#Thoughts On

[sunnyupsidedown]

This right here is such a huge turning point in Jean’s road to recovery. It’s him finally hitting that point and acknowledging that what happened to him was fucked up, that he’s actually a victim of monsters.

I think the two points of comparison that really made it clear to him were:

His sister being sold. Stuart was right. He wasn’t special. If his parents could do the same thing to his sister who he loved dearly and was the last person in the world who deserved that level of cruelty, then where did that put him? If he deserved the years of torture and his sister didn’t and yet the same thing happened to them both, something doesn’t add up.

Seeing what a true loving father is like through Wymack and Kevin’s relationship. Or even just that kind people exist. I don’t think Jean really has any good examples of what a typical family was like and hearing Wymack talk about taking Kevin in simply because that’s what Kevin needed even without the knowledge that Kevin was his son juxtaposed with his parent’s cruelty probably really hit home that what happened to him wasn’t normal.

This is also the part where he cries and it makes me wonder how many years it’s been since the last time he cried from something that wasn’t forced out of him through physical pain or psychological torture. I don’t think he would cry over his situation because that would imply that an injustice was done to him and he’s been brainwashed to believe that everything that happened was something he deserved.

Idk where I was going this but I’m really looking forward to the next book to see more of Jean’s progress towards healing.

[focusfixated]

in my quest to archive old fandom works i have been peeling through old livejournal entries to find links to fics and fanart, and i came across this entry dated july 2007, when i travelled way out of town to meet some fandom friends:

the reminder struck me that i used to refer to my anxiety disorder as "my adrenaline", because i had no knowledge at the time that it was a disorder, or what being anxious even was, except a word that came up in the thesaurus next to "nervous" or sometimes "keen".

all i had was the experience of what felt like high levels of adrenaline pumping, needlessly, around my body. i would notice the tight stomach, the tight chest, the way my fingers would go cold. i knew what an adrenaline rush felt like, so i called my anxiety the same thing. a big burst of adrenaline that made me feel shaky and strange.

it's interesting to me. because i don't think i necessarily saw it at the time as something connected to psychological or mental health. by not having the language to describe it as a disorder, i simply made a pretty bang-on assessment of understanding what was happening in my body - an excess of adrenaline that would sometimes "go fucking crazy", that i was aware of and simply had to live with.

i guess my observations from this are twofold:

this is, demonstrably, evidence for the concept that we do not have "more" people with various disorders these days, but that the language to describe the disorders that had already manifested has evolved, and both become standardised enough to be a recognisable descriptor, and also nuanced enough to cover a range of experiences.

there was certainly an interim period when i discovered i had an anxiety disorder, where the ability to label it as such and both seek support from other people and allow grace for myself was an incredible relief and extremely useful. however, i do often think about the sentiment outlined in this post, as below:

depathologizing your own responses to things means no longer worrying about which symptom matches which diagnosis matches which branded treatment model and instead practicing gentle non-judgmental curiosity about what you’re going through

that is, having gone through the labelling phase (for multiple things, "becoming" - i.e. finding the language to describe myself as - neurodivergent, autistic, nonbinary, genderqueer, a person with anxiety), i feel like the end result of leaning on the label as an explanation for what i'm experiencing is no more practically useful than simply describing how it felt.

saying now, "the reason i find this difficult is because i have an anxiety disorder", while comforting initially, can kind of engender a give-up response. whereas, "my adrenaline is off the fucking charts right now" also asks, "well, why? can you do the task anyway? do you need a sit-down first? maybe we can try again later."

(to be clear: these are personal observations and not universal statements about anyone else's experiences at all. i think there are mixed positives and negatives around these concepts, and it's more an observation of being subject to the changing trajectories of science, language and culture, rather than really trying to discover the correct practice.)

[quietbooklion]

What happened to Kings of Paradise?

Lately, I've been having some thoughts about Kings of Paradise mainly because how it just stopped updating for years. Aside from the manga adaptations and the NSFW stories that were recently released in the EN app, there hasn't been any kind of update in regards to the main stories for each of the characters.

When KoP was first released, I was honestly surprised by how very mature and sexy it was. Voltage really went above and beyond to deliver a story about an MC getting divorced and finding love again. Kiyohito stole my heart and of all the guys he's my favorite with Kaisei coming in second.

I stopped reading KoP stories after a while because I lost interest and when I found out the later season stories had this love triangle thing going on, I really couldn't find myself wanting to continue the title. Fun fact about me: I don't like love triangles. In the end, I haven't played the title in a LONG time. Not even Kiyohito could get me to replay it.

Even so, I was very much looking forward to the new love interests. Kaisei really was interesting and fun since he's so eccentric compared to the others. The one I was looking forward to the most was the doctor, Tsubaki. That man is so fine. I was eagerly anticipating his story thinking it could get me back into playing the title again.

And so I waited... and waited... and waited... and waited... and waited...

After literal years of no updates I started to wonder if it was dropped. My suspicions were confirmed when I looked at the JP app and saw that Tsubaki and Blood Moon were removed from the line up. Yes, you heard me, removed.

I was beyond disappointed when I saw that in the JP app. More so because this isn't the first time Voltage has dropped a title without giving it a proper conclusion, like how it was with Rose in the Embers.

KoP was fairly popular if my memory is correct, so I can't see why Voltage would all of a sudden just drop it and not give any kind of update. Now, I know that first and formost, Voltage is a company and if one of their titles isn't bringing in the money, it'll get dropped. That's just how it is even though I don't like it. Still, why KoP of all the titles if it was fairly popular to the point where Kaisei was added to the VIP room. It got a manga adaptation for christ's sake. Why drop it??

Also why put a lot of side stories inside the VIP room gacha? Now that really makes me mad that those stories are locked behind a gacha.

After seeing Tsubaki and Blood Moon getting removed and years of no updates, I think it's fair to say Voltage dropped it and has no plans to go back to it unless they announce something. Which is a shame because I know lots of people loved that game and the characters.

[thetealhummingbird]

This answer made me 🥺🥹! I love this so much! 🫶💕

DMs, do you guys have that one character that shows up in every campaign? That's just a little piece of you that gets to go on the adventure, too.

[desiscarlet]

Oh darling! I've scrolled sooo far tht these Dead Boy Detectives are lurking on my fyp so persistently

I need help!!!!!!! Jdbjzomdndjskksbdnd

[subaru-copilot]

this was the funniest thing that could've happened in monaco gp qualy what a week

[chameleon-sting]

had the dilemma today of "aw man do i wanna knit or do i wanna play devil may cry" which is possibly the two funniest activities to be stuck between. do i want to make something nice and soft and warm or do i want to viciously fight my brother to the death

[rennsdeaddoves]

journey to the west book one, thoughts

so this post is going to be really messy and jumbled, i will take my thoughts one chapter at a time. since this post contains all the chapters in book one imma but everything under the cut and warn ya'll that this is HELLA long.

ok so, before we get into it i just wanna let you guy's know that if the first 13 chapters seem like they have less it's because i only really started to do this on chapter 14 and had to go back through chapters 1 - 13 and look at the notes and tabes i left to gage my reaction to them. some of them have a bit more than others and some have like none at all.

that being said enjoy the absolute crack house that is my no cotext thoughts of Journey to the West volume one!

Chapter 1

monkey is born!!

and he's already being impulsive...

calling him the handsome monkey king is gonna go straight to his head

lier! you are a certified shit disturber and you know it!

ohhhhh so thats how he got the name Sun Wukong, gotcha gotcha

Chapter 2

the dao art seems real complex

love how they casually have the way to immortality written in this book lol

teaching a suicidaly impulsive monkey how to shape shift and fly wasn't a bad idea at all!

he's showing off- of course he is-

aaaaaand he got kicked out for showing off! idiot-

oh damn- thats actually sadder than i thought it would be...

HE CALLS THEM LITTLE ONES!!! CUUUTE!!!!

HOW DARE!?!?!

Chapter 3

holy hell....

op much???

not a monkey scaring a dragon ffs

he is just a menace this entire page! LAMO

GOD DAMN-

THEY WANT HIM OUT SO FUCKING BAD XDDDD

bruh-

ooooooop foreshadowing alert

THATS BULLSHIT!! THEIR EXAGERATING THE HELL OUT OF IT!!!

oh- oh he really fucked up the life and death cycles- damn...

smart!!!!

he was thinking of paying a visit to heaven himself?? without an invite?? oh- that would not have ended well-

Chapter 4

here we go! first rampage through heaven!!

deva

NEZHA!!!!

ITS GIVING "who's this sassy lost kid?" VIBES XD

Chapter 5

does he not have a reputation yet???

Wukong is in so much fucking trouble oh god....

idiot

going to war over wine is a very Wukong thing to do-

Chapter 6

when did Nezha get here?

shapeshifter duels man... they be confusing af

oop he got caught-

Chapter 7

they seem to have forgotten what the meaning of immortal is

oop- he's being refered to as a monster instead of a king by the narrator- thats how you know he's pissed beyond all belief...

OH HES MAD MAD

HOLY FUCK

"i have to go exorcise a demon to defend the throne." pg 193

"he ligit just wrote "sun wukong was here" oh the fucking finger lmao

man... calling the banquet that is just salt in the wound.... really it is...

Chapter 8

sandy's got green skin, red hair, noted

it's pigsy -n-

he flirted with Chang'e..... this bitch

i already can't fucking stand him

Chapter 9

so he does have parents! lets see if they ever pop up again-

WHAT!?!?! WHY!?!!

Chapter 10

i didn't take in a sing thing that this chapter sad.... why is it even here-

Chapter 11

no thoughts head empty, why are we still on this? is there any plot relevance or???

Chapter 12

awwww their cute

good for him, coming from such humble beginnings

wow- ok thats kinda a really great honour to be called brother by the emperor

Chapter 13

lots of scenery! neat!

wft....

oop divine intervention o'clock

abuse???? hello??? what the actual fuck sir???

COWARD!!!

i am going to get so sick of him so quickly....

WUKONG!?!?!?!!!!! YER BACK!!!!!! YEEEEEAHHHHHHHHH

Chapter 14

wukong- bud... YOUR FUCKING FILTHY

yell that your not lying makes you less believable

HE'S NAKED?!?! OFC HE IS

brutal.... nice

ight show off, keep rambling about the shit you can do.

gay? /j but fr- i get that a naked monkey coming to your door may be a cause for concern but there was no reason to disrespect him like that-

he has a son??? when???

gross man- like i get you were trapped under a mountain- but gross

brutal... nice

EXCUSE YOU WHAT?!?! NAH, NAH HE DID NOT

A FEW WORDS?!?! FAM YOU READ HIM FOR A WHOLE PARAGRAPH SHUT YOUR MOUTH

thats not teaching tripitaka- a lecture is NOT teaching

GUAINYIN IS HERE!!! oh... Guanyin is here...

oh... fuck...

why is his name just 'Pilgrim' like i get it but i also don't... idk

oh he's gonna do it out of spite now for being called a bogus immortal by the dragon king

that entire painting is just of two gay lovers putting on shoes and getting immortality for it

well, he actually is really convincing, i can see why Wukong went back after those words...

yeah i'd be taken aback too bud

.......YOU COULD FINISH THE JOURNEY RN.... but he won't, that defeats the entire porpoise of it all

THIS BITCH!!!! I WILL ACTUALLY KILL HIM

HE ONLY STOPPED CAUSE I WAS AFRIAD THE FILLET WOULD BREAK

ON GOD I WILL THROW HANDS WITH A MONK I WILL

HE STARTED UP AGAIN?!??!!? STOP!!!!

OH OH! so you stop when you see how the pain is LITTERALLY TEARING HIS BODY APART! fuck you

HE ACTUALLY TRIED TO KILL HIM!?!?!?!? oh my god- i mean.... jesus.....

yes. its a great idea to go to the south sea and beat up the goddess who did this to you... super smart /s

all thoughts of disobedience and rebellion? no shot

Chapter 15

ah yes, lets start the chapter with Wukong hauling ass to save Tripitaka

Jesus them some powerful eyes

omg SHUT UP

YES YELL AT HIM WUKONG!!!

namby-pamby??

lawless lizard XD

harsh

they talk about him like he's not the son of a dragon king...

OH SHES PISSED AT HIM

so he's called 'third prince Jade dragon' gotcha

he's a fucking idiot

why are you being such a baby all of a sudden??

neat, he got the get out of danger free leaves now

if Rue had been in this part of the journey she would have been pretty interested in that

plot armour be like-

impressive

more divine intervention! oh my god-

so now it's early spring. jesus that means its almost been a year

Chapter 16

i don't know wether to be annoyed or what- were only a page into this chapter

"he may be ugly" BITCH WHAT

yeah... ight... i'd be annoyed with him too

somesones butt hurt that hes oooooold~

everyone is starting to get on my nerves like jesus-

wow the murder plots are real

he askin' for favours like he didn't just beat their asses 500 years ago

he's a little arsonist

LMAO UNO REVERSE BITCH

damn- he's already on shockingly good terms with him

HE SAVED YOU AND YOUR GONING TO PUNISH HIM FOR IT!?!?!

I'M GOING TO THROW HANDS WITH A MONK ISTG

and after all that your response is still murder??? really????

goddman.... he so mad he defiled a corpse- that wasn't very buddhist of you tripitaka

Chapter 17

not tripitaka using wukongs temper against others-

jesus christ man

"thunder god mouth" XDDD best way to describe it 10/10

THE THREATS

XDD the arrogance!! he called the demon "my son" before starting a lecture XDD

he gets annoyed when people call him the BanHorsePlague now, thats so fucking funny to me

he's so real for that though, i'd wanna eat in the middle of a fight too

he is actually a menace to humans goddamn

HE REDUCED THE DEMON TO A BURGER

love how their calling him 'old carcass'

there is a lot of seemingly nice senery in this chapter

how'd they know all of that just by seeing a goddamn meat patty on the side of the road???

this is gonna be a pattern isn't it-

conversations with these two go no where but damn they do be giving me L O R E

he's being so nice now lmao

wft....

ok *fine* she gets a pass but jesus

GRAPHIC

jesus wukong

HA got'em

"don't start trouble again" "i won't" LIES

Chapter 18

oooooh this is the pigsy chapter!!! i can't wait to see some ass be beat!

i- i don't think i like these people...

Wukong really just said don't judge a book by it's cover

why does he always say "your poor monk" it's grinding my gears

"tell me everything!" .... "from ancient times-"

his surmname meant hog....

i can only picture that one manga panel in jjk where Yuta is dragging Yuji along lmao

ancient toilet humour?

"where are you going darling" he says as he returns to his original form

love that wukong is described and then called "virtually a living thunder god"

"i'll follow you to the ends of the earth" (menacingly)

Chapter 19

why do they all have caves?

it is pigsy

damn- Wukong's reading him

are they really throwing celestial law at one another??

he's bragging... really?

ah yes, a summary of the first seven chapters

he really said set your house on fire and follow me

man's really stripped him of all he was worth and then dragged him by the ear... he's like a mom...

HE'S REFERED TO AS IDIOT! oh this just got so much better

lmao both of them going "wine? oh we still drink that"

Wukong admitted to being a light weight XD

pigsy, trying to say a heart felt goodbye, the other two; hurry the fuck up

"you know him and not me? what kind of fuckery is this?"

"he insulted me and the pig?!" "how?" *proceeds to tell tripitaka exactly how he and pigsy were insulted*

Chapter 20

just by the title alone i know imma start to have beef with pigsy

they still call him idiot! YES

it's pigsy getting bullied hours!!!

that- that was a very round about way of calling him a dick Wukong

annnnnd he's boasting again...

huh? flying bricks, talking pots, and dancing tiles... interesting...

this old man has balls

"fix your ugliness" DUUUUUDE

i'm about to highlight each and every time Pigsy is refered to as Idiot! shits too funny!

ahhhhh pigsy's first kill steal!

OH SHIT NVM

dude just ripped off his own skin! what a power move!

jesus-

and we get to the first time tripitaka is truely captured!

"for you culinary pleasure" XDDDD why is that so funny?

this guy's actually quite smart for that

damn...

good wisdom wukong

i love how wukong is so often describes as "the one with the thunder god mouth and hairy face"

he's got a good sense to be this scared of him

monkey-monk?? (why is that so funny to me???)

he just told wukong he was a 'buy one get one free sale'!! AND HE'S THE FREE BIT XDDDDDD

KILL STEAL!!! +1 for butality, pigsy's score is now -99 points!

Wukong actually let him have credit for the kill? goddamn- is that character growth i see?

Chapter 21

no he does not!

Aqua man?????

Really?? *face palms*

why does he insist on calling himself grandpa?

is he about to disapline him like a grandpa too??

Coward

the divine wind of Samādhi? like the Samādhi fire? NEAT!!!

more divine intervention i see

the trend of calling pigsy an idiot continues and i am thriving in this enviornment

can he be any less annoying?

*crybaby beings to play on loop in my head*

idiot

it was the fucking gold star of venus

very humble wukong

lawless ape! XDDD

love that offending the great sage is quite possibly a crime punishable by death now

Chapter 22

its sandy time!!!

wouldn't that be qualifies as an inland sea?!

i don't know how to feel about that entire passage

cloud surfing lessons

he called Wukong his assistant- oh boy if he had heard that...

he can be there in half an hour?! wild...

sandy is aquired

Chapter 23

still love that his nickname is practically idiot

please- stop refering to your staff as a rod- i can't take reading "you'll get a ___ from this Huge Rod!" anymore T-T

you fucking idiots- your banter has now left the master stranded and he's gonna get captured by demons!

serves you right

Wu kong being so shocked he actually acted poliet?

Unreal and nonexisting- well those are some red falgs if i've ever seen em in this book

SHIT JUST GOT SO MUCH FUNNIER OMFG

she just keeps going!? dude- please- how can someone have so much

omg- this is all a test of character isn't it...

tripitaka; wukong you stay! Wukong; the fuck you mean me!? make pigsy stay

the entier latter half of this page pisses me off. fuck you pigsy

OH EW! SEVEAR ICK- GROSS

I FUCKING HATE YOU YOU GREEDY WHORE

I KNEW IT WAS A TEST OF CHARACTER!!!!!! I WAS RIGHT!!!!

Chapter 24

serves him fucking right

i agree with Wukong, leave the pig and go

holy hell they haven't even covered one tenth of the distance yet?

this is the chapter that that one monkey king animated movie was about.

to cowardly to do it himself so he's gotta wait for Wukong lmao

thus begins an entire two-ish pages of Wukong stealing fruit again

Wukong makes me nevious frfr

if it were so embarissing maybe you shouldn't have done it in the first place

Chapter 25

wukong.... buddy.... no.....

good plan boy's

dude can pick (break?) locks.... good to know

why do you fight first and ask questions later....

he escaped thrice, got catpured thrice, kept playing tricks..... dude just wouldn't fucking stop....

[marvelgreyson]

Thoughts on Netflix's Rustin

I watched Rustin over the weekend. I really liked it Colman Domingo was fantastic and deserves his nominations. The film focuses on the conception and development of the 1963 march on Washington DC and how Bayard Rustin's involvement was downplayed because he was an unashamed gay man. One character is supposedly mostly made up, Rustin's main love interest. I think they did think to give Rustin a black love interest, I don't know if he was interested in black men, but the two known long term partners he had were white. But it also shows what closeted black men of the time went through. There is a white staffer that Rustin has a passing fling with, but he's more into Bayard than Bayard is into him.

Also, there's a portrayal of baby John Lewis

It makes me want to be a low key modern day Rustin. Something to aspire to.

[tuttocenere]

Finished (re-)reading Goethe's Faust start to end for the first time in at least ten years or so. Some things I had not remembered:

the devil really is horny as hell in this one, especially in the Walpurgis night scene. Specifically very horny for Faust and witches, not particularly interested in city girls.

there actually is a prose scene, and exactly which scene it is and what the prose is about has probably fed literary analysts for a century, very nice

I do feel bad for Valentin lol

the full Walpurgis night scene with all its bits and bobs might actually be pretty hard to perform, but the secret of theater is you can just leave stuff out

speaking of leaving stuff out, the Gounod opera has a lot more text straight from the source than I remembered, just the whole context and vibe is changed in such a way that it comes across a lot more harmless

and yet I somehow can't help but picture Roberto Alagna as Faust because his acting choice of making this face for the entire runtime: :< (😟 for the zoomers) fits the character really well

as does the way he gets manhandled by the devil in the two recordings I've seen

really a very well written play ngl

[sunnyupsidedown]

Thoughts On: The Sunshine Court

by Nora Sakavic [goodreads]

Aka, if I didn't put myself on a social media blackout, these would have been my live tweets. Spoilers below.

Gosh. What if Jeremy starts to hate Kevin for not doing 'enough' to help Jean. That’d probably hurt him so bad lmao Though I don't really thing Jeremy gives off those vibes. He's too sunny.

Also, now I’m thinking of Jeremy being a very normal kid with a normal background completely unprepared to help someone with absolutely massive amounts of trauma. Like. This kid being like, look at my normal jock life and then suddenly is exposed to the dark underbelly of organized crime.

Like. With Andrew and Neil, Neil was already familiar and Andrew at least is familiar with how bad law enforcement is so it’s all a non-issue. Jeremy though… what’s his story???

Jean over here probably texting with T9 on a flip phone

Which fox uses T9, which one taps the number until it gets to the letter they want, and which one has a phone with a keyboard?

Have I mentioned that I love Renee? I feel like she’s often seen as an uwu good girl Christian. But like. She’s so badass. I think she said it herself that she’s a bad person doing her best to be good and you really get that with the “smile that doesn’t reach her eyes”. Fucking love her.

Okay the uni president thing is actually kind of funny. Because I work in an athletic department and it reminds me of when the president requested access to the team practice schedules so I was in charge of setting up an account in our messaging app with the instructions to grant him access but with absolutely no power to do anything else

Do you think Renee will put "Destabilized Evermore leading to its eventual downfall" on her resume when she applies to the Peace Corps? I know this is not how it works but....

We’re going to see the reaction to Riko’s death from Jean’s POV!!! I wrote a ficlet about this!! It’s gonna be so cool to see what really happens!!

Wtf Jean’s 19?!?!

I'm saying this like everything that happened to him wouldn't have been just as horrifying if he were Kevin's age. But like. WTF??? He's Neil's age!!

LMAO everyone wants to choke Kevin out

“You were injured in a scrimmage” DAMN. I did not expect that from Abby. She's so done with Jean's evasions

I was being kind of mean to Kevin earlier and now I’m going to cry. He was just doing his best too :( what can you do when you’ve been raised in the system?

Kevin, Neil, and Jean are in the idiot exy trio

It’s so fascinating to know that this was the version where Jean lived because you can see the parts where his life could have ended. Like if Abby left the pills. If Jean made it back to Evermore. If Wymack didn’t threaten Tetsuji.

The way that they’re (Neil is) playing 5D exy mafia chess is so extra 😭

Everyone really looking to Neil for their courage. Neil was brave so I can be brave (or at least follow him). What would Neil do?

Do you think the other exy coaches know exy was built on blood? Or at least that Evermore was?

Jean and Kevin in the corner at the party full of Ravens: They don’t know the extent of Riko’s violence

I’m starting to realize that Jean is a lover... [Redacted: This is getting it's own post because I have feelings about this.]

JEREMY!! HELLO!! I DON'T KNOW YOU. ARE YOU DEPRESSING TOO?

Jeremy is so normal. This is going to be so good. He’s literally going to be like “why did you say it like that? You know that’s fucked up right?” Call it like it is my dude!!

How the hell did they get the seniors on board with a smaller line up? They’re giving up a chance at a championship run... Ah.

Oh. He’s rich?? Jeremy is rich? With a butler? Is he secretly going to be tied to the west coast mafia? And taking Jean on will create a bond between east and west?

OH HE’S POLITICIAN RICH. Damn. You know there's blood money somewhere

Are you telling me that the sunshine court is a nickname between Kevin and Jean (and maybe some others? I don't remember if it was ever mentioned in the other books) for USC? And it’s typically called the Gold Court? Cause if so, they’re soooo starved

Do you think Jean knows (or remembers) how to use money? Since he’s been locked up in the Nest for so long? How many social norms has he forgotten? How awkward is he going to be relearning them?

Oh god. Jean found out from Jeremy! Holy shit I was not expecting that. Damn. Also. He's alone :(

Renee and Jean 😭

I’m so glad they talked about redshirting. I was SO confused why they could go five years when the rule is 5 years to compete 4 seasons.

Radiology equipment in their exy stadium?? Man I forget how rich some schools are

Watch Jean break out in hives the moment he gets on clothes that are outside the monochrome color scheme

Oooo Jeremy, show me your spine. I want to see him mad. I want to see him lose control.

And then I forgot I was taking notes because I was too absorbed. When is the next book supposed to come out again?

[dlea203]

My dearest, darling Daria, it's been far too long (lol).

I had a little Hannix thought in the car this morning which I'm hoping will make you laugh. I kept thinking about the two of'em being the godparents of Bob and wifey's oldest son Auggie and whenever Jake takes him for the day, shenanigans can and will ensue which is exactly why Natasha will not ever let those two go into a Home Depot alone......like ever (lol).

Aww, my lovely Mary, it has indeed been far too long since I had the pleasure of talking to you!

I'm so happy that you thought of me (of all people!) when you had an idea about Hannix😍! That is so special, thank you so much!

And omg, I LOVE your idea😍😂! I would even go as far as that Natasha cannot let them out of her sight for two minutes, cause otherwise they immediately find a way to create a disaster🤣. And she has definitely learnt that the hard way🤭... (I'm thinking about that one time where they tried to bake some muffins for Auggie's school and ended up covering the kitchen counter PLUS the kitchen island and themselves in flour, top to bottom😂.)

Oh dear, thank you so much for sharing this with me! This has just made my day - and since it's two minutes to midnight here in Switzerland, it has also made the next day for me already🥰.

[quietbooklion]

Thoughts on: Aoi

When I was first introduced to Aoi, I wasn't really sure I was going to like him. The tsundere types are a hit or miss for me because their behavior can either be fun and cute sometimes or downright annoying. Thankfully, Aoi is the former because when I had played his route years ago, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I did like him. But I kind of forgot most of his storyline and after replaying it, I can confidently say that I think his story, along with Kuya's are the best of the Dawn faction. And Aoi himself is such a compassionate and caring guy.

*This review will contain spoilers, you have been warned.*

I think what really sold me to Aoi was how he reacts to others emotions and how he in turn tries to understand said emotions while also coming to terms with his own internal demons. Aoi's route definitely has a huge emphasis on accepting and overcoming your emotions, now matter how difficult things are.

His personality won me over because of how cute he reacted to any ounce of a compliment coming from Futaba or the others. The dude fits the tsundere trope to the T and he makes it work. I lost count the number of times he blushed throughout his story. He's so babygirl coded.

His story highlights how much he and Futaba have an internal struggle with their emotions all while trying to deal with external factors that make things more challenging for them. Whether it's Futaba coming to terms with Akiyasu's betrayal and Aoi not wanting to get hurt again, it shows how vulnerable they can be. What I liked about this is that while the story is fantasy, their emotions are grounded in reality which makes their struggles all the more real. Aoi has seen the dark sides of many people, believing that no one truly has a pure heart. You as the player can see how he doesn't want to wear his heart on his sleeve even though he truly wants to believe the good in people. And with Futaba, she is slowly spiraling into despair after what happened to her father, it's honestly surprising to see a protagonist go through a bit of a deconstruction arc even if it only lasted for a moment.

But even so, I loved how Aoi not only came to terms with his own emotions and feelings about Futaba, he was able to reach out and be vulnerable in order to save Futaba. He laid his emotions out there in the open and it was satisfying to see how victorious both of them came out in the end.

One thing I do want to point out is that while I think a majority of the routes have very little romance, I think Aoi's route probably has the most since he does love the MC no matter what route she is in. Their love and affection felt more genuine than everyone else and I have to give props to the writing for actually having some romance, even if it was a slow burn type.

I'm so glad I got to experience this story again.

5 out of 5.

[deluluwriter]

My Roman Empire is: some of the best writers died of poverty and starvation while their works now earn millions to publishers. How tragic. How painful. How beautiful. How hurtful.

[star4daisy]

thoughts on regulus/evan?

I think they’re the ones I like the least amongst the rosestarkillerchaser interactions, I can see it when people make Evan more soft and in hogwarts where he would be there for reg when Sirius wasn’t but I like my Evan as a manipulative little shit and I don’t think Reg would fall for his emotional manipulation so it would be like two snakes trying to mate but him not falling for it could make him an exception for Evan so he might like that challenge lol but I think it can work under the right circumstances even though I probably wouldn’t go seeking fics of just them but I wouldn’t be against reading one if it was interesting enough

thx for the ask 💕

[chameleon-sting]

morb (verb) is more than just a word she's like a brother to me