#its so them and its perfect for the earlier arcs

[xanderscollection]

#ive been thinking about this for a while #its so them and its perfect for the earlier arcs #need other people to see it so i made this #connecting things to religion is now a thing i do for some random reason #im too !!!! as an autistic to write a whole essay on this so just deal with this #ao no exorcist #blue exorcist #aoex #alex makes memes #rin okumura #yukio okumura #textpost #manga #religious themes

[yume-fanfare]

something about how there's like two actual double pages in the entirety of the jshk manga and one of them was for mitsuba's transformation in the hell of mirrors arc

#and it's deserved! it's something that completely changed the story for kou! #the other one is hananene's big moment in the picture perfect arc #(and there is also an almost double page of a Huge black and white radish yashiro earlier in the hell of mirrors arc too lol) #it is impactful as well but it makes me wonder if they were tight on time those months lol #bc really it was a lot of merit that such a long and beautifully drawn manga has so few double pages because that means drawing More #also im going to kinda spoil some parts of the arc in the next tags so don't read them if u don't want spoilers for that alksjdmlkjdm #like its kinda vague but still spoilery #this september's chapter was wild but the hell of mirrors arc is still the most bloody one i think #everything in it is still so insane to me #especially the face kou makes after seeing that #it's still my most favorite example of panel build up #as in leaving the cliffhanger for the Next page always so it makes you want to turn it #like its so!!! #you get this terrific double page #the first one in the manga so far #a boy‚ disfigured #bloody #kneeling in front of a skeleton #and you‚ the reader‚ know what has happened in the middle‚ between this scene and his last one‚ and you know that it was something horrible #and you had been waiting for this reunion! #you had been waiting for so long‚ even if it had seemed impossible! #and now it seems like it's the worst possible moment #and then when you're about to see kou's reaction‚ his full face‚ you have to turn the page #and when you do‚ he is not horrified or scared or grossed out #he is smiling! #he has the softest smile you've seen on him‚ relieved‚ incredibly happy‚ tearing up #it just gets me every single time! #and it's the first time anyone has looked at mitsuba like that. #every single of their reunions has made my breath stop i really can't wait for the next one #its such a powerful scene for real

[ot3]

ok im on my lunchbreak its time for me to tell you guys how i would fix one piece.

anything pre them getting into the grand line i really was not paying enough attention to have fixes for. whatever its fine. they introduced all the characters thats what it was supposed to do

alabasta arc: does a decent job of introducing the concept of the warlords and the fact that they Fucking Suck and that the world government gives violent criminals insane amounts of leeway to ruin everything else. also includes luffy getting his ass thoroughly whupped for the first time which was critical. so overall it did it's job but i think it could have benefited from doubling down on the politics stuff. vivi being this future head of state who introduces luffy into the messy political elements of life on the grand line that he'll need to learn to navigate in his journey to become the pirate king was. kiiinda there. but that's what the backbone of that arc should be for it to be the most effective imo. we needed more POLITICS in this SHONEN BATTLE ANIME!!!

skypeia: sitting through this arc was torture. but we can fix it. first of all: this ones gotta be robin-centric. ancient ruins, displaced people trying to recover the remnants of their lost civilization, archeologist character from an island that got wiped off the map by the government. all of the pieces are there. the ohara backstory should have started trickling in at this point in bits in pieces. robin should have been working to help the shandorians and her own backstory should have been used to contextualize that decision, but you could have easily held back enough for water 7 and enies lobby to still hit

water 7 and enies lobby: this was all pretty solid

thriller bark: like i said earlier i think we need to double down on the subjugation and unpersoning committed by the bad guys vs the striving for freedom and humanity of the good guys and i think we need to do it with focus on chopper. make hogback and moria the same character. here we have a guy who was like a legendary medical professional who has turned his knowledge of medicine into something evil that he uses to strip people of their humanity with the full backing of the world government. then you have chopper who Isn't a human and whose attempt to navigate the human world as something deemed monstrous lead him towards medicine and helping people and healing them. perfect foil situation happening literally right there. all the pieces are here you just have to commit

honestly i think at the end of the day 'all of the pieces are here you just have to commit" is my main takeaway from one piece

#oplb

[towards-toramunda]

I had a moment earlier in this campaign (maybe around episode 25-35?) when I thought “…hm maybe Ashton and Orym would be a good ship” and then episode 40 happened and I’ve been in an ashrym brain rot ever since.

Like don’t get me wrong I’m a Dorym and Callowmoore and Laudmoore respecter, but I just love the care and softness and respect Ashton and Orym hold for each other any time they have a one on one. And I had a feeling that without any healers there would be a moment of one of them caring for the other in this recent arc, but seeing Orym just reach for Ashton and begin massaging their hand because he knows they’re in pain even if they don’t say it? Absolutely perfect 10/10 no notes.

The world has been cruel to both of them in different ways, and they’ve both been overlooked in different ways. The soldier in the background doing what he’s told always. The broken thief laying on the ground to be left behind. The loneliness that comes from chronic pain. The loneliness that comes from being a widower. Orym constantly trying to turn towards kindness even when its hard. Ashton blaming the world, blaming themselves, believing that they deserved to be left behind.

Ashton telling Orym that it must be hard to be the good one all the time, and they’re here if he needs any help. Carrying him to his room after he fell off the air ship. Asking him what he thinks when he’s been silent. Looking to him. Trusting him with their pain when he knows they rarely trust.

Orym with ties to something that sounds familiar (Ashari?) treating Ashton with kindness. Telling them to breathe. Blotting out their nosebleed. Teaching them to meditate. Massaging their hand. Showing them that they’re part of the group. That their pain matters to someone else.

Since the recent 4 sided dive and Liam mentioning that Orym was about 5 when Vax went to Zephra: I’ve been thinking about how Orym is 35-36 and Ashton is 24-28, and I feel like we can see all the time how much Ashton looks up (pun intended) to Orym. He’s older, he’s more experienced, and they’re constantly looking to Orym for wisdom and asking him what he thinks and following him. Ashton may be a punk who has problems with authority, but he has no problem putting Orym in a position of authority. At the end of the day Ashton believes in him, and they believe in him because hes kind.

And just to be clear: if they don’t turn into any canon romantic pairing or anything I’d be totally fine with that. I just love their dynamic so much. I love the tanks constantly going into the heat of the fray, but helping and understanding each other. (Almost similarly to how I felt with Beau and Yasha last campaign)

#critical role #ashrym #ashton greymoore #orym of the air ashari #orym #cr3 #critical role spoilers #cr spoilers #this post is incredibly self indulgent I apologize for the ramblings of an insane person

[themaeve]

AHHHHHH! NEW CASE STUDY OF VANITAS CHAPTER! ITS BACK!

Oh yeah that's right we were in the midst of this Dham arc.

Well time for some all too relatable pain as Dante and Johann have to deal with being questioned and assaulted by THE LITERAL CHURCH

The chapter was really good. Like, it fucking hurt to read, but it was so good. Having dealt with mostly just Roland the human Golden Retriever and Olivier his dog-handler, and of course everyone's favorite traumatized murder baby Astolfo, it was different to see these Chaseurs as the cold and calculating killers they are. It wasn't over the top, it was simple "We are gonna hurt you and maybe kill you cause we can, whether you tell us what we want to know is irrelevant. No one here will stop us, and as long as no one knows, we won't get in any trouble for it."

Like, "Oh yeah, these guys ARE terrifying assholes, I forgot."

But the dialogue about the Dhams really hits this chapter.

"They're a real eyesore"

"They dress like they're advertising themselves as Dhams"

"Dhams should make like Dhams and live in the shadows, holding their breath"

And then Dante's internal thoughts, the fleeting hope that someone will come to help,

"Who exactly is someone"

"Who'd show up for us?"

"This world treats us like it can't even see us."

And he goes for the gun in his jacket... God it fucking hits. I say it every time, but so much dialogue in this manga can just have the names of things and people swapped out and you could believe it applies to so many marginalized groups. It feels more authentic than a lot of manga and stories I read. Don't know why. That's just probably my queer ass reading too much into these chapters as my own experiences, but fuck. I won't lie that I felt the connection with Dante keeping his gun in the same inner jacket pocket I keep my knife in my jacket. The same jacket with pins that people say I'm "advertising as queer" with. Johann fucking pleading for Dante not to draw his gun cause he knows his partner is gonna die if he tries. That these church goons are looking for an excuse to pin them as the aggressors so they can execute them.

And right as shit is about to happen, Domi shows up. DOMI!!!!!!!

Perfect way for Domi to start making up for her casual prejudice against Dante and Johann earlier. Domi sticks her neck out for them, against 2 FUCKING CHASSEUR PALADINS OF THE CHURCH! Like, yeah Domi is fucking awesome and powerful and an influential vampire noble, but 2 Paladins? They could kill her if things go wrong. But my girl is still here sticking her neck out for Dante and Johann. Congrats Domi, you have a chance to use your Vampire noble privilege to finally be the Dham ally you thought you were.

I love it. I love this manga so much.

#the case study of vanitas #vanitas no carte #Memoire 63

[crystal-lillies]

General thoughts after watching Season 1 of Netflix's Avatar: The Last Airbender (spoilers may be present)

It's not bad. It's weird, but it's not bad.

No one asked for this.

No one asked, but we got it anyway. So what did we get?

It's not a 1:1 remake. I don't think, despite everything people have worried and griped about before the show's release, anyone wanted that either. It doesn't retain the same character arcs for everyone. Not just Sokka, but everyone.

At the same time, they still have arcs.

They're weird, they feel weird, because this show does what the Shyamalan movie doesn't, and makes an honest effort to capture the essence of the animated show, of the characters, of the world, and there is respect in its efforts.

There are musical motifs from the original. The set designs are out of the original. Many scenes are shot exactly like the original as homages.

And yet, storylines are merged together, elements from later seasons are introduced earlier, character interactions happen differently, character motivations are presented differently, and that feels weird.

We know the motions but when we the audience try to follow them, the show changes its direction and pulls a weird flex out of left field.

I won't say I agree with every major and minor change made, but I'm not enraged or disappointed in the same way as I was (and many of us were) after seeing the movie.

Instead, I'm more inclined to see where these new threads intend to go, and how the story we all know and love can be told in a different way.

Roku had barely a presence in this season, whereas in the original, he was more or less Aang's spiritual teacher. Instead, we've felt more from Kyoshi and Kuruk and Yangchen, and Aang has felt lost in his spiritual journey as well as his physical one.

Ozai, who was just a shadowy one-dimensional nightmare for most of the original first book, is now a more fleshed out figure, but one of confusing motivations. It's not the tonal whiplash of the movie, of the Ozai who legitimately worried and cared about Zuko's well being while also having still scarred and banished him, but one who is playing a 4-D chess game with his kids as the pieces and doesn't care who wins so long as one does.

I don't think it was the right call to have Zuko fight back in the Agni Kai before getting burned, but it gives a different dynamic to Zuko and Ozai's relationship that he's not the towering, shadowy Mark Hamill terror Zuko cowers before.

This Zuko seems legitimately convinced Ozai cares about him and all it takes is the Avatar to win his full love back, whereas there's still bitterness in the OG Zuko of book one. He knows Ozai favors Azula over him, he knows he's had to struggle well before being banished.

I also think not casting Dee Bradley Baker was a mistake. But they have time to correct that mistake.

All the kid actors, being green, of course do not stand up to expressive and gorgeous animation with brilliant voice acting. But they are all giving it their best, and I think they have what it takes to grow into the Book 3 Team Avatar if they get the chance.

The music got to me a number of times, particularly the instrumental renditions of "Leaves From the Vine."

Do we need this show? No absolutely not.

We have the original ATLA, and we always will. It's a timeless classic of our generation. Nothing could ever compete with it or ruin it.

However, I do feel like this adaptation is worth giving a chance to stand on its own. It may be far from perfect, but after watching it through, I legitimately want to see where it goes from here. I want to see this cast grow and change in their own ways. I want to see Toph in live action. I want to see Ba Sing Se. I want to see the new directions this story chooses to take to end up in the same place at Sozin's Comet.

But that might not happen if Netflix decides to cancel it, and I think that would be a shame.

I really do think it's worth seeing this show through, for better or worse.

Overall, as a show, I would give it a modest 7/10. (With individual elements skewing higher or lower throughout)

I don't like that it's only 8 episodes, but that's been a trend of other streaming shows also, across platforms, so I cannot fault NATLA alone for that.

You don't NEED to have seen the original to understand what's happening or get key details (unlike SOME adaptations have been doing recently). You can get a complete picture with just this. Is it as pretty or vibrant as the original? No. But it is still a whole picture (or, could be, with all three seasons).

It has great effects, sets, props, choreography, good music. It has SUKI. And JET. and JUNE. And THE Cabbage Man!

AND OMA/SHU ARE LESBIANS! I mean, I see that as an absolute win.

#flowerspeak #long post #atla #avatar the last airbender #netflix avatar the last airbender #natla #netflix atla #I do think two more episodes could have been added for breathing room and more show element inclusions that were mentioned offscreen #but that's a problem I've had with streaming shows as a whole. lacking necessary breathing room #we used to get shows with 20 to 22 episodes each season #and now we are lucky to get double digits at all per season #but overall. i truly enjoyed my watch. and i do want to see more #natla spoilers #Netflix atla spoilers

[gizkasparadise]

final leg of a journey to love thoughts!! (eps 35-40). this got so gd long so under a cut it goes. spoilers, of course:

PLOT STUFF/PACING

pacing for the plot definitely got shredded in the last chunk, which is a damn shame because otherwise i've been finding the pacing pretty much perfect. eps 35-37 in particular felt like they could have been like a 10 episode arc. ep 38, which mostly dealt with wu palace politics, should have been cut or streamlined imo and more time given to the characters we've actually been riding along with the whole story. by the time we get back to the pregnant empress, prince danyang, the first prince whose name i dont even remember, and the prime minister, i do not care about any of them and i think this subplot was simply just trying to fit too much shit into one bag

that said, this show still let the emotional moments hit and breathe and linger. i love the grief for the fallen liudao comrades as we go, as well as the less heavy but still emotionally important moments like yang ying and tongguan bonding over their upbringing. and we got a wedding /;3;/!!! for this show, the relationships and characters matter more than the storyline so im not mad about anything at all

side note: it's so gd millennial to have a story about a bunch of 30 something year olds who want to fake their deaths and retire into obscurity but instead they go and die for a boss they hate

CHARACTER STUFF

this show consistently brought a lot of depth to its side characters (and side side characters!!). i said it in an earlier post, but it bears repeating that even someone like deng hui i didnt expect anything from, but he got such good development and writing that he became a stealth fave. his dying words essentially being "dude, quit fucking around" ? iconic.

i didnt like tongguan as much as everyone else, so im pretty meh about everything regarding him. the attempt to force-wed ruyi was tonally really weird and didnt make sense (i assume there was some cuts made surrounding it). but LOL at him reusing all the outfits and decor immediately for his wedding to yang ying. baby duke, you tacky motherfucker. i ultimately think yang ying deserves better than him, but the good thing is that she knows this, so she'll be able to hold her own and then some entering into this partnership

shisan really was the heart in a lot of ways--the mom to yuanzhou's dad for the liudao. i was not expecting him to break my heart the way he did, but the fact that he held both qian zhao and sun lang as they died and then tried his best to remove yuan lu from harm and saved chu yue and was just very much a nurturer all the way through got me. his character couldve been cheap comic relief but the writing + performance really elevated him into one of the (imo) most memorable wuxia characters. his line wondering who would get to behead his beautiful skull!!! and how his mantra was always that he was going to drink the best wine, see the most beautiful women, and make the best of friends and he dies having lost the ability to see and having just had wine in memory of qian zhao, yuan lu, and sun lang. like. shut up!!

ruyi and yuanzhou were both so great and they're gonna be the drama OTP to beat forever. i loved the gender reversals, that they both were so respectful of each other, and that they also felt very mature in how they handled things and communicated. they were really interesting characters both together and apart and that's always a win-win. they had a schroedinger's ending where it's not super clear if they're alive or dead (i interpreted it as the latter), but what's kind of beautiful is that either option is satisfying to me. if they both died, they're reunited and with their comrades and the story is truly about the journey and the meaningful short connections we have. if they both survived, it's a bookend with the beginning where they each faked their deaths to escape. A+

COSTUMING

i gotta just separately mention the costuming for this show because it was 15/10. the textures, shisan's accessories, the way red became integrated with yuanzhou's wardrobe and blue with ruyi's. the details on the liudao name amulets!! SO GOOD. i love when characters' clothes tell a story on their own

overall i just really loved this drama it is probably my favorite wuxia ive seen so far! it's gonna be in my brain for awhile lol feel free to send fic prompts if you've made it this far :'D

#a journey to love #cdrama

[lusi-raul]

Secret Life Session 3 Alliances (so far…)

The Gem and the Scotts

Base: Cottagecore village on Cherry forest hill

Gem

Impulse

Smajor (The smart scott this session - Gem)

The Mounders

Base: 3 mounds near the secret keeper and Joel’s fair ground on the big mound

Mumbo (The visionary - Etho)

Pearl (The Builder - Etho)

Bdubs (The Gofer - Etho)

Joel (The Muscle - Etho)

The Heart Foundation

Base: Love Island (This session’s lucky winner: Etho!)

Tango

Skizz

BigB (new recruited member)

The Besties

Base: Etho’s roofless gravel house

Etho

Cleo

The Big Dogs WOOF WOOF (furries confirmed)(New Alliance)

Base: The Big Dog House on the Big Hill (previously Jimmy’s big shack)

Martyn

Jimmy

Still Riding Solo:

Grian

Lizzie

Scar

The Yellows:

Martyn

Jimmy

Gem

Joel

Lizzie

Additional Alliances:

Secret Pupper Alliance

Cleo

Pearl

Cult of Perfectly Round Mound:

Joel (leader/founder)

Mumbo (member since session 2)

Martyn (member since session 2)

Pearl (member since session 3)

Bdubs (member since session 3)

The Task Force:

Martyn

Jimmy

Other Yellows maybe

Thoughts/Theories:

I think that Lizzie would fit right in with the besties specially with her and Cleo’s dynamic during session 1 and the hilarious moment of her attempting to make Etho and Cleo question her secret task during session 2. I know they rarely interacted this session but with Cleo and Lizzie both having this aura that intimidates people and Etho being our favorite wet cat in his weird and quirky arc, this could become a very interesting group of people to watch moving forward. Honestly if they group together they’d be this typical and iconic trio of best friends between two girls and one guy in tv shows.

Grian and Scar should join up with Jimmy and Martyn and they could upgrade the big dogs to a wolf pack. I know Scott interrupted this canon event earlier but with Grian and Martyn to babysit them its gonna be alright… I think? Also more Grian and Scar?? Yes please! Tbh it’s only a matter of time for scar to be on yellow so it’s perfect haha.

The Bog dogs might join the secret pupper patrol alliance with the invitation from pearl to also have a dog army. It’s very fitting and imagine the final battle. I feel like this season will be the one where having a dog army can really overpower a player and win the game for someone since there is no regeneration so moving forward I’ll add those who are planning to make a dog army in the list of possible winners this season. So originally I thought one of the Gem and Scotts might win this season and I still think so but I’ll add Cleo and Pearl to that. The Big Dogs too if they go through with having a dog army.

#slsmp #traffic light series #trafficblr #mcyt #secret life smp #slsmpblr #secret life alliances #geminitay #impulsesv #smajor95 #mumbo jumbo #pearlescentmoon #bdubbleo100 #smallishbeans #secret life joel #tangotek #skizzleman #bigb #ethoslab #zombiecleo #inthelittlewood #Secret life Martyn #solidaritygaming #secret life jimmy #ldshadowlady #secret life lizzie #grian #goodtimeswithscar #secret life #secret life session 3

[chasing-posts]

I think Kitty was telling the truth when she said she never showed up to the wedding. And I have a couple of reasons why: (warning, its long)

1.) Her entire character arc is learning to trust. This includes opening up and being honest about herself and in this case: her past. So it makes no sense for the story if she just LIES about Santa Coloma, especially after making a big deal over it. If anything it would take away from the scene and her character when she finally open up.

2.) I think the only way they could have saved the relationship between Puss and Kitty naturally, after Puss left her at the altar. I kept thinking "how can they possibly save this relationship after what he did" and the answer the movie came up with was HILARIOUS! Her not showing up was the perfect answer to that conundrum.

3.) I think she was more mad she was proven right, than she was about him leaving her. That he did pick himself and his reputation over her. And he was so full of himself that he never checked on her after leaving. And she knows he didn't check up on her based on his reaction and the fact he never brought up her leaving. She's not like Puss, she knows about his adventures and what he's been up to. Thanks to his status as a legend, she knows about ALL of his adventures. But he doesn't know about hers, and didn't bother to find and confront her. That's how she knows he didn't know her side.

4.) Her being mad at him, was because she thinks he betrayed her intentionally and maliciously. She may know that he didn't show up, and based on his reaction, does not know about her doing the same. But it's not until his breakdown, where she listens to Perrito and him talk, that she finally understands WHY he did it. And how much it hurt him to do so. That he is legit ashamed of himself. Before that moment, she was sure he was out to betray her, like everyone in her life. But after she hears the real reason, she stops treating him so harshly. She opens the dialogue/ gave Puss the opportunity to talk about it with her. You can bet that she was the one that got them so high in the trees. After all she has no claws to climb, and yet she was so far in front of him, as if leading him up to a place he would have naturally been given him an advantage... But she's trusting him. Its Kitty who opens up the conversation with the "if you wanted to hold my hand/ I remember the last time you did this you had cold feet " dialogue. And when he takes her up on it, and nervously tells her what/ why he did it, and how it is EXACTLY like he told Perrito, she rewards him by finally coming clean about what she did. Why she left him too. And finally tells him the whole truth on the matter.

You can also tell that that's the moment she truly starts to fall in love with him again. "You don't seem like that guy anymore." Is a statement that has so many layers to it, but the biggest implication is that this version of Puss, is the one she is starting to trust.

The shaving scene may have set the mood earlier on the movie, but this open and honest conversation, is what made her swoon and start to believe in him.

5.)I think it sets up a good story/ contrast to who they were at the beginning, and who they are now. And by beginning, I mean them at the end of Puss and Boots 1. In that movie they're flirting, equals, in love... but their relationship is also unstable. She ended that film stealing from him and running off. And in the Shrek franchise, its shown Puss is quite the flirt with the ladies, imlplying they're not together. This Santa Colona flashback fills in the blanks for what happened between the movies, and also shows that when they first met, they may have been too young for each other. Too inexperienced. Not old enough to want to actually settle down, on both ends! If I were to hazard a guess, I'd bet that Puss proposed spontaneously, and she accepted in a moment of excitement, but leading up to the ceremony they both got more and more nervous until eventually, they both got cold feet and dipped, but for different reasons. He was too obsessed with himself and worried about his legend, and she was too flighty and could not trust him. Which ended their relationship (this is mostly HC though. Just speculation on my end.) But now they're both a lot older. They've lived a few lives, though we don't have a concrete number, there's clearly been many years between now and Shrek 4. And Puss in Boots 1 was a prequel to the Shrek series so, yeah, they are both MUCH older now and are both finally at a point where the two are ready to settle down and be together.

Who they are right now, is the best version of themselves. And in contrast to the last moment, instead of her running off with his boots, they are sailing away together, with him in her arms.

I understand the appeal of saying she lied... but I LOVE the implications of what it means for her to be truthful.

They are currently my FAVORITE couple is Shrek franchise. Softboots is perfect! And it's their open honesty and trust in one another, that makes it so.❤

#kitty softpaws #puss in boots the last wish #puss in boots #puss in boots 2 #Perrito #analysis #softboots #santa coloma #spoilers

[monstersandmaw]

I am unreasonably excited for this stardew fic im hearing about 👀 (also seb, my love- i always end up romancing him)

Thank you! In all my playthroughs (maybe five before this one, lol) I've never romanced anyone. This one (which inspired this story) I decided to romance and marry Seb :).

The story is gonna feature a lot of the game and setting as inspiration, but I'm going to edit the mechanics a bit so it's less contrived, and there are gonna be more supernatural elements and folks at play... :). And an affectionate, fwb situation with Elliott before the end-game Sebastian romance, just a heads up.

Since you were kind enough to reach out about it, here's a 1400 word WIP sneak peek of Rowan, my gruff, buff werewoof farmer:

(CW: standoffish, loner character with scars on his neck from a werewolf bite, passing mention of a werewolf attack at night that nearly killed him)

This run-down, wild farm, with its endless tangle of fairytale brambles arcing around the roots of maple and oak trees, and its overgrown ponds full of frogs and flowering water weeds, was beyond perfect.

Of course, Rowan knew next to nothing about organic vegetable farming, but that was a problem for another day.

Mayor Lewis dithered on the top step a moment longer before taking his leave with Robin and heading back up the rutted path towards the town. Apparently Rowan had been taciturn enough to drive the chatty old man away, and something about him had evidently unnerved Robin a little. Maybe it was the mess of scars on his throat. He didn’t much care. If it meant they left him alone, so much the better. He wasn’t sure that anyone but Robin in her off-road pickup could make it comfortably along the winding drive to the farm anyway, and it was a miracle that the old man hadn’t toppled into a pothole or a ditch on his way over.

Rowan watched them leave together, deliberately ignoring their nattering gossip about him, which carried easily enough on the spring air to his sharp ears, and he felt something new prickle down his spine. It wasn’t even close to the full moon — he’d made damned sure of that before booking his one-way ticket to the sleepy little valley — but something about this place set the wolf in him prowling. He realised with a jolt that his wolf liked this new territory, with its fresh air and cacophonous birdsong. Where he’d been fractious and aggressive in the city, prone to lashing out when he felt the least bit cornered or trapped, now his wolf was practically bounding on the spot to explore his new territory and claim it as his own, and Rowan recoiled from the idea.

“I am not an animal,” he snarled at himself.

He thought that after bearing the curse for a year, he should have been far more accustomed to the feeling of there being a whole new part of himself inside his own head, or in his heart. And yet, noticing that the way he was feeling was largely because of the wolf, and not his human side, still freaked him the fuck out.

He turned back to the front door of the tumbledown cabin where his grandfather had lived until he’d had to go into care five years earlier, and immediately put his boot through the rotten boards of the veranda with a curse and another snarl. A small family of mice skittered away beneath the house, their pungent smell rising through the new hole to his sensitive nose, and he sighed. “Still not alone, even out here.”

Although the moon was only halfway to full, and against his better judgement, Rowan did let the shift sweep over him a few nights later, and as he sloughed off the complex trappings of his human life and sank his claws delightfully into the velvet-soft dirt, he patrolled the perimeter of the farm where his human self had spent his first week in Stardew Valley clearing weeds and setting up his first organic vegetable beds.

His wolf didn’t think about the uppity shopkeeper in the general store or the awkward blacksmith who’d smelled of a nauseous cocktail of discomfort, anxiety and axle grease, or the harried-looking man in a tweed jacket who’d smelled of coffee and antiseptic. His wolf lowered its head to the ground and inhaled the scents of rabbit and squirrel. It couldn’t decide if it was relieved or saddened to find no trace of wolves — shifter or otherwise — in the area, but seemed to settle for relieved as he slunk like a deeper shred of shadow from the porch of the farmhouse and bounded off into the dark to explore the place with the new, golden eyes of a wolf in place of the slightly blurry, hazel eyes of a human.

A rockfall in the cliffs behind the wreckage of the greenhouse had exposed a damp cave some years ago, though it smelled of bat guano and little else to interest a wolf. He let it be. Trotting eagerly on, the wolf relished the decadent flex and stretch of its powerful muscles, and the bliss of being able to shift whenever the fancy took him was enough to make him tilt his head to the sky and howl his ecstasy at the silent stars.

Rowan knew that being bitten and turned, and dumped unknowingly into the secret world of the supernatural, had taken its toll on him.

His sanity had been right on the ragged edge when he’d come across that forgotten letter from his grandfather in a desk drawer. After a year of trying to hold the remnants of his miserable life in the city together, of slinking down into an old storm drain on the edge of an abandoned industrial estate every full moon, to cage and contain his frustrated, furious wolf, Rowan had known he had to get out of the city. Permanently. It was messing with his wolf and he was losing more of his awareness to it with each passing full moon. He’d also started zoning out at his desk at work and coming-to with claws out and the wolf prowling right beneath his yellow-eyed facade of calm, even halfway through the cycle. The constant clacking of keyboards, the shrill, metallic ringing of office telephones, and the stink of leftover lunches from the cubicle next door to his was going to make him snap. Violently.

Part problem and part gift, his wolf existed purely in the ‘now’. There was no painful past; no human lying abandoned and bleeding and irrevocably changed on the rain-soaked tarmac of a grotty bus station; no human who’d drifted out of touch with his one surviving family member; no bills overdue and no landlord to keep happy. There was only the scent of moss and emerging spring grass and last year’s fallen pine cones, and the echo of a fox’s passing trail across the land which was now his territory.

Rowan’s wolf followed its nose down to the lower pond and lapped luxuriantly at the rich, cool water. His ears drew back and another thrill of delight ran down the length of his body as the sweet, wholesome taste of the water exploded across his tongue; he could detect none of the pollution and chemicals of the city water, just fresh spring that bubbled up from the depths of the earth, carrying with it the minerals and magic of the place.

Yes, this place had magic in abundance.

His grandfather had married a witch, so magic had been in Rowan’s blood already before he’d been mutilated by a lone werewolf at three in the morning in a filthy, city bus station. Perhaps that had been why a bite that messy had taken when it would have killed most people. He prayed he never met his monstrous sire, because he knew he’d rip his fucking head off for ruining his life and turning him into a slathering, near-mindless monster once a month. It was probably only by sheer, dumb luck that he hadn’t been killed by hunters, or killed someone himself by accident, and it had only been by the grace and patience of a blue-haired witch named Mercury that he’d even known what was happening to him in the first place. He shuddered to think where he’d have been without her.

A figure moved in the darkness at the edge of the trees on the southern-most reaches of his property and his lips drew back into a snarl.

“Easy, Rowan,” came a resonant, bass voice, and he froze, tilting his head, ears pricked. He recognised that voice, but couldn’t place it. For answer, he just growled a warning. “Easy,” came the voice a second time. “Rowan MacTavish, I am not here to hurt you. It is I, Rasmodius.”

At the sound of his full name on the still night air, Rowan’s whole body shivered, but the wolf let go of his mind a little. Thought came to him just a little easier. Rasmodius. That was the name of the wizard in the tower. Rowan blinked his golden eyes and sat back on his haunches.

“May I approach?”

He whined and ended the sound in a soft sneeze. Close enough to a petulant ‘fine’, he supposed.

___

(more soon, hopefully, if there's interest :3)

#werewolf farmer #stardew valley farmer #stardew valley fic #rowan the werewolf #farmer rowan #ask me anything #wip

[bonefall]

Just curious, but why did you decide to change Onestar pardoning the Dark Forest trainees to punishing them? Was it just to service A Vision Of Shadow's conflict, or were there other factors involved?

It frustrates me that in canon, there's no lasting repercussions for what happened in Po3 and OotS, almost as if the series just wanted to wash its hands of it.

Breezepelt is established to be an upcoming problem, and that goes away. All of the leaders shrug and move on. Bramblestar and Squirrelflight are happily together with bio babies after he treated her like garbage for 6.5 books.

We only really got any conclusions to these problems in SEs, where they feel rushed exactly because they were capping them in hindsight.

So you could say this change is "to serve the conflict of AVoS" but that wording feels dismissive to me. I feel like I'm fixing a problem. Arcs SHOULD feed into each other, no? Isn't the strength of WC the way that we get to follow the cats through the generations? See current events become history, and watch how small things cascade into big things?

And Onestar...

We're trying to set up that Onestar is becoming a harder and harsher person as he's consumed by the pressure of leadership, and his trauma from his near-murder in the WindClan Civil War. We are about to watch him become a MAJOR antagonist of AVoS, slamming an embargo down on ShadowClan until they deal with The Kin.

So how does letting *another* set of attempted traitors get off scot free really serve that? It doesn't make sense to me in-canon either. He refused to punish Breezepelt's mother when she was part of a violent insurrection and look at how THAT turned out!!

I think the end of OotS is the perfect time for him to go scorched earth, and show that he's beginning to consider leniency as a weakness. He also punishes Crowfeather earlier at the end of Po3 when Hollyleaf reveals the secret, in response to BB!Crowfeather being more loud and dramatic than his canon counterpart, cold and detatched.

Canon Crowfeather: "Everyone is stupid except me. I can't stand all of this. I deserve more respect even though I refuse to give it to anyone else."

BB!Crowfeather: "MY HEART SMOULDERS LIKE A PEAT FIRE, FOR YOU! LEAFPOOL, I'VE BEEN AS HOLLOW AS A DALE SINCE YOU LEFT ME" (nightcloud is literally right there. Leafpool is trying really hard to calm him down because he's making a scene and she really doesn't want MORE attention drawn to the romantic fling she had years ago and massively regrets)

But anyway, that's off on a tangent lmao. Bottom line is; it is to serve AVoS, but that's my goal with BB. To strengthen the narrative.

#better bones au #BB!Onestar

[wc-confessions]

brambleclaw is my least favorite character in the entire series BUT: i REALLY enjoy his super edition. it isnt perfect and i dont like EVERYTHING about it, but i just read it recently after finishing up avos and tbc and my GOD is it a breath of fresh air to see thunderclan actually acting like a COMMUNITY again, the erins remembering plot threads from earlier books and consistently developing them, hell even tho i dont like that squirrelflight and bramblestar get back together in the end i actually rly enjoyed their dynamic as leader and deputy!!! i was surprised at how much i enjoyed bramblestars storm. maybe its bc im so used to background cats having nothing going for them thanks to recent arcs AKSKEJE (i havent read asc yet but i hear that one is very character driven so fingers crossed)

.

#text #confession #anonymous #warrior cats #bramblestar

[dailyadventureprompts]

I’m planning to run a shadowfell arc with my long running campaign, and I’m planning to play with the theme of memories, memory loss, items and books absorbing memories and the like. There’s this mansion with an evil shadowy figure collecting/stealing peoples memories etc etc, and I would be super intrigued to see what your take on an adventure/arc like this would be?

Dungeon: In Memoriam

At the end of it all, we are all just stories

On the edge of the tidelands there is a grand and forgotten estate. Not forgotten in that it is abandoned, but forgotten in that a lapse of memory hangs about it like a fog. Even most who live in the nearby village can recall its existence while looking right at it, and only then a few paltry details about how it has affected their lives or the history of their home.

The source of this amnesia is the work of a shadowcaster by the name of ██████ ██████, who has taken the estate as his own while perfecting the art of stealing stories. Like other shadowcasters, ██████ wields the powers of remnant and entropy inherent to the shadowfell and has a particular fascination with how the memory and narrative surrounding a thing can survive independently of that thing's destruction. Originally presenting himself a medium and exorcist, ██████ was hired by the estate's original owners to deal with a lingering ghost problem, only to discover that there was a rift to the shadowfell in a root filled room in a corner of the greathouse's basements.... a room that no one seemed able to remember.

Taking advantage of such close proximity to the upside down, ██████ began experimenting, eventually creating an umbral ink that would steal away facts and moments of time when placed on the page, allowing him to make ghosts of people and places without even needing them to die. For now ██████ is content to tinker, but it's only so long until stumble upon the conspicuous absence he's shrouded his activities under, or the lives he's disrupted in the process.

Hooks:

Within the party's bag of holding or the pack of their most rougish member the heroes discover a bound together stack of pages, which detail their encounter with a man named ██████ while out on the road earlier in the campaign, described as an innocuous scholar with inkstains on his cuffs, always seeming to be writing in his travel journal. He offered insight on their adventures then seemed to disappear. Should the party destroy or damage the pages, they'll suddenly remember this encounter, them managing to steal these pages, and the fact that the man's shadow more often resembled a tree than that of a human

The party visits a seaside village, and while most things seem normal, there's a woman clearly in distress that the locals are keeping well away from. She claims she's lived in the village all her life but most seem to think she's a stranger, those few who do remember her thought she ran away when she was just a lass (about the age that she started working at the manor). Like many of the servants, ██████ worked some magic to keep her on thinking he was the master of the estate, forgotten by her neighbours, but forgot to fully edit her story to prevent her from visiting her parents grave on the anniversary of their deaths some decades past.

██████'s ink comes from a great unnatural tree that grows up through the foundations of the manor from the shadowfell below. Adapted to eat away at the memories of ghosts, the shadowcaster gorges this tree on the stories of the living, creating an ever deepening wellspring of power and a never ending supply of umbral ink. Drunk on power and the possibilities of playing blackout poetry with people's lives, ██████ does not realize that the tree is literally undermining him, threatening to drag the whole estate down into the land of the dead, erasing whole swaths of the countryside as the manor's library is drowned in amnesiac gloom.

Art 1

Art 2

#shadowfell #prompt postage #mid level #shadowcaster #high level #villain #haunting #village #seaside #dnd #dungeons and dragons #d&d #5e #pathfinder #ttrpg

[sailtomarina]

Who did this to you?

Another day, another reminder that even though the war was officially over, animosity still festered in people’s hearts. Hermione had finished her prefect rounds for the evening and was heading through the 8th year common room to her private quarters when she noticed Draco Malfoy sitting in the back past the fireplace. He was nearly hidden and only noticeable to her because she often chose the same location for its privacy and proximity to the tea cart.

His shock of white hair was barely visible over the cushion where he slouched. She could have called out his name, but Hermione opted to approach silently—so as not to surprise him, of course.

As suspected, he was asleep. Hermione couldn’t count the number of times where she, too, had passed out in the nook, forgotten or unnoticed to everyone else, only to wake up at some ungodly hour in the early morning before trudging back to her room for an unsatisfying remainder of hours before class.

She approached, but rather than wake him up like she intended, she studied his features. He looked better than he had during 6th year, but that wasn’t saying much given the other times she had seen him since. While his hair still fell in a perfect arc over his forehead, the dark circles under his eyes remained. This time, they were accented by additional bruising that bloomed across his left cheekbone. His lip was also split and still puffy.

His eyes fluttered open just as she leaned in to look closer.

“Can I help you, Granger?” His voice was hoarse.

“Who did this to you, Malfoy?”

He studied her for a moment before answering, voice curiously flat. “Do you wish you could have joined them?”

She jerked backward at the question, brow furrowed and cheeks tinged pink. “What is that supposed to mean?”

Rather than answer her question with another question, he just shook his head and started gathering his things.

“Forget about it.”

Hermione chewed on her lip as she watched him stack his books. Despite his injuries, she saw no cuts or bruising on his own knuckles. Whoever did this to him hadn’t received a punch in kind.

“Malfoy, wait.”

He sighed and turned to face her, one eyebrow raised.

“Just, let me—” Stepping into his space she raised a hand towards his face, and his eyes widened.

In what felt like a dream, she watched her own fingertips brush across his lips, now parted, before tracing up towards his cheekbone.

“Episkey,” she murmured, watching the cuts close to only leave bruises. “Please just…wait.”

Light irises traced her movement as she turned to set her bag down and rummage through it. She turned back to him, jar in hand, and as she unscrewed the lid, his nostrils flared in familiarity.

“Do you always carry murtlap essence in your school bag, Granger?” His teeth clicked closed as she stepped back up to him once more.

“It just became a habit after everything that happened last year,” she explained as she carefully dabbed the mixture onto his bruises. His skin was so pale and smooth, and she couldn’t help but continue tracing her fingertips up his jaw towards the back of his neck. Was his hair as soft as it looked?

The moment her hand slipped up and into hair, he tilted his head to press into her hand. Hermione’s eyes snapped back to Malfoy’s. His own were shut as he leaned into her touch. Taking his actions as permission, she turned back to her earlier explorations, kneading the scalp and marveling at the slippery tresses spilling over her hand. She didn’t realize she was moving closer to him until her chest brushed up against his and he breathed in sharply, the sound slicing through the heavy silence surrounding them.

This time, their eyes met, his own as unreadable as a gathering storm. Neither of them moved closer, nor did they shift away. For all Hermione knew, they might have stayed there frozen for everyone to find in the few hours remaining until morning.

The sound of a log splitting in the fireplace startled them from their moment, and Hermione was the first to step back, twisting the container in her hands to and fro.

“I can’t get rid of all the bruising—that will just take some time.”

“I know. Thank you.”

Again, she stilled. The apology was completely natural given the circumstances yet still unexpected. She was hesitant to pry, but the question bubbled out of her again despite attempts to suppress it.

“Draco, who did this to you?”

“It doesn’t matter.” His lips set into a line, jaw clenched.

“It does matter.”

“Why do you care?”

“Because we’re better than this.”

His eyes widened, and she took it as an invitation to continue.

“We survived through hell and we’re here now–damaged, yes, but alive and, Merlin-willing, healing. We’ll never change anything for the better if we don’t move past all the shite: the hate, the resentment, the old-world entitlement.”

“Pretty words, Granger, but I’m not exactly the one you should be trying to convince. I’m already a believer.”

“Are you?”

“You kind of make it hard not to be.”

And for a moment, so brief that Hermione might have considered it seeing what she wanted to see rather than reality, a glimmer of Malfoy’s smirk reappeared. This time, the idea that it was for her rather than at her expense made her stomach feel all sorts of wonderfully strange and unsettled.

“Well, if you won’t tell me, I’ll just have to find out for myself.”

“How do you plan to do that?” Was that the start of a drawl she heard in his question?

“I’ll just have to keep you company from now on, your own personal bodyguard.”

“What is it muggles say…a ‘guardian angel’?”

“Where in the world did you learn that phrase?”

He shrugged shoulders that had filled out nicely over the past several months, scanning her appraisingly from beneath a lowered gaze. This time, she let him brush by uninterrupted on his path towards his room, the warmth of his arm leaving a pulsing sensation along her shoulder, his cologne lingering in the air.

“Granger?”

“Hm?” She turned slowly, still caught in a daze of woodsmoke and spice. This time, the smirk on his lips was undeniable, accentuating the roguish charm of his still visible bruises and tousled hair.

“I’ll see you tomorrow night.”

WC 1073 I started this while on vacation not realizing how difficult it'd be to focus and finish what I started. I thought the trip would afford me plenty of time to relax and squeeze those creative muscles, but instead I walked more than I have in months and ate way too much food >.<

#dramione #dramione prompt #dhr fanfiction #harry potter fanfiction #hermione granger #draco malfoy #draco malfoy x hermione granger

[darkstarofchaos]

Let's get uhh...constructicons/Prowl (for the ask thingy)

Don't ship it.

Why don’t you ship it?

The biggest reason is that nothing about the situation was healthy for Prowl. Not only did he become part of Devastator in the most traumatic way possible, but the time afterward was physically and psychologically harmful for him as well. Outside of that, there just isn't much for me to ship there? Prowl sees the Constructicons as a weapon and the Constructicons are just fanboys (up until the narrative decides Prowl needs to be utterly alone and they drop him like a hot potato). The whole situation was incredibly wasted potential.

2. What would have made you like it?

A different writer.

On its own, Prowl being forced into Devastator isn't a deal breaker for me because the Constructicons weren't the ones responsible. They did decide afterwards that they liked Prowl and wanted to hang with him, but until then, he was never even meant to be part of the team; just a disposable test subject for integrating someone new with an existing combiner. And I do honestly get the appeal of, "You were disposable to them, but not to us". Goodness knows Prowl needs someone in his corner. Heck, I can even get behind the angst of "this situation is physically hurting Prowl, but none of them - including him - want to stop".

So the setup was great. Super unhealthy, but you can do some pretty interesting things with unhealthy. But as they say, the devil's in the details.

See, I like the Constructicons. I do not like the way John Barber writes them as an interchangeable amalgam instead of letting them have some individuality. And I really don't like how he tried to resolve that conflict with earlier portrayals by saying that combining "rots away the individual". I like the idea that the Gestalt mind affects its components, not the idea that it supercedes them. I also don't like Prowl's recent instability being ascribed to the combining process and not, y'know. The traumatic events surrounding it. But we get this explanation from Galvatron, who delivers it alongside lies about Prowl killing Spike's father, so I can ignore it. I can pretend it's just another lie.

What I can't ignore is that Arcee doesn't hear this and think, oh, maybe it's not Prowl's fault he's been so erratic lately. Maybe I should see if he's okay when I get a chance. Nope. She just turns on him completely. Because the post-Dark Cybertron arc is the "let's tear away what little support Prowl still has" arc.

So I don't like how the Constructicons were written, I don't like the in-universe explanation for how they were written, and I hate the way everyone saw Prowl falling apart (including people who dared to call him a friend, Optimus), and just went, eh, I don't really care. He's just bad. And then, just to make sure Prowl loses everyone, the Constructicons turn on him too. Because apparently they can spend time in his head and like what they see, but it's still somehow a surprise that the mech who tolerated them because they were useful might not actually want them the way they want him.

Get these mechs a different writer.

3. Despite not shipping it, do you have anything positive to say about it?

As I mentioned above, the setup is great. It had a lot of potential, not just in terms of the relationship, but for character development, worldbuilding, and even the introduction of something like chronic illness with Prowl's physical health being affected by combining (again, he was introduced to the team as an experiment in adding bots to a combiner. It would make perfect sense if it wasn't an entirely successful experiment).

I also like a lot of the art and fics I've seen for them, even if most people seem to ignore the inherent angst in favor of sweet, funny, and fluffy pieces. I just wish more people dived into the physical and psychological impacts, whether in a shippy way or not.

#transformers #Prowl #Constructicons #Prowl/Constructicons #It's too bad I have no interest in writing IDW fic #The whole 'Prowlastator' thing is fascinating #but I can't stand most of the characters I'd have to write to play with the idea #Might use a G1 AU to play with it on my own terms idk

[justaboot]

So what I was gonna say earlier, is that the Della & Louie scene in moonvasion never clicked with me. Like, it hit, and the journey of the scene is incredible and a load-bearing moment for their relationship arc that I think gets forgotten often, but Della getting jumpscared by The Unexpected™️ didn’t really resonate (with me personally, it’s a lovely scene!)

Triggered by the potential of losing her family? Awesome. Especially emphasizing the wording she kept using— she wasn’t triggered by the idea of them being hurt, it was the idea of her not having her family. Awesome. Sick. Trauma is ugly and selfish. Perfect. Love it.

Her triggered by Moon Things? Hell yeah. We haven’t really seen a meltdown yet, bc her coping thus far has been just screaming ITS FINE loud enough to blow the doors off, and now it’s right there in front of her.

Triggered bc it’s absolutely the result of her own brainless moment of selfishness? That’s so sexy, love that. Yes girl, revel in your cyclical narrative suffering.

But they make the scene about The Unexpected, which is cool, because she did spend all that time planning, which is what her first ep back was about. But it just felt like an odd direction to take, a great use of Louie, but when all of ^that is available, it just surprised me, but it does make sense.

I thought I had a brainblast earlier, bc Ive always thought that I planned for all the adventure but I never planned for This™️ was about her being unprepared for the invasion, or danger, (which seems rather un-Della) but l do think was what they were conveying.

For a moment I thought I misunderstood, and that she might not have been referring to the danger, but rather to her baggage/meltdown. “I expected the adventure and danger, I didn’t take into account I’d be the one with fallout,” which I think would be a very cool ledge for Louie specifically to talk her off of, Mr. I’m Scared at Every Minute, but I deal with it so I can have to good times. (Which I think is also a really Donaldcore vibe).

Thoughts?

#ducktales 2017 #ducktales #della duck