#also I mean we’re used to it but Stan him for not using his game and money for deluxe class but traveling in standard

[nicoscheer]

chris_bloodfilms Met my hero on a train.

This story is long so scroll if you cba reading.

It's 2005, a band explodes on MySpace. They're dressed like you and their lyrics are a mirror to your life.

Bleeding heck, who the fuck are the Arctic Monkeys?

After 19 years on repeat it's now 2024. Myself and @conor_bloodfilms are travelling back from Paris.

We arrive at Gare Du Nord and Duffy stops in his tracks. He whispers to me "I think that's Alex Turner."

"F**k off!" | immediately reply. I gaze over at a guy wearing a leather jacket with long brown hair, his face adorned with aviators. We should probably stop staring as it's getting weird, sexually and aggressively weird.

Turns out it is bloody Alex Turner, the man who's provided the soundtrack to my life! He strolls past and disappears into the Parisian platform crowd. A missed opportunity.

We board our train back to London. We look to our left and there's Alex. Sitting in his seat accompanied by a notepad. He's probably writing the next Arctic Monkeys hit "Two gawping pricks on a train". We really need to stop staring.

I tell Duffers I'm going in, he stops me. Reminds me that I'm a fully functioning adult and not to create a scene. Christ, he's right! I feel like I'm 15 years old again, someone get me a Strongbow and whack Dancing Shoes on, kin hell lad!

Eventually myself and Con engage, it's a surreal experience. Alex is polite and returns conversation in a soft friendly manner. The whole situation is just bloody lovely.

I awkwardly ask if I can take his portrait, fully aware that it could result in an awkward exchange and destroy this wonderful moment. He smiles and obliges, he's effortlessly cool, asks for direction and I take a few snaps.

We disembark the train, I felt quite emotional and that's embarrassing to admit. Maybe it was the jet lag, the caffeine and croissant overload? Or maybe it was just the rekindling of my youth.

This all might sound trivial, however, for me these portraits are deeply personal serving a reminder that life is a series of fortunate events and when fully appreciated can conjure up some pretty awesome memories.

[lynk-zee]

Hii hope you’re having a wonderful day and congrats on the 100+ subs! Here is another request if you’d like to take it, if not it’s okay! It’s about how the LaD boys would be if the roles switched, like now we’re here smiling and our wallets suffering but what if it had to be their wallets suffering? (I want revenge for my wallet and need to see what kind of f2p in suffering or Forced2Pay kind of player they would be) if we were the otome character, and at first when I thought about this Zayne doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who’d play but I’m pretty sure he’d play because of a patient insisting or sum, Xavier and Rafayel are more likely to end up playing otome so I don’t think it’s difficult to think of them playing this kind of game.

Role Reversal

Zayne wasn’t interested in something as childish as an otome game. His co-workers always gushed over the characters in the break room, but he never paid any mind to it. Until he caught a glimpse of your character in the nurses phone. And my, were you breathtaking!

He’d try to deny these thoughts. You weren’t real—you were a character! It’s silly to want to see your face more and hear your voice. After mulling over it, he downloaded the otome game just to see what the big deal was about, and boy! The game had him in a chokehold!

You were just so pretty…He went red every time your character talked to him. When it came to the poke and touch interaction feature, he had to put his phone down from how flustered he got! You were his favorite, naturally, and he wasn’t interested in any other character in the game.

Would he spend money on the game? A little. Zayne knows it’s a little ridiculous to empty his wallets for an extra feature. But ten dollars for a banner every once in a while isn’t so bad…right?

Rafayel had a commission based on your character and thought it was ridiculous. Usually he would flat out say no to commissions because he believed his art sold itself, but this was a long time patron to his art gallery, so he had to oblige. He looked up your character to use as a reference and was absolutely stunned. Hummana-whaaaaaat? When did video game graphics get so good? You were so beautiful! And looked so real! He felt his heart pound while he looked at you.

So, he downloaded the game to see what it was all about. When your character greeted him for the first time, he fell in love.

Would totally spend money on banners and events— take all his money and give him more content of you! His art starts to resemble unrequited love— that of a merman in love with someone on land, worlds apart separated by the clear surface of the water, representing how he feels being separated from you by the phone screen. Is he being dramatic, yes. But he’s an (Y/n) stan. They all are.

Xavier came across your game through an ad on social media. At first he wasn’t exactly interested, scrolling through his feed for something to entertain him before work, until he saw the ad for your character. It was like he was on auto-pilot— his thumb moved to the download button and bam! You were on his phone.

Despite you being a fictional character, he felt shy interacting with you. Choosing the answers that made him sound cool, making decisions that didn’t look stupid. He was especially protective of you during the combat feature, fingers flying across the phone screen to destroy every monster and made sure you never got hurt.

When it came to spending money, he was a little hesitant. I mean, he has better things to spend his money on. But then your beach day banner came out and Xavier gave the app all of his money. He also may have spent a little more than necessary on your sexy Halloween costume during one of the events.

[humanradiojmp]

Murder Drones Episode 8 Blind Reaction Part 2

Contains spoilers

Cyntessa’s “kay” feels like her version of “I love doing anything.” so cocky and up for anything, but that might just be her downfall.

Guys, the nightcore song is called “BiteMe!” Can this get any better?

It actually has some motifs similar to “Uzi the Drone Killer”, arguably one of the main music themes of the series, so yes, it can.

NOOO! Not Uzi stabbing N! It’s probably a trap or a trick, but still.

Bye J

I mean, yes, but no. Or like a number of blinks and winks

Not using N’s love of dogs against him. or more like the good memories they had before this whole thing

Guys pay attention! V is fighting the abomination alone!

I like the “Let them swallow you” lyric to represent the solver’s insatiable hunger

How you like it now Cyn?

Bit of a callback to the fact they are vampires, or vampire adjacent. The burning in the sun just felt like an appropriate ending for the abomination that’s been haunting everything

Is it over?

The solver has gotten eaten. And their reaction is priceless

But won’t that corrupt/take over Uzi now? or even kill her? that’d be a tragic way to go. Destroyed the monster but you destroyed yourself in the process.

Ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, e-

Oh no, she’s dead!

Nvm, we’re good. but is it over? Truly?

We really needed more Thad, honestly. So much characterization gone to waste

Heh, like mother, like daughter.

You could say their hearts are connected. Hope there’s a proper reunion. Please. Please. PLEASE! They’re literally soulmates.

OMG girl, seriously, OC?

But in all seriousness, the battle scars for what she’s gone through is such a nice touch. Her half toned eyes are there to show what happened happened, and she came out alive

And we all know everyone is going to have at least one oc with this new canon trait

It really is a hero’s journey. It came full circle. Now she’s more assured of herself, has friends, and the colony is safe.

We stan a supportive Khan. Character growth.

Not Doll’s corpse!

She’s still a chaos gremlin

Also can we just take a minute to appreciate how far the animation has come from the first episode to now? everyone at Glitch should be proud of their improvement. This series is a testament to their efforts and skills and it’s absolutely wonderful.

I really like how the end credits show everything that’s happened and how it’s changed. Like the partial solver symbol over the planet, Khan and Nori did get a reunion (YEEEEESSSS!) and N finally getting his rummy game.

DOLL?!?!?!?!

Liam Vickers 2D animation, nice touch

The funeral for Doll deserved

And the kids can be kids now. also deserved.

Honestly, everyone who’s worked on this should get a round of applause and a big ol’ “Thank You!” From the production to the voice acting, to the animation, to the sound and music, to the crazy ideas in general that happen to work so well. Thank you so much for making this series a reality. I may have gotten into it later than some others, but I love this show as much as those who’s been there day one. It is a little sad to see it’s done, but I’m also glad it ended as well as it did.

Cyn lives in Uzi’s mind now

F O R E V E R

first part

[comradekarin]

Not everyone has to like the same characters, so why does it matter if no one loves falriegn like you do? gen/

you’re right. not everyone has to like farleigh. i never said you had to, either. what I did say is that it’s insane to stan and root for other characters who have done and said arguably worse things than he has and then turn around and make think pieces about how horrible and irredeemably evil farleigh was. it reeks racism ngl. like you can’t say how annoying and mean he was and then your next comment is how brilliant venetia was for calling oliver a freak lmao? all of the cattons were dicks, and that’s fine. but pretending the worse of all of them is the only poc character in the show (who, objectively, was the most human out of all of them AND also had the most understandable reason to be as salty as he was) is insane. nevermind the fact that some reasons people name for not liking him either did not happen (him stealing), is extremely exaggerated (some of the snide comments he made), or something almost all of the other characters are (farleigh being “elitist”). hell, even pretending he and oliver are exactly the same is just- god how dumb do you have to be to think that. sure they’re playing the “same game”, but you guys stop your analysis there and never elaborate. its just so wack honestly.

i know we’re so used to having everything spelled out for us, but I think this one is pretty obvious. you don’t gotta like farleigh, but how can you hate him but love his traits in literally every other white character?? even the responses to the race/class commentary in the film have been interesting to see. it’s giving felix. like just be direct and call him a slur already it’s boring 😒

[curioussubjects]

Ok so I have some spnwin-spn connection spec I wanna share with y'all from back when @alwaysanoriginal were spiraling over some interview about The Winchesters (as we do). The second to last question is about John's journal being created, which of course made me think of plot hole vampmimes. Of course.

Or maybe not so plothole-y?

That was mostly a joke, though I did hope tonight was going to maybe for the lolz address that. Well, little did I know because that old convo continued with this:

DOES THIS REMIND YOU OF ANYTHING YOU WATCHED TONIGHT

DOES IT

Char, then, decided to come for me in the night and point out that the Running on Empty montage in 19 has some pretty choice scenes featuring Changing Channels, Wayward Sisters and the AU rift, Dean time traveling, and The Heroes' Journey (which I always argued was essentially the intended finale metaphorically).

Side note: sorry to expose y'all to my private ravings lol

A lot of this actually comes back to a point Billie made in s15 about Chuck building reality with himself at the center to keep it ticking. So how can you possibly beat him? By letting him think he won. I can't help but remember that delightful line from Dean in s12: "‘Cause we’re not trapped out here with you. You’re trapped out here with us." You know, that one time Dean and Sam pulled a death gambit to escape a black ops site.

But back to The Winchesters: last week we had Carlos refusing to play Loki's game (a god who can affect reality, or one's perception thereof) and winning. But to do so, he had to put his life on the line. He had to be willing to lose everything. By the way, I am once again feeling very emotional about Carlos saying he sacrificed everything for hunting, but he gained so much more because that's it! That's the thing! So yeah...cue Carlos singing Hard Times Come Again No More to his family.

This week John is the one with the seemingly inescapable fate of death (courtesy of vampires because of course), and while he doesn't tap out of the game, he realizes he knows nothing about the context of what he saw. He only got half the story, and the rest was up to him. It's appropriate, too, that this week we get another Supernatural classic with Mary reassuring John that they will find another way. And yeah, John does and wins.

And, I mean, if we're talking fate and god and gambles, why not remember a nifty piece of advice Sam and Dean received from Fortuna in The Gamblers: “Don’t play his game. Make him play yours.”

My point is if we look at 19 and 20 much like we would a vision from an amulet, none of the plot of Supernatural needs to change. It's fated. But as Millie says, and John says, and Dean say: fate is what you make it. And if The Winchesters is about how Sam and Dean became the Winchesters, then what else is this show but the context we've been missing all along.

(send this man to stan jail tbh)

[also what is more Winchester stupid than the cosmic consequences of saving your family...like...say...releasing the Darkness or...causing an Akrida infestation...though who knows that could've been on purpose for reasons. I'm putting nothing past spnwin.]

Don't ask me how Dean goes from pulling a death gambit to get into heaven to time travelling to tweak with his parents' past. We're through the looking glass here people and we'll simply have to wait and see -- but the puzzle is for sure getting less mysterious. Something free will, knowledge, family, and Growth, something. Therapy. You know, The Winchesters.

Or I'm totally off the mark and I'll have egg for face who's to say, but for now, as a treat, I'm feeling very

[keef-a-corn]

Dat’s right, people, it’s time for ‘Keef watches TFP and you just get the notes!’

This is for season 1, episode 15: Shadowzone

I write down the timestamps, but I watch Transformers Prime on Stan (an Australian streaming service) so they may be slightly off.

ALSO! I try my best to note points for every character, but tend to get a little caught up by Bee (although I think I do a pretty good job with the notes regardless) so do be warned.

~~~~Transition~~~~

00:12 - parallel between Megatron in the last episodes and Starscream now.

00:46 - Megatron noticed the parallel too.

01:10 - one of those moments where being a smexy bicth comes second to his job as a doctor.

01:19 - honestly, Knockout not pushing it shows just how well he knows Starscream.

01:33 - I thought the dark energon was necessary because Megatron needed energon, but his body was no longer comparable to accept anything other than dark.

~intro~

03:04 - I hardly even noticed Bee was there.

03:10 - the thinker.

03:16 - But Megatron was dead during the Skyquake episode. He wouldn’t know that Skyquake would require dark energon. Understandable why they’d assume it’s Megatron, but why would they assume Megatron’s there for Skyquake?

04:03 - this girl is on fiiiireeeeee + giving off ‘friends on the other side’ rn

04:18 - shut up, the way way Bee looks at Optimus and the cheetah meme have the same energy.

04:22 - so they truly are skipping over that angst? It appears I have a future project.

04:23 - Ratchet is the only one who doesn’t put on a game face when he’s addressed. We know why, but it’s nice to note.

04:30 - there’s something so perfect about the way Optimus jumps straight to explaining his decision and turns around to face Ratchet while doing so rather than pulling a classic ‘yes, because we need you’

04:35 - Once again, refreshing to see a character assigned to a position they’re not traditionally assigned to, but still showing passion and respect.

04:39 - How did Bulkhead not realise Miko was up to something?

04:42 - She’s drawing Optimus fighting Megatron.

04:46 - Glad to know someone’s paying attention.

04:52 - I love the way the bots walk, especially Optimus and Bee. There’s something so proper and powerful about it.

05:06 - LMAO

05:14 - Let’s pretend that Arcee couldn’t hear them.. why wouldn’t they yell out to her so she could stop Miko or close the ground bridge before Miko got there?

05:22 - Miko, Miko, Miko… frustrating af.

05:44 - they all have similar walk cycles, but none sync up.

05:53 - Bee dropping back as they walk along could be multiple things, him getting protected, acting as rear support, could also be because he’s the smallest but is walking at a similar pace to the others, meaning he’s covering less ground. Obviously I could be overthinking it too, but if we go that route these notes are completely useless.

05:55 - If you pause it at the right time Ratchet’s head makes it look like Optimus has a huge ass. (Unfortunately I did not screenshot it at the right time)

06:06 - my dude didn’t think to even ONCE call out to the bots and go ‘just so you know, we’re here’

06:18 - that would be my worst nightmare. Don’t have FOMO, just care about my phone.

06:25 - HO MAMMA

06:34 - the fading between the red and purple is so seemless and a nice detail

06:41 - I just need this screenshot to be witnessed. Why is he standing like that?? WHY DOES HE STAND LIKE THAT FOR SO LONG?

06:52 - this line’s so confusing when you forget that his arms are apart of his wings when he’s in his vehicle mode.

07:16 - AHHH THE HEAD TILT!!! Seeing that we’re looking at them from an angle, Bee’s most likely behind Bulkhead, meaning he cannot actually see the humans, but can hear them. + everyone else’s reactions tooooo!

07:27 - While everyone else looks at the ground bridge, Bee looks at the others before the bridge.

07:30 - Ratchet looking fabulous rn.

07:33 - 1. The way his voice echos is a really nice touch. 2. Ratchet using the same tone a parent would rn has me cryin.

08:06 - Starscream went into the ground bridge around the same time the kids did. Why wasn’t he caught?

08:14 - the longer that shot went for, the more I laughed.

08:26 - As soon as Starscream pulls out the dark energon it plays Arcee screaming ‘Tailgate’. Starscream has nothing to do with what happened to Tailgate. I think they were just reusing the sound from when Airachnid killed Tailgate and forgot to edit out the voice line. Upon evaluation, I do believe they’re different sounds. I don’t know why her voice line plays.

08:51 - Bee’s so cute until he breaks the fourth wall. + height difference my beloved.

09:03 - I don’t understand how the bots weren’t affected. Let’s say Starscream got to the otherside, but they kids didn’t, fine. But the bots were still caught in the explosion?

09:26 - You know that would be absolutely traumatising.

10:09 - … what was the point of insulting him?

10:14 - This is what makes it really confusing. How did Skyquake get caught in the shadow zone, but the other bots didn’t??

11:16 - Karma’s a bicth, ain’t she? Jack and Raf didn’t deserve it, but Miko totally did.

12:00 - God do I hate Miko rn. + Aw, Raf’s reaction

12:45 - Yes. In the rocks that are apparently not with you in the Shadowzone.

12:51 - you can hear Optimus trying not to show his panic and worry… and failing.

12:56 - Father and Son right here.

12:58 - with mild Confidence ‘what if you (or we) call them?’

13:35 - Not ‘nothing’. He picked up. He’s alive. It’s that there was no response.

14:05 - kinda disappointed that they didn’t have any other way to message the bots. Feels like there should be a way for the bots to message them and they message the bots, especially for situations where silence is necessary or Bee has to tell Miko or Jack something.

15:38 - Decepticons have parts to spare.

16:10 - Starscream’s arm is enormous compared to the kids.

17:23 - how does he get it open??

17:27 - *mwah* beautiful line delivery.

17:40 - god these line deliveries are stunning.

17:44 - It’s like the shot at the start.

17:46 - why does Starscream have the Crystal out?? What if Knockout saw?

18:35 - Love how either thought the other would be able to tell what Ratchet was saying.

18:47 - saying that as if common sense wouldn’t tell us that if they changed any part of it something would go wrong.

19:02 - aren’t they in a canyon? Isn’t that like one long strip??

19:31 - why would it be yours??

20:15 - glad the plan worked so seamlessly.

20:18 - Why wasn’t Bee sent? He’s Raf’s guardian after all.

20:31 - HOLY SCRAP LOOK AT HOW PRETTY IT IS!

20:34 - There’s literally no reason for Bee not to be(e) present.

20:39 - agreed. Repeat that and also apologise.

20:45 - Optimus smilinggggg

21:04 - a logical assumption.

21:10 - hc is that Knockout promotes self care for everyone (autobots included, but he’s careful when he does it.)

21:18 - I know Skyquake’s a zombie and all, but I feel bad for him.

———————

And that was Shadowzone!

It was alright. I’m not one for the human focused episodes, but it’s alright and a good way to introduce the Shadow Realm (despite how confusing it may have been.)

I thought the way Optimus was portrayed in the episode was good, showing how he cared for the children despite not really being allowed to express worry for their safety. I will admit that Bulkhead, Arcee and especially Bumblebee’s reactions to their charge’s going missing were too weak from any standpoint.

I thought that the Starscream plot line was quite weak as well and I don’t really understand what they were going for.

[demonsfate]

soooo likeeeee idk how hot of a take this is but. with this whole jin vs kazuya debate i honestly see more people defend kazuya than i see people defend jin. “jin stans go all the way to the ends of the earth to defend him and his crimes” like no???? we actually HATE jin’s crimes, it’s the literal one thing about his character that we criticise to oblivion and drag him for. and we’re fully aware that HE was fully aware that he was doing the crimes. whereas i see more kazuya stans be like “yeah he had every right to become a villain bc he’s been through worse.” ???

like even i will tell you that yeah kazuya DID suffer worse since he was like 5. but just like how jin’s trauma doesn’t justify his actions, the same can be said for kazuya. sure, it’s an explanation as to why he turned out that way. it’s not a justification. with villains, i always wish things had turned out differently for them. but i’d NEVER say that their crimes were allowed bc of what they endured.

as i've said multiple, multiple times. most of us don't really "defend" jin's actions. we "deny" them in the way that we acknowledge it's a poorly written game, and those actions were blatantly out of character. like yeah, we KNOW he was written to perform those actions. but does it make sense? no - THAT'S what we point out. we don't defend these actions, we just want these actions to be retconned lmao.

also like kazuya had "every right" to become a villain because he was originally conceptualized as one, whereas jin wasn't until he just suddenly was. (which again, was solely harada's idea, the writing team disagreed with this, but eventually went with it because harada wouldn't shut up about it)

kazuya did go through worse, because he suffered at a much earlier age (being 5). but one of the original points of jin and kazuya is that jin was if kazuya had gone on the right path because they both still suffered similar traumas. (both had a dead mother, both were abused and used by heihachi as a minor, it just didn't happen until jin was 15, both were "killed" by heihachi, both suffer from the devil gene, both even have a hot-headed biker rival) which also doesn't make sense for jin to become just like kazuya in tek6 considering he was supposed to be his foil, or in a way, even a "what if."

there may be those who DO defend jin's actions. but those are usually the kind of fans i criticize - which are those who turn their brains off and don't critically consume the media they're indulging in. i'm talking about fans who just say jin was in the right because the game told them he did the war for a "good reason." Same fans who refuse to see how Jin being a bad guy made no sense even if you point out the inconsistencies just because the game told them he was bad now.

i think fans are also more likely to defend kazuya, not just because of his childhood, but because kazuya is... generally a more liked character. like even though i love jin, he's my favorite, i won't deny that kazuya's definitely the more popular one. probably because most fans prefer him as he isn't an ""emo"" like jin is, and because... maybe because he has been a better written character, because you know - as i pointed out yesterday, even if jin being a bad guy DID make sense in 6, his characterization was still all over the place. so, kazuya being more popular also means there are more fans who just want to see him be the "Good Guy" simply because they like him more.

anyway, i'd never defend jin's actions... in fact, they're NOT defendable. like even with the excuses Tek6 made, they can't be defended nor are they redeemable. BUT... i will always say they absolutely should be retconned, and i will continue saying that they are actions that makes little to no sense for jin's character and i will not acknowledge them as such because it's poor writing.

[finitefall]

Say whatever you want about the Lannister, they might not be good people at all but honestly they were extremely compelling, complex and intriguing characters and they were antagonists to the starks!Being antagonist doesn't necessarily mean that character is irredeemable or boring.Grrm managed to show us how cersei was a victim in her life but she was also an abuser, tyrion was a victim of family abuse but he became an abuser as well in his ADWD arc.Grrm didn't need to make them little meow meow to make the readers like them or enjoy reading about them, he only made them complex characters with compelling arcs and that made them popular.The thing is, Hotd can and should have written alicent in this way.they should have shown her as a victim in the beginning, because at the end of the day she is a woman living in a patriarchal society but also show how she is a woman with AGENCY instead of putting all the blame in Otto and viserys.Aegon as well should have been written in a similar way to how Grrm written Tyrion.A character that started as a harmless lazy hedonist who can be funny sometimes but then becomes a very dark character over time.And that would be much better than the passive irreredeemable one dimensional character they given us in Show!Aegon.Also they should have focused on Aegon and Rhaenyra relationship more, what did they think of each other before the war?What was their relationship before the usurpation?"Because as far as we know Aegon didn't want to usurp the throne of his sister at first before Criston and Alicen convinced him.So there are many different ways to portray their relationship in the show especially before the dance, The dance is remembered through the history as the civil war between a Sister and a Brother . so to not have the eldest daughter and the eldest son of viserys interact with each other is bad writing simple as that. Instead, we have given this weird fanfiction of Rhaenyra falling in love with her stepmother. This relationship is so painfully bad that it has severed their characterization in the show .

Hi nonnie! Sorry for the late answer, I’m only starting to catch up with my messages...

The Lannisters are extremely interesting and compelling characters, indeed. You can love them, love to hate them, both in the books and the show. I’ll start with the show even though you’re talking about the books, since we’re comparing to how the Greens aren’t compelling and interesting in the show.

Cersei was a fan favorite in Game of Thrones. Of course, Lena Headey is an incredible actress and the writers weren’t dumb to the point of not seeing it and letting her talent go to waste. Some of the most iconic scenes of the show are still, to this day, her scenes, including: “Is this meant to be your shield, Lord Stark? A piece of paper?” *tears it up* (x) and “Power is Power” (x). She’s not being nice, she’s not being a victim, she’s in charge, she’s an amazing antagonist, she’s a badass who totally owns the fact she does crazy and evil things - and is rather proud of it, too. And yet, she was a victim during her marriage with Robert, had him killed to protect herself and her children (and I don’t blame her), and we felt for her every time she lost a child (even if it’s Joffrey), when Tywin tries to marry her off to Loras for politics (even though a few seconds earlier, she was looking delighted when he told Tyrion he would marry Sansa), when she had to do the “walk of shame” (even though she was the one to put the Faith Militant in power and we hated her at first when Loras and Margaery were thrown into cells to her absolute delight). No matter what she did, we loved her. My favorite character is Daenerys, who’s a heroine unlike Cersei. But I loved Cersei because she’s interesting, compelling, she has agency... oh wait. That’s the problem for show!Alicent stans, isn’t it? Cersei was a female character with agency, she didn’t just stay a victim.

Even Tywin, played by the amazing Charles Dance: I looked forward to every scene with him and I hate the man (Tywin, not Charles). Who’s interested by any scene with Otto? Yeah, me neither. Jaime did some seriously fucked up things, including pushing a little boy out the window with the intent to kill him, and I ship him with Brienne. God, even Joffrey was at least well-written and we had compelling (and sometimes hilarious) scenes between him and Tyrion. Now, Tyrion was whitewashed in the show unfortunately, which wasn’t such a problem in the earlier seasons for me, but became ridiculous when he joined Daenerys’ side and was basically reading her the Geneva Convention. Speaking of, Tyrion in ADWD is an excellent example because I could have hated him so much and wished for his death... but it wasn’t the case. That’s how talented GRRM is: no, I don’t think of Tyrion as a good person, he’s extremely complex and tortured, and there’s no excuse for rape - not ever. But I still think he’s one of the best characters Martin wrote, I can understand why he loves writing him the most, and I still want to read Tyrion’s POV.

Compared to this, we have another rapist in HOTD, Aegon, who only had interesting scenes in episode 9 and was, before this, reduced to a jerk and a rapist. It’s hard to actually find him compelling, and as I said before, it’s even more a waste because the actor proved in episode 9 that he has talent, that he could have been a villain I loved to hate. There’s no scene between Rhaenyra and Aegon because they’re making the show all about Alicent and Rhaenyra, when Aegon has always been the threat to her claim, is the one sitting on her throne and will be the one killing her. They’ve had literally zero interaction in the first season. Even after episode 9 and giving Aegon the screen time he deserved and showing the importance of his character, they don’t follow on it. Next episode, the terms are offered in Alicent’s name, when in the book they’re delivered in Aegon’s name. But the writers are too busy with Rhaenicent, and suddenly the Dance of the Dragons is apparently a lesbian divorce drama, making Alicent awfully incoherent and uninteresting, while Rhaenyra is way more passive than should be allowed in face of what’s been done to her.

[operationnope]

In a way, I love that we Ozzy girls are being reduced to a T; that’s kind of what happens irl too. No one’s right for everyone, so I guess this is a bit of “natural selection” (the good kind).

Anyway, back to what I was saying before and the reply you got on the post - I’m the anon from before. I understand why people are upset (as I’ve already said), and I don’t blame them for it. When I sent that ask, I was just sharing my own and very personal opinion. I know that a lot of people - most people honestly - don’t feel that way, and that’s okay. But I feel what I feel, and I wanted to share it so that we weren’t all being sad about what happened today, but also trying to share some positivity.

(Now, being okay with it, that’s another thing entirely, and I’ve never said anything about it).

And speaking of my opinion, I also feel like Ozzy not having just the CA kiss “to explain” puts things into perspective, rather than making them worse.

Because if it was just the CA kiss, sure, that could’ve still happened because Ozzy was hurt and confused, but the storyline would’ve been much weaker (even more so in a route in which MC doesn’t return his feelings). But when you add Ozzy’s problems with Grace to his feelings for MC AND his desire not to hurt either of them, that’s when you get - under CA’s uncertain and peculiar circumstances - a pretty explosive combination.

Honestly, that’s the point and that’s what Ozzy’s whole storyline has been building up to. If someone doesn’t like it to the point that they want to switch routes, they have every right to do what’s right for them and choose someone else (seriously, I’m not saying it to be mean, everyone should do what they feel like doing).

Overall, I think Ozzy really needed to get to his lowest point to understand that good intentions do not always lead to good actions. Sometimes, hearts need to be broken, no matter how sad one can feel about it (by this I mean with words, before things escalate). Now, FB’s poor execution of this entire storyline - and their need to add very random and dramatic elements - didn’t help, but that’s not on Ozzy; it’s on them.

I guess we’ll see what happens going forward, but really, we’ve been through so much worse - every Noah girl or general s5 player knows what we’ve been talking about. And y’all who stuck with Levi after everything, you were brave.

Ozzy came with a warning label. We knew his route would be messy. And coming off the last season, the writing has been… let’s say lacking. We shouldn’t be surprised by this. Believe me, I was surprised, but we really should have expected something like this from FB.

And I get all the emotions people are feeling. We’re invested in these pixels, for better or worse, and when they let MC down we feel let down, too. But this game/story is based on a reality tv show where things like this happen ALL THE TIME. And most of the time it’s worse!! As the MC of our story, we don’t want it to happen to us, but sometimes it does- in fiction and irl. Relationships are never straightforward; there are bends and turns, high and lows. And Ozzy has led us to a ledge. And we all get to choose if we want to continue or not.

So if you still love Ozzy, love Ozzy. If you think he’s trash, that’s ok too. And I 💯 agree- the Ozzy drama has been building this entire season so something had to give. Just like irl, when you push your feelings down, things have a tendency to explode. And it’s never cute. I suppose I should give FB some credit for giving him depth of character. Did his freak out have to be so massive? That was a choice.

And I am a Levi stan, I’ve played for Henrik and Noah, and I even liked Finn. For me, it hurts so good. But that’s not everyone’s vibe, so there’s Bobby and Bruno and multiple LI’s this season who are loyal. We get to give our pixel hearts to the pixel LI of our choice, that’s the beauty of the game. Then we get to see if they’ll hold it sacred or break it. And then we can replay!

Thanks for your insights, anon 💖💖

[benbamboozled]

Cheating bc we've talked about it but I love hearing you rant so: brujay!

Do I ship it??? Do I Ship it??? We’re INVOLVED.

1. What made you ship it?

2. What are your favourite things about the ship?

Oh god where do I even begin????

The history.

The tragedy.

The FEELINGS.

I just love how Jason and Bruce are so entangled in each other. I love how NOTHING about them is healthy but also like…there is a core of softness because they both just WANT to be with the other SO MUCH. (As seen in their respective Cheer hallucinations…I will seriously never get over this I will be 124 years old sitting in my Mad Max motorcycle-sidecar screaming to my whippersnapper companion as we drive through the post-apocalyptic desert wastelands, “AND SEE THEIR PERFECT WORLD IS THE CHANCE TO FIND SATISFACTION WITH EACH OTHER!!!!”)

Like I don’t even mean it specifically in a shippy way, they just get SO MESSED UP about each other.

I mean…when Jason died, Bruce genuinely tried to kill the Joker and then did a “kill myself (with extra steps for plausible deniability)” speedrun.

When Bruce “died,” Jason decided to Be Batman—complete with attempting to recruit a Robin! And also went on a miiiinor fratricidal rampage. Just a little one.

So, you know…they’re super normal about each other is what I’m saying.

3. Is there an unpopular opinion you have on this ship?

I’m not really into the “Bruce realizes the error of his ways and that he was mean to Jason and idk maybe is cool with Jason killing or w/e” genre of fics. I understand why people like them, but one of the things I find so compelling with Bruce and Jason is how they so consistently attract and repel each other.

And, like, as a Bruce-stan (although it may not seem like it)…I don’t want him to be okay with killing. And like, yeah, I know he’s gone all sorts of ways in canon wrt his code…but I like him having a line he won’t cross and I like him holding to that line for the heroes in his city.

(Oh yeah and that might be an unpopular opinion wrt Ghostbat in that I don’t like Bruce being all “it’s whatevs girly!” when it comes to Khoa killing people.)

And like…OBVIOUSLY I don’t want Jason to give up killing people (as I have made…uh…abundantly clear in the past lol), so honestly my ideal Bruce&Jason dynamic would be one where they’ll have each other’s backs when the shit hits the fan but they are still, on the books, enemies.

So Batman will still foil Red Hood’s Crime Lord plots…but it would take too much time and too many resources to SOLELY take down the Red Hood.

And Red Hood’s still going to be Crime Lord-ing away…but he’s not going to specifically target the Bats. (Anymore.)

(And then also they have scream-fights and “I need you too much to let you go even though that would probably be objectively better for both of us” sex.)

(Grab the ship game here and feel free to ask more questions!)

Sources are (roughly in the order I used them)

Batman #645

Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #100

Batman #629

Batman #646

Batman #647

Batman: Urban Legends #6

[acourtofthought]

Hi! I was curious to know what your thoughts were for the future of Eris. I’m an Eris stan since SF. If the next book is about Elucien I expect (hope) he’ll be featured often.

I think Eris’ actions, background, choices are very similar to Rhysand so I’m hoping for a redemption arc or explanations to his secrets/motives. Now that I’ve acknowledged the resemblance I keep finding more and more instances of it. Some of the things Eris says could easily be changed to Rhysand when Rhysand wears his arrogant and cruel mask, and vice versa. [Insert a ‘Who Said It?’ trivia game between the 2]

I suppose the same could be said for the other 2 brothers on whether or not they’re the “bad” guys. One brother that is the powerful heir and 2 enforcer brothers, all with cruel reputations, was basically the bat boys. Cassian is referred to as the Lord of Bloodshed and Azriel is infamous for torturing to gain information. I’m all for morally grey characters but I don’t like the hypocrisy of those in the NC judging those in the AC when the NC likes being secretly good but still wanting to seem mean and cruel to their enemies. Just because someone does bad things doesn’t mean they’re a bad person.

Beron is clearly a villain who used fear and punishment to ensure his sons did as they were told. He divided all the brothers emotionally by pitting them against one another to fight for the crown and physically by sending them off to their own territories as soon as he could. That also sounds similar to Rhysand’s father when he was the High Lord of the Night Court. We know from SF and Cassian that all 3 brothers spent time at the House of Wind and one of their punishments involved the 10,000 steps and vomit (gross 🤢). The former NC High Lord also purposely split them up during the First War and we had Rhysand’s POV in WAR about looking through the corpses of Illiarian warriors for Cassian and Azriel. He also trained Azriel to be his spymaster and maybe torturer? There’s no way that wasn’t traumatizing.

The Autumn Court has kept themselves secluded kind of like Velaris with very few knowing the inner workings of the court and super strict border control.

Cassian, who has hated Eris for 5 centuries, noted that deep down Eris was actually a good male. I disagree with the coward part of Cassian’s statement because Eris had literally just been tortured by Beron and cowards don’t withstand that sort of thing for centuries.

Eris told Nesta not to believe all the lies she’s heard about him and even said he was sincere in his marriage offer. He also hinted there was something Mor was leaving out about when she was left on the Autumn Court border. Mor has the gift of truth so no one has ever doubted her recollection of events and Eris may have needed to remain playing the villain back then for his own agenda. Isn’t it interesting that we’re now finding out about this in addition to learning he alerted Tamlin to basically save Lucien after Jesminda’s murder? He also could have winnowed Feyre and Lucien immediately to his father in WAR but the chase was dragged out just in time for them to be rescued.

He was in SF more than he has been in the other books. So I think SJM is leaving these little Easter eggs for the reader on purpose so that we already have a more open mind about him for Elucien’s book.

I do think SJM is setting Eris up for an arc that restores his character. Even as early as ACOWAR we have this line:

But as Eris strode by ... I could have sworn there was something like sadness - like regret, as he glanced to Lucien.

SJM doesn't usually put lines like that in her books unless there's going to be some reconciliation between characters down the road.

SJM further pushes the "justice for Eris" narrative in SF when we see him at the Human Lands with Lucien, addresses that Mor may have been too scared to face the truth of what actually happened between them (I personally think they are Mates but Eris somehow knew of Mor's preference for females so he did what he could to see her free so that she could choose a life with someone she loved rather than be forced into the schemes of the Autumn Court married to him but in a way that wouldn't raise Beron's suspicions), and we see Cassian finally showing the first hints of forgiveness towards Eris by telling him he thinks he might be a good male. That's a far cry from him wanting to kill him in past books for what happened with Mor.

I could be wrong but I think the entire point of the series is to build towards a lasting era of peace between the courts, the humans and the continent. If Eris is meant to take over as High Lord of Autumn after Beron's death, that means he's going to have to be someone everyone gets along with to some degree. And there's no better way for SJM to tug on readers heartstrings and ask for forgiveness than to find out that Eris's past actions all stemmed from his being tortured by his father. To find out that he had to "play the game" to avoid suspicion. It's a very Amarantha / Rhys move. I know that's never going to be enough for some readers and that's ok but I do think it's the direction SJM is headed in hopes that some understand and accept that he's not as bad as they first believed.

By the end of Lucien's book I think we may see Beron dead, see him able to reconnect with the LoA and welcomed back in Autumn (at least to visit). And I think that also means there's hope for he and his brother to begin building a relationship after all the secrets and reasons for them come to light. I don't know that SJM will write it so they're long lost brothers reunited and best friends but I do think there's we're going to see a change for the positive especially because they're set up to be High Lords in two different courts and a positive political relationship will also be necessary for future peace.

[e350tb]

Gravity Falls - The Matchmabel - Chapter VI

Chapter VI: The Cafe De La Mabel

The morning sun shone down on Greasy’s Diner, and Mabel was already hard at work.

Lazy Susan hadn’t taken too much convincing to allow them to use the place - Stan had had to promise another date, but a single awkward evening was a fair price to pay for Dipper’s happiness. Inside the diner, the gang was now setting up - tables were being moved, decorations were being hung, and even lighting had to be set up.

Mabel walked through the diner, hands behind her back, inspecting the process. Soos and Melody were hanging pink decorative bunting from the roof, while Candy and Grenda had moved one of the tables to the centre of the room, ready to be set up for the date. Mabel walked over to them, putting her hands on her hips.

“How many forks are we gonna need?” she asked.

“Well, this is fine dining,” mused Grenda. “I think twelve each.”

“Thirteen,” suggested Candy. “Just to be safe.”

“Does Marius know?” asked Mabel. “You could ask him!”

“Oh! Of course!” Grenda pulled out her phone. “Give me a sec…”

She walked off.

“We’re gonna need some pictures on the walls,” said Mabel, scratching her chin. “Pictures of romantic places - like Paris, and Venice, and Cleveland.”

“Cleveland?” Candy tilted her head.

“Oh, and we’ll need flowers!” added Mabel. “Does anyone sell them around here?”

“Ooh!” Soos called down from his ladder - he was attaching a banner to the front door. “Sprott sells wildflowers!”

“Can’t we just pick our own?” Mabel asked. “I mean, we are in the mountains…”

“Sprott’s are premium, dude.”

“What makes them premium?”

Soos and Melody exchanged looks.

“Because they say premium on the box?” shrugged Melody.

“That’s how it works in video games,” Soos agreed.

“Can’t argue with that logic,” nodded Mabel. “Candy, finish setting the table and then start on the sound system! I’ll be right back!”

She walked out the front door, finding Stan outside. They had managed to rent him a black tuxedo and bowtie, and for some reason they’d also decided he needed a fake moustache, which he was fitting under his lip now.

“Never thought I’d need one of these babies again,” he muttered to himself.

“Grunkle Stan my man!” exclaimed Mabel, snapping her fingers as she walked over to him. “Looking good!”

“Thanks,” replied Stan. “But when we get them together, I’m using that sweet Northwest money to buy a butler. I think I’ll call him…”

He pondered for a second.

“...eh, I dunno, just something not French.”

Mabel thought for a moment.

“Hans.”

“Hans it is!”

“Anyway, I’ve gotta go find some flowers,” said Mabel. “Practice your people-serving skills while I’m gone!”

She ran off.

“I promise nothing!” Stan called after her.

-----

Sprott’s farm was a short walk from the centre of town, and the combination of the sun and the breeze made it a pleasant little stroll. Mabel hummed as she walked along, a spring in her step as she approached her destination.

Shortly before she reached the gate, however, she passed a small newspaper stand by the side of the road. Her brow rose when she saw the awkward-looking figure sitting behind it.

“Thompson?”

She walked over.

“Yeah,” replied Thompson. “I’ve been working here since they fired me from the movie theatre.”

“You got fired?”

“Yeah.” Thompson looked at his feet. “Abuse of power.”

Mabel blinked.

“Yeah, that tracks,” she replied. “So, they got’cha workin’ for the Gossiper, huh?”

“I wish!” Thompson ran a hand through his head. “I couldn’t even get a job at the High School Newspaper. This is the Daily Faller.”

“The Daily Faller?” Mabel picked up a copy. “Hmm… ‘Gnomes Ate My Father?’ ‘Mayor Tyler’s Secret Bone Farm?’ ‘Is Old Man McGucket a Cannibal?’”

“It’s Mr. Northwest’s new tabloid,” sighed Thompson. “They pay a buck an hour but it’s the only job I can get!”

“Ooh, local gossip on page seven!” Mabel turned the pages.

“Please buy one, if I move enough I might get a pay raise,” pleaded Thompson. “I need that extra buck an hour, they’re gonna take my van…”

“What?!”

Mabel’s eyes widened as she read the little column in the paper.

“Local Bad Boy Robbie Valentino has ditched his girlfriend to focus on his career?” she exclaimed. “He’s maintaining a steady affair with his bassist? That can’t be right, I set them up!”

“Oh yeah, they broke up a week ago,” said Thompson. “I think Wendy said if she ever saw Robbie again, she’d annihilate him. I still hang out with him though, I really need friends right now…”

“But… but even after the love potion wore off, they were happy!” Mabel clutched her head. “It was a good match!”

“The love what now?” asked Thompson.

“I… I have to pull this off, Thompson!” exclaimed Mabel. “My reputation as a matchmaker is at stake!”

She sprinted off, still holding the paper.

“Wait, no, bring it back!” called Thompson. “You didn’t pay for…”

He sighed and sat down.

“What has my life become?” he muttered.

-----

The late afternoon sun lit Greasy’s Diner in a golden light, the wooden surface appearing a brilliant rusty red. Mabel had gathered everyone outside, and was pacing up and down in front of them like an officer reviewing her troops.

“Alright, troopers!” she declared. “Dipper and Pacifica will be here at exactly six o’clock. Run me through what will happen!”

She pointed to Stan.

“Mabel, haven’t we already been through…”

“RUN ME THROUGH!”

Stan jumped.

“Alright, alright!” He rubbed his head. “I take them in and get them seated, setting them up with water.”

“And what kind of water?”

“Sparkling,” replied Stan. “Because it’s… fancier?”

“Exactly.” Mabel snapped her fingers. “Candy, what music do you play?”

“Romantic,” replied Candy, snapping to attention. “But not too romantic. 80s love songs, Billy Joel, Paul McCartney…”

“Great!” Mabel turned to Soos. “Soos, what’s our first course?”

“Gazpacho Soup,” replied Soos. “Nothing can possibly go wrong with gazpacho soup!”

“And?”

“Breadsticks.” Soos narrowed his eyes. “All the breadsticks.”

“Good,” said Mabel. “After the soup comes out, Stan refills the drinks. Then we get the main course, which is…”

“Chicken and bean enchiladas,” replied Abuelita. “And rice on the side.”

Mabel blinked.

“I thought we were gonna go fancier…”

“No,” said Abeulita. “My kitchen, my rules.”

There was a long silence.

“Ooookay then,” said Mabel. “Once they’re finished eating, we come to the main event - the big romantic dance! Grenda?”

“We want total darkness except for the spotlight and the strategically place disco balls,” said Grenda. “Plus a slight fog from the fog machine to enhance the romantic atmosphere.”

“And then…” Candy narrowed her eyes. “...we hit them with Deline Cion.”

“Dang straight!” Mabel pounded her fist into her palm. “And when they come out, I’ll have the whole town to cheer them on!”

She checked her phone.

“5.15!” she exclaimed. “Dipper should be back soon! I need to get him ready!”

She jogged over to the golf cart, which was parked nearby.

“Remember your places, people!” she called. “Tonight, we’re making love!”

She floored the gas pedal and sped off into the distance.

Candy and Grenda exchanged glances.

“She could have phrased that better,” said Grenda.

-----

Ford’s car bounced along the road towards the Mystery Shack, the trunk filled with sacks of strangeshrooms - as was a trailer that had been attached to the back. (Ford had had to run back to the Shack to get it earlier that morning.) Dipper was leaning against the window, looking out at the trees going by.

“You know what?” he said. “That was pretty fun, considering most of what we did was pulling up wild mushrooms.”

“Well, if you’ve got time tonight, we can continue the testing in my lab,” suggested Ford. “We barely scratched the surface last night, there’s hundreds more to try…”

“I’m gonna have to say no,” sighed Dipper. “I’ve really gotta catch up with this college application.”

“Why?” asked Wendy. “It’s still gonna be there tomorrow, dude.”

“Because mom wants it done by the end of the week,” replied Dipper. “So it has to been finished tomorrow night.”

“Just tell her Stan’s internet went down,” said Wendy, shrugging.

“I…”

Dipper trailed off, looking ahead. Mabel was standing in the middle of the Mystery Shack parking lot, grinning widely and holding up a nice dress jacket - the Goodwill tag was still attached. Dipper gulped and inhaled deeply.“...I suddenly have a very bad feeling about tonight.”

[luna-themoonie]

Chapter Two

A Raven and a Bat to See the Light in One Another

Previous - Next

Summary: It was only meant to be a stupid game of dares, 'The King's Game.' But, of course, nothing could go Stan's way. Cartman thought it would be hilarious to get under everyone's skin with his stupid dare and he did. Now, Stan had no way of getting back with Wendy because he was stuck with this dare.

Butters didn't care too much about the dare in its entirety. Stan was a cool guy and maybe they could get closer. He didn't see anything wrong with this dare from Eric. But, oh boy, if his parents knew, he'd sure be grounded. After this dare ends, he and Stan could still be friends, right?

What was the dare?:

Stan and Butters were forced to date for two months.

~~~

The drive back home was a silent one. Stan allowed Kyle to drive them back to their homes, considering that Kyle had two light drinks compared to whatever amount Stan had drunk. His head was already throbbing, more so over the nightly events rather than the alcohol.

“So… you’re stuck with Butters.” Kyle was trying to make conversation with him.

Stan tried to hide deeper in his jacket. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Well, I do. I’m stuck with Craig. Craig!” He huffed. “I’d rather have Butters.”

“Craig?” 

“Yes!” he exclaimed. “Were you not listening?”

“I don’t know, man. I think I blanked out after I found out who I got.”

“So you didn’t hear Cartman’s stupid rules?”

“Nah.”

“Well, basically, we can’t tell anyone about the dare. So, to others, you’re actually dating Butters.”

Stan groaned. “This dare is stupid.”

“Seriously, dude.” Kyle sighed and drummed his fingers on the steering wheel for a moment. “He also told us that we’re gonna have ‘update meetings,’ whatever the fuck that means.”

Stan shook his head in disbelief. “I think Cartman is going to have too much fun with this.”

“Tell me about it.” Kyle pulled up into the driveway of Stan’s house. He turned off the ignition and handed the car keys to Stan. “Here you go, dude.” He began to grab his things to leave the car.

“Are you gonna stay over?” He asked him as he got out from his side.

“Can’t. I promised my mom that I’d be home earlier. I’d rather just have her kill me now than after school.”

Stan chuckled. “True. Good luck, dude.” He walked over to Kyle and hugged him.

“Thanks, dude.”

They patted each other’s backs before parting. Stan fished his keys out of his coat pocket as he watched the other walk towards the direction of his own house. He waved at him when he had turned to look back for a moment. 

As soon as he saw Kyle walk into his own home, Stan began to unlock the door to his childhood home. He slowly opened the door and shuffled his way inside. He locked the door and made his way towards the stairs in the darkness. 

He froze when he heard light tapping coming from the kitchen before it went silent. He continued to make his way to the stairs and almost jumped out of his skin when he felt something press against his leg. The panting and sudden wetness lapping at his hand relaxed him. He gently traced his fingers against the top of Sparky’s head. “Hey, boy,” he kept his voice low, “you wanna come with me?” He moved towards the stairs again and Sparky began to whine. Knowing what this meant, Stan lowered himself and carefully picked him up. Sparky pawed at him for a moment before relaxing in his arms. Stan pressed his lips to the top of his head before finally making his way up the stairs. 

Once he reached the top, he slowly brought Sparky to the ground. He watched his dark form make way to his bedroom door and slowly scratch at it with his paw. He huffed out a laugh as he opened the door for them. Sparky quickly made himself comfortable on his own bed that he had dragged over to be next to Stan’s bed. When Stan entered his room, he peeled off his beanie and shed off his coat before immediately collapsing on his bed. Changing his clothes was the last thing on his mind. He toed off his shoes and curled himself up to keep warm. He pulled his blanket up to cover himself and closed his eyes. 

-----

Stan awoke with a small headache from last night’s episode. He didn’t drink as much as he usually did, but his body was still upset at the sudden alcohol intake. He tried to swallow, but his mouth felt completely dry. He felt gross. He pushed himself off his bed, almost tipping over in the process, and sauntered over to his closet. He heard Sparky yawn as he reached in his closet, not exactly feeling perturbed about his clothing choices for the day.

He left his room, leaving the door open for Sparky, and made his way to the bathroom for a shower. He turned on the water of the shower and began brushing his teeth as he waited for the water to heat up. He made eye contact with himself, leaning forward to look closer at the blue of his eyes. He took a moment longer to just stare before finishing his actions. 

He pulled off his clothes and stepped into the shower, sighing in relief at the warm water. He began lathering his body up with his body soap, spending his time cleaning up. After a moment, he moved to stand directly under the water. He closed his eyes as he focused on the water hitting his head.

His senior year was absolute shit. Wendy had broken up with him again, but now she was completely avoiding him. He didn’t even know what he did wrong. Then the football coach decided Stan wasn’t worth his quarterback position anymore and gave it to Clyde instead. Now he was placed as a Halfback on a good day, a Linebacker if the coach didn’t want him on the offense. He didn’t hold it against Clyde, but it didn’t stop him from getting pissed off at the thought. And, ugh, the dare… Now he was going to be known for dating Butters during his last few months. It was the last thing he wanted to think of.

He huffed and forcefully turned off the water before stepping out. He patted himself dry before going to his hair, rubbing out the excess water with the towel. He usually blow-dried his hair, but he decided to skip that process for the day. After pulling on his clothes, which was a band t-shirt for ‘Hell’s Vengeance’ and a pair of dark wash jeans, and dumping his old clothes in the laundry bin, he left the bathroom.

Before going down the stairs, he peeked into his room to see if Sparky was still there. He wasn’t there, but Stan decided to pull on his shoes and grab his jacket and bag first so he wouldn’t have to come back. As he exited his room, he pulled his signature beanie over his head. He made his way down the steps and saw that Sparky was patiently waiting for him at the bottom. His mom was awake.

He dropped his things onto the couch before giving his dog a gentle pat and walking into the kitchen.

His mom peered up at him before looking back down at whatever she was working on. “Good morning.”

“Morning,” he mumbled back. He began to look through the cupboards to see what he could have for a quick breakfast.

“How was the party?”

Stan had to force himself not to groan too loudly at the question. “It was fine. I went with Kyle.”

There was a beat of silence. “Did you drink responsibly?”

Stan paused himself before telling her, “I would say so.” He began to push some boxes aside in his search. “Kyle drove us home though.” 

“That’s good.” 

Neither of them continued after that. 

She knew of Stan’s drinking and allowed him to at times as long as she knew when it happened. He remembered his mom telling him how hiding it would probably worsen his want of alcohol, so she’d rather him drink with her knowledge of it. She also said something about it keeping their relationship good. Stan couldn’t really remember. 

Stan finally decided to settle on one of the chocolate cereals his mom had bought over the weekend. He poured himself a bowl and sat across from his mom, who was writing something down. Stan didn’t bother to know what it was. 

He felt Sparky place his head against his knee, something he usually did when the two sat down for a meal. The silence between them was satisfying, but it was only short-lived. Their doorbell rang, making Stan visibly cringe as it gave him a painful surge in his head. 

His mom sighed, obviously annoyed at the early coming of whoever was at the door. “I’ll get it.” She pushed herself up from her seat and left Stan alone in the kitchen. 

Stan grumbled to himself, sharing his mom’s annoyance. He stayed in his seat, staring at the wall, absent-mindedly shoving cereal into his mouth and trailing his fingers against Sparky’s head.

“Stanley,” He looked up just in time to see his mom walk in. “A friend of yours is at the door.”

Stan’s eyebrow perked up. “Kyle? Just tell him to come in.”

“No, it isn’t Kyle.” 

It wasn’t Kyle? “Then who is it?”

She shrugged. “I believe it’s the Stoch’s kid.” At those words, Stan moved to pinch the bridge of his nose, letting a small ‘Jesus fuck’ slip past his lips. “You are friends with him, right? I thought he hung out with you and your little group?”

He let go of his nose and sighed. “Yeah, yeah, he does.” He shoved another spoonful into his mouth. “He can wait,” he mumbled. 

She gave him a pointed look. “Stan-”

“I’m almost done.”

She sighed. “Okay, but any longer than five minutes, I’m letting him inside. I’m not going to let that boy freeze,” she told him before walking out again. Stan could hear her telling Butters that he would be out in a few minutes.

Stan whispered out another curse. Why was Butters at his house? He was the last person Stan had wanted to see so early. He quickly swallowed the last bit of cereal and washed it down with the flavored milk. After gently nudging Sparky off of his knee, he stood up and placed the bowl in the sink.

He sighed and made his way to the front door, grabbing his jacket and shrugging it on. As he rubbed his face to ready himself for whatever was to come, he pulled open the door and looked down at the visitor. “Butters,” he feigned surprise. “You’re here.”

“Heya, Stan!” The blonde gave him a big smile. “I hope I’m not bothering you. I figured we could go to school together.”

“Why?”

His smile faltered a bit. “Well, uh, I thought we could get a bit of an early start on everything? Eric told us that we would have to start doing it. Didn't he send you the text?”

Stan huffed. “I don't know. I didn’t check.”

“Gee, Stan, Eric’s not gonna be happy if you don’t-”

“Alright, alright.” He dug into his jacket pocket and pulled out his car keys, shoving them into the smaller’s hand. “Here, just turn on my car and wait inside. I’ll be there in a sec.” Before he let him respond, Stan shut the door.

Stan gave another harsh sigh. Butters was taking this seriously. He turned and grabbed his bag from the couch. “I’m heading to school, mom,” he called out. 

“Okay, have a good day,” she called back.

He bent over and pressed a kiss to Sparky’s head. “You be good.” He patted his head before heading out of his house, glaring as he saw Butters in the passenger side of his car. He trudged over to his side and pulled the door open. He threw his bag towards the back seats before settling himself inside. 

He began to pat on his jacket and felt the familiar hardness of his phone. He pulled it out from his pocket and clicked it on, seeing the many notifications pop up in recession. A message from Cartman was the last notification and Stan rolled his eyes. Not bothering to read it, he plugged in his phone to charge as he drove. He clicked on his seatbelt and began to drive him and Butters to their school.

For the first few minutes, it was silent in the car aside from the low hum of the car’s engine.

Stan huffed loudly when he heard Butters begin to hum to something upbeat. He leaned forward to turn on his radio, making the music of one of his favorite bands play loudly. He saw Butters jump in his seat at the sudden loudness. He continued to drive, glad he could pretend he was alone, even if it was for a moment. 

Once he had reached the school, he pulled into the parking lot and began to look for a good spot to park. He found a spot closer to the football field and parked his car. Stan turned off the car and reached towards the back for his bag and unplugged his phone, shoving it into his pocket.

He pushed the door open and got himself out, adjusted his bag onto his shoulders. He made sure to lock the doors once Butters shut the door on his side. Stan began to walk away, trying to get away from him as soon as possible.

“Oh, Stan, wait up!” Butters popped back into his view and stopped in front of him, blocking his way. He held out his hand towards him.

Stan furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. “What? What do you want?”

He laughed, but Stan didn’t understand why. “Your hand,” he finally said. “Let’s hold hands.”

“‘Let’s hold hands,’” Stan repeated exasperatedly. Even with his negative tone, Butters didn’t move, but only looked at Stan expectedly. He huffed in irritation. “Fine.” He begrudgingly placed his hand in Butters’ outstretched one. He had to hide his surprise when warmth immediately spread through his body. Stan didn’t have his gloves with him that day, neither did Butters, but his hand was warm. Stan knew he was freezing, but Butters’ didn’t say anything about it.

They began to walk through the front doors of the school hand in hand. As they made their way through the halls, Stan could feel the heat of everyone’s stares boring through him. It made him nervous, and when he’s nervous, he’s nauseous. Stan was taking long strides to get to their lockers quicker, maybe even shake off Butters. Though, that didn’t work. It only made his grip tighter and his smile wider. No matter how strange the situation was to both Stan and all the outsiders, Butters continued to wear a smile. Stan couldn’t help but feel a twinge of jealousy over this. 

Once their assigned lockers came into view, Stan practically ran over to them so he could finally let go of the other’s hand. He entered his combination for the lock he placed on it and pulled it open. As he went through his head of his schedule for the day, he placed all the books he knew he needed. 

“Hey, dude.”

He gave a side-glance to the new voice towards his right. “Hey, Kenny.”

“You get Cartman’s text?”

He sighed, slamming his locker closed. “I don’t know, man. Butter’s,” he motioned towards the said boy who was unfortunate to have one of the lower leveled lockers, “came to my house for a ride before I could check.” He glanced at the lighter blonde who was more focused on finding a specific book than their conversation. He looked back at Kenny. “Dude, he had me hold his hand.”

He chuckled. “Aw, cute!”

Stan clenched his fist. “No! No, it’s not. It’s fucking sick.”

Kenny furrowed his eyebrows. “Is there something wrong with being with a guy.”

“Dude, no. That’s not what I’m saying.”

“Then what’s the problem? He isn’t ‘Wendy’ enough for you?”

Stan huffed, noticing that the conversation was going nowhere with him. “Nevermind. I’ll see you in class.” He turned around to try to speed out of the hall before Butters could notice but was immediately blocked by the same person he wanted to avoid. 

He smiled up at him. “Did you want me to walk you to class?”

“No, I’m fine. I can get there myself.”

“Oh, that’s fine. You have a good day, Stan.” Butters leaned forward to plant a kiss on Stan’s cheek, but Stan quickly took a step back. Butters froze and his eyebrows creased with worry. “Stan-?”

“No way, dude. I could barely stand holding your hand, we are not kissing.”

“Oh…” He averted his gaze from Stan as he felt his face become warm. “Sorry. It’s just, uh, Eric-”

“I don’t care what Cartman wants us to do.” 

Butters nodded and looked down at his own hands that were now rubbing together out of habit. “Alrighty, then.” He moved to walk around Stan. “I’ll see you after school, Stan.” 

Stan took a moment to himself to calm himself down. Butters was taking this too seriously.

There was a loud slam of someone closing their locker behind him. “Dude, that was fucked up.” He turned around to look at Kenny just in time to be pushed against the lockers and be face to face with him. “What if someone had said that to you?”

“Dude, back up.”

“What if I was Wendy?”

This made Stan’s eyebrows furrow. “Stop bringing her into this.”

“‘You make me sick. Just looking at you makes me need to vomit.’” He laughed, but it was bitter. “Knowing you, you’d probably just keep that in the back of your mind as you masturbate.”

“I’m not dealing with this right now.” Stan tried to move around Kenny, but he blocked him with his arms.

“No wonder why she broke up with you,” he spoke to him in a low voice. “I wouldn’t want a depressed alcoholic either. You’re becoming worse than your dad.”

Stan gritted his teeth and gripped the front of Kenny’s parka, pulling him even closer to his face. “Listen here, you fucking asshole-”

“Whoa, whoa!” Kenny was suddenly pulled away from him and now they both had Red in between them. “What’s going on?”

“Stan is being a fucking dick to Butters.”

Stan narrowed his eyes at him. “Fuck off, Kenny. You don’t know how hard I’m taking this.”

“You?” Kenny moved to take a step forward, but Red pressed both her hands against his chest to stop him. 

“Okay, how about we both calm down. Yeah?” She looked at Stan. “Yeah?”

Stan glared at Kenny, only to receive an identical look. “Fine.” Stan adjusted the straps on his shoulders before leaving towards his first class of the day. 

Stan threw himself down in his seat where he usually sat in his group. He placed his bag on his desk and sat back with his arms crossed and his leg beginning to bounce. 

The girl in his group looked up from her phone for a moment, flashing a small smile at him. “Hey.”

“Hey.”

“Yo, Stan” Besides the girl sat down Clyde, who was also assigned to his group, with a large smile. Stan nodded at him and after a moment, Clyde gave him a quizzical look. “What’s wrong, dude.”

His leg began to bounce harder and he shook his head. He began to bite at the nail of his thumb and looked away from the door of the classroom. “Don’t wanna talk about it,” he mumbled. As much as he was wanting to avoid Kenny for the rest of the day, he knew it was inevitable considering how they shared the same class at the moment. He heard the familiar creak of someone sitting down beside him and Stan began to shake his head, refusing to look at him.

“Okay, class,” Their teacher drawled, “today you’re going to be given a worksheet to fill out about your assigned book. This worksheet is meant to help you complete the essay you will be focusing on in our next class. The sheet is here on my desk and feel free to ask me any questions. I don’t mind talking amongst each other, just please get your work done.”

“I’ll get them, ” the girl sitting across from Stan stood up and walked over to the front.

As soon as she was far from earshot, Clyde began looking between the two of them. “Okay, what’s wrong?”

“Do you want to know what Stan told Butters earlier?”

“Oh, shut the fuck up, Kenny,” Stan snapped at him.

“Butters was just trying to just get the dare over with and Stan basically called him revolting.”

“He wanted to hold hands and kiss me,” he hissed at him.

“So you let him.”

“Let him?”

The girl came back and both of their mouths snapped shut. She handed each of them a sheet of paper before sitting herself down.

Stan thanked her and began to dig through his bag for the book he was given to read for the class. He figured the conversation between him and Kenny would be over, but he was wrong.

“You know what, Stan, you’re being a little bitch,” Kenny suddenly said.

The girl looked up for a second, eyes wide with shock when she heard this. 

“How am I being a ‘little bitch?’” Stan felt his head begin to pound with the sudden anger he felt.

“What is… what’s happening?” She asked. 

“Relationship issues,” Clyde answered. Stan glared at him for the response. “Stan is upset and he’s taking it out on his boyfriend.”

“Oh…” The girl then perked up. “Oh! Stan, you have a boyfriend? That’s so cute!”

Stan groaned and covered his face. “Yes, I do.”

“Did I say something wrong?”

“No,” Clyde answered.

“I don’t want to talk about this anymore.”

“Fine, we won’t.” Kenny leaned close to him to whisper, “But just like you’re stuck with Butters, he’s stuck with an asshole like you. Do you ever think of anybody else besides yourself?”

Stan opened his mouth to say something but decided against it when he noticed that Clyde and the girl were intensely staring at them.

"Yeah, didn't think so."

Stan kicked his leg from underneath the desks which earned a glare from Kenny, but he stayed silent. The two ignored each other for the rest of their class.

-----

His other two classes of the day, AP Music Theory and Athletics, went by smoothly with no problems. At least from Butters and Kenny. Stan was starting to get the hits of the new ‘rumor’ about him dating Butters from some of his classmates, but he couldn’t entirely deny it because of whatever Cartman had up his sleeve.

After his coach had dismissed him and he had taken a shower in the locker room, Stan headed towards the cafeteria for lunch. He went straight for the line instead of dropping his things off at his table since his shower took a little longer than usual.

Not really caring about what he ate for the day, he grabbed randomly at whatever came into view first and paid for his lunch. He grabbed his tray and headed towards his table with his usual gang. He caught the view of the familiar orange parka leaving the table and going to a different one entirely. A wave of relief washed over him, but he immediately turned tense when he saw Kyle leaving the table to follow Kenny, only leaving Cartman. Stan watched with narrowed eyes as Kenny and Kyle were now seated with Tweek and Craig. He didn’t want to be left with Cartman, but all the other tables were either filled up or had someone he’d rather not interact with.

Cartman wore a large smile as Stan sat himself down across from him. “So, Stan-”

“Don’t.”

“I heard you and Butters were holding hands!”

Stan groaned and began to stab at the school lunch. “I fucking hate you.”

“Are you and your boyfriend getting comfortable?”

Stan glared at him but chose not to respond.

“Stan~” He shook his head and ignored him. “Stan, talk to me!” He began to stab at the salad on his plate. “Fine, be that way, asshole.” He looked around from his spot. He perked up and cupped his hands around his mouth before shouting, “Butters! Come here, your boyfriend wants to talk to you!” 

Stan’s eyes widened and he kicked at his legs. “Dude, no!” He hissed out. 

He saw the blonde pop up from his seat and walk over to them. Stan groaned and began to lean onto his hand with his forehead. “Heya, Eric! Hi, Stan!” He sat next to him and Stan immediately felt tense.

“Well, hi there, Butters. I had a feeling that Stannie here was missing you.” Stan glared at him. Neither of them moved even though Cartman was looking at them expectedly. “Well, what are you two? Pussies? Greet each other like two boyfriends would.” Cartman was staring at the two with a large smirk.

Stan was glaring hard at his food. He wanted to kill Cartman. He felt his leg begin to anxiously bounce as he turned slightly to see Butters looking at him.

His lips were pressed into a thin line. He looked at Cartman, now frowning. “Eric, Stan doesn't look-”

“Butters, are you going against the king’s words?”

Butters stood up, both hands placed on the table. “Eric, Stan and I aren't going to kiss for your sick fantasy,” he said loudly, earning the attention of the nearby students once again. “If you want to see two guys kiss so badly, why don’t you look at the gay porn you always watch?” This earned a few snickers from some of the students. Cartman’s face began to glow bright red as he began to sputter. Butters signature smile returned and he leaned towards Stan, placing his hand on his back. 

In the moment of having so much nervous energy, Stan shrugged Butters’ hand away from him. “Don’t touch me,” he hissed at him. 

Butters’ face dropped. “Gee, I’m sorry, Stan.”

“Just don’t touch me.”

He forced out a laugh. “Okay… okay, I’ll just leave you alone, then.” Butters turned and walked back to the table he was sitting at earlier.

He felt a harsh pain on his shin. “Hey, asshole, you have to convince everybody that you two are fucking.”

“We aren’t!” He was seething now.

“Stan, I swear to christ. Right now, you two look like you have so much sexual tension that nobody would care if you slammed him down and-”

“Cartman!” Stan felt his face flush as he saw everyone staring at the two, now whispering amongst themselves. “God, I fucking hate you so much,” Stan told him as he gripped his tray tightly, moving to leave Cartman alone before he popped a blood vessel.

He walked past the table where Craig’s group usually sat and slammed his tray down in front of Kenny before making a beeline for the doors. He left the school building, quickly heading towards his parked car. He needed to leave.

He jumped into his car and immediately turned it on, throwing his belongings towards the backseat. He turned off the screaming of the song that immediately began to play and slammed his forehead against the steering wheel. He knew he needed to calm down before driving. The last thing he wanted to do is ram into something just because he was having the worst day of his life. He closed his eyes and tried to focus on his breathing.

His thoughts slowly began to drift to the points of his day. How he was practically the center of attention every time he walked through the halls. How everyone was staring at him, whispering and judging him over a matter of seconds. How angry Kenny had gotten; what he had said. And how hurt Butters looked. He didn’t know why he was so angry at him, he was one of his friends so he should be happy he wasn’t paired with Craig like Kyle was. It wasn’t even his fault that he had to be paired with Stan. Shit, if he was in Butters’ position, he would’ve snapped already. He wouldn’t want to be with someone so pessimistic, so depressing, who’s a growing alcoholic, someone so angry all the time.

Nobody would.

He jumped at the sudden knock at his window. He looked up and groaned at the last person he wanted to see at the moment. He rolled down the window, glaring at him. “What?”

Butters’ eyebrows were screwed together in worry. “Are you okay, Stan?”

“Do I fucking look okay?”

Hurt flashed across his face. “S-sorry, I just wanted to check on you.”

Stan sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. He took in a deep breath before releasing it. He let go of his nose and looked back at the blonde. “Do you have a class right now?”

He shook his head. “No, AP Psychology was my last class.”

Stan hesitated before motioning towards the passenger seat. “Get in.”

Butters' expression brightened as he took no second thought on accepting the offer. He quickly settled himself in the passenger seat and Stan began to drive out of the parking lot to head back to their houses.

Stan was focused on the road. He was trying not to look at the blonde in his passenger seat in an attempt to keep his negative thoughts away; about himself and about the blonde. They were both silent as Stan drove. Stan didn’t exactly want to make small conversation and he was sure Butters didn’t either.

Though the ride felt agonizingly long,  he soon slowed down in front of a brown house; 1020. He parked the car and waited. He didn’t dare look at Butters even then. His thoughts were swarming, screaming at him to say something to him, anything.

Butters, on the other hand, took a peek at the ravenette. There was no emotion on his face, but he could tell that he was upset about something by the way his hands were clutching the steering wheel tightly. He leaned forward and grabbed his bag. “Thank you, Stan.”

“Yeah.”

Butters frowned at him. He opened the passenger door but froze when Stan spoke again.

“I’m sorry.”

He slowly pulled the door back so it wouldn’t be letting as much cold air inside the car. “Huh?”

“I’ve been angry at this whole situation and I’ve been taking it out on you.” Stan turned to Butters and for the first time all day, he truly looked at him. “I’m sorry.”

Butters smiled. “Well, it’s alright, Stan. I know this is all different for you and you aren’t exactly happy bein’ paired with me and all. I understand.” He moved to hop out of the car. He leaned down to look at Stan through his side. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Stan still wore a frown. “Yeah, see you tomorrow.” 

Butters closed the passenger door. Stan watched him walk up to his front door. He had fumbled with his keys for a moment before finally unlocking the door. He entered and moved to close the door, but not before flashing Stan another smile and waving at him.Once he saw the door close, he let his forehead hit the steering wheel once more. He felt like shit. He really was a selfish dick and he knew he needed to make it up to Butters.

[ramblings-of-a-mad-cat]

The whole “keep people guessing” thing they’re trying to do with Merula is so annoying though. They’ve done it so often that people are getting tired of it. I hate to say it but even when they did it with Rakepick it wasn’t this level of irritating. I mean at least with her we’re not forced to still care about her and be encouraged to “save” her and bring her to the right side after she did something to wrong us. Unlike Merula, that’s exactly what they’re doing. She’s treated MC appallingly from ever since I can remember yet we’re still forced to call her a “friend” and look out for her, it’s total bs. We give her chance after chance no matter how many times she fucks up and whether players actually want to or not. They’ll probably do it again after ch 38 even though there’s literally no reason why they should. It’s just the same thing over and over again with her, I’m so sick of it.

For better or for worse, I'm gonna say that Merula is the single most important character in the game, apart from MC.

I'm not even talking as a Merula stan right now. The rose colored glasses are off. I'm looking at this critically, and analyzing the narrative, and it's clear to me that Merula is the character who the story revolves around the most, by far.

Jacob is also significant but he kind of stopped mattering much at all after he was rescued from the Portrait Vault. The idea of Jacob was central to the first five years of the story, a guiding light. But as an actual character, he offers nothing to the narrative that MC doesn't already provide at this point. (Apart from answers, but for whatever reason he doesn't want to give answers, and MC has stopped asking.)

All of the Year 1 characters offer significance to the main story, at least to some degree. Well, apart from Penny. (Seriously, if you ignore any and all sidequest content, Penny's actually surprisingly irrelevant to the tale of Hogwarts Mystery.) Rowan, like Jacob, is significant to the plot more in concept than in presence, but this time I think it was intentional. The Circle of Khanna, Rowan's death, was the first time they'd played a major role in the story since Year 2. Not that I'm saying this is a good thing, but a significant part of Rowan's death was how it furthered Ben's character arc. Ben is probably the second most important character after Merula - there's a reason the two of them, alongside MC, were the Circle's founders.

But Merula. Oh god.

She's established in the first two chapters. She's been a constant presence ever since, a thorn in MC's side. She literally has her own track in the OST. (Though it's shockingly underused.) The only other character who does is Jacob. (And his theme is dreadfully overused, to the point where it's just a general "emotional moment" theme now...) I think Merula, and her character, were always significant to the story the writers wanted to tell. And, yes, part of that story is showing us her human side.

Honestly, I know I compare Merula to Draco a lot these days, but it's not like there isn't reason to. The further we get into the story, the more I feel like Merula's character is almost written as a response to his, and/or a kind of wish fulfillment for everyone who was rooting for him to be redeemed. (Merula canonically has a hawthorn wand, same as Draco, which is noted for choosing people going through "turmoil" and "inner conflict.") Because I do expect Merula to be redeemed. Yes, even now, I'd argue that the signs are pointing in that direction more than ever. Which is also a good thing for a number of reasons, but among them is this: Merula as just a straight up one-note antagonist would get pretty boring after a while. Draco, as a one-note bully, had already gotten stale by OOTP, until HBP fleshed him out. Showing us another side of Merula is a good way to develop her as a character significant to the story.

The thing is, there's no way to show us another side of Merula if the heroes aren't willing to listen. As a result, MC and the Circle simply have to listen. This can be frustrating when the characters arguably have no reason to hear her out, and plenty of reason not to...but I think the writers are banking on the idea that after everything MC has been through with Merula, it's not unreasonable that they might have developed some amount of fondness for her, or pity, if nothing else. Even if it's just pity, just MC being a good person - I realize how irritating this is for people who are sick of her, but, again, something else I've said before is that Jacob's Sibling is not ours. We get to decide a lot of what is true about them, personalize them, but at the end of the day their lines and reactions are still pre-written by Jam City. I think it's clear that Year 5, and especially "About Merula" were meant to signal a change in how MC sees her. The player might not agree. But unfortunately, I think we all just have to go with it.

[manthrochap-blog]

well well well. look who finally figured out what email he used for his old blog....

so, hi. the last post on this blog was from december 2016, so... i’d expect most of my followers are inactive and the few people i follow who are still active probably unfollowed ages ago, unless they never cleared out their accounts... but i thought i’d make a little post here as a sort of update and finally offer a means of contact

so. i’m freshly 23 years old now (jesus CHRIST). i’m not using this blog anymore, so i won’t be updating my bio/about/whatever to reflect that, but i’ll note i exclusively use he/him now. while homestuck is still constantly in my periphery (more literal than that sentence should be, there’s a dave strider vinyl figure in a bin almost within eyesight of my desk chair...) i haven’t really engaged with it in... years... other than a recent look at its unfinished japanese translation, seeing as i started learning the language a few years ago and got curious. i still stan aradia hardcore, btw, nothing in life will Ever change that

as you can probably (hopefully) predict from the fact that i was 17 when i last used this blog (and 13-16 when i used it actively) and i am now 23, this blog, uh... would not be a great reference point for determining what kind of person i am now. i won’t write it off as completely detached from my present identity, and i’m not saying this because there’s some sort of “dirt” you could dig up from looking through my posts (there... really isn’t, just a whole lot of cringe), i’d just like to make it clear that judging the present me by whatever the hell was wrong with me when i was a teenager would leave you with a lot of inaccuracies about me. being a teenager sucks and you’ve got way more things wrong with you mentally than any other stage of your life and i’m happy to report many of those things wrong with me have resolved themselves with time, but also, the cringe. the cringe. my god the cringe, please for the love of god know that while i am still cringe i am not as bad as i once was

anyways, what i am trying to communicate is that while the person who ran this blog and myself may technically inhabit the same body, we’re not quite the same person; and yet, this is still my body, my face, my words, my thoughts, all contained here, even if i no longer understand those thoughts and feelings and words, no longer feel like the face depicted is my face. going through and making every single one of my old posts unrebloggable would be not only tedious but a ridiculous, gargantuan task, considering my post count is just short of 50,000 and no matter how many of those are reblogs that i wouldn’t need to alter, it took long enough just deleting a bunch of old selfies that i truly don’t think it would be worth it

thus, my request is this: my art is all fair game, but any (old) personal posts or selfies i'd like left alone. no likes, no reblogs, just let them be, please. while i've left a good portion of the latter up for posterity, i'd prefer you not even look for them. likewise, i've gone through and deleted all instances of my deadname; do not try to seek it out. or i may smite you in real life

other than all of that, i'm willfully leaving this blog up as an archive. please don't abuse that, please respect my requests regarding what i am and am not okay with being interacted with, and please keep a healthy barrier in your mind between who i was as a teenager and my new, adult self, because even i don't know what i was going on about back then

with all of that finally out of the way, if you're looking to contact me for whatever reason, you'll find my new blog in my next (and probably final, ever, for this blog) reblog. that post is a plea for a friend of mine who i miss and have completely lost contact with to come and talk with me again, if they'd like, so i'm hoping that posting this here and giving them a way of contacting me might help if they ever come back and look at this blog, which was the impetus for me hunting down my own log-in info to begin with, though not the sole reason (i really did want to purge this fucking thing of its evils even if only a little i've been meaning to do that for ages)

i don't intend to ever deactivate that blog just as i won't be deactivating this one, but as a failsafe, you can also email nisutitja @ gmail, because i don't really wanna just... put my discord where everyone can see it. that is not my main email, but i do own that address. might be a little late on the response but it should be reliable enough

[ladysolwind]

So I’m like 8 chapters into Three Hopes (Azure Gleam) and I have some preliminary thoughts that may or may not change going forward. For non-spoilers, I mean, I liked Fire Emblem as a whole before I liked Three Houses, so I knew it was a risk picking this up. I do have the OG Fire Emblem Warriors but I never beat it. It’s harder for me to play this as much because of my janky joints, so progress has been slow because this game makes my wrists hurt. I don’t dislike the game, and I love seeing my blorbos again, but I definitely enjoy normal FE games more.

Spoilers below the cut

1) I feel like everyone is more... bland? Sylvain and Felix especially. They’ve really lost their bite. In some ways it’s good because Sylvain isn’t as big of a perv and it seems like Felix is coping with Glenn’s death better. I can’t tell if it’s intentional character development or bad writing yet.

2) When Rodrigue mentioned he had a wife I was so disappointed. LET ME MARRY THE DILF YOU COWARDS.

3) Speaking of DILFs, why... why do Wyvern Riders only use axes when we can only use the Spear of Assal with Seteth? It feels weird having Seteth as anything but a Wyvern Rider but I want to use his spear D:

4) Seteth is SO good though. Absolute beast of a unit. I wish the Church was more involved though. Like we rescued Rhea and she immediately peaced out. Flayn is barely part of things, and Seteth isn’t included much either.

5) Dedue is still perfect and I adore him. The scene where they rescue Dimitri in the castle was amazing and a little gay and I think I might ship now? I cannot help but stan Dedue.

6) Seeing Alois left the Knights to join Jeralt’s crew was WILD but I honestly love it.

7) idk if we’re supposed to see Sothis taking over Byleth’s body as a bad thing but like... I don’t. Shez has powers from the people who genocided her children and I, too, would be mad. Also I do not trust Arval.

I feel unsure if I want to play three routes of this game or not. Is there better story with the other routes? Anything I’d really want to see? I’m curious about Edelgard’s route, and I do love the Golden Deer kids. Also I want to meet Holst. Idk maybe I’ll lower the difficulty just so I can see the story and not worry too much about the missions.