#also the 'guardians' is an awesome name and it's really funny that they are now named after A Bridge

[ethn11winter24]

Native American Caricatures in Sports

by Melissa Thomas

Sports need mascots.  Apparently.  A team name is rarely enough; the team needs a face, an easily marketable object that won’t change as frequently as the players.  It’s usually associated with the team name, of course, and this is fairly easy when you have teams named after animals – the Cardinals, the Diamondbacks, the Hornets (hi).  But what about when you have a team… named after a group of people?

Throughout the decades of organized sports, names and mascots have come and gone.  Teams move, get renamed, or even get dissolved.  And yet, through all of that, team names like the Washington Redskins and the Cleveland Indians survived for years amidst controversy and urging for their removal.  Both of these names have been successfully changed, but only in the last few years – the teams retired their appropriative logos in 2019, with official name changes occurring at the start of each team’s 2022 season.  The use of Native American caricatures as team names and mascots is not new, nor is it over.

In 1968, the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) began its push to abolish these mascots as appropriation of Native American culture and negative stereotyping.  At this point, the Cleveland Indians had been using their name for fifty-three years – it would be another fifty-four before that change would finally come.  The NCAI had multiple other attempts in the intervening years, including resolutions in 1993 and 2005.  In 2005, the American Psychological Association (APA; yes, as in the citation style) called for the immediate retirement of all Native American caricature mascots across all American sports – from the high school level to the professional – as well as other non-sports organizations.  The APA declared that research had shown the negative effects of the use of these mascots on both people of indigenous descent and those not of indigenous descent, coloring their perspective on Native Americans and their culture.

All of these efforts have led to incomplete successes across the United States.  The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) officially banned the use of Native American caricature in college-level sports in 2005, with the support of the NCAI.  The only teams who remain are those with special permission from the NCAI and their ‘namesake’ tribes.  The Washington Redskins finally removed their name and logo in 2019, being known simply as the ‘Washington Football Team’ until their new name of the Washington Commanders was introduced in 2022.  Similarly, the Cleveland Indians discontinued their use of their old mascot, ‘Chief Wahoo’ (yeesh), in 2019, with an official name change to the Cleveland Guardians occurring in 2022.

These changes have not been without their pushbacks, and not every team with Native American name origins has jumped on board.  The Cleveland Guardians received a ton of public backlash for their proposed name change, despite a general outpouring of support from their actual fans – the new name was actually chosen by popular vote, with zero Native American stereotypes or connections.  The Atlanta Braves, on the other hand, have largely refused to change their name (being a reference to ‘Indian braves’ or warriors) or their tomahawk branding.  The Braves do, however, regularly work with their closest tribe, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, who support them – though, most people stand with the official stance of the NCAI, that, at the very least, the ‘tomahawk chop’ chant needs to go.

This is still happening. This is still a process. But putting all of this in the public eye is, frankly, the only way this is going to get changed.

Sources:

“APA Resolution Recommending the Immediate Retirement of American Indian Mascots, Symbols, Images, and Personalities by Schools, Colleges, Universities, Athletic Teams, and Organizations.” APA.org. apa.org/pi/oema/resources/indian-mascots

Dunbar-Ortiz, Roxanne, and Dina Gilio-Whitaker. “All the Real Indians Died off”: And 20 Other Myths about Native Americans. Beacon Press, 2016.

Fryberg, Stephanie A., et al. “Of Warrior Chiefs and Indian Princesses: The Psychological Consequences of American Indian Mascots.” Psychology Press, 2008. https://doi.org/10.1080/01973530802375003 (http://www.indianmascots.com/fryberg--web-psychological_.pdf)

[nikofortuna]

JTTW Chapter 12 Thoughts

Chapter Twelve for the @journeythroughjourneytothewest Reading Group!

Right off the bat that demon guardian did not play around! He was sent there on a mission and he saw it through with a passion.

When Li Cuilian said “yellow as if it had jaundice” I was not expecting that. Excuse me, jaundice?! Now that got me laughing!

Also yes, with that personality Li Cuilian is putting on display here I can believe that she took her life out of spite rather easily. Technically I’d say good for her, if I wasn’t still iffy about both her and her husband just abandoning their children so willingly.

Moving on from the mess that is them finally, I got to say I have a great appreciation for how religions coexist like this, which has been reiterated in this chapter. They all but stated outright how sure you can believe in whichever you want to, but you don’t slander or belittle or what have you other religions.

Honestly everything that might be considered plot convenience like Xuanzang being in Chang’an exactly while Guanyin is looking for a scripture pilgrim is explained to a degree by literal fate existing, so it actually makes sense in this world. I find that just really interesting.

“Shaped like Eight Treasures are the thread-made frogs.” There are frogs on the cassock?! 10/10 perfection indeed! I know they probably don’t mean actual frogs, but let me dream.

Also the luminescent pearl sounds so nifty, an outfit with those probably looks really cool in the dark! Really if one were to take the description of the cassock literally the look of it would be so silly and over the top and I love it.

Sticking with the topic the expansiveness of the poem on the cassock in contrast to the shorter one for the staff comes across to me like ‘Take this epic item that is so awesome and sparkly shiny and will make you look the most fabulous while providing divine stat increases! Oh and I guess this staff that can help you with walking too.’

“What a priest! He is truly a living arhat descended to Earth, a live bodhisattva coming to the world!” Oh if only they knew.

Guanyin continuing to be one of the best deities! She really went ‘Eyo, dude!’ and continues to be so nonchalant. She’s just great there’s nothing else to say really, she’s so cool.

And Xuanzang being so delighted at the opportunity to learn pretty much disregarding what he was just doing, he is such a nerd and we love him for it! He’s so happy and full of hope. Sweet bean doesn’t know about the horrors yet.

Randomly to my mind came the image of any celestial really just acting as literally light at night. A funny image indeed. Which shows up in Fei Ren Zai! Specifically Guanyin using their halo as a night light!

Continuing with funny mental images, when Taizong “raise[s] up the monk with his royal hands” I could only imagine him holding Xuanzang up like Simba.

I’m saying it now I want a reunion scene with those disciples! I want them to be really sad when the sixth or seventh year goes by and grow more and more disheartened with every year, but be all the more happy when they get the reunion after all.

Yey, he finally got his iconic name of Tang Sanzang! Let’s gooo!

We’re finally off to the actual journey!

Though I have one more little trivia bit for this chapter. Specifically about the meaning of the date of departure from the German translation! The third day of the ninth month can be read with symbolic meaning.

The third day of a month relates to the Trigram Zhen and thus beginnings, though do take this with a grain of salt, because when I tried to check if that Trigram really carried such meaning I couldn’t find a clear answer. What I’m sure tracks though is that the number nine symbolises Yang.

Since I’m not entirely sure about this trivia bit I’ll directly mention that the German translation refers to Chen Zhibin author of Xiyou Zhenquan (西遊真詮) for the interpretation of the date.

[deleetrix]

So I was working on my VRChat model so I could take some pictures in the BOTW world I found. It's a really cool world! I've never played BOTW myself so it was a really interesting experience. It starts off in the Shrine of Resurrection, then there's the Temple of Time, the Sheikah Towers rising up out of the ground (that was awesome), and there's some shrines! World name is The Great Plateau - Zelda: Breath of the Wild by ColonelMcKernel.

More pictures below!

Getting the slate! You carry it with you! Though quite a few times it made it difficult to take pictures. My hands kept wanting to grab it or the climbing orbs instead of pointing at the camera controls. XD

After walking up to the ledge the title screen plays.

I look like a tourist or something.

I forgot to take a picture of the tower itself. I cannot describe how cool it is to watch the towers rise up rise up out of the ground. The ground shakes and everything!

Also tried taking a picture of Calamity Ganon roaring over the castle but couldn't get the camera switched around in time, so I didn't mean to be in this picture. Whoops.

Here's the view from the tower.

One of the shrines.

Now this next thing was pretty funny.

I come across the guardian and it fires a few beams near me. Nothing happens so I think I'm fine.

Yeah, I'm not fine.

Yes, it actually went to the game over screen. I got obliterated.

I need to finish the shrines in this world, I found two but I think there's four total? Then there's some other LOZ VRChat worlds I need to visit. There's Majora's Mask, Wind Waker, and more!

[tranquilspot]

Examine Room.

[This is a rewriting of a post that has been sadly deleted, as such this version will be different and modified since I only recall the broad outlines]

This ‘young man’ is now officially John, and the tags will reflect the name change from now on. Both for convenience and non-spoil policy in case new readers happen to come across this blog.

Aaah~ The all-caps words, it’s been pinned down as a Homestuck thing. I saw a post once from someone who innocently wrote in this format. The Homestucks were on the lookout on that one x) Don’t you love it? For me it’s such a treat for my dyslexic eyes. Why can’t all writers write more like this, it’s not rocket science! Bold, italic, space between paragraphs, colors and quotes to draw the attention to the important parts. So please, no more HUGE BLOCKS OF TEXT. It’s ugly, it’s annoying, you spend 5 minutes on a paragraph cause you were reading in diagonal then went back as you didn’t (mis)understand the whole thing and read several times the same sentence/word until you finally get something. And now your head hurts/you’re irritated. Anyway, back to Homestuck proper.

Who the fuck has cakes in their room, hell SEVERAL CAKES with cream and all dripping on the furniture?! Yes I get it, I too like to bring snacks to eat in front of the computer but dude It’ll attract ants! DAD might be a better guardian than the others, but you can’t deny that behavior and parental choice wise there’s something off about him. Don’t get me started on having a HAMMER AND NAILS just sitting on the floor waiting for an unfortunate fool (tool hehe) to step on it. Well, we’ll get back to safety hazard a bit later.

You like to program computers but you are NOT VERY GOOD AT IT.

One thing that I find interesting and just noticed is that John not being good at programming isn’t really important nor relevant, what is on the other hand is that it introduces two significant elements to the story: data structures, and ~ATH (until death). The former focusing on FETCH MODI and CAPTCHALOGUE CARDS, while the latter on VIRUSES (mobius double reacharound starting in act 5). I highly doubt that it was a foresight on Hussie’s side, taking into account the ~ATH is a Problem Sleuth reference (the symbol on the cover is the face of DEATH) and him incorporating those elements in his, at the time, brand new webcomic was a flex on their computer knowledge and skills. Still I think it’s nice to point it out, as it doubles (triples?) as a soft introduction to concepts that will follow the readers far into the adventure and even pop back in as a Chekhov's gun.

You have a fondness for PARANORMAL LORE

This sentence is awesome and irks me, because paranormal shit is so cool but sadly people tend to overlook it and focus on the shitty movies and magician parts.

Which is so lame! John even gave a speech about ghosts and science in Act 6 Intermission 2 that was interesting and I will definitely talk about it when we get to this conversation.

Though maybe I shouldn’t talk about stuff before they’re actually brought up by the narration? Whatever I’m my own boss, I can still develop before or when it happens. You guys tell me in the notes what you think about it.

You also like to play GAMES sometimes.

Funny how among the group of 4 friends, only John and TT have ‘play games’ mentioned in their introduction. TG plays on Xbox alone or with his Bro, GG as far as I know doesn’t own any game until SBURB came around the corner.

Perhaps it’s because the author already established that those two planned to play together. Or maybe it is pointed out by the narration because it is a relevant piece of information for establishing the plot. Or even maybe it's part of Hussie “I’ve put writing rules then soon after will discard them” hijinks. Or all of the above.

John however does own games in his disk rack, and later in the adventure plays at one of them with two of his friends. But I’ll wait and develop my thoughts on the matter when we get there (for the disk rack, very soon). —>

[magical-illune]

I just realized that I’ve done something very silly!  I named myself Magical Illune, but I never talked about what magical girl anime I like!

I’ll talk about it right now, then.  I love all kinds of magical girl anime, from the light to the dark.  I know that some people think that dark magical girl anime are Bad And Wrong, but I have to disagree.  Yes, some dark magical girl anime are crappy, but not all of them.  But that’s not what this post is about.

Anyway, here are some magical girl anime that I like!

1. Pretty Cure/Precure

Who could talk about magical girl anime without mentioning Precure?  It’s a magical girl megaseries from Toei Animation.  Each season (with the exceptions of Max Heart and GoGo, which are sequels to other seasons) is its own continuity, with its own setting and characters.  While the seasons do share some similar elements, each season has its own themes that make it stand out.  There are funny moments, awesome moments, emotional moments...  It’s awesome!  Each season is about 45-50 episodes long, and there are 19 seasons as of right now.  Yes, the series is still ongoing!  And the fights aren’t just about magical attacks - they usually have a ton of punches and kicks!  I like all the seasons, but my favorite is Fresh, with Smile being a close second. Two seasons, Smile and Doki Doki, were dubbed as Glitter Force, but we don’t talk about that.

2. Nurse Angel Ririka SOS

This one is kind of obscure, but I love it anyway.  This anime is from 1995.  It’s about a ten-year-old girl named Ririka who is given a nurse cap as a birthday present by her crush, Kanou.  It is soon revealed that the cap is a magical item that can transform Ririka into the legendary guardian known as Nurse Angel.  Ririka winds up having to fight the evil forces of Dark Joker, who laid waste to Kanou’s home planet (yes, he’s an alien, albeit a human one) and have now turned their sights toward Earth.  The series has a healing theme and some memorable aspects, such as Ririka having a limited power source that she must find more of.  Also, there’s Dewey.  

Just look at him!  He is the best character in the entire show.  No, I am not taking criticism.  Anyway, although the anime still has that 1990s cheesiness to it, it gets surprisingly dark for a show aimed at young girls.  That may be why it didn’t sell enough toys and wound up being cancelled.  Still, the creators managed to bring the show to a conclusion at 35 episodes.

3. Puella Magi Madoka Magica

This anime was released in 2011, and it’s the one responsible for a slew of dark magical girl anime and manga in the years that followed.  Some of them were good, others were not, but I’ll get into that later.  Without spoiling too much, I can tell you that unlike the previous two entries, Madoka is definitely not for kids.  It’s quite dark, with a storyline that explores the consequences of its magical system.  While it’s not the first dark magical girl anime, it’s undoubtedly the most popular.  The soundtrack is beautiful, the animation is (mostly) beautiful...  I really recommend this anime!

4. Sailor Moon

Ah, a classic!  This anime has two versions - the 90s anime, and the ongoing remake (known as Crystal) that follows the manga more faithfully.  I like both!  This is probably the most iconic magical girl anime among English speakers, so you probably know the basic details, but I’ll explain it anyway.  The story begins when Usagi, a rather annoying crybaby, is given a mysterious brooch that she can use to transform into the magical warrior known as Sailor Moon.  She is tasked with fighting various bad guys, assembling her team of planet-themed magical girls, and finding the missing princess of the moon (whose identity is rather obvious).  Along the way, she is frequently aided by the mysterious Tuxedo Mask (yes, his outfit is as silly as it sounds).  The 90s anime is generally more lighthearted and has quite a bit of filler, but I like it a lot - it’s got this nostalgic charm to it, you know?  Crystal is also great, though it has less episodes.  I’ve also been reading the original manga, and it’s awesome!  There’s even a two-volume manga focusing on Sailor Venus’s adventures before meeting up with the other Sailor Guardians - it’s called Codename: Sailor V and I highly recommend it.  Actually, I highly recommend all of this franchise!

5. Yuki Yuna is a Hero

This one is another dark magical girl series a la Madoka.  Basically, three hundred years ago, a virus killed off most of humanity, except for those living on the island of Shikoku (a real place, might I add), who were protected by the Shinju - an amalgamation of gods in the form of a tree.  Shikoku is at peace now, and it is run by the Taisha, a religious organization dedicated to serving the Shinju.  The eponymous Yuna is a member of the Hero Club, a school club that does volunteer work for the community.  However, it is soon revealed that the Hero Club is more literal than that - the girls have actually been enlisted to transform into Heroes and fight the mysterious Vertex that threaten the Shinju.  Though the battles take place in a spiritual realm, the damage that that world takes affects the real world, and if even one Vertex reaches the Shinju, the entire world will be destroyed.  The first season has some elements that I don’t like, especially considering the representation of disabled people, and there’s quite a bit of fanservice, but I still like the show.  It has three seasons, and the second season is my personal favorite.  There are also some prequel/interquel light novels, but I haven’t read those yet.  Overall, Yuki Yuna is an interesting watch for its take on religion and child soldiers.

Okay, now you know of five magical girl anime that I like.  I also enjoyed Uta~Kata, but for some reason the GIF thingy isn’t working right now, so I’ll just say that it’s good, albeit fanservicey.

I’ve also watched quite a bit of the original 2000s Tokyo Mew Mew, but to be honest, I find it a bit mediocre.  I especially don’t like those two guys who run the cafe - it seems like they’re just using the girls.  Still, I’ll finish it, and then I’ll watch the reboot and hope that it’s better.

Now, some dark magical girl anime are good, but others are not.  After watching Day Break Illusion, I determined that it was one of the latter.  Though the premise sounded interesting, it was not well executed, and it got quite creepy near the end - and not in a good way.

There are also some magical girl anime that I refuse to watch - Magical Girl Site, Magical Girl Spec-Ops Asuka, Prisma Illya, and any ecchi or hentai works.

There are other magical girl anime that I haven’t finished yet.  I’ll give my opinions on them once I’m done.  I’m also hoping to read some more magical girl manga, especially the ones that haven’t been adapted into anime yet.  Any suggestions?

All in all, I really enjoy the magical girl genre, and I hope to add to it someday.

[calipersandtongs]

The Universal NPC’s Homeworld

I’m still piecing together the storyline for my next video. Initially I was going to create some kind of compilation video with funny clips from past videos since I recently hit 5000 subscribers on YouTube (if you’re subscribed to my channel thanks for subscribing! 😊) So I wanted to do something a bit different before moving onto my next game NPC video since it’s a milestone. Also I was going to start building the NPC museum I mentioned in my last video. 

So if you plan on watching the video I’ll probably be covering everything here in that video anyway. Also I posted some of this on twitter before yesterday. I just felt like rambling about my ideas and mods I’m looking at lol.

Somehow this morphed from museum though to ‘dream world where Rod Humble’s computer stash is really located.’ So I started building this as a subhood for Blightgate. It’s called z_¦¦S•e•¦¦D••¦o¦¦••N¦¦ªa••¦¦¦• based on the Sedona hood which was scrapped by Maxis at some point in development but still has the hood template + references in game files + a flythrough.) I wanted to use a glitch text editor to make some weird looking names for all the lots but The Sims 2 can’t display that text so I just kind of used random characters that would show up instead. 

There’s a train station lot (which I downloaded from mts a while ago called Simton Railway Station it’s actually a really great lot outside of what I’m using it for right now haha.) Then I found this awesome effects collection by Sophie-David so I could actually have trains running through! 

When I was working on my Don Lothario Machinima I realised that lots placed close to the edge of the world in Strangetown have this kind of fading effect where they disappear into the sky. This was pretty great for Vidcund’s dream sequence but also in this case allowed me to have the train kind of floating off.

So there’s a kind of backrooms maze type lot I’m working on too here and one of the rooms is kind of an gnome room. So I was looking through more of Sophie-David's mods because they have some more magical effects I haven’t added yet but I think would look cool. And then I noticed they had a mod called ‘Gnome of Protection’ which is so funny and has lots of uses(including summoning a gnome guardian that intercepts burglars, repo-men and Mrs Crumplebottom,) but it also can stop Sims from stealing the Gnomes to quote:

“Basegame gnomes may still be stolen, but potential perpetrators will typically be distracted to come and admire the Gnome of Protection instead of committing gnome theft. As a side effect, these Sims will gain just enough Niceness points to prevent them from stealing gnomes in the future."

haha love that so much. I was having an issue with Sims stealing the gnomes in the gnome room lol so I might have to add one of those instead of just locking the door which is less interesting. 

The entrance (will be adding more effects/changing some things later):

I’m trying to find ways to incorporate more Blightgate characters into the storyline too and obviously Victor is still technically on a mission to find Rod Humble’s computer source to become a full member of the Shadow crime family since Rod keeps escaping him. I remembered that I actually have a more minor character who lives with her friends who actually came to Blightgate in the hope of setting up a museum so this seems like the perfect time to cover that household. I’ve said this before but I headcannon the universal NPC’s as being cryptid type beings that can travel between worlds. So they kind of come from a magical location in the game files and aren’t rooted in any of the neighbourhoods regular Sims live in. Well besides the ones that have temporarily moved into spaces in my game like Mrs Crumplebottom lives in Blightgate for now.

[arty-shadow-morningstar]

Con Man's Daughter

Posting this because there isn't enough biodad! John Constantine content.

[Masterlist]

(Part 2)

-----

I feel like this should be a Damianette story or just platonic relationship after Jon got aged-up to seventeen and Damian wanted a friend his age but doesn’t want to admit it.

So basically there is this big bad in Gotham using magic that Batman was fighting at the time and enlisted John Constantine to help out.

John realizes that the villain is using a Miraculous.

“Oh. I think I know how he gets his powers. And lucky for you, Bats, I know an expert on this special brand of magic.”

And he did the smart thing and called up Marinette who at the time was already Guardian and was looking for other lost Miraculouses like in the Treasure Hunter AU I wrote.

He calls her at a really bad time. She was in the process of being chased by the guardians of the place. Monsters and evil spirits.

“Hello, Dad. What do you need and can you do it quickly?”

“Hey, sweetheart, it’s me. How is my little cupcake up to these days?”

“You called at a bad time.” Gunshots.

“WAS THAT A GUN I HEARD? WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU, YOUNG LADY?!”

“Somewhere in Japan. Getting a Miraculous. And why can’t you call me to check in on me and not ask me to help you with whatever mess you got yourself into.” More gunshots sounds and it was telling that Marinette was using a gun.

“Where did you get a gun? And don’t you have school?”

“It’s summer break. Don’t worry Maman and Papa know. Well, the fact that I am in Japan anyways.” Marinette sounded a little out of breath. Roaring and horrifying sounds at the other end. “Can we do this later?”

“As it happens, there is a villain going around Gotham with what I think is a Miraculous.”

Swears on the other end.

“Oi. Watch your fucking language, young lady.”

“How about a No and move the fuck back, old man. I am coming over right now.”

“Old man? I am not that old-” as a magic blue portal opens up in the Bat Cave.

And a red Chinese dragon comes out with someone riding it.

Its rider was a black-haired girl. She had a trench coat similar to Constantine's. I imagine her with a fedora. Like Carmen Sandiego style but not red. Sometimes red but only when she has to steal it from a museum or high security places and she leaves a name card with the name Carmen Sandiego. A sword strapped to her back and a dagger to her thigh.

She had a gun in her hand which she used to shoot the monsters as it was halfway through the portal and yelled out the spell to close it.

“Brilliant entrance but you are in lots of trouble, little lady. What were you thinking about going to another country unsupervised? And isn’t there still a butterfly problem in Paris?”

“One, I wasn’t unsupervised. I had Tikki, a billion years old being and a sort of god. Two.Well, it got boring trying to track Hawk-bitch down. And I found this legend about a guy with a Miraculous who disappeared in the temple and thought hey, more miraculous could mean another edge to defeating Moth-man.”

More bickering and John grounding Marinette who was acting very nonchalant about it.

Okay, at this point, I should say that Batman and Robin are in the background trying to make some sense.

Batman is surprised to find out that Constantine has a daughter who is also involved in magic like her Father but an apparently more specialised kind called the Miraculous. He is a little miffed that he didn’t know about John having a daughter. He did consider it weird at first that she had a slight french accent unlike her father’s Liverpool accent although she pronounced some words like he does.

He also connected some dots that she is also the Parisian heroine, Lady Rouge who Wonder Woman introduced to the League a while back and had declined to join the Young Justice or Teen Titans until everything in Paris was resolved.

Damian on the other hand was suspicious of the new arrival and came to the same conclusion as his father about the daughter thing.

Batman after a few minutes, clears his throat.

The Constantines stop arguing.

“Bonjour. Batman. Robin. Pleasure to meet you. I am Mari Constantine and yes, I am this homeless looking man’s brilliant daughter.” “Hey”

“Well, Mari. Your father thinks you can help us with this new criminal turning Gotham upside down. Literally in some cases. He said that you might be able to help us.” Batman said as he pulled up zoomed in picture of the Miraculous.

Mari looks through the Miraculous grimoire and tells them all about it and power-ups, basically the most effective thing to defeat the guy is to get the Miraculous off them. Plus a spell that would make the Miraculous ineffective if casted within a certain radius of it.

“Thank you for the information, Mari. Constantine, let’s go.”

Mari made to follow them.

“You young lady are grounded and staying here.”

“I don’t need another supervillain using the Miraculous which are my responsibility as Guardian to retrieve them for their own misuse and wreaking havoc on the city. And what if there is an akuma in Paris? I can’t go there if I am grounded in the Batcave although it is a cool place to hang out.”

“You can portal back to Paris but you are not going to follow me. Understood?”

“yes. crystal”

“Good. After me and Batsy get the Miraculous, you can do your Guardian duties.”

Damian snickers. Until Batman cut his mood short, “You are staying behind too. Robin.”

“But Father, why? I am much more capable than Constantine.”

“Hey!” Both father and daughter.

Damian is staying behind too because of the Miraculous power or other reasons and keeps an eye on Mari.

Damian stays behind and there were some protests about mari mad about having a babysitter and Damian doesn’t want to be a babysitter. Despite the two of them being around the same age.

“I got an eye on you so no funny business.”

“Okay, Dad, I am not going to have sex with Robin.” Mari said with a shit- eating grin. Robin definitely didn’t blush.

“I hate you sometimes.”

“I love you too, Dad. Go save the world. Byee.”

John eyes her suspiciously because she is not one to give up that easily usually.

He casts a spell to watch her as they leave. and which she totally knew about.

“So...I have one question.”

“Tt, ask and don’t bother me anymore.”

“Is Batman Bruce Wayne?”

Damian looks up, totally caught off guard.

“I am going to take that as a yes.”

Puts sword at her neck. “How did you find out?!”

“Opened up Google Maps and saw that we are under Wayne Manor. Connected the dots. Also I already knew when Dad made a bet with me once to find out Batman’s secret identity but he never did confirm it for me. And can you please not tell your father about this? I don’t feel like being interrogated by the Bat in the future yet.”

“Father must know about this.”

“I saw you looking at Scarlet here. An animal lover then? You can give her some belly rubs. She deserves it after helping me outrun those monsters.”

His silence was brought. To pet a dragon.

One thing after another and he ends up bringing out his pets-Jerry the turkey, Goliath the dragon-bat, Titus- and her introducing him to her other pets like a hellhound, griffin and other mythical creatures who mostly roam free but come to her when she calls for them and also the kwamis, at least the ones who came with her.

After 30 mins have passed, “So Robin how do you feel about disobeying our fathers?”

“I am in.”

“Depends. Are we going after the (villain's name) ?”

“Yes.”

Awesome montage of them getting rid of the spell John casted and flying out of the Batcave on their respective giant flying pets to the villain’s base.

Meanwhile, their fathers are not doing so well and are trapped in a death trap. John can’t say the spell because the villain made him unable to talk.

“At least, the kids are staying put.”

Cut to Damian and Mari jumping off their pets and onto the roof. Taking out the guards posted there and going into the building all sneakily and also taking out the guards that come their way.

They dropped into the room where their fathers and the villain is.

“Why am I not surprised?”

Villain starts an evil monologue about his mastermind plan to which Damian cuts it short by trying to cut him down with his katana. Mari goes to deactivate the death trap.

They are evenly matched with Damian’s training and the Miraculous.

Mari steps in as Damian was about to be killed. Taps on the shoulder of the villain and when he turns around, gives an awesome right hook that knocks him out.

Takes away the Miraculous and curses him. Wiped the dude’s memories of it.

“When I said stay in the Batcave, I meant stay behind at the Batcave. What point of being grounded, don’t you understand?”

“You mean, Oh, Mari, light of my life, my wonderful daughter, thank you for saving my ass. You are the best.’ by that, right?”

-----

Mari and Damian exchanged numbers and email addresses.

As she was about to leave the Batcave, “It’s been nice meeting you, Mr. Wayne.” and leaves with a wink.

John ‘ungrounds’ her for the look on Batman’s face.

-----

After this, Marinette and Damian become friends who bitch and vent to each other about their alter egos and various villains of their respective cities. (In codes, just in case) They also share updates about their pets and love of drawings.

They have that type of friendship where they trade favors. Mari calls Damian to Paris sometimes to help out with the akuma of the day and Damian sometimes calls her in when Bruce doesn’t let him go investigate a case so he can sneak out by magical means or as back up for when his brothers were too annoying to deal with.

It’s summer break so no missing school.

John and Bruce are aware of their friendship and some of the shenanigans the pair gets into behind their back.

-----

-----

Right. how this all started...

John and Sabine first met when the latter was still in college somewhere in France. John was tracking down a demonic entity which was targeting Sabine for some reason and she was the next target.

John saved her life and exorcised the demon. There was a heat of the moment thing and they had a one-night stand. There were a few more flings and hook-ups after that night.

And nine months later, Marinette Cheryl Cheng-Constantine was born.

When Sabine first found out, she called John to come over and he thought that it was a call for another hook-up and was very surprised to find out that it was not and that he was going to be a father.

They both like each other but do not want to be in a relationship together so they both remained as friends and John agreed after some strong-arming at the very least to meet his daughter before he goes to do his job. And pay for child support. And help Sabine during her pregnancy.

Pregnant Sabine was someone you don’t want to mess with. And John has never met a demon or anyone scarier than her.

He was at first not into meeting his child and there was a self-pity party he threw himself with how the child was going to live a bad life because he was the dad and how he destroyed every good thing in his life.

That’s why he is going to meet the baby once and leave maybe a letter and the occasional birthday present and stay out of their life. Forever.

The day Marinette was born and it took one look into her eyes for the HellBlazer to fall under the spell and all of his plans to stay out of her life to burn away.

At first, he tried. He really tried but he couldn’t do it.

Lasted 4 months before he came back, wanting to place protection spells on her and sigils around the house to keep away the forces of Heaven and Hell and other entities so they won’t use her against him as a bargaining chip.

Sabine calls him to babysit. He could have refused and Sabine would have easily found a babysitter. He moans and whines about how he is a great mage and not a bloody babysitter. Sabine retorts that it is actually called parenting since he is Marinette’s father. He grumbles but in the end, agrees.

The great John Constantine is wrapped around the little girl’s finger.

He was around for some of Marinette’s firsts. Her first word was “John”.

It made him cry. He wasn’t a good man and he doesn’t deserve someone this precious. His daughter doesn’t deserve someone like him as a father but fate made it that way and what can you do about it.

After an exhausting week of doing the usual and coming back from Hell, he saw that Sabine had sent him a video. It was Marinette taking her first steps.

Chas swears that in all the years that he has known John Constantine he has never seen the man look so happy.

------

When Tom came into the picture, John was there to take care of a toddler Marinette while Tom and Sabine went on dates.

Insert John threatening a much bigger Tom while holding a baby Marinette with wide eyes and hugging a teddy bear with the same coat as John’s. (It was something Sabine brought on a whim and to tease John when he came around.)

Tom is supportive and treats Marinette like his own flesh and blood.

John resolved to leave for good now that Tom would be there to be a father figure for Marinette.

That plan fell into the drain the moment he was going to leave for what was supposed to be the last time before Sabine pulled him back and knocked some sense into him.

His face was a big giveaway. Sabine knows that despite his claims of being a terrible father for Marinette, he was a good one and damnit she was going to make sure that Marinette would get to know her actual father.

Tom later made an awkward talk with John about how he was not going to replace John’s role as Marinette’s father.

Marinette was the flower girl at Tom and Sabine’s wedding. John was there too.

During bedtime, John would read her stories and use his magic to make it come to life. Although he would feel a little drained afterwards, it was worth it to see her smile.

Sometimes he told stories about his tamer adventures. (After cutting out some of the inappropriate bits)

------

When Marinette was about 5 or 6, Sabine was out on an errand and Tom was at home with Mari and helping her with her homework. There was a crash downstairs at the bakery. Tom went down to check it out to find John lying on the ground.

With a weak cough, he said, “Close the door. Close it.” Before losing consciousness

Tom did before a man with pitch black eyes slammed against it.

Thankfully John had installed heavy wards around the bakery when it first opened.

They held against the demon on John’s tail. Tom brought John inside and unsure of what to do, grabbed a rolling pin on the counter.

The man outside started pounding on the glass door and every time his hands touched the door, light glowed outwards, showing the invisible magic barrier around the bakery. Sparks and steams fizzled with every pound.

Despite the reddening and burns of his hands, the not-human didn’t slow down.

“ʝօɦռ....ʏօʊ ӄռօա ȶɦǟȶ ɨȶ'ֆ օռʟʏ ǟ ʍǟȶȶɛʀ օʄ ȶɨʍɛ ɮɛʄօʀɛ ɨ ɮʀɛǟӄ ȶɦʀօʊɢɦ ȶɦɛֆɛ աǟʀɖֆ. օռƈɛ ɨ ɢɛȶ ʏօʊ,” He laughs, the sound sends chills down the large man’s spine, “ȶɦɛʀɛ ǟʀɛ ֆօ ʍǟռʏ ȶɦɨռɢֆ ɨ ɦǟʋɛ քʟǟռռɛɖ ʄօʀ ʏօʊ.”

Tom knew that Marinette’s father was a con man. Come on, Master and Practitioner of the Dark Arts and Occult. But he was a good father nonetheless despite all his flaws and Sabine liked him enough so that was good enough for him.

Before today, magic was just the sleight of hands and use of fancy tools to sell the illusions. Now, with a could-be-a-demon knocking on his door to get to the father of the girl he sees as his daughter, he’s not so sure.

“Tom? Qu'est-ce qui se passe? (What’s going on?)” A little voice came from the stairs, “Dad!” Marinette padded across the floor to the body of her passed out father.

She shook him awake and there were a few soft slaps to the face.

“Dad, what’s happened?”

John mumbles, “Demon…. possessing some rich guy….. Exorcism…. Doesn’t like me very much…Don’t worry...wards going to hold.”

John manages to stand before falling down and Tom catches him before he hits the floor. He has a concussion. Tom turns to Marinette, “Go, Hide and don’t come out until It’s safe.” which she did

Unfortunately, a while later, Sabine returns from her night out and the demon upon seeing Sabine. “ɛӼƈɛʟʟɛռȶ..”

The demon possessed Sabine and the previously possessed dude hit the sidewalk with a thud.

“ɨռȶɛʀɛֆȶɨռɢ....” The voice coming out of Sabine didn’t sound like her mother which scared Marinette a lot. “օքɛռ ȶɦɨֆ ɖօօʀ օʀ,”the demon pulled a knife out of thin air, ,“ȶɦɨֆ ɮօɖʏ ɢɛȶֆ ɨȶ.”

Tom hesitated until the demon put the knife on Sabine’s neck and put enough force for a thin line of blood to be shown.

He opens the door and the demon knocks him out. Stepping over his unconscious body and looking down on it, “ʄօʀ ȶɦǟȶ, ɨ ǟʍ ɢօɨռɢ ȶօ ʟɛȶ ʏօʊ ʟɨʋɛ ʊռȶɨʟ ɨ ǟʍ ɖօռɛ աɨȶɦ ʝօɦռ, օʄ ƈօʊʀֆɛ.” and cackles. The sound was so wrong and unnerving and little Marinette tried very hard for her sobs not to be heard.

Too bad the demon had super hearing. “Come out, my little blossom. Maman is home. Why don’t you come out and give me a hug?”

It sounded so much like her mother and she nearly believed that it was her mother and not some entity in control of her body.

But she knew better from John’s stories of dealing with demons and how they would use the voice of loved ones to lure them out and into a trap. (Definitely not something one should tell as a bedtime story but Marinette was very different and had an unconventional childhood with John Constantine as her father.)

Wait...she got struck with an idea but she wasn’t sure if it would work.

Before she could do anything, the door of the cabinet she was hiding in was opened and she was dragged out.

The demon lifted her a few feet above the ground by the collar of her dress.

It heard Marinette saying something. “աɦǟȶ ǟʀɛ ʏօʊ ֆǟʏɨռɢ ƈɦɨʟɖ, ֆքɛǟӄ ʟօʊɖɛʀ?”

“Exorcizamus te, omnis immundus spiritus, omnis satanica potestas, omnis incursio infernalis adversarii, omnis legio, omnis congregatio et secta diabolica.” Marinette was now screaming the words at the top of her lungs. She repeated the spell over and over again with fierce determination.

John, being his paranoid self, taught her the spell for an exorcism, just in case. Demons spared no one, not even a girl.

It screamed “NO….” as Sabine’s body contorted in strange angles before a dark shadow seemed to be dragged down into the ground. It made a desperate attempt to possess John before it was pulled away and disappeared. There was no sign that there was a demon attack.

After John woke up, he managed to piece together that his 5-years-old (Sorry 5 and a half) daughter sent a demon back to hell.

He was a very proud dad. (He was a tad worried about the consequences from this event and demons hold one hell of a grudge. He wanted his daughter to live a very safe and happy life. The bakery’s wards also need an upgrade.)

He also got the job of explaining what he actually did to Tom. And lots of reassuring.

Sabine, on one hand, was not happy that Marinette knew how to do magic. That is until John told her that he did it just in case so she can protect herself and later it was agreed that Marinette can learn some Magic spells and charms to better protect herself and when she is older, she can decide if she wants to continue or not.

----

(Part 2)

[what-did-you-just-say]

Please excuse me for being the biggest Banshee simp :,))) Could it be fluff? or a little sus it doesn’t matter bdhfhv (I’m gonna say that its a pre-established relationship bc 👉👈)

Anyways- Its late at night at the tower and I’m sitting at his shop and telling him stories about funny stuff that happened in gambit as he tinkers with weapons. He gets frustrated with the thing hes working on so we go outside and end up cuddling (just being affectionate in general bc i just want to kiss his little forehead bdhdjv 😭) as we watch the city from the tower.

Thank you so much!! I really hope this is good, and please take your time <3!!! (Also bestie- if you simp for anyone I’ll gladly write little stories like this for you. I promise I won’t judge >:))

WELL WELL WELL....I get why you're simping for Banshee tho, he is adorable. But thank you for giving me a scenery! I'll see what i can come up with on this one! ^^

Btw...you are a Guardian in this one if that's okay! No class is specified so feel free to just think of what class you are and i forgot to put it in but you're also not wearing a helmet.

This one turned out pretty good for my standards, i hope you enjoy it!! <3

Genderfluid!Reader x Banshee-44

It has been a long day for you, filled with awesome and nerve wrecking events. You are a Guardian who just got done with their tasks right at the end of the day as you now found yourself at the shop of your beloved gunsmith Banshee-44. You two have been together even before the Red War, when the Black Garden still decided to cause some drama. But speaking of the present you are now finding yourself sitting at the back of the small shop and tell your Exo boyfriend all about what happened in Gambit today and your chat with The Drifter all the while Banshee was tinkering with an Auto Rifle that has been jammed (up) in multiple ways and is hard to fix - even with his knowledge.

He was trying to give you all of his attention, he really was but this damn rifle kept on causing problems so he had to speak up "(Name), I am sorry for having to say this but i have to concentrate on this weapon right now so if you could give me a minute of silence that'd be really of use." and you gladly obeyed. You knew his job was causing him problems sometimes AND the thing with his memories just keep on adding up to that so you decided to just silently sit there and watch him do what he is best at.

While you were - by now - cleaning your own Hand Cannon you heard him grunt as the sound of something heavy hitting the metal surface of a counter had followed close behind. With a concerned expression you stood up from your current position on the chair and walked up to him, seeing him clearly distressed and annoyed by this stupid rifle that some Guardian managed to jam up so hard even the Gunsmith couldn't properly fix it. "Are you feeling alright? Would you like to take a break, Banshee?" you asked while laying a gloved hand on his shoulder. He was looming over the rifle with his hands placed at the edge of the counter, leaning on it with his full weight as he was just looking down on it and tried to think of a way to finally get it to work again like it should. Noticing how deep he was rummishing in his mind to get a solution, you decided to wrap your arms around his torse from behind, laying your head on his shoulder that you previously grabbed before you grumbled. That brought him back to reality as he finally answered "W-what were you saying? I didn't hear it, I was thinking..sorry" , "You should take a break, Banshee. If this rifle causes you too much stress then you have to clear your head even for just a minute." you muffled against his neck and he went silent. It took a minute or two before he rose his head and looked at you rather confused, "What did you say? I forgot...memory problems and all" was all he managed to say as you scoffed and let go of him before grabbing his hand. "Follow me" was what you said before leading him out of the shop and to a secured spot where no one usually went.

It was late...pretty late with the stars floating in the sky, illuminating it. While the City down below was glowing with lights, showing it's beauty at night all while the Traveler was right in the middle, big and shiny. As you and Banshee were looking at the view you pointed out the various Ghosts flying around near the Traveler, "They are probably still looking for their Guardians" Banshee said as he acknowledged the view in front of him, but nothing compared to you nonetheless. Speaking of you, Banshee couldn't resist the urge to look at you, seeing you illuminated by the glow of the Traveler and the moon just took his breath away (even if he doesn't really need to breathe). He was glad that he agreed to the date all those moons ago, he was happy to now call you his. You know...you always caught his attention when you were striding through the Tower, talking to your Ghost about various topics.

He was lost in his thoughts again and you had to chuckle as soon as you noticed it, which..well flustered him so he looked away. "You are easy to fluster, even with that stern expression of yours" you said as you raised your hand to touch one of his antenna to which he crossed his arms and huffed, "You just know what to say and do" was the answer you got while his optics flickered from the view to you and back. It was amusing to see such a calm and collected Exo get flustered that easy just by one move. He only gets that flustered when you two are alone though.

While you lightly touched the antenna at the back of his head it twitched, which made you chuckle so you kept on doing it. Seeing how much fun you had with just his antenna, made Banshee turn off his optics - like he was simulating to close his eyes - and slightly lower his head.

As you realised how happy this Exo actually made you, you decided to surpise him with a big bear hug. He was startled by your sudden action and had his mouth plates hang open while his arms were raised. "I love you Banshee" is all he had heard because you whispered it as you clung to him, "I love you too..(Name)" he answered as he slowly wrapped his arms around your back and held you close. After a minute or two he decided to lay his head on your shoulder and sighed while you gentle stroked his back.

The silence between you two was comfortable. It was all he ever wanted in his live as an Exo, a person he could love and hold close to him like he had you, getting loved and appreciated like you did. Honestly you - specifically you - was all he ever wanted in his existence and now that he got you, he was finally able to relax and get really comfortable. (He really loves you)

With a kiss to the side of his head from you he practically melted in your touch. You had to smile at his reaction while you raised a hand to place at the back of his head, gently stroking the plate there with your thumb. He hummed in response and wrapped his arms around you a bit tighter, signaling to you to that he appreciates it.

Your Ghost suddely appeared and floated around you both, chirping in response to the wholesome scenery infront of it before nuzzling against your shoulder and just staying there.

This moment sure was one of the best you ever had, here at the beautiful night view from the Tower of the Last City with your beloved gunsmith in your arms. "Did i already tell you that I love you..?" is what broke the silence between you two by the low voice of Banshee-44 to which you had to laugh and say "Yes you did sweetheart but I love you too!" and with another kiss to his cheek you had him softly chuckling aswell.

Yep, you never wanted this moment to end.

[klvbxlove]

lunch (yosuke x introverted! gn! reader)

a/n: damn, i’m really out here with ANOTHER yosuke fic, aren’t i? not that i hate it, i have some fun writing for him! but i still can’t get over that one anon calling me a “subconscious yosuke kin” (to whoever sent me that, thanks LMAO). now, a bit off topic, i really wanna try to write for the investigation team girls as well, but i’m having a bit difficulty. so please note that it’s not like i hate the girls (if anything, they’re cool! i especially love naoto. i may or may not have a crush on her). it might take awhile for me to put out another fanfic for one of them that i actually like. 

reader type: gender neutral

reader specification(s): reader is an introvert (**)

genre(s): fluff

trigger warning(s): none

summary: yosuke noticed that you haven’t made the effort to make friends, let alone talk to at least one person, since the day you transferred to his class. he decided he would change that and invite you to lunch.

word count: 1.6k words

(**) i know i could’ve written this in the a/n above, but i felt like i had to point it this right BEFORE the drabble starts. for some people, the reader might not sound like an introvert. i understand. however, being an introvert myself, i did base the reader a little bit off of me and how i act around new people talking to me. 

♡ ♡ ♡ (ꈍᴗꈍ)ε｀*) ♡ ♡ ♡

key:

(l/n) = last name

♡ ♡ ♡ (ꈍᴗꈍ)ε｀*) ♡ ♡ ♡

   Yosuke knew that sometimes it would be considered rude (and creepy) to stare at a person for an extended period. 

   But was that enough to stop him from staring at you, though? No.

   Whenever he got a chance during class, Yosuke would gaze his brown eyes upon you. Ninety-nine percent of the time, you would be sitting alone at your desk and not paying attention to anyone around you. And either you would be reading a book or going on your phone. You were always so focused, as well. Yosuke swore the whole class could be extremely high on drugs, and you would pay no mind to it whatsoever. 

   It had only been a few days since you had transferred to his class, but as far as he knew, you still had not made any friends. Although, it did look like you did not care about it. He had never seen you trying to talk to one person in class before, either. 

   Yosuke knew himself as a bit of an extravert who has no problem making friends most of the time. So if anything, he expected himself to have gone up to you and at least introduced himself. But no, instead, all he has been doing was staring at you. Yosuke was conflicted on whether to talk to you or leave you alone. For all he knew, you probably did not like socializing with anyone. 

   At the moment you looked up to make eye contact, Yosuke immediately turned around in his seat. Oh God, he could only hope he did not look awkward or creepy doing that. The last thing he wanted was for a new classmate to have a negative impression on him. 

   Okay, he thought to himself. Maybe I can talk to the new student during lunch later. Maybe I could even invite them to eat with me! Well, unless they don’t want to. I mean, I hope they accept my offer.

-

   Holy crap, I did it! Yosuke felt like he was going stiff for the billionth time. He was currently sitting next to you on the rooftop after you had (surprisingly) accepted his invitation. Although, there was a bit of awkwardness in the air during this time. Yosuke felt too awkward to start eating as he could not help but steal a few more glances at you. Meanwhile, you were eating your lunch in silence while you looked off in the distance. 

   You gotta say at least one thing to (L/N), you know.

   “So, um, what do you think about Yasogami High so far? Is it alright?” Well, it was a bit of an unusual question, but Yosuke figured that he would start with that. “Or, what about Inaba?” 

   You hummed, thinking of how to answer as you chewed your food. “It’s alright. I mean, I haven’t gotten the chance to explore Inaba yet after moving in, so I can’t say how I feel about it so far.”

   Yosuke nodded in understanding. As much as he enjoyed living in Inaba, it was not comparable to big cities in Japan like Tokyo and Osaka. 

   And now that he thought about it, today was also the first time he got to hear your voice again. The last time Yosuke heard you talk was when you had to introduce yourself in front of your new classmates. Since then, you remained quiet amongst the class. 

   But then again, it already sent strange beatings to his heart for no reason. 

   “Is there a reason why you moved here?”

   “Oh, one of my guardians just got a new job in Inaba, so we had to relocate so they could be closer,” you explained. “Well, actually, they also got another job offer in Kyoto, but they wanted to settle with the one here in Inaba. So I was just like, ‘Alright,’”

   For some reason, this intrigued Yosuke. “Interesting,” he commented as he took a bite of his food. “So I assume your family is the quiet type, right?” 

   “Not exactly,” you shrugged. “I mean, I got some extraverted family members. But for a few months, my family began thinking maybe moving somewhere quieter would be a nice change. Not that they hated the city or anything, you know?” 

   “No worries, I get it,” Yosuke smiled at you. “Inaba might not be a big and interesting place, but you learn to like it over time,” 

   But at this moment, Yosuke felt a weird feeling in him when you chuckled, “Yeah, hopefully, I will,” you noted.

   Yosuke had no idea why he suddenly felt a bold of confidence. Just a moment ago, he was hesitant to invite you up to the rooftop for lunch! But he figured he would go through with it. 

   “If you want, I could show you around Inaba during the weekend! I can even bring along my friends, who are all not at school at the moment.”

   You pondered for a bit before you smiled. “That would be nice. I’ll consider it.” Then you tilted your head “And your friends are absent? Like, all of them?” 

   Yosuke chuckled sheepishly. “Yeah, literally all of them. All I know is that Yukiko is on vacation with her family, Chie got sick yesterday, and Yu lives in Tokyo. Not sure about Rise, Kanji, and Naoto. So I’m pretty much alone for the day.”

   Wait, he just caught himself. “Oh. Well, I guess ‘alone’ would be the wrong word now that I’m hanging out with you. Haha, oops!” he scratched the back of his head sheepishly. 

   The awkwardness was rubbing off on Yosuke, and he hated it. Why can he not ever be awesome? He was almost glad when you spoke up. Although, he was scared of your answer.

    “You’re all good,” you smiled as you closed your bento box and put it aside. “I mean, yeah. It honestly sucks when almost all your friends are absent from school. For me, I just sit in class and at lunch alone like, ‘This sucks. Why did you guys have to leave me?!’  

   “It’s kinda weird. Being an introvert, you would think I love lonely and having little to no friends. But no, I still need my small group of friends with me to make it through the school day, or else it will get boring as hell.” 

   Yosuke smiled. “Same here! My friends are great, even though sometimes they can be a pain in the ass. I can feel lonely when I’m not with them for long periods. It was why I wanted to invite you to eat lunch with me. And I also wanted to get a chance to get to know you after you arrived here a few days ago. 

   “Although, I gotta be honest. I was a bit worried that you would decline me. I dunno. I assumed you were the type of person who hated it when someone tries to talk to you. I-Is that a bit weird?” 

   Why are you asking if it's weird? OF COURSE, IT IS!

   Stop making this more awkward for yourself! For all you know, you’re probably making (L/N) uncomfortable!!

   OR HOW ABOUT YOU STOP OVERREACTING?!

   “Hanamura, it’s fine. Not weird at all!” you let out a light laugh. “Listen, it’s not necessarily a thing where I loathe people talking to me. But only if if they come up to me first. Other than that, I would much rather be quiet. If I’m with my close friends, then I can be a bit more talkative. 

   “But I mean, it’s so funny,” you continued, smiling. “My guardians say I’m such an extravert around my close friends and cousins. I talk so much around them, yet with strangers or people I barely know, I’m dead silent. I guess if I become more comfortable around a person, I won’t be as shy.” 

   God damn it, Yosuke knew this might be weird to ask. But he just had to know. “So…I assume you’re slowly becoming comfortable around me? I mean, you are talking a lot!”

   “I guess I am!” you said.

   Well, that was one hell of a quick answer. Eh, not that he minded! 

   Moments passed, but before Yosuke knew it, the both of you continued to talk more. It was not as if he had been around you for the longest time, but he felt like he knew more about you. He felt proud of himself for getting you to open up to him.

   And at this point, Yosuke looked up. He noticed how many of the students who were also on the rooftop were beginning to head inside.

   “Well, class is starting soon. We should probably get going before we’re late,” Yosuke suggested. You nodded in agreement, and both of you stood up. 

   “Hey, Hanamura,” you spoke up. In turn, Yosuke turned to face you and saw a soft smile on your lips (and a blush on his cheeks! Wait, no—).

    “Thanks for inviting me to lunch today, I enjoyed it a lot,” you thanked him, “And I appreciated you talking to me. You were the first person at school to have done that so far. Even though I like being alone, I still liked hanging out with someone after days of barely knowing anyone here.”

   Yosuke knew this for sure. He was proud of himself for offering you the invitation. If he had not, high chances were that you would have continued being quiet, and he would have no clue about who you were. So smiling back at you, Yosuke said, “It’s no problem at all, (L/N)! I enjoyed it, too. Wait, give me just a sec.”

   You tilted your head in confusion when Yosuke pulled out his phone and gave it to you. In a matter of seconds, you realized what the brown-haired boy wanted, judging by the screen showing. But still, you wanted to hear him say it. 

   “Put your phone number in here. And I can text you after school!” 

   With a soft chuckle, you did as Yosuke did. You especially loved seeing his eyes glisten with excitement after handing his phone back.

   And the both of you eventually went back to your classroom, feeling bliss in the air. 

[a-land-of-shadow-and-substance]

A sad, strange little land: a quick overview of Avengers Campus

So, hey, a quick post here before I go back into, basically, hiatus until the end of the semester.

I finally got to experience Avengers Campus in full, including Web Slingers and, uhh... it’s not good.  I was really cheering this one on, since I’m a Marvel fan and all, but wow, it’s bad.

First of all, it’s TINY .  Despite knowing they cleared more land for it, it still feels about the same size as Bug’s Land, possibly even more cramped.  It just felt really packed in and claustrophobic.  All the stuff you see in photos?  Basically you could stand in one place in the center and just turn around and get each photo.  It’s all just packed in, right there.

Themeing is actually pretty well done, only let down by the incredibly cramped space.  The magical walls of Dr. Strange’s Sanctum, the expanded foods that form the themeing in the ceiling and drink stations of Pym’s Test Kitchen, the Stark Industries Parking lot... they’re all nice, but when they’re layered on top of each other it loses a lot.  There’s no room for all the details to breathe, being jammed in together like that.

Web Slingers is AWFUL.  I thought a Toy Story Mania clone would fall into the realm of “uninspired but serviceable”, but it’s unquestionably WORSE than its fellow interactive ride across the park.  TSM has understandable mechanics and clearly defines what players are supposed to be doing or aiming for.  No such basics with Web Slingers; it’s hard to tell where you’re aiming or which webs are yours, or even which targets you’re supposed to shoot.  Plus, nothing felt very “Spider-Man” about it; the robot plot would have served Iron Man or even Ant Man better.  The only thing I liked about it was its integration of the real Avengers Campus environments into the game environments, but when the base is that flawed, the details can’t save it.

Mission Breakout is oddly integrated into the land; sure, it got new pavement, but the way the building is angled makes it still feel separate, and more a part of Hollywood Land than Avengers Campus.  Its spacey theme also sets it apart from the rest; at least Strange’s area looks, feels, and is explained as a magical anomaly appearing in the middle of the Campus.  Breakout is just plopped there.  Amusingly, based on what I overheard among the crowds there, everyone except employees still calls it Tower of Terror.  At most, I heard it called “Guardians of the Galaxy Tower of Terror”.  After all the rebranding and re-theming, I find it funny that, no matter what, it’s gonna be stuck with that name for a while yet.

I’ll end this with two positive things about the land.

Pym Test Kitchen is AMAZING.  Even though the giant pretzel is the most-advertised food there and is just average (it’s just a pretzel, but big), the rest of the food is what’s worth a try.  The chicken sandwich and the rather fascinating takes on the PB and J were real standouts.  A+, will make the extra effort to eat there.  The only restaurant comparable would be the one in Pandora, and that’s high praise from me.

The other positive?  Surprisingly, Mission Breakout.  I gave its non-Halloween version another try for the first time post-reopening, and I think it got some drop profiles reworked, to GREAT benefit.  Every song I rode now had incredible airtime launches, with a good mix of drop types and good flow with the music.  Not sure if these were existing profiles I never rode before, if new ones were added, or if the current songs were “plussed”, but the quality gap between Mission Breakout and Monsters After Dark has been greatly lessened, at least in terms of the physical ride experience. The way it sways in front of the screen is still incredibly nauseating, as is the ugly yellow lighting package at night (why can’t they keep the good lights from Monsters year-round?), but hey, Breakout is actually doing something competently and enjoyably, at last.

TLDR: Pym Test Kitchen--AWESOME, Mission Breakout--Good!, Avengers Land--this concept deserved better, Web Slingers--how did Disney mess up THIS badly

[mocacheezy]

Things that made watching Transformers (2007) easier and even enjoyable:

[note: B'verse gets the treatment that it gets by fandom for good reasons. There are tons of posts that dissect the bullshit of these movies far better than my second-language-english-non-american self could ever tackle, so I am not doing that, or plan on doing that. But if I decide that I'll get through every continuity of the franchise I will find a way to make it fun for myself. And so, this is my search for golden nuggets in these movies, because they did bring in new fans to the franchise and that's why we have other continuities that we might not have otherwise. Credit where it's due, and some positivity for those that did find B'verse at least amusing if nothing else. ]

🍴🥄🔪🍴🥄🔪🍴🥄🔪🍴🥄🔪🥄🔪🍴🥄🔪

Frenzy

Anytime Frenzy was on screen made me smile because his movements and personality were hilarious, he is just so expressive despite looking like someone super glued a bunch of knifes together. I wouldn't know it was Frenzy if I didn't go to the Wiki, but no matter that, he was funny and that's what matters.

The original Cybertronian robot modes

We don't see them for long, but the glimpses were glorious. Just look at Optimus

Gorgeous. What I wouldn't give to see the details up close. Maybe I'll go looking eventually, but this is just so nice.

We also get a "sexily rises from the pool" scene with Ironhide (probably unintentional and I am biased due to being a robofucker. In any case, very very nice and Cybertronians look so good as aliens)

"Excuse me, are you the Tooth Fairy?"

You see this kid?

This little girl was the only human I cared about in the movie until I saw just how badass Mikaela is, and how cool the military dude is. I don't like kids, but I would lay down my life for this girl.

This one scene just makes me think of what would happen if her parents showed up way earlier. Ironhide would be her guardian and it would be both adorable and hilarious because "Honey, you have to drive in a sentient alien that looks just like our car because the goverment men said so or there will be consequences and potential alien threats."

There are so many joke potentials there; the cultural barrier, the "I am the ine that is supposed to keep her safe" glaring contests, there is just so much shenanigans that could happen.

Also, tea party with the kid. Tea party with the kid.

Sam Witwicky actually reacts like an average human would when faced with the situations he finds himself in

Do I like Sam Witwicky? No, he is the kind of character that I would want to punch irl because of his personality and actions. He is disgusting. But watching him scamper and scream and stutter when faced with giant metal robot aliens that can squish him like a bug? Good, that was a beliavable reaction and I enjoyed it a great deal.

Megatron. Just, ✨Megatron✨

(the best screenshot of the few I could take while watching, no, I am not going back for a better one, he looks perfect like this)

I also laughted at how they kept him frozen like a popsicle. And not even well, like, they COULD'VE made an actual freezer and pop him in instead of using those couple of tubes just so he was displayed for all personell to gawk at. HE CRASHED IN THE ANTARCTIC!

The design looks so good, because it looks ALIEN and POINTY and AGH!!! The colors? There are no colors that would make him stand out, he looks like someone opened a cutlery drawer, mixed up what's inside, threw in some extra knifes for a good measure and then shook the whole thing until this guy materialized from the pile. It is both incredibly annoying and satisfying.

🔪

Mr. Welker did an amazing job with his voice, I don't know what the directions were, but oh man it sure sent shivers down my spine. That is the kind of voice that spells "You are going to die" and I already have my coffin picked out.

EDIT: SO APPARENTLY! IT WAS NOT WELKER THAT VOICED MEGATRON.

It was Hugo Weaving, and yes the man did am amazing job, but I apologize a million times, I was CERTAIN that THE OG VA OF MEGATRON WOULD ALSO HAVE VOICED MEGATRON. LIKE, OKAY BAY, OKAY!

🔪

LOOK AT THE AMOUNT OF ICE! With how quick he came back fully online once Frenzy turned off the freeze liquid tubes, I bet he was half awake through the whole thing. Systems just below idling or something, in any case, AGENTS YOU ARE SO DUMB! WHO WAS GIVING SUBPAR FUNDING TO THEM, THEY BETTER BE FIRED!

I also was glad that Sam refused to call him by the name the sector asigned to him, despite Megatron being in stasis. And that he insisted they use the correct name. Good job Sam, acknowledge the threat by the actual name and show respect to a fellow sentient lifeform. Even though said lifeform is hellbent on destruction of the universe and your world.

ALSO, AND I CANNOT STRESS THE LAUGHTER AND AMUSEMENT HERE; the sheer DISRESPECT! They don't disassemble Megatron's corpse. No, these idiots, these absolute morons decide to dump him into the ocean, letting him sink to the lowest possible point (not sure if they did say it was the M' Trench or not), where there are proper freezing temperatures - good! You're learning, good job!! - just... In full. Full corpse. What's left of him. Just blup! Down with the fishies he goes!

I understand that they probably didn't know how to approach Optimus about it, but... At least behead the guy. He came back ONCE, who is to say he won't come back again?! Safety precautions my dears.

They also completely disregard what a giant extraterrestrial metal alien rusting away on the bottom of the ocean could do to the ecosystem at large. Like, I find this incredibly amusing, because this ISN'T something most folks think about when watching a movie but we have giant squids down there. We have so much weird things down there, the ocean isn't even fully explored AND YOU WANT TO CHUCK AN ALIEN CORPSE DOWN THERE?!

Now the real question: is he a looker? *looks at the pictures* hmmmm, depends on if you like knifes. Like, really like knifes. Like really, really REALLY want to get it on with a fine assembly of kitchen knifes that were exposed to the elements but somehow haven't rusted away completely.

I think he's neat.

Needs a good long powerwash though. Preferrably with something to help the whole "I was frozen for more than 50 years and sprang back to action as soon as I woke up" thing that happened.

My man needs to take a moment and get his bearings, like dude. Please. You can conquer the world after some energon and slow system boot-up period. The strain on the systems my dude, you ain't young.

Also love that this "death" was probably reused in TFP because lord golly, do we love our faves ending up under the sea. (Though Megan took a much bigger fall, Bayverse WAS PLOPPED INTO THE WATER LIKE A NEWLY ACQUIRED FISH I CAN'T YOU GUYS I CAN'T!)

In short: I love the comedy of american military giving such disrespect to an Alien Warlord. These guys are really sealing their fate.

I loved the way they got the Witwicky family to be important to the plot

The whole "selling my great great grandpa's glasses on e-bay" thing gives us a very good self insert/OC/rewrite/movie AU potential. Don't like Sam and his disgustingness? Find a way to write a cousin or some far off relative or hell, even just someone who buys the glasses off e-bay and go wild with it!

Archibald was also clearly an inspiration for Isaac Sumdac as far as I can tell, what with both of them using Megatron as a means of helping technology advance.

Only difference being one of them lived and actually talked to Megatron after he came back online and the other got driven to madness and death due to the amount of information beamed into his brain. Isaac also acquired a space baby daughter, so the guy is absolutely luckier of the two.

Mikaela being fucking competent and badass throughout the movie, and not being just fanservice eyecandy

I could do without the fanservice, but her personality? I loved it. I loved that she wasn't crawling to Sam and wasn't being "hard to get". Which is also why I was very displeased at the very sudden "oh yeah, romance! She returns his feelings after he took her for a ride and let her vent her frustrations!". The movie is 2 hours long and they could throw in some moments where these two connect?

Welp, it is an action movie, boy gets girl no matter what, can't complain about the staple in the genre.

However, Mikaela x Optimus? Now THAT is something I considered as soon as the two locked eyes and interacted. Like, even taking my shipping goggles off, these two could have a very interesting dynamic and Mikaela could be a very good protagonist. I wonder what the movie would be like with her as the lead and Sam being the fucking moron she has to drag along with her.

BUT ALSO! Can we talk about the horrible, excruciating fact that her and Bumblebee drove around with Bee's damaged legs dragging over asphalt all the time he was shooting at 'Cons? There were sparks flying! SHE WAS DRIVING BACKWARDS! She took command of the situation and did what she could because Bee still wanted TO FIGHT!

Also, they way she beat up Frenzy? Gorgeous, I want to slap Sam's non-existent balls off for not atleast saying "thanks". The dude would be sliced thinner than cabbage if she wasn't there.

The millitary man we are supposed to care about because his wife gave birth while he was on duty and we see his baby three times in the whole movie, actually being a pretty awesome and well-written character

Look, personally, I was a little confused at the reason why we were seeing his wife and baby interacting/the scene where she thinks her husband is dead. Mostly because I don't like kids, so scenes like that, when I don't even know who the character is, have no impact at all. Him having a baby isn't going to make me like the guy more, unless I know his character. Him being absent because he's on duty doesn't mean he'll be a good dad (though he looks like the kind of man that will try his best, and I like that in a man). So seeing his wife and kid at the start of the movie seemed pointless to me.

BUT! FOCUSING ON THE POSITIVES HERE!

Lennox is a good character and whenever he was on screen I was invested in what is going to happen to him. He's the kind of action movie lead that would have me invested, despite my meh interest in mainly gun fight oriented action movies.

Essentially, loved the guy, would love to see more of him while also being able to tell what's happening on screen. Also the comedy scenes he was in were usually funny.

~

Okay so these are the things I like about the first movie! It was very long, had to watch it on 2,5x speed because it simultainously dragged while ALSO giving me too much information, but the moments like these and the way my imagination latched onto characters I liked made it watchable. It isn't a movie I'd use to introduce someone to the TF franchise, but it provided me with lots of material for my imagination to run wild.

[iloveseung-gi]

Goblin:

Guardian: The Lonely and Great God:

07/02/2021: So months back someone had mentioned that “Goblin” was a fantastic series. So while trying to find “Goblin” I found “Kiss Goblin”, the web series and it was cute, but I knew it wasn’t the series the person had suggested. So later on I tried to find “Goblin” again, and this time came back with “Guardian: the Lonely and Great God”. Not knowing if this was the series they were referring to and with so many awesome new series being shown, I still put off seeing this series. Now when I start watching a new series, I like to look up the cast because I’m keeping a list of the actors and actresses that I really like (being American, Korean names are very confusing because they’re so similar). Finally, I found the title of the series to be “Goblin: The Lonely and Great God” and then I saw the title “Goblin” and I realized that these three names are all referring to the same series. So today I have finally started “Goblin” and it is phenomenal!

Goblin the Lonely and GREAT GOD

The cast alone is unbelievable. Lee Dong-Wook (Tale of the Nine-Tailed) is the cutest Grim Reaper ever 💋! Even Kim Go-Eun (The King: Eternal Monarch), Yoo In-Na (Secret Garden), Kim Byung-Chul (Sisyphus: The Myth), Park Bo-Gum (Itaewon Class), Nam Da-Reum (Boys Over Flowers; While You Were Sleeping; Sweet Home; Start Up, the series; Doom at Your Service) and one of my all time favorites, Jung (Jeong) Hae-In (Something in the Rain; One Spring Night; While You Were Sleeping; Start Up, the movie) are in this. I have finally seen enough series that I actually know who the actors are!!…lol.

Goblin (2016)

I’m not even through episode one and I absolutely love the Goblin and the Grim Reaper characters! They are too funny when they are together. Gong Yoo and Lee Dong-Wook play off each other really well; great chemistry. Park They are inadvertently thrown together as roommates. The Goblin loves to tease and irritate the Grim Reaper. After all the bickering that they do, they still worked together to save the “Goblin Bride” who is a 19-yr. old high school student who can see ghosts and the Goblin and the Grim Reaper. She is that way because the Goblin saved her mother from death while she was still pregnant. They were gone when the Grim Reaper came to collect their souls. Her mother is killed later on her ninth birthday, and because she can see ghosts, her mother was able to go to her and say goodbye.

Guardian: The Lonely and Great God

It is the ghosts that tell her she is the Goblin Bride, but the Goblin, whom she finally meets, is telling her that she is not. (Kim Go-Eun is wonderful as this character!) Now in episode 3, she proves she is his bride by pointing out the sword still through his body.

The Grim Reaper and the Goblin fighting over the salt grinder while making dinner together.

Just to take a step back for a moment, the Goblin had been a great General killing thousands over the years, but his King was jealous of the fact that the people loved the General more, so the King had the General killed with his own sword and thus he was punished by the Gods for his sins to live an eternal life remembering everything. He has been looking for his bride because she is the only one that can see and pull out the sword and then he will die and be at peace. After 900+ years he was yearning for death. But now he is falling for the bride and his emotions are conflicted. He wants the peace he has longed for all these years, but now he has a reason to live.

Although the Goblin has special powers, as the episodes continue, he shows more and more of his natural human self; jealousy, teasing, even getting drunk. He didn’t want the bride to know that when she pulls out the sword he will die but after getting drunk from just two beers he told her that she was the only one that could remove the sword, luckily he did not tell her that he would die. (I pray and I pray that when the sword is actually pulled out, he doesn’t just die instantaneously, but that he becomes human so that he is able to die a normal death. He didn’t do anything wrong to deserve the death that he got, so I’m hoping that he will be able to live a normal human life and to live and to love and to have children, etc. etc.)

Also, in the past his sister married the King, but she was put to death at the same time her brother was killed.

Now back to the present: the Goblin Bride works at a small cafe and the Grim Reaper has fallen for Sunny, the owner. With a kiss from the Grim Reaper Sunny remembers her past life and she turns out to be the Goblin’s reincarnated sister. Now Grim Reapers have no memories of their pasts, their memories are erased. To become a Grim Reaper, the human did some mortal sin, such as murder or suicide. Now on episode nine it is discovered that the Grim Reaper is the reincarnation of the King that had put the General and his sister to death despite loving her.

The Goblin Bride walks in to see the Goblin and the Grim Reaper trying to stab each other with butter knives….. both using their telekinesis powers… LOL.  This is just one of their many squabbles. 

Back to the past: a teacher who practically raised the King was corrupting the King’s mind. As soon as the Goblin rose from the grave, he went straight to this evil man and killed him. Somehow this vicious, evil spirit has been able to hide from the Grim Reapers over 900 years. He appears before the Goblin, but the Goblin cannot kill him with his water sword. Then this evil spirit tells the Goblin that the Grim Reaper is the reincarnation of the King and disappears. The Goblin is furious now, trying to find the Grim Reaper. 

[rapha-reads]

Doctor Who Flux - chapter 2 : War of the Sontarans

Isn't Atropos the name of one of the Fates in Greek Mythology, the one who appears like an old woman? Then it would indeed make sense that her temple is where Time is kept under control, given that the Fates are the ones who control the threads of every living being! Tho, now, a templewith strange guardians and priests, on a planet literally called Time... Oh, that is exciting! The universe is big and only getting bigger!

That being said, Swarm and Azure are Extra Strength Majorly Creepy TM and they're giving me aaaaalll kinds of bad vibes and cold shivers. Who. Are. They ? Where do they come from, are they from the Doctor's past, one of their forgotten life? Or are they even older, directly from the Timeless Child's original dimension? And where does Passenger come from now??? Aaaah, so many questions, and it's only episode 2, it's already episode 2!

Dan is a puppy! Oh, he's really brilliant. Quick on his feet and funny, and kind! He's a good fit for the Tardis. Oh, and his mum made me think of good ol' Jackie Tyler, and that's an added bonus. Also, THE WOK. Now that's what I call a perfect weapon! Speaking of puppies, Vinder is really having a rough time.

And the Tardis keeps on being corrupted... Tho now that we kniw time is starting to run wild, it does explain it a bit. But! Who broke the first Mouri? Was it the Flux? Because if the Flux destroyed the Mouri, the corruption of the Tardis started before the Flux. Oooor... Because time is broken, and the Tardis exists simultaneously across all of time, did the corruption set in before the even even happened, because time got impacted at every point in existence? Ooh, I'm giving myself a headache.

So I don't know anything about the Crimean War and Mary Seacole (not my area of expertise, that), but Mary was cool! Very sassy, very smart, quick witted and clever. That General on the other hand... Not good, sir. Not good at all. The Doctor does hate it when men cause more blood shed than necessary. Also has anyone else noticed that lately, the women are being awesome while the men are being rubbish at worst, decent at best? Reminds me of what the Master said in "The Doctor Falls" (Simm!Master, not Missy, can't find the quote in gifs, but you know the one).

So, the Sontarans are trying to escape the Flux, and decided that Earth was to be the new safe Sontaran Empire, because the Lupari are apparently effectively protecting the Earth from the brunt of the destruction that's besieging the rest of the Universe. Meanwhile, the Doctor, Dan, Yaz and Vinder are in a weird temple on a weird planet with creepy, old, powerful mysterious beings that want to create even more chaos. We still don't know what the Flux is, or where do Claire and the Angels or what happened to Diane factor in this, but we are moving and getting all the pieces positioned on the board case by case. Fascinating! It's a chess game, a chess game wity massive destruction and tidal wqves of impact every time a piece is moved, but that's the beauty of chess, the game is never decided until the end. The Queen is still on the board and though the King (Yaz, for those following) is in danger, the game is not over.

I'm having fun with series 13 so far! Who else is having fun? Come on, drop your theories or far-fetched chess metaphors in the comments, or my ask box! What did I miss? What moment of the episode did I forget to mention? Let's talk!

[judyhopps934-mt-zd]

Thoughts on Furious Fu

Warning: Spoilers! And remember that this is the 6th episode of the 4th season in Portuguese (and my native Spanish knowledge and English Sub can only get me so far), so if you don’t want to read this yet, you have been warned. Speaking of Season 4, I’m back, baby!

We start out with the Kwamis begging Marinette to take them to see Master Fu. Like, did they forget that he list his memories or something???? So help me since they did not bother to listen to Marinette afterwards.

Apparently, Marinette still has a hard time saying no to others as she eventually relented into letting them go see Master Fu. They just don’t get it that she is wearing the Ladybug Miraculous and that she needs to accompany her everywhere, and Wayzz was like the co-guardian with Master Fu. Also, Marinette cannot say no with the so-called “baby doll eyes” (This is in quotes because some of the Kwamis looked terrifying as if they had just murdered someone.)

Why do I get the feeling that Barrk (or however their name is spelled) is the more responsible Kwami out of all of them (aside from Tikki in my opinion?) They stayed behind, claiming that someone needs to stand guard and how they did not like the idea of the Kwamis going to see Master Fu as a group. And then they watch a show about Knights.

Also, Marinette has placed decorative paper on the window. Smart, since some of these Kwamis have no sense of control.

Speaking of which, when they all arrive at the train station, They start singing for Master Fu, drawing attention. Call me a sadist, but I find it funny how Marinette threatened to throw her “phone” in the trash. 

Meeting Master Fu and Marianne (I am so glad that she is alive and got to be with Master Fu - again I’m so sorry for making you all think she was dead during Loveater/HeartHunter) was going well until Wayzz decided to be a fan girl for a second to go to Master Fu and once placed back in his bag, continuously screaming “He Touched Me! He Touched Me!” Wayzz, we thought you were the responsible one, but we get that you are grieving. 

Also, Master Fu is a painter! He does abstract, landscapes - apparently everything!

And now…we meet the Celestial Guardian: Su-Han! (Aka: who we originally though was Master Fu as an akuma or whatever we all thought, either way, he did not make a friendly first impression on anyone really. We knew he was a Celestial Guardian because the Kwamis said so.)

Apparently, Master Fu and Marinette had broken a lot of rules from the Order of Guardians, such as Kwamis not being let out of the Miracle Box, children not being allowed to wear Miraculouses, the GUARDIANS not being allowed to wear the Miraculouses, not losing the Miraculouses, etc.

Also, everyone knows how scary Plagg is on his own. Yikes! (And understandable, like the Dinosaurs anyone?)

So Ladybug and Chat Noir are now supposed to return their Miraculouses. Trust me, this gets interesting

1. Chat Noir was willing to give up his Miraculous if Ladybug says so! Like, to him, she is the only authority (Guardian in this case - see what I did there?)

2. HOWEVER, he would not give up the Miraculous if it meant that Ladybug would renounce the Miracle box, FORGETTING ALL HER MEMORIES AND MEMORIES ABOUT CHAT NOIR ALONG WITH GIVING UP THE FREAKING MIRACLE BOX! AND HE FIGHTS A GUARDIAN WHO KNOWS MORE ABOUT MARTIAL ARTS AND THE MIRACULOUS FOR GOODNESS SAKES! We love you Chat, we hope you know that!

Now, LADYBUG also fights the Guardian, seeing Su-Han FIGHTING CHAT NOIR! May I suggest Ladynoir anyone?

I don’t think Su-Han was aware that Master Fu has forgotten about being the Guardian (which was surprising to say the least) and he SNATCHES HIS CANE!!! (Which was a mysterious object as well, like what????)

Also, Su-Han is able to defend himself from being akumatized??? Like, can you pass on the knowledge and set up crash courses on how to do so??? Also, WAS THE BUTTERFLY MIRACULOUS ONCE BEFORE USED FOR EVIL THAT THERE NEEDS TO BE SUCH A TECHNIQUE TO AVOID BEING TARGETED BY AKUMAS???

Speaking of Akumas, I HATE YOU AND YOUR GUTS SHADOWMOTH!!!

And this is where Master Fu GETS AKUMATIZED! Also, he becomes taller as an Akuma.

Battle ensues in the stadium, with the Miracle Box being used as a soccer ball (And Chat saying “Goal “ was wholesome, but he was literally in an akuma battle!)

Ladybug calls out Su-Han for causing an active akuma (he was the one that made Master Fu angry in the first place) and for not working on fixing his mistake

Apparently, Ladybug’s costume changes during a Lucky Charm and I will elaborate this later on, but she looks awesome in the new costume. I wish that was her permanent costume!

Furious Fu almost killed Chat and caught Ladybug, but he did not anticipate Marianne to get the pen (and she made it look so easy).

*Insert purifying the akuma and MIRACULOUS LADYBUG! (It is very obvious I have no idea what I’m doing anymore)

So Ladybug’s new costume is only shown during the activation of a Lucky Charm, which sucks (I really liked the new costume), and we have no idea why that is, but I believe it has to do with the fact that there is a protective charm that is created during the battle and that it is related with the fact that Ladybug being the Guardian gives her a power boost or an added responsibility.

Speaking of the Protective Charm, it is not explained in this episode, but I believe it protects a former akumatized victim from being akumatized again. It was given to Master Fu right after.

And we end this thoughts post with Su-Han being angry that Marinette has violated a rule regarding involving powerless civilians in fights, but also realized that maybe breaking the rules at times works and entrusts Marinette with the Miracle Box (which happened to be the first and most powerful Miracle Box) under the condition that she makes no mistakes.

Also, can we just admire Su-Han for being perplexed by modern society (HE ALMOST DESTROYED MARINETTE’S COMPUTER BECAUSE HE THOUGHT THE KNIGHT WAS CHALLENGING HIM).

Also, stan Marinette for giving a peace offering of new kicks despite everything that has happened!

Overall, this is not the most emotional episode in Season 4 (they said all the episodes would have the same impact as Chat Blanc, but I kind of don’t see it in this episode). However, it was still a great episode regardless and I enjoyed having Miraculous back in my life as it lets me forget about my first program rejection, screw you program you never deserved me!

The most emotional part of this episode was probably the new trailer for season 4, which is all for another post. So see you all soon!

[daedalusdavinci]

eridave in the guardians au

so as previously mentioned, the central focus of the guardians au is eridan and daves relationship. its largely based off of a series of headcanons and aus that @roomfulloferidans and i have been cultivating for literally like. how long has it been now. a long time. im gonna be elaborating on stuff ive already talked about, so if you havent seen it already, you should go read the au summary and then come back

before they meet in person, eridan is just an online troll who hates daves shitty indie movies, and dave only really knows who eridan is by his online name and thinks hes kind of funny. when they do meet, its because dave happens to meet karkat and hire him as an actor, and when karkat complains to eridan about it, eridan almost immediately dominates the jam session by losing his shit about his moirail working for dave fucking strider and makes karkat introduce him so he can bully dave in person too

the beginning of their relationship is a lot of eridan pitchflirting and harassing dave, and dave not understanding and just being an asshole right back, because its kind of funny. its actually pretty bad, and they have a nasty habit of letting things escalate way too far. its also kind of public, because anyone whos familiar with daves work is now obviously fascinated by this fucking rando beefing with the unshakeable dave strider on twitter, especially when they find out that they actually know each other irl, because its fucking hilarious. the whole thing is so funny. its made worse by sollux, who doesnt particularly like eridan and does really like dave, and thinks its funny to stoke the fires. it gets to a point where karkat has to step in and he doesnt threaten to auspice so much as he actively auspices and then denies hes doing it at all because he is not auspicing for his moirail and definitely not for his moirail and this guy hes not even fucking dating (yet)

but after that very rough beginning, eridan does, eventually, ask dave out. and everything chills out. the establishment of a relationship clears up a lot of confusion and frustration and makes it easier for them to establish boundaries and read where the other is at, like, immediately. instead of constantly harassing each other, its mostly light bullying and specified dates for competitive nonsense. unfortunately for karkat the dates they seem to like the best (or the ones dave finds funniest and eridan likes the best) are fancy ones wherein eridan splashes champagne on dave and a dozen camera flashes go off as he storms out of the room. they drive karkat insane, but really theyre just having fun at this point. thats just how they are. eridan is insanely dramatic and dave fuels it because its funny as fuck and its doing wonders for his career which it turn makes eridan throw more fits which gets him more attention and its awesome

the problem is that, despite both of them being pretty happy in an actually very healthy pitch relationship, dave is still.... not exactly great with quadrants. hes only human. everything gets fucked up when, inevitably, dave crosses a line in one of their fights and eridan actually gets upset, and dave, like the fucking bleeding heart he is, immediately tries to make it better, and eridan is like. haha. fuck. and now weve reached the messy and hilarious land of quadsmearing because dave cant keep his quads straight and eridan is. kind of into it actually. very into it.

endgame is that they end up in the most obnoxiously pda filled relationship because dave and eridan are both dramatic and annoying enough to flip in and out of pitch easily and theyre also needy and affectionate enough that theyre so clingy and it all just works. they pretend to break up at fancy events at least once a month for fun only for sollux to post something the next day like god help me if eridan doesnt stop fucking chittering at dave like that im gonna kill someone. daves instagram is full of fucking stunning pictures of eridan captioned with shit like “im about to push him into this fountain lol” and eridan shows up on daves set just to distract him with affection so he doesnt realize until two hours in that theyre not getting anything done anymore. and its all fucking hilarious.

[bucksbisexual]

well, well, well. it’s the end of 2020.

kinda weird, isn’t it? the year has flown by and it’s already the end of the last month. it’s been..... strange to say the least, but this year i’ve found a place, and most specifically, people who have made this year a little bit better and brighter with either their presence or their content, and for that, i want to send some love to all of you who have made an impact on me this year with our interactions or your content on my dashboard 💖💖

i feel like i should start with everyone who has added me in their follow forevers (i still can’t believe i was even part of a single one??? i- 🥺) so let me do just that hehe

@yihwas​ soph!! we haven’t interacted much but every time we did u have been nothing but the sweetest and kindest person ever and that made such a great impact on me, thank u for being so amazing 🥰💛

@planthusbands​ cass!!! even though our age gap is 10 whole years you have been nothing but welcoming and lovely to me and u truly feel like an older sister to me 🥺💚 the cover u did for our secret santa hugs me tightly whenever i feel down 💖

@petekaos​ rahul!!!! (or should i say rhaul kjsjfhsfj my fingers h*te u for no reason i swear) u are such a lovely person and i’m so glad to be able to have gotten to know u better this year. you’re so amazing and u already know from before we even interacted that i Love ur fics so please never let anything stop u from writing!! 💙

@wjmild​ kylie!!! we have been talking more lately because of both of us (well, now only me) watching guardian and it’s so much fun!! i love hearing ur thoughts and opinions on things even if they differ from mine because i find u really interesting!!! also u’ve probably heard this from everyone from the gc but i love ur voice jhfkjsf love u lotsss 🧡

@toptaps​ zey!! we haven’t interacted much and have barely spoken on dms but u’re so lovely and kind 💛 ur love for things makes me want to love them as well (see: guardian) and i would love to get to know u better this year that’s just around the corner 🥰

okay and now.. to everyone else!!

@brightwin​ jelly!!! i miss u tons :-( but thank u for being so lovely whenever we interacted, you’re so nice to everyone and so so so talented when it comes to giffing, you’re pretty much the person who made me want to start giffing so thank u for creating such masterpieces 💛

@gunatps​ vee!!! are u feeling better love? i hope you’re recovering well <3 i loved getting to know u this year and loved all the weird conversations in the gc when it was alexa, u and me or sometimes just u and me, i miss bicis but hopefully bicis can come back as soon as u recover. ur korn apologist agenda was strong but u ended up being right... truly The Monarch skjfhsj love u lots 🧡 (i will join ur next chanonpom breakdown on vc okay? just tell me when and i’ll be there <3)

@kimmonv​ violet!!! we haven’t talked much but u seem like such an interesting and funny person, i would love to talk more with u this next year 🥰 i loved being ur secret santa (even if i sucked at it) and i felt rlly happy when u said u liked it!! i hope 2021 treats u well 💚

@lee-thanat​ ke!!! i loved getting to know u a little this year and i definitely loved trying to read ur nonsensical messages that were supposed to mean something KHSFJSHF i also loved playing with u on among us that one time even if i killed u once (sorry about that btw... ily), i hope everything’s going well and that we can talk more next year 💜

@soulmatelines​ jo!!! my twin sjkfjksfh i loooved getting to know u this year!! you’re so funny and so smart even if ur artistic skills are... Not The Best skfjhjfhks (neither are mine so it’s okay, no need to feel bad) i loved being on vc with u and just talking with u on discord whenever u were online, i hope we can continue doing that next year!!! love u lots 💛

@pvrrish​ eleni!! we’ve talked so little this year that i can barely remember if there was any conversation at all :-(( but i would love to get to know u better this next year!! u seem like such an interesting person and u and angel are friends so i’m sure u’re amazing!! hope 2021 treats u well 💚

@class2clown​ angel!!! it’s been such a pleasure to get to know u this year and i can’t believe that it’s already been months since we first spoke :’)) all of ur creations are soooo good and i love all of them!!! i hope nothing ever stops u from creating more because they’re all so amazing!!! 🧡

@floralbfs​ augs!!!! god it’s been a while since we started talking but u’ve always been so lovely and have always been there to share ur ideas for the thousand unwritten/posted pangwave and khaithird fics on our dms... i’m so glad that u rbed one of my tgg posts asking for the drama’s name because otherwise i wouldn’t have gotten to know someone as amazing as u 🥰 i hope 2021 is easier for u, sending u lots of love 💛

@vihokratanas​ mel!!! we haven’t spoken much but i’ve noticed that we share our love for a few dramas so i’d love to get to know u better this next year!!! u and violet’s almost daily spam on the bops channel is dearly missed but i know u guys are busy so hopefully this 2021 will be a bit more relaxed 🧡

@doctorbahnjit​ alexa my love!!!!! what can i even tell u.... you’ve been nothing but kind since day 1 that we started talking on the gc and to get to know u this 2020 was such a delight. thank u for being who u are and thank u for watching dramas with me on vc even if u can’t (or i can’t) hear shit, i appreciate it sososososo much and i just love spending hours upon hours (well, until ur grandma ass has to go to sleep) chatting and watching debatably good dramas with u and dawn <3 i hope 2021 treats u better and that u still stay being as awesome as u are 🥰💖

@pangwave​ dawnnie my baby!!!!! hi bb how’s everything going?? i hope u’re okay, i miss u a lot :-(( getting to know u this year has been one of the best things that have come out of this hellhole of a year. thank u for making most of my nights so entertaining with both ur thoughts and ur dumb fights with alexa, they’ve been the highlight of my days from these past 2 months :’) the endless vc calls with u and alexa (and ur shitty internet cutting every single one of ur sentences)  have made my year so much better and i can’t thank u enough for that. u and ur crabsticks and ur opinions and ur incredibly good gifsets are truly some of the best things that have come out of this year. thank u sosososo much for being how u are, i love u so much dawnnie 🥰💖

here’s some other people who have been on my dash for a while and that i appreciate their content as well: @scoupslipgloss (i mostly rb u with my sideblog but i love ur acc!!!) @vocalunits @chaoticbiwuxian @drwcn @bimingjue​ (i wouldn’t be a gifmaker if it wasn’t for u sending me the ps download link so i owe u my Life) @aanau (i rb a lot of what u post and i’m sorry if i have ever spammed u skjfhjsf i just love ur blog even if we don’t really share any fandoms aaaa) @emisfritish @leoyunxi @1akorn @gunsatthaphan @asianmelodrama @fushiguroo @khaotungthanawat @mymycorrhizae @jaehwany​ and @coldties amongst the many blogs that i’ve seen all year on my dash!!!! everyone’s content and posts have gotten me through 2020 so thank u all so much for staying on tumblr 💗

i feel like i’ve forgotten people but please know that if u are not in this but we’ve interacted in any way then you’ve most definitely made some kind of impact to me!! these are just the people i talk with the most 💖

thank u all for being soooo amazing and i hope 2021 is good to everyone here and to everyone who reads this. happy holidays and happy new year to everyone 🥰💖✨