#and I'm really curious to see how far I could develop this if I don't give up

[astaroth1357]

My Incredibly Spoiler Heavy Thoughts on Nightbringer

TURN BACK IF YOU HAVE ANY INTEREST IN PLAYING THE GAME AT ALL. I MEAN IT.

Hello. I have completed all 10 lessons on the Normal difficulty. These are my thoughts:

First, a disclaimer. All of this is my opinion. If you feel differently about a character or plot point, that's fine. This is all just as I see it.

Holy hell, I love the setup here so damn much. The Nightbringer story so far is truly more than just a rehash of the OG plot, largely because of all the small stuff that keeps happening in background. Yes, we're befriending the brothers again, but we don't know WHY. Why are we in the past? Who sent us there? What do they want from us, or... what do they want out of somebody else?? 👀 I have to hand it to the writers for coming up with this premise, it's soild. Will they stick the landing...? We'll see.

The New! (Old) Cast

Lucifer:

Whelp, Luci is being colder to us than ever... But far more openly involved with his brothers than we saw previously. You can really tell that this is fresh off of the War and he's just trying his best to keep everybody corralled and (somewhat) comfortable.

He still holds onto his Celestial Realm prejudice against demons, so he doesn't trust MC at all which is an interesting turn on the dynamic from before. As a human, Lucifer saw us as weak and insignificant so he didn't give us much time of day. But as a "demon," and someone more knowledgeable about the Devildom than himself, he has to suck it up and rely on MC even if he wants them to stay away.

By the end of Lesson 10, it's safe to say whatever trust he had in MC is going to be shattered. MC has talked their way out of a lot, but even Dia looks shaken by their abilities this time... I'm curious to see if they can reestablish a relationship with him when he was already keeping them at arms length to start with.

Mammon:

Ah, Mammon... Once simp, forever a simp across time and space. Bless him. I guess he's just doomed to always fall first when it comes to MC. It DOES NOT take long for him to be down bad even if you don't romance him specifically (I would know because I'm trying to stay mono-Levi this go around).

Aside from his tsundere-ness, though, we do get a look into more of his insecurities. I find an interesting pattern developing in him where he just tends to latch onto a person and follow them unfailing. He did that with Lucifer before the Fall, he didn't even think about the consequences before going through with it. You could see him doing much the same with MC. I think it stems from a lack of confidence in himself and his own abilities, constantly relying on others to guide him through big decisions and provide him with validation. Add another poor thing to the list...

Leviathan:

I swear to God, the devs realized that Levi's charm lies in his pathos, so they went out of the way to make him EVEN MORE pathetic than normal. I still love him for it, of course. But seriously, Levi starts out practically afraid of his own shadow when the story starts. It makes sense, Levi would have probably one of the more negative impressions of demons of the seven, having fought them head on. He was a shut in before the War and now he's even more terrified to leave the house, let alone his room... (I can't be the only one who's wondering how the hell Dia's going to look at him and go, "Ah yes! I see Admiral material right there!" right?)

I do like that the writers took the time to show that he's one of the more empathetic brothers, right alongside Asmo and Beel, even if he's bad with people. Levi is quick to sympathize with beings and creatures who don't fit in and it's always very sweet to see. I also guess that Simeon wrote TSL in secret or after the War? You think he would know of it at least having lived so long with the author... Anyway. I digress.

There's a lot of... small things around Levi that I think hint at the inner feelings of the brothers, though (of all seven of them, he has the WORST poker face I swear). I may touch on those in another post because I need time to gather my thoughts on how it all connects there... Anyway, he's still my favorite and I'm going to try to see if there's any truth to this "you get a deeper connection if you stick to one brother" thing. Wish me luck.

Satan:

Okay, load your guns now because I think Satan is the real star of the show here. They're actually pulling way more than the "He's mad because he's seen like Lucifer" card. We're at a point where Satan doesn't even consider himself associated with the brothers AT ALL. That means something and has consequences on the story. He didn't even go with them to check on Beel, despite having enough fire power that he could have probably helped a lot.

Now before someone goes screaming at me that they've devolved him into comic relief, I'd first like to ask what did you think he was going to be? OG Satan told us himself that he used to feel nothing but anger. He's going to be pissed, irrational, and violent. He's Wrath.

What truly they're giving us under all of that is a look into a vulnerable guy who doesn't know anything about the world around him and is trying to pick it up on his own because his brothers can't (and maybe won't) teach him. They keep chaining him up (which I hate btw) and talk about him like he's a beast. But it's partially because they're such terrible communicators that he flies off the handle so often to begin with.

Satan is more alone than really anybody else is the Devildom. His brothers already have all this history together and memories shared during their time as angels, stuff he has no context for and could never experience himself. He's still an outcast among demons for his association with them, despite being a fully fledged demon in his own right, and he doesn't know why he has to be linked to them because he barely knows them anyway. He's taking baby steps to understand the world, but when he goes to his brothers to ask questions they lampshade him for even having clear thoughts. All they see him as is a roaring beast. This version of Satan is fascinating to me. How does he start here and end up the eloquent, emotionally-controlled bookworm with a planet's worth of connections? I gotta know!!

Asmodeus:

They FINALLY started giving Asmo his proper flowers! I still think it could have been more, but he's gotten way more depth than he had before. I know that Asmo part technically involved MC's input the least out of all of the brothers, but I think that was by design.

Asmo is a surprisingly introspective individual under his urge to perform. MC didn't have to give much input because he just didn't need as much. He knows himself very well (unlike some of the others). He's an emotionally intelligent guy who can sort out his own inner problems and remain empathetic enough to want to help his brothers in his own way. I wanted to hear more from this side of Asmo, honestly, but the game seems to make it clear that he's content with his spot of being the family's brightest smile. I hope it makes more appearances as we go on.

Beelzebub:

This one is tricky, because lesson 10 leaves off on a cliffhanger related to Beel... So I think Beel's feelings will have more consequences than the other brothers' on the story. Most of all that we see of Beel is, unfortunately, him being hungry or off being wholesome with Belphie but lesson 10 did give us some eye-openers regardless.

First, apparently if he flies off the handle, Beel is quite the challenge to handle. It takes Dia himself to restrain him, which is pretty insane for the sixthborn in the line-up. It's possible some outside magic is cranking up his power somehow, but we won't know until the next lessons are out.

Secondly, I find it very interesting that Beel's "heart-to-heart" moment with us is being saved for last... It was definitely the most surprising one of the secrets in the teasers (in my opinion). Beel and Belphie are glued to the hip and share everything together so for him to have a secret "not even Belphie" knows is pretty shocking. I hope it's not just that he saved Belphie instead of Lilith since we all already know that. It'd be a pretty cheap pay off to all this buildup... Not that I haven't been disappointed before or anything.

Belphegor:

Similar to Beel, Belphie doesn't get much attention until the end and it isn't much that we haven't heard before, unfortunately. You kind can't blame them, since plumbing out Belphie's inner trauma about the War was the entire climax of the first game. It's nothing we don't already know. That being said, I think there's some more interesting things that are being said about Belphie or left unsaid by the others that I find more fascinating to keep track of.

TLDR, I think there's some weird distancing going on between Belphie and the others. It doesn't seem super apparent, but Levi dropped some weird bombshells early on and I can't help but notice how he just never seems to be without Beel. Those two are close, yeah, but in this game they're practically a unit. I'm pretty sure Belphie is using Beel as a security blanket of sorts. He's also the ONLY one to mention Lilith in any great detail. Unsurprising, but it's worth noting that the others haven't really brought her up despite it (supposedly) starting the War.

Diavolo:

Somebody give this guy a vacation and a raise... So apparently, the brothers were cast down, the old King took one look at them and counted to seven, then conked out. Now our boy has to rule the kingdom. He's... the same really. As far as I can tell. You can really see how much he's taken to the brothers' antics though, which checks out in the other game too.

WAAAY more fascinating to me is apparently there's some kind of body called the House of Lords who think that Dia is too young for the job. What's the House of Lords?? Who are they? Are they like a council or advisory board...? Or is this a UK setup? Is there a Parliamentary board?? I dunno, could just be my Poli Sci talking but I'm now so lost on how the Devildom operates now...

Barbatos:

Oh my God, if there is any character I could live vicariously through, it was Barbs here. For whatever unnamed reason he is NOT having any of Solomon's shit right now and I'm living for it. Setting my delight aside, we don't get to see very much of him and what we do see doesn't really differ from the norm, which only makes his detest all the more shocking.

Through Barbs, we also see just how potent the power of the pacts can be when Solomon summons him and more or less forces him to do as he says. Nothing seems to stop him from retaliating after the fact, as he sent Solomon off who knows where, but seeing that kind of power wielded over a being who's almost unattainable to us is... Well. I feel bad for Asmo.

Simeon:

There's a lot to unpack with Simeon... and a lot of it is in the stuff that goes unsaid. First, I already found it strange that he didn't seem surprised to see Satan in the House. Or if he was, he didn't say it or bother introducing himself which is... telling for a guy like Simeon. He's back to being Luke's minder in front of demons, but I can't help but notice that he doesn't do much to counter Luke's tirades. He only indicates that it's impolite to say them, so he may still harbor the very same feelings.

Simeon and Lucifer have something of a heart to heart together that they never would in the OG title where Simeon admits his biggest regret. It isn't that he didn't follow Lucifer, as we might think, but that he doesn't feel like did enough to reach out to him before he made his decision. Lucifer dispells this, but I think it goes to show that Simeon stands behind his decision to stay and that it was the better option. Lucifer also confront Simeon on why he didn't take a high position (seraph) and instead settled for archangel. It's left open ended what his real motives for that would be, but I suspect that it has something to do with Simeon's troubling streak of going against the grain, even in subtle ways. Or he has too much anger about what happened to accept taking Lucifer's old position.

I found it interesting how easily these two seemed to talk about intimate topics together here where Lucifer barely even acknowledges Simeon's attempts to reach out in the OG story. I wonder what may have happened to sour their relationship so severely...?

Luke:

Luke the Racist Chihuahua returns!! Okay, I'm being a little mean but he's pretty much just self-righteous little kid the whole way through. I will admit, it is a little funny that the person who came up with the nickname was actually Lucifer. I think it's now retconned and confirmed that Luke and the brothers never knew each other before the Fall... though Luke seems to know OF their former selves in some capacity. I could be misinterpreting things though.

The Rat Bastard Solomon:

I swear to God this was me playing through the whole game tied to this guy.

He's lying. A lot. Constantly. And it pisses me off to no end. I was wondering why things he was saying and the stuff he was doing weren't lining up and OF COURSE it's because he's either working his own agenda or being outright deceitful. I hate him so much, y'all, you don't even know...

That aside, as an impartial observer Solomon is pulling a lot of work to support MC and you can TELL how down bad he is for them, which actually has significance for the plot I think. He's keeping them in the dark about something, but considering his feelings I say we can at least be charitable and assume it isn't to hurt them or cause them any suffering... intentionally. He's also as unscrupulous as ever, considering how he ordered a very angry Barbs around and more or less took advantage of a life or death situation to make a pact with Asmo.

So. At the end of the lessons, we're reintroduced to the mysterious Nightbringer. The character who actually sent us back in time at the start of the game. Yeah, it wasn't Barbatos... probably. At least not our reliable neighborhood butler anyway. They seem to be different entities but I THINK they might share some connection....

I have to wonder who disguised MC when they first arrived. The marketing made it seem like it would be Solomon but the marketing has been hit or miss on actual accuracy about the game we're seeing. If it was Solomon, then he had to have known where the MC was before he called. If it was Nightbringer then... well actually. We need to touch on that first.

Nightbringer:

Now, much of this is just me speculating so take things with a grain of salt. Nightbringer's name is blocked out, but it seems like it identified itself to us in the beginning before sending us to the past. It appears like it wants something from Solomon.... to fully corrupt him maybe? And it's using MC as leverage against him.

I suspect that all of the weird stuff that has been happening is tied to its meddling in some way, but to what end is unclear... Sending Levi and MC into TSL, tricking Asmo then trying to feed everyone to a spider, and, likely, whatever is going on with Beel. I can't tell if it's trying to push MC and the brother's closer together, or just making vaguely comical attempts at homicide by fictional characters, spider, and Gluttony incarnate.

The situation with Adam does give us a hint into its nature. It appears to be some kind of dark, trickster being that gives a person what they desire, but never the way they intended. A walking monkey's paw, if you will. Solomon says that Nightbringer made him what he is today, so perhaps he worked under it or is simply under the influence of one its "deals." Their relationship is adversarial, though. When they're speaking, they talk about the two supernatural sides, Angel and Demon, and Nightbringer seems to want to force Solomon to make a choice between them. Lose his humanity, maybe?

I'm not quite willing to say that Nightbringer is a demon just yet, at least not one of the ones we normally encounter. Something about it seems... older. More powerful than that. But we'll have to wait for more info.

My crackpot theory?

Solomon has made a deal with Nightbringer in order to go back in time and do... something. He's after something. Nightbringer agreed, but dragged MC along as collateral for Solomon to get it done within a certain amount of time or makes sure he honors his part of the bargin. Barbatos knows this, either because he is linked to in some way to Nightbringer or saw it happen in the doorway, and is disgusted by his actions but unable to speak about it due to the pact. Or, you know. That's our present Barbie also dragged along for the ride and he's pissed that he's been essentially hijacked and taken away from present Diavolo, but forbidden to speak about it.

#i may do ONE LAST analysis post #over my speculation #and just weird stuff I saw #but after that #it’s back to the normal content #obey me #obey me shall we date #shall-we-date-obey-me #obey me nightbringer #obey me analysis #obey me nightbringer analysis #om spoilers #omn spoilers #obey me spoliers #obey me nb spoilers #obey me nighbringer spoilers

[bloggingboutburgers]

First of, I'm a big fan of your work. I love your comics and art and was happy to hear about the engagement 😁

As for my question, I love writing stories and creating OCs/characters. In your recent comic you called out that the only ace/aro rep always seems to be "the creator said so on Twitter" (a problem with a lot of rep. in media).

So I was curious, if I wanted to create an aroace character (and write a story with them), how could I naturally show them being aroace? Do you perhaps have any idea?

Thank you so much for the kind words!^^

Arguably my complaints are ironic because I myself haven't done proper aroace rep in my own fiction thus far – though I guess I'm compensating for that with my current comics, haha 🙈 But also, I've said it before and I'll say it again cus I'm annoying like that – Bojack Horseman did it, in my opinion, so that gives the rest of the media less excuses I guess.

So, again these are my personal views, and they're possibly demanding, but this would be my checklist for ideal aroace rep:

The aro/ace character needs to... BE a character. Actually have arcs, that matter within the story. Whether they're about being asexual or not doesn't really matter as long as THEY matter as a character.

...Ngl I feel they need to matter BEFORE they're revealed as aro/ace too, and obviously after. If they don't, they'll just feel like a placeholder who's just there to tick a box to me.

The fact that they're aro/ace needs to be addressed and not pushed under the rug or left up to interpretation. Leaving things up to interpretation will have so many people interpret them as allo for sure (just like in real life). And conversely, saying they're aro/ace may spark some curious questions and possibly awkward conversations (just like in real life). (...Again tbh Bojack Horseman was great at doing it naturally. The confusion from the ace character themself, the ace character's friend assuming they're gay because yeah that always happens, the MC having a friendly yet clueless "haha you're lucky that'd save me so many problems if I didn't have sexual attraction"... I could go on.)

By that I also mean... Actually NAMING the orientation at some point. If it's not named people who consume the media and don't know such an orientation exists will be none the wiser. (I'm guilty of that myself tbh. In one of my webcomics I had an alloaro character but never had the orientation mentioned within the story, I left it at showing he has sex and him having a conversation with his family explaining he doesn't have a favorite person because he just can't, but I feel like that's not enough, and I've been feeling a bit bad about it.) A good way of bringing that up fairly naturally would be to have the character figure out their orientation within the story, as a way to have the audience learn alongside them; but it could also be played for drama, which I don't think I've ever seen and would like to dabble with myself at some point – like, imagine you have a friend you hold dear who's key to your personal development and suddenly you find out they see you as sex / romance prospects and not as a friend like YOU do? That'd be crushing but that could definitely make for a good conflict. I should try writing that. I'm rambling anyway. Bleh.

Another thing that, to me, is key to the aro/ace experience is that the character may have some moments of questioning their place in the world. Our world is obsessed with sex and romance and fiction exacerbates that to the point where some characters barely even exist if they don't have romance. This could range from "Do I NEED to even identify myself as something" (again, Bojack Horseman did that great) to "Friendship is the most important relationship to me but not to my friends, what if they all abandon me once they find the one person they consider 'more important'". I dunno. I feel like there could be some interesting storylines there. I definitely would love to dabble into that myself a bit more, though I lack the time and talent – those concepts and the lack of things that are done with it live in my head rent-free.

...Actually I feel it could be good to show aro/ace characters as full of heart (if it fits their personality), having their own feelings and emotions outside of the usual romance spectrum, to show that they're just as human and compelling as the other characters. (...AGAIN Bojack Horseman did that great imo, I feel bad that I'm only ever quoting that show but that's still the best example I can ever think of.) Like – betrayal, loneliness, grief, kinship, literally ANY other form of love than romantic love... We feel all of those too, and those deserve to be addressed in stories just as much (if not more) than the pining or simping that's kinda everywhere.

Oh yeah and speaking of being human... Yeah, human. We need more human aro/ace characters. Making it so that only the aliens/gods/demons/robots/whatever are ever allowed to be aro/ace only serves to dehumanize these orientations.

...IIIII think that's it. I might be forgetting some things I'd wanna add on later but I think that covers everything that would make for ideal rep in my own opinion

#asexual #asexual representation #aromantic #aromantic representation #aroace #hopefully that helps! though again this is personal feelings #i'd be honored if they're shared but yeah #sinank0606

[sparklingchim]

long way home 20 | jjk

pairing: jungkook x reader

word count: 1.5k

genre: dilf!jungkook, friends to lovers, angst

rating: pg 15

warnings: jimin's is very determined to make oc squirt one day💪🏼, jungoo being a sad dilf and questioning his life choices 😔, brief glimpse of jelly jaykay but more sad than angy

summary: the one where you realise that talking to jimin helps you to mend the broken pieces of your heart.

a/n: enjoy some jimin x oc time <3

chapters: 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08|09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 |

masterlist | long way home masterlist

⭒☆━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━☆⭒

"Y/n."

Jimin's gentle timbre engulfs your whole body in comfort.

"Hmm?"

You pull the duvet closer to your bare figure and snuggle up to Jimin.

"Have you ever squirted before?"

You halt mid-motion, sending his curious gaze a questioning look. "No?" you answer dubiously. The grin that sets across his face makes you knit your eyebrows. A short, confused laughter bubbles from your lips. "What are you on?"

"Just -" Jimin's tongue sweeps across his puffy bottom lip. He already has beautiful plump lips and you adore how they look like after you make out with him. "I'd really like to see you squirt. On my face."

Heat rushes into your cheeks. You sink your teeth into your lip to stop you from smiling at his vulgarity.

"What?" Though you can clearly hear the offended undertone that resonates the word, there's only a fond gleam in his eyes when you stare at them. "You don't think I'd be able to do it?"

"No, I'm just wondering how you're still getting indecent thoughts after what we just did. This," - You flick his forehead - "should be all empty."

Jimin grabs your wrist and presses a light kiss on it. "Oh, no no," he says. "That could never happen. The more you give me of yourself, the more my mind is filled with you."

You scrunch your nose. "Stop it."

Jimin laughs at your reaction, trailing a finger along your collar bone.

You both fall into a comfortable silence. When Jimin invited you over you didn't come here with the intention to hook up with him. But it was inevitable. You were watching a movie in his living room and you both couldn't keep your hands off each other. Jimin carried you into his bedroom, and from there, well...You didn't have sex, just...third base.

"I think I should go before it gets too late," you say.

"Or," - Jimin pushes himself up on his elbow, his intense gaze prickling your skin.  - "you could stay." His offer hovers in the air like an unspoken question.

"Jimin."

"Yeah?" He pushes a loose strand of hair behind your ear.

"We agreed not to do anything that might make this,"  - you point a finger at him and you - "look more than just friends."

"That rule is stupid," Jimin utters under his breath. "We are clearly doing things that make us look more than friends."

"Well, then..." You think for a second. "Fuck buddies? Does that sound better?" You grimace at the crude word and Jimin chuckles, his thumb brushing over your cheek.

"I guess it's better than just friends," he answers. "But we also agreed to just do whatever makes us happy, remember?"

You nod. "I know." You lie on your side, looking into his shiny brown orbs as you say, "Don't wanna lead you on."

You don't want this thing - whatever the weird relationship dynamic in your friendship is called - between Jimin and you to develop into something you're not ready for.

Especially because he's your work colleague. You don't want the working climate to get weird because of the two of you.

Jimin frowns when he notices the doubt in your eyes. "I'm not expecting anything from you, princess."

"Just...wanna make sure."

Jimin's voice is a tiny whisper when he asks, "What are you scared of?"

"I'm not ready for a relationship," you confess.

"And why's that?" he asks, careful not to go too far with his questions.

Because my heart belongs to someone who doesn't want me.

You sigh, gaze drifting over Jimin's barely lit bedroom. How are you gonna tell him without mentioning Jungkook?

"It's because of Jungkook, isn't it?"

Your head turns to him. Your eyes are wide at the mention of Jungkook.

"Oh, come on," Jimin chides you. "I'm not a fool, y/n. I've noticed the way you look at him."

You get shy. "I didn't know you knew."

"How could I not? You guys flirted in front of me every morning in the café."

"We didn't flirt," you correct him.

"If there's one things you and Jungkook are, it's definitely acting like you two are more than friends."

"That's not true," you deny, a pout forming on your lips as you think of how Jungkook and you used to be like. You didn't act like a couple. You were just close. Best friends. Nothing more.

"I mean, with the shit he's done, his love for you is kinda questionable, but I think he loves you. A lot."

You shake your hand. "He doesn't love me. Not like that." Not the way you want him to love you.

"Did you ever ask him?"

"Uh, no. Not really."

Jimin sighs dramatically. "You two are beyond hope."

"Don't wanna be with him now anyway," you mumble, nuzzling into the crook of Jimin's neck.

"You should talk to him though." He gently strokes your shoulder. "You can't avoid him forever."

"Just need a little distance from him now." Even though your heart aches every day because you can't see Nabi.

Jimin nods. You can't fathom how utterly warm-hearted he is. Here you are, lying in his bed with him and yet he listens to you talking about Jungkook and your feelings and problems and he's so patient with you. Just listens and gives advice. And it kills you because you don't deserve him. Jimin is selfless and only wants you to he happy and you love him for that. You love him for so many other things.

"Thank you for being so understanding, Jimin. I really don't deserve you." You plant a soft peck on his neck.

"As long as you're happy and comfortable with our arrangement, I am too."

"You're amazing." Placing your hand on his chest you draw little figures on his skin with the pad of your fingertip.

"Oh stop it, or I'll fall in love with you."

You spend the next hour joking and giggling and kissing and cuddling with Jimin.

You end up taking a cute selfie with you lying on his chest, the duvet covering your naked bodies and Jimin's arm around you. And because you love the photo so much you upload it to your Instagram story.

"Y/n?" Jimin whispers into you hair.

"Yes?" you answer absent-mindedly, scrolling through Instagram.

"Do you think you'd allow me to take a picture of your boobs? Y'know, since I'm all amazing and all."

"God, you seriously need to get these horny thoughts out of your head."

~

Jungkook's receives the notification when he's standing in the kitchen.

He had been watching Sora feeding Nabi while he's cleaning the kitchen. Observing attentively as Nabi tries mushroom rice porridge for the first time. The apples of her cheeks high on her face as a smile tugs her little mouth upwards must be proof enough that she likes the taste.

Jungkook clicks on the notification on his phone.

You had added something to your Instagram story. Jungkook doesn't remember when he turned on your notification, but it's been years. He loves seeing your little updates on social media.

His fingers are quick to press on it immediately. You hadn't posted something in a week and Jungkook is desperate to see what you're up to.

Oh wow.

Jungkook blinks several times, not trusting his eyes. Are you ... naked?

He closes the app, still in disbelieve. But then he opens it again and stares at his phone.

Jungkook scoffs.

He feels Sora's eyes on him. "What's wrong?" she asks.

"Nothing," he says, shoving his phone into the pocket of his sweatpants.

Of course you're with Jimin.

He doesn't know why he's so surprised.

Doesn't know why his hands want to punch something and his heart aching for something he never had.

"Jungkook." Sora stands in front of him, Nabi in her arms.

Right. She wanted to take a shower after feeding Nabi. Jungkook hugs Nabi to his chest, her eyes falling shut every few seconds telling him that she's close to doze off.

His anger is momentary forgotten as he takes Nabi to her nursery. He cradles her in his arms, humming a soft melody to sing Nabi into dreamland.

When Jungkook's sure Nabi has fallen asleep he bends down to gently put her in the crib. But then he sees one of your t-shirts lying there and he has to think about the selfie again.

It's okay he tells himself.

You should be happy. And you looked really happy. Incredibly happy. It stings the most, but it's also what matters the most.

Jungkook pulls your t-shirt over Nabi's tiny body. Drops a kiss to her temple and leaves the room.

He runs his hands over his face when he stands in the dark hallway. The muffled noises of the shower make him crave for a long, hot shower.

Getting you to distance yourself from him because of his lies ultimately meant driving you into the arms of another man.

It was inevitable.

He shouldn't feel too miserable about this.

Because Jungkook had never believed he could have you that way anyway.

#jeon jungkook #jungkook #dilf jungkook #jungkook fanfic #jungkook scenario #jungkook x reader #bts #bts fanfic #bts x reader #jungkook angst

[autistichalsin]

Ty for putting Halsin/abdirak in my brain this is a lovely development. May or may not be opening my art program of choice, who really knows (/j I absolutely am drawing something with them)

anyway

I’d absolutely love to hear what you have to say abt them (mainly bc I’ve seen such a wild variety of takes abt abdirak and I’m curious where you fall in regards to him)

Abdirak is such an ambiguous character so it makes sense to me that there'd be a variety of takes!

There was a lore tweet from his writer a while back that he lost his family as a child and was found by a Pain of Loviatar, nearly dead, and taken in. To me, that paints a picture of a somewhat... I don't want to go as far as to say a tragic figure, but there is something tragic about the idea that this child lost his family and was then taken in by a sadomasochistic cult. That would have been an intensely horrible, abusive environment to grow up in (fitting the themes of this game wrt cults).

By contrast, Halsin also lost his family at a young age, but rather than being taken in by an evil cult, "the Grove became [his] family, with Silvanus as [his] teacher." Halsin got a healthy, supportive environment after losing his family, and given his extremely high levels of empathy and compassion, I imagine he'd be aware of just how much not having that shaped Abdirak.

But then we get to the idea of them meeting, and I'm honestly a bit still confused because that requires clearing up a huge contradiction. Basically, some of the goblin leaders are fully aware Halsin is the bear (Gut and possibly Dror Ragzlin as well), while Minthara goes back and forth on either knowing or not knowing (she says she hasn't seen Halsin if the player asks, yet if he dies and the player uses SWD, his corpse HEAVILY implies he was killed by Minthara personally). Did Halsin ever come out of bear form around any of the leaders?

If so, then it is possible Abdirak was brought in to torture Halsin as well as Liam, which would make for interesting interactions. If not, then likely it was solely for Liam, but there's still ways to imagine them interacting- maybe Abdirak took a wrong turn and found his way to the warg pens? Maybe Halsin had been knocked unconscious, reverting back to his elf form and letting them talk?

From there we have a LOT of directions this could go, ranging from dark (what if the Grove is raided and Abdirak talks the goblins into letting him 'keep' Halsin since they don't need him anymore?) to acrimonious (Abdirak torturing Halsin and Halsin deciding that's just one indignity too many to stand) to sexy (Halsin getting turned on and leading to a consensual but confusing encounter) to strangely sweet (them opening up to each other for reasons they're not entirely sure about but that lead them to see something in each other). Maybe a combination of the above.

I have entirely too many thoughts about them considering Abdirak has like 10 minutes of screentime tops lmfao

#halsin #abdirak #halsin silverbough #bg3 #baldur's gate 3

[monsterfuckerconfessions]

Thank you for letting me try again on this, I did, in fact, not save any of what I wrote.

TW: Mentions of religion, specifically christianity.

Everyone likes the Seraphim, but what about the Cherubim? Those guys can get 15 feet or taller! And if I calculated right, their cocks could be around 4 feet long if they have one. I imagine they don't have a gender or sex but can make whatever genitals appear on their body whenever they want. Cherubims are God's right hand entities. They sing for him at his throne and worship him constantly. They have many wings and many hands.

So imagine this. (Excuse any spelling errors)

You're in the woods just chilling and reading a book. You enjoy being away from people and just soaking in the calm cool of the forest.

Meanwhile, a Cherubim I'm deciding to call “The Entity” had been watching you for a while. It decided that you were its favourite human and it started to develop a crush on you. It would spend its very little free time watching you, admiring how adorable you are. But today was a day it decided it really wanted to go down and meet you. The Entity looked around, mass is in a few hours, surely it could make time for you.

You placed your book down, about to go find something else to entertain yourself when with a flash of light, The Entity appeared. But you weren't scared, something told you not to be. You looked up at it in awe, admiring its otherworldly large body and the plethora of wings and arms that cover the horrors known as its face.

With the simple movement of one of its arms, it scoops you up into its hand easily. You your body adapt the the lack of warmth its body produces.

“Hello…” You say nervously. It does a small wave in return with one of its different hands. The Entity wants to talk to you but its voice might corrupt your mind and make you go brain dead. With two of its other hands, it begins picking at your clothes, trying to remove them. It wants to see you in your full vulnerability since you've already seen it. You blush heavily but let it do whatever it wishes.

Unfortunately, it can't make it past your shirt. The Entity points at your body, attempting to ask you to remove your clothes and you strangely understand what it asks. You begin undressing, holding onto the hand that's holding you for support. It strokes your head gently with an index finger as you remove each article of clothing.

When you finally finish stripping down for it, it leans back against a large and sturdy tree and places you on its lap. You watch as four giant hands began moving you around and inspecting you. The fingers are very gentle and curious, they touch you gingerly, being sure not to force entry into any of your orifices. Your breathing quickens and your heart flutters. All you know is that you don’t really mind what will happen next.

New Earthly emotions ignited within The Entity. It’s a strange, sinful emotion that claws into its soul. An emotion that makes it want to take you to its own personal pocket dimension and please you for all of eternity. But instead it slips a pinky finger down in between your legs and begins stimulating you.

You let out a soft moan as the pleasure, feeling the giant finger stimulate your genitals. The pleasure builds up more and more, your lust just pouring out. Something about the experience was far from anything you’d feel when fucking someone or masturbating. It was like with each strike of pleasure your mind would corrupt a little bit more. The world started making less sense and every human concept was starting to become minuscule. You buck up your hips and began thrusting them in an attempt to intensify the grinding but it doesn’t work very well.

After a while you eventually cum, letting out a loud moan. The Entity loves your sounds and wants to hear them for the rest of eternity. It pulls away its hand and happily absorbs your fluids. It peers down at your lewd expression, your human pleasures slowly corrupting its mind. Its attention then moves towards the space between its legs. The Entity doesn’t have a sex but can morph whatever genitalia it wants anywhere it wants. After thinking through the almost infinite options of reproductive organs The Entity could choose, it decided on a penis. It’s something your feeble human mind can comprehend.

It’s dick emerged from between its legs. And oh wow is it a sight to behold. It’s about as long as you are tall, assuming you’re 5’5. It gently picks you once more, flipping you onto your stomach. The Entity them begins thoroughly inspecting your ass. It wanted to try and penetrate your with its dick but decided not to since it doesn’t want to break your fragile body.

“Y-You’re not to put that in m-me, are you?” You ask, still shaking from the mind scattering orgasm you just experienced. It doesn’t speak but you get the vibe that it’s not going to try to penetrate you so you just give a nod. After a few more moments of The Entity letting you recover it lifts you up with one hand and splits your legs open wide with the another. It admires you for a moment before putting you down on its dick.

It’s not trying to push into you somehow but rather just grinding your genitals together. You moan out loudly at the feeling of the giant dick grinding against all of your sensitive parts. You figured it would hurt at least a little bit but there’s no pain and the pleasure is slowly fading away. Everything just feels white, so raw and eternal that you just can’t process it. Have you been here for only a few minutes or years? You can’t remember.

It felt itself becoming more sinfully corrupt with lust and want every time it grinded your body against its dick. At this point The Entity was just using your body as a toy to stimulate it.

You don’t mind. The angelic skin rubbing against yours, it has no texture or shape to you anymore, you have no idea where you even are. Eventually after enough stimulation, The Entity releases. It’s cum is nothing like you’ve ever seen before and the affect on you is like drugs. The shimmery fluid hitting your skin and drenching your body is intoxicating. Its feathers ruffle at the feeling of climax but settles soon enough.

You smile up at your newfound lover, you’ve never understood something so well before. Everything you ever knew before just doesn’t make sense but the angelic being cradling you with two of its many hands is now connected to you. You’ve forgotten your name, all you know is that it loves you, and you love it back. You understand everything about it now, and it understands you.

Words from a language you don’t understand spill from your mouth. “Show me your face.”

It denies, it doesn’t want you to go blind, insane, or both. You nod and cuddle into its hands.

After an unrecognisable amount of time goes by, it sits you up and caresses your face very gently. It’s time to go, but you’ll definitely be seeing each other again. It lays you down on a soft patch of grass. You curl up on yourself as you watch it leave to a place you don’t understand yet.

Bonus: You gasp awake, was it all a dream? Suddenly the real world is starting to make sense again and everything you just experienced is becoming impossible to piece together. You try to grip onto it but it’s gone, but nothing feels right anymore…

Your mind has changed.

You get up, wobbly but able to walk. Eventually people find you. They say things that seem unreasonable.

“Are you okay?”

“Where are your clothes?”

“I’m calling the police.”

“Is that the person on those missing persons flyers?”

“Excuse me? Are you Y/N?”

After the police evaluate you and the hospital gets you cleaned and dressed, you’re interrogated.

“Y/N,” a police officer says. “You’ve been missing for three months…”

That night when you sleep, you thought you’d have a nightmare but instead, a familiar hand gingerly scooped you up.

.

#monsterfucker confessions

[spop-romanticizes-abuse]

Hey! I've kinda been snooping about here, curious about what you had to say, and oh my goodness, you are so right.

You see, I haven't actually watched She-Ra. I've watched a channel react to it (siblings sassing she ra), so I tended to love to hate on it- but I didn't realise how bad it was with Catradora.

I kinda always felt the show treated Adora badly as it is- she doesn't even get a change of clothes, she's stuck in the horde uniform despite leaving the horde? And no, I refuse to believe it's to symbolise her hearts with catra or whatever- they could have at least given her an outfit of her own. And then catra, dear god.

I feel like it could have been far better for them to acknowledge catra having this weird obsession over Adora, and catra trying to destroy her OR date her (as another way of dominating), and Adora acknowledging that it makes her uncomfortable because she sees catra as a sister, and then it also acknowledging that being with adora isn't healthy for Catra either- she deserves someone who she isn't so insecure or angry about, and someone she doesn't have a bad dynamic with. Honestly I would have loved to see it go from Catra thinking she's in love with adora because she sees Adora as hers, but Adora finally setting a boundary and saying "no", and catra and scorpia forming a relationship instead.

I'm sorry to ramble in this inbox, I'll shut up now 😅

don't worry, this inbox is open to rambles!

and yes, everything you said is so right! i wouldn't be complaining if all of this was on purpose. if catra was supposed to be toxic and obsessive, and that's what the writers were trying to convey. but no, the writers and the fans are convinced that catra has changed and c//a is healthy and all is forgiven.

also yeah, catra and scorpia had a good thing going! catra had finally found someone who she wasn't obsessed with but cared about nonetheless. there was actual development between catra and scorpia, but they threw it all away for a toxic incestuous relationship with no development. it's really a pity the writers were so biased, this show could have been something so influential.

#spop critical #spop salt #spop discourse #spop criticism #spop #she ra #anti spop #anti catradora #anti catra #anti c//a #anticatra #anticatradora

[beautifulpersonpeach]

BPP, oh my god, the MHJ New Jean's news?? Do you have any thoughts? That's actually insane! What do you think is going to end up happening with New Jean's?

*

Ask 2:

Have you read about what’s happening with Ador and Hybe? What do you think?

*

Ask 3:

The TEA today about Ador Ceo was sad but not surprising. BTS is the story of betrayal by outsiders.

I was surprised when Tae worked with HER for his album. I didn't see that collaboration coming.

I have to wonder if she purposefully misled Tae into a "mid" album. Look, Layover isn't a bad album but its not a masterpiece regardless of what Tae solos believe.

The results are so different between albums like JITB, Astronaut, DDAY, Indigo, Face and Layover its crazy. The depth/personal experience reflected in those albums is undeniable while Tae's was all surface.

Golden is departure and its own thing. JK went for global popstar and achieved/ate!! His choreo reflected his status as part of 3J and his vocals were on display. Gorgeous!!! (Had to add that in because in this house we don't leave out members)

I feel bad for Tae today realizing he worked with a traitor. I will always wonder what he could have released if he had just worked with the Bighit team instead of Ador Ceo.

Maybe you have more insight into all this?

*

Ask 4:

Sooo... what are you thinking about this inter-hybe conflict between belift and ador? I know you're a nj fan but I think I've also heard you say that people are too quick to call things a nj copy, so I'm curious what you think about mhj's claims. I'll be honest that I thought that what I've seen so far seemed kind of unhinged-main-character syndrome to me but I also don't follow these groups and don't know how deep this goes. Certainly, I think mhj has been very deliberate and successful in building nj's brand, but I found this public argument unnecessary and potentially damaging to both groups. What kind of fallout do you expect?

*

Ask 5:

Bpp! Thoughts on the Min Heejin Hybe mess? I thought we were done with the corporate drama but tuns out no!

***

There's really nothing to say... yet.

News leaked that HYBE has leveled some allegations and accusations at ADOR, most likely based on a tip off, and launched an audit to ascertain if these allegations are true - in HYBE's statement confirming the audit, they don't name the people accused, but the news leak makes a point to name Min Heejin specifically, keeping the name of the VP who is accused of committing the acts unknown.

Min Heejin has responded in an exclusive interview and statement by ADOR, that she's innocent of most of the accusations and that this dispute started because HYBE has refused to curb inter-label plagiarism of her ideas with NewJeans. She refers specifically to Be:lift's new girl group Illit, noting how everything from choreography to visuals to styling to sound is based on her ideas, without proper attribution to her from Belift, nor an apology for what she calls blatant theft of concepts she's developing at ADOR. She accuses Bang PD of being complicit and prioritizing short-term profit over long-term viability of the new groups he's pushing out.

There are reports (unconfirmed) that HYBE has called for Min Heejin to resign. If ADOR doesn't call for a shareholder meeting by tomorrow, HYBE has indicated they might sue. The fact the meeting is being called before the audit is concluded, has all the hallmarks of a textbook corporate power play move, and implies to me something else than what I'm seeing most people here allude to. But still...

--

...there's nothing to say because what we're seeing is the middle innings of a power play game. There's simply too little info to make any decisive statements.

I immediately get a headache whenever things like this happen in k-pop because, even for more innocuous subjects, there's nobody more mind rotted than the average k-pop stan. And before long we'll have people whose only experience with executive/corporate power struggles is watching Succession, giving us endless takes in endless discourse. And this particular discourse is going to be more annoying because (1) Min Heejin is a woman who is already widely disliked, (2) There's an overwhelming amount of intersectional motives and interests both within and outside HYBE given the nature of the dispute, which typically leads to people infusing moral language into the discussion. It's going to be the HYBE-Kakao-SM discourse on steroids (and even in the HYBE vs SM drama, we had far more information to go on that what's available in this case).

I mean... Anon 3, you're already convinced this is a story of "betrayal", and claiming she is a "traitor", and you're tying a corporate power struggle to BTS. Not like I'd expect to see anything less from most other people to be honest.

This is really a dispute between Min Heejin and Kim Taeho (Belift's CEO), with increased grievance due to Taeho supposedly enjoying Bang PD and Park Jiwon's support and Heejin, supposedly, not.

The fallout, predictably, is going to be nasty. Given all the above. NewJeans is slated to have a comeback next month, Illit is only just ramping down debut activities while ENHYPEN is just starting the final leg of their FATE+ tour. If HYBE is indeed demanding MHJ resign, it's likely they only mean for her to resign from the CEO role but remain as the Creative Director of NewJeans - because the reality is that if there is no MHJ, there is no NewJeans. And it's that reality that in my view, is the primary leverage MHJ has. And she doesn't strike me as the sort to bluff. The worst case scenario is she leaves HYBE completely and NewJeans is put on hiatus, or the members sue to break their contracts with HYBE to follow her while she courts outside investors, similar to the Fifty Fifty situation.

Inter-label competition and drama is expected in a company like HYBE, it's wonderful because it can yield truly incredible results and unique approaches, but also potentally horrible because it can result in cases like MHJ's vs HYBE. There are ways to properly manage this competition to prevent the latter case, but I can't say I've seen any indication that with Jiwon nor Bang have done so. I said above that MHJ leaving HYBE completely is the worst case scenario for NewJeans, but it looks like the scenario most preferable for certain parties given it's one of the only viable outcomes from having this news broken this way. And so, most likely to happen. Unless Bang PD develops some hitherto unseen business acumen... so yeah I'm not holding my breath.

I have nothing insightful to add. My opinions about the suits at HYBE and Bang PD's business decisions for the last 2 years have skewed mostly negative, and that's not changed in this case. I'd rather not share my full opinions because I feel they run contrary to the dominant talking points here, and partly because they're not fully formed and nobody here is paying me to fully develop a view. I'm really not going to do that work for free.

We're all just going to have to wait and see.

What I will say though and something I find particularly interesting, is that HYBE has been accused of what Min Heejin is alleging, since at least the start of last year. Also, Belift in particular has been accused of plagiarism since the start of the year, twice, on issues unrelated to NewJeans. The first was when 'mobiius_music', an indie music producer on Instagram, accused them of lifting his music almost bar for bar for ENHYPEN's 2023 GDA dance break. The second was when Kelley Sweeney, an American choreographer who shares her routines on Instagram and tiktok, accused Belift of using her choreography for Illit's pre-debut practice without credit. Both times it was for low-level offences as it wasn't related to official music releases or album content, and so in that way Belift is better than bigger and more known agencies, but it still reflects a lax vetting process in the best case and unethical creative practices in the worst.

Anyway, my concern is for the artists involved while the suits try to play god with their careers. I can only hope that whatever happens is only the best possible outcome for all involved.

#newjeans #min heejin #bang pd #park jiwon #kim taeho #belift #hybe #kpop #ador

[sidsthekid]

sid was on this episode of 32 thoughts as part of the player media tour! his interview starts at 33:55.

here's a script under the 'keep reading' if you want to check it out! sorry beforehand for any typos, i used premiere pro to transcribe this and tried to do my best at proofreading.

my personal favorite tidbit from sid:

"...So it's, you know, it's just constantly learning. So I've always had that mentality, and I think that's an important one. And, you know, when you have the passion for it, when you love it, that comes pretty easy."

Jeff Marek: Sidney Crosby. It was the summer of the Pittsburgh Penguins. It was the summer of Kyle Dubas. It was a summer of Erik Karlsson and all eyes are on your team to kick off the season. How do you feel about that?

Sidney Crosby: I'm okay. It's for a different reason than maybe other years. I mean, you know, there's been a lot of turnover, like you said, and coming off the last year where we just let it slip there late. It was disappointing, but we should be a motivated group because of that and then because of all the changes like you mentioned.

Elliott Friedman: So I'm curious the the night you flew in, I guess, to meet with Dubas, is that- is that is that not true then?

Sidney Crosby: No. So what happened was, is he was coming to visit and I had just got back from vacation and it just happened that I was coming back into town for a day or two that said that he was, you know, going to the practice rink. So I just happened to be there at the same time and had the opportunity to meet him. But it wasn't like some- it was really last minute.

Elliott Friedman: You've rolled your eyes a lot at me over the years. That was a good one.

Sidney Crosby: Yeah, I didn't- I didn't fly in like it was actually the way it worked out. It was perfect. I was literally home for, like, an hour. He had me go to the practice rink, so it worked out well. I could go, you know, meet him and say hi. And at that point, nothing was for sure. I think he was just trying to check things out, get a lay of the land and take a look.

So it wasn't- it was far from, you know, being permanent and it just worked out well. It was nice to get a chance to talk to him. And, you know, I didn't know at that point, but I was glad I had the opportunity to meet him.

Elliott Friedman: What was the most interesting thing he either asked you or said to you?

Sidney Crosby: It's hard to pick one. I think he was just trying to see where I was at, just as what I thought, you know, with the season, you know, it was pretty fresh at that point. And I think, you know, as people in hockey, everyone has their own opinions and you're not there, you're not in it. But I think he just wanted to see how I felt and where I thought, you know, the team was at.

And I think coming off the season that we did, obviously it was- it was so disappointing. And I still felt like we were pretty competitive. And for the most part, we pretty good. We struggled in our division against, you know, the Islanders and Carolina. I think we lost every game against those two teams. But you take those games away and, you know, we were right there and once you get anything can happen.

You saw Florida. So as tough as it was, I was still pretty optimistic about our group and thought we weren't far off. So I don't know how he took that, but he seemed pretty encouraged, too, and seemed to see see the same same way.

Jeff Marek: How do you see Kyle Dubas as your general manager? You've had a number of general managers. When you started there Craig Patrick, who was the general manager Ray Shero, Jim Rutherford, etc., how would you compare Dubas to all the other managers you've had?

Sidney Crosby: I'd say he's probably like the most new age when you when you think of a GM and just with all the analytics and all the development stuff that goes into organization. You know, obviously being a part of the Leafs, there's lots of opportunity to add to staff. And you know, you look at there, you know, every staff really and training staff and medical and development, everyone that's there it's a huge organization and they really had every opportunity to kind of build that.

And he was a big part of that. So it's just cool. Like for me, I've seen hockey evolve. You know, you go from one strength coach 2 to 3 and, you know, all the sports science and all the development roles and player development and everything that goes into that. So I think he's somebody who is constantly trying to add to that and be ahead of the curve.

And I think he's brought that approach, not that the other guys didn't, but I think that's been something that's really been his specialty from, you know, from coming from there.

Jeff Marek: We always focus so much on what's different, what's different. This is change is to change. This is- this is different. The one I broke in. But from your point of view, like what is the one constant in your hockey life, whether it's training, whether it's whatever it is. Is there one thing that, you know, going back to my first game in Rimouski to you know, last year at the end of the season, this is non-negotiable. I always do this. This is the same.

Sidney Crosby: Yeah, I think you just got to learn. I mean, you got to learn, you got to evolve. So that's that's how I look at it. I mean, there's things that, you know, I believe in that helped me when I was younger player that I feel like I still need to do and and then there's other things where, you know, you have to find a way to evolve and and learn from, you know. Whether it's things you've done well in previous years or not done so well.

And as you age, managing, you know, your energy a little bit and, you know, trying to find that balance. So it's, you know, it's just constantly learning. So I've always had that mentality, and I think that's an important one. And, you know, when you have the passion for it, when you love it, that comes pretty easy.

Elliott Friedman: I reached out to just some of your teammates that are going to be talking today, and one of them said, I don't know if I've ever seen him as pissed off as he was at the end of last season. What pissed off Sidney Crosby last year?

Sidney Crosby: How it was just such a struggle for us to find consistency. You know, at one point I think we won seven in a row, then we lost seven in a row. As a guy that's been in different situations to get into the playoffs, I mean, I've been the situation where you're first all year and you just ride that into the playoffs and then, you know, the year that we won in 16, it was like we were out of the playoffs and then went on a great run and had momentum going in and just caught fire.

This was a new a new situation for us. We were kind of chasing it right from early on, but we had put ourselves in a spot to get it, you know, like it wasn't like, you know, it was a miracle. We needed- I mean, we needed to win our last two games and, you know, to get to go through all that, all the ups and downs and to be in a position to, you know, to get in and not be able to find a way.

That's something we had done in years past. And we didn't do it this time. So that was frustrating. And there's nothing better than playing the playoffs. I mean, at this point that's the most exciting thing. I mean, you get up for the matchups throughout the regular season and you have that motivation. But playoff hockey is just that's why you play.

You just crave that, you crave that atmosphere, that environment and the opportunity to win the Stanley Cup.

Elliott Friedman: Last one for me. There's someone who said to me that they really think that what the NHL needs is you and Connor McDavid on the same team playing for Team Canada. That's what this sport badly needs. I want to ask you what you thought about that.

Sidney Crosby: Yeah, I mean, any opportunity we can get to play for Canada and you know, he's mentioned a ton of times the best on best seeing, you know, seeing that, seeing all the other countries. You know, you look at their their lineups. I mean, it's pretty tight. I mean, there's no real favored team. I mean, it's easy to say Canada because we've had success, the Olympics and and that sort of thing.

But I mean, the hockey is incredible. And from my experience, it doesn't really get any better than that. When you're looking at the lineups and you're looking the players that are assembled and, you know, any opportunity I can get and it's too bad it hasn't worked out for a while here, but it's looking like that could change. So, you know, that'd be awesome.

Elliott Friedman: Who moves to the wing?

Sidney Crosby: I'll go there, haha.

Elliott Friedman: No, you're supposed to say he goes there! No, he goes there, you're supposed to say he goes there!

Sidney Crosby: Haha. Listen, I’ve skated with him. And I've played both. I think I'm good either way with playing center wing. Whatever he wants to do, he can carry the mail. I'll just. I'll find the find the open- the open spots.

Jeff Marek: That's right. Let me wrap this up by asking a question about a big picture question here. One of the great things about hockey is it can be kind of vague. It's not really black and white. I am curious now that you've been in the game for so long, have an expanded vision about it. What confuses players is what confuses you about the game, What confuses your teammates about the game?

Sidney Crosby: I would say maybe just suspensions. I think that, you know, maybe, you know, penalties are always going to be like that. We're always going to question, you know, what we saw. It's so easy with replay. We can, you know, dissect it. But I would say, you know, it's it's still something where you see a highlight, you see a clip and you don't know the range of a suspension.

You don't know whether it's going to be a suspension or not. That's that's how I feel. I know it's not an easy job for anybody, but yeah, I still feel like there's a bit of a gray area there. And, you know, I don't think anyone's ever going to agree on length or, you know, that sort of thing or what the intentions were on a play.

That's always going to be debatable. But I'd like to think that we can get a little bit closer to what it is exactly. And and maybe what the what the punishment is.

Jeff Marek: Great player, a great thinker of the game. Sidney, thanks as always for stopping by.

Sidney Crosby: All right. Thanks for having me.

#great stuff #i bet a video will come out soon #sidney crosby #just a kid #pittsburgh penguins #hockey

[exhausted-archivist]

Concept Art Moments and Ideas: What I Wish Was Kept

Pretty sure we've all been there. Seen some of the concept art and thought how cool it was and how much you wish it had made it in the final game. These are some of mine, I won't go too much into why they're not in the game, the answer is usually either one of the following or a combination of: they needed to narrow the scope of the project, frostbite was a new engine they were struggling to make do what they needed, time, they didn't feel it had enough narrative weight or purpose, or it would make the world states branch out far too much.

I'm not really wanting to discuss whether or not I agree with cutting them either. I just really think these are neat concept, ones I've thought out how they would fold in, possible ways they could have played out, and some that personally I have worked into my fic just to fully explore the ideas.

Most of the images that don't have a source link came from either the art book or the BioWare Stories and Secrets From 25 Years of Game Development (B25) book.

Now lets start with the most common one:

[Source]

I'm know others have said this, but I really wish that it had been feasible for you to become Divine. Though, honestly this only would have really worked as decision at the end of the series. While personally in my canon world state I don't have anyone I would want to put in that role. I do have an OC who I did design for that and would have been nice to see it play out. Especially come Trespasser.

These are story boards from the art book of the prologue walk through Haven. The voice lines for this are still in the game files even though they're cut. Something I always wanted in the prologue was something to actually motivate me. There is no real sense of danger, and the walk through Haven hold no real weight. It's mostly telling and no showing, it feels hollow after your first play-through where you aren't curious and uncertain. It honestly would have been interesting to me if this was in there and if there were non-standard ending option outside of combat. Provoking the scared survivors to where they mob you, a timer on the mark instead of just the one check point. If it started draining your health the longer you took to get to the Breach. Things that could easily be removed if you decreased the difficulty level and wouldn't impact the game overly much.

[Left Dragon Age Art Book, Right World of Thedas vol. 2 p. 245]

To continue on with my desire for the steaks in Inquisition to be more intense, for you to actually feel some type of risk or hostility from the world. These two are more of an expansion on the attack on Haven. I wish Corypheus was given a more dramatic entrance than being seen on the hill with his Commander. That when he arrived to scoop you up, that it was more ominous and threatening. Something to illustrate as him having this overwhelming presence and force.

In Hushed Whispers had the concept art of King Alistair going with you and honestly, I feel like it is a missed opportunity. Not only would it make sense but there is a sort of thematic element with Alistair once again having to save Redcliffe from a mage. I think this also could have worked if he was king or warden. If he was a warden, it would have been a very nice way to tie in the Warden plot for Alistair and even Loghain. Would have really given the Inquisitor a reason to care about choosing between them or Hawke in the Fade.

[Source]

Matt Rhodes labeled this as Anders in the tags, and I am really intrigued by this prospect. We know by the end of DA2 if he's alive he doesn't have many friends with the displaced mages of Kirkwall after awhile. It would have been nice for him to come back in that Warden role they were considering for the cancelled Exalted March DLC. But what really makes me curious, is why he's out in what we might think is the Western Approach/Hissing Wastes and what happened to his missing right arm.

Alternatively, another scenario I would have liked to see with Anders comes from the B25 book. We see they explored the idea of Anders, as a Grey Warden in the cancelled Exalted March DLC. Honestly, I feel as if he would return regardless of if you killed him or not because we know that Justice can and has prevented fatal injuries from killing Anders before. This could have been an interesting thread to not only pull his story to an end in dai, but also introduce the Warden contact instead of the ones we had. Because he was on the run and the Wardens would offer a degree of protection so he would be unwillingly forced to return, couple that with him knowing of Corypheus - which would likely be the thing that forced the Wardens to keep him alive once they found his prison empty.

[Source]

This is Western Approach concept art, specifically this was suppose to be Adamant. Matt Rhodes describes that it was suppose to be a monastery, self-sustaining, and a place where they could cultivate their own food, weave their own fabrics. It would have been interesting to be able to see it like this, to see the game use this to not only explore how the Wardens survived out here but also how they recovered the fortress after it was wrecked in Asunder. It would have tied in nicely with exploring the fact that the reversal of Tranquility was found here, a fact known to everyone in game at this point (they just didn't know the Seekers hid it from the Chantry and mages). It would have been an excellent way to fold in Rhys, Evangeline, flesh out Cole's backstory and personal quest, and even show another side of the mages - the ones who didn't want to be involved in the war and fled to the Wardens.

Two Words: Giant. Scorpion.

Look how massive that is. I love mega fauna so much. I want something massive to be living in the Hissing Wastes and I want this to be fighting dragons. It would have been amazing. Look at the boards they put out.

[Source]

I want to believe this is for the Western Approach given the ground type and the smoke in the background. If this thing was guarding the sulfur fields by Griffon Keep? It would have been epic. Or even if we saw it fighting the Abyssal dragon. Honestly, I think more areas should have had a competing predator for the dragons to be fighting. It would have been cooler if they kept great bears (previously known as Dragon Bears) at their massive size to fight a dragon in the Emerald Graves too.

[Source]

That said, this scorpion concept gets even better when you see the concept art for smaller versions being Venatori mounts.

How do you not get stabbed bud? How do you domesticate/train this? What is the intelligence of this little critter? I can just picture a play on the scorpion and the frog happening here. This would have been really cool as mini-bosses or something of that nature. Particularly around the ruins, Venatori operations, or raids against the keeps.

Another piece from B25, we see new concept art of the Inquisitor leaving Skyhold with the Inquisition as Skyhold is destroyed in the background. We learned from David Gaider that at one point Skyhold was actually suppose to be attacked by Corypheus, but it ended up being cut due to time/scope. This is something I wish they kept, having your second base attack, you home at the point where you felt the strongest and potentially after a recent victory.

It would have reminded the player that Corypheus and his commander, Calpernia or Samson, were a real and active threat. Something missing from Inquisition honestly. It would have been interesting to see if we had to find a new base of operations or if we had to rebuild. When first settling in Skyhold everyone mentions being able to see the enemy coming, about not retreating from Skyhold. They really built up an expectation that at the very least a scare of an attack would happen.

There would have been a sort of poetic sense to Skyhold being leveled. Considering it is of Fereldan make, built on top of a leveled elven site. To have the site once again leveled, the history brought back to its foundations. It would have been a thematic foreshadowing to what Solas plans to do as well.

These are clearly just things I found interesting, things I feel would have really added to the game, and some others might not agree with. There are other things I wish they hadn't cut, but I didn't want to include anything that has been post-humorously mentioned by the devs because I wanted to focus more on the concept art aspect. A lot of decisions were shaped by circumstances we'll never really know the full scope of, and sometimes I wonder if they had gotten more than the 3-4 years they had for Inquisition and maybe on an engine that wasn't so fickle and worked better for the style of game how different it would have been.

#dragon age #dragon age inquisition #dai #dragon age concept art #cw insect #cw scorpion #cw blood #wishlist of my heart #what could have been #long post #archi is yelling into the void

[zykamiliah]

Hey, sorry to bother you, but I've been seeing something in the fandom that kind of confuses me, so I'm leaving this ask to my favorite svsss blogs.

I've been trying to get more into Shen Jiu's character, as he is pretty interesting and arguably a fan favorite, and I've noticed that, so far of the fanfics I've read, he is more often than not depicted as a good teacher. A harsh one, but still good? Or not terrible?

One that likes teaching, is involved with his students, taking the little of what we've seen of Shen Yuan's teaching methods and just, giving them a twist, "improving" them even sometimes.

Often it ends up being a show of how Shen Yuan was clumsy, not that good of a teacher (or of a Shen Qingqiu) and I'm... Kind of confused by this trend? Like, is it rooted in canon? Obviously this is still more interesting to read than the "SJ is just a tsundere that never did anything wrong ever" thing, but it feels kind of similar.

I cannot imagine a character as genuinely bitter and angry as Shen Jiu enjoying being a teacher, having a nurturing bone in his body or even being hands on in the teaching of his disciples, several of which he literally bullied out of his peak. But maybe it's just me and I'm wrong?

Was Shen Jiu a good teacher?

I guess I'm just curious of where it comes from. I like Shen Yuan's character, and it often feels like people take Shen Jiu's to show how bad at everything SY is, even if it isn't consistent with SJ's character and often lack nuances, in my opinion.

(Or even if the story claims loving SY while also stripping him away of everything that makes him interesting other than his obliviousness, but that's a whole other thing.)

Sorry again, and I also apologize for the long ask, I'd just figured you or someone that follows you might have an answer.

(Also, I get that fandoms gotta fandom, and I'm not saying people shouldn't write it or anything, I may be a strickler for canon but I'm not the police. Write what you want. I just wonder where it comes from, as I figure that knowing its origins might help me in the future, but I promise I'm not trying to start discourse or anything, so I hope I've made my point clear enough without offending anyone.)

hello!! :DD

well sj being ooc in fics is a common thing by now. people tend to portray him softer than he's in canon, to the point it sometimes turns his whole character upside down. in extreme cases, you'll be dealing with a bitter, more tsundere version of sy with sj's backstory, which is secretly what many people want IMO lol often this people also perceive sy as an incompetent dumb nerd that only knows about monster lore and has no other skills or abilities aside from that-- essentially, they fall for the unreliable narrator's trap of believing every lie he tells about himself.

it's never outright stated, but sj didn't like children, so is fair to assume he didn't like teaching or caring for them either. taking into account qing jing peak's toxic atmosphere pre sy's transmigration, AND the fact that sj was paranoid about being overthrown since he hadn't developed a golden core even after becoming a peak lord and taking lbh in, I don't think he'd be interested in teaching anyone anything. in a lot of cultivation novels, disciples are just given manuals and left to self-study them (like he let lbh use the fake manual, expecting lbh would die from using it. haha. such a good teacher!). this could be the case. aside from that, I don't personally think sj would want to provide any kid guidance. and that's not mentioning how he allowed and enabled bullying, targeted talented disciples, and overall was more worried about his own cultivation and survival and reputation than other things or people.

so where this fanon sj comes from? I'm not sure, really, but I think some people just want a version of him that's palatable AND defensible, like my friend furby says, a declawed sj that's just a poor misunderstood meowmeow who deep inside is secretly good and nice. it's a thing that people who struggle with liking "villainous" or "morally bad" characters do: twisting the narrative around to justify this character's actions. It doesn't help that he's SO complicated, and people who have very black-and-white thinking struggle to place him in either side of the spectrum-- it's the problem mxtx outlined through sqh and sqq's voices

ch.14 house arrest

ch.19 shen jiu

really, the fandom has just proved mxtx's point xD

anyway, there's a lot of misconceptions about sj. there are some pretty wild theories around. some fans also treat his abuse as The Worst Abuse in comparison to the Child Abuse he did, because of the (unconfirmed) hints that sj was sexually assaulted by qiu jianluo, as if SA is the worst kind of abuse and child abuse falls back on the tier-list ¯_(ツ)_/¯ because obviously anything that involves sex in inherently worse, apparently

in other cases, people are simply more familiar with the fanon version of the characters, and that's who they portray in their writing. after all, many people read the novel once and then go on to read dozen of fics; it's normal the fanon sticks more on the brain than canon (not judging! it happens to me as well lol) and those fanon versions are more popular because, as i said, this version of sj is more morally palatable (and bland and less fun ┐(︶▽︶)┌)

thank you for the ask!! :DDDD ❤️❤️❤️ i love receiving asks~

#svsss #svsss meta #shen jiu #original shen qingqiu #zykamiliah-svsss #ask zy

[nepentheisms]

Trimax Volume 8 has one of my favorite Vash quotes in it.

"Only the victims of violence can truly describe its essence."

Really, this whole exchange with Knives that happens in the first chapter of this volume sounds very Buddhist in its language. I'll do my best to parse out some of the concepts I think are at play here, but I should make it clear that I do not have as extensive a personal history with Buddhism as I do with Christianity. I was raised Christian growing up, but my experience as a Chinese-American kid with immigrant parents meant a lot of early childhood exposure to works of fiction with Buddhist themes (think Journey to the West). Also, because we lived in an area with a sizeable population of east and southeast asian immigrants, I developed a surface level familiarity with Buddhist iconography and terminology thanks to friends who were raised Buddhist and regular encounters with Buddhist artwork in local businesses. The rest of my knowledge comes from informal self-study. If anyone out there has more relevant experience in this field, feel free to correct me if I get anything wrong.

Here we go: LONG POST AHEAD

What first caught my attention was Knives' word choice - "I was enlightened." I'm curious what word in the Japanese text was translated as "enlightened" here. A lot of foundational Buddhist literature was written in Sanskrit, and the Sanskrit word that is often translated into English as "enlightenment" is bodhi. This word carries connotations of waking up and coming into awareness and knowledge. In Japanese, the words I've seen for this concept are satori and kenshō.

According to Thomas Cleary, who translated many pieces of Zen Buddhist literature throughout his career, kenshō is the "Zen insight into the essence of one's own being," and satori is "complete kenshō" (1) . Kenshō is written using the Chinese characters 見 (jiàn) which means "see" and 性 (xìng) which means "nature" or "character." This is of particular interest for the above panels, because Knives is saying his pain "revealed [his] true self," and he wants humans to likewise look within to confront the reality of what they are.

Now, at this point in the story, it's pretty clear that Knives' ideas about both who he is and the nature of humanity as a whole are flawed. He's insisting that he has attained enlightenment - some transcendent insight into reality - but from a Buddhist perspective, he's very far off the mark because his mindset was skewed from the start. In fact, Vash gives a keen diagnosis of how Knives is going wrong when he says "We've suffered, but you bottled it up, keeping yourself from feeling the pain and never finding the true source of it." Vash's point is that after obtaining the knowledge of humanity's capacity for evil, Knives only sought to avoid further pain at all cost instead of seeking a deeper understanding of how he's been hurt. The conclusion Knives drew was "the fundamental nature of humans is that they are a threat to me, and they are my inferiors. If they cause pain to me, it is because of their inherent evil, and the only way I can eliminate the potential for suffering is by killing them all." But contrary to Knives' perspective, the path out of suffering in the enlightened Buddhist perspective isn't through forcibly imposing your will on the rest of world until you've destroyed everything that could hurt you.

Instead, Buddhism considers dukkha (suffering) the first of the Four Noble Truths and emphasizes that we should accept the reality that as finite beings in a world constantly in flux, unpleasant emotions and experiences will always find us. There always will be elements outside of our control, but we don't have to allow the hurt they cause to create persistent negative states of being. What we need to do is to not run away from suffering but to understand the cause of it (find "the true source of it" as Vash says) and develop an awareness of how it arises within us - this is the second Noble Truth, called samudhaya. In Buddhism, the origin of suffering is linked to desire and attachment, and Buddhist philosophy posits that by following the fourth Noble Truth, known as the Noble Eightfold Path, the practitioner can experience the third Noble Truth, nirodha (cessation of the desires giving rise to suffering).

With the way Knives currently is, this cessation is something that'll be out of reach for him even if he succeeds in his goals, because he hasn't reckoned with the fear and need for control that is motivating him. He can't complete the path to enlightenment, because his view of the path is obscured by self-delusion. Knives constantly acts as though his goals and feelings are the only ones that matter, but suppose he does realize his vision and kill every human being on the planet. What then? Isn't he effectively alone since there is no one else around that he considers his equal? And where does all the hate and fear that he has purposely cultivated for over a century go? It's doubtful that he'd be able to let go of his attachment to such emotions so easily.

(1): The Thomas Cleary book I'm referencing is Kensho: The Heart of Zen

#trigunbookclub #trigun meta #religion mention #trigun maximum #oof writing is hard y'all

[thatgirl4815]

Intimacy (Ep4)

So there is a lot of behind the scenes work happening in this episode, diving into character histories and further developing how they've come to find themselves in the relationships they're in. All of these details will likely play a large role in how each couples' bonds deepen or widen.

RaySand

Ray's behavior gets a lot of context this episode, particularly in regards to Mew, who he is still crushing on. Because this is such a big plot point this episode, it has a lot of subtle implications for Ray's burgeoning relationship with Sand. Forgive me while I go on a tangent about Ray...

It's become clear--and I think Ray himself even realizes this--that Ray's feelings for Mew are more about the role Mew can fulfill rather than the person Mew really is. How many times does Ray say "No one loves me" in that opening scene? Ray needs so desperately to feel that someone loves him, and he's grown accustomed to being called a brat and a burden because he sees himself that way too.

Ray tells Mew that he isn't looking for a real relationship, but he seems to crave one. I think though that if Ray did date Mew, he would find himself in a similar situation as what he is (eventually) going to find with Sand: having someone love him is all he wants, but the threat of that person leaving him is worse than receiving no love at all. The thought of having Mew return his feelings is perfect because it's just a fantasy--a reflection of what he needs to feel whole again.

Ray turns back to Sand to distract himself from Mew, but Ray's relationship with Sand is going to show him what happens when the fantasy of being loved by someone becomes a reality. Being loved means acknowledging all of the hurt and pain that Ray has likely worked so hard to suppress in the years since his mother's death.

Ray and Sand are edging closer and closer to the edge of the "feelings" abyss, and at the moment, Sand is still the only one who seems aware of it. They've already developed an intimate relationship physically, but small gestures like this reflect the emotional intimacy they're working towards. That's what could end up destroying both of them.

TopMew

Top and Mew make more headway as far as physical intimacy this episode, but their emotional intimacy has taken a few steps back from the steady incline it's been on so far...Mew just doesn't know it yet. The trust they have in one another is going to be put to the test again and again as Top tries to conceal the truth about his hookup with Boston.

While I admire how strongly Mew holds to his convictions, particularly where sex is concerned, something still feels missing from their relationship both emotionally and physically. I can't decide if it's intentional or not. If it's intentional, perhaps it's meant to reflect that all is not as it seems between them, that there are still substantial barriers they'll have to overcome to make their relationship work (trust issues, for one). Part of it might also be that we have witnessed Top try again and again to win Mew over, but Mew still seems resistant in any case. Again, I don't blame him given Top's reputation, but even when he opens up, Mew still comes across extremely guarded, almost as if he isn't completely sold on being in a relationship at all.

This might just be my take on it. I'm curious if anyone else feels similarly. I want to be invested in Top and Mew's relationship, but the very obvious cheating and lying going on is making it difficult for me to anticipate a happy ending, and it casts a cloud over their intimate scenes already. (Again, probably intentional. I'm anxious to see where it'll go from here.)

BostonNick

Boston never changes. He plays Nick like a fiddle. The only change we see between them this episode comes from Nick's side, with him finally admitting verbally that he's into Boston (as if we did not already know that). I find it funny that Nick agrees with everyone who tells him that Boston is bad news, yet he's just as down bad as before. I think Nick takes the cake for most pathetic character on the show (*affectionate*)...can't say I condone his obvious spying and breaking into Boston's phone though. At least Nick has flaws too, otherwise Boston would be blowing him out of the water as far as negative traits are concerned.

Boston's ego is also extremely apparent in every scene with Nick. I think Boston likes knowing that Nick is developing feelings, even if he has no intention of returning them. He sees himself as a prize, and Nick's affection just reaffirms that (something he desperately needs while Top is rejecting him).

Boston and Ray both take the cake as far as getting back into Nick and Sand's good graces though. Those cheek kisses and puppy dog eyes haven't failed them yet.

(Not entirely related, but I am not ready for Boston and Nick to crash RaySand's makeout session next week. Let the boys kiss in peace please.)

#only friends #only friends the series #ofts #firstkhaotung #firstkhao #forcebook #neomark #only friends episode 4 #only friends meta #sandray #raysand #san x ray #ray x san #sand x ray #ray x sand #sanray #raysan #topmew #bostonnick #first kanaphan #khaotung thanawat #force jiratchapong #book kasidet #neo trai #mark pakin

[hybbart]

hihelo, raau related things

i really like how you draw and write stuff with hybrid stuff in mind, especially avians, and was wondering if you could infodump a bit? stuff like instincts and little things like sounds they make stuff

sorry if this is too vague, i dont really have any specific questions, im just curious about it all :D

oh actually i do have one, where do you usually learn all this stuff from?

Thank you! I'll try to answer a few things

As far as major ones I don't think it's much all that differently than the general fanon you find in fics, the only real difference is that since I'm drawing, I have to figure out what it actually would look like/go with a more visual option. (For example a lot of people make blazeborn, or at least tango, purr, and that's not something you can depict in a silent, still image easily.) The only other difference is that raau is set on a single, modern world and so ones like blazeborn aren't from the nether or void and these species have a linear history that impacts the world's development.

Avians:

Avians make all sorts of birb noises when theyre emotional of course, and they need preening. Maybe pre apocalypse they were picky about what to do with their feathers, but in the apocalypse they could be a potential resource so at least Jimym and Grian save them.

The main difference is I prefer to interpret things like feather-gifts and nests as familial things. A lot of these behaviours are based on bird behaviours but I like to imagine they don't just... act like birds. These are their culture and traditions not JUST instincts.

So, like, it's instinctive and better for their body if they sleep in a nest rather than a bed, but that nest replaces beds and- while their partner usually is the other person sleeping in that bed, it's more of a big like... sleepover space for everyone in their flock, not a romantic thing. It doesn't really say anything about their relationship other than they're comfortable sleeping around them, in their nest which is their safe place. Nests I also designed based on enclosed nests like weavers, or a bird house, or cavity nests like owls. I think it just made it more distinctly a nest rather than a round dipping bed, especially once all the blankets and pillows are placed. So they'll put up veils and curtains and basically make a fort but permanent. It's the focal point of their homes, basically.

The ranchers' has to be comfortable and accessible to Tango as well but I imagine most avian families straight up make a whole room for just the nest and no stairs. I feel like avians are really bad about making accessible architecture. In raau I imagine their world a lot liek ours but I also image it without a housing crisis or lots of generic homes due to the needs of the various species usually meaning a LOT of people build their own homes.

Feather earrings I also imagine as a nuclear family thing between avians only, for the inner flock so to speak. It's sort of like a house flag, 'these are my siblings/parents/children' type thing. If that involves a non avian a non-feather item might be included, like a blazerod or scale. It's mostly a signal to other avians, though (and pretty). Like if Jimmy removed Grian's feather from his earring that would be A Statement. there isn't really any ritual involved with giving them, either, it's just expected. Outer flock aka friends, extended family, and unmarried partners aren't really involved.

Avians also have a migratory instinct in raau. Though they have specific birds they might resemble I think of them as their own whole species 99% of the time (Jimmy's ability to see sounds being the 1% unique due to their bird thing). In the case of the modern avians this usually takes the form of frequent travelling or nomadic lifestyles and taking up temporary/seasonal work.

A lot of cowboys were avians, and probably a lot of those world travel blogs were run by avians. Probably a lot of jobs discriminate against avians assuming they'll want a bunch of vacation time or up and quit like how women with families are treated. Jimmy doesn't travel much as he's more of a ground-bird and the farms he worked on were plenty spacious, but even he gets antsy if he's stuck at the ranch too long and usually is the one to go out scavenging with Grian or visiting the hospital.

And finally obviously their wings are very important to them. It's their everything, even if they're like Jimmy and don't fly too much. It's their main survival strategy so being grounded makes them very anxious and stressed. Even Jimmy who hasn't been able to fly-fly for several years in raau still instinctively tries to launch himself in the air when startled or attacking. Clipping or damaging them is the worst thing imaginable to them so they treat them with the utmost care.

It's how they display being healthy and well-groomed to others, like a nice clean haircut, and they puff up and flatten largely in the same displays and posturing as your average bird as far as communicating emotions goes.

Blazeborn:

I don't have nearly as much for blazeborn since there's only one of them, but I think their instincts are very cat-like as far as behaviour. They are completely in control of their ability to burn or produce fire, like rapidash. They get VERY firey and turn into a fire hedgehog when enraged, but if they know who it is then even then they won't burn someone they don't want to burn. It's more like a threat display, but of course whoever it's directed at will usually be burnt.

They tend to use their tail to communicate, and they use it like cats use purring; when they're comfortable or are trying to comfort themselves they wrap it around things. Otherwise it communicates much the same way as a cat's tail.

In raau their flame colour is an indication of their internal temperature regulation. Blue/white is extra hot and red is cooled down, yellow is in-between, average temp. Since it's also hair it can't be put out, but it does crackle and steam when wet. They do NOT do well in cold weather, obviously, nor weather that heavily fluctuates.

A lot of traditional blazeborn homes are in deserts or underground, and modern blazeborn-friendly homes ALWAYS have the main part of the house as a basement suit type deal with plenty of climate control, where it's much easier to regulate temperatures to warm and dry.

They have an attraction to metals, though tango's a little freak who likes iron more than gold. Them and pig-hybrids are probably the reason for the gold standard. Probably a lot of traditions involve metalworking and the like. It's instinctive to be attracted to metals, but the working of them into things is cultural.

Also in raau specifically blazerods are a whole effort and ordeal to produce. it's basically blazeborn cartilage.

Others:

raau doesn't have magic, so races defined by their magical capabilities are no around, like vex or witches.

Medusas like Cleo basically have multiple brains like an octopus and so require a lot of calories and nutrition. They're also immune to snake venom and can develop immunity to other toxins, thus they're actually very reliable for the development of anti-venoms and vaccines.

Scott's an elf but it doesn't mean much other than he's tall and has slightly pointy ears. They have a lot of cultural stuff, but Scott's not a very traditional guy.

Fauns have a lot of prey-instincts, so they tend to have very strong fight or flight instincts at the smallest thing. They're also a bit odd to most people. They're social but in a shield sort of way rather than a cooperative sort of way, so their moral compass can seem off. If I let myself I would make so much faun lore so I intentionally stopped myself there. The only other thing is their horns/antlers shed annually and so they treat them almost like how others treat family picture books or height charts.

Tiny Tom is both a voidwalker and a cow faun hybrid. As far as voidwalkers go they hate being looked in the eye and are similar to avians with a migratory instinct.

Merfolk like Lizzie need to live in humid climates if they are going to live out of the water, and have very strong schooling instincts. They'll often have very large families and friend groups. Home pools were unsurprisingly something that first appeared in land-living merfolk homes. It's an absolute necessity, as well as a large bathroom or full on bathhouse. (they separate the bathroom and the toilet as separate rooms)

And that's about all the things I've thought about. It seems like a lot when actually typed out and explained, but a lot of it's mostly common fanon maybe adjusted here and there for the setting of raau.

#raau ask #raau notes #raau notes: setting

[soaps-mohawk]

Hello! Love the story ofc. How could I not🙄🫶🏼 but I was wondering what would happen if somehow in anyway the omega that read was in love with meet again? Like staying somewhere near omega where she enters the readers life again? How would reader and everyone else react? (Even tho I know the other omega has a pack) curious for your answer! Hope you had a good day❤️

Hello!!! Thank you so much!!! I'm glad you're enjoying it so far!!! 💚💚

I'd imagine if they were reunited, it would be quite the tearful reunion, and they'd probably be really happy to see each other again. Of course, a lot has changed since the last time they saw each other (they were about 18), and of course they both have packs now.

I feel like if it did happen, it was definitely orchestrated by Price. He got a name out of the reader and then asked a favor of Laswell and tracked her pack down. The reader would probably be shocked at first but then definitely would be thrilled to have contact with someone they cared about during a rather dark time in their life again.

The others might be a little surprised at first since Price is the only one that knows about this other omega. But, I think after some intense background checks, they'd be happy for the reader. I don't think they'd try to stop the reader from getting close to her again, in fact I think they'd really push for her to have a friend and a contact outside of them. Reader's kind of isolated where she is, and I think they'd be thrilled for her to have that connection.

(I don't think they'd care either if things developed beyond just friendship again either 😉)

#i think they'd be happy all around #reader and the other omega #the boys #they'd all be thrilled #answered #crcb lore

[nkjemisin]

Hello, hope you're doing well. Love your work a lot :)

If you don't mind, I'd like to ask an open-ended question about the Great Cities Trilogy becoming the Great Cities Duology.

It's fantastic either way! I'm just curious about how things would be different, in different circumstances.

I appreciate your time. Wish you all the best ❤️

Spoilers for the Great Cities!

Thank you!

It's important to understand that when I start a new trilogy, I really only plan out the beginning and the end in detail. The rest is just general points I mean to hit in each book. So I can tell you some ideas I thought about putting into the books at the time, but I can't tell you exactly what I would've actually written if my initial plans hadn't gotten derailed -- I'm not that much of a planner, and I tend to change course midstream anytime I get a better idea for something. But here's what I wrote into the first outline.

Book 1: What you read

Book 2: Tentative title: "The City Hard Fought." America vs. New York. I'd been planning to have a demagogue president -- obvs inspired by Trump; I started working on developing this as a book in 2017 -- attack New York City to further his political ambitions. This would've taken the form of the president eventually threatening to bomb the city/all blue cities. At the time I came up with it, the idea seemed completely far-fetched and silly... Aaaaaaand then Trump started attacking New York City to further his political ambitions. I realized I really didn't want to speak some ideas into existence, and also that I couldn't make something like that funny when it was really happening and ruining people's lives. So I changed things up. The mayoral race would always have happened, but I originally intended to put the start of it in the background of the second book and have it culminate in Book 3. R'lyeh would've spent a chunk of this book being punished for her failures in Book 1, effectively taking the metaphysical stuff off the plot table for a while so human nonsense could move to the forefront. Aislyn and São Paulo would've ended up trapped in the Ur with her (hadn't fully worked out how), and that plot would've turned on Aislyn convincing R'lyeh to do a jailbreak. The end of the book would've been Manny's family calling him home.

Book 3: Tentative title: "The Last City" or "The City Unbowed." New York vs. everybody else. With the demagogue president dead (I was planning for him to get eaten by the Ur, painfully and slowly), things would've gotten metaphysical again, with multiple cities coming to life and causing chaos, effectively led by the newly-awakened Chicago. I'd intended the core of this book to be an escalating "cold war" between NYC and Chicago, with their star-crossed romance and Brooklyn's first 100 days as magical mayor (dealing with an ambitious senator attempting to use NYC to establish himself as the next big demagogue) echoing the politics of the living cities. Among other things, it would've turned out that the Ur was manipulating things to cause war between the living cities, via a traitor in Manny's family, in order to weaken the cities and cause the "falling to the bottom of the Tree" problem that you saw in TWWM. I always planned to end with the climactic "all the living cities march to war as ghostly giant robots" scene that happened in TWWM, but I'd planned for R'lyeh to fight alongside them, and they would've been fighting a manifestation of the Ur itself. Probably a Cthulhu-like monster -- but monsters aren't very interesting to me, so as with TWWM the real threat is the Ur's authoritarianism.

So, different but not that different. Not sure I would've been able to fit in everything I'd originally planned; when I first come up with a new series I tend to be big on ideas, but not all of them work when I start writing. As you can see, I retained most of the major plot elements I'd originally planned. I think the biggest loss was the character-specific subplots I had planned. Like, Veneza would've had a blowout with her racist father; Chennai's ancient avatar was going to try and seduce Padmini back home to take over from her (same subplot involving the risk to Padmini's visa status); Brooklyn would've been a badass mayor; Manny and Neek would've gone on some awkward dates and probably had at least one awkward morning after. I would've spent more time on R'lyeh as she basically starts to decolonize herself. We would've gotten a lot more of Evil Manny, and Neek would've had to talk him down/win him back at some point. Also, tentatively I'd originally planned that Neek's revealed name would be "Nueva." Glad I changed my mind about that one.

Sad that it won't happen, but there's always fanfic! (Don't show it to me tho. h/t @seananmcguire )

#answered asks #the great cities

[taddymason]

What are your thoughts on each of the Ninja? I'm just curious

Ooooo okokok this is going to be so long, I'm going to explain my first impression of them when I was a child and how it has changed over time.

Cole: I really didn't care much about Cole when I saw the series for the first time, like, as I remember he was my least favorite character on the team and he seemed boring to me. Now? Easily my favorite ninja. It's funny because of the team it's easily the one I identify with the most in terms of personality. I LOVE how most of his arcs have to do with the potential of his elemental powers, probably one of the ninjas who has grown the most in terms of skills over the course of the series. I know I don't talk much about the way they develop him and how much he matures throughout the series, especially how he becomes more and more open with the team, but he is one of my favorite characters.

Zane: I always liked Zane and he always remained my second favorite ninja. One of the parts I like most about his development is how he becomes more confident and sassy, especially in the new seasons. What I do not like is how many other ninjas's jokes about him are limited to "Zane, we need to adjust your honest/sarcasm ciurcuits", etc. It gets pretty tiring and somewhat contradicts the whole point of his character to be reminded that he's a nindroid when the whole point is that he actually sometimes ends up being a lot more human than everyone else but that's it. (ALSO Why did the writers forget that he had a falcon?)

Lloyd: sooo Lloyd is a complicated one because I don't really have strong feelings about his character. I guess one thing that kept me away every time I rewatched the show was thinking that he's like they put every cliche of a protagonist in a blender and most of his arcs feel that "predictable" when you compare him to the others. BUT I like what they are doing with his character on DR and I think it is his best season so far, SO definitely in DR it is more entertaining to see his development and his relationship with the kids.

Kai: Kai is a character that for me... is fine, I don't love him too much like most of the fandom. Again I think that in DR they are doing justice to his character since he feels that in Wildbrainera he was quite forgettable as if the creators didn't know what to do with him (like, I'm not a fan of his arc in S11 because we have definitely seen that lesson a Lot of times). I really love the development of him anyway and his relationship with Nya & Lloyd is one of the best parts of the series.

Nya: I'm going to be honest, I only started to like Nya in S9, before that with the sexist way the writers wrote her in the first seasons when I first saw the series I found her annoying (and S3 and S6 didn't help) . I think her character definitely improved after the Oni trilogy onwards because the creators began to give her REAL CHARACTER FLAWS and take her more seriously because then I started to like her character more.

Jay: soo, when I saw the series for the first time Jay instantly became my favorite ninja. I liked that there was a balance between the sarcastic jokes and the fact that he would then do something surprising like being the first to do spinjitsu, being a genius on roller skates, him shooting in space, etc. It's those moments in which he proved to be the thinker outside the box of the team that were very entertaining along with his humor, his powers, the duality in which he could be a bastard, an idiot and a genius at the same time was what made him that was my favorite on the team

Now, I'm not a fan of Jay when it comes to the new seasons where they basically removed all the traits I'm listing and turned him into a man child who only makes pee jokes. They literally took away EVERYTHING that made him a useful member of the team, he is a completely different character that really the only thing he has is... he is just the "uwu guy on the team". Honestly, it could be a whole essay explaining how I hate Jay from S11 onwards but I'll just leave it at that I hope DR gives him real development (and for a change it doesn't have to do with Nya)

#ninjago #Ask #Ninjago Jay #ninjago zane #ninjago lloyd #Ninjago Cole #Ninjago Kai #Ninjago Nya