#forgored to post her here oops

[ryonello]

anyone have funds to spare?

[zicdragon]

She judge

And she very dissapoint

Hey y'allie I've not posted in a while because... I forgor oops. Well it's not like I have a lot to post anyway.

Anyways, latest art. Here's my short but lorge lass; Shas'Vre Kro’Sea De'nee (Stone Fist) <- Note: Personal translation, I've tried using a more direct translation with the T'au lexicon doc but its sounds kinda sucky

De'nee is strict, and kinda pushy with those she works with. She just wants best for them although she does not realize that some of her methods isn't the way to go about certain things. She is a forgiving person though, and does not hold grudges. She comes from Kro’Sea (A custom sept owned by my good friend Vyanesh on discord) a sept usually seen as barbaric and dirty to a lot of other T'au septs and home to a lot of Kroot. De'nee was raised alongside the Kroot tribes and takes after them in their honour.

Designs for her more formal ''modern'' casual attire and armour coming up sometime. Her mane will stick out from her helmet like a Yautja though, hard to contain all that hair.

[the-fallen-aesthetics]

I posted this on twitter, I forgor to post it here oops...

Valkyr 1999 got her ramen. Continuation of this post!

[mdverse]

md's fun silly little top 10(ish) arts of the 2023!*

*pretend there's a fun cute doodled banner here (i was going to make one earlier and then i forgor)

doing a lil recap of my top 10 15 (it was supposed to be 10 and i could not narrow it down oops) best(? this is subjective as fuck i guess it's more like my personal faves) drawings of the year! *the crowd cheers* (it’s me I’m the crowd)

15: paradise by the dashboard light! i hate to rank her so low bc i spent ages on her but it seems i don't love the result that much anymore so :/ a for effort for me tho this was ambitious

14: cheer girl loml <33 not my best art technically by far but i went way out of my comfort zone for the background and the art style (for no good reason really) (i just wanted to do a comic book thing bc superhero vibes or whatever) (it did not come out the way i was hoping it would bc i think i got too frustrated) and we simply must acknowledge that. atog did things to me that i cannot explain

13: barbie meme brittana! not my best britt but truly sooo fun to work on. there's nothing quite like finding a fun rendering process and then never using it again (i don't even remember how i coloured this but i like it)

12: cowboy barbie brittana <3 they look good, they're about to kiss, cute outfits, pretty sunset, probably went overboard with the rim lighting, what's not to love? a banger, i think

11: i say a little prayer! i think the background is. questionable at best. but this is still really fun! i think i got possessed when i got to the uniforms bc goddamn they look good

10: klaine?? on this blog???? almost unheard of lmao i truly did not think i would like this one as much as i did. i'd consider ranking it higher if i wasn't constantly Unwell over brittana but again, i'm biased, and no one here should be surprised about that

9: pre-wedding kiss my beloved! with how insane i've been over this kiss it could perhaps be higher. i am gnawing on my desk as we speak i'm not even sitting at a desk rn

8: rutherchang x black swan!! ohhh u guys i don't talk about this one enough i think it's so pretty i don't even remember how i did the colours for it but rhgfdkngd?? love her, love pushing the glee x bts agenda, if any of u gifmakers are interested in making a mike chang x black swan lyric gifset i will love u forever

7: colour wheel challenge! busted my whole tiddies and ass for this one fellas. labour of love etc etc i think staring at the bright colours for so long made my eyesight worse and i'm ok with that

6: mistletoe brittana <33 easily the best instalment of this series by a long shot! recency bias (and also just. regular bias) made me rank her much higher originally but technically she is not the most intricate piece so she must sit down here

5: prom queen kurt! dare i say a girlslay on my behalf? i think i dare. every time i see it i think i should do more glosters (glee posters) and then i don't. i could tho they would be really cool (source: dude trust me)

4: churro kiss redraw!!! genuinely Not Sane over this! never have been, never will be! redraws are like crack to me and so is this kiss

3: furtana!! i neglected them for far too long this year but if neglecting them results in art like this i may have to do it again

2: heart kiss <3 if we're being really honest and vulnerable in the chat tonight i think this is technically my best of the brittana kiss screencap redraw things i've done this year? which i did not see coming but i guess practice means refining the process etc etc so. it makes sense ig. mwah to them <3

1: black or white gcv animation <3 it's not what i would call my best drawing (bc it's, yknow, not just one drawing) but it is what i would call the product of a very obsessive thought and some frantic art sessions. objectively it's the coolest thing i've done this year so it deserves the top spot. i'm proud of it i hope to glanimate more next year. also this isn't art but it's a relevant post that i still stand by months later

[moe-broey]

LIKE........ @ the prev post about armor flexibility.... Is That Why They Look Like That??????? 👁️👁️

Something else fascinating I found actually when I was comparing the Askr trio (knowing Alfonse and Sharena largely match, just a few differences here and there), wanting to get a better look at Anna...

SHE HAS BIG ASS BOOTS?!????? I. COMPLETELY FORGOR ....... it gives her a real sturdy look though. Hm.... (Thinking about what this means for characterization/how I'd draw her, esp w my initial impressions kind of. Being the opposite of this LMFAOOO oops 😥)

[marshmellowtea]

um. so. y'all are not going to believe this but i've had this goddamn fic finished for MONTHS but i fucking FORGOT??? IT WAS HERE??? IT'S JUST BEEN SITTING IN MY DRAFTS BECAUSE I FORGOR I HAD THIS BASICALLY FINISHED FIC JUST WAITING TO BE EDITED AND PUBLISHED HGKLDSJFLKSD 😭

ahem. anyway. sorry for yelling lmao. onto the actual fic summary—basically, i decided to write this silly little thing about human, arospec lila trying to talk about a newly formed crush with an aroacespec will. it's very silly and fluffy and writing it made me giggle a lot, don't expect much angst here, aside from like a sprinkling of it for flavor lmao. that being said, small warning for some toxic queerplatonic partner vibes between will and lila, but the vibe is still mostly lighthearted, it's not too heavy or extreme. also, they're working on it, okay :') they're teenagers who grew up in abusive/traumatizing environments (which isn't referenced in the fic but it definitely shapes the way i characterize them), they don't exactly know how to navigate a healthy relationship yet but they're trying goddammit dskjfkdsafj

.....uh, if it's not obvious, i don't remember how i do summaries on tumblr fics ngl. there'll probably be a cleaner one when this gets posted onto ao3 in a day or two, so watch out for that if you'd prefer to read this on there :P tbh depending on how tired i am when i get home from work i might just go ahead and post it on there later today anyway oops

anyway, onto the fic now, hope y'all enjoy! :)

William's curled up on his side, his upper body in Lila's lap and her hands kneading though his hair in a way that mostly feels good, when she suddenly asks the question.

"Is it called a crush because you want to crush them?"

If this were closer to the beginning of their friendship, when he wasn't already used to weird comments like these from her, William might've sat up in shock, giving her a wide eyed expression of surprise she loves to make fun of him for. This is far from the most outrageous thing she's ever said to him at this point, however, so instead, he just furrows his brow and shifts in her lap a little, not even bothering to open his eyes.

"Lila, what on earth are you talking about...?"

She's quiet for a moment, her hands pausing in his hair. He lets out a little whine at the loss of feeling, and she huffs softly before continuing, using a little bit more of her nails than she was before.

"Let's say...like...maybe there's this person someone thinks is...pretty," she says, the words awkward and stilted in a way he's never heard from her before. "And because they're so pretty, that person keeps...fantasizing about...squeezing them. In their arms. Or under them."

"Ew," he says on instinct, his fingers moving to fiddle with the black ring around the middle finger of his left hand. "Is this hypothetical person you, Lila?"

"No, dumbass!" she says, and, well, that almost sounds convincing. "I'm just...asking. For a friend."

"But I'm your only friend?" he asks, genuinely confused. His confusion then turns to pain, however, as she pulls on his hair—apparently she found that insulting. "Ow! Lila!"

"I have friends. Mainly friends you picked out for us—" and here, she huffs, sounding put upon about his choice in companionship, as though she has no choice in whether she hangs out with them too, "—but friends nonetheless."

...okay, admittedly, he understands where the offense came from now. But still, she claims that he's her only friend enough that of course he would make that assumption, and it's kind of not fair for her to punish him for words he's repeating from her. And also, he must reiterate, ow.

"Anyway, it's for a friend," she insists, sounding a bit wounded. "God. Don't be a smartass, Will, it's not flattering on you."

"I'm not trying to be a smartass, you're just—ugh, nevermind," he grumbles, letting his eyes flutter open and sulking at a vague point in the distance. His hand drifts toward the hem of her skirt, and he plays with it absently, rubbing his fingers over the soft fabric. "Putting all that aside, well...um, sorry to your friend, but I don't think I'm the right person to ask about that. I still don't really...understand all that stuff."

"Ugh, right, I forgot you were a fucking loser."

"I'm not a loser!" he protests, but he immediately feels childish for it. He flips onto his stomach to hide his face in her lap, and is instantly rewarded with one of her hands on the nape of his neck, a warm, comforting weight. "That stuff is just...really complicated..."

"Yeah, well, that's cuz you're a loser who's bad with people, it's okay to admit it."

There's a twinge of fondness to the insult, and despite himself, he finds himself smiling a little at her tone. Still, he decides to retaliate by lightly pinching her on the calf, just under the crook of her knee.

"Ow! Will!"

She then retaliates to him by pulling on his hair again, harder this time despite only using one hand this time. He lets out a sharp cry of pain and smacks her on the knee, pulling out of her lap briefly to escape her wrath. She drops her hands once he's fully off of her and sitting up on his knees, and he scowls at her unamusedly. She scowls back at him, the two of them staring at each other for a moment with equal mild annoyance.

Then, face unchanging, Lila pats her thigh, looking even more annoyed when he doesn't immediately lay back down. "Well?"

He huffs, but obliges, flopping back in her lap, this time on his back so he can continue to scowl at her. One of her hands returns to his hair, and the other one grabs one of his hands, though it feels less like she's just trying to hold his hand and more like she's trying to restrain him from pinching her again. Which, really, is super unfair, given that he only pinched her because she was being mean to him. And she pulled his hair first. And because she always does shit like that to him, and he deserves a chance to defend himself...

...but she is petting his hair in a way he likes again, and her face has softened a little, her lips now in that tiny but genuine sort of half smile he's only seen her use on him. He smiles back at her, wobbly and crooked but just as genuine, letting out a little laugh despite how genuinely annoyed he was moments prior.

"You're the worst," he says, and though he kind of means it he also says it with all the affection in the world. "I am sorry I can't answer your question, though."

"Hey, you also suck," Lila says back, but she coos it in the same tone you'd use on a mischievous kitten. "And it's fine, honestly. It wasn't a serious question, anyway. I was just wondering."

They fall quiet for a moment, and William's eyes fall to their enjoined hands, watching as Lila idly traces his fingers with her thumb. He's struck, then, with the oddest thought—that being, the thought that he does love her, in some weird way, despite the constant bickering and occasional minor physical attacks. That no matter how hard she makes it for him, he cares about her, and he wishes she would let him do that without constantly trying to fight on him on it. That he's glad she loves him too, in her own weird way, because he knows she does but he rarely gets to hear her say it out loud.

Not that he could ever say all that to her, of course. She'd probably just make fun of him.

Instead, he says, "If it is you with the crush...you know I'd be here to listen if you wanted to talk about it, right?"

He's fully prepared to let the conversation end there, but she surprises him by letting out a sigh and saying, "I don't even know if it is a crush."

He raises his eyebrows at that, trying not to get too excited at the information he was just given. She'd hate it if he said it out loud, but she's really easy to scare away on these rare moments where she's being open or vulnerable. "What do you mean?" he asks, trying not to let his voice soften too much.

She groans loudly at that, but she hasn't stopped talking, which, score. "I dunno, William, like...the crush question was kind of a joke? But it also kind of wasn't?"

"...elaborate?"

She groans louder, loud enough to startle him a little. She must feel him jump, because she gives his forehead a light pat before entangling her fingers back in his curls, the hair petting having mostly stopped now. "When I think about this person...I want to hold them as tight as possible and not let go. And squeeze their hand and just...hold it. And..." She grimaces, like it pains her to admit it. "And kiss them, maybe. On their stupid fucking face. Among...other things that I suppose I will graciously spare you."

She taps his ring as she says that, making him giggle. "Thank you. I appreciate that," he says, smiling broadly up at her for a moment, before his face falls back into an inquisitive frown. "Uh, but, Lila? I'm no expert, but that...kind of sounds like a crush? I think?"

Lila chews on her lip for a moment, as if considering what she's going to say next. When she finally speaks, William feels his heart cease to beat in his chest.

"I know, but like...a lot of that is stuff I want to do with you."

William feels his face grow hot, and he stammers, ice cold panic rushing through his veins. Yeah, he loves Lila, but it's not—it's not like that, he's not comfortable with—she knows he's not—

"Not the—not the sex stuff!" Lila says suddenly, giving him a harsh shake. "I didn't say I wanted to do all of that with you, take a fucking breath, Will!"

Oh, he did stop breathing for a second there, didn't he? He inhales deeply as she told him to, letting her lightly push him upright into a sitting position on the bed. He twists around a bit so the two of them are side by side, and she immediately tugs him closer until his head is on her shoulder, awkwardly patting his back in a way he thinks she thinks is comforting. It's a little much, honestly, given that his moment of panic really was just a moment—it was instant relief hearing that she wasn't into him in that way, and it was kind of silly for his brain to jump to that conclusion in the first place anyway since he mostly knows where they'd drawn the lines in their relationship, even if they've never properly talked about it—but he likes these rare occasions where she attempts to fuss over him, so he's not going to protest it. It's kind of sweet, really, even if it's obvious that she has no idea how to comfort another human being.

"Ugh," she says, sounding more embarrassed than exasperated. "Ugh, I said that in the stupidest way, sorry." Then, after a pause, she adds, "I mean...it's all just stupid, anyway."

"Aww, no it's not," William says gently, very comfortable in his place nestled against her side. "I guess I get what you mean though. I know I don't have a crush on you, but I like cuddling you and stuff. I'd also feel weird if I suddenly felt the same thing toward someone else but with...other stuff too."

"Yeah," Lila says, sounding mopey. Probably because she's moping, if he had to guess. "It's not just that, either, wanting to touch this person the way I touch you also feels...different. Different in a way that's hard to pin down." She grabs his hand, having lost it in the shuffle of him sitting up, and once again starts tracing his fingers, running her thumb from the back of his hand, over his knuckles, down to his fingernails. "Like when I do this, it's nice, but I don't do it and think about you as my boyfriend. That'd be disgusting."

William barks out a laugh at that. Technically, it could be an insult toward him, but... "I understand what you're getting at, yeah. I want to be close to you, but you're not, like, my girlfriend or anything, and I wouldn't really want you to be. You're just my friend, but, like...a friend I want to cuddle sometimes."

"Stop saying that we cuddle," Lila scoffs, but the usual harshness of her tone is still rather muted. "But...yeah. Exactly. It's different, and it's weird."

William hums sympathetically, giving her arm a light pat. "Yeah," he says quietly. "That does sound weird." Then, after a pause, "I'm sorry. I wish I could help you more."

Lila huffs, letting her cheek rest against his head. "I wish you could help me more too," she bemoans, interlocking their fingers and giving his hand a light squeeze. "But, whatever. Just talking about it was nice, so you're not completely useless..."

Once again, William just chuckles at that. He can hear the unsaid Thank you in her voice, and he appreciates it, even if he does wish she would just be straightforwardly nice to him sometimes. Hell, not even just to him, oftentimes he wishes she would be nice in general.

But...she's working on it. He thinks. There's been a notable difference in the way she speaks to Martha, Ellie, and Regina, anyway. She's still on guard around Jim and Mike, and god, he doesn't really know what her deal with Tanya is, but she's friendlier with those three, at least. And...she's been more gentle with him, too. At the very least there's been less pinching.

He's proud of her. Which is another thing he can't tell her if he doesn't want her to laugh in his face, but, hey. Maybe one of these days.

"...you wanna lay down now?"

Her question pulls him out of his introspection, and William hums in assent, finally pulling his head off of her shoulder. "Are we gonna take a nap now?" he asks, rubbing at his face absently. "I got pretty close to falling asleep before, well, you know."

She sniffs, pulling her legs up on the bed and stretching out behind him, her arms and legs reaching each end of the mattress before she rolls back onto her side and brings them back in again. "I mean, you can sleep if you want. I don't know if I will."

"You're not at all tired?" he asks, curling up on his side next to her. They're face to face, now, and he can see the exhaustion in her face, as well as the slight flush left over from their conversation.

"Not really," she sniffs. "I mean, I don't think I am enough to fall asleep. I just want to rest my eyes a little."

"Oh, okay," he says, scooting a little closer to her. "I might fall asleep. You didn't want to talk more, did you?"

Lila shakes her head rather than verbally answer, and William smiles to himself. She's probably going to fall asleep too, judging by the way she's gotten quieter, but even if she doesn't, he knows she'll let him sleep if he needs to. Unless something important happens. Or if she gets too bored, which is something important in Lila's eyes.

She kind of is the worst, but luckily for her, he kind of does love her.

He lets his eyes fall closed then, pressing further into her warmth until he's tucked up under her chin. She doesn't fight him on it, instead wrapping a loose arm over him, and he knows he's very close to drifting off when he hears her ask one last thing.

"You're really not going to ask who my hypothetical crush is on, are you?"

It's an interesting remark—it almost sounds like she's disappointed. Still, it's not interesting enough for him to open his eyes. "I kinda figured I wouldn't be able to get it out of you," he mumbles, his voice muffled by her collarbone. "Why?"

"...I dunno. I just thought you would ask," she says, starting to sound close to sleep herself.

"Did you want me too?"

"No." She says it too quickly. And then amends, "Maybe..."

He laughs sleepily, resting one curled up hand on the small of her waist, wanting to be closer, trying to absorb the warmth she's emanating—she's always run weirdly warm, while he runs weirdly cold. He tries not too think too hard about the way that makes them fit so well together. "Tell you what. When I wake up, I'll pester you about it as much as you want me to. Is that okay?"

"I didn't want you to pester me," she protests, scowl audible in her voice. "Just ask."

He laughs again, suddenly overwhelmed with a feeling of contentment. "'m gonna pester you so hard," he mumbles, picturing the dirty look he knows she's giving him despite his still closed eyes. "'m not gonna leave you alone until you give me answers. S'only fair."

"How's that fair?"

"I mean...you pester me when I try to keep secrets from you."

"I don't..." Lila protests, but she sounds amusingly unsure. "Besides, since when did you try to keep secrets from me anyway...?"

"Mm. I stopped tryin' cuz you'd always get them outta me."

"Well, that just sounds like your fault."

"...maybe you've got me there," he mumbles, chuckling softly. "I jus' think it's my turn to needle somethin' out of you this time, mmkay?"

"Yeah, well, good luck with that," Lila grumbles, making him giggle more.

The two of them then lapse into a comfortable silence, aside from their quiet breathing. William is just about asleep when he feels more than hears Lila murmur something against his hair.

"Love you, Will. No matter what happens."

He smiles widely at that. She must think he's asleep—rarely does she say that she loves him without him saying it first. Even then, he usually receives it with a (nonetheless fond) eye roll, so hearing it now sounding so genuine is a nice treat.

"Love you too, Lila," he mumbles back, his voice slurred from exhaustion. "Love you so so much."

Given the way she tenses, he was probably right in thinking that she thought he was asleep. Still, she doesn't respond with a protest or a quip like she normally does, whether because of her tiredness, or maybe she just wanted to let a nice moment linger for once. Either way, he'll count that as a win.

It doesn't take him long to drift off after that, the smile not leaving his face even as he sleeps.

[soapiemomorphine]

GUYS GUYS GUYS I HAVE A 2012 TMNT AU 💞💞💞💞

Warning; long text post up ahead

So it’s a yakuza au; based on the season after the defeat the triceratops or whatever

Contains: raph/Mona Lisa, dead splinter and dead Leonardo, Casey jones/donatello, morally grey turtles, them having depression for a lil while

Beware: this au is a lil angsty but I have the timeline in my head so it’s all good

When I say angsty I mean leo is dead 💀

(Don’t kill me pls)

So it begins to diverge from canon with leo dying in the final battle or sum

And the whole Space shenanigans shit is over they won and the saved the world but Mikey, Donnie, and raph are hella sad bc their fucking brother just died

Splinters will says sum ab wanting to be buried in Japan

And while they getting the body and proper Japanese burial in order I know nothing ab burials in other countries and shit( and if ur wondering why they haven’t buried him in Japan yet, they were kinda in the middle of an intergalactic war and the like)

Everything in nyc remind they of splinter and leo and they literally can’t take it

So when they have a funeral in Japan… they just stay there

Raph

You can’t get anything out of Raph other than anger; he ends you punching anyone who looks at him a lil too long or with pity

He’s so sad; and so mad as a result( he had his breakdown when he saw his brother dead and again when he buried him; those times were the hardest he ever cried)

Leo was supposed to be constant was supposed to always be there; the water to his fire; to calm him down and to round him out and he’s not here and he’s never been more miserable

While the hamato fam is staying in Japan he doesn’t stay in the house for long

He ends up fighting a lot of yakuza; not in a need to be a hero; but only to release all the emotional turmoil he feels

He can’t look at his brothers without feeling like a failure

Mona is trying to get him to talk to his family but to no avail

He ends up making enemies with the local yakuza Oop

And that’s how everything starts

But before we get into that….

Donatello

He goes into this deep depression after the funeral

After splinters death he threw himself into his work and technology to prove himself, he felt he needed to make sure that he never loses any member of his family ever again

But after Leo’s death he barely leaves his bed

I hc that donatello had the most body dysmorphia and internalized hatred due to being a sentient turtle; basically he’s rlly in his head all the time and has major self esteem issues

And they only get worse, bc even with him trying his hardest, with him barely takin any breaks in an effort not to lose anyone and he does? That absolutely kills him on the inside

He barely leaves the bed most days and his thought process is all; what’s the point? Everything I do fails anyway

Casey makes sure he eats and shit

With Casey’s help he’ll sometimes go to the park

And every once in a while they’ll have a family hamato dinner( I forgor to mention earlier that at this point Casey, Donnie, Mona, Raph, and Mikey all live in the same house; but they hardly see each other)(April gets her own apartment and visits Mikey daily)

And during one dinner….

Mikey

He deals with his grief the healthiest; he tries to spend his days doing things, like water plants, feed stray animals, eats lunch with April, learns to cook Japanese food,

He still cries himself to sleep

He makes friends like how he usually does

He helps April get a job at a convenience store

He help mutaanimals get jobs and all

He helps the neighborhood with any problems

He’s spends all his days outside bc his house feels so empty and even though he makes dinner for everyone he never sees them eating it; or even if they do eat

He visits Leo’s and Splinter’s joint shrine daily; he cleans them and keeps them well kept ( I have no idea how Japanese shrines work 😭, but Mikey does and he takes care of them with the rice and the incense and all)

He tells them about his day and his feelings

He gets a therapist along with April

His therapist suggests a family meeting

And the first family meeting is held in total silence

Mikey keeps on trying to make conversation

And raph gets all snippy; probably says something like, “ why do you even care? It’s not like Leo’s death is affecting you anyways” bc he’s a dumbass and emotionally constipated

And Mikey just snaps

He explains how he really feels, how much Leo’s death affected him

But then he says, “ but the worst part, is that I didn’t only lose Leo. I lost my whole family”

And he storms out leaving Donnie and raph in shock and to stew in their guilt bc they haven’t even talked to their youngest brother, of course he’s hurt and the only one who ever tried to ask how he felt is gone now and they’ve been terrible brothers and-

AND THIS IS PART ONE OF MY YAKUZA AU :)))

look for the 2012 tmnt yakuza au in my tumblr to read the rest

I promise the rest is ab how they actually become a part of the yakuza

(Spoiler: the head is someone you wouldn’t (maybe you would) expect)

-next-

[beetleconjurer]

Here’s my year of art piece for May! To tally forgor to post this at the time oops.

The character came to me in a vision, and I had to draw her, but her pose looks a bit stiff. Still one of my favs so far

[fae-fucker]

Review: Of Goblins and Gold by Emma Hamm

Oops forgor to post this review here lmao :')

So ... I read the prequel to this book and hated it with a passion of a thousand suns. You might be asking, "Ok you hater, why go back to read the actual book it's based on?"

Mutliple reasons. 1) I am a hater. 2) I wanted to see if the author would put more effort into her solo projects/proper books. 3) A friend of mine tried to read it and failed, and I am nothing if not a martyr. 4) Yeah?? Maybe I want to read a story with a hot Goblin King in it? I didn't grow up watching The Labyrinth, I'm a little younger than most who did (and also not American), but just the words "Goblin King" are enough to perk my cat ear headphones.

Basically, I was curious, and I wanted to give this book a chance. Against my better judgment, clearly.

I'll cut to the chase: the writing is very poor. Like, to the point where I wasn't sure about the target demographic of this book, that's how juvenile and simplistic it was. Slightly better than the prose in the prequel short story, but only marginally. It reads like something for lower middle grade kids, it has this fairytale quality that's less dreamy and more "Oh, this could be a picture book." To illustrate my point, I literally, physically recoiled when I read the word "fuck" being uttered by a character, because it was so sudden and jarring amidst what had been, up to that point, Freya sees ball, see Freya run.

The writing isn't helped by quite poor and derivative characterization, the nonsense worldbuilding, and the shaky and confusing plot.

Freya is a fae-hating, determined young woman who totally isn't an off-brand Feyre (and I say this as an SJM hater, so being an off-brand copy of a shitty character is not great), and the Gerblin Shmerblin is a ... star-themed hot guy in a billowing shirt. Cool. Great. They don't have chemistry as much as they have scenes together and interact with each other. I understand Jareth and his magic bulge was the sexual awakening for many, and you will not get that here.

My biggest problem with this here book is the plot, and the ... themes? Morals? Where do I even begin?

Freya is understandably distrustful of goblins because her parents taught her to be. Esther is ... not. So Esther runs away with a goblin boy, and Freya thinks that she's been kidnapped because she finds a threatening note saying so (that I don't remember if it's ever explained who wrote it), and sets out to save her. She encounters the Gorblin Shmorblin, who challenges her to a game to fetch mystical artefacts from each of the four courts. Which she does, very easily. It apparently takes her weeks, though some of that time she spends brainwashed, I suppose. We then find out that it was easy on purpose, because the Gablin Mamblin wanted her to win for some reason?

Spoiler warning because I have to go into some very confusing things that honestly won't really spoil anything because it's hard to make sense of what's exactly being spoiled.

[Spoiler start]

Basically, the Gobbo Bobbo knew Esther came willingly, but also wanted Freya to think she didn't so she would fight to get her back, but also he wanted her to succeed along the way, but also he tried to trick her into getting frozen for eternity, but also he wanted to get her to join him in his court, but also he didn't care about Esther at all and was just doing this to amuse Freya because he saw that she was too special for her mundane life and wanted more from it and he was there to provide that excitement by being the villain in her story? I honestly could not tell you his motivations at all. I don't understand why he didn't just show Esther to Freya right away, cleared up the misunderstanding, and then try to seduce/lure Freya in the way he attempts it at the end of the book, while Freya still believes he stole Esther? Of course he'd fail then! It's made clear that Freya staying with him is very important, so why did he waste all that time toying with her for shits and giggles? It makes no sense. And at the end, when it shows that Freya winning was a huge mistake, him toying around with Freya like this made no sense at all. If so much was at stake, why did he fuck around? What was his actual motivation? What did he want? Yeah, read the sequels etc, but the reader still needs to have some idea of a character's motivations in order to connect with them and, important in a romance novel, root for the romance to happen! The narrative attempts to paint him as this manipulative mastermind, and yeah, he's one of those things, but we have no idea what goal he's manipulating Freya towards at all. In the end, it just looks like he fucked up real bad. Tried to swing his dick around and got it stuck in a blender type shit.

[Spoiler end]

The way this book handles Freya's prejudice leaves a weird taste in my mouth. As per my review of Stolen Goblin Bride, Esther is an insufferable brat who is always right and who never gets punished for hurting those around her, particularly Freya. The narrative and other characters encourage Esther to act like an asshole, because Esther is Good and Pure and Righteous and anything she does is automatically correct, even when she knows it'll hurt her sister. And even in Freya's own story, Esther is vindicated in the end. This book confirms what was hinted at in Stolen Goblin Bride: Esther is always right, and Freya is always wrong. It's honestly kind of gross and uncomfortable to read, like the author had a grudge against Freya and thus didn't want to afford her any sort of depth or complexity.

We're led to believe that Freya, who was raised to believe goblins were dangerous and had no reason to believe otherwise, is actually a close-minded bigot who is in denial about how great the fae are and how much she longs for the adventure the fae world provides.

I get what the author was going for, but it falls really flat for many interconnected reasons. Freya spends the entire book warring against the idea of goblins/fae being good people and the fae world being wonderful, believing they stole her sister, and denying her (supposed) attraction to the Gabby Babby, up until the last pages of the book. But when she finally meets Esther and sees that she wants to be there, Freya's like "Oh ok. Nevermind then. I was wrong and you were right." Like, she kept denying it for so long, to the point it became unrealistic, but all it actually took was Esther, the paragon of righteousness, to tell her to calm down?

It's not even a bad idea, it's fine to have Freya's sister be the final nail in the bigot coffin, but the way Freya folds and doesn't even doubt or give up or feel bitter or anything? She spends the majority of the book being in denial, then flips on a dime and goes "Ok! This is fine actually! Whatever my little sister wants, uwu!" It's the author showing her hand very blatantly. Like, ok, the book is over, time for the finale and for tying a nice bow on the character development. Freya is done with her arc, which was less an arc and more of a 90 degree angle, so now her anger and denial are just gone despite being her main characterization throughout. Freya's entire character gives way for Esther's wants and needs, and it's framed like Esther is doing Freya a favor by opening her eyes to the wonders of the goblins.

And the thing is, Freya being in denial isn't even that convincing, either? Obviously, she needs to be in denial for this particular plot, I get it, and the part that doesn't work for me is the idea that there is something to deny at all. Pretty much every fae creature she encounters wants to hurt her, except for the one side character she forces into servitude who doesn't, at any point, show that he wants to help her out of the kindness of his heart and nothing else, and one character who Freya admits herself seems nice but harbors some threatening edge deep down (not even that deep down, tbh).

So all the things Freya sees that she needs to deny are ... pretty landscapes. The mere existence of magic. The supposed kindness of the fae? The promise of adventure, the type she's on right now trying to save her sister from a creep who, as far as she knows, kidnapped said sister?

Freya's in very unconvincing denial about things that nobody in their right mind would actually be in denial about. Are we supposed to believe she doesn't care about her sister and just wants adventure? That she's convincing herself the goblins are evil to have a righteous thing to war against, to make herself a hero in her own story, and Esther's kidnapping is just an excuse to go on a quest? I think that angle would've worked, and there's hints of that in the book, but it's clearly not the point. Mostly it's Freya's bigotry we're supposed to dislike about her, and her wanting to be a hero is painted as a good thing she's repressing.

Now, I'm not saying that bigotry is somehow justified if the people you're bigoted against "prove" that they're as bad as you think they are. Nor am I saying that it's on them to prove you wrong. But this is a book, and Freya unlearning these things needs to be shown convincingly to the reader. Here, the fae are in obvious positions of power over Freya throughout and several of them attempt to kill her, yet her reacting negatively to this is painted as irrational? Why purposefully write cruel and threatening fae and then punish your character for thinking they're cruel and threatening? It doesn't make any sense.

The fae: We stole your sister and you need to do a bunch of dangerous shit to get her back. Also, a bunch of us will drug you, dehumanize you, insult and belittle you, and generally treat you like disposable garbage. The one guy who doesn't hate your guts is in charge of all of us.

Freya: Hmm ... Yeah that matches what I know about you. Kinda shitty tbh.

The fae: Omg how racist! Open your heart to how great we are!

In the end, Freya wins, but we're meant to dislike that. Because Freya winning means the Gabba Babba loses, and he's correct about everything always, just like Esther. The narrative tells us Freya is wrong, Esther tells Freya she's wrong, the Gorblo Borblo tells Freya she's wrong. You just end up reading about this poor woman who's gaslit into being the villain by everyone around her, and she ends up blaming herself when shit goes to hell, and then Esther is the one who's like "it wasn't your fault uwu" and I'm not sure if we're meant to agree?

Freya somehow ends up being the butt monkey of the entire book despite also being the most interesting human ever (according to the Gebble Pebble) and having the easiest epic quest of all time. She's a bigot but we never see her get any reason to unlearn said bigotry, but she's still punished for her beliefs, ones she got from her dead parents and never had reason to question. Her love interest tells us she's the most fascinating human he's ever met (and he's met millions, despite being a thousand years old? That's a lot of humans for a guy who mostly seems to live on non-human soil) despite her never doing anything extraordinary.

This is a very confusing read. I'm leaving two stars because it baffled me more than it infuriated me, but I wouldn't recommend it unless you're really desperate for lukewarm goblin content. On that note, let's talk about Stolen Goblin Bride and the way these two books together open up a well of wack-ass worldbuilding.

First of all, the events in this book do not match up with the events in Goblin Bride. Lux "kidnaps" Esther in that one, but here, she says she went willingly. The Gobbo Shobbo also distinctly helps Lux kidnap Esther, all while claiming he didn't, and that goblins don't do that. Here, it's also established that only children go out to the human world to sell their wares (???), but in Goblin Bride, there were named characters who were clearly adults. Lux himself can't be a child, either. Assuming he's not much older than Esther's 16, and also that he lives and travels alone and owns a home, he's probably around that same age. That does not make him a child. It seems like the author just retroactively made those goblins kids in order to make Freya look even worse. We also find out that the King Gob is well-loved by his people, despite there being a bunch of starving people that Lux has to personally feed on the king's orders? Man must have one hell of a propaganda team. We also don't really know, generally, what sort of world Esther and Freya come from? They talk about being peasants and living in a small village, but at some point Freya mentions a zoo? Huh??? And again, why are the goblins sending their kids to trade with humans that hate and fear them? What kind of sense does that make? Goblin Bride establishes that they trade mainly with nobles, but this book outright says that human nobles left Freya's village centuries ago. Why are the goblins still sending their kids to remote human villages?

All in all, it's a shambles of a book. Nothing really works, and the protagonist seems to be punished for existing, a pawn in a heavy-handed moral that doesn't really work at all. The characters are bland amalgamations of tropes, the worldbuilding is wacky and nonsensical in a bad way, and the plot has the integrity of string cheese. There are tiny glimpses of a vision, of a goal in there somewhere, that might be enough to please some, but I don't know if I'm masochistic or mean enough to pick up the rest of the series.

[drfirefly08]

OUUU WE'RE AWAKE!!! LETS GO TO THE GIRLY AND CHECK IF SHES OKAY :((

WHAA ITS NAHIDA POSESSING KATHERYNE!!! I WAS WONDERING WHEN THAT'LL HAPPEN

OU WHAT ITS THE END OF ACT 2??? well i suppose that makes sense since act 2 is about the dream thing and since we're finally awake, end act! AND NEW DENDRO TRAV CON!! NICE

ouu not the end yet tho, the quest says its still act 2,, maybe like a post act 2 before we do act 3!!!

lets talk to nahida then!!! glad we managed to save her in time!! even tho i already knew, im still glad

oop, kath's a puppet, i mean i already knew that

ooo nahi's telling us that shes trapped in the sanctuary!! PAIMON I AGREEE, HOW DARE THEY!!! YOURE A GREAT ARCHON NAHIII

and the sages plan, theyre doing it to replace nahida yeah? thats why they did that never ending dream

ouu the project tighnari was invited too,, i forgor about that!! maybe it is related

ouu no one realized smth about the akasha because the sages convinced them that dreaming is bad,,, makes sense!!

oh thats good that the akasha wouldnt be able to do the whole dream thing again for a while

OKAY NOW ITS THE ACTUAL END OF ACT 2!!! ouu a new world quest and nilou's and tighnari's story quests are unlocked!!! like i did with liyue and inazuma, i'll do world quests, hangouts and story quests AFTER i finish the main archon quests, which took a lot of time since i had other things to do...

i'll take a break here and do some other stuff, idk when i'll start act 3 but i'll start it at some point

[personashitposting-va4]

My tagging system

So, as I'm writing this I'm in the process of doing an overhaul of my tags on all of my posts on here. Yes, all of them. This post is mostly for me to remember what all tags I use (because GOD i've used several tags on here in the past and forgotten about them). However, if you'd like to use this to help navigate my blog, then be my guest!

Characters

So the way that I'll tag characters is pretty straightforward. I'll just use their name (e.g. Akechi will just be "#goro akechi").

For the characters that don't have a canon name/have more than one name that the fandom calls them, I will tag them as follows:

P3 protag (male): I forgor P3 protag (female): I forgor this one too oops P4 protag: Yu Narukami P5 protag: Ren Amamiya "Sumi" Yoshizawa: Sumire Yoshizawa (I know that tagging her like this is spoilers but shhh it's fine. This blog isn't exactly P5R spoiler-free anyways lol)

Tags involving 2+ characters

Sometimes, when I really like the dynamic between two or more characters, I'll make a tag dedicated specifically to said dynamic. Essentially, I'll just take the arcana of the characters involved in the dynamic, and combine them. For example, posts revolving around the Akechi/Futaba dynamic would be "#the hermit/the justice". The order that the arcana are in is decided by what order each arcana is in in a tarot deck (e.g. the Hermit comes before the Justice). Not every character dynamic will be tagged like this, only the ones that I personally enjoy enough to tag. Also, I will almost exclusively be using this tagging system for the P5 cast. Sorry P3/4 fans!

Other tags with 2+ characters

#pts - Posts involving several (or all) of the Phantom Thieves #other p5 characters - Catch-all tag for P5 characters that I don't post/care enough about to tag them individually

Games

#p1 #p2 #p3 #p4 #p5 #p5r #p5s

AUs, theories, meta, all that

#acau - For the P5 Adult Confidants AU #antithesis au - Art, writing, etc where the roles of Ren and Akechi switch (i.e. Akechi as the protag and Ren as the "detective prince") #futago siblings - Content where Akechi and Futaba are half-siblings. One of my personal favorite theories tbh #shuake art #akechi meta

Other media

#icons #wallpapers #edits and such - For edits that I don't really know how else to sort. Good examples are moodboards and pride flag edits

Artists

I have a small handful of P5 artists on here whose stuff I really like. I try tagging their stuff with their name so that I can find it easily in the future :)

#marudyne #doodleodds #scruffyturtles #vhvrs

Miscellaneous tags

#vu's posts - My posts #vu's rants/vents - More negative stuff. If you want to block this tag then I get it honestly, since not everyone wants to read more vent-like posts (even if the posts are related to Persona) #fav - My favorite posts. This tag is used for funny/lighthearted stuff #fave - My favorite posts. This is for more serious posts (e.g. an art piece that I really like) #end of previous tags - Sometimes I'll put the previous person's tags in my own. When I do that, I'll typically put this after their tags that I copied #va4 rambles in the tags - When I go on tangents and such in the tags. It's kinda fun to look through here sometimes and see what kinds of stuff I've tagged with this omg