#I both feel bad for Ishtar and bad about Ishtar

[gabbbyyyyyyyyyy]

Dagda Crom Cruach headcanons because i love this little guy sm

headcanons below the cut ⬇️

Voice HC: Edgar (Electric Dreams 1984)

He/Him or She/Her (primarily he/him)

-Ourple grandma <3

-Looks like a Cinnamon Roll, has a 50% chance of killing you

-Dagda is an accidental muse. When Agriculture began to pop off in the 1800s, Dagda Crom Cruach was born as the physical embodiment of the sorrows and fears the average farmer has. Farmers nationwide have reports of experiencing nightmares about a weird scarecrow doing unruly acts at their barnhouses—such as eating and killing crops, and livestock. What’s worse? It’s always déjà rêvé. Implying that Dagda has some sort of connection to the real world as well, being able to simulate damages in both the dream, and real world.

-When not roaming around and terrorizing farmers, he scares off stray souls that trespass in the Nightmare Realm…It’s not very affective as a job, in comparison to everyone else in the Astral Circle, but it’s something!

-Has only a stick holding him up, and is connected to his body VIA rope. acting as a singular leg that he uses to hop around. The rope used to tie him onto the stick has an extended end, which can move on its own, acting as a tail.

(And before you all ask, yes. It wags when he’s excited)

-He has many pet crows! But they aren’t allowed in the astral circle for…many reasons. Mainly pertaining to his unwilling friend and roomate, Izanami.

-Speaking of him and Izanami Yomi: Izanami, after moving in, didn’t notice or acknowledge Dagda’s existence until around a week later, following a bad crow infestation. Many complaints were filed that day. (As of current, they’ve been getting along decently, aside from the occasional banter)

-Dagda is the shortest Nightmare, at 4’11

-he also is, considered, the “weakest” out of all the nightmares…despite the title, he’s not a force to be reckoned with, no matter how aloof and playful she is. Especially considering the strength of the other guys…

-She’s also, to an extent, crazy (When around + discussing mortals). Be wary.

-He, Shub, and Ishtar are best friends, and usually go out to bother farmers and steal their stuff for funsies + wreck other forms of havoc out in the real world. Its their equivalent of a ‘Girl’s night out’

-Dagda registers pain differently. Feeling a surge. A rush-like feeling, rather than discomfort, opting him to crave pain, rather than defying it. Which may end up with her doing…uncouth things.

-Has an odd relationship with the Clown… (yes, the one from Unlikely) See, the thing is. The Clown likes playing games and all…But Dagda is. A special case. Dagda here lost against the Clown…many times over. Whenever someone loses to the Clown, they not only lost the game, but their life as well—Unlike Dagda here, who not only endures the attacks (despite the damage), and just. Keeps coming back. And every time he comes back, every single time. She keeps losing, and losing, and losing. So much so that the Clown has grown concerned. Dagda seems to get a kick out of this—following the Clown around, Requesting to do different activities with the clown, even going as far as to break into the front desk just to wait for the Clown’s arrival. As if he’s some sort of “secret admirer” …Though the Clown can’t deny that the acts are indeed charming, in a pathetic sense, it feels strange, coming from someone so low in terms of strength and wits… perhaps it’s the extreme pain tolerance? His freakishly playful attitude? Or…maybe it’s something with Dagda himself that intrigues him…

-With his strange correspondence to the psychopathic Clown, comes an even worse dependence on the local nurse (Xuchilbara), she has to go and get him whenever and after he and the Clown cross paths, and stitch his stubborn self back up, every time. Xuchilbara doesn’t get paid enough for this, and is quite frankly sick of his shit

-VERY clumsy. Give her a simple task and you’d probably find him fainted on the floor with about 40 brand new counts if property damage

-Very rarely serious. Only ever acts serious when something SUPER bad has happened in the astral circle. Either that, or if she just woke up on the wrong side of the bed (+ is actually scary when angry/upset)

-she bites.

-May or may not be related to Orcus, despite barely knowing him outside of her encounters with Yan Luo. Possibly cousins?

-Has a strange obsession with Anthropology, and the concept of Mortality, and how the Mortals (Real world people) go on about their day, their lives, motives, their mere existence thrills him, in an almost sick way—Considering his job being to deal with the damned souls of the said mortals

-He hides behind her hat when he’s embarrassed, shy, or scared

-Met Alf once in a dream. Tormented him + made him super late for work (and probably also made him have an identity crisis). She leaves little signs and objects around for Alf and his wife to see, just to fuck with them a bit from time to time

-Dagda can communicate with dolls and toys, considering he…technically is one, to some degree…

-His relationship with a certain Neighbor (Xezbet) Isn’t too good…Considering how her job as a Soul Scarecrow was meant to drive Souls away….and how Xezbet, a Soul Eater, eats souls…it ends up having the Souls get away, and Xezbet to get angry that Dagda let his lunch go to waste…they’ll probably warm up to eachother somehow…probably…

-Pyromaniac.

[thefirstknife]

Hey Bel, I was wondering if you or one of your followers might be able to give me a rundown on the Nine, specifically as related to Prophecy; I just recently read the Ishtar entry on Eris and Drifter’s dialogue that (used to I guess) play throughout, and I’m pretty lost as to how Orin became the Emissary, how Eris knew her, why the Nine made her their Emissary, what their answer to the questions posed by us might mean now that we know so much more about Light and Darkness, that sort of thing? You’ve probably answered something like this before so feel free to kick me in that direction if so lol. Thanks for all you do for the community! 🩷🩷

No problem!

You can still get all dialogues in Prophecy! You get some at the start, and ofc at the end, but when you return to the big deserted area after defeating the second encounter, you can get dialogues. However, you have to find the little copy of the Emissary just floating around on each of the areas.

So, "the wasteland" (the big desert area) has 5 locations that are from the planets that were taken by the Pyramids at the end of Arrivals (for some reason, two for Mercury). When you get back to this area after the cube encounter, the Emissary will spawn in a specific order. It's always Titan first; if you don't go there first, you won't see her on other areas. After Titan, it's Mercury (Infinite Forest gate), then Io and then Mars. You can watch them all here: there's several per location. Alternatively, if you have the time and patience in-game, you can listen to them once, then kill yourself before you proceed to the next encounter. That will wipe you and restart you in the area and you'll be able to listen to them again. Sometimes you'll get repeating lines, but sometimes new ones will play.

Orin's story is detailed in her lore book, Ecdysis! In short, she was one of the passengers on the Yang Liwei, so the original Awoken in the Distributary. She was friends with Sjur! After leaving the Distributary, she left to Earth where she ends up dying and becoming a Guardian (Titan). Later down the line, after Mara met her again (this time as a Guardian), Mara tasked her with helping figure out how Sjur died. This is the start of her connection to the Nine.

Sjur "died" mysteriously and only a strange coin was found on her body. A strange coin is the little relic that is associated with Xur and therefore the Nine. In her search, Orin found Xur (and got terrified, resulting in breaking his back with her hammer; this is why Xur is standing that way, his back is broken). Her meeting with Xur left her somewhat changed and she started experiencing weird things that were pulling her to the Nine. Over time, she also met the Drifter and after realising that he lied to her about his identity, she snapped and went to look for the Nine full-time. She found them and became the Emissary.

I don't think it's ever specified how she and Eris knew each other, but it is most likely through Mara (if there's any piece of lore that explains this, feel free to share). But yeah Drifter confirmed they were friends "back in the day."

The whole conclusion to Prophecy is really interesting for us now because it shows that it was essentially... well. A prophecy. The Nine used it to tell us that the Light and Darkness are not some sort of moral opposing forces (confirmed now) and that they're both just tools that can be used in different ways, for both good and bad (also confirmed). This idea is also present in the mechanics as well, as we have to utilise both light and dark to progress and get things done.

It's a really cool dungeon! Though a lot of the context is now missing. It came out in Arrivals as a sort of precursor to the planets leaving, which is why there's a lot of imagery about them, especially the wasteland. It was also a sort of an intro into how we'll eventually need to use stasis, by showing us that Light and Darkness are tools we can use and that we shouldn't be rejecting the Darkness on the idea that it's inherently something bad (or that the Light is inherently good).

[spacehostilityy]

NNT Rewatch s2ep1-6

(This was written weeks ago but was in my queue. I am moving back to my college town Saturday so busy days are to come but now I have things to procrastinate 😈)

So YAYAYAY time for season 2 (my fave season overall) !! I’ve rewatched this one before, so i actually remember some of this lol

Ban: I quit

Meliodas: your face is the only joke we can handle

HE GOT HIS ASS DAMN

i love both of diane’s orange fits, but s1 leotard hits different

i have thots abt the introduction of power levels that will be told beneath the cut

i mean it’s all very dragon ball (which i love, but in a very different way). I feel like they are just better executed in manga format, because saying the numbers out loud just kinda breaks up the flow of dialogue and action. Plus the numbers never stay accurate since the characters are always powering up and nakaba lowkey just stops using them at one point. so like assault mode!Meliodas has a power of 142,000. BUT he defeats enemies with powers higher than that and is shown to gain even more power. But this is the highest number we have for him. Overall, theyre clunky, not updated enough to be accurate, and just kinda cheesy :/ I feel like plot could have been added to justify and explain the eye of Balor (AKA Drole if i remember correctly) but it’s just used as an excuse to quantify the characters’ strength since this season is mainly focused on physical and emotional growth, as seen by the Ishtar Arc (one of my fave arcs hehe)

merlin’s friendship with hawk is actually so cute tho

so Meliodas’s beginner stats (still missing his powers) are magic 400, strength 960, spirit 2010. The way I see it, his insane spirit strength could mean one of two things: bitch is just hella determined in his quest to end their curses and protect his friends (likely) or merlin taking away his power only affects his strength and magic since spirit has to do with your mind (also likely) anyway what do y’all think?

how the fuck is gowther’s strength 500??? The average person who can lift 50-100 lbs has a strength of 30. HOW IN THE FUCK?? IS GOWTHER SECRETLY SWOLE????

Meliodas being like “no idk who the ten shadows could be haha” when he and merlin literally formed the sins to fight them and HE WAS THE LEADER OF THE 10 COMMANDMENTS is so funny like so tru king lie to their faces

the first thing Zeldris says is “3000 years... please tell me that he’s still alive” which tells me two things: 1) he doesn’t know about Meliodas’s curse, which could explain why estarossa kills him when he’s just going to come back a rival to the throne of the demon king and 2) the listed life expectancy of 1000 years for demons is probably not accurate lol

maybe it’s driven down due to number of battle deaths like the mortality rate of the middle ages lol

we are introduced to a demon who hopes mel is alive, shares a voice actor, AND HAS THE SAME FACE yeah the brother coding is very thick

AJSDBJKBHJEBFNWKFH YESSS THIS IS MY ALL TIME FAVE INTRO SONG AND ANIMATION

ban’s refusal to get jericho’s name right makes me laugh every time

Jericho: is scared and runs to Ban

Ban: 🤨 yeah. i don’t remember asking you to grab my arm🙄

im sorry but king rlly was a bad fairy king like mans didnt even know the forest was there 😭 its ok tho i love that for him

King hating Ban at first bc he “killed elaine and destroyed the fairy kings forest” only for Ban to pull THE BIGGEST uno reverse on him will never not be funny

wait does that mean ban is technically the 4th fairy king and king is both the 3rd and the 5th bc that would be rlly funny and does happen quite a bit historically

I love how as much as a smug asshole Ban is, he’s not rubbing it in King’s face and is showing him he’s still his friend

so if Gil is Margaret’s guard and Griamore is Veronica’s, does that mean Howzer was Elizabeth’s ?? bc that would be so fucking funny

Helbram got King’s ass with “and you’re short”

KASBDFNJBSDKF HE LOOKS SO GOOFY😭

MY BABYGIRLS ARE HEREEEE

Best girls Melascula and Derieri fr

i love that they said slader is gay, how can we let the audience know and then gave him the smoothest, gayest voice imaginable

merlin calling og gowther a great magician when we know he was the one to train her is actually so sad, i want to give baby merlin a hug

slader is hot, thanks for coming to the ted talk

how the fuck does he walk like this tho??

is there a reason i just don’t remember why they never really bring up albions again or do they just ~disappear~ conveniently from the story lol

So the whole concept of sacred treasures is really cool to me because they are clearly something unique to the Sins, despite all of the sacred treasures being very different and made of different materials. I mean Gowther’s is straight up made of light Still, them having weapons that serve as a constant and grow with them as they become more powerful is just a neat concept to me. I just wish we could have seen Ban use Courechouse more than just a few episodes. There really isn’t a plot reason he couldn’t have had it beforehand.

Gerheade being a bitch to Ban bc he’s a human makes literally no sense when we learn her backstory with Rou. Like NO sense at all lol

I honestly love that Meliodas destroyed the albion on his own. Like yes, he is my OP blorbo BUT he’s also supposed to be incredibly powerful in canon, which we haven’t seen him go all out with an enemy yet. Not only does he know all about albions (bc he’s a demon), but as leader of the 10 Commandments, he probably was on the controlling side of the golems. Then, as a member of Stigma, he fought against them. Not to mention, this is when he finally gets Lostvayne (the DEMON sword) back. This moment for me is when he gets to show off the perks of him being a powerful and high ranking demon. Might fuck around and do a full post later on Meliodas’s relationship to his own race and what/who he is lol

Ban screaming “you bitch!!” is... a wonderful experience

Yass king (hehehehe get it? bc his name is king? hehehe)

Galand petting Gloxinia is actually so cute lol

Merlin covering Arthur’s eyes 😭😭 she’s his mom fr

“its been a while meliodas” oop galand just let the Meliodas is 3000 years old cat out of the bag ehehe

(stay with me bc im about to get delusional) WAIT so galand says “to think that after all this time has passed youd still be in that form” in this essay i will prove that Meliodas looks like a young teenager because he essentially is biologically young for the demon race. Galand doesn’t know Mel was cursed, so he would think that he had aged in the past 3000 years. Plus, I think the demon king’s possession of Meliodas AND Zeldris can be (somewhat) compared to Sariel’s aging up of Solaseed. Anyway, i feel like this can support my hypothesis of Zeldris and Meliodas are just babies who will eventually look like adults. Also, I think them being super young just enhances the angst quite well.

everyone is fucking terrified of galand but hes just a silly foolish little fellow to me lol

ban and king being brothers-in-law makes my heart happy like theyre so cute

Ban threatening Gerheade and actually being pissed and serious has suddenly reminded me that if i saw a grown ass man who couldn’t die and was a 7 foot tall violent alcoholic i would be fucking terrified

like a demon 14 year old? creepy ig but not a 7 foot tall masochist with an 8 pack

I love how hard Diane always goes for the ones she loves, she’s just so devoted and passionate Best Girl tm behavior

*Merlin being incredibly confidant and nonchalant starting a proposition*

Meanwhile Merlin’s thoughts: SHIT SHIT I HAVE 10 SECONDS TO THINK BEFORE EVERYONE I LIKE DIES

Meliodas doing the same thing Hendy did by reattaching his fucking arms using Darkness and the sins still being like wait?? is Meliodas?? a... demon ??? 🤨

okay so we DO see him in this mode again. But what is it called? and why does he become no thots head empty? its not like he died. and even in assault mode, he has thoughts and emotions (when they’re not stuck in purgatory) 

Im ngl, i forgot everything about this episode entirely lol

obvi i hate that derieri died, but at least the souls she fucking ate got returned lol

do we think arthur has a tiny teenage gay crush on meliodas? Discuss.

(the answer is yes ehehe)

gowther walking around with his dang a lang swangin hehe

Gil crying in annoyance and defeat as griamore and howzer bicker is literally so hashtag real

HENDYYY MY BABYGIRL IS BACK BAYBAYYYY

very suddenly realized that Hendy’s probably only like in his 30s. Mans is just not that old

exactly 3 seconds after I had that though Howzer calls him old man LOLLL

i forgot about hendy’s childhood trauma. damn. thats actually rlly sad :/

look how cute he is tho 😭😭

hendy and dreyfus are in love. thanks for coming to another one of my ted talks

so do we think dreyfus is half druid (and zaratras is full) or zaratras is half druid? i mean they’re half brothers but only one is a called a druid sooo

IM SORRY BUT THIS IS THE FUNNIEST FUCKING SCREENSHOT ASDFFHSLDH elizabeth scandalized, meliodas accepting his fate, slader leaning in closer and blushing ITS JUST SO GOOD

The ass shot of Diane 🤨😑

Damn Idk how i never realized that all of them pretty much only call Meliodas captain. Merlin, Ban, and Elizabeth are the only ones who will call him Meliodas, but even merlin and ban typically go with captain.

“im a giant, why arent you afraid of me?” hes a fucking demon. lol

[versegm]

"Ah, this is rather bad, isn't it?"

Rin would disagree. Failing an exam is bad. Losing your wallet is bad. Getting skewered by fifty fucking noble phantasm and having half your limbs torn off as a result isn't bad, it's fucking disastrous.

"In hard times, it's important to focus on the positive." Their voice trembles a bit from the swords lodged through their lungs, but their tone is even. Casual. As if this were normal. Every step leaves a trail of blood behind, their flesh is hanging torn from their body, the smell of viscera is churning Rin's stomach, and they're talking about it like it's the weather.

"What fucking positive??" She barks, readjusting her grip on Berserker's shoulder. With one leg, they can't walk unless she's supporting them. "What is fucking wrong with you?? Why do you always act like everything is fine?? You could have died!! You should have died!! Just... Fuck!"

She rounds the corner and leans against the wall. They don't have much time- the blood might as well be a giant neon sign spelling we are here, come kill us!!- but she figures they might have a few minutes. "Okay. Okay. We need a plan. If you got anything, I'm all ears."

"Do you think Solomon was right about the baby?"

"Huh?" She turns to Berserker. They're staring at her like her response is the most important thing in the world. "What does this have to do with anything?"

"Solomon. He's a great guy, you know? But one time, two mothers fought over who should get a baby, and he suggested cutting it in half. Do you think he was right?"

"Are you shitting me? We have other priorities at the moment!" Rin grits her teeth. Right. Right. Madness enhancement. Madness enhancement. Getting angry, she has learned the hard way, will not do jack shit to ground Berserker any more in reality. "People die when they are cut in half. That was no solution at all. It would just hurt the baby and both mothers."

Berserker looks down for a moment. "... Yes, I suppose only having a half would hurt." They wiggle a bit. At that cue, Rin sits Berserker downs. They still don't look at her. "But I can't do both, so this will have to do. It probably wouldn't be good for you anyways. Flesh isn't that solid of a vessel."

"Yeah, that's why we stick to gemstones." She kneels next to Berserker. She opens her mouth to speak some more, but they bring a hand to her cheek, staining it red.

"Don't blame yourself too much about it, alright? I was going to end this way. I died long ago. You could have never saved me."

"... Don't say that." Something swells in her throat. "We'll make it out somehow, okay? We'll survive this, and get the grail, and I'll figure out a way for us to have a conversation that makes some fucking sense, and it'll be great. I'm not leaving you."

Berserker smiles. It's softer than their usual one. Less joyful. More nostalgic.

"No. I suppose you're not."

Servants are faster than humans. This fact apparently still applies to those who are half-dead already. Rin does not see them move. She feels pain blossoming in her stomach, dimly registers that the hand has left her cheek, and thinks: oh.

"Goodbye, girl who is not Ishtar." It hurts, hey lean forwards to kiss her forehead, it hurts, it hurts, "I wish I could have learned your name."

They look up to the sky. "Guardian of the scales, heed my call-" And everything past this turns into white noise, drowned by a torrent of pain.

It hurts. It hurts. It hurts it hurtsithurtsithurts it's in her guts it's in her bones it's in her teeth a burst of wind a twirling gust a hurricane she can't hold it in it's too much it'll kill her it'll kill her it'll kill her.

There's a horrible, sickening sound, a drawn-out howl like an animal being dragged to slaughter. It take her a moment to realize it's a voice. It takes even longer for her to recognize it as her own.

She collapses on the ground. There's something inside of her. There's something inside of her something under her skin something inside her head it's not her it's foreign it's bad wrong dangerous she wants it out she wants it out she wants it out. Her nails claw at her own throat. She has to draw the blood she has to drag it out she has to reject this thing if it fucking kills her.

She hears another voice. Its sound alone feels her with disgust and rage. She latches onto it like an anchor, trying to drag herself out of this agony. She blinks rapidly, recognizing first gold, then black, then a person.

"What a shame. You mongrels can't even entertain me right. I suppose putting you out of your misery would be a mercy."

Gilgamesh.

Fury fills her every pores, more than she ever thought she could feel, more than a human heart could ever possibly produce. It's a hatred bigger than her body, the kind that make the blood boil and the teeth grow. The stars reside in her ribcage (not, that's not true,) Venus echoes her voice (not her voice, not her feelings, not her body, not her, not her, not her-) and every inch of her (her) want him dead.

He leans in. Raises a dismissive hand. the Gates of Babylon open.

"An Gal Ta Ki Gal Šè!"

Fired at point-blank range, Maana obliterates Rin's hand, the nearby building, and Gilgamesh.

[docterdenseif]

Ok, So.... I have a butch of question about each Character power.

Arthur: If he tried to throw Excalibur spinning in the air, would he be able to make it create a running arc of light, like a circular saw?

Lucifer: How much range does he have with his powers? And is there any way to resist?

Zeus: If he wanted, would he be able to melt his body with the thunders, and move through the clouds?

Ishtar: If she flew at full speed, how long would it take to circle the world?

Pele: Would he be able to survive a fight with an opponent on a rainy day?

Janus: How his brain reacts to the information of countless possibilities of several opponents at the same time?

Sun Wukong: Would he be able to turn into an ant? Or a giant Monkey? Some of the movies I saw showed him doing such a feat.

Sorry If it's much, just got curious. That aaaand I'm looking forward to the next chapter 😅

And sorry if I wrote something wrong, I'm from Brazil and I'm still learning how to write in English.

Don't feel bad about asking questions; I love answering them. Your English is excellent!

Arthur: Yes, he would be able to do that.

Lucifer: Eyesight of the target is required for Lucifer's power to activate unless they are within arms reach, in which case he can do it without. In a broader sense, all augments that mess with the mind pit the user's will against the target in a game of mental tug-o-war. This will be elaborated on in the game. There are a couple of unique ways to resist his power. For example, if he was fighting as a psychopath or someone very emotionally stunted, his power to trap them in a waking nightmare would not be very effective. If the target doesn't have any strong feelings, there is nothing to take advantage of.

Zeus: No, Zeus is unable to modify the compostion of his body.

Ishtar: The distance to fly around the world is roughly 40,000km. At Mach 4 this would take somewhere around 8 hours.

Pele: If they emitted enough heat to turn all the raindrops into steam long before they hit them, sure. They couldn't do this indefinitely, though, and it would destroy everything around them.

Janus: The easiest way to explain how it works would be to think of playing a split-screen game on a TV. They are still active, watching the present, but also screen cheating and watching the different futures on the sides. It is like he has multiple different perspectives at once, which is one reason such a burden is placed on his brain. It is a lot of information to sort through.

Sun Wukong: Yes, they can turn into anything they have sufficient knowledge of. In the upcoming update, you can turn into both a fly and a hippo.

[quirkthieves]

👫+ monoma & kiri / kaiba & marik / ishizu

this has to be under a cut i got out of hand

ISHIZU & KAIBA

i think the moment she met him she went into older sister mode. not out of like, a need to baby him or whatever its actually the opposite he is so machiavellian and uppity and willing to escalate a situation that she was just like right yeah this is exactly how marik is. hes at that age, where boys like to blow up buildings in death matches.

for the aforementioned reason i think thats also why he gets to see a slightly more impish side to her she doesnt really share often. the banter is dry and fast she has said "skill issue" to him at least once and she absolutely does stunt on him whenever she manages to even slightly best him in anything. shes rambling about predynastic art and taking forever to get to her point on purpose. and when i think he and her are an absolute menace to joey like his va and her va did a duel once in character and she was murdering him verbally. at one point they were talking about the north american tournament and joey was like "yeah they wouldnt let me enter cuz my decks got banned cards in it" and shes like "joey if you entered even with your current deck you wouldnt win" and he was like "what? why do you say that? did your necklace tell you that?" and she said "no, I just used common sense." . i could feel her and kaiba high fiving on that one i saw it so clearly

also i really like how in battle city we see that like, especially after their duel and as the marik v yugi fight looms ever closer that she and kaiba genuinely talk strategy on the side. she and him are standing on opposite sides of the ring than yugis gang, like, given her whole thing you think shed be kicking it with them but now she and kaiba are gossiping and speculating and i think that shows that he genuinely respects her skill as a duelist even if he thought the fate stuff was bullshit. he knows her meta game was crazy real recognizes real.

theyre gonna have a really, really long talk after dsod.

MARIK & KAIBA

as above i think the two of them are very similar and i think that pisses them both off. they absolutely refuse to acknowledge it like if you said that theyd snort with derision and be like im nothing like him [insert snide remark here] but thats exactly what i mean. for that reason you cannot just leave them to their own devices together its going to get ugly, or if they have a mutual enemy, felonious. both of them designed Saw Games for yugi.

that being said i do think they should be on a podcast together to talk about like, duel monsters news and commentate on tournaments and stuff like the one-liners would be VICIOUSSSSSSSS . it would be like a frenemies situation i think.

he still feels. REALLY bad about the whole "maiming if not murdering" some of the medical staff on the battle city blimp and he has like, no idea how to broach that topic like if he should send a gift basket or apology text or what so like, hes pretty awkward around kaiba at least at first and is kinda just waiting for the day he brings it up. u said kaibas keeping that as an iou in his back pocket and i agree.

i think the ishtars sometimes hang out with (babysit) mokuba and whenever ishizu and rishid wont let him do something he goes to marik because marik 100% enables younger brother behavior . hes taken him on motorcycle rides. he probably showed him how to forge papers at some point. its really educational

MONOMA & KIRISHIMA

so like. ok hear me out. im about to grab manga panels you know this shit is about to be so for real serious. so like i talk a lot about the team up mission chapter where class a is nice to monoma and he freaks it but id like to bring up that kirishima is one of the main three actors of this plan, esp during the phase where they're trying to gather info on what monomas "secret message" is. deku asks monoma how hes feeling, and monomas like....im not fucking telling you that. so,

(condensed version for time and space). but the important part here is that while deku and Iida fail to engage Monoma in normal conversation because Monoma doesn't have normal conversations with Class A, when Kirishima is like "dude just fucking punch me" Monoma is vaguely confused but goes all in, despite the fact that fist fighting Kirishima is probably more of an immediate threat to his health and safety than talking about his feelings.

so what I'm getting at here is that like, I think Kirishima is fundamentally more capable of communicating with Monoma than maybe other members of Class A not despite the sourness between them but because of it. While Kirishima is kind enough at his core to do this because they think Monoma's in danger (and because they think figuring it out will make him...stop. the things he does.), he also has picked up on the fact that communication with Monoma, even well-meaning, has to be delivered in an antagonistic manner, because he has already done the back-and-forth bickering with Monoma that makes his world go round, unlike Iida and Midoriya.

So I think even though they dislike each other, ironically, Kirishima's better at getting a read on him than a lot of other people.

um. I'm just gonna keep going till it loosely approximates four ideas im in too deep. anyways. It's also important to remember that the remedial classes in the forest training camp were fucking LONG. They were four hours a night. That is.a LOT of acute Monoma exposure for the Class A flunkies late into the evening and we know from the light novels that during that time, he was getting up to mischief and frequently taking "restroom breaks" in which he went and cheated in games on behalf of his classmates who did not know he was doing this. but again anyway the point is that kirishima was. very early on introduced to and spent extended periods with monoma's particular brand of crazy and this would only be even more relevant if hes friends with tetsutetsu, who monoma is also fairly close with. i think thats kinda why we see a willingness for kirishima to get up in his personal space more:

which like, watch out kirishima you may be roped into the monoma handler crew. but like i think a lot about that and like, how kirishima actually tries to explain it to monoma even though as someone who has acute monoma toxicity poisoning he knows this is a very futile effort because kirishima is someone who, actively, is trying to be the manly guy he idolizes, but god, this motherfucker does make it really hard sometimes. most of the time. every time. he is trying to give him the benefit of the doubt because maybe one day it will be different but he does not have his hopes up and he does not know what is wrong with this dude.

which leads me into the next thing i think, sort of along the same lines as bakugou although not as much, monoma does both envy and admire kirishima for being one of the "strong". naturally he'd rather chew his own hands off than say it, but i also dont think he's picked up on the fact that kirishima is the way he is in a very deliberate manner, like that, he worked to be the person he is today and continues to do so. i think if he did know, monoma would respect him a lot more, because he really admires that kind of self-determination and deeply wishes he, too, could form that strong of a personal identity. again, he probably really wouldnt.... express it that well? like i think maybe monoma admiring your strong traits more is kind of a fast track to him being even more annoying because he is truly instinctively a little hater . but he doesnt actually dislike kirishima for any personal reason, like, he has no qualms with kirishima as a person-- he himself is good friends with tetsutetsu. it's solely the class a thing, and the fact that monoma cant really detangle those feelings of jealousy and admiration. he doesnt really care what kirishima thinks of him, but he does make more of an effort when he engages in his antagonism with kirishima, because hes feeling like "look, i want to stand on ground with you as an equal, i see you as strong enough to be worth putting the energy into this rivalry, youre so cool that i feel like im strong if i can keep up with you" except even he doesnt know this is what hes thinking and nobody really wants this. but i dont think he could even really bring himself to HATE hate kirishima or even match his pure dislike as an individual because monoma has no reason to. hes just an awful little man.

also monoma pesters him a lot because he really really likes his quirk. you should be honored kirishima , really. its really fun to him. naturally he does use it for mischief but even non mischief reasons he just thinks its neattttt hes probably got him some deku-style notes about it. its also probably why monoma would tag along on any training tetsutetsu invites him to do with kirishima around bc otherwise he would be like . why would i want to be sweaty and around those despicable clowns when i dont even have to be. <- knows he has no chance of winning a sparring match and is not even going to try

[winterpinetrees]

The Human Protagonists

Hey wait, I thought The Gap Years was about some rich kids on a road trip? It is, I just like them less than the rest of the cast. Whoops.

A few days before the story begins, three extremely rich boys graduate from private rich kid high school in San Francisco. They have all been accepted to outrageously prestigious universities, but they’re taking a gap year first. They are tired of the billionaire life (to put it lightly) and they want one year of pretending to be normal before being dragged back to fundraising galas and tabloid news. So they’re taking a road trip. Money isn’t an issue so they’re going to drive off and not come back until they feel sane. It doesn't go to plan.

They are...

Brian Whitaker, a humanities kid who’s been declared a himbo by everyone but his closest friends.

Sierra Bracken, a quiet tech genius who actually knows that magic is real.

and Clay Shepard, the cynical team mom who can keep a budget and pretend to be normal.

The intro said that there are four kids on the road trip. That wasn't a typo. The fourth is the true protagonist of the story. He's an unexpected addition to the party.

Name: Brian Whitaker

Pronouns: He/Him

Species: Human

Age: 18

Special skills: Strong, fast, and well-coordinated. A semi-professional baseball player and surfer. Solid knowledge of history, literature, and politics. Charming and liked by the media.

Appearance notes: 6’3 with a lean, athletic build. He is as tall as Ishtar, but takes up less space. He is a very conventionally attractive white boy with blond hair, bright blue eyes, and a significant tan. Brian has calloused hands and a few scars from various sporting accidents.

Brian Whitaker drives the car. He endures constant jokes that he’s a himbo. Despite this, he is a humanities kid who gets nearly perfect grades. Brian is the third son of an old political dynasty. However, he thinks that gerrymandering is bad and can talk about all the ways that American democracy is broken for an hour on end without needing notes.

Brian is charismatic but he isn’t going to go into politics because he is a kind and honest person. He likes to think that he would sacrifice for the greater good. Brian was pretty neglected as a child but found that he could get noticed through sports. Now Brian is a varsity athlete and surfs all summer. This backfired, and now everyone thinks that he’s a dumb jock. They also think that he’s a playboy, which really isn’t accurate. It probably started when the media found out he was bi. Despite being a student of history, Brian believes in people.

…………

Name Sierra Bracken

Pronouns: She/her

Species: Human

Age: 18

Special skills: genius mechanic and engineer. Skilled but not prodigious programmer. Has a tiny bit of background knowledge about magic.

Appearance notes: 5’3 with a heavier build. She is half white and half latina. Light brown skin, black hair, and dark brown eyes. Rarely seen without a pair of teal headphones.

Sierra Bracken is the oldest child of a Silicon Valley tech magnate. She has a genuinely positive relationship with both her parents (she’s the only one in the trio who does), and a complicated one with the media.

She is a tech genius who can build anything and hack… most things. She also has a special interest in nuclear physics, which means that she essentially has a special interest in magic. Sierra has spent enough time in university physics departments (In this world, being a physicist is a direct path to adventure…and sometimes death) and on tiny Internet forums to know that magic is real. She doesn’t know any of the details, but she knows the basic fact that humans are not alone in the universe. She is quiet and shy and doesn’t have any close not-online friends other than Brian and Clay. She’s going off to MIT next fall, while the two boys go to Princeton. She’s more nervous about this than she wants to admit and is thinking of the road trip as a way to say goodbye.

…………

Name: Clay Shepard

Pronouns: He/him

Species: Human

Age: 18

Special skills: Amazing liar and very good at reading people. First-aid. Wilderness survival skills. Street smarts. Sees the world the way it is and can make it work for him.

Appearance notes: 5’10 and skinny. He is white with sharp features and a perpetually tired expression. He has straight chin length brown hair, brown eyes, and glasses.

Clay Shepard hates his father, and his father hates him. His family earned their fortune relatively recently from America’s terrible healthcare system. He’s the middle child of the family, which is very helpful because he’s trying to be forgotten. (He’s thankful for the money, of course, but other than that he wants out. Clay has a strong moral compass. He’s also gay, and his father is both very corrupt and somewhat homophobic.) Clay wants to be a real doctor, and actually do no harm. As a result, he’s doing first aid on this quest. Clay also has extremely good people skills. He is an amazing liar, and knows how to say exactly what people want to hear. He can pretend to be a normal person. Clay's miserable home life has been getting to him, though. He doesn’t have much faith in humanity.

In a classic fighter-rogue-wizard-cleric D&D party, Brian is the fighter, Sierra is the wizard, Clay is the cleric, and the secret fourth traveler is the rogue.

[hereforthefunnyguys]

Is it too insane to ask for your nsfw Irateshipping HCs?

no no it’s not insane I just usually try to keep the blog more pg-13/R rated than x rated. However…. I really want to talk about Irateshipping more. So imma just put some stuff under the cut. Honestly I’m more worried about not having enough stuff or frankly anything thats particularly sexy than I am about having it at all lmao

(nsfw text under the cut! You have been Warned) (Hoping the cut actually. Cuts where its supposed to lmao)

-marik ishtar praise kink goes crazy I don’t make the rules. Joey once accidentally called him a "good boy" during their first time together and he literally stopped functioning. Like complete windows crash bluescreen. Only refocused when Joey sat up and shook him a little because what if he accidentally killed him with sex somehow

-Joey is actually the more experienced of the two, which was really disappointing to him because he was really counting on the idea of his sexy criminal femme fatale boyfriend that knows 5000 different sex positions and instead got stuck with a nervy little freak that does not even know what lube is

-marik doesn’t know what he’s doing but he’s very enthusiastic to try whatever sounds fun

-this is simultaneously contrasted with the fact that he cannot take much stimulation at once and gets nervous if he’s not in control (whether in a Sexy way or in a Panic Attack way is kind of a coin flip)

-Joey is kind of bad at sex the first few times tbh because he gets too nervous and ends up getting distracted and talking way too much and ruining the mood

-he seriously improves in focus and attractivenesss when marik is just like. Ok. You can do what you want physically but please. For the love of god. Stop talking in bed like that.

-Joey has a weird thing where the idea of losing control to marik is really hot but also simultaneously so absolutely terrifying and humiliating to him even in a private context that he’s just like “hmmmm stuffing that down to repress as well methinks”

-marik is perhaps a wee bit of a sadist, which does not mix well with the fact that he is also fairly submissive and wants to be cared for and cared about so bad it actually hurts

-def not a masochist though lmao

-“I want to make you feel good and make this very romantic and uh other stuff” Joey and “i have been working for 10 straight hours and just got yelled at by my dad and need to Destroy Something” Joey are two entirely different creatures in bed

-Joey, walking into the bedroom casually: Hey babe how's it go -

Marik, shaking visibly from stress: If you have sex with me right here right now and completely destroy my brain to the point i cannot think about the conversations i have had with my siblings today about what i will do with my life now that I am no longer a cult leader I swear I will literally give you whatever you want from me for at least three months

Joey:

Joey, cautiously patting Marik on the head while sitting down next to him: Okay not that that's not an incredibly hot offer but maybe let's talk about it first plea-

Marik, gripping Joey's leg hard enough to leave fingerprints: I understand that but if I have one more serious conversation today I'll start killing people again

-Marik head game goes crazy because of that long tongue until he gets too worked up and starts getting Bitey

-Joey head game mediocre because he has too much of a gag reflex but is very enthusiastic and drools a fuckton

-Marik dick game meh because he neither has the enthusiasm nor the stamina for it tbh. Gets bonus points because he has fairly good rhythm

-Joey is better because he definitely has the enthusiasm for it as well as the strength for it (plus hes stubborn enough to keep pushing even when hes exhausted lmao) but tbf tends to get really excited or distracted and so tends to be kind of irrhythmic

-i tend to not bring top/bottom Disc Horse (tm) up much but I do think Joey probably wouldn't bottom much due to both a lot of internalized perceptions about it and also because it sounds like it fuckin hurts to him lmao

-Marik is simultaneously split in between "I love my weird little pathetic creature that i occasionally allow to be graced by my divine presence in bed" and "I NEED HIM TO CRUSH MY NECK IN BETWEEN HIS BICEP AND FOREARM WHILE I GET SHOVED IN BETWEEN HIS PECS FUCK"

-In terms of like strict Dynamics i think they're probably both switches that tend to fall back into pretty gentle/vanilla dom/sub dynamic when they aren't trying anything in particular

-Joey kind of likes getting bossed around in bed but tends to argue with it if marik does not just make him shut the Fuck up because sometimes the joey instinct is stronger than the horny instinct

-I post a lot about them having fucked up gay sex but in a domestic situation I think the sex is actually pretty intimate and honestly probably one of the healthier aspects of their relationship

-At multiple times in their lives I think its probably what helps get them through the day especially Joey when he was still living with his dad and working through his debts like. just five minutes more of worrying 24/7 and struggling to survive until my beautiful boyfriend shows up and straddles my lap while kissing my forehead and removes every single goddamn thought i have ever had that isn't about him. yay :)

-suffice to say they are making it work in the bedroom

-I forgot to mention that occasionally yami marik will show up if marik gets too freaked out and that there is nothing more terrifying to joey than turning around post-afterglow and seeing a demon with hair bigger than it’s shoulders looking at you like he wants to suck the inside of your skin out in place of your previously very pretty and vulnerable boyfriend

-bonus genderbend edition: fem marik is definitely a pillow princess and joey is completely willing to deal with putting in the work because quote "have you seen her recently have you seen my beautiful girlfriend just look at her I would do anything for this sexy sexy living identity crisis on stilts"

-fem marik: I want strap this is no longer a want nor a need but rather a Demand

[multifandoms27-blog]

Small Marik Drabble

Content: Marik Ishtar x Reader; Seto Kaiba x Reader (implied)

Warnings: Angst but thats it

Notes: I was inspired to do this from that one scene with Jim and Pam from the Office

Marik was your first love

His personality drew you in, the way he dressed drew you in, the way he carried himself, his looks, just...him.

It turned into a sort of "will they wont they?" if you two were going to be a thing. You both liked each other, it was obvious you did, but the actual initiation of a relationship hadn't happened

You were devastated when he turned out to be bad and began hurting your friends

You had decided to abandon anything you could have had with Marik, and focused on beating him to save your friends

Marik wanted so badly to reconcile with you after battle city, but he got scared and went back home without saying anything to you personally

Fast forward some odd years, and you're engaged to Kaiba

You had been dating for some years and your wedding date was around the corner

Marik was back in town since Yugi had told him about the engagement, and the upcoming engagement party. He planned on congratulating both you and Seto at said party

But when he saw you...oh my God, it was like all the feelings he had years prior came rushing back to him. You looked so beautiful doing literally anything, he couldn't keep his eyes off of you

Ishizu tried to talk sense into him, you're getting married to another man, but Marik just wouldn't listen. The heart wants what it wants

Eventually, he did get you alone...

"Anyone told you you look beautiful tonight?" Marik asked as you gathered your things in the empty room, he in the doorway.

You chuckled politely. "Yes, many have tonight. Thank you, Marik."

"What about ethereal? Stunning? Jaw-dropping?" Marik took a step towards you with every compliment, hands in his pockets.

"What're you doing?"

"Nothing." He spoke with a small smile. "Just...admiring."

You felt bad. You loved Seto more than anything, and yet here you were with Marik...but you weren't doing anything right? So this technically wasn't wrong. Marik took your silence as an invitation to get closer, however.

"I'm so sorry I didn't return sooner."

"It's- it's alright, Marik." You spoke nervously.

"Are you...sure you don't want to come back to Egypt with me? Forget about Domino city?" Marik finally took his hands out of his pockets and held your hands in his gently.

"Marik, I...I can't believe you'd ask me that. I'm getting married in a few months, I have all my friends and family here, my job, I-"

Marik broke your tangent by kissing you. On the lips. On the night of your engagement party to another man. Losing yourself for a moment, you kissed back. You could feel yourself yearning for him, yearning to leave with him. No. No, this was wrong.

You broke away and stepped around him. "Get out."

Marik's smile immediately fell. He was still for a moment, and only when you repeated your demand did he say something. Though it was barely above a whisper, and if you hadn't been paying attention, you don't think you would have heard it.

"You're really gonna marry him?"

You nodded. "Yes."

Marik bit his lip before nodding. "I have to go."

He shoved past you, and you felt your heart break for the second and final time from Marik.

• ───────────────── •

Here is my Masterlist in case you want to request, or look for more of your favorite character!

[anhed-nia]

I finally watched ISHTAR because Criterion was perverse enough to put it on their Channel, and I suspected I might feel this way but now I really believe that both the people who claim it's The Worst Movie of All Time, and the people who say it's a treasure only geniuses understand, are both exaggerating just to mess with each other. It's surprisingly entertaining for about a half hour or something, then it runs out of gas just like many other things that hinge on the idea of being trapped in the desert forever. It's also racist in kind of a dull way, and speaking of racism it is affected by that principle...is there a name for this? that's like, "If you 'jokingly' make racist comments often enough, it stops being a joke and you're just being racist." In the case of ISHTAR the problem is that most of the jokes are about shitty entertainers, which is funny for a little while, but at a certain point you've just been subjected to so much shitty entertainment that it's no longer a joke, etc. Also I don't know whose idea it was to cast Isabelle Adjani in a comedy. It's like putting Klaus Kinski in AIRPLANE!...which maybe would be awesome, I dunno, but I would be scared to do a long unfunny gag where I'm constantly juggling Isabelle Adjani's tits, I'd be seriously afraid of what she might do to me. But anyway ISHTAR is not remarkable in the history of bad movies; it's really middling actually, and if it were made by unknowns you'd never have heard of it--it isn't like PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE, which was perceived as so radically bad that it made unknowns into household names. The only obviously remarkable thing about ISHTAR is its proportion of star power to box office failure, and this is actually the entire point of the Golden Raspberry.

I think many of the people who don't like the Razzies just don't understand that they're not about punching down on underdogs who just wanted to make a nice movie, which is an extremely hard thing to do in any case. They're practically never about the ACTUAL worst movie made in a certain year, which will be something most people never even hear of; they're about movies that are startlingly bad in spite of the fact that you've heard of them anyway, due to the stars involved and the money machine behind them. The Razzies are about Hollywood and the Oscars. At best a Razzie award actually draws attention and controversy to movies that would otherwise be swept away by the sands of time. Razzies are also a helpful way to thumb our collective noses at movies that are made by people with way too much money and power, with way too little respect for the ticket-buying public. Sure, sometimes they're dead wrong, or even mean, like I don't know if *a child* should really be nominated for a Razzie...however, at the same time, I have to admit that I found that really funny. I mean I acknowledge the problem, that a child usually does not have a well-enough developed sense of irony to participate in its own roast the way Halle Berry did with her CATWOMAN "win". But the Razzies should be a playful attack on how precious the mainstream film industry is about itself, and the more precious something is, the more vulnerable it should be to criticism.

[Incidentally I just watched The Year of the Rabbit and while it's far from my favorite Matt Berry show, I think it might be the first thing to just mercilessly roast the Elephant Man--one of the few things most of humanity has been squeamish enough to lay off of. I'd like to think that Joseph Merrick is looking down from heaven or wherever thinking, Yes, FINALLY someone is doing jokes about me! It's about time for people to lighten the fuck up already, I wanna have fun too!]

Anyway, whatever side of history you're on re: ISHTAR, the best thing about it is probably this piece of trivia about Gary Larson, which bears repeating. Apparently there's a documentary about this movie from not too long ago, I should check it out.

[the-rewatch-rewind]

A movie that is so much better than its reputation implies.

Script below the break

Hello and welcome back to The Rewatch Rewind! My name is Jane, and this is the podcast where I count down my top 40 most frequently rewatched movies in a 20-year period. Today I will be discussing number 9 on my list: Columbia Pictures’ 1987 comedy Ishtar, directed by Elaine May, written by Elaine May, and starring Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman.

Two extremely untalented songwriters, Lyle Rogers (Warren Beatty) and Chuck Clarke (Dustin Hoffman), manage to book a gig in a hotel in Marrakesh, Morocco. But on the way there from New York, when they’re stopped in the fictional bordering country of Ishtar, they encounter both a mysterious woman disguised as a man, later revealed to be left-wing agent Shirra Assel (Isabelle Adjani), who convinces Chuck to give her his passport, and CIA agent Jim Harrison (Charles Grodin), who recruits Chuck to spy for him. Without having any clue what’s going on, Lyle and Chuck become caught between rebels trying to overthrow the Emir of Ishar and the CIA trying to keep him in power, when all they want to do is keep writing songs.

So, first of all, let’s get this out of the way: as I mentioned at the end of last episode, this movie has often been cited as one of the worst films ever made. Aside from the whole question of whether it’s even possible to definitively rank something as subjective and vague as how “good” or “bad” a movie is, for Ishtar in particular, this feels like a highly unfair label. There were a lot of problems with making it, in terms of creative disagreements, political unrest in filming locations, and an enormous budget that kept growing, but plenty of movies with similar issues turn out okay. Most of the negative perceptions of this movie were stirred up by the press before and shortly after the film’s release, and it has been speculated that this was for two main reasons: one, Warren Beatty (who was also the producer) didn’t like dealing with press and had not permitted any reporters on set during filming, which they resented; and two, David Puttnam, who took over as head of Columbia Pictures during production of Ishtar and was well known for despising big-budget pictures, as well has having grudges against both Beatty and Hoffman, allegedly leaked negative stories about production to the media. So the movie was set up to fail at the box office, which it did, grossing just under $14.4 million against a budget of approximately $55 million. But, while there are definitely people who have seen it and not enjoyed it, which is fair enough, most of the people who strongly criticize it have never actually watched it. And despite all the conflict during production, the main people involved in making it still defend it, with Beatty calling it “a very good, not very big, comedy, made by a brilliant woman” and Hoffman quoted as saying, “I liked that film…just about everyone I’ve ever met that makes a face when the name is brought up has not seen it…I would do it again in a second,” and May stating in 2006, “If all of the people who hate Ishtar had seen it, I would be a rich woman today.”

Coincidentally, 2006 also happens to be the year when I first watched Ishtar. Not having been born yet when the film was released, I missed the negative press, and while I’m sure I was somewhat aware that it had a bad reputation, the main thing I knew about it was that my mom really liked it. I know she watched it twice in theaters, so it’s not her fault that its box office performance was so poor. She got it from the library to share with me, and I remember that before we watched it my dad said that he thought this was going to become one of my favorite movies, and he was extremely correct. I thought it was the funniest movie I’d ever seen and I could not get enough of it. I watched it three times in that month alone, then bought the VHS from the local Hollywood Video when they were selling all their tapes for $3 the following month, and had watched it a total of 8 times by the end of that year. I then watched it twice in 2007, twice in 2008, once in 2009, twice in 2010, once in each year from 2012 through 2017, once in 2019, three times in 2020, twice in 2021, and once in 2022. Ishtar was sadly never released on DVD in North America, but it did come out on Blu-ray in 2013, which I naturally also had to buy. I’ve shared this movie with several other people, but none of them have seemed to really get into it the way my mom and I did, which again, is totally reasonable. I get that it’s a weird and ridiculous movie. And there are even parts of it that I don’t like. But the parts that I love make me so happy that I can easily forgive the negative aspects.

The first 20 minutes or so in particular are just incredible. We get the perfect introduction to Chuck and Lyle, both their songwriting backgrounds and their friendship. The movie opens with them working out the lyrics to what will become their main song, trying to figure out a way to describe the concept of “tellin’ the truth,” coming up with such gems as “Tellin the truth is a scary predicament,” “Tellin the truth is a dangerous tunnel,” and my personal favorite “Tellin the truth is a bitter herb” before finally settling on “Tellin the truth can be dangerous business/Honest and popular don’t go hand in hand/If you admit that you can play the accordion/No one will hire you in a rock and roll band!” Once they’ve completed the song, they believe that Rogers and Clarke could become the next Simon and Garfunkel (“Dangerous Business is as good as Bridge over Troubled Water any day of the week!”), so they hire an agent, who thinks he can get them a job in either Honduras (“The last act left because they were nervous about the death squads, but there’s no danger if you don’t drive in the countryside”) or Morocco. While they’re thinking these offers over, we get some flashbacks about how they met and started working together, seeing how they’ve lost money, relationships, and pretty much everything else pursuing songwriting. So despite the fact that we’re clearly meant to be mocking them, we also can’t help but feel sorry for them. Their songs are bad but in a very funny way, and their mutual admiration is surprisingly sweet. The rest of the movie doesn’t quite live up to this intro, but even though the story does kind of fall apart a bit, I’m still thoroughly engaged the whole way through every time.

A big part of that is because I’m always amused by characters who think they know exactly what’s going on but actually have no clue. Come to think of it, Cary Grant often played characters like that, although usually not quite to this extent. In Ishtar, Lyle and Chuck are in a completely different world from all the other characters, in the most entertaining way possible. There are several relatively subtle examples of this that took me a few rewatches to notice but are now some of my favorite parts of the movie, like when Lyle is an ice cream truck driver in New York and is so focused on coming up with his next song that he doesn’t notice the crowd of children trying to get him to stop and let them buy ice cream, or when Chuck finds out the American Embassy in Ishtar can’t easily issue him a new passport and punches a hole in the divider between offices and everyone else in the room goes to fix it while he and Lyle keep talking obliviously, or when a ton of pedestrians and cars are very conspicuously following both of them in Marrakech without them ever catching on. And there are more obvious examples, like toward the end when both the CIA and the rebel army have sent Chuck and Lyle into the desert hoping they’ll die there, and even after they’ve gotten lost their main worry is that they’re missing their performance at the hotel. Things like this happen constantly throughout the film, and they’re funny every time. While it’s mostly entertaining, their cluelessness can also be taken as criticism of the average American’s ignorance when it comes to foreign politics. When Jim Harrison mentions Gaddafi, Chuck asks, “Is that near here?” clearly under the impression that Gaddafi is the name of a country rather than the ruler of one. Chuck seems to have the basic understanding that good guys equal Americans and friends of Americans, and bad guys equal communists, while Lyle seems to have even less understanding than that. Jim Harrison and Shirra Assel are their complete opposites, with a much deeper comprehension of the complexities of the tension in the area, albeit with very different perspectives. Jim is often exasperated and bewildered by Chuck and Lyle’s cluelessness, but Shirra, while she sometimes gets a little frustrated with and definitely takes advantage of them, never reveals much disdain toward them the way Jim does. Isabelle Adjani plays Shirra completely straight, as though this is a very serious political thriller, and her gravity makes the film so much funnier. Beatty and Hoffman are similarly committed to their characters’ conviction that the main storyline is their rise to prominence as songwriters. Charles Grodin plays Jim as though he’s the only main character who fully understands what movie he’s in, and wishes he knew how to get out of it. And to me, that is a perfectly hilarious dynamic.

I do want to acknowledge that there are aspects of this movie that are rather racist, particularly the part when Chuck is pretending to be a Moroccan translator at an auction and puts on a vaguely offensive accent, and then speaks gibberish that he imagines sounds like either Arabic or Berber languages. I do think that because we’ve already established him as a particularly ignorant character, the movie isn’t necessarily condoning what he’s doing, and it’s relatively harmless, but I do understand how it could make people uncomfortable. There’s also some vague homophobia in the way both Chuck and Lyle react to Shirra when they think she’s a man, and transphobia when Shirra having breasts is automatically interpreted as her being a woman. I would say these all fall under the “disappointing but not surprising” umbrella, given when this movie was made. But there are other aspects that are pleasantly surprising, such as rather blatant criticism of the CIA for keeping oppressive dictators in power and portraying left-wing rebels as the good guys. So it’s complicated.

And speaking of complicated, let’s get into Ishtar’s portrayals of sex and romance. In the flashback portion, we see that Chuck was dating a woman named Carol (played by Carol Kane) and Lyle was married to a woman named Willa (played very briefly by Tess Harper, who doesn’t even get any lines), but both of them get dumped because they’re more focused on songwriting than their significant others. But in Ishtar and Morocco, both Chuck and Lyle are interested in Shirra – maybe not quite as much as they’re interested in their music, but almost. They both seem to think they’re competing for her affections, but she is clearly not remotely interested in doing anything with either of them beyond getting them to help her overthrow the Emir. Shirra reacts to their unwanted advances by either getting slightly annoyed or using their interest in her to get them to do what she wants. Even at the end of the movie, when she cares about them enough to save their lives, and even enjoy their music, you still don’t get the feeling that she’s interested in them romantically. When Chuck and Lyle are pursuing her, they’re the ones who are portrayed as weird for focusing on romance when there are so many other more important things going on, which is a refreshing break from the amatonormative message of so many movies that romance is the highest goal. Similarly, Chuck and Lyle are clearly sexually attracted to Shirra, but aside from her exposing her breasts to reveal that she’s a woman, there’s nothing sexual that goes on between them. There’s a great conversation between Jim and Chuck when Jim’s describing how Shirra and Lyle were alone in a hotel room together, and Jim is convinced that Shirra seduced Lyle and recruited him to her cause, but Chuck says, “Oh don’t be ridiculous, Lyle’s not a communist; he’s from the South! And I don’t think she’s that kind of girl.” And when Jim points out, “She’s a suspected terrorist,” Chuck responds with, “Granted, but that doesn’t mean she sleeps around!” So the allonormative assumption that everybody’s having sex all the time is portrayed as ridiculous. Of course, when I started enjoying this movie I had no idea that I was aroace or that that was even a thing, but I don’t think it’s a coincidence that I love this story that had multiple opportunities to go down romantic and/or sexual paths but actively chose not to. Lyle, Chuck, and Shirra all end the movie happy and, at least as far as we know, single, and not enough movies have that kind of ending. When you’re always made to feel like the weird one for not thinking everything should be about romance and sex, it’s so nice to see any characters who try to make this movie become more about those things portrayed as the unreasonable ones.

But don’t get me wrong, the lack of a major romantic storyline is far from the main reason I love this movie; it’s merely the icing on top of a delightfully hilarious cake. There are so many great lines that my mom and I quote to each other constantly, like, “You’d rather have nothing than settle for less” and “My name is Hawk. It’s short for The Hawk” and “The dome of the Emir’s palace in Ishtar is gold. The people have never seen a refrigerator” and “This must be one of those once in a lifetime things, like the glaciers melting.” That last one is in response to a windstorm after they’ve been told there’s no wind in the desert, which they for some reason believed. I’m willing to concede that this movie does not have the best plot, but I also feel like that’s kind of the point. It’s just meant to be silly fun, and in my opinion, it absolutely succeeds at that. Even though the songs are meant to be terrible, I still rather enjoy them, in a so-bad-it’s-good kind of way. The end credits say that there’s a soundtrack available, and I spent a while trying to track one down, until I learned that despite the fact that they apparently recorded full versions of most of the song snippets we hear in the film, the soundtrack was never released, probably because of all the negative reviews. Besides Dangerous Business, which they do sing all of at the end of the movie, the only full song available that I know of is Portable Picnic, which is the expanded version of the “hot fudge love, cherry ripple kisses” song that Lyle comes up with in the ice cream truck. For all the other songs, we have to settle for the little clips in the film and forever wonder how the rest would have gone. Life is full of disappointments.

This movie is obviously not for everyone, but that’s true of pretty much every movie. The haters are going to keep hating, but it’s nice that there are multiple generations of audiences now who weren’t around for the negative press and can still discover and appreciate the fun silliness of it. Probably the worst result of the bad reviews and poor box office performance is the fact that Elaine May never directed another movie after Ishtar. (I mean, I guess technically she still could, but given that she’s in her 90s now, that seems unlikely.) And like, yes, by all accounts she was responsible for a significant amount of the conflict on set and prompted much of the overspending, but I can’t help thinking of several prominent male directors who have a reputation for working similarly and are hailed as geniuses, even if they direct an occasional flop. I do think part of it was that May herself was discouraged, both because she had such a rough time on set and because of the horrible media response, so she might not have wanted to direct again even if given the chance. But I don’t think it’s inaccurate to attribute at least some of the negativity aimed at her to sexism. Even now, 35 years post-Ishtar, there are still so few female directors in Hollywood, and when they succeed it’s taken as an anomaly, but when they fail it’s like, “goodbye,” and that needs to change. This is my most frequently rewatched movie that was directed by a woman, and one of only three in my entire top 40, along with Mamma Mia! (directed by Phyllida Lloyd) and Frozen (co-directed by Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck, who is a man, so I guess it would be more accurate to say there are only two and a half female-directed films in my top 40). I could definitely do better at seeking out films that were directed by women, but also, way more movies could be directed by women in the first place. Anyway, my point is, Ishtar probably wouldn’t have been quite so maligned if it had been made by a man, but it also probably wouldn’t have turned out nearly as enjoyable to me, so while I hate that it destroyed her career, I’m mostly very glad that Elaine May wrote and directed Ishtar.

Thank you for listening to me discuss why I love this unfairly maligned movie. To be clear, I’m not saying anybody is wrong for not liking Ishtar; all I’m saying is, I’ve watched it 28 times, and I haven’t gotten tired of it yet. I didn’t watch any movies exactly 29 times, but I did watch two movies exactly 30 times, so next week I will be talking about the shorter of those two. As always, I will leave you with a quote from that next movie: “Life is but an empty bubble.”

[rosalind-hawkins]

Mumbleshipping Friend-group & Exes

Duke and Ryou are friends with Yugi, Tristan, and Tea, but I wouldn't say they're terribly close with those guys. They'll all still do group stuff together, but not a ton of one-on-one friendships there. Ryou makes a point of hanging out with just Yugi every now and then though, as they're the closest the other has to someone understanding their experiences with sharing your body with another soul. The more Ryou heals after Yami Bakura is gone, the more comfortable he gets with Yugi (and the others).

I imagine that Duke's dated a few people and is generally on the more promiscuous side, but probably not anybody inside the friend-group. He would only date a friend if he was serious about it, not casually. He doesn't want to disrupt the group by dating casually and then having a horribly messy/awkward breakup that divides everybody. He's seen that happen before, and boy does it suck.

Marik and the Ishtars are good friends of Ryou, and in bringing them in, Seto and Ishizu develop a quiet respect for each other. They're both older siblings that have had to make difficult decisions in order to do what's best for their family, so there's a level of understanding there. They don't talk a lot, but they're comfortable together, and she's Kaiba's favorite Ishtar sibling. Ryou usually requests that the Ishtars be invited to the mansion for the holidays, and it's hard to say no to those big eyes when he decides to beg.

Maybe Marik dated Ryou previously before they were healed enough to make it work and they're just friends now, or Marik missed his chance at dating Ryou before Duke and Kaiba got him, so he's got a little bit of pining but he's getting over him and choosing to stay his friend (Ryou doesn't necessarily know about Marik's feelings).

Joey is friends with Duke mainly but Ryou too (shitty dad bonding and that applies to all four of them actually). Joey's had a shittier life than some of their other friends, so he's less judgmental and more understanding about a lot of things.

Kaiba doesn't bring any friends to the table, but I do imagine that Joey is his ex and they secretly dated for like 17 days and it was his first and it was horrible and chaotic and awful—BUT they both learned a lot about themselves from it and used that to grow a lot personally, so now they have this secret peace between them, but they still play up their rivalry like it's an inside joke in front of the others. Kaiba doesn't say quite as mean stuff as he used to and Joey doesn't let it get under his skin anymore, and it's just fun heckling between them. And if they ever seriously needed help from the other for some reason, they would ask and the answer would be yes, no explanation necessary. No, nobody knows that Joey and Kaiba dated, and even Ryou and Duke don't find out unless something happens (like that "seriously needed help") so before that, when they're trying to get Kaiba to participate in friend stuff, they're all "please be nice to Joey, okay? I need you on your best behavior" and he goes "*sigh* fiiine" but inside he's like "oh cool i get to see Joey again, i hope he's doing well."

Most of this is pretty specific to my canon for a certain fic, but these are generally the headcanons you're going to see me stick to anytime I write mumbleshipping.

Useless notes below the cut

In my original old Mumbleshipping fic (only on FFN and boy is it bad, but you can see that I was passionate about it and using the story as an absolute playground), Amane and Ryou's mom were still alive (their deaths were faked and they were put into witness protection) so once Ryou finds them, they become part of the regular "invited to the mansion for the holidays" crew. And then a love triangle starts between Marik, Mokuba, and Amane, and oh boy that part barely got touched on in the fic but it still lives in my head to this day with no resolution and will continue to haunt me until I give them some kind of ending. I was so down for every possible kind of drama in that story, it's insane.

[louvay]

(Gen II)

You're invited to stay in a really nice hotel. Of course it's not haunted, psssh. I mean sure you probably meet the same girl wearing the same clothes if you ride that elevator exactly at 00:00 but that aside, you're really allowed a free stay for a week with all expenses paid! This means you're free to use every amenities the hotel has. Pool, sauna, even the billiard board at the bar except you'll need to pay your drinks. That, too, if you even get some.

The only problem here, however, is that you will need to share a room. Best hotel in Jugdral so it's not like you're going to lack anything even spaces because hey, suite-type room is comfortable with its own parlor, and you're free to be wherever you want to be during the day. Only that you will need to share a room with a group, so choose wisely!

The Nordions have a nice suite, three beds with one comfortable couch convertible into a spartan bed. Ares, Diarmuid, Nanna -- four if you are with them -- so what is left would be kicking off one of them to steal their bed. Nanna takes pity of you, and you're not sure about how bad it may make you look in front of Respect Women Juice gang if you send the only girl of the group to a makeshift bed.

The Chalphies have one king-sized bed and one couch. Oifey insists on taking the couch so Seliph can be comfortable, but your arrival makes everything awkward. Oifey offers you to share Seliph's bed because there's a good room for two, and you're not sure. Oifey is sure, however. Seliph's guest is also his guest to be served. Seliph doesn't mind to give the bed for you, however.

Lene, Coirpre, and Hannibal have a suite with one king-sized bed and one deluxe bad. Hannibal and Coirpre share the king-sized big bed because Little Coirpre has nightmares sometimes and there's a good curtain as a divider between them and Lene. Hannibal doesn't mind camping at the couch, but he is very suspicious of you even though Coirpre doesn't mind a new friend there.

Julius and Julia's suite is probably the best of these all. Presidential suite with its own parlor and fireplace, separate rooms for them both within that suite. They sometimes bicker. Julius is a mean Mario Karter and Julia pierces through your soul as she speaks to you. You will gladly exile yourself to the couch -- not very comfortable, and the parlor is rather cold at night. Strange. Julius offers his room, but you have heard of strange noises and whispers before. Julia's room smells of incense. She oddly says you will need to stay for a few hours without opening the door if you go there, because you will break the fence. What fence, you don't know. Fencing from what/whom, you have a good feeling you may not want to ask further.

Ced, Arthur, Fee, and Tine are cramped together in a suite with three beds. It's a merry bunch. Ced usually makes tea and breakfast because nobody trusts Arthur with a kettle or microwave anymore. Only you feel awkward because you're not sure if you should be there. It feels as though interrupting a double date even though nobody is admitting anything. "No, we aren't," Ced says, "I love my sister normally." That's not what you are asking, but he is very serious about it. Tine asks you what dating is, and whether boys are secretly calendars. Fee throws a hand towel at Arthur's face every hour, perhaps, but ask Arthur why he keeps threatening to put anchovy paste in her tea.

Lester and Lana's suite is very respectful. Serene, two twin beds, a couch for you, non-negotiable. But they are also very quiet, and you have to make sure they are still alive sometimes.

Faval and Patty's are merry. Bed? What is a bed? You suspect Patty leaves the room from the window as a cat burglar. Or vampire. You don't know. Faval is so royal and doesn't think twice to pay your snacks, but you're not sure where he gets the money because you have seen his wallet, and there's only a mock-up credit card with some small changes.

Ishtore, Ishtar, Liza, in a suite. It's clear that Liza and Ishtore are dating seriously and they share a bed as a couple. The suite is great though, similar to Julius and Julia's with its own rooms, so it's not like you'll ever walk in on them together and that's good. Only Reinhardt looks very inquisitive each time Ishtar calls you because she hates feeling like third-wheeling her twin. Apparently, her mom made her go with them. You aren't sure if this is still within your paycheck. Well, whatever you get paid for!

The Isaachians' room is vibrant. They simply bundle together in any way they want, except Shannan's bed remains untouched. Usually Larcei and Mareeta share the king-sized bed, but it's not very common for Larcei to pass on Ulster's single bed, kicking him out of it to the floor. They are only inside to sleep, as they are very active. They like outbound activities and Larcei loves to eat, so you'll likely end up doing that too if you choose them as roommates.

Ah, the Clauses, Knightly Leonster. Altena's bed is the nicest. Leif and Finn shoot dagger glare at you if you would do so much as lingering too close to it. Altena is very relaxed and has expressed what a sad sight you make for bundling on the floor in a nice suite, but you have a strong feeling that Finn does have a glare and Leif has a sniper rifle. Somehow you just know. Finn deadset says he will sleep on kitchen counter if only Altena or Leif tells him to, so he wonders why you can't. You have tried humoring him by sarcastically asking why not in the fridge, but deadpan Finn opens the mini fridge and sincerely curious as to how you would fit.

Well?

Gotta take Lana and Lester’s room then, I love some quiet time inside an hotel suite. The others are either too dangerous, too crowded or I might instigate a declaration of war by accident

[itstimetodrew]

alright I'm taking the bait @crystaloregarden, rolling up my sleeves...

Short Answer: 2, if you want to keep it simple from a narrative or marketing perspective (thank god for their differences in design netting us 2 kotobukiya figures...blessed are the Marik fans getting to spend double money 🙏)

Long Answer: I'm read more-ing this shit

(tw for mentions of abuse and death and suicide)

Summarizing sections from a 17-page google doc I have on him involving topics like this teehee

Anyway! I feel like there really isn't a definitive answer. Just what exactly Yami Marik 'is' isn't 100% clear. Is he a stereotypical and negative portrayal of something like DID? Is it a case of possession, and if so, how much personality does this spirit have of its own? If you see Yami Marik as a separate character, does he begin his own existence when created by Marik, or is it not until he gains a more physical and tangible form? If you don't consider him his own character, what would it take for him to become an entity in his own right, or is it impossible because of his beginning? So many cool questions, no concrete answers!

I think in that sense, people arrive at different answers depending on their view. I think canon shows them more as separate people, or at least for Yami Marik to be a separate Entity, to keep the story cleaner. He is the personification of moral and emotional faults and failings, generational trauma, of being abused, and wanting to abuse others, just to name a few. In a story where he is a villain for an arc for a franchise pushing card game sales, we have to put a nice bow on it all! Marik is bad, but this Other Marik is worse, so we just kill him to redeem the 'good' one and dust our hands off before the next villain comes in.

I can see how that notion can be either inspirational or uncomfortable for people. If you could separate all the qualities of yourself that you dislike and banish them, would you? On one hand, Marik overcoming his 'darker half' shows that what's important is to always work to become better, and no one is too far gone. It's hope and change that drive us forward. Conversely, ironically... that message rings hollow if you see Yami Marik in another light. Why is it fine to portray him as a monster (literally, as he fuses with Ra) and use his death as a benefit for others? We don't get much more character growth for Marik after this, he mostly joins Ishizu in dumping some lore about ancient ceremonies, so we just know he's 'better off' now. (Again, I'm not complaining Marik should have gotten more focus, because his time in the story was up and Millennium World was rushed enough as is without expanded Keeping Up with the Ishtars tidbits. I just love him as a character so much, it's an interesting conclusion for him canonically!)

For my personal take on The Lore, I think what we know as Yami Marik began as the culmination of millennia worth of trauma going back to Kul Elna. A slurry of souls, now voiceless and faceless, only wanting to exact retribution. They gain power and influence being passed from one generation to the next via the Tombkeeper's initiation until we hit Marik, where finally there's enough built up for a more solid Form to emerge. Not something totally new, though. He still uses Marik's name, identifies Marik's siblings as his own (interestingly enough not Marik's father though, IMO showing continued dissociation from the abuse he faced), but has clear quirks and preferences of his own. And none of this is going into the relationship they have with each other, both trying to kill the other/themself but having a purpose rooted in self-preservation. They reflect one another and share a common base, so where does the 'self' end and the 'other' begin?

Idk, all I know is it's Yugioh and my head hurts.

[halodwolf]

YOOO their lore is riveting holy shit!! id love to hear more abt the gods if youd like!

HEY THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!! I'M SO GLAD YOU LIKE IT i've put years of love into these guys and it's so nice to have the groundwork out there finally :}

there are four gods here (i know we didn't hear mention of a fourth one yet nor their chosen one >_> still working that out). they essentially coexist pretty ok for the most part. none of the four are inherently good or evil (stating this clearly bc i know the lore post makes the progenitor look pretty bad. he's fine though). rest is goin under the cut cause i talk too much hope you don't mind

the star is based around venusian deities/archetypes - aphrodite/venus/ishtar/lucifer/inanna etc. uses she/he pronouns. her name is the star because she is y'know, venus, the morning/evening star and the brightest object in the sky other than the moon. she's the spinner's sister. she's a fertility/love god at her absolute baseline but also has an incredibly strong domain of personal justice and righteousness. she's a cyclical deity with two "phases"- the morning star, which is when he is sought for her verdant nature, this is when you'd go to her for matters concerning love, life, abundance, prosperity, fertility, change, etc, and the evening star, which is considered her "fall from grace" ushering the darker side of things concerning justice, victory, war, blood, lust, etc. the most actively invested in the going ons of the story out of the four gods, has always been very in touch with mortals. wants to see the wrongs of the story righted and will intervene as much as he can to do so. manifests in the story as either a maned lioness or a feathered serpent i can't decide which, maybe both?

the spinner is your fortune god! the star's sister. rules over fortune, fate, cycles, abundance, prosperity, luck, spontaneity, and general chaos as is the way of things. she/her. is pretty detached from everything happening because she has to be, general puppeteer of the story. while atheris may not be of her, she has a very large soft spot to him because of his devotion and pulls the strings in his favor. she creates the time loop that allows atheris to fix the mistakes he's made. tends to be aloof and distanced about the way things have to happen but feels no shame in ushering bad things upon those who deserve them. works very closely with the star as their domains in fate and justice have a large overlap although they don't get along the best. eccentric and strange and completely ineffable and almost impossible to understand. thinking about her too long will give you a migraine. has an undeniable presence whenever she's around. usually attributed to jupiter as the third brightest object in the sky. perhaps manifests as a hyena with an incomprehensible face garnered in pomegranates and laurels. they say that cicada song in the summer is her singing

the progenitor is literally like. the archetypal serpent. creation/sun god. he/him. the first one and the god of gods. carved the path for the others to follow. notorious seducer and persuader. him and the spinner are closely attributed to one another, they relied on each other for the longest time. nowadays they don't work as closely, but the progenitor still has his interests in her. is basically the personification of endless potential and creation, he offers this for you to take. what matters the most about the progenitor is how you take what he has to offer, which is why he culminates violently and explosively when atheris snaps. working with him is tricky but he is not entirely cruel. he'll kick you when you're down until you stop doing whatever what's gotten you to this point and will twist his fingers in your wounds until you change. does not make himself present to mortals very often so his appearance is surprising to everyone. very old very alien and no one knows much about his motives. common mythology is that he carved the gorge that the keys live in and now slumbers in the basin of the river. manifests as a giant black snake with iridescent scales

the reflector is the last of the four! personification of the moon. she/they. the most mysterious of the four, does not communicate very often or very well literally at all. is always watching very carefully and rumor is she has a lot more hands in the pot than you think she does. rules over the hunt/mystery/personal selfhood/introspection/crossroads/nighttime/everything you can't wrap your brain around. the wolves and dogs between the two clowders are particularly fond of her. she's known as the reflector for the way the moon reflects on water and her embodiment of knowing your own self. her nature is incredibly elusive and it seems they do this on purpose. however, she does care about those who follow her in her own strange way. weaver of webs. rumored to work in secrecy with the spinner in turning the wheel of fate but no one can say for sure. manifests as a giant wolf with a mirror for a face.

both the keys and the ridges follow each of the gods equally, there is no personal preference between the two despite their differences. however, the star finds herself personally invested in the lively hood of the keys due to the tragic death of their founder and thus the keys tend to see her as the highest and closest of the four. general worship is mostly old practice and the gods are far less involved in the present day than they used to be. however, when violence between the keys and the ridges comes to a head with nerros's assassination, this very quickly changes and they become directly involved. the star is the first to act, coming to lazarus above nerros's corpse, but the others follow not too long after

[ftf-appreciationweek]

Questions and answers were taken from Ursa’s telegram chat

Would Iyar have been able to defeat the Anunnaki without chaos?

Ursa: Nnnn ... frail and weak - I think yes XD actually, he has a lot of potential, but he is often limited by fear.

Does Niall have any bad/strange habits?

Ursa: Yes, I don’t recommend having any children from home to anyone XD, 0/100. (Note: this is referring to his habit of taking in random orphans as their sponsor)

Enlil is in 5th place in strength, as Niall said, and the rest?

Ursa: It is difficult to distribute them by strength, because a lot depends on the environment and the situation.

What's the difference in strength between an overlord and a general?

Ursa: General second in line. Subject to the Overlords. There are five overlords.

Initially, it seems like you planned extra chapters on the LIs. After that, you said that everything is complicated, because there is nowhere to cram them, probably due to the shortening of the story. Could we expect them now?

Ursa: No. Since the book is being written, I see no reason to make full-fledged chapters for this case. There are premium scenes for favorites, and a story for everyone, so in the end everyone will be happy and no one will have to go through uninteresting content.

Will the first book have an open ending so that if something happens, you can go to book 2? So there is a possibility that the favorites may change depending on where Nikkal takes this journey and how she grows as a MC? Or will there still be one, even if there are more books?

Ursa: No, the ending is quite definite. There is another conflict in the second volume.

And will there be disassembly within the five? Ishtar with Shamash and Enlil, for example.

Ursa: Spoiler.

In the intimate scene with Kingu, Nikkal, so to speak, burst out of her inner fire and a mixture of their forces occurred, or was there such a violent passion between them that she was lost in sensations and it seemed to her that she was on fire?

Ursa: Mmm... it's hard for me to answer that question. After all, somewhere the fire was a metaphor, and somewhere - a reality. As is Chaos.

Should we expect close scenes with some of the characters in the next episodes?

Ursa: I never forbade anyone to wait :D

And when will there be information about the son of Nanna and Ningal? about whom Iyar spoke in the scene at the beginning of the novel.

Ursa: Are you talking about Iyar's song? So it is mocking, half of it is nonsense.

In the book, will the heroine have a love relationship with someone? Or are we waiting for an open ending?

Ursa: Actually, they will.

What do the marks on Su's body mean?

Ursa: If I don't forget, I'll make a separate post about it. The topic is extensive. Remind me if I forget, ok?

What was Ereshkigal and Niall's first meeting? What were their first impressions when they met each other?

Ursa: If you are looking for romance here, then it’s in vain.

Well, when will Sparkle and the warden kiss, huh?

Ursa: Sooner or later, anyway... 

The energy that Ishtar and other characters felt from Nikki - is it still chaos to Kingu or something else?

Ursa: It's chaos, yes. Disorganized chaos feels like... well, the vibe of a nervous person from a confident and calm one. Even if they are both sitting in the same position and not moving, you can still tell one from the other.

In history, will we meet Niall's close friends or his brothers and sisters?

Ursa: They are not important for the story, so I think not.