#To the families we choose and the people we've grown to love.

[iamthepulta]

To the People who work on The Fifth City's Fallen London wikipedia page, and specifically The Correspondence page, you're the real MVPs and I appreciate u. :') Thank. ♥

(and really, the whole wiki in general; you're putting the lore into essays and truly, gods bless.)

[blackbirdsblackberries]

Don't drink the Kool-Aid pt.1

I'll create a tag list if people want to be tagged. There's a meaning behind Savior Anwir's name! This chapter is a bit short considering it's technically a prologue.

Your day is a boring loop yet one you’ve grown to love.

You wake up, get ready for the day, wait in line for your tray of shitty food, sit with your “team”, finish eating. 

During the morning you spend your time exercising until you’re about to collapse. This will end around lunchtime in which you’ll get your lunch delivered to wherever you are in the place. Afterwards you are expected to show your devotion to your higher-ups, your family, your saviors. The rest of the day you either practice combat or defense.

Tiring as it might be, it was your life and you loved it. 

You don’t remember your life before joining Savior Anwir in her division of the Daughters of Eve. The division is based in Gotham City, a place even the devil himself had abandoned. Atleast, that’s what you’ve been told. 

You see, you’re not allowed out of the confines of the estate. It’s too dangerous, what if men take you away and use you? What if you get lost? What if you accidentally get killed? It’s terrifying to think of and keeps you away from the outside world.

Today however things have gone a bit differently, after showing devotion to your saviors you and everyone else is herded to the main hall - which was just the foyer area. This only happens when they take on new members. 

Will they be mean? Would they be overjoyous? There’s so many options and you don’t like any of them, you don’t like new people or change, you like how everything is now.

You take your place in the second row. 

The first row is for kids, the second for teens, the third for young adults, the fourth for adults, and the fifth for people over that age.

Savior Anwir stands atop the stairs in front of everyone, two people next to her. 

One is a girl with blonde hair, tanned skin and striking blue eyes, she’s in a purple hoodie and black leggings. The other is a girl with short black hair, brown eyes and beautiful clear skin, she herself is in a blackish gray graphic t-shirt and light gray sweatpants.

People start to murmur, a teammate of yours turns to you. 

“They seem off, right?” You don’t know why she’s asking you. Frankly, you don’t care, your team is full.

“I guess, but they seem nice enough.” Is all you say, no point in conspiring against people who haven’t even been in your presence for more than a minute.

The murmurs die down as soon as Savior Anwir raises her hands.

“Now, I understand everyone is excited for new sisters to be joining us,” Savior Anwir glances at the two beside her as if silently asking if she’s correct to call them sisters. Savior Anwir doesn’t actually care, she is simply doing it to make them seem more welcomed - you’ve been around long enough to know that.

She continues.

“But we must calm down and not cause strain on their mental capacities!” Savior Anwir puts a hand on either girl’s shoulders. “Please, introduce yourselves.”

The blonde one speaks up first “I’m Stephanie but everyone can call me Steph!” She seems energetic and like she doesn’t truly belong here.

The other one doesn’t speak up. Steph chuckles and speaks up again “This is Cassandra, you can just call her Cass! She’s mute.” Mutism is common here due to many people coping by not speaking at all. That’s probably why she’s mute, she was attacked and now chooses to be mute!

Right? Right.

Silence envelops the room then and you don't miss how Steph awkwardly looks around as if expecting applause - something you will not do until Savior Anwir says so.

Savior Anwir nods. "Thank you girls, you are very lucky to be joining today, it just so happens we've found some of our trainees have been plotting against us. So we have openings for you!"

You raise a brow, who would be so stupid to plot against your own family? The very family that graciously took you in and nurtured you, protected you and showed you true love.

Savior Anwir holds her hands out. "The two traitors who have decided they do not love us are none other than Mary Hailstone and Annie Malcomb! Please, come up here and shake hands with your replacements!"

You freeze, Mary and Annie belonged to your team, you three were as close as people get in this cult. They wouldn't of betrayed you... Right?

You watch as the two slowly ascend the staircase, heads down and hands shaking.

When you betray DoE there is only one punishment.

Mary and Annie both shake hands with Steph and Cass before Savior Anwir hands the traitors a gun each.

They had a choice, shoot each other or shoot themselves. They chose themselves.

You watch as Steph's eyes widen in horror and Cass's eyebrows twitch slightly.

You suppose you should pick up on little things they do now considering they'll be your new team members...

[buddiebeginz]

I was talking to a friend earlier and it got me thinking about something.

B*mmy stans project all of the stuff they do onto us to an extent I've never seen with any other fandom discourse before.

They call us homophobic for not liking B/T or T*mmy. Yet they hate on people for shipping Buddie or seeing Eddie as queer. To the point of harassing people for including Eddie and Buddie in pride posts. Continually harassing the 911news account and even trying to dox a journalist for posting about Buddie.

They call us delusional for having watched two men love and support one another for 6 going on 7 years and for thinking there could be something more than friendship there. Even though Oliver, Ryan, and Tim have all said they see what we see. Yet they've seen Buck kiss a guy twice, have very minimal screen time or development and they headcanon that they're in love and will get married in the coming season.

They say we fetishize Buddie. Yet most of the time when our fandom is discussing our ship we're talking about the emotional connection between them. Or how we want to see them finally be together in a canon romantic relationship or as a full fledged family (with Chris). Or have their first kiss. Meanwhile most of their posts are the kind of sex they headcanon Buck and T*mmy have. Hell after that that dinner scene tons of them changed their urls to something with daddy in it (referencing the out of place daddy kink joke). To be clear there's nothing wrong with headcanons about fictional characters sex lives. But the main reason most of us ship Buddie is not just because they're two hot guys who we want to think about f*cking, it's because we're invested in the story of their life together. The same can't be said for B/T.

They say we feminize Buck for Buddie:

Meanwhile most of their fics/art/headcanons involve T*mmy being the big strong protector rescuing the "damsel in distress" Buck. They constantly talk about how hot it is that T*mmy is this big older "daddy" firefighter who can take care of Buck and guide him in what it means to be in a m|m relationship.

They say we've made Buck's coming out all about Buddie but 1. Eddie and Buck's feelings for him were heavily included in Buck's bi awakening ep. 2. They have made T*mmy synonymous with buck's coming out to the point of saying Buck wouldn't have even realized he liked men without T*mmy. They've even said that if T*mmy and Buck were to break up in s8 that it would ruin Buck's coming out story.

They accuse our fandom of being mean and of harassing the actors including of sending death threats to Lou. Of chasing Lou off of social media and being the one who caused him to stop his cameos. They say we're the reason Oliver chooses not interact with Lou or anything B/T related online. When there has been no proof of any of this. Meanwhile there is proof from their own fandom that Oliver and Ryan have blocked some of them. They have repeatedly tried to pressure Oliver to interact with B/T posts and Lou. They were also leaving comments on the the video of the podcast Ryan did (with Tommy DiDario) where he talked about his s*icide attempt, telling him he should have finished the job.

They call us a cult or BoBs (Buddie or Bust) yet they dress up like Lou and would still be paying for his videos if he was still willing to put them out. They prioritize Lou/T*mmy above any other character on the show. They talk about how T*mmy should get a begins episode. How T*mmy should be a main character. They defend everything T*mmy has ever done including when he was racist and homophobic to Chim and Hen. They harass anyone who has a negative word to say about their ship or Lou or T*mmy much like a cult would protect their leader. They to this day act like everything Lou ever told them in his cameos is the gospel truth.

911 fandom has grown increasingly toxic ever since B/T became a thing and I honestly just can't wait for the day we either find out T*mmy isn't coming back or when his last ep will be. I mean in some ways our fandom won't ever be the same after this. I've seen a lot of ugly sides to people who I had followed for years as Buddie shippers.

It will never not confuse the hell out of me that some people who were big time Buddie shippers for years not only dropped Buddie but turned completely against the ship and our fandom. And all for a ship that is seriously underdeveloped and one that it's clear the show is telling us in flashing neon lights isn't meant to last.

[hermajestyimher]

Hello <3

I am currently 20, in the process of enhancing every aspect of my life so I would really appreciate if you could generously list your resources for self-improvement in general.

And one more question, how to make people take me more seriously? I am quite the youngest member in my family and everyone have always been so over-protective of me that they always see me as this little girl even though I am almost a grown woman lol.

Thanks!

Thanks for your question. I commend you for wanting to invest in yourself and self-improvement.

The resources I use to shape my mindset toward success are a mixture of books, podcasts, subliminals, and direct revelation from God. I'll break these parts down for you:

✧༺♥༻∞✧༺♥༻∞✧༺♥༻∞✧༺♥༻∞✧༺♥༻∞✧༺♥༻∞

Books:

There are a lot of books out that deal with the topic of self-improvement and you are almost guaranteed to find some that will be able to help you in whichever area of your life you wish to get better at. The key, when it comes to these books, is that you have to find ones that you know you can action realistically in your life. Theory can be energizing and inspirational, but it is ultimately futile if you are unable to put the gained knowledge into reality.

You must seek books that are practical in their way of describing how to succeed in whatever subject they touch upon and focus exclusively on that specific book so that you may action its commands and see real results in your life.

I'll give you 5 books that I've used throughout the year that have helped me mold my character in meaningful and practical ways:

She Comes First, by Brian Nox.

Can't Hurt Me, by David Goggins.

The Alter Ego Effect, by Todd Herman.

Stop People Pleasing, by Patrick King.

Fabulosity, by Kimora Lee Simmons.

Podcasts:

Podcasts are a good way of keeping your mind "fed" constantly with content and knowledge from others. I use them not just for knowledge, but also for entertainment. I enjoy podcasts that deal with politics, human psychology and behavior, societal phenomena, travel and culture, business, success life stories, and even some niche topics of interest.

Whatever podcasts you choose to listen to will be a very personal choice. My rule of thumb is to not waste time listening to someone just because they seem authoritative in the field of self-improvement if the messages they are putting forward do not resonate with you. It's ok to be picky with this type of content.

Subliminals:

This is something that I've never touched upon before directly on my blog, but it is something that I've been digging into a lot lately and I've found has been positively impacting my life.

Subliminals are audio messages that we play in the background while we do other activities. The concept behind them is that our subconscious mind can pick up and internalize the messages being played and therefore can help in reprogramming our own internal self-concept and beliefs. It can help you manifest things because you genuinely believe that they are possible for you, rather than pretending.

Subliminals are extremely powerful because if utilized correctly they can help you shape your entire personality and perception of yourself towards one that is more self-loving, positive, and confident. It can help us erase the damage of harmful things we've internalized throughout the years and replace them with thoughts that are working in our favor.

If you or anyone else from the blog would like for me to dive deeper into this subject and share some of the subliminal that have helped me (including my own creations), please let me know!

God:

This part is simply all about having communion with God. I've found out that in the periods that I'm away from him and that I do not take our relationship seriously, I become an easier target for spiritual attacks and also less in tune with my spiritual gifts. It's hard to hear from him when my spiritual life is filled with so much baggage that does not come from him. And whether you are aware of it, everything around us is spiritual in one way or another: the music that we listen to, the people we spend time with, the places we live, the content we consume, the things we allow others to speak into our lives, etc.

It's important that I read my Bible, pray, and worship without ceasing. God purifies our spirits and removes bondages this way. He gives us a renewed mind full of discernment and peace. We can hear from him more clearly and be led through a path of prosperity.

This is something that I need to get back on with him, as I have fallen off throughout the years. But understanding that you do not have to make life alone and that investing in your spiritual life can only tenfold your riches in the physical realm is crucial for us to live a life of purpose and success.

✧༺♥༻∞✧༺♥༻∞✧༺♥༻∞✧༺♥༻∞✧༺♥༻∞✧༺♥༻∞

I hope this list was helpful, and if you or other people would like to delve deeper into any of these or other subjects, please let me know.

[wishful-thinking64]

Hazbin Hotel & Helluva Boss Rewrite Ideas #02

Hello! Hello! I've come to bring rewrite ideas for both shows once again! People seemed to like the first one and I like coming up with story ideas with and for practically everyone so here are seven more rewrite ideas for Hazbin Hotel & Helluva Boss! ______

#01.) Have Alastor's magic sigils be radio symbols over Vodou symbols as it not only makes way more sense with Alastor being the Radio Demon but to not play into a harmful stereotype about a real life religion.

#02.) On the topic of religion, don't be afraid to add a few more religious figures from the Bible or the Torah! As long as you're being mindful about the material you're pulling from, I really don't see this as much of an issue. People make their own spin on angels, demons, Jesus, and God all the time! But for once, this is where Viv gets cold feet even though she already has Adam & Eve there but not their two main children? Or the reason behind why their parents and everything else exists?? Seriously Viv??? #03.) In any case, if you do add the first two siblings then I suggest having Cain possibly work at the Hotel as some kind of repentance considering he's both the first real Sinner and for the fact that he feels guilt over killing his little brother. #04.) Alright, now for some ideas for Helluva Boss! I feel like we've all grown tired of seeing the, "Two people arranged in a loveless marriage," trope with how often it's been appearing and HB is no stranger to this trope and tries to use it as a way to rectify Stolas' affair with Blitzo.

I mentioned this in my third One Hell of an Unpopular Opinion series but if you want to stick loosely to HB's canon then you'd probably be better off with making Stella a surrogate mother as we still haven't seen her interact with Octavia and there was no real point in having Stolas marry Stella if all he needed to do was secure an heir. Besides I'm pretty sure that's what Paimon did in order to get Stolas as we see no signs that he had a mom growing up with how he was raised by a butler. On the contrary, should you wish to keep Stella as Stolas' wife, I'd recommend going the path not taken. By which I mean, have Stella and Stolas marry because, at one point, they did genuinely love each other but over the years that love dwindled and eventually faded out. Even though they'd be better off parting ways they choose to stay together as Great Horned Owls (the owl that the actual Stolas from the actual Ars Goetia seems to be based off of) and Snow Geese (I refuse to believe she's a swan especially since her brother has ice powers and lives in an ice castle) typically mate for life. From here, I'd have Octavia not be born out of the "necessity" of an heir but rather as a last ditch effort to see if their relationship can be rekindled as many couples in real life think that having a child or children will "fix" their relationship. #05.) Sorry for getting somewhat depressing with that last bit. To make up for it, write a fun chapter about I.M.P. having fun by rewriting Episode #05 of Season #01, The Harvest Moon Festival! A lot of people like The Harvest Moon Festival as it is though the majority agrees that it should've been a Millie centric episode. So have her be the reason they go to the Harvest Moon Festival over Stolas, show her competing in the Pain Games, and have her stand up for her husband due to having enough of her family constantly shit talking him. Overall, have Millie excel at being the bad ass girlboss that HB makes her out to be! #06.) Give Octavia some type of found family or friend group. Have her attend a prestigious private school (I doubt Stella will have her daughter attend a regular public high school) and have her become friends with the school's outcasts. The reason this group could be outcasts is because they actually earned their right to be there by getting good grades while most of the students are probably the offspring of Hell's high ranking officials. But seriously, this girl needs (and deserves) a support system STAT! #07.) Properly explain what it takes to get a soul into Heaven. I don't care if you explain this via The Ten Commandments, trusting that Jesus died for humanity's sins, or by using another set of rules from a different religion that isn't Christianity just be certain that your explanation is clear and concise and makes sense for what you have already pre-established for your rewrite. Don't do what the HH series did by saying, "Yeah, we don't know," because that is genuinely how you lose an audience. You can't have the ENTIRE premise of the show being about wanting Sinners to get into Heaven when HEAVEN doesn't even know what gets a soul there in the first place! ______ Well, those are all of the ideas I've got for now! See ya guys!

[eriexplosion]

So. I think Omega is force sensitive with the potential to be trained because otherwise why even bring it up? And I think that it will be relevant that the boys now, and especially Hunter, now know that when she doesn't.

But I don't think that we're actually going to see Omega leave to get trained. I think she'll consider it. She might even decide to do it. But I think in the end she'll choose to stay with the Batch. Look at the rest of the show - its all been about sticking through tough times with your community, loyalty and belonging with your family, the efforts to bring the batch back together.

Specifically I'm thinking of Tribe too. Gungi was our last featured force sensitive character, and he gets returned to Kashyyyk because "Jedi or not, he's still a child. He needs his people." We get that line from the elder, "When a young one leaves the trees weep, but when they return the trees sing." It doesn't sound like a show that eventually plans to have Omega leave her family that she's tried so hard to stay with.

(And isn't it interesting with that quote that the tree Ventress sends her to is the "weeping" maya tree?)

Much like the first two seasons push to reunite the family fall flat if Tech is dead for good and we never see the family together, Omega leaving in the end would utterly obliterate most of the central theme that the first two seasons spent all that time setting up. It turns from a family fighting to stay together to a story about how Omega really needed to separate from them all along for everyone's own good. It's a complete dissonance from every other theme that we've seen, and I just don't think they set up that you need to stick together with your people to survive just to use season 3 to knock it all back down and say that actually isolation and permanent separation from your loved ones is the way to go.

So why introduce the idea? Because for Omega's choice to stay to have any weight, she needs a viable alternative that she could have chosen. She needs to see another path at all, maybe even needs to think she's going to choose it at first, but I think that in the end she's going to return to the batch and to the family that she's grown so much with.

[troius]

I just want to say a few things before you get to the end. First up, it's been a pleasure to read your thoughts on the series; like any fan, you have your own unique interpretations and it's always good to read how fans see certain scenes. It's also been fantastic to see fellow fans respond to your posts adding on to what you've written, again bringing your thoughts out more and generating discussion.

Also, seeing your thoughts has made me appreciate scenes and characters I never thought I would -- Yamamoto for instance, who would've thought?! They've also reminded me of why I fell in love with the series as much as I did, from the artwork to the themes to the incredible bonds between the characters. You've reminded me that BLEACH has it's flaws that can sometimes take you out of the story, but when it hits, it 100% HITS! It's a manga that's about the bonds we form, how they can help us overcome challenges and be a source of light in our lives. It's about the ways we overcome grief and the fear of death, whether it's literally fighting your way through it or slowly coming to a state of acceptance as time goes on. It's about the 'hearts' of people, about what they look like and how they're shared between those you choose. I could go on and on, but then this would become an essay and we'd be here all day.

All of this is to say, thank you for choosing to create a Tumblr account and deciding to read the series and give your thoughts along the way. I can't believe you've finally reached the end, it almost feels like I'm saying goodbye to the manga again!! I don't think I'm the only one here who sees you as a big and valued part of the community on here, so I hope you'll be sticking around! :)

Thank you so much Rays! Response under the cut because it went long.

This won't surprise you, but I too have grown in my appreciation for the series over the course of the uh three years that I've run this blog. Bleach has character concepts I've never seen elsewhere. It has moments of storytelling brilliance. It has truly, phenomenally astonishing art.

But more than anything else, I, like you, am impressed by the heart. For a story that's largely about the afterlife, Bleach is shockingly humanistic, locating virtue not in any system of belief, in any group or faction in the various conflicts that provide the setting for the manga, but in people. All people, whether they're our extremely relatable teenage protagonist and his friends, the occasionally sketchy adults in his life, or the various adversaries ranging from evil monsters to supernatural samurai to a regular-ass gang to a foreign apocalypse cult. Bleach never, not once, lets the viewer fall into the comfortable childish space of believing that there's good people and bad people in the world.

There's just people. Sometimes these people want to do bad things, like execute their sisters, or kidnap your girlfriend, or isolate you from your family, or destroy the entire world. Bleach doesn't flinch away from that either. But it (again, very humanistically) locates those bad actions not in the individual human beings, but in our relationships with one another through the systems and structures we've created to organize ourselves.

And yet in the face of the idea that humans do their worst work through other people, that's also where Bleach locates its greatest virtue. Alone, we're nothing. It's the bonds that we have with others that are what make life worth living, that are the source of everything good in this world. And navigating that dynamic, between spiritual bonds and structural shackles...that's really what adult life is all about, isn't it?

Anyhow, my adult life has been greatly enriched by all of you on here. But I'll take the chance to thank you specifically Rays, for being such a source of joy. Your positivity and passion are the sort of thing that makes a humble blogger want to come back for more, and I've deeply enjoyed hearing all of your thoughts, not just on my liveblog, but through your own posts and writing. I'll be sticking around for sure.

[doyelikehaggis]

I’m not sure if this counts as rarepair rowboat but what about a drabble of Klayley with three daughters? (maybe Hayley’s pregnant again and this time it’ll be a boy) I just love the little family of Hayley, Klaus, and Hope and I think it would be so nice if they choose to have more kids.

As an apology for how dreadfully long this has taken me to answer, I have done my absolute best to write something worthy of this beautiful concept. Klayley with more kids, building a family, is just my bread and butter, so thank you for gracing me with such an idea <3

*

The sound of feet moving so swiftly, almost silently, around his home would usually unnerve Klaus. It used to, in the past. It meant danger. Trespassers, people who were stepping where they did not belong, trying to catch him unawares.

Especially when he can hear the quick beats of their hearts. Growing closer to him. Sneaking up on him, his back turned to them. It would be very reasonable for him to act on instinct.

He closes his eyes. A smile curves his lips as the wolves pounce.

"Got you!" two voices scream at the top of their lungs as tiny arms wrap around his neck and legs, entangling him in a trap of limbs. They break out into laughter as they use all their might to wrestle him to the ground.

Once he's on the floor, growling, defeated, the two little wolves celebrate their victory whilst sitting on top of him. It's then that he breaks character and laughs along with them.

"Daddy!" Rikki scolds him, giving him a kick in the ribs. "You're not supposed to laugh! We've taken you prisoner, remember?"

He quickly tries to rearrange his features into something more sullen and angry as he nods swiftly, clearing his throat. "You're right, love, I'm sorry. I'm a prisoner."

At that, Astrid groans loudly and flops to the floor. "Dad!"

"What? What did I do?" he asks, eyes darting between the two of them.

"You know, prisoners don't usually call their captors 'love,'" another voice chimes in, almost sing-song-like in her smugness. He cranes his neck back and looks at her upside down as she walks towards them, arms folded and a smile on her face. "But then, you never were very good at playing prisoner, were you?"

He grins up at Hayley. "Just not my nature, love, you know that."

"Well, you have to be the prisoner," Rikki says stubbornly, still sitting on his chest. "It's the only way we can play the game, and you and Mom said we're not allowed to do any magic unless Hope's here, so there's nothing else we can play."

"Aside from the millions of toys you have upstairs in your rooms," he says, raising his eyebrows at her.

She glowers back at him. It's a familiar expression, strikingly like the one occasionally worn on her mother. Right now, though, Hayley can't do anything but laugh at the situation he's gotten himself into.

To his luck, Astrid has already grown tired of the game and his lack of cooperation, unlike her big sister. She gets off the floor and climbs into Hayley's arms, her attention turned, as usual, to the constantly growing bump. As the youngest, she's fascinated by the soon-to-be baby, though has taken to scolding it when it causes her mother any kind of discomfort.

"Does it feel weird?" she asks, moving her foot along it and looking up at Hayley with big brown eyes. "Like, a worm wriggling around in your stomach?"

Hayley smiles and tucks a piece of her auburn hair behind her ear with a nod. "A bit like that, yeah. But it's good. It means he's healthy."

Rikki and Klaus' heads both snap up. Klaus sits up, wrapping an arm wound Rikki as he rearranges to sit her in his lap as he stares up at Hayley.

"He?" Rikki repeats, taking the word right out of his mouth. "It's a boy? So, we're gonna have a little brother?"

Hayley glances from her to Klaus, her eyes lingering on his as her smile grows to bursting point. He can feel it in his chest, ready to explode, until, finally, she nods once more.

"A boy," he breathes out. Then he hugs Rikki, pressing a kiss to her head as a grin splits his face in half. "Hear that, sweetheart? A little brother for you and your sister. How does that sound?"

It isn't only Hayley's features he sees in his daughter, as her smile creeps into his heart much like his dear little sister's did when they only had each other. Her dark blonde hair only makes it more striking.

"I like that," she says.

Astrid, however, makes a face and prods Hayley's stomach lightly with a toe like it suddenly contains a flesh-eating beast. "Will he be weird and gross like the boys at my school?"

The three of them laugh, and Hayley strokes her cheek. "No, sweetheart, he'll be kind and sweet, and he'll adore his big sisters."

"Like Uncle Kol," Klaus chimes in.

That lights Astrid up like a Christmas tree. It's a little annoying how Kol has managed to worm his way in as the favourite despite living halfway across the world, but Klaus supposes he cannot begrudge him the love one niece as Rebekah firmly remains Rikki's favourite.

"Oh, come on, don't lie to her." They look across the room to find Hope standing by the door, back slung over her shoulder and a smile on her face. "He's part of this family. It would be impossible for him not to be a total freak like the rest of us."

The kids are uproarious with joy. Rikki is gone in a blur, colliding with Hope and nearly sending her crashing, and Astrid has never looked more like a tiny wolf as she loses her footing halfway out of Hayley's arms in her haste to join her sisters.

Hope laughs as she crouches down to hug them both. "Oh, my god, can you two stop growing? You're going to be taller than me soon."

"Wouldn't be hard, love," Klaus says, getting to his feet. She tilts her head, her mouth falling open to gape at him, and he grins. "Sorry, sweetheart, but you're a short-arse. I truly don't know whose side of the family you got that from, maybe Rebekah."

"Wow, Dad, thanks a lot," Hope says through laughter as Hayley swats him lightly for swearing in front of the kids. She walks over to them and into their open arms, hugging them both tightly. Muffled, she quietly says, "I missed you."

Klaus plants a kiss on top of her head and Hayley strokes her hair, softly saying, "We missed you, too, sweetheart. But, hey, you're here now and you can tell us all about school. Anything exciting happen?"

Pulling back, Hope makes a face. "You could say that."

"Caroline might have mentioned something about, what was it... a dragon?" Klaus says uncertainly, as if he doesn't already know every dangerous detail his daughter seems to have miraculously forgotten to mention recently. "And, I swear, there was something about a boy. What was his name again...?"

She laughs nervously now, realizing just that. To her great fortune, Rikki and Astrid hear the word "dragon" and take control of the conversation with a bombardment of questions. Hayley catches Klaus' arms and motions to the side. They step away from the girls as Hope is dragged to the couch.

"Let her settle in, at least, before we start grilling her about a possible boyfriend, alright?" she says quietly.

Klaus sighs. "Fine. But if that's Landon she mentioned last year, I will not be held responsible for what happens to him."

"You are terrible," she tells him, smiling. "Can you please just try to be happy that our daughter is living her life?"

Deep down, the words hit him with an almighty force. His eyes dart back over to where their three little girls sit together, laughing away. The truth is, he couldn't be happier. Seeing them all. Seeing Hope so grown up. God, she's changed so much since he saw her last, it actually almost breaks him, how quickly time seems to be moving. But it's also a feeling of relief, one that forces him to take a deep breathe as he realizes that Hope is no longer that tiny, helpless little creature in constant danger. Perhaps the last part hasn't changed, but the rest has.

And it's a good thing. How strong, how independent she has become. She looks up and catches his eyes, and she sticks her tongue out at him just like Astrid does. A glimpse of his little girl in this new, wonderful form.

Hayley touches his chest and his eyes are drawn back to her. "Alright," he says softly, "I suppose I can... live with that."

"And not kill her boyfriend."

"And not... kill her boyfriend," he repeats through gritted teeth.

Hayley rolls her eyes at him, but she still kisses him like he's deserving of it. Like she somehow loves him all the more for it, the stubbornness, the wolf inside of him despite its sometimes animalistic nature. It makes him ache in some way, wanting to be able to do more, do better by her somehow. All he can do is kiss her with everything he has and hope it's enough. Somehow, impossibly, it always seems to be.

She pulls back with a smile, caressing his face gently. In turn, his hands and gaze fall between them, both softening upon her stomach.

"So, we're having a boy," he says again.

"Mhm. Poor kid's going to be severely outnumbered, but I suppose it was about time to start evening the numbers out a little." She turns stern as he lifts his gaze back to her. "But I swear, Klaus Mikaelson, if you even dare try to suggest we name him after you, I will kill you."

He laughs at that but tries to look offended. "Well, frankly, I think it would only be fair considering our oldest daughter is named after you."

"Oh, it's her middle name and you chose it," Hayley retorts, poking a finger into his chest. "You're not getting away with that. No way."

"Then what do you suggest?" he asks, knowing that he was never actually going to burden the poor little thing with his own atrocious name.

Hayley looks away. "Well, actually, I was thinking... Henrik."

His heart seems to stop as the last of the air in his lungs escapes in a quiet gasp of shock. She looks up at him, a smile as gentle as her fingers flitting across her lips as she raises a shoulder.

"Henrik?" he repeats faintly. It makes him dizzy just to utter the name, his heart and mind bombarded by everything attached to it, and yet also oddly soothed by letting it be heard. Just, he imagines, as Hayley might have felt when he revealed the piece of her own self forever tied with Hope in the form of her middle name.

"It just feels... I don't know, right, I guess?" she says, shaking her head. "But if that's too much for you, then we can..."

"No," he interrupts. He presses his lips together, composing himself. "That's... No. It's perfect."

He stares at her, sighing softly, and he pulls her close, a hand on the back of her head as he presses his lips to her temple. "Thank you, Little Wolf." He pulls back, cradling her face between his hands lovingly, and looking deep into her eyes as he makes up his mind. "Our son's name will be Henrik. But, if I may, I want to give him his middle name."

Hayley nods. "Yeah. That's fine."

"Then our son will be called Henrik Jackson Mikaelson."

For the two names open messy, unhealed wounds in both their hearts, and Klaus knows that Hayley feels that same burst of emotion, followed by the odd relief at hearing the names said aloud. Never to be forgotten, even though they never could be for they live on in their heads.

Eyes glassy, Hayley takes a shuddering breath and nods. "It's perfect," she agrees.

"Just as he will be absolutely perfect," he says. "Just like his big sisters, and their strong, beautiful, amazing mother." He shifts her hair out of her face with a finger as she leans into his hand against her cheek. "You, Little Wolf, are the best thing to have ever walked into my life. Thank you"

"For what?" she breathes out, and jokingly says, "For getting just drunk enough not to ask myself if it was a bad idea to sleep with you?"

He swallows thickly. "For everything. For this." He glances back at the girls, then returns his gaze to her with full sincerity. "This family. Our family. For allowing me to be a part of it. Thank you, Little Wolf, for giving me a reason to never run again. You are my home."

[gamesception]

Sception Reads Cass Cain #38

Batgirl (2000) #18 - September 2001 Writer: Kelley Puckett Pencils: Damion Scott Inks: Robert Campanella Colors: Jason Wright

Ooh, a guest in Cass's book. Is this the first we've seen that? I think it might be. We get to see whether Tim gets a better showing in Cass's book than she's had in his.

Far more importantly, though, this issue starts with a dream sequence, one that I've referenced a few times already. I misremembered it as happening much earlier on in Cass's run, because it is so fundamental to understanding who (this version of) Cassandra is as a character.

It starts with 8 year old cass in a stealth suit (if there was one thing I think could improve this flashback, it would be if she was wearing the grown up batgirl suit all clearly too big for her, like the cover of issue 4), sneaking around the Batcave, a mischievous smirk on her face like a kid who knows they're getting away with something. She's tiny in a world too big for her as she creeps up onto a computer panel to reach the bat-cookie jar. There an expression of gleeful triumph on her face as she reaches a hand into the jar to snatch...

No, she's caught! Batman, Dick, Alfred (somehow? Has she even met Alfred?), Helena, Tim, Jean-Paul (nice nod there), they've caught her with her hand in the cookie jar neck of the man she killed. She's grown and wearing her batsuit now but she's still so small and they're so big and they're calling her a murderer while Barbara sits dejected, looking up to say 'How could you?' so hurt that Cassandra would betray them all this way, would betray her specifically, sullying the legacy of Batgirl with a murderer's bloody hands, and then the dead man speaks, and it's not the man she killed anymore, now her fingers are buried in the throat of her Father, David Cain, as he admonishes her. "Did you really think you could fool 'em forever?"

...

There's just so much happening here. The cookies - the treat, the prize she's stealing, labeled with the bat symbol? That's being Batgirl. And saving people as Batgirl is the only way she knows how to do to atone for what she did. Except she's a murderer, she deserves to be punished, not redeemed. Worse, being Batgirl is fun! It's exciting and thrilling and the best life she could possibly imagine. It's a reward, not the punishment she deserves, and deep in her traumatized and guilt-ruined inner 8 year old's bones she knows she's getting away with something she doesn't deserve.

Sooner or later her new family will catch her, they'll learn the truth, they'll realize she's not good like them, she's only pretending, really she's a murderer, and when they find out she's sure they'll all turn on her. From this we can infer that her isolation isn't just something imposed on her by Bruce, it's also something she's doing to herself, or willingly allowing Bruce to do to her. After all, the closer she gets to the others, the sooner one of them will realize that she doesn't belong. The more it will hurt when they cast her out.

And there's David Cain calling her out. David, the only one who knows her secret, who knows the real her, the murderer.

....

This is such a good look into Cassandra's character and mental space, into how she sees herself as Batgirl. How dearly she loves it and how badly she wants it and how sure she is that she doesn't deserve it and it's only a matter of time before the others find out and feel the same.

...

I would also say it's fantastic foreshadowing, because this is clearly building to a number of major reveals & confrontations, right? When Bruce finally has to admit the truth and does try to reject her, tearing their family apart in the process as Babs sticks with Cass and the rest are forced to choose sides. Or wondering how Cassandra will react when she finds out that Babs already knows, that she already knew almost the entire time, and that she doesn't care, still loves her, still is proud of her, still wants her to be Batgirl - will she feel relieved, or will she lose respect for Barbara for not holding Cass to the same impossible moral standard that she holds herself to? One could imagine a conflict of Babs vs. Bruce over whether Cassandra is worthy of the costume only with Cassandra taking Bruce's side rather than her own. And David Cain is still out there, potentially throwing the whole thing into an even deeper level of turmoil.

Sadly I can't say this is good foreshadowing, because none of that really happens. Fantastic set up, but not quite landing the follow through. But we're still in the set up part, and the set up part is so, so good, and this dream sequence is maybe the best two pages of it.

...

So yeah there is an actual story in this issue, it's not just a two page dream sequence. I've spent most of my analytical energy already so I'm not going to go in depth, but it's a cool team up story with Tim, where Tim is trying to take down a mob boss while Cass goes after an assassin the boss hired then failed to pay. It's good stuff actually, and well worth a read, but I just want to pick out a couple bits...

We get an explicit limit/exception to Cass's body-reading ability.

Just a bunch of cool art, I like this panel a lot.

We get this moment where Cass opens up a bit to Tim, who starts to connect with her in a way that he hasn't in their previous meet ups.

And it ends on this nice moment of Tim admitting he's been cold to Cassandra and apologizing, extending a hand in friendship. And it's a really nice moment, though the fact that this is coming from Batgirl's creative team makes me wonder Robin's creative team will maintain the better relationship going forward.

As for the question of Whether Tim comes off better in Cass's book than Cass did the last few times she showed up in his, I mean, obviously. What's maybe more noteworthy is that Tim is more likable in this book than even he is in his own, at least as of the last couple issues we looked at. He's thoughtful and intuitive here, self aware, capable of self reflection, capable of recognizing when he's been in the wrong and taking steps to correct himself. All in a story that still emphasizes his detective skills and tech savvy. It makes me sort of wish Tim had his own book... Unfortunately he did.

Of that run of Robin I've only ever read the few issues we've talked about in this project, most notably the two we looked at most recently, and those two especially were were pretty miserable. Not in the sense of being sad and heavy like Cass's book often is, just kind of awkward and unpleasant and mean spirited. Weird choice for a Robin title, imo, you'd figure people would be looking for something a little more light hearted out of that book, with a more likable protagonist. Then again it's really not fair of me to judge an ongoing book when I've read so little of it, so I'm just going to let it go there.

[ateez-himari]

SOCIAL MEDIA UPDATE 231024

NEW TWITTER UPDATE

[NEW UPLOAD FROM HIMARI]

ATEEZ(에이티즈) @ATEEZofficial

[#히마리] Five years ago we made our debut with hearts full of anxiety, wondering if anyone would even bother showing up, and now we've just ended a world tour. At first they were strangers to me, people I was too shy to approach but now whenever someone asks about them I simply say 'my second family'. They've scolded me, cared for me, held my hand, showered me with love, dried my tears, created my smiles and played a part in raising me. We're much more than friends, we're soulmates...because in every life I would choose them, no matter where or who we are. I know Chuseok has passed but I want to make a wish. I wish for the nine of us to keep standing by each other for a very long time...so that we can get old together. Let's continue our journey okay? ATEEZ HWAITING! ㅋㅋㅋ Happy 5 years to us, to my home.❤️9 MAKES 1 TEAM! (I can't ever get them in a picture together sorry ㅠㅠ...) #ATEEZ #애이티즈

Translated from Korean by Google

10:45am. · 23 Oct 23 · 2.5M Views 41K Reposts 1,267 Quotes 1.3M Likes

mikah @himaswife Replying to @ATEEZofficial We always joke about Joong and Hwa being the parents of the group but think about it...Hima was around 14 when she came to KQ and hadn't been with her family much for about a year cuz she was at JYPE. So they basically finished raising her🥹

koala koala @koalazia Replying to @himaswife omg yes she even has similar habits to each of the members😭idk who else knows this but in an interview Yeo said he saw her copy her older brothers' actions a lot and he noticed she was doing the same with them

cheongdam pepper @33khj Replying to @ATEEZofficial new pre-debut photos yes omg! i've been an atiny since the beginning and i can't believe they've already grown so much- hima went from hiding behind the members bc of all the hate and social anxiety to being a global ambassador for versace and 4th gen's little social butterfly

nabi @jigeumfly Replying to @ATEEZofficial happy 5 years our ateez 🥂we're so proud of you! you went from performing in small theaters to your first ever stadium, becoming the most successful 4th generation group not from a big company. you truly deserve all the happiness that comes your way (also the way she talks about them...my heart can't take this i'm crying)

TOQTOK UPDATE

CHECK OUT THIS NEW COMMENT FROM 히마리

🐯: I didn't think they'd remember either but my brothers all sent me congratulation messages this morning ㅋㅋㅋ My parents called me instead and my mom was really emotional so it made me cry a little bit but it's okay because it was tears of love. I'll go see my birth parents soon! I haven't brought them flowers in a while so they must miss me a lot. It's okay though I'm sure they've been watching over our shows and ATINY as well so they'll understand!

CHECK OUT THIS NEW COMMENT FROM 히마리

🐯: I guess it's true that sometimes I act like the members ㅋㅋㅋ I've always had a habit of copying people who taught me so since they raised me for a while I copy them a lot. Hongjoong oppa says I started biting people only after meeting Wooyoung oppa...so I guess some of them are bad influences ㅋㅋㅋㅋ

5TH YEAR INTERVIEW

'As we're filming this it's ATEEZ's 4th debut anniversary already which means we've pushed through a lot of bad times, a lot of physical and mental struggles. My hope for you is that when thinking of the past you're able to see the happy memories more than the negativity, that you can see everything you accomplished over the years. I also hope you've gotten strong enough to let go of the members' hands sometimes and that you can help them as much as they've cared for us. Learn to take a break sometimes so we can go back to painting okay? Hwaiting!'

Q: Do you feel you've become stronger since last year and that you've learned to rest?

When looking back it simply feels as though I've become more free in the past year, not putting as many harsh restrictions on myself which makes me a lot happier...and I guess it's a form of strength so yes. It's still a bit hard to get into the mindset of taking a moment to rest so the process is slow but I'm getting there at my own pace. I think past me would be proud to know that I've started to paint again...actually my room is filled with messy tools a lot nowadays.

Q: How would you describe your relationship with ATEEZ?

In very short terms...a group of eight chaotic big brothers who would be willing to steal the moon if I asked. They've shown me so much love that it feels as though I can't refer to them simply as friends anymore so...family.

Q: What modifier do you want ATEEZ to have in 2024?

Growth has always been very important to us so even if there's nothing I would wish to change within our team, I want us to keep growing. Whether it be as people, musicians, dancers, performers or even our career, I want us to have come a farther way next year than where we are now. Not only for us but also for ATINY to be able to grow with us without thinking that it is something much too intimidating or unachievable.

Q: A word for ATINY who's been with ATEEZ for 5th anniversary in 2023.

It might seem like something we say very often...but thank you. ATINY have been our biggest motivators from the moment we made our debut and they've always laughed with us, cheered us on, given us words of motivation and during hard times they continued to support us no matter what. They make ATEEZ whole. So ATINY make sure to stay healthy and know that we're behind you too no matter what. We'll make sure to work hard so you can always be proud of us. I love you!

Q: A letter to myself a year from now.

I'm sure that there are still a few mental struggles you need to face but remember that with the members behind you, you won't ever fall far so please don't be afraid of anything. Continue to give as much love as you can to our parents, our brothers, our members, our friends and ATINY so that they can also find the same hope we have. I know you'll be a lot stronger by the time you see this and I promise that I'll keep working hard okay? I can't wait to meet you next year!

[bonerot19]

For the ask game, I narrowed it down to 5

2. Do you read/reread your own fics?

10. Is there a fic that got a different response than you were expecting?

18. What’s one of your favorite lines you’ve written in a fic?

19. Give us a small teaser from one of your WIPs. (👀 Please please please please please)

23. How do you choose where to end a chapter (if you have multi-chapter works)?

for this ask game

2 - do you read/reread your own fics? 100% 😂 sometimes it’s to make sure I maintain continuity, sometimes it’s bc I need to read some of my own bullshit projections bc this bitch really gets me (derogatory)

10 - is there a fic that got a different response than you were expecting? tbh I expected no response for seventeen going under so the fact that people have been so kind and lovely about it kinda rocked my world

18 - what’s one of your favorite lines you’ve written in a fic? from seventeen going under (longer than a line, but it's one of my favorite little bits)

It didn't help. It didn't help. It didn't help. Jason put his hand through the drywall like Willis had, right next to Jason's head all those weeks ago. He didn't feel strong. He didn't feel powerful or safe or happy. It didn't fucking help.

All it did was hurt.

19 - give us a small teaser from one of your WIPs. (👀 Please please please please please) 🥹🥹 for you, Lune, I will reveal how chapter six of someday starts.

When Jason was little, he'd dreamt of being saved. He'd spent hours daydreaming, running scenarios in his head.

Most of them started the same way: someone showed up and said everything had been a mistake. His parents weren't actually his parents. His real family was out there, had been searching for him his whole life.

These 'real' parents would show up, they would hug him and kiss him and cry and cry and cry.

We've missed you so much, they would say.

We love you and we want you and we are so happy to have you, they would say.

His 'real' parents would have money. They would have a car and a TV and a house on the Upper East Side.

Inevitably, Jason would leave the daydream, sick with shame and homesick for a place he'd never known. Longing for the home he'd created in his head. For the family that didn't exist. For the family that wanted him.

He'd grown out of the fantasy — realized a long time ago that no one was coming.

And then, suddenly, he was standing in the doorway of Bruce Wayne’s house and there was a woman with perfect blonde hair and a perfectly ironed blouse and her lips were moving but Jason hadn’t heard anything past: “I’m Jason’s mother.”

23 - How do you choose where to end a chapter (if you have multi-chapter works)? I try to break things up in a way that either ends a plot point, introduces a new plot point, or leaves things on a cliffhanger. basically, I want something that sticks with people and leaves them looking forward to the next chapter 😇

[bebx]

honestly I don't expect sylki to happen at all at this point. the most I expect is some kind of platonic unity, like them standing with a shared smile a united force, maybe holding hands. unless they go with making them kiss before parting ways or something, a gratitude of what they've given each other. But if the show simply...continues the path it's setting itself on, sylvie will get to be free at the end, live and create her own life, have her own connections, her own friends, like we saw her so settled and at peace in. that would be best for her arc, best as the prize of them winning. unless they make it that she has to choose to sacrifice herself in order to save other people, for some sort of "growth" reasons. (but, that's still just unnecessarily killing her; not sylki.) they've fought, they've both helped each other, and now they grow beyond each other.

as for lokius...idk just being a realist? or pessimist? (optimist?? lmao) I don't expect, also, anything more than showing them as a ""platonic"" (heavily up for interpretation) united front. they'll succeed. they'll win each other at the end. they'll reside over the tva, with beautiful smiles for each other. because loki has no want expressed for a timeline life. his want, over and over, his need, is just to have mobius with him always (for all time). not just his desire for this friendship but the full, complete friendship he's already achieved, through growth, and grown from. he's changed (and he's in love), and he gets to keep it. we've seen him lose it again and again -- it will end with it remaining.

I honestly can't believe, just, the constant care, and softness, the gentle hands and voices he has for mobius. the way mobius's name is always the main one on his lips he's defending, arguing for, fighting for his rights and his happiness, always his advocate, fighting to keep with him as his literal main motivation, tears in eyes and on cheeks. "the man I know...you saved my life when I first arrived. you saw something in me that I hadn't seen in myself." the confession of it all. the high romance. the longing, the comfort.

I expect an ending where you can 1000% interpret them as being in love (because they are). (though with just enough openness that general audience can claim "friendship" if they so desperately need to.) but...any other network, like...the consummation of their romance is the endgame, the pinnacle of them both expressing and feeling what they mean to each other through a high-emotion kiss. because there's such emotional, textual, core-to-the-story setup for it.

either way, I expect loki to keep all his friends (unless ones like casey and B-15 would prefer their timelines), to keep the extra-special connection with mobius, crucially, and, honestly...for sylki not to be a thing or kiss at all, but just be on perfectly good terms with each other now. and if they do make them kiss, it can't break me, because I can read that as platonic, and everything he's felt for mobius as something more. the whole dynamics of their relationships was contained beautifully and perfectly in that bar scene. that's the crux of all of them. I loved it.

I mean I wouldn’t be surprised if marvel still made sylki endgame in the end (look at the steve and peggy case in endgame), but I do agree with you and I hope you’re right here. aside from the whole ship war thing, the bar scene between loki and sylvie feels to me like a breakup scene where both parties are on good terms and are still good friends, and that’s the vibes I genuinely get from loki and sylvie this season.

I’m genuinely happy for her that she finally got a place where she could call home and the people whom she could consider friends and family (not loki or mobius but the people she met in her new life).

making her and loki get back together romantically wouldn’t make any sense at this point. but again, knowing that this is marvel and disney, I wouldn’t be surprised at all if they pulled the sylki endgame in the season finale next week.

(there’s also rumor from people who claimed to have seen the entire season that loki and sylvie did end up together in the finale, and while I know there’s no way to confirm this until we all find out next week, I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s true.)

also I agree with you about lokius. they wouldn’t make it “too explicit” but yeah, like you said, if they were to make lokius “canon”, the most they’d give the audience would be some hint that they could be more than best friends. but I wouldn’t expect an outright love confession or a kiss. would love to be wrong about this, but it’s too good to be true and I’d rather expect nothing than to have my hopes up too high and get disappointed lol

[gwenthebard]

Making a Character in Maid to Serve

Make a character in Maid To Serve is a simple process, able to be completed in a matter of minutes. With four easy steps, I'll be going through them to create a sample character:

Step One: Concept

Before we can choose the values of our Skills or which Archetype we'll be using we need to come up with a concept first. I'm thinking my Maid's someone who grew up in the manor and has been a life long friend of their Lord.

We'll use it/its pronouns, my favorite, and I think it'll be named Lilac Darling, that's a last name I like to use for a lot of RPG characters.

Step Two: Skills

There are four skills in Maid to Serve (Confidence, Connections, Elegance, and Physicality), and we need to assign each one one of the follow values:

-5

-4

-3

-2

I think Lilac knows a ton of people in the area from growing up here, and focuses a lot on how it's perceived, but perhaps doesn't exercise as much as it wants to and has little trust in itself.

Its Skills are as such:

Confidence- 2

Connections- 5

Elegance- 4

Physicality- 3

Step Three: Archetype

There are 20 Archetypes in Maid to Serve, with each one based around a different trope and struggle. Each one provides an idea of what our character might be like, an Activated Ability we can use, a Core that describes something we struggle with and gain Luck for leaning into, and a list of Advantages we can pick one from.

Lilac grew up around the manor and has known its Lord their whole lives, growing up extremely close. For it, we'll be using The Yearner Archetype.

The Yearner gains the following features:

Activated Ability: Once per episode while helping our Lord we can get 2 Automatic Successes on a Connections Test.

Core: Our Lord doesn't exactly see us as a romantic prospect, and more likely we're too close a friend or like a sibling to them. This means though if we present ourselves in a way that leans into this view of us, we gain Luck

Advantages: We have three options for Advantages, though for Lilac we'll pick "Open Book Life". This means we generally know everything about our Lord's past, friends, and goals, with no test needed. The fact we've grown up alongside them this whole time means this feels the best.

Step Four: Finalization

When finishing off our characters we need to do two things: pick a Major Connection and decide our Relationships.

Our Major Connection decides someone we know or a relationship we have which always gives 2 Automatic Successes when using. For Lilac I think it's probably friends with some of The Lord's family, and in this case we'll say The Lord's sister probably runs a high-end tailor shop and likes us. If we're ever in a situation we need clothes repaired, costumes made, or supplies for that sort of thing, we'll get 2 Automatic Successes towards our Test.

For Relationships we choose how we know each of the other Maids, though since we're building this in isolation we can't really do that. In this case we'll pretend my lovely girlfriend and my best friend both made characters. For these purposes, we'll say Lilac is dating my girlfriend's Maid, and my best friend's Butler and I grew up working together.

All these steps complete, you're ready to take on the apron and start your game!

[sevenstevearmy]

The results are in: Kung Fu Panda still has it. I cannot believe that out of 4 movies all of them are good. Usually sequels suck. Not the case here. The synopsis is a little misleading and originally made me nervous bc I thought he was going to be doing a re-fighting of old foes, but that wasn't the case. I have to say it is probably the least good of all the movies

Spoilery-ish bits below the cut. Watch the movie first!

The only thing that I'm still ruminating on to decide how I feel about is how little time he spends with the villain. She's not really the focus but I think that was on purpose maybe. Bc the central conflict isn't that this villain exists, the central conflict is Po finding a successor.

I do very much enjoy Po's dads being guys who are dudes and very homoplatonic about it. However, they were very B-plot, which I don't know if you need in a movie, especially when the payoff was to something I would have done differently, more on that later.

I'm realizing now that the beginning of the end feels very similar to the last movie with bringing in a bunch of side characters back to help in the final battle. They are less instrumental in this case, though, and didn't have to be there logistically, but it was part of character stuff, though there was another way to do that character stuff.

So what is this other way change I would have made? Zhen's 'family' could have come up afterwards to say how she really did change and they were forgiving her and instead of that fight with everyone on the wall we could have spent more time with Zhen alone and seeing her sneak past and maybe do something really creative to distract or take out guards and really show off what makes her special since we know she's going to be the next dragon warrior. It could have been cut between fighting in the Chameleon's main room, you can do a lot of fun stuff like that.

And you can still have the crime family call back to the 'more violence later' now that the Chameleon's out of the way.

I also wish we got to see more of the Chameleon's shape shifting ability in action. I personally wasn't a fan of the chimera thing she did, I thought maybe she should be smarter than that, but I also already notes that the villain wasn't the central conflict so maybe it doesn't matter.

Even though I'm talking about things I would change, I did really enjoy this film and would watch it again on purpose. I still really like what we got! So let's talk about some of the things I enjoyed.

I love how genuine Po is. He's been hurt and lied to before, but he still chooses to believe the best in others and is willing to trust until you give him reason not to. He's definitely grown as a person, but growth doesn't mean you have to become grumpy and disillusioned. Po hasn't lost his amazement with the world. You could consider him naive, but I think that would be disingenuous. He knows there are bad people out there, he knows there is hurt, but he doesn't let that stop him from living and loving freely. I genuinely appreciate how his heart is shown time and again to be his greatest strength.

Zhen is a delight and very different from other characters we've seen. I hope if we see her again in the future that she's still sly and cunning and maybe they can use her sleight of hand in interesting ways. I am very glad that at the end she nab's Po's staff again bc that shows it's something they currently don't have plans to write out of her. (Not that I know if they plan on ever writing her again.) Just like with Po, they haven't shoved her into a mold until she fits, haven't rounded off any edges. I hope they never do.

The villain was such an interesting concept, even if I don't think she was used to her full potential.

I can see some people being confused as to why all of these 'villains' just go back to the spirit world peacefully, but I think most of them would be content with being at rest (most of them are long dead), and a few of them know personally how easy it would be for Po to just send them back there forcefully. I also like how we get closure with Tai Lung here. His whole thing was that he was upset bc he believed he should have been the dragon warrior, and I think even after his initial defeat he might have fought again, but he's now seen what Po has become and I think he approves and is at peace with what has happened. He understands now why Po was chosen.

Also Jack Black's cover of Toxic? Hello? It honestly took me too long to realize it was him singing but I really liked that too!

This is by no means comprehensive, but this is what I have for you. I hope you enjoyed the movie as much as I did!

[drifting-pieces-blog-blog]

Saw the Puss in Boots Movie.

Let's talk about Puss In Boots for a hot minute.

I was not expecting this level of story telling. Looking at the other movies that came out of the franchise, I honestly was expecting a mediocre fast paced joke after joke with a tenuous grasp on a plot.

I was so very surprised.

What a movie. The animation style was a solid choice and well done. The scenes and designs were fantastic. The story was wonderful, the black forest morphing to match the wish maker was making me scream every time it switched. Stellar.

So let me do what I do and try to be articulate enough to explain why I thought it was so amazing.

Who is the target audience for this movie?

Here's the tricky part. It's a cartoon set in the Shrek Universe. It's supposedly targetted towards young kids up to maybe early teens.

Yet it didn't feel that way.

So who is the target audeince?

The same people that saw the first Shred Movie.

You didn't have to have seen all the other movies to understand the characters or the plot. But having seen the first and second movie is key.

When did those movies first come out? Shrek was released in April of 2001. Shrek 2 was released May of 2004.

That's long enough apart for someone to start high school and just about finish high school.

That was 22 years ago!

The target audience? People in their 30s who are about to be 40.

This is a movie made by the people who sat in theaters at the age of 14 watching the first movie. People who fell in love with the fairy tale breaking movie.

The ugly ogre finds the princess, the princess kicks ass. She chooses him over the handsome prince and she changes to a form that she can feel happy in.

This is a movie for all the LGBTQ kids just finding themselves.

So now those kids are grown up. They've been faced with a hard life. Repeated traumas. Repeated world catastrophies that their parents never knew. Faced with fixing problems they didn't start. Faced with struggling to fight for their rights and riding off the tails of those that died to catch a glimpse of those rights.

Kids that grew up with generational trauma. Kids that were supposed to get married and have kids and instead of struggling to find happiness in themselves.

Live life fast and hard or hidden away and scared.

We've been seeing a lot of movies that discuss generational trauma: Coco, Encanto, Everything Everywhere all at once…

It's almost like we grew up and are trying to learn how to heal.

We are also starting to see found familiy. Learning to be happy with friends and those around us that make us feel safe and loved.

What's so special about Puss in Boots The Last Wish? There's more than one important message here.

Found family is a big role in two ways.

You have Goldie and the three bears. You see her desire to be with those like her and have a family and learn that her family has always been there loving her despite her not being like them. She's spent so long looking for what was right in front of her that she almost loses it.

Then you have Perrito who flat out says "You are my friends and I trust you. You are my family. Why would I want anything else when I have you?"

You see panic attacks and how irrational they can make you. How they take over your everything and how you view the world. Trauma and fear can lead you down a path very much like how we see in the movie.

You also have someone who has no regard for his life. He wastes 8 lives without care. Drinking, Gambling, gorging in things bad for him, being cocky, being arragant. Someone alone with no friends and afraid to connect and give up the glory that he thinks he has and needs.

Then he switches to someone too scared to live his life. Settling for mediocraty and such unhappiness because they think it's the safe path.

A good lesson. Cherish your life. Live it well because you only get one life.

But let's remember who this movie is made for. 30-40 year olds.

We have already lived most of our lives. Living the way we were told. Surviving. Trying to find ourselves. Go to school, find a career, get a job, make connections. Every step has been one task after another and we are still so unhappy and so tired.

We are a generation of people that weren't allowed to be who we were meant to be.

But we are now older. We are now adults who are about to be the next leaders to the young generations.

We can retire and be safe and slink away.

Or we can take what is left and see what we have. We can live. We can appreciate that we have this life and this life is ours.

So yeah. This was a good movie. This was a stellar movie. This was a movie that felt like an amazing end to a story that started when we were just learning how to be adults.

Now we are adults and it's time to learn how to live.

Someone once said it: We see him react to death in two days.

The first time he is terrified and doesn't want to die. The second time he is determined and not ready to die.

Death tells him to "Fight for it. Fight for the life you have."

[idyllic-affections]

seeing you list all of your anons in that ask made me realize just how big the emoji anon family has grown!! (does it make me sound old if i say i remember when it was only about three of us?)

anyway!! i really want to get to know the others! it feels like we exist in the same world, but parallel to each other. i know you guys from your brainrots and rambles, but we've never spoken. and you all seem so cool!

so this is an open question to all of the others anons, tell me something about yourself!! who's your favourite character? do you prefer cats or dogs? why did you choose the emoji you did? (this is absolutely /nf by the way!! none of you guys have to respond if you don't want to lol)

(also aph i hope you don't mind me using your ask box as a way to talk to the other anons haha)

- ⭐️

it really has grown quite a lot!!! i honestly never would have even imagined that so many people would be interested in being emoji anons on my blog. and i don't think so haha! i totally get that.... it seems like so long ago now that the emoji anons were so few in numbers <3 nonetheless, i love seeing the emoji anon family grow and change! i haven't been here for very long at all--less than a year--and yet... i have this little community already well-established?????? it's crazy, but in a positive way.

and that's very true!! as long as you all are comfortable answering, feel free to send your answers to my inbox. get to know one another, if your willing and comfortable! no pressure, of course. this is a safe space. you all have no obligations, other than being polite and respectful, here.

i don't mind at all!!!! i find it very endearing, actually. i feel like a messenger ajsjhfkfns 🫶🫶