— episode 50

-> HQ AS TAYLOR SWIFT LYRICS +

summary just the vibes of t.swift songs/lyrics and who (i think) match with the haikyuu guys ♡

-> i srsly missed them sm omg, clownin (also im rusty pls cri), maybe one day we'll write more on t.s songs bc dang she's killin it rn

(also edit bc i just came back to check this again before posting but, i thought it was fitting bc ya girl got eras tour tickets!)

(( edit two - you can see from above when i started working on this, came back and came back again rn, bc sis is making friendship bracelets rn for next month aa! and i got inspired by this lol - i also just have impeccable taste ))

featuring kageyama || oikawa || akaashi || kenma || atsumu ♡

+ i got other stuff ready to post promise, i just needed this out there +

KING OF MY HEART

"and we rule the kingdom inside my room, 'cause all the boys and their expensive cars... never took me quite where you do and all at once you are the one i have been waiting for, king of my heart, body and soul"

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───

it's not easy moving on. you'd been scorned before, and had your heart broken. it wasn't a secret to know you'd been on guard, had your heart under lock and key. created a tall, ivory tower that you made sure no one else would think of scaling. that was before you mer him. it was implausibly easy. how everything fell into place when you were just within his vicinity. maybe being hurt wasn't so bad, because if you didn't face them, they wouldn't have led you to him, here and now. he wasn't just the king of the court anymore, another invisible crown bestowed onto him as he climbed; holding the key to you.

- kageyama ♡

LOVER

"i take this magnetic force of a man to be my... my hearts been borrowed and yours has been blue, alls well that ends well to end up with you, swear to be overdramatic and true to my... lover"

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───

you knew he was a star, anyone with eyes could see. he was destined for great things, and you were a planet following, orbiting around his sun. you'd always follow, for as long as he wanted. your greatest pleasure though was with the mundane. you'd take the stardom, the fame... but you lived for the monotonous. where it was just you and him. you hoped it would last forever. hand in hand, nothing would stop you. whether it was cheering for him on the sidelines, or laying beside him at night, you'd love him for eternity.

- oikawa ♡

GORGEOUS

"ocean blue eyes, looking in mine, i feel like i might sink and drown and die, you're so gorgeous i can't say anything to your face, cause look at your face; gorgeous"

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───

starstruck, awestruck, wonderstruck. any and every 'struck' you could think of, and thats the feelings that grew the moment you locked eyes on him. it was such a cliche, a crowded room with a bunch of other bodies, and yet you seemed to naturally gravitate towards him. love at first sight. a concept so wildly unbelievable and yet so captivating, that the most famous love story revolved around it. yet here you were, stunned into silence, because this was what you were experiencing now. completely out of your comfort zone, never had anyone ever made you feel like this before; but what could you say? he's gorgeous.

- akaashi ♡

YOU BELONG WITH ME

"i'm the one who makes you laugh when you know you're about to cry, i know your favourite songs and you tell me about your dreams, think i know where you belong, think i know it's with me"

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───

it's not easy being in love with your best friend. you knew practically everything about him. so why was he with her when you were always in his corner from the beginning? the late night gaming sessions and text messages. she just wasn't good for him. she didn't understand him like you did, and his calls and conversations all but proved how much better you could be for him. so why? you didn't need to ponder long, because soon enough he was at your doorstep late into the night, confessing how it was a mistake, how he ended things with her and if he could come inside to talk.

- kenma ♡

CRUEL SUMMER

"and i snuck in through the garden gate, every night that summer just to seal my fate, and i scream for whatever it's worth 'i love you! aint that the worst thing you ever heard?' he looks up grinning like a devil"

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───

you had heard about him. heard about how he wasn't good enough for you, and that you shouldn't get involved. you never were a good listener, and soon enough you became involved with him. despite the little voice in your head telling you to let go, you couldn't. it wasn't supposed to be forever, and you were okay with that. initially anyway. catching feelings for something that would end in disaster... but you couldn't end it. not yet. just how deep did you dive into whatever this was? you couldn't pinpoint when it went south, but did that matter? you were too far gone. the anticipation grew the longer this lasted, and in a bout of stress, you blurted out your confession. not your finest moment, and you were sure he'd shun you for good. turn his back on you and walk away, leaving you to mend your broken heart. he didn't though. he just stood there, with his stupid smirk that made you fall for him to begin with, confessing the same words you all but screamed at him moments ago.

- atsumu ♡

i notice more and more things every time i rewatch parts of dark road. like how impressive it was that both bragi and xehanort figured out baldr was a lying villain in such a short amount of time spent with him. (bc i sure didn’t, but in hindsight i totally get why their instincts were acting up even that early.)

•baldr shows up in scala and meets with everyone for the first time since Stuff Happened; tells the others what’s been going on (false edition); seems to be coping with such tragedy really unusually well; immediately takes everyone to the coliseum

•xehanort eraqus and bragi split off into a group together, while baldr goes with urd and hermod, presumably both groups are fighting in the same area but not quite together as one

•the groups are briefly reunited for like 2 seconds before they’re split up into the same trios again in the underworld

•xehanort eraqus and bragi run into baldr (alone??? where are urd and hermod??? did anyone else think this was suspicious even on their first time seeing the scene???) for like 2 more seconds in the middle of battle

•baldr tells x + e to go on ahead and that he and bragi can handle this ((why exactly are you trying to separate their group, hmm??? why single out one person?? why do you think having two people fight the beast instead of three or four is a good idea?? especially because you yourself claimed you were still recovering + rusty from a week of downtime in the infirmary??? and what’s the hurry for somebody to go on ahead and find the classmates? they’re not on a time limit here, why not take your time and ensure the safety of the whole group??? mad sus…)) i thought this plan seemed illogical the first time i saw this scene but i never suspected blatant malicious intent

•xehanort agrees to this plan. but he addresses bragi and baldr differently before parting ways. he says ‘bragi, be careful. baldr, i’ll see you later. count on it.’ (haha…COUNT on it.) why might he say this? why not say both things to both of them? almost like he doesn’t trust baldr enough to leave him alone with bragi…

•i noticed this strange difference in how xehanort spoke to them the first time around, but i didn’t know what it meant. in hindsight, i realize it’s because xehanort had already started suspecting baldr… but didn’t say anything to anyone or protest this plan. you fool. this is why people gotta communicate and act before it’s too late. a part of xehanort already knew he was saying goodbye to his friend for the very last time, and yet he still left him alone with that killer polar bear. sigh

•so then xehanort and eraqus run into urd and hermod, dizzy and confused, lying on the ground (CRAZY sus.) honestly this didn’t even turn out to be something baldr was responsible for, for all we know, bc otherwise he either would’ve killed them outright there or they would’ve been able to tell x + e that baldr had attacked them. unless baldr did something to them to momentarily knock them out (and make sure they wouldn’t remember it) so they wouldn’t interfere with his plan to go single out bragi.

•alternatively, all three of them were knocked out/ at least kinda messed up upon crash landing in the underworld, but baldr recovered much quicker than the other two because he’s pumped up on darkness adrenaline. evil juice. those powers that he’s accepted make him superhuman or something. so he got up first, feeling just fine, and instead of taking care of his friends, he left them behind. in any case, he must’ve purposefully separated himself from urd and hermod

•xehanort’s probably thinking something along these lines at the same time. mentions to eraqus that there’s something he’s concerned about. does not elaborate at present on what that thing might be. at all. why, xehanort. why.

•xehanort has urd and hermod go after bragi and baldr though. good work xehanort. it didn’t end up working out but it was definitely the right idea

•edit: and xehanort specifically says ‘make sure bragi’s all right.’ didn’t even mention baldr!! like he was worried specifically about bragi’s safety!!! man

•meanwhile, bragi and baldr are on their own, still fighting the beast. baldr is wiping the floor with cerberus. (presumably bragi as a secret keyblade master was doing pretty well too; no wonder the two of them took it down so easily.) baldr says something weird about how since the darkness here is so thick, bragi’s normal battle strategies and powers are nulled. friendly advice, or a threat?

•baldr seems terribly powerful for a guy in recovery. for any underclassman at all. and terribly cheerful and confident for someone who should be clouded by intense grief and guilt right about now. something doesn’t add up here… and that’s when bragi knows for certain something is terribly wrong with baldr.

so yeah, basically, they barely spent any time with this guy between him getting overtaken by darkness and them realizing that he had been overtaken by darkness. everyone else was totally fooled, and i can’t completely blame them for wanting to only see the good in their friend.

but xehanort and bragi were totally on the ball that day. maybe it’s bc xehanort is apparently some hardcore empath/mind reader and luxu is just way too good at detecting dark influences after years and years of his job. but i also think the two of them are just smart people in general

still wonder if bragi had any strange suspicions even before getting to olympus, and if that somehow factored into him being weirdly assertive about the way the teams would be divided…

hockey ask: 11, 31, and 40 :D

I feel really bad since I wrote this at like 1 am 3 days ago and its been sitting in my drafts since I forgot to post it. Sorry for the late response.

11. If you were to write a biography about your favorite player, what would be the book’s title?

So the joke answer to this is @Jarry Who Does Your Brows? And Other Hockey Questions. The real answer to this questions is I don’t really have a strong favorite player, or more accurately 90% of the current Pens roster is my favorite player and I will fixate on several players and declare them my favorite on a game by game/season by season basis. This season’s faves were Jarry (of course Mouse Boy has been arbitrarily my favorite since I first got a glimpse of his eyebrows in 2017), baby boy Marino, and a rotating choice of ZAR/Rusty/Jake/Canner/Tanev/you get the idea. If I was gonna write a biography for a player tho it’d probs be about Sid and it’d be something uncreative like Oh Captain My Captain. I love Geno but I don’t think he’s ever gonna be my favorite. That being said, I did come up with the title The A to his C which sounds like the title of a romance novel or a super long angsty fanfic but I imagined it as a book about Geno and Sid’s friendship from Geno’s POV or focusing on Geno’s side of their relationship.

31. What’s your least favorite hockey tradition?

Wait I’m supposed to care about/know traditions now? Ugh. Ummmm I’m seriously blanking. I think the fan thing of wearing the same shirt/not washing your jersey or having an unlucky jersey is dumb. I know the minute I start letting myself think things like that its gonna add a level of crazy to watching hockey that I do not want to introduce into my life. Having said that it only applies to fans. The Pens’ irl third jerseys have a strong chaos aura and I do not trust them. So like players having cursed jerseys? I’d believe it. Fan jerseys? Eh. For the game itself I’m not fond of ceremonial puck drops/the anthems. I get why they’re there but I can do without them and I often end up skipping them bc I’m late to the game.

40. Give me an unpopular opinion about hockey in general.

Oh god I don’t know. I try to stay out of fandom discourse and I don’t give a shit about teams that aren’t my own which means I miss a lot and I like it that way. My unpopular opinion is I think the hype around good players like McDavid and Mathews is a little overrated. Then next one bullshit and the franchise savior media narratives are just bullshit. You can have the most talented players in the world and if you can’t build a team around them or if you don’t have the right coach then nothing is gonna come of it. I get that I got into hockey like a decade after Crosby saved hockey in Pittsburgh and he literally lived up to the media narrative and junk but that’s honestly an exception rather than the norm. McDavid and Mathews are good players. They may even be generational players and future hall of famers once they’ve had ten years in the league to develop like Sid has had. But the idea that you’re gonna get one or two high draft picks and next year you’re gonna win the cup is silly. Its possible, but not probable. The Pens were doing well this year before quarantine not because of our superstars (though they have helped) but because the team and the coaching were solid so that when one player got injured, another stepped up. This is a team sport and the media likes to build narratives around specific players and I don’t like that.

Hockey Asks (you-gotta-actually-think-about-it edition)

Diath & the Waterdeep Underground

Okay!! So!! It’s high time that I actually got around to cross-posting this over here!! I can’t believe it’s taken me so long!!

This is a theory that I’d been working on since *wobbly hand motion* mid- to late Season Three? I polished it up enough to post about two months ago but only ever got around to doing so on the DCA subreddit (bc that’s where there was more activity at the time) and always intended to get it over here as well and then just. never did.

So! Here’s the theory, as originally presented two months ago. I intend to add an edit/update at some point with all the new evidence from Episodes 116 and 117 but I haven’t had the time or energy to do so yet.

So! Without further ado! My “Diath’s got a history with Waterdeep’s criminal underground” theory!

(Note: due to the recent complications re: Tumblr And Links and the fact that I want this post to show up in the tag, all the timestamps which were linked in the subreddit version have been changed to URLs in this one. It’s a bit clunky to read but it’s the best I can do rn *shrug*)

I think Diath has a history with some part of the criminal underground in Waterdeep. Specifically, that he was part of it.

Diath’s past is something about which we know very, very little. He very rarely talks about it and usually in the broadest possible terms when he does; Episode 73 is the exception to this, with the stories he shares there being the most detail he has shared about events in his past. There is, however, one consistency which can be identified on the occasions when he does talk about it – he only ever talks about his time on the streets as a part of his childhood. This is not a solely in-universe thing either – Jared and Chris both do the same. (I believe so, at least. If I’m incorrect, please let me know and maybe provide me a timestamp/link to when whatever they say is said, if you can! It’d be useful information to have on hand for future theorising in this regard) Diath very much seems to be a precision oriented person by nature. His wording of things is often very deliberate. Therefore, with his time begging on the streets being specifically referred to as a part of his childhood, along with the meta-aspect of this additionally being consistent out of universe, we can surmise that he was no longer in the position of begging on the streets after his childhood.

If we’re to assume that childhood is including his teenage years (which seems a reasonable assumption, with how often Diath is teased about being a child post-Youth Potion) then Diath was, presumably, off the streets either at or around the age of eighteen/nineteen.

In Episode 73, when telling the story of how he met Strix, Diath states that he “was just trying [his] hand at being an adventurer” (https://youtu.be/6SuM1qebiXM?t=19m29s), indicating that they met relatively early into his adventuring career, which we can use to make a rough estimate of what age he began adventuring, admittedly with a lot of guesstimating.

We know that he was twenty eight at the beginning of the show. As of Episode 1, the Wafflecrew had been together for a “short while”, which we know was long enough to have been on a few adventures together but short enough that they were still figuring out group dynamics and the like – I would place this period of time as somewhere between two months and a year. We also know that he and Strix had known each other for “a few years” before they met Evelyn and Paultin – a period of time which I would place as being roughly three or four years, as five or more feels too many to be accurately described as “a few”.

Therefore, working with the largest numbers estimated above, it’s possible that Diath began adventuring somewhere in the range of five years prior to Episode 1, at age twenty three.

With the previous conclusion of Diath having no longer been begging at eighteen/nineteen and this new conclusion of him having not started adventuring until twenty three, this gives us a four/five year window in which to wonder ‘what exactly was he doing?’

But why think that he may have been involved in crime during that potential period? I have a few reasons, which are as follows:

Firstly, it has been alluded to on multiple occasions throughout the show that Diath has been in trouble with the law in Waterdeep either a significant number of times or one very memorable and impactful time. While I haven’t gone through the whole show to track down every reference to this, mostly because I don’t remember which episodes they’re all in and I don’t have the time (or, admittedly, patience) to go searching for them, I have got a very early one – in Episode 7, when he’s being arrested by the guards in Vallaki, Jared remarks that this is “not [Diath’s] first time [being arrested]” (https://youtu.be/STnBV8C61vM?t=19m52s).  Additionally, Jared mentioned in an Idle Champions interview that Diath “technically […] has a criminal record.” (https://www.twitch.tv/videos/292683322?t=38m03s) While that could be a reference to the times that Diath (and the rest of the Wafflecrew) have got into trouble over the course of the show, the use of the phrase “criminal record” implies, to me, that that is a circumstance that is rather more official than most of the trouble the ‘crew have been in. Additionally, when he triggers the trap door in Castle Ravenloft and gets dropped into a dungeon cell in Episode 30, Diath’s response of being sad is explicitly noted to be because “[he] never wanted to be behind bars again.” (https://youtu.be/Y03julVmXNE?t=40m27s) This could quite likely be linked to Diath’s issues with cages (as displayed in Ironslag (https://youtu.be/dS_QMZOO5Og?t=1h4m33s)) but, again, the wording leads me to think there’s other possible connections – that phrase is usually used to refer to being in a jail cell or in prison, after all. Diath’s response to being in the cell is also quite markedly different to his reaction to being in the cage – frustration and sadness, as opposed to a borderline panic attack. The two are not necessarily mutually exclusive, though; Diath’s dislike of ending up in that cell could be related both to past trouble with the law and to whatever his trauma regarding cages is.

Secondly, in Episode 53, it’s revealed that Diath was sold by his family when he was young enough that he barely remembers them (https://youtu.be/jZrd26ImgyU?t=56m49s). A human brain generally starts laying down retrievable memories at roughly the age of three, so the presence of any memories of them at all means that Diath must have been at least that old when those events transpired. We also know from later reveals that he remembers at least enough to know his father’s name – Ashton – though this was clearly a later recollection as he did not recognise the name at all when first confronted with it when given Gutter by the dworc in Citadel Adbar. With that information, I would estimate that Diath was between the ages of three and six when he was sold. Additionally, as far as we know, he came from a working class family with an adventurer father.

Why is this significant information to this theory in particular? Simple.

Diath can read and write.

There is no point in his backstory that we currently know of where he could’ve learned or been taught those skills. Even had his birth family had access to the skills or resources to teach him, he wasn’t with them, and spent a large portion of his childhood begging on the streets. Diath having either of those skills, let alone both, is odd. And in addition to reading and writing, he’s also got a fairly refined speech pattern and even knows some words that Evelyn, a noble-born child primarily raised in a temple, doesn’t (see: the stationary exchange in episode 94) which is, again, pretty unusual for someone who seemingly went straight from beggar to adventurer. It’s possible that Diath is self-taught but it’s just as possible, if not more likely, that there’s some unknown period in his past where there was someone who taught him. The questions left to us in that scenario, then, are who and why? Knowing Diath and how things generally go for him, it’s unlikely it was someone performing an act of altruism. In concert with the other possible pieces of evidence for this theory, it doesn’t seem too out there to speculate that he was, perhaps, taught because it could be a useful skill for him to have for whoever he was working for. This could also explain his speech pattern, as it could account for him being around a person, or people, who spoke like that enough to start doing it himself, something which would be much more unlikely on the streets.

Thirdly, it seems to have been implied that, in certain parts of Waterdeep at least, Diath has a reputation that paints him as a thief, or someone with the potential to be one. In Episode 73, when talking about how he and Strix met the rest of the Wafflecrew, Diath is very, very certain that the hostility and accusation from the innkeeper was because of and directed at him (https://youtu.be/6SuM1qebiXM?t=25m16s). The only elaboration that he gives on being so sure that the innkeeper was accusing him specifically and not targeting him and Strix because of Strix being a tiefling is stating that "when you stay in Waterdeep long enough, doing the things you do, you do develop a sort of... reputation, either by- either through truth or not.” (https://youtu.be/6SuM1qebiXM?t=23m59s). He doesn’t actually tell us what that reputation is or give any hints as to how it may have come about. While stereotypes could arguably be at play, given that the Rusty Pommel was apparently fairly seedy and in a seedy part of town, it seems unlikely that Diath was the only former street kid or the only rogue in the establishment. His certainty implies it was something about him specifically that caused that incident, especially with the comment about reputations. In Episode 90, Evelyn of Shar’s use of the fear spell reveals to us that one of Diath’s worst fears is Awful!Diath, his mirrored self. Specifically "He hates seeing that that is what everyone else sees him as, and that's what he could have been, that he tries to fight every day to not be." (https://youtu.be/PDG4KidCIXU?t=1h28m48s) This fear is likely linked to the aforementioned implied reputation. What is of particular interest to this theory, however, is the latter part of that sentence – “that’s what he could have been, that he tries to fight every day not to be.” While this could simply refer to how Diath could have taken a different path growing up, it could also mean that it was a path he had already started down, and turned back from. With that possibility in mind, it’s also entirely possible that the reputation he seemingly has that caused the conflict in the Rusty Pommel is not, as would seem the first interpretation of his statement from what we know of Diath, an untruthful reputation of being a thief, but rather a truthfully earned one of being a criminal – after all, everyday people who don’t know Diath would have no way of knowing about his personal moral code against stealing. If he had a reputation as a criminal, there would be no reason for people not to assume that this would include thievery. The ambiguity of his wording, “doing the things you do”, could also lend credence to this possibility. Diath is very good at keeping secrets and using an ambiguous phrase to not technically lie is something he could very easily have been doing with that statement.

My final reasoning is that, since the return to Waterdeep but particularly in Episode 102, we have been shown that Diath has a pretty wide network of contacts – referred to by Chris as his “society of confederates” – to the point that with their help he was able to rally the city guard to catch the Xanathar Guild members who stole Waffles within hours of returning to Waterdeep. Combined with the potential evidence for this theory, this is interesting, since it could point to what degree he was involved, but it isn’t strictly evidence for this theory on its own.

None of these things alone necessarily point to Diath having been involved with some aspect of the criminal underworld in Waterdeep but I feel like they make for a compelling case when looked at together. What do you think?

I’m back (I’m pretty sure)! 😑🎉

Had The Virus as a cool new years gift last year (still have some unenviable long haul symptoms-- 0/10 would not recommend), almost lost a grandparent to the Rona as well (which.... he’s not been doing great for a long time, anyway so...), moved out of my mom’s house again because her partner was very badly exacerbating my already shot mental health, and scheduled several procedures I’ve been putting off to deal with some health issues.

Whew!

All that being said, things actually have been looking up for the last few months, overall, since I moved out, so it’s been mostly good things lately. 😊

Mentally, I’m doing better than I have maybe in a couple of years (yeehaw!), I’m actually taking care of my health/actively treating whatever things I can (versus putting them off bc of either finances or lack of motivation), I’ve linked back up with people that care about me that I was isolating from (often purposefully), I really really like my new place, things are going great at work (got a raise and am up for a promotion in the next 2 or so months), and best of all, I’m actually enjoying my hobbies again.

That is, I’m writing fic again. c:<  (And doing re-reads, re-watches, re-playthroughs, and whatever else for pretty much all of my fandoms.)

So!  I actually just banged out my first fic since my Mental Health Swandive of ~ 3 yrs ago, and I don’t entirely hate it.  I’ll probably post a snippet here tomorrow-ish, and finish editing it by the time I head back to work on Wednesday (bc ya girl has a ~procedure~ on Tuesday, babyyyy 😎).

After I can focus on other stuff, I’ll see how expanding into multiple fandoms again feels, in case I only have the energy/brainjuice for one at a time now that I’m ‘rusty’ at creating. hahah

If anybody’s still out there waiting for fic, I think some just might be coming. ;p  Just gotta back into shape so it’s half-decent....

work in progress tag game

tagged by @galaxystiel​ (thanks so much bb)

do this: list all the things you’re currently working on in as much or little detail as you’d like, then tag some friends to see what they’re working on. this can be writing, art, vids, gifsets, whatever.

(i’m using the same format as everybody else bc it’s easy)

challenges for april:

castiel graphics challenge: i got a very blue texture for my prompt which is always kinda hard for me (i don’t know why i still struggle so much with working with anything colorful as a prompt. i wish it was easier for me). i have no idea yet what i’m going to do with this, but it’s still early.

i should have entered more challenges...yikes

other edits/graphics:

spnaturalsource: i haven’t made anything for this in forever (like...maybe once this year i think) and i’d like to start contributing more again. this would also give me a chance to work more on making my screencap edits better/more interesting. i’m going to attempt to post 2-3 this month...

other graphics: because i have been so uninspired lately, i’m trying to just mess around in photoshop with no point just to try out a couple of different styles and make sure i still a) like making graphics and b) know how to use photoshop (i feel rusty). i’m thinking of going back to my graphic request list again, although it probably makes more sense to make a new request post. i’m so bad at the follow through on those though. does anybody have a graphic request???

that’s it.

not tagging anybody because i think all of you have done this already, but if you haven’t - consider yourself tagged! i’d love to see what others are working on :)