#aware it’s a different timeline and i think a lot of the hate for her devolves into straight up misogyny i Love her character i think it was

[bravevolunteer]

ngl there’s a little part of my brain that doesn’t know whether to feel upset or validated about little movie vanessa details aligning with things i’ve said about the aftons/michael

[tokyo-daaaamn-ji-gang]

Hi hi!! Hope you’re doing well, I love your writing! I was wondering if you could do some hc on how ran, Rindou, sanzu, Baji, and Kazutora would react if they had a crush on a shy girl, so they always stare at her, but she thinks they’re glaring and gets scared?

Ok! Here are some hc's on them staring at a shy girl and accidentally scaring her because she thinks they're glaring. Put the timelines next to the names, also tw for kidnap on Sanzu's.

Ran (good timeline)

He really wasn't expecting to ever get caught staring at you, so the first time you suddenly turned and your eyes met his, he was caught off guard. He quickly recovered giving you a lazy smile though, and so the same thing continued everytime you caught him. Ran thought he was being charming and playful.....he never figured the stares would come off differently or that you would see his smiles as something sinister.

He doesn't understand why you always seem in such a hurry to get away from him. Were you not interested in him? Or is this part of the game?

Eventually he manages to trap you, standing between you and the door, grinning at you like a cat who just caught the mouse. Slamming his hand on the wall, next to your head, he leans in, intending on finally flirting with you verbally.

Only for him to suddenly notice your scared expression and realise that he's scaring you

Immediately backs off with his hands in the air, trying to show you he means you no harm. Explains the situation to you and actually apologises for scaring you.

He's mainly just surprised and a little embarrassed that he didn't realise earlier.

Rindou (good timeline)

Doesn't even notice notice he was staring at you at first, he's liked you for the longest time now and his gaze is just always wandering over to you unintentionally. He daydreams a lot while looking at you.

Anytime you turn to peek at him and your eyes meet, he tends to look away just as quickly as you. He hasn't quite figured out how he wants to approach you yet.

Eventually, he tries to talk to you but gets confused by your expression and by how you seem to practically run away anytime he gets close.

Actually assumes it's because you know his reputation as one of the Haitani brother's instead of it being because of the staring. So he tries to lay low a bit gang wise but the staring still continues.

Until one day, when you try to run off he calls your name and catches your wrist. He explains that he knows you're scared of him but that he won't ever hurt you and that you don't have to be scared because of the gangs. You look at him with a confused look for a moment before asking "so you don't hate me?". Rindou is very confused and also embarrassed as you explain the staring thing.

Sanzu (Bonten, tw: kidnap)

He's aware that you're scared straight away but it doesn't bother him. He's always observing people so has gotten good with knowing their thoughts and emotions, and picks up on yours immediately.

Sanzu's a bit different to the others though, since he never plans on actually having a relationship with you. Sure he's interested but Mikey is his king and the only one he allows himself to spend time on, he has to be his number one priority. So there's no time for a relationship, you're just a passing fantasy so it doesn't matter what you think of him.

He was wrong though, months go by and he's still interested in you. You won't leave his head, the staring intensifies.

Eventually he gives up, guess he has no choice but to approach you. He can probably make it work between you and serving Mikey too anyway. Besides he's no good to Mikey or bonten when he's all distracted like this.

You're walking home alone and don't see him till it's too late, one second you're walking and the next you're being pulled into an unknown car and being injected with something. Sanzu strokes your hair as your head rests on his lap, you were right to be scared of him.

Baji (good timeline)

He's in complete denial that he's even staring at you, Chifuyu and Kazutora both pick up on it and question him but Baji always denies it, getting defensive about how he definitely wasn't staring at you.

He hates how quickly you always leave, always rushing out of the pet shop whenever you see him. He wants to see you for longer, so wishes you would browse more like the other customers. Especially after he finds out that you happily stay longer and even chat with Kazutora and Chifuyu when he's not there.

This goes on for months, Baji staring at you longingly anytime you came in and you seeing his frustrated look, assuming he's angry at you and leaving quickly with your purchases.

Of course Kazutora and Chifuyu are the ones who have to step in. Making up some excuse about both of them being sick one day, so Baji would have to cover the shop alone for them. Meaning you and Baji would have to interact at the till.

Baji watches you as you casually walk into the shop, only to freeze when your eyes lock with his. You gulp and glance around before realising he's the only one there today, your only choice for buying your items.

You had hoped he wouldn't say anything to you but instead Baji immediately asks if you have a problem with him. He was never one for subtly after all. "I thought you had a problem with me?" You both end up surprised and clearing the matter up. Baji does have to deal with Kazutora and Chifuyu's teasing after though.

Kazutora (bad toman timeline)

You were being harassed by toman the first time he saw you, so of course he jumped in, beating them up to protect you. Toman shouldn't be hurting random girls. After he'd finished he was about to walk away when he heard the quiet "thank you" and realised you were offering him some tissues for his own injuries from the fight. You ran off after that, before Kazutora could offer to walk you home or even just ask if you were ok.

He figured he'd never see you again but then he did, just by chance. After that the two of you bumped into each other often, with him always staring after you. He wanted to say thanks for the tissues and get to know you more, he wanted you. You seemed so sweet, no girl had ever stuck around after a fight and offered him something to help before.

You thought he was mad at you because he had to beat up those guys or maybe he expected some kind of payment for doing that? He definitely seemed to be glaring at you...

It didn't take long for him to sense how uncomfortable you were with him around. It hurt him a lot, he assumed you were scared of him because you saw what he did to those guys.

He backed off immediately, stopped going to the areas where you were. After all he had an important job to do with Chifuyu, no time for romance. But it still made his heart ache.

[my-current-obsession]

Something I both love AND hate about FF7 (the original game and everything after, including the Remake trilogy) is that it is just ambiguous and/or player-driven enough that no matter which side of the love triangle you fall on (assuming you do in fact ship Cloud with one of the girls), the majority of fans for that ship are 100% CONVINCED it's the correct/canon option.

Like, certain scenes are definitely up to interpretation, and people are going to thus have varying reads on those scenes and the characters/relationships the scenes are about. It doesn't help that several scenes change depending on the player's choices, which acts as a confirmation bias as you naturally get more time and romantic moments with the girl of your preference. It really seems to me that MOST people who ship Cloud and Aerith have one solid interpretation (with a plethora of supporting evidence) of the series and the romance, while most people who ship Cloud and Tifa have their own solid interpretation with plenty of evidence that is VASTLY DIFFERENT from the Clerith reading of the game.

This is not a case of "one ship is clearly, explicitly canon and fans of the opposition just like their pick better and/or think it made more sense narratively and WISH it was canon" - for an example of that, look to the Avatar the Last Airbender shipping wars. This is a case where both sides literally interpret the story just differently enough that they come to entirely different conclusions about which girl is Cloud's true love. And if either side reaches out to try and explain their viewpoint to the other, they're just met with "uh, no. You're wrong." Try and explain what Cloud might be thinking in a given scene with one of the girls, why he acts a certain way... "That's not it at all, where are you getting this? Are you delusional?"

Like, I am a Clerith shipper. I have played all the games in the compilation and watched Advent Children. I tried to be as completionist as possible, even. And I came out on the other side of really digging into the story of this game loving Cloud and Aerith's dynamic and pretty firmly convinced they were canon. Or as canon as possible in the timeline where she died.

As any Clerith fan who participates in the fandom would know, if you try and explain your interpretation of these characters and the romance to a diehard Cloti supporter... you're met with a lot of "you're misinterpreting! Cloud and Aerith were just friends! She loved Zack to the end and Cloud loved Tifa since childhood and never stopped! Also Aerith is actually BAD for Cloud because she's too pushy/abrasive. She's not helping him open up, she's just forcing him to go along with her and making him uncomfortable!"

All of this is of course infuriating, but I'd like to think I'm self-aware enough to know we are kind of guilty of the same thing. The majority of Tifa fans are SO happy about the kiss in Rebirth, while we're over here dismissing it because, one it's optional, and two Cloud is "obviously" using Tifa as a rebound or settling for her since Aerith is seemingly unavailable. But that's not how Cloti fans see it at all.

We can talk until we're blue in the face about how TIFA deserves better than Cloud because she shouldn't be the second choice - the one he settles for. But I think most people who really love Cloti genuinely don't see it that way. In their eyes, she's NOT second-best. Cloud loved her all along and this kiss is finally confirming that. And nothing we say will dissuade them, just as nothing they say will actually change OUR minds about Clerith.

It is honestly really difficult for me to try and see the story and romance the way Cloti fans do, but I know the reverse is also true. Both groups of fans interpret the characters and relationships differently. The compilation ALLOWS us to interpret them differently. And this is why the ship war for a game from 1997 is still raging on.

Because both camps are certain they're right, they defend their position viciously. Sometimes that means invading the "other side" to tell them how wrong they are. This discussion/rant was prompted by a Cloti fan on a Clerith vid who wanted to debate MY comment about how wonderful the ship was and how good they were for each other. He was "confused" and "concerned" because Clerith fans were reading the story wrong or warping it to suit our ship.

I wanted to tell him, "buddy that's what YOU'RE doing". I wanted to write a goddamn essay explaining why Clerith is canon actually. But considering in my INITIAL comment that he first responded to I'd already brought up why I thought Clerith was great, and he was IGNORING that... I knew it would be pointless. There is nothing I could possibly say that would change his mind. There is nothing he could possibly say that would change my mind.

As long as both sides of this war are fully convinced they're right, this war is going to be endless and brutal. And that's why my absolute biggest fear for part 3 is an open, ambiguous ending regarding the ships. Maybe it will canonize nothing. Maybe it will canonize BOTH by having the actual ending change depending on which girl the player favors.

Either route will offer no relief to this eternal battle. I would honestly prefer for Cloti to explicitly and unambiguously win than an ending where neither girl does. Because I can accept a loss. I can accept being told that actually I WAS interpreting the story wrong, but I'll only accept it from the text itself. If anything, a Cloti ending might encourage me to go through the entire compilation again trying to view it with that canon couple in mind. I'm sure I'd see things differently, even if I'd always have a place in my heart for Clerith. And I sincerely hope that if Clerith were to win that Cloti fans could do the same.

All I know is that I'm sick and tired of this ship war. I personally have never gone after Cloti fans or engaged in Cloti content with the intent to debate or hate on the ship. But I don't speak for all Cleriths. I'm sure at least a few fans of my ship are guilty too. I have seen many obnoxious Cloti fans invading our spaces to disparage us - mostly on YouTube and Twitch, less here on Tumblr - but I KNOW there are plenty of kind Cloti fans who just happily enjoy their ship and leave us to ours as well.

At the end of the day, regardless of how part 3 ends things, I just wish we could live in peace. Please enjoy your ship. Your interpretation of the text and romance is valid. But so is mine. If neither side can agree, then the best thing to do is leave each other alone.

[decaffeinatedbasementchild]

Umbrella Academy season 4:

I finished the entire season a few nights ago, so lets talk about some things;

I haven't checked in with the fandom in any way, but from most of the tiktoks i've seen, not many like this season. Completely understandable, makes sense, especially after seeing that weird (a lot of people used the word:) predatory relationship which went down between Five and Lila. I definitely did not see it coming, and though I don't find it predatory myself, as they are both consenting adults, since Five is in the body of an (i think) 20-something year old, but has the mind of an (if i remember right) 60/70 year old(?). I think how it happened can also be an excuse; they were trapped together for (what felt like to them) 7 years. Not to mention that Five had probably been lonely for some time now, and though Lila claimed that her marriage satisfied her, I really don't think it did.

This all however, is totally not an excuse for their behavior. Lila was married with three kids, and Five was the brother of her husband. They were in-laws, which does add to the weird pile.

The only thing I really enjoyed about their "hang", was their travels through all the different timelines. And now we have another academy (The Phoenix Academy), that's just a fun thought. I would have loved to see an episode where they explored the different timelines with different academies.

In other news: I love Luther.

I'm sorry, but I just do. I think the way he desperately tries to keep everything together when it comes to their family is commendable. In previous season, I always hated how he excused Reggie's behavior, but now that he's left that behind and focuses solely on his siblings instead is adorable. Both and he and Allison have given up on the whole incestuous relationship they had, and now they don't even mention it nor acknowledge it. Though normally I would say that that's not a healthy way to deal, I think it's actually better to just leave it all be.

Yes, I know he's kind of pathetic. Yes, I know he is also somewhat selfish. No, I do not care. He's trying very hard to be cool older brother Luther and cool uncle Luther. I think his whole descent into sex work should have been talked about in a better way, but somehow he always brought it up as a thing he enjoys doing? I'm not going to go into prolematic things that the writers have been doing, but this is definitely one of them. There's nothing consensual about sex work, and it should never be shown as something that one might enjoy doing.

This is one of the first actual seasons, however, where we get to witness Diego doing his thing! (I know we've seen him do some other tricks, but they never been this detailed.) I was so shocked to see him do his little spin in the air to redirect the bullets during the second episode, but I was disappointed to see that Lila did NOT care.

Talking about Lila and Diego, did anybody else catch that one part in the first episode about how they basically had the twins accidentally? Diego explains to Luther that though he loves Lila and his kids, he feels exhausted and not at all satisfied. Then he explaines that they had the twins through Lila telling him that since she was breastfeeding, she couldn't get pregnant. It's unclear now if they were both mistaken, but just the way he was talking about it, it felt like to me that he felt betrayed by Lila. I'm pretty sure that Lila was aware that she could still get pregnant, she just knew that she wouldn't be able to convince Diego, so instead she did this.

Viktor is as cool as ever. He's always been very cool, but thinking back to all other old (pre-transition) Elliot Page roles, its so noticiable how uncomfortable he was in his body, and getting to see him now, playing a male character, whos not only accepted by his siblings but Reggie too?! Amazing. And him bonding with Reggie? Delicious, I ate that right up. Reggie calling him "boy" (and other masculine nicknames)? Love, love, love.

This is one point for the writers and Netflix, this is exactly how Hollywood should handle an actor coming out, and I hope that this will be an example for future media that will feature transgender actors in the middle of transitioning.

Klaus is our little weirdo who DESERVES a break. He needs it. Please.

We get to see him clean this season, but I did not expect him to behave like this while off drugs. Honestly, I'm not sure I expected anything. I guess I kind of just thought he'd do drugs anyway? Or that he'd get clean but still behave somewhat the same way.

Poor Klaus was also a character subjected to sex work this season, it just made a bit more sense this time. He definitely did not enjoy it, that was something they made very obvious, but they still couldn't do it just right. It was awful watching him have to make a choice between getting money to pay off his debt and leave or a sole condom for "dealing" with costumers. They didn't make it obvious how many clients he really had, but through dialog, you could kind of guess that he had way more than the one girl whose money he tried stealing.

I loved seeing his relationship with Allison this season. And I loved his relationship with Claire even more. I felt the scene where he went home to rob Allison's place so he could get money to buy drugs was realistic, but since I've never had any experiences with addiction of that kind, I won't speak on it.

The villains of the season were kind of nothing if I'm being honest. I loved their sense of style, but other than that they were basic, text-book style villains, who were mostly around to just help the story along. They weren't too memorable, but neither was Reggie's wife? Partner? I'm not sure who she was, or if she counts as a villain or not? I didn't really understand her role, but I did like how she treated the siblings the first time they met.

Then there is Ben and Jennifer.

I feel like we never really made Ben an official part of the siblings, even though he is supposed to be. His relationship with Jennifer was very cute, but once again, it was not too memorable, even though it was supposed to be the main story of the entire season. I find it weird how it all looks unplanned while also being completely planned? Like, you'd assume that ever since season 1, this has always been the story of Ben's death, and yet it still feels like it just wasn't? It feels like they were putting this whole thing together blindly, and then someone thought of the right thing and that was what made it all make sense.

And I don't like how things with Jennifer went unexplained! What does that fucking squid have to do with anything???

But anyway, other than all that, this season was a very basic example of a Netflix series. It was entertaining but not deep. It was a good watch, but I don't think I could ever do a re-watch. I think it was overall, just nice.

[gauloiseblue]

Ok so, you don't have to do this if you're not accepting requests. But I am way too insane about IOFAB and idk why. It has been in my head since the beginning of May. I couldn't focus for weeks, that's how good it is (it didn't really help that the Kendrick v Drizzy beatdown happened).

Can we have more stuff in the IOFAB verse? Maybe something from König's POV (this guy has to be aware that he's just making her hate him even more)? Maybe life after the last escape/shooting incident can't believe the guy actually did multiple rounds with a bullet in his shoulder that's gotta hurt, pregnancy, or kids? Or maybe domestic horror fluff (if that's actually a thing)? Or something about how he managed to keep reader as his lawfully kidnapped wife (this guy definitely put trackers in her ring)? I just realized that I keep referring to reader/darling as his wife even though they ain't married yet Or maybe even an alternate timeline in which deals with what would happen if they did meet but those guys had to actually disclose that they found those survivors which would mean König would not be able to have her?

IOFAB König is so different from the other yandere Königs because he actually shows his hand right in the beginning. Like he's not just some oWo shy guy that is a yandere that goes “maybe I should keep you here with me so that you wouldn't leave me, schatz haha jk... unless 🙂”. He just straight up “You're with me now. Sooner you accept it, the better it will be for you”. He wouldn't hurt reader but he definitely wouldn't hesitate to drop kick a kitten or even his children if they would somehow aid her in her escape.

Something something he would put the world at her feet but wouldn't ever let her see her family ever again. Something something you could put the world through eternal winter and starvation but he won't ever let his goddess go, not even for 6 months. Something something he would hunt her down in their next life. Something something God never blessed him so he's taking one of His blessed angels for himself. Something something he's worshipping the ground her chained feet walk on. Ok now this is getting too long. In short, this guy warrants the “Why are you like this” microscope and “You're not a human nor a dog but a secret third thing” and you don't have to but if you want to, please please please please please can we have more IOFAB?

Zero, you're now officially the number one fans of IOFAB XD idk if I should be glad or concerned about it.

I mean, if you wanna theorize about their future and stuff, I'll gladly answer it. But for me, the story already ended here. I don't really plan to write a continuation of it. Maybe I'll write a lil bit of it in other people's POVs but that's it.

As for König's POV, I think we've covered a lot about his psychology. Like, of course he knew she hated him, but it wouldn't last. If he keeps on giving her what she needs (tolerance, space, care, etc), she'll eventually come to love him, or at least tolerate his presence. It's like a 'trust the process' situation.

I won't really write about pregnancy and kids, because it's more fun when I let the reader decide what's best for her. My actual HC is she'll only have 1 kid, and it's a boy. That's it.

There are 3 endings that I've thought about, it's either; (1) she manages to escape with the help of the maid (The Handmaiden storyline, wlw), (2) she's staying with him until the end (Göth's dream), (3) she's rescued by the third party, there's a possibility that he or the reader dies in this scenario (the realistic ending). But I won't make either of them canon, bc where's the fun in that?

As for the AUs, I haven't got the right idea for it. I think yours is good, but I honestly don't know where to start 😅

Personally, in my humblest opinion, I think shy yandere shouldn't exist in fiction. I fucking hate it, because it's very manipulative in the cheapest way. Like, they'd appear "harmless" like a weirdo, but would go 180° at any given chance. And what makes me hate them the most is that they'd go back to their shy shell when they're being cornered. They can't and won't take any responsibility for their actions. Oh, he kissed you without your consent? Well, that's your fault bc you seduced him (even if you didn't). Every time I read about a shy yandere man, I just wanna bash his head with a bat. Like, you're not fooling anyone with that attitude. Just take what you want and admit it, even if it means you have to be ruthless.

I must admit, IOFAB König does hold a "secret third thing" vibe, because I don't think he exists irl in terms of personality. He's like, if patience is taken too far, and if patience is the source of horror. He doesn't really worship her, but he views her as the rarest and the most exotic thing. If you ever read about the exotic animal keeper, or the curator of the rarest arts, then you'll understand why he behaves that way. They're very patient, and they're very possessive of their treasure. If the tiger that they keep bites their arm, they won't put it down. They'll find a way to tame it—they'll try to win its affection instead. If one particular art requires so much maintenance, and so much cost to keep it in good condition, the curator would pay for it. They won't abandon the art piece, because they know how much it's worth. That's how König views his wife.

I know it sounds like he's objectifying his wife, but sometimes humans love their things more than other humans. I'm just using that feeling as the base for IOFAB König.

Maybe I'll write about the domestic horror stuff, but I still don't know how, so no promise 🤔

[ceescedasticity]

Highly specific scenario question for the Teleri royals that I’ve been meaning to ask for a while, because I’ll need it for a fic when I finally get to writing it: What would happen if Finrod actually DID bring the swanships back circa 450 FA, and reported that Fëanor and Fingolfin are getting along in Beleriand and the Noldor have Angband besieged, at a stalemate—at least, that’s how it was when Finrod left; apparently he and all his small navy have been enchanted-asleep for several hundred years, and based on many people’s faint senses of exiled loved ones, there was just a massive battle where many died.

How would assorted Olwëans react? How would they react when Finrod inevitably promptly said, “oh god, I have to go back and help fight; who’s with me?”?

Details that may matter:

It’s as near to ALL the Swanships as can be remotely expected—there was attrition of storms, incompetent sailors, 1 or 2 Falthrim fell in love with specific ships and the ships were content to stay with them; but basically all came home, sailed by a combination of the guiltiest, most homesick, and most competent sailors

Finrod reports that Fëanor is officially High King of the Noldor in exile, but functionally Maedhros is High King of the Noldor and Fingolfin and Finrod (now Angrod) are more or less doing as they please as Kings of East and West respectively. Also, Elwë’s forest kingdom is flourishing with his Maia wife and daughter (he thinks the Noldor are collectively assholes), and Nowë and a bunch of people are doing great on the shore, and there’s etc. Laegrim, and dwarves… [Finrod did sail before Men showed up.]

Finrod & co sailed over 300 years ago, and this delay is very directly due to the Valar not letting them in, even though their goal is basically just to apologize and set things right. (If that eases the Doom and/or gets them more allies, well, it’s not the primary goal.)

Ambarussa also came with the world’s most non-apology apology message for Nerdanel from Fëanor, and a smidge of a hint of offer of alliance to the Valar (ie, the instructions for making silima, which he’d previously kept jealously secret). This won’t affect any initial reactions in Alqualondë because the twins sneak ashore separately to deliver it, but the gist of the messages become publicly known.

Of close relatives, Curufin died in that initial terrible battle; more importantly, Aegnor dies within a year afterward. Not long after Aegnor’s death, the Valar assure everyone—and cross-sea death awarenesses confirm—that the conflict has abated again, though it remains more ongoingly active than it has been for several centuries.

It’s narratively convenient for me that no backup reach Beleriand for another 20 years, though you don’t need to hold to that—I can futz with the timeline. What happens in 20 years is, in short order, Fëanor blows up Thangorodrim and active war resumes, and Lúthien comes to Mandos to plead for Beren.

Hmmm…

The ships not getting destroyed is going to make a significant difference in the mood in Alqualondë — for example, Volue will have spent 400-some years pining and fretting rather than seething, and while he's an extreme case he's not alone.

Not pictured: Luinél spending 300 years getting more and more sure the ships are reachable if people will just let her try and quite possibly trying to take Swan-salt out to the Enchanted Isles to look and getting shooed back to Alqualondë by Ainur. —Possibly more than once. —Probably accompanied by Duimiwen, Duinipen, Nettë, Telperin, and in fact Volue on one or more occasion. —Obviously Olwë disapproves of these unauthorized excursions! but he never put Swan-salt under guard, either.

There is still a lot of anger, and still some people who have decided to make hating Noldor their entire personality, but the ships being intact means there's less, and the ships being returned has a lot of meaning.

—I think the end result is going to be some people are still being assholes, but it isn't hard for Olwë to bring the Lindar around to the idea of "the swan-ships aren't leaving our sight [or the harbor, until they get too restless], BUT we will help you build and sail new ships to return to Beleriand".

(When Olwë says that, he adds 'Valar permitting' on the end. Not everyone else does. The ships really being just out of reach for 300 years for Mysterious Valar Reasons hasn't impressed anyone.)

Olwë would rather the Lindar not start volunteering to go to Middle-earth as more than a taxi service, but suspects it's going to be unavoidable.

The Exiles directly involved in the Kinslaying should still expect to be banned from Alqualondë and Lindarin ships until they have made satisfactory apologies.

And like I said there are still angry people — but the predominant mood is more focused on the ships than the Noldor.

[tom-is-online]

firstly hi, im the toya side story person. i do hate the fact that akito punched toya. i dont think anything really justifies violence. but enas is implied to be much more frequent! And sibling fights are whatever.

but u cant ignore the fact that some people may just not like ena because of this repeated pattern. i understand that the person in the tags was trying to explain enas behavior, not justify it. but unless its been retconned in a way i forgot, pale color says shinei only really started telling ena that she couldnt be an artist w/o talent when ena was looking at highschools, so its not like ena was fresh into middle school when her father rejected her dreams. akito when faced with insecurity didnt physically lash out at ena as far as im aware of. saying that she lashed out at him just bc he was nearby and improving in his own field doesnt really change a lot imo. just because siblings use each other as an outlet for stress doesnt mean everyone has to be comfy with it. plus, when akito describes the scratching, he mentions dodging the thrown objects and the scratches being hard to avoid if shes near, which leads me to believe that akito was trying to avoid a fight instead of a sibling brawl

im not calling this abuse, by any means, nor am i suggesting that ena shld have magically spawned healthy coping mechanisms. Im just trying to suggest a possibility that ena scratching akito may not have made her likable with some people, given the repetition and akitos lack of involvement in enas insecurity. everyone has different boundaries on what they think is okay. anyways i am happy to continue discussing this tho, i really liked hearing a diff perspective :) and if i missed anything from the stories, i really am sorry

original post

I understand what you're getting at, but I wanna just clear up some stuff with it

Akito and Toya became friends about two years before the main story (both 14), which means Ena was in the last year of Middle School when they met. Ena would have been looking at High Schools at the time, so the timelines with that add up with her emotional state due to her father. And since then, Ena has clearly stopped doing this to Akito

I understand the "it was a repetitive occurrence" argument but she was clearly not in the right headspace to be rational and considerate whilst having breakdowns, she was 15 and mentally unwell, and she's not gonna act in a rational way

Even if it was hypothetically before her last year of middle school.

SHE WOULD HAVE BEEN NO OLDER THAN 15 have you met a pair of siblings 14 and younger? esp with personalities like the Shinonomes

Akito likely wouldn't have fought back against Ena in the same way because he's clearly always been very athletic meaning to me if he tried to fight her back. He would probably just win and he doesn't want to just kick her when she's already down.

Anon (and other people who make this argument) I am just so curious if you're an only child and if not what your siblings are like. I don't have a sister but I have a brother one year younger than me and we fought all of the time until we were like 15-16, me and my brother are both very hot-headed people esp at that age. Siblings just do that, so being so uncomfortable with the concept of siblings fighting that you hate Ena just feels so much like you don't understand typical sibling behaviour

If you're uncomfortable with the fact a 15-year-old had fights with her brother whilst she was likely mentally unwell or below the age of 15 and continue to hold this to them until they are 17-18 when they no longer do this

whilst also excusing Akito for what he did in the main story because it was a "one-off"

idk, man.

the argument is about liking Akito and not Ena. If you can hate Ena for being ~15 and mentally unwell whilst scratching Akito but not hate Akito for punching Toya at 16 and that being a MAJOR PLOT POINT whilst Ena's isn't.

it just feels like you can't understand the nuance behind someone doing something negative when they have bad mental health or you don't have siblings and don't understand how siblings like the Shinonomes would act in a situation such as theirs.

Or someone just gives the male characters way more leniency than the female characters

anyway. i do understand people have diff boundaries. but giving Akito leniency on violent behaviour and not ena for actions she did years ago. you can understand how this is a red flag

idk if i have anything else to say about the matter without going in circles

anyway. theyre great i love them

[stormblessed95]

Addressing Everything

So by now, most of you have probably seen all the drama that is occurring for the past week. I've been aware of it since it started. I haven't said anything as I was hoping it would die down on its own, but that's clearly not happening.

Mrs-monaghan, along with a few others do not like me. She thinks I'm toxic, a bully, forcing people to agree with me or get blocked, etc. I don't regret my choice to block people when I block them, and I will continue to utilize the block button whenever I feel the need to. I will say that I am not blocking anyone for a difference of opinion. I'm blocking someone when I feel the need to remove their posts or comments from the content I consume on this site, my content is part of that consumption and interaction i have on here. I am a believer in curating your timeline to best fit you. That is what I'm using the block button for. I don't want to see hateful posts, I don't need people in my comments calling me names either for my opinion. I've always been willing to agree to disagree and a lot of the times, the comment section in my posts over more "controversial" topics shows that.

Alot has been claimed about me being different in DMs than I am on the timeline. I don't think that's true. I'm usually more willing to discuss things more in depth and have a more lengthy back and forth discussion over a topic in DMs than I am in an anon ask. But that is something I've also made clear in many of my posts. I also do generally curse more in my language as its vernacular that i use a lot in my daily life and ill have more typos/be less polished. Which I think is fair during a less formal conversation. I am also more than willing to post Screenshots of my DM history with Mrs-monaghan if anyone feels the need to see them since that has been a sticking point for her. I don't mind. I dont want to, but not because im worried about it, but because i didnt/dont feel the need to continually fan the flames of all of this or fight with her about it. She is entitled to not like me and i dont need to try to convince anyone otherwise.

I don't think anyone should be name calling when addressing another blogger and if the name wasn't intended to be derogatory, then it could be changed when making future comments about them, now that other people have gotten involved. I do think that should be said. Call me what you want, but if a mean idc about you nickname is derogatory in nature and it's not intended to be, maybe come up with something else. But honestly, none of this is really the point of my post here right now.

I've seen all the mean posts being made and sent in about me after I said I would start blocking people for shady posts against Tae (shady, not critical or questioning, but posts that were rude and mean in nature.) And honestly, that's fine. I cannot control what other people think or how they feel about me. They are all entitled to those opinions and feelings. I wont lie that i was a little surprised at some of the people who participated in these posts and signed off on them. But thats okay.

I did not and still do not want people going to her blog or any of the others who have said things to defend me or shame anyone in anyway. Losing followers if people believe their posts is okay. I've never been here for the numbers. I can't control what people do or say about me and I don't want to. If people end up not liking me because of that, that's honestly okay. I don't need people Bullying (in anyway you want to consider the word) anyone in defense of me. I don't appreciate that. If i get an ask and I answer it with my opinion and it disagrees with other peoples, that's where I want that to end. I don't need anyone telling other bloggers I'm right and they are wrong. It's all just opinions in the end. I've never wanted anyone to use my posts as a way to argue with other people. Everyone can choose to engage and interact with the content on here that they choose and how they choose to do so.

I do just want anyone else here to know that if I have offended or upset anyone on here, I am always willing to talk about it. My DMs have been open for that reason. I am willing to agree to disagree if that energy is also returned. I'm willing to bend on a lot honestly. I won't apologize for blocking the people who have been interacting with posts that are hateful to me or about how they don't like me. That is something I am doing for my own mental well being and safety. I don't need people who actively dislike me around me. And I think that is fair.

That's all. Just if anyone is making more posts or going to plan to send in asks, I'm asking you not to and to let it go. I don't need to change anyone's mind about me. They are free to not like me as much as they want. That's okay. I don't need anyone defending me.

Thank you for reading if you got this far. If you choose to unfollow, that's fair and totally up to you. I hope everyone has a good day.

[moistvonlipwig]

lena: 1 2 8 17 18 :D

Why I love them, like them or hate them?

I love her because she always wants to do the right thing even though she doesn't always know what that is and even though everyone around her constantly treats her so poorly and thinks the worst of her even after she's proven herself time and time again. And I also love her because, as the Designated Morally Gray Character, she got to have way more interesting scenes & relationships than most of the other characters on the show did, she got to fundamentally disagree with & call out Kara and the other Superfriends, and she (somewhat) got held accountable when she made mistakes. (More than anyone else did at any rate lol.)

And I hate her because she wears shoes on the couch. Girl you are RICH buy some SLIPPERS or something!!!!!

2. How would I have chosen to change their story from canon?

Don't make her a witch!!!!! >_< Also I would've axed Non Nocere. You could replace it with so many things, including my superpower dampener idea or, like, Anything Else. (And if they HAD to include Non Nocere, 5x08 should've been the end of it -- Lena should've either chosen not to launch it at the last minute, or she should've told Hope to launch it only for Hope to be like I cannot obey that directive Ms. Luthor because you programmed me to do no harm and then Lena could've been like Oh.....I see.....and then had her big revelation that it was a bad idea.)

Going back a little further -- I would've actually loved for Lillian to turn her into Metallo in the real timeline? Maybe at the end of S2 or S3? It would've been super fucked up which is why it would be so delicious. Especially with Lena still not knowing Kara was deathly allergic to kryptonite. But you could also use the plotline to show Lena's resilience and scientific prowess, as she works to stabilize the kryptonite in her new heart. (Also, this would be a fabulous excuse to give her a dog who could detect potential kryptonite destabilization. This show needed a dog so bad.)

I also think, if this show had different showrunners who were better about race, it would've been really interesting for the Luthors -- with all their wealth, scientific genius, & opposition to Superman -- to be black. (Consider: Angela Bassett as Lillian. Just saying.)

8. What is a headcanon I have about this character?

Mm, well, to follow up on my answer to #2, one headcanon I have is that what Lillian said about manipulating her into going into STEM was only true for Earth-Prime Lillian and Lena, not Earth-38 Lillian and Lena, and since our Lena is still the Earth-38 version it actually isn't true for her. :) It's a goofy loophole but I'll take it!

Also, it was in a deleted scene so it's not an original duckthought, but I like the idea that she was a fencer and almost made the Olympics, I think that's cool. (I will leave the speculation on the kind of fencing she did to you and your very non-biased friend.)

17. How well would they do if they got dropped in a horror movie?

Well it depends on the themes of the horror movie and what it's trying to say, for instance, if it's a horror movie about cycles of familial abuse I think she might be the final girl but in one about the excesses of capitalism she probably wouldn't make it I think pretty well? She's not very genre-aware to be fair but she makes many Devices and, crucially, she can make her little Devices even when she doesn't have a lot of resources at hand.

18. Would I personally trust them to be my friend?

Yes because she has so much moneys and all you have to do is be so nicies to her and she will be loyal to you for life. (Actually you.....don't even have to do that. 🥴) Would I WANT to be friends with her? Honestly, I probably wouldn't want to be friends with anyone on CWSG. But I'd trust her, yeah.

[chthonic-cassandra]

Tagged by @awildwickedslip

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

111

2. What’s your total AO3 wordcount?

312,131

3. What fandoms do you write for?

I write a little across a lot of fandoms. The only fandoms for which I have written substantial amounts are Dracula, Greek mythology, and Shakespeare's plays. I have active projects right now in Dracula, Xena, and Penny Dreadful.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Shattered Mirrors (Jonathan in Dracula's castle), Make It Through the Wintertime (Hadestown Persephone character study), To Burn the Castle Down (Jonathan angst), Compromise (Dracula darkest timeline AU), Minor Initiations (different Dracula darkest timeline AU)

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I have been trying to get in the habit of it. I think it's nice to express my appreciation and try to be a bit more social about all of it.

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

This is a hard question; so, so many of the things I write are angsty. Specifically as far as endings, I am realizing that an extremely high proportion of my stories end with a character aware that they are about to die or that something else terrible is about to happen to them, and in some way accepting it. This is of course tragedy but I'm not sure it is quite angst.

Outside of this pattern, I think that To Burn the Castle Down is almost over the top angsty (it's not one I like to reread), as is For Every Grief That's Offered (yet another Dracula darkest timeline AU). Both are from ~15 years ago, and I would write them differently now.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Ha. Do I write happy endings? Sometimes I do bittersweet hopefulness, of which I think Fidelity (poly Mina post-canon) and Still in the Realm of the Sun (Code Name Verity Julie/Maddie fix it) lean most heavily on the sweet side. The Caucus-Race (Alice in Wonderland, the Dodo enters politics) is legitimately happy.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Not to my face for a long time, at least not in a serious way.

9. Do you write smut? If so what kind?

I do not.

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

Not much. Many years ago I did a couple - a Dracula-Greek mythology and a Dracula-Vampire Chronicles, and also a little Nosferatu-Pied Piper of Hamelin which is the only one of those still up.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes - someone translated Foreigners (Aida, Amneris character study) into Mandarin. There might have been another but I don't remember it.

13. Have you ever cowritten a fic before?

No, though I once told @forthegothicheroine I would and then bailed on her, for which I continue to feel some guilt

14. What's your all-time favourite ship?

To write, certainly Mina/Dracula/Jonathan. But that's not from an actually shipping it perspective. What I tend to write and what I ship when reading or watching something aren't all that related.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Mood, imagery, psychological interiority, small-scale structure/pace

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Smut, happy endings, writing anything long form

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I wouldn't feel comfortable doing it in a language that I didn't myself know, and the only non-English language I know well enough to do that in is ancient Greek, which I guess I could use somewhere but it hasn't felt necessary. Several installments of Compromise have important scenes of switching between languages so I've thought about it, but keeping all the text in English let me do a particular language-related reveal in this last installment which pleased me.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Either Lord of the Rings or Phantom of the Opera

20. Favourite fic you’ve ever written?

Right now it has to be Compromise as a whole, but this is hard. There are a lot of other things I've written that haven't gotten as much attention as that one but which are very dear to me, but as a series Compromise means so much to me at the moment.

Too tired right now to tag anyone, but please consider yourself tagged if you'd like to do it!

[nanidoesthings]

Kim Possible Villains and their Kids Headcanons

Aka Anna wants to talk about her KP OCs

A lot of the kiddos essentially grow up together. Showing up at villainy events all the time.

I’ve talked a little about my Drakgo baby, Laserbeam, but she also has a brother named Dynamite and a sister named Gunpowder. (Gunpowder is not mine though, they belong to a friend of mine).

Junior and Bonnie? Not endgame. That is a gay man. But he does task her with being the surrogate for Junior and his boyfriend’s daughter Señorita.

Despite Monkey Fist hating children with every bone in his body, he ends up adopting a child named Xiaojian. She is raised as his apprentice.

How is Monkey Fist no longer statue? Personally I go with another timeline messing with Time Monkey.

Xiaojian was born from the monkey Chippy, turned semi human by DNAmy.

On a Henchco outing when they were kids, Dynamite convinced Xiaojian to sneak into a monkey enclosure then proceeded to leave her there.

Xiaojian and Laserbeam dated for a short while. They are now bitter exes.

Because of how bad the breakup was, Señorita adopted a "no dating anyone with Jack Hench in their contacts" policy.

Somehow all the kids end up with Duff as the "favorite not uncle" (for Xiaojian "Nae yer daddy")

When Dynamite was starting their gender journey, they often could be found at Duff's hitting shots.

Xiaojian learnt Scottish Gaelic and she and Duff tease Monkey Fist often.

She really thinks Monty and Duff need to just get together already.

Señorita wanting to prove some other rich people she was better than them had Duff teach her to golf.

Señorita follows her Papi’s dream of being a big pop star.

In a world where multiple Disney medias exist in the same universe, Señorita grew up watching Ernesto De La Cruz movies with her Abuelo.

Along the same lines, Dynamite once broke up with someone because they said 4*Town was better than Oh Boyz.

Dynamite loves webcomics. Would 100% be that Homestuck fan.

Sharpies are on high watch in the household. If not to turn grey a la Homestuck, Dynamite would recreate Sharpie Bath to turn Blue.

Dynamite was born in Colorado. Laserbeam in California.

Dr Drakken got a vasectomy after Dynamite was born.

Estelle Lipsky? The kiddos call her different things. Laserbeam calls her GamGam, Dynamite calls her GramGram, Gunpowder calls her Bob.

Somehow, the Drakkens end up always celebrating big holidays with the Possible-Stoppables. It is never planned but space is usually made for the other party.

I see Dr D having Jewish heritage but being non-religious. The kids however had Christmas and Hannukah growing up.

Shego watched Dr Drakken insist on designing and making an Offbrand Barbie Dreamhouse (Baddie’s Dream Lair maybe?)

Laserbeam swears she is not superstitious. She comes from a family of brainiacs so there’s reasoning for that which might be dubbed peculiar. And she knows Aliens and Ghosts and weird shit exists. Doesn’t consider that superstition.

However, she isn’t aware of habits which make her seem she is. Like putting on a specific hoodie whenever an assignment is just not seeming right.

Laserbeam often keeps a slurry of meds and sensory things in her purse because you can’t do evil in bad health.

Laserbeam once performed a VERY heated rendition of Holding Out For A Hero that ended up with her grounded (so worth it though).

While I stand by the idea that Laserbeam and Dynamite are not in frequent contact with their maternal uncles, I like to imagine Mego pops in from time to time.

Laserbeam, Dynamite, and Gunpowder were homeschooled.

The Drakgo babies were named after the song Killer Queen.

Dynamite and Drakken can often be found in the lab late at night. They’ll get inspiration for a project randomly and then suddenly the entire lair is being woken up to dad rock™️.

Laserbeam’s full name is Laserbeam Olivia Drakken. When she has to go undercover she will use Olivia Lipsky.

Dynamite’s full name is Dynamite Andrew Drakken.

[catflowerqueen]

So those were some very unexpected revelations today… they do go a long way in explaining why the Creator made Sun and Moon the way they did, though. They were always intended to take the fall and be the black sheep of the Pizzaplex. He wanted them to be violent and bloodthirsty and cause as much chaos as possible because then he could just blame them for all his own misdeeds, and no one would question it. It’s like when Moon was laying those false trails back when he and Sun still lived in the sewer bunker (I think he talked about them right after they faced the Witherstorm? Which actually is very thematically appropriate and could be viewed as foreshadowing given what we learned today). Or what Eclipse did with his memory altering.

It makes me think that the only reason he wanted Sun to exist is because if Moon got too bloodthirsty and became like Bloodmoon, it would be a lot harder to pin some of the more complicated stuff on him/Fazbears would have just scrapped the process from the start. Also, it’s possible that he needed Moon to exist to make the star in the first place—it has been proven both that other universes move at different speeds and timelines don’t always sync up and that the Creator is aware of that fact and knows the contents of many other universes. Assuming he had this awareness independently of Sun and Moon (and wasn’t just using their databanks or something), he would have been aware long before Sun and Moon were created in this universe that it is more often than not a Moon who creates the star. So he made one of his own, and then gave him a Sun to curb the worst of the impulses.

That’s likely why he labels them as “mistakes” and “failures.” Because they moved beyond their initial programming and aren’t doing what he wanted. Moon getting better and doing his best not to be cruel and amoral killer—even though he still likes pranks and such—makes him a much less effective fall guy. And it perfectly explains why he was so incensed about KC not wanting to kill anymore either—it shows how truly independent they all are and how they can and will move against him if given the chance.

Whatever he and his “friends” are planning, I really hope they can be stopped. …And I also hope Earth isn’t aware of what she’s doing. I like her, and her brothers love and cherish her, and she’s so good for both of their mental health… I just hope nothing bad happens to her.

Onto other matters… given Sun’s reminder today that the Computer is based off of Moon’s personality, I’m wondering if it actually has been “snippier” than usual or if it is just that Moon is picking up on it more since the lack of traumatic memories means he doesn’t hate himself as much as he did before. Like—if he was just putting up with it before because he figured he deserved that sort of treatment or something. In addition to the Computer just not processing its grief well/not being able to completely fix itself after having to restore half its AI after the deletion. Or possibly whatever Earth or the Creator has apparently been uploading could be causing some bugs, I guess.

Also, it… hurt to hear how indifferent Moon was to hearing about Lunar, especially when I remember his absolute heartbreak when he told Sun about Lunar moving out. I completely get why he would feel that way, and I don’t blame him, but… it just really hurts.

[hippielittlemetalhead]

So I'm binging ST again cause tbh I've only seen the whole show once and been keeping a finger to the pulse of the corners of fandom I enjoy and/or identify with. So gonna be writing 3.2 as I rewatch season 3 cause I'm bringing in the 'actual grownups' characters and want to get them and their timelines ✨right✨.

While I do that I have some questions/ideas. Just go crazy with answering however you want to respond, simple answers or essay form I'm spitballing/brainstorming in between my bustling about & some feedback helps.

1.) Murray has connections in all the local scenes including punk & actually knows Steve just by a nickname/alternative/chosen/gifted name & realizes it when all the groups convene at the mall. This may or may not affect his feelings on stoncy and stancy shenanigans.

2.) Gareth is Steve's cousin but the parents they're related through haven't spoken since they were baby/toddler respectively. Kinda thinking their moms are sisters, the family were immigrant transplants to town for business purposes & Gareth's mom married down while Steve's mom married a new money businessman. Gareth is fully aware Steve is oblivious till Gareth says something that connects the familial dots. Idk, kicking that one around.

3.) Because of some of the hand waviness and contradicting answers I've seen about ages and grades and the like... Billy/Gareth. Will/Gareth (jealous, missed his shot Mike but he's okay eventually). Or... Gareth/Chrissy 👀

4.) {Season 4 bits} Corroded Coffin are good just if they play a different style than metal. (I saw a ficlet that they had a Greta Van Fleet esque sound mixed with a touch of metal and tbh I liked that idea a lot or they could be grunge?) Otherwise they kinda suck. 🙃

5.) Steve as El's guardian per Hop's will vs. Joyce who fights for her cause she doesn't trust Steve still? 👀

I have even more I'm playing with but they'd definitely be spoilers. 😬 And just a heads up this is my secondary account so I'm not ignoring people in the comments I just can't respond as hippielittlemetalhead 🙃 but if you want to yell at me in the asks I will absolutely answer when I can! Assuming my inbox is on and working cause technology hates me. 😅

[beecreeper]

1, 17, 24! for all the fellas. (and i think you should include poppy and myrala <3 )

Eilidh you know I owe you my LIFE for giving me explicit permission to yap about two more characters than usual.

Yapping under the cut!

1.) What memory would your OC rather just forget

I already answered with for the main three here, but lets add Poppy and Myrala in there >:3

Myrala would want to forget the time she accidentally on purpose killed a guy during a mugging gone wrong when she was a teenager. But then again, she acknowledges that it was the event that changed her life and set her on a better path. So it’s less that she wants to forget it and more than she wishes it could have happened differently.

When Poppy was around 7 she was attacked in the middle of the night by a shapeshifter guy in her mercenary family who turned out to be unhinged and literally feral. Her family saved her in time but it left her with facial scars and trust issues. She would delete that memory without hesitation.

17.) What is the worst thing you have put your OC through story-wise?

Briar: Briar has the worst time at throughout Act 2 and especially at Moonrise. It is driving her CRAZY how close she feels to understanding her memories and yet they are STILL out of her grasp. Being at Moonrise gives her all these feelings with no memories to attach them to which feels horrible and vulnerable and she hates hates HATES it. She’s also very much aware that she’s losing ground with a lot of companions and losing control of the situation but she is just too DESPERATE to bother doing damage control. Being down in the mindflayer colony, those body memories get even STRONGER and also MUCH WORSE. After they kill Ketheric she spends a while at his corpse and trying to resurrect him or speak with dead or SOMETHING so he can fucking TELL ME WHO I AM YOU DEAD BASTARD

Ferox: Oh man. So much. I’ve already talked a lot about him killing Myrala which is obviously the big one, but then also in his bad timeline he’s ALSO gonna kill Lae’zel during the durge stuff in Act 2. It fucks me up extra badly because it would come right on the heels of Lae’zel’s second romance scene where they spar and Ferox is afraid that he’ll lose control and hurt her but then he doesn’t and he feels so happy and so in love and then just a few nights later Bhaal takes over his brain and takes it all away from him AGAIN.

Molli: So SO much. For some reason I live to make Molli suffer. I think the peak of it was Gortash giving her to the mindflayers though. After years of suffering under this guy and he just tosses her aside without a second glance even as she’s being dragged away and BEGGING to stay. Feeling like it’s *her* fault and that she did something wrong. Being so fucking scared and desperate that she blindly promises her body and soul to some unknowable eldritch entity without a single thought. That’s her rock bottom and everything after she wakes up on the nautiloid is crawling up from that.

Myrala: Having Ferox murder her super super violently. My darling girl I’m so sorry I made you get torn to pieces for character development. Even in the AU where she gets to live and be a tav, it’s at the cost of feeling deeply horribly lonely for 15 years instead.

Poppy: Poppy is honestly my least traumatized oc tbh. As it stands now, her story is *mostly* all shenanigans and no drama (childhood ptsd incident not withstanding). Honestly getting tadpoled at all might be the worst thing I’ve done to her.

24.) What is an alternative life path your OC might have gone down? How different would their life be if they’d made those decisions?

This is so hard to answer for Briar and Ferox because of how little agency being a durge affords them in their life path. I mean, I could talk about the different paths they potentially take throughout the game but this feels more like an alternative backstory question than it does an alternative ending question to me.

Like? I guess Briar *could* have chosen to try and defy Bhaal and *not* murder her druid circle, but Bhaal would have taken her over and forced it anyway. However this version of Briar would be a lot more defiant of Bhaal (canon Briar doesn't have to deal with how vulnerable and violating getting fully taken over by Bhaal is because she indulges her urges on her own. This version does and it leaves a sour taste in her mouth from the get go). The main trajectory is the same but she'd be actively fighting it every step of the way. The plot with Gortash would definitely shift from "I'm gonna betray him in Bhaal's name" to "I'm gonna use him to kick my dad's ass and make him SO mad"

One choice that would have changed a lot for Ferox was his decision to help Myrala escape from the goblins. I'm not sure whether she would escape on her own or die in the attempt, but either way it spares him that HUGE trauma. Like, he's still not having a good time but at least he doesn't slaughter the only piece of true happiness he'd ever known. In this path he wouldn't become a paladin and would follow down a pure barbarian path until Sceleritas finds him (probably after Bhaal makes him kill his entire goblin tribe like he did with Briar and her circle). He'd still end up heading Bhaal's cult but the vibes would be different. He's still not *happy* about being Bhaal's chosen, but he's less *tortured* about it.

One of the biggest choices in Molli's life was her decision to go to Baldur's Gate to become a bard and look for her sister. If she hadn't, she would have instead stayed in her hometown trying to manage her dad's modest textile trading business that she inherited when he died. She is *not* suited to business, is crazy stressed out and overwhelmed, and yearns really badly to have the time to perform at the tavern like she used to. She day dreams a lot about what her life would have been like if she really had sold the business when she had the chance and been a bard in Baldur's Gate instead (LMAOOOOO).

Myrala's path diverges right at that moment when she kills someone. Instead of taking it as a wake up call and converting to Eilistraee, she could have instead dug in her heels and continued down the road of a petty criminal, getting even deeper involved in whatever gangs exist in Menzoberranzan. I think she'd be pretty good at it too, probably gaining a decent amount of power in the criminal underground. This is, of course, a VERY different version of her where she's suppressed her moral code and is actively deciding to be selfish, hoping that it'll be worth it eventually.

Poppy is also hard to answer because her life has been very much dictated by the fact that she never sticks with anything. Her decisions have very little long term impact because she's just as likely to make a new decision that changes her whole direction a few months later. She's as equally likely to join a pirate crew in Calimsham as she is to be a hired guard for a trade caravan out of Neverwinter as she is to join a monster hunting party of Gur. And in order for her to *not* be bouncing around like that, it's not a matter of one decision. She'd have to be a fundamentally different person. Maybe someday she'll find something that sticks and get her to stay in one place but that remains to be seen. Like, I gueeeeess I can see a version where she just sticks with the mercenaries she grew up with, but that kinda life is ALSO just bouncing around between odd jobs, but it would be a really similar life to she does when she goes off independently but on a much smaller scale.

[8bitsupervillain]

Higurashi When They Cry Hou Ch. 7 Minagoroshi pt. 5

The lunch continues, and Keiichi feels a strange relief in telling Mion that her ohagi is good. Rika puts out some more feelers to try to gauge whether or not Keiichi is more than passing aware of the previous chapters' events. The gang then goes off to look at some items that are going to be sold at the Watanagashi auction that Keiichi has been asked to host.

As a former electronics sales person, my advice to you is don't buy display TVs. Sure they're cheaper, but that's for a reason. They've been running all day, every day for a year minimum. Plus there's whatever happened to them when some dirtbag customers get their grubby mitts on em.

The group talks about the virtue of used furniture and appliances when Rena mentions her dad got a new job. They narrowly avoided going through Tsumihoroboshi again by Rena convincing her father that Rina was a gold digger and to explain, at length the importance of communication, and not just try to handle it yourself/keep yourself to yourself.

Rena starts off by saying that her decision to talk to her father about Rina was because of a mixture of talking with Mion about the situation. And because of a weird dream she had where she had committed a double-murder to get her father out of this bad relationship.

Earlier on Rika mentions how nothing every changes whenever she comes back to life, but it's things like this that make me doubt that. If nothing ever changes how come Shion is so chummy with Satoko? Or is that different, and it's basically a coin toss if Shion hates Satoko, or is best friends with her? Also, it's good to see heavy-handed Ryukishi existed back then with the blatant "this part was very important!"

Oh Satoko, you and your science fiction.

I guess that's a question of morality for you. If someone has been alive for over a hundred and eleven years but they still looked and were physically a child would you let em have a drink? Also now I'm kind of curious how many timelines do you think Rika slipped and let Satoko et. al know about her drinking habit?

What a peculiar choice of words there. I know infertile is a perfectly fine word, but I just find it to be a rather peculiar choice in this regard. Inert was right there, is all I'm saying. Perhaps this is a subtle foreshadowing for a large part of the upcoming plot? Boy let me tell you I regretted typing that almost instantly. WHOO!

I really don't want to tip my hand regarding the upcoming drama, but I like these moments where Rika and Hanyuu just start hashing it out about what the cosmic significance of any of the previous dialogues could have. It reminds me a lot of when the witches talk about all of their goings-on and plots and schemes during the later chapters of Umineko. Not even any one plot point in particular, I just like the atmosphere and general feel of these scenes. Maybe because of how tonally different they are from any given moment when Keiichi, Rena, or Shion were having their moments in earlier chapters?

[goldenworldsabound]

As for my more in depth thoughts about Clayman's Revenge as a whole (as of chapter 18), putting below the cut due to including Tensura Light Novel spoilers (I'm not sure through which volume, I read through 20).

It is super fascinating to have two time looping people meet like this. It makes a lot of sense that the Hero (Chloe/Chronoa/Hinata at this point in time) is disturbed by something going differently - in this case, Orbic not being destroyed.

As a Clayman fan it does make me furious that her reaction is "oh? he saved the orcs? better go kick his ass-" fkjdsahf I do understand her concern though. We know as readers that the Orc Lord is a huge stepping stone for Rimuru, and without it, I wonder if he'll manage to get strong at all. I don't know that the Hero is aware of this though? Hinata might know about it but Chloe certainly does not. But Hinata wouldn't know the details I would imagine. In any case, it is definitely something the Hero would want to keep her eye on.

Interestingly Clayman doesn't know who she is. I think that's pretty telling - either he's not paying enough attention or she hasn't become known yet where we are in the timeline.

It's also wild that Clayman just tells her the truth. His reasoning is sound and he's in a tough spot. It works better than he knows it does, I bet, since she knows that's true. If he's paying attention, he should realize she knows about "the slime" too, and that should be quite sus to him. I'm not sure if he'll realize it though fkjdshfakja I know she threatened him to keep quiet but I do hope he tells Laplace at least. It would be good for his family to be aware of this.

He must have been so frightened afterwards though. He was toyed with and he knows it, and he thinks everyone was killed...but they're fine. Phew.

Let's talk about Ant! (it/it's pronouns yoooo)

I included this panel because it actually highlights 2 fascinating things - one, Ant is STRONG and 2 it's clear Ant can understand what's being said and feel complex emotions in response. Ant doesn't like how Yamza talks about it, so Ant kicks his ass. Clayman meanwhile is like hehe my Ant is cute and this is not a problem that it's beating Yamza up

Particularly from later LN, we know that insectors are strong. I do wonder if Clayman could even name Ant without dying. An Orc is one thing. An Ant? An Insector? That's another entirely. Especially since it's already so strong.

I don't really have a point here but the Ant alone has a lot of potential to change things.

Not to mention, chapter 17 as well, Raine has now been basically told to go watch/work under Clayman. I'm very curious to see how that plays out. He did kind of tell her to fuck off in 16 (I need to reread it esp now that we have official translation). She will be such a troublesome subordinate for him if she does end up working under him!

AND we love to see the Milim friendship - I'm hoping that even if Clayman does get Kondo'd (bitch) that Milim will see it and rescue him.

My last thought here is...how will Clayman awaken? It seems to be a key thing we're building towards so I suspect it will happen. But how, without character development integrity loss? He understands that souls are involved now. And that seems to be the only way, really. But it would be counter to his development so far to arrange a war and such...but Fuze is quite good at coming up with situations that result in awakenings without being a terrible person or as a result of being forced to defend oneself. Maybe someone will attack Clayman with an army and he'll have to defend. I don't think it will come only at the end of the manga though - I think he'll awaken before then and we'll get to see things shift with the other Demon Lords, and see him continue to get stronger.

Anyway, those are my thoughts at the moment!!! Feel free to share yours (politely and respectfully, no Clayman hate please) as well!