#but THIS... this was a reunion we've all been dying for

[incensuous]

aelumi update

For context (spoilers ahead):

In a recent quest, the Traveler (and new playable character, Xianyun) is helping a young girl, Shuyu, and her aging grandmother, Yuandai, who appears to have a strange case of dementia. Yuandai is the only family Shuyu has left, given her parents had passed away. Through visiting places of importance to her, her memories return to her. It turns out, Yuandai was once a crane who gained sentience, and is now paying the price for not having returned to her true form for too long. She must return to her original form, as a wild crane with no memories, but there is a possibility she may one day regain sentience and return to be with Shuyu.

The Traveler is pretty upset, watching Yuandai and Shuyu be separated. It's a recurring theme how much they hate to see families apart. After all that happened, everyone decides to take a short nap.

During their nap, they end up dreaming an absolutely lovely reunion sequence with their sibling. When they awake, they have tears in their eyes. Xianyun asks if they had a nightmare, but realizes instead, they simply had a dream they didn't wish to end.

I love to see their cutscenes side by side. The small differences in each Aether and Lumine's "version". Some have pointed out the dream is virtually the same, and theorize perhaps the both of them may have really shared a dream (cute wishful thinking haha). PLEASE watch and enjoy!!!

[fortuna-et-cataclysmos]

S5 finale: wrapping up the "running out of time" theme

So I have been mentioning frequently that there is a theme of "running out of time" in season 5, but I wasn't able to make out the meaning of it, until now.

We can say that there are three situations where the theme explicitely manifests:

Gabriel: After receiving a cataclysm wound in Destruction, we often hear Gabriel repeat that he is running out of time. The entire Intuition episode is based on that premise.

Ladynoir: This is the most obvious manifestation of this theme. In Jubilation, Ladybug and Chat Noir live a dream just to be constantly reminded that their perfect life together will end when they wake up to reality. I call it Ladynoir, but actually it is Maribug's love and romantic relationship with Chat in general.

Adrinette: This is the most subtle one, but it is there. Notice how Marinette needs to ease into a relationship with Adrien, and Adrien is doing his best to cut her slack, so much so that he says in Derision, and I quote: "We've got time." Soon after, Adrien is sent to London.

If you think I have forgotten other strings of running out of time, feel free to let me know!

Now let's look at these three strings individually:

Gabriel running out of time

This one is the simplest one as it starts very early on in the season, with the episode Destruction where he gets the cataclym wound, and ends in Recreation with his "sacrifice." Also worthy noting the names of the episodes. What starts as Gabriel running out of time in Destruction is concluded in Recreation with him making his wish, accomplishing his wish, and dying. We can consider this thread concluded.

2. Ladynoir running out of time

Of course, the first episode that comes to mind is Jubilation. In Jubilation we (and the blorbos) learn that they actually desire to be together, romantically. And indeed they get to live a perfect little life in their dream, ignoring the increasingly bigger alarm clocks that are trying to wake them up. Except that at the end Ladybug realises that they must wake up (duty calls!), and she abandons Chat Noir in the dream universe, broken.

From here on, nearly every episode is a warning for Marinette against being romantically together with Chat Noir:

Determination: Marinette accepts that she has feelings for Chat Noir, her reaction to that is crying

Passion: Ladybug's crush on Chat Noir leads to her being distracted and making many critical mistakes in their fight

Reunion: is a cautionary tale about Ladybug and Cat Miraculous holders falling in love

Illusion: (I haven't watched this in a while but I think nothing relevant happens here)

Elation: Marinette is nearly akumatised because of her love to and rejection by Chat Noir

The overarching message from Jubilation to Elation is that: if Maribug ends up with Chat Noir, it'll be a disaster.

So Marinette decides to close up her heart to anyone, and after a brief depression, Adrien finally convinces her to be with him and they become an official couple. From this point onwards, the key ship becomes Adrinette.

Does that mean that Ladynoir has run out of time? Not necessarily. They just decided to love each other in a different way. I should remind here that even though we tend to polarise the sides of the square as fandom, the creators have repeatedly told that the love square is one, there is one love.

The Ladynoir relationship has a direct connection to the Adrinette dynamics because after all, they're the same two people.

3. Adrinette running out of time

Now that Adrinette is finally together, they should have all the time in the world, right? Right? It's what Adrien says, after all.

But I couldn't shake this sense of urgency throughout this season. Every time they said that they had time, it made me feel like they actually don't and they don't know it. And it was exactly what they wanted to make us feel: with Adrien's move to London, it turns out they didn't have time. Worse is that, Adrien actually knew that he'd need to move to London but he couldn't tell it to Marinette, he kept it a secret all the way till he was shipped off to London.

And there is a parallel between Jubilation and Revolution here: in both episodes, their dream is shattered, they share one last dramatic kiss, and they are torn apart from one and other (@asukiess had a big brain time and pointed this out back when Revolution aired).

But now, in Recreation, Gabriel is gone. Everything is fixed? Everyone will be happy, right?

Well... No.

As I pointed out in a previous post, the world that Gabriel creates is a bit too bright, too perfect. The show is notorious for associating the sun with fake happiness at this point, while the "real" moments are rainy and/or dark. And let's see the colour palette in the end:

Another detail that makes me put on my tinfoil hat:

They're not very visible on the static image, but there are white butterflies flying over the flower arch. Those could be symbolising the end, as a reference to how Ladybug releases the purified akuma at the end of each episode. But it might also have a second meaning, a reference to how this world was in fact created upon the ideals of Gabriel.

And that can't be good for anyone. I explain more the consequences and aftermath of this episode in the post I mention above, but basically this world is Gabriel's ideal, and it is far from being a good place for neither Marinette, nor Adrien.

One main reason why: Gabriel has left Marinette with the truth about the Monarch, and she agreed to keep it a secret from Adrien. But we know that it will eventually come out. Either she tells it to Chat Noir, or maybe Lila plots something, but it won't remain a secret forever. And when it does... it will have tremendous impact on not only Adrinette, but also Ladynoir.

This world is a fantasy world where Marinette and Adrien have ended up together, just like in: Chat Blanc, Ephemeral, Oblivio, Jubilation. And at one point the alarm clock will ring, the hammer will drop, and both Ladynoir and Adrinette will run out of time. Except that this time, we may not be able to revert back to the status quo.

Gabriel has left them with a tickling time bomb.

[mmavverickk]

I “love” the betrayal fics where the entire camp suddenly believes that this new guy has actually accomplished all of Percy’s achievements and Percy lied to all of them, like camp didn’t literally witness half of those accomplishments and like Percy actually outright says “I did X.” Percy says almost nothing about what he does, Camp hears about most of his achievements from others

oh, we've all seen those fics. new guy shows up, he's actually Percy's half-brother. Annabeth suddenly only has eyes for him, everyone suddenly hates Percy because new guy does too, Poseidon may or may not disown Percy, and then Percy runs away and joins Chaos.

it's been copied and pasted thousands of times in hundreds of ways.

not a single one of those fics has Percy's departure from Camp happen realistically. it's not even impossible to grow resentment between Percy and the campers, which is what these writers seem to want. but the way they go about it? a cookie cutter asshole pied piper OC who steals the spotlight and turns Camp into a hostile mob of angry demigods? Unrealistic. 0/10 trope, literally 50% of why i will not read fanfictions with OCs.

have some realistic ways of turning Camp against Percy or vice versa:

- Percy could be captured. The area he was taken from is drenched in blood. no one could survive that, Percy's gotta be dead, so Camp doesn't look for him. after [x amount of time] of captivity and probably torture, Percy gives up hoping for a rescue. he discovers darker uses for his powers, frees himself, and doesn't go back to camp, because they abandoned him. opens the road for angst and emotion and tearful reunions etc.

- Camp is attacked. maybe it was a lazy beach day. no one is ready, only a few campers have their weapons. they're outnumbered and maybe surrounded and definitely out of options. Percy won't let anyone die. two ways to go about this one:

A) percy destroys the attackers single-handedly, using every tool in his arsenal, every fucked up thing he can think of to make sure his people survive. he controls poison and blood and drowns monsters and, i don't know, freezes them into ice cubes or boils their skin or stops their hearts. Camp is terrified of him now. he leaves. or B) the armed campers fight back, but percy isn't fighting. he's busy keeping the injured from dying. how? he's controlling their blood. he won't let it deviate from its normal path. Camp is terrified of him now. he leaves.

- [x god] sends Percy on a quest. but, surprise! it's not a quest! it's a trick, to lead Percy to his death! Percy survives, but can't go back or he'll be revealing he's still alive before he figures out why [x god] tried to have him killed and if there's anyone else behind it. fun conspiracy vibes.

- percy adopts a new pet, except this time it's a drakon. "Percy," Chiron says very patiently and not-at-all exasperated, "you can't keep a drakon as a pet. it will eat your friends and we don't have the space." Percy flips authority the bird and strikes out with his new pet to find somewhere they can settle. kinda cracky but written right it could be funny.

- Percy pisses Zeus off. not surprising. Zeus wants to kill Percy. not surprising. for his own good, Chiron sends Percy on a roadtrip/changes his name and sends him to mexico along with multiple witness protection agents/quest to keep Percy out of sight for a while to allow the king of olympus time to cool down, because we like when percy is alive and also the war poseidon would wage at his death would kill us all.

are all of them 100% realistic? no, but neither is Percy leaving Camp. Hera had to literally kidnap him and erase his memory to keep him away. the point is that they're different and plausible, and not the same exact trope repeated over and over again until i can tell you the plot of hundreds of betrayal works in one sentence.

[thr0wnawayy]

A Thought, A Theory

I'll probably make a more indepth post or may just update this one once the offical translations get dumped (which means pictures!), but I have a bit of a crack theory that chapter 430 isn't as real as we've been led to believe.

(As for when this actually takes place, that's up to you but I like to imagine the start of his third year marks the beginning of his mental decline)

This mostly comes from some inconsistencies in regards to the hero rankings and some other stuff

Its stated that Best Jeanist and Endeavor are still active. With the exception of Jeanist, this should not be possible for obvious reasons.

2. Something feels off visually and narrative-wise, I don't know how to describe this other than everything looks too ideallic. Like it feels too sanitized and sterile, this probably because Hori ripped the last bits of life this story had away. But hush. Also Aoyama is there didn't he leave UA? (and Japan)

3. Apparently people forgot the connection between Endeavor and Shoto. Normally this would be a good thing as Shoto would be able to become his own person.

This falls flat when you remember that also includes people forgetting the reason and happenings behind Shoto's existence, it just feels to good to be true. Everyone overlooks the bad and gets tunnel vision over any semblance of good.

Now you may be wondering, so what's going on.

Well, Midoriya's having a breakdown fantasy to cope with the fact that he won't be becoming a hero due to the loss of his quirk.

It sounds crazy but consider the following.

Midoriya subconsciously knows the way he's been treated was wrong. This manifests within the escapists fantasy in Bakugo's drop in the rankings + the attitude surrounding him (as well as his damaged hand never fully healing)

He meets a kid who just so happens to be in a near exact same position as he once* was (and still is to an extent). One could take this as his mind's way of trying to cope and heal itself, by having Midoriya do what he does best and help others, henceforth working though his trauma by using the kid as a stand in.

*Even the kid's "bully" seems to be a warped version of Bakugo (perhaps this is how Midoriya tries to fool himself into believing how it was)

We see Kota. I believe that here, Kota serves as what Midoriya thinks he could have been had he not failed. Kota is the idealized version of Midoriya here, the unobtainable.

I believe the abandonment/limited contact from his classmates to be based in reality, unfortunately. Whether it was by choice or forced by their PR to preserve their images (can't be seen around the "freaks" for too long, now can we?). The lie may come in the form of busy schedules.

(either it's what Midoriya tells himself or he's been told, you can't tell me they can't just make a group chat or video call. At least a High School Reunion)

The Mech Suit is a massive cope, it's the dying whimper of Midoriya's childish hope that All Might will save the day. This time there's no magic quirk, no garrish mech suit, no plot twist.

No. There's only Midoriya and the consequences of his, his classmates and hero societies actions. It doesn't matter how shiny and seamless the illusion, how sweet the lie.

You can't hide the blood.

[blackphanto]

Chucky predictions

SPOILER WARNING FOR CHUCKY S3E5!

I wanna make Chucky theories so bad, but I can't think of any! This show is so crazy that I can't even predict or speculate on what could happen next. There are some people teasing on twitter though and all they've been doing is making me even more hyped for how this season is going to end. So here are some of my predictions based on everything that's been teased so far.

Jake will enter the spirit realm:

I don't think he's necessarily going to die, but he's so fixated on ending Chucky for good to the point where he refused to run away from it all like Devon suggested. And we've heard the doctor, the only way you get to the spirit realm is by dying, but what if you didn't need to die? I believe that thanks to all the supernatural shit occurring there, the White House will become some sort of passage between the two realms. Jake will cross it to try and destroy Charles' soul, but if he will fail or succeed is still debatable...

Caroline helps Chucky get young again:

If Jake fails in permanently killing Chucky, Caroline will come to the rescue. We know she'll be back, but what role will she play in this mess? When she'll return, all hell already would've broken loose and she'll just make it worse. Her sudden entrance at the White House will cause quite the emotional reunion for Lexi and her. Yet, Caroline didn't come alone. Armed with the Voodoo for Dummies book, sure, but she brought another friend, who's none other than the Good Guy Doll creator played by John Waters. He came with a new doll, a new vessel for Charles and with Caroline's newfound knowledge of Voodooism, she'll get Damaballa's blessings and give Chucky a new body, a new chance to not disappoint the almighty Iowa and if he plays his cards right, he might even become forever young.

Grant will survive:

I don't have any evidence to back this up, I just like him and think it's unfair that Lexy always has to say goodbye to someone she loves each season and I just don't want it to happen again. From a psychology standpoint it just desensitized her and would lead to her not getting attached to anyone else besides Jake & Devon next season, in fear of someone else always having to die because of her. And from a writing perspective it just gets repetitive, predictable and boring. So please Don Mancini don't kill him, also I love Jackson Kelly.

The past will haunt everyone:

Charles Lee Ray isn't the only ghost the Terror Trio will have to deal with in the newly supernatural possessed White House. We've seen the past of the Collins family haunt them time and time again, we've seen Henry talk about ghosts and fearing what they told him almost every single episode. Why would that stop at Joseph or Charles? Wouldn't it be horrible for our trio to be faced with the lives they lost thanks to a doll they couldn't stop? How would Jake react upon seeing his father again, disappointed at him for being gay. And Lexy, the poor girl, facing Junior, the boy she watched die, trying to save her... Not making at least one ghost of the past come back would be a wasted opportunity.

Tiffany will survive, but Jennifer's body might not:

Tiffany's possible death has been brought up in every interview Jennifer Tilly made following the comeback of Chucky season 3. At this point it even became a ‘will they, won't they’ situation. Does Mancini really have the guts to kill off a cult favorite character and actress he loves so much? Or will we just say goodbye to seeing Tilly on screen and welcome only her voice? I mean the trailer kinda made it clear for me that this isn't the end of Tiffany's story, but maybe that of Jennifer's body.

[windriverdelta]

Jon Snow - King in the North?

One of the open questions of TWOW/ADOS is whether Jon Snow will ever become King in the North, as in Game of Thrones and in Robb's will. Now the KitN point in the show was extremely sloppily done - Jon didn't really accomplish anything with it, and some people suspect that the show simply gave Jon Stannis Baratheon's book function - and unlike "Stannis burns Shireen" or "Bran becomes king" it's not one of the moments-from-the book we know of, but given the show's tendency to write "moments" without a solid foundation just because they occur in the future books it's not ruled out. There are also some references by Mormont's raven and elsewhere that compare Jon to a king.

That said, I find it improbable. The first big problem is Stannis Baratheon. He's never going to abide a new King in the North, as he makes clear to Catelyn and Davos in ACOK. Jon Snow is effectively a Stannis supporter in ADWD, as we can see from e.g the way he calls him "the king" without qualifiers to Alys Karstark and tries to warn him about Arnolf Karstark. I doubt that he'd try to usurp Stannis. And crucially, Stannis has a lot of plot armour/guaranteed survival going in to TWOW/ADOS - unlike the show, Shireen has been left at the Wall and there is no way she could reach Stannis at Winterfell before his army starves to death, so we know he has to survive. And while we've seen with the Edric Storm affair in ASOS that Stannis is prepared to sacrifice a child to stop the Long Night, until the Long Night is actually underway I doubt that he'll give his only child to stop it. Lastly, Stannis being Azor Ahai is one of the lies Daenerys must slay, not the Boltons or Jon. Him dying before ADOS is an exceedingly unlikely prospect.

Second, there are a lot of political obstacles to Jon Snow becoming King in the North. While Robb's will almost certainly legitimized him, there is no evidence that a written copy of the will survived the Red Wedding and the Grand Northern Conspiracy is not a thing. All what he'd have is Maege Mormont's and Galbart Glover's word, since all other witnesses are trapped south of the Neck/in Iron Throne ally custody - and oh yeah, they are with Howland Reed who knows that Jon is not Ned's son. Also, the will assumed that Bran and Rickon were dead and Sansa in the power of the Lannisters; they aren't, and this is going to come out in TWOW between Davos' mission and Bran revealing himself in the crofters' village, complicating Northern politics as all these candidates have advantages and disadvantages over Jon. It's also unclear whether Northern independence is actually strongly supported in the North after the Red Wedding - we don't have much evidence of patriotic fervour in ACOK and ASOS, let alone in the history of the North during the Targaryen dynasty, and the current movers-and-shakers in the North mostly weren't around for the war council in Riverrun where Robb's acclamation took place. Their attitudes might be very negotiable. And as for the notion of Jon being acclaimed like in the show after defeating the Boltons - that's extremely unlikely in the books for sundry logistical and thematic reasons.

Speaking of, I think it's somewhat thematically unsound for a story where per GRRM the "true conflict is north of the Wall" and where Osha tells Bran that Robb is marching in the wrong direction, to suddenly champion the cause of Northern independence. Stannis, not Robb, is still alive at the end of ASOS. A coalition between wildlings, Starks, Team Stannis and small-o others - later joined by Daenerys and Tyrion as future dragonriders - is way more likely in my opinion.*

Vis-a-vis Jon Snow, there is also the question of how KitN fits into his character arc. He has already declined Stannis' offer of Winterfell in ASOS, making a tilt in TWOW might be repetitive. His story in TWOW is likely going to head to a resurrection, the Stark Family Reunion, the R+L=J reveal and (eta: in ADOS - see conversation with @jackoshadows) becoming a dragonrider (two of them must be Targaryens), probably also an identity crisis - KitN seems more like a detour, especially as the timeline does not leave much time for anything else. Abandoning the fight against the Others for political games in the North only to return to fighting the Others would be questionable storytelling.

Credit to @nobodysuspectsthebutterfly @poorquentyn @turtle-paced for inspiration/citations.

*Or a very dark possibility: Northern separatists try to force Jon's (or someone else's) accession by fighting with Stannis ... only to be taken in the rear by the Others when the Horn of Joramun brings the Wall down and their attempt to end in catastrophe as their armies are smashed between Others and pro-Stannis troops. The fiefs of the most pro-independence Northerners we've seen - Lyanna Mormont (OK, she's way down the Mormont succession order), Greatjon Umber and Robett Glover - are also the closest to the Wall, discounting the mountain clans, and thus closest to the "firing line". That might be a set-up to such a tragedy.

[fandom-shitposter]

Corporate entities hate fanmade works and would love nothing more than to get them shut down entirely

They hate that there are people out there using their characters and their settings and having fun with them without having to pay them for the priviledge

But as long as fans aren't making money out of their IP they can currently get away with it. But we've recently seen a crackdown on people selling t-shirt designs, stickers, etc which violate this

So what can they do to try to firm up the laws on this, to get them to fall more in their favour?

Would writing their own fanfic and turning it into a show that they're making lots of money from be enough to do that, for them to sell merchandise and profit from someone else's IP without asking or paying for the use of it?

For it to maybe go to court for a very public fight over who can do what with a property they're a fan of?

Because that could well be what Disney is currently up to with their Star Wars shows

Not just making a few references to other movies or tv shows, but taking entire plotlines, blurring the edges of them, and dropping them right into their own shows

Want an example even if it risks containing show spoilers? of course you do!

Back in Season 7 of The Clone Wars (On the Wings of Keeradaks) we have a scene where Tech uses a recording of the flying lizards they encounted earlier to call them to their position and fly them out of danger

Just like Gandalf summons the eagles to come and rescue his party from the attack from Azog and his team of orcs and wargs, right down to the way some party members are left dangling over a huge drop off the mountainside

Later, in The Bad Batch (Reunion, S1), Hunter has been shot in the chest and Tech gets him up, gets him to safety, and (offscreen) medical aid is provided

Which is extremely close to that same rescue scene in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, only the part of it where Gandalf gets Thorin up and out of danger, with the assistance of the eagles, after he's been severly mauled by a warg, and then rendering medical assistance to him

Tech goes on to have a big fall (Plan 99, Bad Batch, S2), right off the end of a great big crumbling bridge. Sound familiar to any LotR fans?

And in a different episode (The Crossing, Bad Batch, S2) Tech is seen falling and landing in a similarly super familiar looking cave

Which repeats parts of the two separate scenes of Gandalf falling and 'dying' ('The Fellowship of the Ring' for the fall, and 'The Two Towers' for the cave scene) which all the characters get really sad about - until he gets better and comes back. Which has yet to be seen in Tech's case. (How Tech will be able to come back from his fall despite not being a wizard is explained via his character specific movie source they've made repeated use of, but since that's still hugely spoilery I'm not getting into that here)

And this is only a couple of examples of one tiny instance where this is happening, the show is filled with them and it applies to all the main characters not just Techdalf

'Entombed' (The Bad Batch, S2) hits The Hobbit up HARD for it's plot and not only gives us the Arkenstone but oblong, which it directly names as The Heart of the Mountain, which is found and then lost again, but dredges up a fire breathing dragon equivalent. Add in some additional Alien themeing and a lizardy creature that can be shot in the chest with a laser arrow before being tossed out of a window in full on 'OMG it's Ripley with the airlock' style and they're really cramming it in there. They end with a reference to an opportunity to find a golden chalice, which is what Bilbo took from Samug's hoarde as proof that he'd found it But people have been easily sidelined from thinking about any of this too hard by them throwing in a handful of surface references to Indiana Jones, the potential of a love interest being developed, and the 'dragon' being a creature previously seen in the Jedi: Fallen Order video game

And don't even get me started on how Senator Avi Singh appears to live in Dale (Common Ground, Bad Batch, S1), Roland and Isa Durand apparently live in Rohan (Paths Unknown, Bad Batch, S3) or Dr Hemlock and his former base at Dol Guldur (Paths Unknown, The Bad Batch, S3) and what that implies for the remainder of the show

They've blended together a lot of canon prequel & clone wars era Star Wars content with a range of supplementary non-canon SW content such a comic books, video games, Legends novels, etc which maintains the idea that this show is nothing more than Star Wars and keeps a lot of long term fans happy and distracted by seeing non-canon things finally appearing in a canon setting, even if they have changed some of the details

But so many concepts and images have been lifted barely altered from their original sources, not just from Tolkein's works, and just slapped down like we're not supposed to notice how much of it there actually is because they've made the animation and lighting so very very pretty

[sehnsuchts-trunken]

Hi! Just want to say your drabbles and headcannons are stunning! I live for your content!

I have a request for Riven x Sky's twin reader. Maybe their reunion after summer, set in season 1 or a drabble about Andreas being back and Reader's reaction to it, set in Season 2.

Have a great week and take your time with this. There is no real hurry.

ohmygod yes I love this sm also thank you for the compliment<3

"Why don't you drive even slower?", you asked, hitting your head on the back of the passengers seat. The truck was packed with your things and Sky's and you were dying to get back to Alfea - not because you were dying to get back to school. No, because you were dying to see your friends. And Riven.

You and Sky had been away the whole summer. It had been planned for over half a year now, to travel the world over the first summer break. Not the whole word, of course. But a great deal of it. And so you hadn't seen your boyfriend in months. Not in person, after all.

And Sky was basically crawling.

"I'm already going faster than I should", he said, only making you groan.

"If you had just let me drive-"

"We've been over this", he interrupted. "Plus, we're almost there anyway."

You rolled your eyes, but sat up straighter regardless. Riven was there already. Because you were later than anticipated. And he'd texted, promised he was waiting. So you just wanted to ready yourself to kick the door open and fall into his arms.

"You're annoying", you mumbled, barely even looking at Sky, instead squinting at the horizon to see Alfea appear. And he was right - for once in his life - Alfea did appear a few minutes after. You concealed a squeal.

The car tiles screeched. Then you stood.

And Riven was leaning against the front gate, stuffing his phone in his pocket, grinning at you in the car.

You did squeal this time. And throw open the car door as well, almost stumbling out, hearing Riven laugh as he took a few steps towards you. You were already racing towards him when he had taken barely two.

He opened his arms and you jumped right into them.

"Riven", you breathed, smiling, your hands resting at his jaw, his on your thighs, keeping you steady up in the air.

"So happy to see me?", he asked, but you ignored him and kissed him instead. Oh, how heavenly his lips on yours felt, how familiar! You couldn't imagine ever spending so much time away from him again. Next summer, you'd stay, and you'd stay with him or he'd come with you, you could share a room.

"I missed you", you whispered, pulling back when you were breathless. "I missed you so, so much."

"I can carry you to my room right now and make up for it", he muttered back, that wicked grin still on his face. You laughed.

"I would love that", you admitted. "But Sky will kill me if I leave him alone with my bags."

Riven glanced over your shoulder at the truck, parked only a few metres away. Sky was taking the bags off of the back of it.

"That's what your boyfriend's for", he said, not looking at you but definitely talking to you. You rolled your eyes at him, even though he couldn't see.

"My boyfriend's for keeping me company", you told him, sticking your tongue out. Riven raised his eyebrows, chuckling.

"Really?", he asked. "Just for keeping you company?"

You tilted your head to the side, pretending to think. It was hard to hide the smile that wanted to creep up your face.

"Maybe not just", you mused. "I guess you're pretty to look at as well."

He let out a breath, leaning forward, so close he was almost kissing you again. You swallowed hard.

"If I didn't have to carry your bags up I'd show you just what I'm good for", he muttered, glancing down at your lips. You breathed in deeply, trying to focus on something to say to that.

"Please, just-", Sky interrupted, running his hand over his face. "Not in front of me?"

Riven raised his eyebrows again, but sat you back down on the ground, shakily clinging onto his arm for a second. He brought his lips close to your ear.

"Guess I'll have to show you later."

With a wink, he was walking away, taking your bags from Sky and following him into the courtyard. You needed a moment to realise you were a person and existed and had to move to catch up with them.

[otakween]

Digimon Tamers - Episode 39

This episode was gorgeous, but I found the writing kinda strange. Willing to suspend my disbelief and just roll with it though. It was a nice reprieve from the janky animation we've been getting off and on. (Actually, some moments were still jank, but there was more good than bad at least).

Notes:

Many cute Culumon moments this time around. Their struggle to climb out of the pit, their reunion with Ruki and their total obliviousness to the gang's rescue mission were all great :)

When Zhuqiaomon came out of the pit and everyone was like "-gasp- your wings!" I had no clue what they were talking about. I even rewound it and still couldn't tell the difference. I guess he probably lost some wings? -shrug-

Ruki/Renamon's entire transformation sequence to Sakuyamon was amazing! I don't think we've ever seen Ruki so happy and empowered. Sakuyamon's design/fighting style are also really great and fit in nicely with the rest of her digivolution line.

The whole sequence of events where Ruki makes a leap of faith into the "kill you instantly" blob was bizarre to me. How tf did she know that would work? What did Sakuyamon do exactly? Is her power to just turn things into flower petals?

Sakuyamon sings which is cool and all...but they didn't animate her lips at all! I was just confused because of this. Like...is she singing or nah?

I wonder if Ruki could just digivolve into Sakuyamon and pass for a normal adult woman IRL lol. This is the most dressed-down, human-like digivolution we've seen this season.

Was not impressed with Cyberdramon's JP VA in this episode he makes a lot of ridiculous "GRRR" sounds and I couldn't take it seriously.

I found the exchange between Juri and Takato in the beginning of the episode pretty weird. She kinda trauma dumps about her mom dying and her struggles to bond with her step mom and he just shouts "STOP!" and walks off. That seemed very cold/insensitive to me. In the dub it's a lot gentler because he tells her that she's the "nicest person he knows" and when he walks off it feels more like he's trying to give her space. (Honestly the insensitive version might be more realistic for a 10 year old boy).

The bit of dialogue between Terriermon and Guilmon was great ("We can trust Jian," "We can trust Takato too," "I don't know about that," "We can!") looool Terriermon has been throwing shade at Takato since day 1.

[ckret2]

@korla-the-kenku said: I don't think we've seen a Wendy snippet yet.

Oh this is one I've been dying to share.

Soos said, "Oh, hey—do you think we might need to close the Shack tomorrow? I should go tell Wendy. Be right back."

Stan hurried after him. "Oh no you don't, hold on!"

[...]

"Hey Wendy," Soos said, fiddling with office phone's cord. "This is Soos. Your boss. Listen, I know you have a shift tomorrow, but uh, you might not need to come in, okay? I mean—maybe. It depends. Still figuring it out. I'll call you in the morning." He glanced at Stan, who sharply nodded in approval.

Wendy said, "Oh? How come?"

While Stan furiously mouthed Soos do NOT tell her anything or I swear— Soos said, "Uhh, Shack might be closed tomorrow, that's all."

"Oh, is it for like family reunion stuff?"  Tone brightening, she said, "Hey, is it cool if I swing by anyway? I wanna come say hi to Dipper and Mabel."

Soos frantically waved a hand. "Nooo, you can't! For. Reasons."

Wendy was silent a moment. Soos bit his lip. Wendy said, "For... weird scary phenomenon reasons?"

Soos looked at Stan for guidance. Stan shrugged and made a so-so gesture. Soos said, "Yeah, pretty much."

Wendy laughed. "Oh man, seriously? Give the Pines heck for me for getting into something the first day of summer vacation. Text me every half hour so I know you're alive and I don't have to come over with an axe."

Soos sighed in relief. "Thanks, Wendy."

I feel like they're all just used to stuff like this by now.

[kitausuret]

#and his BORING resurrection 🙄 sent me into space

Hey MC! I know this ask is like over a month old, but it's in reference this post re: Flash Thompson's resurrection and I'm still thinking about it.

So, like, since Flash officially came back from Klyntar-hive-limbo in Venom (2018) #34, there really hasn't been much exploration at all on how he's been handling it.

(Venom #32, #34; Cates, Coello)

He's been around, yeah, with a small part in Amazing Spider-Man #900, a cameo in Dark Web #1 (which unfortunately did NOT include him beating the shit out of Norman Osborn), and of course fairly heavy involvement in Savage Avengers and Extreme Carnage... But even in the latter two, it feels bland? Like how is this man just so chill about what's happened? He was dead. He was fucking. Dead.

I'm thinking about it because I recently started reading the fantastic Iron Man (2020) run by Chris Cantwell & Cafu, et. al, and it DOES actually address Tony coming back from the dead and how he's going through this big personal crisis. It's really wonderful and it honestly has me a little bit salty that we've had Tony and Flash in the same room and neither of them have mentioned the fact that they were both dead during the same period of time. Like, y'all are just not going to mention it? At all?

More than that, his reunions haven't been much to write home about. The best one so far was definitely with Andi Benton in Extreme Carnage, the one with Peter in #900 was laughably bad (ntm Flash kinda looks like a discount Eddie Brock which is, uh, jarring to say the least), and even though he had this big conversation with Eddie in Venom #33, they haven't crossed paths even once since then.

(Top: Extreme Carnage, Bottom: ASM #900 and Dark Web #1)

On the note of Dark Web, it is actually kind of legitimately upsetting to me that we haven't gotten really anything about Flash's reaction to Harry dying while Flash was still, you know, dead. This is the second time Flash has had to endure the loss of one of his oldest friends, and we just get nothing? At this point we're going to get to Harry's next resurrection before Flash says anything about it.

I will, actually, give this to Savage Avengers. There's a little bit of.. hmm.. shall we say, reading between the lines for it, but there's this little insight from Deathlok (Miles Morales... it's a whole thing) about Flash and how he kind of jumped headlong into his dalliance with Dagger (Tandy Bowen). It's not much, but it's something, and it does do something nice as far as explaining why he would do something kind of impulsive after having been, you know, DEAD.

(Savage Avengers #5, #9, and #10)

Anyways, I think that for Flash's resurrection, he and Tandy and Ty should have a threesome. It would be fun. Rivals to lovers or something.

(Savage Avengers #8)

Overall, I've been disappointed by the Flash Situation since his return, and while I'm glad he's back, I do sometimes wonder if a few more years in the ground wouldn't have hurt. At least let there be consequences to his return! I also wouldn't complain if he stopped being Anti-Venom, but that's another rant you can read here.

Thanks for the ask and giving me an opportunity to go off about something I've been thinking about for almost exactly 2 years!

[the-path-to-redemption]

Like they said the split up was inspired by GOT. And like how can they miss the big point of the splitting up was how messy the reunion would be. The fact that nobody had anything to say to Blake is a failure of the promise that splitting up would chase.

Blake’s abandonment should have hurt the team. It should have been a season long mess. At least a ep each like Zuko at the bare minimum.

Even Amphibia a much more lighthearted comedic cartoon dealt with the situation of friend betrayal a lot more seriously.

Long Post Ahead

What I think a lot of people forgot is that Blake also abandoned everyone else aside from Yang and Sun (even though people keep villainizing the boy), and that honestly should've affected all of them like you said.

I can see Ruby acting like she did in canon, because she's supposed to be the optimist and who wanted to keep the team together. But the price of that is evident, she barely got anything to herself, and when she did they kept trying to talk it away from her (Jaune in vol 4, Yang in Vol 8).

I don't think I can see Weiss understanding, even when she did compare her circumstances with Blake's when they're no way the same. Weiss was FORCED to go home by her father and she was miserable there until she decided to leave for her friends and her own well being.

Blake RAN. She ran from her friends, from the destruction of Beacon, back to a paradise island where her loving parents reside to....take a break. It took Sun nearly dying for her to actually change her mind and aid Mistral, at the expense of a good civil rights storyline and her house.

The split up COULD'VE worked; we've seen it with the 2 years time-skip in One Piece (spoilers), and you didn't need to watch the supplementary movie 3D2Y to understand how much it affected the main characters, especially Luffy who was 17 at the time. The difference? Each Strawhat members had their moments after the split, the major change in the plot, and after they've been reunited. RWBY remained the same, even with the personalities being butchered.

If anything, their dynamic got worse; Ruby cannot rely on anyone and vice versa, Weiss suddenly forgot swordplay for 2-3 seasons and relied on summoning, Blake literally cannot do shit by herself and Yang only work with Blake. None of them feels like part of a unit anymore, and we're supposed to believe that they're supposed to be after a brief period of time apart and some more time growing together again.

A load of horseshit if you ask me.

[its-no-biggie]

okay i said before that i didnt have a lot to say about banana fish but i lied. i have thoughts about the ending (spoilers ahead!)

because holy shit. like. ash deciding not to see eiji?? and eiji knowing that hes doing it for his own good, and trying and failing not to get his hopes up, and giving the letter to sing to deliver? and sing yelling at ash to go see eiji and ash still not budging? and then ash reads the letter and THATS what changes his mind, so he gets up and starts running and its all priming you for the dramatic reunion at the airport. something something love can overcome anything, happily ever after, the end, right?

but then ash gets stabbed. by someone who had obviously been tailing him and wasnt particularly skilled. someone who never shouldve been able to sneak up on him. and its such a forceful reminder that eiji is ashs weakness, which we've known from the start, but the danger was supposed to be over! it specifically waits for you to let your guard down, to really slam it home that everyone was RIGHT. that eiji makes ash let his guard down, and that it would one day get him killed.

and like. okay. we know this from very early on. the narrative is perfectly clear that what they have is doomed. that its going to cause a lot of pain for both of them and can never end happily. you want to believe that they can overcome it, that once the fighting is over they can be happy together, but the story keeps telling you over and over that this isnt going to go that way, no matter how much either of them want it. BUT. the point is that it was worth it anyway.

ash lowers his defenses around eiji, and thats a GOOD thing. being together puts them both in danger, but its better than being apart. to love is to be vulnerable, and having someone that you can trust, that you can let your guard down around, is something worth fighting for. worth losing everything for. worth DYING for. ash is CONSTANTLY presented with chances to fix everything if he can just let go of eiji. but he chooses eiji every time and even though it always makes his own life worse, his own burden heavier, he never once regrets it. theres nothing he wouldnt do to keep eiji safe. to keep eiji nearby. he sabotages his own allies to save him. he risks getting caught just to see him one more time. he drops everything for an opportunity at happily ever after and pays the ultimate price for it. but he NEVER EVER REGRETS IT. he dies because of his love for eiji and he does it with a smile on his face. and eiji goes back to his peaceful and happy life with tears in his eyes because hes doing it without ash.

i dunno. maybe im reading into it too much, or maybe this is an extremely surface level analysis and everyone got it the first time but me. but i just remember the first time i watched it, being so shaken by the ending. i thought they deserved a happy ending, and was hoping they would finally get it, but when it didnt happen i didnt feel betrayed or frustrated by it. just shaken. it felt like a really good ending, but i couldnt pinpoint why. because all i could think is that it seems so unfair to rip away their happy ending like that. and it took this second watch through to really figure out why it works.

also side note but. as much as i respect the asheiji shippers (because like. yeah. literally the most resonable ship ever) im really glad that its platonic in the show. they love each other very deeply, and thats what the show is about, but it doesnt HAVE to be romantic to be meaningful. and i like that! i can certainly see the shipping potential, and i can even see how it could be interpreted as queer-coded, but i also just like it as a story about friendship. its really nice. anyway 10/10 i love this show so much

[wildissylupus]

hello again! I asked last time about PVE stuff but I guess I’ll do it again. Although I’m sure no major characters will die, out of all the cast in PVE who do you think will likely “die” or get close it it? If you think that at all. Personally I feel like a supporting character may get the chopping block but we’ll have to see

(also ramattra might be in a little trouble)

Alright so I have answered this question before PvE came out I have some changed thoughts because of the updates to the lore so I may as well update what I think!

Let's start off with the characters I think will get close to death/have a fake out;

Efi, though I don't think she'll actually die I think there will at least be one close call for her, as I stated before I read her and Mina as parallels so I definitely think we could see that in something nearly killing her. Also Doomfist holds a grudge against her and Orisa so yeah that's fun to think about-

Cassidy, I think he'll have a fake out, there are already so death flags for him in the journals but there too obvious for them to be true death flags. Not only that but Cassidy dying would kind of spoil his arc, he's the first character in canon to go through a redemption arc, him dying would not bode well for other characters possible redemption. There is also the fact that he's an Ana parallel so he's either going to have a fake out death or he's loosing an eye.

Winston, A big part of his arc seems to be realizing that the old Overwatch wasn't that great, realizing how dangerous everything was. I think he's almost going to die in a fight with Doomfist, a rematch between them before the final battle.

Emily, we already know that she's currently in a bunker in London, somewhere that is always being attacked and where tensions are high. Not only that but a lot of people (including me) see Emily as a parallel to Amelie. So though I don't think anything physically will happen to her, I do think it'll come close.

Now for the characters I think are going to die;

Doomfist and Moira, they're the main villains (if they don't reveal that to be The Conspiracy), so it makes sense for them to be killed off. We've also seen them try and lock Doomfist up. So even though they could go with the arrest route with Moira, I doubt they could do that again with Doomfist. Not only that but in terms of what we've seen in canon, they're incapable of change. In contrast to the other Talon members who know they're doing bad things, Doomfist and Moira genuinly believe what they are doing is for the benefit of humanity. Soooo, no possible redemption there, can't help someone who doesn't want to be helped.

Reaper, it's either going to be a final sacrifice or he's going to be killed by Cassidy, either way I don't think he's living to the end of the story. A big part of Reaper's story is being a cautionary tale, so him dying would be fitting to that theme he has.

Reinhardt and Sojourn, they are both older members of OW, they are both also very much loved members of OW, them dying would very much hit the other characters still not fully realising that yes, this is a war, not a reunion. Specifically for Rein I think he'll die saving Brig and Bastion, it's already been set up with the PvE missions. I do think Sojo has a chance of surviving but considering she's in the mentor role and has her life figured out.... yeah that's a narrative death sentence, not only that but her death would motivate characters like Winston and Cassidy to step up as leaders.

I definitely have more but these are the major ones for now. Hope you all cried as hard as I did while writing this!

[fategoflatass]

Reunion has come.

And damn, I'm so hyped up about it.

I mean, I've been waiting for both siblings to find out about each other's past identities for the longest time, and it has finally happen!

But, now what?

Don't get me wrong; I would love to forget about everything and just indulge in the moment that I've been waiting for this whole time, but there's something bugging me in the back of my head. Something that won't leave me alone until Akasaka-sensei decides to answer my questions, to satiate my curiousity.

How will this affect their relationship?

Allow me to remind you (although I'm pretty sure no one here has forgotten about it), Sarina had (and, as Ruby, still has) a big fat crush on Sensei. That, plus the fact that Ruby admitted in the last chapter that she has never seen Aqua as a brother...

You know where this is going, don't you?

Am I saying that the memes have predicted the future of the manga? Nah, there's no fricking way the author would go that far. At least, in my opinion.

Now, Oshi no Ko is quite the messed up series. Maybe, just maybe, Ruby/Sarina's crush could be now used as part of the plot (or something truly important to it).

Maybe Ruby, now that Sensei has come back to her, will try everything on her hands to prevent him from dying again. We've already seen how she gets when it comes to whoever killed her mother and Sensei, so how would she react when who she believes is the love of her life comes back to her, but he's in such danger?

She might give up on seeking for revenge, but that would be just because she has something else in mind right now.

And again, Aqua is a manipulator. Even thought he has a soft spot for Sarina from his past life, I don't think he would miss the chance to use his sister to meet his goal.

Will she allow him to do this? Probably, yeah. Love does make you stupid, after all. Even worse when it's such a special person to you, the only one who ever cared for you in your death bed.

Of course, all this would make sense if Akasaka-sensei decides to go down this route. If not, all this ramble would be for nothing (and my mental health would actually love it if all these bunch of words to become rather useless once next chapter comes out).

But yeah, at least I got to get all this out of my system.

[livlepretre]

Hey what was Klaus mindset when he learned that Elena might be in danger from his father after he had abandoned her for three years. I mean I know what he did but what was he thinking what he felt. Could u give us some insight.

Also fe 64 stelena damaged me to the point that I went straight to youtube for stelena edits just so I could fall in love with them again. Not kidding, they broke me. You know this is the only fanfic that is able to put me through these strong emotions.

I thought that Beklena would be over by now but maybe the tipping point would be when Rebekah actually turns Elena into a vampire. But won't she develop a sire bond. Maybe it could be Kol. I doubt you would have Elena have a sire bond with Klaus because so much of this fic had been her journey towards finding her own agency. I mean Elena seems much more accepting of 'dying" and being reborn as a vampire in this chapter.

Thanks for sharing this masterpiece with us 💜

Thank you!!!

I think he was like a force of nature. Literally nothing was going to stop him from going to her, and saving her from Mikael. I think that learning that Elena was in danger from Mikael temporarily erased all of the unresolved feelings and issues he had with her and instead threw him back into this primal mindset of needing to go to her. Immediately.

That was probably the only time we've seen Klaus in any sort of honest state since the reunion.

Elena was unconscious for a while after that, though, so he had time to reel it all back in and put his mask firmly in place before she woke up.

And 💙💙💙💙💙 it is an honor to break you

Not going to lie, I take special pride in being able to do this with stelena-- which, I personally love, but I know there are as many haters as they are lovers, and I think a lot of people have turned around on stelena, at least in this fic. It's my ultimate angst ship. I really do think they were soulmates in every way that mattered, and it just still didn't work because what are soulmates when compared to destiny?

To be honest, I do think some of the writing in these latest chapters has taken me longer to accomplish certain goals than I would have liked; in an ideal world, I would have been able to write this arc straight through, and probably condensed things by a few chapters. Like, I always intended Rebekah and Elena to still be together at this point in the narrative, but it is taking me a while to get to where I need to go. A lot of that is just that I had so little time to write these past few years-- my momentum ended with the chapter after Elijah showed up in fall 2020, and after that, I updated only once in 2021, once in 2022, and twice in 2023, so basically, we have been in this little section of story for like 3.5 years. I think that also makes it feel like the relationship is lasting forever, when really it's only been a thing for like 10 chapters/4-5 months. But. I think, even for my klena shippers out there, this relationship is necessary for Elena, and even necessary for Klaus. You'll see.

I think Elena is sort of glumly coming to terms with becoming a vampire because she wants to keep Rebekah at almost any cost. (Almost. The almost is so key.) But the compulsion to live would probably in practice get in the way-- she'd have to be turned against her will/knowledge because she definitely does not consider becoming a vampire to be "living."

But you'll have to read and find out to see how the Elena-vampire question turns out >:)