#but maybe it's just me and my weird relationship with understanding dialogue

[pookie-and-cereal]

Random Dialogue +Prompts

Thank you so much for over 200 followers 😭🫶🏽

"Let’s just clarify, I don’t like you," "you’re holding my hand," "T-That’s— different!"

"I hate myself," "I love you though…" "I hate myself a little less,"

"Stop smirking! We’re in the middle of an argument!"

"Could you stop playing the same song over and over again?!"

"You’re an asshole," "But you love me,"

"Are you crying—?" "NO," "Ok. Alright, you’re not crying. But let me at least hug you,"

"I don’t wanna sound possessive, but— remember, you’re not with that asshole anymore. You belong to me. Understand?"

"So this was all a set up? You weren’t really in a relationship?! AM I REALLY THAT BLIND???"

(They’re drunk) "I love you," "As in a friend right-?" "Bitch, what the fuck. We’re dating!"

"I don’t wanna talk about it," "Ok. If you’re not comfortable sharing. That’s okay, if you don’t want me to be clingy right now, that’s okay too,"

"Fuck this shit! This! This belongs to me! And only me!"

"I can’t believe you were with that person, for three years,"

"I love you," "You don’t need to say that every time we see each other," "I know. But, I’m scared that one day if I won’t, you’ll die without hearing me say I love you!"

"Stop hugging me," "I can’t hear you~" "If you don’t stop hugging me, I’ll make sure you won’t be able to use your hands again,"

"Awe~ are you angry? It seems like you’re angry," "Yeah I’m angry! You know why? Because of your stupid smile and stupid life intervened into mine!"

"Stop moving," "Why..? Oh—"

"Let’s just stop pretending we think of each other as friends,"

"Stop whispering into my ear!" "But— that’s my only way of seducing you!" "WHAAAAT?!"

"Sly fox, dumb bunny" "Hmm. More like, dumb fox, sly bunny,"

"What?" "What, what?" "You’re looking at me weird," "I’m not!" "Uh huh,"

"Uh— hehe, this an awkward situation. Isn’t it?"

"I love you, but, I’m not just going to ignore the fact that you’re trying to seduce me,"

"Now, where were we? Ah, yes. Lay down for me darling,"

"Stop looking at me like that!"

"I don’t want to be alone, don’t leave me!"

"Were you— just—" "NO, what made you think that!?"

"Get off of me"

"Stop breathing into my ear!"

"Why are you sweating?" "I— uh," "Need some help?" "Maybe?"

#imagine your otp #otp promts #writer prompts #your otp #fanfic writer #fanfiction writer #otp ideas #otp writing #writing community #fluffy prompts #fluff #fluffy #cute #romance prompts #romantic #smut #dialogue prompt #dialouge #hurt/comfort #comfort #drawing prompts #sentence prompts #prompts list

[kazz-brekker]

hotd episode 6 thoughts

ohhhh the family drama in this one was DELICIOUS, i enjoyed it very much.

i will admit i found the time skip a little jarring at first even though i knew it was coming, just because so much stuff happened during those years, but emma d’arcy and olivia cooke were absolutely SERVING and i loved them.

rhaenyra with her kids … rhaenyra obviously loving them so so much … rhaenyra smiling as soon as she saw baby joffrey … oh it was a lot.

as soon as older rhaenyra said “fuck” while climbing the stairs i was like. yes. absolutely. i love you, this is perfect casting.

i have been overly invested in daemon and rhaenyra’s children ever since reading f&b so i feel pretty emotional actually seeing jace, luke, joffrey, rhaena, and baela on my tv screen. they’re real! they’re little and squishy! i want desperately to protect them!

i’m really glad that they included alicent’s “do keep trying, sooner or later you may get one that looks like you” bit, it’s such an iconic line of bitchy dialogue.

i SO wish that we had gotten to see more of the relationship between rhaenyra and harwin (they didn’t even kiss!) but the little bits that we did see of it were really tender and lovely, especially with baby joffrey.

helaena targaryen being a weird little girl with a bug collection is something that can be so personal, actually.

also, her saying something like “you’ll have to close an eye” while aemond is talking to alicent about wanting a dragon … please oh PLEASE let helaena have prophetic dreams, that would be great.

i am aware that aemond targaryen is going to grow up to commit a ton of war crimes but honestly i just wanted to give him a hug in this episode.

alicent being constantly exasperated that her children are growing up to be a bunch of absolute weirdos was really, really funny.

we finally got to see vhagar! she is so large and so ugly and i love her very much and seeing her fly with caraxes was a lot of fun.

i’m really sad that we only got to see adult laena for one episode, she was so regal and self-possessed and i really liked her interactions with her daughters and the fact that she clearly doesn’t want to indulge daemon’s sulking.

the implication that daemon stayed away from westeros for 10 years because he couldn’t stand to be around rhaenyra when they were married to other people … oh man. oh boy. that is so much. can’t deal with this right now, sorry!

alicent and criston having a weird warped version of fealty and courtly love based on their shared hatred of the same person … yesssss i love it give me more.

harwin strong in his dilf era repeatedly punching criston cole in the face is literally everything i wanted to see from him in this episode.

viserys talking about the bonds of friendship being forged through combat together while aegon ii is beating up his nephews is just like. jesus christ. viserys please learn to read the room.

alicent and larys having their scheming little dinner together was so fun, especially since it’s clearly a common practice. seems like larys is going full-on villain and that’s going to be entertaining to watch.

kind of sad to see that daemon and rhaenyra’s marriages are both breaking down, but i can understand why since there are a lot of stressors in both of those relationships.

around halfway through this episode i was like “there seems to be a lot going on here, maybe i won’t have to watch harwin and laena die yet” so the last 10 minutes absolutely sucker-punched me.

rip lyonel strong you were a real one and possibly the only man in westeros with both honor and common sense.

i am not quite sure how i feel about laena’s death, i always thought childbirth was a lazy way to get rid of her and i can see that they were trying to add more dignity/autonomy but it also made it more violent … i’ll have to think on it.

the milf on milf violence in this was just really fun and i can’t wait to see more.

i am READY for the funeral drama next week, bring it on!

#pie says stuff #pie watches hotd #hotd #hotd spoilers #house of the dragon #rhaenyra targaryen #alicent hightower #daemon targaryen #harwin strong #laena velaryon #aemond targaryen #helaena targaryen #larys strong #aegon ii targaryen

[f1crecs]

Fic Rec List - Daniel/Max

if your fic is on this list and you don’t want it to be, please let us know and we will remove it immediately, no questions asked. we have contacted most of the authors on this list, but sometimes people fall through the gaps - just pop us a message🤍

have a pairing you want us to do next? please read the faqs and then head to the inbox.

don’t forget to give the authors featured on this list some love in the form of kudos, bookmarks, and comments!

We've had a couple of Maxiel related asks recently so thought this was the perfect time to get a general list together! :)

nsfw: give, give, take by hungerpunch and thermocline | E | 3.7k

PWP in which transmasc Max tops Daniel for the first time. This PWP is so hot your circuit board may be in danger, fair warning. The characterisations and dialogue are great, Daniel with terrible "sexy" lines and Max a little surprised but very willing to give it to Daniel when he asks for it. I really like how Max's (probably pretty understandable) expectations of Daniel are subverted by the request.

Daniel props himself up on a forearm, cradling his chin in his hand. “Maybe, but—” he affects what he probably thinks is a sultry moue. “—when are you gonna get me on your strap, though?” Max can’t help the way his eyes widen. They’ve been fucking long enough that he supposes it’s not weird of Daniel to ask, but normally the type of men he attracts aren't as… self-possessed about busting it open. He goes from vaguely tired and mellow to wide awake and horny in less than a second; his body suddenly more electricity than muscle. "Uhh," he thinks aloud, his mouth buffering a beat slower than his brain, "... now?"

wish you away in my dreams by @vicsy | M | 7.5k

This is a stunning story, that, through the medium of Max and Daniel's relationship, examines the concept of fear, loss, and misplaced emotions. Everything this writer shares is stunning, but I particularly loved the use of imagery in this one. Beautiful!

Before him, Daniel’s form is incandescent in a golden glimmer, his unruly curls illuminated like a halo around his head. It pulls a punched-out breath out of Max’s lungs. He’ll rip the reconciliation from out of his soul if he has to, he’ll race it to the end, do what he does best, not a drop of fear tipping the scales against him this time.

nsfw: Through the Ages by Bells33 and Whippasnappa | E | 9k

A beautiful examination of Daniel and Max over the years, from 2017 to 2023. Brilliant writing and incredible graphics are interspersed with facts and figures, and it makes for a truly special read.

And here’s the thing; when Daniel laughs, it makes Max laugh too. So they’re laughing, and Daniel is helping Max extricate himself from the table where it’s folded in a bit and grabbed him like a snappy crocodile. And then there’s just this fucking moment where Max is finally upright, they’re stood way too close, inches apart, and he’s still holding on to Max’s arms for some reason. They're the same height, now. Daniel can’t remember when that happened. One moment, he’d been taller than Max. And now, Max meets him directly eye to eye.

nsfw: tender is my heart by @missyourflight | E | 10.6k

This is a Never Let Me Go AU. Daniel works in a cafe by sea. One day, a man walks in and orders a meal. Daniel can tell there is something strange about him, but isn't sure quite what. Eventually, he learns that Max is a clone, created to be an organ donor. This fic is atmospheric, sad, and explores the horrific ethics of the situation Max has been born into. He has been conditioned since birth to accept and embrace his fate - that one day, his organs will be harvested and he will die so that others may live. Daniel is horrified but is fighting against a lifetime of indoctrination to make Max see why.

“Because I thought you were a fucking – closeted Mormon, not –” “I told you I was a donor, you could have asked me to explain, you could have asked me –” “Explain it now, then!” Daniel explodes. “Fucking go on and tell me, Max, I’m all ears.” When Mr Gianpiero had explained it to them, before he was sent away from Hailsham, he’d said, not unkindly and quite clearly, so they understood, “You’re not people, not legally. Your bodies are not your own.” And he’d told them the truth, about the donations. About how long they’d get. “It’s what I’m for,” Max says, the only explanation he has. “It’s not,” Daniel says, grabbing Max’s hands in his. “This –” They’re moving together, as close as they can get, their foreheads pressed against each other, salt on both their faces, and Max feels it, the way he feels it every time Daniel touches him, the rightness of it: this is what his body is for. “This is so fucked,” Daniel says, and it hits Max like ice water. “I shouldn’t have told you,” he says, and when he steps back Daniel doesn’t reach for him again.

nsfw: caught you coming alive by anonymous | E | 17.9k

This is a dystopian future AU in which people are matched by computer before marrying. They meet their matches while blindfolded and are expected to have sex to determine if they're physically attracted and compatible. Daniel is disillusioned and cynical about the process after years of failed matches. It's Max's first time. The ache of loneliness around Daniel is palpable, and Max's guilelessness is completely in character. Max is carrying the baggage of family expectations. Their connection is natural and immediate. The worldbuilding of the story is deft and elegant and never detracts from the character work. Also, it takes a very talented author to write double-blindfolded smut.

His hand is still resting against the inside of Daniel’s bicep, and he inhales like he’s preparing for something. It is so quiet for so long that Max almost asks if Daniel wants to stop. But then they are in motion again and his fingers travel across the crook of his elbow again to the top of his forearm. “I have a little cupid here,” and the Max’s hand is only there for a moment before it’s on the move again, down, “and a bit of love underneath him. In case he needs a boost.” There is a crack, minute, and so quiet Max wonders if he only heard it because he can’t see. Maybe he wouldn’t have noticed the hitch in Daniel’s voice if he was too caught up staring at his face or tracing tattoos he can only shape in his head. But it’s there. Breaking around the word love and not quite putting itself back together by the time he’s finished speaking. Max wishes he could see him, if only to lean in to kiss him without risking a black eye for them both. “And to round off the top half of the tour, we have my beautiful rose.” Daniel’s light, teasing tone is back, and he has laced their hands together, Max’s right in Daniel’s left. “If you just do this,” and he rubs his thumb across the top of Max’s hand, “you might feel it. No thorns to worry about.”

nsfw: glory, from a high rise by @yekoc | E | 24.3k

Another AU, this one featuring Daniel as a bartender and Max as a troubled finance worker who tries to drink (and fuck) his sorrows away. This is one of the first maxiel fics I ever read. It's kind of a greatest hit in Maxiel fandom to the point where I wondered if I should even rec it. But the chance of someone new coming along to the pairing and missing out on this masterpiece is one I can't bear to take. Max's sadness and self-punishment in this story is crushing, and his emotional unavailability makes this relationship's early stages very difficult. Daniel is emotionally mature enough to protect himself and be realistic and clear about what he wants and needs in a partner. It's a long journey for them (and us), but absolutely worth it.

He couldn’t look at Daniel. Daniel didn’t need to apologize; Max knew what he wanted was fucked up, something desperate and out of his control. With Daniel sometimes it had felt better, like it was something okay; like he was good. But Max got it. Daniel wanted a—a boyfriend, someone he took home and went out to dinner with and introduced to his family at Christmas. He was thirty. His friends had families. Daniel deserved that too. He would be good at it.

nsfw: one step closer and i'm real by whichisgolden | E | 24.7k

Max time travels through different universes and falls in love with every version of Daniel. I loved the ending so much (and I won't spoil it but it's absolutely adorable). I also loved the characterization of both Max and Daniel, it felt so real!

“Daniel kissed the side of his face, his eyebrow. “If I did choose,” he said, haltingly. “If I wanted to come back, and what you’re saying is right and you got zapped away into another dimension— I don’t think there’s any universe where I wouldn’t want to do this with you. All Daniel Ricciardos want to kiss you.” Max opened one eye. “What if I have the defective one?” Daniel burst into laughter. “I think we’re all defective, actually. That’s why we like you.” “Okay, shut up.” Max wrestled him down on the couch to kiss him, and then they had to go celebrate.

Anonymous by @boxboxbrioche | M | 26.4k

This fic is partially told through emails & social media messages, and takes place in a parallel-canon 2022 season, where F1 has taken some PR hits because the drivers are constantly getting into fights. The FIA hires an expert public relations manager, who has some... creative solutions, including an anonymous messaging feature between drivers. Every part of this makes me smile: the warm, dry humour, the perfect characterisation & Maxiel dynamic, the PR shenanigans... and, of course, the "anonymous" messages. It feels like a love letter to online friendships, not just anonymous ones - celebrating how you can be your honest self and share what you might not share with people irl (and, if you're Max and Daniel, fall in love all over again in the process!)

P.S. - A big congratulations to Roscoe Hamilton for signing on for a new modelling contract, showing off a range of very fashionable luxury dog jackets. Although the adage goes - ‘never work with children or animals’ - I do sometimes wonder if it would be easier on both counts.

nsfw: there was always warmth between us by @freeuselandonorris | E | 32.1k

Max brings a sex toy to a race and Daniel inevitably finds it. What ensues is rising sexual tension and tiptoeing around each other. I really liked this fic for how it made this single event, Daniel finding Max’s toy, into a deeper story with rising tension and a lot of humanness. I think that was my favourite part about it, how human both this Max and Daniel are, even within the context of sex. The character development was a lot of fun to read and made the pay off even more worth it!

Dan smiles at him in an unfocused sort of way, his hand brushing against Max’s knuckles. Max twitches. Is he doing it on purpose? He glances at Dan’s face but finds it inscrutable.

nsfw: come on, star boy by @yekoc | E | 42k

A high school football AU of Max and Daniel! Featuring past Brocedes and a little bit of angst with Jos being a sucky dad. They live in Alabama and it explores their story in high school love! I loved the writing style so much! I feel like high school AUs are also not super common in the F1 fandom, so it was so nice reading it!

“Do you miss it?” Daniel asks. “Not school, I mean. Soccer. Football.” “Yes,” Max says. He draws his feet up onto the seat and wraps his arms around his legs, chin on his knees. The strap of the seat belt pulls against his broad shoulders. It can’t be very comfortable. Daniel can’t get his head around it, that Max and his dad moved all the way to what, to fucking nowhere Alabama, so that he could play football instead of soccer; so that he could grab hold of some faint trail towards stardom.

nsfw: right where you left me by TheNorthRemembers | E | 54k

It's 2018, and Daniel and Max are driving for Red Bull. It's the Azerbaijan GP, and the inevitable crash happens. Max goes to sleep, but once he wakes up–he finds that he's in a time loop. This is my favorite time loop fic ever! "It's race day" quotes haunt me in my sleep in the best way possible, and the fic delves so much into Daniel leaving Red Bull and how Max deals with it.

All Max can do is stare, his heart beating so hard, he can feel it in his voice as he speaks. “You are leaving.” How are they supposed to be together if Daniel is leaving? If he hates racing with Max so much that he wants to give up his seat with Red Bull, his chance at winning, at winning it all. How can they- He never says ‘I love you’ but he just called Max a child, he just said he’d leave. And what the fuck does that say about them? About Daniel’s feelings for Max? “I’m doing what is best for my career,” Daniel says, like that means anything at all.

this list was compiled by @lydia-petze, @boxboxbrioche, @maaxverstappen, @blueballsracing, @singsweetmelodies

#driver:max #driver:daniel #pairing:daniel/max

[ceilidho]

Sorry to dump this here, but no one in my immediate and/or accessible circle reads as much as I do and this conversation came up at the right time.

I don't read a lot of romance and I started reading some popular ones last year to ease my way into it. I feel like such a snob to say this, but the plot and writing are never fully fleshed out nor are the characters. None of the romantic actions I see people swoon over are ever explained well enough for me to understand the hype. A scene in which there should be an emotional inner monologue is shorted to a paragraph and if the character is toxic (I understand a lot of people enjoy toxic/dark men, but romance books never write them well enough) and destroys the other character's life/says a relationship-ending lie/any other cliche, there is never enough explanation, justification, groveling, or any thought process behind the reconciliation.

It's always just one half-written and half-baked trope after the other.

Again, apologies for dumping it here, but I think there are such damning consequences for women (the main demographic of romance readers) who read things like this and don't give constructive criticism or thought when facing these problems.

no but you're 100% right. i mean, this is one annoying bitch's opinion (mine LMAO) but trad publishing is in the absolute pits right now. that's not to say that there aren't still some good books coming out because of course, every now and then you're going to get a gem. but i think the environment has become outwardly hostile to good writing.

i mean, i know this has been discussed a ton, but the "fast fashionization" of books has become a huge problem. every time there's a new microtrend or whatever, every author rushes to push out a book to meet the demand (see: the hockey romance trend). this, obviously, means that the editing time is severely compressed and you get books published by like harper collins and penguin with typos, grammar issues, and more.

i got some flack for this when i posted about it on twitter ahah but i honestly do not understand why the sequel to "fourth wing" came out so soon (not even getting into the messy qualities of the first book). sequels used to take a year or more to come out to allow for the book to go through several rounds of editing and fine tuning! what happened??!!

i think authors now feel compelled to get their books out as soon as possible out of fear that booktok/readers will simply move on after the initial hype and they'll lose their reader base. there's like an anxiety about being left behind in the current publishing world.

this is kind of in line with what i was talking about the other day with Bo actually - writing romance and smut is actually way harder than people think. you can't just use the same 5 recycled porn dialogue lines and call it a day. you have to care a little about the story you're trying to tell, not just churning it out to make a buck or to make people pay attention to you. i'm not saying belabour every single action and decision made by your main character or go crazy on description (i still think the sweet spot for a published book is between 250-300 pages, and maybe more if you're writing a genre specific book that involves a lot of worldbuilding), but as a writer you need to want to be writing that book in the first place.

no one who's legitimately excited about what they're writing is going to resort to cliches and overused tropes - they might lean on tropes they like, but there's inevitably going to be something original and exciting there.

also my lil controversial opinion about the state of trad publishing lately is that i think it's 100% influenced by this weird pervasive strain of purity culture that's on booktok where people feel like any enjoyment they get from reading a particular thing has a direct reflection on them as a person and their values. rather than it just being a book.

(by the way i actually completely agree with you that even dark romances are as bad as everything else we've been talking about - that's another conversation lol. i also kind of agree with the idea of more romance books coming with content warnings on the front page - this hasn't really caught on yet except with some dark romance authors but i think it's a really good idea)

i don't think there's anything wrong about people getting excited about books on tiktok and instagram and youtube btw. i think it's a fun way to share recommendations, commentary, and interests. what i think is the big problem is that the publishing industry has almost become beholden to trends and online perception because they've seen how much profit they can generate by catering to it, and i think that's why books now just feel bland and soulless. they're tapping into a FOMO on both the authors' and writers' side, of either being left behind and not being able to make a living, or missing out on what everyone else is reading and talking about.

#today is the day that i cannot stfu apparently

[aihoshiino]

chapter 135 thoughts

Akasaka seems to have heard me bitching about other characters not getting involved last week because pretty much this entire chapter is focused on outsider perspectives on the RubyKana conflict, which I actually really appreciate. Not knowing how everyone else was responding to this felt really weird and while I ultimately am glad in hindsight Akasaka used the last chapter to focus exclusively on Ruby and her feelings about Ai, it did still feel really weird in the moment. And there's still no Miyako… girl where did you go…!!!

It's also really nice to get a bit of Aqua and Gotanda time, too — I feel like it's been forever since we've had any time focusing on that relationship and it's one of my quiet favourites in the series so revisiting it now was a nice surprise. We're still pretty locked out of Aqua's head but I feel like his dialogue here speaks for itself without us needing to peek in there. And whether or not he means to, I think Aqua says something really, really revealing here about how he's been dealing — or abjectly failing to deal — with Ai's death.

A running thread through OnK that Ruby is finally starting to come around from is the way the twins have both struggled with their idolization and objectification of Ai and ultimately failed to treat her like a human being. Here, Aqua doubles down on that dehumanization, rejecting the idea of Ai ever having complicated emotions about any of the things that happened to her. He flattens her into a caricature of herself, carefree and avoidant and specifically says that he personally never saw Ai crying. Not even once.

Except… of course he did. Because Ai cried as she told the twins that she loved them as she was dying. The anime even takes this a step further by having Ai break down into sobs during this moment and having her tears literally fall onto Aqua's face as he gazes into her eyes. In denying the existence of these tears, Aqua is also to some degree, erasing those words of pure love that Ai poured out with her last breaths. It feels like a confirmation of something I've been suspecting for a while: that in his fucked up attempts to 'grant her wish' Aqua is even willing to desecrate and erase the real Ai.

In a lot of ways, Aqua is deeply stunted in comparison to Ruby. Honestly I kind of get the feeling that Aqua… doesn't want to humanize Ai? Not out of cruelty but out of seemingly necessarily self defense; if Aqua lets himself love his mom as a human person, if he lets himself love her properly and with empathy then he will necessarily have to finally mourn and grieve for her as a human being and I think that would be the start of breaking him.

What's exciting about this talk as well is that it sets up Aqua and Ruby to be in opposition on something extremely central to the movie arc: Ai herself. This sets up the potential for them to come into conflict and maybe even for Ruby to really lay into him about the exploitative way 15YL is making use of Ai's image.

Final note before I move on: whether this was intended or not, I can't help but see a lot of parallels between Aqua's insistence that Ai would never cry over her treatment in B-Komachi and Nino's rant at the end of 45510 in which she reacts with revulsion at the idea of Ai wanting to connect with them. Aqua/Nino parallels aren't what I was expecting for Christmas but the implications are pretty (discord eyes emoji)

Gotanda's response is interesting, too. He claims that he wrote the script by 'listing the events that actually happened' when we know for a fact that there is a huge amount of dramatization and fictionalization at play just out of the necessity of recreating the events in the life of a person no longer here to give testimony. But he also betrays something here: his own lack of real care towards Ai herself. He dismisses the idea that it's worth trying to understand her feelings after her passing and admits that he isn't really making the movie out of empathy but out of a sense of wanting to capture something he failed to before. This movie is his revenge.

And like… fuck, man. It's just so miserable. There has always been this really ghoulish undercurrent to the entire idea of the Movie Arc, of digging up Ai's corpse again, slicing up her private and most personal self and her painful history that caused her so much shame and dressing it up into something pretty and consumable for the public to salivate over. Even in death, Ai can't rest in peace. Even in death, nobody can just leave her be. She has to be bought and sold and swapped and traded until all the value has been wrung out of her. Nobody making this movie really cares about understanding the real Ai at this point, apart from Ruby; not even the director who wants to be able to film her.

That said. man. the scene that followed was pretty sweet. The idea that Gotanda pulled Aqua into his project not just to give Kana a bit of a wake up call but because he was actually looking out for her and genuinely wanted her to have some friends is a really lovely idea and his sense of relief in seeing her having found a place in B-Komachi was also really good. In a lot of ways, the second generation of B-Komachi may be echoing the mistakes of their predecessors but they're also learning to correct them.

kana's face when she takes a bite out of ruby's parfait is like the hardest i've laughed all week btw god bless mengo yokoyari

The Gillian Cut of Gotanda talking so warmly about RubyKana's friendship to the two girls still being cold with each other is framed as a joke but I do think it's supposed to be read as a reassuring moment for the audience. While Aqua puts forth that his rose-tinted idea of fights making friendships stronger only happens in fiction… Oshi no Ko is fiction. Literally the very first words of the story are that verbatim and it constantly uses in-universe fiction as metatexual commentary on its own nature as a story. More than a joke, this feels like a sort of reassuring pat on the back for the reader that the girls will emerge from this rough spot stronger than before.

Aqua's sense of trust for both Kana and Ruby is really sweet, too. They're two of the people he cares about the most in the world — often to the point of him not being able to trust them, out of fear of the supposed repercussions — but here, he not only steps back to let them handle things themselves but reassures Gotanda that he can do the same. Aqua has been pretty cruel to both these girls in a lot of ways over the series so it was nice to see him express some warmth.

And that's the final chapter of this year…! Jesus I can't believe I only got back into the series back in April lol I really feel like I've been following the weekly chapters for longer. Admittedly, I'm starting to get really fatigued with the Movie Arc with how long it's been going but I'm hoping that we'll start to see some more progress on it when we return in 2024 and that Kamiki will do. Something maybe. can you even imagine.

#oshi no ko #onk spoilers #oshi no posting

[alicelufenia]

Thinking about my last reblog and how Baldur's Gate 3 character creation kinda fucked with my perception of paladins in the bg3 setting (it's specific version of the Forgotten Realms at least)

Since paladins don't get to select a deity at CC, I got the impression that paladins who's oath was not sworn before any particular god were more common than they really are.

There's technically a "Paladin of X" tag in game for dialogue, but the ONLY way to get it without mods is to also take a level of cleric and select a deity that way.

So when I made Alice as essentially a renegade paladin whose oath was sworn before no one except through her own conviction and fervor to self-actualize (she's Oath of Glory in canon) and that manifested divine power anyway, turns out that's really weird and uncommon in setting where most paladins swear an oath before a deity, and thus presumably are bound to tenets dictated by said deity (or the order of paladins they belong to, whether that reflects the true will of the god or not)

This is, in my defense, NOT how it works in tabletop 5e, where paladins select an oath but are not required to pick a deity (they still can pick one like many characters do, even those with no levels in divine casters). Giving a paladin a deity is more a nod to tradition, but RAW you're free to hold an oath without following a faith, just like you can be any alignment regardless of your oath (except maybe oathbreaker. BG3 even turns that on it's head by making it possible to be 'Good' as an oathbreaker, even restoring your oath, which isn't a thing in tabletop unless it's to repent for breaking it but without going full oathbreaker subclass)

Enter the most prominent paladin in Baldur's Gate 3, Minthara

Don't have any art saved to my phone so enjoy plushthara instead

She originally swore her oath of vengeance while in service to Lolth, to seek out and eliminate the enemies of the faith in Menzoberranzan (essentially part of the Lolthite Inquisition). This, by the way, is why she's so insightful when it comes to the other companions; it was literally her job to get good at reading people to find out what their deal was.

Her crusade against the enemies of Lolth led her and an army of House Baenre soldiers to Moonrise Towers, but instead of putting an end to the Absolute cult, she was captured, tortured for days, her soldiers killed or enthralled, and finally tadpoled and made to turn all that religious ferver and devotion towards serving the Absolute.

For this failure, Lolth abandoned her. As a Lolth-sworn drow (a problematic term basically made up for bg3 but works here) losing Lolth's favor is the most devastating thing possible, and there's almost no chance of going back. After being released from command of the Absolute by the Prism, she was, spiritually, alone for probably the first time in 250+ years of memory. Unless you come from a religious background only to lose faith later in life, you can't imagine what that's like (I don't ftr, but this is how I have come to understand it based on @spiderwarden's analysis)

And yet, despite this severing from a god that works Her way into every facet of Udadrow life, her oath endures. She remains a faithless (really faith-orphaned), but still undeniably spiritual paladin, bound to an oath that, for now, has her carrying out the same objective that sent her out of the Underdark before—destroy the cult of the Absolute, and seize that godlike power from those who control it.

When you rescue Minthara after romancing her in act 1, she says "You came. I prayed that you would, but there are no gods left for me." That raw-as-fuck line also spells out her current relationship to religion; IF a god would have her, she would be devoted. She even calls out to Lolth who, if the Spider Queen were to somehow take her back, she would in a heartbeat. With none answering her, she has no one but her savior, Tav/Durge, and their companions (whom she is now oath-bound to help whether she likes them or not)

And her natural inclination is to channel all that hurt, all that resentment and humiliation at being left with no divinity to know and to be known, into abject RAGE. Though she doesn't show it, I believe she is angrier and meaner NOW than she's ever been in life. That's why she talks about spitting on a shrine to Lolth, why she disapproves of offering tithe to any god at the Stormshore Tabernacle. Why she wants to BECOME a god, to become Absolute.

Hate is love betrayed. And I believe she had a LOT of love for Lolth.

Anyway this started as me musing on the spiritual nature of 5e paladin oaths in bg3, and kinda turned into character analysis for Minthara. Still, as the game's biggest example of a paladin who no longer serves any god but still commands divine powers to ⚔️SMITE Evil⚔️ by her oath, I think it came around in the end.

#bg3 #baldurs gate 3 #baldurs gate iii #baldur's gate 3 #baldur's gate iii #paladin #oath #dnd 5e #bg3 minthara #minthara #minthara baenre #minthara bg3 #minthara romance #nightwarden minthara #lolth sworn drow #lolth #character analysis #this doesn't even get into the implications of an Oathbreaker Minthara #which was out of scope for this post #and since you have to go out of your way to break her oath #and she arrives at camp with her oath of vengeance intact #I interpret that to mean she is canonically meant to be an oath of vengeance #queue

[comingyourlugubriousness]

Happy Birthday Yume Ume: Personal Story (Part 3/3)

Part: 1 / 2 / 3

Leona: Finally, the last question is “If you were to join any dorm other than the Ramshackle or Ignihyde, which dorm would you choose?”

Yume: *quickly, and matter of factly* Scarabia.

Leona: *smirk* Oh? Two in a row? Don’t let Radish sprout hear that.

Yume: *pouting* Shut up, it's not like that! It’s just…ALL THE OTHER CHOICES ARE SO MUCH WORSE!

Leona: *eyes widen at sudden outburst, before lowering again*

Yume: *ranting* You think I wanna deal with the Queen of Hearts dumb rules, or wake up at 6AM for spell drive drills?! 

Leona: It’s 6:30.

Yume: *ignoring his interruption* Honestly I don’t mind the Octavinelle dorm vibes itself; but I would rather DIE than live with Azul as a dorm leader; or have Vil breathing down my back 24/7 about my diet and health, uh- yeah-no thanks-!

Yume: *sighs, mumbling* And no offense to Diasomnia but their weird vibes make me feel like an outsider…

Leona: *Makes a vague noise of approval* 

Yume: Ignihyde would definitely be ideal, but since I can’t pick them Scarabia seems like the best choice. *shrug* I get along well with almost everyone and the dorm's mindset is something I agree with.

Leona: Mindfulness, careful deliberation, planning, considering all your options.*hums* Yeah that’s you to a fault. *crosses his arms, smugly* Maybe you should be there instead of Ignihyde?

Yume: *Immediately shutting it down.* No thanks, I can only take so many banquets and parties before I become exhausted.

-

Bonus question!

Yume: C’mon that last one was too easy, give me another one!

Leona: I’m only contractually obligated to ask two questions.

Yume: Boo~! *whining* C’monnnnn~!

Leona: Augh! Fine, *muttering* snot nosed brat…

Leona: If you could pick any student from Night Raven College to be your sibling, who would you choose? Other than your own siblings.

Yume: *surprised at the question* Huh…oh! Well that’s easy there's already a couple people here besides my brothers, that I consider siblings. *smiles* Like Ortho of course and- *they stop suddenly, seeming to have realized something.*

Leona:...And? 

Yume: A-ah, nevermind, just Ortho. *they seem slightly embarrassed suddenly*

Leona: *raises eyebrow* You're the one who wanted to be asked this question and now you're being secretive?

Yume: Oh well… *they purse their lips and cross their arms in though* *They laugh.* To be honest I’m not sure how this person would react to the idea and…it’s something I never really thought of until now. So, for now, I think I better just keep it to myself.

Leona: *slowly* How they would react…?

Yume: …

Leona: **realizes, his ears stick up** 

Leona: Hmph… *his tail flicks behind him. He looks away.* Well I’m sure they probably would care…but whatever let's move on. *He seems slightly stunned, but not unhappy.*

Yume: Oh man, wait I forgot. This part’s gonna suck isn’t it? *sigh.* Is it at least gonna be tasty?

Leona: *smirk* Guess you’ll find out. *winding up his arm* Are you gonna take your glasses off?

Yume: *dramatically, with grin* No, I’ll take it like a man.

Leona: Heh, suit yourself. *grins back. Leona pulls back his arm and throws. A breaking noise follows.*

The end! It was fun to write this but it took me a while! I find it hard to write dialogue without much description because I feel like so many things get said through actions and body language! Yume and Leona's relationship is fun and complex to write. In my mind, they both feel a sibling bond, but neither of them are really willing to admit it out loud. So it becomes this unspoken understanding over time. I think its a complicated feeling for both of them in different ways. In particular for Leona because in his life he hasn't had a good relationship with his actual sibling.

I hope you guys enjoy it. I'm working creatively on a couple different things but I also have a lot of big complicated events going on in my life right now. So sorry for the slow posts. I appreciate everyone who comments or leaves tags <333!

#twisted wonderland #twst oc #disney twisted wonderland #yume ume #yuusona #implied yume x idia #leona kingscholar mention #platonic #twst mc #twst yuu #mywriting #THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HAS STUCK AROUND

[honeyjars-sims]

2.7 Opening Up

Lexie: It’s too bad we got assigned to set design for the first production, but at least we’ll be able to hang out together. 

Johnny: Yeah, it looks like most of the acting roles went to the juniors and seniors. Maybe next year we’ll have better luck.

Lexie: Well, the semester’s just getting started. Who knows what will happen. We could impress them with our sick acting skills and get the leads next time. 

Johnny: [laughing] I support your delusional optimism! Oh, I almost forgot…my mom wanted me to tell you hi and that she enjoyed meeting you.

Lexie: Hmm, that’s nice of her. I guess let her know I said hi as well.

Johnny: [teasingly] You’re not going to say it was nice to meet her too?

Lexie: No comment.

Johnny: I don’t blame you! Honestly, it went better than I was expecting.

Lexie: Really? That's kind of sad.

Johnny: Yeah, unfortunately, that was just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to my mom. 

Lexie: Well, it really bothered me how she was speaking about you. I kept trying to change the subject, but she’d always end up making some snarky little comment. 

Johnny: I’m used to it, I guess. The thing is, if I’d called her out she’d say I was overreacting. In the past, I would’ve believed her, but now…not so much.

Lexie: Good, because she’s wrong about you. I can’t imagine how it affected you to hear that as a child, or even now.

Johnny: [sighs] I wish I could say that was the worst thing I had to deal with as a kid, but it wasn’t by a long shot. If you don’t mind, I think I’m ready to talk to you about it.

Lexie: Of course. You can tell me anything. Let's go somewhere more private.

TW: The dialogue below includes discussion of child abuse and drug abuse (not graphic but please use your own discretion if this topic is triggering to you).

Johnny: It wasn’t just my mom who treated me badly. It was also her husband, Jimmy. I refuse to call him my stepdad because he wasn’t any kind of parent to me. He was way worse, though. With my mom it’s this kind of passive aggressive backhanded shit, but Jimmy? He was full-on aggressive. Not just with his words, either. 

Lexie: Oh my God, he hurt you? Johnny, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know it was that bad.

Johnny: Yeah, it was pretty awful. I started having nightmares and I was anxious all the time. I tried to talk to my mom about it, but I was too scared to tell her what was really going on so she thought I was just being dramatic. 

Lexie: Geez, I can’t imagine my parents just brushing me off like that. You must have been terrified.

Johnny: I was. It only got worse when my mom started doing drugs. By that time I was old enough to start fighting back and all the blame fell on me. Jimmy almost convinced mom to send me to military school but then my dads got custody of me and Chantal.

Lexie: Thank God for your dads! 

Johnny: For real, I’m so grateful for them. It’s weird, though…whenever a kid gets away from their abusive family, everyone expects them to be happy about it. No one ever talks about all the mixed emotions. I knew I was better off with my dads, but I still thought about the good times I had with my mom. It was hard to leave her.

Lexie: I think I understand more why you’re still trying to work things out with her. It sounds like the whole situation was really traumatic for you.

Johnny: Yeah, even when I wasn’t talking to her I always had this feeling of “what if?” Like maybe there is a way to fix everything and make it go away.

Lexie: Some things can’t be fixed, no matter how hard you try. I don’t know if your relationship with your mom is one of them, but I hope you’ll recognize when it’s time to let go if it comes to that.

Johnny: I think I will. I’m going to give it more time, but I’m starting to feel like…like I deserve better. I didn’t feel that way before.

Lexie: You deserve so much better, Johnny. You’re so much more than what your mom sees you as. And Jimmy. He better hope I never see him ‘cause I’ll kick him right in the balls!

Johnny: [laughing] Lexie! I’ve never heard you so angry before. I can’t see you doing something like that, you’re too sweet.

Lexie: I’d do it to him! And I’d enjoy watching him suffer. Oh, sorry, I probably shouldn’t be so violent about it. It just really got me worked up. 

Johnny: It’s ok. You’re cute when you’re protective.

Lexie: Well, consider me your bodyguard, then.

Previous | Beginning of story | Beginning of chapter | Next

#twchildabusemention #twchildabuse #cwdrugsmention #cw drugs #ts4 #sims 4 #the sims #ts4 story #sims story #simblr #ts4 stories #simlit #stksafeharbor #sh:chapter2 #sh:johnny #sh:lexie #cwdrugs #tw child abuse #tw childhood trauma #childabusetw #childabusementiontw

[cienie-isengardu]

Liu Kang knew Bi-Han's parents, which means that he knew Bi-Han his whole life. He had to have seen him being frustrated growing up. Why did he never talk to Bi-Han? I understand that he doesn't want to micromanage people's fates and destinies, but simply talking to him and hopefully getting through to him could have prevented all of this. Liu Kang can have high hopes for Bi-Han, but him not helping out an obviously troubled youth would all but ensure that said high hopes get dashed.

But did Liu Kang really have that close relationship with Bi-Han or his father to begin with? I have no doubt he was familiar with both, as Lin Kuei for generations served as his special forces to ensure Earthrealm’s safety, however that alone doesn’t mean he was best friends with any of them. The more I analyze story mode and intro dialogues, the more source material makes me question how truly close, if ever, was Liu Kang with his Lin Kuei subordinates, beside maybe Kuai Liang alone.

As I mentioned in different ask, Liu Kang did not interact with Bi-Han or his brothers outside of Lin Kuei servitude scenes in the story mode but he did spent time with his Champions, dining together or answering their questions and explaining things, be it about places and people or praising them and showing friendly gestures like putting an arm on Raiden’s back after the mortal won Tournament. The comradeship is especially visible with A) his Champions, as they trained for months with Shaolin Monks and we see them all interacting freely with Liu Kang between important events and with B) Geras, the loyal guardian of Hourglass.

That is story mode alone. Bi-Han was never called a friend, never introduced by Liu Kang as the Grandmaster or just Sub-Zero and frankly, it was the Lin Kuei to bow to Fire Lord when commanded or rebuked to calm down in Cage’s Mansion arc - a gesture Liu Kang does not return but he does bow in greeting to all of Royal Family, including Jerrod, even though they both considers each other a good friends. There is a clear, visible contrast in how Liu Kang interacts with Bi-Han, Kuai Liang or Smoke (whom he does not interact in any meaningful way) and other of his allies.

Now, did Liu Kang truly know that well Bi-Han to see his growing frustration?

For example, the story mode presents Geras and Jerrod (in Ermac’s body) as Liu Kang’s friends,

however Bi-Han’s father wasn’t mentioned at all by Fire Lord, even though his death happened quite recently. All we learn about the man’s teaching, values and death come solely from what Lin Kuei brothers told us. If not for intro dialogues, we could easily assume there was no relationship between Liu Kang and the previous leader of Lin Kuei and even this one direct praise 

Sub Zero: My father was a fool to follow you. Liu Kang: He wisely honored Earthrealm with his service. 

is sparse compared to what other characters bring up about Bi-Han’s father, especially in regard to his edenian friends:

Sindel: I knew your father. He was a great man. Sub Zero: Yet he never understood the Lin Kuei's potential.

or

Sindel: Both your parents were excellent fighters. Scorpion: I can only hope to live up to their example. 

or

Scorpion: Your husband's murder haunted my father. Sindel: All those close to Jerrod were devastated. 

Liu Kang did praise the previous Grandmaster for his service to Earthrealm but unless we count the more general term of family used in other of his vs. Sub-Zero intro dialogue, that is basically all? Liu Kang doesn’t directly address the fact Bi-Han let his father die, which is weird, as Sub-Zero was questioned about that even by Ashrah, Tanya and Reiko - the people Bi-Han barely, if ever, interacted - but not by Liu Kang, the man who in theory knew Bi-Han and his family since forever?   

Understandably, it is hard to fit all nuances of the relationship between Liu Kang and the main Lin Kuei characters into one game that wasn’t even primarily focused on it to begin with. However the contrast between Liu Kang’s treatment of people he considers his friends - including the befriended champions - and Liu Kang’s interaction with Bi-Han and his family leads me to think there was never any truly close bond between Fire Lord and Sub-Zero and thus, Liu Kang simply couldn’t recognize Sub-Zero’s frustration for what it was.

For one, we don’t have an idea how Bi-Han behaved in the past, nor how differently it could be from what we see in story mode. According to Kuai Liang, his “frustrations ran deep” but it does not tell us how long Sub-Zero was consumed by anger at his clan’s servitude to Earthrealm. For all we know, he may always act in this abrasive, direct, even bordering on insulting way, as most known to us cryomancers usually did in the past, which is why his brothers and Liu Kang don’t seem bothered much by his behavior because at this point in life they are simply used to it. Some people just lack social awareness - or care for false politeness and Bi-Han could easily be like that from the start. What alone doesn’t make him an inherently evil person, just difficult to interact with.

Then, there is the matter of stress, as Bi-Han took over Lin Kuei after his father’s death. If we agreed that Liu Kang did not have knowledge about the “accident” not had any suspicion about Bi-Han’s role in that, the Fire Lord could simply assume that Sub-Zero is still adjusting to his new role of Grandmaster and understandably, the grief over dead father (and mother) and stress due to new responsibilities made him more irascible than usual.  At the same time, it is not like Bi-Han acted non stop violently, as for most of the time he simply stood behind Liu Kang and did not speak out, obeying Fire Lord’s commands without a protest. What is worth to note Bi-Han acted aggressively toward Liu Kang’s Champions AFTER they either openly insulted Lin Kuei (Kung Lao’s bragging about winning without figuring out Lin Kuei hold their punches) or violated his personal space (Johnny grabbing Bi-Han’s arm when he worked on freeing Kenshi), so it is not like Sub-Zero didn’t keep his temper in check for most of time. More so, each time Liu Kang interferended, Bi-Han obediently backed down. 

We need to remember three things:

Liu Kang is not an omnipotent god that knows everything and everyone nor reads people's hearts like some open book. Otherwise, Titan Shang Tsung wouldn’t be able to sneak into his timeline to corrupt people who weren't meant to pose danger. In contrast to Kronika, he does not tyrannically steer events to his own liking and allows mortals’ free will to affect the outcome, for good and bad.

Bi-Han did not complain to Liu Kang about his frustration nor raised the issue of Lin Kuei social-economy status. Come to think about it, he barely talked with Fire Lord and for sure did not talk about anything outside his current duties. Sub-Zero vented his frustration solely to his brothers and only in privacy - a clear indication which people he trusted enough to be open about his feelings and ire. 

As stated in Sub-Zero's BIO, there was no danger threatening Earthrealm for generations and so Liu Kang’s contact with Bi-Han and his father before him didn’t necessarily need to happen on a daily basis. Lin Kuei warriors were not living at the same place as Fire Lord. As story mode showed, the Grandmaster was summoned in case of danger, however since their realm was not currently at war, Liu Kang didn’t need to oversee Lin Kuei efforts that closely nor constantly kept those warriors around as he had company of his own people, the Shaolin Monks and other duties to attend.

That said, I do think Fire Lord kept in touch with Lin Kuei Grandmasters, maybe even on a more personal level, yet looking at Bi-Han and Liu Kang’s interaction, it definitely doesn’t feel like the master and apprentice relationship Liu Kang and Raiden have, nor like the friendly interaction between Fire Lord and his Champions in general. The story mode alone doesn’t imply Liu Kang was in any special way involved with Bi-Han as a person outside his affiliation to Lin Kuei and duties of Grandmaster - but frankly, the same can be said about Kuai Liang and especially Tomas. It does not necessary mean that in the past Liu Kang has never tried to talk with Bi-Han and easy his frustration, however the question is: did he know Bi-Han that good to recognize the conflicting emotions in young Sub-Zero beyond the potential mourning dead parents and stress of being burdened with great responsibilities coming with Grandmaster’s title?

For all we know, Liu Kang may as well tried in the past to connect with the troubled youth, yet Bi-Han simply learned to hide his true emotions and doubts better as he does not consider the Fire Lord his friend or family nor a mentor-like figure to open to. In result, Liu Kang could have had an even less clear idea of how deep the frustration ran and simply assumed all is as good as it could be considering everything that happened recently in B-Han’s life and tried to give the mortal time and space to figure out his feelings at his own pace. Otherwise I fear his statement of having great hopes for Bi-Han wouldn’t make sense, if he thought Sub-Zero won’t come around on his own or the man was beyond the reach already.

I would love for Liu Kang to make a visible (story mode-wise) effort to confront Bi-Han about their conflict and talk him out of abandoning, if not the Earthrealm itself, then at least his brothers. I would love no less any intro dialogues suggesting he did try in the past to connect with young Sub-Zero. But we need to remember that Bi-Han would need to be willing to listen in the first place to even consider the Fire Lord’s words at all, and so far, he rejects Liu Kang’s authority completely while the source material rather imply Bi-Han is not fond of Fire Lord in any special way - what adds to the feeling they never had any close relationship to begin with. 

So, why did Liu Kang not try to prevent the mess? For once, he simply could not have any good idea that Bi-Han’s frustrations ran deeply enough to pose a threat to Earthrealm’s safety as Bi-Han did not confide in him at all (Bi-Han’s brothers are those who had better idea what was going on but even they did not grasped the enormity of this problem). Or Liu Kiang confused frustration with not handling well the loss of father (and most likely mother before that) and stress of new duties thrusted into him too quickly and unexpectedly due to the accidental death of the previous leader (how old Bi-Han is anyway? For all we know his father could rule Lin Kuei for another decades - it is different to formally inherit power from your sick/old father, where you are already ruling unofficially on his behalf, rather than overnight becoming the sole leader of the entire clan).

I don’t think we can blame Liu Kang for not seeing Bi-Han’s conflicting emotions and a growing sense of injustice done to his clan, because Fire Lord did not have a reason to consider Sub-Zero to be disloyal in the first place, nor did think there was something wrong with Lin Kuei's duties. Bi-Han being brash and short-tempered? Not the best traits to have in a Grandmaster (subordinate) for sure, but which young cryomancer wasn’t like that at some point? If Liu Kang did not manage to bond with young Bi-Han, it doesn’t necessary must be solely his lack of trying but also Bi-Han’s lack of trust and will to see Liu Kang as anything than Fire Lord, the Protector of Earthrealm - considering Bi-Han’s feeling of enslavement of his clan, he could refuse to get close to someone who will without blinking an eye sacrifice him, his brothers and subordinates for the Earthrealm’s safety, because what is point of lying to yourself such person could be your true friend if Earthrealm will always come first before any Lin Kuei?

#mortal kombat #my replies #liu kang #bi han #lin kuei #i feel the blame for not bonding between those two when bi han was a kid can be easily shared by both sides #liu kang could be busy with his duties and if there is no war to make him hang around lin kuei all the time #he could not have many good opportunities to bond with bi han #the same as bi han could be a kid that does not trust easily and bonds with only like few chosen people #another thing worth to remember is that bi han's father was a loyal to fire lord but it does not mean bi han's mother shared that dedicatio #or that her death did not open bi han's eyes on the relationship between liu kang and lin kuei #and there is something to think about that sindel has more to say about bi han's parents than liu kang

[kayforpay]

i am specifically demanding johnkat please and thank you, 69

"I hate the way he talks to you." John mumbles, around a mouthful of over-salted popcorn. He swallows noisily and settles into the couch deeper, comfortably taking up enough space that Karkat doesn't even feel like he could fit. Without making it a thing, anyway. "You're not even dating Dave, why is he trying to tell you where you should be?"

Karkat shrugs, turning the volume up pointedly. This isn't the first time his strained friendship with Dave has come up, and he's kind of fucking sick to death of it. "Watch your movie, Egbert." He shifts against the base of the couch, leaning his head on the edge of the cushion next to John's thigh.

"I just mean, like, is he gonna be this way if you do start dating someone? Dave is my best friend, but, like, you have to do what's good for yourself." He crunches loudly, over the opening dialogue to the stupid movie he demanded they watch. "It's like he's marking his territory or something."

That makes Karkat perk up, turning on his knees with a sharp glare. "What the fuck does that mean? I'm not territory. Are you calling me a barkbeast piss-post?" He slaps the remote, stopping the movie in the middle of a sentence.

"No! I'm not calling you anything, Karkat!" He spills some of the popcorn when he drops the bowl on the floor, leaning forward to be closer to eye-level. "I just mean how Dave is acting, not you. He acts like he expects you guys to get back together." John's voice is annoyingly sincere, and Karkat forces his hackles down in response.

It isn't like John is wrong. Every time Dave has been lonely in the month or so since they split, he's called Karkat. It was so much easier with trolls; sure, it was awkward for a while with Terezi and Sollux, but it was different. They never expected Karkat to be all their quads. If anything, Terezi was the one telling him to back off from trying to do it himself.

Dave wanted a human relationship, though. And, apparently, still does, which is more annoying than anything he has ever had to fucking deal with in his stupid life, including when he almost died in the game all those times.

"I don't want him not to be my friend." Karkat grits out, scrambling up onto the couch now that John's nervousness at being misunderstood has shrunk the spread of his legs to a reasonable size. John nods a little, encouraging, and Karkat sighs. "That's all. I'm just trying to be... Respectful, or whatever. It isn't like I don't want to date. Or at least get fucked."

John's ears turn red, but he nods again, and looks at the frozen screen. "That's understandable. You guys kind of... It sort of just went out, didn't it." He says, not a question.

"Yeah. It did." He looks at his phone, pinging with another message from Dave. Never demanding, never serious. Always edged with enough irony that he can talk his way out of it. That was why they didn't work. Karkat wanted him to be honest. "I miss Gamzee. I've been trying to keep Dave from freaking out so much I haven't even seen my palemate in weeks, unless it's in public, and that sucks. I don't like public affection."

Still flushed, John nods. "I mean, you should just see him. Dave is an asshole sometimes. And you're the first like, real relationship he's had, I think. Jade and Davesprite are not really the same, and even then, he was weird for a long time with her, too."

There's a stretch of silence that feels almost comfortable. The electric whine of the plasma TV rings in Karkat's ears, and he presses his foot down on one of the spilled kernels of popcorn. Not his house to clean, anyway.

Finally, he scratches his nails down his thighs, pulling at the minute ridges of his jeans. "What should I do?" It feels weird, asking John of all people for advice on anything. Especially on dating. John had never even been with anyone, as far as Karkat knew. Maybe Vriska.

"I think you should just do whatever you want to do, Karkat. I can't promise things are gonna be okay, but." He turns, finally looking at Karkat dead on again, and smiles his buck-tooth smile. "You are my friend, and I am not going to let someone be shitty to you. If I need to, I will even beat Dave up myself."

Karkat blinks. "Isn't that the kind of talk that was in the movie last time you picked? Do you think I'm your human offspring?" He doesn't sound as grumpy as he wants to.

John chuckles, flopping back onto the couch. His thigh presses against Karkat's own, densely muscled. "Obviously I don't. Weirdo. I was mostly offering so you would think I'm really manly and cool, so you would want to keep spending time with me."

Face suddenly hot, Karkat leans down to snatch the remote off the floor, and pushes play. The human Nicolas Cage starts talking again, his strangely intense monotone droning senselessly in Karkat's ears for a second. John delicately retracts into his own space again, without a word.

He hits pause. "You have to stop making the popcorn so salty. And I pick the movies twice a month." He speaks in a rush, awkward, and John turns to look at him with obvious questions. "Hold on. I'm saying, if we go out, if, then I'm setting some rules. Like don't expect anything on the first date. Which is now. I guess."

"Okay!" John grins, and bumps their shoulders together. "That's fine, Karkat. But I can take you out, too, if you want. I know you don't like PDA but we can eat somewhere together, or I could fly with you, or we could go swimming--"

The movie starts with another jarring return to the music. "Don't get excited. We're barely dating. And you haven't even beaten Dave up, so I don't count tonight after all."

#anon and on and on and on #thnks fr th qstns #drabbles #johnkat #john egbert #karkat vantas

[girll-almightty]

i haven’t seen the entire show so i haven’t checked what everyone is saying about it in fear of getting spoiled.

but does it feel odd to anyone else? the characters, the relationships, the arcs, the dialogues, the situations… they all feel so much more unnatural than before, and the realisticness that it had in the first two seasons was one of my favorite things about the show.

i mean sure, they had dance-offs or musical numbers out of nowhere. but they also had Gina having a weird idea about fake dating EJ which didn’t make sense but it sort of brought some sense of truth to the character, or nini having to write a song that was never gonna end up in the show anyway, or ricky singing bet on it in his room in front of big red and being super cringey and cute at the same time; and they were worried about who played the lead in the musical, not about mrs. darbus’ monologue in high school musical 4. (call me a bitch but the corbin, monique, lucas, etc. situation feels SO UNNECESSARY)

and i understand shows evolve and can’t stay the same forever, but that doesn’t mean you have to get rid of what gave the show relatability. and that was the characters, and their emotions, their personalities, the fact that they weren’t all just a two-dimensional version of what they started as. and definitely not some gen x/millenial writer trying to give them gen z dialogues to make them relatable instead of real life, common people, high school student problems.

i swear to god they were nailing it through seasons 1 - 2. and then everything got so rushed. (they added great stuff tho! like ashlyn’s sexuality’s exploration, and kourtney’s anxiety and being Elsa on the show?! i’m immensely proud of a lot of things they introduced)

it feels like they are trying to kick seb and big red off the show? and they’re making drama with miss jenn and mike just for the sake of it? i don’t know. it’s weird. i miss when i enjoyed the show and didn’t cringe every ten seconds.

maybe i’m a hater. maybe i should go out and get some sunshine, or maybe i’m right, who knows? that’s all i have to say for now, i’ll be back when i finish the show.

#hsmtmts #gina porter #ricky bowen #ashlyn caswell #carlos rodriguez #kourtney greene #ej caswell #nini salazar roberts #big red #high school musical the musical the series #portwell #rina #rini #hsmtmts s4

[thetombedspirit]

So, I just finished the main story of Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora - WARNING! SPOILERS AHEAD!

First off, I want to talk about the cons of the game before jumping into the pros, but to be honest with ya, the cons are few and far in between and were more about personal preference then the performance of the game itself.

For starters:

1. The Glitches - Like literally, during a few quests, there will be some dialogue, but it'll randomly cut out with the excuse that enemies are near by, when that is absolutely not the case. It was only so bad that I had to exit to the main menu and then get back on in order for it to fix, so this was minor in comparison to other glitches like falling through the map randomly (which happened to me once during my play through of Far Cry 4 :p)

2. The Language - This is just a little peeve of mine, but I wish that the Na'vi, at least when talking amongst themselves and to us, spoke in Na'vi. Like, if Ubisoft could record a whole 'nother language for Far Cry Primal, they could have done it here. And I also wish that the animals, especially the Palulukan, were referred to by it's Na'vi names rather then human names.

3. The Main Character's Name - This is minor really, but I don't like how we are not given a name. Like, I get that it's fun coming up with names for our original character, but it's a bit isolating to only be referred to as 'the Sarentu'.

Not only does it make it seem like our identity as a member of a respected clan matters more then our identity as our own complex individual, but it feels weird when you read notes and listen to audio logs about the other Sarentu kids and not one thing about us, especially when Alma talks about how they're acclimation to life in the Resistance. Like how we're developing doesn't matter at all in comparison to how Ri'nela is coming into the role of leader and Tsahìk.

Not even a mention of our relation to Aha'ri when she writes about her murder and how it could be affecting us.

Like, just a gender-neutral name to tie things in, like Dani in Far Cry 6, would go a long way to make our character feel like a part of the story and not just a nameless side character doing all the hard work, like the Rookie from Far Cry 5.

4. The Villain - This is more of a 'meh' thing for me. Like yeah, Mercer was an asshole, but again, pulling from Far Cry here, who had amazing, complex villains like Vaas Montenegro or Pagan Min, and what we get is... a entitled, racist narcissist whose barely there, and therefore we get zero from this guy. He was more annoying then anything, like literally every time he talk, my eyes rolled into the back of my skull.

Like, could you imagine if AFOP made Mercer like Pagan Min, the tyrant king of Kyrat who had a relationship with Ajay Ghale's mother to the point where he was sympathetic to the loss of his mother. Pagan Min would just randomly call Ajay on his radio like an eccentric father-figure, and in two endings of the game, he'll actually help you out, taking you to Lakshamana so that you can place your mother's ashes beside her, just like she wanted, which is very generous considering that in one of those endings, it's after you lead a massive rebellion right to his door-step, taking out his generals and so-on! (Pagan is my favourite Far Cry villain is you haven't figured that, Vaas is a close second)

If you gave Mercer that kind of depth, then maybe you can actually understand why Teylan would believe Mercer wouldn't hurt anybody when he gave the location of the Resistance Base away.

Harding as well was mediocre. Just a hard-as-nails general that's running a pouching operation on the side. Like, if you made her even a fraction of insane like you did Vaas, I could actually be into it.

So anyway, on to the pros!

1. The Gameplay - I know people moaned about the mechanics being too similar to Far Cry, but honestly, that was what drew me to it when I first saw the trailer for it! Far Cry is my favourite first-person shooter franchise (Far Cry 4 and Far Cry Primal being my favourites). The crafting of weapons, the hunting for food, skins and ingredients and the little things what made it unique was amazing to me,

The hunting was a pain, because half the time (for me anyway) I could almost never get a clean kill for the smaller or quick-moving animals, but I think it was done super well. When you hit an animal in the old Far Cry games, they either just drop dead or run away and bleed out quietly. But here, when it's an unclean kill, the animal squirms and writhes in pain before succumbing to it's wounds, really driving in the whole point of the Na'vi way of life (that's how I saw it anyway).

And the Memory Paintings, though tedious at most times, was another fun and unique mechanic to the game and felt very Na'vi to me and I enjoyed concentrating on them all and hearing the MC's interpretations of the Memory Paintings and the Sarentu Totems.

And the moments when you're flying on your Ikran or Pa'li made me feel like I was in an RPG, like Horizon, so that was a nice little touch. It was like they mashed two of my favorite games into one.

And in the end, it's not the gameplay that makes me play the game. It's the story.

2. The Harmful Effects of the RDA - There was not a minute within this story where it's quests and stories didn't resonate with me.

How the Kinglor of the Aranahe forest was displaced by the RDA's actions, giving us a Yellowstone situation where a key member of the ecosystem was being pushed out and it was causing all sorts of problems for the local flora and fauna.

The aforementioned poaching in Zeswa territory, where the Zakru were being hunted and killed for their tusks and how even their long deceased skeletons were being pilfered, very similar to elephant and rhino poaching, especially as Zakru are sacred animals to the Zeswa.

And then the Yavä, the green fog that brought sickness to the Kame'tire, something that happened, by the way, because the RDA disposed of the Sarentu's bodies by using caustic chemicals!!! (like, what the FUCK, Alma!) but anyway, is very reminiscent to the diseases that European settlers brought in to the native populace, who never had to build up immune systems for it and suffered because of it.

What I'm getting at here, is how big of a problem the RDA is, not just for going to war with Jake and the Omaticaya, but also by causing the exact same problems that people did on Earth and are still doing to Earth. In so many, seemingly innocuous way, the RDA are negatively effecting the ecosystem, the wildlife and the locals in their pursuit of a paycheck that, realistically, would never be able to use until they get off planet, and that is if they don't die on an alien moon because of all those problems.

3. The Efforts of the Resistance

Every time I got to talk with the Resistance members was a highlight for me. I truly do not understand how some people don't like Priya. I found her adorable, and she gave me Penelope Garcia vibes from Criminal Minds. And her budding romance with Resistance Pilot Anqa, whose history with incursion on her desert homeland inspired her to take action against the RDA.

Or Hajir's regrets for playing part in the Severeds origins, concluding how they are in a constant state of anger and sadness.

Or Billy, who break-dances as he's helping you escape imprisonment, before sacrificing himself to save what's left of the Resistance.

And then there's the Na'vi Clans that I just loved and each and every one of it's characters had me giddy. The playful old grandmother in Nefika and her immediate action to take us in and show us around the Hometree, the Zeswa sisters and their rightous anger over the poaching, the eccentricities of Okul and their faith in the Kame'tire's tradtions.

Honestly I could go on and on about every single character in this game. Nalin and her tentative offer to fill in the void of mother during the party, the Burden Carrier and the Milk Crafter who got drunk off their ass, saying the zakru can fly while we're trying to warn them of impending danger and Mosaka, who not only gave our clan's location away to the RDA, but used their deaths to manipulate his way into power and control over the clan by framing Anufi for their demise. (BTW, fuck you Mosaka)

That's all I got for now, but once the DLCs come in, I am defiantly playing through the whole game again and I may come back to this post with an update when that happens, along with my stance on said DLCs.

So, hope your all having a good day and buh-bye!

#Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora #na'vi #john mercer #general harding #teylan #the sarentu #ikran #the rda suck #the aranahe #the zeswa #the kame'tire #zakru #alma cortez #jake sully #the omaticaya #earth

[where-theres-smoak-2]

Without forgetting that when Loki says the famous “for you”, Sylvie inhales suddenly and loudly. A somewhat unnecessary reaction, if it is not to underline something a little more special coming from the character, other than simply understanding that Loki sacrifices himself for the multiverse, since she literally verbalizes this famous understanding in the seconds that follow.

Also, it would be a little weird if Loki said "for you" in the plural, and then said "for all of us". It's quite repetitive and I feel like no one talks like that. It's as if Loki said "For all of you. For all of us." And it wouldn't make sense for "for you" to be as much for Mobius as Sylvie, therefore the equivalent of "For both of you. For all of us." Since Mobius is not considered at all in the same way as Sylvie in the framing, or he is withdrawn and in the shadows. The image suggests that Loki is looking at Sylvie and the dialogue echoing old conversations they had allows the viewer to understand that he is talking to Sylvie. But I think it's pretty obvious that Sylvie understands it too. Because if he looked at her as the image suggests, there's no reason for her to think he's talking to her as much as he is to Mobius. And once again, the plural "for you" would be the equivalent of saying "For all of you. For all of us." Which is… a bit stupid? Again… Nobody talks like that?

Just my opinion.

Yeah I agree with all of this. To me the only way it makes sense is if the 'for you' is directed solely at Sylvie, there's just too much to signify that it was to her, the parallel to the thor movie where the line was first said, with the 'for you' being directed at a singular person and the 'for all of us' directed at everyone else. The fact that it is a follow on from conversations he had with Sylvie alone and the fact that Sylvie is front and centre in that scene.

I see alot of arguments saying that well why would mobius be there if it wasn't directed at them both. My answer to this would be because he is still an important person in Loki's life. Personally I see Loki, Sylvie and Mobius as the main trio of the show, the three main characters. Loki is the centre and then you have, Sylvie the love and Mobius the best friend, both are equally important and so it was important that both be there in this final moment as Loki had this self discovery about who he really wanted to be and when he made this sacrifice. But that doesn't automatically mean that the 'for you' was directed at both of them. In the same way that both Odin and Thor are important people in Loki's life and they were both there the first time he said that line but there is still no arguing that the 'for you' in that moment was directed only at his father and not also at thor.

To me it just isn't a very logical argument to say that it has to be directed at both simply because they were both there. Whilst both relationships are important that doesn't mean that every meaningful line or act Loki does has to be directed at both all the time. And as you said if it was directed at both its him basically saying 'for all of you, for all of us' which doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

But who knows maybe it was directed at both of them, I don't personally think it was, but who knows what goes on in the writers/producers/actors' heads unless they explicitly tell us, that might be the only way we'll know for sure. Or maybe there's a language out there where there is a different word for a plural you and a singular you and we can check the subtitles? I don't know on that one though. Although thinking about it some more another way it could be cleared up is if they decided to do a novelisation of season 2 like they did season 1 so we can see exactly what loki was thinking in that moment, maybe that would clear up any confusion. But for now I'm choosing to see it as the 'for you' was directed at solely Sylvie and unless I see some concrete prove to suggest otherwise that's what I'm sticking with.

#sylki #loki x sylvie #answered

[nicoappreciation]

thots on tsats

okay this is gonna be very long and extremely rambly and not very planned out ok? ok. spoilers under the cut

FINE. I LIKED IT. WHATEVER. hit me with a car.

obviously there were parts of it that i didn't like. obviously there were moments that i felt were out of character. nevertheless, i had a lot of fucking fun while reading it. i love nico and overall i'd say i'm happy with where the story leaves him. yes, this book's existence is extremely unnecessary. but i appreciate it for what it is.

okay let's get the main things i didn't like out of the way:

nico would NOT know who lil nas x is. also why was the montero music video mentioned in a book for middle schoolers.

i understand the role that nyx is meant to play in the story and the message of it but idk i kinda wish they did her character a bit differently. she really reminded me of white diamond from steven universe i'm so sorry.

speaking of nyx that WHOOOLE weird "our children" thing with nico and the cacodemons. that made me very uncomfortable.

last nyx complaint the final confrontation with her ended pretty anticlimactically. kinda like with gaea, it felt like the way to defeat her was a little too simple. but y'know i haven't really been satisfied by a final battle since tlo so. that's just how it is.

it felt like will was kiiiiinda useless for a lot of it. obviously he was important for the story but i wish they had let him do some more cool stuff besides occasionally shooting some light lasers. i get he's a healer but why didn't he bring a WEAPON??? like at the very least he could have had a bow or a knife. y'know we haven't really had a character who uses a blunt force weapon as their main one besides hedge. i would've liked to see will with just a baseball bat or something LMAO.

kind of an add-on to the last one i think that will was nerfed wayyy too much. it makes sense that the underworld would weaken him, but it sometimes felt like they were stopping every five minutes to let him rest. we've seen before that he's quite strong and athletic, i just feel like he should've had a bit more stamina.

there were a few dialogue moments that sounded like they came from some extremely online gay teenager and not nico and will. "bisexual chaos" haunts me. he would not fucking say that.

NO HAZEL APPEARANCE and NO REYNA MENTION. this is the worst one.

i feel like tartarus should've been more physically dangerous. like they fought some monsters here and there and the terrain was hard to navigate but most of the dangers that they dealt with were more mental/emotional. you could argue that we got the physical danger from percy and annabeth's journey so that's why this one focuses more on the mental danger and i could see why you'd think that. but idk sometimes it felt like it was a little toooo easy y'know.

there were some parts of the backstories and flashbacks that were inconsistent with the previous books, like nico saying he spent weeks at camp half blood when he first arrived when he was actually there for only one. but continuity errors are just par for the course with these books at this point so it honestly doesn't bother me too much. we make our own canon.

i'm not a fan of the name cocoa puffs. i feel like they could've come up with something better.

i'm sure there are more that i'm forgetting, but those are my main gripes. okay now onto the things that i liked!!!!

the book was fun. it was just fun. there were some jokes that i genuinely laughed at and there weren't really any points that felt like a slog to read through. i was pretty consistently entertained the whole time.

WILL AND NICO WERE CUTE OKAY. THEY WERE CUTE. maybe this is just 12-year-old me talking but i sincerely found their relationship very sweet. it's abundantly clear how much they both care about each other and what they're willing to do to protect each other. they mean a lot to me okay.

i want to specifically draw attention to the part where it was revealed that nico gave will his skull ring and now he wears it on a necklace. absolutely devastated me. changed my life. people died. in a good way.

I LOVEDDDD the tension and conflict that will and nico had between them for most of the book. it made their relationship so much more believable to me! they haven't even been together for a year! they're complete opposites! they had very different upbringings! they're in an INCREDIBLY STRESSFUL AND DANGEROUS SITUATION in an environment that is literally designed to dig up their biggest frustrations and insecurities! they're going to clash and have fights and have very different worldviews that they need to work through. that doesn't make them a bad couple like i've seen some people say. tell me you've never had a loved one say something hurtful or ignorant to you. tell me you've never said something hurtful or ignorant to a loved one. you can't! because you have! but if you love each other you talk about it and work through it and try your best to understand each other!!!!!!

adding to the last one i like how the conflict got resolved by will realizing he needs to put in more effort to understand nico and nico realizing he needs to open up more to allow will to understand him. open and honest communication and a willingness to be vulnerable babey!!! if you want to be loved you have to submit to the mortifying ordeal of being known!!!!!!!

I LOVED. THE DREAM SEQUENCES. they all went so hard. some of them were downright disturbing. good shit.

even if they had some continuity errors, i enjoyed the flashback scenes and the backstories. we got quite a lot more than i thought we would. i was not expecting to see the entirety of nico's first journey through tartarus. it hurt me a lot.

i think it's cute they're making it canon that nico and will knew of each other since pjo. they were in each other's orbit before they even knew it. it actually got me thinking about some of my own relationships. i have a friend i knew back when i was 4 who i completely forgot about for years, only for us to reconnect by chance when we were 12 and be best friends ever since. i have a friend who was a vague acquaintance of mine for years, but then one day we somehow started talking more and now they're one of the closest friends i've ever had. idk. something about meeting someone once at the wrong time and then again at the right one.

nico was very cool. he was also a massive dweeb. he can do both. i love him.

i like the cacodemons as a very literal metaphor for learning to live with your trauma and the "worst" parts of yourself. celeste vibes dare i say. also nico just has a bunch of lil guys following him around now and i think that's neat.

fuck man. i like seeing nico be happy. i like seeing him in a happy relationship with someone he loves and who loves him just as much. i like that he's still learning to let go of his grief and move on. i like that he's hopeful at the end of the book that he can actually find happiness. he's always been one of the most tragic characters in the pjo-verse and it's so nice to see him just being HAPPY.

despite how hard to believe it was i did really like the little dream scene with the whole di angelo family. nico got to talk to bianca and maria one last time, he got to hug his dad, he finally got to rest for a bit. it was very cathartic and i maybe cried.

this book's message was very clearly for young queer kids who don't have everything figured out yet. you're allowed to change. you don't have to always be one thing. your past doesn't define you. you can find love. you can have hope. no matter how badly written you believe the story is, no matter how inconsistent you believe the characterization is, it's hard to deny how important these messages are and how badly some kids need to hear them. if the book has one redeeming quality, it's this.

so. yeah. i liked it. i had a good time. there's more that i could say but i would honestly just end up adding onto this forever. people who don't like the book have plenty of valid reasons to feel that way, even if i may not agree with some of them. at the end of the day, this story and these characters are not real. please be nice to each other and try not to take things too seriously. we're all just a bunch of late teens and young adults reading a book series for middle schoolers, and i think that's beautiful. thank you for reading if you actually made it this far, i know it was a lot. peace and love on planet earth.

#THANK YOU AND GOODNIGHT #the sun and the star #tsats #tsats spoilers #the sun and the star spoilers #nico book spoilers #text #my post

[transmascutena]

Never got around telling you that I watched the transfeminism in utena essay and loved it!

Today I finally rewatched Adolescence and loved it as well, I think it's one of my favorite movies, it's visually stunning and so amazingly haunting/hypnotizing, felt like I was in a trance while watching it.

(and oh my god Anthy is my favorite character in anime of all time, I adore that she gets so much more dialogue and screen time in this, specially towards the end. Hearing her say the "Give me the power to revolutionize the world!" line made me tear up)

Just wondering your thoughts on it, or your favorite thing about it (?) Idk! If you have any rant about aou I'd love to read it

sure, i'll rant a bit about aou! this is mostly just my thoughts on various parts i like and dislike, not really any analysis.

i have mixed feelings on adolescence that change every time i watch it but mostly they're positive. i think my favorite thing about it is anthy. i love that we get to see her be more free and more forward. i love that it's her narrative, that we get to see what her and ohtori are like without akio (though still haunted by him.) i love the reading of the movie as a sequel, in that the show is about anthy escaping her abuse, while the movie is about the lingering trauma from it. i love the "we were together in killing the prince" line from utena at the end. i love that they're both free and together now. i also love the visuals of it, of course, it's a gorgeous movie. and i appreciate that we get to see utena and anthy in a much more explicitly romantic relationship, even though i do prefer the subtlety of the show by a lot. all their scenes together are very good, but i especially like the bedroom scene, the dance scene, and the drawing scene (i want to write some proper analysis of them sometime). i love the layers of metaphor and symbolism in every part of the movie, and that it feels even more abstract than the show. i love the car scene, it's silly and it's symbolic and it's emotionally impactful <3

on the other hand i think pretty much every part of the movie that isn't about anthy and utena is .. not very good in comparison (to the parts that are about them, and to the show.) which makes sense when you read the movie as anthy's narrative. of course she's not really focused on any of the other characters. saionji especially lacks literally all of his depth, which i think is just funny when thinking about it through that interpretation. uh, i hate the nanami cow scene which i've talked about before. i think it's unnecessary and uncomfortable and purposeless. i do however like that she doesn't appear in ohtori, because of the implication that she escaped. i appreciate touga's backstory reveal, though i don't really care for his role in the movie very much. it's never felt all that coherent to me, though i do understand what it's saying about the themes of the prince being dead. shiori has a weird antagonistic role that i don't know how to feel about. she's lacking a lot of her depth too, and i'm not sure i fully understand her motivations. or maybe i do and they're just not that interesting to me. hmm what else . akio is a far less interesting character than in the show also, but i think it works. he's not very intimidating, incredibly pathetic even, because anthy has already left/has already made the choice to leave him. also i like that he kills himself :)

i don't want to directly compare it to the show when talking about what i like about it, because obviously i like the show more. but i don't think the movie is trying to like.. compete with the show in terms of which you like better. because it isn't just a retelling of the same story. if it was, a 39 episode long tv series would always beat it in how developed its characters and themes are. which is why i think the movie works much much better when read as either a literal sequel to the show or as a continuation of its themes. it doesn't stand very well on its own in my opinion, aside from how pretty it is.

#adolescence of utena #asks #m

[whyismangososour]

okay so after re-watching across the spiderverse for the third time (yes I have a problem shut up) I basically BOOKED it to the theater that was playing the miraculous movie and although I can barely understand a word of french the animation was expressive enough for me to still have some thoughts though I’m sure they are limited without proper access to the dialogue (so keep that in mind if you care about spoilers lol) anyway I need a place to put all this so here we go (in no particular order):

- I completely forgot this was a musical until the first song played and so did everyone else in the theater based off their groans of indignation

- basically every time they started singing the whole theater groaned very loudly and it almost got annoying but that could be cause I can’t judge the songs properly yet as I literally don’t understand them

- they also groaned and laughed a lot whenever adrien was getting emotional which????? made me annoyed because he’s one of the few boys in popular media who is shown to be soft and emotional as a strength and honestly the movie just turned it around and played it for jokes and it lowkey pissed me off

- they played careless whisper twice during scenes where adrien is simping too hard and a lot of people found it funny but I thought it was weird and uncomfortable but maybe that’s just me

- oh and about the songs whoever the singer is for Marinette does NOT sound like the regular speaking voice actor and it sticks out like a sore thumb

- again this could be because I’m missing out on the dialogue but I fear some people on tumblr were right when predicting this interpretation of Marinette :/ her only personality traits are being clumsy, being anxious, being bullied, being friendless, basically being like Bella Swan which no disrespect to Twilight fans but I MISSED my Marinette :( the thing I love most about her is how absolutely batshit insane she is and how good of a leader she is and how even the things this movie portrays are almost coded like ADHD and an actual anxiety disorder in the show not just an “uwu sad I’m not like other girls” trait

- also while I’m complaining I’m so sad they didn’t delve more into some of the side characters from the show like I would’ve loved for the movie to focus on the OG team of Carapace, Rena Rouge, Queen Bee with the main two or even just if it has a side plot with Luka or something it would’ve been nice but I also kinda get it because a movie has significant less time than a show to go into stuff like that

- also Alya and Nino’s relationship was so botched too because Nino is like a blubbering mess around her which??? the whole point of their relationship is how Nino realizes he likes and then loves Alya because he DOESN’T stutter around her like he did when he had a crush on Marinette and it’s supposed to provide this parallel to Marinette to show how being in a relationship can be steady and calm but whatever I guess we don’t care about any of the side characters now

- anyway Tikki raps at one point and for that alone I think Jeremy Zag should be arrested

- GABRIEL HAD LONG HAIR WHEN HE WAS YOUNG AND HE LOOKS SO STUPIDLGJF

- someone on Letterboxd called Adrien a wattpad bad boy again idk if that’s true cause I didn’t understand the dialogue but pls keep it in mind as you watch it

- a lot of people are praising the animation and on the one hand I think it’s earned because oh my god the action scenes are BEAUTIFUL but on the other hand the characters sometimes have this weird flat, lifeless vibe to them like a character from an illumination movie and idk it was weird

- granted the flat lifeless vibe could’ve been from the weird editing there was such a lack of establishing shots for so many scenes it made me disoriented about where a character was or what they were doing

- also the director refuses in every scene with Marinette and Alya talking to frame them in any interesting environments or angles ever it’s always the same flat and boring shot where they face the front like a sit com character

- anyway the third act was the best because it’s basically all actions scenes and it looks fucking fantastic 😌

- THE AKUMAS WERE SO GREAT I LOVED SEEING THEM EVERUTIME THEY WERE ON SCREEN AHHHHHFH

- even Gabriel looked less ugly in his Hawkmoth mask believe it or not

- I think there’s a chance ladynoir stans might have a good time with this cause there’s a lot of scenes with that dynamic even if it is offset by musical numbers

- sometimes the animation for musical numbers was very very or pretty and sometimes it felt pretty corny which

- made me think that this could’ve been a better 2D animated film since they’re clearly trying to pull a Disney 2.0 Electric Boogaloo with this film (but I might be biased since I had just watched across the spiderverse for the third time like 3 minutes before watching this)

- but they never delved into any of the world building like ever :/ like they never really show anything about how the powers work so nothing is ever established and they don’t even show all the powers!!!! Marinette doesn’t even use her lucky charms once!!!!! wtf dude

- when Marinette meets Adrien for the first two seconds it’s cute but quickly I got annoyed because they didn’t have her start off disliking him because she thinks he’s like Chloe like they did in the show and I feel like that’s such an important part of their relationship that they just completely ignored

- sorry adrienette stans most of their scenes are just lumped together in a montage lmao

- rip stans for other sides of the lovesquare they don’t get any screen time I’m sorry y’all

-although the end scene being presumedly a school dance is dumb and cliche and way too American for a French movie I did love Marinette’s dress I think it’s very beautiful (though buggachat’s ballgown in beau is still my favorite)

- I swear to god I think the animators made a reference to the joker dancing on stairs scene in one of gabriel’s musical numbers but I could’ve imagined it it was so quick

- also the ending felt very weird maybe I’m too used to fandom interpretations where Gabriel and Adrien being revealed to each other is super angsty lmao but it really did feel too happy of an ending like I genuinely don’t know if this is realistic for the characters

- or maybe it is but it’s just realistic for worse versions of the characters !!! because although this could be cause I missed all the dialogue but I swear gabriel doesn’t come off as abusive as he is in the show he just kinda gives off the vibe of a regular bad father which is super lame because that’s another part of the show that I think is super interesting

- also I swear to god I think the themes of emotional maturity and processing your emotions in general are just??? not there???? I’ll have to update y’all after I watch it in English but I swear???????????

- this really does just feel like a miraculous version of the mario movie it’s like all the life of the original is sucked out of it and is replaced by hollow references and an implication that the audience already understands everything because they watched the show so the filmmakers don’t have to explain anything which??? bad film makers bad *sprays with a water bottle*

- and listen I get that it’s an adaptation and it’s not possible for it to include EVERYTHING from the show but I was at least hoping for the same heart and/or a different take on the concept but that’s not what this felt like it felt too cheap and corporate and american (derogatory) to even really try

anyway those are just my thoughts and opinions and I am very open to all of them changing once I watch this in a language I actually fully understand but until then WATCH ACROSS THE SPIDERVERSE (unless you have light sensitivity issues then pls don't cause I don't want you to die ily) ok I’m gonna go shower now bye

#miraculous #Miraculous Ladybug #miraculous awakening #miraculous movie #miraculous awakening spoilers