#theorizing about the final problem

[sunderwight]

SV AU where Shen Yuan transmigrates into a kind of mimicry demon.

He still gets tasked by the System with replacing Shen Qingqiu, except this time he actually has to pull off an imposter role on multiple levels, while the real Shen Qingqiu is stuck in a coma due to his qi deviation. Initially he thinks the situation is going to be temporary -- just take over until he figure out how to get the original goods to wake up -- but Shen Jiu's condition proves to be more difficult to repair than just waiting. Shen Yuan buys special side missions from the System to find items and artifacts to keep Shen Jiu alive, mainly because he doesn't want to be stuck playing this part until Luo Binghe kills him, but also after the first couple of times Shen Jiu regains some consciousness (not enough to leave his bed), Shen Yuan starts to feel kind of... bad for him. Too. Despite everything.

Shen Jiu, of course, is deeply suspicious of this doppelganger that has obviously taken advantage of his weakness to infiltrate the sect and steal his identity. He initially theorizes that the creature must be keeping him alive because it needs some aspect of his vitality in order to keep posing as him, but as they share more encounters is forced to concede that the thing might just be insane? And weirdly softhearted. Over time and by feigning sleep to listen in on Shen Yuan's muttering, he figures out that this all has something to do with Luo Binghe, which he's not pleased about. But he can't deduce what. (Luo Binghe doesn't get to move into the side room in this version of the story, because Shen Yuan has the house on lockdown for obvious reasons, but he does still get to make Shizun's meals!)

Anyway, Shen Jiu doesn't manage to conveniently wake up before the Immortal Alliance Conference. Shen Yuan has to throw Luo Binghe in, which he hates, but along the way he manages to recover that magical flower macguffin that won't work on Without-a-Cure (which he doesn't have in this AU because his species is immune to it), brews a tea that finally fixes Shen Jiu, and then fucks off to go mope about Binghe being in the Abyss.

Shen Jiu doesn't tell anyone about his demonic replacement, for a variety of reasons. One, he's punishing the other peak lords for not figuring it out themselves. Two, he's punishing himself for the fact that a literal demon replaced him for like 3 years and everyone considered it an improvement. Because it was. Three, he has mixed feelings that might potentially amount to not wanting to hunt down and kill Shen Yuan, but he's not admitting that even to himself.

Everyone thinks that Shen Qingqiu's return to asshole form is a result of Luo Binghe dying, and that his sudden new research projects are part of him like, trying to make sense of a senseless tragedy, and coping. But no, he's still trying to figure out why the fuck Luo Binghe was important and why Shen Yuan inserted himself into their lives only to basically just do Shen Qingqiu's job while he was indisposed, and then fuck off the moment Luo Binghe left the picture again.

After... healing Shen Jiu. Also. For some unfathomable reason.

But this version of the System's just happy that the plot is back on track! And surely it will stay back on track. Yes? Problem solved, right? Shen Yuan? Definitely nothing is going to mess with the rest of the story, cough cough, wait why are you visiting User 01, and what would you, a demon shapeshifter, need with a Sun & Dew seed...?

[ghelgheli]

i would actually like to hear more of your thoughts on whipping girl, whenever you feel ready enough to talk about it. i've only ever heard positive recommendations for it. i was thinking of reading it. i've read one or two introductory 101 texts on transmisogyny as well as some medium/substack posts, and always looking to read more as a tme person. ty!

thanks for asking! I'm gonna try to be concise because I'm stuck on my phone for the month, but here are my thoughts on whipping girl:

serano is at her strongest in the book in three areas: manifestations of transmisogyny in media (e.g. how trans caricatures pervade movies), the history of medical institutions developing a pathology of transsexuality (like the diagnostics of blanchard et al. or how trans people seeking healthcare were and continue to be forced into acting out prescribed expressions and manufacturing memories), and the construction of her own transition narrative (telling the reader what it was like for her to grow up desiring femininity in a way that confused her, the experience of crossdressing, the effects of hrt for her)

whenever she's just sticking to this, I think she effectively communicates a lot that the unaware reader could benefit from—even many trans women/transfems/tma people who are otherwise in tune with the history of medicalized transsexualism and our popular depictions could probably benefit from her own personal narrative, by nature of how variegated our experiences can be.

unfortunately I think the book fails at its primary—stated—goal, which is to theorize about transmisogyny. in the big picture this is a bifurcated failure:

on one branch of her argument, she remains committed to there being something biologically essential/innate about gender. this manifests thru multiple claims: that we have "innate inclinations" toward masculinity/femininity and "subconscious sex" rather than what I believe, which is that the latter are constructed categories imposed on different matrices of behaviour/expression/desire in different cultural contexts; that there is "definitely a biological component to gender" (close paraphrase) after a discussion of how she believes E and T tend to affect people (thus equivocating gender with dominant hormones!); that we have such a thing as "physical sex" which is the composition of our culturally decided "sex characteristics" (don't ask me how the dividing line is drawn) even as she says we should stop using "biological sex" as a term; that there is "no harm" in agreeing that "sex" is largely bimodal with some exceptions; that social constructionism is necessarily erasure of transsexual experiences in early childhood... altogether she is unwilling to relinquish arguments about the partial "innateness" of femininity/masculinity and gender. this is at tension with her admission on several occasions that these are neither culturally/geographically nor temporally stable concepts! but that doesn't seem to be a line she can follow thru on.

on another, intertwining branch, she engages in what I think is a deep and widespread mistake in the theorizing of transmisogyny: reducing it (mechanistically) to what she calls effemimania* or essentially anti-femininity. it is her stated thesis at the start that masculinity is universally preferred to femininity. she doesn't offer a definition of either term until one of the final chapters, where she defines them as the behaviours and expressions associated with a particular gender. but I think this reduction just misunderstands transmisogyny. it is even in tension with an observation she makes early on, that trans women are often punished for their perceived masculinity! but again, this is a thought she seems unable or unwilling to follow thru with.

my problem with the thesis is that masculinity and femininity do not float free of gender—it is not possible to speak of their valuation in the abstract. anyone who grew up as a masculine cis girl and never "grew out" of that "phase" can attest to the violence wrought upon expressions of masculinity from women. and this applies doubly so to the subjects of transmisogyny! not only are we punished for any perceived bleed-through of masculinity from our supposed "underlying male selves", those of us who are willingly masculine and thriving as mascs are punished for our failure to conform to the rules of the normative womanhood that is imposed on us (just as we are punished for any willing femininity as "false" and predatory upon cis womanhood—observe that transmisogyny is reactive degendering in every case!).

on both branches serano makes only perfunctory remarks about the intersections with race, class, and colonialism. "sex" as such was made to only be accessible to the "civilized", most of all the white european! for a racialized person and particularly a Black person navigating gender the waters are just not the same; the signifiers of sex neither available in the same way, nor granted the same medical legitimacy. what is the "physical sex" of someone who is de-sexed altogether? how can gender have a "biologically innate" component when its expressions between the bourgeoisie and the working class are at total odds with one another? this all goes for the masculine/feminine distinctions as well. what sense is there in the claim that we have innately masculine/feminine inclinations when globally (and transmisogyny has been made global!) what is feminine and masculine can be very nearly mirrored? nor is "masculinity is always considered superior to femininity" innocent of obviating race. transmisogynoir adds yet further degendering thru the coercive masculinization of someone as a Black woman—masculinization as punishment, again!

and as a final point, the account fails to be materialist. there is no attempt to place transmisogyny in its role as an instrument of political economy or, as jules gill-peterson might say, as a tool of statecraft. it is just a psychological response to the way the world is, as far as serano has anything to say about it. but how did the world become that way, and why?? serano's solution, the abolition of what she calls gender entitlement, is naive to the fact that gender entitlement is necessary to the maintenance of the capitalist state, which is structured thru patriarchy and built on colonialism. it is not possible to reskin this into something innocuous!

this is why I cannot recommend whipping girl as a work about transmisogyny except at the most shallow level. it could be a helpful critical read, but imo, it is just wrong about transmisogyny.

[likethestarsatnight]

Things that really grind my gears when it comes to helpol (and polytheism in general if you squint):

1.) Disrespectful mythology enjoyers:

Only the one's who don't take the time to learn the purpose of myths, be respectful to the religion, be respectful to ancient greek practices, take it literally, and let that scew their view of helpol ppl. Especially if they go out of their way to bash a helpol person. Like you rly think Homer was our messiah that spoke for the gods??? GET OUTTA HERRREEE! And I'm not saying that they have to learn everything abt the religion (obviously), but it's not that hard to be respectful and not question us on our morals anytime Zues is brought up.

Extra irked if they beleive the Illiad actually happened (yes, there are ppl who actually think that happened).

2.) Calling any god a twink (in a disrespectful way):

We all know what god gets called that the most....and we all know it's cringe asf.

3.) People who are ex-christian that incorporates the abrahamic punishment ideals into their practices and scare people who are new to helpol into being afraid of the gods:

I see this problem mostly on tiktok, but the ppl who are new to helpol that fearmonger other new ppl just make me both mad and sad. "You HAVE to do blah blah blah or they'll plague you!!" "You HAVE to be devoted to blah blah blah or they'll strike you down!!" "You HAVE to-" Therapy bro....Therapy.

4.) People who try to dictate other people's practices

I see this problem on all social media platforms. Because there is very little information on how practice is done (that will always be questioned and theorized if that is actually how ancient people practiced by historians and such) and no rule book to follow, everyone will have their own personal way of practicing and their own philosophies on their religion. Stop treating practice like there is only 1 right way to do it, if there was, Cults would not have existed!

5.) Making the gods line up with your opinions/politicalizing gods in ways that don't reflect the core pillars of helpol:

"This god actually hates bla bla bla!" .....how would you know? Did they send a letter? And sure, the Ancient greeks did that a bunch of times with myths, but those myths are the reasons why uneducated people talk shit about the gods.

And finally 6.) Making newbies feel bad about their questions

"Thats such a dumb question🙄," My bad, lemme call my buddy Socrates rq maybe he'll give me answers💀

Oki byeee!

[hellspawnmotel]

haha okay okay, I'll share my thoughts (this got long whoops. lots to cover)

first of all, just to clear I'm not saying that I think toby is trying to make the fanbase assume wholesomeness in EVERY relationship he writes, or even every lesbian relationship. I don't think he did that for alphyne, I think that is just a genuinely wholesome relationship for the most part. they have some stuff to work out (mostly based around alphys' lying and insecurities) but what couple doesnt? I did theorize that toby might have kept that in mind while writing suselle specifically though, given the surface-level similarities to alphyne (which essentially just boil down to 'tough girl x shy girl'). considering that toby's been developing noelle and susie since at least 2015 I doubt that's where he started out with the two of them, but I think it's plausible it influenced how he chose to frame their scenes in the final product.

I haven't seen whatever post you're talking about discussing alphyne vs RG01/RG02, and to be frank I don't remember seeing a lot of art of the knights that was overly sexual as opposed to just cute. I do believe that there's some level of it that I just haven't encountered but I don't know if it was the best example to illustrate this point. it IS true though that when it comes to shipping, there's a trend of viewing relationships between two men as inherently more sexual than relationships between two women, because misogyny and I can't get into why that happens in more specificity without going on a massive tangent and I trust you guys already know all that.

so let's just assume that we all understand these basic societal ideals, and the fact they get subconsciously drilled into our heads whether we like it or not: the default way to be a woman is to be a domestic caretaker. gentle, kind, pure, level-headed, someone who does all she can to avoid emotional conflict. or any conflict for that matter- a well-adjusted woman hates conflict, to avoid it she'll become submissive or run away or try to mediate or just faint into the arms of a man about it. men are the ones who initiate or confront conflict, who "make things happen".

then what happens when there are no men around? if a relationship is just two women in love, and the relationship is healthy, then there must be no conflict. all you're left with is sweet and pure domestic bliss. that's when it's "wholesome". therefore, if a relationship between two women DOES involve conflict, it must be unhealthy because it means something is "wrong" with one or both of them. so to that end I think it's much easier to conclude that a ship between two women is "toxic" than a ship between two men. or a ship between a man and a woman, for that matter. picture your average romcom centered around a heterosexual relationship, and ask yourself, if everything was exactly the same but it was two women instead, would it get called "toxic yuri"?

FTR, I understand that the phrase "toxic yuri" rose in popularity and prominence as backlash against this exact kind of thinking- we want lesbian relationships that involve conflict, and calling it "toxic" affectionately is in direct response to those who argue that any relationship between two women that isnt all sunshine and daisies is unhealthy and abusive. and there are PLENTY of girl/girl pairings that I would actually describe as "toxic" in sincerity and that's the appeal and what makes them interesting. but I think the (over)use of the word has gotten to a point where you gotta look at yourself and ask if that's what your ship really is, or if you just want to use a popular phrase- and more importantly, if mislabeling these relationships as "toxic" when conflict gets involved is just looping around and perpetuating the problem in a different way.

(remembering this was supposed to be about suselle) UMM. in conclusion I think if more people start to acknowledge the conflict or potential for conflict in susie and noelle's romantic storyline then we're gonna see it called "toxic yuri" even though nothing about it has changed. and I think that on the other side of that, those who exclusively want cute and lovey-dovey suselle are prone to ignoring any conflict or even denying it's there. not all the time! but it happens.

[hollandsfavbabe]

Not So Storm Chaser

pairing: tyler owens x reader

synopsis: in which tyler takes you on his favorite past time not knowing that it's your biggest fear

warnings: establish relationship, tornadoes (obviously), panic and anxiety, sorta hurt/comfort, I tried

request: ooo tyler request i had a brain rot😭 id love to see protective tyler maybe reader usually doesn’t go on chases with him because she’s afraid of storms but then the one time she does she panics and tyler’s all sweet and there for her <3

word count: 2.1k

masterlist

a/n: I’m so sorry for the wait on this one. School has given me had such bad writer’s block, but I’m starting to get motivation back so here you go! I hope everyone’s having a great weekend!

“Are ya ready?”

Tyler’s voice is a sudden brief break from all the anxious worries running through your head. While there’s no part of you that would ever willingly volunteer to participate in this, you’d never pass up the opportunity to make your favorite cowboy smile. So instead of screaming like someone lodged a knife in your thigh and jumping out of the passenger window, you muster up your sweetest grin and shoot him a nod.

“Ready as I’ll ever be,” you agree, feigning excitement. If only he knew how tight you were squeezing the hand rail above your window as you gazed out into the open field from the passengers side of his big red truck. The same one he’d picked you up in on your first date and now he was delivering you to what you were sure was certain doom.

When you had first met your boyfriend, you’d commented on how familiar he looked. You theorized he was an average country boy and that perhaps you’d seen him in one of the local rodeos you loved to frequent. But even in the wildest of dreams, you had never imagined falling in love with a storm chaser, especially not with the Tyler Owens. He was inarguably the most popular chaser in decades, exploding on social media as the Tornado Wrangler and now, he was yours forever. And of course as expected, from the moment you two were bound, he relentlessly begged you to join him on a chase.

And therein lay the only crack in your paradise of perfection, the only wrinkle that posed a problem in what otherwise would be a flawless match. You were terrified of tornadoes.

You’ve never explicitly told Tyler about your fear of the extreme weather that he was so drawn to, but after years of turning down every chase he’s ever invited you on (opting to instead watch his live streams or creating another excuse) you figured the message would’ve gotten across. But alas, after a week of wearing you down, he finally got you to join him under very strict conditions: no streaming and no spectators. If you had to suffer through a storm chase, you’d rather do it without the peering eyes of an audience.

Luckily, Tyler was so devoted to you, he was more than happy to comply with your terms. All he wanted was his girl by his side and a grey sky of potential.

Attuned to you after years of being a couple, he could sense your nerves to some extent.

“Hey,” Tyler speaks softly, moving one of his hands, calloused from riding so many stubborn bulls, off the smooth black leather of his steering wheel to gently grip the meat of your left thigh. Instant warmth, that’s what his touch always brought you as comfort cascades through your whole body.

You turn your head to meet his gaze, piercing green eyes peering dotingly into yours.

“Everything’s gonna be just fine,” he promises in that special tone he reserves for moments when he wants his words to reach your ears only. Even now while the rest of his gang is absent he still speaks softly so that you can be sure he means every word. “I’ve done this a million times.”

A sense of tranquility flows through you as his thumb traces soothing patterns on the rough fabric of your jeans. He leans into you, pressing a kiss to the apple on your cheek. Calm before the cyclone.

“I know, I’m okay.” you assure your boyfriend, but as his hands leave you to shift into drive, you start to regret even coming at all. At least there weren’t any cameras to capture your panic. The only thing worse than freaking out was your anxiety being filmed for the rest of the world to see.

Tyler’s truck is slow to leave the grassy lot you had been pulled over in while you waited for any sign of a storm. Part of you prayed that for once, there would be no twisters in Oklahoma. Only for today.

But of course, the tornado capital of the world always had something in store.

“Look baby, see that?”

You follow Tyler’s index finger as he points to a darkening portion of the sky just outside your passenger window. To your absolute horror, the cap is quick to break as a tiny nub starts to form from grey clouds. You freeze in your seat, stifling an uncomfortable groan.

“I see it.” you wince, dreading every part of the road ahead. But all it takes is one look at Tyler’s stupid grin to encourage your silence. You don’t want to be the only thing blocking him from such happiness so against your better judgement, you force a heartless chuckle to mask your fear.

Light rain begins to patter atop the metal roof of his pick-up as Tyler maps out a route to the twister, marveling at it as if it were a brightly colored butterfly and not one of Mother Nature’s most unforgiving natural disasters.

“Looks like a small one so we should only be in a few minutes. She’s a beaut alright.” he smiles, speeding ahead as the nub twists into something you’d only imagine facing in nightmares. A textbook tornado and you’re headed straight for it.

Music starts to play as Tyler turns up the radio, a sweet gesture considering it’s the chorus of one of your favorite songs. After buckling up the safety harness, you remain still in your seat, only moving to send Tyler the most insincere of smiles to make sure doesn’t go unrecognized, but your anxiety is getting harder to manage. As soon as his eyes are back on the dirt road, you feel rigid against the cool leather as the bumpy road shields your light trembling and you start to regret ever coming along.

Your fear is a whole storm of its own, worse than the wind picking up outside your window. You feel it swirl and grow until it’s entirely unmanageable and you’re gripping the handle above the door so hard that you’re sure you’re about to rip it off as you reach your final destination.

Tyler’s pickup shakes wildly as you enter the center of the cyclone. He parks you just beneath it, whooping and hollering like a mad man. Under ordinary circumstances, you find his happiness quite contagious as it’s one of the traits you love most about him. But here, in the eye of the storm, you can’t even bear to look at him as you question whether the sensation is worse with your eyes closed. You quickly discover that it is.

“Isn’t this amazing?!” Tyler shouts with glee, finally looking over to you for your reaction, though you can't summon a fake smile this time as your breathing rapidly and tears brim in your eyes. “Babe?” he questions, the satisfaction becoming quickly replaced with concern.

“I’m fine,” you lie through a shaky breath, but he’s been yours so long now, he can’t be fooled.

Panic joins the blood rushing through your veins as the panic sets in and suddenly you’re gulping in the air like it's the last time you’ll ever be able to breathe it, trying to find a way to escape from the storm despite its impossibility. You can’t accept waiting it out anymore, not when your heart rate has elevated to levels that you feel like you shouldn’t be able to survive.

Tyler unbuckles his harness, jumping into action as the hero he is, through and through.

“Oh my god,” he utters your name, moving into your orbit as the truck starts to rock. Side to side like a carnival ride, but you’re too overwhelmed to enjoy it. But it’s your own fault for agreeing knowing you couldn’t handle such conditions.

“I’m sorry,” you gasp through hyperventilations. “I-I’m so scared.”

“Baby,” Tyler raises his voice to focus your attention, careful not to crowd you as places a grounding hand on your thigh. “Baby, look at me.”

You do as he says, desperate for any relief from the doom you’ve been encased in.

“Listen,” he meets your eyes with compassion. “This is just a small twister. She won’t last much longer, but it's not safe to drive until it is over. I want you to count with me and I promise, by the time we get to ten, she’ll be gone. Can you do that for me, sweetheart?”

“Okay,” you nod as he offers his other hand out, only if you need it as he is more than prepared for rejection. But you do as having something warm to hold is exactly what you need. You squeeze him tightly to relieve some of the panic and try to focus on his voice.

“Ready?” he asks, but he doesn’t wait for you to agree. He doesn’t need to.

You start to count with him, as a team. The way in which you find it’s best to approach everything you struggle to face alone.

“One, two…”

Like magic, you feel the rough shakes of his pick-up slow to a weak wobble as the deep gray of the clouds around you thins as the clouds start to secede.

“Three, four, five…”

Like the unwinding of a ball of yarn, the clouds separate a rise back into the sky. Long strands of tall grass become suddenly visible as open land around you comes back into view and the truck finally stills.

“Six, seven, eight, nine.”

At once, the clouds retreat into the sky and dissolve into nonthreatening, normal white furries as peace is restored. It’s wondrous how the world is left undisturbed as the twisters leave no evidence that it was ever there at all.

“Ten.”

You feel the panic dissociate throughout your body, leaving just as the tornado did only moments before. Only your unsteady breathing remains as you try to shift back into equilibrium. You nod as Tyler asks if you’re okay, knowing that as long as you never agree to go storm chasing again, you’ll be just fine.

“I’m so sorry, babe,” he starts, guilt ridden. “I should’ve known. I should’ve never forced you into this.”

“No, it’s okay,” you assure him. “Really Ty, I should’ve told you the truth.”

“You know you never owe me an explanation,” he lifts the hand at your thigh to tuck away some of your disheveled strands of hair. “But can I ask what triggered that response?”

You shrug, trying to remember what made you so afraid in the first place.

“I really don’t know,” you admit. “Long as I’ve lived here, tornadoes have freaked me out and until you I’ve never had to face them. I wasn’t sure what would happen, but I really should’ve come clean about it.”

“I’m sorry.” he tries again.

You catch Tyler looking down ashamedly, upset that he put you in such a bad situation, but you catch his face before it can become too crestfallen and summon up a real smile. One of comfort and earnest regard. You can feel his regret almost as strongly as he can, but it’s misplaced. He has no need to feel ashamed of his passions.

“Hey, Tyler,” you utter his name softly, though it’s enough to command his attention again. “Just because I can’t handle tornados doesn’t mean I don’t love what you do.”

“Really?” he questions, instantly perking up.

“Oh totally. I love watching you go out and love what you do with so much of your heart. And you help so many people everyday, even people who will never face this stuff. All just by being you. And I’m glad I got to experience this with the person I feel safest with.”

“Thanks baby,” he grins, planting a kiss on your forehead. One that you lean into with a giggle.

“Just never make me do this again,” you assert. “Like seriously, I love watching you through your lives, but I can’t do the real thing.”

“Yes ma’am,” he nods as he rebuckles, starting the drive back to your house as he returns to the main road. “Sounds fair enough.”

“You hungry? We could go get some diner food when we return to civilization.” he offers once you’re well on your way.

“I could eat. On you of course.” you tease, though Tyler always paid no matter the occasion. Only when you fought tooth and nail would he let you take the bill.

“I can’t imagine any alternative.” he laughs, his hand sliding over to grip your thigh once more as the two of you head in the direction of the sun.

[natamouche-art]

some favourite shots I did for episode 6... it was so fun crafting the final bridge scene from Travis' script, and seriously all the credit for the amazing opening seq goes to our EP Aaron for taking the emotion in Yaz's exposure therapy to the next level!

Inspo for this ep mainly came from the Alebrijes attack and car chase boards from the Coco blu-ray deleted scenes. Seriously yall, if you're an aspiring board artist, go watch those, they're all masterclasses in camera, framing, and acting.

Some thoughts below about these boards if yall are interested...

Becklespinaxes - there was a LOT of research that went into becklespinaxes (aka altispinaxes) to make this bridge scene happen. In the original script, there was the idea that Blondie (the yellow becklespinax) would be ramming and spinning the side of the van all over the bridge from the beginning, all while ben was still driving forward and Sammy was trying to climb the side latter of the van and into Yaz's window. - I think in writing it made for a really rad scene, but there were some concerns that the physics of all of that, as well as some staging issues, so I dove into becklespinax research to see if some of these problems could be fixed by grounding the conflict in the dino's hunting/attack styles - From what I can remember, as a mid-sized theropod, the becklespinax would've hunted small sauropods and the like, not van-sized dinos, so having her ramming the side of the van was out. Instead, I theorized the becklespinax would more likely be interested in rooting out the tastey treats inside, like a bird fishing out grubs from inside a tree or log. Thus, Blondie jamming her head into the window was born - From there on I tried to keep the van-and-dino physics and behaviours as grounded as possible, but i'll be the first to admit that physics was never my strong suit and sometimes the plot's just gotta come first over science

One detail I loved that unfortunately seemed to get passed over in animation was the way the second becklespinax, Brownie, entered the shot from behind the camera, and covered up the "NOW LEAVING DINOSAUR FREE ZONE" to just be "NOW DINOSAUR ZONE". Corny, I know! But it felt right and I was heartbroken to see that it wasn't caught in time to be able to go back and change it

Also no heart by sammy's name on yaz's phone :( idk why, sorry gang

About boards, an interesting thing to keep in mind was that even though this bridge may seem like a pretty isolated and simple set, there were actually several moments/shots that I didn't end up using because they revealed too much of the background, specifically the exterior island set and the exterior mainland sets that connected to the bridge! That's right, in the actual set models, those parts are just the cliff ledges and a bit on the sides, everything else would have to be what's called a paintover. That's something for aspiring storyboard artists to keep in mind about working on 3D TV shows: the sets come before storyboards in the pipeline, so often you have to make what you want to do work to the set, and not the other way around like in feature!

[midnight1nk]

‼️IMPORTANT NEWS

PLEASE READ: The following is a full report in regards of the Medi situation, the episode “The Lil’ Fellas” and everything else you need to know. This is intended for informative purposes, as I already stated my personal thoughts about the situation. Transcripts will be provided for most of the photos’ descriptions. Content warnings include: proshipping/darkshipping, whitewashing. View at your own discretion.

MediExcalibur2012 (also known as “Medi” or Paul) has been working with the SMG4 Team for around five years as an editor, machinima artist, and voice actor��most notably recognized as the voice of SMG1. He has also contributed as a writer for several past episodes. In addition to his work on the show, and like others on the team, he runs his own channel under the same name, where he uploads personal content not affiliated with the show or its canon.

A few days after the release of the episode “SMG4: The Lil’ Fellas”, several viewers observed that the two children, Hat Kid and Bow Kid, were strangely recolored to resemble Mario and Meggy. At the time, they admittedly dismissed it as speculation, feeling it was just a coincidence. However, some of this speculation went as far as claiming that this was intentional.

A video uploaded by youtuber SZH4 theorizes that the kids are Meggy and Mario’s biological children, based on the fact that their colors align with the MxM fankids Megan and Maggie Jr. found on the Steam Workshop. As he interprets it, the Team's (supposedly) alluding to the idea that Mario x Meggy could be canon. In the final section of the video, SZH4 addresses a message to “haters” of the MxM ship, stating that the theory was made for fun and expressing confusion about how certain moments between the characters are seen as merely platonic. He states, “[Those moments] prove that they’re more than just siblings. Just look closely at the signs and don’t tell me that ‘oh, siblings love each other like that’. I think it’s a different level of love.” [x]

The situation took a drastic turn when, on his discord server, Medi responded to the viewer speculation with the following message:

According to his confirmation, these kids were intended to reference the models. Though he didn’t say it outright in this message, he was clearly aware that they were MxM fankids, as it was explicitly stated in the model names, and he had used a color picker tool on the texture files. This was when everything started to go downhill.

A few people from Medi’s server shared this message on Twitter from late May 4th to early May 5th. Responses from many sides soon overwhelmed the community feeds. Many expressed anger, this being the last straw of Medi’s previous actions, and are urging the Team to take action. Others, including MxM shippers, defended Medi with the claim that it was just an “Easter egg” and shouldn’t be taken seriously. That is not to say all of them are shippers, but do believe this situation was taken too seriously. The creator of one MxM fankid, for instance, released a statement regarding it, quote:

The problem isn’t that a reference was included in the episode, but rather the intentions behind them—the MxM ship. From the Team’s side, Luke himself made it clear before that he was uncomfortable with this particular pairing, canonically Meggy and Mario seeing each other as siblings. None of the Team had overstepped the boundaries he set in production—until now. Not only has Medi disrespected Luke’s wishes, but he also betrayed the rest of the Team, who had no role in what he did. He twisted the trust and intentions of the others, supposedly all for a “reference.” Medi responded to those who brought this point up to him in defense; the following screenshots were provided by Twitter user WickerDan, quote:

(Yes, you did see it right. He edited the message and I’m unable to find the OG message). For the sake of readability in the next screenshot, I’ll leave the transcript here:

“Oh they know about the video and are fine that it exists. I remember I was at the pub one time with all of Glitch and Luke and I were joking with each other about that video and having a good laugh with each other. If they really had an issue with that video or even the ship itself, I would've been fired a long time ago.” — Medi

(BTW that thin screenshot was sent in February, not exactly related to the last episode). This, of course, was sent by Medi himself so take it with a grain of salt. It isn’t usual for these reports to have an unreliable source, but it was brought up for 2 reasons:

The “would’ve been fired a long time ago” was the same excuse he gave in the behind-the-scenes videos in his channel. While those moments were ambiguous in interpretation, as it was for any of the other ships, the scene he’s twisted in the last episode was obvious.

This unfortunately started to spark some doubt on Luke’s OG stance on the ship. Again, these statements from Medi can’t be trusted, and he provided no proof that this exchange happened in the first place.

Some viewers began to notice another issue: Bow Kid, that was meant to be a black character from the OG game, was recolored to have a lighter skin tone to match the fankid’s. This is undeniably whitewashing. User AnEyeArtist, on the other hand, proposed that the lighter skin was done because of a lighting issue and not of Medi’s doing, screenshots also provided by WickerDan:

Though it likely isn’t the case since it is a drastic change with having pictures side by side. For those who say that the kids are simply recolors, it’s the intent behind them that truly matters.

As for the rest of the Team, they weren’t aware of Medi’s intentions until early May 5th. Medi’s actions had managed to slip through the cracks during production, and the Team clearly had no idea until now. As mentioned before, many viewers have been urging them to take action regarding the situation. One proposed solution was to give Medi a warning; others want him to be fired. At the time this report is being written, there has not been an official statement from anyone on the Team.

One thing is certain: what Medi has done to the last episode can’t be undone, and we may not see the episode the same way again. Just because it is “fiction” doesn’t make it right or harmless. MxM is a proship—it always will be, regardless of whichever “version” is being discussed. The intent is what matters. As mentioned at the start, this report is meant to be informative and prevent any misconceptions within the community. While I’ve put my personal feelings aside for this, there are still some things left to establish:

Please do not harass the rest of the Team. This was solely Medi’s doing; they had nothing to do with this. “But they knew how Medi was.” Not like this, never like this. Medi managed to ruin the episode for everyone, regardless of which side they were on, and the team’s hard work on what was once a great episode is now ruined. An absolute betrayal. This must be hard for them to learn about, and I can only extend my apologies for what happened.

No matter the side, we can agree that something has to be done, and Medi must face consequences. I mentioned the possibility of him being fired or receiving a warning, and some of you already know where I stand. From what I've observed across all platforms, this would certainly be a difficult decision to make. On one hand, firing him would lead a portion of the viewers to claim it was too harsh. On the other hand, giving him a warning would be seen as not strict enough. Either option would only escalate the situation, with the possibility that the Tari VA controversy could be brought into the mix. The best possible course of action would be to not assign Medi any scenes related to Meggy and Mario and restrict him to exactly what the script intends. Though not everyone will agree, this approach should be enough to calm the waters, and it's likely the Team would handle it this way based on previous instances. It’s not a guarantee that this would happen exactly, but it is something.

Regardless, we must do our best within our community to stay informed and spread awareness, not letting it go silent so quickly. This show means something to us, in one form or another. Understandably, a lot has happened over the last few days. If you need a moment to breathe, take it. Treat yourselves with other media, get a snack, and allow some time to take your mind off things. Prioritize your mental health. But if you can, join the voice of our community.

Greater in numbers, we can fight for it with all we have, take it back from his doing. Even something as simple as using the hashtag #DoSomethingAboutMedi to spread the word would help. Any update that comes our way will be posted, as always. In the meantime, take care.

[elfwreck]

I have a friend who isn't anti-porn but it makes her sad that fanfic has a reputation for being porny and usually not very good. I'm fine with both those things and my views mostly align with that of AO3. I disagree with the idea that porn and badness are treated as equivalent, but for most people that's just how they think. But I was wondering if youve ever written something about this?

There is a lot of smut at AO3.

There is a lot of bad writing at AO3.

There's a lot of badly written smut at AO3.

...None of those are problems except for the people who think there is something wrong with those existing, or that there needs to be some external value that "balances" those that make those acceptable to exist as unwanted side-effects of "the good stuff."

The badly-written smut is also "the good stuff."

It's part of the reason AO3 exists. It's not intended to be an archive for "the high-quality fanfic that could be published if it weren't about characters that someone else wrote first"; it's an archive for "what fanfic writers want to write." That makes the terrible writing and the tacky porn and the badly-written tacky porn part of the reason the archive exists.

Tangent 1 (I'll connect these points later): Theodore Sturgeon said "90% of everything is crud." He was more-or-less referring to the science fiction field in the 50s, but it definitely extended to politics, business, and writing outside of science fiction.

...He was talking about published books in the 50s. Turns out, a lot more than 90% of writing is crud when there aren't any gatekeepers between it and the readers. But also:

Tangent 2, from the book "Art and Fear":

[A] ceramics teacher announced on opening day that he was dividing the class into two groups. All those on the left side of the studio, he said, would be graded solely on the quantity of work they produced, all those on the right solely on its quality. His procedure was simple: on the final day of class he would bring in his bathroom scales and weigh the work of the “quantity” group: fifty pound of pots rated an “A”, forty pounds a “B”, and so on. Those being graded on “quality”, however, needed to produce only one pot — albeit a perfect one — to get an “A”. Well, came grading time and a curious fact emerged: the works of highest quality were all produced by the group being graded for quantity. It seems that while the “quantity” group was busily churning out piles of work – and learning from their mistakes — the “quality” group had sat theorizing about perfection, and in the end had little more to show for their efforts than grandiose theories and a pile of dead clay.

You don't get to "quality writing" without going through a lot of crappy writing.

That doesn't mean the crappy writing is garbage to be thrown out. If you make 50 pots or bowls or vases, and only one of them is The Good One... most of the rest are okay. Maybe not sale-quality good, but your-kitchen-table quality good. Maybe some aren't that good and are kids-toy-in-the-sandbox level good.

Bad writing has a purpose for the writer: they can use it as practice to get better. It has a purpose for the reader: It can serve as inspiration ("I can do better than that") or grammatical instruction ("that...does not work; why doesn't that work?") or just as entertainment ("eh, so it's missing a few commas; I can still understand it").

Smut and porn writing works the same way. It's of some value to the writer, and some to the readers.

It's not of value to everyone. That's what tags and filters are for, and why there's a summary and list of stats (like word counts)--so you can figure out if you're one of the readers for whom this piece of writing is useful or interesting.

But AO3, like any library, is not there to take the top 5% of Excellent Writing and provide it a showcase. It is absolutely for all 50 lbs of pots.

If your friend wants to read the good stuff, there are rec lists and collections to help her find it.

If she already manages that, and is just annoyed at how much of the not-good stuff (however she defines that) exists... she's picked the wrong battle. She's arguing with the ocean that it has too many kinds of fish and some are poisonous a lot of them are ugly.

[seat-safety-switch]

At the university where I work, there's all kinds of amazing research projects going on. As part of the public service requirement of my extensively-negotiated parole, I am forced to help with whoever needs it. I've rounded up test monkeys, convinced sobbing grad students not to abandon their field of study, and made coffee for a bunch of MBAs theorizing about how to create even bigger layoffs than their grandfathers could ever have dreamt of. And also there's some nerds with computers.

Robots, while not as cool as they once were, are still being developed every day. We've forgotten how to make all kinds of shit, but we can still follow the instruction manual to make the robots that remember how to make that shit. Which is good, because otherwise we wouldn't have any cars, or refrigerators, or the small island nation of New Zealand. Computer scientists are busy figuring out how to make those robots walk up and down stairs, which is a problem that has evaded them since the beginning of time.

You might not think it's particularly useful to be able to go up and down stairs. I certainly didn't, but it turns out that some important things are available on other floors of a building. The nerds were having a lot of trouble making the robot do it, until I pointed out that the building is equipped with an elevator. Much forehead-slapping ensued, and we went out and got completely sloshed at the campus bar, relieved to finally have solved one of the remaining hard problems of computer science. Unfortunately, in our rush to imbibe, we left the robot turned on. When we got back, it was gone.

What I'm trying to tell you is that if you live in a regular house, you're gonna want to sleep on the second floor. Or in the basement. Anywhere except for the ground floor. We don't think the robot can really harm anybody, that's an awful stereotype of runaway robots, but we do suspect it's running a bit low on charge and will do whatever it takes to suck up some of that sweet, sweet juice. So if you look out your window this morning, and see that someone has spontaneously assembled most of the macrostructure of New Zealand on your front lawn, call us right away, and also hide all of those cheap AliExpress chargers that look like USB-C but won't charge your laptop. Those'll just make it angry.

[tokkimins]

Oh man. I cannot get over how much this chapter has fuelled my interest in the manga again.

We’ve gotten dual reaction panels before but this just takes the cake. For the first time ever (I think), Sebastian is finally the one on the receiving end. HE’S the one in the splash zone, and Ciel is the one on the sidelines going “Damnnnn that shit sucksss.”

The only other time I can think of where Sebastian has been specifically targeted was during Noah’s ark with William. But even that just amounted to putting a slight limit on Sebastian’s autonomy. There was no question as to why Will hates Sebastian or vice-versa. (It’s not even like Sebastian had a track record of eating souls in William’s area specifically lol).

THIS, on the other hand, is possibly the most human problem Sebastian has ever had to deal with.

Someone is angry at him for something he did*. I can’t believe I’m saying this but… bro is finally facing the consequences of his actions... and we’re ACTUALLY gonna see him face them, RIGHT? (hopefully, probably. I’m begging you Yana please do something with this).

*If I were to vaguely speculate about what it is he did: “dragged me into the depths of hell” makes me think that Sebastian somehow got this person turned into a demon or something. Or at least, something non-human. I’m not very good “theorizing” so I’m just gonna leave it at that and let myself be wrong LOL.

Either way though, I’m so glad other ppl are picking up on how emotive Sebastian was in this chapter. I think this is the biggest range of reactive emotions we’ve seen from him in a single chapter. It also feels like this is the first time we’ve seen Sebastian lose composure in a way that doesn’t suit him.

He looks weary which is such a rare emotion to see worn on him. I’d even go so far as to say he looks slightly frightened in this particular panel. We don’t even change art styles here. This is genuine confusion on his face. And what a treat that is to see.

Judging by his reaction, I think we can safely say this is probably one of the strangest encounters Sebastian has ever had. Which to be fair, considering he’s probably killed or eaten almost all of his problems, it makes sense that this would come as a surprise.

With how confused he is, I’m honestly even considering memory loss as a sort of explanation.

What really hooked me though is the fact that Sebastian isn’t eager to kill this guy instantly.

When I read this part I initially thought this was completely OOC for him. I mean… “settle things peacefully”?? Who are you right now? Bro was literally just asking if he could kill everyone in the hotel like ???

It’s so unnatural for us to see Sebastian get concerned and actually reflect upon himself. The only time he ever mentions his own memories of his own volition is when he’s boasting to Ciel about having attended some major event in the 900 BC or some shit.

Overall, it’s just nice to see Sebastian be put under some pressure for once. He hasn’t had a personal conflict beyond “someone’s taking my dinner away” for a while so this is very refreshing to see.

After all, we’ve seen Sebastian look a bit weary or surprised before (ex. the twin reveal) but even in those moments, his reactions have never lasted beyond a panel or two. He’s always been able to jump back to his normal suave-butler attitude on a dime, so I really like that we end the chapter on him staying weary.

I truly hope this leads to something substantial… and that revealing some part of this “past memory” will actually affect the present (maybe even affect his relationship with Ciel or how Ciel views him).

[watermelonlicker]

this is not an attack but more of a please remember why we are here and to not feed into this anymore.

idgaf if they’re still together, if they broke up in 2022, 2018, 2015, 2013, whatever the hell y’all theorize. we KNOW they were/are together and that they were harshly closeted bcos of that. harry was the chosen one. the minute he walked across the stage on the x factor with his curly hair and adorable dimples and infectious personality simon foul saw dollar signs. he was not impressed by his singing. he was impressed by all he envisioned he could do to exploit harry. harry who has been painted as an older woman chasing/fetishist, cheating, womanizing, homewrecking, manipulative, narcissistic, maniacal supervillain since he was 16. “harry broke up 1d” “harry wanted to go solo”

harry was a fucking child who simply wanted to sing and formed a crush on his bandmate, who he discussed it with, who mutually felt it, and they fell in love. harry was/is in love with louis and that was/is the fucking PROBLEM. no way simon/sony was allowing their cash cow to be anything other than what they wanted. an attractive prop for the entertainment of straight women. didn’t matter if there was a legion of queer fans who supported him, didn’t matter if there are allies who would support him with louis or any man who made him happy (the narrative for solos is anyone but louis but you know what i mean). heterosexuality is supreme and that is the fucking PROBLEM. everything is to obtain this heteronormative oppressive system. it being the assumption that everyone’s straight or identifies as cis is the problem. artists want to survive which is why they hide. outting is not okay and there shouldn’t be a system in place where something like outting even exists. are straight/cis people outted? no.

we watched louis be destroyed. he was always viewed and marketed as the least profitable member. he had the least solos, his mic was turned off most of the damn time, he was widely ignored unless it was a scandal they invented even though he wrote the majority of the songs WITH LIAM. even though he was a leader in staying connected with the fandom from the beginning, even though he was/is a goddamn light. we watched him go from our hilarious sunshine boy to imaged as a hotel trashing, fivesome having, arrogant, homophobic, macho-laddy lad, jealous (yes they claimed he was jealous) when he was NONE OF THAT, and we have watched him fight back against that and claw his way out of it and ofc trauma has stuck with him so ofc he’s changed in some ways but he is also the same person. and he is smarter than he has ever been given credited for. and he has a memory of steel whether you believe his stoner brain or not. louis has always had a vision even if we don’t understand it. he has always believed in the band and us and has fought hard to finally believe in himself after they took it from him. that is a testament to his strength. IT IS THE STRENGTH OF QUEER PEOPLE TO BE RESILIENT.

WE SAW IT WITH OUR FUCKING EYES. WE SAW THE DRASTIC FUCKING CHANGES OVER THE YEARS IN REAL FUCKING TIME. and so many other queer artists have been ripped apart throughout history. so many are only outted after their death (freddie mercury).

what they put those men through as boys was/is abhorrent (including liam, zayn, & niall. the hell they went through should not be excluded. zayn faced racism, islamophobia, and was disparaged for leaving when he was DYING in front of us, liam turned to alcohol to cope while being used as the pr mouth piece, and niall withered away to the point he lost his smile) if the truth was exposed i’m sure the feds would be knocking on their door like they have been knocking on others. that’s why they’re doubling down. continuing to churn out the tired machine, and are still worried about larries in 2025. there’s a collective effort to continue to shut us up bcos there is something to hide. we need to make the effort to not be an expectation. to not be guaranteed raging fangirls for clicks. we need to be something else. the climate is shifting slowly. people are waking up slowly. people are listening slowly. we cannot move with emotion. they want to prey on it. if you’ve noticed they are writing the narrative that we are the crazies louis can’t shake. the standard did it. and now the scum is doing it again. that is our image to the gp and it hurts louis when he’s trying to attract the gp. we have to be patient. it sucks yes. i’m sick of it and i’ve only been back a month but i believe this is bigger than us. something is going on. we have to trust that hate will not win. we have to trust we will overcome.

my point will always be the music industry is insidious. artists face cruelties we can’t even fathom and it’s been hardwired into our brains to not to care about it. celebrity culture is a fucking SYSTEM. fans play into it with the parasocialism they exploit BY DESIGN. they want us to worship/idolize celebrities and focus more on the drama and the trash they invent instead of the art, instead of the real fucking issues artists have the influence to get the public to care about.

“nobody cares when you’re boring.”

[blueskittlesart]

without dropping anything super specific what do you think of EoW's story? in particular i'm kinda worried over if they made Zelda basically replaceable with any other silent protag and i'm holding back on getting the game if that's the case...

I think they handled a playable zelda incredibly well actually! In particular I was impressed that although she is a silent protagonist, she is NOT link, and the game takes care to remind you of that in everything from dialog to physical gameplay. Though she does technically have the ability to wield link's sword, in practice it's almost always more practical to use echoes, her own unique form of gameplay, to get through combat instead, which is a good reminder to the player that this isn't link's story, and we're not going to be able to beat it link's way. You're required to be ZELDA and think like zelda, utilizing mechanics unique to her, in order to progress through the story, and those mechanics emphasize creative problem-solving in a way that clearly envokes her core trait of wisdom. so in that regard i'd say she's definitely a unique protagonist and I never felt like she could have been replaced with someone else! (mild spoilery note: in the final battle you do actually have link fighting alongside you, and because of that, your sword ability is removed entirely, meaning you HAVE to end the game on zelda's terms, with zelda's abilities, which I thought was a nice touch.)

In terms of actual story, it's honestly a fairly classic zelda formula, but the twists and turns were well-written and kept me VERY engaged throughout. The act of searching for link felt different not because chasing after a captured friend is uncommon in a loz game, but because HE was different. The things you learn about link and how he ended up in this story compel you to keep searching for him in a way that you almost... don't need when you're link chasing zelda, because OF COURSE the hero is going to go after the princess. but this game had to engineer a situation in which the PRINCESS wanted to go after the HERO, and a hero she'd never met before at that. and that to me is what made the story interesting.

I will say, don't go into this game expecting it to have the same amount of story as a 3d installment like botw or totk. this is a topdown classic-style game, and it treats itself like one. the story is good, but it's not pushing the boundaries of the genre or anything. eow is a game that knows what it is and what it wants to do, and it does it exceptionally well. I think where the game really shines is in the implied narrative of the worldbuilding--pieces of personal memorabilia in characters' houses, little hints of the past and references to previous games in map design and details that allow you as the player to theorize and put together the less overt pieces of the story on your own. this has always been one of the things that I personally really enjoy about zelda games, so I absolutely LOVE how much detail is left for the player to find in eow if they're paying attention.

[hxney-lemcn]

not a request:

more brainrot bc you liked my other stuff:

consider consider: idia shyly confessing to you and you going " OH THATS RIGHT WE AREN'T DATING YET I FORGOT-"

both

both of you are idiots.

(not me projecting at all shut up I'm definitely normal-)

I mean if I was in twst I would 100% be the type to go "lemme ask my gamer wife hold on-" whenever tech issues came up

teehee I love any and all excuses to think more about Idia >:)

After everything, the sharing, the nonstop sleepovers, boundaries are long forgotten. You've probably told him you love him (but didn't clarify in what way). So just imagine the horror of Idia stating how much you mean to him and how you've changed his life for the better and he couldn't ask for a better partner. And as you smile sweetly (bordering on manic because he finally crossed a line y'all have been dancing around) he panics cus shit. Y'all aren't even dating yet and he's gone and blabbed his deepest darkest feelings towards you.

The way you treat him so casually definitely worked him up to that 'confession'. Like you calling him your wife/husband, babygirl, constantly complimenting him (I wanna help him boost his confidence a bit) and etc is not helping his mental state. He doesn't understand how you can just 'claim' him so easily when talking to others but he also isn't complaining.

I theorize that he's asked to help with tech issue's a lot (whether it be on campus or Azul (?)) so he might get a bit annoyed if he's your go to at first. But then you call him your gamer wife and he is sitting his ass down and fixing whatever the problem is (he wants you to keep calling him yours even if its in a jokey way). Just don't mind his dramatics as a response "T-this is a super easy fix, you don't even need me *grumble grumble*."

Honestly, it probs gets to the point that if you refer to him by his actual name he's worried he did something to upset you and stews anxiously until you call him babygirl again 💀💀

Side note: Y'all can send me brain rots about any of the twst cast by the way, Idia is just the main one on my mind at the moment. But I like doing these little blurbs :)

[toning-seros]

selfless to self-care: reki's character development summarized into one track

i think one of the most underrated aspects of sk8 the infinity is its soundtrack. as a (totally sane and normal) fan of the anime, i've been listening and relistening to its soundtrack to the point where its become a little game of mine where i guess what track plays in a portion of an episode i'm rewatching.

anyhow, the choice of music that plays in sk8 also holds a deeper critical meaning besides it sounding cool. and i wanted to discuss about that today with my home sliced bread sliced no. 1 all-time favorite redheaded kin of all time: reki kyan. because upon rewatching episode 5, i recognized a certain track that played during one scene that also plays later on during one of the most iconic scenes nearing the end of the series, and i don't think enough people are talking about it.

early on in episode 5, reki drops hints that foreshadow his disregard for his own wellbeing (that later gets addressed post-beach episode), prioritizing langa's safety above everything else, even though it was him that was physically recovering and experienced trauma from ad*m. from his unserious attitude when he exited the ER, to him just flat-out saying that his own problems don't matter, he selflessly ignores his own problems to focus on others.

then in the middle of the episode, reki reveals that the reason he's so protective over langa is because his unnamed childhood friend got seriously injured from skateboarding--an event that traumatized both of them, to the point that his friend quit skateboarding, and presumably caused their close friendship to fall apart.

judging from reki's constant need to protect others, his lack of care towards himself, and most notably what he says here as he averts his gaze with a look of guilt on his face, it can be theorized that whatever happened to his friend that caused him to be hospitalized, he was atleast in some way involved in it. maybe he pushed his friend to do a really sketchy trick or something? (i hope this gets addressed in season 2 im begging) whatever it was, it dramatically changed reki's beliefs of himself and his self-worth that made him want to completely ignore his own problems in exchange of helping everyone around him. (until they inevitably build up and come crashing down on him [i.e episode 7])

but we already knew all of that. what i'm really here for is the music that plays in the background during the flashback scene. and the track that played, interestingly enough, was none of than…

change our lives

now, for the more seasoned viewers, you might have already recognized the name of the track as it also plays in a later episode. but if you haven't, then give it a quick listen and tell me if it sounds familiar to you…

that's right, it's the same track that plays in episode 10, when reki and langa finally began talking things out with each other after falling out, and they realize how much they meant to one another in a late night skate session that is the second gayest scene to ever come in a sports anime. however, since this is a reki-centered essay(?) and i'd already yapped enough, i'm only going to explain about how this scene meant for reki (forgive me, langa).

from manager oka (the goat) telling him he was special in his own ways and how it's okay to focus on his self-worth too, even if it feels like doing so would only drag him down even further, to when reki argued with tadashi about how skateboarding is about having fun and persevering through the rough patches because the hard times are what make one appreciate the progress it took for them to get where they are now, episode 10 was about Reki coming to terms with his own problems and allowing himself to address them, and learning how to move forward from them by firstly learning how to love and take care of himself.

so why is this relevant, you may ask? why compare two drastically different scenes from the series that seem to have no connection with each other?

well, it's because the track both scenes were used in serves as a symbol for reki's arc in the series. it highlights reki's character development from being unhealthily selfless, to realizing he needed to love and prioritize himself too in a way that comes full circle. even from the name of the track itself, "change our lives", it signifies how reki's life has been changed twice, both in a harmful way and in a positive way.

in episode 5, "change our lives" marks reki's shift in his mindset pre-series, putting others first and protecting them all the while disregarding his own well being, all because of the hospitalization of his friend that traumatized them both so bad that it caused his friend to quit skateboarding entirely, and leading him to question his own self-worth.

contrastingly, in episode 10, "change our lives" marks reki's realization that his wellbeing and health (mentally and physically) matter just as much as everyone else's, leading to him being more willing to appreciate himself. and he couldn't have done that without langa shower him with compliments that affirmed his self-worth.

two scenes, two people reki loved the most who changed his views of himself, all tied together with one track.

[gddancefloor]

A Kasane Teto and Hatsune Miku original song by SoYaSuYa (me)!

ᯓ★ DON'T YOU FEEL LIKE A FOOL

WHEN YOU SEEK MADE UP TRUTH?

THIS IS THE GAME OF LIFE,

THERE'S NO DOUBT ABOUT IT!

════════════════════════════

HEY GAMERZZZ (yes, that was on purpose), decided to work on a little concept I discarded about a year ago and gave it a little fresh coat of paint! I also reworked the song it's related to! Still working on it, but this is what we've got! Everything is all mine, both legally and artistically. It all took about 10 days in total!

Lyrics and more info about the project below the cut! (Definitely check it out please!)

════════════════════════════

LYRICS

[VERSE]

Gamble to see what it means to be a living human Roll the dice, shake it twice, so boldly betting your life Where's the fun when you can predict the game? It all ends the same, deny that and you'll go insane

Looking for a cheap way out? Why don't you cheat your way out? You've got only one life left n' you won't have to play the rest Where's the fun when it's just to endure the pain? Get it through your brain, why stay a pawn living in vain?

[PRE CHORUS]

Hey, tell me if anything truly matters! You choose to live only just to die, that's the game of life So, don't blame me if that false hope shatters, It's your life, your problem, not mine if you choose to live a lie

It's starting to make sense to you, now isn't that right? We're all meaningless creatures with a drive to survive and die So, buckle up and get ready to enjoy this ride Of the meaningless desire for the meaning of life!

[CHORUS]

Oh, doesn't it hurt to lose No matter what you try to do (oh, doesn't it hurt) Don't you feel like a fool When you seek made-up truth (oh, it's all made up)

There's no target to beat Other than to accept defeat (oh, nothing to beat) So, please explain to me What else is there to believe? (and that's all how...)

This is the game of life, there's no doubt about it! (no doubt about that!) Live to see nothing matters, reality's a real lie (such a lie!) Philosophy's a joke, does it look like we're laughing? Keep on searching, gaming, playing for meaning in this stupid life!

════════════════════════════

So, this song is pretty old. I made the original concept in 2022 when it was called "BAD LUCK" and had an entirely different meaning behind it. But, I revived it in 2024 and because I was facing a very horrible time due to an existential crisis, I wanted to write a song about my feelings towards life in general. That isn't the song's only meaning, but a pretty good generalization as to why I wrote it in the first place.

These are the original designs from 2024. I never had a color palette in mind when I made them, I just knew I wanted them to be bright as fuck and match. Soooo basically the new designs required me to come up with one off of the top of my head, but to also somewhat rework them. I think even the new ones might undergo some changes in the final release. I dunno. I'm a picky guy.

I had to learn a lot about audio engineering (in NO way am I a professional, hell nah) and Vocaloid 5 (I've been using V4 since 2021 so this is a very big change for me) to make this song, and even then I do have things I still wanna tweak about it. But so far so good! I love the way it sounds and I hope you do too!

My goal was to make them appear a little disturbing considering the topics of this song. I wanted them to look "so depressed they're insane", to an extent. "What about the bright colors?" I'll let you theorize about that :)

Also, I've never drawn vinyl before so it might look a little odd as I get used to drawing it 💔

I will post their individual concept drawings when I can, as there's some shit I need to do with them and I just can't really do it right now.

I hope you absolutely LOVED this and if you did, please reblog this to support my art. I would also greatly appreciate fan art! Just remember to tag me.

I'll likely get the finished song on YouTube and niconico soon but not Spotify considering the horrible shit they're involved with, nor SoundCloud. They're both evil "generator" (iykyk) supporting, art stealing corporations. Soooo yeah. At least with YT you can opt out. Same here on Tumblr. I would do Bandcamp but I don't want ppl to feel obligated to buy my music since I don't really want money for something that comes from my soul.

Anyways, have a great day and God bless ya 💕

(also secret for people who bothered to read til the end: yes theres yuri)

[tiredfox64]

I had this idea based on Tomas's intro with Ashra about having nightmares about demons, that Tomas would have nightmares on the enenra but the nightmares would also include the reader getting hurt and fearing for her safety that something might happen to her, Tomas would keep his distance and avoid the reader as much as he can to try to keep her safe even going far as talking to other female warriors to make the reader think he has no interest in her which would leave her confused and heartbroken where she struggles with training and shuts down a lot leaving Hanzo, Kaui Liang and Harumi worried about the reader enough to send her to Wu She Academy.

Kuai Liang finally gets answers from Tomas and sends him to the academy to have Liu Kang help Tomas with his issue. Upon arrival, the reader does everything she can to avoid Tomas who feels extremely guilty, chases her down until they are in a room alone together and he breaks down to the reader.

The Pain You Made Me Face

Yip notes: It appears that we don’t want peace WE WANT PROBLEMS

Pairing: Tomas x Afab reader

Warnings‼️: Angst

“The worst are the Enenra,” that’s what Ashrah told Tomas once. He found her words to be true.

For many nights he has experienced the horrors of demons that were made of pure smoke and darkness. Malevolent beings that only the purest of hearts could witness. Yet they decide to infect his dreams with their retched forms.

With mouths as their heads and claws for hands, they’ve come to cause harm to the one he loves the most. You.

══💤══╡°˖✧🦊✧˖°╞══💤══

A low, continuous groan is let out. There is a slight wheeze to it like the body it’s coming from has little to no air left. Tomas’ eyes turn to look for the source of the pained noise. His eyes land on your body as you lie on the ground.

He doesn’t want to believe it’s you but it seems too real. The cuts on your back are as fresh as could be. Your clothes were sunken into cut flesh. It looked like a ravenous beast ambushed you. Tomas wanted to run to you and help you, he needed to know who attacked you. The moment he took a step towards you a figure manifested behind you. A hunchbacked monster stood above your body. Its body waved like smoke off of a flame.

The Enenra started to shift and change its body. It slowly morphed into a more human shape. Tomas was frozen in place, forced to watch the Enenra become something else. It was changing itself to look like Tomas.

It was the shape of Tomas, but it was not him. Its body was still made of black smoke. Its hand reached down and grabbed hold of your hair. You didn’t make a sound. You were too tired to make a sound. You’re not gonna survive through this. Their other hand came around and showed that it was holding Tomas’ karambit. It gripped it tightly like there was rage involved. The hand lifted with the intent to strike your head with the sharp blade.

“NO!” Tomas yelled as he ran towards you.

The hand swung down with the point being inches away from your frontal lobe.

Gasp

And just like that Tomas was back in his bed. His body broke out in a cold sweat. His heart slammed against his chest before realizing that it was just another nightmare. A nightmare that is always the same. Visions of demons that come to attack you. This was the worst of them all. Morphing into him was a foul move. Yet it got him badly.

Tomas has been theorizing that his nightmares were bad omens. They were signs that something bad would happen to you. Why else would you be involved?

But this one really struck a nerve in him. He took a moment to think about what this nightmare meant. The Enenra became him before striking you. Could that mean that…he will hurt you? His heart dropped the second he thought of that conclusion. Even if it won’t be him that hurts you he feels like this demon will harm you because of him. He doesn’t want any harm to come to you. He’d never forgive himself.

This concern has been building up for so long and that last nightmare was the nail in the coffin. He loves you. You’re the one person who he finds solace in. When he’s with you he feels safe. The moment he sees you, the nightmare flashes in his head before he remembers it’s just a dream. You’re alive and well right in front of his eyes. And you look as beautiful as ever.

But he doesn’t want to sit around and wait for something bad to happen. He doesn’t want to wake up one day and find that you are no longer alive. A shiver ran up his spine just thinking about finding you the same way he sees you in his dreams. It’s sickening.

He had to make a choice. Continue spending time with you and risking your death, or distance himself and save you from a painful demise. He preferred the second option.

══💤══╡°˖✧🦊✧˖°╞══💤══

It’s been nearly a month since Tomas started ignoring you. At first, you thought he was just tired from hunting down Bi-Han and dealing with restless sleep. He told you at some point that he was having nightmares constantly. He never went into specifics of what they were about, he just said they were nightmares. You reassured him that they were probably due to stress.

But no matter how hard you tried to make him relax he always experienced nightmares. You did everything you could, made him food, cheered him on during training, helped out with Hanzo, and much more. It did nothing to ease the tension inside of him. What did that leave you with?

Nothing. You had nothing. Not a thank you or a question if you could do something specific for him. All you got was him ignoring you.

You saw he wasn’t eating your cooking. Alright, maybe he wasn’t craving the dish you made. But then he started training by himself. The moment you’d walk up to him he’d say he just finished and walk off. He always seemed to be in a hurry to leave, like he wanted to get away from you immediately. It broke your heart when Hanzo started talking about how weird Tomas was when it came to you. When you asked what he meant he laid it all out.

“He won’t allow me to practice with you. When I’ve asked why, he says I can but he won’t stick around for it. And when I asked if he could bring you over so you could rewrap my wounds he told me to find you myself. That was rude.” Hanzo let out a huff since he was irritated by his mentor’s aggression.

You immediately reacted to that news. You felt your heart squeeze, it physically hurt.

“O-oh well…let’s deal with your bandages first.” You said softly.

Hanzo could see that you were trying to hold yourself together. You gave him a weak smile to reassure him that things were fine. But the sadness in your eyes says otherwise. He’s not dumb, he understands that something is wrong. Though he can see that you are just as clueless as him. He doesn’t say anything else for the remainder of the time.

Later that day you decided to confront Tomas on his behavior. You needed to know what was going on with him. Was he stressed? Did you say something? Was there an unknown reason? You had to find out. When you found him you were surprised by what he was doing.

He was surrounded by some of the female members. They were acting like lovesick teens who were talking to their crush at school. You could hear what they were saying to him.

“I wish you talked to us earlier, you’re so nice.” “Do you think you can help me practice later? I could really use your help.” “Damn, you’re really strong. I bet you could pick me up.” “You seem cuter up close.”

What is going on? Since when did he become a womanizer?

Your heart shattered the moment you realized what he was doing. He wanted you to see this. He wanted you to hear everything they were saying. How do you know? He was looking at you. Tomas was occasional glancing at you. He knew you were there. And yet he wasn’t giving you the time of day. He was smiling at these girls as they praised and flirted with him.

All went numb. You barely felt your heart pumping. The noises around you became dull as you turned around and walked away. With your back towards Tomas, you missed as his eyes lost any hint of happiness in them. When you were out of sight he excused himself from the girls and walked away. There, it was done. Maybe now you’ll keep your distance.

You did just that. You kept your distance…from everyone. That wasn’t his plan.

You were so confused and heartbroken by Tomas’ actions. You felt like you were being led on this whole time. He was playing with your heart, pulling at the heartstrings before cutting them in one fell swoop. You are left with the remnants of your heart. You tried to put it back together and continue living but it was harder than you could imagine. Everyone could see how you struggled except Tomas.

Hanzo already knew you were in a tough place. He went to check on you the day after he spoke with you, only to hear you crying in your room. He felt in his gut that something bad happened. He’s not good at dealing with other’s emotions, he can’t even control his own, so he walked off. He tried getting your mind off whatever happened by asking you two to train together but that fell flat. He would ask if you could teach him something you’ve been wanting to teach him, only for you to forget what that move was. When you two tried to spar, your arms were in a weak position. It was like you forgot how to fight. Hanzo knew that it was really bad then. He told Kuai Liang about your situation since he could only do so much.

Kuai Liang thought it would be good if Harumi checked in first. It might be a woman issue. One day she came knocking at your door and asking if she could come in. You let out an unenthusiastic ‘sure” and she came in. She thought bringing you some mixed fruits would make you feel better. A fresh bowl of your favorite fruits, how could you say no?

She sat with you and slowly tried to work her way into the issue. She would ask how you’ve been feeling and how training was going. You’d start talking but then just stop. Harumi thought you were trying to think but then you would tell her you forgot what you were about to say. You did the same with the fruit. You would start taking bites then suddenly stop. It’s like you were repulsed by it and would put the half-bitten honeydew back into the bowl. Then a minute later you’d go back to eating. There was certainly a disruption in your mind to be causing these pauses.

Harumi made the mistake of saying something about Tomas. She never knew there was a problem between you two.

“Did you want me to bring Tomas here? I know he makes you feel better.” She gave you a warm smile, thinking that was the right move.

She grew worried once she saw your lips quiver before you bit your bottom lip. You swallowed hard; she could see it was difficult for you to do that. You looked like you were in pain from doing that.

“I’m…feeling tired. I think I should take a nap.”

You didn’t give Harumi time to respond to that. You lay down and curled up. She took the bowl of fruit and said okay. All the progress she made was trashed the moment she talked about Tomas. It did give her an idea that it was him that was troubling you. She said goodbye and to rest well. The moment she closed the door you felt tears slip down your face.

Harumi informed Kuai Liang of everything. Now he believes this is more of a him issue since it’s his brother. He gave you time to nap, or cry actually, and he would talk to you the next day.

The next day rolled around and he saw you wandering around outside. Your movements seemed as sluggish as a zombie’s. You were clearly not okay. He went up to you and walked by your side. He didn’t say anything for a minute, he waited to see if you wanted to speak first. But since you didn’t he would say something.

“I have heard from others that you have not been yourself recently. Is there anything I can do to help?” he asked in a firm but warm tone.

“…no, I’m fine, just tired.”

“Is that so? Are you sure it has nothing to do with Tomas?” he asked bluntly.

You stopped in your tracks. Your body shook as the tears came rolling out. Your loud cries told Kuai Liang how upset you were. He pulled you into a warm embrace in an effort to comfort you. He hears you ask why continuously. There was more that you wanted to say but your tears choked you up. Kuai Liang guided you to a nearby bench to sit on.

He waited for you to calm down so he could ask what the problem was. For a good five minutes, you were unable to say much. You’d cough and stop breathing for a second every time you wanted to say something. You collected yourself eventually and you spilled everything. You talked about Tomas’ distance and how he’s purposely doing it. You saw it with your own eyes and you don’t know what you could have done to deserve this.

Kuai Liang was shocked to hear that his brother was doing all that. He knew how crazy Tomas was about you. He knew he was planning to ask you out eventually. Why would he switch up like this? No one said this grandmaster mess would be easy.

This was a messy situation and he had to organize it. He knew keeping you with the Shirai Ryu would do no good. Having Tomas close by and having people continuously ask you what’s wrong won’t help. He would have to sadly send you away. But he knows a place that will openly accept you.

“I want you to listen to me. I want you to go to the Shaolin at the Wu Shi Academy. They will help with this heartache. I will figure out the problem. But you cannot continue going on in this state. I want you to feel better. Once you are better, you will be with the Shirai Ryu again.”

You listened to Kuai Liang and what he suggested. You knew he wasn’t kicking you out. He only wants you to heal. To heal, you must separate yourself from the situation. The Shaolin will definitely help with that.

You accepted his proposal. He said he would send you off in the morning and told you to pack your essentials. You got up and started packing for your healing journey.

══💤══╡°˖✧🦊✧˖°╞══💤══

A few days passed since you went to the Wu Shi. That information stayed between Kuai Liang, Harumi, and Hanzo. Only they knew where you were. Word spreads fast however and soon lots of people realized you were missing. That word got to Tomas. His heart stopped the moment he found out you with MIA. His thoughts were interrupted when Kuai Liang asked to speak with him.

Kuai Liang took him to his office to speak in private. The moment the door closed Tomas was quick to ask if he knew where you were.

“Kuai Liang, I’ve been hearing from others that they haven’t seen-“

“Yes, I know. She is fine. I know where she is.” He responded bluntly.

Tomas let out a sigh of relief knowing that you were still alive. Worry set in again once he saw the disappointed look in Kuai Liang’s eyes.

“The reason I had to send her away,” Kuai Liang hesitated to say the last part, “…was because of you.”

“What?! Me? I know I wanted to distance myself from her but I didn’t mean for her to leave the clan.”

“So you admit that you did it on purpose? What is the matter with you? I thought you loved her. You do not drive people that you love away. So tell me, why did you do it?” Kuai Liang’s harsh tone got to Tomas. It made him feel like the bad guy when all he wanted to do was keep you safe.

He gave in. He told his brother the truth. He explained the dreams about the Enenra and how you always got hurt. He explained how traumatic the last one seemed to him and it was his breaking point. He felt like he would be the cause of your pain or even your death. He could never live with himself if he saw the signs and did nothing about it.

Kuai Liang saw how erratic Tomas was acting. The guilt and fear were eating the man alive. He found Tomas’ actions to be idiotic but he knew he would make a mistake himself if he were in the same situation. If this Enenra issue was truly a cause for concern he would have to fix it immediately. He can’t help his brother but maybe Liu Kang could. He’s a god, why wouldn’t he deal with demons?

“Tomas, you need to fix this, all of this. Go to Liu Kang to see if he can help you. If not, the Wu Shi could definitely do something for you. While you are there, I want you to apologize for what you have done.” He left it at that.

Tomas was a bit confused by the last part but he understood that he needed help for this. He agreed to leave in the morning to see Liu Kang at the Wu Shi Academy. After that, he will make everything right with you. That’s if he can fix your broken heart.

══💤══╡°˖✧🦊✧˖°╞══💤══

Tomas was at the academy by the next day. He urgently asked to see Liu Kang but the monks informed him that Liu Kang was in Outworld right now. They told him he would return in a few days. They let him know he could stay in a spare room until Liu Kang returned since they could see Tomas was a mess. He was in desperate need of the fire god.

He settled down quickly and thought about finding Kung Lao and Raiden to catch up with them. When he went around looking for them he was surprised to see a familiar face. It was you. You were with Kung Lao and Raiden. You were sparing with Kung Lao who was going easy on you since you were still recovering. What Kuai Liang said before now made sense to Tomas. He needed to apologize to you. He walked up to you which stopped Kung Lao in his tracks. You were confused until you turned around to see the man who broke your heart. Your expression turned sour quickly.

“Hey…” He said softly.

“Hey…I gotta go.” Without letting him speak you walked away from him. It didn’t matter if you weren’t finished with your fight, you needed to leave.

You left Tomas stunned as Kung Lao gave him a disapproving nod. He would be experiencing that until Liu Kang returned.

Tomas wanted to apologize for his actions. He wanted to say he was sorry for hurting you and explain why he did it. He knows his fears are not an excuse, but you still deserve to know the reason. But every attempt was a failure. You treated him like he treated you.

You walked away and acted like you had somewhere to be. You spent your time around Raiden and Kung Lao, almost using them as bodyguards. You would meditate for hours with the other monks to prevent Tomas from disturbing you. You pulled a reverse on him.

Every failure made his heart hurt. He sees that what he did was stupid and did more harm than good. He learned his lesson and he wants to beg you to give him a chance. The guilt inside of him will drive him insane. Even if Liu Kang helps him with his Enenra problem the guilt will stay with him forever. He’s made everything worse by being a fool.

It got to the point that Raiden and Kung Lao had to confront him. Raiden was more passive while Kung Lao was giving him a mean eye. They told him to back off. They said they knew what happened and don’t think it’s a good idea to make amends now. Tomas begged them to help him out. He explained everything and Raiden actually grew concerned about the Enenra problem.

Although they understood, they told him they couldn’t force you to accept an apology right now. They will be easier on him but they won’t force you to do anything. Tomas was still on his own in this situation.

It would still be another day till Liu Kang returned. If Tomas is gonna make it up to you he has to do it now. He had patience and waited for nighttime. You’d be pretty tired by the point so it’d be easier to catch you. The moment he saw you walking into the building you were staying in he followed you.

You didn’t see Tomas once and you thought he took the hint to leave you be. But when you went to close the door to your room it was stopped by someone. You looked back to see Tomas who did not look like the same man you loved before. His eyes were tired like he hadn’t slept for days. There was no sparkle to them. It’s just a void of guilt left behind. For a second you wanted to forget the pain he put you through and hug him. But to deny what happened won’t fix anything. He has to live with the consequences of his actions.

“Please, I know you are mad at me but I want to make this right. I’m sorry.”

“Sorry is not gonna cut it. Just leave me alone already.” You tried pushing the door but he was much stronger than you. He pushed his way in and shut the door behind him.

“I know it won’t but I’ll make it up to you. I never meant to hurt you I swear. I just wanted to keep you safe.”

“Safe? From what exactly? You’re not making any sense!”

“I’ll explain everything if you give me a chance! Just please believe me when I say I never meant to harm you.” His voice cracked as he struggled to keep himself together.

Your eyes widened after hearing him speak. His eyes grew wet and soon you heard him take deep, shaky breaths. Tomas ran up to you and hugged you tight. He hugged you as if he were to lose you again. He let out all of his emotions. Tears streamed down his face and droplets fell onto your back.

“I’m…so sorry. You’re the best thing…that’s ever happened to me. I’m an idiot for driving away the woman I love.”

Your arms slowly went up as you decided to hug him back. It was by instinct; your mind was more occupied with what he was saying.

“I just couldn’t imagine finding you dead one day…because of me. I saw it happen so many times I couldn’t take it anymore!”

“Tomas!” You had to yell to get his attention, “You’re still not making any sense. Breathe, we’re gonna figure this out right now.”

You pulled away from him so you could guide him to your bed. You had him lie with you. You waited for him to calm down and gather his thoughts to tell you why he was acting up. Once he did, he explained the whole situation. The nightmares, the Enenra, your death, and the mimic. He told you how scared he would be in his dreams and when he’d wake up. He talked about how he thought it was a bad omen that would eventually happen and it would be his fault for not doing anything.

“Tomas…why didn’t you tell me from the start?”

“I didn’t want to scare you. I was scared myself.” His eyes shifted down as he struggled to look into your eyes after saying that.

You took hold of his head and forced him to look at you, “Even if I was scared, I’d know you would never hurt me. I would have done everything to help you figure out what was wrong. I love you too much to let you go through this alone.”

Your vision blurred as the tears came up again. It’s fine, Tomas has the same blurred vision since he’s about to cry as well. You brought his head closer to yours and gave him a gentle kiss. It was a kiss that told him that everything would be alright and you loved him.

He brought you close to him and held you in his arms. He wanted to have you close after distancing himself for so long. He wanted to smell your scent and have his fingers play with your hair. He wanted you.

Emotions are quite draining. It sure made you two sleepy. The tears died down and the only emotions left were relief and love. You held each other and slowly fell asleep. Your once weakened bond was now strengthened.

That was the first night Tomas had no nightmares.

══💤══╡°˖✧🦊✧˖°╞══💤══

Morning came and Tomas told you that he had to see Liu Kang immediately. He let you know that he wanted to ask the god for help. You two walked hand in hand to find Liu Kang to sort out this situation.

The fire god was surprised to see you two here. He immediately knew something was wrong when he looked at Tomas’ tired expression. Once again he went over the whole Enenra problem which Liu Kang took seriously. He asked Ashrah for help to deal with this pesky demon. The duo got to work as you stayed by Tomas’ side.

For hours they tried to figure out where this all was coming from. And although there was an Enenra messing with Tomas’ mind, that’s all it did. It could do nothing else to him. It was only there to weaken him into an unhealthy state. It wanted to gain a hold of his physical form. Seeking out Liu Kang was the right decision since the task became unworthy to the demon.

So in the end, the Enenra failed. Those nightmares were purely nightmares.

“See, told you they were just dreams.” You said.

“No need to rub it in.”

Yap notes: So when I first started writing this I was watching As Above, So Below cause I'm a sucker for Dante's Inferno stuff. Tell me why they threw a smoke bomb in the movie. Where do you just casually get one? It was in France so things could be a little unorganized. Also I'm too emotional sometimes. I want to sleep now. Adiós!