#distance arc real </3

[rashoumon-homo]

No Such Tastes In Men pt.4 (the last part)

Dazai x Male Reader, NSFW

-> Content Warnings: male!reader, anal sex (reader receiving), bottom!reader, dom/sub undertones, frottage, lethal amounts of fluff

-> 2.6k words

NSFW CONTENT AHEAD - READ AT YOUR OWN RISK

<- Previous Part

AUTHOR NOTE: There will be more Dazai x reader content for sure, but this is the last part of this particular story arc. I’m glad you’ve all enjoyed it so much! The reception is far more than I expected when I wrote the first part and I’m very grateful to all of you. <3

Initiating sex with Dazai has gotten steadily easier. Where before there’d be clunky verbal propositioning, you now wordlessly fall into each other’s arms at the end of each weekly meeting. 

He’s more liberal with kisses than you expected; it’s like the first one broke the dam and now he can’t get enough. When you’re alone, he’ll kiss you just because; cradling your jaw in his palm before gently pressing his lips to yours. Any lull in the conversation is quickly filled with the softness of his mouth on yours. 

It’s natural— unnaturally so. 

Dazai hasn’t asked to have penetrative sex with you again since the first time. You were quick to catch on that he was avoiding it, so you asked him about it, worried he hadn’t liked it. 

“No, no,” he’d said quickly. “It was… fuck, it was perfect.” He seemed a little breathless, a distant look in his eye. “I just need some time to process it.”

You didn’t push him. It’s understandable that he’d be overwhelmed, since it was his first time receiving and he’d thought he was straight up until then. He’d come to you when he was ready. 

Nearly two weeks after the night you’d fucked, he sent a text asking you to come over to his place after work. The implicit real invitation was clear as day. He’s ready again. 

You stand at Dazai’s front door, wrapping your coat tighter against yourself to block the chilly air. When he answers the door, he seems a bit more relaxed than last time. He invites you in and hangs up your coat for you. 

“So…” you prompt. “You wanted to see me?”

“Yeah,” he says, a little sheepishly. “I wanted to talk to you. I’ve had some time to think and I want to share what I’ve discovered about myself.”

“Oh!” you say, a little surprised. “I’d be happy to hear all about it!” 

Dazai gives you a relieved smile and urges you to sit on the couch. He’s bustling in the kitchen a moment later and calls out, “Just water, right?” 

“Yup!” you reply, your stomach doing a little flip. Remembering your drink preferences from last time is a small thing, you remind yourself. It doesn’t necessarily mean anything deeper. Although it is nice to know he cares. 

He returns with your drinks and sets his on the side table. He fidgets with his hands while you take a sip of water. 

You smile around the rim of your glass and peek over at him. He’s so cute like this, with all his carefully manufactured bravado stripped away. What’s left behind is a cautious, sweet man earnestly looking to learn more about himself and his desires. It’s been hard for you to avoid catching feelings, but you know that would be taking the arrangement too far, so you maintain a level of emotional distance when you can. 

“What?” you finally ask, nudging him with your elbow. 

“Can I kiss you one more time before I start talking?” he asks. “Just in case?”

The implication of “just in case” makes your blood run cold, but you give him a warm smile. “Always,” you murmur, tipping your head forward. 

His lips meet yours gently, his hand hovering near the back of your head before cautiously resting in your hair. He sucks lightly at your lower lip, teasing it between his teeth. Then he tilts his head further and parts his lips, urging you to do the same. As you lick into his mouth, his body seems to curl into you. It’s like he just wants to be held; to be as close to you as possible. You run your fingers through his hair, cradling his head in your hand, and he lets out the most melancholy little sigh you’ve ever heard. It’s like a flower wilting, like a stray kitten in the rain, and it breaks your heart. 

You slowly ease away, peppering his lips and the corner of his mouth with little kisses as you do. His eyes stay closed for a moment after you pull away, like he wants to pretend the moment isn’t ending. 

“Talk to me,” you say quietly. 

“I’m bi,” he says. He scans your eyes for any reaction, like there’s still some doubt in his mind that you of all people will reject him. 

You pull him into a tight hug. “I’m so happy for you,” you say, voice muffled into his shoulder. “Thank you for telling me.” You can feel his body relax, a little of the tension let out at your words. 

“You’ve helped me to realize,” he continues as you pull away, “That I like men sexually… and romantically.” Before you can even process it, a flood of words pours from his mouth. 

“I wasn’t totally sure at first because I like having sex with you but I didn’t want to label myself as bi yet because I’d never had romantic feelings towards a guy. But then I started to feel things towards you and I wanted to test it by having you fuck me and I really, really liked it. And not only that, I liked you.” 

He takes a breath and looks at you. “I like you. And it goes deeper than physical desire. And I know that wasn’t the deal, but I couldn’t help it. I don’t want to be stuck in a one-sided thing with you so if you don’t feel the same, I think we should stop hooking up. It’s not fair to either of us.” 

You blink at him. “But I do feel the same,” you say. “I’ve been trying to ignore those thoughts, but I like you too. I want to make out with you and fuck you and give you blow jobs in alleyways, but I also want to hold your hand and take you on cheesy dates to the bowling alley or whatever.”

Dazai giggles, but it’s a little sniffly. “The bowling alley?” he teases. 

You laugh and shove him playfully. “You’re laughing now, but you haven’t seen my mad bowling skills in action.” 

“Oh my god,” he laughs, shaking his head. When the laughter dies down, he asks, “So you really do feel the same?”

“I wouldn’t lie to you,” you say firmly. 

Like a nervous teen, he asks, “So we’re, like, boyfriends?” 

You hide a smile behind your hand. “I like the sound of that.” Then you pull him in by the collar of his shirt and kiss him. He melts into your arms, all the hesitancy from earlier having fully evaporated. You can feel him smiling into the kiss, something he’s never done before. It’s adorable. You find yourself smiling back, and then you’re both smiling too much to even kiss properly, so he nuzzles his face into your neck and lets you hold him. 

“There’s something we haven’t done yet that I’d like to try,” he mumbles. 

“Sounding?” you joke. Apparently the joking tone doesn’t read as well when he can’t see you, so he pulls back briefly, looking mildly horrified. “I’m just kidding,” you reassure him, chuckling and running your fingers through his hair. “Tell me your idea.”

“I’m not sure if this is something you’re into or not, so we don’t have to do it if you don’t want to,” he explains. “But you fucked me before and I was kind of wondering what it would be like to fuck you.” 

A shiver runs down your spine at the suggestion. You can’t deny you’ve thought about it before. Late at night, when you’re too horny to sleep, you’d finger yourself imagining it was him instead. You’d formed a habit of it, where it was second nature to cum with his name on your lips and fantasies of him stuffing you full. 

Interpreting your silence as hesitation, Dazai quickly backtracks. “But if you’re a top, I don’t mind bottoming for you again-”

You cut him off. “I’m a switch.” More quietly, you admit, “You have no idea how much I’ve craved that idea.” 

A playful smirk makes its way across his face. “Craved it, hmm?” He sits in your lap, slowly kissing up your neck. Your hands move to rest on his hips. 

“M-maybe,” you admit, mind already going fuzzy with arousal. He rolls his hips, pressing your erections together, and you can’t stifle the groan you let out. “Fuck…” you whisper. 

“I like you like this,” he teases, his breath ghosting over your ear. “So pliant and needy under my touch.” He rolls his hips again and bites down at the junction of your neck and shoulder. “I could get used to this,” he murmurs. 

“Dazai…” you groan. You’re melting under him, chasing his every touch, as your mind clouds over with arousal. You need him. You need more. 

“I know, baby,” he soothes. Then he gets off your lap and stands up and you positively whimper at the lack of contact. “Bedroom,” he orders. “I’m not fucking you on the couch– at least not tonight.”

You let him lead you to the bedroom and push you onto your back on the bed. He works quickly to pull your shirt off, and you’re reminded he’s wearing far too many clothes, so you do the same for him. After a few moments of frustrated fiddling with each other’s belts (both of you getting in each other’s way), you wordlessly agree to take off your own pants instead. 

And then you’re both just in your boxers and even the time it takes to remove those feels too long, so instead you grab him and pull him down on top of you. You roll around on the bed, frantically grinding against each other. Kisses turn into bites and somewhere in the back of your mind you’re scolding yourself for acting like a feral animal. But you can’t bring yourself to care, not when his throat feels so good between your teeth and the friction of his cock against yours with only two flimsy layers of fabric in between is driving you wild. 

Dazai manages to get his underwear down to his knees in the scuffle, then he slides his hands under your ass and hooks his thumbs in the waistband of your boxers to pull them down. “Hold on-” he groans, chuckling a little as you suck a hickey onto his pale skin. He rolls off of you and pulls his underwear the rest of the way off before you pounce on him again. He’s trying to wiggle your boxers the rest of the way down, but it’s hard with you latched onto him like that. 

“Be patient!” he laughs, shoving you off. He manages to finish undressing you, then straddles your hips. “Good,” he says, kissing you. “Good boy.”

When he leans away, his bare cock brushes against yours, making your hips jerk forward. You whine and grab his ass, roughly pulling him forward to chase the friction. He wraps his hand around both of you and strokes them together. You moan under his touch. It feels so good, like warm sparks running through your veins from your crotch outward. 

“Don’t cum yet, okay?” Dazai reminds you. “I still want to fuck you.”

“Get on with it,” you groan impatiently. You hand him the lube, having remembered from last time where it is. 

“So impatient,” he teases. “You really that desperate for me to fuck you?”

“You have no idea,” you whisper, then moan as he slips a long, slender finger inside of you. 

A look of surprise crosses his face. “Did you already prep yourself?” he asks. 

You nod. “I assumed from your text…”

He slips another finger inside, working you open with ease. “But how did you know I’d want to top this time?”

“I didn’t,” you explain. It’s getting really hard to concentrate on the conversation with Dazai’s fingers in your ass. “I came prepped last time too, just in case.”

Dazai stops suddenly, eyes wide. “You’re joking.” You wiggle your hips to urge him to keep going. “I can’t believe I missed out on the chance to fuck you.”

“You have the chance right now, so c’mon,” you say impatiently. “Fuck. Me.”

You’re momentarily disappointed when Dazai pulls his fingers out, but then he reaches for a condom and rolls it on. 

“How do you like it?” he asks. His cock rubs against your hole and it takes all your self-restraint not to push back against him and fuck yourself on it. “Fast, slow? Gentle, rough?”

“I like it in my ass,” you snarl. 

He unexpectedly grins. “Such a brat!” He sinks just the head inside, not even enough for you to really feel any relief. “You’re gonna be a good boy for me though, right?” 

Desperation and impatience starts to crack your resolve. You need him to fuck you or you’re gonna lose your mind. “Yeah,” you say reluctantly.

“Yeah, what?” 

You shoot Dazai a withering look, but his smug expression holds strong. “Yes, Dazai,” you correct yourself. 

“So good,” he murmurs, then sinks the rest of the way in. The way he stretches you out and fills you up is even better than you imagined. He fits you perfectly; hits every spot just right. But that’s nothing compared to the first thrust. When he pulls back and thrusts in, your whole spine arches and you moan loud enough for the sound to fill the room. 

“Fuck,” you rasp. 

“Yeah, you like that?” Dazai asks. He’s a little breathless himself. “You feel so good. So warm and tight around me.” He thrusts again, moaning through it. “Goddamn…” Gradually, he builds up a rhythm. He maneuvers your arms so they’re over your head, crossed at the wrists, then holds them tight in his grip. Holding you in place, he starts to fuck you more roughly.

The slick sound of the lube, along with the slap of his balls against your ass, fill the room. The sound is accompanied by both of your moans, grunts, and heavy breathing. 

“Dazai,” you warn. Your cock is throbbing, ready to go off at the slightest touch. “Gonna-”

He wraps his free hand around your cock and pumps once. Embarrassingly enough, that’s all it takes for you to finish. Your whole body tenses as you let out a short grunt through clenched teeth and spill out over his hand and your belly. 

“Shit-” Dazai grunts, then thrusts hard and lets out a low moan as he cums. 

A minute later, you’re both breathing hard, covered in a mixture of sweat, lube, and cum, but happier than you’ve ever been. Dazai pulls out and takes care of the condom, then flops on the bed beside you. 

“I definitely like topping,” he says finally. You can hear the grin in his voice, and you can’t help but smile too. 

“Don’t expect me to let you top every time,” you warn him. “My ass is gonna hurt so bad tomorrow…” 

“Hey, you asked for it!” Dazai rolls onto his side and flops an arm across your chest lazily. “When were you planning on telling me you’re a brat, by the way? You’re a lot of work, you know. It’s a good thing you’re cute like that.”

You stick out your tongue at him, and he darts in and licks it before you can pull it away. Laughing, you shove him, then roll on top of him and kiss him. “Boyfriend,” you murmur happily.

“That’s me,” he says, kissing you again. The cute moment lasts for only a minute or two longer, at which point Dazai whines, “You’re getting cum all over me!”

You roll your eyes and get up, pulling him up after you. “Fine, let’s shower. C’mon, babe.”

Dazai grins and follows you. “I like when you call me babe,” he says. After a moment, he adds, “I like you.”

“Ugh, you’re so adorable it’s actually gross,” you tease. You kiss him, then murmur, “I like you too.”

Tag list: @suru1990

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#rashoumon writes #dazai x reader #dazai x you #dazai x y/n #dazai x male reader #dazai x m!reader #dazai smut #bsd fic #bsd #dazai bsd #top dazai

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

WIBTA for leaving a DND campaign abruptly?

Some backstory: I had joined a DND game about 5 years ago right after breaking up with my toxic ex at the time. Me and my ex were both trying to be cordial at this time and ended up both joining a DND game run by a mutual friend.

In our first session, I had noticed my ex made her character be a parody of me that she made look like an awful person. She then kept dm-ing me during our sessions to tell me how to play my character better and other general backseat gaming stuff.

Very quickly, maybe about a month in, I contacted the DM about leaving the campaign due to wanting to distance myself from my ex. She was very upset I wanted to leave and offered to kick my ex from the group instead. I declined saying it would only cause more drama. The DM agreed to let my character go off at the end of the activity we were gonna do that session so it would make sense story-wise.

But this departure did not happen. after that conversation she vague-posted onling about how people dont want to be her friend. She then purposefully kept extending this part of the plot, just so I wouldnt leave the game and could realize it could still be fun. I told her outright I could not do this anymore after 3 more additional sessions and telling me she'll get to my character's exit soon. I always felt like an ass to the other players in the game for leaving them abruptly but I could not do it anymore.

Fast forward roughly 4 years, the DM tells me she is going to make a new campaign and would like for me to join since my ex was no longer in it. I agreed as I had missed playing DND a lot.

For the past year or so I have been in this campaign and it can be fun at times but I still feel out of place. This new session is a direct continuation of the previous campaign's storyline and regularly references it. Now, as far as I know my ex's character has not been referenced at all but I am constantly reminded of this situation whenever they mention a character's name I don't remember (because honestly I don't remember her characters name nor do I want to). I know I said to not bring her up around me but I don't quite trust this friend to keep her word. Simply because I don't think she ever remembers anything I tell her out of a place of... just not caring.

The DM and I just don't quite mesh that well. I don't really like her DM-ing style of making it up as the session happens. I don't like that she will constantly decide what my character is doing, even if I ask to do something, she tells me to roll to see if i can, i can get a nat20 and she will still decide what my character will do next based on what she thinks is funnier to her but makes my next action harder to accomplish.

I have dm'd her to talk about the progression of my character arc (after she constantly implys in session my character is the comedic relief and doesnt have any character development) and she'll go ooo and aaa (literally all she would say) but never actually implement anything I recommend.

I kept saying to myself it will get better in time. I have voiced my wants for my character, and they are ignored. In session, my character actions are essentially decided for me no matter how I roll the dice. It feels weird to be around half of the party bc they spent 4 years in a campaign with my ex who played a parody of me. esp hard after the DM keeps making me be the comedic relief even though I keep trying to play more seriously. other players constantly joke about how my character is gonna be the one that gets them all killed etc because of actions I dont necessarily decide.

Now as mentioned before, DM is also known to vague-blog about how "her friends secretly hate her" at any moment as well. This has happened before after I tried to "real talk" with her a handful of times over unrelated topics too (even if she initiates this conversation)

Given everything above, I want to leave this DND game after giving it a try for a year (really giving it an opportunity to improve). We left off with my character running off alone to get supplies for the party. I was thinking I could make a statement saying I had some personal things come up and I need to leave the game abruptly and leave it to the DM to decide what to do with my character.

Now I feel like I may be the AH because: I am leaving the game abruptly for a second time technically. I would contact the DM on how to make it make sense for my character to depart, but I feel like she will do the same thing as before with the previous campaign and keep putting it off, especially after ignoring my character growth ideas for a year in this current campaign. I also feel like I may be the AH because in character my group does need those supplies, but there is nothing stopping the DM from controlling my character to deliver supplies within the first 5 minutes of the next session.

#aita #am i the asshole

[alltheboysandgirlsiloved]

So I've been trying to get a gist of post-time skip Ben based on Chaos Theory trailer (obsessed again? wrong, I never stopped being obsessed), and I feel like I can optimistically assume that his personality will make sense for his character development that we've seen in Camp Cretaceous.

I made a post about it once but to sum it up shortly:

season 1 Ben is a boy who was clearly raised in some sort of bubble (a different bubble than Kenji) - he is scared and anxious (not just regarding dinosaurs); at the same time we get hints that he can be very passionate and has a sense of an adventure (he's just scared to cross the line). Season 2 Ben experienced a massive traumatic event, to put it nicely, his personality was put into a blender which was then turned on and left unsupervised for several days. His season 2 jungle boy persona, while still consistent with the traits showed prior (as mentioned - Ben was both passionate and adventurous before - he was just too shy to act on it), is mostly a result of a severe trauma; meaning his personality feels more extreme because he had to rely on extremes to survive. Season 3 Ben is one of the most interesting "forms of evolution". The trauma is still fresh but at the same time Ben tries to think beyond it – wants to make decisions based not on "fight or flight" response but on his own feelings on the matter, it's very interesting but in this season - though not visibly - he slightly reconnects with season 1 personality (slightly) for example by considering advantages and disadvantages of his actions (leaving Nublar or staying) (it doesn't apply to every situation which is actually quite perfect because at this point he is still pretty damn traumatized). Then we have season 4 which is actually very important for Ben's character arc because, for the second time, he loses his footing - Nublar was wild but familiar, Nublar was 'never without Bumpy'. Mantah Corp Island is completely new and Ben is forced to reestablish what actions and behaviors are going to pay off in this environment; ironically enough, I think that the distance from Nublar is good for him - Nublar was also the environment where he got traumatized, personally I think that the island could, to some extent, prevent him from healing. And ofc, season 5 - Ben shows clear signs that he is going to evolve as a person; he mellows down not because he gets soft in a bad way but because he recognizes that he doesn't always have to be a knife. At the same time, he is not hesitant to strike if the situation calls.

So, now let's take a quick look at Ben in the Chaos Theory trailer. I noticed four traits that we can spot in that short clip:

He has that sort of shy-silly boy charm to him. A subtle mixture of bashfulness ("hey Darius," his voice is amused but he also sounds a bit apologetic). That is something that especially shines through his character in season 1

When he needs to be serious - he is ("Someone is hunting us"). This is such Ben-thing to do, especially in season 4 and season 5 Ben – when he is learning how to distinguish between a real danger and something that doesn't require setting the world on fire.

He gets slightly panicky sometimes ("before it's too late!") which is a fantastic news because trauma really messed up Ben's sense of danger and it's just good to knows that he feels fear like a normal person (yes, when someone is hunting you for sport, I guess everyone would be a little bit panicky)

From what I can tell - when the situation calls he does display signs of recklessness - notice how he's driving the car. Notice how Darius is visibly not impressed with Ben behind the wheel. Now, sure we can't tell whether someone (something?) is chasing them at that exact moment but either way - it seems that Ben is in a hurry and, excuse me but, he does not give a flying fck about safety on the road (which is! funny considering how he was driving the gyrosphere in season 1)

So yeah, overall, I think that we are going to get a nice continuation of Ben's character arc in Chaos Theory. I certainly hope so because watching Ben grow as a person was one of my favorite aspects of Camp Cretaceous!

Ah, and also... I really hope that at some point in Chaos Theory Ben will do something unhinged out of nowhere and the rest of the campers (because we will see all of them - I don't doubt that) will look at each other, nod, and say "ah, yes, that's our Ben"

#jwcc #camp cretaceous #jurassic world camp cretaceous #ben pincus #jwcc ben #jurassic world #jurassic world chaos theory

[tryanmybest]

whatever's supposed to happen in season 3 aside, i'm delusional

please enjoy silly ideas about what muriel, crowley, maggie, and nina get up to while aziraphale's gone :)

maggie and nina RUSH to crowley once they find out aziraphale left

both of them know the feeling of rejection and they support him as much as they can

they give him helpful breakup advice and check up on him periodically

over time, the three become good friends

maggie and nina are endlessly curious about the whole heaven/hell/angel/demon/universe thing and crowley answers what questions he can

since crowley's still not bound to hell, the three of them just vibe most of the time

muriel joins them on occasion, when they're not reading a new book

crowley, despite maggie and nina telling him it might be better to keep his distance from the shop for a bit, checks in on muriel and teaches them how to properly take care of the bookshop

as in, don't sell any of the books, don't rearrange any of the books, close and open whenever you want, etc.

occasionally, muriel, maggie, and nina will organize sort of "storytimes" where crowley shares some stories from his past

it starts with the ones without aziraphale. it's still a bit too raw to tell those.

but, eventually, he tells the story of elspeth in edinburgh. or the lost unicorn on noah's arc (which maggie swears she knew were real this whole time)

maggie and nina also teach muriel how to properly blend in with humans

they're not the BEST at it, but they're good enough that they can go get hot cocoa from nina's shop without people staring at them

crowley teaches muriel how to perform miracles. although, angelic miracles are just a bit different than demonic ones. so they both kind of figure it out together

muriel ends up miracling aziraphale's wardrobe to fit them. those are the human clothes they have access to, afterall.

and, besides, the style suits them.

crowley smiles at the look and doesn't comment on it. and nina gives him a reassuring pat on the shoulder.

muriel shares the stories they've read with maggie, who listens enthusiastically

nina suggests muriel write a story of their own

regular customers at give me coffee or give me death now recognize the bookshop owner often in the corner pondering a laptop

nina taught them how to use it. crowley whispers to them that if they tell the laptop what to do with a bit of miraculous energy, it's a lot easier

maggie shows muriel some music. it's so much better than the celestial harmonies that they've had to hear for all these years

they end up liking everything they're shown. from aziraphale's old classical records they found in the bookshop to the queen that plays from crowley's car

muriel adores the bentley. and the bentley eventually warms up to them.

crowley takes muriel to see more of earth, once

well, more of england anyway

there's one time during the drive that the queen melts into an unfamiliar song. something about angels and nightingales.

crowley puts a fist to the dash and it switches back to queen before muriel can grasp what it is

while they're far from the city, the stars are much brighter

muriel hasn't had the chance to see them until then

and crowley tells them another story. about nebulas and galaxies and how they're made. and how gorgeous they really are up close.

muriel doesn't understand why crowley gets so sad talking about something he loves

sometimes residents of the street ask where mr. fell went

maggie and nina will respond that maybe you should mind your own business and they're sure he has his reasons

muriel will smile and say that he's gone on to heaven. then get confused when people offer their condolences

crowley doesn't say anything.

ms sandwich can put together that aziraphale and crowley were an item, though.

and she can certainly see that they aren't anymore

eventually, after a few months, maggie and nina start officially dating

muriel happens to be reading some of aziraphale's romance novels, and they find nina and maggie's relationship utterly adorable

if they ever mention as much tho, nina will tell them to piss off while maggie gets flustered

once, muriel asks maggie and nina when they figured out that they had feelings for each other

crowley is around at that time

muriel, excited by maggie and nina's answers turns to crowley and starts to ask him when he realized he was in love with aziraphale. but they trail off

nina had told them that crowley's not great at talking about aziraphale all the time

they have to wait until he brings it up, okay?

muriel apologizes, but crowley waves a hand

he explains the experience of the first rain

and maggie GASPS

"the rain! back when you were trying to get me and nina together! that was YOU."

crowley just offers a half-smirk and a thumbs-up

that's all ive got for now.

#good omens #good omens 2 #good omens spoilers #ryans fic ideas #ryan wrytes!! #ineffable husbands #maggie and nina #do they have a ship name yet i haven't been paying attention #muriel #crowley #aziraphale #bullet fic

[hoyowomentournament]

Round 3: Bronya Zaychik vs Stelle

Propaganda under the cut

Bronya:

i love her so so bad <3. canonically disabled lesbian who has trouble with feeling intense emotions BUT HER ENTIRE CHARACTER REVOLVES AROUND LOVE!! whether it be from her romantic love of seele in the early game/manhua (it being the primary motivation for her to take care of herself); familial love surrounding her (her inheritance of the legacy of reason from welt yang who lost his own father, her guardians love for her being the only reason shes survived for so long even after their death <- many examples of that but the most obvious one being alexandra trading her own life for bronya via misteln, cocolia's relationship with bronya being emphasized as complex in part because of the real love they do feel for each other alongside all the other resentment from cocolia's betrayal of her), literally just. the core of reason and its 300,000 minds being representative of welt joyce's decision to fight for humanity because he loved humanity from that. and all of this from (again!!!) a canonically disabled lesbian! who's character and marginalized identities have been dehumanized over and over again in real life and in the plot! this isn't even mentioning how her entire arc exemplifies honkai's theme of agency.

Stelle:

u put a hydrogen bomb in my baby! no but seriously. the burden of housing a stellaron in her body is actually insane. she has no idea what could happen, no idea if she'll hurt those she cares about at any moment of any day. they put up an aloof front to keep themselves at a distance, but they're remarkably and endearingly terrible at keeping that up. canonically uses she/they, too, which is awesome.

#hoyoverse women tournament #hoyoverse #tournament poll #honkai impact 3rd #hi3 #bronya zaychik #hsr #honaki star rail #hsr stelle

[penultimate-step]

Love, Lies, and Romance: The 3 Ships of Oshi no Ko and 3 Thematic Resolutions

Oshi no Ko is a series deeply concerned with what it means to love and be loved. Ai's wish to love is what starts off the series; her love for her children, and their love for her in return, form the emotional fulcrum upon which the whole manga turns.

Romantic love, too, is a type of love. Aqua's three possible romantic relationships each represent three different interpretations of how to love, and how those relationships are treated is a reflection of how the series views those kinds of love.

For organization's sake, I'll go down the list in order of what I judge as least to most likely to occur in the manga itself.

Ruby - Love is Lies

I've already written a longer meta about this, but to summarize the relevant parts: Ruby, as depicted in chapters 77 to 142, doesn't understand Aqua, nor Gorou. She instead loves him for the image she's constructed of him in her head, for the way he makes her feel - but this has very little to do with the man himself. Her view on Aqua is, in my opinion, a direct parallel to Aqua's view of Ai - she puts him on a pedestal, idolizes him, but that same impetus is what has her mentally keeping a distance from his real self. You can see this all the way back in chapter 77. When she thinks of him, she first thinks of how he made her feel:

Now, this isn't on it's own a red flag, but it is contrasted directly afterward: when asked to predict his own actions and feelings, she's hilariously off:

I think many readers kind of wrote this off as a joke at the time, but this kind of thing lines up perfectly with her behavior in the movie arc. Not only is she inventing a backstory for him (does Gorou ever show romantic interest at all? Why would she assume he was in trouble with girls?) but more importantly she interprets his kind rejection as a tease, and his care to a friend and patient as romantic intent.

A version of the story in which Ruby is Aqua's love interest would literally validate Ai's famous quote, that lies are love - that the person doesn't matter, only how they make them feel does. And that is directly contrasted by, uh. The whole rest of the manga. But to pick a specific scene, see C9:

The kind of love where one person projects on another, the manga has shown us again and again, the kind of love that is lies, results in this. It cannot end happily, for anybody. If Ruby and Aqua end up dating for real, my next bet is that the story ends in tragedy, because that's the only end for that kind of love in Oshi no Ko.

Akane - Love is Lying

To Akane, love is an act - a lie. But hear me out, this is markedly different from Ruby's position. Akane, I think, is actually the closest of the main characters to Ai's mindset. She doesn't feel that she understands love, but she wants it, so she actively cultivates an image of herself that can show love. We know this well, of course, given her actions at the end of LoveNow. She creates a persona of love in chapter 28, much like Ai describes in 4.

And believes that regardless of the artificiality of it, she can keep up the act forever: to earn love through the act is to earn it in reality.

So you may be asking: what is the difference between what Akane is doing, and what Ruby is doing? Well, the difference is in the intention. It is not the lies that are the important part, but the lying - neither Akane nor Ai felt they knew how to love, but their desire to love, their care for others, that was all real love. The performance they put on for others was not an impersonal pedestal, but an active effort done for another's sake. It may be lying, but it is an act of love nonetheless.

If Aqua/Akane was the endgame ship of Oshi no Ko, it would be a simultaneous validation and rejection of Ai's worldview. Yes, if you care enough, lying can be love, if you are willing to forge that connection. But, in this paradigm, Ai's mistake was lying one-sidedly, to a faceless crowd. The crowd cannot return your love, not in a way other than idolization, and we discussed how that turns out in Ruby's entry. Akane's relationship, on the other hand, is much less one-sided and unhealthy, because she lies for Aqua's sake alone, and doesn't hide that she's doing it. As such, her performance can be recognized and appreciated as such, and he can reach back and return her love.

As such, while the lying is a performance, their relationship isn't a lie. The two of them start to see each other's real selves. The dynamic of two people who don't really understand love or how to love, performing a relationship together until they can learn how to do it together, is a sweet one. I could actually totally see this as the main relationship of Oshi no Ko.

But the actions of the characters make clear what the issue is in this kind of love. The seeds of this breakdown are set in chapter 72, which is ironically one of the ones that sets the dynamic up - even as they are trying to create an equal relationship, Akane decides to lie to him for his own good. After all, their relationship has already been established on the basis of lies. To lie for someone else's sake is inherently a one sided choice, and while in chapter 28 we can see it as a cute start to a relationship, it comes back around in a much more harmful way here:

which pays off in their grand breakup in chapter 98. Akane is willing to one-sidedly make the choice to kill Hikaru for Aqua's sake. Aqua, in return, refuses to let her make that choice, tracking her position, then stopping her and cutting her off for her own safety. While Akane is the one who calls him out for this, neither of them are treating the other as someone with agency, and both are making choices for the other. As such, in Oshi no Ko, lying cannot be love - you cannot impose your love on another.

Kana - Love is Sincerity

Kana, differently than Ruby and Akane, is defined in her moments of honesty and sincerity. She is an actress, yes, but even her acting is a kind that emphasizes her true self. There's too many pages to post here, but chapters 60-63 talk all about this directly - her modern acting is about hiding herself in order to aid others, but her best acting is when she ignores everybody else and acts to her heart's desire.

This same sincerity is what forms the basis of the Aqua/Kana ship. Unlike the two above ships, which are on some level founded on artifice, many of the moments between Kana and Aqua are focused on moments where they are each acting as their truest selves. Chapters where they interact, like 30 and 117, show that they both have an easy rapport, acting thoughtlessly and honestly. Chapter 40 points this out directly: Kana has the ability to draw Aqua out of his depressed and overthinking mindset, letting him be his unrestrained self.

This is similar to Ai's own actions in chapter 4. Though she normally puts on a facade and acts out love for the cameras and crowds, the one moment that she is truly recognized as smiling is the moment she accidentally lets slip, and shows true love for her children:

As such, Aqua/Kana serves as a complete repudiation of Ai's mindset. She was wrong that one can lie to love. The only way to love is to be honest, the only time she was able to honestly express love was the moment she died, when she was able to tell her children she loved them. If you aren't sure how to love, you must reach out honestly and you will find it. No act or performance can be love, no matter how well meant.

If this is the ship the manga ends on, which it could be, the message would be that love is in baring oneself to others. Hiding from others with lies, even when well intentioned, like Aqua does to Kana before chapter 107, is a mistake, and to love truly you need to face up to your own feelings and see the other person directly.

Finale

So, what does this all mean? It means that the romantic love demonstrated in the three ships are unavoidably intertwined with the story's ideas about love as a whole. However, his isn't necessarily a foolproof prediction of what the author plans to do next, or what ship the story endorses. Though obviously I think some of these are much more supported by the series than others, until we reach the end it is still possible that things will change, and it could go with any of these, or none of them. This is merely the lens in which I interpret the romantic interactions in the text.

In fact, it's entirely possible that the series ends with no romantic resolution at all, rejecting all three above views on love. After all, while the romantic relationships are undeniably important to the narrative, the love that started this whole story was Ai's familial love for her children - thus, I wouldn't be surprised if platonic love between family and friends will be the most important in resolving it. In any case, the question of how to love is a key part of the series, and will have to be resolved by the story's end.

#oshi no ko #ruby hoshino #akane kurokawa #kana arima #ai hoshino #aqua hoshino #step.effortpost #step.animanga #step.blogger

[inkblot-inc]

Surf and Turf

Summary: After getting both groups acquainted with each other, it's time to return to apparently not-so-missing isle...

Pairing: Natasha Romanoff x Mutant!TigerShark!Reader

[AU Masterlist] Arc 2: [Part 1] This is Part 2

Warning(s): Not much for this one, maybe keep you eyes peeled for strong language? It's a pretty tame chapter tbh

Note(s): We got another one for arc 2! There aren't as many interactions with our main three in this chapter, but that's cuz there's some other dialogue and exposition i wanted to get in there first. display some other relationships and whatnot. i hope you enjoy nonetheless :3

Word Count: a bit more than 1.4k

*squints* I give NO ONE permission to repost or translate my work. Make your own shit!

Both you and Sienna made your way back up to the surface, climbing back onto The Blue Delilah.

While the two of you were underwater, Wanda and Natasha had incapacitated the last two “attackers” and managed to tie them up.

It really wasn’t a fair fight with Wanda there…

The squelch of your wet boots alerted both of them that you made it back onto the boat.

Noticing Sienna behind you, Wanda and Natasha were both ready to get back into it, but you stopped them before they could.

-----

You hold your hands out in a placating manner, “Alright alright, hold on just a sec! everybody can chill the fuck out”

Natasha raises a brow before lowering the gun in her hand. “Hearing that from you? Forgive me for my surprise but,” her gaze goes from you to the rather unwelcoming woman next to you. “Negotiating has never really been your thing, Jaws.”

Wanda nods along, moving all the assailants’ weapons to the opposite end of the boat out of reach. “I have to agree.”

A small sigh pushed past your lips, “Fortunately, I didn’t have to negotiate much at all,” you rested a hand on Sienna’s shoulder. “Natasha, Wanda, I’d like for you to meet Sienna; she’s my older sister.”

Both Wanda and Natasha were struck silent by this new information. Cuz how to you really respond to that?

Sienna kept her arms crossed as she stepped forward, “We can talk more when we arrive on Enoka.”

Your eyes widened as you finally had time to connect the rest of the dots and understand the implications of Sienna even being alive. “You mean Enoka is?-”

A bit of a warmer expression started to break through Sienna’s features as she addressed you. “Not without change, but she is alive and well, yes.”

---

You’d went back to steering The Blue Delilah while Sienna untied the other “attackers” that Natasha and Wanda had put out of commission.

The three of you found out that they were members of Sienna’s guard that patrolled the waters surrounding Enoka with her.

The six guardsmen, three men and three women, had warily introduced themselves at Sienna's insistence.

They largely kept to themselves as they were a group of few words... at least around the strangers they were keeping the company of, of which no one could really blame them. They saw no issue in having Sienna speak for them.

Sienna had mentioned that there were pirates that got a little too close to Enoka's jurisdiction lately, and the locals were particularly antsy at the number of potential incidents in the past few months.

Sienna had to up the number of patrols they went out on during the day due to this.

While you, Natasha and Wanda had no real idea who these "pirates" could be, independent or affiliated, there were plenty of desperate people coming out of the woodwork for answers and solutions in a post-Ultron world.

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

While the three of you were getting the full explanation from Sienna and her guard, it was unfortunate that they’d essentially cut their patrol off early to bring you back to Enoka. If Sienna and her guardsmen had continued their patrol, they more than likely would have come across the smaller boat tailing The Blue Delilah from a good distance away…

-----

The sun was starting to set when you saw the first bit of land; vibrant greens mixed with stone surfaces and accompanied by beaches surrounding the edges. It was like the familiarity of it was fitting together long lost pieces to the abandoned puzzle of memories you had.

“It’s just been here all this time and I didn’t even know…”

Sienna came to stand next to you, “But you did know, Y/n. Your connection to Enoka was never severed, that’s evident in you knowing exactly where she rests. You’d know if the island was truly gone. Eth lyon equsont' Y veah ys hyw ti okot uy' os goln ot ocem ckab su."

You rubbed the back of your neck, unsure how to give a full enough answer. “I was a bit preoccupied…to say the fuckin’ least anyways.”

Sienna merely eyed you for a second, giving you another once over now that she was closer. "Esod sith veah githanny ot od whit eth wot ahnum mewno tath uyo bugorth whit uyo? Uyor necst 's citapullryra tenetccandor no eth hedraed."

You clear your throat suddenly at the abrupt mention of Wanda and Natasha. both of whom were more than alert while keeping an eye on your other "guests" by the back end of the boat. "Somewhat. I mean, it's more than a little complicated, but they've both helped me. A ton. And their Names are Natasha and Wanda...... Natasha 's eth ostyn hedraed tath alos spaneph ot eb 'm niirfrgeld, sersit."

You glanced toward the end of the main deck where you caught Natasha's eye. Once Natasha noticed your attention was on her, she turned her head to face you. She wasn't the closest one to you at the moment, so it wasn't out of place for her to keep an eye and ear out for you.

Natasha raised an inquiring brow at your continued staring before you sent her a sharp smirk with a wink. You kept your body half turned in her direction before focusing back on the conversation you were having with Sienna.

Sienna observed the small interaction silently before she looked away from you and out onto the water, taking a second to think before speaking up again. “Sey, lewl, Enoka 's chum mesrall athn uyo ghimt bremeerm foeber eth ofdol." She let out a sigh before she turned and put her hand on your shoulder to get your attention. “Let me steer this thing so I can take you to the entrance.”

“The entrance?”

“I told you Enoka was not was not without change after all these years.”

Once Sienna took the wheel, the yacht was guided halfway around the island where a larger summit was seen. Formed into the bottom of the smaller mountain was a cave covered by the growing foliage. The Blue Delilah was steered into it before the engine was shut off.

“Your boat managed to fit in here, but you all will need to walk the rest of the way to the entrance by foot.”

Natasha was still on the cautious side, seeing as only one of the strangers here seemed somewhat trustworthy. “How far is that exactly?”

Sienna spoke up at the front of the group, “Not egregiously so. Many choose to just swim back and forth, but seeing as the two of you are merely human, walking is about the only option for you. We should arrive within the hour.”

---

As all ten of you left The Blue Delilah, you all made your way through the cave as it became a progressively tighter space to walk through side by side.

You decided to get a few answers while on your way; multitasking and all that.

After a while of walking, you came to what looked to be a dead end.

-----

Sienna, still in front of the group, waved her hand over the empty space, revealing ripple in the space that started to resemble a portal.

“This gate will lead into Enoka. You will have to enter one at a time since you’ll be unidentified in the passageway. It needs to analyze your signatures separately.”

You sent a reassuring look to Wanda while you squeezed Natasha’s hand. They were both still very cautious surrounding this entire situation. For you there was this inexplicable amount of trust you had. Whether it be from the nostalgia and anticipation of seeing your where you grew up or genuinely not sensing any danger, you couldn’t differentiate.

First went Sienna, then three of her guards, then you, Natasha, Wanda, and then the other three guards.

---

On the other side was beauty.

The landscape was, in fact, very different from how you loosely remembered it, but the view was one in a million all its own.

Half of the inhabited environs were above water; cabins, huts, and the like were strewn about and the summits surrounding them all had bridges connecting overhead.

The other half of the Island was also visible, but it was underwater.

Underwater, but not abandoned.

The were homes and buildings that were brand new shining from under the surface.

A good amount of them were made out of ruins that were apparently repurposed after the flood, but most of them were completely new and sleek.

In a way, it was like you'd never left...

Just like your connection with the hidden isle was never broken, so to was it's connection to you.

This was Enoka, your homeland.

** footnote: I wanted to use a completely different script for the Enokan language being spoken, but I couldn’t find a way to import it so that it was shown, so instead I made a simple code using typoglycemia (aka just unscramble the letters of each word). To make it so that it didn’t look as clunky, I sometimes replaced (i) with (y). Some words that end with vowels may have an apostrophe that takes the place of the vowel. Apostrophes can also be found at the beginning of words with vowels for fluidity’s sake. I didn’t think swears should be scrambled cuz that just *looks* off to me. The point of these changes is to have this resemble a spoken language more than it is a blatant tactic to confuse you.

Here's a word unscrambler in case you need it

#jaws au #jaws: arc 2 #marvel #marvel fanfiction #black widow #natasha romanoff #scarlet witch #wanda maximoff #mutant!reader #black widow x reader #natasha romanoff x reader #natasha romanoff x you #natasha romanoff x yn #jc inkworks #ink.nat #ib-jc.

[local-lamppost]

Four Pages to Terrify Me

I applaud thee Endo.

From the illustration alone I was worried, this whole chapter is just laying out what the next arc is likely to be and now has me reevaluating the last few chapters (specifically Sigmund Authen), as well as any image that showed Anya's written name.

From the theming and naming of the families, we know that the Forgers are a fake family built on a lie but developing into something real. The Forgery will be made real (Forged into something real?). That means the family whose name opposes them, the Authens, must be a mirror. A real family filled with emotional lies (or at least a real family that is fake in everything that actually matters).

If I had to present a theory for how the Authens are connected to Anya it'd be that they were involved in her creation. Sigmund is a professor, meaning he could be apart of the team of doctors, who seems to be rather anti-war. Possibly enough so to become involved with human experimentation.

Then there's his mumbling. No one could understand Sigmund but Anya. This comes off as a gimmick, but what if it's his way of testing which of the children at the park he just so happens to be stuck in can understand him? It's a pretty decent strategy to determine an esper child.

Moving onto the subject of the actual chapter: ANIA

For some reason or another, Anya believes her written name to actually be A-N-I-A, pronounced the same way. This is an alternate spelling for the name, but instead of trying to correct Yor or Loid she goes along with the change. Either Anya is trying to distance herself from that version of her name, or she knows that ANIA wasn't technically her name but what she was called. There is a difference.

There is also the fact the doctor in Ch 1 addresses her as 'Anya'. This could be a mistake, or it could mean that the facility we see Anya in the first chapter was different than the lab that created her, seeing as they didn't call her by the moniker Subject 007.

So, I have three theories:

1 - Anya is her real name, as she already has a code name Subject 007, and ANIA is something else. Possibly AN1A, as I've seen others suggest? It has something to do with her creation, possibly the organization or the specific operation behind it.

2 - ANIA is a title or some kind of new species/mutation/classification. Instead of her name being Ania she is an ANIA. The lab calls her Anya in chapter 1 because they made a similar mistake to Twilight, or just for convenience.

3 - ANIA or AN1A is her 'name' given to her by the scientists which is an anagram, acting-alongside Subject 007-as a nickname.

In any case we are very likely to find out whenever the next arc starts and in the end Anya will be Anya. Her and Twilight are connected already for having multiple names, but both of them have shown that Loid Forger and Anya Forger are becoming staples of their core selves. It wouldn't surprise me if Anya declaring her name proudly as Anya Forger to any that try to correct her as an eye opener of some kind for Twilight on the importance of his identity.

#sxf #spy x family #twilight #anya forger #loid forger #yor forger #sxf spoilers #if her name isn't actually anya then yor is the only forger who goes by her real first name #unless... #the reminder of anya's past really made me do a 180 on the nice old couple who just moved in #sxf ch 90.1 #sxf manga spoilers

[right-there-ride-on]

Does Johnny actually hate Diego? (Sources Cited)

The answer might surprise you!

Let’s take a look at the evidence:

Diego and Johnny's first interaction during the first stage

They don't appear to know each other well, with Johnny referring to him as "this brit jockey, Diego Brando". Interestingly, Johnny compliments Diego's skill as a jockey.

Chapter 10: The Final Straight - 2000 Meters Left

And Diego indirectly compliments Johnny as well!

Chapter 11: The Final Stretch - 1000 Meters Left

2) Scary Monsters Arc

Johnny and Gyro come upon an injured Diego. Johnny, more than anything, is in disbelief. Given that this arc directly follows Wired, he's likely wondering if Diego was attacked as well. He doesn't seem particularly happy that Diego could be dropping out, the action lines indicating the thought has him vaguely concerned.

Johnny then attempts to get Gyro leave Diego be. Rather than any hatred, it seems he's mostly just suspicious about the circumstances of Diego's injury, given what rumors he's heard about him and, as mentioned above, he's distrustful of most anyone except Gyro due to the recent attack.

Furthermore, Johnny is the only one to notice something strange is happening to Diego. It's his reaction to the injury we see. Gyro, apparently, is oblivious to this (despite being closer), and thinks Diego's frustration is amusing. Johnny remains mostly confused.

A short while later, Diego miraculously catches up with them, and seems completely healed from the injury. Furthermore, he's acting extremely strange, leading to Johnny being even more suspicious and telling him to go away. On Diego's end, he actually compliments Johnny, as he did during the first stage. Johnny, however, continues to notice oddities about Diego's appearance and maintains his distance.

Johnny continues to be hyper-aware of Diego, vehemently protesting needing to sleep in the same spot. Gyro, by contrast, is much more relaxed, despite also seeing Diego act strangely earlier. Now Johnny insults Diego, though again, these seem to be just rumors he's heard and his own anxiety over being attacked. Rather than a personal hatred for Diego, this reads more like Johnny trying to convince Gyro to somehow move them farther from Diego out of worry / suspicion that he'll pull something.

Gyro leaves to gather firewood, leaving Johnny alone. Johnny makes coffee, and we get the rather infamous scene of Diego eating rocks. When Diego realizes Johnny is watching him and catches the scent of coffee, he has the audacity to ask for cup. Johnny questions him about his wound and Diego brushes it off. Johnny is not impressed, but, for whatever, reason, gives Diego a cup of coffee. Was he just trying to get him to leave? Was it a peace offering? Both? Anyway, he didn't toss it in his face or shoot him on sight. Despite all of the signs saying Diego is dangerous and Johnny is right to be suspicious, Johnny does not attack.

Also, why does he assume Diego wants to travel with him? Or that Diego would even ask him to travel together? Inch resting.

(this also reads a bit like little red riding hood, lol)

After a few pages of shenanigans, Diego snatches the cup from Johnny (though not without showing off first). Johnny calls him a slur, then wonders whether Diego even knows what he's doing. Despite Diego's overall strange behavior and Johnny's own reservations about him possibly being a 'terrorist', he still doesn't shoot.

Chapter 28: Scary Monsters (Part 1)

So, again, no real hatred for the guy. Then, once Ferdinand is taken care of and Diego grabs the eyes, Johnny says this:

Chapter 31: Scary Monsters (Part 4)

Now that Diego knows about the corpse - something coveted by everyone that Johnny too wants desperately - Johnny feels threatened. After being attacked, Johnny seems to believe the rumors he's heard about Diego have been confirmed, kicking off a more personal dislike for him.

3) Third Stage Goal

And here we see that... Johnny is mostly right. Diego is a very dangerous competitor, and he is using his new abilities to their full effect. Johnny warns Gyro not to underestimate him, again showing a certain respect for his skills despite his dislike for him.

Gyro chooses to plunge into the lake and Diego follows right behind him. Johnny, reluctantly, also follows, trying to convince Gyro to return. He tells Gyro plainly that he will lose, because Gyro doesn't want to win for himself badly enough.

Chapter 32: Third Stage Goal: Canon City

This is interesting to me. Johnny calls Diego a thief, and yet in his next sentence he doesn't actually condemn him for it. All he's telling Gyro is that Gyro, personally, needs to want to win. He needs to 'hunger' for it, like Diego does (paralleled in how Johnny 'hungers' for the corpse!). Despite everything, it's obvious that Johnny, if nothing else, respects Diego's skills and drive.

Diego then cheats at the end of the stage to try and beat Gyro, proving Johnny is right to say he's the type of the person to do anything to win (and thus proving his suspicions of Diego right, to a degree at least).

4) Catch the Rainbow Arc

This race follows up on a lot of the things brought up during the third stage, but now Gyro's got a new philosophy. While Diego is surprised by this change in attitude, he's not going to sit back and let Gyro win. Once again, Johnny's suspicions are proven correct when Diego cheats to try and win against Gyro. He attacks because he knows exactly what kind of person Diego is, and that Diego is, in all likelihood, somehow already attacking Gyro.

Chapter 39: Catch the Rainbow (Part 2)

Not much else to add, except that every time Johnny has suspected something is wrong / Diego is cheating... he's been right (lol).

5) A Silent Way

We get a lot more backstory for Johnny and a little more for Diego. This marks the first time Diego works in a team throughout the part, and it's also the first time we learn how easily he throws away his allies. But that happens later. What's important is this:

We suddenly learn that Diego has always been a presence in Johnny's life, albeit apparently indirectly. Given how they interact in the first stage, we can assume they likely ran only a few races against each other (also, given the Joestar family moved away from Britain sometime between Nicholas' death (when Johnny was around 7-9) and Johnny winning the Kentucky Derby at 16, any races between Johnny and Diego would have taken place before Johnny was 16, meaning it's been over four years since they've seen each other and Johnny's dad is still bringing this shit up.) Furthermore, Diego is pointed out twice during the flashback to Nicholas' death. It's possible Johnny associates him with the incident.

And then:

Chapter 42: A Silent Way (Part 3)

What we learn from this is that it's entirely possible Johnny holds some sort of latent resentment toward Diego - even if Diego never did anything to him personally, Johnny may have been inclined to believe the rumors about him simply because of Diego's association with his father (and all the trauma that surrounds that relationship).

The judgements Johnny has been making about Diego throughout the part are usually proven right, even if it's not to the extent of poisoning the horse's water. And yet, despite all this, it still doesn't seem as though Johnny actually hates Diego himself. Mostly, he's just relayed what he's heard about Diego to Gyro (the rumors), been (rightfully) suspicious of him, and has accurately judged Diego's character as someone who'd do anything to get what he wants - and who therefore presents a very active threat to Johnny and Gyro's hunt for the corpse. Moreover, he's also expressed a respect and appreciation for Diego's skills and drive. Johnny never personally insults him or attacks without cause, which, to me, doesn't really convey an intense personal hatred. We'll round back to Diego being involved in this attack in a moment.

6) Let's Talk D4C Arc

Johnny and Gyro resolve to hunt down Diego and steal the left corpse eye from him.

Chapter 64: Chocolate Disco (Part 1)

Johnny, as always, is very practical in his assessment. He has time and again accurately judged Diego's character to be dangerous and ambitious, and also recognizes that, when push comes to shove, Gyro tends to waver. As this arc follows Civil War, we as readers know the depth of Johnny's resolve. Yet, this still isn't motivated by a personal hatred of Diego - rather, it's just more corpse business, and recognizing the lengths Johnny himself (and Diego, as they are of a similar nature!) will go to obtain them. I do think Gyro's hesitation to kill being a repeated idea is fascinating, especially given his past as an executioner, but that's for another time.

Diego makes his introduction for the arc here:

Chapter 66: D4C (Part 1)

For whatever reason, he doesn't want Johnny dead. Is he hoping to ally with him? Maybe, but how useful is a Johnny 'on the verge of death'? For what purpose? He didn't seem to have a problem with killing Johnny earlier during 'Catch the Rainbow' (through, quite frankly, it wasn't clear if he was going to kill him there either, given he kept hesitating to follow through on his promise to 'tear you apart if you come within two meters of me', long enough for Gyro to get a shot in) (Chapter 39: Catch the Rainbow (Part 2))

Either way, we see that Diego now believes that Johnny is better left alive.

So, regardless of the later retconning of 'allowing multiple dimensions to exist simultaneously' for D4C's ability, through some series of contrivances, this then occurs (or well, technically occurs before the above conversation):

Chapter 68: D4C (Part 3)

(notice how since Catch the Rainbow we are now on a first name basis, for both parties. Inch resting.)

Soon followed by a recap of everyone's POVs, ending in:

Chapter 69: D4C (Part 4)

I find Diego's reaction to shooting Johnny very telling of his relationship with him. He honestly seemed to be in more disbelief than Wekapipo. Is it shock when he was so sure he was on the right trail? Surprise at who his bullets ended up shooting? (... regret? he did say he wanted Johnny alive).

This is why interpretation is fun!

And here's the kicker: Johnny still shows up and rescues him. In two different universes, two different versions of Johnny were found by Diego's raptors, and Johnny actually pulled up!

So, despite Diego being a very active threat, Diego having attacked them with Sandman / Soundman, Gyro and Johnny agreeing to beat him up just a few chapters earlier, Johnny calmly stating he's willing to kill Diego should Diego force his hand, Johnny still, literally half-dead, followed Diego's raptors because he realized Diego was asking for help. Additionally, Diego was banking on Johnny’s arrival! He fully trusted that Johnny would understand why he sent the raptors, and also trusted Johnny would come to help him (a very very interesting parallel to the Magenta Magenta situation a few chapter earlier). This, if nothing else, shows Diego’s confidence in Johnny’s abilities and a belief that Johnny is someone who can be relied upon. Coming from Diego? Yeah, I find that super interesting.

Johnny later recounts to Gyro that he did see Diego as one of the people shooting him. Yet he still, in two separate universes, came to help. Did he see Diego's reaction and understand the shooting was Valentine's doing? Did he think Valentine was the bigger threat and so decided to put aside grudges and work with Diego (despite knowing what tends to happen to Diego’s allies)? Or, despite his earlier words, does he actually just not want to see Diego unnecessarily dead and instead of rounding back with Gyro decided to try and help him? We don’t know.

We can extrapolate that Johnny probably assumed, if Diego was asking for help, it meant Diego was close to Valentine. Yet base!Johnny, even while Valentine was in the parallel universe and Johnny was actively bleeding out (and really in no condition to actually fight him if not immediately necessary) still stayed to see what would happen to Diego.

After Diego has crossed back into the base world, we see that both alt!Johnny and base!Johnny witness Diego sacrifice Wekapipo to escape.

Diego seems to express some regret for what he did to Wekapipo. Or rather:

Felt some sort of way that Johnny saw him do it.

Chapter 70: D4C (Part 5)

7) Diego's Death

I won't cover High Voltage arc here, since that's a different Diego, though it is worth exploring The World!Diego's similarities and differences to base!Diego at a later point.

Anyway, Johnny and Gyro follow Diego and now Hot Pants to chase down Valentine and Lucy. After a valiant effort, Diego is killed (Hot Pants soon follows).

Chapter 76: D4C (Part 9)

Again, not really any indication of hatred here. It's a statement of fact. No gloating, no cheering. Johnny at first seems rather affected, but quickly gets himself under control. After that it's all business and trying to save Lucy, then, of course, High Voltage.

Well, you've read this far. So, does Johnny hate Diego?

I actually don't think so!

I think he's deeply wary of Diego's character, and rightfully suspicious of his ambition, and willing to kill Diego to avoid being killed first, but I don't think Johnny has deep-seated hatred for him as a person. On a similar note, I don't believe Diego disliked Johnny at all. To me, it seems that the corpse frequently drove them into conflict, and Johnny had several good reasons for not liking Diego all that much, but never when I reading did I believe Johnny truly, deeply hated him (or vice versa).

They have a lot of neat parallels with Jonathan and Dio, the most significant of which I would point to being the respect they have for one another's drive and abilities despite the race and the corpse frequently pitting them against each other. Yet unlike Dio and even Jonathan, I don't think there was ever a period where they had animosity for one another that went beyond plain competition (for both the corpse and the race itself). Throughout the events of Phantom Blood and continuing into the rest of the original universe, Dio was the world's #1 hater of the Joestar family and it took a very long time for him to develop a genuine respect for Jonathan. And while Jonathan found it in himself to forgive Dio in the end, he states several times how much he hates Dio for constantly ruining his life (killing his dog, kissing his girlfriend, killing his dad, etc). Johnny and Diego were antagonistic at most, and I think if the narrative had gone differently might have made very interesting allies.

Nonetheless, their relationship is very complex and fun to dive into. Thanks for reading!

#johnny joestar #diego brando #dare i say #diejoni #diejo #steel ball run #sbr #jjba #my posts #sbr analysis #steel ball run analysis

[pikahlua]

so, I dunno if you typically answer questions like this, as it seems like most of your Asks are related to dissecting the manga, but!

in your opinion, what's the best way to write a post-canon fic without getting wrapped up in keeping it loyal to the still-unfolding story?

for context: i'm writing a (potentially long) post-war-arc fic at the minute, but seeing as how the arc is still ongoing, I'm finding it challenging to not stop and rewrite and every time i learn something new. perhaps this is a stupid problem to have lmao, but you seem so good at untangling the MHA narrative threads, so I guess I'm just curious if you have any tips for folks trying to weave 'em in our own way?

thanks in advance, and thanks for all your hard work in general <3

Aww I love this ask!

So if you think about it, there are plenty of great post-canon fanfics out there that were written without the full context of the series. The lack of information those stories have about the end of MHA does nothing to hurt those fics.

You have several options really. You can commit to adapting your story in future chapters to what may happen in the MHA canon as it goes, but that's a pretty difficult path to take. I started my fanfic based on the assumption we would eventually learn AFO's real name, but now I'm realizing I'm going to have to come up with a solution to the possibility he may have no other name. You could pick a cutoff point in MHA and write a story that doesn't rely on any information that might come later. You could write based on an alternate set of events to fill in the blanks so that your story is canon-adjacent and divergent. In any case, you have to accept the fact that you're writing a story before the source material has ended.

The real question you have to ask yourself is: what does "keeping it loyal" mean to you? I'd advise you to remember that, no matter what, you're not writing something that will be part of the official canon. That gives you a lot of space to move around. If you try to stick too rigidly to the canon when you don't know how MHA ends yet, then ask yourself what your story is even about in the first place. If your story is so up-in-the-air right now that the important beats in it could change at the drop of a hat depending on what happens in the canon, then you don't have a story; you just have an idea. There's nothing wrong with that per se. Plenty of authors write without knowing where their story is going or how it ends yet.

My suspicion though is that's not your problem. I'm guessing that you're just worried about small details or references to events in the canon that may incidentally occur in your story. To the best of your ability I would advise that you don't worry about such things. Just write KNOWING you will do that. It's a feature of fanfic to do so, not a bug. Anyone reading your fanfic will know that.

So now I come back to the question about what does "keeping it loyal" mean? I am writing an AU fanfic. I have to ask myself often what I care about when it comes to "keeping it loyal" because AUs have the potential to diverge so far from the canon material they're practically their own original stories. In this case, "keeping it loyal" to me is about the characters. When I write these characters, are they behaving in the way I would expect them to in the canon? I've chosen major events in my characters' backgrounds to make them behave similarly to how they would in canon because to me, the appeal of an AU is in seeing how my favorite characters would behave in a new environment. By extension, I've also chosen some events to happen in my fanfic that maintain similar themes to the canon. My characters may have to change some from their canon counterparts based on the specific events that happen to them, but there is a core vision of the canon in my heart I always try to come back to.

It's a lot easier to keep that distance between my story and the MHA canon because I'm writing an AU, and that helps me to answer your question because the obvious things my story and the canon have in common are the characters and the story themes. Those two elements would be my answer to you. The line becomes grayer when you're writing a story set in-universe to the canon. My best advice is to not get caught up in those details. It's far more important that you write and get out your ideas. You can always come back and edit things later, EVEN AFTER PUBLISHING. That's the forgiving nature of fanworks. That said, I personally think canon-divergent/alternate canon stories are supremely underrated, so I would embrace the label. It's up to you if you want to do that or just try to adapt to the canon as you go, but IT'S OKAY if your story doesn't completely match up to the canon. It doesn't make your story any less loyal to the source material so long as you maintain that integrity in other ways. No one is reading fanfic because they expect it to be a rehashing of the exact events in MHA anyways. They're expecting something new, something additional, whether it's an embellishment, a soliloquy, or an entirely alternate set of events.

Just write what's good for your story right now, and everything else is incidental.

#anon ask #ask pika #my fanfic #writing craft! <3

[sterkeyra]

Happy Birthday Tsugaru! (2023)

Another year has passed and Voltage organized yet another great birthday party for our sweet boy.

Throughout the day I got LINE messages, saw pictures of fans celebrating, sweet fanart, he got a new VIP event with the sweetest of stories and then this bonus story got released on top of it!

It might have even become one of my absolute favorite stories of Tsugaru. It had everything I wished for a while now, a deep dive into his thoughts, revealing his dark thoughts to MC, a glimpse into his past, the wholesome care that the Shiroganes wish for him and just absolute funny fluffiness to close up the story.

I am so SO very happy that I got to follow his story for the last 3 years, as his character development has been top notch. The arc of Little Hare and the apple is just so sweet, it's exactly what Tsugaru needs to heal.

His closest friends and family are everything. They noticed the real Tsugaru even though he tries to keep his dark thoughts hidden. Tsugaru was so lost in the spiral of darkness and had no purpose in life, that he did not notice all the gems around him. Or rather he recognized them, but they were too good and he tried to keep his distance.

Over the last stories his eyes were opened and he found the courage to reach out to his own happiness and is more honest about it. And it's just so sweet because everyone is so supportive. I was amazed in the last story that Momo even lashed out against him, when he lost himself in his sillyness.

It was a blast to follow Tsugaru on his journey so far, and if this bonus story is an indicator what we could expect for the upcoming story, I'm hooked already! Maybe we even get to the unopened letter this time!

Anyways I know that your birthday is the day you curse the most, but I wholeheartedly want to celebrate with you.

This year and for many more years to come, your Little Hare looks forward to take your hand during sunsets and to stargaze together until the middle of the night. Thank you for having been born. You truly have become a light in my life as well.

Happy Birthday!

#her love in the force #hlitf #hlitf tsugaru #takaomi tsugaru #voltage inc #love 365 #otome #voltage otome #takeru momose #hlitf shirogane #also can we talk about the cgs of the new story? #they are also one of my favorites #we got to pinch his cheek #pet him #and squish his lips haha #it was so funny #and seeing him shine his light in the darkness where only the stars are watching #ITS SO SWEET

[shorthaltsjester]

begging twitter to stop showing me tweets of people with no reading comprehension misrepresenting things I said but since i was going to make this more in-depth post Anyway .

when i say imogen is better read as a metaphor for generational trauma than she is a metaphor for queerness or chronic pain, i’m not talking about legitimate traits she has as a character. obviously she is queer. obviously she experiences some form of chronic pain (though i would argue her magic better suits chronic illness not pain because she states that it’s Not always painful, but it does always influence how she lives her life).

when i talk about how well she’s understood as a metaphor, i’m talking about when i’m looking at her as a part of a story, as an arc that i am witnessing rather than in the more typical fandom way of this is a fictional person who interacts with exandria as real people do. and that is a fun way to interact with characters, i enjoy it a lot! but when i say imogen (to me, as i for some reason have to clarify on my own blog which implies that these are my own opinions and not absolute fact that needs to be accepted by people on the internet with different experience and opinions than me) is best read as a metaphor for generational trauma, it isn’t a dismissal of her queerness or her illness, it’s just me thinking looking at her from that angle is more compelling.

imogen has been one of my favourite characters and least favourite characters in campaign 3 because i tend to analyse her through a lens of generational trauma and she ends up looking extremely familiar to me as someone with a family that carries their’s heavily which is as comforting as it is frustrating.

for me the main thing that looking at imogen through a queer lens of literary analysis fails to account for is harm. on the one hand - the harm that imogen experiences, not because of how people treat her for who she is, but that exists simply as a factor of her being ruidusborn. on the other hand a the harm that imogen causes. not to say that she is some malicious villain waiting for her chance to harm others, but that there are things about being ruidusborn that very much do incline her towards violence in a way that she might not otherwise be - i think about the conversation after she went nuclear and chet brought up people being scared of her connecting that to her father keeping distance. the only harm that queerness provides comes from society, and that isn’t the case in exandria. even metaphorically, the thing that society fears in ruidusborn people (while it has certainly been exacerbated by centuries of superstition and practices like we saw in zephrah) is a tangible threat. imogen’s magic when not controlled can wipe out a city block, but queerness poses no threat.

that’s why i’m not compelled by imogen’s backstory as a queer metaphor. not because i’m some imodna anti (i very emphatically am not but this fandom kinda makes me wish i was sometimes) or because i think exandria’s lack of homophobia/transphobia means that characters can’t be viewed through a queer lens or that critical role doesn’t contain some of the most compelling queer metaphor i’ve encountered. imogen just isn’t one of those characters, not because she isn’t queer, or because i think her story shouldn’t resonate with queer people, just because i find the generational trauma angle more consistent.

it’s similar with the chronic illness angle, which i will refer to as illness but you’re welcome to emphasise pain, we all have different vocabularies for the experiences we face. but just to give context i’m running off laura’s comparison of imogen’s powers to her own sensory issues and anxiety which while often Lead to pain, fall more into chronic illness in imogen’s context to me. and i do think there’s substantial comparison for imogen’s story as a metaphor for chronic illness, but i think that was much more true earlier in the campaign than it is looking at her from the current context. her beginning motivation being her search for knowledge about her powers really resonated with me as similar to someone experiencing symptoms of chronic illness but who could neither figure out how to treat them or what they were caused by.

but then imogen got more information, specifically about her mother, and her priority became not understanding her powers but understanding her current state as a person - how had she become the person she is, inclusive of her powers but very much emphasising her lack of a mother who became more and more present in the unweaving web of ruidusborn lore. that’s when i was less compelled by the chronic illness reading and more compelled by viewing her as a metaphor for generational trauma. had that not been enough on its own, imogen’s visit to relvin and her recent thoughts on her mother would be enough to convince me.

the part that makes me hesitant about this post is that generational trauma is so intensely linked to the contexts under which it is created and perpetuated. so i can’t really point to specific scenes as evidence of specific things that prove generational trauma is the most compelling and i don’t really want to unload that much of my own experience to clarify my thoughts on a character. but vaguely, i will say that imogen’s relationship with her parents is obviously the clearest source for my reading her as a metaphor for generational trauma. the fact that relvin, the only person in her family without the thing that draws society’s ire, is also the person that she has the most willing anger at is also indicative of this to me. in general, imogen’s rage that so easily transitions into sadness and vice versa comes out a lot in conversations about parents. most recently, i think about ashton’s lovely speech about found family and his distrust about parents and how as they were speaking, laura seemed to be playing imogen as sadly in thought versus months ago when fearnes parents showed up with striking similarities to liliana and imogen’s words of wisdom were let’s hurt them all.

and like. to me that angersadnessvengeancegrief is particularly evocative of the feelings that arise when you are in a family with generational trauma, especially when you are aware of it. because imogen can and has followed the logical steps that have led her and her family to where they are. early on when recounting her relationship with her dad she seemed wistful but understanding of the distance between them. in nearly every encountered with a parental figure imogen seems to be some level of distrusting for the most part, but she’s still holding out hope that her mother will see the good side. and further, there’s the complication of how dire her losing her powers seems to be, and how inextricable her powers are from every aspect of her life. she’s also southern and from a blue collar family. this means nothing except it also means a whole lot.

this is messy and not well organised but if you want a good essay you’re gonna have to pay me money for it but tldr: i say things i believe on my This Is My Opinion Blog and i don’t think i need to explain my thoughts to strangers on the internet but this was already half written in my drafts and if people are gonna shit on my opinions please at least do it in good faith and shit on my actual opinions not the ones you’ve decided i have.

#it’s just the. your mother leaves and you know nothing you don’t even know that she Chose to leave you just know she’s gone #and your father is there in every way he can be which isn’t Enough #and then. you do the same thing your mom did and you find the answers she found but. you’re finding a way out of it . not Completely . #and not Perfectly. but enough that you’re angry that the world wasn’t kind enough to her to give her a way out #and you’re angry that she probably wouldn’t have taken a way out if she found it #and you’re just. getting hurt by her over and over and you’re putting your life and friends at risk over and over in the thin Hope #that this time when she hears you out she’ll actually Hear you #also . just in general. i do not worship the ground of the mn campaign for anyone to accuse me of thinking cr characters can’t be queercoded #i’m stronger than you . i see the queerness of fjorester which only people with real reading comprehension understand . #anyway this is all light hearted if i was actually like . Mad this would be like. one sentence long #imogen temult #cr3 #critical role #the temults #cr meta #listen man. imogen is personal to me i hate her i love her i want to hit her i want to hug her i can’t look at her i wanna study her #my posts

[chase-ingjackson]

A few reasons I like and dislike the the new Percy Jackson show (and why I think the musical is better) - initial reaction

To start, I think this new PJO show is a million times better than that dumpster fire of a movie (though I love logan lerman <3). I like that it is quite faithful to the overall arcs and major plot lines of the book. I love the diversity and high caliber of actors (though I def have some Viria-art inspired character images in my head that are god-tier). I love some of the characterizations/portrayals, especially when it comes to making the character more complex (I really appreciate TV Sally for being a real person with complex emotion, though of course book Sally is my fav). And I love that it's so high budget and hgihly-anticipated (great marketing) that it is bringing this beloved story to a greater audience, especially the younger generation and older generation (as parents/grandparents) than those of us who grew up with the series.

I can boil down all of my dislikes of this show into one overarching but very essential part of the show: I don't like that it is a drama. The characters are way too serious and too every-other-moment-we-need-an-instense-heart-to-heart. What I think this show should have been is a comedy adventure with drama/melodrama sprinkled in. In the books, it's all about the banter. And the TV show does some good one-liners, but it's always so serious. I think the best part of the book is that the characters can stay light-hearted and fun despite the horrors and terrors they face. In the show, the gods spoon feed the trio most of the answers, so when they do have a good realization (SPOILER: e.g. Kronos being the orchestrating force) it kind of comes out of nowhere. TV Annabeth is so serious (I know in the first book she is her most serious, but not to this degree) and a lot of the moments when she has time to use her smarts are gone or approached differently. Percy, too. He's not just self-sacrificing (which they really lean into in the show) but he's also incredibly smart and silly. In the books he's kind of a surface-level himbo with great critical thinking, but in the show he's kind of left in the dark and doesn't get opportunities to make his own plans (also, he doesn't seem to know how to control his power (by the 7th episode); whereas in the book he def did at this point. Then there are just dumb changes to make the show more "serious" like not mentioning that cell phones attract monsters or that monsters just smell demigods and not have a 6th sense for them. I'm finding that by trying to change these small details to make it something more exciting or interesting, it's distancing us existing fans by not letting us relate to the small details that really don't matter. For the cellphones, they still use Iris messages rather than getting a payphone or something, so that's kind of a plot hole in the show that is answered by the book.

Anyways, those are my main takeaways. Now, when I say "the musical" I refer to The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical by Joe Tracz and Rick Rokicki which first premiered in 2014 but got revamped and redebued in 2017 (which is when it came into my life). I got to see it live in Toronto in 2019 with my middle school best friend, but have been an avid listener of the soundtrack since 2017 (the day it came out on streaming platforms).

The musical in my eyes is a nearly-perfect adaptation of the book. It's soo funny - def the action comedy I'm after, but does have the meaningful emotional moments (ballads, which are essential in musicals). The show itself if the full package; however, even just listening to the soundtrack gives you the whole gist. Here's a link to hte soundtrack on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFwX6FWeUFQ&list=PL0hK1fYMaqXbtZ0Fhm48TYcLJl7ikNX7Q&ab_channel=TheLightningThief%3AOriginalCastAlbum

Anyways, I want to hear more thoughts and pls tell me what you think of the show (and the musical!!)

#hoo #pjo #percy jackson #annabeth chase #the lightning thief #the lightning thief musical #percy jackson musical #grover underwood #pjo tv series #pjo tv show #pjofandom #sally jackson #review

[mysteriouslybluepirate]

Initial reaction to episode 8:

Full spoilers. Don't read if you haven't watched. But don't be afraid to comment if you agree or disagree.

Izzy got 1 week (at most) of a life where he felt like he could be himself.

That's it.

This man lost so fucking much, clearly his family, his past crews, himself. So the show said, hey. Let's spend ALL season showing him he is loved, then tell the audience this is a good ending because hey, now Ed can be himself for no loose ends.

I know we might get zombie izzy. I know buttons is probably a deus ex machina(yes, I gasped SO FUCKING HARD when the seagul landed), but I am fucking livid.

I'm sorry this is negative right off the bat. I cried yeah, but it was at Izzy apologizing for not letting Ed grow. The 1 final sin he hadn't been punished for. He apologized and lost limbs for the British thing. That was IT. The only thing Izzy haters had against him. And here we are.

Now that izzy is dead, their old Unicorn, the NEW Revenge can go live on.

Ex-fucking'scuse me?

The worst part is I knew he'd get hurt with that speech.

Congrats, izzy, you got 'woman in the fridged'-ed. Your death now ends Ed's problems without him needing to solve them. Ed doesn't need to work on rebuilding relationships because there's nothing left. Stedes is not mad at Ed, so no hard conversations there, and the crew he hurt is gone now. Izzys gone. All wrapped up in a nice little bow.

I knew. But I thought I'd be wrong. That Ed would get help. That izzy would apologize, lay their dying, and suddenly be alright via bird or someone would do SOMETHING. But no. I got to see Izzy die. In a fucking comedy show.

A comedy show about love and family and community and self acceptance. That kills of its 1 character this season who had a self realization arc outside of a romance.

Season 3 will be about either 1.) Stede and Ed being hunted and needing to fake their deaths or 2.) The crew of the 'new revenge' going on adventures. Or 3.) Zombie izzy getting the fuck out of there and finding love.

Now:I am in denial.

Con came out, mainly because of this community and this role. If he knew his character was dying, I don't think he'd have gone to cons/tied himself in with this community to the extent he has. You know? Like... if my role i got a ton of praise for was about to be offed, id smile at conventions, but already emotionally start distancing myself from the community. UNLESS-We know Jenkins would tell him the fate of his character, so...idk.

More ranting but-

I feel like we got more time watching Ed be silly than mourning his friend of potentially decades. I hate the fish plot. We already knew he had adhd and that this was a whim. 'Ed going out, catching dinner, getting kicked back' could have just been 'Ed rows out while the ship's blow up'. They didn't need Ed and stede to fight in episode 7, stede could have just gotten into a fight trying to defend Ed at the bar, maybe eds too drunk idk. Episode 7 was written like that just to have a cliffhanger resolved in the next episode. It's just...

I loved every fucking izzy scene and both love/hate that we get a flash of the shot that kills him. It's real, yeah. Izzy dies here because he was still originally in that pirate drama he made up in his head. Izzy dies a normal death. Ed asked if he needed help so many times. But izzy didn't want it.

Izzy hands wanted to die this entire time. He wanted it. That's how I'm interpreting this bullshit. He still tied himself to blackbeard, and wanted to die with him.

Maybe that's romantic, but I think it's gross and a mishandling of his character. If izzy believed that i wish we got to see it as the audience, Especially how some forms of suicidality can be expressed by 'one last hurah'.. But they didn't. All that, and the show wants us to believe he's moving on up to episode 7, until now we know izzy was jealous this whole time??? So this izzy was just izzy waiting until Ed was accepted by the crew to die. Till Ed didn't need him to be his punching bag anymore. When Ed healed he saw no point in living. 🙃 that a character who was suicidal's good ending is offing themselves when they aren't 'needed'?

Maybe izzy will come back, totally himself, ready to try to live a happy life. But I have very little fucking faith.

Getting personal: but izzy was my fucking guy. I related to his struggle to be seen/heard/taken seriously. To be liked or seen as worthy of time and attention. A character who was trying his best for the people he cared about. Who had valid concerns and was talked down to. Who craved belonging. Enough that he's desperate for scraps of friendship. A person who was feared but never understood.

To give him 'love' by a community and then have him die TWO DAYS LATER-

I hate it. I genuinely hate it. Fucking hell. Especially how quickly everyone moved on. Izzy would have been wrecked or at least shaken up if his crew died yet. WE'RE MAKING JOKES RIGHT AFTER HES BEEN BURIED. ON TOP OF HIS FRESH GRAVE. I hate that izzy got buried on the land (in general. Bro should have been buried at sea) especiallg the labd ed and stede now get to peacefully live on. I hate that con was fucking smiling, the calmest most authentic he could and ATE that fucking scene.

The thing that gets me is izzy is the cliffhanger. But at the same time, Buttons' turning into a bird represented change and acceptance. Think, we had Buttons' turning scene, the song 'seaguls', then izzy standing on deck reading the note. There's a real chance this is implying that izzy is free now.

I don't hate the show. I don't, but i fucking hate THIS. Con did Such an amazing job. But I hate that I won't know. That izzy being alive will be confirmed in a year when con accidentally posts something revealing he's on set, or Jenkins on Twitter telling us he's dead, us not believing him, then we watch all of s3 and cons not there. That I could spend the next 2 years of my life writing about a character who won't get mentioned again.

THEY COULD HAVE CONFIRMED IT IN THE END CREDITS. SOMETHING. Ground shaking, some hint early in the season about rebirth and brining back the dead or have the sword fall. Idk. SOMETHING.

I'm just.... not doing great. I'm 'excited' to watch it again :/ but fucking hell. I don't know if I want to. I still have a fic to post that I started pre season 2, but after that I might need time. I just...Izzy wasn't me, duh, but he was, you know?

Izzy didn't deserve death for being harsh, or fucking up, or living. The fact his redemption happens after they sand down izzys rough edges feels gross. Like. "Here you go audience He's 'good' now, NOW feel sad about his death!"

And I'm sorry. But fuck that. I have so many mutuals who say they didn't like how quickly izzy became soft. This fucking hurts.

Because izzy has been a dead man walking for years. Ever since Ed and he grew into whatever this is. He could have been given a chance. He wasn't. All because our protagonists are Ed and Stede. WHO I ACTUALLY LIKED THIS EPISODE. But I can't think about that because I just see Ed finally treating Izzy like an EQUAL as he's fucking dying. I was always okay with the idea of Izzy dying. But not like this.

So yeah...sorry if this is rambling, had a shit day before I watched the ep and the ep didn't fucking help! But here's to all us izzy fans hoping for a better s3 for him (my guess now is izzy is actually dead, I have absolutely 0 faith he'll come back, as izzys death was framed as a positive thing for Ed. Yes the framing is there. Izzys body is safe under Ed and Stedes watch and not drowning. But still. 0 faith. If we dont get s3, then izzy is just dead and everyone moved on the SAME DAY)

Side note- I hate the only mention of Izzys given name 'Israel' was by Ricky. Fucking...okay. add that to the pile

#izzy hands #ofmd s2 #ofmd season 2 #ofmd s2 ep8 #ofmd s2ep8 #i fucking. . #i hate this #ofmd s2 spoilers #ofmd season 2 spoilers #logging off for a bit #good luck

[project-sekai-facts]

Is there a list out there of what I like to call mixed/main events? Like how Resounding Twilight Parade is considered a Leo/need event despite being mixed, same thing with Exciting Picnic being a N25 event.

Leo/need currently has the most key story mixed events, with 3. Those being Resounding Twilight Parade (which develops the plot with STANDOUT that was started in Honami's event prior), Singing With You In A World Where Sakura Dance (which develops Ichika's side of that plot leading up to Resonate With You), and In the Corner of A Resonant Town (which covers Shiho's feelings before L/n's one-man show in Get Over It.).

MORE MORE JUMP! has none, but have had some in the past. Beyond Prayers, the Tomorrow We Wish For (where MMJ volunteer as shrine maidens featuring a brief segment covering some of Haruka's past) and Operation♡Secret Valentine! (where Airi helps Saki and Emu make Valentine's treats) were marked as key stories for a few months before having their tags removed, while the recent Airi-centric event, Slapstick cafe ●REC!! (which is about MMJ filming a TV spot at a local cafe), had its tag removed after a few weeks because apparently it was added by mistake. Honestly none of them contribute a huge amount to MMJ's overall plot so removing them is fair. Slapstick cafe probably is most plot relevant despite being the one that was marked as key story by mistake, but the tag being removed probably means it's not very important.

Vivid BAD SQUAD only has one: Ringing Sounds at the Summer Festival. This wasn't marked as a key story until long after it was released, and EN still hasn't received the update which adds the tag. The reason it was retroactively tagged is probably due to covering parts of Akito's backstory, specifically how he got into music, that aren't covered in a unit event.

WonderlandsxShowtime also has one: A Brand New Year! Lion Dance Robot's New Year's Show!. Tsukasa decides to take up acting opportunities outside PXL/WxS at the end of the event, which leads directly into Amidst a Dream, Towards the Shining Stars.

25-Ji, Nightcord de. has 2 mixed event key stories currently, those being Tell Me Your Problems! Exciting Picnic and At This Festival Colored By Twilight. The first one carries on from the end of Secret Distance, developing Mizuki and Ena's relationship before My Footprints, Your Destination, and the latter is where Mafuyu starts to rediscover more of her real self when she gets put on first aid duty at Shibuya festival, which is brought up in later events. Intersecting Melodies, Glowing Warmth used to be tagged as key story, but it was later removed, probably because it was more important to Mafuyu's individual character arc than it was to N25 collectively.

#basically the rules for a mixed event key story tag seem to be that it has to be required reading for unit events. #eg if you don't read picnic or lion dance new year then you're missing context for footprints and amidst a dream #even if the event is important to a character's individual arc that doesn't seem to warrant a tag. hence why intersecting melodies had its #tag removed and other events that provide important character development like Pandemonium / BFST / Fan Festa don't have the key story tag #asks

[phoenix-is-the-hottest-thing]

hi, i hope you are well! no pressure to answer this, although i figured this is the best place to ask: withing your ability, would you mind explaining the physics-honkai logic-whatever involved in the interplanetary travel present in moon arc? i never thought that technobabble would come back to haunt me, but alas, im a fic writer. thank you if you do! :)

Got the help of the lore gang for that one. SO there are actually 3 instances of space travel in the moon arc and here they are:

The Hyperion

It's a spaceship. Can travel in space from Earth to the Moon and back the regular spaceship way.

The Stargate on the Moon

Originally used by MOTH to travel between Earth and the Moon quickly, probably 250 000 years old like the rest of the runed-up ruins.

Bronya fixed it and they warped back to The Deep, which was another old MOTH base and comparatively very stable because of its connection to the Sea of Quanta.

Unclear if the Stargate on the moon can connect to other places, but it's probably not super practical since Schicksal prefers to use spaceships to travel to the Moon in present day despite the instant warp.

The Data Stream

There was a Project STIGMA data stream transferring information from Earth and back in Imaginary Space.

As Stigma Awakened people, Durandal and Sushang are relatively immune to Imaginary Space's corrosion, so they could surf that stream for the two days it took them to cover the physical distance between Earth and the Moon (either they were going really fast, or Imaginary Space was warping it, but there was still distance).

When they got to Earth's region of space they could use the Seed of Sumeru to surface in the real world.

I'm also happy to announce that part 1 and 1.5 are nearly fully transcripted right here!

#asks #honkai impact #hi3 #hi3 lore