#but for everyone else : here is her main verse :))

[sunlit-skycat]

Pale by Wildbow shill post

“The practice, as we call it, is best summed up as an ongoing contract. By pledging to make your word inviolable, forces in this world will start listening. Routine, ritual, and expectation have formed the grooves and determined how best to communicate with those forces. Diagrams, symbols, knowing who and what to appeal to. Many, many things become possible. If your word is inviolable.” [...]

“Something terrible happened, of a scale that words cannot easily convey. We need you to look into it,” Matthew said. “No need to solve it. Simply… look into it.”

Overview

Pale is an urban fantasy web serial about three girls Awakened into a world of magic in order to solve the murder of a Judge, a supreme being that oversees magic in an area. Soon, however, they discover that the very roots of magic are built off of systemic injustice, and that outside forces want to destroy the meager sanctuary that they have been charged to protect.

Why you should read it

Pale has a huge meta-system that tries to provide an explanation for how all fairy tale type of magic works. When one Awakens, they give up their ability to lie, but that doesn't stop Practitioners from trying to mislead everyone around them. Nothing comes for free. The easiest way to deal with the costs of Practice is to pass them off to someone else, which over the years has led old Practitioner families to exploit magical creatures and each other to do their bidding.

In a way, Pale really reminds me of the Harry Potter fandom, particularly the newer fics that try to examine all the unexamined issues that Rowling put into the worldbuilding and never explored. It tackles subjects of imperialism, child abuse, community building, and justice. There's a lot of fun things to discuss about it, including whether the protagonists ultimately got it right at the end.

Many of the characters in Pale are marginalized in some way. Of the main characters, Lucy is the only black girl in a rural Canadian town and sick of it, Avery is a lesbian and doesn't know how to come out to her dubiously tolerant family, and Verona's single father is an abusive emotional black hole that wants to drag her down with him. Overall, there are a lot of well-realized female characters who are allowed to let their sharp edges cut others in the story.

The fandom

Pale had an earlier prequel work set in the same universe called Pact, which features different characters and settings but has roughly the same magic system. Because of that, it's most useful to think of the fandom as an being composed of an umbrella group, called Otherverse or P-verse by different places, and then subcategories of Pale, Pact, and OC focused works.

The main cast runs young, so shipping isn't big in the fandom, but if you like f/f potential Pale is pretty decent for it. The OC fic tends to have a lot of queer main characters as well.

On Dreamwidth, I run sister communities at blueheronteanook for canon character based fic and meta, and hillsgladehouselibrary for OC fics. There also is a discord server for these communities, the Blue Heron Tea Nook.

You can read Pale fic on Ao3 here.

Where to read it

Pale can be read online here: palewebserial.wordpress.com/

There also is a fanmade audiobook that goes up to arc 10, about 1/3 of the story. It's on Spotify and Podchaser.

[mixelation]

Official Plasticity + AUs Masterpost

Okay folks! Here it is. A masterpost for the Toriverse. I'm going to add it as a link in my header for easy access. Apologies that this is about as confusing as some comic book series. If you are new, scroll down past the cheat sheet for a more in-depth explanation.

AU CHEAT SHEET:

plasticity - og fic (tag: #fic: plasticity; chrono; #plasticity art tag)

mutagenicity/"reborn au" - the time-travel style one where everyone is reincarnated as their old selves (tag: #reborn au; chrono; #mutagenicity art tag)

toxicity/"reborn au au" - the AU of mutagenicity where obito is also reborn (tag: #reborn au au: it's gotten sillier; chrono)

(a)synchronicity - the one where plasticity!tori time travels to the third shinobi war and stalks minato (tag: #asynchronicity; chrono)

sasori girls - sasori has fans! (tag: #tori 'if there must be sasori girls i think i should be the main one' mendoza; chrono)

torito/kakashi - In which Tori and Obito are both awful people, and Kakashi experiences some sort of wild Cyrano de Bergerac situation (tag: #torito/kakashi; chrono)

social media au - social media inexplicably exist in the plasticity verse. tori starts a true crime show. (tag: #tori 'ring that bell' mendoza; chrono)

velocity - aka "speedrun au" - a mutagenicity AU where tori ends up in Konoha at age 8 instead of 12 (tag: #speedrun au; chrono)

#toriverse (chrono) - i am working on tagging all posts in all aus this. there are a bunch of rando posts about tori that don't fit specific aus, and i think it will make tori content easier to blacklist. However, I only started doing this recently, so there's a backlog of posts not tagged yet.

also, it's about magic eyeball biology is now tumblr-only

A longer explanation of this mess for new people:

NOTE: I am providing links to both the standard tag and the chronological view ("chrono") option. This will show posts in the order they were posted, which is NOT necessarily the order than things happen within the AU. Chrono is, AFAIK, only available on desktop. I turned off infinite scrolling, so make sure to check for a NEXT button if you reach the end fo a page. Use this if you are new, or else you will only get a mess.

Plasticity is the OG fanfic. Read it AO3. Here's a summary:

plas·tic·i·ty /plaˈstisədē/ BIOLOGY the ability of an organism to change its phenotype in response to changes in the environment PHYSICS the ability of a solid material to undergo permanent deformation, a non-reversible change of shape in response to applied forces In which a biology student falls face-first into the Naruto universe and becomes... well, we won't say villain quite yet.

Plasticity follows the misadventures of the OC/SI Tori, who is meant to be a 2010-era "girl falls through a plot hole into the Akatsuki lair" OC but played (relatively) straight. For posts related directly to the OG fic, use the tag #fic: plasticity (chrono). I also have a dedicated art tag: #plasticity art tag. Plasticity also has some little one-shots with it in its AO3 series.

A couple years ago I started posting about if Tori was a reincarnation style OC instead of a "fell through a plothole" one. However, I didn't want to undo all her characterization, so this AU is about if late-game Plasticity!Tori and the entire Akatsuki were "reborn." It is functionally a sequel that start as a bunch of random tumblr posts. The OG name of this AU is "reborn AU" but its series on AO3 is titled Mutagenicity. Reborn AU and Mutagenicity are used interchangeably on here. The dedicated tag is #reborn au (chrono). It also has an art tag: #mutagenicity art tag.

Reborn AU excludes Obito because Obito ruins everything. However, worry not! We now also have Reborn AU AU, aka Toxicity. Toxicity is the same premise as Mutagenicity, except Obito is also there, and he makes everyone around him worse. The tag is #reborn au au: it's gotten sillier (chrono).

Also within the Mutagenicity 'verse (sub-universe?! what have i done) is Velocity, aka "speedrun au." This one happened because I thought to myself: "What if someone caught Tori [spoiler which makes no sense without context]?" She ends up in Konoha at age 8 rather than 12, hence "speedrun." Focuses on the Uzumaki-Namikaze family. The tag is #speedrun au (chrono).

The final "big" AU is (a)Synchronicity (often shorted to "async"), which has maybe the most embarrassing explanation yet. For unknown reasons I became fixed on Minato. I started posting ideas for Minato/OC concepts and at least one person asked for Minato/Tori, and obviously I couldn't not do it. This one is about late-game Tori accidentally time traveling back to the third shinobi war (this time in her adult body!) and becoming fixated on Minato after he is vaguely nice to her one (1) time. Not on AO3 yet. The tag is #asynchronicity (chrono).

Some smaller AUs:

torito/kakashi - As part of his incredibly homoerotic Kakashi fixation, Obito sends Tori in to ""investigate"" Kakashi's sexual prowess. Tori is lying to both of them and having a GREAT time. A fine and healthy relationship dynamic. The tag is #torito/kakashi (chrono).

social media au - YouTube and other types of social media inexplicably exist in the Plasticity 'verse. Tori starts her own ninja true crime show and it spirals out of her control to a full-Akatsuki ordeal. The tag is #tori 'ring that bell' mendoza (chrono).

sasori girls - the context for this one was i was wondering about if missing-nin have fans the way IRL serial killers do, and then i decided sasori is DEFINITELY popular because he's pretty. then somehow tori got involved as someone fascinated by fan content and also someone who knows sasori personally. the tag is #tori 'if there must be sasori girls i think i should be the main one' mendoza (chrono).

it's about magical eyeball biology started as a tag where i debated ninja alt eyeball biology, and at some point i wrote a fic about tori discovering it. this was meant to be a funny AU unrelated to the "canon" of any other AU. however, i removed it from AO3 because people kept commenting about it on an unrelated fic and it super annoyed me. Read it here on tumblr.

[flicklikesstuff]

Hazbin Hotel Ep 8 Ramble and Theory

⚠️ SPOILERS!! ⚠️

Surprisingly, the show’s first season really got me hooked with its storyline and I can’t wait what’s in store for the upcoming season 2.

I’ve had my suspicions with Alastor since the pilot, and it just keeps growing with every episode. Even then, his real motivations are just hard to really see and it’s what makes his character intriguing. One moment, he’s lurking in the shadows like some sort of villain, and then the next, we see him maaaybe caring for his friends?? If he even considers them that. Idk 🤷

I’ve always thought that maybe he’s sticking around and playing nice to get Charlie’s guard down in the long run. Waiting for her to get desperate so he can strike a deal with her. So he could ask her for any favour in the future. And guess what? That’s what he exactly does in Ep 7.

And if I’m recalling correctly, Alastor helped Charlie with the war, but Charlie is yet to grant her own end of the deal. Alastor STILL is owed a favour from her.

(Where am I going with this theory and analysis? I’m getting there-)

At one point, maybe he did genuinely care for the hotel and the people in it. Regardless what his motives were. He even admits it’s a “surprising thrill” to watch them form connections. But the word choices he uses in this scene are just sooo…weird?

“Almost??” “Could get accustomed??”

It sounds like he admits feeling attached to the other characters but at the same time, doesn’t want to commit to it. Does he have far more nefarious intentions in mind for them and that’s why he’s so distant?

Alastor probably noticed this in the ending of Ep 8 too. His altruistic self almost got control of him. He almost risked his life to help his “friends.” And he didn’t like that one bit. Perhaps, he sees this trait as a weakness.

It really sounds like the verse“Great Alastor Altruist died” is equal to him stating that “there’s no more Mr. Nice Guy” from now on. He’s disconnecting and staying firm to whatever his highly vague motives are. And it’s highly likely that whatever’s holding him back from his full power is the deal he made itself. And he’s going to try anything to get out of it. Maybe that’s the reason why he approached Charlie in the first place.

And I’m going back to Charlie’s deal with him here. The only condition she has is that she won’t harm anyone for him. But knowing Alastor, he’s going to twist the words a bit there. Maybe he won’t harm them physically. But maybe in some other way. Indirectly. One that Charlie won’t see in the long run. Maybe he uses this one favour to help him break free of this deal or loosen it in some way.

And Charlie already has so much trust in him after the battle, she most likely won’t see it coming. It’s perfect.

(Not exactly sure how these soul contracts work buuut, she’s the princess right? Maybe she’s powerful enough to do smth about it? Maybe that’s why Alastor was so interested to gain her trust and potentially free himself?)

…….

But anyway! Onto the second part of my theory!

Alastor’s probably going to optimise his one chance of freedom through Charlie’s owed favour. But I have a feeling he’s not only going to use just Charlie.

Who else is at the hotel that the other main cast members trust? Who he could freely command under his control? To show up at his will? Answer his beck and call? Whose souls that Alastor owns?

I swear. It is NO ACCIDENT that these two were standing side by side. NEXT TO ALASTOR. In the ending. (Or maybe I’m overanalysing, but whatever. This is MY ramble)

When Alastor comes back from the “dead”, everyone was happy to see him. Especially Charlie. And surprisingly Vaggie? I guess she’s warming up to him. Idk if that’s good or not.

Everyone except Lucifer and Husk. Lucifer’s still bitter on the whole ‘dad’ thing. But I just really felt sooo bad for Husk here. 😂 My guy had maybe a few happy hours of what he thought was freedom. Then he sees this guy come back and he’s just: “Ahhhh… SHT-!”

Now I’m just saying, I don’t think Alastor can just casually go up to Charlie and just easily demand that favour. Especially now that Lucifer might be staying around(?) Also, Alastor sounds like someone who would strategically play the long run if it means benefits. Albeit, less truly altruistic than before since that approach almost costed him highly.

He’s maybe going to have to pull some strings to really make Charlie feel like she HAS to do him a favour. To better solidify his chances and so she’s less likely to be hesitant/reluctant/suspicious. After all, Alastor is only owed ONE FAVOUR. Maybe he’ll pull some strings to win over Lucifer’s own trust too so he won’t be stopping Charlie? (I’m not sure, these two are not in good terms.)

(Look me in the eyes and tell me this is the face of someone who’s definitely not going to use this hotel for his own personal gain. Things are going to start getting ugly with Alastor’s new approach. I’m also still like 80% sure these 3 characters are placed together for a reason. It CANNOT be a complete coincidence, right?)

Now I’m really curious how Husk and Niffty would react under this sudden new approach. The angst potential here is smelling strong. It’s obvious that they’re starting to get highly attached to the hotel and really consider the others as friends. Something Alastor didn’t allow himself to.

And it’s not like they have a voice in the matter either. No matter what Alastor tells them to do to secretly manipulate things around the place so he’ll appear like he’s “helping out more.”

Who knows really? What kind of errands he’ll force them to do? “Mr. Nice Guy” is really no longer an option here. That guy is dead. Adam killed him.

And all at the same time, Alastor wouldn’t be breaking Charlie’s condition. He’s not making her hurt anyone at all. Just helping a good old pal, who’s done so much for her, to maybe loosen the constraints his deal has. Or whatever else he wants, I don’t fcking know-

(But Srsly though. The angst??? Niffty and Alastor are fond with each other, but Niffty is also starting to like her new friends too. Will that create some sort of rift? Niffty actually being hesitant??

And don’t even get me STARTED on Huskerdust. Like wtf-? Husk has already stepped out of line before and it left him completely shaken. What else could he do? And a heartbroken Angel finding out he’s behind all this when Husk is the first person to truly reach out to him? Husk not being able to meet his gaze out of guilt?? THE FCK-???)

Yeaaaahhh, can’t wait what Season 2 has for us all….

Remember fellas, this is just a theory. A Hazbin theory! :))

[xcviiq]

could do you huh yunjin x female reader based off of this?? https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMYFnfL41/ where the reader folds immediately and yunjin laughs at her and it’s kinda yunjin teasing the reader bc readers shy until yunjin kisses her one day and reader kinda just stands there not processing what happened

"missing piece" - huh yunjin x fem!reader you were exactly the comfort the idol needed. exactly the person the idol yearned for in her entire life.

genre : fluff, maybe suggestive words : 2.7k notes : ty for the req! im so sorry this was delayed, i had exams and completely lost motivation to write... i hope this is good :) enjoy! (i also changed my format... haha)

you and huh yunjin have been best friends ever since elementary.

she was the typical exchange student from america, and you were the typical shy girl who always topped in academics. everyone wanted to be friends with yunjin though, which made sense to your 6 year old self since, well, she's a foreigner.

you wanted nothing to do with the american. you just wanted to be left alone with your small friend group that consists of only two other "outcasted" students.

"hi!!" a cheerful voice called. as you looked up from your lunch, it was yunjin. it scared you a bit since you haven't interacted with each other ever since the grade started. "can i sit next to you? you aren't with anyone right now so."

you gulped, your eyes trailing off to find your two friends. they were supposed to be here any minute now but it seems that they were no where to be found. your gaze turned back to the american, who smiled brightly while carrying her pink, glittery lunchbox.

"...sure."

now, 15 years later, you're waiting awkwardly in the backstage of mama—the biggest award show in korea. your girlfriend, huh yunjin, had just debuted in a monster "rookie" group called le sserafim. the american managed to sneak in a free backstage pass and now you have to face the utter awkwardness.

there were so many idols—most of them you couldn't name. you recognized stray kids and txt, and you almost felt your heart beat out of your chest as you stared at (g)i-dle, who was goofing around on the opposite side of the room.

'when is 'jin coming??' you thought, awkwardly pulling on your fingers to ease the anxiety. so many things were on your mind; 1. "is my outfit alright?" 2. "oh god i might look extremely awkward right now." and 3. "where is yunjin?"

"y/nnnnn!!!"

before your brain could process anything, you felt your whole body stumble and fall as you felt heavy weight on top of you. "yunjin-ah! get back up please...." you heard an angry voice just centimeters away, and a girl with short, part-black part-blonde hair put you and yunjin back up.

the rest of the group bowed down to the many idols and staff in front of them, and you could tell how embarrassed they were at the american's sudden outburst.

"sorry y/n, you guys." yunjin whispered, chuckling nervously as she looked at the members' disappointed eyes. "i was just excited to see y/n again! it's been months!"

that was true, the american could barely save some time for you because of how packed her schedule is. your main form of communication was through texting and facetime—but facetimes only last 1 hour or so.

before you could speak, miyawaki sakura—an idol of 11 years and someone you are well-versed with—cut you off. "we'll give you both some alone time," the rest of the members nodded. "don't make a mess." she continued with a stern tone—you could tell she was the oldest.

the girl beside the oldest giggled like a child, before waving at your girlfriend a goodbye.

"tell the manager i'm doing something important!" yunjin yelled, and smiled in delight as the members nodded, slowly disappearing as they walked further and further away. when they were gone, yunjin turned her attention to you, her eyes soft and full of adoration.

"let's go somewhere else, love." she took your hand a gently lead you to a quiet and secluded room, away from the many idols and dispatch. the american peeped out the area before closing the door and smiling widely.

"i missed you so, so, soooo much y/n. you have no idea!" she whispered as she planted a small kiss on the tip of your nose. "i missed you too, 'jin." you responded, taking her hand and placing a kiss on her palm.

the american smiled softly and gave you another kiss—this time on the forehead—before speaking again. "so much happened in just a few months as an idol, who knew you'd be hearing so much drama from just one building?!"

"i mean, that's to be expected. a lot happens inside the music industry." you replied, looking at your girlfriend's soft features as she continued to gossip about the many things happening inside hybe. turns out, hoshi from seventeen is dating some korean actor you weren't familiar of.

you always loved hearing yunjin talk. her gossips are always so interesting.

"oh, but enough about that," she started while changing her posture to face you. you tilted your head, signaling her to continue. "what happened to you all these months?" she asked, looking at you with curious eyes. you hummed, trying to recall the events that happened.

"well, i couldn't drop out of college, sadly. but there are some stuff that happened...."

and that was when you ranted about a lot of things. yunjin was shocked about how dramatic colleges are, especially in your course. apparently, some teacher failed half of the class including you for no reason at all?! the american certainly didn't like the sound of that.

you ranted and ranted, getting carried away by the many things that you have encountered. life was getting crazy for you. your girlfriend listened attentively, but for some reason, her focus was somewhere else.

your lips. they looked like the same soft lips she kissed a few months back. she could vividly remember it; the way her lips felt like it was made just to kiss yours; the way it felt like new years every time she kissed you. when she debuted as an idol, she didn't notice how much she missed the feeling of your kiss, but after seeing you—it's becoming quite apparent.

yunjin's mind drifted to the thought of kissing you right then and there, your words falling in deaf ears as your girlfriend's thoughts wandered. (in a non-suggestive way, smh.)

you paused as you noticed the lack of reaction coming from the american. 'oh no, did i say too much?' your head turned to look at your girlfriend, who had a very...

"yunjin, are you.. okay?" you felt yourself turning pink as the mentioned idol played with the inside of her mouth. she teasingly smiled, finding you cute. "hm? what's wrong love?" she replied, scooting closer and closer to you. she was very close, to the point that you could feel each other's breath.

"y-yunjin, what are you doing?"

"what? i can't be this close to the love of my life?" the petname rolled off her tongue perfectly, and your heart beat faster and faster. you tried to avoid making eye contact—which was impossible, since yunjin's tall body could quite literally just stretch to find your gaze again.

"you look so cute right now, y/n/n. just one ki-" before she could finish, her phone rang. it was from chaewon, and you assumed it was because their rehearsals are starting. the american sighed frustratingly, clearly annoyed by the fact she couldn't even plant one kiss on you.

"well, i have to go now," she said disappointingly, not bothering to answer her leader's call. "i'll see you in another 2 weeks or so." she continued with a frown. you composed yourself and smiled, reaching to caress your girlfriend's cheeks. "it's okay yunjin. just focus on your career, alright?"

she smiled softly, and then said her farewells.

─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───

it had been over a week since you've seen yunjin in person. you really hoped that their manager would at least give them a break after the award show, but that sadly your wishes were left unheard of. you worried nonstop for your girlfriend, you always did. but seeing the latest video of le sserafim made those worries go away as you see the american's genuine smile.

you were just scrolling on the internet, reading the drama in twitter and occasionally giggling at some posts. that was when a notification popped up.

: "babe!!"

you unconsciously smiled as your girlfriend's message popped up. you quickly disregarded the twitter thread and immediately went to text her back.

: guess who got a whole day to themselves tomorrow?

: omg rlly?

: YEZZZZZZZ : i can finally have a peaceful day with you 😞

you felt joy wash over you as you imagined the day with yunjin. you were even starting to have some date ideas pop up in your head.

: yay!! im so happy for u jinn

: samee omg : i'll be staying at your place btw, is it okay if we just stay inside the house?? i don't want to go anywhere at the momentttt :((

you nodded, as if the girl could see you through the screen.

: ofc jin!! i have nothing to do tomorrow anyway

although you couldn't physically see your girlfriend, you knew that she was smiling widely right now. and so were you.

: 💓 : i'll be arriving at your doorstep

: creepy stalker roleplay

: at exactly 9 am tmr so be awake at that time!! : WHAT 😭

: IM KIDDING : i'll set my alarm, see you jinnie 💞

: see you, y/n/n!! : love youu

: i love you too

you sighed dreamily, placing your phone on your chest. you were just so happy that you could finally have a day with the american after all these months. even if it was just one day, one day out of months, it was special. and yunjin was thinking the same.

it was already 9:45 pm, and you had a huge day tomorrow, so you went to bed. "is 7:30 too early?" you mumbled, looking at your alarm clock and debating whether or not to set your alarm to 7:30 or 8 am. you shrugged, setting it to 7:45 am.

as you lay down on your bed, your mind couldn't stop running laps. you were very giddy to the point that you randomly start giggling and rolling around like you weren't 21 years old. if a ghost was living with you right now, it'd think that you were going crazy.

well, that thought isn't wrong. you could say that you were kind of crazy for yunjin—who wouldn't? but the thing that separated you and the millions of fearnots is that huh yunjin was actually kind of crazy for you as well.

'okay, stop y/n.' you told yourself, steadying yourself. you wanted to get a good night's sleep so when you wake up in the morning, you were in a good mood. after finally calming down, you felt your eyelids grow heavier and heavier—and before you knew it, you were asleep.

─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───

it was around 8:15 am, and you were already finishing up the remaining dishes you were cooking. you awoke way earlier than you had planned—very excited on the fact yunjin could finally spend a day with you— so you used that time to cook a nice breakfast for when your girlfriend arrives.

the oven dinged, indicating that the food was ready. you quickly tended to it and making sure to turn off the oven—you didn't want your electricity bills to increase. you carefully plated your breakfast to make it look pleasing, and once you were satisfied, you placed it on the table.

"8:20" the clock read, and you sighed of relief. you took off your apron and put it back on its organized spot, and went upstairs to take a shower. after showering, you made sure to pick your best yet casual clothes, since you didn't want to seem like you were in a fancy dinner date when in reality you were just in your old apartment.

after picking out your clothes, you quickly rushed down the stairs and set up the remaining things. you made sure that your netflix had all her favorite movies, made sure that every single part of your house was clean, and also made sure that the food stayed warm. after confirming that everything was ready, you glanced at the clock again.

"8:45" your mouth slightly curved as your heart beat faster. it was almost 9, which meant it was almost time to see yunjin. you washed your hands, and sat down on your couch. you waited patiently for her to arrive, constantly checking your phone and the clock for the time. you took trips to the kitchen often, making sure that the food you prepared was still tasty.

your doorbell rang, and you basically flew to the door and pulled it open. and there she was; yunjin, wearing a black jacket paired with black pants and a cap. her face was covered with a mask, yet you could tell from her eyes that she was smiling.

"hi, love." she said, walking closer to you and giving you a hug. you felt so warm in her arms, so loved. you always worried that you weren't good enough for the idol, but every time yunjin would show even the slightest of affection, you knew that you were so adored by her.

"hey, 'jin." you replied whilst wrapping your arms around her torso. you felt a bit empty when the american pulled away from the hug, but that feeling quickly went away as she held your hand and lead you inside the apartment.

the idol looked around your home, humming in delight as she took off her jacket, mask, and cap. "you've been taking care of this place, y/n." she complimented, turning to look at you with adoration in her eyes. her bare face was beautiful, and you felt your heart skip a beat. "of course i have, i might go crazy if my apartment didn't look organized."

yunjin laughed at your reply before pulling you into a hug again. her head rested on the crook of your neck as both of you bask in each other's scent. even if you two literally saw each other a week ago, it still felt like it's been ages since you've been in each other's embrace.

"i missed you. after our small meetup, i couldn't stop thinking about you." the american whispered, and you felt her hold on you tighten. you chuckled, "i missed you too, 'jin. you did amazing during your mama performance!" you pulled away sightly from the hug, but still kept your arms wrapped around her torso. "i'm so proud of you."

proud. yunjin really liked that word. she was proud of many people, like her younger sister for example, but she couldn't really recall when people were proud of her. many people probably were, but no one exactly verbalized how proud they were of the american. tons of fans in the internet did say how proud they were of yunjin, and she liked it. but for some reason, it felt different when it came from you. was it because you've known each other for 15 years? is it because she was just desperate, and there really were no changes?

no.

yunjin leaned over to you, maintaining eye contact. she was extremely close to you, and soon enough, your lips connected.

it was because yunjin loved you.

the feeling of your lips against hers was so perfect. the american's lips were soft, and yours connected to hers as if your lips were made to kiss her. to cherish her. to love her.

you both lost a sense of time as you continued to give each other romantic and genuine kisses, and you were just glad that you finally got to have this moment with her after months. you were glad that your missing piece was back with you.

as much as you both didn't want to pull away, yunjin couldn't breathe at all. yunjin stared at you with a sly smile, a laugh breaking out of her mouth as she stared at your dumbfounded expression. your cheeks were a bright red—and so were yunjin's—and you stood there stiffly.

"hello? earth to y/n?" the american said, both amused and worried at how quiet and unresponsive you were. you were just trying to process what happened, even if yunjin gave you enough time to do so during the kiss. but your mind was completely blank at that time.

"did you just..?" you mumbled, loud enough to let your girlfriend hear. she sucked her bottom lip to hold in another laugh as she nodded. she couldn't keep it in though, as you slowly nodded and gazed at the floor as you pondered.

"WHY ARE YOU SO FUNNY??" yunjin exclaimed in between laughs, still looking at your serious expression. she couldn't exactly blame you, it's been months since you've kissed each other. but.... the way you were really taking your time in processing what just happened really made her cackle.

[nogenderbee]

♡˗ˏ✎*ೃ˚ 𝕀 𝕝𝕠𝕧𝕖 𝕪𝕠𝕦- ℕ𝕆 𝕎𝔸𝕀𝕋 ₊˚ˑ༄

*ੈ✩‧₊˚ @nenes-numberonefan request: HELLOOO

ima request the same thing i requested @/mizu-nights but i’m a silly goose and i wanna see everyone’s style of writing

basically can i request rui, nene and tsukasa x reader (separate) and they have a platonic relationship with our beloved y/n but then they accidentally confess their love to the reader, sort of like the verse “the time is right your perfume fills my head the stars are red and oh the nights so blue, and then i go and spoil it all by saying something stupid like i love you ❤️” from the song something stupid. thank youuu xxxxxx love youuuuuu 😍😍😍🥶😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍(very hyper rn)

*ੈ✩‧₊˚ HIIII!! Yeah absolutely! I don't tho songfics normally tho, so I just based on your description and hopefully that's gonna be good enough!

But omg, the moment I saw this, I wanted to run to mizu-nights and read it because I apparently missed this fic- but NOPE I didn't wanted to accidentally write the same thing sooo I held myself back ^^

I totally did not copy lines from event for Tsukasa part-

*ੈ✩‧₊˚ fluff

Affiliation with @virtualbookstore

You've agreed to help Tsukasa with practicing for his upcoming performance, Romeo&Julia. He got the role of Romeo while his other friend from troupe got Julia. He just wanted someone to help him get that feeling of saying it right to soemone's face and... maybe he had planned something more too?

"O Juliet! Sun of my life! I beg of you, allow me your fair hand in marriage!!"

He was now on his one knee, holding your hand like pure gentleman with his left hand. This made you both happy and regretful for agreeing to help him... it's obviously very sweet to see him like this but it's also not helping your feelings for him... and you could swear you're blushing...

"Sweet Y/N...!"

But then he said your name... and you finally looked at him just to see him clearly in state of daydreaming, not stopping reciting next lines, so you had to stop him before he gives more hints than you can handle!

"Wait, wait... wasn't the second main character's name Juliet? Why did you say my name...?"

His face immidietly gained red hue and his hand didn't stop holding your gently. His eyes still looked focused on yours as if he haven't woke up from his dreamland, but his words told you his state was something completely else than you imagined...

"Y-Yes I know..."

You could only stare at him in slight shock... you didn't knew what to say and so did he. He was barely holding himself from turning it into a play someway... but he repeated one sentence in his head, "go big or go home", if he blurted it out, might as well go along?

"O Y/N, sun of my life, I beg of you, allow me to take you on a date!"

﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌

@bleachtheidiot @akitosheart @bad-the-an-enjoyer @yulikesminori @alicewinterway18 @nenes-numberonefan - come get your future star!

You and Nene were hanging out on a rooftop at Kamiyama. Even if you're from Miyamasuzaka, let's say Emu teached you a trick or two~ So either way, you can enjoy your time with your dear friend!

You leaned in, wanting to see what she's playing and for once, instead of seeing shooting or rhythm game, you found her playing some... visual novel? Or was it otome game?

"Hey Nene? Are you playing... otome game?"

"Mhm, yeah."

She responded, clearly way into the game to process what she's saying. But that never was a problem for you since she still responded and was honest if anything when she was in this state.

"Look, you can even name your love interest~"

You looked at the screen with even more interest and saw 2 names... "Nene" and "Y/N". You get why her name would be here but yours? Were you... no way, right?

"Is... is Y/N the name of your... ingame love interest?"

"Yeah, real love interest too."

She finally looked up from her phone right at you with this soft and charming smile, when she saw your blush she was even confused for a second! Untill she realized... she just blurted it out, didn't she?

"Oh- uh- I mean... not like... Like..."

Now it was her blushing like crazy not knowing what to say... she was clearly between 2 thoguhts and had no idea which to choose... oh did you know it was all about if she should tell you the truth or a lie...

"Am I actually~?"

You couldn't help but encourage her a bit, hoping to hear the truth. If she actually saw YOU as the love interest, the real one! Or... if it's just a misunderstanding...

And luckily, you didn't had to wait for long because right after your question, she gave you a little nod, easy to miss if you blinked... but her blushing face and the way she looked away would tell you it either way~

﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌

@bleachtheidiot @akitosheart @bl4cktourmaline @nenes-numberonefan - come get your shy gamer~

Rui has texted you he forgot his coat from his house. And you as good friend, agreed to bring it to Pheonix Wonderland. He made sure you get a free ticket after all! So how could you say no to free fun at amusement park AND helping out your dear friend?

When you finally arrived at the Wonder Stage, you saw him tinkering with the robot, untill he heard someone's footsteps... his mood immidietly lighting up once he saw it's you!

"You're finally here! And I see you got my coat with you~ I can't express how glad I am for your help~"

"Don't mention it! You offered me a free ticket for that so how could I've said now?!"

He chuckled and finally came over to get his coat back, which you gave him back. And in another second, he had it on!

"But still, you're a great person for bringing it to me at THIS HOUR."

"Awh~ Don't you melt here or I'm gonna melt too!"

You couldn't brush off how sweet it was and opened your arms for quick friendly hug, since you clearly had a bit of appreciation moment going on.

"No, I mean it... you're such a sweetheart... I really couldn't avoid falling for you~"

"Huh-? What?"

After your questioning, he finally got a hang of himself pulling away with faint blush, clearly not knowing what to do. But his first reflex was to lie...

"I-I mean..."

But he seemed to stop himself... he realized lying would only make it last longer... so he decided to pull himself together, take big breath in and take the risk.

"Yes... I'm really sorry. I'm aware this is probably gonna break our friendship but... I indeed did fell for you..."

﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌

@bleachtheidiot @akitosheart @yulikesminori @toyaswif3y @bl4cktourmaline @r4wrclwz @superstar-ethereal - come get your crazy inventor~

[lemonhemlock]

Rhaenyra v Cersei: Battle of the Bastards

Lo' and behold, looks like I'm not done with bastardposting after all. For this piece, I would like to compare and contrast the two main situations that the general public has been exposed as far as the issue of illegitimate children is concerned within the ASOIAF-verse: Rhaenyra v Cersei.

The parallels are obvious. Rhaenyra has three bastard children, Cersei has three bastard children. Let's see how they handle it.

Rules

According to Westerosi law, bastards can't inherit. It doesn't matter if they're the husband's or the wife's, the King's or the Queen's. Children born out of wedlock to any spouse are explicitly excluded from the line of succession.

Only the King can legitimise bastards via a royal decree. Enough of these "Roose legitimized Ramsay" lies. It's patently untrue. Tommen legitimized Ramsay.

In order to be legitimised, the children in question first have to be declared bastards. You cannot legitimize trueborn children. You cannot secretly legitimise bastards. "Viserys claimed Rhaenyra's children were trueborn, ergo he implicitly legitimised them." No, he didn't. He never admitted they were bastards.

Why does this matter? Because it is unclear where legitimised bastards fall in the line of succession. If they maintain their place by birth order or if they are relegated to the back of the line, behind any and all other trueborn claimants.

There are no genetic tests available in Westeros. People have to prove adultery or rely on common sense.

1. Cersei has a distinct advantage over Rhaenyra, since her children look like her. She can very easily argue that they favour her, as their mother, and this is exactly what everyone believes for years, including Robert. Since Jaime is the male version of Cersei, Joffrey, Tommen and Myrcella can look like no else. Catelyn's kids look like Catelyn and no one bats an eye. Only Arya and (to Catelyn's irritation) Jon look like Ned. However, Ned doesn't ever doubt his children are not his.

Rhaenyra's kids look nothing like Rhaenyra and nothing like Laenor. They, instead, share distinct physical traits with her sworn shield, a man seen very often in her presence. People are not idiots. There is no plausible deniability here. You can bet your bottom dollar that if Cersei's kids were, say, Dornish-looking, people would be calling her out for her bullshit.

There is a way you can reasonably get away with passing over your bastards as someone else's, but that is 100% not Rhaenyra's way. This is why Cersei is chilling in the Red Keep, living her best bad bitch life, while Rhaenyra is running away to Dragonstone when the rumours are nipping at her heels. They are not the same. There are no paternity rumours to quell Cersei's girlboss vibes. She is sly enough that even Robert is convinced he inseminated her (gross).

2. I'm not going to get into the intricacies of Ned Stark's Scooby-Doo, Hercule Poirot mystery plot of unraveling Cersei's misdeeds. Ned has his own beef with the Lannisters and is convinced they are up to no good. He investigates them like the meddling kid he is and comes away with a suspicion. He knows nothing (heh) for certain until Cersei verbally confirms it for him. yOuR bRoThEr Or YoUr lOvEr. boo!

Had Ned not been on the Lannister trail from the very beginning, a fair assumption can be made that he never even would have suspected anything untoward. He never questions the children's paternity when they visit in Winterfell.

Again, this is distinctly different from Rhaenyra's situation. No one believes Cersei's children are bastards,* whereas no one believes Rhaenyra's children are trueborn. Pretending otherwise is very, very strange.

*at the beginning of AGOT, at least

3. Robert claimed Joffrey all his life and specifically named him his son and heir in his will, under dictation, to Ned. In turn, Ned deliberately changed Robert's words and wrote them down as "my rightful heir".

This is a parallel to show!Alicent, who misunderstands Viserys' dying words and him naming his son Aegon as heir. If Alicent didn't have the right to muddle the King's meaning, then neither did Ned. However, no one in their right minds is arguing that Ned is a traitor to the Crown. I wonder why is that?

I have already pointed out the circular logic in arguing that Robert only said that because he didn't know the children weren't his.

4. So what does this mean? Can anyone just accuse anyone they don't like of being a bastard and, thus, endanger that person's entire social status?

No, of course not. But, unfortunately for Cersei, Ned and Stannis aren't just some randos in a tavern. Ned is the Hand of the King. Stannis is Lord of Dragonstone and on the Small Council. These two men have a stalwart reputation and are renowned for their obsession with justice, duty and, in Ned's case, honour.

If Ned Stark stands in front of the Iron Throne and proclaims Joffrey a bastard, risks his daughters' lives and literally ends up losing his head as a result of this,

if Stannis Baratheon sends letters throughout the realm claiming Cersei's children are illegitimate,

the people of Westeros are going to pay attention.

These two very important men using their public platform to denounce Joffrey and starting wars over this? Say what you will about them, but they are not oathbreakers and they are not liars. No, they don't come with DNA tests, but for a lot of Westerosi, this is enough. They believe it.

Is this foolproof? No, of course not! But it convinces enough people that they are willing to band together to support rival claimants to the throne, thus igniting the War of the Five Kings. Speaking of political headaches, this is a huge one!

That being said, while Cersei is playing in the Champions League, Rhaenyra is fighting for her life in the relegation zone. She doesn't even need a Ned or a Stannis to cast doubt on her because no one believes her kids are not bastards.

Moreover, Vaemond obviously parallels Ned in this story. He tells the truth in open court and loses his head for it. In the show, Daemon and Viserys play the same role as Joffrey. In the texts, Rhaenyra and Daemon are stand-ins for Joffrey. This is not meant to be a triumphant moment of girlbossery. This is an abuse of power and an act of terror.

All in all, I'm sorry to say, but Cersei wins this hands down. She is savvy enough in her choice of sperm donor and can maintain plausible deniability without looking like a goddamn clown and the entire circus to boot. She holds the capital and has access to all the emblems of state after Robert dies. In contrast, Rhaenyra is floundering across the Blackwater Bay, yelling at the dragon gargoyles that her children are trueborn.

Why is this issue important in the story?

a). No one has a problem with Jace being King.

If people had a problem with Joffrey being King, enough to go to war over it, it would be narratively inconsistent for them to just accept an obvious bastard as King. It would contradict the internal logic of the fictional world we're talking about. That's quite some level of suspension of disbelief just because some fans like Jace. This isn't about him being amiable or a good kid.

b). They're still Rhaenyra's sons / it's a Targaryen internal matter and concerns no one else / the concept of Jace being King doesn't personally affect anyone else, so why does anyone care?

Because it's the freaking law! The name of the crime Rhaenyra commits is high treason! Punishable by exile or death!

No, the crime is not adultery, it's not having bastard children, it's specifically putting said bastard children in line to the throne. In that, Rhaenyra is as guilty as Cersei is.

It absolutely does affect others, since Rhaenyra actively steals the inheritance of House Velaryon for Luke. How is that not a crime? I would even go so far as to say that Laenor and Corlys are complicit in it and should be punished as well.

Contrary to bafflingly-popular erroneous beliefs, the monarch can't just do whatever they want. Even in absolutist monarchies, the sovereign serves the vital social role of upholding the law and the rights of their subjects. Rhaenyra breaks said law by committing theft, murder, high treason and destabilizing the entire system of inheritance.

c) Rhaenyra breaks the social contract

Jock Locke argues for the "right of revolution" in the Second Treatise of Government. He writes that when the government acts against the interests of its citizens, then said citizens gain the right to overthrow it and replace it with an authority that will protect their interests.

I am not trying to impose 'progressive' understandings of the political process anachronistically, in a medieval fantasy; my thesis-statement is that we have already seen this concept at play within the world of ASOIAF: the Faith Militant uprising against Aenys I and Maegor due to their practices of incest and polygamy and Robert's Rebellion, caused by Rhaegar kidnapping a noble lady and Aerys II carrying out executions without due process. The people of Westeros are not unfamiliar with opposing monarchs who don't abide by the law.

The question of Rhaenyra having bastards is framed in a lot of commentary through the lens of her right as a woman to have extra-marital sex and not be demonised for it and to find fulfilling love within the constraints imposed on her by her station. While debating the personal individual freedom of women in a patriarchal feudal society is not to be side-lined, her fundamental fault is that she is demanding rights and exemptions for herself, while the rest of the country have to abide by an entirely different set of rules.

The laws of inheritance, as unjust as they may appear to our modern eyes, are in place to prevent crises of succession, violent conflicts or even large-scale wars from starting every time someone's estates are passed on. Illegitimate children suddenly gaining access to inheritances threatens the political and economical calculations that predicate many Westerosi marriages.

Imagine paying a handsome dowry for your daughter, just so her husband's bastard birthed by some high-born mistress to make use of his maternal family's resources and cheat your legitimate grandchildren out of theirs.

Imagine being married to some lord and now his random bastards threaten the inheritance of your lawful children. Because, hey, the Queen acts like this is fine! This is Catelyn Stark's worst nightmare.

You think you can just sue your husband? What a silly notion. You think you can sue the bastard claimants after your husband is dead? Tough luck, your liege lord may rule in their favour by taking a leaf out of Queen Rhaenyra's book. You think you can appeal to Queen Rhaenyra? How are you going to travel all the way to King's Landing? Good luck with that, maybe you're built different and don't die during this dangerous and expensive journey.

Is this fair for the illegitimate children? Hell no, but Rhaenyra and Viserys are not planning on reforming family law in any meaningful way, because they know what a hassle it would be and how much opposition it would meet!

It reeks of rights for me, but not for thee and I, for the life of me, don't understand the stronghold she has on the liberated feminist brigade.

and finally

d). The Green Coup is not dependent on the legitimacy of Rhaenyra's children.

No. But her committing high treason earns her an automatic disqualification from her right to rule, rendering her claim null and void.

[dysfunctional-doodle]

Just watched Mutant Mayhem, here are my thoughts!

Overall: Yes, very good I suggest everyone watch it when they can or I will break your knees :)

I’m going to end up rambling far too much unless I split this properly, so I’m going to break it down into sections starting from what I believe is most important in a movie.

This post is still going to be a mess ngl

Story: 8/10

The story is actually very good! It was paced very well and ended in a very touching way. No character interactions or plot beats felt forced or cliché, and no forced identity politics which is always a plus.

The action scenes - of course they were amazing. Paired with the stellar animation, each action scene was brilliantly directed and choreographed. The start shows the turtles’ origin story is similar to most of the iterations with its own unique factors - in this case the ooze was created by Baxter Stockman.

The conflict of the plot was well written, the final act was great and ends with a hopeful and satisfying ending (there is a mid credit scene that teases something big for the series though!).

If it’s any consolation, it’s also very friendly to new fans of TMNT - I went with someone who has not seen any TMNT media before and they really liked it and understood it easily.

Characters: 9/10

Needless to say, all the characters were very well done. Despite its run time and large cast, each one feels grounded with their own unique personality.

For starters: the four main boys! They were done brilliantly - Mikey being hopeful and optimistic whilst naturally being empathetic, Raph channeling chaotic good energy with his iconic rage personality not being over the top, Donnie being a geek in the best way possible, and Leo trying to be a good leader and anxious, always looking out for his brothers but not a complete teachers pet. All very likeable, and I can’t wait to see them in the series!

Splinter: probably the best since 2003! Openly caring of his sons and worries a great deal about how humans will perceive them. Has his own trauma from his experience with humans so he tries to protect his sons by isolating them completely, but eventually realises that his own view of humans should not affect his son’s happiness and lets them fulfil their dream of trying to be accepted by humans even if he will never like humanity himself. Peak character development, 10/10.

Villain/s: all of them felt fleshed out and I look forward to seeing them in the series! Posed their own genuine threats with varying levels of morals. Again, all were fleshed out quite well and played a role in the story.

April: honestly, she didn’t have too much in it compared to the others but does play a key role in the final act and the ending itself. An interesting iteration of April, curious to see more of her.

Animation: 10000000/10

It was brilliant. What else can I say? Though inspired by Spider-verse it is its own style which is amazing to look at. It thrives in action scenes and landscapes. Another groundbreaking style that I hope to see influence others.

Music: 8/10

It slaps. Almost all of them I will be playing for the next week or so. The soundtracks really set the mood beautifully, especially the sombre track. Paired with the animation - ugh - chefs kiss

Overall Rating: 8/10

I am usually very very harsh with films, so for me to rate anything above a seven is basically unheard of. Probably my favourite movie of 2023, and my favourite TMNT movie. 2003 only just beats it overall but that’s mostly because I’ve known it for longer - who knows, a few more rewatches and it might overtake.

[sl-vega]

✧Other Friendly Faces✧

✧Kazuha✧-member of the literature club and in the same English class as Xingqiu. He specializes in poetry, mainly haikus and free verses.

✧Furina✧-President of the drama club and usually directs school plays. When she was younger, she was a successful child actress, though due to losing passion for the art, she stepped back and decided to focus on her director career.

✧Chiori✧-a member of the textile and drama club. Chiori is usually in charge of costume design for school productions. She runs a fairly successful mini-business where she sells her own designs, and she has many fashion companies begging for her to work for them, though she expresses no interest in working for someone else's brand.

✧Freminet✧-part of the swim team and Lyney and Lynette's younger brother. Like his sister, he's quiet and reserved, but a good listener. The two of you haven't talked much, but you do know about his love for the ocean and his soft spot for penguins.

✧Yun Jin✧-member of the music club and choir. She is also part of the Yun Han opera troupe, and has quickly risen to fame due to her starring role in the critically acclaimed musical: "The Divine Damsel of Devastation".

✧Eula✧-Captain of the dance team and student council vice-president. She's cold, harsh, and brutally honest (and holds a grudge for just about anything) and she doesn't have the best reputation due to that, but her talent and work ethic (almost) makes up for all that.

additional notes:

-in case you're wondering why some of these r so short, it's cuz these guys r just side characters, but i wanted to make some profiles for them

-i keep on forgetting to mention everyone's ages so here's a quick list:

-freminet and yun jin are sophmores (tenth grade, 15-16)

-furina, eula, and chiori are seniors (twelfth grade, 17-18)

-kazuha is a junior (eleventh grade, 16-17)

-furina supremacy fr fr

-everyone else in the main cast (y/n's group + xingqiu's friend group) are all juniours

-eula's twitter header found here

-i promise the plot will actually start after this :>

masterlist

<prev ll next>

Pairing: Xingqiu x FEM! Reader

Genre: fake dating, strangers to lovers, slow burn, fluff, angst (?), high school smau, modern smau

⋆｡°✩-Synopsis: Xingqiu just got entered into a special writing contest, the type that's invite only, the theme this year is love, the only problem is that he has zero romantic experience. but he really wants to prove himself as a writer. meanwhile, you just found out that your boyfriend cheated on you, and you need to show him that you're 100% over him, the only problem is that there's no way you can get an actual boyfriend that quickly. clearly, the solution to both of your issues is to fake date each other. it shouldn't be hard for an actor such as yourself, all you need to do is stick to the script.

(OPEN) Taglist: @freyao7, @thatoneswordgirl, @sn1perz, @latay7, @esmetrees, @nmriki0, @help-whatdoimakemyusername, @httpsrenren, @cupid-spams, @aixaingela, @kaitfae, @luvkvni, @danhenglovebot

[project-sekai-facts]

yo, do ya have any favourite lyrics and/or line distributions? akito getting multiple lines about dogs is neato

Hoshizora no Melody has my favorite lyrics in the game it's not even a tough choice. I love how well every character's arc is conveyed through only a few lines it's so good. Emu could never and would never leave PXL (her grandad) behind, and WxS was able to finally change things for her and help her protect it. Rui was outcast his whole life and he came to accept it as something that would never change - it wasn't until WxS (Tsukasa) reached out to him and let him be passionate about his dreams without judging him that he was finally able to turn things around. Tsukasa throws his all into theatre (making people happy) and it's something that is so deeply ingrained as a part of himself, but WxS let him actually pave the way to make his dream a reality. Nene was too shy to face anyone and couldn't get over the things in her way (her past failures), but she was able to rediscover her passion for singing and is able to sing for everyone once again.

The prechorus parts too, Emu and Tsukasa sing the part about realising that the world can make people smile because both of their dreams are to make people smile. Emu and Rui singing about the world giving life back to things they'd given up because Rui gave up on the thought of belonging and Emu was going to have to give up the Wonder Stage. Rui getting the part about celebrating the colors of the world because his dream is to create shows that anyone can enjoy regardless of identity.

As you said I think Akito getting lines about dogs is a nice little bit of recurring irony. I particularly like this example from Gekokujo that conveys his unwavering determination and drive even when he's faced with forces pushing against him really nicely. Also just Gekokujo's lyrics as a whole I think reflect the event so well.

N25 probably has the best lyric game like there's so many good examples from their songs. Particular favorites would have to be Engeki for summarising basically Mafuyu's entire life in such a gut-punching way, and Tricologe for a similar reason for Hoshizora in that it just does such a good job of representing every character.

IDSMILE/lower parallels my beloved <3

Gunjou Sanka is another favorite of mine. If you couldn't tell by now I love stuff that either tells a story or describes a character. Or both. All of Gunjou Sanka is so good and really packs a punch with the emotions but I really like the first verse and prechorus here where it describes the basics of each main story in just one or two lines each. I especially love the Leo/need segment about being able to believe in wanting to stay together since they've moved on from their pasts and are reuinted now.

And how could I forget Mr. Showtime. This one has such clever lyrics and I love the use of parentheses to add secondary meanings to certain parts. The whole song is perfection but I'm particularly fond of this section here, specifically the last line because it understands Tsukasa so much better than like half the fandom does. Theatre is something that Tsukasa genuinely dedicates everything to, in some ways (every way) it is his life. Phoenix is a great example to demonstrate that because it highlights just how much it means to him and how he's willing to put it above everything else, including his own wellbeing, to try and overcome the obstacles he faces. At the end of the day though, even if it's tough and can feel like it's taking too long or isn't worth it, the roadblocks he doesn't anticipate are the ones that help him improve most and get closer to his dream than anything else.

also just this one lyric from Showtime Ruler I love character development. Karasuyasabou actually says that's his favorite in the song, and he talked quite a lot about the lyrics for the rest of the song in his corocoro interview. I'd suggest giving it a read because it's pretty interesting what he says about how he wrote it.

this is getting a bit long so i'll stop here haha

[kinuhanino]

The Moon Will Sing by The Crane Wives is Lena Sabrewing's song.

A Lyric by Lyric breakdown ✨✨

Because each verse fits Lena so well it's actually so insane

Like... this song fits her backstory to a T. I'm half convinced she wrote it herself.

also note! I imagine the song being sung by Lena. As in, This is Lena talking to Magica, or telling Magica these things she feels.

another note: this is solely my interpretation of Lena's backstory and how it could fit in the song! any other interpretations are valid but this is my personal take on it.

So without further adieu, here it is!

The Moon Will Sing by The Crane Wives

Tell me once again I could have been anyone, anyone else Before you made the choice for me

Born from the shadows, Lena could've literally been anyone. She could've been just a homeless kid roaming around the streets. She could've been adopted by a family. She could've made friends. Could've started a band. Be a musician. An Artist. She could've stayed in Italy. Be among the people there. Have a life of her own.

But no, she couldn't. Didn't.

Because she was the shadow of Magica De Spell. A mere puppet used for trickery and deception. And the key to setting her former caster free.

My feet knew the path We walked in the dark, in the dark I never gave a single thought to where it might lead

Lena was made on Mount Vesuvius, which is in Italy. She had to - practically on her own - ('cuz i doubt that Magica was helpful) go from Italy to the US to get to Duckburg, whilst being a newly made living person from the shadows, most likely not having a single clue on how to be a person.

She was probably so confused at first. I feel like Magica immediately ordered her to do something complicated and yelled at her for not understanding what to do.

For the first few years, she probably just blindly followed Magica's instructions. She followed the path Magica paved and led her to, and it was littered with shadows and darkness.

All those empty rooms We could have been anywhere, anywhere else Instead, I made a bed with apathy

Eventually, Lena probably learnt about Magica's nature and the morality of it. She probably saw how other people treated each other, or maybe she was able to watch a TV show that showed her what a good and honest person would act.

Eventually, however, she would have to arrive at Duckburg and follow through with the plan her master made for her. She'd be at the place where the main plan were to commence, and she'd have to put her morals aside for just a little more to finally be free.

My heart knew the weight Ten years worth of dust and neglect We made our peace with weariness and let it be

*15 years of dust and neglect.

Lena wasn't cared for in the slightest. It's really evident given how Magica treated her throughout the series. Magica only wanted her powers back, and Lena was the means to get it.

She didn't care about where and how Lena was supposed to live in this world. She didn't even consider her alive.

And Lena knew this, so she just chose to live through the bare minimum. There wasn't any point in her making any friends since she was just a tool. There was no point for her to get attached to anything because she wasn't staying anywhere for long.

And eventually, Lena probably got bored of "living". She grew to care less about everything and everyone around her. Her life was just a means to an end. She didn't and couldn't experience what it felt like to be alive because there always was a shadow lingering behind her, telling her that she was wasting her time on something useless.

Name your courage now We could have had anything, anything else Instead, you hoarded all that's left of me

*insert scenepack of Magica possessing Lena's body*

need I say more?

Swallowin' your doubt Like swords to the pit of my belly I want to feel the fire that you kept from me

She wants to feel love. She wants to feel warmth. She wants to feel the embrace of someone who actually cares about her. She craves it. The love, the lessons, the concern, all of it. She wants it, no, needs it at this point. She'd been deprived of it for so long, it's like breathing air for the first time after being submereged in the water.

And that family, the McDuck family, they gave it around like it was free candy. Sure, she had to earn some of it from Mrs. Beakley, but when she did, the love, concern and the protectiveness was offered to her, not only tenfold, but with no strings attached.

She's never experienced anything like it before. The feeling of security, the love that wrapped around her like a warm blanket. For once in her life, she finally felt safe. And now that the had a taste of it, she can never let go.

The moon will sing a song for me I loved you like the sun

At the end of the day however, looking back, she loved her aunt. Despite all of the torment, abuse, and neglect, during that period of her life, she loved her. It was wishful thinking on her part, but she truly deeply wanted Magica's love, approval, and care.

She loved her. She was her creator. She was there when she was made. And although it was probably grudingly, Magica most likely was the person who taught her the basics of life, or atleast, to blend in with the people.

Bore the shadows that you made With no light of my own

Lena is a shadow, case in point.

Additionally, Lena didn't have a life besides being Magica's sentient shadow. She didn't have a life of her own without her. She was just a slave to her master.

I shine only with the light you gave me I shine only with the light you gave me

She was only as alive as Magica wished her to be (atleast in her perpective). To her, she wouldn't be alive until she truly had her freedom.

And that was the driving force for Lena to go along with Magica's plan. She didn't want to do it (especially after meeting the McDuck family) but she had to. She never had a choice. The only choices she was able to make were in the guise of furthering Magica's ploy for revenge.

So, she shined (had freedom) only with the light (permission) she (Magica) gave her.

And she shined (lived) only with the light (magic) she (Magica) gave her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank You for Listening to my TedTalk!

u wanted to read it so here's a tag! @threeaxolotlsinatrenchcoat

[shiftingwithjaidyn]

🕸️,🍎, &🌊!

answering for my writer/fame dr

|| shifting ask game 🕸️; where will you be when you first wake up in your dr? what clothes will you be in?

very basic, i know, but i'll wake up in my room! i want to wake up somewhere where i am already comfortable in (especially since i mostly do sleep methods.). plus, i really want to wake up to my sweetheart princess of meow meow kitty kingdom mari໒꒰ྀི´ ˘ ` ꒱ྀིა i'm personally very obsessed in anything vintage and romanticizing my life in general/in every single universe being the drama queen that i amso i'll probably be wearing those pretty vintage slip-on night gowns/dresses

🍎; what are three songs that remind you of your dr and why?

● midnight city - m83 - this song reminds me so so sooo much of l.a. (it was a close tie between lady killers II by g-eazy) and the song itself is sort if adrenaline rush was a song which i'll most likely feel the moment i first shift. ● there she goes - the la's - this song is more on how i see myself in my dr/my vibes in my dr, y'know? i've always been a fan of 2000s rom-coms and i've always wanted to be sort of a main caracter in one, so i'm always so happy and thankful whenever someone says i do have that type of personality/aura and i'd like to have it in this reality as well! ● no 1. party anthem - arctic monkeys - this song can be interpreted in numerous ways and while majority of them are a pretty sad interpretation (and i can do a whole essay on every single one but let's do that some other time), i genuinely adore this song with my whole heart and consider it as a love song about me and my dr s/o. there's a specific verse in its bridge "the look of love, the rush of blood. the "she's with me"s, the gallic shrug. the shutterbugs, the camera plus the black & white and the colour dodge." that brings me to my knees and make me go "hey that's us!". me and my dr s/o sort of have a love at first sight (the look of love, the rush of blood) friends-to-lovers trope, so obviously there's a lot of mutual pining and slow burn there, but i think it's sort of bittersweet to have those moments. not in a "oh, i want to be cheesy and corny and blah" (which you can do obviously but that is not my intention here personally), but in a "we get the chance to understand each other to a deeper level that no one else can, but there's this risk, and it's up to us if we want to take it or not.". especially with the fact that we don't act upon our feelings until much later (thought a lot of our friends already speculate || "the "she's with me"s, the gallic shrug") also connects me to this song more for this song is a representation of longing and yearning for someone who you're unsure if they like you back especially knowing everyone has their eyes on the both of you (because he's a well-known actor and i'm a well-known writer || "the camera plus the black & white and the colour dodge") (there's so much words for the last song omg i'm so sorry y'all my lover girl slipped out of her cage.)

🌊; pretend your dr has one of those filler-beach-day episodes. what’s everyone doing?

omgg this reminded me of a scene in this show i'm a part of in my dr (yellowjackets) where it does have a filler-beach-day episode (well more like scene and they were in a lake but whateverrr) anyway, going back to the question! i'm mostly close with drag queens in my dr since i've worked for rupaul's drag race (the og and all stars) for about 10 years so i can only imagine most of the queens like shea couleé, trixie mattel, katya zamolodchikova, violet chacki, jaida essence hall, plastique tiara, etc. relaxing in the corner enjoying the sun and other queens like nymphia wind, dawn, gottmik, symone, plasma, kandy muse, xunami muse, morphi, naomi smalls, bob the drag queen, monet x change, etc. probably ready to drown each other during a game of beach volleyball. (i'm so sorry if this answer's like super messy and not accurate to the question my head is so empty rn HDJKFHSKFHDSJ)

this was such a fun questionnaire session tysmmm gaiaaa!!!! <3333

[likeadevils]

is there a specific order you like to listen to the red vault tracks in? i’ve been thinking about this a lot ever since 1989 tv came out because the 1989 vault tracks tell such a cohesive story so i’ve been trying to figure out how to do that with the red vault

YES ITS LIKE. THE ALBUM TO REARRANGE FOR ME I GENUINELY HAVENT LISTENED TO THE ORIGINAL TRACKLIST IN YEARS NOW

i think i’ve run through it before but here’s my thoughts on the mains tracklist

state of grace: perfect opener no notes

22: this is and holy ground can switch for me, i think either makes a fantastic track two, but it’s hard to pass up 22 track 2. also i like how the second song and the second to last song parallel each other

treacherous: building off of 22’s “you look like bad news, i gotta have you”

i knew you were trouble: it’s the obvious mirror of treacherous, and also i think it’s important to establish the emotion->exact opposite emotion flip of the tracklist, and treacherous and ikywt are a really obvious example of that

all too well: i mean what else can you choose. also it’s a good flip of ikywt because it’s all the moments where it DIDN'T feel like trouble

wanegbt: “i remember it all too well 😔” -> “I REMEMBER WHEN WE BROKE UP 😡🙄” is just an insane whiplash. ALSO track sixes are such a hard landing to stick and can easily be overshadowed by the track five, and having a song that’s already been released kinda lets the song simultaneously have its moment beforehand and let you kinda check out on your first listen through while you recover from atw

come back be here: i think cbbh really just deserves a main album slot, mostly cause it deserved to be played on tour, but i also think it’s a great whiplash from wanegbt and a great lead in to…

the last time: it takes the more crush-focused aspects of cbbh and plays them out to the bitter end, just that cycle of always leaving and coming back and leaving again. also it’s the end of the first half of the album

red: it’s a great pick me up in the middle of three mellow songs, also i can’t separate this from run which i can’t separate from sad beautiful tragic and i can’t put sad beautiful tragic right before all too well so it needs to be further down the tracklist

run: “loving him was like driving a new maserati down a dead end street” -> “give me the keys, i’ll bring the car back around” makes me go CRAZY

sad beautiful tragic: THE AMOUNT OF PARALLELS WITH RUN IS INSAAAAAAAANE

holy ground: again this is a bit of a floater like i could see an argument for this being track two. and the argument is it goes hard at the start of the red tour

better man: this just needs to be by the end of the album for me. it feels like the start of the summary, wrapping up what we’ve learned and starting the hard work of moving on that the last few tracks will continue

i bet you think about me: that first verse really stretching out the betterrrrr’s after better man is funny. also, after an album of one sided pining in one way or another, it’s just like hey. fuck you. also, at first it kinda bugged me how the last few tracks starts at 4am, then 3am, then the middle of the night, but then i started seeing them as just slowly losing less and less sleep over it, which i kinda love now

nothing new: here is the damage i am left with. even if i move on from this relationship, here is the mindset that will whisper in the back of my mind forever— that i am valuable because of my youth, that my happiness is mockable and my sadness is quaint. this is the thing that led me to the relationship and this is the thing that i will be left with after it

begin again: and then… begin again. choosing happiness, choosing maturity, choosing childlike joy. like, you all know it’s an amazing closer, but after nothing new it just sings

+ forever winter: i think this does add important context to her general mental state? like 22 mentions how everyone is miserable, but really focuses on the highs of being 22. forever winter adds to it, how your peer group is falling apart and even when you are at your worst, you are being someone else's shoulder to lean on. it's not Needed to tell the story, but it is a good bonus.

+ starlight: more good context, especially in taylor's personal life-- as far as i can tell, this is the first song she wrote for red that Wasn't about crash and burn heartbreak, and it really kicked into high gear an obsession with vintage fashion and mid century celebrities that she ended up building part of her personality around. she's not just trying to find her old self again, she's building a new one

+babe: what am i supposed to do, not end the album with this is the last time i'll ever call you babe?

+ state of grace (acoustic), the red demo, and all too well (ten minute version) to get the tracklist to 22 and also fun bts context!

[winterinhimring]

This post is going to make sense to perhaps three people on this entire website but I don't care because it's entertaining me far too much for me to not write it up.

(Inspired by a conversation with @ramblingsofachristiannerd in the comments of A Lot Can Happen in Twenty Years, so warnings for spoilers on that fic if you haven't read it, though this rapidly heads off into very AU territory):

Part the First:

MCU!Adrian Toomes gets chucked into the variant of the Raimi-verse in which Why Do We Fall? and its sequels take place, during the A Bone to Pick arc of Twenty Years. I don't care how, really. Residual cracks in the multiverse or something.

He sees his counterpart, is confused by the existence of this guy who looks just like him and has something very similar to his tech, and starts following him around for want of anything else to do in this weird New York that isn't his New York. He finds the bunker lair. He hears WDWF!Adrian's 'this isn't personal, I kidnapped you for Business Reasons and might have to kill you, very sorry about that' speech to Liz.

He goes into Murder Mode because he's identified Liz as a variant of his daughter. He's not entirely sure if this Liz is this Adrian's daughter but he also does not care. He either steals WDWF!Adrian's wings or uses his own, picks him up, and drops him from...a long way up.

Then he hugs Liz. Everyone is so confused at this point. Liz is confused about why this man who looks exactly like her kidnapper has rescued her and is being all emotional about it. The henchmen are confused because they don't know if they're supposed to avenge their old (now very, very dead) boss or if they're supposed to start reporting to the new guy.

Most of the main plot has now been resolved. WDWF!Adrian's trap for Norman was never completely set. Norman and Harry arrive spoiling for a fight and find that Liz has been released, most of the henchmen have scattered, and there are two Adrian Toomeses, one very dead and one alive and very confused.

Norman is the only person here who has actual experience of the multiverse, so he's the one who works out that MCU!Adrian is from another universe.

It is very late at night by the time this happens.

The last time people managed to travel between universes this was because the multiverse was actively broken.

Norman did not have a lot of interactions with MCU!Stephen Strange, but he had ENOUGH interactions to know that a broken multiverse is a Bad Thing.

Norman shows up to 177A Bleecker Street at 2 AM, dragging Toomes by the collar, and bangs on the door until a very sleep-deprived novice opens it.

He then gives this novice the scare of his life by informing him that he needs to fetch Stephen Strange because the multiverse is broken again.

Norman, unless he is consciously turning off Cryptid Predator Mode TM, is mildly terrifying even when he's not halfway in Active Combat Mode and dragging someone who's taller and larger than him around like a grumpy flight-jacketed sack of potatoes. The novice goes.

The novice wakes up the new Sorcerer Supreme and tells him a slightly garbled story, but Stephen gathers that (a) there is an important person on the doorstep and (b) there is something wrong with the dimensional barriers. Sometimes the life of the Sorcerer Supreme involves getting woken up at unholy hours because the dimensional barriers are broken, so he accepts this with minimal grumbling.

This does not prepare him to find Norman Osborn in the Sanctum's sitting room, looking perfectly at home, babysitting a man whose existence in this dimension is palpably Off to Stephen's magical gaze. Nor does it prepare him to be greeted with, "Dr. Strange. Good. The multiverse is broken again."

It is 2 AM. Stephen was just woken up. He spends about thirty seconds grappling with the facts that: 1. Norman Osborn not only knows that magic exists, he knows the address of the Sanctum Sanctorum, and not only does he know the address of the Sanctum, he knows about Stephen. By name. 2. Osborn believes the multiverse is broken. Osborn believes that this has happened before. 3. Osborn is correct, at least as far as the fact that the man whose collar he is grasping is Not Supposed To Be Here. Stephen is not sure where this man IS supposed to be, but it is not this dimension.

Stephen sets most of this aside for later. He goes and researches spells for putting people back into their dimensions. Wong helps.

Part the Second (splitting this up because I hit Tumblr's character per text-block limit):

Osborn and his guest stay at the Sanctum, because there is no way Stephen is letting the interdimensional (maybe interuniversal, but he is not thinking about that yet) anomaly that is Adrian Toomes out of his sight, and Osborn seems to have appointed himself the anomaly's babysitter, or jailer, or whatever.

What does this lead to? Norman in the Sanctum's library.

What does THAT lead to? Norman finds out that the mystic arts are something ANYONE can learn.

Thus, I present to you: Otto Octavius and Norman Osborn, Stephen Strange's most exasperating and persistent pupils. They pick fights with him all the time (that's NOT how the laws of physics work I KNOW I can see you doing it but it IS NOT POSSIBLE I have STUDIED THIS FOR YEARS).

Look. He could try to throw them out. He could. But it would be so much less trouble to just let them be stymied by their own rigid views of the world and get fed up with their lack of progr...

KABOOM

Strange goes out into the Sanctum's courtyard. There used to be a training ground there.

There is no training ground. There is a crater.

There are also his two most exasperating pupils lying on the ground. Neither of them has eyebrows. Their robes are smouldering. "See, Norman, I told you that would work," Otto says.

"What happened here?" Stephen asks.

"Well, you see matter and energy are the same thing, fundamentally," Otto says.

Stephen has a sinking feeling.

"So Otto decided that, if the laws of physics are really as flexible as you say, he could change the one into the other," Norman finishes for his friend, picking himself up and patting out the parts of his robe that are on fire.

"And I have to admit, you're right," Otto says, picking up Norman's train of thought. "The laws of physics as we understand them are only scratching the surface of how the world works."

It is at this point that Stephen realises he has made a mistake. He has let the two stubbornest and most intelligent scientists in New York set a challenge for themselves, and that challenge is learning magic. Their rigid belief in the laws of physics has now bent just enough for them to marry science and magic to do absolutely terrifying things.

This is only going to get worse the longer they stick around.

Unfortunately for everyone, when he sits down with the masters at Kamar-Taj to discuss the fact that two novice pupils just successfully turned matter into energy and almost blew up the Sanctum (not to mention themselves), the consensus they come to is that the only thing worse than keeping Norman and Otto as pupils is kicking them out, because they know enough now that there's no way they'll stop experimenting with magic. If Stephen kicks them out for conducting half-tested molecular science-magic in the courtyard, they're not going to stop, they're just going to be unsupervised.

Please imagine: you are a sorcerer of Kamar-Taj training against a new pupil from the New York Sanctum. You are planning to go easy on him because he has only been studying for a year. Otto Octavius steps into the sparring ring with you and you wonder if he has realised that he can probably use his actuators to cast spells; if he does, he might be a challenge despite his inexperience. You cast a small energy whip at him. He flicks his fingers and fine dust sifts down to the courtyard at his feet. The energy whip never even reached him. You try to summon shields. More dust. You try an actual attack, though not a terribly dangerous one. Dust. Strange is smirking at you. What spell is this? You lose the match. You're too confused to even be embarrassed. Only after the match does Octavius (also smirking) lean over to you and explain, Matter and energy are the same thing, you see. You are not sure this has cleared anything up. You hope you never actually face this man in a fight.

(@kraytwriter I am also tagging you on this because you've expressed interest in this AU and I need more people to yell about my crack AU of my own AU with. XD)

[alys0r]

A small analysis of the Moonvale characters.

I must say right away that the characters from Moonvale seem to me more realistic and lively, even despite the disgusting avatars with artificial intelligence. These are clearly more or less the same types of characters from Duskwood, but somewhat modified. Initially, I thought that I would be extremely disappointed if everything in Moonvale was exactly the same as in the previous Everbyte game, but no. It seems that everything repeats itself, but it repeats extremely well. This is not a copy, but a parallel. Moreover, there are still differences. But about everything in order.

ADAM

Our missing waif. And yet we interact with him directly. We're connected somehow, and it's not just about the envelope with our name on it. Was Adam on his way to give us the envelope? I doubt it very much, considering that the main character is obviously not privy to this. Is it all related to Duskwood? I'm pretty sure I'm not, and if I am, it's obviously not with Hannah. To be honest, I haven't looked at the theory of this game yet, and I don't know if anyone has voiced such a thought, but the cave is clearly similar to the mine where Jake and Richie were. Especially considering that, as Jake said, if I'm not mistaken, the mine stretches for many kilometers, and the actions of the current game take place not so far from Duskwood. Soooooo, returning to Adam, this whole situation with him is clearly very different from the situation with Hannah, which is good news. I can't get a good look at Adam himself, given that there is no clear information about him

ERIC

Eric is probably one of my favorites (apart from Jake, of course, heh) among all those created by Everbyte. He is a lively and interesting character. Of all the people I'm dealing with today, it's the hardest for me to compare Eric to anyone in particular. Maybe with Thomas, because it's the first time we've talked to him, but that's all. Eric clearly has some kind of sin in the past, as can be understood from his correspondence with Ash, and it seems to me that this will play an important role in the plot (it is not surprising that such attention is paid to this). He is completely calm even in a tense situation and knows how to think clearly enough. The fact that he went into the forest alone, strangely, is still explained by the fact that he is well-versed in the wild. Eric is proactive, but he still thinks first and then acts, thanks to him for that (although this may change in the next chapters). And, apart from Adam, this is the only character whose face we've seen. Separately, I want to note that the idea that Eric could have done something bad on the night of the Festival (given that people from nearby cities come to Duskwood during the festival) is quite interesting.

ASH

Lily, with her combative nature, is clearly visible here. But Ash is clearly more sarcastic. And she doesn't throw accusations right and left, preferring to find out at least something first (but not personal data (I still love Lily)). Unfortunately, it is difficult to say anything else about this, given that this is only the first chapter. But Ash is already making a positive impression.

CHARLIE

Richie is No. 2, but not the kidnapper. Charlie seems to be much more free and open than Richie, but we all know why Richie himself couldn't be like that. Charlie is clearly more active and impressionable. One of those people who can't sit still and like to get involved in something. And unlike Eric, he acts first. It still seems to me that something unpleasant will be revealed about Charlie (although perhaps this applies to everyone in general). But he is a very nice person.

VIOLET

It reminds me of Jesse, but it's hard to say for sure yet. I think, like Jesse, he will play a big role specifically for the main character.

ANONYMOUS

I think, like me, you also thought at first that it was Jake. I'm not going to build theories about personality yet, but chel clearly knows us as well as Adam. Whether he will play the same role as Jake is difficult to say. (It will certainly be very funny if they also make him a romantic interest, deciding to stupidly copy Jake….)

That's all for now. I'm wondering which of the Duskwood characters will still make themselves felt (except Jake, I think he will obviously still show up). Maybe it will be Allan. Although it seems to me that in any case it will be someone little expected by us. And maybe I will have correspondence with the main guys of Duskwood, but literally something one-time.

I'm sorry for the mistakes, I don't know English very well and I use a translator

[ordinaryschmuck]

So, I finally watched Hazbin Hotel...

Weird, given how I talked about it a bunch. Heck, one of my top rated posts at the moment is my interpretation regarding the fear in Alastor's eyes during his breakdown. But despite having opinions on Hazbin Hotel, I've never really checked the show out, especially as it was coming out. I was kind of waiting for all episodes to get released so I could binge it all in one sitting, but I kept pushing that off until TODAY, and...I have thoughts.

Pros:

Love the animation of the show. Every praise I could give animation is present, with each character being incredibly expressive, their movements fluid, and the animators know when to be stiff for comedic scenes and giving their all for the big musical numbers or action.

I also love the way these characters look. I hear people complain about how overdesigned everything is, and that's valid. I would NOT want to animate this show due to every detail that I'd have to keep track of. But...if we can still praise Spider-Verse despite the animators being under torturous conditions as they make every frame a work of art, we can give the animators the same pat on the back here for making this show look as good as it is. Besides, a few years ago we had people complaining how every western cartoon looks the same. Now we have a show that's the most visually distinct than a lot of animated series coming out today and now we're complaining about that? I'm a man who admires effort more than anything, and while I agree that simpler is better with televised animation, I'm still proud that the animators pulled through in this.

The songs are all great, with personal favorites being "Loser, Baby," "Hell's Greatest Dad," "Stayed Gone," "Hell is Forever," and "You Didn't Know." The weakest one is probably "Whatever it Takes," but it's not really BAD, not me. Just not as strong as the others. I dug this soundtrack and it was the main thing that suck me into this show.

Charlie, as a protagonist, is pretty strong. I love the irony of the daughter of Hell is the nicest person in existence and her frustrations in making the Hazbin Hotel a success a delight because you WANT her to succeed as much as everyone else does. Plus, where most adult comedies make their protagonists cynical a-holes, it's a nice change of pace to have a hopeful one that apologizes as she's fighting people. Love it.

Angel Dust is easy to root for. What he goes through with Valentino is...something that someone like me can't fully grasp and understand, let alone judge. But I personally feel like it does the job to show the tragedy that this character goes through and allows you to root for him to get better.

And I like that Husk is right there to support Angel Dust, being a sort of conscience to protect him despite how much Angel gets on Husk's nerves. I also dig that they grow closer together, treating each other with mutual respect and admiration. It's sweet and I hope things turn out well for these two. Plus, he's voiced by Kieth David. The man can't do wrong.

Nifty is the funniest character in the show, and I will hear no disagreements about it.

Sir Pentious is a lovable loser who's the second funniest character. He reminds me of Papyrus from Undertale, trying so hard to prove that he's strong and powerful only to hilariously fail at every turn. You really root for the guy to get better and feel grateful that he finds happiness in a way I'm not sure anyone could have expected.

Rosie only appeared in one episode, and she's already my favorite. The gal's chipper and supportive towards Charlie, to the point where I completely forgot that she was a cannibal overlord who killed her partner to take full control of the business. Again, I love the irony of characters like this.

Lucifer was more fun than expected. I thought he'd be Mr. Serious, but he's just as bombastic and fun-loving as Charlie and Jeremy Jordan sounds like he's having the time of his life being this character to the point where it's addicting.

Vox has the potential to be a great antagonist and it's a crime that he only has ONE episode with relevance. Hoping he gets more in the future.

And Alastor. I love the concept of a character always smiling with the only thing betraying him are his eyes. As someone who takes joy in facial expressions, I always have a great time trying to analyze a character's restrictions and seeing how they emote, especially when animators and artists utilize a character's eyes to do most of the talking. That's done here in spades, making Alastor more interesting of an evil character as he keeps people guessing with his devious smile, not even dropping it when he's having a mental breakdown.

All and all, I can see how this show can draw in an audience...BUT...

Cons:

The comedy misses more than it hits. The funniest stuff comes from Nifty and Sir Pentious, but other than that, I don't really laugh much with this show. The dramatic moments work decently enough, so that's a pro, but when it's trying to make you laugh, it crumbles for the most part.

The constant swearing does get on one's nerves a bit. Dialogue, more than anything, depends on character. And to have EVERYONE swear almost consistently feels like a misstep. Because if everyone shares a similar level of lingo, then how can you differentiate a character's line on paper. Plus, I feel like it cheapens certain character. Saint Peter, the man who greets you at the pearly gates, shouldn't be another character that goes, "Oh, shit" when him going "Oh, shucks" speaks more about who is compared to everyone else and gives a glimpse into how different Heaven is from Hell.

The dialogue also hurts a character like Adam too. I want to buy that he's Earth's first man, but having him talk like a douchebag rockstar kind of takes me out of it a bit. Like, the way he talks doesn't sound like how the first human being should sound. He sounds like a guy who died in the late eighties, which SHOULD be funny but it's too distracting too much of the time when a character who talks like an old man who's ignorant to modern thinking could have had so much to say about what Heaven deems as worthy to be up above. They nailed the ignorance, but had him speak it in a way that doesn't fit humanity's first man. Maybe less "Call me Dickmaster" and more more "Call me Sir."

Vaggie...is FINE, I guess? But her character faces the same problems as Millie in Helluva Boss, where most of her personality and character is dependent on the relationship she has with another.

I'm also not a fan of Chaggie. I'm sorry. I'm in love with the ship dynamic of the stern, responsible one paired with the bubbly optimist. Heck, I'm a Lumity shipper because of it. But Chaggie just...WHELMS me. I don't hate them together but I'm not foaming at the mouth with each cute scene they share either. Honestly, I ship Charlie more with Emily than I do Vaggie, which...sucks for Vaggie, I guess. But Emily deserves love in her life too, dammit.

And the pacing for this season really is bad. I don't think the problem with this show is that it had eight episodes. Less is more is a phrase for a reason and we don't need twenty episode long seasons for EVERY show. I prefer it, don't get me wrong. Allows characters the a chance to breath and allows the story to take its time more. But what kills Hazbin Hotel's first season is that it feels like a three-season long story just got wrapped up into ONE. I'm sure there's more plans with Heaven, the Vees, and especially Lilith, but to have the season end with the next extermination feels like Avatar ending its first season with Souzin's Comet. There's so much the characters need to do and prepare for in so little time, ending a status quo shaking event, that I feel like a smarter idea would have been splitting this season's story line up into three parts. I mean, unless the cast and crew didn't know ahead of time that they'd only get eight episodes a season, why not have a little faith that they could have split the story up better? Because otherwise, it makes the show feel like it went by way too quickly. Eight episodes isn't a problem, but how they use those eight episodes DO.

So, while I can absolutely see why Hazbin Hotel could have its fans, I can also see how it can put people off. The style and characters work well enough, but the dialogue, jokes, and story need much more polish. It's not the worst, but not the best either. I hope things improve in Season Two and that the show itself can redeem ITSELF in the future.

[ramenrescue]

If it’s alright with you, can you talk a bit abt Asirpa and Ogata? I wanna know ur thoughts on them and their dynamic?

Yes!

Apologies in advance that this is just a looooong disorganized stream of consciousness. Also I don't own all the volumes and bingeread most of it during a "read everything for free" campaign, so please excuse any inaccuracies!

GK spoilers below

Firstly I find it so interesting that despite Shiraishi being part of the main squad with Sugimoto and Asirpa, that Ogata is the first person out of the main cast of people to come in contact with the protagonists. If he were the Sailor Scouts he'd be in the Sailor Mars position. I don't know how much Noda had planned when he first started serialization and I don't know how much I should read into this symbolism-wise, but still! cool!

I also really like how despite Sugimoto being there (who has a similar physical appearance to Yusaku enough to pass off as his double), Ogata fixates on Asirpa due to her pure soul giving off similar vibes as Yusaku. He draws parallels and projects his brother onto her (and arguably his own mom, too) which is very unhealthy and anyone aside from Ogata can see from a mile away this is not going to end well, but alas, this is how Ogata's brain works.

Ogata and Asirpa's interactions are interesting to analyze because there's a couple different interpretations for each one. I have my own biases but always love reading all the different ways others have interpreted them!

Ogata saying "citatap" or "hinna" and Asirpa being the ONLY one to hear it, and everyone elses' unimpressed faces -- I tend to interpret this as partially Ogata playing nice and partially him plotting to trick Asirpa into thinking he's a good guy -- mainly because at this point he kind of joined the squad by chance. Asirpa acting like a mom by feeding Ogata and treating him like a newborn who uttered his first word is honestly very heartwarming.

Ogata shooting Asirpa's father and Sugimoto -- I'm still not well-versed in the whole Kiroranke subplot but it seems like the plan only included Asirpa's father, correct? The fact that he also tried to kill Sugimoto is just so funny to me because it's just exhibit 724793274 of Ogata doing whatever he wants. There was no logical reason to kill Sugimoto, but the illogical, completely selfish reason to kill him is to isolate Asirpa from anything she loves and anything that loves her back. I'm like almost sure he went along with Kiroranke's plan to kill Asirpa's father mainly for the aforementioned reason and because he wanted to see Asirpa grow up without a father, like how HE grew up without a father and eventually got rid of him with his own hands.

Essentially, Ogata treats Asirpa as a fresh test subject for his whole nature vs. nurture experiment. Before, Ogata himself was the test subject: he was experimenting by killing the people around him. He killed his mom to test if his dad would care enough to come to the funeral; he killed Yusaku to test if his dad would start caring about him instead; he killed his dad to see if Tsurumi would start caring about him (I'm taking Usami's analysis of Ogata's character at face value here). Unfortunately, his experiments are all failures. He hypothesizes (the oddly optimistic) outcome that SOMEONE will start caring about him, and they ALL fail. His dad doesn't come to the funeral, his dad doesn't suddenly dote on him because Yusaku is dead, and Tsurumi's attention is divided amongst like 3~5 other dudes.

Ogata fixates on Yusaku and how different he is compared to him despite them sharing the same father, to the point that Ogata starts a side experiment in which he tries to test his hypothesis that "no one feels guilt when killing another human and this is true regardless of ones' upbringing or bloodline". He experiences a PROFOUND failure in that Yusaku not only refuses to kill the prisoner, he straight up tells Ogata he is wrong and that "there is no way a person does not feel guilt upon killing another person".

This failure is so profound (I'm almost certain he killed Yusaku as 90% because of this and 10% as trying to gain attention from his father) that trying to prove Yusaku wrong becomes his main experiment. For this he needs a new test subject - and this is where Asirpa comes in. Ogata is his own n=1 (success?). Yusaku was an n=2 (failure). Asirpa is his n=3. It's interesting that Ogata killing Sugimoto and Asirpa's father can also be a test to see if Asirpa would start caring about him, like he's trying to test his old hypothesis while setting Asirpa up for his nature vs. nurture experiment. How efficient of him. We love to see it.

The Karafuto confrontation(?) with Asirpa -- okay it lowkey broke my heart to see Ogata saying "I guess it can't be me after all" which is just him accepting yet another failure to manipulate someone into loving him by killing someone off. I feel like someone with Ogata's level of perception would be able to foresee (bad) outcome of his experiments, but he always ends up going for the pie in the sky?? and inevitably failing every time?? It's almost as if he's failed so many times he knows he's going to fail so he keeps going and self-sabotages by going for things that are impossible. Also it's poetic that the way he gave himself away is that his irrational side that yearns for love overtook his rational side and he inserted himself too much into his bullshitting about Sugimoto.

His final confrontation with Asirpa on the moving train -- Chapter 309/310 is so beautiful. I constantly have this part open on Bookwalker (app where I buy and store my manga) and give myself psychic damage every time I open the app. First of all, I love the way Asirpa's eyes turned PITCH BLACK when she shot Ogata. And the way Ogata LOOKED AT HER right after...with the sweat oozing out of his forehead and him being drawn with the outline of his pupil (rare)!? The way his mouth was contorted into a grimace AND a grin!? Stop everything right fucking there. I think that might've been the highlight of Ogata's life. His experiment worked! The n=3 has shown him that yes, even pure people like Asirpa, are capable of killing without remorse (or so he thinks). Now he can use Asirpa to prove that Yusaku was bullshit until he reappears and Ogatas from Christmas Past come out of the woodworks to tell himself "actually you were wrong, you DID feel guilt". The Hivemind of Ogatas defeat him by reaching some kind of state of acceptance, and it almost feels like they're honored that Asirpa is the one to kill him.

Who can blame him? Asirpa fed him, cared for him when he was ill, appreciated all the birds he hunted, appreciated all the reindeer he hunted. Asirpa is very special to Ogata. Going back to the "citatap" "hinna" moments, it makes me wonder if part of that was genuine. What's interesting and a little tragic is like, Ogata views Asirpa as a source of "light" but Asirpa isn't just a ray of sunshine to Ogata -- IIRC Sugimoto also refers to her his "light" as well -- and she manages to tease out a lightheartedness in the most hard-core dudes like "Dick-sensei" Ushiyama and "Grandpa" Hijitaka. Ogata's no exception.

And I think that's why I've analyzed most of their dynamic from a Ogata-centric perspective: Asirpa is very special to Ogata, but Ogata is not all that special to Asirpa. She's like Jesus and Ogata's just one of the disciples. Ogata (and other characters) arguably had a profound impact on Asirpa's life, but her defining influences are her father and Sugimoto. Even her motivation to kill Ogata is driven not because she was influenced by Ogata, nor is she trying to get revenge for her father's death, but because she is acting on her commitment as Sugimoto's partner. What is kind of ironic and beautiful is that in that moment that Asirpa shoots Ogata and contributes significantly to his death, he does, in fact, become special to her: by becoming the first person she intentionally killed.

The act of Ogata shooting himself is an interesting point of discussion because I can argue that "technically, Ogata killed himself" OR I can say "Asirpa's poisoned arrow would've killed him eventually so it doesn't matter whether or not Ogata fired that final shot: Asirpa killed Ogata." I actually think both are true!

It can be debated that Ogata shot himself because he would've rather died than accept that he was wrong this whole time. I do see that. I think it's also highly plausible that Ogata, who rapidly psychoanalyzed himself in the last moments of his life, had some kind of spiritual awakening to do a good deed for once in his life and try to take away Asirpa's impending guilt by killing himself. This is analogous to Sugimoto ripping out Ogata's poisoned eyeball in Karafuto and preventing Asirpa from getting her first kill. It seems like there are "many" rational Ogatas (plus Yusaku) arguing against the one sweaty, irrational Ogata, and the final action of the physical Ogata appeared to be very calm and rational -- I mean he was rational enough to balance his gun just right and carefully used a sword to pull the trigger -- so the one making decisions in the physical world could arguably have been the collective hivemind of rational Ogatas moving Ogata's physical body in one last action of empathy towards Asirpa.

What is interesting is that this act of supposed empathy did nothing to assuage Asirpa's discomfort with killing a human being. After she shoots the bear, Asirpa is seen squeezing her eyes shut and turning her head to look towards the direction that Ogata's body fell. There are a few characters in the story with completely darkened pupils and there are a few others like Sugimoto, Kiroranke, and Wilk who manage to keep the "glint" in their eyes despite having killed many -- so I truly do not know what makes them different, but I do know what Asirpa's mental strength far surpasses that of Ogata's (and possibly everyone in the story), and I think her eyes regaining their natural glow (catalyzed by Sugimoto reminding her that she has proved herself to be his partner by this intentional kill) is symbolic of her rapid acceptance of her own guilt.

TLDR: I think Oripa is a little fucked up, and it's great!