#unless i'm completely forgetting something which could be the case

[iamenits]

Georgia | @leonardmccoyevents’ Leonard McCoy Bingo 2025

[lsunstreakerl]

more scrapbook paper max. be gentle with him please, he doesn't get enough hugs.

"Max. Maaaaaaax."

Someone is nudging their toe into Max's thigh.

He cracks an eye open, disoriented. There's something thudding against the warm wall behind his back, and he's sitting on cool tile. The room has a greenish hue.

"You better not be dead, I need to interview you for my assignment."

He's in the laundry room. Why is he in the laundry room?

"-We're supposed to interview an upperclassman and ask about their school life balance, and the internship work, and the battleworks stuff-"

Max is in the laundry room because his suit was stained. His suit was stained because he bled all over it. He bled all over it...?

"-So I was like, yeah, I'll just ask Max, that'll be fine. And then I spent half my morning trying to track you down, and everyone said you skipped class, which like- fair, but then you weren't upstairs in our dorm- we should really get a better lock on that door dude-"

Right. Big lizard thing. Mean big lizard thing. Casual evening assignment for him and Daniel that very rapidly turned not casual. Max is forgetting something.

"-And I have been looking everywhere. And now we're here, and I'm pretty sure you might be dead? Also I don't think your right side was purple last time I saw you. Unless it was, in which case I'm very sorry if I've offended you. But it doesn't look natural, cause like- it's just your arm and also your chest a little bit- what is your workout routine- so I'm thinking it's maybe bad."

Oh right. Poisonous big lizard thing.

Max blinks, staring up at Liam.

"Oh! You're not dead!"

Surely Max was not this stupid as a freshman.

"Obviously."

Liam looks from Max's face to his arm.

"...do you need the nurse?"

Max also looks down at his arm. It's definitely not supposed to be that color. He's not sure he could move it if he wanted to.

"Yup."

------

"Are we lost?"

Max feels his teeth grinding, squinting as he looks across the landscape in front of him. They're supposed to have a senior with them, but Kyvat had disappeared almost half an hour ago when he heard a noise- which breaks basically the first rule any of them are taught for Fog trips, to never go alone- and now Max is stuck with a freshman clinging to him.

"No."

He's lying. Sort of.

Max has made a few solo Fog trips, but that's because he's perfectly content to go apeshit and destroy everything around him to find a way out- it's how Daniel had met him the first time, before Max got enrolled.

He can't exactly do that with Bearman at his back though- the kid would die. Max can feel him stepping closer, practically pasted alongside Max's back, even though he's nearly as tall as Max is by now.

It's embarrassing, honestly. Max has two years on him- the least Bearman can do is let Max catch up to Daniel before he outgrows them both.

He might be able to try-

"Ollie."

The kid perks up behind him.

"Yeah?"

Max chews at his bottom lip for a moment. He's never tried this before- a tuned down version of what he's done in the past. He's not sure if it might still hurt Bearman, depending on how long they do it. He's not sure if they're going to get Kyvat back.

But they don't all need to die out here.

"Keep holding onto me. I'm going to try and feel a way out- I need you to tell me if you think there's a threat."

"Okay."

Credit where it's due, Ollie is brave. They weren't even supposed to go into the Fog today, not with a freshman- but things had gotten messy up top, and it had been safer to drop into the complete unknown without supplies rather than stay.

Which kind of sums up the year Max has been having.

That it's only January is irrelevant.

He closes his eyes, tries to carefully build up the charge in the area around him, feeling out for where it stops.

It's much easier to just have a full spark and follow that path, but again- tiny freshman. Max does not want to have to explain to the board why he's brought back a barbecued Bearman.

And Ollie's dorm mates would be sad.

Also, begrudgingly, Max kind of likes Bearman.

He sets off tiny little sparks, soft snaps of electricity, and then he's walking.

The Fog is difficult because it's not real. It causes hallucinations, makes you question what you see, what you hear. It obscures your sight, leads you wandering in circles until you die. Or until one of its natural predators comes to eat you.

Max is not interested in either of those things happening today, so he keeps walking, pulling Bearman behind him as he keeps setting off small snaps, carving out his own path.

He's not trying to get to a specific outlet- there's no way, not with the tiny amount of charge he's generating- just needs to get to one.

"Max-"

Oliver sounds nervous, and Max opens his eyes. There's nothing around them.

"You're hallucinating."

"Okay."

The benefit to traveling in groups through Fog is that it can't show the same thing to two people at once- which is why traveling alone is borderline suicide.

Max isn't going to feel bad for Kyvat- it's his own fault.

He closes his eyes again, feels Bearman jolt softly next to him when he accidentally sets a charge too hard, shocking him.

He's not going to feel bad about that either- he's got empathy in limited amounts.

Otherwise Bearman is good about sticking close, doesn't complain about the numerous static shocks he must be experiencing.

Max can feel a headache building at the base of his skull- he's not used to using this much precision for this long. He's been working on it with Lambiase, but it's still difficult.

His fingertips have a slight tingle- they're not numb or charred the way they get when he's really pushing it, just an uncomfortable pinprick sensation.

One of his sparks flares at the edge of his senses- it's snapping in regular oxygen, not Fog.

He doesn't open his eyes, because they're not out yet, but he must be smirking, because Bearman sighs in relief.

"Please tell me you found it."

Max hums, keeps guiding them.

"Maybe."

He can feel it when they hit the cool air- Fog is dry and stale, constantly. He blinks his eyes open, and sure enough- they've just stepped out of a dilapidated doorway, into the middle of nowhere.

"How the fuck-"

Bearman is looking at him, and Max shrugs. He's not going to explain it- he'll sound like a maniac anyways, and he has enough of a reputation as is.

He leans forward and hits the emergency button on Bearman's suit, sending off signals back to the academy and their supervisors.

"Stay here."

Oliver's eyes widen, darting between Max and the doorway.

"You're not actually going to- mate."

Max frowns at him. He's not taking judgment from a freshman- Liam is bad enough, and they have to bunk together.

"Stay. Put."

Bearman swallows and nods, and Max turns back around and steps into the Fog.

Stupid senior.

[drdemonprince]

hey! i have a question abt your cruising guide if you don't mind, regarding something that (unless i totally missed sth, in which case i'm very sorry for wasting your time) i felt was completely absent but happens to be my main concern. (i'm already a huge slut, so anonymous/short term sexual encounters in themselves aren't the issue for me.) i'll put it bluntly: how am i supposed to pick anyone up in a gay male cruising space (irl/not on an app) when i look like a woman? i'm not a total stranger to gay bars, which is why i'm very sure that people in a cruising space are far, far more likely to take me as an intruder looking to be pleasantly scandalized than someone like them who they might want to have sex with, not to mention have sex with as a man(-adjacent). i also know it's likely that i'm projecting at least some of my dysphoria onto these hypothetical encounters, but it doesn't seem like an unjustified fear, either. i (fwiw: perisex, afab, some type of agender-nonbinary) have been on t for abt 9 months now, but i haven't had top or bottom surgery (i want both but so far it's unclear when that is going to happen) and my breasts are too large to be really concealed by a binder (not to mention that i can't fuck in a binder bc they give me awful headaches), i'm very short and ~curvy~, i have very little body/no facial hair, and people in casual daily interactions certainly don't hesitate to address me as a woman. it just seems preposterous to assume that there's anything abt me a man looking for another man could be attracted to. i guess it's possible someone could be a chaser after my specific type, but that's not an encounter i want to have right now. as far as my question to you is concerned, i want to have sex with a man who is into men, and at the very least won't see me as a girl wanting to be fucked like a man. i know that there is no way to objectively predict these things, experiences and tastes vary and so on, but i would be extremely grateful if you could share some of your experiences or give me some other pointers for how to approach this/what to expect. as it is, if i were to enter a darkroom, i assume i would be asked to leave, but preemptively telling myself that it's hopeless and to forget abt it for at least the next several years seems unnecessarily cruel, too. if there's any advice or experience you can share, thank you so so so much, and if not, thank you anyway for taking the time to read this letter of woe and for putting your perspective out there, it's been a balm to be understood. wishing you all the best x

Buddy -- it is (largely!) your dysphoria talking! Lots of queer men will wanna fuck you and they will wanna do it in a queer way. I walked around Steamworks fully tiddy out regularly and I had a great time.

It's true that in more general gay bars people will sometimes misread you, and that it will hurt, but trust me that lots of queer men are already attracted to you. If anything, I've noticed that in general queer spaces cis gay men sometimes default to assuming that you won't be interested in them and give a polite distance that they will happily do away with if they know you're looking and welcome their attention. A lot of guys don't want to accidentally be predatory to someone who they think might be a lesbian or not interested in men. (Again, being mistaken for something you are not really fucking sucks and can drive your dysphoria crazy, I get it, but do keep in mind that sometimes people do this out of a desire to be respectful, not because they're turned off that you're such a Womanly Woman or whatever.)

My first recommendation for you would be to GET ON GRINDR. Post some pics that make it clear what you're working with, physically, and list your identity clearly on your profile. When I first got a grindr I had a really slutty abs-and-underboob pic that got me a TON of attention from queer men, who treated me like a man, and it immediately assuaged all my concerns that I wasn't welcome on there. I think it will do a lot for your self-confidence and sense of belonging to try the same too.

Now, I don't want to be pollyannaish about any of this -- yes there are transphobes. In my experience they're mostly pretty quiet to trans men, they'll just pass you by for the most part. Yes there are people who will say awkward things. Block liberally and often and don't be afraid to stand up for yourself. But honestly, these are the kinds of issues you will run into within any dating platform, and the gay world is pretty damn blase and chill about the inclusion of trans men for the most part. You can absolutely put yourself out there -- and the sooner you do, the sooner you'll realize that your insecurities are not rooted in the reality of how other queer men mostly feel.

I wish I had put myself out there YEARS earlier! A lot would have changed for me if I had.

[writingquestionsanswered]

Guide: Inspiration, Motivation, and Passion

Anonymous asked: I have time to write and TONS of ideas in my notes. I want them to eventually be final drafts... but in this moment I just don't care about them. Does that make sense? I wish I did, but I'm disconnected. Is normal? Do all writers/authors struggle to connect with and feel passion for their stories/characters, but they write anyway and it comes eventually? Or do they not write unless those feelings are in place already? Forget making readers care about my protagonist. How do I care about them? Could my chance to write already be over? Also Audhd btw :) Thank you for all your advice ❤️

(Ask edited for length)

Inspiration, motivation, and passion are all things that can wax and wane for writers, but they do have to be there in some combination at some point if you want to write. If you consistently lack any of them, there's definitely something going on that's worth addressing. So, let's look at each component individually to get a better idea of what they are and how they ultimately work together to help you write.

Inspiration is the collection of sparks that ignite story. In other words: ideas. All those ideas you have in your notes--you wrote them down because they excited you when they popped into your head. Something about those ideas intrigued you enough to write them down and want to explore them later. And the thing that makes you want to explore them later is almost always a question... some sort of "what if" that you need to answer for yourself.

Motivation is the "why" that makes you want to take those ideas and turn them into stories. It's the answers to the following questions: why I write, why I want to answer this question for myself, why I want to tell this story, why I want to explore these themes, why I think this character's story is worth telling, why I want to say the thing I'm trying to say with this story.

Passion is the fire that drives us through the process of turning the ideas into a finished story. It's love for the characters, world, and plot. It's love for all the things motivating you to tell this story. It's love for words and imagery and process. It's love for the act of writing and for being a writer.

Again, all of the above need to be present in some form and combination at some point in order for you to actually complete a story, but these things can all wax and wane during not just one story's writing process, but during different periods in your life. They can also exist on a spectrum that's different for each writer, each project, or different periods of time. BUT... if you never have any inspiration, motivation, or passion for writing... or if you have inspiration initially, but lose interest and have no motivation or passion, writing is going to be really difficult.

Lack of Inspiration - Inspiration is the lifeblood of writing. If you don't have ideas, you can't write. Ideas come from experiencing the world around us. As we live life, observe our fellow humans, learn about history and the universe, and speculate about the unknown, ideas start to occur to us. Whereas a non-writer might think, "That documentary about the future of space travel was neat," a writer might think, "I'm intrigued by the idea of generation ships. I wonder what would happen if a generation ship landed on the wrong planet?" That question is what gets you to the next level... the "why" that motivates you to take this further than a mere moment of curiosity. So, if you're lacking that, there's a very good chance it's because you're not absorbing enough from the world around you. Perhaps your experiences aren't varied enough, you're not observing your fellow humans, and aren't learning about history or the universe, or speculating about the unknown. In which case, my post: Guide: Filling Your Creative Well can help you get into that mode.

Lack of Motivation - Motivation in particular can come and go as you work on a story, but it has to be there at the beginning or you never get started. The answer to "why I want to write" is especially important, because one thing that happens sometimes is people try to get into writing for the wrong reasons. They don't get into it because they have ideas for stories they want to tell, and themes they want to explore, and things they want to say. They get into it because it sounds like fun, because "everyone's doing it," or because it's unique, noteworthy, and--they think--a path to notoriety and/or wealth. But without the need to tell stories, those things aren't enough to make those ideas come or transform them into something more than an idea. But something else that can ruin motivation, and often does for those who do want to tell stories: physical and mental well being. If you don't feel good physically or mentally... if you're busy, tired, distracted, depressed, low on energy, in a bad mood, dealing with chronic pain, under the weather, etc., those things can definitely zap your motivation, even if you really want to tell stories. See these posts for help on that: Writing with Chronic Illness, Writing and Depression.

Lack of Passion - Our fiery love for the characters, setting, story, themes, tropes, questions, etc... that's the thing that most commonly wanes (and sometimes disappears) for writers during the writing process. If it's not there at the beginning, though... if you never feel a fiery love for your characters and their stories... you haven't hit upon the right ideas yet, and you need to keep looking until you find something that really sings to you. But if that passion is there at the beginning and disappears, there can be a number of reasons for that. Physical and mental well being, definitely. Exhaustion, boredom, and any of the things we refer to as "writer's block." These posts can help with finding the problem and reigniting the passion: 5 Reasons You Lost Interest in Your WIP, Plus Fixes, Guide: How to Rekindle Your Motivation to Write, Getting Excited About Your Story Again, Getting Unstuck: Motivation Beyond Mood Boards & Playlists

I hope something here will work for you and help you move forward. But just remember: It’s Never Too Late to Become a Writer. If you're just not feeling it right now, that doesn't mean you won't in a month, in a year, in five years. There are famous, well-celebrated authors who didn't start writing until they were beyond their 50s or 60s. So, don't stress about it if it seems like writing just isn't for you right now. Maybe you'll come back around to it eventually, or maybe you'll decide that you're more of a story consumer than a story creator, which is okay, too. ♥

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

I’ve been writing seriously for over 30 years and love to share what I’ve learned. Have a writing question? My inbox is always open!

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[calexo]

HI HELLOO YOUR WRITING IS SO <333

may i request a teasing/(slightly? one-sided) rivalry mc with qiu + tama ?? :]

MMMMM YES DINNER now I'm not sure to whose side we're referring to by one sided so I'm gonna say based on the situation or smth Idk how else to say it

extra note/s: I've never ever tried turning down/using negative dialogues towards Tamarack so I can't say much T T I take all my info from the fandom wiki hahah. This is also a bit shorter than my last TT TT I'm a bit focused on onlf yn hshshsh

more below the cut !!

✧ As seen in step 1, AUTUMN is kinda already teasing towards MC, so it really isn't anything new.

In the game, he isn't at all bothered by any rude responses. Whether or not you're serious, his ego remains unscathed.

✧ Sometimes, he might tick you off. Completely unintentional though. Tell him and he'll apologize immediately. Whether or not you do, you will notice him toning it down or at least indicating what he does and doesn't mean. He picks up on the little things, so nothing goes unnoticed.

✧ As for rivalry... T T I read somewhere in Vianca's profile on the wiki that Qiu doesn't realize she considers them a rival and I'm not sure if he'd notice it.

If it's regarding his popularity, then he has no problem with it at all. If anything, he's glad you're making friends. Even more so when you easily get along with Baxter and Ren.

So basically, you see it as rivalry while he sees it as you getting comfortable with everyone.

✧ Meanwhile with TAMARACK, she doesn't react that much to teasing. I mean, she responds as bluntly as ever so you can't exactly tell if she can tell.

✧ The closest to a negative dialogue I've ever chose with her was "I don't think you're pretty" in step 1 in which she replies with "I think you are"

And this leads me to think that she'd reply similarly in other cases.

Some say it's a killjoy, but you two treat it as an inside joke. It's just something you two understand.

GUYS I'M SORRY I CAN NEVER BE MEAN TO TAM I LOVE HER TM

✧ As for rivalry, the only scenario I can think of would be when you're playing.

It's all fun in games; she takes it very seriously when playing against you, to say the least.

✧ AUTUMN by fourteen is really no different. Any teasing between you two as friends is like routine. Unless you come up with something like qiu-liet, that is.

Still, they are unbothered whether or not you're serious with your comments. But unlike then, they'll instead brush it off or follow with sarcasm rather than teasing.

✧ Rivalry?? Now I don't think they'd bother to compete, especially if it's regarding their popularity. You can have it, they'd think.

But it's pretty much the same for every case. Whether or not they're aware of you seeing them as a rival, they wouldn't hold you back or try and go against you.

The thing is, if you can't keep up then it wouldn't be their problem.

✧ As for TAMARACK, she too has gotten used to your teasing. That's if it's been a thing between you two long before.

You two came up with inside jokes, silly nicknames and even code names for people you may dislike.

✧ Rivalry I think could apply to if you both do band? Unlike before, she wouldn't go against you whether or not she knew how you saw her. In fact, she'd like if you two practiced together<3

Her kindness actually makes you forget that you see her as a competition. They could never make me dislike you, Tam ☹️

[quinloki]

Ok so since you said second submissions are okay and i loved what you wrote for the admirals I'm gonna indulge in a combination that seriously makes me shudder (not in a good way) but you asked for this 😅 so here you go:

Trebol 🫣 / Teach 🙈 / (and to make it easier for me to hit send) Sakazuki

foot fetish (or kink forget how the generator called it) / predator-prey / forced orgasm

Oh.

On the heels of Germy's ask I'm just - I'm not ready for this. I mean, this might sound completely wild, but like the level of "Oh no I do not want this" is actually hot.

"Who knew this level of discomfort could be alluring?"

Kinksters, baby, kinksters knew. We're not going to worry about the why \o/ we're just going to enjoy the moment and indulge in some head canons and all I'm going to do is promise that I won't write another Trebol one-shot cause no one wanted the first one XD

THINGS ARE DUBIOUS BELOW THE CUT, PROCEED WITH CAUTION.

Marshall D Teach:

Foot Fetish - Yes - Not something he's going to go for all on his own, but he's not against it. He'll certainly use his feet on you, especially if you don't like feet. It's also not really high up enough on his list that he'll make you jerk him off with your feet.

But take the good luck for what it is, as long as you don't show your disgust (if you don't jive feet) he's not going to use his foot for anything more than a means of pinning you to the floor.

Forced Orgasms - Oh god you don’t even know - Scream, cry, beg, it won't do you any good. He loves the way your body tenses and locks up when you cum against your will. He loves the way you tremble and throb against his cock when you're forced over the edge.

It doesn't matter if you're in it willingly or not, your body's going to react how he wants by the end of it all. Even when it start hurt, when the tensing turns to muscle cramps, when the exhaustion makes the pleasure rake your skin and burn, he's not likely to stop. It's about his pleasure, unless you have the risky luck of his love, in which case there's going to be some consideration for your enjoyment.

But if you don't have any of his affection? If he's just neutral or you're a prisoner? Maybe you'll be lucky and Doc Q will give you a "disease" that turns pain into pleasure, or some such.

Predator-Prey - Oh god you don’t even know - Until he gets a chance to actually hunt you, I don't think Teach even knows how much he'll enjoy it. He wants an easy life of pleasure and food, so the effort of hunting is probably something he's never really considered before.

But he's a D, and a sharp man, and when his heart races at the snap of a twig, the creak of a floor board, when he can catch the softest whimper or gasp from you as you skitter away from him, he realizes how much he's enjoying it. He almost doesn't want to catch you, but he certainly does not want you to get away.

Trebol:

Foot Fetish - Oh god you don’t even know - It's the only part of him he doesn't cover in snot. (blaugh, ew ew ew ew) So of course it's - I mean, I bet he has a hand kink too, frankly, but! I'm digressing. He's older, so it's easier for him to just pin you to the ground with his devil fruit ability and rub his foot where he pleases.

No bending over required >.> (I would like you to know I am so grossed out, but you're all coming with me). I think he revels in making someone cum with his foot - he knows you're grossed out by it, and yet you can't stop yourself. It's a power trip.

Forced Orgasms - FUCK Yes - He's not an idiot. His swagger stumbled out of his life ten years ago and didn't even look back. He's covered in snot with a constantly running nose, gallivanting around one of the most beautiful kingdoms in the world in his BATH ROBE. Plus he's next king hottie mc hot pants over here.

So forcing you to cum, while his... (ew) snot drips on you, it's a power trip. It doesn't matter if he's using his foot or his dick, or his hand, or whatever. The point is you are definitely grossed out, and you're going to cum anyway.

Probably while he's doing that stupid ass laugh too.

Predator-Prey - I dunno - I don't think he's really in it for the thrill of the chase. I think he's in it for someone to deposit you at his feet and leave him to do as he pleases.

He's not running around through the castle to find you, he's gonna have Pica give you to him. He's certainly not taking that bathrobe out into the forest either.

Sakazuki:

Foot Fetish - Sure - He can take it or leave it. I feel like he's a "the shoes stay on" kind of guy when it comes to sex. Very much clothed dom naked sub kind of situation. Him and Crocodile have that in common, efficiency, just enough comes off of him to get the job done, while your clothes are in tatters on the floor.

Forced Orgasms - Oh god you don’t even know - Control is the name of the game, and when he's deciding how many times and when you get to cum, that's a lot of control. Unless he's interrogating someone (and canonically I do not see him doing sexy interrogations, but hey, this is why we write fic), I don't see him doing this for the exhaustion or pain.

He's doing it because he wants to. Because he can tell you you're not allowed to cum until he gives you permission and then he forces you cum anyway. You get the pleasure, he gets the ego boost, and you're both likely to enjoy the punishment afterward. Especially if it's practicing until you "learn" to wait until you've gotten permission.

Predator-Prey - Yes - This would rate a lot higher if he had more spare time, but it's not something you can rush. Well, it's not something he wants to rush, and that makes it difficult to accommodate.

He is, however, a good hunter, and you - decidedly - are good prey. I'm sure he'll figure out how to make that work for him the next time he gets the chance.

How May I Kink Your Head Canon?

[shiny-kaibernyte]

Ooo is it ok if u write a drayton x reader where reader is really reckless and always takes on challenges such as doing 7 star terra raids and goes off on different adventures, and he gets worried and protective and the rest of the bb elite 4 find it cute and funny

Hope this is what you asked for. I'm kinda bad at writing this stuff 😅

Tag along | Drayton x Reader

Pokémon Scarlett and Violet Indigo Disk DLC Spoilers ahead!

After one to many raids where you get hurt. Drayton decided to finally ask you to let him come with you. Though things didn't go exactly as he had hopped.

Warnings: Small argument, Fluff, protective Drayton

SPOILER WARNING: No spoiler warning. Unless you don't know character names

“Drayton, I'm not so sure about this…” Your voice cut through the silence of the BB League room. Drayton had asked you completely out of the blue to let him tag along on your next raid. Which happened to be a black crystal 7star. “You’ve never even done a raid before.”

Leaning against the table, he simply turns his head and smiles, his pearly fangs flashing at you for a moment before pleading his case. “So? I’m a fast learner, I have good Pokémon too, gave you a challenge, didn’t I? Plus, you make one hell of a teacher.”

“True I do.” A snarky smile crosses your face for a moment, the sound of Crispin snickering in the corner at the self-confidence. “But even if I could show you about raid battling. I'm going to a 7 star… these aren't exactly teaching material. Especially given what's inside the crystal.”

“What’s inside? A larger than average Scorbunny? If so Drayton really should go.” Lacey teased, prodigy Drayton’s face with a gleeful smile. His own face scowled slightly at the remark.

“Maybe it’s an angry Trapinch coming back to taunt him! That would make for a spicy dish!” Crispin added, spinning his pan around.

Drayton’s head snapped up, and he stared at his fiery friend. “We do not talk about the Trapinch man! My ass still has NOT recovered from it… neither had my ego.”

“Think more… giant psychic mouse thing with serious anger issues.” You admit holding back the laugh that just wanted to leave your lungs.

“Well, that wasn’t what I expected… But hey! That's never stopped me before. Don’t forget which one of us helped you with the legendary hunt.” Drayton pestered, still clutching onto any string he can, to convince you to let him come. Anything to give him that edge up on you, if the dragon egg eyes won’t work. Then good old fashion pleading will have to do - and he’s about 5 seconds from doing that.

“Drayton, I love you, but I can't bring myself to let you come with me on this one! If it was a 4 star then yeah totally. But this is huge! These sorts of raids, I can't bring someone so inexperienced into the palace. I wouldn’t even bring Kieran!” You argued, it was no surprise that your pleas fell upon stubborn ears.

“That’s exactly why I want to go with you! It pains me whenever you come back from one of your raid trips hurt… or bruised. And I can't help but think to myself that I could have done something to help you. Take the load off of you!” His voice cracked slightly, not out of sadness or hurt, but more out of the fact he couldn’t do something to protect you. Drayton knows you can handle yourself, you’ve proven that to him on many occasions. But at the end of the day, you are still his treasure, and he wants to protect you, needs to. “Just let me come along this once! If I cause you problems, I’ll never ask again, just please humour me.”

Before you could even give him a response, Lacey’s voice cut through the tension, it was soft-spoken but clear. “Come on, let him… let him.”

“SHHH. It’s getting good…” Crispin's equally soft voice cut after hers, somehow eating popcorn. Where did he get that, why are you asking? He’s the chef, not me.

“Can you four stop bickering. You are ruining my concentration.” Amary’s scolded, the sound of her pocket watch snapping closed followed her voice. “In case you 3 have forgotten, we have a meeting to get to with the director. You have 5 minutes, don’t be tardy.” 

Amary’s left the room not long after. The 4 of you left dumbfounded in the room, it wasn't until Drayton’s voice chimed up again. “Okay, I was not the only one who had no idea she was in the room, right?”

“I think she spawned in?” Crispin answered with a question of his own.

“How long has she been here? I've been here all morning? Did she drink an invisibility potion… What does she know that we don’t?” Lacey’s brain scratched as well.

“I think it's like a Spinarak thing. If you stand still, they can’t see you.” Your fellow companions laugh at your remark, it's a dumb reason, but what isn’t. During the laughter, you take your chance to leave. Grabbing your bag and heading for the door, only for the sound of it shutting in your face to follow. Peering up, you notice Drayton’s somehow moved from the other side of the room to close the door. His face was one of worry. He couldn't keep eye contact with you, anytime he tried, he just looked back at the door then at you again; as if silently asking you to let him come with you. His face reminded you of the first time he admitted he loved you. That silent protective plea of his. Never spoken through words. With a deep sigh of defeat, you take a step back from the door and stretch your hand out towards it. “After you, dragon boy.”

“YES! I WIN!” Drayton proclaimed jumping up for a moment fist in the air victorious. Lacey elbowed him directly in the ribs moments later, Crispin crying of laughter on the floor trying desperately not to whack himself in the face with his frying pan. “Ow right, right. Thank you, love! NOW LET'S GO KICK SOME MOUSE BUTT!”

[juanita-not-hannita]

Oathbound Thoughts

(Part 1)

🚨MAJOR SPOILER🚨

So, here we are. The third book in the LBC. If there is three words I could give for this book it's, What. THE. FUCK. This is probably my 2nd favorite so far (Bloodmarked being first). If you're wondering about the romance I think I have a prettyyy good assumption on what'll happen in the next book.

Quick Recap~

Sel is the son of Bree's enemy(the person who they've been fighting the whole time since like day one lol). He's also the SHADOW PRINCE LIKE WHAT?!? (My heart DROPPED) and he's even FURTHER into demonia worse to like c'mon I've been rooting for you the whole time dude.🙄 Nick and Bree are having a situationship AGAIN and honestly I can't say I support it. Like because how do I know it's not just Lancelot and Arthur plus they can't even HAVE kids. (I'll get back to that part.) YES, i know Bree and Sel's mom knew eachother, but they built their relationship together, not js some ancient spell. Bree has developed so freaking much it's not even funny anymore. She has gone from people protecting her to being the protector like gurllll get itt!

The Fucking Romance (Excuse my language❤️)

Yeaaa Oathbound was a HANDFUL. The fact that Sel is the Shadow Prince and everything completely BLEW my mind away. He also can control Bree's friggin bloodmark. Considering the romance part,(I'll go into detail w the other stuff on a diff post) will there actually be a chance for breeselnick, breesel, or breenick? The fact that Bree is Arthur's scion and stuff and she is meant to fight Sel bc he's the Shadow Prince totally may stop their relationship.. (WHICH IVE BEEN ROOTING FOR THE WHOLE FREAKINGTIME 😫) Grumpy wizard is also in a SEVERE case of delulu and demonia,unless he lets them nurture him and hell him get his humanity back, there's a 5% chance they'll get in a loving relationship, unless Sel gets his humanity restored bc NO WAY im letting bree fall for Sel like that (maybe).

We also can't forget our golden boy is Lancelot's scion and can't have kids with Bree soo....? But! I also have an assumption. They're gonna try to end the Lines😮‍💨. Yes ,that means Nick or Bree will have to die or after Camlann it will be like the END and they don't have to fight anymore??? My other assumption is that Nick will sacrifice himself bc of what he was talking about the crown-shard-kingy-thingamajig in that one chapter bc there is gonna be something between bree and sel (which is kinda unlikely atp☹️) in the next book and he realizes that they're happy together (like what he said during the communion), and sacrifices himself after Camlann. But there wouldnt be like a major reason why he would sacrifice him self, so tbh this is gonna be one ride of a book. Possibly because my baby Bree gets possessed after and transfers his soul to him and sacrifices himself after Camlann to end the Lines once and for all. He's also CONNECTED to Sel.(other than the Oath IK IK🙄) Remeber, he has the shard in his heart and sel wears the crown soo.....we'll see whats gonna happen then.

This is a reminder that Miss Tracy did say that it doesn't matter who Bree ends up with because the Romance is a subplot, and its integrated so well btw. There is a HIGH possibility they might not get tg at all (which might kill me 2) but we must respect Bree and Miss Tracy. So yea, I'm completely torn apart 💔 😞

P.S.

Don't read the books for the romance and love triangle, there's a deeper meaning I SWEAR and if you are....we need to have a little chat.

[sluggishpink]

Soukokou smut, home au!!

This is my first post and first time writing a fic so it might not be all that good but I just wanted to know how it was so far, it's not finished but maybe is some people want me to finish it I will!! ^_^

They live together, they're boyfriends and they lead normal lives.

The front door opens abruptly, behind it is Osamu Dazai, a tall and slender man with shaggy brown hair,

"Honey, I'm home!"

He calls out for his lover, Chuuya Nakahara but does not receive a response. Confused, he puts the grocery bag down and starts looking around the house in places Chuuya would usually be. He checks the kitchen, he knew his boyfriend's been practicing cooking recently but to no avail, next their backyard, remembering Chuuya had mentioned cutting the grass this morning since it had been growing quickly and had gotten too long for the likes of him but again he is unsuccessful.

This confuses Dazai further as he doesn't remember Chuuya mentioning anything about going out, but perhaps he changed his mind.

Dazai approaches their room and that's when he starts hearing noises, noises coming from a person, the noises were moans. He assumes that it's his neighbour, after all their walls were very thin, but as he gets closer to the room they become clearer than ever, they were definitely coming from inside there.

His heart rate quickens, now feeling it's going to beat out his chest, his mind is only able to make up one possible scenario and that is Chuuya with another man, he convinced himself that this was the case and was about to bust the door down until he hears his own name.

"Dazai!~ Ah~ Dazai!~"

It was at that moment he knew exactly what was going on. The door wasn't locked, so gently and with care, he pushes it open, it's not like the subtle creaks of the door would be audible over the loud moans. He peeks through and sees a sight he will never forget. It's Chuuya, Chuuya masturbating. Not just that but with a dildo and wearing what seems to be Dazai's favourite shirt.

Dazai quickly turns away, his heart beating even faster than it was when he first heard the strange noises, his cheeks were flushed a rosy pink and he was absolutely bewildered, pleased, but bewildered. He never would of thought that he would catch Chuuya in such a vulnerable state. Yes, they both loved eachother and although Chuuya isn't one to show it as much, often saying that Dazai annoys him deep to his core, Dazai knows he enjoys his company, but how unlike him to be doing such a dirty thing with Dazai's shirt at that! I was true that they had made love from time to time but this was completely new, something he would've never expected Chuuya to do or atleast be caught doing.

He stands there for a while, contemplating what to do and how to do it, the loud moans which seemed unending and like they'd never subside just drove him crazy he knew that the ultimate outcome would be sex but he didn't know how to get to that outcome.

"Maybe if I stood there and waited for him to notice.. no, no that would be awkward, uhm what if I knocked and acted oblivious, no..."

He thought to himself, his mind wandering back and forth. He finally made the decision to walk away, pick the grocery bag back up go outside, get back into the car and act as if he had saw nothing. He pulls out his phone to call Chuuya, since it was unlikely that he would stop unless he knew Dazai would be back. Chuuya picks up the phone and immediately Dazai speaks,

"Hey, I'm almost back home,"

"Oh, uh okay. Call me when you get back"

Dazai notices how his lover's voice sounds slightly shaky, maybe even a bit hoarse but he already knows why that is.

"Sure my love, it'll take me about five more minutes, the traffic is dying down"

There's a sudden pause of silence that is interrupted by Chuuya,

"Right, right!"

Dazai could hear the franticness in Chuuya's voice as he speaks,

"Bye now sweetie,"

He says before hanging up the phone. He had made up in his mind that he would wait until dinner to confront Chuuya about what he saw, he couldn't miss this opportunity to tease him after all! He loved teasing his lover and loved seeing his reactions.

Five minutes go by and Dazai finally steps back into his house, Chuuya on the couch watching something on the TV before he turns his attention to Dazai. It's funny how he noticed Dazai was home immediately after he opened the door but couldn't hear him even when he called out his name since he was so preoccupied,

"You're home, did you get everything on the list?"

"Yeah, wanna take a look?"

"Nah, I've changed my mind. I'm too tired to cook,"

"I could make something,"

"I've already ordered pizza, we can use the ingredients tomorrow,"

"Wow... Sending me on such a journey just so you can completely disregard my efforts! How truly cruel, Chuuya!"

"Shut up before I get up and punch you"

Dazai chuckles and sets the groceries down on the kitchen table, just then there's a knock on the door,

"Oh, must be the pizza, do you want me to get it, Chuuya?"

Dazai turns around and Chuuya's already at the door, tipping the pizza man and setting the box next to the groceries.

"You must be really hungry,"

"Mhm,"

Chuuya says, already stuffing the pizza into his face,

"I wonder why that is,"

Dazai says loud enough just for Chuuya do hear him, he swallows the pizza in his mouth before speaking again,

"And what's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh, nothing, keep eating!"

"No.. I know that face, it's not nothing! If you're taking a poke at my drinking I'd advise you to stop before I beat your ass, besides I haven't even drank today,"

Chuuya is now glaring at Dazai.

"No, it's not that it's just.."

"Just what?"

"Why would you be so hungry? It's not like you didn't have breakfast, you're ravenous for godssake!"

"Your point being?"

"Chuuya..."

Dazai looks to the side, his cheeks now a rosy pink as he scratches the back of his neck,

"Just spit it out already! You're making me nervous!"

"Okay, okay! Chuuya, I uh, well I um..."

Dazai stumbles over his words before blurting out,

"I... I saw what you were doing in our room earlier!"

Chuuya's expression changes, his once composed face was now red and oh so very flustered,

"WHAT? I... I don't know what you're talking about, I haven't gone in there at all today, besides what do you mean earlier, you only got home not long ago,"

"Chuuya, I came home way before that I just left after seeing what I saw, I didn't wanna interrupt you! Oh and there's no point denying it, you're a terrible liar,"

Dazai smirks,

"Whenever you lie you never look into my eyes, plus your face is red,"

Dazai is now grinning before he feels a fist right in his face.

"Ow! Ow! Ow! You bastard! You didn't have to go THAT far!"

Chuuya remains silent, he looks at the floor not wanting his eyes to meet Dazai's. His face was still red and he was trembling from what seemed to be a mixture of anger and embarrassment from Dazai's teasing. To break the silence Dazai places his hands on the shoulders of his lover and snickers,

"You never moan as loud as that when we do it, was that dildo really all that great?"

Chuuya goes in for another punch but this time Dazai sees and stops him before grinning in the shorter man's face,

"Embarrassed?"

"You... Dickhead,"

Were the only words Chuuya could mutter out at that moment.

"Oh! And, why did you have my shirt on while doing it? I can't lie... That is a bit of a turn on,"

"Shut up! Damnit, just forget it, pretend it never happened,"

"But I can't do that, just thinking about it makes me hard, look at what you've done to me Chuuya, this is your fault, don't you think you have to take responsibility?"

"You sick, perverted bastard! Responsibility my ass!"

"But you're hard too, who knew you were into this kind of stuff? How long have you been into humiliation, pervy Chuuya?"

His grin widens as he pushing him onto the table and pushing the pizza and groceries out of the way, his hands wander all over Chuuya's body, his lower half on particular. There's a clear bulge in his trousers and Dazai rubs the tip a little, leaving the spot slightly wet. Chuuya suppresses the moan that threatened to slip out,

"If you don't want it, just tell me now because I don't think I can stop myself that easily,"

Dazai's voice is now low and sultry as he looks at Chuuya's flushed and flustered face. Chuuya furrows his brows and looks away, not saying a word and Dazai takes this as his green flag to continue.

Dazai pulls up the red shirt Chuuya had on, giving him a perfect view of his pink and erect nipples. He rubs them back and forth, this made Chuuya a mess and there was a desperate attempt to supress his moans,

"Chuuya, just let it out, you know like you did when you were all by yourself,"

The taller man snickers,

"Why don't you moan like that when we do it? Can you answer my question?"

He says before licking Chuuya's nipple, making sure to bite down just the right amount to not hurt him but send a wave of pleasure through his body. When Chuuya stays silent Dazai hums against him,

"Hmm? I asked you to answer,"

"Embarrassing..."

The shorter man mutters, hiding his face with his arm.

"What was that? I didn't quite hear you,"

[miscreantahead]

Tbh I've seen a LOT of people saying they don't think Chester and Norris are Jon and Martin in any way but the way I see it the other possibilities just don't make sense with what we have. (Not talking to people who just don't want it to be them because I see your point there but... well anyway.) Possibilities I've considered are as follows, let me know if there's some other thing I didn't think of:

They're completely unrelated to Jon or Martin and Alex and Jonny are just using their voices for new "characters". The reason I don't believe this at all is simple: is because it feels cheap and like a bad storytelling decision, and that may be a matter of opinion but I've listened to enough Q&A's between the two of them to feel like they wouldn't go that route. I could absolutely accept this if they were on a constrained budget and short on VA's, but the kickstarter suggests otherwise. I'm not saying they couldn't have cameos were Jon and Martin not in this, but large cryptic parts after the ambiguity of what happens to these two at the end of TMA would be a tasteless bait and switch that I feel like I trust them not to do. I'm using my Reasonable Typing Voice but I honestly think this take is borderline impossible and it would blow me away if this was the case.

2 is under the cut.

2. Something else simply pulled their voices from all of the statements they read that the web collected and is imitating them while reading new material. This one is *possible* but still feels entirely unlikely but the why is more complicated so I'm going to break down why this doesn't add up to me:

• The cases are being read by something sentient enough to understand and apply strong emotional tone to the human "speech" in each case. The contrast of the introductions and headers/filing information makes this even more apparent which suggests it was a conscious decision (blatantly, IMO, and after an explanation was provided for all the statements sounding like the same writing style in TMA, I'd be extremely surprised if this had no bearing on the narrative and is just a choice of execution.). So there's no way this is just a computer program, even if it's influenced by beholding, we know from TMA that beholding doesn't have that kind of understanding of human emotion either. Something with a deeper understanding of language and humanity than a computer program could have is reading these. Unless they're actually taking us down a sentient AI route, but that seems unlikely. So it has to be something in some way human.

• We consider it could just be Freddy (I forget how it's actually spelled, FR3-DI?) using their voices and that Freddy is the individual in question with human level sentience, but I have no explanation for why it would use their voices separately, why it wouldn't include others who read statements like Melanie, Basira, Tim, Daisy, etc. Yes, there's still Augustus, but that can only cover one of the other characters who read statements, and only Jon and Martin read a significant enough amount of them to set themselves aside from the others who read. The ONLY thing that would make this theory work for me is if Augustus turned out to be Gertrude, and honestly I wouldn't put it past Alice, trans legend, to call a quite seemingly older woman's voice by a masculine sounding name just for the hell of it. But, again, seems unlikely.

• We could consider that they are to only some small degree themselves, but they've lost a significant enough portion that they aren't truly, and are simply extensions of this universe's "Eye" (saying eye because I think the motivation would still have to be voyeuristic to bother?), to the point where who they used to be won't even be a concern. But this one is still challenged by the first bullet to some degree, I think. This one is possible, albeit a little boring in my opinion.

I'm willing to accept that none of the characters we know and love will truly be present in this new narrative. I actually went into it with that expectation and was jump-scared by AJN's voice 10 minutes into the first episode. But with everything in episodes 1 and 2, I don't think it's far-fetched at all to hope we're going to get some jmart again (I think the other direction is more far-fetched). I do think it's perfectly likely it's going to be miserable and painful the whole fucking time, though.

[wynterstars]

Unsure I'm ever going to complete this fic bc the premise is a little weird but I've been giggling all day about this silly conversation excerpt so:

"And…well, you can't deny that some of this looks pretty bad, if you don't know about, you know." Tim gestured vaguely at the floor. "There really was the time you joined that cult. And as cults go the Cult of Blood is like…pretty cult-y?"

Dick sighed. "I forgot about the Cult of Blood. God."

"How did you forget about an entire evil organization?"

"I was trying to deal with one of my best friends being possessed by the king of hell who was also her father so I was kind of preoccupied after that."

"Jesus."

"No, Trigon."

Tim raised a hand. "Moving on," he said quickly, which was pretty fair because thinking about Titans drama could break your brain if you hadn't lived it. "There was also that time Deathstroke kinda brainwashed you? So maybe we're at two cults."

"Oh my god I forgot about Deathstroke…"

"Court of Owls, that's three…"

"God."

"Though Blood was the only public one. Still. One cult is probably…more than the normal number of cults the average twenty-something joins? Unless you count multi-level-marketing. Did you know Ra's Al-Ghul runs Mary Kay?"

Dick blinked at him. "What?"

"Controlling stake through a shell company. I have a plan in case I need to take over one of these days."

"I repeat, what?"

"It's just that I don't think one of those pink cars would go with the Robin suit…"

Around this point it dawned on Dick that Tim was joking. Mostly. He hoped.

[dpr-moni]

get to know me

i got tagged in this a few times and, ngl, answering questions like some of these is possibly my least favourite thing lmao so enjoy my half-arsed answers below the cut!

what's the origin of your blog title?

(i also took this to mean url because like, do i ever look at anyone's blog title? no) my first blog was monimonimoon because I liked the moon and moni was a bts related thing that went with it? and monimoon was taken? then when i remade, i wanted to keep the moni as i'd started being called that, and i thought monilogues (monologues) was a kind of fun idea-- I'm not exactly writing monologues here, but idk. the hyphen is because, ofc, monilogues is taken by a blog that's not been updated for 11 years (:

favorite fandoms?

i.......... dk that i have an answer to this one because idc? like i'm not that interested in 'fandom'. i suppose, really, actually, the answer is mcr because that was my first real fandom and i have friends to this day that i met on an mcr forum almost twenty years ago, but like... idk i know that i do technically participate in fandom, but i'm not interested in it as a concept or as any part of my identity (i don't refer to myself as army, or stay, or atiny or anything like that because... i don't care...)

otp(s)/shipname?

MINSUNG AND WOOSAN GOT ME BY THE THROAT

favorite color?

I like pastels: pink, lilac, mint green. also red, deep, dark, wine red, and forest green.

favorite game?

i don't really play that much but it'll be mario kart or one of the zeldas

song stuck in your head?

3D which is honestly a song i had completely forgotten about until i saw an edit on threads the other day

ETA: no, now it's sagittarius by wooyoung because there's a part of it (the iiiyuuu in the chorus) that reminds me of another kpop song that i can't for the life of me remember and i'm going to kms about it

weirdest habit/trait?

i'm not sure i have any if i'm honest. i'm a bit of a compulsive counter (counting stairs or steps or seconds passing just because). OH i can eat/drink anything after brushing my teeth? people find that weird

hobbies?

reading, writing, TV--realistically. i'd love to include other types of writing, and art, and sewing, and working out, but ... tbd.

if you work, what is your profession?

currently FUNEMPLOYED.

if you could have any job you wish, what would it be?

author/artist/paid to live and learn

something you're good at?

?

something you're bad at?

trusting my gut/understanding that my gut is trying to say something... trusting anything/anyone tbh.

something you love?

my family. unless they are not a 'thing' in which case, my collection of desk friends.

something you could talk about for hours off the cuff?

my brain is rot so probably nothing

something you hate?

COLD. WEATHER. (coming at you from -3 degrees C)

something you collect?

molang lucky dip things, also teapots.

something you forget?

how should i know. i've forgotten

what's your love language?

i'm so attention/love/touch-starved that i will literally take any of them any time

favorite movie/show?

pride and prejudice 2005? show... idk man, let's just say roswell

favorite food?

CHIPS (the british kind, you global fucks)

favorite animal?

dog/horse/orca/bear

are you musical?

no. played guitar in secondary school and i can play a tiny bit of the piano but no

what were you like as a child?

<3yo: smiley, happy, super cute 3-14: shy, sullen, very quiet 14+: some mix of the two

favorite subject at school?

english

least favorite subject?

PE but honestly idek if that really counts. science.

what's your best character trait?

i'm fucking rational, ok?

what's your worst character trait?

i'm too fucking rational, ok?

if you could change any detail of your day right now, what would it be?

I'D LIKE TO NOT BE ILL ANYMORE

and i'd like for that household disinfectant guy to have not shown up unexpectedly and come into my absolute shit-heap of an apartment

if you could travel in time, who would you like to meet?

alexander the great

rec your fave fanfics (spread the love):

FORCE QUIT. (skz)

Baby (svt)

It's You (atz)

Of Ruin (bts)

Kanalia (bts)

A Word from Our Sponsors (bts)

general recs for anything by: jade, jewel, hali, jo, mj, sunny, and vi

please consider yourself tagged if you wanna do this

[mythicalartistx]

Why is the Jorunal's Form Exactly Riku?

Discussion/Recoded Novel analysis of Riku

It's funny how the journal choose Riku as the form because he must have been that important.

Riku stated at the end how everything Sora does was reflected in the journal and that he was the center of it. When he grew, so did the heartless. So the journal probably picked someone with that much of an impact or importance to him.

I noticed in recoded novel it states this,

"Of all the vessels to protect the data, I was chosen from the journal’s pages. The full set of memories was transferred inside me to shield them from corruption.”

It could have chosen anyone but it chose Riku. Why? He must been very important to Sora and important part of something.

The novel then states, So this Riku was Riku, but also not Riku? A vessel that stored the set of memories within the journal? For a vessel, though, he sure seemed to have a will, a purpose—a mind. Did it come from Riku himself? Or was it the “mind” of the scattered memories inside him? Or maybe it was even the mind of someone connected to the memories within the journal…?

Therefore he isn't the Riku they know but someone similar who has the thoughts and feelings of him but also has the knowledge of the events within the journal.

And that's basically all the explanation on who the journal is and why he is Riku.

I mean going through all the games you can tell how much they care and impact the other. Several times they sacrificed for the other and have a deep complicated relationship. It's no wonder Riku is that important to Sora. Riku even states to call him "Taisetsunahito" which is translated as the things that matter, but a better translation would be precious person or most important person.

Later in the Novel when Riku's voice is heard in basically the intercom, he stated “Is that…? Riku, is that you?” Sora called excitedly.

He heard a little chuckle from Riku before he asked a question of his own.

He is excited that it's Riku. Riku even laughs/smiles at his words. They both have a care for the other so it makes sense why the journal choose Riku.

Earlier before realizing the mysterious cloak person was Journal Riku he wondered where Riku was.

The novel states,

Dewey looked up at Sora and said while they walked, “You’re pretty tough, huh?”

“Not really. I’ve got a friend who’s even tougher.”

Actually, what did happen to Riku…?

And this shows he still is thinking about him.

And it kinda makes me think is journal Riku memories + journal knowledge the merged into one being?

Unless it's part of the glitches?

But most people that are missing were shown in another way or form. The only one that isn't really shown is Kairi and I wonder if it's because Naminé made him forget her along with parts of Riku and the journal is still recovering from that. Because not only did he forget who he was trying to find in COM and Repliku realizes it, but he then believed it was Naminé he was trying to find instead.

Is that why Riku is also not shown except through the Journal because of the events of COM?

Now Kairi is mentioned once in the castle oblivion portion by an (illusion) Riku and shows him with Kairi when he was trying to find her heart.

However some people seem to think Sora and Kairi have a more romantic relationship now if you think that you're completely valid and I'm not going to debunk the ship. But if that is the case, why was Riku chosen? Shouldn't be Kairi if they have a greater connection?

Maybe it's cause Sora and Riku also have a greater history and relationship as we're shown through the games. They spent more time with the other, even thinking about the other.

Sora at the end of kh1, the first thing he does is he wants to find Riku and during KH2 he wants to find Riku... He missed him.

He goes on his knees crying when he sees him again

Later during the novel, Riku gets captured after defending Sora and Sora says this once he encounters Pete:

"Not so fast! First, hand over Riku…or else.” Sora readied his Keyblade, too.

Sora is here ready to protect and save his friend. He sees him as his friend— not just a journal full of data like him— and his memories clearly show the Riku he knows. He acts like Riku does and they clearly have a deep connection to each other.

The novel states this:

"Stay back, Sora! Hrrrngh!”

Sora was about to run over to him, but he stopped at Riku’s warning. His friend’s face was twisted in agony.

“Riku? Wha…what’s wrong?”

Sora refers to him as his friend. And everyone calls him Riku despite not being really the Riku from data, he among some others are gone. He's only there because the journal decided to take form into the one thing that's probably important. Pete was trying to force Riku to fight Sora and he doesn't want to. In fact he is afraid he could hurt him or anyone so he tells Sora to destroy him.

After fighting Riku this happens,

"Sora! Riku!” Mickey and the others appeared from the beam. “Well, if the bugs have taken over Riku…then that means…he might not ever wake up—unless we get rid of the bugs first,” the king explained, gazing at Riku in concern.

“So if I debug him, Riku will come back to us. Guys, I gotta go inside to look,” Sora said with unwavering determination as he knelt down beside his friend.

Sora is that concerned for his friend. He is everything to him. They have a deep connection. His determination to help is right there. He doesn't care if it may be dangerous, he wants to anyways. Riku having the journal data within him gets bugged as they put it. And the way to reconstruct and figure out the mysteries of the journal is to restore the glitches and bugs within the deep data inside of him.

This next scene shows there care for each other again,

It was like the energy had been sucked right out of him. What just happened?

“Sora! You okay?” Riku came running up.

“Riku! What about you? Are you all right?”

Sora was still worried for his friend, though his legs were so wobbly he could barely stand.

Riku gave him a small nod in reply. “You shouldn’t be here. I can fight the bugs off a little longer…but they’re spreading. Pretty soon they’ll take over all my data.”

Despite how it hurts Sora, he is still caring for Riku. He put his own needs of wanting to help Riku above his own. The bugs are taking over his data of the journal. Here he refers to that as my data. However, it is vague. He could be talking about his general data as a data Riku— not the journal part of him, but he also could be referring to the journal parts of him. The next time when he mentions the journal knowledge he doesn't say my.

In fact it shows another thing I've been wondering. He gives Sora an item that can help him escape. It is extra data. Riku then explains it as,

“Data I found on my other partition. It doesn’t belong in Jiminy’s journal. Somebody added it after the fact.”

Riku refers to the journal as another entity that isn't himself unless he's talking in third person. He acts like he is two beings when he says my other partition and says Jiminy's Journal.

The novel continues, “The same person that hid the journal’s contents inside you?”

Journal Riku is in fact regular Riku but merged with Journal information and data. Some unknown force hid the contents of the journal inside himself that means because of the missing memories of Castle Oblivion had affected it in some way.

DiZ or Naminé could have chosen Riku because they saw how much he wanted to bring Sora back, but that person also hid some extra data too. But we know that DiZ hid extra data of himself in DDD within Sora.

However, this game is about Naminé and she appears at the end as a data form. It would make the most sense that her real form probably put this data version of her inside the journal along with added extra data. She is probably the other who put the journal's contents inside of Riku.

Riku then wants to sacrifice himself and he believes doing that will be fine because it won't affect the journal data if Sora figures out the mystery of the extra data.

Riku doesn't want to leave him behind, he sees him as his friend.

Sora grins as he shows a solution where he can save his friend. This almost surprises Riku as he flinched like it wasn't what he had in mind. Sora had a long face as if Riku always try to do things by himself and is tired of it.

This makes Riku then smile.

They hold hands together and it helps show their connection is strong. Their friendship is complicated and they mean so much to the other. He didn't have to offer his hand, but he does. They're friends who mean a lot and he wants to be there with him to share the moment.

However Riku says something else.

“That light over there leads deeper into my data. Inside is a world from my memories…”

“Your memories?”

“Yeah, that’s right. The memories of the data version of me. And some of the bugs that stole your data. Get the data back, get your powers back. It’s simple. Then you can worry about me. Be careful.”

Earlier he stated he wasn't Riku, he was just zeros (probably referring to data) and was the journal. Then it was stated someone put the journals info inside him. And now it shows memories of a data version of him. Like there is actually another Riku from data out there. It says all these different things.

So what exactly is this Riku?

But he is clearly a mixed of the two. He has memories of Riku and his personality is like him, he just has all the journal's data inside him and it is as if someone put it there.

Unless by data version of him, Riku means a data version that gone through the events of what he did in kh1? The scene also shows that Riku wants Sora to gain his strength back and worries about him more than himself being fine.

"I can access this world now that you’ve weakened the bugs. It’s our island…” Riku took in the view of the sea.

Riku says this like it's a memory for him that he shared with Sora. It is like he is a Riku who did experienced growing up there and probably have the memories of KH1 inside him and what he did.

Another point he says this,

Sora let out a heavy sigh. Some things never change. “Riku, you always try to take everything on by yourself,” he said, and Riku looked up. “But I like getting dragged into your messes. Donald and Goofy said the same thing to me—"

He sees how Riku is always trying to do things by himself. He cares for him and wants to help. He wants to protect him too so he doesn't have to face it alone, but together.

I know Riku didn't have anyone to help him deal with all this complicated stuff back then, but he's not alone anymore. That's why it makes me sad to hear him talk about doing everything by himself. I mean, it kinda starts to feel like I'm the only one who thinks we're friends.

At this part, I think he is referring to how Sora didn't know back then when Riku was trying to figure out everything himself. However, I also think it could also refer to what Riku did during kh1 events. But Sora is sad how Riku is because he really wants to help him and Riku is almost not letting him.

Sora then tells him to stop saying sorry,

Even after all this, Riku was still downcast.

“Can you blame me? I shouldn’t have let the bugs in like this. Every time it’s me against some outside force, I give in and—” Riku gazed at the palm of his hand.

What makes this scene so good is that he seems to have knowledge of all the events to happen like maybe what happens in kh1 and is reflecting on what he did. But like in kh2 he doesn't care he just wants his friend and he wants to stop apologizing for every little thing.

I also noticed he looks at the palm of his hand when thinking about something important. Here he is sad about it, but in 3 he looks at his hand when he thinks of important Sora is to him.

I added this section because I liked how they talked about going through the worlds together. Unlike any of the other games they actually go through some of the world together. Even if it brief and in these little moments of restoring his strength, they still do it.

Sora thinks his Riku being worried is unlike him— probably because he has the cool facade in the first game where he tries to act better than Sora but in fact he actually really cares and is worried for him.

Oh now they're just flirting. They have a strong connection with other. They are just teasing and messing with the other. Sora helps him feel better about everything— how he was almost taken over by bugs or perhaps how the real Riku got taken by darkness? (Not sure if he knows that or not??).

He helps him see how everything makes Riku stronger no matter what— we all need a Sora in our life. I also love their joking and laughing here, it's cute.

And they're just both smiling and the way Riku said thanks like "th-thanks" he's probably blushing. He teases Sora about being short and Sora confidently assures him he will be taller than him one day. It's cute. They're so close. They have an unbreakable connection and to each other and they clearly are each other's precious person.

Once he back out of the deep data in Riku, Sora instantly wondering where Riku is. He is thinking he better made it back or none of it would have been worth it.

He is that important to him and it makes sense why the journal or whoever choose him as the form.

Riku even offers him his hand. I love these two. They're so connected on do many ways.

Finally near the end of the game Riku asks Sora what does he and Kairi have in common, he says it's hurt.

He tells him that Sora always try to help and make things better.

But Riku and Sora seemingly have a stronger connection and it's probably the reason why Riku had the journal information put inside him. Even after data Sora forgot everything, Riku still remembers because of this factor.

So to answer the question Why is the Journal data and form Riku—

That's because they have a deep and complicated connection filled with so many feelings and memories. And the time Riku was with Naminé and DiZ, they both could see that and inputted this into the Journal's data somehow.

Post Note: I personally don't like him forgetting even though he says memories may be gone but the heart will still remember. For me if he forgets the memories, the feeling of hurt is worse when you don't know. Sometimes remembering can help even if it may be painful. I feel like it would have a better affect. But the whole reason it is that way is to mimick both kh1 and com.

[thehubby]

So I heard that you've recently watched Digimon The Movie and I would like to know your thoughts about it.

Since I was a guest along for this incredible ride, I felt it appropriate to wait until Doc said something about the Digimon Movie. She has, and now I can.

One of the all-time great Mystery Science Theater 3000 episodes is Riding With Death, which is a 1970s movie formed from piecing together two unrelated episodes of a failed television series called Gemini Man. The movie involves a law school graduate played by Ben Murphy who was ostensibly a cross between, I dunno, James Bond and Steve McQueen? But not good or cool in any way, don't be fooled. In this case the whole was definitely far less than the sum of its parts. The plot of each individual episode bordered on insipid, and when added together became incomprehensible and insulting. The characters were one-dimensional, the dialogue was tedious, and extra pains had to be made to explain things that as an audience member you should have known but could not possibly unless you had significant experience in the original material.

Watching Digimon the Movie is like watching Riding With Death, except without the benefit of the MST3K mockery. It is at least two, possibly more, completely different animated features squeezed into one baffling mishmash. It has characters whose actions range from the boring to bizarre with backstories (such as throwing up into your love interest's hat and then forgetting to tell them that fact before they put it on their head) that are more interesting than what's going on in front of you.

The plot of the first half apparently involves some sort of evil digimon attempting to take over and destroy the internet. Fine, let him, we can make another one, this really didn't seem like an Earth-shaking deal, especially in 2000, three years before the launch of MySpace, and when Amazon was still known as "The World's Largest Bookstore." The second half is a road trip with several characters going to Colorado because they're worried or something about one of the digimon who seems to have malfunctioned. (Digimon are organic, but they seem to come from cyberspace, so I'm going to say malfunctioning if I want to.) Neither of these stories is all that compelling and there were points where I was potentially more confused than with any other anime ever, and I've watched Serial Experiments Lain, End of Evangelion and the original Ghost in the Shell stuff.

All of this is compounded by two problems: first, and immediately noticeable, is that the dub of this movie, which is what we watched, hails from the dark ages before anime had fully transitioned into being a serious business. The writing, combined with spastic delivery of lines that may have in fact been too literal to the original translations, is grating to listen to and sounds like something designed for children who cannot spend two seconds digesting a thought before you have to throw another at them. Remember that South Park episode about Chinpokomon where there was this stereotypical way of fast-speak that the children adopted? It felt like two hours of that. In my time, I've watched iffy dubs like Project A-Ko and horrific ones like Cyber City Oedo. This brought me back to a place I thought we had left behind us. (Turns out we mostly have, because this movie is old enough to have a master's degree from a university.)

Second is the weird-ass nature of the digimon themselves, which feels so incredibly arbitrary that the logic feels made up as they go along. They're living creatures in our world...but they also live in computers? They have at least human intellect and can speak and pretty much evolve on command but for reasons unexplained in the movie, they frequently choose to de-evolve to weaker forms? They attach themselves to these chosen one children (with the awkward title of "digi-destined") for reasons beyond our comprehension. And the world doesn't seem to care about this. The opening of the movie features essentially a t-rex fighting a giant parrot in Tokyo and the crowd is just, "meh." I am not a child and I require just a little more rationality out of my media.

For those that enjoy the Digimon movie and series, awesome, more power to you. I am not part of its target audience. I have my fair share of guilty pleasures that could be charitably described as garbage. This isn't going to be one of them. All that said, I had a great time watching this in a group setting with support and encouragement, and sangria.

[dynared]

“Characters in search of a plot” is a pretty good way of putting it. And you aren’t wrong about really weak villains. I think a lot of bigotry allegories tend to fall apart if you scratch them a bit but this one is particularly bad. Mostly I think I just don’t like how the war machines get treated with more leniency by the writing than any human it seems.

I’m pretty new to the franchise and was initially really interested in the IDW comics but the more I’ve heard about them the less enthused I am. I mostly gather wonky characterizations, a weirdly BNF-y trend to the fandom and poorly written space politics.

I also… may have spent a decent amount of time in a fandom with a weird amount of imperialism apologia because “well things had to change!” so I get really antsy if I feel any rumblings in that direction. Pity because I love Space Operas, I’m interested in Cybertronian worldbuilding and I’d like less focus on the humans but little of it sounds done well. I may try them at some point to at least form proper opinions but they sound like an incohesive mess, and not in the fun way.

I do hope that the people who enjoy them are having fun though. And despite my reservations and some issues I am quite enjoying the Skybound comics for the most part! Though time will tell if it stays that way.

There's a decent amount here, so let's go through it one step at a time since I don't want to come off as ignoring things:

One could argue that "characters in search of a plot" is probably a better conundrum than a plot where you just don't like the characters. I fully believe some of the Terrans might get another shot at being featured in something, even if it is with modified backstories not connected to the Maltos. Twitch is probably the most likely to get another crack at a big role, although I could see her being portrayed as just a regular Autobot in a subsequent production. Hashtag, despite a name that might make some cringe, actually seems to be the closest the brand has come to a proper Blaster replacement, and Jawbreaker as the Dinobots kid sibling would make a lot of sense and serve to humanize them in a future work. Unfortunately Thrash, who doesn't have much of a personality, and Nightshade, who has become a lightning rod of controversy, I'm less sure about.

That said, bigotry allegories are tough in the best of times. Even in good cases, they're often subject to bad faith readings, and in bad cases, like here? Forget it. It's an awkward, clunky mess that heavily contradicts the rest of the franchise, in particular the comic they're releasing right now where the Cons could not give a damn about anything other than themselves, and whose Starscream is a sadistic bully. But the writers here are clearly fans of the fanfic Cons, so in trying to make them as sympathetic as possible, their cruelty and issues are swept under the rug. It was worse in IDW admittedly since the Autobots were oftentimes just terrible people, so you were often let with no one to root for. For all its problems, the Autobots in Earthspark are more often than not ineffectual, not evil, which is probably because Hasbro pumped the brakes on having cash cows like Optimus Prime be shown as evil without say, brainwashing.

I would not recommend the IDW comics to anyone. The few gems of characterization and concepts cannot make up for the mountains of coal that was most of their run, and IDW2, the prequel that tries to establish a framework for the Great War? The damned thing was so slow and boring that no one mourned IDW losing the license. Not to mention if you're not REALLY familiar with these characters and why you should care about the variances in how they're portrayed, I find most people would just be completely lost, and if you don't like how the portrayals are altered, frustrated. It's simply put, not a fun comic unless you are in the market for a very specific portrayal.

The main issue with the humans (something the very first Transformers comic writer, Bob Budinansky noted was important) was that without that connection, the Transformers could be anything else. They could be humans with power armor, weird bug aliens, or freakish mutants. But it's that relationship and contrast with the humans that makes them special. That's not to say that there are versions of the story that significantly overdo the human element, because there assuredly are, but to have it be completely absent is to cut off part of why we invest in these characters.

Finally, while the Skybound Energon Universe is a little less than a year old, and there are definitely some concerns as well as plot holes that hopefully the narrative will fill in later, I argue that those comics have bought something that seemed to be missing from so much Transformers media as of late, a sense of actual fun. The writers get mecha and what makes them cool. They get the core of why these characters work. I can only hope that the quality stays high, especially with Daniel Warren Johnson, part of why I think the comics have been so good (no one in IDW would dare think of references pro wrestling or the 08th MS Team) phasing out of the book.

[rosehippiefield]

🗝Do you think you would pass your first trial?

👔Who is your favorite floormaster?

Do you think you would pass your first trial?

I think I would (or at least I hope so). But really depends on a trial. If it's something based on logic, there's a chance I keep my head calm and figure it out. I think that Q-taro's trial is actually far more dangerous than I thought before so I need to be very stealthy. It could end badly if others discover who planted deadly cards.

As to Shin's trial, I suppose there's a chance I wouldn't believe floormasters (I really didn't like probability in school so Miley has to work hard to make sure I understand why there's 0%). But I also could give into that despair. Maybe I'd even tell everyone about papers right of the bat so that I'm useful to the group and unpredictable to kidnappers. But that matters only if I really would have 0%, which I hope wouldn't be the case.

If it's Kurumada's trial, I will need to rely hard on adrenaline and make it in time somehow. I believe it's possible. If it's a trial where I depend on other person, it gets complicated. In Keiji's place, I would save the other person (if it's not someone truly truly horrible that I have solid evidence is so horrible that Midori is an angel in comparison). If I have Alice's trial, I don't even know. I could just go away like he did, not understanding severity of situation. Unless I hear a voice, then other person has opportunity to walk away while I struggle with morality

Who is your favorite floormaster?

It's either Safalin or Gashu. Safalin is the only seemingly nice person among kidnappers, even if not completely sane. She is probably the way she is due to using the mashine to forget about unethical things she did, and this humanises her to me. And she at least didn't want to harm people, even if she harmed tham in the end

Gashu evoked strong emotions from me in Kai's episode. I felt so much sympathy for him at that moment that I even forgave killing Nao via transgression (and Kanna/Shin by extention). He was a horrible father, but he cared, as much as he could allow in that toxic environment. He cared for Sei, even if the latter was supposed to be a training machine. Sure, the right thing to do was to escape from the facility or at least not allow one son to die, but maybe then all would be found and be killed. At least Kai survived that battle, traumatised for life. I feel like I'm justifying Gashu now but I was so sad that I couldn't hold grudge against broken shell of a man. Now I can, but the aftertaste still remains. If I rewatch that episode I may hate Gashu and hold him accountable for everything, but the memory of the first experience is still there. I love Kai's episode