#maybe I’m going to the wrong conventions haha

[jojo-schmo]

This is not a criticism of people who make Kirby merch from memes!

But as someone who likes the entire franchise and it’s many characters other than Kirby, this is simply an observation I’ve made lately as a regular patron of artist alleys in the United States lol

#I don’t even see much Dedede or Meta Knight merch even #I’ve found one Bandana Dee charm in the #past year #maybe I’m going to the wrong conventions haha #but even the event I went to that was specifically kirby themed was maybe 50% edgy kirby memes #and 50% kirby alone on his warp star #I do not enjoy seeing Kirby with human body parts at all tho hahaha #maybe I can fill that market in my local artist events one day hehehe #I would just love to see one Magolor charm in the wild at a big convention in my state #or even one dedede or one dream team! #I haven’t even seen a meta knight yet! much to think about #anyway support your local artists no matter what the product they still work hard to make them!! #jojo rambles #Kirby series #art #kirbysona #tw blood #tw body horror #just in case #ask to tag #:)

[void-kissed]

okay you know what screw it

(The post got long, so it’s going under a readmore)

(And to clarify, it is not an April Fools’ thing, I’m not going out of my way to do anything for that today)

It is time for a crush reveal! My most recently-acquired crush is none other than Zero, from the Endwalker expansion of Final Fantasy XIV. As one of my friends was getting into the game and talking about it to me a lot back in February, I ended up falling down a rabbit hole on the wiki at the start to try and more properly understand some of what they were talking about. This ended up going in entirely the wrong direction, as in the process I stumbled across a very pretty lady in Zero.

Here she is courtesy of a screenshot I found online! She was apparently specifically designed based on the idea of “a genderless character with beautiful androgynous features”, aaaand I can definitely say that “beautiful” is an apt word to use for her, if you ask me ^-^

she’s so cool

..To be honest, maybe I should probably just call this an official romantic F/O reveal, haha. I do think I want to romantically selfship with her, after all, and even though I do not have her game myself (or necessarily want to get it, for sheer enormity/having multiple friends playing it but all on different servers/expense/laptop storage/etc. reasons), I have watched multiple of the cutscenes that she’s in and read through her wiki page and everything, so.. that’s allowed, right? I don’t have a name for the selfship itself yet, though. So I’ll probably keep her as a crush for that reason.

..In any case, you can probably guess that I’d be using my newest self-insert, Lorenza, to selfship with her. As a reminder, Lorenza is the voidsent avatar of K’pheli Tia (my friend Simon’s self-insert!), who made a pact with her during the first part of the game to bring her into the world of the Source and help him in battle in return for aether - he isn’t actually officially a Reaper until much later in the story when he finds out those are an actual thing, but she essentially is just tagging along with him and the rest of the party for most of the game so far. She’d start becoming a more prevalent character during the events of Endwalker that deal with the Thirteenth, since that’s the world she’s from.

This is what Lorenza looks like! Being a voidsent - so, like a demon, to put it into a less FFXIV-specific context - she initially has a rather ominous appearance, and would be known only as Colombina. However, after spending enough time on the Source - which isn’t flooded with darkness like her home world of the Thirteenth - she starts regaining more of the Thirteenth’s-equivalent-to-Miqo’te traits she had before that flood of darkness actually happened, and decides she wants to go by her original name of Lorenza again. (Since she isn’t from the Source, that’s why her name doesn’t fit that world’s typical naming conventions, haha)

I promise she is not as evil as she looks. She’s generally quite chaotic, especially compared to Zero, but does also have a dry and sometimes deadpan-sounding sense of humour, like I can sometimes.

Thank you for taking the time to read this if you’ve done so!!!

#a call from the void #heart of the void #selfshipping #I.. don’t really know whether to tag as a crush or a romantic F/O ahaha #I think I will use the crush tag for now simply because I don’t have a name for the selfship yet?? #???: final memoriate (zero) #self‑insert: wings of the void (lorenza) #gaaaah I’ve been awake for like two hours and I’m still tired #I also haven’t actually gotten out of bed yet oops #but I should do that so I can eat #shoutout to the sandals I gave alectra for serving as placeholder footwear for like five different self-inserts at this point

[yea-baiyi]

I will be honest here (and please let me know if you think I am reaching) but I think mxtx herself has been working through an gray or demi ace thing through her stories. Because like. Shen Yuan? That guy reads as someone who has no idea what love or attraction is even supposed to be. Wei Wuxian (while flirting with quite a few people) has Lan Wangji as his one and only romantic love of both lifetimes. And Xie Lian- as you've stated- is definitely experiencing all these new romantic and sexual feelings for the first time and is overwhelmed.

Now, I have ventured outside of mxtx (not...a lot, but still) and I havent seen anything to suggest that this is a genre convention?? For example, Chu Wanning or Zhou Zishu do not give me this vibe. Maybe I am reading the wrong books haha, but I have started to get the feeling she was definitely working through something (authors always put more of themselves in their work than they think)

hi anon, sorry this took me so long (i’m honestly still marinating in my own possibly grey-aroace revelation and so this ask sent me into a spiral of sorts). i think you have a point — idk about mxtx herself, but all 3 of her protagonists can be read as different types of grey/demi/aroace narratives.

what they all have in common is this particular total obliviousness to the romantic situation unfolding. not that they’re blind to what is happening, but it’s as if they have zero frame of reference for what that they are feeling. they don’t think, oh it’s a crush, i’m having romantic feelings for this person. instead the reaction is more like, ?????? suddenly i want to kiss???? why do i like them so much???????

off the top of my head, wwx’s blossoming feelings for lwj are a good example here. in the novel, he genuinely doesn’t have romantic feelings towards lwj at first — he may have had a bit of a crush back in cloud recesses, but he never perceived his interest in lwj as romantic. he slowly falls for lwj over the course of the novel. how it happens is (imo) a very demi-aroace process: it goes from > hanguang-jun is so good looking and admirable > omg he is so funny and great > i like him so much idk why??? > wtf i want to kiss him > i wanna jump on that dick

that strikes me as very non-allo?? it’s not that he’s in denial about how he feels, more that he has no idea what these feelings mean, which sounds very much like someone who has hardly, if ever, experienced sexual or romantic attraction before. iirc we never see wwx express any sort of specifically sexual attraction to lwj before developing feelings for him (literally sleeping in that guys arms seems a perfect recipe for unfortunate boner hijinks and yet it never seemed to happen?) — compelling argument for demi reading imo.

and it’s the same for sqq and xie lian, though their journeys are slightly different to wwx’s. i can’t imagine that this sort of narrative is at all common in the genre? i can’t speak to other c-novels but zhou zishu certainly doesn’t read that way, and from my general knowledge of BL/danmei, it doesn’t seem like a common romantic trope. i absolutely love it though, now you’ve pointed it out it makes sense why i connect so strongly with these stories. and certainly if mxtx managed to work this into all 3 of her stories, i’d want to know how she feels about it herself.

now excuse me i’m going down an a-spec analysis spiral for mxtx novels

#anon #ask #mxtx #mdzs #tgcf #aroace #demisexual #mdzs meta #wwx #wangxian #sorta #i could do an in depth analysis. for all 3 novels tbh. someone ask me to do it #meta stuff #sorry this took aaaaages #idk if this is coherent i drafted this like 4 times #this is just my opinion tho i’m still working through #my understanding of sexuality and romantic attraction #i’m definitely not all the way there yet

[burned-out-match]

Heya 👋! Can I request Bakugou, Denki, and Shinsou who is not yet dating reader. But then Reader in the future was hit with a time travel quirk and was sent to the past. They spend maybe an hour or two in the past. And accidentally reveal that they are in a relationship in the future. They are in awe of their future s/o, they think reader is really cool. And that they are lucky to be dating them soon. Maybe reader flusters them as well. Does this make sense? Thank you for writing this request.

Hey anon! This is gonna be a fun one :)

partner from the future

Bakugou

he's had a crush on you for the longest time but he's too prideful to admit it

so when you show up at his door, kissing him on the cheek and complaining about some weird quirk giving you a headache...

he just stands there

"What's wrong, Katsu? You still get flustered after all these months of dating?~"

"What are you talking about ?! We're not dating, you idiot! What are you doing here?"

"What do you mean?" but you look around and he's not wearing your matching necklaces and there are no pictures of you two to be seen

but then his phone lights up with a teasing text from Kirishima talking about his huuuge crush on you

it makes sense now

you explain to him that you two are dating in the future

“Tch... of course we are! I’m awesome!”

his phone lights up again

it’s a text from a past you

so of course you guide him through what he should send <3

Denki

He was practicing pick up lines in his mirror when he heard a knock on the door

And he goes to check it out

you’re standing there looking absolutely adorable

“Hey baby! Are you ready for date night?”

He’s so ecstatic

“Wait really?! I get to go out with you?!? I thought you said no!!”

“Haha very funny Denki now come on.. wait why aren’t you dressed?”

“Ummm because I didn’t know we were going out 🙈😃”

So you are both very confused people

Until he gets a call from you when you’re standing in front of him

Then it clicks for you

“Ohhhh I think I’m from the future or something!! I must’ve gotten hit by a quirk lolz😼🤪😌😃🤫”

And before he can pay attention to the you in front of him he’s answering the call

“Hey.. um.. y/n?”

“Yeah.. hey Kami.. I was just wondering if I could take back my no from earlier?”

Now there are two crushes wanting to go out with him

But once he says yes and turns around to check on the other you, you’re gone

Shinsou

He’s pacing around and trying to build up the confidence to ask you out

He’s supposed to see you today at a convention of some sort so he was planning on asking out since it was the perfect opportunity

But when he arrives at the event he sees two of you talking together and he ??

So he walks over and asks about quirks and such and the two of you giggle

one of you says that she’s your s/o from the future

The other y/n says that she’s super excited for your first date today

And he smiles really brightly

“Wait this is real? It’s not a dream or something? Not a hallucination?”

“No, Shinsou, honey”

You both giggle again

And one of you (the current time y/n) leans over and pecks his cheek

And he faints on the spot😳

#mha #bnha #bakugou imagines #bakugou #bakugou headcanons #bakugou x reader #denki fluff #denki x reader #denki kaminari #Denki #denki headcanons #shinsou imagine #shinsou fluff #shinsou #shinsou x reader #shinsou headcanons #bnha x reader #bnha headcanons #asks

[earthnashes]

Listen listen, the second I laid my eyes on your Super Mario AU art and headcannons + your incredibly creative wordbuilding for your AU plus the adorkable ship of Bowser X Luigi, I think I've never fallen back into an old fandom harder than before. I may not be into it as much as in the old days but who the heck can say no to fantastic fanart like this?!

So yeah, now that I got that little geeking out moment, I do have a question in mind.

You've have established so far how the kingdoms and their respective intercations in this AU work and that now the world is living in like a world peace scenario where disputes are solved with sports and events to prevent wars and nothing goes wrong (expect in the sea with the whole pirates situations). You also made it clear which is the main ship in this AU (Bowser X Luigi). That got me thinking: Are interspecies interactions/ even relationships becoming a more common thing ? Like, it's seems obvious since the world is at peace which to me implies traveling and communication with other kingdoms is easily accessible, it doesn't seem that farfetched to me that the inhabitants of differenti places start to mingle with each other, making connections and friendships and maybe even create relationships. Maybe once it was frowned upon but now it's starting to be more acceptable.

Sorry if this might be a stupid or very obvious question to have, but I just like hearing your thoughts on a world you clearly love to build and create. You definitely earned a new follower!! ;) Keep up the good work!

Interspecies interaction is absolutely common place. It has to be to maintain global peace, and it has been made common for a hundred years or so. This "world peace" business isn't necessarily old, but it isn't new either, so by the time the main characters are in the picture, it's seen as a normal thing. As such, no one would really bat an eye if you made friends with a Koopa, or a Goomba, or anything of that sort. The same goes for romantic relationships.

THAT SAID, just because world peace has been achieved it doesn't necessarily mean every kingdom in the entire world is for it. When the World Convention began, it started as a whole bunch of kingdoms coming together and basically going "hey, we're real tired of killing and fighting each other. Wanna be friends instead? :)" A whole bunch of laws, regulations, suggestions, ideas, were passed amongst them before the huge alliance finally settled on an agreement. Thing is, while every kingdom with an official governing body was invited to join, not every kingdom actually accepted the terms.

Some were too stuck in their ways, or maybe at the time had very poor leadership who refused to join the alliance. Anyone who opted out of joining was entirely free to continue business as usual, but were warned that attacks on anyone who did agree to the terms would not be taken lightly.

So there are a few kingdoms in this world that are out and isolated from this alliance by choice. One of the reasons was their refusal to accept interspecies relations and interactions on equal ground.

As a matter of fact, Koopa Kingdom was one of these kingdoms. Particularly when Bowser's grandparents, then parents, were in charge. At the time the Koopa Kingdom was an absolute monarchy so whatever the ruling pair said, went, no matter what the general population wanted, and at that time it was to opt out of the alliance and do their own thing.

Bowser himself is such a popular king because he is the complete opposite of both his parents and grandparents: he reduced the amount of power he holds over the country and gave some of it to the people by forming a council (officials would be elected by popular vote). While Bowser still has overall final say, he can't just go "HAHA I'm king i can do whatever I want" anymore. He also had set to work on many things his predecesors refused, such as: entering the Koopa Kingdom into the World Convention, legalizing interspecies marriage rights, raising minimum wages dramatically, just to name a few.

This got a little bit tangent-y but, I hope that answers your question. :)

#Super Mario #nintendo #nintendo headcanon #au

[wrenhyperfixates]

A Perfect Proposal

Pairing: Loki x reader Summary: In which you propose to Loki. Warnings: Did anyone order fluff? Well, here you go :) A/N: Sending love out into the world for anyone who needs it. If you’re feeling down on yourself and like no one will want you (as so many of us oft think) just remember your real life Loki isn’t as far away as you think :)

Tag List: @lucywrites02 @frostedgiant​ @lunarmoon8 @twhiddlestonsstuff @lokistan @lowkeyorlokificrecs @gaitwae @whatafuckingdumbass @castiels-majestic-wings @kozkaboi @cozy-the-overlord @birdgirl90 @myraiswack

Disclaimer: Gif not mine 

“I love you, dearest,” Loki said, placing a small kiss to your temple.

“I love you, too,” you replied. “I want to be with you for the rest of my life and every moment after.”

“I feel the same way.”

Unfortunately, for as much as he insisted that, Loki had yet to take the next step in your relationship. He’d been your boyfriend for nearly two years now, and you were both madly in love with the other. You honestly had no doubts about that at this point, but it was frustrating being stuck where you were, nonetheless. There wasn’t even anything wrong with your relationship, per se, but it had been the same thing for a while now. The problem was that you loved him so much, you wanted more. Marriage. You’d talked about it a while ago, and he seemed open to the idea, but he had yet to pop the question. With all the hints you’d been leaving recently, you thought he would have asked by now. There was nothing else you could do short of asking him yourself.

“That’s it,” you gasped, jumping up from the couch. “Sorry, Loki. I gotta go. I’ll see you later, ok?”

You gave him a quick peck on the cheek before hurrying off to find your friends, leaving a very confused god in your wake. Zooming into another common room, you found them locked in concentration on an intense game of MarioKart.

“Bucky, Wanda, Nat. Important announcement,” you said to get their attention.

“One second,” Bucky shushed. “I’m about to win.”

“In your dreams,” Wanda snickered.

You impatiently tapped your foot as you let them finish the final lap, about ready to burst with excitement from your idea. Bucky and Wanda both groaned as Nat snatched the win at the last second.

“And that is how it’s done,” she said high-fiving you. “Now, what’s the emergency?”

“I’m going to propose to Loki.”

Wanda squealed in excitement and threw her arms around you in a hug. “That’s awesome! I’m proud of you!”

“Thanks, but before I can go through with this, I’m going to need a ring.”

And so, your little band of friends snuck out of the Tower and headed to a jewelry shop in the city. You were marveling at all the beautiful bands, as your friends argued over which one would be best. They all had different ideas about what you should get, though you didn’t really have a clue yourself. You were sure you would know it when you saw it.

“I’m telling you, this is the best one,” Bucky insisted, holding up an antique ring.

“Are you crazy? It’s so worn. No offense, but who would want that one?” Nat said.

“Steve would like it,” he murmured.

“How about this one?” Wanda called.

She pointed to a slim, ebony black band in the display case. It was understated, yet pretty. You considered the shiny trinket for a moment. It seemed like something Loki would like, and yet it wasn’t quite right. Continuing to walk through the store and take in the countless options, something in your peripheral vision caught your attention. Your head snapped back to it, and you let out an audible gasp.

“This is the one,” you declared.

Your friends came rushing over to see. The ring was fashioned as a gold, double-headed snake with emeralds as eyes. Far from a typical engagement ring, but you and your boyfriend weren’t much for conventional.

“We’ll take it,” you told the chipper store clerk.

To thank your friends for their help, you treated them to some coffee. As you sat in the cafe, you began to obsess over how to propose to Loki, though they insisted you were overthinking it. They were acting as if it were easy to speak from the heart. Then again, Loki was the love of your life, so maybe the right words would just flow out in the moment. Still, you’d like to have some kind of general outline.

Your planning was cut short by your ringtone, and you knew it must be Loki as he was the only one who bothered with calling anymore. Everyone else just texted, but he hadn’t quite figured out how to do that yet. You had to admit, his ineptitude with technology was kind of cute.

“Dearest, can you hear me?”  he asked. “Is this accursed magic box working?”

“Yes, my love,” you laughed. “It’s working just fine.”

“Very good. I was wondering if you would accompany me to dinner this evening. Say, 7:30, the balcony where we first met?”

“Absolutely.”

You remembered meeting Loki as if it had only just happened moments ago. You’d heard the stories of the monster he’d been at the Battle of New York, but standing there in the moonlight, he’d just looked fragile. You’d missed introductions earlier that day, having been on a mission, and approached with caution, careful not to rip him from his quiet reverie.

“Whatcha thinking about?” you’d asked softly, leaning next to him on the railing.

He’d looked slightly bewildered, whether because you snuck up on him or he didn’t know who you were, you still didn’t know.

“Nothing much, mortal,” he’d said.

“Well, that’s not very nice.”

“What?”

“Calling me ‘mortal.’”

“Well forgive me, but you did not introduce yourself,” he’d snapped back.

“Oh, well, yeah. Ok. I guess you’re right.”

You told him your name, and he said it softly, tasting the foreign word on his tongue. He tested it out a few times before coming to a conclusion.

“I like that name very much, mortal,” he teased.

“Haha very funny. How mature.”

Despite trying to sound angry, you couldn’t help but smile. You’d talked for a while after that and didn’t split up until the first light of morning began to fight through the darkness. Needless to say, you didn’t get much sleep, for even when you’d reached your room, your heart was pounding too wildly to allow you to slumber. You were too excited from meeting this handsome stranger. This god. Loki.

But that was then, and this was now. You walked out onto the balcony decorated with twinkle lights, candles, and your favorite flowers, the napkins and tablecloth your favorite color. You nervously checked to make sure you had the ring carefully tucked away one more time before going out to meet Loki in an embrace.

Throughout dinner, you mainly managed to keep your cool, but your leg would not stop bouncing with anxious energy. If Loki noticed, he didn’t say anything, though he did appear to be a little nervous himself, what with the constant fidgeting of hands and all.

Waving away your empty dishes with a flick of his hands, he began asking what you would like for dessert, but your mind was already far away. You jumped a little at the sound of Loki’s voice.

“I’m sorry, what was that again?” you asked, snapping back to the moment.

“Dearest, are you feeling alright?” he questioned, voice laced with concern. “You seem worried.”

“No, I’m fine,” you said as he raised an unconvinced eyebrow. It was now or never. “But I have something to say.”

“By all means, please share.”

“Ok,” you began, sucking in a sharp, anxious breath. “As you know, we’ve been dating for some time now, and I love you more than anything in this world. Even when we fight, that doesn’t change. Every moment I spend with you, I feel loved. Safe. Happy. You’ve been there for me in ways no one else in this world has. From the moment we met, something was screaming in my mind, ‘This is the one.’ It hasn’t stopped saying it since. I want to be with you, be there for you, for the rest of my life. Loki, my heart, my love, the light of my life, will you marry me?”

You got down onto one knee and popped open the ring box for a very stunned Loki. You gulped nervously as he seemed to regain his senses.

“Well, this is awkward,” he said. Your mind immediately jumped to worst-case scenario, assuming he was about to break up with you, but before you could speak your fears, Loki was also down on one knee, also opening a box. “I was just about to say the same thing.”

Now it was your turn to be stunned. You’d truly thought he was too hard on himself to ever actually ask for your hand in marriage, and you were elated that he loved you enough to work past that.

“In case the answer wasn’t obvious, yes. Yes with my whole heart!” you exclaimed, launching yourself into his arms.

Pulling back from him, you kissed him passionately. You slipped his ring onto his finger, and he did the same for you. It was exactly what you’d always hoped your engagement ring would look like. You beamed at Loki, completely happy.

“I love you, dearest,” he said.

“I love you, too. I can’t wait to be with you for the rest of my life.”

“And every moment after.”

#loki x reader #loki x you #loki x y/n #loki laufeyson #loki odinson #loki #mcu loki #loki fluff #fluff #mcu fluff #marvel fluff #reader insert #gender netural reader #marvel #mcu #marvel reader insert #marvel fanfiction #loki fanfic #loki friggason #loki friggason x reader #loki laufeyson x reader #loki odinson x reader #loki oneshot #marvel oneshot #wanda maximoff #bucky barnes #natasha romanoff #scarlet witch #the winter soldier #black widow

[tundrainafrica]

that moment when you realize levi's last memory of hanji was her laughing - her last laugh. oh and levi would never have a body to bury. Also, I was wondering if you have done an analysis of the solute that levi did - you know keeping his hand over her heart. I personally headcannon that levi meant hanji to give her heart to him, to be his and that's why he kept his fist over her heart. (sorry if it sounds cheesy lmao)

OKAY SO WE’RE ON THE TOPIC OF CH. 132 AGAIN. So imma assume you guys really wanna hurt yourselves more so allow me to drop this really amazing animation of 132 which really captures Hange and Levi’s facial expressions well along with a lot of symbolisms about Hange so please, even if you’re not gonna read the whole meta I have down under. Please watch it. You won’t regret it. It’s beautiful. Here’s the link (The lyrics are good too, so I’d recommend you check the English translation out, the second verse all the way to the chorus, it really fits.)

that moment when you realize levi's last memory of hanji was her laughing - her last laugh. oh and levi would never have a body to bury. 

How are you so sure that Hange’s last memory was her smiling and laughing?

I actually like to entertain the possibility that Hange and Levi made an extremely conscious effort to avoid looking at each other, especially in the eyes. Why is that?

Maybe, the scene in 126 was that much of a profound scene relationship wise that they couldn’t look at each other after that? But I can’t help but think the Levi and Hange’s dynamics were particularly distant in 132? Especially if you compare it to just a few chapters ago where Hange couldn’t even leave him right? Like she was always next to him on his sleeping bag. 

That’s why I really hc-ed that maybe when she was changing his bandages, particularly removing the ones covering his mouth, they had a conversation. And I wrote out my take on it in this fic.

There are just way too many panels about them talking about so many deep things and in all of them they’re looking away from each other.

You can say, towards the last panels, of course he’s not looking at her, he knows she’s going to sacrifice herself, why put her to the pain?

And even the dedicate your heart scene right? He wasn’t looking at her. 

So the point is, do you really think his last memory of her was her smile? 

And was it really her laugh? Personally, when I see people smile, I don’t look at their mouths, I look at their eyes. I’m an eyes person. I think eyes talk more than someone’s mouth. 

And Hange wasn’t smiling at all, look at those eyes.

And do we really count a ‘haha’ as a laugh :’). Do you think Levi... who has seen Hange laugh so many times before, and had seen that same wonder in her eyes before and how she constantly smiles with both her eyes and her mouth, do you think Levi would have counted that as a laugh?

Anyway, I like to headcanon the last clear vivid memory Levi had of her was when she was changing his bandages back in the ship. They were avoiding each othe rtoo much, Levi was really avoiding looking at her this whole chapter and I really suspect there was a deleted scene, a conversation in the ship which changed their whole dynamic in that chapter before Hange chose to sacrifice herself. 

Anyway, moving on to the next question:  

Also, I was wondering if you have done an analysis of the salute that levi did - you know keeping his hand over her heart. I personally headcannon that levi meant hanji to give her heart to him, to be his and that's why he kept his fist over her heart. (sorry if it sounds cheesy lmao)

Omg, that is such a cute headcanon I didn’t think about. Thank you for sharing that <3 I’ll add that to my own personal list of headcanons that I’ll be sharing below. 

Before I move on to sharing it, I just have to say: 

I love the original Japanese translation.

For most western languages, you have to mention the “your” in Dedicate your heart because it just doesn’t flow well to say “dedicate heart” nor would it be consistent with Erwin’s iconic statement being constantly translated to “Dedicate your heart” suddenly being translated to “Dedicate heart” which is wrong grammar anyway. 

With 心臓を捧げよう, we only know there is an unspecified number of hearts which are to be dedicated. 

So Levi’s message could be translated to either “Dedicate your heart.” or even “Let’s dedicate our hearts”

So as a Levihan shipper I could headcanon this in so many ways. 

1. I’ll drop the vanilla one first.  “Dedicate your heart” okay Hange while sacrificing yourself, make sure to dedicate your heart okay, fight to your heart’s content, which is the most conventional interpretation. 

2. The next one is: Let’s dedicate our hearts. This could mean that he feels the war is reaching it’s climax and if she’s ready to die, Levi is willing to join her soon and he will dedicate his heart the same way. Since Japanese tenses in relation to time aren’t specified and future tense doesn’t exist in Japanese, it makes it vague enough to even foreshadow Levi’s own intentions to really dedicate his heart like his own comrades did. And the fact that Levi said see you later Hange? That only supports this headcanon. 

3. Another head canon I have is Levi figuratively left his heart with her with that salute and in that moment, maybe he was talking to himself when he decided to dedicate his heart to her. With that dedication and with Hange’s impending sacrifice, Levi showed his readiness to lose his heart and have it die with her. 

4. This is actually an analysis I read a while back from a Japanese website I’ll leave the link below and it’s definitely one of my favorites for this scene. 

So to summarize the analysis, the Japanese fans see it as a symbolism of unity for Hange and Levi. 

Remember Hange was betrayed by the Jaegerists a few chapters back probably less than a few days ago manga time. Hange is one of the few people who have this idea that what Eren is doing is wrong, the violence, the rumbling. And with Zeke, Flock and Yelena all explicitly disagreeing with her, she was living with this idea that she was doing things wrong especially since only recently a majority of the survey corps actually betrayed her. Yet Hange still continued to hold on to her idea that their ideas are all wrong, there must be a more peaceful way to end all this. Also, remember even do Hange had such an idealistic way on how she wanted it to end, no one explicitly agreed with her. 

Thus, she was lonely. And with that ‘dedicate your heart’ scene, Levi recognizes that loneliness and by saying “let’s dedicate our hearts” he’s telling her he is dedicating his heart to that same cause she is fighting for. And even if no one agrees with it, he agrees with her cause. 

He’s empathizing with it, he’s affirming it and he’s telling her what she’s fighting for isn’t wrong and he wants to clear her of any doubts in her final moments so she can fight till her hearts content. 

And I think that’s beautiful. I got the analysis  here.  

The “dedicate your heart” could mean one of all the things above but it can also mean all the things above at once. I like to hurt myself by thinking, Hange and Levi talk more with gestures than words and maybe Levi meant to say everything up there. 

And maybe with this face Hange gave we can see... 

She might have gotten all five messages before she sacrificed herself. 

Anyway, thanks for reading!

#levihan #levi ackerman #hange zoe #levi x hange #levi x hanji #meta #snk 132

[generallypo]

in all sincerity, kim dokja makes me happy and he deserves to be so too :^(

incoherent yelling and sobbing under the cut. these fEELINGS will not be contained aaauuunnghhh. 

------

anyway i binge-read all 500+ chapters of ORV this week and i honest to god feel bad for this -- completely! fictional! aghhhh -- guy. in case you haven’t figured it out, the following is some spoilerly shit

i went in expecting a fun, brainless power trip fantasy for dudes with an isekai addiction. instead, it turns out ORV is actually a gigantic, self-deprecating prank on the entire genre itself. kdj plays more into the sad -- if high-functioning-- clown trope than the sexy, edgy, chuuni bastard type i was prepared to laugh at. there were -- gasp! -- female characters with personalities! parents (aka ADULTS who act like ADULTS) who actually survive and feature prominently! adorable children! a real sexy, edgy bastard! a power trio with amazing fashion! sexual tension and bickering! friendship! life and death bonding! 

*breathes in deeply* fouND FAMILYYYYYYY.

like, yeah, the plot around the first few arcs seems a little aimless, but the buildup is worth. the world-building is pretty decent. there’s discernible effort put into the fight scenes, and i can appreciate that. but -- but! what i stayed for were the characters -- namely, the fantastic OT3 of KDJ, HSY, and YJH -- who come together despite their initial rivalries and end up saving each other’s asses, like, every other day. granted, the other characters don’t get as much focus, and they do fall into certain character tropes.. 

but a trope done well is nothing i would gripe about. every significant character in ORV has a coherent, and more importantly, respectful take on their respective trope. maybe it’s because sing-shong is actually a married couple, but all the interactions between even minor characters are a convincing blend of awkward rambling, suggestive humor, sharp remarks, and casual banter. in other words, this cast of mostly working adults (plus a teen and two kids) talks like working adults. the relationships built throughout the story are, frankly, some of most realistic of its genre. sing-shong has managed to craft a dynamic that undoubtedly brims with fluffy fondness all around, but also drips with sarcastic tension, with unspoken urgency, with a wariness that softens into sincerity over the course of many, many chapters. it’s the kind of progression that makes even stock characters read like more than just the 2-bit villain or comrade or love interest. here, we have relationships both straightforward and not, strained or otherwise, romantically-oriented as well as decidedly the opposite -- and then numerous others scattered along the spectrum with the freedom to shift either way. 

it’s also an interesting point of note that our MC kdj actually does not end up with a stated romantic partner, much less a conventional heteroromantic harem. he gets teased about that fact from time to time, but it’s with less of the sleazy shonen locker room humor one would expect and more of the good-natured ribbing you’d find among friends or that one especially nosy auntie at the yearly family reunion. kdj is a grown ass man. in the background, i applaud his maturity, and he handles all the prodding like a champ. 

so instead of finding and fulfilling his horny, he builds himself a wealth of loving family. yeah, there are beautiful men and women around him. yeah, they unequivocally adore him. but they’re also adults, and they have priorities, too -- which are not so much finding a way to bang kdj’s brains out and more so simply keeping the damn guy alive. this is truly not ‘oblivious mc with his thirsty, sex kitten harem’. it just so happens that a guy proves himself to be unflinchingly gentle and capable in an apocalyptic setting despite his broken self-esteem, and lots of people find that attractive, romantically and platonically. 

it.. kinda makes sense? he’s a hard worker, thoughtful, and good with kids. kdj is the kind of guy you know would make a reliable partner, and anybody with eyes can plainly see and appreciate that. 

and it’s not that our MC’s a total brick wall. in fact, it’s likely the opposite, and he’s just too darned repressed to admit it. from what has been implied, kdj does indeed recognize and accept love, or at least a primitive concept of it. i like to imagine that the kind of love that he ends up seeking out simply manifests itself more easily as acceptance and safety, as warmth and a home of people to return to every day. even better, the people who surround him know this, and they give him exactly that. it’s refreshing, and honestly, really sweet.

(as a side note, i really, really do appreciate the cosmic bi energy radiating off of kdj, who canonically earns the title of being loved by all and is all but in name married to yjh and hsy. he also respects women and small children and honestly anyone who isn’t total scum to him or his family. i respect that.)

but the happy stuff aside, you know it it just ain’t ORV without the generous screaming dollop of angst. admittedly, there’s self-sacrifice, injury, lonesome wandering, more sacrifice, some epic fighting, reunion and confrontation. all of it is a lot to digest, sure, but never does it feel entirely hopeless, or truly, truly heart-clenching. ORV, up until the final act, is a mostly light read. you relax in your chair, thinking that nothing beyond this point can disturb you. 

yeah fucking right.

------

and then the beginning of the end arrives. when the squad finally break through to their ‘ending’, the scene that kind of breaks me is the reveal of the Most Ancient Dream. it ties so much thematically into the little tidbits that we get of kdj’s past, and it though it feels like almost a joke that the source of the goddamn apocalypse is a kid with bruises smeared across his skinny ass body -- it’s such a pathetic picture that it’s kinda poetic, actually. you’re left mystified but somewhat convinced, like a math problem explained halfway through. this.. child.. is a villain somehow, isn’t he?

and then 999th turn uriel speaks up, and she. just. hugs him. 

[[You are this universe’s most powerless existence, aren’t you.]] 

that. that gets me. kdj’s reaction immediately upon this revelation? absolute murder. seeing him essentially self-destruct upon realizing that all these people he’s surrounded himself with -- some who continuously proclaim their loyalty and affection for him throughout their journey, some who suffered eons of war and loss and trauma because of his existence -- not only forgive his younger self but smother him with unconditional acceptance and love is stifling, is too vulnerable and exposed and he simply can’t cope -- it’s so telling of his true mentality, of his crippling insecurity and crumpled sense of self-worth. kim dokja is a liar, through and through, so much that he fails, or perhaps refuses, to comprehend the veracity of others’ kindness and love towards himself. 

by some miracle, the events at the end of the world somehow resolve.. or so it seems. there is a departing train, a liberated team of ex-gods, and a child rousing from his slumber. in the aftermath, i am left shaking. somehow, despite the ending having been (happily?) reached, there’s still another chapter ahead. what is this witchcraft?

------

and then ah, yes -- the epilogue arc. i teetered on the edge of being critical for a little bit there -- is that display of deus ex machina, of sad, self-sacrificing nobility a bit too egregious to be acceptable? is this some wild last let-me-yank-this-outta-my-ass plot twist to drag out the chapter count? i sincerely thought that the arc before it would have been the finale. i was wrong. thank god.

anyways, as an answer to the above: no, and no. i stake my firm claim on the belief that the epilogue arc was meticulously planned out well in advance of its release, confusing and time-warpy as it is. i liked it. tremendously. even if it entirely invalidates all of kdj’s supposed development (”haha lol yeah sure i won’t sacrifice myself or anything anymore guys don’t worry about me” -- KDJ, at some point because he’s a lying rat bastard). actually, our beloved MC disappears for a large chunk of this arc, and i think it’s great. in his absence, the other characters not only go absolutely fucking nuts, but they have to figure out this new problem on their own, even if the lure of peaceful complacency in the newly saved Korea might convince them otherwise. 

and then the whole time paradox thing comes around. yjh goes to space, hsy saves the only life she can, and kdj grows up. the crew waits, holding onto their hope even if it bleeds them dry. sing-shong does a damn good job of illustrating their fraying calm, their lurking madness, the unseen but pervasive depression that seeps in from kdj’s absence. the kids lose their father, lhs and jhw lose their reliable leader figure, ysa loses a best friend and confidant, lsk -- as distant as she pretends to be from her son -- loses her only child. and then there’s hsy and yjh , who are essentially bereft of the other half of their existences. their pain is palpable, is grounded in the hopeless, gnawing frustration of an utterly meaningless victory. emotionally, ORV hits all the right -- if agonizing -- beats.

however, a story can’t sustain itself just through its pathos. i’m happy to say that ORV doesn’t drop the ball after the first milestone, and after all the hurt, the characters do leap straight back into action. even better, the plot holes actually do get patches, and the poetic cycle of writer, protagonist, and reader comes full circle by making use of all those supposedly throwaway characters from the myriad world lines. 

at the end of the road, there is a distinct sense of unity, of a delicate but undeniable cohesion to the world lines and their origins. sing-shong lets us guess a little here at the finish, but there’s just enough information to feel hopeful. maybe there never had been a definite start -- or finish -- to the story of kdj company, and... that’s okay. everybody ends up where they were meant to be, where they fought and struggled to reach. it’s.. almost like a happily ever after, if we’re allowed to dream of that.

------

now, i realize, this was all an orchestrated maneuver.

i’ll take it.

to me, all of this work sounds like someone put some serious thought into this behemoth of a plot. it cements the entire original premise of the story. it suggests -- but never explicitly confirms! -- the possibility that breaking free of the cycle is possible through the exact same system that sustains it. it’s terribly interesting -- and inspirational! with all the dramatic revelations and life-threatening scenarios  and the cast’s resigned acceptance of them that essentially make up ORV’s entire mood, there’s still that last hint of rebellious and righteous anger that lights up the whole damn nebula. it’s like the kdj company blasting away at the heavens just to yell into the nether: we’re not looking for the happy end, but the free one. stay alive.

it’s subtle, and yet it’s such an emotional gut punch. i came away with the most ruinous, frustrating, bittersweet sense of longing in ages. i pined. for these fictional darlings. god, i am weak.

so. yeah. ORV is pretty good. flawed, but ambitious and impressively thought out.  i’m stoked that the webtoon is making pretty good progress, even if it’ll take an eternity and a half to meet that monstrous chapter count. i’m still gonna follow it. hell yeah. 

------

(by the way the idea that secretive plotter and co are literally gonna take care of and raise baby kdj and spoil him and be the best friggin family a kid could ever want does things to me. protect him. he’s suffered too much. let at least one worldline’s version of him know happiness. and actually, aLL OF THEM DESERVE DOMESTIC BLISS TOGETHER IN A BIG OL MANSION WITH SUN AND FRESH AIR AND TENDER FAMILY MOMENTS UGH)

------

and there you have it, folks. you made it to the end. in the far, far distance, i’m cheering you on and crying my eyes out in gratitude. thanks for tuning in!

#omniscient reader #orv #omniscient reader's viewpoint #kim dokja #fanart #kdj happiness rights! #protect him! #let! him! have his big house! with everyone! he loves! #please! #long ass emotional screeching #look i can't do him justice with drawing but hell can i yell out my love for him :'^DD

[0dirty-deals0]

Can I request Levi x reader a small scenario where he's talking to his pet fish about the reader. Maybe he gets caught too?

(Minor Angst) Haha, Feelings go BRR...! (Leviathan x GN!MC)

Warnings: None! Reader is Gender Neutral!

The door to Levi's room swings open and slams shut in quick succession, rattling the room a bit in the process. He's mumbling to himself, face red, hands shaking and so very flustered. He makes his way towards Henry's aquarium, tapping the glass a bit to call his fishy friend who quickly swims towards him.

"Oh Henry, I fucked up so badly this time," he sighs and runs a hand through his hair, scratching his head in frustration as he tries to keep it together. Henry bubbles to ask whats wrong.

"I-It involves Mc," Oh! Henry knows Mc very well. He likes Mc since they help Levi take care of himself and they also make an effort to greet Henry whenever they visit. He wonders what his demonic friend has done this time and why the human's involved.

"I just, we were talking, they're coming over for game night- you know, the usual Friday night," Henry bubbles in acknowledgement.

"And in the middle of discussing what we were going to do they pulled a fucking power move. Do you know what they did Henry?" Henry tilts his body to express his confusion.

"They freaking smiled at me out of nowhere and said, 'I love hanging out with you, y'know? It's a lot of fun,' and they did it in such a cute and genuine way! They just- they can't just do that to me!" Seriously? Henry thought they got into some sort of fight or something.

"I- how would I respond to that? How would anyone respond to that!? I just- I took off and ran when they said that, I couldn't even think at that moment, I don't even think I was breathing," Henry shoots his friend an unamused look, it's not very obvious to anyone else but Levi can read it quite well.

"H-Hey! Don't you dare give me that look!"

Henry swims closer to the glass as a way to say, 'No, you deserve this look you mess of a demon.'

"Argh, c'mon Henry, give me a break."

Levi's D.D.D. chimes and lights up, showing a message from Mc. The message asked if he was okay, that they were worried since he just ran off out of nowhere. Levi's fingers hover over his keyboard but he can't bring himself to type anything in response yet.

"See, Henry? They- they care about me, and you know I'm not used to receiving that from anyone else."

He leaves Mc on seen for a moment and chooses to go through his gallery instead. He was never one for taking pictures of himself if it didn't involve conventions or events but after being so close to Mc, he found his gallery filled with selfies of the two of them together, having fun even while doing the simplest of things. A part of him is a little disgusted at himself for being able to do such a normie thing, but another part of him adores that Mc is able to make him come out of his shell a bit more.

He's never been all that confident considering who his brothers are, to him, they're all so much better than him, yes even Mammon (not that he'd ever admit it). They're able to do so many things outside of their rooms and out in the world, he can't do that, he doesn't want to. They mock him for it sometimes and soon enough the words do get to him. He always thought he'd be a shut in forever but Mc changed that. It's not a big change, he still very much dislikes being outdoors, but with Mc, he doesn't mind it all that much, as long as they're with him, and him alone, he finds himself being okay with it, maybe even enjoying it at times.

Mc also makes him feel much more confident in his hobbies as well. They praise him whenever he accomplishes something, be it ranking 1st on a gaming leaderboard or finishing a new costume, and they do it with such sincerity that it makes his heart skip a beat. They don't shut him down when he talks about his latest obessession, they listen, they give him solutions to his problems, not just flat out dismiss him. They give him the validation he didn't really know he craved.

"I... you know I've had a few... flings here and there, I'm sure you remember them Henry," Henry bubbles to show that he does.

"And I'm sure you know that none of them have cared for me as much as Mc does or even have the half patience they do to deal with me," Henry bubbles in agreement.

"Mc is special to me, so special that I think-" he sighs and shuts off his phone, throwing it into his bathtub, where it thankfully lands on a soft pillow to break its fall. "...So special that think I love them."

He laughs a bit at the realization, its a bitter laugh and he finds himself wanting to tear up at all the sudden complex emotions he's feeling. He doesn't know if he should savour the feeling he thought he'd lost or smash it to bits and bury it.

"Haha... I love Mc," and it makes him feel so pathetic that he doesn't know how to tell them, or if he should at all. Besides, who could ever truly love someone as pathetic and shameful as him?

Others: Hi :) My first proper angst in months and I'm thriving lemme tell you. Thank you so much for this request anon! I had a blast making this as bittersweet as I can. So sorry for any mistakes you find in this fic and thank you all for reading!

#obey me #obey me headcanons #obey me imagines #obey me leviathan

[herotome]

Just played and found your demo, and looked at the landlord extra, it kind of freaked me out, haha. I’m a scaredy-cat, so I have a couple of questions, sorry, I was just wondering how psychological horror, jump scary it will be? How violent or bloody it will get? Is there magic in this?

Oh I do hate jump scares, sorry that showing the landlord with a gong had that effect! Maybe the gong was too loud; later in development I'll be hiring a sound designer to make sure everything is balanced. (And did I remove the "no wait" effect in the demo? It's definitely removed in the version I have now).

It was meant to be surprising - as it tends to be, when you find an injured man on the verge of collapsing by the garage - but definitely not scary.

I will say that I have no interest in utilizing a screamer -- showing a big image with a very loud screech like Five Nights at Freddy's (I physically cannot even watch someone playing that game, jumpscares give me insomnia) -- and the MC tends to be fairly capable, so when she encounters something surprising she just tends to go what the fuck is wrong with them? and find a way to handle the situation. She won't be like... chased alone through narrow halls by a heavy-breathing zombie, walking into her friend's room to find they had committed s*cide, or anything like that.

There may be moments that are eerie, like the Clammy Woman. There will be situations where the protagonist is in danger and there will be more weird and unsettling characters, but I don't know if it should be described as psychological horror. I like psychological horror more than conventional spooks, but it's not really what I'm going for overall.

It will be pretty violent though! Lot of fights, lot of injuries. It's not gonna be a slasher film, but Warden's burns at the beginning should give you an idea of what to expect there.

And magic.... ... ?? 😂 I'm not sure how it fits into this line of questioning (horror magic??) but there are superpowers that come from people; I probably won't be playing with the paranormal or demons. I do love demons in romance stories (would love to kiss them), but this game is fairly grounded and I don't think paranormal things fit the setting. If you were to encounter monstrous-looking beings in the game, they would be humans who have drawn the short stick on the random superpower lottery.

#content warning #is this a good hashtag? #I'm happy to keep elaborating if anyone needs me to #herotome ask

[purplesurveys]

1416

survey by hopeslife

Which of your 5 senses would you give up? I’m not a fan of this question.

One word that doesn't describe you? Religious.

Would you ever consider becoming a nun? Nah, not even as a kid in Catholic school. My school was ran by nuns and we were made to occasionally visit the school convent, so I was definitely in an environment where it would’ve been easy to influence kids to become nuns; buuuuut I was hellbent on being like an astronaut lmao.

What do you miss most about your childhood? Just not dealing with grown-up problems as a whole.

What do the majority of people think of you? You’d have to ask them; I never pay deep attention to this.

Have you ever washed your phone when doing laundry? Not phone, but I’ve left cash in my pants before.

Do you like your first name? I’ve warmed up to it in the last few years. It’s nice to be unique.

What makes you laugh? Cooper, shitposts on Facebook and TikTok, BTS.

Do you ever keep arguing when you know you're wrong? Not for the most part. If I realize midway that I’m wrong, I’ll start to quiet down and validate the other person’s points. But other days I’ll feel like being stubborn and still keep defending myself, haha.

What is something you find yourself saying a lot? That I am going to resign but of course it never happens.

Your Internet service goes down. What would you miss the most? Not really miss, but I’d freak out more than anything because I work from home and would be restless about important calls and conversations I’d potentially be missing out from.

If you suddenly turned into a dog or cat, how would you prove you're human? This is a really good question hahaha. But uhm, maybe booping my way through entering the passcode to my phone since neither of my dogs are trained to do that.

Would you like to know the precise date of your future death? I would honestly be more at peace if I knew this, yes. I hate not knowing things.

Do you believe in forever, as in 'love forever'? I mean sure I believe in the concept, but I don’t believe it’s for everyone.

Do you photograph well? I’ve always been terrible at photography; I’ve never had an eye for the proper angles and such. I did try to dabble in it as a teen, but at the end it turned out that the knack for it belonged to my sister.

Is joy more stressful than stress is joyful? I don’t relate to the second one at all. I fucking hate being stressed and having a constantly busy schedule.

What is your favorite flavor of coffee? Caramel macchiato is my usual order.

What non-obvious website should everyone check out? If you’re making a Powerpoint and have to use images without backgrounds, you can use remove.bg. Saved my ass a thousand times.

Are there any animals you flat out refuse to touch? Fucking cockroaches.

When was the last time you were up all night? It was about a couple of weeks ago.

if you could have one thing right now what would it be? An entire sushi boat and a ton of wasabi.

What do you put on your french fries? Just salt and mayonnaise.

Have you ever been to the state of Washington? Nopes.

At what age did you feel you were an adult? Mmm, maybe when I was 23, I got my first job, and had to get a bunch of IDs that I was required to submit in order to be processed properly.

What's your biggest 'first world' problem? It’s hard to have first world problems when you live in a third world country lol. But idk...maybe struggling to get what food to have delivered when I have a lot of cravings at once? That’s the biggest ‘challenge’ I can think of, at least.

What's the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word fun? The song We Are Young by the band.

Would you rather have less work to do, or more work you actually enjoy? At this point, less work. I’m fucking done with being busy for now.

Are you a hug or handshake person? Hug. Handshakes terrify me as I’m terrible at giving them.

Have you ever received a swag bag? I had to Google this because I’ve never heard of this before, and apparently they’re just what we call giveaways here lol. Anyway yeah, these are given away at every party or event so I’ve received my fair share.

What holiday don't you like? There isn’t really any that I’m not a fan of.

Do you speak any other languages? Filipino is my first language.

How often do you wear jewelry? Almost never.

Do you think you are a hypochondriac? No.

What age were you when you learned how to swim? Around 3 or 4, I think? Swimming came naturally to me and I always liked being in the water as a kid.

Can you whistle properly? Yes.

What brand of batteries do you usually get? Eveready.

What will instantly make your day? Receiving a million pesos in my bank account.

What super power would you refuse, if it was offered to you, and why? Mind reading. I think it would make me too paranoid and sensitive, so I can go easily without it.

What's a small thing you take a stupid amount of pleasure in? Bucket hats.

What's your favorite discontinued product that you wish would come back? This Pillsbury chocolate chip cookie mix that my mom used to buy. Eating those cookies was practically a daily routine for me when I’d get home from school, so it was a major bummer when they just discontinued it one day.

If adults had show and tell, what would you bring into work? Cooper.

Do you have a particular number that you see all the time? I do, actually. When I check the time in the afternoon, I *always* manage to catch it at 4:21 PM, which corresponds to my birthday; sometimes I’ll catch it at 4:20 or like 4:23 too lol. I’ve always found that interesting.

What are some things that are cheap, but bring you a lot of satisfaction? Instant noodles, socks, and shawarma.

If you had a reset button for the last 10 years, would you press it? No way. That’s just way too long of a time to rework.

Have you ever fired anyone? I’ve never been in the position to.

City or nature person? City.

Who is someone you would never swear in front of? My grandparents.

Have you ever won a contest or competition? Sure.

Where was the last place you fell asleep other than your bed? The living room couch, which is quickly turning into my favorite place to fall asleep at. My bedroom makes me anxious these days since it doubles as my work area.

How many social media sites are you registered with? All the major ones - Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Tumblr. I have a Snapchat account but haven’t opened the app in a couple of years; and I also have a Linkedin??? if we count it as social media.

Would you rather go to Canada or California on vacation? Canada.

Would you be surprised if Facebook started charging? Surprised? Definitely not. It seems like the type of thing they’d eventually go for anyway, especially with the amount of ads they show per video.

Do you sleep with the bedroom door open or closed? Closed. I would be infinitely bothered if it was ajar in the slightest bit.

When have you felt most free? The first few months after I started to genuinely move past my breakup.

Would you rather take the picture or be in the picture? Take the picture.

Have you ever caught a fish? Nope.

Someone knocks on your window at 2:00 a.m.: who do you want it to be? I would hope nobody knocks at all because otherwise I would scream and tell my dad to grab his baseball bat.

Have you ever stuck a foreign object up your nose? No, I never did that lol. My brother once got a peanut up his nose though, when he was like 3 or 4.

Which shoe do you put on first? Never mattered to me; I think I switch it up every time.

How many rings before you answer the phone? I’m not sure, maybe five or six times.

Would you ever consider living abroad? Oh absolutely.

Have you ever ridden on a motorbike? No.

Do you like to dance? Only when I’m alone or buzzed enough.

When shopping for clothes, what most influences your buying choices? Deciding if I’ll feel confident in the clothes is my biggest priority.

Who is your favorite TV character? Gus Fring, Glenn Rhee, Mr. Peanutbutter.

#survey #surveys

[clownao]

Rereading Korosuu Chapter 4 (the ChibaHaya chapter) from the perspective that Hayami has feelings for Chiba

And boy, is it a ride.

Check out the previous post

Listen, I’m a big ChibaHaya shipper but I never believed they liked each other romantically in canon. One of things I like the most about their dynamic is how great they are even without the typical shippy stuff like blushing, stammering etc. They work well both platonically and romantically.

So I never tried to go MiDDLe ScHOoL cHiBaHaYa is CanOn but then I read the Chinese translation Ch4 of Korosuu. And boy oh boy did it make me think Hayami has ✨feelings✨ for Chiba. (And he doesn’t.) I literally did not expect that, but once I saw things from that perspective, I can’t stop lol.

Keep in mind I’m analysing a Japanese -> Chinese translation in English, and I don’t have the Japanese raws, so the word choices may be off. And I am probably overanalysing but yes, I will eat these ChibaHaya crumbs for the tiniest bit of information.

Also keep in mind manga Chiba is more social than Hayami (you can check Fumiko’s posts for more information, she’s the Chiba expert haha). So while these two may have the same responses (eg. smiling because of what the other said), it weighs differently.

So Hayami was originally going home, but stopped when she saw Chiba trying to figure out a problem. And so she helped him pump the balloons to act as Chiba’s targets. They discussed for a bit, then they both said they were surely getting closer to their “answer”.

And then they both smiled. The translation is “速水露齒而笑。千葉也回以微笑。” which is “Hayami grinned, and Chiba returned with a smile”. But notably, the translator used “露齒而笑” (literally: grinning with teeth) for Hayami and just “笑” (smile) for Chiba. “笑” and “微笑” (which also means smile, but a little softer) are used five times in total, and considering they’re interchangeable in Chinese, the translator probably used them to add variety. But “露齒而笑”? That’s different. That’s the only time the translator used this term to describe someone smiling. And “grinning (with teeth)” feels more joyful than “smiling”. And it’s used to describe Hayami’s reaction.

Hmm.

By the way, let’s count how many times they smiled in this chapter. Hayami smiled 3 times, Chiba also 3. And literally every time they smile it’s in response to something the other did/said. Chiba smiles more than Hayami in the manga, so the fact that Hayami is smiling so much in front of Chiba... hmmm...

As mentioned before, Hayami stuttered when Chiba praised her. In the translation, she barely stuttered anywhere else. Hmm.

After a very long time, Chiba lifted his head and turned to Hayami.

“Hayami, you’re brilliant! So it was like this all along! Why have I never noticed something so simple?”

“Wh-what?”

Yeah. She stuttered after Chiba called her brilliant/amazing.

And then, of course, the most telling paragraph follows.

Hayami felt bewildered upon seeing the suddenly agitated Chiba. Even though she had always been looking at him in E class, she hardly recalled seeing him so delighted.

She had always been looking at him. Whoa.

The Chinese translation is “雖然一直在E班看著他”, special focus on “一直” (always) and “看” (look). Like, okay, it could mean “from her daily observations, she didn’t recall seeing such an expression” or “looking after him” or “knowing him from school” but this phrasing just makes me think she’s staring at him in class. And you know what, Chiba actually sits behind Hayami in another row. So she has to turn around to “look” at him, which is a deliberate action. Of course the translation used “E class”, which also means training and other misc stuff and not just conventional lessons.

Either way, she’s been observing him. She’s ALWAYS been observing him. Continuously. And she knows she’s never seen him so joyful. And the translator (and maybe Matsui?) felt the urge to point it out.

After complimenting Hayami, Chiba proceeds to explain his new theory. And thus the passage:

“So what do you think?”

Chiba turned to Hayami, a smile quirking on his lips. He lightly prodded the pages of his notebook with his mechanical pencil.

“That’s brilliant!” Hayami also used an excited tone to reply as she looked down at the diagram.

“If you weren’t there, I probably wouldn’t have thought of it. Even though it’s really simple once you notice it...”

Hayami used a smile to respond to his words.

The word “也” (also) is used in Hayami’s happy response to China. Granted, it may be a translator thing, to add word variety and connectives, but the sentence makes perfect sense without the 也.

From this we can infer Hayami’s mood is affected by Chiba’s, and probably vice versa, but Hayami’s case is specifically mentioned.

Next day, Chiba stays behind to practice again. And he looks sad because he’s failing.

Hayami thinks “I suppose even people like Chiba will feel uneasy when thinking about official operations” (一旦設想正式行動，即使是千葉這樣的人類也會感到不安吧。) This makes me !!!! because it sort of implies Hayami thought Chiba won’t be nervous. She thought of him in a positive light, only for him to disprove it. Also, the use of “吧”. “吧” is commonly used in dialogue, so here it implies Hayami is thinking the whole line despite the lack of speech bubbles, not some omniscient narrator saying it.

Then Hayami tries to encourage him.

“Relax. If you think it’s right, then it has to be.”

“Even though hearing you say that makes me happy...”

^ this is one of the most mutual shippy moments in my opinion. Hayami has total faith and trust in Chiba, and Chiba literally told her that her trust in him makes him happy. It just feels... kinda shipbaity. The sentence structure “雖然你這麼說讓我很開心啊……” (Even though hearing you say that makes me happy...) feels like something out of a romance novel (especially in Chinese), even though the words don’t exactly have a romantic meaning.

Chiba says Hayami’s words makes him “happy”, but he’s still troubled by the shooting problem. Hayami trusting Chiba despite Chiba not trusting himself makes him happy. Oho. That... can be interpreted in a shippy way.

When Hayami sees that Chiba is still troubled, she “nonchalantly” says “to fill in the gaps using intuition” (看著無法消除不安情緒的千葉，速水若無其事地說。”無法確定的地方，用直覺填補就好了喲。”)

I believe there’s a typo here, since the next line is “千葉帶著的表情抬頭看著速水”, which is “Chiba lifted his head to look at Hayami with a xxx expression”. So the translator accidentally left out his expression (the sentence doesn’t make sense otherwise), but we can easily infer Chiba’s feelings from the following lines.

Chiba basically thinks “Intuition? What? She’s talking about things unrelated to this shooting problem again.” He doesn’t say it out loud (no speech bubbles), but he probably shows his doubt through his facial expression that the translator unfortunately left out.

And Hayami wants to prove him wrong.

So Hayami roughly glanced around the classroom, and quietly uttered, “Vase, tape, Korosensei.”

Before Chiba could ask “what are you talking about?”, Hayami swiftly pulled out a pistol from her thigh and shot three bullets with surprising speed.

Hayami hits all three targets without aiming precisely. Naturally, Chiba is in awe, calling it a “miracle”. Chiba says even though he, out of everyone in 3-E. can shoot the furthest target using calculations, he can’t imitate Hayami’s perceptual(?) type of shooting.

And then:

Hayami shot a stunned Chiba a smile.

The word for “stunned” (目瞪口呆) literally means “eyes wide, mouth frozen”, but that’s just a Chinese phrase for being stunned.

Honestly, to me, I feel:

Hayami wants to help Chiba -> Chiba is in doubt -> Hayami wants to prove him wrong and show off -> she quickly shoots her targets based on intuition/emotion, not even waiting to hear what Chiba has to ask -> (she wants to show off lol) -> when she sees he’s in awe, she smiles (smugly?)

ALSO, Hayami may have gained confidence after Chiba praised her by saying she’s brilliant, and that may be why she shot so quickly (since the adrenaline rush or something.)

Hayami then says something:

“And if at that time, you’re not confident in your theories, in the end, I’ll still shoot according to my gut feelings. (Basically saying if you can’t do it, I can do it for you.) We can do what the other cannot do. If we team up and become partners, there’s no target we cannot hit.”

Chiba gazed at Hayami’s face for a moment, then smiled and said, “Thanks.”

Wow. What surprised me is that Hayami’s the one with the speech— she’s the more serious and reserved out of the two. For her to say something so “sentimental” when she’s usually like “I respect you”, wow...

By the way, “凝視” (gaze) is used. It can mean stare, but it usually means gaze. Also he gazed at her face (臉). This is specifically mentioned. Mmmmm.

And I can’t get over “將兩者合為一體的話一定能順利地進行”. It means “if we combine two into one, it’ll definitely proceed smoothly”. They’re... MERGING lmao. It’s so shipbaity.

There’s also more stuff, like how they agree on something without speaking, but that’s... typical ChibaHaya stuff. And that’s it.

SO:

Possible hints of Hayami’s feelings towards Chiba:

1. Hayami immediately helped Chiba with practice even though she was intending to go home

2. SHE LOOKS AT HIM IN CLASS. Bro. I can’t make this up.

3. Hayami is happy when Chiba is

4. SHE STUTTERED WHEN HE SAID SHE’S BRILLIANT

5. She wanted to prove him wrong by showing off (this is a stretch)

6. She low-key put him on a pedestal (?) because she thought he won’t be nervous (this is also a stretch)

Possible hints of Chiba’s feelings towards Hayami:

1. He was very noticeably happy, perhaps a side he only shows to people close to him

2. Chiba says Hayami praising him makes him happy

3. He gazed at her face. Yes, her face.

But I don’t think Chiba likes Hayami that way. Like, he didn’t stutter when she praised him, he just said he’s happy. Hayami is usually very chill and calm, and even quieter than Chiba, so when she stutters because of Chiba, hmm...

Of course all of this is immediately disproven by the mini comic, with Ritsu claiming they reply to their emails a day late and their heart rates don’t go up when next to each other. Psssh. Okay, Ritsu. I mean, we can always hc Ritsu is protecting her friends’ privacy by lying about them. And of course Chiba and Hayami can stay as purely friends. I like their dynamic either way.

This concludes my rambling overanalysis of them. If you read till this point, I congratulate you <3 also reblogs appreciated :DD

#assassination classroom #ansatsu kyoushitsu #chiba ryuunosuke #hayami rinka #chibahaya #ryuunosuke chiba #rinka hayami #korosuu #spent too much time on this #chibahaya brainrot is real

[wwall-archive]

All At Once, This Is Enough - Ethan W..inters x Me

A/N: ~In light of the announcement I just made~! Surprise! I've been working on this. For several days. My apologies if I've seemed quiet, all my energy was going towards this! This is kind of long, but it's... actually kind of important to me, so I forgave myself on that front, haha. This follows the timeline of my RE AU, which I intend to continue writing out more in depth, in which the events of the 7th game occur and then I ignore the events of 8 even though I love it as a game because I just can't stop thinking about an average life with this man 😭 I do still intend to set this up for a bit of angst, because that just feels like how this needs to go, but it will be resolved shortly! Anyways, my over-explaining aside, I hope you enjoy the beginning of our story. More to come soon ❤️

Warnings: Vague references to alcohol. Allusions to a notable age gap. Mention of divorce. Me being intensely socially awkward.

Word Count: 1738

Tag List: (Thanks so much to everyone who wanted to be added, and as per usual, if anyone wants to be added or removed, no problem, just let me know <3) @sacredempressnatlyia @crowandking @solomates @ship-trek @nekociapek @blueberryships @ariesselfships @lysandthunder @queenvonhresvelg

~~~

As I stepped out of my car and made my way into this building, I took a moment to acknowledge to myself that I was not looking forward to the evening in front of me. Simply to brace myself, if nothing else. Sure, I didn't have anything against fancy events - I'd always actually been rather fond of getting dressed up - but the idea of being trapped in a room full of mostly strangers filled me with a level of unease only an introvert of my level could feel. I shuddered in horror at the thought of the polite small talk that awaited me.

Alas, some events were simply too large to miss, especially when they required the booking of a large venue, and so I found myself taking small, hesitant steps through the large, decorated archway that led to this event hall. I was almost certainly early, as I always was, and it was already too crowded for my liking, filled to the brim with people mingling, and a pianist on stage getting ready to play for a formal dance floor that would soon be filled as well. At least the open bar looked inviting, so I made my way in that direction, hoping it would provide me some small amount of protection from anybody who would be determined to say hello.

I reaffirmed to myself that all I needed to be here for was a quick appearance. Some brief greetings to those who extended my invitation to me, once I could find them, and then I could bolt faster than a startled rabbit. It brought me a modicum of strength, to know I wouldn't be here for too long.

As I made my way through the room, I had to admit that it was dazzlingly decorated, and I felt quite lovely all dressed up, like I adequately fit in with the impressive scenery. If there was going to be any upside to the night, I supposed it would have to be that.

It was a vaguely familiar voice calling out my name that caught my ear, almost certainly someone I had met through work. As I begrudgingly turned to meet them, I did find myself slightly recalling their face. I smiled as they approached and we shared greetings, and it was pleasant enough, even as they rushed into their next words like they knew I would exit the conversation as soon as I could in a panic and were desperate to say their piece, “Wallace, I really wanted you to meet a colleague of mine, he's a systems engineer my organization works with, I thought I could recommend him for… Oh, where did he- Ethan! Wallace, meet Ethan-”

In the following moment that I remained coherent, I was able to process two things. The first, being the features of the man before me, all short dark blond hair and light brown eyes, and slightly boyish features on a face that somehow still managed to convey his status as middle-aged, and a smile soft enough to take my breath away. Two, as I gazed upon the features striking me so, and stuck my hand out to meet his for a handshake, I became quite sure, more than I had ever been sure of most things in my life, that I was about to be an absolute goner for this man.

It took me a moment to come back to my own body, and so once I did I rushed to say, “It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr…?”

“Oh, just Ethan, please.”

“Of course. Ethan. My name is Wallace.”

“Then the pleasure is all mine, Wallace.”

The familiar voice from earlier cut in again, and I could vaguely make out something being said about a previous project that had been worked on, but I couldn't quite bring myself to tear my gaze away from the man in front of me. After a moment, to my shock, it occured to me that he didn't seem to have any intention of looking away either, nor did he seem particularly bothered by that fact.

After that occured to me and made my head spin from the sheer realization that he was content to hold my gaze, I was struck by mortification as I realized that I still hadn't dropped his hand from our handshake, and I rushed to let go. To my relief, he seemed shocked by the revelation of the discrepancy in decorum as well. In the corner of my perception, I heard a small laugh, and something like the words “I'll let you two talk!” Suddenly, fear struck me again, but this time over the thought that I would have nothing interesting to say, now that the official introduction was over, and that Ethan would depart as well.

But that didn't happen, and he smiled at me again, and in a meek tone of voice he began, “I'm sorry, I was sure it looked like you were heading somewhere before we stopped you. If it was a bother I could go-”

“No! No, I had just gotten here. Just making my way over to the bar.” I cringed at myself internally upon realizing I had confessed to heading straight for the bar as soon as I entered the room, but once again it didn't seem to bother him. His deep chuckle made my knees weak.

“Great. Don't suppose you'd want to dance with me instead?” The pianist had started to play a light tune a moment ago, and a few people had come together on the floor. I quickly thought back to the single formal dancing class I had ever taken, knowing I very well could not dance.

“I'd love to.” His smile made my mind go blank for a moment again. By the time I had come back from autopilot, we were on the floor, and he was leading me in a light, easy dance.

“How does a systems engineer learn to ballroom dance?”

He gave a small shrug, “A class or two. I needed some for… an event once.”

I laughed lightly, “Well you clearly took them more recently than me, the one and only dancing class I ever took was a one day requirement in high school. I'd be done for without you right now, I'm sure.”

“Then I'll be happy to guide you with what knowledge I have.”

Our conversation lagged into silence for a moment, and I internally kicked myself for letting it. What was I supposed to say in a situation like this?

I defaulted to the one conversation trick I had, “So, Ethan, tell me about yourself.”

He shrugged again, but he was still smiling, “Well, you know my occupation. Um, I'm 37.” I noticed him watching for my reaction on that one, but when I simply nodded, he continued hesitantly, “I'm from California.” He paused again, this time for longer, but I could tell he was simply working his way up to his next point. “Divorced, relatively recently. I'm a father, I have a little girl, Rose.” He stopped again, watching for my reaction once more. I hoped I was managing to keep my face as neutral as I felt it was.

“Wow. You're honest.”

He cringed, “Too much?”

“Much appreciated, actually.” I swallowed heavily, hoping I wasn't about to overstep or show my hand too early, and lowered my voice just a little, “Lets me know I'm not reading this completely wrong.”

He looked down at our feet, but I could have sworn I saw him break into a grin before he did.

He cleared his throat, looking up at me again, “So? What about you?”

And so I gave him the run-down on me. Occupation, location, age - I saw his eyebrows raise just the slightest at that one, but got a similar non-reaction to the one I gave otherwise - and matched most of what he told me, minus the personal bombshell. I supposed there were some things we each had yet to uncover about each other, and I was saving mine for later.

Upon the end of my self-pitch, he nodded, “Interesting.”

“Oh, is that all I get?” I did my best to make my tone playful, so he would know I was joking, but I had a feeling he would have understood me anyway even if I hadn't put in the extra effort. Our entire conversation, I had held the feeling that he was rather good at reading me already.

“You want more of a reaction, give me more to react to.” His tone was equally playful. I'm quite sure I would have caught the joke even if it hadn't been as well.

“Sir, this is still our first meeting, if you'll recall. We don't need to go dropping all our bombshells at once, do we? And besides, I wouldn't consider a rented event hall the best place for sharing all our deepest secrets, would you?”

He once again let out that chuckle that made me swear you could see the hearts forming in my eyes, and he darted his gaze around the room before meeting mine again, drawing his tongue across his lips nervously, and I could hear the uncertainty in his voice, “Then… do you want to get out of here? Go find something else to do that's better suited for getting to know each other better? Or sharing all our deepest secrets, as you put it.”

It briefly occurred to me that maybe this was a bad idea. I deeply understood the uncertainty he displayed. I knew damn well I probably wasn't in the best place to pursue this, and I had the deep, unshakable feeling that if I left this place with this man, I would be in far too deep to let go easily. I was drawn to him, even if it wasn't the most conventional, or even if it didn't seem like emotionally the most sure-fire, secure decision. Something about him signaled to me that he was probably in a very similar boat. I had a feeling we each had some emotional baggage to unpack. And besides, I still hadn't even made a round to say hello to the hosts yet, either. That was all I had even come here to do. I was supposed to have gotten here, said hello, been awkward, and left. It was supposed to have been a bad, short, night.

“Yeah, absolutely. Let's get out of here.”

#otp: all at once this is enough #my writing #okay to rb! #psa from wallace

[spockandawe]

What are your favorite chinese webnovels? What are some of the differences youve noticed between cnovels and other types of novels?

That second question is really, REALLY interesting, and I really want to answer it well, and I am REALLY sure I’m going to do a bad job of answering it, so let me just noodle about that first question for a minute while I try to think XD

I went through some of my TOP-top favorite novels in more detail yesterday, but generally speaking, mxtx and meatbun are both at the top of the pack. They’re really good at writing compelling main characters and balancing piles of angst with plenty of humor and pulling everything together into a very satisfying ending (which is something I don’t alwaysssss see, even in some of the novels I really like). After them, The Disabled Tyrant’s Pet Palm Fish (transmigration, ancient chinese prince falls in love with pet fish) and Golden Stage (ancient chinese gay arranged marriage between bitter enemies(?)) are two novels that I love a lot, which both have very cute romances and go a bit lighter on the main character suffering front, and which I broadly recommend to anyone who’s interested in the genre. They didn’t end stick the landing QUITE as hard as an svsss or tgcf, but they still were very nice.

Then, let me see. I’m trying to remember which books I’ve read in the last year, and am doing a terrible job, haha. I will say that a book I enjoyed for like... eighty percent of it and then the ending let me down terribly was The Dreamer In The Spring Boudoir (modern day career woman transmigrates into barely-fantasy ancient china novel as the disliked primary wife of a nobleman), which is also the only straight webnovel I’ve read so far. The main character and romance were delightful, but that ending... haha, wow, I felt betrayed. But I did like the first half very much!! I’m idly contemplating a deliberately-partial reread. Then I’m currently like two chapters away from catching up with the current translation of The Wife Is First (ancient chinese prince lives out time travel fixit fic, determined to treat his spouse better this time around). I’m also catching up on Heroic Death System (transmigration, across MANY universes, where the goal is to die heroically in each one, and also maybeeeee to find his boyfriend in each one. this shit gets fucking bananas. in one of them, he emotionally seduces his boyfriend while he’s a dolphin. in another one, he’s a sentient mushroom. i’m in the middle of a section titled ‘I Am An Evil Pen’. yes, like a writing utensil type of pen. this is the weirdest book I’ve read so far). Oh, and Thousand Autumns (righteous sect leader gets sabotaged and loses a fight, wakes up blind and amnesiac, demonic sect leader is like ‘lol i bet i can turn him evil’ and accidentally catches feelings along the way).

What else... I’m keeping up with (but behind on) some others. First, there’s How To Survive As A Villain (modern terminally ill CEO transmigrates into stallion novel, wakes up as villain, accidentally seduces hero). Then, we’ve got Transmigrating Into The Body Of The Heartthrob’s Cannon Fodder Childhood Friend (only modern webnovel I’ve read, young man transmigrates into beginning of gratuitous whump book, back in high school, and is determined to protect the protagonist from all the canonical suffering). Then there’s Pulling Together A Villain Reformation Strategy (guy transmigrates into story as the hero’s childhood friend who will eventually become his enemy and get killed, successfully acts out his part and dies, completely fails to realize he’s broken his friend’s heart in the process... and then wakes up in another character’s body). And then there’s The Villain’s White Lotus Halo (a transmigrator keeps bouncing from universe to universe as a cannon fodder villain, who gets like half a line before being killed. he tries to purchase an upgrade package so he can be a COOL villain instead, but accidentally gets sold a ‘white lotus halo’ package instead, so that no matter what he does, everyone is just DEEPLY moved by his appearance and is positive he did nothing wrong). All of those are EXTREMELY delightful. You may notice a running transmigration theme, which....... yeah, I think there are a TON of delightful stories in the webnovel scene that deal with this genre, which seem so rare in English language media.

Which makes a good transition point to what’s different about the cnovel scene! I’ve seen hardly any transmigration stories in English, and I’ve got a couple go-to examples for when I’m trying to explain it, but like. Only a couple. Which is such a shame! Like, there’s the default idea of ‘I was reading this book and then I woke up inside the book!!’ but it’s clearly such an established genre that people are playing with it in all kinds of interesting ways, like in The Villain’s White Lotus Halo or Heroic Death System setups. It’s kind of wild to me, because it seems like such a gimme for a nice easy story structure? Whatever kind of world you want to present, there’s no need to introduce it to the reader from the ground up, or find a good way to hook them in. Either the main character read the book in question and can explain the premise and why we should care in pov, or the main character is new to the universe too, and trying to find their own footing. I enjoy it a lot! I’ve sampled transmigration books that didn’t grab me, but I’ve sampled way more that did. 

And then, the one semi-technical answer I thought of to this question was the way that these novels tend to handle pov. It’s not a hard-and-fast rule that regular novels are restricted to one pov, or that pov can only change at hard breaks in the story, but if I saw a bog-standard american novel glide from pov to pov the way these novels regularly do, I would tend to wonder if it was sloppiness or a mistake, or I would grump to myself about how I don’t like omniscient third person pov. And I still don’t know exactly what I think about this, or why it’s different in here, but I’m pretty sure I like it a lot, especially for stories where the romance tends to play a large part :V 

I used to read a lot of Books About Writing, and read plenty of stuff about why you don’t DO this, but.... I like it! In dtppf, Jing-wang can’t talk, and when Li Yu is a fish, he can’t talk, and drifting from one of their perspectives to the other gives me lots of useful information about how they’re both feeling. Could that be conveyed through restricted pov? Maybe! But I’m typesetting the svsss extras right now, and I’m in the bing-ge vs bing-mei section, and we get a few brief flashes of bing-ge’s thoughts, and it’s so NICE. It’s information I would not have otherwise received, because Shen Qingqiu sure wasn’t going to notice it. But early in the story, that pov was withheld from me, which also made sense (or hua cheng’s pov was withheld from me FOREVER, which makes me so sad ;u;). There don’t seem to be any hard and fast rules, which makes me really nervous about writing fic and trying to match the style, but I do like it a lot! 

And I’m definitely not able to articulate this in the way that I would like to, or speak with any real authority (I’m not that widely read in the cnovel scene, and i’m not very genre-adventurous in english), but there’s something about the role that the romances play in these stories that’s different from what I’m used to expecting, and it’s VERY tasty to me. I only rarely read romance novels, because I’m not often interested in the romance as a primary plot driver, but the romances in these books play a more substantial role than I’m used to expecting. And I’m into it! It’s a balance closer to what I’d expect from, like, a shippy longform fanfic. Which covers a lot of ground and is NOT a precise measure, but there’s more emotional weight given to the romance than I would expect, but without the romance carrying ALL of the emotional weight, and it strikes a perfect balance for me in a way I’m not used to encountering. Now, some of this could definitely be due to me not finding the right authors, or right subgenres, or whatever. But in the genres I inhabit, it’s a subtle difference, but one I find compelling.

Oh, one last thing. The cultural differences, duh :P I’m only familiar with things like, say, ancient chinese court etiquette through a lens of fan-translated novels like these, and I didn’t grow up steeped in the culture in a way I’m used to the trappings of something like medieval european courts. But there’s a distinct flavor to the social dynamics of these novels, from the formal levels down to the casual, and I know it’s super intricate and detailed and that authors play with differing degrees of historical accuracy vs fictional fun, and I wish I was better equipped to speak to the nature of any of this. But I find it really compelling! I recognize that it’s only new to ME because I didn’t seek out chinese media before now. And, the point that I originally wanted to get to before I got super distracted: the flirting. The flirting and teasing are a very different flavor from what I would expect in most english language media, and I love it, even if I can’t speak to how much of that is purely cultural, and how much of it is like... the conventions of How Fiction Is Written varying by culture, if that makes sense. I adore seeing what flirting and affection and indulgence and attentiveness look like in different settings, and these books, with their heavy romantic focus, absolutely deliver.

#spock replies #long post/ #i've read more novels than i thought :p #i thought it wasn't many #but then more kept occurring to me #i've only read a few that i don't recommend period but i've read a lot of good ones #Anonymous

[personinthepalace]

MBS Trailer Analysis

Hey guys, as you probably could tell, I am SUPER excited about the MBS tv series! The lovely anon who pointed me in the direction of the trailer asked me to give my thoughts on it and well...I decided to do a shot by shot analysis of the trailer! (even though I definitely have other things I need to do haha). This is most likely going to be less of an analysis and more of me rambling and pointing out stuff haha. Apologies in advance for any grammatical errors. Also I’m sorry if I get any book facts wrong! (my memory isn’t what it used to be) Without further ado, here is my analysis! (below the cut because boy is this going to be long haha)

Ok before we begin, here’s the trailer in case you haven’t seen it/ want a refresher: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atFYUbwMYo4

Ready? Let’s begin

Nomansan Island!! I wonder if this is the view from Nomansan or if that’s Nomansan in the distance. Either way looks like there’s a lot of trees

Mr. Benedict’s house!! Definitely not how I imagined it. I thought it would be taller

You can see a manhole(?) near the bottom of this image. Later in the trailer we see Milligan come out of it. So I’m guessing this is the show’s verison of “the cellar across the street”

A secret room behind a bookcase! I’m guessing this is in Mr. Benedict’s house? It’s hard to see who’s pushing the door though- I wonder who it is

A Stonetown bus! I remember reading somewhere that the show has a 50s/60s vibe, and I definitely see/feel it

Reynie!! Of course the first person we actually get to see in the trailer is Reynie :) It looks like he’s in a restaurant? At night?? By himself??? Reynie what are you doing all alone?!?

Ah yes The Emergency. It’s scary how it feels revelant today...It’s kind hard to see but below “The Emergency” it says “Anxiety Index At Yearly High”. Yikes Mr. Curtain really knows how to create fear doesn’t he?

YES the BEST best-selling book series ever!! Also loving that pattern in the background

Another shot of Reynie! That sign says that that’s Bishop Building. I’m guessing Reynie is going to take one of the tests. Correct me if I’m wrong but I’m pretty sure that it’s the Monk Building in the book

Look they’re social distancing! The test takers! Can you spot Reynie? (He’s in the second column from the left, four desks back). I wonder if that’s Rhonda sitting in front of him? She has a white dress. Hard to tell if she has green hair

Number Two! And it looks like she’s wearing boots!!  I love it!

Let’s have a close up on Reynie :) Ahh he look so precious! And he has the outfit!!

A close up on Number Two! I’m loving her outfit. And look there’s a matching yellow pencil sharpner on the desk! There’s the “no talking” sign. And are those rocks behind the glass??

These kids are dressed up all fancy. It looks like they’re going to a formal party or piano recital. Not about to take a test

And here’s Reynie not all dressed up. Also is that a watch on his left wrist??

“Will be excused.” That’s a change from the book. In the book she said “escorted”. “I’m sorry, did I say executed? I meant to say escorted.”

I realize it’s a good thing that the show is going to be on Disney+ (more exposure and all that). But at the same said I’m kinda sad that MBS is a Disney property now 

Now this is interesting. These kids are playing tetherball. I’m guessing that this is at the Institute. Except I thought the kids there spend most of their time watching TV? I wouldn’t expect them to be exercising. Is PE part of the curriculum?

A morse code telegraph machine! Very cool especially since in the book, they learned Morse code using a flashlight

And it’s Sticky and Kate!! It looks like Sticky still has some hair, so he’s not completely bald. I’m mourning the loss of Kate’s long blonde hair, but the short brown hair looks good! Loving Kate’s beanie. And look she’s still wearing her red striped shirt! (underneath the yellow jacket) Ahh they both look great

Constance!!! I’m loving her pigtails. I wonder what’s she doing though. It looks like she’s on a platform? I thought that wasn’t introduced until the later books

Kate walking on her rope during the floor test! And look you can see her bucket!! Okay I’m kinda disappointed with this scene because in the book the floor is suppose to have blue, black, and yellow rectangles. But here it looks like they are all squares (and instead of blue, it’s white). And Reynie is suppose to realize that the floor has rectangles so he can simply walk across. How is he going to walk across the floor if it’s full of squares??

Another shot of Reynie! I think he’s at the Institute, but I have no idea what that thing is. Anybody have any ideas? 

Also Mr. Benedict has been narrating this whole time, and at this point he says “And our criteria for approval may be considered...mysterious.” Cue title credits!

Hmm okay Reynie got a stamp of approval- most likely from one of the Ten Men when they arrive at the Institute? Wonder who Pierce and Veronica are. Will they be important to the story? Also it looks like Veronica is crossed out?

Number Two is taking them to see Mr. Benedict! Huh so it looks like the three older kids are about the same height. I wonder if Kate is still a year older than Sticky and Reynie

Mr. Benedict’s study!! Look at all of those books!!! And a yellow couch- it matches Number Two’s outfit :)

So many books!!!

Ahh look at them!!! I love their outfits! They’re accurate to the books! Also loving those green lights in the background

How are all of these books not falling hahaha

Another shot of them. Is that Kate’s rope? Or the handle for her bucket? Also I would like to take the time to say that I love the music (the violin!)- it really fits the vibe

“I’m the aforementioned Mr. Benedict.” And here’s Mr. Benedict!!! He really loves dramatics doesn’t he. He’s definitely younger than I thought he would be. Also he’s not wearing green plaid. That makes me sad :( Wait does Mr. Benedict still have narcolepsy on the show?

We have an Emmy Award Winner on this show!

And we have our first look at Rhonda!!! She’s taller than I expected haha. But I love her outfit!! And look Number Two has a stopwatch hanging from her dress, most likely from timing the kids during the maze test

IT’S THEM!! IT’S THEM!!! Breaking the fourth wall and looking very confused (or angry in Constance’s case haha)

“You all possess a quality that is lacking in our society” - ok it is time to meet the members of The Mysterious Benedict Society!

“Reynie, your intuitive understanding of human nature” -omigod Reynie comforting Sticky!!! Ahhh my heart! I can’t wait to see this scene in the show. I have a feeling that they expanded on Sticky’s indecision about joining the mission, and this scene here is part of it. Ah I can’t wait to see more of their friendship! (Also it seems like the show is pronouncing Reynie’s name like “Rainy”. I personally had been pronouncing it like “Winnie”. TLS pronounced his name as “Winnie” as well)

“Sticky, your reservoir of knowledge” - Sticky at a competition! It looks like he has the same amount of hair as he does when he meets the mbs, so I think it’s safe to say that Sticky did not shave his head when he ran away

Sticky won $10,000 on a game called Buck Buck Goose -wow! Also we see Constance watching Sticky on TV. The room is all yellow, so maybe it’s Number Two’s room? But why is Constance watching a video of Sticky?

“Constance, your defiance of conventional thought patterns” -Constance ripping up that piece of paper, tossing it, and walking away- omigod I love it hahaha. Ahh Constance is a drama queen and I love it! Also I think this is her red raincoat- it’s very cute

“Kate, your uncanny feel of how things go together” - Kate!! It looks like Kate is removing a vent? So I’m guessing this is during the maze test. And it looks like she has her Swiss army knife!

“What is it that you all have in common?” -I just noticed that Mr. Benedict’s beard seems to be neatly trimmed. So I guess he doesn’t have shaving problems? And I’m still mourning the loss of the green plaid haha

And we have our first look at Milligan!! I personally never imagined him with a beard or long hair. But ahhh I can’t wait to see his reunion with Kate on the show!! (I will definitely be sobbing when that happens)

“I see fear. And bad fashion” “You’re very unpleasant” - I can tell I’m going to love Kate’s and Constance’s relationship on the show already hahaha. It’s hard to see in this screenshot, but Reynie’s nodding in agreement with Kate’s statement haha. Also Constance’s facial expressions are perfect!

A full view of Kate and her bucket! I am so happy that Kate has her bucket!! It looks like Sticky is in the back. Maybe this is a scene from them taking the tests? I wonder if those two other kids are important to the story

I have many questions about this shot. Where are they walking to? Is that the Institute? Is Reynie looking back to the mainland where Mr. Benedict and everyone else are?

Okay so the sign originally says “Room(?) At The Wheel” (I can’t make out the first word). Who is painting that anyway? An ordinary brainwashed citizen? A Helper?

They’re leaving for the Institute! Number Two with all those yellow suitcases haha. And is that Milligan standing on the side of the car? So one car takes the kids to the Institute. The other one (the one that Milligan seems to be standing on) is the car the rest of the adults will take so that they can camp out in the woods to keep an eye on the Institute

It looks like there are Helpers in the background!

Constance walking behind Reynie with her umbrella is adorable

Kate, Reynie, and Sticky pulling the bell rope! I don’t think they ever rang the bell together in the book, so I’m curious to see the context of this shot

Is this the boat in which they escape the Institute?

Sad Mr. Benedict :( I’m guessing he’s berating himself for putting the kids in danger

Rhonda and her fun driving! Btw the sign says “Who’s watching out for you?” I love that the presence of the Emergency seem to be everywhere in the show

Kate changed to a blue striped shirt, while Sticky changed to an orange shirt. Constance and Reynie seem to be wearing the same outfits

Crossing the bridge! Ten Men (sorry the Recruiters) are supposed to be stationed at the bridge entrance, right? Those people don’t look like they’re wearing expensive suits...

What are they watching?

And here is our first look at Mr. Curtain! Like with Mr. Benedict, this is definitely not how I pictured Mr. Curtain haha. He doesn’t have his sunglasses. I hope he has his wheelchair in the show

What room is this? Is that the Receiver behind Mr. Benedict?

I’m guessing this is the scene where they meet Mr. Curtain for the first time

What is happening with this split screen? Are Mr. Benedict and Mr. Curtain talking to each other? Also Mr. Benedict reveals in the narration that Mr. Curtain is his twin brother (I wonder why they decided to reveal such a big twist in this trailer). So do the kids know beforehand that Mr. Curtain is Mr. Benedict’s twin? Or will they all be shocked like in the book? Though I don’t think Reynie can make that comment that Mr. Curtain’s nose looks like a cucumber haha. Also I take back what I said about mourning the loss of Mr. Benedict’s green plaid- you can see it in this screenshot!

My facial expression right now is exactly like Kate’s in this shot. What the heck is that?

Okay this just might be my favorite scene from the trailer- Reynie hugging Miss Perumal!! Ahh my heart!!! I love this so so much!!!

Number Two with a stick! She is ready to attack! I think this is from the part when the Recruiters break into Mr. Benedict’s house

What machine is this? Is this from the final battle against the Whisperer??

Ooh no poor Sticky is scared!!

Again I want to say that I am disappointed with how they interpreted this part of the book. Reynie is suppose to be able to casually walk aross the floor but instead he’s leaping???

Milligan!!! Even though the beard is unexpected, it looks like they got his outfit right! Seems like this is Milligan leading the kids out of the underground passage

The main four! Looks like they’re sending out a Morse code signal to Mr. Benedict and the others. Though where are they standing?

This looks like the official title card! I love that the font looks similar to the one used on the cover of the books. Again this not how I pictured Mr. Benedict’s house haha

“So you need a bunch of smart orphans to do a deadly mission. I get it.” - have I mentioned that I love Constance and her facial expressions??? Also her sass!! I wonder if Constance is still two in this? She is at least a lot younger than the rest of kids. Will the other kids be surprised with her age reveal (if there’s an age reveal at the end). Wait will Kate give Constance piggyback rides in the show?? I would love to see that

The kids are like deadly???

“Ideally not deadly”- he is so done haha

Phew and that’s the whole trailer! I would like to note that the only people we hear speak in this trailer are Mr. Benedict, Number two, Constance, and Kate. Also S.Q., Martina, Jackson, and Jillson did not appear in the trailer. I hope that they will be in the show though (I think Martina for sure will be in it).

Anyway, if you read this far- thanks for reading my ramblings! I would love to hear your thoughts about this trailer as well :)

#I did a trailer analysis #this is how obsessed I am with this show already haha #ahhh I am so excited!!! #mbs disney #mbs tv series #mbs trailer #mbs video #mbs trailer analysis #mbs #the mysterious benedict society #mysterious benedict society #long post #rambles in the palace #posting in the palace

[yellowocaballero]

I read the daemon fic last night and I loved it! That man sure does try to punch that bird! My question is: if you wrote the fic on the fly, how did you come up with such a coherent explanation for daemons and Dust in the tma universe?? (Also I'm curious if you're willing to explain your reasoning behind some of the characters' daemons bc I love hearing why authors choose the animals they do)

sweats

I don’t remember? I got kind of interrupted in the middle of writing it for Snowpocalypse and Life reasons, and I tend to figure out my writing through just daydreaming because I’m bored. It’s also possible that I was chatting it over with a friend, and it came up? Most of my story ideas and plotting are through me chatting about writing...it’s also possible that in the middle of writing the story, I was like, ‘THIS is a good idea!’. That’s also true. 

I find stories as I’m writing them. I knew the story was about grief going in, but like halfway through I was like “okay so this is about hope and new possibilities” isn’t it. I actually intended for Strix to be entirely the Beholding, and none of Jon. He would just say mean (yet true) shit that hurts his feelings in a weird negging maneuver. I always intended the story to end with Jon embracing Strix in a moment of desolation, embracing his ‘monster’ and ending the story on a creepy note. I realized while writing that Strix was serving a specific role, and that I needed to play into that - and maybe accepting him wasn’t a bad thing.

Statistically, I was probably in the middle writing and made something up...I could be wrong. But, like, come on, the Entities as Dust thing just makes so much fucking sense. I think basically I decided first off “Avatar’s daemons ‘die’ and are replaced with Evil Daemons that are the Entities.” and then I had to retroactively justify that. gromitputtingdowntraintracksasthetrainmoves.gif

Re: daemon thing...okay, I also refuse to think too hard about a story BEFORE I write it, because then I get bored and don’t write it. And figuring out daemons is something you figure out before the story happens, so...not a lot of thought there...which is something I know is kind of against the way almost everyone else thinks up daemon aus but in my defense I was too busy trying to figure out how the fuck the Avatar thing worked...but I’ll give you what I have. I did take a weird amount of time to figure out naming conventions because I think daemons are VERY tied into culture and spirituality. I also tried to go with animals that were at least vaguely from the habitat of the ethnicity of the character. I didn’t always land there exactly (I wanted a Jamacian bird but an African bird worked best, etc) but it was the attempt.

Jon’s Oxpecker: Vampiric, small, fragile. Bird...why did I decide Jon had to be a bird...uh...the Vibes.

Martin’s Large Blue Butterfly: Parasitic, imitates ant pheromones in ant hills to feed on them. Martin has insect vibes I feel because he’s kind of inscrutable and hard to read.

Daisy: Wolf, because Avatar Daemon Is ALWAYS Metaphorical. Doberman because I think there’s a police dog stereotype, so she was like. aw fuck yeah this is a great excuse to murder people. Wanted a very big and potentially dangerous dog because she’s a small woman who relies on her daemon to overpower others. 

Basira: Bee. Insect, inscrutable. Social animal. Hive animal hyuk hyuk ACAB

Georgie: Cat vibes. also just had to be admiral. come on.

Melanie: Tasmanian devil, see the most tenaciously viscous animal I could think of. Beaver because...vibes...I think I read something where she had a beaver. 

There are others but those are the main ones. (Gerry sandcat - desert for survival in difficult decisions and also fucking adorable; Gertrude blue ringed octopus for a very dumb and silly looking animal that will just fucking kill you; Tim���s ox for a protective, herd animal that can also get blindingly, thoughtlessly angry; Sasha praying mantis cause haha she gets eaten) Not much thought :(

Thanks for the ask! I wish I had better answers. 

#god the answers for this story are getting long I need to do a director's cut thing so I can be more laconic #gromittraintrack.gif #my writing #SORRY THIS STORY WAS A LITTLE THOUGHTLESS...