#The Lum King

[chirpy-chips]

mlems…

[spritemachine]

made me think of this

[pixelsjoy]

BABE WAKE UP THE NEW SPARKS OF HOPE DLC TRAILER DROPPED

[art-appreciation-dog]

Art by Giacomo Boni

ArtStation || Instagram

[nightsidewrestling]

D.U.D.E: Part 4 - Rhythm of The Night (set in 2020)

Note: This is set in a universe where Men VS Women / Intergender matches can happen.

Chapter 1: here Chapter 2: here Chapter 3: here

Tags: @piratewithvigor @tantamount-treason @thedollmaker16

Around 2000 Words. 18+ in places (those chapters will be marked as 'Mature / sexual content' just to be safe). Please inform me if you wish to be tagged or untagged from posts. If the text is in italics and orange it's Kirby's inner monologue. If the text is coloured but not in italics, it's either dialogue or a P.O.V change (P.O.V changes will be in bold and translated dialogue will appear in square [ ] brackets), Key below. Quick note on Geia's text colour: Yes I do know that as Greed she should be in yellow but I decided to colour the men's dialogue yellow so Geia was changed to be pink like the other women in the story outside of the main 8.

The Main 8: Damo - Bio. Vi - Bio. Billie - Bio. Geia - Bio. Kirby - Bio. Honey - Bio. Eli - Bio. Sara - Bio.

Gluttony's P.O.V:

"Why are we talking about how to hide a stiffy?" Kirby questions, raising an eyebrow as she looks at the shorter man, watching as his cheeks flush.

Eddie goes to speak, but covers his mouth and looks away from her, staring at the floor for a moment as he scratches his beard.

Kirby studies him for a second before looking over at the food, about to get up when she feels Eddie's hand touching her own, only for him to pull his hand away when she looks at him.

"I like your tattoos, especially the shamrock." Eddie whispers, pointing at the small, black shamrock tattoo on Kirby's right wrist.

"I got it when I was eighteen, that and the apple of discord on my back. Those were my first two, since then I've been adding two more every year."

"So you keep them small, to not take up all the space before you get another year older?"

"Exactly." She smiles softly.

The two spend the rest of the day, slowly, getting used to being around each other in the hotel room. Eddie listens as Kirby tells him about Wales, and the C.R.C and she grants Eddie the same amount of respect, when he talks about being an indie wrestler for nearly 20 years. By the time the sun starts setting the two are on the balcony, Eddie smoking a cigarette as Kirby sits at the small table next to the door, with her sketchbook in her lap and an empty can of Jack Daniels and coke on the table next to her, gradually sketching the city around them from where she sits.

"So, what are we gonna do about our sleeping arrangements?" She asks, not even looking up from her drawing.

Eddie chuckles softly, "Kid, we are gonna sleep next to each other. Back to back, like true independent wrestlers."

"Oh, okay, I'll sleep in what I'm wearing then."

"I'm not letting you sleep in jeans, no way, I'm not gonna touch you or anythin' like that. I want you to be comfortable, kid, I want you to be okay tomorrow morning."

"You go get settled first, I want to finish this sketch before I join you... if that's alright with you, of course."

"Fine by me, kid." Eddie says softly, patting Kirby on the head as he walks back inside.

After around 10 minutes, when Kirby assumes Eddie's asleep, she closes the balcony door, looking over at the bed and seeing Eddie already, at least half-asleep, in just his boxers. Seizing the opportunity to take in the image of how Eddie sleeps, her brain seizes the moment. Perhaps it's the can of Jack and coke giving me thoughts, or perhaps it's the bulge visible in Eddie's bright red boxer shorts, but the smut reading memories are flooding back and, sure as the sun will rise tomorrow, Belushi, Farley and Candy are being replaced with Eddie.

"Shit, God fucking damnit, no... no, I'm not allowed to think about these things." She mutters to herself, a little too loudly.

"You alright, kid?" Eddie grumbles, having woken up slightly upon hearing Kirby's form of self-discipline.

"I'm alright... it's just... you'd laugh if I told you." She murmurs, rubbing the back of her neck.

"I'll try not to laugh."

"I... used to read smut about John Belushi, and other such celebs, and seeing you nearly naked... well it brought up some thoughts, to say the least." She admits sheepishly.

"Oh," Eddie whispers, before smirking and winking at Kirby, "You wanna do a lil' somethin'-somethin'?"

"Don't tease me." Kirby groans, turning her back on Eddie as she goes into the bathroom.

"Tease you?" Eddie chuckles, "kid, I ain't teasin' ya... I'm serious, if you wanna see where this goes, we'll see where this goes." The sound of his voice gets closer to Kirby.

Kirby splashes her face with water, taking a deep breath as she grabs a towel to dry herself.

"I'm just sayin', I've been with a lot of women, and you... you aren't like any of them, but not in a bad way."

"I'm not Billie, I ain't Bienvenida Marino. I don't do one night stands... that might actually be why I've been a virgin, for so many things, for so long... the most I've ever done is kiss someone." Kirby explains, gasping when she feels Eddie's hands on her waist.

Eddie spins Kirby around to face him, locking eyes with her, "Let me teach you everything you never learnt in your teens, lemme guide ya, kid, we don't have ta fuck, but lemme show ya what the world is like, outside the ring... can I do that?"

"Teach me, please... show me what I've been missing out on. Hell, show me why Billie's so crazy about being intimate with people."

"I can't read her mind, but I can do this." Eddie whispers, his voice rough, but not hoarse.

Eddie's bright green eyes flicker, from Kirby's deep blue ones, to her lips, still painted a more golden shade of orange, he smirks and licks his lips, slowly moving in for a kiss and brushing his lips against hers gently, then going in for a second, more deep kiss; Kirby places her hands on his hips and slowly closes her eyes; She lets Eddie fully take control of the situation, which he does about as naturally as he flicks ash off a cigarette. The taste of his lips on hers takes over her mind, smoky and with a hint of alcohol from the (few) sips he had of her can of Jack and coke while they were talking earlier in the evening; Without warning Eddie starts manoeuvring Kirby towards the bed, slowly taking steps backwards until she falls back onto the bed.

She finally reopens her eyes, seeing Eddie standing above her with a wild grin on his face, Kirby gasps when Eddie pulls her back up to her feet, (unknowingly) giving him enough of a gap to slip his tongue into her mouth, making the kiss deeper and, for a moment, Kirby swears she can hear a guttural growl from the New Yorker.

In that moment something clicks in her head. Something she thought she would (normally) never think to do. She closes her eyes and gets closer to Eddie, making sure to get close enough, to feel his dick get harder in his boxers, right before he pulls away and she realises how close she just got to him.

"I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me-" Kirby starts, quickly getting cut off by Eddie pulling her into a, much rougher, kiss by the belt loops of her jeans.

When Eddie pulls away their eyes lock again, and suddenly the (emotional) feeling within the room goes from awkward and unsure, to steamy and they know things can never go back to a simple, friendly relationship between the two of them.

"You wanna?" Eddie asks, raising an eyebrow as he looks at Kirby.

"Sex?... I've never even looked at anyone naked, except from myself." Kirby mumbles, slightly ashamed of her answer.

"Sex, making love, call it what ya want, but do you want to... do ya," Eddie takes a moment to collect his thoughts, taking a deep breath and blurting out, "do ya want me to be your first dick?"

Kirby lets out a nervous chuckle before taking her shirt off, "I will gladly have you as my first... Fuck, I'd take you as my first, last and only." She smiles softly, watching Eddie's eyes flicker, from her face, to her chest as she takes off her bra.

"Holy fuck..." Eddie whispers under his breath.

Somehow stopped in his tracks by Kirby getting naked, his eyes widen slightly and his jaw falls open, he takes in the sight of her, scars, tattoos and all as she stands back up, letting her hair down for once and walking up to Eddie, gently kissing his cheek. Kirby lets out a small noise of surprise as Eddie explores her body with his hands. She stops his left hand before it gets to her breast, guiding it towards her crotch.

"You consent to this, right, Kirby?" Eddie asks, his voice the softest it's been in a while.

"I give you my consent, Eddie... Edward, I want to do this with you." Kirby nods, moaning as Eddie teases her folds with his fingers, moaning louder when he removes his boxers and she sees what he's packing.

Holy fuck, how is that meant to fit inside me? Is the first thought that comes to her mind upon seeing his dick, followed swiftly by the thought, At least I didn't offer to suck it, cause that could hit my gag reflex and really fuck me over.

"Like what you see?" Eddie whispers in her ear, teasing her with both his words and his hands.

"Care to teach me how such a weapon is meant to be handled?" She teases back, or at least tries to, her tone nervous and unsure.

Eddie chuckles, laying down on the bed, gesturing for Kirby to straddle his lap, she complies and before she knows it, Eddie has her moaning loud enough that the people next door start banging on the wall, yelling for her to shut up, but as thick and fast as the obscenities can come from Kirby's lips, she reaches her climax and Eddie realises that her one round is half of his, and trying not to push her limits, he pulls out and wraps her hand around his cock, showing her exactly what to do to get him over the edge, her body still close enough that her stomach gets coated in the streams of his juices. Eddie goes to talk before falling silent as he watches Kirby take a taste of the cum now covering her, getting pulled into a very steamy kiss from him, biting her bottom lip and grabbing a handful of her ass, making her lay next to him as he goes to grab a towel to clean 'his girl' up.

His girl... throughout the whole of their first time together, he was calling her 'his girl', no longer Damien's property, no longer 'Kid', no longer just a co-worker. Eddie's girl... Eddie's girlfriend?

"Eddie?" Kirby clears her throat, unsure of if it's a good time to ask the question, "Eddie... am I, are we..." Her voice falters as Eddie cleans her up.

"Don't worry, I know what you're askin'... and yea, from now on, you and me are as together as Mox and Renee, but without the marriage or anything that comes with it." Eddie murmurs, lazily kissing Kirby to say 'goodnight' and curling up under the covers next to her, fully nude.

When Kirby wakes up the following morning, Eddie's outside in just his boxers and jeans, smoking a cigarette, and watching her through the window. He smiles once he notices she's awake, gesturing for someone to go into the room. At that moment Kirby notices Renee and Jon, sitting at the table (that has been moved) outside. Renee heads inside to let Kirby have a little privacy from both men, who could potentially see her wake up, nude and (still) coming to terms with how sore her thighs are from the night before.

It takes a grand total of, around, 20 minutes for Kirby to be up and ready for the day, heading outside to talk to her new, (and first ever) 'boyfriend', or as Renee insists on calling him 'Kirby's new hunk'. Eddie holds out his hand to her, or rather offers her what he's holding in his hand, a (still warm) cup of coffee from a local café, the same one they met at, the same order she told him that day too.

"Thanks... did you have a shave?" Kirby asks softly, slowly adjusting and, snuggling up to Eddie's side when he pulls her close to him.

"Gotta look good for my lady, had a little tidy up," Eddie mumbles, moving Kirby's hair away so he can kiss her scar, "You look real pretty when you sleep, so peaceful."

"I think you might be the cause of me being so peaceful... I didn't have any nightmares, or night terrors, barely even dreamt last night." She whispers, lowering herself slightly to be closer to be closer to his height.

[nklanuswulf]

[crimsonlocks]

It’s very hot today, so here is how my muses deal with the heat.  Ornstein has big trouble with the heat, but he still refuses to take off his armour, even when it is smeltering outside. He got heatstroke quite a bit because of it. Artorias often is around with a bucket of water to cool him. Laurence actually prefers the heat to the cold. Extreme heat is a bit difficult for him too, but he just goes swimming then. Laurence can easily run around in temperates of 30C and still wear his coat and won’t get heatstroke. Gehrman asks himself how he does it. It’s a bit of an ongoing joke that Laurence is immune to heat because he can also drink tea when it is still scalding hot for others. The Pale King lives underground and doesn’t have to deal with heat. In fact, Hallownest is mostly pretty cold and even if there would be heat, he’s a cold blooded creature. He would thrive in heat. Lum isn’t too fond of heat, but he has a good trick against it. He just uses his ice powers on himself. He freezes his blood or puts a layer of ice on him or lets it snow around him, it’s perfectly easy to cool down when you have frost and ice powers.

[abs0luteb4stard]

W A T C H E D

This was surprisingly good despite its production problems and budget. It's shockingly relevant even 50 years later.

[tanyapeacock]

Happy Epiphany! “When they saw the star they were filled with joy! And going into the house, the 3 Magi saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.” Matthew 2: 7-11 #LUM #cheers #threekingsday #epiphany #magi #jesus #gifts #kings #12daysofchristmas #wethreekings #travel #gold #frankincense #myrrh #manger #kingofkings #starofwonder #star #baby #awayinamanger #followtheonetrueking #love https://www.instagram.com/p/CnExNJeL9pT/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[yumedoca]

I've already done a huge analysis on Ataru and his whole character during the Inaba arc here a long time ago (so read it if you want my thoughts and crumbs on the new episode since my thoughts haven't changed much) but there is one thing I want to talk about which I haven't talked about before..

Ok, so this whole moment means so much to me. It's already beautiful on the surface level, but the smaller extra bits make it better. Things are great for Lum in this future but if you look at Ataru you can see that this future doesn't seem to look as good for Ataru (asides from him getting married to her), I mean people are literally throwing trash at him, calling him names and treating him terribly on his wedding day of all things. I mean yeah, it is somewhat like this in the present as well but when you compare it to Ataru's ideal harem from early on in the episode (not the one he makes, the one he imagines), where he is all loved and respected by the ones around him, you can see the difference in how he wishes to be treated. Heck, his earliest harem vision in the manga (which didn't make it to the remake) shows him being treated like a literal king. But despite that, this is the only future Ataru wants to save.

And the reason? Because Lum is the happiest in this future, so happy that she cries. This is one of those moments where Ataru's selflessness really comes through considering how much he dislikes to be in a committed relationship... Him seeing her happiness here has him realize that this future is worth it, even if his ideal wants don't come through, because Lum's happiness means that much to him..

[chirpy-chips]

Lum’s husband and Lum’s boyfriend

[brucebocchi]

Ranking every new anime I watched in 2023, Pt. 2: #20-11

hey, i just started a ko-fi for my writing and possible other creative outlets. this post will also be available there, so please check it out and consider tipping/donating as i'm currently between jobs. the tumblr version of part 1 can be found here.

Let's get right into it.

20. Helck

I watched Helck’s first season for its entire half-year run, and I'm honestly still not sure how I feel about it. I’d heard amazing things from people who’d read the manga, and it had a hot start, but the pacing slowed to such a crawl after a while that it kind of felt like they stretched out the story just so they could make another season.

Helck, an enormous and impossibly jolly human warrior, enters a tournament to decide the successor to the throne of the recently-slain Demon King. Demons and humans had been at war for some time, so Vermilio, an adorably fiery elite lord of the castle, is naturally wary of him. Helck is naturally powerful, talented, and affable, so he easily breezes his way through the tournament in hilarious fashion, despite Vermilio’s best efforts at sabotage. Before the finals can take place, though, an immortal army sent by the human forces arrive to attack the demon realm, and Helck and Vermilio are teleported to the far edge of the realm.

The season largely covers Helck and Vermilio’s trek back to the demon kingdom, as well as the demons’ struggles against the mysterious warriors as they attempt to figure out just what the hell the humans are plotting.  Vermilio remains leery of Helck, regardless of all he’s done for her, but it becomes further evident that Helck is harboring a very dark past, and eventually we get a lengthy arc where he sits down and explains it to Vermilio in flashback. There is, as you’d expect, plenty of tragedy there, and you’d like to see it resolved, but things just seem to keep getting worse.

There are powerful messages in there about toxic positivity and fighting the urge to shoulder one’s burdens alone, but they don’t become fully apparent until late in the season. Everything until then, at least after the teleportation, is… fine. I had higher hopes for this one, but it just feels like it’s missing something, and I can’t put my finger on what. It looks fine, the voice acting is good (the GOAT Katsuyuki Konishi is typically very good as Helck), the action is decent, it’s all… fine. The pacing just feels glacial at times, to the point where if I hadn’t been watching it weekly I might have bounced off of it.

Of course, the season ended with what appears to be the endgame on the horizon, so for all I know there’s still a lot more to come, but the story beats feel so familiar that I get the feeling it could be resolved with, like, a movie. I hope I’m wrong, because there are clearly some major emotional payoffs yet to come, and I’m still curious to see how it gets there. I may have to pick up the manga to find out if it’ll be worth any more of my time.

19. Urusei Yatsura (2022), second cour

Fresh off of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure’s possible series finale, David Production’s modern take on Rumiko Takahashi’s legendary comedy manga hummed along nicely into 2023. The cast continues to expand as the new version introduces characters like Ten, Ryunosuke, and Tobimaro to further raise the level of shenanigans inherent to Urusei Yatsura.

Lum Invader has been a sex symbol for pretty much as long as anime has had sex symbols, but the reboot’s second cour focuses a bit more on the side of her personality that makes her so iconic, and which I consider essential to several of my favorite female anime characters: Lum’s kind of a psychotic asshole. Her schemes to wring more attention and affection out of Ataru border on sociopathic at times, and she’s honestly so real for that. Her mortal frenemy, Ran, was introduced close to the end of the first cour, and there is still no shortage of sabotage attempts in the second, but we quickly come to learn that Ran’s undying vendetta is mostly because Lum has been a selfish, lying piece of shit since they were kids. God bless her.

Ataru continues to not be much better, serial philanderer that he is, as he continues to be surrounded by other hot crazy ladies who aren’t his not-fiancee. Mendo’s younger sister, Ryoko, is a real highlight in the 2023 run as a result of her escalating penchant for Looney Tunes-esque slapstick violence. The settings of Ataru’s and Lum’s respective worlds take more focus as well, between Ataru’s high school hijinks and Ten’s galactic mail-order mishaps, and the two often collide in hilarious fashion.

I still adore the look of this one. Character models have been cleaned up and simplified to a sort of retro-modern look while still being instantly recognizable to anyone already familiar with them. Everything is awash in an eye-popping Day-Glo color palette. Backgrounds and pop-in gags are often adorned with Ben Day dots to maintain the retro comic look. This doesn’t quite look like the manga, nor does it resemble the original 80s anime, but this is unmistakably a Rumiko Takahashi product. It almost looks like it could have come out at any point in time.

I’m only holding this back in the rankings because it’s the weaker half of a season that straddled the end of 2022 and the start of 2023, but the season as a whole is excellent. It is an essential watch for fans of comedy anime, especially considering so many tried-and-true anime gags effectively originated with Urusei Yatsura (it’s worth mentioning that Lum is largely considered the first-ever tsundere in anime and manga). Season 2 is imminent and I cannot fucking wait. Maybe I’ll even read the manga.

18. Tomo-chan is a Girl!

This is basically Monthly Girls’ No-jock-i-kun. Very simple premise: Tomboyish high schooler gets the hots for her childhood friend who is dense as fuck and forgets most of the time that she’s even a girl. Hilarity ensues and romance progresses glacially.

The voice performances are what really carry this one. Rie Takahashi is golden as the titular Tomo Aizawa, and this was the first entry in an MVP-caliber resume for her in 2023 that was so stacked that I still haven’t gotten to her best role yet. Rina Hidaka nails the conniving, misanthropic nature of Misuzu Gundo in a far cry from her turn as Emul the bunny in Shangri-La Frontier later in the year. The American-born idol Sally Amaki is a revelation as the airheaded gaijin Carol Olston, whom she also voices in the English dub. Even Carol’s mom speaks broken Japanese with a noticeable American accent, which is one of my favorite gags in the whole show.

Outside of the voice acting, nothing is particularly special about this show. Which is fine! There's nothing wrong with a solid 7/10 romcom; junk food is still food. It’s cute, it’s funny, it hits all the right beats, but nothing particularly stands out. Misuzu and eventually Carol give Tomo advice to try to woo her bestie Jun, while Misuzu is usually also playing Jun against that same advice so that it usually works and backfires at the same time. It’s all a game, and she plays both sides so she can always come out on top.

If I have a complaint about this show, it’s that it just… ends. I went back and read the manga, and unfortunately that issue is not the anime’s fault. If anything, it did a phenomenal job of fitting eight volumes of a 4-koma into a single season, and that’s always how it was supposed to go. I watched and read a ton of slice-of-life romance anime and manga this year, as it turns out, and the ones that really hit for me are usually the ones that take their time with the central relationship once it actually starts, rather than treat that big event as the climax, or worse, the finale of the story. Stuff like Kaguya-sama, Horimiya, Sweat and Soap, and even Wotakoi (though I have my own problems with that one) treat their central relationships as a step, not the goal.  At the same time, for plenty of others, the fun is in the chase, and they just run out of time, and Tomo-chan is the latter. We got what we wanted, and we had fun getting there. Sometimes that’s all you need.

Also good god, Tomo’s mom. The second those genes kicked in for Tomo, Jun was doomed.

17. The Eminence in Shadow, second cour and season 2

The Eminence in Shadow is the smartest piece of stupid media I've seen in a minute. It so perfectly skewers dime-a-dozen chuunibyo isekai trash while still cannonballing into a McDuckian swimming pool of the stuff. It nearly overwhelms you with lore; the series abounds with rich backstories, centuries-old power struggles, palace intrigue, shadowy conspiracies, the artificially accelerated march of progress, long-simmering revenge plots, looming economic catastrophe, and love dodecahedrons. And the most compelling thing about all of it is that none of it fucking matters.

Cid Kagenou spent his teenage years in modern Japan trying to become the coolest badass dark antihero who ever lived, but he quickly reaches his limits in our boring normal world so he rides the isekai truck into a world with actual, like, magic and shit. He spends his new childhood leveling up and rescuing elf girls, all the while regaling them with his “wisdom” in the form of a bunch of horseshit he made up based on all the light novels he used to read. Turns out that he’s entirely too genre savvy; this new world is apparently so contrived that every single thing he told them ended up entirely true.

So now Cid’s a teenager by day and shadowy vigilante by night (under the apt moniker “Shadow”), with an underground legion of hot deadly babes at his disinterested beck and call. All he genuinely cares about is looking and acting like the coolest motherfucker a socially inept 12 year old boy can think of, and in his downtime actively trying to be a forgettable mob character. And I do mean that that is all he cares about; when I say none of the wheels within wheels happening in the background actually matter, I mean that Cid is completely and totally unaware of any of it. 

Anything he does or says to drive the plot is either incidental or accidental. He spouts off some nonsense he heard in a video game once, and his cadre of elf baddies and beastgirls takes it as gospel en route to exposing a millennium-old conspiracy. He parrots a really cool line he heard ten minutes ago and a beautiful woman he just saved takes it as inspiration to turn her life around. It’s kind of like in Mashle, funnily enough; where Mash will go “I don’t know what’s going on, but you were being mean to my friend so I’m gonna beat the shit out of you,” Cid is more like “No clue what this is about, but that’s a really badass looking villain, so I’m gonna say some epic shit and do a big explosion.” And then he fucks off to go eat a burger or something, not knowing or caring that he just unraveled a prophesied master plot to destroy the global power balance.

The episodes that aired in 2023 largely revolve around the lovely Princess Rose, smitten with both Cid and Shadow (not knowing they’re the same guy), pledging fealty to Shadow Garden after failing to foil a coup d’etat. At the same time as her training, Cid is busy with a vampire something-or-other and then tries to make some coin for himself by teaming up with an assassin hellbent on revenge to create a credit crisis. The conspiracy later drags Rose back into the palace, where Cid sees a new opportunity. Every single one of these things has very specific reasons for happening, and everyone involved has a rich backstory and clear motivations to carry out their parts of the ever-evolving plots.

But that’s not why you’re here. You’re here to watch a bunch of hot ladies and a guy in a black cloak with one glowing red eye do some sick action stunts to bad guys with silly names, and this show delivers that in spades. This feels like a throwback in the best and worst ways. The Eminence in Shadow is stupid, and it is brilliant.

16. Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation, season 2

Mushoku Tensei is a tough anime to talk about. On one hand, it is one of the most gorgeous anime series ever put on television: Almost consistently movie-quality sakuga, lush background art, and a breathtaking score come together to form an immersive world unlike many I’ve seen in any medium. On the other, it forces some very unpleasant conversations about reincarnation in anime, particularly ones like this where a grown man is reincarnated as a child while retaining his mental age and is surrounded by potential love interests closer in age to his new body. What doesn’t help is that in his previous life in our world, the man who would reincarnate as Rudeus Greyrat was a socially isolated hentai addict, and much of his journey centers around him unlearning those proclivities in unfortunate and often damaging ways. If you can handle that, Mushoku Tensei is a rewarding watch, but if that’s beyond the pale to you, I don't blame you in the slightest.

However, even if you’ve been able to stomach all of the questionable shit in the first season, I'm sorry to say that the second season’s first cour doesn’t do much for the “bro I promise he gets better bro” crowd. The first cour covers the Quagmire and Academy arcs, which follow Rudeus’ struggle with being effectively abandoned by the only person to show him any physical affection in either life. The knock-on effect sees him retreating into an antisocial shell and developing, and I am deadly serious here, a seemingly incurable case of erectile dysfunction.

The first few episodes surround Rudeus growing into a young man, making a name for himself as a wandering adventurer in hopes that talk of his name will spread to his missing family and friends. At the urging of the god with a direct line to him (still unexplained), he enrolls in a magic university to investigate the calamity that flung his loved ones to the corners of the realm. There he finds an old friend in the figure-obsessed young prince who saved his life in the previous season, a girl from his previous world who seems to have also been transported to this one, and most crucially, his old childhood friend Sylphiette, hiding in plain sight with new hair and a sick pair of shades as a retainer to a scheming princess enrolled in the school.

Mushoku Tensei's initial season was at its best in its quieter moments, and those abound in season 2’s first cour. It's really lovely seeing him connect once again with Sylphie purely for who she is, even though for all Rudy knows he’s talking to a twinky dude named Fitz who makes him feel weird things. We get our amazing action animation early on, and things settle down quite a bit from there as Rudeus navigates all of these interpersonal relationships, old and (seemingly) new.

And while, yes, this version of Rudeus is a far cry from the drooling, grinning pervert he was in his first ten years of reincarnation, his improvement as a human being is not a straight line. He unfortunately takes more steps backwards than forward. The things he says in a drunken rage about his party member Sara (who inadvertently revealed his ED) are awful and undeserved, he literally ties up and gropes a pair of beast girls from his class (he has apparent reasons for both of those things, but come on), and he “frees” a young dwarven slave to take on as an apprentice. That last one seems admirable on its face, but uh. He went with the flow in a god damned slave market and still paid a slaver.  

I'm not excusing those things, nor absolving Rudeus as a character; I'm simply saying they happen this season. Mushoku Tensei, for better or for worse, depicts gnarly subject matter as it is while neither glorifying it nor moralizing about it. It trusts you to make your own judgments, and if your verdict is “I can’t watch this show,” that is perfectly valid. If you can stomach watching through its worst moments and compartmentalize the uncomfortable aspects of it, Mushoku Tensei remains one of the best-looking and -sounding pieces of animation out there, and the part of its second season that aired in 2023 has an exceptional emotional payoff. Otherwise, I'll be talking about Frieren much later.

15. Spy x Family, season 2

The most succinct praise I can give season 2 is also the most backhanded: Well, it’s more Spy x Family.

I want to be clear that there is no shade inherent to that comment; the first season of Spy x Family was excellent! It was a stylish, beautifully animated, appropriately hilarious adaptation of a fantastic manga that did it justice in almost every regard; the second season didn’t need to move heaven and earth to try to one-up it. It wasn’t broken, so Wit and CloverWorks didn’t fix it. It’s still the blend of domestic slice-of-life hijinks, tense cold-war intrigue, and heart-pounding action it’s always been. Even the production music is largely the same, and that’s not a complaint, because SxF’s production music fuckin' slaps.

A lot of anime-onlys rightfully complained that Yor’s plot relevance seemed to fall off a cliff in the back half of season 1, so they have been eating GOOD this time out, as season 2’s (ostensible) first cour puts her directly in the spotlight. The Yor Cour, if you will. The season opened on a hilariously spot-on adaptation of my favorite Yor-centric chapter of the manga (the “bullet in the ass” one) and quickly moved on to a nearly perfect interpretation of the cruise arc that sees her protecting a government asset from a legion of assassins. 

If you wanted to see more of Yor in her second life as the contract killer, Thorn Princess, this season was a meal and a half for you. Having her beset on all sides by an eccentric rogues’ gallery, with Anya fully aware and trying her damnedest to keep Loid from finding out what’s actually going on, is Spy x Family at its best. The tension constantly ramps up as the ship approaches its target, and Anya’s attempts at distracting Loid usually go sideways because, well, she’s Anya. Blood splatters, laughs are had, and Loid continues to struggle with both fatherhood and acting like his growing affection for his ragtag “fake” family is just “for the mission.” 

Outside of the cruise, season 2 maintains the series’ usual episodic pace, which can be a little jarring before and after the cruise arc, but that’s SxF for you. Shit can pop off at unexpected moments, and having read ahead in the manga, I’m excited to see the next time that happens. For now, though, things can feel kinda static from time to time, but the Forger family and the extended cast are always pleasant to just hang out with for a while.

And now to wait for the movie to come out in the west.

14. Undead Unluck

Up until this past Winter season, I primed myself on a lot of the more-hyped anime by reading the manga ahead of time. I knew that Undead Unluck is one of the bigger Shonen Jump manga out there, but this debut kind of crept up on me. I went in blind, got drawn in by the premise, and then got quickly overwhelmed with a wild amount of lore.

Fuuko, a young woman seemingly afflicted with a curse, is saddled with a brash, enormous man who cannot die after he foils her suicide attempt and is then himself grievously injured. Don’t worry, he got better. It turns out that he’s roughly 200 years old and has a completely cracked healing factor, while she brings terrible misfortune to anyone who touches her skin. They are both Negators, people with the ability to reverse or ignore the laws of nature: Fuuko’s ability is Unluck, causing tragedy for those close to her, while the man is Undead, exactly what it says on the tin. The man, who cannot remember his own name, believes their meeting to be kismet: If she can bring death to her loved ones, he vows to woo her so she can deliver the death he’s sought for so long. I promise this is a comedy.

Fuuko and Andy (whom she named as shorthand for the Japanese pronunciation of “undead”) foil a series of assassination attempts by other Negators, and take their spots as part of the Union eliminating threats to the universe. They team with an eclectic group, whom we’re still getting to know as of the end of the first cour, as they trot the globe to complete quests given to them by a mysterious (and seemingly nefarious) talking book lest the universe incur penalties for their failure.

The power system among Negators is one of the most inventive I've seen, with each one able to cancel out a specific element of the natural order of the world, and it’s a blast learning how each new one works. Andy in particular is wild; because he can regenerate himself so quickly, his weapon of specialty is his own body, never hesitating to use his own fingertips as bullets and his own gushing blood as a propulsion mechanism. He also has no compunction towards taking on the worst of Fuuko’s Unluck ability, often sacrificing himself to get hit by lightning or falling debris to deal damage to an enemy. Every new Negator power introduced adds a new wrinkle to the way this world works and the different shapes its action can take. Others can freeze matter into suspended animation, force people to act opposite their own intentions, or even subvert someone’s entire belief system. I cannot wait to see what else is in store.

The first cour’s pacing is a little off, and Andy's behavior towards Fuuko in the first couple episodes is nothing short of gross (I promise that eases up), but you can see the show finding its footing as it goes on. Shonen Jump series don’t last for nearly 200 chapters and counting by accident, and I'm excited to see where this goes.

13. NieR: Automata Ver. 1.1a

Those of us who played Yoko Taro’s 2017 masterpiece approached the announcement of an anime adaptation with some trepidation: So much of what made Nier Automata so outstanding and so beloved is that much of the delivery of its narrative is inherent to the fact that it’s a video game. How can a video game known for pushing against the fourth wall of the unique elements of its very medium be faithfully adapted as an anime?

The choice of studio was also concerning: Though A-1 has produced a ridiculous number of excellent series (and some aggressively mid ones that were nonetheless very successful), its track record with video game adaptations has been far less than stellar. The latter three films in the Persona 3 adaptations were solid if uneven, and the Valkyria Chronicles anime seems to have been well-received, but the same can’t be said of A-1’s takes on Ace Attorney, Persona 4 Golden, or Persona 5. Regardless, Yoko himself was heavily involved in the anime’s production, so if they could keep on budget and schedule, Nier Automata would have a fighting chance.

And while there indeed ended up being massive and likely unpredictable production delays, I'd say they’ve done almost as good of a job as they could have so far. While the first cour mainly covers Automata’s A and B routes, it does much more than just play that part of the story straight; it also takes the time to incorporate other elements of the Nier canon. A surprising amount of time is dedicated to the canon introduced in the YoRHa stage play (and by extension the Pearl Harbor Descent Record manga); Lily and the android resistance are woven directly into the narrative far beyond the vague overtures the game makes in their direction. Ver 1.1a also ties the history of the original Nier into the story at unexpected and intriguing (and in my case, tear inducing) moments. 

Unfortunately, it’s still too soon to assess this series in its entirety. While too many people who played Nier Automata stopped after route A or B, there is still much more of this story to come. There was some very sloppy CGI integration in the first episode when it aired, but far from enough to put me off the series. For now, it’s a treat for Nier fans, but I’m not sure whether I can recommend it yet to people who are unfamiliar with the source material.

Until the anime is completed, go play Nier Automata. It’s one of my favorite games of all time.

12. Kaguya-sama: Love is War -The First Kiss That Never Ends-

This was a late 2022 theatrical release, but it didn’t see western release until this year and was split into a four-episode mini-season for streaming, so I'm counting it for this year. You can deal with it.

I got completely obsessed with Kaguya-sama early this year, and in record time. I binged the anime and the manga in the span of a couple weeks and irreversibly fell in love. I say with no reservation that it is the best romantic comedy, in any medium, of the 21st century. It nails both the romance and the comedy in equal measure; the characters are perfectly realized right down to the supporting cast, the dynamics between them are carefully considered and consistent with their personalities regardless of circumstance, and every emotional and comedic beat hits exactly as it’s meant to. There is a constant momentum moving the greater plot along, even in the smaller moments, and seismic shifts take over before you’ve even noticed they’re happening.

It’s rare for romcom manga adaptations to stay on the air long enough to actually reach the romantic payoff, and Kaguya-sama fucking nailed it in season 3. Well, we’re pretty sure it did; the central conceit of the psycho-romantic warfare between Kaguya Shinomiya and Miyuki Shirogane is that they’re both chronic overthinkers and won’t accept any romantic undertones or overtures in any form but an explicit confession. So while the finish to season 3 is everything we wanted as an audience, these two dorks still sense a margin for error. Regardless, that would have been a perfectly acceptable place to end the anime.

HOWEVER, the Ice Queen Kaguya arc that follows in the manga is iconic, and A-1 was absolutely right to adapt it. Although Shirogane is ready to move forward with the relationship that (he’s pretty sure) they’ve both wanted for a long time, Kaguya has a crisis of personality and inadvertently reverts to the dead-eyed, emotionally walled-off version of herself he’d initially met, well before either of them had realized they’d fallen in love with one another. The interstitial omake preceding this arc in the manga has Aka Akasaka warning the reader that in order to counteract the massive emotional payoff that just happened, the ensuing chapters would get very, very silly.

And of course, hijinks do indeed ensue; this is Kaguya-sama, after all. But before you realize it, the story is neck deep in Jungian psychology as self-doubt begins to plague Kaguya and Miyuki and they struggle with the faces they think they need to put on for the other and whether their “real” selves even deserve to be loved by the person they idolize. It gets heavy! I cried every time I watched it! And that first time was in a damn movie theater!

I’m much more comfortable appraising First Kiss as a mini-season than as a movie, because frankly, it doesn’t work as a movie. The animation, while maintaining the series’ standard of excellence, isn’t a single degree better than what aired on television, which can be disappointing upon a visit to the theater. The pacing is also off for a feature film; the common knock upon theatrical release was that it felt like four episodes stitched together (it even has the omake-style interludes between scenes, like the show). The arc also focuses very heavily on Kaguya and Miyuki specifically, so the ensemble cast I mentioned earlier does have to take a backseat. Splitting this up for streaming and televised release was the right move here.

Season 3 would have been a very good ending for this series if it never got picked up for the movie. If it doesn’t get picked up for a proper fourth season, this is the perfect place for it to end. The manga has now been adapted up to just past the halfway point, and the next best stopping point would have to wait until a possible, like, fifth season. And that arc in question, while it does have some iconic moments, is very uneven. If this is all we’re getting, we’ve gotten plenty already, and I am satisfied.

If you've watched the first three seasons of Kaguya-sama, you owe it to yourself to watch The First Kiss That Never Ends. It is nearly everything you could ask for. Also, read the manga if you haven’t already. It’s genuinely one of my favorite things I've ever read.

11. The Apothecary Diaries

This one is basically House M.D. set in the Ming Dynasty, and it fucks.

Maomao, an apothecary raised in a pleasure district near the palace of a fictional East Asian empire, is shanghaied (pun intended) into menial work in said palace. She hears tell of a supposed curse plaguing the emperor’s newborn children and the concubines that birthed them, quickly deduces that it may be poisoning, and discreetly leaves a message for the ailing new mothers. She’s found out by an impossibly beautiful young administrator named Jinshi, who quickly deduces that she’s one of the few literate peons in the rear palace, and he puts her to work in the pavilion of the concubine that heeded her advice.

With her knowledge of, resistance to, and slightly masochistic infatuation with various poisons, Maomao slots right in as an attendant and poison tester to one of the emperor’s embattled concubines. Often at Jinshi’s urging (even though she immediately gets the ick at his habitual flirting), Maomao finds herself investigating deaths, mysterious ailments, and strange behaviors, on top of the foreign world of palace politics. Though she’s a deeply jaded person who only seems to care for her special interests, Maomao is incredibly perceptive and often able to suss out the finer details others miss.

Surprisingly, this one is a really breezy watch, and much funnier than you might expect. For all its lush environs, slowly-mounting intrigue, and often stunning cinematography, The Apothecary Diaries isn’t afraid to get a little silly with it. The dialogue is snappy, quick gags abound in a familiar single-panel chibi style you wouldn’t expect in a setting like this, and Komi-esque cat ears spontaneously pop up from Maomao's head whenever her interest is piqued. Interactions between Maomao and Jinshi are always a hoot, and you can pretty quickly figure out where it’s going, although Maomao can’t because she’s still pretty sure Jinshi is a eunuch.

As she does in virtually every role in her dozen-plus years as a seiyuu, Aoi Yuuki crushes it in the starring role. She really nails the disaffected cynicism that animates most of Maomao’s internal monologue and sarcastic dialogue, as well as her hair-trigger glee when presented with her personal interests in food and drink, medicinal herbs, and of course, poison. Yuuki is an indispensable element in ensemble casts like Persona 5, Ace Attorney, Wotakoi, and the aforementioned KamiKatsu (as well as others I don’t plan on watching like My Hero Academia, Rent-a-Girlfriend, and The Seven Deadly Sins), so it’s especially nice to hear her in a spotlight role outside of the odd Madoka Magica, spider isekai, or Cyberpunk Edgerunners.

There are a handful of anime on this list that will be continuing or returning in January, and second only to my #1 anime this year, this is the one I’m most excited to see more of. At time of writing, the show appears to be shifting in a new direction, and I’m hoping to see it take less of an episodic pace.

Part 3 is on the way! I'm going to split my top ten into two more posts, because I ended up writing... a lot more than I'd expected.

[katiekatdragon27]

I was listening to "All Eyes on Me" and "Respectless" during a car ride and had an epiphany.

Progress shots and lore below cut:

OK OK BEFORE WE START THIS IS VERY HEADCANONED BASED.

Design choices and character motivations are very much based on my own hcs (such as Wizard being woman, Wizard being Ales's twin and having his hair as a result, the whole Rabiteen/Hopiteensy lore situation, Bad Rayman and Goth being homies, etc.) I love self-indulgence, what can I say?

Here is a synposis since ik most of you looooooooove my essays below my posts:

This AU takes place between Origins and Legends. Instead of Goth being the 4th player, it's Wizard (like in the concept art). She and Ales are the magician twins that Polokus talks about when pulling on his beard in Origins.

During Origins, Wizard and Ales are working together to harvest lum magic. However, the two of them are not that good at it. So, Ales has the brilliant idea to have Wizard hang out with Rayman and help convince him to help with lum collection. The game proceeds as normal, until they get to Moody Clouds.

While the build is falling apart, the Raygang, minus Wizard, fall to the groud bc of a magic spell Ales casted while they were all busting it down. They fall asleep in the random-ass tree they're found sleeping on in Legends and that's why they're all out of the plot. Wizard, fueled on anger and betrayal of her brother's evil plans, chases his ass onto the ship and stops it from hitting the giant lum ball. Ales thinks his sister is protecting him, but then gets socked in the gut and thrown in a cage. Wizard then hijacks the ship and returns to the port in Moody Clouds, leaving Ales in a dark basement under his office. She returns to the lum ball and considers letting all the lums go but goes back on that decision and decides to keep them.

By enhancing some of Ales's mechanics (all of it is fueled with lums) with her natural strong magic, she goes on a massive power high, capturing all the remaining yellow lums on her own. She then turns her attention to the blue lums.

The ones that are inside of people.

At first, she goes for objectively bad people. The baddies who beat up all the teensies in Teensies in Trouble and so on, but then goes for the bigger fish. The fish like Jano. And she wins. Kills his ass so fast. It's terrifying.

She then starts trying to get the Fairy Council in on her tech and lum magic usage. No one (especially Betilla) vibe with this, cuz they're too busy looking for Rayman or a replacement. She then shows of her Jano kill and everyone is utterly flabbergasted. All the teensies are onboard tho, so that's a win. They start doing public executions of bad nightmares and dreams. Then... it turns into executing people who dislike executions or people who just dislike Wizard in general.

(This is the point where she starts dressing like this. The orange is a ref to her old concept art and the purple with yellow is pieces of Jano's hat she turned into cloths. Also, the stick's not wood. It's actually very strong steel that is incredibly sharp.)

Fun times.

The fairies really don't vibe with any of this, especially Voodoo Mama and Betilla, but for different reasons. For VM, it's because her populations are in dwindling numbers at this point. For Betilla, it's because the lack of lums is stunting/destroying the growth of the Glade and is lowkey incapacitating Polokus. The two of them then come together to figure out a way to stop this girl. They decide to recruit two individuals, a young looking Rayman clone that Betilla remembers a certain dark magic user creating, and a little nightmare teensy who is a massive nerd when it comes to lums. Those being bad Rayman (Shadi) and Goth Teensy.

We love recruiting kids to kill grown ass baddies cuz the authority figures are all shit at figuring their own problems out.

Together, the two of them, plus some other figures like First King and Rabbiteen, go to fight this overpowered scary woman who could easily smite them if she wanted. Good luck soldiers🫡🫡

I have more, but I'm still working on the story not bc I'm lazy noooo neeeeeverrrr.

Anyways, have a lovely day :))

[raymanrambles]

Rayman Origins Early Build Footage Found!!!!!

Edit: just saying credit to maedagoof here cuz i had the vid linked as the credit but idk still feel like i should say so ye.

Really cool since yeah Origins has a weird development. This has some stuff that seems to be from when Origins was that episodic game but then there's also stuff like a 4 player test so who knows when this build was. Lotta stuff here, but just to point out a few:

Rayman plays a bit differently, he has the ground helicopter move from the trailers, has more underwater attacks like a charged punch and kicks, charge punching while on a ledge as well as a splits kinda move midair. Plus, he has his Rayman 1 death animation here:

Rayman also has a health bar instead of dying in one hit, also seen in trailers before. Plus, Lums are entirely different here! Instead of the Lum King, you would be able to combo collecting lums, causing them to turn into Orange Lums and eventually Red Lums, as well as there being a Big Lum like in Rayman 2.

And for the fruit of the hour, the plum! Works as you'd expect from Rayman 1 and stuff, with you being able to put it on Lividstone heads and seemingly ride it on water, but also has some physics properties.

There's a LOT more stuff to talk abt, like Rayman 1 exit signs, Photographer checkpoints, Tricky Treasure appearing in levels, collectable Runes(?) and a lot more!

[nightsidewrestling]

D.U.D.E: Part 1 - The Man Behind The Crown (Set in 2020)

Note: This is set in a universe where Men VS Women / Intergender matches can happen.

Tags: @piratewithvigor @tantamount-treason @thedollmaker16

Around 2000 Words. 18+ in places (those chapters will be marked as 'Mature / sexual content' just to be safe). Please inform me if you wish to be tagged or untagged from posts. If the text is in italics and orange it's Kirby's inner monologue. If the text is coloured but not in italics, it's either dialogue or a P.O.V change (P.O.V changes will be in bold and translated dialogue will appear in square [ ] brackets), Key below. Quick note on Geia's text colour: Yes I do know that as Greed she should be in yellow but I decided to colour the men's dialogue yellow so Geia was changed to be pink like the other women in the story outside of the main 8.

The Main 8: Damo - Bio. Vi - Bio. Billie - Bio. Geia - Bio. Kirby - Bio. Honey - Bio. Eli - Bio. Sara - Bio.

Gluttony's P.O.V:

As she looked up, she saw Damien's face, and that scowl... that damned scowl. The one of an angry tyrant looking at an insubordinate servant moments before carving their skull in half with a sword.

Kirby wakes up in a cold sweat, shivering with her mouth drier than the Sahara. She knows it was a nightmare but it was the same nightmare she had been having since moving into the building two years ago. Damian Lum, her boss, had bought an old disused motel, just enough room for the girls and their families if needed. The girls, each with their own problems in life, were representing the other six sins, and they had chosen Kirby to be Gluttony. Kirby, the only giant, was now known as a gluttonous beast and Damian... no, Damien, was to blame.

Damian was rich, not from wrestling as 'Damien Lucifarian', but because he was Damian Lum, son of wealthy businessman Adam Lum and thus his family had more dollars than sense. Stupid mental jokes aside, Kirby had to get up, her mind was the type that stayed awake after being awoken. Plus, it had just gone '06:00', or so her alarm clock told her.

"If I were luckier, I'd have been saved by the bell." She mutters to herself as she gets out of bed, a long day ahead of things already on her to-do list from last night's unfinished work and the days before. It was Monday. 20th July. 2020. Around three weeks earlier she had called her parents to wish her father a happy birthday. Three weeks; 3; Three weeks of working for AEW. Three weeks of editing Eli's Vlog, too. Kirby hated; no; Kirby hates the vlog. She went to college, and university, only for those skills to be used on the vlog. That stupid vlog.

Admittedly, she only hates it because she isn't getting paid for her work, despite the amount of hours put into it. Hours she could spend doing projects she has more love for. Her art. Making her own rig gear. Alas, she was awake and therefore she had to get dressed and do her morning routine. Shower, dry off, brush teeth & hair, get dressed, done. She would head to the gym next door and wait until someone got in contact. Kirby's not a social person; nor is she a recluse: she has anxiety and can find new people intimidating at first.

At '06:30' Saraid arrives out front in the car. They had already planned out the morning; café, breakfast, grab gear, airport, check in, flight, get to Jacksonville, reach the hotel, have lunch. Saraid's relationship with Kirby is like a younger sister, Saraid gets on Kirby's nerves, Kirby watches over the eighteen-year-old and waits for orders. Both of Semi-Irish descent and with an annoying habit of blurring the lines between gimmick and reality, they had grown protective over each other during the two years they were together.

Thanks to the fact the 'compound' as Damian called it was in Asheville, North Carolina, it took just under two hours to get to Jacksonville, Florida. From there the girls went to meet with their boss and the rest of the sinful team at their hotel, taking in the sights that they can before they reach their destination and unpack their belongings.

Eli's Vlog P.O.V:

Eli flipped the camera screen around before turning it on and filming.

"Bonjour [Hello], my darlings, tis me." She started her intro, same as the three weeks prior, making sure to get the other girls with her in the hotel lobby on camera.

She always began the same, a small intro to herself and her life before going on with her day and filming most of what she did within a day. Kirby would edit it later, taking out the unnecessary and double checking whenever she had to censor a word.

"Today, is the first day of our trip to Jacksonville. We're going to wrestle in Daily's Place and then hang out with some of the guys in a nearby bar. But first, I'll show you around Jacksonville with Geia and Billie."

As Eli continues to film, Kirby and Sara chat in the background with Renee, Jon Moxley's wife, Renee. Sure it was in the background, but viewers paying less attention to Eli and more to the goings-on in the camera view could glimpse Moxley and one of his friends going past the girls, Mox's friend pushing past Kirby quite aggressively.

"Woah, Kirby, ça va mon ami [are you alright my friend]?"

"I'm okay Eli, just another jackass who thinks his tiny **** gives him reason to barge past a woman taller than him." Kirby scoffs, staring daggers at the man who just barged past her.

"**** you!" The man yells, his Bronx accent thicker than Sara's.

"**** me yourself, you coward." Kirby snaps back.

"Kirby." Eli gasps, surprised at her friend's sudden snap at a stranger.

"What? Oh yeah right, I have to censor myself now. Well in that case, **** you, **** head."

The man only laughs in return, it's the laugh of a smoker. He stops for a second, doubling over slightly which makes his black t-shirt hug his beer gut more than when he's standing, the rosaries around his neck swinging down the moment he puts his hands on his knees.

"Eddie. Come on, man." Mox murmurs, looking over his shoulder at the other man.

"A'ight, a'ight. I'll stop ******* with them." 'Eddie' chuckles as he follows Mox.

Renee excuses herself and follows her husband and 'Eddie' out of the room, heading to their car.

Gluttony's P.O.V:

Kirby grunts as she heads to her and Sara's shared hire car, picking up her bag and heading to the locker room. Quickly changing into her workout gear (orange leggings and an orange sports bra that looks two sizes too small despite being the right size) before heading out to the gym, accompanied by the other girls as they each start their workout. The interaction from earlier still stuck in her mind as she replays it mentally for the millionth time.

Who was that guy? Mox said his name was 'Eddie'. What was his deal? Probably just another jerkwad trying her patience. When did Tony hire him? Judging off of every website she checked he wasn't signed to AEW. Where did he get such an attitude? Probably from growing up in New York, like Sara, only worse. Why would he even dare to piss off Kirby? He hopefully didn't realise she was standing in his way when he pushed past her. How did he have the balls to do such a thing? He's friends with Moxley, of course he would have the balls to do something like that.

She barely notices the hours pass as she continues her workout, that was until Damian and Tony came to check on her and ask about the incident. She put little thought into the words, giving her 'boss' and her actual boss a general spiel of answers that would calm them and get them to leave her to her workout.

It reached '13:00' before Kirby's stomach made her aware of how hungry the hours of working up both a sweat and an appetite made her, she took five minutes to shower and change into casual clothes (the outfit from earlier) ahead of quickly heading to her hotel room to grab her laptop and wallet and then finding a small café that would allow her to write several emails to her family back home, replying to her kin's worries.

"I... Mox said I should apologise for pissing you off earlier." The Bronx accent from earlier mutters.

"Apology is not required. I'm busy." Kirby grumbles, not looking up from her screen.

"Then..." 'Eddie' stalls for a moment, "... lemme buy you lunch to say sorry and to avoid me gaining an enemy."

"Sure, you can sit with me too, just don't annoy me further, Mister...?"

"Eddie. Kingston. You don't have to bother with any formalities or fancy words."

"Alright then, Eddie, no gimmicks as we're in public, right?"

"I'm Eddie Moore. Friends call me Eddie, Ma calls me Edward and enemies call me Asshole." He smiles softly.

Kirby smiles gently in return as she finally takes in Eddie's features, not too perfect, but not too rough either. A Yankees cap, which Eddie swiftly turns backwards, revealing his buzzed black hair beneath it. Two seemingly perfect eyebrows and green eyes... bright green eyes, rare on anyone, but a noticeable difference from people she's met before. A slightly crooked, but rather cute nose for a wrestler. Then the scruffy beard and thin lips. If looks could kill, he'd be far worse than any Voorhees, Sawyer or Krueger. She shakes the thoughts from her mind as she checks back into the conversation.

"So, what's ya name? I heard ya friend call ya 'Kirby'."

"I'm Kirby Rhydderch, or to the audience, Kirby Lucifarian."

"Rid..." Eddie struggles in an attempt to pronounce her surname before giving up, "where ya from?"

"Llanfaethlu, Anglesey... Wales."

"Oh, you're that Welsh girl that Mox was talking about, the female Andre."

"He calls me that?" She asks, partially inclined to end the conversation there and go talk to Moxley about his words.

"Better female Andre than female Doink, right?" He jokes as he sits opposite her.

Kirby chuckles softly, shaking her head slightly before looking up at Eddie, "Can I get you a coffee or something?"

"Nah, I'm buying, whatever you want."

"Whatever I want, huh, okay then... a cappuccino and a hot chocolate, both large and in to-go cups and a blueberry muffin if there's any left, please."

Eddie leaves for a few minutes, giving Kirby a perfect chance to give him a mental dressing down. He's rugged, no he's rough. He's a tough guy, no shit Sherlock he's a wrestler. He smokes he would fit in back home, as if a guy like him would want to visit Wales let alone the Rhydderch clan. He must be at least in his 30s, no his beard's greying either he's so stressed his beard's gone grey or he's like 50. A guy like him has to be married, according to what Mox has said in the past he doesn't even have a girlfriend or kids. He's kinda hot to be honest, WOW Kirby first we think that actors like Luis Guzmán, John Goodman and Dan Aykroyd are cute and now this dude, plus he's got a Bronx accent, as if our childhood crush on Raphael needed further help coming to light. He then returns with both drinks but no food.

"No luck on the food, sorry."

"Well, beggars can't be choosers or so they say." Kirby shrugs, her mind still mid-argument with itself.

Eddie passes her both drinks before looking at her laptop, almost studying it, "That's a lot of stickers."

"I collect them, I travel a lot because as you know wrestling takes you to a lot of places and I need this for work and private stuff so it comes with me and thus it's gained... personality, for lack of a better explanation."

"Gotcha, it's got a life of it's own, so you add stickers to make it look like it." Eddie nods and smiles softly.

Eli's Vlog P.O.V:

Over at the hotel, Eli, Sara and Honey are playing video games and answering questions on a livestream while recording the livestream to keep as an archive.

"Excellent question, mon ami [my friend], 'Where are the other girls?' from someone who I didn't catch the name of."

"Vi is in her hotel room, talking with her husband. Billie is probably trying to pick up a potential date somewhere. Geia is meeting with two of her step-kids for lunch, I can't remember which ones... and Kirby. Well, Kirby's a ghost in giant form, nobody knows where she is ever, except for Kirby." Honey explains.

"This will probably be in this week's vlog, but Kirby and one of Moxley's friends had quite the first meeting."

"Yeah, the jerk barged past her and Kirby's gonna have to censor herself and the dude for the vlog." Sara scoffs.

Eli nods in agreement before going back to reading the comments as Sara and Honey continue to play Mortal Kombat together.

[lumoverheaven]

Lumoverheaven’s Masterlist

!!! My content is 18+ if you’re a minor go away !!!

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Legend: Smut ♡ Angst ☾ Fluff ☁︎ Dark/ish ⚠︎

Joel Miller (The Last of Us)

Series:

Creep (On going) ⚠︎ Creep!Joel (ON HIATUS)

❥ You move in with your dad in your adult years and when Sarah comes back from college you both spend some time together, little did you know her dad has been eyeing you since your return.

Creep (pt.1) ♡ Werido (pt.2) ♡ ☾

The Hell Am I Doing Here? (pt.3) ♡ ☾

⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚

The Man That I Love (Complete)

❥ You love Joel and want to tell him how you feel, though you’re unsure if your love is unrequited.

The Man That I love (pt.1) ☾ He Knows That I Love Him (pt.2) ☾ ☁︎

‧₊˚❀༉‧₊˚.

One-Shots:

Bunny ☁︎ ⚠︎

❥ Joel Miller loves his little tomboy bunny.

King Nothing ☾

❥ Joel Miller is a man of many regrets, especially now when it comes to you.

So Tired ☾ ☁︎

❥ You’ve been struggling with so many things that one night it just makes you cry. But don’t fret Joel Miller is there to save the day.

Rainbow ☾ ☁︎

❥ You’re struggling with your mental health and you receive a visit from an unexpected guest.

Pretty Boy ♡ ☁︎

❥ You take care of your lover Joel after a long and tiring day

Sad Little Girl ☾ ☁︎

❥ Joel is observes a change in your person completely and hopes that you’ll open up to him

Pretty Pink Bows ♡☁︎

❥ You wearing pink bows has an interesting effect on Joel

‧₊˚❀༉‧₊˚.

Lum Thots:

Masterlist

❥ A collection of thots I have on Joel in different situations

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Misc./Doodles

My raider!joel doodles (@toxicanonymity)

My raider!joel doodles pt.2 (@toxicanonymity)

Raider birthday doodle (@toxicanonymity)

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