#but overall its something you can just settle into and be very content with

[luvj4key]

you're mine, all mine | 심재윤

୨ৎ pairing: sim jaeyun x fem reader ୨ৎ genre: fluff ୨ৎ word count: 0.9k ୨ৎ warning: kissng, jake's in love <;3 ୨ৎ requested? yes

୨ৎ luvj4key's note: i live for soft jake. anon ty for requesting this <3 i also imagined sweet by cas playing in the bg

If someone were to ask Jake what his favorite time of day was, with no hesitation he would say the time he gets off work because that’s the time he gets to come home to you, the only person that has his whole heart. He feels safe knowing that the second he comes home, you welcome him with open arms and overall just be in his presence. Call him dramatic but he can feel all the stress leave his body the second he sees you. You’re his everything.

Jake can already feel a smile creep up onto his face as he unlocks the door to your shared apartment. Stepping foot inside, he was immediately met with the sound of your footsteps getting closer and closer to him. Around the corner revealed you with your pretty smile and twinkling eyes, instantly causing Jake’s heart to melt at the sight. Barely giving him the chance to close the front door, you threw your arms around his neck, bringing him into your tight, warm embrace. 

Letting out a soft laugh and returning the hug, he breathed out, “Hey, pretty.”

The two of you let go and Jake was quick to pull you into a soft kiss, “Did you eat yet? I brought home some dinner for us.” he asked after pulling away, he held up a bag of your favorite food.

“Not yet, I wanted to wait for you to get home so we could decide on something. Here, you go ahead and wash up while I heat this up.” you offered. He smiled and nodded, heading off to your bedroom.

After Jake finished showering, the two of you settled down to eat dinner. It mostly consisted of you guys catching up on what you did for the day, the things you accomplished, the funny stories, pretty much anything that came to mind. It was a nice, relaxing time for the both of you since you haven’t seen each other for a majority of the day. By the time you wake up in the morning, Jake has already left for work so pretty much the only time you get to see him would be at nighttime after he gets home so you try to make the most of it. 

Dating an idol has its ups and downs. There are some good days and there are some bad days. No matter what though, you and Jake promised that you won’t let that affect your relationship so here you are still going very strong. At the end of the day, what matters is that you come home to each other and be embraced with nothing but unconditional love.

You finish your dinner and head to the kitchen to wash the dishes. Jake couldn’t help but stare and admire you. You’re so beautiful in his eyes, he felt very lucky to have you by his side. Sometimes he even wonders how he managed to score someone like you. It’s safe to say that he’s head over heels in love with you and nothing could ever change that. Nobody could ever take him from you. As you do the dishes, you feel as if someone was staring at you from behind. You turn your head and meet Jake’s glance. Smiling at him you say, “What’s on your mind?”

“Just how beautiful you are and how much I love you.” he said softly, causing you to blush at his words. No matter how many times you hear it, it’s always going to have the same effect on you.

“You’re such a smooth talker Ikeu…”

“I’m only speaking the truth my love,” you could only hum at his response. “Let’s go to bed, yeah?” Before you even have a chance to respond, you let out a yelp as you felt Jake’s arms around your waist and under your legs, carrying you bridal style to your bedroom. Placing you down gently under the covers, Jake joins you shortly and pulls you onto his chest, his hands immediately finding its way towards your head. He lets his fingers run through your hair, bringing instant comfort to you. He knew this. Sighing in content, you snuggled closer to Jake. A comfortable silence fills the air, it’s just the two of you enjoying each other’s company.

A few moments pass until Jake breaks the silence, “I love you Y/N… so much.”

Your heartbeat speeds up, “I love you Jaeyun.”

“You’re so good to me, words can’t even explain how much I appreciate you. I’m so happy to have you by my side, it feels good knowing that I can always come to you for anything. You’re all I ever wanted…I can’t lose you.” you can feel his hold of you getting tighter, as if he was scared that you’d slip away if he ever let go.

“I’m not going anymore Jaeyun, you’re stuck with me till the end.” you tilted your head up already finding Jake’s head lowered towards yours. You stared into each other’s eyes for a moment before nuzzling your nose against his. Jake giggled at the feeling causing you to laugh along with him. Loving the sound of your laughter, Jake wanted to hear more of it so he suddenly started to tickle your sides. Not even lasting a second, you started squirming and laughing. Failing to keep a straight face, Jake starts giggling. 

“Okay, okay truce,” you managed to say. Catching your breath you say, “I’m tired now.”

Jake laughed, “Did I tire you out?” he reached out to brush a strand of hair out of your face, you nodded. “Okay, I think it’s about time to sleep then, c’mere.” he gestured for you to come closer to which you did. After calming down, you feel the tiredness slowly start to take over your body. Your eyes grow heavier, getting closer and closer to falling asleep. You hear Jake whisper, “My forever person.” before falling into a deep slumber.

#luvj4key's collection💌 #enhypen #enhypen imagines #enhypen scenarios #enhypen fluff #enhypen x reader #jake sim #sim jaeyun #jake sim imagines #jake sim scenarios #jake sim fluff #jake x reader #jaeyun x reader #enhypen soft hours #jake sim soft hours

[calmcoldevening]

Teasing

Bo Sinclair x reader [University AU]

maybe this is the part one

Tw: teasing, a little dirty talk, professor x student (he's your husband also)

You've been living a domestic life for quite a long time. After graduating from school about seven years ago, you were determined to be a sweet wife and diligent hostess, but on your last birthday something in your head clicked and you decided to get back to school. You went to university.

Overall, it was pretty simple. You already had certain skills in this field, besides, it was a very creative faculty (of your choice), so there were no difficulties in mastering it. And the young students were very friendly with you, the young girls immediately saw you as a 'mommy' and often turned to you for different advice, you even became very friendly. Everything was just perfect. Exactly up to the moment when the pairs began on such a subject as history. These classes were taught by none other than your husband, Bo Sinclair.

In general, this did not arouse anyone's suspicions. You went to university with your maiden name, and your age difference with Bo was almost ten years. No one would have thought of it. But the man obviously tensed up when he saw you in the lecture hall. Well, that was interesting.

It was quite early in the morning, the sun lazily penetrated into the lecture hall through the windows of the auditorium and shone unpleasantly into the eyes. It was a history class and the first couple, so the room wasn't as packed with students as it used to be closer to lunch. You lazily settled into your seat, resting your head on your hand and examining your own nails. The teacher was late. It was quite boring to sit in this cool place so early, but you were determined to play the role of a diligent student in the first year, and then how will it work out. Your body tingled a little from the feeling of other people's eyes. Seriously. Sometimes it felt like those puberty boys were about to burn a hole in your back.

Finally, the teacher entered the classroom. He closed the door with one sharp movement, which made it creak unpleasantly, causing many students to wake up, grumbling something displeased. The man apologized for being late, looking around at those present, and began to teach the lesson.

You didn't really understand the content of his words. The only thing that occupied your mind right now was the image of your husband in that charming formal suit. This formal attire was surprisingly becoming to him. Bo's hair was neatly combed back, and under a black jacket he wore a neatly pressed shirt with a dark tie. The clothes that you ironed for him with your own hands the day before. And oh my God, your sleepy fantasy couldn't help but think about those muscles under that dark cloth. Those toned arms, a small tummy and well-defined pectoral muscles. Without noticing it, you bit your lower lip.

You could feel Bo's inquisitive gaze sliding over you from time to time during class. Those divine blue eyes, full of a strange burning luster. They seemed almost bitterly cold in the light of the morning sun.

Finally, the lecture ended. All the students grabbed their bags and hurried out of the classroom as soon as possible, clearly wanting to get out of this 'building of knowledge' as soon as possible. You didn't immediately notice that the room was empty, and continued to stare at the table, which was leaning back in its seat. A low, hoarse voice pulled you out of your thoughts, giving you goosebumps.

"What's your intention doing that, love?"

His unintentionally rude speech with that bright deep accent made you instantly bite your lip in anticipation. You looked up at him, resting your head on your hand and grinning arrogantly.

"Doing what, sir?"

You noticed how his shoulders visibly stiffened from your treatment. You enjoyed teasing him so much.

"You know what are you doing, love. You're not even paying attention to my lecture."

You giggled, "How can I pay attention to the lecture if there's so handsome man in front of me, mm?"

Bo frowned. He came closer to your desk, leaning on it and hanging over you. The wood creaked uncomfortably under his sudden weight. The man's gaze burned through the top of your head.

"Can you repeat that again?"

"I can't pay attention to the lecture because I'm watching this sexy man," You said, looking up at him with teasing smile.

God, how could you be so sweet and innocent and so brave at the same time? The man's breathing faltered for a moment, and he swallowed nervously. It seemed to get a lot hotter in the room when you were brazenly staring at your professor's tense face like that. Her husband. His jaw visibly tightened, and small wreaths appeared on his forehead. Sinclair was clearly losing his patience.

He returned to his place as a professor at his desk. The man's gaze never left you. Finally, Bo patted his thigh, calling you to him in a gruff voice. You immediately perked up, forgetting about any fatigue. Teasing this man was fun, of course, but when it came to something more interesting, it was even better. You got up from your seat, deliberately walking slowly towards his desk. You were wearing a loose plaid shirt and jeans that he liked you so much. Bo couldn't look away.

You are quite settled in his lap, wrapping your arms around his neck. The man sighed, squeezing your waist with his hands and burying his nose in your hair. The smell of your body always calmed him down and gave him a sense of security. As long as he was rude to everyone, you should always give light to the soft part of his heart. You were his soft spot, his home.

"I know that right now I'm your professor and you're my student and it all looks so weird.. But I'm still your husband. And I see those little bastards staring at you. Damn, they're literally undressing you with their eyes!" Raising his voice, Bo muttered, his grip on your body tightened, "..and I'm watching too. I just can't help but watch. You're so beautiful and you're mine. Only mine. My beloved wife. You're distracting me from my studies. And sometimes I just want to spit on it all, grab your hand and go home .."

After being silent for a couple of minutes, the man finally moved back, leaning back in his chair. His hand gently touched your cheek.

"How am I supposed to teach those fucking kids if I can't stop looking at this wonderful woman? And damn it, you like it, don't you?"

The man chuckled. One of his hands tightened around your waist, while the other slowly rose higher, climbing under the fabric of your T-shirt and stroking your bare stomach. An involuntary sigh escaped from your chest from his rough hand.

"So perfect.. But she's so naughty. I just can't ignore it. Bad behavior should be punished, shouldn't it, my sweet student?"

#slashers x reader #bo sinclair x reader #bo sinclair #bo sinclair x you #bo sinclair imagine

[mksbigg3stfan]

so umm umm you know, when you have free time ummm RADESSE /explode

i need opinions, the only ones i see are extremely neutral or simple hate cough cough, i would love to read what you think moot!!

Of course, sure thing !!

Radar x Jesse

Kind of unusual ship, I haven't seen much content of it. If I'm being honest, I didn't know it was a ship until I saw your blog! If Radesse were to have a food comparison like the other ships, I'd say it's some kind of rare fruit, like cherimoya or something, because of how unusual it is. Not bad, just unusual. (Apparently they taste super good!!)

I can say that you seem to characterize Radar pretty well! People in the MCSM fandom seem to sort of ... infantalize (?) And kind of baby Radar even though he's a grown adult. One that has tattoos and has had multiple jobs before ... So I'd say a lot of the hate for the ship (and any ship with Radar) comes from the infantalization of him, which makes people think of him as a younger, more impressionable, "must be protected character." Which doesn't really make sense. Radar hates being talked down to, and he probably wouldn't appreciate being treated like a kid when he's an independent adult.

Besides that, Radar had never considered himself an adventurous person. He's always loved hearing legends, admiring heroes and foes from afar. But when he follows Jesse, Radar discovers his talent with long-range weapons and that he is much stronger than he thinks. By the end of MCSM, Radar has grown into himself much more and is a lot more confident, plus less anxious.

You honestly make super cute Radesse art, and I love your Lapis Lazuli Au !! (jwjejrnanns) Honestly, it's kind of cute how in your AU they settle down together in the future, and Lapis is really cute! Domestic fluffy stuff is always adorable in my opinion, and your art is so warm and bright that it makes every piece feel inviting and like a piece into the little world you made for after MCSM ends.

Jesse is good at cooperating with people, and they are a really inviting, helpful person. I see Jesse as a more adventurous, can't stay down person, but I like how you portrayed them as more of a like, "I've travelled the sntire world, and had 1000s of adventures and quests, so now I'm ready to settle down (except I'm like 30-35)." It kinds of reminds me of how Jack and Nurm settled down together.

Overall, I think your Radesse is really cute! But, like all ships, it has a few flaws. Not that it isn't cute! In game, if you take too long to make a choice when talking to Radar, Jesse defaults to a pretty cold response. There's also the issue with the idolization of Jesse Radar has going on. It's kind of unhealthy for him and Jesse, especially when it makes Jesse uncomfortable.

Besides that, I think Radesse is just something that couldn't happen during in-game time. It would have to take place after MCSM ends, and Radar gets over his idolization of Jesse and starts seeing them as just a person that he admires. (Also, Jesse's thirst for adventure dying down.) After a year or two, maybe more, I think I can see where you're coming from onJesse coming back and settling down, and them slowburning into admiring each other. Like Jesse admiring the confidence Radar has grown, and how he's taken care of Beacontown, and Radar finding Jesse themself admirable, not their heroic deeds. But, I just think again, it's a ship that would need to happen after MCSM ends to make sense.

I don't really ship Radesse or hate it, so I don't have a super strong opinion on how their relationship should be. (Maybe besides it having to happen after the game ends if it happens lol) But, if it happens after game, I'd say it would be slightly toxic at first, but they'd probably find their place. In game run time though, I can't really see it happening.

In its defense, it definitely isn't a proship or just something that totally doesn't make sense like ... idk, Jesse x witherstorm ??? And people seem to hate it very much, but there's nothing like, inherently problematic about it, it seems like? Anyways, keep making your Lapis Lazuli au and the Radesse because tbh it's really cute !! ( ´∀｀ )b

#mcsm #minecraft story mode #minecraftstorymode #mcsm jesse #mcsm radar #radar mcsm #jesse mcsm

[itsclydebitches]

RWBY Recaps: "Altercation at the Auspicious Auction"

Happy, uh... Tuesday, everyone! I'm a little bit behind 😬

Man oh man, but do I have mixed feelings about this episode. While drafting today's recap I kept trying to come up with a summary to start with; an abbreviated takeaway of my overall thoughts - especially for any readers who don't feel like wading through the whole post. Unfortunately, anything that simplistic kinda misses the point, so you all are just gonna have to settle for a, "I'm a glass case of mixed emotions!" while we unpack this episode.

First, a note about our title. Last week I bypassed commenting on "A Place of Particular Concern" for the simple reason that I wasn't sure what to do with it yet. Now, I think I understand the general vibe that RWBY is going for, though it does surprise me a little. The alliteration of "Altercation at the Auspicious Auction" is definitely catchy, but it doesn't have much of a Wonderland feel to it. Carroll's chapter titles were, by and large, descriptively straightforward:

Down the Rabbit-Hole

The Pool of Tears

Advice from a Caterpillar

Who Stole the Tarts?

You get the idea. They're very accessible for a child because although the combination might be new - how does one get advice from a caterpillar? - every element is familiar. They know what a rabbit-hole is, a tart, a pool, tears, etc. just not how those elements are fitting together in new ways. RWBY's titles, meanwhile, are a little more complex. Which isn't a bad thing, they're just not titles that would have fit well into Carroll's original or, arguably, fit the whimsical, fairy tale, 'This is kinda for kids' vibe of the Volume thus far. If anything, what we've gotten reminds me of Lemony Snicket's work. An auspicious auction sounds like it belongs smack dab in the austere academy.

Anyway, let's get into the actual story. Last we left off, Volume 9 was struggling significantly with its tone and I'm sorry to say that things haven't improved in that regard. If anything, the introduction of better written, more emotionally driven scenes means that they're suffering from the endless gags surrounding them and those gags, in turn, feel all the more out of place. We open on the girls all looking out on the world that Blake has revealed to them, though none of the emotion from last week has transferred over. Ruby and Yang are just kinda blank as they stare ahead, whereas Blake and Weiss appear intrigued by what's before them. Blake I can understand - the episode goes out of its way to frame her as the book nerd who's prepared to navigate this world and though I mentioned in a recent ask that Ruby feels more like the fairy tale lover to me, I do really like that Blake is given agency as the bibliophile again - but Weiss spends the entire episode having an absolute crisis over navigating a fairy tale, so why she's animated looking smugly pleased at this development is beyond me.

This is a common problem though, especially is modern RWBY. Unless the story is going out of its way to highlight a particular emotion (such as Ruby's depression at certain points) then everyone is given randomly generic expressions to fill a shot. Rarely do I feel like the smaller moments accurately reflect the overall mood. If a character is angry, they're just as likely to be smiling while someone else talks; if a character is frustrated, they're just as likely to appear content when the focus is no longer on them. In some ways this highlights the difficulties inherent in animation - you can't just let an actor do their job in the background, you have to actively conceive of and construct a characters' every micro-expression - but, the issue of crunch aside, it's still something the show could improve on. If your character is on screen, make sure their expressions actually matches what's been going on.

So we're off to a slightly rocky start and then, of course, we really kick things off with a joke. Yang wants to know if they're just going to stand around thinking about this in silence, or...?

Yeah, we definitely needed the meta acknowledgement that there was a break between episodes and we don't technically know how long the girls were staring at the view in-world. That's absolutely the best way to follow up on Ruby collapsing over the death of a friend🤦‍♀️

It'll come as no surprise to anyone who has seen the episode that this will be a common complaint from me today. Consistently the writing portions out moments for Ruby to be sad about what's happened, neatly separated from the rest of the story, and everything surrounding those moments works very hard to undermine that emotion. For example, in this moment I couldn't help but re-frame what we've been given through Yang's perspective: she saved her little sister and in the process fell into a terrifying void, waking with the thought that she's probably dead. Her arm was stolen from her and she somehow encountered a (meant to be) terrifying beast she wasn't able to fully defend herself against. This led to her reuniting with her team and the realization that them being here meant that they failed spectacularly to defend the world above. Weiss confirms this by tearfully admitting that one of their friends has died and Ruby is so shocked that she passes out.

So how does Yang react to all that? With incredibly bland questions about whether Ruby is okay. No physical comfort. Lots of jokes about their situation and, as we'll see later, an endless desire to punch someone's lights out - but even that is presented as a cute character quirk, not a symptom of her trauma. Yang - and everyone else - is only reacting to the horrors of Volume 8 when the story wants them to react, the Bad Emotions flipping on and off depending on whether the writers want another gag or not.

But I'm getting way ahead of myself. The point is that we begin with this sarcastically cheery tone and segue right into more animation humor. Ruby says that it's impossible that they're in a fairy tale, but Blake points out Little as evidence. (Side-note: how is that irrefutable evidence when the woman giving it is part CAT?) A highlighted mouse and Ruby's sweat-drop convey that yes, this is really happening! Because we can't convince the characters without those humorous details.

Oddly though, Little agrees with Ruby? We see them nodding along when Ruby says they can't possibly be in a fairy tale and right now I'm not sure if that's because they agree with the idea that their obviously real home can't be equated with a made-up story - something Little will outright say in a moment - or if they're just agreeing because, frankly, Little seems confused 99% of the time, but possesses enough emotional intelligence to want to make Ruby happy.

Regardless, with Little acting as (shaky) proof, Weiss revises Ruby's statement to say that it's "improbable" that they're in a fairy tale and we get the trailer line, "Let's look at this more logically, shall we?" You know, I think this line comes across much better here than it does in isolation. It's still not going to be winning any voice acting awards, but the flow of the conversation helps it out quite a bit.

However, I think Weiss', “Okay. I see your point of view. I’m going to go over here now" sounds so much worse.

Before that though she runs through all the plot we've already seen or, in Yang's case, was mentioned off screen while Ruby was unconscious. (And yes, the fact that Yang told everyone about her harrowing journey when the most important person in the world to her couldn't listen in still bugs me.) They all fell from the sky, Ruby met a talking mouse, Weiss and Blake encountered killer vines, and Yang had her arm stolen by a purple racoon. As if the deadpan nonsense of that wasn't enough, the scene needs to inject even more humor by having Little interrupt with a shouted "FRIENDS! :D"

Please note that nothing in this scene emphasizes - or even hints at - Ruby's current emotional state. From the flat expressions as she listens in, to the tiny smile when Little celebrates their friendship, this Ruby is indistinguishable form the girl we've seen for the last four-ish Volumes. As I mentioned above, it's an ongoing problem for me that the Volume is consistently separating Ruby's depression from, well, everything else. I'm not saying she has to be sobbing every second of the episode, but if you can snag a random scene - especially one so soon after her faint - give it to an ignorant RWBY fan, and expect that they'd have no idea based on this animation that she was dealing with the traumatic death of a friend... you need to go back and re-write that scene.

The absurdity of Yang's experience results in Weiss giving up on her logical approach. She gives that line about going over there now, bye-bye, and then we see... uh...

What is this? I have nothing against Weiss struggling with them being here - that actually makes a lot of sense for her character - but do we really need to convey her struggle like this? I literally cannot take the emotional beats seriously when they're surrounded by this Chibi-like silliness. Worse, later in the episode Weiss' comedic grumbling will return and actively interrupt Ruby's grieving.

But we'll get to that.

“As crazy as it sounds, something about this is familiar," Ruby says and then the girls realize that what they've experienced sounds an awful lot like "The Girl Who Fell Through the World." And by "an awful lot" I mean it's nearly an exact, one-for-one recreation. Cool concept! Too bad the viewer barely knew this story existed before the girls landed here. If you'll recall, the fairy tale was mentioned back in Volume 8 when Oscar was captured by Salem, which tells us that the writers realized what they wanted for the upcoming Volume and hastily tried to shove a reference in so this didn't come entirely out of left field. However, this wasn't a successful attempt imo. All we learn from Oscar's conversation with Ozpin is that a) a girl fell through Remnant, b) she wound up in a new world, and c) she returned to Remnant sad because she'd been so changed by her journey. Nothing in that tiny summary tells us what the world was like, or what Alyx experienced there, the two things that would help sell the idea that our characters recognize this environment and the things they've been through. Hell, we don't even learn the girl's name prior to Blake info-dumping the plot. "Alyx" exists only in Roman Holiday, a book I read and 100% did not remember learning the name. How's the average fan not obsessively plugged into every RWBY side-project supposed to emotionally invest in this?

Here then, we see another case where RWBY needs long-term revision. Given that they'd be basing an entire Volume around this fairy tale and putting an emphasis on the girls' knowledge of this story, we needed to spend time actually showing that the girls possess this knowledge; that it's of cultural significance to them. Give us a flashback of Summer reading the fairy tale to a young Ruby. Have the girls reference it during their Beacon days - Weiss makes fun of Ruby for still reading fairy tales when they're unpacking their room, Blake admits that it's one of the few tales she likes because of what Alyx needs to do to survive, Yang reminisces about sharing the story with her little sis. Give us Pyrrha bringing it up when she's asked what her favorite tale is. Ozpin hints during their travels that everything they grew up with is more than it seems, hiding grains of truth. Jaune reads bits of the story to his nephew, they overhear a version while the people of Mantle are trying to find comfort while they wait, there are posters up in Atlas for a movie adaptation coming out next Spring... Obviously some of these aren't possible - I never expected RT to invent a time machine and actually revise the earlier Volumes lol - but if you're going to pull this, "The characters knew this story all along and it was a super memorable part of their childhood" card then there needs to be something to set that up. And if you can't backtrack due to the medium you're writing in, you put off the Ever After Volume until you've done at least some of the work to properly prepare for it. At the very least you do more than have Oscar randomly mention it post-torture session, complete with no identifying information for the viewers to recognize once the Volume 9 trailer drops.

Or, they might have conceived of this as a tale that isn't well known and the girls are damn lucky that Blake is well-read enough to have come across it. But as it stands, Ruby suddenly recognizes where they are, Yang agrees, Weiss casually tosses out that oh yeah, of course they've all read this as kids. Obviously. You just never heard about it until now. Funny that! I found this particularly annoying when Blake suddenly reveals that the entirety of the premiere makes up the plot of this tale: Alyx falls a long distance, meets a bunch of mice, has to deal with killer vines, meets a Jabberwocker (why bother changing the name to little?), and had her knife stolen by a racoon. This is only impactful if the viewer can see the similarities as they're happening and come to the early conclusion that, oh wow, they're reenacting a Remanent fairy tale! What RWBY actually does though is present a bunch of seemingly random events, leaves the viewer for a week, and then comes back to say, "Actually you know what? That was all important!" But, I'd like to emphasize, not in a way akin to foreshadowing. This wasn't deftly planned; a trail of subtle breadcrumbs that the viewer can look back on and go, "Oh my god I should have realized!" We haven't the slightest idea that they're reenacting the plot of a fairy tale until Blake announces that... after its all occurred.

As the girls realize they're living out Alyx's story, there's understandably a bit of push-back. How can that be? It's fiction! (Even though, you know, by now they're well aware that their headmaster lived through a lot of 'fiction' too.) Little pipes up that this place isn't make believe, it's where they live... but doesn't actually provide any useful information beyond that.

Blake then proceeds to lay out the rest of the fairy tale's plot and also, presumably, the basic outline for our season: Alyx beat the Red King at his own board game, met the curious cat, encountered the rested knight (interesting description. I assume that'll be Jaune?), and finally escaped back home through the tree. Of course, if the girl we saw in our opening is really Alyx, then she didn't get back to Remnant (or wherever else she might be from. At this point I'm not putting it past RWBY to introduce a MCU-style multiverse. Especially with the Justice League crossover coming out). Right now, I'm not sure how to reconcile this idea. If Alyx never escaped then how did her story - and all its personal details - make it back to Remnant? Did someone else escape to tell her story? Does Ozpin have some world-traveling powers that we don’t know about yet? Does Alyx?

Maybe that’s not Alyx and this question is pointless.

Ooor maybe this question will simply go unanswered, leaving us with the plot-hole of how her story became a fairy tale so common that everyone from farmers out in Patch to corporate princesses in Atlas grow up on it.

(RWBY has a lot of world building diversity, don’t worry about it.)

Anyway, I do appreciate that this gives the girls a solid reason to seek out the tree. Last week I honestly thought they might be heading there under the ‘logic’ of “Why not? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯” Yes, the tree is massive and at the center of the land, but that kind of marker is only useful if you already know where you’re going - it doesn’t necessarily imply an exit. If anything, my first attempt to get out would have been via the ocean, given that some, like Ruby, appear to have come in with the tide post-fall. Plus it’s the only boundary we’ve seen. But what RT wrote holds together, even if the delivery had problems: Ruby was seeking higher ground and then realized she’s re-living a story where the tree is the protagonist’s way out. Well done, that tracks.

From there though things continue to struggle. Weiss reminds Ruby that she hasn't even found Crescent Rose yet and I thought, foolishly, that this would result in some kind of acknowledgment? Meaning, it's really easy to view this as a symptom of Ruby's declining mental health. As her encounter with Jinxy will demonstrate, she's so hopeless right now that she can't take joy in the things she once loved - or even care about their existence. Weiss is clearly concerned that Ruby hasn't found Crescent Rose, but no one else is concerned that Ruby isn't concerned. There's no mildly shocked, "Oh" from Ruby as she realizes, oh yeah, she's without her beloved, hand-made weapon modeled after her Uncle, perhaps also in connection with her mother, the thing she once turned to for comfort when she didn't know how to make any friends. Ruby: 'I should probably care that I've lost that, huh?' But we get zip in regards to her realizing that this emotionally significant object is still lost in the Ever After somewhere. Worse, no one else reacts to Ruby's lack of reaction. Alarm bells should be going off in Yang's head at the moment, but the episode is too focused on comedy and flirting to let her really check in with her little sister. Yang has come to the realization that Ruby horrifically lost that fight, watched her faint in response to the death of a friend, and now she doesn't even blink at the idea that her prized weapon might be gone for good. By all means, give us bumblebee, I WANT more canonical content (more on that below), but there's a time and a place. Ruby still not having Crescent Rose should be a huge deal for her and when it's not that should be a huge deal for Yang.

Also, I'd like to point that this loss makes Ruby incredibly vulnerable here (as the brief Jabberwock encounter demonstrates), potentially highlighting her less than passionate desire to keep herself safe. So is Yang - or even her other teammates - at all concerned about Ruby's mental health? Her own sense of safety?

Barely. They're not showing much.

I give Weiss props for trying to reach Ruby in a few moments, but Blake and Yang are too busy being wrapped up in each other to bother. (Which could be an interesting conflict/character flaw if the show acknowledged it.) This is the same problem we had in Volume 8: why is Yang worried about Blake when she had a huge fight with Ruby? Because RT can't figure out where to put their bumblebee moments so they don't actively draw away from the other relationships.

Before that though we need to have another gag moment, this time through flashback images of Yang having her arm stolen.

Look at this.

Who decided this was a good tone for the Volume? The contrast between past and present says it all. Yang is looking quite serious as she recalls presumably falling to her death, but we can't take her seriously because the trauma of that is undermined by a circle of cartoon stars over her head. Having her assistive device stolen while she was vulnerable makes Yang furious? Well, it doesn't make the viewer furious because they're too busy laughing at her dramatic reach, Jinxy's equally dramatic, evil design, and the cartoon-y white eyes/exaggeratedly open mouth. Notably, Blake is laughing too, rather uproariously, and I'm surprised that I haven't seen any non-RWDE grumbling from the fandom. After all, weren't people upset when Tai made a joke about Yang's arm, insisting that it was the height of insensitivity? How dare he say such a thing! ... never mind how Yang reacted to it. For me, a father knowing his daughter well enough to help jolt her out of an angry spiral, weeks after the event occurred, is better than a school friend laughing at the traumatic event mere hours after it happened... but that's just me. Apparently, shipping trumps all because it's presented as cute and wholesome for Blake to laugh over Yang having her assistive device stolen after the worst night of their lives. Disarmed, am I right?

Nothing in this scene tells the viewer to take the theft seriously, so... I don't. Yang went through something incredibly difficult after an already horrific night? No she didn't. She experienced an average annoyance, something to laugh at - as Blake demonstrates.

Deciding that they need to track this Jinxy down (I'm not challenging the need for that, especially when it's Yang's arm, but is no one planning to find Crescent Rose too?), the girls head to the nearest town. Cue the already overused joke that Little will lead the way! And then they don't.

We get more info-dumping about this story, including that Alyx accidentally started a war in the town because she went blundering in without understanding their customs. Blake is worried that fictional history might repeat itself which I like because yes, you should be worried about that! Not just because it's basic human decency not to sow chaos in the town you're visiting, not even because they've already seen themselves repeating Alyx's story (fall, mice, vines, theft) and thus have an excellent reason to think that they might repeat her mistakes as well, but because what has this group been doing since Volume 6 except blunder into places and sow chaos? Not intentionally. I am always fully aware that our cast is written to be well-meaning heroes consistently doing the best they possibly can for the people, but even if we believed that they truly had done everything within their power to help (which I often don't), their "best" has still caused irrevocable damage. Intentions aside, the group has tampered with one of the world's few remaining sources of communication, drew a terrifying grimm toan unsuspecting populace, tested the already shaky relations between Kingdoms, lied to their one remaining ally in a way that did nothing to help his declining mental health, risked a major operation on literal, blind trust (which wouldn't be so bad if the story hadn't gone out of its way to paint that as stupid, but only when a non-Team RWBY memeber does it), sat around drinking tea while an actual apocalypse was happening outside, lost two of the magical relics that may well doom the world (a failure that I personally wouldn't blame them for if they hadn't been so stupidly brazen in their "protection": not putting it in the vault, carrying it on their belt, not sending someone through to Vacuo with the Staff, etc.), and to top it all off, made the conscious decision to obliterate two cities, evicting a fourth of the world's population, without even TRYING to find a way to work around that nearly unimaginable consequence. Without even acknowledging it.

Yeah, they should absolutely be concerned about bringing chaos down on these people. The fact that for once they don't when narrative logic says they should is so painfully, hilariously ironic.

What really grinds my gears though is that none of the others care about this possibility when, as outlined above, they should. MAJOR kudos to Blake for being the voice of reason here, but Yang is all, "Yeah, but [Alyx] was kinda a mean person, right? She lied and cheated her way through most of the book."

OH BOY, YANG. HAVE I GOT NEWS ABOUT YOU AND YOUR TEAMMATES.

We don't need a rehashing of all the times they - Yang in particular - have lied, cheated, or been needlessly mean to others, so I suppose all I have left to say is that she's at least consistent? I mean, Yang is by far my least favorite of the group nowadays, especially the version of her that would sneer at Ren for daring to point out that they've made horrific mistakes, but for what it's worth this is the attitude we've come to expect from her. Us? Fuck things up? Never! We're perfect! We're not like mean old Alyx who would do something as awful as lie to people.

Weiss tries to defend Alyx's actions by saying that "she was trying to survive" and grousing that the morals are too simplistic. That's a position I can respect, though I wish it weren't coming from a show that, at the end of the day, pushes such a simplistic perspective. As we've seen plenty of times in the past, RWBY continually claims that it has complex morals while not actually engaging with complex morals.

Just to hammer the point home, I'd like to point out that this conversation about harmful actions and gray morality is broken up by Ruby poking a sleeping Little, trying unsuccessfully to wake them up. After all, nothing highlights the complexity of your story like continuing mouse gags.

Let's put all that aside for a moment though. I've been jumping around just a bit, discussing some conversation pieces out of order because it works better with the flow of the recap. Now, we come to a crucial moment I previously skipped over:

The bees.

Being over a week late with this recap, pretty much everything that needs to be said has been said, to the point where even some non-RWDE folks are tentatively going, "So is that it then? Is it confirmed? Can I say with complete confidence that it's canonical?"

Well... no.

But it's the closest we've ever gotten.

It's also a setback.

Let me explain.

While Blake is laughing it up over Yang having her arm stolen, she gets very flirty. In fact, I think we can make a case that her laughter is exaggerated in an effort to catch Yang's attention, though that doesn't detract from the problem of what she's laughing at in the first place. Regardless, Blake is clearly enamored with Yang in this moment, grinning, leaning real close, teasingly touching their fingers together. They don't hold hands, but the desire is obviously there, and Weiss responds to the flirting with a, "It's about time."

Now, the reason why this is the closest we've gotten to a canonical confirmation is 100% because of Weiss. I wouldn't argue for a moment that this scene wasn't deliberately flirty, but it still holds a certain level of plausible deniability, which is the exact problem all the other Yang/Blake scenes have. Yes, forehead touches, hand-holding, and blushes are all coded as romantic, but until you actually confirm a relationship or interest, homophobes can come back with, "I blush at compliments/hold my friends' hands/they were just overwhelmed after nearly dying! Why do you hate platonic intimacy so much??" (To be clear, I do mean homophobes in this example, not the ace/aro community who might want to see the same things, but for very different reasons.) In fact, I recently came across a tumblr post tagged for arospecs upholding forehead touches over kisses:

Now, I certainly get what OP is saying (and it's worth pointing out the obvious: they don't know anything about my recaps, aren't responding to RWBY, etc. The post just came across my dash). There's an intimacy here that rings as more heartfelt than what we often get with a kiss. After all, kisses are a dime-a-dozen in television, just not for queer people, and largely in response to those restrictions, queer characters have historically been coded through other, intimate touches. So yeah, for some - even those who aren't aro/ace - a forehead touch might mean so much more in a pairing than an outright kiss. But note that the texpost starts with, "sure, fine, your characters kissed, whatever." OP is imaging a scenario in which that confirmation is a given. They kissed. So what? We want more meaningful interactions than just that!

"Just that" being the key phrase. Blake and Yang don't have "just that." They have not kissed. They have not been confirmed, so to argue for forehead-touch supremacy here is insufficient. It's like going, "Who cares about the core outfit. The best part is accessorizing!" Sure, that's a legit opinion, but for anyone who doesn't have any clothes yet, a pair of earrings and a scarf isn't going to cut it.

Despite all this, the line "It's about time" isn't attributed to anything other than romance. If a character looks at two others and says that, they're not talking about anything other than a decidedly non-platonic interest. So this, on its own, is definitely something to celebrate and is by far the most solid piece of evidence that the bees will be 100% confirmed by the end of the Volume.

Nevertheless, I have to ask: why are we still in the flirting stage?

Yes, Weiss makes a 'They like each other' comment that really can't be interpreted as anything else, but the comment itself translates to, 'It's about time they admitted they liked each other.' Now, if Blake had kissed Yang - or asked her out on a date, said "I love you," whatever confirmation we're each personally leaning towards - then we'd be golden. It's about time they did that? Yeah, it sure is! But the actions Weiss responds to are that flirty dialogue and a minuscule hand-brush, both of which we've seen before. A fair bit, actually.

This is what I mean when I say the moment is regressive. Weiss is acting like Blake and Yang have taken this huge step forward in their relationship, but the reality is that they've gone backwards, from full-on hand-holding to tentative brushes. The hand-holding already wasn't enough, as established, but now we're meant to cheer for an aborted hand-holding instead? I suppose it's possible to read this purely from Weiss' perspective. Meaning, she wasn't out in the shed when Blake took Yang's artificial hand. She wasn't at the Adam fight (even though she should have been...) to see their actual step forward, clasping hands as one and promising to defend each other. And though she was there, I doubt Weiss was paying them any mind when they had their moment of comfort on the airship, or even when Yang complimented Blake's new haircut. So yes, from Weiss' limited perspective this might actually be a significant change. Most of the girls' development has occurred in private and they haven't shared these changes with the group, so of course Weiss is going to go, 'Oh wow, Blake is leaning in close and teasing Yang with intimate finger brushes - they've never done that before! It's about time! :D'

But - and this is a crucial 'but' - neither the story nor RWBY's marketing present this as something solely from Weiss' perspective. Despite making this "It's about time" statement to Ruby, she doesn't come back with any additional knowledge to catch Weiss up to speed. There's no moment when Blake and Yang turn around to reveal that, oh yeah, we've actually been flirting like this for a while - culminating in an on screen admission of their feelings. And the official RWBY twitter puts out stuff like this:

The audience isn't supposed to work through who knows what like I've done above, they're just meant to celebrate that omg, the girls touched fingers!! Never-mind that they've gone past that before and, as said multiple times, that's not enough.

Do I think the bees will be confirmed this Volume given that this is the most overtly anyone has acknowledged the relationship? Yes. Do I think it's a problem that after nine years we're still in the barely flirting stage when other, straight relationships - even slowburns like renora - have already been explicitly confirmed? Also yes.

RWBY is writing this badly and I again question where most Yang/Blake fans are coming from. Either you're old enough to recognize queerbaiting and are likely wary as fuck that we'll get a repeat here, or you're young enough that you've grown up with queer ships that are unambiguously canonical within the first few seasons - if you even had to wait that long - in which case this 'Are they or aren't they?' dance should seem ridiculous. All I can imagine is that the RWBY fandom's tendency to rewrite canon has led to a legitimately inaccurate reading of the text. The same way that people will claim that their headcanons 100% happened on screen and will not be dissuaded even when you stick screenshots under their nose and go, "Look! That's literally not happening here!" I wonder how many fans imagined up a romance and just... honest to god think we've already gotten it. Not that anyone is literally hallucinating or anything, just that there's this pervasive trend of imprinting what one imagines onto the text. What do you mean Ironwood wasn't a dictator the whole time? What do you mean Ruby is repeating the actions she's criticized others for? What do you mean Blake and Yang aren't dating? We've spent so long rewriting the canon online that it's now hard as hell to differentiate between those creative hopes and what has actually happened on screen.

So yeah. I want to praise this moment. I am praising it just because this is the most we've ever gotten out of RWBY in terms of non-background character queer rep, but damn is it still falling short of what it could be.

It's worth pointing out that Ruby has no reaction to her sister almost-dating her teammate, but I give this a pass because Ruby is so obviously lost in her own, dark thoughts. In fact, she doesn't even seem to follow what Weiss is commenting on. As we'd expect, their semi-private conversation turns dark and Weiss stops walking. “It’s all gone. There’s nothing left for me to go back to," she says.

I'm really glad they're acknowledging that Weiss didn't just broadly mess up along with the rest of the group, but that she, specifically, has lost her home too. I honestly thought the acknowledgements would end there, but when Ruby tries to comfort with a, “You did the best you could for Atlas, Weiss” she shoots back with, “We hatched a crazy plan that put a whole kingdom at risk!”

Yeah you did! Thank you for finally saying that!! If we can't have heroes weighing the repercussions of their actions prior to engaging with them, at least give me heroes who will grapple with their mistakes after the fact. I mean, like with Yang I have a very hard time taking Weiss' grief and self-recrimination seriously when the majority of her struggle has been depicted through absurd gags... but beggars can't be choosers. This, coupled with Ruby's closing line of the episode, gives me more hope for the girls' development than I've had in years, certainly more than we got from Ren's argument with Yang.

As a sidenote though, I wish they hadn't hidden Weiss' face for the majority of this scene. I liked it when this cinematography was used to emphasize how she was hiding from her teammates - AKA when she was keeping Penny's death a secret - but now? Everyone knows everything (for the most part, anyway) and it would add a hell of a lot for the viewer to be able to see the struggle taking place on Weiss' face. Of course, the animating of emotions this Volume has been iffy, as acknowledged earlier, so maybe it is for the best that they didn't try and then fail to depict that kind of sorrow. Not when vaguely wet eyes and mostly blank expressions have been our norm. Still, when we have this important a character moment I don't want to be staring at Weiss' back, or her ridiculously complicated belt. Let me see her.

(I just realized that combining those screenshots makes it look like Weiss has messed up shoulders and a head turned round backwards whoops lololol.)

Another weird detail is that Weiss seems to be under the impression that Jaune may have saved the Relics. Sorry, but what? I'd buy this as a holding out hope situation if the whole group didn't know that Cinder had the Lamp and if Weiss, as the last to fall, wasn't at least vaguely aware that Cinder had snagged the Staff too. I mean, I'd have to re-watch the finale to get the exact timing, but I don't think it was that long between Weiss falling and Cinder flying off to make a new wish. Besides, what's the healer of the group going to do against a fully powered Maiden, especially without the rest of his team? It's not a literal mistake/retcon, just a really weird thing to have your character believe. I'm kinda getting the vibe that the writers didn't want to list all the ways the group fucked up - because yeah, that's overwhelming. That's what we've been saying! - so some mistakes are just kinda... glossed over. 'Well sure, we destroyed a Kingdom, Penny died, and we're now lost in this world, but maybe the Relics are still safe!' Mmm no, sorry. The only 'Well maybe' I'll accept is in reference to the people of Atlas being safe because yeah, there's no reason for Weiss or the others to know that they wound up in a grimm-infested sandstorm. I definitely give Weiss a pass for not realizing how her wish screwed them over - "One way ticked to Vacuo" - because it literally took Oscar summoning up a memory he didn't have to figure that out. I mean, I'm in full agreement with what others have said: it would be great if Weiss did realize/learn that at some point and was forced to grapple with the fact that the lack of help she's so angry over was, in fact, her fault... but I don't expect her to realize that on the fly, especially not when she's dealing with so much else in the Ever After.

I mean hell, I can barely remember the last sentence I wrote here. If you wanted me to backtrack through a conversation I had hours ago to find a linguistic mistake I made - when I don't even know there is a mistake I'm looking for - I'd be screwed lol.

As the conversation continues Weiss also acknowledges that learning about Penny's death must have been "a lot to hear" and - pushing back against my earlier frustration with the characters' expressions - Ruby actually looks affected by this. By and large I think this is the best interaction we've gotten in a while, right up through Ruby just walking away, unable to even respond to that statement yet. Unlike hiding Weiss' face, or Ruby fainting instead of otherwise reacting to the tragedy, this doesn't feel like a cop-out, but rather a legitimate, believable response. She's not capable of processing this yet, let alone chatting it out with Weiss.

Unfortunately, this engaging emotion doesn't last for long. As expected, I've seen posts in the larger RWBY fandom criticizing our criticisms, claiming that all RWDE folk want are "doom and gloom" for the girls; something "edgy." To which I can only respond with a "Nah." I like horror and tragedy and morally gray storytelling, but if we're defining "doom and gloom" as a work that has nothing but hopeless pessimism to impart, I'm not here for it. All I want is a Volume that appropriately engages with the darker tone introduced in Volume 3 and ramped up like WHOA in Volume 8, without cracking its foundation with constant, contradictory jokes.

In short, we have really done without another, humorous' moment where Little proves themselves useless - they have no idea what lies beyond the bridge, despite offering to guide Team RWBY on this journey - as well as a long sequence (long for a 15-20 minute episode, anyway) wherein Little tries to build themselves a home because...? I mean, I get that they don't know their way back to the village, but what made them think they weren't continuing on with the girls in the first place? I think the logic is loosey-goosey because the writers just wanted an excuse to have Little build a rickety home to fall apart. While singing. While the group has over-the-top reactions to that. Gags upon gags upon gags.

Continuing on, they arrive at the town and I've gotta say, I really like the design here. The red of the architecture pairs nicely with the deep green sky. As a fantasy aesthetic, I mean. I do wish this had carried over onto the actual streets though. We loose that cohesion among the townspeople and, frankly, they look bad in comparison.

We get a little discomfort from the girls as they navigate among sentient game pieces and we're shown a closeup of a flyer advertising the birthday of "His Most Royal." I'm writing this paragraph having seen Episode 3, so kudos to RT for keeping that title vague. As the groups awkwardly move through the crowd we get what is, hands down, the best line of the Volume so far:

Blake: "Just act like you belong."

Little: "I've always wanted to be long, but I'm still just small."

Hilarious. Witty. 10 out of 10. That's the kind of Caroll-esque humor that could permeate the Volume without undermining the darker tone. Too bad this is currently a one-off moment.

They spot Jinxy's caravan. “So what’s the strategy?" Yang asks, eagerly looking back at her teammates. "Just start roughing 'em up, or what?” Ah yes, Yang. Start an attack with innocent, defenseless civilians all around you. I honestly hate how her solution to everything is still 'Get angry and punch things.' Not because that's a bad trait in a character, but because Yang specifically went through an arc to get better at that. Yet instead of improving, or have a story that engages with her failure, she's just as impulsively violent as she's always been, but now it's treated as a justified response at best, a cute quirk at worst. Here we've got Option #2 with Yang smiling, acting like beating up Jinxy is a fun outing for her and her friends.

And you know what? No, I don't really care that this is all to get her arm back because as the girls should have learned by now, the Ever After doesn't follow their rules. We know, post-scene, that Jinxy is legitimately a conman who knowingly stole Yang's arm, but crucially none of the characters know that. Not for sure. This is a world where mice talk, vines move on their own, people are made out of wood, and most don't even know what a human is. The group should at least be questioning Jinxy's motivations in a world where everything is (supposedly) so topsey-turvey and, in turn, questioning whether it's right to go in gun's blazing. Hell, I actually would have liked that better. Give me a Jinxy who honestly didn't realize he was doing something wrong. You were just lying there, possibly dead, that metal thing is clearly not a part of your squishy body - it detaches! - and as your mouse friend will clearly tell you, it's not stealing if no one sees you do it. What are you so upset for? Give me a scene where Yang has to acknowledge her, 'Attack first, ask questions later' response to every. single. problem. Give me a RWBY where Yang is allowed to be wrong again.

Blake at least tries a peaceful approach. She looks as uncomfortable with Yang's attitude as I am (is that ever going to come up in their budding relationship?) and reminds her that Alyx bartered for her knife back. Yang's response?

"Yeah, I think I'd rather hit him :D"

We get our first real look at Jinxy when he comes out to start his auction. I'll admit this never even crossed my mind while first watching, but uh... yeah. I see what people mean about the Romani stereotyping. The brightly colored, free-flowing clothing. The caravan. The travel (the fact that Jinxy can trick these townspeople implies that he's never been here before; never staying in one place for very long). The characterization as a dangerous charlatan scamming unsuspecting innocents. It's not a one-to-one comparison - stereotypes very rarely are - but there's enough there to catch a glimpse of the writers' bias. It's unfortunately a rather common bias and, as said, one that those like myself won't always immediately spot, but that's why it's important to point it out. There are so many ways of depicting a conman. Why did you choose the version that looks distinctly like a marginalized ethnic group?

The answer is likely just ignorance but again, that's why we discuss such things. We need to help others - and ourselves - do better in the future.

Obviously unaware of the uncomfortable implications, Weiss exclaims that Jinxy is oh so cute and Blake comments that he looks older than he appeared in the book, perhaps providing evidence that a significant amount of time has passed since Alyx fell. We learn that Jinxy screws over people by selling trash disguised as treasure, so Yang will have to let her heart tell her which is her arm.

Spoiler: Yang doesn't use her heart to find her arm. Oh, she correctly identifies her arm, but only because it's the most arm-shaped, yellow colored thing on the stage. I honestly expected that not to be her arm because that's how situations like these go in stories, right? It's never the most obvious choice... but in this case apparently it is! I want to emphasize though that Yang does not choose this because she has an emotional connection to the object. We are explicitly shown what that connection looks like via Ruby and Yang, in comparison, basically points and chooses at random.

So that's an awful way to depict her relationship with an assistive device, but it is consistent. We see Yang first emerge with her arm with very little fanfare - the audience doesn't watch her decide to put it on for the first time, nor do we see her actually experiencing those first moments. From there her arm is used largely for jokes - scaring Nora, new puns - or is left behind to get an advantage in a fight. (Which, I'd like to clarify, I don't dislike on its own, but it is relevant in the grand scheme of how Yang approaches her prosthetic.) Last Volume she's given a line about how it is not an important part of her identity, it continues to be used for humor purposes now, and when a fantasy mouse says, 'What does your heart tell you? Which is your arm?' Yang's response is a straightforward, 'I don't know.' For me, this moment perfectly encapsulates how hollow Yang's disability journey has been, all the way back to her simply not caring that another disabled ally procured her a state-of-the-art device. Though it makes for a lackluster scene, to put it mildly, I admittedly would have scoffed if Yang had felt some call to her arm because when has RWBY ever established that? It hasn't, so yay keeping things consistent I guess?

Also, just the fact that all of Jinxy's wares are bits of trash disguised as treasures says a lot. Unlike my little rewrite above, we don't get any exploration of Ever After's culture that reveals that Jinxy has no idea what this arm is, why it might be important, etc. So literally the narrative is just saying, 'Others think Yang's assistive device is trash' and we leave it at that. Fantastic.

As said though, Ruby does feel a pull towards the little doll on the stage, though she can't say why. As she stares, Jinxy sells his first 'treasure' for... a hug.

...

.....

..........

"And what happened, then? Well, on Tumblr they say that Clyde's small heart grew three sizes that day. And then – the true meaning of RWBY came through, and Clyde found the strength of ten turtles, plus two!”

I'm not gonna lie, I thought that detail was super fucking cute. Hugs acknowledged as incredibly valuable? Hell yeah! I like that the townspeople are paying in ways beyond handing over [insert fantasy money name here]. That's a nice world-building detail and when Jinxy has to give the hug back when his con is exposed? Fantastic. This scene might be struggling like whoa with the larger concepts, but many of the details are really nice.

When it's time to sell the arm both Yang and a nearby royal guard raise their hands. However, Jinxy asks for "knowing what it is to feel love" and, with a glance at Blake, Yang gives up the bid. If they were going to tease the ship some more, maybe specify romantic love? As it stands, Yang should be backing down regardless of whether there's a relationship in the works because love as a broad concept would have her losing everything: love for her sister, her teammates, her family, her home, for adventure. That's not a Blake specific thing, that's a, 'Holy shit he's asking her not to be human anymore' thing.

So it makes sense then that a wooden puppet, nameless and identical to every other guard, existing only to serve "His Most Royal" would be able to pay that price.

Of course, losing what she assumes is her arm (because remember, she doesn't actually know that yet) makes Yang angry. Check out Blake's totally chill, not at all worried, definitely not uncomfortable look.

Finally we come to the doll, which Ruby immediately bids on. However, like Yang's, Jinxy asks too high a price: fill this jar with hope. It's a bit on the nose, but I like the idea, as well as the shot of the doll sitting dejectedly through the jar's reflection.

However, I think this moment would have had far more of an impact if Ruby had tried to fill it. Sure, she's clearly struggling right now, but why doesn't Ruby at least make an attempt? Especially given that one of her most defining traits lately is to sink deeper into denial: I'm fine, everything's fine, we're going to get home, we're going to fix things, why would anyone be doubting that? Of course I can fill the stupid jar! Let her angrily charge up to the stage, snatch the jar, glare in annoyance because duh it's going to fill... but then it doesn't and her expression falls. That's when Jinxy can say, "You can't, can you?" Simply announcing that to the audience is probably the least compelling way to go about this. Oh, our story is telling us things again rather than showing them? Groundbreaking.

While all this is going on Little has scampered up on stage to fucking steal the doll and you know what? Good on Little. That's the first thing they've done that hasn't felt like a waste of time. I especially like that this calls back to the Ever After rule that it's not stealing if no one sees you do it. "Fairs fair," they say.

Given that Little took the 'treasure' before Jinxy received his payment, his spell is broken and all the objects are revealed as the 'trash' they always were. The random citizen finds a mouse in his hands, the guard screams as he sees Yang's arm in his hands, and the doll turns into...

Penny's sword.

(Get it? The green doll was a green sword belonging to a not-real girl? Everyone got it, right?)

Say, did anyone else expect it to be Crescent Rose? Ruby feeling an emotional connection to an object while her beloved weapon is still missing, lost in a world where a Racoon picks up any random objects to sell? That would make a LOT more sense than Penny's sword winding up in the Ever After. As I explained in an ask, Penny made those swords out of her Maiden powers and they disappeared as soon as Cinder struck her in the chest. Of course they did, she likely lost control of her aura/magic as soon as she took a killing blow. But apparently the swords actually hung around despite Penny passing her powers to Winter, despite being dead, and were... blasted? All the way to the edge of the bridge?? From a blow that didn't have any force behind it??? Yeah sure, totally believable.

So instead of resurrecting Ruby's love for the weapon she designed and re-arming her before the team faces any real danger - because there are no battles these first two episodes - we get another emotional moment without a real foundation underneath it. The writers were so eager to continue Ruby's grief arc specifically through Penny (even though SO MUCH has happened that she could be triggered in any number of ways) that they just kinda... forgot to set that up...

I do like the moment itself though. I think Ruby's frantic run to the sword, her gasp, her clutching the sword to her chest and crying over it - all that is well done. Certainly better than much of what we saw in episode one. I just wish this wasn't so freaking contrived.

In the realm of not setting things up, we get another severely awkward moment as the group "escapes." I put that in quotation marks because, well, the problem is that they're not escaping from anything. Jinxy isn't trying to attack them for revealing his con, the townspeople don't mistakenly blame them for things, and though the guards will show up in a bit, they're notably not seen chasing them yet. So we've got Yang and Blake booking it out of there, Weiss walking leisurely away, Ruby barely paying attention, all of it with nothing seemingly happening in the background.

Then they wind up back in the forest with:

Yang [out of breath]: "Those people... take auctions... VERY seriously”

No they don't? This implies that the people were turning on the girls for ruining their auction, but none of the civilians were paying them any mind. The most we see is the guy who bought the bunny getting his hug back which, you know, is kinda the opposite of a mad crowd threatening violence for this deception. Yang functions more as a threat at the start of all this than the group they're supposedly running from. Blake literally starts freaking out about how they're "ruining everything!" and I'm like you didn't? Nothing happened?? I mean, yay Blake continuing to take responsibility for their actions, but in this case the girls legitimately didn't cause any problems. In the story Alyx started a war because she didn't know how to properly deal with the townspeople, so I expected the team's visit to go equally as bad; something to explain Blake having a crisis once they'd left. All they did was reveal a conman though, a conman everyone is only passively angry at. Please give me my hug back, sir, and shame on you for tricking us. We will all calmly disperse now.

I know it's years too late, but RWBY really needs to learn how to show what they want depicted on screen.

We learn that the theories were right about the weather being influenced by others' emotions - or at least Ruby's emotions in particular. As she sits down with Penny's sword a localized storm starts and, in a few moments, we'll hear a guard shout that someone's sad over there. So this is a useful tool for showing (good job!) that Ruby is really struggling right now, even if she appears calm on the outside, and I'd have so much more to praise about the scene if it hadn't been ruined by freaking Weiss.

Seriously, forget Little. Weiss is by far the most annoying character this Volume.

So after Ruby fainted at the news that her dear friend had died, unexpectedly discovered her sword, and now sits with a grief so heavy it magics up a storm to drench them all, her teammates do... nothing. Honest to god they do nothing. Yang has a single, "Ruby?" before the scene is stolen by Weiss having a temper tantrum. She doesn't like Blake's idea that they're following in Alyx's footsteps - even though everything they've done has followed in her footsteps - and starts ranting about how "We are not in a book!" and even if they were, they know the ending takes place at the castle, so let's go. Does Weiss care that Ruby is sitting there in shock, even after she tried to connect with her earlier? No. Does Yang care that her sister is loosing it two feet away? No. Does Blake? Nope. Does the narrative? Absolutely not. Ruby sits in background while Weiss has more stupid comedy moments, getting trapped in a loop and hitting herself in the head with a rock.

I keep seeing celebratory posts about how the show is tackling Ruby's grief, but it's not? It's introducing her grief and then immediately ignoring it. Ruby cries and then finds a cute mouse to distract her. Ruby faints and just brushes past that - she's fine. Ruby finds her dead friend's weapon, but why would we focus on that when we can watch Weiss hilariously knock herself out? I feel like the stock answer to these complaints is always something along the lines of, "They're working up to Ruby's breakdown," but frankly I don't care if they are. The execution is atrocious now and a sudden swerve into respectful storytelling isn't going to change that.

Plus, as I've mentioned previously, these moments don't help convince me that the girls care for each other outside of the dramatic, self-sacrificing actions added to finales. Bad enough that everyone ignored Ruby's faint and extended no care towards her, but now they're literally just standing there as she suffers. This is by no means a new problem, but the heroes have become so passive the last few Volumes. What happened to Black who marched right up to Weiss and let her how important the faunus are to her? The Yang who squared off against her mother just to reach her little sister? Weiss delivering a cup of coffee and checking in with her newly acknowledged leader? Say what we will about Volume 8 - and we've all said a lot - but at least there Yang puts her arm around Ruby and tries to comfort her on the steps, no matter how much denial that comfort required. Now? Now Yang just stands there because again, why comfort her little sister when Weiss is making a fool of herself?

At least this has some basic care and human decency behind it.

"This way!" the royal guards yell. "Someone's sad!" Yeah and her teammates don't care. Sure, we know in the way someone knows who reads the script, or who knows the writers' intentions, that of course Team RWBY all love each other so, so much... but man, would it kill them to show it more?

As the guards show up we get an interesting shot of Ruby that mirrors the one with Jaune's blade--

--and then she pulls herself together enough to face them, deciding that if Alyx went to see the Red King then they will too.

Ruby offers to give the guards “the weapon of a powerful warrior," AKA Penny's sword, and what follows is a legitimately emotional speech:

"[She was] the most powerful [warrior] to ever live. She was touched by magic and she gave her life for thousands. She took a message of hope to the stars and she saw the world through better eyes."

At least, it would be legitimately emotional if it hadn't been undercut, again, by all the comedy. We just had Weiss loosing it. The guards all "OOOOOO" loudly over the sword. Then they burst into exaggerated tears at Ruby's words, complete with their toy horses crying too. I've said it a million times now and I'll say it again: you can't expect me to take these moments seriously if the story can't take them seriously.

Also, I have to ask... why is Ruby giving the sword up? The logic is that they're trying to get to the Red King, but they were already heading to the Red King. That is, the guards were after them, trying to take them into custody for ruining the birthday present. So why bother with this bribe? It's simply not necessary, especially since they're still basically escorted as prisoners, guards on all sides. It's not like these guards are presented as terribly intelligent. All Ruby needed to do was go, "Oh, we're so sorry for ruining His Majesty's special day. Yes, please take us to him so that we can apologize in person. Your Majesty, can we please make it up to you by playing some games? Etc. etc."

The sword is a needless addition and that wouldn't be a problem if it didn't (supposedly) have such emotional impact. Ruby just found this piece of Penny. This is, likely, the last bit of her she'll ever encounter... and she's going to just give that up? Literal minutes after she found it? To a bunch of identical goons who snatch it up and run off in another, stupid gag? Once again, this is not convincing me that Ruby is having an authentic grief arc. She might be sad for the whole Volume, but each individual moment is ignored or "solved" almost instantaneously. To say nothing of the fact that Ruby is without her weapon. She has the PERFECT, practical excuse to hang onto Penny's sword with everyone, characters, and audience alike realizing that her logic is hiding a harder truth: she can't give it up. Not yet. Maybe not ever. But then sure, give me a moment at the end of the Volume when Ruby must part with the sword for some reason, to save another, or further their cause. Giving it up now, especially when it's not necessary, makes the supposed attachment she feels to it ring hollow.

This is just so... meh. I honestly thought we'd be getting an updated version of this for a second.

As they follow the guards to the castle Ruby bitterly tells the girls that they need to "stop pretending we know what we’re doing." Hell yeah, Rubes, that's the first time we've agreed in a while. Whether or not anything comes of this line is still to be seen, but I'm happy that their failure - stemming from arrogant complacency -  was at least acknowledged. It's definitely a hard-hitting line to end an otherwise goofy episode on.

Now! I'm off to try and write up "Rude, Red, and Royal" in... three days🙃

Thanks for reading! <3

#rwde #rwby #mymetas #RWBY Recaps

[lackadaisycats]

Hello!

First of all I wanted to say that your art is super gorgeous and I am super into your setting because ahm DUH cats + crimes are meant together

So I have several questions for you if you don't mind!

Out of all the platforms, how come you are still on tumblr? I am new here and as far as I can see usually major creators don't really use it anymore (and good gosh you are major for me <3)

Have you ever felt jealous of other creators? Do you think your work does not get attention it deserves? BECAUSE I CERTAINLY DO. I bet my friends are sick of me trying to promote your work :D

Have you ever had any fears regarding your art? Or in general?

Hey, thanks! 1. Hmm…good question. It's been, what? At least ten years since Tumblr was really in its zany, tumultuous, hormonal heyday. Then came the Great Annihilation and the Female-Presenting-Nipple Fallout. The ashes have settled and what remains is a, uh, mildly eccentric, post-apocalyptic ghost town? Like Mad Max, except everyone is wearing pastels, sipping tea and chuckling cryptically to themselves about something amusing while fussing with their herb garden. Or thereabouts. Maybe the chaos agents lost interest and everyone else who dwelled here grew up into rather chill adults. I don't know. Either way, I'm kind of liking its vibe lately? I use other social media too. As someone trying to earn a living as a freelance artist, I sort of have to. I'm on Twitter. I'm on Instagram. I'm on YouTube. I have the comic up on Webtoon. I've even got a TikTok for animated stuff. I feel way more at ease here, though. There's less pressure to perform, and to do it aggressively and relentlessly so as to appease a nebulous, uncaring demigod of an algorithm. And when you're doing that amidst a morass of other people, when everything you labor over is reduced to "content", it gets to feeling like you're just flailing futilely around in a stormy ocean. Tumblr doesn't feel like that. No one is vying for massive success on tumblr. From a functionality standpoint, for me, this is still the best place to post a bunch of large images all at once without having to fully reformat everything. And I can answer questions in whatever exceedingly verbose way my heart desires without hitting a character limit…

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2. Ah, well, thanks very much. I really appreciate the of word-of-mouth championship! Promotion coming from an authentic place is absolutely the most gratifying kind (as long as your friends aren't too annoyed with it). It's difficult to objectively measure something like deservedness, though. Sometimes I feel guilty for the amazing good fortune I've had to be able to pursue some of my dreams. Sometimes it's an emotional, physical and financial struggle that has me questioning my life choices and frustrated that the universe doesn't spend any effort trying to balance sweat and tears against reward. Simultaneously, I know many artists who haven't had any of the opportunities I have in spite of - in my estimation - deserving it as much or more than I do. In a more perfect world, things would just be better for creators on the whole. And, well, for most people in general. And yes, I have experienced envy with a bitter edge, mostly when I was a younger, immature artist. I think envy is a pretty natural human reaction - it can be an overall positive motivator to see what other artists have been able to achieve and to desire some of the same level of skill or success. It can also easily turn into resentment that unleashes a whole array of destructive thought patterns and behavior. As I've grown older, I've found fewer and fewer reasons to really feel envious of anyone, though. You come to realize success is a matter of perception, a fleeting feeling, a pyrrhic victory, a largely illusory thing, and that other artists are your allies more than they are your competition. You come to value the things that are the actual substance of your life - like treasured time doing your thing (and maybe even doing it with other artists you enjoy) - more than you value the phantom triumphs and validations you imagine others possess.

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3. Oh yes. Fear is all around. Where to even begin? Fear of disappointing people, fear of ultimately wasting the time of the other artists I'm working with, fear of doing some harm, fear of accidentally offending someone, fear of disproportionate reprisals for accidentally offending someone, fear of losing everything in some contract arrangement gone bad, fear of injury that stops me from being able to continue working, fear of falling short of what I wanted to do, fear of income sources going under, fear of present political situations escalating and upending everyone's lives so profoundly that art isn't even an option any longer….and many more! They're always stacked and looming. All I know is that, while it's good to let rational fears make you careful and aware and prepared, you can't let them stop you.

[ravenstargames]

✦ Lost in Limbo Devlog #2 | 02.28.23

It is time for our second devlog! 💜 🎉 We made it!

Sadly and as we anticipated, February has been a hell of a month, and March is promising to be the same. I'm mostly glad we made it through. We have a lot of work to do as the trimester comes to an end and there's a considerable amount of things due to before March ends in regards to our intensive master. The team and I are a bit on the stressed side, but we'll make it.

Let's see what our overworked and exhausted souls have managed to pull off this month, shall we?

Warning: Seyl is lacking sleep. The amount of typos and oopsies in this devlog may be higher than usual. Apologies in advance!

Raquel started to fix some sprites this month as we had planned, starting with Neela, the second supporting character you'll meet in the demo, who needs a bigger revamp than the rest of LIs. The three characters left without a sprite already have their character sheets and moodboards done, so that's something! We do not want to spoil anything from the character department as we think it's cooler to meet them with their info sheet and with their sprites polished and pretty, so we are hoping we can speed up the process during March!

One of our goals this month was to do some promo art for Valentine's day, and we somehow managed! Special thanks to Raquel who was very excited and invested on this wonderful piece of Xal! 💜

I also worked on the Valentine's cards last minute and just for the funsies, so I really didn't expect them to be as well received as they were! Thank you all so much!

A bit of lore here: Raquel, Astro and I have a class assignment due in March where we have to fully design and render two backgrounds—one interior and one exterior. It's a ton of work, but luckily both Raquel and I have had the chance to orient at least one of those backgrounds to Lost in Limbo.

Raquel is working on Amon's office (and it's looking so great already!) and I'm doing an isometric view of Ara's room. We are always looking for ways to work on the game while doing our master's assignments, but it's not always possible. Hopefuly we can also work on two exterior backgrounds for the demo with this assignment!

A very simple man, Amon is. Can't you tell by how minimalist his office looks already? *cue laugh track*

This is just a sliver of our flowchart's power! You shall tremble!

This month has been more about planning than writing for me. Remember last devlog when I said I wanted to do some tweaks to the demo script? Well, I have at least been able to properly think about it and draft it. The only thing left is writing it down and implement it to the current script to see how it flows. There'll be even more changes (again) because I have some THOUGHTS (again), and I'm really excited about them. It's adding more content of each LI to the demo to balance things a bit.

I have also been doing some cleaning to our lore documents and I have finally sat down to write every little piece of story from Lost in Limbo in 'chronologic order', more or less. It will help me to always have the bigger picture in mind when writing the routes, and I would love to have everything important settled before the demo release. It's a loooooot of information—not only about the characters and their past overall, but about the world, its many systems, its people...It'll be equally fun and stressful!

In the programming department it has been all about adjusting positions, sprites and definitions to make all the characters fit properly in different scenarios as I code more of the script. Solo, with two characters in screen, with three, with four... It has been a ride (and still is, because I have not finished yet) but it's very rewarding to see everything starting to fall into place. I have also tested more things, like the CGs, the animated backgrounds or some cool transitions! I can't wait to implement the GUI when it's done, uuugh!

Just three besties going to the forest in the middle of the night. Nothing to see here.

This month we have an amazing preview of our GUI! It's still cooking, but we hope we can show you the finished version very very soon! We are soooo excited about it, it's looking perfect so far. There's a few changes to make, but we wanted to at least show you a screen so you can have an idea of how the game will look like!

We want to add more options like a dyslexic font, a skip mode that jumps directly to the next choice without having to wait for all the text to be skipped, and more utility / accessibility options!

Lost in Limbo and Ravenstar's color? Not purple, of course. Why do you ask?

This month hasn't been as productive as we would have wanted it to be, but we have managed to still get some progress done. We are begging for March to give us a bit of freedom, specially mental because we honestly need it. It has been difficult to deal with the pressure of our studies and the weight we place on our shoulders wanting to dedicate as much time as we want to LiL. It's frustrating! But we'll get there. Baby steps, as they say!

Exciting things are on the horizon, that is for sure. This devlog has been a bit short and I'm honestly exhausted, so I'll free you! Thank you so much for reading and for your unending support. We are incredibly thankful for all of you! 💜

#lost in limbo #devlog

[not-poignant]

I've a bit of a vague question: How do you decide how much detail to go into when it comes to formative traumas for your characters, and particularly past sexual traumas and similarly loaded topics? I don't mind highly detailed, dramatic pasts (à la Doctrine of Labyrinths), though I know some people find overwhelmingly dark pasts trite and difficult to engage with ("grimdark" or "misery porn" - not terms I agree with), but in my own writing I tend to imply rather than state past horrors. 1/2

2/2 It's difficult to find the balance; obviously leaving too many things unsaid renders the story vague and not very compelling, whereas being too detailed alienates readers too. Of course there's ways to explore trauma which don't feel gratuitous or exploitative, but I think there's a knee-jerk impulse to dismiss certain media for the blatancy of their content alone regardless of how that's handled in-universe. How do you navigate this and settle on content which feels right for your stories?

*

Hi anon! At first when I was thinking of how to reply to this, all I had was 'I just do it, it feels natural.' Which is true! It does feel natural. But that's not helpful. So I've been noodling on it more and I think I finally have a twofold answer. Firstly, I don't care about what the reader thinks re: how graphic I get about retelling a character's past or trauma, because a) my content is thoroughly warned for and b) I tend to place additional warnings in 'extra confrontational' chapters. After that it's not my responsibility or my business. But I do know as someone who has been through extensive trauma, I would've like, sacrificed a theoretical firstborn to read stories that were as detailed and thorough as mine re: trauma recovery and trauma representation. I'm not writing for people who don't have trauma in their backgrounds (must be nice, can't relate), not to sound callous, but they're not my target audience and I don't care if they're too fragile to handle what's going on. They get the warnings. I write for the people who need to see their traumatic histories reflected in fiction. Because that's what I needed. Okay, so, point the second. How to know how much detail to go into? The character. I follow the character always. It's important to know enough about post-trauma and behavioural changes and what happens to the mind, as well as a character's general disposition, to know where you're going in terms of detail. That, anon, is something you're going to have to research.

Felix in The Beast that Chose Its Own Bridle is more 'graphic' in his thoughts because he doesn't have the same kind of post-trauma as many other characters I'm writing. He has it, but it manifests in how he communicates and attaches to people, but he has no problems reflecting on or recollecting certain experiences (while avoiding thinking about others). This is fairly consistent with the character in the canon. He's also known for weaponising or talking about graphic experiences for shock value, or to push people away. So he will choose deliberately confrontational methods of talking about his life.

Efnisien on the other hand in say Underline the Black doesn't believe he's been through trauma and his brain is very protective as a result. People with extremely protective minds aren't likely to have graphic recollections of trauma on a regular basis, or are more likely to have nightmares (which he has), or have profound behavioural changes (which he has) which are consistent with trauma. I expect Efnisien's memories will get more explicit as the story goes on. We can see his 'shying away from the graphic nature of upcoming trauma' in the medical exam, he is actively trying to dissociate. A character that dissociates will not constantly be reflecting on trauma, but they might be shocked by it in the form of visceral flashbacks or nightmares. They are more likely to show overall behavioural changes.

Efnisien in Falling Falling Stars had intrusive thoughts as a manifestation of his trauma, and as those intrusive thoughts were dealt with and Efnisien acknowledged he had trauma, he began to have more graphic flashbacks. The more he acknowledged the content in the flashbacks as being traumatic, the less he actually had to deal with a ton of graphic stuff being described, because he was slowly recovering.

Augus in the canon rarely reflects on any of his past trauma. We see it less than a handful of times in any graphic memories, over 1.5 million words. But he has some behavioural changes around trauma. When he experiences current trauma in the story, it's often emotional, and he usually responds with anger or a fight response (and sometimes a flight response). So I would say Augus' story and descriptions are overall less graphic, which fits his disposition, which is to heavily compartmentalise his pain, so he doesn't have to deal with it (which comes back to bite him later on).

So basically if a character is leaving things vague, it's because they can't handle it yet, and that's normally because of dissociation. I've definitely written characters who have dissociated through current trauma, and who are trying to avoid past trauma. Likewise, there are characters who are just starting to experience flashbacks, and characters who are so 'oh yeah I was a child prostitute, what of it?' (hi Felix), and it all comes down to just...where they're at in their journey. How healed is your character? What do they still have left to deal with? What are their main triggers? What do they see or experience in their mind or their body when they're triggered? Have they been through so much trauma, they no longer really respond to new traumas properly? (See Augus and Efnisien, lol). Or are they very unfamiliar with trauma? (See Eran). All of this changes how a character will think about trauma. If a character is super good at compartmentalising for example, even if they go through a current trauma, I'm not likely to write it in huge detail. But if they're bad at it, or flooded, I will.

When applying this to your own writing, think about your characters and their natures. Are they the type to mentally run and hide from trauma? Those characters might not be describing it mentally in great detail unless they're forced to because of a flashback. Or are they characters who don't find something that traumatic? Then you don't need to describe what's happening in as much detail. Are they very sensitive people? Then they might be noticing every detail, or they might be noticing one or two details and trying to forget the rest in order to survive. The nature of your characters, their previous experiences, their coping skills with trauma, for me, all determine how graphic you need to be.

Tl;dr none of my decisions are determined by the reader, because I don't care about the kinds of readers who will go 'this kind of trauma is gratuitous/exploitative' or whatever (and I'm sure some have). I have PTSD, therefore, I write post-trauma. Not everyone with PTSD can handle my content, that's why there's warnings. But for the people who can? Who need it because of their own histories? Who just want to a) feel seen, and then b) feel like healing might be possible? I see you. You're the ones I'm writing for.

Also, for the record, grimdark refers to no characters being likeable or trustworthy and generally terrible things happening all the time, including at the end. It assumes an untrustworthy and dark or corrupt world, and therefore dark or corrupt characters. It actually in and of itself has nothing to do with 'being super graphic about trauma' (though they do often go hand in hand). Most of my stuff could never be grimdark, no matter how graphic it gets, because there's always a lot of hope, healing, and the assumption that the majority of the world is capable of good despite great evil. As for misery porn, sure! But I don't care, see point 1, lol.

I definitely think researching trauma and researching case studies about how people write about their own traumatic experience can help. A lot of the time people who have PTSD aren't actually thinking about their experiences in graphic detail because avoidance is a symptom of PTSD, which means their/our behaviours have changed to avoid thinking about those things. My entire life has been marked with trauma, but I don't talk to anyone about it or think about it often, because avoidance is a cardinal symptom of PTSD/C-PTSD. So if I were writing my story, it would be very not graphic, with bursts of intense graphic detail that even I don't like experiencing.

Conveniently in storytelling, this means even if you are sharing graphic trauma, it's very selectively, and not all the time anyway. Because 'all the time' it's not how human brains work in the first place. So once you understand more about the mechanisms of trauma, trauma avoidance, post-trauma , and trauma recovery (where sometimes some of the most graphic reflection happens, but often in a more supported environment, so it can feel gentler to the reader), you get a better sense of how graphic to be, and how often! So I'd say this will be down to a) researching trauma and b) reflecting on the nature of your characters!

I hope that helps!

#asks and answers #pia on trauma #pia on writing #ptsd and cptsd #how graphic to get #ptsd #post trauma #writing and trauma #writing and ptsd #writing and cptsd #tumblr got weird about posting this ask #so i've had to make it into a new post #and rebuild it all salkfjasfsa #this seems like it will work now

[leclercsbf]

i just saw your post about how things seem to be a bit tense between the both of them and i agree, i thought i was the only one who sensed it

for some reason it feels like we’re also getting less content of the both of them together this weekend, for some reason and with the little content they’ve posted, the both of them do look a bit tense around each other. they look like they’re being more careful around each other if that makes sense and not as ease as they always seem to be, maybe i’m overthinking this but their smiles don’t seem to be as bright? as usual too.

i don’t want to judge the whole thing of the tidbits we’re getting too so im hoping that its just me overthinking this and we can judge the whole thing better as we get more content.

and that video of carlos saying he likes his teammate, you’re absolutely right it does look like charles gets less tense once carlos says that, it kinda looks like he’s just exhaling out all the tension and he does look relieved, he seems to smile a bit more after that too cause he seemed quite down prior to that. im thinking it just made him feel better and it was probably reassuring too to hear it out of carlos’ mouth, given everything that happened.

truth be told, this was all kinda expected considering it’s been less than a week since the drama and they probably haven’t had the time to kinda straighten things out after that until now but again you’re right, we’ve been through much worse and i think they might just need some time to settle things and talk things out cause at the end of the day they do get along really well, regardless of what people seem to think.

am i kinda upset that this all had to take place in singapore? yes. but again, im sure they’ll go back to being giggly messes around each other in no time (well at least i hope they do)

im sorry for the rant!! i just also wanted to say how much i absolutely ADORE AND LOVE your fics and your content <3

first off, please don’t say sorry! i absolutely love asks and i’m always happy to read through them, especially when they’re bursting at the seams like this one. that said, i will be putting my reply under the cut just to avoid adding another wall of text, but again—the wall is very much appreciated! don’t ever doubt that.

it’s honestly very interesting to me how more of us seemed to have picked up on the tension than i originally thought, because at first it was just me and goggles who were going back and forth about this whole thing. i feel like we were all kind of just second-guessing it, or maybe we were afraid that talking about it would make it seem more real and therefore more of a cause for concern, and overall it just feels a little strange to speculate based off of the little bits and pieces that we have to work with. however, i do feel like the stuff that the ferrari social media team has been posting is very telling. we all know that they release content whenever rumors about tension in the team start cropping up, but putting a photo of the two of them for the quali result post? come on now. they didn’t even do that for monza, and that’s monza. something’s definitely going on here. i feel like that’s the most compelling example i can provide, but generally it just seems like this week they’ve been throwing out content of the two of them that clearly doesn’t have their usual vibe.

i do agree that they probably haven’t had any time to sort things out, especially with charles delaying his flight to singapore. i’m just as upset as you are that this had to happen here out of all places because it’s singapore, goddamn it, i was so excited at the beginning of the week—but i’m not too worried, and i honestly feel a lot more optimistic after quali. carlos seemed pretty intent on sticking to charles, and after seeing this on top of the olive branch that is “i would have picked charles, esteban. i like my teammate”, i’m inclined to think that carlos is trying to mend things one step at a time. charles’ post-quali review is also very compelling, because look at the way he just smiles the moment he talks about carlos—as if it’s muscle memory, as if he simply can’t help it. they’ll be just fine, anon. we just have to wait it out.

this got long as well, but hey, thank you so much! i’m really glad you like my work and my content, even if the latter is literally just me brainrotting all over everyone’s dashboards. i’m currently working on a new charlos fic, so i’ll try my best not to disappoint. ♥️

#inbox #anon #we do a bit of gossiping #a LOT of gossiping in this case #linking everything for reference

[rinion-b]

"this is why i have attachment issues" is really not how i planned to start this, but that's kinda where i'm at after a few hours to sit on it all.

this is about the whole limbus/pm situation today, for context (i won't be giving any more because i don't know if what i have is accurate, and i hate the idea of me spreading any misinformation when it's already a fucked situation). purely a word vomit, trying to not give any judgement on anything non-objective since there is still a lot of room for followup from project moon once things settle

my overall sentiments on this situation from just seeing updates every hour or so in between work:

what the fuck!

damn it was that serious?

that's...not a great solution...

well shit, was there any reasonable good outcome to all this?

i do want to clarify, i don't intend for any of this to idolize project moon or idealize the indie developer, as easy as that would be. at the same time, i hate the concept that they should be condemned immediately because they fucked up on responding to this situation (outside the context of some other complaints that i've seen from some illustrators and translators in the past).

there is no 'perfect' indie studio. project moon should not be excused for their own failings, especially not on account of them being a small studio. those things can coexist with the concept that, maybe they didn't have much of a choice with how to deal with this? and i've seen all the comparisons with their commentary on society, i get it, i understand and honestly you have a great point. but you cannot escape the impact of capitalism, and i don't think that yelling about the values they portray in their stories is particularly helpful when the situation might affect their ability to continue operating as a company, or at the very least continue providing more limbus content and running the servers.

now, this is predominantly hearsay, but is a believable heuristic. i have heard from a few different friends on separate occasions that project moon is not the most well off financially, either because of development costs outweighing the performance of their older games, or their older games not being quite as profitable as they should objectively be given their quality (indie games are very undervalued often to compete in a space where the 'value' of a game is fucked over by AAA microtransactions and industry trends squeeze what they can out of a commonly accepted price point, but that's a separate discussion altogether). and limbus is their sort of 'last shot' to break into something sustainable.

assuming that this is true, and despite the issues with trusting hearsay especially in this scenario i would prefer to have reasonable evidence to change my mind on something like this, this puts project moon in a really fun situation when you look at the threat of having limbus taken off the korean app store (i'm not sure if this is The App Store in its entirety? there was a lot going on today so i might be missing details on that).

from my perspective as an observer who can neither read korean nor understand more than a few words of it spoken, the only conclusions i can draw from what i have seen in the short span of time since the announcement is some combination of the following points:

project moon either fired the employee to protect them from harrassment (current and future), or fired them because they judged that the loss of one employee in this state was less harmful in the long run than giving up a major source of revenue. maybe both! who the fuck knows!

i still don't know how to feel about all this

people online suck, gacha addicts suck, and being on twitter (or, well, X now) is terrible for my mental health because so many people act in absolutes on the slightest prompt and i can't fucking stand it

people are going to harrass project moon for responding to the harrassment the way they did and i feel like that says a lot about society

this has somehow not ruined my want to play limbus in the future, but idk if i will have any other inclinations to draw it. i don't want them to perish as a company from this one slip-up.

if limbus ends up dying i will probably never play another gacha game again, because despite everything my standards for game quality are through the fucking roof

i...think that's everything. lightly tagged because it would be nice to know how other people think about all this on a site that can handle conscious thought better but this is mostly just to get things out of my head rather than for conversation purposes.

everything fucking sucks, but at least we're still here to watch it burn, eh?

#limbus #company #? #thought dumping wahoo #i've been thinking about this for like 3 hours and it still feels incoherent ngl #to the ppl harrassing pm in the first place i wish all your other gacha games shut down smile

[darkdoverpseeker]

🕊

i'm sunny, 30 horrifying years old, she/her! currently looking for a writing partner 21+ with a high comfortability with chatting about our muses, long replies, consistent but random reply times, and a general sense of controlled chaos. i've been rping since gaiaonline was at its peak, so i'd call myself a seasoned writer, lol. my rp style is fast paced but long term- my other rp verse is currently on year 3 for reference! my reply length is flexible, i tend to match what i'm given in terms of buildable content, but i don't do replies less than 2 paragraphs. i write in either past tense 3rd person or present tense 3rd person. i'm not picky about using gifs or strictly just text, but i do prefer that we match, so that one person isn't using gifs while the other only uses text. i typically take at most couple days to reply, but i am always awake and therefore always reachable to plot, chat, or complain!

fandomless/OCxOC, will occasionally do AUs of fandoms, but i never write for or against canons if i can help it.

i prefer to settle on a plot with my partner, but the overall vibe i'm currently seeking is dark, plotty, angsty, sexy goodness. would love something with kidnapping gone wrong, failed ransom, crime in general, moderate-heavy D/s elements. a note- when it comes to my muses, i tend to write my males as subs, while my ladies, enbies, and genderfluid folx are typically more flexible/more likely to be written as doms or switches. i love trauma, hurt/comfort in the enemies stage, i'm the only one who can hurt you vibes, stockholm syndrome, fearplay, bondage, and dubcon. the only things i won't write are bodily fluids (moderate blood, ie knifeplay, biting, is fine), pregnancy, noncon, underage, and babysitter/nanny plots (not very sexy when you actually are a nanny lmao)

i have a deep backlog of muses to dip into (24 at last count), but in general i prefer to create new muses, especially for 1x1 rping. i tend to lean towards muses around my own age (25-35), with an assortment of genders and sexualities. i have no preference regarding writing for specific genders, but i don't write with people who clearly DO have a preference. don't come to me and only want me to write dominant amab muses, especially if you only play submissive afab muses.

like this or shoot me a message on tumblr and i'll assume it's cool to come and check you out!

like if interested!

#oc x oc #1x1 rp #fandomless rp #dead dove #dead dove do not eat #stockholm syndrome tw #dubcon tw #spicy #21+ #rp #roleplay

[trashytoastboi]

ooh, I'm in the mood for some tasty angst, yes ma'am/sir/mx! can I request an angsty scenario (for the 1,000 follower event, of course!) with the prompt #3 and the overall theme of a love that was returned but not meant to be? Is it alright to continue this in another post too if needed be since my request is a bit specific and the word limit is there? Anyway, it has a male alpha reader and beta Aizawa in love with one another and sharing acknowledged feelings for one another (cont. in next ask)

Heyya! 🍞🍀 sure thing! Sorry its been such a long wait, hope you enjoy~

(Male Pronouns)

1000 Follower Event!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Scenario: ABO AU! Male! Alpha! Reader x Beta! Aizawa - #3. Arranged marriage/bonding.

“I was bawling, In some things you just can't help from falling. And all of your wisdom only makes me feel like I...I don't deserve the freedom. To love with my own heart. To care for another more than myself. To love with my own heart. To care for another more than myself. The love that we stole.” - Love That We Stole by Bears Den

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Word count: 4,096 words

☕Aizawa Shota☕

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

{Name} paused outside the restaurant. Taking a quick once over to make sure his hair and outfit were in tip top shape for his date. He stepped into the restaurant looking at the interior. The warmth from the heaters and the smell of delicious dishes that drifted from the kitchens were enticing. {Name} stopped to speak to the host, confirming the table that had been reserved under his name. Being led to the prepared table with a wonderful view, a little closer to the back and further from the other tables. It was the same table from the first date they had. Something closer to a fond memory that he hoped to share with his partner. {Name} settled at the table, looking around to count all the things that had changed since the last time they had been there together. {Name} arrived a little earlier than the initial meeting time, mostly to make sure everything could be as good as it could get. His face lightened up with a bright smile when he saw Aizawa stepping into the entrance of the restaurant. {Name} felt tempted to stand up and wave at his partner to catch his attention, however opted to smile, stand and pull the chair out for Aizawa. Aizawa greeted {Name}, an evident spark in his tired eyes at the sight of him. {Name} pushes the seat back to the table, and Aizawa couldn’t help himself from feeling bashful over his actions. {Name} thus far had been the only one who went so far for Aizawa and truly kept a very gentlemanly demeanor towards his partner. Aizawa felt spoiled and appreciative for this, never before had he been treated with such endearment and affection. No matter how long they had been in the relationship; the gentle affections and kindness that radiated from the overflowing love {Name} has for him always catches Aizawa off guard.

After a breath and stutter on the conversation, an adjustment to the atmosphere and a moment to fully settle in. The two finally find their pace and exchange some light greetings, albeit a bit awkward but the conversation flows naturally and without pause. Aizawa takes a look around the interior, seemingly counting all the things that differed from the last time. A very similar action to what {Name} had done as soon as he arrived. {Name} silently watched Aizawa with a content expression, following his eyes and trying to discern his thoughts. Even without realizing it, {Name} beamed with happiness just by being in Aizawa's company.

“Do you remember our first date?” Aizawa inquired, turning his attention back to {Name} and disrupting his little happy bubble. {Name} chuckled, “How could I forget?” he paused, took a sip of his drink and fondly reminisces through his thoughts. “I kept asking you to go out with me every single time I saw you. Although, you always refused until one day you finally said yes.” {Name} shook his head as if to think of the occasion and his actions of his youth as a little silly when he thought of his sheer persistence. “You act as if it was ages ago. Its only been three years.” Aizawa chirped. {Name} raised an eyebrow, “Only” he mused. Aizawa cleared his throat “If I’ll give you points for anything, it's for tenacity.”

“I admit, I was a bit adamant. Though can you blame me? Someone as amazing you just wandering into my life and suddenly I experienced something like love at first sight.” {Name} adverted his eyes and felt himself growing shy from his words especially when seeing Aizawa with that self satisfactory smile. “I was so happy I really thought my heart would burst then and there.”

The conversation halts while the two run through the memories of the time. Thinking back to what they were doing, what did they say? How did they feel? How did they survive those few too many awkward encounters.

“Still, I remember worrying about how I would dress that day. You know how surprised I was when you showed up in a suit and with a bouquet?” Aizawa gestured, exaggerating just how big the bouquet really was. “What can I say? I wanted to woo you the right way.” {Name} rubbed the back of his neck, paired with a slight nervous chuckle. “Your awkward charm definitely did the trick.”

Conversation followed a strange pattern of reminiscing, most likely due to the location. After sharing dinner and unintentional participation in the quiz night neither of them planned for. {Name} and Aizawa came out with the third place prize and got a round of drinks on the house. After paying and leading the way, {Name} walks ahead to open the door for Aizawa as he steps through and reciprocated by holding the door for {Name}. The two take a leisurely walk down the stretch of road that leads to the park. Their hands entwined and warm while the peaceful stroll helps the food from their meal settle.

Aizawa looked at the hand that held his own. His brow creased in thought. It is an unfortunate truth, seeing that their relationship did not have to be completely hidden…However, the possibility of being able to be completely open about it was not something the two could take lightly. And thanks to the countless years of society setting up the margin and standard of what rules could dictate society under the prevalent guise of ‘normality.’ Resulted in a standard and norm even towards relationships. Betas and betas; alphas and omegas. Simple as that, nothing more and nothing less was allowed outside of that box. Taking a step from normality made a person a deviant, or strange in general consensus. Take a step further and the topic in question was deemed as taboo and thus gave it the highest shame society could possibly attach to a matter.

Being one of those who broke the taboo were treated as outcasts who had broken the worst law possible. Of course, there was no such law in legal terms that bound people to this manner of thinking. It was simply conditioned into them. And following these rules, leads to the silent stress that burnt at the back of their minds. {Name} and Aizawa were nurturing that so called “forbidden" love. {Name} being an alpha, and thanks to his family he could even be considered one of the elite; and Aizawa, a beta. Social class aside as if to make the situation more dramatic than it already had been, the two were breaking the taboo of relationships between betas and alphas. Thankfully those close to Aizawa were open to change and progression, seeing him in love with an alpha wasn’t gossiped about. Nor made a topic of public disagreement, but rather everyone had only wished him the best.

{Name’s} situation, sadly was not so fortunate. His family strictly upheld these “laws", to reiterate on his family being one of the elite families of society means they had used their influence to play a big part in shaping this mindset. Protecting what they believed to be natural and normal. On the outside many might have not seen this as the case. {Name's} family, along with the other age old high alpha families abolished the idea of an individuals secondary gender dictating ones social class. This gave rise to equal opportunity for betas and omegas alike to rise in the ranks of society and participate in the upper sections. For all intents and purposes this became a great course of action, as to why they strictly banished the thought of other forms of progression was unknown. {Name} could only speculate and put it down to selfishness and convenience. After all, an elite family supposedly grows stronger with the next promising generation. And he grimaced at the thought that his life was dictated by the matter of acting like a breeding bull to ensure an heir to continue the family.

Such as the elite alpha families who proudly produced generation after generation of good alphas. Were joined by elite omega families who seemed to have the same phenomenon. Because of this, marriages were often arranged and agreed upon between these families for omegas and alphas. As well as the beta families who would have marriage between the majority of high and middle class beta families.

The date had ended after spending some time together in the park. Aizawa had mentioned having papers to grade and {Name} did not want to keep him out longer than necessary. Knowing Aizawa, had they spent a much longer time out together he might have had to stay up the whole night to finish his workload. He sent Aizawa off with a peaceful smile, he seemed to always be smiling around him. Even Aizawa had noticed it. It was rare to see {Name} without a smile whenever they were around each other. {Name} watched as Aizawa left, sticking his hand into his pocket and feeling the object he concealed so carefully. “Looks like I couldn’t ask him today either…”

{Name} arrived home, leaving his shoes at the door and smiling. Feeling rather elated from the date he just had, he was quickly made aware of an uncharacteristically cold feeling in the house. An underlying tension that seemed to swallow him up the moment he walked in.

{Name} got called to a family meeting. Usually families meetings did not occur unless there was big news or a matter that needed discussion, or in this case… intervention. {Name} visibly looked surprised to see many empty seats, for a family meeting it felt scarce. The only ones present were his parents, and himself. Cautiously trying to get a read of the room, he stepped in and took the free seat directly across from his parents. His father had an otherwise smile on his face. It was not evil, nor cold but felt very out of place to the mood of the room. His father slid something across the table for him, two folders with unknown contents and {Name} who felt reluctant to pick them up, looked at them with a questioning expression. He slowly reached his hand out to the and the first file held a photograph of a dainty and sweet looking lady. The next few pages were information like a printed dating profile, explaining her name and age. Her hobbies, talents and aspirations. Most importantly the information it had listed her secondary gender as “Omega.” {Name} smiled bitterly at the folder, and misunderstand the reason behind the smile his mother quickly chirped “There is a second folder my dear.”

He didn’t know if he was expecting anything else, the second folder held another photo. This time of a very beautiful man, the folder had a layout like the first. Name, age, hobbies, talents, aspirations and secondary gender listed as “Omega.”

{Name} felt perplexed. Perhaps that was the wrong way to explain it, he knew. He knew exactly what the situation entailed and still hoped that by playing the fool he would not have to face it.

“Those are your fiancé candidates. We promised a reply by the end of the week so you have more than enough time to decide which one you like better. Take your time and read carefully.” His mother explained in such a honeyed voice, there was not a single trace of malevolence in it. But her intentions still hurt.

“F-Fiance?” {Name} stammered, trying to calm down. “Your mother and I met them both. They’re quite lovely omegas. We think that their temperaments suit you quite well. No matter who you choose, we think you’ll get along.” {Name} tried to mull over their words, trying to figure out his next sentence. Maybe they didn’t know? Would they be understanding? Would the situation be different if he explained that he is in love with someone already? “I…can’t get married. I’m in a relationship.” he explained calmly wanting to shout but kept his head and tried to further the discussion. “That beta?” the offhand comment from his mother surprised {Name}, even more so with the present hint of disdain in her expression and voice. “We know. However you’ll be engaged by the end of the week, so break things off with him properly. If you still can’t decide on a fiance, we will do it for you.” {Name} could not believe it, so much for discussion. The cold and firm way his father delivered his words made him realize that discussion was not possible. “You’re the ones who decided this marriage without my consent! Why should I have to break off my relationship?!” {Name} raised his voice, evidently surprising his parents. “Dear, are we not here trying to get your consent for who you will marry?” {Name} felt as if he were speaking to a wall when his parents made a decision. The underlying message o their words and expression seemed to tell him to stop acting like a child. “If it gets out that you are dating a beta, you will be fine. But will he be fine in the fallout? Is he not a public figure? Reputation matters a lot to people like that.” His father spoke calmly, unfazed by the fact that {Name} raised his voice.

{Name} almost choked on his words “Are you really going to do this?” on the surface it may have seemed as if his father were giving him sound advice. The truth remained that embedded in those cold words of advice was an underlying threat. His parents show no need to get angry. They already know what the outcome will be. {Name} sighs, standing up and retrieves his shoes before slamming the door harshly as he leaves. His hands shake from rage with no way to express it. Was it truly only rage? No matter how much he wanted to deny it, fear seemed to be outweighing his anger. {Name} picked up the phone, with a moment of hesitance before he calls Aizawa. Even though they had seen each other earlier in the evening, the entire mood from then had shifted. Aizawa picked up the phone when he saw the name. The moment he heard {Name's} voice, the shaking and straining in the few words that he struggled to get out. {Name} was upset, more than he had ever heard before. Aizawa could tell {Name} was dancing around what he wanted to ask, and took the initiative to invite him over. {Name} truthfully was already heading to Aizawa, the trip dragged on while he stalled and tried to calm his heart as much as he could. There were too many thoughts he could not articulate, too many thoughts that created a mess in his head that he couldn’t organize. Is there any way in this mess he and Aizawa could find the happy outcome?

{Name} knocked onto he door softly, it opened quickly to reveal Aizawa who must have been waiting. Despite keeping a calm expression, {Name} could see it on his face, Aizawa looked worried. He cranks out a weak smile to try and ease Aizawa's worries. Aizawa invited {Name} in, closing the door behind him and quickly pulled {Name} into a hug. “What’s wrong?”

{Name} sighed again, he wished to bide his time and try to avoid answering for as long as possible. He knew that its not a topic that can be avoided. Aizawa guides {Name} over and they take a seat. {Name} carries a sad smile, honesty will be the best approach. Half truths will only lead to a more painful conclusion. “My parents…Arranged my engagement. I’ll have a fiancé by the end of the week regardless of my choice.” When the words left this mouth, {Name} almost felt the bitter irony of wanting to laugh at the matter as if it were a bad joke. Aizawa however, remained silent. His expression unchanged but felt the heavy feeling that stirred in his chest. “I told them to break it off because I’m already with someone…” Aizawa placed his hand over {Name's} hand to comfort him and also brace himself for what {Name} was about to say. “They already knew about you…” {Name} finished what he had been saying, the shaking of his hands seemed to already indicate to Aizawa that it was not a fond conversation. He could infer from {Name's} attitude that his family wasn’t happy about them being together.

“I tried to tell them that I wouldn’t marry anyone else. They brought us up and mentioned if our relationship came out…it could really affect your reputation and work. How could they stoop so low? I got so angry and just-"

Aizawa couldn’t confirm nor deny what his family claimed would be the end result of announcing their relationship. It was certain many would look down on it. {Name} looked frustrated, an uncharacteristic look to see on him. This truly is a tough position to be caught in. {Name} truly loves his family, and this is the first time that they had ever been so obstinate about any situation. Their firmness might have stemmed from the resolve to try give their son what was best, and turn him away from a difficult path. The truth of the matter remained, if {Name} stayed with Aizawa, then he would face countless judgements, insecurities and difficulties. There was no such thing as walking the flowery path. Aizawa considered the possibility, maybe they were the ones who were actually right in their desire to protect {Name} against difficulties in their own way. Aizawa could not offer any comforting words when his thoughts offered no comfort to himself. In spite of hoping to be with {Name}, having a typical happily ever after even if it were not as picturesque… he still thought it were a possibility. There was no easy way, no road that led them to the storybook happily ever after… and no path without strife.

In this situation, no matter what {Name} chose - he is going to lose something. Aizawa had settled into his life, although he could pick up his roots and leave anytime he felt would be good. Running away and eloping, certainly a dramatic solution to come to, but it presented possibility. However {Name} was different from him, {Name} truly loved his family and being able to say goodbye in such a manner. Even if it would not be forever, but {Name} could not bring himself to do that. And in doing so, he will lose Aizawa, is what Aizawa's thoughts had convinced him of.

Aizawa stared at the floor all the while lost in his head. {Name} seemed able to read the thoughts that his partner was running through. {Name} conjured a little smile, seeing how worry Aizawa is for his sake. Aizawa's internal questions were interrupted by feeling {Name's} hand placing something into his. The moment he laid eyes on the box, he knew exactly what lay inside. Aizawa realized that he truly underestimated just how much {Name} loves him. {Name} held Aizawa's hand, leading it to his mouth and kisses it softly. “I only ever wanted to marry the one I really love.” As soon as the words left his mouth, the frustration that had no escape, came out in the form of tears. Aizawa hated to see him in such a state, he seemed so conflicted and torn by everything. He knew that if he accepted the ring, {Name} would give up so much to be with him. Somehow, Aizawa could not bring himself to do that to {Name}. He chose not to open the box, seeing it would have shaken his heart and swayed him from the decision he had just made. Imagining {Name} smiling and pacing up and down the store, looking at every display case and carefully considering which ring he would give to Aizawa. Indeed, a lovely thought. One that now turned painful when this is the outcome. Aizawa gently, reluctantly placed the box back into {Name's} hand. “I’m…I’m sorry" he stated sadly unable to conjure any other words.

{Name} nodded his head, he knew his words would not change Aizawa's mind. The decision was made, {Name} felt drained. His sole reason for fighting against everything and everyone had ended. There was no longer a reason to fight. He could resign himself to whatever outcome quietly.

Aizawa comforted him, held him and yet not a single word was uttered between the two. {Name} placed his hand on Aizawa's face, and kissed him. This kiss had been different from every one they shared before, they both knew the reason for it. Instead of the lingering warmth that would usually bring a hint of shyness, turned cold quickly when its meaning was one of goodbye. {Name} smiled, an odd expression on his face that couldn’t be deciphered between exhaustion or sadness.

The moment {Name} left, Aizawa was the one to fall into frustration. Hitting the wall and cursing silently. Even with the surge of tears pricking his eyes. He wasn’t as transparent and honest with the more complex feelings he would experience. Unlike {Name} he refused to let himself cry or find comfort, his eyes traveled to where they had been sitting together moments earlier. He noticed the box on the table…clearly intentional that it had been left there. After all, the ring was intended for Aizawa anyway. Whether he kept it, threw it away, kept it out of sight or wore it was all up to him.

{Name} returned home, depressed and with no energy to argue about anything. He simply nodded his head, and got dragged around by everyone else over the arranged marriage endeavor. For a person known for their bright personality, and ever present smile…many seemed to doubt if the accounts of {Name} were really true. Even his fiancé had been intimidated by his stern and cold expression. {Name} barely spoke beyond one or two words and never showed a hint of a smile, nor happiness towards anything.

Months, maybe even more accurately to say a little over a year had passed. Aizawa fiddled with the ring on his finger, sitting in the teachers room and originally planned to nap but the news reached him. The students and even some staff had been talking about some very popular wedding. Aizawa didn’t care much for tabloids and gossip, though this could be an exception. The glimpse he caught of the cover of the magazine he saw another teacher reading really caught his attention. The cover held a picture, and a headline announcing the marriage between some of the elite alpha and omegas families. The photo had {Name} and the omega in question. Poised, dignified and distant is the feeling he got from the image of {Name}. The stern expression he held, without a single ounce of happiness. Every photo that was presented in those glossy pages seemed to show the same {Name} who seemed annoyed to be there, if not stern or annoyed then his photos made him look tired and disinterested. Aizawa looked at the image as if he had been looking at a stranger, a stranger with very foreign expressions. The omega happily smiled at his side in every photo and everyone seemed genuinely happy for the couple.

Aizawa tossed the magazine down, and felt conflicted more than upset. Or perhaps they were on equal lengths to the mess of emotions that he felt in this moment and the unpleasant bitterness it left. Its been more than a year since the last time they saw each other, or even spoke to one another. Aizawa believed it would be easier to forget if he did not remain a lingering presence in {Name's} life, and so they decided to cut all ties. Something seemed to tell Aizawa that was not what {Name} wanted. But it was for the best, or so he thought. Finally knowing how {Name} is doing, and seeing a stranger in his place left Aizawa with the onslaught of questions. Did he really make the right choice? {Name} looked miserable, and Aizawa felt miserable. Was his decision really the only one that he could have made in that moment? Could there have been a different outcome, one where everyone would have been happy? Did they not fight hard enough to find the alternative route? – No, that was a mistake. {Name} had fought…and continued fighting even then. “If I didn’t act like a coward would things have been different?”

“Did I really take the easy way out?” A question he asked himself over and over again. A question that would remain unanswered.

"You'll be loved, you'll be loved. Like you never have known and the memories of me will seem more like bad dreams. Just a series of blurs. Like I never occurred. Some day, you will be loved. - Someday You Will Be Loved by Death Cab for Cutie

#boku no hero academia #my hero academia #bnha #aizawa #trashytoastboi #1000 follower event #1000 followers event #male pronouns #male reader #abo au #abo #omegaverse #omegaverse au #angst #sfw #mha #boku no hero academia scenarios #boku no hero academia imagines #alpha beta omega #my hero academia imagines #my hero academia scenarios #aizawa Shota #aizawa shouta

[datastate]

current tierlist! all in relation to one another. i'm still working on the more detailed reviews for each & i'm very sleepy atm, but here's the gist:

S TIER - YAKUZA 0:

the story was well done! i really loved each character and how everything came together by the end. it was really impressive how they managed to foreshadow so much within the first chapter, only ever expanding off of what was already introduced. even as the story continued, there still left enough doubt in each player's mind to wonder if there's another factor/motivation they haven't yet found out, really putting them in the place of each protagonist. the game did well with handling two protagonists, and the culmination of their overlapping arcs was very interesting to see - even if it was something the player already assumed, it wasn't frustrating seeing the characters in the moment not realize its true importance... you looked forward to seeing how it'd be revealed to them. as this prequel was made in retrospect, i understand there are some characters/systems they cannot carry over due to the limitations of the first few games without creating inconsistencies. however, my main critique was a narrative choice toward the end which was needlessly tragic. more salt in an already-existing wound, when this incident could very well have been pushed off - especially with pre-existing chronic conditions the character in question had, and the fact this moment was precisely what had been driving the entire story. i am not particularly disappointed with how it ended, but i do feel that there was much more that could've been done before jumping to the next act. it was admittedly disappointing, and something i preemptively feared the story would do. while i enjoy dark/emotional topics, this felt like a senseless, unsatisfactory narrative choice that could've been easily avoided or explained away. however, with the story choice they took, i appreciate their confidence in how they used this to wrap up the story. overall very good! characters were definitely its strong suit and they created a lot of interesting dynamics.

A TIER - YAKUZA 3:

again, characters were the main draw of this one!! i enjoyed the mystery of the first arc, and how the tension steadily built as we finally got to see the effects of yakuza on civilian life. it was nice seeing how characters took yakuza loyalty to heart - even to the point of doing the horrible things they ended up doing, against the wishes of the very one they're devoted to, if it's for their 'health' ... that sort of dynamic is always interesting to me. i liked seeing another aspect of kiryu's compassion here, and i'm always a fan of older mentor figures giving advice to younger ones who look up to them. with the nakahara family as well as those within the orphanage, i feel it did a wonderful job establishing kiryu's experience & his new goals outside of the yakuza. it's very nice seeing him settled down and feeling so much more joyous/thankful - especially with everything else he's already gone through, it feels like. a well-deserved break, and it's nice seeing him fight for something that isn't necessarily what the tojo clan asks of him, but something he personally chose. it just happened to fall in line with the tojo's priorities, meaning he's of use... my main gripe with this game, despite how much i enjoyed it, was the ending & how the yakuza games treat disabilities as temporary (makoto & saki). but i will mainly focus on the ending for now: it was very cheap to kill someone as soon as they came to the realization of how much harm they've done. i will not dig into every last detail here, but i feel as if it would've added much more to keep this character around for a longer amount of time to grow as a person and possibly fuel further (eventual) internal conflict for the clan if the chairman recognized points of contention. we have seen how ruthless this antagonist can be, and letting them return to the clan with a new perspective in mind could've really improved making the games feel connected & create natural conflict for future games considering what we already know about this character & the lengths they can go to.

C TIER - YAKUZA 2:

interesting concept, poor execution... it wasn't necessarily terrible, but the characters weren't as compelling as they could've been to make me care for furthering the story, and i had been stuck with knowing (some of) the twists from the earliest chapters, where... this story definitely relied heavily on the air of mystery over all else. you can definitely tell y0 was made after a few of these yakuza games with how they've improved their storytelling, because this just. did not live up to its potential. i liked the remaining dojimas & it was fascinating seeing kiryu realize how wrong he's been due to his trust of people, but still choosing to accept the responsibility of what comes with more caution rather than giving up entirely. majima was a treat here, & i did enjoy seeing his story through. he really is a man of extremes when it comes to that malicious compliance, and i really did enjoy how he naturally tied into this + his assumptions were justified due to previous experience being manipulated by people within the omi alliance. the recontextualization of y0 made this match up very well i always like seeing moments where he's more perceptive than he usually lets on. (& this may just be me, but the mafia they were against felt a bit. more like caricatures than people with a drive/resolve to thrive against hardship - partially because we weren't even given reason why they chose to form here, or how the yakuza previously wronged them to make them charge so heavily. especially after the treatment of other asian countries in y0, even if they were foreign mafia, this gave me a lot of whiplash...)

D TIER - YAKUZA 1: cw for spoilers & brief reference of sexual assault

not in F because we meet haruka... but everything else really does feel a bit cliche and the descent of [main antagonist] just made me feel like this

corruption arcs can be really good! i usually really love reading up on them, but... this particular one felt very forced. i feel like there was more that could've been done to prove how the remaining yakuza were pushing nishiki's paranoia over what kiryu would do once he left, pushing him to doubt kiryu (despite him. going to jail for him), and if there was more given over how he became possessive and demanding over time, eventually culminating in another impulsive murder where he realizes... he can't go back, and then loses those morals entirely if only to keep himself & yumi safe, damn whoever gets in the way, then. it'd work much better because he's now become someone who he would've once considered worthy of death, as dojima's possessiveness was, but he's more 'righteous' now. there was some pushing from others for him to be better, some shows of manipulation, but never quite enough specifically centered around kiryu as to 'prove' he couldn't trust him. i also feel that jingu was a very. poor replacement. this sounds. horrible, but i believe yumi's disconnect with haruka would've been better off if haruka was dojima's daughter. this would also contribute to why she visited her under an alias, as well as the idea that kazama & yumi felt the need to hide haruka from tojo/nishiki, for fear of his reaction. as yumi begins to recognize nishiki's becoming more of a lone conspirator, maybe if she's again been put in harm's way under threat for the nishikyama family, that's when she abandons him for a safer life with kazama's help. but because nishiki's had to take up kiryu's mantle, prove he's much more than kiryu could've been, he can't follow yumi into a peaceful life and resents her for that as well. for abandoning him, too, and instead going to kiryu who took the fall for both of them. kiryu just always has to be better, doesn't he? & that's also why nishiki ends up surveying kiryu as soon as he leaves, because he's searching for yumi through him because. even in the end, they're inseparable. and kiryu hasn't changed in the least: he still wants to trust both of them, as deceitful as they've become. (though both disallow people to be close to them anymore; yumi's is more for safety, nishiki's is because he's. lost & is actively destroying his support system lol) maybe, nishiki works with jingu's information network to try to find yumi again, not realizing that jingu would accept this because he'd also realized the tojo clan was suffering after being stolen from - he didn't know this guy knew that, meaning he was putting yumi in more danger when he gave him the money for his silent search. yumi stole the money for when nishiki's finally disposed of (he's painted a target on his back, begun to brute force things as kiryu had), so she can send haruka somewhere safer (if kiryu's still out of the life, then with him; even sera would be a better choice considering how calculating he can be & carefully hide her w people loyal to him alone), etc. etc. there are still ways to tie him into this and be so selfish, but. honestly, i feel like his corruption arc is a bit more nonsensical than nishiki's already. nishiki's constantly in an incredibly stressful environment and lured in by greed/praise/allure of safety, but jingu had. solely wanted money. no other factor. if he went into the business looking for money, he'd stay looking for money... nothing out of the ordinary there, is it. we already have nishiki betraying the people he loves, we don't need this business man out here too. but. to do all that, it requires upheaving most of the story. and it is not the game we get, sadly. so here it remains.

#jestersvaguely #ykza tag #put cws for the last one but the rest are relatively spoiler free & in-line w typical violence

[dramarising-replacement]

While I do enjoy that the writers for the lore decided to take a more familial approach to the deities as having them as siblings - I find a lot of issues in how certain aspects of the lore are set up. As a note before I start my spiel — this is not in defense of any incest shipping or irl incest or whatever, I for one am not personally invested in the lore to care enough about what people do with these characters off-site, it’s just not my problem at that point; but, I will say I don’t personally care for the incest shipping or shipping the deities because I’m not as invested in their individual characters to seek enjoyment of that and the implication of incest is yes - a deterrent to me. This “rant” isn’t against any group of people it’s just me observing the personal issues I have with the lore using my skills in narrative, mythological, and metaphorical literacy (which isn’t a college degree level or anything it’s just my basic understanding of literature). That being said; I agree with this needing to stay offsite for the reason alone that things will get extremely hostile fast with this sort of stuff, and as creators of the site, if they feel uncomfortable with certain things on their site are allowed to keep it off site - if you like this you can still create and view content of them OFF site. While maybe not the best solution it’s better than the amount of vitriol this would spew from both sides of the argument. That being said, nerd time.

So from the beginning we can infer a very sibling esc relationship with the first four - not only is it heavily implied through the very beginning of their stories, but (though I wouldn’t blame or belittle anyone for not seeing it or interpreting it this way) when the Deities bicker about what should be done with their new planet, reminiscent of sibling rivalry. To quickly draw our attention back to the very start, you could infer their relation to eachother from their overall creation; all four Gods are borne of magic imbibed within Sorneith, the magic within the planet or celestial body itself being the Parent in this case to the four. In many mythologies this metaphorical “birth” of primordial beings in its most basic attributes is common; from chaos or nothingness comes forth the first major Gods, deities, spirits, etc. and often in these cases, if multiple are born at this point they are counted as each others siblings because they share the same creator. Now that we’ve got that settled, this is generally where the problem begins.

After the Deities begin to scuffle between eachother, two other Draconic beings are directly formed from each pairs elements combining, the Icewarden and Stormcatcher are born from the pairs of siblings — but they are simply referred to as their siblings too. Now, this doesn’t make sense to me, and while I can generally argue that the other gods after this point are a lot more vague as to their creation and thus their relationship with the four, Icewarden and Stormcatcher aren’t; they have, in some form, parents due to how the story has them come to be as more of a direct outcome of two individuals interactions with each other.

Generally, in mythology, and in modern media as well, when an individual or more creates something they are assigned a paternal role, while their creation is their offspring. We modernly do this with inanimate objects, concepts, etc. and in ancient times this was no different, for example, in Egyptian mythology Ra created Sekhmet from his severed eye and she is thus referred to as one of his children. While their creation is not typical, a similar relationship of parent and child is given to them, even when said “child” isn’t humanoid or even alive. So when I read this even if they are canonically siblings — it just doesn’t read that way. It reads like Tidelord and Windsinger are fathering the Stormcatcher into existence due to how the story places them specifically as responsible for the birth of this new Deity, the same going for the Earthshaker and Flamecaller with the creation of the Icewarden. This isn’t necessarily a bad or even uncommon thing though - specifically from a purely mythological standpoint, may I emphasize, because commonly, we can see this throughout many different myths - especially the creation myth.

To use Greek mythology this time, within the Hesiod version of the myth, Chaos is the first being to exist and they do so in complete obscurity until they form Nyx, the goddess of darkness from the shadows all around them. Afterwards, Chaos and Nyx, parent and daughter, create Erebus, and Nyx and Erebus, mother and son, take each other as husband and wife and bring forth Aether and Hemera. Technically, we can argue that Nyx is not genetically related to Chaos, they did not literally birth her, her creation is spoken of as a more literal action of them forming her like a sculpture, but that does not remove them as her parent and this is done afterwards in many other myths with the resulting Gods still being seen as their creator’s child. So, to me, no matter how you choose to view it, or the story attempts to direct you towards another outcome, the story overall implies that Wind and Tide fathered Storm (goes for earth flame and ice too I just got lazy) since these concepts do not exist within a vacuum, and it might be more so due to the focus on Wind and Tide than the elements at hand. How the story is told puts too much emphasis on them being Storms ultimate creators when it is implied slightly at the beginning that technically; this magic was always out there in existence, it’s just that it needed a push to be awakened. An easy solution to this is simply adding an easier “parent” or source to all of the deities which seems to be Sorneiths essence(?) as it is, I feel like if they downplayed or didn’t emphasize the first four’s hands in the creation of storm and ice, people would be less likely to make the connection of that being their parents - because even though the incest may be uncomfortable, to me what is more bothersome (as someone who has no life) is how the story and writers insist sibling-hood when that’s not discernible outside of the insistence.

I also have an overall issue with how the deities interact with one another seeming generally either reductive of siblinghood or ignorant of it, while when deities do interact like siblings occasionally it is very engaging. I love the Earthshaker in personality when it comes to all the deities, but I honestly perceive his role as paternal more so than sibling esc, and honestly it might solve the overall issue? But even then I feel like that’s more headcanon-y than it is an actual solution. I feel like the deities need either more interaction as siblings or their relationships with eachother should be further explained - tell us what siblinghood means to them on some level, because while the Plaguebringer and Gladekeeper are more obviously siblings out of all the eleven, it’s mainly cause we get to seem the interact in a way that is familiar. If how they behave is alien to us, the viewers, it should be at least somewhat explained what sibling relationships or titles mean to them — lore wise it would even translate as to how dragons might view eachother day to day. Like, the deities could’ve been made from the same source, but due to them being inhuman and not thinking on our terms, they thought absolutely nothing of it and didn’t care what it might imply - that’s a possible way to view this, but the source material does directly tell us they are related at the very least via the same “creator”. I just think that if they want to better solidify this sibling bond they should alter how ice and storm are born because it conflicts with what they’re telling us, and I do like the sibling angle a lot because of how funny it is that the deities are all just having a really shitty family get together — only a few of them stay in contact with eachother and at least four of them actually wanna kill eachother. Earthshaker just wants his family to get along for long enough to actually set up the silverware for the love of god - as a concept it’s great, but it has problems in its execution that can be easily repaired and I hope these specific issues are if they ever edit or revamp the lore. It just sticks out to me in a way that breaks some of the immersion is all. With that said, my stupidly long rant about digital dragons is over and I’m sorry to anyone who had to read this before actually sending it out there — this has been sitting in the back of my head for two weeks through sickness and health and I just needed to scream into the void.

#Petty #Drama #Rant #Lore #Confessions #Cursing #Long post #Flight Rising #Praise #Forums

[whitedemontobirama]

Guidelines/Rules

- Non-RP rules

💧 I'm 21+, so I don't feel comfortable interacting with minors. This blog will certainly feature some NSFW content so absolutely no minors. 💧 I follow everything and everyone, so don't feel pressured to follow me back. I just like my dashboard to be lively so I don't feel alone. 💧 I don't really block anyone because I'm very open and rarely get offended. But, if you've become annoying, I won't hesitate to block you. I like to live a carefree life and I'm not escaping the real world to get into more trouble here. And you can block me without any hesitation just as well if I became troublesome for you. 💧 I'm really chill. In fact, I like to interact with people! Don't feel afraid to message me, my DMs are open for everyone! If you're shy, you can anonymously use the ask box.

💧 If you have a problem with me and you won't block me, please don't give me a hard time in public. I really hate discourse and cyberbullying. If you do that, I will ignore whatever you're doing and block you. We're all adults here, let's settle our problems like responsible people.

- RP Rules

💧 If you're interested in an RP, send me a DM or tag me in a starter. I have a discord, a Twitter account and a Facebook account all dedicated to my Tobirama muse. We can RP anywhere: (discord, Facebook Messenger, Facebook posts, Twitter DMs, Twitter tweets)

💧 We don't have to be mutuals to RP. If you want a Tobirama to RP with, then here I am! Just read my rules, headcanons and verses to be well-acquainted with my muse. And we can plot something together!

💧 If you're also a Tobirama RPer, it will be interesting to do an AU RP! I don't mind doubles, in fact, talk to me! We can share ideas.

💧 OCs are completely fine! Just have a good, detailed bio so I know who I'm RPing with. I don't want to offend you or your character.

💧 Take your time in replying because I expect to be also given time to reply. I work an administrative job and sometimes it takes its toll on me so I go home and sleep to be mentally ready for the next day. We are adults, and I know everyone is just as busy. Real life happens.

💧 Things I'm uncomfortable with:

Incest. (HashiTobi) or shipping Tobirama with one of their other brothers (Itama and Kawarama). I have nothing against the ships, and I have nothing against the shippers. But, I do have 3 younger siblings in real life and I feel sick thinking about that. I know it's just fiction, but yeah.

No exclusives. I want to be able to RP with everyone. Every thread has its own plotline unless stated otherwise.

(I will probably add/remove RP rules as I go! People are changeable.)

Overall, I like to have fun and I want people to enjoy RPing with me!

#rp rules

[choucars]

VSCVKZXGKAXTUVSMUVQGKCQYIVLAYICAUO

OH GODS. I just listened to mag160, I am just- blkblhlfbblvlb. It was marvelous, now of course because of the spoilers I knew something more had to happen to cause the apocalypse before s5, but not in THAT WAY. I hesitated to listen to it after mag159 because it was already a lot and quite satisfying, but I didn't expect it to happen like that (i mean I didn't know what to expect quite frankly).

Listen I love the statements and all, especially because of the voice acting that is so impressive (really the way a single person can read all those statements conveying not only the different emotions but also the new personality each time perfectly I've always found amazing), but it's always really exciting to have things happen "live" on the tape recorder. And the finales always offer a whole load of that, and one of the things I love most is the environmental sounds and the way the sound is handled (i mean its a podcast but) with the distance and the- the lonely for example- it's just great !

But then ! The finale happens in a statement, as it affects the world around, and it just underlines how important the statements are to the story and just- yes. Ok this is not linear to the episode but I don't care- The rain and the thunder, the weird fuckery- whatever's going on at the very end when we can hear outside ! I love it !!!!!

Ohhh and the line with the sky looking back is so good, and since I'd really liked (by which I mean was slightly obsessed over and tried to google it or looked for it in previous statements- whatever) the line about "the sky blinking" it just fit together with that and it was brilliant vejzkdkldjlam

Also- also yeah, Jon and Martin finally finding each other, and then leaving to live at the countryside in Scotland or something with cows and grass and thunder. Just neat !

Now let me go on about the statement itself. Alright I have to find the jokes about "apologies for the deception" because that was great, and just the general trick Elias (or Jonah ig) pulled, literally like a carrot on a stick, with jon being delivered his dinner and enjoying it alone, heaving a sigh of contentment, settling and starting the statement calm and like it was just the normalest thing- but then BAM ! Elias hits ! (I adore Elias so much now, great character, evil bitch) And the way jon only struggles once and then is just- overtaken by the statement, speaks for jonah, wearing his sneer and chuckling. It could have been a tape but it wasn't, Elias specifies it's on purpose. I say it was the most epic thing if not for the INCANTATION. OH YEAH. I get really excited about poetry and generally nicely written things, and that was just glorious. The last accumulation of verbs gave me chills. (I'll copy ot here just so I can read it again)

"Bring all that is fear and all that is terror and all that is the awful dread that crawls and chokes and blinds and falls and twists and leaves and hides and weaves and burns and hunts and rips and bleeds and dies."

So overall it was great. I love it. I loved counting and recalling the encounters (thankfully they were listed in the statement because I almost alt tabbed to my death to try and find which ones had happened) (Oh oh also the lonely is so interesting, the spychological games and whatnot in mag159, i really liked that, it's really too bad peter is gone)

Anyways I'm done ranting, I was just overly excited about that so much that I had to leave the room to "express my excitement physically" (by which i mean happy stim, i think, is that what you call happy stim ? Idk)

I think I kinda like this podcast

#mag160 #the magnus archives #rant #tma spoilers

[cyringedigimediaseo]

Best online entertainment promoting tips to continue in 2022

With more than 3 billion dynamic clients via web-based entertainment, virtual entertainment advertising is certainly perhaps the best channel for business to lay out an internet-based presence, secure quality traffic and eventually drive deals.

Today, it sounds pretty unavoidable to be via online entertainment, right?

Furthermore, did you have any idea that online entertainment has an overall infiltration pace of 49%?

Indeed, this implies that almost around 50% of the total populace is there via online entertainment! Furthermore, on the off chance that you know how to use web-based entertainment stages right, there can be no greater chance for showcasing out there.

Need a few hints for virtual entertainment showcasing to help your traffic and make your life simpler? Peruse on to investigate how to make the best of virtual entertainment!

Hints for online entertainment showcasing

Online entertainment promoting can either be a dynamic stalwart that cements marking, creates quality leads, and drives deals or, it very well may be a hotshot frustration. The critical lies in knowing how to make, do, and dissect the general arrangement decisively.

With legitimate preparation, organizations can without a doubt reach and surpass the result that made them generally energetic about virtual entertainment in any case.

Luckily, we have a bit-by-bit plan spread out for you. Go through these 15 idiot proof tips to pro your virtual entertainment advertising effort!

Recognize your objectives and crowd

It's wise to constantly begin with objective setting before straightforwardly leaping to arranging, and web-based entertainment promoting's the same. Thus, you ought to apply the SMART objective setting way to deal with make the system for a solid web-based entertainment promoting effort.

When you put forth your virtual entertainment objectives, continue on to settle on who your ideal interest group will be. Your message will not be convincing except if it's particularly intended for your interest group.

Plus, fostering a reasonable purchaser persona shows you the bearing to take the substance that will no doubt draw in and interest your interest group.

Take advantage of robotization instruments

Envision having a profile on twelve distinct stages and posting physically on each something like three times each day. Startling, isn't that so? Plus, all your time will be consumed in distributing the presents with zero immaterial efficiency.

If by some stroke of good luck there were somebody, we could dump this tedious work on! All things considered, express welcome to online entertainment apparatuses your knight in sparkling protective layer.

You can utilize apparatuses like HubSpot to auto-present your reports on the entirety of your social records and afterward assess the outcomes with their investigation.

The general purpose of utilizing such devices is to prepare time and make timetable posts on the substance schedule.

With these apparatuses, you can plan your pins, posts, and tweets with important hashtags and online entertainment makes reference to all month long, across the board go. Furthermore, presto, you just saved yourself an adequate opportunity to be more useful and focus on the general virtual entertainment methodology.

Treat every stage exceptionally

Individuals frequently utilize similar messages on every web-based entertainment stage.

In any case, this is how they veer off-track. To ace your web-based entertainment game, you need to treat every stage remarkably and think about its separate functionalities and highlights.

To construct an unwavering fanbase, you should plan and think of an imaginative procedure for every stage exclusively. Remember the adherent socioeconomics and make content that requests to them the most.

Utilize emojis

There is an explanation we have emojis. Emojis or emoticons work well for the motivation behind conveying feelings pretty.

Be that as it may, appropriate utilization of feelings is fundamental to convey the ideal tone and the right opinion behind the message. Trust me; it is in a real sense as simple as adding a 😃. Plus, the emojis get the peruses more excited about your substance. In this way, the following time you compose, go ahead and drop in your #1 emojis in the subtitle.

Be available to pay for social promoting

Individuals frequently consider online entertainment to be unadulterated natural action; nonetheless, one ought to be available to attempting a paid showcasing channel. You might utilize paid advertisements on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and other social stages.

Obviously, paid advertisements remain imperfect. However, don't be terrified of paying for better web-based entertainment reach or snaps. Obviously, I don't propose you hop in with a truly extravagant spending plan. Begin gradually, check whether you are obtaining the normal outcomes, and afterward continue on in like manner. What's more, who knows, it could transform into a wise venture!

Validness is Key

Be Authentic, don't simply Fake it. This might sound self-evident; nonetheless, credibility is very nearly transforming into one more popular expression in the social world.

Being genuine will separate you and your image in this very cutthroat market. Since accept me, today, the supporters are drawn to what's genuine, and they can track down imagine content instantly.

Share quality visual substances

Do you use visual substance while advancing blog entries on your virtual entertainment stages? All things considered; quality visuals are an unquestionable requirement to extend your online entertainment commitment.

Why? Basic since individuals find visuals seriously captivating and are in this manner more leaned to share visual substance. In addition, visuals offer more worth and assist with creating more traffic, further developed deals, and lead you to the top. Hence, utilizing visuals ought to be one of the fundamental elements for your virtual entertainment showcasing methodology.

Center around connections

It's no secret that the existence of web-based entertainment is individuals like you and me.

Hence, our substance should offer worth to our ideal interest group to construct genuine connections. Your substance ought to urge your networks to interface and draw in with you. Keep in mind, everything revolves around them and not you.

Thus, pay attention to and answer to what they need to say via web-based entertainment! Draw in, and you'll change over your adherents into brand diplomats!

Hold back nothing

Quite possibly the most unmistakable errors business frequently make is that they continually plan to get a lead or change from online entertainment. In any case, you really want to comprehend that individual are looking over their web-based entertainment takes care of for amusement and not accepting or giving their email.

Thus, you should zero in on additional commitment. Begin with diversion pictures and recordings connected with your specialty and lift those presents on contact your designated crowd.

Furthermore, you'll be shocked to perceive how long you'll have areas of strength for a base and devotees who are sitting tight for you to post. Presently, that is an ideal opportunity to sagaciously discuss business and convert them.

Establish enduring connections

Keep in mind, our emphasis ought to be on making enduring impressions with unique substance as opposed to being lost in short lived patterns and shoptalk. Your image's voice ought to be genuine, steady, and mirror the association and culture for which it talks.

Obviously, it doesn't mean you can't evaluate new things. In any case, simply be aware of the almost negligible difference between meeting your devotees at their level and endeavoring excessively difficult to "be cool."

Dial back on the hashtags

Hashtags are awesome to coordinate all your web-based entertainment posts. Click on a particular hashtag, and all the pertinent substance becomes noticeable. Additionally, hashtags are identifiers of your image and assist you with beginning discussions and drawing in with your devotees.

In any case, there's something else!

The more hashtags you use, the more difficult it is to find commitment you get. How?

All things considered, utilizing an excessive number of hashtags can make individuals irritated and might in fact drop your commitment rate. To stay away from this, utilization 2 or 3 designated hashtags per post and make a point to utilize just high-volume important hashtags you can without much of a stretch find utilizing on the web hashtag generator devices.

Work with deals to grasp your purchaser's process

Similarly, as with any promoting, the critical lie in understanding what your listeners might be thinking. Subsequently, advertisers ought to work intimately with the outreach group to find out about the purchaser's excursion and different variables influencing direction. When the online entertainment advertiser comprehends this excursion, they should make content that suitably fits this interaction.

Embrace your mix-ups

People are inclined to commit errors, and the quick moving universe of online entertainment is no special case. Accordingly, rather than being oblivious to our errors, we should figure out how to acknowledge and apologize for something similar. Being virtual entertainment advertisers, we must work on them and at times educate our supporters concerning them. They'll appreciate the way that you chipped away at your missteps to give them further developed administrations.

Be "social"

A definitive key to expert virtual entertainment is to be "social." Irrespective of the number of posts you distribute via web-based entertainment, you should develop your commitment by dropping input, retweeting, following, and some way or another interfacing with your interest group.

Furthermore, accept me, you will see an extreme distinction in your snap rates in your future posts.

Profound jump into online entertainment examination

Investigation assists you with understanding where your listeners might be coming from and sorting out what produces more traffic. Along these lines, you should utilize online entertainment information really to speed up execution.

Assess the investigation, focus on the details like adherent increment, site visits, number of posts, shares, likes, clicks, impressions, and so forth.

HubSpot social apparatuses assist you with monitoring your online entertainment investigation. Utilize these outcomes to rethink your technique, whenever required, and make arrangements for what's in store.

Wrapping Up

A functioning online entertainment promotion system is an imperative part of your general showcasing effort.

Be that as it may, recall, there is no proper arrangement to prevail in virtual entertainment promoting. Thus, you ought to continually attempt new tips and deceives to make progress for your brands.

Furthermore, to hold yourself back from falling behind, you should constantly remain refreshed with the new patterns and know about the bearing online entertainment is going!

Break down the consequences of your web-based entertainment promoting endeavors and utilize online entertainment.

#Digital Agency #Digital marketing #Digital marketing agency #Creative agency #Marketing agency #Digital company #Advertising company #Digital advertising company #social media agency #content creation agency