#hair is really important for magic. it improves the flow

[spheredotorb]

magolor default look → epilogue...

[charliegyrth]

Hello from Charlie Gyrth!

A Brief Introduction (and Links!)

Hello, Tumblr! My name’s Charlie. I’ve been writing (and reading) gainer fiction for years, and I finally have the confidence to start posting. My goal is to publish one story or chapter every day for the rest of 2025.

Here’s what I have so far:

Today's Story:

Why Do You Want Me to Feed You?!

Long Stories:

Fat Passengers - 3 parts (ebook) Fat for a Day - 3 parts (ebook) Nightly Feedings - 4 parts (ebook) A Milkshake a Day - 4 parts (ebook) Adiposexual - 5 parts (ebook) My Former Best Friend - 5 parts (ebook) Go with the Flow - 9 parts (ebook) Fatter for the Wedding - 12 parts (ebook) Alex Gets Soft - 22 parts (ebook)

Short Stories:

Are You Happy? Back from the Oil Rig Big, Fat Crush on My Doctor Changing My Body for You Chicken Shack Fatties Cody Comes Back Fat Farm Boys Fat Felix Tries Ozempic Fattened in a Hotel Fattening the Actor Fit to Fat to Fit: What Could Go Wrong? Getting Fat for TV Good Memories Hangry Halloween Before and After How to Be a Fat American How to Be an Alpha Improving Myself Liam's Sweet Tooth Mark Wears the Pants Marriage Body Mukbang Mikey My Best Friend Comes Back My Food Is Your Food Scooter Search History Three Roommates Tiny Tim and Small Sam Two Fat Guys on a Blind Date Unrecognizably Fat What Happened to the Hot Swimmer? The Writer's Retreat

Fantasy/Sci-Fi Stories:

Darren's Birthday Surprise Fattened by Donuts Final Destination: Obesity King Kong and the Blob Metabolism Blockers One Pound a Week Sliding Doors, Changing Waistlines

"You" Stories:

Feeding You in Public I Really Want You to Like Me The Summer You Got Fat You Peaked in High School You Ruin Your Perfect Body Your Wonderful Boyfriend

Two-Part Stories:

After the Fattening Fat Blind Date Fat Camp Reunion Giving In Hey, Chubs! The Hottest Guy in Town I'm Too Fat for My In-Laws The Lottery Winner Speedos

And here’s a bit about me:

I love writing about positive, supportive male couples who embrace the joys of gaining, feeding, encouraging, stuffing, and belly play. I don’t write about force-feeding (unless it’s consensual) or revenge fattening. I read those kinds of stories sometimes, but as a writer, I want to explore the healthier sides to gaining.

I find fat beautiful, so I kind of get lost in describing it sometimes. I love the sheer variety of plus-sized body types, so I try to reflect that in my stories. Not every fat guy is destined to grow a big, round beer gut (although those are great, of course).

I typically stay away from magical plots or instant weight gain. That usually doesn’t do it for me.

I will never use AI in my writing. I like creating these stories myself. (I have a day job as a full-time writer/editor, so this stuff is sort of a release for me.)

I try to be realistic with how quickly my characters gain, but sometimes I get a little ahead of myself and stretch reality. Just go with it.

I've started to publish some of these stories as ebooks. They will always be available for free on Tumblr, but one of my goals in life is to make gainer fiction more accepted in the literary world. We need to get more of this stuff out there. I don't expect gainer fiction to ever become mainstream, but there's no reason why it isn't as mainstream as, say, werewolf shifter erotica or other niche subgenres.

Probably not important, but I'm a redhead, so if you're wondering why there's an overrepresentation of red-haired characters in my stories, now you know.

I’m a gainer in my personal life, but I’m terrible at it. I always get up to about 210 or so and then chicken out. These stories are a way to help me process some of those feelings so that I can eventually have the confidence to keep going. We’ll see. (196 as of today!)

And I think that’s about it. Thanks so much for checking out my Tumblr! And happy eating!

[doki-doki-imagines]

author note: Usually I write about ships on ao3, but since these are hcs I thought that it wasn't the right website to share them🫡.

Kitana x Tomas Vrbada: -Both fall in the category "Look like a cinnamon roll. Could actually kill you." -Probably started getting into each other when Outworld jointed training with Shirai Ryu. -Kitana appreciates Tomas's seriousness in combat, but also that he knows how to let loose during normal times. Easily being able to conversate with him, without worrying-inducing topics being introduced. -Tomas, other than being amazed by Kitana's beauty, appreciates her solid mind and great skills. -Tomas is really curious about her magic skills. "Princess please, show me your magic." He says bowing in front of her. Kitana chuckles "Do you want to melt Tomas?" Her sweet voice makes Tomas flush. "Do you think I can't fight back, princess?" He replies, curious to hear her answer. "You are an excellent warrior Tomas. But I don't want to hurt you." "Care to explain why?" She looks back at him, her chocolate-brown eyes looking straight into his greyish ones. They are serious, but Tomas can't feel any danger coming from them. "Because I care about you." -After that day Tomas improved his ways to woo Kitana. It didn't take much, his sweet ways, so different from Outworld men's usual rudeness caught Kitana's heart quickly. -He knows their relationship must be kept a secret, but Tomas is stubborn and won't back down, even if Empress Mileena is against him. -Kitana is more worried, but Tomas is excellent at making her worries fade in a puff of smoke. -Tomas loves to hear words of appreciation, something Kitana isn't used to. But soon she'll find herself complimenting him without thinking twice, nice words just flowing from her mouth as easily as she breaths. -"You are being too nice Kitana." His hand brushes away a strand of hair covering her right hand, Kitana's head lying on his thighs. "It just comes naturally when you are such a good boy, Tomas." She says, voice as soft as cotton candy, her left hand raising to draw circles on the apple of his cheek. -Meanwhile, Kitana loves to receive gifts from Tomas!! They are always perfect and it makes Kitana's heartbeat increase thinking her lover knows her so well. It is also a sign that Tomas listens to her words and catches little details she may have not told him before. It makes her feel important and she enjoys it. -They never use pet names in public, but Kitana likes to call Tomas "teddy" in the privacy of their rooms. Tomas calls her "princess" a name that takes a completely different taste at home. -Their first kiss happened during a sparring match. The breeze of early autumn perfect for training outside. -Kitana has the best over him, the problem is that Tomas goes still when Kitana leans to kiss him. -He was like a deer caught in the headlights, scared she wanted to melt him with her lethal kiss. -But something in his mind screams that it would be a really sweet death after all. -Nothing bad happens and Tomas finally lets loose, exactly when Kitana pulls away. -"Come here." He leans again, his hand on the back of her head to push her toward his lips. -They had to break the kiss soon again, hearing a rustle that made them remember they were outside. -It was just a fox walking around and they both sighed in relief, forehead knocking. -A laughter full of cheer blooms in Tomas's chest and Kitana knocks their forehead together, not laughing with her lover but her smile reaching her eyes, nose wrinkling.

[dalmascan-requiem]

Lente's Rondo: Pyre

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For those we lost.

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Read on AO3 or keep reading after the jump

content warnings: funeral, talk of death

Part of FFxivWrite 2023

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Day 21's prompt for FFxivWrite 2023 is 'grave'. It made me think about fighting in the Resistance--how fighting in a difficult war with so many losses would make it hard to properly honor the dead with burials and graves. This makes Gale truly think about life and death, which was never really on his mind, before.

Finally, this is the conversation he alludes to in the fic 'Letter'. Yes, he twisted that memory to mean something else completely, lol. Can't say I blame him given his mental state at the time, though.

Gale watches the smoke of the pyre rise to the sky. Another high price… 

The mission was deemed a success… technically. The Resistance managed to overtake an important Garlean outpost and disrupt the flow of supplies. But the success came at a high cost.

So many died for this mission… was it even really a victory? The funeral pyre still burned high, and spirits were low in the camp. Not to mention we'll need to pack up and move after, to ensure the Garleans don't find us.

Gale notices someone walk up next to him, and he turns to meet his partner. "How is your side, my love?" He smiles at Laurent, but it's clearly forced.

Laurent lightly touches his right side before meeting Gale's gaze. "About as well as can be. You've gotten much better with conjury… I barely feel anything."

"Well, please be careful regardless--healing magic can only do so much, and it won't do for you to reopen the wound."

The dark-haired Viera nods, and they both turn again to the fire. "...I count myself lucky that I survived, even."

"As do I…" Gale looks away, spinning a ring on one of his fingers. "I wish it didn't have to be like this. The sacrifices, so many dying just to put a small dent in the Empire's armor…"

Laurent turns to face Gale again, but remains silent, patiently waiting for the light-haired Viera to continue. After a moment, emerald eyes look back to the pyre. "All these deaths… and these were only the bodies we could recover. Their ashes will be scattered to the four winds in a fortnight--no memory, no graves, nothing but names to be forgotten by history."

It's simply… not fair… Gale doesn't voice his final thought, as childish as he knew it sounded. But with all the comrades he tried to save, all the pain they suffered, all the loss--was there truly any other way to think?

Gale sighs, then he feels Laurent's arms wrap around him in a soft embrace. "Eir…" He pulls back slightly to wipe a bit of soot off Gale's cheek. "We'll remember. And we'll make the Garleans pay ten-fold for everything they've done."

Fuchsia eyes shone with anger and determination, and Gale forced himself to smile again. "You're right…" He returns the embrace and mumbles into Laurent's shoulder. "Reyna, will you promise me something?"

Laurent takes a step back, a serious expression on his face. "What is it?"

Gale begins spinning a ring on his finger again. "Please promise… should something happen to me, you move on, alright?"

The dark-haired Viera quickly breaks Gale's gaze. "Eir, nothing will happen to you, this isn't something--"

"It is. It is something we need to talk about." Gale grabs one of Laurent's hands. "I don't want to, but we're fighting in a war." He gestures at the pyre. "Anything can happen… And we live long lives, compared to many of our comrades. I don't want you to spend decades alone. Please?"

Laurent stares into Gale's eyes for a long time, before squeezing his hand. "...Will you promise the same?"

"I…" I can't very well say no, after all that… "...Yes, I will." Gale lightly touches Laurent's side, which causes him to wince. "But let's do our best so that neither of us has to keep that promise, alright?"

"Alright." Laurent nods. "Let's get away from the fire, now. Staring at it won't improve our mood."

Gale's smile, this time, is not forced. "You're right. Let's get some rest."

[yournextflame]

The downfall of Fundamentalism

Playing devil’s advocate for the outer gods wasn’t enough, here I’m going to explain why Golden Order Fundamentalism isn’t synonymous to religious fanaticism, but originally it was... a magic maths. One of the most interesting themes of the Elden Ring for me is the eventual corruption of what once was great, and I think Fundamentalism is a good example of initially amazing concept degrading into the parody of itself with the flow of time.

This post branched out from my observation of the Elden Ring sigils and originally I planned to write a big summary of all “holy” spells, but the size of the essay was becoming enormous even by my standards and some topics such as the Erdtree’s changes over time were covered in other posts.  [if you’ve seen similar comment on certain hellsite, well, it was me]

Instead, I decided to focuse on the Golden Order Fundamentalism, one of the most “wronged” aspects of the Elden Ring lore. 

Fundamentalism usually has a religious connotation that indicates unwavering attachment to a set of strict beliefs. However, In the context of the Elden Ring definition of fundamentalism has different meaning:

Fundamentalism is scholarship in all but name. Scales incantations using both intelligence and faith (Golden Order Seal)

Golden Order and Golden Order Fundamentalism are used interchangely by fandom, the latter bears the derogatory meaning of blind fanatism, but this is plain wrong.

Golden Order refers to: 

 - the particular shape of the Elden Ring (The Golden Order was created by confining Destined Death -  Mending Rune of the Death-Prince), 

- religion centered around worship of Marika (The Golden Order is founded on the principle that Marika is the one true god - brother Corhyn) 

  - a historical period of Marika’s reign, but usually it’s called “age of the Erdtree”

Meanwhile, as you can see in the description of the Golden Order Seal, Fundamentalism is a scholarship centered around metaphysics of the Elden Ring runes via the Laws of Causality and Regression. There is a religious influence in play, especially later on, but initially Fundamentalism derived from the blind belief in the Erdtree and was build around the idea of structural study of the fundamentals of the world. 

Speaking of Fundamentalism, it is impossible not to mention its founder - Radagon.

As the husband of Rennala of Caria, the red-haired Radagon studied sorcery, and as the husband of Queen Marika, he studied incantations. Thus did the hero aspire to be complete One the first things that we learn about Radagon is that he was interested in magic, both sorcery and incantations, as result Fundamentalists spells are utilizing int and faith, and sometimes int only. However, Fundamentalism isn’t solely dedicated to spellcraft; engineering, craftsmanship and maths also played important role in its foundation. Notably, idea to take the best from the both worlds and improve it with “scientific” approach fascinated him from the very beginning:

One-of-a-kind enchanted crossbow of exquisitely detailed craftsmanship. Made to celebrate the matrimonial union, and reconciliation, between the houses of the Erdtree and the Full Moon, Leyndell and Raya Lucaria. The two rings dance when reloading the weapon. Reveals true worth when used with holy-infused bolts (Full Moon Crossbow)

And even after he divorced Rennala, he still pursued knowledges and better understanding of the laws of the world.

I don’t want to turn this post in analyzes of Radagon’s character, I already have like five of them in my drafts and argued a lot on hellsite, but there is an interesting and really overlooked detail about him - he naturally lacks talent for magic. If you pay attention to the description of Marika/Radagon’s scarseals, you may notice that their stats are split, while Marika is leaning towards int, faith and arcne, Radagon’s main attributes are physical. 

An eye engraved with an Elden Rune. Said to be the seal of King Consort Radagon. Raises vigor, endurance, strength, and dexterity (Radagon's Scarseal)

This, and description of Fire Giant’s braid, together with the description of Radagon’s icon are painting pretty clear picture - Radagon was looking for a way to improve himself, to overcome his more primal and unrefined nature in comparison with more “civilized” Marika. There are many characters, who are rejecting their true nature in the Elden Ring: Godfrey uses Serosh to supress his bloodlust, Malenia quite literally loses herself, Morgott cuts off his horns and hates his Omen origin. But Radagon, while struggles from self-esteem issues, doesn't go full on "woe is me" and goes on the long quest to develop qualities he is lacking.

Also, leave the mantle of the hardcore Erdtree hugger to Morgott because Radagon literally removes Erdtree as a symbol of the Erdtree worship from Fundamentalism sigil as you can see on the OP pic. Not to mention, he is not a huge fan of people fighting in favor of the dying tree

A talisman patterned after swords used in ritual combat held to honor the Erdtree. The practice had died out by the age of King Consort Radagon, but remains of the arenas where ritual combat took place can still be found in every land (Ritual Sword Talisman)

Carian sorcery was based on fate reading via astrology. Golden Order faith borrowed the power from runes and the Erdtree. Fundamentalism united both types of magic and advanced it even futher with a help of maths study. The Erdtree was way past the age of flourishment and people needed to develop new spells. In fact, Fundamentalism is the most populated group of spells in so-called Golden group, but on top of that - it’s the most diverse. The Crucible/ancient Erdtree spells and Erdtree’s worships categories are mainly focused on healing and defence, while Fundamentalism provides all variety of miracles. And, of course, we shouldn’t forget about maths:

Golden Order Principia (reference to Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica by Isaac Newton, a work expounding Newton's laws of motion and his law of universal gravitation)

A dense and complex academic treatise that contains the Order's fundamental principles.

Pulley Bow:  Longbow which utilizes a series of pulleys and springs. The complex mechanism, which required advanced mathematical and mechanical understanding to craft, was likely made by a certain genius who learned Golden Order fundamentalism.

“Scholary” part of the Fundamentalism also represented by the naming of the fundamental laws in Japanese.

Law of Regression is 回帰性原理 where kanjis 回帰 is a mathemathical statistical technique that relates a dependent variable to one or more independent (explanatory) variables.  

On the countrary 因果 in Law of Casualty means “karma” in Buddihsm, karma refers to action driven by intention (cetanā) which leads to future consequences. Those intentions are considered to be the determining factor in the kind of rebirth in samsara, the cycle of rebirth.

Even kanji Order 律  - “vinaya” originated from Buddihsm, it is often translated as 'discipline' and 'doctrine” and used to refer Buddha's complete teachings.

Again, I believe it’s important to separate art from inspirations, but by mentioning maths and other references I want to show that Miyazaki’s creativity isn’t limited to the “Catholisism is bad for dummies” and “I read one manga in my life and it’s Berserk” (please, someone tell Berserk fans that Miyazaki also loves oldschool shojo manga). Golden Order Fundamentalism definitely was inspired Christianity - to a degree, but just like in game it’s a mix of sorcery and incantations, in terms of real life inspiration it isn’t limited to the only religion majority of Westerners ever heard about. 

This brings up the complexity of Fundamentalism and Miyazaki’s take on the religion in the Elden Ring. His critics of organized cults was a big part of Dark Souls (I hate clerics - Patches) and Bloodborne, but usually it was shown from “there is no god in your church” angle: the prophecy of Way of White was fabricated, Gwyn and his kind weren’t actually gods, members of the Healing Church barely had any idea what they are doing. 

Elden Ring, however, raises another question:

Should there be a god at all?

(According to the Buddhist scriptures, the sunflower is the flower of the Buddha. The seeds inside the sunflower represent the Buddhist faith and the flowers represent the virtues of the Buddha)

Ever Brilliant Goldmask is another prominent Fundamentalist character, he is a Tarnished, who searches in the mysteries of the Golden Order. 

Goldmask is not the most talkative fellow in game, but from Corhyn we can learn that he is calculating what’s going on, which means that he leans towards “scholary” side of the Fundamentalism, while his companion represents blind fanatism to the point where he rejects book of Two Fingers and calls it heresy.

While still a precise calculus, the rhythms grew increasingly wild Or at least, such is all I can interpret from the rhythm and calculus of his finger.

[interesting, Corhyn is basically Goldmask’s "Finger Maiden“]

It is worth noting that Goldmask is the one, who adresses the huge issue with Fundamentalism that happened after the Night of the Black Knives, when Ranni broke Cursmark of Death in half, the Erdtree got infected and the souls stopped to return to the roots. 

Discrimination of Those Who Live in Death is a dark page in the history of Fundamentalism, a turning point when religious origin of the Golden Order and ideology based on the concept of immortality overcame common sense. 

The noble Goldmask lamented what had become of the hunters. How easy it is for learning and learnedness to be reduced to the ravings of fanatics; all the good and the great wanted, in their foolishness, was an absolute evil to contend with. Does such a notion exist in the fundamentals of Order?

Goldmask, despite his low opinion on hunters, still believed that Fundamentalism was a great idea that was screwed by fanatics. He holds similar opinion on the Order, in the end Elden Ring is just an instrument, but gods are imperfect and shouldn’t influence it.

The imperfection of the current Golden Order, is otherwise its instability of ideology. It is unnecessary for Gods to have emotions like humans. That was the flaw of the Order

I guess my question should have been how much gods were involved in the persecution of Those Who Live in Death? Most certainly, Radagon was, for example incantation Order's Blade shares design with his Golden Order Greatsword. We can also find golden centipedes - hunters fetishes, near his statue in Liurnia.  Surprisingly enough, Miquella, who is usually known for his more liberal and open-minded views and acceptance of the shunned and ostracized, wasn’t in fond of Those Who Live in Death as well. 

His sword, Golden Epitaph, allows to use the skill named Last Rtes:

Raise the epitaph to grant the effect of Sacred Order to yourself and allies in the vicinity. Particularly effective at laying to rest Those Who Live in Death.

As you can see, it uses Haligtree sigil, which means that Miquella at that moment already abandoned Fundamentalism and was working on his own plan, however, this spell still utilizes power of Radagon’s Sacred Order. 

[I am really curious about the timeline, it is commonly believed that Godwyn was killed right before the Shattering. However, Japanese supports that this line is right:  

It happened during the Golden Age of the Erdtree [age of abudance?], long before the shattering of the Elden Ring

While this line -  Soon, the Elden Ring was smashed, - is wrong, there is no mention of timeline in JP.

It’s a bit offtopic, but there is a thing - Radagon couldn’t be Fundamentalist before marrying Marika as he didn’t studied incantations properly yet. However, Those Who Live in Death couldn’t be a thing without Godwyn’s death. But if Godwyn died during the age of abudance, does it mean that Radagon still lived in Liurnia, therefore Ranni’s motivation for the Night of Black Knives didn’t revolved around vengeance for Rennala? Time is convoluted]

Eventually, Fundamentalism developed into the opposition of what it originally was, what once started as in-depth study of the fundamental laws degraded into a raving fanatism. It followed the fate of the Golden Order as a whole:

The battle art you've learned is of the glintstone family. They were conceived at the great Academy of Raya Lucaria, to the north of this castle. In the past, they obeyed laws which contravened the Golden Order, or so I'm told. Fascinating, isn't it? That the Golden Order was pliable enough to absorb practices that itself in the past. With the Order broken, twisted, and in need of repair, such adaptability is more important now than ever (Rogier)

P.S. I posted bits of this post on r//dit, which spiraled into interesting, albeit heated discussion, so there is a thing - I’m lore blog, I’m discussing lore of fictional universe from Japanese game, I’m not interested in american puritan trauma and what comes with it; if you want to argue with me - let’s stick to the lore.

[frenchiesimgirl]

Some points I’m tired to answer to in flows of DMs:

Many asks or DMs we get as creators are about how to create CC or mods. And it’s really really cool players are so interested in creating their own content and have many great ideas. Sure we can provide some help to some point, or share few tips and tricks or resources, but it’s ABSOLUTELY IMPOSSIBLE to teach someone how meshes, textures, tunings etc etc work from A to Z in DMs! Which leads to the 1st point:

Stop being lazy, and READ!

If there are absolutely fantastic tools to help you creating your own TS4 content and making the process easier/faster, there’s no way that without reading tutorials and just by dropping an ask or a DM you’ll be suddenly flowed with all the knowledge about how the game works. Explaining step by step the whole creation process, texture formats, meshing etc etc is insanely time-consuming (btw be super grateful to all the simmers who took the time to share tutorials!) and it’s impossible to be exhaustive via messages. So imagine when you have to repeat all this to 5,10 or 20 different persons... Knowledge is NOT a magic thing which happens by snapping your fingers, you have to work, search, READ, and LEARN. The creator you’re contacting can help you finding the good resources, give you some tips when facing a specific problem, but there’s absolutely no way they can do all the learning and reading for you and in your place.

Sims4Studio is a good place to start learning, there’s plenty very good tutorials there, and most of the issues/questions you’ll face have already been answered there. There’s also Discord servers for creators like Creator Musings.

Know how to use your tools/softwares!

Another point is many people wanna create CC without any knowledge of texture editing or 3D softwares (or modding without any knowledge of Python scripting). Same as 1st point, there’s no way to make you a Blender or Photoshop/Gimp pro via some DMs. You betta work, honey!

Yes it takes time, you won’t be a pro in 2 days, but you’ll feel so happy each time you’ll improve your skills. Have fun in the process of learning, try things, experiment. Making mistakes is how you’ll learn to master your tools and softwares. Same as 1. , there’s plenty tutorials on the Internet depending on the softwares you wanna use.

CC creation or modding isn’t rocket science, but it doesn’t mean it requires no skills at all!

Start with small and realistic projects

The “I wanna create a super complex mod but I know nothing about modding” or “I wanna make a complete hair, outfits etc collection from scratch with no knowledge of Blender or Photoshop”, no, not realistic at all.

Start small, and take the time to do it well! For CC just try a nice recolor for example. Then, once you understood how textures and texture editing work, you can try a retexture (and create normal and specular maps). And create more and more complex things as you’re improving your skills.

(We all started somewhere, my first CC and mods were absolute trash, so don’t feel bad if you don’t succeed at the beginning, that’s ok).

If you start with too ambitious projects you may get easily frustrated to not be able to achieve them like it was in your mind. So stay realistic and take all the time you need to improve your skills. Keep your more complex ideas/projects somewhere in a folder, and go back to them once you’re ready :)

And the most important thing: HAVE FUN!!!

That’s just human nature, learning is much more easier if you’re enjoying what you’re doing. Don’t do a creation because it’s “trending” or because the community asks for it if it’s not your cup of tea. Use your own ideas, don’t be afraid to think outside the box. This is a super creative community, open to very diverse styles and ideas.

Find what makes you happy. Do things you wanna play the game with. Put your heart and personality in your creations :) It may sound cheesy, especially when it comes to a bunch of pixels or scripting, but it is what it is.

[ellie-talks-toh]

To Be Wild, To Be Happy, To be Free + 1, 5, 11

What inspired you to write the fic this way?

I think I've mentioned it before, but I love big casts of characters, and the Heroes of Olympus Series was a massive inspiration of mine growing up. Even when my love of reading died down due to some outside influences (Thanks mum), those books still kept my attention.

Thats very much the inspiration for how I organize the chapters, spitting them into different POVs with clear markers of whose eyes we're seeing through. Other aspects I take from other fics I read and like. I can't tell you how many times I've gone back through the chapters and changed things to help them look or flow better. Inspiration is everywhere.

5. What part was the hardest to write

As of now? The fight between Hunter and Ocras in chapter 9. I can't explain why, but I really struggled to get the flow of the section down for the longest while. I'm pretty sure i rewrote it near a dozen times trying to get it right.

Aside from that, its always been little moments. A few sentences here or there that bridge the gap from one idea to another that just refuse to come out right. It's always the little details.

11. What do you like best about this fic?

When I finished the first fic and moved onto this one, I had one thing I wanted to improve on; giving the characters more quiet moments. I don't think Sketchy Potions and Magical Commotions was in any way bad, I'm actually still pretty proud of it as a first fic, but I really do feel like there wasn't enough time for the characters to breathe.

As much fun as the big actions set pieces and dramatic moments are, I love the quiet and silly moments so much. Gus making fun of Emira for getting the colour of her illusion's hair ever so slightly wrong, Viney calling Luz out on her self deprecation about her crush, Skara mixing her bard and healing magic to fix her shoulder, King and Luz admitting how they see each other as siblings. Those are the moments that really stick in my head, and I see a lot of people in the comments agreeing with that sentiment.

Plot is important, but what I love about this fic is that it has heart. And I hope that I never write a fic that doesn't.

[deardragonbook]

Stupid things that I’m terrible at in my writing

Knowing your weaknesses is important, you know what to avoid and what to improve. Sometimes those weaknesses are stupid. Here’s a list of some of mine: 

Time Skips. People say time skips are bad writing, I don’t understand that. Like, people say it’s cheating because you can just say this development happened, but, you can just start the book with a character with this development done anyway? You don’t start with a blank slate, your character should know some things. 

Anyway, when I say time skips I don’t mean the really long ones people usually refer to. I mean a couple of months, I hate when a couple of months go by in the book. Maybe it’s because I need to skip to christmas or summer, maybe you just don’t have the time in the book to show them settling down into a new home. 

Any book taking place in schools obviously uses time skips because you’re putting an entire school year in a book (usually). And as someone who read a lot of books growing up with schools, you’d think I’d be accustomed to seeing these little skips in time and would know how to do them? Nope. Just, no. I do it when necessary, but I do try so very hard to avoid them. And I have to be extra careful with them when they do happen. 

Description. So, I can’t really visualise things in my head, weird as I’m such a big reader. Like, if you tell me to visualise a red star (a common test for aphantasia) I see a line that moves really quickly trying to form the shape of a star (but never quite doing it) and a slight red flashing light in the lower left corner, and this is me really concentrating and trying to visualise. Because of this I tend to draw my characters so I don’t need to visualise them! Except, I don’t always have a drawing on me and sometimes I just trust my memory! 

And that is how I manage to write brown haired green eyes characters with black hair and brown eyes. Even when the colour of their eyes is a really important detail later on in the books... 

I also always forget to describe characters again when I start writing the next book in a series, same goes for locations. Although I’m pretty good at describing locations, like the words flow better than images, I just forget to do it. 

Similar to time skips, keeping track of time. Did the story take place over a month? A week? A year? How should I know? What do you mean I wrote it? 

I usually remedy this by just keeping a separate piece of paper with a line and major events along with the days. I’ll probably do a post about this later. But sometimes I’m trying to write more casually and forget or don’t bother and it’s chaos. Pure chaos time magic. 

I could write a book about chaos time magic. I’m visualising a young girl who’s father is a time traveller, talking about responsibility and the importance of following the rules. But her mother is the literal goddess of chaos and speaks of the importance of following your heart and how the world has no balance and chaos is it’s natural state. And she just wants to explore. She has a galaxy cape, this staff with a clock at the end and really messy hair. Also under her super formal galaxy cape she just wears pijamas because they’re more comfortable... I think I may have gone off topic. 

Which tells me that I should probably include staying on topic in this.  We’ve all had an outline we strayed from. That’s fine and normal. But not every author (although definitely not few either) carefully outlines a standalone book and then starts writing a series, a series I have already written the first draft to a third book and that’s nowhere near the last one. I tried. I really did. I have no idea how to do this. I don’t know if I ever will. 

Anyway, I think I’ll end this here. There are surely more things I struggle with, but I can’t really think of anymore at this very moment. I’m sure the longer I write the more things I’ll begin to notice. 

As usual,  check out my socials and book here.

What’s your biggest writing struggle? 

[lightthewaybackhome]

Sorry this is so long. Probably should have done a 2 parter.

"My darling girl, when are you going to realize that being normal is not necessarily a virtue? It rather denotes a lack of courage!" - Aunt Frances, Practical Magic

 

My whole life, as far back as I can remember, I’ve wanted to be artistic. I’ve wanted to create. I love beauty. I love artistry. I love creation. I love the artsy look: jewelry, tattoos, flowing clothing, and funky hair. It is a personal aesthetic I keep returning to, especially as I get older. As a child, I tried so many different forms of art—painting, photography, drawing— but none of them seemed quite right. None of them got what was in my head out. All of them fell short until I started writing. Writing was a flame, a fire, a drug. Writing allowed me to express what was in my imagination. This is the first thing to understand.

Everyone is artistic and art is everywhere. I’ve believed this as long as I can remember. There are amazing artistic feats in our world: books, movies, video games, paintings, sculptures, and magnificent pieces of music. Yes, art can be very high and very special. But, art can also be found in charcuterie boards, homemade quilts, sourdough bread, cocktails, soup, and all ordinary things if we but look and see. Art can be high magic and art can be ordinary. This is the second thing to understand.

As I’ve embraced being a homemaker, a HearthKeeper, a woman where she’s meant to be, I came across the term domestic artist. As much as I didn’t like the book Eve in Exile by Rebekah Merkle, it gave me this. It gave me the term domestic artist. That stuck with me. It spoke to me because it captured both the first and the second thing. It captured the never-ceasing call to create which haunts me at all times, and it elevated and honored the ordinary in a sprinkling of fairy dust. It said, “Yes, you have to cook today. Three meals plus snacks and drinks. It’s your job, but, but, what if, what if instead of looking at it as some drudgery, some Cinderella enslavement, what if you looked at it as an opportunity to create beauty?”

Not every meal, every outfit, every moment of your day can be a work of art. Some days you just have to do what you have to do. Some days get upended in the opening credits with a broken washer or a sleepless child. Some days plans change. Life changes. One minute life looks like this, and then the next it’s on to something completely different. But, the beauty of being a domestic artist is that you can create art in any of these moments and in any setting. You can find art in any moment and in any setting.

See, the world tells us that homemaking, HearthKeeping, is boring. It tells us it’s pointless. A waste. You could be changing the world. Only dumb useless women keep their homes. And that’s because they’re either tied down by a dictator of a husband or the demands of children or the cultural trappings of their religion. Courage, dear heart. Courage! Homemaking is magic. Homemaking is flexible. Homemaking changes with the seasons and the woman. I, I am a bit bohemian, a bit rustic, a mixture of rugged and romantic. I grew up a tomboy, but have embraced being a woman in her home since I was a child. I love leather and lace. I love cottage-witch aesthetics. I love boots and long flowing things. I like deer heads, linen, skulls, and ruffles. I like feathers and dreamcatchers, but I also love to decorate with open space. I love pies and feeding my husband. But, look at this, one of my best friends is a classic. She loves clean lines, traditional and timeless pieces. She loves modern accents. She loves beachy highlights and hammocks. She’s not into farmhouse, rustic modern, or raw-edged wood. On any given Sunday, she’s in a pencil skirt, simple top, simple heels with her three daughters in matching dresses while I’m in distressed boyfriend jeans, a mullet-tucked top, and wearing my crow skull. We’re very different, but we’re both homemakers who love making our homes.

I have a woman in my life who quilts and that flows out into their decorating. So many of her things are beautifully hand sewn. If she wants it, she makes it. Another friend grew up in Africa and her home is filled with her love of that culture. One dear friend loves plants and grows amazing flowers that she uses to create Instagram-worth bouquets. Another woman isn’t super fluffy-feminine but she has an eye for remodeling and so is constantly making improvements on her home: flooring, painting, and more. My sisters, like me, both enjoy a minimalist approach to decorating and all three of us have a special place for coffee. Both my sisters’ homes are welcoming and peaceful even with kids running around like crazy.

That’s the point, the world tells women to band together, that we’re a sisterhood, that we should go out and change the world, abandoning our homes before we’re relegated to only kitchen and nursery work, but reality tells me that the most amazing women I know are busy in their homes. This is sisterhood. This is where we bloom. It is here that we have flexibility. For over five years, I’ve struggled with chronic health issues. Homemaking lets me decide each day what I can do and how I’m going to do it. Homemaking lets you change what you do for each season of life. Lots of littles? Keep it simple. Empty nest? Explore. Somewhere in between? Keep growing. Lots of energy? So many things you can expand into if you just refuse to believe the lie that homemaking is beneath you. Don’t be normal. Don’t believe that homemaking is a waste of time. Don’t buy into the lie that you are somehow being less than everyone else when you raise your children, love your husband, and create beauty. Have the courage to be strange. We were made for this! It suits us. This is an environment women thrive in.

When I got over my grammar inhibitions and started writing, I felt like my soul came alive. I felt like I’d finally found what I’d been searching for since I came into this world. It doesn’t matter whether I’m writing an epic story or writing about HearthKeeping or just word doodling, writing, words, stories just flow from me. Wonderfully, homemaking is like that for me, too. I want to read books, I want to learn, I want to talk about it, I want to do it. It’s not perfect. I don’t always feel glorious, but I do feel ‘right’ when I’m doing this. I feel like I’m where I belong. I feel like this is a place I can both rest in and grow in. I feel safe when I’m having a fatigue flare up and I feel excited when I think about all that I can do.

A real-life example: Sundays are long hard days. They’re days that generally spike my fatigue and my husband is worn out. They’re both the best and hardest day of the week. When we get home I make a cocktail and we crash. Inevitably, the minute I sit down my man asks for a snack and what we’re having for dinner. For several years, this drove me up a wall. It is Sunday. The day of REST, why is it my responsibility to always make food? Epic sigh. Epic whiny sigh. I would meal plan for the whole week and then wing it on Sunday and Monday, always with poor results and grumpiness on my part. Then, one week as I meal-planned, I realized that I could also prepare for the weekend. Lightbulb. Facepalm. Really? Why had it taken me into my 40th year of life to realize that if I want a quiet, restful, happy weekend, I should just plan snacks, drinks, and meals ahead of time? I’m going to blame it on my chronic health, brain fog addled mind. I’m going to blame it on laziness. I’m going to blame it on being a young homemaker. Some are understandable, some are inexcusable.

Sundays now involve way less stress because I can immediately prepare snacks and know what we’re eating the minute we get home. No more attitude issue. No more stress. Easy and nice.

Did this change the world? Does this matter to anyone but myself? Did my husband even notice? Maybe not, but this is homemaking. This is HearthKeeping. It is my job and my calling. Even without notice or world-shattering consequences, I’m pleased with the outcome. More than pleased, I’m really happy about it. It brings me joy and delight to find a better way to take care of my family. It allows me to sprinkle my Sunday afternoon with just a little bit of artistry. I make drinks, snacks, dinner. I feed my family.

See, one of the lies that the feminists preach is that we’re wasted in our homes. And yet, the majority of the women I know who work outside the home aren’t doing glamorous jobs. They’re not travel bloggers or world-renowned chiefs or CEOs. They’re cosmetologists, retail workers, bank tellers, nurses, teachers, and such. Now, none of those are bad. Working outside the home isn’t bad. (I think each family has to decide what family looks like to them.) Please, please, don’t read that as degrading. I worked retail and I think retail is important. These are all God-honoring employment in which you can strive and serve. I’m not bashing any of those jobs. I have many many dear friends who work outside the home. What I am saying is that I think we as women need to ask ourselves if leaving our homes en masse was worth it. Has it given us all the joy, delight, and fulfillment the feminists promised us?

I’ve done both. I’ve been a co-owner of a business that I helped grow from nothing to something amazing. I’ve worked as an everyday retail worker. I write and am the main editor for a small neighborhood magazine. And I’m a HearthKeeper. I will tell you right now, no qualifications, that HearthKeeping is the most satisfying job I’ve ever had. It not only challenges me every day but it also works with me. The boundaries are what I set in place and so I grow as I can. The work never ends, yes, but it also never ends. There is always something else to explore.

I think being a homemaker is largely attitude. You can buck against what you do, and most women do. Just spend two minutes on Pinterest looking at doing laundry or dishes and the bitter hatred comes pouring out. Look at the complaints women make against their churches: we’re relegated to doing nursery work and kitchen duty. What if, just for a moment, we decided to be Domestic Artists? What if, for just a moment, we tried loving our jobs instead of complaining? What if we thought that dishes meant food and good times and healing of the souls around us? What if we saw laundry as a way to keep beauty and cleanliness around us? What if we saw it as our privilege and delight to take care of the food, children, clothing, cleaning, cooking, gardening, growing of the next generation, and the men of the world? What if we embraced the domestic arts and saw them as truly magnificent, glorious, unique arts? How many of us would be able to say with a straight face that working retail is more fulfilling than managing a small world? Is it more fulfilling to go work in an office than it is to orchestrate a place of welcome, rest, and renewal for your husband and yourself? It might be more visible, but is it truly more long-lasting?

I can say that it isn’t. I can say that I think being a homemaker is uniquely suited for women and that we should have the courage to go against the grain of our world and say no. No, I’m not going to give all of myself to work outside the home when the home is far more challenging and interesting. No, I’m not going to believe the lie that homemaking is oppression and boredom. I will find beauty in the ordinary and I will embrace art in the everyday. This is one of those amazing jobs where it is what you make it. It is what you pour into it. If you think it’s boring or demeaning you won’t get anything out of it. If you think it is challenging and rewarding, you will get the world out of it. You will grow yourself and those around you. Think about what a wonderful thing it would be if we made our homes our careers! If we women really took on the label Domestic Artist in our own individual ways.

[sweetescapeartist]

MY DBS MANGA CHAPTER 70 REVIEW

We learn in the last chapter that the Cerealian Dragon's name is Toronbo when Granolah speaks Namekian. Toronbo grants Granolah's wish but can't make Granolah stronger than the gods.

Here's the confusion I have... Goku is a mortal beyond GoDs so making Granolah the strongest mortal is making him stronger than gods. If you wanna say Beerus has been training and is now stronger than Goku, there's still a problem. It was said that Goku and Vegeta were stronger than some GoDs right before the ToP (but that might be anime only, so maybe it doesn't apply here). So Granolah is stronger than GoDs no matter what. If the gods that Toronbo is speaking of are the Angels, then that means Granolah is Ultra Instinct level of power since Goku is the lowest in Angel tier. But whatever. Bottom line is Granolah is temporarily stronger than Goku who may or may not be stronger than Beerus.

Granolah gets his wish granted and the cost is shortening his life... cool. Not much to say except let's see how its executed.

(I recently read that in DBXV2, during the Infinite History Saga, Videl is enchanted with Towa's Dark Magic spell by Dabura shaving off her life but granting her greater power. So granting power at the cost of lifespan has been done in DB before. Not in canon but in the games.)

Also, Granolah's life being shortened to 3 yrs got me thinking... Currently it's almost AGE 781 in the DBS manga timeline. Goku leaves to train Uub in AGE 784. We got 3 yrs left. The original manga shows Bulma said she hadn't seen Goku in 5 yrs. How I see DBS is that it is an alternate timeline that just happens to have a similar outcome to the EoZ.

So... why is Vegeta learing from Beerus again if Beerus isn't that strong now? Is Vegeta being like Krillin and continuing his learning from a master weaker than him, but gaining wisdom & knowledge? I-is Vegeta becoming Krillin 2.0?! (More like dollar-store Krillin)

I do think beerus got stronger tho. He seems very confident that Vegeta can get stronger from learning from him. Beerus probably saw Goku get UI then decide to train aftet the ToP

Anyways, Beerus is teaching us about hakai/destruction energy. Its erasing something from existence, not just destroying it (we already knew that). But, Vegeta quickly figures out how to do it anyways. By destroying a tiny pebble...

A tangent again but I personally think Piccolo is capable of easily learning Hakai energy. Think about it. Piccolo can create clothing out of nothing, why could he not do the reverse?

Goku is uninterested in what Beerus & Vegeta are doing. I dont know about you, but it sounds like Goku thinks that he's above Beerus in strength. Beerus & Vegeta aren't considered a challenge to him in any way. Goku sees UI as more important & better than anything Beerus has to teach, and Goku is right. Plus Goku learned Hakai on his own while Vegeta needs Beerus to teach him. It's a waste of Goku's time to learn it again.

(God Comics is funny. I imagine Toribot writes them)

Goku says "Let's see which one of us can be the strongest in the universe!" Really, Goku...? At present time, Goku is the strongest mortal in the universe already. He should know that. Then Vegeta for some reason thinks he will become the strongest in the universe. The last time manga Vegeta was the strongest mortal in the universe was... never. He's always behind Goku or whatever new opponent arises. This scene is meant to be comedic that they're arguing over who will be the greatest but it's not funny to me. And yet Vegeta fans still hold on for hope.

But why is Goku concerned about being the strongest between him & Vegeta? Goku is far above Vegeta. They're not rivals at this point. Also, Goku was the strongest in the universe until just a few moments ago. Goku should be saying "I knew bein' the strongest wouldn't last for too long. Roshi did tell me there will always be somebody stronger out there. Hehe! This is gettin' me excited! I can't wait to meet 'em!" (This would alsp parallel Monaito giving Granolah the same advice Goku already knows.)

Also, I guess Broly isn't that strong after all. Bye Broly, you served your purpose. And to think that Goku had said that he thinks Broly is stronger than Beerus...

Oh yeah. So Vegeta destroys a pebble. Impressive? Goku kinda gives a compliment or he is practically saying "Good job Vegeta! You're doing great following in my footsteps!" Seriously, this would be so much better and cooler if this seperate paths of training began right after the Universe 6 vs Universe 7 tournament. That would be the perfect spot to have them train under Beerus & Whis. [Vegeta using Hakai against Merged Zamasu, Goku able to fight Merged Zamasu temporarily because he is getting better at letting his body move on its own, Toppo & Vegeta using Hakai against each other as Goku & Jiren use power above GoDs. That would work so much better.]

Then Vegeta says he's gonna destroy bigger things soon... is that supposed to be more impressive? Its not. But this it to build up Vegeta even though there is nothing amazing about anything he is doing at the moment. Maybe later tho.

So Cerealians can't grow beards. Also I guess Granolah's race don't age? His hair grew when his lifespan was shortened but he has no wrinkles. It seems that they age more gracefully than Saiyans. If he has some wrinkles he would have looked cooler imo. Or those lines under the eyes at the very least. If the wish shortened his life & made his hair grow, it should have also showed that he aged. (Here's an edit I made of "Grampa Granolah." You're welcome)

And remember Vegeta destroying a pebble? Granolah can suddenly destroy big rocks! Cool right?! No? Its not cool? Showing Granolah destroy a much larger object right afterwards kinda belittles Vegeta's accomplishment.

Oatmil is surprised by a boulder exploding. This means one of 2 things. Oatmil is stupid & never saw an Granolah explode a boulder. Or it's implying that the boulder exploding is some technique Oatmil doesn't know of. Idk how he can tell its any different from just blowing up a rock with ki. I think it's supposed to be destruction energy. If it is then, ok. If getting his wish was so easy, then why can't he suddenly learn destruction as well?

Yay! Monaito! (This really should be a Namekian focused arc)

Granolah reminds me of Zamasu with his attitude a bit. Monaito tells him somebody stronger will definetly appear. Granolah has become like Vegeta and is over confident, so he is destined to get humbled. And think about this. Goku can probably train a bit and surpass Granolah within a week.

Granolah can now sense ki. Meaning he can have the destruction technique or UI, because why not?

Monaito blames himself for Granolah's actions. Its not your fault Monaito! You did nothing wrong! Dont be so hard on yourself.

Whis being a creep and peeping on people lol.

Granolah's hair growing was pointless because he cuts it off soon after. Nothing changed visually. This kinda reminds me of how Moro lost his arm. Goku gave him a senzu, Moro grew it back, & then Moro broke his arm when attacking Goku. Then Moro tore his arm off & reattached his old one. There was no need for Moro to grow his arm back then tear it off. Similarly, there is no need for Granolah to have grown long hair then cut it off.

Maki still brings a smile to my face. She & Gas stand out the most out of the Heeters. Maki's personality is kinda like Zangya combined with a teasing Bulma. Gas reminds me of a Krillin/Piccolo fusion with dreadlocks. I also ship Maki x Gas cause they're short and look cute together. (please don't be siblings so I can draw them together🤞)

Granolah fights Oil & Maki. I'm not impressed. They seem like they could be defeated by Chaoitzu (he's stronger than Raditz and probably Nappa now too). Granolah's movements could be seen as UI. If it is or isn't UI, it doesn't matter. Showing off that kind of power is like Goku using Ultra Instinct during a rematch with Nam or King Chappa. Its not effective storytelling. There had to be a better way of showing Granolah's new strength than making him fight opponents that give him zero challenge.

The art is good as usual and the panel flow is nice. Toyotaro is improving at creating the illusion of motion. The environment being used in the fight was smart and a good visual. Toyo still uses a ton of panels almost every page tho. But he's still a better artist than I am.

Granolah appears to have used Hakai again. Not the explosive variant but the sand variant (yes I think there are 2 ways of using Hakai).

The "Sand Variant" that Beerus & Goku (& maybe Granolah) have used.

The "Explosive Variant" Beerus & Vegeta (& maybe Granolah) have used.

Maki thinks the "Hakai" is magic so that's interesting. I would say I'd like for the next enemy to be a magic user but, we know how Moro turned out... 😓

Maki has "ki claws" & I like the idea but it would be better if she had used it against an enemy she can defeat. It doesn't make her look useful in this fight. Gas seems confident when he is about to fight Granolah, but Elec stops him. Gas would've gotten beaten but it make ya wonder what Gas can do.

Granolah appears to be a person that is easily manipulated and persuaded. He even gave information they weren't even asking for. He'll probably be easily convinced and manipulated by Freeza/the Hedters or quickly have a truce with Goku.

The Heeters plan to go to Planet Cereal to get the Dragon Balls. As I suspected, the Cerealian Dragon Balls were created so that it would be easy for wishes to be granted. Gathering 2 Dragon Balls on a nearby planet instead of gathering 7 on New Namek or Earth. Plus these new Dragon Balls ensures no interaction between Earthlings & Granolah/the Heeters. A perfect way to write Gohan & company out of the story... *sigh* 😔😒

We learn Cerealians live for 2 centuries. How's that compare to other races in Universe 7? Freeza & King Cold apparently can live more than 200 yrs, But that may be because they are mutants. Namekians can live for like 500 yrs & its possible for them to reincarnate themselves too. So in a way, Namekians can live forever. Saiyans stay youthful & live to be in their 80's, but rapidly age when they reach their 60's or 70's. Average Earthlings appear live to be in their 80's or 90's but some are over 100 yrs old (Dr. Briefs, Panchy, & Ox King are in their 90's in GT) and others can increase their lifespan through elixers or the Paradise Herb. Just some thoughts of mine.

Maki says "If he ices Freeza..." Ha, an ice pun. Elec wants to defeat Freeza so he can control his army. Its revealed they wanna kill Granolah & that they worked with Freeza to destroy his planet & race. Well... that more than likely means they're gonna die by Granolah's hand or Freeza's. This info is also an attempt to make the reader more sympathetic for Granolah. Granolah is too bland (pun intended) so I don't feel any more sympathy than I already had for him. Elec plans to make Goku & Vegeta fight Granolah since Granolah hates Saiyans. Smart but we all kinda expected it. Not bad writing tho.

The final panel talks about fate bringing the 3 (Goku, Vegeta, & Granolah) together. Sounds like a repeat of the Broly movie.

We've had 4 chapters in this arc & not 1 panel of Freeza... If Freeza doesnt appear & do something in the next chapter then I will be disappointed in the writing. Showing Freeza here and there would give tension and build up until we get the encounter with him. We also have no idea who Oatmil is. Is he an A.I. or a person? Not that big of a deal yet, but I would like to find out soon. Either show Freeza or tell us more about Oatmil next chapter pleaae

This chapter was like oatmeal (the food not the character) without butter, brown sugar, milk, & honey or raisins. Not bad, but not very good either. 

So here's my thoughts on the things that could or could not happen in this arc.

Goku vs Granolah. I don't care for the fight because the power is at a point that it doesnt make sense for enemies to get to without cheating somehow. The fight will look cool but I have no interest in it.

Vegeta vs Granolah will have Vegeta being stomped as always and Vegeta fans will make excuses & complain how it's not fair. A lot of Vegeta fans often make fun of Yamcha & Krillin for getting beat up even though those 2 bravely fight opponents leagues stronger than they are. Vegeta has gotten stomped by opponents more times than Krillin & Yamcha combined but the fans gotta deflect somehow. I don't care to hear or see the complaining again.

The interaction and dialogue between Granolah & Vegeta is going to be more interesting than their fight. But I worry because Toyo isn't the best at writing dialogue.

I have no reason to care about power growth, certain interactions, or Goku & Vegeta's training.

What I am curious about/want to see?

Monaito's well being. I want him to reunite with other Namekians. But I think he's been set up to die.

Lore about the dragon gods & Namekian lore we probably wont get.

I want Piccolo, Krillin, Gohan, & others will be involved. Piccolo because of the Namekian & wosh granting dragon lore. Gohan because his interaction with Granolah eould be interesting since Gohan is half Saiyan & views himself as an Earthling. Krillin & other Earthlings because they can bring tensions where characters like Goku & Vegeta can't. Those 2 are too strong for there to be any real tension. However Earthlings aren't all powerful so them using wits to survive is more exciting. But I doubt any of their involvement.

How long a Cerealian year is? Is it shorter than a Namekian year? How much time will pass for the Cerealian Dragon Balls to be active? How much stronger than Granolah will Goku get? Hopefully the answers aren't lazy...

Will Beerus finally fight somebody? There are 6 mortals that are near or above his power (Goku, Granolah, Vegeta, Broly, Freeza, Gohan).

Who's the villian of the next arc & what explanation is going to be given for them having power on the level of Angels? Angel tier fights don't sound interesting to me anymore. After those kinds of battles, Goku will have no challengers left.

Will Goku disappear to train or something so the story can TRY to match up with the EoZ?

Will Goten, Trunks, & Marron hit their growth spurts within 3 yrs?

Will we get spin-off manga about other characters? PLEASE!? 🙏

Also DBS moved too quickly when it comes to power. Now we're at the point that Goku & Vegeta need to stop being involved in fights for there to be any actual threat or tension. The Buu saga took place in AGE  774. After training for 4 years of peace, Goku thought SS3 & fusion was his limits as a Saiyan and he was right. Well, kinda... Goku was introduced to god ki near the end of AGE 778. Then in AGE 781, Goku masters Ultra Instinct... He mastered an Angel technique in 2 year or 2.5 yrs. That was waaaay too fast. As a result the storytelling & writing are suffering from this rushed progress. Now we're gonna have an Angel tier opponent? According to the pattern of DBS, Goku's gonna end up surpassing the Angels within 2 or 3 yrs after learning god ki. Thats not impressive for Goku, that's terrible writing. And no, Goku getting this strong so fast is not a benefit to Saiyans either. It just shows us that without god ki, Saiyans ain't all that powerful unless they're the legendary Saiyan like Broly. Saiyans didn't even have a concept of training until Goku was trained by Earthlings. Gohan, Freeza, 17, & I'm pretty sure Piccolo as well have all surpassed SS3 without the help of god ki. God ki makes Saiyans look like they have limits. With god ki, the writing is broken....

I got off topic again... Anyways that's the end of my review.

[puckinghell]

The 1 - Nathan MacKinnon

Summary: Some wishes just don’t come true... Or maybe they just need a little time. Note: Part 1 of the folklore project! Most of these are gonna be quite short and this one if no exception. Hope you like it :-) 

--

The amount of times you’ve almost called Nate isn’t something you’re proud to admit to, but if you’re honest it’s probably at least twice a day.

Now it’s not like you’re still that hurt. Sure, after you’d just broken up you were a mess: it was all tears flowing into wine glasses and wearing old hoodies that smelled like him, your friends taking your phone away from you because you couldn’t stop staring at his Instagram and still making his favorite dishes for yourself. 

You thought you’d never recover.

“If you never bleed you’re never gonna grow,” your best friend had wisely said, one night when you were crying on her couch again, watching sappy romantic comedies that did nothing to improve your mood. 

It wasn’t something you were ready to hear, back then, but it turned out she was right. You were alright, now, and the whole experienced changed you for the better.

You started saying yes instead of no. Doing some cool shit on your own. And you were sure he was doing cool stuff, too, thought about it sometimes. 

Had he met someone new? 

“Dating isn’t really for me,” Nate had shrugged once. “I can’t really just go on Tinder and meet someone.” 

Maybe he had, though, maybe he had met someone on the internet and taken her home and now they were happy together in the way that you and him used to be.

Back before everything went wrong, back when you still believed he loved you. 

Sometimes, you think you see him at the bus stop. 

It’s never him, though.

--

“I’m not drunk,” you giggled, high heels clicking on cobblestones. Nate’s arm was securely wrapped around your waist, holding you tight. “I’m just living the Greece life.”

“Greek life, you mean?” Nate steered you around a particular crooked stone with the easiness of someone who had been doing it a while. 

Your first vacation together was one to Greece, with some of his teammates and their significant others, too. Tonight, rosé had been flowing freely during dinner and now the world was tilting on its axes right before your eyes. 

It was fine, though. Nate always kept you safe, and you had no doubt it would be like that now, too. 

“Nathan,” you declared, your voice slurring a little. “I think I love you.” 

“You think?” Nate raised an eyebrow, though the corners of his mouth were lifting up. 

“No, I know,” you corrected. “Like, those guys are family, you know? Your family. But now mine too, cause I chose them.”

Nate’s lips were soft, pressed against your forehead. “You’re drunk,” he mumbled, sounding fond. “But you are my family, too.” 

“If I could make a wish right now I would wish for you to be with me forever,” you told him. You pulled your lips into a pout as you looked around. “I’ve got a penny, but there’s no wells here.” 

Nate seemed to think for a second, and then his face lit up. He got that determined look on his face that he usually only got on the ice, like he made a decision and the world would have to end for him to give up on it.

“Come with me,” he said, and he started pulling you with him. It was dark around you, but the stars were brighter than they ever were at home in Colorado, and you would’ve followed Nate into the black abyss if needed, anyway. 

The air was thick with the heat of the summer day, and you could hear the ocean rushing somewhere far away. Somehow, you kicked off your heels and held them in one hand, Nate’s hand tightly in the other, as you followed him.

The pool shone bright blue in the darkness, like a magical glow. 

“It’s not a well,” Nate said, grinning, as he handed you a penny. “But water is water, and I don’t think the penny will notice.”

“It might,” you protested, mostly to be cheeky. “Pools have chlorine, I don’t think wells have chlorine.” 

“If you don’t throw the penny I might throw you,” Nate threatened, and you shrieked as he wrapped his arms around you and pretended to push you towards the water.

To be fair, it was still very warm outside, and you wouldn’t mind a little dip.

Making the wish, however, seemed more important. 

You closed your eyes, inhaled the air filled with the scent of chlorine and salt, and threw the penny.

“I won’t ask you what the wish was,” Nate whispered in your ear. “But I hope it had to do with me.”

You never told him your wish. Because if your wish had come true, well, it would’ve been him. He would’ve been the one. 

But it wasn’t. So. Maybe pennies do know the differences between a well and a pool.

--

It’s exactly a year after that night in Greece that you see a familiar head of hair in front of you at a movie theatre and your heart starts beating very quickly.

You probably should just let him go. 

But. 

In your defense...

Well, you have none. You shouldn’t dig up this grave another time, should just leave this alone. 

But. You were never very good at that.

“Nate?” Your voice is quiet. The movie is still going on, but Nate stepped out, presumably to get some popcorn, and you’re not even that ashamed to admit you followed him out of the theatre.

There was once a time where you would’ve followed him anywhere, so. 

He swirls around so fast you’re almost sure he must be dizzy, but his eyes fix on yours right away. 

“Y/N,” he says, and he sounds... happy, to see you, which is somehow not what you expected. “That’s a coincidence, to see you here!” 

“Escaping the movie?” you ask. Your voice sounds far away and it’s shaking, a little, and that’s probably because your heart is beating in your throat. 

He laughs. “I guess the greatest film of all time was never made.” 

It transports you back immediately, to your first date. You went to see a movie, back then, too, but it hadn’t been great. The conversation had come to your favorite movies and Nate had asked you what the greatest film of all time was, in your opinion.

“I’ve not yet seen a film I loved enough for it to be the greatest film of all time,” you had shrugged. “So I’m hoping it’s still gonna be made.” 

“I think I knew you were my soulmate when you said that,” Nate had said later, eyes shining in a dark bedroom, sheets tangled around your legs. 

“Y/N?” Nate asks now, and the current Nate looks a lot like the Nate you loved, but he’s a little bigger, buffer, stronger. His jaw seems sharper and there’s a stubble to his chin you’re not used to. 

You shouldn’t say it, but. But, but, but... 

“We were quite something, don’t you think so?” 

Something flashes across Nate’s face that you don’t recognize, which is an awful feeling because you used to be able to read him like an open book. But then he smiles. 

“We sure did make it count.” 

There’s an edge of sadness there, or maybe it’s nostalgia. You’re not quite sure, you just know that you had some of your best times with Nate, and maybe if he had shown you how much he wanted you, back then, everything would be different, now. 

Time and time again, you’ve resisted the temptation to ask, but now that he’s right here, you can’t resist it anymore.

“If one thing had been different, do you think everything would be different today?” 

“Sometimes I wonder that, too,” Nate says, which you suppose is answer enough in itself.  “It would’ve been fun, no?” 

You must seem confused, because Nate smiles at you again.

“It would’ve been fun if you would’ve been the one.”

You wonder if he still could be. The greatest loves of all time have been over many times before. 

“Do you wanna get some coffee?” he asks. There’s a red glint on his cheeks and he’s avoiding your gaze. He seems nervous. 

Well, you did start saying yes instead of no... 

Maybe it can still be him. 

[lordmorninwood]

Rwby: Thicker than water au

Royal heirloom

Salem was angry. Cinder has just gone and disobeyed her after only just getting back into her good graces, and while she had the Relic of knowledge, Salem rather ironically, did not know how to activate it or if she was even able to use it.

Now, not only does she find that her relic is gone, but one of her subordinates have turned heel. They were particularly useful as well Emerald was, with her ability to manipulate people’s perceptions.

And she has caught Emerald escaping with Ozma along with a small party of huntsmen. She quickly takes Emerald by them neck and clutches her head close

“You really have been honing that semblance of yours”

Only to narrowly dodge gunfire and then facing the others. Taking a second to appraise them, she sees if any of the new visitors are worth her time.

She first sees a young women with a long flowing mane of blonde hair, with a metal arm and armed with some complex looking vambraces. Or maybe they are gauntlets, it’s hard to tell. Beyond that, she looks much like Raven Branwen colored differently.

She also sees a huntres- no a huntsman with a long black braid, and wielding what appears to be a pair of firearms with dual daggers attached to them. He has a stoic expression, and they almost look a bit gray. Not one for power, but likely finesse, like a rogue before the second rise of humanity. Not very important. Not like they will be breathing for much longer.

Then Salem turns to the last member of this little rescue party.

Well, he seems interesting. She can’t put her finger on it, but he seems, familiar almost. Perhaps it is the knight archetype he has going on. Possibly trained by Ozma? If so then she is going to save him for last, and make Ozma watch as she tears him apart.

Before analyzing any further, she fires he magic at the rogue, but the knight sidestepped in front of him and blocked it with his shield. She thought she saw a bit of gold on the shield, but that might just be residual light from her magic.

As the knight and the rogue are knocked back, the brawler leaps at her and lands a few rapid jabs at her chest, before dashing away. Before Salem can even turn towards the brawler, some small devices stuck to her torso combust and she is blow open, folded backwards in half.

Salem doesn’t even activate her aura. She has it unlocked, but why even activate it when every injury inflicted on her is simply undone in a matter of seconds unless she tries to suppress it. Physical pain is nothing to her, having felt fatal wounds over and over again, and the dark essence numbing what little she does feel.

Before Salem even finishes regenerating, she shoots out a black tendril from her left hand, and is now holding both Emerald and the Raven lookalike in each hand.

Then Ozma fires his own beam of magic at her. She flinches because while Ozma’s magic is not even a fraction of what it once was, his artifacts hurt more than most other things do. In retaliation, Salem throws the brawler at him, but fails to see the knight charging at her until the last second.

She lazy leans to her side to dodge. While wounds mean nothing to her she does know the disadvantage an opponent has while off balance. The knight still manages to cut her unoccupied arm off though, so as soon as she is behind the knight she uses her restraining glyphs to trip and hold him down, along with the rogue so they would not step in either. She aims her shoulder at the knight and-

Wait a second.

Her arm has not regrown yet?

How is this possible?

Even actively willing her arm to regrow she notice it regrowing at a snails pace. But that shouldn’t be possible. She looks to the knight and ponders how he managed to make a lasting wound. Only magic and weapons imbued with such could possibly do that, and not this much. The only weapon ever to wound her for this long was-

Salem’s eye narrow.

“Crocea mors.”

The knight lets out a gasp. It seems she was right about the blade, different as is may appear. She finally gets a good look at the white kite shield, with a crest in the center, of twin golden arcs.

Salem addresses the young knight, now seeing some resemblance. “That weapon belongs an old family, one who was supposed to stay out of this war. Possession of it either make you a thief,”

His eyes narrow in indignation and suspicion.

“Or an Arc. Would you explaining which you are so that I may return it to it’s rightful owners?”

“You stay the heck away from my family.” The Arc growls out.

“So an Arc then. How are Nicholas and Juniper? I have not heard from Ansel in quite some time.”

He looks at Salem in confusion, “how do you know my parents?”

“I forged that very blade you hold from my own blood, killing my self over and over until my remains had enough iron in them to make it. It was not capable of slaying me as I had hoped, but it was still a weapon worthy of a hero, one like Julius.”

“Great-great grandfather.” He muttered.

“Yes, after miraculously finding a distant descendant of one of my daughters about to go to war, I thought fit to improve their chances of survival. After giving him the gift of my own blood steel, and an enhancement to his aura, I watched over his family as he went to war. I used to visit the Arcs regularly, until... recent developments have made me advance my plans.”

She turned to Emerald again, pinning her to a wall with glyphs , “but enough of that. You will tell me where the relic is, or I will force it out of you.”

“I swear I don’t know.” Emerald began to cry. Hmm, perhaps. Perhaps not. Salem will have to check with her seers if they saw who took it.

Hazel then came walked in, but Salem didn’t pay him any mind. Even out numbered Hazel was a skilled combatant who only Tyrian with his aura bypassing semblance could defeat with anything remotely resembling ease. She continued to pressure Emerald, when suddenly Hazel of all people struck her sending her flying. He injected several dust crystals into himself and began to fight her off. His power was almost comparable to a maiden. He managed to get Salem in a hold and set them both on fire, as Ozma pointed his cane at her.

The last thing Salem saw was one of her descendants looking toward Ozma, and then a great flash of light.

[bamfdaddio]

X-Men Abridged: 1969

The X-Men, those dino-obsessed mutants that have sworn to protect a world that hates and fears them, are a cultural juggernaut with a long, tangled history. Want to unravel this tapestry? Then read the Abridged X-Men!

(X-Men 52 - 63) - written by Arnold Drake, Roy Thomas, Linda Fite and Don Heck, drawn by Werner Roth, Barry Smith, Tom Palmer and Neal Adams.

step aside, Wall-E, these Sentinels have nothing on your range of emotions (X-Men 59)

When we last left our X-Men, they were smack-dab in the middle of a big, convoluted plot! Let me refresh your memory:

The X-Men had to beat a hasty retreat;

Polaris had joined her father Magneto

Magneto was injured;

Iceman had quit the team because he still had faith in Polaris;

Eric the Red appeared, making overtures towards Magneto.

And the whirlwind continues! The X-Men (sans Iceman and Cyclops) sneak back into Magneto’s base! Eric the Red reveals himself to be Cyclops! They set a trap for Mesmero! Which is sprung by the wayward Iceman! But he has pertinent information! Lorna is not Magneto’s daughter, she’s just an orphan! Bobby (hilariously) has the papers to prove it!

magneto has now fucked up the relationships he has with all of his children before any of them knew he was their father. mad props (X-Men 52)

Lorna breathes a sigh or relief, glad that she doesn’t have to be evil anymore. (Because obviously, evil is hereditary. And even though she keeps sensing everyone’s ‘evil vibrations’, she stayed with Magneto out of her own volition. SO.) Without Polaris’ power to back them up, Magneto and Mesmero flee.

After this, the X-Men come back to live at the mansion again. No muss, no fuss. Roy Thomas, who’s returning to the book, wastes very little time undoing some stupid decisions made last year. In fact, 1969 has a pretty strong showing, with plotlines flowing almost naturally into one another, a bigger cast and the introduction of one of my favourite villains. It’s pretty palatable.

The one snag is a superfluous issue where the X-Men fight Blastaar and Jean kills someone. (Never comes up again, don’t sweat it.) I wouldn’t even mention it, were it not for this moment where Jean uses some super duper mind machine:

does this remind you of... anything? no? just me then (X-Men 53)

So, anyway, remember Scott’s beloved brother Alex?

i love that jean is all smiles about scotts terrible and all-encompassing ability to repress everything (X-Men 54)

I can sort of understand why that whole third Summers brother was such a huge secret for so long, considering Alex was not even kept a mystery and it still took SIX YEARS for him to be revealed.

Alex is barely introduced before he gets the old plot-bat to the face, getting mixed up in a fight when some pharaoh claims all mutants are pharaohs, being children of the Sun? Apparently, all of them are powered by cosmic rays i.e. the sunlight. Alex is kidnapped, as is Cyclops, and just as Cyclops ponders how happy he is that Alex is not a mutant despite him having the X-Gene, he is attacked by the pharaoh and Alex saves his brother using newly minted energy powers! Oh, the irony.

when I say that I want Alex to wear his old costume, I obviously mean this sexy Egyptian skirt-ensemble (X-Men 55)

Alex and the pharaoh are apparently two sides of the same coin, being charged by the same cosmic rays: when one waxes, the other wanes. The pharaoh locks Alex away in a tomb, cutting him off from those sweet, sweet sunbeams and taking all the power for himself. Like a Power Ranger villain, he grows in size and becomes… the Living Monolith! The X-Men take him down while Alex accidentally blows up the Living Monolith’s temple.

Alex, afraid of his own power, flees into the desert and is apprehended by… the Sentinels?! Surprise, bitch! Lorna is also abducted by them out of her New York apartment. Their next victim is Iceman, and they deliver him to… Larry Trask! (Son of.)

My favorite thing about Sentinels is that, despite the fact that they are objectively huge, they are still able to sneak up on people. Apparently, these murderous periwinkle toaster ovens are so quiet, you only notice when they rip open a roof to get at you. (X-Men 59)

Larry Trask hates mutants because:

They killed his father;

He’s a racist.

Determined not to repeat the sins of his father, Larry has a helmet with which he can use to take direct control of the sentinels, so hopefully they won’t rise up and rebel this time. Somewhere, Asimov is rolling his eyes.

On live television, Larry Trask baits Iceman into attacking him, trying to smear him and mutantkind in general. In the mean time, the Sentinels strike everywhere, taking Unus, Angel, Banshee, the Living Monolith… Even Wanda and Pietro. It´s a literal who´s who of sixties mutandom! The only exempt ones are the Changeling and Magneto, the latter only because he’s been a robot for a while now. Mesmero is just as shocked by this unnecessary retcon as we are.

Just as Larry orders the Sentinels to kill every mutant in the compound (including Bobby, Lorna and Alex), a family heirloom is ripped off his neck. Apparently, this medallion was some kind of protection: the late Bolivar Trask knew little Larry was a mutant and tried to hide this fact from the Sentinels.

The Sentinels turn on Larry faster than you can say “Is being betrayed by AI a hereditary trait?” The X-Men intervene and, after unleashing the might of Havok, they end up in a debate with the Sentinels, turning their own logic against them:

Protecting humans is more important than killing mutants.

So, to protect humanity, they must destroy the cause of mutation.

The Sentinels promptly launch themselves into the sun. Neat.

On a side note, the relationship between Jean and Scott is shelved for now? It seems like they’re dating, but also not? It’s such weird storytelling, especially because their annoying will they or won’t they has gotten so much focus in the past and the relationship between Lorna and Bobby is crystal clear:

Scott. Jean. Is it really going to take Chris Claremont to DTR you two? Fuck’s sake (X-Men 60)

Because Havok’s powers still threaten to overwhelm him, the X-Men contact a former colleague of Professor X… Professor Lykos.

Let me tell you about the sheer, amazing sixties wonder that is Professor Lykos. Originally, Thomas envisioned him as a vampire, but the Comics Code forbade vampires. So, instead, Lykos ends up a human who was bitten by a magical pterodactyl at a young age and who can only survive by draining other people’s life force. He can also hypnotize people into doing his bidding.

Yes.

Lykos suspects mutants might be the cure to his strange, strange ailment, and begins to drain Alex. But to his (and our) sheer delight, he turns into a pterodactyl!

I just love this damn idiot so much (X-Men 60)

Be like Sauron! Choose evil!

The X-Men barely figure in this plot. Ordinarily, I’d be bothered by the fact that these three issues are more about the villain than the heroes, but given that it’s Sauron, I’ll let it slide.

See, Sauron’s tale is a tragic one. Not only is he a weird pterovampire, he is also in love with a sweet girl whose father forbids him from seeing Dr. Lykos, because he is… poor! Gasp! (Those billionaires, not even a doctor is good enough for their daughters.) Sauron, slightly corrupted by his dino-side, realize that it’s a lot easier to just kill Tanya’s father than to impress him by robbing banks for cash.

When he attacks the man and sees the reaction of his star-crossed lover, Lykos realizes Sauron is far too much in control. Sauron is too evil! Lykos/Sauron promptly flees to a cold, distant region, the same place where he got bitten all those years ago, figuring he’ll stay in isolation and starve himself of the human energy he needs. But, just as he is utterly ravenously out of his mind, Tanya finds him! In order to protect her, Sauron sacrifices himself by throwing himself off the mountain… straight into the Savage Land..

The X-Men (sans Angel) follow him into the Savage Land. (It’s unclear why? To retrieve his corpse? Annoyingly, in the next arc, Sauron is not brought up again.) There, they run into Ka-Zar, who’s embroiled in a fight with… prehistoric mutants?

Angel, meanwhile, follows the X-Men in their footsteps, only to end up on the other side of the fight, with a strange white-haired man named the Creator who claims to be the mentor of these Savage Land mutates. Angel pledges him his wings, gets a snazzy new suit and flies off to fight the X-Men. Only then does the man secretly reveal himself: he’s… Magneto! (The true one, not a robot.) And he wishes to rule the savage land!

Angel and the other X-Men briefly fight, but soon the situation is sorted out and the X-Men go and confront the Creator. Magneto, who is way too hammy to ever hide his true nature for too long, reveals himself and the fact that he created these… mutates, including the creepy Brainchild. (He’ll become important later.) The X-Men defeat Magneto and he seemingly dies again.

Without Magneto there, the mutates revert to just being regular cave(wo)men:

I love that Ka-Zar, WHO HAILS FROM THE SAVAGE LAND HIMSELF, has no scruples othering his own kin. (X-Men 63)

The comic accidentally ends on a sad note: the X-Men confessing that they’d give up on their powers in a heartbeat. Not to nitpick, but while I buy that coming from Beast and Cyclops, this issue is less clear-cut when it comes to Jean and Bobby, who have a much better handle on their powers and, more importantly, present as human. It could potentially be an interesting issue to explore, but instead, it is swept under the rug, presenting the team (once again) as a boring but unified front. It remains one of my critiques of this era: the X-Men barely get fleshed out as individuals, other than the broadest of strokes (Leader; Rich Boy; Joker; Smart Guy; Girl). Pity.

Didn’t you take Art History? One thing that has definitely improved is the overall art-style. Artists experiment with panels and splash pages, stepping out of the traditional 2 by 3-grid that Kirby loved so much. It makes the stories more dynamic and, because the writers get more issues to tell their stories, the artists get more space to do their art.

I mean, check this ish out:

Fuck yeah, mental powers represent. (X-Men 57)

Ugliest Costume: None! I really like Havok’s black bodysuit with white stripes and the Sentinels design looks so much less dorkier than before. A+.

Best new character: Sauron, duh. Does he team-up with Dr. Doom at some point? That would be some ham-to-ham combat.

Most audacious retcon: There’s a second Summers brother?

What to read: 57 to 59, which is the plotline dealing with the much improved Sentinels. 60 and 61 if you have a soft spot for vampiric pterodactyls.

[project-paranoia]

Live Watch: Thousand Autumns Episode One

Oh wow someone got the good... guzheng? Something in that family of instruments anyway. They got the good music for that. And the animation is beautiful and beautifully synchronised to the clip excerpts.

And the imagery! The opening with the symbol of the Dao, and then main character number 1, Shen Qiao, all in white, in a fantastically and subtly ornamented outfit - I love the textures of the cloth they put in on the animation here, cloth and clothes textures are so easy to get wrong and they’ve done it beautifully here. I think this is supposed to be Shen Qiao’s original sect leader/zhangjiao outfit and he looks properly leaderly in it.

And this, followed by a closeup of Yan Wushi’s hand holding the ring of contention, and then Yan Wushi himself, very handsomely rendered in 3d animation - and again I have to voice my appreciation of the cloth textures. That’s actual subtly 3d brocade textures they’re rendering there, with the correct flow for how cloth hangs on the body, and the correct variances of light on the areas with thicker brocade and it is, frankly, very impressive. And they didn’t lose colour saturation doing it either, making that purple robe look suitably luxurious. The shiny hair ornament and one sidebang in white is a nice touch as well. As are the hints they set right in the opening that Shen Qiao and Yan Wushi are ... opposites, and complements, linking them back to the Yin/Yang balance of the symbol of the Dao.

So much love for this opening song it’s so good. Also going to be a pain to translate accurately with a proper sense of the poetry of it, but so good.

Alright episode 1 proper, 风雨欲来. The coming of the wind and rain, literally, I think. Maybe even the foreboding or oncoming storm, if you’re going for the feel of the term instead of literal translation. Oh. Oh that opening montage with the bird’s eye view and the fog and the high mountains - I was so taken by this scenery I sketched and tried to paint it at least 3 times. It’s a very moving shot. Also very much in the grand tradition of xianxia/wuxia, and also, even without a word, hinting at the traditional stance of the Mt Xuandu sect - to 出世， to remove themselves from the world to cultivate in the seclusion and clarity of the literal peaks above the clouds and dust of the world.

Oh. Oh that opening shot. The challenge to combat by Kunye to Shen Qiao. The.. subtle and ornate embroidery and brocade and patterning on Shen Qiao’s sect leader robes is so awesome. The wave motifs repeated in the 3 layers of robes, even on the hair ornament/冠 in his hair, the resolute look on his face! The closeup shot of the 山河同悲 sword - and what a name for it. A sword named for, if I may be excused poetry in translation - compassion and pity and fellow feeling for the griefs and pains and trials of the world as encompassed by the mountains and rivers - what a blade, and what a name, and what a bearer that would be worthy of it. A very good hint, at the kind of person Shen Qiao is, even before they have him open his mouth.

The contrasting costuming decision for Kunye et al is also very nice, hinting at the cultural differences between, say, the peoples that live on the central plains and the more nomadic groups living on less kindly land, shown in the different materials available/preferred - leather, furs, etc  vs cloth, silk, cotton etc

And the fight choreography! So nice! The 3d animation works really well here,in that there’s no limitation to the capabilities of human bodies and it’s possible to really show in the visual medium the knock out drag down fight between 2 people whose martial - and quasi magical - capabilities are already at potentially mountain splitting levels. Not to mention also, showing that a Shen Qiao who isn’t being handicapped by sabotage... really can wipe the floor with Kunye if he wants to. And then, of course, once the fight gets to Half-step Peak and they’re out of sight of inconvenient witnesses, the signal for the ambush. And then the effects of the sabotage take hold.

Ah, flashback to 20 years ago, to provide the audience with the world info we need to understand the rest of the story. Not to mention also informing us why Hulugu would even bother. Or why Kunye coming in to challege Shen Qiao is so narratively important. And also introducing the ring that so many would fight over later.

Yan Wushi’s character introduction.. is quite something. As is Yu Shengyan’s. Ah, Shizun, congratulations on exiting your 10 year cultivation seclusion, would you like the highlights on the changes in the world in the past 10 years? But also a good show of character, because they have him not even looking at Yu Shengyan, but looking away in the distance, and telling him to only tell the most important bits, he’s not interested in useless words. Also serves as a nice introduction to some people who’ll be important later, and giving us a time marker for when Shen Qiao ascended to the sect leader post - 5 years ago, after the death of his shizun Qi Fengge. Ah Yan Wushi, your characteristically arrogant attitude - aside from Qi Fengge, who in life was worthy of being the first among all the wuxia world, the rest are not worth even mentioning. And here too a little hint that Yan Wushi might care a little bit in some way for those who are his, including his disciples - He tells Yu Shengyan that this location, this Half Step Peak that they’re at, because of its physical characteristics, is good for him to cultivate to the next level of understanding/enlightenment of the martial arts used by Huanyue Sect.

I love it whenever they hint that the more... developed characters whose martial arts are very good have improved senses. A little flow of blood in the water, Yu Shengyan notices something is wrong, looks at his shizun, and receives a nod of affirmation that he perceived correctly and should take action. And then after that, they come upon a body of one of the Mt Xuandu disciples, and Yan Wushi’s verbal remark that today, Mt Xuandu is troubled and not pure and clean. And then Shen Qiao literally falls from the cliff top - and the pan up makes it very clear that for most people, this is a lethal fall.

And then the surviving ambushers attempt to finish the job when Yu Shengyan checks whether Shen Qiao is still alive... and Yan Wushi takes the training opportunity when he sees it, and tells his disciple to use his strongest techniques to take on the remaining assassins. And then, when Yu Shengyan can't quite wipe the floor with them... criticizes his lack of growth, as might be expected of Yan Wushi, and steps in to really wipe the floor with the assassins, as might not be expected of Yan Wushi. Also doubles as a really nice display to the audience of his level of strength. In fact.. listening to the voice, I think one of those assassins appears, unhidden, in later episodes. Heh. Plot continuity, a nice one. As are the assassins having common sense, recognising Yan Wushi's infamous technique, and running before they're cut down.

Ahahahaha yes Yu Shengyan, your shizun really had you pick that fight for training, and he's really about to pick up Shen Qiao and have him rescued on a whim. Also nice to review, on rewatch for the details, that part of this whim is perhaps curiousity as to Shen Qiao's ability to survive and/or recover, as hinted by the thin thread of strength provided by the Zhuyang Ce, that Yan Wushi identifies as the thin strength keeping him alive, despite the aforementioned lethal fall.

Heh. Yu Shengyan – and maybe Huanyue Sect's other job – information gatherers aka spies.

Ah, Yan Wushi, you really are fascinated by people's reactions under stress, aren't you.

Shen Qiao awakens! Oof, the amount of damage – can't see, amnesia – damaged or even broken meridians – the donghua doesn't mention how much time passes, but given that Yu Shengyan mentions that Shen Qiao's broken bones have only just finished healing – could not have been a matter of days. Weeks, maybe even a month, minimum. Unless Yu Shengyan meant that the bones have only just been set – which could mean a few days. And then the mindscrew from Yan Wushi, telling poor amnesiac Shen Qiao that, yes, your name is Shen Qiao, oh, and you are one of my disciples from Huanyue Sect! Someone sure is hasty to put his poke the injured person plans into action! Ah Yan Wushi, if you could please give Shen Qiao a break, he just had a near death experience! But also – the scope of the injuries – yes, it benefits Yan Wushi's plotting but also – Shen Qiao was injured beyond the scope of ordinary medicine? Yu Shengyan has to be stationed to basically care for him until he is able to awaken – and presumably recover – appropriately!

Alright, time marker, 3 months after previous events.. okay. Shen Qiao can walk, some, though the animators were careful to make it a clearly pained walk, in comparison to how he was moving pre-Kunye fight. And then of course the blindness, which may also explain how they've animated him moving with more cautious steps. And the coughing, and the eyes that can't focus – all in all, a detailed and careful show of how badly injured Shen Qiao still is. Can't help sniggering at every 'shidi' I'm hearing him say though. And Yu Shengyan... yes, really, even though you and your shizun can't quite believe it, there really is a person this kind and considerate of other people.

The appearance of the weiqi board motif! Strategy, and planning, and part of the arts of the refined gentlemen..and the hint of how Shen Qiao is perceiving/visualising the input that he hears, since he can't see right now. And the hint that he might be using qi to help sort through what he hears – well enough that he can identify it's a weiqi board, and even the piece being placed. Very Awesome. Especially when they show Yan Wushi possibly testing Shen Qiao's capability to perceive the world around him by hesitating and purposely not putting down his piece.. and Shen Qiao very naturally picking up the piece – black, the correct colour and the one Yan Wushi was about to play – and putting it in the correct position on the board that Yan Wushi was about to place. Is it any wonder that the next thing Yan Wushi checks is the state of his recovery?

And then we have Yan Wushi's characteristic multipronged planning – creating trouble for Hehuan sect, training for Yu Shengyan, testing opportunity for Shen Qiao. Very excellent, any and every outcome has benefit to Yan Wushi.

Ah the encounter at the medicine shop. Hm. Okay, the sharing of the medicine is clearly a hint to Yan Ziwen of some kind that he and his should be especially cautious tonight, perhaps even to run for their lives tonight. Though it's maybe a hint in the actions, and not the words, because the words don't sound suspicious at all. Neither do the actions, if you were watching as a observer and didn't know Yan Ziwen's paranoid character – a blind person would unsurprisingly wish to be extra careful where they put their hands. And at night, on the attack... for all that Shen Qiao can't quite see, and is currently relying on the rest of his senses... he can tell that something's off about Yu Shengyan's actions. And then... Shen Qiao remembers... the sword, and what Qi Fengge taught him. And then the confrontation, and the near strangulation by Yan Wushi... Shen Qiao has such a nice literary register to his speech. Four word phrases even under severe near strangled stress, with the right philosophical meaning to make his point to Yan Wushi. And then the reveal of Yan Wushi's plotting. Very nicely done.

And now, the first of Yan Wushi's many many invitations to Shen Qiao to forsake his daoist path and join Yan Wushi's ... evil sect is not the right word. Demonic path is technically correct but has moral overtones that don't fit. Join Yan Wushi's cultivation path, maybe. Join and get bloody revenge on everyone who's wronged Shen Qiao – and already there are so many of them. And we the audience wonder for half a second – is he going to do it? Is this going to be a revenge story? And Shen Qiao flat out refuses in words, in the first of many times. And then Shen Qiao walks away from Yan Wushi. Here the animation is a delight again – the audience gets to see the little micro expressions that flit across – he's actually walking away?! And then Yan Wushi does his dramatic gifting of the bamboo stick. And too, a few seconds later, the reveal of their movements being spied on by Duan Wenyang, and Yu Shengyan's orders to continue searching for .. something. Ah, the plotting in Thousand Autumns. Always a delight.

[xayneimagines]

Sparing with Buffy

Fandom: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Pairing: Buffy x Reader( Gender-neutral) 

Warnings: N/A 

Genre: Fluff

Summary:  Buffy wants to get in some training before the date and Y/N is pretty bad at saying no to her. 

Word Count: 6475

  “So...now let me get this straight. I let you beat me up a little in training, then we get the movies and have a chill rest of the night?” Y/n placed their jacket to the side of the training room before they moved back towards the center, watching Buffy jump up and down to get her energy flowing. The Slayer grinned and nodded before settling into a fighting position, fists raised and a fire burning in her eyes that made Y/N swoon a little more. 

  “Yep. Train then chill. C’mon, get ready! I wont go easy on you just cause you’re cute!” Her energy was as high as usually as she waited for Y/N to prepare themselves, knowing the other wasn’t always enthused about being a glorified punching bag but willing to make the sacrifice so that she could actually get better. 

  “You need another vampire to do this with. I’m not even a good fighter.” Y/n complained but complied, knowing that if it were Xander or Giles instead, the fight wouldn’t be able to last nearly as long and Buffy would have to focus on not hurting them. When their friendship started, Y/N never expected they would be helping the Slayer and the gang out in too many ways, but the vampire was pretty glad they had a more clear purpose now.  

  “Well, see! Then this is great for you too! You always talk about wanting to patrol with us.” As Buffy spoke, her movements began, a punch followed up by a kick that was easily blocked by Y/N before having them returned to her. “And what better way then to spar with little ol’ me!”

  “No, I said I wanna go out at night with you. Not patrolling, just out.” Y/N let out a grunt as one of Buffy’s feet collided with their chest. They quickly grabbed her ankles and flipped her, but the agile slayer landed on her hands and feet easily before lunging back into an attack. 

  “Well I during the night equals fighting and you during the day equals dusting so we have to compromise here!” Left hook, right jab, roundhouse kick. Both of them traded blows back and forth, Y/N only able to keep up so well thanks to being a vampire, but damn were they starting to realize just how much they needed  to improve. They were by no means a force to be reckoned with, and while they didn’t mind Buffy protecting them, they didn’t want to add to Buffy’s stress. 

  “Fine, but we better at least get to do some date things. Oooo, I can bring you flowers and we can put them on the graves where vampires about to come up!” Y/N almost sounded excited as they joked about it, the image in their head almost being a distraction as they threw a few punches. 

  Buffy rolled her eyes before quickly grabbing one of the punches that was thrown at her, twisting Y/N and practically throwing them. Buffy was pleasantly surprised when she saw the vampire catch themselves, a big improvement from when they had first met. 

  “Fine, we can do date things and patrol. But we are not giving the vampires my flowers.” She pouted which made Y/N laugh and nod in agreement. The fight continued on from there, Y/N barely scrapping by but contributing just enough of a fight so that Buffy couldn't let her guard down. Y/N may have been knew to fighting in general, but they found that if Buffy was involved then they could try anything at least once. 

  Minutes turned into an hour before Buffy finally flipped Y/N onto their back, imaginary stake on their heart while she panted with a confident smile. 

  “I win!” She cheered, ignoring Y/N small groan of pain as they moved to sit up. 

  “Yep, you win. Time for my runner up trophy though, right?” Y/N grinned from ear to ear, causing Buffy to roll her eyes once again before placing a kiss on the vampires forehead. 

  “What?? Just forehead kisses? Not even a cheek?”

  “No cheek till after the movie...and I actually mean cheek kiss, so don’t even think about it!” Buffy kept a stern look on her face as she helped them up, but Y/N took no offense to the teasing. They were taking things a little slow so that Buffy could build more trust in them, and Y/N didn’t mind that one bit. They already heard the stories about Angel and what happened with the older vampire as well as stories from the boys at college, so when Buffy asked if they wouldn't mind being slow about Y/N eagerly agreed. 

  “Finnneeee… We’re watching a horror movie though.” They stated, wiping at their own pants to make sure none of the dust from the floor was clinging to them.

  “Why do you like those so much? Aren't you the horror movie?” Buffy asked, assisting Y/N by picking a piece of fuzz from their hair. Buffy didn’t mind horror movies for the most part, though they had both agreed to no apocalypse themed ones unless zombies were involved. 

  “Hey, I liked them before I was turned. I cant help that fate thought it would be funny to make me into this...though it is like, really funny because I do have a Dracula costume from when I was a kid.” They chuckled and grabbed Buffy’s hand lightly, moving it down from their hair and placing a small kiss to the back of it before letting go. 

  “Okay, but don’t think I’ll cling to you because I’m scared or anything.” Buffy narrowed her eyes up at Y/N who continued to smile down at her.

  “Babe, that’s sweet you think I’m so brave, but I’m the one clinging to you when the jump scares start.” Y/N made their way to grab up their jacket, putting their arms through the denim material before letting Buffy wrap her arms around one of theirs. Buffy let out a small giggle as they started to make their way out of the training room and into the magic shop. 

  “Guess that’s true. I’ll be your knight and shining armor then.”

  “And I’ll be the member of royalty that was abandoned to a cruel fate prior to your rescuing. I owe you my gratitude, but all I have to offer is this handkerchief token and some poorly baked pie.” Y/N had moved to open the door, letting Buffy sort of lead the way outside but the two of them still being tied together by her arms. When the door shut behind them, Y/N fished the key out of their back pocket and locked the door, smiling at the fact that they were trusted enough by Giles for such an important task. 

  “Is...that a reference of some kind?” Buffy tilted her head as she questioned the vampires words, watching their expression closely enough to realize they were just rambling nonsensical things once again. 

  “No, I just kind of wanna make pie later. I miss pie.”

  “Ah, and I’m sure the pastry misses you.” One of Buffy’s hands moved to pat at the vampires head, earning another laugh from them before they continued on.

[folexin]

Folexin Reviews 2021

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