#genuinely have no clue where I was going with this

[envy-of-the-apple]

“just how inexperienced he is. He's so sensitive and he's louder than you as he whines and pants into your neck”

OMG pls tell me you’ll consider writing virgin gojo in the future 🙏🙏🙏🧎‍♀️🧎‍♀️🧎‍♀️that’s sounds too good to ignore, imagine him being kinda confused (since it’s his first time) and he’s just surprised why the reader fighting back “you get to experience this awesome feeling yet you’re fighting back? Why I mean I’ve been missing out on SO MUCH all these years, Wdym you don’t want it? It’s amazing!” Or he’s clueless on what to do: like anon said he’d be super sloppy, he wants to try out every position, tires to make her 💦, doesn’t know where to focus her face, her body, their bodies connecting??? Please be open to writing virgin gojo 🙏the concept sounds amazing (don’t write it tho if you don’t want to, this is just me adoring the concept)

In 'Monsoon', it's highly implied that Gojos is a virgin!

like everything that he tries, he'd be frustratingly good at it, but it'd be so much cuz the guy has no clue what he's doing. In the end both of you are overstimulated but he isn't stopping cuz mini Gojo is starting to perk up again and hey ig we can go for round 11:)

And i feel like masochistic gojo works so so well in the soulmate au cuz in some ways his soulmate is on an equal playing field with him. So he doesn't have to really 'pretend' to be subdued. Whenever his soulmate hurts him, it's genuinely thrilling. @whore-for-hawks made a point that he could just heal himself, but he happily chooses to wear them and i go back and think about that all the time omgggg-

Virgin+masochistic gojo is such an amazing concept but considering I'm not a big fan in general for masochism/sadism all that much its not gonna be anything too horrifying. Like i definitely bet gojo would very much be into his soulmate breaking his bones buuuut i don't think I'm gonna go any further than slapping/scratching/biting etc etc

[myeagleexpert]

𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝕻𝖆𝖘𝖘𝖆𝖌𝖊 𝖔𝖋 𝕳𝖔𝖒𝖊 𝖆𝖓𝖉 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝕬𝖜𝖆𝖐𝖊𝖓𝖎𝖓𝖌 𝖔𝖋 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝕾𝖙𝖆𝖗 ( PT2 )

And if you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go? Howl's Moving Castle x Twisted Wonderland Au (Vil x Fem!Yuu) PS: This was written before Vil's new updates in the new chapters, I'm delving deeper into Vil's character and I know he's not just "a pretty boy" but for the direction of the story, he will have to follow this personality aspect a little more to this characteristic part of it. So I'm sorry if this isn't the most faithful fic to the character he is. I promise I will edit better, so that it has better quality.

Part1 You're here Next

"Bro, if you don't come soon I swear I'll get her alone!"- Ace stood with his arms crossed outside Heartslabyul's kitchen while Deuce carried a beautiful and tasty strawberry pie that Trey just made, the smell of pie woke up all the members of the dorm leaving them in a wonderful mood, if even the tyrannical Riddle smiled with that pie it would certainly work on Yuu too right?

"Don't rush me Ace! After all that stress yesterday the least we can do is apologize to Yuu."

"And you needed to give Trey more work and make him another pie so soon?"

"Well….er….With model students we must go beyond simple apologies!"- Suddenly, Deuce's jovial face turned red but he quickly remembered that shame should not stop him from apologizing to his friend.

"Come on! She's not even that mad!" raising his arms in resignation he continued “Okay, she is angry! But this happens almost every day, she is already used to it, and besides…” the nosy man put his finger in the gelatinous broth of the pie and licked his fingers. in such an unpretentious way “It’s not like she’s going to disappear out of nowhere and we won’t be able to say goodbye, she’s our friend.”

Deuce sighed heavily and finally agreed with his friend. Trapolla, with a genuine smile, began to remember some adventures they had already had and plan new adventures with Yuu and Grim would also love the antics. And hope filled their hearts. Planning after planning. After all, Yuu would always be with them, right?

“I'm grateful that you managed to get here as quickly as possible.” With a serious voice, the old crow thanked everyone present in the mirror room, from teachers to leaders and vice-leaders, some of Yuu's colleagues were also there.

"We know it's something important Crowley, we need to discuss this as soon as possible" - it was in the middle of breakfast that Riddle heard ADeuce's desperate screams, and when he turned up his nose thinking that the morning had already started badly he couldn't imagine it would get worse.

“So what do we know so far? I only heard loud noises all morning” - the lion grumbled

“The members of my dorm, Ace and Deuce, when they went to pick Yuu up for classes early in the morning, discovered that Yuu and Grim had mysteriously disappeared.”

“Have you looked for clues in the abandoned dormitory?”

“ That's the problem: the entire Ramsharckle Dorm is gone! Not even a piece of wood on the floor, no ghosts, just a mark on the floor where he used to stand” Trey replied and while he already felt anxiety in his heart, he knew that the first boys must be feeling it more. When the two arrived screaming like maniacs in the dorm asking them to follow Trey knew something was strange, due to the fact that his precious pie was dropped on the floor. Not even in an overblot had Deuce dropped a cupcake, but a pie on the floor must have been quite a problem.

“Oh, now that’s a problem.” putting his hand over his mouth Jade whispered discreetly in Azul's ear

“There are rumors all over the school. How could an ENTIRE dorm disappear out of nowhere? What about our protection field?” Leona had had his precious 9am post-sleep nap interrupted when conversations from all kinds of beastmen started to get very loud and his sensitive ears picked up some things.

“I heard that Yuu hasn't shown up to class yet. Did you take their notes?”

“The meteor shower was incredible yesterday! I took several photos and posted them on Magicam!”

“There is a horrible smell near the statues of the seven! A very strong smell of rotten eggs and vinegar!”

" You will not believe! You know that girl's dorm without magic? IT DISAPPEARED"

“Our protective field detected nothing, no changes.”

“What if the dorm is gone but Yuu and Grim are still somewhere in the school? Can Rook use his magic and try to look for them both?”

The hyena knew two things: Nothing disappears without a trace and that Yuu would do anything for her and Grim to survive. No wonder she survived 7 overblots. They are alive.

“Yes, Monsieur Dandelion” when reciting his unique magic, the hunter combined it with a magic from his wand so that everything he was seeing, others would also see with a projection of his magical range - an idea that came from Yuu.

i s e e y o u

Spell cast but no result, Rook searched every dormitory and every hidden corner of the school, the deserts of scarabia to the bottom of the waters of octaveinelle, in the royal school, in the noble school, in the cities they had visited before but nothing… for one good period of time….nothing.

“Je suis désolé, I didn’t find anything”

“Oh for the seven! How terrible! What do we do?" Crowley, oh so sad, exclaimed.

“Did they come home?"

“Did she run away?” “But what happened that made her run away so suddenly?”

Some voices whispered among themselves, others created more theories about what could have happened.

Malleus was in the corner of the room, absorbed by the shadows of the room, he could see how each person missed Yuu and Grim and how emotions were expressed on their faces, but Schoenheit's looked strange, it wasn't the same expression as sadness that Heartslabyul's dorm leader,it was Silver's expression when he was a child doing something wrong and Lillia caught him in the act… oh yes… guilt.

“Let’s split up, if the dogs just whine, it won’t help anything!” with authority determined to find the two, Crewel spoke out -“The two first year pups, Trey, Riddle, Blue, Rook and Jack go to the Ramsharckle to inspect for any clues in the dorm, any smell, footprint, anything.

Ruggie, Jamil, Jade and Carter, I need you to interrogate the students and find out how the rumors came about and if we have any useful information. Kalim and Epel, stay in this group too.

For the rest, check the library to see if there is any phenomenon linking last night to Ramscharkle's disappearance and calm down the dorms.”

“Any information must be said immediately. Stay calm, we will find them.” concluded Trey and they were soon dismissed

"Child of man, how did you know that Grim would precisely knock down that vase?" - prince in all his wisdom, asks Yuu who had just picked up a vase from the shelf exactly 5 seconds before the monster cat appeared out of nowhere and knocked in the exact location of the vessel.

"Intuition." Malleus's gaze asked for more information and so she graciously gave it “It's when we have the act of perceiving, discerning or sensing things, independently of reasoning or analysis to conclude something, you know? “ “Could this be a magic that only belongs to humans?”

“I don’t think so Tsunotaro” she laughed so cutely “So when you get a feeling about something, go ahead, there’s a good chance you’re right.”

Go ahead

His eyes narrowed and followed Vil's movements, who silently took another path from the research group.

Some things were discovered in each group:

1- The dormitory is completely gone, with all the members. 2-there is a very slight smell of Yuu in a single small section 3- Sam's friends saw Yuu just before the meteor shower started 4- Yuu was upset with some people (rumors) 5- All photos of the meteor shower are blurry 6- Absolutely nothing else

The students looked disappointedly at the paper list before handing it to Crowley, just some facts with few connections between them and no matter how much they looked for some magic or some phenomenon to explain what happened but the results of their efforts yielded nothing, just hearts. sad and heavy consciences and remained that way for a few days.

Until one day, the universe decided to smile at the boys again and especially at the manliest boy in Pomefiore who was pouting on his bed after being tugged on Vil's ear.

“Umnh…hello pewpaw?” “Hello my sweet! How are you?" his grandmother's voice calmed the lilac-haired boy for the first time in days “I’m fine grandma, things have been really complicated these days, but I’m trying hard to get stronger!” “Okay, grandma knows you’ve been having a rough day, so send an extra box of apple juice for you and your friends!” “Thank you, I’m sure they’ll love it-” “And Yuu, how is she?” my crush is missing in the middle of the world and we have no idea if anyone would say we will see her again, thank you “Well, she is… fine….but something happened that-” “Yesterday she said she wasn’t feeling very well, so I gave her that apple and lemon drink and wow! She looked really pretty!”

what WHAT?

“Yesterday grandma? What? Where?” genuinely confused and stunned even more so because Rook appeared out of nowhere next to him and silently asked to turn on the speakerphone on his cell phone. “I bumped into her in the village on Sage Island when we went to make some apple juice deliveries, I even thought you would be close to her with some friends! A pretty girl is not meant to walk alone!”

“How was she, grandma? Was she ok? Where did you see her exactly? “ Exasperated and anxious, the boy tried to control himself so as not to make it too obvious how worried he was! But Crowley, in all his old bird wisdom, ordered that no one should speak of this matter outside of the NRC people.

“She was in front of a store when we bumped into each other, I don't remember the name of the store because some were already closing. I don’t know why but she feels different”

“Like what grandma?” “Like…. magical…. but isn’t she the girl without magic who studies with you?” “Yes, yes… And!… ah… How was she d-different?" - increasingly anxious he had no idea what to think and what to ask without shouting that she was missing “I didn’t see him… um…. She likes it differently, I don’t remember what”

Rook thought of a strategy while Epel pulled out his hair, the hunter wrote on a piece of paper he took from the desk the most direct questions about what everyone wanted to know!

“Grim.was. with. her.? “I didn’t see him… um…. She looked different, I don’t remember what but it was the only thing I remember.”

“Did.she.tell.where.she.was going?” Rook's handwriting looked like a drunken French monarch writing, so give Epel credit for reading that riddle while he was trying not to pass out

“If she said, I don’t remember, she had some bags in her hand and that she had to run because she was in a hurry.” “Hurry.to.what?Hurry.to.where?”

“I don’t know Epel! I don't go around meddling in people's lives! Why are you so interested in her life? It’s like you don’t see her every day at school!”

“Sorry.dear.grandma.I’m curious.ha.ha”

“Anyway, do you know what happened here? Your uncle—-” the dear, sweet old lady couldn't finish the day's gossip because Epel had nervously hung up and ran off to send messages to the first-year students while running like crazy to Crowley's office.

Rook celebrated the victory and elegantly told the evil queen the news. Meanwhile, Lady Pewpeaw looked in the mirror and thought: I already know! She changed her hair! Or is it the hair that changes people? She looked very chic and elegant. Ahh, I hope my grandson Epel can win the heart of that beautiful girl!

As Epel ran with all the strength his legs could carry, which was a lot now that he was in the Spelldrive club, he sent messages to the other first-year students excited about the possibility of Yuu being found and a certain hunter was able to smile knowing that he would have fresh news to tell the evil Queen.

After a brief meeting between the first-year students and briefly with the leaders, Crowley allowed them to investigate possible clues. The boys searched every alley and store with their hearts burning with hope, Deuce was ready to hug her while Ace was preparing a lecture on why she disappeared out of nowhere leaving them all distressed. Jack concentrated as he remembered Yuu's familiar smell, the smell so different from the bunch of men in NRC, the smell that was unique to her. Epel was looking for the address that her grandmother had given her, always looking at the clock and the port, if she could only stay until sunset, that means she would have to leave before dark.

----- The sun finally set, giving way to the moon that illuminated the boys' journey back to school. The hopeful young hearts returned broken, hopeless, shattered, and without any trace of Yuu. Each one informed their dorm leader, Leona just turned her back and tried to sleep knowing that no matter how much she closed her eyes she wouldn't have rest until she found Yuu, Riddle for the first time didn't finish the strawberry pie, and Vil…. Vil was different. Vil was “strangely strange”, when even after receiving the news about Yuu's case he couldn't sleep properly, even with a beauty campaign that was going to make his skin wasn't radiant and a pimple appeared on the corner of his chin.

“The Campaign is tomorrow. How can I let such futile emotions ruin my skin just for tomorrow”? – the poisonous king thought as he touched up his makeup looking at a small hand mirror, taking care that his facial features didn't show the makeup.

“I can't believe we didn't achieve anything Jack!” Vil heard some voices in the hallway.

“It was a good attempt Epel. One time or another we will find an answer.”

“But…but we were so so close! I went to the exact store my pewpaw said but no clue!Damn! When the fuck we gonna have a track like this?!” maybe at another time Vil would fight with Epel for letting his accent come out rougher but the conversation was getting to the queen's delicate nerves

“In Tiana’s Palace there was only the smell of food, nothing of Grim or Yuu. I’m sorry Epel.” Vil might not have seen it, but he could have sworn Jack was rubbing his neck and looking down, probably feeling guilty about for not having found the prefect.

Is he to blame, Vil?

A voice called from the mirror and Vil was so scared that he dropped his mirror on the floor, breaking it into pieces, and he could no longer hear the gossip. But that wasn't the worst, my friends. The worst was right in front of the young prodigy's face. A wrinkle in the middle of the forehead.

“In the name of Gucci this can’t be happening!”

Is he to blame, Vil?

If he hadn't been so worried about his precious skin, he would have noticed a small bat watching him in a corner of the bathroom. Quickly composing himself, he headed to the Film Club at the appointed time.

The moon was shining in the sky and all Vil could think about was the last moments he spent with Yuu, if he said sorry, would she come back? No no, he's not the problem! This is pure coincidence! He turned over the bed and looked for his beauty sleep, but only found guilt and loneliness.

“Maybe a walk will help relax my nerves?” - he put a comfortable jacket over it before opening the door

It was supposed to be just a walk, through the hall of Pomefiore's grand corridors But Vil's desperation led him to the port of Sage's Island with his broom, looking for one last hope of finding Yuu. After all, to get a proper beauty sleep he had to solve the problem of his insomnia first. Some stores were still open, parties, nightclubs, a small village but so bright! With people laughing and talking, how lovely. Every person who recognized the celebrity asked for a photo and an autograph and the question he wanted to ask everyone died in his mouth. """Have you seen this person recently?"""

Putting his acting skills to good use, he put on his best face that didn't show how terribly guilty he felt and lost in his thoughts he entered the dorm, maybe the Film Club had something that could distract him, spend some time energy and quality sleep, maybe some sleeping pills… something…. the bedroom is not the best time right now, not when he can't sleep. And here he is, in the pit of frustrations. In the place where that day happened.

“The weather is pleasant tonight, wouldn’t you agree, Schoith?” Malleus's cordial voice cut through his train of thoughts, like the brakes on a speeding train. He had just entered the club, then closed the door. The atmosphere was strange, like sticking your hand in a hornet's nest with sleeping bees. What was the great one doing here?

“Greetings, Draconia. I thought I locked the door, the club is closed now. As you can see around, everything is a mess. ”- Vil gestured his arms indicating the mess that the studio was around, with open boxes and disheveled wigs, it seems that the students who remained there after he left did not clean up the mess, much to Vil's annoyance.

“What a vulgar club this is. With such vulgar fantasies.” Malleus's repetitive voice was like a poison, the atmosphere was no longer “strange”, it was cold and heavy, the heir of the Valley of Thorns did not hesitate to hide the contempt and hatred mixed in his words “And you are the most vulgar thing from here."

The bees woke up.

“Yes, it’s messy! A few rotten potatoes didn't clean up the mess, they'll see about it tomorrow! It's none of your business.” Angry, the bees buzzed away, leaving the environment more agitated and hostile. No matter how much Vil tried to remain classy, his eyebrows showed his indignation and his fists were ready to attack.

Malleus approached, circling the leader of the Pomefiore domain, like a predator and his prey. The prince's eyes shone a bright shade of green and his pupils became increasingly thinner. Through the window, some thunder and lightning ripped through the sky, revealing Malleus' internal storm.

“I heard that there will be an important campaign tomorrow. Surely, you don't go that way, do you? Please don’t ruin the Queen’s reputation, after all, how do you want to continue her legacy if you have broken nails like any commoner?” looking directly at Vil's closed fists, Malleus smiled with disdain and a slight satisfaction seeing the oh so beautiful Vil shaking with anger.

“How dare Malleus? I don't know what you're doing here but leave immediately!” - furious, the leader of Pomefiore took a step forward and pointed to the door, his face red and with some blonde locks falling from his hairstyle irritating him even more. He dripped snake venom into every word he said, but when has a dragon died from snake venom?

“It is very bold to challenge the Prince of the Valley of Thorns, Schothein.” Stepping forward and coming directly face to face with Vil, he laughed elegantly with mischief in every note- "Don't worry, I won't spend any more time with you, I'll just hand you a gift."

With all the doors and windows closed, Malleus raises his hand and a green smoke with sharp thorns invades the Film Club, and with a simple look thorns wrap around Schoith bringing him close and totally paralyzed, the heir's malicious laugh grows ever louder. But before he recites a macabre ancient magic, in a language that not even Vil himself understood, Malleus's power was clear, shining in an electric green, with his scepter firing across the entire environment. When he finished his rush, Malleus passed his cloak over Vil's body, which was still frozen on the ground.

“You won't be able to talk to anyone about your curse. Send my regards to Yuu.” That said, he just left the club with a Machiavellian glint in his eyes.

As soon as the door closed, Vil managed to release the air he didn't know he was holding, the smoke and thorns were breaking apart and erasing the tracks as if they had never happened. When trying to get up, Vil realized how weak his beautiful and athletic body was but it was when his knee creaked that even standing up he was paralyzed. He looked at his shaking hands, recognizing the familiar hands with veins and wrinkles looking like an old, colorless raisin.

“No…no…not again!”

He ran to the mirror of a nearby dressing room, and his ugliness was so great that he broke the mirror. A fairy's gift is a dubious thing, but coming from Malleus, Vil can confirm his greatest fears in the mirror: He was old and magicless.

(っ◔◡◔)っ �� Every like, repost and comment is very welcome and appreciated. ♥

Want to see more? See the masterlist <3

[notlikearegularmom-blog]

I love you, Star Wars. It’s ruining my life. 

I resurrected my long-dormant Tumblr to write 2k words on my complicated feelings about the Bad Batch series finale, and I feel better now.  

I love Star Wars. I love this show. Earlier in the season, I went shot-by-shot on how great this series is when it’s on its game. 

Considered in a vacuum, that final episode is great. The sequence on Tantiss is tense and thrilling. The visuals, as always, are top tier. The epilogue hits the right emotional notes... and it all fell flat for me. 

I think my harshest, but most concise, critique is this: The season went in circles on stuff that ended up being irrelevant and ran out of time to tee up the emotional payoff. 

I’m aware I’m in the minority. If you loved this, I’m not going to tell you you’re wrong to love it. I’m glad people loved it; I wanted to love it. This show remains one of my favorite recent Star Wars things, and the fact that the ending didn’t land doesn’t change that. 

I’m genuinely bummed that this didn’t work for me, but here’s why it didn’t. 

The storytelling fails to get us where we need to be for that ending – and there are two main reasons for that: 

Structural issues with the season-long plot arc that have downstream effects on characterization and themes. 

An over-reliance on misdirection to create tension. 

Big time spoilers ahead, obviously.

Structure 

For the first two seasons, the show is episodic – you get these tight little two- or three-episode arcs but there’s never a season-long plot. For the final season, they set up a central story around the show’s mythology (Tantiss). All the action should lead to that end, even if we get some one-off episodes along the way. That’s something they hadn’t done before, and I was really looking forward to it. It’s ambitious to switch things up, and I like it when shows take risks. 

Setting up the mytharc 

The actual plot progression when we get there, though, is weird. No one loves a hunt for a MacGuffin more than I do – you often get some of your best character moments in those stories – but you have to eventually find the MacGuffin, or your audience starts to wonder where things are going. 

It takes nine episodes to get to a significant plot reveal. That’s more than half a season of not giving the audience information – not teasing partial clues, just not giving. And the main thing the characters find is something the audience already knows (what’s an m-count), even if the characters don’t*. The big problem is that there are no breadcrumbs leading to the next part of the story, and I started to get concerned that it was because the central plot wasn’t going anywhere. 

* I find that really hard to believe. In TPM, Qui-Gon tests Anakin’s m-count on his iPhone. There’s an app for that.  

The story arc 

Two-thirds of the way through the season, the arc laps itself and circles back to where we started. 

It’s a decision that could make sense – the basic premise of the show is Omega daddy-daughter bonding with these guys while helping them do their missions.  

You can’t entirely blow that up in the final season. You still need some episodes of exactly that, and that’s why she returns to them early in the action.  

But once she gets taken to Tantiss (again) we basically just do the arc over — and we’ve already had mini versions of that exact arc in both seasons 1 and 2. We’ve been here before and it doesn’t really show us anything new – and, for it to work, it should. 

This is all too bad because individual episodes are fantastic: 1 and 3, and 10 and 11 are all no notes amazing. Episodes 5-7 form a really effective short arc, and 9 has some of my favorite visual moments in the entire series in it. 

But episodes often felt like they’d been written in isolation – excellent by themselves, but they don’t do the thing they need to do: introduce the next progression in the mytharc. 

That isolation also seems to mess with some key characterization. 

Character 

Everyone feels a little inconsistent from episode to episode, but it’s especially noticeable with Crosshair because this is his season. 

Episode 7 Crosshair and Episode 14 Crosshair feel like different guys, both of whom aren’t quite the same character as Episode 15 Crosshair. 

In 14, Rampart says something to Crosshair like “people like us are only ever loyal to ourselves” and he responds, “I’ve changed.” But that’s never been his character’s central struggle. He’s incredibly loyal with deep values even when they’re badly misguided and THAT is his problem and has been for three seasons. He did war crimes out of a belief in something larger than himself. He’s a good candidate for the chip because he’s inherently loyal. They say that explicitly early on in the show.

And sure, maybe Rampart is projecting his own experience onto Crosshair – but then why does he accept that framing and respond like it’s true? And we get a foreshadowing moment like this tension is going to come to a head – but then these two are never in the same scene again and the question about Crosshair’s loyalty never comes back up. 

Also in 14, there’s an exchange where he tells Wrecker that he ‘owes’ Omega for not leaving him behind on Tantiss and essentially that’s why he’s there. 

But my dude has been openly established as loving Omega even more fiercely than the others, all the more for being late to it, since like a third of the way into the season. Putting us back in a place where he’s pretending that he doesn’t care as much about her as he does ignores like nine episodes of character growth.  

This was the point where I started wondering if they’d written the final two episodes first, and then backfilled the rest of the season. 

In 15, he’s willing to throw his own life away for everyone else, and that’s much more in line with the rest of his arc. But... 

This would be a really affecting line, but it kind of comes out of nowhere. I think it’s a moment to create tension: if their team as an idea – and the thing the whole show is centered around – is dead, maybe they’re also individually going to die? Probably, because they end this scene with a visibly injured Wrecker saying ‘we all know the risks.’ But up to this point we’ve gotten nothing about how Crosshair felt about Tech – or even more broadly about their team being irrevocably changed by their experiences. He literally never talks about it, even in scenes where it would have made sense to talk about it. 

(This would have been the perfect time to tee this up.) 

He avoided talking about it so thoroughly that I thought we’d get a watershed emotional moment at some point, like late in the third act of the season. Add 45 seconds of meaningful dialogue to Episode 12 (it’s barely 20 minutes and the shortest of the season, so there was definitely time), then this all falls into place and that Episode 15 line lands perfectly. 

(This is the scene, right here. It’s even nicely framed for it.) 

And I’m just not sure how to feel about the fact that they resolved Crosshair’s PTSD arc by... removing the outward symptom of his trauma. 

Misdirection 

They spent a lot of time on misdirection in order to create tension, like a whole lot. So much so that there’s not enough time spent laying the groundwork for the ending we get. 

These are the main teases: 

Omega is probably Force-sensitive, and that will have big implications. 

I love Ventress but there’s no reason for her to be here. The problems and questions she introduces don’t end up being relevant. ‘Can you grow to your full potential without giving up the people you love?’ But Omega doesn’t end up faced with that hard choice. 

No one ends up facing hard choices – like, have we earned our rest now or do we keep fighting? That’s a really compelling question — but the characters never have that conversation on screen. The choice just sort of happens to them in the space of like 10 seconds, right at the end. They’re not even active participants in it. 

No one is safe; everyone might die. 

Not a bad choice at all for a final season. But we go from ‘you’ll never grow with these guys holding you back’ at the midpoint to ‘you have to live because she needs you’ in the finale with no stops in between. It feels like Episode 15 is the conclusion of a different season than the one we’d been watching — and I think I would have really liked that season. 

CX-2 is someone significant. 

Even if a reveal is a non-reveal, you should still, uh, reveal it. 

The other guys, though, look badass and are cool af, and we should have gotten more than seven minutes from their first introduction to them dying en masse in the dark (in a sequence where it was hard to keep track of who was who). 

If it doesn’t matter who CX-2 is, what were these guys being held back for? 

There are a bunch of smaller moments as well that seem to be leading the story in a direction, never to be addressed again. You know that saying about how if you introduce a gun in the first act of a play, it needs to go off by the third? 

That one’s a literal gun, which is funny — but there are several plot elements that just appear and then disappear. 

Focus  

In the final season of something, you really feel that ticking clock. Where and how the story spends its time feels more urgent, and I thought the choices here were odd. 

We get a few side plots and character cameos that feel like filler, which is probably to be expected. But I think the best example of what I’m talking about is this: 

The comedy villain from season one gets nearly 35 minutes of screen time down the stretch, while Wrecker, a main character whose fate we care deeply about, gets maybe half that.  

And, sure, Rampart’s death was satisfying because that guy is the worst. But I honestly don’t know why they brought him back and chose to spend so much time on him. 

Justice for Wrecker, in general. He gets nothing to do. Echo has more impact on the plot (and possibly more dialogue), and he’s only in a third of the episodes. 

And to be clear, I would be fine spending time on things like past characters if the story had really hit the other beats along the way, but what we get feels unfocused. 

Is the main theme of the season redemption? Loyalty? Self-determination? Letting go of who you thought you were supposed to be? Ultimately, it’s none of those things because it tries, at different times, in different episodes, to be all of them — sometimes in contradictory ways. 

And with that… 

I’m being really hard on something I love here, but... I wouldn’t give this much thought to something mid. I care because it’s really good, even if, ultimately, I feel like the execution could have been better.  

(I went with The Tortured Poets Department for the musical joke in the title, because it’s topical — but Never Let Me Down Again was sitting right there.) 

[didyousaykfc]

help now I need to put something over this? should I do a bunny? this looks super plain 😭😭

[trinket-squeaks]

I need to make more friends in creative spaces, I gotta start being able to ramble for hours about cool fursona designs I saw or and fantasy world concepts I'm pondering and be able to ask for advice on how to improve on this or how to start learning that. I just desperately miss the sense of actual connection I use to feel when I was online in my teens. I need to find more weirdos who won't judge me for being new at creating art and content and who will appreciate the niche I'm trying to fill.

[bluesidedown]

.

[randomwriteronline]

"Pohatu."

The voice echoed like a knife hissing as it scratches marble. The prisoner (the only one, completely isolated from the rest of the city), huddled in a nook, shivered a little further away into the corner he'd tucked himself into and held onto himself a little tighter.

He did not respond to his own name.

Deliberate steps moved closer: clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Their rhythm was slow, cold; they accompanied a scrutinizing stare.

They stopped before the cell.

The air felt freezing.

"Pohatu."

The prisoner did not answer.

"You are not stupid. That I know."

The chilling voice was soft. It spoke lowly, taking the time to properly enunciate each and every word perfectly.

"I am certain you know what I am here for."

Once more, only silence replied.

"I would advise you do not make this harder than it already is."

He watched as the prisoner's knuckles shook while tightening around his own trembling shoulders, as though trying to hide his weakness.

"Collaborate. For your own sake."

A sob tore through the room.

Another.

Another.

Another.

"Please," the prisoner finally babbled, voice hoarse from disuse.

Broken.

It was his turn to be faced with the silent treatment. Not a word reached him as he cried inconsolably, naked face pressed against his arms, for what seemed like hours.

His brother stared on, unmoving, expressionless, until the wailing died down and the body slumped on itself from the release of pent up emotions.

"I take it you have returned to your senses."

A crooked whine.

"I do not believe I understood that."

A confused mumbling.

"Speak clearly."

"Yes!" his brother sobbed.

His orange eyes looked into blue ones pleadingly, begging for help, for forgiveness. He watched them furrow, watched clouds of condensation pour from the sides of the white mask.

"You are guilty of a terrible crime."

"Yes."

"You are aware of your misconduct."

"Yes."

"You are aware that I cannot call you brother."

A pained wince: "Yes."

Another long moment of quiet passed.

The prisoner had shifted his gaze onto the floor.

The Toa watched him, fists clenched as tight as he could.

"Are you sure your forgiveness is deserved?"

The body shook from another hysterical sob, as though it had just been struck by a lash: he inhaled sharply a few times, but could not bring himself to speak.

"Answer me."

There was another attempt. Again, nothing came of it.

"Pohatu."

"Please..."

He stared.

He stared at the pitiful thing so powerless and miserable, completely alone, curled on itself on the floor as it shuddered.

"Please..."

He stared at the pitiful thing speaking in a voice that crumbled upon itself like gravel rolling uselessly down the side of a mountain.

"Please, I... Please..."

For a long stretch of time, nothing happened.

Then the door to the cell unlocked.

Pohatu dared to look up: Kopaka stood over him, unflinching, unreadable, hands balled up in fists hard enough to crush boulders between his fingers, looking down with his glimmering blue eyes as the air around him crackled with frost.

He could have so easily torn him apart right now.

Only the two of them, here, in the dark, far away from any other form of life who could have heard any commotion or cared enough to investigate.

Nobody would have even known. Not until it was too late.

Kopaka kneeled before the former Toa and pulled him into a tight embrace, one hand cradling his nape while the other pressed hard on his back to squeeze him closer to himself.

He allowed himself a sigh in relief only when he felt the other's arms wrap around him, his face against the crook of his neck.

Pohatu held him by the waist tight.

"I missed you," he sobbed.

I missed you too, Kopaka could not say despite how desperately he needed to.

He tightened his grip.

Then the pain came.

Blinding and sudden, cruel, immense, so profoundly unexpected that all he could do was choke on his own breath.

His torso fell backwards, bending much farther that it should have. His heartlight pulsed erratically as he heaved, adrenaline rushing through him and locking his every muscle in place. His legs were slumped, completely unresponsive like the rest of his lower body; all that was keeping his entire form from crashing on the pavement like a broken doll were the kind, solid, dependable arms of his brother.

A hand wriggled in the now empty space where it had shattered his spine in a morbidly playful way.

He was laid down gently, all things considered.

His eyes only stared at his butcher wide and thoughtless like those of a helpless Rahi before a much faster predator.

Pohatu smiled down at him sweetly, exactly like he always did.

"I missed your soft spot for me."

He tore his hand out of his brother's spine with a ghastly crackle, not even flinching, to wrap it around his throat. He yanked: Kopaka coughed out an anguished wheeze as a chunk of his neck was thrown out, clattering a few bio across the floor.

Pohatu pressed his thumb between the Toa of Ice's face and his mask, applying just about the slightest leverage possible to part the two. It seemed to take ages, for the 'pop' of a dislodged Kanohi to echo through the silence of Kopaka's frantic breathing; but even with all that time for a counterattack at his disposal, he did not manage to raise even a single finger against the other. He only stared, fearful, shocked, in denial.

His brother laughed in the same way he always laughed - a gentle, booming sound, friendly and pleasant, that warmed one's heart.

"You couldn't hurt me if you wanted to with all your being," he mocked him, making the sneering words seem like yet another lighthearted joke as he twirled the Akaku between his fingers: "And isn't that why Tahu and Photok are dead?"

He looked onto the other's face. He'd seen it so few times - after being overwhelmed by the Piraka on Voya Nui, for example.

He remembered it had been awfully surreal, to see it; almost frightening, but familiar somehow.

It stirred nothing in him now.

How lovely.

Pohatu leaned closer to it, until he could feel the shaky breaths from Kopaka's mouth curl around him. They were barely fresh.

"A shame, eh?"

Blue eyes stared at him, horrified.

What a beautiful thing to see.

"That you couldn't save me after all."

He laughed his usual jovial laugh again as he stood up, joints cracking a bit while he stretched. The Akaku clicked onto him in a perfect fit.

How nice of him: pure unwarranted trust, forgiveness, an open door, a hug, and now even a fairly useful Kanohi to replace the one he'd been stripped of lest he use its powers to break himself out of containment. Truly, he was almost starting to feel spoiled.

Kopaka squirmed between his feet. Was he trying to get away?

He couldn't help but giggle.

"There's your only flaws: you're too smart for a leech to bite you."

Pohatu gifted him the sweetest of his smiles.

"And you love your siblings too much."

The air shattered beneath his foot with a sickening crunch.

Pohatu didn't even spare a glance at his brother as he walked away from his corpse, face crushed to bits making an absolute mess on the cold unfeeling pavement, body twitching before the rigor mortis settled in fully; the Toa of Shadow hummed a mindless, cruel song, something right out of a Makuta's repertoire, as he he made his way into the halls of Metru Nui's colosseum in search of whoever else in this enormous playground would have the honorable misfortune to be his second victim of the day.

[thenamessparkplug]

no, no, no, YOU want to get married someday for like romance or something idk, I want to get married someday so i can pull the most batshit stunts at my wedding and subject everyone to horrible music

cough cough

cough

we are not the same

[pyrriax]

yeah so the grey particles are back. i think im genuinely just cursed (ignore my lack of health i was getting my ass handed to me by skyslimes then the server crashed pvfdnkmfl)

[star--anon]

*looks at your most recent post*

...

*looks pointedly at the ask thats been sitting in my inbox*

can i be in denial in peace for FIVE SECONDS-

[xifopendra]

So I revisited the notebook in which I plot my stories and on the "So please just fall in love with me this Christmas" part I wrote a random sentece that said "Desire has to appear somewhere. I don't know where but I love them too much not to give them their moment" that I forgot completely about. And now I have to reorganise the whole plot to fit them in because of course I would do anything for them.

Also, next chapter will probably be up this weekend since I finally got my life back.

[spaghett-onaplate]

how is one meant to stay silly under these conditions

[tillman]

my dearest roms they are like children to me ......

[tsscat]

.

[party-gilmore]

Modern art critics stop confusing "art" with "technical skill" challenge 2k23

[hey-op-just-kill-me]

The desire to drop out of college and never go back is so fucking strong… but I can’t quit something without feeling bad about it for a decade later so I really don’t know what to do