#but this freaked me out at how accurate certain aspects were

[krenenbaker]

Ikepri Opinions - Sariel's route (Romantic)

Well, I finished it. I'm finished with Sariel's Romantic route, so I'm finally making an individual post to SCREAM about this man.

It was INTENSE. It BROKE me, then it made me whole once more (in a very different way than the other aspects of his route, though it's also accurate to say those destroyed me as well. I'm so similar to how Belle is written in his route, too... so I felt especially connected / drawn into what happened.)

The good and the bad, the softness and the cruelty, the light and the dark... everything in Sariel's route slowly snaked its way around my very being. I do think Auburn was right... I believe I've found him, my dearest man ♥

And gosh, the language in this story?? Absolutely GORGEOUS. I've added some of my favourite lines - both the beautiful and amusing - below ^_^ (they're out of context, but still, spoiler warning if you continue). Under the cut are the most spoiler-y things and lines from the Romantic epilogue, as well as my opinions on the events of the story, so... yeah. I've italicized my absolute faves :)

SPOILER WARNING!

Once upon a time, or so the story goes...

In every story I'd ever read, taking a devil by the hand and agreeing to his terms meant losing one's soul forever. Once you'd accepted whatever the devil offered you, you were doomed.

Sariel: Goodness me, did I accidentally speak my mind? I can't imagine how that happened.

Nokto: You're getting more and more Sariel-esque by the day.

Yves: Would you two stop with the over-apologizing already! (this one I will give a little context - it was directed to Keith and Emma. I also relate to this INTENSELY.)

He hadn't just stood up to them — he'd countered them with a violence far exceeding their own, turning predators into prey.

It's a longing... a desire to be there for you, to support you and keep you grounded.

There's no point thinking about what-ifs or maybes. They don't actually help anyone. All I can do is accept the reality I'm faced with, whether it's good or bad, kind or cruel.

Sariel: Once something is lost, there is no bringing it back.

Rio: Instead she went and threw herself into her work, obsessively determined to do anything and everything. (me fr, haha...)

Jin: Your apprentice is a terrifying woman. She's terrifying and brilliant, and as her master, I bet you know what she's planning next, right?

A gloved hand reached towards the woman, and her lips parted, but her scream caught in her throat, forever unvoiced.

I wanted to know the real you. I wanted to get past everything you were using to push me away, and get close to the man you are, deep inside.

Silvio: So go vanish somewhere else.

Silvio: Let me explain this in a way even a peace freak like you can understand.

That wasn't me signing a deal with the devil - that was the devil signing a deal with me.

it looked for all the world as if he [was] about to sacrifice himself in the fires of hell.

It wasn't a deal at all — it was a gentle promise, given to a dying king, a promise so pure and noble it made me want to cry.

Yves: Even I can tell that you're planning something, even if I don't know what. And I get it, but— Why are you and Sariel both so determined to rush headlong into these things all by yourselves! (ME FR ^^;)

Sariel: In all other matters, you are a brilliant woman, but I am somewhat concerned by your choice to stay with me.

The only people who knew that for certain were the man who'd eradicated him, and the man who'd banished him, knowing it would happen.

Sariel: So tell me, do you have what it takes to go on dancing with the devil, now and forevermore?

Yves: And ever since Emma officially became Sariel's apprentice, it's almost like there's two Sariels in the palace.

Sariel: I've grown quite fond of tea since you started brewing it for me while we're working.

His hair was slightly damp, and he smelled of the same soap I'd used earlier, and suddenly I was imagining how he might have looked washing himself with it.

Okay, now for my THOUGHTS. First off... OH MY GOODNESS. The tension - intrapersonally, interpersonally, nationally, and internationally is so deliciously palpable and so strong. The fact that multiple people were so near to being executed or dying in other ways, the amount of national unrest, and the legitimate, imminent risk of Rhodolite simply no longer existing due to multiple foreign powers... that's good stuff, there! And the acknowledgement of other, distant countries??? OH HELL YEAH!!!

I also related HEAVILY with Belle/Emma in this route (and Sariel himself, in many, many ways, too). I was following a walkthrough, but every choice with the exception of maybe one or two is exactly how I would approach each situation. Even much of the phrasing is how I often speak... it was honestly a little eerie!

And I agree with the choice of king, considering how the issues surrounding the kingdom resolved. I believe that that choice will lead to prosperity for Rhodolite, and the surrounding nations. And the fact that summits are planned for the future between Rhodolite and its neighbours is a FANTASTIC thing! I also am so glad that there's now a new minister in the palace... especially one that's been trained so well! ^w^

I also appreciate how there are still things to learn about Sariel by the end of the route - he's familiar but still distant, in the same way that Emma is. It's honestly nice to know that they still have things to learn from one another, and are working together to open up to each other over time. Sariel's relaxed, and helped Emma to relax, too. They've given each other stability and comfort, a sense of belonging and home... a support so they have each other to lean on and share their burdens. They've provided exactly what the other needs, in a quiet way. And I find that extremely comforting, and beautiful in such a deep way.

And outside of the narrative, I just adore Sariel's character. He's polite and well-mannered, but an absolute tease. He's reserved, and clever, and resourceful. He's violent, but gorgeously composed and calculated in his brutality (HIS SCARS, OMGG). He's mysterious, and has grown and shifted, and bettered himself so many different times and different ways. He's strict, but he is so, so kind. Kind to the point of self-destruction. And he's just ethereally beautiful. I truly, honestly, and deeply love him.

I can not believe I've come to the end of his route... I honestly don't want to leave him :( I may just start his route over again immediately and read the Dramatic end, or I may just wait for Keith's route to release, and focus on events until then... I haven't decided yet. But there is one thing I have decided for certain: Sariel Noir is very dear to me ♥

[youabandonedthem]

hi i’m writing a spades slick fancomic and stumbled across your blog and it is so freaking fascinating to me. i thought i had a pretty good understanding of slick as a character but ur stuff makes me feel like a dumb doodoo baby… . i was wondering what u think when you see that kind of non-headcanony fan creation where the fan clearly has a passion and believes themselves to Get the character they’re creating about but also manages to miss or ignore clear aspects of them?

hello. i am interested in seeing your comic maybe you can share it. i have been thinking of your question but I need to say first that idk why you are so intent on getting my opinion about this i don’t think it’s something that should really matter so much for you especially on this topic... as in you shouldnt really CARE about character opinions you disagree with from people you don’t know. I see a lot of people who i would say that description applies to. but the thing with being part of large online fanbases is that a large amount of people are probably going to think this description applies to each other anyway regardless of anyones attention to base lore. if we go back to the core this is really all about worldviews and the lens with which we view AND comprehend the base material as well as the context with which it was made... it goes like this for everyone: we read the comic and understand/digest it and then regurgitate the characters and extrapolate their behaviour for new and different circumstances to make new stories. -> the ART of creation. and some people have varying levels that they comprehend the base... and will spit characters back out in a way that makes sense to THEM and THEIR world view rather than an objective one. or even wilful ignorance and lack of acknowledgment that a character is 3 dimensional. and in doing so they can completely miss the point of why that character acts the way they do and does certain things and on a greater level why they were written that way (eg hussie is essentially a frat boy who wrote in certain things because he thought it would be funny for a joke and it does not often go much deeper) ..and how their actions may simply serve as puppetry for a narrative/agenda. And failure to take that and other factors into consideration lead to viewing the story/characters exclusively through one’s own modern lens, on a surface level, and subsequently making conclusions about a character that ultimately wouldnt make much sense unless they were to live in that specific person’s world and share that person’s worldview by leading their same life. which they can’t because they live in their own fictional world and most likely do not have much at all in common with you. and any traits they DO have in common are treated/influenced according to their own society..especially self identification of their own traits and feelings.

On a wider scale this is a concept that can apply to everything for how you can try to understand others’ points of views in a given situation.. and this is about people who have not learned how to detach themselves from their own lenses especially when it comes to fiction. some people do NOT display evidence of this skill. As such this is how war occurs because obviously when perceiving a work one way and creating things for it like that then you are arguing your view is the most accurate. and when you see people who create completely contrasting things because of their different views they will look utterly insane to you. and to those people YOU are the one who is utterly insane. and it doesnt matter who’s the one who comprehends the base material more accurately because you cannot change the world views and perceptions of others. you cannot convert them or force people to understand what they will not understand because it is just not their world. you have to mind your own crops in your own field and no one is attacking you with acid.. (Unless there are stupid people who instigate wars over meaningless basura) you have your own corner it is ok to leave other areas alone and allow people who understand to come to you instead. and if you truly want to hate then hate in moderation..do not let it consume much of your time merely a few minutes of logical discussion... and do it IN PRIVATE. obviously shifts of worldview (but not wavelength) are possible but some people become confronted with things they do not understand and they believe hate is the answer and they like to jump to conclusions. they fail to see what is clearly in front of them just because they dont personally like it. For example seeing character analyses/essays that are lovingly written and even research backed yet contain (tagged) uncensored explicit material because life is explicit. and then assuming it’s fetish material or some kind of projection. it is always one of the two they accuse you of like they are under the impression that meaningful and emotionally inspired art cannot deliberately exist. it has to completely and utterly be a reflection on YOU. of corpse all art does reflect on the artist in SOME way and it’s impossible for it not to this is what makes everyones work unique... and it is also awesome to make (well characterised) fan material that is inspired by your own life events. but they don’t understand and dismiss all existent emotional pieces as vent art .

If you agree and like to read interviews there is one my buddy shared that is so true and has a whole point about it. >> link << (richard siken) and another one from my other buddy mentioning this too.. >> mitski interview <<  Shoutout to my buddies

Additionally a wise man said, if anyone is talking about you like that  that means you are on their radar in the first place. More of a compliment...and long story short, it is always good to know somebody is talking about you Whether inferior, or superior. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_j1fiLF3D4 But anyway the total and willful lack (of understanding) is all because of JENKINS. (the one who takes away). in a world once thriving full of natural materials and in minds that have the power to comprehend others with compassion. when this is all taken away it is the clear work of jenkins. When people are regurgitating completely meaningless jokes because they have to talk exactly like their friend groups in fear of being seen as the ‘weird’ ones .. when they repeat memeified words in contexts that make no sense and have no original way of speaking. This is the impact of jenkins and when someone regards you with this complete failure to see and this lack of willingness to accept. this is the jenkins stare

Umm... that’s all God Speed doo do baby

[bookofmirth]

I saw your recent response to an anon where you mentioned the drama that occurred the other day based around bookprofessor’s post. Obviously you don’t have to respond to this or publish it if you do not wish but I just wanted to bring up that while it is important to focus on the real life issues at hand, the OP was hypocritical in her post which is why people were getting upset. She was preaching against ableism while simultaneously flaunting her IQ and degree which is a form of ableism. She was speaking out against racism while ending her post using the racial slur “cracker” when talking about the possibly Caucasian Twitter elriels.

Obviously she had some important points but it was completely overshadowed by her participation in the hate speech and prejudice that she was speaking out against.

This does not in any way justify the nasty messages she received but on the same hand, I do not blame anyone that called her out for her hypocrisy. I hope you can understand why her post was so negatively received and how flawed it was. My hope is that one day everyone can just ignore the negativity, report those who are being racist/prejudiced in any way, and block those who are just being loud and who you don’t wish to see content from. But unfortunately I do not see that happening any time soon.

There are a few things I want to address in this because I think it's a good moment for the fandom to step back and reflect on how we treat one another, how we react to such issues, and how we behave moving forward.

First off, thanks for explaining your point of view without being antagonistic. I do think that everyone's emotional reactions to the post were valid. I do NOT think their responses, in terms of words and actions, were valid. Now before I move forward, I want to clarify that when I use the word "you", I am referring to anyone who may have had the response I am describing - not you personally, anon. Also please don’t freak out about how long this is, as a majority of it is a response to the fandom in general, not you in particular.

What was - and wasn’t - said in the original post

In this post, there were completely valid criticisms of the way that people in this fandom behave, and it wasn’t “generalizing” a certain group, it was literal, actual proof of things that had been said, by multiple people. I’m not going to get too into what Alyssa argued because her critiques of those tweets was flawless. The original post had very valid criticisms of what was happening on Twitter. Alyssa exposed the actually racist, homophobic, and imperialistic underpinnings of those tweets.

However, a lot of people are stuck on the bits before and after those critiques. @bookprofessor apologized for different aspects of her post in a few different asks. There were perhaps better ways that some of those things could have been phrased, some things that could have been left out. And she apologized. People can accept that apology or not but we can’t act like it didn’t happen. Like she didn’t reflect and learn to do better.

However, the people she was calling out have not done the same thing, and if anything, comments that focus more on Alyssa’s tone than why she wrote the post in the first place lets those people off the hook.

On cracker - Using the word "cracker" is not racist in the same way that using racial slurs against POC is. Is it prejudiced? Yes. But you cannot say that it is the same thing when that is demonstrably untrue, given centuries of oppressive history. No one has been oppressed for being white. Those are not the same. Reverse racism is not a thing because a white person punching down on POC is NOT AT ALL the same thing as a POC punching up at white people. The actions look the same, but the impact is so unequal it’s not even funny.

Racism is a systemic, institutionalized problem. It is not defined by individual actions, though those actions can either support or challenge racism. When someone calls a white person a cracker, there isn’t centuries of oppression giving power to and reinforcing that statement. That is not a “gotcha” moment.

Saying “I have x IQ” or “I have X degrees” is not ableist. I’m sorry to whoever told you it was ableist (again, not you specifically anon but people who had read the “aw shucks guys” vagueblogs about it), but it’s not. Those are facts. I have no idea what my IQ is, but I have five degrees from institutions of higher education. Me saying that is in no way ableist. 

Often, people mention those things to be elitist, yes. Sometimes, they can be used to say “hey I know more about this than you”. They can be used in a way that tries to make themselves feel superior. I suspect that this is the impression that a lot of people got of the post. However, there is a fine line between saying “hey that’s elitist” and professing anti intellectualism. Which is perhaps a side issue so I’ll let that go for now.

Another reason that people mention their degrees or qualifications is to establish their background knowledge and credibility. If I were to say “hey y’all I have two MA degrees” (which is true) I am not being ableist! It is a fact! It is factual! And I worked my ass off for those, I will be in student loan debt until I die for those, I have every right to mention them if I want to, and often I do so in order to establish my credibility, to explain the position I am coming from. And my prior knowledge of these topics is relevant when we are talking about literature since that’s what my degrees were on - literature and linguistics. That is why Alyssa mentioned her background, though she did pair it with comments about other people, for which she has apologized.

My final point about this is that I 1000% understand feeling insecure or less than because of educational attainment. I dropped out of high school. I had a complex about that for a long, long time. But I also know that if I took offense at someone else saying they had a PhD, then that offense is about me, not them. Someone else’s inferiority complex is not reason for people to pretend to be less than they are.

If those two comments are what overshadowed the bigger, more important issue for a lot of the readers of that post, then y’all allowed them to overshadow those more important issues. I am 99% sure that someone right now is reading this and thinking “but Leslie, it was the way that she said it!” Boy have I got some news for you!

How we react

This next section is not specific to this ask; instead, it is a discussion of how the fandom responded. If it were only one person who had said “but her tone” then I wouldn’t need to make this point. The fact that multiple people are exhibiting the behavior explained below is what makes this a cultural problem within the acotar fandom.

The main argument I saw on the post itself, and indeed any time I see people bring up how nasty Twitter can be, is that “it was a joke” and “that’s how stan Twitter works”.

No.

Those responses were quite useful for this post, though! So buckle up everyone, because I am going to talk about gaslighting, racism, respectability politics, and tone policing. While I understand that some people might have taken personal offense to what was said, there is a much bigger issue at stake that has nothing to do with individual feelings, and everything to do with ensuring that POC stay silenced and white supremacy is upheld. 

Back to the “but it’s a joke” thing. Thanks for gaslighting! Great example of that, person I’m not going to tag! Gaslighting is when you make someone question their experiences, when you try to make them think “wait, did I really feel that way? Is my feeling about that valid? Do I need to re-evaluate my response to this?? Am I blowing this out of proportion???” And saying “it’s just a joke” is a perfect way to do that. Did I say something accidentally sexist? It’s just a joke, nbd! Now you’re the problem, because you didn’t understand my joke and laugh!!! 

Saying “it’s a joke” or “oh they are old/young/ignorant, they will learn” is not a good response to... anything. It takes the responsibility off the people who are doing the harm, and putting it onto the people who were hurt. And in this case, anyone who read those tweets and found them harmful (which should be everyone?) is completely valid. You aren’t lesser for being angry or emotional or for seeing a problem where other people saw a joke. The people who see those things as acceptable jokes are the ones in the wrong.

This is a tactic that is used against women all the time. Any time a woman is sexually harassed at work or online, for example, and she gets upset about it, and someone chimes in with “oh they weren’t serious, can’t you take a joke?” So you can imagine what this is like for women of color.

It is a very, very common tactic for people of color to be silenced via tone policing and respectability politics. Tone policing and respectability politics are very closely related, especially in this context. The idea is that if Alyssa had just written that post in just the right way, it would have been more palatable to white people, and therefore okay to write. The idea that if she had tried to be “understanding” or “see it from their perspective” or understand that it’s “just a joke” are all ways to silence and de-legitimize any accurate, valid criticisms that were made of those tweets. It effectively re-routes the conversation away from the real issues, and to the person trying to bring them up. It’s essentially an ad hominem attack in disguise. 

We see respectability politics in media when people of color who act or dress or speak like white people are afforded more respect. Or any time that a person of color is pulled over and people say, “well if they had just done what the police officer asked...” There is a pervasive idea that if people just “act” properly, aka if you act white, then the police won’t feel antagonized and try to kill arrest you. If we are nice enough, meek enough, smile enough, etc. then we will be accepted.

When we tone police, we refuse to allow marginalized people the right to be angry. We say that "hey, we can only have this discussion if you leave emotion, which you rightfully feel, at the door, and we can only continue this discussion if you behave in a way that makes me feel comfortable." But guess what? It isn’t about you! These discussions are often highly uncomfortable. There is no nice way to tell someone they are being racist. And yet somehow, that is the ever-moving goalpost. It seems reasonable, right? “Just be civil, be nice, don’t insult each other!” And there is that. But those criteria change constantly, to the point where anyone (white) at any time can say “WHOA WHOA THIS IS MAKE ME UNCOMFORTABLE???” Then we find ourselves at zero, and suddenly the focus of attention has shifted away from the actual problem.

Before we go further, I want to say this: people have a right to be angry. They do not need to make their anger palatable or tasteful for the consumption of others (read: white people). 

We saw this last summer, and I’m not sure how the message didn’t get across. But people are rightfully angry about racism. They are angry about the murder of people of color by police, they are angry about lack of quality education, or clean water, of centuries of oppression that have led to this very moment when all of that ceases to matter because a white woman’s feelings got hurt one time. 

And that is what pisses me off so much. There is no way in this world that we could criticize tweets like those that everyone would agree with, and that everyone would “approve” of, that would be “nice” enough and yet still be impactful and make the authors of those tweets understand the gravity of what they have done. 

The least we can do is allow one another to express our anger, our outrage, because it’s highly likely that those people know exactly what the fuck they are doing, and they do not fucking care. By criticizing a woman of color for the way in which she chose to engage with this topic, we are avoiding the issue and letting the people in those tweets off the hook. 

There were many responses to that post that were positive, that agreed with Alyssa. There are a ton of people who disagree with those tweets, who find them disgusting, who understand exactly how and why they are problematic. That should be what we are talking about. Getting to the core of the argument, on that post or any about racism or other problematic behavior in fandom, requires getting past our own egos. It requires us to be able to step back, say “hm this thing is frustrating but there is a bigger picture here”. It’s not easy, and I recognize that. 

The fact that it is a common tactic though? To say “hey this hurt me personally and so I’m going to ignore any valid points you made?” That feeds directly into centuries of white supremacy because it, once again, silences POC and makes them try to play a losing game. And they will always lose, because no matter how hard they try to play the white game, the goalposts are constantly shifting. So you know what? Fuck the game, and fuck respectability politics, and fuck tone policing and “uwu be nice guys” because when it comes to things like racism and sexism, I don’t expect the people who deserve to be criticized to be nice. In fact, trying to be nice only serves to fuck POC over in the end.

Indeed, in response to that post, certain blogs have taken the opportunity to position themselves as “the nice ones” or “the ones who would never” or “uwu let’s be nice guys” while completely ignoring the fact that a woman of color was attacked for calling out racism. And yes - that was the point of her post. People getting hung up on mentions of her degree are (intentionally or not, it doesn’t matter) completely obfuscating the fact that that is not what her post was about, which was to call out disgusting behavior. idk how many words the post actually was, but essentially, people are focusing on 5% of it to the detriment of the 95% that was actually really important shit. These types of vagueblog posts about the issue fall into exactly what I am talking about - these are people who have decided to look at this issue, see how Alyssa (and anyone else who dares speak up) has approached it, and intentionally try to act like they are “better” because they can be “rational” and “kind”. Newsflash, if you don’t have something to be angry about, then being “nice” about racism isn’t that much of a flex. If it didn’t bother you, then congratulations. That doesn’t make you better than people it did bother. You just got lucky this time, and decided to use that to your advantage to look like the good guy.

I am not saying that all calls for peace are doing this. Obviously it’s what we all want. This is the worst I have seen this fandom in the 4+ years I’ve been here. But we cannot have that by ignoring the real problems and pretending that if we are all just nice to each other, then we will solve racism and sexism and all bullying in the fandom will stop. 

So combining all of this - the gaslighting, the tone policing, and what do you get? You get a fandom that refuses to actually engage critically with its own problems and take accountability for them. You get a fandom that decides that it’s easier to be distracted by this one mean comment over here than it is to engage in the fact that you know what, the culture in this fandom has actually turned incredibly disgusting and a lot of people are just okay with it. You’ve got a fandom that is using the tools of white supremacy to avoid the discussions that should actually be taking place. Maybe people don’t realize that that’s what they are doing. But if someone still thinks that after reading this post, then godspeed my friend, I hope you enjoy Twitter.

Okay so my last thing I want to say is that I didn’t come to all of this knowledge fresh from the womb. I do a lot of work, in my personal life and my professional life, to be better. So here is a list of books that I have found particularly helpful:

How to Be An Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi

Stamped From the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America also by Ibram X. Kendi

White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo (side note, I was kinda meh about this one but the chapter “White Women’s Tears” is particularly helpful)

So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo

Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment by Patricia Hill Collins

I’m not going to talk specifically about Alyssa’s post anymore, but if anyone wants to continue talking about these broader issues going on in the fandom, I am game. (I really should be grading papers though, so it might take a bit.)

[terubakudan]

This may be an old article from 3 years ago, but these cultural aspects/observations still apply even today. And though this is strictly a Chinese perspective, a lot of these everyday life bits are observed in Overseas Chinese communities in countries such as The Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, etc. as well as countries heavily influenced by Chinese culture like Taiwan, Japan, and Korea.

I've always liked learning about other cultures and making comparisons between how things are done East vs West. Which probably stems from growing up with two cultures and Mom raising me on American movies xD

So the irony is if you asked me how many Chinese, Taiwanese, or Hong Kong actors I know, chances are I know as much as you do xD Like Jackie Chan, Andy Lau, and that's about it. But if you asked me about Western (specifically American and British) actors, then I have a useless brain dump of movie trivia and who was with who in what movie xD

Hmmm, both Taiwan and the Philippines are two distinct cultures but both look up to a certain country and are fascinated by that. In Taiwan's case, Japan and the US for the Philippines. In both cases, this is due to being under the rule of those countries in their history. Taiwan being under Japan for 50 years, and the Philippines being under Spain for 300+ years, followed by periods of American and Japanese rule. To put it simply though:

Taiwan is "mini-Japan with a very Chinese culture".

The Philippines is "former colony of Spain with lots of American influences".

But unlike the author, I've never set foot in any Western country, so my understandings are strictly what I've observed in media, which while it can be accurate, doesn't compare to actually experiencing the culture.

Some further elaboration on most points:

#1 We quite literally use chopsticks for everything. We use it to pick rice, viands, vegetables, fruit, smaller desserts, almost all the food you can think of.

But where do you put your chopsticks when you're not using them? Just put them on top of your bowl or flat on your plate. But do not ever stick them vertically. It's taboo, since it looks like incense sticks, which we use to pray for those who have passed, like our ancestors or during funerary services.

#3 The majority of Asia is obsessed with fair/white skin. In my time at the Philippines, I grew up watching all these Dove Whitening commercials and my classmates often commented on how fair my skin was, how they envied it etc. In Taiwan, girls often say they don't want to 變黑 (biàn hēi) 'become dark'. Japan and Korea too are not innocent of this either (if their beauty/skin products weren't a dead giveaway).

People here at Taiwan often mistake me for being from Hong Kong or Japan (as long as I don't speak Mandarin with my heavy accent xD). A Taiwanese classmate of mine joked that she often gets mistaken for being from Southeast Asia due to having a darker complexion. And while I laughed it off with her at that time, looking back, I now realize she was lowkey being racist. xD

And believe me Filipinas have mentioned literally being told 'your skin is so dark' here in Taiwan, or being given backhanded compliments like 'you're pretty despite having dark skin' and...*facepalms*

My point is, beauty is not exclusive to skin color. People who still think that are assholes.

#5 Not to say we don't have salt and pepper, but yes soy sauce and vinegar are the classic condiments you see on the table, be it at home or at a restaurant.

And if I may add, Taiwanese love their pepper. xD If you ever get to eat at a night market or a smaller "Mom n' Pop-style" restaurant here, some dishes/soups tend to add quite an excessive amount of pepper. Not like anthills, but quite liberally and way more than average. Enough that you see traces of pepper at the bottom of the food paper bag or swirling in your soup. xD

#6 I know this all too well from personal experience. In my years of studying at Taiwan, I always had roommates. 3 in my first school (I graduated high school in the Philippines pre K-12 so I had to make up 2 years of Senior High), followed by 2 in college, with the exception of 1 in freshman year.

My college did offer single person dorms but at around 9000 NTD ($324) per month compared to around 6000 NTD ($216) per semester. Because I wanted to save, the choice was obvious for me xD. But ah, this doesn't mean I don't value personal space, in fact I love having the room to myself, and since both my roomies would go home to their families every weekend, weekends were bliss for me xD

And you don't have to be friends with your roommates (that's an added bonus however), you just have to get along with them. I was quite lucky to have really great roommates all throughout my schooling years.

#9 In the Philippines, we do. Owing mostly to American influences and maybe being predominantly Catholic? xD

#10 *sigh* Chinese parents and parents from similar Asian cultures tend to put too much emphasis on grades, so much that kids could get sent to cram school as early as elementary. This is because what school you get into could literally affect your future job opportunities, and while that's not exclusive to any particular country/culture, I feel it's especially pronounced here in Asia. I'm really lucky my own parents weren't that strict about it. However, if your parents don't point the mistakes out to you, chances are you'll do it yourself, if you're an Asian kid like me anyway. xD It just becomes a habit.

#11 My family is an exception to this. xD We do say 'I love you' directly, but complete with the 'ah eat well ok?', 'don't scrimp on food', 'sleep well' and similar indirect words/actions of affection. We were doing 'Conceal, Don't Feel' before it became popular. xD

#13 I'm kind of confused about this but this has sort have changed over the years in which eye-contact is now more encouraged. But don't stare, especially at elders and authority figures. Sometimes it's just shyness though. xD And I've observed this with my own Taiwanese friend, especially when I'm complaining or ranting to her about something. xD I'm a person who likes to express my opinions strongly, which tends to scare/alienate some of the locals here, as doing so is kind of frowned upon. Thankfully, she does listen and offers her take on things.

#14 Ah this. xD In the Philippines, this is a common greeting known as beso-beso, and I freaked out too when an auntie did that to me. xD Needless to say, Mom lectured me later on what that was. ^^"

#16 Along with #3 another crazy beauty standard. In my view, people always look better with a little meat on them and when they're not horribly thin. Asia still has a loonng way to go with accepting different types of bodies if you ask me. This combined with modern beauty standards has made the pressure for women especially to 'look beautiful' higher than ever.

I know many people love them but please, starving yourself or glorifying eating disorders is never OK just to get this kind of 'ideal' body. I'm not part of the Kpop fandom, but even I think when idols get bullied just for gaining the least bit of weight among other insensitive comments, that's really going too far.

#17 'If you want to make friends, go eat.' <- I couldn't agree more. In the Philippines we have a greeting: 'Kumain ka na ba?' (Have you eaten?) . Similarly in Taiwan, we have 吃飯了沒? (chī fàn le méi), both of these can mean that in the literal sense but are often used as greetings instead. By then which invitation to having lunch/dinner together may or may not follow. Food really is a way for us to socialize and to catch up with what's going on in each other's lives. Not to say we don't have regular outings like going out to the mall, going shopping, etc. but eating together is a huge part of our culture, be it with family or friends.

And while I'm at it, some memes that are way too accurate good to pass up xD

Parents, uncles, aunties alike will fight over the bill xD

Alternatively:

You just space out until your name is called xD

My parents are guilty of the last one. Logic how? xD

#18 True. xD I like giving compliments out to people but I have a hard time accepting them myself, though I've learnt how to accept them much more now than before. We're kind of raised to constantly downplay ourselves so we often say things like 'ah no no' or 'I'm really not that good'. The downside of this of course is that it can come off as somewhat fake. xD

Again from personal experience, that same classmate who made the lowkey racist remark, she was good, she was on the debate team, was a honor student, knew how to mingle with people, but she downplayed herself way too much, while praising me but I honestly thought that she never really meant it from how she treated me. She wanted to keep me around her yet make backhanded compliments at me and she didn't want me socializing with my other classmate who is now my friend. *sigh* It was only after discussing this with one of my roomies did I realize how this 'excessive downplaying' might come off to people like me who more or less grew up with a more 'Westernized' mindset. I'm not saying brag about your achievements but don't be overly humble about them either, which can also be a turn off.

#20 We do tend to be a lot more realistic on how we view things, neither entirely optimistic nor pessimistic. We try to think of things practically and often analyze things on pure logic. A downside of this however, is that Chinese people can be overly practical. Taiwanese for instance don't like to 'find inconveniences' and generally keep to themselves, meaning, they won't help you in your hour of need even when they do have the capabilities. Sounds really harsh I know, but in my 6 years of living in Taiwan, while this doesn't apply to all the people, a lot of them really do only find/talk to you when they need something.

So for some people saying Taiwanese are 'friendly', that's BS xD If you ask me, Filipinos are infinitely more friendly, and again while not all, generally make more of an effort to help you when you need it. I really felt more of a real sense of community during my years growing up in the Philippines compared to Taiwan.

#21 Children do tend to stay with their parents well into college and adulthood, since Chinese families are indeed very family-oriented, in a lot of cases, grandparents often live under the same roof as us as well! And it really does save a lot of money. I see there's a real stigma in the US when it comes to "living with your parents", but that's starting to change especially because of Covid and having more and more people move back in with their parents.

Housing unfortunately is pretty much hella expensive no matter where you go, and Taiwan is no exception. Steep housing prices and the very high cost of raising a child (schooling + buxiban fees, etc.) contribute to a very low birth rate and thus an aging population like Japan. It's not uncommon to see both parents working in Taiwan.

#23 I'm an overthinker myself, but I totally agree with the author that the best is to strike a good balance between these two. Which I guess is why I love drawing or any other related creative attempts, it helps me be more spontaneous or well, creative! I like to remain intellectually or artistically inspired.

#24 Is French high school really like that? xD My friend did watch SKAM France and more or less got a culture shock from what was depicted on the show. I can confirm however that most high schools both in the Philippines and Taiwan require students to wear a uniform, only in college is everybody free to wear casual/civilian clothes.

#26 Ah this is part of our Asian gift-giving etiquette xD We always open gifts later after the event/meeting and in private. Never open them in front of the person who gave it to you or in front of others. This is to prevent any 'shame/embarrassment' that may result both to yourself and to the gift giver. I know this may come off as something weird since some people may want a more honest response or immediate feedback when it comes to gift-giving, but that's just how it is in our culture. You're always free to ask us though (in private) if we liked the gift or not ^^"

#28 I want to say the same goes to drinking, partying, and drugs however xD Those are things which are still frowned upon in our culture. And to be honest, whenever I see those in movies, it does kind of turn me off xD It doesn't mean that we're "uncool" or "boring", we just think that there are much better or healthier ways of "having fun".

#31 Is this true in France?! Man I would kind of prefer that instead of people being on their phones all the time xD This kind of goes with #20 in that Chinese are overly practical or logical, and don't read fiction as much as nonfiction. My Taiwanese friend is an exception though, she's a bibliophile who loves the feel of paper books compared to e-books, and it's a trait of her that I like a lot. Both the Philippines and Taiwan however have a huge fanbase when it comes to manga and anime though.

I'm all for reading outside of "designated reading" at schools especially. Reading fiction improves your vocabulary too, and can be quite fun! It helps you imagine and really invest in a world/story, and if you ask me something that I feel Westerners are better at, they're more in touch with their emotions and creativity, and are thus much more able to write compelling or original stories. Believe me, I've seen a fair amount of Chinese movies that rip off Western movie plotlines xD

#33 Nothing much to add on here..except that since I'm a "weird" person, Mom often jokes that she got the wrong baby from the hospital. xD

#35 True. While I agree with the care and concern that your fellow community can give you, the downside of this is we tend to only hang out with our own people, e.g Chinese with Chinese, Taiwanese with Taiwanese, etc. I've seen too that it's especially hard to make friends in Japan and Korea as a foreigner. Not only is there the language barrier, but the differences in culture too. In a way, Asians can be pretty close-minded on getting to know other cultures or actually making friends with people from other countries. I know this all too well being half-Taiwanese/half-Filipino, being neither "Filipino" enough nor "Taiwanese" enough. xD It's more of people here being too used to what they're comfortable with.

#36 Oh this is something I feel that Chinese students and other students from similar cultures should really improve on. xD How will people respect you if you don't speak your mind?

I felt bad especially for my Spanish teacher in college, granted it was an introductory course (Spanish I and II) but the amount of times that our teacher had to prompt a student to recite/speak even with clear hints already made her (and me too) extremely frustrated. The thing is, these are college students, I personally feel they don't have any reason to be so shy of speaking and technically by not doing so they're slowing the pace of the class too much and a lot of time is wasted.

Unfortunately you can't always be very vocal with your thoughts and opinions in most Asian cultures. I would say strive for that, but at the same time, play your cards well, especially if you're in a workplace setting.

If you made it to the end, thank you for reading and here's a cookie! 🍪 I'm not perfect and there's bound to be something I missed so please let me know if you spotted anything wrong. Feedback/questions are very much welcome and please feel free to share about your country/culture's differences or similarities!

[twistedtummies2]

Well, you've done DC. How about Marvel?

Okay, this one was REALLY tricky. XD The issue with Marvel is that while there is one character who is consistently one I adore, the rest of the characters I can have kink crushes on tend to be in flux, so to speak. Like, sometimes I'll like them a whole lot, sometimes I'll only like them a small bit, sometimes I'll like certain designs or portrayals and not others, etc. So there are NUMEROUS Marvel characters I wouldn't mind writing for and can fantasize about, but how much those levels stand is forever fluctuating. Having said that, this won't REALLY be a Top 5 of favorites, but more...a Top 5 of consistency. Because aside from my number one (and maybe my number two), the other characters here fluctuate in terms of how much I like them compared to others. HOWEVER, they are ALL characters I CONSISTENTLY enjoy to some degree or another in a pred/big eater role. (Mostly pred, if you haven't guessed from previous answers.) Now, let's get into them...

5. Galactus.

Ah, yes, the Eater of Worlds himself. In point of fact, Galactus' literally cosmic appetite is both his biggest pro AND his biggest con. Galactus is a veritable god of destruction; a nigh-omnipotent being whose entire existence REVOLVES around consumption on a massive scale. Galactus literally eats worlds; he absorbs all energy the planet has into his being, and his hunger is neverending. Time and again he's come after Earth, but every time, he's outsmarted by the heroes and left to find some other place to gorge himself. On the one hand, God-level predators are freaking AWESOME, and that level of sheer hunger is INTENSELY squeak-and-blush-inducing. On the other hand, however, it doesn't leave much room for intimacy or for writing that will present an especially great amount of conflict. As a result, Galactus' appetite is both incredibly appealing and yet slightly off-putting for me.

4. Fin Fang Foom.

While his name is pretty silly, this giant dragon is actually one of Marvel's most underrated and intensely powerful antagonists. Originally imagined as a sort of unlikely cross between Godzilla and Fu Manchu - a monstrous distillation of all things that terrified people during the Yellow Scare - Fin Fang Foom has evolved with the times and, much like the Mandarin, still has a steady home at Marvel in the comics and in animation. He's not very well known, however, I think mostly because he hasn't appeared in any movies. As you know, I love dragons, and Fin Fang Foom is a dandy of a beast: a regularly rampaging monster who is, indeed, a canon pred. The image used here is actually from a defective clone of Fin Fang Foom, which had much of his power but little of his intelligence; the REAL Fin Fang Foom is actually highly intellectual...but this does not make him any less ravenous than the version depicted above. (Plus...come on, with imagery and writing like that, I HAD to make this the image I shared.) He's pretty much perfect for macro/micro type stuff, if you're into dragons.

3. Nightcrawler.

There are several X-Men characters I have had crushes on: Beast, Blob, Toad, and Sabretooth are the chief ones. However, in all four of these cases, how much I like them tends to fluctuate, as I've said before: it depends on a LOT of factors. However, the one X-Men character I seem to consistently want to stuff full of food or end up feeding myself to is, ironically, one of the least likely options: Kurt Wagner, a.k.a. Nightcrawler. I WOULD say this is because he's my favorite X-Men character (which is true), but I don't really think that's the reason. There's not much evidence of Kurt being an ESPECIALLY big eater, and certainly no evidence of him being of a predatory mindset...yet he has developed a niche group of vore-loving or belly-loving fans who really love the thought of feeding him one way or another, and I am in that niche. I think it's a mixture of his design and his personality: Kurt looks like a fanged, fuzzy demon, but his soul is actually that of a very fine fellow. He's an impish mischief maker, a charismatic and chivalrous gentleman, and a kind, charitable, religiously devout sweetheart, all at the same time. You can imagine Nightcrawler being a big tease to someone who has certain kinks, but you can also imagine him being very docile or very comforting. He's pretty much a tailor made character for the softer, safer, more playful sides of these interests almost without trying.

2. Tiger Shark.

I've only come to know Tiger Shark fairly recently, and I haven't READ much of him...but with what I have seen of him and learned of him, he's definitely worthy of the number two spot. Remember how I said in a previous thing of these sorts that Killer Croc was sort of "King Shark done right"? Yeah, I think Tiger Shark is an even more accurate example of that. In the comics, this rogue's story goes like this: Todd Arliss was once an Olympic swimmer who lost his abilities in an accident: desperate to regain his athletic capabilities, he gave himself over to experimentation, and his DNA was fused with that of a tiger shark, and also of the mythical Sub-Mariner, Prince Namor. The resulting mutation turned Arliss into a predatory monster, with superhuman strength and a savage appetite. Over the years, Arliss has been depicted less and less human and more and more animalistic by various artists; whether this is a canon show of his worsening mutation or just artistic license is anyone's guess. Tiger Shark has a more consistent personality than King Shark, and while his design has changed over the years, he's at least retained the basic concepts, as well as his hunger. I have to admit that I actually prefer a version OUTSIDE of the comics for my interests: the version that appears in the series "Avengers Assemble," which gives him a whole new backstory and a decidedly beastly design. If I were to write for the guy, I'd likely follow that one more closely. Still, the comic version definitely has some merits, too.

1. Venom.

Now, I'm specifically talking about the original Eddie Brock Venom; other versions just don't interest me as much. With that out of the way...Venom didn't START OUT as a predatory beast, but quite quickly, as time went on, the character became more and more focused on that aspect of things. Just looking at the guy, it's easy to see why. The Jekyll-and-Hyde-esque relationship between Eddie Brock and the ravenous Symbiote that controls him is one that can be used for both comedy and tragedy, and Venom's gluttonous, aggressive, and at times delightfully witty personality makes him a very fun character to imagine. He can devour massive amounts, has a canonical love of chocolate (as well as human flesh), and has more appealing dialogue than you can shake a stick at throughout his long history. He's right up there with Killer Croc as one of my favorite predator crushes in comics, and possibly the only Marvel character I can consistently say I adore above ALL others.

[bigskydreaming]

I love an absolutely unreasonable amount of things about Robin: Year One for something written by Chuck Dixon (and have decided to just go with the conclusion that well, even broken clocks are right twice a day, it is what it is).

But one of my favorite aspects about it is the little throwaway detail that Talia was the one ultimately behind Shrike’s little assassin finishing school for street kids, and my ensuing headcanon that this is the REAL source of conflict between her and Dick, assuming Dick also found out about her role at some point later on.

For Dick, its that like, wow, Vengeance Academy was reeeeeeeally not fun for me, thanks T, but also there’s the unsettling awareness that given where he was emotionally and mentally at the time, it came far closer to swaying his mindset to its way of thinking than he cares to admit. With this translating into his eternal grudge match against Talia. 

Its 50% personal (he’s like hello, I was freaking TEN okay, I was kidnapped off the streets after running away and forcibly drafted into bootcamp for tween murderers-in-training, hi, yes, I would like to file a grievance complaint, why is that surprising) and 50% ideological in the sense that even all the way back then, it wasn’t like he was oblivious to the appeal Talia and the school’s way of thinking held, and the vehemence of his pushback against it and everything it represents and everyone involved in it is more than a little bit a forceful point to reject it in defiance of that very same appeal.

For Talia, its that she thinks Dick is an idiot and its a bit about wounded pride, for pretty much those exact same reasons. Talia is not her father, and is more than willing to approach things very differently than he does. Every operation she’s in charge of or AU where she runs the League, the result is a very different creature than what results of Ra’s being in charge. But despite those differences, it is important to note that Talia DOES in and of herself still believe most of the same ideology the League adopts and teaches in turn. She stays not because she HAS to but because she believes in its end goals, in its methodology. Their way of thinking is not without merit, in her eyes, and much of her worldview in terms of how she views power and what one does with it if one has it....she’s not just PRETENDING to think that way to play nice with the League.

Its what frustrates her so much about Bruce - that he can’t see the merits of her approaches, her own ideology, that he refuses to consider that there might be something to her way of things. Or more accurately, its not that he refuses to consider it, its that he DID consider it when he was younger, and discarded it as something not for him, a notion he rejected with deliberation. But as much as this is frustrating to Talia as it so often is what comes between them, she respects it because she respects HIM. She doesn’t like that he won’t bend on this subject, but she can’t precisely say she DISLIKES it either, because someone who could be made to give up his own ideals and accept hers simply because she wanted them to is not someone who would have ever captivated her interest as long as Bruce has.

But that rejection of her own worldview and methods is one thing to see coming from someone you respect and even admire for the steel of their own convictions, a peer, a rival....and another thing entirely to see coming from a ten year old brat that in Talia’s eyes, she was actually trying to HELP, in her own way, by taking this clearly vulnerable and unprotected child (given that there was no one to STOP Shrike from taking him off the streets) and giving him the tools he would need to not only survive in this world but even thrive. She, by way of Shrike, took a kid she saw as likely to just be swallowed whole by the streets and forgotten, and was trying to give him a way to make a difference, live a life of significance, from her POV....and Dick essentially spit on that and said no thanks and also fuck you.

From Bruce, she’ll take that, because she feels he’s earned that right of forceful defiance by way of the long, arduous journey he voluntarily took to become the man he is with intent.....a journey she’s been witness to more than a small part of. From Dick though, there was no way she was EVER going to see his rejection of what she and her perspective had to offer him as anything less than a slight she would not tolerate.....because she wasn’t about to view a ten year old as her peer, as an acknowledged rival the way she does Bruce.

So its that thing where you refuse to accept that a kid might have a point for thinking or wanting what he wants, because you’re the adult and you know better dammit, you have life experience and he still has baby teeth. Ungrateful, know-nothing little brat.

And the thing is, both Dick and Talia are just so freaking STUBBORN that they’ve refused to ever loosen the reins on their particular view of each other, cast eternally in amber from the second they were each respectively made aware of the other’s role or presence in that long ago aborted experiment known as Vengeance Academy.

They still view each other through that same lens, and likely always will, because its just a grudge match for the ages now, they’re each completely certain they were RIGHT to do what they did and feel what they felt about it, and they’re not budging on that. And nothing else about the other or how the other has changed or what they’ve become since that time, even though its been over fifteen years in comic book time since that happened, like....nothing else about the other, no new information or perspective on the other is even filtering through or getting past that initial formed response....because they’re not ALLOWING it to. 

They’re both like.....yeah whatever, that’s cool and all, whenever the other does something new that contrasts with their view of them and the expectations they hold for how they’re likely to act at any given time based entirely on those events of fifteen years ago.....

But its in a distracted, offhanded sorta way like they’re not even paying attention to whatever that new action or behavior was, its not even really REGISTERING with them.....because they’re both just like, look, before we pay any attention to literally anything the other has done or accomplished in the last fifteen years, first we gotta settle up on this little matter of Vengeance Academy and the fact that I was RIGHT, and we’re not going ANYWHERE until they fucking admit it.

Bruce: Don’t you two think that maybe, just MAYBE, its time to let that go and perhaps form a new opinion of each other based on, oh, I don’t know....the present day?

Dick and Talia, still deadlocked in a glare: STAY OUT OF THIS BRUCE.

[yourdesertsunflower]

Chunin Exams: Shikamaru vs. Temari

So this will be long, so be ready for some deep diving. I’d been thinking this for quite a while so let’s go. 

One of my favorite Chunin Exams’s match has to be Shikamaru vs. Temari. This may not be much of a surprise for any of you, but maybe the reason why it is between my top 3 will surprise more than one. 

Obviously the ship factor made me like this battle even more, but it’s not even a primary or secondary reason for why I love this match. This battle stands out to me as being one of the most truthful ninja fights of the whole arc. Why? Because a ninja fight, as Kakashi would day during the Zabuza’s arc is about always plotting, to know when to do certain thing, to know when to not to do them and just hide and to work with the tools you have. 

It’s a battle were the brains out beats the brute force, where the strength is the last resource and the strategy primes as the best thing a ninja can have. It about deciphering our opponent, carrying out the best strategy and ensuring the win as much as possible and both Shikamaru and Temari excel at being this masterminds. They make the most out of their battle and, in my opinion, they both shine through as not only capable but highly advanced strategists, specially for their short age. 

That’s why when I hear people going like “No, she’s not.” when Asuma says that Temari she is bright and that she thinks like Shikamaru (she thinks ahead) or say that “Shikamaru could have easily beat Temari if he wasn’t that lazy” I just feel like crying. 

However, it’s not people’s fault after all. The direction of the match in both the anime and the manga makes Shikamaru’s strategy the wow factor. I am not saying his tactic is not genius, I would be pretty lame if I said that, nor that Shikamaru is not more intelligent than Temari (He is the most brilliant person of his generation, specially when it comes to strategy) and he deserved the recognition because the tactic he carried through was slick af. It’s one of the many reason why Shikamaru is my absolute favorite character in Naruto (I love him so much). 

However, I think that Shikamaru’s genius shouldn’t by any means diminish Temari’s wit. Because she was also delivering quite a good fight, she was a good match for Shikamaru (which ain’t easy) and (I personally think) had a pretty accurate strategy. 

So, I gave myself the job of being Temari’s Asuma and explain in full detail what I think, through my reading, was Temari’s strategy. Because my girl deserves more recognition. She is a strategist and a really good one.

1. Context

One thing I think it’s important to mention before anything is the context of the match. 

If we come to think about it, it wouldn’t be that far-fetched to say that Temari couldn’t waste that much chakra nor show new abilities in her fight against Shikamaru. Let’s remember that the Sand only participated in the Chunin Exams because of the attack, to execute the Konoha Crush. A plan for which the Sand Siblings, specially Gaara, were crucial. Even we get to see Kankuro forfeiting of his fight against Shino in order to keep his techniques a secret and wait for the time to make the move. 

However Temari didn’t had the same luck. It would be suspicious if the two of them just gave up. My reading of the situation is that actually neither of them expected to fight their respective matches as Gaara’s match against Sasuke was before theirs. Still, if someone had to fight Temari knew that would be her because, 

a. Kankuro was against Shino who had shown to be a beast, and hence, it was more likely that he would have to use higher tier attacks. 

b. Temari showed to be quite confident of her skills and Shikamaru, though he had shown to be intelligent (not to the extent of this match but intelligent nonetheless) he was the weakest of the finalist in terms of raw strength. 

So, Temari had to be the one to fight. Otherwise the plan would fall apart, and although she wasn’t sure about attacking from the start, she was extremely loyal to her village and would never do something to hurt it. However she couldn’t be imprudent, hence, she didn’t had to waste that much chakra in order not to tire herself that much and couldn’t show new wind style techniques as that would only weaken the surprise effect this might have (let’s remember she was in a stadium filled with highly capable Shinobi, Chunin and Jonin Level)

But although she couldn’t be imprudent, she also couldn’t let herself be defeated. After all, she is Temari. She had figure out a way to win despite the limitations she had which brings us to the fight itself. 

2. First Movement: Gaining Information

The first thing Temari knows is that she needs some information about the match and the rival so she starts off by trying to get an action or a least a reaction from Shikamaru, which proved to be quite draining due to his usual unmotivated behavior. 

The frontal and direct attacks of Temari at the beginning of the match serve that purpose. 

Unlike her match against Tenten, where she could just start of in complete defensiveness she quickly realized that that wouldn’t work with Shikamaru. I am pretty sure Temari is one of those fighters who don’t like to make the first move but to wait and recollect information from her adversaries (after all i  her battle against Tenten, in which she always seemed comfortable she did just that) but as she knew that couldn’t be the case as while Tenten is someone active, Shikamaru is more of reactive fighter she just attacked to get the necessary information to use with her previous knowledge (which I’ll also proceed to explain) to plan a strategy. 

She knew from Shikamaru’s fight against Kin (the sound ninja) that it was quite likely that the Shadow Posession Jutsu had: 

a. A range 

b. Short duration spam. 

c. Wasted to much chakra. 

After all, Shikamaru was always shown to be pretty cautious about how and when he used it. That’s why the jutsu doesn’t seem much of a threat at the beginning as if she could manage to identify the range of his jutsu she could just stay away from it and make him waste chakra. 

If to that we add that Shikamaru’s reaction was to hide she also gained a panorama of how the fight will be like. It’ll most likely be a long-lasting battle based more in indirect attacks and meticulously planning than in strength. 

This seemed to match quite well, which justifies Temari’s smile as Shikamaru hides. At first glance stretching out the duration of the battle and fighting long-range was just perfect for her as she could save as much chakra as possible, dodging the attacks of Shikamaru while making him waste as much chakra as possible. 

Hence, although Temari was overconfident (aspect I’ll talk about in more detail later) she had a reason to be so. She had a fairly strong plan,and everything seemed to be falling in the right place. 

2. Identifying the Range and the Sun

The first attacks of Shikamaru just seem to work on perfectly for Temari as she achieves to find out her shadow range, a jaw-dropping fifteen meters thirty-two centimetres (like she is also a mathematician in her own right). 

It’s then when Shikamaru shows her that there was one factor she hadn’t thought about before: the sun. When the shadow reaches a longer distance than it had already done she quickly deduces that as the sun sets the shadow of the wall was getting larger, hence elongating the shadow making his range bigger. 

And Temari quickly adapts to the situation working out several plans she could use. She decides the better was keeping up with the angle and the direction from which the sun is hitting the wall and the growth in his shadow in order to be able to calculate an equation that would keep him away from his shadow. 

This is good because while some may just freak out and try to use brute force to finish it, as seemingly stretching the match no longer holds any sense, Temari takes her time to think and finds a way to use her skills and knowledge in battle. This is no easy task, as we see that a lot of highly talented shinobis on paper had a tough time in practice. But she is so great that she comes up with a way that doesn’t directly throws the entire plan she had come up with to the trash. 

3. Surprise Attack 

Well I got to say this. I don’t like that Kankuro warns Temari about Shikamaru’s  home-made parachute because I easily think that she could have realized by herself. She had shown all through the battle to have great observational skills and to be quite focused so I think that Kishimoto could have easily come up with that. 

Still, I understand that Kishomoto through this fight tries to justify that Shikamaru was the one that would become a Chunin, so nerfing Temari isn’t the worst thing out of all. I don’t like it but isn’t that bad if we take into consideration the other thingd that were done in the manga. 

However is through her ability to dodge this attack we get Asuma’s and Shikamaru’s reaction and recognition of Temari’s skills. She is a really good shinobi, quick, intelligent and competent. 

Yes, Shikamaru had just gotten her in the position she wanted but what he said he truly meant it, which means a lot given his chauvinistic behavior at the begging of Naruto. She is fast learner, she is capable to dodge attacks that no regular genin could or as Shikamaru said in Naruto Ninja Storm 4 (yes, I usually hate most of the scenes in this game but this one ShikaTema scene was so sport on) that she was the first person of his age to be able dodge that many attacks from him, which leaves me to another point. 

4. Moves Ahead

It’s almost a meme that Shikamaru has a 200 IQ and that he is 200 moves ahead everyone else but what I really think that people don’t understand is that for Shikamaru each an everyone of those moves, from the first one to the the two hundred, could be the last one. When Shikamaru plans out a strategy he may use some moves that are feints but those feints may also work to end the match to less skilled rivals. Each move works as an individual move as part of a whole. That is other level, is genius. Prove of the overtly exaggerated 200 IQ, almost everyone could seem dumb beside him.

However, the complexity of the strategy he used against Temari shows us that how knew that he needed to come up with something good in order to be able to beat her. She wouldn’t fall for something straightfoward because she showed to be several steps ahead also. 

She had shown to easily decipher his jutsu’s range, she had found elements that could have served him as an advantage and she had been skillful enough to move around the field avoiding his jutsu with ease. And he knows that because 

a. He had seen it, 

b. She had told it to him, which I think was one of the biggest mistakes of Temari derived from her over-confidence.

That’s why his plan had to be slick in order to win which brings up the end of the match. 

5. Checkmate

After seeing that Shikamaru’s shadow range was almost unlimited and that her chances of measuring it were incredibly low she then decides to end it once and for all because; 

a. If she extended the match much longer it was almost inevitable that she will end up being caught by his shadow paralysis jutsu 

b. She couldn’t risk to waste a lot of chakra since, I have already mentioned, it was indispensable she was in good conditions for the Konoha Crush. 

But it’s interesting the movement she plans out in order to beat Shikamaru since it shows that she is very aware of her own tools and abilities and of the abilities of her rival. One clone will take the attention of him, falling in his shadows paralysis while she just bluntly beat him with her crushing wind style. Fairly simple, but also extremely effective. 

When Shikamaru caught her and shows her his strategy Temari quickly understands what he had done. She had underestimated both his jutsu and his mind and that added with her over-confidence in her analysis was what gave Shikamaru the necessary information to caught her. 

She is genuinely surprised as the rest of the crowd but they are even more when he gives up. 

That was just a masterful decision of Kishimoto, I got to give him that, because it not only make Shikamaru be cool af for the audience, but also for two things that are lest often touched upon: 

a. In terms of Shikamaru it showed the genius he is, the smartest person of his generation by far, capable of examining the situation and choose the best option to execute. He was running out of chakra while his rival was safe and sound. In a real life mission the best option is retreat, and that’s what he does. This is shows to Temari than he and Shikamaru are actually much more alike than she had thought. They both are rational thinkers, who measure cons and pros and are able to come up with a logical analysis but they are also pretty conscious of themselves and others. That’s what Asuma means when he says they think alike, that why they always seem to work along together despite their seemingly clashing personalities. 

b. In terms of Temari she gets the bittersweet victory. She archived what she wanted, making him run out of chakra, but not how she wanted to do so. It is deserved and undeserved at the same time which conflicts her. If the battle had continued it was more than likely she had won as she wanted to but it didn’t which let her thinking that, if he could he could have easily beat her even though he states that not to be the reason. After all he had clearly outsmarted her, and that was what was the most important for her, despite her win was deserved in my opinion (not because she was more intelligent than him, because no one really is, but because, at the end, she managed with her wit and talent to make it impossible for him to continue). She thinks that her over-confidence and her analysis which she prides of, was the thing that took her down and that it’s quite important for her character and her relationships with others. We’ll get to see how this affected her in her following appearances, when we get to see her when she goes to fight against Tayuya she carefully listens to Shikamaru’s analysis, although at the end she decides to do it her way (an nails it), her decision was derived from her listing to his words and all he got to say. 

At the end Temari will always be her wonderful confident self (that’s only another reason to love her) but after this match she shows to be more cautious when underestimating her rivals, however you shouldn’t dare underestimate her. 

Because she is a f***ing boss.   

[eisukevint]

The Secret

Pairing: eisuke x mc

Summary: Harry Potter X KBTBB crossover

a/n: this is a repost bec tumblr’s a bish and they deleted my old one for some reason so here it is

◾️◾️◾️

Run

The drumming of her heart escalated gradually out of control terrified out of her mind.

If you ever feel like you’re in danger, run

She could’ve fished her wand but she couldn’t hurt him. She daren’t, that’s what she thought as she stood transfixed chilled to the bone.

Even if it’s me

She didn’t understand what he meant at that time, but now she did.

RUN

and she ran.

~~

He was never open with his emotions. From the day his muggle parents abandoned him after finding out about the ‘freak’ he was. Finding refuge in an elderly wizard’s humble home, kind enough to look after him, he was eager to learn all aspects of magic. His sole reason? Not to be looked down upon by anyone.

The feeling of revulsion he got from the people who birthed him confirmed that he would never be accepted as one’s own. To them he was abnormal. And he was aware of that. To rid of the desolation, drowning in books was his only option. Until he met her, or rather, them.

____ and Soryu too had their own demons but together, they were a team. One everyone looked up to. Some even called them ‘The Golden Trio’ and they couldn’t be more accurate. To say the three of them knew everything about each other was not wrong. Except Eisuke had a secret concealed to all. Not even his best friends.

Nearly Halloween the days got even colder and the already thick fog amongst the forbidden forest seemed even more dense than normal. The sun was almost setting. Soryu had gone home to spend days with his family while the other two stayed at school with no such plans. They didn’t even have a family of their own to begin with so they decided to indulge in each other’s company for which they were more than exhilarated. They’d known each other for almost five years now and they couldn’t help but feel attracted to the little spark between them.

Poor Buckbeak, Hagrid’s most adored Hippogriff became a part of their silly escapades. Little did Eisuke know that tonight, the moon was to gleam a little too much against the black of the night sky.

The duo grabbed his harness and led him into the dark forest oblivious to the knark nargles luring in the depth of the area. They kept on walking until they reached the area around the whomping willow leaving the hippogriff near the forbidden forest. The two bickered back and forth until the topic of the conversation shifted.

“Soryu was such a dork!” She let out a laugh thinking about to the time on the train when he got all shy the first time they met. Sulking how he got a booger flavoured one in bertie bott’s every flavoured beans. She was still in the midst of hysteric memories when all of a sudden Eisuke stopped. Not feeling his presence beside her, she looked behind to see Eisuke earnestly staring at her. A certain glow in his eyes like he was curious about something unusual.

“And what about me?” He asked taking measured steps towards her.

“What...?” She tipped her head to the right dumbfounded.

“What did you think about me the very first time we met?” He asked again once he was within her reach.

“Oh! Well you know you uh,”

Eisuke’s mesmerising gaze robbed her of all her words. Bitterly slowly he raised his hand and cupped her cheek rubbing his thumb across it as if testing something fragile.

“I’m tired of having to share you with Soryu when I want to keep you all to myself” He uttered under his breath but just as he was about to bob his head down, his sight caught the moon. In his state of excitement to be alone with her, he forgot to take his potion. The fully round moon at its very peak glowering brightly as if to mock him of the curse he was bound with.

She sensed the change. The changing colour of his eyes. His limbs taking a more inhuman form. The uncharacteristic change in his body that she roughly had to pull away from. She watched helplessly as he writhed in pain. She almost didn’t want to believe her eyes, that he had turned into a monstrous werewolf. She wanted to think this was a dream but she knew it wasn’t because anything and literally everything could happen in the wizarding world.

“Eisuke?” No reply as the werewolf rubbed his eye.

“Eisuke, are you-

That was, until he howled. She knew she had to do something.

Eisuke or to be more clear the werewolf inched towards her perilously. She knew she was in danger.

Just one flick of her wand and she’d be safe. She even knew the spell. But she didn’t. She couldn’t. Because after all, the man under the skin of the werewolf was the one she adored more than anyone. To the one she She didn’t have the heart to inflict the slightest of injury to Eisuke. To the one she loved wholeheartedly. She knew this wasn’t Eisuke but it was him. The werewolf closed onto her.

So she ran.

She ran as fast as her legs could take her. Luckily she was near the forest now. She could herself among the trees.

Standing behind a wide tree trunk she got some time to catch her breath but the werewolf had caught up to her. Hearing a gruff sound, she twisted her head around to catch a glimpse of the creature.

Avoiding it, she circled the tree but she accidentally came across the beast. A growl from behind caused her to whip backwards only to be met with the glinting eyes of the the werewolf. She wanted to scream, but it was of no use. No one could help her.

The monster lurched at her swiftly. She braced herself for the impact but it never came. Instead she watched as buckbeak came to her rescuse chasing the creature away. She needed to get out of the place now. She worried for Eisuke. She had so many questions racing through her mind that only one person could answer. But for the time being, she returned to the castle tired and worried for her friend out there suffering all alone.

She tossed and turned in bed as sleep completely left her. Last night’s events ruling her brain.

~~

She climbed down the stairs to the common room, completely empty as it was only six in the morning. As soon as she heard an all too familiar groan, she rushed towards the source of the voice. There, Eisuke was sprawled across one of the couches in the room, his face covered in small cuts and minor bruises , probably from when the hippogriff drove him away.

“HOLY CRICKET. ARE YOU OKAY?” She half asked half shrieked, tears instantly pooling in her eyes. She touched his arms which had slightly bigger cuts.

“Do I look okay?” Eisuke said quite sarcastically to which he received a glare from ____

“I- I’m fine. Just a bit... sore.” He replied with his trademark smirk.

“Shut up! Do you know how scared I was? Why didn’t you tell me?! You twat!” The tears started flowing from here eyes and dropped on his hands and he silently wiped them away. She hugged him tight not caring about his injuries.

“Hey, just let me clean up and i’ll tell everything to you, sounds good?” He suggested,tempted to not let go of her but he didn’t want her seeing him in this miserable state.

Half an hour later, they met up at the entrance of the clock tower where, thank god, not a single person was in sight. The second she laid her eyes on him, she jumped into his arms hugging the living daylight out of him. Eisuke, not bothering to resist, wrapped his arms around her too.

“I was worried out of my mind! Do you have any idea what agony I felt when I saw you like that?! You-“

He held a finger to my mouth to shush her the tears once again threatening to fall.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry but i’ll explain everything. I guess there’s no use hiding it anymore.” He said in a collected voice to calm her down.

“You know how I live with Cadmus. Cadmus once took me to his friend’s house where I got lost in the Ottery forest. It was almost midnight and it was a full moon that night. I don’t remember what really happened. I just know that the werewolf got close to me. I was attacked.”

Mc listened with bated breath as Eisuke casted his eyes downwards.

“All of it was a blur. I fainted and they found me somewhere in the middle of thr forest. Do you know what happens when a werewolf bites you?” He asked her.

“You turn into a werewolf.”

“Yes, that was when it all started. On full moon nights, there was only minor pain. It was bearable. But three years ago, its effects replenished. It got worse. I don’t know if you remember it but do you recall me leaving you and soryu to go off somewhere and you’d ask me where I went?”

“No..” A quite sob left her body.

“Yeah, I don’t intend to worry you and the reason I didn’t tell you was because it’s really pathetic. I hate it. It’s like a curse! But I can’t do anything about it except take the wolfsbane potion. There was never really anyone I could talk to about it. Also i’m so sorry I hurt you last night. For scaring you. For worrying you. I completely forgot about it last night. I really-“

His words were cut off as Mc grabbed the back of his head and softly touched her lips with his. His eyes widened at her subtle boldness but kissed her back. He was at peace. That was exactly what he felt. Maybe she did return his feelings after all.

She pulled away after some time with a tinge of pink on her cheeks. Eisuke too was blushing and that, was a rare sight.

“I guess i’ve wanted to do that for some time now.” She muttered but he heard her clearly.

“Really? Because same.” He was about to go for another one but she stopped him with a hand to his mouth.

“Hold. Up. How DARE you say you’re pathetic? You’re the most smartest wizard of your age, you know that? Literally every other envies you. And you’ve been enduring this pain for that long? You don’t have to keep everything bottled up! Just talk to me. Talk to Soryu. He’s your best friend! You’re not alone you daft selfish little twat. You’ve got me! And Soryu too! We’ll always help you no matter what!”

“Okay okay, I’ll tell you everything. Happy now?” He spoke innocently but she crossed her arms with a huff.

He hooked a finger under her chin and gently lifted it.

“Please?” There was the face she failed to say no to.

“Fine” She unfolded her locked arms and turned to him only to see Eisuke gazing at her with the same intensity as last night.

“May I?”

With a short nod, he thrashed his soft lips, despite certain scars, on her silky ones. All feelings were being conveyed through that kiss until,

“Bloody hell..”

[bearpillowmonster]

Neo: The World Ends With You

I'm invested in the original game and its characters, I'm invested in this game and its characters. I've had a lot of time for the original game to marinate and I can say that I enjoy pretty much every character and their arc and while I don't exactly feel the same with this one, that's not disappointing to me and this was my most anticipated game of 2021 so I mean that. This is a sequel, I expected as much and it didn't let me down, it's even better than I thought.

This is a NONSPOILER review because I think it's best experienced by actually experiencing it so I'll keep a lot of character, story, and even gameplay details out other than how the very VERY beginning of the game starts out with Rindo and Fret.

Let me give credit where credit is due, Rindo is voiced by Paul Castro Jr. who is a new voice actor and I was honestly impressed by his voice more than anyone else in the game, I love his voice and while Rindo has some pretty big shoes to fill as the main, I think he does it. Rindo seems to act pretty accordingly to the situation he's put in. He's not as edgy as Neku but he has enough push to him to where he would be considered the "negative" of the group but I would rather call it "rational" because he brings up some valid points, stuff that I myself was asking. Putting yourself in his shoes, that seems pretty accurate.

Fret on the other hand is a bit of the opposite, an optimist if you will. He's not really a "bad" character, just in comparison to the others, he's not my favorite. I think that there needs to be someone in his position who tries to uplift the team, but he's just a little annoying about it sometimes. Also get ready to hear "Galaxy Brain, ACTIVATE!!" literally hundreds of times, as much as he talks, you'd think he'd add more variety.

IMPROVEMENTS:

I'm not going to complain about certain gameplay elements or limitations that carried over from the last game except one. The camera. It's fixed to where you have no control over it in the city areas and therefore can't get a proper look at everything, whether that works in its favor, I'm not sure because you get used to it but it's just a small peeve you start out with.

The combat is pretty loyal to the first game which is surprising. I personally didn't like the original gameplay because it was so limited on the DS, a lot of room for error, but having it on console expands the system and lets you use buttons rather than mashing a touch screen, improving on almost, if not all, gameplay fronts. However, because it's based on a game from 2007, the system may seem a little outdated to some, it's really up to you, it made a fan out of me, making it more fun.

I played the original in bites, not because of lack of enjoyment but because I felt like it was a game I could only get into for so long at a time but with this game it's the complete opposite. Maybe it was the DS hardware that hampered the original but I say it's a decent success on this game's part. I also felt that Persona 5 seemed a bit formulaic in its story context and gameplay layout with each castle but this game, while having patterns, it changes before you get the chance to really catch on. I could predict P5 but I couldn't predict this, each day was a mystery, I knew you'd fight people but I didn't always know who or when which is crazy considering that P5 had all the choices!

A small improvement that I'll suggest for combat is having short rhythm based moves or even QTEs, like how in the original Shiki had the directional pad moves which were annoying but still varied from the rest of the gameplay. There are definitely new things that you can do, but there are a few aspects worth complaining about. You can unlock certain abilities and once you enable them, you can't disable them. The only one that it personally applies with is the ability to enable individual health bars for enemies, rather than an overall one. Which sounds good but-

I personally don't like that it's always floating above their heads, if it was on the side screen, that'd be one thing but constantly above their heads? No deal. I actually had to go back and load up an old save to get rid of it. But with unlocking certain abilities comes with quality of life aspects so if you're not in love with the gameplay at first, give it a little bit because you might be able to unlock whatever piece you're missing.

There's also "soundsurfing" that adds to your groove meter that you can use when running around and it said that you press (in my case "X" on PS4) to the beat of the song which is a cool concept but it really isn't clear how to use it because I try matching the beat and I get nothing and have more success just button mashing. The groove meter can drop when it's not supposed to, like when you literally can't attack during the buffering of a special or switching between battles in a chain (The "Get Ready" screen) And if you're in a proper boss battle, you HAVE to fight, it's like a trainer battle in Pokémon which is especially annoying when you accidentally press "retry". It has no reason to be there when I already know that I'm not prepared for the boss and can't back out.

Do the trailers spoil it?

Originally, I only saw the first and or second trailer and knew I wanted it so there was no reason to see any more but it was kind of overwhelming with all the characters they were showing off in just a single trailer. I don't think they needed to go that far but I understand why they did. I understand why they showed a lot of things that they did but I think it's a bit easier to SWALLOW when it's introduced in-game. I even found myself doing all the side-quests and being engaged in the side-stuff in-game. But I knew about people pointing out spoilers so after I finished it, I went back and looked at the other trailers and OH BOY. The final trailer shows some stuff and I'm SO glad I didn't watch it. They straight up show some out of context death scenes as well as different alliances and betrayals, not to mention parts of the freaking ending. The launch trailer is no better, it's just like that trailer but cut down. You may not have context but you can draw some hefty conclusions and that alone makes me question, why? I'm not sure if there are many reveals that they DIDN'T tease, it's like they went out of their way to hit every single one. Whether it's Square or Nintendo, they need to figure out how to cut a trailer, heck, hire me, I at least have the editing skills and know what's interesting enough to show and what's too spoilery not to show, come on!

Is it newcomer friendly?

I heard a lot of things like "it drops you in without mercy so pay very close attention" (in terms of story, that is) so only people who played the original game will be able to get it. But I beg to differ, I think it does a pretty good job of filling you in while putting you in the shoes of a new player (both in the game and out) AND keeping the mystery of whatever happened since the last game coming in small pieces. Most of the dialogue text boxes are voice acted so it's not really a slog to read. To prove my point further, the premise starts out very similar so it should be easy to clue in what exactly happened in the last game. Of course you're going to get more enjoyment out of it if you played the original but I don't think you'd be totally lost if you started with this one and played to right before the ending because then it kinda has to do stuff without preface, so you're going to be confused by much of the emotional weight that it carries. But it still gives you plenty of time to catch up on the original, whether through the game, videos, or lore, this game has you ask the questions, so fill in the blank. It has a nice length to it so you'll have until the ending to figure it out. Also, Final Remix teased stuff that this game makes clarity on but I wouldn't call FR mandatory. (Except maybe no numbers on the hand? Maybe even I missed something there.)

[lady-plantagenet]

What hasn’t already been said: The Spanish Princess 2

Episode 1: CamelNOT

[Lively Music Plays]

I shit you not... that’s what it said in the CCs.

Tower of London (?)

*Catherine looks at the array of crowns like a museum curator and the proceeds to strut down the halls*

Wolsey: *gives her this strange look which is a mixture between damn girl and the eagle is my spirit animal.

Then Catherine gets fake detained and taken to Henry in what must be a strange variation of the whole Robin Hood/Maid Marian roleplay they historically engaged in.

... did she just call his erhm manhood his kingship? Well that’s original, I’ll give them that. Also funny how Bessie Blount initially looks on in fright... don’t worry girl that will be you soon.

———————————————————————

*the four ladies have a brunch friendship moment together*

I see Blount is among them... I see they are setting her up as Catherine’s friend in order to play up the whole betrayal.

Alright. Jokes aside, I realised how much I’ve played myself. I was inspired by @melusineloriginale ‘s sporks (which if all this TSP episode posts got you in the mood for PG show mockery I urge you to check out here - you’ll thank me later). In truth, Henry VIII’s early reign is a bit too late from my main area of focus for me to make intelligent jokes.

I’ll content myself with just bullet-pointing random thoughts that came into my head, and if some intelligent thought gets through, well that would be the pinnacle. In any case I’ll aim to not parrot some of the stuff that’s already been said, repetition can get annoying.

This image embodies this post, but maybe not the show. I’ve noticed those Starz productions get better by the end.

First Scenes:

- The recap just reminded me how much I will miss Margaret Beaufort in the coming episodes. I know her portrayal was innacurate but Harriet Walter just made everything better.

- They are making such a big deal out of this whole ‘we were crowned together, we rule together’ thing in this episode - it makes no sense. Catherine was an influential Queen but she was definitely no more than a consort and never saw herself as more.

- Ruairi’s new haircut is pleasing to my eyes.

- When she says ‘Abuelo’ it’s super adorable awww

The Ferdinand and Charles V scene:

- Bessie Blount looks so much like Ursula Pole lmao. Also they totally got the Pole children’s birth order wrong and UGH WHERE IS GEOFFREY POLE???

- I like Mary Tudor’s actress and her facial expressions. However, this whole polyglot image they are representing is innacurate. I am fairly certain she knew no spanish and I recall reading a contemporary account which said that she was not very learned.

- I’m pretty sure it would be considered bad luck to prematurely crown your son ‘Henry IX’ while you’re still alive.

- I actually like the whole Grape motif in this episode. It’s probably the smartest thing they’ve come up with so far for this episode. I know a lot of you will be all like ‘there’s no record of Ferdinand being abusive’ but this choice sort of makes sense when you recall Joanna’s treatment. Also I appreciate them for not being tacky and showing flashbacks of more overt abuse eg physical. The sugared grape is also fairly symbolic (the sugar is like a gilding, the grape easily crushable)

- OMG the guy from Garrow’s law is playing Thomas More!

- AND PLEASE PLEASE TELL ME IM NOT SEEING THINGS? Margaret Pole x Thomas More is happening?? Please god that is a historical crackship I am getting behind. Yes. This is what I’m most invested about.

Margaret Tudor and Scotland Scene:

- The whole ironic cutaway to Margaret being all depressed after Charles Brandon’s statement about her charming Scottish king is such a cliché movie technique.

- If this were a more artsy film I would think the whole setup resembling a stereotypical middle-class family breakfast was done on purpose for humorous effects or to create a link with the past. But here I don’t have as much trust in the producers. I think they just failed to capture the time period accurately.

- The modernisms continue: ‘Negassi please stop playing’ idk, there just something so modern about this for some reason ahaha

- Also again, I’m getting tired of all this ‘Catherine is basically queen herself’, ‘Catherine is a political genius’, ‘Catherine Catherine Catherine’ ugh. I don’t think the producers understand that Henry VIII was a very autocratic and traditional ruler. He didn’t make any show of joint-rulership (correct me if I’m wrong).

- The teeth thing is funny, smart and I liked it.

Back to Westminster:

- I like Ferdinand’s actor!

- Also Catherine’s response to ‘who are you loyal to?’ was not that smart. I feel like the producers wanted us to be impressed. What if Spain and England’s interests conflict, ey??

The Joust:

- I care too much for the whole Margaret Pole plotline. I’m so invested.

- I could watch a series of More and Pole just exchanging lines. I love the actors too and this is my hope for this series. The whole frustrated parents is SO CUTE.

- I didn’t know More tutored Reggie, I would be curious to know more.

- The way compton says groom to queen’s stool is freaking hilarious. He looks like a pervert.

- Henry Pole is a darling and must be protected at all costs.

- Oh Christ oh Christ that eyeball shot was just... good job on the special effects guys. Don’t know what the point of that choice was.

- I found the whole armour mentions after interesting, it looked so set up as a PR campaign because Stafford speaking about the armour just sounded like a statement agreed on beforehand ‘should have worn the same’ and the Catherine with ‘steel in the bones’ and Ferdinand’s impressed face (it was him playing them?)

- Am I giving this show too much credit?

- Also whats up with “God save the Queen?”

War Counsel:

- Henry VIII’s actor is quite charismatic in this scene. It’s almost as if Catherine is the hothead and Henry the wise one that speaks less but more significantly. It almost feels like they gender-swapped them.

The Bedchamber:

- Did Catherine breastfeed the baby? I thought it was Anne Boleyn. Doubtful... I’m tired of the trope of ‘you’re a good woman if you insist on breastfeeding the child yourself despite social conventions’. For a feminist show, the writers seem very attached to some 1950s perceptions of motherhood.

- I feel like the age difference between Catherine and Henry is well conveyed.

Scotland Again:

- ‘All the sheep were pregnant’ 👀 oh touché Margaret. oh my. Did she just?

- I know they are playing out this disenfranchised Margaret arc to reinforce how great Catherine and Henry are (cheap technique) and to build up to her involvement in Flodden (innacurate historically but I know what the show will do). But I will say this: the humour is pretty good in the Scottish scenes! But I know it’s unintentionally so... (I highly doubt they wanted us to laugh at Margaret hitting James or calling Alexander a pig).

Westminster and the baby chamber:

- What’s are those red splotches on the babies face??

- Oh that shot of Margaret and silent Reginald :((( it makes me sad.

- And now the Poles are at church! I just love the look of them.

- That scene of Maggie and Catherine was needed, as we didn’t get the best friends vibe much in this episode. The whole thing looked a bit pagan though, but it was nice :)

The whole Ferdinand’s betrayal segment:

- The grape motif again was fitting, him snapping the fruit right before she gets to it even despite her knowing what he’s like and what he’ll do, was a good parrallel.

- I’m tired of hearing of this ‘Camelot’. Even in the novel, Camelot was Catherine and Arthur’s dream and... can we just live it up with Arthur?

- Ursula Pole’s, Bessie Blount’s and Mary Boleyn’s actresses look way too similar.

- I fail to see why Catherine thinks she’s turning into her father... she doesn’t strike me as much of a game-player or subtle two-facer.

- I’m intrigued what will happen with Oviedo and Lina... I feel like they won’t stay in England long.

- He was made knight bannaret... nice... but why does he thank Catherine publicly for this? It was in Henry’s gift that he was made a commoner Knight.. if this transpired irl Henry would have been gravely insulter.

Catherine’s Dead Baby and thereafter:

- Guys. In all seriousness, I don’t think the TV series is trying to imply that Catherine killed the baby with her negligence. I mean, they are so bent on us liking her they wouldn’t do that. It would be a bit too ballsy anyway. Remember the red splotches I mentioned earlier? Could those have been a sign that he was already ill but no one noticed/was in denial?

- The pebbles in hands would have had more emotional payoff if it had been established earlier if you know what I mean. Basically, this episode is too fast and entire arcs begin and end within it which extinguished any build-up.

- Oh man Henry is so sweet in this, how will they build him up as the tyrant he was historically if they keep this up?

Scotland Again:

- I must admit, I don’t like all those nicknames they keep using. But somehow James calling Margaret ‘Meg’ is nice and seems fitting.

- What’s a hermana sister?

England Last Mourning Scenes:

- YOU DID NOT BUILD CAMELOT ughhh

- Why is Catherine giving the speech and not Henry?? It turns out Catherine was more emotional historically then the whole perception of ‘perfect queen of stone’ to which some people hold her. However, I doubt it would have been proper of her to give a speech in such a emotional manner.

Conclusion:

6.5/10

Some of the dialogue was stilted, the costumes are confused as to which era they’re supposed to be (aesthetically distracting) and many other characterisation issues.

I don’t have high hopes for this series in terms of cinematography or art but I sure as hell expect it will be entertaining. So far, everything is just getting set up and I find some aspects promising. As you can tell I am truly excited over how the Margaret Pole plotline. I am also interested in how Henry will be portrayed, with Catherine being so OTT and pushy this episode Im starting to Stan him more. In this show he appears sensitive and serene and kinda... adorable. Kind of like a little brother hanging onto his sister’s skirts.

But in a way that is a disservice to the real historical figure which would not tolerate such a representation. I am very irritated by this whole ‘joint-rulers’ thing which is just sooo innacurate. These STARZ shows have an obsession with showing women turn into men for the purposes of feminism - I see.

Catherine overpowers Henry too often and it sometimes feels like he’s HER consort. Of course, the feminism in this show is schizophrenic as we get the overemphasis of Catherine as a 1950s motherly ideal with the whole breastfeeding angle (“you’re better than other noble woman who would find this beneath them”, “they’re not as motherly as you”).

So the relationship dynamic between Henry and Catherine is a bit off at the moment, but oh well.

Mary Tudor is a bit distracting with her dark hair but I find the actress extremely endearing and promising. I know there will be emphasis on her storyline too and I hope they’ll not be clichéd with it.

[repentantsky]

Top Games I’m Looking Forward To in 2021 (Part 1)

2020 was a horrible year, but the thing that kept me and many other sane were the slue of great games that came out, or in my case, a combination of that and buying older games for my handheld consoles. However 2021, has a lot more games that are my style, so I’m much more excited for it than I was for most of this year. Allow me to have my longest list yet in celebration of this fact, and do so in parts as there is a lot to talk about, as I look at 8 upcoming games in 2021, that I can’t wait to play. To make things fair, and hopefully to keep this list as accurate as possible, I will only be counting games that have a release date as of my writing this. Also, my lists aren’t usually ranked by how much I want to play a game, as much as they are how much I want to talk about a game, so my most anticipated game for next year could easily be the first entry. With those explanations out of the way, let’s talk about games. 

8. The Medium. 

The Medium is a horror game made in a similar vain to Silent Hill’s Midwich Elementary, in that there are two realities existing at once, and you are constantly switching in between them. The idea is always one that has fascinated me as a horror fan, but the Medium really looks to amping up the scares by using the visuals that we can currently attain to increase the fear factor, instead of making everything pretty to try and sell people on that end of it. The gross, disgusting, and frightful looking world we are presented with in The Medium is one I cannot wait to explore, even if I don’t have an Xbox Series X to play it on. Regardless of anything, it looks like it might be my personal favorite horror game of 2021 when it comes out, barring no delay, on January 28th. 

7. Ys IX: Monstrum Nox. 

The Ys series is honestly one of the more underrated long running series in JRPG history. If you need proof of that, just play Ys Origin, Memories of Celceta, or Ys VIII for confirmation. These games are incredible. YS IX looks to be taking the series in a darker direction than most, if not all the previous entries in the series, and not only is that super compelling, but it seeing YS in a darker light, might actually go a long way in helping it become the franchise it deserves to be in the eyes of fans everywhere. The combat looking more refined than ever, on top of the best visuals the franchise has seen to this point only add to the excitement, and the characters, from what we’ve seen so far, also look like they’ll stand out in a series full of fantastic characters throughout. YS IX, probably won’t be my JRPG of the Year, but darn if it won’t be up in the top 5.

6. Little Nightmares 2.    

Did I make it clear that I love horror yet? I hope so because this might not even be the last horror game on this list. The original Little Nightmares was honestly my favorite horror experience when it released, because no other game really did a better job of making you feel isolated, alone and weak, which is the prefect setting for horror. While Little Nightmares 2 won’t be doing the isolation aspect as much as the first because of a second playable character, with the danger ramped up enough, which the demo seems to show that it will be, it should be more than capable of bringing out the fear that made the first so memorable. There’s almost nothing scarier than being a small child in an adult world that seems to want you dead, and Little Nightmares 2 has all the vibes set up for freaking everyone out. I doubt many in the horror genre will be able to do it as well as this game will. 

5. Persona 5 Strikers. 

Finally we are out of horror and darker games and all that, for a bit, as Persona 5 Strikers is easily looking to be my favorite warriors games of 2021. Not only do I love the concept of Warriors titles, but the Persona universe is one that fits that genre well by default, having a near endless slue of famous enemies to turn into either fodder for the thousands of kills we’ll get, or bosses that will gave fans a sense of nostalgia, espeically if they are fans of Shin Megami Tensei and older games in the franchise. I’ll admit, I’m a little bummed it’s not Persona X Shin Megami Tensei, where characters from both the original franchise and the spinoff can get together to cause mayhem, but it’s the next best thing, and I am all here for it. The story promises to be incredible, and the gameplay fantastic, with that Atlus special touch added in. There’s no reason not be excited about what they put out there. 

4. NieR Replicant ver. 1.22474487139...

Gawd, that name though. Crazy name aside, NieR on the PS3 was a brilliant game, that was sadly underrated due to the time of it’s release, a lack of marketing, and people generally not knowing who Taro Yoko was at the time. His history speaks for itself though, with the brilliant yet weird Drankengard series, and NieR itself really being a shining example of what he can do. To see Replicant, a game that never made it to the West, be remade with combat done in the style of NieR Automata, is such an exciting prospect that I can hardly contain my hype. Not only does the title look better than the original by miles, which was visually fascinating to begin with, but the wonderful and odd music, and everything that can really be expected of Taro Yoko is there in full swing. We are looking at an upcoming masterpiece I am certain.

3. Super Mario 3D World + Bowsers Fury

I’m not always the biggest fan of Mario mainline platformers, but seeing as I really found myself enjoying his most recent Switch and 3DS exploits, I cannot help being excited for the chance to play a Mario game I haven’t had the chance to previously, with some extra content to boot. Car Mario looks like a lot of fun to play, and the chance to play with up to four people is something I can’t pass the chance to play. I know very little of the game, other than it’s massive popularity and high praise upon release, and sometimes, it’s nice to go into a game as blind as possible, even if the story isn’t likely going to be anything to write home about. Whatever the title brings, it will be enjoyable to say the least, and possibly the most solid of platformers for 2021. 

2. Bravely Default II.

I won’t lie, I have a complicated history with Bravely Default as a series. While I did manage to power my way through the first game, it took some time to make it happen, and honestly, despite it’s great characters and even better story, the gameplay left me wanting. However, Bravely Default: End Layer was and still is one of my favorite JRPG’s on the 3DS, so here’s hoping enough of the good that came from that game, finds it’s way to Bravely Default II. Regardless of if it does or not, I always willing to give a format a second go, and I’ve already found myself completely in love with the playable characters, just from the two demos alone, so all signs point to a fantastic game that I cannot to wait to experience. 

1. Poison Control.

The best part of doing a list like this, is throwing something in there that no one expects, and may not have even heard of. Without a doubt, the most anime shit style game on my list, Poison Control is a game that might be more about the story, than the gameplay. The basis is you are stuck in another world, with two characters bound to one soul, and you’re goal is to remove the poison from people’s minds, by invading their brains and literally clearing it out. You might monsters and run over the poison in their heads, to hopefully make them better people. Despite the dark sounds setting, and even the slightly darker visuals, this is probably one of the most light hearted games on my list. I have to say though, there’s always something to these sorts of games despite their obvious lack in certain quality, that I enjoy. The game doesn’t actually have a Western release date either, so I’m cheating a bit, but with a catchphrase like “Purge Poison, Raise Hell” how can you not be at least a little bit excited for what’s to come of this game. 

And that’s my list. Did I miss anything you’re super excited for? Let me know in the notes below, and be ready, because part 1 of this list will be all about games without a release date, and that’s where the hype can really begin.  

[frmulcahy]

Do you mind info dumping on me about The Grinning Man? It looks super interesting

So,

Basically The Grinning Man is a British musical adaptation of Victor Hugo’s L’Homme Qui Rit (The Man Who Laughs.) You know Hugo, Les Mis, Hunchback Of Norte Dame...

There was an excellent silent film adaptation in 1928, and a French Tim Burton-esque one in 2012 that I have not seen. Now there is this musical.

The story is set in the 1690s-early 1700s England and follows Gwynplaine, (or Grinpayne as he’s called in the musical because idfk,) Who as a young boy, was mutilated with a Glasgow smile, or a laugh on his face. He grows up with his love interest, Dea, who is blind and loves him for who he really is, not phased by his appearance, and they are raised by Ursus, their adoptive father. Because this is like,,, 1702, they perform in a freak show and tell the story of how this found family came to be. The musical uses breathtaking puppetry during this.

Throughout the whole story, Gwynplaine struggles with things such as wanting to know who mutilated him and why, the physical and emotional pain of scar, (the musical leans more towards the physical aspect than emotional,) doubts about if Dea would still love him if she could see, etc.

In my opinion, there are both good and bad things about the musical. I know there are people who dislike it, and people who love it and that’s there only experience with The Man Who Laughs Story. I’m kind of in the middle. I love it, but more in the sense that I see it has a lot of potential to be Really Good. I think the name changes are a bit silly. (Gwynplaine becomes Grinpayne, Homo the wolf becomes Mojo the wolf, King James and Queen Anne becomes King Clarence and Queen Angelica, Lord Clancharlie becomes Lord Trelaw.) Another thing is one of the main themes of the book isn’t really in the musical aside from a few references. Good ol’ Victor Hugo in his usual fashion, uses Gwynplaine as a sort of symbol/parallel for the issues of class. Arguably the best scene in the book involves Gwyn addressing parliament and going for the fucking jugular and telling them of a revolution to come. The lords laugh and call him a clown and don’t take him seriously, but Gwyn talks about how his cheek is mutilated, just as the poor citizens are mutilated by the rich.

All that bitching aside, I adore a lot about the show. The overal look is breathtaking. A sort of gritty/circus/fantasy/faerie tale vibe if that makes any sense?? The puppetry is AMAZING GOD I FUCKING LOVE PUPPETRY. The costumes aren’t historically accurate which I’m not the biggest fan of, but I think the stuff does reflect/over exaggerate the characters nicely. You can tell what they were going for. Dea’s lilac patchwork outfit is my favorite. Very Sally from Nightmare Before Christmas. The music is enchanting too. I’d prefer a bit more structure because most of it is ensemble or sung in an almost opera like way, (I’m not a music or theatre person I don’t know terms or anything really forgive me,) but I love the way it sounds. It’s kind of Sondheimish if that gives an idea.

Also just in case there’s quite a few CWs to be aware of if you’re sensitive to certain things. Some include:

Body horror (duh his face is slashed open and the prosthetic has fake blood and teeth so that’s fun)

Violence (sword fights, stabbing, a torture scene that’s not really graphic, moreso the character yells in pain whilst someone pretends to fuck up his back)

Gallows, hanging, near hanging

Consensual incest (yeah I know. The two are from a royal family and it’s pointed out throughout the show that it’s Not Good but it’s played for laughs as “a royal tradition”)

A few parts the lights flash for a few seconds

Ablesim (Gwyn and Dea perform in a traveling act, Gwyn is called A LOT of terrible things like beast, freak, abomination, etc)

That’s really all I can think of for now. I know I nitpick a lot but overall, I think it’s really worth checking out! It’s dark but also hilarious, it’s really heartwarming in parts, and I love it for what it is! It’s a small production and you can really tell a lot of love and passion was put into it! The visuals are FANTASTIC, and the actors look like they’re having a blast.

[mousehole5000]

tgcf chapters 107 - 120 this is one where i give some Opinions. i do overall like hualian a lot but i have some quibbles

wait why am i still taking screenshots? i can copy/paste again afskldfjasad

It really was hard to tell whether people would feel happy after watching such performances. However, in truth, slaughter and the sight of blood did create excitement in people. Whether or not there was fear, after the initial shock was over, a rush of adrenaline would be produced in the heart- me watching horror movies

“Shi Qingxuan said. “Then, Your Highness, Crimson Rain Sought Flower! I order you to—to immediately strip each other’s clothing!” - djslkadjlsd WHY DID HE SPECIFICALLY SAY THEY HAD TO STRIP EACH OTHER THISALSKDJ is this a normal thing is it a wingman attempt what is happening

“I’ll tell you what it is,” he said softly. “To watch with your own eyes your beloved be trampled and ridiculed, yet be unable to do anything. That’s the worst suffering in the world.” ... “Ming Yi asked, “What’s the biggest regret of your life?”- when truth or dare gets a bit too real

On the side, Hua Cheng was still only observing, and was already bored to the point where he’d changed back into his red robes. Then he changed to black robes again. Then to white robes. Almost every time Xie Lian looked back, he would be donning a different appearance, and with every new look there were different hairstyles, and different accessories, and different boots, and so on; sometimes playful, sometimes elegant, sometimes deadly, sometimes glamourous. Xie Lian was growing dizzy from all the colours and kept looking back, unable to look away. - THIS ISNT THE TIME HUA CHENG. YOURE PRIMPING. THE WINDMASTER HAS BEEN KIDNAPPED AND YOURE PRIMPING

obsessed with xie lian not being able to figure out to use the windmaster’s fan and just. using it to SMACK

also windmaster??? whats going on??? :( i know some things from spoilers like who is not to be trusted but i really have no clue whats happening rn

anyways back to puqi shrine lets check on those kids also can we PLEASE get some funds for this restoration smh. hua cheng and xie lian doing mundane hard labor together to fulfill prayers.... :pleading:

jailbreak in the heavens 2: dig a tunnel

Sure enough, the moment Ming Yi put pressure on his shovel, a hole opened up before them. With the shovel raised, he burrowed crazily ahead while Shi Qingxuan, in the middle, cheered him on crazily. As the only non-crazy person, Xie Lian brought up the rear. That treasured shovel of the Earth Master was indeed magical, and with only a few strokes, a new tunnel of over ten meters was dug. - anybody remember mulch diggums from the artemis fowl series? this is much more dignified than that but i think this is only the second time ive read a character just starting digging a tunnel as a plot point

okay so much is going on i wish i hadnt spoiled who certain characters actually are for myself but i have no one to blame but me for a) not blacklisting spoilers at all and b) just having a little freefall through the tags. oh well. anyway heavenly college admissions scandal except way worse. the corruption extends to the heavens and the windmaster is having a very bad day

i guess we’re having a high seas adventure now?

im gonna keep it real im getting tired of how often we get told how handsome hua cheng is. i know its all xie lian’s pov and while im not terribly familiar with it i know what genre we’re working with and im assuming thats pretty typical. its something i dont much care for in general and idk maybe it sounds better in the original but ngl its starting to make me roll my eyes. love you goth king but god okay we get it.

i guess what i will say about hualian so far is that overall i like them and i like how they interact in general they have a lot of nice moments and they just genuinely seem to like each other which is really nice to see EXCEPT for when it actually comes to things that could be romantic or sexual which is a shame bc i dont think it has to be like this. again disclaimer that im only reading a translation and dont know everything might not have all the knowledge necessary to accurately criticize etc etc and im assuming a lot of this is expected from the genre (disclaimer to this disclaimer that i cant say that for sure its just based on things ive picked up about the bl genre over the years) but idk like xie lian was so distressed after their underwater kiss scene. it was kind of uncomfortable to read and maybe im being unfair i know his cultivation is based around abstinence or whatever but idk i dont care for it. and that scene alone doesnt have to be a bad thing like idk i guess its his first kiss ever (?) and it would make sense if he feels weird about it but i just have my doubts thats going to be addressed or resolved in a satisfying way. also im like. dude everyone is like centuries old. xie lian’s been on earth for 800 years. has he really never met or heard of a gay person during all this time? maybe he hasnt idk what he got up to yet maybe that’s actually a thing. also same thing with the reactions from the immortals to xie lian in a dress and characters like the windmaster like again you’re all centuries old and its not uncommon to be able to just completely change gender presentation. why are you all weird about a man wearing a woman’s dress? i just feel like that shouldnt be a big deal to these characters idk

also again not going to lie part of this that im not really a big fan of reading romance in general. yes i am reading this book. yes i do read and write a lot of fanfic that includes or centers romance. im multifaceted. but really what im talking about is the like physical side of it and descriptions im extremely picky about it. ill give an example. early on in the torture pit (or whatever it was called i cant remember lol) when xie lian kind of accidentally felt up hua cheng in the dark when he was being carried. i dont think thats a bad thing to have happen between the two romantic leads i think thats fine and good to include that early but i just did not enjoy reading it when it happened idk maybe it was the wording and i do think that moments like these work better in a visual medium. ive definitely read het romance that reads like this and i wasnt a fan of that either lol same with fanfic i get tired when writers go on and on about how hot one characters finds another character. this isnt a huge criticism of it like i said im picky but again like with the way that hua cheng is described it just makes me roll my eyes sorry kings

okay back to the reading. this whole saving the fishermen thing feels like a big set up for something narrative-wise. hua cheng specifically insisted on coming and i know one of the characters involved ends up dying im wondering if thats now it would be a good time tbh if things get just a bit too unfortunate during this heavenly calamity... and the brothers are notably not having a harmonious time... also tho it feels very likely we’ll just have another Hualian Moment (tm)

In such a situation, Pei Ming still acted the same. In the evening, when they rescued a few fishermen girls, so scared their eyes were blurry from tears, he held them in his embrace and soothed them with a gentle voice; a true show of honeyed romance, affectionate and charming. - pei ming please get pickled again.

also its funny that hua cheng is just kinda hanging out and everyone else just has to deal with it

Looking down from above, the entire area was painted in a terrifying black. It was easy to see the collision between the two different-coloured currents. Their fierce battle was what formed this enormous whirlpool. As the eye swallowed the ship whole, the two currents of water separated. However, the battle was far from over. Like two venomous vipers, they continued to snap at each other. Each collision was followed by a mountain of angry waves. - this pretty dope ngl. also love our wind and earth masters just chilling on a shovel i dig it. hehe

Yet, other than discovering Hua Cheng had a fine body, there were no other finds. Xie Lian was at his wit’s end and started to worry. - okay see this one’s funny im just also irritated bc im like WE KNOW!!! WE GET IT HE’S HOT AND XIE LIAN THINKS HE’S HOT OKAY GOT IT

okay kiss #2 again its not the kisses themselves its xie lian’s reaction it just bothers me idk im not saying i need him to be super into it and completely unconflicted about it rn but he’s just so freaked out about it and idk i just dont really like it just feels weird i dont care for that aspect of it. also dude hua cheng is a ghost and he did this exact same thing for you before just chill. i wish instead of xie lian literally running away while screaming that hes sorry he was just like “oh haha youre fine thats cool im gonna go look around the woods i dont feel weird about this at all haha” like idk its kind of funny but when its literally our two romantic leads i just feel like its confusing like it kind of makes me feel like they shouldnt be together if one of them freaks out this much again considering the fact that they are both CENTURIES old. i know i know xie lian is an 800 year old virgin but. he hasn’t been like this about anything else so yeah idk like it still could have been awkward and funny i just dont think it needed to be so :/ that being said it was funny that xie lian was then internally like “oh i did it wrong? perhaps i should ask him for more.. instructions....” if that actually happens i might like it bc it would complete this little watery theme

Before he finished, he immediately remembered. Coffin wood. There were trees here everywhere; and a deceased? There was one right before his eyes. Sure enough, Hua Cheng smiled. “Won’t it be fine once I lie inside? - love that hua cheng just sat on the fact that he can turn anything into a coffin. that would have been really useful information earlier but no he just waited until everyone but xie lian was gone afjaklsdjf

also i do think that oblivious xie lian thinking “wow whoever it is that hua cheng fancies is an idiot for not liking him back theyre totally taking him for granted :/” is kind of funny and sweet. actually the whole conversation they have at the campfire is good and im bookmarking it to think about later

“...You on top and me on the bottom,” Xie Lian replied. “Isn’t top and bottom the same?” Hua Cheng asked. - okay im sorry but. mood whenever theres discourse about top/bottom dynamics for a ship im just like jesus christ i dont care. tbh i rarely read fanfiction if its just sexual and ngl if i see a fic specifically tag characters as top or bottom i wont read it lmfao. especially when people have really strong opinions about this stuff when theres nothing canonical to back it up like headcanon all you want but whenever i see people argue about it im just like no offense but go work out your own sexual issues and dynamics instead of arguing with strangers on the internet about who’s a top and who’s a bottom. sorry to be mean but just thats how i feel lol

this was mostly a ramble with a few excerpts but im getting sleepy im going to TRY to take a break from this for like a day but we’ll see how that goes i do very much want to know what happens. anyway if you read this whole thing hiiiiii sorry for subjecting you to my opinions on top/bottom discourse

[a-woman-apart]

Astrological Compatibility

After experiencing all that I have this year, I definitely believe that astrology does play a role in compatibility, in the sense that astrology is a pseudoscience based around how time of birth, planetary cycles, and place of birth affect personality. It was developed by human beings at a time when scientific methods of interpreting data were not developed to where they are today. 

If we take a look at how this might play out from a more scientific perspective, think of the “nature vs. nurture” argument. Nature applies to traits that develop either from genetics or during fetal developmental. Nurture applies to external social and developmental factors that contribute to personality after birth. 

There does seem to be a correlation between what season and month people were born in and certain personality traits. It is definitely true that levels of sunlight can have a huge impact on human health and development, but light exposure and seasons can be vastly different across the globe (especially in moving closer and farther away from the equator), which is probably why detailed astrological charts involve looking at birthplace. 

It also provides perspective on why there are differences between the Western and Chinese Zodiacs but there are still some similarities in the way traits are applied. For example, in the Western Zodiac we have “Earth, Air, Fire, and Water” and in the Chinese Zodiac we have “Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water” because human beings across cultures understand how valuable these elements were to our survival. 

Human beings are pattern-seeking creatures, so it isn’t any surprise that they personified these elements and began correlating them to aspects of human personality. It was just another way of trying to make sense of the world, and I am not surprised that when astrologers examined the natural world and the cosmos (as better astronomical tools became available) they began to make connections between children born in certain seasons and certain personality traits, and I don’t believe the correlation is completely nonexistent. 

The issue we see is that some people tend to think that personality is a fixed thing, and that when someone is born a certain way [nature] their traits are entirely resistant to change [underemphasizing nurture]. 

Even if astrology can offer us some predictors about how a person’s character might develop, we have to remember that personality has nothing to do with whether someone is a “good” or “bad” person. Some people may be more or less outgoing than others, more or less athletic, more or less organized, more or less playful, and more or less “nice” than other people, but that has nothing to do with their morality or ability to be a good romantic partner, friend, sibling, or parent. 

The strength of a relationship is almost entirely dependent on the values of the parties involved.

Whether “star-crossed” or “star-aligned”, the strength of peoples’ relationships is entirely dependent on whether or not they are based on honesty, mutual respect, and compassion. We all know that some people we love have habits that may occasionally-- or frequently-- grate on our nerves, but our choice on whether to continue living with and loving that person is rarely just down to personality. 

We all have that person in our lives with a grinchy, McScrooge disposition, but we love them because they keep their word and you know deep down that they’ve got a good heart even if they don’t always show affection as easily as other people do. 

We also all know someone that is the life of the party, loud, fun, almost obnoxious in their zest for life, but we wouldn’t trust them as far as we could throw them when it comes to any major responsibility. But we still love them anyway. 

And with have to admit to ourselves, that sometimes love is not enough.

Love is never an excuse to allow someone to run roughshod over your boundaries, devalue your ideas, and monopolize your time. Love alone will not save any relationship where either party lacks respect, trust, and compassion.

After ending many relationships this year (including one that I held in very high value) I found out that it isn’t about personality. “Ugh, she’s such a Virgo!” is not a mature answer for why you can’t get along with your best friend, boss, or mother. 

I know that Kati Morton used to say “some relationships are bad recipes” and I don’t really believe that anymore. I don’t really believe that people share mutual blame like that for why things fall apart. It’s fine to admit that someone annoys you or gets on your nerves, but when there is that much bad blood with someone you used to be associated with, I think that boundary violations-- either on your part or theirs-- are to blame. 

I used to lean towards a belief in “star matches” but now I truly believe there are no incompatible signs.   

I know that I tend to lack romantic chemistry with most of my fellow Air nomads, but I always have amazing conversations and a kind of instant connection. I know that from experience, Water signs are amazing listeners. I know that I tend to have a shared drive with so many Earth signs, and that Fire signs have a unique capability to humor and delight. 

Fire signs can also burn your whole life down if you let them. Water signs can be secretive and vindictive. Earth signs can be so stubborn that they won’t admit a single flaw. Air signs can be unreliable and aloof. 

But guess what? So can everyone, because we all have aspects of each element inside of us. Leaning a certain way does not make us more or less bad or good. It just makes us human. 

As I reflect on my experiences this year, I am far more interested in how systems of meaning develop, than the systems themselves. Astrology, just like religion, was developed by humans who desperately wanted to provide an explanation for the mysterious workings of the cosmos, our planet, and the human heart. I think whether or not astrology is “real” is far less important than the history and traditions associated with it. 

Each of the signs in the Western Zodiac has a unique mythological creature and story attached to it. It was only this year that I found out that Capricorn is represented by a half-goat, half-fish creature (essentially a mergoat), and I learned that my sign (Libra) was only introduced into the zodiac later, because there was too much intensity going on between The Virgin (Virgo) and Scorpio (the Scorpion, duh) and Libra was brought in to balance things out. That is the reason why Librans are the only members of the zodiac family to not be represented by a living creature. 

I also found out that this might’ve been part of it because human beings have been liking the number 12 for a good minute, so we had to even out that odd 11 sooner or later. In my numerological deep dive I also found out that Romans were freaked out by the number 17, because it was written ��XVII” and that, along with the fact that it was a weird prime number, really upset their sense of symmetry. In general it seems humans are not fond of numbers that cannot be divided by anything other than 1 and itself. So 9 is in, but 13 is out, and its probably more this, rather than the fact that we don’t want a snake sign in the Zodiac, that so many astrologers soundly refuse to recognize Ophiuchus. Obviously we make an exception for 0 (both a number and not a number) and also 1 and 2.  

I “wiki-walked” more and found out that a number of prominent musicians have superstitions regarding numbers, probably because our profession is way more about keeping time and counting than most people realize. 

Also, it’s been fascinating to find out about “the ages” which require incredible math to calculate. We are apparently just beginning the “Age of Aquarius” and a lot of changes that were predicted using past data seem to be “coming to pass.” 

Full disclosure: you can’t use astrology to predict the future of the planet anymore than you can the future of your relationship.

I use astrology to help me understand the past, but I do not trust the validity of horoscopes because it is impossible to know the future. I have developed a saying “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it echoes.” Economists, political analysists, climate scientists, and other experts in their field do not make their predictions based on “hunches” or mysterious esoteric knowledge, they make their predictions based on interpretation of data, and even if these predictions can be incredibly accurate, they are not completely infallible. 

In other words, you aren’t going to experience relationship troubles during “Mercury in retrograde” unless you expect and believe you will, or some other unrelated event causes it. The only difference then is that because you were hypervigilant, you shifted your own behavior in a way that exacerbated the issues, i.e. “a self-fulfilling prophecy.” 

If your marriage or friendship is failing, “astrological differences” likely aren’t the main culprit. Similarly, you should never dismiss your intuition that something is wrong just because your horoscope said, “You will find true love in December” and that is when you found it. That’s called a coincidence, and they’re everywhere. Trust yourself and trust your instincts. Your own personal patterns matters much more than what a stranger or an algorithm has predicted about you. Don’t try to “follow the signs”, test things out and see if things you find in your chart actually line up with what you’ve been experiencing. 

I really do believe in some kind of carnal divinity, a common life-energy that is connecting all living beings to one another. Don’t let your natural light and vitality be dimmed by people who enjoy burying their own light under a bushel. It isn’t a matter of “good” and “evil” in so many cases, but it really is about what kind of life each person wants and/or is willing to tolerate. 

That beings said, welcome to Sagittarius season! I hope you all find your inner flame archer and ride on your metaphorical horse legs right into your destiny. 

[eisukevint]

The Secret

Summary: Kissed by the baddest bidder X Harry Potter

Pairing: Eisuke/Mc

a/n: I had this sudden idea so I wrote it down. It’s kinda good, kinda bad. I skipped on my maths test for this so please show it some love👉👈

. . .

Run

The drumming of her heart escalated even more than the times his slender fingers unconsciously stroked her.

If you ever feel like you’re in danger, run

She could’ve fished her wand but she couldn’t hurt him. She daren’t, that’s what she thought as she stood transfixed chilled to the bone.

Even if it’s me

She didn’t understand what he meant at that time, but now she did.

RUN

and she ran.

~~

He was never open with his emotions. From the day his muggle parents abandoned him after finding out about the ‘freak’ he was. Finding refuge in an elderly wizard’s humble home, kind enough to look after him, he was eager to learn all aspects of magic. His sole reason? Not to be looked down upon by anyone.

The feeling of revulsion he got from the people who birthed him confirmed that he would never be accepted as one’s own. To them he was abnormal. And he was aware of that. To rid of the desolation, drowning in books was his only option. Until he met her, or rather, them.

Mc and Soryu too had their own demons but together, they were a team. One everyone looked up to. Some even called them ‘The Golden Trio’ and they couldn’t be more accurate. To say the three of them knew literally everything about each other was not wrong. Except Eisuke. Well he had a secret concealed to all. Not even his best friends knew what he had hidden from them.

Nearly Halloween the days got even colder and the already thick fog amongst the forbidden forest seemed even more dense than normal. The sun was almost setting. Soryu had gone home to spend days with his family while the other two stayed at school with no such plans. They didn’t even have a family of their own to begin with so they decided to indulge in each other’s company for which they were more than just exhilarated. They’d known each other for almost five years now and they couldn’t help but feel attracted to the little spark between them.

They tip toed out of the castle, careful not to get caught by Mrs. Norris.

They decided to get Buckbeak and spend some time in the pitch of the forest forbidden to all. Poor Buckbeak, Hagrid’s most adored Hippogriff became a part of their silly escapades. They seemed overjoyed. Little did Eisuke know that tonight, the moon was to gleam a little too much against the black of the night sky.

The duo grabbed his harness and led him into the dark forest oblivious to the nargles luring in the depth of the area. They kept on walking until they reached the area around the whomping willow leaving the hippogriff near the forbidden forest. The two bickered back and forth until the topic of the conversation shifted.

“Soryu was such a dork!” She let out a laugh thinking about to the time on the train when he got all shy the first time they met. Sulking how he got a booger flavoured one in bertie bott’s every flavoured beans. She was still in the midst of hysteric memories when all of a sudden Eisuke stopped. Not feeling his presence beside her, she looked behind to see Eisuke intensely staring at her. A certain glow in his eyes like he was curious about something unusual.

“And what about me?” He asked taking measured steps towards her.

“What...?” She tipped her head to the right dumbfounded.

“What did you think about me the very first time we met?” He asked again once he was within her reach.

“Oh! Well you know you uh,”

Eisuke’s mesmerising gaze robbed her of all her words. Bitterly slowly he raised his hand and cupped her cheek rubbing his thumb across it as if testing something fragile.

“I’m tired of having to share you with Soryu when I want to keep you all to myself” He uttered under his breath but just as he was about to bob his head down, his sight caught the moon. In his state of excitement to be alone with her, he forgot to take his potion. The fully round moon at its very peak glowered brightly as if to mock him of the curse he was bound with.

She sensed the change. The changing colour of his eyes. His limbs taking a more inhuman form. The uncharacteristic change in his body that she roughly had to pull away from. She watched helplessly as he writhed in pain. She almost didn’t want to believe her eyes, that he had turned into a monstrous werewolf. She wanted to think this was a dream but she knew it wasn’t because anything and literally everything could happen in the wizarding world.

“Eisuke?” No reply as the werewolf rubbed his left eye with his hand like paw.

“Eisuke, are you-

That was, until he howled.

Eisuke or to be more clear the werewolf inched towards her perilously. She knew she was in danger.

Just one flick of her wand and she’d be safe. She even knew the spell. But she didn’t. She couldn’t. Because after all, the man under the skin of the werewolf was the one she adored more than anyone. The one she didn’t have the heart to inflict the slightest of injury to. To the one she loved wholeheartedly but had to keep it to herself. She knew this wasn’t Eisuke but it was still him. The werewolf closed onto her.

So she ran.

She ran as fast as her legs could take her. Luckily she was near the forest now. She made a mad dash for the trees so she could hide herself.

Standing behind a wide tree trunk she got some time to catch her breath but the werewolf had caught up to her. Hearing a gruff sound, she twisted her head around to catch a glimpse of the creature.

Avoiding it, she circled the tree but she accidentally came across the beast. A growl from behind caused her to whip backwards only to be met with the glinting eyes of the werewolf. She wanted to scream, but it was of no use. No one could help her.

The monster lurched at her swiftly. She braced herself for the impact but it never came. Instead she watched as buckbeak came to her rescuse chasing the creature away. She needed to get out of the place now. She worried for Eisuke. She had so many questions racing through her mind that only one person could answer.

She tossed and turned in bed as sleep completely left her. Last night’s events ruling her brain.

~~

She climbed down the stairs to the common room, completely empty as it was only six in the morning. As soon as she heard an all too familiar groan, she rushed towards the source of the voice. There, Eisuke was sprawled across one of the couches in the room, his face covered in small cuts and minor bruises , probably from when the hippogriff drove him away.

“OH MY GOSH. ARE YOU OKAY?” She half asked half shrieked, tears instantly pooling in her eyes. She touched his arms which had slightly bigger cuts.

“I- I’m fine. Just a bit.. sore.” He replied with his trademark smirk.

“Shut up! Do you know how scared I was? Why didn’t you tell me?! You twat!” The tears started flowing from here eyes and dropped on his hands as he silently wiped them away. She hugged him tight but not with force that would hurt him.

“Hey, just let me clean up and i’ll tell everything to you, sounds good?” He suggested,tempted to not let go of her but he didn’t want her seeing him in this miserable state.

Half an hour later, they met up at the entrance of the clock tower where, thank god, not a single person was in sight. The second she laid her eyes on him, she jumped into his arms hugging the living daylight out of him. Eisuke, not bothering to resist, wrapped his arms around her too.

“I was worried out of my mind! Do you have any idea what agony I felt when I saw you like that?! You-“

He held a finger to her mouth to shush her and the tears were once again threatening to fall.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry but i’ll explain everything. I guess there’s no use hiding it anymore.” He said in a collected voice to calm her down. But there was a hint of caution in his voice. Almost as if he didn’t want anyone to know his dirty secret.

“You know how I live with Cadmus. Cadmus once took me to his friend’s house where I got lost in the Ottery forest. It was almost midnight and it was a full moon that night. I don’t remember what really happened. I just know that the werewolf got close to me. I was attacked.”

Mc listened with bated breath as Eisuke casted his eyes downwards.

“All of it was a blur. I fainted and they found me somewhere in the middle of the forest. Do you know what happens when a werewolf bites you?” He asked her.

“You turn into a werewolf.”

“I see you’re not that dumb”

“Shut up” He chuckled and continued.

“Yes, that was when it all started. On full moon nights, there was only minor pain. It was bearable. But three years ago, its effects replenished. It got worse. I don’t know if you remember but do you recall me leaving you and soryu to go off somewhere and you’d ask me where I went off to?”

“No..” A quite sob left her body.

“Yeah. I didn’t want to seem pathetic so I just disappeared. I hate it. It’s a curse honestly. The pain is unbearable. But I can’t do anything. Sometimes the wolfsbane potion helps. There was never really anyone I could talk to about it so I never really brought it up. Also i’m so sorry I hurt you last night. For scaring you. For worrying you. I completely forgot about it last night. I really-“

His words were cut off as Mc grabbed the back of his head and softly touched her lips with his. His eyes widened at her subtle boldness but kissed her back. He was at peace. That was exactly what he felt. Maybe she did return his feelings after all.

She pulled away after some time with a tinge of pink on her cheeks. Eisuke too was blushing and that was one exclusive sight.

“I guess i’ve wanted to do that for some time now.” She muttered shyly but he heard her clearly.

“Really? Because same.” He was about to go for another one but she stopped him with a hand to his mouth.

“Hold. Up. How DARE you say you’re pathetic? You’re the most smartest wizard of your age, you know that? Literally every other envies you. And you’ve been enduring this pain for that long? You don’t have to keep everything bottled up! Just talk to me. Talk to Soryu. He’s your best friend! You’re not alone you daft selfish little twat. You’ve got me! And Soryu too! We’ll always help you no matter what! So don’t you ever say that you don’t have anyone!” She burst out with a single tear flowing from her left eye.

“Okay okay, I’ll talk to you about everything. I’m not alone. I get it. Happy now?” He spoke innocently but she crossed her arms with a huff.

He hooked a finger under her chin and gently lifted it.

“Please?” There was the face she failed to say no to.

“Fine” She unfolded her locked arms and turned to him only to see Eisuke gazing at her with the same intensity as last night.

“May I?”

A short nod and he thrashed his soft lips, despite certain cuts, on her silky ones. All words were laden in that one kiss and feelings were being conveyed when,

“Bloody hell”

. . .

hmu if yall want a part 2! This took a big chunk of time. So please don’t let this one flop flop. I kind of screwed at the end.

@miss-alien-pixel @huntertheblackwolf @leoamber66 @kbtbbposts please rate this🥺

[princeescaluswords]

You right! Sheriff just watched Peter gut the Mute. But say if Stiles *was* supernatural through Claudia and thus likely on the deadpool, whew boy. Noah would be out there, committing murder, preempting killings, using others on the deadpool as fodder or human shields, and using his position to cover it all up. And personally? I feel that not only would Stiles be bad at keeping his powers hidden but Noah would menace or silence any witnesses, no matter how innocent

I don’t know whether it was @nyxelestia or @bigskydreaming, and I suspect it was both, but I agree with their assertion that one of the biggest mistakes the writers made was bringing Sheriff Stilinski in on the supernatural realities.  The moment they did so, it was inevitable that he would become a hypocrite, an even more terrible father, and a corrupt sheriff.

But that’s only part of the story.   There were ways to involve the sheriff in the supernatural yet make the disruption to Noah’s character minimal, but the Teen Wolf writers were nothing if not daring in their commitment.  So they started off with a sheriff/father unable to be a proper parent to his son and they made him 100x worse.

It’s always a bit of irony to me that Stiles took it out on Scott when his father was in danger when it was Noah’s inability to guide his son in any way that started the whole mess.   People forget that if Stiles didn’t feel he had the right to listen in on his father’s phone calls, the story wouldn’t have happened.

But we see Stiles’ nonchalant attitude toward lying, toward violence, toward eavesdropping, toward his father’s concerns with alcohol, and these are portrayed as fun, minor things to do, but as the seasons progress and the stakes are raised, Noah still doesn’t make a single effort to get his son to see that there are consequences to it.  The writers tried to blunt the worst aspects with humor, but in the end we had a father who didn’t trust his son in the slightest yet constantly protected Stiles from the consequences of his actions.  It’s not weird that the Sheriff, for all his master sleuthing, never managed to connect Stiles’ attitude with the dangers into which he got himself.

And this is where the Doyleist and the Watsonian aspects align.  Stiles is a mirror reflection of his father, but not just in the good ways of detective work and a dedication to justice.  The Sheriff also cares about certain people and ideas so much that he’ll break procedure for them, but it’s only the right thing to do when he does it, just as Stiles believes that truth is absolutely important but only when he doesn’t feel like lying about it.

It’s cute at first, the way the Sheriff goes to Melissa in Season 03A and 05A and  asks her to break her medical ethics rules.   (I acknowledge that Melissa says yes and does it with others as well, but she’s got her own problems.)  It’s also cute at first when the sheriff has serious reactions to the presence of the supernatural in Season 03B and 04, but it stops being cute when he begins to pick and choose when he shouldn’t follow procedure – springing Chris and Derek free from federal custody, letting Peter murder the Mute right in front of him, letting Peter assault Meredith and Parrish right in font of him and walk free – and when he should, such as letting Kate murder Scott and Kira because he wants to call the Border Patrol and have a conference call with the California State Police, the FBI, and the Mexican police.  

Yes, I know the whole shtick in Smoke and Mirrors was to give Stiles something to do in the season finale and reinforce the bond between father and son (while screwing Scott out of any connection with his own parents whatsoever) but there were other ways to write it that wouldn’t highlight the utter indifference to supernatural lives that the sheriff possesses.  

The worst was Season 5.  Here was finally a definite pattern of the Sheriff’s valuing certain lives above others.  In Dreamcatchers, he has Scott, an 18-year-old boy, track down Donovan because it would be easier or more convenient.  it’s also incredibly against police procedure to use a civilian to track down an escaped criminal, but hey, it’s just Scott’s life.  And then, the next episode, the sheriff goes on a freaking tear about how the rules had to be followed when it came to Tracy’s death.   But he doesn’t stop there. We all know about The Slap that Ended Sheriff x Melissa, but much less noticed is how in the very next episode the Sheriff gets just as much evidence about Stiles involvement in a murder and does … nothing.    And then Theo confesses to self-defense killing in front of him and the Sheriff doesn’t even take him down to the station to verify his story.  Why?   The only thing that the times the Sheriff ignored procedure have in common is that his son was involved.   (Donovan had made threatening gestures toward Stiles, so of course the Sheriff wanted him found as soon as possible.)

You see – the writers are clear in Season 5 – every time the Sheriff breaks the law it is to protect Stiles.  Burn the station to the ground, indeed.

And when confronted with his hypocrisy, his excuse is “Kira was a mistake,” but we notice he doesn’t do a thing to fix the mistake.  There’s no apology, he doesn’t even ask after her or act any different to her when they do meet.  “By the way, how’s the girl I had arrested because I’m such a stickler for the rules, even as we discuss this over the body of the guy you killed and didn’t tell anyone about and I am tacitly ignoring those same rules because I should be arresting your ass?”  This is such an accurate representation of United States police practice.

Like father, like son.  

We shouldn’t be surprised that Stiles can demand Scott be a perfect superhuman and retain the right to physically punish Scott with his own hands when Scott fails, but when Scott asks “why couldn’t you just tell me you were in trouble?” his response is “you looked at me the wrong way.”

Because rules are for people other than Stilinskis.