#fallfthoughts

[fallloverfic]

Han Yoojin's hierarchy of needs:

[fallloverfic]

I went overboard (and kinda cheated cause some of these were just a lot smaller to nonexistent when I started posting for them, but are definitely not now), so with the caveat this is only going by Archive of Our Own stats (and also thank you to all the amazing tag wranglers who have wrangled tags that have been the only fic in that pairing/fandom for ages, small fandom authors love you so much):

Blind Men has 15 fics total, mine is the most recent (over a year after posting), and it is the fifth Hunter/Keegan work.

Captain Laserhawk: A Blood Dragon REMIX had 5 fics before I posted the first Alex Taylor/Dolph Laserhawk fic. There are now 213 fics total and 21 Alex/Dolph fics.

It's hard to tell with this fandom because of active fandoms, backdating, and crossovers, but I posted the second fic for Castlevania: Nocturne and Mizrak/Olrox (I know because I went immediately to the tag after watching and I checked it before and after posting mine). There are now 257 fics in the fandom tag and 91 for the pairing. I also posted the second fic for Alucard/Olrox (it's been shifted out of order because another fic either backdated or added the pairing, but one reason I finally put mine up was because the only fic for the pairing at the time was one solely based on the games that predated the show by 8 years). There are now 7 fics for the pairing. I posted the third of the now 12 Olrox/Richter fics.

I created the Dorus/Styxx pairing for the Dark-Hunter Series. I still have the only fic. Dorus isn't an original character (he's a minor acquaintance in the book who meets Styxx twice), but I almost completely retconned his backstory and personality.

I started and was the entirety of the Dear Monster tag for some time (I wrote 3, there are now 4, with one published almost a year after my last fic), and I also published the only Faeryn/Allen fic.

I posted 1 of the 26 Rouxls Kaard/Mettaton fics for Deltarune/Undertale.

I posted the first Ameridan/Kordillus Drakon I fic from Dragon Age: Inquisition (there is now a second, published nearly three years after mine). I published the first Lacklon/Roland fic for Dragon Age: Absolution. There are now 21 fics. As I recall it was only like the third or fourth fic at most in the fandom tag at the time, but this is another fandom that's hard to track due to active fandoms, backdating, and crossovers. I also have 1/14 of the Solas/Felassan fanfics, and 1/41 of the m/m Davrin/Rook fanfics.

Element of Fire has 6 fics. Mine is the most recent and I posted the only Roland Fontainon/Gideon fic. And Roland Fontainon/Falaise, but I don't fully consider that the fic focus so. I think it's also the only one that even includes Roland.

I posted 1 of the 38 Augus Each Uisge/Gwyn ap Nudd fics for Fae Tales - not_poignant. That's 1 out of 15 if you only count fanworks, since all the canon and official AUs are included in the tag. I published both the 2 fanfics for Eran Iliakambar/Mosk Manytrees (the other 4 works are all canon and an official AU). I published the only fanwork for Anika/Terho (the other fic is a canon extra).

I created the crossover pairing Wing/Murata Ugetsu for Hunter X Hunter and Given and have the only fic for it.

I posted the only tagged Clark Kent/Lewis Lane fic for My Adventures with Superman. But I can't believe there isn't something else out there for a character who's technically existed since 1980. There may be one in German and another in English that's tagged for Louis Lane, the 1980 character(s), but they both predate My Adventures with Superman by some years.

I posted 1 of the 14 fics for Brad Boimler/Jack Ransom for Star Trek: Lower Decks.

I posted the most recent 2 of the 4 Van Fanel/Allen Schezar fics for Escaflowne.

I posted the only Lisava Ormevar/Aathis Rohethar fic for The Chronicles of Osreth.

I posted the 3 most recent The Hunt fics, and all 4 fandom fics are for Hendrey/Cash (fic 1, fic 2, fic 3).

I posted 1 of the 34 Link/Tauro fics. I also went looking back when I posted and at least back then I couldn't find Link/those funky tower mechanical arm tentacles, so maybe I was the first with that? Only two fics pop up when I search for them now.

This is another fandom where it's hard to track things due to active fandoms, backdating, etc., but I recall I published the second Jaskier/Radovid V fic, and maybe the first focused on the Netflix show version (the one prior to that, as I recall, was game and/or book focused). I remember being surprised there still weren't that many when I posted my second one. Pretty sure the pairing was still in the double digits. There are now 345. I published one of the first couple fics for Filavandrel aen Fidhail/Vesemir, and I believe the first or second to specifically focus on their incarnations in The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf. There are now 37 fics. I also started the tag for Sirens of the Deep and still have the only fic in the tag.

This isn't a pairing but I somehow published the only fanfic for the Tomb Raider Top Cow comics tag? Similarly, I started the Golden Sparkle by Minta Suzumaru tag.

I published 1 of 32 fics for Anna Valerious/Gabriel Van Helsing for Van Helsing (2004).

I published the third of 6 fics for Dietfried Bougainvillea/Claudia Hodgins from Violet Evergarden. I think the second-to-last published before mine (that's currently a WIP) one came out cause I went on a sort of hiatus while posting.

This is another fandom where it's hard to track things due to active fandoms, backdating, etc., but my fic is listed as the 9th for Rand al'Thor/Ishamael. There are now 47.

My Shutendouji/Ryo fic is the seventh out of ten fics for the pairing for Ronin Warriors. When I originally made this post, it was the sixth. I assume someone backdated a fic or retagged it.

I published the second of the now 13 Jin Marito/Tahide Outa fics for a fandom with now 91 works (Bucchigiri?!).

This is another fandom where it's hard to track things due to active fandoms, backdating, etc., but I think I posted one of the first 20 Gongyi Xiao/Zhuzhi-lang fics for The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System. There are now 114. I posted 1 of the 33 Liu Qingge/Zhuzhi-lang fics.

There are 53 works in the Kyuujitsu no Warumono-san webcomic tag and 8 in the anime tag. I think I posted the third Akatsuki Red/Shogun fic (and there are now 13), and the first Rooney/Shogun fic. There are now 3. I've posted the second of the 2 Shogun/Yoiyami Black fics.

I posted fic #4 in the See You My King/The King and Me tag, and the first Xiao Wei/Evtiti fic. There are now 2/3(?) (it's hard to tell because the tag hasn't been wrangled). I also posted the 9th + 10th most recent Mimi/Zhang Li fics. There are 12 fics in the fandom tag.

I posted the first fic for Lang Qianqiu/Xiao Mengyou or Lang Qianqiu/Xiao Shiwei, but I believe the second fic about Xiao Mengyou (the first one didn't name him). There are now 13 fics in the tag.

I posted technically the second fic of the 2 for Peach Blossom Debt. The other fic for some time was just two words that say, "Coming 2024" (it's since been edited to have actual fic in it). Mine is the only one for Song Yao/Hengwen Qingjun.

I posted the 7th fic for The Imperial Uncle, and it's the second for Jing Chengjun/Liu Tongyi. The total fandom is 17 fics.

I posted the most recent 2 of still 3 fics for The Deer King, which includes 1 of 2 fics for Hohsalle Yuguraul/Van Gansa, and the only fic for Hohsalle Yuguraul/Makokan.

I posted the still only fic for Joseph Huh/Yongsoo Ahn in a fandom that I think had a lot fewer fics before mine back when I posted it, but it has 58 now. I am using the official English translation spellings. I'm not sure what Ao3 is using.

I posted one of now 8 total fics for Choi Jong-In/Sung Jin-Woo in Solo Leveling (it had 9 when last I looked).

I posted the second and most recent fic for Jaehwan/Karlton Javier for The World After the Fall. The fandom tag has 34 fics now.

I've posted 2 of the 14 fics for Anubis/Khnum in ENNEAD (fic 1, fic 2). (It used to have 15, I guess someone deleted one).

I've posted apparently the second of 11 works tagged for Lee Hakhyun/Yoo Joonghyuk for Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint.

I've posted the second of 4 fics for Chronos/Zagreus in the Hades fandom. I've posted the only Heracles/Icarus fic. I posted the first of now 14 total Odysseus/Moros fics.

For Blood of Zeus, I've posted the latest of 5 fics for Apollo/Seraphim. I posted the last two Seraphim/Heron fics in the 10 fic tag (fic 1, fic 2).

Not a romantic/physical ship, but I posted the first Mithrun & Milsiril fic for Delicious in Dungeon.

I'm currently writing a series of non-existent ships in the Ayashi no Ceres tag. Thus far I've posted one each for Alec/Ryurik, Alec/Kagami, Kagami/Toya, Yuhi/Toya, and Toya/Wei. I have one last one planned for another ship that doesn't exist. The only m/m fic in the fandom tag that isn't mine is for characters from another series. Most of the characters I'm writing don't have wrangled tags.

I've written two of the 12 Lawrence Bluewer/Edgar Redmond fics for Kuroshitsuji (fic 1, fic 2).

For The Sea Beast (2022), I wrote one of the five Jacob Holland/Original Character fics, and the only tagged Jacob Holland/The Surgeon fics (I think there are other fics, but they aren't using the wrangled tag).

For BoJack Horseman, I've written one of the 74 BoJack Horseman/Mr. Peanutbutter fics.

For Bridgerton, I've written the only Anthony Bridgerton/Lord Lumley fic.

For Epic: The Musical, I wrote one of now 26 Eurylochus/Odysseus fics (there were fewer than 7 when I published it).

For Dark Rise, I've written one of 61 Anharion/Sarcean fics (there were fewer than 46 when I published).

I have the only Babylon 5 fic tagged for Marcus Cole & Lennier, as well as Lyta Alexander & Marcus Cole.

I have the only Vlad Taltos/Haichfa fic in Dragaera, and it's one of only 15 m/m works in the fandom.

I have 1/35 and the most recent Jareth/Toby fic in Labyrinth.

I wrote the fourth and most recent fic for Ordeal By Innocence (TV) fanfic.

I started the Requiescence tag, and currently have the only fics in it, including the only Kaul/Kymil fanfic (other one is a crossover).

I wrote one of the now 96 Loid Forger/Yuri Briar fics for Spy x Family.

From what I can tell I have the only Starship Operators fanfic on Ao3. The fandom tag still hasn't been wrangled after nearly half a year.

I wrote the second of two fics for State Fair (1945).

I started the tag for Twilight of the Gods, though there were at least a couple fics for it before it was wrangled, and which are now likely in the wrong tags (one version of the tag was for a larger and incorrect fandom). The main relationships are unwrangled.

I have the only fic in the wrangled version of Koschey/Ivan for Im|mortal the webcomic. There are two others in different versions of the tag for the total 4-fic tag.

I have 1 of the now 24 Hirose Aiki/Nakamura Okuto fics for Go for it, Nakamura!!.

I have 1/10 of the Yu Shengyuan/Yuan Ying fics for Thousand Autumns.

I have 1/14 Cale Henituse/Bud Illis fics in the Lout of Count's Family tag, which is also 1/32 of the Cale/Tunka tag, and the only Bud/Cale/Tunka fic. I have 1/62 of the Clopeh Sekka/Cale fics. I have the only fic tagged for the Dragon Half-Blood & Ron Molran, which is also 1/4 of the Cale & Dragon Half-Blood fics. I have 1/3 of the Dragon Half-Blood & Sheritt fics.

Reblog and put your rare pair in the tags/comments! I want to see the depths people will go to create, for the most random two characters in the most obscure media.

[fallloverfic]

WHy is eveRythiNg Jinje

Oh to be a tall, rich, attractive, charismatic man with some free time who is obsessed with and has to keep some control over a hyperactive, creative, smaller cat person who gets up to no good and nearly gets themselves killed on a regular basis. Additionally funny is when the smaller cat person keeps thinking about how attractive the tall dude is but insists they have no interest, nope.

[fallloverfic]

I really do love all the little foreshadowing nudges they do in the manhwa. (And more)

They didn't have to put this speech bubble under Junghyeok's feet, as he's running desperately to try to somehow stop Dokja from dying.

...Or did they :D

[fallloverfic]

Thoughts on To Be Hero X Episode 4: The Commoner

Well that was an interesting episode!

Inertia is still such a wonderful song. So is Paragon, Nice's theme. The different animation styles were again beautiful to watch.

I felt so bad for him. He's so defeated. He wants to help Moon so badly.

Blankster's ability to erase memories coupled with punching stuff hard felt really random until you realize that's his whole thing: erasing the knowledge of his past and hiding the reality (of him putting metal in his gloves). Treeman, I assume, got people to believe him into having those specific abilities by making him essentially a cleaner? I guess? I don't know. How specific abilities are brought about is a bit of a mystery. Maybe possibility manifests and trust encourages it to varying degrees of strength.

It was a bit distracting hearing "iron fist" and trying to not think of the Marvel Comics character lol

Lin Ling's fight is so wonderful. He pushes so hard for the person he cares about. And I do love the strong message that anyone can be a hero. Firefighters (as with Firm Man) don't need superpowers to be heroes: they run into burning buildings and rescue people all the time (sometimes when it's dangerous). Someone standing up to someone else threatening to kill someone doesn't need a superpower to stand up. To win, maybe, depending on the circumstances, but to stand up? To say no? You don't need a superpower for that. You can just be a normal person to look a wrong in the face and go, "No. I won't let this stand. I may die fighting it, but I go down doing what's right." Or, to quote J. Michael Stracznyski in “Amazing Spider-Man” #500, "What matters is you go down fighting… and you go down clean.”

It was also really funny when Lin Ling punched Enlighter's shirt off alkdjladjlaj

The audience reaction is very interesting. They expected rules to be followed here. Why isn't the Commission doing something? That's just an ordinary guy, there are rules here. So it seems like people are aware there's an aspect of performance to this. The actors are the heroes, playing along to the tune set by followers. (Or they just reasonably don't think an ordinary dude can win against a guy with superpowers and expect an actual super-powered person to show up and get Lin Ling out of there and save Moon instead). Makes the fact people can get literally murdered all the weirder, though in reality we do have plenty of people who treat lives like reality television. The number of folks who expect laws to be self-enforcing is, well...

It's nice to know those of us assuming it was a fake Moon were right, though it's funny in a way that even the great Enlighter couldn't find her (assuming he tried, though it was a risky gambit: after all, for all he knew, they could have contacted her to make sure she was safe, though he did have the backup plan of revealing Lin Ling's identity). I guess his abilities were brought to a standstill by hers, in that instance? He can find things but she went to a place where nobody knew her?

I know KFC is really big in China, and maybe this has been shown somewhere else, but I think it's really funny X is a KFC mascot.

He really is that younger hot Colonel Sanders from the Genshin Impact promotion.

The ad art is really beautiful (the official twitter posted a fuller shot of it). If anyone reading this has found the actual art that's used for this without the extra stuff, let me know. Lin Ling looks great.

I'm not averse to the title, either. I get the idea is "he's just some guy". I just think it's kind of funny because that's true for... literally everyone lol I assume some of these folks come from money, which probably helped them get trust (easier to get spotlight if you have the time, resources, and connections), but I think it's funny Lin Ling is getting special focus as the True Commoner lol

I feel so bad for Moon, trapped on a deserted island. How horrible. This show is all just "what if we took some of the worst ways this idea (e.g., wishes worded badly) could be acted out and that was reality?"

I like the new outfit. It looks really pretty. Love me a good white/black aesthetic, and his little hair stripe looks even better outside the ED.

This does raise the question: is Moon's power hers or the gun? Do people believe in the gun? Yes, these heroes use equipment a lot of the time, and people believe they can use the equipment to do magical things, but it's... interesting that Lin Ling (and presumably anyone else who gets a hold of the gun) can use it, too.

Also, why didn't he use the gun earlier lol Was everyone just too worried to think about it? Did they assume it wouldn't work because Moon was right there? The alternative is that everyone believed the fake Moon was Moon so hard that the gun only led to the fake (similar to how people believed Lin Ling was Nice so hard he became Nice) but then why didn't Lin Ling use the portal to get to Enlighter that way, or was he still stopped by the crowd telling him not to go?

But... Moon is dead now. The "preview" we saw in Episode 1 happened to be real, because she's in the same pose, same injury. I guess folks wondering if Nice/Lin Ling could see the future maybe have more crumbs for that. If he can see the future, though, why? Where does that play into his powerset? Again, if powers are random and just a matter of "you get what you get" and then the audience gives enough trust to make them stronger, maybe it's just a minor ability of his. It does beg the question if it's a Lin Ling special ability or if Nice could somehow see the future, too. Lin Ling came up with the anyone can be a hero concept, which seems to be foreshadowing. But what did Nice see if he had the ability? Did he see himself unavoidably bringing about Moon's death and tried to stop it? Or something worse?

It looks like E-Soul murdered Moon. Was he hired by Treeman to clean up loose ends? Mr. Shand wanted to wipe Moon's memories before to protect Lin Ling's identity from being shared, but that seems moot at this point. Or does Moon, who knew about Nice and Moon's fake relationship, still hold value as a target to be removed? Or, if this isn't Treeman, does E-Soul hold animus against Moon and Lin Ling for what's happened? Or is he just targeting the person who might be targeting him to rise in the ranks (given E-Soul is #9 and Lin Ling is #10 in the rankings)? Or is that the alternate version of E-Soul in his character trailer who attacks people or something?

Whatever the case, I'm sad Moon is dead. She wanted her freedom, and yet again, didn't get it, had a chance at finally being rescued... and then... that. Consequences and stakes, I guess?

I am still wondering (like I imagine a lot of people) what this from the director meant:

It actually seems to appear when Enlighter is beating up Lin Ling, especially when he says "Die die die", though the pose is more similar to this one:

Why I'm bringing this up at the end instead of in the part where I was talking about the fight: if Lin Ling snaps after Moon's death in Episode 5, maybe that's where the shot on twitter will pop up, maybe as some kind of flashback to, as folks have theorized, the Hero Smile incident. Although people have commented it's likely trolling from the director in line with previous stuff he did on Link Clink (hence why it's Enlighter who seems to be doing it, not Lin Ling or Nice), Nice is smiling in that image, and if there's some weirdness with Hero Smile's abilities that makes you smile like that, well... Plus, Moon being murdered, especially after all that Lin Ling is done, seems likely to make him snap if anything. And maybe go, "Kill them all."

Anywho. Episode 5 looks to be full of things!

More thoughts:

Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3, Episode 4 (You are here), Episode 5, Episode 6, Episode 7, Episode 8, Episode 9, Episode 10, Episode 11

[fallloverfic]

You know they argue in canon, right?

Like in the unrevised novel (and in the donghua), Xie Lian gets upset with Hua Cheng for forcibly revealing Qi Rong and An Le's involvement in the massacre of Lang Qianqiu's family:

“Xie Lian was completely stunned. “Why must he know the truth? Was the truth that important?”

“Very important,” Hua Cheng replied. “He needed to know what you did and what you didn’t do, and why you had to do it.”

Xie Lian turned away and said coldly, “What’s the use of knowing everything so clearly? Would I be any more blameless if I killed fewer people? Would things be less hard?!”

Hua Cheng didn’t respond.

A blaze of anger flared from Xie Lian’s chest, and he didn’t even know who it was directed at.” - Volume 2, Chapter 22: What Is True and What Is False, An Irresolvable Situation (Seven Seas English release)

Xie Lian apologizes relatively quickly and blames himself for being rude, but he's still upset about it, and Hua Cheng realizes he railroaded Xie Lian for his own whims.

(From Season 2, Episode 10: Bloodstained Banquet of the donghua)

Hua Cheng also apologizes quickly, but not after standing his ground (at least briefly). It's actually an important moment for them because it's about what sets Hua Cheng apart from other characters - he doesn't force his own beliefs onto Xie Lian and just tries to support Xie Lian in what Xie Lian wants to do. But here, he failed to do that, and just tried to manipulate everyone - including Xie Lian - for his own whims, and realizes he screwed up. Xie Lian, who normally wouldn't make a big deal out of it, likely only acts the way he does because he trusts Hua Cheng so much that he can be that open about his feelings. It's a rare moment of him setting a boundary (which he quickly retracts by blaming himself, but it's there all the same), and showing that his relationship with Hua Cheng is different than his relationships with other people.

Also it shows they can make up even when they argue. Unlike Xie Lian's relationship with Feng Xin and Mu Qing, it didn't take them 800 years to reconcile. Or Xie Lian's relationship with Qi Rong or Lang Qianqiu, where the wound is too deep and reconciliation isn't all that feasible. Their relationship is stronger because they communicate with each other and resolve issues, rather than ignore issues or let them fester, or allow pride to interfere with reason (overmuch).

Hua Cheng also gets upset with Xie Lian for sacrificing himself/not caring about himself. They're basically that meme of people-snakes where they keep wrapping around each other to protect the other one from being injured.

That's not even getting into the times Xie Lian suspected Hua Cheng of things and allowed bad things to happen to him, if not caused them himself, not in the things that I think people focus on (e.g., Wuming's storyline, where Xie Lian was angry and Hua Cheng was just present as a punching bag of sorts for his anger), but like sneaking around Hua Cheng's home to look for Ming Yi, and the events that led to setting Paradise Manor on fire, or the many ways he tried to reveal San Lang was a ghost in the cart. While Xie Lian didn't necessarily mean to hurt Hua Cheng in these cases, and they weren't fighting, that's not nothing, and Xie Lian views it as an attack on and betrayal of Hua Cheng.

Xie Lian is a lot more forgiving of and patient with Hua Cheng than anyone else, and Hua Cheng has literally died to make Xie Lian happier multiple times, and they tend to believe the best of each other, but they don't like... never argue. Or have no possibility of arguing or suspicion, or getting into fights. Let alone how fear can play into it (e.g., when Hua Cheng leaves the binding spell on Xie Lian in the Cave of Ten Thousand Gods). I understand the aspect where it's typically only one of them being mad at a time (e.g., Xie Lian is upset and Hua Cheng immediately apologizes/sacrifices himself to make things better/lets Xie Lian run out of steam, or Hua Cheng is angry - though typically not at Xie Lian - and Xie Lian vanishes out of shame and also tries to apologize), so them I guess fighting might be more complicated, depending on the circumstances, but it's not like it's unheard of for them to do so. Obviously circumstances would be different in modern AUs, but at least from a writing perspective, I don't see how any of these couldn't translate very easily to a modern AU (especially in the case of miscommunication, like where one of them things the other one is angry, even if that's not the case, particularly in Xie Lian's case, since that's something that happens in canon).

A for effort to all the fic writers that try to make hualian fight in modern aus to make them seem like more realistic or whatever but i’ve never seen it once executed in a satisfying way bc for the fight to even exist you’d have to forfeit either xie lian’s freakishly vast patience or hua cheng’s “my girl mad at me i hope i die” mentality and at that point are we even talking hualian anymore

[fallloverfic]

Finished the second season of Castlevania: Nocturne and loved it! Spoilers below.

Angry boi PROTEC HIS MAN!!!! Just his running to Mizrak, so worried. Even interrupted his revenge. I just love that his serpent form came back T-T And multiple times!!!

The fight scenes were so good!!! Just so many amazing ones!

ALSO WHAT DOES ADRIAN MEAN NOT THE FIRST TIME YOU SAVED MY LIFE???? I AM-!!!!

(So happy they know each other and I think it's hilarious my fic could potentially be a prequel now alkdjalkdjaljdalj)

Everyone cute. Annette and Richter were just awww. Glad Edouard and Annette get to stay together, and Edouard can go home and get his bass player :3

Also so many gorgeous Adrian bits. Truly. Him coming out of the river was so mmmm. Also loved all the magic he got to use XD And the music was fun!

Also loved all the Egyptian stuff. The soul count was a little... (I was like why are you saying just 2 or 3, there's more than that...?), but apparently the # of parts has changed over time (it's not just 4 or 5) and it's you know, vampires during the French Revolution, so sure, whatever. The trip to Duat was fun! And Ammit's form was pretty cool.

Poor Tera. Bye Emmanuel, no one misses you.

Loved that we got some dragon fighting. Also that the dragon didn't die. Was worried. Though I will say, Sekhmet punching it was kind of funny aldkjlaj I felt sort of bad when Juste, Richter, and Maria were all boosting its breath like, "That can't be too comfortable for the dragon..."

Just think it's funny we have animated Robespierre joining forces with the son of Dracula to defend Paris from a crazy Hungarian serial killer noble who believes she's the reincarnation of an ancient Egyptian goddess lol

The return of Drolta was really fun. I was sad she was in so relatively little of season 1. This was really great.

For historical things, I appreciate that they referenced how folks in France sold and bought food to watch executions. I also appreciate the reference to the trend of European obsession with eating mummies.

I will be thinking about Mizrox's future. I feel bad I'm mostly happy Olrox survived the season lol I like Mizrak just fine, and I like that Olrox likes him, but my priority is Olrox, not Mizrak, sorry lol Clearly they have some things to work out XD Should be fun (for someone, I hope). Someone else pointed out they never talked about the animal/soul stuff, and it was kind of just... Mizrak getting over it (or side-stepping it) and not apologizing to Olrox about it. And Olrox just... kind of accepting that the guy he's in love with is like this. I think it's funny that after having written You reluctant demon back in 2023, where they do have a conversation about it, I completely forgot it as a thing I wanted to happen lol Cause in my mind the matter is settled. Like the show, quite frankly, feels like neat fanfiction to me at this point (that's not what it is, but that's how my brain works, it's part of why I wasn't as anxious about season 2 releasing as I was for season 3 of the first series releasing). It's great in all the things it does, amazing stuff I never could have thought of, which is far better than a lot of the stuff I did in my fic (and those fight scenes, dang). But yeah, I do agree, they should have talked about it. And they don't. And it's... mm...

Another thing is that Mizrak maybe still has some racism to unpack. There's that line Olrox has about when his people were massacred by the Spanish, and Olrox says, "And our terrifying gods could do nothing to save us." And Mizrak replies, "Perhaps your gods were the problem," and it's like what the fuck Mizrak lol I don't know if it's part of his struggles with his own faith, which is very obviously happening, how if a god exists, they're allowing all this stuff to happen, that Emmanual failed so hard, and believing in a god - which is his issue - is causing so much of his issues (it's making him believe his affection for Olrox is false, that Olrox doesn't have a soul, and/or it's not saving him from what he believes is a wrong attraction, idk). Or, from a semi-logical standpoint, that Olrox's people were attacked because they weren't Christian, and that the Spanish wouldn't have attacked Olrox's people if they were Christian. Or simply that "well it's your fault for not being Christian", I have no idea. It's a weird moment. We have really not moved past the "animal" conversation all that much. Olrox is very, very forgiving. And I am way more forgiving because I forgot I resolved most of this in my fic over a year ago lol I don't know, relationships are messy, I enjoyed what I saw of them. Olrox running to Mizrak's side was a lot and I loved it. The way Olrox is like, "I thought you wanted to know" killed me.

ANYWAY though... it was a good season. Really, I liked it.

[fallloverfic]

I'm sure it's been pointed out, but when you realize manhwa Yoojin/Hyunje did the Sophie/Howl air walk thing...

Ah terrifying, tall, special coat-wearing, magical blonde men from other worlds and their shorter, dark-haired, terrified partners...

[fallloverfic]

I'm sure it's been brought up because this manhwa episode's been out for a while but I just want to appreciate part of Episode 211/#212 some more anyway. Just... the framing on this set of panels. Incredible foreshadowing.

The way we're focused on the mysterious identity of ??? and how Junghyeok, facing left, starts talking to ???.

Immediately we go to Dokja, in the dark, all constellation-like, facing right, where Junghyeok is, as if they're having a conversation face-to-face, and then Dokja opening his eyes as if he heard. Yes, he's paying attention to something else, but... if you read the novel, it's very obvious why this is the way it is lol I do love that foreshadowing aldjalkj It's very cute. And they did it again in Episode 256, #257.

They've done this at least once with Han Suyeong, as well:

It's great, I love this stuff.

Anyway as a regressor once said:

(Now with Yu Junghyeok edition :D)

[fallloverfic]

I'd have to see what someone is pointing out by going more deeply into the snake body of the dungeon version of Sultha + how this reflects on Mithrun's choices because I've never heard of that before. My understanding is that we know so little about Sultha that that kind of symbolism is a bit of a stretch, but if he did pick something that can look dangerous or something, there's some understandable reasons. It's possible he picked a creature that would survive against travelers in the dungeon to combine her with. A lot of people refer to that form as a lamia, which is kind of like a siren. Mithrun already imagined that Sultha went behind his back while he was gone to be with the brother. That's simple enough to frame her as a siren, regardless of whatever she was like. His suspecting her and perhaps his brother also doesn't really reflect on his opinion of Milsiril or people in general. He just didn't really trust the lover's motives/feelings.

More importantly, I disagree with that description of Milsiril's behavior about Mithrun.

I don't think noting that someone isn't perfect and that they're actually flawed is sadistic, and I don't think anyone is painting her as benevolent. I also don't think she delights in how far he's fallen.

She was very clearly jealous of him, and that's one reason she avoided him: that she hated him because of how perfect he was, and the bullying she faced by other elves in the Canaries is why she hates other elves, and intentionally lives apart from others after retirement (Adventurer's Bible p.80). It makes sense she'd be jealous of someone who was seemingly charismatic, charmed his way around people, was pretty, powerful, and seemingly never talked about his issues to the point he appeared to have none at all. Who hasn't been jealous of someone with fewer problems to deal with?

It's pretty normal to be shocked when someone you hold up on a pedestal isn't actually perfect. This is the first time she's seeing into him as a person, rather than the facade he holds up to others. It makes him seem far more grounded and like someone she could talk to. That's not sadism. That's humanization and empathy. Her words as she's smiling are clearly regretful. She's not delighting. She's clearly sad. They are both flawed people who have inferiority complexes and experience jealousy and anger: their similarities are why they literally "might have hit it off pretty well." Because of how nonresponsive and different he is now, and how uninterested he is in connecting with anyone, they potentially both lost a chance at friendship, and perhaps a betterment of both their circumstances (e.g., maybe they both wouldn't have been so miserable before he became the dungeon lord). As is, now it's a fight to get him to even engage with anything, or find a reason to live. Friendship comes secondary to getting him to not waste to death. (Not to say they can't be friends now, but that friendship will likely be different than it was if they'd Milsiril had tried to be friends before).

If this is referring to the corpse comment, I don't see that either as "telling Mithrun he was all but worthless now and taking delight in how far he's fallen in her opinion".

She looks grave and even a bit sad. Calling him a corpse isn't calling him worthless, it's noting his current state (if anything, it's maybe a bit ableist, but I also kind of theorize she's trying to insult him into moving, because she knows he at least used to be prideful, and clearly 19 years of everything else hasn't worked; she's very much a brute force caretaker in some ways, as shown with Kabru). He's essentially comatose and bedbound without aid (he can't feed himself, and in Daydream Hour it's shown he can't wash himself, either, he can't move far without aid, and he can't be trusted with dangerous objects). He's also pretty non-verbal. She can probably tell he's awake but he's not responding to her entering the room in even the slightest way. He's "fully" recovered, but he might as well be dead, which he probably agrees isn't recovery.

And overall, she's sad. Like I said earlier, "If you look at Milsiril's expression in that last panel, she is sad. She knows how terrible this is. She also knows this is the best they can do for him". She doesn't like seeing him brought so low, and essentially living as a corpse - this is almost worse than the reason she gave for nearly mercy-killing him (to her). She doesn't like that getting him back into dungeons is the best route she can offer him, because all her other means of trying to get him up and back into action aren't working.

Having reasonable reasons for what she does doesn't make her benevolent. She's a soldier who reached out to help a former comrade for perhaps any number of quite normal reasons, and the one way she could find to help really sucks, and she knows it, and she isn't happy about it. Perhaps she could have reached out to other, non-elven healers, but she didn't do that, either. But being capable of jealousy and hatred, and being bad at healing (which isn't her job, she's a swordswoman) doesn't make her sadistic. She seems more practical than anything else, which is pretty neutral, depending on the circumstances.

So I've been thinking lately about how Mithrun is Kabru's dark mirror (more on that another time- it needs its own post), and I thought it interesting that one of their parallels is that they were both cared for by Milsiril, but in opposite directions. She took Kabru in as her foster after he was orphaned and tried to convince him not to become an adventurer. On the flip side, she helped rehabilitate Mithrun specifically so that he could rejoin the Canaries.

And I kept wondering: why?

For Kabru, obviously she loves him a whole lot- despite any other shortcomings in their relationship, I do believe that.

So I get why she tries to convince him not to go dungeoning, and, failing that, at least prepares him as thoroughly as she can.

But why help Mithrun? She used to hate Mithrun, but after realizing what a secretly twisted person he was, she actually thought of him more positively (oh, Milsiril). So it wasn't as if she held the kind of grudge that might motivate her to make his already-depleted life even more miserable by sending him back to the dungeons. And it wasn't that she felt bad for him either, since she didn't visit Mithrun for the first ~20 years of his recovery.

The Adventurer's Bible says that Utaya was the impetus for Mithrun returning to the Canaries, but Milsiril is the one who made the trip to see him and tell him about it.

Why would Milsiril work so hard to get her old coworker back into fighting fit? Why encourage him to return to such a dangerous lifestyle, when she was the one who chose not to mercy-kill him?

That last panel is such a crazy thing to hint at and then never elaborate on. Without it we could have just thought that Milsiril wanted the Canaries' work to continue without her, even if it seemed out of character. I think some people even assume she's just a natural caretaker as a foster mom and handwave it to include nursing Mithrun too. What could Milsiril's suspicious motives be? What does she gain from Mithrun joining the Canaries that isn't an altruistic desire to see dungeons safely sealed? Feeling a sense of responsibility for the work she left behind isn't an ulterior motive.

My theory is: Milsiril, knowing that Mithrun was empty save for the burning desire to face the demon again, wound him up like a clockwork doll and pointed him back at the dungeons.

Hoping that he'd eliminate the biggest threat to Kabru's life, before it was too late for him.

Milsiril the puppetmaster.

[fallloverfic]

I love Jinshi so much.

He's just alkjdlaj

Would die for pouty baby man who just wants a friend

Who is also sometimes your local haunting

Lest we forget Maomao keeps imagining all the guys romancing him/jumping his bones

There's also that really funny sequence where he again just wants to be included and is just basically going bother bother bother and the way Maomao's Japanese VA says "Why is Master Jinshi here?" is really funny. Gaoshun is so Tired TM.

[fallloverfic]

Castlevania: Nocturne Season 2, Episode 4: Monstrous Things spoilers

Juste talking to Mizrak about the vow of chastity is fucking comedy gold alkdjal with Mizrak's FACE alkdjaljdal

Mizrak, internally: Yeeeeah that vow of chastity thing, uh huh.... -not thinking about Olrox or anything, nope- Just gonna stay completely silent, I am so stealthy and not sweating bullets or looking shiftily away right now

[fallloverfic]

Thoughts on To Be Hero X Episode 5: One Actor

What a wonderful and surprising episode. Wow.

The story was lovely! Had lots of fun superhero tropes (character who starts in entertainment as a non-hero is a common one, very beloved), even with the you know, parental murder a la Batman and various other heroes and then the prolonged beating to near-death and child endangerment.

It was an interesting exploration of how much of a difference even one trust can make. I also really liked the cast (really loved Yang Cheng's uncle's design). I did wonder why Yang Cheng didn't call the cops, but it's typical in superhero media. At least a bystander did! Eventually! That's what you need to do! Just call someone! Few people do!

I was seriously worried Shang Chao would abuse the contest info knowledge about Yang Cheng that he maybe had (where he potentially learned Yang Cheng's identity as the third place guy, given the contest had that info)... I ADMIT I WAS NOT EXPECTING THAT ENDING

Also that little eye dart and smirk???? What????

This feels like the Sakeru Gummy vs. Long Sakeru Gummy commercial saga, where the Long Long Man goes for the male partner of the female lead he's been sort of allegedly pursuing.

When that end scene started and Shang Chao just appears out of nowhere to be like HEY I was like "NOT THIS GUY AGAIN" and THEN... HE TURNED?? AND????

That is a dude who is Down for it. Happy for him. And them. I am. Wow. Just wow. I'm excited to see where this leads :D

Curious who hired the two guys for the kidnapping, and why. It sounded like the Fear guy. Is it someone who predicted this could produce a hero somehow, and they were trying to manipulate Yang Cheng? Or do Pomelo and his sister have enemies? Love how the driver was initially averse to kidnapping and then immediately chill with beating a man to death. To be fair, once you've decided kidnapping and then maybe knocking out a child to keep them quiet is fine, I guess the descent makes sense.

I hope Shang Chao isn't the one who hired them aldkjalj It'd be a fun mess, though!

Anyway, absolutely loved the episode. Looking forward to Episode 6!

More thoughts:

Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3, Episode 4, Episode 5 (You are here), Episode 6, Episode 7, Episode 8, Episode 9, Episode 10, Episode 11

[fallloverfic]

It's kind of funky but I think there's a logic to it, and Anon possibly already got there sort of. Although the manhwa does change some things from the novel, here's the skills he's presented with in the regression:

Resist Poison (L), Resist Curse (L), Resist Fear (L)

He also gains Rauchitas' Bane, which is a title that makes him twice as strong against dragons like Rauchitas.

His custodian title allows him to provide a mild buff on growth to those under his custody (Manhwa S1E3).

While using Sally's skills from Final Thanks, he beats a dungeon and gains the skill, "Plus One (S)": "Can share a title or skill below s-rank with a subject in contact" (Manhwa S1E51).

At least here, it's not mentioned to have a cooldown, and it's left vague about only being allowed to work on one person per use. He can also only use it on people in his custody.

From what I can see in the novel (I'm looking in ebook volume 3, chapter 4), it's, "Share one of the titles and skills S-rank or below with one partner in contact. 15 days cooldown per skill." He can also only use it on people in his custody.

I think the important part is, like anon wondered, that cooldown per skill part. The cooldown is per skill activation (I mean skills used in the share, not Plus One), not per target. So yes, he can seemingly just activate a skill and use it for some indeterminate time (that is also notably unexplained) and then it has a 15 day cooldown. I assume the cooldown starts when he chooses to turn the skill off or when he runs out of mana, or maybe it's 24 hours because I think that's the default skill shutdown, though that's left vague. Presumably he was able to activate both his curse resistance and Rauchitas' Bane, and he just used them on Yoohyun before the cooldown activated (he explains those are the skills he used when talking to Hyunje (Manhwa S1E86) and Yoohyun about it (Manhwa S1E95).

During the poison fight (this is volume 7 of the ebooks), he shares the Poison Resistance presumably via Plus One on people one by one, not as a group, so not only does it not break the one target benefiting at a time requirement, it also doesn't conflict with how the skill works if it's based on skill activation rather than number of total targets per Plus One activation. And the manhwa leaves it even more open by not having a stated cooldown or cooldown length.

It doesn't really explain how the "people touching Yoojin benefit from his skills without Yoojin intending to activate Plus One" works, which is often abused for poison resistance, but I may be forgetting some other skill or title he gets or something, and I think Yoojin getting too strong for his self-control makes sense as reasoning. Regardless, his uses of Plus One (presumably) to break Hyunje and Yoohyun's contracts and heal the S-rankers of poison during the fog incident work just fine with his skill as explained, with allowances for messing around.

im skimming through some of the earlier chapters of sctir (and by earlier i mean chapter like 160~ lmao) for fanfic writing reasons and i may have found either an inconsistency or simply the author not explaining how yoojins skill works well enough?

in the part where yoojin is in The Fog trying to find yoohyun, he uses his poison resist skill on taewon, noah, and yoohyun. now, when i was reading this at first i just kinda accepted it and moved on, but looking back, was this the skill sharing skill?

i thought that skill was limited to one person only, but theres no other way he wouldve been able to use the poison resist skill on other people.

come to think of it, isnt the skill supposed to have a 15 day cooldown? does yoojin just pick a skill to share and it functions for 24 hours or smth? bc im remembering now, he shares curse resist with hyunjae to get rid of diarmas contract on him, and then like immediately after leaving the dungeon he does the same for yoohyun.

the actual skill description only says he can share an s rank or lower skill with 1 target while touching and that reapplication per skill is 15 days excluding the sharing skill itself, so doesnt that contradict everything in the poison fog part and yoohyuns contract clearing? maybe im not reading this right or smth...

Hey!

Sorry it took so long to answer this, i was hoping to have time to check some earlier chapters but i dont think that will happen anytime soon, so here's just my thoughts from memory!

So! I dont really remember how Yoojin's skills are presented early on, but i think that what Yoojin does in the examples you mentioned is not tied to his skill-sharing skill. The skill is still his, but basically it spreads to the people he touches. Yoojin becomes like an item, in a way? I am sure at least Sung Hyunje (and probably Yoojin himself knowing him) actually make that parallel at some point. His poison and curse resistance is so high it affects people and objects around him, even against his will I think, as in if someone gets behind him and touches him while being attacked by poison, they'll get healed even if Yoojin very much wishes them to be poisoned.

I remember also finding this weird early on, but since it kept happening more and more i just accepted it as a part of Yoojin's abilities. Basically it's more like, rather than having poison and curse resistance, he has a nullification ability, so curses and poison he touch (as long as they are already affecting people, at least) become harmless

Again, i may be wrong! This is just my take on it

[fallloverfic]

Thoughts on the live-action adaptation of The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells, Episode 3: Risk Assessment:

(It's really critical this week, folks; please, if you have any interest in this show, read the books, they're so much better)

I am somehow less impressed with this episode than the previous two. My primary comfort at this point is that there are 7 more episodes and also the episodes are extremely short, so it's not a major time investment.

I know part of this is book accurate to a degree, but I dislike that the story is focusing more on Murderbot's disgust with humans - particularly from a sex angle - than it is on Murderbot's paranoia about safety and its criticisms of the company it works for and its relatively nonchalant attitude about how shit everything is. The line, "Equipment failures aren't unknown" is almost an afterthought, without any clarification on why that's a thing, and focus is more heavily emphasized on Murderbot as a danger than the company in general as a danger. Compare this to the scene in Chapter Three of All Systems Red:

“Pin-Lee was calling up specs for the beacons. “Aren’t the emergency beacons designed to trigger even if the rest of the comm equipment is destroyed?”

The other good thing about my hacked governor module is that I could ignore the governor’s instructions to defend the stupid company. “They’re supposed to be able to, but equipment failures aren’t unknown.”"

Just... tonally. Completely different.

Yes, Murderbot is potentially a threat, and it notes that, and wants PreservationAux to be aware of that, purely from the sense that it isn't made well, has gone rogue in the past, SecUnits are dangerous, and the company is not looking out for PreservationAux, but rather their own interest. There's just, again, this heavy emphasis on PreservationAux being weird hippies and Murderbot's primary issues being human grossness rather than, you know, it's company property and humans treat it that way. Again, the show has one character say, "It's slavery" and then that's it for the episode, basically. Mensah is overbearing (I love her but she is), Ratthi is tactless in a way that's infantile, Pin-Lee and Arada (though mostly Arada) are being guided (like Ratthi) by their sex drives rather than, you know, their scientific focus (like wtf with that "first" line? Yes, I'm glad it's openly queer, but with everyone acting like sex-driven children and the focus on PreservationAux as free-loving hippies, it's just... ugh), and Gurathin is just fucking weird, and that, generally, is the focus of the episode. 1968-100a was right on the money when they said everyone is far less emotionally intelligent in the show. And understanding that's likely because they're going to get development arcs is not encouraging because they've been so screwed up that it's not enjoyable to watch.

I would say maybe I'm being too picky about the tone, but also around when episodes 1 and 2 aired, articles popped up indicating the showrunners stated they handled Murderbot's tone by ignoring it. This was not reassuring last week, and it's less reassuring now that episode 3 is out, and I'm less than enthused about what is to come in the rest of this series.

Again, I appreciate the focus on the fake soap operas. It's cute. I'm less enthused that it's so dominating the story when other important things - like the evils of capitalism - are sidelined. For instance, there's really no interrogation of why Murderbot is getting ideas from the soap operas it's watching, e.g., that it wasn't trained in a lot of ways that would help keep humans alive, because of cut costs and the company being focused on its own assets and money rather than actual safety, and the company has an agenda in not necessarily keeping people alive all the time. Also that SecUnit is security, not a medical unit of some kind. The specific role of agenda and who has one and what it is and how that conflicts with ethics and personal safety is an important one in Murderbot. It's somewhat gone in the show, and warped for... whatever Mensah talks about with the Company hoping they'll fail or whatever.

About Ratthi asking the awkward questions: he doesn't frame it the way he does in the show. He doesn't say, "Wooow... Does that mean you have like, human feelings, too?"

This is the scene in Chapter Four of All Systems Red:

“We heard—we were given to understand, that Imitative Human Bot Units are . . . partially constructed from cloned material.”

Warily, I stopped the show I was watching. I didn’t like where this might go. All of that information is in the common knowledge database, plus in the brochure the company provides with the specifics of the types of units they use. Which he knew, being a scientist and whatever. And he wasn’t the kind of human who asked about things when he could look them up himself through a feed. “That’s true,” I said, very careful to make my voice sound just as neutral as always. "That's true," I said, very careful to make my voice sound just as neutral as always.

Ratthi’s expression was troubled. “But surely . . . It’s clear you have feelings—”

I flinched. I couldn’t help it.

Overse had been working in the feed, analyzing data from the assessments. She looked up, frowning. “Ratthi, what are you doing?”

Ratthi shifted guiltily. “I know Mensah asked us not to, but—” He waved a hand. “You saw it."

There's such a leap of relative respect in the difference here. Ratthi in the show is like a hyperactive child driven by his dick with a bit of progressive flavoring. Ratthi in the book is a scientist trying to figure out how to engage with a new team member he doesn't quite know how to handle, who is considered property by most of society. It's awkward, it's still got issues, but it's way more emotionally mature than he is in the show.

The whole thing with Gurathin at this point is just... why? I like that he reached out to Bharadwaj. That's nice. But the rest is just... why? The funniest thing about Gurathin doesn't even feature Gurathin: it's when Murderbot insists it's more of a machine than Gurathin is as a point of pride. That actually made me chuckle.

The crabs were neat. Random, but sure, if you've got a CGI budget, go for it. However, why is Ratthi acting like a child? Why is everyone on this show acting like a child? Why did PreservationAux bring... gifts on their check-up to see if DeltFall needed help? (I know it's for the stupid hippie shit). Why is Murderbot lying to Mensah about the status of the residents of DeltFall? Mensah is supposed to be watching its feed, she knows what Murderbot is seeing, and also it's a way to get Mensah to leave when it explains??? Also, why are they using hand communicators? The impression I always had was that everyone has coms in their heads, similar to what Mars Express and Ghost in the Shell do.

Where. Are. Murderbot's. Drones??????

The end fight was fine. It's partly why I'm more annoyed with the soap operas at this point, though because less focus was given to Murderbot's competence as a security unit - or where it wasn't competent because the company was cheap and didn't care to train it in certain things - and more to the soap opera stuff. We did at least see more of Murderbot's competence this episode with guiding and insisting the humans stay behind, as well as its competence in the fight. But it's treated less like someone who's cagey and more like someone who struggles with basic moment-to-moment existence for things it should be better able to hide/mask, particularly in relation to its job. Yes, Murderbot is awkward and struggles to relate to humans and figure out what it wants, in a way that is frequently obvious when its helmet is down and even in conversation. It is however, not as obvious as it is on the show. I get that seeing its face is going to be a different experience to being in its head, particularly when Murderbot is an unreliable narrator, and exaggeration is normal for visual media. I understand that. But given how much dialogue they're rewriting and adding and how they're modifying things, and how much of the tone and themes they're modifying, this just doesn't work. It feels too clueless. Too caught out. Too... incompetent.

One thing that really got through to me, though, is how much better this series would be as a video game. Certainly, imagining that was far more interesting than watching episode 3.

From a broader standpoint, and I know there's not really dodging around this because it's a book point (and it was always uncomfortable in the books): it's uncomfortable to know this is a U.S.-made show with a central plotline about a character wearing a face covering being strongly asked to keep the face covering off so other people can see their face. Racism against various groups wearing headcoverings which specifically target head coverings in the U.S. is old hat, and that's on top of the whole anti-mask thing a lot of people have been pushing throughout COVID. It's just... It's uncomfortable to see. And it makes me far less kind to Mensah than I have been.

I don't know what to think. I'll probably still watch episode 4, though I'm not exactly looking forward to it. The end fight was at least fine. Please read the books. They're so much better. Kobo sells DRM-free copies, too.

Other thoughts:

Episodes 1-2, Episode 3 (You are here), Episode 4, Episode 5

(Reply)

[fallloverfic]

I watch Blood of Zeus for The Plot.

The Plot (CW: blood and injury):

Seraphim is just so beautiful.

Whoever made this scene did it for us. Bless them.

Hades pre-Kratos just... incredible. I don't get why they went with the weird fanart present version when this was right there, but at least we got pre-Kratos look for a bit (yes, I get it's meant to show what living in the Underworld does to you, but idk, Persephone, Zagreus, and Melinoe look fine?).

Realizing Apollo is kind of like Greek Ambrosius Goldenloin and I am sitting with that.

He's just so beautiful. And canonically bisexual/pansexual.

They just did this. For us. Human!Seraphim so beautiful. All Seraphims welcome in this house.

He's just pretty. And lovely when conflicted.

I also really love that they show he's good at combat (at least when the opponent is Dionysus, I guess). He's pretty but he's also a warrior, and not afraid to get dirty and bloody.

I just like when Heron and Seraphim interact. It's just nice. They had an interesting dynamic in season 1, and they also have a fun one in season 2. It's rare because they have so little of the story actually in the same space - though they get a lot of one entire episode together this season - but it's nice when it pops up.