#it’s so easy to guess my faves based on this | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

probablyhuntersmom · 1 year

Text

It's me again. The therapist/illustrator who can't stop squeaking and screaming about her beloved son Hunter.

I've been thinking nonstop about him finding the terrible grimwalker graveyard, imagining what would be going through my mind if I were him. Sifting through whatever moments, dialogue and frames that I can find from the existing material, along with references outside of the show, to formulate what an offscreen scene would've been like.. (And seeing if I can find editable and salvageable enough backgrounds so I could perhaps even depict this scene one day)

A soul like him who not only wants to help others, but also acquire knowledge:

heading back here to see the graveyard:

You can't tell me that this wouldn't still be on his mind, and he's even anxious while saying this below, scratching his face a little:

Whether he follows up on this or not, also depends on how he looks back on being shown this:

And is he just going to go cold turkey and totally drop these leads he was pursuing in the episodes before the finale? :

Three things prompted me to finally write this post:

@polyhexian's and @ashanimus's analyses of Hunter's fight scenes in Hunting Palismen and Eclipse Lake (links here and here, they're really cool to read!!), based on their years of experience with martial arts. Reading those was a revelation to me because learning about how high Hunter's skill level is, how in touch with his body he is by default, portrayed so well thanks to the crew...that allows me to make far more educated guesses about his mental health in the early stages of the pre-epilogue gap of about 4 years. Because he is so used to high activity and being on high alert, no thanks to having C-PTSD.

Observing how light and free Hunter's expressions are, and how transformed his demeanor became, in the epilogue sequence. That transformation is an indication to me of the magnitude of grief which had to be transformed within him. To be put back together, in order to be so radiant, generous and self-actualized in the epilogue...imagine how much had to be deconstructed and further broken beforehand. He wouldn't have room to fill his life up with all that amazing newness if the old isn't emptied out first.

This psychoeducational video by my fave author, also a practicing therapist, who specializes in traumatic grief: link. Hearing her address the topic of entering the second year after a bereavement vs. the first year, was interesting. Definitely confirms to me that Hunter wouldn't have carved Waffles until past the 2nd year of navigating his bereavement.

In the years that pass before the epilogue, Hunter will not be able to understand why the efforts he puts into all the rebuilding work, coordinating and leading others, and trying to have fun - only cycle back to him experiencing a mix of a restlessness and emptiness in the deepest layer of his mind. It'll exhaust his energy bit by bit. I bet he's going to generally look as tired as depressed Luz does below, even if he's had an acceptable hours of sleep per night:

That restlessness will be an awful psychological itch that he'll be unable to scratch, caused by losing Flapjack and now also Belos. This is the same as what happened with his anger in For the Future, except Belos was still alive back then. It will be harder to understand and messier to navigate the bereavement this time round. It'll be something gnawing into his soul which I really think only professional help can heal, especially since the show promotes that it's okay to not be okay, and more than okay to seek professional help (Steve and Lilith's conversation in Edge of the World).

He will be trying to claw his way out of that C-PTSD pit, but he'll be aware deep down that he simply cannot reach any emotional high points for long, and something will be blocking his feelings of connection with his loved ones. He won't feel nearly as free and easy the way he used to be in the human realm:

Having a routine like he used to in the Castle, and moving around a lot, was what helped him survive. However, he won't have the awareness that the shift resulting from Belos passing away has been at such a fundamental level: to the point that those old, supposedly tried-and-true methods no longer serve him in any positive way. At least, not until his mental health will be back in better shape.

As he puts in more and more effort to escape that restless emptiness, getting annoyed at himself because he doesn't know what's going on...he'll use up the rest of his strength and eventually crash. That itch won't be solved by going back to overworking tendencies, and like how it is with addiction cycles, he would need some kind of fix for the deep restlessness within. The answer? Productivity to feel useful, which we have seen even in his efforts to fix damaged clothing and well, making stuff in general.

Where the grimwalker graveyard comes in is...once he hears news about its existence, he will stubbornly insist to want to help in investigating it, saying he has already read a bunch of books about them, and can be useful, etc. Worse, if his offer to help to investigate is refused, he will do what he did in Eclipse Lake. Go to the location anyway, to fill that deep void within.

Old habits die hard.

I don't know if he may hear from King (who he'll be seeing fairly often, I think!), The Collector or even Kikimora about it. Since they were the three characters who went all the way down there in King's Tide, and The Collector already knew about these horrors for literal centuries. King and The Collector are also still young kids! Will they have the sensitivity and awareness about breaking this news to Hunter?!

On the other hand, I don't know how the timing will be with Darius, Raine and Eberwolf..Darius will want to get serious about investigating his mentor's disappearance. Once the searching and scouring extends to the location of the Head of the Titan, they will find the evidence staring them in the face. If they want to scour every inch of the Isles, there's also a high chance they'll find the godforsaken grimwalker lab.

Worst of all, Darius would be aware by then of how much Hunter loves to help out in operations like this to be productive. At the same time, Darius's own grief will surface even more, I'm not sure he'll be able to hide that, and Hunter is highly observant. If Darius is trying to hide his own priority of finding closure re: his mentor, I think Hunter will sense that.

Therefore I wonder if this will happen except it's Hunter with Darius:

and then this poor beloved skrunkly son of mine, who so famously said these words at the beginning of his arc:

is probably going to get reckless, and endanger his mental health...not unlike moments like this:

by venturing to the graveyard, whether stealthily or accompanying the grownups, because he'll rationalize it as "getting closure" and once again "being useful". Remember how used he is to moving around so much and being active, combined with growing up isolated so that asking for help can still be a foreign concept to him. He would be anxious about grinding to a halt, and he'd want to be on the move instead.

He may demand to see the graveyard, and holy Titan I'm not sure any dilemma will be as tricky for Camila and Darius to navigate as this one. Because preventing him from seeing something he already knows exists is, in a very twisted way, also an unhelpful form of avoidance. Avoidance is a hallmark criterion for diagnosing both PTSD and C-PTSD.

How far do they go in protecting him from himself? Where do they draw that line? They might reach a compromise where Camila and Darius accompany him there. Once he sees it, it'll hit harder than this:

Letting him see it means his new parents would have to fall with him, in the sense that they follow him to that emotional place: but while he figuratively does not have a safety harness when falling into this deep dark hole, Camila and Darius are equipped with harnesses a.k.a. higher maturity, less of a trauma history, and some tools to help him get better, navigate the trauma, and manage his symptoms.

Camila will have the warmth and sensitivity to catch and meet him as he falls (she interacts with animals in her profession, who don't have the capacity for human language, in a similar way to how serious trauma can't even be put into words at times: it makes you voiceless). Darius's shared past living in the Castle and grieving over his mentor will help Hunter not feel as alone once he has seen these horrors.

And because his heart generally became more open to receiving love and support,

I doubt he'll close himself off almost completely, the way he did in the first two-thirds of For the Future (god, remember these deleted storyboards??):

It wouldn't surprise me if he weeps and panics as soon as he sees the graveyard, and his parents give him maximum support through that breakdown. As complicated as it would be for Camila and Darius to give in to his desire to see the graveyard, a response like this from him - a child seeking attachment with proper timing - is a good sign of growing into healthy attachment with parental figures.

It is an arguably better response than one of the hardest aspects of C-PTSD: where the outpouring of grief only happens after a delay, sometimes a significant delay, at very inconvenient or strange times. Hell...if I were Hunter, I'd probably want Camila and Darius to just hold me close in wordless silence for half an hour until my initial distress and shock passes.

If I use King - a child who is securely attached to Eda, who's definitely had a more stable upbringing - as a control experiment here, he could have the appropriate response immediately in Echoes of the Past and expressed his emotional needs clearly enough:

Whereas this is what Hunter has to now learn, at twice King's age, as he settles in with new parents who take care of him instead of mistreating him the way Belos did. Hell, I can't imagine what kind of Belos punishment awaited him if he cried to demand attachment.

(I need to use more King scenes as a comparison to Hunter's upbringing in my next metas! I realize this can make my explanations clearer)

Anyway, what may happen next after he can't unsee the graveyard is...Hunter will then swing to the other extreme of high activity. I.e. being passive, physically inactive and psychologically crashing into depression, which may translate into habits such as oversleeping (catching up on all that lost sleep...but at what cost?). Supposedly sliding deeper into the C-PTSD pit. A place from which he has to express the desire to seek the forms of help he needs.

Remember that this kid has only known extremes for most of his life. Until he settles in properly with his found family and attends therapy, he has no clear reference point for more balanced approaches in living.

The trauma he went through is a quadruple whammy for a 16-year-old who just survived growing up in a cult. It would be so much. I can't see him not falling into months of deep dark depression, as unfortunate as this sounds.

Grieving over Flapjack, grieving over Belos, over his childhood/upbringing, and now a grisly memory of his predecessors who didn't make it (to add to what he saw in Belos's mindscape). I simply cannot see him handling a load like this without a highly-equipped and sensitive professional, paired with his support network of family, friends and even possibly the wider community at times. Especially now that we've seen him in action during the epilogue.

The epilogue sequence would've had a different feel (and in my opinion, a not-so-good feel) for me if Dana had established that the grimwalker graveyard was still untouched after those 3.5-4 years and if Hunter never found out about it. Something like that is different compared to Dana mentioning in the recent Post-Hoot that in the he does not know about Caleb and Evelyn, or that he is related to the Clawthornes. Mysteries like the Clawthorne heritage can remain an eerie secret that only us in the audience know about, but I wouldn't feel comfy if this were the case for the graveyard as well.

To quote @idlescree's video essay about Hunter's death (link), the show's writers didn't pull any punches when it came to Hunter's development arc. Which means they had to take his story to the "categorically appropriate place for him to overcome" his greatest challenges.

Something tells me that with respect to the grimwalker graveyard and the avoidance theme in C-PTSD recovery, Hunter would've had to put in more work to confront a number of terrifying foes even beyond his Thanks to Them speech. One of which was the graveyard containing the remains of his predecessors.

PS: This is a spontaneous post which branches out from my giant post-finale meta (link) that I pinned to my blog, I suppose.

#toh hunter #the owl house #hunter noceda #camila noceda #hunter deamonne #darius deamonne #toh analysis #grimwalkers #grimwalker graveyard #loz writes a meta

462 notes · View notes

cybertron-smash-or-pass · 15 days

Note

you know the transformers fan to objectum pipeline always blows my mind, particularly how short it is

Oh dude absolutely. This series is built for people to speedrun objectumization the same way space jam speed runs the furry pipeline.

Like. You get a whole metric fuckin of series to choose from with incredibly entertaining, distinctive, and well designed characters. There's variety in tone so the net gets cast to a really wide range. Most shows have good character writing so it's super easy to get attached. And since there's a lot of variance in design too, it's not particularly hard to find SOMEONE to be attracted to in robot form.

But you can't really ignore how they turn into vehicles. It's just an intrinsic part of their species, of their character. And it's really easy to go from "oh this is a weird novelty." To "man if I was dating this robot he could give me rides all the time haha" to "wouldnt it be nice to take a little nap in back of his altmode? He could even give me hugs by squeezing the seatbelt <3" to "oh dear god I'm attracted to a truck"

And it goes even further because not only do they turn into vehicles, but they're based off a toyline. It's so easy to get your hands on the figures, and more often than not in the current era of tf, they're built to be media-accurate. They capture the character and all their personality that you've come to love really well. Definitely helps that there's probably a figure for every possible fave you might have, well-known or wildly obscure. If you fantasize about snuggling up with shockwave, holding hands with acidstorm, or giving ratchet a lil forehead kiss, guess what! You can!

There are so many ways Transformers leads to objectum territory it almost feels intentional. Helps that the series has been for the weirdos since the start (like c'mon if they weren't trying to make the robots attractive they wouldn't have had two different bot on human romances in g1 alone), but its still very funny to think about.

#not polls

35 notes · View notes

justauthoring · 1 year

Text

Shadow of Yourself [10/18]

Prompt: “You’ve changed, Eli. I barely even know who you are right now.”

A/N: YALL GUESS WHAT I FINALLY UPDATEDDDDDDDD i dunno even know why i took so long to write this. season four is my fave season and in my opinion eli’s best season so im very very excited to finally get started on it! also with season six officially being announced as the final season, i have concluded how many parts will be left until we are done this series :(

Based off of: Cobra Kai 04x01, 04x02 and 04x03 Warnings: some swear words (because tumblr apparently doesn’t like that) Pairing: Eli Moskowitz x F!Reader

Tag List: @moonydrafts - @ashwhowrites - @traveleraroundsworld - @truly-abysmal - @likecherriesinthespring - @hollxe1 - @asonofpeter - @scarlett-verse - @musically-ambiguous - @kayda1 - @moon-zoons - @dwcode - @day-dreamsinthedark - @leilani788 - @silvermagnolias - @hawkinsavclub - @animewolflover278 - @gruffle1 - @b-tchymoon - @maggiecc - @beetea38 - @hawkinsavclub1983 - @crpytids - @embersparklz - @kimilight - @httpjiikook - @marauderssmut - @fyckcore - @multinci - @lqveabby - @oh-well-whatever-nevermind - @redskull199987 - @silvermagnolias - @shortneko - @okjaeminn - @thecyclonetragedy - @vamproq - @siriusfahey - @cobrakaigirlie - @kaylinfayezink - @oursuh - @aphroditelxver - @minl0u - @cherrywinepoison - @bath1lda - @fixalice - @fallsofserinity - @maisieibae - @ssrcsm - @notplutos - @kaitieskidmore1 -

LET’S START OVER, SHALL WE?:

The first shared class of Miyagi-Do and Eagle Fang was… interesting to say the least.

You don’t really know how you expected it to go… You just hoped it’d go better then it actually did. It was pretty clear from the beginning of the class that Mr. Larusso and Johnny had very different ideas of how to teach a karate class and neither could seem to keep their mouth shut about the other's style for more than a minute.

If it wasn’t Johnny obnoxiously judging Mr. Larusso’s teaching style, it was Mr. Larusso barely able to contain the concerned look on his face with every action Johnny instructed his students to do. It was hard to differentiate who you were supposed to listen to, both talking over one another, and students had taken hits from the both of them yelling different instructions.

It wasn’t hard to tell that the tension between them was leading to tension between students as well.

Not to mention, Eli was there.

The night of the Christmas Party, you’d just been relieved. Seeing Demetri and Eli work together, help you together was enough to make everything feel like it was okay all over again – and hearing Eli apologize for it all… well, it had been enough to make your heart soar. And the excitement of that had drifted on for days, leaving you beaming and happy, especially when you’d see Demetri and Eli be friends again. Joking, laughing, just… hanging out again.

You’d been so happy. You still were.

But, it seemed it wasn’t so easy for you and Eli to fall back into old ways like it was for him and Demetri. Namely, there was the fact that before everything had happened, yours and Eli’s feelings for each other had been confessed. After years of hiding your feelings for Eli, for fear of him rejecting you, suddenly out in the open had been enough of a shock but with everything else that happened? You never really got to truly understand what those feelings meant, or what they meant to Eli.

A few days after kissing him, you’d found him making out with Moon. After that, the two dated. Everyone, including Moon herself, told you that Eli was never really in it with Moon, that he still had feelings for you. That it was obvious. That he’d missed you… but how were you supposed to really know? After all of this, how could you be sure? One fight, one fight and Eli had easily tossed you aside for a prettier, more popular girl like you’d been nothing to him.

Like his feelings for you weren’t real.

So what if everyone said he still likes you? You hadn’t seen it. Last you saw, he’d made out with another girl right in front of you and broken your heart.

Things were awkward; which to be truthful felt like an understatement. You didn’t know how to talk to Eli, not anymore. You didn’t know what to say to him or how to act. Did you approach him just as a friend? Or more? Regardless of all he’d done, your feelings for him had never wavered and simply looking at him still made your heart race madly and this flutter of warmth envelop you.

He was still everything to you.

If he didn’t return your feelings, if he didn’t feel that way about you… the thought of just having to ignore your own feelings and act like you’re just friends? You couldn’t bear the thought. It made you sick just thinking about it.

So, you just simply kept your distance.

You’d smile at him, greet him when given the chance… you didn’t necessarily want him to think you hated him because god knows that was the farthest thing from the truth. But you didn’t want to get your heart broken either, and maybe it was the selfish thing. Maybe you were horrible for wanting to protect your heart; either way, you didn’t want to find out.

And you were content with that.

Slipping in to Mr. Larusso’s dojo, you drop your bag off inside like you usually do, sending a small smile to Sam on her way. She’s busy chatting with her dad, and you know you’re a few minutes early, so pulling out your phone, you move to make your way outside, only to walk straight into another.

You stumble back a few steps before hands reach out to catch you, steadying you on your feet. You blink in surprise, eyes flickering upwards only to fall on Eli’s own surprised ones staring back down at you.

“Oh, Eli,” you mumble, pulling your hands to your chest where you nervously pull at the sleeves of your sweater. “I’m sorry. I didn’t see you there.”

He shakes his head a little too quickly; “no, it’s my fault. I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going.”

You laugh lightly at that, the way he’s so quick to assure you you’re not at fault, shaking your head as Eli blinks down at you, for a moment baffled by your laughter, before he’s unable to stop the small fond smile that curls onto his lips at the sight. It’s entirely too adorable the way you giggle, eyes crinkling as your lips part in delight, and he thinks he could stand there and watch you for hours. If you’d let him.

It takes you a moment to realize you’re laughing louder than intended, and with warm cheeks, you lower your gaze; “sorry,” you apologize again, embarrassed.

“No, don’t be,” Eli admonishes, “your laugh is cute.”

To be fair, his compliment shocks the both of you. You feel your face grow incredibly red at the compliment and Eli seems entirely too baffled given he’s the one who said the words in the first place.

Still, it makes your heart flutter.

Unsure what to say, you brush a strand of loose hair behind your ear, meeting his gaze briefly; “you’re here, uh, early.”

“Oh, yeah. I was just grabbing my water bottle. Demetri and I came here early to practice a bit.”

You smile at that, happy the two came together.

“Shit, sorry.”

Blinking at Eli, you’re surprised at the panic look that crosses his face.

“We should’ve asked you if you wanted to come,” he explains, shaking his head as if disappointed in himself. “I don’t know why we didn’t. I just–”

“Eli?” You call softly, quirking a brow.

He falters, shoulders falling; “yeah?”

“It’s okay,” you grin, “I’m happy you and Demetri are hanging out again.”

Eli takes a moment to respond, lips left parted and you wouldn’t know; but the reason is because he’s absolutely smitten by the bright grin on your face, unable to look away.

If anyone else was watching, they’d wonder how two people could be so oblivious.

“It’s not the same without you though,” Eli finally manages to find his words, his voice entirely too sure to ever doubt his words. You blink at the confession, body easing at bit as you bite your lip to stop yourself from grinning wider.

Seriously, Y/N, get control of yourself.

“Well–”

“Okay, everyone! Line it up!”

You never get to finish what you’re saying as Johnny’s loud voice booms, making you slightly jump, taking a glance around only to notice just how many of the other kids had filtered in while you and Eli had been talking. You’re honestly impressed you never noticed any of them, feeling yourself blush slightly at the fact that you’d been too enthralled by Eli to even notice your surroundings.

You meet Eli’s gaze briefly and then the both of you move, him stepping out of your way and letting you slip out first before following after you. When you make it outside, you catch Demetri’s eyes instantly and he’s grinning widely at you, the intention clear on his face as you blush, embarrassed, ducking out of his view and moving to the opposite end of the group from him. Distantly, you notice Eli making his way over to Demetri, the latter saying something to Eli which causes him to shove Demetri lightly.

You can’t help but wonder what he said.

“Ready,” Johnny calls once everyones in place, “bow.”

With ease, everyone listens.

“Sensei Lawrence and I have the same goal of preparing you for the tournament,” Mr. Larusso speaks up once everyone stands straight.

“But we have different ways of getting you there,” Johnny finishes.

“We realize that teaching you opposing viewpoints at the same time can be a little confusing.”

To say the least, you can’t help but think.

“So, we’ve discussed it and come up with a solution. We’re gonna divide and concur.”

Wait, what?

“Eagle fang trains out front,” Johnny calls, gesturing behind him.

Mr. Larusso nods; “and I’ll be back here with the Miyagi-Dos.”

Miguel steps up from beside you; “but I thought we were stronger working together,” he calls, reminding the both of them of their own words.

“We’re still working together.”

“Just separately. On opposite ends of the dojo.”

So, not working together then.

“All right, Eagle Fangs, follow me,” Johnny calls, moving to turn around.

“Miyagi-Do’s, come on over here.”

You glance around, taking notice of the confused looks on everyone’s faces, ones that mimic yours perfectly. This wasn’t exactly what you had in mind when Miguel and Sam had first proposed working together, and to say you were disappointed Mr. Larusso and Johnny couldn’t work out their differences, even just for class, was an understatement.

Still, you don’t say anything, simply following behind the rest of the Miyagi-Do’s. Your eyes briefly meet Eli’s along the way, offering a small smile on the way to which he mimics, before falling next to Demetri’s side.

Despite everything that happens, you don’t miss the shit-eating grin on his face.

Rolling your eyes, you huff; “don’t say a word.”

He simply holds up his hands, laughing.

“--Go back to your little Eagle Fang, you’re not wanted here.”

Pausing at the sound of Chris’ voice, you pick up the speed in your step, making your way inside. You’d been heading in to grab a sip of water bottle after Mr. Larusso had called a five, only to walk in and find Eli standing on the opposite side of Chris and Bert, with Demetri standing next to them. It’s not hard to tell what’s going on, and at the lack of anything from Demetri, you step forward.

“Come on, Chris,” you call out, pulling everyone's attention on you. “He’s trying his best.”

You ignore the shocked look on Eli’s face as he glances back at you.

Chris scoffs, shaking his head.

You cross your arms over your chest; “what?”

“You’re just saying that cause you’re in love with him.”

Blinking in bewilderment at Chris’ words, your head jerks back, embarrassment flooding you, lips parting but no words leaving your lips. You’re sure your face is beat red, and honestly you’re shocked Chris is even saying such a thing to you that you’re stunned silent for a moment.

Chris turns back to Eli; “and he isn’t wanted here.”

Eli falters at that, taking one last look at you, then Demetri, before turning to leave. You wait for Demetri to say something, and when he doesn’t, you just shake your head, glaring at Chris, and moving to follow after Eli.

“Eli–”

You pause when you see him standing in front of Mr. Larusso.

He hasn’t noticed you yet.

“Hey, Mr. Larusso, can we talk?”

“What?” Mr. Larusso huffs, exasperated.

“I don’t know where I fit in here.”

“Well, wh-what did you expect?” Mr. Larusso huffs at him, throwing his hands up in defeat. “You’ve burned bridges with pretty much everyone here.”

That was the last thing you expected to hear Mr. Larusso say.

Frowning, Eli pauses when he notices you out of the corner of his eye, clearly embarrassed, moving to walk off before Mr. Larusso can say anything else, even as he calls for him. You bite your lip, wanting to call for him but almost not knowing what to say either.

It wasn’t like you didn’t think Chris might have a point – Eli had done a lot, and it wasn’t so easy to forgive. But it didn’t take a genius to realize he was at least trying to make amends. And you don’t think he should be punished for that.

You step forward as the rest of the students filter out, watching Eli rush off, before letting your gaze fall to your feet.

“What did you do?” Johnny turns to Mr. Larusso, scoffing.

“What did I do?” Mr. Larusso huffs, “I’m not the one who's been kicking his ass all day.”

“We’re training for the All Valley, not some yoga competition.”

“Don’t disrespect my dojo in front of your students.”

Glancing beside you, you meet Demetri’s gaze who wears a similar expression as you.

This cannot be good.

“Don’t tell my how to run my class,” Johnny counters, stepping backwards before pointing a finger at Mr. Larusso’s face. “I’ll do whatever I want.”

Mr. Larusso is quick to follow after him; “I know what you’re doing.”

“Yeah?”

“As long as you’re under my roof, they’re both our students.”

“Oh, yeah, I know. Under what roof? We're outside.”

The two walk off, practically yelling at each other.

Needless to say, you’re more than nervous for class the next day.

When you’d gotten home that night, venting to your mom had only helped a bit. It was nice to come home to her actually there, and she’d been more than willing to listen, but try as she might, she didn’t really understand all the drama that was involved. So, after dinner, you try texting Demetri, but he replies simply with “busy with Yasmine” and leaving it at that. Making it clear he didn’t really care to listen to your woes in that moment.

You’re hesitant to text Eli after everything that had happened that day. Plus, it’s not like you’ve really been texting him that much recently anyways.

That left Robby, and you text him with ease, knowing it’s been a bit since you lasted texted him. Only, he never replies to your text. You try texting him a couple of times, even just to check if he's okay, but he never answers.

Another thing to add to your list of worries.

When you walk into the dojo the next day, you can’t help the nerves rattling through you. You have half the mind to expect Mr. Larusso and Johnny to simply walk into class that day and break the news on what you’re all expecting at this point – that they can’t work together.

Would it disappoint you? Yes. Surprise you? No.

Only, when you get to class, Eli’s holding a sledgehammer, and the rest of the student’s are filtered around the yard, taking grass, wood and things left behind over the years, and piling them away, clearing the space.

“Uh,” you call out, making your way over to Eli, “what’s all this?”

Eli spins to you at your voice, eyes hopeful.

“Building a bridge,” Eli grins at you.

Your brows furrow; “what?”

Blinking, he laughs lightly; “an Okinawan sparring deck,” he explains further, “I figured it might help everybody work together better if we had the extra space. Despite you standing up for me yesterday, everybody's right. Talk is cheap and I wanna prove I really am sorry so I came up with this idea.”

He’s glancing at you hesitantly, never taking his eyes off of you, waiting for your reaction.

Glancing around, you watch as everyone moves around, doing their small part to help clear the empty space, gather the wood and more. You’ve never actually seen all of them work together so well. There’s no fighting, no arguing, everyone’s just… working together.

You turn to Eli, eyes shining with admiration; “that’s an amazing idea, Eli.”

His face brightens; “you think?”

“Yeah,” you grin widely, “of course I do.”

He laughs lightly, cheeks warming slightly, you completely unaware of how much your words mean to him.

“What can I do to help?”

And Eli’s all too quick to get you to help him specifically. You realize it easily, but don’t say anything; secretly giddy at the fact.

Things turn for the better from then on out.

When Johnny and Mr. Larusso walk into class that day, whatever they’d been about to say simply dies on the tip of their tongues at the sight of their students, from each dojo, working together to not only help each other, but help both of their sensei’s work together for the better.

It isn’t hard to tell how it impacts both of them.

Classes are basically smooth sailing from then on. Johnny and Mr. Larusso are able to work practically seamlessly with one another, providing what you can’t deny is entertaining banter with another most of the time whilst also being able to be respectful of each other’s teaching styles. Days are spent learning both offense and defense, the way of Miyagi-Do and the way of Eagle Fang.

You find yourself excited to go to class. Things are finally looking up.

Which is why you’re more than disappointed when your mom tells you you need to skip out on class one day because she needs you.

“Mom, I’m training for the All Valley Tournament.”

“Yes, and you can afford to skip one class.”

Huffing, you dramatically fall over the counter, “I don’t understand why we can’t do… whatever” (she refuses to tell you) “we’re doing another day. Preferably when I don’t have class.” Raising a brow at her, you just frown when she rolls her eyes.

“Is spending the day with your mom so bad?” She asks, head tilted in curiosity.

Of course it isn’t. Once upon a time, you would’ve killed for just that. A single day with her. And none of that has changed; of course you don’t mind spending time with your mom and it wasn’t like you couldn’t use a mini little break from karate and all the drama that involved it. But…

“Today was the day Miyagi-Do’s training with Johnny,” you pout, not necessarily really meaning it. “I was excited.”

Pausing, your mom glances back at you, and there’s this look that washes over her face, an expression of guilt, and she sighs; “if it’s really that important, honey. We can… do this another day.”

There’s something odd about the way she says it. Something in the tone of her voice.

You know what it means, deep in the back of your mind; something you don’t want to admit, to realize. Something that makes your chest tighten and your heart suddenly feel heavy. Something you pray isn’t true.

So, with a simple frown, you just shake your head; “it’s okay,” you ease, nodding at her and letting a small smile curl on your lips. “I can miss one class,” you shrug, trying to play it off casual, despite the ever growing grin spreading on your mom’s face. “It’s just karate.”

And she beams, bright eyed and grinning and an excited squeal leaves her lips, one that has you laughing. You let her grab you by the arm, pulling you upstairs so that you can get ready, her only rule being that you ��wear something cute’ as she said, causing you to roll your eyes. Still, you listen, picking out a cute sundress you haven’t worn in a while, brushing out your hair and curling it, feeling oddly confident in yourself as you get ready.

Then, as you sit on your bed, waiting for your mom to get ready, you pull out your phone, frowning when you realize Robby still hasn’t replied to your texts.

Biting your lip, you open up his messages, fingers moving swiftly;

hope you’re okay. let me know if you need anything.

Frowning, you wait, praying you’ll get a response.

You don’t.

A few moments later, your mom’s calling after you, and you reluctantly tuck your phone away and moving to make your way down the stairs.

“Coming!”

The entire day is spent just the two of you. Your mom dedicates her entire focus on you that day; shopping, a nice lunch, a movie in the afternoon and then, back home where the both of you prepare a nice home-cooked meal that the two of you always used to make together when you were younger. The only thing that can be heard is 2000’s pop blasting in the kitchen and the two of you singing both loudly and out of tune as you make dinner.

You swear you can’t remember the last time you’ve had so much fun with your mom. It reminds you of how it used to be, when you were younger, when you’d spend every waking moment you possibly could with your mom. She’d been your best friend for years, before Eli and Demetri, and often, your mom had been the only one you’d had to lean on. Making friends had never been something you’d been good at, and having your mom made everything easier.

When she’d started working so much more, it felt like you had lost everything.

Then, you’d met Eli and Demetri and they’d been able to help fill the hole she’d left.

This, spending the entire day with your mom? It brought you such intense joy, feelings of nostalgia, just being able to be yourself, be silly, without the worry of school or karate or boys…

And yet, when dinner’s done, both of your plates empty, you already know what’s coming next.

The words that have been stuck at the back of your throat all night, scared to leave your lips.

“You have to go back to work, don’t you?”

Her eyes widen, shocked at your words that cut through the comfortable silence that had existed between the both of you. You watch her face, watch as the shock fades and that same expression from this morning falls on her face.

“I got called back,” she explains, voice low, “and if I don’t go it could risk my job.”

Glancing down at your plate, you nod; “how long will you be gone for?”

“At least, three months.”

Eyes widening, your gaze snaps to hers; “but you’ll miss the tournament.”

Swallowing thickly, your mother nods. “I’m sorry, baby–”

You push yourself to a stand, chair screeching beneath you as you shake your head, feeling your eyes water as the realization settles in. The realization you’d realized this morning but had tried to ignore… had tried to hope wasn’t real. Everything sinks in then, like a slap to the face; it hurts so much that it burns. “Then… this whole day… what? Was it just to make you feel better about leaving?”

Your mother is quick to shake her head; “no, honey, I wanted to spend the day–”

“That is such bullshit” You scream, slamming your hands on the table, unable to control yourself as the anger boils over and the hurt blinds you from seeing reason. “You thought spending one day would make up for missing the tournament? You could even miss me graduating!”

“Y/N–”

“I don’t want to hear your excuses,” you huff, blinking back the tears that threaten to fall as you move to walk away. “I really thought you were trying, but I should’ve known it’d only last so long.”

“Y/N, just listen to me.”

You don’t.

You can hear her following after you, but you don’t care. You continue to walk away, opening the door without a second of hesitation and letting it slam behind you. It’s already dark out, but you barely pay attention to it, not paying attention to where you’re going as you keep walking. Somewhere along the way, you’re unable to hold your tears back and you find yourself crying, practically sobbing, holding your arms to your chest as you keep walking.

You can't believe it…. Can’t believe you actually thought, for once, she’d stay.

That she would actually stay for you.

You’ve been walking for a good twenty minutes before you finally stop, out of breath, chest rising and falling with your vision blurred by your own tears. You glance around, confused on where you are, finally realizing just how chilly it is outside as you stand there, hugging yourself tightly.

You were still in your sundress from earlier, never having changed and you didn’t even think of grabbing a jacket when you stormed out.

“Y/N?”

Jumping at the new voice, panic wells within you, until you turn, shoulders falling with relief but confusion at the sight of Eli.

You blink, slowly, taking another look at your surroundings, only to realize you weren’t lost. You were standing just a few houses away from Eli’s house.

In the midst of your distress, your feet had led you straight to Eli.

“Are you okay?” Eli calls, taking a few steps towards you. “Hey, are you… are you crying?”

Wiping at your cheeks, embarrassed, you try to turn away, only for Eli’s hand to fall on your shoulder, halting your movement. You freeze at the touch, but he doesn’t pull back, instead gently nudging you to face him where he ducks slightly to get a good look at your face. Once he realizes you were, in fact, crying, his eyes widen and his chest tightens with worry.

“What happened? Did… Did someone do something to you? Y/N, what–”

“Eli! Eli…” You cut in, stopping his rambling as your eyes finally meet his, “I’m okay. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

He pauses, lips parting to say something, before hesitating. “Did… Did someone do something to you?”

You shake your head.

Frowning at your silence, Eli then notices his hand still on you, hesitantly pulling away, noticing as he steps back, the goosebumps all over your arms. He properly takes in what you’re wearing, and jumping to attention, he’s quick to pull off his hoodie, gently moving to wrap it around your shoulders. “Here,” he calls gently, “you’re cold.”

Sniffling, you grab his hoodie, pulling it closer around you. You let yourself cuddle into the warmth, basking in the familiar and soothing scent, ignoring the way your cheeks have warmed slightly, or the way Eli’s have too, and instead, turn back to meet his gaze. “Thank you, Eli.”

“Of course,” he nods, “will you tell me what happened now?”

You shake your head, “it’s stupid.”

“It’s not,” he argues gently. “Not when it comes to you.”

Lips parting, you stare back at Eli.

His face doesn’t falter.

“I… My mom… she’s leaving again,” you explain, the words practically pouring past your lips at his confession. “For at least three months. She’ll miss the tournament most likely. She’ll even miss me graduating.”

“Oh,” Eli frowns.

“Yeah,” you nod.

“I’m… I’m so sorry, Y/N.”

Letting your eyes fall shut at his words, you shrug; “I should’ve known. It was silly of me to get my hopes up.”

“No, it wasn’t,” Eli assures, not an ounce of hesitation. “Anybody would get their hopes up.”

Meeting his eyes, you bite your lip; “yeah, well… It doesn’t make it hurt any less.” And at your words, you can’t help the way your eyes water in response, feeling the sob building up. It all comes bubbling up again, welling deep within your chest and begging to break out.

Eli notices too, and with only a moment of hesitation, unsure if you want him to or not, he takes a step towards you. You don’t argue, don’t say anything, simply letting yourself fall into his familiar warmth, head falling into the crook of his neck as his arms wound around your waist. Your own hands move to the back of his shirt, clutching onto it tightly as a sob breaks past your lips.

Eli doesn’t say anything. Simply just holding you.

He’d always been better at showing you he cared rather than telling you.

You find familiarity in the way he holds you, relishing in being able to have Eli this close once again as you let everything out in that moment.

#cobra kai #cobra kai x reader #cobra kai imagine #eli moskowitz #eli moskowitz x reader #eli moskowitz imagine #eli moskowitz x you #hawk #hawk imagine #hawk x reader #jacob bertrand

254 notes · View notes

betasuppe · 4 months

Text

It occurred to me just yesterday that I still only have a sad ending with Flint & Rinzler & still haven't conceived of how they could have a happily ever after.

A lot of it came from how most people want Rinzler to revert fully back to Tron post-Legacy & like, that's fine and all, but because Rinz has always been my fave guy, I got all sore at it & decided to say FUCK IT, WE ALL HAVE A BAD TIME HERE THEN!!

[long exhausted ramble... otherwise Flint's life sucks, nothing new here lol. feel free to ignore]

Anyways, the not very happy ending I've had in place for ages is that, just like how Tron helped Flint escape the Grid before Clu took over.... in the very last seconds of the human world before rolling over into the new millenia, Rinzler holds up the Grid from caving in as Flint is eked out just before y2k drops & the Grid undergoes a hard reset.

Anyways. When Flint finally leaps back the next day into the digital fantasy world to find even the smallest trace of Rinzler & yo ensure everything is ok & that the Grid survived smashing into the year 2000... Flint quickly runs into Clu & Tron & quite a few other familiar faces who are all in cheery good moods, happy to celebrate the new user year & see Flint too but... no one has any memory whatsoever of anything that took place from far before Clu's regime ever took over, all looking at the user all wild-eyed & in a panic with definite concern.

Considering Flint had started to feel like this world was the closest to home he'd ever known, & now not a single part of the adventure he'd been on, the bonds he'd formed & the times he'd shared were remembered by a single other soul... it's like the rug was completely yanked out from under his feet & Flint finds himself in some unknown Twlight Zone-esque version of the Grid that he had once called home... basically standing around strangers with familiar faces.

So like. Flint tries to spur on some memories with Tron, with no success of recalling anything of his time as Rinzler, & Flint has to come to grips with the fact that YEAH, he really did lose Tron once & now Rinzler too &... it hurts too much to realize that the Tron Flint's left standing in front of is neither parts of the program he'd loved. As is, they're just pals at this point again & Flint feels like he can't run the risk of going through this all once more, just to lose Tron again.

So Flint quickly wraps up everything by wishing his fellow programs a happy new year before dipping out... & a bunch of Flint's digital pals all wondering worriedly if the user is alright, but like that's it.

Flint goes back to the real world & hopes to find some archived Rinzler data hidden elsewhere, but the y2k bs messed everything up & kinda. It's just done. Flint leaves the programming & computer based world behind. He becomes a photographer since he'd always been interested in environmental storytelling & then like. Otherwise he feels the need to make sure he has full proof of what he's seen & done after feeling like years of his life were dumped down the drains in the Grid 😬

Anyways, I feel like it'd be easy enough to have Flint wind up with one of Rinzler's identity discs before he escapes the Grid during it's y2k refresh, but would it even work to restore memories on Tron? Would it even sort of be the same? I feel like that's a jerk move, letting a messed up copy of Rinz parasite onto this poor unsuspecting Tron & it's just. Pretty sucky.

Would Flint just hold onto it as the last memory of the greatest bond he ever had in his life?? Hard to say.

If nothing else, may need to rethink the full ending? Maybe it's possible Rinzler gets dragged out with Flint before the y2k restart? But otherwise, Flint having all the memories & no one to share them with... he could try to rekindle things with Tron from the start button that point, there's no guarantee anything would even happen, I guess. I dunno.

Either way, the only version of Flint & Tron/Rinzler that actually has a happy ending is with evil Flint & Rinz, since they get digitally bonded for life & lock themselves up in the Grid forever & live happily for eternity in their little digital paradise bit otherwise like.

Most every version of Flint & Rinz but one does not end on a happy note... usually with Flint lying face down on his bed, praying to disintegrate & stop existing & all because he gave his whole heart to the same guy TWICE & ruined his life BOTH times & feels like he himself is the one who's ruined Tron/Rinzler's life. It's confusing & awful & dreadful, but. There it is.

Sorry about that, buddy...

[In which Flint ends up sad & alone because he's too tired to give his heart to anyone else after losing his first loves... & at least Flynn gets out of the Grid way earlier than 2010 but still, all sorts of things suck here... I'd like if somehow rinzler could remember but hOWWW]

#twizzler & front♡#so what if i told you #flint's life sucked & hegives a part of his soul to a program who gets deleted before the end of the story #everything just sucks♡

24 notes · View notes

anniflamma · 5 months

Note

HHHHHHHORSE?!?!??!!! Hello?!?!! FUCKIN LOVE THE HORSEBEAST HORROR absolutely underutilized potential for the god of horses. As a horse girlie who has definitely almost been killed by various horses over the course of my life (and loves them anyway) I LOVE a good murder horse. Like YESSSSS give me a prey animal with a too wide mouth and too many teeth and a hunger in its eyes and the way it stalks around him like a predator. Give me the horror of an animal that SHOULD NOT BE in the middle of the ocean but it *is*. And then of course the parallel between the Trojan Horse leading his men to victory vs the Poseidon horse killing them killing them dead because Also ALSO. I MCFUCKING LOVE horses. But also. Horses can be goddamn scary. I’ve been in dangerous situations around horses where you immediately realize that you are so small and crushable and they are so large and fast and have big hard hooves and they will destroy you and the ocean is the same way and ugh. Horsebeast Poseidon is my new fave concept for him. Anyway my take on your animatic and the breathless terror of Odysseus absolutely getting whipped around and the waves hammering the ship into oblivion and it’s so *easy*. I lost my train of thought. Oh yeah. SO GOOD. thank you. 10000/10 great concept, phenomenal execution. Can’t thank you enough.

THANK YOU, THANK YOU!! Also, I can't agree more that I'm probably a horse girlie as well!

I always found horses beautiful animals! And scary horses are such a big plus!! Just slap a humanoid grin onto a horse and then put it in any random environment, and it will be scary no matter what! Maybe… 😅

My first sketches of him were only him as a horse, but the truth is that I have never really taken my time to, well, draw horses! Believe me! I rarely draw horses! Or even animals at all! My plan was to have Poseidon as a horse throughout the whole animatic, but I kind of scrapped it and gave him a human design, which was based on his horse form. So that's why he looks like…. well… Hades I guess? Given that he has black straight (also wet) hair. He had also black clothing but ended with only white.

Anyways, I think Im going off track now! I love horses too, and I'm definitely planning on making some doodles of dear Horseidon!

#AnniAsks

14 notes · View notes

firstkanaphans · 7 months

Note

okay, so based off of the lineup we saw from part 1 I think I see gmmtv's logic process (to clarify, not saying i'm happy about it, just that i think i see what they're doing 😂)

it seems like they saved a lot of their more experimental and/or riskier pitches for this part 1 - basically the ones that are more likely to slip under the radar if they'd been presented alongside the big fan fave pairings, directors and/or show concepts. but to make it a little more even they did pad it somewhat with a few easy fan faves like offgun and geminifourth to keep it a little more even.

my guess for why they saved firstkhao for part 2 is because they're saving part 2 for the big hard hitting pairs and show concepts. this way, the shows that would be more likely to go under the radar in part 1 get some time to shine on their own and garner interest before the big name shows/directors come in and occupy the fan discussion circles.

this way it also keeps fans coming back to watch pt 2 for the pairs that they're waiting to see. i also think it gives the producers some time to take a temp check and see what fans are/aren't interested in before committing to their 2nd half.

on one hand, it does suck that we have to wait a while longer before we see our boys again, but on the other, at least we'll have something to look forward to in dec/jan! also, even though they definitely deserve better than to be used as fan bait, i'm also kind of weirdly proud of our fk boys being saved for the pt 2 because that means they've officially made it in the big ranks if they are being used to boost ratings, haha 😂 :')

So, I’m going to put this under a read more because y’all’ve had to listen to me gripe enough for one day. Fair warning: Apparently, I’m still heated so open at your own risk.

This is a very nice thought, Anon, but honestly, I don't think these people have any idea what they're doing 😂 If their idea was to use Part 1 to make people more excited for Part 2, then they failed miserably considering they didn't even tell us when Part 2 was. Next week? Next month? Next year? No one knows. Much less us, the viewers.

Right now, I just feel used. If they had announced all of the shows today and FirstKhaotung didn't get anything, I would have been disappointed, but I at least wouldn't feel like the possibility of them was being dangled in front of me like a carrot. I feel like P'Tha is in his evil lair, stroking his chin, saying, "Let's see how well they sell out their next couple fan meets then we'll make a final decision on whether to give them a new series." Dishonor on all their cows!

Splitting this into 2 parts was just a bad idea all around. Like are they really going to have another big to-do in a couple months (unlikely) or is Part 2 just going to be held on the GMMTV Live House set? Neo and Mark can host since they apparently don't have anything better to do either.

As to why they split the show into two parts, I’ve seen some people hypothesize that the Only Friends cast wasn’t included because they wouldn’t have had time to film the trailers, but they’ve been done filming OF for a while. If the cast didn’t have time to film trailers, it’s because GMMTV has them flying all over the world to fan meets every weekend. And that’s on GMMTV. Those fan meets should not get in the way of actual acting.

A better guess, in my opinion, is that whatever director they’re scheduled to work with is the one who didn’t have time to film a trailer. P’Jojo for instance is apparently editing Only Friends episodes on a week-to-week basis so it makes sense that he wouldn’t have time to film anything. I hope this means that FK might be working with a very solid director, but they’ve also just recently started following New Siwaj on Twitter so that specter will continue haunting us for the next couple months (or more) as well.

I just personally feel that GMMTV has really backed themselves into a corner here because now if FK don’t get something legitimately good, I’m going to be even more pissed than I already am. You kept me waiting for this?? And the cherry on top of this already horrendous situation is the fucking School Rangers announcement.

I cannot tell you how mad I am about the School Rangers thing. School Rangers is where they send actors to die. White’s been holding his own there for years because no one wants to cast him in anything else. So, to bolster ratings, they throw the entire cast of Only Friends in there. It pisses me off! They’re using our built-in fanbase for views on a show they don’t even have the decency to translate. Can you tell I'm angry?

Bottom line: these are actors. Let them fucking act. Because if you keep making them do ridiculous game show shit, they’re going to fucking leave—and I would not blame them at all. FK could probably make more money with a YouTube channel at this point.

I’m sorry I’m being so negative about this. To clarify: I do think FK are getting a series together (since they’re clearly not in anything else 🙃). And I don’t even need them to be in a series together to be happy. I just need them to be in fucking something.

I mean, if there’s one bright side to all of this, it’s that I can’t imagine they’ll do this shit again because they’ve managed to piss off so many fandoms. I remember watching the show last year and being so fucking excited but now, I can’t even get excited about the few shows I'm interested in because there's this huge “what if?” hanging over our heads. The long, drawn-out wait for news just seems cruel and I think they should all go fuck themselves, honestly.

#if we don't get a good sandray episode this week i might actually lose it #gmmtv 2024

20 notes · View notes

volaile · 6 months

Text

tagged by my brother @beesnutz :P

last song you listened to: descent by fear factory

last movie you watched: the new hunger games!! went to see it at the cinema with two friends :) it was good, unsettling exactly where it needed to be (which was. most of the time LOL) and its managed to pull off the 'act as a standalone but still have room for a sequel if someone wanted to' balance v well. and id watch a sequel! but overall i cant lie i prefer the original trilogy...

currently watching: house md on my own, im on season 7 rn and [spoilers] have finally left huddy hell. i love masters btw my friend masters ❤️she just had her first main pov ep and it was a good un. im also watching doctor who when mine gustes and peris schedules line up, and also taskmaster with guste :)

other things you’ve watched this year: ummmm lots but some of my faves are still across the spiderverse, also limitless and alien, and also american psycho but thats sort of from last year, i watched it nye with nami and it hit 2023 like halfway through for me LOL

currently reading: money by martin amis!! its good ive read time's arrow by him before too. he's got a fun way of writing but idk how i feel about him putting himself as a character in this one lol???!!! also i guess i technically have a few other books on the go too but tbh im not actively reading them... btw if anyone wants my goodreads send me a dm !!! i would love more friends on there

currently listening to: my albums 2023 playlist which is um. 1500 songs strong still. i swear ive listened to plenty its just that i keep adding more oopsy doopsy

currently working on: editing my longish nrmts fic so that i can finally start the last three out of ten chappys.... problem is is that im doing this mostly at work when the bars quiet LOL. im also trying to draw more frequently!! ive made it as easy and low stakes as possible for myself (using a biro in some small lined notebook, means i dont get fixated on making things look perfect and also means i dont need to fill up too much space to finish a full page) but its still a habit in progress ....

current obsession: honestly probably the gym. im following what i guess based on exercises and number of sets and reps would be considered a powerbuilding program?? october saw me doing proper strength building work for the first time Ever rather than just hypertrophy/muscle building and ive finally started doing bench press using an actual barbell rack set up!!! and i really like it :P

ok thats it thank u. all the crans my lovely crans have been tagged i believe so i'll also tag @sevenyeargap @bardicspiration and @adultfiendfinder ❤️ and anyone else who wants to do it go hog wild ok byeeee

#own #tag games

13 notes · View notes

joesalw · 2 months

Note

I gotta say even though people kinda always did this, I think the rise in "omg they don't write their own songs" and assuming every song is autobiographical that really emerged in recent years can be blamed on Taylor and her standom. It's very annoying that every song is assumed to be based on real life when tons of songs are written from a character perspective or telling a story. Taylor claims that's what Folkmore is, but then why is it so easy to pin them back to her real life and relationships? Guess it means she has a limited perspective even when inventing things. But I hate people trying to tear down artists they claim don't write their music. If this was hip hop or rock I'd get it because that's always a big deal there (unless it's a cover). But pop? I don't care if my fave pop divas wrote 100% of their songs. I care about the performance and being able to recognize that person's artistic vision whether they wrote every line or not. Because there ARE key ways to be involved in your art beyond writing. But the Swiftie obsession with Taylor writing her shit has led to these really petty arguments rising and I hate it.

people only follow taylor's music because she writes about her own life and it brings controversy from her famous pr filled relationships. that's the only reason she's still valid. her vocals are very poor so she wouldn’t stand a chance against the musicians who are actually talented and can sing. but now she has made a cult that switched the narrative that the main requirement for being a good musician is songwriting and not vocals, which is really annoying.

#anti taylor swift #swifties dni

16 notes · View notes

themoomoorn · 2 years

Text

Megathread Review of the Lupicia x Fire Emblem Fódlan Tea Collection by a Tea/Coffee Addict (UPDATED!)

Ahem

LOOK AT WHAT RIKA SUZUKI DID TO MY GIRL BYLETH! SHE'S GORGEOUS!!!

And now that I have your attention...guess who bought the Fódlan Tea Collection from Atai-Kuji? Meeeee.

Out of all the bizarrely belated FE3H merchandise to actually come out, the tea set is definitely one of the better ones, and one of the most fitting. Not only does it fit the setting completely, but it's also a great bit of merch for an older weeb like me who does not care for figurines. You can either use/consume the merch, or display it, and it looks classy! And I really like tea. A lot. I even broke out my mother's fine china tea cups for the occasion. So for the curious, I decided to post a review of every tea in the set. Please note that I'm a fanatic, not an expert in tea by any measure. I hope you enjoy this anyway. Now if only they actually did a full-blown tea parlor café I mean come on it's the perfect fit and would probably bring in money hello???

Of note, the teas used in this set are blends and leaves curated by a high-ish end Japanese tea merchant called Lupicia. The majority of the teas used here are derivatives of tea they sell on their site, with a few custom blends put in here and there. They have a U.S branch based in Hawai'i, and they also have merchants in Taiwan, France, and Australia. Each store also sells region exclusive blends, like the Hawai'ian tins for the U.S site, which is pretty cool.

Also, I only purchased the tea box set (the box with Femleth on it), not the box with the special tea cup and Hresvelg Blend tin (the one with Manleth on it and also of course that blend got the big fancy tin with five satchets...), so the Hresvelg Blend will go unreviewed.

Also, I'll be sharing my favorite teas and there's a lot of hyperlinking in this post. This is NOT any kind of endorsement - I just really like tea, okay?

UPDATE: Disregard the above statement! A second run of the set was made available and I have now the Manleth box, teacup, and Hresvelg Tin in my possession!

Let's begin!

Bergamot

In-Game Description: "The bright notes of this tea stem from an infusion of citrus oils. This blend is highly favored by nobility."

Tea Base: Earl Grey tea

This well-known tea's biggest feature is being blended and cooked with bergamot oil, giving it a very unique flavor. Being a black tea popularized and cribbed by the English yet having Chinese origins (as the English so often do), Earl grey tea is one of the most accessible and affordable teas out there, and you can get it at any grocery store. Lupicia has their own base blend along with some special blends.

Alas, because this tea is normally accessible as can be, I can safely say that this set's Earl Grey is not very special - if anything, there's a lack of bergamot. Since EG is one of my all time faves, I can safely say that there are better greys out there. For personal picks, I really like Twining's Lady Grey derivative (it's an Earl Grey with lemon and orange peel added).

Two packages of bergamot come in the box. One is eagle red with Aymr illustrated on it; the other is lion blue with an illustration of a wax-sealed letter, presumably for Sylvain.

Favored By: Edelgard, Sylvain, Lorenz, Constance, Hanneman, Anna

Final Rating: 2.5/5

Dagda Fruit Blend

In-Game Description: "A stark, bitter fruit from Dagda makes this black tea particularly pungent. Connoisseurs enjoy its unique flavor."

Tea Base: Assam tea with bits of mocha

This black tea comes from a state in India that shares its name, and it is one of the biggest producers of any tea leaf in the world. By itself it is malty and bold. Because of its flavor profile and ability to grow quickly and in high amounts (due to Assam's soil and weather conditions), the tea is fairly easy to come by. If you see "breakfast blend" teas (I.E English or Irish), there's a 99% chance that it's made from a blend that includes assam tea leaves. Most straight assam teas and blends especially are quite affordable and widely available. This particular bag appears to be a custom blend, as none of the assam teas on Lupicia's site feature the mocha bits within them. A similar black tea with cacao nibs and cocoa powder is also on the site.

The tea itself is nice and malty (I already enjoy Irish Breakfast a lot, so that helps), and the mocha bits add an extra bit of sweetness and depth that enhance it. Believe it or not, very small bits of coffee flavor mixed with tea actually can taste good, as Canandian teamaker David's Tea has a pu'erh blend with coffee beans and vanilla. "But MoomooRN," I hear you say, "this isn't a fruit blend!" Technically, coffee begins its life as a fruit that resembles a cherry, so actually yes, this tea is a fruit blend. Hah!

Two bags of the Dagda blend are in the box. One is eagle red with a bag of coffee beans, funnily enough, representing Hubert. The other is one of the four grey ones for the Ashen Wolves, featuring a drawing of assorted pebbles, which Hapi likes to collect.

Favored By: Hubert, Ignatz, Marianne, Hapi, Anna

Final Rating: 5/5

Almyran Pine Needles

In-Game Description: "This tea is composed of oxidized pine needles from eastern Almyra, giving it a distinct, earthy tone."

Tea Base: Lapsang souchong

This beautiful Chinese black tea originates from Fujian Province and gets its distinct flavor by its leaves being smoke-dried over a pinewood fire. While not quite as widely available as other black teas, it is nevertheless fairly affordable. This is a special tea for the set, as Lupicia does not sell lapsang souchong on their site.

Because of its signature smoke, this tea is very divisive (I hated it when I tried it the first time). I've had a blend of the stuff from Twinings that dialed down the smoke a little and liked it, and I can safely say that this lapsang is fantastic for the same reason. It even had a little bit of a chocolate-y aftertaste, and it smells wonderful.

"But MoomooRN," I hear you again, "There's no pine needles in the tea!" Pine needle teas (like this Korean one) do exist, but it's been cited that multiple breeds of pine needles, when brewed, are poisonous. Plus, the tea in-game is described as having an "earthy" taste and the needles are oxidized; oxidization is one step in the LS-making process if smoked hot...It's the thought that counts?

...The fact that this tea is inadvertently tied to the guy making homebrew poisons is pretty funny, actually.

Two bags of the Almyran goods are in the box. One, fittingly, is deer yellow with Failnaught illustrated on the front. The other is eagle red with a drawing of a tea cup with a tea tin and bag of leaves, representing Ferdinand as one of the continent's leading tea connoisseurs.

Favored By: Ferdinand, Linhardt, Felix, Claude, Cyril, Balthus

Final Rating: 5/5

Angelica Tea

In-Game Description: "A cleansing herbal tea blended with angelica."

Tea Base: Herbal tea mixture of rosemary, jasmine, lavender, chamomile, and verbene

The angelica plant exists in varying forms across the world, particularly in Iceland, Lapland, Greenland, and in parts of China. It is a popular plant for herbal medicine, and some seeds are used to flavor gin and liqueur -

"MoomooRN, there's no angelica in this tea!"

Yeah, that's actually correct. Whoops. Despite this big fat omission, this tea is a fantastic blend of plants that always taste great together, especially the jasmine and verbene.

This is notably the only tea in the box that is a true herbal tea. The tea base for this is Lupicia's custom Lumière blend, which appears to be only available in the Japan store.

Two bags of angelica tea come in the box. One is eagle red with Linhardt's down pillow illustrated on it. The other is deer yellow with a drawing of a bow and arrow set made by Leonie.

Favored By: Linhardt, Ashe, Leonie, Seteth, Rhea

Final Rating: 4.5/5

Ginger Tea

In-Game Description: "The sharp spiciness of ginger laces the body of this tea, unforgettable and brightening."

Tea Base: Assam tea with ginger

Ginger is one of the single most ancient herbal remedies on earth. Not much else to say about it, other than the fact that it often breaks its back carrying both good tea and great food. I personally prefer ginger blends to straight ginger, and I definitely liked this blend since the assam it's mixed with isn't too strong.

This tea is based on Lupicia's ginger blend, which is African CTC (a type of assam) tea mixed with dried ginger.

Two bags of ginger are in the box. One is eagle red with a drawing of a broken hatchet, presumably belonging to Caspar (none of his Lost Items are a hatchet); the other is ashen gray with a bag of coins, presumably belonging to Balthus (again, he lacks a Lost Item of this nature).

Favored By: Petra, Caspar, Dedue, Raphael, Balthus, Seteth

Final Rating: 4.5/5

Albinean Berry Blend

In-Game Description: "Dried albinean berries give this black tea its fragrance. The sweet, relaxing scent is popular among many."

Tea Base: Black tea with dried rhubarb and strawberry

Strawberry is a pretty popular additive to teas, especially of the iced and sweet variety. It's unknown when this trend began, but I suspect that Europeans who raided the Americas had something to do with it (while strawberries as we know them were produced in France, the plants that form its base originate in North America and Chile, respectively). Very sus. Rhubarb, meanwhile, is a bizarre plant. Much like how avocados and tomatoes are fruits treated as veggies, the opposite is true for rhubarb as its inherent flavor is very tart. Strawberry and rhubarb have become a classic pie-filling combo, and this translated into some tea blends, like this one.

Rhubarb is also involved in the human creation myth in Zoroastrianism. Neato.

In spite of all this, it's a pretty bog standard black tea with overpowering strawberry flavor and no rhubarb detected. And there's no berries either, if you want to take your pedantic meter to the next level. Booooo.

Lupicia has both a black tea with just strawberry, as well as a custom blend called Merci Mille Fois, which is the same thing but also includes peaches and rose. This blend appears to be based on the former, since there's mainly only strawberry flavoring.

The two bags of berry blend are both eagle red. One has a drawing of Dorothea's hat, while the other has a hedgehog toy that's presumably based on the case Bernadetta made.

Favored By: Dorothea, Bernadetta, Jeritza, Mercedes, Hilda, Yuri, Constance

Final Rating: 2.5/5

Four-Spice Blend

In-Game Description: "A novelty tea blended with four unique spices inspired by the Four Saints. Enjoyment requires a mature palate."

Tea Base: Black tea with cardamom, cinnamon, peppercorns, and cloves

The above listed spices are popular options for chai tea blends, which in turn has translated into popular dessert drinks overtime like masala chai. The original chai combo actually didn't have any tea leaves in it, but was a medical spice mixture that has origin points in both India and Siam (modern day Thailand). The British coming a-knocking on India's door because of course they did would be the launching point of the modern chai tea as we know it.

Despite this sweeping history with an even more sweeping flavor, this tea fails to live up to its name. While four spices are visible in the sachet, the cardamom overwhelms the other three, although I could taste some pepper in there too. The cardamom itself isn't even that good. The tea itself is also very weak. So much for being the tea labeled for a mature palate.

A bag of assam with pepper and cardamom is available on Lupicia's site. This is likely what this blend is based off of.

The two bags of this blend are eagle red with a drawing of an exotic feather owned by Petra (it's a peacock feather, actually) and a lion blue with a worn practice blade presumably belonging to Felix, as one of his Lost Items is a sheath fragment.

Favored By: Petra, Dedue, Felix, Leonie, Hapi, Seteth

Final Rating: 1.5/5

Chamomile

In-Game Description: "A stark white floral tea with bright notes, this blend calms nerves and heightens concentration."

Tea Base: Black tea with chamomile leaves

Chamomile is ancient, with the first citations of its long medical career stemming from ancient Greece and Egypt. Its claims to fame are sleep promotion and assisting with GI problems, so much so that it's actually become one of the few herbal remedies that's been validated to an extent in the medical world for its effectiveness. Not bad for a flower that looks like a cute little daisy. It's brewed either alone or as part of a blend, and I personally prefer the latter since chamomile by itself has a bitter taste. My personal favorite is the Sweet Dreams blend by Bigelow, which is chamo with rose, hibiscus, mint, and orange. This may not be as good, but the chamo and black tea in this blend mesh nicely together.

This appears to be a custom blend, as the chamomile Lupicia sells is all herbal and features elderflower, mint, and rosehip; this tea is a black mix mainly featuring only chamomile and some mint.

The lone package of Chamomile is in lion blue, and Areadbhar graces the front of it.

Favored By: Dimitri, Ingrid, Claude, Shamir, Rhea

Final Rating: 4/5

Cinnamon Blend

In-Game Description: "An aromatic bark blend referred to as the king of spices. Its unique taste appeals to similarly unique people."

Tea Base: Black tea with dried cinnamon

I've already bought up cinnamon in the Four Spice review above, but I did find some more fun information about it: It's origin points are Sri Lanka and Egypt, there are multiple types based on where it's grown, and the Ceylon version of cinnamon has a chemical called coumarin, which can inhibit clot formation. On the flipside, coumarin can be toxic and even cause liver damage, which makes a specific gag in Persona Q have its comical elements sucked out of it (the gag is that Elizabeth forces her brother Theodore to eat an extreme amount of cinnamon). Luckily, there's only so much cinnamon in this bag, and it tastes great, being complimented by a moderate-strength black tea.

This is based on Lupicia's black tea and cinnamon blend. A bag of cinnamon mixed with assam is also available.

Only one bag of cinnamon is in the set. It is lion blue and uniquely Dedue, as the illustration on its bag is of one of his earings.

Favored By: Hubert, Dedue, Marianne, Hapi

Final Rating: 4.5/5

Sweet Apple Blend

In-Game Description: "A tea blended with two types of apple peels. elegant and sweet, it is popular among common folk and nobles alike."

Tea Base: Black tea with dried apple slices

Apple is not as common a tea additive compared to other fruits, and I suspect its flavor profile and fragility might have something to do with it. The closest to a true blend I could find was this blend from a Turkish seller called Hazer Baba. It's apparently often sold to tourists in Istanbul. In any case, a friend of mine on Discord mentioned that apples in tea often don't work twofold: Apple's mild flavor is prone to being destroyed by tannins found in black tea, and caffeine from black tea also destroys apple's natural acidity.

Lo and behold, she was right. This is probably my least favorite tea in the set. Not only is the flavor poor, but it smells almost artificial.

Lupicia sells a black tea with apple, and is used for this tea.

The two apple teas are in a lion blue bag with a drawing of a music score sheet, presumably by Annette; the other is ashen gray with Constance's fan.

Favored By: Dorothea, Jeritza, Annette, Lysithea, Constance, Flayn, Hanneman

Final Rating: 1/5

Mint Leaves

In-Game Description: "An invigorating mint blend that revitalizes and refreshes all who partake."

Tea Base: Black tea with mint leaves

Mint is a perennial favorite for digestion woes around the world. In North African countries, Maghrebi tea (mint + green tea + cane sugar) is the socially significant drink of the region, similar to the socialization surrounding rize tea in Turkey, Cyprus, and some Balkan countries. Mint tea's efficacy as a GI aid is debated, but that doesn't stop it from being a hot option for tea.

Another simple combo, another great delivery. Mint is delicious and its use in savory stuff (I.E mint jam on lamb chops) is underrated.

This appears to be a custom blend, as the sole mint tea product on Lupicia's site is a Baï Mu Dan (white peony) blend.

The two bags of mint in the box are both in lion blue, with one featuring a book about a knight (Ashe) and the other featuring metal horseshoes (Ingrid).

Favored By: Ashe, Ingrid, Hilda, Manuela

Final Rating: 4/5

Crescent Moon Tea

In-Game Description: "Fermented dried seeds blended with tea leaves. It has a soft and subtle flavor, akin to the gentle light of the moon."

Tea Base: Black tea with vanilla flavoring

In spite of its rep as being the default of "boring," vanilla is one of the most expensive spices in the world due to its intensive cultivating process. Anything flavored by the beans (particularly the Madagascar and Tahitian varieties) is nothing short of divine, and the demand was so much that we got some of the earliest examples of knock-off flavoring out of it (I.E vanillin). Interestingly, while vanilla is a very popular additive for chai beverages, a true chai mix does not include vanilla in it.

It's a damn shame that this tea sucks. It has an artificial scent and taste like the Sweet Apple blend, and the vanilla itself is very thin.

This tea is derived from their black tea and vanilla blend. A small variety of other vanilla teas are also available on the site.

There is only one bag of this in the set. It is lion blue with an illustration of a hand-sewn bow, presumably Mercedes'.

Favored By: Mercedes, Lysithea, Shamir, Alois, Rhea

Final Rating: 1/5

Rose Petal Blend

In-Game Description: "Black tea laced with rose petals. A classic floral blend often enjoyed by Kingdom and Alliance nobles."

Tea Base: Darjeeling with rose petals

Darjeeling is akin to assam, Ceylon, pu'erh, and lapsang souchong in that it is specifically grown and harvested in select locations - West Bengal, in this case. Leaf types are determined by season, or "flushes," with the most commonly consumed teas being the first flush (March and April) and the second (May and June). First flush teas are typically classified as being floral-tasting and having a strong aroma. Rose petals, meanwhile, had their start as an herbal remedy and tea in China, and is cited to have GI and menstrual woe-relieving properties; It is also akin to lavender and chamomile in that it's a soothing agent. Rose petals are also a dinner and dessert darling, especially in Middle Eastern countries, with the Lebanese/Syrian zhourat tea mixture being one example.

I liked this tea a lot. Weirdly, while rose petals make for excellent blending catalysts, it doesn't fully mesh with the darjeeling here. Both taste wonderful nevertheless.

A set of first flush darjeeling can be found on Lupicia's site. Several blend varieties exist as well.

There is only one bag of this blend in the box. It is deer yellow with an illustration of a rose, the rose of the based Lorenz Hellman Gloucester!

Favored By: Annette, Hilda, Lorenz, Constance

Final Rating: 5/5

Almond Blend

In-Game Description: "A refined, nutty tea that is blended with leaves and thinly-sliced almonds."

Tea Base: Black tea with almonds

Since the composition of an almond appears to be diametrically opposed in possibly contributing to a tea blend, one would think that this wouldn't work. But this tea is fantastic, and easily one of the best "dessert" teas I've had recently. It would definitely be a great catalyst for a fancy iced latte that doesn't require metric shittons of extra sugar.

As an aside, during my research for this post, I stumbled on this old-time Chinese recipe that's a mixture of Chinese almonds, milk, and rice...except the "almonds" are apricot kernels, so they're not quite the same thing. Pretty cool though.

This tea is based on a Lupicia custom blend called...Cookie. No, seriously. The blend has almond and tiny specks of caramel mixed in the leaves, which is likely why the flavors blend together so nicely.

Only one bag of this tea is in the box. An illustration of Raphael's presumably-germ-riddled leg of mutton graces the bag.

Favored By: Annette, Raphael, Gilbert

Final Rating: 5/5

Honeyed Fruit Blend

In-Game Description: "A candied blend made up of dried honeyed fruits. For anyone with a sweet tooth, this tea can't be beat."

Tea Base: Black tea with marigold and honey-glazed dried fruit

The stunning marigold comes in shades of red, orange, yellow and white, and is an icon of Mexico, serving as its flower of the dead. The pot marigold bloom has become a popular option for herbal tea blends, and the whole plant itself is cited to be safe for human consumption. Its inherent flavor is a bit bittersweet yet still floral.

This is my second favorite of the "sweet teas" after the Southern Fruit Blend, as it was hard to parse whatever dried fruits were used. Nevertheless, the floral marigolds and honey made for a pitch-perfect combo.

This tea is specifically based on Lupicia's Neptune blend, stated on the bag.

There is only one bag of this blend in the set. It is in deer yellow with a drawing of cake and cookies on it, presumably belonging to Lysithea, who I can only assume will struggle with diabetes if her Crests don't take her out first...

Favored By: Bernadetta, Jeritza, Lysithea, Yuri, Alois

Final Rating: 5/5

Seiros Tea

In-Game Description: "A black tea common to the south of Almyra, it is fairly basic in its flavors. [Seiros Tea] is its common name in Fódlan."

Tea Base: Ceylon tea

This is yet another example of a coveted regional tea. Sri Lanka (formerly called Ceylon), like India and China, is home to lands that are primed for growing tea leaves which naturally made it yet another target of the British Empire, the assholes. This tea must meet extremely strict qualifications in order to even be considered a tea worth exporting, and the requirements include it being grown by Sri Lankan farmers and even being packaged in said country - no lion label means that it's a dupe. Ceylon blends, including ceylon grown out of Sri Lanka, are fairly easy to come by compared to their genuine counterparts, but the latter is still obtainable.

In any case, most true ceylons are described as being bold yet brisk, and this tea lovingly delivers, making it stand out compared to the other black teas in the set. Unfortunately, this is also yet another case of game-versus-reality suspension: While the use of an in-universe localization of this tea's name is pretty cool/fitting, the text describes the tea being "basic," which true ceylon definitely isn't. There's also that aforementioned pesky extreme standards of perfection to consider. Maybe they do the same in-universe?

Side Note: For the longest time I assumed this was another Almyran tea, but the text reads "to the south of Almyra," which, going by the world map, is presumably Morfis...but there are also two islands below Almyra, so they might be from there instead. Either way, I doubt the devs give a rat's ass if their Three Hopes interviews are anything to go by.

Lupicia sells a ceylon tea blend called Ratatam, which also includes some assam leaves and vanilla flavoring.

Two bags of this tea are in the set. One is deer yellow with a painting Ignatz presumably made (it shows a view of the Monastery he looks at with Marianne in one of their Supports), while the other is ashen gray with a sword that's likely associated with Yuri.

Favored By: Ferdinand, Sylvain, Lorenz, Ignatz, Yuri, Anna

Final Rating: 5/5

Lavender Blend

In-Game Description: "Tiny dried purple lavandula flowers are sprinkled into this refreshing floral tea."

Tea Base: Black tea with lavender petals

This beautiful purple flower, much like chamomile, is one of the go-to options for relaxation and better sleep. It's less likely to be steeped on its own due to how delicate it is, however, and it is arguably more popular as a culinary ingredient and as a scent option for essential oils. Lavender has even joined chamomile in the "verified for its boasted properties" club.

Like the chamomile, this simple combo tea is great, and the lavender itself is plenty strong.

This is another custom blend, as the sole lavender tea product on Lupicia's site is a white tea blend, which this tea definitely is not.

Another deer yellow exclusive oner joins this set's club. On its cover are birds, likely companions of Marianne's.

Enjoyed By: Ignatz, Marianne, Manuela, Gilbert

Final Rating: 4.5/5

Southern Fruit Blend

In-Game Description: "A blend with a unique dried fruit of the south. Popular for its intoxicatingly strong, bright notes."

Tea Base: Black tea with mango and hibiscus

Mango is a superstar tropical fruit that has a unique flavor, is found in multiple countries across the world, and is one of several Vitamin C powerhouses. The hibiscus flower has hundreds of species across the subtropics and tropics, being commonly associated with places like Hawai'i and Haiti. The flower is even worn by Kali, the Hindu goddess of power, destruction, and change. Hibiscus in particular is an extremely popular option for teas and blends due to its lightly tart flavor, while mango is more of a popular flavoring option for the stuff - just ask Snapple.

This is definitely the best of the "sweet teas" in the set, courtesy of a good tea base, dried mango, and just enough hibiscus to avoid a sour flavor. Now in-universe, where "to the south" would be is a mystery -maybe Brigid? - but they certainly picked two fitting flavors for it.

The tea on the bag is called "Grenada," but no tea fits that description on the Lupicia site. However, there is a black mix called Alphonse Mango, whose flavors seem to align with this one.

There is only one of this blend in the set. It is yet another deer yellow (what's up with that) and features a set of three used perfume bottles, all belonging to Hilda.

Favored By: Ferdinand, Jeritza, Mercedes, Hilda, Lysithea

Final Rating: 4/5

Leicester Cortania

In-Game Description: "A specialty tea from the Alliance blended with a variety of leaves from the east. This tea is of the utmost quality."

Tea Base: Second-Flush Darjeeling

What separates second-flush darjeeling from first flush is that these leaves are specifically plucked between May and June, after a period of heavy rainfall. The flavor is muskier (and sometimes more floral depending on where the leaves are harvested from), with some farmers describing it as a "muscatel" flavor, or like muscat grapes. Second flush teas often boast more potent flavors in exchange for a less noticeable aroma. Due to the shorter window for harvesting, as well as the tea-making process, this tends to be more expensive than its first-flush counterpart.

This tea was a good option for the Leicester Cortania label, and it definitely had a pleasant faint grape flavor and a nice floral scent.

Lupicia has both first and second flush darjeeling, with the latter being this tea's base. Darjeeling blends also exist on the site.

The lone package of Leicester Cortania is one of two that are purple. The illustration on it is of the Sword of the Creator.

Favored By: Catherine

Final Rating: 5/5

Tea of the Saints

In-Game Description: "Even commoners have tried this cost-efficient tea, which is a mixture of herbs. It's a tad bitter."

Tea Base: Pu'erh tea

Pu'erh tea is a unique tea originating from Yunnan Province in China, and said uniqueness comes from the fact that it is made by microbial fermentation. Much like how the wood of a barrel and aging flavors a whiskey, oxidization and how long the fermentation process goes on determines the tea's flavor. As you can see by the length of the linked wiki page, the creation process is extremely intricate.

There's a variety of flavors to any pu'erh, but the most common heard is that it tastes "shroomy," likely because of the fermentation. This pu'erh is subtly shroomy, earthy, and a bit grassy, and absolutely wonderful because of it.

This is one of the single most egregious cases of in-and-out of universe separation for this piece of merch. In-universe, this tea is cited to be common, inexpensive, and made of an herbal mix. Out-of-universe, they happened to pick a tea that's one of the single most expensive to produce in the world, is highly coveted, and, uh, there's no herbs in it. It's straight pu'erh tea. That's pretty bad, IntSys.

Lupicia sells a highly affordable blend of pu'erh made in the Menghai Factory in Yunnan, which is one of four pu'erh processing plants in the province. If you want to look elsewhere though, be prepared to shell out some serious dough for it.

The lone package of Tea of the Saints is the other sole purple bag. The illustration on the front is of Sothis' elaborate tiara.

Favored By:...No one, which is probably why Sothis' tiara is on the package. Perhaps she herself liked the tea when she was alive?

Final Rating: 5/5

And now, at long last...

❁Hresvelg Blend ❁

In-Game Description: ✽ "A high-quality blend of leaves procured specially for House Hresvelg. Its refined flavor brings sheer bliss." ✽

Tea Base: Assam and nilgiri tea with rose petals and safflower...and fragrance.

If you bought only the tea cup and the yellow box with a Byleth who looks oddly angry for some reason, then this is the tea you got saddled with, and they let you know it because you got the elite, better-than-you House Hresvelg's epic, boasting tin of how their tea leaves were specially procured only for them. In-universe, this tea and the Leicester Cortania are the most expensive teas to purchase, and the Kingdom gets no equivalent because they're too cold and mopey for one, I suppose. Fittingly, they have assam and rose mixed in with nilgiri tea leaves from Tamil, India (ironically reverse-engineered by English colonists, as the camellia sinensis tea leaves grown there were given to India in the 19th century) and safflower is what the Crimson Flower route is called in the Japanese version of 3H (紅花の章).

In addition to being flowers thought useful in attracting love and marriage, safflowers are both drought and wind-resistant, is able to grow and tolerate slightly acidic soil, can make a dye that can wash away easily depending on the cloth it's placed on, and is considered a cheaper alternative to saffron in cooking.

🤔

In any case, this tea's scent borderlines on being a potpourri ball. The flavor is similar to the rose petal blend but it's much more bitter and leaves a harsh feeling on the roof of the mouth. Safflower flavor is said to be similarly bitter, which is apparent. While it's not the most unpleasant-tasting of the teas (Albinea and Sweet Apple are still at the bottom of the barrel), the princess treatment is a bit overrated.

Funny how that works.

As boasted on the tin, this is a custom blend, and no equivalent exists on Lupicia's website.

As shown above, this tea gets the princess treatment with its own tin. The tin itself is...fine? I guess? It looks and feels very cheap. Furthermore, unlike the individually wrapped teas in the purple box, the tin has the five sachets packed together in a single aluminum bag (similar to how some companies package matcha powder).

Favored By: Technically no one, but both this tea and the Leicester Cortania are the most expensive teas in-universe, and some characters will comment on said expense if you give this to them.

Final Rating: 2/5.

Final Rating for the Tea Cup: 6/5. Unlike the tin, it's gorgeous and much sturdier than the average piece of china. Can be used to drink out of, or as the perfect knick-knack! And I will say that Rika Suzuki's art of Male Byleth does look fantastic.

Overall, most of these teas are pretty great and I'd honestly get the set again if it's ever available. This sort of merch is also my favorite - think of all the fic ideas and accidental laughs you can get out of stuff like this - Like how the Bergamot tea shall hereby be named the "Duke Aegir" because "Earl Grey" is an actual guy, plus in one of the few bits of Hopes' fun worldbuilding bitw is how the Aegir Dukedom actually owns a stretch of sea that serves as their trade route with Morfis. See? Fun!

(IDK why male Byleth is frowning here, he's having the coveted Hresvelg Jingle Juice, he should be happy lol)

82 notes · View notes

dayseternal-blog · 1 year

Note

Fic Author Self Rec! When you get this reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, or some snippets from upcoming WIPS. Let’s spread the self-love! Love ya and thank you for all you do!! 💖

:D my 5 favorite fics that I've written?? okay.

"It's No Secret" - Hinata returns to Konoha after 5 years studying abroad in the Moon Kingdom. She just wants to enjoy her last year of high school as a normal girl, but blossoming love forces her to confront her future. (Rated M). - My baby fish. A high school AU for which I was really trying all different kinds of things and making all kinds of mistakes, finding my writing style. As a fanfic writer newbie, I felt so free to do whatever I wanted! Every scene for me was gripping, and I was so immersed in the world I was trying to create. It has an original, lengthy plot that I still hope to finish one day!!! I love this fic just because it was so instrumental to helping me improve. It's definitely NOT my best work, but from the first chapter to the most recently published chapter, my growth in writing is so apparent. All of the comments I got on it, even the ones that criticized, were encouraging for me and I cherish those readers who've followed my fics since then 💞

"Nightdreams" - Naruto and Hinata find comfort in each other after the war. (Rated E). - The easiest multi-chapter fic to write. Ever. Since then, I've never had quite as much fun writing a fic (I think Catskin came close). Certainly never as easy a time. "Nightdreams" had its moments of growth for me for sure, though, like the mission chapter, the argument chapter, all of the smut! It had its challenges, but the story flowed so easily, from beginning to end. I think there were only a couple of small writer's blocks. Overall, "Nightdreams" easily takes fave #2 just because it was so fun, and I think readers can tell that I really enjoyed writing it.

"Awkward Jocks" - She knows that if he were to ever ask her out, she would accept in a heartbeat. After all, he's the star quarterback and basketball player. Plus, she's liked him since...forever. But when her home phone rings, and he's on the other line, she hangs up. (Rated G). - The sweet and funny love story based off of my ex-coworker's life...bittersweet now, don't remember if I shared on Tumblr why. But I wrote this fic full of my love for her, so it takes the spot for fave #3.

"About You" - A summer job at the Dole pineapple cannery, graveyard shift 10 PM to 6 AM. A long bus ride into and out of town. Two teens, shy beside each other. (Rated G). - One of my most personal fanfics, though many of them are super personal. This is possibly the MOST personal because it's slightly based off of my parents' stories, I set it on my home island, and I experimented with writing the dialogue in pidgin. The only reason it's not higher on my list is because I somehow feel like I didn't do as good a job on it as I would have liked. It's like, the cultural/historical details are not accurate enough for me. But this is definitely a fic I wrote for myself, and it's been a joy to see other people love it, too.

"Matcha" from "Shared Vows" - Naruto calls Hiashi "father" for the first time. (Rated T). - ooooh it was a toss-up between this one or "Finally Home" from "Shared Vows," but I decided on "Matcha" as my fave #5. I love how I framed this fic, its ending reversing the beginning, and I somehow managed to communicate exactly what I wanted to say about Naruto's new family. This fic gives me such feel-good vibes, and I'm so glad it captured the feelings I felt.

I know that my personal faves do not align with readers' personal faves. Except for maybe "Nightdreams" haha. That one is easy to love. I know people loved "White Lilies," "Friend of Mine," "Tell Me of Forevers," and "Undercover," ...those exhibit some of my best technical writing, so I'm glad readers recognized that effort! My personal faves have more sentimental value, I guess, so that's what makes them special to me.

#anon #nice anon #nice ask #ask game #fic author self rec #naruhina fanfic recs #because why not #about my writing

23 notes · View notes

sorryimananti-romantic · 2 months

Note

wanna play a quick game of finish the lyrics + guess the song: ateez edition? ... no? too bad 👹

(NOTE: bsides are not included, since this is an easy version.)

Let's go !! cheat n i'll track you down 😋😋

1. 네 흔적은 향기로 남아

미친 사람처럼 너를 찾아 헤매다

잠이 깨면

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

2. 거친 바람에, 다친 마음에

세상은 내게 추락만을 택하라는 듯

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

3. 하고 싶은 게 뭐냐고

너는 커서 뭐가 될 거냐고

모르겠네요 처음이라

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

4. 우리가 보이는가? 타오르는 눈빛과

삼킬 듯한 함성이 온 세상을 울리는 걸

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

5. 저기 저 달빛이 부를 때

세상을 덮칠 듯 달구네

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

6. 감정의 눈을 가린 채 산다는 게

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

i prepared this based off your fav ateez titles and added one of my personal faves, so you better get this right 😠

(NOTE (again): you can translate these lyrics if it helps, but no direct searches)

good luck !! <3

OH THIS WAS AN EASY VERSION. i went straight to reading the lyrics and almost flunked this altogether but as soon as i realised you chose my fav tracks (how did you know who are you i think i know) this became a lot easier LOL i totally did not sing all my fav title tracks to see if these lyrics came up-

(also only googled to copy paste the rest of the lyrics once i got the answer, no cheating done here :D)

1- 다시 또 제자리인걸 Where you at? Where you at? 너는 어디에? --- INCEPTION!!

2. 세상은 내게 추락만을 택하라는 듯 끝없는 어둠만 --- TURBULENCE my queen

3. 모르겠네요 처음이라 더 살아봐야 알 것 같은데 eh hahaha --- THANXX (i know who you are now also this would have been a lot easier if you added the ah ya ya i had to struggle)

4. 듣고 있다면 지금 내 곁으로 와줘 함께 할 수 있게 --- ANSWER LOML this was the quickest

5. 우리 손을 잡고 날아가 Yes sir 부름에 응답 --- SAY MY NAME MY NO. 1

6. 너에겐 아무 의미 없는가? --- GUERRILLA (BREAK THE WALL 👹)

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

this was fun. i feel like bsides will be easier bc i listen to bsides more than titles but at the same time, there are many i don't really listen to so yeah. can't wait for the next part hehe

#i spent way too much time on guerrilla #until it clicked since this is one line that must mean #it's a two line part #and then i knew #<- that makes no sense i know #yumi.asks

3 notes · View notes

jovenshires · 6 months

Note

💛Smoshblr December Asks Day 5💙

What are your top 3 favourite tv shows.

And, once again inspired by the “Shayne guesses” series, would ppl be able to guess it was you, based on them?

im a HUGE tv show guy so this is a tough one. but, funny enough, i've started playing this game (the one where one person guesses everyone's fave things) with my friends so i have my answer two-fold!

my fave shows are supernatural, hunter x hunter, and death note. i am so serious rn. these are embarrassing and yet! true!

and some other special shoutouts go to: teen wolf, arrested development, phineas and ferb, assassination classroom, total drama island, glee (i know i know im sorry), girl meets world, and ghost whisperer. like i've said. im so for real on all of this.

my best friend has in fact guessed me from these and i've got a hxh tattoo so! im pretty easy tbh

EDIT: i didnt say it bc i personally don't count it as tv but if it did count, d20 would in fact be on the top three <3

#smoshblr december asks #stella #wallpaper inside my heart #ask #asks #lore unlocked about me <3

6 notes · View notes

endreal · 1 year

Note

how beginner-friendly would you say Linux is? is it worth getting into?

Hey! Didn't mean to keep you waiting - I thought I answered this (I guess I must have drafted it and then forgot to publish or save. Sorry!)

So my opinion is unequivocally yes. For starters most Linux distros are open source and predicated on community-based development (maybe there are some that are more closed/proprietary, but I don't know about those). That gets you away from the microsoft/apple functional duopoly in the individual computing space, which is a really appealing motivation (at least to me!)

Also i feel like Linux has a lingering reputation of being very command line-y and antagonistic toward new or casual users. Perhaps that was true in the past, but most Linux distros around today are pretty similar to familiar windows or mac OS'es, to the point where it will likely be pretty intuitive for you to figure out how to navigate them! And if you do get stuck along the way, the OS itself probably comes loaded with tutorials or walkthrus to help get you started or on your way. That said, if you do want the command line experience, it's usually really easy to access the terminal/console, and there's lots of documentation and community resources about how to do stuff!

So if you're thinking about getting started with Linux, I recommend doing some research to see if there's a distro that seems to best suit your personal computing needs and preferences. But if you were to ask me directly I'd suggest Fedora or Ubuntu as pretty good general-purpose Linux systems that are fairly accessible/intuitive, work well (even on older computers), and have pretty easy learning curves. In fact, if you happen to have an older computer or laptop on hand thst you can just play around with, that's a great way to dip your toe in the water to see how you like it before deciding to commit or not!

One word of 'warning' I'll offer though is thst if you do a lot of gaming, not all games are designed for compatibility with Linux architecture. If that's important to you then please look up what the internet says about your fave games + Linux!

If you'd like to get a taste of open source without fully committing though, there are open source alternatives to most major software applications. I especially like using LibreOffice as an alternative to Microsoft office or whatever the hell Google is doing with docs these days.

And as always, if you're not already doing so, I strongly suggest changing your web browser to Firefox!

(this line intentionally left blank because I'm sure people smarter about this than I am will be have plenty more they can offer:

)

8 notes · View notes

raffaelamusiker · 4 months

Note

Formal request to also ask all of them for the fic ask

(You can't prove it's been a whole month)

Origonal post

What is your favorite line that you’ve written in a fic?

‘Not yet’ whispers through the trees and B’Elanna shudders. And I couldn't even tell you why but it's my most favourite <3 From Existing In Your Orbit

What is one canon thing that you wish you could change?

Oooh boy. Honestly Rios staying in 2024.

Out of the comments you’ve received on your fics, what are two or three of your favorites?

I recently recieved amazing long comments on my Jemily series and I think they might be my most favourite. Also Jaz's comment on Mercy and the ones where people ask me for more smut because they're so funny.

What is your wildest headcanon?

I wrote a crack fic the other day where Seven drank a Big Gulp without taking a breath so I guess that one.

What’s your ideal writing setup?

Somewhere cosy and no noise.

Do you like to outline your fic first or create as you go?

Depends. For multi-chapter I usually try and have an outline or basis. usually just go with the flow and what kind of fic it is.

Have a piece of a WIP you want to share?

“What, and I’m not important enough for you to want to stay?” Raffi shoots back, picking at her nails.

The hand that’s gripping the page of the book in her lap moves quick enough that it rips it before she snaps the book shut loudly. A pang of regret fills her chest at the fact that this is one of Raffi’s books but her frustration takes over everything else.

“Stop putting words in my mouth, Raffi.” Seven stands to walk away. “When have I ever said you aren’t important? If I didn’t want to be here I wouldn’t come.”

“You’ve never said I am important!”

Gasp angst who'd have thought.

Is there a tag you like to search for when looking for fanfics to read?

Only if I'm trying to read a specific fic i've read before. I usually just scroll through all the fics til I find one I want to read again.

Do you like to post fics on a schedule or at random?

Random. Gotta keep you all on your toes you know.

What helps you focus when you write?

Really wish I knew haha.

What is your favorite fic that you’ve written?

This is a hard toss up but it's got to be either Before the Sunrise, Raffaela or Nostalgia

Do you write for yourself, for others, or both?

Both. Writing is cathartic and helps me get out my messy thoughts but also I love sharing things with others.

Why did you start writing fanfic?

To get all these ideas out of my head and to help me mentally.

Which character is your favorite to write?

Hmm...I wonder...

Raffi, of course though Emily will always be my baby too.

Which character is the toughest to write?

Sometimes I find Seven tough from a 3rd person pov, but honestly men are just hard to write lmao

Do you write for multiple fandoms? If yes, what is your favorite fic of yours for each fandom?

Well I've listed my CM and Picard faves already but my Voyager fave is probably A Collective of Four

How often do you read your own fics?

So often lmao.

Do you want to write something outside of fanfiction? If so, what about?

Well me and bestie want to write our AU's into books. Princess and Knight AU and Pirate AU. All wlw of course.

If a movie or show were based on your fic, which fic would you choose and who would you fancast?

All the Saffi fics should be real. Just saying. (Well not all of them...)

What inspires you and your writing?

Stupid dumb characters in my head /affectionate, and talking to others.

Do you research for your fics?

Usually if its needed. And it's usually for small little things.

What fics do you prefer on a scale of canon compliant to wildly original?

Probably in the middle. But I'll read near enough anything tbh.

Do you often write about a relationship or focus on an individual?

I usually focus on one character within a relationship with the relationship surrounding it.

Have you included any sexy scenes in your fics? If yes, do you find them easy or difficult to write?

It depends on the vibe tbh. Sometimes it flows a lot easier than others. I do have to write from a giving position usually though otherwise its hard af lmao.

Is it easier to write angst or fluff?

Angst. I never feel like I get fluff right honestly.

What sort of endings do you prefer to write: ambiguous, bad, happily ever after, etc.?

Happy endings even if everythings gone to shit before. Except Before the Sunrise but that's an outlier. Sometimes I'll do ambiguous or bad but I tend to need the happy endings to make me feel better haha.

How many WIPs do you currently have?

Oh no...I don't even want to count. Ones that are written that don't include multichapters? Maybe 5? MC's and just ideas included thats probably in the teens honestly.

Does anyone beta read or edit your fics?

Bestie Blaine is always the best beta and makes my stuff make sense <3

Is there a fanfic or fanfic writer you recommend?

If I had to choose one fic, it would have to be Foundations. Authors, alreadyaccepted, smol_yellowbumblebee, ericine, daxs10thhost, bimichaelburnham, sleeplessrivers, dolcewrites, fenrisranger, thequeerengineer, sgtmac, falltonadir...okay just everyone in the Saffi/Picard tag okay <3

What led to your interest in the fandom?

My partner got me watching the first season of Picard and there were gays so, the rest is history I guess.

Are non-fandom friends aware that you write fanfic?

I am quite open about it haha.

What is the most impactful lesson you’ve learned about writing?

Reading other people's fics and interacting with them is the best way to enchance your own writing.

Do you like writing short fics or long fics?

I love writing long fics but lately that's been an impossible struggle and I've felt kinda like a failure. Last year I wrote something like 70 fics because I did a lot of drabbles. This year I want to focus on longer fics and I have quite a few ideas stored up.

Do you have a writing milestone you’re working towards?

It depends. Sometimes i can look at a chapter and I'll guess how long it is (and then it'll be longer) but I usually go with the flow.

Any advice for writers working through burnout or writer’s block?

As someone who just got out of burnout, its to try something new. I started With Love, A which is a totally different format from what I've done before and it's really brought me out of the slump. Also talking through things with other people is always great.

Would you ever want to write something canon if you got the opportunity?

I would like to make my own canon someday haha.

Is there a favorite trope you like to write?

Hurt/comfort is my beloved.

If someone were to make fanart of your work, what fic or scene would you hope to see?

Polycule cuddle pile. Which one? I have too many to choose from.

#raines tag game #raines asks #ryn 🦇

2 notes · View notes