i have lots of flaws but i do at least take a fair amount of comfort knowing that, if i were a customer NPC in a fast food/retail management game, i would be one of the chill early-level ones that can wait a super long time before they start getting impatient, and you breathe a sigh of a relief when you see them show up in a harder level

gege, this time i want to accompany you till the end. 🦋

what to do when you forget your umbrella!

i will not elaborate.

((these drawings are a GSNK rain scene reference ADSAFFASD))

bonus isolated (isalated?) running isa as a treat for his birthday:

millicent quest with an alternate outcome

imagine lovestruck clarence who gifts you a box of his favorite puzzle so you can call him and ask for his help; cheekily spending the entirety of the afternoon in the silence of your hardwork and his bubbly, high-school girlish glee.

imagine lovestruck clarence who gives you anything you may need (or simply like) the minute he picks up on your wants. oh? you like this new brand of chocolate? he's gifting it to you every time he visits your home! maybe there's this new toy you want but can't buy because it's a tiny bit out of your monthly budget? better be ready because he's already mailing that thing to your doorway right this second <3 !

imagine lovestruck clarence who takes you out on dates that are absolutely and perfectly to your liking. he picks up on the do's and don'ts from small conversations with his head on your shoulder or you wrapped in his arms, head on his stomach—rambling almost endlessly to the man who hangs on every word you say like a fresh coat strung on a coat racket. he most certainly won't settle for less when it's you and his' relationship on the line—so even if he has to run across campus to get a tie you like on him he absolutely will! (or he's just dumb (lovingly) for you <3).

imagine lovestruck clarence who fits himself into the tiny crevices of your heart - admiring each beat and pulse as if it were his own, the tips of his ears a shiny apple red that's oh so painfully obvious under your gaze. his lip quivers, his heart jumps—and he does it all for and because of you <3.

just . . imagine clarence who's so utterly and hopelessly in love with you. he's lovestruck (literally).

© GEPAZU 2023.

Another Sky line up!! This one is for those skys who couldnt fit on the page in the last one! they were having a pumpkin soup party!!

this one is also compiled of Linktober Inktober prompts but is a lot more vague than the last since the prompts are in the atmosphere and not the characters!!

Thanks to @minas-linkverse @hazethestrange and @bowl-of-ravioli for creating and letting me draw your amazing little guys!!

close ups will be under the cut!! again

Like what I do? Consider supporting me on Kofi! Or Consider getting a commission!

Feathers Minaslinkverse

Matdas Hazey Horizons

Cloud Lots of Ravios

So I just finished The Woman King (ik im late 😭😭😭 dont judge me) and yeah....yeah I get it.

This scene broke me 😭😭😭 BROKE 👏🏽 ME 👏🏽 TO 👏🏽 TINY 👏🏽 PIECES 👏🏽

Why are Black women soo 😮‍💨😮‍💨🥵

So I'm finally watching Mysterious Lotus Casebook, and surprise! There's Chen Duling in the third drama I've watched in a row.

I've now seen her play, in order:

A gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss snake princess:

A grieving noble with post-partum depression:

A grieving asthmatic martial sect leader (?):

Tough times all around for these ladies, but a great year for her!

I'm comparing xuanji and tantai jin right now in how they handle their "innocence" about romance (just cause they don't feel emotion generally)

Xuanji: completely oblivious, WOULD grab sifengs boner while dropping in on him naked in a bath and DOES NOT care. He's her great friend! And he's fun to make blush! Will also be the first to kiss HIM. Again, she's not really sure why or that it means EONS to sifeng emotionally. But she is glad to be with her friend and it seems fun uvu

(Xuanji later will go onto top her babe but that's later, I'm talking the early parts when she isn't feeling things much)

Tantai jin: I am SCANDALIZED you would touch me. I know you're my WIFE but as my wife you tried to sleep with me to lock me into marriage and I was disgusted by how fucked up and cruel you were so I put you to sleep. Do NOT strip me, don't even look me up and down. I don't have lust or any particular romantic feelings for you, it's not like I'm abashed of sex as I AM an adult who got married and know the fucked up palace shit of behind closed doors. BUT I am repulsed by the idea of being near you, especially naked and sharing that experience with YOU agh, so I Am going to continously insist on Being chaste. Maybe one day I'll want to rail someone, like you said when I feel "love" for someone or whatever maybe... but lmao not your awful ass

Also tantai jin, seeing a demon kiss qingyu: huh... evil powers cool I should eat her. It'd be nice if I could eat humans for power too. Huh... that kind of looks enjoyable? Maybe I'll try making out with someone I don't dislike. (Thinks about his wife who feeds him and would die for him, but there's baggage so he just moves on)

A few eps later: actually... like... would it be Too Fucked up? If I just... DID make out with my evil Wife who wants to kill me? I mean... a kiss is a kiss if it feels nice does it matter if we kill each other later? What if she sat on my lap! What if... I was held in her arms... <3 (no! Focus! She'll betray me! We can only have sex if she's my prisoner or something so she doesn't stab me or sell me out while we're naked!)

As the year comes to a close, let's all take a moment to appreciate 2023's greatest pranksters: whichever marketing people it was that decided that the show about a woman falling in love with the Moon Supreme would be called Love Between Fairy and Devil, and the show about a woman falling in love with the Devil God would be called Till the End of the Moon. -_-

Another Echoes ramble: Berkut edition, go!

I will open this up by saying that I enjoy this character, a lot. I think this mainly stems from the fact that Fire Emblem is a series where a lot of its major antagonists fall either into the role of problem dragon or evil cult, not that there is anything wrong with that mind you, I just appreciate some variety. Echoes was my 3rd FE, after Awakening and Fates, so I think that sorta explains my attachment to this character.

Now onto the actual opinion post!

The rest will be under the cut

From what I have seen, the general consensus around Echoes original characters is split, you either care about them or don't. I think they have been discussed at length already so for the sake of not getting off-topic, I will leave it at that.

I would like to talk about Berkut's role in overall narrative first.

Before Echoes, Alm's character didn't have its narrative foil. Celica does compliment what he lacks but is still not a foil in his story. The big enemies Alm faces aka. Rudolf, Jedah and ultimately Duma are not the true contrast to Alm. As he is part of Rudolf's plans, he inherits his wish (while Rudolf is also a martyr). Alm, like most Rigelians in the story, represents Duma's philosophy of strength and fortitude but not its extreme. Duma and Mila's extremes come from both dragon degeneration and their position as godlike figures of Valentia. And lastly Jedah, while being Alm's opposition, was not his foil, but rather he was Celica's. So naturally, the next step was to give him a proper foil for the remake. That is where Berkut comes in.

I had expressed this many times, but a big part of Alm's character (in Echoes at least) is how much he is attached to his own identity as Mycen's grandson. He goes with Lucas and ultimately accepts leading the Deliverance as Mycen's representative (according to what Clive had envisioned). He does what he does to carry on his legacy when Mycen refuses to do so himself, to honor his name and his blood, as he was led to believe all his life. His world shatters as the truth reveals itself.

Berkut, as Rudolf's nephew, was raised to be the next ruler of Rigel. He takes great pride in that, even during his first meeting with Rinea he uses his identity to present his own value. This is interesting when you consider Rudolf's lines in Fire Emblem Heroes, which directly state that Berkut was a shy boy in the past. Also worthy of note would be Rudolf's lv 40 convo in FEH where he admits that he could not bear to face Berkut due to his guilt over sending Alm away (and his overall grand scheme). Growing up in Rigel, the country that it is now, practically run by the extreme teachings of Duma's faith, around the hardened emperor Rudolf who strives towards his own goal for a better Valentia in self-isolation and many of the soldiers and generals following them, it is natural that Berkut would become arrogant and prideful. However what makes him different arround the other high ranking officials in Rigel is that his dependance on being the heir to the Empire is a sign of a deeply neglected inferiority complex. Every time his identity is threatened in the story due to his failures, he seeks attention from Rudolf but to no avail. And at every turn, a Duma faithfull is present to pull him down further, to mock him and use his insecurities for their own agenda of serving Duma. Just like with Alm, his world shatters once the truth reveals itself, the truth neither character can no longer try to deny.

----------------------------------------------------

Alm is not Mycen's grandson.

Berkut is not the heir to Rigel.

----------------------------------------------------

Alm is not allowed to crack, there is no peace for him, only a responsibility he is now forced to bear. He who was raised by Mycen, a former Zofian general with Rigelian origins, is basically told to deal with it, bcuz destiny or whatever. Alm had his friends to fall back on, the friends who followed him bcuz he was Alm of Ram Village, the people who followed him bcuz he proved to be a capable leader of the Deliverence and what he learned growing up with both strength and kindness. So while it was definitely hard to accept his new identity, not being alone (in a sense) and having a clear goal (to reach Celica), made it a bit easier.

But where does Berkut trully crack? Not immediately upon finding out that Alm is Rudolf's son, but when Rinea in his eyes "rejects his identity". Rinea, the kind girl that she is, loved Berkut. But to Berkut, the heir of Rigel's throne, her declaration that she would support him when he is just Berkut, seemed like a betrayal to him. At that moment, he grouped her with everyone else who pitied him. But how can the future Emperor of Rigel be pitied, that is surely not the way things are supposed to be??? And for that, the maddened Duma gave his blessings and strength that Berkut thinks is rightfully his, with the woman he loves by his side. Everyone else is wrong, what he was raised to be however, is correct.

Alm's journey was about a boy who did not think about the big picture at first, forced to expand his horizons as duty is thrust upon him multiple times. He had to grow out of thinking from just his perspective, as a Deliverence member, as a villager from Ram, as Mycen's grandson. Berkut however has chosen to remain narrow-minded, bcuz he had nothing else to fall back on aside from his own identity. And this narrow-mindedness proves to be his downfall, as well as Fernand's (his case is more complex tho) and Jedah's at that matter. Even at death's door, he doesn't suddenly change in that regard. I personally believe that Berkut hallucinates Rinea at the end (well I think that was the intention of the scene since nobody else reacts to Rinea herself), bcuz that reinforces everything that has been established about his character. Yeah he lost, but he is meant for even greater things, at least he thinks that himself.

While Jedah was meant to be the extreme of what Celica could have become if she surrendered herself to Mila's faith, Berkut was meant to be the human equivalent of Duma's extremes, as those extremes had shaped him into what he was. Rudolf ultimately made the right choice to send Alm away, bcuz he easily could have ended up like that, or even worse due to his destiny, when not even Rudolf could have been able to interfere.

"He is carried by his voice actor." I hear many tend to say about him. Well yes in fact, he is, mister Ian Sinclair did a phenomenal job portraying Berkut's charater, and I personally would say his performance is stronger than the one provided by his JP counterpart. Many characters in media are defined by their voices, be it the way they speak or through actual voice acting. So I don't think that saying "he is only good bcuz of his VA" is a real jab at his character imho.

Another thing I noticed is, I believe that in order to get attached to Berkut, you need to be invested either in Alm's character or story to a certain degree at the very least. Which is a testament to how much Berkut is a foil to Alm and how his addition to Echoes' story was a meaningful change.

Been talking about how most side pairings in Cdrama are super boring and frankly, a waste of what time they have, so here's a poll for

*from shows I've watched, sorry if yours isn't there. I'm still a newbie and all these shows are from the last two years because of this.

For me these range from 'I LOVE THEM' to 'well it didn't annoy me at least.'

So, @silv-paru sent Sherlock Holmes for the character opinion bingo. thanks a bunch for this (and for your patience. my god, i’m answering this a week late. typical me behaviour). you’re a darling :D

Did you know, i used to tell these stories to my friends? they delighted in them AND i got a chance to sort of ramble on and on abt him and watson. it was a win-win, really. ah, those were the days! now i haven’t reblogged much of him this month at all. i miss him. I MISS HIM.

Onto the bingo: well. he’s The quintessence of gender™ to me. and i relate to him so so much. fav character of all time fr. i want to carry him in my pocket at all times & study him. like. do i want to BE him OR am i IN LOVE with him, ykwim? pssh who knows? certainly not me. uh-huh ‘a beast unleashed’ -does this refer to me or him? you choose. oh re: canon, i’m ignoring the part where holmes dies (or y’know, is dead for 3 years). that’s too angsty.

Watched "Badhaai Do" today. I should've watched this in theatres ahhhh. Great characters. Good direction. Amazing Cast. Chill Soundtrack. An Indian Queer Movie that melted my heart. I feel so warm rn (maybe the climate is contributing to this as well) I don't know how many queer people in India get their fairytale ending (probably not many). But I hope every queer person stays happy and hopeful. This movie was one of the best things i've seen in a while. I laughed, cried and vibed :)

remember obi wan kenobi?? man was he gay