#now if only i can tie up those loose threads in the plot

[sillekias]

reading old stuff you wrote and realizing “oh this was kinda good not the subpar slop i feared i was writing whew” is nice, actually

[eraserbread]

nanami trusts his underling, satoru a little too much :o

happy 1k :)) just porn, no plot. not canon bc nanami would never share you

featuring your older boyfriend, nanami <3

cw: anal and dp

how you got here... well, it's only for you and god to know.

and you feel him looking down at you as you dance for a richer man, peeling off your clothes sensually and letting them drop to the floor in a heap.

your favorite slow-building song is playing from the speaker, a glass of dark sits in your lovers hands, and the room is dim. he's the only person you see -- the only person you'd shed your skin for. your older, successful boyfriend, your boss, nanami.

you're not in his home, he has you booked up in an egregiously expensive luxury hotel, just because. his office is in walking distance, and sometimes after a long day he doesn't want to drive home. its the luxury of money, he sees that, and you're elated to tag along with him.

"hurry on. satoru's supposed to be here with that file any minute, now." his tone is laced with a hint of distaste, and you know its because he doesn't like his underling, satoru. he can see it as plain as day, the kid has a crush on you.

it's one of those stupid, childish crushes. satoru wants to fuck you —he wants to take you out on shitty dates and suck your face off and not even tell you he loves you. nanami needs you, he's more equipped for you.

and you, stupid, silly, you. you just giggle and blush at his juvenile jokes and passing glances. a little office attention couldn't hurt. I mean, look where it's got you—a full bank account, a rich cfo, everything you want.

"let 'm watch," you whisper, fingers tangling in your front-clasped bra. the only thing still hanging from your hot skin are your undergarments. nanami wants them off. "I know you're into that, showin' me off and pretending like you don't take me home every night."

he opens his mouth to speak, but as soon as he takes a breath, a knock falls onto the door. he shakes his head and stands with a grunt. "put it on." he mentions you hardly, reaching and tossing a thick, white robe in your direction.

you pout as you push it over your shoulders, tying the downy strap around your waist so nanami can open the door. he's extremely thorough, waiting until you're completely decent before letting the outside in.

this time, the outside is that familiar lanky, 28-year-old manager. he's the buffer between nanami's financial plans and your section's action. he's actually extremely helpful and understanding, far gentler to the brash CFO and all of his nonchalant tendencies. he fucks them into you every night, but that wasn't for satoru to know.

you're left standing alone, biting your lip as you watch the two of them converse quietly through the cracked door. vaguely, you can make out satoru's ruffled hair — his dark glasses and loose-shouldered, casual shirt. they're well past work hours now, but nanami still has his suit on, tie off, and blazer tossed over the couch.

they're chatting about the clients nanami will have to report all these findings to tomorrow, so you accidentally stumble close enough to the door so satoru can see you—exactly what nanami didn't want.

"...what do we have here?" satoru steers out of conversation, pulling down his glasses to sneak a glance at your figure. nanami blinks at him, then glances over his shoulder to scowl at you.

"didn't realize I was interrupting."

"you're not-"

"it's okay!" yours and nanami's opposite tones melt into one contradictory statement. disregarding your boyfriend's feelings, satoru is a good person to have around—he's charming, smart, strong, and thoughtful.

you're blushing against their dark stares, oblivious and standing with your loose robe falling off your shoulder. smiling so sweetly, satoru fights off cuteness aggression, nanami just wants you to walk away.

except, he doesn't, and ten minutes later, you're being pushed onto the grand hotel bed with your robe hanging on by a thread and unfamiliar lips all over your skin.

now, satoru is a menace, and nanami doesn't respect him, but he does trust him. he trusts him enough to hand you off like a shiny coin, finding his way back to his drink as satoru climbs on top of you, pinning you to the mattress with a hand pressed to your outstretched arm.

you're unsure, but excited nonetheless. hands touch everywhere, lips following their ghost as satoru touches the body he's wanted forever. he's kissing you, whispering under his breath how naughty you are, how young you are, and how innocent you aren't. it's filthy pillow talk laced with an edge of care and grace, and you're flushed to the core.

nanami's eyes are like laser beams as they stare over your moving figures. just... standing and waiting to see what satoru will do next.

satoru stands over you, red lips pulsating and hot from his mean kisses. he licks over them a few times, letting you sit up on your elbows as he pulls his shirt off with a single hand. he knows what he's doing, but doesn't know what will come of it, so he makes the most of the situation.

nanami's eyes don't phase him, they fuel him, and now his lips are back over yours, kissing and biting away nothing but tongue.

satoru doesn't waste time, he wants you on top of him, bare back pressed to his chest as his legs hang off the side of the bed. in this position, he can still whisper those phrases in your ear and drink up your overwhelmed little whines.

"you never had anyone back here before, hm?" he whispers, licking over your ear as his long fingers crane against your anxious, fluttering ass. he's applying enough pressure to make your face turn up in unknowing, but you shake your head nonetheless.

you wish you can see nanami, you need his strict gaze telling you what to do.

"no? ohh," satoru pulls his hand away, pressing two insanely long digits between your lips. "get'em wet, darling. so wet. you're gonna need it."

and who are you if you didn't follow your superiors instructions to a T — you suck them between your lips, tongue swirling and coating them in as much spit as you can gather. satoru pulls them away, and they're coated — dripping down your exposed sternum as he goes back to play with your sensitive, little hole.

"didn't remember saying you could have her from behind." nanami's slow, deep voice rains a blanket of comfort and reassurance against your shivering frame. he comes back into view, plucking his shirt open and letting it hang on his shoulders. he was back there watching the entire time, just listening to your little noises and satoru's horny endearances.

but, he knows you need him. knows you can take more than what's normal for a little thing your age, so he doesn't intervene.

except for when his erection gets too painful to persist. he could only cum inside of you, now. so spoiled.

"but 's so tight..." satoru trills, gasping like he's the one being penetrated as a single finger sinks inside of you. "ahhh, yes. you've taken this before."

"mmh, n-no," you whine, reaching back to dig your fingers in the muscle of satoru's arm.

"no? yes..."

"well, don't do it if she's scared." nanami -- your sacred voice of reason. he's unzipping his pants and rolling his neck, still a few steps away from the sinful ordeal. he's staring down at you with ruffled, golden hair and an unreadable glare. you swallow under the pressure.

"she's not scared." satoru whispers in your ear and sinks his finger deeper, wiggling it inside of you once it's to the hilt. "so hot... yes, baby."

nanami steps up, taking your air-dangled leg and wrapping it tight in his strong grip. he watches satoru's finger pump deep inside of you before he adds another. you whine so high in your throat, squeezing your pretty eyes shut.

"look at me. you asked for this." nanami's voice is so deep, deeper than normal, and laced with so much authority and sin that it devastates your self-control. so, you look at him, sticky lips parted as you breathe through your mouth. "beautiful girl."

"oooh, you two are in love." satoru's talking to you but staring straight at his boss, eyebrows turned up in anticipation. "it's fucking obvious now that I'm seeing it."

"would you just focus?" nanami's hands are lost in his belt buckle, undoing it blindly. "you're lucky I'm not making you wear a condom."

"please, have mercy sir."

"shut up."

they're talking over you, drowning out all of your little whines and dejected pleas. satoru is two fingers deep inside of your ass, and nanami's pulling his zipper down to free the harshness of his touch-starved cock. you know he has plans to fuck you red and sensitive, taking the entirety of your sweet cunt as his. it's what you want — he's embedded the need for him so deep inside of your soul that it's debilitating. you're staring up at him with wide eyes, begging and spent.

"stretch her out a little more. make it comfortable." nanami's words sloppily fall into each other, and you love when that happens. means he's flustered just like you, watching you fall apart on satoru's fingers. though flustered, he wants to fuck you more, so he steps forward, sliding a strong hand through the dampness of your familiar, sweet pussy. his fingers ghost against your clit, and the tiny sensation has you tossing a head back on satoru's shoulder.

he's easing another finger inside of you, half wet and supremely uncomfortable. you know if you say something they'll give something, so you piece yourself together enough to whisper.

"more... m-more lube, please,"

"wish i had some — here." nanami pulls satoru's hand by the wrist, leaning down to close his lips over three of them. he wets them just like you did, and it's a fucking sin to lay your eyes upon. it's so lewd, you genuinely cry - tears leak from the corners, your cunt flutters around nothing.

it's so perfect seeing him so in control. he helps satoru push his pants down, fisting the length of satoru's cock and leaning down to drop a glob of spit against the long, flushed length.

"you speak a whisper of this to anyone, and I'll make sure you're never hired anywhere else in this country." it's a threat lost on satoru, because he laughs. it's booming and unfamiliar against your sensitive ears and it feels like they're paying more attention to each other than to you.

you whine. "please sir... satoru... want it..."

"you heard the girl." satoru kissing your ear for the nth time tonight, releasing his fingers and craning his long arm against the base of his cock. nanami watches as he blindly leads the tip against your loosened hole, raising a brow when your hungry body sucks him in immediately.

an unsure, broken moan falls from your lips as you get used to the insane stretch. three fingers is nothing in comparison to the thickness of satoru. only halfway seated and there's still four inches left to take. you blink open your eyes, and nanami's watching instead of doing.

you toss your head and cry out a plea. "s-sir! please..."

"he's not the one stretching you out, is he?" satoru pouts behind you, reaching to close his hand around the top of your neck. "say m'name, darling girl."

"satoru! hmm- satoruuuu..." you whine, nails digging in his pale skin. you're crying his name, but nanami's the one providing the new, familiar stretch. he's pushing inside of your impossibly tight cunt, brows furrowed in concentration.

he's never done this before — has never been inside of a woman with another man just a sliver of skin away, but it's tight... impossibly tight. his poor girl, he can only imagine the stretch. instead of taking his immense pleasure for what it is, he leans down and distracts you with a kiss until he's fully seated inside of you.

satoru watches the entire exchange with lonely lips, holding onto your thighs like a vice. he waits for nanami to pull out, taking the opportunity to bury the rest of his inches in your ass. against your boyfriends lips, you're breathing out huffed little pants, face all screwed up and flushed. satoru wishes he can see you better, so when nanami's lips pull away, satoru's taking the grip he has on your neck and pulls you back into his.

you're overwhelmed to the core, stomach full and tight. the sensation is hard to describe, but it feels like you're torn in two -- in the best way.

trading off kisses and touches, both men set a gentle pace, blanketing you with reassurance and kisses until you're relaxed and pliable under them.

then, they fuck you.

hair-pulling, spit-swapping fucking. your knees are to your ears, you can't tell whose arms belong to whom, but they're pinning you in ungodly positions. you're cumming immediately, mouth hung open and body tensed bone-stiff. it's a silent orgasm, because you body just doesn't have a mind to make further noise.

nanami, in front of you, is beaded in dew, shirt falling from his shoulders as his hands pin the back of your knees until you're folded in two. he's the one that watches you unravel with a glint in his eye, groaning when your body goes so tight, it cuts off the circulation in his dick.

satoru makes a noise, turning his head into the sheets at the strangulation. he's still got his hand on your neck, but the other one claws and scratches at your fleshy thigh, making more marks there for you to find in the morning.

when you start to come down, you're convulsing, a thick, long mmh falling from your throat as your eyes stare ahead. nanami's never seen you this crazy during sex that once you come down, your body is completely limp.

he says your name in a tone that means he's serious. satoru stills.

"open those eyes, let me see."

"n-no."

"if you can talk, you can be fucked."

"stop and give her a second." nanami's taking that control again, steering the situation by the neck. he's genuine in the fact that he's never seen you so overcome after just two minutes of sex.

"keep... g-goi-

so, satoru starts again. he's dragging his cock out of you slowly, much to nanami's distaste.

"i said, sto-

"please..." you interrupt him innocently, eyes fluttering open now and more relaxed from the eruption of your first orgasm. nanami looks at you and sees stars. he can't say no, even when he shakes his head.

then, he leans down and kisses you, letting his lips linger. he only pulls away enough for satoru to push you into his, needy fucking tongue marking your chin and lips his before kissing you holy.

they spend that night tangled in your very seams, bouncing filthy words off of each other and you. they don't stop until their balls are drained and all over you, sticking to your skin from the inside out. they watch your real-time collapse, smirking and shaking their heads before doting on you with aftercare until the sun starts to peek over the clouds.

[phantomoftheorpheum]

School Spirits Season 2 (episodes 1-3) liveblog/thoughts

**Spoilers for School Spirits Seasons 1 and 2x01-2x03

note: so last season I wrote up a lot of really detailed timeline stuff as I watched, and I don't think I'm going to do that this season, because 1. it's not a murder mystery anymore and 2. since a lot of the "mystery" elements of last season didn't tie back to Maddie at all, I can't expect all the little details to necessarily come together for the main plot. There are a couple of loose threads from that which I will keep an eye out for (honestly, I think they're just accidental loose threads), but my approach this season is more just ~vibes~

2x01

ROFL I completely forget Xavier got hit by a car at the end of season 1, like it completely slipped my mind. I possibly should have done a rewatch leading up to this, but I didn't and I'm here now, so I'm gonna go with it. I am watching the recap, though.

First question remains the same- what does Mr. Martin want? He tells Janet "the only way out is to go back in" and tells her that she needs to "go in deeper" which she does not want to do. He later tells Maddie that he wishes he had never pursued "this," though we know we can't trust him, so who knows if he actually has regrets or not. However, the fact that he runs from Maddie (and vanishes to who knows where?) suggests to me that he is genuinely afraid of something. If he were completely in control, I don't see why he would run away, what are the ghosts going to do him? Kill him?

Okay, Simon, my boy, please think clearly. Maddie literally gave you information that would have been impossible for you to have otherwise. The only reason you even found out Claire was involved in the blackmail was because of this stuff.

Lots of setup, some refreshers for the start of the season, fairly standard for a season opener. The budget feels higher already.

Unsurprisingly, it looks like Janet's past is going to play a big role in the season. Her dad seems like he sucks. I guess my immediate question is- are we getting all this backstory because it's emotionally relevant to Janet's storyline, or are we getting all this backstory because there's going to be a big plot element around it? When Janet goes to the graveyard, we see her grandmother's and her father's grave. Are those characters still in play as ghosts?

So far it does seem like the ghost characters are going to get the majority of the emotional weight. Rhonda, Charley, and Wally all already feel like they've been set up for some character development, while Nicole, Claire, and Xavier (until the end) don't have particularly clear set up for anything. Simon and Maddie have always been central, so no surprises there.

Okay, tbh, I did not think the car hitting Xavier looked that bad, but I'm going to assume he suffered a head injury or like that thing where if you get hit really hard at just the wrong moment it stops your heart, or something like that until told otherwise, because otherwise I can't figure out why he literally died for a minute.

So, my big question for the end of episode 1 is- how will this tie Xavier to the ghost world? Will he be able to see ghosts now? (I can see them not wanting to do this because Simon being the only person who can see Maddie is portrayed so heavily as a special bond, but also linking Xavier to the supernatural seems like the obvious reason they would kill him briefly, so....) Maybe it's just to get him onboard with everything because Claire is clearly not going to buy this story and Nicole seems pretty skeptical, too. I guess I'll just have to keep watching to find out.

Also seems important to mention that Janet is clearly pretty messed up from both what she's been through (and possibly her life before her death) and she appears to have been locked in a basement for like a year and I didn't miss all of that, I just don't have much commentary for it other than- I can't blame her.

2x02

Okay, so far it does feel like Xavier's brush with death is mainly to get him to be more open to everything, but I think it would be cool if he has some sort of lingering supernatural effects of the experience. Having a character die and then be brought back feels like the sort of thing that majorly changes them. If this weren't a supernatural story, I would assume that would be emotional/metaphorical change, but this show is about ghosts, so I'm kind of expecting something more than that.

I hate to say it, because I adore Wally and I hate love triangles, but it's making me itchy to watch all the Simon/Maddie/Wally scenes where Wally very clearly feels threatened. It's not there for no reason.

New additions to the cast, Yuri and Quinn. I wonder why Yuri never thought it was odd that Janet could make permanent stuff? Does he also have that skill? Because if not, surely he would notice that his stuff resets and (at least some) hers doesn't? I do like Yuri so far, though. I'm about halfway through the ep, don't feel like I know much about Quinn yet.

So we now know Janet's dad definitely sucked a lot. With that confirmed, and with the scene of Janet hiding under the stairs (as Maddie) with the person going up and down, do we think that's her father's ghost? (It wouldn't surprise me at all if Janet sees ghosts even though she's technically alive now). And... How did he die? did she (or her grandmother) kill him?

Xavier, my dude, I know I was tough on you last season, but cheating on Maddie does not mean you deserved to be hit and killed by a car.

Mr. Martin is engaged? (well, was) Interesting.

I hope someone realizes how triggering the Mr. Martin & Janet stuff clearly is for Rhonda. Obviously (so far) in the flashbacks we aren't getting the impression that it's an exact reflection of Rhonda's experiences, but close enough.

Okay, I wasn't expecting the Wally conflict to directly come up so soon, but I hope this at least means that we'll get some happy-go-lucky glimpses of him this season because it's one of my favorite elements of his character and (as Maddie basically called out) it's been very lowkey recently. I understand why he's upset/struggling, I like the layers, I just hope that's not the only side we see of him this season.

Alright, they just said Xaiver has a concussion. I'm no MD, but I did do some sports medicine training (unfortunately saw my fair share of concussions, including a couple that required ambulances, paramedics, and a trip to the hospital) and I do not think if you actually almost died of a head injury that anyone would let you back in school like the next day, even if you aren't expected in class. The lights alone would be problematic. But that's probably just me nitpicking.

So what you're telling me is Yuri saw a ghost with extra abilities and he was just like "eh 🤷‍♂️"? honestly, kinda valid. I'm glad Charley is addressing that.

I just had a thought that probably won't happen, but could be interesting, since Simon & Xavier are headed to the house that Janet is burning down, is it possible that Xavier will see Janet (Maddie) as Janet and not as Maddie? That would be an interesting effect of his death that's different from Simon's ability to talk to Maddie's ghost. I don't know how it would be helpful, but it could be cool.

Also was I right and Janet's father's ghost was actually there, or was she just imagining/remembering him? Clearly we don't know the extent of her abilities, or how the other ghosts factor in, but considering Janet's love of science and all the documentation, it would follow that she was running different experiments and she needed a bunch of different test subjects to do so. The big question being- what negative effects did she know/assume this had on them, because if it didn't have any, there would be no reason to hide it and they might do it voluntarily (they have very little to lose). Is it just that she was actively keeping them from crossing over? It seems like it would be something worse than that.

Mr. Martin is afraid of something "bigger," so clocked that. I do have an idea of what the red light means from the trailer, so not going to pretend to be super confused or speculate a lot, but not gonna explicitly say here because in case people haven't seen the trailer that addresses this.

2x03

So... do we think Claire is going to get an actual storyline, or?

Ah, there's some Wally lightness I was looking for.

Just got to the scene with Nicole's brother who I do not believe existed last season & I could be wrong, but he very much feels like a character that's been introduced to provide Claire with a new love interest and I am questioning if this would have absolutely anything to do with the central plot.

Janet's quite possibly a genius, but also she managed to leave her bag in a bathroom and lose all the money she stole, so brains aren't everything. I can't even laugh at her because I left my purse in a public bathroom a few months ago and didn't realize until I had driven an hour and half away and then had to drive an hour and half back (luckily it had been turned in) and then an hour and half the other way again.

I didn't realize I wanted more Xavier & Simon detective squad scenes until just now, but I do. I think they're really funny together, the actors bounce really well off of each other.

Okay, wait, wait, I immediately take back what I said about Nicole's brother because Janet's just been offered a ride to a college, and they just told us five minutes ago that Diego is in college, so what are the odds on "Diego sees his sister's missing best friend"? High, I'm guessing.

Well. That happened a lot faster than I was expecting it to, but okay. lol.

Can someone explain to me how the hell is Mr. Anderson is not in jail?? Stealing that much money is definitely a felony.

I can't tell if we're setting Nicole and Xavier up for a legit romance or just absolute horror and hilarity, like right now I could honestly see it going either way.

I just had to pause for like ten minutes from the secondhand embarrassment of the Wally/Janet scene. I know that's not the important part of that, but omg.

I don't understand how everyone else thought what Rhonda relayed about the party made Janet look bad instead of Mr. Martin. She literally says "no more experiments" and it seems like she wanted to give back the objects taken from the other ghosts, and I don't really get why Rhonda had to spell that out for everyone, like exercise some common sense my guys. I'm not saying that I fully buy that Mr. Martin is the ultimate evil (the man is scared of something) or that Janet is the ultimate good (setting aside the whole "stealing Maddie's body" thing, she was willing to kill Xavier with a car, so not a paragon of good morals, but still), just that I don't get what they missed about Rhonda's story to see Janet as the bad guy there.

I'm back to "Diego exists as a character solely for Claire" even though they technically used him for the plot briefly.

How did five of you lose Janet? She was literally right there.

So is it (the "hellscapes" so to speak) like a "you have to confront your death before you can move past it" kinda thing, or??

Unexpected MVP dynamic Simon & Xavier! But also Xavier should not be driving either and the girls really should have dropped both him and Simon off.

I'm not sure where Janet falls on a morality scale, but approaching Maddie's mom is rough if she doesn't intend to try to give Maddie's body back, because she has been through enough and like... oof.

It took me several hours to get through these episodes because this show has the misfortune of being on the most buggy streaming platform of all time, so my brain is tired at this point. I'll start a new post if I have any additional thoughts.

[morocosmos]

Writer Interview Game

Tagged by @arcaneoddity, tyyyy 💜

When did you start writing?

I noodled at an unfinished story or two when i was a kid (i drew comics a lot more tbh), the first fanfic i wrote was when i was 13 (it is consigned to ff.net, never to be perceived again). i started developing my writing during secondary school, we had to for english class but i genuinely enjoyed those assignments so much that it didn't feel like schoolwork lmao, it was smth of an outlet. i did write a couple of fics for other fandoms between 2016 and mid 2020, but in late 2020 FFXIV revived my desire to create, while @stellarfatalism and @lemoncakedesign's fics inspired me to actually start writing.

Are there different themes or genres you enjoy reading than what you write?

I read a much wider variety of smut than what i could be convinced to write. other than that i think they mostly overlap.

Is there a writer you want to emulate or get compared to often?

@haillenarte, @rabbitprint and @sezja's fics have stuck with me the most in terms of "god i want to be able to write characters like this"....i've never been compared to another writer before, never even considered it and idk how i'd feel.

Can you tell me a bit about your writing space?

I was writing on openoffice at first, but their software has a tendency to crash when you press two keys too fast, for example when you. try to save your work. moved to gdocs to avoid that and so that i could continue working on fic on my phone, but i also use the notes app on there, mainly to get down ideas that i don't want running away or to write more freely. it's easier to be experimental and loose when i'm writing in notes, idk, whereas i prefer sitting at the desk and working on my computer when it's a longer fic or a more """important""" piece.

What’s your most effective way to muster up a muse?

I've let it happen when it happens, for the most part. i was forcing myself to power through job around the time i really grew into writing, so i needed it to be a space where i wouldn't do it if i didn't want to. my feelings about that are more mixed now, because i'm a slow writer to begin with, and i can't help but wonder if more people would read my stuff if i updated more consistently. but i digress - the only time i've had to bring the muse in myself was for to sail your seas, and that was because there was accountability and a deadline. so i guess my most effective tricks are ADHD hacks and brainworms.

Are there any recurring themes in your writing? Do they surprise you?

Until recently i didn't approach fic writing with themes in mind, when i get an idea it's usually about throwing a character at something and seeing what happens. that something tends to be another character, sometimes it's more existential like touch starvation. that said, i do have a WIP where i sat down and thought about what i want the themes to be before i know how it's going to pan out, but it's baby's first attempt so i don't have an answer to this question yet, really.

What is your reason for writing?

Processing things i know and exploring things i don't. when i got back into writing in 2020 it was extremely cathartic, i've burnt out on several creative pursuits over the years and having that spark come alive was, and is still very precious to me. i spent two years writing simply because i had ideas and a vice-grip compulsion to write them out. now that that's slowed down, i've started to think more about craft, and how i might try to hone that when i'm lowkey afraid of this stage of learning, and there's no formal institution to kick my ass into it. but in some ways, i think i write because i can't afford not to.

What do you feel is your greatest strength as a writer?

I've been told by a friend that i'm good at continuity, which is nice considering it lines up with the obsessive approach i take towards trying to tie plot/character threads together lol. personally, i still consider descriptive writing to be my greatest strength. it's what i keep going back to, maybe because it was the first thing i discovered i was good at that wasn't influenced by someone else's decision.

How do you feel about your own writing?

I miss the honeymoon period when i thought my writing was the hottest shit LOL. that tapered off towards the end of 2022, but it's not like i think my writing is bad now, just that over time i became more aware of my shortcomings, and how much knowledge and experience i lack. i did have to fight a little to keep my relationship with writing from souring last year, but in hindsight it was more about frustration that i didn't have the energy to write (work burnout wooo) than a problem with writing itself. after a year plus of stalling and big fic projects i just want to have fun again, be a bit silly.

[heyclickadee]

Because I’ve decided to be somewhat annoyingly optimistic about Tech coming back eventually, I kind of wanted to explain the hypothetical framework through which I’ve been looking at the all of this wiiiiiiiiiith…

…a crappy diagram. (I’m sorry about my handwriting. I usually write in cursive, so it’s usually smaller and even worse).

Now, this is simplified, there are plenty more arcs, plots, and subplots than this, but I sort of picked out the main three that we seem to be dealing with from the beginning of The Clone Wars season seven onwards.

First we’ve got Rex’s arc, where after an endless string of losses and disappointments from previous seasons, he begins putting his foot down and trying to take something back and help his fellow clones, first within the GAR when he insists on rescuing Echo, and then later on in The Bad Batch as we see him gradually form a small band of clones and other allies (people like the Martez sisters and Riyo Chuchi) with the end goal of freeing as many clones as he can. This seems to be an ongoing plot, given that Rex’s work as well as the setup with the senate continues into season three of TBB but receives neither climax nor resolution as we narrow the focus towards Omega.

And, of course, alongside the Rex arc is what I’m calling the clone agency arc, introduced (or perhaps re-introduced) via Echo and his captivity by the Techno Union in the beginning of season seven of TCW, continuing through the end of TCW and into TBB with Order 66, Crosshair’s time under the chip and with the empire (his story far has given us a great look into the life of clones subject to order 66 and imperial service), the clone retirement bill, and the CXs. It, too, reaches neither climax nor conclusion and seems to be ongoing. Furthermore, Rex’s arc seems to be dependent on the clone agency arc (though you could argue it the other way), and many of the loose threads from the end of TBB tie into it as well.

Next, at the beginning of “Aftermath,” we’ve got the clone force 99 family arc as well as the individual bad batcher arcs, none of which reach a resolution. (The bad batch characters are all introduced in the bad batch arc of season seven, but I’d argue that with a few possible exceptions, they don’t really begin their arcs until the start of TBB. They’re not the focus in season seven and are there largely to facilitate Rex’s arc, so what we get for them is a lot of set up and establishing baselines).

I’ve argued before that each of the batcher’s character development goes only so far as it needs to go in order to facilitate Omega’s arc ending by the final episode; after that, they don’t conclude, they slow down, get put on the backburner, and come with period reminders of what those arcs were doing. Hunter gets very close to resolution in his development, since he’s the most tied at the hip to Omega’s arc and most of his character arc has to do with her, but the others are all completely open-ended. The family arc likewise remains open-ended—not necessarily because Tech’s not there and they remain separated, but because the separation and brokenness of the family is never dealt with and left wanting a conclusion despite the fact there was ample opportunity to reach it if necessary.

And last, we’ve got Omega’s childhood arc and the Hunter/Omega relationship arc. These, closely tied together, are the only major arcs that conclude by the end of TBB. And here’s the interesting thing; they’re not actually the first arcs introduced in the show.

Omega is the POV character, but she’s not actually introduced until the second act, I would argue she doesn’t become the POV character until the hyperspace scene at the end of “Aftermath,” and her arc proper doesn’t really begin until “Cut and Run” when we introduce the idea of Omega choosing where she wants to be and the, “You all have a purpose—so what’s hers?” “It doesn’t matter, she’s just a kid,” exchange. Other arcs including her start earlier—I would argue that Crosshair’s arc with her starts in the brig scene, for example—but her arc doesn’t quite kick off until a little later.

Basically, the way I’m looking at this is as a series of nested arcs. A storytelling nesting doll, basically, where the major arc that was introduced the latest and has the smallest scale is also the only one to reach a resolution by the end of TBB show while the others imply a larger, ongoing story.

It’s not that the two larger major arcs stop when the Omega arc is introduced, either. They keep being told alongside, largely through Omega’s point of view with occasional zoom-outs to a wider frame, and limited to what we need to see at present either for future set up or before zooming back in and, in the case of much of the third season of TBB (last four episodes in particular) focusing in on Omega’s arc and that resolution before, hypothetically, broadening to a larger focus again. It’s also not that Omega can’t show up now that her arc is concluded, either. She can! In fact, she should, for multiple reasons. She just wouldn’t be the focus anymore and would probably show up in a more limited capacity.

And it’s not that these nested arcs are even separate. They might start and conclude at different points, but they are told alongside each other because they’re tied together. They weave in and out of each other and push each other along. They’re relevant to one another and, I think, pieces of a larger clone story that’s not quite over.

Because here’s the thing: There’s a lot of stuff in both TCW season seven and TBB that we don’t really need unless it was there for setup. The only part of season seven that was entirely necessary for closing out the clone war and that part of Ahsoka’s story was the Siege of Mandalore arc with maybe, *maybe* one additional episode to explain what she’s been doing. I love the bad batch arc, but we didn’t need it…unless the purpose was to set up arcs for the batch and also tie the batch’s and Echo’s stories to Rex’s and the clone agency arc. We don’t need the Martez sisters episodes…unless we need to introduce the Martez sisters, who also meet the batch and are also working with Rex once we get to TBB (and are presumably still working with him from time to time, since we haven’t heard otherwise). Likewise, the list of things in TBB that aren’t strictly necessary from a storytelling perspective if all we were doing the whole time was telling Omega’s story is extensive…unless the larger story with those larger nested arcs isn’t done.

[bookofmirth]

Hi!! I hope you're well :) I just bought all of Throne of Glass 🫣 and I'm wondering what your recommended reading order is. I've seen a lot of people say to read Assassin's Blade third?

Hello!!! I hope you are doing well also!

It's good you bought all of them, you'll need to binge hehe. I have a couple of recommendations based on what kind of reader you are.

Read AB first if:

You are the kind of reader who can keep track of every loose thread, what every character is up to at every moment.

Or alternatively, if you want to follow the story from beginning to end to really get the sense of the MC's emotional arc.

AB is first chronologically, and so you'd see the MC's progression most clearly from start to finish by doing AB, ToG, and then the rest in order. I would probably read it that way because I would want to keep up the tension between Queen of Shadows and Empire of Storms. Reading Assassin's Blade in between Heir of Fire and Queen of Shadows, to me, interrupts the narrative.

Read AB after Heir of Fire if:

You're more like the kind of person who needs to be reminded of who is who and what they are up to, who needs things more spelled out for you. If you have to wait three books to see a character again, will you forget a lot of details about them and how they fit into the world?

Do you not care as much about the emotional steps from beginning to end, and care more about how the plot unfolds?

There are characters in AB who disappear for three books, and come back in Queen of Shadows; that means that if you think you'll forget who those people are in the meantime, you should probably hold off on reading about them until you need to know who they are (which would be after HoF).

Like I said above, to me it interrupts to flow of the narrative to read AB after Heir of Fire, but... I would also completely forget who these random characters are if they only made a little cameo once, 1,500 pages ago.

I actually read Assassin's Blade after I read Empire of Storms, which... tbh was also fine, because to me, the way loose threads come together was still impactful. I was still gutted by EoS. I wouldn't do that now, but I started reading the series before EoS came out and at the time the readers didn't know how AB would tie into EoS.

I hope this helps! I honestly don't think there is a "right" time to read Assassin's Blade, just one that works better for your reading preferences. You could completely skip it and still come away a fan of the series and understand the plot, IMO. :)

[cobbssecondbelt]

Chapter 19 is good, actually. (Yes, you can hit me. But not too hard please.)

After rewatching today's episode (yes, I did that) and letting some time for my original disappointment to cool down, I want to point out: Chapter 19 isn't bad. Far from it.

Actually, I even found it was the strongest one so far, from the writing to the pacing and overall realisation.

It's only frustrating that Pershing's part is entirely to thank for this.

This part was very good. Coruscant looks wonderful and the overall story, even if not the most engaging to watch, was very well done. I've always enjoyed Dr.Pershing and think Omid Abtahi and Katy O'Brian rock at their roles. I'm very intrigued to see where Elia Kane's character is going and how will all this tie to Gideon's return. The insight on the New Republic morales was very interesting too. It was also so nice to finally have an episode that takes its time. The pace of the first two was pretty fast and a bit messy, which is so uncharacteristic of the show. Chapter 19 however had an energy more similar to the first part of season 1, slow but effective. It proves that Favreau is still able to deliver good storytelling, which only makes me question further, what happened with Mando? How come those side characters had perfectly executed settings and arcs in only 40 minutes, when our main storyline has been struggling to pick up all the loose threads for the past three episodes? I guess we'll see. Slip ups do happen after all.

To conclude on a lighter note (because the negativity in the community is starting to get heavy), despite some disappointments and frustrations, I did come out of this episode feeling more confident about the future of the season, surprisingly. Like I said, absence of main character set aside, this was overall a strong episode. The end part with the covert felt more grounded too. I feel like the foundation is finally done being built (hopefully, as we're reaching the halfway point next week, it would be time for things to pick up a little bit). It was a shaky start but this chapter did remind me, this is a team of creators that can still deliver strong artistry and stories. Now the only thing I am still slightly worried about -beside a Bodin romance arc- is which direction Din's character will take, but the only thing to do now is trust the process since all the plot points shown in the trailers have now been treated.

Welcome in the twilight zone, I guess.

[jq37]

Oh, my god. I think my soul almost shat itself when Lou landed that Nat 20. Snow better not have done anything to Scheherazade and the Lines-Between Squad or I'm....gonna stew in impotent anger behind my laptop cause I'm only a viewer. And last but not least, if Tim is the Golden Goose's human-sona, who's the Ganders?

What an INSANE moment. This season has been all over the place but geez, I think this goes up there with the other legendary Dimension 20 Nat 20s. I seriously thought they were toast when Brennan set the minimum DC to 25. What a crucial moment for the dice rolls to go your way. Absolutely wild. 

This was one of my fave episodes from a storytelling standpoint because I feel like there was a lot of positioning towards a conclusion. The Goose investigated what it is that the PCs actually want to do which I think is important. They don't really have a big overarching thing that they've decided is their goal since their plan initially was to just join up with the princesses and that super didn't work out. Now that they have the book back, they've gotta figure out what it is they actually wanna do (and I would say some of that lack of direction is due to lack of understanding of the holistic situation but we are so close to the end of the season at this point so I'm not even gonna harp on that).

We're also finally getting back to the Lines Between stuff which is like a split "yay!" and "oh no!" situation. Yay because we're finally checking back in with Scher who is one of my fave if not my fave NPC but oh no because it's not like she's drinking pina coladas and having a good time. Clearly they want to use her for the princess plan--which points to a specific princess not being needed if they can just swap out Roz and her. I do wonder how much of an element of buy in they need. Like, the vibe I got is that snatched Scher, not that they convinced her. She doesn't seem the type to be like yeah, sign me up for the death cult (though neither did Cinderella with her "don't lay the sins of individuals on the entire world" talk) and the princesses are totally chill with lying or withholding elements of the truth.  If they just need a body and no buy in, they possibly could have just grabbed her. If they need buy in/wanna play nice, they might have half lied to her like they are presumably doing with Elody.

I will say, if she is kidnapped in the traditional sense, Scher has a LOT of experience being imprisoned by a captor who plans to kill her and changing their mind, so as annoying as this is for her, it is also her favored terrain so to speak. If Brennan wants, he could very plausibly have Scher do some of the princess schmoozing that the PCs utterly failed at. Just for story efficiency's sake. I'm getting the sense of, "We are getting to the end game so let's get all the pieces where they need to be on the board." So Tim gets his book back. Tomas and Henry returned. Scher back in the main story. Muffet and Itsy Bitsy in the book to tie up those loose ends. DM housekeeping. 

I don't know if the Gander HAS a human-sona. The Goose has Tim as a human-sona because in stories the "Mother Goose" character is sometimes a person who rides a goose and sometimes a large anthro goose (usually with a bonnet). It's interesting though because in the main mother goose poem it says that Mother Goose rides "a very fine gander". Which just makes me wonder how that connects. And then of course, there's the saying about what's good for the goose is good for the gander. There's a thread that Brennan has mentioned a couple time but no one's followed up on seriously. About what is the gander when it's not stuck in the Neverafter. We don't know exactly what the Gander represents. It's not death or the end of stories because that's the wolf. My best guess is that the goose is like positive (for the protag) plot developments and the gander is bad ones. So I'm wondering if, for example, the gander was to move to the horror section of the library, would it just turn into a creepy killer clown or a ghost or something?  I dunno, just spitballing.

Anyway, looking forward to tonight's ep! Maybe we're finally gonna get an answer on those red beads!!!

[magicpotatothoughts]

REVIEW | My Thoughts on Monster (anime)

MENTIONS: monster spoilers, deathnote spoilers

You know how after you finish a really good anime and there is this overwhelming feeling of loss but also satisfaction? That feeling that gnaws at you to keep researching and watch analysis videos of characters and plot? That's exactly how I feel about Monster. It is one of the most well-crafted, well-paced stories I've ever come across, and this is not just across the manga and anime medium, this is across all mediums; books, shows, movies that I've ever come across with. It's one of those stories that if I didn't make a blogpost about it to get my thoughts down, it'll linger in me for longer than considered healthy hahhaha. PLOT I can't even begin to describe just how amazing this plot is. Seemingly unrelated events and arcs slowly intersect with one another until the finale where everything becomes clear on how they relate to one another, what motivates each character and why certain events turned out they way they did. I'm pretty sure I finished MONSTER in five days and at points where the story introduces so many seemingly unrelated plots, I felt emotionally invested and curious to find out how they relate to the bigger picture. MONSTER is amazing in the way that it exceeded my expectations in how they relate and fit into the larger puzzle of the story. Cliffhangers after cliffhangers, so many moving parts, places and events, different timeskips into the past and future, it was laid out in a way that I, who tends to easily tends to get lost in complex plots, was able to, for the most part, keep up with every revelation in the story. That is true mastery, to tell a complex story that can be digested for the larger audience. Yes I admit I did look up some wikis and videos to confirm or search for a more detailed explanation of the plot at times, but I'm so surprised at how well the plot was able to tie loose threads together so perfectly in the end. But also to leave vagueness where it needs to be left to allow the audience to ponder on the larger themes and concepts covered: nihilism vs. love, identity and morality, genocides, brainwashing, humanity etc. How does a story balance resolution and irresolution so perfectly? I can't help but call MONSTER's mangaka Naoki Urasawa a true genius. Also the use of picture books as a story-device adds another layer of dread and horror. Picture books and children represents a sense of innocence so for that to be subverted and used as a way of brainwashing or manipulating children, as well as clues to later on unveil the author, was tastefully done. CHARACTER The feelings I have towards the characters....are inexplicable. There is growth and development for every character, even the ones that only exist for one arc, I couldn't help but empathise and feel sorry for them. Even someone like Eva, I honestly thought she was just gonna be some rich-spoilt nobody but then when Martin died, I couldn't help but hurt with her as she has shown that she now knows what is important to her yet the chance to be happy with Martin unfortunately slips away. The whole arc on Johan manipulating the child Milos and Grimmer finally being able to convince him not to suicide, mannnn the freaking feels. I don't really know how to describe this next point other than that even though the main characters are well-developed, the audience's emotional proximity to them is compromised because they are mainly used as a plot device. I guess in a sense, it could be considered a necessary sacrifice to craft a near-perfect plot.

The plot device that I am talking is that most of the main cast are used as partial foils to various aspects of Johan. Nina, that even though she underwent severe trauma and is considered the other half of Johan, she happily identifies with the name that is given to her by those who love her. She has hope that she will and deserves love while Johan processed his trauma through nihilism and a screwed sense of morality. Dr Tenma believes that all lives are created equal therefore tries his best to save anyone, no matter good or evil and thankfully sticks by that sense of morality until the end while Johan believes that death is the only equality that all humans face. I think because these characters are used plotwise as foils to Johan, it further amplifies his evil but also the tragedy of his character. Hence, I believe this is why out of everyone's favourite characters in Monster, MAL ratings show that Johan wins by a landslide compared to his 'good' counterparts. However, I can't help but wonder that is it due to his nature or nurture that he turned out the way he did even though his foils went through similar traumas? I think when talking about a great anime villain, of course it is inevitable that I end up comparing Light Yagami from Death Note with Johan. Johan, although commits much worse crimes in my opinion compared to Light (I literally felt at Episode 49 that I had lost all sympathy for his character when he catalysed orphans to suicide), by the end, I don't love him, but I feel so incredibly sorry for him. Light and Johan, are products of their environment that led them to a screwed sense of morality but the intent behind their actions are completely different. Light throughout his entire life is showered with praise for his intelligence, good looks by his loving family and friends but then fuelled by his boredom and grandiose sense of self, decides that he can play god. Johan throughout his life, continue to feel a sense of abandonment and lack of belonging and identity. As he is born of an experiment, he felt less than human, he was objectified by those around him. So when his mother and initially his twin sister (whom he considered to be his other half), in his eyes "abandoned" him, he internalises the belief that he needs to erase everyone that he has ever come in contact with and now that I think about it, he catalysed the children perhaps in his mind to bring equality to their fate and in a way, "end their suffering of being alive and abandoned". I guess in simpler terms, he is only repeating the cycles of trauma he experienced as a kid as E.g. one person with terrible parents continue to choose terrible partners. While Light craved attention born from his pride, Johan just wants everyone that he has ever involved with to die at the hands of their own evil and destruction. Basically he is saying "Ok you've abandon me? That's what you've chosen? Well then fine, I'll erase you in order to erase me if that's your wish".

In my opinion, Johan is a scarier villain but a much more tragic one at that, he has never known love and even when presented with love, he cannot process or express it. Anyone that shows him love, his foster parents, he doesn't know how to react to love therefore kills them, thinking that he's just protecting himself and his twin sister from another repetition of their mother abandoning him. His calm demeanour and expressions of emotions are completely void of any warmth, as he has never understood or internalised the warmth provided to him since the orphanage and the parental abandonment.

Light kills and feels the thrill of the kills, while Johan kills and feels nothing.

His screwed morality that he follows is simply what he believes to be the truth rather than something driven by anger or sorrow. Thinking about Johan makes me feel sad, this emotionless monster was born and created and has never known simple human emotions. This is why I guess out of all of the foils, Grimmer is the most interesting one. Even though both Grimmer and Johan survived their time at the orphanage, both in a sense, nameless,

Grimmer continues to hope that he will learn and internalise human emotions and in the end he did, he learnt what love is and therefore the sorrow that comes with losing his own child.

So therefore, once again, it brings me the question of nature and nurture, why does Johan use his expressions to become the monster yet Grimmer used his expressions to relate to those around him in hopes that he will regain his emotions? Grimmer died technically nameless but made such a huge positive impact on those around him... I don't know the answer to this but I guess the author probably intended it that way to make us wonder......

I must say, this is a very men-driven story, there isn't anything wrong with that, but I wished there were slightly more ....I don't know..... because Nina and Eva were pretty well developed.... but I don't know, something felt lacking in the women characters. SOUND I can't help but comment on the music first. It's so interesting, at first I felt like the music wasn't anything catchy or emotional but served the plot and scenes perfectly gave the desired effects well to support the emotions in a scene. But then as the episodes went on, the OP and the ED really grew on me. I must commend on Kuniaki Haishima, he managed to tie the main theme of the OP in every single bgm track, no matter what style. He manages to sneak it in as background cafe jazz music, in pivotal suspenseful scenes and as calm journey montage music. I think it was probably intended that there is so much choral aspects to the tracks, I think it's suggest biblical allusions as the anime covers so many biblical themes such as redemption and fate and identity. The orchestration of the tracks were absolutely incredible, I wonder if he had an entire orchestra at his disposal and many tracks were live-recorded? One thing I must say is that I wished that if he used live instruments and voices (or really good sample libraries), he should stick to live voices rather than use synthy vocal or string pads, it sounds a bit jarring as so much of the work displayed complex and intricately crafted orchestration so when I randomly heard midi voices, I felt like it didn't quite go with the rest of the instrumentation of some tracks. Although, I must take into account that this anime was created in the early 2000s so resources were more limited compared to now. Incredible voice-acting, I wonder if the voice actors experienced any psychological damage from how much they had to express anguish and pain in the characters. Man it's so dark, it must have taken an emotional toll on them I think, at least for me I think I would have suffered. ANIMATION Amazing angles and use of camera and framing throughout the entire anime. The realistic style suits the dark themes of the work, Even though there were so many time-skips, memories, fragments of memories, it was so clear visually distinguishable for the audience. One thing I'll say is that i think the dark colour palette, limited the physical traits of the minor characters. Sometimes I did find myself getting a few characters confused because their hairstyles and colours were so similar. Overall, incredible anime. Mannnn, I'm gonna have to watch a few chill anime after this one just to recover from the psychological damage that Monster has done to me.

[goldenkamuyhunting]

Hello, I hope this doesn’t seem rude but I am curious, what loose ends specifically regarding Ogata are you disappointed will not be resolved? I have to admit he is not a favorite of mine so I may just have forgotten. Also, I’m sorry you are unhappy with the story right now, I hope that the following chapters are more enjoyable for you.

No, don’t worry, you aren’t being rude at all and thank you for hoping I’ll enjoy more the following chapters. It’s my hope as well, I miss when the waiting for a chapter was a source of huge excitement.

My personal grievances regarding what was left unexplained in the Ogata character arc are tied to:

- Ogata’s relation with his grandparents (Ogata seemed to care about his grandmother… but then we’re told the only one who loved him was Yuusaku so… didn’t she care? Also the fanbook was extremely vague about their death but since there’s no reveal the implication seems to be Ogata killed them but then why not outright say so?)

- the lack of explanation on how Ogata ended up in Tsurumi’s orbit (we’re given long flashbacks for Tsukishima, Koito and Usami which all tie to how Tsurumi won them over but none for Ogata, although he was serving under Tsurumi from prior to 1900… credits when it’s due we’ve something vague about it during the war and when Ogata killed his father but not how it all started)

- how Ogata ended up among Okuda’s spies (while it makes sense Okuda would trust Kikuta to do the job, why trusting Ogata, a rockie, and sharing with him the fact Kikuta was a spy, exposing Kikuta to the risk Ogata would tattle him out?)

- how the cat alliance or, if you prefer the Ogata/Kiro alliance came to form

- a general smoothing of half a ton contradictions through his story that yeah, could be smoothed but are just left as they are and, instead than fixing things 304, 309 and 310 add more.

There’s plenty of more things that were left unexplained (I’m trying to make a list but it’s long and I’d like to make it impersonal as I’m trying to put on it also things I personally don’t care about but others do so I’m trying to do it in a way that is impartial, which isn’t exactly easy) but they don’t really bother me that much.

Now, of course, I can, same as everyone else in the fandom, provide theories to explain them but what lacks is the official explanation. Of course you might feel no interest in those points and therefore ne need for an explanation. As I said I’ve also plot threads that were left hanging and for which my reaction is ‘well, whatever, let’s move on, I don’t care, I’ll make up my own explanation if I really need one’. For each is different.

However in the case of Okuda trusting Ogata as his spy and in the case of Kiroranke trusting Ogata as his partner… well this left unexplained feels as if pulled out of nowhere.

Okuda is a Lieutenant General, it’s unlikely he supervises the tons of new cadets who join the army. He’s not the sharpest pencil in the box, but he’s sharp enough to figure Tsurumi can’t be trusted and to put not 1 but 2 spies on his back.

Kikuta is a man who clearly has worked under him by a while and never failed him. It makes sense he would trust him. Ogata… is supposedly someone who works under Tsurumi (therefore in the 7th), trusted enough by Tsurumi he can complain in front of him about Okuda. On the opposite way, we learnt from Tsukishima that, due to his birth, Ogata was universally distrusted by the other soldiers who mocked him. It feels weird Okuda would pick him up.

Let’s assume Ogata somehow managed to get Okuda to meet up with him with an excuse and volunteered for the job on his own. Okuda doesn’t trust Tsurumi. Would he trust one of Tsurumi’s men to be willing to do spy work for him and expose his other spy to his knowledge so, in case the man is actually still working for Tsurumi, Tsurumi would know Kikuta is a spy and, in addition to using Ogata for feeding Okuda with false intelligence, can even manage to do the same with Kikuta?

Without explanation the answer is ‘yeah, why not? Ogata evidently inspired that much trust in Okuda’ despite Ogata physically looking like Hanazawa and Okuda being on the Choushuu side.

Is it because Ogata looked like Hanazawa? Because he thought he would have another weapon in his hands to indebt Hanazawa more? Okuda though, should know Hanazawa didn’t care about his bastard son. I could go on proposing theories and debating them but the key point is one, there’s no official answer. You can make up tons to explain it but exactly because you can make up tons, it means the answer isn’t obvious and, since Ogata being a spy for Central is a plot point, it required to be explained.

The same goes with Ogata’s alliance with Kiroranke. Kiro is a partisan, used to be cautious. He knows Ogata’s reputation in the 7th as someone good with his gun but also extremely not trustworthy and who’s currently working for Hijikata. He knows he’s Hanazawa’s son so he might want more than just the gold, as Hijikata points out. What ensures Kiro that Ogata won’t tattle out Kiro’s plan to Hijikata and shoot Kiro instead than Wilk and then present himself as Wilk’s savior so as to have a bigger share of the gold... or shoot everyone in the Hijikata/Sugimoto/Kiro group so as to hand Wilk to Tsurumi?

Ogata being a deserter could be a show in the same way as Tsurumi tried to pull the same thing with Ariko. Yet Kiroranke trusts Ogata not to blow his brain off. Kiroranke too know how to use a rifle. He’s not as good as Ogata but, at this point, he might have just done the job by himself.

We’ve a whole arc to explain why Hijikata, who was actually in serious need for men, accepted Ogata in his group, but we get nothing for Kiroranke who, till the end, will trust Ogata to be on his side.

Again, we can offer tons of theories but no explanation is given. Even Sugimoto’s group wondered why Ogata and Kiro allied but they didn’t manage to find a solution and the matter is never brought up again. Kiro just does join hands with him, when we don’t know as the story doesn’t show them spending a lot of time together. Again it’s up to speculation.

As I said, it’s fine not to care if you aren’t invested in Ogata.

But it’s something me and many others wanted to see addressed and that ultimately is just… shrugged off.

But yes, it can be just us…

Thank you for your ask and don’t worry, you didn’t seem rude at all. Wanting to know something is more than fine and you’re in no obligation to remember all the details that were left unexplored. Let’s hope those last 3 chapters will be awesome enough to make everyone satisfied!

[liketheinferno2]

I've been chronically fucking exhausted since the good ol' sleep phobia's been acting up but I will try to assemble thoughts betwixt images okay? Okay.

First off: I've seen people talk about Shadowbringers like some impossible lightning in a bottle with no concept of how it could be replicated, and frankly that's an insult to this writing team's chops and the insane amount of build up there was leading to this. ShB is Heavensward: 2 and it's that because Heavensward already WORKED. They did it more and betterer. The basic character triad from Heavensward is expanded to the best it can possibly be. You've got:

1. Good boy with a twist; your friendly character who is obviously and suspiciously going through a lot of shit off screen that he hides from you; guy who is diverting the suffering inflicted on these characters towards himself and pays for it by being horrifically kidnapped by the bad boy he was previously on functional terms with. (G'raha, Estinien)

2. Bad boy with the twist; the villain, an extremely depressed extremely old man who, while greatly destructive, is able to plead the case for his various crimes against the other characters via the fact that his immortal anger and grief are completely justified and even the other characters are brought to sympathise with that loneliness. (Emet, Nidhogg)

3. Long suffering headmate weirdo who's visible only to the WOL and offers them gentle guidance and support along with his unique perspective, eventually stepping up to help them fight back against the villain and rescue poor good-boy. (Ardbert, Midgardsormr)

Bonus round: Ryne fills the sad baby slot that Alphinaud did in HVW, although she's not your baby this time and that's okay. "Your baby" is not a character type that can just keep happening, but it's cool to have a cute teenage character go through their personal development, so she gets assigned to Thancred to pull double duty and help tie up the loose plot threads about him being a mourning father that were never properly addressed.

These four are without a doubt the highlights among the new characters, and then the rest of the spectacle is in the characters we already know and love being elevated to the best they can be. The off-color humor about Thancred's trauma being swept away and replaced with background gags about sleeping around and drinking himself sick is no longer a joke, that's part of the character. Y'shtola's sight becomes relevant after 2 expansions of forgetting about it and she starts to act more like Y'shtola. The twins are growing up, Alphinaud's acting like a big brother and Alisaie's expressing the full force of her emotions in a way that feels not "fiery" but genuinely triggered, sometimes. Urianger gets such uniquely textured relationships that bring the sheer weirdness of his character into the spotlight in a way that finally feels like it fits. These characters are like old friends now and it's fantastic to see them hit their potential.

And considering the actual base plot of Shadowbringers digs into a lot of stuff that is pulled straight from zombie movie setups, it's certainly not originality that makes it so fantastic. Nay, the opposite. It's the way this installment takes all the most beloved parts from previous sections and other things people already like, fills it with strong and emotionally intense characters and then threads it all together with a singular clarity of purpose -- if we are fighting for those we have lost; for those we can yet save? Emet-Selch does the exact opposite. He is fighting so those he has lost can be found, as impossible as that should be.

The Scions' mantra is that of mourning and acceptance; Emet only wants to deny his losses so profoundly that denial is made physical. See: Amaurot under the sea. They say it outright that everyone's purpose here is to see the lives of their loved ones protected, but Emet doesn't have any left, for all the pieces of the people he loved are now shattered parts that became the people you love now, so these missions are diametrically opposed.

Something really incredible to me about Emet-Selch is just how well he fits in this story, and how he could never ever fit in any other. Another incredible thing is what they did with him and Nidhogg -- making such impossible huge scale levels of angst feel relatable and understandable to the little human brain of the audience. You walk into Amaurot and just feel hollow under the weight of it, the immediate understanding of how lonely someone would have to be to make this. He accidentally gave the illusions here sentience because he thought a little too hard about how much he missed them. It's horrible. You're just walking around in your fucking FEELS.

The thing about G'raha that's incredible is how specific his feelings are and how well they get them across regardless. He loves the WOL. He cannot allow the WOL to love him back, because he knows (or at least thinks) that he will die soon, and doesn't want to hurt them any more than he has to. His attempts to divert the love away are failing, though, because all he has the heart to reject is your attempts to know him, and even then not for very long. There's this whole conversation where he talks about some guy you've never met that he's apparently in love with and is very obviously hiding that it's YOU.

Real "Kiss me, you fool!" moment here. Barring all else FFXIV is a bi boy heaven simulator.

So yeah Shadowbringers was damn near perfect, but I've hit image limit. This is a good fucking video game. GOATed with the sauce one might say. THE CATBOY'S EARS TWITCH, GUYS. YOU TELL HIM YOU'RE GLAD HE'S OKAY AND HE STARTS SOBBING. GOD.

[sixstepsaway]

Having a weird time of it lately because I realized the only recent show (as in, things I watch as it airs) in the last like...ten years that hasn't ended up horribly disappointing me is Killjoys

and, like, a lot of shows would do well to take a leaf out of Killjoys' book? It's pretty clear to me that she was given two seasons to wrap things up at the end of season 3, and she didn't have quite enough time (only 20 more episodes) to tie up every loose plot thread, so she opted to let those go in favor of letting the characters be wrapped up and finished

and on top of that, at the end of the show, she pulls a total uno reverse of the usual "and at the end, this beloved character DIES! 😈" by straight up bringing back a character we were all positive died because she could. because it made us happy. because it worked.

but I was never super into GoT but I really loved Jon and Dany, and the way those two went was just... ridiculous. I tuned in for the last few episodes because of her (and him) and to watch them destroy her character and his was just... awful. You can say whatever you want about Dany (somewhere else, not on my post pls) and how she was "always meant to go evil because it's in her family lineage" (which... gross, actually) but it also turned Jon into something unrecognizable: a man who would distract the woman he loved with a kiss, just to plunge a knife into her chest and kill her. He didn't even give her a fair shot!

and then hotd decided that because people decided Daemon was the internet's boyfriend they'd talk loudly about how actually they were all stupid because he's an irredeemable villain, as though they didn't... write him as morally grey and (inadvertently, I think, if I'm honest) humanize him further by having him do things like not kill Laenor when his book version almost certainly did

let's be honest here: daemon being the internet's boyfriend is a power fantasy. abusive men are angels to everyone around them and awful to their partner and children who are trapped with them. daemon is awful to everyone around him and an angel to his wife and children and that's what makes it a power fantasy.

the power fantasy is being the one(s) he doesn't hurt, even if he's terrible to everyone else.

this weird push for everything in fiction having to say something about reality and what you really desire is fucked up, to say the least, but the idea that because a bunch of people online think daemon - who has been shown to be adoring of his wife and kids even ignoring the deleted scenes, and protective as fuck of them - is a great fantasy boyfriend that they're Stupid Women Who Want Abusive Men so they should be ridiculed when haha look daemon choked his wife, you see how stupid you were now? is painfully short-sighted and just downright cruel

how many people get the "see how stupid you were? we TOLD YOU he was abusive all along" treatment? how many of them actually deserve it? why perpetuate it into fandom? it's bullshit. and it's cruel to just go "gotcha" at people as though the characterization hadn't been written for nine episodes as daemon being unable to hurt rhaenyra and defensive of anyone and anything that did.

(also it's worth noting that assault is not the same as abuse. abuse is a pattern, it is not a single action or event, and it requires a power dynamic and an element of manipulation. you are welcome to feel that the choking was abusive, but to me it reads as a singular assault (also bad! very bad!) not a pattern of abuse involving power. if daemon abuses rhaenyra, she has the power to have him cast out, exiled or even killed - she is queen! he has very little power in that situation. to me, that is different. still terrible! but different.)

anyway, after all of that came the witcher's baffling announcement about recasting geralt and i just...? okay. it's pretty clear to me that hc had enough of the writing going so far off the books, and i get that. I haven't read the books (yet), and I enjoyed s1 and s2, but having read about the books and learned that yen's s2 plot was actually triss' in the books (or close enough) and other things they saw fit to change for no good reason, I can fully understand why hc would peace out if it gets even worse in s3 because frankly? same

and, like, i came out of killjoys feeling like i could never write anything that good ever, like i'm not exactly a bad writer but like i would never be that good

and it's weird that i keep coming out of these shows with the resonating feeling that i could do better

i am not an egotistical person, i like to think i'm pretty down to earth about these things, but i will never understand how these shows end up with writers who hate the source material and writers who instead of handing the show to someone with love for it crap all over it and then leave, or writers who just don't care and actively hate their viewer base

(i suppose we return to our regularly scheduled rerun of a tweet i can't find rn which says how there's a certain genre of tv writers who think they're writing for men, then find out their show's fanbase is largely made up of women and/or queer people and instead of embracing it, punish.)

it's just fucking weird and it's left me with a really sour taste in my mouth because idk if it's my autism, my adhd or both, but i get so invested in shows and i feel physically injured when the writers decide to shrug emoji and throw everything to the wind for bullshit reasons

if it was just me feeling like this i'd think maybe i was dumb, but it's very clear from everything i've seen and read that hc also feels this way about where the witcher went. grrm said the books will end "very differently to GoT" which...yeah. obviously. he's actually a good writer lmao.

(sometimes i wonder if this is also what happened with torchwood, if rtd realized he'd appealed to the 'wrong' audience and punished with ianto's death, but i'm not so sure about that one)

anyway i'm stuck now with such intense trust issues that i am actively dreading ofmd coming back because i cannot stand the idea of what they might do to it

especially considering it's on hbo

[jaskierswolf]

Black Cat

Or a prompt by @hailhailsatan based on this post. Jaskier and Geralt are getting ready for a halloween party! That’s literally the plot! (also on my AO3)

Edit: There is now art!!

_____________

It was a well known fact that Yennefer threw the best halloween party of the year, and Jaskier’s outfits were some of the best. This year he was going for a classic… a slutty cat.

He wriggled his nose as he peered in the mirror, sticking his tongue out as he put the final touches to his nose with the eyeliner. His eyes were already outlined with dark black and impressively neatly winged make-up, thank you to all the you tubers out there who had uploaded tutorials. Now he just needed to add his whiskers and the make-up would be complete!

He hands only shook slightly as the pen tickled his cheek, and thankfully he managed to make the lines mostly even on either side of his face. He was counting that as a win. He grinned and ran a hand through his hair, making sure it was still messy. He was going for the I’ve just rolled out of bed look, and it absolutely hadn’t taken him hours to sort out his hair.

Clothes were next but at least now his make-up was done he could finally have a drink! He hated turning up to Yennefer’s parties sober. He’d tried that once and regretted it for the rest of the night, and most of the next day. The problem with arriving sober to Yennefer’s halloween party was that he always felt pressured to catch up and ending up drinking far too much. He was better at regulating when he was already tipsy. He poured himself a glass of wine, from a bottle which was an unexpected bonus for him. He usually went for whatever was cheapest and that was rarely outside of a box but he’d felt fancy that evening.

He pulled on his fishnet tights and black denim shorts. After that was the sheer black shirt that really hid nothing and was more for show than anything else before frowning at silky black corset that lay on the bed. At first glance it looked like a waistcoat, but it was boned and had intricate lacing on the back that needed to be tightened once it was on. It had been an impulse buy last halloween after he’d been too drunk to remember he had no money.

“Fuck.” He muttered.

There was no way in hell that he was going to be able to tie the lacing on the back without help. He would have to ask his housemate, best friend and unrequited crush, Geralt. Still, needs must. He wanted to look divine and he was not going to the party in a subpar costume. He pulled on his leather boots and tied up the lacing. It had been a while since he’d worn heels this high but they would make his legs look fucking phenomenal.

After jabbing himself far too many times with the safety pin, he gave up on his tail. Geralt would have to help with that too. He pulled on the corseted garment so that it just needed lacing up before he grabbed his ears and tail, fleeing from his room with haste.

“Geralt!!” He yelled before flinging Geralt’s door open.

His jaw dropped.

Geralt was wearing a torn white shirt, covered in fake blood. He had tight leather trousers and leather straps across the front of his shirt. On his back was a ridiculously realistic prop sword. Geralt’s hair was loose and covered in more fake blood and dirt.

“Umm….” He stared at his best friend, all sorts of deliciously naughty scenarios popping through his head.

Geralt turned round to face him with a scowl and Jaskier whimpered. His normally light brown eyes were yellow and slitted like a cat. Fucking hell, Jaskier was going to die before the night was over.

Geralt froze, his eyes slowly roaming over Jaskier’s outfit.

“I. Umm. Can you do me up?” Jaskier asked turning around to show off the lacing at the back.

He glanced over his shoulder to make sure Geralt was still paying attention. Geralt was still frozen, his eyes wide and a blush colouring his usually pale cheeks. If Jaskier hadn’t known better he might have thought that Geralt was checking him out. Still it didn’t hurt to try. He toss the tail at Geralt, who barely reacted in time to catch it, which was very interesting indeed. Geralt could normally catch anything, one handed, in his sleep. Jaskier bit his lip and winked at his friend.

“Be a dear and pin my tail on too?” He purred seductively, wiggling his arse for added effect. Geralt made a strange choking sound and his eyes dropped to Jaskier’s arse.

Oh he was definitely checking him out!

“Fuck.”

Jaskier licked his lips. “If you want.”

“You look… good,” Geralt hummed, not taking his eyes from Jaskier’s lips as he closed the gap between them. “very good.

Jaskier let out a weak laugh, he felt incredibly dizzy all of a sudden. It was Geralt was sucking all the oxygen from the room. He licked his lips again before turning round to face Geralt. “So will you help?”

“Hmm?”

“My tail.” He reminded his friend, almost boyfriend?

“Hmm.” Geralt’s nose brushed along his jaw and his knees almost gave way.

“Geralt!” He whined but didn’t protest any further. How could he… he was getting every thing he’d wanted since they’d been in college together almost a decade ago. Geralt kissed and nibbled at his throat and a pitiful moan escaped Jaskier’s lips.

God, they weren’t even drunk yet but fuck he wanted him.

“You can’t go out like this.” Geralt murmured against Jaskier’s throat. “It’s indecent.”

Jaskier chuckled and tugged at Geralt’s hair so he could see his face. “That was kinda sort of the point Geralt. I was hoping to find a partner tonight.”

“No.” Geralt growled.

“Yes.” Jaskier ran his thumb along Geralt’s lips until the bastard tried to bite him. “I wasn’t aware that you were an option, dear heart.”

Geralt grunted. “Didn’t think you wanted me.”

Jaskier laughed and cupped Geralt’s face in his hands. “Oh darling, you are all I’ve ever wanted.”

“Fuck.” Geralt growled and pulled Jaskier into a kiss.

Geralt tasted like stale beer and cigarettes which shouldn’t have been so good, perhaps it was the cheap wine or perhaps it was the fact that it was Geralt but Jaskier was completely addicted. He deepened the kiss with a moan, threading his hands through Geralt’s matted and honestly quite frankly disgusting hair, they would definitely have to do this without the fake blood sometime. Their noses bumped together and there probably far too much tongue, but fuck it was Geralt. He pulled at Geralt’s bottom lip with his teeth, eliciting another growl from the man.

Fuck those noises were to die for.

When they pulled apart, panting and holding onto each other for dear life, Geralt’s face was covered in black smudges. Jaskier groaned. “Oh cock! My make-up!”

“Don’t care.” Geralt grumbled and tried to pull him back into another kiss but Jaskier put a hand on his chest.

“I care.” He whined. “And Yen will kill us if we’re late. Now help me with my corset and tail, then I have to redo this mess.”

Geralt smirked. “Can’t you just lose the clothes and we can stay here?”

Jaskier pouted. He meant to protest he really did, but he was also just a man, and when Geralt Rivia wanted to stay behind from a party to fuck you senseless… it was only polite to accept. He lunged forward again, pushing the pair of them towards the bed. They fell onto the mattress already pawing at each other’s clothes.

Yes, it was a well known fact that Yennefer threw the best halloween party of the year.

But this year they had better plans.

________

Tag list: @alwenarin @slythnerd @davidtennan-t @flippinfricks @awitchersbard  @innocentcinnamonpun @marvagon @elliestormfound @geraskier-trashh @panerato @moonysourenza @artistsfuneral @victorieschild 

[dragonherder2030]

Smaugust Day 9: Galaxy

I’m leaving tomorrow morning, my sister is going to look over the farm while I’m away. Echo Bel and Kory are coming with me, they can help with transportation and have separation anxiety. Xandra is showing me her camp, she has many followers, I’m going to be the first lizard to join it. That fact will be kept secret from the rest of the “humans” as to not cause hysteria, she has done the same with herself, hiding herself as an amphibian. I’m bringing my journal, I need to be able to write my thoughts

See you soon, Niki~

*we find out who the narrator is 👀. Another first person written segment, hopefully this one won’t be as long XD. Also, if by the end of Smaugust I feel there are some odd unintended plot holes or threads that need to be resolved I’ll make sure to do so. Ik it’s confusing right now, but I will continue right where we left off on the last writing segment for easiness*

Half my tea was gone in under a minute, it was jasmine green from what I tasted and was made very well.

“Please do explain what you mean by non-lizard kind though… Are you talking Amphibious sentience?” I ask, leaning back on the couch I had been placed on.

“No not sentient Amphibians that walk like us, I mean a species on another planet called Humans. They are a scaleless race with no tails, and can grow fur at an alarming rate. They can be dangerous to us, but not all of them. If you join me you can meet them, but many of them do not have the best interests of the dragons in mind.” Her creature tightened itself onto her neck. Has it experienced these “humans” before?

“Does that planet have dragons too? Also how do you, uh, go to another planet? Do you have access to a rocket?”

“No, I have something much better and easier to fuel… but you have to commit before learning of that. Keep your questions to a minimum till I finish explaining please, it will be easier.” Saying with a small hand wave. I nob in agreement.

“The planet is called earth and is very similar to ours. But dragons do not live naturally there, and have been brought there by a lizard who wanted a new environment for sport hunting, and didn’t get them all… They ended up breeding and creating homes for themselves, few and far apart. I used to monitor and catch some of the dragons to bring them back when I could along with my brother. When he passed I couldn’t do it by myself anymore, so I seeked the assistance of other lizards to return the dragons to their natural habitat. Not many believed me, and those who did I knew didn’t have the intentions of the animals in mind. So, I decided to start recruiting humans using my magic-“

“Wait wait wait, you have magic abilities?” I ask, needing to know more about this.

“Yes I possess magic, I’m no lizard, but we don’t need to know about that for now. All you need to know is that I can give objects the ability to transform a human into a lizard or amphibian sentient if worn, that’s what I can do,” Xandra says with a sigh. I speculate what she could be, and remember a legend about the creation of our world, something similar to that happening, where a being gave sentience to all of the lizards, and later some of the amphibians. There was another part of it where they wiped out a different race beforehand but I couldn’t remember it too well.

Xandra continued her explanation, “I chose humans because they would do the best capturing dragons in the human planet, since they are not killed on sight when seen… The humans I choose were specifically selected by my familiar, Davey here,” She pointed to the amphibian around her neck, it seemed to smile in admiration of its role.

“They are small enough to avoid detection from the humans, and not popular enough to be sought out, and they are very fast. Easily able to escape a human. I’ve gotten quite the following from animal lovers around earth, and luckily most of them speak English or know sign language, Davey doesn’t go far from our camp.”

“What do you guys Uh, do? Do you go to the human world and just, catch the dragons? And why don’t you just tell the humans that the dragons are an invasive species and, I guess take them back?” I ask, confused what I would actually be doing and why the humans are a problem.

Xandra’s calm demeanor shifted, and her eyebrows furrowed, “Most humans want the dragons, but I know they aren’t safe there. They would be hunted for sport and put in cages. I’ve watched them for thousands of years, they will never accept the dragons as any more then a fantasy creature for decoration. And for some reason now there are more being found, species that weren’t brought to earth from that initial leak. There’s another source, someone from this planet that has access to Earth and is exploiting it to bring dragons there. You can help me find them, and allow me to have more allies on this side. Plus the place I’m keeping the dragons isn’t safe anymore, I need somewhere here I can put them with someone to take care of them.” Her voice had raised slightly, this is a subject she is angry about. She must have witness terrible things. I think it’s an amazing idea, I have the whole farm I could keep the dragons. Acres of land I’m not using right now could be put to this. I didn’t care if she was legit or not, I believed her.

“Ok, I’m convinced… I want to help. I have a farm that can serve as a holding place for the dragons until we can bring them to their rightful places,” I say, trying to hide the excitement in my voice. She smiles at me, looking satisfied.

“My camp, it is all humans, they do not know of our reptilian existence, to them they are the last of the reptile kind. So to them, your just another new human recruit. That means,” Xandra gets up, walking towards the closet I had noticed before, “that means that you have to pick out an accessory to simulate the effect of you being a fake lizard.”

I stand up and walk to the closet as well. Xandra escapes into the inside of it, I follow closely. The inside wasn’t meant to hold more then one person, but it wasn’t uncomfortable. Along the walls is an array of shirts, jackets, pants, hats, bracelets, necklaces, etc. in every color imaginable.

“Take your pick, it doesn’t matter what it is, other then u will need to be able to wear it for long amounts of time,” she says, picking up a hat and dusting it off, then hanging it back up.

I look around the room, spinning in place, then think of something, “Do you have a piece? How do you hide that your not a lizard?”

She thinks for moment, “Davey helps me with that too, as you know they are my familiar, and they aren’t just any normal dragon either. They become a wonderful necklace whenever I need them to. And when I wear that, I become what they would be if they were a sentient Amphibian,” she explained to me. So far she has shown me no proof of the magic she claims to have, and this seems like a simple test. Even if I was all for the cause, no reason not to speculate.

“Could u show me?”

“Of course,” Xandra said, glancing at Davey. The creature climbed to the front of her neck, then sitting still right there for a few seconds. I await the transformation. Then, they stiffen and fall loose, a small chain connecting to their mouth and tail holding them onto Xandra’s neck. Her body poofs into one of an sentient Olm, her body much longer then previously. I stare up at her in awe, it all must be true.

“Wow…” I say, stunned by the display. She smiles down at me and quickly exits the closet, since she had taken up most the room.

“I need to show u our transportation tomorrow, since it is getting late. You will be seeing the camp, and meeting the members. You may stay for a couple of days to get familiar with them,” she says, looking out the window. I understand her reasoning, my sister can watch over the farm while I’m gone, I’ll be returning there soon with suitable dragons.

I return to looking at the room and behind a puffy jacket is a bronze glimmer. I walk towards it and grab it, it’s a tail ring. A dragon spiraling around a few times. And it’s adjustable, I try it on, tightening it to my liking. I decide it would be to heavy to stay on, and I don’t really like these kinds of jewelry. Placing it back in it’s spot, I try on a few other things, including a puffy jacket(after taking my shoulder armor off), a muzzle, and a necklace with an odd diamond like pendant on it. Then another thing caught my eye, a blue bandana with a cool looking pattern on it. I tie it around my neck, I think this one will work very well.

Exiting the room I look around for Xandra, spotting her on the couch reading a book. Davey was wrapped around her wrist and she was back in her original state.

“I have chosen this bandana!” I announce, walking towards her. She looks up from her reading and smiles brightly.

“Oh wonderful sweet pea, I only ask one more question of you before you go home to rest up for tomorrow,” she says, putting her book down.

“What’s that?” I ask, holding my shoulder armor tightly.

“What’s your name?”

“Oh- oh yeah you don’t know me very well yet. I’m Niki,” I say with a smile. She smiles back at me.

“Thank you hun. One more thing though, if you have any drakes I would recommend you bring them with you, they would help with the travel aspect. Tomorrow won’t be a walk in the park,” she says, picking her book back up. I nod, looking to my left and realizing the door is right next to the couch. I mentally scorn myself for not realizing this sooner, and exit the house. I know these woods, and have seen this cottage before. It looks worn down on the outside, abandoned… but making my way home is easy. It was evening by the time I made it back.

I call my sister, “Hi Bryn, I need you to watch the farm for a few days.”

—————————

This was fun, writing wasn’t the best, I was kinda zoned out while writing it lol. My main focus was to explain stuff and set up character motivations, sorry if it’s a bit messy, and like, long dang.

[jurassicparkpodcast]

Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous Season 3 SPOILER Review!

The Third Season of Jurassic World Camp Cretaceous has arrived – meaning we’re bringing you some more content around the show, including our spoiler thoughts on how the third season did when compared to the first two. If you haven’t seen Camp Cretaceous Season 3 yet then click off this article now, as we are going to be discussing some of the key set pieces in this series which make it by far the best one to be released to date. Let’s get into it!

We’ll start by summarising the third season – and, in particular, it’s story. The story of the Campers attempting to get off of the island whilst uncovering that a terrifying new hybrid has broken loose is interesting, with plenty done to explore more of Isla Nublar and, indeed, the terrifying work which Doctor Henry Wu was doing in the shadows of the former Jurassic World. Although the kids ultimately escape the island, this isn’t without a few interesting sequences sprinkled in throughout – including direct tie-ins to Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom, and also hints at the future of Mantah Corp and their research into InGen’s work. The third story feels incredibly well balanced – with lots of fantastic set pieces balanced with meaningful storytelling and interesting characters alongside brand-new dinosaurs. The third season brings us a much more grounded story which aims to fill some of the canonical gaps left by Season Two – creating a story which feels satisfying and fulfilling.

The third season maintains the same cast of characters – with each of them getting plenty of interesting development. Darius, for example, spends some time earlier in the season filling the holes in his notebook – giving us a fun look at a Dilophosaurus drawing indicating he encountered this animal on the island at some point. Kenji struggles with the kids liking him and feels the need to use his wealth to impress them, whilst Sammy worries about what Mantah Corp may have done to her family back home. Each character feels three dimensional in the third season – with some great development showing how they have adapted to their environment. Of note here in particular is the character of Yasmina, who selflessly heads across the island in search on an anti-serum when Sammy is poisoned by the quills on the Scorpios Rex. This animal itself is handled incredibly well – with the kids feeling genuinely in danger at some points throughout the story.

The other dinosaurs in the story are good too – including surprising appearances from both the Ouranosaurus and the Monolophosaurus. These animals do go against the pre-established canon of the island a little bit, with neither of them ever mentioned as being present on Nublar, but it is possible that the prior existing list was only ever intended to reflect the public-facing dinosaurs. These animals get some interesting sequences throughout the story – although there are a lot of the Monolophosaurus at one point in the story. Beyond the small canonical issues here, the only other real issue I had with Season 3 was the fact that the Scorpios was developed before the Indominus Rex. This does retroactively go against a lot of the pre-established timeline in things like the viral marketing – but it is possible that the Scorpios was hidden from existence altogether given it was seen as a failure by Simon Masrani. It is interesting to note that the Scorpios was able to reproduce asexually – suggesting a second E750 which is present in the show was able to grow to maturity incredibly quickly. Perhaps this can be explained by the enhanced growth Bumpy also inherits, however. These small issues aside, Season 3 took big strides to fix my issues with Season 2 of the show – creating a much more well-rounded experience which fits better within the universe of the films.

There were a few moments throughout Season 3 which stood out to me as building on the critiques on Season 2 – the first of which was the Ouranosaurus Attack at the dock as the kids attempt to patch up the damage which Tiff’s boat has sustained. I loved how the ambience in this sequence felt reflective of sequences in both The Lost World novel and in Trespasser – with some fantastic, tense sequences utilising natural fog and darkness to really elevate the stakes and create something which felt darker and scarier in tone than anything beforehand. We don’t often see herbivores as direct threats for the human characters in Jurassic, so the attention to ambience and atmosphere throughout this sequence really helped to make the Ouranosaurus feel more intimidating when they eventually attacked. I also loved how this sequence is later explained as the animals behaviours changing due to the ecosystem being tilted off-balance by the Scorpios Rex – a fun note which perhaps suggests that the Spinosaurus may have had a similar impact on Isla Sorna. This was a really fun sequence and one which I thought was worth highlighting here as I really enjoyed it.

Next up I wanted to talk about a sequence which hits the nostalgia factor and tones it up to eleven – with the pair of Scorpios Rexes hunting the campers through the original Visitor’s Centre. A lot of the sequences in the centre feel very similar to those in 1993’s Jurassic Park – with sequences in the kitchen, in particular, recreating shot-for-shot some of the moments from the kitchen sequence in the first film. I really liked these call-backs as whilst they were quite overt, they felt as though they fitted with the show, and worked incredibly well. I also love how the series initially shows Blue nesting in the Visitor Centre before she heads to the Ford Explorer, as this underpins how much of this animal’s present-day existence is nested in Henry Wu’s past work at Jurassic Park. The Visitor’s Centre is also ultimately destroyed by the Scorpios Rexes during this sequence – with both animals buried by the rubble. Whilst some fans may be upset to see this location destroyed, I loved how it underpins a very core concept moving forwards – highlighting how Henry Wu’s arrogance and continued ignorance in the implications of his science has ultimately destroyed the legacy of the work that both he and John Hammond attempted to do.

Lastly, it’s worth noting that the third season features two bonus episodes – with the final two episodes tying directly into the Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom opening sequence. After Season One of the show, I tweeted one of the writers asking him if there was a chance we’d see reference to this in the future, so seeing this recreated shot-for-shot in the show with the kids watching on as the Indominus sample was extracted was awesome. It was also really cool seeing how Wu’s additional mission was to retrieve his laptop – noting that without it, the work he needed to do on the Indoraptor would take years and not months. This perhaps explains why the animal we see during the Lockwood Manor auction sequence is only a prototype – as Wu ultimately leaves the island without this information. It is interesting seeing some of Wu’s dialogue with Brooklynn throughout these episodes – with the character perhaps showing some small semblance of remorse. Ultimately, however, he leaves the kids on Nublar – reinforcing his status as a character with a questionable moral compass moving into Jurassic World Dominion. I have to admit – the way this tie-in played out was handled masterfully, and I was really happy to see things unfold in the way they did. I genuinely screamed out loud at my screen with happiness at one moment – emphasising how much work went in to nailing this crossover. It’s clear that the team working on Camp Cretaceous went to great lengths to smash the third season – and the result is some fantastic crossover which pays off and builds the lore of Wu’s work in meaningful ways without any of the massive contradictions I was worried these sequences may introduce.

The Series ends with the Campers finally escaping the island – heading off in a repaired boat, although we do see at the very closing moments that something else is on-board and hidden in the lower decks. This poses an interesting question in its own right, as it has been pre-established that Scorpios can self-reproduce – so is it possible a third hybrid existed on the island? If so then this could pose a grave risk to people on the mainland when the campers return there. We also know that Mantah Corp may potentially still be at play – with a quad-copter drone observing the Scorpios Rex on the island. Is it possible this shady corporation may now recover the carcasses of the dead hybrids for their own experiments? And what happened to the pilot of the Helicopter which the kids crashed in? She didn’t appear to have been eaten – but we never see her again after the crash sequence. These are just a handful of the questions we were left with at the end of Season 3 – implying there is more story to be told, even if the third season felt like it reached a nice natural ending for the series as a whole.

Overall, the third season of Jurassic World Camp Cretaceous is fantastic. Do not sleep on this season. It adds a lot to the lore of Doctor Henry Wu and his research, and it builds out a lot of interesting lore for the experiments which were happening on Isla Nublar. It also sets up some interesting plot threads for the future without them feeling overly intrusive and detrimental to the wider story telling in the Jurassic universe. Season 2 of this show left me feeling a little deflated, but Season 3 left me feeling reinvigorated. This wraps up the story of E750 and the wider universe in meaningful ways, and is a fantastic and more mature Jurassic adventure which adult fans will enjoy. I can’t wait to see the reception to this season – and how it informs Jurassic content in the future.

Written by: Tom Jurassic

[murasaki-murasame]

Thoughts on Higurashi Sotsu Ep13

The true mystery of this show is trying to figure out how to even talk about each episode without just repeating myself or talking about other parts of the franchise, lmao.

Anyway, thoughts under the cut. Plus probably spoilers for both Umineko and Ciconia.

I’m not even sure where to begin talking about the fundamental issues this show has at this point, lol. It’s easy to just say that Sotsu on it’s own is bad, but I feel like it’s highlighting the fact that right from day one there were problems with the show’s structure and it’s intentions that have just become more and more of an issue as time’s gone on.

At the very least, I think that it was a huge mistake for them to have the gun cliffhanger happen midway through Gou, and to then spend so much time on backstory stuff and answer arcs. That just cast a negative shadow over all of those arcs because everyone was just impatient to get back to the cliffhanger. At this point I think they shouldn’t have even had Nekodamashi be in Gou to begin with. If they transitioned straight from Tataridamashi to Satokowashi then you could keep the general cliffhanger of revealing that Satoko’s the culprit without making people so impatient to go back to it and see what happens afterward.

But there’s also the issues like how Satokowashi revealed everything we needed to know about the howdunnit of the mystery, or how the whole gimmick of reusing the same scenarios as the VN in order to play both sides and make it technically accessible to new fans really wrote them into a corner and forced them to spend more time on the answer arcs than they needed to.

If we at least assume that the whole story ends in this arc, I think you easily could have condensed it all into one 2-cour season if they’d just committed to aiming this at old fans.

I guess there’s still a chance we’ll get some sort of continuation, but at this point I feel like the only way to get that much more content is if it ends up mostly retreading Satokowashi from a different perspective, which might actually drive me insane, lol.

In general it just feels like we’re already at the climax of the story one way or another, and there’s not many ways to keep it going for much longer without it seeming super forced. Like, Eua and Hanyuu are having their big confrontation with each other, and now Rika and Satoko are both on the same page, so they’re going to basically be stuck in a stalemate until one of them gives up. There isn’t really any mystery left to answer aside from giving more info about what’s going on between Eua and Hanyuu, so I’d rather they just cut to the chase and not drag this out.

We also know from TV listings that a different show is going to taking over Sotsu’s time slot next season, so unless it changes time slot for some reason, we’d probably have to wait until at least January to get a continuation, and I just dunno if that’d even be worth it.

I’ve already gone over my general ideas for how I think this will end, but I still think it’s entirely possible to wrap things up in just two more episodes. At the very least, if we get another full cour out of this then that’d probably just end up only having a few more episodes of actually new content, so my point still stands, lol.

I don’t think this episode did much to change my mind about where this is going, but it did at least clarify a couple of things. Like how Eua explicitly calls Hanyuu a ‘part of her’, which means that I’m probably right about my interpretation of them being two halves of the same being. There’s still a lot of different ways they could explain it, but at this point it’d basically still just boil down to the same idea of them being two parts of the same person.

It’s also more clear now that Rika more or less didn’t really know about Satoko being the culprit until the last minute, and was starting to get flashbacks to the end of Tataridamashi. I’m not entirely sure how to feel about that. It’s kinda hard to believe that Rika wasn’t at least suspecting Satoko by that point, but I do like the implication that Rika wasn’t fully dead when Satoko arrived, since that at least feels like pay-off for Satoko being so cocky and openly monologuing about how evil she is when she thinks Rika’s dead and can’t hear her.

I guess this episode also shows that there wasn’t anything particularly special going on with how Takano decided to confess to Rika in this one specific loop, which is also kinda underwhelming. Basically it seems like it just boils down to her feeling guilty about all of the stuff she remembers doing, but it’s still kinda weird that she didn’t confess to her in any previous loops. One of the weird issues with Gou/Sotsu’s storytelling is that Rika seemingly put no real effort into trying to investigate Takano even though she remembered her being the culprit, and I think that could have been really easily resolved if there was a scene like this in Onidamashi where Takano confesses her sins to Rika and leaves the village, since that would at least give a reason for her to not try and investigate them, and to assume that somebody else is behind these new loops. They could have even just had that happen off-screen and only be shown in Oniakashi if they didn’t want to spoil new fans. It just seems like a really easy change to make that would have made Rika’s passivity and hopelessness in this series way more understandable.

I think we’re also meant to assume that Satoko reacting to the box in this episode was just her faking it, since there’s no real indication that her conscience has returned or anything. But I’m not really sure why Satoko would go out of her way to fake that, when the trap box hadn’t even come up in that timeline. Maybe it would have made more sense if we saw her inner thoughts in that scene, but it kinda feels like they had to come up with some sort of scenario where Satoko would accidentally display knowledge that only a looper would know. Compared to how she’s been almost overpowered and hyper-competent in this series compared to Rika, it has a weird vibe of her being stupid because the plot demands it, lol. Either way it just seems kinda weird and contrived.

We also ended this episode on the gun cliffhanger again, which I saw coming, but it still kinda stings, lol. Hopefully the payoff is worth it. Realistically I think Satoko will just immediately shoot Rika, and we’ll cut to them having a proper confrontation in the meta world. With how they compared it to the ‘miracle’ scene with Takano in Matsuribayashi, it’s possible that they’ll somehow stop Satoko from shooting her, but I dunno. The stuff Hanyuu said about how this ‘isn’t the world that Rika fought for’ makes me think we’re probably not gonna stick with this loop for very long anyway, so I’d rather they just cut to the chase and get to the part where the two of them fight it out in the fragment world once and for all. Which at least seems to be what that one part of the OP is teasing at.

On that note, the only other mysterious part of the OP [and the key visual] left is the older club members in new outfits, which still feels like a bit of a loose thread, but it’s entirely possible that it doesn’t really mean much. For one thing, it could be as simple as it being related to an epilogue scene back in the Matsuribayashi timeline where they’re in different outfits to the ones we saw them wear last time we saw them. Either way I don’t really think the other club members are going to be super relevant to how this all ends, so one way or another whatever that stuff is related to could still just come up in the next two episodes.

Basically the question is just how exactly the big conflicts are gonna get resolved, and what note we’ll end things on. Which also ties into the larger question of whether or not this is genuinely meant to tie into Umineko [and maybe Ciconia] like they’re indicating, or if that’s some kind of elaborate troll.

I know i’m biased, but I think all the Umineko and Ciconia stuff is totally sincere, and Ryukishi really is using this as a way to start tying the wider WTC-verse together in a more concrete way, so that’s what I’m basing my theories off of.

With that in mind, I still think this will end with Rika and Satoko officially abandoning their humanity and becoming witches together, with the sword maybe being an in-universe plot device to depict that process. And with the reveal that Eua and Hanyuu are for all intents and purposes two parts of the same person, I feel like their side of things will probably end with them merging together in a way that creates Featherine, which would at least explain why Featherine’s personality is more mild than Eua’s, and also why Bernkastel is her miko, and why Featherine’s whole name is a giant pun about Hanyuu. It’d also fit with the whole religious motif that Hanyuu has going on if she basically ‘sacrifices’ herself to neutralize Eua. It’s at least the closest I think we’ll get to seeing Eua be ‘defeated’.

And on that note, I don’t really think this will end with anyone like Eua or Satoko being used as a villain who everyone else defeats so they can go back to their happy ending, since that’s the exact sort of thing that Ryuukishi regrets doing originally, and is why we’ve gotten so many redemption arcs for people in Gou/Sotsu. So I think at most we’ll see Eua get turned into Featherine so she’s less actively hostile towards everyone else, but I think this will ultimately end with Rika and Satoko reconciling and mending their relationship.

Over on the Matsuribayashi timeline side of things, I feel like this is gonna end up paralleling Nekodamashi a bit, and we’ll find out that Satoko ended up planning to kill herself in the Saiguden, but Rika and the club will show up at the last minute and she’ll choose not to. Then we’ll probably see her and Rika talk things out properly, and maybe Satoko will find out that Satoshi woke up from his coma or whatever, and that way they’ll all still get their happy ending, while also simultaneously we can still have Rika and Satoko split off their witch selves into separate entities that become the Bern and Lambda we know in Umineko.

It’s possible they’ll do something with the idea of Satoko losing her game and being sent to a world without Rika, but that also might just not happen at all. So who knows.

If they really lean into the idea of this directly setting up for Umineko, then it’d be neat if we also see Satoko and Rika meet Ikuko in the future of the Matsuribayashi timeline.

There’s also the Ciconia teases to think about, but they seem to be going in the direction of Ciconia taking place before all this even happened, so I think that’ll be kept kinda nebulous and unexplored until Ciconia itself finishes. Ryukishi might announce a release date for phase 2 after Sotsu ends, but I think it’s way too early for anything like an anime adaptation of it. I’d rather they wait until at least after it’s finished before they do something like that.

On the other hand, Umineko’s been over for like ten years, so it’d be much easier to do something like a remake for it after this. I have a lot of thoughts about how that might go if they do that, but I’m gonna wait until Sotsu ends and then make a separate post about it.

Anyway I guess now I just have to wait and see what happens next week, lol.