Screaming crying throwing up at the Thunder spoiler thread because

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-THUNDER SPOILERS-

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Frostpaw coming to the realization that the Park Cats have a culture that she likes better than the culture of the clans, and wanting to bring elements of it back home with her? That COULD be an actually good use of a traveling book, and it WOULD be an actually nice change to see the clans do any kind of self-reflection on the violence of their culture. Unfortunately, I don’t trust the Erins even a little bit to follow through in any kind of satisfactory way on that plot thread, so I worry it’s going to result in the Clans once again looking at an outside culture and taking a very xenophobic lesson away from interacting with it.

I'm still trying to work out my feelings on the return of the Park Cats... overall, I think I'm feeling pretty frustrated, and it's coloring my perception of them

I also really disliked Riverstar's Home, though. I hated the traveling, I didn't find the Park very interesting in practice, was annoyed by a ton of small things. It felt like the book only got good once we were back in the forest, so, maybe I'm still tasting my sour introduction to the Park cats.

I also don't have any faith in the authors to handle Waffle and Wasp well, or any of the practices Frostpaw is planning to bring home. At this point I'm expecting it. What's really on my mind is... why?

Why did they create a whole little unchanging cultural bubble, a group under glass, exactly the same as it was during the dawn of the clans... when they were just going to blast Frostpaw with The Avatar State anyway?

She can talk to Riverstar whenever. And every ancestor who served under him. And you don't even have to waste 6 chapters on travelling. Could we not have learned about meditation from Riverstar, if the Erins are soooo eager to shove the ancestors into this and write him as her spirit guide?

Like, all this time dedicated to a culture whose one trait is meditating. I have frustrations with the Sisters and Tribe, but they're interesting concepts, with their own spiritual beliefs, government, and customs. So far, the neo-Park has been bland.

Like Guardians, a bare-bones group that showed up once in an SE and just existed to serve the Clan cats for a while, and send Tigerheart back with new characters.

But like, back to the Lesson of the Park Cats, whatever thing Frostpaw could bring home

I just... man, I go off about Clan Culture and its violence literally all the time, but this arc has been ridiculously peaceful. We are 4/6ths of the way through and there was one major battle, at the end of a book, which was bloodless. All the fighting has been arguments.

What exactly is Frostpaw going to learn from the Park cats? How to be passive? Is that going to help RiverClan get rid of the occupying army? Will the power of mindfulness help them un-forget all of their battle training and remind them how to do their own laundry?

If (if.) The Erins have planned all this out, then what they're going to do next is have Frostpaw take what she's learned, and use it to help un-divide RiverClan.

Which TO BE CLEAR would be good for Frostpaw as a character!

But that's not addressing the violence of clan culture or even leaning into it. That wouldn't really be a cultural change, so much as Frostpaw having learned leadership skills... which, again, makes me wonder what the point of a culture frozen in time really was, when they blasted her with this super strong, unprecedented magic connection to StarClan.

Idk. Just, generally not vibing with this book if the spoiler thread is to be believed.

idk if you wrote about this before or not but thoughts on taking junhans virginity 😭😭😭

i haven't!!!!!!! tysm for the ask so i have an excuse to <33

(half written before i went ia)

mmm first of all i think hed actively look for someone inexperienced to date while hw himself was inexperienced

less space for disappointment yknow how could hw disappoint you when you kinda just .. dont know better literally

but then he ended up w you <3 who actually does have some experience and its kinda nervewracking for him, he's not gonna lie

he's been putting it off for so long – sure, it only took a couple of dates for you to make out and your hands to wander. the way he tentatively gripped your ass made you want him kind of desperately.

but it never went past that. a while later, when the topic of making things official came up, his cheeks blushed a deep red while he looked down at his feet.

"ah, before we, you know, start dating for real... i thought you should know." and fuck, you think. there it goes. there's the catch. "i'm not too... experienced. actually, i've never had sex before. i don't want you to be disappointed if we get to it and i'm not any go–" his mouth is sealed shut as you kiss him firmly, hands cradling his face.

"you're stupid. i don't care. nothing of what you just said would ever make me lose interest," he wants to avoid your eyes, hide his face, but the way you're holding his flaming cheeks in place won't let him. "at most, it just makes me happy i'll be your first."

and since then, he's been avoiding – more like procrastinating, to be fair – getting sexual with you. the most you've done so far was dry humping each other on his sofa while his apartment was empty (that is, until one of his roommates opened the front door and he jumped out of his skin).

you don't want to push him, so you wait for him to come to you.

(but if anyone asked you whether you were fingering yourself in the shower thinking about him, you wouldn't be able to deny it.)

the next time he got to escape from his dorm and visit you and your blessedly empty tiny apartment, he has you on his lap, the movie playing on your laptop long forgotten.

you didn't notice anything before – he was the same hyeongjun as always – but now you can see how his hands are shaking and how he keeps taking deep breaths seemingly out of nowhere.

you detach your lips from his, studying his face. this makes him more nervous, the poor thing. did he do something wrong? is he this easy to read?

"hyeongjun, are you okay? you look like you're going to pass out." you try to leave the comfortable seat that is his thighs, but his hands shoot up and grab your waist, holding you down.

"hyeongjun. you're shaking. have you eaten? let me grab you a cup of wa–"

"i'm fine."

"really? what did you have for lunch? did you have enough? or did you have too much?" you can't help but worry for him. he's already a skinny guy, but you can't be too careful knowing how much time he spends online.

"i swear i'm fine! i'm just..." he trails off, looking at everything in your room but you. one of his hands leaves your waist to fiddle with a loose thread on your comforter. once again, you wait for him to come to you – he likes that about you, how you leave him to find ways to express himself instead of dragging it out of him. his tone is soft when he eventually finishes, "i'm just nervous, that's all."

you cup his cheek in an act of comfort, looking at him like he's some kind of baby bunny, small and defenseless. he finds he doesn't mind it too much.

"nervous about what, baby? what's on your mind?"

"i was thinking," he finally lets go of your waist to play with his fingers, "maybe it's about time we, uh, you know, fuck."

jesus christ. your tummy does a backflip at his wording.

"you know i don't mind if we don't, right? i'm fine with how things are now." you slide your hand down his neck and shoulder, and some braincell vaguely makes him think that you're not doing anything to help him go against having sex.

"but i want to," his response is eager and he backtracks, "if you want it too, i mean."

your mind is so clouded with the thought of not only having him, but also to have you be his first, that you don't even respond before you're pressing your lips to his again.

" of course i do."

I am madly in love with your artstyle and its been a big big inspiration for me as of late. Also, what are your thoughts on Jane and Bonnie? Do you like them or not

AAA thank you so much thats so flattering to hear 🥺💕!!

my feelings on jane and bonnie are nuanced just like my opinion on many of twdg characters. but i love twdg for all its messy fucked up characters :) its fun :) so while i dont hate either of them they definitely still do things that piss me off

in janes case, i think her mentorship/sisterhood with clem came more from her guilt about her sister than actually wanting to have this 11 year old around. so while she would teach clem important survival skills, she was also always quick to leave or act selfishly (clems "i thought you believed in me 🥺" always makes me sad). and this is just solidified by her actions in her S3 flashbacks. i do think she TRIES to work with the group, but she just gets in her own way and is never able to fully integrate, especially since the S2 cast is a fucked up mess in and of itself so its understandable. her actions at the end of S2 are born of pure selfishness, leaving a newborn infant in a random freezing vehicle so she could "show clem what kenny was really like" when clem is WELL AWARE of the thread this madman is hanging on to (having already faced the brunt of his frustrations MULTIPLE times at this point, and is desperate not to lose anyone else). she wanted a fight and she got one. i think maybe she told herself it was about saving clem, but honestly i dont think that was really ever her goal. again i just think a lot of her motivation comes out of the guilt of leaving her sister behind, so she saw clem as a second chance to make things right. but depending on clems actions, she can end up on her own without either of them, and jane can be the sister left behind to die. its interesting to see clem kinda pick up janes personality in the first half of S3 now that shes also at a point where she has no one and trusts no one, and is deep down lonely and longing for community. the difference is clem is not selfish (while still caring about self preservation), and actually likes being able to help people when she can. shes more so just afraid of caring for people again to protect herself from what she sees is the inevitable pain of losing them, as opposed to janes "theyre all just gonna bring you down so you should be on your own instead" outlook. but i definitely saw jane (and luke) as a bigger mentor/big sister(/brother) figure to clem than kenny was to her. jane actually taught her how to take care of herself. kenny was just someone from her past she didnt want to let go of

in bonnies case, she can be really horrible to clem if she listened to luke and stayed back instead of trying to grab him, so i'll literally try to save luke just so i dont have to hear it 😭 but also i like the convo her and clem have on the steps if you tried to save him. its an important character moment for clem, being asked what SHE wants instead of what the people around her want, and that she should start thinking about that, which is formative to the decision she makes (or fails to make) at the rest stop. the way bonnie is initially dismissive of carvers behavior i think is supposed to mirror the way clem can be dismissive of kennys behavior after leaving howes. will they come to see the man they once respected is becoming someone unstable? (i used to be in the "kenny might be going crazy but he'd never hurt clem" camp UNTIL i picked the "lee shouldnt have tried to save me 😔" option in the car and kenny threatened to smack her for it AFTER giving it a moment of hesitation so he KNEW what he was saying there. my jaw was dropped. but kenny is just another interesting flawed character in a game of interesting flawed characters (although they Heavily backtracked on the kenny/carver parallels in the S3 flashbacks. you can make the argument hes happier now but idk he cant come back from the threat for me he MEANT that)). bonnie leaving with mike is fucked but understandable, and she can show real concern after clem gets shot before getting chased off by kenny. i hope her and mike are still out there somewhere i dont hate either of them, even tho it was horrible of them to steal ALL of their supplies when they knew they were leaving TWO children behind. like cmon. but overall i liked bonnie :) shes a bit of a mess but i like her for it

in the end i am a twdg woman character forgiver :) i do love all the fucked up ladies its refreshing let them do dumb shit and make mistakes!!! i love mess :)

I think Jimmy first hit Scott and then was like 'oh this feels cathartic actually' and kept doing it for the rest of the session because Scott didn't physically retaliate

This is mostly due to the nature of SL with permanent damage, so players were less quick to punch back against Red Lives but still

Idk where I was going with this

Hold on I’m making a bad takes tag for this one. Not because of your ask but because I can’t talk about jimmy’s character beyond 3l, and 3l doesnt count because jimmy doesnt act like jimmy in 3l. Like I’m so bad at analyzing this guy we have literally one thing in common and beyond that I have no frame of reference, so take the following with a grain of salt

Anyways so yeah about what you said: that’s definitely how I see it. I think it felt good to have Scott run away from him and fear him, I think it finally felt like he was being taken seriously. And I think it definitely got to his head with how assertive he started being, even though all Scott did in return was find his attempts pitiable and amusing.

There’s also a very interesting link you could draw here between this story thread going alongside the Pearl story thread… Jimmy sends Pearl to go hit Skizz and then say it was a message from him, but Pearl felt bad about attacking Skizz so while she did succeed, she acted apologetic about it. Which made Jimmy Really Fucking Mad, for some reason? Like an unprecedented amount. He yelled “TOUGHEN UP!” and attacked her and told her that he found her “acting sorry” to be personally disrespectful and that he’s really disappointed in her and then guilted her about it and when she told him she tried her best, he told her that her best just wasn’t good enough. Like.. Hello? Jimmy? Do you need to talk, bud? Is someone projecting their need to be seen as a real threat and not a weak joke onto an unrelated party perhaps? Is someone trying so hard to move forward this season and block that part of themselves out, that a reminder of how they were in the past feels personally offensive? Like I think Pearl adding “and that was a message from Jimmy!” to her attack was what set him off, because then he felt like it reflected on him exactly what he didn’t want to be seen as, and he couldn’t let that slide. Not when he finally felt like he was making progress towards what he thinks he wants.

Idk! Jimmy had been acting more aggressively (genuine aggression. not really that fake aggression from previous seasons where he’ll get mad and then immediately backstep) prior to this, but attacking Scott still felt like a turning point to me, with how he was so hesitant when Joel first brought up the idea but then later took it to an extreme just because it felt good. But also I’m insane and always have to bring it back to f lower husbands because I’m obsessed. So you know

brother crab's winter 2024 parting thoughts: high card s2

WHAT THE HELL

HIGH CARD IS GOOD?!

tl;dr very flashy and aesthetic, consistently good in that regard, but the story was not always gripping to me. however, with the ultimate payoff in the last three eps, totally worth it imo

full review:

wow wow wow i'm kind of glad i fell way behind on anime and had the last three eps of s2 to binge all at once because hoooly shit i enjoyed that immensely

at no point did i think high card was bad, but it definitely had moments where it didn't fully grab me. there were times when it felt like all flash, no substance

and it's definitely not perfect, i have some serious and fairly significant gripes with it. mainly i'm really bummed that leo, wendy, and vijay never really got fully fleshed out. i mean i get it, finn's the main character and chris is the thinly veiled love interest also important so obviously they're going to take up most of the time, but i really feel like the other members of the crew had so much unexplored potential (especially wendy and vijay, because leo did sort of get his moment as a factor in the old man yaoi situation)

speaking of which THE OLD MAN YAOI!! man there were a lot of moving pieces in this show, and sometimes they came together in messy ways (or didn't really come together at all... some bits do still feel pretty disjointed and jumpy to me, tbh)

but overall the payoff of the s2 finale was absolutely worth it to me, particularly since it dealt with my favorites of those moving pieces: the old man yaoi and the sudden YANDERE ONIISAN ARC

i find myself really wishing the show had gone harder on both of those threads sooner, but like... honestly i'm not disappointed with how they played out. the whole theodore and ban thing could not have been more tropey (YEARS of loathing only for a "the one i wanted to protect all along was... you" and then dying for each other like HELLO yes an absolute tropefest BUT TROPES THAT I LOVE. GOOD FOR THOSE TOXIC DOOMED YAOI MFERS)

tilt has always been fascinating to me right from the character design and i am more or less satisfied with how things played out for him too, though i kind of wish we'd had more of this development spread throughout the series. i guess it was there, but... i dunno. in some ways feels like there could have been More (but i may be biased)

like you gotta feel bad for him, it's a sad story, but also that extreeemely creepy unhinged yandere oniisan "i have been stalking you i literally have a wall with giant blown up photos of you i hate the other guy who is calling himself your brother" sequence was SO FUCKING DELICIOUS LIKE WTF??? stunned and absolutely blown away by how hard they went on that, what a delight

(ironically it makes me think about how unhinged matakara in bucchigiri?! just doesn't work while unhinged tilt in high card works super well, but this is not about bucchigiri?! so i won't get too into that)

i am still admittedly just. kind of like. idk. i go back and forth on finn and chris, as characters and as partners. i don't dislike them but they aren't always all that compelling to me. sometimes they definitely are, but sometimes they just fall a bit flat to me. this probably isn't an issue with them as characters, though, just a matter of taste. i occasionally found the chemistry between them lacking as well, but sometimes it was really on point

same feeling about the crew dynamics in general. i looove a good like heist crew or spy agency crew, whatever it is, when the dynamics just click. and sometimes they didn't, here. i am too sleepy to articulate it properly right now but it just felt like there was something missing, some pieces not really fitting together. i didn't dislike any of the characters, but just... i guess wanted more team shenanigans? maybe there was no time for that but it would have been nice (like this is one show that could have done with a few filler and/or fluff episodes, imo!)

anyway. christ. my eye emoji-ing at tilt based solely on his character design finally paid off after two gay ass seasons lmao. good night

hi finally compiling the thread i made the other day on twt abt the first chapter of recital so. welcome to me having far too much to say about my big bang fic skgh

chapter titling is similar to symphony (leo day fic) but instead of music terms, it's ballet terms. i'm nowhere near as used to ballet terms as i am w music terms so they won't have a deeper meaning (at least not on purpose lmao) like some of the symphony chapter titles do, but that's part of why there's nine chapters

a small aside: there is a specific structure i have in mind for the fic. there will be three arcs (if u want to call them that), the first three chapters is the first arc and then there will be an intermission chapter (up to this point is as far as i've confidently planned out so past this point, i can't guarantee anything but. nine chapters is the goal adkgsh). so then chapter 4 and 5 are arc two followed up by another intermission, then the final arc will be chapters 8 and 9. the plan is to stay mostly canon compliant until i don't agree w akira (or kinosei aslkhg), so i'll pretty much be sticking to the canon timeline

please listen to the playlist akdhg most of the songs do correspond to specific things/chapters so it's tied to the story itself plus i've listened to it too many times so. please tell me i'm so right about it 😔 the song i used in the summary of the first chapter is more of a chapter 2 song but i felt like it fit for the first chapter so adkgh (i have. So Many songs for checkmate so. can't wait for that one lmao) (chapter 1 songs are the first four in the playlist, the 5th one could go either way between ch 1 and 2) once more is posted, then i might actually sit here and go on abt why each of these songs is specifically here

writing choices 🎉 the one i want to talk about so so so so bad is the using nicknames in the narration bc if you've read literally anything else i've posted, you'd see that i don't do that, but bc recital is so close to izumi as the narrator, and this chapter is focused on his childhood, i thought it was fitting. there are a few instances of this changing throughout the chapter, such as makoto going from yuukun to makoto in the one flashback section and then staying as makoto when izumi is older, naru eventually changes to arashi.

and the one i really want to bring up,,, izumi's parents are always referred to as mama and papa but there is one singular instance where that's changed and that's during the argument at the end of the chapter.

and then she's referred to as mama again a few paragraphs later and this just goes into the point that i think izumi has a very complicated relationship with his parents. on one hand, they don't support him as an idol and have quite literally told him to his face that he's not successful enough to make it on his own as a model (next door), have treated him more like a doll than their child and they couldn't be bothered to actually ask him what he was interested in, but he still cares about them. he gets offended on their behalf more than once (in ! era at least), but it's just,, complicated. i feel like i can't really properly explain my thoughts here but i have Thoughts. but this is where the vaguely toxic parenting warning comes in from this chapter because the thing is, i don't think his parents were planning for him to feel the way he does about their parenting, they do love him and they do want to have him succeed just. maybe not for the right reasons, yk? ofc that doesn't justify their treatment of him or anything like that, there's just more to it than outright toxic parenting hence why it's subtle here.

what's a little less subtle is izumi's mom living vicariously through him, it's a bit more obvious with the modeling bit than the dance classes but idk it makes sense to me for her to have done them as a child too

baby modelgumi,,, they get their own point here bc i think those might've been my favorite bits to write and genuinely, the baby arashi bit is my favorite part of the whole chapter. they're just so alsdkgh oeugh cute i want to squeeze them in my hands 🥺🥺🥺. my note for this on my list of things to talk about is literally "baby modelgumi :pleading:" they hold a special place in my head and i hope in urs too

i was going to list stories reference but i might wait until i have more done and posted for that (plus i can't remember what story it is that arashi mentions izumi pushed her mouth into a smile as kids) but. portrait and canary hall mentions 🎉🎉

the argument. it's implied a few times in ! that izumi's parents don't really agree with him being an idol (leo says izumi was having isses at home around checkmate/war era). given that they put so much time and effort into having izumi model, i suppose that wouldn't be too surprising, but i think it's important to have some kind of breaking point like the argument scene bc in next door, izumi talks about how his parents treated him growing up and that just makes me think that he probably didn't have much say in his own life and there's just something about being an idol being his first big decision that idk hits a little different and there is more to an extent on this concept in the next chapter in comparing himself to leo and just kind of being like ,, huh...

last thing, so aside from the ending of the beginning section of the chapter, i feel so smart about the ending line of this chapter bc mama's pancakes come up in portrait and there's even a baby izumi homescreen line about it and it's meant to serve as an apology rather than her actually apologizing but i feel like u could take it a few ways but akhg felt so smart when i came up w the ending of the chapter. and i felt the same way when i thought of the first chapter ending and u guys will not like me for that one btu aksdgh <33

baby's first friendship next time 🎉🎉🎉🎉

the 'yorishima is natsume's grandpa' theory is interesting to me cause on the one hand I feel like there's still a pretty high chance grandpa is gonna be Just Some Guy, but also I have literally no idea what narrative purpose yorishima is supposed to have if he's not the grandpa

like he doesn't really have anything to do with the overarching exorcist politics, the role of 'vague mentor figure to natori' is already covered by takuma, and yet he's already featured pretty heavily in the manga despite how recently he was introduced...

and esp when you remember when he was introduced it becomes even more interesting. the arc he was introduced in was the first 'real' continuation of the arc that brought up natsume's grandpa in the first place (I mean technically the arc abt matoba's curse is earlier, but that has basically nothing to do with natsume or the book so I don't think it counts even if it references it). We joke abt how long its been since they mentioned natsume's grandpa, but if that narrative thread is being carried by yorishima it would explain why it's been unacknowledged for so long

But on the flip side, yorishima doesn't really react That much to seeing natsume. He certainly reacts enough to hint that he has some kind of familiarity with reiko sure, but not to the extent you would expect from someone who could have theoretically fathered a child with them. Like idk abt you but if some kid showed up at my house who looked almost identical to a chick I'd had a brief relationship with 40+ years ago, with the same surname I'd be a bit more perturbed by it than just being mildly annoyed. Unless he just assumed Reiko found someone else I guess? It still seems unlikely for him to be that chill around natsume

He certainly seems to be old enough to be grandpa tho, given he wasn't surprised by his uni friend having adult daughters or you know. dying of 'vague illness'

either way I guess he seems like he's supposed to have some connection to reiko/natsume's past, but its hard to gauge whether he's the grandpa himself, or he just idk. knows the guy who is??

but part of me does kinda hope its him just cause it'd be really funny to see natori and matoba's reaction if he is. can you imagine finding out that this weird old guy who used to give you loquats turned out to be the long lost grandparent of this random orphan you found? I'd lose my shit

To me all of the characters' arcs this season felt like letdowns. They introduced Lottie in such a way but her plotline was all over the place (in a bad way) and it contributed to nothing and now shes back to where she was. Misty's plot being tied to Walter is annoying. Idk what they did with Tai she was having visions and her being other self but they dropped it. Idk where theyre going with Van's character and the way they wrote for Nat and "completed" her arc sucked lol. Shauna's at least wasnt that bad though it just feels heavily unnecessary. I know it is cliche as fuck to say this again but i just dont see the point of adult timeline it feels increasingly appearent tha they just dont know what to do with the adult timeline storylines and i often times found myself wishing the story was just abt the wildnerness and what happens there.

yeah i'm with you!

i mean personally i do think the adult timeline and seeing the echoes and long-lasting consequences of this trauma is what makes the show special, and it wouldn't be nearly as interesting if we Only had the wilderness BUT they've just completely lost the thread tying together the timelines and young/adult characters this season...

like in season one i definitely did also think that some of the adult's plots dragged unnecessarily and i Was less interested in them but they still served a clear purpose and you could think about character arcs, whereas this season everything has been like you said all over the place and bloated with side characters literally nobody asked for and who don't add anything to to story

Hey anon, I'm so sorry but your ask is obscenely long so I'm cutting it down to bare essentials

Most of the Original Ask was just a copypaste of this forum post, quickly highlighting this comment too

LOOK WHAT IT SAYS ABOUT MORIA, YO! "Defeated by Gellard and returns in the Final Scenario with an even more grotesque appearance than when you first met him."

But yes, I am aware, I have read that exact same thread before (when I first learned about the Romancing SaGa inspo on r/OnePiece and wanted to learn more), and I did briefly discuss the Seven Heroes when speculating about Cross Guild and wherever the fuck that plotline is going

And I'm now going to add onto that original post, because boy howdy do I have some additional thoughts to get out of my brain

Okay so yes, Doflamingo would be the OG Iteration of Bokuohn, the puppeteer who manipulates people. But in the context of Cross Guild... That's Buggy. "Bokuohn is in control of the majority of the Seven Heroes' forces. Situated in the Steppes region, he owns a large landship, complete with an innumerable amount of slaves." That's literally just Buggy. Like he's not a master of psychological manipulation nor can he forcefully manipulate anybody like literal puppets either (the way Mingo could), but. Like scratch out he RoSa2 terms, replace them with the relevant OP terms and it's a perfect description of Buggy.

Bringing that up because I'm still interested in Cross Guild becoming Shichibukai 2.0 But Without The Government This Time, but if we wanted to have exactly seven former Shichibukai to make up Cross Guild and make sure we had like ones who could actually fill out the roles of the Seven Heroes from RoSa2... Yeah there's going to have to be some replacements Not just because otherwise Doflamingo would need to be broken out of Impel Down somehow (which I doubt will happen, also I don't think Crocodile would want him working for him anyways), but also. Jinbei's with the Strawhats. And I don't think he's ditching Luffy any time soon for Crocodile of all people, not when he finally fucking joined the Strawhats for realsies.

So Doflamingo could be replaced with Buggy, cool, sure. What about Jinbei then? Who will take up the role of RoSa2's Subier?

So a while back I wrote this speculation post about if the Burn Scar Man (who has the final Road Poneglyph) could be a Fishman.(PERHAPS specifically Davy Jones?) Bringing that up because during Kuma's flashback we did learn that Kuma got the Shichibukai Slot after Ace defeated one of the seven at the time. And we specifically got to see Ace talk to Jinbei about it, Ace being surprised Jinbei of all people was glad the Shichibukai slot was being filled again. Now obviously, our Firefist Ace defeating a Shichibukai makes for one great candidate on who the Burn Scar Man could be, as Ace could very easily leave someone with some severe burn scars. This is platantly obvious lmao. But it's the conversation with Jinbei that actually interests me, because like. Sure, Jinbei being a fellow Shichibukai, it might be odd for Ace to hear Jinbei be glad that one of his fellow Warlords is being replaced. But that comment could make twice as much sense if that Warlord had ALSO been a fellow Fishman and/or a Merman (and perhaps someone Jinbei might've known better?). Now indeed. We are going to meet the Burn Scar Man eventually, 100%, it's mandatory for the plot to move forwards. Which means we're going to find out who that guy is, and if the Road Poneglyph gets stolen from him, he might have to find something else to do with his life since there won't be any point in guarding it anymore. And hey. If Mr Burns does turn out to be a fellow former Shichibukai who also happens to be a Fishman/Merman and a master of Fishman Karate... Oh hey, what's this? "Subier - A half octopus merman who controls the flow of the ocean to use as a weapon." Like. IDK I think we could have another Cross Guild member on our hands here.

(Honestly, currently the only problem we have is Dantarg, whose role currently being held by Kuma. Like the only other known Shichibukai we have who could be "available" is Law but he hasn't really done any "bodymods to become stronger" and thus doesn't fit the description. Hell, that description fits Kid more than anything but he was never a Shichibukai either. Guess we gotta keep on hoping Kuma somehow survives and just doesn't return to the Revolutionary Army for some reason)

Hilariously the most interesting thing you pointed out was that comment in the forum thread about Moria, 'cause I hadn't even realized this before but

So we know Blackbeard had captured Moria and held him hostage for... weeks, months? Until he was freed by Coby as per Perona's plea during the raid on Fullalead. Interestingly though, although theoretically we know Moria and Perona should have escaped the island by now, we have not seen either, now have we? Which is kind of suspicious now that I think about it. Because like. It'd make perfect sense if Blackbeard and co had been torturing Moria during his time in captivity, right. Have they been feeding my beloved goth onion well? Realistically, probably not?

Like. Thinking about it. We know Moria got chumby after the trauma of losing his crew and all, so what are the odds he might have lost that weight now during his captivity??? What if he looks more like his younger self again, the one see clash with Kaidou??? Or, the more horrifying option. I mean zombies aren't like an inherent part of Moria's DF abilities, just the Shadow Manipulation. But for all we know Moria could have lost a limb or two, and depending on where the fuck Hogback is (dude is supposed to be a competent doctor, he should be able to stitch Moria back up)... I mean theoretically the next time we see Moria he could look like one of his zombies. Or worse.

what a fuckin episode huh. im sure everyone is opinion dumping in ur askbox but I NEED TO DO IT TOO.

ok. fuck tom as ceo, to me it made no sense but i think shivs resolution was kinda understandable. to me it honestly felt like she was making a sacrifice? if that makes sense? shes seeing kendall become more and more like their father every second, and roman continually collapsing under what little remains of him. i think she knows she needs to stop it for their sake, even if it means shes becoming her mother. its INSANE to me that people are trying to call her a villain over this. again, despite it all, she fucking loves her brothers, she would absolutely put herself in that position to save them. i think it definitely comes with being the ONLY daughter in the family, having to be the one to make that sacrifice.

idk. im having thoughts and feelings in my peabrain. killing myself in the club rn <3

opiniondump in my inbox as much as u want i fuckin love it fr!

first yeah not the huuuugest fan of tom ceo but honestly i think a) i can’t imagine a “better” ending (i really do think none of the kids should get CEO and who else would it have been then? fucking greg? no thanks) and b) if it had been built up to more in previous episodes (mattson slowly coming around to/eyeing tom, mencken mentioning liking tom, etc. but really the mattson part in particular could and should have been built to throughout the season instead of having him get a lightbulb moment when shiv says tom will suck the biggest dick in the room in the finale) i would like it a lot more. i also think that it would have more meaning thematically if the show continued to emphasize the concept of interlopers the way they did in episode 4 of this season — where all of these random people were trying to act as if they knew logan best etc after his death and all that. i think that while the ‘interlopers’ concept has been a throughline of succession (w tom and greg, willa, marcia, kerry, etc) it kind of fell off in the latter half of this season because there was just so much ground to cover, and the tom win would feel more meaningful to me if there had been some continuous groundwork laid throughout the season rather than trailing off after ep 4. like, tom and greg had no real meaning as interlopers for most of this szn, so much so that i literally had no idea why greg was even fucking there for most of it. i think the show was a lot better at centering that concept and making it interesting in earlier seasons, which is when tom ceo was conceived, but in recent episodes it had fallen by the wayside somewhat which made the ending weaker than it could’ve been in my opinion. succession has always been a show about outsiders, about interlopers, but less and less so with each season as theyve focused inwards into the sibling competition (which is personally my favorite part of the show so yknow no complaints there), but if they were building to a tom ceo end (which they were) it would’ve been beneficial to maintain that commentary rather than sideline it or briefly reference it once in a while. i think one way this could’ve been done is through the wives and consorts — marcia, kerry, willa, tom, etc. there used to be so many interesting parallels drawn between them (remember the family therapy episode with marcia willa and tom talking while the others did ‘therapy’ etc?) but, again, with so much that needed to be done this season, focus on ‘side’ characters petered out. tbh the more i think ab this season the more i feel like it could really have benefited from a few more episodes — not a full season and not one after the finale, but just some more room to cover the things that needed to be covered while making space for the teasing out of certain dynamics, threads, and themes so they wouldn’t be slammed in suddenly in the final episode

that got long sorry but ANYWAYS re: shiv — personally i disagree with the sacrifice take as i feel her decision wasn’t made out of altruism at all, it was pure gut instinct self destructive ‘fuck no anything but this.’ i’ve posted ab this a lot in the past few days so instead of sounding even more like a broken record i’ll just link to some posts here lmao

however i do agree that the ‘villain’ takes are fucking ridiculous and that 99% of the time they’re rooted in that Skylar White Is The Devil brand of misogyny prestige television fans are so susceptible to. she’s not a villain she’s just a fucking person who made an objectively irrational, self-destructive, emotionally fueled choice because she simply could not stomach the alternative — and if someone says they haven’t done the same in their own lives before, they’re lying. straight up. but yeah no thinking of succession in terms of heroes and villains is just about as braindead and media illiterate you can get imo

and yup mass suicide in the club rn babe we r all in it together!!!

Name — Shi

Pronouns — she/her or they/them

Preferred comms — Discord buuut I don't like giving my Discord out unless we've been interacting and talking for a while nowadays, so I am trapped in the hell known as IM until then. Honestly, though, I have a tendency to get into writing or doing other things and forget anyone talked to me sometimes either way so--- 😭

Name of muse — Ozymandias

Experience in RP — I've been rping since I was a kid back in forever ago before I even really knew what rping was. It all started on a chat site and I wasn't sure what was going on but I liked it LMFAO. I think it was probably about middle school-ish time for me. 6th grade I guess??? So a while.

Best experiences — AAAAA many! I think some of my best experiences rping was when I was doing things with my friends on Twitter and Deviantart. They always inspired me to draw and we were constantly designing characters / joining art rp groups back then which helped me improve drastically. Ughugh I miss doing things like that sometimes.

Pet peeves / dealbreakers — Godmodding. The quickest way to make me drop a thread is making Ozy do something or saying he did something without consulting with me. That's a pretty big dealbreaker for me as I've been put in really uncomfortable situations as a result of people doing this. Also instantly coming at me with ship ideas is a bit of a put off if we like...have literally done one thing / I barely even know you. I had that happen day one of me making Ozy and it almost made me want to leave before I even did anything. Only time I will shake you around and be like, "yeah let's gooooo!" is if we've known one another a long time / I'm comfortable enough to do that.

Muse preference ( fluff, angst, smut ) — That depends. I love writing things where it's deeply discussion based over beliefs, philosophies, and the like. Emotionally charged threads too since that gets my muse really going, but it doesn't need to quite be angst so IDK AAAAAA. Fluff is okay sometimes, although Ozy isn't exactly 'fluffy' most of the time and it's a 50/50 with him and his fickle moods. Smut is nice to write every now and then too because there can be a lot of characterization in intimate moments like this. I don't think I have any kind of definite preference when I think about it -rubs chin-

Plot or memes — Memes usually (or just throwing unprompted stuff in my inbox)! My attention span is absolutely terrible. I like plotting but I have a tendency to slowly lose interest if it goes on for a while as I like getting the barebones as to what we're going to do, have some discussion, then jumping straight into making a thread. Discussing things as we go along and have things already started is just more fascinating for me.

Long or short replies — I loooove long replies, but those tend to be done at a slower pace unless the muse is really gripping me by the throat. I remember the days when I wasn't working and I could get through like ten threads a day or something but thinking about that now has me like, "how did I even do this?" So a nice mixture of short and long is nice! That way I can pick and choose what I feel like replying to that day.

Best time to write — In the weeee hours of the night mainly -- and with music! ////

Are you like your muse — Not even remotely amg. Ozy's too much of everything. He's loud, he's arrogant, and his confidence levels are off the charts on a good day whereas I prefer to be left to my devices, avoiding conversation or faking it till I make it with people, and then dying when I get home because boy was that too much extroverted activity for me FKJSDFHKSDFDS

Tagged by: @lobiita (thank you turbo!)

Tagging: Take it!

Why I'm not watching the owl house series finale:

The Owl House, as a series, is just kind of disappointing. Like the writing is just bad. And it's frustrating, because it has so much potential, and then just does almost absolutely nothing with it. I watched the first season and thought it was ok, with the beginning of season 2 especially drawing me in. It kept hinting at bigger world building reveals and plot points and then... Never did anything with them. Things that could have been interesting are brought up but then never elaborated on. And I kept watching, hoping for them to expand on it. But it just never happened. I realized with one episode left, I wouldn't get what I wanted. And it wasn't just because the show got cancelled; the writing was just... Bad.

Some smaller examples include Darius and his relationship to the past Golden Guard, which could have helped explain his motives and build on his character and relationships with other characters. He was one of my faves too lol so maybe I'm salty about that, but the pieces were there, they just never did anything with them.

And the frustrating thing is this wasn't just with one of their million characters they had and never actually expanded on, this shit happened with major plot points and world building aspects, like idk, your main villain?? And like, the literal giant organism everyone lives on???

Speaking of which... The Titan :))). The TITAN. THE THING THE WORLD IS LITERALLY BUILT UP ON. KING'S DAD. Is never properly expanded on. I've seen people talk about the finale and I think they elaborate more in it? But to wait until the finale it just feels like there could have been so much more done. What about all the murals on the walls, the mysterious circumstances, the fact that everyone is literally living on what appears to be a giant corpse? That's fucking cool as hell. And they hint that there is more. But they never really do anything with it. It's just touched on shallowly and we never get any real answers. Its disappointing.

Second example oh boy here we go.... The main villain of the show, the bastard himself, Belos. The fact that his backstory with Caleb was explained through blurry portraits that most people wouldn't even notice (Hollow Mind) is just like, what? And a few words from Masha. But that's it. The most enjoyable part of the second special for me was when Belos was having fucked up hallucinations and literally digging up more corpses and destroying another grimwalker and shit, because he's fucked up and complicated and has potential to be an awesome villain. And showing that is like fuck yeah! This is interesting! But they don't expand on it enough, they always seem to cut away before they really actually explain anything. If half your story has to be told through tweets and podcasts to make any sense, then... You simply aren't writing your story well. I need actual content. That's why I love the fan content for this show so much, because they expand on all the things the show never actually does.

There are so many characters, so many plot threads they just do nothing with, and it's frustrating. I know it's just a kids show and I'm probably putting too much energy into this and need to touch some grass or whatever. This isn't even all that articulate and I could go on about how willow and gus get sidelined, etc. But it's been said before. It's just frustrating seeing people say there is nothing wrong with the show at all/blaming it all on getting cancelled when really it could've been so good. But they just... Dropped the ball.

hello. seeing as some of you liked the previous analysis here's the other one i did. not solely on radar but very radar-centric bc of the nature of this scene. anyways under the cut is an analysis of this scene: (copy and pasted from a twt thread)

OKAY you know what. ive already been crazy about this scene to multiple people already but i need to post this publicly. anyways thread abojt this scene GO i can say something about literally every line so that's what im going to do atp. "you'll never change"... this is a particularly interesting line to me for some reason because it doesnt Sound like something youd expect radar to say. not only does this immediately reveal that he Knows Stella but also implies she was pretty much the same in the past. also.

- once again this is not ooc for radar to say but unexpected based on what the player knows about him as a character up to this point

- this is what somehow gets stella to recognize him. even though she says he looked Familiar this is what makes her go Oh Yeah I Know You

"oh I thought I recognized you! you're the quitter who used to work on my inventory management team!" this is another particularly interesting to Me. for one it does give the backstory that he did quit himself - she didn't fire him or anything. quitting was radar's decision. whatever the circumstances were, though, stella seems to be clearly a bit resentful of it (or at the very least it stands out to her), enough to where she defines radar as a "quitter" and that's how she remembers him. notably, when she says this his expression quickly changes from kind of neutral to slightly frustrated which is. hm. whatever happened between them seems to have left them on bad terms as both radar and stella seem really. hostile

"do you two know eachother?" despite one of the main writers saying that radar's worked foe jesse for abojt a year, this has never come up. it's possible thag it was just Never Important, but it could also be that radar's trying to hide his past with champion city. which makes sense given how ashamed he seems when admitting he used to work for champion city. whatever happened between radar and stella is clearly kind of a sore subject it seems

"i don't know what he told you to get on this little 'team', but I don't think he even knows how to use a sword" see this also has a lot of relevance. the first clause kind of implies that stella thinks there's no way radar could have earned a place on the team of his own merits. like she thinks that he basically either had to manipulate, lie, beg, whatever - she doesn't think he's worthy of being there. and this is particularly interesting because earlier on in the episode radar specifically has to ask to go with them. like originally nobody considered bringing him.

and then she says "i don't think he even knows how to use a sword" which. i have said this before but mcsm seems to operate in a very survival oriented society so not knowing something like that is seen as like. Odd. essentially seeing radar as weak. and this was New information too so shes basically. exposing yhat fact to everyone else. and you can tell radar's ashamed of that fact too from how he reacts when she says that! he KNOWS he's not strong and that he doesn't know how to fight properly and is 100% aware of that fact, stella's just using that to what seems like get people to turn against him (???) or whatever. she's not talking to radar because he Knows this, she's telling jesse. idk what else to say about that really but its. hm

also "you don't know anything, stella, so zip it" again! unusually hostile from radar but like this and in later lines its clear he's trying to prove himself and overcompensate a bit

"ooh how do you put up with that little voice of his, jesse? i never could" not entirely sure what this means open to suggestions but twice she makes comments on how squeaky his voice is (later in the episode she calls it "shrill"). unsure what this means really

"not everyone needs to know how to swing a sword, stella - radar has a lot of his own skills" something abojt this option. even though radar's not physically strong he is fairly smart snd thats something Very intrgral to his character I Think.

"yeah! thanks jesse" almost came across as if radar was struggling to stand up for jimself. he's just like me fr

"can't wait to see 'em. ill call you if the admin needs to file anything" once again she views radar being unable to fight as a flaw that overrides his other abilities (...interesting considering she herself never directly fights shit really). like she's saying basically Oh yeah filing and organizing is the only thing youre good for!! like OKAY... not even going to go into on hownautistic coded radar is but like. lord

also the way he says "...i appreciate that" is a lot more like. idk how to describe it but his va delivers it in a much softer tone than when he thanks jesse a few seconds earlierniys like. hm idk "im not the person she thinks i am anymore. ive changed, and i can prove it" who is the person she thinks you are radar. not only is this alluding to his whole Yeah I Have To Overcompensate And Be Strong!!! thing but also he seems to want to impress jesse in particular

"i can be different. braver" girlie you do not have to change yourself for otber people.. do not like what this person picked for the final choice so analysis thread over. but as a general thing this is Really.interestinf and important to me and i wish this was expanded on more anyways. im normal now. original tweet thread here: https://twitter.com/rival_trevor/status/1683476048715849734?s=20

what does your URL mean, and why did you choose it? what genre do you primarily favour? what are you top five universes to RP within? what universe have you never even considered writing in, and why?

My URL is (loosely) based on lyrics from Florence & The Machine's song "Daffodil", especially the line "made myself mythical, tried to be real." I sorta spun that one around in my head, came up with realmyths, saw it wasn't taken and voila! LOL I chose it because I think the line (and the URL) fit the majority of my muses, in that, even though so many of them are larger than life (mythical, sometimes literally) they do their best to remain as down to earth as possible (real). At least, that's how it fits my view of my muses. It also works in that they are (within their own canons) living, breathing mythical/larger than life beings. So it sorta has that meaning as well.

I tend to favor sci-fi/fantasy/modern fantasy, as you can probably tell from my muse selections lol. But I do love a good mystery and historical fiction/period drama now and then.

Top 5 universes to RP within: 1. fandomless fantasy/sci-fi-I feel like it's interesting to have characters who are mythical/immortal beings interacting with everyday people, or other supernatural beings. It's just something I have loads of fun with. 2. Doctor Who - I feel like the nature of the show means there are so many possibilities for threads. Obviously I currently have the 13th and Redacted Doctors, though I'm also planning on giving Persephone (and probably other muses of mine as well) a Doctor Who verse where she's a companion. IDK why but that's long been a dream of mine. I just need someone's Doctor muse to volunteer lol. I also plan on adding more Doctor Who canons and maybe an OC? I just love the show and the world created within it. 3. Bridgerton - What can I say? I love a good period drama. And Bridgerton has tons more diversity than the average period drama. I love all the muses I have from the show and might add some OCs or more canons in the future. 4. The Witcher- shoutout to @okruchlodu because I adore our Yen & Ciri threads. Overall, I really enjoy RPing all of my Witcher muses. And feel the world is an intriguing one. 5. GOT/ASOIAF - What can I say? I love Daenerys & Arya, especially in the books. And I love bringing them to life within that world. So I had to mention it, even though I don't have as many threads going as I'd like to lol. Honorable mention goes to Arcane, and a shoutout to @ferinehuntress, @shimmerbeasts, @jynxd for being lovely lovely humans and keeping my Arcane muses, particularly Vi, active. I do truly love the world of the show, and while I am not yet as immersed in it as the others mentioned above (s2 where are you? I feel like once it comes I'll get a ton of muse lol) , I still feel connected to it and that's in large part due to our threads. So thank you <3

What universes have I never considered writing in? Hmmmm...probably fandom-wise, Stranger Things & Supernatural because I tried to get into ST twice, and failed. And as for supernatural, I once watched all of s1 & half of s2 and bailed. So I'm just not super into either show. That said, I wouldn't say no to RPing with muses in those fandoms, because I believe in the creativity and ingenuity of the RPC and that muns here could bring their characters to life super well and make me interested. So...yeah. As far as fandomless/general settings go, anything that's super normal is a no go for me. I feel like I struggle to make threads (and writing in general really) interesting when all that's happening is....regular life, you know? Like a thread where no one's supernatural, no sci-fi shenanigans, no mystery, we're not in the past, etc. would just not work for me, because I'd struggle to keep it interesting for both me and my RP partner. So there are no coffee-shop AUs in my future lol. Though I never say never. hahah.

🌈⭐️💻🌼🎙️🎀📚📌🏆 ( but also all these apply me @ u )

🐝  *  ―  𝑺𝑯𝑶𝑼𝑻-𝑶𝑼𝑻𝑺 𝑶𝑭 𝑨𝑾𝑬𝑺𝑶𝑴𝑬𝑵𝑬𝑺𝑺.  / accepting / @greymount

🌈 ― aesthetically pleasing blog: @azmenka and not even because of Alex...but maybe a teeny bit. I just really love the ocean and vikingesque themed aesthetic, and I'm still in awe of Hannah's mobile header even now. It's just too good!

⭐️ ― convincing portrayal of a canon character: @harringtontm of whom I am resisting @ them for multiple categories. The sheer amount of effort my girl roro has put into her Steve is nothing short of magnificent. His speech, his mannerisms, his reactions and actions, are so well crafted that the Duffers would be envious of roros portrayal of him.

💻 ― excellent writing: @sinfyre Ozzy, my beloved. Everything they write is worthy of being in a bestseller. It's poetic yet still easy to understand. Ozzy strikes a very good balance with it and I could easily fool myself that I'm reading a Madeline Miller book.

🌼 ― creative headcanons: @spynorth reading Lucas headcanons often shows how much effort my m8 puts into their research. Idk this muse but I feel like I do just from reading Lucas headcanons etc and it is one of the magic things about Lucas. They're just so dedicated to exploring their characters and I too feel that on a personal level. Our blorbos are our kids we didn't ask for.

🎙️ ― great to talk to: @clutchofmuses if I need to scream about tyrell siblings, Emily is the person to do it with. She's just so enthusiastic about them that it brings out mine too...not that I ever needed a nudge lol. But she always compliments and screams at me over the things I write for her and I'm just living for her friendship tbh. I knew I wanted to keep her right away.

📚 ― nice threads to read: I'm going to say two people and you can't stop me. @desiredprince just writes a really good lestat okay. everything they write is pretty much pure gold and I am here to devour it all. the duality of soft man and absolute lunatic is stunning. secondly, @n1atruc because it's heretic and I don't want a dash without them on it. the nuance in their crowley is an utter joy to read and how he's just so unapologetically him no matter the setting is chefs kiss levels of excellence.

🎀 ― all-around kind person: @outlawiism / @darehearts there is literally no one nicer in the Tumblr rpc than Lucy. We've been mutuals for a few years now and she always has positive things to say, and is such a good friend to those in need of one. She will always build you up when you're feeling down too. We truly aren't worthy of her. I remember a while back that she actually got burnt out from literally being too nice (I think this is correct? Plz tell me if otherwise), and I hope she has a better balance of it now. She deserves to chill.

📌 ― a staple on the dash: @musenssang whom I have known for years is pretty much on all of my dashes, and I can't imagine a dash without Lise on it. And like Lise knows so much about history so her asoiaf headcanons are far more interesting than grrms. I said what I said.

🏆 ― 10/10 blog, would recommend: @shadowcovcn for being one of the few people who will always offer to make a verse or find a way to interact with my muses even if they are from polar opposites universes and fandoms. Ace always finds a way and I admire them greatly for that, and it makes you realise that they really care tbh. I love ace. 😭

Have you ever thought about durge sibling angst but as the younger sibling? Idk much about bg1 and 2 but in bg3 it's cannon that that protagonist was morally good and a bhaal spawn and was the previous ruler of the gate before wylls dad but died when bhaal came back to life 20ish years ago. If your durge is old enough and has been in the gate for long enough, why didn't bg1 protag notice the cult to their father under their feet? Why didn't they save their siblings? Why didn't they care?

I actually don't think I have and I'm not sure why now that you mention it.

as far as the timeline with respect to bhaal's resurrection, it's a huge damn mess that I'm pretty sure the game just handwaves for convenience, I don't think theres an actual answer. So the "canon" protagonist of BG1 & BG2 is "Abdel Adrian" or "Gorion's Ward" on the wiki.

And he died exactly 10 years before the events of the game in 1482. the dark urge is mostly left up to the player, BUT the "canonical" version of Dark Urge was operating under Bhaal's influence by 1477. the ARG where Durge was revealed has them committing a string of murders in Baldur's Gate in 1477.

this part is just my headcanon but it's also the closest we ever get to a "canon" age for Durge; iirc Sceleritas says he was sent to serve Durge when they reached the "age of maturity," meaning Durge has to be at least 18 by 1477, meaning they have to be at least 33 by the events of the game. If you assume the string of murders from the ARG is Durge's first outing as a Bhaalspawn, which is my personal hc, that would make them exactly 33.

As for why Abdel Adrian doesn't notice the cult, that's an extremely good question. also Durge & Abdel Adrian being alive at the same time kinda throws a whole wrench in the resurrection plot in the first place, but you can potentially handwave it by saying Durge is special.

But ignoring all the timeline weirdness, there's a tweet thread from one of the creators of the Forgotten Realms that basically says even after choosing to reject Bhaal, Abdel Adrian was still under Bhaal's influence to some extent, so you can potentially use that as an explanation;

basically "abdel adrian rejecting bhaal was actually part of bhaal's grand plan all along" & you could theorize that Bhaal's remaining influence over Adrian kept him from discovering the cult's operations. (and i have no idea what exactly this means for Durge post-game but I have thought abt it)

imo it makes the most sense for the Cult of Bhaal to have been operating largely in secret before Bhaal's resurrection. For what it's worth, they are technically STILL operating in secret during the events of the game. Even though to the player their involvement is extremely obvious & blatant, narratively the average citizen of Baldur's Gate isn't aware of the resurgence of the cult. and even in the game, even though you KNOW the Cult of Bhaal is involved, you still have to jump through a ton of hoops to get into their temple, and that's during a period of high activity. Hell, Orin literally invites you there and you STILL have to do a bunch of bullshit to get in.

Like obviously the parts of the city we get to explore feel very dense & crowded, & people joke abt the temple of Bhaal being three feet away from Cazador's dungeon, but I think you have to chalk some of that up to quirks of the genre. It would be much more realistic to have a giant empty city with all the points of interest spread out, and a giant empty sewer with the temple of Bhaal hidden super far away. but no game is going to make a bunch of assets just to fill space & it would drive players absolutely nuts if the map was filled with Empty Warehouses 1-49

all that is to say, I think if the Cult is actively trying to lay low, especially during a period where they're, say, planning for the resurrection of their dead god (and obviously they're only going to have a handful of very devoted worshippers at this time, bc their god is, y'know, dead) I think they're capable of more secrecy than we see in the game. especially since they're known to use changelings & doppelgangers.

additionally, even if you know the Cult of Bhaal is back in business, I think knowing they're around & actually being able to find and enter their temple without getting yourself killed are two different things.

while abdel adrian's involvement/knowledge of Durge is up to speculation & honestly i would love to see more people delve into the game's lore & answer these questions. did Durge look up to gorion's ward as a hero when they were young in baldur's gate? did they always feel a connection to the story of The Hero of Baldur's Gate & not know why? how did they feel abt Sarevok in the legends? did they cross paths with Abdel Adrian once like two ships passing in the night, not realizing they were actually siblings?

my personal take is that abdel adrian just didn't know abt the Cult's resurgence or Durge. Or even if he did know abt the Cult beginning operations again, IMO he was under the impression that Bhaal's divine power was hidden away beyond Bhaal's reach & he shouldn't be a threat, so even if his cult is acting up again, I doubt it's the first time they've tried to convince people Bhaal is definitely for sure coming back this time believe us. He probably had people keeping an eye on it, and tried to counteract the cult when he could, but it wouldn't be the most pressing issue on his plate bc he had a whole ass city to run. and again, exactly how much influence Bhaal still had over Adrian at this point is up to speculation, but he had at least SOME.