held no recognition and it shattered his heart to pieces. With further inspection, he sensed the presence within you. A corruption. A certain evil. 

“Name, stay with me please,” Xiao begged with desperation as he fought back tears. “It’s me who supposed to be the corrupted one between us, not you... I’m not allowing you to leave me, you hear me-”

With a ritual of the adeptal arts, he started purging and purifying the evil left by the god who fed from you. He is not letting you stay alone in your prison, not for a second longer. 

Xiao prays and he never prayed before. Even to his master. But just this once, He prays with desperation. You are the light in his darkness. You are the moon in his night. 

The ritual was a delicate process. For every word he spoke, he was rewarded by your screams of pain and the writhing of your fragile body. He wanted to stop, but he can’t. He had to physically restrain you from trying to escape from his embrace and from hurting yourself. And for every cry you released, Xiao merely shuts his eyes clos just for him not to see your pained eyes. Every now and then, Xiao speaks gentle apologies and words of encouragement for you. You were coming back. But still, the evil persists.

You writhed and scratched against him, until you were creating more wounds for blood to seep through. When it came to a point, you began pleading and begging for him to stop, that was when Xiao had shed a tear. So he continues the ritual, his prayers, and his apologies. They were arriving to a point where the ritual is reaching its conclusion but your screams only grew louder.

Please, just a little more...

Please, just stop...

Please...

The corruption disintegrated away from you in a forceful release of dark energy. He was breathing deeply, attempting to calm his loud heart. When he placed his gaze on you, you were breathing rapidly and your eyes were searching blindly and your hands were desperately holding onto him.

“X-Xiao...” You whispered, “Where am I? Where are you?”

With a sigh of relief, the Yaksha hugged you again closer and his forehead to yours, fearing you would go away again. The action made you lift your hands to his face, still searching blindly.

“I’m here, Name... I’m here.” At his voice, the dam in your eyes broke as you cried silently. Xiao was not adept in emotions, but for you, he will face them gladly. He lets you cry as he gives you soft whispers of assurance, safety, love, and promises. However, you were not crying because of what had happened to you. You were crying for him. After experiencing such corruption-

You sobbed some more- you were this close to him losing you and you could not bring yourself to imagine if your roles were reversed.

“P-please,” you said with a broken voice, “please don’t go to the place where I can’t follow...’

The words, at first puzzled him, but after a few moments, he realized and once more it broke his heart. Bringing you closer, Xiao let loose the tears he was holding back. With a gentleness unexpected of the Conqueror, he simply littered your face with kisses. “I promise if only you would do the same.”

With your smile that he loved dearly for so long you too spoke your promise, “I do.” They were simply two words, but the comfort they bring into the Yaksha’s heart was in volumes.

After that, you shared a few tender moments in each other’s arms. Simply relishing the feeling of their familiar warmth. A little later, Xiao spoke, “Would you like to eat some Almond Tofu once we get home?”

The question made you giggle at his innocence, so you agreed. Despite you needing physical medical attention. But Almond Tofu with him? Yes, you two definitely need some emotional healing.

A/N: fINALLY dONE lmao this was supposed to be short but angst really makes me want to write longer everytime haha~ anyway this request really made me ponder bout genshin stuff with all the corruption this and corruption that but then a question popped up like-

how did childe replicate the sigil of permission? since sigils are imbued with divine energy, i just thought how did this guy accumulate so much sigils to the point of freeing Osial- a god!!! soooo i just played with the idea for a bit then figured out maybe these pieces of paper get the divine energy from a divine source right? and the adepti are divine beings of liyue and another thing- you guys might have noticed the change of names in some scenes- i dont know but i think somehow different names represents different side of a person like- we have childe the cheerful harbinger then tartaglia the power hungry harbinger- there’s Alatus who’s calculating and cold, there’s the Conqueror of Demons who’s ruthless and unforgiving, then Xiao who is calm and humane- lastlyyyyy i might post this in ao3 ksks

[love-killed-the-superstar]

It's true and you should say it (and not at all, feel free to pull from my liveblogs again if you need, we're all in this insanity together).

Extremely long rant incoming, to the tune of your own rant lol.

Sh'okonabo is the biggest letdown of FF to me because Ancient Evil Alien Of Mythos Coming To Take Over The World SHOULD be fun, as long as they don't just repeat Ch'rell's storyline verbatim. But instead we got a bumbling moron who assumes the turtles know what he's talking about and ends up giving them more information than they already knew, somehow didn't realise the planet he was coming to came with free sunlight which... is nuts, surely a lot of planets have sunlight??? Because, yknow, they rotate around the sun?? How this motherfucker achieved ANYTHING to gain infamy across the universe is wild to me because he just doesn't seem to know what he's doing!!

His evil alien mutation army could have been REALLY COOL ACTUALLY, if it wasn't defeated by Raph doing NOTHING because... The sun was there to save the day???? I can't speak for how his arc ends because I haven't gotten there yet, but even calling it an arc feels wrong at this point because he's done nothing for better or worse to make me give a shit about him or his evil cause. The fact he has so many villains siding with him baffles me because WHAT IS HE ACTUALLY DOING? WHY would they give him the time of day when his end goal is so vague and there don't seem to be any meaningful steps to his plan? He's done nothing to convince them he's capable of any of this because his plans keep failing so why would they work with him?

It makes no sense to me and it leaves a bitter taste in my mouth that he's the big bad of FF. At least if it was darius dunn he has a clear motive, money/power/status enough to carry out his misdoings, as well as the blind loyalty of scrappy doo cody jones. Plus he's actually a fun villain because he relishes in how evil he is to a borderline campy degree. Do I think he'd work in series 1-5? Not beyond a one-episode bumbling fool that maybe Nobody would get them to help him take down. But if FF is insistent on a lighter, less serious tone, why are we doing an evil alien overlord who sucks at his job to the point it's boring when we could have had a dastardly diabolical rich tycoon who cackles evilly in broad daylight and makes it his life's mission to ruin his nephew's existence? Personally as a cody jones hater, I LOVE that for him! That would be infinitely more entertaining to me than Sh'itonabo!!

Future ShellShock. Where do I begin?

To start with, I blame Cody for all of this. He's my greatest nemesis and it has been this way since I first watched FF at 17. I think there could have been way more compelling reasons to drag the turtles and splinter into the future than "genius nepo baby makes a mistake he can't fix for 26 episodes". But for some reason, this is what we got. The one silver lining is that we got Serling as a commiseration prize - who I used to hate, but now I respect and find hilarious because while we are only watching this nightmare unfold, my poor man is LIVING THROUGH IT. #JusticeForSerling

I didn't catch this when watching but all of the parallels to Things Change kind of made my jaw drop because yeah. Holy crap. They really did take the same exact formula and make it worse and more boring. I think it worked that we spent so much of the episode not understanding what was going on or how they got there while being separated from Mikey because it made it all feel a bit more high stakes, but as soon as Cody took them on a tour of his building and gave his whole backstory instead of realising immediately (as a turtle fanboy WOULD) that one of them is missing and joining them in the search, the episode lost me. Because wdym you're going to exposition dump in the MIDDLE of the search? In a way I get that it would make for a more boring story if we switched things so the action concluded halfway through and we got exposition for the last half of the episode, but... idk, that sounds like a problem for the writers to figure out, not me? It feels wrong that Mikey was left out of the big revelations of the episode and just caught up off screen afterwards like his importance in the group is an afterthought. Idk. This episode doesn't outright anger me, but it does disappoint me.

It also irritates me that the only one initially upset with this situation is Raphael, and everyone acts like he's being unreasonable for being angry when getting thrown 100 years into the future where everything is different nothing is analog and all your friends are dead is a MASSIVE DEAL. Like, I'm not saying Raph should smack a child, but if he and Cody got into a scrap it would definitely feel earned and I would be cheering him on. Lastly, the fact that the turtles who have spent their entire lives underground would rather spend time in the penthouse instead of getting to walk around freely is insane to me and it needs to be studied. WHO THOUGHT THIS WAS A GOOD OR INTERESTING CHOICE??? NOT ME.

Okay. Deep Breath. Onto The Gamer Episode.

When I watched it this one just kinda... Annoyed me? I didn't really care about it, it was just there and I sat through it. In fact, I scrolled back to check what I'd written and it was step by step: "why does everyone bully Serling / [insert Jammerhead making a masturbation joke] / they should just leave Cody to die (as I say every episode) / why is Master Splinter calling his son a disappointment, I hate this fucking show". It was annoying and disappointing with One Laugh from me (thanks Jammerhead) but it felt par for the course so I didn't let myself dwell on it.

But your parallels to the Christmas Aliens has awakened a deep boiling anger in my heart because yeah. They DID turn Mikey into a selfish whiny unwashed gamer in this episode, and WHY? It doesn't teach a lesson to the kids ("theres more important things than video games kids!" Or I guess technically it did, but he only saved Cody so in my mind it doesn't count - between Cody dying and a whole planet of people dying, I still bet the writers would make the turtles pick Cody. Mikey had no agency in this decision).

It also doesn't exist to have a deeper meaning, but it COULD HAVE. Maybe Mikey's struggling to adapt to suddenly getting a period of 'peace' after all of the shit they've faced in the last 5 seasons? Maybe his obsessiveness is a reaction to his life being suddenly calm in a way that's still painfully out of his control (being forcibly placed in the future with all of his friends gone - bearing in mind he is the most social and sensitive of the four - and just being told to deal with it). Maybe this could have been a parallel to Leo's own trauma response in S4 - depression manifests in different ways, after all, including bad hygiene, poor diet and sleeping schedules, obsession over anything that gives you endorphins? There is a level of control when playing a game, because you are the only one that can complete it and bring it to it's natural conclusion. Maybe that control was something Mikey NEEDED, to the extent that he ended up ironically being unable to control his own behaviour while clinging to it. This could have worked with the future episode with the same gaming-obsessed theme IF the groundwork had been laid down that there's something more to all of this - he's unhealthily attached to these material things because he's UNSATISFIED. UNHAPPY, EVEN. BECAUSE OF WHAT NEPO BABY JONES DID TO ALL OF THEM. But of course FF couldn't possibly let cody come off as flawed or it might clue in the audience that it's okay to disapprove of his actions, or, heaven forbid, DISLIKE him. Can't unopen that can of worms.

But I get it. If FF didn't want to take things to those places, fine. I know they're going for a lighter tone and bigger laughs. But that's no excuse for boring, flanderised characters, because this episode wasn't even fun to watch. It was just boring, and annoying, and UPSETTING when you pit it against the Christmas Aliens, which showed not only a really fun, action-oriented episode with plenty of funny moments, but also a tremendously compassionate and strong-willed side to Mikey. Here's a turtle who's grown up with very little material assets. He wants toys as much as the next kid does. But when he sees injustice carried out, not just in the robbery but who specifically is being hurt by it (orphaned children, who ALSO have very little in material assets) that opens his heart right up. You're completely right. He doesn't care that other kids will go without if this video game gets stolen - he only cares that HE won't get it. It's cheap, it's mean, it doesn't feel like Michelangelo at all, yet the show has the characters acting like this is so in character for him we'd be the fools for questioning it. It's rude to the audience, who has loved and cared for this character for so long, to act like we're wrong for expecting him to be any better than this. The one parallel between these two episodes I can appreciate is I think this was the episode where Mikey said ACAB and beat up the robocops? At least underneath those layers of flanderisation he still has his morals.

Oof. You've unpacked something big here.

I think what infuriates me about FF is that for every 10 things that piss me off, there's an idea that I genuinely like and want explored (hello, Turtle Titan 2 <3). But the show either focuses on the stuff I don't care about (seriously, I'M OVER VIDEO GAMES!!! STOP MAKING THE TURTLES TALK TO ME ABOUT VIDEO GAMES!!!), glosses over the stuff that I'm like Wait No Tell Me More, or leaves things unsaid that I would have loved to see (rest in fucking pieces Space Usagi you will always be missed). Knowing what we do about certain scrapped episodes, and reading some of Peter Laird's ideas for how existing episodes could have gone down that didn't end up making it to the final pass, it makes me wish for a version of FF that didn't have the overbearing presence of executive meddling. I used to think "it's bullshit that they went into the future for a whole season to begin with" but I could have worked with it if there had just been more SUBSTANCE AND HEART. Both things just feel so devoid by that point. We already know sci-fi and space stuff is organic to TMNT, so at this point I do believe that it could have made for an incredible season. Instead, we got what we got, and it feels empty.

If you have any more thoughts, I'm all ears. Clearly we both have a LOT of opinions.

@love-killed-the-superstar​ I hope you don’t mind but this particular part of your recent liveblog just… really sparked something in my brain that I need to get out, re: Fast Forward, and it’s this repeating theme of FF rehashing a plot point from S1-4 but worse. Like the turtles version of a live action Disney reboot.

This turned into a massive rant, oops, more under the cut. Clearly, I have a lot of feelings about this.

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