#go some place where you actually CAN control the growth

[necromancy-enthusiast]

I don't think I'll ever get over how Organization XIII was hyped up as this super nefarious villain group but then you get to their game 358/2 Days and they treat it like a job. A 9-5 soul crushing job. They have their daily menial tasks and then they go home and wash, rinse, repeat with little else occupying their lives. Even their hobbies and pastimes seem so limited, although you can arguably chalk that up to the game just not being interested in developing them like that (which is part of why the manga is great, because it has a tendency of developing them in ways the main writers aren't interested in). From the way they talk about it, they almost sound like they work at an office sometimes. A very bizarre, particularly backstabby office, but still. It's a soul crushing job AND a weird cult all at once and it's treated with this mundanity that's both hilarious in a way I didn't really get when it first came out and oddly humanizing.

I know for some dumb reason they didn't do a remake of Days and it's harder to access because of that, but if you can and it interests you enough to where you've wondered if it was worth playing, I really recommend playing it or watching a playthrough of the actual game instead of just the cutscenes. The story really is partly told through the mechanics and so much is lost when they just gave us the cutscenes pulled from the game in the compilations.

They really reinforce how bleak and mundane Roxas' life is most of the time, how bleak and mundane most of the members' lives are. How much control the Organization has over them. You don't just level up organically like in other kh games, you have to do this weird puzzle thing that limits your growth and abilities. They don't give you munny, they give you heart points that you can only use at the moogle shop in their castle, so they're literally paid in scrip. If you're unfamiliar with it, scrip is a currency you can only use in certain places instead of throughout a whole country or other type of political union like the eu, usually with the store at the company you work at. When you're on missions your path is blocked off, you can only go to certain areas that are directly related to your daily mission. It's suffocating and genius, especially since in most other series entries you get so much freedom comparatively.

With all that context it starts making some of their vices a bit more understandable. Can you really blame Demyx for not wanting to do his work when all he gets out of it is room and board, and the distant, vague promise of maybe someday getting a new heart? Especially since he's probably been with the Organization for years?

Can you really blame Marluxia and Larxene for wanting to mutiny when their boss is useless and all of their colleagues seem indifferent to it? I mean like. The murder isn't great. I'm still a bit sore about that. But I can definitely get behind the 'screw our boss' sentiment. I'm still very fond of my 'instead of going the cloak and dagger route Larxene and Marluxia somehow, possibly with the help of devil magic, manage to get everyone to cooperate so they can unionize and kick Xemnas out' au. An Organization XIII union au, if you will. Imagine Xemnas having to explain that to the other Xehanorts.

Master Xehanort: The people you gathered up for us to use as our vessels. Unionized?

Xemnas, the biggest loser in the entire series: :/

[amuseoffyre]

Since insomnia is kicking my arse of late, I naturally tilted into the thoughts about the nature of the 3-act structure and why S2 of OFMD may have felt off and incomplete to a lot of people.

I am fully in agreement that we lost a lot of valuable time with only 8 episodes and a lot of it did feel rushed, but for the amount of story and set-up and growth and development they needed to fit into 4 hours of television, they did astonishing things.

DJenks has said from the very start that this is a story that has been planned out to take 3 seasons. It's literally a 3-act play and we are currently right in the middle of the worst part of that timeline according to every traditional 3-act structure.

Act one/season one is self-explanatory. Like New Hope in the Star Wars Trilogy or Fellowship of the Ring, this is the set-up. We're introduced to our protagonists and antagonists, the relationships are given a foundation.

The beginning is Stede's journey to becoming a real boy. The inciting incident, the one that actually pushes his change beyond "playing pirates" is meeting Ed. The second thoughts come together in episode 8/9 after his confrontations with Jack and Chauncey and episode 10 is the climax.

Act 2/season 2 is never going to be as smooth and simple as act 1/s1. A big part of the A2/S2 job is set up for A3/S3 and this is what we're seeing and why a lot of story threads seem to have been left dangling.

Again, to call back to Empire Strikes Back and The Two Towers, the structure is much the same: the original batch of people are divided and scattered, the big enemy from A1/S1 is looming, new allies make themselves known. In SW, this meant the introduction of Lando and Yoda as allies plus the hint of the Emperor lurking in the background. In LotR, we have the Rohirrim, Gondor and the Ents as allies and the expansion of Sauron's forces in Helm's Deep, Osgiliath and the winged wraiths.

There's a clear trajectory following the A2/S2 structure:

obstacle 1 - the crews separated and struggling

obstacle 2 - the end of episode 2 and the repercussions of his actions

twist - just when things start to settle, the Ned Low situation happen and Stede kills for the first time

obstacle 3 - Ed's struggle with his identity leading to him leaving

disaster - Ricky's assault on the Republic

crisis - do-or-die battle because they have no other choice

climax - the last 15 minutes of ep. 8 live here.

As with SW and LotR, there's an ending, but weighted with the knowledge of a story that is meant to continue. Each of those act 2 films end with the heroes still aware of the looming threat, some of them heading out on new missions, and some of them resting and healing. There's brief pause, brief respite, a moment to take a breath.

We have all the characters in place now and the battle-lines have been drawn. Luke still needs to confront Vader (I see you, impending Ed and Hornigold confrontation), Frodo still needs to destroy the ring, Aragorn still needs to lead the army against the Black Gate, the second Death Star is still hanging in the sky.

I'm so excited to see what S3 brings because we have so many arcs ready to go: Zheng's vengeance trip, the inevitable enforced out-of-retirement arc for Ed and Stede, Hornigold, Ricky trying to maintain his tenuous control of the republic given how many of his people were killed when the crew escaped, the pirate rebellion gathering forces.

Also how often do we get shows/films where the supporting cast are given this much storyline? We have a named/speaking-role cast of upwards of 15 central characters. That is a staggering amount of people to work with, when most shows would only focus on the leads and a couple of their friends. Six is the average for most TV shows, while comedies can inch higher because ensembles, but most ensembles don't get as much as our crew did.

I know a lot of people aren't happy about Izzy's death. I know I would have liked to see him a lot more, because he's such a grumpy old bitch and I love him and him affectionately roasting Ed and Stede would have made my entire month. But I'm also aware that narratively, as a figurehead of the old ways of piracy and "we were Blackbeard", it was a symbolic death as well - a sign of the death of the old ways of piracy and of Blackbeard as was.

(Also, they Obi-Wanned him. I'm not over that. Gave him the "if you strike me down I will become more powerful" speech. I'm just... guys, your star wars nerdery is showing XD)

So while it was flawed in places and pacing, given the scale of the story they're telling, the number of pieces and characters they had in play, and the arcs they have been setting up while also still keeping the humour, I am giving a standing ovation for a remarkable piece of work.

[comphetkoncass]

little fic about tim's love language being contingency plans

////

The thing is, Tim has a way of attacking Kon’s problems like a puzzle. Like a riddle, waiting to be solved. 

Tim’s plans also don’t involve much feeling, usually, even if the issue is purely an emotional one. While Tim is decent at listening and empathizing, at a certain point he always gets his Robin face on. A signal that, while he’s still certainly listening, there’s a chemical reaction in his brain, completely out of his control, that activates his detective skills. His problem-solving skills. 

It has taken Kon a combined two lifetimes, four years, five collective identities, and two–maybe three?–timelines, but Kon has finally gotten Tim to at least ask before starting to strategize. But lately, Tim has undergone some personal growth, and Kon is starting to wonder if, perhaps, he has learned to not even ask. To instead, politely wait for a signal – a sign, an invitation, even– that said advice is actually wanted. 

Kon would like to take the credit for training him, he really would. But he has a feeling he’s only one of many factors. 

Today, Kon is sitting face-down on Tim’s bed. Krypto sits on top of Kon’s back, the world’s most powerful emotional support dog pinning him in place. Preventing him, more like, from leaving before he's gotten all his complicated, messy, unwanted feelings out. Also preventing him from looking up at his boyfriend before Kon is done feelings-dumping, because otherwise Kon just won't finish talking, and it will go unsaid.

So Kon can’t see it; he can't see the detective face for himself. Can’t verify, for sure, absolutely, 100%, that TIm’s detective face is on. 

But he knows it’s there. 

He’s just spent half an hour talking about his latest identity crisis. Of course Tim’s detective face is on. It’s probably been on since minute two. 

However, Tim is also running his fingers through Kon’s hair, and making the occasional appropriate comment, always generous and rational and kind, always active listening, and– listen, Kon isn’t immune to the soft victim support voice. He’s definitely not immune to the Robin leader voice, but the softer, empathetic, gentle one Tim uses with people who need help? And when it bleeds in so subtly into his regular speaking voice that it’s not immediately obvious that’s where he pulling it from? 

Incredible. Show-stopping. Kon could listen to it all day, if he wasn’t the one monopolizing the conversation by info-dumping all his problems. 

Finally though, he finishes the garbled, soft, self-deprecating speech about how he’ll never be completely free of Lex’s braingook (yes, that is the scientific name for it, thank-you-very-much) and how that means he’s always going to have a chip on his shoulder until Lex dies and even then Kon’s going to have to worry about some secret chip in his brain that transfers Lex’s consciousness to his or what-the-fuck-ever. 

He can hear the comment Tim wants to make. The unspoken, soft little, 'You know, we could probably test you for that... A chip would definitely show up on an MRI...'

Instead, Tim only pauses the briefest, softest moment. “...That must be really stressful for you, worrying about that.” 

Kon looks up, just a little. Sees Tim’s best poker face. 

Then sighs, and bids the victim comfort voice goodbye. “Okay, I give in,” he says, and moves to cross his arms in Tim’s lap instead. Krypto lets out an annoyed little huff at being jostled from Kon's back, but he soon hops off Kon’s back and moves to lay at his side instead. Kon rubs him behind the ears, Krypto butts his head against his hand, and all is well again. “C’mon, out with it.”

“Hm? Out with what?” Tim asks, still in the same plaintive tone. “What do you mean?” 

“Relax, you can stop the sympathy. I know you want to start strategizing how to solve all my problems,” Kon says, and leans up in what he hopes is a very kissable position, because he really wants one. “You’ve suffered enough, I know you’ve already thought through eighteen different plans.” 

Tim lets out a shuddering breath, immediately sagging his shoulders. “Thank you,” he says, sounding exhausted. Distracted, and clearly already thinking of how to phrase his plans, he meets Kon halfway for a kiss. It's even a proper kiss, soft and sweet, and it really does make Kon feel better. Then, to his surprise, Tim also presses a more tender one just between his brows. “I really do empathize, though. Just so you know. This isn’t me not empathizing. But I mean, if you're giving me explicit permission it's not like I haven't been starting to think about how we could test for these and help you stop worrying about them-” 

Kon shakes his head, fond and sweet. “I know. Your love language is solving people’s problems for them, I've accepted this about you."

Tim looks the tiniest bit offended. "I- that's not a love language."

"It is for you," Kon says. Then, he grins, looking up at his boyfriend through his lashes. "So come on. If it's your love language... Show me you love me.” 

Tim’s cheeks bloom red. But he smiles instead of shying away, then runs his fingers through Kon’s hair again, gentle and sweet. “Get comfortable then, because I’ve got a lot of- love to show. To finish the metaphor, I mean. There’s only five so far, but number three is kind of complicated, you're going to want to take notes, but I could summarize it again for you afterwards, when you're less cozy-”

Yeah, Kon thinks. There’s no denying how much Tim loves him. He might be a strategist at heart, but Tim also wouldn’t make immediate contingency plans for just anyone, either. 

Kon curls up on Tim’s lap soon after, with Krypto snuggled up onto his chest. As long as Tim keeps stroking his hair, Kon doesn’t mind the clinical approach to his problems. It’s nice to have a boyfriend who can both meet him where he’s at, and say what he really feels. Even nicer, he thinks, to know that it’s all coming from a place of genuine affection. 

[wjbs-bonkle-au]

Every Bionicle mask-power summarised.

Hau: Everything-proof shield

Kaukau: "Hey, wanna see how long I can hold my breath underwater?"

Miru: Somewhat balanced flight powers (can't take off from a standstill; horizontal movement at least somewhat controlled by wind)

Kakama: Wheeeeeeeee!

Pakari: Kinda like the Berserk Pack from Doom

Akaku: X-ray specs

Huna: Stealth mode

Rau: Google Translate

Mahiki: Illusions, but also just full-on shapeshifting for some reason?

Komau: Hypnotism kink

Ruru: "Night vision", which canonically manifests as a torch-like beam projected from the mask's front, and gives the wearer actual night-vision, and yet more x-ray stuff

Matatu: Gmod Physgun Telekinesis Addon 2004 No Virus

Calix: Basically X-Cell from Fallout 4 but without the intelligence boost

Elda: Thing finder, for finding things

Suletu: Telepathy and also psychic torture

Sanok: Aimbot

Kadin: Very unbalanced flight powers (literally the only downside is that the user can't hover in place)

Iden: Out of body from morning to night/Dance floor packed and I'm feeling alright

Arthron: *Whale noises*

Faxon: "Hey, wanna see my animal impressions?"

Zatth: Kinda like if going "pspsps" had an equal chance of attracting a cat, a bear or a car-sized land-octopus

Garai: Gravity-y-y-y-y-y, on me/Never let me down, gent-ly damn, two Gorillaz references in one post; I'll try to use another band next time

Volitak: Same as the Huna but worse

Tryna: Wise fwom your gwave!

Jutlin: Rust-vision

Avsa: *Vampire noises*

Felnas: Messes up your abilities, but only through touch for some reason?

Mohtrek: I have no idea how I'd condense this mask's timeline-fuckery into a single se- where did all these scars come from?

Shelek: ‍

Crast: Pushes others away

Mask of Mutation: Guess.

Mask of Scavenging/Vulture: Like the Avsa, but it only works on the recently-deceased

Pehkui: Makes you tiny

Mask of Clairvoyance: The last word of this post will be "diversity"

Kualsi: Nightcrawler powers

Mask of Emulation: "Hey, wanna see my non-animal impressions?"

Mask of Growth: Makes you big

Mask of Rahi Control: Gives you all the powers of a zookeeper

Avohkii: Let there be light!

Kraahkan: Actually I changed my mind; there should darkness

Mask of Psychometry: Ever wondered where your favourite shirt came from?

Rode: Mask of Seeing Through Your Shit

Olmak: Now you're thinking with portals

Mask of Charisma: Actually functions more like brainwashing

Olisi: Isn't it weird how Bionicle's most notable use of the "mad oracle" trope is A. unreliable and B. a giant Frankenstein-man who commits body-horror on random people?

Kiril: Basically the opposite of the Jutlin

Mask of Intangibility: *Ghost noises*

Mask of Possibilities: Essentially the Improbability Drive from Madness Combat, but on a smaller scale

Mask of Elemental Energy: who cares about this one like seriously it barely appears outside the games

Mask of Adaptation: Turns you into an environment-specific action figure

Mask of Aging: The mask that makes you old

Mask of Biomechanics: Essentially the Gmod ragdoll-mover addon

Mask of Conjuring: I'm just going to copy what Biosector says, since it's really convoluted and complex; "The Mask of Conjuring is a Kanohi that allows its user to verbally program a limited power into the mask for a brief period of time. The user must describe in detail the power desired and at least one weakness. If the phrasing is spoken wrong, it causes intense psychic backlash in the user's mind. The user can use a programmed power for fifteen minutes (with a Great version), and after the time is out, the user must wait thirty seconds to activate the mask again. The Noble version will only work for five minutes. Another weakness is because it requires time and speech, any enemies nearby can hear in detail what power to expect and what its weakness is. Because of this, the usage of the mask is more commonly done alone. It is also capable of being programmed with the powers of other masks, such as the Kanohi Hau."

Mask of Freezing: What do you think it does

Mask of Fusion: Combines things • Mask of Healing: Heals stuff

Mask of Incomprehension: 👁️🧠🫵🥫🚹🇮🇹📤

Mask of Rebounding: Something something rubber glue etc.

Mask of Reconstitution: Literally just another Mask of Mutation, but slightly worse

Mask of Sensory Aptitude: 'Cause I've got one two three four five/Senses working o-ver-ti-ime!

Mask of Undeath: I live... again!

Mask of Weather Control: /weather clear 18000

Mask of Weight Increase: Literally just a Garai that can't make things lighter

Ignika: Do-anything MacGuffin that turned into a guy once and also became God's hat for a bit

Vahi: Time isn't holding up/Time isn't after us/Same as it ever was/Same as it ever was...

Mask of Creation: Just kinda lets you make stuff, while also celebrating the Matoran Universe's cultural diversity!

[lovingseventeen]

Heyyy! If you’re open for requests, I saw this tiktok where a pregnant lady had her husband lift her heavy belly for a few minutes and it gave her some relief. I somehow could see Mingyu do that. His wife having a hard time getting used to her growth and him trying his best to help her 🫠🫠🫠

mingyu helping out his pregnant s/o

a/n: HI I LOVE THIS ,, he really would be so sweet as a dad though :’)

several months into your pregnancy, you really began to feel the changes in your body. one of the more obvious changes being your belly growing rounder and heavier.

mingyu adored your belly knowing that your baby was healthy and ready to meet the both of you in enough time. he couldn’t walk past you without a hand coming to hold your tummy to give you and the baby a little rub. or a lot of the time, he liked to have you seated between his legs on the couch so he could absentmindedly rub your belly.

he was also incredibly thankful for you. as much as he knows that the both of you contributed to conceiving your baby, he knew that you were doing the true heavy lifting: the dietary restrictions, the physical changes to your body, carrying your baby for nine months, and of course giving birth. so he wanted to make things easier for you whenever he could.

he noticed how sometimes your steps around the house got slower. or maybe one of your hands was coming up to the small of your back to support yourself while you brewed yourself some tea. he knew you were starting to feel the toll of pregnancy (it couldn’t all be swell).

“babe?” he asks, walking over to you, “you okay? his fingers make their way to your shoulders to give you a little massage too.

you placed a hand over one of his. “yeah, baby’s just getting so big that my back isn’t used to supporting this kind of weight up front.”

his hands instinctively move to caress your belly as he hums. then he remembers.

“i saw this video online, do you want me to try lifting your belly for a couple moments?”

“what do you mean?” you ask, neck turning to look at him.

“here, let me show you,” he explains, hands gently coming to the underside of your belly. “i think the guy in the video just gently lifted from here, do you want me to try it?”

“oh okay, sure” you agree, hoping for any kind of relief at that point.

“okay, here i go” he tells you, quickly placing a kiss to your cheek. ever so controlled, he lifted your belly slowly. mingyu worked out regularly and this was a light weight for him, but he couldn’t imagine how your back felt feeling this weight all day. he smiled as he heard you sigh in relief.

as he was holding your belly he also kind of figured that this was a way for him to hold your baby before you even gave birth and this made him happy.

“you know i almost didn’t believe that this would actually do something” you laughed. for the first time in a while, you almost felt like your pre-pregnancy self.

“it’s helping?” he checked, causing you hum in response.

after a moment you knew that your tea would be done steeping so you told him, “you can put my belly down now, ‘gyu.”

“you sure?” he was more than ready to keep lifting for you.

“yeah, i’ll go sit down with my tea too.”

“okay,” he agreed, but not without telling you, “just remember, let me know whenever your back hurts, okay? i can always lift our baby so mommy can have some relief, yeah?” he’s gently easing your belly back to it’s original position too.

you turn to face him and place a hand on his cheek. “thank you ‘gyu,” you smiled, “i really will.”

[yatorihell]

Noragami Chapter 109 Thoughts and Reaction

First off a massive thank you to @fast-moon for years of dedicated service to the fandom and answering our questions. You have been the pillar of the community from the moment you picked up the series.

Now onto my (second) read reaction and thoughts

Seeing Yuka and she's aged more and she's looking at the sakura tree thinking of her brother just like Yato told Yukine she would I'm so sad Adachitoka you make me so sad

WHO LEFT THE FLOWERS could it have been Yato? Could it have been Yuka unwittingly placing them to remember her brother not knowing it's actually Haruki's grave? I'm so sad

Oh when it said another new year and we're at the hospital I'm so sad and then it turns out it's been many years!!!!!

The Capyper and star sticker as an earring? Remnants of attachment to Yato? Earring like Kazuma? Thank you Doctor Iki? Killing myself

Oh I really expected her diary to show up and then it does but Nora has it I'm so sad

The fact Hiyori's whole memory of that year is fuzzy so she doesn't remember Capyperland, and probably her grandma's death and the hospital arc and so many other bits

CPR SO INTENSE IT CRACKED HER RIBS

Oh she's touching her lips as she wonders who saved her I'm so fucking miserable Adachitoka you make me so sad are you happy

Jumpscared by hot Fujisaki I forgive you <3

Fujisaki gained control of his body and immediately fixed those bangs hejdjj

Remnants of Father's yearning to see Kaya again sorry babe she wasn't your girl maybe you'll find one that looks like her

Coo phone attack jdjdjnd that was so funny I can't believe he actually came back I was reaching with that prediction

My god I know it's not Father and he's cute now but I still hurled when he asked her out

Rip Masaomi's hairline, they say unproblematic men age better, so what crimes did you commit

Also rip Mr Iki you've aged so much it's probably the stress, but he's still got his medical license!!!!!!

Also I've been told it's been 8/9 years since that day with her being an intern now, it makes you wonder if Masaomi started a family

I MISS SOMEONE BUT WHO?

I actually couldn't believe how many of the bingo card predictions were coming true when I got to the sakura party jsjdnjf we truly manifested this ending

Little Ebisu growing up you will live forever you <3

Takemika and Kiun showing up like two dads with their children and pet bird jdjbdjfk

Takemika reassuring Shinatsuhiko that no one's laughing about their reincarnation vs Takemika bullying Ebisu in Heaven about killing him I hate growth I hate it (affectionate)

Followed by Takemika owning the fact that he himself has reincarnated when it was kept secret for so long I'm so sad

Oh Adachitoka you're so sick faking us out with a toast to Yato like he's dead followed by Bishamon once again beating the shit out of Yato at a sakura party

It's so funny Yato wouldn't release Kazuma but tbf it's handy if he ever needs to use him again

I wonder if Kazuma is treated differently now that he's a stray, or if he could suppress the name physically (it would only show if he got called like Nora did)

This Houki shinki that's a pegleg gun???? Rendered us bamboozled double checking Bishamon didn't lose a leg

Yato please find Yukine some clothes that fit????? Or maybe they're loose so they don't tear when he transforms and they can go back for them idk I don't like this look

Yato disappearing into the ground and becoming known as Teke-Teke he is the living meme hejdjb

I'm so sad Yukine has nightmares and turns into ayakashi form every night and Yato's wearing a Capyper jumper and he's hugging him

I did wonder if Hiyori's diary was on the shelf with the shrine, which begs the question when did Yato go to retrieve the shrine???? I'm so sad he would've seen that she fixed it and maybe it's a but scuffed from where it was dropped but it's his

Yato following Hiyori to keep her safe and he didn't want to cut ties I'm so sad the cord problem was enough to divorce her from the far shore without severing them altogether

I JUST WANT TO WATCH OVER HER AS SHE GROWS I'm so fucking miserable

Nora comforted by the fact Hiyori believes she had a name when she was in the womb? Devastated how did we never think of that

Interesting that the Yuuki name remains even after the word was destroyed, but it means that Yukine can't sting Yato so silver linings

Yato still doing his regular job of slaying and answering small prayers

Cherry blossoms being like snow I'm so fucking emo

THE NIGHT HAS A SCENT

YATO'S SHADOW IN THE TREE

MY. MOUTH. REMEMBERS!!!!!!

Oh I'm so fucking miserable I'm so fucking sad I hate this manga she remembered him all on her own after all this time and she's a doctor and everyone's safe I'm so depressed we're gunna celebrate April 2nd we need to work out what year it will be when she remembers

The final art????? Of all of them happy???? Hiyori is a doctor???????? Nora is with them??? Smiling??????? I'm ending it

It's been such a ride for these last 9 years since I picked up the anime and then demolished the manga right in time for season two. I've made friends and I've enjoyed building this blog into something that people used for their Noragami content. In the words of the rats this truly was my noragami

[underdark-dreams]

Hello! I would first like to thank you for getting me into the Rolan boat, this arrogant emotionally-constipated (affectionate) wizard has taken over my mind and he is all I think about now.

That being said, I was wondering if you would be able to do a rolan x tav like a few years or even a decade into their relationship? Does settling into Sorcerous Sundries and becoming a better mage make Rolan softer? How is he connecting with the rest of the magic community (I am personallya Rolan and Gale rare books reading club supporter) What would be some of the major long term disagreements in their relationship and how do you think they would work through it? What would this man's ideal 'happily ever after' look like?

Thank you so much!

This was great food for thought! 🖤 Thank you so much!

I kind of want to work on future Rolan x Tav as its own little standalone fic, because that idea is so sweet—but here are some headcanons on that & all these other what-ifs. Apologies that they're a bit jumbled, I can't concentrate when Rolan

Rolan loves his tower! He definitely feels the weight and responsibility of being the new steward for all this collected research and knowledge. But he also loves that he can go through his books and satisfy his curiosity whenever he wants, after so long yearning for someone to teach him and nurture his magic. He learns to do that for himself

I think the big thing that will soften and kind of humble him over the years will be once he accepts that personal growth will never stop. There is not a mystical point X where he could stand and say, did it, I have reached the pinnacle of archwizardry. He learns how to stop rushing forward and enjoy other things in life, most of all his relationship with Tav.

Once all the Absolute business is finally settled, Rolan will definitely want to lock that down. It doesn't need to be a legal marriage per se, but he is extremely committed to the relationship & wants the same from them. If he had his way Tav would have moved in yesterday. He's ready to wake up next to them for the rest of his life. Buys a house in the city right beside his old place where Lia and Cal still live & can't wait to merge his found family with his new family. His happily ever after is being surrounded by the people he loves and watching them thrive, especially when it's because of him. Having the capacity to care for Tav and Cal and Lia makes him incredibly fulfilled.

Some big potential sources of conflict in his and Tav's relationship:

Jealousy and insecurity. Rolan has some deep abandonment issues from his past, so if he ever felt like Tav was straying emotionally or making him jealous on purpose, that would really hurt his trust. Deep down he needs to know they love him, and hear it once a day preferably

Control issues/willfulness. Older brother mode activated. Rolan likes to do things his way and is very stubborn and proud about conceding to others. He does see Tav more as his equal, unlike his little siblings, but it's hard for him to translate that into actions. There will be a lot of fights over any big decisions where he & Tav disagree. Part of working through it would probably mean Rolan confronting why he needs to control things so badly (growing up without much control over anything in his life maybe? Hmm). He would genuinely benefit from therapy & from learning how to translate all his feelings into constructive words. Being with someone who would stand up to him would really benefit Rolan in the long run, though.

In the magical community: He's got a reputation as a rebel amongst the wizarding community, because 1) he's very much self-taught which is pretty unusual, and 2) not everyone approves of how freely he hands out information about the Weave, casting, etc to the curious younglings who visit his tower. Of course he'd never let anyone get into anything too powerful unsupervised, but after his experience with Lorroakan and realizing that this famed so-called archmage was actually just an idiot who stole everything from more powerful mages, he's like. The strict apprentice system can kinda get fucked honestly. He just doesn't agree that the basics of magic should be kept behind lock and key. Becomes a sort of magical literacy advocate. Let the children read

You might be surprised at how patient this man can be with children by the way! Lots of little magical prodigies hanging around Master Rolan's tower whenever he lets them. He'll kind of scowl to intimidate them into behaving themselves, but inside he loves to see curious minds reading and learning. As a primarily self-taught wizard, he also has an excellent grasp of pedagogy and how to describe concepts in a way a beginner would understand. He puts together his own beginner's magical textbook over the years. Holding the first printed copy in his hands is probably one of the proudest moments of career

To Rolan, Gale's reputation definitely precedes him at first—even before the events at the Grove he knew the name Gale of Waterdeep. Rolan is younger and admires Gale's skill a lot, so in the beginning of their professional relationship he's a bit intimidated. But you know Gale, he is friendly and endearing from the get go. Rolan often thinks if he'd had a teacher like Gale in his youth, he could have nurtured his magical skills much earlier.

Definitely, definitely also subscribe to the Rolan/Gale book club! They become kindred spirits in that regard over the years. Gale makes a visit to Rolan's tower to inform him of this fascinating manuscript that has just surfaced in Evereska, and Rolan is like "Really? I thought the Fae destroyed that centuries ago…" and the two of them just sort of wander off in conversation. Not to reappear for hours. Probably plotting like naughty children over a bottle of wine about how they are going to get their hands on the Ancient Forbidden Book without Tav finding out

[possiblylando]

Chainsaw Man 123 'Early' Analsys.

This chapter gives us a lot to chew on unlike the previous ones which where just fully mystery. Which is why I'm not really sure where we start. I guess at the beginning of the chapter? Yeah.

So this chapter we meet the falling devil. I can't say I was expecting this but I was right about this current body she's using being made from the corpses of the people that jumped off the apartment complex. She's got rather weird theming as she's a Primal Fear who is also a Chef despite it not really fitting with her fear. I guess Primal Fears can have hobbies?

"Hor D'oeuvre, La Root Vonla" is french for something. Someone who speaks french probably has a better translation (If you speak French lemme know the correct translation in the comment or reblogs) but I have to use google translate which was really shitting itself on this one. So the rough translation is: "Appetizers, The Will Route" It being an Appetizer means that this is probably the weakest of her attacks. Things are gonna get a lot worse from here on out. "The Will Route" is clearly in reference to the attack's affects.

It appears the way to overcome this first attack is to come to terms with your past Trauma so that it doesn't weigh on you as much if at all. Falling says "A word of warning- Those who don't finish their food will taste death." which seems like it's directly referring to the way to escape the attack Then we get a flashback of Asa's life soon after the Typhoon Devil attack. This probably only takes place a few Days-Weeks after the event due to Asa's hair still being about the same length as it was in the original flashback.

Left 102 Flashback, Right 123 Flashback. It's pretty clear that Asa has been using the Cat (Crambon) as a substitute for her mother. She's become anti-social and solitary only spending time with Crambon. (Which is fair by the way). At this point Crambon and her School Uniform are the only things she has left of her mother. Then we get this evil fucking bitch

She is easily one of, If not the most evil human character we've ever met.

Up until this point everything seems fine. Asa is willing to try to move on from her mother's death for the good of those around her by letting Crambon move on as well. It's a moment of personal growth.

This bastard could've easily said "Yes, Crambon's fine" even if it was a lie. But instead:

I don't know if this is Asa's mind making the situation worse than it actually was. She might not have even said this but the way Chainsaw Man does it's flashback they're rarely if ever wrong due to human memory being at fault. This demon of a person was so upset about Asa having literally anything to find comfort in that she killed Crambon. Back to the real world we get some more information on the attack.

Reading through this chapter I thought they this was going to be a literal falling attack. Where Falling just lifts up a bunch of people and drops them to die. But the reality is much worse. Anyone who is unable to deal with their Trauma is dragged straight into hell. This is a Therapy Session by Fire. You WILL overcome your emotional baggage or die. Which is why it's important it's Asa in control of the body right now. Since Asa is the one who has to overcome her Trauma to escape this situation. Thats the end of 123. Time to the-- Uh.. I don't know what to call this section. Post-Chapter analyses? Whatever. Now I think the solution to Falling's attack has already been revealed. Chapter 102 was when we got the flashback of Asa's Mother's Death. In the same chapter we get a flashback of Yuko giving Asa her shoes. It's the same chapter when Asa resolves to try and be better.

Even if Yuko is gone now she'll still have an affect on Asa. I hope this is the case cause that'd be nice. Here's what I think we're gonna be seeing in the coming chapter(s) 1. Asa is able to accept that her past Trauma can't be changed and that it wasn't her fault. (Hopefully we get that Yuko mention in some way cmon) 2. Denji shows up and has to deal with his own issues fully (Unless the attack has ended by then) This last one I'm not confident will happen but it'd be cool. We see the first death of a Primal Fear at the hands of Denji & Asa/Yoru. Additionally I wanna know what the deal with Falling is. Her whole theming is rather weird. She's the falling devil yet she's a chef? It doesn't quite seem like something a Primal Fear would do. But I guess they can have hobbies as well? That's all I've got for now. 123 End Question:

Would you?

[birdycage]

Hi! I hope you're having a a lovely day!

I was wondering if you have any Chrisker or XLeon fanfic recs? Or any other special ship fic recs you really like to share! Looking for something new to consume instead of sleeping.

Hi! Thank you for the well wishes and the ask. I am so sorry it took a while for me to respond. I wanted to add little summaries to the recommendations so you can jump straight into the ones that might interest you.

XLeon

Luckily XLeon is such a small ship that it's pretty easy to recommend fics.

Windows to the Soul is a really lovely fic, probably the one that got me into the ship. It follows a good portion of the RE2 remake story quite closely, but with the twist that Mr. X is trying to win over Leon even though Leon fears for his life for a good portion of it lol.

Captivated is a cute AU fic where Leon's father is an Umbrella researcher who has our favorite tyrant act as Leon's bodyguard (much to Leon's dismay) while the lead up to RE1 events happen in the background.

Blind Man's Gamble is a very sweet fic about Leon accidentally getting chemically blinded while searching for supplies in the RPD and Mr. X finds him and takes it upon himself to help the very perplexed officer. This author also has a lot of other very sweet fics about XLeon, so I definitely recommend them too if you enjoy softer stories about the ship.

Chrisker

I have so many Chrisker fics I enjoy that it's hard to know what to recommend, especially since my tastes for that ship tend to be smutty and dark. However, I will start with a couple of nicer(?) ones and go towards dark at the end of the list.

The Endless Realities A sweet series of oneshots about Chris and Wesker being in love in different AUs/canon divergent plots.

A God Needs Worship If you enjoy long fics, this one is for you. It's mostly about Chris and Wesker's evolving relationship leading up to the events of RE1 (and will be getting into the events of the game itself). It's actually some very good slice-of-life showing their S.T.A.R.S. work, Wesker's relationship with Umbrella and relationships with colleagues/friends/family/enemies. All around a very good fic with a lovely balance of plot/romance/character growth/etc.

Love Crime A really sweet fic where Chris offers to take Barry's place as Wesker's pawn in betraying S.T.A.R.S. The ending was a surprise, but I enjoyed it all very thoroughly.

The Courting This is pretty different from most of the Chrisker fics I read. It's an Incredibly funny fic where S.T.A.R.S. era Chris tries to flirt with Wesker by pranking him and Wesker usually gets sweet revenge. I also thoroughly enjoyed the next part (Encounters) of the series, but it is very smutty. I am not done with the series of fics that that this is attached to, but the parts I have read have been incredibly enjoyable. However, the series as a whole is not comedy and contains some dark and/or sad moments.

Mistakes Chris comes on to Wesker, Wesker falls for Chris (much to his dismay). Wesker tries to stay in control of everything despite probably not being very in control at all and begins to plot Umbrella's downfall so he can keep Chris at his side.

Sins of the Flesh is a beautiful fic where Wesker resurrects Chris after killing him some years prior in a need for proper revenge, but keeps Chris alive after realizing that Chris cannot remember his own death or his antagonistic relationship with Wesker. This fic is very dreamy and sad, be prepared to cry. I also recommend the author's fics The Hound and Manifest Retribution, but they are very sexually charged and not exactly in a nice way.

Happy Adversary, Christopher A very funny Valentine's Day fic (by the same author as the previous fic rec) where Wesker forces a date on Chris after kidnapping him. It's actually quite sweet.

Ten-Million-Dollar Mutt MIND THE TAGS PLEASE. A gift to me! (and another one by the same author as the previous two) Wesker buys Chris in an auction after Chris has been virally enhanced to have doglike characteristics. Incredibly smutty with VERY hardcore kinks (some were quite the surprise to me too, but San is very good at making them palatable). However if you can handle it, it's actually quite a funny (and sexy) read that starts to veer towards being sweet in some of the newest chapters. A surprising amount of character growth on Wesker's part imo.

Can and Will Be Held Against You. This story sometimes makes my brain feel like it's melting (and I do mean this in a good way). Wesker is very manipulative with Chris and molds him into his perfect pet. It's a disturbing co-dependent relationship that doesn't exactly feel like love. However, there is a very cathartic moment where Wesker gets what he deserves. Interesting story all around.

I could probably go on, but I think this is enough for now ^^; so sorry to throw so many at you, but hopefully there are a few you enjoy! Also you have probably long fallen asleep by now, but perhaps some of these will be good bedtime stories for other nights.

[jessilynallendilla]

So I just read Danny Phantom: A Glitch in Time and...it was ok

Had this come out when I was a kid and just watched Ultimate Enemy I would have gone absolutely feral over it

this show came out in 2004 so not quite sure how to feel about the updated technology IMO it would have been cool to have a time capsule of the show than the common floating timeline you see in comics

unlike with DC graphic novels you can tell the person that wrote this is actually a fan of the show and not a rando corporate pick the plot is plausible and the characters stay in character

A loyal tribute that brings in new lore and character growth

it also retcons the hated movie Phantom Planet

And it leaves enough to be curious for the sequel

People either seem to love it saying it's a good continuation the more serious take they wanted or hate it saying they're tired of villains being complex and redeemable and not pure evil anymore and the plot seems too much like tumblr fanfiction

I made notes as a read it so spoilers under the cut

Dash Kwan Paulina and Star are ghost hunters 

Tucker has instagram/twitter “Spectregram” fans 

The Fentons supply the town’s ghost hunting tech unasked 

Tucker’s wiki “click-a-pedia" has him listed as married to Ember 

Danny and Jazz just accept their father is such a bungler he can’t even kill a guy by abandoning him in space 

Dan was strong enough to dent the only thing that can contain him and just it being knocked off a shelf was enough for him to break out (why Clockwork the Master of Time never foresaw this happening moved it from a table to a more secure location ¯\_(ツ)_/¯  ) 

So uh... Dan just absorbed “ate” Clockwork  

Ecto energy can reach atomic bomb levels so dimension ending threat there 

Since the Disasteroid his powers have been fading their theories match their personalities Tucker-science Sam-government Jazz-trauma  

“Do you have any childhood trauma you wanna talk about?” (like Jazz as if you weren’t there) 

Vlad found a primordial source of ecto energy and just kept that information to himself for a rainy day 

Jazz has a magical girl transformation for her ghost fighting suit 

Vlad is just “ignore those clones” (there in clothes so did Vlad just buy multiple copies of Danny’s favorite outfit how did he know his size) 

Vlad is such an old man who doesn’t know how to use modern computers 

“not a place of honor” ah the nuclear waste warning (we don’t really get much more exploration of this or the seven ancients) 

Sam is a horse girl 

Valerie still holding that grudge huh 

In Pariah’s Keep Danny is suffers from bad memories and holds Sam’s hand to comfort himself 

The Keep is Fright Knight’s domain  

Danny just forgets humans are the ghosts in the Ghost Zone (in line with how often he forgets what powers he has) 

Fright Knight calls Pariah his master 

Vlad is such a loser he keeps getting his shit kicked 

Maddie “That’s not my Danny.” 

The Ghost Zone and human world were split in half an unnatural divide 

Danny is still a C student (io don't think he's going to be an astronaut)

Ghosts are manifestations of human emotions not separate entities (take that Fartman) 

Eventually they start to lose their human identity it’s why some are less human 

Vlad has his own “Where’s the rest of it?” meme 

They figured out all ghosts run on some emotional drive or purpose  

Danny realizes his purpose is protection but now there’s no longer the monster of the week threat or his parents he never asked himself what he wanted 

Now instead of constant fighting he’ll help the ghost achieve their desires they just want to keep doing in death what they did in life and heal the rift 

Fight for control Clockwork 

Vlad finally grew as a person realizing it was his action and drive for power that drew everyone away and has making amends as his new purpose 

Dan just doesn’t want to be alone (makes sense the “no more painful human emotions” +Vlad’s anger and abandonment issues so he’s all the emotions and pain) 

Dan is destabilizing flashing back to his pre Dark child form because he’s a being outside his destroyed timeline  

Danny is the GOAT 

Clockwork needs to fix what he can of the time streams and Danny has two choices Post Disasteroid+no powers or Pre Disasteroid+powers  

Danny gives up being accepted so he can fix the realms “I’m Danny Phantom, proctor of humans and ghosts!” 

They are back to being invisible losers and Sam is just happy goths aren’t popular anymore 

The city doesn’t know how they avoided the Disasteroid but the Mayor declares ghosts are responsible for everything the city will now have a branch of ghost hunters and Danny Phantom is again public enemy #1 

Clockwork transfers Dan from Vlad into one of the empty clones he’s Vlad’s responsibility now he’ll be too busy to help again 

Clockwork’s powers are finite (so he isn’t omnipotent and all powerful) but he still feels something wrong in the stitches he feels weaker now 

And Valerie has a Time Medallion and is pissed (but there was a Valerie in the crowd at the Mayor’s speech so the two Valeries might meet up in the sequel)  

Jazz is ecstatic she was right about ghosts being emotions based  

[sorcerous-caress]

i found your human kink thing and i think its funny to imagine what the exaggerated human kink porn would be. like do they have visual novels where humans fall in love in seconds and try to get the nonhuman player in bed as soon as possible?

I've put an embarrassing amount of thought into what human fetish porn would look like.

Okay, so take any fantasy race, elves for example, and take all of the porn we have made about them in real life and flip it the other way around. That's the elves' version of human porn, so each race would fetishise a different aspect of humans.

What are the top five sexualised aspects of elves in our porn?

Pointy sensitive ears and how it's inappropriate to touch them

Lean tall builds with airy clothes

Immortals that always look young and ethereal

Isolated societies who don't mix with outsiders

Magic

And if you flip them the other way around, you'd get the top five sexualised aspects of humans in elf porn.

Round short ears and how normalised it is for others to touch them. Earings, piercings, blowing air into your friend's ear as a joke.

Chubby builds in comparison to elves, humans have more fat on their body, a bigger ass, thicker thighs and a very tantalising build. From an elf perspective a human body is pure sexual appeal, every part of is sings to them. And the variety in our builds makes them go feral.

We age and it clearly shows, the grey hair, the wrinkles on the skin. The way our faces change and take shape, the way a human in their 30 or 40 clearly looks their age while an elf remains the same until their 800 years. They notice each small difference in us each time they see us and the fact they can witness our growth gets them off in some weird cycle of nature elfy way.

Welcoming and friendly societies that are the first to introduce themselves to others, the first to say hello to a new emerging race or the first to invite other kingdoms over. Elves call humans the whore race for a reason. We're so quick to trust strangers, so quick to change our ways and rebuild our cities, so eager to meet others and get to know them intimately. Elves get an ego boost each time they stumble upon a cute human in the forest who is fascinated by them, who lets the elf touch and hold them because they're just so curious and have never seen an elf before. We're so welcoming that our barest friendly demnour could compare to what they deem as flirting.

Lack of magic, Or science. They mix these two a lot. A lot of elves must joke about how humans invented science because they're not born with magic, how science is nothing but a cute pathetic attempt at emulating magic. And yet the unknown always has an allure and much like we write porn about elves using magic in sex, elves must have looked at a gun or a laboratory equipment and wondered if a human gets intimate with these objects, gets lewd with their precious science. That humans must have built something for their sexual pleasure, the aphrodisiac pharmaceutical pills, the vibrators and dildos, the lewd clothes we wear that is impossibly tight and seems to only make us look more breedable.

Their cliche porn plots would be finding a lost human in the woods and taking them back to the elf sanctuary and making them a cute breeding bunny. "Saving" them from the barbaric childish lives that humans normally live and actually giving them a purpose, here, within the elves.

Teaching them how to respect nature and how they should know their place as below elves in the natural order and oh the human is just so driven by ego and emotion, so easily controlled by lust that it falls responsibility on the elf's shoulders to get them off and look after them

because humanity can never look after itself. Oh no no no! Could you imagine if the elves weren't here to guide humanity as a race? They'd be doomed. So the elves pat themselves on the shoulders as they circlejerk about clearly they're the guardians of humanity and are protecting them from the shadows and totally not perving up on them.

And that's just for elves! Imagine orcs or dwarves or even tieflings.

What about the races that feel sexual thrills through power and control rather than sex or romance like mindflayers? Who would get off telepathically over the fact we brought them coffee when they ordered us to, or we bent down and picked up something they dropped. Total innocent acts of service are considered the most lewd foreplay a human can do, being a helpful little human is just being a cocktease for mindflayers.

Their porn probably revolves around having a human as a secretary, a house spouse, a thrall. A normal office setting in a human world is like a bdsm sex dungeon to them.

[makingspiritualityreal]

Lessons from my Anime Phase

Many years ago, before I matured into my spiritual journey, this used to be an anime blog. I don't regret this phase of my life, even though I completely outgrew it, because I believe it taught me something important.

The content of a creation is more important than the form. There is anime (sadly not as many as you would think) that is a good piece of art. There are regular movies that suck. These years taught me to look deep beyond the surface form and into the meaning of any creation. I'm still waiting for a movie as good at depicting the power of wishful thinking and self repression as Perfect Blue.

Supressing one's emotions leads to serious repercussions. One of the reasons some people find anime so weird is because it is literally an outlet for the collective mentality and emotionality of Japanese societal pressure. It feels exaggerated, but it is a reaction to the external forced numbness and politeness the Japanese society is plagued with. If you don't deal with how you feel regularly and don't express it and process it, if you don't make friends with your demons, you keep bubbling like a cauldron. It leads to having a very edgy, very draining life, not being present with yourself. It leads to not being able to function and ultimately making simple things feel like the end of the world.

Getting older is awesome. I would never come back to my past. Every morning felt like torture. Sometimes, even if life is never perfect, it moves you on in simpler ways that allow for balance. Establishment of healthy routines does wonders for mental peace. The Universe putting you in an environment where you can do that, after years of having that taken away from you, feels blissful. With time comes perspective and you can see your life shaping up and taking you somewhere. That allows you to approach the rest of your life with the same philosophy. I can read this post another 10 years into the future, and think wow, my life got even better. But at least now I am relaxed about it and don't overthink how every tiny little thing can go and I don't try to control or micromanage the future.

Youth is overrated. Hottness is overrated. Very few people really get to enjoy being young and hot, and those that do, are probably on Youtube's most watched list now. Being young and hot only pays off if you happen to be an artist, you're in a good film, or you're lucky enough to be in a music video. With those things, you build a legacy you will have forever. But most young women spend their youth and beauty on dating guys they wish they could forget in their 30s. At least I can say I spent it on spiritual growth, which I am really proud of. I was younger and "hotter" once, but paradoxically I feel like I'm becoming more beautiful. I had absolutely no benefits from being young and hot. I had no good relationships and everyone irl always criticized me for breathing. I never felt attractive. My highlights were compliments from my online friends, because noone around me actually thought well of me in my physical life. I'm married now, but this is my first serious adult relationship. I didn't have any good relationships that really appreciated my looks back then. So whatever has passed, hasn't really been used anyway. I was very insecure because I lived surrounded by unfair criticism from many people, who should have been supporting me but betrayed me. Maybe some people have fun in their youth, I honestly didn't. Moving away from all the people that made my youth something I'm glad to put behind me was the best thing that ever happened to me.

Being different growing up is hell for everybody, no matter what form it takes. Being an outcast is probably the number one debilitating thing that makes youth difficult. You have no role models, you have no support, you endure extra pressure. But over time, even those that are different end up finding their place, and they realise they were just different to people around them in their early environment, but they're not that different from the rest of the world.

[genericpuff]

Lore Olympus is morally bankrupt and I will no longer be giving it the gift of my time or thought.

Okay, this is gonna be a long one, and VERY heated (and melodramatic ngl), and I apologize in advance if my thoughts are scattered, but I'm just ... I've been left with so many horrible thoughts since last night's update (Ep 230) and I'm realizing that I can't keep doing this.

There are comics that I love. There are comics that I used to love but have since grown to dislike due to a dip in quality or simply losing interest. And then, there are comics that have become so fundamentally awful down to their core that, when I go back to read from the beginning, I wonder how I missed the signs of these things in the first place.

And those are the comics I can't bring myself to even give attention to in any regard because it feels like I'm committing some sort of hate crime in doing so.

This is where I stand with LO. With each passing week, I grow more weary of new episodes, and I wonder if there's any point to analyzing it, critiquing it, or whatever have you when it's obvious such a feat is pointless - because there's nothing there to critique, there's nothing there to discuss, the ONLY thing that becomes more obvious with each passing week is how low Rachel is willing to stoop as a creator and as a person.

I try not to direct actual hate towards these creators. I try and focus on their writing, their art, the execution of their ideas, separate from their existence as individuals because it's how I'd want and expect people to analyze and critique my own work.

But with Rachel, it's becoming increasingly obvious that drawing that line is impossible. That "separating the art from the artist" can only apply for so long when the artist's own deeply-rooted issues are baked into the foundation of their work. It's the equivalent of trying to criticize something like Harry Potter - you can't do it without acknowledging the very anti-Semitic elephant in the room, because to do so would be turning a blind eye to Rowling's irresponsibility as a creator with a platform and the injustices she's done to the communities she's hurt in her endeavors.

For weeks now, Rachel and her circle of goons and yes men have been sneaking into our communities, into our conversations had in confidence, and implementing their own versions of "getting back" at the haters through the comic itself and through how its marketed. Almost every single social media post, video, and retconned plot point that's cropped up the last few weeks has been in direct response to things said in the subreddits, the Discord groups, the Facebook groups, everything that they don't consider "positive" enough. When we point these things out in isolation, it makes us look paranoid, but I promise you, we're taking notice of the things Rachel does and says and portrays in her work and it all adds up to be an incredibly twisted picture of her way of doubling down.

Persephone suddenly becoming Avatar: The Last Airbender? We've discussed it at length in our LO-focused circles prior to that reveal.

The sudden retcon of Eros/Aphrodite being able to "detect and control" virginity through Persephone PSA-lecturing about the "hegemony" of virginity? A direct response to people discussing the nature of Eros' powers.

The reveal that Persephone never had sex with Hades despite all the build-up that Rachel did leading up to what was obviously going to be a sex scene? A direct response to people discussing how it felt rushed for Persephone to suddenly be ready to jump in bed with Hades while showing very little growth in her healing in the actual comic.

Rachel constantly posting pics about how "hard" she's working? A response to our figuring out her buffer is 2-3 weeks ahead at any given time and she's clearly rushing things out the door.

The list goes on but I can assure you, the signs are there that Rachel reads these things and, instead of analyzing what people are saying, digs her heels in further and doubles down. We already know she's done this before, it's been stated in interviews where she's gone ahead and over-saturated character colors and made the art WORSE to 'get back' at people who criticized the comic's art style. Like I said, these things in isolation might seem paranoid, but there is a very clear history of how Rachel responds to criticism and discussion - ripping off her nose to spite her face - that goes waaay back to S1 that gives these suspicions far more validity.

She's snuck into our groups, our communities, and is absolutely violating the reader/creator dynamic. This is a woman who's tried to brigade control of FB groups away from their admins so she could micromanage them (see: Broseidon's Palace of Fishposting). This is a woman who will have her mods kick or mute anyone who shows an inkling of distaste for new episodes in her Discord and FB groups. This is a woman who's fully unapologetic in how controlling, manipulative, and downright abusive she can be towards her own audience.

We have literally had to implement new security measures in our own Discord groups in an attempt to keep her and her cronies out, and yet still it feels like there are things she's doing that are direct responses to what we've said and discussed, on a VERY specific level. And the fact that, even if she's no longer in our space, we have to worry about that sort of thing? It's an abusive reader-creator relationship that is creating paranoia in our community members and sucking the fun out of it all. We shouldn't have to fear a creator or their mods sneaking into our groups to stir up trouble. It's so incredibly invasive and disgusting and it makes me fear for our more involved users who come to our spaces for community, for acceptance, for love and support. We're not just people who trash on LO, we're people who have bonded over our frustrations for it and that's a bond that is now existing beyond LO. These are safe spaces that we've attempted to create and Rachel is feverishly violating them and attempting to rip them apart from the inside.

I'm done. I'm fucking done tiptoeing around the "separating the art from the artist" fence-sitting bullshit when it comes to how people criticize this comic and its creator. LO is a festering pool of misery and misogyny and so is its creator. I can't even be bothered to hate it, I literally do not give a shit. I'm tired of it. It's making me miserable. And it's not worth giving it my time, my energy, or my efforts anymore. Rachel does not deserve my clicks. She does not deserve my follows. She does not deserve the essays that I pour my time and heart into.

I'm not going to be reading LO any further. Not even free episodes. I will be unsubscribing from the comic. I will be unfollowing her socials. My only connection to LO at this point will be through Rekindled and the communities I've partaken in and fostered - Rachel can't destroy the friendships I've made through her work, for better and for worse, as much as she might like to try. I'm cutting off the infection at the source.

I will be answering the remaining asks that are in my inbox that pertain to LO specifically, but after that, I will no longer be devoting this blog purely to LO analysis. It's Rekindled, LO-inspired fan work, and Greek myth content only. I cannot continue to give Lore Olympus attention through my own attempts to analyze it, critique it, and partake in it, because to do so would be to continue sacrificing my own mental health and values as a webcomic consumer and creator, and giving it attention that it does not deserve. It does not deserve even a sliver of admiration or even nostalgia from me, because it has done absolutely nothing to earn it.

As for Rekindled, well. I hope you know the potential of Lore Olympus - and the part of the fandom that has been worn down and disappointed week after week after week - is mine now. I'm taking it. Rachel clearly can't be trusted with the messages and stories that this shit fire of a comic is based on. Lore Olympus is cancelled, Rachel is cancelled. I will unapologetically be hyping up Rekindled, I want it to be good and I'm going to ensure that it does what Rachel couldn't. It's the least I can fucking do for this amazing community that I've gotten to know and felt welcome and accepted in through and through. She and her work do not have any sort of relevance or control in my life anymore. She can make LO all she wants, but in my mind, it does not exist and does not deserve an inkling of attention, it belongs in the same dumpster as Harry Potter, 50 Shades/After, and Empress Theresa.

Rachel may have robbed me of my love for Lore Olympus but she cannot take what I have planned for Rekindled. When I started the comic, I wasn't doing it as any sort of flex on Rachel. I wasn't doing it to "get back" at her or to prove I could "do better". It was a fan project that I was making out of love for what once was, for what I had hoped would be LO. And it still is that - but prepare yourselves, because you're about to see a real Dread Queen arc, not of pettiness, not of unwarranted cruelty, but of justice.

It would be the height of hubris to claim that I can do anything better than another creator, but when the work that Rekindled is based on is a literal dumpster fire of misogyny, sexism, and classism, is it really so hard to make something better? Even the most bare minimum ideas and writing can accomplish more than LO has in the last 2 years at this point. Any of you could do what I'm doing, and I encourage you to do so. Let spite be your motivator. You do not need to be a contracted webcomic creator to create something that will make you happier than LO. Make your fanfiction. Make your panel edits. Create your re-tellings. I will gladly bask in them.

Rachel, I want you to know, you cannot count this as a win, as much as you likely see it as such in your mind. This is your own platform you're systematically destroying, readers who used to love you and your work who you're pushing away with your childish nonsense. The worst we'll have is losing something we like and moving onto something new. You have more to lose. You have more to be worried about as the face of this steaming pile of garbage. You are the one who's going to have to explain to Webtoons why your comic is on fire, why your fanbase is divided, why LO is one of the most dunked on comics alongside Boyfriends and True Beauty, simply because you couldn't have the humility to recognize the glaring issues in your comic and simply do better. Internalize it all you want that you think it's just because you're "popular", but I assure you, people will still despise you, your platform, and your work long after LO has ended and been replaced by the next big thing.

And I assure you, those replacements will be creating out of spite for the damage you've caused. Myself included.

May your every attempt at success and relevance from hence forward be mired by mediocrity and misery for your own putrid creations.

We'll all be doing just fine over here.

[tobiasdrake]

Final farewells. T_T So long to everyone. Until we meet again one day.

And by one day, I mean "On sale now!"

Of course she is. She's the obligatory love interest for a romance arc that didn't even manage to dip its toe in the water before the end credits rolled. She's going to need several more games of development before anything gets started for her.

Poor girl didn't even manage to get a climactic last-minute kiss, either right before Yuma went off into the final confrontation or just before the end-credits rolled. The game was having too much fun shipping Yuma with Fubuki (gross) and Shinigami (SO GROSS) instead. Kodaka owes her at least one date to a coffee shop or something.

Go get him, girl. Maybe next time, you'll be allowed to have a relationship with him that is actually romantic in some way.

That must have been such an awkward conversation. Can you imagine having to talk to your crush's clone to try and get permission to go look for his human counterpart?

I remind everyone that Kurumi was able to navigate a Peacekeeper-infested Dohya District when even Yuma needed timey-wimey powers to pull that off. I have the utmost faith in her abilities.

...all due respect to everyone here but I cannot in good conscience vote for any of them. Halara's too capitalist, Fubuki lacks worldly experience, Vivia's unmotivated, and Desuhiko has a lot of personal growth he needs to do before he'll be ready for any kind of authority.

I hope there are more well-adjusted Master Detectives in the organization who will do a better job of it. But if you twisted my arm... Fubuki, with Desuhiko as running mate.

Halara is far too valuable in the field and would most certainly convert the WDO into a for-profit corporation immediately after assuming control, so that's a hard pass. Vivia, absolutely not. Why would you do that to the poor guy? He just wants to rest.

Fubuki lacks a lot of wordly knowledge but she has a boundless curiosity and love for the act of discovery itself. I have faith in her judgment. I do not have faith in her ability to fully understand context, which is why Desuhiko would make a good partner for her.

Desuhiko's head is too far up his own ass to make sound judgment decisions with authority. He has a lot that he needs to figure out about himself and the way he engages with the world. But he's attentive and follows along with information well.

The two of them could make for an effective tag-team, with Desuhiko laying out the context and Fubuki calling the shots. That could work.

But if there's someone, anyone better, that would be... better.

T_T This is the true reason that Yuma went into hiding.

See you around, Halara. It was awesome knowing you. I have the utmost faith that you're going to excel, no matter where you go or what you do.

Oh, of course! In fact, I have these three friends who I'm sure are just dying to meet you. I can take you to them right now, if you'd like!

I kid. We know now that he's only doing this to try and look cool. Nonetheless, as uncomfortable as I was interacting with him as a boy, I am twice as uncomfortable interacting with him as a girl. But, c'est la vie. This is what every day is like for women.

So long, Desuhiko. I wish you the best of luck in figuring yourself out and finding your way to a place where you can be satisfied with the man you've become. Or woman or person, if you wind up down one of those roads. Whatever the case, may you one day find yourself in a place where you can be happy.

Spinoff game starring Fubuki and Kurumi. I want it now. They can call it Ultra Truth Girls or some shit. I don't care what.

Farewell, bestie. I trust that wherever your adventures take you next, you'll have the awesomeness to weather it. And get the hell away from your shitty family, while you're at it! If you wind up becoming President of the WDO, that's my fault, I'm sorry for that.

Yeah, I'm mad at Desuhiko too. I told him that was his job. Though he might not have skedaddled so quickly if I hadn't threatened to get him eaten by ferals. So I guess that's on me. Sorry, Vivia.

In any case. Vivia? I hope you get to take a nap. A long, long nap. The longest nap of your career. And when you wake up from that, you get to take another nap. You deserve all the rest in the world.

So. That. Means. We have dibs on the submarine, right? Let's take this sucker out of port and get to globetrotting!

Y'know, a sub wouldn't be a bad place for a homunculus to live, in fact. No fear of sunlight in here. None whatsoever. Plus, Yakou's still feral for the time being so it's not like he needs it.

No? Going to leave it here to rot forever? Okay. Fine. What's even the fucking point of having the office in a sub if nobody ever uses its vehicular capabilities for anything. Angry fish noises!

Sure. I guess we can take the train, if we want to be boring about it. Watch out for murderers, Kurumi.

Yuma left Kurumi a note telling her that he left and offering little information as to where. Aww, that was sweet of him.

HE ALSO LEFT HER THE BOOK OF DEATH

OKAY

Kodaka, you realize that this is a promise for Kurumi to be the protagonist of the next game, right? You're clear on that?

I want to be sure because you might think that this means "Kurumi is going to find Yuma at the start of the next game and hand him back the book, so he can connect with Shinigami again."

But that is not what this promise means. This promise means, "Our next adventure will star Kurumi as she makes a pact with Shinigami and they go on adventures while trying to find Yuma together."

I'm gonna be mad if Kurumi isn't the protag for Master Detective Archives 2.

Again. This is promising a Kurumi-centric adventure. Just so we're clear. I expect you to deliver on that.

Post-credits scene showing what Yuma's up to?

The closeup here implies she's going to be important for the next game. Fuck, we're not getting a Kurumi-centric adventure, are we? She's going to show up in the prologue and be like, "Here you go, Yuma. I brought your book!" and then resume the same role she had in the first game.

Fine, but at the very least, I demand a badass scene where she exposes herself unfiltered to the sun and lets herself turn temporarily feral on purpose to fuck up the bad guy.

[my-rose-tinted-glasses]

So many things have been written already, but since I can't stop thinking about it, I need to write some stuff down. Or as @twig-tea would say #typed so that I can stop thinking it.

We could talk all day long about what the show intended to say or not, what the show intended to portray and what message was actually all of it about.

But, as with most things, we will never know for sure. And you know what? It doesn't matter.

Because when you make anything for others to watch, as soon as the product leaves your hands, you give up any control you have over how it is perceived. That's, more often than not, the hardest part in creating anything. You lose all control over the thing, and all you can do is hope that what you wanted to do, was what people wanted to see, and what you wanted to say, was what people heard.

Sometimes these two things don't match up.

So, I won't speculate any more about what Jojo and co. wanted to say with this, or what they wanted the take away to be.

I'm fan of Jojo. Not in the way of, everything he's done was perfect, but I adore Gay Ok, I completely enjoyed 3wbf and warp effect surprised me weekly in a good way. I was happy. I was content. And maybe that set my expectations too high, because my biggest feeling about ofts finale is disappointment.

Before anything else, I fully admit by biases influenced my viewing of some things, but that is unavoidable.

I started this show relating a bit too much to some of the characters and that made it hard for me in the beginning. Specially when you have people talk about this characters in such a way that, at times, legitimately made me feel bad about myself. So basically I had to create a barrier. And look at this show in a more critical way. I still felt emotionally connected to the chars, but in a different way. And with that critical view came a whole set of new problems.

Whatever the direction the show was heading in the beginning, got completely lost somewhere in the middle. And I'm strictly talking about the writing now. The show lost all coherence in character development and any type of episodic theme went out the window.

I’ll start just referencing the frame works. (very well documented by @slayerkitty) They started as some sort of commentary that we could point to and say, that’s what they’re trying to say about this, that's the lesson this week. That got abandoned.

As I’ve written before, when the show started and we were introduced to the characters, we were led to believe that Boston, Ray, Mew and Cheum were the mains and where going to have equal weight throughout the show. That disappeared when Cheum did. It turns out it wasn’t that way after all. And as we started to see couples forming, or at least coupling happening, we knew who the mains were again. Because we got some (Top not included) of their backstories and povs.

The fear crept in here, that, because it’s gmmtv, we were heading to shipper land and all was but an illusion. But still the in p’jojo we trust was strong so we collectively, said to ourselves – It can’t be that. This is the messy show, with the messy gays, this is Jojo! And at least for me, that’s where it all began to fall apart. Genuine character growth got substituted for easy conflict, depth of character got substituted by fluffy couple moments that seemed out of place. [That is also why the beginning of Top/Mew was so divisive for so many people. Because, it could be cute in any other show, but it couldn’t be here. Because once again - This is the messy show, with the messy gays, this is Jojo! ] We got no accountability for most actions, no genuine character growth for most characters and in the end, nothing feels earned. And personally, it pisses me of when chars don’t get what they deserve, and worst, somehow end up on top, or thinking they are on top, or are morally superior.

But, even if that didn’t make me angry, it’s lazy writing. It’s conflict for conflict sake, it’s new storylines/characters that bring excitement but no follow through. it’s trauma as the easiest way to give a character depth (which I hate with a passion), it’s moral lessons that have absolutely no place here (This is the messy show, with the messy gays, this is Jojo! ) and worst of all it’s wasted potential. I might write more about this later, or on rewatch, but for today this is what I needed to type.

[bluegekk0]

Do you believe there is more to the nightmare realm other than the troupe itself? Me and my friends have been making it to where there is (like making a Nosk that becomes a equivalent to scarecrow from dc) but I was going to ask a couple blogs this question to just see what other people think

I don't think so, no. The Nightmare Realm is more or less just The Nightmare King's "home" so to speak. In my vision, it's not really possible for anyone to enter it (in the AU, a ritual is finished when the growth cycle for Grimm's new body is done, the bug tasked with helping the Troupe doesn't fight The Nightmare King). Of course, it's very fun to imagine him using his entire arsenal to fight off an intruder, but it is highly unlikely to actually happen.

Since the realm was separated from The Gods' Plane, it could be considered a prison, since his godly form can't leave it, all he can do is move some of the essence to the physical world and absorb it back - that is how he spawns his physical body, through a bundle of flame-like nightmare essence that eventually forms into the first phase of the cycle. That being said, he doesn't want to see it that way, he's too spiteful to give his sister that satisfaction, so instead he "crowned" himself The Nightmare King (his previous name was simply just The Nightmare, so it matched his sister's name) and embraced it.

And in a way, this position is beneficial to him - in theory, the only way to kill him is to destroy The Nightmare Heart, but because he's the only one with access to it, he can just reform his physical body indefinitely (well, unless he decides to destroy it himself. He did consider it once or twice when at his lowest points). The Heart has limited power, but it can't die if he overuses it, instead, it goes dormant to "recharge". It would make it impossible for him to maintain a physical form at that time, but he would eventually return. His Nightmare King self is also dormant most of the time, since he struggles to control both forms simultaneously, and tends to prioritize his physical body.

Certain Grimmkin can transfer messages through the realm, since it's not in a specific place. In a way, it exists outside of time and space, if it was possible to enter it, you could in theory do it from practically anywhere. But they can't actually enter it, they just send it between nightmare lanterns.

So yeah, The Nightmare Realm in the AU is basically just an extension of Grimm/The Nightmare King himself. I imagine other gods' realms work the same way, The Radiance's realm was an exception as she allowed her moths to enter it using their dream nails, which also made it vulnerable to intruders who somehow got a hold of one (and we know how that ended for her).