#Somewhat anyway. Idk man. Seeing him actually get to bond with people makes me happy since he hasn't done that since Euph.

[key-to-my-heart]

S2 WISHFUL THINKING

hey hi hello! i haven’t really been active on tumblr but i wanted to get back into the swing of being active and posting often. so.

i decided i will take note of some of my predictions, hopes, wishes etc. for Season 2 of Rainbow High!

so i kinda wanna just cover the things we canonically have seen aka specific events and drama that has gotten introduced

- The New Roommates / Series 3 Girls

i feel like we will definitely see more of them within the coming episodes. rainbow high literally advertised the new teams as like… i think the second or third teaser for the new season

it’s interesting to me because. this makes me think of What The Runway Project is? what could it possibly be? i believe i made a post about this in the past but the main theory (and theory i believe the most in) would be a Stage Production of sorts. i mean… it makes sense!

the twins are both Performing Arts focus and are definitely the antags this season. so why wouldn’t they cause trouble in regard to a stage play? plus, bella is back. she’s literally a set designer! we have never seen her do any set designing (other than making a sketch) so it would be fun to see that! if river were to get more focus this season, he would definitely have an outlet to channel his Performing Arts creativity! plus… Daria is a song writer so like. imagine if we were to get music out of that? please. the possibilities are endless.

im also eager to see the series 3 girls dynamics. like are the rest of the girls (gabriella, georgia, emmy and daphne) all roomed together? do they get along? will they all be just as dramatic as stella, sheryl and daria’s dynamic?

but anyway. whatever the drama and the semester project is, the new teammates definitely seem to be playing a crucial role in this season.

- The Twins

i’m actually really eager to see more of them. i feel like not enough people are talking about them? season 2 is actually really interesting so far…. maybe more so than season 1… and i feel like we are going to have to thank the twins for that at some point lol

like. idek what they’re planning on doing but. i’m excited to see what it is! they’ll probably be involved in the semester project or at least causing problems to all of the roommates and teams. they’ll definitely have something going on with bella. and it seems that they have a good bond with karma (after the KWK we got). so maybe they’ll have input in any potential drama with Karma. which leads me to

- Karma VS. Violet

so. this drama has been teased at for like. ever. for what feels like forever.

this moment in Karma’s bio PLUS the commentary about violet from her and the twins in the recent KWK episode. but anyway. i’m actually super interested in whatever this drama could be??? like. why is karma watching.

we know violet adores karma, she really wants to have her in the vi life. so i’m sure she basically looks up to her! but like. will karma actually genuinely be nice with violet? keep a distance? make remarks like she did in her recent vlog? i don’t know. idk what to expect. of course it’ll have to do with vlogging or something.

- Bella

ok so there is a few things to note with bella. i’m still interested in if bella will accept to do an interview with Karma for her vlog? if so, i wonder how that would go. and i wonder how violet would feel about it. like the very last time bella was featured in vi’s vlog was on a bad note (even though they made up) but like. idk AAA

also i’m wondering how bella is gonna handle being back to rainbow high. because so far it seems she’s having trouble fitting in. will the key to her fitting in be Jade? will Jade help her figure everything out? or would it be someone else?

as much as i’d love Jade to be the reason Bella starts to feel more at home, i also love the other idea of Amaya being the reason bella feels comfortable again. Amaya was once the new girl (and of course in an awkward position because she was essentially a replacement for bella’s spot in the runway group) but. she didn’t fit in. she had to find her place at rainbow high… and it took her until the runway show to be able to truly feel comfortable.

and like. i’ve been rooting for bella/amaya dynamic for awhile now. i see a lot of potential in this duo. we know they somewhat have tension. i mean. bella had a really awkward confrontation with amaya and that was rly their first and last conversation. sure they’ve been around each other like in the music video, at the end of s1, and when bella walked into the girls dorm s2ep2 but like. that’s it.

SO ANYWAY. what i’m trying to get at is that these two definitely need to become friends. i mean. they have a LOT in common. i was talking about the new girl situation because i feel like they can relate in that way. they both had an awkward entrance into rainbow high and could bond over that. it took amaya awhile to feel at home at rainbow high… so maybe she could become friends with bella and help her feel at home! they’re both very determined leader types. they’re really passionate and! they have the same friend group! so why not become friends?

- Jade and Bella

of course i will wonder about these two! i have no clue what to expect with them. the fandom and myself are really really really wanting to see these two become a canon sapphic couple. i really want to see this happen! and mga knows this. mga knows we want to see jella happen. i mean, they literally snatched the ship name from us and plastered it into their vlogs. so they KNOW

anyway. these two are literally going through it rn. the way jade’s eyes lit up when she saw bella was back at rh. and now both of them are looking for each other and worried about each other. jade thinking bella is mad at her rn? please. i will sob. they are really holding off this jella reunion but i hope it’s for a good reason. i just want them to talk and have a good reunion… a hug……. happy tears, happy smiles…………..a love confession…

- Amaya

so i don’t really have much to say here but i’m just wondering about amaya this season. she’s definitely been advertised so much to the point that she essentially became like. THE main focus in season 1. this peeved some people but personally i loved amaya being like a sort of main character figure. she didn’t really take attention away from the other characters but also had that energy of being a main character anyway.

my point is, though, idk how she will play out in this season? like is she going to be as much of a main character as the main 6 are…. or will she play a bigger role? i have no clue. it seems bella is going to have a key focus this season, which makes sense, but it still just makes me wonder about amaya’s role this season

- Colin

i just hope this man does not get a development arc. i know some people want him to…. but i just. i don’t. i don’t understand. the point of him existing was to show that cheating is wrong and to display girl power. by teaching that skyler didn’t need a man to prove her worth. that she is her own person. her own strength! i really hope that colin and bella don’t have anything omfg.

- Winter Break

i’m really. REALLY excited for the winter break arc. it’s about time we get to see some backgrounds outside of rainbow high! plus the animated tidbits of ruby, sky, and violet in their wb outfits in the wb commercial was everything.

i’m so excited to see their new hairstyles, to see them with their snow gear and more. omg. of course i think the twins will be involved in this arc someone. krystal briefly mentioned the twins’ family having a ski lodge. and then of course we see sunny with her skis so like. yea!! i just wonder how these episodes would play out. or episode. but anyway like… will they just vibe? or will there be a problem of sorts? if it’s winter break then it probably won’t tie into school or like projects or anything like that

- Kia Hart

i’m actually hoping kia gets some focus this season. like. what is she going to do? is she going to pair another couple together? (if so, please be jella. okay wait seriously what if she is the key to reuniting jade and bella together… anyway) i just hope to see more of her and possibly more of her and krystal together haha. but kia just vibes so far, it would be lovely to get more of her!

- The A’s

so ainsley is finally beginning to get some attention! i really hope we continue to get more of her as well as avery, and aidan of course! we did get a bunch of content of aidan but you can never have enough honestly.

but i just wonder about how the A’s will be this season. like will they do anything significant? are bella and avery going to remain close? what is going on!!!

- The Malibu Line

so we literally know nothing about this except

but i still wonder like. if we will get to see anything about it at any point during the web series. perhaps it would be more of a summer thing. but it definitely means something if Bella is in it! (also i’m just generally excited for her new doll. omfg.)

- The Rock Line

so we also know almost nothing about this except

saw someone discuss that the music being heard during s2ep2 could be in regards to the rock battle. honestly. what if this is some sort of project? battle of bands or something? that would be cool lol. anyway i’m intrigued for this line mainly because of all the clothing leaks we have been getting omg.

- The Slumber Party Line

we have known about this for a little while (with the theory of the baby blue girl being in it) but i’m just curious as to who the characters are and if they will be in the web series at all.

- Jett Dawson

okay so. this is a big one. jett being a collector doll, i feel like she’ll definitely play a crucial role in the series. so like. who will she be to the main characters? it says she’s generally nice. why was she giving that look to the girls after their runway performance? IDK! i have no clue what to expect with her. i feel like the expectations i had for amaya (before we knew anything about her) will be put into jett because. the vibes i got from amaya ever since we just had her doll… i am also kind of getting from jett. so i’m eager!

#rainbow high #rainbowhigh #rainbow high dolls #rh: episode predictions #rh: theories

[sternbilder]

Hi!! Stumbled on your blog via the buried stars tag and I'd like to say thank you so much for the kr>eng translations! There aren't many english-speaking fans so I was happy to read about the game & its characters. I was wondering, what do all the characters call each other in Korean? Or what honorifics they use? I could hear it in the audio sometimes (Gyu-hyuk: "Do-yoon-ah", or I think Seil: "Inha-ssi" ?) but I didn't catch all of them. Google tells me some of it is based off of (1/2)

(2/2) Google tells me some of it is based off of respect, friendship/closeness, or just being older/younger than one another, but I'm still new to the intricacies of what it implies about the characters' relationships and how their individual personalities are. If it isn't too much trouble, I'd love to know ^^

Hello!! You're very welcome and in fact thank you for the question, I'm always receptive to more excuses to talk about this game!

It seems like you already have some context on rules surrounding Korean honorifics. There is a lot of nuance, obviously, but to put it simply...Yes, I'd say the speech patterns the cast (particularly, the TOP5—the others are a bit more complicated) uses are what you'd see in a casual social setting between people who already know each other somewhat, but aren't necessarily friends, which is what I think I would expect from a group of twentysomethings who probably had a chance to bond socially as a cohort throughout the whole audition process (it's explained in the Q&A that they lived together in a dorm for most of the show, too). And as you've pointed out the rules there I would say are much more tied to age and closeness. I'd generally characterize their speech patterns as informal, but polite—basically, you have to use the polite form with people who are older than you, but you can use casual speech (banmal) with people who are the same age or younger. The exception is if you are close enough with someone that you mutually decide it's OK to drop honorifics despite the age difference. More on that later.

The order of the age of each of the main cast are as follows: Seungyeon (33), Juyoung (28), Gyuhyuk (27), Doyoon and Inha (25), Seil (24), and Hyesung (20). So with no other caveats we'd expect, for example, Doyoon to use polite form with Juyoung and Gyuhyuk but not with Inha and Hyesung, etc. Now, with that as the basis, here are some notes based on what I can remember, though disclaimer that my memory isn't perfect, and there are also things I might have missed because I haven't done a full playthrough yet with Korean text.

(Character spoilers for the "Other" section at the end; otherwise a few minor spoilers)

TOP5

Juyoung (28)

Juyoung is the oldest of the main cast, so she uses banmal with pretty much everyone and refers to them by name, or name + ah/ya (which is the casual vocative marker), and it's perfectly acceptable for her to do so.

The rest of the TOP5 call her 언니/누나 (unni/noona, lit. "older sister" but more generally used to refer to any slightly older female acquaintance; which one is used depends on the speaker's gender). They also sometimes call her 영이 언니/누나 (Young-i unni/noona) for short, which I thought was cute. There's actually a Q&A question that asked about this because it is a very familiar/affectionate nickname, and the director explained that Juyoung asked the others to call her that because she was afraid of seeming unapproachable due to her age and because of the fact that she was a former idol.

Gyuhyuk (27)

As the second oldest, I believe he uses banmal with everyone but Juyoung. The younger male characters all call him 형 (hyung, lit. "older brother", see above), though I can't seem to remember Inha calling him 오빠 (oppa). I might be projecting that assumption onto her based on her somewhat brash personality, since 오빠 can come off as a bit...Girlish? Cutesy? Flirtatious? in certain contexts? Idk.

Doyoon (25)

What's notable about Doyoon is that he uses the polite form with Juyoung, but not Gyuhyuk. He calls Gyuhyuk 형 (hyung), of course, but he uses the casual form, which suggests that they're close enough with each other that they've already agreed to drop formalities. Their first rapport event gives me the sense that they're especially close, too, compared to the other contestants (as does just like...waves in their general direction, but anyway,)

Inha (25)

Inha is the same age as Doyoon, so you would also expect her to use polite form with Juyoung and Gyuhyuk. However, she doesn't with either of them IIRC.

As for Juyoung, I don't remember how much of this came through in the text of the game itself, but I would guess they were probably already pretty close in a way similar to Doyoon and Gyuhyuk were. At the very least, I think I remember one of the Q&A answers indicating that they kept in touch very frequently after the events of the game.

I don't really remember too many interactions between Inha and Gyuhyuk, tbh. I do recall that she (not sure if any others do) refers to him as 규 (Gyu) at least once, which I think is adorable, LMAO. This might indicate that they may have been on close enough terms to use casual speech? But then again, she did seem to resent Gyuhyuk at least a little bit for the scholarship thing, and according to the Q&A she took much longer than Juyoung and Doyoon to see him again after the game, so??? She could just be kind of disrespectful like that, which...Kinda tracks, honestly??? 🤷‍♀️Like I said, I don't remember too much about these two, so don't take my word on this.

Hyesung (20)

Hyesung is the youngest, so you would expect him to use polite speech with everyone, but he, uh, does not. With anyone. LMAO. Maybe he's just super tight with everyone, but something tells me it's more because he's a rude little shit who's just Like That. (I mean, he uses banmal with Seil, who does hate his guts, so.) He does call everyone 형/누나 (hyung/noona), though, at least—though, now that I think about it, Seil might be an exception to that, LOL.

Since he's the youngest, everyone just calls him Hyesung.

Also, this is tangential, but I also just wanted to throw in that Hyesung notably has a slight "old man" dialect in that he sometimes uses expressions and slang that you would expect from the older generation, because growing up his only friends were the other vendors at his mom's fish market. This is unrelated to politeness, but it does come off as really funny considering how young he is, and definitely gives his speech a unique vibe.

Staff

Seil (24)

The speech patterns between Seil and the TOP5 are pretty similar to speech patterns within TOP5 itself, which is to say, fairly informal but still polite. He uses polite form with everyone older than him, and uses banmal with Hyseung. I actually wouldn't necessarily have expected this to be the case since he technically has more of a professional relationship to the TOP5 than they do with each other (so I wouldn't have been surprised if he actually used formal speech, rather than just polite), but it's probably because he's in that same age range and because he was the staff member who was closest to them socially.

I believe you are correct that he calls Inha, and Inha alone, -씨 (-ssi), which is actually formal, rather than simply polite. Probably just indicating his high level of admiration for her in particular.

The rest of the main cast just call him Seil. Hyesung also occasionally calls Seil 세일 FD님 (Seil FD-nim) which is technically extremely formal, but obviously said in sarcasm.

Seungyeon (33)

I believe she calls everyone by their full name, and uses casual speech with them. Makes sense. She's the boss.

Everyone else calls her PD님 (PD-nim, formal). Including, notably, Hyesung. AFAICR Seungyeon is the only character Hyesung shows even an ounce of deference toward in this game. 😛

Other

Suchang (27) & Suyeon (18)

AFAIK Suchang only really has in-game interactions with Doyoon and Suyeon, and Suyeon only has interactions with Suchang, who she of course calls 오빠 (oppa), in the familial sense. Though IIRC at the very end she does once refer to Doyoon as 그분 (geubun, lit. "that person") and 도윤님 (Doyoon-nim), both of which are extremely formal/deferential in tone but in kind of a "little girl talks about her crush as if they were Prince Charming" sort of way...Which causes Suchang to hilariously go into overprotective/jealous older brother mode.

The Ha siblings use casual speech with each other, which is standard among siblings. However, Suchang also talks down to Doyoon, which is pretty audacious of him considering they're strangers—he basically talks to Doyoon as if they're already friends. He's kind of an audacious guy in general, though, so I'd say that kind of fits his character.

Doyoon, on the other hand, being the polite young man that he is, uses polite speech with Suchang. There's a funny scene where he accidentally slips up and uses banmal, and then immediately gets called out by Suchang, who chews him out for talking down to someone older than him. (Though ofc Doyoon had no way of knowing this, and also, Suchang shouldn't be using banmal with a stranger in the first place.) At the very end of the true ending when they finally meet, Doyoon actually takes it up a level and calls Suchang 수창씨 (Suchang-ssi) but Suchang tells him to drop it and just call him 형 (hyung). It's sweet.

#khattikeri #Asks #Buried Stars #Meta #liveblog: bstars

[simply-not-an-egg]

The Next Karate Kid - A Probably Very Opinionated Commentary by Yours Truly

I really am trying to go into this with an open mind; let’s see how this goes.

Starting off with a military band? K sure, you do you sweetie, and I don’t hate it yet so that’s a positive

Aha, a military REUNION, I see. And look at Miyagi with his medal!! Sweet!

So I think if I remember from reading the plot on wikipedia that Miyagi new this guy who was married to the woman he just said hello to

Y’all they got Miyagi’s name wrong. His first name is Nariyoshi not Kesuke. That is his middle name. Although in saying that, I feel like that was more or less revealed in Cobra Kai so idk, anyway, for future reference, Miyagi’s first name is Nariyoshi

Also Louisa Pierce? I assume grandmother of Julie? That would make sense

Ooh we’re in Boston for this, and look at that big white house

Yes, Louisa is grandmother, oh and hello Julie!

Julie is unhappy, a little moody, sweetie are you okay?

Alright so Julie’s an orphan! Why does Miyagi keep picking up either somewhat or completely orphaned children?? I mean, I guess that’s good but also, why?

Ooh yay Miyagi advice about losing parents and grief!

Alright so now Louisa’s gonna fuck off to California while Miyagi takes care of the child

Said child who has now snuck into some place - OH THAT”S RIGHT THE SCHOOL AND THE BIRD

Yes I remember this from wikipedia plot

I like birdy, birdy is nice, and yes Julie talk to birdy, birdy is unjudgemental friend

Now time for the Animal Studies me to take over, that wing is NOT bandaged securly at all. Wing bandages should be wrapped around the wing and on the body, to keep the damaged wing still, thank you very much

Police have come! Julie gonna get arrested, maybe? Unless girl escapes, although that’s evading police then, and now she threw a torch, that’s attempted assault. Idk what it’s like in the USA, but in my state (Queensland, AUS) that’s a $5,500 fine and 50 days in jail (evasion), and a $5,338 - $8,007 fine and 6 - 12 months in jail (police assault, depends on severity)

Have fun in prison, Julie! Oop, nevermind she’s home again

Anyway, I wonder what Daniel’s doing at this time. Wiki says Julie was born in 1977, which is a whole ten years after Daniel, and considering she’s in high school I’d say she’s about 16/17 in this movie, which brings us to like 1993/1994. Perhaps this was around the time he met Amanda, maybe even started dating her? They got married in 1998 (I believe), so it would make sense for that to happen

Bonding moment for Louisa and Julie? No, nevermind

Miyagi’s happy! Love that! He’s going to make special birthday dinner!

Straight of the bat though like the dynamics are so different. Like the moment Daniel ever so much as raises his voice at Miyagi, the dude’s a little disheartened whereas Julie talks shit here and Miyagi’s like “haha, you’re funny, anyway, let’s talk about Japanese cuisine, yes?”

Okay but I LOVE the fucking ‘sayonara’ and dissapointed headshake like, man, Miyagi, legend

This school’s nothing compared to West Valley imo

Alos that little gang? Those coordinated outfits? Do y’all not have a personality? Feel like the Cobras get a win on being comfortable with their own skin whilst also maintaining such a well-formed group

You can see I’m biased, and I’ll probably remain biased, because, two seconds into seeing this Boston group and I’m already dissappointed by the lack of personality. Again, two seconds of Cobras and y’all know you’re in for a ride, and a good one at that

I like the little garden corner that Julie’s at it’s very nice and peaceful

Back to the group, they look like real dickheads. Also, Ned? Shit name for a ‘bad boy’. Also, please stop trying to coerce Julie

I’ve seen this fucker for, what, a minute, if that? And I absolutely hate everything about him. I also don’t like how he sorta just, enters?? Like, at least with the Cobras we knew what their intentions were right off the bat. Here, well, what does Ned want Julie for? Why does he want her with him and his friends? Like, please establish that before anything else

Also why he standing like a Roblox character

The Alpha League? Really? Y’all really tryna be cool with that aren’t ya? Do I smell some toxic masculinity? I think I do?

WHY DOES THAT HIGH SCHOOL DUDE LOOK LIKE HE’S 30 DUDE

Ew I hate that school bell

Please get out of the girl’s bathroom sir

Not the fucking wing bandage again, jesus christ. And shot in the wing?? Y’all really gotta have that shit strapped then, STOP LETTING THE BIRD MOVE HER WING THAT IS GOING TO DAMAGE IT MORE

“I’ll call Dominos Pizza and have them deliver 48 pizzas to your house in the middle of the night” ma’am that is a dream come true, first of all, and second of all, please work on your threats, thank you

Okay but is this military training or phys ed??

Miyagi looks so nice in his checkered shirt! Anyway, I swear that’s like the only thing I love about this movie, Mr Miyagi that is

Teacher just slapped a kid and choked him, alrighty then

Oop and here comes Miyagi, defending kids since 1984!!

Love that. “Boy, you okay?” like just the delivery of this line it’s so neutral I love it

Ah yes, threatening a bastard with a story about a bull, the best

Honestly stan how passive-aggressive Miyagi is at any given time

Yeah okay but honestly it would be better for that bird to be taken away considering that god awful bandaging job

“It’s just a car” EXCUSE YOU JULIE, as a car person myself I take PERSONAL offence to that. That’s not just a car, that’s his child, his other half, his soulmate, his everything, thank you very much

That’s right tell her off for saying that, good lad

On a sidenote; my video quality is shit, like super shit, because I’m streaming on Netflix and there’s a few other people in the house using internet so like, :(

“For a while he was sending money and then one day he just stopped” ah yes, every child of divorced parents can relate to this statement very well

i’m sorry but the music is so cheesy

anyway, i was gonna say that this movie lacks something, and i remembered what it is, and that is love. Like with KK1, 2, and 3, you can tell a lot of love and heart and soul went into making those movies (maybe not as much with 2 and 3, but it was still there and in good amounts). Meanwhile, this just feels like a cashgrab (which it is, and a very failed one at that)

Like, when will people learn that well-crafted media will get you better reviews/more money/whatever? 

I hate this fucking background music so much jesus christ please kill it

Please tell someone about the hawk i am worried for its health

The fact that Miyagi has lived with Daniel so long to a point where he’s forgotten he has to actually knock on doors (because you bet your ass Daniel was and still is the type of person who really just doesn’t give a single fuck about who sees him doing what)

This poor man tbh. So ashamed of himself

FUCKING I WAS RIGHT I LITERALLY JUST SAID THAT WHOLE SHIT ABOUT MIYAGI AND DANIEL NOT GIVING TWO SHITS ABOUT SEEING EACH OTHER DO WHATEVER AND NOW MIYAGI’S JUST OUTRIGHT CONFIRMED THAT

“Boy is easier” 100% I will agree, hence the reason I’d like sons in the future. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’d like at least 1 daughter as well but holy hell are females complicated (and I should know because I am one)

“Don’t order me around” sweetie, he isn’t ordering you, he’s making a helpful suggestion. Please stop the Miyagi slander, my man does NOT deserve this treatment

Miyagi, love you bb, but please don’t waste your advice on Julie at the moment

Speaking of, I greatly dislike Julie, but you know why that is? Because she’s really not been fleshed out as a charater, unlike the others we see in the KKU. Like her one redeeming quality is that she looks after a bird, but even that isn’t redeeming to me because she isn’t caring for it properly, like please take it to a fucking veterinarian

I feel like I’d enjoy Julie more if she was actually fleshed out but like, no, no, she’s just a whole “I’m an orphan so I’m always angsty grr” character and I just - I’m disappointed

Same goes for the other characters; again, the only thing/person I love about this movie so far is Miyagi, and with the way it’s been in these first 25 minutes, I doubt that’ll change

Yeah no I really fucking hate Julie. “You can’t even speak English” she says, even though she has understood every single word Miyagi has said thus far

Ah yes because people can definitely jump on cars and cars can definitely go unnoticed for such a long period of time in a quiet neighbourhood

I honestly feel like giving up on this movie like it’s so bad

But I want to see more Miyagi so 😬

No offence to Hilary Swank but her line delivery could do a bit more work during the ‘emotional scen’ with her and Miyagi

And again, music, hate it

I am literally willing to turn this movie off even if it means I don’t get to see more Miyagi content

Like I can not express my displeasure for this movie enough

Yes, Miyagi, same, I hate the 12am rock concert in Julie’s bedroom to. Like please, gurl, some of us have sleep schedules

Okay so now Julie’s worried about her appearance?? Y’all just made my hatred for her character rise again. When was she ever worried about that? imo this is just put in there to make people remember that she’s still “girl uwu 😙✌”

Haha, yes, pay Miyagi with the homework that’s right

Bet he did that with Daniel after the tournament like “you do homework, I teach karate”

“Boys easier” AGAIN I AGREE SO MUCH MIYAGI

Okay so I’ve sat through 33 minutes of this bullshit and I am going to quit for today. I’m sorry to anyone that does like this movie, but like I really don’t, it sucks in so many ways. Words cannot describe the sheer amount of dissapointment I have for this. Like, it could have been good! The idea is solid and the base of the characters is somewhat okay! And yet they made this shit instead of something actually worthwhile!

I will continue tomorrow, but for now I just need a break from this before I hit something.

#karate kid #the next karate kid #julie pierce #mr miyagi

[normal-thoughts-official]

Oh my god Raphael and Magnus going on father-son shopping trips. Magnus giving him fashion advice and Raphael rolling his eyes but still (covertly) buying whatever he suggests. Magnus cooing over Raphael before his dates with his partners. Maybe they even invite Izzy at some point (not always, because their shopping trips are father-son time) once her and Raphael have a better relationship bc I’m a sucker for recovery with support systems.

idk how i feel about izzy going because while i want them to recover and stuff i can’t really see them, like, becoming close again, especially after izzy ratted about his sister to simon which was :// and there’s always like... the risk i guess

but hggghhh i love the idea of magnus and raphael going on shopping trips :) they have similar senses of taste and i am absolutely sure that magnus heavily influenced raphael’s sense of style, and vice-versa

okay i’ve talked a little bit about how i think that like.... pretty things are sort of a love language for magnus, because he uses beauty as a way to protect himself (controlling the expectations and perceptions people will have of him, making himself look more powerful/sure of himself, etc) and so when he helps other people do the same, he’s also protecting them. i’ve also talked about how i think that raphael also helped him with his clothing in a sense, especially when it comes to finding things that are comfortable for him, that help him handle his hyposensitivity, his need to feel that pressure and presence. i think that the vests that we frequently see them both wear were more of raphael’s idea than they were magnus’, in a sense. i mean they were kind of a conjoined effort but. you get what i mean

like raphael has the same hyposensitivity problems and also loves feeling the like, pressure and tightness that helps him keep himself grounded. plus helps with the cold, because he’s a Cold Boi who was used to being a Warm Boi in a very hot country/region (guadalajara’s climate is a lot warmer than new york’s). and magnus kind of got himself used to ignoring his own sensorial problems because :)) he can’t afford to worry about that or have meltdowns or crisis because of that, so he’s learnt to bury that and find other ways

but anyway i think raphael was a big fan of coats, heavy ones, before he’s met magnus. but they’re still not good enough for him and heavy coats aren’t exactly high fashion, and as previously established, this is something magnus worries about, especially because raphael is a vampire now and man there sure are a lot of expectations on how vampires present themselves. he’s afraid that raphael will be seen as weak because he doesn’t dress as elegant as other vampires and doesn’t have that whole, you know, dramatic aura. and he’s right, too, because as downworlders (and moc) living in a very violent world they can’t afford to look like someone who can be easily shrugged off.

ahem. anyway. all of this to say that you know, he worries. but it’s not like he’s going to be a dick about it or force raphael into anything, or that his actual worries are about raphael “not looking ugly” as some people like to write it - it’s about protecting him the best he can. so he’s kinda going through his wardrobe looking for something that can fit raphael’s needs & sense of style, you know, when he first rescued raphael and brought him home. and he kinda stops on some old vest he doesn’t wear a lot and he’s like “how about this” and raphael is like “sure” 

and turns out he actually loves the vests because they are a lot tighter and better than coats, they hug his Whole Torso but don’t make him feel constricted in the arms or anything, they can be warm especially if they’re lined like Magnus likes to make them, and it’s just, like, great. he never really gave it a lot of thought because it’s not like he had a lot of money and i don’t think fashion is an interest of raphael’s like it is magnus’ - when we see him in the scenes where he’s in the kitchen soup, at his home, with his sister, etc, he’s usually in your good old regular jeans + t-shirt combo, so i think that to him, fashion is kinda something he uses out of pure necessity. because even if as a safely gender-conforming man (if we hc him as cis) he’s still in a lot of complicated positions sexuality & race wise (not even counting his autism/sensorial issues in my hcs), and he was raised by a gnc man in that sense, so, you know. he’s learnt how to use that, at least

and then raphael is like. well, why don’t you try them? instead of always using magic to make sure you don’t get that prickling sensation? and magnus kind of just. never had thought of that before? because again he’s just naturalized overlooking his own needs so if his system works why try to make it better “just” for his own sake? but now that raphael mentioned it, well. it might be nice

so he starts trying them and surprise! they do feel great, a lot better than the subtle spells he used to wear (and that took a good chunk of his magic over prolonged periods of time) so he could get a similar sensation of pressure. and that’s how magnus starts wearing vests, and why they have such similar wardrobes in that sense - they were figuring that out together

and in that sense i do think that they influenced each other a lot and kind of just, slowly figured that out. so YES father-son shopping trips with them are everything, because the fact that they have similar issues and somewhat similar tastes and that they’re very comfortable with each other knowing their weaknesses and issues makes it for just. a great time, okay. magnus doesn’t have to keep finding excuses to choose this or that material or style, raphael can get his opinion, they can both talk openly about what it is that they want. raphael doesn’t feel very overwhelmed with the like, ridiculous amounts of clothing and people and shit, because magnus is a pro at navigating stores/markets and finding interesting stuff. he also knows a lot of locally-owned little gems that aren’t very packed but that have a lot of great stuff, especially those owned by other downworlders :) 

and it’s just aaaaaaa it’s good and fun and just like, honest time you know? where they can both treat this as what it is for them. also magnus enjoys cooing over raphael and seeing him trying on new stuff and looking handsome, fucking sue him. and they also get to be silly and throw something they both know the other will hate at them and laughing. (altho this sometimes backfires on raphael because he throws something magnus’ way and it’s hideous but magnus has an amazing creativity and eye so he’s like “well, actually, if i cut it a certain way and maybe dye this part...” and then he buys it and changes it and it ends up looking amazing. he’s the downworlder rihanna fashion-wise, it’s ugly until he decides it’s not and makes it his bitch. case in point: that absolutely terrible shirt/coat/whatever that even was that he was wearing on s2 when him and alec were cooking the stew, that looked fucking incredible on him) 

and raphael super values magnus’ opinion (he is an expert after all) even as magnus is being teasing and dumb, he always ends up buying whatever magnus suggests (because magnus knows him, too, knows exactly what he’ll like and that fits his needs and his suggestions are objectively great). also magnus always makes sure to adjust everything to raphael’s size and make sure it fits perfectly and to make it extra warm if needed and raphael is super grateful for that :’) 

and rapha also knows magnus and his tastes and needs pretty damn well, and he also knows that magnus tends to prioritize the first and overlook the latter, so he kind of always points magnus in the direction of something that he knows will fit both. like he just nods to a specific coat in the corner and raises his eyebrows, and magnus puts his eyes on it and oh. that can work. it can definitely work. and raphael smiles as he goes to it all like “oh, i forget how well you know me, i really love this-” and rapha is so proud and happy and just aaaaaa

and YES dates like. every time rapha starts dating someone new magnus is like “great, this calls for shopping, you’re gonna need clothes to see them” “i have many clothes” “and a new situation to wear them. come on, indulge me” and rapha is like fine. but he does appreciate it, and they use the opportunity to talk about rapha’s love life, and he’s super happy, and magnus loves seeing him happy, and it’s just aaaaaa they’re CUTE. also rapha is a little shit so every time he walks past some boring, pure black t-shirt he’s like “how about that one for your date?” and magnus is like fuck off, he wears grey sometimes

anyway daouhdsaiudha magnus and raphael bonding and having fun and also taking care of each other in small ways through fashion, yes please dadsa

#ask #anonymous #sh #shadowhunters #raphael santiago #magnus bane #meta #raphael santiago meta #magnus bane meta #autistic raphael santiago #autistic magnus bane #adhd magnus bane #brotp: i'll do whatever it takes to protect them #q

[zeravmeta]

Ok so, my thoughts on the VR ending and VR overall as the 6th entry.

Also because most of my thoughts aren't...complimentary im editing the names so they dont appear in the general tag. This also got LONG so readmore.

The Good:

- A//i's character still managed to be the one thing that saves VR as a show for me. Even with all the weird...contradictory plot issues, A//i still manages to be a compelling character who brings up the question of the right to live. I actually do like how he made it so itd be an ultimatum that he loses in either way, even if the ending kinda ruins the weight behind the action (which I will get to in a bit).

The meh:

-the ending was left somewhat open to interpretation which for a show as...empty as this was works out but honestly it was so vague as to A//is fate is that it may as well not exist.

The Bad:

-The main conflict behind the entire show is...simulations. No joke. Every conflict in the show can be traced back to someone doing a simulation and deciding to lose it. Even if they gave the (rather stupid) explanation that AI experience simulations like actual life (which btw the first villain wasnt an AI so this reason doesnt work), the fact that Yu//sa//ku took a bullet for one of A//is robot bodies that he literally has millions of is...just stupid and there solely for the "uwu drama".

-They actually killed A//i off but wait hes actually alive, so like the final duel literally had no purpose aside from...drama??? The episode is called Compromise and yet A//i had to lose just to keep Yu//sa///kus win streak and theres no compromise whatsoever. Yu//sa//ku litetally destroys the CompromA.I.se card so its just, no comrpomise in any way.

-This....wasn't a happy ending??? I have no idea why both the show and the fanbase frame this as a happy ending bc think about it in context: A//i pretty much loses everything, so does Yu//sa//ku who just isolated himself from everyone else for 3 months in order to comb the network for whatever remnants of A//i exist.

- So many of the supporting characters are just...there. Like, there is no side/supporting character who actually has a character arc in this show. Lets go through the list: Ao//i is pretty much the same character as when she started and goes through 2 unnecessary costume changes for a character growth that isnt there because she has literally ONE victory against an opponent that was stated multiple times to be weak and faulty and have her lose and tortured multiple times for no reason whatsoever, G//o had this weird deterioration that may have lead to something but ultimately didn't, Ak//ira is pretty much the same, J//in has ALL HIS TRAUMA ERASED SO THERES THAT, literally the only side characters who have some sembalnce of an arc are Sho//ichi (the best one anyways) from his "betrayal" in S2, and E//ma with her reconciliation with her brother. Outside of that, nothing. Yu//sa//ku, Re//volv//er and Ho//mu//ra are pretty much the only characters with an arc and even then they're not too solid? Which brings me to-

- Yu//sa//ku has been so wildly ooc since the end of S1. Ive seen so many say that his enphasis on bonds and friendship are character growth but actually looking at the sequence of events he suddenly just like. changes completely around his first duel with Ea//rth. Plus, the message of "revenge is good" was always so weird? Like, he got his revenge so all his trauma is ok now and never brought up or explored again aside from within the first 20 episodes. Theres nothing about it after that and its never built upon. The whole point of a revenge arc is to show that its BAD and yet he starts preaching that revenge is wrong AFTER he successfully gets revenge??? And even then its not exactly a revenge as it is more lashing out since it was Ko//ga//mi who was behind it all. Yu//sa/ku was definitely at his strongest characterization in S1 where we see how badly the Lo//st Incid//ent hurt him but S1 had its own share of problems that led into S2 and so many random plot threads that never went anywhere (such as the Anot//her Incid//ents, the Cy//berse deck being irl despite that A//i didnt have a physical body before then, The Bl//ue Mai//den meetup that was repeated by Nao//ki like 10 times in S2 which seemed to be leading up to something but never did, and the fact that theres 4 recap episodes in S1 already spelled some early problems). So much of the supporting cast function to just say "he turned this whole situation around...with ONE card..." i kid you not watch back every Yu//sa//ku duel I GUARANTEE you'll see someone saying hes a great duelist and serve only that purpose. ALSO THE END OF THE SHOW IS JUST MORE DRAMA?? They make him suffer for no reason other than that they can??? What purpose does his suffering at the end serve aside from just "uwu...poor baby..."???

-Re//volv//er is not a good rival. At all. He's so incredibly bland because much like Yu//sa//ku he was at his strongest characterization in S1 where he actually had some solid motivation in continuing his fathers work and being unable to accept that his dad was evil, yet most of that just flies out the window with all the collateral he's willing to inflict with the K//O//H?? All his character amounts too post S1 is "yeah i told you robots are evil and YOU didnt believe me". The most we got of him growing out of this mindset was calling A//i by his name exactly one time and nothing ever again. Also the fact that in the end we see him and his crew working for S//O//L despite the fact that they were gonna turn themselves in for their crimes just. leaves a rotten taste in my mouth. hes not a good rival at all. All he proves to me is that a good design can get anyone to like a character.

- Ho//mu//ra is...there. I literally cant say anything about him because he absolutely has the strongest motivations of the three but then the show jumps through hoops to push him to the back of the other two. He also has a bunch of early victories I do feel are undeserved (ESPECIALLY the A//oi duel that one pissed me off so much). Also the fact that the show just made him Yu//sa//kus friend immediately whereas it took Sho//ichi several months to get Yu//sa//ku to warm up to him just had me :/.

-The speed duels were a cool concept but they just became these huge cheat fests? Seriously Play//Maker uses StAccess literally every speed duel to pull out a new monster from whatever plot holes the writers need to patch up. I am not kidding. You can go back to every single speed duel Yu//sa//ku was in and youll see this. Skills just werent a good mechanic because when a protag pulls a new card its supposed to be representative of some growth/characterization but he stays the same pretty much throughout the entire show up until S2 where he wildly just switches personality. Plus the fact that Que//en could literally use a skill whenever just shows that it was cheating???

- The villains were overall lackluster. Boh//man was the best because Re//volv//er is just flat whereas A//i struck me more as an anti hero. And again: simulations are the enemy. Light//ning ran one and decided to go ham. Kog//ami ran one and decided to go ham. A//i ran one and decided to go ham. The conflicts are all the same and it just makes things happen rather than following a consistent plot thread? I will say that Boh//mans characterization of a hive mind to become perfect does strike my tastes but thats more my personal preference in villains rather than any merit he has.

- This is a bit of a personal pet peeve but I've seen some of the praise to this show about being the "darkest Y//G//O to date so therefore its good" and im just...no? Edge does not make a good show and just because they lightly focused on the tragedy in Yu//sa//kus life (and it IS lightly because its barely touched upon after mid S1) most of the stuff that happens in this show is pretty tame in comparison? The most that happened here was an attempted global hack of everyones minds from S2 and destroying the internet in S1, with a few references to the torture that happened during the Lo//st incid//ent. To compare: the previous series had this huge interdimensional war that, even if they could reverse the carding of people (which makes Den//nis' attempted suicide even more tragic), ended with an entire dimensions full of brainwashed soldier children, a dimension with huge class inequality that was still being heavily worked upon since there were canonically slaves, and a dimension that was savaged by a genocide and total global destruction. Hell, the series before that had a huge war where the arc actually did focus on the tragedys the characters faced and held consequence (even if they pulled a dbz revive everyone at the end). And as far back into the very first series there were even more graphic depictions of war and death? Idk i feel like people are overplaying the edge here just to find a way to complement this show.

Overall:

I'm...genuinely dissappointed. VR really had so many strong starting points but it all just fell apart at execution. Really the only reason I even bothered to watch it as kong as I did was because Im a longtime fan of the series and wanted to give it a chance rather than jump on whatever love/hate train the show has. Its been rated poorly on the JP side and most of the approval is a vocal minority. Just to be clear: this isnt me bashing the show, my opinions are mine and you can agree or disagree to any capacity, and even if a show isnt well written you can still find a reason to enjoy it despite the flaws.

But if Im being perfectly honest? I do not like this show. It's rushed, choppy, has no consistent or clear plot threads, most of the genuinely interesting characters are wasted for the protagonist to look better and he never really does because he ALSO has an interesting idea behind him but it never goes anywhere. It started strong but ended so poorly. Id be angry but im more dissappointed because Ive watched this show from day 1 and wanted to see the good things it has rather than focus on the negatibes but. yeah. This show really had potential and yet it just fell flat.

#zerav meta #zerav review #vr review #i really went ham on this one

[pilferingapples]

Domestic aspects of the revolution?? Pls explain this seems interesting

Oh geez let’s see if I can keep this brief and readable!   I ABSOLUTELY DID NOT, surprising nobody(also I *know* there are other people with comments to make on this around, maybe someone will add on?)!!  Bear with me, Nonny, I swear I work my way around back to Joly by the end!  Prepare for XTREEEEME simplifications of incredibly complex social issues of the day! 

Also, Content Warning for Discussion of Intensely And Somewhat Bizarrely Binarily Gendered Concepts, Because Society. 

Anyway it’s commonly noticed (among fancademia, academia pays not a lick of attention to this stuff that I’ve found) that the Amis in their intro have a bit of a sliding scale of, well, Various Concepts really,  from Enjolras at one end to Grantaire at the other. And one of the very obvious concepts is “The Domestic” as thought at the time would have it–that would include women, romance, family, home life, housekeeping–all the things that could also be summed up as “Women’s Sphere”, you know? 

And on the other end was The Political– public life, politics in the sense of Actual Government Action, military Whatever, Economics-with-a-Capital E, The Patriarchy, etc. Manly! 

And obviously these things have a lot of overlap! But they were  seen as Spheres and being Complementary rather than, IDK, Inherently Unified. 

Also, as suggested above, suuuuuuper  gendered. Like whoa  gendered. I’m not getting into this and the evolving concept of gender roles in the 19C the way it deserves because that would take semesters of lectures and essays I am not remotely qualified to write but like. Consider it noted, right?

This concept of Domestic  is exactly what Enjolras rejects. Hugo goes to some length to make it clear that this is what Enjolras rejects. That’s what the whole thing about him not being moved by the bare breast of Evadne and thinking flowers are only good to hide swords and giving the Abyssal Glare to women who try to flirt with him is about–he rejects the importance of Family Life, Women, Romance, etc etc.* Enjolras, when introduced, is 100 percent About The Manly Political Aspect of the Revolution and of the Republic.

On the other end of the list, Grantaire cares about nothing at all in the Manly Political Sphere. “He loves the girls and he loves good wine”, but really  what he loves is personal, domestic -type connections. He doesn’t care a single damn about the government or abstract social theory or social ideals or any of it.  He loves Enjolras, he loves his friends, his knowledge of Paris is entirely framed in personal, home-comfortish ways— he knows the best places for dancing, dating, dinner . (Grantaire being the internally incoherent disaster man he is, he starts his arc unwilling to admit even to loving his friends, because even that  is too much commitment for him. But the narrator is tattling on him from the get-go.)

Obviously the idea that these things are complete separate or  genuinely separable is absurd. But that’s the social concept Hugo is dealing with in this regard!

–Also obviously, there is a certain Secret Sneaky Crossover Link here and it’s Friendship, but Friendship And The Amis is like. A Mini-novelette length essay if I ever have the focus. I’m not good at focus, as we’re seeing! 

ANYWAY!  From Enjolras to Grantaire the Amis generally take up an increasing weight of “domestic”associations. Combeferre and Jehan are, like Enjolras, very much about Ideas and Ideals  and Politics and Philosophy, though their philosophy is increasingly more concerned with those domestic aspects of society (women, families, children, feelings ).  Feuilly, Courfeyrac, and Bahorel are very much About the Manly Man World of politics–they’re all Actiony and Political and even Combative, tied to Politics and Work and Socializing in a Very Activist Way. But Feuilly gets more family-linked language in his intro than Enjolras or Combeferre do, and Feuilly’s family is dead.  Courfeyrac rejects an aspect of his family identity, but we hear about it!  

Bahorel, coming after the Balancing Point that Courfeyrac represents, is explicitly linked not just to concepts  of family , but in a happy relationship to his own Actual Family, and their history– and he personally   holds this up as part of his identity, too. (We also hear more specifics about Bahorel’s fashion choices in just his intro  than we do about Enjolras or Combeferre’s or Feuilly’s in ever–  another Domestic, Personal signifier.) After Bahorel, things take a massive  turn for the Personal and Domestic in Intro-land. Bossuet gets a whole story about his family background,and  dating stories,  and ..well, and Joly   (who in his turn gets all his science being directed into personal concerns and home treatments and furniture arranging , like…this is a very homey couple of revolutionaries here) Bossuet and Joly are explicitly, practically linked at the start, and then again repeatedly and at length in other passages in the novel. They have separate characters, but a major part of both those characters is this..well..pair-bond.  Between two people who live, eat, and sleep together.  Super domestic!  AND NOW the “of the Revolution” part!

In Preliminary Gayeties–well, a lot happens. And it’s all, again, domestic as hell.  They eat, they drink, they support a friend in a very (specifically!) not political way.  And in this chapter with a title that echoes the chapter title of children being raised at the convent –seriously the domestic coding is intense –  their personal bond is not only stressed again, it’s pretty much established as key to their function as political actors.  “They are what the subordinate monks are called, BINI”–  the bini  were, as established, monks who were supposed to go out into the world paired, to support and aid each other in  carrying out their Divine Mission.  In this case the Divine Mission is trying to bring about the Republic–and in this chapter we specifically see them doing their double-act as part of leading a friend back to the cause (who keeps Grantaire where the barricade is? Who’s Grantaire quoting with “J’en suis”?  Yeah.) , relying on personal connection and simple, domestic  comforts to work. 

And to those who will say “oh come on, they’re just a couple of dorks hanging out”– yeah. They are. That’s kind of the Point. 

Because that’s the thing,–there’s no way to completely separate the Political and the Personal , the Public and the Domestic.  Any modern reader has probably heard “The Personal is Political” to the point of it wearing flat, but, well, it is . And the political is personal, too– if someone’s mother can be The Republic, if they can take Humanity and Justice for their mother and father, then they can make their friends their republic, too; they can seek justice and progress and societal balance through personal connections and friendship and just being kind. And in fact people kinda have to; the systemic plays out on the personal level, after all. A major part of Enjolras’ character arc is getting to the point where he can embrace that personal domestic aspect and understand its importance to the (per Hugo) Divine Ideal.  But Joly and Bossuet are already there; it’s what they are. 

Sources! 

There’s too many things to mention about the Gender Role stuff and I’m doing synthesis more than specific quotes, but: start with Socialism’s Muse by Naomi J Andrews and follow the bibliography from there if you’re really wanting to get into it.  

For the Bini stuff, please look at @barricadeur‘s excellent posts on the topic; I’m particularly referencing this one, which has a bucket o’sources on The Importance of the Buddy System in Catholic Thought, including Francis of Assisi, Thomas Aquinas, and , you know, the Gospel. 

* this should not  be taken as me arguing that he isn’t in any way queer coded; I think he is, it’s just in a very era-specific way and I don’t think this  is really where it comes in. But that’s definitely an even longer post. 

#in which I fail to be brief OR coherent no doubt #but I Tried #and it's still 1300 words sweet mercy #Bini! #Bini talk #Joly talk #Bossuet talk #I KNOW I HAVE SIMPLIFIED HUGE CONCEPTS PAST ANY FORGIVENESS #fortunately I am just a rando on the internet #and no sensible person will take me as an Authority right #this Symbol is Symbolic #Hey Nonny Nonny #answereds #long post #I AM SO SORRY

[gloryblooded]

with a gif of achilles/austin being a major mood ( i mean, who doesn’t want to nap all the time ? ), i hope to catch your attention & say HELLO !   i’m hanna, i’m 22, and i use she/her pronouns! i’m a hufflepuff, a libra, and ISFJ ( what a shocking combo, i know ). anyway, over here i’ll be playing everyone’s favorite disaster hero, achilles, and his new mortal self, austin pelham. i’m so excited for this group and getting to write & plot with all of you. 

anyway, below the cut you’ll find some info about both achilles and austin ! it got kinda lengthy ( especially achilles’ part ) + it’s messily written. sdfsfdsdhsfbh im truly sry about that & pls still love us.

ACHILLES.

disclaimer: i’ve utilized several sources to form my portrayal of achilles, namely the iliad and the song of achilles. i have not read the pjo books, but i googled achilles’ role in it & i’ll incorporate that to my characterization to the best of my abilities.

so, achilles. a son of peleus, a king, and thetis, a nereid. boy was destined for greatness long before he was even conceived; great enough that the gods chose to dilute it by giving thetis to a mortal man. despite this, his destiny was to still become the greatest warrior of his generation. thetis, wanting to further protect him, dipped him in the river styx and boom, the powers of almost complete invulnerability ( except that one heel ) were achilles’. 

his childhood was actually quite lonely? sure, he had peleus’ orphan boys to keep him company & plenty of admirers, but there was always a certain distance between them, especially he had separate, private lessons. that is until a certain awkward young prince arrived in peleus’ court. achilles was instantly smitten ( a shoutout to that time when he became that ‘g2g chicken’ meme after their first kiss ) and this feeling just became stronger through the years as they studied under chiron’s tutelage at mount pelion. 

AND THAT’S IT. NOTHING HAPPENED AFTER THAT. ACHILLES GOT HIS HAPPY ENDING.

just kidding. unfortunately :sob emoji:

tHEN PARIS HAD TO DO HIS THING AND RUIN ACHILLES’ HAPPINESS ( thanks a lot dude ). the war started and, despite the ordeal with thetis where achilles was yeeted to lycodemes’ court & ended up knocking up deidamia, he was off to fight in the trojan war ( with his emotional support philtatos right by his side ).

during his years there, he does his thing. he fights, kills more trojans and their allies than anyone else, is a great leader to his men, and spends his free time with his boyfriend. also i wanted to add that he was not as hostile toward briseis as he was in tsoa. like, ofc they weren’t as close as patrochilles or pat and bri, but he wasn’t as jealous as implied in tsoa. 

anyway, now we’re getting closer to that period of time. stuff goes fairly normally, but then aging meninist ( idk how to spell his name & im too lazy to look it up, but u know who i mean ) decides to dishonor him by unlawfully taking briseis from him. and oh boy, do we get to see achilles’ non-chill side. victim-playing & stubborn spite game is strong af. someone tries to reason with him? he becomes that ‘i suddenly can’t read i don’t know’ gif. 

anyway, shit turns bad enough that he eventually, although reluctantly, consents to patroclus donning his armor and leading the myrmidons out there. that obvs ends super badly and achilles, true to himself, reacts even worse. he goes ballistic and even fights a river before he finally gets what he wants --- hector dead. after that, he stops caring. he fights, sure, but every single time he wishes his death would come. death eludes him for a while after that, and when it finally arrives & that arrow lodges itself in his heel, achilles vc: finally some good fucking food.

except sike, not ! his bitchass of a son delays the reunion he’s been yearning for. achilles curses him & 100% disowns him because he dared to disrespect his final wish. bUT EVENTUALLY HIS PERSON ARRIVED AND ACHILLES WAS SO !!!!!!!!!!!! BECAUSE ALL WAS FINALLY GOOD. achilles got a good dose of positive character development bc he realizes the error of his ways when he was alive, but most importantly, he never had to part with his one true love.

until the gods got themselves into another mess & dragged other, innocent people with them. smh ( uncle sam and/or the gods better square up when achilles regains his memories bc how dare they interrupt his lovely afterlife with pat!!!! )

AUSTIN.

so, enter the man achilles thinks he now is: austin pelham. his full name is austin alexander pelham-niarchos, but for the sake of simplicity, he goes by austin pelham most days. he is the only child of us army general & greek heiress to a shipping empire. not really a happy marriage, but they wouldn’t divorce either. both adored austin, though, so the boy didn’t pay too much attention to his parents’ marital struggles.

austin’s future was laid out from a young age too. he was to follow in his father’s footsteps and become an army official as well, possibly one of the greatest this nation had ever seen. considering his natural athleticism and gift for commanding crowds, it seemed a feasible future path & austin himself accepted it without complaining.

however, he was a mere kid when all this was told to him, so he couldn’t be too bothered. sure, he excelled in school ( his mother insisted he should only attend the best institutions ), but mostly he enjoyed the perks that came with having been born to a lap of such luxury. 

contrary to popular belief, austin had basically no true friends; sycophants and other admirers, yes, but no one he truly bonded with. he wouldn’t have minded finding such person, but they never came along & that was fine with austin. he was independent enough to “survive alone.”

so years have gone by, manhattan’s boy king has graduated from harvard with a degree in history, and it’s time for him to join the army, right? sike, no ! austin’s mother had never been particularly enthusiastic about the idea of her son joining the army & possibly getting killed in action, but this is the first time she has a major argument with her husband about it. 

before he could do anything about it, she made her move. she used her connections to get him his movie role and manipulated austin by telling him that if he were to abandon his military plans & pursue a career as an actor, he could achieve more fame than he had ever dreamed of. austin, being a trusting person, had no reason to believe otherwise, so he accepted his mother’s offer and began working as an actor.

and what a rise to stardom it was. after his role, he got more and more offers, most of which were action / war films. austin did not mind being known as an action star; those were his favorite type of movies to film anyway. recently he finished filming what is supposed to be next spring’s ( & year’s ) biggest blockbuster and now relocated back to new york city where he plans to stay for a few months at least.

personality wise, i’d say he is most similar to pre-trojan war achilles ( when he’s at mt. pelion & lycodemes’ court ). he still has that certain brand of innocence to him and fairly easy to manipulate if you know where to strike. however, he has earned a reputation of being somewhat challenging to work with ( he knows what he wants / how he wants something done & isn’t afraid to demand this respect ). this hasn’t tamed the constant flow of work offers, though, because a) he has a way with the crowd, so fans love him, b) money is guaranteed due to his large crowd of followers, and c) he always gets the job done when he sets his mind to it. slightly more prone to making bad decisions, since he doesn’t have his impulse control person. austin is often up for a good time, though, and an evening with him won’t be a boring one.

AND THAT’S ABOUT IT, I THINK ! I DON’T YET HAVE A CONNECTIONS PAGE UP, BUT I’LL START WORKING ON IT ASAP. IF YOU HAVE ANY IDEAS, FEEL FREE TO MSG ME BECAUSE I’M UP FOR P MUCH WHATEVER. I’LL DO MY BEST TO COME UP WITH IDEAS MYSELF & MSG YOU LOVELY PEOPLE! ugh im so excited for this group!!

#ohq:intro

[morningsomewhere]

So this morning, lying awake in bed at 5 am in my overheated house, I realized Naruto could have been a great medical-nin.

Hear me out.

Yes, it takes years of intense study to become a medical anything, and Naruto isn’t exactly book smart. But this is where the shadow clones come in. If Naruto summoned, idk, twenty or thirty shadow clones every day and devoted them to studying different medical texts, he could learn it all even quicker than the most book smart person on earth. Even if the clones got bored or distracted after only ten minutes of study, if he did it enough times then he’s bound to get a good chunk of this stuff memorized. Shadow clones are the ultimate quick learning technique. Yes, when they dispel having all this information crammed into his brain will probably be a huge headache. Yes, it’s probably not mentally healthy to have twenty different sets of memories for the same day. But he’s doing this all the time in canon anyway and that’s never brought up, so I don’t see why he shouldn’t in my cool medical-nin AU.

Let’s say at the beginning of the series, after Naruto has beat up Mizuki but before Iruka gets medical attention, Naruto realizes he doesn’t want to watch any of his precious people bleed out again. He decides, spur of the moment, to become a medical-nin, and Iruka supports him 100% because he’s an awesome teacher/dad figure. Maybe he points out the learning applications for shadow clones, maybe Naruto figures it out on his own. But either way, Naruto is now on the path to becoming a badass medical-nin.

The other big hurdle is chakra control, which you need a lot of to perform medical jutsu and which Naruto has always struggled with due to his massive amount of chakra. But clones could help with that too! It was mentioned (I think in his fight with Neji? idk) that the shadow clone technique evenly splits the user’s chakra between all the clones they make, which is why it’s so crazy Naruto can summon over a hundred clones and have them still be functional. But each clone having less chakra would definitely mean he had better control.

Of course, this would be more of a crutch in the long run, but he could use the clones to learn basic chakra control techniques, and then gradually decrease the number of them until he had a better grasp on his full reserve of chakra. And you can’t tell me that someone as determined as Naruto, someone who mastered a technique from the sacred scroll, by himself, in like two hours, someone who learned the rasengan in a week, which supposedly is a super advanced, difficult to control technique that only the Fourth Hokage and Jiriaya have been able to use before, couldn’t learn chakra control if he put his mind to it.

Plus, in the meantime he could learn about bandaging techniques and herbs and shit. You know who knows about bandaging techniques and herbs and shit? Haku.

So, Team Seven are in Wave Country, and Naruto is still really set on becoming a medical-nin. He’s super impressed by the hunter-nin that comes to collect Zabuza, and even more impressed by the girl (actually a boy) he meets gathering medicinal herbs in the forest. They bond over wanting to keep their precious people healthy. Naruto learns a bit about plants. It’s great.

Then, when they’re on the bridge and Haku’s bleeding out, maybe Naruto now knows just enough to keep him alive, at least until he can get proper medical attention. Maybe Haku comes back to Konoha with them. Maybe he and Naruto become medical-nin buddies, and start learning more advanced techniques together, or maybe he just shows Naruto the ropes and then goes his own way.

Or maybe Haku dies like in canon, and this just fans the flames of Naruto’s resolve to become a great medical-nin. This option is more realistic, tbh, but also less fun.

Back in Konoha, Naruto’s still learning lots about medical stuff and chakra control. Sometimes he patches up Konohamaru and his friends’ scrapes and bruises and it’s very cute. Then the chunin exam happens. All the shit goes down, and suddenly Naruto is traveling with Jiriaya to find this legendary medical-nin to be the next Hokage.

Naruto is psyched.

So they find Tsunade, like in canon, and Naruto proves himself to her and wins the bet, only this time he also begs to become her student. Jiraiya is somewhat put out and Tsunade is smug but also happy to have a new brat to teach. Bonus points, Shizune helps teach him as well and is like an older sister figure now. Shizune needs more love.

But wait, you say. Now Naruto has basically taken Sakura’s place in the narrative. What will she do, if Naruto is going to be the bad ass medical-nin instead of her?

Well, there’s a couple paths here. One, who says they can’t both be one? Maybe Naruto’s determination inspires her before all the shit with Sasuke goes down, and she starts studying to be one even earlier than in canon. What if Sasuke is inspired as well, and all of Team Seven becomes a medical team? Wouldn’t that be rad?

Alternatively, Sakura could focus on genjutsu instead. I remember when I first watched the series thinking that Sakura would become a genjutsu expert, because she had excellent chakra control, wasn’t interested in taijutsu, and all her defensive attacks in the chunin exam relied on trickery. It sucked that she couldn’t protect Naruto and Sasuke after they passed out from Orochimaru’s attack, but I thought there was potential in the traps she set up and was kind of bummed that never got built on? A lot bummed me out about Sakura’s arc tbh, and I’m up for anything where she starts forging a path earlier than in canon.

Final option: Sakura could go off to train with Jiraiya instead. I don’t foresee this going well, but man it would be funny.

Back to Naruto, other reasons why he would be a great medical-nin are:

- Most medical-nin have small chakra reserves and thus get easily tired. Naruto doesn’t have to worry about that, so he can treat more people.

- Most medical-nin are trained to avoid being injured, because if they are then they can’t focus on healing their team. Naruto doesn’t have to worry so much about that either, since he’s got crazy Kyuubi healing.

- There’s a shortage of medical-nin. Naruto and his hundreds of clones can help with that.

Anyway, Naruto could have been a great medical-nin. Thank you for coming to my Ted talk.

#Naruto #medical-nin #fun au #god i still love naruto #even though i haven't been in fandom in forever and still haven't watched the latter half of the series #honestly i don't plan to #i can't believe i still remember how to spell most of these names #Uzumaki naruto #haruno sakura #Haku #tsunade #jiraiya #also if team seven all became medical nin #kakashi would have to be like 'welp guess i'm going to medical school' #which is hilarious because kakashi can hardly take care of himself #let alone other people #he a mess and i love him

[sole-cuore-amore-e-droga]

Tel Aviv 2019: Straight outta Germany to Eurovision with two total strangers turned friends overnight

First, S!sters, let me tell you how it works, hey!

I am never too sure why but German national finals just almost NEVER work in my exact favour. Granted, I have forgiven them for Roman Lob because I have had literally no other reason to hate him other than “eww he’s winning every single Unser Star für Baku show bar one he’s such an easy winner”; and maybe Michael too because my only vitriol towards him was that he’s such a great soul... but only on his non-ESC stuff? If I had anyone else at the time, it would have obviously been the energy of Xavier Darcy and his song too! But at the same time Xavier would have placed worse than Michael so I’ll assume that Michael was actually the best possible choice for Germany at the time? Sorry, voXXclub, Ryk and Ivy Quainoo fans.

But god damn Germany, you could have given us just at least SOME ounce of competitiveness this year, couldn’t you??? And you'll know exactly why do I feel this certain way about this next target of my reviewing. Meet Carlotta Truman and Laurita Spinelli that were assembled specially for the German national final (which hopefully gives you a bit of a heads-up of where are the things going) and have a song written especially for them to pretend to be something they are actually not looking like to be, without their involvement... this songwriting camp experience has turned them into S!sters. Got that? Even the exclamation point part? Good, because you'll probably never hear of neither them, nor their song "Sister", ever again. Just like it is accepted for a German entry as of lately, I suppose.

It starts off innocently enough, with the music-box-y sound, and then quickly escalates into the singing on top of a different set of instruments. If there’s one thing I can’t fault this song for, it’s the instant relatability levels this song hits you with: “I’m tired”, “I’m tired of competing”, “I’m sorry for the drama”, “I tried to steal your thunder”... if these aren’t moods. Now what does this message tie into? Of course one of the songwriters (Laurell Barker) talked about the message of it being somewhat related to women who get aggressive with one another for things and I think I remember that the choruses represent their unity or so. However, I’d like to interpret it a little differently. If I consult myself of the meaning of this song for myself, it is somewhat indeed about two sisters that find it hard to get along a LOT (e.g.: me and my sister irl), but the chorus represents that in the end of the day, they’re still sisters, therefore, they’re each other’s family parts and the “fire” burning in between of them is the sign of the by-default sisterly bond and that it can be strong. If I listen to Laurell, however (and I should because it’s HER song and HER interpretations should be official), it’s two women who probably compete for a man’s attention and get angry at each other when they either receive something from that man (”how dare you get more flowers from him than me!”) or they don’t (”it’s your fault he didn’t look at either of us today!”). At the end they’re just “tired of competing” and “tired of always losing” and secretly accept the fact that they should just get the man notice them both equally so he can hang out with two chick of one’s price, all at once. ^^

But what about how the song sounds? Well, that’s the problem. It’s just your standard average pop tune that doesn’t offer anything fun nor exciting. It uses simple instruments (guitars, music box), simple melodies (the main leitmotif progression on this song is C - E - lower B - C), even the simple stage presentation (the girls were dressed in black for this song on the NF). Simplicity is key, but for a country like Germany, they often tend to wander off into a painfully average or just plain ‘misunderstood-idea’ category. Cascada had a good tune but in a rapidly evolving Eurovision their act just looked completely uninspired - just some chick with a mediocre dress dancing on stairs with random camera shots to the backings. While the others were even more fun and intriguing (or diaspora overvoted them). Elaiza for some reason was uninteresting for most songwise, to say the least. Ann Sophie wasn't so bad but the German staging director did not get the gist that turning your ass against Europe is a no way points magnetiser, not even from the thirsty guys looking for attractive Eurowomen. Jamie-Lee was so-so but she refused to let her otaku look go away for her Eurovision performance, therefore everything looked so confusing and there was no absolute point in anything, not even in those laser trees. And Levina was... ehhhhh... and like someone said on Twitter few days ago, this was a song with no staging. It's sad to see Germany sending something cookie-cutter but it's even more awful when they send something remotely decent but their staging sucks at the end. Even the one for "Sister" is not gonna feature the spinning platform they had in the NF originally for Tel Aviv, that's a shame.

Well if there’s something I can admire the song for is that the girls kind of sound good when they do the song live? Unlike San Marino 2018 (which is also two girls only paired for a national final that never knew each other in their lives but having to pretend to be besties after winning the NF they sang on), they truly sell the thing nicely without making it out to be a mess. The spinning platform might have helped a bit more and with it being gone so is the magic I guess, but I guess the ladies might make it work some more at SOME point (at least with their singing)... Also the structuring of the song is pretty smeared out but interesting. I'd expect them to go "oOoOo SISTER! WahOoO SISTE-ER!" after the whole chorus but Carlotta and Laurita are rebels - they use it after half a full chorus, omitting the second chorus line. And they manage to somehow bring that chorus back, so they can end it with proclaiming once more that something "[shines] like city lights, torches in the skYYY". Then they go all like "don't you try to hiiiiide iiiit, dON'T YOU TRY TO HIIIIIDE IIIIIT... SISTER!" and the music box closes everything. Bookends. And its simplicity is nice enough to not bother me, and the instrument touches (again, guitar, and they even tried to make the chorus slightly majestic, with strings I suppose, and thise backings that repeat the song's leitmotif melody) are quite delightful in itself, so that it wouldn't be boring, melred out vanilla with maple syrup - instead it's a bit more 'orchestral' vanilla. It's vanilla that's at least accompanied with some vocal strenght. I do imagine playing just that "oOoOo SISTER" part alone in a background of a fancy ball, with red carpet, punch bowl, silver sparkly dresses and chandelier lights. Everything of there filmed from top view until camera pabs to someone that looks like Anne Hathaway.

In the end I actually kinda like this, and I even liked Levina to some degree 2 years ago (but wasn’t fond of Jamie Lee and Ann Sophie, the better of the average German entries). It stands its ground out more than them - it has more going on for itself without needing to sound like a ripoff of another song or an anime fangirl staging. It has some nicer things going on for itself that I could care about (like the ‘orchestrale’). I have a feeling I might not like the girls' chemistry on stage and that it won't transmit to the viewing audience’s TV screens though, but more on that on the below résumée:

Approval factor: It’s... approvable, nothing much of complete approvable, but the feeling of liking this is there, so go ahead with it Germany...

Follow-up factor: Do I need to say more on this? You know what, these last two years for Germany proved that they decided to not improve on their result, Michael Schulte was just a fluke and if the Germans were more cloudcuckoolanding on last year’s German NF, they would’ve sent that only vanilla NF song they had in there...

Big 5 factor: If (emphasis on “if”) S!sters are staged nicely - decent vocals (no voicecracks like Levina), a bit better staging, “believable” chemistry - they maaaay escape bottom 2 at best, maybe even explore some more beyond the bottom 5... if anything else fails, bottom 5 is locked. I mean, they have plenty of places to fuck up in, like, making the girls look way too fake happy at each other at the end, or just let them scream “SISTEEEER” at each other with no mutual emotions exchanged at each other. Just like Italy was feared to look like last year - two men yelling angrily/passively-aggresively at each other. So can be S!sters, but the catch is that they’re’nt the fan faves. And they’re singing in English. And barely anyone of the “locals” would care about them anyway, just like the Eurofans don’t. (Also can S!sters get better stage clothes for Eurovision? Please? That’s just my flop suggestion, idk if it will give them better points but I would dress Laurita in a white suit (white crop top, white coat, white pants, even the stilettos white). Just because... they could play ying-yang with each other. Laurita can still have red lipstick on if she wants btw)

NATIONAL FINAL BONUS

Soooooo, Unser Lied für Israel. To be honest with y’all, this wasn’t a very favourable edition for me because, for one, I have never heard of any of those final NF acts. Wish they admitted Kasalla to the lineup, so then I could’ve had another clear favourite next to the first one down below that I’ll be talking about in this bonus. Second of all that... like I said, I wasn’t very hyped about this NF much unlike last year, where even some “who is she where did you find her” people tried their asses off to be appealing, and hey, a mediocre German NF filler-declared-winner did not win for once! (instead she went for judging talents in her actual home country and even danced a bit to that country NF’s winner song while it was performed as a competitor) This year, not only don’t I have an act that I would actively mourn of its NF loss, but also aside from my apparent favourite, the songs weren’t even that likeable by me. Yes, a lot of them were nice and Germany certainly upped their game, but I feel the same way I felt with Dora - only one good song, then another decent favourite that I have I guess, but that’s it. Let’s find out who won this NF for me and some other things:

• Look Germany, I found you your saviour you seemingly rejected! Well yeah fine, she didn’t do well with the international jury and S!sters did (only because the biased German juror pushed them into 1st), but let’s all agree her song would be a-bangin’. Meet Aly Ryan and her stylish synthpop tune “Wear Your Love”, complimented with a cool stage show, with projected stripes and everything! The expert jury rewarded it with 12 points rightfully, I’d say. Germany should’ve followed suit :) (also the trumpets remind me of a British NF fan flop from last year, “Legends” by Asanda. Is it just me???)

(this might as well just not matter anymore now that Aly’s management thought that it’s the best idea to block the fans that go to her DMs... granted that some artists could really use some privacy Instagram-wise, but that’s what disabling DMs is for. At least Aly still has fans though, unlike most other ULfI candidates. She should have enjoyed her attention, no? ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) UPDATE: despite this people still would’ve wanted to see Aly win, and I agree. Some minor things are forgotten anyway and the artists are loved still if anything.)

• Not necessarily my favourite now but there was this cool chick going by the moniker Lilly Among Clouds. Nothing particular in her song “Surprise” sounds like there’s a happy sky with few clouds - it’s very much so a cloudy sky with a slightly dramatic storm coming out of them, complemented with Lilly’s bold vocals and the tone in her voice, and those orchestrals were something (and this song has an orchestral-based music video if anything). The song dragged in between a lot of the parts (verses felt like a passenger in a vast desert and the choruses were like a big oasis) but maybe those in-between song parts were to signify the calm before the storm, the warning before the “surpriiiiiiise”. Would have been a bold choice for Germany, this chick. Oh and I didn’t put a video down below (instead it’s linked somewhere) because I still have this screenshot on my phone. I love it.

• Besides those two, there also were two other remarkable ladies, and they they have a lot of things in common, besides their dark skin and that they’re ladies - BB Thomaz and Makeda. Two powerful ballads and two powerful vocals! Granted they were not my faves (I like 1,5 of both those songs combined though) but I admire their singingwork. It was magical. Not to mention are their songs themselves - BB Thomaz sang “Demons”, a quite personal song about overcoming one’s fears, bullying, naysayers, depression and everything like that, and also spawned this iconic line I am probably going to use on my T-shirt someday: “my demons can go and *dramatic thump* themselves!”. But I would’ve liked it more if the whole song sounded just like the verses - granted, it makes sense for her to go all showtune-y happy when she declares that her demons can go and *you know* themselves as she’s no longer dependent on them, but I found the choruses cheesy either way. Whereas Makeda, the sweet lil lovely gal, decided to go for a romantic ballad about not hating a guy after he breaks her heart. Her song “The Day I Loved You Most” is one big role model of mine now when it will come to my future relationships: I will never have to worry about the days when my non-existent future BF is a dick to me - instead I will rather cherish the good ole’ days in my heart without whining big time about our broken-off relationship! Yeah that’ll do I suppose. It was a nice ballad to me. Makeda also nailed one damn big great highnote live and that’s how I understood why International Jury and Eurovision Expert Jury loved it so much. Televote dares sink Makeda and uproot S!sters? For shame. Inb4 y’all ask me “but what about the other two?!?” - lol they’re not worth your attention. They’re just twink songs. I like one of them enough to be my 2nd of ULfI, but lbr, no one and absolutely no one, cared about them. That’s all.

• This NF started off with the hosts collectively attempting to make “You Let Me Walk Alone” sound somewhat funny? idk? and then Michael came back to save his own goddamn song out of the entrance door from the audience and right onto the stage <3 amazing. 

• Yet again, I commend the hosting of this show that has, and how much does it try to make a knock-off Eurovision, ever since last year ❤ Starting with the logo, continuing off with live commentary during the ending and the beginning of performances, including interval acts, and a sequenced voting ❤ One of the few complaints I have is that the postcards seemed waaaaay longer than each individual competing entries? I know I tl;dr with my reviews a lot here but some NF shows just get out the stories of singers' lives rather quickly and painlessly...

• ULfI decided that it'd be a good idea to outrival Festivali i Këngës in terms of ridiculously unnecessary interval acts. Yeah. There was this cowboy guy with glasses doing his own tunes, then him again on another interval act (I forgot but wasn’t his name Udo?), then Lena at some point (one of the better interval acts actually), then Michael Schulte, then this one dude from a band Revolverhed (who later voted as part of the International Jury as the German juror and... 12′d S!sters out of his The Voice mentor bias for one of his ladies. Yeah yeah, rigging...)... there were just a little too many, that’s what I’m saying.

• Now how exactly did we all know of the victory of the S!sters? Why, with voting sequences, of course! At first we have had this international jury made up of random specific people, usually giving 12s to S!sters, Makeda or some other twink. S!sters won it, then came the Eurovision panel whose votes were co-read by ... GASP! WILLIAM FROM WIWIBLOGGS!!! ;O don’t worry though he did not dun goof anything this time - the 12 from the Eurovision panel went to Aly Ryan. Sounds hopeful enough, right?? Well, hell no, as then came the televoting results, announced by Mr. Jon Ola Sand and he announced the 12 to S!sters! Oh German televoting, why did you allow yourselves to be THIS brainwashed and decline the good progress since Michael???? I will never forgive Germany for pushing S!sters this far. Putting them up together last minute and also last-minute adding them to the lineup, giving them the pimpslot, making a person who knows one of the S!sters more personally a German 'representative' of the International Jury... unacceptable.

• IDK where to find this but there was this part of the winner reprise where the blonde S!ster (that’s Carlotta) was so overwhelmed with joy that she struggled to open her song straightforwardly and instead let all the tears and laughs(???) take over her. It’s obvious this happens during all those winner reprises that the winner cannot really contain their emotions for what joyballs the victories have rendered them to, but that moment still sticks out to me. The other S!ster (Laurita) was much more collected and later on both of them carried on the right track and sang the rest of this whole thing decently!

For now I’d just wish them viel Glück in Tel Aviv and I hope that their friendship last longer than Jessika’s and Jenifer’s from last year! (probably not because like these two, S!sters are bound to flop, and separate as immediately as the unfortunately-formed class group project participants, just like Jenifer from Jessika)

#eurovision 2019 #tel aviv 2019 reviews #germany 2019 #s!sters #sister #germany

[leesungjongg]

kdrama reviewww

for Jealousy Incarnate! *spoilers ahead*

hmm.. i pretty much forgot everything i want to say but i’m gonna start with a few points and keep talking until i remember what i wanted to say

so 1. the asexual uncle. #represent Uncle! I was so excited to see that because tbh it was my first time seeing someone come out as ace? and in a kdrama too? but then he was ‘fixed’ and wasn’t asexual anymore and i was like??? oh sure, hugging someone automatically makes u straight then i guess. i’m kind of upset about it because i thought it was a pleasant surprise that he told the women that he was ace, but i was somewhat disappointed that the writers or whoever made the drama decided to make him not ace anymore. like really? maybe he can hug people but that doesn’t mean he’s ‘cured’ like he’s sick or smth

2. hwashin tucking away his feelings because he realized his best friend also liked the same girl as he did. like i was so frustrated because why not just tell the girl you love her, HE LITERALLY. set up a date with the two of them, and his friend knew something was off like he was like ‘wait... so i can date her? u have the same taste as me in women’ and i was like aw snap Hwashin likes her doesnt he. anyways, love them so much.

3. the friendship in general omfg. even go kyung pyo’s character whose name i forgot frick. jungwon! (thanks google) even jungwon was like ‘you know what. i love this girl but i also love you because you’re my bff and i can’t lose either of you’ LIKE!!!!! MY HEART!!!! BONCH!!! anyways jungwon ended up placing his feelings for the girl aside because he wanted his best friend to be happy. also i was wondering how he’d react to his bff getting breast cancer, and i forgot exactly what happened. anyways let’s not dwell too much on me forgetting

4. Nari being a supportive human bean by going to the clinic with Hwashin bc he was scared ppl would view him differently. also i hope that reporter... Reporter park? the one who’s a sleazebag? and makes rude comments about Nari. i hope he suffers a lot. he’s a jerk. but this is about Nari being amazing so let’s come back to her. at first i was like why tf does she keep touching his chest, isn’t this sexual harassment? esp if he knows she liked him for three years? but oh well, it led to him getting everything checked and finding out he got breast cancer which is horrible for anyone. he was so concerned with how ppl would view him and it was horrible T_T but Nari stepped up and was like omg ok i’ll be with you at every radiation treatment so you can pretend to be my husband and hold my hand and stuff LIKE THAT IS SO SWEET? holy frick Nari. i love u. 

5. Hwashin actually telling the world HIMSELF that he had breast cancer - to clear things up with the rumors surrounding Nari and also to find some ease with himself? he went through so much and honestly i don’t know much about cancer and radiation and stuff but i’ve heard it’s absolutely exhausting. and after all of that stress and fear of ‘what if everyone finds out i have breast cancer?’ etc etc, he decided to come through and tell the world about it! that’s awesome! and it’s happened before to men too. it doesn’t mean that they’re not any less manly or whatever, and i’m glad that message came across, because in the end, no one was concerned whether or not he was manly anymore, but everyone was like ‘please be healthy and get better soon’ like dude. that’s such a relief, for anyone who gets fearful of saying something/speaking up. esp something like that

ok i think i’m done :3 overall, i thought it was a good drama. i liked the fact that it was about male breast cancer. i also liked the support he received from the doctors and everyone that knew about his cancer. i also really loved the friendship hwashin and jungwon had. so precious. i also loved beom, he was so cute. what i didn’t like was the annoying back and forth bickering about who gets the girl like sigh. i was rooting for hwashin tho - nari was so much more comfortable around him tooooo i love them and i love how hwashin was like ‘there’s a better guy out there for you than me’ and i was like bby stop noo :( like yeah u might be really arrogant and annoying but you still have a good heart. like he wanted kids dude. that’s how u know

jungwon tho. come here and let me give  u a big hug bc u went through a lot in terms of your parent’s divorce and everything. like what man literally calls on an anniversary and tells the woman they’re getting a divorce like damn that is so cold hearted. idk who Jungwon takes after but he seems literally perfect, which is probably why most second leads seem too good to be true? yall gotta have some flaws in there, otherwise you’re not gonna get the girl. show your vulnerable sides too. hwashin did that, and i think being vulnerable makes any bond stronger. 

anyways idk. these are just my thoughts. i liked it. 9/10. only 9 bc of the two friends going back and forth with everything but besides that, it was awesome. 

#personal #jealousy incarnate #dramas #end of spam

[sophygurl]

RotE feels spewage

Okay, so now that I’ve read everything currently written in the Realm of the Elderlings series (but boy howdy am I excited about the new short story coming out soon!), I’m gonna try and capture some of my overall thoughts and feels. This will be very long and undoubtedly spoilerific. 

For the record, I started the whole series about a year ago and have just raced through it all. The first thing I read was the short story Homecoming and it so fueled me with all of the mystery and magic that I started in on the first Farseer trilogy and then banged out through all of the other short stories and novels in order. 

I am happy to see there are lots of RotE fans on tumblr, but sad to see most of the posts go back months and years ago and there isn’t a lot of current discussion. Woe is the fangirl who finds a fandom later than everyone else. But I won’t let that stop me from sharing my thoughts. 

Okay so I have some new all-time favorite characters from this series. Strangely enough, Fitz is not one of them. NOT that I dislike Fitz, and I sure did enjoy reading 3 sets of trilogies from his perspective, but he’s just not a fave-fave. 

A lot of the people (and animals) around him became faves, but I have to admit to being somewhat in the minority from what I’ve seen, in vastly preferring the Rain Wilds/Bingtown stuff over the Six Duchies stuff. Again - not that I don’t love all of it, but just those were my fave bits and the stuff I personally related to more and want more of.

Most Fave Characters:

Paragon. Oh my dear mad ship, how I love you. How can my favorite character be a sentient ship made out of dragon cocoons who has literally gone insane? IDK, Robin Hobb that’s why. I am so pleased for Paragon that he got to finally be dragons, but oh how I’ll miss my crazy traumatized liveship. I hope we get to see more of his dragons in future works?

All of the Vestrits, but particularly the women. Especially Althea, Ronica, and Malta. Their character arcs were phenomenal and I’d love to read any and all side-stories of their lives and adventures between the Liveship Traders trilogy and the Fitz and the Fool trilogy, as well as anything in their futures. 

Bee! Bee Bee Bee Bee Bee. Bee Farseer. Bee the Destroyer. Bee....loved. I love her. Every single thing about her. More Bee! MORE BEE!

Thick. He was probs my favorite part of the Tawny Man trilogy and omg the picture of him as an old man with a cat in his lap teaching Bee how to make skillsongs and being happy and comfortable and cared for is just killing me. ILU Thick!

Thymara. Best part of the Rain Wilds Chronicles imo. And the bits we gleamed of her and Tats and their kid in the Fitz and the Fool trilogy made me so happy. The way her wings grew! I bet she flies all the time! Oh please please tell me more about Thymara’s life once she settled into Kelsingra! 

Nighteyes. I don’t know that I can discuss my feelings for him without sobbing, so I’ll leave it at that. 

Nettle Farseer. What an amazing arc, and getting to see her from being a baby to having her own baby. MOAR Nettle! 

Perseverance. Where is the Per fandom?! I adore this little due with my whole heart and soul. So brave, so kind, so patient, so loyal. I cry just thinking about him and how good he is. 

The Fool/Beloved/Lord Golden/Amber/whatever all else... I think I loved his Fool persona the most, but they’re all fantastic. 

Chade Fallstar. Look, I know he’s a real son of a bitch, but I love him anyway. I’m a sucker for old wizardy teacher types and prankster/trickster types and just always wanted for him to find some happiness and belonging.

Kettricken. Such a strong, sweet, fierce, stable, amazing woman. Who was so in love with Fitz and you can’t tell me otherwise! 

Ophelia - my second favorite liveship and one I think might... even?? want... to stay one??? Maybe??? We’ll see. Hopefully. Please tell us. 

Patience. Quirky mom/grandma figure who couldn’t have her own kids so protects the ones that need protecting forever in my heart! (Also Lacey, who I am certain in my heart of hearts was her lover as well as her friend and bodyguard.)

Spark/Ash. Another wonderful genderbender in the series. I hope they get to keep being both sides of themselves. 

Motley. How can you not love a crow who calls Fitz “stupid” every chance she gets and who bonds with Heeby and loves all the same characters we love? I hope Motely finally finds a good wit-bond. She deserves it. 

Every cat we ever encounter in any of the books. 

Characters I love but with some reservations:

Kennit Ludluck - I mean I hate this man, but I also love him. He was a fascinating character and his relationships with other characters were interesting, and his whole ... thing ... with Paragon was so emotional and intense. And I could have forgiven every other awful thing he ever did up until he raped Althea and then it was just - nope. Sigh. 

Dragons - particularly Tintaglia, Sintara, Mercor, Heeby,and Relpda. Dragons can be terrible, but they’re also a lot of fun.

Rapskal - loved loved loved him before he merged with the Elderling memories. Still kinda like him, but not quite as much. His relationship with Heeby is always sweet. 

Ships (as in shipping not liveships)

First a note about Molly. I always felt like Molly’s character was strangely un-fleshed out. She was just Girl who is a Friend, Young Woman who is Attractive, Woman Fitz Loves, Woman Fitz Longs For, Woman Fitz Finally Gets to be With, Woman Fitz Loses. And then from Bee’s perspective she’s Mom. But she never felt like a fully realized character to me??

So it was hard to love her, to ship her with anyone, to really understand and empathize for Fitz’s feelings for her. She was just kind of this Figure. Which is really such a shame, because Hobb has so many other wonderfully filled out female characters who are so varied and fleshed out and amazing in such different ways from one another. And then there’s just Molly. Woman Fitz Loves. For ... some reason?? 

IDK - is this a thing that other fans feel? Did I miss something that everyone else gets?

I mean, I understand that the fandom mostly ships Fitz with Beloved/Fool, but did anyone ship Fitz with Molly? Or ship her with Burrich for that matter?? 

I personally shipped Fitz the most with Kettricken, but I obvi get the Fitz/Fool thing too. I always thought when Fitz grew up into himself more, he’d realize it was for the best that Molly and Burrich had ended up together and leave it at that, and then eventually the feelings he and Kettricken obviously had for one another would have a chance to blossom. But whatever. She gets to raise Bee now, so that’s something. 

So anyway, my ships for this series:

Fitz/Ketrricken, as stated above. 

Fitz/Fool, cannot be denied.

Fitz/Nighteyes - not in a romantic or sexual way but they were true soulmates. 

Fitz/Burrich and Fitz/Chade and Fitz/Verity as son/father.

Fitz/Dutiful and and Fitz/Hap and Fitz/Per as father/son.

Fitz/Nettle and Fitz/Bee as father/daughter.

Fitz friendships - Fool, Riddle, Thick, Nosy, Smithy, Myblack, Fleeter, Motley.

Fool/Shrewd as friends or even a touch of father/son.

Fool friendships - Fitz, Prilkop, Verity, Kettricken, Nighteyes, as Amber: Althea, Brashen, Paragon, Jek. 

Chade/Shrewd as brothers.

Verity/Chivalry as brothers. 

Patience/Lacey - mirite?

Chivalry/Burrich - right?? right??!?! Come at me about it. 

Althea/Brashen - perfectly coupled. 

Malta/Reyn - especially once they’ve actually had some time to get to know one another better. (their courtship was kinda yikes in a lot of ways tho)

Etta/Kennit’s charm necklace lmao.

Nettle/Riddle - so sweet together. I’m glad she gets her happy ending, so to speak. Getting to be recognized for who she is at Buckkeep, having a job/calling she’s good at and loves, getting to marry the man she loves, having a child she gets to actually raise. All the stuff Fitz never got to have. 

Erek and Detozi! How cute are they and how adorable was the way their relationship was shown in the books? Awwwww. (I did think for the first couple books that they were both dudes so I was slightly disappointed when I figured it out, but still sweet.)

Sedric/Carson

Alise/Leftrin

Alise/Sedric as friends.

Alise/Thymara as friends.

Sintara/Mercor - can you ship dragons? I think I do. 

Fave Places:

Rain Wilds - anything to do with the Rain Wilds, Trehaug, Cassarick, Bingtown, Kelsingra, etc. Love it, want more of it. 

Withywoods. I fell in love with this quiet home and the people in it, especially as seen through Bee’s eyes, and especially once she discovers the places in the walls.

The Pirate Isles - fun stuff and I liked that we got to see a little bit about how it’s developed both as far as appearances and it’s political/trading place in the world. 

Stuff I especially want more of, questions I still have, mysteries I want solved, etc.:

I’ll honestly take anything in this world at any time, but here’s the stuff particularly weighing on me....

Magic: SO much more about magic and how it works and where it comes from. For instance, the Silver.

How is it in the dragons?

How did it get into the memory stone?

How is it related to the Skill?

How did the Farseers get access to this magic?

How do people not related to Farseers sometimes get it?

Is the Skill/Silver related to the Wit or are they totally separate things?

Do dragons have Skill and Wit? And also something else?

What, exactly are (were?) The Others.

AND WHY ARE THEY TERRIFIED OF CATS?

Speaking of cats - why can they talk to anyone regardless of Wit?

Are cats and dragons related somehow??!

And what about pecksies?! 

What about The Whites? Where does their magic come from? Is it related to all the silver/skill/dragon stuff at all? Where did they come from and how are they related to humans, Elderlings, etc?

Also what in the freaking frak IS the skill-current and how does it woooorrrrrk? 

HOW are the Vestrits all so linked to magic?!?! I keep having these theories that Ephron did something to all his kids and grandkids, maybe to protect them from the blood plague, that made them all more susceptible to things like dragon glamour and skill-healings and the like. And why did he decide to stop trading with the Rain Wilds and magical items? What did he KNOW? Am I making stuff up in my head, or is there something there? I feel like there’s something there.  

History: grand-scale and smaller more personal things I’d love to see explained more either in short stories or as characters learn more in potential future trilogies and such - like as Nettle and the coteries learn more from the skill-cubes or as the new Elderlings and dragons learn more from their artifacts and buildings. Some examples:

Chade’s life. Would ADORE a short story about his life pre-Fitz, his many adventures as Lady Thyme and other identities, his life as Lord Chade and all of the secrets he never told anyone, his various spy networks and how they worked, etc. 

How did the Servants get so corrupted? How did their unholy alliance with The Others get formed? What was Clerres before it was the White Prophet/Servant place? What were the bones and skulls from? Some creatures bigger and badder and older than dragons?? 

FITZ’s Parentage! Especially his mom! We know she was Mountain-born, we know she had an affair with Chivalry who was not one to go about having affairs like that, we know Fitz’s grandfather forced his mom to give Fitz up, but that’s literally it. How did Chivalry and his mom meet and what happened between them? Why did his mom’s family decide she couldn’t keep him? Did she have the Wit - is that how he got it?? What was little toddler Fitz’s life like?? What happened to his mom after she was forced to give him up?? Did she marry and have more kids - are their Fitz-siblings and their kids and grandkids out in the world, maybe in the Mountains?

And that time really early in the books, maybe the second one? When he encountered some people in the market from the Mountains and there was a young woman who started screaming and pointing at him and crying and was held back by the others - I mean, that was his mom yea?? Why did we never come back to that scene. I kept waiting for Fitz to remember that and link it to what little he remembered of her. Sigh. 

Stories about Dragons and Elderlings of old! Maybe some about their destruction but also just ... what their lives were actually like?? How they came about?? How they made their art and architecture and stuff?? IDK. I’m so curious about this part. 

Maybe something about King Wisdom and how he sought out the Elderlings for aid, or if the Elderlings were already gone by then how he discovered the putting-your-life-into-stone thing? Maybe some stories about skill coteries who traveled together up the skill road to make their own dragons? TELL ME HOW THE FARSEERS ARE LINKED TO THE ELDERLINGS!

The gods, too. Sa and the priesthood of Sa and how all that got started, how it got corrupted, etc. How Sa connects with El and Eda. Are they real? Are they representations of the Skill or the Skill current or???  

Chalced’s history is one I’m very curious about. Are they connected to the Servants and Others in toppling the Dragon/Elderling civilizations, or did they just hate the Stone Pillars for other reasons? How did they get to be so ... terrible? 

Future:  Some of the stories I wanna see about what comes next!

BEE!!!! Bee and Kettricken and Per and Integrity and Hap and Motley and Spark riding through the Mountains together with Fitz/Fool/Nighteyes-as-stone trailing them! How all of their lives progress, and how Hope and Promise grow up together and what their lives are like and maybe check-in with Steady and Swift on occasion and yea. 

Are Fitz and the Fool and Nighteyes happy now that they’re whole and in the Skill together? How long can they stay active and watch over Bee? 

Gosh, I’d really like to see how the folks at Withywoods continue to heal and recover. Too bad they don’t have therapists in this world...

Will Prilkop be able to take the dozen or so Whites left and build something new? Maybe use their powers for good? Will Bee ever be prompted to find and use a Catalyst or will she continue to refuse to be a White Prophet? Will another White step in her place, and if so - will it be good or bad?!?! 

Will Motley find a wit-bond? Did Fleeter ever find one?? What about Swift - we never found out if he got one did we??! More wit-bond stories! 

Chassim, the Duchess of Chalced! How is she faring? Is she able to make progressive changes to her country? Do she and Selden keep in touch??

How are the Rain Wilds and Bingtown Trader’s societies being affected by all of the changes? Same for the Pirate Isles. Are they able to adapt and prosper? Would love to see some stuff about their times both between when TRWC ends and Fitz/Fool trilogy begins and also after all the dust settles as the Liveships turn into Dragons and whatnot as well.

How are Erek and Detozi doing??

Geography: I’d love to see some complete maps of the Realm. Maybe have some stories set in or around the Spice Islands since we hear so much about them but have never been there. Will we find more Elderling ruins? Where the Whites originally came from? Are the icy glacier areas in the North covering more ancient ruins? More about this world!!

So yea that’s a lot. And that’s just what’s occurring to me right now. I feel some deep re-reads are gonna be in order. This might one of those series that I just continually find myself reading and re-reading. 

I’m dazed.

Come talk to me RotE fandom!! (my inbox is open)

#realm of the elderlings #rote #robin hobb #fitzchivalry farseer #the fool #nighteyes #beloved #amber #althea vestrit #paragon ludluck #the rain wilds #bingtown #the vestrit family #the six duchies #bee farseer #kettricken #chade fallstar #the others #the skill #the wit #the silver #dragons #elderlings #the whites #withywoods #thymara #motley #nettle farseer #thick #dutiful farseer

[ts-seychelles]

EP. 5 - “Finally Some Tea To Spill”- JG

I'M FUCKING ALIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The challenge made my laptop commit suicide. Thankfully we didn’t lose >.< now idk who’s on my tribe since there is too many names fksnidkdenf someone send help

Ohhhh boy, a tribe swap. This is 1) terrible 2) terrible 3) terrible Of course I’m happy I’m with Jared but it’s....gonna be tough. I’m hoping my previous relationships with the little Lazares will keep me safe but if Malabar vs. Lazare occurs I’m gonna have to take a side...Ugly. I just wanna make it to  merge. Ghost island is gonna be so crucial and if they send like.... Zach or Reuben....I’ll be thrilled because we can get out Alex. But if they send JG again, well fuck it all. I just wanna....get far. But this game is so difficult to do so, these tribal line shits keep messing everything up.

https://youtu.be/M2h87jBznnA

Holy shit okay so, we just swapped. There is a small feeling of disappointment because I know I could've gotten an original Lazare out had we went to tribal again. It'll be alright. I'm definitely in a better situation now. Last night I was in a pretty bad way over how Samantha went out of the game, but I was able to call a couple friends and they helped me feel better about the situation. I just hated how they had their minds set going into tribal and then it's like a movie scene where Isaac's rant changes Ashen's mind and then the others slowly follow. Anyways, Isaac apologized, and from like an objective perspective of course I have a better chance to win with Samantha in the game, but I also have a fresh start for whenever I meet Vilma. ---So, the swap.--- Roxy, Ruben, Zach - new people/Original Lazare - have been together the whole time. Alex - Original Lazare - spent just as much time with me, and I have a super solid bond with him. Regan - Original Malabar - was on my original tribe, and I have a close bond with her. JG - I have been with the whole time. Nicole - the most amazing lady on the planet. It's definitively a much better situation. I have interacted with a lot of these people. Hopefully I can make them regret ever letting Nicole and myself get on the same beach. The good thing is, JG and Regan kind of need us, unless JG decided to go the route of feeding the monster. Should they stick with us, which would be in their best interest, the 4 Original Lazare can't get the numbers without Nicole. There is a solid chance that we can convince them that I will just vote with them, since I voted out Drake. Of course I have no interest in doing that, since "we're" already down 10-6 in the numbers. Regardless of how one feels about voting based on tribal lines, there is wayyyy too much risk involved to continue to vote off OG Malabars. I feel like I'm in a powerful position right now. I know where the Legacy Advantage is, I have a close-ish relationship with JG and he alluded to having something from Ghost Island, and I have the SAPPHIRE IDOL!!! Like B I T C H ok!! So what the Sapphire Idol does- the castaways vote and afterwards a host will say "if anyone has a hidden immunity idol and would like to play it, now would be the time to do so." If the idol is played, the TWO highest vote counts will be nullified, regardless of who actually played the idol. If there is a tie for second most votes, all of those people become immune. There are a LOT of ways I could fuck this up. But there are also a lot of ways this could be game-breaking. It's good until F6 so I will be sure to use it in the most efficient way possible. -Trust Rankings- 1. Nicole with a bullet 2. Regan 3. JG 4. Alex 5. Roxy 6. Ruben 7. Zach

Why does Regan look like young Martha May from the Grinch movie with Jim Carey

I've realized my destiny... in this game... I AM Chris Jericho

this swap was interesting. 5-3? who knows what's gonna happen? all of my closest allies and most feared competitors being on the other tribe and I'll take all the middle of the road people on my tribe to make relationships with instead? I'll take it If you're reading this postgame and you were on the NuTakamaka tribe at any point, this is how I feel about you. Feel bad about yourself :)

(A LITTLE BIT LATER)

I trust Augusto the most, have a f2 with him and told him about my idol bc he's the man and if he fucks me over it's what I deserve from what he did in flops I really trust Dan I trust Vilma I have a lot of faith in Asya I like Ashen I find it hard to connect with Ricky Vi is inactive but when we talk it's kinda dope and normally pretty fun conversations. I want her to turn up her social game so she doesn't have to go home :) there's my swap assessment. thanks for coming to my ted talk

Y’all really got dinner and a show last tribal, huh! That tribal council was incredibly wild from start to finish and it made me realize a few things. For one, I completely contradicted myself with just about everything I’ve been saying so far in relation to Vilma/Samantha so that’s on me. A large part of why I wanted Samantha to stay in this game was because I think she’s amazing and a close ally and I wanted Vilma gone simply because she was a Lazare. Ironically, if I had kept Samantha it could’ve been another Bhutan situation where I tried to keep someone who benefitted myself more so than others but would’ve likely taken my place in the game eventually. I am here ultimately to fulfil my unfinished business and I genuinely believe that last round was the first step in doing so. I kept on saying that this game transcends tribal lines to people such as Nicole but I had no way of showing it, so this was my chance to do so. Did I make a mistake? Possibly, but again it is something I can grow from. Secondly, this vote really made me realize that my worries about Ashen are true and that Ashen is a gameplayer who will do just about anything to play the game. While I do get where Ashen was coming from with publicly saying that she wanted Samantha out, I do hope it shows others some not so positive things. The whole situation really made myself and Regan look somewhat stupid, so that should hopefully make Regan and I seem like better people to work with down the line. Also, this brought Regan and I even closer which is awesome since I was kinda iffy on how much she trusted me, so that’s cute! Since we did get rid of Samantha, it’s currently a 10-6 game and honestly, I’ve overcome even greater odds in the past so I’m prepared for just about anything.

(A LITTLE LATER)

Another swap, another opportunity to change my game. The swap did not really come as a shock to me, but I wish I was on Lazare with those amazing ladies since that tribe was super cute. The dynamic would’ve been interesting as I think Regan and I could’ve pulled in Nicole as Ashen likely won Vilma’s trust, but who knows maybe this swap was for the better! NuTakamaka is certainly interesting to say the least as now I get to meet Asya, Ricky, and Vi, I get to reunite with Dan, get to see Johnny again, and then stick with Ashen and Vilma from my old tribe. If we look at the numbers, it’s 4-3 (Lazare vs Malabar) and 3-3-2 (Takamaka vs. Lazare vs. Malabar) so who knows what could happen since what is shown on paper doesn’t really reflect reality. Small fun fact, now that I’m on Takamaka… I’ve been on all 3 tribes so yay for that, we love an aesthetic sister.

(AFTER COMING BACK BECAUSE HE FORGOT TO SAY SOMETHING)

This round really is interesting, not gonna lie! For starters, before the vote switching from Vilma to Samantha, both Regan and Ashen made a note to try and make a pact to get rid of Nicole and Jared since they are shady. I was also told that Jared is especially shady, which puts me in a Sticky Situation™ since I would consider Jared a super close ally of mine. I haven’t really been in the community enough to know the play styles of people like Jared, but it is a bit worrying when multiple people are saying he’s a shady character. It especially puts me in a weird spot because I can quickly see the merge becoming Jared/Nicole vs the World and I don’t really know where to stand in that. I do think I’ll be a bit more cautious about how I handle my relationship with Jared on the off chance that he is a super shady player and is playing me. As much as I would love a ride or die, the only person I can trust fully is myself. With the Samantha vote and now this, it makes me realize that I can’t and shouldn’t always try to do what’s best by other people and should benefit myself however I can. It’s not that crazy of a concept hgnfmd,s

(WAKING UP IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT)

At the beginning of the season, I said that my reunion with Johnny would be interesting and result in either a Clash of the Flops or the best collab since Mariah and Whitney. On the real though, I was totally expecting a Clash of the Flops but Johnny said fuck that and wanted to make a hit with me. Being honest, I do still have some doubts but an ally is an ally. Johnny and I talked a lot about our Flops experience and that this time should be different, different enough that he wanted to make a final 2 deal. Obviously I took it, but is that my plan? I’m not sure, I will do whatever is best for me to win this game and if that means that Johnny is out of the picture, then so be it. My elimination in Flops was a LARGE part of why I have unfinished business in the first place, so we’ll see. Johnny then proceeded to tell me that he found the Lazare Hidden Immunity Idol on like the first day and when I tell y’all I was SHOOK, I was SHOOK! I thought I was really doing something since on the Lazare Beach since I found a bridge to either a Shipwreck or a Unsearched Island, but I guess it didn’t lead to anything there. It’s awesome he shared that bit of information with me since it should make it so he trusts me with more as information is key in this game. Hopefully he helps ME find an idol so we can be twins since twinning is winning.

(AFTER WE BEGGED HIM TO STOP TALKING AND GIVE OTHERS A CHANCE)

Aside from a reunion with Johnny, I was able to reconnect to Dan who I was close to on OG Malabar! I’m super happy he made it out of that 5-1 situation and that we could work together, so yay for that! He also told me that he wanted to work with Johnny which was fine by me, but I made it seem that I was a bit apprehensive just to hide my alliance with Johnny so I hope that worked. I ran an idea by Dan of the Takamaka Tribe (Dan, Johnny, Vi) and the Lazare Tribe (Ashen, me, Vilma) teaming up again Ricky and Asya. Okay, I love Ricky but Asya and him are threatening in this game since they are really social. Aside from that, I got tea for Vilma that she suspects those two, Nicole, and Roxy of being an alliance which I can see as Nicole mentioned those three a lot. Dan seemed fine with the idea, which is nice. I later talked to Johnny and he obviously seemed a bit more cautious as he liked Asya and would’ve preferred Vi as a target, although he doesn’t mind Ricky leaving. In order to get him to like the idea more, I did expose the potential Ricky/Asya/Nicole/Roxy alliance which piqued his interest to say the least. I do hope that the idea to get rid of either Asya or Ricky can be realized since like… I don’t talk to Asya much and Ricky is a threat SO yeah, we’ll see!

(AFTER STEALING ONE OF OUR CAMERAS BECAUSE WE “DIDN’T CAPTURE EVERYTHING WE NEEDED TO”)

The challenge flop is here and queer! Tetris is seriously not my challenge and the fact that I did super shitty on it is not reassuring to a person that could potentially go home. That being said, Takamaka won anyway so I got my first reward win out of the way and my overall second challenge win! (Hopefully a third is in my future gjfdks) My tribe does look to be stacked in terms of challenge strength, which is good and bad for me since I should hopefully be on the winning tribe or we lose and I stick out like a sore thumb. Realistically, challenges have never been my strong suit which is why I kick up the charm to keep my seat at the tribe table. (UPDATE: TAKAMAKA WON AND I’M QUAKING GHJFKD<L)

https://youtu.be/_Y1Va_c9KBs

We won immunity bc of me dan and ricky wooooooooo also apparently zach had an alliance with everyone and that boy was HUSTLIN so he can GO!!!! Ricky said that he knew about this six person alliance that Zach was proposing to me alex nicole roxy ruben, but then I KNOW he made a smaller one without alex and nicole in it, so now we do have a chat of four, and I trust it........ MIGHT let him know what everyone has been saying, but I don't want him to scramble and then let it get back to it coming from me...... no no no The good thing about this challenge tonight is that it established a stronger relationship between Ricky and i, and it made Dan and I form a trio with Ricky. We'll see how this all goes down. I know Dan wanted to split up Ricky and Asya come next vote, but I also just don't know how things are going to go with this new development I kinda feel like my head has been in the clouds all game, especially pertaining to the original Lazare tribe bc there was clearly a lot more going on than I knew.. I gotta come back to earth a little bit uwu

Since Jeopardy ended I have been wide the fuck awake. I’m me popping off at Jared for no reason when I literally like him and was just stressed. I love that I can’t apologize hehe. I think people def saw me at my worst personality wise in that comp which sucks. The same thing happened in Mongolia. Like people on the other tribe thought I was an ass because sometimes I can be a little argumentative (hi hosts @synecdoche). But honestly being safe makes me feel SO good. I’m excited too because from working together so well, me, Ricky, and Johnny have really formed a bond which is great. Ricky is close with Asya which is good for us, and I feel like if we ever went to tribal in this tribe, the three of us would make it out unscathed. I really need to start being more social, my work life has just been super hectic lately, but hopefully that’s coming down :~)   I do think I carried my team a little bit in the Jeopardy challenge too which makes me nervous bc people might see me as a comp threat now. Like we’ve been knew that I’m good at comps (on occasion) but sometimes we don’t need to be reminded nah mean.

We lost! And from the sounds of it, not by very much. Luckily, we've got room to cut some people out. Jared is obviously tight with Nicole and they'll always be a target moving forward, so it would be nice to keep him in for a bit. People wanted Regan gone before, but if everyone wants Regan gone AND she is an asset in the challenges, I see no reason that we should let her go. Unfortunately, that leave JG who is having some family troubles right now. It would suck to get rid of someone going through troubles, but if he can't be involved and has to focus on family, then that is more important.

I’m getting a tattoo that says “Spheniscus mendiculus”

First time voting tonight. These people seem to be afraid of commitment. It makes me uneasy, but we've got to stick together. Alex seems more distant than usual.

I'm tellin y'all, being a mediator in an alliance of crackheads is tough, Nicole is a very smart cookie, and I'm very grateful for her help in this game but sometimes I feel like it could all crumble at any second. I am just buying time right now, I need more time to get my ducks in a row for the merge. I've put in a massive amount of leg work so that I will be covered from every angle. I'm really trying to use this sapphire idol as a last resort. I think the thing with me is, I play much better with control. When there is even a hint of uncertainty I just start to get paranoid. I think multiple times this game I've been able to keep that aspect of me under wraps (for the most part.) I just feel a lot better when I'm confident. Like I need a chat but I can't be the one who makes it. I need to guide people to the answer but I can't say it outright. I like a good lead from behind strategy, but I'm not really behind anyone. I just really need to grind this out until merge, and make it a full out war between Alex and Dan. I think in that situation I would side with Alex, but I need to get to that point. It would require for Alex to still be in the game, and for me to feel confidently enough in my rebuilding of that relationship. As of right now, my eyes are on Zach. I don't think he is a prime player in the Lazare dynamic, but I think taking him out sends a message. Don't sleep on the King of Mykonos.

Finally some tea to spill , Jared Nicole Regan and I formed a alliance and I am all for this it keeps me safe and I really like these people and feel I can trust them plus Jared and Nicole will always be seen as a threat over me, apparently I'm the vote from the others and or they are splitting me and Regan. Sooo We shall see I have a plan with my fake idol to cause some shit We shall see though. :) XD

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IAUwPtsqUI

So me Nicole Jared and JG have a plan to blindside the others and get out Zach. (All over pms I don't trust them all enough. ) and they wanna split between me and JG but they're idiots if they think that's gonna work lmao. I can't wait to get out Alex eventually it will be amazing. Like as I said never get too comfortable and Zach is definitely comfortable. They all are. Hopefully it works but I have a bad feeling about this all

i dont understand why only 2 out of 8 people on our tribe are searching for the idol.......

all the power to augusto and i, I suppose

https://youtu.be/UGEVt9Nrff0

#itsgametimekids

[ts-nightingaleislands]

Episode #2- “My dumb ass tribe apparently doesn’t know how to play chess”- Tawni

I want to go and do some chatting today if I can, get people feel more comfy. I have to be consistent because when you're consistent peoppe are going to want to have you around longer. So I am gonna work on the whole tribe if I can!!

I am so conflicted right now. Rizo has potential to be one of my closest allies and that makes me kind of concerned for this. The twist has me needing him gone to get the idol and Im not concerned with it, but like realistically I feel like I have one of the easier lists...I cant decide if I should trll him to assure I never want the idol or keep it a secret. I could claim Ill never target him but really it would make me paranoid that my ally has me as an option on the table. Gosh Im in a pickle

I think an alliance may be brewing! I was approached by Chris and Gwen talking about a group of five of us, but nothing is concrete yet. I hope it's true though, the five consists of myself, Gwen, Chris, Sara and AnnMarie, which are the people I personally find the most interesting so they're definitely the people I wanna see stick around. Kyle's fun too, but we've only spoken a couple times and as soon as I thought our conversation was going somewhere he left me on read, so... ya..

so, i'm a mess and forgot to do this for round one,, sorry!! but, it was actually kind of an interesting round. upon meeting my tribe, i was mainly just trying to get to know everyone and at least introduce myself, which was honestly kind of overwhelming especially never having met these people LOL. but all in all, i think it went well. i at least made a bit of conversation with everyone on my tribe which was super good i think. i think the first talk of strategy came from zach, who wanted to make an alliance with like everyone but cheatham, dylan, and will which was kind of messy. i made the mistake of mentioning cheatham's name as the vote in that chat before i realized that no one else in there was loyal to that alliance LOL and actually wanted to vote zach out for being messy. as far as i know, cheatham doesn't know that i said that so hopefully he never gets around to hearing it??? but anyways, after that mess, i was added to another alliance called the sane ones, with noah, tawni, cheatham, and dylan. i actually really love this alliance and im super thankful to be a part of it. we all discussed voting zach and sure enough that's what happened. so last round was pretty straightforward with a unanimous vote against zach. however, in my new alliance, i have been informed of austin making an alliance with the same people in my alliance minus me LOL. so now i have to watch out for austin who is probably coming after me since he isn't including me in my alliance. but i feel pretty decent right now, i really do feel like that alliance has my back and im working on building individual relationships as well. i feel closest with tawni i think since we are currently bonding over our distrust of noah since he's kind of fawning over the fact that we are women?? like what?? LOOL please i don't want to deal with straight men this game honestly. but anyways yeah i'm kind of hoping we don't have to do tribal again so soon because it was pretty stressful, especially now that i know some people aren't including me in things.

Going into the first immunity challenge, I was confident that my tribe could pull thru because for the most part we were all very active. In the time of the challenge I have made great connections with everyone in the tribe and I feel like I have info coming from everyone. I was able to make Gwen Sara Chris Kyle and Annmarie all feel like I was there number 1 and truly idk who is my number 1. I do enjoy Gwen Chris and Sara. As of now they are my final 4 and we have our alliance the Corgis. I am ready to lose and go to tribal and see if these guys are loyal. In terms of target I don’t really have anyone because everyone seems great. Steven has been the least active so as of now I would say him. But the twist is interesting because I want the idol but I do not want to target any of the people on my list so I will play it by ear. But expect some fun and aggressive gameplay.

A lot, I'll make another one later but it's always good to form an alliance you know.

I need to stop showing more of my personality to these people because if I show my self fully it’ll give people a sense of what I am like so for now on I will tone down how I talk to people. Also if we lose I’ll make sure Vincent will be going home.

Austin told me there are 2 trios, and I'm not in either of them :(. Apparently Noah, Will, and Cheatham have a sort of pregame, and then Amy, Dylan, and Tawni have all aligned as well. If I'm going to be honest, I may have made a bit of a hasty decision when I said I wanted to side with ADT over NWC. I wanted to vote Will out for a while, and hopefully I'll get my chance to soon. But winning the challenge would also be a favourable outcome!

Ok so chess. That entire situation was stupid. First off. My dumb ass tribe apparently doesn’t know how to play chess. So the resident stoner had to volunteer aka ME! So at the challenge we, Tim and I, get propositioned with potentially getting an individual advantage by forfeiting while in the lead. Well not even caring about an advantage going into the challenge to begin with I was fine with losing. I would have been fine waking out completely empty handed. But tim being the angel, hoping he doesn’t make me regret calling him that, he is let me at least get the individual reward. But I’m not sure how knowing will has me on his list will help me. Considering he is on mine as well he was already a target for me. It kinda helps knowing I dont have to go after someone who isn’t on my list but I’m not sure how I can actually use this advantage ATM

Noah is still on my side apparently because he leaked Will's plan to vote me. Of course, a part of me is still worried that this is a 4D Chess play which still ends with me dying, but until that my vote will be for Will (most likely).

I HATE LOSING! we need a win but....im doing loyalties for this vote so i can build trust and have numbers on my side

Before the challenge my mind was set on Vincent going home and now it is Amy. So I was able to tell Vincent and Austin to vote her ass out and I told Noah to ask Dylan to vote her out as well and to also I got Noah to tell Dylan if Dylan can be a decoy vote for Amy so we don’t have to worry about who’s she voted for when she’s being given a decoy and the girl doesn’t even know, I’m kinda setting up Noah to look like a stronger player in Dylan’s eyes, I just hope I perceive to be a weak player as in strategic wise to the others. The Queen Stays Queen Adios Amy xx

Man petrel is on a roll. 3 straight challenges and I must say I am impressed. I am happy my team is successful but I’m kind of disappointed I wanted to go to tribal. I wanted to get this game going and see if I could make some moves. I’m confident in my Corgis alliance the the side relationship I have build with Kyle and Annemarie that I think I have a good grasp for the game. I wish we lost and I would have probably waited to see what everyone wanted to do. I’m expecting Steven to be the number 1 target in my estimation. I would like to target maybe Tim because he is a strong player and was on of my targets so I would love the chance to go into the immunity pool for that idol. But I have to be patient and passive I just really want to see where everyone loyalty lie. Should be very interesting

I don't want to lose because I actually like everyone on this tribe. But...we're all literally just sitting here singing Kumbaya around the campfire. The REAL test is going to come once the game turns dog eat dog. After this tribal, Thrush likely will be at least somewhat divided and know that those in the minority might be more likely to cross tribal lines in the instance of a swap. Petrel is loose and unpredictable! So....I'm not asking for tribal....but I'm sorta asking for tribal! It would tell a lot!

Well! I was surprised how organized we were as a group in the challenge! I definitely feel we make a great team and honestly I think for me once I feel like I am under pressure I act out and I am happy I was able to contribute

Hello! So I am waiting in the standby line at Radiator Springs right now so...45 minute wait yay! It’s a good thing we won the challenge yesterday so I can enjoy Disneyland without having to worry about tribal. What’s really interesting to me is that I see myself trying to implement David Bloomberg’s rules without even realizing it. I’m scheming and plotting, albeit trying to keep a lot of it under the radar - to at least make it appear like I’m not scheming and plotting too much. So for example, for rule clarifications for the immunity twist, I am getting those answers in my host chat rather than the tribe chat. I don’t want them to know that I am actually thinking about these things strategically. Last thing I want to do is be michaela-ed out of this game and be undateable!!! I would like for me or one of my alliance mates (preferably Chris or Rizo) to get the idol if we end up having to go to tribal council and vote people out. It isn’t so much that I want to have the immunity, but I want to know where it is. In this game, knowledge is power. Knowing who has the immunity idol is important. Ideally it’s on our side, but if we keep winning, it might not be. If the other tribe does get it, we will have to keep the majority OG Petrel and split votes. That would probably be our smartest option, assuming everyone is willing to stay Petrel-strong. That’s my plan for now. But don’t doubt that I will flip if I think it will benefit me in the game. Another thing that I did this round was discussing a little strategy with Chris, as he is my #1. I wanted to get a feel for where his head was at in case we went to tribal council. (We had this discussion on voice chat during the immunity challenge). My thinking is that I want to try to get some cards out on the table pre-losing a challenge just to not make it look like I’m just strategizing because we lost. It’s a tough balance. So what I did was I just asked Chris where his head was at in case we did lose. We both agreed that the 6 needs to stay strong (Chris, me, Rizo, Sara, AnnMarie, Liam). That leaves Kyle, Steven, and Tim. I waited until Chris threw out a name first. He said that he didn’t like how Tim reacted in the first immunity challenge when our second move didn’t count because we formatted it wrong. He said that he didn’t like that Tim was sooooo upset at the hosts. That gave me an opening to share that when I accidentally made an incorrect Harry Potter reference, Tim all of a sudden didn’t talk to me as much. I didn’t share my thoughts that I think Tim is very smart and strategic. I would be afraid of him in the merge - he comes off as someone who would be okay throwing alliance members under the bus to further his game. I mean, I am too (IN THE GAME - I LOVE MY PEOPLE AS PEOPLE OUTSIDE OF THE GAME). So if we do lose an immunity, Tim will probably be a target; however, it may be beneficial to get Kyle or Steven out since they are on my list. We will see how things go if it comes down to it. Another thing that I need to balance is my threat level in challenges. It’s tough because I want us to win, and it’s hard for me not to take control of the challenges. I’m trying to control just as much as I think I need to to win, but not adding too much extra strategically if it’s not needed. Okay, so alliances: things are about the same, but there is one new alliance - Tim’s Devils. So basically, Tim made a group chat with AnnMarie, Sara, and me with some important information. Apparently when he played Hero’s chess with Tawnie, she told him that Noah has been a little creepy (AKA Dan-like) with the girls in their tribe. Now, unfortunately this could be three different things: 1. Noah could actually be creeping and that would be gross. I’m assuming that since he wasn’t ousted from the game, that if he is being creepy, he got a warning and stopped. 2. Tawnie could be making it up. Now, I would hope that wouldn’t be the case, especially given the events of the current season with Missy and Elizabeth. I really really REALLY hope this isn’t the case. Why would she do this? Maybe she has Noah on her list for the immunity twist. If she is doing it, and it’s for that reason, that would be super messed up. 3. Tim could be making up the story that Tawnie told him. Again, I would hope this isn’t true. What would his motivation be? Maybe to keep the target off of himself in a merge or swap? All three of these scenarios are messed up. Sexual harassment is not okay, and neither is using it for gameplay! So Chris said that Corgis is the new FOUTTE (four of us to the end - a bb21 reference). I said we have to keep the name Corgis, and Fessie is not invited. I’m in for that final 4, except for Sara. I adore Sara, but in terms of the immunity twist, she is on my list along with Kyle and Steven. So I need to figure out a way to get her out ASAP, without making it obvious that I’m doing it. I haven’t mentioned this to anyone in the tribe. AnnMarie knows she’s on my list, but I’m on AnnMarie’s list. So it might be beneficial to get AnnMarie out at some point too. I don’t know who else has me on their list. Chris is my #1 for now. As much as I adore him as well, I am not afraid to throw him under the bus in the finals. Chris, if you are reading this after the game, I love you and it’s just game play! I do want to go to the end with you though!!!!! F2! Or F3 with Rizo if that’s the case. The other tribe has been going to tribal. So unless we have a tribe swap soon, they are more likely to get the idol first. So that is definitely something to keep in mind. If Noah goes home tonight, it will be in the back of my mind that Tawnie may have him on her list. And if someone from their tribe gets the immunity, then she may be a contender. Should keep things interesting! Okay, so it’s almost time for me to get on Radiator Springs - so that’s it for now!

So I find that my top 2 are Rizo and Gwen, both of whom have now told me in various ways that I'm their number 1. This should be interesting! I actually dig Rizo a lot but also I had good vibe on Gwen since seeing her intro so we are gonna have to see how this plays out!

I talked to Gwen and we both said we didnt have each other for the twist but I voiced my concern on having the name of someone I like but beung unsure if I should tell them and she felt best to not say a word so I guess Im not telling Rizo 8l

Okay FIRST OFF i don’t wanna day that i’m controlling the game. But i’m controlling the game. I’m obviously a F2 with Tawni bc we know eachother and we tell eachother everything. Noah thinks he’s my F2 but tbh i hope me and tawni can get him out soon bc he’s so PARANOID. Will thinks that we are bffs and i’m blindsiding him tonight. Dylan and Amy think i’m super close with them. And i’m also cool with vincent and Austin. Everyone keeps coming to ME with different plans and it honestly feels nice. I’m just gonna keep being nice while telling them what is going to happen. mwah X

Everything’s going good(knock on wood). We’ve won two straight immunities and the reward challenge(way to go Tim), and we’re about to have the numbers by two people. Hoping we can keep our immunity streak going. I want to get a good group going, possibly with an alliance chat. I feel pretty good with everybody. Really hoping we don’t swap anytime soon. And finally. Go Petrel.

Ok, so I'm gonna be a little mean, but I think I already know who doesn't like me. It feels like a lot of people in my tribe. Everyone is lovely, but I feel a bit disconnected from everyone, especially because of my inactivity. I'm happy though, because everyone works so well in challenges. My inactivity due to school is gonna mess up my game for sure. I'll try to be a bit more bold and there, so I'm not as forgettable as I think I am.

7 votes Will, 1 vote Amy.

#announcement