#I don’t really consider the caps an enemy but I’ve been doing this all season whenever Boston plays the new yorks etc

[gogglor]

Cap-Ironman RecWeek: What-If Wednesday

Time for another installment of @cap-ironman rec week! Today’s theme: AU’s.

I know AU’s in different settings are half the reason most people read fanfics, but they’re not really my thing on the whole. AU’s where different choices are made, or different events transpire? Absolutely. Coffee shops? Not my cup of... you know.

So, here’s my AU recommendations for mostly “turn left” scenarios. This time with an under-the-cut break so I don’t take over everyone’s timelines (sorry about that last post). Also with some summaries truncated for length.

Alone Like This

Author: GotTheSilver

Word Count: 7,452

Summary: Steve, post waking up, runs away from SHIELD, and Tony's the one who tracks him down.

Why You Should Read It:

First off, GotTheSilver’s been consistently and regularly putting out solid Stony since 2012 and not only are they not stopping, they’re only getting better. This writer doesn’t get nearly the fanfare I’d expect in Stony circles for someone who puts out this much good stuff, and here’s hoping this post can be a part of changing that.

While I am always a sucker for enemies-to-friends-to-lovers, there’s something to be said for stories where Steve and Tony hit it off right away. And watching these two very different people look at each other and see the same sense of being lost, then finding each other again is... excuse me, there’s something in my eye, ignore me.

Second Chance Lives

Author: raeldaza

Word Count: 43,872

Summary: Tony's gonna die of palladium poisoning anyway, why not join a pointless expedition to recover Captain America’s body? And after, well, why not dedicate his last few months to making sure an American hero settles into his new life? What else is he going to do, get drunk at parties?

Why You Should Read It:

This writer doesn’t write a lot for the MCU but when they do, dang.

“Tony is the one helping Steve acclimate to the new century before Avengers 2012″ is a whole genre of Stony fanfics that scratch an itch I didn’t even know I had before I started reading fanfiction, and this is one of the best ones out there. It’s got it all - Steve poorly coping with his PTSD, Tony poorly coping with his immanent mortality, some breathtakingly poor communication between the two most emotionally stunted men in the MCU, and a cat named Roomba. What’s not to love?

Should You Choose to Accept It

Author: elwenyere (look, you’re gonna be seeing a lot of them this week, sorry-not-sorry)

Word Count: 27,106

Summary: After a terrorist attack and a field operation gone wrong, the Avengers realize that Nick Fury's secrets are just the start of a much bigger mystery. Steve and Tony try to keep some things from each other as well, but that can't possibly affect the mission — right? Mission Fic + Getting Together (or Mission: Getting Together) that mashes up elements from Iron Man 3, CA: Winter Soldier, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. season one, and Mission Impossible 3.

Why You Should Read It:

You can see my post yesterday for singing El’s praises, but what I really liked about this fic was how how damn creative it is. The CAWS/IM3/AOS mashup is everything I wished the actual MCU gave us and more, with well-developed characters and an exciting story to put them in. And because it’s El, you know the banter’s gonna be on point, the way the characters care for each other is gonna be emotionally constipated but touching, and the pacing’s gonna be exciting enough to draw you in and keep you there. Also, this fic doesn’t have nearly enough kudos so please go read it and fix that or I’m gonna have to try to hack AO3 and that’ll just be embarrassing for all parties involved.

What Happens In Vegas

Author: sabremc

Word Count: 161,951

Summary: “What the hell, Tony?” Rhodey demanded brusquely.  Tony winced and drew the phone away from his ear.  “You’ve got cops and Feds all over the hotel.  I’m watching you perp walk out of the police station on repeat on CNN.  They’re saying you tried to bribe Stern?  Fox News has you selling weapons on the black market, and God that picture they’re using is the one from Bali in ’09.   You look like shit.  They wheeled Stern out and put him in an ambulance, by the way.  Got some paparazzi swearing you decked the guy.  Now they’ve got ‘copters following it like he’s OJ.”

“Yeah, don’t worry, Sourpatch, I’ve got it covered.   Uh, though, I should probably tell you that, purely in the interests of national security and the greater good, I kind of had to fake marry that stripper-gram  you sent.  Thanks for that, by the way,” Tony added quickly.

Why You Should Read It:

If you’re deep enough into Stony to see posts like this on Tumblr, you probably know sabre’s what we in the business call a “big name author.” They’re prolific, they’re popular, and most importantly, they write words good (technical term). Seriously, sabre just keeps cranking out high quality stuff over and over again, raising the bar for the rest of us like a jerk (not really. I’m not bitter they write stuff so good I wish I’d thought of it first. Not at all.)

I never read stripper!Steve or stripper!Tony as a rule, but this came so widely recommended that I broke that rule and boy am I glad that I did. This is also the only fic on this list that’s a true-AU, with Steve being a non-powered vet from Afghanistan who left his army career to help Bucky and is stripping in Vegas to raise money for a prosthetic arm. He’s booked to do a private show for Tony, shenanigans ensue, and now they’re fake-married. This fic’s got some top-of-the-line banter and character development, but I particularly love it for its rich setting. Sabre paints a Vegas not just with strip clubs and blackjack tables, but KISS-themed minigolf, romantic dinners on the Eiffel tower, gaudy hotel lobbies, and making out on giant ferris wheels. It’s such a richly developed playground for the characters to play on, and through it, Steve manages to find a life for himself he’d given up on, and Tony finds multiple ways to show his kindness and depth of feeling for Steve. I know the word count’s long for this one but trust me, you’ve gotta read this fic.

Wait & Sea

Author: Lenalena

Word Count: 53,244

Summary: In which Tony and Steve get sent on an undercover mission aboard a cruise ship to make contact with Hydra. In this AU the military has kept the discovery and defrosting of Captain America a secret, so Steve and Tony have never met before. Yet they are to pose as newlyweds....

Why You Should Read It:

This one’s old and popular enough to be considered one of the “classic” Stony fics, and for good reason. Lenalena doesn’t write too often and not as much as they used to, but the fics they have up there are an absolute delight.

This is another fic that I skipped a bunch of times for being outside my comfort zone, but when I finally read it I saw why everyone’s so wild about it. In this story, Steve’s defrosted a bit earlier and not revealed as Captain America. He and Tony are sent undercover to sniff out Hydra shenanigans on a cruise and, because it’s fanfiction, they’ve got to pretend to be a married couple while onboard. There’s tons to love about this fic, but the things that bring me back to reading it over and over is first, Tony’s kindness and the way he’s attuned to Steve’s feelings, which... God, just inject “kind, observant Tony” straight into my veins, please and thank you. This is also another really rich setting for a story, and Lena knows how to fold the the hokeyness of the cruise into the seriousness of the mission and the depth of feelings Steve and Tony are finding for each other in a really beautiful, layered way. It’s funny, it’s heartfelt, it’s steamy, it’s gripping... why are you still reading this here? Go check it out for yourself!

Ashes to Ashes

Author: dirigibleplumbing

Word Count: 51,582

Summary: After regrouping following some surprise time travel, the world's heroes and sorcerers come up with a plan to protect the Mind and Time Stones by taking them into space in opposite directions. The result involves a lot more time loops than Steve would like, but at least they're getting a second chance to stop Thanos. (As well as a third, and a fourth...) And if Steve takes the opportunity to try to reconcile with Tony, too—well, they have the time, and Steve's going to make the most of it.

Why You Should Read It:

Dirigibleplumbing’s another name in Stony fanfics that does not get nearly as much fanfare as they deserve. They’re consistently a really creative voice in Stony fanfics and I always look forward to their stories showing me something new. Go read all their fics, I need more people to geek out with me over them.

I tend to limit myself on Steve-and-Tony-mend-things-after-Civil-War fics not because they’re not good, but because they’re so heavy, and also the Sokovia Accords have five hundred layers of crap in them that no good fic could possibly hash out well. This one, though? When you add in the Infinity War/End Game fixit? Poetry. Art. Music to my ears. DP wrote a really engaging, twisty story where it’s hard to predict what’s coming next, in spite of it literally being a pseudo-Groundhog day scenario. The characterizations are great, the story is engaging, and the feelings are big and sad and eventually happy. Go read it, you’ll love it.

I have tons of other recs for this category but this seems like a good place to stop for today. Tomorrow’s Alternative Media Thursday, and I’ve got some real gems I’ve been saving for that day (aaaaand possibly a self-rec or two ;)

#capimrecweek #tony stark #Steve Rogers #stony #fanfiction #MCU #ficrec

[secretpeachtea]

Onigiri Miya Tidbits Ch 7

Title: the fox’s den

Genre: gen fic, reader insert

Word Count: 5.4k

Summary: Onigiri Miya is now hiring and you just happen to be the right person for the job. The business has been gaining popularity since its grand opening, and many customers travel from different cities just to have a bite of Miya Osamu’s delicious recipes. You did expect some craziness from working in food services, but what you didn’t expect was to be bombarded with frequent tomfoolery from a bunch of attractive volleyball players during your shifts.

disclaimer: manga spoilers

A/N: Hey y’all! There’s gonna be quite a lot of dialogue in this chapter, but I hope it’s not too boring. I was really excited to write this chapter since Inarizaki is my favorite team :D Hope you enjoy!

Previous///Next

There was always something entrancing about the second half of the year when the green and gray streets transform into a multicolored wonderland as a response to the incoming shift of seasons. You admire the different shades of red, orange, and yellow that litter the ground that you’re walking on as you make your way to work. The only things going through your mind right now are serenity, peace, and-

“‘SAMU, YOU BASTARD!”

At the sudden voice, you almost trip on your own feet in surprise. Once you’re sure you won’t fall flat on your face, you look up and see two familiar twins right outside the front door of Onigiri Miya, clear irritation written on their faces.

“How could you say that?! Do you know how ridiculous you sound right now?” Atsumu yells at his brother while clenching his hands by his sides.

Osamu’s eyebrows are furrowed in distress. “I’m pretty sure I’m the one with common sense here. I’ve done what I can to convince you, but you just won’t listen to me!”

You start to worry now as you continue to watch the two glare at each other from where you’re standing a few feet away. You know it’s best not to interfere, but there’s a part of you that wants to stop them before things get out of hand. It seems like you don’t even have to make a decision as Atsumu’s eyes meet yours. “Hey, sweetheart! Come over here and tell this tasteless scrub that he’s wrong!”

“Who you calling a tasteless scrub, you uneducated swine!” Osamu crosses his arms in disdain but softens his gaze when his eyes land on your approaching figure.

“Hold up. What are you guys even talking about?” You try your best to keep your voice as relaxed as possible but still proceed with caution in case one of them were to blow up again in anger. 

What you didn’t expect, however, were the next few words that came out of the blonde’s mouth. “The best Disney princess is obviously Rapunzel, but ‘Samu doesn’t agree!”

“You just like her ‘cause she’s blonde! Clearly, Belle is the superior princess!” The other twin spits back.

You pause for a moment to process the situation. That’s...not exactly what you expected when you first saw them arguing outside of the shop (and quite loudly too). A deep sigh leaves your lips as the two childish men in front of you continue to banter.

“Oh yeah?!” Atsumu suddenly directs his attention on you and places his hands on your shoulders for emphasis. “Sweetheart, who do you think is the best Disney princess?”

Already feeling an incoming headache, you just say the first thing that pops into your mind in hopes of stopping this madness. “Oh, uh...I don’t know. I think Mulan is pretty badass.”

The twins go silent as they contemplate your response for a brief minute. It seems like you gave a satisfactory answer because they both make eye contact with each other and nod their heads. Their strange twin telepathy is something you’ll never understand. 

No longer having the patience, you just brush off Atsumu’s hands and use your spare key to open up the front entrance of the shop. The two men just follow you inside and the blonde is the first one to break the silence in a much calmer tone than before. “Okay, fair. But, I really do think-!”

Atsumu halts his footsteps as you and Osamu just glance at him confused. The blonde gasps dramatically as he stares at the new additions to the shop’s walls. “HEY! Why do you have their autographs on your wall?!”

Not wanting a part 2 to the previous fiasco, you just head over to the back room to put your belongings away and get yourself ready for work. Securing the cap on your head, you walk out of the room and stroll to your spot on the register. It seems like Atsumu is a lot more fired up than usual because he’s still arguing with his brother. 

It took everything in Osamu to keep his voice at a normal level while responding to Atsumu’s pettiness. “They came over to eat one day and I thought it would look good for the shop.”

“Don’t you know that we’re ultimate rivals?! You can’t be siding with the enemy!”

“They’re your rivals, ‘Tsumu. Everyone’s technically considered a customer to me.”

“Traitor!”

You swear you saw puffs of smoke pop from Osamu’s ears from his frustration. You were about to place a hand on his shoulder in hopes to keep your boss from throwing something at his brother, but a smooth voice interrupted the tension in the room.

“Calm down, Atsumu.”

You and Osamu jumped in surprise, while Atsumu let out a startled yelp at the unexpected guest. The three of you turned toward the front entrance to see who showed up an hour before opening. Although you only heard one voice, three tall figures in casual clothing stand at the doorway. They step inside the building and you vaguely remember seeing their faces in a picture Osamu once showed you from high school.

The person in the middle of the group brushes away a couple strands of his gray hair with black tips while his other hand sits on top of the handle of a small suitcase. The one on the left has a built body with dark skin sporting a kind smile. The one on the right has a lanky body and long fingers that reach up to his face to cover a yawn on his bored expression.

If you remember correctly, Osamu had told you about some of his former teammates and the ones standing in front of you were Kita Shinsuke, Ojiro Aran, and Suna Rintarou.

The twins brighten in recognition and make their way over to the newcomers. “Kita-san! Aran-san!”

“I’m here too, you know.” Suna comments.

All of the guys greet one another in the middle of the room with smiles on their faces. You’re not really sure what to do since you’re the odd one out.

You stand off to the side behind the counter awkwardly, but you are interested in their little group dynamic. The Inarizaki alumni all hold completely different demeanors and postures, but one thing that they all share is that all of them are incomprehensibly attractive in their own way. Why are all of the former and current volleyball players that you’ve met so far like this?

Lost in your thoughts, you didn’t realize that you’ve been staring at Kita in particular for a couple minutes. He must have felt your eyes on him because he momentarily looks away from his current conversation to make direct eye contact with you. You let out a small squeak after getting caught staring, but it doesn’t seem like Kita is bothered at all.

“Ah, sorry about that. I didn’t mean to ignore you.” Kita leaves his group to walk over to where you are and this catches the attention of the other four males as well. 

“It’s no problem! I wanted to give you guys room to catch up.” You lift up your hands to wave off his apology and give Kita a bright smile as you speak. “It’s finally nice to meet the oh-so-praiseworthy rice provider for the shop, Kita-san.”

Your reply elicits a soft laugh from the man’s mouth. “Nice to finally meet you too, (Surname)-san.”

“You know my name?” You ask, surprised.

“Aside from looking at your name tag, yes. I’ve heard some things about you from the twins,” Kita answers.

Your cheeks turn a bit pink in embarrassment because you completely forgot that you were wearing your name tag for work. Your embarrassment doesn’t last for long, however, when you quickly realize what Kita had just implied about the twins. You shoot an intimidating look at the two culprits and neither of them meet your gaze. “They talk about me?”

“Only good things. No worries.” Kita tries his best to reassure you that there hasn’t been any slander against you, but you still feel a bit insecure.

Knowing that feeling this way is probably unnecessary, you just resort to a little bit of teasing. “I don’t worry so much about Osamu-san. It’s the other one that needs to be kept in check.”

“Hey!” Atsumu’s head quickly turns to your direction at your very obvious accusation.

Suna snickers while ignoring his friend’s outburst. “She’s a smart one.”

“Hey!”

Aran chuckles in amusement and Osamu just smiles at his brother’s distress. You try to fake exasperation by placing a hand on your cheek and Kita’s smile falters as he catches something from the corner of his eye. The charm bracelet that you received from Osamu is secured to your wrist with the small onigiri charm shining under the fluorescent lights.

 “Oh, so you’re the one…”

You look back at Kita in confusion. “The one what?”

Kita hesitates for a moment before simply shaking his head in dismissal with a knowing grin on his lips. “Ah, it’s nothing.”

You’re bewildered by his mysterious response, but it doesn’t look like he wants to talk about it anymore, so you just brush it off for now. 

As everyone else continues their own conversations, Kita thinks back to a conversation he had a couple months back.

“The rice should be coming in a couple days, Osamu.”

“Sounds good, Kita-san.”

“Is there anything else you need?”

“Actually...I have a quick question.”

“What is it?”

“What would you...um...give to someone who just graduated that’s not so generic or meaningless?”

“...Are you asking for your coworker?”

“Scary! Are you sure you don’t read minds or something, Kita-san?”

“I don’t believe I can. But, to answer your previous question, if you want to give a gift that holds more meaning, I would say buy or make something that’s personal to both of you. It could be from a fond memory you share or a common interest. However, based on the positive things I’ve heard about her, she would probably appreciate anything you give her.”

“Hm…”

Kita is pulled out of his thoughts when he hears Osamu’s voice nearby. “I’ll get you guys the usual, right?”

The rest of the guys all nod their head and Aran makes the motion to take out his wallet. However, before he can do so, Osamu lifts up a hand to stop him. “No worries, Aran-san! All of this is on me!”

Atsumu’s ears perk up. “You’re not gonna make me pay for my food this time, ‘Samu?”

Kita looks towards Osamu and slightly tilts his head in confusion. “You make your brother pay for his food?”

“Always.” Osamu answers without hesitation and with one of the most deadpan expressions you’ve ever witnessed on him.

“I see.” Kita simply nods his head in understanding. “It would be detrimental to your business if you gave things out for free too much.”

Atsumu grabs onto his former captain’s arms in exasperation. “Kita-san!”

A quiet giggle leaves your mouth at the scene in front of you. It seems like the twins are a bit more competitive and bicker more often when their former teammates are involved. Seeing this side of Osamu amuses you since you’re more used to his laidback nature.

Eventually the brief comical moment calms down and Osamu begins to prepare all of the food. Kita and Atsumu seemed to be in their own world, so you decide to try and speak with the other two people in the room that you have yet to be acquainted with.

Suna and Aran seem to have been thinking the same thing because they are already walking up to the counter in your direction. Suna raises his right hand in greeting, while Aran gives you a polite smile before speaking, “You must be (Surname)-san. Apologies for taking so long to greet you.”

“No worries.“ You wave off the apology. “You guys were also teammates with the twins in high school right? The only thing I really know are your names. What were your positions?”

“I was a wing spiker. I’ve actually known the twins since we were in elementary school,” Aran replies.

You clap your hands together in realization. “You guys are childhood friends then! I’m surprised you haven’t come up in my conversations with them more.”

“Those two were always running around all over the place just to compete against each other, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they don’t remember half of the things they experienced in school.”  Aran lets out a deep sigh, but you couldn't detect any real annoyance. 

If the counter wasn’t in the way, you definitely would’ve patted the man on the shoulder. “Well if you’re as patient and calm as you are now with their antics for all those years, then you definitely deserve the appreciation, Ojiro-san.”

“You deserve it just as much since you see at least one of them almost every day now.” Aran sends you another kind smile and you can’t help but mirror it.

Not wanting to leave out Suna from the conversation, you turn your head towards the male who is just listening with his hands shoved into his pockets. “What about you, Suna-san? What was your position?”

“Middle blocker. Although, I did work as a part-time witness to the twins’ stupidity.” The stoic male smirks and looks at you in the eye. “Seems like you’ve taken up that job?”

You burst out laughing. “I can’t really deny that. We should be compensated for all this work.”

Suddenly, you feel a heavy weight on your shoulder that catches you off guard. When you look up, Osamu’s elbow is leaning on your shoulder and there are pieces of rice stuck to his fingertips. He has one of his eyebrows raised in suspicion. “Hey, why do I get the feeling that you guys are talking behind our backs?”

Suna looks directly at Osamu with his usual expression. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Feeling a bit playful, you also answer with the same deadpan tone. “Yeah, we’re just bonding over some relatable stuff.”

Suna takes one of his hands out of his pockets and raises it up next to you. Without hesitation, you give him a high five while holding back your smile. Aran just chuckles at the unexpected tag team between you and his former teammate. 

Before your boss could make any more comments, his phone dings from where it’s sitting on the counter between his work station and the register. Osamu seems briefly conflicted since his hands are covered in rice but quickly comes to a decision. “Hey, (Name)-san. You mind holding up my phone for me? I think it’s a message about a shipment for some ingredients we needed to restock.”

“Yeah, sure!” You pick up the phone and a picture of Onigiri Miya with a large ‘Grand Opening’ sign in front of the entrance illuminates the lock screen. “Oh, you have facial recognition. I’m gonna have to borrow your face for a bit, Osamu-san.”

Osamu leans down as you place the phone in front of him for a couple seconds, but nothing happens. You try to angle the screen differently and wait a little longer, but it’s still not unlocking. Across the counter, Atsumu watches the two of you struggle through a few more attempts before losing his patience. “Just put the phone up to my face. It’ll probably work.”

A bit curious to see if the phone will actually unlock for the other twin, you move your arm to where Atsumu’s waiting. You keep the phone up for a few moments, but there’s still no response.

The blonde just stares at his brother’s phone in disbelief. “What the hell? Why isn’t it working??”

“Wow, even my phone can tell who the uglier brother is.” Yup. Osamu’s definitely feistier today.

“WE LITERALLY HAVE THE SAME FACE.”

The twins look like they’re about to start another round of unnecessary bickering. From the side, Kita sighs at the idea of having to intervene in yet another argument. He opens his mouth to stop the madness, but you beat him to it. You shove Osamu’s phone into his face again and surprisingly it unlocks. “Alright, guys. You can shut up now. I got it to work.”

Both Atsumu and Osamu shut their mouths immediately. They still looked a bit irked at one another, but no longer have the will to fight. Kita stares at you with shock. He’s never seen anyone other than himself dissipate the twins’ bickering so quickly and you haven’t even known them for as long as he has. Even Aran gives up at some point. Perhaps you are a much more important presence than he realized.

Clicking on the message notification, you lift up your arm just enough so that both you and Osamu can look at the screen comfortably. The message consisted of a picture of a shipment with a list of items. The list is barely legible due to the small font, so the two of you have to lean in closer to the screen. 

“The text is so small. Can you read anything?” You ask as you bring the phone closer.

Osamu squints and wipes one of his hands on a clean towel before placing it over your own to steady the phone. “Barely. Why did he send such a terrible picture?”

The close proximity and subtle touches between you and your boss do not go unnoticed. As you’re discussing the contents of the picture, Suna and Aran share a knowing look with each other.

After a couple minutes of trying to decipher everything in the message, you and Osamu have successfully written down a complete list of all the shipment contents on a napkin. Osamu pockets his phone and the napkin before turning to look at you. “Okay, I think everything’s all good. Thanks, (Name)-san.”

“No problem!” You rub your eyes from the slight strain and move back to where you were standing before while Osamu finishes up making the last of the group’s food. Suna and Aran just watch you both go back to whatever you were doing before as if your cheeks weren’t millimeters away from each other a few seconds ago. The two males make eye contact once again, but just shrug their shoulders.

“Food’s ready! Grab your onigiris and drinks. We can sit at the table for a bit.” Osamu announces to his friends. Your boss turns to you briefly as he starts going around the counter. “Wanna join?”

“No, that’s alright. You guys use this time to catch up. I can take care of setting up the shop on my own, so take your time.” You give him a reassuring smile and he returns a grateful one back.

While the guys chatted about their lives, you set up the chairs and checked each of the sauce bottles to make sure none of them were empty. About fifteen minutes went by and you now had a broom propped up against your shoulder after sweeping. On your way back, you pass by the table where everyone is still talking with one another. 

“I am funny! There just wasn’t anyone competent enough to get the joke!” It seems like Atsumu was yet again becoming a victim to the endless teasing of his former teammates because his face is slightly flushed and he’s fidgeting with pent up frustration. In hopes to ease his heated face, Atsumu roughly starts refilling his cup with ice water with a tight grip on the glass.

Suna shakes his head. “I thought it was funnier when you almost passed out from being overheated from the Jackasuke suit.”

“What?!” Atsumu abruptly stands up from his chair and in his haste, he doesn't realize that he had also raised his cup just as quickly causing the water to splash onto the nearest thing which just so happened to be you. “Oh shi-! (Name)-chan!”

The front of your shirt is entirely soaked and water drips down from your face and the tips of your hair. You mentally thank your boss for making the uniforms black. Lucky for you, your pants are completely dry because your apron took all of the damage. Aran, who is the next person closest to you, takes the broom from your possession and hands you a couple napkins to at least dry your face, but it’s definitely not enough to make a dent in your drenched clothes. 

Atsumu frets over you with a look of immense guilt in his eyes. “I’m so sorry, (Name)-chan! I-I didn’t mean to do that!”

“It’s...it’s okay. Just try not to lose your cool so easily next time.” You can’t really say you’re happy about your current predicament, but it wouldn’t do anyone any good if you lash out in anger. The running A/C is much more apparent now that it’s much easier to feel the circulating cold air and you start to shiver a bit.

Osamu catches your attention from the corner of your eye when he stands up from his seat. “You good, (Name)-san? You should probably go put on a jacket or something.”

“I didn’t bring a jacket or any extra clothes with me today.” You sigh at your misfortune at how something like this happens on the one day you don’t have your hoodie with you.

Osamu’s frown deepens at the growing unfortunate circumstances. “Ah, damn. We usually have extra shirts in the back, but I left them at home to wash.” 

You dread at the thought of either working with a wet shirt or having to walk all the way back to your apartment to change while suffering through the chilly breezes. However, the universe must be taking pity on you when you hear another voice join in. 

“(Surname)-san, I have some spare clothes in my suitcase.” Kita pats the suitcase that he had brought into the shop with him. 

You know that the best and most efficient way to get out of your misery is to accept his offer, but you’re still reluctant. “Oh no! It’s okay! I wouldn’t want to cause any trouble for you.”

“I don’t mind. It wouldn’t do you any good to go around with wet clothing. You might catch a cold, especially since the weather is becoming cooler.” Kita immediately brushes off any concerns you may have. He zips open his suitcase and grabs a simple navy sweater from his pile of folded clothes. There’s a slight pause when he holds out the shirt to you before continuing the conversation, “It would mostly cause Osamu to be very distressed.”

There isn’t much room for arguing, so you slowly take the soft sweater from the older male’s arms and nod your head in understanding. “Yeah, I guess he would have to work twice as much if I’m not able to help out.”

Kita blinks at your oblivious rationale. “...right.”

You hear a hint of something in his tone but don’t dwell on it for too long because another blast of cold air hits your body causing you to shiver again. Muttering a quick thanks, you rush to the bathroom to change. After peeling off your uniform shirt and bundling it up with your apron, you wipe off any water that remains on your skin before slipping on the borrowed sweater. It’s much larger and warmer than you thought it would be. After gathering the wet pile of clothes, you head out of the bathroom in your new attire. 

The table that everyone was sitting at is now completely cleared of any food and some of the guys are sitting at the counter while Osamu is washing all of the used dishes. Atsumu’s head is laying on the counter and still has distraught laced into his expression. He immediately stands up to apologize again when he hears you come out of the bathroom, but his words get caught in his throat when he sees you.

Kita’s sweater is definitely too big for your frame. The sweater reaches your mid thigh, but you’ve opted to fashionably tuck the front of it into your pants. The sleeves go past your hands only exposing your fingers and the collar reveals a sliver of your collarbone. The overall fit of the sweater creates an image that can make anyone stop and stare.

Atsumu’s ears redden at the sight in front of him and Osamu is frozen in front of the sink. Even Suna and Aran have briefly halted their conversation to stare silently. The only one who is visibly unaffected is Kita.

Kita decides to walk over to where you are and hands you an empty plastic bag. “You can place your wet clothes into the bag so it doesn’t get anything else wet. You can return the shirt to Osamu and he can give it to me before I head back home.”

“Ah, thanks! I’ll wash it tonight and give it to Osamu tomorrow when I come in for work.” You smile at him gratefully and do as he suggested. During the process, your sleeves roll down uncomfortably and you have to constantly pull at it so that it doesn’t get in the way.

Kita notices the way you are fidgeting and gives you an inquisitive look. “Are the sleeves bothering you?”

“Oh, um...just a bit, but it’s not too bad.” You reply.

The male just pulls the plastic bag away from your hands and puts it off to the side for the time being before holding out his own hands in front of you. “Here, let me help.”

You accept his assistance and hold out one of your arms to him. Kita calmly folds the sleeves to a proper length while you just watch quietly. Once he’s finished with one arm, he gently lifts the other and proceeds to fold the sleeve as well. 

The rest of the guys were just watching silently. The entire scene is almost like it’s from some kind of shoujo anime. Atsumu swears there is even a sparkling background with multiple flowers to match the sweet moment. There’s a strange feeling bubbling inside Osamu’s chest, but he chooses to look away and continue washing the dishes. You and Kita looked really good together.

“Thanks again, Kita-san!” Once Kita finishes up the last sleeve, you smile at him once again. “I guess I was lucky that you decided to visit so suddenly today or I might’ve been in trouble.”

“You’re welcome.” Kita returns the smile. “We were all busy on the twins’ birthday last week, so it’s a good thing we rescheduled to today.”

“What.” You blink once. It takes a few seconds for you to process what the man in front of you had just said, but once it clicks, a wave of shock passes through your body. “What?!”

You scramble over to where Osamu is avoiding your gaze and grab onto his arm. “Why didn’t you tell me your birthday was last week?!”

“Oh uh… it never came up?” A bead of sweat runs down the side of your boss’ face.

Still enraged, you swerve your head towards the blonde twin and point an accusing finger at him. “And you! I would’ve expected you to be all over having the attention!”

Atsumu shrugs his shoulder in an uncharacteristically nonchalant way causing you to drop your arm in confusion. “Meh, I’m not really all that big on birthdays. I thought my brother would’ve told you.”

When you look back at Osamu, his hand is rubbing at his neck sheepishly. “It was your day off and you looked like you weren’t feeling well the day before, so I thought it’d be best if you rested.”

You’re not sure if you should feel touched that he noticed that you weren’t feeling so great last week or upset that he didn’t think to tell you about such a special day. Your boss has also been pretty busy lately due to work, so there is a part of you that is understanding of the situation. There isn’t really anything you can do about it now since it’s already too late, so you just sigh in defeat.

Kita decides to intervene before you get even more upset. “No worries, (Surname)-san. There’s always a next year for birthdays. If you wanted to spend time with him, I’m sure just asking will suffice.”

“Indeed. Osamu would definitely not mind making time for you, (Surname)-san.” Aran adds.

Atsumu seems to be feeling a bit left out and chimes in, “Wait, but what about me? It was my birthday too.”

“It’s not like Osamu knows how to do anything but play volleyball and work. Might as well take him out somewhere nice.” Suna mentions while ignoring Atsumu’s outburst for the nth time today.

“Woah, guys!” Osamu’s face flushes a bit from the teasing. You laugh at the group's antics and feel your frustration melt away.

Suddenly, a phone alarm goes off and Kita pulls out his phone to shut it off. “Well, we should get going now. We wouldn’t want to be in the way of your business, Osamu. We’ll see you tonight with the rest of our former teammates.”

“Yeah, I’ll see you guys later.” Osamu replies with a wave of his hand.

“I have to get to practice too, so I’ll walk out with all of you.” Atsumu walks towards the exit with his hands folded behind his head. Aran and Suna get up from their seats to get ready to go as well. The two say their goodbyes to both you and Osamu before stepping outside to catch up with Atsumu.

Kita is the last one out, but before he closes the door he gives you one last glance. “It was nice to meet you, (Surname)-san.”

“You too, Kita-san!” Your lips curve upwards at being able to have met yet another kind person at work. Kita finally closes the door and now it’s just you and Osamu left in the shop. After having such an eventful morning, the peace and quiet is pretty refreshing.

Osamu looks at you from the corner of his eye thoughtfully. His gaze then shifts down to where his former captain’s sweater rests on your figure and he feels a twinge of irritation but keeps his expression neutral. “Are you sure you don’t want to go home and change? You live pretty close by too.”

You think for a moment but eventually shake your head. “Hm...no it’s fine. I wouldn’t want to miss work just to change into another shirt. I think my extra uniform needs to be washed anyway. Is there something wrong?”

“...no.”

“Jealous that I talked to your friends more than you?”

“N-no!”

A giggle escapes your lips when you hear your boss stutter. “You know you’re my favorite onigiri chef, right?”

“I’m the only onigiri chef you know.” Osamu points out and you giggle even louder. The male can’t even be upset because your laughs are quite contagious. Although, he does make a mental note to bring one of his own sweaters to keep at the shop from now on.

Leftovers

The Miya household is a simple two bed apartment with a decent view of the suburbs around the area. Both Miya twins are considered residents of the complex, but Atsumu usually stays in the dorm available for MSBY players. Today, both twins are in the apartment.

“‘Samu, I swear this shirt makes me look fat-...?” Atsumu barges into his brother’s room without knocking but cuts off his words when he sees his brother intensely staring at a pile of hoodies scattered on his bed. “What are you doing?”

“I’m trying to figure out which hoodie I wanna keep at the shop.” Osamu responds distractedly.

Atsumu stares at him incredulously. “What? Just pick whatever. It’s not like you don’t go to work every day. Why does it matter? ”

Osamu pauses for a moment. “...for emergencies.”

“Whatever, man. I’m heading out to go buy some new volleyball shoes with Shoyo-kun.” The blonde shrugs off his brother’s strange behavior and chooses to just walk away since he needed to leave soon. He momentarily looks out the window and notices some dark clouds filling up the sky. “And, I’m taking your umbrella!”

Osamu doesn’t hear what Atsumu says and barely registers the slam of the front door because he’s too deep in thought. What was your favorite color again?

A/N:  Ouch. I realized that if you were to actually follow the haikyuu timeline, some of this wouldn’t actually make sense. BUT I don’t care :D Also, not me indulging on some Kita action cause I am whipped for this man (but not as much as Osamu hehe)

taglist: @kiyoo-omi​ @tris-does-stuff​ @livshotel​

#onigiri miya #onigiri miya tidbits #secretpeachtea #inarizaki #atsumu #osamu #kita #aran #suna #haikyuu fanfiction

[eyessharpweaponshot]

hi there!! are there any fics you’re reading right now that you would recommend? i need something good after the season we’ve been given so far 😣

hello there!

I agree, this season has been disappointing - especially considering it’s the last one. but thankfully, our fandom is full of amazing writers that serve us goods regularly. I have so much to recommend, it’s a joke. so prepare for a long fic rec. In no particular order, let’s begin:

1. Chasin’ You - @burninghoneyatdusk

okay. you’re gonna see a bit of a theme with me in these fic recs because the authors I mention are some of my favourites in the world - sam being one of the TOP TIER ones. this fic is a modern au, written about clarke and bellamy as exes (a favourite trope of mine) that have went their separate ways. clarke has moved away and hasn’t kept tabs on bellamy but he's soared to the top as a country star, his hit single being about her and what they had. if there’s any fic from this list you need to start reading, it’s this one.

2. Voices in the Water - @burninghoneyatdusk

It’s the canon version we all wanted. set on earth, clarke’s aunt (nia) forces her into an arranged marriage with king bellamy to unite the clans. but under it all, nia has tasked her to kill him. obviously, as clarke falls in love with bellamy, it’s the one task wanheda probably can’t complete. I'm in love with the imagery and descriptions in this fic. there are honestly some lines that sam writes that I want to frame and put up in my house. absolute brilliance.

3. All Because of You - @burninghoneyatdusk

*sheepishly raises hand* - hi, it’s me again, fangirling over another one of sam’s fics. if you have followed me for a while, either here or on twitter, you’ll have seen me screaming about this fic. I've pulled over while driving to read an update that came through to my email. no lie. I don’t say this lightly but it is definitely in my top 3 favourite bellarke fics of all time. sam DELIVERS with this one. bellamy knocks up his sister’s best friend when they’re both young and they grow together in raising their daughter. this fic flashes between present and future in the most seamless way and we see how in love they were back then but too scared to admit it, combined with how in love they are now that they are mature and older - but yet can’t seem to take the leap. I can’t tell you enough how good this fic is. I'm in love and it’s one of those fics that I would happily have as a book on my bookshelf, the pages worn and falling out from the amount of times that I re-read it.

*I just want to note that sam is doing a fantastic job at running @bellarkefic-for-blm. This is an opportunity for the bellarke community to directly support the Black Lives Matter cause through reading and writing fanfiction. For every fanfiction prompt a participating writer receives, they ask that you donate to an organization that supports the BLM cause. This initiative includes non-bellarke the 100 ships and requests for other content (e.g. gif sets, icons, moodboards, fanart). please check them out and request a prompt (this also includes updates for the above mentioned fics)*

4. Count Your Teeth - @icantloseyou-too

let me tell you, you guys will be well fed after reading this fic. It’s one of the most original idea’s and we get so much bellarke and the blake siblings in this one. bellamy is a treasure hunter and married to clarke, after leaving his thieving days behind him. that is until his past comes knocking and drags him back into that world again - and clarke along with him. absolute chefs kiss!

5. Cups and Sorcerers - @icantloseyou-too

again, such a unique plot with just the right amount of fluff. clarke is a witch who owns a coffee shop and she ends up meeting someone just as unique as her. I’m invested in this to an embarrassing degree and it always puts me in a good mood when this fic is updated. such a light and heart filling read and ciara does a fantastic job of world building in this fic.

6. Paint me in Trust - @pawprinterfanfic

I'm sure this fic needs no introduction. everyone and their mother has heard of it and if you haven’t read it yet, believe me, you’re missing out. a harry potter au that runs alongside the last few movies without being involved with the main characters. essie manages to make an already existing world so different, thrilling and gripping. it emotionally upends you and takes you along for the ride without any intention of letting you off. I'm just in love with it and rightly so!

7. When the Wolves Come Home - @pawprinterfanfic

I don’t know how people aren’t RAVING about this fic more because I certainly am. it’s massive for me to even say this because I love all of essie’s work but it’s my favourite fic that she’s written. I can’t describe the feeling I get when I read how she’s written bellarke in this. it’s a percy jackson au but you don’t need to have knowledge of that world to enjoy this. I actually started reading the books because of this fic. essie writes it so well and incorporates a lot of fantastic elements from greek mythology while also keeping me on the edge of my seat with bellarke’s journey. HERE FOR IT ALL THE WAY.

8. I’ll Find You in the Morning Sun - @cominguproses13x

I’ve never seen a fic talked about as much as this one. with 60 chapters, it’s bound to satisfy any hunger you have for bellarke. it’s set in a post apocalyptic world and it is beyond a shadow of a doubt, my favourite setting to read bellarke in. I've actually stopped reading this fic on chapter 5 because im currently writing my own post apocalyptic au as it was a trope on my bingo card and I don’t want any subconscious spill over, but I fully intend on reading the rest of the fic in one go once my fic is published and done. it deserves all the praise and hype.

9. For Blue Skies - @kombellarke

kayla’s fics make me actually weep. her writing style is just unbelievable and she sucks me into stories so fast. this one is no different. I live and breathe for bellarke as exes and this fic is one of my favourites. it’s a modern au with clarke as a mother and she cascades back into bellamy’s life without warning. perfect angst and anticipation. in love.

10. Love Like Fools - @talistheintrovert

the way I love talis with my whole heart. I'm always obsessed with her fics and the way this one was written was just magnificent. enemies to friends to lovers, roommates, angst, emotional comforting? SIGN ME UP. the perfect mix of all of those and I felt so good after reading this. always a fan.

11. It Had To Be You - @useyourtelescope

I had the honour of pre-reading some of this fic before it was published and I felt so privileged. a regency au with a prank war sprinkled in? perfection. hana honestly writes this so beautifully and I can’t recommend this enough. it’s so unique and we are all so incredibly lucky that there’s something in the bellarke fic world for everyone.

12. Veni, Vidi, Vinci - @carrieeve

Again, proof of the pudding that there’s something in fic for everyone. I’ve never read one like this before and it THRILLED me. murphy and bellamy working together to steal a Vinci? it was the fic I never knew I needed. the bellarke interaction in this was beautifully written and I am just completely obsessed. we really struck gold with the bellarke big bang works this year.

13. A Twist of Fate - @queenemori

let’s be honest, soulmate au’s are always wanted and needed in this fandom and kara does an excellent job of serving us this one. we got some team cockroach in here along with some top tier quality bellarke. what more could you ask for? if you haven’t read this fic yet, you need to. so thankful for kara being the absolute gifted babe that she is.

14. Power Over Me - @sparklyfairymira

okay, if you recently watched the witcher on netflix like I did, believe me, you NEED to read this fic. if you haven’t watched the witcher, this fic will make you want to watch it. the smut in this, the plot, the WRITING. absolutely phenomenal. have I mentioned how lucky we are to have such fantastic writers in this fandom?

15. There’s a Serpent Lying Deep Down in These Still Waters - @shaeheda

post apocalyptic au? SIGN ME UP. bellarke thrown together in unkind circumstances? SIGN ME UP. this magnificent human writing a fic? SIGN ME THE FUCK UP. I'm so in love with this fic already and I haven’t even finished it yet. as I've said, I've stopped reading fics in this genre until my own is completed but I’ve read enough to tell you that this needs to be on your next to read list. forever in awe of the talent here and this fic makes me feel so lucky to be part of something so great.

I hope this satisfies you for a while and that you enjoy all the bellarkey goodness that comes from these fics. I'm gonna drop some of mine below because why not? just in case you’re in need of something more.

1. I Found Peace in Your Violence

clarke griffin has it all. she’s popular, an artistic prodigy and has a wealthy family to boot. so when her perfect world comes crashing down around her, it’s time to sink or swim. she tests positive for the Homicidal Tendency Syndrome gene, also known as the kill gene. clarke is plucked from her comfortable life and placed into a school with people just like her - carriers, delinquents. when she meets bellamy blake there, he looks like everything they say HTS carriers are. a monster, a criminal. yet, he’s the one who protects her.

2. I Am Lost This Time

a void!bellamy fic that we all deserved to have happen in canon. an au where bellamy hears clarke’s radio calls from earth, sees her memories in m-cap and where she really is the key: the one that unlocks his memories and brings him back to her.

3. Purple, Blue, Orange, Red

bellarke are childhood friends and teenage lovers, reuniting in the midst of the same grief that tore them apart.

4. Devil Side

post apocalyptic setting and my favourite fic to have ever written. both of them coming together to survive and protect those in their family, including two small children. bellarke started out as strangers, who would have thought that they’d end up co-parenting in the middle of a world that is too dangerous to survive out in the open?

5. Waste It on Me

a soulmate/reincarnation au that I wrote based off my own breakup and feelings. probably my most popular fic and should keep you going in terms of bellarke feels.

#bellarke #the 100 #bellarke fanfiction #bellarke fic rec #fic recommendations #jensfic #eyessharpweaponshot #wonderful writers #wonderful fics

[steve0discusses]

Yugioh Season Zero: The Yo-yo Crimes of Jounouchi Pt 2

OK, last we left off, we were in a different Youtube video. This one I grabbed off of 2 different videos (you’ll see their watermark in the corner change) and it makes me appreciate the quality that our other episodes have been, honestly. A little bit of compression going on in these, just to give you even more of that nostalgic feel of watching a bootleg anime from the 90′s your brother got from his weird high school friend’s Napster account.

Because this is done with subtitles on, it takes more caps to cover it. Part of why I rewrite the dialogue in these recaps is to help abridge stuff, and so consider yourself warned...there’s a lot of caps in this one. For most of you, that’s probably not much of a problem. But I’m just letting you know because...I sure wasn’t expecting it to be over 40 caps for half an episode, and I’ll probably just type less to make up for that. (Tumblr keeps Erasing All My Words anyway, so this is for the best, but that’s a tech issue I already went into in another post.)

(read more under the cut)

So, to start off, Yugioh and co. walk up to a bar like a really weird version of a bar joke and are like “do you know where we can find the yo-yo gang?” And, much like a video game npc, the bartender was like “I know EXACTLY what you’re talking about, and I heard every part of their intimate conversation. Let me give you all the details, children.”

Hey, PS, there’s an entire Wikipedia entry about the bar joke. And that is wild. Apparently the first bar joke was from Ancient Sumeria, and Wikipedia was like “Here is the Sumerian joke, but we Do Not Get it. Please don’t try to get it.”

The joke being: "A dog walked into a tavern and said, 'I can't see a thing. I'll open this one'."

Damn. I can’t believe the Sumerians were onto meme humor before we ever invented memes. They were in the Galaxy brain over there in the land before time, holy crap. Depositing their memes knowing that 7,000 years later mankind would look at the world’s first joke and be like “I don’t get it!” while all the millennials and zoomers with our MB of nonsense memes on our phones are like “No. I get it.” Good on you Sumerians, that is freakin the best joke ever made. 7000 years to get to the punch line of confusing the hell out of all us. Bless.

They promptly tell Miho that everything was resolved and that she should go to bed and she was like “Cool!” and exited stage left. Bye, I guess. Anzu also went home, but she didn’t have to be tricked into doing it, she just went the hell to bed.

(PS, I just realized that if I want to write less...I should probably not look up Wikipedia articles about the world’s first ever bar joke. But y’all, habits die so freakin hard, and I just feel like it’s very pertinent to this Yugioh recap, although I know it’s really not.)

Yuugi and Honda decide to visit the warehouse and harass Jounouchi. In the context of the show, they’re going out of their way to pull their best friend out of society’s systemic downward pull of a life of crime and most likely turning into exactly like his Father. But, the way that it’s storyboarded makes it look a lot like these kids just show up out of the corner and this gang was like “Damn it, again? OMG small children, please leave us alone!”

Honda hands over the symbolism sash, to which Jounouchi symbolically says “Nyeh.”

And Honda didn’t take it very well.

After tending to his kidneys for a little while, Honda decided to go back at it again at the Krispy Cream and do some sort of insane parkour over this completely ordinary fence.

Ah, the very first instance of real duel law where you duel over a relationship. In later seasons duel law is invoked for things like Mai’s marriage and the right to date Tea (and then just kind of forgetting you ever won the right to date Tea twice). But to think the very first time was Honda dueling for the right of Jounouchi to be part of nerd gang because Jounouchi had fallen to the dark side yo-yo gang across the street run by some 40 year old man with blue hair.

How many times is Honda gonna fight with a broom? Like are they just magnetized to his location? where are they even coming from?

Freakin janitor powers over here, put him in a Final Fantasy style RPG. I want to see what his limit break would be.

Not like it matters, because Hirotani very quickly explains why these yo-yo’s are at all a threat.

Which honestly shouldn’t be...so lethal? Seems like the weight is all you need, not really the spikes. But it’s at least stronger than Honda’s janitor stuff.

Unfortunate for Honda that he just destroyed an antique.

So with lightning reflexes, Yuugi does what he does most:

The death yo-yo ricochets back and does this little itty bitty scrape to this guy’s face and he’s real bothered by it. Although it’s like...well dude, you’re a 50 year old high schooler, I don’t think people will notice the scrape compared to everything else falling apart in your life.

And so then the Yugioh Season Zero team was like “oh shoot is it time to torture Yuugi???” and they got hella excited.

Like I thought it was just Yuugi’s class that were a bunch of disturbing criminal disasters, but I guess it’s the whole city. Like...was Yuugi’s class the good school?

I mean, it can’t be, there’s no way...

but like...is there a good school in this universe? How does anyone survive till graduation? If you so much as disgrace a yo-yo, you will get the torture treatment that I sure did expect in Yakuza games, but not so much in Yugioh, tbh.

Just a reminder: This is the third time we’ve beat up Yuugi this episode. Within the first meeting of Yuugi and Hirotani, he beat the tar out of Yuugi within eye shot of Jounouchi. So like...Jounouchi was reallllllllllllllllly lax on that deal, right? Like...he took his toot sweet time to realize “yeah this just ain’t ever gonna happen.”

And then the yo-yo wars begin.

Just like Solid Snake crawling through the radiation chamber.

Hirotani throws his Fyper-yoyo, Jounouchi intercepts with his Eireboy, and Hirotani’s completely terrible yo-yo just flies off the string again because Hirotani should have just sticked to using his fists. No wonder they wanted to recruit Jounouchi so badly, their yo-yo game is so off.

We never get a door to darkness in this episode, dipping our enemies into mind horrors. Instead, we get home-alone style traps. But, this makes sense. Not only do the show makers have to make Yuugi avoid solving problems with magic in front of Jounouchi, they also have to make it Jounouchi’s choice to leave Hirotani behind. If Yuugi did it for him in like...some sort of duel law situation...then that sort of leaves out Jounouchi’s choice in the equation.

Not like this ever really comes up in later seasons, since who even follows through with duel law and marries Mai? But like, it does feel like Season Zero calls out the later Seasons a bit in this regard. Honda got beat up because he tried to win Jounouchi back by force (or game, I guess.) That was just another form of coercion on the heels of Hirotani’s. What Jounouchi actually needed was to make his own decision to leave.

...most other anime I’d be like “I’m sure that’s just a translation error” but not this one.

So Yuugi runs to the roof where Jounouchi will never see this.

My audible sigh reading this line about fight club roof.

These stupid gang members went into Yuugi’s native territory, not just a fight club roof, but on a warehouse? They were dead before they arrived.

This was like maybe 3 frames of animation in just rapid succession, it was pretty silly and good.

Reminder that like 4 minutes ago, Yuugi was about to get like executed on a meat hook.

Speaking of getting executed on a meathook:

Hope you like the idea of glass in your eyes, because this anime’s got it.

They chase Yuugi around, in a sequence that was done mostly to conserve frames, so you rarely saw the ground until this shot:

Lots of falling down this episode, but unlike Tea, who fell from a warehouse ceiling once and just kind of rubbed her ass after and was like “ah damn it.” these guys won’t come out of it virtually unscathed.

Also, Honda is here now:

Jumping off of his symbolic sash trapeze, he decides to do in Hirotani for good.

Hey so like...walk the dog is a fairly gentle walk that a yo-yo does slowly on the ground right?

Just pointing out how sensitive Hirotani’s fingies are.

And he...didn’t appear to be dead, so I don’t have to add to the bodycount...but it’s gonna be a real long road for recovery.

And now, with the gang back together Jounouchi is back at school knee deep in make up assignments he’ll probably completely ignore since we know that in a years time, these fools are going to be trapped on Pegasus’ island, and at that point school will be just that place you talk about when you try to remember why you’re friends with Bakura.

---hey aren’t those chairs attached to the desks?

Because...holy crap, Anzu.

Honestly this is what you see before you die, but I guess Jounouchi died off screen after the episode ended, so I don’t have to add him to the deathcount (again). RIP.

Alright! That took like...8 tries to get Tumblr to save this one, but it managed! (well...I guess “managed” isn’t the word you’d use for a typing program that takes 8 tries to save)

Next time, we’ll be back to S5, for an arc I’ve heard is kind of boring. We’ll see. If it truly is, I can condense episodes into fewer posts. Or maybe it’s a secret gem? I guess we shall see.

And if you just got here this is a link to read all the Season Zero recaps from the start:

https://steve0discusses.tumblr.com/tagged/yuugi-muto/chrono

(there’s also a link to read all the Yugioh posts we wrote from the start in chrono order but straight up, this file won’t freakin save, and I just can’t even will myself to look up that link again. It’s on the home page of this blog on the right.)

#YGO #yugioh #yu gi oh #Yuugi Muto #Jounouchi #Honda #Anzu #Miho #yo yo gang #Hirotani #Yuugi and the gang do serious property damage

[natsubeatsrock]

Lower Your Expectations for Nalu

I'm going to start this post off more generously than I normally would. I don't have any real reason to. I just kind of want to reach some of the Nalu fans with this section. (Nalu fans probably shouldn’t want to read the rest.)

Generally speaking, it's better to lower your expectations for a ship becoming canon. That way, you are pleasantly surprised to see how it will happen. Sometimes a relationship should have more subtle canonization than a bombastic showing. If Mashima plans to make Nalu canon, we should be patient to see how it happens. It’s not impossible for Nalu to have some impressive showy way it becomes canon. However, it’s worth letting Mashima do his thing and let the chips fall as they may.

Alright, the kids are gone. Let's do this for real.

I've been running this blog for just over six years. You'd think that, at this point, it would be hard for me to be surprised by this fandom. I've seen all kinds of things happen, and that should be the case. I joined during a rather tenuous time where fandoms were more willing to go at it.

As it stands, the Nalu fandom is the gift that keeps on giving. Whenever I feel as though I can't think of anything else to say about this ship, something happens, and I'm brought back to writing about it. You'd think it would be me talking about how the ship functions in canon. However, fans seem willing to bend over backward to sing Nalu's praises.

I'd respect it if it weren't Nalu we're talking about. This might be one of the most overrated ships in anime. I'll never understand how most people who watch this series even passively wanted these two to become a couple. All the couples Mashima's written over the years, and this is the one he'll be judged for? (Also, maybe Gruvia, but we talked about that already.)

Still, I do have to give this some fandom credit. Mashima has taken nearly every possible opportunity to feasibly advance this ship since the Grand Magic Games ended (arguably even before that) and passed on doing much with it. On some occasions, it feels as though Mashima is directly mocking the idea that Nalu could possibly become canon. And yet, fans believe that Nalu will become canon at any moment because he draws a Twitter pic of them once every three months or so. (Yes, I did edit this sentence since Nalu Day. What of it?) 

Recently, I got an ask comparing the Nalu fandom to the MAGA crowd. I'm not personally vindictive enough against Trump or his supporters to affirm that comparison. Though, I can't act as if I haven't been thinking of an analogy to describe Nalu fans. I think a better comparison might be fans of the Dallas Cowboys. 

Cowboys fans seem to believe that their team can win the Super Bowl any season. That's not an inherently problematic perspective to take. You should hope that your team will do well. However, this often manifests itself in confidence that ignores the faults within individual Cowboys teams and the strength of their opponents. Not to mention, this ignores the objective fact that the Cowboys haven't done well in the playoffs for 25 years.

I don't think it's wrong for fans to believe that their ship will become canon. I don't know too many fans who wish their ship doesn't become canon. However, I always worry about the fans who believe their ship happening is an inevitability. Especially when things seem to be pointing away from the possibility of it happening. This is usually a recipe for toxic fandoms.

But, let me humor the idea for a moment.

What if Mashima really plans to make Nalu happen in the end?

As I'm writing this post,  we're currently in the middle of the fight between the third Dragon God. We're getting close to the real conclusion of that battle. But after that, there are two big arcs until the series truly ends. Three if they decide to have one last battle against the quest-giving dragon.

If Mashima's going to make Nalu canon, how would that work now?

There's the "realization" route. This is the one I probably see the most. Natsu and Lucy could come to the clear realization that they have come to love each other throughout the series. Of course, you'd have to imagine that whatever would bring this on is more powerful than thinking the other has died. 

Twice, throughout the series. 

Each.

On top of several other crazy things to happen to them over 600 chapters of material spanning a decade and a half. Yet, I'm supposed to believe that some random new moment will change the tide for Nalu.

The other way to do it is to have a confession. Either Natsu or Lucy decides to share with the other the fact that they are in love. Their feelings are reciprocated, and you can figure out the rest.

Depending on who you ask, we've almost gotten this a few times. Lucy's had a few opportunities to talk about her relationship with Natsu and has been fairly nice about it. A few times it's hinted that there might be more to their friendship but nothing concrete. I've even seen it hinted that Natsu was going to confess in chapter 545.

But, that's just it. We've only gotten hints at the possibility that there's more. If Natsu and Lucy actually like each other romantically, why not make it clearer earlier?

"It's because he's being subtle about their shared romantic feelings."

Yeah, I have reason to doubt that.

Jellal and Erza have feelings for each other implied throughout Fairy Tail. Sure there's explicit stuff like their meeting before the Grand Magic Games started. But there's been plenty of subtle stuff surrounding their relationship. People make hints at their potential romantic relationship all the time in canon, even as recent as the last arc.

I feel like I say this a lot when talking about Jerza. But really think about the arcs they're together in. There's Tower of Heaven, Nirvana, the Grand Magic Games, Tartarus, Alvarez Empire, and Aldoron. Their relationship is brought up or hinted at in Fantasia, Tenrou Island, Avatar, and Mercuphobia. While that looks like a large amount of material, Jerza doesn't take up much space in any of these arcs. Outside of the Grand Magic Games, Nirvana, and Alvarez, these are small moments between the two of them at best. Sometimes it's even less than that. And yet, the ship makes sense to the vast majority of the fandom.

But that might be an unfair comparison. Jellal and Erza have a history dating before the series started. 

Let's use a ship that involves characters that met after Natsu and Lucy. Gray and Juvia. (Wait, these guys again?)

The big thing with this ship has been how Gray feels about Juvia. We've known how Juvia feels about Gray literally since they met. However, we've seen Gray slowly change his views on Juvia. We didn't just jump from enemies to lovers. There was a subtle shift as the series went on.

Do you really think that Mashima couldn't do better with Natsu and Lucy? His main duo? The series is only possible because the two meet each other. But I'm supposed to believe that Mashima didn't want to make a Nalu romance seem more explicit?

If you were to ask me, the most likely route for Nalu now is a much less sexy option. If Nalu were to happen, it won't happen in a grand showing of affection. It will just... happen. We'll likely skip to some random point in time after they beat all the dragons and see them as a couple. Maybe we'll se an Earthland Nasha.

This isn't something anime/manga fans aren't used to. I know everyone likely thinks of a different series that has done this over the years. People will rag on series like Naruto and Bleach for doing this. For what it's worth, I do like both of those series and their endgame ships. 

That said, I have two problems with this option. 

First, Nalu doesn't have the kind of setup that those other ships have. You're not getting characters openly confessing before a fight. You're not getting two characters flustered over the prospect of feelings suggested to each other. Heck, you're not getting a "Silver Ray" situation.

"What about those times when Lucy was asked if she likes Natsu?"

Again, Lucy's not openly agonizing over that as part of their relationship. If this was something we were supposed to seriously consider as an option for her, we'd know.

Even then, this would only show that it's one-sided. Natsu hasn't had any similar moments where he considers liking Lucy. Anyone bringing up the waterfall scene is speculating at best. Do you really expect me to believe that Mashima will change that this far into the series?

But this doesn't even get into the second problem. Is this how you'd want Nalu to become canon? 

I've said this before, but Nalu has been expected to become canon for close to a decade. That almost feels like an exaggeration. But one of the big chapters I usually point to for Mashima potentially making Nalu more overt is Lucy Fire. That chapter turned ten years old this past March.

Nalu fans have been inventing all kinds of scenarios and situations about how Mashima will make their favorite ship happen. Wouldn't it be disappointing for fans to see that this ship would happen without any of the pomp and circumstance you'd expect a ship like this to get?

I know plenty of people who were disappointed when their favorite ship just became canon without a lot of lead-up. I didn't love getting to the end of Bleach without knowing more about how Ichigo and Orihime got together. Yes, I know the novels exist, but I (literally) paid to read the manga. I'd like to have seen it happen in the manga. (This could be about Naruto, but I only own The Last.)

This is why I believe Nalu fans should lower their expectations. Do you know the fantasy fans have for Nalu happening? Natsu and Lucy finally being hit with the overwhelming realization they love each other? A tearful confession of their feelings for each other capped with a kiss? All of their friends cheering them on, knowing they should have been a couple a long time ago? Maybe even a glimpse at their wedding and their future kid?

Congratulations, that was Rave Master's main couple. Don't expect the same thing for Nalu. If Nalu will happen, it will look much more disappointing than what fans believe it will look like.

At this point, I'm even not sure that Nalu will happen. Mashima has made every version of Nalu look more romantic except the original. I can't apologize for my skepticism on its prospects. Even actual Nalu fans are worried about if it will happen. I will enjoy seeing more of this salt in the future.

Now, there's one question you might be asking of me. How will I react to Nalu happening?

I don't have some back-pocket post prepared in case Nalu does happen. Heck, I thought of making one but ended up writing this post instead. 

However, I have been wrong about future events of Fairy Tail in the past. If I'm wrong and Mashima does make Nalu canon, then I'll talk about it. I highly doubt it will make me like the series less. It certainly won't affect anything I'm doing with the rewrite, given my rules for changes. Consider that I've been able to talk about Gruvia negatively at this point in the series. I'll absolutely continue to talk smack about Nalu if it ends up canon. 

That said, I have reason to believe that I'm right about the direction Nalu will take. And if I'm right, don't expect my tone on Nalu to stay the same. At the very least, I can promise a third Nalu edition of "My Incredibly Unpopular Thoughts" if Nalu doesn’t happen. I haven't done one in years and I can't think of a better way to celebrate the ship dying once and for all.

#fairy tail #anti nalu #fairy tail month: seven of these? #to be clear #nothing specifically has prompted this #i just have bad timing #i've wanted to do a post like this for months #this is another situation #where one post became two #you'll see the second one some other time

[dasozelotvonnebenan]

— OC QUESTIONS

everything for lorna so a lot of stuff

BASICS

1. What’s their full name?

Lorna Astriddottir.

2. What does their name mean? Why were they named that?

Her name doesn’t mean anything special. Just Lorna the daughter of Astrid. Regular norn stuff.

3. Do they have any nicknames?

Lorna von Kodash when she wants to sound a little more epic. She made that name up when she was a kid and didn’t even know where or what Kodash was. She read it somewhere and thought “well that sounds cool”

4. How old are they?

28 or so

5. When’s their birthday?

somewhere in winter, close after wintersday. She says she gets less presents because of that

6.What’s their zodiac sign/element/birthstone/etc.? Do they believe that holds any significance?

I don’t know much about that, so I’m gonna extend that to her and say she doesn’t really think about it.

7. What’s their species/subspecies? Do they have any special/magical abilities?

She’s a Norn, coming from a long line of Owl shamans. She thinks that is why she can’t transform, but its a little more complicated.

8. What “class” do they belong to (for fantasy characters)? If none, what weapon do they favor?

She’s a necromancer, mostly fighting with a big ass greatsword. And when I say bigass I mean it. The sword as a whole is about as tall as she is, so the blade is about 3 m long.

APPEARANCE

1. What do they look like?

Note how big that sword is? Lorna is 3 and a half metres tall (that’s 11′5′’). I hc norn to be taller than they are in game so they are a little more like giants so she isn’t astronomically taller than everyone but she is still very tall for a norn. She’s also buff as hell. She will stomp you and spit in your eyeeeeee.

have a screen

2. Do they have a face claim?

no. though I think her face ingame is pretty accurate

3. What’s their style like? Clothes, hair, makeup?

She makes a point of casually wearing plate armor to show how strong she is. The rest of the time she wears her robes from the necromancy academy. Her hair is most often braided back, though she changes the pattern often. Makeup wise... excentric and playing off her tatoos.

4. How do they carry themselves? What’s their default expression?

Lorna knows she is intimidating and she revels in the feeling. She’ll stand to her tallest, look expressionless into your eyes and watch you melt into a scared puddle under her gaze.

With friends she is a lot more relaxed though and actually laughs a lot. She still doesn’t smile much though.

5. Do they have any physical ailments or disabilities?

She sometimes accidentally turnes swearing into harmfull magic, but that’s mostly under controll now.

PERSONALITY

1.What’s their alignment?

Chaotic Good

2. Which one of the 16 Personality Types do they fit into?

No clue about those

3. What are their hobbies and interests? Do they have any particular “favorites” (food, books, and so on)?

She does enjoy hunting, usually with daggers becaues if she uses her swords it’s an unfair fight for the boar. She plays DnD with her cousins when she is staying with them and is an excellent kegbrawl player. She does read sometimes, mostly bad romance novels. The more predictable the better.

4. What are they bad at?

Cooking that is more complicated that holding something over fire. She has in her life not once produced a meal that was properly seasoned and is not allowed near the salt box.

5. What kind of things do they dislike/hate?

Jokes about her height.

6. Do they have any vices/addictions/mental illnesses?

nope

7. What are their goals and motivations?

She wants to get into complete controll of her magic swearing, but other than that she doesn’t have any big goals in life.

8. What are their manners like? Any habits?

Theoretically she knows how to act well mannered. However she elects to be obnoxious because she knows people are too afraid to tell her off.

9. What are they most afraid of?

Being alone. As much as she plays the untouchable loner she values her friends greatly.

BACKGROUND

1. Where were they born? What was their childhood like?

Lorna was born in Hoelbrak, where her parents lived most of year. Her parents died when she was very little though, and she was raised by her uncles. She spent a lot of time with the Akis and Dak’s sisters.

2. What’s their family like?

Her parents were owl devotees, by tradition from her mothers side, and her father kind of picked it up because of her mother. They were very caring until they died. Her aunts and uncles are a wild bunch. The Akis are sibling grade cousins and obviously very nice people to be around.

3. What factions or organizations are they a part of? What ranks and titles do they hold?

She’s a Scientica at the Thule Academy of Thanatology (My dad’s necromancer school rp guild) which means she is in the third semester.

In the Family Kegbrawl Team she plays as a brawler and has 14 year streak in getting the highest points for a single player.

4. How do they fit into their “story”?

Most of her personality developed through and around the academy rp. Her magic swearing for example was introduced as a reason why she would want to go there in the first place. Now that the guild isn’t active anymore she is part of my wholesome group of Akis and friends for when I want to think about happy people being happy.

5. Where do they currently live? What’s their place like?

Lorna doesn’t have a place of her own. She mostly stays with the Akis in their homestead or stays at the hunters lodge in queensdale for the school year.

6. How do they eventually die?

no plan yet

RELATIONSHIPS

1. Do they have any friends? Would they consider anyone to be their best friend?

The Akis are definitely not only family but also friends, and she is friends with a few of her classmates. You could count Era and Cap but they are more friends of friends to her.

2. What’s their friend group like? What role do they play in it?

3. What’s their love life like? (See also: ship question meme.) Do they have any kids?

no significant other, no kids.

4. Who do they look up to? Who do they trust?

Her Jotun historian great uncle who for most of her life was the coolest person she ever met, and if she hadn’t met Knut Whitebear one time.

5. Who do they hate? Do they have any enemies?

I don’t think Lorna hates any specific person, but she has a deep and powerful hatred for the svarnir because of her parents.

6. Do they have any pets?

no pets

7. Are they good with kids? Animals?

Lorna is okay with kids, others admire her for how much she can keep up with the energetic little ones without getting tired. She doesn’t particualarly enjoy it but she just can’t say no when they want to play.

With animals sually yes, though she doesn’t like animals that are close to her size or even bigger than her. She isn’t used to it finds it intimidating.

FUN FACTS

1. Which tropes do they fit? Which archetypes?

She’s the Loner that isn’t actually alone just plays that mysterious aura.

2. Do they play any instruments? Sports?

She can play drums :D And yeah as said above she is a good kegbrawl player.

3. What are some items they always carry?

She has a chak claw that is made to be a continer for life force, so that she doesn’t actively hold onto some all the time. It was the first thing she had to craft in the academy. She also carries around a small owl feather in a locket for good luck.

4. Do they collect anything?

The only thing you could say she collects are insults. She knows quite a lot of those.

5. What position do they sleep in?

Curled up because most beds are too small for her. The guest bed at the Akis’ homestead is theoretically big enough for her, but she is so used curling by now she never uses the full length.

6. Which emoji would they use the most?

😈

7. What languages do they speak?

Common, the Norns’ own language (with a pronounciation/word selection that sounds old), a bit of jotunn.

8. What’s their favorite expletive?

(I’m gonna lift this one straight from myself because it kinda fits and Lorna is a bit self inserty anyways) most used is something simple. Fuck and shit in comparable amounts. Her favourite though is “blood and ash!” (which may or may not be the expletive of choice in the wheel of time)

9. What’s their favorite candle scent?

honey

10. What songs remind you of them?

Can’t come up with one right now, but I’ve never been big on the connecting ocs with music thing.

11. Which animal would you say represents them?

You know how cats roam around alone but actually are group animals that raise their kittens together and stuff? That’s lorna.

12. What stereotypical high school clique would they fit into?

She’d be with the emos for sure.

13. What would their favorite ride at an amusement park be?

Haunted House

14. Do they believe in aliens? Ghosts? Reincarnation or something else?

Aliens and Ghosts are both a thing in tyria. I don’t know of any instance of reincarnation but our collection of immortals and sentient zombies makes up for that. So yeah she believes in those.

As for like tyrian cryptids or unprecedented and absurd supernatural happenings she isn’t big on those.

15. Do they follow any religions/gods? Do they celebrate holidays?

She’s a norn and does the norn things.

16. Which Deadly Sin do they most correspond to? Which Heavenly Virtue?

Wroth and Diligence

17. If you had to choose one tarot card to represent them, which would it be?

hmm the hermit would be the obvious one but because she doesn’t actually want to be alone I think the Stars fits even better.

#Lorna Astriddottir

[fernrisulfr]

Digimon ReArise Review

I realize I don’t post a lot of my reviews on tumblr, usually just to steam, but this is about Digimon, and I have opinions on Digimon. Especially after how terrible Digimon Links was. I’ll break this review into parts, making comments on the various activities and mechanics in the game, as well of course comments on the Digimon themselves. 

STORY: First off there’s the fact that there is an actual story, a massive improvement over Links which honestly had nothing, or at least so little it may as well have BEEN nothing. While the story itself isn’t anything as complex or indepth as FGO or Gran Blue, it is still quite enjoyable. It has a straight forward episodic nature, mixing cutscenes with blurbs/text bubbles that show up in the middle of actual combat. While the story itself may be simplistic, it’s suits the Digimon Franchise, and is in a lot of ways much like playing through an Episode of the various Television Series. While in truth the story may actually have been better suited TO the Television Series, and keeps the aspect of Episode Titles giving away when Story Relevant Digimon are going to Digivolve, it’s still good.  VORTEX: The Vortex’s are the main sources for farming materials uses for Awakenings, as well as Food Items to raise your Digimon’s Bond. They’re reminiscent of Dailies, while being on a much shorter timer. Though it seems like recently they lengthened the timer from 4 hours to 7. In general they’re fairly easy and after a point you can simply autobattle your way through them, but it does remove the strain of farming materials, as it makes it easier to multitask.  CLASH: Essentially these are Raid Battles designed to be beaten by Multiple Players. They come in multiple levels so it’s possible for even the lowest level player to reasonably participate. Only the Top 3 Damage Dealers and the Spotter (person who found/started the Clash) gain additional rewards, so it’s easy for weaker players to farm things out enmasse even if they don’t deal much damage. Along with dropping materials necessary for Digivolution, Clash Battles also drop a currency called Clash Medals, which can be spent in a shop. Clash Medals can be spent on Rare Plugins (Equipment) or on additional Digivolution Materials.  BATTLE PARK: The Battle Park is ReArise’s version of PvP. A single “season” lasts for 1 week before resetting. Battle Park Stamina is separate from regular stamina, so it’s only possible to compete in about 5 battles in a row before needing to wait and recharge. The Battle Park itself rewards both BP Medals which can be used to buy DigiEggs (and later Rare Plugins I’ve heard) as well as DigiRubies (Paid Gacha and Shop Currency.).The Battle Park itself is honestly insanely broken. It divides players into Ranks, and once you gain enough points you’re able to participate in a “Promotion Battle” allowing you to rise to the next rank. However once you’ve advanced in Rank, you cannot drop to a lower rank. This is a problem because it means it’s very easy for a Player to pass the Promotion Battle, and then find themselves in a Rank they’re not yet ready for, causing them to constantly lose. In addition, the Promotion Battle becomes Mandatory once you’ve gained enough points. You HAVE to do it, and you can’t ignore it without ignoring the Battle Park entirely. Adding to the problem is that “Season Rewards/Rank” are determined by how many points you gain in battle over the course of the week, however as you climb to higher ranks and begin to win less and lose more, it becomes next to impossible to obtain higher rewards without going out of your way to pay for more stamina and heavily grind at the Battle Park. As well, and this will be mentioned again quite soon, Status Effects are tremendously broken in PvP. Particularly Stun, Shock, Paralysis, Sleep, and Skill Lock. Each Status Condition states that it lasts for “2 turns” or a similarly short duration. However a “Turn” is so long that in this time that your Digimon is Immobilized, your own Team is likely to be decimated unless you have a significant level advantage over your opponent. They’re incredibly unbalanced and overpowered.  UNDERWORLD: The Underworld is interesting in concept. It’s a series of “floors” separate from the Main Story and Vortexes. Each floor can only be played once, and will give a variety of great rewards such as High Tier Plugins, DigiEggs, Gacha Currency, and Store Items. They’re intended to be Post-Game/After-Story Challenge Quests intended for High Level Players. Which is great. However in reality they only showcase the problem I mentioned with Status Effects all the more clearly. With the encounter itself set to Max Level, enemy party combinations are often set to spam Status Effects, particularly those that hit the entire party and are capable of immobilizing multiple members. Unless you have a Digimon that is immune to or heals the status effect your utterly screwed, and even if you DO, there’s a good chance you’re screwed anyway because in the case of a healer there’s a 50% chance they’ll be immobilized, preventing them from healing anyone/removing the status effect, and even if they do succeed there’s a good chance it’s just going to happen again. If you have Digimon that are Immune, it better be over half the party worth, or you’re likely to lose purely based on numbers. 

Now then, let’s take a step back and lok at the DigiTown as well as various other in-game mechanics.  The main screen for Digimon ReArise is the DigiTown, a customize-able space that you can decorate, and watch your Digimon run around in. From this area you can reach the various menus (of which there are a lot.), as well as feed your Digimon to raise their Bond. Which brings me to the Four things you must do in order to make a Digimon strong. BOND: A numerical representation of your Digimon’s happiness, trust, and faith in you. You can raise it either by bringing a Digimon with you into battle, assigning them as your Partner Digimon, or by feeding them Food Items in the DigiTown. Required to perform Awakenings and Digivolution. Honestly I like it in concept, but not strictly execution. It doesn’t have a huge overarching effect (though feeding Digimon also improves their Mood and allows them to make Critical Hits more easily), and ultimately it ends up just being another number we need to raise and grind for.  LEVEL: Sort of self-explanatory for the average player. Level is a representation of their over all power. The higher their level, the higher their stats. Can be raised by spending “bits”, the in-game currency gained from battles. A certain level is required both for Awakenings and Digivolution, both of which also happen to raise the level cap. WORK-OUT & AWAKENING: It is possible to “train” your Digimon using various Work-Out Chips obtained from Story Quests and Vortexes. Letting a Digimon Work-Out raises individual stats, and once all Work-Outs have been completed, and the additiional requirements of Level & Bond have been met, it’s possible to Awaken a Digimon. Awakening a Digimon further raises their stats (more significantly than the individual workouts), and raises the level cap. I compare it in some regards to Ascension in FGO, however it happens much more frequently, requiring more time and materials, as well as sharing the role with Digivoltion. Speaking of. DIGIVOLUTION: Requires the Digimon to be at a certain amount of Level and Bond. Allows the Digimon to reach the next, more powerful, stage. Raises their stats significantly, as well as boosting the power of their Main and Sub Skill. Naturally this also changes their appearance. A noteable thing is that while all Digimon can reach the stage of Ultimate, only SOME Digimon can get all the way to Mega, usually requiring you to roll in a paid Gacha, or get really lucky with a Digi-Egg.  Alongside the above, other ways to make a Digimon Stronger are to raise their skill level (to a maximum of 10) or Equip Plugins. To raise a Skill Level you simply need to combine them with a Digimon with the same Digivolution Tree. This means that they have to have the same Rookie, Champion, and Ultimate Stage, and that Mega Digimon can only be combined with Digimon that can also reach Mega. Plugins are Equipment that can be sorted into Offensive, Defensive, and Status Effect. At max level you can equip 2 of each, for a total of 6 Plugins. Plugins, simply enough, raise various stats. They can be obtained as drops in Story Quests and the Underworld, bought in various currency shops, or obtained in the Gacha (More on this latter.). Plugins can also be combined together to increase their stat bonuses.   Next we have the game’s “Social” aspects and a shameless plug from myself.

GUILDS: DigiGuilds are in a lot of ways like a second Friends-list, giving you another list of people you can invite to raids, or call on for support in battle. Joining a Guild also gives you access to a second DigiEgg Incubator, allowing you to raise 2 DigiEggs at the same time, as well as request help from Guild Members to ease the burden of hatching and raising it. The Guild also provides additional rewards to reap. Once a day Players can enter their Guild Page, and by clicking “Support” (or Support All) will receive additional Stamina for each member of the guild, which can be great while farming. As well by “Checking In” the ENTIRE Guild will receive a Reward based on the number of Members who checked in during a 24 hour period. The more members, the better the Rewards.  Shameless Plug: Featured above is my own Guild “Menagerie” (Because “Phenomenal Menagerie Souffle” was too long.). If you play Digimon ReArise or this post convinces you to play Digimon ReArise, consider joining! If you do, please remember to Support and Check-in! FRIENDSLIST: The Friends-list like in most Mobile Games, is a list of other Players whom you’ve made (or accepted from) a friends request. Players on your Friendslist can be called for Support in regular battles, or send a help request for a Clash Battle. In addition they serve as a source of “Social Points” which can be earned by Greeting Players once a day (Button located in your Friendslist), by those players Greeting you, and by other players using your Digimon for Support in Battle. Social Points can be spent in a Shop to purchase new Decor items for the DigiTown, or Food. In addition they can be used in a Free Plugins Gacha.  Speaking of the Gacha!

That’s our next topic on this painfully long review.  GACHA: There are several types of Gacha in Digimon ReArise. The Limited Summon Gacha, the Step-up Summon Gacha, various Plugins Gacha, and the Social Points Plugins Gacha. Every Gacha besides the Social Points Plugins Gacha, costs DigiRubies, the Paid Gacha Currency of the game. There is no “free” Gacha for Digimon unfortunately, however I have found that DigiRubies (especially early on) are fairly easy to earn for free early on. So it’s not all bad. Additionally you can also gain new Digimon by hatching DigiEggs, which can be obtained in Shops, from Events, and from certain floors of the Underworld.  SUMMON GACHA: A pretty standard Gacha. Comes in x1 or x10 (+1). Put in DigiRubies and a Random Digimon pops out. The Summon Rate of higher-tier Digimon is better when you roll x10 as opposed to x1. STEP-UP SUMMON: A Step-Up Summon Gacha is a Gacha that comes in steps. Ones I’ve seen have been 3-5 steps. The Price of each step is set, so there’s no x1 or x10. You roll it or you don’t. The Price and number of summons increases with each Step of the Gacha, but so does the Summon Rate of the available Digimon (so the higher the step the better your odds.). Additionally with each step you gain a Reward. At the Final/Highest Step you’ll get 1 Guaranteed Mega-Capable (Can digivolve to Mega) Digimon. Usually a specific Digimon associated with the Step-Up Summon. The Summon Rate increase will cap at the final step, but it is possible to roll the Final Step multiple times (However the Guaranteed Mega will only occur the 1st time you roll the final step.). PAID PLUGINS GACHA: Kinda says what it is on the tin here. You pay DigiRubies to roll for Plugins more powerful than what is generally going to drop from quest nodes. Comes in various types associated with your Digimon’s Personality Type, a concept I still don’t understand.  SOCIAL POINTS PLUGINS GACHA: Again sort of what it says on the tin. A Plugins Gacha, only instead of DigiRubies you spend Social Points, so it’s essentially free. Again drops better Plugins than you’re likely to get from farming quest nodes. 

Next we’ll cover the all important aspects. The Digimon themselves and Combat. DIGIMON: Digimon’s stats are pretty straight forward, split into HP, an Offensive Stat (PWR or TEC depending on the Digimon.), DEF, and SPD. Each Digimon has 3 Skills. A Passive Skill, usually some sort of Buff or Immunity. A Main Skill, which is an offensive Skill Unique to the Digimon themself (such as WarGreymon’s “Terra Force” as seen above), and a Sub-Skill, another Offensive or sometimes Supportive Skill which can be found across several Digimon. As noted before, only some Digimon can Digivolve all the way to Mega, but all can reach Ultimate. I don’t strictly agree with that decision, but I at least understand the reasoning behind it.  BATTLE: Combat in Digimon ReRaise involves a Party of 1 to 5 Digimon Vs 1-3 Waves of Enemies (each Wave in a group of 1-5). Players can chose to activiate Skills Manually, or set Combat to Auto and let the AI decide when to use them. Fights in both Main and Vortex Quests is incredibly easy, and often better left to Auto. If a player is looking for a fight that involves some form of Strategy you’re better off going for a Clash Battle, the Battle Park, or the Underworld (despite my complaints about the latter two.). One glaring fault with the Combat is the inability to select your Target. Who get’s hit by your skills is randomized, which can be a problem both in high difficulty quests, or when special requirements require you to hit the “Boss” with a particular kind of attack. 

Lastly we have the DigiWalker, a magnificent callback to the olden days of the Digivice Toys we used to violently shake up and down instead of actually walking with. The DigiWalker requires a Phone with a Pedometer Function, and access to said Function, but otherwise doesn’t require the game to actually be on. After a certain number of steps your Digimon will find items. When you accept those items they’re gain Bond Points.  Digimon ReArise is not without flaws, the most glaring of which is an excessive number of loading screens, but over all it’s a game I greatly enjoy, and one you can play entirely for free. I’ve been playing a month and haven’t spent a single cent, but still have 6 different Mega Digimon. Thank you for reading this Review, and I hope it was informative. 

#Digimon #Digimon ReArise #Game Review #Game Rant #WarGreymon #DigiGuild #Mobile Game #Nostalgia #Digimon Game #Pedometer #Gacha #Gacha Game #F2P

[trashforeverythingdotcom]

Vendetta

A/n: Funny story, I started writing this before I started my Castlevania fic, I just decided to start posting the Castlevania one first. Weird, I know, considering my pfp is John Shelby. This fic takes place in season 4 of Peaky Blinders. Since this is a John x reader fic that takes place in season 4, it’s Esme that dies on Christmas day instead of John. Anyway, I hope y’all enjoy this story. Please try not to cringe, thanks. 😔👉👈  In the spirit of cringey gang names, I’ve made a hella cringey one of my own, because, well, ‘why not?’

Warnings: Cursing, I think? It’s not that crazy in my perspective, but I still wanna warn y’all just in case.

Word count: 2240

Chapters: 1 2 3 4 5

Chapter 1

December 31st, 1925.

Bronx, New York.

23:30 

That night was a night full of celebration as it was New Year’s Eve. All the children ran about, playing together to pass the time at their parent’s boring New Year’s party. While the adults in the vicinity were anxious to find out how much their pay was going to increase and anxious to hear about the plans for the coming year; and with good reason, too. They were never this rich or comfortable before and they only stood to grow richer. The Nieves family name spread like wildfire throughout the city, and with that, they sold more and more booze, drugs and guns each day. Their business rivalled the Changrettas. The Rowdy Cowboys, controlled by the Nieves family, were just as feared as the Changrettas in New York.

Contrary to what may have been assumed based off their name, they didn't dress like cowboys. At least, not in New York. They reserved that for the rodeos they ran and attended down south a few times a year. They typically dressed like everyone else did at that time. Wore suits, caps, etc. However, their affiliation is typically given away by their belts. Their belts had metal spikes all around, and they were known for taking their belts off during fights and beating their opponents to death with them. Sometimes, they’d even choke them with the belts.

Their leader, very uncommon for the time, was a woman. Y/n Nieves was her name. She was known for being very stoic and hardly one to party. But that wasn't the case at this point in time. She let herself get hammered, let herself have fun, because the news she was about to tell them made her the happiest she'd ever been in years. She danced away with all the men and women, her brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles, enjoying this night like it'd be the last she'd have at home for a while. And it was true, this was going to be her last night in New York for, at a minimum, a few weeks. There were just too many opportunities for her plans of expansion for her to ignore, she knew she needed to pursue them. More important than spreading her work ethic around, she had a personal vendetta. After five torturous years of building all of this and making a name for herself, she'd be officially free once this, as her enemies liked to say, “vendetta” was carried out. 

As she and everyone else danced to the different genres of music played that night: cumbia, swing, jazz, etc. she couldn’t help but think about how she’d gotten there. Why she suddenly became motivated into creating something this big and how she’d give them the announcement that they were about to make this baby of hers bigger. If she weren’t as good at hiding her emotions, even when drunk, she might have let a tear slip by. But she was different. She wasn’t the way she used to be, wasn’t as expressive. She smiled at her little sister, twenty year old Ramona, who was currently dancing with her. Ramona had black, naturally curly hair that reached her neck; much like her older sister, y/n did, except y/n kept it long, wearing her hair at hip length. In a lot of ways, her and her older sister were alike when it came to the physical points. They were both very curvy. Y/n’s face was sharp in the shape of an oval. Ramona’s was soft and square. Their eyes were upturned and amber in colour. They were both short, though, barely peeking at 5'2. They both had light brown complexions and thick eyebrows. And they were both considered the most beautiful women in New York.

Y/n wasn’t much of a fan of “conforming” to fashion trends. She liked to keep her style her own. Whatever looked good on her was what would be worn; however, today, she and her sister were matching outfit-wise. That was something they used to do a lot when they were much younger. 

Ramona wore a long red dress that showed off her curvature nicely and her face was coloured with the least makeup she could wear. She found it unnecessary to wear a ton of makeup when she knew she was already beautiful, much like all the women in her family. The most she tended to allow herself to wear was a bright red lipstick to accentuate their naturally big lips. To protect her body from the freezing cold they were experiencing that night, she wore a fur coat. 

Ramona seemed to understand what this smile meant almost immediately, “what’s your announcement about, mana?” She asked with concern. Y/n wasn’t the type to keep secrets from her. A piece of her felt frustrated, another felt worried. Apart from being sisters, they were life-long best friends, and, in her opinion, it was a shame she didn’t know what the twenty five year old woman would say or do.

Y/n’s smile remained on her face as she spoke, “you’ll find out when I make it, manita.” She giggled before running over and grabbing a chair, dragging it to the center of the space they occupied and standing on top of it. A few people noticed her sudden elevation of height and watched her carefully, eager to see what she was gonna do. She silently ordered the musicians to stop playing with a single hand gesture. Everyone’s attention was now on her, the woman who cut off the music, their boss and/or familiar.

“Damas y caballeros, family and friends: I’d like to thank you all for coming to my little New Year’s party!” She began. Although this was no small shindig, this party alone had a little more than twenty people present, all involved in the shadier business she handled as well as the more refined business. Of course, these weren’t all the people she had some form of authority over, this was a small percentage of workers she’d invited, not including her family. “I want to thank you all for your hard work over the years, you all were here with me from the start. You all know the hardships we’ve faced in making this lil’ organisation we’ve got goin’ on here. For all the hard work you’ve done this past year, I want to start this new year off by giving you all a late 50 clam Christmas bonus as well as another fifty-clam New Year’s bonus!” She paused as everyone interrupted her little speech by clapping and cheering. She didn’t mind, though, she was pleased that everyone was happy so far. 

She dropped her acquired New Yorker accent and switched to her deep-rooted Texan accent. “But, in spite of all the hard labor we’ve done so far in this city right here, we have more comin’ to us. Ya see, there’s a big opportunity, big big opportunity, that needs some grabbin’ for. I’m fixin’ to leave for England. Birmingham, specifically. As you all well know, the Italians got themselves quite a thang cookin’ up, bless their hearts. They’re after the Peaky Blinders; tryin’ to kill all them fuckers.” She shook her head in disapproval. “Now, we all severely dislike them Italians, have disliked them for quite a while.” She paused yet again once she heard the several ‘yeah, fuck them’s and the boo’s and continued shortly after. “They’ve made life quite difficult for a little lady like me and hard working people like you; and I see this as an advantage-- a good ol’ way of gettin’ in there and returnin’ the favor thanks to the offer I got from Mr. Thomas Shelby himself.”

“About time!” They cheered.

“But, I’m not gonna be here for a bit, so I’m gonna need you all to continue to work hard regardless. I’m gonna be goin’ with some of my cousins 'cause I know they aren’t afraid of fightin’. Since I may need a little firepower should anythin’ go wrong.” She then switched back to speaking like a New Yorker. “And I obviously can’t just leave this establishment without someone to look over it. That’s why my brother, Victor, is gonna be runnin’ the place while I’m gone. I don’t want anythin’ goin’ wrong up ‘ere while I’m gone.” She told them. “I’mma say it a bit louder for those in the back.” She cleared her throat and raised her voice, “I do not want anythin’ goin’ wrong up here while I’m gone! Am I clear? Y’all are in charge of helping keep the order ‘round ‘ere, too!” 

“Yes!” They all answered enthusiastically.

 “Good! We’re gonna rip them Italians out, root and stem, if it is the last damn thing I do. Now, let’s get this party started back up again.” Y/n had barely gotten down from the object she’d used to elevate her when a very furious Ramona stomped over to her.

“So you’re gonna ignore me for two days straight, then dance with me, refuse to tell me what your fuckass has been planning for said amount of time only to reveal it to a room of strangers--” “They’re not strangers--”

“Well, they ain’t me, either. I should’ve been the first person you told.” “Sorry, Mo.” “You should be.”

“I didn’t know how to tell you.” “You’re the smartest person I know, I’m sure you could’ve figured it out if you really wanted to.” Ramona sighed. “When are we leaving?” “I’m leaving at eight tomorrow morning. You’re staying here.” “And why do I have to stay? I’m a twenty year old woman, I’m sure I can handle going with you.” 

“You’re a twenty year old girl that needs to stay home."

"You're not so old yourself."

"No, I'm not, but I've experienced things that you, hopefully, never will,  so I know more than you do. And I'm telling you, as your older sister that knows better, that you need to stay. If you’re so bored, you can start spending some time with Saraí and help keep her out of trouble. All you ever do is crawl up my ass and crawl back out to fuck anyone you find immediately after.”

“Did you just call me a terrible sister and a restless whore in the same breath?"

Y/n shrugged, "those are your words, not mine." 

"Honestly, Y/n, fuck you," she spat.

"It's not that serious, Mo." 

"You may be my older sister, but you do not get to boss me around. I'll go wherever the fuck I want, fuck whomever the fuck I want, and do whatever the fuck I want. I don't need your permission." 

"You're right. You don't need my permission, just like you don't need me to pay you to sit on your ass and fuck around and cry and complain all day without even glancing in Saraí’s direction." 

“So now I’m useless?” “Again, your words, not mine,” y/n took a sip of wine from her glass.

Ramona scoffed, “honestly, fuck you.” She stormed off and made sure to shove y/n roughly as she moved past her. Y/n didn’t care enough to react negatively, swaying and moving her hips to the rhythm of the music that played in the vicinity. Her body stopped moving once she made eye contact with her older brother, Victor. She sighed, mentally preparing to get chewed out for the second time in the span of five minutes, watching him make a beeline toward her. 

"Why didn't you tell me you were leaving?" 

Y/n gulped down some more of her wine before acknowledging him, "here we go again." She groaned, "what's your problem? I left you in charge. Should anything happen, the business is yours." 

"Oh yes, I'm left with my little sister's business for who knows how long with no guarantee I'll ever see her again."

"There's nothing to worry about--"

"That's why you're signing everything over to me--?"

"I'm doing it because I've been thinking about it for a long time, not because I think anything is going to happen to me while I'm gone." 

"And how do you know nothing will happen? You're going to a foreign country alone."

"I won't be alone. I'm going--"

"--with our cousins, yes. I heard your little speech. Shit can still happen while you're there. Let me come with you."

"Even if I let you come with me, things can still go wrong."

"Yes, but I'd be able to rest easier if I were there with you." 

Y/n took another swig of her wine, "fine." She muttered, her lips were still attached to the top of the glass.

"I can go?"

"Yes."

"¿En serio?"

"Yes, but I'm only making the exception for you. So don't give anyone the idea that they came tag along as well. The less of us go, the better. We need to maintain a strong front both here and in Birmingham. I'm very confident everything will go according to plan, however, you can't get too comfortable. You know this, brother." Victor only nodded.

"Come on, let's dance. Did you think I wouldn't notice your rude ass hasn't offered to dance with me yet?" Y/n called him out, offering her brother a hand, which he gladly took. There was no way they could attend a party together and not dance with each other. No matter how angry they were with each other, it was just something that had to be done if they wanted everything to be okay. Dancing could fix any problem in their eyes.

*Mana/manita: sis/little sis.

*Clam: 20's slang for the word "dollar". 50 clams = 50 dollars.

*En serio: seriously.

*Damas y caballeros: ladies and gentlemen.

#John shelby #john shelby x reader #peaky blinders #peaky blinders fanfic #peaky blinders bbc #another one #peaky blinders fanfiction #peaky blinders imagine

[teamoliv-archive]

I don’t have much for unpopular opinions, but I’ll try this instead: what’s your take on the whole situation regarding RWBY and their recent decisions in the latest season? (Frcstbxte)

send me controversial or unpopular opinions and I’ll tell you if I agree or disagree 🐸 ☕️

Hoo boy. People are going to unfollow me for this one guaranteed due to how may super strong opinions people have about this. This one’s getting a cut to avoid drama.

I do want to stress that I don’t want to devalue or invalidate anyone’s complaints regarding the show. Enjoyment is a highly personal thing and if you’re frustrated, upset, disappointed, or otherwise had negative feelings don’t let this convince you that you’re not allowed to feel the way you do about the volume.. My gripes are more on the mechanical and storytelling aspects of things and with the arguments used to criticize the volume. I only hope I can make my case on why the commonly complained about parts of the show don’t warrant the vitriol in my opinion. I likely won’t convince too many people, but I’d like to make my case here anyway.

I honestly believe a lot of the complaints about the latest season from a writing standpoint are short-sighted, lack scope, and/or just miss the point of what we’re looking at. From an overall storytelling perspective this was definitely the most well put together season the show has had so far and a lot of the complaints only address individual concerns that some fans had regarding things not happening the way they wanted to without a regard for the overall plot. This is why I think a lot of the complaints don’t measure up and where my actual gripes with the part lie.

1. Theme

You cannot consider yourself to have analyzed a work without first looking at its overall theme. RWBY’s structure doubles up on this as not only does the show as a whole have its overarching themes and plot, but each individual volume has their own to deal with as well. Here the theme is trust, as directly stated in the opening lyrics and it’s a common source of problems and solutions throughout the the show. 

From an overarching standpoint, we have Salem doing her darnedest to break apart any alliances that could be formed against her. I do not believe this is because she fears humanity in terms of tactical numbers. This simply isn’t that kind of show. The writers have said in interviews that they take most of their story and theme cues from the magical girl genre. You know, the same “love and friendship conquers all” magical girl genre that all those shows not named Madoka Magicka use as the basis for their protagonists. The silver eye power seems fueled by that exact sentiment and I think that’s going to be a huge factor close to the end. This is not a setting where pragmatism and strategic thinking will carry the day- keep that in mind.

2. RWBY vs. Ironwood

This is the part everyone’s been talking about and I think a lot of the hard-line side-taking in either direction is missing the point entirely. This conflict was always going to happen and both sides have fault to bear.

The two sides can be seen as having their own character arcs on a macro scale. Individual character motivations weren’t nearly as important as they were in previous volumes and it helps to see them mostly through the lens of Ruby and Ironwood. The basic core of the problem throughout the series is this, Team RWBY has decided to go along with Ironwood’s plan for lack of one themselves, but don’t trust him with the whole truth until they know how he’ll react to it. This is a man with an army and a paranoid streak after all. This, of course, is a decision that winds up instrumental in triggering Ironwood’s paranoid shitstorm later in the volume.

That said, I don’t believe the problem is Ruby’s decision making- It’s the narrative. The whole reason this comes across as weird and contrived is that we are never told the reason Ruby and co. don’t trust Ironwood with the information from the lamp. By all accounts up until this point there was no visible reason for them to do so and we’re simply never told WHY. Answering this simple question would have made the entire rest of the narrative make a lot more sense were she just given a believable reason to hold the info back, let alone any reason at all.

Now let’s bounce back to Ironwood. I’m going to just go out and say I grew tired of the “Ironwood did no wrong.” discourse pretty quickly because, again, people are missing the point. For this one, we have to look back into the theme- trust. When Ironwood has his breakdown, he not only turns his back on Ruby and her team for lying to him, but he goes right into his martial law plan also betraying the trust of the council, Robyn, and the people of Mantle who are now going to be sacrificed for the sake of salvaging his original plan. Despite Ruby and co’s actions making the situation worse, we aren’t meant to see Ironwood’s new solution as a better alternative purely on the moral cost of what he’s doing. This is what is called in screenwriting the “Moral Line” defined as a vision of right and wrong as told through the protagonists. We’re meant to sympathize with Ruby owning up to lying to Ironwood and trying to move forward despite the setbacks, not cheer for Ironwood calling them out and forcing out a more pragmatic path.

To me, I think this stems from a common sentiment shared in a lot of popular media and deconstruction of tropes that idealism is a naive and childish flaw and that proper strategic logic is what solves problems. Again, I predict that due to the genre inspirations of this story, this won’t be the case at all. Ironwood is going to fail because he turned his back on moral idealism, trust, and friendship in favor of planning and decisive action no matter the cost, not despite it. Harriet summarized the entire philosophy well during her fight with Ruby:

“It’s not excessive if it’s necessary!”

This line feels, to me, like a reflection of everything that Team RWBY is now fighting against and we should be able to understand as an audience from a moral standpoint why this is the way it is.

As a small aside, let’s cap this off with the RWBY vs. ACE-Ops fight. A lot of people called foul because the ACE-Ops lost and I just don’t understand why. The moment the fight started, I knew what the outcome was going to be purely because the story as it was set up simply couldn’t progress otherwise. Much like Mercury and Emerald in volume 5, RWBY matching and defeating the ACE-Ops shows the progression of the main characters. Them choosing to fight also shows RWBY the final stakes moving forward and symbolically shows them that the might of the entire Atlas army is now their enemy moving forward. 

With this in mind, I want to go back to Ironwood’s martial law plan and defend some aspects of his character that should be. Up until the point of Ironwood’s breakdown it was seriously and soberly treated as a last resort option with a clear understanding by Ironwood, Winter, and the ACE-Ops that they knew exactly what was it was going to imply. This does not make them evil and it’s important to understand that. However the Tin Man needs a heart and this brings us to Ironwood’s fatal flaw. The real bad decision was that the martial law plan was enacted despite already having the unity of the people of Mantle behind them. He lost far more than the stands to gain with his decision, thinking only from a tactical and strategic standpoint regardless of what he has to sacrifice to get there. Those sacrifices have already all but left him facing Salem alone. If he survives next volume, I’ll be surprised.

3. Qrow and Clover

For a few moments, I do want to discuss Clover and Qrow’s dynamic because it’s very important to Qrow’s story throughout the part. Regardless of how you choose to interpret their exchanges, the important takeaway here is that for the first time in possibly decades Qrow had a friend he can talk to as an equal and not have Ozpin’s plans or a generational gap in the way. 

Ever since we were introduced to Qrow, he’s shown himself to be a dysfunctional loner who is only just recently trying to seriously pick himself back up off his feet. I believe the fact that he was finally shown that he can actually have friends is a huge factor in this. His life has always been dominated by his feelings and doomsaying. He spends every interaction waiting for the other shoe to drop and uses his own semblance as an excuse to perpetuate that worldview.

And this is why I think Qrow’s fight with Clover makes total sense to have happened. He’s one of Oz’s main team and also has a fatal flaw.

The cowardly lion needed courage and he died for his cowardice.

The tin man needs a heart and lost all his allies in the pursuit of his goals.

The scarecrow needs a brain and his emotional decision-making cost him his friend’s life.

This is a genuine tragedy, literary-speaking in fact. Qrow’s awful situation was one of his own making and he knows it, but I can’t imagine him doing anything else. One thing that I’ve seen throughout the show about Qrow is that he’s never given up trying to stop Salem- he’s an idealist like Ruby and in my opinion has been subverting the mentor archetype beautifully. However, every time he’s made a major decision in the series, he’s done it on an emotional or practical level. No real thinking ever goes into what he does. When Clover calmly announces to Qrow what was just ordered and Robyn summarily attacks him, his first instinct is to try and stop the fight.

I’m going to break here to discuss Robyn’s actions at this moment- another common complaint. Would we really expect someone like her to have done anything different with the news that the city she’s worked so hard to work with all those years was just cast aside? This would have been seen to anyone in her position as nothing less than a double-cross given how just a few hours ago everything for the evacuation was moving apace. From a characters standpoint, I don’t get why anyone would fault Robyn for being furious at this aside from “It’s not the smart thing to do right now.” No, it’s not, but I’m also very tired of seeing people complain about characters making non-optimal decisions. Not everyone things with perfect logic, strategy, or sense at every given moment. This is a perfectly human response to finding out your loved ones were just given a death sentence. She lashed out at Clover over lack of Ironwood face to punch.

With this in mind, Qrow’s decision to fight Clover is a bit more personal. He’s treating it more or less the same way that he treated Raven joining with Cinder a few parts ago. Qrow is clearly very much against the idea of leaving what’s left of Mantle to die and now has a lot of aggression to take out seeing how calmly and without complaint Clover takes the order. The only friend Qrow’s had in a long time chose his duty over him and he doesn’t know how to take that- so they fight. It’s safe to assume that Qrow is likely in a highly emotional state and, as we’ve established before, not thinking about what he’s doing. Robyn is passed out in the wreckage, Tyrian is left unattended, and they’re miles away from any real contact from anyone. Bluntly, he screwed up, he screwed up big time, but his character leads me to believe he wouldn’t really have done anything else.

Then we see Qrow in engage in a little something we in the literary community call “seriously fucking up.” In the heat of the moment, he decides to trust Tyrian at his word and it ends about as well as to be expected. Qrow made a mistake, one of the biggest mistakes in the entire series and one that looks plainly obvious and avoidable to the audience, but only when you consider it through the lens of someone who’s making calm and rational decisions. Yes, Qrow fucked up, I’m not defending his decision making; I’m defending the scene and why that faulty decision making was the only thing that could really happen. 

4. Winter and Penny

The biggest complaint regarding these two is Penny leaving Winter behind at the end of the part. Frankly, for this one I’ve got nothing so I’m not going to pretend I have an answer to the complaints. Much like Ruby early on, the show just outright refuses to give us the reason she left. Winter getting the maiden powers might have been part of the plan, but I don’t think Ironwood would be so inflexible as to not settle for Penny getting it instead. The only thing I can imagine that could be going through her head is that she still wants to try and save Mantle and live up to her title, trusting Winter can handle herself. However, again like with Ruby, I don’t believe that the character is to blame here, but the narrative just refusing to give us an explanation and leaving us to sit there in frustrated confusion. We might get it next part, but I don’t like that...

5. Can I Talk About Watts Now?

With that out of the way, I do have one really bizarre complaint regarding the part that no one else seems to talk talk about.

I am very disappointed with Watts. This is mostly just be griping about lost potential so bear with a small rant.

There was a lot of setup regarding Watts as a threat and when he got the codes. We’re told that given time he could control literally all of Atlas (because apparently two-factor authentication and dead man’s switches don’t exist but that’s a logical gripe for another day). My question is why this wasn’t capitalized on. I wanted a repeat of the mechanical soldiers turning on the Vale citizens. We could have had automated vehicles wreaking havoc, fights between people and robots, and all sorts of fun stuff. You can argue that Watts was distracted by Ironwood’s trap and didn’t have the time to really cut loose and I’ll accept that, but I just wish we could have seen more. Any Watts RPers out there who want some ideas, you’re free to steal this one.

#ooc #munday asks #discourse #RWBY vol 7 #Anonymous

[nightqueendany]

Daenerys in Winterfell Promo(s) Breakdown

Because of course I was going to do this, right? Close look at the promo(s), what we can see in the background, analysis, comparison to Robert’s arrival at Winterfell, and pretty anti-Jonsa because they’ve been posting the wildest bullshit all day and I’m not here for it.

1) The “King” Greets the “Lord” of Winterfell:

And they hug it out:

The difference in the above scenes is in 1x01, Robert is very clearly the King of the Seven Kingdoms and is a visitor in Winterfell. Jon, however, was King in the North - briefly - currently is Warden of the North, and Winterfell is his home. He is not a visitor here, he is returning.

Yet because even the angle of the shots is almost exact between the two, we’re most definitely meant to draw a parallel between them. And of course. according to D&D, Jon is the rightful King of the Seven Kingdoms (whereas Robert was a Usurper), he just doesn’t know it yet, however Sansa is undeniably the Lady of Winterfell no matter which way you look at it.

2) The Entourage

In the 1x01 scene, Robert has a whole slew of people behind him holding up both the Baratheon and Lannister banners. However, in the 8x01 scene, Daenerys is flanked only by Jorah - a disgraced lord from the north - and the only banners visible in the scene are Stark banners. Now, there are Stark banners visible in the 1x01 scene as well, but I think it’s interesting we don’t see the Targaryen banner in 8x01. Perhaps they are there but we just didn’t get them in this little clip.

However, under a Stark banner in the background is an Unsullied soldier:

That’s not a Northerner. Very different armor. Distinct Unsullied cap. So while there are two Northern soldiers in back of Dany and Jorah, Dany’s still got at least one of her men in the castle with her aside from Jorah. Jorah also seems to be entering beside Dany as her protector. His position to her left and a little behind mirrors Brienne’s position behind Sansa, and of course, Brienne is Sansa’s protector.

Which is interesting. Sansa is a Northerner protected by a Southerner and Dany is, for all intents and purposes, a Southerner, protected by a Northerner.

I think Jorah’s position at Dany’s side as she approaches Sansa and Jon is totally purposeful. It could have been Varys by Dany’s side, it could have been Tyrion, her Hand, it could have been Missandei announcing all Dany’s elaborate titles, it could have been anyone. But it’s Jorah. I think Jon, Dany, and Jorah would have decided on this entrance as it would show Dany’s connection to the North - a connection she’s had throughout the entire series since 1x01 - and that she isn’t just some Southern Queen who only wants to conquer and rule the North. She actually cares about the Northern people, enough to make one of them one of her closest friends and advisors, and is showcasing what he means to her by having him at her side. Again, it’s not Tyrion or Varys or Missandei. It’s Jorah.

Now, Side note:

I’ve seen lots of comments about Brienne here and I have to say, the Jonsas just don’t fucking know how to look at things from another character’s perspective! Like seriously, all they put forth are their dream headcanons and don’t even consider the facts.

So, Brienne. Let’s talk about dear Brienne for a moment.

First off, this could have gone one of two ways - either Brienne traveled back up the King’s Road with Podrick after the Dragonpit meeting as we didn’t see her after that scene OR she traveled with Jon and Dany back to Winterfell. I’m really curious to see which it is because honestly it could have gone either way.

Secondly, let’s talk about Brienne’s last encounter with Sansa, shall we? Last Brienne saw of Sansa, Sansa was essentially giving Brienne the boot, ordering her to go to King’s Landing - which, hello, could have been dangerous for Brienne as well as I’m sure Cersei would want Brienne dead for being close with Jaime and being Sansa’s protector! So there’s that. Also, Sansa was forcing Brienne away so Brienne couldn’t step in and protect Arya if she and Sansa escalated their feud. And lastly, this was at a time when Baelish’s tricks were at their most prominent, to the point where Brienne feared for Sansa’s safety should she leave Sansa alone with him. However, Sansa coldly dismissed Brienne to represent her interests at the Dragonpit meeting.

My thoughts? Brienne would likely not be too happy with Sansa. At the very least, she should be irritated with the way Sansa dismissed her like a common servant, not the woman who has attempted to keep her safe the last three goddamn seasons. At the most, Brienne may even have known about the drama with Arya and is disappointed with Sansa’s behavior, you know, almost killing her sister.

Anyway, moving on.

What are Brienne’s thoughts on Daenerys? Daenerys, unlike Sansa, showed up at the Dragonpit meeting in person. So plus 1 for Dany. Also, Daenerys was the epitome of calm and collected and fair during the meeting. Yes she rode in on a dragon, but she’s dealing with Cersei here. She’s got to show her strength. And not like Brienne has any love for Cersei anyway.

Brienne learns during this meeting that Dany has seen the army of the dead - all 100k of them. She may not know the circumstances under which Dany saw the dead, but that’s got to leave an impression. It tells Brienne that Daenerys cares enough to go see the enemy for herself and confirm it’s real and it’s serious. She knows that Daenerys is willing to put aside her quest for the Iron Throne so that she can help the Northerners fight the dead. And of course Brienne finds out that Jon - whom she’s described as “honorable” in the past - has bent the knee to Daenerys - under what circumstances, she doesn’t know.

But given what Brienne has found out about Dany in the span of this single meeting - she’s a badass bitch with dragons that could level the Red Keep at any moment should she wish - but that she hasn’t - that Dany has taken it upon herself to go North to see the Army of the Dead, and that Dany is willing to put aside her aspirations of becoming Queen of the Seven Kingdoms in order to fight the dead, it wouldn’t be difficult for Brienne to guess why Jon bent the knee - Dany’s a powerful ally, she cares about this fight, she’s willing to help. Of course Jon bent the knee.

Now, Brienne might take issue with Jon not lying to Cersei, her “fuck loyalty” line to Jaime seemed to point to as much as Jon’s loyalty to Dany was why Cersei left, but it doesn’t mean she would hold any hostility toward Daenerys.

So when Daenerys arrives at Winterfell in quite a different fashion than she did in King’s Landing, no entourage, no announcements, no dragons, Brienne should see the effort Daenerys is making in order to appear as an ally to the Northerners, not a threat. So all this talk of Brienne looking at Daenerys in disgust or looking at Sansa like she’s a queen, blah blah blah....is bullshit. No she fucking isn’t.

*Anyway, end of side note/rant on Brienne*

3) Entrance of a Queen

The differences between Cersei and Daenerys here are so striking. For 1) again, as stated above, Cersei, like Robert, has an entire entourage behind her, including her children. Dany’s dragons are nowhere to be seen - they’re likely flying above our chilling outside the castle gates but still, it’s an interesting contrast (more interesting given Dany’s likely already pregnant in this scene and doesn’t even know it yet). 2) Cersei is dressed in warmer clothing for the climate but she is still unmistakably showing off her Lannister pride. She’s in gold and red - Lannister colors - and it’s very obvious. Whereas Daenerys’ Targaryen touches are much much more subtle. She’s only got her red ascot/scarf thing and her red gloves, plus the red tint to the grooves of her coat. That’s it. She’s wearing her usual chain of status but her hair is blocking the three-headed-dragon on said chain. And of course, the majority of her outfit is the white coat.

Michelle Clapton, GOT costume designer, has said she designed Dany’s coat in such a way that it served two purposes: she wanted Dany to be a “vision” when she saved Jon beyond the Wall, a fierce warrior queen, and she wanted Dany’s outfit to call back to the white furs the wildlings wear, making Dany “one” with her surroundings - one with the Snow. Haha, get it. It’s a sex joke.

But anyway, the fact that Daenerys arrives at Winterfell donning this look, not the exact coat from 7x06, but a similar one, most definitely shows her continued affection for Jon and makes this excellent book parallel:

Then Ghost emerged from between two trees, with [Val] beside him. They look as though they belong together. Val was clad all in white; white woolen breeches tucked into high boots of bleached white leather, white bearskin cloak pinned at the shoulder with a carved weirwood face, white tunic with bone fastenings. Her breath was white as well … but her eyes were blue, her long braid the color of dark honey, her cheeks flushed red from the cold. It had been a long while since Jon Snow had seen a sight so lovely.

Sorry, I just love that quote. And if we don’t see some Ghost/Dany fluff in 8x01 with Dany in her pretty white “warrior queen” coat, I’m gonna fucking riot.

They are all convinced she is a princess. Val looked the part and rode as if she had been born on horseback. A warrior princess, he decided, not some willowy creature who sits up in a tower, brushing her hair and waiting for some knight to rescue her.

This coat of Dany’s is not just out of practicality because it’s cold. Her other coats seem equally warm, lined with fur and whatnot. No, this coat is sending a message, that message being: I’m with Jon, we’re in love, we are one, and I’m likely his new baby-mama. JK...but not really.

4) The Royal Couple

In the 1x01 scene, we don’t get a shot that has both Cersei and Robert in it. And in the shots where the two do address one another, their bodies are angled away from each other with only their heads turned in the other’s direction. The looks on their faces are ones of disdain and we can already tell, especially by Robert’s dismissal of Cersei’s “surely the dead can wait,” that there’s is not a happy union.

Daenerys and Jon however, are show standing side by side and they take up the majority of the shot - Cersei and Robert’s shots were from further back and were messy, cluttered with many other people - key characters - in the background, not just a few extras so far away we can’t even make out their faces.

Whereas Cersei and Robert were shown clearly at odds with one another, Daenerys and Jon are shown as a united front in front of Sansa. I wouldn’t go so far as to say this is structured in a “them vs her” type situation. But we’re most definitely meant to see Jon and Dany as a single unit - they’re even standing so close together you can’t even tell if they’re touching or not, which they may very well be - Jon could have his hand on Dany’s back, presenting her to Sansa or something, as he did in the EW cover, etc.

Their bodies are angled toward each other, especially Jon - only his head is turned to Sansa, the rest of his body is turned toward Dany. And of course, everyone is going to make of Jon’s expression what they will because hey, it’s fandom. But I think the body language says it all. He’s facing what he cares about and wants to protect most in this moment: Dany.

One parallel I would DIE if it happened...is if right after the intros in the courtyard here, Sansa - or someone - told Jon that Bran/Sam wanted to meet him in the crypts. Robert ignored Cersei to go see Lyanna’s resting place. It would be RIDICULOUS if Jon is pulled away from Dany to go to Lyanna’s resting place, to find out then and there who exactly he is....what would make it better still? If, unlike Cersei, Dany accompanied Jon - either because he wanted her to come with him or because she wanted to go and pay her respects to the Starks her father had killed - Brandon and Rickard. Like honestly, just thinking about this possibility gives me goosebumps. Please please please! Yes it would kick start the drama right from the get go but damn, it would be an incredible parallel.

5) The Nod

I’ve seen lots of posts already about Dany’s nod to Sansa, some neutral, most of it terrible. Either Dany’s “intimidated” by Sansa and is “gulping” and fearful after Sansa’s icy welcome and Sansa “putting Dany in her place” or “murdering” Dany with her look or whatever...OR Dany is “smug” and “stealing” Sansa’s home and is an “entitled bitch” for waltzing into Winterfell and “taking” what isn’t hers, etc. etc.

Which, for one, dumb fucks, make up your mind. Which the fuck is it? Is Dany scared of Sansa? Or is Dany smug that Sansa is “giving away her home” to her? Pick one. You can’t have it both ways. They literally contradict each other.

Dumb fucks.

Anyway.

What I found interesting, was that Dany’s nod seemed to parallel this moment with Olenna from 7x02:

Dany’s nod to Sansa isn’t Dany being intimidated or being entitled or whatever other nonsense the antis have cooked up. It’s the same exact nod she gave Olenna after Olenna told her the people of Westeros wouldn’t obey her unless they feared her. This is Dany’s nod of acknowledgement. This is her “I respect you” nod while at the same time remaining regal yet possibly at odds with the person in front of her because of fundamental differences in their beliefs.

The only difference between Dany’s nod to Olenna and Dany’s nod to Sansa is that, with Olenna there was no awkward element of Dany trying to pretend she hadn’t just spent the last month fucking Olenna’s brother who’s standing right next to her and likely has his hand on her ass. JK JK...but seriously.

And last but not least

6) The “Wedding” Set-Up

Special acknowledgement to THIS Jonsa post about this topic for doing nearly all the work for me.

Dany is in a white frock - very wedding-ish

Jorah is at Dany’s side as she walks up to Jon and Sansa, as if “giving” Dany away to Jon.

Jon and Dany stand side-by-side before Jon’s eldest relative (since his father’s dead and in Northern weddings, the father conducts the wedding ceremony). So Jon and Dany standing before Sansa appears as if she’s the one who’s marrying them. Which, in all likelihood, she will be. 

Now, of course the Jonsa post argues Dany is “interrupting” the Jon/Sansa moment and she is “coming in between” the two of them, that Jon and Sansa appear as a “unit” here as Dany walks up but..

^^This^^ Looks way less “unit-y” than this:

Also, the argument that it appears Dany is “coming in between Jon and Sansa” and is interrupting them...uhh...

Next we have ^^This^^ where Sansa is literally in between Jon and Dany.

The Jonsa post says Dany looks “insignificant” in the above photo of her walking up, as if she would be “insignificant” to Jon and couldn’t possibly shake the solid and sure relationship he has with Sansa and that Sansa is an Amazon goddess and Dany is a puny nobody.

But yeah, no. Even in the shot with Jon and Sansa looking at Dany as she approaches...that’s the thing. Jon is watching Dany approach. He turns his body fully away from Sansa to watch Dany walk up. And even gives his little head nod of approval as he sighs:

Jon is like, Yep, that’s the woman I’m gonna marry right there.

And as Kit said, they return to Witnerfell as “not-so-secret lovers.”

But anyway, throughout the rest of the clip, he continues to have his body angled toward Daenerys and is presented as one with her, on the same level as her, not Sansa.

It’s as if, after their hug, Jon distances himself from Sansa to put himself closer to Daenerys. Because of course he would. Because he’s not fucking in love with his sister, he’s in love with Dany.

If we don’t get the parentage reveal right after this scene, I imagine the scene following it will be one which first brings mention of a potential “marriage alliance.” The way Jon and Daenerys stand before Sansa is just too perfect for it not to be brought up. Hell, out of context, it almost looks as if Jon and Dany are asking for Sansa’s blessing. And of course, Baelish didn’t utter that line in 7x07 for it to never get brought up again. A marriage alliance will get brought up, and haters can hate all they want, but it will likely be a discussion prompted by Sansa.

Anyway, that’s all I have guys. Tell me your thoughts.

#daenerys targaryen #jon snow #got season 8 #hbo promo #game of thrones #promo analysis #got parallels

[cruddyborderlandstheories]

COMMANDER LILITH

THIS NEWS @ ME AND THE VINE COMP

LETS GOOOOOOOOO

BEST NEWS FIRST

IT’S SUPPOSEDLY FREE AND COMING OUT NOT THE 11TH BUT THE 9TH LIKE THIS MONTH THE 9TH LIKE IN 4 DAYS

I FEEL BAD FOR THE PEOPLE GOING TO E3 CAUSE NOW THEY CAN’T PLAY THIS DLC UNTIL THEY GET HOME, F IN CHAT FOR THE BOYS

HOLY SHIT THIS IS REAL OKAY

EVERYBODY STAY CALM

SANCTUARY IS UNDER SIEGE

TELL ME SOMETHING I DON’T KNOW, BABY

THE VAULT MAP HAS BEEN STOLEN

OH WE’RE OFFICIALLY CALLING IT THE VAULT MAP NOW, OKAY, CALYPSO TWINS CONFIRMED TO HAVE TAKEN OUR OLD KEY

YOU KNOW WHAT’S NOT CONFIRMED WHATEVER THE FUCK IS GOING ON WITH ALL THESE GODDAMN PLANTS

YOU GUYS REMEMBER THAT OLD CANCELED TPS DLC? OF COURSE YOU DO, THAT’S WHAT THEY ARE APPARENTLY USING AS A BASE FOR THIS ONE

REMEMBER THE “INFECTED” STATUS EFFECT? WELL, I’M ASSUMING THAT’S WHAT THE TOXIC GAS IS

“A DERANGED VILLAIN HELL-BENT ON RULING THE PLANET” SO WE’RE NOT FIGHTING THE CALYPSO TWINS?! SOMEONE UNDER THEM??? I ALMOST WANT TO BELIEVE IT’S SOMEONE ENTIRELY DIFFERENT- JUST SOME RANDOM ASSHOLE WHO WANTS TO RULE THE WORLD AND THE TWINS SHOW UP AT THE END OF THE DLC AND WIPE HIS ASS OFF THE MAP FOR US AND YOINK THE VAULT MAP THAT IS RIGHTFULLY OURS AWAY FROM UNDER US

NEW LEVEL CAP 80?? HOLY FUCK?????? AND WE CAN START PLAYING IMMEDIATELY AT LEVEL 30 OH MY GOD I COULD KISS WHOEVER DECIDED THAT WAS NECESSARY I LOVE YOU

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR OP LEVELS? AM I GONNA BOP IN WITH MY OP8 ZER0 AND END UP FIGHTING ENEMIES AT LEVEL 88 WHEN I FINALLY LEVEL UP??? WHEN MY GEAR IS LEVEL 80 (AS THAT’S WHAT OP8 DOES) BECAUSE OH MY SWEET JESUS I DON’T WANNA GRIND MY HIDE OF TERRA AGAIN AHHGGGGGG

okay im gonna take a breath now

we’re calm

we’re good. this is good, we’re okay, i have to type everything 5 times over so its coherent but you know what this is okay this is happening, we’re cool.

i have to be the bearer of bad news as well but i don’t know if those screencaps of the ship from bl3 are what we’re seeing here in the new dlc (as much as I want to be right lmao). the screencaps of the ship definitely seemed like a insect infestation, not a plant one, ya know?

THEY’RE TURNING THE CARS GAY

or at least like... Buttstallion themed... check out the little horseshoe emoticon in the back there

but it’s pride month, they totally knew what they were doing and the fact that pre-ordered copies of bl3 apparently get a buttstallion themed skin for their ...gear... guns..? iirc... that means we can have gay guns in bl3, too. gearbox is treating us so fucking right, thank you

anyway the location the car is in looks like the highlands or a hammerlock’s big game hunt-type area. mossy/grassy with boulders in the background.

it looks almost like uranus spawns in right at the start of the dlc! which is awesome, and now i understand why they boost you to 30 before you start.

im verrrryyyy interested in that shot of Sanctuary up in the sky there. you can see the drill, its surrounded by a cloud of dust, it looks like its falling to pieces. i also don’t know where exactly this screenshot takes place but my first thought was the eridium blight (because of the mountain in the back) but that wouldn’t match the sky at all. I then thought maybe the ruins of helios? but we would be able to see more rocks and shit around the edges. then i was all “maybe the highlands”? the rock would match as it has grass growing on top, and sanctuary is very close to overlook, so it’s definitely possible. im gonna say somewhere near the highlands, yeah. the WEP and Opportunity are both fairly near there and it does have some pretty mountainous areas... so. maybe the highlands.

it looks like the giant vines are reaching up towards sanctuary so i retract my previous statement. i don’t think that’s dust. i think they’re drilling away at the plants trying to grow up to it lol

“Shooting the Moon” makes me think this has something to do with Elpis (not a surprise, if you realize the dlc they’re basing this off of is an old TPS dlc called Luxy’s Space Adventure where a bunch of mutated plant people end up on the space-cruise ship) 

honestly i’m really fucking hoping they bring back the flamethrower for the final boss (elon musk’s..?)

an area where we can see exactly what this space-cruise ship was supposed to look like

we also know in the dlc that the disease was spread by some space pirates, so i don’t know if that’s going to be the case here (they board the cruise ship and start spreading disease). Loader bots are apparently ‘Hacked’ so it’s probably not Hyperion we’re going at again. I could see them throwing the space pirates at us, tho maybe changing the guys a little bit so it’s not too much like Captain Scarlett. 

there is this boss character and that logo on the bottom, possibly a logo for who we’re going to fight in the new dlc? Interestingly enough, she’s got the red and black color scheme, too. cough troy cough. god them having space pirate as a backstory would be fucking AWESOME

i have been going thru the concept art album here if you want to take a look for yourself and tbh

this pic got me thinking about that “Atlas ice cream shop” prompt the VA for lorelei released 🤔

anyway, moving on from old dlc to what’s new! because lord knows they must’ve changed a lot lol

the infected psychos on the title art

also, correct me if im wrong, but it looks like lily is standing in 2 places at once- flying sanctuary on the right and three horns divide on the left

anyway

uranus looks a lot more DAHL themed than i originally noticed, like yeah he looks like saturn, but check that color scheme. may be the work of the new baddies.

this logo may hold some importance, but i can’t recall ever seeing something like it before.

so this minimap

lucky me i extracted all the textures from bl2 a couple days ago

im very pleased to say this doesn’t look like any minimap we’ve been shown so far, although i did a very quick glance through, so if you guys recognize it, please tell me!!

i can’t believe they made the guns sparkly and gay. Thank you gearbox. fucking thank you.

the area sal is in reminds of that one place in frostburn canyon, but i doubt that’s actually where he is. likely a new area we haven’t discovered yet!!

lily

the background is uhhh disgusting, but it is giving me WEP vibes, with the windmill/lighthouse (wherever that area is where you find maya’s ECHO log) and the walls. though the texture of the ground is giving me hammerlock’s hunt vibes.

anyone know why her wings are giving off the digital pixel look angel’s did? like the digistruct vibe?

weird.

tina! she’s clearly playing a big part in this dlc. wondering if pickle and athena are also around. I don’t think this is sanctuary. the big wall in the back. perhaps where the vines are actually growing from below the mining ship?

would then pin this as somewhere near overlook.

brick! looks to be the same-ish area as tina (if the buildings have anything to say about it)

honestly the people in the ground is killing me lol. person on the left seems like some random civilian..? he’s just got pants and loafers on. maybe the cruise ship crashed on pandora and the pirates aboard are taking their changes lol

doubtful, though, considering the plan seems premeditated with the huge cloud of toxic gas and shit

now I’m just wondering if the reason the CoV psychos are wearing those respirator-like masks is because the twins showed up with them and were like “if you wear these ‘blessed masks’ when you go to fight the plant shit, you won’t die. yeah, we’re gods. join our cult lmao”.

im just really curious how this ties into the CoV. I imagine either the twins are working with the (new?) villain somehow, or they end up stealing the Vault Map away from us (and possibly killing the bad guy first) at the very end of the DLC. I do want to entertain the idea that they’re like “hey!!! we can help!!!” and then end up betraying us right at the end and toppling Sanctuary for good and taking the key.

alright, that’s all i’ve got. I’m gonna go scream into my pillows now until the 9th happens. 

btw, season 1 of vip stuff happens TOMORROW (the 6th!). hype!!!

edit:

lilith’s digistruct pack has a red accent on it now

im wondering if this is some sort of projection of Lily since her wings have the weird pixels...

#borderlands #borderlands 3 #bl3 #HOLY FUCK #commander lilith and the fight for sanctuary #aaaahgdfjhfhgdgsdf

[merlinthoughts]

Season 1 Episode 4 - The Poisoned Chalice

- god fucking dammit here we go again, i'm bloody done with my life and do not, at all, want to see merlin die bc i don't remember anything except that, yeah, he dies and someone has to get off their ass and save the motherfucking day and kiss him

- i realise how much i swear in these posts bc 1. when do i not? 2. i'm emotionally invested 3. i have no other excuse i just like swearing

- AAAND NIMUEHS IN CAMELOT SHE THINKS SHE'S SO SLY WITH HER HEAD THING

- id recognise her in a split second tbfh, she aint subtle

- *heterosexual tension*

- merlins skin be looking so smooth this episode, this boy be wearing lots of Dove

- he looked so excited to be in the banquet, then arthur just fucking slashes him with “not quite” and his hopes and dreams are destroyed

- “wanna see what you’ll be wearing tonight?” arthur says as he's behind the fucking changing curtains, about to get undressed and show merlin his birthday suit

- i honest to god thought that was where he was going, but no, he was just getting something from behind it

- “tonight you’ll be wearing the official ceremonial robes of the servants of camelot” IT'S A FUCKING DRESS ISN'T IT

- aw damn id have preferred a dress

- that smile shared between them was the most adorable scene

- god

- i

- fucking

- love

- their

- smiles 

- sm

- best thing ive ever seen

- i mean… hunty look at that piece of glistening butter beauty

- wow ok back to the episode:

- bros being bros and giving each other a handshake to destroy the mortal enemy pack and put together a family, we stan.

- as if a servant who has only had eye sex with another servant ONCE would trust them enough to say that one of the chalices were poisoned. like??? “ur the only one i could tell” LMAO NO?

- she's a sly fucking dog tfbh

- “if he kills arthur, uthers soul will be broken and camelot will fall” at this rate uther prob wouldn't care if his son dies or not, look at him, he's already mentally broken. he has anxiety and paranoia over magic. child services where u at in the medieval ages?

- i wouldn't believe a word she said, or well, id have believed it was poisoned but id say yeah no damn way you aren't in on it if you know which one it is. bayard wouldn't tell a fucking servant.

- HE'S GONNA SNAP ISN'T HE

- MERLIN FUCKING SNAPPED

- yknow what we say here folks? U DO U MERLIN

- okay i was fine if uther made bayard drink it but like the moment uther said “mmmh… no.” and slowly turned to merlin i think my arteries just crunched together and died so

- “if it is poisoned, he’ll die” HE'S FUCKING SCARED MERLIN WILL PASS AWAY ISN'T HE?

- “it's fine” he says, then starts to fucking choke

- ah fuck he's down

- my boy is down

- FUCK ME SIDEWAYS WITH A CHAINSAW

- ARTHUR CROUCHES NEXT TO HIM LIKE “BB NO”

- lmfao bayard looks so shocked, his face is in disbelief and confusion, he's like who tf done me bad

- arthurs carrying merlin fireman style this is what i live for folks

- did like nobody notice the flower stuck on the inside of the cup? like honestly if you take a sip you’d kinda spot it or perhaps even the person pouring the drinks would have been “is this chamomile tea? no? then what the fuckery-doo is this leaf in here for?” yknow. it's like that scene in Matilda when the angry buff lady completely missed a fucking salamander in her cup when it was the size of her bloody hand. it brings out the same mood honestly

- does gaius have an index for these books or does he just have every page memorised and know exactly what page to go bc I FUCKING NEED THAT it would make bio so much easier if i knew what page it was on instead of looking back and forth from the homework sheet to my textbook, then closing it by accident and having to find the index again for that specific page i need

- arthur wants to fucking go on a life-or-death journey to save merlin i've never been so happy

- this is honestly my favourite episode, like it may be really fucking angsty but i love it so much

- arthur betrays his dad and leaves his room even after being told not to just so he can save a servants life is literally my new moto

- NO IT WON'T LOAD MY NETFLIX IS STUCK ON 99%

- okay so while i'm waiting for my shit to load, i just discovered the new fucking tumblr rule starting dec 17 and i'm like 0.2 inches away from just spamming NSFW pics on here just for laughs

- like hunty, that won't stop people from posting elsewhere or for thinking about sex bc like??? whatchu gonna do tumblr?? get the fbi to erase it from our minds

- i think nOT thot

- watch me get flagged for just using the fucking term “NSFW”

- i'm gonna end up asterisking everything (is asterisking a word? wow it has red under it so like probably not but i just added it to my dictionary so uhh it is now)

- by asterisking i dont mean furry kin shit ew no

- i mean like N*FW, s*x, t*mblr, m*rthur

- god it took me like 20 minutes to calibrate my fucking wifi and fix the connection problem

- wow the stage for the poison increased by 75% in 30 mins, damn

- merlins like like having a conniption on his bed lmao, chanting arthurs name and sweating lot

- do we ever find out how uther gets that scar bc i'm like 100% positive arthur was a little child and swayed his fucking sword too hard just as uther rounded the corner. the sword then collided into his fucking brain and destroyed a good part of his intelligence, targeting especially his morals on how to accept people and how to be a good father

- that’s my theory

- merlin starts talking enchantments in his sleep while gwens watching, and gaius is just there like wtf merlin ur blowing ur cover “oh! gwen!! uhhh sorry. he’s just... in a latin study group in his pastime and has an oral presentation in minutes”

- omg, nimueh, stfu

- i didn't know dinosaurs existed back then, this reptile be whack

- y’know what's funny? ppl thinking dinosaurs didn’t exist. i find creationism very very very intriguing bc how fucking stupid could you be

- that sword throw was faker than my moms tits

- arthur could have done better

- k but like what if merlin’s hand wasn’t under the covers? like he was just throwing that blue ball around right in front of gwen

- can arthur like not hear her? nimuehs literally enchanting the rocks right behind his ear lobes and arthur acts nothing of it until those said rocks collapse and he gasps and suddenly he realises shes evil

- also his fucking hair in this scene looks glorious. perhaps bc it's pushed back rather than his bowl cut, but its doing things to my abdomen

- i thought for a second she was pulling off her mask to say “nimueh” and arthur was gasping bc he only recognised her after her hair was shown, just like in that scene with joker and harvey in the hospital

- OH RIGHT THE SPIDERS I LIKE COMPLETELY FORGOT ABOUT THOSE SONS OF A GUNS

- i’d be dead if those spiders came crawling up to eat me lmfao

- k so nimueh went from :) to >:D in half a second

- i'm smelling up those symbolisms, boys

- watch out pals cause here are some of them:

- merlin is the LIGHT of arthur’s life

- he LIGHTS up the party

- he gives arthur a BRIGHTER future

- he's the GUIDE for his path

- hahhahahaha

- i'm serious when i say i have a huge fear of insects (spiders count in that too, no discrimination) so i'm just putting that there, saying to yall id be fucking terrified

- gaius would be so confused, like we don't see his face here but merlins close-up sweaty concentrated frown, but he’s literally just screaming “ARTHUR!!” “FASTERRR!!” “YESS!!” “CLIMB!!!” gaius would be looking like he walked into something he wasn't supposed to. prob thinking he should just let the kid die so he doesn’t have to deal with this shit anymore

- UTHER LOCKED HIS SON AWAY I'M FUCKING QUESTIONING HIS PARENTING SKILLS

- that's grounding???? throwing ur child in prison???

- yes 999 can i have child services on his ass

- gwens so smart honestly i love her

- pretending to be a maiden for the food, god what a queen

- arthur buying it and saying “yuck you say this is food?! disgustang!”

- the fact that i misspelled disgusting but it autocorrected to disgustang (which is originally what i wanted but autocorrect shouldn’t have known) makes me consider if i should really check my dictionary…. who knows what words are on there

- they’re so smart

- and then this fucker ruins it all while eating his food, checking her out and saying yeah arthurs a prick, hyuck hyuck, realising only that wait fuck u aint the maiden

- how’d they know GWEN was the one not supposed to have delivered the food, what if it was that chick right there???

- welll….. maybe it's because gwen took her sweet time up those steps, staring as if she couldn’t blink at the guards below

- i forget what happens at the end of this episode besides the kiss, and there's like 9 minutes left my fingers may rot at this point

- wake him up! wake him up!

- OH WAIT HE DOESN'T FUCKING WAKE UP DOES HE AND EVERYONE PANICS

- YEAH OKAY I'M SEEING THAT NOW

- MERLIN STOPPED BREATHING

- LMAO GWEN IS IN TEARS

- “HE'S DEAD” SHE SAYS

- ARTHUR BB COME IN HERE TO KISS UR HUBBY ALIVE

- OH WAIT UR IN FUCKING PRISON

- WAIT UP, HE'S ALIVE AND SHE KISSES HIM AFTERWARDS????

- FUCK ME I THOUGHT FOR THE WHOLE EPISODE THE KISS HAPPENED BC HE COULDN'T WAKE UP THAT'S FUCKING WITH ME I DIDN'T KNOW

- i keep forgetting to switch up the cap locks, sorry if it seems im screaming im legit using my inside voice for most of the time just emphasizing my words a little more

- goddamn, everytime they say mercia i just think of “murica”, like those americans on the 7th of july or whatever date the “we love our country” day is, chanting it as they throw around beers and fireworks as people gather round in jerseys or crop tops

- it's not that hard to spot the european on here

- the most celebrated holiday here which contains a lot of beers and big pub gatherings (besides every fucking night honestly) is either new years, lowkey stereotypically correct saint patricks, and ig easter monday but that's more for the kiddos

- i mean ofc christmas and all that shit but im not the most devoted christian, i just like presents and small gatherings among good friends

- wow okay it wasn't the 7th of july

- i mean at first i looked up “USA day” (i couldn’t remember the name) and it popped up today’s date, and i was like no thats not it at all. dec?? its in like july i think. and i was close! it was july 4th.

- uther damn knows it's nimueh!!!

- i mean, he just overheard morgana and arthur talk about it, and initiated himself into a convo about it once morgana left, as his sneaky ass just slithered up like “hey man, u know that woman? yeah uhh, what she say? anything about me? no? k i know who it is tho”

- i thought he was going to apologize or like explain to arthur what's the sitch, but he just waits for five whole seconds before saying. “those who practice magic know only evil. they despise and seek to destroy goodness wherever they find it.”

- arthur, confused: sounds as if you know her

- uther, walking away: i do

- arthur:

- wow k lots of fucking quotes here cause it's the merthur reunion

- get ready babs

- arthur: still alive then?

- merlin: oh yes, just about… i understand i have you to thank for that

- arthur, leaning on the chair merlin is sitting in, stifling a smile: ah it's nothing, a half-decent servant is hard to come by. i was only dropping by to make sure you’re alright… i.... expect you to be back to work tomorrow

- merlin, watching arthur as he slightly walks away having embarrassed himself: arthur... thank you

- arthur, slowly: you too

- they stare for like 5 whole seconds

- arthur, uncomfortable: well… get some rest

- there we go folks: my eulogy.

- hope someone reads it at my funeral

#merlin #merlin bbc #merthur #s1 #s1ep4

[theawkwardterrier]

Out of the Frying Pan

Steggy Week, day 2 Prompt: When Timelines Collide

Summary: Jack and Daniel are in DC for their annual review, but it's in the SHIELD kitchen that they stumble upon some new information.

AO3 link here.

Jack’s proud to work for SHIELD, and he’s damn good at it, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. He’s glad to be doing his bit to help the country, and especially with a cutting edge outfit that does its work quietly so Americans can sleep safely in their beds, not even knowing that they’ve been saved from danger. SHIELD does important work, and does it well.

The food they’re serving at headquarters is godawful.

“Look.” Jack elbows Daniel so he’ll look over at the limp, oily string bean dangling from Jack’s fork. “They really expect us to believe this was once attached to a real plant?”

Daniel looks at it dubiously. “Put it in a bag, we’ll bring it over to the lab for examination,” he jokes. “How’s the dessert looking?”

Jack lets his eyes wander over the waitress coming in with a new course headed toward their table. She’s pretty enough, her soft blonde hair held back with pins, but the contents of her cart… “Come on, I know where the kitchen is in this place. Let’s go scrounge up a real meal before it’s our turn with the boss.”

“You could at least pretend to have some respect for her,” Daniel says predictably, but he stands and follows Jack anyway.

“Oh, I’ve got plenty of respect for old Marge. It was a real feat, leapfrogging right to the top of the organization without stopping in for a leadership position along the way.” Jack stuffs his hands in his pockets. It’s the right look, casual, in case any staff might be looking his way. He has a badge in his pocket and as much right to be walking around this building as anyone, but might as well not call attention.

“Ever think that she might have gotten the job because she was too good just to be a city chief? Or that she’d have been happy to do that instead but no one gave her the chance?” Jack gives him a stare because it’s a funny thing for Souza to say seeing as he hadn’t exactly been begging to give up the LA job when it was offered to him, but Jack won’t mention that.

They’re getting close to the kitchen now. He can hear clatter and clanking and the sound of people calling back and forth every time the door swings open. “Whether she deserves it or not, we’re going to have to see her in an hour,” Jack says. He’ll admit that Carter’s too smart to have all the city chiefs in at once for annual review. It would be like painting a big target on the group of them. He and Daniel were scheduled alongside some broad who runs the Chicago office and already had her one-on-one with Carter and jetted out after lunch. “We don’t have to talk about her until then. You been to see a Dodgers game yet this season?”

The conversational choice is a good one - it makes them look like two pals on their way to a set meet instead of two guys who were supposed to stay in the slowly emptying dining room until Carter’s secretary came to fetch them - and Jack is about to congratulate himself when he hears from behind him say, “I’d have preferred the Dodgers stay in Brooklyn, but I suppose I’m biased.”

Even if she hadn’t already been on his mind, even if he hadn’t been in DC to see her, Jack would have recognized the voice immediately. “You coming onto me, Carter?” he says slyly before he turns around. As he spins to face her, he registers Souza, already turned and looking stunned, then the scattering of rugrats, then Carter looking at him impassively from the head of a small table tucked into a corner of the busy kitchen.

“Decidedly not,” she says, turning her attention to what looks like the littlest kid, a pint-sized girl who is very carefully dumping what seems to be an entire bottle of ketchup onto the plate in front of her. Without even looking away from securing the cap and using her knife to transfer a generous dollop of ketchup to her own plate, Carter asks, “I was under the impression that our meeting wasn’t for another hour at least. Have I mistaken my times?”

Jack had a schoolteacher who used to do that, ask questions to try to confuse you or make you feel guilty, but he refuses to be caught out. “We’re still on for seven,” he says casually. “Just came to find some better grub than the stuff they handed us out there. Didn’t realize we’d wandered into a junior agent recruitment meeting.”

“What’s grub?” pipes the tallest of the three brats, though that’s not saying much.

“In this case, it means food,” Carter tells her, then says mildly to Jack, “I’m committed to the family for a timely dinner at least four times a week, which can require some creative solutions on nights like tonight.”

Jack opens his mouth, more because it’s his turn to volley a comment back than because he has something to say. He can’t believe she managed to keep it from spreading around that she’s been raising kids for what he’d guess is upwards of ten years now (and was probably pregnant, considering that all of them share her exact hair color). Either no one in the office knows about it, which seems doubtful, or she’s successfully thwarted the SHIELD gossip chain, which speaks chilling things about her power. Luckily a remark isn’t needed, because the chattiest little Carter says, “I think that was a rude thing to say, that the food wasn’t good, and probably not even true. The food here is good, it’s always good, because even if Linda isn’t cooking, Amos is, and if they made you something bad it just means that they don’t like you very much and I think they have a good reason, too.” She juts her chin and shoves her glasses up her nose, and though it’s been a few of decades since Jack was last on the playground, he can easily read the so there.

Carter gives a little sigh. “What have we said, Cassandra?”

Heaving a sigh exponentially more exhausted than her mother’s, the kids recites, “That I should think before I say something rude, and count to ten. And then you told me that it’s better to be smart and wait for the best moment to make sure a person learns a lesson, but Daddy said that you have to remind people what’s right even if it’s hard, and I know it’s not right to be mean about the cooks.”

“That logic’s pretty foolproof,” says a new, amused voice from behind them. “Although usually you don’t think it’s too hard to be rude, Cass.”

The guy is just around Jack’s height, but with apparent muscles that he wears easily under a black polo tucked into a pair of chinos. He’s holding a small glass dish of butter in one hand.

“You’re probably Jack Thompson,” says the guy, and only when the pressure of his handshake is just a touch firmer than normal does Jack realize who he is. But Steve Rogers is already turning to Souza, reaching out to shake with him too. “Good to see you again, Daniel.”

Jack cuts a glare toward Souza, who covers his guilty look by saying, “Steve came out to the West Coast to help us with a situation a couple of years ago.”

Unbelievable. Not only is Captain America alive and kicking, but Souza’s apparently been in the know for years. At least he looks pretty shocked that Carter and the Captain are shacking up again, although from the lack of interest the kitchen staff is showing, it seems to be common enough knowledge. She must have dirt on every agent in DC to keep something like this quiet.

“That was a bad one,” says Rogers, maneuvering around Jack and Daniel toward the table. “Although I usually only get called in for the bad ones. Most of the rest of the time, I like my job a lot better.” He sets the butter dish down and lifts the little one up so she can sit on his lap. “I guess the butter crisis was easily averted,” he says, leaning over to Carter with quiet amusement. They both watch the middle boy continue to doggedly scoop up his potatoes and ignore the rest of them.

“It seems that Benjamin didn’t need butter for his potatoes as much as we had thought,” Carter replies primly. “I, on the other hand…” She slices herself a sliver and leaves it to melt while she cuts blithely into her salmon.

Rogers laughs. “I’d have gotten it for you too if you’d asked.”

The way she touches his hand should be nothing. It’s a brush of her fingers on his, a fond, quirked smile she glances in his direction over the head of the toddler. But Jack can’t help but stare, and Daniel says, his voice just a note too loud, “Well, we’ll leave you to finish your dinner. Maybe they’ll have put out a good dessert.”

“The apple pie is especially worthwhile,” Carter tells him. “I’ll make sure they send out a few slices. Carol will come find you at the usual time.”

Rogers nods his goodbye, seeming distracted as he attempts to eat while the smallest girl tries to grab and redirect his fork (“Thanks for the help, Annie, except I think you like ketchup a little more than I do.”). Cassandra gives them - mostly Jack - a good glare. But Benjamin looks up from his plate for the first time, and politely says, “You should try the mashed potatoes. If they let you,” before he returns immediately to eating.

As Jack walks away, he tries to tell himself that he’s discovered some great secret of Carter’s, the family that she wants to keep hidden not only from the eyes of the enemy, but from her employees as well. But somehow he can’t quite convince himself. He and Daniel reenter the dining room, empty now except for a couple of agents picking up coffee and sandwiches for a late shift, and Jack has the definite notion that Carter’s well and truly won this round.

Well, maybe not the part with the kids. Jack can’t see how they could be considered a good thing.

#steggyweek2k18 #Steggy fic #Steve Rogers #Peggy Carter #Steve/Peggy #Steggy #Jack Thompson #Daniel Sousa #this barely counts but it's kidfic so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[johnboothus]

Wine 101: Cap vs. Cork

This episode of “Wine 101” is sponsored by Talbott Vineyards. At Talbott Vineyards, we focus on crafting estate-grown Chardonnay and Pinot Noir in Monterey County’s Santa Lucia Highlands. Our celebrated Sleepy Hollow vineyard is located in one of the coldest grape-growing climates in California, ideal for these two varieties. Here, the brisk wind and fog rolling off Monterey Bay create a long growing season, producing fruit-forward wines with spectacular acidity. Building on a nearly 40-year legacy of meticulous craftsmanship, Talbott continues to produce highly acclaimed wines of distinction.

Click the link below to discover and purchase wine brands discussed on the “Wine 101” podcast series. Get 15% OFF of your purchase of $75 or more when you use the coupon code ‘wine15’ at checkout. https://www.thebarrelroom.com/discover.html?src=vinepair

In this episode of “Wine 101,” VinePair tastings director Keith Beavers discusses the difference between the two most popular wine closures: corks and screw caps. Beavers details the brief history of corks, which were originally popularized in the 17th century.

Though the screw cap was initially used for spirits and liqueurs, Australian winemakers began experimenting with screw caps in the ‘70s in an effort to avoid TCA, or cork taint. The screw caps have since taken off worldwide and are even used for sparkling and age-worthy wines.

Tune in to learn more about the debate between corks and screw caps.

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Keith Beavers: My name is Keith Beavers and is cold soup considered a meal, or is it an appetizer? Or is it just a snack?

What’s going on, wine lovers? Welcome to Episode 26 of VinePair’s “Wine 101” podcast. My name is Keith Beavers, and I am the tastings director of VinePair. It’s Season 2, and how are you doing?

Screw caps. Corks. Or should I say screw caps versus corks? No, no, no, no, no, these are two different things. We are going to talk about the two of them and we’re going to get rid of some myths. We’re going to get into it.

I’m having a little bit of an issue on how to begin this episode because with the amount of time I’ve been in the wine industry, I was a witness to not the introduction of the screw cap, but the implementation and the evolution of its technology and its acceptance in wine culture. I don’t know where you are in your wine journey, but you could say, “Keith, I remember that. That was tough. We’ve come a long way.” Or you could say, “What’s the problem? I drink wine with a screw cap all the time. What happened?”

Well, let me tell you the story of these two wine closures, because that’s really what they are, wine bottle closures. We’ll get a sense of where we’re at with the debate because if you don’t know, it was a debate. It’s still going on, but kinda not. Let’s get into it.

A cork for wine is a small piece of bark, basically, from a tree. That tree is part of the oak family — the same family that makes barrels, just a different species. The thing about this particular species of oak is that it has a very finicky environmental preference, if you will. It grows best in sandy soils free of any chalk. It prefers an annual rainfall between 15 and 30 inches, and it would really like temperatures never to fall below 23 degrees Fahrenheit. We would like to have our elevation between 300 and 1,000 feet above sea level, thank you very much.

With those nature demands, man, the oak tree for cork oak really can only thrive in the western Mediterranean. Even there, specifically in Portugal, parts of Spain, and maybe North Africa — but it’s really centered in Portugal, specifically in the Alentejo region, which we talked about in the Portugal episode. Here, they have almost 2 million acres of cork trees, which represents about 34 percent of the world’s cork trees. That’s a lot, and they also produce half of the world’s corks. Wow.

When these trees turn 25, they are ready to yield commercially useful cork for the industry. Every nine years in the summer — this is according to Portuguese law — a cork tree is stripped of its bark. A hectare is a little over three, almost three and a half acres. The average hectare of a cork forest can yield 500 pounds of cork. It’s all science, but this particular cork is special because it has a specific cell structure that brings the corking material to life.

What they do is they take this cork and they actually boil it for, I think, 90 minutes to make it flexible, but also to kill a bunch of molds and bacterias. The wood is then rested, sorted, and cut into the corks, and then those corks are polished on each end. At this point, they used to bleach the corks to sanitize them, but recently, they found that bleach or chlorine can actually increase the likelihood of TCA being formed in the cork, which we talked about in the Wine Faults episode.

Actually, today it’s more common to use hydrogen peroxide, which I think we all know is used for cuts and bruises. Then, they’re graded for aesthetic, basically, for the visual quality of the cork. The more natural markings on the cork, the lower the grade. The fewer the markings, the higher the grade. Here is where if the cork needs to be branded for a winery, it’s done. Then, the cork is coated with a silicon film to help make it easier to get out of the bottle. They’re then put into bags dosed with wine’s protector, S02 as an antibacterial agent, and they need to be stored in an odor-free environment with a temperature not going above 68 degrees F and for the humidity to not exceed 70 percent. Just like the shock of S02, these conditions are helping to prevent the formation of TCA. They really don’t want this stuff to form.

Corks range between 1 and 2.3 inches. The longer corks are meant for bottles that are going to age for a long time, which makes sense. They’re going to hold up for a longer period of time. For well over two centuries, this has been the primary closure for wine bottles. It’s been around much longer than that. There is evidence that the ancient Greeks and Egyptians both used not only amphora for closures onto the amphoras vessels, but they also used large cork covered with pitch to actually close those amphora vessels. Yet, it was in the 17th century where if you look at some of the art back then, you can see that wine was basically still stored and served in barrels.

However, also in the 17th century was the innovation of glass. As glass became more popular, glass decanters became popular as somewhere to put your wine in. Then, of course, there were stoppers for those decanters so it would not oxidize or flies wouldn’t get in. They were glass stoppers that were formed to fit specific decanters, and then they were threaded. Also, in this century it was realized how expensive glass was, so the use of cork became more common.

The thing is, during the Middle Ages, cork wasn’t really used that much because the Moors had control and conquered the land where cork trees were and they didn’t drink wine. This was a comeback. The cork came back in the 17th century to become one of the primary closures of wine bottles, but this was before the corkscrew was invented. What would happen is corks would be put halfway into bottles so you could get them out. Of course, then the corkscrew was invented, and everything changed.

So, cork is popular. It’s the No. 1 way to close your wine bottles. There is this running thought that the cork is porous. Therefore, the small amounts of oxygen and gas exchange that happens between the outside and inside of that bottle help a wine age. There is a debate there, and we’re going to get into it in a second, because as modern technology became more available, there was a heightened awareness to the extent to which how many wines were actually corked at any given time. It was a little bit alarming. Also, there is more communication in modern times, so there was more understanding of bottle variability, but the big deal was TCA, cork taint. That was the enemy.

As Jancis Robinson puts it in the “Oxford Wine Companion,” it’s because of cork that we actually do age wine today. It was the thing that allowed us to do that, even though it has issues. If it wasn’t for the cork in its natural state, we wouldn’t actually have wines that evolve. If you were worried about cork taint and you wanted to create a different closure for wine, you would have to check all the boxes that you liked for cork. The seal would have to be reliable. The substance would have to be inert in that if the wine came into contact with it, no crazy reactions would happen. The ergonomics would have to be sound. Easy to open, easy to close. Easy to insert and put back in. It would also be nice if it was relatively inexpensive to produce. And of course, the big deal, it can’t have the ability to form TCA.

In the late ’50s, there was a French company that had a screw cap called the Stelcap Vin. It was used primarily as a closure for spirits. Always forward-thinking, the Australians. In 1973, a company called Australian Consolidated Industries bought the rights to this specific closure. They were worried about cork taint, so they renamed it the Stelvin cap, and they began to experiment with this new technology.

A screw cap is basically two components. It’s an aluminum alloy, metal cap attached to a sleeve. The second component, which is a very important component, is the plastic wadding on the inside of the cap. This is called the liner. It usually contains a layer of tinfoil that acts as a barrier for gas exchange. This is the thing that doesn’t allow oxygen to get into the wine. Over the tinfoil is a layer of thermoplastic and this is the inert surface the wine can interact with.

As we learned in the Sulfites episode, aluminum and wine interaction can get a little stinky. In the early ‘70s, Australian Consolidated Industries experimented with this thing called the Stelvin cap. In 1976, they published the results of their study. What they showed was that the screw cap is actually ideal for sealing wine bottles if the wadding material is satisfactory. They had four reds and four whites with a screw cap, one with a cork for comparison. Each screw cap had a different wadding in it, so they were just trying to figure out how it would work. It came to the conclusion that when the wadding is right, the wine is sound. Of course, this was very exciting so Australia was going to focus on corks.

They started moving towards this as being the standard closure for their wines. There was a big push for it, but it didn’t work because TCA still wasn’t fully understood and there wasn’t much consumer acceptance because people liked the romance of a cork. There were people in the industry asking, “Wait, corks help wine age. Why would you put a screw cap?” It wasn’t really until 2000, when a group of winemakers in the Clare Valley of Australia, known for its Riesling, had enough.

Their wines are very susceptible to the lack of aromas that cork taint produces. They got together and produced a vintage, but with a screw cap. The problem was those bottles and those caps are not available in Australia yet, so they actually had to get everyone together and buy 250,000 bottles from a company in France. They made a big to-do about this. It made headlines, and everything gained momentum. I actually read that six years later, some of those wines were uncapped or unscrewed, if you will, and they’re aging just fine. This actually prompted the island a few thousand miles away, New Zealand, to create the New Zealand Screw Cap initiative in 2001.

By 2004, around 70 percent of the wines in New Zealand were under screw cap — up from only 1 percent three years before. Something’s working. By 2014, 95 percent, and 80 percent in Australia. An entire country is primarily under screw cap with their wines — and the wines are good, or sound, I should say. There’s no cork taint, and the screw cap isn’t just like screwed onto the bottle after it’s filled, the sleeve is held down tight on top of the bottle of the machine. Then, these pressurized rollers come and they mold the sleeve or the cap to the ridges on the outside or the top portion of the bottleneck where the little threading is.

The cap itself is still attached to the sleeve, but with those little perforated bridges. When you open it up and it cracks and the wad releases, you hear a little pop, and oxygen rushes into the bottle. Now, the thing is chemistry and the aging of wine is still somewhat of a mystery. I find this so awesome. I mean, it’s frustrating, but you cannot do a scientific experiment with a compromised subject. This means that the second you either penetrate a cork or open a bottle of wine or even put a syringe down into the cork, oxygen is affecting the wine. The only way to really know how wine ages is to age the wine. Isn’t that crazy?

There’s a debate about screw caps versus cork and how wines age. This is a discussion that’s going to be going on for quite some time, until somebody figures it out. According to the “Oxford Wine Companion,” science tends to lean towards the idea that wine is always in a reductive state because it needs the absence of oxygen to reduce — which basically means to evolve. Others believe the porous nature of the cork allows for tiny amounts of oxygen, which I mentioned before, to allow the minor oxidation of wine, and that ages the wine. Both of these things could be true.

Actually, if you take the thin tin foil layer out of a screw cap during production, that actually allows for gas exchange very similar to a cork. Now, what’s frustrating and beautiful about wine is we may not know for some years until we taste wines that have aged how they do compare them both. Either way, though, today the screw cap is the No. 1 alternative to the cork. It has a reliable seal. It has an inert substance. It’s easy to remove and insert. And it’s a pretty relatively low cost closure. Think of a cork as a dollar. A screw cap is 70 cents. The only big cost would be smaller wineries that don’t often have the ability to buy the components that add on to the bottling systems, and they have to pay. In the end, it’s less expensive. There are other corks out there, synthetic corks and plastic corks. There is something called agglomerated cork, which is a bunch of cork pieces and dust glued together that was invented in the United States. There are glass corks. Again, these are glass closures they actually have a little suction cup around them. They can be fragile and expensive.

Honestly, a screw cap is a way to go if you’re not doing cork. It was such a big deal. There is a pretty famous winemaker in the United States named Randall Grahm who has a winery called Bonny Doon. I don’t remember the year — maybe 1999 — but he actually had a funeral for the cork. He took his entire line of wines, got rid of the cork, and only uses, to this day, a screw cap. It was a big to-do. He did a funeral procession down 5th Avenue in Manhattan. It’s crazy.

I don’t know where everybody’s at with their mind and screw caps, but the thing to really know is that they both do the thing. Cork is a good closure. Screw caps are good closures. Scientifically and technologically, they’re great. The only thing is, cork has this thing called TCA that can form and just straight-up ruin a wine. The only way that a screw cap wine can be ruined is not with TCA, but if the bottling system is not sanitary. For example, if there’s anything on the lip of the glass bottle before the sleeve goes down, you’re compromising the wine, so it has to be very clean.

Today, there are screw caps that are used for sparkling wine. I’ve had them, and it’s awesome. It’s not necessarily for Champagne. I don’t know if it’s a pressure thing, but I’ve had Prosecco under the screw cap. It’s just cool. It doesn’t come down to which one is better than the other, like screw cap versus cork. Each one has its benefits. Some winemakers, like Randall Grahm, are just going all-in on the screw caps. Some winemakers use screw caps for their entry-level wines and reserve corks for their age-worthy wines. Some winemakers are aging wine under screw cap. Some winemakers are doing both.

These humans that make this stuff called wine every decade and every generation, something changes and they figure something else out. The screw cap is just one of them. I mean, the screw cap was meant for spirits and liqueur. Now, it’s the No. 1 closure for wine. It’s just part of the evolution of what we understand in wine. We’re just going to keep on evolving. We are going to keep on understanding, and it’s going to get better and better.

@VinePairKeith is my Insta. Rate and review this podcast wherever you get your podcast from. It really helps get the word out there. And now for some totally awesome credits.

“Wine 101” was produced, recorded, and edited by yours truly, Keith Beavers, at the VinePair headquarters in New York City. I want to give a big ol’ shout-out to co-founders Adam Teeter and Josh Malin for creating VinePair. And I mean, a big shout-out to Danielle Grinberg, the art director of VinePair, for creating the most awesome logo for this podcast. Also, Darbi Cicci for the theme song. Listen to this. And I want to thank the entire VinePair staff for helping me learn something new every day. See you next week.

Ed. note: This episode has been edited for length and clarity.

The article Wine 101: Cap vs. Cork appeared first on VinePair.

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[perishingshards]

Tag Game

I was tagged by @gracesorkovsky

1. What is your favorite season? 

Summer. I hate and am physically weak to the cold (not an exaggeration) and I live in/near Toronto, Canada.

2. What is your favourite movie? 

Why would you be so cruel as to ask me to pick my favourite movie!? 

WALL-E

-=Alternates=-

Comedy: Tropic Thunder

Romantic Comedy: Definitely, Maybe 

Sci-fi: Moon (2009), Arrival (2016), Interstellar 

Crime drama? The Departed

Disney: Frozen

Ghibli: Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, Whisper of the Heart, Princess Mononoke

3. If you could have one super power, what would it be? 

Flight

Close second: telekinesis

4. If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you travel? 

Australia? France? Australia is just SO different. I love things that are different. And France because my French needs some serious work.

5. What is your favourite book series? 

YES! This one’s easy! His Dark Materials (The Golden Compass/The Northern Lights, The Subtle Knife, The Amperspyglass)

6. Describe your strangest dream. 

*Pulls out her old dream diary*

Uggh! Stop making me pick things! I suck at this. OMG, what weird ... somewhat disturbing dreams. Okay, that’s one way to filter. I’ll filter out the disturbing dreams.

if you can even follow this... I used to keep a dream diary:

Sunday, April 17th, 2011

For some reason … there was a group of us and we were hiding from our enemies. I think we were all Canadian. We went through either a door or portal to hide ourselves from our enemies. It was soon after that this portal/door was discovered by our enemies. Let’s say Americans. They come through, and although there are only four of them and twice as much as many Canadians, we don’t resist when they try to arrest us.

We are lined up by the wall of a building, and one of the Americans make a disturbance as they sing a pop tune I don’t recognize. Some buses pass by that are full of some older kids. For some reason, these buses have seats on the roof.

Soon after one of the Americans stops singing, she gets in trouble with the authorities (whoever they are). She gets taken away. The Americans soon are too busy taking care of their problem (the American who was singing got cited for disturbing the peace or something). Soon, the captured Canadians against the wall are able to wander freely.

I’m left talking to this guy in an greyish brown coat. As we talk, it’s a while before I see his face. For some reason I don’t look straight at him for a while. We exchange some words, then I ask if he’s Canadian. I am relieved and feel a friendly bond as soon as he confirms he is Canadian. We talk a little, and I get a glimpse of his face. I think he’s cute. He’s also wearing a greyish brown baseball hat to go with his coat. He’s of South Asian (Indian subcontinent) decent.

He says something like he has enough money to take care of me, later on. I get the feeling that we’re on the run and such and such. I am not the one to easily take money from others (as I’m kinda offended when guys do that and I almost always deny such offers…) but we continue talking. I tell him where I was born and how I ended up in Canada.

He tells me he was born in Saudia as well, and then later lived in Africa, before he moved to Canada.

As we talk, we walk around and end up at a mall/store or something.  It was there, I noticed he was a man much much older than I as he took off his coat and baseball cap to sit down. He seemed to have aged decades in just a minute or two. It wasn’t a gradual change as one minute I looked at him and he was a guy around my age, and another minute he was someone that looked like he was 65. I was internally saddened and disappointed at this, because the face I saw was of a younger, cuter guy whom I was starting to take a sorta romantic interest in. I don’t know why he seemed so much older now, when his face was clearly of someone my age earlier.

We sit down at a table as he fills out something. Despite his age, I continue to talk to him, as we were getting along. I figured some friendly chatting wouldn’t hurt. We talk as he fills out something and he asks for my help in filling out a postal code. At first he wanted to fill out the postal code by taking it from a sheet of stickers with postal codes on them. But it did not contain the postal code he wanted. So I ended up just writing it out for him.

It was then … I saw something. Think of this as a show whereby the scene gets changed. There’s a family (parents) who are worried about their son. Their son has gone off in search of his grandpa whom his parents don’t seem to be worried about considering the fact that the grandpa went missing. Anyways, the son’s come back home and it is revealed that he never found his grandfather. He’s sobbing like crazy as he loves his grandpa to bits and is really worried about him. I soon get the feeling that the grandfather dies soon after, or was already dead when the son went looking for him. And then I get the feeling that the son dies not long after… And then I get the feeling that the grandfather was unable to take care of one important thing just before he died...

I then get the feeling, that the old man I befriended was that man … Anyways, scene changes back to the store where we’re sitting on a small white circular table made for 2-4 people. I finish filling out the postal code and the old man, who wasn’t able to actually write out the postal code himself, thus the stickers, because of his really shaky hands, thanks me then walks away.

He walks away and I never see him again. It turns out that he was now able to mail that letter which was really important. Probably it had money in it or made sure someone deserving received some money they really needed or something really important like that.

From what I can gather … the son, and the grandpa (who is now known to be the old man I befriended) both died soon after each other. The grandpa left something unfinished. The son wished to help his dead grandpa, and so somehow … I was used as a tool (I am not offended by this or anything, kinda touched by the whole story more than anything). The son become a ghost, an apparition and befriended me, then switched to look like the grandpa. I was able to help the grandpa, which was the son’s last wish.

That letter got sent and the son (momentarily as the grandpa) disappears happy and relieved. While I sit there, contemplating the whole thing, at that white table situated right outside the walls of a store.

7. Who is your all-time favorite character (movies, tv shows, books, etc.)? 

STOP DOING THIS TO ME! Favourites are hard for an indecisive person like me, okay? Let’s see ... Avatar Korra, Asami Sato, Sousuke Sagara (Full Metal Panic!)

8. What is your favourite food?

When I used to care about food: Spicy tofu pad thai from Thai Express

9. Do you have any hobbies? 

Only one. Procrastination. I’m very good at it. It comes to me so naturally that i don’t even have to try!

 10. Do you have any tattoos?

I am on a journey of rediscovery. Having been raised Muslim, I was instilled with the idea this was wrong. Now that I’ve grown out of that (but still really respectful of those who are religious) I think I can be persuaded somewhere down the road? Who knows. Maybe something Korrasami related.

I’d tag people and come up with my own questions ... but I’m tired and it’s late and I have neither the willpower or creativity to come up with questions ... and I should go to bed instead of digging for people to tag.

Anyone who sees this and wants to continue, consider yourself tagged!

#tag #tag game