#idk why but that scene in particular of them showing the kid around town and acting like a family coming home from a day trip into the city

[atpsnty]

┊𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬

xavier thorpe ; wednesday

pairing: xavier thorpe x hispanic!normie!fem!reader

warnings: pure (probably excessive and embarrassing) fluff, like one curse word

request: Can you please write a oneshot for xavier where the reader is a normie and he keeps seeing her everywhere whenever they go out to the town :) he develops a crush and so does reader on the mysterious boy from nevermore until one day he comes to like work at a shop or soemthing??? and when he does reader is also there and they spend time together flirting and pining until one confesses to the other ! ALSO IDK WHY BUT I FORGOT TO ADD THAT READER IS FEMALE AND HISPANIC (i just sent an xavier request ! ) :))))

summary: a few of the instances in which you met xavier before actually meeting xavier

a/n: since the reader is hispanic, there are slight character descriptions to get that across, such as a mention of curly hair and a bit of spanish dialogue (though not a lot bcs I don’t speak spanish and don’t wanna butcher it…). also, this takes place in scenes/places seen throughout the show, but xavier never liked wednesday because it makes more sense in context.

character credit: wednesday series

w/c: 1.5k

part 2: the awaited interactions

Even though you were still a few yards away from actually entering, the area around the fair has 10 different aromas wafting through the air. Flashing lights could be seen in every direction; vibrant colors swatched along every ride and carnival game.

As you enter the fairgrounds, you look around at the people: adults, kids, normies…outcasts. You knew it was likely for them to come, as it is every year, but it’s still a shock to see the so-called “weirdos” of Jericho doing such normal activities.

Regardless, it’s nice to see everyone together for such events. You don’t completely understand the separation between the town. Sure, the outcasts were different, but they were still beings in their own right. They were freaky by nature, but even then you find their freakiness pretty alluring.

You walk around for a bit, grabbing some food as you pass by certain stands, and sit down at an empty picnic bench. As you eat, you watch the people around you as they talk and laugh and play games. You find this particular pair of people interesting.

They’re outcasts.

It’s pretty obvious by the girl’s all black attire and creepy nature, though you wouldn’t be able to tell the boy was one if it weren't for his association with the former. 

You can’t help but analyze their features. The girl is actually really pretty, if you put her gloomy aura aside. Her hair is completely black and straight, a contrast to your own curls, though it’s in pigtails, and you swear you haven’t seen her blink this entire time. She seems like she doesn’t wanna be here, almost like she’s in a rush.

After you’re done looking her over, your eyes drift over to the guy she’s standing with.

He is gorgeous.

His hair is pretty long for a guy, reaching to about his shoulders. He’s currently hunched over, his hands resting on a carnival game table, but you can tell at full height he's freaking tall. He’s wearing a dark gray trench coat, which is extremely simple, yet somehow he looks like a male model and-

‘¡Ay, Dios! I need to stop fangirling over this random boy right now’ you think and avert your eyes, focusing back on your grease filled meal.

After a few minutes, you can’t help but notice the pigtailed girl hurrying away from the stand through your peripheral view, leaving the long-haired boy all alone. You stare at him again, zoning out to the point where you don’t even notice him staring directly back at you.

You snap out of your trance, quickly looking down at the table for a few seconds before slowly creeping your eyes back over, where he is still assessing you.

He gives you a small head tilt and wave, to which you shyly smile back before cleaning up your mess and heading in the opposite direction.

‘I cannot believe I just got caught ogling at a guy like that…por favor mátame.’

–

After the last encounter with the mysterious long-haired outcast, you honestly didn’t expect to see him. He seemed like the type to pop up once and never show his face again.

You wish you were right.

Today, you’re heading into town to study a bit at a local park. You find the scenery relaxing and way less stuffy than working at home.

As you’re settling down on a picnic table, taking all your necessities out of your bag so you can get started, you notice the blue and black stripes of the Nevermore Academy uniform walking into the general store down the street. 

You think nothing of it, focusing back on your materials and figuring a student going into a store is definitely not your business and absolutely none of your concern. 

About 25 minutes into studying, you notice the stripes once more, but this time it seems as though they are walking towards you. As you focus harder on the person’s form, you recognize the tall body and lengthy hair you’ve seen once before.

You look down at the plastic grocery bag he is holding, and though you can’t see its contents from this far, you’re sure it’s not actually groceries and is more along the lines of something music or art related. 

He just gives off that vibe.

You realize that he has stopped venturing towards you. Actually, he’s stopped walking altogether.

Your glance shifts up to his face to find that he has, once again, caught you staring at him like an absolute creep.

You let out a tiny shriek before ducking behind your computer screen. 

‘The universe must hate me or something because oh my god,’ you think, internally panicking once more. You take a small peek past the lit up screen just enough to see him laugh to himself and shake his head before heading towards…the woods?

“I must have killed Mother Teresa in my past life,” you mumble to yourself softly before resuming your studies, “that’s the only possible reason my luck is at negative freaking eighty right now.”

–

Pilgrim World was…grim to say the least. It was mainly a plot to attract tourists and make money for the town. Young kids did always find entertainment in the, probably inaccurate, history of the town, so you guess it’s not all bad.

For the normal townspeople that is. 

The students from Nevermore were forced to work the grounds each year. Yeah…not exactly “town building,” but it was mandatory for them.

You sat at the Weathervane café with your computer and a warm drink. Learning about the same white people every year wasn’t your type of fun – no disrespect to them – so you opt to just watch others from the window seat, maybe get a bit of work done in the process. You watch kids chase each other; families share pieces of fudge; individuals enjoying their beverages while trolling down the center lane. You were so focused on watching others, you completely forgot about your previous, most important task: to watch the entrance.

Not that you just wanted to stare at townsfolk all day, but you were anticipating a certain outcast’s arrival. You wanted to make sure that you could watch the long-haired boy walk in so that you wouldn’t embarrass yourself by randomly staring like you did previously. But with your low attention span and professional ability to zone out at the worst times, you completely missed the fact that just who you were looking for had not only arrived at Pilgrim World already, but had walked into the café minutes ago.

“Do you want me to wipe down your table?”

That was the question that caused you to jolt in surprise, turning your head to meet the mysterious Nevermore boy.

“I wouldn’t want you to get your computer wet. You know, just in case you need to hide behind it again,” he finishes with a small smirk.

"Cielos, me asustaste,” you exclaim, more as an instant response than an actual reply, and giggle a bit while looking at your lap.

You look up at him after doing so, only to find him softly smiling at you. You open and close your mouth a few times before internally taking a deep breath and looking him in the eyes.

“Hopefully I won’t need to hide from anyone any time soon. But yeah, sure.”

You set your computer on the seat beside you as the boy gives the table a few wipes. Funny thing is, the table was completely clean before he wiped it. Even more so since you dusted it off a bit before sitting.

“No more hiding, huh? I like the sound of that,” he remarks. He finishes wiping the invisible mess off of your table and stands straight again. “Do you need a refill?”

You didn’t even notice that your cup was a few sips away from empty.

“Oh uh sure. It’s just hot chocolate,” you smile and he slightly nods before making his way over to the counter.

You start glancing back out the window, though this time there are Nevermore students roaming around in addition to the previous bunch. Some people are outside handing out fudge while in pilgrim costumes. You had to do that one year…it’s as boring as it looks. You notice the gloomy girl you had seen at the carnival enter the Crackstone house down the road. You could have sworn that it was closed off…

A bump on your table causes you to look away from the historical building and down at the cup that has been dropped off. You pick up the cup and take a sip as the long-haired boy walks away to clean off other tables. You glance at the cup holding the warm chocolate, which is when you see the black marker along the side.

‘Xavier…xxx-xxx-xxxx’

‘Oh,’ you thought as you realized what this was. His name…and number. Your whole face felt warm as your eyes searched for the boy, finding him behind the counter already looking at you.

You smile and tip your cup in his direction before taking another sip and going back to staring out the window.

Honestly, I used this as an excuse to gush over Xavier bcs oml there is no reason I should find this man as attractive as I do. Also, possible pt.2 with them getting closer ???

Another question: somebody asked me if I had a taglist for Xavier, so I was just wondering if y’all would want that? 

I no longer support Percy Hynes White and will no longer take request for Xavier Thorpe.

#xavier thorpe #xavier thorpe x reader #xavier thorpe x you #wednesday #wednesday show #wednesday addams #fanfiction #imagine #oneshot #drabble #atpsnty #xavier thorpe oneshot #y/n #fem!reader #hispanic!reader #ff #escapism #x reader

[ladysqueakinpip]

all odd numbers for the twewy ask

oh my. this could get long. i tried to answer as many of these in other posts just so this one isnt so long.

1. character(s) that first caught your eye/first favorite character?

already answered!

3. favorite partner(s) to have around?

joshieWAAA. his dialogue ALWAYS makes me laugh and i love the lighthearted missions throughout week 2.

same with fret. every moment with him is a delight. beat was good in og twewy but hes TOP TIER in neo. hes the absolute best version of himself and especially after. the sho incident at the end of wk1 having him during wk2 was necessary just for morale.

5. favorite pin(s)?

any of the rapid tap pins. my video game strategy has always been and always will be max out attack and hit as many times as possible so rapid tap is for me. i believe in neo i have neku equipped with yukimitsu (if thats the correct one i’m thinking of.... its a jupes rapid tap w/ fire affinity...) and its perfect for him. i REALLY love the pin a lot, its powerful and fast and is just a flaming slashing sword. what else could a girl want.

7. favorite clothing item(s)?

whatever the frick this is

on a more serious note, i made a collage of all of my favorite items

9. what platforms have you played twewy (and/or neo) on? if multiple, what’s your favorite?

both DS and switch. i definitely prefer the gameplay of twewy on the DS but i love the high definition artwork for the switch that im willing to struggle thru lol.

11. thoughts on the anime?

already answered!

13. what would you like to see in the future of the series?

already answered!

15. put together an outfit you’d like to wear, only from in-game clothing options!

im going to focus on clothes from neo because i cant look at these tiny icons from og twewy for much longer lol.

some of them arent complete outfits bc i couldnt find like pants or shoes that really spoke to me so i went mostly on vibes

17. what character(s) do you relate to the most?

already answered!

19. favorite scene(s)?

in no particular order:

anything with josh

the hachiko reunion in twewy

when josh and neku play tin pin slammer

when haz forces rindo to walk around with him in shibuya for like half an hour while rindo is having a mental breakdown

neku/shiki neo hachiko reunion :’)

that SCENE in neo where sho is attacking the team and beat offers to stay and hold him back and beat almost dies but you-know-who shows up at the last second (i LOVE that scene)

that bit in neo where beat jokes with neku about having another hachiko reunion and “you know who will be there -nudge- -wink- -wink-” like nekus giant big fat crush on shiki isnt obvious to literally anyone and everyone who breathes

does DDD count? because. that bit where riku asks joshua why the dream eaters dont attack him and joshua looks sad and wistful and says “i have plenty of dreams...”

also this:

21. how were you introduced to the series?

like many others I, too, am a "found twewy thru KH DDD" fan

23. favorite store(s) and/or restaurant(s)?

is it cliche to say ramen don? so many fond memories there....

theres a boba tea shop in neo that i always made sure to stop by if i was in the area (i think its on spain hill). theres a boba shop in my own town that i sometimes go to with my friends and i have a lot of memories of grabbing tea and walking through shops with them, so i want my little twoowee kids to have the same experiences with their friends :’)

25. freebie question – share anything notable to you, whether that’s a fun fact, a joke, an accomplishment you’re proud of, a glitch you encountered, or whatever else!

i already answered this one but i always have more twewy thoughts and ive been thinking about sho and beat a lot lately....

idk if this was intentional from the writers’ perspective (i picked up on it but its.... subtle). beat and sho’s roles in neo (especially regarding their roles within the wicked twisters team) oppose each other and its.... idk its real interesting to me.

like you have sho in wk1 who all the kids look up to and rely on and they THINK hes on their side, but hes a poor excuse of a companion and leaves them for dead at the end of wk1. then IMMEDIATELY in wk2 they give us beat, another strong and experienced player, and he adopts the role the kids desperately wanted (and NEEDED) sho to fulfill and beat does an AMAZING job. where sho was always absent & unreliable, beat NEVER left the kids and always emphasized how he would be there to carry all of them. he becomes the big brother they thought they had in wk1.

then in wk3 beat and sho go head-to-head. sho is the one who abandoned the twisters weeks ago, meanwhile beat is the one saying “go ahead without me” and is offering to be left for dead so his friends can be safe.

thankfully beat was fine but. very interesting how these two characters are the ones with a physical confrontation. i havent rly seen anyone talk about it and im not sure what point im trying to make here other than the roles for their characters clashed and complemented nicely.

#FYI this has some neo scene spoilers so be careful #spoilers are for weeks 1 2 AND 3 #neo spoilers

[stray-tori]

TPN S02E08 - Initial Thoughts (anime-only)

Reaction Vid: Google Drive

I’m here, finally! Let me just say, I’m glad to see some more positivity around ahh- Not that anyone isn’t allowed to feel negatively about it, I do have my problems too of course! But it’s just nice when things are epic and liked by people :)

.

I don’t think I can really separate it into topics this time so I’ll just kind of... go through it by chronological order this time! With “.” paragraphs separating thoughts :)

.

Norman figuring out that there’s at least one other person taking tests because he’s left-handed and the code scan thing is placed on the right when he put it down left is such a nice, unspoken execution!

.

also. Zaziee :(

.

also, what do we think is happening in this room? are those just... dead subjects that they feed to demons or...? experimenting with how certain manipulated humans will affect demons eating them? 

(also they just flipped Norman’s walk here, so his curl is on the wrong side. not blaming them or anything, I just noticed. I hope the staff is doing okay :<)

.

also, idk if my brain is melting but when Norman was like "I just need a detonator" and then he focuses on that king chess piece before the explosion, is the implication that the king piece was the detonator? :D

I do like the few subtle hints we do get just from the scenes (like the left hand/right hand thing and the cube communication) but I feel like I'm missing some connecting pieces here, even with knowing Smee was there and supporting him. It’s weird because I feel like the left-hand thing was really nicely done and digestible and the fork thing is presumably checking out how many cameras there are (even if still a little obvious) - but the explosion? Maybe I’m just stupid haha- it had to be Smee helping, right? I just would have liked more hints (but maybe I’m too small brain rn).

.

I'm a little confused because Peter said "the era of James as the gatekeeper has ended" (paraphrased), so he’s the gatekeeper right? And Norman was so concerned about the gatekeeper last episode, to the point that I felt like it was a point largely against the "using the gate in GF" plan (aside from uncertainty about the gates and the human world, of course) - but it's literally just a human then? I thought it was gonna be some epic demon or magic concept or something, but it's just that dude pff- whats the dude gonna do against the murder squad? :D Ig he has the farm/demon forces behind him but those would exist either way (and Norman must have considered that), so why is he in particular such a big deal/threat? Is he that ultra big brain? Not big brain enough to have prevented Norman’s escape anyway.

Or maybe he’s just 6 moves ahead and waiting for Norman to lead him back to the hideout that was referenced a few episodes ago where Norman brings all the stolen kids -- but I feel like that’s such a... roundabout way of capturing the GF kids. Plus, that should be Isabella’s doing, if anything. So yeah. Confused about that a bit.

.

I love the parallel how in ep1 Ray running from the pursuers and Emma collapsing was the whole thing about like, not taking it all upon yourself -- and now Emma (who mirrored Ray’s exact run through the forest) got help with Ray jumping in and also later Sonju, conveniently timed as usual haha.

(negativity) It’s a nice parallel, though i would have preferred if Ray had run again and Emma had gotten the shot - it’d still carry around the same message (”then vs now”) but please I beg you give Emma one (1) cool bow shot  - or I’ll steal your animation and do it myself >:”(

(ik she got the hunting shot which was slow and cool but idk)

.

The animation was so pretty. I loved Norman on the cliff and the wind animation, and the MUSIC when the town raid happened and how everything was framed and the goddamn MUSIC???? DID I MENTION THE MUSIC.

Also Norman’s expression and that shot where he realizes Vyrk has the blood condition and sweeps in for a stab.

It was pretty brutal and I appreciate that they showed it. It’s just... really pretty overall and- yes. thank you. love goes out to the staff. god knows they need some. and money. please give them more money.

.

I also like how with how the episode set up the whole, "are you god?" - "I'll be a god or devil" thing, and then when Vyrk asks "are you a human?", my friend joked he'd answer "no, i'm god" and then we joked a bit about his silence. But in hindsight, I really appreciate those jokes, because it made me realize: for a different kind of character, that WOULD have been the perfect setup to have a badass response but that silence was probably on purpose and I can’t really explain it but I just like how that makes the through-line in the episode even stronger and also kind of connects with his wavering?? I can’t explain but I LIKE IT.

.

(slightly negative) It's a little bit funny that the parallel didn't occur to him until it was thrown in his face, but I think that's what dissociation and just being observed in one's plan does.

Plus I do get what they're going for, and it was pretty dang emotional. A little on the nose maybe but- yee.

It works well as an eye opener to tear down the mental wall between the two groups. He's also never really been in contact with demons equally before afaik so, I shall accept it. Not that currently killing them all makes him equal in power dynamic right now, but I mean like, in a way where he truly, in real life, got to see that they’re similar -- he made comparisons to humans last episode, so clearly he wasn’t completely unaware. He’s smart, he knew what he was doing would make him seem like a devil to the demons. He probably just numbed himself to it until something that could break those walls down happened, ie the Emma thing.

I feel like it could have worked too if her name wasn’t Emma, but he probably wouldn’t have paused for as long and the voiced lines couldn’t have been given the time needed to make them hit as strongly - but I do think just a line that sounds really similar to what they talked about in GF could have been enough too - but again, that would have potentially taken too long down the exchange between the two.

It also doesn’t seem completely random since the old guy also reacted to Emma’s name before and everything so. Overall, I’m willing to suspend my disbelief - even if it IS funny that the family naming went from Vyrk to... Emma :D (though demons do get old so I suppose that makes sense haha)

.

I also wonder how this will impact Norman going forward. Even if he decides for the GF plan now (likely, we don’t have much time), he still did that and even if they return all the degenerated demons with Mujika’s, Sonju’s and Vyrk’s help... I doubt those who were already eaten and killed, can be saved. So that blood is on his hands forever now, likely hurting even more now that he feels personally impacted by it and not just... knows he’s doing something bad.

The anime definitely doesn’t have the time to delve into that sadly but that’s,,, very good angst.

.

week 3 of asking where is Isabella- (I mean I am GLAD that she didn’t show up at the temple- yET - because that’d just make them leaving them there worse but fudshjsd- Is she actually just waiting for them to come for the gate what’s happening ahahaha-)

I also don’t know if I mentioned this in my last episode thoughts or not, but I do still believe the gate stuff could have been revealed more incrementally? Like have James include that tidbit of info, please. If we know gates exist, then at least now it isn’t such an extreme change of information to know: “there are gates. yes where you were sent WAS a gate, but they’ve been destroyed. oh and another gate is in GF!” like HOLD UP-

.

I wonder if we’ll ever see the hideout that Cislo or Vincent referenced... I’m sure that’d be lots of random children designs so probably not but,, I am really curious how and if they’ll take all those kids. Norman did say he wants freedom for all cattle children. but with no large scale plan anymore, I’m not sure if that’s gonna work. If any human stays behind, as I’ve often talked about before, the cycle just starts anew and I’m really curious if TPN will go for a morally grey ending like that.

Unless the whole “evil-blood” religion works out this time when the high class is gone. but even Sonju is already in part a counter-example so... we’ll see I suppose.

.

I really loved this episode though! If the anime continues this trend to the finish line, it’ll stay a wonky 7 for me :) (quality wise, you guys know my tpn brainrot won’t make me truly hate it pff- tpn love too big-)

#tpn anime #tpn s2 #tpn #tpn anime-only #tpn norman #tori talks #tori has opinions #tpn anime spoilers #tpn s02e08 spoilers

[peepingtoad]

OKAY SO. 

It’s not that often that I talk about what I really think about Jiraiya, and I guess I mean more how I feel about him, since I always try to write my ‘deeper’ headcanons/metas from a more... idk, trying not to get too emotional about it point of view. Basically it’s because I know how controversial he is, and I pretty much ritually avoid a lot of takes because I don’t want to get irritated about something that really doesn’t matter much in the grand scheme, because we’re all entitled to our opinions and I largely get my say through the act of writing and developing him how I see fit.

Which is enough for me, mostly, but for the purpose of reinforcing/building upon how I see my muse’s plight, working through some of my Sannin-feels and also to dip my toes into why I find blindly judgemental/single-faceted takes of him, his priorities and the Sannin’s bond so exasperating, I kinda feel like rambling my thoughts (feelings) anyway! 

Politely sticks this stream-of-consciousness mess under a cut.

So sometimes I do think about the fact that Jiraiya kinda, lmao, forgot about Everything Else in the world because of Orochimaru and his (frankly) obsession with him/them. And the fact that a ridiculously significant portion of bad shit that happened is down to his actions/inaction. And the fact that he really did go and leave the likes of Naruto (and maybe to a degree Kakashi, although there’s zero actual evidence he didn’t get involved given the strong indications of a great rapport in the canon), just because he was so hellbent on pursuing Orochimaru, who was not even shown to be affectionate towards him at the best of times. When I think about it in terms of Jiraiya being gone and the main reason we’re given for it, things suck for a number of people, and quite largely because of potentially unrequited/horribly communicated/obsessive JiraOro pursuits, in essence :’)

(And for all it’s still quite the rarepair, Jiraiya does express on accounts that he was destroyed when Oro left. I mean... this is the guy who rarely acknowledges his sadness so... It’s not my bias at all I sware)

Of course JiraTsu is very real in my eyes too, albeit a very different kinda tragic, as is OroTsu. And the messy poly ship? Ohohoho, even better, but... yeah. Tsunade does at least go her own way for a long time, as messed up as that is in itself, for reasons including the fact she seems to pointedly not heal or move on from her grief. And given the absolute debacle that was her and Jiraiya reuniting... and both her and Oro even discussing a possibility of sacrificing him... and just, them in general for that whole arc :’))) yeah. They are without a doubt messy and troubled, but even despite how fraught things become I genuinely think all the furtive expressions and the undercurrents of longing and the evasion of their past exhibits a history much deeper and full of lost love compared to many other team dynamics we get (otherwise the Three Way Divorce wouldn’t have been quite so horrible on them, would it? That and they’d probably have split up after Team Hiruzen was no more, if they really hated each other/just tolerated each other out of familiarity like I sometimes see speculated).

But yeah, back to our main man. Jiraiya’s intense (and frankly very Scorpio of him) love for our first series Big Bad kinda did ruin him and what he was setting out to do in some ways, to the degree that the actual story of Naruto wouldn’t be very much without him in terms of drama. I mean, he always loved a good story, right? So art imitates life, and innit just pathetic poetic.

And in so many ways it is incredibly tragic and pitiable that he’s Just Like That. Idealistic and warping everything terrible, no matter how bad, into adventure in his mind! As growth! As pain that makes you TOUGH and makes you a stronger man! As something to be pushed aside while you just keep on truckin’! Whatever anyone you love throws at you, it’s Totally Fine!

After so long narrating through his personal lens, I’ve come to realise he truly is so convinced that everything bad that happens, is sort of just... something he has to deal with and feel big and guilty and feelsy for while spinning it in ways that enable him to keep going. He just loads it on himself and sorta holds it. The fact he’s so sad and filled with sickly pining grief that he has to try and exorcise it with impulsive bouts of decadence? Fine. And it’s not abnormal at all, how he approaches things with such broad scope and just kinda... thoughtlessly wrecking-balls his way through everything he thinks is a great idea at the time. He experiences the fallout of these things and simultaneously feels the entire ravages of it acutely while compartmentalising it ever so neatly away. The crazy thing, too, is that he’s exceptionally convincing at making everything he does and how he handles things seem so grand and noble and romantic and tragic... but in a humorously self-deprecating and still ultimately very hopeful way, to the degree that I as a mun get caught up in his relentless optimism and forget he actually is a sad and heartbroken guy wrapped up in all this grandiosity.

Sometimes I do step back and look and I just think yeah, fuck, he really is a total disaster! He’s a walking disaster and he’s been so damaging to himself and others in so many ways, all because of acting on emotions and impulses without really thinking about the impact! He really did kinda give up on those who needed him and for what? A love that will never love him or prioritise him back? 

A wonderfully tragic theme that I do love with him, don’t get me wrong.

But then at the same time, there’s always more nuance to be had than just ‘he is a disaster and made bad choices, as tragic and romantic as it is, he was actually just selfish and kinda sucked in the end, pathetically whipped by his friends and unable to let go of what they had’. There’s more nuance to be had than reducing him to a purely romantically-inclined character, who just snubs everyone else for a doomed love... because in the end, I think a huge part of JiraOro’s demise in particular was that Oro felt immensely snubbed by Jiraiya when he stayed in Ame, when his loyalty to Konoha (as a place and people, not necessarily a system) and of course loyalty to his own ideals was prioritised over Oro.

To an extent, I feel like Tsunade could have been a similar case, were she not preoccupied with already having lost so much, and besides I really do think she and Jiraiya were quite firmly in best friend zone at that point. With Tsunade not being able to get comfortable around Jiraiya or to pursue any underlying affection for him because of the dumbass way he always behaved (understandably of her tbh), probably until she got with Dan, by which point I reckon Jiraiya started to really come through by showing how he valued her for her, where we see by them having each other’s backs so closely in the second war. Not to mention him generally respecting that his feelings for her have no place by the time he gets her back to Konoha.

In terms of that first split in Ame, Jiraiya, I feel, simply didn’t think him leaving was going to be a big deal, because the three were always fiercely headstrong people who had their own shit going on (simultaneously independent while also being, perhaps not to their knowledge, So Very Codependent). Not only that, but his overly affectionate ways and incessant jolliness were probably considered such a joke that he was basically like ‘they’ll be fine without me’. I certainly don’t think he felt needed by them, which I don’t think is their fault or a point of angst and ‘waaah poor blameless Jiraiya’, because quite honestly, the strain on their relationship was something I fully believe even he didn’t realise he needed out of at the time. His one-track mind was just on ‘save kids, teach kids, this is right, must seize opportunity to be the change I was told I’d be, not continue with this godforsaken war’

Selfish? Maybe. Well-intentioned? Certainly. Intended to hurt anyone or imply he stopped caring? No.

In essence, when it comes to why in the end Jiraiya seemed to be so horrendously bad at being around at the worst of times, at being responsible, whatever else (and I’m not even going to go into scenes intended to be comedic because, they are comedic)... I’ve got to look at it from more than just one view. It’s easy to say ‘he’s ridiculous and terrible because he pretty much flaked on what was important based on his whims/a doomed love/his dick’ (which I have seen said lmao) but there are so many other things at play here.

So I’m thinking, while he was shirking duties (godfatherly mainly)... did he actually consider that his most important duty? Was it anyone’s place to tell him it was? Minato didn’t, as I recall, and when he sacrificed himself he specifically left it to the Third because he (presumably) respected what his teacher was about and knew he wasn’t for staying put. Did Jiraiya not consider his primary duty to be to the prophecy, and in a more general sense fixing the big wrongs and trying to foil big dangers to his home? Were these things not pretty much what he existed for (as much as his faith wavered and went off the rails at times)? Was that not the main source of any real purpose he ever had, being a kid who showed practically no ambition before? Did he not pretty much redesign himself as being ‘from Mt. Myōboku’ rather than Konoha after two devastating wars, and thus is it not understandable for him not to focus solely on Konoha—not outright destroying it, still ultimately loyal to his home and not about to let anyone destroy it, but seeing that the world is in fact so much bigger than just his little town? Is that really something that’s so bad and wrong of him, in a story where the main cast’s country has a pretty fucking nasty system and is established to do so very early on? Is he not pretty revolutionary in his own brand of not blindly serving, but not going on a destroy-it-all frenzy either?

Also, was he not the only one who actually bothered to investigate Akatsuki and the forces that would see Naruto dead, in time? For all he did help bring Akatsuki into existence in ways, it was inevitable from before he even met the orphans that they were going to be groomed/moulded into what they became, regardless of whether Jiraiya came onto the scene. Jiraiya leaving them was just a different kind of suffering to what they were inevitably going to suffer anyway, and hell, with his influence at least there was a time where they might’ve stood a chance of going totally against Madara/Obito’s path, especially while Yahiko was still around. Jiraiya didn’t know that the whole thing with the Ame orphans was, by a design out of his control, doomed to end horribly. So while he felt personally responsible not knowing this, and it’s taken as a given that he was... actually, was he, when there was a master manipulator at play? Was it wrong to want to give some kids a chance?

With regards to all those things I see people say he should have stayed and fixed, that he should have been there, he should have done x y z... Is it not the responsibility of everyone not satisfied with their lot to step up to the plate and make where they live better? Jiraiya wasn’t the only adult. Tsunade, and I absolutely love her, does seem overwhelmingly to be absolved of leaving Konoha because... ??? Kicker is that she too is related to Naruto, of course. 

So... was she not also needed for the very material ways she could’ve helped at numerous points? Was she not also placing her grief and lost love before everything else? Are some reasons inherently more ok than others to ditch? As Kakashi’s generation grew up, was it not also then up to them to decide whether they’d change the status quo? Were Minato’s own generation, presumably his own peer group, not complicit in Naruto’s ostracisation? We got a slight taste of rebellion with Asuma, Hiruzen’s own son, but the fact is many Konoha-nin were overwhelmingly complacent with how things were. And yet never get demonised at all for it. Because it’s Jiraiya’s fault for... not staying and giving it all up to be a guardian who could well be depressed and unfit to raise a child... or just being a flaky as hell one that’s never there anyway because he has shit to do? (and in doing the former would let too many things go unchecked by a completely tuned-out Hokage, not gathering all that spicy useful intel, y’know... essentially he wouldn’t have ended up largely doing his job along with the personal shit in between).

Basically when I see claims saying that Jiraiya as an individual should have done pretty much everything better, and somehow been there for everyone that needed him at any given time, and that (mostly Naruto’s) suffering was a failing on Just His part because of his selfish whims... I feel like the point of his tragedy is absolutely missed. That tragedy being that barrelling through things alone is definitely a failing and harmful in numerous ways, as we see with Itachi shouldering everything alone too, and we see them both miss out on Naruto and Sasuke as a result... but at the same time, is just settling down and leaving everything else to chance not also a huge failing, when there are so many other circumstances and enemies acting against you, when you do have the power to change tides, and when so many other people refuse to or can’t seize their own agency? Jiraiya does put his faith in a lot of people too, and a lot of people fail. Don’t fail him, but in a general sense many, like Minato, fail to make the change they wanted to. That’s life in this world, it’s tragic, and after losing a lot of loved ones yeah, he retreats and goes at it alone. 

But how can he win? How does he do what’s right, other than by chasing what he thinks he can do to actually help the world, which happens to be bigger and not centred on individuals, even those he cares about?

(and remember, nobody knows Naruto is special-reincarnation-prophecy-boi, which is why I tend not to blame-game any characters for him being treated like so many orphans were because... while it’s not morally right or nice at all, it’s tone deaf to how the world is, to the fact all characters having different degrees of knowledge and priorities, and it’s insensitive of the fact most the characters had their own struggles and were just doing their best with a bad lot gdi). 

Hell though, Jiraiya even does put Oro, his big obsessive wild goose chase that whisks him away into selfish pining hopelessly devoted land, on the back burner at points. Maybe not in a lasting way, particularly by the last databook where he’s inspired anew by Naruto, but he does prioritise other shit on numerous occasions. And there’s a lot of shit to try and prioritise.

What I’m trying to say is, Jiraiya can’t solely be held responsible for people. Sure, he’s a character whose decisions were pivotal to events, but what of every other character in the story? Why are they not held to the same crazy high standard of doing and protecting and preventing and somehow doing everything ‘right’ that would have also meant him fitting neatly into the Konoha mould? Would other characters really have been that much better in the position of The Big Guide/Martyr/Tragic Hero/Force For Change character? And also is having a tragic Chaotic Good bastard of a hero not a sign of a damn good and interesting character, that at the very least tried where so many others didn’t? Would Naruto not have been a boring as hell story, whose main protag didn’t really have much conflict to make him compelling, without Jiraiya (among others) being a mess with the best intentions? Without so many other characters having failed him, for him to overcome it and still be able to love and inspire change (albeit through sometimes-clumsy talk-no-jutsu)? Was I missing the point of the story?

............. Hmm!

No longer sure where else I’m going with this now, so.... here, I guess, ends my ode to why character hate (especially that reduces them to One Thing) is dumb, why demonising truly well-meaning characters doesn’t feel particularly woke to me in a cast full of flawed characters and horrible circumstance, and why I’ll defend this poor bastard with far too damn much hinging on him to the end I guess :’)

TL;DR HE’S A DUMBASS AND HE TRIED, OKAY?!

#i feel like this is like... about as bold as i'll get with this subject #{ooc} #{memoirs(headcanons)} #not sure about it being a headcanon as such but it does include some of mine so.... for now it can be #{long post} #{meta&analysis}

[anxiously-introverted]

Can you write a a scene about Will first activating his powers and losing control and El and Mike ( Mike is there cuz it’s the holidays so they’re all visiting eatchother) and maybe Joyce idk and they have to snap him outta it and calm him down? What others powers/other stuff can he do with his electricity?

On top of being able to manipulate electricity, I also like the idea of Will having telepathic powers like El’s. However, instead of being able to enter the minds of people, Will is able to enter, and even control, the minds of the creatures from the Upside Down (such as the Demogorgon).

Here’s the scene I was picturing! Please be aware, Lonnie is a jerk with homophobic views in this and the kids like to swear. Hope you enjoy!

 “Why is it that every time something seems to go wrong here nowadays, it’s because of you?” Lonnie snarled, hand twisted into the fabric of Will’s shirt as he cornered his son against the brick wall of the local convenience store. It was cold, wind nipping harshly at Will’s skin as he stared up at his father with wide eyes.            

The past few days had been going so well for him. The Party had already had several hangouts and movie nights, trying to spend as much time as possible together before Will and El had to return to their new home in New Mexico. So far, it almost felt as if things hadn’t really changed. Sure, Will still felt that particular pang of hurt when he saw Mike and El showing each other affection. Yeah, there came a certain sting when he heard about how some kid at their school was so great at Dungeons and Dragons, yet the group never wanted to play when Will had been suggesting it. Maybe he did still feel left out when everyone talked relationships while he knew he could never discuss the feelings he had without the others being disgusted.           

 Perhaps there was still a lot of pains that still rattled him, but the small flashes of happiness with his best friends that made up for it. For the most part, at least.           

 Yesterday, though, there was a sudden change in the mood. Lonnie Byers had blown into town like a glowering tumbleweed, the news of what happened during the summer making its way back to him after a long delay.            

His unstable son, after going in and out of a lab that was eventually shut down permanently, had also been involved in a huge incident at the mall which resulted in it being destroyed. There was gossip of Russians and the disappearance of the chief of police.           

He insisted that he would’ve come sooner to see Will, if only Joyce had given him their new address. He told Will he’d been so worried, that he didn’t know what to think when he’d gotten random bills from the lab and the hospital. He assured that had he’d known everything that had been happening, he would’ve been here. But, he said, he was here now.           

He said he wanted to know what was going on.           

He said he wanted to help.            

Will felt like a fool for believing him.            

“It wasn’t bad enough that you had to be a dirty little queer,” Lonnie said with curled lips, as if the taste of bile came up with the word. “But now I’ve got people around here sayin’ my kid was moved to a looney bin outta state, locked up with the other bleeding hearts and crazies. You have any idea how goddamn humiliating it is to have the town freak as my son?”            

Tears stung at Will’s eyes, though he refused to let them fall. He tried blinking them away, hazel eyes clearing up the blur minimally as he tried to retort, “Why do you care? You don’t even live here anymore! I don’t even live here anymore!” He was shaking, he was struggling. He felt like he was in a cage with a lock that was on the verge of breaking.           

“Oh, so it’s fine to turn your family into a fucking joke?!” Lonnie snapped. “Not to mention all the damn bills that keep flooding in from the hospital. You have any idea how much money-“           

 “All you care about is money!” Will cut in angrily, fear and frustration coming out in a rage that had been smothered and repressed for as long as he could remember. His chest felt like it was burning, his head feeling weightless and as if a boulder rested on it all at once. The building resentment paced in his mind like a tiger in an enclosure two sizes too small. “I know about how you tried to sue Sattler after the funeral! I know you only cared about making some quick money before ditching mom and Jonathan all over again!”            

For a brief instant, there was shock on Lonnie’s face. He had never heard his son, embarrassingly weak and shamefully reserved Will, speak to him with such venom. If he weren’t so pissed, he may have felt proud. Instead, Lonnie hatefully shot back, “That money would’ve done us a hell of a lot more good than what you’ve been doing! Meltdown after meltdown, disaster after disaster, not once have you ever dealt with any of this like a man! That money wouldn’t have ruined this family’s reputation, and it wouldn’t have dragged us to the brink of debt!”            

Hotter, hotter, hotter, there may as well have been lava in his veins. Will felt more and more tears gathering in his eyes, hatred for himself and the man in front of him strangling his heart with barbed wire. There were so many things he wanted to scream. It wasn’t his fault the Demogorgon came after him; it wasn’t his fault the Mind Flayer haunted him every day until eventually robbing him of his autonomy; it wasn’t his fault Billy and the others were possessed, nor were the deaths or the destruction of StarCourt his fault. He didn’t want any of it to happened, he didn’t mean for any of it to happen. All he wanted was to forget, to move on, to start a new chapter-            

“It would’ve been better for everyone if you just stayed dead!”             

A tear broke free, gliding down his cheek. The lock on the cage broke and Will raged.               

In the Wheeler’s basement, Mike looked at the clock hanging on the wall for the fifth time within the hour. His worry and agitation was palpable, setting the other Party members on edge. El rested a gentle hand on the other’s arm, commenting, “I’m sure he’s alright, Mike.”            

“They should’ve come back by now,” the teen insisted, his brown eyes flicking worriedly to hers. “Something must have happened.”            

“He’s just out with his dad, Mike. What could happen?” Max asked, looking up with a raised brow from where she was playing cards with Dustin and Lucas.             

Mike shook his head, “You don’t know his dad, Max. He’s… He’s a major asshole. He’s been a dick to Will since elementary school.”            

“He’s right,” Lucas said, his lips twisting into a frown as memories came to mind. “He would yell at him, call him all sorts of names. And that was just what he did in front of us.”            

El’s face pinched into a look of concern at the information. She knew Lonnie was a sore subject for the Byers family, but she thought perhaps it was just the bitter aftertaste of a bad fight or the awkward hurt that had settled after the divorce. Asking questions wasn’t really an option, she felt as though it wasn’t her place to go digging into old wounds. Not to mention that Will had seemed off for what seemed like days, perhaps even weeks, now.            

She now wishes she had learned more about her new family.            

Mike stood with a hardened expression and said, “I’m going to go find him.”           

“I’ll come with you,” El said, coming up from her spot on the couch as well.             

“Do you need us to come with you?” Dustin asked, his head popping up from where he was laying on the floor.            

“We should be fine. We’ll radio you if we need help, but stay here in case my mom asks where I am,” Mike said, putting one of the radios into his sweatshirt’s pocket. With that, he and El made their way up the stairs and out of the house.            

The sky was overcast with flashes of blue.             

No words would be sufficient to describe the way Mike felt as he took in the scene before him. Lonnie lay on the ground, clutching his upper arm as he stared with petrified eyes at Will. His skin looked burned, almost charred, as if struck with a bolt of unbridled energy.            

And Will…            

Screams of anguish, rage, heartbreak; the cries of one who’s been broken one too many times cut through the air like a razor. His eyes were alight with electric energy, his irises turned dark despite the flashes of neon blue crackling out of them and emanating from the rest of his body as if he were an overpowered battery. The very air around had turned to static, almost burning with the intensity.            

One by one, shop windows began to rattle, crack, and break. Street lights flashed in bursts of blinding light, the hum of constant electricity humming through them like a chorus. The sky above them rumbled, almost gurgling on the blue energy being blasted into and out of it. Veins of blue and black danced along Will’s body, a sickening tango of power intermingled with overwhelming grief.            

Lonnie screamed, “Fucking monster! He’s a fucking monster!”            

Another bolt shot out at Lonnie, but he managed to roll out of the way just in time for it to strike and scorch the ground beside him. The man yelped as he accidentally put pressure onto his injury, his legs scrambling to get him up onto his feet.            

El could relate all too well to the scene in front of her. The lack of control, the surge of emotions, feeling as though you had all the power in the world and yet none at all. She looked at Will screaming, sobbing, breaking, and saw herself. She could see the steady stream of crimson pouring from his nose, pouring like a faucet as his body poured his very soul into the outburst around him. It was so familiar, she could almost feel the blood on her own lip.           

Willing her voice to be steady, she called out, “Will! It’s me! It’s Eleven!”            Screaming broke into choppy outbursts before stopping, as if an old engine were struggling to stop. The scratch and catch in Will’s throat could be heard from where the pair stood. Mike snapped himself from his reverie, following El’s lead, “Will, it’s Mike! Listen, it’s-“            

“Do not say it’s going to be okay!” Will rasped, heat and venom seeping through the hurt. “Nothing’s okay now and nothing’s ever going to be fucking okay!” There was a pulse of more intense energy, as if a second kick jolted within the brunette and poured out as even more strands of tangled lightning.           

“Will, please, what’s going on? You can tell us. We want to help you!” El continued, brow furrowed as she watched the boy struggle. “But first, you have to calm down!”            

“Calm down? Calm down?!” The enraged teen demanded, electricity crackling. “I’ve been told to calm down for the past three years! And it never. Fucking. Helps!” Two more bolts shot out, one striking the brick wall behind him, another striking a lamp post and shattering the bulb with the surge.            

“Then tell us what will help!” Mike pleaded, taking a small step forward. “Tell us what you need, Will!”            

“It-it,” Will struggled, gripping his hair tightly with white knuckles. “Why do you care? Just-Just stop pretending! Stop acting like I matter to you!”            

El shifted toward Will, her hands lowered and body language open. “We’re not pretending! We care about you, Will. All we want is for you to be okay.”

            “You want me dead!” Will screamed, though his energy was dipping. “You all wish I had died in that quarry! You all wish I never came back!”            

“That’s not true!” Mike said, fire coming back to his voice. “We never wanted to give up on you! Seeing your body coming out of the water, the funeral… It killed us, Will! It killed me!” The crack in the dark haired teen’s voice seemed to dim the intensity of the light coming from Will. “When we found out you were still alive, when El was able to contact you, it meant the world to us. It was… Will, do you remember what I told you that day in the shed? Do you remember what the best decision I ever made was?”            

Only the quiet crackling of electricity broke the silence.            

“It was becoming your friend, Will,” Mike said, taking two more steps forward. “That decision changed my life for the better. You made my life better, Will. You make all of our lives better. Please, Will, believe me.”            

El stepped forward as well, coming closer with small steps as she added, “You help us, Will. You helped me at school, with my homework. You took me to the movies, made us waffles, put up with shopping with me. You took care of me. Let us take care of you.”            

With a shuddering breath and a heartbroken tremble, the lighting died away and Will fell forward, angry blue and black veins disappearing as he landed into the gentle and loving arms of his sister and the boy he’s loved in secret for years.             

For the first time since 1983, Will Byers felt safe.

#stranger things #stranger things season 4 #will byers #byler #mike wheeler #eleven #el hopper

[fialleril]

I absolutely adore Flash and Substance pretty much for the exact reasons you list and that gifset you posted of Flash and Trickster might be my favorite scene from the entire DC Animated Universe

Literally my only gripe about Flash and Substance is that they made Linda a Flash fangirl when really Wally should have been a Linda fangirl. But I can overlook this because she’s there and they’re still super cute together. (Though I also have…a lot of headcanons by which I finagle things so that she more resembles her comics counterpart while still fitting in with her character in the show. I won’t derail with those headcanons here though.) And because pretty much everything else about that episode is just perfect.

Anyway, for anybody just joining in, my tags on that gifset were:

this is the purest interaction in all of superhero media i will never understand people who think kind and decent characters are boring catch me out here watching flash and substance on infinite loop chin in hands and stars in my eyes an entire episode about the power of kindness and good people being good to each other yes please this is the content i signed up for

I kid you not, I have never once managed to watch Flash and Substance without having to pause at the end of that scene and just…bask in the goodness for a couple minutes. I mean, the chin hands and starry eyes is completely literal. There’s hand flapping involved usually. And sometimes noises audible only to dogs.

I just really love stories about good people who care in such a genuine way that they make everyone around them a little better, too. Idk if there’s an official name for that character type, but it’s definitely in my top five fictional tropes. And I particularly love the execution of it in JLU generally and Flash and Substance specifically because it’s just so… low key.

I mean, the three other scenes that instantly come to mind when I think of this trope, three scenes that also make me pause and just soak them up every time, are the “help me take this mask off” scene in Return of the Jedi, and two scenes from Mad Max: Fury Road - Capable meeting Nux in the back of the war rig, and Max telling Furiosa his name at the end.

And those are all stunningly beautiful scenes that destroy me every time, no matter how many times I watch them. But they’re also Big Deal Moments. (And they should be!)

What’s so amazing about Flash and Substance is that…there really isn’t a Big Deal Moment at any point in the episode. It’s not a Big Deal Episode, either. Hell, it’s really a filler episode. Just a slice of life in Central City. There’s nothing particularly special about it and that’s kinda the point. Wally’s just…like that. All the time. He’s just a really decent guy, who knows everyone in his city by name, who hangs out with kids at the orphanage and paints old ladies’ fences in his free time, who visits his villains in the hospital, not even to check up on their rehabilitation, but just to hang out.

And this episode takes place less than half a season after the end of the Cadmus arc. The entire Justice League is still on thin ice with the public in general and with the US and world council governments in particular. They’re constantly on their best behavior trying to prove that they deserve to be called heroes at all.

And meanwhile Central City has built a Flash Museum because they love their hometown hero. Because, much as I love Bats and Supes and all the rest, Flash isn’t some half-mythical figure fading in and out of the shadows, or some symbol of hope spotted up in the sky, or somebody who comes in to save the day and then is off to the next town and the next day that needs to be saved. He wears a mask and (unlike his comics counterpart, at least during the period I’m fondest of) he has a secret identity, but he doesn’t actually act much differently as Flash than he does as Wally.

Well, okay. He’s actually got a pretty damn impressive Obfuscating Stupidity act going on, but one of the low key but delightful reveals that comes out of Flash and Substance is that he primarily employs his Obfuscating Stupidity act on the other members of the Justice League. And supervillains, of course. (The non-Rogue ones, anyway. The Rogues damn well know better.) And even then, he doesn’t keep up the act out of any desire to disguise his identity. He does it because somebody’s got to be the fun one in this band of Super Serious Heroes, and it just so happens that Wally likes being the fun one. So that works out nicely for everyone. Well, everyone but Grodd and Lex Luthor, who are perpetually annoyed by his heckling. But honestly they deserve it.

And it gives him an advantage sometimes, being the fun one. Like with Trickster. Wally’s actually friends with James, and the really wonderful thing about that scene with Trickster is that James knows they’re friends, too. It’s not the far more common superhero scenario, where the hero cares a lot about the villain’s hopeful rehabilitation because they feel somehow responsible, but the villain despises the hero and the audience knows that rehabilitation will never happen. Wally genuinely cares about James and James knows it, and knows that he can trust that, which is kind of amazing, on both of their parts. And I suspect that’s partly because Wally is the fun one, so he and James understand each other in a way heroes and villains often don’t.

Because being a superhero is Serious Business. Except when it’s really not. Because your supervillain is a guy just trying to live out the trickster archetype, and there’s a script for that, so hey, you might as well play along. It means people don’t get hurt, and it’s also just more fun that way. And when things do get serious, when your supposed nemesis is off his meds and needs a friend to remind him why he does need them, then you can actually be that friend without a lot of drama getting in the way.

Or, in other words: Nobody gets hurt, and that’s a really good day.

#replies #anon #ha ha welp i'm metaing about jlu so there's no turning back now lol #i've been working on my next flash fic chapter which all about the rogues today #so this was a very timely ask #justice league animated #wally west #james jesse #linda park #my meta

[theradioghost]

what books did u get ? i rly need to get back into reading more now school is over

oh man. so I’ll give you what I bought & then I’m also gonna throw in some similar books that I have already read just because I can actually vouch for the quality of those

(brief note that my main qualifications when I was looking for books, besides not wanting YA, was that 1. they were not about straight cis white men and/or 2. they had particular appeal to one of the areas of sf&f that I have a particular fondness for and/or 3. they cost under five bucks. so there’s a lot of diverse lit, and a lot of novellas, and a lot of urban fantasy wizards who are also detectives/rebellious angels and or demons/necromancy/dragons/stuff that is explictly Lovecraftian adaptations but takes the piss out of Lovecraft/anything on this list/anything published by Tor)

new books that I have read:

(coming back to update this as I get through these books)

the Lovelace & Wick series by Jennifer Rainey – this is the Demon Husbands one I’ve been yelling about. Two gentleman demons in love – a Faustian tempter and a bringer of catastrophes – are growing increasingly dissatisfied with the work they do for hell, while also being forced to contend with new and dangerous enemies. Set in a vaguely-steampunk 1890s Massachusetts. Also includes monster-hunting steampunk scientist lesbian wives.

Deadline by Stephanie Ahn – fourteen months after a disastrous failed ritual, disgraced blood witch Harrietta Lee gets offered a ridiculously lucrative job quietly recovering a stolen artifact for a young member of a powerful magical family, and promptly finds out that this is too good to be true. Also she keeps meeting scary, hot women. Instantly the only wisecracking urban fantasy PI named Harry that my heart has any room for. (This one’s a bit Spicier than my usual fare but the author actually includes a list of content warnings including page numbers at the front of each book, which you can view with the preview option on the Amazon page.)

Hammers on Bone by Cassandra Khaw – A kid hires London PI John Persons to kill his stepfather. The first catch is that the stepfather is a Lovecraftian horror. The second catch is that Persons is too. This is like, the noir-est horror I’ve ever read and that’s something I am very into. 

The Haunting of Tram Car 015 by P. Djeli Clark – An urban fantasy police procedural set in an alternate 1912 Cairo, in which two government officials are sent to deal with a strange, malevolent spirit in the midst of political upheaval as Egypt’s women demand universal suffrage. There’s a free short story prequel to this on tor.com called “A Dead Djinn in Cairo“ that’s worth reading first.

Three Parts Dead by Max Gladstone – high fantasy with a black protagonist, in which Tara Abernathy, a disgraced magic user and rookie associate in an internationally renowned necromancy firm, is assigned to resurrect a city’s murdered patron fire god – but first, with the help of a chain-smoking priest and a vampire-addicted servant of Justice Herself, she has to track down his killer.

River of Teeth by Sarah Gailey – in an alternate history where the 1910 “Hippo Bill” passed, Winslow Remington Houndstooth, an ex-rancher out for revenge, is hired to travel north with a ragtag crew – a con artist and pickpocket, a demolitions expert with a proclivity for poisoning, the most dangerous contract killer in the country, and the very man who ruined his life – and take on the dangers of the massive swamp that was once the Mississippi river, a place ruled over by deadly feral hippos and a homicidal riverboat gambling king.

or, essentially, a swamp-based heist Western with a cast including a British-East Asian bisexual man, a black nb person, an unashamedly fat woman, and a pregnant Latina lesbian, and also their pet hippos. Listen just go ahead and get the version with both stories in it

Silver in the Wood by Emily Tesh – Tobias has lived in the woods as long as anyone can remember; long enough that the nearby town tells stories of the Green Man, the spirit-king of the forest, who dwells in the trees. These stories are truer, and far more dangerous, than anyone but Tobias knows – so when friendly, handsome, curious Henry Silver buys up the neighboring Greenhollow Hall and starts investigating the local folklore, Tobias will have to decide whether to sacrifice the only life he has known for centuries, or the first person he has loved in all that time.

not-new books that I have read:

idk if you don’t know about the Wayfarers series, the first of which is The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet, but it is an absolutely stellar bit of sci-fi very much based around ideas of found family and discovering your own identity and place in the universe and love and compassion and stories based around sweet slice-of-life stuff in a scifi universe with lots of fun aliens and it is so very queer and so very heartwarming and all three books (which each have different casts, although the characters in all three are connected to one another and sort of cameo across all the books) are fantastic.

Urban Dragon by J.W. Troemner – Dragons are supposed to be ruthless, unpredictable, deadly, selfish creatures. So why is it that Rosa Hernandez seems to be able to keep her best friend Arkay in check? How did Arkay, a shape-changing dragon with lightning at her command, end up being found alone and starving and with no memory of her past by a homeless woman? And as evidence mounts that someone is hunting down supernatural beings, who can they trust? (I stumbled across this while looking for urban fantasy on TV Tropes and BOY am I glad I did. Good if you like close friendships between queer women or the enemies-to-lovers trope)

The Merry Spinster by Daniel Mallory Ortberg – of course I was going to read Daniel Ortberg’s short story collection, are you kidding me. Not “””darker””” fairy tale retellings, but fairy tales as often very surreal, psychological horror. Read this if you want to totally ruin “The Velveteen Rabbit” for yourself.

The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker – historical fantasy set in the early-20th-century Orthodox Jewish and Middle Eastern immigrant communities of NYC, about the strange friendship that springs up between a bitter jinn trapped in a mortal body and a masterless golem living among humans. and it gave me feelings.

The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle – a retelling of H.P. Lovecraft’s short story “The Horror at Red Hook” from the perspective of a black man. One of the better pieces of horror I have ever read.

Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff – a very different take on a similar concept to The Ballad of Black Tom, wherein a mid-century black Midwestern family find themselves mixed up in the plans of a bunch of cultists and set out to disentangle themselves from this whole cosmic-horror mess. Apparently Jordan Peele is adapting this into a TV show, so I’m stoked for that.

new books that I have not read:

(& also a couple that are just books I want, and some that I just haven’t read yet but got free from the Tor monthly ebook club, which is very much worth joining)

Armed in Her Fashion by Kate Heartfield– I’m just going to let the official blurb speak for this one because there is absolutely no way I could improve on it

The Black God’s Drums by P. Djeli Clark – New Orleans-based steampunk fantasy about an airship captain and a stowaway who talks to orishas.

Rupert Wong, Cannibal Chef by Cassandra Khaw – Apparently several authors have written standalone works in this series, and Cassandra Khaw’s aren’t chronologically the first, but I love Cassandra Khaw and “chef for ghouls and pencil-pusher for the Ten Chinese Hells is forced to solve an inter-pantheon murder mystery” just sounds so good to me.

Bones and Bourbon by Dorian Graves – Cursed half-huldra PI is forced to help out his little brother and the demon who shares his body, and then everything goes wrong. Feat. carnivorous unicorns.

Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida Cordova – reluctant bruja attempts to rid herself of her magic and instead plunges her entire family into magical trouble. YA.

Robbergirl by S. T. Gibson – WLW retelling of The Snow Queen from the perspective of the bandit princess. YA.

Passing Strange by Ellen Klages – slightly-fantastical historical lesbian noir novella set in the burgeoning 1940s gay club scene in San Francisco.

The Black Tides of Heaven by JY Yang – admittedly caught my eye because the cover art reminded me of Moribito, which I adore. East-Asian-inspired epic fantasy which I believe has a nonbinary protagonist.

Rosemary and Rue by Seanan McGuire – I’ve been neglecting getting around to October Daye way, way too long considering how much I love Seanan McGuire and urban fantasy, but my mom started reading this and that pushed me over the edge because damn it, yes I want to read her take on the Wizard Detective genre that I have such a weakness for.

The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson – this was recommended to me in a Tumblr post listing interesting, diverse fantasy, and I’ve been into high fantasy political intrigue lately.

The Paper Magician by Charlie N. Holmberg – came across this in a Twitter thread about fantasy worlds with unconventional and interesting magic systems. A newly graduated student of magic is bitter about being sent to learn paper-crafting magic rather than working with metal, until Murder Stuff Happens. YA.

Miranda in Milan by Katharine Duckett – queer fantasy sequel to The Tempest, with Miranda as protagonist.

Witchmark by C. L. Polk – post-WWI gaslamp fantasy MLM romance about a male witch in hiding, working as a doctor; the reviews seem to indicate people think it’s more ‘delightful’ than ‘literary’ but apparently it is pretty fucking delightful.

In the Vanisher’s Palace by Aliette de Bodard– East Asian WLW retelling of Beauty and the Beast and also one of them is a dragon.

Winter Tide by Ruthanna Emrys – another one of the rash of new Lovecraft adaptations that are turning perspectives around, this being one where the citizens of Innsmouth are the protagonists. Also has a really good short story prequel you can read for free on tor.com.

also I just feel like mentioning that I’m stupidly excited for Gideon the Ninth by Tamsin Muir to come out this fall because the review they’ve decided to put at the top of every blurb is “Lesbian necromancers explore a haunted gothic palace in space!” (not my exclamation mark) and I don’t know how anyone could more perfectly craft something to my tastes.

#bobbie recommends things #astronauticality #asks #my posts

[pricechecktranslations]

TTDS: The Emerald Girl; Chapter 1

Torture Tower Doesn’t Sleep: The Emerald Girl infomine under the cut 

Scene One

Scene opens at a round table (in the royal palace) with King Helios VII. As a side note, the carpet is red, which he dislikes because seeing red all over the floor reminds him of a trauma when he was young (also, he became king at a very young age due to his father’s death).

He’s supposed to be talking with the prime minister (who’s old enough to have known him when he was a child, and views him about as you’d expect of that).

The meeting is regarding what to do about Lion City and the disappearances therein (or else, it’s a general meeting and they’re discussing Lion City at the tail end of it). There have been no new cases in the past six months however (which I think we can take to mean that six months have elapsed since the last book).

There’s other people at the meeting (from the House of Lords) and they go over the situation. Because Lion City is such a small town no one was really paying it much notice, but then Joshua Herbert went missing. He had been spotted in town before that, alongside a Crossrosier member.

Lot of recap about the situation of the tower and Hank, etc. Apparently Helios has been ducking the situation with the tower because his father told him not to go messing with wraiths or something like that. But he’s starting to doubt that’s the right thing to do. He starts talking about investigating into it. The prime minister snaps at him to leave it alone, they argue (and then he says something like, “we can’t afford to have our king lose his life this time” or something like that, which is given emphasis).

They argue a bit more but the prime minister overrules Helios, basically saying that if the losses are limited to just that rural area of Lion City, it’s fine (which Helios says isn’t like him). The meeting ends.

Scene Two

This discusses twenty years ago. There was a border war with a neighboring country while Helios was still a prince (his first war). He participated (his unit far from any actual danger) for his studies (merely observing rather than actually helping disappointed him, but obviously he understood).

They had all thought it was a small dispute, probably resolved in like three days. But without warning, it turned into a massacre (having a little trouble reading this part clearly on the specifics). Dead bodies and red everywhere (blood, I mean). Also black bird feathers.

In the center of it all he’d seen a man with pitch-black hair and brown skin. Also a red pentagram (looks like a star in the art to me idk) tattoo on his right cheek. This was the first wraith Helios had ever seen, and the cause of the massacre.

Hank was also killed around this time (publicly an accident) by a conspiracy between the old king and a wraith (Romarius). Helios is certain this is related to the tragedy of that war.

Helios is now meeting with Romarius (a war hero, a friend of the late king, and the one who saved the current king’s life from the wraith (Rabiah I think) that attacked twenty years ago).

Under Romarius’ suit, on his right arm is a large tattoo of a snake that moves as though it’s alive.

They talk a little (Helios knows Romarius is on his side, but is still afraid of him anyway, which Romarius doesn’t mind because he thinks humans shouldn’t get too involved with wraiths—also some implications that on some level he’s lonely due to his lack of friends but anyway). Romarius presses Helios not to get involved, revealing his own actions to solve the situation with Raymond.

Before he leaves, Helios asks if the wraith that almost killed him twenty years ago is alive—Romarius answers he probably is.

As he leaves he regroups with Raymond (the two of them have a pretty cold relationship it looks like), and then they head for Hargain’s place.

Scene Three

The scene opens on Hargain’s lab, a girl with emerald hair floating in a tube of liquid (I believe it says she’s in a fetal position, but I’m not 100% sure). Hargain is gazing at her, certain that she’s almost complete and consulting the corresponding passage in “Ending Records XXVIII” (? I’m not sure about the name translation. As a note, while this one isn’t pictured, another one is and the number is shown as being in Roman numerals. This one is 28)

He mentions something about a memory transfer and reconstitution of the body, confused why she won’t wake up. He’s apparently had 98 failures before this one. The girl’s body was originally a dead baby, and in the past five years he rapidly grew her to physically resemble a teenager.

He’s so focused he doesn’t immediately notice Romarius behind him. Hargain demands to know what he’s doing there, with his eyes wide open, which doesn’t mean anything in particular it’s just his habit. Romarius tells him that Beritoad has gotten active again, and implores him to aid in taking him down. He brings up Vivian’s death (calling her a disciple of Hargain’s disciples), which Hargain doesn’t seem to care about (also brushing off the concept of having disciples).

Hargain refuses to help, pointing out both that as an old man he’s less physical capable than he once was, but also that what he wanted from Beritoad he’s already obtained (the Ending Records thing).

Romarius then offers his own Ending Records document (LXXII/72), which he had kept hidden from Hargain. Hargain reads it, realizing that it may help him finally succeed, only to see that it’s just half of the documents. Romarius tells him Beritoad has the other half.

Thus incentivized, Hargain has Romarius tell him the situation. He then tells him he’ll give him six months to (I think work on his experiments? using the document? I don’t know exactly what he means yet), though Hargain thinks one month is enough. Then he calls in Raymond, saying he’ll lend him to him as an assistant.

He’ll also make sure Hargain does as Romarius wants, and take back the Ending Records if Hargain rejects his offer. Hargain goes to show him the room he has set aside for him, Raymond emotionless the whole time.

Scene Four

Raymond is taken to a room on the second floor of the building. It’s empty now, but soon it’ll have furnishings for someone to live there. He tells him to call on his servant if he needs anything (his servant being Liam Highland (riamu hairando)). Liam comes in wearing a white long-sleeved shirt, looking refined and about thirty years old.

During introductions Liam and Raymond recognize each other, and Raymond smiles for the first time since coming in. Hargain leaves them to chat, heading back to his experiment.

This mansion is used as the headquarters for the Crossrosier magical society, set up on the coast of Lake Last (? Rasuto?) which is near the royal capital. Only Crossrosier’s top brass and their servants can enter. Raymond is only allowed to enter the church and his own room.

They’re walking along the mansion now, running into a maid named Sasha (sasha), entrusting her with setting up the room. Once she’s gone, the two start chatting about things. Apparently Liam used to be a beastmaster at the circus (which is where he met Raymond), and before he started working here spent time as a mercenary. They talk about Raymond being sent here by Romarius, which Liam decides not to pry into further.

They reach the church. Liam tells him he can stay here until his room is finished, and if anyone asks he need only mention Hargain and they’ll leave him alone. Crossrosier has a front as a religious organization (preaching reverence of spirits), and Hargain is called its founder. Of course, Raymond knows that them being sorcerers is really a sham (Liam asks him not to say that out loud).

They discuss Hargain’s research lab, Raymond wondering if he’s making a false wraith (one of the ones they make and set loose to “vanquish”). Liam tells him not to tell anyone of what he saw in there.

Liam brings up as he leaves the fact that he looks so much older than Raymond, despite being roughly the same age as him—he speculates that it might have to do with Raymond being part wraith (wraiths don’t age, so Raymond is aging slowly).

Scene Five

Not even two weeks have passed, and it’s so boring there that Raymond is losing it. Hargain stays locked up in his lab where Raymond can’t keep an eye on him. He’s also doing his best to avoid the other Crossrosier sorcerers (he did let Vivian die, after all), and has little interest in the weird rituals they do in the church. Liam is also too busy to talk to him most of the time.

Raymond wants to head out to the capital a little bit. He figures Hargain will stay where he is for now (apparently Crossrosier functions just fine without him being active in it), and he’s also dying for a good meal (eating meat is forbidden by Crossrosier rules, and he’s tired of the vegetarian fare).

He doesn’t have money though—most of what he has is what Romarius (who hoards wealth, hence him wanting Beritoad’s alchemy) gives him, and there’s not much left of when he was performing in Lion City.

Just as he’s thinking of street performing in the capital, Liam comes in with a letter from Benji.

Benji opens with a joke (roughly, “If you’re reading this, it means I am no longer in this world…Just kidding, I’m probably still working as a doctor in Lion City like normal”). He tells him that the sisters in Torcia Tower have become active again, and Gibbet has been spotted in a town to Lion City’s north, Mercerie City (maaserii). People are going missing there now. Worse, Gibbet has apparently cozied up to the town mayor, so people are getting sent to Torcia periodically (unless I’m misreading that).

He says that if Raymond is going to go to the tower again (which, he doesn’t have to), to stop by Benji’s first, as he has some preparations that might help.

Recap on the situation with the girls from the previous novel.

Funnily enough, Raymond’s thoughts on his friends from back then mirror Romarius’ earlier with Helios: “Friends…hm. Do I have the qualifiers to be called that?” (very rough translation not confident). Also a little note on how Benji is one of the few to know Raymond is part wraith, and notably didn’t treat him any worse for it.

Wanting to head out to Torcia again (but needing to finish things here first), Raymond calls for Liam. He learns that Hargain is away from his lab resting.

Scene Six

Raymond sneaks through easily, as he can see in the dark (so clearly that when he was a child he would ask his mom why she’d have lights on at all, not realizing then this was a trait unique to him).

He arrives before the lab (the one Hargain was in when he first got here), which has a steel door and a plaque next to it that says only Hargain may enter. He first thinks he might try an unlocking spell, but he’s only able to open simple locks (and the one on Hargain’s lab is a special “double type ward lock”).

But then he tries the door and realizes it’s not locked anyway.

He goes inside, see various large glass cases full of liquid. The Emerald girl is also still in the large tube where she was before. He walks inside a little, but then is immediately caught by Hargain, who has returned.

He demands to know what Raymond is doing there, Raymond claiming he just got lost looking for the bathroom (an obvious lie). Hargain threatens him if he plans to get in the way of his research, but then says he’ll let it slide this once if he leaves now and never does it again.

Raymond decides to obey, taking a step to leave the room, when they hear glass breaking. They turn around—Raymond being a little bit faster—and see that the girl has broken free of the tube and is at Raymond’s feet, looking at him with her big, shiny emerald eyes. And when their eyes meet, she calls him “papa” (well, it’s more like “pa….pa…”).

#()torture tower doesn't sleep #raymond continues to be a compelling character #god i love him and his identity issues

[tomeandflickcorner]

Jericho, Mad Beauty, and Thor for the ask

Whoa, I almost forgot about this!

Jericho-

Favorite character: Tie between Jake and Gail

Least Favorite character: Um...hard to say.  There weren’t any characters that made me groan whenever they popped up.  Though Gray Anderson came close, so I guess I’ll go with him

5 Favorite ships (canon or non-canon): Jake/Emily, Johnston/Gail, Robert/Darcy, Stanley/Mimi and Heather/Beck

Character I find most attractive: Hard to say.  Though I can see why people might find Jake and Emily attractive

Character I would marry: LOL.  Well, all the ‘eligible’ men on the show seemed to be taken, don’t they?  So there’s not much to chose from

Character I would be best friends with: I wanna say Heather.  She was pretty cool

a random thought: I think, at one point, it was mentioned that one of the deputy’s kids was sick with something.  I remember thinking if that was going to be relevant, but it was never brought up again

An unpopular opinion: I don’t think the show did a proper job at explaining why Johnston and Eric held such a negative opinion of Jake at the start of the show.  I got that Jake was basically the town’s ‘bad boy’ back in the day, but... they way they acted towards him when he came back into town seemed a bit mean spirited to me  

My Canon OTP: Jake and Emily

My Non-canon OTP: IDK.  Maybe April and Russel?

Most Badass Character: Gotta go with Robert.  No offence to Jake, of course.  But between the two of them, Robert is the one I’d actively avoid trying to tick off

Most Epic Villain: John Gotez

Pairing I am not a fan of: Maybe Eric and Mary.  While I didn’t actively hate it, I was mostly indifferent to them and pretty much fell asleep during their scenes

Character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another): April. hands down

Favorite Friendship: Jake and Robert.

Character I most identify with: Not sure.

Character I wish I could be: I’m drawing a blank, I’m afraid

Mad Beauty-

When I started shipping them: Hard to pinpoint the exact date.  It started off when I saw a post mentioning the pairing, and I was intrigued by the concept.  But the more I thought about it, the more I realized I liked it.  Before I knew it, I was Mad Beauty trash

My thoughts: I just think they make the most sense.  All things considered, Jefferson and Belle probably suffered the most during the course of the Dark Curse that created Storybrooke.  Jefferson was forced to spend nearly three decades watching his beloved daughter from afar, knowing he couldn’t approach her because she didn’t remember him.  Not to mention how he was the only one in town who remembered the truth but knew he couldn’t tell anyone on account of how nobody would believe him.  As for Belle, she spent all that time confined in her cell in the psychiatric ward, where her only human contact were the orderlies who brought her food and whatnot.  She never received any visitors during that time and I doubt the orderlies bothered striking up a conversation with her.  To top it off, if her behavior when she was forced over the town line were any indication, she probably had absolutely no memories, either real or faked, to revisit while in confinement.  While the show never addressed it, I firmly believe that Belle was probably in serious need of therapy when the curse broke.  Apart from that, there’s the fact that Belle was a young woman who clearly craved adventure and wanted to see the world.  Jefferson, who had spent quite a few years as a portal jumper with the use of his magic hat, has most likely visited more realms in the multiverse than anyone else in the show.  So he’d be perfectly suited to be Belle’s personal guide to each and every one of those realms, giving her the world tour she’d always yearned for.  And then there’s Grace.  I think we all can agree that Grace is Jefferson’s top priority.  Can you imagine how much Jefferson would love to see Belle and Grace interact and bond?  Because it’s obvious they would.  Especially since they both know what it’s like to lose their mother through tragic circumstances.  Plus, both Jefferson and Belle are characters with a strong association with tea.  I cannot erase the mental image of all three of them sitting down to a tea party.

What makes me happy about them: That I can write about them.  Writing for this paring is almost as fun as writing about Captain Swan, my top OTP

What makes me sad about them: That this particular ship is so uncommon.  It’s rare to find another Mad Beauty shipper.  That and the fact that it will never be canon

Things done in fanfic that annoys me: Well, there are very few Mad Beauty fics out there, so I suppose the lack of them counts as an annoyance.  Especially since most of the available ones seem more about Rumbelle, based on the fic summaries

Things I look for in fanfic: For it to actually exist (lol)

My wishlist: Don’t think I have one

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: Not sure with Jefferson, since we hardly saw him interacting with anyone in canon, but Belle is my multi-ship.  I’d be happy to see her with anyone who deserves her, really  (Including Gold, as long as he actually got his act together first and quit being such a manipulative a-hole)

My happily ever after for them: Ah, but that would be a major spoiler for the fifth and final installment of my canon divergence series, wouldn’t it?

Thor-

How I feel about this character: Overall, I like him.  While I wouldn’t say he’s my favorite character, I’ve always enjoyed his presence.  He just strikes me as someone who’d be a lot of fun to be around

Any/all the people I ship romantically with this character: Jane Foster.  And maybe Lady Sif as a ‘we dated as kids/teenagers but then broke up amicably’ kind of deal

My favorite non-romantic relationship for this character: Loki and/or Valkyrie 

My unpopular opinion about this character: His intelligence seemed to be a bit inconsistent at times.  (Really, he knows about emails, but doesn’t know you need a computer to access them?)  It’s a bit frustrating, because he is clearly an intelligent man

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: That he hadn’t broken up with Jane.  Whose bright idea was that?

Favorite friendship for this character: It’s a toss-up between Steve and Darcy Lewis

My crossover ship: Does paring him with Ororo Munro/Storm count as a crossover?  I mean, they’ve both technically Marvel characters, but so far, the X-Men aren’t a thing in the MCU

Send me a Number

[applegelstore]

My sis and I are through with the actual main plot of KH3, so I can officially go back to scheduled ToZ fangirling now. …Well, I promised Cray a bit of fix-it-fanart, so after that, I guess.

Hit the cut for a resume. It got super long and has endgame story spoilers, so you might not want to stumble upon it by accident.

Another extra big shoutout (again!) to @crazayrock for bearing my liveblogging on Discord, screaming without context and occasional spoilers. And linking me fluffy Soriku doujinshi. Here, have my favourite, spoiler-heavy excerpt of our conversation:

Okay anyway, let’s get started: GAMEPLAY

Kingdom Hearts 3 is BEAUTIFUL. The gameplay is so smooth and intuitive that you can immediately get to playing like you’d never done anything else; in fact so smooth that I doubt I will ever be able to pick up the first game ever again. It’s always been fun, but the looooooong years’ gap actually did wonders to the gameplay.

The keyblade form changes are fun and keep things fresh, you can do flashy triangle button shit every other minute, and shotlock is still insanely useful without being a game-breaker.

It seems easier than the first two main games, though?

The gummi ship is still a pain in the ass to steer, but I do enjoy the open world-like travel options (even if there’s not… much to discover except heartless lasering the shit out of you). I’m also eternally grateful that they kept the gummi ship thing from KH2 where you can just use a new gummi ship once you got the blueprint and don’t buy actual fucking legos as in the first game.

Thank you, Square. Not thanking you for the dumb cherry flan game, though.

The Caribbean being basically an open world stage was delightful! Apparently what our resident island kid needs is a big ship and tropical islands to plunder.

VISUALS AND STUFF

PRETTY LIGHTS EVERYWHERE

The long gap between the games also did wonders to the visuals.

There’s finally, FINALLY a few towns with actual NPCs you can talk to. Why it took the team so many years and the Gods know how many games is beyond me. The magic effects are beautiful, the animations smooth (honestly you can hardly tell apart cutscenes and fully rendered CGI scenes in this day and age of the PS4. I’m probably the only person still amazed by this because the only games I played on PS4 before were a few hours of Child of Light and of course Tales of Zestiria and Berseria. No, I still haven’t played FFXV but that’s a topic for another day). How far videogames have come.Even space finally looks like space, lol. Not really high-end what the PS4 can do I assume but god, it’s such an amazing and much needed upgrade from the terrible textureless colourful tubes you flew through before.

No excuse for the terrible battleship thingy before the Keyblade Graveyard, though. I got lost and beaten up so many times and crashed against more walls than I can count.

Nothing beats the World that Never Was, but the Keyblade Graveyard also has creepy cool potential, as does the beautiful but ghosted City in the Sky.

Still not getting what’s with JRPGs and very Definitely Final Dungeons (TM) that are basically space. …………or heaven. Or nothing. I’m getting the bad kind of original NGE TV series ending vibes. But. Okay.

The soundtrack is splendid

.……I miss Traverse Town and Radiant Garden, however.

Which brings us to:

THE WORLDS

I guess I can live with no more Final Fantasy characters being there (although I always loved that), and the meta jokes in Toy Story world really got me. Seeing Disney characters calling the KH villains call out on their shit was delightful. …the KH characters lampshading their own games’ sloppy dialogue writing was delightful.Still, those Disney worlds are always so much more in my head than what I actually get to play. This has been bugging me ever since the first game and it still does. I do not expect or want to replay the entire movies, but would it hurt to give the cutscenes some goddamn background music? Whenever there’s cutscenes, either the world’s usual BGM keeps playing or the music stops altogether. Together with the shortened dialogues and generally drastically shortened plots with odd cuts, that leads to scenes that are awkward at best. They never even remotely have the impact the movies had. You just sit there and think “oh wow that is so silly and awkward”.

Dancing scene in Corona? My favorite scene in Tangled. Zero impact on me without the lovely BGM (at least they made it a minigame so the moment isn’t over after 3 secs). Just for example. You can ask me like, world by world, but I can think of only exception off the top of my head and it’s not helping:

Let it Go of course. Listen guys, I actually love the song. But it’s so overused (and Frozen is an overrated movie at best that doesn’t deserve its hype in the slightest) that I can’t even really enjoy it being there. Like.


IF THAT’S OKAY WITH YOU,WHY DIDN’T YOU INCLUDE LITERALLY ANY OTHER ORIGINAL SONG FROM THE ORIGINAL MOVIES. Instead of BGM just not being there entirely, or in odd, cringey re-renderings that nobody wants to listen to (*cough* Atlantica *cough*).

Why torture me and not give me the one good scene from At World’s End (the up is down scene) when you had the chance?Kingdom Hearts is also prone to super lazy level design and wasting chances at wonderful scenery for no apparent reason other than I suppose empty cliffsides are quick to render. All games before did that, and KH3 is, sadly, no exception. We get to see a bit of Corona and Athens and they finally have NPCs, too, but you cannot even get near Arendelle. You cannot enter Elsa’s palace. You spend the entire time there climbing around in the snowy mountains of Norway, and unfortunately it looks less interesting than one would expect from the lovely concept art that the film unfortunately never used.You cannot enter Rapunzel’s tower although Sora can apparently parkour his way up even without her help.

………In short, the places you can go are, again, very limited, and a lot of interesting places and scenes you never get to see.

And to follow the plot you still only need the stuff that does NOT happen in those Disney worlds because they’re all beach filler episodes. It’s always been like that, but I keep wondering whether I’m the only one bothered by that. I’m also still salty they didn’t introduce a single new world from a 2D animated movie.

Also, as I said, I miss Traverse Town, it felt so warm and welcoming and beautiful.

And I get behind The World that Never Was missing although I loved it there, but why not give us back Radiant Garden? Destiny Islands since they’ve been restored? Disney Castle?

As much as I love the series, it never fucking lives up to its own potential. Idk whether it’s made more difficult by copyright issues or whatever, I just know that it bugs me.The first two games also had like twice as many worlds.

PLOT

I mean it’s never been deep; however, it’s complicated. No analysis or whatever from me because plot analysis and meta writing bore me like seven hells, just my emotional reaction: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH 
Okay, bad news. I got into it expecting nothing, and still got disappointed. I don’t actually enjoy the prospect of writing essays about it, but here’s my tea with it; in not particular order:

1) the pacing is terrible. Nothing happens for like 30 hours and then suddenly like 20 characters’ arcs are (naturally poorly) resolved within the last few hours of cutscenes. Build up anyone? At least they actually did pick up Maleficent and the box thing again. …In the epilogue.

2) Speaking of build ups, Sora’s breakdown could have been developed nicely and steadily over the game to feel natural, and instead it’s hinted at in the beginning by everyone picking on him, but then it’s never further developed and comes out of fucking nowhere. Like. For real? It felt terribly OOC.

3) Why on earth have they shown 90% of the plot in the trailers already, and why are those scenes so massively disappointing in context

4) Kairi. Oh god, Kairi. What are we gonna do with you. I want to love her, I really do, but she’s a prime example of shittily written female leads. Mostly because she’s not leading. It’s not her fault. She’s just a fictional character. But honest to God, Nomura, why. Her screen time is almost nonexistent, and she’s entirely use- and helpless whenever she’s on screen (which isn’t often). Her ONLY point in the plot is being rescued because she is fucking useless. Why. Just why. Why waste her character like that. All we know is that she’s shoehorned into being the token love interest, but she has zero plot relevance and there is even less build up of her relationship with Sora. It’s all tell and NEVER show; and not even much telling, either. She has literally zero direct interaction with in the entire game before they share their paopu. The question remains: why are straights like this

5) On a related note: look, I don’t even ask for (or expect, or even hope) my ship to be canon. Squeenix doesn’t exactly have a rich history in queer representation. I’m totally fine with Sora and Riku being best friends. BUT. Building up Sora as the most important person in Riku’s life (and arguably, vice versa) over the course of several games, just to then hardly have them interact in the finale and then SUDDENLY bring back Kairi into the equation, who hasn’t interacted with him since the ending of KH2 (except for one unsent(?) letter) is just piss poor writing, period.I actually love Cray’s suggestion she gave me over Discord: let Sora, Kairi and Riku all share a paopu together (and let them group hug, too, you cowards). It would have been the perfect message to send (Sora as truly all-loving hero, and loving all your friends equally; romantic love isn’t more important than platonic love and doesn’t need to be singled out). Really sad that this isn’t what happens. Apparently that wouldn’t have been no homo enough.

LET THE DESTINY TRIO GROUP HUG YOU COWARDS


Do Riku and Kairi even interact once in the whole game?


HOW IS THIS A TRIO, IT’S JUST A SHITTILY WRITTEN LOVE TRIANGLE

6) Time travelling is a bitch, Christ. It doesn’t solve plotholes or can be played for drama, it just adds MORE plotholes. It just got WORSE. The cloning blues and people not aging doesn’t help, either.

7) Just so you know, I care absolutely zero for wild fan theories. You’re not Nomura. I want a statement from the man who wrote this shit himself why on bloody earth Sora dies when he apparently successfully found and brought back Kairi (and since nobody aged a day, apparently it didn’t even take that long lol). DUDES, THIS IS KINDA PART OF THE PLOT, AND YOU DON’T BOTHER TO EXPLAIN IT INGAME???? And how was Ienzo/Zexion able to revive Naminé while Kairi was still missing/dead/whatever…?

Okay so in short the writing is worse than ever and that’s saying something.

However, let’s try to find something good in this trainwreck; it wasn’t all bad. There’s some really nice scenes which sadly are better enjoyed without any context at all.

So, guess my favourite scenes.You had time enough, here’s the solution:

1) Purifying uhm er rescuing Aqua. Poor girl. She deserves the rest. Poor, poor Aqua. The only properly wirrten female in the whole damn franchise. Also the only person other than Riku who fucking gets shit done.

2) The Gayblade (TM)

3) Happy Axel in the reunion with his kids. Oh god, the poor chap deserves it so much. Thank you, Nomura. I don’t care that it makes pretty much no sense. Make him happy. Give him his friends back. Just give Axel all his friends and let him happily set things on fire. Hi I love Axel

4) The party at the beach cutscene before the credits roll. Axel and Xion get clothes. Half the organization is on our side now. I almost teared up at the Wayfinder trio saying goodbye to Eraqus’ forceghost. Hey come on he’s the voice of Luke Skywalker

5) Sully yeeting Vanitas

6) Woody calling out Xehanort that nobody loves him

7) Jack Sparrow bad breathing Luxord

I wish we had gotten:

1) justice for Kairi

2) a happy Zexion, the poor emo kid. Well maybe now he will be, with all the orga members who changed sides now, lol.

3) I will never trust mobile games ever again so I don’t want to play KHUX but I would have loved to learn about the Keyblade Wars :;))))


WHAT WAS THE KEYBLADE WAR ABOUT CAN WE SPEND MORE TIME IN THAT COOL CITY IN THE SKY WHAT’S THE DEAL WITH MIKLEO
I MEAN THAT EPHEMER KIDDO


WHAT’S WITH THE MASKED DUDES AND DUDETTES FROM THE MOVIE


WTF WHAT HAPPENED TO THEM AFTER THE MOVIE???? WHERE THOSE KEYBLADE USER NAMES ACTUAL MOBILE GAME PLAYER NAMES??? Next game? PLEASE?

I really, REALLY hope the epilogue means we will get Xiggy/Luxu as our new big bad and we learn more about the five dudes and dudettes from the movie. Please. PLEASE. I’m so up for it. Them finally pickung up the bit with Maleficent and the mysterious box again? Hell yeah.

The secret movie was really unexciting in comparison, although I laughed very hard at the “Verum Rex” scene in Toy Story world. Maybe that’s why it was much cheaper to unlock than in KH1 and KH2.

4) give Ven a drink

DLC ideas I would actually pay for because I’m a sad human being: 1) more Disney worlds 2) Japanese audio 3) at least one of the following as permanently playable characters: Riku, Kairi, Axel, Ven, Aqua. At least as a guest member as in KH2. THIS SUCH A BIG STEP BACKWARDS I’M FUMING

FINAL THOUGHTS

Kingdom Hearts 3 is a hella lot of fun, beautiful, and also moving when it sets its mind to it. Unfortunately it doesn’t always do so. I don’t feel like it wasn’t worth the wait; it was. However, I’m very salty how rotten the writing is. I do not mind logical fallacies, I do not mind the cheesiness and cringeyness; however, I do mind how so many interesting characters do not get the screentime they deserve, and Kairi is a very bad joke.

I’ll probably find more to nitpick about (Gods. Just. Don’t come up with dub excuses why Sora is lv 1 in each game. JUST LEAVE IT BE. You don’t explain why Donald and Goofy are lv 1 again, either. JUST. LEAVE. IT. BE. The sacrifice was dumb and not even moving, I’m just still furious that Kairi’s ONLY point in the plot is being so useless that it’s literally getting herself KILLED and she needs constant rescuing to the point that Sora has to sacrifice himself for her, effectively. Kairi deserves better, Sora deserves better, I deserve better than to think about this absurdity.…I’m just… gonna cherry-pick the good bits from the lore and try to pretend the finale didn’t exist, I guess. GODS.

#long post #random rambling tag

[bigskydreaming]

Tbh, another part of why I’m so vehemently anti-RPF is like.....one of the first things any legit agent or manager asks an actor when they sign them is if they’re willing to do nude scenes and/or sex scenes. And when there’s an actor whose work you follow cuz you think they’re hot and you notice they’ve never been in any kind of sex scene or even a shirtless scene, that’s not like...by accident, most of the time. 

Because a lot of actors aren’t comfortable with nude scenes. And it doesn’t have nearly as much to do with prudishness or religious reasons or any of that stuff as you might assume. I mean, I have done nude scenes. In some pretty big size productions as in with a full crew. And lemme tell you....they are NOT fun. Or sexy. Or hot. Like, even a little bit, lol.

Cuz like, its never just you and another actor in a bedroom. It’s you and another actor naked or close to naked.....in the middle of like.....forty fully dressed crewmen holding cameras and lighting and sound equipment and acting like you’re not just...naked in front of them, even though you and everyone else are actually super aware that yup, you definitely are. 

And there’s a million lights on you and set lights are HOT, they make you sweat like crazy, and so when you’re doing a lot of takes and getting sweaty from the lights you constantly have people running up to you between takes and like....toweling you off in a completely unsexy way, lol, and reapplying makeup and the whole time they’re not even talking to you but to each other, like you’re not even there, b/c they’re not trying to be rude but they’re in a hurry, they have to do this fast so there’s not really time to strike up a conversation with you while they do it. But its TOO weird to just be doing it in silence so they usually solve that awkwardness by being in the middle of a convo as they run up to you and your scene partner and just keep continuing it before running back.

And the whole time you’ve got a cranky, stressed and taking it out on everyone director yelling at you to basically...be more sexy, lol, with you having to do take after take after take and not even look just as into it as you did the take before, but dig deep and look even MORE into it. Because you wouldn’t still be shooting if you’d already done it right, you’re obvsly ‘not being sexy right’. And gotta say, lol, nothing makes it easier to feel and thus act sexy than an asshole you’d never sleep with in a million years yelling about how he’s not feeling like he wants to fuck you yet or like you want to fuck him yet. And he’s the audience, he says, he’s the people in the seats of the movie theater watching you pretend-fuck on screen, and so if he doesn’t feel like you wanna fuck him, then how do you expect they’re gonna be able to put themselves in the fantasy and feel like you’re talking to them, like you wanna fuck them? Ick.

So I mean....there’s actually a lot of reasons for actors to not want to do nude scenes, both men and women. Or for them to do one and then never do one again. And that’s not even getting into the after part of things, like....the weirdness of spending several more weeks working closely with several dozen people who have all seen you naked, up close and personal. Or the weirdness of knowing who-knows-how-many ppl out in the general public then have seen it too, fantasized about you, with you having no idea who any of them are, if you’d be like...comfortable with them having that level of intimacy with you if you did know who they are...*shrugs* Because there’s not really an easy way around the fact that someone seeing you naked IS a form of intimacy in our society. You’re exposed. You’re....all out there for them to critique or have opinions on or form fantasies about, with no way to reciprocate. And that’s a very weird feeling. That crosses well over into uncomfortable when you factor in that there’s no way to opt out of being seen like that by people you KNOW you wouldn’t want to share that level of intimacy with if it was just you and them.

Like, there’s one closeted actor I knew years ago who grew up in a small conservative town, and early on in his career he did a lot of sex-type scenes, like he was one of those actors who is pretty much always in a state of undress on every show he’s on, early on in their career. And he used to say how he never thought twice about it, thought he was totally fine with it....until he went back to his hometown for the holidays for the first time in years, and had all these old classmates and neighbors both his age and older women too, like actual friends of his parents or people who’d known him since he was a kid....and they were fawning over him while he was there and giggling about those scenes and how racy they were and blah blah...but the point was, when he came back to LA after the holidays, he just couldn’t do scenes like that anymore. 

Because, like he said, he’d never really thought of himself as someone who made the fact that he was gay a big part of his identity, but it was just too unsettling for him after that. Being aware that the very same people who were a huge part of why he was in the closet, because of all the shit they’d said when he was growing up about how gross and disgusting gay people and gay sex are...here they were, totally okay with and INTO simulated sex scenes that didn’t have an ounce of the intimacy he had in his actual sexual encounters with other guys. 

He was like “they’d all call me disgusting and tell me I was going to Hell if they found out what I do with boyfriends in my own home, but what I do on camera, surrounded by dozens of total strangers with a woman I only just met at our audition a week ago and have seen maybe twice since, like....that works for them?” And it just skeeved him out too much. He stopped auditioning for roles like that cold turkey, and I don’t think he’s actually ever done a nude scene since. He couldn’t get over knowing that the older women from his church who’d be the first to gossip about how sinful he was for having a boyfriend were instead gossiping on facebook about how hot he looked in this bedroom scene or whatever.

Anyway. Didn’t mean to go off on this tangent and didn’t realize that last post would bring this up, lmao. And tbh, like, I don’t ENJOY doing nude scenes, but I’ve never been bothered to the point of turning down a paying job. Like, it skeeves me out sometimes, stuff like I mentioned in that last post, coming face to face (so to speak) with the knowledge that someone I deeply dislike on a personal level has seen me that way and enjoyed it, but for me its a level of discomfort where I’m like, yeah, not ideal, but I can live with it. But for a lot of actors, it is a dealbreaker. 

And I feel this is something a lot of RPF-er’s don’t consider....like, with a lot of these celebrities, the way you’re talking about them, fantasizing about them, writing stories or sharing pictures about them, especially ones where there aren’t a lot of actual sexualized content available already for you to springboard off of, where you have to like...photoshop heads onto other bodies or make fanart from scratch.....they didn’t say they were cool with it. They didn’t give even the kinda tacit permission that comes from accepting a role where they willingly expose their entire body and self for anyone and everyone to see and to say or think whatever they want as a result. Like, someone accepting a job that casts them as the fantasy hero in a romance where they sweep their lover off their feet and gaze longingly into each other’s eyes and all that stuff....but with their clothes on....Its not exactly the same thing as voluntarily sexualizing themselves top to bottom, playing the part of an actively sexual being onscreen for you to then take in and absorb and do whatever you want with what they chose to put out there.

And thing is....this is still a form of consent, we’re talking about here. No, I’m not saying its the same kind as in a single person-to-person physical interaction. Violating someone’s consent so to speak, in this particular context, I’m not saying its interchangeable with someone being told no by a person and not stopping. I’m just saying....its not nothing either. You’re still taking away another human being’s right to decide whether or not they want you to have the level of intimacy that’s innately tied up in the viewing of a person in their most vulnerable state. Their right to decide whether they want you not just picturing them as a sexual fantasy, and in what ways. 

Because like....that’s the other thing about consent. It needs to be given for each individual interaction. It’s not a one-time issued all access pass. An actor consenting to be a part of your sexual fantasies in the role and form of a character from a movie where they have sex with another consenting adult.....is not a blank check saying hey, I’m also totally fine with you using my face and likeness and even name in your fantasies where you put me opposite a minor, or a homophobe, or an abuser. 

Like, just speaking for myself, I may be okay with however anyone chooses to view or think or talk about me based on the nude roles I’ve taken or in the context of them, even if it does make me kinda uncomfortable. But I very much would not the fuck be okay with someone sexualizing me opposite someone like, idk, Jared Leto, let’s say, someone that I fucking hate and would never in a million YEARS consent to being vulnerable, let alone intimate with, in any way, shape or form. 

I mean, lol, if you’ve been following me for long at all, think about what you know about me as a person, just in terms of like things I’m obviously passionate about, things I talk a lot about etc. Now keeping in mind what you know of me and my personality just as a person who exists beyond any particular fantasy someone might have after seeing me in a role, picture me as an actor. Say I someday ended up in a role in a shared universe franchise like Marvel or DC, where Jared Leto also played a role in that franchise, even if it wasn’t in the same movie, if I never actually consented to be in a movie starring alongside Jared Leto. But by virtue of the big sprawling franchise we’re both in and thus tangentially linked, there’s enough basis for someone who finds him hot and who also finds me hot to go, okay, I wanna ship them together, I want to craft my own sexual fantasy starring them both together, and maybe even write it out, share it online.

Now....knowing me even just on a ‘i follow this person on a social media platform’ level....do you think I’d be remotely comfortable with that? Sure, I’ll probably never find out, you could say, assuming you convince yourself I don’t know how to use google or never google myself or SHOULD never google myself, because....idg that logic tbh but whatever. But you still know. Isn’t it even just a little bit skeevy, building a sexy fantasy around two people when you know or are even just a little sure one of them would not the fuck consent to that?

Like, there’s no law against that, obviously. No one’s gonna come banging on your door and say you can’t do that, that you have Harmed Me in some material way and I’m gonna sue or press charges. But just purely from the standpoint of acknowledging that you may not know me at all, but you know that I exist somewhere on this planet as a living, breathing, thinking entity with my own agency and likes and dislikes....shouldn’t what I want or feel matter? Especially if I do happen to feel very strongly about this, to the point where I’ve taken actionable steps to NOT consent to be in any situation with someone like that where it could remotely be construed as sexual, or even like he’s someone who I could tolerate being around, like his very existence doesn’t gross me out given some of the stuff he’s done. Making deliberate, conscious choices to not take roles opposite him, stuff like that.

Now sure, you don’t know if this is the case, have no way of knowing this about any random actor, that they feel this way or would or would not have this or that opinion about the scenario you’re placing them in, if it were brought to their attention, if you had the opportunity to ask them face to face ‘hey would you be okay with this?’

But that’s the point. You don’t know. But at least maybe focus on actors in their ROLES that they chose to play, where they showed up to work and said okay, here I am to my job pretending to be this character who isn’t me, to bring them to life and make them real for audiences, make them someone they can imagine, or yes, fantasize about. Instead of just assuming for yourself that hey anything and everything is fair game because they took their shirt off in a show once and they’re an actor anyway so what does it matter, this is what they get paid for....

Well. No. Its not what we get paid for. We get paid for the job we sign up to do. That we CHOOSE to do. An actor gets paid to be fodder for sexual fantasies based around their role as a sexy spy in a thriller, maybe, but that’s not and really shouldn’t be treated as interchangeable with acting like they’re getting paid to be fodder for sexual fantasies with anyone and everything in every possible kinky scenario, consent not required, no age limit, anything goes.

I’m not saying its wrong to have sexual fantasies about an actor who’s lodged in your brain in a sexual context because yeah, they’ve done sex scenes before. I’m just saying....there’s a lot of angles that a lot of people don’t put any thought into at all before just doing whatever they want, and all these very important conversations about consent and sexual agency and all that.....they don’t stop being necessary just because they’ve crossed into territory where you don’t want to have these particular conversations, where there’s a status quo you’re comfortable with even if you think a status quo in another area of society needs to be challenged.

Anyway.

Oops, I thought I was done but I kept going. Why am I like this. Okay, now I’m done. Anyway. Just thoughts I have and thus shared, do with them as you will.

[amwritingmeta]

Good morning, my lovelies! Lookee lookee what I woke up to, curtesy of @margarittet - I could die happy right now. But I don’t want to because I’d be damned if I missed even a second of this coming season!!

Let’s break this mother down!

1. A shot of a trench coated person walking on a darkened street. Dean (in V.O.) praying: “God–”

2.  “–we… need your help.” Dean’s prayer carries on into a shot of Sam and Dean in the Impala on a stretch of forest road.

3. Sam and Dean pull up to a Pirate Pete’s. An edgy Dean says: “Before I destroy the world let me just grab a bag of curly fries.”

4. Quicker flashes of Dean fighting; Jack going very demonic; Dean throwing a knife over Sam’s shoulder while Sam looks taken off guard; Jack, in jeans and tan jacket, “another” teenager with him, using his powers and making a guy fly backwards

5. Sam talking to Dean: “We’ve been down before–”

6. “–we find a way. ‘Cause that’s what we do.” Sam and Dean exiting the lake house. It’s daytime.

7. FLASH of new Big Bad, a bearded gentleman wearing a white suit. 

Insert: SEASON 13

8. MotW plant? Clawed hand, blonde girl screaming

Insert: IS THEIR

9. Quicker flashes of Dean (is it Dean though??) with a guy’s head between his legs being thrown violently onto a table (…………………….); Dean lit up by the headlights of a car, throwing himself out of the way

Insert: LUCKY NUMBER

10. Quicker flashes of bearded guy in Hell choking demons - and enjoying it; Sam, Dean and old dude wearing tan jacket and jeans on a slope, Dean shooting at someone wearing a jacket with a pattern on the back

11. Land with bearded guy in Hell, choked demons falling to the floor. Bearded Guy: “There’s a new sheriff in town.”

12. Back with the moment after Dean has thrown that knife over Sam’s shoulder, both of them looking wary

13. FLASH of someone getting thrown against a wall

END.

So what can we NOT discuss here? I will speculate around these images based on what we know of the first six or so episodes that have been shot so far and we can take it from there. I am so sure that the more savvy knowers of interiors/exteriors/set decor/props etc. and how they’re used on this show will be able to add, and are adding, their own interpretations and thoughts all over, so I’m excited to throw my two cents in. 

Firstly *slow clap* they give us Dawn of Darkness and then Season Thirteen Is Their Lucky Number within hours of one another. (they must surely be taking the piss at this point) (I love it so much)

1. So, this is Cas. I mean it has to be, right? Resurrected. This image of his resurrection set to the word God, and to the sound of Dean praying - it’s quite a formidable introduction to the season promo that, unsurprisingly, doesn’t have any Cas in it. They’ve kept his return under such wraps that giving away what role he’s playing in the narrative of S13 would surely be a ginormous spoiler. So all we get is a possible glimpse, but it’s a glimpse that OPENS the promo, and it’s a glimpse set to Dean PRAYING, praying for God’s assistance, for HELP - one of Cas’ fucking catch phrases (I can help, I only wanted to help) *mind slowly melting with impressions*

2. Sam and Dean in the Impala and that “we” shows that the brotherhood is as strong as ever, as it should be, now with everything they’ve lost and with all that they’re facing. Love this shot of them in Baby, love the winding road, love the implications of journeys and forward momentum - carry on you wayward sons kind of moment.

3. Okay, so… Firstly, it’s a very kid’s themed restaurant so the parental theme feels like it’s already being visually planted. And THEN DEAN IS FUCKING REJECTING FOOD. I know, I know, they have sort of possible End of The Universe stuff to worry about but WHAT??? COPING MECHANISM NUMERO UNO CHECKED OFF THE LIST AS INSUFFICIENT. *mind turning to mish* *I mean mush* *naw it always turns to mish* Okay, so he might still eat. But his first reaction is to reject it. Like wow. Also - edgy much? Irritated and angry over Sam suggesting something he thinks will bring Dean comfort and just YASSSSSSSSSSSSS. Yas please.

4. Okay, so the plants of Dean fighting feel standard, like the MotW flashes (if that’s what they were) but this fighting is cut between shots of Jack: first the UBER DEMONIC one - and yay for this! So Jack will take off for self-preservation reasons in 13x01. It’s shown how Sam and Dean leave the lake house alone, so all bets are on Jack just taking off immediately and the brothers debating whether to kill him on sight, or reason with him. 

The second flash of Jack here is him wearing the tan jacket and jeans we’ve seen him wearing in shots from the set, so we do know that clearly Sam wins out, they decide to reason with him, or he shows them that he’s just frightened and confused and they both rally to him (knife throwing scene feels like it might have something to do with this scenario…). Anyway, this flash of a scene, where Jack throws a guy into a wall just using his hand, could be Jack acting instinctively (which is what I’d like to think is all he can do at the moment, what he has to learn is how to control and tap into his limitless power without it getting the better of him) (age old set up for this type of thing, right - it’s basically Jack’s coming of age story) or it could be Jack being violent for violence sake. We’ll see which way they take it, what his journey is, my bet is on the lack of control, though, moving him and the rest of the characters onto a path towards finding that inner balance needed to feel whole.

5/6. I’m dead. THIS has killed me. My brain is no longer melting, it’s boiling like lava. FFS. Holy hell. SHITBALLS AND ACHING PRIVATE PARTS THIS IS AMAZING. If it is what I read it as: Sam HAVING TO CONVINCE DEAN THEY CAN DO THIS BECAUSE DEAN IS READY TO GIVE UP. That, my friends, is depressed!Dean. And if we so get him for 30 glorious seconds of deep hesitation and lethargy, or of we get him for two scenes, or half an episode, I could not care less. The point is CAS IS DEAD AND DEAN CANNOT SEE ANY REASON TO KEEP FIGHTING. If I’m right in how I read this 1 ½ second plant. :) The circumstances of this scene could be something else ENTIRELY. Pinch of salt, guys. ;)

7. So. The bearded gentleman. I read someone saying it could be AU!Lucifer in a new vessel, which I kind of LOVE… Would he go to the cage and kill Adam to get rid of Michael? I really would LOVE a scene or two with the cage and Adam and crazy Michael (if he IS crazy, if that’s not just Luci being Luci talking smack about his big brother who keeps antagonising him) Asmodeus? Surely this guy WILL have a name we know, it’ll be a character they’ve planted before. Asmodeus, to me, makes most sense… But honestly, I have NO real idea here. Spec spec speculation.

9. Ummmmmmm. Yeah, if that is Dean getting thrown violently into a table, that big, huge, muscle of a man has his face all up in Dean’s business. *cackle* 

10/11. Oh yeah this just underlines that we have a new King of Hell. Who calls himself a “sheriff” (cowboy theme all over this season, yes please) and wears a white suit, as someone already pointed out in the YouTube comments: like Sam when he was Lucifer’s vessel. So that could hint at this actually being AU!Luci… Or our Lucifer’s handmade soldier. Who knows! I’m excited to meet him, he looks badass and fucking amazing! *loud fast happy clapping*

12. Yeah, as mentioned - it feels like that knife is thrown at Jack, but this is absolutely me just inferring my own interpretation of why this particular flash is there and why they come back to it like it has actual significance. One flash of Dean throwing the knife and ok, fine, but here it looks like the brothers are actually in two mindsets in this scene: Sam looks taken aback and Dean throws the knife with an angry determination. The knife doesn’t seem to stick, though, as both of them stare as though they’re wary of what will come next, but Dean is the one who moves. Perhaps this is the moment they take Jack on, Dean coming over to Sam’s side that Jack’s just a kid at the end of the day… Awwwww, idk, but it is fun to be this inspired. My brain is on FIRE. 

If you want to weigh in, please, do! This is all spec ^^^^^ and my reading of these brief shots so if you want to add or just flail with me (or scoff though I’d enjoy that less but I’ll still put my arm around you because scoffing is valid too) then I’m always so damn happy to hear from you all!

Tagging the old faithfuls: @margarittet @naruhearts @tinkdw @weathergirl83 @bluestar86 @sactownbrowns3 @thetwistedwillow @magnificent-winged-beast @daughter-of-the-rain-and-snow 

Ok fuck it I'm dying to tag a few more metas! 

 Hey you guys! Would just love to know what you guys think overall of the promo so forget the spec part if you're not into that, would just be so happy to know your impressions!! @super-sootica (my love!) @postmodernmulticoloredcloak @floralmotif @obsessionisaperfume @elizabethrobertajones

#spn s13 PROMO #it is HERE PEOPLE #omfg omfg omfg #couldn't be more excited #this season is going to be the bommmmmb #spn s13 spec #spn s13 discussion #dean winchester #sam winchester #cas #jack the nephilim #spn lucifer #heaven vs hell and earth in between

[anactualcaseofthetruth]

Riverdale Season 2

SO I love Riverdale, duh, if you follow me this is obviously. I loved the first season, it was well paced, pretty even on giving storylines out to the core four as it went along, and even Cheryl, as well as the parents. 

This season, I just feel like they are trying so hard to include so many different people and link it all together it’s getting kind of discombobulated. Like between last episode and this episode it’s been two days (Jug confirmed this timeline when he questioned Betty about the Black Hood note).... like Jesus Christ if this was two days in my life I’d be in a permanent panic attack, locked in my bathroom with a freakin’ sledgehammer or something at my side afraid to leave the house. And these fucks are ordering pizza and making t-shirts. I’m all for taking back your life, but I think it’s a bit much? 

I think the storyline they have going on has definitely potential. I enjoy the Black Hood and how he is taking people out and leaving notes. It’s definitely a nod to serial killers of the past, as Jughead insinuated in the beginning monologue. Pitting the North against the South is interesting too, they are both blaming the other for things beyond any one person’s control. A group of bad people does not speak for the system as a whole. Not all Serpents are bad. Not all Northsiders are saints. 

I am all for the introduction to new characters, but we had a lot of background characters that could have really stepped up this season before bringing so many new people to the fold. ~ Cheryl - has virtually no storylines this season aside from stretching the truth in court for FP. What happened to her vendetta against her mother, the hints at what really happened in the barn, is Cheryl concerned about where Polly went seeing as she’s pregnant with her brother’s babies? Remember when she was suicidal and we were told this would be addressed?  ~ The Pussycats - were in one episode where, as usual, they sang and that was pretty much the end of it. Josie joined the Vixens only for them to not have many scenes of the cheerleading. Valerie wasn’t even there. Melody had one line.  ~ Kevin - had one episode where he was are the forefront, talking about how hard it is to be the only openly gay kid at Riverdale and how debilitating that makes him feel. And suddenly it’s all solved because he is more involved in some website? Weak.  ~ Reggie - all he has done this season is be Archie’s enforcer and personal cheerleader. Can we get a little depth please? If you weren’t going to have him do anything, why recast the character? Just write him off then. ~ Hal - has he even had one line this season? ~ Polly - just written off as the only sane person in Riverdale who wants to get out and probably used against Betty in the next episode with the Black Hood. Can we explore how she is pregnant with her cousin’s babies? How her parents sent her away and wanted her to get an abortion/give babies up for adoption? ~ Gen - What is going on with Moose in the hospital? How is Midge coping? What happened to the van that was following Ethel, probably the most ‘innocent’ person in this entire mix, aka not someone the Black Hook should be targeting. 

And while I do enjoy the new characters to an extent, most of them have just been villiainized. ~ Toni - disliked by Bughead shippers for coming between Bughead, or at least making rude comments this episode in particular not only towards Northsiders, but Betty herself.  ~ Hiram - alright, he deserves it, this storyline is going well, even if becoming a web of confusion.  ~ Serpents (Sweet Pea, Fangs, etc) - only seen as angry kids who hate the Northside and have no convictions. Show me brotherhood, show me how the jacket makes you feel included, gives you a family, a purpose, even if it’s not morally right or healthy.  ~ Nick St. Clair - is coming next episode where in an article was revealed came back to party with V and offers her cocaine. 

Another point I’m upset about is some real character development is being ignored.  ~ Alice - is continually getting character development of seeing what her intense personality does to her daughters, learning from it, then doing it again? Like Polly LEFT because of her actions of posting stuff in the paper, cries about it, then continues to do it and provoke at the town meeting?  ~ Mayor McCoy - stop acting so saintly when you took bribes and the town is falling apart. Sorry, her character annoys me personally. ~ Hermione - used to be on of the parents I respected on the show, but as soon as Hiram announced his return she turned into full on Stepford/Mob wife. Can we discuss this more? I know it’s been mentioned, but what Hiram does to her is literally a form of abuse and is NOT okay.  ~ Archie’s Mom - there is a killer on the loose who shot her ex-husband and she just leaves her son there without sticking around or being mentioned? Alright.  ~ Cheryl - again, she finally started to grow as a character and be a force to be reckoned with and this season she’s back to her old games and superiority. 

This has turned into a rant/vent session and I apologize to that, I just feel like all these storylines start great, then get dropped/forgotten/too easily solved. I feel like they are trying so hard to include so many characters it’s coming off as desperate and not connecting with the audience. New characters are not being well fleshed out, old ones are being tossed aside or just sitting the background. Some of the things that made this show so great are being cut. Bughead’s healthy relationship, Archie/Betty/Jughead friendship, FP/Jughead’s strong bond, just the dynamics are being shifted and it doesn’t feel right. 

Idk, let me know if I’m crazy? I still think Riverdale has a lot of potential but it’s trying to do too much too soon when a slow build is what made last season so awesome. 

#riverdale #the cw #thoughts #season 2 #betty cooper #jughead jones #archie andrews #veronica lodge #the pussycats #southside serpents #i mentioned a lot of people

[some-flyleaves]

for “no particular reason” some thoughts on stuff I’ve watched/read lately

spoilers ahead but most of these have been out for a while by now

Beauty and the Beast remake

overall entertaining and well-animated, though I still prefer the original

some of the story tweaks were neat and I especially liked the subplot about the cursed servants becoming less sentient(?) as time went on

others were kinda unnecessary imo, the whole opening scene being a glaring example. also giving the Enchantress a bigger role is neat in theory but kinda definitely raises a few Questions

not fond of the autotuned lead singer which is even more obvious comparing soundtracks

the furniture designs cannot grow on me They Simply Can Not, you can’t get nearly as many lines of action or squash & stretch out of a hyperrealistic CGI teapot

on that note the original’s beast design is still the best design, shout-out to my family for calling the live-action prince a “surfer dude”

at the end of the day idk what to make of the LeFou Discourse(TM) but shout-out to the little bit where Potts was like “you’re too good for him [Gaston]” and all things considered I thought it was a biiit more than what those cynical meme posts suggest. mind I’m not sure what I would’ve thought if I didn’t know about the whole shebang beforehand

it was apparently enough to get the film banned in a few countries, which doesn’t equal Instant Representation Pinnacle obviously but ehhhh that’s another topic for another time

Maleficent is still the best live-action “remake” of the films disney’s been churning out lately imo my onion, but I can’t say any of them have really disappointed me? (unless the first Alice counts; all I remember is that it was weird, which I guess is a given considering the source material but idk live action loses so much charm. definitely haven’t watched the second and have no interest in thereof)

anyway Mulan is one of my favorites so fingers crossed...!

Moana

very predictable but heck if that oscar bait song hasn’t been intermittently stuck in my head since

big earworm shout-outs to “You’re Welcome” and “Shiny” too but this website has ruined the latter sequence to an extent because I’m half convinced someone in production there has a vore fetish

in any case that was way too good a villain song for a one-scene show-stealer wtf the fuck

Moana’s voice & overall expressiveness fuels my soul

also it was GORGEOUS, more than compensates for another ~coming of age~ plot with fantastic colors

I have a lot of questions about the sentience of the ocean

what do you mean the Obligatory Animal Companion was a chicken and not the pig

okay ngl I didn’t quite catch the angry volcano spirit woman also being the green lady? I don’t think...? aw heck it’s been a little while by now but the ending was neat

how fucking old is Maui

Universal Harvester by John Darnielle - if you recognize that name it’s because, as I found out after reading, he’s the guy who leads the band responsible for a song I had on repeat hell for at least a couple months after discovering it via this wonderful, wonderful "lyric.. comic... thing” </ungodly run-on>

if this seems completely out of nowhere it’s because it is. I’ve jacketed and shelved a lot of new books, and while a good handful catch my interest, few compel me to check it out before heading home for the day

off the top of my head the other most recent book this happened with was No One Else Can Have You by Kathleen Hale (heads up for a non-graphic image of hanging on the cover), which was... oh holy shit that was over three years ago I don’t read often enough nowadays x_x

that one started strong but, around if not at the point where the protag was making out with the secondary dude, took a sharp turn towards the cliche & general What Is This Fuckery. but I digress

seriously no image on the internet can do this cover justice, the vaguely vaporwave-lookin part is actually very dark and the whole thing shines like one of those rain puddles mixed with.. gasoline? oil?? whatever makes it rainbow-y at a certain angle

I only skimmed the inside flap description before diving right in the night I took it out, and I realized a good chapter or two in that I’d unintentionally picked up a horror novel.

well. kinda? horror-ish?? despite there being no killer on the loose, no supernatural monster on the prowl, not even an invasion of alien farmers federally paid to invade your small town, basically no imminent looming dagger above the protagonist’s head, it’s VERY unsettling for the most part and I gotta give it major kudos for that

<SPOILER class=“mild”>also huge shout-out to the subtle switch to first-person at a key moment, then scattered throughout from there on.</SPOILER> it was at that point I had to reread the description to see what I’d actually gotten myself into and decided I was gonna read this sucker in one sitting or I wouldn’t be able to sleep

(skip this bullet point if you don’t like vague ending spoilers) despite that it manages to leave off on a somber, even sentimental note. pretty darn satisfying, though upon further thought there are a few big questions left unanswered that probably should’ve been addressed. (/vague end spoilers)

overall I’d recommend it if you’re looking for an interesting little read that might send a few chills from atmosphere alone but also makes you think*. just don’t start reading expecting a chapter or two before bed will do help you fall asleep.

*yeah yeah I know “makes you think” is something of a meme phrase at this point, but screw it I like my media when it actually engages the viewer/reader for more satisfying payoff. I’m not a fan of the “lol intellectualis” thing anyway V: but I digress.

Kubo and the Two Strings

ftr the record I called Beetle being the dad from his debut

my god Laika really likes their bugs and creepy hands (based on this and Coraline at least, I’ve seen ParaNorman but don’t remember much). this is absolutely a compliment.

voice acting didn’t thrill me, with the exceptions of the old lady & spirit sisters, but got dang those facial expressions

magic worldbuilding left a lot to be desired but it took place in fantasy China(/Japan? as with The Last Airbender I think we’re looking at another fictional Asian blend) and I for one am a sucker for that so I can let it slide

climactic fight felt kinda shoehorned, when the moon spirit dude showed up looking like a nice old man I almost thought they were gonna go for a less confrontational ending sequence - which I guess it kinda did but also the obligatory “join me and we can rule forever” stuff came up. I dunno I liked the spirit fish form ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

don’t get me wrong here I did enjoy it, I guess I was just expecting a lot more from all the talk about kids being able to handle mature themes and whatnot? ah well the conflict wasn’t quite Good Versus Evil so that was neat

was the moon spirit just a regular old dude all along though? is the moon going to rise again even with him hanging out among mortals? is he mortal now?? how does the Plot Amnesia work???? can someone tell him who he really was even if it’s not flattering??????

idk for some reason I feel like I’m being harsher here than anything else so far, really did enjoy it though. LOVED the 2d animation in the credits and I absolutely must emphasize how fucking awesome the animation is, being primarily stop-motion and all. they set a very high standard with Coraline and cartwheeled over it with Kubo holy hell

also I have a new desktop background

Wings of Fire Book 1: The Dragonet Prophecy - Iiiii actually haven’t finished reading this one just yet, saving the last part for when I finish at least one mcfucking assignment, but here goes nothin:

if you take a shot for every blatant violation of Show Don’t Tell you’ll be dead three chapters in, not sure if that’s because this is a middle-grade book or what

that said I find the plot & its overall direction intriguing enough to continue and, much as I may internally groan at the repetitive characterization and disney villain dialogue, I thought it was worthwhile and already have the next book checked out ;V

what can I say there are dragons there’s a war and it’s a very interesting take on the whole “because you are the Chosen Ones we will raise you here for hero training” deal

there’s also some intriguing worldbuilding with regards to the “scavengers” and “the Scorching,” not sure how much those are covered in this book but a friend who recommended the series in the first place says it’s some kind of post-apocalyptic thing?? nice.

not really related but shout-out to that one commenter in Script Frenzy who told me it was jarring or weird or something to have my dragon protags straight-up eat a few human researchers. I mean they weren’t wrong and it’s not like the WoF good guys have eaten any people (onscreen, at least) but still. I don’t read dragon stories for the humans >:T

in any case, sorta wondering if that one surviving scavenger will come back in any way later...? chekov’s human.

but seriously we don’t need to be beaten over the head with exactly why each dramatic plot twist is indeed dramatic, I could practically hear the manufactured gasps

despite that there are also descriptive passages of fun events like characters getting their necks snapped or screaming in agony as poison seeps through their scales! and we've barely scraped the surface of the Horrors of War!! >:Dc

conclusion of sorts for this disorganized mishmash of bullet points: why yes I am one of those unrelatable fucks who doesn’t buy the whole “I will defend a shitty shebang of a plot if the characters connect” thing how are you. what can I say, even if I don’t have any particular fandoms right now, I still have Thoughts On Media and no one can stop me from throwing a good ~90 minutes into typing ‘em up despite having other responsibilities ;’V

tune in next time for... well honestly I dunno if this is gonna become a regular thing, but whatever thanks for readin feel free to like reply and follow and see you next time on a-flyleaf dot tungler dot corn~

#''no particular reason'' by which I mean Procrastination Supreme #.rtf #*watches this get longer than my current essay in progress* swell!

[chaos2go]

So finally rambling about Dryst in BotW where I’ve decided he would ‘originate’ from. Land-of-Hyrule will always be where he really belonged and there are quite a few things he’ll be missing in translation but oh well. I can’t really place Alden in this game (okay, I could in some respect given timeline is figured out 100% even then... well, I want Alden to be with the koroks >C XD Just imagine. Alden in his sword spirit form with a korok leaf on his face so he ‘fits in’, trying to do the korok stuff, picked up the Mr. Hero thing, etc.). and Zahir fits in just fine with OoT (though with her, a BotW counterpart could work better given the stables). Either way, this game opened up the chance for a lot of my characters that didn’t really fit anywhere but where LoZ characters but especially Dryst. Aliza, you can have a house out there in the scary Hyrule too!

But there are SPOILERS below. Don’t read any further if you don’t want any! Though I’ll be honest, they’re nothing major given I haven’t been everywhere or done divine beasts (only watched) XD. Plus there are some ‘speculation’ things in there given there isn’t solid information on some junk. So excuse shoddy headcanon crap where appropriate.

Now if you’re reading this, I’m sorry if it gets a little long. I want to touch on his background changes and what exactly he’d do in the game as I imagine he would have some interaction with Link given he is a sheikah and the sheikah had a connection to him. In no way would he be over 100. If anything, he’s still around the same age which makes him a young whipper snapper! Also I don’t know if ‘magic magic’ actually exists but I’m just going to ignore that for now. It looks like it’s only items and special people so we’ll find out? Yiga clan teleportation looks like it’s to do with the talismans/wards/omamori(???)... But yeah XD Here we go. Sorry if this is boring!

Dryst would be born in Kakariko about 75 years after the calamity returned and Link was sent to the shrine. Much like LoH, he was kind of a spoiled kid who didn’t want to end up being a 'menial worker’ like his parents. Plus don’t forget the landing in trouble. He wanted to be someone important and do something important. Though the game doesn’t show it exactly beyond a few moments one memory scene, he wanted to be someone who helped guard the royal family. At the very least, he wanted to do something outside of the village that wasn’t research given there is no royal family at this point. Fighting the calamity and guardians to ‘thin them out’ really was his big idea as who knew when and if the hero would return.

Needless to say his parents weren’t keen on him trying to learn to fight and tried to redirect his ideas to research instead. It only directed him to learn about legends beyond what he was taught about the calamity, shiekah slate, etc. while trying to read books about combat. Despite many punishments, he still tried to sneak out and learn to fight. His parents barred others from teaching him which only hindered him further than his already lackluster skill. This drove him to just want to leave his hometown and try to find someone who could help him or to learn on his own. It wasn’t a big deal as some sheikah did this anyway though most opted to stay and wait for the hero’s return. Dryst was more dead set on fighting.

After one particular fight with his parents, his rage had just gone through the roof. His parents were trying to convince him that only the hero could fight the calamity and if he really wanted to help, he could still change his focus to researching. Dryst elected to take this as a chance to just leave the town entirely as he was done. He never informed his parents of this choice but rather went to Impa who he saw as the main problem for why the sheikah were so passive. Upon meeting her, he stated how this whole sitting and waiting didn’t help anyone. There had to be some action given there were still things bad in Hyrule given the calamity and the Yiga clan. Monsters were a problem, rebuilding was a problem, and all his people did was take care of themselves now. His frustrations towards the village poured out, especially against his parents. Impa could see his troubles and only informed him that she wished him well in his journeys across Hyrule. It wasn’t the first time a youth had felt that way and she actually encouraged him to leave. Dryst didn’t see her words as trying to help however. He told her that he had no intentions of returning. Then he left.

Hyrule itself was just too much for him. He did his best to survive and barely scraped by for the longest time. If anything, he had to learn how to fight a bit better against monsters just to survive. The original plan of making it to another race’s home just fell flat as he was constantly lost and struggling. Thankfully he ran across a woman who helped him out. That of course being Aliza much like in LoH. This would be very similar to LoH as Dryst would be quiet and open up about many of his problems after initially being berated by her. She’d offer him a home but still scold him and mother him when necessary as he would have been only about 17 (far too young to be out on his own according to her). Aliza overall doesn’t see why he has such an interest in actually fighting the monsters and the calamity. But she doesn’t wish to stop him as she sees he feels the need to do it and prove himself. If anything, much like in LoH she wants him to do what he can and find his place which obviously wasn’t with his people.

Over the years, Dryst’s skill doesn’t really improve beyond tiny things but he’s become good at other things. He’s made it to some of the places in Hyrule he’s planned on going and has found out a lot of legends. Despite his navigation still sucking, he has learned a few tricks to getting around that has helped him immensely (aka teleportation given we don’t know how it works >C so the wards or magic). Being known as a braggart and helping people out with menial tasks too has put him in a rather good position.

So from here on out, imagine Dryst as he is in the group save magic, save siding with demons (as there isn’t really an evil side to go with unless he went Yiga which he would probably wouldn’t even try given they can’t give him anything he wants), and save having Alden. He’s just a guy trying to do good deeds and show off. He would slowly be learning what he really needed to do with his life.

If I were to do a story however, he would run into this hero. Given how everyone plays the game differently, I don’t know how or when I would plan on them running into one another. Dryst would know very well the towers showing up would be a sign of his return. It would make him question whether or not he should return to his village. Unlike in the group, he would try to go there (his shame being the only real reason he hasn’t this time). Aliza would encourage trying. I imagine that it would more or less be him meeting Link right after Link had spoken with Impa. So the poor hero would have to deal with more “Wait, is that what I think it is? the sheikah slate?!” crap.

Given what the game says about Link, I imagine Dryst would just tag along and try to show off his knowledge. Link wouldn’t have much to say and honestly he’d probably test Dryst’s limits. Dryst would be useful in his knowledge however on some items that may have been forgotten (just not memories). He’d also have some input on other races (still being racist towards gerudo but not nearly as bad). Still there would come the time where he’d get left behind whether it would be warp, a shrine, or just an area he wasn’t allowed. I’d imagine somehow he’d be able to make it through the Lost Woods (if only because EVERYONE DESERVES TO SEE KOROKS... gonna just say I think they probably choose who to appear to but eh, w/e) and get a bit of story there thus finally learning that Link doesn’t remember everything and feeling kinda crappy that he assumed Link did. Overall just bro-ventures though. Dryst often getting a shorted on the adventure due to being left behind and just not being as skilled.

However I’d love to add some characters in to help build friendships besides Aliza. I am wondering about some LoH concepts (like a zora OC I couldn’t figure out an occupation for) to be adapted and then perhaps I can turn around and use them in the group too. IDK XD There’s just like... a lot I want to talk about but this ramble is kinda long. I’m just happy there is something beyond LoH he could fit in to.

I’m giving up on this ramble as of now because it’s late XD And I should be in bed. I could hit on specifics if anyone cars.

#ramble #dryst #botw spoilers #tify stfu