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genolover · 1 month

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So I read @aughtpunk 's cotl forgiveness au in like 2 days and now I'm hyperfocusing on it. I just keep thinking of cute little things. Particularly between Shaun and kallamar. Aughtpunk probably shouldn't read this.

Like they have regular are-we-still-engaged chess matches. The first time kallamar wins, they regretfully tell the others the engagement is off. Most everyone is like, you were engaged?? How?? Since when?????? The next day they're engaged again. It great and not at all confusing. Pretty soon no one is sure if the engagement is even real or not. Don't ask kallamar, he's not 100% sure either. Like they play games to see who's responsible for the flowers or menu decisions but is it real? Half the group is sure it isn't until it's the night before the wedding and Holy shit this is actually happening wtf and Shaun is just so disappointed in them. Kallamar is too, right my love? Kallamar is like, yeah, I can't believe they doubted the seriousness of this situation. Internally he's screaming. Shaun also didn't think it was that serious but over time he got sick of people shit talking kallamar to his face so he was like, now I gotta marry him in the biggest most amazing wedding ever. I just gotta.

I also just like the idea that they would use games to settle most disagreements. They watch eachothers strategies and moods to figure out how serious they need to be. If it's a lighthearted thing then they joke the whole time and whoever wins, wins. Gg. If it's something more important to one than the other then they give a good game but let that person win since clearly this is a significant matter. If it's an important matter to both, they use the game as something of a distraction. I can't kill you for not understanding exactly where I'm coming from by magically reading my mind if I'm too busy trying to figure out if the move you just made is even legal. By the end of the match, whomever wins, it comes out as more of a compromise.

They do have this problem where if they don't have a clear goal for a game, it can escalate into terrible ends. Like Shaun makes a flirty double entendre about calamari, kallamar says something gross about cannibalism, suddenly its 3 am, they're in the kitchen with heket who is waaaay too happy about cooking some of her brother's flesh with the intention of giving it to his ex-fiancee to eat (shaun being grossed out by cannibalism made him lose), and questioning all of their life choices.

Oh and after wedding thought. Shaun asks narinder for a life flower (that what I've been calling them in my head). Narinder is grossed out but Shaun gives this whole speech about how they aren't gonna use it now, he just wants to show kallamar that he did notice that he wasnt sure how serious he was about the wedding but he is very serious about wanting to have this life together with him and growing their family together. Narinder does reluctantly give him a flower. Little while later kallamar asks for the same thing. His explanation is a little more based in logic. They've talked about children before and he's probably gonna be the one carrying them so it just makes sense for him to have the flower. Everyone is like aww they're gonna present these flowers to eachother and it's gonna be cute or something. Meanwhile kallamar is confirming that he and his husband aren't needed for anything else tonight and maybe the flower might work if brewed into a tea but eh it's better to not chance it and just. Fucking. Eats it. Right there. Infront of God (poor jake) and everybody. Did his husband see that? No, of course not. That would prevent any miscommunication drama. It's like, dude, did you guys plan on that or...? And kallamar is like, we've had some of the most important discussions about this already, I fail to see why we can't start trying now. And then he leaves to go spend his wedding with Shaun in private and now the whole family has no idea what to do with themselves. They did not need this information.

I also have thoughts for their kids. First set is twins. They are cute. They look like normal lambs just tinted blue. At first. They actually have tendrils they hide amongst their wool. They're also good at team hunting. If you see the both of them, it's safe. If you only see one, it's a distraction, turn around, you are being ambushed.

These are just fun little thoughts I had. Feel free to ignore me.

#cotl au #just some silly thoughts i had #not my au #cotl kallamar #cotl oc #i am so tired

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jadedvibes · 1 year

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Always (IV)

Summary: Bucky realized he could lose you for good, so he caught a red-eye flight to make sure that wasn’t possible.

Pairing: best friend!Bucky x reader

Warnings: lots of fluffy feels, very minor angst with the happiest ending, vague allusions to future sensuality, swearing, pet names.

Word Count: 2.7k

A/N: Thank you to all that followed along on this little mini-series! Angst isn’t my strong suit, so that's why I really appreciated all your support while I gave it a try! Hope ya'll enjoy this final part ♡

Series Masterlist

Like, comment, and/or reblog to put a giant smile on my face ♡

After getting off the phone with you, Bucky had a revelation. He realized that the longer he was away from you, the worse off things could be. He felt you slipping through the cracks. And he sat there for a long while imagining what it would be like if you met some “Mr. Right” tomorrow.

His heart constricted at the thought of you moving forward with someone else, while his soul still belonged to you. The thought of having to spend the rest of his life pretending that he was happy for you, seeing you fall for some schmuck that didn’t deserve you – he just couldn’t do it.

He refused to truly let you go. He knew he’d never love another as completely as he loved you. The thought of being with someone else made him feel sick, and that had to mean something. You said you didn’t know whether it was too late to be with him, but Bucky decided that it wasn’t.

It wasn’t too late, it would never be too late, because you belonged with him. He just needed you to see that.

Taking a deep, steadying breath, he picked up his phone and called Steve as he completed a quick booking of a plane ticket on his laptop. His mind was on autopilot, he only knew that he needed to get to you.

Steve groaned into the phone, sounding like he’d just woken up. “What’s wrong?”

“Hey buddy…best pal. I need a ride to the airport.”

“Dude it’s nearly midnight,'' Steve grumbled.

“I know but listen, I’ve gotta go see my girl, and time is of the essence. You’re right around the corner.”

“Shit, is Y/N okay?” Steve inquired, his voice laced with concern.

Bucky bit back a smile, his other best friend knew exactly who his girl was. Why’d it have to take him so long to realize it? It didn’t matter, he knew it now.

“She’s fine, don’t worry. I just really need to see her, I’ll explain on the way,” he huffed out, haphazardly throwing clothes into a duffel bag.

Bucky heard Steve shuffling with his keys, heading out of his door and into his car.

“Fine, but I'm the best man at the wedding. And this is going into my speech, and I’m also throwing in all the fun details you kept from her. Like when you beat up that prick that stood her up at Freshman Formal.” Steve started his car.

“She doesn’t need to know about that and he threw the first punch.”

“He sucked, but you didn’t have to go all Brooklyn brawler on his ass.”

Bucky sighed, that guy hurt your feelings and he didn’t regret what he did for a second. “Agree to disagree. Are you here yet?”

“Just pulling up.”

“Great, you can annoy me on the way while I try to figure out what I’m going to do.”

┈┈┈┈┈・・

His tongue took no prisoners as it swiped through your lips. Uninhibited need pulsating off of him as he kissed you with so much intensity and adoration. You met his passion, everything finally making sense for the first time in a month. He was all you needed, he would always be everything you needed.

His grip on your face tightened as he tilted your head, deepening the kiss as he walked you backwards, until your body met the wall. “Tell me it’s not too late for us, honey,” he whispered before kissing you again.

“Mm, it’s not,” you murmured against his lips, hands falling to his firm chest.

Bucky pulled back to meet your gaze, relief written all over his features.

“Yeah?” he grinned.

Snaking your arms around his neck, you pecked his lips before looking into his hopeful deep blue eyes. “Yeah, B. I never should’ve left.”

“I never should have let you go,” he shook his head.

“I was gonna call and tell yo–” He gently trailed kisses down your jaw, to your neck, before slowly returning to your lips, savoring your taste. You melted into him, desire and longing overtaking both of your senses. A mutual dream actualized.

“Marry me,” he suddenly blurted out, a soft smirk on his lips.

Raising your eyebrows in surprise, “B! Not before I date you,” you giggled.

“Oh alright, later then,” he chuckled under his breath, his eyes alight with amusement. He was only sort of joking, although deep down he would’ve been more than happy if you agreed.

“Can I take you out on a date?”

“Right now?” You looked at him, taking in the faint dark circles under his eyes. If his brain was anything like yours, and you knew that it was, he hadn’t slept much if at all on his trip over.

“Why don’t you go upstairs and get in bed, or take a shower, whatever you want. I’ll whip up a couple omelettes and then we can take a nap?” you offered, knowing that you both needed just that.

“Omelettes don’t count as our first date, right? Because I sort of have plans for that.”

You playfully rolled your eyes at your silly best friend. “No, B. Go settle in, I’ll be up soon.”

“Okay, honey,” he nodded, realizing he could use the rest. Adrenaline had kept him up, and he needed to come down. “I’ll go put my stuff upstairs and grab a quick shower. But I think I’ll pop over a few doors down to grab us that chamomile latte you’re always telling me about. I think we could both use a comforting drink before a nap,” he smiled.

“Sounds perfect,” you beamed. He always remembered the little things you loved; he made it so easy to fall in love with him.

┈┈┈┈┈・・

The two of you happily ate at your breakfast bar, sipping your drinks and sitting close to one another. It had been a long time since you’d felt so at peace.

“I think this has been the longest I’ve gone without seeing you in person in four years,” Bucky sighed. “It sucked,” he bumped his shoulder against yours.

You smiled at him, it really did. In fact, that was an understatement. You briefly thought about discussing how rough it was being apart from him, but you had a much better question to ask.

“Soo does this make you my boyfriend?” you grinned. The thought making your heart race because it sounded so foreign, yet it felt entirely right.

Bucky tilted his head, biting his lip as he looked at you. “Could be fiancé, honey. Just say the word. I quit my job, and I think I’d make an excellent house husband.”

You let out a laugh, taking in his exaggerated serious expression. He was kidding, but when you smiled like that, he felt how easily he could spend the rest of his life making you laugh. It’d be as easy as breathing.

Because he could, he tilted your chin up and kissed you, just a little to hold him over for a short while.

Sighing into the kiss, your lips ghosted over his before you remembered what he said. “Wait, you didn’t actually quit did you?” you asked to be sure.

“Dad was pissed,” he closed the distance and bit your lip. “But now I can focus on being a good house boyfriend for you.”

“B,” you pulled back so that you could look at him. “I don’t want you to give up the family business.”

“I don’t mind,” he shrugged because he really didn’t. As long as he had you, nothing else mattered.

“Well hopefully you can apologize and get your job back because I want to move back. Plus, I know I would make the perfect housewife,” you smirked.

Bucky shook his head, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips. “So you are marrying me then?”

“Wait, I meant– I just meant I want to move back to New York.”

Bucky grinned, he wasn’t expecting that. “Why don’t you move in with me?” he asked casually.

You furrowed your brows. “Because we’ve been dating for like two minutes…”

“C’mon, I have the space. Maybe, you could keep this place that way. We’d be able to visit your family whenever you want.”

“Hmm, that's a compelling offer,” you nodded. That would simplify your life a whole lot; his loft was spacious and terrific, and that way you wouldn’t have to move all over again. You’d be able to stay at your job and go back to him easily once you found a solid place to transfer to.

There was also the fact that he was your person, had been for a long while, and taking this next step felt natural. Moving in with Bucky was jumping ahead a few steps, but you knew him, better than yourself sometimes – it would be a fun adventure.

“Think about it, I heard living in sin is the new thing,” he kissed your temple before getting up and clearing the dishes.

You blinked in surprise, your minor internal debate tabled for a moment. “We haven’t even sinned yet!”

“There’s still time,” he winked.

┈┈┈┈┈・・

Your eyes roamed over his strong arms that were wrapped tightly around you, holding you to him. The long nap was much needed, the cuddling and the passionate kisses were an excellent bonus.

Throughout the years you had taken many naps with Bucky. Sometimes it was easier to take power naps in between classes and during stressful times together, no one having to inconveniently go back to their place. But this time it was so different.

The way he held you, the way he looked at you, like you were the most beautiful person in the world. How he could convey such emotion through a simple look, you couldn’t comprehend. He wondered how you managed to do the same when your brilliant eyes gazed at him with immeasurable love and admiration.

You could tell he was restraining himself from pursuing more, but your best friend/boyfriend was nothing if not respectful, and you thought about what it would be like to live with him. Waking up beside him every day, getting to kiss him, and move onto that sinning he mentioned. It would become so addicting, just as his soft touches and sweetness had already become.

Before you could picture it some more, Bucky shifted towards you, rolling onto his side and facing you in his sleep. He looked so peaceful.

You took in his handsome features and reveled in the warmth permeating off his body – you could get used to all of it.

“I love you, honey,” he mumbled before unconsciously pulling you closer.

You closed your eyes and realized that your mind was made up. You were moving in with him, and this would be your new normal soon. You just had to find the right time to tell him.

┈┈┈┈┈・・

You felt your heart flutter when Bucky looked down at you. Squeezing your hand, he gave you a broad, charming smile. “Are you still with me, honey?”

“Hmm?” you bit your lip as you met his gaze.

Bucky let out a laugh. “I asked if you wanted to grab a coffee before heading back.”

“Oh, yeah that sounds great,” you wrapped your free hand around his bicep. “Sorry, I still can’t believe we’re doing this,” you admitted.

“I still can’t believe you agreed,” he beamed, his brain not fully caught up with the fact that you were his. He was treating this like a first date, and he was doing his best to woo you.

He’d taken you out for a late lunch, a short stop at a little bookstore he knew you’d love, and another pit stop at a local ice cream shop that reminded him of a similar one you used to go to together. You told him that the date felt reminiscent of your usual hangouts, which you really appreciated, and he conceded with – “Yes, but this time it’s even more special because I get to hold your hand.”

He’d spent a good chunk of his flight researching the best places to take you in your area. Before you told him you were hoping to move back, he had already planned a day to show you how comfortable he was with moving for you. Because no matter where you lived, he’d be fine as long as you were together.

As you stood in line to get coffee, Bucky took your hand in his and kissed the back of it. Pesky butterflies fluttered in your stomach as you allowed yourself to get swept up in him. The guy that your heart knew it needed somehow truly wanted you too.

After ordering, he lead you to a seat at the coffee bar. Helping you hop up onto the bar stool before sitting beside you.

“Seems like someone really wants this date to keep going, huh B?” you teased. At every point that you thought the date was over, he suggested going somewhere else close by to extend it.

A faint blush crept up his face. “Can you blame me?” he brushed his thumb along your cheekbone. “I missed you so much, and I really can’t believe this is happening. So excuse me for wanting this first date to be the very best,” he grumbled playfully.

You shook your head with a grin. “I really really missed you too. So much that I applied for a transfer and have been looking into work back near you.”

“Wow,” he smiled, you really were coming back to him. The barista called out his name, and he left to bring over your drinks before he could tell you how happy he was.

You took the opportunity to check your email because the New York office requested additional documents to go along with your transfer request earlier in the day and you wanted to ensure it went through okay.

Tears filled your eyes when instead of further follow up information, you read that somehow the transfer for your exact position had been accepted. The chances of this happening so quickly was practically out of the question, and you could only silently thank the divine source that intervened to make it possible.

“Hey,” Bucky quickly set down the coffees once he saw your emotional expression. “Honey, what’s wrong?” he gently grabbed your free hand, his blue eyes brimming with concern.

“You’re officially getting a new roommate,” you sniffled before smiling.

Bucky’s breath hitched in his throat. “You’re moving in?”

You nodded your head enthusiastically, shocked and thrilled by the news. “I got the transfer.”

Without warning, he pressed his lips to yours, kissing you madly right there in the coffee shop.

Your brain went foggy as your tongue moved along with his – time standing still, or passing by in a blur, you couldn’t really tell.

“I love you so damn much, honey,” he finally mumbled against your lips when the need for air became too strong.

“I know,” you smiled, exhaling a breath. “I’ll always love you, B,” you tugged him back towards you, connecting your lips again. Feeling him smile into the kiss, you couldn’t help but grin as you kissed him deeply.

From stressful late library sessions, to all-nighters and warm bonfires, Bucky was your truest constant.

In time your best friend turned boyfriend would become your fiancé then husband; sooner than you expected and to the surprise of no one. You’d hear new stories about the ways Bucky quietly watched out for you in college from Steve and Sam, the best men at your wedding. Reaffirming the way he silently loved you through all of his actions – and you loved him all the more for it.

He’d hear stories from Natasha and Wanda, your maids of honor, about all the times they knew you only had eyes for him, a fact you hadn’t realized was so obvious.

Somehow in the end your wish upon that star came true, and you were beyond grateful that you let yourself believe in it. Because now you couldn’t imagine a reality in which you weren't happily married to your best friend – where the love you shared was ever present and built upon the strongest foundation, where it would never waver, no matter the circumstance.

The end.

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randomnameless · 11 days

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It's crazy how SoV preluded 3H by making one of the protags have a tremendously contradictory mindset of humanity being better off without gods, while also relying on those same gods to fulfill their goals, the hypocrisy of which goes completely unadressed throughout the game; truly masterful foreshadowing

Who directed FE15?

lol

I've recently tried to think about this "gods BaD" shift in more doylist terms - especially since I've finally played a Squenix game recently and...

FE13 was the FE series last ditch effort, it will either work or end up as the F-Zero series, FE13 worked and FE14 followed suit.

Lolcalisation aside, FE14 had a nice plot and I engaging characters - to some people but not me, different tastes and all - but FE14 and FE13 were still FE games, as in part of the old FE series, aka a niche series. Adding dating sim/interpersonal relationship through avatars might have helped a bit, and yet, imo, it was still the "niche" FE series.

Comes FE15 where we basically have a remake, and can't add the interpersonal thing because Alm isn't an avatar (even if the game spends a lot of time praising his oranges) - how to make the game work? Sure, some weirdo fans of the FE series will buy it, and it was never supposed to sell as much as FE13/14, but if it was a 1:1 remake or just with minor adjustments? It might bomb like the Archanea remakes, and good luck coming after that - will they need another "FE13" to reignite the sales or??

And here I thought about it : FE15 was retconned with the "GoDs BaD" spiel, to make this game more in-tune with what I'd call "traditional" JRPGs where the protagonists often defy a corrupt church and "divine" being.

("Traditional" imo being the Squenix way, because while I didn't play all entries of this series, the Tales series never striked me as being particularly as, uh, vindicative against organised religion, maybe save for Symphonia 1 - Abyss' Church really wishes to help the people even if it is corrupted from within by some dude who doesn't want to let the world die and played by the big bad, Xillia has no church, ditto for Zestiria and Phantasia had Mint and... that's it? - compare this to Squenix's Triangle Strategy and Hyzante being comically EvIl and without any redeeming traits/points when all of the other major parties of the conflict have "token good NPCs" as forced as they are in the game, to make it very clear that they might have done questionnable things like invading and slaughtering civilians from a foreign nation who welcomed them at their wedding, but at least they have "MoRaLs" unlike those bozos in their desert...)

And this "let's make FE mainstream by kicking gods" mentality completely runs at odds with the rest of the FE franchise, and while I know RD basically ends like this bcs "uwu Ike defeated a GoD with the help of another who used the lead of that game as a soul jar and granted him exclusive powers to put her sister to sleep" the morale of RD's story - as seen in the perfect ending but in Ike's speech to Yune itself - is that everyone can and should try to live together, asking Gods not the fuck out to let Humanity alone, but to believe in them just like humans believe in gods.

So FE15 ends as this big, uh, mismatched clash of narrative directions - being a remake it cannot stray too far from the source material and Archanea verse : Dragons and Humans can live together (even if it means dragons must sacrifice part of themselves to do so because fuck them I guess) and dragons can help humans just like humans can, uh, not be asses and not target them because their ears are pointy or when they are weakened...

And we had the new Squenix direction where GoDs BaD and HuMaNiTy fuck yeah, which leads to FE15's hypocrisy : please trust and rely on us Gods/dragons and kindly help us when we're in deep shit, and at the same time "HuMaNiTy FuCk YeAh".

Interestingly, the Squenix direction loses in the post game campaign (the one where we discover Thabes) but is reintroduced in the official (tm) timeline, depicting basically how BaD Duma is and how much of a chad Rudy was, before his very tragic (bring the onions!) death.

But yeah, I agree anon, FE15 was crazy foreshadowing and I guess is part of the reason why Tru Piss has this message "Humanity doesn't need Gods" targeted at... Rhea, aka a Nabatean (while Supreme Leader got there thanks to Sothis' powers!!) because the "Humanity Fuck Yeah" narrative is a staple of Squenix JRPGS, and if FE has to become mainstream, I guess to some devs, it has to copy what sells.

That would also explain why FE16 went so off the rails and forgot the tradition FE series message about coexistence, because what the fuck do you mean by "Humanity doesn't need Nabateans", after parroting for the entire game "Nabateans are to blame for the irrational world we live in" and blame "Nabatean blood" for everything wrong in Fodlan, without ever acknowledging the "evilness that lurks in the heart of men" (who aren't called Dimitri) ?

In a series that, albeit hazaphardly at times (FE8's manaketes feel forced in the lore! and the less is said about Nowi/Panne in FE13 the better we are), tried to push the "coexistence between all inhabitants of the land is the key to peace!" card - this Squenix direction feels all kind of wrong, especially when friendship with the divine beings (dragons) have been a staple of the franchise (Y!Tiki's number of alts, imo, is telling : for better or worse, Y!Tiki is, along with Marth, the figure of the franchise. She is a dragon, and she's a kid who wants to make friends. Sure it brings the loli crowd, but all those dragon children in the different games? They are a direct throwback to Y!Tiki!).

In a nutshell, I'd say the first crack was FE10's writing that made things seem like the Hero defeated a goddess and its subsequent wanking.

But I agree with you anon, FE15's change in direction and retcons were absolutely gunning for that Squenix "GoDs BaD" while keeping the "traditional" FE message which resulted in hypocrisy that showed in the writing but I guess no one really paid attention because FE15 has other issues too (I didn't before happening on FE16... even if I remember wondering why the fuck the game kept on hammering how BaD Duma was when we had people being asses right and left on their own).

FE Fodlan completely ignored the "we can coexist" message - save for subtext you can have where the optional lords who win the war and aren't Supreme Leader can have half/quarter-nabatean heirs through Flayn but her heritage is never ever mentionned in the ending cards - by completely shitting/ignoring the local dragons, they're blamed for everything wrong and don't get their voice to the chapter.

Masterful writing lol

I can't wait for the next game, let it be a remake (pls not Jugdral!!) or a new entry (Engage was developped alongside Fodlan, not after!) to see if IS will continue with the Squenix developments or return to their roots, even if they seem milquetoast, of "humans and lizards can hold hands".

---

NGL anon, during 2020/2021 and the daily "Supreme Leader was right though" threads in SF, I kind of realised that what I took for granted, aka "coexistence between humans and dragons!" being the message of FE in general, wasn't, even in what used to be the most serious board/thing.

FE as a series came to the West through FE7 where Dragons and Humans were at war, but ultimately the cast learns that dragons aren't evil incarnate and the best ending reveals that the big bad went mad because his dragon wife was killed and he tried to reunite with their dragon-human children he hid away for their safety.

So it was kind of surprising to see long-time, or at least not "Fodlan introduced" members of SF parroting the "well they can't live together" by buying the most ludicrous headcanon/fanon arguments you'd find in other series like "different lifespans" - this argument is pretty much non existent in the FE series, and I've never seen it opposed to Miccy's rule in Daien when, as a Heron Branded, she will outlive her citizens, or what, are we supposed to believe that Myrrh shouldn't interact with humans and remain in her forest because she will outlive humans, or is too "different" from them thus wouldn't have the same considerations?

FE13/14 brought the fandom wars of "new fans" vs "old fans", but FE Fodlan? Brought "casual JRPG gamer" vs "FE gamer" which usually boils down to "Supreme Leader fans" vs "everyone else".

Sure, we had the religion hate boner because the dragons in Fodlan verse made a "Church" with catholic imagery which is a deadly sin to some - but the "dragon blood is indeed the reason why everything sucks in the world" being parroted? "Dragons cannot have power over humans because of the sheer inbalance"? What, are you implying Nergal was forced by Aenir to mate with her twice or what? Ninian was oppressing Pherae in the endings where she marries Eliwood, and humans were finally liberated when she died?

Kana is, by nature, someone who will oppress humans because they're part dragon and their blood will bring strife to the world?

So unless IS doesn't fully commit to one narrative - because yes, for all of its flak, FE Fodlan still takes time, when it remembers, to portray Nabateans in a relative positive light when it comes to them as characters and in the general background, it's just that, they're never given a voice when it comes to discussing about the plot - we're bound to have this hypocrisy :

Dragons BaD bcs Humanity Fuck Yeah

and

Dragons and Humanity can coexist and make babies for scalies/monsterfuckers out there because acceptance/diversity is a way for peace.

#anon #replies #sorry i ranted #FE series #FE15 stuff #rant #watch as the whitewings never bring up Tiki the kid they met 3 years ago #when Alm goes humanity fuck yeah #when the devs could have pulled out something like Ike for Alm or rather return to their roots #they pulled this squenix shit #that imo doesn't have its place in the FE series #sure the series is evolving and maybe that's the direction it will take #if it really does I'll to reconsider my engagement with FE in general #and be stuck ranting about old games lol

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paralyze-fic · 7 months

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Paralyze.

Side Story; Shinso Hitoshi [Special Chapter]

|This chapter contains canon events of reader's past|

|Alternative ending with Hitoshi as love interest|

-,-,-,-,-,-,

It all started during my first day at kindergarten, I was the youngest one there. Everybody was four already, while I was still three and a half.

At first, nobody talked to me, and I was too shy to try and befriend anyone, so I was lonely during the first week there. But...

A purple-haired boy approached me at the beginning of the second week.

He had purple eyes too and his pupils were white, he scared me a bit at first, but when he smiled and told me he loved cats, I only chuckled and hugged him.

That boy was Shinso Hitoshi, whom I began calling Shi-chan after two months of knowing each other.

And then, Shi-chan developed his quirk, and I just stared at him happily, but I was also jealous.

Of him and the rest.

I was quirkless still, but I wasn't bothered, I was still three years old, and I had to wait patiently a few more months until my birthday arrived.

But I was quirkless even after I was five.

My parents kept cheering me on, saying I will have a quirk, and I'll be the best hero. The Invincible Hero. Shi-chan said so too, while he also explained to me how his parents thought his quirk was villainous.

I comforted him about that, saying that I would love to have his quirk. A brainwashing quirk... The society should be grateful. Shi-chan wants to be a Hero, not a villain, everyone should be happy about that, right?

The next year was the same, I was six... and still quirkless. With each passing day, I could notice how my parents were losing hope about me having a quirk. But Hitoshi didn't.

And because of that, he tried to train me. I told him what my parents' quirks were, and we tried together.

Enhance my muscles with my own energy. Make a person freeze completely on the spot as if they were asleep.

But nothing happened.

And by my seventh birthday, the next day, I had already accepted reality.

"I'm quirkless, Shi-chan..." was the thing I whispered to my only friend, sitting down beside him, "I can't be a hero with you... sorry." By the moment I finished my little speech, the tears had filled my eyes and wanted to run down my face.

He tried to say something, but I just hugged him and hid in his neck.

"Look, the quirkless loser and the villain freak!" I flinched at the yell directed our way. I never bothered learning his name, but I just know that he's the biggest asshole here. And he was only twelve.

I only looked away and Shi-chan was about to tell them something, but I stopped him.

My hand held his and we heard the dude's voice again, "And they're gay too! Faggots!"

I swallowed and stared down at the ground, biting my tongue so I wouldn't say anything disrespectful. For now, they left us alone and walked away, and soon the bell rang, so we walked to our classroom.

The whole class I spent it looking down at my desk, holding in my tears at the thought of my quirkless self.

The break began again and I walked to the bathroom, I wanted to wash my face a bit, so the redness of my eyes and nose would go away. But he was there when I walked in.

His friends were here too.

"Oh, if it isn't the quirkless loser." His friends laughed and he walked up to me, I just backed away, trapping myself with the wall behind me.

I saw his palms generating electricity and I could just stare at his arm.

His arm swung back, ready to punch me and I could only whisper, "Don't hurt me..."

Right as his fist was about to collide with my face, his arm tensed and he yelled in pain, gripping his forearm tightly. His friends came up to me and I kept mumbling the same thing over and over. "Don't hurt me..." they yelled too and ran out dragging their "leader" with them.

I sighed in relief and closed my eyes for a bit, but I suddenly thought, why did they run away screaming and gripping their arms?

I ignored that and opened my eyes.

And I got scared.

"I can't see!" I screamed, sliding down to the bathroom wall and rubbing my eyes, but the blackness wasn't going away. "Help me!!"

I kept screaming for a bit more until the bathroom door opened and Shi-chan's voice echoed.

"(M/n), what's wrong-?!" He abruptly stopped his question, and I felt him holding my shoulders tight. "What happened... to your... eyes?" I shook my head side to side and I felt tears falling down my cheeks.

"I don't know! Shi-chan... I can't see anything... I only see black. Help me, Shi-chan..."

What I remember from that time was Hitoshi taking me to the infirmary and then the principal came too, they ended up calling my parents, both came here with the twins, they were only a year old.

Such cute babies... but I couldn't see them at the moment.

Well, it turns out... I had my quirk.

My mother explained to me that this was her drawback. She went temporarily blind. I had to explain what had happened and how I went blind, which also made my parents worry about me being bullied. But it was fine, this was the first time they tried to physically hurt me, and they couldn't do it.

And that was the day when my quirk manifested. I was blind for two days.

//////

During Middle School, Shi-chan was being targeted again about his quirk, I always hated how they treated him. He has a brainwashing quirk!

That's fucking awesome!

So every time those assholes told him something about it, I would scare them away and then try to comfort Shi-chan.

"I'd like to know why they say that about your quirk, I mean, it would be really bad if you were a villain, so they should be grateful you want to be a hero, right?" Hitoshi smiled at me, but there were still some whispers about us, and how he had brainwashed me into being his friend.

But that's the thing! Shi-chan never used his quirk on me! Not even by mistake!

I even asked him to do it many times, but he refused every time.

And yes, while Hitoshi was being judged by his quirk, everybody around me was saying that I was invincible. Something that made me more insecure about myself.

Because even if I am so-called "invincible", my quirk could kill people, and... It did.

There was a time when I couldn't completely control my quirk yet. I was thirteen, and I was walking back home from school when I heard a woman trying to scream.

Her voice could only be described when somebody tries to cover your mouth, so I wanted to help her. I didn't know how, I was a still kid, but I needed to help her, nobody else was doing anything.

So I called the cops, explaining the situation, they told me to not get involved but the woman spotted me, and cried at me.

The man saw me and threw her to the ground behind him, stomping towards me with a furious face.

He tried to grab me, but I held his wrists above my head. The strength I had wasn't enough, but I was not going to go down and leave that poor woman all on her own, so I struggled to push him off of me.

I could hear the sirens in the distance, and that made me hold on longer. The man was mad, like extremely mad, but didn't try to run away, he was glancing back at the woman, who was still on the ground, shaking and crying. I noticed her legs, and both of her thighs were bleeding with deep wounds and the blood wasn't stopping.

I have to help her! She will bleed to death!

I gritted my teeth and pushed the man back, stepping forward and keeping my eyes on his arms, but my quirk wasn't activating.

Why?!

I growled and pushed him hard, he fell on his butt and tried to get up again.

But he screamed in pain.

Those kinds of screams occurred when my quirk was too aggressive, and I tried to stop it, but the man gripped his t-shirt, where his heart was and stared right into my eyes.

I clearly saw how he stopped struggling and fell backwards, a blank stare in his eyes.

And I saw white.

The woman was exclaiming "Thank you" towards me repeatedly, but I couldn't think of anything else.

Did I...?

The police and an ambulance arrived, the woman was taken to the hospital and I was kept there for interrogation, but they had to call my parents first.

After dreadful hours of waiting and answering questions, the forensic confirmed that the man had died from a heart attack. But she found it weird because apparently, he had been a healthy man his whole life.

His heart stopped abruptly, and the muscles ripped. As if it exploded.

Then I had to explain how my quirk worked.

I was declared innocent, but the thought... the knowledge of having killed a person wouldn't leave my mind.

For a year I had to go to therapy, but even if I was okay now, every now and then I would remember that event.

And the only way to forget about it was to be with Hitoshi.

A year went by, and our last year of Middle School arrived. It was at this moment, that I realized...

I wasn't straight, or not completely at least.

I had liked girls in past years, but I never tried to ask them out. I was too shy, and I still am.

But, Hitoshi made me realize I liked boys too.

He just suddenly seemed so freaking cute and then so fucking hot.

I was really confused, so that day when I came home from school, the twins tried to get me to play with them for a bit, but I made up an excuse about homework, and went up to my room.

On my laptop, I wrote on the search bar 'I like girls but boys too, what is it'. And lots of results popped up.

My entire night was spent in front of my laptop screen, and I got the answer to my question was... bisexuality.

Maybe... or maybe I just liked Hitoshi and not other boys.

But no, even if I liked Hitoshi already, I caught myself staring at some boys from my class and on the streets quite often. So I wasn't just Hitoshi-sexual, I was bisexual.

It was hard. To accept it. And to live with it.

The day I told my parents, they were like 'Oh, so you like boys too, that's good, you know what you like, we don't mind.' And that was such a relief, but only they knew about my sexual orientation.

Months flew by and it was the day of the U.A.'s entrance exam.

We both passed the written one, but not the practical one. And we ended up in 1-C, General Studies.

After the first week of class, the news about 1-A being under a villain attack reached our ears. I was kind of grateful that I wasn't in the Hero Course because my quirk doesn't really work with big groups of people.

And Ectoplasm sensei announced the Sports Festival coming up. He said something about having an opportunity to become heroes, we could be transferred to the Hero Course depending on our results.

And Shi-chan and I made a training schedule for it.

During said training, I had gone blind many times, but just the white blindness, so after a few hours of talking and bickering, I was back to normal.

And the Sports Festival arrived.

I managed to come in first place by the end of it, and Hitoshi ran to hug me when I stepped down from the podium.

Who would have thought I wouldn't be happy about my win?

The principal wanted to talk with me, and he told me about the internship and my possible transfer. Hitoshi got mad -I think- when I told him.

And he used his quirk on me for the first time.

After school, I went to the teachers' lounge and gave my hero name to Midnight sensei, who accepted it and let me go home. I walked out of U.A. and I stared up at the sunny sky. I tried to think about how to make Hitoshi talk to me again, and I remembered something.

I still owed him an ice cream.

So with a little of an improvised plan, I went to my house to change and walked out to buy him ice cream. I bought two ice cream tubs, one with his favourite flavour and one with mine.

On my way to his house, I felt my heart racing, I hadn't been this nervous since I realized I liked Hitoshi. And until today, even if I told myself I would ignore those feelings, they didn't go away. They just got stronger. And that's why I couldn't handle the thought of Hitoshi being mad at me.

I stopped in front of his house and hesitantly rang the bell, his mother opened the door, smiling brightly when she saw me. And she invited me in.

"Hitoshi is in his room, he seemed a bit sad and bothered, did something happen, honey? Did you two fight?" I smiled reassuringly at her while taking off my shoes.

"Not really," her smile changed to a sympathetic one and she placed her hand on my shoulder.

"It's about the Sports Festival, isn't it?" I just looked down, nodding, "Hitoshi wasn't like those other boys, wanting to be heroes and help people, but when he met you, he changed. Being a hero was the only thing he talked about..." She caressed my hair making me stare at her, "But he always said he would be a hero with you, (M/n)."

"We'll become heroes together, and we'll be the best heroes!" Hitoshi's childish voice rang inside my head.

"Can I go talk with him?" She nodded with her sweet smile.

"Of course you can, sweetie, this is your house too."

I went up the stairs quickly and I stopped in front of his door, taking out my phone before even knocking on his door.

I pressed the call button on his contact. He didn't pick up the first four times, but I called him a fifth, and last, time.

"What?" His voice was muffled and tired as if he had just woken up, but Hitoshi usually had that kind of voice and he had trouble sleeping for too long, that's why he had those deep and dark eye bags.

"Can we talk?" He groaned and I heard him shuffling around, probably turning on his bed.

"Why would we talk?" I looked at the bag I was holding, and I lowered my phone, hanging up. "Wha-?!" I heard him gasping past the door and I had to contain a laugh at the thought of his shocked face.

"Because I've got you the ice cream I promised to buy you," and after some seconds, his rapid footsteps echoed inside his room, the door opening quickly and abruptly.

Hitoshi only stared at me surprised, before a pink blush painted his cheeks and he turned around, walking in and leaving the door open, signalling me to enter his room.

I followed him and closed the door behind me, setting the ice cream down on his bedside table as he sat down on his bed. Hitoshi's purple eyes looked up at me, his eyebags darker than usual, and his eyes slightly red and puffy.

Had he been crying?

I bit down on the tip of my tongue at the mere thought of him crying, and it was probably about me getting into the hero course without him.

"I thought I told you to leave me alone for the rest of the day, didn't I?" I glanced away for a second but immediately turned back to look at him again.

"I couldn't stay away from you knowing that you were angry at me," he sighed patting his bed, beside him, and I sat down next to him.

"I wasn't... angry at you..." I stared at his profile, Hitoshi was looking down and to the side, playing with his fingers. "I was angry... at myself."

"Why-?"

"Because I'm not as strong as you, (M/n), that's why!" His scream made me flinch.

Hitoshi placed his elbows on top of his thighs and lowered his head, covering his face with his palms. After long seconds, I realized what he said.

And that made me flustered.

"You are stronger than me, Shi-chan." I hugged his waist and rested my forehead on his shoulder, his body tensed, "You were the one who would stand up for me when people made fun of me because I was quirkless, and you always motivated me to have hope even when my quirk didn't manifest." I squeezed him slightly, "I am who I am thanks to you, Hitoshi. I wouldn't have this ambition if you weren't there."

Hitoshi shifted a bit, but I didn't bother to move, and then I felt his arms around my shoulders.

"You idiot, how can you say those things so easily?" His fingers played with my hair, and I instantly relaxed, loosening my grip on him.

"Because I love you, Shi-chan."

Hitoshi flinched and I wondered what made him react that way until...

Did I just confess?! I am such an idiot! Now he's gonna hate me, great.

I wanted to back away from him, but he held me closer to his body, and my heart was beating rapidly. It was racing like crazy.

"Shi...-chan...?" I asked slowly, and his hands moved to hold my face up, making me face him. Which made me blink and look away in embarrassment. Hitoshi smiled at me, a red blush painting his cheeks. And for an instant... I relied on my instincts.

Gripping his waist tight and leaning forward, I pressed my lips against his in an innocent peck.

Hitoshi tensed but his body relaxed again as I hugged him and held his body against mine. My mind was racing and I couldn't process what was happening, I just knew that unstoppable shivers ran down my spine as I felt Hitoshi's chapped lips brushing on mine.

We stayed like that for what felt like hours, and we pulled back my mind was dizzy, and I was painting slightly. Even if we didn't make out at all.

"(M/n), you got... something to tell me?"

And I finally realized the situation.

My eyes opened wide and I almost choked with my own saliva, I was suddenly shaking and I felt like I was about to faint. What did I just do? I kissed Hitoshi. My best friend, who also is my crush.

I wanna die. I'm gonna die from embarrassment. Can I dig a hole in the ground and never come out of it? I wanna go home and hide for the rest of eternity.

But Hitoshi's cold palms cupped my cheeks, making me lose my train of thought and look up at him. His eyes were bright and his tiny smile looked cute on his face. It made me want to kiss him again.

"I l-lo..." I hesitated and Hitoshi caressed my cheek with one hand, the other one going up to play with my (h/c) hair. That relaxed me, and I finished as I stared into his eyes, "I love you, Shi-chan."

Hitoshi smiled at me with a darker blush on his cheeks and he leaned in to plant a kiss on the tip of my nose.

So cute.

"I love you too, (M/n)." I stared into his purple eyes for a minute, and his blush got worse, averting his gaze from my (e/c) eyes.

"So, this means you're my boyfriend now?" Hitoshi nodded and hid his face in the crook of my neck. A big smile appeared on my face as I laid back on the bed, pulling Hitoshi on top of me and I kissed the top of his head, caressing the skin of his lower back.

This is... what happiness feels like, right?

Or is this the feeling of having a reciprocated love?

Either one, I couldn't have wished for a different outcome. Because I finally had Hitoshi with me, and I couldn't be happier right now.

#paralyze fic #bakugou katsuki fanfic #bakugou x male #bakugou x male reader #male reader #reader insert #x reader

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soul-wanderer · 1 year

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06x15//What Are You Willing To Lose - weekly recap

I don’t think I can cover everything in this recap, because man, there’s so much happening in this episode and I have a whole lot of feelings and thoughts about certain plots, but let’s try to get to it (aka almost one week later because man, that ep was a lot, and then I got sick, hence the slight delay, so consider this a refresher after the break between eps):

- Andy telling Ross “I can’t afford to lose you” - can we talk about this, please? Can we? This still hits me right in the feels a week later, and I don’t think I’m gonna be over that anytime soon, thanks for asking

- Ross being genuinely surprised that Andy and Maya did not tell anyone else about the photos (apart from Carina) and that they’re on her side - that moment just had it all, and I love that they have them sticking together instead of them tearing each other apart. Ross clearly did not expect that, probably didn’t think she’d ever deserve this type of loyalty, but Andy and Maya still show up for her, and my god, am I here for this. And Andy is totally right that they need someone like Ross in a position like that.

- Andy and Travis both trying to be a good friend to the other, and it’s just the silliest and cutest thing, and I’m here for that friendship, too (especially because “hos over bros”), especially the scene in the end where Travis is there for Andy

- I’m gonna try to keep the Theo as captain recap short, but let’s just say: He was rightfully upset about the house being a trap for both the people living there and his team. It’s his job to keep the team and everyone else safe and out of burning buildings alive, and that job was made impossibly harder when he figured out what was going on. It’s not his job to be empathetic or to counsel anyone at the height of an emergency, BUT we see him backpedal one moment later, when he sees how desperate this woman is and IMMEDIATELY softens and tells her they were gonna do their best, before going back to work and that’s really all that needs to be said about this situation. Same with him having to make the decision to leave Warren behind - Ross was right there and watching him, and he cannot possibly risk more lives to save the life of one team member (+ it’s protocol, too), even if the mere idea of leaving someone behind hurts. He would have made the call, and he would have been right about it, too

- Ross owning her “mistake” in front of a bunch of dudes and giving a goddamn fantastic speech while she is at it. Man, that episode really gave us all of that. I mean: “You know, in the short time that I have been here, I have seen this union look the other way when sloppy firefighters who should have retired years ago made fatal mistakes on the job. I've seen it allow a serial sexual harasser retire with full pension instead of face discipline. And this is where you want to draw the line? [...] No, I am pro-union! I am anti a system that has a million things wrong with it. [...] I fought to drag this department kicking and screaming into the 21st century, to make your jobs safer and better", they really gave us that and I love it

- Maya being cute on her date with Carina, that’s all. That smile is gonna kill us all one day, and it’s gonna be a fucking fantastic death

- I will never, ever forgive the editors/producers for making these goddamn awful cuts between Maya and Carina in the shower and a man fucking dying in a burning house. I mean, what the hell? That was a downright horrible decision.

- Andy. My goodness, Andy. And her trauma. Like, finally? They’re finally acknowledging that trauma doesn’t simply disappear? Thank goodness. Thanks to whoever remembered. And thank you for the portrayal of such raw and heartbreaking emotions when Andy told Warren, “You fell through the roof”, that just about wrecked me in a million different ways, but in a good way, so thank you for that

- Ross telling Theo he did the right thing. Thank you for that, too. And I guess Jack confirming that wasn’t too bad either.

- And they acknowledged Carina’s trauma too, and the contrast was so beautifully portrayed. Carina wants them to be okay. She wants their marriage to be okay. But it isn’t. And she can’t pretend, and she realizes that and realizes they got more work ahead of them. And Maya just...acknowledges Carina’s pain and is there for her. It’s heartbreakingly beautiful, that’s all. Now, let’s hope Carina finally accepts some professional help as well.

- Sullivan being an ass. Honestly, will there ever be a week where I don’t have to type this out? I can only hope so, because that man is getting on my nerves, badly.

- Theo and Vic are not communicating well right now. That doesn’t make them toxic, that doesn’t mean their relationship is about to end, this doesn’t mean that they’re awful human beings. It just means they’re both fighting their own battles and they suck at talking and they’re being human and sometimes relationships just are like that, okay? They’ve been through so much and they’ve come so far, this will not be their breaking point (or at least not forever)

- last but not least: I am not here for them trying to create fake drama between Theo, Vic and Travis via that “old friend” they introduced. They need to stop recycling that storyline in Shondaland, before I flip some tables, seriously.

#Station 19 #Andy Herrera #Theo Ruiz #Maya Bishop #Carina DeLuca #Travis Montgomery #Vic Hughes #06x15 #weekly recap #that was long #oops

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card-manor · 19 days

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The girls arriving to the Devildom

|| assuming different timelines

Alice

Mad, frustrated and confused, but none of that really mattered in that moment-

“Send me back!”

“We can’t do that, you’ve agreed to join the exchange-“

“No no! I left a fire on!”

Alice is sent back to her study for just long enough to turn off the bunsen burner and shut off all the power from the main breaker, just in case. Before she can throw together a bag, she’s pulled back to the Devildom.

Now without having to worry about her house burning down, Alice can stand still long enough to listen to the welcome speech and simmer in her rage.

She mulls over the injustice of it all for a few days, anger coming to a boiling point when yet again she gets not-so-passive aggressively slammed into her locker between classes.

Fucking isekai ass program

But, despite her better judgement, she finds herself obsessing over her classes- now 4 chapters deep into her alchemy textbook before the first week is over. Entirely new fields of science were hers to explore, undiluted and unregulated chemicals readily available

If nothing else, she was going to have f-u-n this year

Carmafe

Resigned but can’t deny the excitement bubbling underneath. Or maybe it’s hysteria, it’s a little hard to tell.

She listens to the prepared speech, only growing a little reluctant when calling Mammon and hearing him swear up a storm over having to keep watch over her. He comes to lead her back to the dorms, but she hesitantly raises her hand, unsure of the protocol. Amused, Lord Diavolo beckons her to speak.

“If I may be so bold, could I be returned to the human realm for a bit? There are some things I need to handle if I’m going to be away for so long, but I only need 4 hours.”

Lord Diavolo initially denies her request, but Carmafe has experience in diplomacy. She argues her point for a few minutes and it presents (or amuses) Lord Diavolo enough that he allows her to return for 2 hours. She catches sight of the men with gloves standing next to each other, one indifferent, one irate, and knew this was going to be a one time request so she better make it account.

Having recently completed her final job, and since she hadn’t accepted any new contracts yet, it only took 30 minutes for Carmafe to set up an automated message saying she would be unavailable for the foreseeable future and set up a mailing list for her return.

The next 30 minutes were a mass phone call to her 4 friends, telling them she would be MIA for a while and asking them to take care of her house while she was gone. Since she wasn’t allowed to tell them about the exchange program, 25 of those 30 minutes were spent reassuring them that she wasn’t actually going to just off herself and call it a one year vacation.

She uses the last hour to cram as much as she can into her suitcase. Bottles of body soap, toothbrushes, toothpase, first aid supplies, essentials. Near the end, 3 sets of clothes, hoodies, and her favorite novel for comfort. Right as she zips up the suitcase and straightens up, she’s back in the devildom with her audience of 8.

“Thank you for the honor, I’m excited to start the school year..”

Danny

Tries to jump out of the window

LISTEN, she came out of an unexpected sleep only to be surrounded by 7 super tall and buff men in a meeting hall she doesnt recognize? Absolutely not, this is how you lose your organs.

She doesn’t make it far, getting yanked back down to the ground by a dude with gloves and dark red eyes. “Lord Diavolo” gets Lucifer to drop her, and after giving Danny a minute to get oriented, goes through the whole “exchange program” spiel.

The knowledge that everyone and everything here would be capable and willing to kill her was not lost on Danny, but she has to admit, the concept of a demon school and magic was far too enticing to worry over the logistics for too long.

Annoys Mammon on the walk to the House Of Lamentation by openly staring at everything and trying to touch every plant on the walk over, accumulating 10 cuts and scrapes by the time they’re through the gate.

Excitement is quickly shot down when she walks into her room and realizes she only has 2 uniforms, a toothbrush, some toothpaste, and the clothes on her back to her name.

Rose

Gaslighting 101 and “Cook and clean for 7 messy guys? No paycheck? No thanks!”

“I never signed the agreement.”

“Yes, you did.”

“No I didn’t.”

“You quite literally did.”

“That’s not how I write my signature.”

Honestly unsure what to make of her situation, but ultimately decides to roll with it. Flirts with Asmo, and has to keep the smirk off her face when he’s surprised that his powers don’t work on her.

Super grateful to see that her bedroom door has double locks but already has plans to install a full security system and tinkers with the phone that was given to her.

Roxanne

Pure confusion, but not about to fight her way out of this.

Puts up the least amount of fight but has a sense of wonder and intrigue at the prospect of magic and returning to school.

Doesn’t let Mammon abandon her when levi starts demanding money, she sees his plan coming a mile away and sneaks off to her room before either man can realize she’s gone.

School! School…. School.

In the silence of her room, the reality of her situation threatens to overwhelm her and instead of lingering on her anxiety, Roxie starts to reorganize and take inventory of her borrowed room. Thankfully, they seem to forget she’s in the house and no one calls her down to dinner.

#card manor #oc writing #long post

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makima-s-most-smile · 11 months

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Trigun Maximum 1 (Part 2)

*me rushing after the bookclub timeline* My brain does not work in summer heat!

*continues to waffle about the smallesT details* And I will only get worse, nyehehehe

Chapter 03: Bravo Girls!

Meryl!

Uh… Neither can a man?!? Karen, what kind of sexist logic do you have there?

Everyone should be capable and independent, that’s how you avoid landing in abusive situations. (It also does not mean that you shouldn’t rely on people. That’s how communities work.) Knowing your worth and loving yourself is the key here.

Those who know, know -_-

This is the first time that Meryl got any lifesign from Vash for about 2,5 years. She must have thought he died until now. No wonder she is near tears. Her friend is alive! She must feel so relieved! Boyo survived whatever the fifth moon incident has been!

Oh, I immediately dislike Mr. Keele. Keele = Kill, did anyone else zoom in on the phonetic similarities?

Again! Mr. Keele is a tradesman! An Assassin! I didn’t imagine it! Somebody tell me that I didn’t imagine it when I said that Wolfwood literally advertises he’s a trained killer in Ultimate 2! Karen gives Meryl all the hints! “Yeah, I would not want to be there, even if I was you, with Mr. Keele being a killer. Y’know, the ex-elite-military-dude.” We see the penny drop on Meryl’s face!

This has to be one of the bigger cities, since it was build around a ship. But it looks so small. Like 1.000 people, maybe 2000 max. I read somewhere that like 20 Million humans of 100 Million survived the fall (correct me if I remember that incorrectly). But with such small settlements… I cannot believe that. There was surely a second Great Dying in the aftermath, but this… this is so small. And it is a big, well-established city. If Vash is able to run around without people realising who he is, there need to be more people for that anonymity. Big cities offer anonymity, small communities do not!

I like this shot of Vash. He looks like he is Batman, all brooding and watchful. Through that establishing shot, we, as readers, aren’t really surprised when Keele is busted immediately. How exactly, besides Vash being careful, I don’t know. Is it the body language? The way he carries himself and his weapons? Does he hear them talking at the reception desk?

I like this whole scene. Vash is not naive. He knows of the dangers, he knows he is still hunted down, even without the bounty.

Keele is ruthless! To get to his target, he is willing to kill innocents. The woman in the car is an innocent bystander. Vash needs to shield her with his body. While the other assassins until now also killed people, they didn’t use them to get to Vash. That’s a key difference and makes Keele so much more coldblooded.

How much pain tolerance has he? He is smiling and joking after it. Yes, he is showing pain, but he is more obsessed with making everything seem less dire. Of course, Wolfwood sees through it and gets help. I am not sure, he may even carry Vash, since it is highly stupid to let Vash lay there in the open with a fucking hitman on the lose. I wonder how Wolfwood feels when being confronted with that kind of hit man. While we know that Wolfwood is able to “easily” kill, he does not seem like a person who would use innocents to get to his target. He is too direct and honest for that. You could also use the word too ethical, but that is… *looks at the killer for hire part* Well, even professionals have standards?

I love Meryl’s cool speech, but… Keele was hired by her boss. Her boss would have known that Keele is a hit man. Even Karen commented on it. What does that say about her organisation as a whole? I want consequences for it! Be it structural changes or anything, but we never get any. Please, if you have something like this in the story, Nightow, please, do something with it. What are the consequences about this for Meryl and her job, what are the consequences for Milly? Do they report this? It would be in character for both of them! And if they don’t… SHOW IT TO US! PLEASE! What is their reasoning then!

I’d say, Keele is not without logic, but it is not insurance logic. It is the logic that the state works with in “The minority-report”. The idea of a self fulfilling prophecy is also present here, too. Though, it is unethical from the perspective that it infringes on the human’s agency. Another little thing that is important for me (and most likely for Meryl, too) is that Vash is not the disaster! Things happen to and around Vash, but he is not the one who decides to go bat-shit crazy, he runs, he flees and most importantly, he keeps the casualties low! There is no intent there! She would have put that in her reports! Keele didn’t care, her boss didn’t care.

Can you punish someone for something he doesn’t do? It would be punishing his existence.

Keele goes to threaten Meryl with a gun, intending to kill her. He is not only a hit man, he is a murderer. His reasoning is greed and covering his own tracks. You could say, in this chapter, he is somewhat the antithesis to Vash. Vash brings destruction without intent and does his best to avoid it. Keele kills for personal gain without care for anyone other than himself. Who is worse? The answer is easy, but somehow from a purely capitalistic view the insurance agency came to another result.

Meryl thinking back to what Karen said, but I don’t think she thinks about herself in that position. She thinks about Vash and how he is thrown into life threatening situations again and again (at least that is my interpretation) and how he cannot be happy like that. His smiling picture contrasts what they have been through together. Yes, it is a shitty position that Meryl finds herself in, but she chooses to stay at Vash’s side. And damn, that’s fucking nice of her. She is his friend. She is brave. And she has ethics!

Milly to the rescue! I love the whole framing of that pic. Her smile and then the close up that shows it is an angry one!

It’s subtle, but does Meryl help Keele to fly by tripping him? Her position changes so much from the former page. She looks so completely unimpressed by Keele. Also, isn’t it nice that people other than Vash get panty shots, too?

WHY?! You smoked Vash out! You followed him! You literally got into a life threatening situation! Why don’t you go to him? AHHHHHHHHHH

Gosh, Wolfwood is so petty. Yes, he keeps Vash’s ethical standground and does not kill his fellow hitman, but Vash never said something against torture… And I didn't get why his face is so bloody, I thought that was the sauce, but no, he skitted on his face due to Milly's hit. Dayumm.

Meryl’s reasoning reads so weird. She used the vacation to look for him, but now she says that they will deal with him through work… Is it her being shy? And Keele never got busted… Nothing changed at her workplace even though it did something so unethical. I… really don’t like this plotpoint.

Chapter 04: Hero returns

Knives! My second best worstie! New readers still don’t get to know his face! Though, this is a memory from Vash. His brother is distorted to a monstrous being, inhuman with crazy eyes and a smile with so many teeth, it is a threat. Knives is not human, but Vash, his brother, is not human, too.

“Forgetting brings too much sorrow, remembering brings everlasting pain.” That’s grief and it makes Vash's whole being. Sure, if you forget the person you lost, your pain may be gone, but you also lose what made you you. But now, every memory is tainted with the loss. Time should heal those wounds, pain becomes bearable and now painful memories become bittersweet. But I don’t think Vash ever reached that point. Rem is still a sore spot for him, he can’t even talk about her, but she haunts every step. Every scar on his body is a sacrifice to her godhood. Vash is less his own person and more a priest to her existence. While I am sad for Vash, I also feel for Rem. If she was able to know how her son idolises her to his own detriment, she would despair.

Vash having nightmares due to trauma, confirmed.

Damn, that contrast. Wolfwood, the black smudge, between all that white space and all the coffins hanging over his head. We already know that he deals with death at this point, being a gun ho gun and all that shebang, but it also evokes something claustrophobic in me. Wolfwood watching as more and more coffins -corpses- pile up, ready to crush him under their weight. And he just stands and stares.

Wolfwood, the town gossip. “Thank heaven you asked! It’s a long story, though it is kinda a short one! Anyway-”

Eh, the town going all Montaque and Capulet, just without the lovers and more sexual assault. Kinda sad, but that is greed working. The planet truly brings out the worst of humanity. And Vash is still able to be sad about it. Because he knows humanity can be better. And Wolfwood is his bitter, contemptuous self, not without reason. I don’t see him saying that as misanthropy, though. Wolfwood said in his introduction chapter that he has an orphanage to care about. While Vash cares about the whole of humanity, Wolfwood cares for his smaller circle and he needs to stay alive to do so. He cannot allow himself the risk.

And damn, Vash just plainly calling him out for having secrets and Wolfwood again, not denying it and just falling silent. They know. And it hurts.

Brad!

He is 17. Why do 17 year olds in manga either look kawaii or like the worst Jojo-delinquents

His hair reminds me so much of Ryu (or Josuke mixed with Jotaro)

Damn, Brad, you are such an arrogant arsehole here. Oh, yes, the people who are trying their best to survive daily on a planet that is unable to really accommodate their needs are not the nicest around… Dude, you are living at a place that guarantees that your basic needs are taken care of. Brad lived with a priviledge that other people literally would die for. I know Brad will grow on me, but damn, his introduction is always… I wanna kick him! At least you are not as bad as ‘98 Brad.

What conversation? The one about plants? The one about having to kill to protect your close ones? Are you trying to make him understand that you, Wolfwood, need to stay alive to keep the orphanage going? Or the one about you hiding stuff? Are you going to confess? Why you are here, Wolfwood? What is it? It is open to interpretation.

But I love this! This shows what a truly honest and open dude Wolfwood truly is. Yes, he goes so easily on the defensive and, damn, he speaks in absolutes and thus can be seen as condescending. But he reaches out to Vash again and again. He literally runs after him to talk! He tries to go by Vash’s rules. He didn’t kill anyone with his fucking machine gun cross, because Vash asked him to, and that is a feat in on itself.

Oh! There is a new coat in the suitcase, too! Didn’t see that in the first readthrough.

Brad: “I don’t think we have a choice, do we? Lost technology for lost technology.” I read this in my first readthrough as Vash trading stuff with the colony, most likely because I still had the scene with Kaite in my head, where Vash just pulls out a radio in the form of a pen. But now it reads as Brad putting Vash down as a plant and dehumanising him.

No! Vash, you are the fucking gun! Yes, you have dangerous powers, but you did not pull the trigger! I know it feels like it! And damn, your body must feel foreign and hostile to you, but you did not chose this, the responsibility lies not on you, however much you put it onto yourself.

“We have no choice but to depend on him”

“The only one who cannot flee or surrender, who will even return from the dead is that nice man right there.”

Damn, that hurts. I know the doctor has a better relationship with Vash than Brad has, but it reads like they are only using him and that only because there is no other option. It mirrors how Vash treats himself.

Brad struggles with Vash seemingly being immortal and inhuman. His hissy fit kinda fits what is brewing in Wolfwood. But with the Docs explanation of Brad being a fucking brat that has a temper trantrum because his age mate Jessica has a puppy crush on Vash... He is just a fucking hormonal teenager. Brad the brat. And that makes Vash’s bout of hating his plantness immediately less dire. I love Doc. (I wanted to write like, but my hands wrote love, so love it is.)

Wolfwood can never eat in peace part two electric boogaloo. He looks so cute, squatting down and just eating XD. It is one of my favourite Wolfwood panels. He just looks so innocent and curious. Annnnd… the softness is immediately gone with his scowl returning. Interesting, how Wolfwood takes the police/army force intervening as something that can go either way and not something purely positive. We don’t see much of them in the manga anyway, so how much power do they truly have? Not enough, considering Knives is scheming in the background with the whole of the gun-ho-guns.

Also, Brad, just go away with your prejudice. I’d like to see how you would have come out living not in a safe space but a world in which you can be shot just for looking stupid.

Kinda hypocritical of Wolfwood. He wants to go away and not interfere. While that is a choice, it is a passive one. His action is nonaction. But nonaction is also an action. He wants to avoid having to make this decision of life and death. But that also tells us, the readers, that while Wolfwood is capable of doing so, he hates taking a life, he hates this part of life and himself.

And his decision is to decide which conflict he interferes with, because his main goal is to keep the orphanage afloat. Wolfwood has to decide for himself who is worth saving and who is not. No wonder he calls himself a demon. But it is also very human.

He does not have the capacity to help everyone and if he dies here, the orphanage would suffer. His life is worth something for that very cause. While Wolfwood is right that you cannot not make a choice, he doesn’t seem to completely understand it, either. Surely, he breaks the choice down to kill or let live, but there are myriads of other choices that have to be decided before it comes to this. His choice right here is not to kill or to kill, but avoid interfering so he does not risk his own life at the detriment of the orphanage.

And Vash is… Not understanding Wolfwood or humanity. From Vash’s perspective every life is important. He cannot fathom that for some people some lives are more important than others and that alienates him from humanity. From his position it seems unimaginable for him that he does not jump into the fray to rescue the hostages. And it reads a bit patronising or judgemental that other people are unable to do so. It reads like: I can do it, why can't you? Wolfwood has a point, but Vash slaps it away by telling him it is just talk. Vash is not human here, he is far from it.

For me, this also opens up another question. Is Vash using this unconsciously to avoid Knives? By concentrating on helping the locals, he gets distracted again and again from their real goal, smoking out Knives. While Vash said that he wants to kill Knives, it goes against his ideals. Rem also died for Knives, not only humanity. And Vash still loves him, even though Knives did something unmentionable to him. Considering that Vash is also latently suicidal… is there an unconscious hope that he could die before having to meet Knives? It also makes his position of I can do it, why can't humanity do it, kinda sad. He can't imagine people wanting to live and considering staying alive a priority.

I… just love this very interaction. It feels a bit jarring that they had such an intense argument just a page ago and now they are back to silly nillies.

Chapter 05: Dancing revolvers

Hehehehe, Baby Vash immediately wanting to eat the geranium. Geraniums are also used to repel mosquitos. How does Zazie feel about them? Do the plants smell of geraniums? Imagine Zazie meeting Knives and having to retch.

Interestingly, I mostly found geranium meaning protection and warding off evil, even as a promise to meet at a specific place. Only after a deeper search did I find the meaning of determination. Rem’s face in that scene. She takes strength from that meaning, her own determination to leave behind something or start anew. The woman has a deeply seated regret or two.

We learn later what this exactly means, but Luraude not losing a drop of sweat… HINTS! It looks like he was controlled somehow.

Vash, that can kill a person… A pacifist, you are…

Then why are you bleeding from the mouth?!

I love the framing of Vash’s shooting scene and the aftermath. How his training comes to fruition and how much of his fighting is like high level mathematics. We also don’t know why the storage is shown in the aftermath until we get the resolution of them having been shot open.

Chapter 06: Sin

I love that framing. It shows the sin and the grief that follows it. It doesn’t show the act, it shows the victims! That makes it much more poignant for me. It is about how innocent people are forced into such situations, how much loss there is from ONE wrong act.

And while it makes a full circle back to Wolfwood’s words and gives them much needed human context, it also opens up the idea of Wolfwood being a victim that had to take up arms, too. His expression is also important. There is no: “Gotcha! Spikey! There is not his angry stubbornness or this neutral, stoic facade that normally accompanies him trying to make Vash understand. It is just absolute sadness and, maybe (I am really bad with faces) apathy by helplessness. I like that we get a callback to the scene a few chapters beforehand, because this close up tells us a whole different story and frames Wolfwood’s position much more as a position made by need and not by want. As much as Vash cried in that scene, Wolfwood looks like someone who wants to cry, too, but has no tears left.

Wolfwood says that Vash is foolish and stubborn. He looks kinda like a devil, enjoying Vash’s plightful situation. Could it be misguided care for Vash’s survival, because Wolfwood himself had to learn the hard way how to survive? Or does he want confirmation that Vash is someone who reacts and thus is in the end human? There is the hint that there is more to Wolfwood joining Vash’s travels. Our man is sus.

There are other questions that I have as a reader. How often does Vash regret the outcome of these situations? Does he only regret those where he couldn’t save everyone? Or in which people choose to be greedy? How does he keep up his hope towards humanity after those situations? Every life is holy for him, so the life of the murderer and the life of the daughter has to be on the same level. Doesn’t how we fill our life’s make a difference? Vash needs to say no to this due to all encompassing love for humanity. And that makes him inhuman.

I love how the panelling kinda says two completely different things. By lowering his gun, Vash takes a step back and lets the father decide how to punish his daughter’s murderer. Framing Knives in the middle could be read as Vash’s own acceptance of his hypocrisy. If he is willing to kill Knives for what he did, why should he stop the father. But it also shows Vash’s inner fight for me. He lowers the gun, while we are presented with Knives’s portrait. Vash is unsure if he even can kill Knives.

You can’t save everyone, but you should at least try. And Vash acts upon it. Not putting the father in danger by using his gun, but by trying to save the rapist with only his hands. It is about not burdening the father with being a killer. And… it is an end that makes Vash keep up his promise, but it also feels hollow. The girl was tortured to death and her killer lives. It is unfair. The father’s grief won’t lessen, he may even feel like a failure. And everything about this is just sad.

Another point for Vash being decidedly inhuman and separated from humanity. How would I feel if I saw my family that I put under my protection tear themselves apart. I look down from far above and their scuffles would seem so menial to me and I still lose family members to it, other grief and take more lives in revenge. But also, if everyone is your family, no one is. Family is that important because it is our in-group. But an in-group automatically has an out-group. Vash is ripping himself apart with his point of view.

Yeah, I would also yawn if my boo bombs up my holding cell and gets me with his cool bike. As if Vash expected Wolfwood to come to his rescue.

I like this little tidbit of Wolfwood showing empathy to the father and offering him an escape. Our boy is a softie! Even though he immediately grows defensive when Vash calls him out on it.

I also like Wolfwood stressing to Vash that Vash’s luck will someday run out. And Vash knows it. Vash knows he has been lucky til now. Wolfwood means it in a Vash’s life or the other person’s. Wolfwood wants Vash to chose his own life.

Annnnd Luraude was a puppet and no one knew. Even Vash with his supersenses didn’t sniff or hear him out.

And I lov…hate… love… Legato. I mean, it is a planet full of bdsm-gear-wearing cowboys shooting each other up and he walks up like from a HIM concert all in a fucking iron maiden. Damn.

#trigunbookblub #trigun bookclub #Trigun Maximum 1.2 #finally done with this #the heat fries my brain #why do I waffle so much?

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feekins · 1 year

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on to Trigun vol 2!!! and right off the bat, we have a lot of translation discrepancies - so here are those and some of my other thoughts and things as I re-read ch 1-2

(NOTE: I'm reading the Dark Horse [physical] and Overhaul [online] translations side-by-side)

(Dark Horse on left, Overhaul on right)

more translation weirdness and confusing speech bubbles, what with Dark Horse making it seem like it's just Vash begging in this panel, while in the Overhaul, it's clear that there's some back-and-forth between Vash and the shoemaker. yes, it's a little thing, but now I understand this exchange better.

then, just a few pages later, while Vash is lounging on that bench, Dark Horse has him going "The sky looks like the deep blue sea" whereas in the Overhaul, it's "You can really lose yourself in that blue sky..." 🤨

another instance of super-perceptive Milly! for some reason, though, Dark Horse has her going like "Just now, Vash looked so seriously sad..."

a subtle difference, but an important one, I think...

...and then, there's how Vash talks about Knives a page or so later. in Dark Horse, it's "The one thing that has kept living for so long..." but in the Overhaul, it's "It's the one thing that has kept me living for so long." like. dude. there's a difference. 😑

(Dark Horse on top, Overhaul on bottom)

😑

BUT THEN!!! WE HAVE LEGATO'S COIN COLLECTION!!!!! OH MAN, OH BOY 😈

and more translation weirdness right at the end of ch1. Dark Horse has Legato saying "Did you think it was the drunken rambling of an old man?" which. always confused me. until the Overhaul cleared it up for me with "Did you think it was just the drunken ramblings of your old man?"

then, right at the beginning of ch2, when the sheriff is explaining why, in his mind, Vash isn't innocent, Dark Horse has him saying "Listen, we have witness testimony that places him at the shoe store. He was also closest when the husband's body was found" which?????????? so, once again, the Overhaul makes MUCH MORE SENSE, saying "He's also the last person who saw the deceased alive and in one piece."

then there's this weird little discrepancy at the beginning of Vash's flashback with Rem. Dark Horse has bby!Vash saying "It's just you...you and me, Rem" while the Overhaul has "It's just...us and you, Rem." W H Y.

and THEN! the explanation for how the Fall started! Dark Horse is all vague at one point like "The program started acting strange, plotting a new course and sending orders through the neural network to all of the ships" which uhhhhh what program? 😑 so ty, Overhaul, for the much more clear "An unknown program started infecting the fleet's neural network, making the ships' AI stop responding as it changed the course."

and...ugh. I could go on and on, but I feel like I'm spending way too much time describing Dark Horse's weird translation shit SO ANYWAY

👀

I.......y'know what, 🤷

perceptive Milly again!!!!!

...that tristamp scene with Vash and Rollo... 🥺

#trigunbookclub #text postan 2k23

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tailsrevane · 1 year

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[book review] the farthest shore by ursula k. le guin (1972)

ok like, i know i kinda related to the presence of a caste of eunuchs in the previous book in ways that probably weren’t intentional on the author’s part and i don’t want to make this a pattern or anything but like… arren.

arren.

you know that genre of youtube videos that are just titled like “[character] being relatable for [x] minutes”? well, this babygirlified subby mess of a boy (who is destined to become king of all the isles i guess???) is variously described as “a gentle messenger for bad news” & “that girlish lad of yours”??? the latter comes when a bunch of patrons in a tavern ask ged if arren can sing, and after arren obliges they remark, “that’s a queer music.” and like, YEAH my dudes??? you asked a fucking subby femboy to sing??? if the music weren’t queer i would worry that something was wrong??? (yes, they’re not using “queer” in that context, but shut up, let me have this.)

anyway, this “girlish lad” meets his hero and IMMEDIATELY tries to become his sub ("as he had made his act of submission he forgot himself") and when fleeing the scene of that embarrassment turns into a boy disaster lesbian (“forgetting courtly farewells he hurried to the doorway, awkward, radiant, obedient.”) he later gets captured by slavers & chained up on a ship, there’s a curious comment about his soul not rebelling against the notion of slavery??? but anyway, ged rescues him which is pretty badass, and he later dreams about still being held captive. we’re meant to understand through context clues that these dreams are scary & unpleasant, but he never EXPLICITLY SAYS they are?

again, please don’t take this too seriously, i’m taking a character who was definitely intentionally written in some ways that appeal to me and reading WAY TOO MUCH INTO other things that were clearly NOT intended, but yeah i’m having a lot of fun with this and i love this character now, thank you for your time i will not be taking any questions.

so yeah, that was a big part of my enjoyment of the book, no lie, but like let’s just pivot i guess to the actual main action of the book and say that holy shit, this is one of the most original fantasy novels i’ve ever read??? we begin with arren bringing ged & the masters of roke the terrifying news that the power of magic has begun to fade from the outlying lands of earthsea. it turns out that they’ve been getting similar reports from other outlying lands, and arren’s report is sort of the straw that breaks the camel’s back, because whatever is happening is spreading. the archmage decides that he’s going to investigate this himself, and the only companion he’ll bring with him on this dangerous quest is arren himself.

they have some adventures while they’re investigating this that i already relayed some of, but the deeper they probe into what’s going on the scarier it gets? they find lands where not just magic, but all arts have begun to fade, as people grow obsessed with the promise of immortality promised to them by what we increasingly realize is a sorcerer who rivals archmage ged’s power. and like, it starts to sound like we’re basically dealing with a situation where ged is the most powerful servant of life & this other guy is the most powerful servant of death, and in a way that is kind of exactly what’s happening? but that makes it sound really simple & boring, which, nah! like, there’s just so much interesting characterization & worldbuilding around this, like, this is ursula k. motherfucking le guin we’re talking about, y’all! i don’t know that she really knows how to do “simple & boring.”

things escalate to the point where we find out that this evil power has even caused dragons to lose the power of speech??? arren & ged are tested in ways that are terrifyingly existential, and almost lose themselves several times, but it’s that thing where seeing these characters at their worst & most vulnerable actually helps emphasize how fucking strong they both are when they come out the other side of it still themselves?

this is exactly the same kind of “huge (in a good way), but also small (in a good way)” story le guin told in the a wizard of earthsea, and also tombs of atuan even though that one was harder for me to get into. the world faces existential threats that are mirrored in the personal threats the characters themselves grapple with, and the story is made so rich & meaningful because of this.

i’m looking forward to getting to the next book, because i know le guin is very frustrated with how male-dominated her first trilogy was, and the farthest shore is actually pretty easily the worst offender in this regard? but like, please please please don’t skip it as a result if you’re remotely interested in these books, because there’s so much good stuff in here. i’m just saying, i’m excited to get to the books where le guin feels like she rectified some of the issues she had with the original trilogy.

s-rank

#the farthest shore #earthsea #ursula le guin #book review #books #reviews

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publicuniversalenemy · 2 years

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okay so. the SCOTUS ruling in Citizens United vs. FEC basically said that like. as long as corporations arent giving money DIRECTLY to politicians/their campaigns, they can spend all the money they want on political speech. otherwise it would violate their first amendment right to free speech.

the question was whether you can limit speech by limiting money. so like. if there’s a book (or in the actual case, a movie) that contains advocacy for or against a candidate, which contains no class of unprotected speech. can you restrict who can finance the publishing of said book (or movie). like. can the government say ‘an individual person can pay to have this published, but a corporation cannot’ or is that unconstitutional. the ruling was basically that a corporation has the same right as an individual to spend as much money as they want, INDEPENDENT OF A CAMPAIGN, in support or in opposition to a candidate or campaign.

the question was ‘do people lose the right to spend money on political speech when they incorporate as a corporation or union’ and the court said ‘nah’. and while there is the point of ‘well if people DO lose the right to spend money on political speech when incorporated, what about news outlets? arent those technically corporations, too?,’ there is the (pretty obvious imo) rebuttal of like. dude. general fucking motors isnt the same as the goddamn new york times. one is selling shit. the other is engaged in journalism. why would they be subject to the same standards. but also honestly. i dont think corporations of ANY kind should be able to spend corporate money on sayin ‘vote for XYZ’ or ‘dont elect ABC’. like. news outlets reporting information ABOUT politicians and their campaigns is one thing, and is super fucking important. but literally. corporations, and ESPECIALLY those whose purpose is profit, not education or some shit, shouldn’t be allowed to advocate for or against political campaigns. only individuals should. if you work for a corporation, and wanna spend the money you earned there on a political campaign, fucking go for it. but like. it just literally makes no sense to me why a corporation should be allowed to say ‘vote for them!’ and broadcast that message using corporate earnings. honestly corporate lobbying should be a HELL of a lot more limited too. again. people should be able to spend money supporting or opposing campaigns n specific issues n shit. corporations ain’t people. they should have FAR more limited rights. damn.

#also like #legit why the FUCK is the constitution still the basis for law #that is an old dusty-ass document written by a tiny group of rich white men like #centuries ago. what the actual fuck. cant we just. decide laws based on what is just. not based on what some crusty old dudes thought?#whatever the fuck

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ecoamerica · 1 month

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mihotose · 2 years

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miyagi (kashuu) senshuuraku, 5/26 yoru kouen (setlist in bold, kaigawari bold + italics)

alright it started a bit early (five minutes before) which surprised me bc i forgot that the delay removes the pre show “please turn your phones off please dont use your penlights at the wrong time etcetc” speech

also so many people were rushing to their seats at this time like girl why are you arriving just before it starts isnt that so stressful

SHINSENGUMI AISATSU

i heard yesterday’s was with buzen hyuuga ookanehira and hizen (aka-gumi) so i was completely surprised by this

kashuu came out by himself and did the “hi aruji how are you doing” basics and then he turned around and nagasone and yasusada were crouching on the steps on one side and izuminokami and horikawa were crouching on the steps on the other

and then hachisuka came out from the steps above the main stage

he was just standing there silently too like they were all “hachisuka???” and he was standing there pretty

AND THEN KUWANA POKED HIS HEAD OUT ROUND THE CORNER???

they were all like hey what the hell what is he doing here and he didnt say anything for a while then disappeared

horikawa sang hitohira no kaze

hachisuka put his hand up and kashuu was like did you have a question and he was like no

then what??

very strange energy from him there

kiyomitsu told everyone to make their penlights his colour and yasusada was like no do mine!!! i wont lose

i had learned so heavily from mistaking buzen for kashuu on shonichi that when i Actually saw kashuu in the first song i was surprised

spi was so smiley when he first came out :’)

every time kuwana and matsui go back to back, and not far from them murakumo and nansen do the same its like Exactly. Exactly

oh dude hizen was SCREAMING his yocchore

srs22 as a whole really has got me thinking about how cute suishinshi’s design is. like the way his hair points out on both sides and his big green eyes and how he can so easily hide his face in his collar.....

free style - formation of paraiso without ookurikara with sohayanotsurugi

mc part: tsurumaru said the free style mv has just come out! so aruji, wave your penlights if youve seen it!

so everyone waved their penlights and then tsurumaru i think pointed at someone who wasnt waving and was like

did you not watch it??

and then i guess they started waving bc he was like ah! good!

they started talking about how they were fishing or on horse duty or whatever and then they all gathered in a circle to do kanpai

and then sohayanotsurugi was like fishing? horse duty? i wasnt there idk what you guys are talking about

so tsurumaru was like oh sohaya its bc kara-bou isnt here so youre filling in for him right

lost the memory - kogitsunemaru imanotsurugi yasusada akashi urashima hyuuga sohayanotsurugi

god there was a shot looking up at kogitsunemaru standing on the centre stage where he was suddenly lit up by the lights behind him and he looked so ethereal and beautiful

junk history - muramasa tonbo hachisuka akashi horikawa yasusada urashima

akashi was literally lying flat on his back on the steps while horikawa was trying to haul him up

urashima always kneels down and hachisuka comes and puts his hand on his shoulder and kneels next to him

BUT this time akashi knelt on his other side too!!!!!!

every time akashi is with a tantou or urashima im like cmonnn pleaseee

CAMERA CAUGHT TONBO ATTEMPTING A FINGER HEART <- keep

like the one using thumb + index finger to make one side of the heart with the index fingers pointing down. that one i think

it cut away before he could do it properly tho w

TONBO REALLY HELD THAT NOTE <- keep

SCREAMING SPI NUDGED MOKKUN WITH HIS BACK LIKE THEY ALWAYS USED TO AND MOKKUN’S SMILEEE <- keep

LIKE. LIKE. in mihotose it was muramasa who like nudged tonbo’s back with his shoulder but this time it was tonbo doing it back and waaaaa

mokkun’s smile was so so huge it was beautiful

omae ga shitteru - formation of kousui without manba with kogitsunemaru

omg curse of izuminokami’s leather pants broken i think i was too busy staring at koryuu

mc part: izuminokami had to chuck a huge chunk of his hair back over his shoulder that had somehow made it to the front lol

nansen ran off to go lie on the walkway again (tanoshii nya!)

situps hizen this time

sou da nya (nansen obviously)

it is Not always koryuu!!! it was izuminokami this time

funnily enough when it was koryuu the twice i saw before he did haiku both times but when it was izuminokami he

ok so swung his ponytail round to the front and started petting and stroking it

“nushi-sama...”

kogitsunemaru impression. apparently

note that kogitsunemaru says more like nush-sama but izuminokami says nushi-sama

kogitsunemaru was staring at izuminokami’s impression of him and he almost got mad??

but izuminokami was like its a party cmonnn

jackal - muramasa tonbo nagasone matsui kuwana hyuuga

there was a shot of muramasa where all the loose hairs on his wig blew back in the breeze + got caught by the light and it was gorgeous

muramasa was really just staring in the camera for a Lot of jackal

when they were together on the walkway muramasa was like leaning on tonbo with his arm across the back of his shoulders. like normally its one elbow but this time it was his full forearm

at the end they didnt nudge again but tonbo had his arms pulled a little back so his jacket was a little more widely open......

be in sight - kogitsunemaru imanotsurugi nansen kiyomaro ookanehira samidare

ough matsushima stared into the camera for a sec that was. <- keep

samidare always gives imanotsurugi his hand but imanotsurugi always pushes him away lol

OOKANEHIRA’S SPLIT WAS SO GOOD

yakusoku no sora - formation of kishou without otegine and kotegiri with hizen and suishinshi

mokkun’s smile when he came out!!!!!

hizen normally pushes tonbo out the way for his line but not this time

agh akashi wink <- keep

i feel like tonbo and muramasa shared a line that they hadnt before??? maybe im making that up

also did tonbo and suishinshi always kneel for some portion of the centre stage dance??

when muramasa swapped sides with tonbo after the song (and went up and around him as always for some reason) he put his hand on tonbo’s shoulder

muramasa was rubbing his hands evilly when he spotted suishinshi lool

he ran over to suishinshi and tonbo went to stand in his way and they had a stupid little ineffectual hand slap fight skgjsrgkfdjg

RETURN OF THE BLOWPIPE

tonbo wouldnt let him past so muramasa sent suishinshi a dart through his blowpipe instead

uchiwa time(??) “muramasa mechamechamechamecha kawaii” “arigatou arigatou arigatou arigatou”

akashi said nugimahen again this time BUT

“since its muramasa-han’s last time i will strip a little!” and he pulls back the sides of his kimono a little to show more of his chest straps

muramasa runs up the stairs to help him strip more and tonbo runs in between to block them

akashi actually came downstairs and and lined up properly with the others but stood there showing off his chest straps again

when muramasa had marched them off tsurumaru said hed strip too and took one arm out his sleeve and ran off

illusion of my heart - suishinshi and kiyomaro

i realised that suishinshi had literally just left with muramasa so hed had to have run from stage right all the way round to stage left

be cool - urashima and hyuuga

hyuuga’s singing was better i think

AGH urashima’s first time in the jumprope was so stressful like i feel he almost tripped

brand new sky - team bakumatsu without mutsunokami with murakumo kuwana matsui imanotsurugi

i remember imanotsurugi did ishikirimaru’s purifying fingers thing into the camera

scarlet lips - team shinsengumi with hachisuka without kashuu with tonbo

kensuke just keeps moaning that first line of his

luckily spi’s mic did NOT break this time

like im glad they fixed it ofc but it was soo funny that it broke

ugh the final shot of the song is always hachisuka and hes always gorgeous

hachisuka’s adlib was matsubokkuri (pinecone) today and..... donguri last time matsubokkuri this time what does it mean......

maybe it doesnt mean anything but donguri makes me suspicious

nagasone and horikawa always have the same konpeitou pun lines while yasusada has a different one every time and idk if he Has a set line and just elects to ignore it or thats just his adlib chance

anyway yasusada reached into his outfit and mimed throwing stuff at tonbo but tonbo just caught it all in his mouth and stood there with his cheeks puffed out and yasusada was like “wait thats cute...”

utsukushii higeki - kogitsunemaru and sohayanotsurugi

i am surprised they didnt save sohayanotsurugi for oodenta but ok

like hes literally one show away

i didnt pay attention to these gomeen they arent my favourites

i expected going into this show that the utsukushii higeki wouldnt be my favourites since all of mine have already done it (annoyingly With each other just like i wanted) so im not mad about it

god i Do want to see koryuu and hachisuka’s from yesterday but ill stay strong its not that important ultimately

god sorry but you cant show me muramasa-ha utsukushii higeki on SHONICHI and not expect me to be ruined for anybody else like its MURAMASA-HA

only other contenders here would be ishikari or yasukiyo and im in no danger of that

REAL LOVE - MURAMASA

today’s show had a lot more full stage shots of this song and oh my god

i didnt notice last time how muramasa is in darkness..... like aside from the necessary lighting to be able to see him hes relatively Dark

whereas theres this bright bright Empty spotlight on the other side of the stage while muramasa’s alone.....

last time i did notice that there was no choreo, it was mostly just muramasa standing and singing and occasionally running around the stage but oh my god

its muramasa chasing after the spotlight

he’d run towards the spotlight thatd disappear just as he was about to reach it and after a few times he stopped.......

he stopped chasing it and the spotlight didnt disappear and at the end he comes into the middle of the stage bathed in the light of both his smaller dimmer spotlight thats been there all along and the bigger brighter spotlight hed been chasing........

now Whatever That Means!

BLACKOUT - TONBO

btw in blackout when tonbo comes down the walkway his spotlight follows him :-)

this performance makes me feel dizzy like its so raw

can i understand what it means like muramasa real love? no. but dear god its amazing

revolution? - formation of kokoro oboe without oodenta with ookanehira

i still dk what this song is called <3

i dont think murakumo’s nibu jacket is meant to come off his shoulder like his ichibu but it did for a bit i thought that was cute

murakumo had a stomach ache so samidare was like maybe if everyone gives you their support...... (clap for him)

BUZEN BIKE <- keep

he ran around the centre stage making motorbike noises

buzen went to leave and everyone followed him off down the stairs to go under the walkway and ookanehira was left standing by himself like what the hell come back

buzen said ookanehira had to say something so would count down except he would Only say three??

like “ok, three-” *expects ookanehira to do it*

ookanehira: ??????????? youre meant to say ni, ichi, as well you know???

buzen did that FOUR times and in the end ookanehira got sohayanotsurugi to do it instead of buzen lol

tokenai mahou - kashuu

thats a tanki18 outfit for sure

they brought the chair too

he did that hip thrust thing with his back to the audience again, i think the last time he did that was srs16

i mean obviously it makes sense that itd be tokenai mahou like thats been kashuu’s solo since 2015 but i wish it had been jounetsu no symphonia lol

MISTAKE - everyone (minus koryuu i think)

they gave kashuu at least his line near the beginning back so i think they had minor line shuffles due to that

i am glad about it like since hes here he might as well have his lines back

i wrote that kiyomitsu screamed one of his lines and Genuinely i think i might have meant hizen but im not sure now

yasusada winked and stuck his tongue out at the camera w

THEY ZOOMED INTO MURAMASA !!!!!!!!

oh also in my last repo i said matsui was always in his external i meant middle idk what happened in my brain to have said that

dude its so funny how enomoto says in english “which way?” and imanotsurugi is like “??????? way?” pointing at some random direction

dont start speaking english to him the poor boy doesnt even know his kanji yet!!!

i think when kogitsunemaru chose a direction enomoto started giving them directions to maybe a restaurant called yagiyama-san? im really not sure what that is

TO THE NORTH / to the future - enomoto

remembering that interview where everyone was like yeah dude ray was just meant to be enomoto :-)

as always kogitsunemaru and imanotsurugi mc before eoeoa

normally its imanotsurugi on the centre stage and kogitsunemaru and the guest on the platform lifts

but today only kashuu was standing on the actual lifting platform so it started rising and was like :0

his message was his shinken hissatsu line except he pulled his scarf down a little to show off more of his neck

then kashuu was like “is it fine if its only me?” so then they let MURAMASA come out too!!!!!!!!!!

i have only scattered words from muramasa’s message: “iin desu ka?” “yarashii” “kossori” which yeah. they check out

EOEOA + eternal flame (i forgot to separate them in my notes...)

when tonbo came out muramasa ofc said nugimashou and tonbo said NO but this time kogitsunemaru said “nugimashou!- ah, i mean, odorimashou...” like he did in fukui

tsurumaru teased nansen with a ball again, buzen was sweeping dirt up at matsui again

samidare and murakumo were sitting together and did paws at the camera :’)

there was another shot of tsurumaru and nansen this time! tsurumaru had a toy fish on a string and was dangling it above nansen lol

tonbo picked imanotsurugi up againnn

muramasa traded an onigiri for kiyomaro’s seabass and then later he went riding it???

i caught sight of buzen and akashi in the background like buzen might have reached out for akashi’s wrist or something?? a real blink or you miss it moment

imanotsurugi: whirl your arms and make an A!

akashi: making glasses with his hands instead

see kogitsunemaru always tends to slightly open his kimono on the nuide line in eoeoa but he did it much wider today’s

AND izuminokami did it too like you could actually see his under wear for once

kashuu and imanotsurugi holding their hands together to make an O between them

i do believe i was less enthralled with samidare’s tummy this time. altho i think that was bc i was desperately keeping an eye on muramasa

there was like a really really long shot of kashuu just swapping colours on his penlight for agesss lol like 33 really is so many

enomoto and masakado taiko

OTOKOMICHI - ENOMOTO AND MASAKADO

KEMONO

did muramasa and tonbo always share that line. maybe im just making things up bc it was muramasa’s last

kashuu’s bakuten20 internal is so cute

TORI RIPPED HIS SHIRT OPEN

everyones stripping for muramasa’s last show lol

but like no he did it in osaka but MAN SO much stripping

towazugatari

i love how nagasone and hachisuka always put their hand to their ear during that one line

the cameras are always on those two for it too so i always notice

dude why did kashuu look SO sad for all of it

every time aruji talks i get scared that theyll say aratanaru touken danshi....

touken ranbu

THERE WERE SO MANY SHOTS OF MURAMASA DURING TOUKEN RANBU

GOCHISOUSAMA DESHITA he had FIVE and its literally only the chorus

MURAMASA AISATSUUU

idk it was just. a really lovely message from muramasa

ofc he had to end it with “nugimashou ka” “nugunakute ii” “sengo muramasa deshita!” but......

the question here is does muramasa every say kansha. bc i think thats entirely mokkun and i think thats why the aisatsu felt more serious heartfelt and more mokkun-rashii

homare-pon was MATSUI <3

a GOOD pair for me thank you

suishinshi’s homare-pon was like. solemn but matsui’s homare-pon was just kinda sad?? like it wasnt Overtly sad but it had a tinge of it.

when they were all leaving yasusada kept turning around to look at the other end of the stage (where kiyomitsu was....) and kept pointing over there and horikawa had to get him to keep walking

closing notes for muramasa shows:

im gonna miss muramasa so muchhhhhh oh my godddddd im not interested in oodenta or miike-ha so while i fully endorse and am hoping that theyll do a miike-ha spin for oodenta just to be fair i simply wont enjoy it as much and thats Fine

like the setlist really makes it such a muramasa-ha heavy show that Relies on the fact that is Is muramasa-ha for it to hit like that (like. what other pairs could you swap solos for like that other than muramasa-ha. even just down to the fact that other than muramasa-ha and sanjou tachi no other pairs have solos?)

i think i was tearing up at the aisatsu due to mokkun’s message (i do believe it was mokkun in that moment, not muramasa) and looking at all the photos and reading everyones tweets with everyone saying goodbye Did have me emotional. im really truly going to miss him and i Would be a little peeved if they just. paired tonbo with oodenta in his place like That’s Not How That Works!

waaa im not coherent today but muramasa otsukaresama, mokkun otsukaresama, go get repaired go have a rest, ill be waiting for your next time !!!!!!!!

#gemitus #tkrb #toumyu

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llycaons · 10 months

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ep24 (pt 1): jgs stopppp for real stoppp

the first 1/3rd of this episode dragged a bit but the rest had such juicy character conversations between wwx and important people to him that it was a really good time

see! he can be tactful! he's very polite in addressing this overstep, and he doesn't even give jgs an answer. he just says 'we should leave it up to my sister, who's actually the one getting married'

*sprays water on him* YOU'RE NOTHING

why did jc look at wwx while saying this. it was deliberate. I've never noticed before. wtf

this was kind of funny. jgy says some vague pleasantries about how all the clans are struggling and everyone's like 'oh fuck...this guy is on to something' and lxc is looking all pleased

jgy looks so intense all the time it freaks me out. also. HIS GRANDMA?? jgs's mom??!!! damn I don't remember this

they love this angle

ohhh wwx remembering jfm teaching him to shoot arrows so kindly...he breaks in a big smile immediately after this. it all hurts

this is jc, destroying the herald of the wens above the door of lotus pier's entrance hall. it might be the first time we see him use zidian, and he is SEETHING in anger. that means something!

it's so pretty in there and there is so much space! I have this sense of it as very minimalist but it's really not, it's just restrained and reserved, like it's inhabitant. and very spacious

lwj's first stab at defiance. he doesn't want to copy the rules, he wants to help wwx. but lqr seems to see him as a lost cause, or near enough to be dangerous to lwj. lxc is sent instead, the more objective one, the politician

to his credit, I can see this speech inspiring people who lose a lot to the wens. wwx is looking a little dead-eyed to me, but jyl is proud!

ohh background jumpscare

I like how his turmoil is expressed here. and his dark brown eyes are so beautiful

I've seen posts like 'it's not the lan clan rules' fault that the sects are corrupt' but I think it's disingenuous to act like they don't play ANY role in lwj's decisions or his mistakes. they're clearly source of internal conflict for him, and a significant amount of his character growth rests on elevating himself to a state in which he can make his own moral decisions based on his own judgement rather than obeying authority without question

okay I know he's doing his best to lead and improve his men but look at his face in the first expression. SO angry and contemptuous

he's stressed and alone, and jyl clearly is trying to pick up his slack, and it's not fair this happened to him, but. dude. you gotta be nicer to your guys. I can't believe more people didn't quit after this treatment

in fairness wwx did say he'd help and then left to go drinking without explaining why he's so tired and unmotivated and unable to help, and that obviously doesn't look very good to jc, but jc also handles it really immaturely too

while jyl extends compassion and understanding for the difficulties wwx is having, jc rejects any attempt to sympathize with wwx. when asked to consider his feelings, he instead insists that his are the priority. he's such a strict thinker, no flexibility or tolerance for nuance at all. he sees wwx as a spoiled kid who slacks off and leaves jc with all the work, which is pretty incredible (in a bad way) when you think about how dedicated wwx was to jyl and jc after the massacre and the war. it's a little more forgivable pre-sunshot when wwx goofed off a lot, but post sunshot? after ALL that? he may be struggling with a lot of responsibility, but like, dude

but yeah, SUCH a selfless character 🙄

edit: oh jgs and jgy had a really annoying conversation earlier on that I didn't screencap but it SUCKED. that's where the title comes from

#cql re-rewatch

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mcheang · 1 year

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Shadow and Bone S2 E4 recap

Spoiler alert

Oh, they did a recasting for Vasily who now has dark hair, unlike his parents. Alina dislikes Vasily but offers to lead the Grisha since the Lanstovs want a Second Army commander loyal to them and she is Nikolai’s fiancée. Mal is against this as making her General will put an even bigger target on her back but Alina wants to protect the Grisha. Vasily manages to learn about Malina since they were having a moment in a hallway rather than a room. Genya still looks beautiful to me. Her and Kirigan’s scars do not make them ugly. Frankly I’m more worried about Baghra’s finger and Genya’s right eye. Seriously Kirigan, you could have chosen a lighter punishment for your mother! Imprisonment was enough! Baghra seems to care about Genya now. Aleksander calls out Baghra for protesting his plans because she made him this way. Baghra finally gives up on him. I have my doubts about Vladim. It looks like he wants Baghra’s power. And the bone crushing scene was horrifying. David warns Alina and she imprisons him after Nadia informs her that Kirigan keeps his close. Honestly, if that was obvious, he would make a horrible choice for spy. David refuses to teach Alina merzost but warns her about the tether. Nina knows Pekka cannot free Matthias and warns Kaz. Kaz has released a fake firepox that will be blamed on Pekka and threatens his son Alby. Wow, we actually got the Pekka showdown in Crooked Kingdom without the Jurda yet…

Pekka loses the respect of his men

Mal wants to find the special blade that might kill nichevo’ya. I’m not gonna say the name cos then I have to repeat it and it’s long. Anyway, Tolya and Zoya will go to the Crows to hire them for the job. Unless the blade was made with merzost, it will be useless. Vasily did his research and has Mal arrested for desertion. Dude, if you’re going to seduce Alina, don’t arrest her boyfriend! He is an idiot. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Jesper and Wylan kiss! 😄 now where are Ivan and Fedyor? Kaz kicks Inej out of the Crows after she made him worry with a detour. She is a free woman. Seriously, Nikolai giving Alina her ring has more chemistry than Malina. Alina starts getting worried about Mal’s absence, but no one is as concerned as she is. Oh, the siege and storm ending is here too. Only it’s at an engagement party rather than Nikolai’s birthday. And it’s still Vasily’s fault. Honestly, if he actually becomes king, Fjerda will crush him. I doubt even Kirigan could have reined him in if he were still General. Vasily dies and I’m not sure if the king still lives. Kirigan lures Alina away with an illusion so she will be away from the fighting and her head does some weird glowy thing. To Adrik, she must look unstable. While the invasion happens, Baghra takes advantage and frees herself and Genya, who heals her missing finger. (Seriously Kirigan, fixing her finger would have been better than figs!) Genya sees her reflection and destroys the Alkemi’s workstation in a fit of rage. You know the Darkling confrontation at the end, his S&S speech would work if Mal had been frightened of Alina’s power. But here it seems out of place. And considering book Alina had grown used to her imaginary Darkling, the offer to rule suited the book better than the show. It looks lika Nadia and Adrik are the only members of the Second Army who survived the engagement party. I don’t count Tamar and Alina since Tamar isn’t loyal to the second army, she’s loyal to Alina, and Alina wants to retire once the Fold is gone.

This certainly was a combo of endings from Crooked Kingdom and Siege and Storm. Looks like we get the Ruin and Rising arc next. This was too crammed, considering Alina’s relationship with the Darkling. His speech at the end is so out of place.

Well I can say this for Tatiana, she does love Nikolai, I think. I actually prefer book Baghra. I have not forgotten that Baghra only gave partial truths to Alina when Anastas was to blame for the Fold, and that she tried to kill Mal. The fact that Baghra gives up on her son now makes me unhappy. If you’re responsible for how he came to be, you don’t give up, you try to save him. Poor Tolya. None of his friends like poetry Pekka is a villain for sure but he does love his son and while I think it is good he knows his son is alive, I find that having Alby witness his arrest is too cruel.

Ooh, is David back under Kirigan’s power now?

#shadow and bone spoilers #shadow and bone season 2 episode 4 #shadow and bone netflix

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makeste · 3 years

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BnHA Chapter 325: Deku VS the Outside of U.A. ~Conclusion~

Previously on BnHA: Ochako was all “dear bloodthirsty mob, this kid you see standing before you has fought harder than anyone and put his life on the line to protect you all, so please chill the fuck out, jesus christ. like, putting aside that he’s humanity’s best hope and so it’s very much in your best interests to let him rest and recover someplace safe so that he can keep fighting for us, are y’all seriously going to turn away an injured and exhausted child in front of his sobbing mother?? seriously?? come on now.” I’m paraphrasing here but that’s basically how it went down. Anyway so then the mob was all, “...” and Deku collapsed to his knees in tears, and Gigantic Fox Lady and Kouta ran over to give him a hug but then the chapter ended.

Today on BnHA: Horikoshi is all “FINE, YOU CAN HUG HIM”, which, was that so hard?? The U.A. Clown Mob is all “come to think of it, we’ve kind of been taking the heroes for granted this entire time, maybe we should be less passive in the future. anyway so Deku if it’s not too much to ask, can you please save everyone and fix everything.” Deku is all “I sure can, and by the way I forgive you for swarming around all menacingly two minutes ago and trying to deny me basic shelter and stuff.” Ectoplasm is all, “hey Todogang get a load of this. [walks in a circle].” Hawks is all, “that’s literally the greatest thing I’ve ever seen.” Rat Principal is all, “anyway so that’s what your students did today, hope you’re enjoying your new *~*ROBOT LEG*~*, Aizawa.” Aizawa is all “[lots of exposition about Kurogiri and for some reason, Toga, while being all brooding and sexy].” All Might is all “[standing here right outside of U.A. doing absolutely nothing and being foreboding AF]” and that immediately sucked away all of the warm fuzzy feelings from the hugs, goddammit.

each new week has become a waiting game of “when will Deku finally get to take a bath so people will actually be willing to go near him and give him the hugs he deserves.” the stakes have never been so compelling. I’ve almost forgotten about AFO entirely

lmaoooooo

me: for the love of god will someone please give Deku a hug before I die of old age

Mineta: YOU GOT IT!! --

Iida: [SWIFTLY CUTS HIM OFF] NOT YOU

fucking losing it at Mineta’s crying face. he really wanted to hug him. I legit feel bad but this is also the funniest thing I have seen all week, omg

somehow Kouta, who last week was only a hand’s breadth away from touching Deku’s head, is now twenty miles away from him in this new chapter

can I make a Loki reference here. is this recap a good place to insert a joke about someone using a TVA time-rewinding device to fuck with my poor boy Kouta over here. well anyway there it is

AND NOW HE’S BACK ALL OF A SUDDEN OMG

(ETA: since when is he “niichan” omg?? can’t handle this cuteness.)

BUT THEY’RE STILL NOT HUGGING HIM FFFFKFFFFF. WHAT DO I HAVE TO DO. WHO DO I HAVE TO BRIBE AND/OR BLACKMAIL

OH NO KOUTA IS CRYING THAT’S IT I’M DONE FOR

“when I heard that lady I knew that I had to go, but then stop again within inches of actually touching you because you smell like week-old rotten onions.” listen Kouta, I’m not saying I don’t get it, but you all can’t keep doing this to me. it’s the way you guys keep teasing it. like, if you’re gonna hug him, hug him. don’t just stand there with your arms held rigidly out in front of you like a molded action figure

OH MY GOSH BUT HE SAID THE THING

KOUTA SWOOPING IN AT THE LAST MINUTE TO TAKE ALL THE CREDIT FOR FIXING DEKU LIKE THAT ONE KID IN THE GROUP PROJECT WHO DOES ABSOLUTELY NOTHING BUT STILL TAGS HIS NAME ONTO THE REPORT ANYWAY, WHAT A KNAVE

GASP

( ´͈ ᗨ `͈ )

SHE PICKED HIM UP LIKE A LITTLE BABY OMG?? she just leaned right over and lifted this child like he was a small animal. like a lil baby futon that she was about to hang up to dry. oh my god

-- HEY WHAT

(: well that’s extremely fucked up. though sadly not too surprising given what we just saw these past couple chapters

incidentally, I hope that anyone who was legitimately defending the civilians’ perspective earlier takes note here of how quickly that line of thinking -- “we’re just trying to keep our families safe” and all that-- can lead to straight up bigotry. if you’re willing to deny a child shelter and protection simply because he’s not YOUR child, and because you’ve decided based on Internet rumors (no real-world parallels there, I’m sure) that he might present a threat, it’s really not that much further of a leap to discriminating against entire groups of people simply because you perceive those groups as being dangerous. I’m sure the people who turned Gigantic Fox Lady away also told themselves afterwards that they did it to protect their families. “better safe than sorry.” “she’ll be fine, someone will take her in, but as for us, we can’t afford to take that risk.” people can come up with all kinds of justifications for treating other people as less than human, and the really scary thing about it is how fucking easy it is

one last quick side note, which is that Horikoshi does a great job here of showing how scapegoating works, given that AFO is the one who’s really to blame and who presents the actual threat, and yet Deku is the one who ultimately winds up being the target of the mob’s fear and outrage despite him being as much of a victim as they are. gotta love that irony, which unfortunately plays out far too often in the real world as well.

anyway I’ll get off my soapbox now, sorry about that. let us continue

YES, FINALLY OH MY GOD!!!!

AND THAT’S THE STORY OF HOW GIGANTIC FOX LADY BECAME THE GREATEST HERO. PACK IT ALL UP, WE’RE DONE HERE KIDS

holy shit. the real MVP right there. thanks for getting it done champ

jesus christ I have had it up to here with these people

literally the bar is set so low at this point that I’ll go ahead and take it. helping him because it offers them a tactical advantage is at least one step up from not helping him at all

“WHY NOT SHIKETSU” MOTHERFUCKER I SWEAR TO GOD

-- thank you!!

okay this one guy with the antennae hair is having himself a character development speedrun here

-- okay, but this part?? fucking this part, right here??

can we repeat that again?? the part where this guy acknowledges that the problems of hero society were caused not just by said heroes, but also by said society?? the part where he acknowledges that they treated the heroes like celebrities who were putting on a show for them?? the part where he acknowledges that when push came to shove, the vast majority of those heroes, when faced with a situation that offered no reward, were nonetheless willing to put their lives on the line to protect the very same people who then turned around and blamed them rather than thanking them?? are the civilians of BnHA even allowed to have actual deep thoughts about this stuff. holy shit

bro!!

ANTENNAE HAIR GUY SHOVING KOUTA AND GIGANTIC FOX LADY OUT OF THE WAY TO SLAP HIS NAME ONTO THE END CREDITS AS EXECUTIVE PRODUCER. CONGRATULATIONS SON YOU FIGURED OUT THE CORE PHILOSOPHICAL QUESTION AT THE VERY HEART OF THE MANGA. WAY TO GO BUD

meanwhile, on today’s episode of “one more chapter to go till the big volume cliffhanger, how else can I drag things out let’s see”

it’s a panel. of people’s feet. just a bunch of normal feet. with sneakers and shit

this All Might shirt guy is getting more screentime in this arc than 90% of the class 1-A kids

I guess I’m supposed to feel sorry for this dude now that he’s all “if we let you stay here do you promise to somehow magically fix every single problem that we are now currently facing?” those are some ridiculously exacting standards my dude. come on now

KACCHAN SIGHTING

thank fuck I’m not the only one who’s thoroughly unimpressed by absolutely all of this lol. I feel better now. meanwhile Iida and Kouda and Kiri are ready to run over there and hug them all. you guys are way too forgiving. damn you and your pure hearts

anyway so Deku’s like “yeah, definitely”

(ETA: almost forgot to comment on the “I’m no longer alone” part – he basically corrects the guy and says “sorry, but you’ll need to direct that question towards all of us, not just me, because moving forward we’re a team.” good stuff.)

you know what though, all joking aside... fuck yeah. because perfect victory, right. the strongest guys don’t settle for anything less. so I guess Deku has pretty exacting standards himself

also can you all just take a look at this fucking kid who’s got so much light in his eyes now that I’m gonna need eclipse goggles. hot damn. “you’re welcome” says All Might Shirt Guy as he is frantically interviewed by several local news networks asking him how he daringly managed to save Deku all by himself. “well I guess I’ve just never been the kind of guy who can sit back and let a bunch of rabble-rousers blame a little kid for all of humanity’s problems. someone had to step in and take action, you know?”

oH MY GOD THE SCENE IS FINALLY ENDING

don’t let the door hit you on your way out All Might Shirt Guy

but meanwhile, sudden Tododrama action??

oh shit

there are honestly so many ways in which Ochako’s very moving speech could have wildly backfired that I genuinely have no clue where this is headed lol. how exciting!!

so now Horikoshi is once again stalling for time with random filler panels, but this one is 10x better than the shoes lol omg

(1) was Ectoplasm’s jacket always this oversized. (2) did you guys know that if you go back to chapter 319 you can see that Horikoshi gave us a sneak peak at Enji’s Sad Detective disguise and I in fact made a joke about it in the 319 recap not realizing it was actually the stone cold truth. (3) did Shouto deliberately speed up out of impatience because Hawks was walking so fucking slow and he couldn’t take it any longer. (4) and what, I ask you, is up with these dramatic speedlines. so many mysteries here. what a masterpiece

everyone is acting all shocked about something ahh what’s going on

wait what

what the heck. did they just loop around behind everyone. what was the point of that lol. “anyway, so this is what they look like from the back” well okay, thanks for that Ectoplasm

(ETA: so it seems like they were actually hanging out someplace else away from the crowd this whole time, I guess? here I thought they had more faith in Enji’s disguise. I guess Shouto and Hawks don’t particularly want to attract this crowd’s attention themselves right now either, though.)

I am so fucking confused lmao

speaking of All Might WHERE THE FUCK IS HE lol. but yes, good, OFA brings everyone together, and Hawks is very deeply moved about this out of the blue all of a sudden. you know how it is

aw heck yeah now this is another filler panel I can get behind

Mineta really wants that hug, good lord. I genuinely love this actually. Mineta if you could just stay little and cute and keep crying about how much you love your classmates in a non-gross way for the rest of the series I would be so appreciative. you’re doing great

IIDA IS HOLDING DEKU’S HAND THIS IS NOT A DRILL. ONE TIME WASN’T ENOUGH FOR MY MAN HE’S ADDICTED NOW

what did I tell you. Kiri wants to get all of the mob’s autographs now. Kiri you’re a peach

Shouji having a conversation with another mutant type is a very nice touch! we really need to get to his backstory soon. I feel like that casual remark from GFL earlier was kind of hinting at more to come

is this the first time we’ve ever seen the Yaoyorictionary in action?? never forget that Viz tried to call it the “Yaoyorozu Reference Book” because they hate fun

last but not least, KAMIBAKU IS BACK ON THE MENU, FUCK YEAH. Kaminari trying to spice things up and introduce a little bit of controversy by smacking Kacchan on the back of the head for god knows what. I will be deeply disappointed after this if I can’t find at least one person unironically declaring that KamiBaku is now toxic and abusive

lfkdlWLWK TODODRAMA??

oh my god. Shouto’s face. Enji’s face. the back to “oyaji” again. the blunt, not-taking-no-for-an-answer, “I don’t know how much louder the universe can scream at you that doing things alone is not it, so hopefully you got the point” directness of it. fffdlkslj I’m so ready for this Horikoshi please don’t fuck it up my expectations are so high

HOLY FUCK

I SCROLLED DOWN AND HE WAS ALL “( ❛‿❛)” AND I JUST WASN’T FUCKING EXPECTING THAT OKAY. JESUS CHRIST. GIVE ME A SEC

lol okay moment over and now Enji’s pulling his hat down all dramatically like a world-weary Cowboy

OH MY GOD WERE YOU FACETIMING??

AHHHHHHHHH

(ETA: not to put Iida down or anything, but it’s kind of strange that Aizawa is all “the class rep sure did great” when Ochako is the one that was giving that whole big speech for like twenty minutes just now lol.)

(ETA 2: “thank god Iida stepped in just in the nick of time to keep Mineta from hugging Deku.” sorry Mineta I really do like you lately but it’s still low-hanging fruit lol.)

HE LOOKS SO SAD??! HE LOOKS LIKE HEARTBREAK ITSELF??! I AM BESOUGHT WITH THE URGE TO REACH INTO MY SCREEN AND PULL HIM INTO THE SAFETY OF MY ARMS??? MY GOD, AND I THOUGHT DEKU NEEDED HUGS

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH okay I was gonna just hold down the letter H for a full minute and count it out loud but within about ten seconds I realized I needed to chill lol

-- but then again NO, I DON’T NEED TO CHILL, I HAVE ZERO CHILL, ACTUALLY, BECAUSE IT’S AIZAWA WITH A ROBOT LEG AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

COMPLETE WITH ROBOT TOES FOR THAT EXTRA TOUCH OF AUTHENTICITY!! I LIKE HOW HORIKOSHI PUT ALL THIS EXTRA “!!!” EMPHASIS AROUND IT IN CASE WE COULD SOMEHOW POSSIBLY FAIL TO TAKE NOTICE. “REMEMBER, EVERYONE?” SAYS HORIKOSHI HELPFULLY. “REMEMBER THAT TIME AIZAWA CHOPPED OFF HIS OWN LEG?” oh wow now that you mention it we somehow forgot all about that. like who do you take us for

OH NO NOT THE SAD BOYFRIEND ANGST THAT I WAS SECRETLY LOOKING FORWARD TO WITH GLEE

well at least he’s not M.I.A. or back with the villains again like I thought he might be. still, that’s gotta be brutal to know your friend is in there somewhere, but to not be able to reach him again no matter how hard you try. that’s the kind of angst that pays off in final battles just when you most expect it. such is my hope, at any rate

what’s this now??

trying to decide if this is Horikoshi’s way of saying don’t worry about that, or his way of saying definitely worry about that lol

anyway so Aizawa is out here being all irresponsibly handsome once again. when is someone going to do something about him

here for Sexy Robot Leg Eyepatch Aizawa clenching his fists and making speeches about revenge. pretty sure we’re all here for that

WELL, WELL, WELL

IT’S ABOUT FUCKING TIME

I’M VERY GLAD YOU’RE ALIVE AND SEEMINGLY WELL, THOUGH!

BUT WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK THOUGH, ALL MIGHT

ffff. bracing myself for that cliffhanger next week. you’d better not touch one hair on this man’s head Horikoshi. I’m watching you

#bnha 325 #midoriya izuku #u.a. clown mob #class 1-a #aizawa shouta #bnha #boku no hero academia #bnha spoilers #mha spoilers #bnha manga spoilers #makeste reads bnha

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