#i meant for this to be less shippy than it is but it can really go either way

[dilfsonic]

Okay so, unpopular take that applies specifically to my Service Animal AU: Shadow and Maria are not siblings/“sibling coded.”

If you’ve read the notes on the original lore post describing them, you probably already know what I mean. While they can and will have moments of inspired ‘sibling’ like love for each other, that’s simply too disingenuous a way to describe them. They’re so much more. They’re each other’s only friend, they’re charge and ward, they can mimic the attitudes of siblings but never fully understand them, they have no romantic interests (until sonic shows up) and so mimic certain attitudes in that way with each other as well. But all of these are mere approximations and mimicry without fully encompassing any of those relationships. Shadow’s “affections” can be easily misconstrued for holding more weight than they actually are intended, as gestures such as hand holding/cuddling/purring are all utilitarian expressions meant to ease Maria’s physical discomfort or anxiety in accordance to his job as her service animal. Nothing more, nothing less. Maria knows this, but others can and do easily make their own assumptions.

I’ve been a little nervous to express this interpretation as I feel it can be really easily misunderstood, and I don’t want to give people the idea that even the immensely “”romantic”” or affectionate gestures or affiliations applied to them are actually meant to be shippy. Their love is an all encompassing one, and to call it sibling-like or romantic are both incorrect, as they’re neither. Ultimately applying any real world label to this au will be incorrect and a little too extreme in either direction; the closest possible relationship that may most accurately describe them is that between a service dog and their owner, if such a service dog was as intellectually capable of their human.

They’re what you get when you’re the only two people in your whole world. They’re what you get when you pair together someone who’s indebted to the other for their existence, which goes both ways. And by normal relationship standards, I would disagree to consider it a ‘healthy’ dynamic, but it also cannot be judged by the milestones of what a normal and healthy dynamic even looks like.

Shadow is nothing without her (in his own mind), and this lends itself to an inability to conceptualize a ‘self’ to even express. Maria hates how Shadow views himself — a tool, a trained dog, a guard, a companion of necessity — but she also can’t avoid using him accordingly. That means having no choice but to treat him not as a person, but as her crutch. Shadow is little aware of her internal struggle with the dehumanization of him because they communicate this almost never. Nor does he mind being dehumanized, he has never been a ‘person’ since the day he was created anyway.

Maria would love nothing more than to call Shadow a little brother, her best friend, someone who she could’ve had take her to prom because nobody at her school wanted to indulge the sickly child, nor did anyone even know her well enough considering she spent most of her time out of school than in it. She’d love to call Shadow these normal things, but she can’t. Not yet at least. Sonic will slowly change them and the way they can view friendship and the world and what it means to belong to each other, but it’s hard work on Shadow and Maria’s part.

They are something that can’t be easily defined, because it’s complex, and messy, and while there are bright moments of wonder and joy, is also overwhelmingly dark in its implications, and they can feel utterly alone even when standing right next to each other. Shadow owes Maria everything, and Maria owes Shadow everything, but each underestimates the full gravity of how their own existence touches and expands the other. They consider themselves worthless compared to the other, and that’s what gets in the way of them truly being able to open their hearts to each other. The way Sonic later teaches them HOW to open their hearts.

So yeah. I hope this concept of blurring the lines doesn’t scare too many folks, but this is based on my personal interpretation of how I feel a continued existence between them in canon or a canon adjacent world might have been like. I know it’s easy and delightful to see em like wholesome siblings — which is also an interpretation I wholeheartedly endorse and adore, particularly the way my bud @ratrrriot draws them (please go follow them if you don’t already, their shadow and maria artwork is to die for!) — but this is just a slightly different and admittedly darker take on them that I hope won’t ruffle too many feathers. Sibling coded relationships between characters are so wonderful, but in this case doesn’t feel satisfying or like it can possibly cover the scope of them for this particular au. I dislike labeling them or comparing them to another dynamic, like Sonic and Tails who are very explicitly brotherly with one another.

I may make a separate post on Sonic’s impact in this world and how he touches the lives of Shadow and Maria, Helen (when she comes along), and this world’s version of Robotnik (Julian) if people are interested in that. I take a lot of inspiration from his characterization in the Adventure games and Sonic X for this AU, as he’s most closely canon-aligned compared to Shadow and Maria who are a little different; though I’m gonna try my best to fit their “canon” personalities into a completely different scenario. Such as, Shadow lacks the innate hatred he has for mankind as he never loses Maria, but he will retain the “my body is a tool” mentality and the general uncaring of others opinions of him, etc.

#I would love to hear thoughts so long as they’re civil #I have a playlist for them but I’ve been waffling on whether to share it or not #ultimately this is a Sonadow au as much as it’s an exploration of shadow and Maria’s peculiar relationship here #sonic the hedgehog #shadow the hedgehog #Maria Robotnik #service animal au #my post

[thepenultimateword]

Do you have any ideas on Villain/Supervillain team up prompts?

I wasn’t 100% sure what you meant by team-up, I assumed you meant team up on a job or start working together, so hopefully these are ok. (A couple went a little more pure shippy than team-uppy)

1. Villain answers a help wanted ad from Supervillain who isn’t very good at keeping employees.

2. Villain and Supervillain have the same power, but Villain is less in control of their own, so they search Supervillain out as a mentor.

3. Villain has a superpower necessary for one of Supervillain’s plans, so they search them out and recruit them.

4. Supervillain and Villain have been through the same traumatic experience concerning heroes, so they team up to fulfill their vendetta against the agency together.

5. Supervillain is the top hybrid expert in the country. Villain has had many bad experiences with prejudice, so they decide to go where they hope they’ll be accepted.

6. ^ but instead of looking for acceptance, Villain is looking for understanding of themself since they were always taught to hide and fear they hybrid side.

7. Supervillain loses their pet, and Villain runs into them putting up signs. Villain is a little surprised but offers to help them search.

8. Supervillain was engineered to be a living weapon and despite their success are very self-conscious about it. Though Villain has always admired this about them, they set out to show Supervillain that there is much more to them than killing and destruction.

9. Supervillain and Villain end up in adjacent holding cells at the hero agency. They’ve never worked together before (never met, dislike each other, were disinterested in each other, to shy to talk to each other, etc,), but they decide to team up for a prison break.

10. Villain is a clone of Hero, created and unsuccessfully disposed of by Hero and the agency. Confused and angry, Villain decides to go to the person they’ve gathered the agency hates/fears most: Supervillain.

11. Turns out Supervillain and Villain have been feeding the same stray cat, when they can’t agree who the cat belongs to, they decide to co-owner.

12. ^ but it’s not a cat, it’s a kid that both villains want to adopt, and they’re forced to co-parent.

13. ^ but the kid is Hero. (Sort of like my prompt 42, but in this case supervillain and villain don’t start off already together)

14. Supervillain is a single parent and can’t keep up with taking care of their child and their evil schemes. They hire Villain as a babysitter who thinks they’re being hired on for villain work.

15. Villain is brutally rejected from their dream job as part of Supervillain’s criminal organization. Years later, Supervillain entire organization is taken out. Now, on the run with no where to go and many enemies on their tail, they go to Villain’s now thriving organization for help. But Villain isn’t going to make it easy for them.

16. Supervillain rejects Villain’s love confession, but now they’ve been forced together for a scheme only they can complete, and it’s super awkward.

17. Villain finds Supervillain wounded and feral in an alley. Unwilling to leave them there, they manage to get them home to take care of them. Once Supervillain calms down they make a silent oath to protect Villain at all costs.

18. Supervillain has amnesia, and Villain is doing all they can to jog their memory. Especially because a lot of big heists are coming up. Unfortunately, the only thing Supervillain claims they can remember really clearly is that they and Villain are together. Which they aren’t. Villain thinks Supervillain is misremembering things, oblivious that Supervillain has always had a massive crush on them, and it’s now leaking out from their subconscious.

#prompt #short prompt #villain x villain #supervillain x villain #villain x supervillain #heroes and villains #heroes and villains community #hero x villain #hero x villain community #prompt list #creative writing #writing prompt #writblr #pen’s prompts

[hopeymchope]

"Monarch: Legacy of Monsters" might've had a lot less kaiju action than the previous attempt to translate Godzilla into a TV series, but it more than made up for that in quality storytelling!

My sundry observations, gripes, praises and questions:

They really went out of their way to honor the Japanese roots of the source material, didn't they? We're in Japan for a ton of the show, dealing with Japanese and/or Japanese-descended characters for the majority of it, and have a surprising amount of Japanese dialogue throughout — it's nice.

I know Wyatt Russell is a Nepo Baby, but he's honestly still very good at what he does. I don't think the series has any bad acting... but the two Russells (because Kurt Russell is, ofc, amazing), Mari Yamamota (Keiko Miura) and Joe Tippett (Tim) are still the absolute highlights for most of the run, IMO. The Russells and Yamamota do the emotional heavy lifting with aplomb, whereas Tippett is so naturalistic and likable that it's hard not to find him engaging.

Cate starts off the series being such an asshole who doesn't show any empathy for people going through the EXACT SAME SHIT that she is, but I think the later reveal of her trauma on "G-Day" somewhat explains her attitude problem. She then manages to pivot to being much more likable JUUUUST in time for the episode where we get the flashbacks revealing she was a shitty person even BEFORE G-Day. LOL.

May ALSO swings between being likable and being a total ass, and while that sounds like a complaint, I actually sort of appreciate it. We're seeing the main female characters get the kind of nuance and depth to them that they aren't often afforde in mass-market media, and that's cool.

On the flip side, there's Kentaro. The fact that both Cate and May get to act both likable and dickishreally me expect the same thing for Kentaro. They're the trio of young people who make up the titular "Legacy," right? (Well, I guess that's mostly meant to refer to Cate/Kentaro.) So... I was shocked when Kentaro's chance to be a total prick never came around. He's pretty likable and understandable throughout! Even when he's being SUPER harsh on Hiroshi, I still understand it in light of what Hiroshi's done to their families. I feel like maybe Kentaro got something of a short shrift on this front. He gets adequate backstory, mind you, but he also never gets either A) as much focus time as May and Cate, nor B) a chance to come off like kind of a dick like May and Cate sometimes do? It's a little tempting to say that making him the more "pure" of the trio comes off as sexist, but... the way that he gradually is shoved into the background of the story's focus and doesn't even get to go on the big final adventure makes it pretty clear that this ISN'T because the producers favor Kentaro. More like the opposite....

In fact, take particular note of how nobody really gives him credit for how he was the ENTIRE REASON THEY SURVIVED Episode 4. They diss him and don't believe him, and when he's ultimately proven right in a way that saves all their asses? May gives the credit for her survival to Cate for some inexplicable reason. (Except for ONE later moment when neither Kentaro or Cate can know or hear her admit Kentaro saved them.) WTF. I found that frustrating.

That episode was the start of Cate and May becoming incredibly tight-knight with one another, and I'm still not clear on how/why that happened. Is it just because they both vascillate between being chlidish assholes and likable adults?? By the halfway point of the show, I was really getting strong shippy vibes off them. Which would be super cute and sweet if it wasn't also, y'know... kinda shitty. Because May used to be with her brother? Who clearly still had feelings for her when the series starts, just a few days prior? MMM.... not cool, May. To be fair, however, not always caring about their own hurtful/sketchy behavior is actually pretty in-character for them both, so maybe it works. And I suppose you gotta take that happiness where you can get it in this crazy, now-kaiju-laden world.

The character who shows up at the end of Episode 9 completely shocked me. They got me there. And in light of that twist — that character who disappears near the end of the finale? Perhaps this goes without saying, but there's no way we've seen the last of them. ZERO chance... unless the person portraying them doesn't renew their contract for season 2 or something. :P

This is, of course, a "Monsterverse" series. But the logic of how the Hollow Earth works in this show doesn't seem to REMOTELY align with how it was portrayed in Godzilla vs Kong, does it? Not even KIND OF. I wonder if Godzilla x Kong will get that disconnect to retroactively make sense.

At least one returning actor from the Monsterverse films shows up to provide a link... for one scene.

And speaking of the Monsterverse, that's hardly the only Continuity Sketchiness going on here! Serizawa only gets name-dropped ONCE in this series despite the fact that he's still presumably the HEAD DUDE IN CHARGE over there. They keep calling Verdugo the Deputy Director because Serizawa is the director, right?? Though Verdugo sure does make unilateral decisions about the whole-ass organizations multiple times in this show.

All of my prior point is especially goofy when the idea of HELPING Godzilla is treated as this shocking, bizarre concept ..... despite the fact that it's Serizawa's entire fucking philosophy since BEFORE this takes place???

Okay, let's shift back to positives: Takehiro Hira doesn't get as much screen time as many cast members, but his performances over the last two episodes are friggin' emotionally devastating. Fantastic.

The lack of more Toho monsters in the Monsterverse has been something of a downer for me personally, but they still do pull out some really cool original designs. That Frost Vark is pretty badass.

#godzilla #monsterverse #monarch #monarch: legacy of monsters #kaiju

[inchidentally]

tricky asks below! pls do not rb as that removes the readmore for some reason and I want to keep these out of tags <3

the fact that we're having to to discuss friendzoning about two friends anon we're really in it now aren't we

I want to take a moment direct ppl to this interview if they like Carlos tho bc his interviews are always so intelligent and thoughtful. you also get a much more authentic persona out of him when he speaks in Spanish. there are more videos on that account from that interview too.

I love that he listed Checo and Fernando so highly bc of course he gravitates toward ppl he can speak to in his born language. the three of them personality wise are pretty different but whenever they move toward each other you can tell they're in compatriot mode.

but yea what he said re Lando and racing is exactly what Lando says - and what nobody ever wants to post except begrudgingly. the 'bromances' are dressed way up by fans and media but there is no deeper narrative and it's not that serious. when they're driving, all friends disappear bc winning is the only reason to even be in F1 let alone the only way to stay in it for certain. even the comments on videos like that are next to nothing bc they're not "shippy" videos. but it's authentic and true that these guys are F1 drivers first and foremost and wayyyy after that it's nice to have some regular buddies to hang with. we should all be able to put shipping aside and appreciate the actual drivers these guys are and the fact that they can put aside their intense competitiveness to be so friendly.

asgfkasgfksag I love that last part anon. fr I've found it so funny that the larrie carlandos class Oscar in with all the women they despise bc it threatens their ship. it's like sexy Brazilian woman, sexy European woman, sexy IG Baddie, and... Oscar.

that's wild though about lestappen having their own larries. how in the hell do ppl look at Charles and Carlos and even bother pretending they dislike let alone hate each other. we literally have real life F1 examples of teammates who are neutral/uninterested in each other w KMag and Hulk and teammates who bitterly hate each other w Ocon and Gasly. if Charles and Carlos were even in a dislike/disinterest category we wouldn't see them giggling and touching right up to the last day at Abu Dhabi this year. and side note but we also wouldn't see their gfs enjoying spending time together during races and events either, which Alex and Rebecca do.

I've seen that too it's insane. when has Lando NOT considered Silverstone the most important race on the calendar for him?? and nothing will beat his high over that podium until his actual win, nothing. (the fact that he kept saying how Oscar deserved to be up there with him was just the icing on the cake)

and like can they please just remember here that Lando was excited and happy on that podium in Singapore for himself as well???? that his own result meant more to him than a Ferrari driver?? yes he was happy for Carlos but Lando is sort of an actual F1 driver and if he could've knocked Carlos' ass aside and gotten that top spot for himself he very. much. would. have!! and that the double podiums that followed meant more to him bc y'know the team he drives for get more points?? carlando is a miniscule part of Lando's F1 career and Carlos is less a part of his life than Max V in terms of drivers who spend non-driving related time with him. after that being George, Alex and Daniel. and then Carlos.

yea honestly I'm not sure if the larry element has always been in carlando fandom and the latest Netflix/Liberty Media commercialization of the ship has just amplified it or if these are a bunch of new ppl who only go for the unhinged accounts. but that side of the ship literally view Lando as someone who responds to Carlos and does nothing else so huge shock that they try to override his actual choices and his actual race weekend with Carlos literally years after Carlos left him for Ferrari.

I'm guessing it's enraging watching Carlos do with Charles all the jokey sexual/romantic things they kept wanting him to do w Lando but sorry folks for all that we slow down certain moments and obsess over them sharing an umbrella to walk down the pit lane it's literally brotherly behavior. I've got another anon who brought up my tags of carlando being Charles and Arthur and it straight up is. all the physical carlando stuff is what they do. and I say this as someone who fully does twist all those carlando moments into something romantic/sexual lol. but gotta be able to keep that line between reality and fantasy.

fortunately Lando is chronically online enough to brush this crap off and Carlos just sees the carlando fan stuff as decent publicity. but fingers crossed it doesn't escalate even further to Sky Sports or F1 pushing it and fans getting so crazed that Lando or Carlos has to put their foot down. if it's already swamping McLaren social media and Lando's fan accounts then expect it to get even worse.

the lack of Oscar's presence in all of these places is probably the lamest thing bc good lord the guy has a long term gf can they all admit that as Lando's ACTUAL teammate he has more relevance to Lando's career than any former teammate? and can McLaren please get their act together next season and bring back Unboxeds and stop splitting up Lando and Oscar content when they never did this with Carlos or Daniel?? sorry Oscar ain't a wacky character but we all happen to love his dynamic with Lando.

you just answered that question anon and it's exactly why I can't believe they want carlando back as teammates. as things are we get to have a nice sprinkle of carlando content throughout the season and no drama! do they truly want silly challenges videos so badly that they want to watch the entire friendship sink like a stone now that Lando would be challenging and beating Carlos AND that now it would be Lando as first driver and not Carlos? the Sainz family's warmth is there bc they never had to see Lando as a direct competitor or hindrance to Carlos' success. they'd turn on him in a fucking second when Carlos didn't get an update and Lando did or Carlos wanted to change the car but Lando didn't or Lando was the reason why Carlos missed out on a podium. the main reason why Charles and Carlos work so well through the drama is that they're such similar people and can keep a level head and distance from it all. Lando is n o t h i n g like Charles' personality. Lando cannot translate frustration and misery into anything, it just sits with him until he does better. Carlos literally said he didn't know what to do with Lando when he'd get into those funks. imagine all the god awful repeats of that carlando "breakup" clip from 2021 bc Lando can't hide anything on his face and he'd be fed up with Carlos or his family or himself and christ.

it would be so. so very bad. can they at least be happy that Lando's got a nice placid easygoing guy in Oscar as a teammate and carlando content still rolls in.

I could def see the fact that Oscar is neither older brother or younger brother age for Lando and they do all the same gen z references and the same hobbies is probably part of whatever they perceive as a "threat". like it's still such a reach but it would explain the way Lando fan accounts try to post as little Lando with Oscar as possible but dredge up 2019 slowed down Carlos shoulder bumps and shit lol.

truly I personally don't know if the Oscar and Carlos dingdongs play much of a part for carlando fans bc honestly Carlos has quite a few regular enemies on the track alsgfjlsagf. by this time they've got to know that. Carlos sometimes can't drop the red mist even hours after a race so Oscar just happens to have come in for a share in his rookie season! but especially with how much Carlos has actually seemed to chum around with Oscar before and after drivers parades etc (even ignoring Lando a couple times to do so !!!!!! gasp horror etc)

side note that I'd honestly be glad if Oscar chose never to get into golf bc ohhhhh the shit fit if he went golfing at the same time as Lando and Carlos. even though Lando golfs with tons of people and they always play in fours anyway.

I still personally think that the mostly straight women who buy into the bromances to the point of thinking this is how gay relationships actually look are pretty cold toward Oscar bc even Lando has said that Oscar's brought out a new level in Lando's driving and that he likes how calm Oscar is. so the fact that Oscar and Lando aren't fake gaying it up and they're also not doing a bunch of physical touch that can be edited and slowed down to look gay to those women has got to look like Lando being I guess unhappy or like they have no chemistry. so they'll allow that Oscar can be cute sometimes and maybe sometimes he can be cute with Lando. for a treat. but that in their mind Lando is meh about Oscar and is just dying to have the guy back who... actively chose to leave ??

I never saw that cartoon but I remember one from the summer that had Lando and Oscar together in a boat - SHIP CONFIRMED???? CARLANDO OVER??

jesus christ thankfully the drivers never see these comments.

and yikes at the meltdowns over that Carlos trip to Monaco bc he was with Rebecca the whole time and rumors were that they were looking at apartments. I do hate myself for liking gossip but it's literally in a sit back and enjoy the madness way lol.

askfgakg anon are you by any chance part of the sainz family?

(if I didn't answer your ask here it's probably bc it's something I'd rather discuss privately/don't want to stir up in fandom. feel free to message me tho <3 tumblr may also have devoured it bc it still does that sometimes)

#inchreplies #wank adjacent #do not reblog

[muninnhuginn]

Can I ask from this ask game : https://www.tumblr.com/toomanyfandomsthings/749729499738996736/send-me-a-ship-and-a-number-and-ill-tell-you?source=share

No. 2, 10, 11, 12, 15 for Cheng Xiaoshi/Lu Guang...Thanks 🌻

Hi! Thanks for the ask ^^.

I'm not super shippy when it comes to these two, but I think a load of these questions are valid regardless, so I'm just going to exclude question 2 and interpret the "anniversary" part of question 12 fairly broadly. Hope that's okay ^^;.

10. What TV shows they watch together, and which ones they hide from the other

This one is going to be pretty much headcanon alone, because we've not much to go off in canon here.

So, for shows they watch together, I think they'd like crime procedurals - less so after s1, because being stabbed/seeing someone stabbed puts a bit of a damper on that, but before that, I could see them both liking the "detective" work and mentally comparing it to their own jobs. (Though ngl, Lu Guang seemed pretty distrusting of Xiao Li when he first met him so maybe they'd go for more private detective/historical mystery type shows than police-based ones) Also, cat videos. I know these aren't TV shows, but they would definitely both like them, okay.

In terms of hiding from each other, I'm just thinking of the chibi episodes, where Lu Guang judges Cheng Xiaoshi and Qiao Ling for listening to an earworm and gives off the impression that he generally thinks he's 'above' being into viral media. So like, whilst LG doesn't exactly seem super into trends, I bet he's honestly into some reality tv or contestant type of show. But he knows he'd get so ribbed for it because of how much flack he gives *them*, so he entirely hides it from the others.

Cheng Xiaoshi meanwhile, I imagine doesn't really have any 'secret' tv shows he hides, but he very much goes for strength in numbers with Qiao Ling and watches any trashy shows with her so that LG has to minimise his own judging. He probably also has a soft spot for cheesy family movies and tries to pretend like he's not crying during them.

11. What their first impression was of each other

See, this has me contemplating the nature of different timelines. We certainly see one of their first meetings, but whether that was their "first" is another question entirely.

I'm sure I recall some interview or other saying that at the first meeting we do see at the basketball court that "Cheng Xiaoshi felt like Lu Guang was familiar" or something along those lines, and yeah, that tracks. Cheng Xiaoshi was a bit of a loner himself, but he deliberately invited Lu Guang into the game, so he probably thought he'd found himself a quiet loner who needed to be broken out of his shell. And sure, the first meeting that we see was only a game and it seems like it was Lu Guang reappearing again *afterwards* that let them properly get to know each other, but LG clearly made enough of an impression in that short time to be remembered. Cheng Xiaoshi was friendless beforehand, because people judged him on his history, but Lu Guang isn't the type to mock people or cosy up to them, so his straightforwardness probably helped Cheng Xiaoshi to trust him.

Meanwhile on Lu Guang's end, and again, I'm even less sure about it being the first meeting on his end, but let's say it is, CXS reached out to him, a total stranger, to join in with his game. And we know from what Lu Guang told Qiao Ling that what drew him to CXS was his "naïvety". Cheng Xiaoshi had no idea who Lu Guang was and yet he still reached out. It's a really small gesture, in the grand scheme of things, but clearly it meant a lot. (Or alternatively, there was a bigger gesture in an earlier timeline, but hey, the stuff about naïvety still stands regardless).

Something something them both mutually respecting the other's history by deliberately ignoring it and just focusing on the present (and by the present, I mean basketball).

12. What they do for their anniversary

So, for anniversary, there are two main events I think class. Their first meeting and Cheng Xiaoshi's death. In both cases, I honestly think Lu Guang places much more importance on the dates than Cheng Xiaoshi does, simply because of the whole, you know, diving situation. I think Cheng Xiaoshi certainly thinks their first meeting is important and changed the trajectory of his life, but I doubt he remembers the exact day. Meanwhile, Lu Guang who has presumably done this more than once and sets his passcode as a specific time and date? Oh, I bet he remembers.

So, on Cheng Xiaoshi's end, the 'anniversaries' pass him by, but Lu Guang gets increasingly anxious whenever CXS's deathday is incoming and is melancholy whenever the date of their first meeting approaches. Cheng Xiaoshi can tell something is up, but has no context for what it could be, so he mostly tries to ply him with bubble tea and cat gifs.

15. What they would change about each other

This question is so interesting, because in a way, they already *have* changed some things about each other. Lu Guang wanted Cheng Xiaoshi to be less impulsive and listen to his instructions. And Cheng Xiaoshi as of s2 has "improved" on this point. But at the same time, if CXS went too far away from his roots, from trying to impulsively help anyone he could, he would be different from the same CXS that LG was first drawn to. So I think what Lu Guang *wants* in terms of CXS changing is contradictory. He both does and doesn't want a CXS who obeys his instructions, because he wants to keep CXS alive, yes, but he wants the CXS he's setting out to save to be the same CXS at his core and if he changes too much then is he truly the same in the ways that matter?

As for what CXS would change about LG, I'm struggling a bit to figure out. Because I don't think CXS would want LG to be too different. He can generally understand what LG means when he's being lowkey tsundere to life, because LG operates by gestures rather than words to show his care. CXS thinks he has that cracked, so whilst I think he'd like LG to be a bit more open, he understands him as-is. *However*, thinking it further, I think he would want LG to trust him more? Most of their conflict in the show stems from LG withholding information and then CXS trying to do his own thing. And honestly, I think if CXS had more friends than just LG and QL, that he'd be more willing to challenge LG when he tries to withhold information in dives. As it is, he's largely unwilling to challenge LG until it gets too bad. And if LG trusted him, it wouldn't get to that level. I think CXS probably underestimates just how badly he's being locked out *by* Lu Guang, but he's still felt the consequences enough times to want Lu Guang to trust him more.

#ask meme #asks #Anonymous #link click #link click spoilers #shiguang daili ren spoilers

[aprillikesthings]

I lead part of EfM thing today (see earlier posts) and it went well ahhhhh thank God

and I've made my lunches for the next week!

and I'm munching on a salad

and all day I was looking forward to this, the moment I can (re)watch MORE SHE-RA

I've barely worked on my longer fic this weekend (other than copy/pasting a bunch of things Nate said after the show ended into the notes section of the doc) and tbh rewatching the ACTUAL SHOW is hella distracting bc with twenty eps left we're going to start getting into more of the really high-stakes stuff

Also, true story: I originally watched, like, the second half of season 4 and all of season 5 in two days of marathoning with Daci. So quite frankly? The last, like, third of the show is just kind of a blur to me now.

SO LET'S GO

s4 ep7 Mer-Mysteries

A mission in Dryl went badly, they've figured out someone's telling the Horde what they're doing, they're not tracking Adora because she wasn't even there--

YES

plz enjoy Sea Hawk's faces

Bow's sudden nervousness reminds me of when I was in line at the TSA in Dulles airport and was weirdly nervous. I had no reason to be nervous. AND YET. I'm usually totally fine at TSA? But the people at Dulles were scary!!!

(I was way less nervous coming back from Iceland, despite knowing I had Kinder Surprise Eggs in my suitcase. Which are actually illegal to bring into the USA. You can buy "Kinder Joy Eggs" in the USA, which do not have the toy, but the ones with the toys are against the law! Anyway I bought them for Daci. I was only nervous for a split second at customs in the USA bc they asked me what I'd brought home from Iceland and I was like...wool yarn. books. sweets (I'd also bought licorice and chocolate). But he just waved me through. WHEW.)

she's still big mad about this lolol

BUT she's right a spy IS the only thing that makes sense (but also the audience knows shit they don't)

Pearl?? A Pearl who knows too much?????

c'mon I had to

lolol they lampshaded the way lightning keeps striking when Mermista says something

to be fair she IS the most recent addition and the one they know the least

oh hey I also write everything in purple (or lavender) ink

lol

oh, shut up

well not this episode, specifically

LOLLLLL

honestly this is a lot like the DnD episode

so on the one hand, I know Flutterina is doing this to make them fight, but on the other hand Glimmer is right; on the other OTHER hand, I also would prefer a warning before being forced to see my abusive parent having free range of the castle I live in

BAHAHAHA I read Nate saying these two were interrupted on a date night, but also plz notice the colors of the flowers, it's literally most of the lesbian pride flag, they were SO unsubtle

The Ken from Plumeria is talking to the pastry chef from Dryl with the super cute outfit, and she looks bashful for a second after this screenshot; I am now shipping this and no one can stop me

speaking of ships (yes I know this isn't meant to be shippy lol)

a youtube video titled "it's raining on your window and you live in Bright Moon Castle ASMR for sleep 4 hours"

(....I'd listen to that)

(On a related note, mynoise dot net has a bunch of rain sounds on the website, and it also has an app--it's seriously the BEST website/app for ambient sounds because they're so adjustable and never repeat, and I just want everyone to know about them. The rain and ocean sounds are great on earbuds to cover up snoring so you can sleep!!! Worked better than my fancy earplugs while I was on the Camino and sleeping in all those hostels)

And back to the cartoon, where there's obviously suspicious shit happening because people seem to be in two places at once and their communications thing got shattered

oh so her name IS just The General

Flutterina (aka Double Trouble) has got to be like "oh my god wtf is up with this dude I cannot handle this bullshit"

Once again Glimmer proves that her and Catra are actually very, very alike

BUSTED

OOHHHHH they set up a trap I forgot, this is amazing

Adora: "we created a diversion :)" Glimmer: "You were a really good actress. For once."

pfft

Anyway Double Trouble is confessing the whole plan

:(

poor Mermista :(

there's a creepy-ass moment of seeing part of Horde Prime's face as he smiles, roll credits

#april rewatches spop #mer-mysteries

[archive-of-note]

Reformations and The Quiet Dark

Uhh… Jon Dee and an OC I guess? Nothing shippy, just a character interaction.

Notes: this OC is literally that dark quiet emptiness that I was desperate for during the lowest points of my depression given form.

They are a separate entity from Despair, because at my lowest point it never felt like despair, it felt like peace. But they still exist as an entity connected to Despair because, well because they wouldn’t exist without her either.

They know what they are, and they understand their function, and their reason for existing, it doesn’t mean they like it.

it’s not stated in A Hope in Hell, but the forest in Hell that Dream and Matthew walk through is made entirely of victims of suicide. And I can understand why that wasn’t specified, cultural views on suicide in the west have changed a lot in the past 30 some odd years alone, less something of shame and more something of sorrow, it would need its own arch/story to be treated properly in a televised medium, opposed to the comic where the reader can pause and absorb the information at their own pace before moving on. (I feel that way about it anyway)

Warnings: allusions to suicide (feels like the only one but I did put a bit more of my vulnerable bits in here then I thought I would so I may have missed smth.)

His eyes are off of the chair for a moment, but when he looks back, they are there.

Sitting, staring, silent and unmoving.

He palms the jewel in his coat pocket.

“There is no need for that Mr. Dee.” A pause, “Or would you prefer Jon?”

“Jon is… fine.”

The stone pulses. It is not a warning though, something less urgent, passive.

They seem to feel it, “We are from the same source, me and the stone, it resonates at the familiarity.”

“Oh, a friend of yours?”

Bette, she wants more, she wants love and she wants it a certain way from certain people. But since she cannot have it, she tries to give it to others, even if they don’t ask. It is not inherently malicious, in fact she thinks she’s doing them a kindness.

Which in all honesty makes it worse.

“An acquaintance really,” the figure— for that is what they are— grabs a menu.

“If my father had it his way,” their head tilts to Jon, “he would be nothing but a smear on the wall,” another pause, this one accentuated by Bette’s horrified face, “No, something more painful than that, he’s had years to stew in his contempt, and he can be quite creative when the mood strikes.”

Bette swallows in discomfort.

“I think I’ll take a coffee for now,” the scared waitress hums, already scurrying off, “Oh, and a glass of ice please!”

Another nod as she runs into the kitchen.

“What do you want?”

The figure makes a disappointed noise, gloved hands clasping together on the table.

“Nothing Jon, we are not meant to directly deal in the affairs of the Waking, and I feel bad enough for not having returned home already.”

“Then why are you here?”

“Straight to the point, a bit against my nature, mind, but then again we’re meant to linger.”

He tightens his fist around the stone.

“There is no need for that, again, I want nothing from you,” Bette returns, shaky hands placing the mug and glass onto the table.

“Thank you, Bette, your kindness is admirable but not appreciated.”

Again, the woman rushes off, thus, she doesn’t hear all of what was said.

“I simply wanted to see what had become of you.”

Jon cannot help but lean forward, “Become of me?”

“Yes, become of you,” they grab an ice cube and drop it into their coffee, “Mortals are not built to handle the kind of power you have stashed away in the pocket of my brother’s coat,” he tenses, “they always go mad, you’ve just been much less obvious about it.”

Jon stays silent, scrutinizing the face he suddenly realizes he can’t see, refuses to see.

“What are you?”

He senses a smile.

“I am a Dream or a Nightmare, the answer changes depending on who you ask, but I do not believe that is what you are asking.”

He shakes his head.

“While I’d usually enjoy making you guess, I find it in my best interest to not irritate you, seeing as again, you hold my Father’s ruby in your hand.”

Jon slams the table, lurching forward and into the figure’s face, or where it should be at least, “It is mine!”

Some eyes turn his way, as conversations are cut off by his outburst.

They wait for everyone to return to their own spheres.

“No need for that,” a subtly raised hand, an attempt at a placating gesture, “again, I do not mettle in Waking affairs.”

Jon sits back down.

“It is yours, for now.” Something chilled but somehow soothing creeps up his spine, a comforting thought he hasn’t had for years.

“It was once your mother’s, like it was once Rodrick Burgess’s, you may have extended your life, but you cannot prevent it from ending.”

Another ice cube in their coffee.

“And why not?”

“My father’s sister is Death, my father is Dream, the two rarely coincide in the minds and lives of Mortals.”

Something about what they just said makes them chuckle, an inside joke or irony that they have just so plainly stated.

“She meets all of you eventually, a welcome sight as you leave the Waking into and past your final sleep.”

They lift the mug, and pull down a cloth that was covering the lower half of their face. Had it always been there?

A silent sip.

“But to your question,” the mug silently returns to the table, an unsettling feat, as it feels unnatural for any silence to exist in a place like this.

“The Promise of The Quiet Dark, a long name, more of a title, but it is mine and I cherish it as I loathe it.”

The cold creeps to his chest, his lungs, it sits there and sours his already bitter coffee.

“Have we met before?”

He senses another smile.

“Yes, a long time ago, when you were first admitted in fact.”

The shape that is their head tilts, “You stole glances before then as well, but our first true introduction was in a heartless room, with guarded eyes and blank walls.”

He remembers them now, the slow creeping comfort, cold but certain, heavy and hollow and screaming, a silence that deafened him.

“I wouldn’t have expected you to belong to your Father.” Jon doesn’t mean it as an insult, or a complement, he doesn’t mean it as anything.

“No, not many people do, it seems as if the only ones who understand are those I still meet,” they grab the mug with both hands, cradling it as if it may shatter, “which is good for the Waking, in a way, Ideation being misunderstood. It means that I haven’t met you all.”

Thoughtlessly, Jon nods along, mind still digging up and trekking through the memories of when he was first incarcerated.

The demands for his mother, for his ruby. The screaming and threats and sedatives, as the doctors were testing which chemical cocktail would make him the most pliant yet still coherent.

Another sip, silent as the last.

“Your mind hasn’t completely shattered, Jon Dee, and for that I pity you.”

They tilt their head, large reflective glasses—were they always wearing glasses?— going transparent for a moment.

No eyes, no, nothing.

They are nothing. An absence, silence, quiet, peace—

A hand on his wrist, “See,” the fork drops from his grip and clatters onto the table, “broken, but not entirely.”

He stares at his open palm like it betrayed him. And in a sense it had, grabbing a fork and preparing to spear his own throat with it.

“The Quiet Dark.”

They hum an affirmative, slowly letting go of his arm before curling their own back into themself.

“Largely a false promise, but that is just because so many of you believe, the forest at the edge of Damnation is arguably mine.”

The Ruby shows him flashes, for a fraction of a moment but the images burn behind his eyes.

He pulls even further away.

“Twisting and mangled, their bodies entangled, not even allowed near the door. Writhing and screaming, choking and pleading, but really whatever for? It is on me, their hopeless screams, desperate and pleading for life. But it’s too late, they are in such a state, because they fell for the lies of the knife.”

Jon says nothing.

“I know it’s not good, Squatterbloat has told me as such,” fingers tap against ceramic, “but it’s something I’ve made, opposed to something I’ve taken, and that must account for something.”

A sense of desperation, almost a pleading, as if they’ve tried hundreds and thousands of times but whatever they’d made crumbled between their fingers.

“I think it does.”

The shape of their head shakes, “Thank you, I appreciate the attempts at comfort.”

His face must change, because they begin placating him, “I do, I really genuinely do, but I was born at the end of The Dreaming and at the beginning of Despair, or possibly the end of Despair and the beginning of The Dreaming, comfort is something I will always be denied.”

“A cruelty.”

They shrug, “Yes, but a necessary one.”

They drain the rest of their coffee.

“A despair so deep death appears to be a hope, the day I no longer exist, is the day you humans fundamentally change, likely for the better.”

They chuckle, or maybe they sob.

“I guess it’s only fair, that something like me hopes to die.”

Another shake of the head.

“But I won’t, likely for a long while yet,” one last shrug, “but who knows?” Their seat slides back without a squeak or a screech, “I don’t.”

Quietly, they push the chair back into place, “Enjoy yourself while you can, Jon Dee, this is the only life you get to live.”

They walk out, and not even the bell above the door makes a sound as they leave.

He watches, they pick a direction and simply walk away.

#the sandman #the sandman netflix #the sandman neil gaiman #the sandman fanfic #the sandman John Dee #the sandman jon dee #TW allusions to suicide #archive of note

[phantom-overdose]

Hello! My name is Sapph! Welcome to my RP blog!

This blog is for a few (secondary) indie OCs for the band Phantom Overdose. This blog will be very low activity, it's mostly just a sideblog to go with Cassia's blog so that if anyone wants to write with any of the boys in her band, they can! I'm currently working on putting a page together for them that will give slightly more in depth information about them!

(Last Update: 1/25/2024)

Here are a few things to know (Feel free to read just the bolded stuff if you’re in a hurry, the unbolded just elaborates):

Mun is 25+ and will only rp with those who are 18+! If you aren’t 18+ please don’t interact. I’m just not comfortable with it.

I don’t write much smut, so I apologize if things head that way and I end up dropping the thread without warning (I don’t usually drop threads intentionally, it’s probably just stuck in my drafts until I’m in the headspace to write it, but that day might never come, so I apologize).

I have a separate side blog for nsfw content! I'll reblog some smutty stuff over there, though in general I prefer to write it on discord. It's not a smut shaming thing and I'll never judge anyone for writing it on their main blog! I just don't feel confident in my smut writing abilities so I like to keep it a bit separate sometimes. I will also never shame you for kinks or anything! To each their own <3

I’m super slow with replies most of the time. Totally feel free to give me a nudge if it’s been a while since I’ve replied. I lose track of stuff so easily and then feel like I’m not allowed to reply to it when I remember it because it’s been a while ^^;

This blog is going to be highly selective and very low activity. It's really just meant to be more of an extension of Cass's universe than something fully stand alone.

I won't be doing a lot of shippy stuff on this blog. That doesn't mean I won't do it at all, but I'll be highly selective about shipping, too. I want to focus more on the characters as themselves than as parts of ships. That's not to say I won't ship them from time to time, it's just not a priority for this blog. I just don't want anyone coming over here with the intention of shipping with one of the boys because they like the fc and then it not happening and them getting disappointed. So please come into this with the thought of befriending the boys and such, not so much with shipping in mind.

REBLOG KARMA: I try to be respectful and reblog things from the source or from a meme blog or whatever because I understand why people don’t want to be feel like they’re being used as a meme source. If I ever reblog something from you that isn’t a reply, I’m sorry. I try not to let it happen, but sometimes it does.

That said: REBLOG WHATEVER YOU WANT FROM ME. Seriously, it doesn’t bother me at all. You don’t even have to send me a meme to reblog it. Just... go ahead. Reblog it. It’s totally fine by me <3 (Though I would definitely prefer if you sent me a meme when you reblog.)

OOC conversation can be really hard for me. I try and usually I’m fine when it comes to plotting, but I drop the ball a lot or come off as cold a lot because I just don’t have the energy to talk ooc a lot of the time. Please don’t take it personally, it’s just that my social battery is usually at 40% or less in general oTL

I may add more rules at a later point, but I think these are the most important ones <3

Other Blogs! Rogue Multimuse (main) Multimuse (secondary)

[twoheartsoneclara]

🔥 fanfic tropes (for the unpopular/spicy opinion meme!)

omg immediately forgets every fanfic trope ever

okay let me see....

i literally could not care less about fake dating aus they are so boring to me.

any variations thereupon are also boring to me: arranged marriage/marriage so i'll inherit this money/etc etc

same goes for only one bed like. ok. who cares?????? who cares

okay i kind of lied a tv show pulled off the only one bed trope once and i was so not mad about it but they actually managed to do something interesting with it

also i feel like the same goes for enemies to lovers - it has to be done really well for it to work but most of the time it's just like "meh you're the worst!!" "good i hate you also!" but we're ✨ attracted ✨ to each other so it doesn't really matter.

also a weirdly specific one but when people write fandom fusion fics so like if you have a pairing from one fandom and write them as if they're mulder and scully from the xfiles or whatever, but another character would fit that role better, but then they'll keep it that way because of the ship. it bugs me so much. if it's not as specific like if it's pacific rim fusion and they're just meant to be drift compatible or whatever and not taking the main character's arcs it's less of an issue for me

this is maybe not a trope, but i hate it when people steal other character's traits to give it to their fave/character bashing/etc. grow up. get a job.

also the cinderella complex of acting like one character is just soooooo mistreated by everybody else, everyone is just a huge meanie to them all the time, like yawn 😩😩

especially when the character in question happens to be treated no worse than any other character in the actual narrative, or they happen to be a character who's actually really assertive in canon and then in fics they'll just be a complete walkover. like literally what happened here.

i also get really annoyed by huge fandoms where there are plenty of characters to write about but all of the fics are almost exclusively about one (1) ship and this really becomes a problem when it ignores/bashes other characters like i said above

soulmate fics aren't an immediate won't read for me but they have to stand out in some way

halsdkjkfslj this just makes me sound like i hate shipping fics and it's kind of true but i actually love a lot of tropes and shippy tropes like i love aus, role reversals, 5+1, etc. i guess i just hate when characters are ~ forced together ~ into love by contrived circumstances. it's so....eyeroll-y to me. it's like when you watch sleepless in seattle and you get to the end and the movie's like well! those two sure are in love! and you're like no! they've known each for two minutes! they're not in love!

same thing for most of these fake dating/enemies to lovers/bed sharing, it's like people are like "well these tropes are how you get to xyz" instead of actually developing the relationship alongside it by showing how feelings for each other have begun/deepened. like that one bed sharing scene i mentioned, it shows how awkward the "relationship" is because they are like okay i guess we have to share a bed but i need my white noise machine but you want to watch cyrano de bergerac on the tv but we can't POSSIBLY sleep head to head foot to foot it has to be a head foot foot head type situation. but cyrano de bergerac is french so i'll read off the subtitles to you because you can watch it in the mirror and as you fall asleep it's the part where cyrano is admitting his love and i'm saying it softly because i know you're asleep but i'm starting to realize i'm a little in love with you too.

like the LAYERS there.

but more often that not it's like fic writers assume that you will just automatically assume that that is what is happening rather than actually writing it. (this is a problem with published fiction too, particularly romance, since it seems that my biggest gripes are with that general genre lol)

anyways thanks for asking! <3

#claire.txt #i've got mail #tyyyyyy #this was fun #ask games #enjoy the novel lol

[princesstokyomoon]

feel free to ignore me, im rambling and thinking out loud to distract myself from yet another depression spiral

its so fuckin weird to me that online it feels like "enjoying a story" must involve some form of shipping or another

ive never really understood the point of... well, even labelling it shipping? it kinda made sense to me as a teenager, bute as ive gotten older i understand it less and less. especially because it doesnt feel to me like there is a particularly unified school of thought as to what shipping even is.

i remember when i was 13 it was just a casual "oh this is/would be interesting", but now it feels almost like,,,,,, people get very invested in it in a way that i just cant understand or relate to. like... its an emotional experience it seems? and i just do NOT get that at all.

this isnt meant in a judgemental way at all. plenty of art or fiction things can and do make me feel a variety of emotions. but ive never gotten emotional from analysing a thing, and thats the bucket that anything "shippy" falls into for me. i can look at it in theory, even consider and explore potential outcomes. but until i see how something ACTUALLY plays out in canon i cant get emotionally invested in it?

it feels basically impossible for me to say i Actually ship anything, cus the majority of the time, its not something im thinking about, unless canon material gives me a reason to. if i see fanart of a ship, or whatever, then i will probably consider that ship. but regardless of if i think "ew" or "meh" or "yeah thats cute", i never really end up shipping it.

and yet it seems that thats what 90% of fandom discourse and posts revolves around. who the fuck you ship.

i think off the top of my head, i can think of Exactly two couples i would say i Actively "ship" in the way everyone else seems to ship - rufus and goal from deponia, and aeryn and crichton from farscape. thats Basically it. other than that, the extent of my "shipping" is "i want to smooch this character and therefore, i shall self insert uwu". and even THAT i keep 95% of it to myself, cus why the fuck should my private fantasies be broadcast to the universe

i used to try and force myself to be involved in shipping culture as a teenager, and it got so much harder the older i got. cus i just do not care. i dont have strong feelings about two characters being together beyond a "aw thats kinda cute". and it turns out, that is just NOT enough to keep my interest in a ship. at all!

and i EXTRA dont understand people dedicating their energy and time to ships that they hate by attacking people who like those ships.

like girl, get a Life please, go outside, watch some shakespeare and other classical theatre plays, i Promise you there are worse ships out there still being performed to people on a regular basis

#its 3am uwu #only read this if you want to see me being baffled by shipping #its nothing bad or sad or important im jus sleepy and confused

[1ddiscourseoftheday]

Mon 14 June ‘21

Louis Tomlinson Cooks is here!! Yeah it’s 100% for sure as delightful to watch Louis make himself a sandwich as you might have hoped, but how was his cooking? Well I’ll let Louis rate himself-- “I’m not gonna lie not that appetizing is it, I mean look at it,” he says when it comes time to taste his creation, plus, “chopping peeling slicing not great to be fair- everything else I’m all right” (he’s… not wrong, even aside from the peeler issues has this man ever held a knife??) but- “it probably tastes nice though as I said it’s not about presentation for me… [munches cutely]... it’s actually pretty banging, that’s actually quite nice!” Success! Maybe it’s cause he knows the secret to faking good cooking- “as you can see I don’t have a lot of cooking ability so the more butter the better,” I mean the experts can tell you, that’s advanced stuff right there! #Louis-aChild! Substituting mustard and ketchup for coleslaw is a bit of a bold move, but in a belated attempt to convince the kiddos to eat some healthy veg even though he won’t he does bravely try the cucumber strips despite being “not really a man for cucumber” and makes a pained attempt to be positive- “bit of crunch.” Oh and speaking of crunch I’m relieved to have learned that the waffle is NOT a waffle, it’s a crispy waffle shaped bit of potato; a much more reasonable fish sandwich addition than the American version of a potato waffle! Full Time Meals polled to see what people think of Louis cooking; the two choices are “it was amazing” and “the best,” THEY GET IT. My kind of Louis poll! Helen Seamons rated him a “10/10 for effort and entertainment”, Masterchef acknowledged Louis as one of their own, and Marcus Rashford keeps it simple- “my guy” with a lil heart. YEAH, SAME.

Harry showed up in Italy, where he was papped in Venice being driven around (with PA Luis) on a boat (as you do, in Venice). He’s in a cool embroidered Bode shirt and shades and fancy hair, looking good. He’s seen carrying his suitcase, taking photos, and resting his head on his arms looking like a model. One might think, since we just saw the My Policeman cast and crew on set celebrating the wrap of the shoot, that they were done filming and Harry was off to do something different, but nope, he’s there to film! The book has key scenes in Venice that folks had been wondering about the filming of, and David Dawson is also being boated around Venice for the paps, so, it seems that was just for the wrap of the *UK* filming, which makes sense I guess since it would mostly be different crew I imagine, and perhaps some of the main cast are done as well.

Liam’s NFT sale is happening tomorrow! If you’re confused and want more info, I’M NOT GONNA HELP THAT MUCH… uh but I mean you can check out Liam’s youtube video explaining though I would guess that won’t help much (even Liam thinks so; “there’s probably websites that explain a lot better than me” he admits). There is a roundup now posted of what’s on offer for the buyers of the NFTs but I’m gonna be really honest with you, I’m more confused now than I was before. It’s clear that there are only SIX LONELY BUG NFTs right? They for sure said that I believe. But the packages for each different piece (token bundles) seem to me like they’re available to multiple buyers? Like maybe you don’t get the NFT but multiple top bidders on each get the extras? Like they can’t be selling multiple copies of the NFT... can they?! Isn’t the WHOLE POINT that only one person gets to own it? I DON’T FUCKING KNOW I AM SORRY. What I think I understand to be true: the six NFT buyers get to go to “a once-in-a-lifetime immersive dining experience at Resorts World Las Vegas” (this is the dinner with Liam and “a selection of crypto leaders from around the world” which takes place on display inside a giant glass box) and also “a bespoke commemorative presentation box containing the world’s leading holographic display... with audio... and a custom made Lonely Bug commemorative coin,” and “a unique QR code directing the owner to a special ‘Director’s Cut’ edit of the short digital film ‘Making Of Lonely Bug Collection’ which features unreleased footage from the day of the drop showing the creators' reactions when the winning bids came in” (I mean YEAH I would think it’s unreleased it literally hasn’t happened?) But then there are really a lot of other extras including tickets with Meet & Greet access to any Liam Payne headline show around the world, admission to pool and cinema parties in Vegas with Liam, signed art, non-Liam extras (I will literally bid to NOT have 20 minute phone calls with those crypto entrepreneurs PLEASE… but that’s just me), and access to an online party hosted by Liam; I really get the impression many of these, especially the last one, are just crypto tokens that are for sale that aren’t linked to the main Lonely Bug NFTs and many more than 6 people can buy them but a lot of the extras I’m not clear on which it is. Perhaps tomorrow I’ll understand better WE WILL SEE.

Liam also dropped by the discord last night to say some hellos (after a “long long day”) and that he “bought a piece of NFT art of myself tonight I’m going to give it as a prize Monday night so someone can own a piece of art that was owned by me” (an even less tangible bragging point than simply owning an NFT wow that’s an achievement) and the most important update- “I want a French Bulldog”! Oh and he said “that’s like one I did myself” in his fanart channel to a pic of a tiny crocheted illustration of Louis and Harry holding up a rainbow flag. Didya Liam?? (...Liam is crocheting??) Anyway I recognize who it’s supposed to be because it’s based on a familiar piece of fanart, but Liam definitely might NOT realize it’s meant to be someone specific, and tbh I’m more <eyeballs> at him saying that at the rainbow flag crocheted thing than at it being shippy.

Our Song acoustic version is out this Friday!! And Niall talked about NH3 some in an interview today; “I’m in the studio most days, it feels really good. I’m kinda in the latter stages of it and then I’ll go get a band together and go in and record the whole thing. I’ve just kind of been writing for the past 9 or 10 months and really enjoying it” and “It sounds like a complete album. God knows when it’s coming out because I’d like to be able to get around the world to see all the fans as well” and “It’s different. It sounds a lot more grown up. I’m 27 so it’s about time. I really wanted to kinda cement a sound. The singles I’ve released previously have all been kinda different sounds. I would like to have my ballad sound & like a cemented uptempo sound.” He and Anne Marie also talked about one of the other songs they wrote together saying, “It’s kind of like a, how do you describe it- guitar driven meets Tom Petty meets Katy Perry meets…” but say “We haven’t really decided if we are putting it out yet, the conversations are kinda happening... but it’s completely different (from Our Song).”

#liam payne #whyyyy so confusing #niall horan #louis tomlinson #YES BABE please do bake off now PLEASE #Harry styles #looking so good even though those shorts are AWFUL IMO hilariously frumpy #love that #14 jun 21 #overall I do not think liam should get any more dogs #but a small dog he took everywhere with him would be ADORABLE #(more dogs than he has previously owned I mean he currently has no dogs)

[mc-lukanette]

Talking about soulmates, something it started to bother me was the fact that in the first season of the show it was stablished that at the end of it, Mari and Adrien will end up together bc they are “meant to be” and honestly to say this in the early times of the show seems to… take off the magic for me in some way.

Like, it didn’t matter if they had a love rival (for example, Luka and Kagami), at the end I know they are not gonna end up together, even if they seem to end up having A LOT more chemistry than the main love interest.

Maybe bc that’s the way I see love, yk? Sharing a relationship with someone you feel at ease, where you don’t have to hide your true self, loving without fear of being less than the other or idolizing someone to a worrying level. Lukanette felt like that to me, it gave me that reassurance that they were being their best self with each other, knowing all faces of the other (and most important of all… it didn’t feel FORCED, at least to me) and if you put to this ship the title of “meant to be” it feels right because there is a background to this statement, it didn’t appeared out of nowhere and it developed naturally

When I think of the love square, I don’t get that feeling, bc they haven't had that kind of closeness in the last three seasons (idk if in the fourth season it’s still like that, I’ve missed most of the episodes) for me, the title of “meant to be” doesn’t feel earned at all. Even in “Chat Blanc” or “Oblivion” the love square feels forced.

It would have been better if they left the love square flow with ease, leave the viewer see the development of their love for themselves, will it work? Will it fail? Let the time pass to see if they really deserve each other instead of letting an old dude with a floating turtle thing say it from the very beginning lol

Ok, I’m gonna stop my rant. In conclusion, love square feels forced and empty, Lukanette felt right but it ended bc he’s not “ThE OnE” for Mari, bc she and Adrien are “MeAnT tO Be” so it feels like a waste to even care of other love interest or other ships for the protagonists if you think about it carefully.

And more if the hardcore love square fans try to invalid every good point of Mari/Adrien being with “x” character romantically with the famous phrase “BuT TheY aReN’t mEanT tO bE”

Ok, that all. What is your opinion in all this, MC? I really want to know, Am I wrong for seeing things like this? Or idk anymore lol but I really wanna see your side of things hehe

(Pls forgive if I have a misspell in my text, english is not my main language hehe)

(can confirm; virtually nothing has changed with the fourth season because the core of their relationships relies on communication issues)

I agree with you, and I don’t think you’re wrong either (your English is also great, no worries; the only thing I take issue with at all is the line “deserve each other” but it’s a nitpick and I know it’s not what you mean lol).

I think what happens in writing romance is that the characters who end up “meant to be”/endgame don’t really need effort because it’s not the writers have to physically fight their script to convince it that their endgame ship deserve to be endgame, but in order to make side ships works, they have to put in at least some effort to get the audience invested to show that they have some allure/purpose for the part of the endgame ship.

And now here we are in Season 4 where the big shippy moment of it so far is basically, “wow she asked him to platonically walk home with her (and then it didn’t happen anyway).”

+ all the laughable retcons and handwaves needed to try to “take down” Lukanette as quickly as possible in their panic; Lukanette is great because it’s two people actually spending time together out of choice (”Heart Hunter” + “Silencer”) instead of needing to have so many “coincidences” and the confusion of the love square shenanigans to keep them dancing around each other because they’re “made for each other.”

#type: salt #//long post

[transhawks]

Hey everyone! We're finally able to post our work for @birdofpreyzine and I wanted to share this fic with everyone! I've loved talking about mutant discrimination in BNHA and this is really me putting a lot of my thoughts in fic form, in the form of a discussion between Spinner and Hawks. It's rated T and it's non-shippy (there's some implied spinhawks but it's a throwaway line).

I had a really good time in the zine. Big thanks to the mods for working so hard, and please go look at the account and share the art and fic other people have made. You can also read under the cut if you choose to, or just click the ao3 link.

Summary: Once upon a time, a little boy looked through the pages of Hero magazines, wishing of the day he could turn the page and see someone just like him. Once upon a time, another boy smiled for the camera, spread his wings, and sold him a lie.

It's only years later that Spinner learns Hawks is a good liar.

Shuichi spends his afternoons after school dreaming of places he’d rather be than tending the register at the one conbini in his town. The walk there always makes him feel even more lonely; in such a small place, it’s obvious that few students would choose to be part of the so-called going home club, not when most of the local entertainment was to be found in clubs and each other.

He doesn’t have that option.

Today, he dreams of an ocean. He's been to one, once, when he was very young and his mother had the energy to venture out of their little mountain town and down to a city by the ocean. He remembers being overwhelmed; so many people, unlike home, and so… colorful .

The people were colorful too, unlike home. Some even looked like him.

So, every time he opens the cash register to drop coins or utters an irasshaimase in response to the bell that alerts him to new customers, he wishes its waves instead. A group of girls he recognizes as his kouhai enter and he wishes their talking and laughing was the squawking of seagulls.

The girls pay him little mind noticeably, but that’s how it usually is. An obvious sort of show of not looking at him.

Shuichi just continues cleaning.

The girls crowd over a magazine rack that’s reserved for the latest hero magazines and tabloids. He just restocked it, too, taking his time and inwardly cheering for how good it will feel to go home and read all the latest ones. He loves the new editions of Heroes Weekly, loves looking at the profiles of all the new up-and-coming heroes.

“Oh, wow, look at this one!” One of the girls says loudly, opening the magazine and showing the other girls a two-page spread Shuichi can’t see from the register. Her friends peer over her shoulder.

“He’s new, isn’t he? He’s so…”

“Good-looking! Wow, he’s dreamy… are those real?”

Shuichi resists the urge to roll his eyes. Heroes weren’t meant to be hot or pretty; they were meant to be cool. Inspiring . Just like it felt to look at his almost life size poster of Gang Orca. Ridicul-

“Don’t you think he looks, well, bird-ish?”

He stills.

“Yeah, well, that’s his…thing, isn’t it? His theme.” A bird-themed hero? How…dumb.

“I mean, look at those wings, what else can he make a theme after? Do you think that’s eyeliner or…?” Shuichi looks at the girls. It was strange, hearing them discuss a man’s attractiveness like this, a man who sounded, well, like a mutant . An animal mutant, no less.

He’s heard things about girls with mutations, especially animal mutations. A boy at school had spoken in depth of that other new rookie hero, Miruko, and her thighs. When it was a girl, it was “cute”, he guessed. Not too mutated, a classmate had whispered, looking at him as if he couldn’t hear. Still human-looking enough .

Unlike Shuichi.

No, Shuichi has come to learn that on the spectrum of Acceptable Mutant, he’s on the unacceptable end.

“It’s probably eyeliner,” One of them mumbles as she reaches for some snacks, followed by another girl getting some drinks. “It’s kind of hot; gives him a bad edge. He looks really young, doesn’t he?”

“Well, it says he’s only 18,” The girl still holding the magazine closes it, tucking it under her arm as she joins the other two at the counter. He rings them up monotonously, trying very hard to not make eye contact even though he can tell they are trying not to stare at him, at his scales. The girls leaving through the door feels like releasing a breath he didn’t know he was holding in — but the door doesn’t close fast enough for him not to hear a “ugh, he always looks so weird!”

Sometimes Shuichi wonders why the only place that hired him ended up being the only conbini here. Like a cruel joke to be played on him, as if everyone didn’t try to avoid him enough in this town.

Towards the end of last year, in middle school, Shuichi had watched as all the boys around him in his tiny school had gotten chocolates from the girls in their school. His dread had risen as he realized there’d be one boy without any.

Him of course.

Whatever. It didn’t hurt. He has games and hero magazines and manga to care about. But at the end of his shift, when he makes his own purchases of soda, Mutiny Games points, and a fresh new stack of hero mags, he reaches for the one the girls had been looking through.

When he gets home, it’s the first thing he looks through as he flops down on his bed, a large poster of Gang Orca smiling down on him. He flips through each page when he finally stops on a glossy two-page spread of a new hero with large red wings. The spread seems like the hero is in mid-takeoff, wings spread wide but with a clear shot of the man, well, boy? He looks younger than the age given in the profile — and given it’s eighteen he must have just graduated, though the school isn’t listed. He’s also clearly pretty, or handsome, Shuichi doesn’t know the difference except that it’s some sort of tangible quality that draws people in a way he’s always yearned to be able to do but never has.

But Shuichi’s pink eyes are drawn to something else. Smaller things — the texture of hair that looks merely fluffed up and wavy and wind-blown but to sharper eyes doesn’t look all that human in its stiffness, or eyes that show sharp slitted pupils even through a visor. Contrary to the girls’ guesses, Shuichi doesn’t think that’s eyeliner. Those eyes don’t look human, no, and they send a shiver up Shuichi’s spine. Some reptilian instincts he doesn’t (want to) feel particularly connected to arise and make him so aware that those are raptor’s eyes looking down on him. Not for the first time Shuichi asks himself if anyone else would feel that immediate tingle of fear he does, or is it only Gecko?

(Is there a Shuichi without Gecko? Are they separate things or the same?)

The sudden irrational fear fills Shuichi’s stomach with something shameful and bitter, a product of knowing just how it is to be looked at and judged down to the last molecule, a foregone conclusion of genetics and quirk factors, judgment he should know better to cast upon others but it’s hard when it’s all he’s ever known to do.

There’s little about him — a hero name, a quirk name, a location, and a blurb that tells Shuichi he’s just debuted at the age of eighteen and might break the top ten within months.

Hawks.

There’s a mention of an exclusive online interview done with Hawks by the magazine, so Shuichi quickly pulls it up on his phone and sees the young hero in a radio booth that looks too small for him and his wings and yet there’s a wide, bright smile etched on Hawks as he is welcomed to the show.

It’s clear from the first minute on that the good-looks are not merely photogenic — he’s charming, even animated, if not slightly off beat in humor. But not in the way anyone would be turned off. Everything about this man seems magnetic and just ‘enough’ to be different, but not repulsive. His jokes, his mannerisms, and his mutation all seem to be perfect and likable.

Shuichi doesn’t know why he’s starting to feel nauseated.

“So, your quirk is named Fierce Wings.”

Hawks perks up when the quirk is named, feathers fluffing up with him. Shuichi has never seen anyone so proud of a quirk before. Or anyone so openly uncaring about how he comes off to the baselines.

“That’s the name! These wings come in real handy,” Hawks practically fucking chirps , flicking one of his wings. “Versatility is really what they’re best at.”

“They do more than just help you fly right? We’ve seen that video of you taking down the Hakata Horror with feather swords, and how you managed to evacuate all those civilians from the ruins...”

“Yeah,” Hawks chuckles. “It’s like having two limbs full of hundreds of Swiss Army knifes. I can make them hard and inflexible, or as light and soft as down. I can hear and feel through them too, that’s how I got all those people out.”

The interviewer leans forward, clear interest in his eyes as he goes in. Somehow Shuichi knows exactly what he’s going to ask, and he feels his chest tighten with rage.

“But that’s not the only thing, your wings, I mean, that you have. No disrespect intended but your eyes…”

“Like a bird’s?” Hawks asks, smile wide and bright as he tilts his head to the side, undoubtedly avian-like. “You want to ask me about my other mutations? Don’t worry, man, it’s all cool — I’m not offended, why would I be?”

Shuichi’s mouth drops and Hawks keeps going.

“Honestly, it’s real funny everyone is so cagey about asking us about mutations outside our quirks, or inside them. I think it’s ruder to pretend they’re not there, as if it’s something to be hidden. Real talk? I rather be called a mutie and insulted than for someone to pretend as if the things I used to save people every day and make me me aren’t there. Yeah,” He stops to tap his visor. “These are raptor eyes.”

Shuichi barely manages to catch a brief flash of something clouding Hawks’s eyes, and with some small bit of awe he realizes the avian hero had merely blinked his third eyelids, much like Shuichi’s only pair of eyelids were his brilles.

“I think a lot of heteromorphs, especially us animal ones, get too easily offended about the differences between us and baselines and end up trying to fit in.” Hawks finishes, leaning back. “What, you want me to get mad at being called a bird?” There’s raucous laughter as he tips his head back and his whole-body shakes with it. Shuichi has heard less noisy shoebill flocks.

The host chuckles too, but the laughter is a bit more nervous, as if merely following in the hero’s lead. As the blond settles down and returns to looking straight at the camera, there’s a far sharper look to those slitted pupils and golden irises. It makes that shiver return to Shuichi’s spine as something in him tells him to run .

“Well, I am a bird and I’m proud of it.”

Shuichi swipes away from the video and tosses his phone away in disgust.

He’s not sure what he wanted from Hawks in the first place. Someone like that, who throws around words like mutie so casually, probably has never felt the sting of that word in the first place. Even in his own family, he isn’t safe from the judgment, with all of the mutant and the lack of a good quirk present in him. Distant cousins from the parts of his family that left the countryside haven’t fared much better — one did a stint in jail but from his mother’s rantings another third cousin or something was so talented and blessed with such a good reptilian quirk that she was shoo-in for some big hero school in a few years.

The only thing Shuichi remembers about that particular family member is that she, much like the blond hero, favors the human-looking. Acceptably mutated, like Hawks and Miruko and Uwabami. Never one to make “Looks Like a Villain List” like Gang Orca does all the time.

Sometimes Shuichi wondered what it was like to be a hero. He could only dream of it. With a useless quirk like Gecko…

Well, even his own family laughs at him

And it’s easier for them, he supposes, mutated enough to be extraordinary but not cursed. Maybe that’s why his own eyes devour every single tic and minutiae of the mutant heroes, looking for signs, subtle mutations that the baselines might not see, but those like Shuichi can. Like a way of exposing them — “you’ve got all the baselines fooled but really, you’re just like me” . They can’t hide from kin even if they’ve clearly been treated better for their mutations than people like him.

It’s negative, unhealthy, and Shuichi knows thinking like this isn’t good for him. It leads to self-pitying spirals of calling in sick to school and work and not leaving his room for days because it’s so much easier to lose oneself in videogames than find strength to go and face a world that is relentlessly cruel to people like him.

It’s not fair.

“End up trying to fit in,” Shuichi mutters again, in disbelief. He could never fit in no matter how much he tried. Like that was possible when simple things, like blinking like a baseline, weren’t possible for him. Just thinking about that interview makes him think of Hawks like some trained parrot — there to squawk on command and get a good laugh from all the baselines relieved at some mutant finally saying the truth they’re too scared to in public.

Mutants weren’t the same as the rest and they’d never be.

For the life of him, Shuichi doesn’t get how Hawks can think that’s a good thing.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

One fact about PLF meetings is Spinner hates them. He’s usually one of the few holding the League fort down anyway because Dabi skips out, and Compress is also a flake, so it’s usually him, Toga, and Twice, and well, that’s a recipe for disaster these days. And if Dabi and Mister are both gone, well then, he gets snarky comments from Trumpet and Skeptic about the ‘devotion’ of the League to the PLF and he starts wishing Tomura was back.

Not that he doesn’t really want that anyway, regardless of the Meta Liberation Army stooges.

(No, he doesn’t actually…miss him. He just kept them together, somehow, even in aimlessness.)

Today, however, seems to be a day about breaking rules because both Mr. Compress and Dabi are here and so is someone else who rarely gets to go to these things.

Hawks.

Hawks is here.

It’s definitely Jin’s fault because the guy loves Hawks. Constantly talking about him, and now dragging him everywhere like the hero’s a safety blanket, which makes sense because Twice apparently has been taking lessons from Hawks, overwhelmed by these meetings. It’s like the bird mutant became the unofficial Twice translator or something. It’d be funny if Spinner liked Hawks.

He doesn’t.

He was bothered by him as a teen reading gossip rags and he’s bothered by him as a grown villain trying to figure out why a sunny bright hero like him is here and doesn’t have an off button on his….

Fakeness?

What Spinner’s trying to say is… Hawks is sus .

Nothing still seems real about him to Spinner, and he’s glad that mostly everyone else agrees by keeping hundreds of little cameras nestled in those garishly red wings of his. Unfortunately, on the MLA side, Skeptic seems to like Hawks despite spying on and through him, and Redestro’s happy about how much Hawks seems to be into Destroist theory.

For now, the hero seems to be content to only speaking up when Twice’s having trouble getting some concept across or something.

So, when things go wrong, it’s not him.

It’s Dabi.

“…if we encourage corruption, what’s left for us?” Spinner spits out, angry at Trumpet for even suggesting they start bribing heroes they know look the other with some villains with cash to get them to join the PLF. “Do we need the numbers filled with people not even loyal to the cause and here for cash? Isn’t that exactly what we’re fighting against? The heroes motivated by money than any desire to do anything heroic? Stain might be locked away, but there’s millions of people out there looking for someone to carry on his ideals, we can’t just throw them away and spit in their faces.”

One thing you should know about Dabi is that if he shows up, he’s usually quiet, keeping his distance. Maybe he sits up and naps and everyone mostly ignores this because the League have long learned to let the guy get all the rest he can because he needs it. Also, because he has the balls to do that in front of the MLA and it’s a very admirable kind of fuck you, Spinner thinks.

But there’s also the times when Dabi is into it, and that’s when you learn he’s also a dick.

“Oh, yeah, because you’ve appointed yourself the new Stain, right, Lizard? His second-coming, a new prophet, huh?”

Like that. That’s him being a dick.

Honestly, Spinner doesn’t even know why Dabi would even decide to play devil’s advocate; he hates heroes, or anyone remotely connected to authority. But Spinner’s long learned that even people like Dabi can be cruel in ways they shouldn’t be.

“No, but you think Shigaraki would like it if we opened the doors to the same heroes we’re fight-“

“The handman’s not here, Gecko, so don’t speak for him eith-”

“Man, you really like your animals, huh?”

Spinner has been trying not to look at Hawks this entire time, given he’s one of the heroes he doesn’t want here.

Another reason is that he’s tired of dealing with Dabi’s words and putting up a fight every time the flame user decides to single out his mutations and it feels embarrassing to let it happen in front of Hawks.

But Hawks is smiling, widely, as he balances his head with one elbow propping it up while on the table, and yet that smile doesn’t match raptor-like sharp yellow eyes. It’s like looking at Toga sometimes, those pupils slit so thinly that Spinner wonders if it’s a sign how quick someone like Hawks can cut someone open.

And now they’re directed at Dabi, who looks bemused and uncowed.

“You have something to say, hero?”

Hawks snorts. “Just that if you really want to show off your zoology know-how you should go to the zoo. Might even be educational, dude, since apparently you have no idea what an actual lizard looks like.”

A few people chuckle at this.

Icy blue eyes narrow at him, but Hawks is still grinning. You could literally cut the tension with one of his feathers, and Spinner knows he’s not the only one watching this with trepidation.

Dabi looks like he might mouth off more but the chuckling from both parts of the PLF seem to leech the urge to continue being a bastard and he makes a noise like he’s sucking in his teeth before languidly getting up and moving to walk out. Before he fully leaves, he looks at Trumpet and says, “Your idea is as stupid as this entire meeting.”

No one comments once he’s gone and it’s Mister who makes the meeting move on.

It moves on quickly but there’s a strange feeling in Spinner’s gut left behind, and it increases whenever Hawks speaks up. Shuichi isn’t an idiot; he knows what just happened.

Hawks just stood up for him.

Hawks, who doesn’t mind being called a bird, makes a joke out of calling his fans his chicks, wearing the dehumanization like some badge of honor. That Hawks decided to cut Dabi down for his name-calling, when Hawks would have likely laughed and agreed if it had been him.

A mixture of anger at being pitied — is it so obvious that he was uncomfortable? — and a strange sort of gratefulness arises in Spinner and he doesn’t know what to do with either. But, above all, Spinner doesn’t understand Hawks.

It’s really this that makes him call out to Hawks as the meeting ends and the room clears, stopping the hero mid-exit.

“Hawks.”

“What’s up?” Hawks turns back, smiling brightly and Spinner regrets this already — it's like the man has some customer service personality he doesn’t turn off.

“You didn’t have to do that.”

The smile lessens a bit and Hawks shrugs. “Not much to do. Dabi’s like that, but that doesn’t mean I have to sit and listen to it. Or that you should take it.”

The same niggling feeling of embarrassment rips through Spinner and he wonders if it shows on his scales.

“I usually don’t,” he tries to defend himself. “Really. It’s just more annoying with him than anything because he’s...”

“The kind to poke holes where he can?” Hawks finishes for him, one feathery eyebrow raising. “Yeah, but it’s still okay to shut him down. He owes you more respect than that, Spinner.”

He blinks his brilles at him. Respect, huh? What happened to the man who went on a debut interview, declared himself a mutie, and then said heteromorphs were too sensitive? Or was that fake just like whatever else Hawks puts up; his smiles, his convictions, his reasons for being here? Is Hawks just one of those people who say whatever needs to be said in every situation, shedding beliefs like a lizard sheds skin?

“I’ve heard you say the opposite.” Spinner says, and there’s more than a little anger in his words. “Years ago. Did the industry change your mind?”

There’s a hint of surprise on the avian hero’s face as he mentions the interview.

“Didn’t figure you for a former hero otaku,” Hawks says, tilting his head in birdlike curiosity. “If it’s the one I’m thinking of, that was when I debuted — I don’t know if I can even find it these days.”

Spinner scoffs at the slight dig — this society is so full of hero worship that is it any surprise a teenager stuck in the sticks would be a hero otaku? It matters little, anyway, because he’s not one now.

“It’d left an impression.” He doesn’t need to say that it wasn’t a good one because it’s clear it wasn’t.

Hawks strokes his tiny wispy goatee while looking at Spinner thoughtfully.

“I think it’s less about what we take offense to now, and what we should want to be proud of.” Hawks says, moving to take his gloves off. As one slips off, Spinner notices that there’s scarring around his cuticles, and that the nails themselves are not the color baselines have, as if the keratin was closer to a raptor’s than a person’s.

“We shouldn’t be upset when they mark us different. It should be something to be proud of.” He affirms.

There it is.

The admission of fakeness — because Spinner can hear it in his voice; Hawks isn’t proud. Or, with those surgical scars, he’s likely not allowed to be. But Spinner doesn’t have in him to be kind about this because he bears his own scars, even if they’re not as visible and they hurt.

“That’s easier to say when you look like you do.” Pink eyes scan the face made for movies, the pretty wind-swept blond locks that look halfway to feathers, the enormous wings that seem like something out of a fantasy game. “When it’s people like me it’s damn hard to want to be proud rather than just wishing someone could see you as a person.”

A frown finds its way on Hawks’s face and for a moment he looks sad.

“I’m sorry people made you feel that way,” He leans over and touches Spinner’s shoulder briefly, startling him. “I know what it’s like to be both too much and not enough. My heteromorphic traits were far more apparent than either of my parents.”

The hand leaves and Spinner shudders, not used to being touched like that.

There’s less of the cheer now, replaced with a pensiveness that feels more natural than anything else he’s been selling them. Hawks looks lost , and Spinner realizes that even if it’s different, this society’s been weighing down on him too.

“What you said, about being a person... It’s true for me too.” Hawks says, putting his gloves back on. “My fans... my bosses... sometimes they just talk about my wings like it’s all there is to me. Sure, it’s usually nice things they say, but I wonder if they see me or just my wings. And while it’s nice to be wanted, people pick and choose what they want from us so often, don’t they? They want my wings, but I partially wear a visor because my nictitating membrane might scare civilians I’m saving, and my nails are off, and I have to get my toenails trimmed all the time. But all of that makes me...me, doesn’t it? I want to be proud of all of me, not just one part. But being open doesn’t mean we should be targets, too, Spinner, because ultimately don’t we just want to be free to be ourselves?”

The smile is back, but Shuichi thinks it might be honest and earnest for once.

“You were as chained as the rest of us,” He whispers, in shock and sadness.

Hawks shrugs and nods. “I guess so.”

It’s weird, feeling empathy for a hero like Hawks. Having a shared experience. But isn’t that what Spinner wanted all those years ago as a boy scanning every hero magazine and tabloid hungrily for a face like his?

Someone who understood.

“I think,” Spinner says, stuttering over his revelation. “I think I finally get why you’re here now.”

Hawks chuckles and the mood lifts.

“Glad to have cleared that up. But, really, Spinner, it was nothing.”

And as the hero leaves, Spinner thinks to himself if everyone had that same attitude towards small kindnesses that Hawks had just shown, the Paranormal Liberation Front would have far more empty seats to fill — because that boy who read those magazines nightly after school wouldn’t have needed to be here.

He allows himself a second of imagining what that boy would be doing these days in a kinder world, what places he would have seen by now outside the village that raised him, and then banishes the thought from his mind.

There’s work to be done before the world Spinner dreamt of will stop being a dream, and he’s nothing but devout.

#bnhabopzine #my writing #hawks #bnha spinner #takami keigo #iguchi shuuichi #spinhawks #bnha fanfiction

[aglassmenagerieofallergies]

Rant about Mystreet Season 6

Now I love Aphmau’s channel and series, have since I was 10, but this last season of Mystreet and parts of season 5 could have been so much better. This is meant to be no “attack” or “jab” at Jess and Jason’s writing, these are merely opinions from a long-time fan. I am gonna go on a bit of a rant about the parts I personally feel could have been MUCH improved on. I would like to preface this with saying that I really do not enjoy this season and therefore do not re watch it a lot. Its also 4:40 am my time so this might turn into a sleep deprived ramble but anyways, here we go...

SPOILERS FOR SEASON 5/6 OF APHMAUS MYSTREET 

Kawaii Chan/ Nana

I adore Nana. She has consistently been my favourite female character for all 6 seasons of the show and in diaries but holy she has done wrong this past season. Getting almost killed and then not having any involvement what so ever. The majority of her screen time, especially near the fight with the demon warlock, just felt like the writers forgot she was there and wanted to give Moeka lines. Her involvement with Zane was the only moments she seemed to have. Speaking of her and Zane... While I love them as a couple, I also despise the fact that Nana only ever got development or a backstory when it came time to ship her with Zane. I wish she could have been more explored earlier on aside from being the “annoying, shippy, meifwa girl”. She got the short end of the stick recently and I hate it.

Aaron 

I have really never liked Aaron. From him being a high school senior dating a freshman to him literally murdering people, I never liked him. This season really didn't help that. Aaron ended lives, we see him kill Blaze and is he punished at all for it ? No. Yes, he was blinded and lost his memory but that wasn't as a reprimand for his crime of I don’t know MURDER. Aaron and Irene’s constant interactions make zero sense to me. One man cant be brought back to life by God twice. I get a bad sense that through-out season 6, we are meant to be supporting or sympathising with Aaron but I just cant. We are treated to numerous flashbacks to Aaron’s past, inter-cut with scenes of him committing various horrid actions. His father raised and treated him horribly but that is no excuse for murder. The ending of season 6 seemed almost hopeful for Aaron with the “hope” of him and Aphmau reuniting and I honestly don’t feel it is 100% earned. 

Ultima/ Werewolf 

This point isn't so much a critique on season 6 specifically but on the series as a whole. Aaron and his family being werewolves, being descendants of the ultima werewolf no less, came out of no where. Werewolves being introduced into the main plot could have been cool but instead the majority of it came off being rather cringey, specially in Phoenix Drop High. Anytime a werewolf would call Aphmau or Aaron “Alpha”, I could feel my skin crawl. The dealing of almost species based discrimination in season 6 was down right awful and Im not even talking about Aphmau wanting to be turned. The whole ordeal with the restaurant denying the werewolf pack service was over and dealt with as soon as it happened, The werewolves being hunted in season 6 because of the possibility they were an ultima and Katelyns reaction to Aaron being a werewolf seemed to come out of no-where. The idea of discrimination based on something someone can not control in a minecraft story could have been a way to teach younger kids a great life lesson but the majority of story lines involving werewolves were so half-assed, you cant even make a successful anecdote out of them. 

MCD/MS Connection

In the last season of MS, they really tried to shoe-horn in this connection with MCD which honestly creates nothing but plot-holes. A MS/MCD connection could have been a really cool concept and piece to see but its so rushed and forced, it just comes across as awkward and last minute. If the writers really did want to merge the two series or at least have them canonically exist in the same universe, they should have been setting it up from the first season. Overall, the two series are so vastly different from their environment to the characters that a complete mash up of the two would be so jarring. Just imagine Zane from MS meeting Zane from MCD or all of the MCD characters in a world without Wyvern, common use of ships, lords, and being introduced to the technology. A series combining the two would be fun and it would be fun seeing the characters interact and meet each other but it would need to be well thought out instead of just saying “and now here’s Irene and the demon warlock” which is what season 6 did. 

Dante/ Laurence

The Laurence curse strikes again but this time, its not just him. Since season 2, there has been a “tendency” to forget Laurence in the shows events. He was absent throughout Season 2 and again for Seasons 4,5 and 6. Dante, however, was very present in the first 3 straight seasons of the show. No one expected for him to disappear out of the blue ;) like that. Laurence disappearing could make sense, maybe Sebastian was booked up at the time or other personal reasons but Kestin voiced Zane and Eric throughout the show. Season 5 of the show I will cut some slack for forgetting them, It already barely made sense for how characters like Kai or Nate were there, but forgetting Laurence in Season 2 seemed odd. Dante and Laurence not only could have helped the “gang” but they could’ve provided some great entertainment and story lines but instead we got Ein ... again.

Ein

Eins rant will be shorter as while his character in season 4 did not leave much of an impact on me, his story could have been written leagues better. Eins story line and subsequent death was insanely fast. We got the spotting at the end of season 5 and a poorly done B plot throughout season 6. Ein is a fairly good villain with some decent potential, he could have been much more utilised. Ein served only to kill Aphmau then die. His character got walked all over. Literally. He caused such shit in season 4 and his death was a simple *stomp*. Are you kidding ? Everything could have been just ... better. Not only in regards to Ein but for the entire season. 

Closing Thoughts 

Overall the season was not good, in my opinion. Mystreet works much better as a episodic show like a slice of life anime, as a story driven series like a shounen it does not. If the rumours about a season 7 are true, I really hope it is at least a bit better than this one. It as a whole was a mess. To reiterate, this is meant as no attack on the writers or BluJay Studios but as a critique on this particular season. I love Aphmau and the Mystreet series but this was its low point. Thank you for sitting through my incoherent rantings about a minecraft show. :) have a great day/night !!

#aphmau #mystreet #minecraft diaries #mcd #kawaiichan #nana #aaron lycan #dante #laurence #ein #starlight #an annoying teenager ranting about their childhood obsession

[magnumdays]

Magnum PI - 3.03 - No Way Out

So this week episode was...well, I don’t know.

I guess I enjoyed it and we got some fun moments. But over all I just... I just didn’t like anyone (weird because they’re my babies) . Everyone were just acting so not cool with each other. The bickering was annoying rather endearing. Seriously some of the most enjoyable bits were the Rick-being-worried-mother-hen ones.

Also where was the Miggy? There was barely any! (yes I’m saying that about the episode where we got this)

and an end scene like this

This little squint-y thing when she’s texting Ethan and smiling? We see you Magnum.

(And how can Jay just get hotter and hotter? I mean, seriously, someone call the fire department already!)

Magnum “keeping tally” of her dates....because of “the over under” that was pretty great too! And him pulling her out of the elevator. And her giving him a ‘mmmm nice’ look when he was wearing the sexy black commando outfit...

IDK, maybe there was some Miggy crumbs and maybe my slight ‘meehewh’ experience was it was just because I was watching this at 5 am and the streaming site kept buffering (and I just got so spoiled with 3.01-2). But I don’t know. It did feel a little flat. Maybe low stakes because I didn’t feel like no one was actually in danger, which is really weird during a hostage situation. 

Plus point for the fact that they brought up / it caused problem that Higgy switched to TC for her Fake-Fiance! That was just so stupid I’m glad it actually came back to bite her. I would however have liked them all to be blaming themselves, rather than each other, because that just wasn’t cute. 

Still, I mean some of the biggest reasons I watch Magnum because of good (and oh so pretty) characters, friendship and brotherhood (and partnership), Miggy, beautiful scenery and cool cars. I didn’t get much of any of that other than a minute at the end. Like seriously, there was not even one shot of the Ferrari this week...*tears*

Having some almost-personal-experience (one of my best friends is currently appealing her work visa and was possibly going to have to leave right before Christmas) it’s really tough to not know what’s going to happen. My friend is really broken up about it and I’m really bummed out too. It’s real terrifying to be at the whim of some government person who don’t know you or your circumstances other than from a sheet of paper. A person, that have the power to separate you from your new family and home. 

So I kind of get why Juliet is upset and lashing out. She hates that she has no control. So I can forgive her.... for half of it. 

But these guys all did this illegal thing for you Juliet, because they wanted you to stay so bad!

Magnum is easily as upset as you Higgy and TC isn’t happy either. They love you! Try to remember that!

(I mean TC lied badly and awkwardly for you girl, come on!)

Blaming them might be a cooping mechanism (and I actually love the fact that we got her fake crying about her ‘daddy issues’ because we all know that she probably got some. At least my head cannon Mr. Higgins isn’t winning dad of the year awards) but it’s also going backwards for her character (but when have they ever really cared about that?). 

I figure it’s for the drama but it could have been equally dramatic if Higgy had just gone ‘I guess that means I’m going home for good’ and started mentioning all the things she was going to miss and Magnum was being all, ‘I’m sorry I fudge it up’ (even though I’m not sure I actually think it’s more Magnum’s fault than anyone else’s...)

Or they could have kept it all the same, but at some point actually had Juliet admit that she said yes to the proposal, she’s at fault too and maybe that she really should just have married Magnum. I mean that would just have been the simplest and most likely to succeed thing to do to succeed with the fake visa. Her switching messed it up and even with the ‘I own a business’ visa it’s still causing problems.

This could also finally have given them a moment to talk about WHY she did that (because they would be less likely that things went wrong with TC? Wouldn’t he go to jail if they found out same as with Magnum? How did switching ever make any sense?), maybe we could even have gotten some Miggy feels hinted at - of course interrupted by Bad Guys coming to shoot them. 

I feel like this was maybe how it went in the original script - because of the whole “and I didn’t have to marry either one of you” comment at the end. I feel like that might have been meant to tie in with a scene like that. But that’s probably just my shippy sleepy brain making stuff up!

Despite this all I did enjoyed Magnum little speech about how it’s all his fault. It’s totally stupid and illogical for him to make it and if the immigration guy hadn’t been all ‘lets just forget about this because you saved my life, welcome to America’ it would maybe even have led to Magnum losing his license, them all getting arrested and Higgy deported. It’s still really cute and heartwarming and if Juliet keeps calling him immature man-child after this I’m gonna be annoyed.

The “welcome home” at the end and generally good feeling of things being some what settled with the visa (or so I’m assuming) is really nice. Higgy is finally actually home and we got a lovely family dinner with the whole gang, Juliet saying thank you and some Miggy puppy dog eyes to finish it all up with. Over all it felt vaguely like this might have been meant to air around Thanksgiving or something originally.

I guess I can’t complain too much. Little sad we didn’t get any kind of Christmas feels (but with the filming scheduled weird due to corona I get why no one would even have considered it) but I really hope we get a X-mas themed episode in season 4!

#magnum pi #magnum pi cbs #magnum pi season 3 #miggy #thomas mangum #juliet higgins #tc

[silverducks]

Game of Thrones - Jaime Lannister

A rambling character study of Jaime Lannister from Game of Thrones.

Introduction

Ok, so nearly a month since I finished watching Game of Thrones, and I’m still not over how it ended. Like some things I can reconcile myself too, some things just annoy me when I overthink what happened and some things - ok one thing in particular - is just not letting me go.

And that is the way the show ended for Jaime Lannister.

I know I’m like 2 years too late on the GoT bandwagon and no one cares anymore. But I’m writing all these posts because I still care, having recently experienced what you all went through 2 years ago. And I know what I’ll be posting will have all been posted countless times before and discussed in the fandom years ago. But I kinda need to still get my own thoughts written down and outta my head.

Before I go on though, I just want to add in here that I do still love this show and, even right to the very end, think the acting, crew, music, sets/scenery, costumes, basically everything was pretty much amazing. That is except the writing, which, went downhill after series 4. Before then it was pretty much amazing too (not always perfect (is anything?), but so darn good!)

Now, turns out when I came to write down my thoughts on Jaime’s ending, I had even more than I realised. Basically it’s turned into me writing one massive analysis of Jaime’s character based on the show. So I’ve split it into separate posts, with this first one more of an intro, a summary of my thoughts and overall opinion on Jaime and a bit of context on my own experience with Game of Thrones.

Now, spoilers for Game of Thrones ending

I’ve read/watched a lot on the internet since I saw those episodes (series 8, episode 4 and 5 in case you weren’t sure) and I know a lot of people don’t like how they ended Jaime’s story in the show either. But I’ve also read a lot of comments where people did like it, or at least thought it made sense. The reasons they give make no sense to me, but it’s made me think and overthink and analyse way too much about how they did end his story.

So, in order to try and get them out of my head, I’m putting them down here. It’s a long, pretty rambling read, split up into a few parts because it got so long. Across the posts I’m going to go through my own understanding and perception of Jaime’s character and his arc and why I think they completely ruined it in episodes 8.04 and 8.05. I’ll then focus on some of the main reasons I’ve seen why people think it did make sense, and why (even though I maintain everyone is entitled to their own opinion) I completely disagree. Jaime’s character arc was annihilated in the show even more than Kings Landing. And that is more than a bit frustrating.

Now, just a bit of background to add some context to my thoughts; I basically only got around to watching the show a few months ago (I’ve not read the books yet). I basically binged watched the entire show and am now just a little bit reeling from it all! LOL! Also, as I did binge watch it, it meant I didn’t spend time between episodes/series really analysing/theorising etc. I had a few ideas and thoughts, but not to the depth it would have been had I needed to wait impatiently for each new episode. This means I think my viewpoint is of the show as an overall whole, rather than each separate series, because it kinda all rolled into one. This may, or may not, have affected my opinion and so this analysis of Jaime Lannister and my disappointment in his ending. It also means, having only watched the show once, I’ve probably forgotten or missed bits. However, since I finished the show, I’ve watched a lot of YouTube videos and read a lot of stuff on the net about it, including in comparison to the books. (And I maybe rewatched some of my favourite scenes just a few times…) And now I am analysing and theorising and thinking about this show way too much! LOL!

So I guess my viewpoint isn’t one of ignorance, but it might not be quite the same as someone who’s been invested in the show from the start.

Like most viewers, I pretty much thought Jaime = evil villain for most of the earlier series. He had the odd moment, but it wasn’t until he did that speech with Catelyn about the conflict of all those oaths he’d taken that I even started to take note of his character. And then series 3 happens, where he has his road trip with Brienne, loses his hand, saves her from a bear and basically starts his wonderful path of character development. And basically manages to go from a guy I pretty much do not like at all at the start, to one of my all time favourite characters ever.

Also, I’m definitely a Brienne/Jaime shipper and did wish them to have a happy ending. However, I pretty much never thought the show would actually even go there, let alone make it happy. In fact, I actually did my best to NOT ship them for such a long time because, being Game of Thrones, I knew it was very unlikely to end well. But, then yeah, their intense staring contests kept on happening and darn it, the way that Jaime’s voice breaks when he says Lady Brienne and him giving her a priceless sword, and what the sword represents and…

Ok, well, yeah, I could gush about them all day, but anyway, I ended up not being able to fight the ship any more after series 6 and THAT tent scene. But, even then, I still didn’t think the show would make it canon, like it would just leave it all open ended/make up your own mind kinda thing.

And then we get to series 8. Like we have a whole episode (that is actually named for their very storyline) with Jaime just staring at Brienne, being all dorky around Brienne and then, if that wasn’t enough, he even KNIGHTS Brienne! I mean, this is epic for this ship! And I would have been ok (not happy, but satisfied) as a Brienne and Jaime shipper if that had been it.

But then no, then he barely leaves her side in the fight against the dead in the next episode – they fight side by side with their two halves of one whole swords, each risking their own life for the other multiple times. And then in the next episode (where I don’t think there’s barely any scene where they’re NOT right next to each other) the show DID make it canon. Like it actually did go there, they slept together (in an adorably awkward scene I love). Heck, Jaime then even chooses to stay in the North and be with Brienne, even though he hates the North. Like this was just epicness of all proportions and I got so excited and all those shippy feels I was trying to hold back just came rushing out and then... and then...

THEN that scene happens. He leaves her. Like WTH…

Anyway, more on that in another post. I guess what I’m trying to say is that as much as I ship them, my issues with Jaime’s ending is less about his relationship with Brienne, and more just his complete 180 on character development. Jaime’s arc has been heavily influenced by Brienne, but it is still amazing in its own right. As I didn’t expect Brienne/Jaime to ever happen (so when it did and then got taken away in the very same episode, it’s incredibly frustrating and gives even less credence to what does happen), it’s not why I’m so annoyed and disappointed with what happened to Jaime.

I’m annoyed because they took all this amazing character growth over 7 series and then screwed it all over in less than two episodes. No, that’s not enough. It was a complete and utter character assassination that completely undermines and destroys 7 series worth of investment and development, completely nullifying everything Jaime went through as a character.

So, yeah, I’m a bit annoyed, but that’s because it makes no sense and it’s bugging me enough to write this whole series of posts. Because I can’t let it go. And having read people justify, even like it online, it’s made my inner analysis thought train go into override. And I’m sorry if these posts are like I’m preaching to the choir, or writing such obvious stuff and repeating myself, I’m just trying to get it all out my head as coherently as I can. Hopefully allowing me to move on a bit.

#Urgh #I need to sit in a corner and try to cheer myself up again before I can write anymore #Maybe watching some Brienne and Jaime fan videos will help cheer me up #And also simultaneously depress me even more.

#Game of Thrones #Jaime Lannister #Brienne x Jaime