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redgoldsparks · 15 days

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May Reading and Reviews by Maia Kobabe

I post my reviews throughout the month on Storygraph and Goodreads, and do roundups here and on patreon. Reviews below the cut.

The Crane Wife: A Memoir in Essays by CJ Hauser

This essay collection focuses on human relationships, many of them romantic, but also with grandparents, parents, sisters, best friends, COVID-isolation pods, and with the children of romantic partners from previous relationships. The title essay interweaves the experience of a broken engagement with a scientific expedition to study the dwindling population of whooping cranes in the Gulf Coast of Texas to devastating effect. Another experience, covering the DARPA Robotics Challenge trails, in which teams test out potential robotic first responders, speaks to the author's own desire to both save others and be saved by a string of problematic men. The author dated a lot of men and a few women in their twenties and processes them through the lens of media (the film The Philadelphia Story, the TV show The X-Files,the novels Don Quixote, Rebecca, We Have Always Lived in the Castle) and the perspective gained with time. I really loved this whole collection, but the piece that keeps rolling around in my mind is "The Fox Farm", about trying to recreate an archetype of a child's fantasy house (full of animals, friends, gardens, infinite rooms) in real life as an adult. I left this book wanting to know more- when did the author start using nonbinary pronouns? Have they resolved their feelings about their tits? Is that guest room in their big upstate New York house still available for visiting artists, and if so, how do I apply for the position of resident writer/new friend?

American Teenager: How Trans Kids are Surviving Hate and Finding Joy in a Turbulent Era by Nico Lang

Queer journalist and author Nico Lang traveled around the US to meet 11 families of trans teens and see how anti-trans legislation is impacting their daily lives. Each family has different circumstances; one teen fears his top surgery will be indefinitely delayed, while another had surgery already and has joined the boys swim team at his high school. Some teens are moved to become activists while others want to just live their normal, low-profile lives. With humor and compassion, Lang shows trans teenagers as they really are: kids trying their best, day by day, to grow into their truest selves and fullest potential. The various chapters are by turns deep, silly, introspective, sweet, and smart, just like teens themselves. I was able to read an advanced copy of this book- pre-order it now, or look for it on shelves in October 2024!

Fool’s Assassin by Robin Hobb read by Elliot Hill

NO ONE IS DOING IT LIKE ROBIN HOBB. NO ONE! After a disappointing journey up the Rain Wilds River, baby we are BACK! And by back, I mean, back in a first person POV and back with FitzChivalry, one of my literal favorite fictional characters ever. This is the 7th book about his life, and the 14th overall book in this series, so I won't be summarizing it. Let's just say that Fitz found his happy ending (minus a few key soulmates) and then his life kept going. More problems, more politics, more magic, maybe stranger than ever before. A new character introduced in this series swept in and stole my heart. I can't wait to dive into the next book very soon!

Rose/House by Arkady Martine read by Raquel Beattie

A brief murder mystery set in an fully conscious AI house in the southwest desert. This story feels in conversation with Ray Bradbury's story The Veldt and has many elements I enjoy, but a somewhat unresolved and slightly unsatisfying ending. I'm honestly still simmering on my thoughts, but looking forward to discussing this in book club soon! Edit post book club: a discussion helped me clarify what I thought was working in this book (tone, setting, themes) and what was not working (too many red herrings for such a short book, and an ending twist that seemed to undercut the book's main premise). I still think it's worth a read for Arkady Marine fans, but it is not as strong as her full length books.

Dances of Time and Tenderness by Julian Carter

In 2016 Julian Carter, a queer author and long-time participant in San Francisco's dungeon kink scene, received an invitation to be part of an archival matchmaking project. The project paired artists, activists, and scholars with specific issues of OUT/LOOK: The National Lesbian and Gay Quarterly. The assignment was to use the issue as a jumping off point to think about queer history and make something "new and provocative." Carter's assigned issue was from Winter 1991, the year the CDC announced 1 million American were HIV positive and AIDS was the 3rd leading cause of death in people aged 25-44 years. One of the many who died in 1991 due to AIDS related complications was Lou Sullivan, one of the first trans men to publicly identify as gay. From this starting point, this book traces paths of queer lineage, both proclaimed and obscured, traveling through history, memory, and poetry. Carter is linked, through friendship or scholarship, to Susan Stryker, pioneer of transgender history, to Zach Ozma, who edited Lou Sullivan's diaries for publication, and to Lou himself. Casting a transgender eye back on a queer history divided sharply into gay and lesbian, Carter allows himself to claim as ancestors sailors, skeletons, writers, lovers, and reaches forward in time towards students, readers, and artists. Including me. I was fortunate enough to be gifted an early copy by the author, and read it back in February back in one delicious rush. I already want to read it again, and more slowly, this time underlining and annotating it. This is a book to savor, but is easy to devour instead. It's sensual and surprising, formally precise, and made me want to dig around in a mess of queer historical papers and also contribute my own to the pile. It's out on June 4, 2024; give it a pre-order or look for it on shelves soon!

49 Days by Agnes Lee

Kit, a young Korean American woman, wakes up on a beach with a map and a watch telling her she's already late. For days, she clambers over rocks and up trails, reaching for an undefined goal. Slowly, the book begins to flash back to Kit's childhood and family, the people she loved and left behind after her accidental death. In Buddhist tradition a soul travels for 49 days before rebirth, and this book follows one version of that path, the grief and slow healing that follow a loss. Drawn in a very simple yet evocative style, the spare ink lines and limited color fill this journey with meaning.

Early Riser by Jasper Fforde read by Thomas Hunt

What a bizarre and delightful novel. It's set in an alternate history in which ice-age level cold spells cause the majority of humans to hibernate every winter, which has ripple effects on the development of technology, societal rules, culture, and family structures. Charlie Worthing was born in a "pool" in the independent nation of Wales, or a group home in which nuns dedicated to reproduction birth and raise dozens of children, in returns for credits from those who can't or don't want to have their own kids. Charlie has very few job prospects, especially ones that will give him access to morphanox, a drug which helps most people survive their months-long winter sleeps. The drug also turns about 1 in 3000 into a brain-dead zombie, but this risk is considered better odds than sleeping without it. So Charlie volunteers for the Winter Consuls, the law-keepers and problem-solvers who stay up all winter to safe guard the majority. There he has to face the three well documented dangers of winter- Vacants (zombies), Villains (the British) and Winter Volk (fairies, whose reality is debated), as well as rumors of a viral dream. The humor in this book is a close cousin to Terry Pratchett's work, in which absurdity and invention mask some pretty biting social commentary and anti-capitalist motives. I did think some of the twists at the end didn't quite pay off, however, I had such a good time with the ride this book took me on that I'd still recommend it.

Blue Flag vol 2 by Kaito

This vol has already taken a kind of melancholy, bittersweet narrative tone which might put me off the series. I still really like the characters and overall think the writing is very effective, out I wish the humor and sweetness of book 1 would last farther into the series!

Critical Role: The Mighty Nein Origins: Jester Lavorre by Sam Maggs, Laura Bailey, Matthew Mercer, Hunter Severn Bonyun, Cathy Le, Ariana Maher

Short and sweet, this prequel comic shows Jester's first meeting with The Traveler, the prank that caused her need to flee from Nicodranas, and a window into Jester's relationship with her mother. It's a slight story but I loved the artwork, especially the outfits and the beautiful city views.

The Book of Love by Kelly Link

Kelly Link, one of my favorite short story authors, debuted a novel 650 pages long. I bought this the day of release but it took me a few months to actually crack it open. I'd seen it described as slow, but I think I'd say leisurely. It opens with an intriguing premise- four teenagers come back from the dead, not knowing how they died or why they were brought back 11 months later- and have to solve a magical problem if they want to keep living. But the book is less a mystery than a close examination of the teens lives in a small New England town in December. The teens include Danial, oldest of many step-siblings, who rejects his new magical powers and just wants to live a small and ordinary life. There's Mo, who lost his parents young, and was being raised by his grandmother, a famous Black romance novelist- who herself died during the 11 months he spent in an underworld. There's Laura, a musically ambitious teen, who comes back to her single mom and sister Susannah, who seems somehow entangled with the magical ritual that killed and might save her friends. And then there's a fourth person who none of the others know, who snuck out of death on their coat tails and has no name and few memories. The book rotates POVs every chapter, with more than 15 different POVs, some of whom only appear once in the whole volume. I love Link's writing style so this worked for me, but I can see how this choice to linger over details not directly related to the plot might not work for some readers. I really enjoyed this but it did take me 3 weeks to read it and I suggest other readers pick it up when ready for a slow burn of a book.

Plain Jane and the Mermaid by Vera Brosgol

This original fairytale opens with teenage Jane mourning the recent death of her parents, after she already lost her younger brother to the sea as a child. Because there's no male heir, Jane's horrible cousin will be kicking her out of the house in a week. The only option she can see is marrying within the week so that she can access her dowry. So Jane walks down to the fishing village below her manor and proposes to a beautiful but shallow fisherman's son. He accepts- then is immediately lured under the waves by a mermaid. Jane runs into the town asking for help but only an old woman with witchy vibes is willing to aid her. The crone gives Jane a potion so she can breathe underwater, a stone which will allow her to walk on the bottom of the ocean, and a shawl to keep her warm in the depths. So armed, Jane walks into the sea after the boy who feels like her only hope. Under the waves she encounters allies and enemies, learns the true power of her own will, and realizes she might have more choices than she's realized.

Blue Flag vol 3 by Kaito

Well, I started another book because the last one ended on a massive cliff hanger, but I think I'm setting the series down after this one. I still think it's very well written, but the main character has such low self-esteem that he shouts at other characters that he sucks, he's a jerk, he doesn't deserve their friendship and they should leave him alone. I bet the arc of this series will be building this character up to where he believes he deserves their love and friendship, but I just don't feel like dwelling in this character's self-pity at the moment. I would have eaten this shit up as a teen though! Especially with the queer characters.

The Free People’s Village by Sim Kern

Set in an alternate timeline in which Al Gore won the 2000 election and declared the War on Climate Change instead of the War on Terror, this novel is an interesting mix of hopeful and dystopian elements. The main character is Maddie Ryan, a white high school English teacher working in a primarily Black neighborhood in Houston, TX. The novel is Maddie's written account of a tumultuous year in which the grungy music warehouse where her punk band practices and performs is threatened by a proposed high way and oil line which will rip up not only their art space but also a historically Black neighborhood. Maddie starts attending activist meetings which quickly morph into a full blown protest encampment surrounding the warehouse. Dubbed the Free People Village, this protest movement goes viral and is met with the exact same kind of violent police response as the current student encampments protesting for Palestine on college campuses. Woven through this depressingly accurate political forecast are multiple queer love stories, interracial friendships, a 101 crash course in anarchist philosophy and bracing look at what long-term activism takes. Folks with more of an organizing or activist background than I might find some of this book a bit basic; but I was completely drawn in by the relationships and conflicts of Maddie, Red, Gestas, Angel, and Shayna. This book feels almost painfully timely, and I hope a lot of people read it and gain both courage and perspective.

#maia kobabe #book reviews #comics #reading #books

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mediocreanomaly · 11 months

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i'm so normal. can i request a part 2 to the knives/reader soulmate au? im just so curious how it'd go, hdjdjnd

Authors Note: Non-Normal Knives kisser spotted.

Kidding! yes of course I shall make you a pt.2 (guys am I the Trigun Soulmate guy now? I'm not complaining it's just a bit funny to me, let me infect you with Trigun soulmate au now...)

*Not NSFW but a slightly "spicy" scene at the end (jesus I'm old do people still say spicy unironically? guys I mean it ironically I swear-)*

Read Part 1 Here!

Knives X Reader Soulmate AU Pt.2

•It's a painstaking process, both literally and metaphorically, as Knives recovers

•You feel awful. Your body vaguely burns everywhere, Knives is incapacitated, and the fact it's Legato who sits like a hawk watching over the two of you not yet trusting of your intentions doesn't exactly ease any of your stress

•It's a bit tedious dodging the blue haired mans constant questioning not quite ready to say "hey you know the most feared man in all of Gunsmoke who hates the idea of soulmates is actually my soulmate?" yeah sounds awful.

•So you sit dutifully day and night rewrapping wounds and running your fingers through Knives's hair appreciating that he at least seems to heal much quicker than humans do so hopefully this aching burn will subside quickly

•When he finally wakes up it's, of course, the one time you leave the room to go get something to eat. You almost imagine the dammed plant planned this even though you know it's not the case

•You stand in the door way...saying nothing. The two of you had become close before, was close the right word? but now you felt awkward and out of place watching Knives' cold blue eyes stare a hole into you

"Legato says you haven't left my side" he says, it's more of a statement than a question but you'll bite

"Yes." You say simply, not making a move as if dealing with a wild animal that's ready to pounce

"Why?" He's searching you as if looking for something or...no he's watching you like he's waiting to catch you in a lie

"I think you already know" Is all you can manage. You stay still, waiting for sharpness of metal, you just hope it'll be quick. You weren't stupid, you knew Knives didn't want a soulmate, so there wasn't much to do than to accept the fate the universe had laid out for you. You close you eyes and wait....and wait....and- wasn't he going to kill you?

You peek your eyes open to see Knives watching you with a furrowed brow. You have to admit he looks oddly cute like this despite the fact your life is most certainly in danger.

He stares, as if perplexed by you then scoffs

"This is ridiculous. I'd never be bound to a human like you" he states, you just nod not sure what to do until he sits up straight in bed

"Come, inform me of what's happened while I was asleep"

You aren't stupid enough to try and push the matter or point out the fact he was a little worse off than "asleep" so you just sit on the side of the bed with him, giving him what little information you know.

•After that he begins to talk about his new plans. You listen intently, letting him ramble on about this new era he's planning to usher in

•and if he begins to stray from the topic, if he begins to go on about the Ja'lai incident, or about how he really thought Vash would understand...don't bring any attention to it, your slowly beginning to understand there's a reason he trust you with these things even if he won't say it out loud

•Speaking of which...he won't say anything about the "soulmate" matter out loud. Not now anyways, not yet. He's not sure why but...he can't bring himself to kill you and it scares him. He isn't used to sparing lives besides his brothers and even then his forms of punishment are a lot more severe than what he's willing to do to you

•Not that he didn't contemplate taking a limb or letting you see how sharp his knives can really be but there'd be no point really he'd only be hurting himself (at least that's what he tells himself)

•He's also...a bit protective of you now. Even though he still refuses to say to anyone, including you, that you're his soulmate he does make vague mentions of it when you try to leave and he says something along the lines of

"No you can't leave. If you were to get hurt it'd be inefficient for me"

•(aw he likes you!)

•He begrudgingly lets you begin working again because there was a reason he allowed you to stay with his team in the first place, although if his hovering around your work place was bad before it's 10x worse now

•You are met with the sight of his chest every time you turn around and you have to shyly look up to the piercing gaze that's trained on you like a predator

•eventually you get him to back up a little bit by telling him if you spill any chemicals on him it'll just burn the both of you although he still stands in the corner watching your every move

•In all...don't expect him to be all lovely dovey...yet. Although...

You stand absent mindedly as you look over your work. This formula was driving you nuts and the constant feeling of being watched wasn't exactly helping. You lean down placing your hands on the table scanning over the papers messily sprawled over your desk when you feel a strong pair of hands at your hips.

It takes everything in you not to yelp, only for that feeling to turn into you trying not to moan when teeth nip at the shell of your ear. Knives body is pressed against your back, strong and solid, god you were either touch starved or the soulmate connection was doing wonders because he'd barley even touched you and you felt like you were unraveling. He pushes you forwards slightly forcing you to hold your most your weigh with your arms as you shudder. He's trapping you against the table, mouth trailing down to harshly nip along your throat, right hand running up your side and his left hand is moving to-

he pulls away.

You're breathless. You glance up at him, and if the amused smirk on his face is anything to go by, you look like just as much of a mess as you feel.

"I fixed your formula for you"

you glance down and sure enough...the numbers you had been mulling over all day had been fixed in the matter of...minutes? Seconds?

You watch dumbfounded as Knives strolls away as if nothing happened, even thought the blush painting your face and the bruises beginning to blossom against your neck are more than enough proof

•That's the thing, the universe never prepares you for your soulmate being an asshole. That's okay though, two can play at that game.

#knives x reader #knives x you #trigun x reader #soulmate au

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catreginae · 2 months

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Thou Shalt Not Fall: Warriors and the Fog

Everybody is still in Ordon and Warriors can't help but to think there is something wrong about that. They can't just be here for a vacation, right?

I'll be honest, I'm just tired of looking at this one, so if there are any glaring typos… maybe I'll conquer them one day.

They were still in Ordon and Warriors was starting to feel a little antsy, especially now that he was limiting himself to just Twilight’s house and he didn’t have a good way to burn away excess energy. His biggest worry was that they had no idea what the trouble was. They surely weren’t in Ordon just to make Twilight happy, not that he would mind if that was actually the case. Everybody was enjoying the break, except for him, but that was irrelevant.

All he could hope was that the shadow wasn’t targeting Ordon itself. Perhaps he should go back out beyond the spring and head back to the forest for a patrol while the others were sleeping. Maybe he could prevent a fight coming to Ordon if he stayed on top of patrols.

He was sitting just by Twilight’s door, watching as Epona was grazing on the longer grasses in Twilight’s yard and hanging his legs over the edge of the porch, if it could be called such, as he mulled over their current situation.

Just as he was about to head back inside – his skin was starting to tingle a bit, a sure sign that it was time to go back in – he saw somebody come down the path from the village holding a bucket. She was a blonde villager than he didn’t meet but she looked to be about Twilight’s age, so he was pretty confident that the villager in question was Ilia. She saw him and walked to the treehouse. She didn’t climb the ladder but she stayed at the foot of it.

“So you’re the last one. I’m Ilia and you’re... Warriors?”

“Yup, that’s me!” he answered with a nod.

“Link said you might not be awake because you have sleep problems but I’m glad I caught you,” she said with a smile. Was that what everybody saying? That he had some sort sleep disorder? He supposed it wasn’t entirely wrong. He did have a hard time staying awake during the day sometimes, especially when he had a roof over his head.

“I just wanted to say thank you for looking after him. We all get worried when Link goes out on these big adventures. None of us were the same after the first one, especially him... so I’m glad he isn’t alone out there.”

Twilight never said too much about what happened on his adventure but he knew that somebody being pulled away from their friends and family rarely only affected the person who had to leave. He wondered if Twilight ever talked to her or his adoptive parents about it, though Warriors couldn’t judge if Twilight never did. Proxi liked to called him ‘emotionally constipated’ so what did he know?

“We were all brought together for a reason. I don’t think any of us could have handled this alone. We’re all stronger because we’re together. I’ll make sure he makes it home, I swear on my life.”

He meant it. If there was one benefit to being cursed like he was, it was that he had a body that was more or less a shield now. He fully intended to use his durability to make sure everybody got to go home at the end. Twilight had a lot of people in Ordon who loved and cared about him and Warriors didn’t have to meet all of the villagers to get that feeling.

Ilia studied his face, then smiled. “Thank you. I’ll let you go back inside now since I have some chores to do. I’ll see you later.”

They bid each other goodbye and Warriors headed inside. The tingling in his skin was starting to bother him and he couldn’t imagine how red his face was at the moment.

× × × × × × × × × × × ×

“I heard you met Ilia today.”

“Briefly,” he answered, looking up from the sword he decided to polish. He was starting to get a bit bored inside Twilight’s house, waiting for nightfall where it would be the safest for him to go out. The angry animals would be asleep and the only time the moon caused an issue was in Wild’s era. He sometimes wished that somebody would stay with him during the day now that he was waking before Sky but he didn’t want to ruin their time in the village by forcing them to keep him company. At least they came back in the evening. “She seems nice.”

“Oh, she wasn’t a couple of days ago!” Legend said with a grin. “She gave that other rancher a good earful for forgetting to close the gate. We walked out of the barn just in time to see him bring the goat back up and she let him know how she felt the entire time.”

Warriors shared a glance with Twilight. Did they know? He was pretty sure that Twilight was the only other Link there but he couldn’t be sure.

“They can be dangerous,” Twilight mumbled with a sagely nod. “They’ve cracked my ribs before.”

Wild nodded too. “The mountain goats in my era did the same thing to me. Only it wasn’t their horns that cracked my ribs, it was the rock I landed on when they knocked me down. I’m glad the wild ones don’t get as big as yours.”

“Good to note. I will avoid the murderous goats in this era and in Wild’s era,” Warriors muttered with a roll of his eyes as he finished up polishing his sword. Maybe the others would be so nice as to let him polish their things tomorrow so that he something else to do. Or... maybe he would just pace around Twilight’s house. He could walk on walls now, which increased the space he could pace in. He could drive somebody crazy doing that.

Maybe he will go pace on the walls tomorrow, once he explored the woods after the others fell asleep.

The rest of the evening went by with the others filling in with what happened that day. Life in the village was slow but if it was like Time’s ranch, he was sure if was a nice change of pace compared to life in the barracks. They all ate traditional Ordonian food courtesy of the village, which ended up using a lot of cheese, milk, and pumpkins. It led to some debate about where the best pumpkins originated and Warriors was beginning to wonder if Sky and Twilight would cross the line from debate to an actual argument before Wild broke it up, declaring he wasn’t storing any pumpkins in his slate if they couldn’t be mature about it.

After the lively debate, they caught each other up on what they were up to that day where Warriors found himself staying silent because other than going outside and speaking with Ilia for a bit, he did pretty much nothing. They talked into the evening and then tucked themselves in.

Once he was sure they were asleep, he quietly gathered his equipment and jumped down to the ground. He turned to the right and headed towards the bridge that led out of the village.

But then he paused by the spring.

He didn’t pay much attention to it before since they all wanted to get the treehouse to drop off their bags but now that Warriors was stationary and just outside of the gate, something about the spring sent a shiver down his spine. It made him want to turn and walk away from it but he stayed where he was because as much he was bothered by it, he was also curious. It looked normal but it didn’t feel normal.

He approached it slowly. The instinct to run intensified with each step he took but the curiosity and the need to know why that instinct was there made him resist the urge to turn around.

If there was one way to describe the spring, it was that it was bright. It sparkled in the moonlight but somehow it seemed even brighter than that, though he couldn’t describe how.

He squatted down by the lake and reached out, dipping his fingertips into the spring. He regretted it immediately. Warriors cursed, pulling his hand back so quickly that he fell onto his back. His fingers continued to sting, even though they weren’t in the water anymore. He groaned and sat up, using his scarf to dry his fingers.

His fingers must have been though they must have only been in the spring for a second or two. They were bright red and still stung in the cooler night air– definitely burnt but thankfully mild.

Okay, it wasn’t just the goats or the cats or the bees. It was also the damn water!

Warriors got to his feet and shook his head. He would ask Twilight about the spring later. For now, he had to look for the reason why they were in Twilight’s era because as lovely as Ordon was, they couldn’t just stay there and possibly risk the shadow or whatever monsters it dragged around with it finding them in Ordon.

The village was defensible enough if they defended the bridge or made sure none of them made it past Twilight’s treehouse since Ordon was surrounded by rocky walls. Unless the monsters could fly, they needed to cross the bridge too. However, that was too close to the village for Warriors’ comfort. It was possible but it left them little room for error, especially if were winged monsters. An aeralfos could be particularly troubling.

It was better if they could get the drop on them. Getting ambushed around a bunch of civilians was the last thing he wanted.

He walked over the bridge and past it. There was another spring that made him shudder but he walked past that one until he eventually came to a fork in the road. One fork led into a dark cave and a quick sniff of the air told him that there was something that smelled like decay coming from that general direction. However, the cave was dark – too dark. Even if he summoned his vampire powers, he needed at least a little bit of light to actually see anything and that cave was pitch black. He had his fire rod but he wasn’t sure he had the best control over it to just keep the end lit up.

He cursed loudly to himself and did the walk of shame back to the treehouse. Twilight took to hanging his lantern up to provide some more light when the sun was down and turning it off when they fell asleep. Warriors unhooked it from its spot and took it with him. It seemed like Twilight filled it up somewhat recently so hopefully that was enough to get through the cave.

The cave was still a bit dark even with the lantern but the lantern was absolutely worth it when he found himself face to face with an alarming large spider. Warriors yelped and swiped at it with his lantern, sitting its web on fire and watching it scurry away. It was a good thing he was alone – he would never live that down with the others

He followed his nose and found himself at the end of the cave which opened up to a dock with a lot of purple fog that hung close to the ground and covered the ground for as far as he could see. Alarming. Maybe Twilight would know something about it. The smell of decay was strongest here and for a moment, Warriors wondered if it was the fog itself that smelled of decay but then he saw a shadow move within the fog.

He retreated back into the mouth of the cave. Hopefully, nothing actually saw him so he could have a moment to observe what he needed to do. He could see a wooden dock in front of him, which told him that maybe this fog wasn’t always there. To his right, he could see some stumps rising up from the fog and oddly enough, he could actually see a path made up of those stumps and some thicker tree branches that lead to giant stump in the middle.

Warriors could see what he needed to do but he was a little wary of trying it. He could probably make it across all the gaps up the giant middle stump but he never needed to jump so preciously before. It made him also regret not practicing more before but at least if he fell, he could probably get back up somewhere quickly enough. He could walk on walls now.

He hooked the lantern to his belt like he saw Twilight do before and ran, leaping up to the first stump and before he think about too much, he jumped to the next stump, and the to the next branch, and before he knew it, he arrived at the large stump in the middle. If he could get some of them up to the stump, they could rain arrows down at... whatever was shuffling around in the fog.

Cautiously, he leapt up to the edge and looked down. He was basically right on top of that awful smell of rot and decay and he instinctively raised a hand to cover his nose.

Inside the fog, he could see shadows that seemed Hylian-like but the limbs were too thin and elongated. They moved by shuffling mostly, dragging a sword along the sword as they did so. Gibdos. Pleasant. He hated those fuckers. Just one of them was annoying but he could see maybe a dozen or so them shuffling around.

And they weren’t alone. He could also see darknuts, the very enemies that made him reveal his secret in the first place. Those would take more than just regular arrows from above to take out. Maybe some bomb arrows could knock some of their armour off but Warriors knew that being close and personal was the best way to handle them.

The job wasn’t going to be an easy one and he didn’t know how much time they had the shadow actually sent the gibdos and darknuts after them. All he knew was that the faster they came up with a plan, the better. They couldn’t wait to be attacked now that he had an idea of what was coming.

Warriors started his trip back, hopping back down the collection of branches and stumps, back through the cave with the massive spiders, past the two unnerving springs, and up the ladder into Twilight’s treehouse. He stepped over the other heroes, returned the lantern to its spot, added his equipment to the pile, and then located his bedroll. He might as well try to sleep for a little bit.

× × × × × × × × × × × ×

Warriors woke up groggy and if it wasn’t for the pang in the stomach and the ache in his throat, he probably would have gone back to sleep. For a moment, he wondered if he needed blood that badly, or if he could sleep for a little bit longer, but he pulled himself out of the bedroll and up the ladder to the main floor. Thankfully, his fingers healed overnight so the trip up the ladder was painless.

To his shock, he wasn’t alone. Sky was sitting up, surrounded by nuts, milk, eggs, and other ingredients while Wild was tending to the fire in Twilight’s oven. There was also somebody Warriors didn’t expect at all – Colin. His stomach dropped. He liked the kid, he liked him a lot and he could see that he great potential with a sword one day, but he couldn’t down a bottle of blood or bite somebody with Colin around!

“Warriors! You’re up! Wild’s going to make a cake! Wanna come watch with me?” Sky asked. Fuck, he couldn’t even pretend he wasn’t there.

“Oh, Warriors is here?” Colin asked, he head perking up from where he was looking at the eggs in the basket. “Dad was worried about him since he didn’t come by the village after the goat escaped and the cat attacked him.”

It took considerable effort to brace himself and make sure that panic on the inside didn’t show on the outside as he settled down beside Sky. Colin really was a smart kid and in another other circumstance, Warriors would nurture that, but right now it really worked against him that Colin was perceptive.

“Oh, he hasn’t been feeling that well lately, so he’s been staying in most of the time,” Wild said with a shrug, acting completely casually. He heard Sky sigh in relief. Thanks, Sky. Real casual. “How are you feeling today, Wars?”

“Better,” he answered as Wild then jumped into explaining his steps. Warriors didn’t really participate in the lesson, preferring to just watch from afar as Sky and Colin followed along. He inserted himself in the conversation when appropriate but he was more focused on what he discovered the night before and trying to keep his hunger under control. Wild made the first cake and then guided them through the second, and within a couple of hours, Colin left after eating a slice of his own cake.

Warriors hated how relieved he felt when the boy finally left.

“You alright? You don’t seem to be in the best mood. I don’t think Colin noticed but I like think we know you a bit better,” Sky said as he put some dishes into a basin for washing later. With the cakes done, Wild was already planning on dinner if the mumbling under his breath as he studied his slate was any indication.

“I overdid it last night and now I’m pretty hungry. Wild, I don’t suppose you have any blood?” Usually, he would go hunting for his blood to keep his skills sharp for when he didn’t have Wild’s slate or happy volunteers but the only monsters he saw last night were the ones in the fog. He wasn’t even sure there was anything to drink from a gibdo. The darknuts were probably infected and infected blood was nasty. They weren’t an option.

Wild barely looked over the slate but nonetheless, he produced a bottle and held it out for Warriors to grab. Warriors licked his lips, let his fangs drop, and took the bottle with more force than he meant but he waited hours for it and he wasn’t waiting a second longer. He popped the top off and poured half of it into his mouth to sooth his aching throat. It was better than cold water on a hot day. He let out a contented sigh before he could stop himself.

“Last night? What were you doing last night?” Sky asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Later. I’m not explaining more than once,” he mumbled as he gulped down some more blood. Now that his throat didn’t ache, he could actually take the opportunity to enjoy the flavour. It wasn’t monster blood so he definitely had to savour it while he could. Maybe it was the blood from something Wild hunted? He hoped it wasn’t from a person.

Sky and Wild exchanged a look. He understood their concern but everybody had to be there so they that could try to come up with a plan.

It took another hour or so before the rest of the Links filtered inside. For some reason, Time was drenched in water and as much as Warriors wanted the story behind that, he had to be the one to remind them that they all have a job to do. Legend immediately went from an easy smile when he first walked into the door to a confused frown when their eyes met.

“Did something happen?”

“Hey, why is the lantern already half empty?” Twilight asked as he unhooked it from its place and glared it like it decided to empty itself.

“I borrowed it last night. I can see pretty well in the dark with my powers but I still need at least a little bit of light and the cave was too dark.”

All of their eyes were on him.

“I hate to say it but we’ve been in Ordon for too long. If we stay here, it’ll only a matter time before we get ambushed and the village will be danger. I don’t want to have that fight anywhere on this side of the bridge so I decided to do a patrol last night.”

“And let me guess... you found something,” Legend muttered.

“Gibdos and darknuts in some weird purple fog. There’s at least a dozen or so gibdos, I didn’t get a good count on the darknuts. Oh, and the gibdos have swords too, in case your gibdos don’t.”

“Oh those ones,” Time mumbled with a grimace.

“You said purple fog? Great,” Twilight mumbled as he started to refill his lantern with oil. “It’ll make you dizzy at first and if you don’t retreat, you’ll pass out. We probably have enough long ranged weapons to take them out without going into it. It’s going to be tricky with the darknuts in there though.”

“Is there anyway around the fog? Or a safe way through it?” Wind asked, tilting his head.

“Mostly just above it. Fire works temporarily but it doesn’t last long.”

“I saw the giant stump in the middle of the fog and that’ll give us another angle. I can take some of you up there but just in case, those who go up there should be also be able to get themselves down safely on their own,” Warriors offered.

Time nodded along. “Wild would be a good candidate.”

“I have a korok leaf that lets me soar,” Wind offered.

Warriors nodded. Both of them would be easy for him to take up there.

“We should have enough room by the dock for the rest of us to shoot into the crowd then. I really don’t like that this might be our only option against the darknuts though. There isn’t exactly a lot of room outside of the fog. This will be tough,” Twilight said with a deep sigh.

Hyrule nodded. “And that’s assuming they haven’t moved since Warriors last saw them. We better leave soon and make sure they don’t get to the village.”

Warriors nodded. They really should leave soon. However, he couldn’t help but think of what more he could do. Wild and Wind were going to be situated above on the stump while everybody else would be at the dock. Maybe... he could fight inside the fog. Maybe the fog wouldn’t affect him the same way. Maybe he could tie his scarf around his mouth and nose to protect himself from the fog so he could weaken their enemies enough that arrows are a viable option.

And... there was one thing he never actually tried before since he never wanted to acknowledge his vampirism.

“What’s on your mind? You have your thinking face on,” Time said with a smirk.

“I want to try to fight in the fog and combine my vampire powers with focus spirit.”

The smirk from Time’s face fell. “Both of those are exhausting to you on their own. If you pass out in the fog, we might not be able to get you out.”

“You guys have hookshots. It wouldn’t be the most serious injury I received,” Warriors mumbled, rolling his eyes. “But in all seriousness, I’ll do my best to get out of the fog before I pass out.”

“Hang on, go back to the first thing,” Legend said, using his finger to draw a circle in the air. “What is focus spirit? You never mentioned it before.”

“It improves my muscles and it helps me tune out anything that isn’t related to battle. It makes me stronger and faster and that’s without tapping into my vampire powers. I’ve never tried both at the same time. If it works though, I can weaken or outright kill a bunch of them.”

Sky raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure that this is the best time to try it out?”

Warriors shrugged. He really wasn’t sure if a tricky battle was the best time but they needed some sort of edge against the darknuts and if it worked well enough, then they had another option against whatever the shadow threw at them. Battles were always risky, even the ones that seemed simple and straight forward, and trying different ways to use his powers was a risk he was willing to take.

Nobody else had questions for him, so they all started preparing themselves for battle. Warriors made sure to redo his scarf so it was tight around his face and pinned it in place, ignoring the strange looks he got from everybody else. Once they were done, he and Twilight led them through the cave and out to the dock and fog.

A low groan met them.

“Oh good, they’re still here,” Hyrule said out loud. “Well, good for everybody else anyway.”

“Let’s review before they get here. Most of us will stay here and shoot anything coming towards us,” Time said, pointing at the ground they were standing one. “Warriors will take Wind and Wild above the fog and then he’ll fight within it.”

Everybody nodded. As Warriors followed the same path he did the night before up to the large stump in the middle with Wild on his back, Legend fired the first shot into the fog. The gibdo screamed and Warriors hissed in pain as the screech pierced his sensitive ears. He didn’t have the available hands to cover his ears though, so he kept going until Wild was in position. He tried his best to be quick once he made the second trip up with Wind.

The two took up positions on opposite sides of the stump. He watched them for a moment, taking a deep breath as he did so, then turned away from them, staring down at the ground and the figures shuffling towards the dock. Warriors wasn’t really good at magic. It was actually easier for him to find the power to summon his vampire powers these days than it was to call upon the power that let him use his focus spirit. Nonetheless, he focused on pulling that magic from within. It took him a few seconds to feel it and once he did, he could feel his muscles tingle in excitement.

Warriors jumped down. Thankfully, he didn’t feel any negative effects from the fog, though he didn’t know if that was because of the scarf, because of his vampirism, or because of his focus spirit or some weird combination of those. Either way, it didn’t matter. He had a job to do.

He jumped from his crouched position and practically flew into the fray, his sword slicing into a gibdo’s back. It felt like time slowed down, all while Warriors was moving at a pace that felt completely normal to him. He knew it wasn't normal – he was probably at a speed that true vampires could run, or even a tad faster. Just to think he never thought to combine his vampire powers with focus spirit before!

He was easily able to duck under a slow moving sword to sink his blade into the gap between a darknut's helmet and chest plate. He pulled out his blade and stepped around the darknut to slice the head off a gibdo before it could scream. He didn't wait to see if the darknut was dead, instead trusting his allies to kill it with whatever ranged weapons they had.

It had been some time since his blade so could effortlessly cut through so many enemies. It almost reminded him of home, where he could kill a few bokoblins in a single sweep of his blade. Almost. The fact that these monsters were infected made him doubt that he was actually killing all of them but the point of using his magic wasn’t to kill, though that was a bonus if he managed it. It was to inflict as much damage as possible, to make whatever remained easy picking for everybody else who couldn’t fight in the fog like he could.

He swung his sword at anything that moved in his peripherals. He no longer cared what it was – if it moved, it was getting sliced down.

Unfortunately for Warriors, his magic was always quick to run out since it was continuously running through all of his muscles. He didn’t think to take any magic potions with him so he sprinted to the middle of a group of redeads and swung his sword for one more devastating spin attack, letting the last of his magic flow off the edge of his blade.

The exhaustion hit him immediately. His sword was suddenly too heavy and his legs trembled as he turned and ran out of the fog. The fog wasn’t completely clear of monsters but Warriors was sure that he wasn’t any shape to deal with them. Focus spirit was exhausting enough on its own, though never so exhausting that he had to retreat from battle due to the effects.

But when combined with the extraordinary speed and strength that his vampirsim granted him?

He wasn’t surprised when his legs gave out once he made out of the fog and his entire body hit the dirt. He heard a shout of alarm and just a moment later, somebody was beside him.

“Warriors! Are you alright?”

“I’m fine! Just tired,” he hissed. “Focus on the battle.”

“Right.” Whoever was at his side left. He felt bad for snapping but he was fine. He could hear something exploding, so he assumed that somebody set off a bomb arrow. Ugh, he hoped he did enough because he was useless now. Until he had more blood and a good nap, he wasn’t fit to even get back to Twilight’s treehouse.

Suddenly, somebody was pushing him up again. Sky. The knight turned him so that Warriors chest was against his own. He loosened his skycloth slightly, exposing more of his neck. He tried to look away.

“Battle’s almost over. Have a drink.”

His neck. Why his neck? Warriors always wanted to see what it was like but he wasn’t sure he could trust himself.

“I’ll let you know when I’m dizzy. Trust me.”

Warriors did trust him. Before he could talk himself out of it, he positioned himself and sank his fangs into Sky’s neck. His blood was warmer and it filled his mouth quicker. He pushed his fangs in deeper and happily drank until he felt somebody tugging and twisting one of his ears. He withdrew his fangs and hissed, and that was when he finally realized what he was actually doing. Blood was already pooling out of the two holes he left in Sky’s neck, which Sky was quick to cover with his hands.

“Sky...”

He was getting tired.

“I’m fine. Get some rest.”

Warriors wanted to stay awake to see the end of the battle but his body apparently had different ideas. He laid his head down on his shoulders and let himself drift.

× × × × × × × × × × × ×

When Warriors came to, his fangs were buried in... something. For a moment, he just stayed where he was, fangs clasped around whatever it was in his mouth. Then, whatever it was moved and Warriors retracted his fangs.

It was an arm. He just bit somebody!

“What the-”

“Sky, good thinking! I barely felt them,” Wild said as he began to remove something from his forearms. Sky’s bracers, if Warriors had to guess.

“They are made for sharp talons, so they’re thick enough for his fangs,” Sky answered happily. He took one of his hands and waved it in front of his Warriors’ face. “You awake, Wars?”

“Stop that! And why did you wake me up by sticking your arm in my mouth?”

“I didn’t stick my arm in your mouth! You just don’t wake up well. I figured you might bite if we tried to wake you so I came prepared,” Wild answered, then the smile fell off his face. “We were getting worried though. You were asleep for two days straight with no sign of waking up. I put blood under your nose, we tried shaking you, it didn’t matter how loud we got... only thing that end up working was touching your face a lot.”

Oh. He could see why they were worried. He never slept for that long – sure he, was unconscious for that long, but never asleep for that long. Somebody was usually able to rouse him one way or another in a span of a day. Usually, he got up on his own. Did he truly exhaust himself that much? He had blood before he fell asleep too. How much worse would it have been if he didn’t?

“Is everybody okay?”

Sky and Wild shared a look. “We’re all fine. I was only dizzy for a day or so and nobody got hurt during the battle. You’re the only one who had to be carried back.”

“Good. That’s the only thing I care about. Especially when it comes to you, Sky. I usually have more control than that...”

Suddenly, Sky grabbed his head, planting both of his hands on either side of his face. He looked him dead in the eyes and suddenly, Warriors was reminded of the fact that despite how carefree Sky seemed, he had the same protective fury they all had. “If this is leading to you putting yourself down, I’m going to smack you. Ordon is safe and nobody was injured because you gave us an incredible advantage. You’re allow to have some extra blood for that, got it?”

“Yes sir.”

Seemingly satisfied, Sky let him go. “Good! I’m going to go make a cake to celebrate! Wild, let the others know he woke up, will you?”

Wild offered a mock salute and left.

“Can you drizzle some blood on top of my slice?”

#catreginae: thou shalt not fall #linked universe #linkeduniverse #my writing #lu warriors

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be-the-glenn-to-my-maggie · 1 year

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I'm bored again so let me take it out on you once more. You've gotten me into my Spider shipping era and for that I curse you with some Spider ships content (note that this is literally off of the top of my head with no thoughts or edits lol):

With Kiri it's like coming home. They don't enter a relationship so much as settle into the one that's been steadily growing between them for as long as they can remember. Kiri is his endlessly loyal rock, the person who stands by him more than anyone in the world. All she has to do is look at him to understand the thoughts running rampant in his mind. And Spider is the person who listens to her. He's the first person she told about her moments with Eywa---really told, in detail. He's the person who sets everything aside just to spend time with her. Her best friend, her fellow weirdo. Spider has no problem listening to her rant on and on about the plants and animals of the forest and how each living thing feels like it has its very own spark. And Kiri has no problem filling him in on all he feels like he's missing without the ability to connect like a na'vi. Kiri will take him on pa'li rides and give him detailed descriptions of what's going on in the pa'li's head because Spider loves getting to know each individual one. Whenever Kiri losses herself in Eywa, Spider will hunker down and wait for her to come back to him. There is nothing but understanding between these two. Nothing needs to be said.

Lo'ak and Spider are bros. Partners in crime. They do everything together and somewhere along the way they both realize that they can't imagine a world where they're separate from one another. This is quickly followed by the fear that the other might not feel the same (or definitely doesn't). Spider, who's pretty used to the feeling, goes on as normal and accepts this realization that Lo'ak may mean more to him than him to the other. For Lo'ak, however, this manifests in constant fights as a form of self-sabotage. By the time Kiri has had enough and tells Spider what the hell is going on Spider is about ready to take a running leap off of a cliff.

Loving Neteyam hurts. I mean, all love hurts, but there is nothing quite as painful as the love Spider feels for Neteyam. He loves him in the way he pictures humans loved cigarettes. Breathing in all of the toxins and feel-good chemicals at the same time with reckless abandon, knowing it won't end well (loves like this never do) but doing it anyways. It's like playing with fire. Neteyam is the oldest son of two of the most influential na'vi to ever grace Pandora. He's the future olo'eyktan, but it's more than that. He is the future of his entire clan. What would the clan think if they knew he was sneaking around with Spider? Spider doesn't want to do that. He doesn't want to dirty Neteyam's reputation. Neteyam deserves something better than the limits of Spider, and Spider thinks that everyone around them would think so too. Maybe even Neteyam thinks that. But despite all of that, despite knowing that he isn't worth the loving looks and touches, Spider soaks it up eagerly. Because Neteyam is perfect. Not in that he has no faults, but in that he never gives up until those faults make up only a small portion of him. Every now and then it will occur to Spider that he just might be one of these faults. At this point he doesn't know which one of them is the cigarette anymore.

Rotxo is affectionate. Beyond affectionate, Spider comes to learn. Spider's never been been huge on pda, sure, but he still enjoys showing his friends affection and figured that whenever he started dating that he would, like, hold hands with his significant other or give them passing pecks on the cheek or something. Small things like that. Rotxo cranks this up to a thousand, though. From the moment they meet up in the morning to the moment they go their separate ways at night his boyfriend is all over him. He latches onto Spider's hand like it's the most natural thing in the world, leading him around Awa'atlu as if he might wander astray if they aren't connected. Whenever they're sitting he'll cuddle up to Spider despite the obvious size difference, and Spider would be lying if he said it wasn't reminiscent of a large, cuddly puppy. Whenever he's excited Spider receives a million pecks through his mask or an enthusiastic hug or both. Rotxo will babble on for hours when they're alone with Spider in his arms or listen attentively when Spider talks, all while their legs are twined together. When he's sleepy he'll rest his head on Spider's lap and just. . . pass out, company be damned. Rotxo is full of love and affection and Spider didn't realize how much he wanted that until he came along. God, he loves this boy.

Ao'nung is. . . a challenge. Hot and cold. Yes and no. He's happy one moment and hates you the next. What do you want?, Spider often finds himself thinking. What are you afraid of? But he's nothing if not persistent. Years of existing in the background of other people's lives have taught him to listen and observe. So he does. And Ao'nung, he soon discovers, is not unlike a skittish yerik. Suspicious, defensive, and quick to react to anything that sets of his (for lack of better word) sensitive trigger. Spider never thought he'd find someone worse at communicating their emotions than himself (well, himself and pretty much all of the Sully men) or someone who can be more insecure than Lo'ak but boy was he wrong. It doesn't matter if he's sad or guilty or frustrated, Ao'nung's response is the same in all scenarios. Lash out. And it isn't healthy, not by a long shot, but Spider isn't going to give up. He used to not understand what people like Jake and Norm meant when they referred to just knowing their partners. Knowing not just them, but what they want and need and think. And it doesn't happen overnight for Spider, either, but eventually he stars to know too. When Ao'nung asks Spider if he wants to go for a swim he's really asking do you want to talk?. When Ao'nung clenches and unclenches his fists, he wants to hold Spider's hand but is wondering if Spider would be annoyed if he did. When Ao'nung's pupils dilate and his lips twitch up the tiniest of bits, he's happy to see Spider (and probably missed him). He likes it when Spider plays with his hair but hates it when he points it out. He likes swimming, sure, but he especially likes to just lay floating on his back. His prefers fruit over fish, actually, because he has a major sweet-tooth. His favorite color is orange. Sometimes when they're walking on the beach he'll stand still and let the seafoam creep over his feet and laugh for some reason. And this, Spider knows, is only the beginning. There will be a time when, just like Jake or Norm, he'll be able to look at Ao'nung and know everything.

Tsireya is a breath of fresh air in Spider's life. Eager to learn everything about him. Eager to speak with him and eager to get to know the human parts of him. She takes to his hair the first week they start hanging out, playing with it and trying to style it in various different ways. Your hair is fun to braid, she tells him. She listens attentively while he tries to describe the plants and animals and places on Earth that the scientists have told him about and shown him pictures of. She loves both learning about English and trying to speak it. Sometimes he'll catch her mouthing various English words with a smile on her face like she's proud that she knows them. Humans have a lot of Sign Languages, Spider tells her one day. She perks up so fast he's afraid she might've pulled something and begins to bombard him with questions. He only knows the signs that Debra, a deaf xenolinguist, taught him when he was younger but Tsireya doesn't care. She wants to learn them and it becomes their thing. They've created a code of their own using the limited asl signs he knows. Her favorite thing to say in English is I love you, and she says it every chance she gets. Her favorite thing to sign in asl is I see you, and it's broken asl with zero grammatical accuracy but it means the world to him. I love you, she'll say. Then she'll sign I see you. And for once in his life, Spider never feels like questioning it.

And that's all I've got rn folks.

I have been letting this ask MARINATE because I knew I would feel all the feelings you sweet sweet anon. But, I have class for ninety minutes rn and I don't give a shit about American Literature before the 1800's so let's go.

-God, I love spiri, I know we focus on other pairings here but they really are perfect for each other and I'm so excited to see where their relationship goes in the future. I think I'm just gonna get more into it. It really is just a foregone conclusion for them. I love the idea of her just explaining everything he's missing because she knows even if he feels a little bit of jealously or feeling left out, he'd rather bond with the animals and know everything he can. It's like her strong connection with Eywa is there some of the times to help make up with him, and he is there to ground her when it's needed.

-LOL I love that we all accept Lo'ak and Spider as the clowns. They are too similar not to fuck up along the way. Even if they aren't soulmates we have been slacking on them being platonic soulmates.

-THANK YOU GET ON BOARD THE NOCORRO PAIN TRAIN. The way I literally have teared up in the back of class reading that, like it is 9:43am sir. I might really be in my nocorro era they are my FOCUS rn. The secret relationship just fucking hurts. The idea that Kiri and Lo'ak don't even know sucks too, because when Spider is taken Neteyam can't show his feelings about it too much. Kiri can cry, Lo'ak can rage, Tuk can be confused and wonder why they would leave without him. Neteyam just feels like he failed, and he can't do anything about it, not even share his feelings.

-Okay, I needed the Rotxo reprieve. Spider needs casual affection. Tuk and Kiri are always tactile, but Rotxo didn't grow up with him, or any humans. Him being all over Spider is a Spider thing. It's because Spider is different, one of the people. It's because he's him. Rotxo's just a sunny little guy and everyone loves being around him lol. Him just dragging and carrying Spider around all day like, worried he'll loose track of him is hilarious.

-Ao'nung and Spider is the trickiest Spider rarepair for me, I'll be honest. Ao'nung liking Spider is a hard image for me to come to rn, just because of how much he bullied the Sully kids for being part human in the beginning and how we have yet to see a major change or apology yet. I also struggle with Spider not holding a grudge over the Kiri bullying and the Lo'ak almost murder. Of course, I do think he's changed and he's going to be a loyal ally in the upcoming movies, but I don't see them starting off on a great foot. There's plenty of potential comedy there, but I feel like I like the idea of a clumsy apology from Ao'nung to Kiri and Lo'ak before Spider would take him seriously. Spider has very few friends, and like Lo'ak I think he's extremely loyal. I mean he did almost die and withstand torture for his friends many times. Ao'nung would have to give a LITTLE something. ALSO WHO IS NORM IN LOVE WITH I GOTTA KNOW, IS IT HIS BOYFRIEND AM I GETTING THE AGENDA THROUGH??

-AWW, I love asl mentions so much and I totally agree Tsireya and Spider both love learning more than any of the other kids. They could spend hours (sometimes with chronic third wheel Kiri) in the sea or in the forest exploring and studying various plants and animals, practicing the signs for each one. Norm and Max have NEVER had more field studies in their lives, and Norm jokes he would have hired Spider if he hadn't been there already through nepotism. Spider's in the medical mauri with Tsireya all the time, teaching her things he learning from spending time with Mo'at and Kiri and learning things in exchange. Ronal pretends to be annoyed with them every day but Spider has long since learned she doesn't actually mean it.

Thank you for this food, fav anon. This was delicious.

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nicole-the-hololynx · 5 months

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what old game do you think made the most or best use of its hardware?

I've been thinking over this one for a bit, and in the end I can't think of a game that punches above its weight more than Castlevania: Rondo of Blood for the PC Engine CD + Super System

Rondo of Blood is really one of the best games of its era. It's got some incredibly tight gameplay that I feel no other game of its style has quite managed to capture, it has some amazing music, and it's an absolute FEAST on the eyes with how it's filled with vibrant graphics and silky smooth pixel animations.

While Rondo stands as a great game on its own, when we look into the hardware it's running on we can really tell how much the game is pushing this console. Many people I've met whose only exposure to the PC Engine comes from Rondo think the console is some sort of "powerhouse", that it's very good at pushing these gorgeous 2D visuals in a way at least comparable to other consoles of its time, like the SNES or Genesis. This couldn't be farther from the truth.

The base PC Engine console was a budget system, meant to be a 16-bit upgrade for people who couldn't afford or couldn't wait for the bigger consoles. Internally tho, while its graphics might seem 16-bit enough, the console is actually not too different from the old NES, just with a tiny bit more juice. The CD-ROM² expansion lets it read data off discs. And finally the Super System Card is an expansion to the CD expansion that gives it a bit more RAM to play around it. That's it, that's what Rondo runs on. Just an NES with a CD drive and some extra RAM.

Rondo largely manages to look as good as it does by just knowing very well how to use the hardware. How to split the screen into strips to give the illusion of perspective or background layers. How to add sprites every now and then to make the background's strips blend in. It also helps that for a console like this a CD is practically infinite storage space, making RAM the only real concern in that regard. Really the only aspect of the PC Engine that goes underutilized is the audio chip, and that's because of the music all being streamed.

Rondo is a game I could gush about for hours, so I think I'll cut it short here. As a fun anecdote, before settling on Rondo I asked my partner for their thoughts on this, to which they replied "probably something like The Last of Us or the Wii Sports game" which uh. Isn't wrong! But still filled me with an indescribable dread...

#thanks for the ask!!! :3 #this game looks a lot better in motion but i dont feel like going through the hassle of actually making gifs....#ess rambles

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plusultraetc · 2 months

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fiiiiiic reeeeecs? 👻

Thank you for being so sweet & patient with this, HERE ARE SOME!!! (also I know this is a long post but I didn't want to put any of them under a keep reading😭):

Nine Lives by machiroads | You may have been wondering if I was going to start by recommending Nine Lives again and yes I'm going to recommend Nine Lives again, who do you think I am. This fic was my Book Of The Year 2023. I'm also going to recommend its Shinsou-centric spinoff, Naruhata Noir, bc I love Shinsou and NN is so fun despite the literal actual cannibalism (mind the tags, but I didn't find anything in this fic overly graphic!)

Actually, I am going to blanket recommend everything by machiroads, you literally can't go wrong. Special shoutout to 1966 Ford Nutstang GT350 Shelby for Present Mic's quarter-life crisis and Aizawa at his Most Gremlin Ever, I love this fic sm.

let's make some noise (time goes fast when you're having fun) by carolinaa | The first time I read this fic, I actually scrolled right back up to the top and read it again. It's so good. I don't even know where to start. First of all, my favorite Hizashi POV I have literally ever read. The way the author handled everything from his hearing loss to the inherent horror of trying to navigate your 20s. How much he and Aizawa love each other. So much about this fic feels so whole? in a way? I don't know? 1000/10, no notes.

Cry Me A River is another favorite by carolinaa. I literally am wrapping this fic around my shoulders like a weighted blanket.

Passaggio by kashinoha | If you would Like To Cry, this fic is a very recent read for me. Another really good Present Mic POV, but also I curled up into a weepy little ball on the ground upon reading it. I just want the boys to take care of themselves for once is that too much to ask.

nothing as undoing by HalloweenClown | 'Fics that land somewhere between soft and stabbing me in the heart,' which is where a lot of Aizawa & Eri fics land for me. This fic does such an excellent job of capturing the very early stages of building trust™ between them.

acid reflux by lcthe | Vigilante Midoriya AU with a twist(?) The vibes are surreal, the vibes are I'm confused, the vibes are I'm having a great time, and the writing is excellent. It's incomplete and being revised, but I read up to Chapter 3 fairly recently and the erasermic in that chapter,, so painful but so good. Fair warning, this one does get a little dark!

the river walked me home by Thealmostrhetoricalquestion | Writing this post actually reminded me that I want to reread this one. It was the first Todoroki-centric fic I ever read in this fandom (something like a year ago? or close to it?) and I can vividly remember shedding tears over Animal Crossing. I have never played Animal Crossing.

My Brother, My Brother, and Me and Breaking the Ice by seventh_time_lucky | SPEAKING of fics I want to reread, we are going back to 'Liza's pre-ao3 era' (as in, the fics are on ao3, but I was not) These two follow Natsuo as he tries to get to know Shouto after growing up as virtual strangers. There are sentences in the first fic that genuinely haunt me, and the entire coffee conversation (motif?) in the second fic is just. So good? I'm so glad I was able to find them again.

komorebi by Calamitatum | If you're interested in a waaay canon divergent fic, this one reads like a gut punch (in a good way!!) komorebi is one of those fics that I started reading thinking 'oh, that's an interesting premise' and then ended up thinking 'oh god wait what oh no.' I don't want to spoil anything but it definitely went in a direction I wasn't expecting, and honestly it feels like a masterclass in building tension, tackling multiple POVs, and callbacks, my beloved. This author is soo good at unpacking exposition, backstory, and motivation through conversations as well, which I appreciate greatly bc I struggle so hard with that in my own writing. The fic is incomplete with one chapter remaining, so I'm currently rereading it while waiting for the final update!

#i know for a fact i am missing some really good ones which is really frustrating #so i may come back to add to this later #but these were some of the first to come to mind!!#fic rec #ask #anon

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autumnbrambleagain · 3 months

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edit: rant edited to reflect how Snoot Game treats gender identity b/c i hadn't really done more than look at a few convos about it

I'm GBH, Goodbye Volcano High got like, the worst fucking shake

Disclaimer, I haven't played it (there is a very special irony in this that i'll get into in a bit), but I've watched people on youtube play it, and I think it's. Fine? It's fine. But everything surrounding this game, everything that happened to and around it, it's fucking wild. I've never seen a game get such a poor serve-up on the tennis court before.

It gets put up on the big console premier along huge AAA budget games. That's rough. A small intimate-scale VN about the end of the world as a metaphor for growing up and leaving highschool and changing and also a non-metaphor for the world ending as itself a metaphor for the new generation entering into what feels like an absolutely hopeless, pointless future (spoilers: the future is pretty fucking dire (the present is already fucking bad))?

Those are some rough themes! That isn't doomchief and master slayer punching guys! And not to denigrate doomchief! These are some ROUGH themes and the trust that those themes will be handled WELL isn't something you want to give out so readily! Those are themes that are easy to fuck up! Fair! But still. Oof!

To have your relatively small scale game put up as a launch title alongside mass-consumption AAA games. Ouch.

I'll admit: the art style was pretty rough, it's really rough on first look. I made fun of it too.

Then it comes out the MC is enby, that it deals with queer themes, and 4chan-esque folk go nuts over it. Snoot Game comes out which, apparently, seemingly, actually not bad! A lot more ironic but with serious themes handled, apparently earnestly, and it's overall... good!? Even some critical accounts suggest it isn't, at least, bad? Whichever: it comes out faster than GVH does, so it now has a parody-competitor dealing with the same themes, but not just as a JOKE but actually putting effort into it too. Like. That's the thing. Snoot Game DEALS with strong themes of growing up, of becoming a person, it DEALS with the themes GVH is saying it will deal with... and it uses the characters to do it too.

And it does it, by some accounts, WELL.

Ouch!

Granted Snoot Game is from 4chan and apparently I'm now reading one of the themes is Fang accepting they're a woman and they were just being enby to try and be different, and while it seems like it DOES handle it very seriously, and like, the game seems to penalize you for being shitty about their gender, and like, detransitioning IS a thing! I don't want to give TOO much trust to a 4chan-derived game either. I'm literally enby, but I also wasn't always enby, but like. Having a game where the message of "you were only trans because you were pressured into being different", it's, ehhhhhhhh not great no!

TBH without going through Snoot Game I can't really speak about it but Snoot Game overall isn't the main point, the main point is:

Some people are already now primed with associations and expectations, you already have a doppleganger as your competitor. OUCH.

So like.

Pretty rough.

And while Snoot Game, from the compressed summaries of it I've seen, seems to actually have honest heart and love in it in its final form, a lot of people just seem to be along for the hate-ride against GVH at this point because "eww the alphabet rainbow furries."

And then the writer has to step down because they found out she's into child por--wait, it was just 3d animations? That someone else made? That she was watching and criticizing as part of an article on how dumb video game porn is?

Oh. See, there's a difference between "the author is an active pedophile" and "the author watched a Harry Potter porn animation to write an article on the concept of video game porn," but in our modern era there's really never a distinction. Drawing something bad is the same as doing it in real life. Looking at it at all is the same as doing it in real life. If you see a woman's ankle on the street, make sure to head immediately to confession or God will judge you for the rape you have committed in your heart.

We live in such a media-literacy dead-end zone that people are calling the original Lolita book child porn. We live in such a media-literacy dead-end timeline that people are saying the only media that should be permitted to exist is happy comfort fluff where nothing bad ever happens because if you make bad things happen in fiction it means you're an evil villain :3 i'm not an evil villain, though, i don't watch bad media!

So of course it's fine to ruin careers because that's not EVIL. I didn't look at the BAD media so I CAN'T be evil. So you know, we have this modern purity pandemic of people thinking they're heroes for getting people to kill themselves because they drew or wrote "the wrong kind of thing" and are therefore EVIL and we're in a post-DnD world the cultural well got poisoned by DnD's secular take on evangelical protestantism's absolute morality of saved-vs-nonsaved. You're Lawful Good, you know you're Lawful Good. Whatever you to do Chaotic Evil people? That's fine. You can do whatever you want to them. You're Good.

Anyway, then it gets delayed to remove all her influence from the game, because at this point, even admitting you know what sex is online seems to be enough to ruin anything you touch tbh. Humanity's doing great, btw.

Like I can find twitter posts of her apologizing for "hurting people" by having seen harry potter porn. Your species is insane, just btb.

GVH finally comes out quietly and everyone's so fucking. MAD at this game. Hardcore 4chan whateverfolk hate it because there's queers and highschoolers. Other people dislike it because Snoot Game already came out and now GVH feels like fanfiction of THAT to them. They already met these characters, enjoyed them written like they were in Snoot Game, so how they come off in GVH feels worse. And you know, sure! That's a rough fucking shake when a fanfiction comes out before your actual release and it's good! For others it's tainted because a ""sex perver"" had worked on it. For others the art style and that it premiered alongside big name AAA games as a launch title was enough to slot it firmly in the derision zone. For some, because the queer community cannot NOT devour its own tail, it's doing queerness wRONG (Fang's parents MISGENDER and DEADNAME them!!! you can't put that in a game that deals with gender as a theme!!!!)

And then you have people who don't care about ANY of that, who are upset that everyone dies in the end and "your choices didn't matter", despite your choices affecting your relationships with the other characters. Granted? Sure! More actual endings beyond the end-of-the-world concert would be great! But comparing it to Mass Effect 3 where NOTHING mattered because the Reapers destroy everything and you pick one option at the end and their implied consequences before like 4 different changes to the ending came out to retcon "oh yeah everyone in the galaxy is stranded, everyone probably dies anyway, you accomplished nothing everyone's still dead" ? ?

The world's ending. That's the point. It's what you do with the time left that seems to be the point? Yeah? No? I'm not saying it HIT that theme well, and I'm not saying it actually failed at it either. I honestly think it did FINE. The criticism i keep seeing is "everyone died so nothing mattered." Buddy. Buddy. YOU ARE GOING TO DIE. Please do not let that convince you that nothing you ever did mattered.

Among all that it came out buggy, apparently, and the music minigame isn't like. Super. Good. Doesn't matter too much if you do well or not. Not greatly designed? So you know. The game also has just general internal problems too mechanically, so people without a dog in the race just don't enjoy playing it? Like, the art style was all on the creators, like, it's... it's not GREAT I'll be real! It's really weird. It's humans in those latex dolphin masks the memes weren't off base even i was laughing at it and groaning at yet another piece of media whose theme was "leaving highschool is like the world ending"

but like.

GVH isn't like. I dont' think this is some great amazing the best game ever. The art style's grown on me but in the way where you learn to ignore how it looks. But like, I see people complaining it's too whiny--wait, the characters aren't depressed ENOUGH about the world ending--honestly, honestly,

I think I like it? I haven't played it but I've watched it and I think I like it. I'm not like, this is probably the last day in a while I'll ever even think about the game, it isn't going to stick with me for years and years, it didnt' make a big impact on me--but I liked it well enough???

At this point, my default assumption at this point is if someone strongly openly firmly dislikes this game it's not at all for any good reasons--or rather, that it's not on the value of the game in-and-of-itself. This poor game was saddled with all this WEIGHT on top of it. Can you even dig it clear of this external context and examine the game itself for what it is anymore?

I'm writing all these words and like. I haven't PLAYED it i've just watched other people play it. I'm not even BIG into the game it's like... it's okay!

But oh my god I cannot get over what a fucking. BAD serve-up the game had leading to its release and just beyond. Oof. Ouch. God. That's real rough, buddy. I have never seen something get this POOR a serve. What an absolute rough, ravage, unfair birth for a thing into the world!

I think if the game congealed out of the aether (and maybe with a more... better art direction?) it'd be fondly remembered in small quantities?

Instead it's just... the actual game itself is just BURIED under all this mess.

It's fucking fascinating to me, honestly. It's far more fascinating what happened to this game than the game itself at this point, and that, too, isn't very fair to the poor game. I, too, am here not to talk about the game, to care about the game, to have anything to say about the game. I am PART of this problem I'm talking about. Instead of addressing the game I'm talking about the context that was built around it.

I'm here because I remembered the drama, looked into all the drama, then went to watch the game and, after seeing ALL of that, EVERYthing I read through to get to the game itself, actually seeing the game was just... like... for this? All of that, for this?

Huh.

#long #autumn says things #autumn rambles

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captainimfangirling · 4 months

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Lisa Frankenstein Review

Really wanted to see this movie because 1) I love the 80s even though I'm not from the 80s, 2) I'm a fan of Kathryn Newton from Supernatural, and 3) love zombie romance (like Warm Bodies).

Overall I thought the movie was ok. I didn't think it was worth going to the theater for (movie tickets cost so much these days plus I take the bus). I think you should wait until it streams and seems like a lot agree because there was only like 5 people in the theater with me and it just came out few days ago.

Cole Spouse's character is my favorite even though he hardly said anything but he was very expressive. I enjoyed the animation in the beginning of the film telling the story of The Creature. It explains why he did what he did.

Warning: Spoilers

The creature knew what it was like falling in love with someone and for that person to not love them back and fall for someone else. When he saw Taffy's car he knew she and Michael were in a relationship and it as going to hurt Lisa like how his past love hurt him. So he took Michael's d*ck because he thought hey I can use this to make Lisa happy when you can't.

Lisa to be was more confusing than the monster. What was the point of having her mother killed by a psycho murderer? Was it to make her desensitized to seeing someone get killed by the creature? It doesn't make sense to me since it only happened once to her. I think it would've been more interesting if she actually did kill her mother and her reaction to seeing people get killed the creature would've made more sense.

One thing I'm disappointed about is that the trailer makes it seem like Lisa was in love with the Creature during the entire movie but really she was in love with Michael. I feel like she started falling for the Creature when she realized how much he loved her. I mean it would've been ok if it didn't feel very sudden.

Also did anyone think the Creature acted too modern? It's not just about him knowing how to drive but he knew about fashion. He's from the Victorian Era, he would've gotten Lisa to put on something that would've covered her ankles not give her black sexy lace outfit.

I hated her step mother but she was right about Lisa being a selfish person. I mean she did go through something traumatic but still she was very self centered. Like when she got mad at Taffy for sleeping with the boy she had a crush on after everything Taffy did for her. I think Taffy would've fought with her mother about putting Lisa in the mental hospital if given the chance. Also Lisa didn't even realize the Creature was in love with her until the very end when she didn't get the man she wanted. She didn't seem to care when the Creature was cried twice (it was the smell of his tears but still). Also she didn't even notice how better looking the creature was getting after he kept getting electrocuted. If she at least said oh you're looking more handsome maybe I can see it has her falling for him.

The last scene was opened ended. I think the Creature killed someone for a tongue so he can speak to Lisa at her grave. She heard him from beyond the grave and decided to come back when lightening stroke her grave (exactly what happened to the Creature in the beginning). So it's his turn to take care of Lisa like she did for him. Another theory is that the Creature became like a mad scientist stealing Lisa's body to electrocute it to bring her back to him. Either way I think they're gonna keep killing and stealing body parts for Lisa because she's the new bride of Frankenstein.

Like I said it's was a fun movie but wait until it's streaming. It actually gave me Totally Killer (from Amazon Video) vibe because that movie was also set in the 80s. Why are new movies set in the 80s? Times are very hard right now (for a while) and people tend to gravitate towards those times when life was simpler and fun. The 80s does look like a lot of fun with all that color and music.

Will it become a cult classic? I have no idea because I don't get why some movies become a cult classic even though they suck.

#lisa frankenstein #cole sprouse #kathryn newton

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tsukiyon · 9 months

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Hate to rant about this every once in a while but words can't explain how much I hate the 90s anime worshippers of Sailor Moon that gets an incredible amount of joy while shitting on manga and Crystal with no stop and how I couldn't find a single one of them that actually made sense till today. I am serious, i would have agreed with them if 90s anime wasn't a mess with no character growth or depth to be found anywhere even though it was supposed to give them to characters because of more screen time. If anything, that makes anime much more less than manga, since you give characters more screen time only for them to stay the exact same for 200 episodes straight and then develop some villains or filler characters instead which feels like a joke. No need to even mention stuff that made up by anime team and didn't make any sense in the end because they couldn't wait for manga arcs to get completed (yes I'm looking at you Sailor Stars, the worst adaptation in the whole franchise) I am also genuinely sick of the way people praise Ikuhara like he saved Sailor Moon from drowning in the depths of ocean because honestly it is more like him and other directors that wanted to lead an anime as if it is original and owns to them even though it had a source material that sold incredibly well despite being a shoujo manga, completely messed up the main plot and turned it into something purposeless. 90s anime is good for those that wants a character driven story with no actual character growth nor depth and manga might not focus on every single character separately since it is story driven (which a lot of popular mahou shoujo like Madoka, Sakura does much worse than Sailor Moon) but it KNOWS what it is doing and doesn't create a mess of non-sense stuff nor a cast that stays the same from beginning to end. I am sorry but it sounds hilarious when people say that an anime that couldn't give even it's MAIN character a real development is better written than manga. Usagi stayed the same for 200 episodes straight and some of you out there still talking like "anime fleshed out this filler character that only appeared for 1 episode 🥰 manga sucks though because it lacks characterization, why none of the villains are redeemed?!?"

I love 90s anime since it is Sailor Moon at the end of the day but the way people constantly trying to trash down the manga just because it is not FOR them is so dumb. Like your anime, hate the manga that is the reason why that anime exists in first place but at least be real lol...just because something isn't for you doesn't mean it is bad.

Honestly Sailor Moon manga is a very unique work even in this era of manga and the top reason is because never have i seen a manga that is hated by it's own fans AND this much LMAO

#sailor moon #sailor moon manga #sailor moon crystal #sailor moon 90s #i needed to rant after i saw one of these big accounts on anilist talking shit about manga #and saying stuff like ikuhara and satou improved the work #because manga was trash #it felt like a joke #improved on the source material = a mess with no purpose apparently

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sourgummiesblog · 8 months

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Anime: My Happy Marriage

.. .

and my review on it! ♡ ( although no one asks for it)

♡ ♡ ♡ ♡

So,one day I got bored. I can't stand waiting for another JuJutsu Kaisen episode and Spy X Family season 2, so I started looking for a new anime to watch while waiting. Scrolling down my tablet, I come across some new interesting anime. My Happy Marriage was one of them.

My Happy Marriage is a slow burn manga series by Akumi Agitogi. A "Cinderella" inspired story that is set in Taisho era Japan. If you're into historical period manga/anime romance with a sprinkle of fantasy, this is for you! ♡

Now, here's the thing. A little trivia about myself (although no one asks for it!) I always watch my anime without knowing anything. I just go at it without too many expectations. I just love looking forward to if I'm going to love the show or not!

Since I don't have any idea about this anime, I thought it's just about romance. I mean, the title is My Happy Marriage, lol! So, I wasn't ready when the female lead (Miyo) mentioned that she wasn't born with supernatural ability. There are some scenes that made me cry because I felt bad for Miyo. She was neglected by her own father and abused by her stepmother and younger sister.

So it is safe to say that I got super excited when Miyo gained confidence and finally felt she matters too. Because she does! Kiyoka (the male lead) and Yurie (Kiyoka's elderly servant) helped Miyo to realize that she's not alone anymore. She can finally rely on someone. She has a family now and is adored by his fiancé Kiyoka and sweet elderly Yurie.

Overall, the anime was good. Of course, the animation wasn't as cool as todays famous animes like Demon Slayer or Jujutsu Kaisen, BUT it has its charms. Personally, I do love Miyos's animation. Especially the part when she finally feels happy. Her clothes, hair, and facial expressions were beautiful. ♡

If you haven't seen My Happy Marriage, it is available on Netflix. And if you ended up liking this anime, I am excited to say that there will be a season 2 on Netflix! Wohoooo! 🙌🏻

♡ ♡ ♡ ♡

- sourgummies.

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scienceoftheidiot · 1 year

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TAG GAME: EIGHT SHOWS TO GET TO KNOW ME

I was tagged by @shutterbug-12 thank you !!! Weirdly we do share a show, how surprising 😁❤️

Here's a thing : I do not watch that many shows. Partly because I don't have time, partly because I am bad at watching shows because I need to be emotionally invested to get into them, and once I am ???? I can only watch that show in particular, on repeat. Yeah I'm a grown ass adult fight me.

Ripper Street : end all be all the best show on this list that is not at all in order of good from bad for real but this one tops everything. Period drama, awesome characters, delicate treatment of issues we are still struggling with nowadays with actually sometimes more decency from these 19th century Victorian men than 21st century people 🙃. Also misery misery misery feels and a fine dry humor that makes it the perfect match. Oh, and. Dead bodies and gore happens. Also there is something to the dialogue than I just absolutely love.

Daredevil (netflix) : of course this one has to be on the list, and I love it, and I love Matt and Karen and Foggy, and I wish S2 didn't exist. All this can coexist, you know (and I love Elektra and Elodie Yung she is absolutely NOT the problem). Please do not talk to me about She Hulk or the Disney reboot, thanks (gif to make people watch it, I like my men sad and guilty they can't save everyone and covered in blood, thank you). So yeah overall a show I love and have rewatched many times but nowadays... I feel kinda bad about it and it makes me sad.

Band of Brothers/The Pacific : you know me, you know why I like these shows (no it does not stop at "men in uniforms"). We did a rewatch of BoB recently and I think it's an easier watch than the Pacific, but I think I like the latter better even if everytime it makes me feel so bad. Anyway a gif of Webster because (hard to chose between him and Leckie I admit)

Doctor Who : just. Love it. Especially RDT era. Can't chose between 9 and 10 but the best is Jack Harkness

Good Omens : I need a rewatch. Just love it. I have nothing more to say, it's great.

Scrubs : probably one of these shows I shouldn't rewatch in case I cringe a little but when we first got together with Benj 11 years ago we just watched Scrubs on a loop. I don't especially like the characters but the show itself, which is kinda weird for me (except Dr Cox. I love him)

The Sandman : last show that blew my mind. Just love everything in it. Can't wait for S2. I had read some of the comics and loved it, too. Just realized that it's the second Neil Gaiman thing in this list (3 if we count that he wrote for Doctor Who lol) and I guess it says stuff about me too

Pushing Daisies : I have loved the contrast between the whole death thing and the colourful and happy sets and stuff. This show is cute and dark and funny and I love it and I need to rewatch too when I can. (Also? Tall cutie that meddles with the dead and bakes awesome pies? did I use Ned as a template for my OC without realising ??)

I don't think it counts as a show since it's an anime so it's a bonus but if you've been following me the last 6 months, you need to hear about Fullmetal Alchemist (Brotherhood but not necessarily excluding 03. At all. Just watch it back to back. That'll do it. I love both.) (Yeah oddly enough I'm not crazy about the title character there but about THEM and of course you must have noticed)

I tag @heirsoflilith @rancid-butter @qs63 @littleragondin @dairogo @musing-and-music @magipies @goneadrift @smoothshine if you want to do it !

#tag game

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penforthewin · 5 months

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I wonder if we'll get Noob Saibot in the next game. It'll be sad to see Bi-Han die but Noob Saibot is so cool. I'm also very curious about the fates of other characters like Stryker and Kabal (love kabal) in this timeline. I want to see Jade! And I can't wait to have Shujinko and Hanzo as playable. I'm just very impatient for the next game lol

I think Noob has been confirmed for MK1's dlc, so your wish may come true soon. Jade has been referred to as Countess Jade by an interaction between Kitana and Geras, so we know she's bebopping around somewhere (yay!)

I'm curious to see how characters like Stryker, Kabal, and other characters like Kano and the Black Dragons could be introduced. If Liu Kang's treatment of Shang Tsung (bro was just a loser lmao) and Quan Chi (bitterness justified imo), he probably tried to erase the Black Dragon organization and give Kano a more low-key life.

Kabal's arcade ending shows that he's happy to live his life with a wife, kids, and a dog. Yes, he's super rich and armed to the teeth at all times, but we expect nothing less from MK11 Kabal. (Found this meme while looking up his ending to confirm the existence of the dog, and it's too funny to not include. Thank you, TyrionGoldenLion on reddit)

We already have Stryker in a way, so we can expect him to have a role in the new era. With Kabal being his partner/homie, we'll hopefully see him, too. Kabal has also appeared in Mortal Kombat Onslaught, so NRS isn't ready to throw his character away just yet.

Kung Lao's ending focused on him training Shujinko, so much so it feels like it's just as much his ending as it is Kung Lao's. And he already has a character model, so he may show up in the dlc. Dunno if he'll be like Shang Tsung and just be cosplaying as a senior citizen or will have the same backstory as the og Shujinko, but we'll find out.

I think if we see lil Hanzo, he should be the new Sub-Zero.

NOW HEAR ME OUT! Bi-Han becomes Noob Saibot somehow, so now we got a Scorpy but no Subbo.

Now, what's a franchise to do? Kuai Liang already has the Scorpion mantel (which makes as much sense as making Bruce Wayne the new Superman and pretending it's not a big deal, but that's another conversation), but's there's no longer a cryo to the pyro.

Well, Hanzo pulls the good ol' UNO revserse card and becomes Sub-Zero in Bi-Han's absence. I think this is the safest option for NRS, and turning Hanzo back into Scorpion would probably require for the former Scorpion to either A, discard his power and become a cryomancer (which would make the change ultimately pointless and would wreck his gameplay) or B, kill Kuai Liang off. Fans seem conflicted over him being the new Scorpion, so killing him to "fix" this is a bad idea.

Besides, Kuai Liang and Hanzo Hasashi have great chemistry as enemies AND allies. Their conflicts are meaningful and intense, and they're unstoppable when they join forces. But as usual, I digress.

In Smoke's ending, Hanzo looked like a young teenager and was MUCH smaller than Smoke. I can't imagine middle schooler going up against the roster, mostly because of his stature. But that's purely from an animation standpoint. Ferr/Tor worked, so maybe they could find a way for a kid to realistically hold his own against some like Shao or Havik.

Tldr: I wish I could use this material and brain power for a college essay.

#mk1 #i'm not tagging everything I'm too lazy #mortal kombat #time to lose followers

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orbitalpirate · 2 months

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I was tagged by the brilliant incredible awe-inspiring endlessly-talented wonderful @sighonaraa in the following tag game, thank you so much <3

(All Ted Lasso works referenced can be found in my pinned Tumblr post I'm too lazy to add all the links)

1. How many works do you have on ao3

17 (when did it get that high????)

2. What's your ao3 word count?

71,560

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Currently Ted Lasso.... though something else might be in the works

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Daft Pretty Boys (multiship)

All Night (Always) (jan/richard)

Am I So Obvious? (Jan/Richard)

I Wanna Deserve You (Jan/ Richard)

Burning Like There's Always Been (Jan/Richard)

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

No because I am so bad with compliments and I'm worried me being all bashful and saying "noo I'm bad" is annoying lol

6. Whats the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Probably back when I wrote Dungeons and Daddies fic (which I don't know if I'll ever return to sorry to my followers from that Era but maybe??) My fic A Boy Of Disparate Parts is pretty soul crushing to me

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

It's between I Wanna Deserve You and Am I So Obvious? but I'd probably give it to AISO

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Not in a while, I've had some homophobes send me anon asks before but I don't let it bother me, I always answer with kindness and education and it kind of takes the wind out of their sails

9. Do you write smut and if so what kind?

So I tried to write a poly smut scene once and got so embarrassed I abandoned it BUT I am considering it again so we'll see

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

I'm writing my 1st one ever now bc an anon requested it and I enjoy having fun lol

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Yep. Long story. I worked it out though.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No but I would be so honored lol

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before

I have an old ao3 account that was me and my sister writing an anime group chat fic together. It is very cringe but we had fun.

14. What's your all time favorite ship?

This is so cringe but I have a pinterest board dedicated to basically every ship I've ever had and I welcome anyone who wishes to explore it lol. The ship I come back to the most is Jenson and Cougar from the comic The Losers so probably that

15. What's a wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

My abandoned fic for Dungeons and Daddies. I had so many ideas but then I got so so far behind in the podcast and I can't write without being caught up and it feels like I lost the chance to continue it

16. What are your writing strengths?

I am bad at being nice to myself but I like to think I'm a funny writer

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Too much of my greatest strength. That was a joke. It's a lot of things.

18. Thoughts is writing dialog in another language for a fic?

Do whatever you want forever. I've experimented with form while writing bilingual characters and I think there's no one right way to do this

19. First fandom you ever wrote for?

This is so embarrassing but when I was 13 I wrote rpf on Wattpad for YouTubers Jack and Dean

20. Favorite fic you've ever written

Rubberband Man has truly been such a wonderful journey for me and I can't wait for you all to see where it goes next <3

Tagging @fanficfanattic @yorkshire-rockchick and @carolinemathildes no pressure <3

#tag game #thanks for the tag #thanks for reading my answers if you did <3

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twilightofthe · 10 months

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okay i put all my cranky thoughts into a separate post that's now drafted and it made me feel better so i'll be able to watch this episode now lol but if it gets me worked up again i'm posting the rant i'm sorry i cannot be helped or changed or saved <3

ANYWAY AHSOKA EP 2

also i forgot to say so last episode but kevin kiner my ABSOLUTE BELOVED the return of the king is real so happy to have you here my dude the ending and full theme was absolutely gorgeous

anywayyyyyy so i am guessing sabine did not make like satine and survived her shish kabobing

well there's ahsoka

oh yeah there's bean she's fine she'll be fine xD

damn filoni really gave more handwaving to having a character survive a major impalement vs me twisting myself into fucking knots writing anakin getting run through lmao

ahsoka sorry but actually i'm gonna blame u for this you still kinda seem like a mess and i don't think you were a very good teacher to sabine and now ur dropping back in on her when she's convenient to you?

well at least we know why she's so adamant against training baby yoda lol

ope here's goth girl and the fuuuuck is his NAME again i keep calling him fucking bryan

i like the fancy sithy-looking sundial tho

pfff second ep is "toil and trouble" guess we're getting witchy!

OH YEAH WAS SABINE'S KITTY OKAY

THEY BETTER BE OKAY

I SWEAR TO GOD

yea ahsoka what happened to showing up in the nick of time and saving kanan and ezra from inquisitors in rebels u were slowwww girlie

OK GOOD THE CAT IS OKAY

that's all that matters

ope one more droid hanging around ezra's place

GIRL UR SITTING UP ALREADY?!

GIRL HOW CAN U BREATHE

we do love the mechanic girl of my heart

sabine does love her explosions

no huyang hera just likes explosions

sabine works best under explosive pressure we LOVE HER

ope back to corellia i guess? we can reuse the old solo sets?

sabine

you were just

impaled

"but she's not the one who needs to hear it right now" ahhh there's the sabine and hera dialogue. ugh but i'm still not used to natasha and mary i can just hear tiya and vanessa doing it instead :(

WHY DO Y'ALL KEEP MAKING SABINE AND AHSOKA ANGRY EXES TF

"ancient ppl from a distant galaxy" waaaaaaait are they bringing in those eu dudes

no wait i think i remember something about these guys that was mention as the big bad in the canceled animated rebels sequel

or it could just be the chiss lmao

that could be it too, makes sense why they'd want thrawn

ok that is some real cool galactic map visuals i am an absolute sucker for a good starmap

ok but wait how the fuck did y'all get a map to thrawn anyway did the space whales write it

also sorry morgan but i don't personally think thrawn would go for u nothing personal you are hot but you don't quite seem his type

waaaait is fucking thrawn gonna have force sensitivity now THAT would be absolutely hilarious and he'd hate it so much

who's marrok i have no memory

y'all you can't just make thrawn work for you didn't he only work with the empire cuz he had to because it would advantage his people somehow (has read zero thrawn novels and only seen rebels)

please tell me sabine is in the fucking vents of ahsoka's ship

THERE'S THE GHOST WHERE IS CHOPPER

I AM NO LONGER FUCKING ASKING

okay so i think my issue with Mary is she doesn't have any of the same authority and purpose Hera's meant to hav

CHOPPER

MY MURDERBOT

MY SON

MY ANGEL MY EVERYTHING

Anyway

yeah

oh yeah harping in that the new republic is a total fustercluck

ew a capitalist

bro you know hera used to steal from people like you for the rebellion

sdlkfjsdk omg sabine's mom needs to talk to the teacher to keep her from getting expelled

but also y'all sabine is like 25-30 right now she's not a kid

@ ahsoka bitch you have no fuckin clue what you're doing doooon't talk about readiness

y'know maybe the imperial era just advanced medicine so later impalements don't kill people

oh oh so it IS ezra's!

sabine go find luke he'd love to have you

STOP WITH THE GAY DIALOGUE

ok so yeah she likely doesn't have force sensitvity

goddammit huyang neverMIND

so sabine IS force sensitive :) and kanan and ezra just never brought it up :) great :)

hera my beautiful ship nerd ily

bitch do NOT fuck with hera she has more presence than anyone ever

hera my dude you know better than anyone that if a ship wants to take off you gotta go try and stop it in person

ah i have been waiting like 5 long years to watch hera best pilot there was kick aerial ass

we STAN

chopperrrrrrrrr

oh yeah ahsoka's fighting an inquisitor too lmao

CHOPPER GET THEIR ASS

CHOPPER ADD TO YOUR KILL COUNT

ok this hera and chopper banter is perfect i do love it

VICTORY FOR MY GHOSTS

oh and good job ahsoka lol

aghhh sabine and her therapy cat i'm ;_;

theeeeere's sabine's mando armor

SABINE AND KANAN'S FUCKIN KNIFE I'M GONNA EVEN IGNORE THE BAD MULAN HACKJOB ATTEMPT

okay it seems like mary's kinda on and off for hera so far, she has her moments but she can't hold them

rosario keeps losing me i'm sorryyyyyyyy

natasha is doing GREAT

aaaaaand we redoing the end of the rebels epilogue!

god this makes me miss zeb

and kanan obvs but i've come to accept his death

zeb's still hanging around where is he!!!!!

ah all is right

sabine has her gay haircut back

here we go gay roadtrip to find ezra time

alright so i'm still not really vibing with jedi!sabine at All but i have concluded that this show is watchable but honestly not that good, writing-wise, sorry dave, so i think i'll be able to watch it with my brain turned off

goddammit first i thought the holograms visiting morgan were nightsister witch ghosts xD

RIGHT RIGHT HIS NAME IS BAYLAN NOT BRYAN

morgan stop simping for thrawn i guaranTEE he's not your type

oKAY

we are through with the two episodes! it is very late for me so i'm gonna sit and think on what i've seen so far and shitpost a little. i did really like seeing my rebels blorbos again even if the live action actors don't quite have their groove yet. obviously very excited to retrieve ezra <3 so yeah that was that and i'll be back for more next week!

#sw the ahsoka show #ahsoka #sw ahsoka #ahsoka spoilers #star wars #sw spoilers #star wars spoilers #ahsoka show #ahsoka tano #sabine wren #liveblogging the ahsoka show

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