#this storyline when it was the obvious choice. but also like. the mom stuff is so real. the scene with him and his mom and sister (sorry im | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

snarky-art · 7 days

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Chimera and Cassandra!

In my rewrite, they’re both Lunarian , aka Deliosians (the actual name that most of them use to refer to themselves as)

Cassandra does indeed use Valtor’s influence to get them a higher ranking, in fact, the highest ranking one could get under Solarian rule.

Chimera is just a pawn in that, and although isn’t enthusiastic, is non the less shunned into obedience by their mother.

Info on their general storyline, content within my lore, and why I drew them Cassandra with a different skin tone and Chimera with a different hair texture below!

Cassandra ends up tanning to pass as more Solarian since they have an ethnic ancestry from those who stayed underground on Lunaria, which in my thing, results in them tending to have a paler complexion as well as increasing the likelihood for a paler hair color. Blond is considered a Solarian trait by those from Solaria, although the lightness of it would be considered Lunarian. Cassandra can just pass it off as being the result of some “impure Ancestry” though and that she’s mainly Solarian because,, the color of her hair, you see? Blond! And her iris color (also Lunarian, but she can claim the paleness is because of the small Lunarian part “tainting” it and resulting in phenotypic traits being less intense in hue) and that combined with her tan, she can prove she is Mostly Solarian,, right????

Spoiler alert: she’s totally 100% Lunarian.

In my thing, Stella will realize fairly quickly that Chimera is not someone who has much choice in this. On top of not being a willful participant, they hate pretty much everything about it. They straighten their hair because it’s easier than curling it to the 3c and various 4 texture curls that Solarian’s can have, but they still hate it. They refuse to tan or add glimmers or contacts to change their eyes. They don’t want to. Why should they?

Cassandra allows it, VERY begrudgingly. She can blame it all on Chimera’s father anyway (he had an ancestry from those who lived above ground hilariously enough, meaning his skin tone and hair color were darker overall, and he could’ve passed better as Solarian if he wanted to ((he didn’t for obvious reasons. Fuck Solarian Imperial rule.)) but shhhh he’s not in the political sphere there’s no reason for that information to pop up ever).

Even with all of this though, when all of this stuff is said and done, Stella can’t even really blame Cassandra.

For Cassandra, yes it is an attempt at a power grab, but, Stella also kind of Gets It.

“Well,, I can’t really blame her for this at the end of it all. I understand why she would want that power. How else would she get it? She’s Lunarian.”

She’s still pissed at her for doing what she could to get rid of her obviously and she thinks she’s a shitty mom, but the actual goal of trying to get on the throne? Stella goes, “well I think it’s fair to see why she would want more power. It’s not like they have much compared to me. To Solarians.”

And people are pissed she’s saying this, it was cute she was trying to play Dress Up and shit (how they referred to her connecting to her heritage from her mother, wearing actual Deliosian garb and paying respect to the Moons equally as much as the Suns). But she’s taking this seriously? Cassandra was just another power hungry Lunarian trying to get into court in a higher position. They’ve always wanted more than they have, say the Solarians in power.

Stella’s response? It’s because what they have isn’t equal.

The rest of the panel she’s speaking to during the court session: well,, I mean, that’s not the same as wanting equality-

Stella: why not? Because you’ve refused to give them independence. This wouldn’t be an issue if you did that. Or are you actually going to concede and give them equal representation?

The panel:…..

Stella ends it by pointing out she’s just as much Lunarian as she is Solarian. The panel hates it.

Stella and Chimera end up as sisters when everything is done, with Stella and Chimera referring to each other as such, and Chimera becomes one of the loudest people and a head representative for the Delios Independence Movement.

Cassandra is still in court sessions as a political figure, but is given shit for being such an ass to Stella and being seen as a shitty mom, forcing her daughter into this and using her mainly for a political pawn. It’s too soon to let her continue to hold influence though after the Valtor incident the others present decide, and she’s kicked out for a while. She’s still shit talked for the reasons previously mentioned, and for being a Lunarian that dared to want power, according to the Solarian Imperialists in court.

Stella invites her back after a time. Stella appreciates her thoughts on how to make things better for those of Delios because she knows Cassandra will never hold back on her real thoughts and feelings. Chimera and Cassandra don’t really talk after everything for a while, but eventually things do get better, and they do resume regular correspondence and communication. They’ll never be super close, but they know they can rely on each other when it counts.

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found--family · 10 months

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✨ let's play 10 Qs for GK! 🎆

1- fave character besides harvey/twoface? 2- fave harvey/twoface scene? 3- fave dynamic between 2 characters? 4- best character development? 5- most memorable line? 6- fave plot twist? 7- what did you think of twoface? 8- something you loved about the creation/design? 9- anything you would change about the season 1 plot or characters? 10- what did you think of the season 2 setup?

💌 thanks for sharing the love! #GothamKnights 🦇💋

(i've been thinking on these for a few days..)

1. fave character besides harvey/twoface?

Duela

I was intrigued by all the characters' backstories and wanted to see where their journeys went.. but Duela's story was just a cut above the rest for me. Put it this way: I don't tend to watch shows without queer rep front and centre. I'd watch spinoffs for Harper, Steph and Cullen but as much as I enjoyed the actors and their arcs and dynamics, I'd be tuning in for the queer stuff more than anything else. Whereas with Duela? I'd follow her story anywhere (and she's not queer, far as I know; maybe the comics say different but in GK she's hetero with a snarky/flirty side).

I love a mysterious backstory. I love complex badguys who turn out not to be so bad. ORK's portrayal was like watching a star get their first big break. She's such a talented actor - the kind who steals every scene without trying, the kind who you want to see in more scenes. She's award-worthy and aside form Misha she was the best casting choice imho in that she has big talent and I'm grateful we had her in this little dc show.

And I just want to point out Duela's reverse parallel storyline to Harvey's because I love it: she started out as a badguy while Harvey started out as a good guy, and over the season they switched roles with Duela wilfully becoming a Gotham Knight and Harvey becoming the killer Two-Face. The more I think about these characters both individually and how they relate to each other, the more I swoon over what the writers have crafted for us.

I thoroughly enjoyed Duela's character development and would've loved to see her journey continue in season 2 as she carries on without Turner and her dad and then finding out they're both still alive; what would she think about Turner training to be a killer following in his parents' footsteps? Would she try to honour Harvey's promise and bring him back to the driver's seat or would she find a strange kinship with this new villain Two-Face? That would've been such a rich confrontation given that she grew up with The Joker as her father figure and everything that happened with her mom. Just.. top tier potential.

2. fave harvey/twoface scene?

Meet In The Middle

Every Harvey scene was gold but the dream sequence where Misha plays both Harvey and dark!Harvey was amazing because not only did we get to see both Harveys interact we saw Misha exhibit how he can make you believe you're watching twin actors portray two different characters?! (and if you're a fan of that you should check out Supernatural because he plays like 8 different versions of Cas through the years and they're all distinct. I love this talented dude!)

3. fave dynamic between 2 characters?

Sharper

Steph and Harper going from rivals to allies to tentative friends, Harper thinking her feelings were one-sided, Steph dealing with her parental mess. They were such a good contrast to each other while also having the common ground of tech-engineering to geek out about and compete over. From the jump we were shipping them wondering how the show would go about it - because we didn't know! It was textual but the see double ew cannot be trusted for positive queer rep. The writers laid the groundwork without being obvious - the way too many queer relationship are these days, just boring from the start because you know they're gonna end up together - and then when the show actually followed through?! Euphoria! (the feeling, not the other show).

4. best character development?

Duela, Brody

I'm torn between these two. On the one hand Duela's entire character arc had me glued to the screen and her gradual shift from lone wolf to pack member was so nice to see. But on the other hand I'm glad they did something to shift Brody away from the rich jerk dude into a caring, helpful, immortal?! member of the team. The issues they both faced with their parents (all the batbrats and their parents, really) makes me think we could've seen a friendship form between them in season 2, which would've been interesting.

5. most memorable line?

"Two-faced"

There's a few jokey comments I can't remember off the top of my head, but I do remember Lincoln and Jane (and others?) referring to Harvey as "two-faced" and I just loved how it suited the narrative they were telling but also worked as foreshadowing. Made me giggle every time!

6. fave plot twist?

Duela Dent

I saw it coming but I still loved it. I think I loved it because they teased the possibility of it in dialogue and unrevealed details through the season and then followed through on it. Follow-through is everything! I'm so sick of movies and shows teasing one thing then doing something else because they want to surprise the audience; a good story isn't about pulling a twist out of nowhere it's about laying the groundwork and trusting your audience to pick up on clues and subtext.

Speaking of which: I was so surprised by Rebecca being the head of the Court - I didn't see that coming! But there's hints in the subtext and in Lauren's portrayal if you rewatch. I loved evil af Rebecca and was so glad to be done away with the demure meek damsel.

7. what did you think of twoface?

7.5 / 10

All in all, I loved him. I loved his scenes and the way Misha took on a more menacing quality for him. I loved that the first thing we see Two-Face do is kill someone, and then he uses the coin to kill again without hesitation (for his daughter! Which is also a great callback to The Joker losing interest when Duela could fend for herself, because now we have Duela grown up and capabale and now she's safe but Two-Face wants Jane to pay for 'hurting her' - the villain has a heart! He's a two-time killer but we love him!).

Sadly my score isn't perfect because of the prosthetics [minus 2]. As cool and creepy as the scarring is, the design reminds me of Freddie Kreuger in that 80s plastic monster look - which isn't bad, it's just that it looks fake because it doesn't fit the timeline of events: it's only been a few days at most since the acid attack so the skin should still be peeling and wet and bloody and gross, but it looks healed. It looks how I imagined Two-Face would've looked in season 2 set six months later - which I love, but. Basically it looks like a scar instead of an open festering wound.

I think the make-up department did a stellar job, and I love how they pulled Misha's lips back and gave him a milky eye and made sure to scar all the way back over his skull! I just wonder why they didn't rough and gummy it up a bit more? Probably because it was on the see double ew so they couldn't have it look too gorey?

The acid-burn effects when Harvey first gets hit is amazing! I don't know if they used cgi or prosthetics but it looked real af - and that's how you know it's good, if you can't tell the difference. Given how amazing that scene fragment was it actually raised my hopes for Two-Face's face, so I was let down when the final scene wasn't on-par with the visceral believability of the attack scene.

Misha's Two-Face voice was (almost) perfection! (I do wish he'd obstructed his mouth a little more in the dubbing session so it would've sounded more believable as a guy with half his face melted off --I minus 1/2 for this reason-- but..) It had a tinge of Jack Nicholson in there which leant this unsettling vibe; there was malicious intent and deadly swagger in the way he moved and spoke, you knew he was dangerous - you can see how terrified Jane is - but he also has a slight penchant for theatre. That final shot of him faux commiserating with Jane over the coin flip before shooting her point-blank was like: there he is, there's the iconic villain cemented.

8. something you loved about the creation/design?

Lighting + Wardrobe

a] GK proves you can shoot night scenes without underlighting the setting and your characters. Whether it was nighttime in the Belfrey (that blue clock glow), or a Court of Owls meeting (golden candlelight), a fight scene on the streets (orange and blue streetlights), or countless other indoor settings like Steph's house, Harvey's office, the main Belfrey, the inside of a van, nighttime in the woods - the lighting team didn't trade detail for criminally underlit aesthetic, they gave us the atmosphere while letting us see what was happening! There's this insane notion in big budget fantasy/sci-fi productions that they have to let scenes be almost pitchblack to set the tone, but it's bullshit because all you get is audience members squinting and trying to up the brightness (and still failing to see anything because the contrast is so low). GK shines a light on each and every scene by upping the power from various in-world light sources (streelights, halogens, lamps, moonlight) so not only does it feel in-line with setting and aesthetic but we can we actually see the story unfolding, we can see the faces of the cast and the details on and around them that make up the environment of the scene.

b] JMN didn't just weave meta details into the costumes for every character, she shared behind the scenes insight into how and why the pieces were chosen and crafted. She engaged with fans excited about the process which made for an even more rich and layered viewing experience! We didn't just get a peek on-set or in fittings, we got the chance to interact with someone who loves the intricacies of storytelling as much as we do! (Same goes for Nat and the rest of the crew, sharing so much love for fans and glimpses into the making of this wonderful show.)

[sidenote: the lighting and wardrobe detail reminds me a lot of spn; we're meta mad over that show for many reasons but a lot of it is because there's so much going on in the details and the beauty of the scenes]

9. anything you would change about the season 1 plot or characters?

Brody + Minor Characters

While I do like Brody's character growth I don't like that they started him out as the rich jerk bully stereotype. They could've changed tack with him in the early days just a bit to not be annoyed by him from the jump and glad he's not in more scenes.

I was also hoping to see a few more scenes with the various minor characters we only saw briefly: Harvey's assistant could've been sus, Harvey's campaign manager could've dumped him after the Duela Dent reveal, the police chief wasn't in it enough.. The main cast being so big makes it difficult to give lesser characters more screentime but it would've helped to expand the world a little. There were times when it felt like they were either on the belfrey soundstage or in the streets with not much else going on. More locations would've been good - every genuine outdoors scene helped ground the narrative and we didn't get many, like Harvey at the lake, or the court in the woods.

(Second seasons tend to expand the world so I can imagine more locations and even new side characters coming in like an intrepid reporter..)

10. what did you think of the season 2 setup?

9 / 10

I liked the stuff with Turner's parents and the trainer dude, but I wish they'd threaded a few of those details through the season because it kinda came out of nowhere; it makes sense, and I like it, but I would love to be able to look back at early episodes and be like ohhh! (tbf maybe the clues were there and I just missed them because tbh Turner's broody teen angst was annoying and I kinda tuned out when he was the focus of a scene).

The Gotham Knights becoming legit (thanks Duela!) was a nice capper and setup for the months ahead - working with the cops to take down bad guys including some newbie making waves.. who they eventually find out is Two-Face?! Meanwhile Duela is grieving both her parents and later (mid-season or towards the end) finds out Harvey is still alive but he's fucked up so now what will she do?! I look forward to fic writers giving us many second seasons that the see double ew denied us.

#gotham knights #q and a #thoughts #duela dent #harvey dent

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eurydicees · 2 years

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so. about platonic atsuiwa........

i believe they would have that weird kind of friendship where they don't know each other's favorite color but do know about their deepest trauma lol

like, atsumu will constantly rant about his love life (or lack thereof) and iwaizumi will listen with full commitment but pause him to ask things like, "wait, who was that guy again?" or "huh what high school were you from btw?" "what was your brothers name?" etc.

(and somehow its not awkward at all. atsumu answers and they move on)

i might be a bit obsessed with iwa's mom friend energy but can you blame me. he needs to take care of other people all the time or he will die. and with oikawa living overseas now he needs a new brat to take care of, you know.

but its not the same as it was with oikawa, because atsumu gets offended when people try to be caring with him. so iwa has to be sneaky about it, too. like instead of outward saying "don't overwork yourself" he has to go out of his way to invite him to do stuff when he knows the little shit's gonna spend the whole weekend at gym practicing serves again. and atsumu always agrees when iwa asks to hang out because he's a friendless lonely bastard who cries when people show him the slightest bit of love and attention

also atsumu calls iwa to rant about how much he hates samu twice a week. iwa tried to tell him once that he actually loves his brother very much and it's obvious but atsumu brushed it off by saying iwa wouldn't understand lmao

for iwa, tsumu is mostly a brat who needs him but he's also one of the most understanding people on earth. when iwa rants on the phone about his work or his family, he feels like he reaveals too much at the end and tries to cover it like "i mean i dont even know why i get so damn depressed over it this is so stupid" and atsumu will be like "nah i get it. want me to drop by with ice cream?"

and he does!! everybody wants to eat ice cream and cry sometimes!!! iwa needs to be babied too, thank you very much

tsumu's way of caring isnt as clear as iwa's but iwa gets it. instead of dragging him outside (like iwa does) tsumu will come over to his house, order pizza and put a random episode of friends or gilmore girls and sit silently with him and iwa it will be more than enough for iwa.

i feel like this is getting too out of the canon storyline and sounds more like an au but idk

one time iwa said he wanted to try dying his hair and they did it using grocery store hair supplies and at the end it looked so horrible that they both laughed until their eyes watered and the next day they went out to buy brown hair dye to fix it. then atsumu messed something up and the dye didn't work, iwa decided to get a buzzcut..

one time they sent a selfie to oikawa and he was.....not happy about it :D

iwa teaches atsumu how to cook some basic meals and atsumu tries to show off to samu with them

the first time iwa remembered atsumu's birthday and got him a little present atsumu cried and then said a bug got into his eye

they make fun of each other's choices of men

they go to gym together and atsumu always listens to music as he works out so one day iwa asked him to share a link to his gym playlist and it was just full of anime opening and some female kpop bands

i think this is all i have. its like 1.30 am rn so i think i'll go to sleep. hope you like these xx

oh my god yess yesssss yess YESSS !!!! i am YELLING !!!!!!! loveeeeeeeee all of this oh my god. gym buds atsuiwa is so good. iwaizumi teaching atsumu to cook (osamu is deeply offended that atsumu didn't ask him). atsumu forcing iwaizumi to watch romcoms and tv shows of the like (oikawa is deeply offended bc iwa refuses to watch telenovelas with him, but he'll watch friends with atsumu miya).

you're also so right that they literally know about each other's worst fears but atsumu would not be able to tell you what "aoba johsai" is if a gun was put to his head. iwaizumi could tell you the worst memory of atsumu's life but absolutely could not tell you what his favorite animal is.

like, atsumu: yeah i know iwaizumi best out of the whole national team we go to the gym together all the time

kageyama: what middle school did he go to then.

atsumu: ....

hinata: kageyama you went to the same middle school, that's cheating. atsumu, he went to kitagawa daiichi btw

atsumu: i'm quitting this team

and you have the way iwaizumi takes cares of atsumu vs oikawa so right tbh, like oikawa can get the tough love yell at rant kinda thing going on, but atsumu gets a more subtle kind of care. so true. man. i'm obsessed w all of this THANK YOU

#ask #atsumu miya #hajime iwaizumi #ALSO THE HAIR DYE STORY. SO GOOD.

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gb-patch · 3 years

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Ask Answers (February 22nd, 2021)

Hello! Here’s another collection of anon ask answers all put together in one big post.

This might be strange considering how upbeat yall are about the fandoms for your games in general, but is there any particular trope or ship you WOULDN'T want us writing/drawing/etc. in relation to your stuff? (IE, any canon you don't want us 'overwriting' or something like that?)

Of course we would want the fan content people make to not be racist, sexist, homophobic, bigoted, harmful, etc. But in terms of generally doing non-canon pairings or adding in headcanons or stuff, we really don’t mind that. People are welcome to have fun and explore their own ideas.

for the 1.2 Android update was it meant to download as a separate app? I really want to keep my previous save files but they don't show up (also thank u for the updates I'm really excited to get back into the game!!)

We had to change the name of the file and unfortunately for some phones that meant it’s treated as a brand new game. I’m sorry your saves didn’t transfer over to the new version. You can try to look up your specific phone and see if there’s a way to access save files for games on your device and then transfer those saves over to the new build manually. It may or may not be possible.

I'm having some trouble figuring out how to get the update from Itichio without losing my save files? Is it the same game or a folder I can put in the properties? Sorry if this question is not worded well or if this isn't the avenue you'd want to take technical questions on

Are you using Android? If so, the above answer may apply to you. If you’re on PC or Mac, the save files will automatically still be included.

Hey. I really loved playing our life. It was a fun experience and I never thought I would like it this much. I do have a question, I am currently replaying the game and I am choosing choices I never chose at first. In step 2 during the road trip arc, I decided to ask Cove about what he liked to see on people. One of his response was anklets and black eyes. My MC have just happens to have black eyes. Do Cove say black eyes cuz my mc have it or it was just a coincidently programmed into the game?

He uses your eye color intentionally! If you changed your eye color he’d change what he said.

Will step 4 have 10 moments like steps 1-3?

Step 4 is only an epilogue. It plays like the openings/endings of the earlier Steps where it’s a bunch of scenes all in a row, there aren’t any individual Moments.

hi! who was/were the artist(s) for our life?

who is the artist for Our Life: Beginning and Always?

Main Sprite and CG Artist: Addrossi

Main Background Artist: Vui Huynh

Main Interface Artist: Winter Slice

Other artists who helped out can be seen in the credits of the game.

In the new ol, there are two main love interests... Would it be possible to pair them together or is that weird?

You can’t stay single and pair them together. If we are going to add all the extra content to have a route where the two LIs get together, it’d be a full poly route where them and the MC were all dating. And that’s not a for sure option yet because it’d add a lot of extra complications. But either way, in OL the relationships all gotta be about the MC, haha.

In OL2, there will be extra LIs in form of DLCs? Like Dexter and Baxter.

Maybe! We’ll see how it goes.

Since Cove will have 2 diff body types in s4, will the storyline and dialogs reflect this? Or all of it will be the same? Btw love the game and sorry for bad english. Hope this doesn't sound rude 😅

Some descriptions and pieces of dialog will change, but it won’t impact the story really. And you don’t need to apologize! It’s all good.

Will you ever release the transparent sprites of the Our Life characters?

Probably not, I’m afraid. They’ve got a lot of pieces and it’d just be kind of hard to deal with, aha.

Something I was curious about, what was your inspiration for making a game with so much customization?

Initially, the idea was just about having a romance where you actually grew up with the LI. But it was pretty stressful to try deciding how fast the relationship would progress with it taking place over such a long period of time and with no real storyline carrying it. People might not wanna play a game where the characters don’t get along as kids, but other people might not bother with a game where kids immediately liked each other. So the obvious answer came, just let the player pick themselves how it goes. From there we simply continued to add more flexibly with the MC due to the same thought process of wanting to make sure people were onboard with how their life was going.

What made you decide to change the artstyle for ol 2 so much? I of course respect all your decisions and will buy the shit out of everything related to ol 2, but i love the original style and i m honestly not a fan of the styles shown on patreon, despite me liking the painterly style in general. (I don t mind the style being changed, just that the examples shown so far all feel like there s something wrong with them.)

We’ve always used different art styles for each of our projects. They all have distinct looks from each other. It’s just nice to do something new. I’m glad you really like how the first game looks, though. And those samples were only general concepts, rather than the exact options being decided between. We wanted to see reactions to different options. The art style we’re going with won’t be exactly like those, though I personally like all of them. I think players are gonna enjoy the style Our Life: Now & Forever when it’s revealed.

Hey! Is it ok to ask what gender ourlife2 protagonist will be and if we'll be given the same opportunity to customize an MC? Totally understand if you're keeping this under wraps for now if u don't wanna say!

OL2 will have the same type of MC customization as OL1, but even more refined! So their gender will be up to you.

Hi! I happened upon Our Life on Steam by pure chance. It is such a great game, I am super excited about the DLC, and I just want you all to know that you are awesome! :D I have a question, and I'm sorry if it's been asked before. Do you have plans of making more games similar to Our Life, with customizable player character? The customizable player character was probably the one thing I personally have been desperate for in romance VNs. So glad there finally is one and would love to see more.

Thank you! And yep, we do have plans for more games like Our Life, most notably is another game in the franchise- Our Life: Now & Forever. We’ll also likely have other, non-OL, games with customizable MCs, though we may still have some games with set MCs in the future as well.

On the patreon dlc just curious but is it possible to play it without actually sleeping together/getting the nsfw content? I just want to spend more time with Cove

Yeah, you can still choose not to go that far. Though the event is shorter if you pass on the 18+ stuff.

At the beginning of Step 2, did Cove end up accidentally falling asleep in your bed? Or did he fall asleep on the floor?

He fell asleep sitting on the floor with his body/head leaning against the side of the bed.

This may seem like a weird question, but what exactly is the difference between "direct" and "relaxed" on the comfort scale?

Direct is blunter and more teasing, relaxed is lighthearted and goes with the flow.

can the MC have tattoos in step 3?

Not in Step 3, but you can in Step 4.

how would Cove react if he visited somewhere like North Carolina in winter where it can get in the 20s(F) at night sometimes?

He would be shocked and unprepared for what serious coldness is really like, haha. The poor beach baby would wanna go home.

Hello! I just joined the PATREON!! It’s amazing! I love your games! I have a question, approximately how much after will the nsfw be out? After or before the dlc 3 and step four? Sorry my English isn’t the best!❤️❤️❤️

Thanks so much! The NSFW DLC will be out after the Step 3 DLC but before Step 4. And you don’t need to apologize for that ^^.

This might be obvious but, will step 4 have dlcs? Also, where will the nsfw dlc happen? Won't bother me at all if it s in in our or his house but i do think it d be moderately funny

Step 4 will have the Cove Wedding DLC and the Derek and Baxter romance DLCs each add a lot of new content to Step 4, though they’re also partially set in Step 2 and Step 3 respectively. The NSFW DLC happens in Cove’s room.

I keep wondering what would've happened if Mr. Holden met Lizzie first instead of the MC. I can't see that turning out well somehow lol.

It wouldn’t have made a difference. He met the MC’s parents first and they told him about their two kids. He wanted the MC specifically to be Cove’s friend because the two were the same age.

Even though we have a way to go I'm really excited for OL 2! I was curious though, is the next main character going to be adopted again? I thought it was really clever to make the first main character adopted so when players are customizing, they can make them look how ever they like without worrying about pesky genetics. Just wondering!

The OL2 MC is not adopted. We wanted to go for a new dynamic. Instead their parents are their biological single mother who is partially customizable and an off-screen sperm donor father. So the mom will look generally like the MC and any other traits not from her can be assumed to come from whoever the father was.

—– —– —–

Thank you so much for all the asks ^^

FAQ If you prefer to just see the main posts without all the asks/reblogs, feel free to follow our side account instead: GB Patch Updates Blog

#our life #Our Life Beginnings & Always #ourlifeba #ask #gb patch #gb patch games #Our Life: Now & Forever

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deadmunds-ghostbee · 2 years

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WOT are your thoughts/predictions for mary? i love her sm as she already is in the book, and she’s one of the best parental figures in the series, but given what they’ve hinted on as her backstory for the show, i’m kinda curious if she’ll have an arc of her own 👀

Ahh hi I’m so glad we have this Mary Sharma safe space to discuss her 😌💜

I think given the fact that even Newton has an arc, if she doesn’t have something it would be nothing short of an atrocity that I would waste no time gathering a mob to storm Netflix HQ for.

I have so many thoughts.

aanyway RANT BELOW ⬇️😄

We know Lady D is taking a strong interest in supervising kathony + Edwina activities. And since we didn’t see Mary at the ascot (from pap pics) it is interesting because last season the moms play that huge part of guiding their girls through the market. Without her being there it spurs a couple of thoughts:

Namely, how soon has it been since her husband died? How much is she still grieving? What is her relationship with society? She must have loved the man to run away from her life, but did she really hate the constraints of society? Or was okay at navigating and dealing with it?

The biggest question mark about her is why would she lead her daughters back in an environment she ran away from? The most obvious reason is necessity bc of lack of wealth, but surely Edwina could find just as good as good of a match with just as much money from where they came from? How soon has her father, the earl died (if all that stuff they edited out of her bio still rings true) and how fraught was that relationship?

I’ve also seen people mention that she might have a sister in the ton with a daughter but this cast of characters is so large idek how they’d handle all that 😆

Since it’s been years since the scandal how much of the ton will remember her/it? Is it an impediment on Edwina finding a match? She went to that ball so clearly she shows up to society events so she isn’t trying to hide but I can see her being nervous about it given the circumstances.

So I would say my best guess about her is

1. Grief (a HUGE recurring theme this season I’d think bc Kathony and deadmund and the fact that pens dad just died) hopefully she has her moments with Kate and Edwina about this. More on this later.

2. How SHE feels about this proposed “head over heart” dichotomy since she seemed to follow her heart and is now dealing with the consequences. Charitha mentions pressure to marry well or be perfect—where does that come from? Both Edwina and Kate seem dead set on her getting a love match, which I assume they want bc of the good relationship between Mary and their father. I would characterize her as being encouraging for them to find love but it presents an interesting repeating of history for her.

ALSO since there’s been a lot of talk of Edwina’s powerful storyline, whether Edwina goes gay or is involved with a man (Theo sharpe watch ur fuckin back I stg) it would probably very closely parallel what Mary has already gone through, abandoning what’s conventional to have what she wants. So maybe her and Edwina relationship will be really big in later episodes while Kathony are fucking!!

Now these are both very vague things. A lot of internal conflict and not much to do since it seems Lady D and QC are taking such a large interest in the Sharmas on the market. Of course she’ll be there for it, but I think there’s something else they could mine for her.

In my rants I’ve often wondered how/where Violet plays into all of this? It seems like her and Daph are gonna have a sit down and be like okay Daphne will take care of Anthony (a good choice actually bc I don’t think Vi and A could actually manage this with their relationship at the moment.) and Violet will take Eloise.

But what is Eloise really like on the market when it seems that she will mostly be playing mystery with LW and maybe (?) wrapped up in some activism thing?? That’s such a downgrade than Violets role last season imo.

The connection here I think is that a loss of Edmund and Mary with her husband will really connect them. And Violet will be old enough to remember a scandal if it happened. So maybe I’m clowning a bit but I’d like to see a relationship forged between them! But that also goes for the other older women too! The main thing that really ties all these different matriarchs in the ton is their relationship with grief, losing their husbands, and taking their own initiative. Portia will have to basically fend for herself and the girls (🤪🤪🤪) and deal with that loss. The queens is losing her husband even tho she’s literally in front of him and she’s compensating by using people as playthings. Lady D has been great on her own for a while it seems, but she once lost people she loved too and built herself back up. I think it would be a FLAGRANT oversight if they didn’t consider these connections in some way. Especially since the older women are the backbone of this show. The rest of the cast varies a lot talent-wise and the show would fall apart without them.

So for Mary’s arc is still very blurry to me but taking all of this I expect it to be very involved with her scandal, Edwina, and something with the other mothers. Also kate too ofc but that relationship im seeing less to really develop there.

This answer was probably way too long/analytical and I may be clowning a bit as a Mary stan, but I have faith that the writers won’t just discard her. The other older women had too much to do s1 to completely let Mary fly by the wayside when all this material is here.

Thanks so much for the ask!! I’d been wondering the same thing myself and writing it down crystallized it for me! Fuck I love themes and arcs 😩

#bridgerton #bridgerton season 2 #Mary Sharma

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erazonpo3 · 3 years

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Lost Legends

Okay so I read Lost Legends: The Rise of Flynn Rider and general thoughts? It was cute and fun, and I have gripes here and there but I can still recommend it. I don't want to compare it to WOWM because it's like apples and oranges but Lost Legends wins points for me by actually acknowledging the TTS storyline and characters, even though it's kinda brief and not quite as... entertaining.

And before I go into the in-depth spoiler review I'll jot down a few thoughts here: there's a lot to be said about tie-in media and 'canon', but where I think it becomes contentious is where two pieces contradict each other, and whether those contradictions necessitate a canonical hierarchy or cancel something out completely. And the reason I'm bringing this up is because while LL borrows TTS lore it also contradicts it? which is. ironic.

but i'll get into that. Spoilers ahead

Basic Summary of The Plot

Our story starts at the Dark Kingdom, with a short prologue. It's all stuff we already know from the series: King Edmund tries to grab the moonstone, his wife dies, Eugene gets sent away for his own safety. What's funny is that Ms Queen still doesn't get a name, but her Lady in Waiting/Handmaiden gets a name (Maeve), and it's Maeve who really drops the ball on dropping Eugene off at an orphanage instead of raising him as Prince Horace. Go girl give us nothing

And from here the LL timeline begins, as Eugene and Arnie are now twelve year olds (I think?) in an orphanage in Corona. Which is the first contradiction to 'canon' but shelve that thought for now. Eugene and Arnie are good little boys but they're getting too old to keep hanging around and the orphanage needs money for the evil Tax Man, so they decide they'll go off into the world and send some money back when they're rich off their famous adventuring. What happens instead is that The Baron's circus rolls into town (yes that Baron) and Eugene and Arnie decide to try their luck signing up for that gig.

To prove themselves to the Baron, Flynn and Lance have to perform a hazing ritual a heist. The heist is literally just to buy a key from the Weasel but it plays out as this huge dramatic thing with a guard chase which is eternally funny to me because two kids walk into a bar, buy a key and then leave, and it's treated like fucking ocean's eleven. The Stabbingtons try to betray them (those guys are here too) but Flynn and Lance outsmart them, beginning a rivalry for the ages. Also, the pub thugs are all part of the Baron's circus crew. Don't think about it too much.

Anyway, as this has all been going down, Eugene is really interested in getting to talk to this guy with a tattoo of (what we as the audience know is) the brotherhood symbol, which Eugene recognises from the note left with him as a baby. He wants to talk to this dude in the hopes he'll get a clue about who his parents are, but this dude keeps eluding him. He also hasn't had a chance to tell Lance about this yet, so when Lance finds out about it he assumes Eugene only tried to rope him into the circus so he could find his parents and ditch him. Cue an ongoing silent treatment.

Eugene eventually does talk to this guy and he learns that the Brotherhood symbol is from the Dark Kingdom but the Dark Kingdom is gone so he shouldn't bother looking for it. Bummer. And now the Baron is planning a huge heist of the reward money for the Lost Princess' return, and Eugene is getting cold feet. He's been okay with a little bit of thievery so far but this feels like too much for him, and he's not okay with pulling it off but Lance still won't talk to him.

As the plan unfolds, Lance and Eugene reconcile and then they work together to betray the Baron and return the stolen treasure that they stole back to the King and Queen. They get caught by the Baron, escape, then get caught by the guards, but it's okay because they're presented to the King and Queen and when Eugene explains that they felt really sorry about it and promise not to do it again they're let go. And so the story ends on a high note.

My Thots™

Okay so here are the thoughts

Canon Compliance?

The obvious takeaway here is that this story offers you a beautiful pie in the form of the characters you know and love and the established lore, then shoves the pie in your face with things like "Eugene already knows the Dark Kingdom and the Moonstone exist but he never brings this up" and "Eugene betrays the Baron in a very significant way but somehow they'll make up and he and Stalyan will get engaged". Which means that if the integrity of the series is important to you, you'll probably just mentally cross out Eugene knowing about the Brohood/DK/Moonstone.

And imo that's fine! My own approach to this story is a kind of general 'if it works it works, if it doesn't I'll leave it' thing to work my own headcanons around. Because there's a lot of fun things to pluck from, like a new ex-Brotherhood member and other characters that could pop up from Eugene's past and other worldbuilding details.

The Story

The story was pretty short and obviously very tailored towards a younger audience, but it still felt kind of... slow? Mostly because nothing particularly exciting is happening until the big heist and even that feels pretty underwhelming. And of course I don't expect a story like this to be particularly complex and can appreciate its simplicity, but I felt like if it had been longer there could have been more twists to keep things interesting.

For example, the Baron is set up as a character not unlike Gothel, who lavishes praise upon the boys and goes on about how they're 'family' but is obviously just manipulating them and would throw them to the wolves in a heartbeat. Eugene underestimates just how criminal the Baron is, but at no point in the story does the doubt we have in the Baron's sincerity ever amount to anything- Eugene only turns against him because he has a morality crisis, which I'll get to in a minute.

Misc. Thoughts

Okay so one thing I thought was really cute was that each chapter has a little 'quote' from a Flynnigan Rider book, and I wrote them all down so if you've read this far and want me to post those separately lemme know. Anyway I just thought it was a very cute touch.

An honourable mention goes to every time Stalyan shows up, she doesn't really do anything in the story yet still is somehow the only character holding the brain cell. Rapunzel gets an indirect cameo by Lance and Eugene stumbling upon her tower and going "Whoa that's Crazy. Anyway. " which is amazing, and Cassandra even gets a little mention by the Captain! And to answer the question nobody asked, there's a chameleon running around Corona because she's an escapee from the circus, and Pascal's mom's name is Amélie!

Characters - okay really just Eugene

Eugene/Flynn is the title character of the book and we get the story exclusively from his POV, so there isn't a lot to say about Lance. On the one hand while I can acknowledge that this is a story about Flynn, not Lance, there's a few choices that feel like a missed opportunity at best given that this book really was an opportunity to explore Lance's character in a way the series never really does.

And it feels extra egregious when the plot demands conflict between Eugene and Lance, because while the emotion between them is engaging when it's happening, at other times it just feels like a convenient way to shove Lance offscreen again. (As a side note, as contrived as the conflict is these are also two twelve year old boys so. Can't blame em too much).

Also, Eugene coming up with the name "Lance Strongbow" on Lance's behalf while he's unconscious is one of those backstory things I'm not going to be acknowledging, thank you.

The Robin Hood Dilemma

Something I touched on after reading What Once Was Mine is that Eugene's characterisation prior to the movie isn't something writers seem to really like... dealing with. And it kind of makes sense that the author received a lot of characterisation notes from Chris Sonnenburg, because little Flynn does feel very similar to the Eugene we know; only the Eugene we know is an adult man who has since grown out of his Flynn Rider persona. But the Flynn Rider persona he needed to grow out of isn't something that ought to be cast aside entirely!! Stop being cowards!!

Taking a step back, the whole premise of the book is kind of a paradox- because Eugene needs to become Flynn Rider before he can learn to embrace his authentic self, but Flynn Rider isn't hero material, he isn't a good guy, he's not the right protagonist for a story for kids. So what we get isn't Flynn Rider, it's really just Eugene trying on a new name. That works for the beginning of the story, because he is just Eugene trying on a new name, but he doesn't grow into it.

At the beginning of the story, Eugene is an orphan in a poor but still functional orphanage run by a kind old lady, and he is surrounded by nice little boys. Eugene is motivated to leave and get a job by a desire to send funds back to the orphanage, and when he joins the Baron's circus he's taken aback to learn he's among thieves. Here's where I thought: okay, this might get interesting. We might be getting a G-rated 'angel falls from heaven' story about Eugene being morally corrupted by the Baron, of learning that the world outside is tough and he needs to look out for himself first and foremost-

but no. The Baron shares his plan to steal the reward money for the Lost Princess, because all the people he's surrounded himself with are already criminals who don't give a shit, but Eugene thinks that this is going too far! What about that poor lost princess who people need an incentive to search for? (he's like, projecting about his own parent issues which is fair, but still). And so the story ends with Eugene turning on the Baron to return the money to the "right" people (aka the king and queen of a kingdom?? okay) but he takes a single golden egg for himself so he can send it to the orphanage.

Which is all sweet and nice but. He still has to become Flynn Rider, asshole extraordinaire. He still has to lose his morals to the point where he'd take an inexperienced young woman to a pub that he, in this book, recognises is a dangerous place in the hopes that he can ditch her. He still has to go and become a wanted thief and rejoin the Baron and then ditch Stalyan on their wedding night.

The reason I'm going on about this so much is that the appeal of Eugene to me is that he is this good guy who wants to be a better person for the people he loves, but that means recognising that he has behaviour he needs to change, and his development is meaningful for that. Watering him down to a righteous Robin Hood hero does him a disservice.

The Real Villain Was Capitalism All Along

I will not elaborate nor should I

#hi i do book reviews now #sorry if you came here for anything else this is who i (cringe) am

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inmyarmswrappedin · 2 years

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Ship ask game: Ava/Finn/Zoe, Amira N/Dounia, nooreva or dealers choice of a remake version!Tried to think of some fun ones but feel free to disregard any of these lol

Hi 🔱 I'm going to do a remake version of Nooreva, but otherwise these are all great! Certainly less obvious than the ones I sent to you lol.

Ava/Finn/Zoe: Ship it!

1. What made you ship it? Before s7, my theory was that it was Finn who was Ava's friend before he got with the ganggang. And that was because Ava would bring Finn up in somewhat odd circumstances. And then Ava and Zoe became besties during s6 and I think all these connections are really intriguing, like there's a lot that can be built upon them that would help develop Ava, Zoe AND Finn.

2. What are your favorite things about the ship? I'd say the fact that, even though the ship is non-canon, the characters do have all these connections that live in my head rent-free. I also like that Zoe and Ava are both affectionate characters, so I get to see them cuddle and stuff. And lol I also like that they're relatively underrated characters, so people don't care that I'm shipping a non-canon ship.

3. Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship? I don't know what the popular opinions are, but I don't really want Druck to make this ot3 canon lol. Not only it wouldn't work post s7, I just don't think a 10-episode season where they'd be background characters is a good medium in which to explore a triad.

Amira N/Dounia: Don't ship it (in canon)

1. Why don't you ship it? I actually did like the ship for the longest time. But then that whole storyline where Amira outed Kasim (when there were so many other things she could've done instead) and then having Dounia say on her last clip that she was trying to get Kasim to come out to their mom (when he wasn't even ready to come out to Dounia), was just SO straight of both of them, that I just can't.

2. What would have made you like it? I ship them in any fanon verse in which the events of s4 didn't happen. They both have their personalities, Las Labass, and Kasim is still Dounia's brother, but everything else happened in a covid-free parallel universe.

3. Despite not shipping it, do you have anything positive to say about it? I think Amira N/Dounia is probably the easiest Muslim girl/Muslim girl ship to make canon, in that Amira already had sapphic energies before s4, and both Dounia and Amira feel very strongly about the other. Tbh Dounia's insistence that Amira date her brother is pretty much halfway there lol.

Mia/Hanna: Ship it

1. What made you ship it? I actually didn't ship them while s1 was dropping. But I rewatched s1 and s3 before s4 ended, and, if you know that s1 is going to end with Mia kissing Hanna, you actually can see how the writer was dropping all these little hints throughout the season that it was going to happen. Stuff like Hanna speaking of hanging out with Mia as, like, having a date with Mia (when talking to Jonas), Mia saying she doesn't think of sexuality as labels (which, good for you queen, but wish she'd actually talked of being bisexual tbh). Anyway, Mia/Hanna hints is one of those fun extras that you get when you rewatch a Skam season.

2. What are your favorite things about the ship? I think my favorite thing about it is that I have no reason not to like them together. I have my issues with how Mia's bisexuality was handled, but, unlike Noora, Mia never seemed to look down on Hanna or judge her. They remained close through the seasons, kept hanging out together, and I feel like Mia truly valued Hanna's input in a way Noora never did with Eva's. So it's like, it didn't happen on the show, but it doesn't trouble me to explore it in my mind lmao.

3. Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship? I guess my most unpopular opinion is that it's not my first ship for either of them. I find Mia/Victoria more... Not more canon because Mia did kiss Hanna after all lmao, but more like the show was telling me "yeah, they're gonna hook up at some point." And the Hanna ship of my heart is Hanna/Toilet Sam because maybe Pablo Grant should have made different acting choices that made me NOT ship it lol.

#ask #canonicallyanxious #druck #skam españa #again loved the variety of these!

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aks3raao1 · 3 years

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You know, there's a thing with characters that foil each other and serve as the "good" and "bad" respectively (Toga/Himiko, Tenko/Izuku, Nagito/Hajime, Ryoko/Hajime, Atsushi/Akutagawa) but that trope felt rather annoying to write, especially in the world I am trying to write about (ALTERNATIVE's world is basically MHA X BSD but like. 1000 times more fucked up and the Specialised are always prejudiced against. A terrible lot).

The title itself, ALTERNATIVE is to symbolise Romila's POV of "infinite choices and paths present for every being" and how she starts off the story with a decisive line of,

"Many people ask me if this could have been avoided. They beg for me to tell them that things could have been better. There are others too, who try to justify that this was the only way for things to have been. If you ask me, both are living in states of denial. One can't accept the stupidity of humanity for disregarding common sense for violence and prejudices. Another can't accept humanity's choice for having better circumstances if the one with the power chose to."

The thing is, the running theme is that the story is a bittersweet one, despite there not being many deaths of the main characters, but there was always a junction where you can see it could have been avoided, that there was an "alternative" for things to have gotten better, especially in the first book.

Another reason for the title is that it's basically an "ALTERNATIVE" to this world of ours, where super powers and stuff like those exist.

The subtitles of both the books (Myriad of Colours, Colour of Death) signifies Romila's power, "Aura Tracker" which lets her view people's aura as colours (Myriad of Colours is to signify the different kinds of people she meets, Colour of Death is about what affects her the most (death) and how she's constantly seeing that colour everywhere, especially now that it's war).

The thing about ALTERNATIVES is that Romila could have chosen to be a doormat (like Koldin tends to be at the beginning (his rp self is like THAT due to circumstances different to ALTERNATIVE's actual storyline. Also because Hack's a nicer person to be around than Romila is) in order to nOt hAvE cOnFliCt™) to not get into conflict and put up a super nice persona for people but she didn't. She decided to focus on hanging onto her reasons for doing what she does and using it to create a caustic personality to shield herself because she knows that she will regret being a doormat (Her Despair takes the form of Koldin Hopkins).

Now Koldin could have certainly put his hatred for society at the forefront and taken a caustic personality but instead chooses to be nice. Because he doesn't want to become as hurtful as the rest, that's how he wants to disentangle himself from society. However he, like Romila (who just took standing up for herself to extremes), takes this to the extremes causing him to gain the personality of a nice boy™.

However this also goes into why they made the choices they did (which is what Romila realises during the Mansion of Death arc), because for Romila, she didn't really have the psychology for actually becoming a doormat (because a) Her mom wouldn't have it b) She hated to be called weak c) She didn't have anyone to fall back to after the inevitable consequences of being a doormat d) She felt that if she were to live with monsters, then it's easier to blend in by being one (this comes useful to her when she infiltrates into the Government) e) She saw doormats getting suicidal which frightened her) or not becoming fully caustic (since her standing up for herself wasn't. Liked. By. Anyone. And seen as aggressive and she basically went, "Well if they see me as bad, I will show them BAD" which led to her breakdown causing the incidents at the Mansion Of Death (especially a twisted hatred against Koldin for extremely understandable reasons).

For Koldin, being meek and peaceful had let him get by in the streets and his skills to difuse fights had come in handy. Later when Dr. Hopkins took him in, he was well. A member of the Radicals who were known to be extremely merciless towards the Specialised (he had defected but Koldin had a REALLY good reason to be wary) so he figured if he stayed nice, he wouldn't be kicked out of the house and Dr. Hopkins being Dr. Hopkins just assumed that it was his normal and that behaviour carried into school. He figured that it was a horrifying thing to be aggressive and then saw how Romila got treated and decided that yep, he was right, that confirmed his world view alright and it was more reason to be super nice. While Romila saw Koldin as a person who everyone took advantage of (a thing she hated. To be exploited just like that) and went, yep that confirmed hers and it was more reason to be super angry.

However the thing is that, Romila was chided for being anything, which caused her to just give up to be peaceful (because what would she do? Anything she tried to do got her scolded) while Koldin (thankfully) found a support system. It really goes to show the difference a good friend can do.....

As it is, when I first began writing this, the most obvious choice presented itself to me. Koldin is the "hope" and Romila is the "despair" (on the protagonist, deutergonist side) but that seemed stupid and boring as it wouldn't make sense. Since I am trying to make a point of showing with how Romila's world view gradually changes from "there are wrong and right choices" to the fact that it doesn't have to be rigid and that *now* she wouldn't be hurt if she used what her vulnerable side wanted (a world free of prejudices and unnecessary cruelty) with the talents she had. That kindness mixed with her usual personality won't literally kill her.

And for Koldin, being a doormat means that he got taken advantage of a lot by different people and since he refused to actually stand up for himself ("Ah...aha......it seems that I can't..." "Can't what?" "Feel angry for myself......it's always anger that comes from the ones I love being hurt" "Then love yourself too, you will feel angry again" ~ Koldin's conversation with his inverted self in the Labyrinth) he got. Taken advantage of. By virtually everyone. However he decided that if being nice would keep him keep his self and his name self then it would be fine. He did not want to be the source of grief (his actual parents tossed him out because of his Specialisation). The Mansion Of Death actually causes him to snap for that reason, because Romila literally puts him in a torture dream "for the greater good" and then proceeds to kill his dear friend. One thing Koldin HATED. Killing friends. (Due to them being run over by a car, which led to his paralysed left arm)

Now on the other side, their respective friends:

Romila:

Luja: Cynical and annoyed by people's stupidity but not to caustic extents and she wants to be a scientist and isn't haunted by the possibility of dying.

Kratanos: Full of anger and hatred against the world but not entirely blinded by it and is focused to using that anger for reformation of the world (she becomes a therapist later, to help people)

They both have her caustic parts but they also let themselves embrace another side which makes them her "balance".

Koldin:

Anand: Believes that there's no requirement for violence unless it's absolutely necessary.

Karishma: Figures it's a better idea to just listen to rules but doesn't hesitate to break them if she sees that they are bs

They both have his peacefulness, but don't hesitate to do what they think they should do, which makes them his "balance".

The point is that, the case of choosing alternatives isn't possible with a tunnel vision. Even so, there are choices that literally can't be made due to the individual and circumstances. Sometimes the choice is to choose more than one choice. Well, that's one dramatic storyline......

It reminds me of DDLC side stories since everyone has a bit of the other person's solutions and more of a opposite personality (don't take this the wrong way, there are many stories like that and it's honestly a favourite to think abt but it's just that DDLC does it well especially since it's only a school environment). Tbh, I like dramatic storylines that rlly dig deep into a character's perspective (reasons why I'm in love with Hack and Axel in particular). My whole thing is that I'd rather read a story with interesting and in depth characters than one where only the plot is good so I say you made the great call of the century with Koldin and Romila's characters.

What you thought before getting into it is rlly how every great character arc starts. You focus on one, somewhat forget the other one until you review every single character for inspiration and then BAM! PARALLELS! It's really admirable how, even in this messed up world of specializations, you didn't purely focus on the plot bc it honestly sounds interesting enough to just stick around for Romila's life and journey. You could have ended it all with just that, but no, you smacked Koldin in there and said "be my interesting on par character that can kick Romila's gut" and IT WORKED SPECTACULARLY!!!

I really love ur writing and hoping to one day read (and maybe print out) every story you've ever written bc GODDAMNIT I NEED THE FEELING OF THOSE WORDS ON WORN PAPER WITH AN ARTISTIC COVER AND AN AMAZINGLY HEAVY WEIGHT

Aka, paperback. Bc that's how I like to roll and that's how good I think it is. 1000% worthy of a bestseller

#writing #mah fwend's story :3 #novel #ALTERNATIVE #Koldin Hopkins #Romila

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steve0discusses · 3 years

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S5 Ep 14: So If You Put a Fraction Into a Duel Disk, the Card Explodes

We left on quite the cliffhanger last episode, so I’ll fill you in:

I did not get the haircut.

Like I seriously considered getting a Zigfried for a cool 3 or 4 minutes there, but then I decided to wait a couple of days and I basically forgot.

But, back to the arc finale, Seto has decided to walk, not run, to the Kaiba lab in order to fix the virus rapidly eating his entire company.

I just want to point out that Zigfried went through a LOT of work to get Seto Kiaba to go “uggggh” turn around, and pretend to calmly walk away. I’m used to Seto losing his nut kind of a lot and blowing things up but this season he’s like “be chill be chill be chill” so that the entire world doesn’t think he’s a spaz on TV.

And little aside about Seto’s design choices here, I fell down a hole of interior design videos, and can I just say: apparently these wood frame things on the wall are back in style? Good on you, 2002(3?) Seto Kaiba. Don’t think that current designers are painting them purple but...we’re halfway there to Yugioh fashion.

Meanwhile, Pharaoh decides to remind everyone that these stakes are hella low. The worst that happens is that Zigfried deletes the plane that Yugi needs to fly home...which would be an impressive virus.

Like it’s hard to tell if Yami even has a solid concept of “capitalism” and whether or not he cares about or understands the makeup of Seto’s company (which up till now has operated like a small country and not a business...which is a little more Pharaoh’s understanding. Either way...hard to tell if Yami would shed two tears for the loss of Kaiba corp.)

And, despite what I say in the caps, I feel like Leon and Zigfried are the first villains we’ve ever had that Yugi and Pharaoh didn’t unintentionally disclose that they are 2 people to. Zigfried and Leon are just...completely oblivious to how effed up Yugi’s bean is. They think that’s just a normal kid and lol no dudes...y’all got distracted by Seto Kabia but you have a literal Egyptian God just hovering around in the background and dating 3 people by accident.

Like when the show shelves the main storyline, it is very funny how it’s all “And we’re gonna put the Pharaoh crisis on hold--just put a pin in it. No one will notice this child is two nervous wrecks stitched together” and then Yugi and Yami just kinda hold it in and watch all patiently until it’s their turn to get off the bench.

(read more under the cut)

In the giant computer tower, Seto Kaiba shouts out a string of orders and numbers, admired the many sonar detector looking windows open on every monitor, and then sat down at his desk to like...check the firewall, I guess?

The virus is past the firewall. It’s um...it’s inside the firewall, pretty sure that was the point, but youknow, it’s a kid’s show so they’re just throwing out computer stuff that has no meaning to the writers of this show.

Mokuba thinks fondly of how Seto Kaiba has never screwed him over (which I mean...maybe not on purpose, ((except for that one time he did screw him over on purpose to get Gozaburo Kaiba to accidentally give Seto Kaiba the company, but you could say that was a grander scheme that he knew Mokuba would see through, which...)) but Seto certainly has screwed Mokuba over accidentally. At least once.)

And meanwhile, Yami fixes everything through card shenanigans.

So here’s the shenanigan this episode: I don’t go over cards here but this one requires a limited amount of explanation.

So every round the golden castle deletes half of Yugi’s cards. So he was like...I’ll just draw down to one card. They can’t delete half a card...so that means the card must delete one of the two cards on the field which means it must delete itself.

...which is like the closest Yugioh will probably ever get to abusing a glitch to do a speedrunning tactic like GDQ.

Anyway, like I stated in the title: there are no fractions allowed in Yugioh. If you do that to your priceless one-of-a-kind card you got from winning one of Pegasus’ murder tournies, it will irreparably bust the card.

I’m sure at least one of you will correct me with the proper way to insert a fraction into your duel disk. Cuz like...as I say multiple times so we never forget, I barely pay attention to this card game and I’m just flying by the seat of my pants.

I want to say Seto and Mokuba were in the hacker chairs for like...3 minutes maybe before they realized “oh...Yugi fixed it...” and walked the half a mile back to the duel arena.

and also, as I’m looking at Seto’s glasses here, I just realized...all of Kaiba’s team wears sunglasses all the time. Inside, outside, night, or day...

They haven’t outright said this...but what if those aren’t sunglasses?

Is Roland and that other Roland wearing fancy cyber glasses? They are, right? Because they wear them indoors?

Damn, they can’t take a piss without being on call with Kaiba Corp, can they?

Now the problem is...Yugi played all of his cards (he has two in front of him face down, but none in his deck) and after milling himself, this means he’s now basically a sitting duck for Leon to take the title of “King of Games.”

Leon insists that he defend whatever scraps are left of his card honor and not duel a person who is carrying no cards and Yugi was like “COME AT ME BRO THIS IS THE ONLY WAY I KNOW I’M ALIVE.”

He didn’t even have to do a horror on Leon, he just...played cards good? I skipped it, I’ll be honest, but overall Leon’s card honor was...saved? Maybe? I mean he also go destroyed when his competitor had not a single card in his duel disk so...

...Leon will have to work on his card honor off screen because he’s pretty well humiliated at this point.

But stumbling onto the playing field like he’s half dazed/daydrunk, Zigfried is like “You forgot I already won, bastards!”

Which is when we find out that Zigfried’s “delete all” virus failed to press “enter” and deleted basically nothing. Just like when my Mom attempts to send something in Gmail but doesn’t press “Send” and tells me that Google is down and broken.

Sorry my bro has informed me that he ALSO has had to help my Mother locate the “Send” button and I just...I know she absolutely did that but I’m in denial that this Riddle of the Sphinx has happened to her multiple times.

Honestly, the pep talk we get from Leon at the end to cheer up his bro was a whole lot of “we will pick ourselves up and we’ll do better next time. Together.” and sure you can translate that as “we’ll be honest next time” or you can translate that as “next time we will be not nearly as obvious about inserting a virus into their computer until it is done doing the job, bro.”

Just like Dartz, we didn’t really get a whole lot of retribution or closure when it comes to Zigfried. But, unlike Dartz, Zigfried didn’t do too much murder, so I guess this is fine. He tried to cheat in a card game...

...and I guess tried to delete Kaiba Corp but youknow...

...people let him have that. The police saw the ticket of “this man tried to delete Kaiba Corp” and they just...didn’t arrest him. The judge saw that ticket and didn’t put out a warrant. They just let Zigfried have this, almost like “better luck next time, ya?”

And then Roland clocked out for the day and went home, thus ending this arc.

Look at all these characters, most of which we never saw duel even one card.

We also got one shot of Mai for some reason although she was not in this arc.

AAAHHHH. Every time I’m like “the show is done screwing geography” we get another freakin geography spook!

But we went back to California in order to get a scene of these guys in an airport to get a flight to Japan...

which means Rex and Weevil just...were they shipped home by the Kaibas? Because way to ditch getting arrested by the American Government, hot damn. They are...literally terrorists who destroyed a Caltrain in a plot to kill everyone in the world so like...really surprised Rex and Weevil are in public...but maybe all the FBI were dead at the time so they just didn’t know?

Meanwhile, Duke has to go back to Death Valley and call a tow truck for his car, RIP.

I sure hope he got PTO during this stunt and isn’t going home to a pink slip.

I’m not sure of Dukes life or anything going on with Duke. I’m sure the thing about Serenity is him joking because we have all forgotten about that girl by this point...but also...is Duke...still living in the Tenderloin? The crime rate is very, very high and the ground isn’t solid, so it will liquefy if there’s an Earthquake, but it is one of the few places in the Bay Area that doesn’t light on fire every year. He has that going for him.

I just really hope Duke moves out of the Tenderloin one of these days, he needs a better life.

Meanwhile, Rebecca does one last crime.

This is like a post-epidemic reaction to a hug, but in 2002(3?).

I don’t think I’ll miss Rebecca too much. Wanted to like her more, but she was under-utilized, like most of the characters on Yugioh. Not even just talking girl characters here--most characters on Yugioh are super under-utilized, just Tristan Wallflowers doing nothing, but also being selectively OP as hell about very specific things they never, ever need to do.

Speaking of the devil:

Yugi...just saved his entire company...

But Mokuba is just has to make sure to make it seem like they owed Mokuba and not the other way around. Just in case.

So off they go on this massive plane. It’s probably more to do with the length of the trip as to why the plane is so big but also...

This plane is overcompensating.

But before we analyze that, lets close the book on Seto Kaiba’s very short therapy arc. Overall, it was a nice distraction, but I can see why people call it a filler arc, as it really doesn’t affect...anything going on in the major plotlines, which makes me think it could have been a movie or a game or something. But overall, it’s not bad, it’s just not what you’d expect if you were a Western audience.

Like I’m preaching to the choir, but typically, Western stories are entirely plot focused, and so our arcs always give or take away from that plot. But in a Eastern story arc, it may instead be character focused, where the climax is a character evolving or coming to some sort of cathartic realization, which this arc was, in a big way. We still had some plot, because this is a Shonen, but overall it was about characters, and specifically whether or not Leon and his bro would reconcile or change--which they did.

We did get to see a little more growth on Seto in that he...didn’t go bonkers and hallucinate during a card game. It’s been a while since we’ve had him not do that. Seto was very chill this arc, which makes sense, it was a very chill slice of life arc for everyone involved.

So, next we move on to the next one, which bro has informed me...is

still not Bakura.

According to Bro, the next arc didn’t even air in the Japanese version of the show? Like he’s got a lot of spicy Yugioh headcanons so he could be wrong (He did tell me that he thought that Zigfried was Seto Kaiba’s ex boyfriend when he saw this as a kid which...that sure is a way to interpret this arc, and it probably wasn’t just my little brother who went down that thought tube there...)

(Bro Note: To be fair, I didn’t watch much of this arc as a kid.)

But he says the next arc was originally a movie. But they released it in the States as episodes to be part of S5, just to put more episodes in there. Which, if he’s correct, makes it seem like we’re getting like the Mulan 2 experience kind of shoved in between this arc and the next

But um..

according to bro it has virtually no card games.

.......

I’m so used to only capping 10 minutes an episode, what?

Anyway, until then, here’s the link to read the rest of these from the start in chrono order:

https://steve0discusses.tumblr.com/tagged/yugioh/chrono

I’m kinda itching to do a Season Zero, it’s been a hot minute--so those take a little longer to do, especially since I need to go to a different site I haven’t...checked out yet...I’ll be back...eventually? I just know that at some point in Season Zero they fight it out with yo-yo’s and I want to see it.

#yugioh #yu gi oh #ygo #S5 #Ep14 #Seto Kaiba #zigfried von schroeder #leon von schroeder #Yugi Muto #Joey Wheeler #Tristan Taylor #Mokuba #Tea Gardner #Duke Devlin #Rebecca Hawkins #recap #photo recap #episode recap

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dork-empress · 3 years

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So I've been watching DC comic tiktoks and reading wiki articles and so now i have a thought as to an interpretation of one Lucy Quinzel, aka The Joker's Daughter. If there are comics that contradict this, no they don't. That said, DC if you want to steal this I will look the other way if you also hire me.

So important things to know: In the Injustice universe (not the main storyline as far as I know, at least not yet) Harley Quinn reveals she once had Joker's baby, disappearing for a year to have her and give her to her sister before returning to Joker (The Joker didn't notice).

When this daughter (Lucy) was older, she was kidnapped by Ra's al Ghul or some shit to get Harley to go along with some Suicide Squad plan, and Lucy learns who her real bio mother (and more terrifyingly: Father) are.

This is some Super Origin shit.

To add onto that, and this one i just found out today and have mixed feelings on. So, Joker (in some iterations) does not have a real...mental illness. Like, as in not a real-world DSM diagnosable thing. Instead he has a made up comics condition called "Super Sanity." In essence, all the crazy things in life that humans rationalize through constructs? He can't rationalize those. So it's all just chaos. Out of universe, this leads him to some 4th-wall breaking, but like. not to Deadpool level, more like...he knows hes a comic book villain, so, nothing is real. there are no real consequences, and he knows it. He also has deplorable morals I think IN ADDITION and in combination with this condition, not because of it.

I would posit that because this condition is made up, I can add rules onto it, and say: it's genetic, so Lucy has it too.

Which means she KNOWS she has some Super Origin shit.

So, as a teen, knowing that SOMETHING is going to come after her or rope her into crazy super stuff somehow, she starts training. The obvious ideas would be learning Acrobatics (maybe even from her mom) and science, to make her own clown-type gadgets.

I think she also will study the Commedia dell'arte a lot, and honestly take the idea of comedy as a deconstruction of power systems. Like her father, she can't rationalize people as...well, people, but DOES have the morals that Joker doesn't, and cares about people's stories the way we might care about a character. So more than just saving people she'll like. Try to make their lives better, sometimes in roundabout (but overall relatively harmless) ways.

So basically, while Joker is a villain and Harley has become somewhat of an anti-hero, Lucy is a Hero, albeit a strange one.

I'm calling her Commedia, The Clown Princess. I based her design SOMEWHAT on Columbina, who is like a dancer, from back when women could not be part of the act, but could dance in between action (see here). Basically she's a ballet-dancer clown. Like Columbina, her weapon of choice is a cool tambourine. But Heroforge doesnt have that, so she also has a bouquet of flowers, that are like joker's flowers but different colors have different properties.

#lucy quinzel #the joker #harley quinn #dc comics

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harpersplay · 3 years

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4x10 and 4x11 Thoughts

Doing the bare minimum after being a parent for 13 years is not impressive. And I can't believe they are trying to equate doing that with Beth's years as an involved & active SAHM. (Gasp! Dare I defend Beth? Will I get my hater mantle taken away? I've said over & over that Beth's character has suffered the most from the shit writing. I truly have no idea how Beth stans think the show is good when every season Beth—as a character—gets worse & worse. And often because she is written at the expense of male characters.) And he's not a good dad. He's still fun dad (and also gross Dad. Who the fuck puts syrup on pancakes until right before you eat them?!?!?!). Giving his young children containers of Oreos (and encouraging them to lie to their mother) and risking their stability by again making shitty financial/business choices. Oh, and good dad (and good mom) are preparing to flee from prosecution and—I guess—just live on the run forever. Super great childhoods they're planning for their kids.

I was not at all clamoring for a Dean & Rio scene. Like ever. Luckily, it wasn't that bad. There was no swordfighting over Beth. And Dean got to see how Beth interacts with Rio (she talks to him with that haughty annoyed tone) which helps him to finally realize (JUST LIKE BETH TOLD HIM IN 1x6!) that Beth does this because she wants to not because the evil moose forces her.

Dorothy built her own store and career and none of the girls give a millisecond of thought to stealing the press. And that's after they've spent months using her store for illegal activities. Oh, and the obvious culprit when (if? because who knows with this show) Dorothy calls the police is going to be the former employee with multiple brushes with the law. But, great plan.

And, ugh, of course the girls are shocked that Diane & friends expect to be paid. They've only been doing this for years. Why would they learn anything? BTW, don't think I missed Beth mocking Krystal's voice. Where all the anti-misogynists at?

Breckin Meyer plays a really good creep. And someone actually did some research; because creeps make connections by being super tactile. I hate this MRA/MLM story. Why does it exist? Why is Vance at Dean's meeting with the lawyer? Is there some sort of budding cult leader/acolyte confidentiality?

So Stan is now getting directly supplied by the purse connect. Presumably the "Woman in Room 216." But why would she work with them? Weeks after she gets involved with Gene, he gets busted and spilled everything. So why would anyone in the criminal world work with Stan who was seen out & about as Gene's right hand? Why does Stan have access to the strip club? What about the "he" that owns the club that Gene mentioned? We know the city seized it and is going to auction it, but they don't just let people come in & out in the meantime; especially when it was a place used for illegal activity. Why does the show think this is unimportant to address but Dean montages are needed?

Ruby is all the way fucked up in this whole stupid Beth vs Stan nonsense (Reason #763 why she needs Black friends and it's super sus that she doesn't have any). She wasn't being neutral AT ALL and she was more on Beth's side for no reason than fake drama. Stan is probably the character we've seen undergo the most on a spiritual/moral/existential level. Ruby started at a similar place from him, but she at least went in knowing she was doing whatever she had to for Sara. Stan didn't find things out until the Hills were already in it. He's had multiple conversations with Ruby about what all this has done to him. He's calibrated his worldview of right & wrong. And for Ruby to tell him to "take the high road" was a slap in the face. Beth told Ruby she lied to Stan and Ruby was still on her side. Also, Stan was totally justified in what he said to Beth but the show is going to align him with Dean to neutralise the truth of his words. (I mean, the fact that he's a Black man has already been enough for people to say he's being "mean" to Beth.) And Beth yelling at Ruby to not defend Stan? No. Nope. That white woman needs to mind her own house.

The Kevin storyline is stupid & gross. First they used him to portray Annie's rock bottom. I don't know, having sex with your married ex while his wife is pregnant is more rock bottom to me. As is trying to fuck with your therapist's fiancée for funsies. And then he knows stuff about lacrosse, so suddenly he has some worth. Not because he's a human being. It's all incredibly offensive. But to have Annie, who has seen firsthand the problem with food waste and has been shown to have zero issues with Ben's transition (Not that she should have any. Just that it is a very, very common narrative for parents who will say they love their children to still express concern about how difficult life will be for them. And then they have some learning moment and credits.), be this judgmental character? It's plot > character again. And Annie has to start having feelings for him. Because, of course.

Ugh the casino. Just like the strip club fake bachelorette party, the writers just had an idea for a "fun" scene and did it regardless of how stupid. See the girls are always unlucky except in this moment when they need to be. Isn't that the most clever thing ever? Casinos monitor everything (Ruby actually points this out, which makes it worse) and the girls were acting completely suspicious. They would have for sure drawn attention. And then we have the added stupidity of the timeline being fucked with again to make a "clever" line work. Moments/twists/scene > plot > character. Always. The background actors in the scene were really earning their checks, tho.

Beth & Nick planting a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G.

#nbc good girls #good girls nbc #good girls season 4

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lover-of-trash-and-people · 3 years

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bittersweet netflix shadow and bone finale (s1 e8) rewatch; accoutrement: white wine with ice cubes in it (no YOU'RE a mom drink shh)

my wine's like fruity I love her

light and darkness title card we love to see it

Inej looking at Alina before she goes below deck to hide <3

okay that 'what can you really do on your own' was like not fun that shit hurted

okay but Jesper's 'not enough'? <3

oh no my baby Zoya's first inkling that Darkles does not really care

omg Helnik just appeared and I remembered how much heartbreak I have to face in this episode

gods I love Danielle as Nina so so much

'this can't be it' said she with her pleading smile with downturned eyebrows MA'AM I-

don't break my dumb little heart

I might hate Calahan's little accent but they're making me tear up

oh gods I literally cannot keep a hold on myself when Dani's accent bleeds through with full force, it's like she comes more alive or smth

'I will keep you warm' SIR WHAT-

I am surprised they showed a leaning in for a kiss so soon but I'm not mad about it

her little eyebrow twitch at 'what are waffles'

when that rando said 'i hunt slavers now' a dread settled into me because I knew what was about to go down

Matthias looking somberly at the stuffed wolf's head </3

I am so incredibly entranced by this exchange between Fedyor and Nina and what it represents, it's very interesting that they pushed up their storyline to match with the timeline

damn it's kind of jarring to be back in the Fold

'REMEMBER WHO'S DRIVING'??!!!! *you better stop* meme, *i am, disgusted* meme, *oh wow, oh wow* meme

Mal you fucking idiot you could never take the crows by surprise

the music rising as Kaz starts explaining his thought process, fucking perfection

haha Mal bitchass Inej caught you

'Because if he isn't with Kirigan's crew, he's with ours' WHEN I TELL YOU I SCREAMED

'And why would we destroy the Fold? It's the greatest weapon we've got' valid point at the moment but you know I don't necessarily agree with your methods

the use of the light tunnel in the show instead of Alina just being a super flashlight in the books is quite an interesting addition as well

is this an inappropriate time to point out how pretty Ben Barnes is

okay I kind of love the depiction of the shadow powers okay sue me

'they are traitors who tried to kill you' why are you suddenly making valid points despite having kind of committed low scale genocide

'i never said I was smart' YES MAL BE THE VOICE OF HIMBOS EVERYWHERE

Kaz's face going from 'can you believe this idiot' at Mal to 'fuck me I'm gonna do the same thing aren't I' at Inej

'For who would oppose us now?' *himbo romantic rival appears out of nowhere and shoots at him* god I love this show

him standing calmly in his ridiculous all black attire after nodding at his soldier to stop the himbo in his tracks, i fucking can't

could she summon light without the Darkling making her after he put the collar on her until the uhm moment in the books? idts but in the show she can hmm

'only because I'm not in the game' you tell him Jesper

not me snickering at 'you'll be seen not as a saviour, but as a heretic' LMFAO

'Shame. I'll have to give that speech again now.' THIS SHOW IS A FUCKING COMEDY AND YOU CAN'T PROVE ME WRONG

YES LET'S FUCKING GO SULI SOLIDARITY

Darkles casually whipping the Cut out like a shuriken or a throwing knife at Jesper because he shot at him lmao I can't

INEJ FUCKING GHAFA STABBED ONE THE OLDEST AND MOST POWERFUL PEOPLE IN THAT WORLD AND THAT IS VERY TELLING OF HER POWER

that moment where you actually think that affected him despite having read the books and watched the show

and then he has to go and fucking say 'it will take more than this' and I can't be help but be a little bit impressed at this old fool's resilience

throwback to when he said 'the king is a child' sir you make some valid points sometimes and it does make it difficult to hate you

I would just like to inform everyone that it is currently 6:09 am IST and I am sipping my second mug of wine while watching netflix sab for the second time instead of doing my three papers that are due tomorrow

I'm sorry but Inej jumping to check on Zoya after she gets knocked over by the volcra? first class display of solidarity and sisterhood as well as Inej's inherent kindness

Kaz jumping in front of a FUCKING VOLCRA AND STABBING IT WITH HIS CANE to save Inej, you best believe love is true, kids

god the volcra are so ugly and gross, they did such a good job with them

they kind of remind me of these creatures (I think they might have been called Hollows or smth) from the Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children movie

STAG VISION TIME

despite my dislike for the callous nature with which the stag plotline was handled, I kind of dig the stag vision scene

'It's just me and you now, Alina. And we're all we need, anyway.' I actually feel bad for this old fool simping for this wonderful gorgeous powerful woman despite lying to her and manipulating her and exploiting her power

okay 'I never needed you' *stabs the bone fragment out of his hand* beautiful power move I fucking love you so so much

alright ben looking like ✨ that✨ not only in physical pain but also emotional pain at what the Darkling clearly considers another betrayal from this girl he wants to give the world and maybe? loves? maybe? or at least has feelings for makes my fucking heart hurt while simultaneously soar at Alina taking back control and reclaiming her power as her own and stepping into her own

'how do you claim such power' okay could have had better dialogue there writers

the fucking score lifting as she says 'you cannot claim what was not given to you' good people my heart is full

one day I'll talk about my defense of the chosen one trope because god damn I kind of love it

hmm I wonder was that brief hesitation that we saw on Alina's face due to her thinking about the 'you chose to betray our people' comment or the 'i was trying to save us' comment because that will define some of her actions in the later seasons (hopefully god if we get some, I honestly don't know what with this stupid brownface debacle)

I'm not saying talking about brownface and pointing out that it is wrong (for further context, I am actually brown) and harmful is stupid btw I'm talking about the incidents involving brownface in question

I don't wanna talk about this anymore but I might feel like I need to and end up posting about it idk

goodness Ivan actually believing in this cause makes me so sad because he too has been victimized by the system that ostracizes Grisha and he has every right to feel the way that he does

Ben actually fighting in that ridiculously heavy cloak and kefta when he's about to turn 40 this year makes me super impressed because I as a 19 year old sometimes wake up with muscle pulls after weeks of inactivity it's weird idk

also I understand that this Mal Darkling fight is completely fanservice and serves nearly no purpose to the plot in general but like I? love it?

'I don't have to kill you Darkling. Your past will do it for me' YES HIMBO GO OFF YOU TELL THAT OLD MAN GODS THAT WAS SEXY AS FUCK

maybe it's because I know Darkles will survive and will come out of it more powerful but I can't get myself to feel bad for him at the moment

Inej and Mal tearing up at Alina's condition made me almost feel something despite it being super obvious she was gonna be fine and save their asses at the last moment

HER POWER

a solitary Kaz in spotted on the western side of the newly expanded fold in his signature all black emo boy look

okay but the crows with zoya and malina is such an adorable team? I literally love them so much?

INEJ'S FUCKING SMILE AT ALINA GIVING HER THE DAGGER AND KAZ LOOKING AT HER AGSGSGSHSJSJSK MY HEART CAN'T TAKE THIS ANYMORE

SHE KNOWS JUST WHAT TO NAME IT WELL GIRLIE I KNOW IT TOO AND MY FUCKING HEART IS LITERALLY GONNA BURST

okay I know they had one interaction but Mal and Jesper would be besties in another universe

Kaz glaring at Jesper when he answers ''course not' to Alina's 'will you still be trying to kidnap me?' tell me one fucking adaptation that got the dynamics between characters this perfectly

okay why do I love that Alina kept the jewellery as maybe a small nod to she has the wits to, um, you know, I don't wanna say steal, but, um, yeah, steal it because she knew she would need money to survive on the run

oh Jessie I love you so much I wish you hadn't said those things on you ig story about the brownface

it's like every single celeb I grow attached to god's like nope that one is going to do or say something problematic (hey btw im not reassigning blame to god for stuff people have done out of their own free will, 'twas a joke)

AAAAAAAH them saying 'the deal is the deal' in the show even though they didn't have to but like they did and I love them for it

Inej literally not being able to not stare at Kaz's face and smile after this <3

'I didn't expect it to burn at all. But it can be destroyed in the end. Just like him' babe you're not wrong but like um just you wait

god Mal being on supportive boyfie mode is well, absolutely adorable, obviously, but I wish we got to see more of him as a person outside of his attachment to Alina

kaz my little demjin I wish you hadn't have had to suffer so much to meet the crows and find your calling

fastforwarding Zoya's arc is also an interesting choice to me

I wish the hug hadn't been done though, it didn't feel earned

maybe Alina awkwardly and half-heartedly (remember, at this point the alliance is fresh and they still don't entirely trust each other) reached for a hug and Zoya avoided her? and then the rest of Zoya's lines followed? that would have made more sense to me at least

I love Sujaya as well, she brought life into Zoya with whatever little screentime and scraps of writing she got

inej asking kaz 'what's your angle?' beep bop bleep morp I sense another incoming embarrassing love confession

'but we do need you' *stares at her face intensely* 'I need you' ah look at the clock, look's like it's time to screech and flap your arms like you're a volcra because you're incapable of containing your emotions

NO YOU CAN'T GO DIRECTLY FROM KANEJ PROGRESS TO HELNIK BREAKUP (TEMPORARY, MIND YOU)

helnik my loves you don't deserve this I'm so sorry for both of you

Matthias fucking smiling ruefully while he says 'this was... just a cruel joke all along' THIS IS NOT FUCKING OKAY

omg hellgate

AAAAAAAAH NINA IS ON THE SAME FRAME AS THE OG CROWS I CAN'T HANDLE THIS

CAMERA PAN FROM KAZ SAYING 'JUST HOW THIS ALL STARTED... WE'RE GONNA NEED A HEARTRENDED' TO NINA OVERHEARING HIM AND LOOKING OVER?????!!!!!! WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING THIS TO ME?!

Nina genuinely being curious as to the status of the sun saint because she obviously still cares

Also, 'But she is a Saint' okay Kaz trying to earn brownie points you have succeeded

DID THAT SAILOR JUST SAY 'GOED MORGEN FENTOMEN' TO MALINA BECAUSE I AM NOT OKAY WITH THEM JUST THROWING THAT IN MY FACE ALL OF A SUDDEN

gods I know I'll probably see them again but my heart is full of sorrow as my eyes drink in the sight of my crows for the last time for a while

I know people were annoyed at the meadow flashbacks but guess what? as a darklina, I loved them

'now that the Darkling is dead' could have phrased that a little differently my dudes that line needed to hold more weight

am I glad that they showed Darkles in this state with his nichevo'ya as a tasty little cliffhanger despite not being entirely true to the source material? maybe but only because Ben Barnes saying 'follow' and the nichevo'ya doing exactly so sent a chill down my spine

well, that's it for now, I'll have to move on I guess, get back to my real life which I'm obviously not ready to do

thank you to whoever actually read these things

I probably should have just made reactions or commentary videos instead but I'm lazy

my tumblr will probably go into inactivity once more as I emerge from my stint in the grishaverse

it was quite short (less than 2 months), considering the length of my other obsessions but it was definitely more intense than the other ones

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tobiasdrake · 3 years

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Dragon’s Eye on DuckTales S01E06 - The Beagle Birthday Massacre

Oh man, I have been waiting for this one! The character introduction episodes are out of the way. The dynamics between the Triplets Plus One have been established and fleshed out and the writers are ready to push forward and explore new ideas with those characters.

And it all starts with the arrival of the season’s other major arc, the introduction of my personal favorite character in the show, and also taking a do-over on “Daytrip of Doom” while we’re here.

Inventing Lena DeSpell

There are two words you will not hear me use when discussing Lena’s journey through the course of this season. Those words are “redemption arc”. Lena’s journey has some of the trappings of your standard redemption tropes. She’s a character motivated to do a bad thing, but who ultimately sides with the protagonists. She even pulls off a ham-fisted heroic sacrifice in the season’s finale, which is often a hallmark of redemption stories.

But Lena’s story isn’t about redemption. Redemption implies that a character who was a bad guy changes sides and becomes good. Lena wasn’t a bad guy. Lena actually parallels Webby; she’s a blank canvas experiencing the world for the first time. She’s a child dealing with the influence of one toxic parent molding her in her image and one outside friend just helping her figure out who she is.

Lena hasn’t had a chance to be a good person or a bad person yet. What happens over the course of the season isn’t a redemption story; it’s simply Lena figuring out what she believes in and who she wants to be as a person for the first time, much to her malevolent matron’s dismay.

Make no mistake, Magica sets Lena to a wicked task. Lena is charged with infiltrating McDuck Manor. She is, from the beginning, charged with being a spy and a thief and she does perform some of the tasks given to her. But Lena is about as culpable as a ten-year-old whose mom told her to stuff a piece of merchandise under her coat on the way out of a store.

There is one thing that bothers me about Lena, and it’s the linguistic choice of “Aunt Magica”. At a creative level, the purpose of this moniker is obvious. Lena’s relationship to “Aunt Magica” is meant to parallel the Triplets Plus One’s relationship to “Uncle Scrooge”. And for much of the season, it works.

However, in “The Shadow War”, it’s revealed that Lena’s true nature is that of a magical construct. She’s Magica’s shadow manifested as a person. This reveal, while cool and giving Lena a unique identity in the series, makes the usage of “Aunt Magica” retroactively bizarre.

In this episode, Lena has lines of dialogue such as, “Now I remember why I avoid family! All they do is fight!” What is she talking about? Lena doesn’t have a family outside of Magica, who she does not avoid (at least, not yet).

This kind of dialogue provides a lot of bathos to Lena’s character as introduced. It creates the impression of a nasty home life among what is revealed at episode’s end to be the extended DeSpell family. Given that she’s living in an abandoned auditorium, it may even suggest that Lena herself is a runaway, having fled an abusive household.

But with the ultimate reveal in “The Shadow War”, these lines retroactively make zero sense. Lena doesn’t have a family to avoid, let alone any reason to have such strongly held opinions about the subject. She’s not implying a dark and troubled history; she’s just vomiting nonsense words from her face hole for no reason.

Both the Della Duck and Lena DeSpell storylines have bits like this, which raise questions and create intrigue only to be left unsatisfyingly dangling when the truth is revealed. It leads me to wonder how much the writers actually had planned out from the beginning, how much was just general mystery boxing, and whether plans changed over the course of the season.

Web of Adventure: Make New Friends but Keep the Old

So the central premise of this episode is that “Daytrip of Doom” sucked and the writers would like to take a mulligan on it.

Once again, the Triplets are setting out for a fun activity, but Webby’s place is called into question. The complication this time is logistical; rather than Louie being a jerk, what’s stopping Webby from joining the boys is that their boat was built for three people.

Once the problem becomes apparent, Huey volunteers to stay behind and let Webby take his spot. I love this moment because Huey constantly strives to be the big brother of the group. Here, for the first time, we see Huey extend that courtesy to Webby as well. Giving up his spot for her is a total big brother move, and it demonstrates that Webby is wanted and valued in this group.

But Webby wins the politeness standoff and stays behind. This leads her right into the path of her aspiring new friend, Lena.

Something Wicked This Way Comes: Lena DeSpell

For much of this episode, the premise is ground well-trodden. Most of us have seen this story many, many times before. Webby doesn’t feel valued by her old friends and suddenly she meets this new friend who is exciting and awesome and cool. Together they go off on a whirlwind adventure that seems amazing and fun at first!

But the toxic new friend is actually a bad influence and is bad for her. And, when the chips are down, the new friend leaves her holding the bag and it’s her old friends who turn up to help, revealing to her who her actual friends really were all along.

The moral of the story is that toxic people might be intoxicatingly cool and you might well enjoy being around them, but they’ll only hurt you in the end. Never lose sight of who your real friends are.

Much of the episode follows those beats and it’s easy to be lulled into a false sense of security in knowing where the story is going. But there’s a deeper, more sinister layer to the Lena we meet in this episode. She’s not just irresponsible. She’s not just a bad influence. Lena is a predator.

See, there’s a point midway through the episode where Lena and Webby discuss the Triplets; Webby wants to share with them the experiences she and Lena have had, and Lena starts dissing on them as “Three nerds who left [Webby] on the beach”.

Up to this point, Webby hasn’t said a word about her friends. She mentioned once that she wanted to wait for her friends, but provided no context for what that means. Lena knows things she shouldn’t rightly know and is trying to use that knowledge against Webby; this is an easily-missed bit of foreshadowing about Lena’s true nature.

Webby and Lena did not meet by chance. Lena was watching when the Triplets took the boat. She saw opportunity when Webby was left by herself on the beach. She took advantage of that opportunity to lure Webby to the auditorium so she could ingratiate herself. And in the playground scene, she’s trying to manipulate the conversation to make Webby feel like the Triplets abandoned her.

She’s trying to first physically isolate Webby so no one can intervene, then emotionally isolate Webby by convincing her that her friends don’t really care about her. The end result: to make Webby emotionally dependent on her, Lena, for companionship. To ensure that when Webby does return to the others, she will consider Lena her only true friend. To convince her to hide things from them, to trust in Lena exclusively, and to do whatever Lena asks of her without question, because she believes Lena is the only person in the world who cares about her.

This is Predator 101. And while Lena is ultimately unsuccessful in isolating Webby emotionally, poor neglected Webby is too desperate for companionship to even see her doing it.

There is, however, a complicating factor. Well, there’s two complicating factors; one is just that Lena’s a dumb kid who knows what she’s trying to do but is only halfway decent at actually doing it; throughout the episode, we see her utilize her talent for psychological manipulation at several turns, particularly against the Beagle Boys, but she is only occasionally successful. The other obstacle is a much more dangerous one.

Something Wicked This Way Comes: The Extended Beagle Boys Family

The Beagle Boys make their return from “Daytrip of Doom” now with a wide variety of different Beagle groups supporting them. While I’m not fond of the premise of the Beagle Boys, the animators do a great job of making the various Beagle clans diverse and interesting.

They’re still here as fill-in villains. They aren’t related to the central conflict of the story, which is Lena’s attempts to get in with Webby. They are once again just here to provide some physical menace, giving Lena and Webby the opportunity to bond by battling it out against the different Beagle groups.

It’s unclear whether Lena was even aware of the animosity between Ma Beagle and Webby when she brought Webby to the junkyard. It’s possible that she planned this all out from the start, but if so, she didn’t seem very well prepared for the actual conflict that ensued. It’s also possible that she was just trying to be cool and get Webby to like her by sneaking into this killer Beagle party, and then had to adapt her plan to changing circumstances after Ma and Webby turned out to know each other.

Personally, I favor the latter interpretation; in general, the more convoluted a character’s plans become, the less it feels like they are actually a person existing in the story and the more it feels like they’re just reading the script and claiming credit for its events.

In any case, Ma wants Webby’s head on a plate and so much of the episode is spent with Webby and Lena duking it out with the Beagle clans. This is another key point of distinction between this episode and “Daytrip of Doom”. In that episode, the Triplets accept Webby as a friend because she can fight the Beagles for them. In this one, Webby and Lena work together to overcome the Beagles, building a bond through mutual effort and teamwork that the audience can become invested in.

So although the Beagles are just some one-note bad dude randos to provide a physical threat, they’re at least creative randos this time around and they make for a variety of interesting encounters. They serve their purpose well and facilitate the development of Lena and Webby’s relationship without ever overshadowing the central point of the episode.

Web of Adventure: Wait There’s Still Five Minutes Left

It all comes to a head in the playground. The Triplets show up and their presence disrupts Lena’s ability to manipulate Webby. Webby is no longer physically isolated.

Lena tries to convince Webby to abandon the Triplets to the Beagle Boys and come with her, but between running from the Beagles and the sudden presence of the Triplets, she hasn’t had a chance to properly lay the emotional groundwork. Webby refuses and goes back to help them.

Remember, kids: the presence of even just one another person with you is the strongest defense against predators that there is. An isolated person is vulnerable, but a stalwart friend is an impenetrable shield.

This seems like where that story we’ve all seen a million times before would end. Webby goes back to help the Triplets and together they overcome the Beagles. When she returns to find Lena, Lena has bailed. The toxic friend didn’t wait for her. Of course she didn’t.

Huey once more steps up to be the big brother and console Webby about Lena’s abandonment. It sucks that Lena was never really her friend, but she’ll always have them. They’re her family and they’ll be there for her no matter what. All she can do is take some time, get her feelings in order, and when she’s ready, get back on that horse again.

EXCEPT WAIT WHAT THAT’S NOT WHAT HAPPENED HERE

Plot twist, the story isn’t over yet! Because Lena isn’t a toxic friend who bounced; she’s a true friend after all a predator trying to use Webby to get her foot in the door of McDuck Manor. She didn’t bail on Webby; the Beagle Boys caught her!

This subversion leads into one last clash with the Beagles. Lena and Webby put their skills together to demonstrate what the strength of their friendship can do and take the Beagles all down as one. Lena manipulates them into fighting one another, leaving the few Beagles in their path vulnerable to Webby’s action skills.

Lena sets them up, Webby knocks them down, and the audience has one last chance to cheer for how awesome these two characters are together and root for their friendship to be everlasting.

Which, in turn, sets up the whammy of a final scene.

Something Wicked This Way Comes: Magica DeSpell

This last scene is fantastic. Webby notices that Lena has an ancient Sumerian talisman shortly after they meet for the first time. However, Lena mentions that she got her shirt in Paris; whatever her issues with her family are, she’s clearly well-traveled. She also tucks away the talisman for most of the episode; by the time this final scene happens, it’s easy to have forgotten she even had it.

But then Lena returns home to the auditorium and casts an incantation to invoke Magica. Magica doesn’t have a single word of dialogue in this scene, but her presence is felt in her grandiose shadow and malevolent grin.

It’s a tense and suspenseful finale reintroducing the most iconic villain in DuckTales history. It strikes the audience like a curve ball to the face, but it’s been subtly set up enough throughout the episode that it doesn’t feel like it comes right out of nowhere.

This is what the whole episode has been building to. And as the scene fades to black and the credits roll, the tug of addiction-based storytelling is impossible to resist.

In Conclusion

This episode makes for a great introduction to the intrigue of Lena DeSpell, Webby’s best friend and Magica’s infiltrating agent. I love the dynamic at work with how the episode presents her. Lena is a dangerous predator masquerading as a toxic influence.

There’s something about her behavior that’s always subtly off, but that’s masked by her flippancy and her seemingly artificial coolness. It’s easy to get a bad impression from the way she talks and acts, but it’s also easy to write that bad impression off as the object lesson of the episode: Webby is going to learn that friends like Lena are actually bad for her.

Hilariously enough, Lena’s next appearance in “Terror of the Terra-Firmians” will literally be about this judgmental mindset, too. If you watched Lena be all too cool for school, listened to how she talks, and immediately decided that she’s definitely going to be the bad guy of the episode, then the writers have your fucking number.

And when Lena turns out to genuinely be trying to be Webby’s friend in the end, it’s a surprising and endearing twist that emotionally sets the audience up for that final gut-punch, which puts all those bits that seemed off about her into a brand new light.

"The Beagle Birthday Massacre” is a cleverly written roller coaster that plays on expectations and utilizes cliches in order to deliver a surprisingly solid experience.

#ducktales #the beagle birthday massacre #beagle boys #webby vanderquack #lena despell #dragon's eye on ducktales

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republictrooper · 3 years

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Thoughts on S3E3 of Discovery

There’s an argument that this episode tied up a lot of plot elements far, far too neatly, but you know what? I’m not going to be one of the people making that argument, because with how horrible life is right now, it is just way too damn nice to have a show that says, screw it, everything more or less turns out as ok as it can sometimes. Even in darkness, there is light, and life, and the possibility of forgiveness.

As far as more spoilery stuff goes... Listen, I still kinda ship Mylvia, but I can’t hate Book/Burnham even a little bit. That have a chemistry and a witty repartee that is just to DIE for. Michael lovingly mocking him (Sorry Michael, he’s right about Grudge tho) and having him wrapped around her little finger but also trusting him with her life and the life of her new family. Book trusting her implicitly in return and unable to deny her anything but still being just a hint of roguish all the same. Their whole thing on the ship where yes, technically they aren’t romantic YET but the vibe is still Michael bringing her boyfriend to meet the family for the first time and Mirror Georgiou being Mom-like and sizing up her daughter’s new beau and whew. I was a little disappointed when he left at the end of the episode. I mean yeah, obviously he’s coming back, but I was hoping he just decide to stick around on the ship, even if not as a member of Starfleet.

Honestly, the family themes were so lovely. Michael hugging everyone. Michael and Tilly talking in the ship Corridor. The final thing where Saru and Michael stood side by side on the bridge and Michael said she didnt need to go down and visit earth because her place was here with Saru I am so glad they’ve made up and become surrogate siblings it’s so wonderful ;_;

I do find the way Michael’s storyline is shaping to be intriguing. Georgiou becomes the Devil on her shoulder, trying to pry her away from Starfleet after that year apart caused her to drift, and Saru trying to bring her back home. Georgiou has more Charisma on that front, but I believe in Michael. The storyline would admittedly probably be landing a bit better if we got an episode or two detailing what she did in that year of waiting instead of a short montage,yes, but with only 12 episodes on deck, I can understand why they glossed over it and I trust the story team made the best choice they could under the circumstances.

I love Adira on a basic level. Smartass tech whiz kid is still a fun archetype, and I LOVE that they’re somehow bringing out Paul’s fatherly side??? When is he gonna break the news to Hugh that they’re dads now anyway? I wonder how the whole Trill thing worked out? Judging by Riker’s reaction, Humans can’t really carry Trills for a long period, IIRC? But I suppose either Adira’s young age or advanced medical technology might have helped that a bit, to be fair.

So on one hand, I am happy the NB person is an actual human and not the usual “Well, Aliens have a different concept of Gender” thing. On the other hand, weren’t they referred to as she pretty much every time it came up this episode? I suppose it’s possibly Adira is a she/they NB, or even just a she NB, but I feel like if you’re gonna hype up their status as NB, you should do a better job of explaining exactly what their deal is in the first episode, unless you get people confused and dismayed about the whole thing. Right now it’s unclear whether they’re flexible on their pronouns, or just getting casually misgendered.

Hopefully the next episode will clarify that a bit, since it does look Adira-centric, or at least dealing directly with their symbiont.

The whole Earth storyline was... pretty wonderful, actually. Not only do we get Expanse echos of Belters vs. Earthers, we get Starfleet actually getting 2 sides to sit down and discuss things. It got a little bothsidesy when it was clear Earth was pretty much completely in the wrong, but I appreciate that it let talking WORK for once. It’s nice to escape to a universe where just talking works and gets people help. Hopefully its the first step in getting an earth that can open back and maybe be ready to rejoin the Federation when Discovery gets it back in working order.

It was also really nice to see the bridge crew down on earth. We’ve seen them all in the background, and they’ve deserved to step out into the light for a long time now, and they’re all so wonderful.

I’m relieved that it looks pretty obvious now that we’re going for a PTSD/Trauma storyline for poor Keyla as opposed to a “Control in the implant” storyline, if only because the former has a much higher chance of her surviving. Let Joann and Keyla comfort each other and grow as people and kiss, Discovery. You owe them that. >:[

Anyway, other than the concerns about Adira’s exact gender identity vis-a-vis the advertisements trumpeting them as ST’s first NB Character, I loved the episode. Season 3 of Discovery, for whatever flaws it may have, continues to be the type of wonderful comfort food I was craving during this year.

Also: Captain Saru is my favorite Captain.

#star trek discovery #star trek discovery spoilers

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courtingstars · 4 years

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Notes for The Vanishing Prince: Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight has been posted! I don’t have nearly as many notes this time. (Which is good, because it took me a lot less time to draft this post. XD;) Still, I did want to bring up a couple of things that I thought might be worth mentioning.

And as always, I updated the inspiration board for this fic over on Pinterest, so feel free to check out the new images if you feel like it/have access to Pinterest. (The most recently added images are at the top, so when you scroll down, you’re basically going backwards through the story.) And with that, onto the notes...

(Cut for the ramblings of a writer who overthinks everything, and also some very important notes about omurice, because I LOVED writing that part…)

Akashi and His Mom, Plus Heian Poetry

This is basically just a note to say that I really loved being able to write the scene with Akashi and his mom. <3 I think it’s the first scene of them together that I’ve posted online…? (Though I’ve written lots of scenes where Akashi talks about his mother, or has a very brief memory of her.) I wrote something short about them for Mother’s Day years ago, but I never finished it, sadly. So it felt nice to finally be able to include a glimpse of how I see their interactions.

Also, the part about Japanese poetry is indeed a thing! A lot of the Heian-era poetry in Japan revolves around themes of courtly love, and because of how courting worked in that time period, they often feature various forms of pining-for-your-lover-from-a-distance. So like Akashi says, there was a folk belief that if you were missing your lover enough, you would appear in each other’s dreams, so that you could at least be together in the dream world. Like this site about the poet Ono-no-Komachi explains, “the intensity of one's feelings for one's lover could induce him to appear in one's dream or could cause one to appear in his dreams.” I always thought that was a fascinating concept. (Also the idea that Akashi would be studying those poems at six years old is just really funny to me? But anyway. //laughs)

Akashi’s Issues, Poor Guy

I don’t want to go into too much detail here, but I thought it might be worth mentioning… One of the things I really wanted to explore in this fic (and the series as a whole) is the reality that working on mental health problems can be a very difficult and often nonlinear process. While it’s not the only plot line of the story—and I definitely don’t claim to have done a great job with it by any means, though I try my best!—I felt like it was important to take the time to show how a person’s struggles with mental illness don’t just get solved overnight. Akashi has been fighting a lot of the same problems throughout the series, because these kinds of emotional hang-ups and coping mechanisms aren’t easy to change.

To be honest, it felt somewhat counterintuitive to me as a writer, because back when I was trying to publish original stories, there was this idea that you weren’t supposed to write characters “brooding” for too long or repeat the same issues/mistakes over and over. Basically, the characters needed to show growth quickly, and passages that could be seen as repetitive should probably be cut, because they weren’t “progressing the story.” While I can understand that idea in a writing sense, I tend to feel like it’s not a very fair representation of what it’s like to struggle with mental health. (Which also applies to a lot of other kinds of personal issues/growth as well, honestly. Change is just hard in general.)

So I’m definitely trying to walk a balance between not writing the same scenes over and over, while also showing Akashi’s struggles as an ongoing journey for him. The latter was really important to me, both as a writer, and as someone who’s had cycles and setbacks with my own mental health stuff.

Bokushi Is Still Kind of an Asshole, Lol

On kind of a similar note… I have no idea how Bokushi comes across as a character at this point in the story? //laughs But if anyone finds him to be kind of a jerk, I will say that’s an intentional choice, at least. Ideally, I wanted him to be likable but still flawed, and I do find him hilarious personally, but… Hopefully it’s obvious that I don’t think he’s a perfect person, by any means. XD;

I think I’ve said before that I really want to use this storyline as a chance to explore my view of his character—and the why/how of how his personality differs from Oreshi—in as much detail as possible. Hopefully it ends up coming across as nuanced in the long run… But if nothing else, I hope it’s at least fairly interesting to read! Because I do find him extremely interesting as a character.

Omurice!

So here’s my major cultural note for the chapter… I’m guessing a lot of people are already aware of the fact that Furihata’s favorite food in canon is omurice, since it tends to pop up in AkaFuri fics a lot. For anyone who’s not familiar with the dish, omurice (a borrowed compound word for “rice omelet”) is a Western-inspired Japanese dish that’s extremely popular as a comfort food. (This type of Western-inspired cuisine is generally called yoshoku. Which I think I also mentioned in Storming the Castle, but… it’s been awhile? //laughs)

So basically, omurice consists of pan-fried rice that’s usually seasoned with either ketchup (often considered the more homey/classic version) or demi-glace sauce (more often seen in restaurants). Like in a lot of fried rice recipes, vegetables and meat are added to the rice, and then the whole thing is served beneath a super-fluffy egg omelet. It typically looks like this, or this. I’ve made it before, and enjoyed it way more than I expected. So while I was writing this chapter, I couldn’t resist preparing one of my own (for research purposes of course, lol):

I’m not a good cook, to put it mildly, but I was proud that this one came out a little better than the last time I tried it. XD

To me, the coolest thing about watching someone prepare omurice is the part where they plate the omelet... This can be done a few different ways, and some take more skill than others. (I totally cheat, by making a single-layer omelet and just setting it on top of the rice as best I can. XD) The most difficult way (and the way Furihata does it in the fic!) is to layer the omelet on top of itself while you’re cooking it, so that it becomes a kind of pouch that you can slice open over the rice. There’s a great animation of this process over on my Pinterest board, and I also really recommend two videos on Youtube if you’d like to see more… This clip features an amazing chef from the most famous omurice restaurant in Kyoto, and this one is an iconic scene from Tampopo, a classic Japanese film. To learn more about the context of those clips, and about omurice in general, I also recommend this really fun article about it.

The thing I find the most interesting about omurice is that it’s such a popular comfort food, so it’s often associated with home and family life. That’s why in The Fast Train to Kyoto, I was inspired to have Furihata’s mom make him omurice when he’s having a bad day. At the same time, though, the dish can also have a bit of a “lovey dovey” connotation to it? Like how in this survey it was one of the top foods that Japanese guys said they would like their girlfriends to make for them. (Hence the trope of decorating the omelet with a ketchup heart, as Bokushi mentions, in his extremely Bokushi way. //laughs)

For all these reasons, I tend to think of omurice as the perfect favorite food for a character like Furihata. It definitely inspired how I write about him, especially when it comes to things like his family life as well as his romantic side. <3

So How About All Those Storming the Castle References Huh

This is just a quick note to say that if anyone happened to be confused by some of the references in this chapter, a lot of them were referring back to events from Part Two of Storming the Castle. (Like the first time Furihata saw Akashi’s dad, the huge portrait of Akashi and his parents in the ballroom, the butsudan altar, the secret passage with the stairs, the ghost, etc, etc… Also the character of Ginhara, since he’s the butler who runs the mansion in Tokyo.)

I tend to be pretty indecisive about exactly how much detail I should use to explain something that happened earlier in the series… Since I know some people might not have read the earlier fics, and at the same time, I don’t want to be too repetitive for those who have? In any case, if anything was confusing/unclear, it was probably a callback to that story. (Oh, and there was also a callback to The Fast Train to Kyoto, about when Akashi and Furihata talked about becoming friends!)

Well, that’s it from me this time around. Thank you so much for reading, as always. As I mentioned in more detail over on Ao3, I really hope everyone is staying safe where possible, and supporting each other in this difficult time. I will do my best to get the next chapter posted very soon. <3

#the vanishing prince #kat writes fanfic #long post #text post #akafuri #I'm so glad I was finally able to share all those omurice notes lol #and also share the omurice cooking scene!!#I never thought that Furi would end up preparing a rice omelet for Bokushi haha #and I was just really amused by his utter disdain for the ketchup lol #definitely inspired by all my friends who were like why would you fry rice with ketchup and I'm like IT'S BETTER THAN YOU'D THINK IT'D BE #anyway #this was also a tough chapter to edit because it was SO LONG #and I felt bad for Oreshi #and these boys have complicated feelings #but I hope it was enjoyable to read because I did have fun writing it <3 #kat writes about basketball dorks

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