Probably SPOILER-y.

Uncle Sukuna. I just can't.

The absolute emotional turmoil I'm living in since yesterday aside, I ADORE this lore drop.

NEW AU! Or an addition to the ones we already have?

Sukuna's younger twin brother and his wife unfortunately pass. Since the twins grew up in a foster care, he reluctantly decides to raise him until he finds him a proper family. And why not add big brother Choso to the pile, who is not even related to Sukuna by blood?

However, his hardcore hustler forever bachelor lifestyle is anything BUT suitable to raise kids. And it's not like he is into the idea, especially when the boys start to grow. He probably has enough money to pay nannies, but they are still part of his life. And it is up to him anyways to teach them how to be a man.

The last thing he needs is finding his fatherly instincts and the desire to settle though...

But it's fine. As long as the boys don't turn out like him.

「Bath」

Okay but the weirdest thing about the whole "Brotherhood is better you should skip 03" discourse that's become commonplace now, it sort of forgets the world Brotherhood came out in and why you should watch the original Fullmetal Alchemist. When Brotherhood came out, the original Fullmetal Alchemist was one of the most beloved and most watched animes of all time. Brotherhood assumes you the audience have already seen it because of course you have, everyone has seen it, so it skips important information and speeds the story up because it doesn't want to bore you with things you already know. Have you ever wondered "hey why does the first episode of Brotherhood kind of suck, and why am I being introduced to like 50 new characters, and why are they acting like I know what the hell an alchemist is?" It's because Brotherhood thinks you've seen 03.

The first 7 or so episodes of Brotherhood constitute dozens of chapters in the manga, and the first 25 or so episodes of the original Fullmetal Alchemist. The Nina Tucker episode in Brotherhood, in FMA 03 takes up nearly three episodes. Yoki gets a backstory in 03 and it's genuinely one of the best episodes and taken directly from the manga and Brotherhood glosses over it because: duh, you've already seen it. And so if you skip the original you miss out on dozens of really great character building episodes like Ed and Al meeting Hughes for the first time and getting to spend a whole episode helping him free a train from terrorists, or Ed and Roy having a duel that expands on the relationship they have, or episodes where the brothers just help out random people in towns before the major story gets going.

The original also paces itself quite a bit better than Brotherhood and is more in line with the mangas storytelling. In the manga we don't find out about The Gate until nearly two dozen chapters in, and the same goes for the original anime. Like, that's a twist reveal in those stories, and it's weird that the most watched series is the one where they tell you all about The Gate in the first two episodes because they assume you've already seen the original show.

What's more, people don't know that Hiromu Arakawa helped write for the anime while she was still in the middle of writing the manga, and as a result was inspired to write scenes in Brotherhood that the anime did first. That scene of Edward getting impaled by a falling beam? Directly inspired by a similar scene in the original anime. There's a lot of little instances of that and they're great when you can recognize parallels and things in Brotherhood that are direct references to the original anime, but people don't notice any of that anymore. Because the original anime is just an automatic skip these days, and it's a bummer because people don't realize what a giant it was back before Brotherhood was released. They treat it as *bad,* not realizing it was one of the most beloved anime of its time and the problems people take issue with have a lot more to do with personal taste than any kind of actual flaw in the writing. Brotherhood was never meant to dethrone it, and the original anime was always supposed to be part of the viewing experience which is why those first few episodes of Brotherhood are so fast paced. So like, please stop telling people Fullmetal Alchemist 2003 is a skip, or it's bad, or you don't need it because Brotherhood is better. Regardless if you think Brotherhood is better or not, the original wrote Brotherhood's check. It was huge, it was beloved, and Brotherhood is *banking* on the knowledge you've seen all of it and loved it. And trust me when I say there is so much to love about the original series. It's still my favorite branch of the FMA franchise, and it's worth your time, I promise you.

The first time Ashley really looks at Leon without being in full fight-or-flight, he looks like such a fucking asshole LMAO

And their character models are literally too close together for me to get POV shots while Leon's holding her after the catch (their actual literal eyeballs got in the way), so I just got as close as I could without it looking weird, and:

I can't find a platonic explanation for this moment. He could have just put her down. He just puts her down every single time he catches her after this. And judging from his reaction and considering the thoroughness of his training and his readiness for this mission, there's absolutely no way that Ashley is the first person he's caught after a jump like that -- so it's not even like he's stunned that he managed to pull it off. He doesn't ask her if she's okay, doesn't give her an "I told you" or a "See?" Doesn't breathe a sigh of relief or show any signs of stress about having to do that at all.

He just... stands there. And holds her.

They don't even start off looking at each other; it's only when he lingers with her in his arms that they turn their heads and lock eyes. They both have just sort of fallen out of time and space. Their urgency to escape is momentarily forgotten.

It's so much different from Leon watching Ada's chopper at the end of the game -- when there's a thousand different thoughts and doubts and questions and conflicting feelings zipping through his mind, ranging from their complicated past to her unknown employer to the fact that he just let her walk away with whatever Krauser had killed Luis over, and there's no taking back that decision now that he's made it.

This is the complete opposite. Instead of having racing thoughts, Leon is experiencing an absence of thought. He completely forgets himself -- his position, his status, his rank, his mission -- forgets who he is, what he's doing here, and why he's with Ashley in the first place. A connection forms between them in this moment, and they both feel it.

And for that moment, Leon suddenly is no longer a top secret government asset with experimental training holding his mission objective, the president's daughter, after a jump. He's a man holding a woman, in a way that feels inexplicably meaningful, on a chill autumn night as the rain comes down around them.

It's such a classical example of the Held Gaze trope in romance stories that it should be on the fucking wikipedia page for it.

So here's an interesting thing.

This is Saddler's POV when Ashley picks up Leon's gun:

Leon isn't looking at Ashley.

He's looking right at Saddler. And that's the look of a man who's ready to kill.

It's only after the first shot is fired that Leon actually looks at Ashley, and his expression is completely different when he does.

From Ashley's POV:

This might sound weird, but this is probably the best showcase of how fundamentally changed Leon is in RE4make from RE2make. In RE2make, his focus would've been Ashley first. He would've been worried about her and scared for himself. Saddler would be an afterthought; Leon can worry about Saddler after both he and Ashley are safe.

That was probably what Krauser was referring to during training when he told Leon that he was too soft to do what's necessary. You know, before Krauser himself went nuts, and the meaning of that statement became something else entirely.

But in RE4make, Leon's first response is rage. It's violence. It's murder. His instinct isn't to save Ashley or protect himself -- it's to kill Saddler.

It's only after it hits him just how stuck he is -- after that first shot is fired -- that the worry starts -- that the regret and heartache kick in.

What Krauser taught Leon -- what he really taught Leon -- was that protecting someone is more than shielding them from harm or pulling them to safety. It's eliminating the threat around them so that they can be safe. Shields can break, and running protects no one.

So, sure, the "being held against my will" thing is the main reason why Leon turns down Ashley's offer at the end of the game -- but it's not the only reason. It's because Leon came to accept, over the course of this mission, that he's not that guy anymore. He can't stand by and be Ashley's guard. The only way he knows how to protect her is by eliminating the threat around her -- and that's not what security detail does.

But that's who Leon's become now. The ship of "serve and protect" has sailed, for him. In his own words: "You've gotta keep moving forward."

last one from xmas I promise

(im not ready for tomorrow...)

Hosting a dinner for Lord Sukuna

I started a share game on x. I'm going to share some of the prompts here.

DL commission with long haired Yui and Alrick (@the-sloth-woman)

another panel that rocked my day (JJK 251); had to redraw

I don't remember where I read this, but is it true that Cordelia is attracted to Beatrix's sons?

On Reiji's HDB route Cordelia admitted that she found Reiji very physically attractive. She also tried to seduce Shuu in his HDB After Story to have sex with her.

I guess her attraction to them is because in some way, they both might remind her of Karlheinz. I have always believed that Cordelia envied Beatrix, Cordelia may have been the first wife, but Beatrix gave Karl his first two sons, plus both Reiji and Shuu are prodigies, extremely talented, strong and intelligent, everything Cordelia wished her own children to be.

Them with Romantic outfits 🌹

Leon pose ref

HAPPY HALLOWEEN🎃

kiss of death ☠️🦇❤️

shibuyaaa

Happy Valentine's Day - again!